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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2729-0.txt b/2729-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..91a4a4a --- /dev/null +++ b/2729-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1523 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Tale of Three Lions, by H. Rider Haggard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Tale of Three Lions + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Posting Date: December 3, 2008 [EBook #2729] +Release Date: July, 2001 +Last Updated: September 22, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TALE OF THREE LIONS *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, Emma Dudding, and Dagny + + + + + +A TALE OF THREE LIONS + +By H. Rider Haggard + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE INTEREST ON TEN SHILLINGS + +Most of you will have heard that Allan Quatermain, who was one of the +party that discovered King Solomon’s mines some little time ago, and who +afterwards came to live in England near his friend Sir Henry Curtis. +He went back to the wilderness again, as these old hunters almost +invariably do, on one pretext or another.[*] They cannot endure +civilization for very long, its noise and racket and the omnipresence +of broad-clothed humanity proving more trying to their nerves than the +dangers of the desert. I think that they feel lonely here, for it is +a fact that is too little understood, though it has often been stated, +that there is no loneliness like the loneliness of crowds, especially +to those who are unaccustomed to them. “What is there in the world,” old +Quatermain would say, “so desolate as to stand in the streets of a great +city and listen to the footsteps falling, falling, multitudinous as the +rain, and watch the white line of faces as they hurry past, you know not +whence, you know not whither? They come and go, their eyes meet yours +with a cold stare, for a moment their features are written on your mind, +and then they are gone for ever. You will never see them again; they +will never see you again; they come up out of the unknown, and presently +they once more vanish into the unknown, taking their secrets with them. +Yes, that is loneliness pure and undefiled; but to one who knows and +loves it, the wilderness is not lonely, because the spirit of nature +is ever there to keep the wanderer company. He finds companions in the +winds--the sunny streams babble like Nature’s children at his feet; high +above them, in the purple sunset, are domes and minarets and palaces, +such as no mortal man has built, in and out of whose flaming doors the +angels of the sun seem to move continually. And there, too, is the wild +game, following its feeding-grounds in great armies, with the springbuck +thrown out before for skirmishers; then rank upon rank of long-faced +blesbuck, marching and wheeling like infantry; and last the shining +troops of quagga, and the fierce-eyed shaggy vilderbeeste to take, as it +were, the place of the cossack host that hangs upon an army’s flanks. + + [*] This of course was written before Mr. Quatermain’s + account of the adventures in the newly-discovered country of + Zu-Vendis of himself, Sir Henry Curtis, and Capt. John Good + had been received in England.--Editor. + +“Oh, no,” he would say, “the wilderness is not lonely, for, my boy, +remember that the further you get from man, the nearer you grow to God,” + and though this is a saying that might well be disputed, it is one I am +sure that anybody will easily understand who has watched the sun rise +and set on the limitless deserted plains, and seen the thunder chariots +of the clouds roll in majesty across the depths of unfathomable sky. + +Well, at any rate we went back again, and now for many months I have +heard nothing at all of him, and to be frank, I greatly doubt if anybody +will ever hear of him again. I fear that the wilderness, that has for so +many years been a mother to him, will now also prove his grave and the +grave of those who accompanied him, for the quest upon which he and they +have started is a wild one indeed. + +But while he was in England for those three years or so between +his return from the successful discovery of the wise king’s buried +treasures, and the death of his only son, I saw a great deal of old +Allan Quatermain. I had known him years before in Africa, and after +he came home, whenever I had nothing better to do, I used to run up to +Yorkshire and stay with him, and in this way I at one time and another +heard many of the incidents of his past life, and most curious some of +them were. No man can pass all those years following the rough existence +of an elephant-hunter without meeting with many strange adventures, +and in one way and another old Quatermain has certainly seen his share. +Well, the story that I am going to tell you in the following pages is +one of the later of these adventures, though I forget the exact year +in which it happened, at any rate I know that it was the only trip upon +which he took his son Harry (who is since dead) with him, and that Harry +was then about fourteen. And now for the story, which I will repeat, as +nearly as I can, in the words in which Hunter Quatermain told it to me +one night in the old oak-panelled vestibule of his house in Yorkshire. +We were talking about gold-mining-- + +“Gold-mining!” he broke in; “ah! yes, I once went gold-mining at +Pilgrims’ Rest in the Transvaal, and it was after that that we had the +business about Jim-Jim and the lions. Do you know Pilgrim’s Rest? Well, +it is, or was, one of the queerest little places you ever saw. The town +itself was pitched in a stony valley, with mountains all about it, and +in the middle of such scenery as one does not often get the chance of +seeing. Many and many is the time that I have thrown down my pick and +shovel in disgust, clambered out of my claim, and walked a couple of +miles or so to the top of some hill. Then I would lie down in the grass +and look out over the glorious stretch of country--the smiling valleys, +the great mountains touched with gold--real gold of the sunset, and +clothed in sweeping robes of bush, and stare into the depths of the +perfect sky above; yes, and thank Heaven I had got away from the cursing +and the coarse jokes of the miners, and the voices of those Basutu +Kaffirs as they toiled in the sun, the memory of which is with me yet. + +“Well, for some months I dug away patiently at my claim, till the very +sight of a pick or of a washing-trough became hateful to me. A hundred +times a day I lamented my own folly in having invested eight hundred +pounds, which was about all that I was worth at the time, in this +gold-mining. But like other better people before me, I had been bitten +by the gold bug, and now was forced to take the consequences. I bought a +claim out of which a man had made a fortune--five or six thousand pounds +at least--as I thought, very cheap; that is, I gave him five hundred +pounds down for it. It was all that I had made by a very rough +year’s elephant-hunting beyond the Zambesi, and I sighed deeply and +prophetically when I saw my successful friend, who was a Yankee, sweep +up the roll of Standard Bank notes with the lordly air of the man who +has made his fortune, and cram them into his breeches pockets. ‘Well,’ I +said to him--the happy vendor--‘it is a magnificent property, and I only +hope that my luck will be as good as yours has been.’ + +“He smiled; to my excited nerves it seemed that he smiled ominously, +as he answered me in a peculiar Yankee drawl: ‘I guess, stranger, as I +ain’t the one to make a man quarrel with his food, more especial when +there ain’t no more going of the rounds; and as for that there claim, +well, she’s been a good nigger to me; but between you and me, stranger, +speaking man to man, now that there ain’t any filthy lucre between us to +obscure the features of the truth, I guess she’s about worked out!’ + +“I gasped; the fellow’s effrontery took the breath out of me. Only five +minutes before he had been swearing by all his gods--and they appeared +to be numerous and mixed--that there were half a dozen fortunes left in +the claim, and that he was only giving it up because he was downright +weary of shovelling the gold out. + +“‘Don’t look so vexed, stranger,’ went on my tormentor, ‘perhaps there +is some shine in the old girl yet; anyway you are a downright good +fellow, you are, therefore you will, I guess, have a real A1 opportunity +of working on the feelings of Fortune. Anyway it will bring the muscle +up upon your arm, for the stuff is uncommon stiff, and, what is more, +you will in the course of a year earn a sight more than two thousand +dollars in value of experience.’ + +“Then he went just in time, for in another moment I should have gone for +him, and I saw his face no more. + +“Well, I set to work on the old claim with my boy Harry and half a dozen +Kaffirs to help me, which, seeing that I had put nearly all my worldly +wealth into it, was the least that I could do. And we worked, my word, +we did work--early and late we went at it--but never a bit of gold did +we see; no, not even a nugget large enough to make a scarf-pin out of. +The American gentleman had secured it all and left us the sweepings. + +“For three months this went on, till at last I had paid away all, or +very near all, that was left of her little capital in wages and food for +the Kaffirs and ourselves. When I tell you that Boer meal was sometimes +as high as four pounds a bag, you will understand that it did not take +long to run through our banking account. + +“At last the crisis came. One Saturday night I had paid the men as +usual, and bought a muid of mealie meal at sixty shillings for them to +fill themselves with, and then I went with my boy Harry and sat on the +edge of the great hole that we had dug in the hill-side, and which we +had in bitter mockery named Eldorado. There we sat in the moonlight +with our feet over the edge of the claim, and were melancholy enough for +anything. Presently I pulled out my purse and emptied its contents into +my hand. There was a half-sovereign, two florins, ninepence in silver, +no coppers--for copper practically does not circulate in South Africa, +which is one of the things that make living so dear there--in all +exactly fourteen and ninepence. + +“‘There, Harry, my boy!’ I said, ‘that is the sum total of our worldly +wealth; that hole has swallowed all the rest.’ + +“‘By George!’ said Master Harry; ‘I say, father, you and I shall have to +let ourselves out to work with the Kaffirs and live on mealie pap,’ and +he sniggered at his unpleasant little joke. + +“But I was in no mood for joking, for it is not a merry thing to dig +like anything for months and be completely ruined in the process, +especially if you happen to dislike digging, and consequently I resented +Harry’s light-heartedness. + +“‘Be quiet, boy!’ I said, raising my hand as though to give him a cuff, +with the result that the half-sovereign slipped out of it and fell into +the gulf below. + +“‘Oh, bother,’ said I, ‘it’s gone.’ + +“‘There, Dad,’ said Harry, ‘that’s what comes of letting your angry +passions rise; now we are down to four and nine.’ + +“I made no answer to these words of wisdom, but scrambled down the steep +sides of the claim, followed by Harry, to hunt for my little all. Well, +we hunted and we hunted, but the moonlight is an uncertain thing to look +for half-sovereigns by, and there was some loose soil about, for the +Kaffirs had knocked off working at this very spot a couple of hours +before. I took a pick and raked away the clods of earth with it, in the +hope of finding the coin; but all in vain. At last in sheer annoyance I +struck the sharp end of the pickaxe down into the soil, which was of a +very hard nature. To my astonishment it sunk in right up to the haft. + +“‘Why, Harry,’ I said, ‘this ground must have been disturbed!’ + +“‘I don’t think so, father,’ he answered; ‘but we will soon see,’ and +he began to shovel out the soil with his hands. ‘Oh,’ he said presently, +‘it’s only some old stones; the pick has gone down between them, look!’ +and he began to pull at one of the stones. + +“‘I say, Dad,’ he said presently, almost in a whisper, ‘it’s precious +heavy, feel it;’ and he rose and gave me a round, brownish lump about +the size of a very large apple, which he was holding in both his hands. +I took it curiously and held it up to the light. It _was_ very heavy. +The moonlight fell upon its rough and filth-encrusted surface, and as I +looked, curious little thrills of excitement began to pass through me. +But I could not be sure. + +“‘Give me your knife, Harry,’ I said. + +“He did so, and resting the brown stone on my knee I scratched at its +surface. Great heavens, it was soft! + +“Another second and the secret was out, we had found a great nugget of +pure gold, four pounds of it or more. ‘It’s gold, lad,’ I said, ‘it’s +gold, or I’m a Dutchman!’ + +“Harry, with his eyes starting out of his head, glared down at the +gleaming yellow scratch that I had made upon the virgin metal, and then +burst out into yell upon yell of exultation, which went ringing away +across the silent claims like shrieks of somebody being murdered. + +“‘Be quiet!’ I said; ‘do you want every thief on the fields after you?’ + +“Scarcely were the words out of my mouth when I heard a stealthy +footstep approaching. I promptly put the big nugget down and sat on it, +and uncommonly hard it was. As I did so I saw a lean dark face poked +over the edge of the claim and a pair of beady eyes searching us out. +I knew the face, it belonged to a man of very bad character known as +Handspike Tom, who had, I understood, been so named at the Diamond +Fields because he had murdered his mate with a handspike. He was now no +doubt prowling about like a human hyæna to see what he could steal. + +“‘Is that you, ‘unter Quatermain?’ he said. + +“‘Yes, it’s I, Mr. Tom,’ I answered, politely. + +“‘And what might all that there yelling be?’ he asked. ‘I was walking +along, a-taking of the evening air and a-thinking on the stars, when I +‘ears ‘owl after ‘owl.’ + +“‘Well, Mr. Tom,’ I answered, ‘that is not to be wondered at, seeing +that like yourself they are nocturnal birds.’ + +“‘’Owl after ‘owl!’ he repeated sternly, taking no notice of my +interpretation, ‘and I stops and says, “That’s murder,” and I listens +again and thinks, “No, it ain’t; that ‘owl is the ‘owl of hexultation; +some one’s been and got his fingers into a gummy yeller pot, I’ll swear, +and gone off ‘is ‘ead in the sucking of them.” Now, ‘unter Quatermain, +is I right? is it nuggets? Oh, lor!’ and he smacked his lips +audibly--‘great big yellow boys--is it them that you have just been and +tumbled across?’ + +“‘No,’ I said boldly, ‘it isn’t’--the cruel gleam in his black eyes +altogether overcoming my aversion to untruth, for I knew that if once he +found out what it was that I was sitting on--and by the way I have +heard of rolling in gold being spoken of as a pleasant process, but I +certainly do not recommend anybody who values comfort to try sitting +on it--I should run a very good chance of being ‘handspiked’ before the +night was over. + +“‘If you want to know what it was, Mr. Tom,’ I went on, with my politest +air, although in agony from the nugget underneath--for I hold it is +always best to be polite to a man who is so ready with a handspike--‘my +boy and I have had a slight difference of opinion, and I was enforcing +my view of the matter upon him; that’s all.’ + +“‘Yes, Mr. Tom,’ put in Harry, beginning to weep, for Harry was a smart +boy, and saw the difficulty we were in, ‘that was it--I halloed because +father beat me.’ + +“‘Well, now, did yer, my dear boy--did yer? Well, all I can say is that +a played-out old claim is a wonderful queer sort of place to come to for +to argify at ten o’clock of night, and what’s more, my sweet youth, if +ever I should ‘ave the argifying of yer’--and he leered unpleasantly at +Harry--‘yer won’t ‘oller in quite such a jolly sort ‘o way. And now I’ll +be saying good-night, for I don’t like disturbing of a family party. +No, I ain’t that sort of man, I ain’t. Good-night to yer, ‘unter +Quatermain--good-night to yer, my argified young one;’ and Mr. Tom +turned away disappointed, and prowled off elsewhere, like a human +jackal, to see what he could thieve or kill. + +“‘Thank goodness!’ I said, as I slipped off the lump of gold. ‘Now, +then, do you get up, Harry, and see if that consummate villain has +gone.’ Harry did so, and reported that he had vanished towards Pilgrim’s +Rest, and then we set to work, and very carefully, but trembling with +excitement, with our hands hollowed out all the space of ground into +which I had struck the pick. Yes, as I hoped, there was a regular nest +of nuggets, twelve in all, running from the size of a hazel-nut to that +of a hen’s egg, though of course the first one was much larger than +that. How they all came there nobody can say; it was one of those +extraordinary freaks, with stories of which, at any rate, all people +acquainted with alluvial gold-mining will be familiar. It turned out +afterwards that the American who sold me the claim had in the same way +made his pile--a much larger one than ours, by the way--out of a single +pocket, and then worked for six months without seeing colour, after +which he gave it up. + +“At any rate, there the nuggets were, to the value, as it turned out +afterwards, of about twelve hundred and fifty pounds, so that after all +I took out of that hole four hundred and fifty pounds more than I put +into it. We got them all out and wrapped them up in a handkerchief, and +then, fearing to carry home so much treasure, especially as we knew that +Mr. Handspike Tom was on the prowl, made up our minds to pass the +night where we were--a necessity which, disagreeable as it was, was +wonderfully sweetened by the presence of that handkerchief full of +virgin gold--the interest of my lost half-sovereign. + +“Slowly the night wore away, for with the fear of Handspike Tom before +my eyes I did not dare to go to sleep, and at last the dawn came. I got +up and watched its growth, till it opened like a flower upon the eastern +sky, and the sunbeams began to spring up in splendour from mountain-top +to mountain-top. I watched it, and as I did so it flashed upon me, with +a complete conviction which I had not felt before, that I had had enough +of gold-mining to last me the rest of my natural life, and I then and +there made up my mind to clear out of Pilgrims’ Rest and go and shoot +buffalo towards Delagoa Bay. Then I turned, took the pick and shovel, +and although it was a Sunday morning, woke up Harry and set to work +to see if there were any more nuggets about. As I expected, there were +none. What we had got had lain together in a little pocket filled with +soil that felt quite different from the stiff stuff round and outside +the pocket. There was not another trace of gold. Of course it is +possible that there were more pocketfuls somewhere about, but all I have +to say is I made up my mind that, whoever found them, I should not; and, +as a matter of fact, I have since heard that this claim has been the +ruin of two or three people, as it very nearly was the ruin of me. + +“‘Harry,’ I said presently, ‘I am going away this week towards Delagoa +to shoot buffalo. Shall I take you with me, or send you down to Durban?’ + +“‘Oh, take me with you, father!’ begged Harry, ‘I want to kill a +buffalo!’ + +“‘And supposing that the buffalo kills you instead?’ I asked. + +“‘Oh, never mind,’ he said, gaily, ‘there are lots more where I came +from.’ + +“I rebuked him for his flippancy, but in the end I consented to take +him.” + + + +CHAPTER II. WHAT WAS FOUND IN THE POOL + +“Something over a fortnight had passed since the night when I lost +half-a-sovereign and found twelve hundred and fifty pounds in looking +for it, and instead of that horrid hole, for which, after all, Eldorado +was hardly a misnomer, a very different scene stretched away before us +clad in the silver robe of the moonlight. We were camped--Harry and +I, two Kaffirs, a Scotch cart, and six oxen--on the swelling side of a +great wave of bushclad land. Just where we had made our camp, however, +the bush was very sparse, and only grew about in clumps, while here +and there were single flat-topped mimosa-trees. To our right a little +stream, which had cut a deep channel for itself in the bosom of the +slope, flowed musically on between banks green with maidenhair, wild +asparagus, and many beautiful grasses. The bed-rock here was red +granite, and in the course of centuries of patient washing the water had +hollowed out some of the huge slabs in its path into great troughs and +cups, and these we used for bathing-places. No Roman lady, with her +baths of porphyry or alabaster, could have had a more delicious spot to +bathe herself than we found within fifty yards of our skerm, or rough +inclosure of mimosa thorn, that we had dragged together round the cart +to protect us from the attacks of lions. That there were several of +these brutes about, I knew from their spoor, though we had neither heard +nor seen them. + +“Our bath was a little nook where the eddy of the stream had washed away +a mass of soil, and on the edge of it there grew a most beautiful old +mimosa thorn. Beneath the thorn was a large smooth slab of granite +fringed all round with maidenhair and other ferns, that sloped gently +down to a pool of the clearest sparkling water, which lay in a bowl of +granite about ten feet wide by five feet deep in the centre. Here to +this slab we went every morning to bathe, and that delightful bath is +among the most pleasant of my hunting reminiscences, as it is also, for +reasons which will presently appear, among the most painful. + +“It was a lovely night. Harry and I sat to the windward of the fire, +where the two Kaffirs were busily employed in cooking some impala steaks +off a buck which Harry, to his great joy, had shot that morning, and +were as perfectly contented with ourselves and the world at large as two +people could possibly be. The night was beautiful, and it would require +somebody with more words on the tip of his tongue than I have to +describe properly the chastened majesty of those moonlit wilds. Away for +ever and for ever, away to the mysterious north, rolled the great bush +ocean over which the silence brooded. There beneath us a mile or more to +the right ran the wide Oliphant, and mirror-like flashed back the moon, +whose silver spears were shivered on its breast, and then tossed in +twisted lines of light far and wide about the mountains and the plain. +Down upon the river-banks grew great timber-trees that through the +stillness pointed solemnly to Heaven, and the beauty of the night lay +upon them like a cloud. Everywhere was silence--silence in the starred +depths, silence on the bosom of the sleeping earth. Now, if ever, great +thoughts might rise in a man’s mind, and for a space he might forget his +littleness in the sense that he partook of the pure immensity about him. + +“‘Hark! what was that?’ + +“From far away down by the river there comes a mighty rolling sound, +then another, and another. It is the lion seeking his meat. + +“I saw Harry shiver and turn a little pale. He was a plucky boy enough, +but the roar of a lion heard for the first time in the solemn bush veldt +at night is apt to shake the nerves of any lad. + +“‘Lions, my boy,’ I said; ‘they are hunting down by the river there; +but I don’t think that you need make yourself uneasy. We have been here +three nights now, and if they were going to pay us a visit I think that +they would have done so before this. However, we will make up the fire.’ + +“‘Here, Pharaoh, do you and Jim-Jim get some more wood before we go to +sleep, else the cats will be purring round you before morning.’ + +“Pharaoh, a great brawny Swazi, who had been working for me at Pilgrims’ +Rest, laughed, rose, and stretched himself, then calling to Jim-Jim to +bring the axe and a reim, started off in the moonlight towards a clump +of sugar-bush where we cut our fuel from some dead trees. He was a +fine fellow in his way, was Pharaoh, and I think that he had been named +Pharaoh because he had an Egyptian cast of countenance and a royal +sort of swagger about him. But his way was a somewhat peculiar way, on +account of the uncertainty of his temper, and very few people could get +on with him; also if he could find liquor he would drink like a fish, +and when he drank he became shockingly bloodthirsty. These were his bad +points; his good ones were that, like most people of the Zulu blood, +he became exceedingly attached if he took to you at all; he was a +hard-working and intelligent man, and about as dare-devil and plucky +a fellow at a pinch as I have ever had to do with. He was about +five-and-thirty years of age or so, but not a ‘keshla’ or ringed man. I +believe that he had got into trouble in some way in Swaziland, and the +authorities of his tribe would not allow him to assume the ring, and +that is why he came to work at the gold-fields. The other man, or rather +lad, Jim-Jim, was a Mapoch Kaffir, or Knobnose, and even in the light of +subsequent events I fear I cannot speak very well of him. He was an +idle and careless young rascal, and only that very morning I had to tell +Pharaoh to give him a beating for letting the oxen stray, which Pharaoh +did with the greatest gusto, although he was by way of being very fond +of Jim-Jim. Indeed, I saw him consoling Jim-Jim afterwards with a pinch +of snuff from his own ear-box, whilst he explained to him that the next +time it came in the way of duty to flog him, he meant to thrash him with +the other hand, so as to cross the old cuts and make a “pretty pattern” + on his back. + +“Well, off they went, though Jim-Jim did not at all like leaving the +camp at that hour, even when the moonlight was so bright, and in due +course returned safely enough with a great bundle of wood. I laughed at +Jim-Jim, and asked him if he had seen anything, and he said yes, he had; +he had seen two large yellow eyes staring at him from behind a bush, and +heard something snore. + +“As, however, on further investigation the yellow eyes and the snore +appeared to have existed only in Jim-Jim’s lively imagination, I was +not greatly disturbed by this alarming report; but having seen to the +making-up of the fire, got into the skerm and went quietly to sleep with +Harry by my side. + +“Some hours afterwards I woke up with a start. I don’t know what woke +me. The moon had gone down, or at least was almost hidden behind the +soft horizon of bush, only her red rim being visible. Also a wind had +sprung up and was driving long hurrying lines of cloud across the starry +sky, and altogether a great change had come over the mood of the night. +By the look of the sky I judged that we must be about two hours from +day-break. + +“The oxen, which were as usual tied to the disselboom of the Scotch +cart, were very restless--they kept snuffling and blowing, and rising +up and lying down again, so I at once suspected that they must wind +something. Presently I knew what it was that they winded, for within +fifty yards of us a lion roared, not very loud, but quite loud enough to +make my heart come into my mouth. + +“Pharaoh was sleeping on the other side of the cart, and, looking +beneath it, I saw him raise his head and listen. + +“‘Lion, Inkoos,’ he whispered, ‘lion!’ + +“Jim-Jim also jumped up, and by the faint light I could see that he was +in a very great fright indeed. + +“Thinking that it was as well to be prepared for emergencies, I told +Pharaoh to throw wood upon the fire, and woke up Harry, who I verily +believe was capable of sleeping happily through the crack of doom. +He was a little scared at first, but presently the excitement of the +position came home to him, and he grew quite anxious to see his majesty +face to face. I got my rifle handy and gave Harry his--a Westley +Richards falling block, which is a very useful gun for a youth, being +light and yet a good killing rifle, and then we waited. + +“For a long time nothing happened, and I began to think that the best +thing we could do would be to go to sleep again, when suddenly I heard +a sound more like a cough than a roar within about twenty yards of +the skerm. We all looked out, but could see nothing; and then followed +another period of suspense. It was very trying to the nerves, this +waiting for an attack that might be developed from any quarter or might +not be developed at all; and though I was an old hand at this sort of +business I was anxious about Harry, for it is wonderful how the presence +of anybody to whom one is attached unnerves a man in moments of danger. +I know, although it was now chilly enough, I could feel the perspiration +running down my nose, and in order to relieve the strain on my attention +employed myself in watching a beetle which appeared to be attracted +by the firelight, and was sitting before it thoughtfully rubbing his +antennæ against each other. + +“Suddenly, the beetle gave such a jump that he nearly pitched headlong +into the fire, and so did we all--gave jumps, I mean, and no wonder, +for from right under the skerm fence there came a most frightful roar--a +roar that literally made the Scotch cart shake and took the breath out +of me. + +“Harry made an exclamation, Jim-Jim howled outright, while the poor +oxen, who were terrified almost out of their hides, shivered and lowed +piteously. + +“The night was almost entirely dark now, for the moon had quite set, and +the clouds had covered up the stars, so that the only light we had came +from the fire, which by this time was burning up brightly again. But, +as you know, firelight is absolutely useless to shoot by, it is so +uncertain, and besides, it penetrates but a very little way into the +darkness, although if one is in the dark outside, one can see it from +far away. + +“Presently the oxen, after standing still for a moment, suddenly winded +the lion and did what I feared they would do--began to ‘skrek,’ that is, +to try and break loose from the trektow to which they were tied, to rush +off madly into the wilderness. Lions know of this habit on the part of +oxen, which are, I do believe, the most foolish animals under the sun, +a sheep being a very Solomon compared to them; and it is by no means +uncommon for a lion to get in such a position that a herd or span of +oxen may wind him, skrek, break their reims, and rush off into the bush. +Of course, once there, they are helpless in the dark; and then the lion +chooses the one that he loves best and eats him at his leisure. + +“Well, round and round went our six poor oxen, nearly trampling us to +death in their mad rush; indeed, had we not hastily tumbled out of the +way, we should have been trodden to death, or at the least seriously +injured. As it was, Harry was run over, and poor Jim-Jim being caught +by the trektow somewhere beneath the arm, was hurled right across the +skerm, landing by my side only some paces off. + +“Snap went the disselboom of the cart beneath the transverse strain put +upon it. Had it not broken the cart would have overset; as it was, +in another minute, oxen, cart, trektow, reims, broken disselboom, and +everything were soon tied in one vast heaving, plunging, bellowing, and +seemingly inextricable knot. + +“For a moment or two this state of affairs took my attention off from +the lion that had caused it, but whilst I was wondering what on earth +was to be done next, and how we should manage if the cattle broke loose +into the bush and were lost--for cattle frightened in this manner will +so straight away like mad things--my thoughts were suddenly recalled to +the lion in a very painful fashion. + +“For at that moment I perceived by the light of the fire a kind of gleam +of yellow travelling through the air towards us. + +“‘The lion! the lion!’ holloaed Pharaoh, and as he did so, he, or rather +she, for it was a great gaunt lioness, half wild no doubt with hunger, +lit right in the middle of the skerm, and stood there in the smoky gloom +lashing her tail and roaring. I seized my rifle and fired it at her, +but what between the confusion, my agitation, and the uncertain light, +I missed her, and nearly shot Pharaoh. The flash of the rifle, however, +threw the whole scene into strong relief, and a wild sight it was I can +tell you--with the seething mass of oxen twisted all round the cart, in +such a fashion that their heads looked as though they were growing out +of their rumps; and their horns seemed to protrude from their backs; the +smoking fire with just a blaze in the heart of the smoke; Jim-Jim in the +foreground, where the oxen had thrown him in their wild rush, stretched +out there in terror, and then as a centre to the picture the great gaunt +lioness glaring round with hungry yellow eyes, roaring and whining as +she made up her mind what to do. + +“It did not take her long, however, just the time that it takes a flash +to die into darkness, for, before I could fire again or do anything, +with a most fiendish snort she sprang upon poor Jim-Jim. + +“I heard the unfortunate lad shriek, and then almost instantly I saw his +legs thrown into the air. The lioness had seized him by the neck, and +with a sudden jerk thrown his body over her back so that his legs hung +down upon the further side.[*] Then, without the slightest hesitation, +and apparently without any difficulty, she cleared the skerm face at +a single bound, and bearing poor Jim-Jim with her vanished into the +darkness beyond, in the direction of the bathing-place that I have +already described. We jumped up perfectly mad with horror and fear, and +rushed wildly after her, firing shots at haphazard on the chance that +she would be frightened by them into dropping her prey, but nothing +could we see, and nothing could we hear. The lioness had vanished into +the darkness, taking Jim-Jim with her, and to attempt to follow her till +daylight was madness. We should only expose ourselves to the risk of a +like fate. + + [*] I have known a lion carry a two-year-old ox over a stone + wall four feet high in this fashion, and a mile away into + the bush beyond. He was subsequently poisoned by strychnine + put into the carcass of the ox, and I still have his claws. + --Editor. + +“So with scared and heavy hearts we crept back to the skerm, and sat +down to wait for the dawn, which now could not be much more than an hour +off. It was absolutely useless to try even to disentangle the oxen till +then, so all that was left for us to do was to sit and wonder how it +came to pass that the one should be taken and the other left, and to +hope against hope that our poor servant might have been mercifully +delivered from the lion’s jaws. + +“At length the faint dawn came stealing like a ghost up the long slope +of bush, and glinted on the tangled oxen’s horns, and with white and +frightened faces we got up and set to the task of disentangling the +oxen, till such time as there should be light enough to enable us to +follow the trail of the lioness which had gone off with Jim-Jim. +And here a fresh trouble awaited us, for when at last with infinite +difficulty we had disentangled the great helpless brutes, it was only +to find that one of the best of them was very sick. There was no mistake +about the way he stood with his legs slightly apart and his head hanging +down. He had got the redwater, I was sure of it. Of all the difficulties +connected with life and travelling in South Africa those connected with +oxen are perhaps the worst. The ox is the most exasperating animal in +the world, a negro excepted. He has absolutely no constitution, and +never neglects an opportunity of falling sick of some mysterious +disease. He will get thin upon the slightest provocation, and from mere +maliciousness die of ‘poverty’; whereas it is his chief delight to turn +round and refuse to pull whenever he finds himself well in the centre of +a river, or the waggon-wheel nicely fast in a mud hole. Drive him a few +miles over rough roads and you will find that he is footsore; turn him +loose to feed and you will discover that he has run away, or if he has +not run away he has of malice aforethought eaten ‘tulip’ and poisoned +himself. There is always something with him. The ox is a brute. It was +of a piece with his accustomed behaviour for the one in question to +break out--on purpose probably--with redwater just when a lion had +walked off with his herd. It was exactly what I should have expected, +and I was therefore neither disappointed nor surprised. + +“Well, it was no use crying as I should almost have liked to do, because +if this ox had redwater it was probable that the rest of them had it +too, although they had been sold to me as ‘salted,’ that is, proof +against such diseases as redwater and lungsick. One gets hardened to +this sort of thing in South Africa in course of time, for I suppose in +no other country in the world is the waste of animal life so great. + +“So taking my rifle and telling Harry to follow me (for we had to leave +Pharaoh to look after the oxen--Pharaoh’s lean kine, I called them), +I started to see if anything could be found of or appertaining to the +unfortunate Jim-Jim. The ground round our little camp was hard and +rocky, and we could not hit off any spoor of the lioness, though just +outside the skerm was a drop or two of blood. About three hundred yards +from the camp, and a little to the right, was a patch of sugar bush +mixed up with the usual mimosa, and for this I made, thinking that the +lioness would have been sure to take her prey there to devour it. On we +pushed through the long grass that was bent down beneath the weight of +the soaking dew. In two minutes we were wet through up to the thighs, +as wet as though we had waded through water. In due course, however, +we reached the patch of bush, and by the grey light of the morning +cautiously and slowly pushed our way into it. It was very dark under the +trees, for the sun was not yet up, so we walked with the most extreme +care, half expecting every minute to come across the lioness licking the +bones of poor Jim-Jim. But no lioness could we see, and as for Jim-Jim +there was not even a finger-joint of him to be found. Evidently they had +not come here. + +“So pushing through the bush we proceeded to hunt every other likely +spot, but with the same result. + +“‘I suppose she must have taken him right away,’ I said at last, sadly +enough. ‘At any rate he will be dead by now, so God have mercy on him, +we can’t help him. What’s to be done now?’ + +“‘I suppose that we had better wash ourselves in the pool, and then go +back and get something to eat. I am filthy,’ said Harry. + +“This was a practical if a somewhat unfeeling suggestion. At least it +struck me as unfeeling to talk of washing when poor Jim-Jim had been so +recently eaten. However, I did not let my sentiment carry me away, so +we went down to the beautiful spot that I have described, to wash. I was +the first to reach it, which I did by scrambling down the ferny bank. +Then I turned round, and started back with a yell--as well I might, for +almost from beneath my feet there came a most awful snarl. + +“I had lit nearly upon the back of the lioness, that had been sleeping +on the slab where we always stood to dry ourselves after bathing. With a +snarl and a growl, before I could do anything, before I could even cock +my rifle, she had bounded right across the crystal pool, and vanished +over the opposite bank. It was all done in an instant, as quick as +thought. + +“She had been sleeping on the slab, and oh, horror! what was that +sleeping beside her? It was the red remains of poor Jim-Jim, lying on a +patch of blood-stained rock. + +“‘Oh! father, father!’ shrieked Harry, ‘look in the water!’ + +“I looked. There, floating in the centre of the lovely tranquil pool, +was Jim-Jim’s head. The lioness had bitten it right off, and it had +rolled down the sloping rock into the water.” + + + +CHAPTER III. JIM-JIM IS AVENGED + +“We never bathed in that pool again; indeed for my part I could never +look at its peaceful purity fringed round with waving ferns without +thinking of that ghastly head which rolled itself off through the water +when we tried to catch it. + +“Poor Jim-Jim! We buried what was left of him, which was not very much, +in an old bread-bag, and though whilst he lived his virtues were not +great, now that he was gone we could have wept over him. Indeed, Harry +did weep outright; while Pharaoh used very bad language in Zulu, and I +registered a quiet little vow on my account that I would let daylight +into that lioness before I was forty-eight hours older, if by any means +it could be done. + +“Well, we buried him, and there he lies in the bread-bag (which I +rather grudged him, as it was the only one we had), where lions will not +trouble him any more--though perhaps the hyænas will, if they consider +that there is enough on him left to make it worth their while to dig +him up. However, he won’t mind that; so there is an end of the book of +Jim-Jim. + +“The question that now remained was, how to circumvent his murderess. I +knew that she would be sure to return as soon as she was hungry again, +but I did not know when she would be hungry. She had left so little of +Jim-Jim behind her that I should scarcely expect to see her the next +night, unless indeed she had cubs. Still, I felt that it would not +be wise to miss the chance of her coming, so we set about making +preparations for her reception. The first thing that we did was to +strengthen the bush wall of the skerm by dragging a large quantity of +the tops of thorn-trees together, and laying them one on the other +in such a fashion that the thorns pointed outwards. This, after our +experience of the fate of Jim-Jim, seemed a very necessary precaution, +since if where one goat can jump another can follow, as the Kaffirs say, +how much more is this the case when an animal so active and so vigorous +as the lion is concerned! And now came the further question, how were we +to beguile the lioness to return? Lions are animals that have a strange +knack of appearing when they are not wanted, and keeping studiously out +of the way when their presence is required. Of course it was possible +that if she had found Jim-Jim to her liking she would come back to see +if there were any more of his kind about, but still it was not to be +relied on. + +“Harry, who as I have said was an eminently practical boy, suggested to +Pharaoh that he should go and sit outside the skerm in the moonlight as +a sort of bait, assuring him that he would have nothing to fear, as +we should certainly kill the lioness before she killed him. Pharaoh +however, strangely enough, did not seem to take to this suggestion. +Indeed, he walked away, much put out with Harry for having made it. + +“It gave me an idea, however. + +“‘By Jove!’ I said, ‘there is the sick ox. He must die sooner or later, +so we may as well utilize him.’ + +“Now, about thirty yards to the left of our skerm, as one stood facing +down the hill towards the river, was the stump of a tree that had been +destroyed by lightning many years before, standing equidistant between, +but a little in front of, two clumps of bush, which were severally some +fifteen paces from it. + +“Here was the very place to tie the ox; and accordingly a little before +sunset the sick animal was led forth by Pharaoh and made fast there, +little knowing, poor brute, for what purpose; and we began our long +vigil, this time without a fire, for our object was to attract the +lioness and not to scare her. + +“For hour after hour we waited, keeping ourselves awake by pinching each +other--it is, by the way, remarkable what a difference of opinion as +to the force of pinches requisite to the occasion exists in the mind of +pincher and pinched--but no lioness came. At last the moon went down, +and darkness swallowed up the world, as the Kaffirs say, but no lions +came to swallow us up. We waited till dawn, because we did not dare to +go to sleep, and then at last with many bad thoughts in our hearts we +took such rest as we could get, and that was not much. + +“That morning we went out shooting, not because we wanted to, for we +were too depressed and tired, but because we had no more meat. For three +hours or more we wandered about in a broiling sun looking for something +to kill, but with absolutely no results. For some unknown reason the +game had grown very scarce about the spot, though when I was there two +years before every sort of large game except rhinoceros and elephant +was particularly abundant. The lions, of whom there were many, alone +remained, and I fancy that it was the fact of the game they live on +having temporarily migrated which made them so daring and ferocious. As +a general rule a lion is an amiable animal enough if he is left alone, +but a hungry lion is almost as dangerous as a hungry man. One hears a +great many different opinions expressed as to whether or no the lion is +remarkable for his courage, but the result of my experience is that very +much depends upon the state of his stomach. A hungry lion will not stick +at a trifle, whereas a full one will flee at a very small rebuke. + +“Well, we hunted all about, and nothing could we see, not even a duiker +or a bush buck; and at last, thoroughly tired and out of temper, we +started on our way back to camp, passing over the brow of a steepish +hill to do so. Just as we climbed the crest of the ridge I came to a +stand, for there, about six hundred yards to my left, his beautiful +curved horns outlined against the soft blue of the sky, I saw a noble +koodoo bull (_Strepsiceros kudu_). Even at that distance, for as you +know my eyes are very keen, I could distinctly see the white stripes +on its side when the light fell upon it, and its large and pointed ears +twitch as the flies worried it. + +“So far so good; but how were we to get at it? It was ridiculous to risk +a shot at that great distance, and yet both the ground and the wind lay +very ill for stalking. It seemed to me that the only chance would be to +make a detour of at least a mile or more, and come up on the other side +of the koodoo. I called Harry to my side, and explained to him what I +thought would be our best course, when suddenly, without any delay, the +koodoo saved us further trouble by suddenly starting off down the hill +like a leaping rocket. I do not know what had frightened it, certainly +we had not. Perhaps a hyæna or a leopard--a tiger as we call it +there--had suddenly appeared; at any rate, off it went, running +slightly towards us, and I never saw a buck go faster. I am afraid that +forgetting Harry’s presence I used strong language, and really there +was some excuse. As for Harry, he stood watching the beautiful animal’s +course. Presently it vanished behind a patch of bush, to emerge a +few seconds later about five hundred paces from us, on a stretch of +comparatively level ground that was strewn with boulders. On it went, +clearing the boulders in its path with a succession of great bounds +that were beautiful to behold. As it did so, I happened to look round at +Harry, and perceived to my astonishment that he had got his rifle to his +shoulder. + +“‘You young donkey!’ I exclaimed, ‘surely you are not going to’--and +just at that moment the rifle went off. + +“And then I think I saw what was in its way one of the most wonderful +things I ever remember in my hunting experience. The koodoo was at the +moment in the air, clearing a pile of stones with its fore-legs tucked +up underneath it. All of an instant the legs stretched themselves out +in a spasmodic fashion, it lit on them, and they doubled up beneath it. +Down went the noble buck, down upon his head. For a moment he seemed to +be standing on his horns, his hind-legs high in the air, and then over +he rolled and lay still. + +“‘Great Heavens!’ I said, ‘why, you’ve hit him! He’s dead.’ + +“As for Harry, he said nothing, but merely looked scared, as well he +might, for such a marvellous, I may say such an appalling and ghastly +fluke it has never been my lot to witness. A man, let alone a boy, +might have fired a thousand such shots without ever touching the object; +which, mind you, was springing and bounding over rocks quite five +hundred yards away; and here this lad--taking a snap shot, and merely +allowing for speed and elevation by instinct, for he did not put up his +sights--had knocked the bull over as dead as a door-nail. Well, I made +no further remark, as the occasion was too solemn for talking, but +merely led the way to where the koodoo had fallen. There he lay, +beautiful and quite still; and there, high up, about half-way down his +neck, was a neat round hole. The bullet had severed the spinal marrow, +passing through the vertebræ and away on the other side. + +“It was already evening when, having cut as much of the best meat as we +could carry from the bull, and tied a red handkerchief and some tufts of +grass to his spiral horns, which, by the way, must have been nearly +five feet in length, in the hope of keeping the jackals and aasvögels +(vultures) from him, we finally got back to camp, to find Pharaoh, who +was getting rather anxious at our absence, ready to greet us with the +pleasing intelligence that another ox was sick. But even this dreadful +bit of intelligence could not dash Harry’s spirits; the fact of the +matter being, incredible as it may appear, I do verily believe that in +his heart of hearts he set down the death of the koodoo to the credit +of his own skill. Now, though the lad was a pretty shot enough, this of +course was ridiculous, and I told him so plainly. + +“By the time that we had finished our supper of koodoo steaks (which +would have been better if the koodoo had been a little younger), it was +time to get ready for Jim-Jim’s murderess. Accordingly we determined +again to expose the unfortunate sick ox, that was now absolutely on +its last legs, being indeed scarcely able to stand. All the afternoon +Pharaoh told us it had been walking round and round in a circle as +cattle in the last stage of redwater generally do. Now it had come to a +standstill, and was swaying to and fro with its head hanging down. So we +tied him up to the stump of the tree as on the previous night, knowing +that if the lioness did not kill him he would be dead by morning. Indeed +I was afraid that he would die at once, in which case he would be of but +little use as a bait, for the lion is a sportsmanlike animal, and unless +he is very hungry generally prefers to kill his own dinner, though when +that is once killed he will come back to it again and again. + +“Then we again went through our experience of the previous night, +sitting there hour after hour, till at last Harry fell fast asleep, and, +though I am accustomed to this sort of thing, even I could scarcely keep +my eyes open. Indeed I was just dropping off, when suddenly Pharaoh gave +me a push. + +“‘_Listen!_’ he whispered. + +“I was awake in a second, and listening with all my ears. From the clump +of bush to the right of the lightning-shattered stump to which the sick +ox was tied came a faint crackling noise. Presently it was repeated. +Something was moving there, faintly and quietly enough, but still moving +perceptibly, for in the intense stillness of the night any sound seemed +loud. + +“I woke up Harry, who instantly said, ‘Where is she? where is she?’ and +began to point his rifle about in a fashion that was more dangerous to +us and the oxen than to any possible lioness. + +“‘Be quiet!’ I whispered, savagely; and as I did so, with a low and +hideous growl a flash of yellow light sped out of the clump of bush, +past the ox, and into the corresponding clump upon the other side. The +poor sick creature gave a sort of groan, staggered round and then began +to tremble. I could see it do so clearly in the moonlight, which was +now very bright, and I felt a brute for having exposed the unfortunate +animal to such agony as he must undoubtedly be undergoing. The lioness, +for it was she, passed so quickly that we could not even distinguish her +movements, much less fire. Indeed at night it is absolutely useless to +attempt to shoot unless the object is very close and standing perfectly +still, and then the light is so deceptive and it is so difficult to see +the foresight that the best shot will miss more often than he hits. + +“‘She will be back again presently,’ I said; ‘look out, but for Heaven’s +sake don’t fire unless I tell you to.’ + +“Hardly were the words out of my mouth when back she came, and again +passed the ox without striking him. + +“‘What on earth is she doing?’ whispered Harry. + +“‘Playing with it as a cat does with a mouse, I suppose. She will kill +it presently.’ + +“As I spoke, the lioness once more flashed out of the bush, and this +time sprang right over the doomed and trembling ox. It was a beautiful +sight to see her clear him in the bright moonlight, as though it were a +trick which she had been taught. + +“‘I believe that she has escaped from a circus,’ whispered Harry; ‘it’s +jolly to see her jump.’ + +“I said nothing, but I thought to myself that if it was, Master Harry +did not quite appreciate the performance, and small blame to him. At any +rate, his teeth were chattering a little. + +“Then came a longish pause, and I began to think that the lioness must +have gone away, when suddenly she appeared again, and with one mighty +bound landed right on to the ox, and struck it a frightful blow with her +paw. + +“Down it went, and lay on the ground kicking feebly. She put down her +wicked-looking head, and, with a fierce growl of contentment, buried her +long white teeth in the throat of the dying animal. When she lifted +her muzzle again it was all stained with blood. She stood facing us +obliquely, licking her bloody chops and making a sort of purring noise. + +“‘Now’s our time,’ I whispered, ‘fire when I do.’ + +“I got on to her as well as I could, but Harry, instead of waiting for +me as I told him, fired before I did, and that of course hurried me. +But when the smoke cleared, I was delighted to see that the lioness was +rolling about on the ground behind the body of the ox, which covered her +in such a fashion, however, that we could not shoot again to make an end +of her. + +“‘She’s done for! she’s dead, the yellow devil!’ yelled Pharaoh +in exultation; and at that very moment the lioness, with a sort of +convulsive rush, half-rolled, half-sprang, into the patch of thick bush +to the right. I fired after her as she went, but so far as I could see +without result; indeed the probability is that I missed her clean. At +any rate she got to the bush in safety, and once there, began to make +such a diabolical noise as I never heard before. She would whine and +shriek with pain, and then burst out into perfect volleys of roaring +that shook the whole place. + +“‘Well,’ I said, ‘we must just let her roar; to go into that bush after +her at night would be madness.’ + +“At that moment, to my astonishment and alarm, there came an answering +roar from the direction of the river, and then another from behind +the swell of bush. Evidently there were more lions about. The wounded +lioness redoubled her efforts, with the object, I suppose, of summoning +the others to her assistance. At any rate they came, and quickly too, +for within five minutes, peeping through the bushes of our skerm fence, +we saw a magnificent lion bounding along towards us, through the tall +tambouki grass, that in the moonlight looked for all the world like +ripening corn. On he came in great leaps, and a glorious sight it was to +see him. When within fifty yards or so, he stood still in an open space +and roared. The lioness roared too; then there came a third roar, and +another great black-maned lion stalked majestically up, and joined +number two, till really I began to realize what the ox must have +undergone. + +“‘Now, Harry,’ I whispered, ‘whatever you do don’t fire, it’s too risky. +If they let us be, let them be.’ + +“Well, the pair marched off to the bush, where the wounded lioness +was now roaring double tides, and the three of them began to snarl and +grumble away together there. Presently, however, the lioness ceased +roaring, and the two lions came out again, the black-maned one first--to +prospect, I suppose--walked to where the carcass of the ox lay, and +sniffed at it. + +“‘Oh, what a shot!’ whispered Harry, who was trembling with excitement. + +“‘Yes,’ I said; ‘but don’t fire; they might all of them come for us.’ + +“Harry said nothing, but whether it was from the natural impetuosity of +youth, or because he was thrown off his balance by excitement, or from +sheer recklessness and devilment, I am sure I cannot tell you, never +having been able to get a satisfactory explanation from him; but at +any rate the fact remains, he, without word or warning, entirely +disregarding my exhortations, lifted up his Westley Richards and fired +at the black-maned lion, and, what is more, hit it slightly on the +flank. + +“Next second there was a most awful roar from the injured lion. He +glared around him and roared with pain, for he was badly stung; and +then, before I could make up my mind what to do, the great black-maned +brute, clearly ignorant of the cause of his hurt, sprang right at the +throat of his companion, to whom he evidently attributed his misfortune. +It was a curious sight to see the astonishment of the other lion at this +most unprovoked assault. Over he rolled with an angry snarl, and on to +him sprang the black-maned demon, and began to worry him. This finally +awoke the yellow-maned lion to a sense of the situation, and I am bound +to say that he rose to it in a most effective manner. Somehow or other +he got to his feet, and, roaring and snarling frightfully, closed with +his mighty foe. + +“Then ensued a most tremendous scene. You know what a shocking thing +it is to see two large dogs fighting with abandonment. Well, a whole +hundred of dogs could not have looked half so terrible as those two +great brutes as they rolled and roared and rent in their horrid rage. +They gripped each other, they tore at each other’s throat, till their +manes came out in handfuls, and the red blood streamed down their yellow +hides. It was an awful and a wonderful thing to see the great cats +tearing at each other with all the fierce energy of their savage +strength, and making the night hideous with their heart-shaking noise. +And the fight was a grand one too. For some minutes it was impossible +to say which was getting the best of it, but at last I saw that the +black-maned lion, though he was slightly bigger, was failing. I am +inclined to think that the wound in his flank crippled him. Anyway, +he began to get the worst of it, which served him right, as he was the +aggressor. Still I could not help feeling sorry for him, for he had +fought a gallant fight, when his antagonist finally got him by the +throat, and, struggle and strike out as he would, began to shake the +life out of him. Over and over they rolled together, a hideous and +awe-inspiring spectacle, but the yellow one would not loose his hold, +and at length poor black-mane grew faint, his breath came in great +snorts and seemed to rattle in his nostrils, then he opened his huge +mouth, gave the ghost of a roar, quivered, and was dead. + +“When he was quite sure that the victory was his own, the yellow-maned +lion loosed his grip and sniffed at the fallen foe. Then he licked the +dead lion’s eye, and next, with his fore-feet resting on the carcass, +sent up his own chant of victory, that went rolling and pealing down +the dark paths of the night. And at this point I interfered. Taking a +careful sight at the centre of his body, in order to give the largest +possible margin for error, I fired, and sent a.570 express bullet right +through him, and down he dropped dead upon the carcass of his mighty +foe. + +“After that, fairly satisfied with our performances, we slept peaceably +till dawn, leaving Pharaoh to keep watch in case any more lions should +take it into their heads to come our way. + +“When the sun was well up we arose, and went very cautiously--at least +Pharaoh and I did, for I would not allow Harry to come--to see if we +could find any trace of the wounded lioness. She had ceased roaring +immediately upon the arrival of the two lions, and had not made a sound +since, from which we concluded that she was probably dead. I was armed +with my express, while Pharaoh, in whose hands a rifle was indeed a +dangerous weapon, to his companions, had an axe. On our way we stopped +to look at the two dead lions. They were magnificent animals, both of +them, but their pelts were entirely spoiled by the terrible mauling they +had given to each other, which was a sad pity. + +“In another minute we were following the blood spoor of the wounded +lioness into the bush, where she had taken refuge. This, I need hardly +say, we did with the utmost caution; indeed, I for one did not at +all like the job, and was only consoled by the reflection that it +was necessary, and that the bush was not thick. Well, we stood there, +keeping as far from the trees as possible, searching and looking about, +but no lioness could we see, though we saw plenty of blood. + +“‘She must have gone somewhere to die, Pharaoh,’ I said in Zulu. + +“‘Yes, Inkoos,’ he answered, ‘she has certainly gone away.’ + +“Hardly were the words out of his mouth, when I heard a roar, and +starting round saw the lioness emerge from the very centre of a bush, in +which she had been curled up, just behind Pharaoh. Up she went on to +her hind-legs, and as she did so I noticed that one of her fore-paws was +broken near the shoulder, for it hung limply down. Up she went, towering +right over Pharaoh’s head, as she did so lifting her uninjured paw to +strike him to the earth. And then, before I could get my rifle round or +do anything to avert the oncoming catastrophe, the Zulu did a very brave +and clever thing. Realizing his own imminent danger, he bounded to one +side, and swinging the heavy axe round his head, brought it down right +on to the back of the lioness, severing the vertebræ and killing her +instantaneously. It was wonderful to see her collapse all in a heap like +an empty sack. + +“‘My word, Pharaoh!’ I said, ‘that was well done, and none too soon.’ + +“‘Yes,’ he answered, with a little laugh, ‘it was a good stroke, Inkoos. +Jim-Jim will sleep better now.’ + +“Then, calling Harry to us, we examined the lioness. She was old, if one +might judge from her worn teeth, and not very large, but thickly made, +and must have possessed extraordinary vitality to have lived so long, +shot as she was; for, in addition to her broken shoulder, my express +bullet had blown a great hole in her middle that one might have put a +fist into. + +“Well, that is the story of the death of poor Jim-Jim and how we avenged +it. It is rather interesting in its way, because of the fight between +the two lions, of which I never saw the like in all my experience, and I +know something of lions and their manners.” + +“And how did you get back to Pilgrim’s Rest?” I asked Hunter Quatermain +when he had finished his yarn. + +“Ah, we had a nice job with that,” he answered. “The second sick ox +died, and so did another, and we had to get on as best we could with +three harnessed unicorn fashion, while we pushed behind. We did about +four miles a day, and it took us nearly a month, during the last week of +which we pretty well starved.” + +“I notice,” I said, “that most of your trips ended in disaster of some +sort or another, and yet you went on making them, which strikes one as a +little strange.” + +“Yes, I dare say: but then, remember I got my living for many years out +of hunting. Besides, half the charm of the thing lay in the dangers and +disasters, though they were terrible enough at the time. Another thing +is, my trips were not all disastrous. Some time, if you like, I will +tell you a story of one which was very much the reverse, for I made +several thousand pounds out of it, and saw one of the most extraordinary +sights a hunter ever came across. It was on this trip that I met the +bravest native woman I ever knew; her name was Maiwa. But it is too late +now, and besides, I am tired of talking about myself. Pass the water, +will you!” + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s A Tale of Three Lions, by H. Rider Haggard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TALE OF THREE LIONS *** + +***** This file should be named 2729-0.txt or 2729-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/2729/ + +Produced by John Bickers, Emma Dudding, and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/2729-0.zip b/2729-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e2e34ec --- /dev/null +++ b/2729-0.zip diff --git a/2729-8.txt b/2729-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f3cb5a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/2729-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1522 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Tale of Three Lions, by H. Rider Haggard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Tale of Three Lions + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Posting Date: December 3, 2008 [EBook #2729] +Release Date: July, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TALE OF THREE LIONS *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, Emma Dudding, and Dagny + + + + + +A TALE OF THREE LIONS + +By H. Rider Haggard + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE INTEREST ON TEN SHILLINGS + +Most of you will have heard that Allan Quatermain, who was one of the +party that discovered King Solomon's mines some little time ago, and who +afterwards came to live in England near his friend Sir Henry Curtis. +He went back to the wilderness again, as these old hunters almost +invariably do, on one pretext or another.[*] They cannot endure +civilization for very long, its noise and racket and the omnipresence +of broad-clothed humanity proving more trying to their nerves than the +dangers of the desert. I think that they feel lonely here, for it is +a fact that is too little understood, though it has often been stated, +that there is no loneliness like the loneliness of crowds, especially +to those who are unaccustomed to them. "What is there in the world," old +Quatermain would say, "so desolate as to stand in the streets of a great +city and listen to the footsteps falling, falling, multitudinous as the +rain, and watch the white line of faces as they hurry past, you know not +whence, you know not whither? They come and go, their eyes meet yours +with a cold stare, for a moment their features are written on your mind, +and then they are gone for ever. You will never see them again; they +will never see you again; they come up out of the unknown, and presently +they once more vanish into the unknown, taking their secrets with them. +Yes, that is loneliness pure and undefiled; but to one who knows and +loves it, the wilderness is not lonely, because the spirit of nature +is ever there to keep the wanderer company. He finds companions in the +winds--the sunny streams babble like Nature's children at his feet; high +above them, in the purple sunset, are domes and minarets and palaces, +such as no mortal man has built, in and out of whose flaming doors the +angels of the sun seem to move continually. And there, too, is the wild +game, following its feeding-grounds in great armies, with the springbuck +thrown out before for skirmishers; then rank upon rank of long-faced +blesbuck, marching and wheeling like infantry; and last the shining +troops of quagga, and the fierce-eyed shaggy vilderbeeste to take, as it +were, the place of the cossack host that hangs upon an army's flanks. + + [*] This of course was written before Mr. Quatermain's + account of the adventures in the newly-discovered country of + Zu-Vendis of himself, Sir Henry Curtis, and Capt. John Good + had been received in England.--Editor. + +"Oh, no," he would say, "the wilderness is not lonely, for, my boy, +remember that the further you get from man, the nearer you grow to God," +and though this is a saying that might well be disputed, it is one I am +sure that anybody will easily understand who has watched the sun rise +and set on the limitless deserted plains, and seen the thunder chariots +of the clouds roll in majesty across the depths of unfathomable sky. + +Well, at any rate we went back again, and now for many months I have +heard nothing at all of him, and to be frank, I greatly doubt if anybody +will ever hear of him again. I fear that the wilderness, that has for so +many years been a mother to him, will now also prove his grave and the +grave of those who accompanied him, for the quest upon which he and they +have started is a wild one indeed. + +But while he was in England for those three years or so between +his return from the successful discovery of the wise king's buried +treasures, and the death of his only son, I saw a great deal of old +Allan Quatermain. I had known him years before in Africa, and after +he came home, whenever I had nothing better to do, I used to run up to +Yorkshire and stay with him, and in this way I at one time and another +heard many of the incidents of his past life, and most curious some of +them were. No man can pass all those years following the rough existence +of an elephant-hunter without meeting with many strange adventures, +and in one way and another old Quatermain has certainly seen his share. +Well, the story that I am going to tell you in the following pages is +one of the later of these adventures, though I forget the exact year +in which it happened, at any rate I know that it was the only trip upon +which he took his son Harry (who is since dead) with him, and that Harry +was then about fourteen. And now for the story, which I will repeat, as +nearly as I can, in the words in which Hunter Quatermain told it to me +one night in the old oak-panelled vestibule of his house in Yorkshire. +We were talking about gold-mining-- + +"Gold-mining!" he broke in; "ah! yes, I once went gold-mining at +Pilgrims' Rest in the Transvaal, and it was after that that we had the +business about Jim-Jim and the lions. Do you know Pilgrim's Rest? Well, +it is, or was, one of the queerest little places you ever saw. The town +itself was pitched in a stony valley, with mountains all about it, and +in the middle of such scenery as one does not often get the chance of +seeing. Many and many is the time that I have thrown down my pick and +shovel in disgust, clambered out of my claim, and walked a couple of +miles or so to the top of some hill. Then I would lie down in the grass +and look out over the glorious stretch of country--the smiling valleys, +the great mountains touched with gold--real gold of the sunset, and +clothed in sweeping robes of bush, and stare into the depths of the +perfect sky above; yes, and thank Heaven I had got away from the cursing +and the coarse jokes of the miners, and the voices of those Basutu +Kaffirs as they toiled in the sun, the memory of which is with me yet. + +"Well, for some months I dug away patiently at my claim, till the very +sight of a pick or of a washing-trough became hateful to me. A hundred +times a day I lamented my own folly in having invested eight hundred +pounds, which was about all that I was worth at the time, in this +gold-mining. But like other better people before me, I had been bitten +by the gold bug, and now was forced to take the consequences. I bought a +claim out of which a man had made a fortune--five or six thousand pounds +at least--as I thought, very cheap; that is, I gave him five hundred +pounds down for it. It was all that I had made by a very rough +year's elephant-hunting beyond the Zambesi, and I sighed deeply and +prophetically when I saw my successful friend, who was a Yankee, sweep +up the roll of Standard Bank notes with the lordly air of the man who +has made his fortune, and cram them into his breeches pockets. 'Well,' I +said to him--the happy vendor--'it is a magnificent property, and I only +hope that my luck will be as good as yours has been.' + +"He smiled; to my excited nerves it seemed that he smiled ominously, +as he answered me in a peculiar Yankee drawl: 'I guess, stranger, as I +ain't the one to make a man quarrel with his food, more especial when +there ain't no more going of the rounds; and as for that there claim, +well, she's been a good nigger to me; but between you and me, stranger, +speaking man to man, now that there ain't any filthy lucre between us to +obscure the features of the truth, I guess she's about worked out!' + +"I gasped; the fellow's effrontery took the breath out of me. Only five +minutes before he had been swearing by all his gods--and they appeared +to be numerous and mixed--that there were half a dozen fortunes left in +the claim, and that he was only giving it up because he was downright +weary of shovelling the gold out. + +"'Don't look so vexed, stranger,' went on my tormentor, 'perhaps there +is some shine in the old girl yet; anyway you are a downright good +fellow, you are, therefore you will, I guess, have a real A1 opportunity +of working on the feelings of Fortune. Anyway it will bring the muscle +up upon your arm, for the stuff is uncommon stiff, and, what is more, +you will in the course of a year earn a sight more than two thousand +dollars in value of experience.' + +"Then he went just in time, for in another moment I should have gone for +him, and I saw his face no more. + +"Well, I set to work on the old claim with my boy Harry and half a dozen +Kaffirs to help me, which, seeing that I had put nearly all my worldly +wealth into it, was the least that I could do. And we worked, my word, +we did work--early and late we went at it--but never a bit of gold did +we see; no, not even a nugget large enough to make a scarf-pin out of. +The American gentleman had secured it all and left us the sweepings. + +"For three months this went on, till at last I had paid away all, or +very near all, that was left of her little capital in wages and food for +the Kaffirs and ourselves. When I tell you that Boer meal was sometimes +as high as four pounds a bag, you will understand that it did not take +long to run through our banking account. + +"At last the crisis came. One Saturday night I had paid the men as +usual, and bought a muid of mealie meal at sixty shillings for them to +fill themselves with, and then I went with my boy Harry and sat on the +edge of the great hole that we had dug in the hill-side, and which we +had in bitter mockery named Eldorado. There we sat in the moonlight +with our feet over the edge of the claim, and were melancholy enough for +anything. Presently I pulled out my purse and emptied its contents into +my hand. There was a half-sovereign, two florins, ninepence in silver, +no coppers--for copper practically does not circulate in South Africa, +which is one of the things that make living so dear there--in all +exactly fourteen and ninepence. + +"'There, Harry, my boy!' I said, 'that is the sum total of our worldly +wealth; that hole has swallowed all the rest.' + +"'By George!' said Master Harry; 'I say, father, you and I shall have to +let ourselves out to work with the Kaffirs and live on mealie pap,' and +he sniggered at his unpleasant little joke. + +"But I was in no mood for joking, for it is not a merry thing to dig +like anything for months and be completely ruined in the process, +especially if you happen to dislike digging, and consequently I resented +Harry's light-heartedness. + +"'Be quiet, boy!' I said, raising my hand as though to give him a cuff, +with the result that the half-sovereign slipped out of it and fell into +the gulf below. + +"'Oh, bother,' said I, 'it's gone.' + +"'There, Dad,' said Harry, 'that's what comes of letting your angry +passions rise; now we are down to four and nine.' + +"I made no answer to these words of wisdom, but scrambled down the steep +sides of the claim, followed by Harry, to hunt for my little all. Well, +we hunted and we hunted, but the moonlight is an uncertain thing to look +for half-sovereigns by, and there was some loose soil about, for the +Kaffirs had knocked off working at this very spot a couple of hours +before. I took a pick and raked away the clods of earth with it, in the +hope of finding the coin; but all in vain. At last in sheer annoyance I +struck the sharp end of the pickaxe down into the soil, which was of a +very hard nature. To my astonishment it sunk in right up to the haft. + +"'Why, Harry,' I said, 'this ground must have been disturbed!' + +"'I don't think so, father,' he answered; 'but we will soon see,' and +he began to shovel out the soil with his hands. 'Oh,' he said presently, +'it's only some old stones; the pick has gone down between them, look!' +and he began to pull at one of the stones. + +"'I say, Dad,' he said presently, almost in a whisper, 'it's precious +heavy, feel it;' and he rose and gave me a round, brownish lump about +the size of a very large apple, which he was holding in both his hands. +I took it curiously and held it up to the light. It _was_ very heavy. +The moonlight fell upon its rough and filth-encrusted surface, and as I +looked, curious little thrills of excitement began to pass through me. +But I could not be sure. + +"'Give me your knife, Harry,' I said. + +"He did so, and resting the brown stone on my knee I scratched at its +surface. Great heavens, it was soft! + +"Another second and the secret was out, we had found a great nugget of +pure gold, four pounds of it or more. 'It's gold, lad,' I said, 'it's +gold, or I'm a Dutchman!' + +"Harry, with his eyes starting out of his head, glared down at the +gleaming yellow scratch that I had made upon the virgin metal, and then +burst out into yell upon yell of exultation, which went ringing away +across the silent claims like shrieks of somebody being murdered. + +"'Be quiet!' I said; 'do you want every thief on the fields after you?' + +"Scarcely were the words out of my mouth when I heard a stealthy +footstep approaching. I promptly put the big nugget down and sat on it, +and uncommonly hard it was. As I did so I saw a lean dark face poked +over the edge of the claim and a pair of beady eyes searching us out. +I knew the face, it belonged to a man of very bad character known as +Handspike Tom, who had, I understood, been so named at the Diamond +Fields because he had murdered his mate with a handspike. He was now no +doubt prowling about like a human hyna to see what he could steal. + +"'Is that you, 'unter Quatermain?' he said. + +"'Yes, it's I, Mr. Tom,' I answered, politely. + +"'And what might all that there yelling be?' he asked. 'I was walking +along, a-taking of the evening air and a-thinking on the stars, when I +'ears 'owl after 'owl.' + +"'Well, Mr. Tom,' I answered, 'that is not to be wondered at, seeing +that like yourself they are nocturnal birds.' + +"''Owl after 'owl!' he repeated sternly, taking no notice of my +interpretation, 'and I stops and says, "That's murder," and I listens +again and thinks, "No, it ain't; that 'owl is the 'owl of hexultation; +some one's been and got his fingers into a gummy yeller pot, I'll swear, +and gone off 'is 'ead in the sucking of them." Now, 'unter Quatermain, +is I right? is it nuggets? Oh, lor!' and he smacked his lips +audibly--'great big yellow boys--is it them that you have just been and +tumbled across?' + +"'No,' I said boldly, 'it isn't'--the cruel gleam in his black eyes +altogether overcoming my aversion to untruth, for I knew that if once he +found out what it was that I was sitting on--and by the way I have +heard of rolling in gold being spoken of as a pleasant process, but I +certainly do not recommend anybody who values comfort to try sitting +on it--I should run a very good chance of being 'handspiked' before the +night was over. + +"'If you want to know what it was, Mr. Tom,' I went on, with my politest +air, although in agony from the nugget underneath--for I hold it is +always best to be polite to a man who is so ready with a handspike--'my +boy and I have had a slight difference of opinion, and I was enforcing +my view of the matter upon him; that's all.' + +"'Yes, Mr. Tom,' put in Harry, beginning to weep, for Harry was a smart +boy, and saw the difficulty we were in, 'that was it--I halloed because +father beat me.' + +"'Well, now, did yer, my dear boy--did yer? Well, all I can say is that +a played-out old claim is a wonderful queer sort of place to come to for +to argify at ten o'clock of night, and what's more, my sweet youth, if +ever I should 'ave the argifying of yer'--and he leered unpleasantly at +Harry--'yer won't 'oller in quite such a jolly sort 'o way. And now I'll +be saying good-night, for I don't like disturbing of a family party. +No, I ain't that sort of man, I ain't. Good-night to yer, 'unter +Quatermain--good-night to yer, my argified young one;' and Mr. Tom +turned away disappointed, and prowled off elsewhere, like a human +jackal, to see what he could thieve or kill. + +"'Thank goodness!' I said, as I slipped off the lump of gold. 'Now, +then, do you get up, Harry, and see if that consummate villain has +gone.' Harry did so, and reported that he had vanished towards Pilgrim's +Rest, and then we set to work, and very carefully, but trembling with +excitement, with our hands hollowed out all the space of ground into +which I had struck the pick. Yes, as I hoped, there was a regular nest +of nuggets, twelve in all, running from the size of a hazel-nut to that +of a hen's egg, though of course the first one was much larger than +that. How they all came there nobody can say; it was one of those +extraordinary freaks, with stories of which, at any rate, all people +acquainted with alluvial gold-mining will be familiar. It turned out +afterwards that the American who sold me the claim had in the same way +made his pile--a much larger one than ours, by the way--out of a single +pocket, and then worked for six months without seeing colour, after +which he gave it up. + +"At any rate, there the nuggets were, to the value, as it turned out +afterwards, of about twelve hundred and fifty pounds, so that after all +I took out of that hole four hundred and fifty pounds more than I put +into it. We got them all out and wrapped them up in a handkerchief, and +then, fearing to carry home so much treasure, especially as we knew that +Mr. Handspike Tom was on the prowl, made up our minds to pass the +night where we were--a necessity which, disagreeable as it was, was +wonderfully sweetened by the presence of that handkerchief full of +virgin gold--the interest of my lost half-sovereign. + +"Slowly the night wore away, for with the fear of Handspike Tom before +my eyes I did not dare to go to sleep, and at last the dawn came. I got +up and watched its growth, till it opened like a flower upon the eastern +sky, and the sunbeams began to spring up in splendour from mountain-top +to mountain-top. I watched it, and as I did so it flashed upon me, with +a complete conviction which I had not felt before, that I had had enough +of gold-mining to last me the rest of my natural life, and I then and +there made up my mind to clear out of Pilgrims' Rest and go and shoot +buffalo towards Delagoa Bay. Then I turned, took the pick and shovel, +and although it was a Sunday morning, woke up Harry and set to work +to see if there were any more nuggets about. As I expected, there were +none. What we had got had lain together in a little pocket filled with +soil that felt quite different from the stiff stuff round and outside +the pocket. There was not another trace of gold. Of course it is +possible that there were more pocketfuls somewhere about, but all I have +to say is I made up my mind that, whoever found them, I should not; and, +as a matter of fact, I have since heard that this claim has been the +ruin of two or three people, as it very nearly was the ruin of me. + +"'Harry,' I said presently, 'I am going away this week towards Delagoa +to shoot buffalo. Shall I take you with me, or send you down to Durban?' + +"'Oh, take me with you, father!' begged Harry, 'I want to kill a +buffalo!' + +"'And supposing that the buffalo kills you instead?' I asked. + +"'Oh, never mind,' he said, gaily, 'there are lots more where I came +from.' + +"I rebuked him for his flippancy, but in the end I consented to take +him." + + + +CHAPTER II. WHAT WAS FOUND IN THE POOL + +"Something over a fortnight had passed since the night when I lost +half-a-sovereign and found twelve hundred and fifty pounds in looking +for it, and instead of that horrid hole, for which, after all, Eldorado +was hardly a misnomer, a very different scene stretched away before us +clad in the silver robe of the moonlight. We were camped--Harry and +I, two Kaffirs, a Scotch cart, and six oxen--on the swelling side of a +great wave of bushclad land. Just where we had made our camp, however, +the bush was very sparse, and only grew about in clumps, while here +and there were single flat-topped mimosa-trees. To our right a little +stream, which had cut a deep channel for itself in the bosom of the +slope, flowed musically on between banks green with maidenhair, wild +asparagus, and many beautiful grasses. The bed-rock here was red +granite, and in the course of centuries of patient washing the water had +hollowed out some of the huge slabs in its path into great troughs and +cups, and these we used for bathing-places. No Roman lady, with her +baths of porphyry or alabaster, could have had a more delicious spot to +bathe herself than we found within fifty yards of our skerm, or rough +inclosure of mimosa thorn, that we had dragged together round the cart +to protect us from the attacks of lions. That there were several of +these brutes about, I knew from their spoor, though we had neither heard +nor seen them. + +"Our bath was a little nook where the eddy of the stream had washed away +a mass of soil, and on the edge of it there grew a most beautiful old +mimosa thorn. Beneath the thorn was a large smooth slab of granite +fringed all round with maidenhair and other ferns, that sloped gently +down to a pool of the clearest sparkling water, which lay in a bowl of +granite about ten feet wide by five feet deep in the centre. Here to +this slab we went every morning to bathe, and that delightful bath is +among the most pleasant of my hunting reminiscences, as it is also, for +reasons which will presently appear, among the most painful. + +"It was a lovely night. Harry and I sat to the windward of the fire, +where the two Kaffirs were busily employed in cooking some impala steaks +off a buck which Harry, to his great joy, had shot that morning, and +were as perfectly contented with ourselves and the world at large as two +people could possibly be. The night was beautiful, and it would require +somebody with more words on the tip of his tongue than I have to +describe properly the chastened majesty of those moonlit wilds. Away for +ever and for ever, away to the mysterious north, rolled the great bush +ocean over which the silence brooded. There beneath us a mile or more to +the right ran the wide Oliphant, and mirror-like flashed back the moon, +whose silver spears were shivered on its breast, and then tossed in +twisted lines of light far and wide about the mountains and the plain. +Down upon the river-banks grew great timber-trees that through the +stillness pointed solemnly to Heaven, and the beauty of the night lay +upon them like a cloud. Everywhere was silence--silence in the starred +depths, silence on the bosom of the sleeping earth. Now, if ever, great +thoughts might rise in a man's mind, and for a space he might forget his +littleness in the sense that he partook of the pure immensity about him. + +"'Hark! what was that?' + +"From far away down by the river there comes a mighty rolling sound, +then another, and another. It is the lion seeking his meat. + +"I saw Harry shiver and turn a little pale. He was a plucky boy enough, +but the roar of a lion heard for the first time in the solemn bush veldt +at night is apt to shake the nerves of any lad. + +"'Lions, my boy,' I said; 'they are hunting down by the river there; +but I don't think that you need make yourself uneasy. We have been here +three nights now, and if they were going to pay us a visit I think that +they would have done so before this. However, we will make up the fire.' + +"'Here, Pharaoh, do you and Jim-Jim get some more wood before we go to +sleep, else the cats will be purring round you before morning.' + +"Pharaoh, a great brawny Swazi, who had been working for me at Pilgrims' +Rest, laughed, rose, and stretched himself, then calling to Jim-Jim to +bring the axe and a reim, started off in the moonlight towards a clump +of sugar-bush where we cut our fuel from some dead trees. He was a +fine fellow in his way, was Pharaoh, and I think that he had been named +Pharaoh because he had an Egyptian cast of countenance and a royal +sort of swagger about him. But his way was a somewhat peculiar way, on +account of the uncertainty of his temper, and very few people could get +on with him; also if he could find liquor he would drink like a fish, +and when he drank he became shockingly bloodthirsty. These were his bad +points; his good ones were that, like most people of the Zulu blood, +he became exceedingly attached if he took to you at all; he was a +hard-working and intelligent man, and about as dare-devil and plucky +a fellow at a pinch as I have ever had to do with. He was about +five-and-thirty years of age or so, but not a 'keshla' or ringed man. I +believe that he had got into trouble in some way in Swaziland, and the +authorities of his tribe would not allow him to assume the ring, and +that is why he came to work at the gold-fields. The other man, or rather +lad, Jim-Jim, was a Mapoch Kaffir, or Knobnose, and even in the light of +subsequent events I fear I cannot speak very well of him. He was an +idle and careless young rascal, and only that very morning I had to tell +Pharaoh to give him a beating for letting the oxen stray, which Pharaoh +did with the greatest gusto, although he was by way of being very fond +of Jim-Jim. Indeed, I saw him consoling Jim-Jim afterwards with a pinch +of snuff from his own ear-box, whilst he explained to him that the next +time it came in the way of duty to flog him, he meant to thrash him with +the other hand, so as to cross the old cuts and make a "pretty pattern" +on his back. + +"Well, off they went, though Jim-Jim did not at all like leaving the +camp at that hour, even when the moonlight was so bright, and in due +course returned safely enough with a great bundle of wood. I laughed at +Jim-Jim, and asked him if he had seen anything, and he said yes, he had; +he had seen two large yellow eyes staring at him from behind a bush, and +heard something snore. + +"As, however, on further investigation the yellow eyes and the snore +appeared to have existed only in Jim-Jim's lively imagination, I was +not greatly disturbed by this alarming report; but having seen to the +making-up of the fire, got into the skerm and went quietly to sleep with +Harry by my side. + +"Some hours afterwards I woke up with a start. I don't know what woke +me. The moon had gone down, or at least was almost hidden behind the +soft horizon of bush, only her red rim being visible. Also a wind had +sprung up and was driving long hurrying lines of cloud across the starry +sky, and altogether a great change had come over the mood of the night. +By the look of the sky I judged that we must be about two hours from +day-break. + +"The oxen, which were as usual tied to the disselboom of the Scotch +cart, were very restless--they kept snuffling and blowing, and rising +up and lying down again, so I at once suspected that they must wind +something. Presently I knew what it was that they winded, for within +fifty yards of us a lion roared, not very loud, but quite loud enough to +make my heart come into my mouth. + +"Pharaoh was sleeping on the other side of the cart, and, looking +beneath it, I saw him raise his head and listen. + +"'Lion, Inkoos,' he whispered, 'lion!' + +"Jim-Jim also jumped up, and by the faint light I could see that he was +in a very great fright indeed. + +"Thinking that it was as well to be prepared for emergencies, I told +Pharaoh to throw wood upon the fire, and woke up Harry, who I verily +believe was capable of sleeping happily through the crack of doom. +He was a little scared at first, but presently the excitement of the +position came home to him, and he grew quite anxious to see his majesty +face to face. I got my rifle handy and gave Harry his--a Westley +Richards falling block, which is a very useful gun for a youth, being +light and yet a good killing rifle, and then we waited. + +"For a long time nothing happened, and I began to think that the best +thing we could do would be to go to sleep again, when suddenly I heard +a sound more like a cough than a roar within about twenty yards of +the skerm. We all looked out, but could see nothing; and then followed +another period of suspense. It was very trying to the nerves, this +waiting for an attack that might be developed from any quarter or might +not be developed at all; and though I was an old hand at this sort of +business I was anxious about Harry, for it is wonderful how the presence +of anybody to whom one is attached unnerves a man in moments of danger. +I know, although it was now chilly enough, I could feel the perspiration +running down my nose, and in order to relieve the strain on my attention +employed myself in watching a beetle which appeared to be attracted +by the firelight, and was sitting before it thoughtfully rubbing his +antenn against each other. + +"Suddenly, the beetle gave such a jump that he nearly pitched headlong +into the fire, and so did we all--gave jumps, I mean, and no wonder, +for from right under the skerm fence there came a most frightful roar--a +roar that literally made the Scotch cart shake and took the breath out +of me. + +"Harry made an exclamation, Jim-Jim howled outright, while the poor +oxen, who were terrified almost out of their hides, shivered and lowed +piteously. + +"The night was almost entirely dark now, for the moon had quite set, and +the clouds had covered up the stars, so that the only light we had came +from the fire, which by this time was burning up brightly again. But, +as you know, firelight is absolutely useless to shoot by, it is so +uncertain, and besides, it penetrates but a very little way into the +darkness, although if one is in the dark outside, one can see it from +far away. + +"Presently the oxen, after standing still for a moment, suddenly winded +the lion and did what I feared they would do--began to 'skrek,' that is, +to try and break loose from the trektow to which they were tied, to rush +off madly into the wilderness. Lions know of this habit on the part of +oxen, which are, I do believe, the most foolish animals under the sun, +a sheep being a very Solomon compared to them; and it is by no means +uncommon for a lion to get in such a position that a herd or span of +oxen may wind him, skrek, break their reims, and rush off into the bush. +Of course, once there, they are helpless in the dark; and then the lion +chooses the one that he loves best and eats him at his leisure. + +"Well, round and round went our six poor oxen, nearly trampling us to +death in their mad rush; indeed, had we not hastily tumbled out of the +way, we should have been trodden to death, or at the least seriously +injured. As it was, Harry was run over, and poor Jim-Jim being caught +by the trektow somewhere beneath the arm, was hurled right across the +skerm, landing by my side only some paces off. + +"Snap went the disselboom of the cart beneath the transverse strain put +upon it. Had it not broken the cart would have overset; as it was, +in another minute, oxen, cart, trektow, reims, broken disselboom, and +everything were soon tied in one vast heaving, plunging, bellowing, and +seemingly inextricable knot. + +"For a moment or two this state of affairs took my attention off from +the lion that had caused it, but whilst I was wondering what on earth +was to be done next, and how we should manage if the cattle broke loose +into the bush and were lost--for cattle frightened in this manner will +so straight away like mad things--my thoughts were suddenly recalled to +the lion in a very painful fashion. + +"For at that moment I perceived by the light of the fire a kind of gleam +of yellow travelling through the air towards us. + +"'The lion! the lion!' holloaed Pharaoh, and as he did so, he, or rather +she, for it was a great gaunt lioness, half wild no doubt with hunger, +lit right in the middle of the skerm, and stood there in the smoky gloom +lashing her tail and roaring. I seized my rifle and fired it at her, +but what between the confusion, my agitation, and the uncertain light, +I missed her, and nearly shot Pharaoh. The flash of the rifle, however, +threw the whole scene into strong relief, and a wild sight it was I can +tell you--with the seething mass of oxen twisted all round the cart, in +such a fashion that their heads looked as though they were growing out +of their rumps; and their horns seemed to protrude from their backs; the +smoking fire with just a blaze in the heart of the smoke; Jim-Jim in the +foreground, where the oxen had thrown him in their wild rush, stretched +out there in terror, and then as a centre to the picture the great gaunt +lioness glaring round with hungry yellow eyes, roaring and whining as +she made up her mind what to do. + +"It did not take her long, however, just the time that it takes a flash +to die into darkness, for, before I could fire again or do anything, +with a most fiendish snort she sprang upon poor Jim-Jim. + +"I heard the unfortunate lad shriek, and then almost instantly I saw his +legs thrown into the air. The lioness had seized him by the neck, and +with a sudden jerk thrown his body over her back so that his legs hung +down upon the further side.[*] Then, without the slightest hesitation, +and apparently without any difficulty, she cleared the skerm face at +a single bound, and bearing poor Jim-Jim with her vanished into the +darkness beyond, in the direction of the bathing-place that I have +already described. We jumped up perfectly mad with horror and fear, and +rushed wildly after her, firing shots at haphazard on the chance that +she would be frightened by them into dropping her prey, but nothing +could we see, and nothing could we hear. The lioness had vanished into +the darkness, taking Jim-Jim with her, and to attempt to follow her till +daylight was madness. We should only expose ourselves to the risk of a +like fate. + + [*] I have known a lion carry a two-year-old ox over a stone + wall four feet high in this fashion, and a mile away into + the bush beyond. He was subsequently poisoned by strychnine + put into the carcass of the ox, and I still have his claws. + --Editor. + +"So with scared and heavy hearts we crept back to the skerm, and sat +down to wait for the dawn, which now could not be much more than an hour +off. It was absolutely useless to try even to disentangle the oxen till +then, so all that was left for us to do was to sit and wonder how it +came to pass that the one should be taken and the other left, and to +hope against hope that our poor servant might have been mercifully +delivered from the lion's jaws. + +"At length the faint dawn came stealing like a ghost up the long slope +of bush, and glinted on the tangled oxen's horns, and with white and +frightened faces we got up and set to the task of disentangling the +oxen, till such time as there should be light enough to enable us to +follow the trail of the lioness which had gone off with Jim-Jim. +And here a fresh trouble awaited us, for when at last with infinite +difficulty we had disentangled the great helpless brutes, it was only +to find that one of the best of them was very sick. There was no mistake +about the way he stood with his legs slightly apart and his head hanging +down. He had got the redwater, I was sure of it. Of all the difficulties +connected with life and travelling in South Africa those connected with +oxen are perhaps the worst. The ox is the most exasperating animal in +the world, a negro excepted. He has absolutely no constitution, and +never neglects an opportunity of falling sick of some mysterious +disease. He will get thin upon the slightest provocation, and from mere +maliciousness die of 'poverty'; whereas it is his chief delight to turn +round and refuse to pull whenever he finds himself well in the centre of +a river, or the waggon-wheel nicely fast in a mud hole. Drive him a few +miles over rough roads and you will find that he is footsore; turn him +loose to feed and you will discover that he has run away, or if he has +not run away he has of malice aforethought eaten 'tulip' and poisoned +himself. There is always something with him. The ox is a brute. It was +of a piece with his accustomed behaviour for the one in question to +break out--on purpose probably--with redwater just when a lion had +walked off with his herd. It was exactly what I should have expected, +and I was therefore neither disappointed nor surprised. + +"Well, it was no use crying as I should almost have liked to do, because +if this ox had redwater it was probable that the rest of them had it +too, although they had been sold to me as 'salted,' that is, proof +against such diseases as redwater and lungsick. One gets hardened to +this sort of thing in South Africa in course of time, for I suppose in +no other country in the world is the waste of animal life so great. + +"So taking my rifle and telling Harry to follow me (for we had to leave +Pharaoh to look after the oxen--Pharaoh's lean kine, I called them), +I started to see if anything could be found of or appertaining to the +unfortunate Jim-Jim. The ground round our little camp was hard and +rocky, and we could not hit off any spoor of the lioness, though just +outside the skerm was a drop or two of blood. About three hundred yards +from the camp, and a little to the right, was a patch of sugar bush +mixed up with the usual mimosa, and for this I made, thinking that the +lioness would have been sure to take her prey there to devour it. On we +pushed through the long grass that was bent down beneath the weight of +the soaking dew. In two minutes we were wet through up to the thighs, +as wet as though we had waded through water. In due course, however, +we reached the patch of bush, and by the grey light of the morning +cautiously and slowly pushed our way into it. It was very dark under the +trees, for the sun was not yet up, so we walked with the most extreme +care, half expecting every minute to come across the lioness licking the +bones of poor Jim-Jim. But no lioness could we see, and as for Jim-Jim +there was not even a finger-joint of him to be found. Evidently they had +not come here. + +"So pushing through the bush we proceeded to hunt every other likely +spot, but with the same result. + +"'I suppose she must have taken him right away,' I said at last, sadly +enough. 'At any rate he will be dead by now, so God have mercy on him, +we can't help him. What's to be done now?' + +"'I suppose that we had better wash ourselves in the pool, and then go +back and get something to eat. I am filthy,' said Harry. + +"This was a practical if a somewhat unfeeling suggestion. At least it +struck me as unfeeling to talk of washing when poor Jim-Jim had been so +recently eaten. However, I did not let my sentiment carry me away, so +we went down to the beautiful spot that I have described, to wash. I was +the first to reach it, which I did by scrambling down the ferny bank. +Then I turned round, and started back with a yell--as well I might, for +almost from beneath my feet there came a most awful snarl. + +"I had lit nearly upon the back of the lioness, that had been sleeping +on the slab where we always stood to dry ourselves after bathing. With a +snarl and a growl, before I could do anything, before I could even cock +my rifle, she had bounded right across the crystal pool, and vanished +over the opposite bank. It was all done in an instant, as quick as +thought. + +"She had been sleeping on the slab, and oh, horror! what was that +sleeping beside her? It was the red remains of poor Jim-Jim, lying on a +patch of blood-stained rock. + +"'Oh! father, father!' shrieked Harry, 'look in the water!' + +"I looked. There, floating in the centre of the lovely tranquil pool, +was Jim-Jim's head. The lioness had bitten it right off, and it had +rolled down the sloping rock into the water." + + + +CHAPTER III. JIM-JIM IS AVENGED + +"We never bathed in that pool again; indeed for my part I could never +look at its peaceful purity fringed round with waving ferns without +thinking of that ghastly head which rolled itself off through the water +when we tried to catch it. + +"Poor Jim-Jim! We buried what was left of him, which was not very much, +in an old bread-bag, and though whilst he lived his virtues were not +great, now that he was gone we could have wept over him. Indeed, Harry +did weep outright; while Pharaoh used very bad language in Zulu, and I +registered a quiet little vow on my account that I would let daylight +into that lioness before I was forty-eight hours older, if by any means +it could be done. + +"Well, we buried him, and there he lies in the bread-bag (which I +rather grudged him, as it was the only one we had), where lions will not +trouble him any more--though perhaps the hynas will, if they consider +that there is enough on him left to make it worth their while to dig +him up. However, he won't mind that; so there is an end of the book of +Jim-Jim. + +"The question that now remained was, how to circumvent his murderess. I +knew that she would be sure to return as soon as she was hungry again, +but I did not know when she would be hungry. She had left so little of +Jim-Jim behind her that I should scarcely expect to see her the next +night, unless indeed she had cubs. Still, I felt that it would not +be wise to miss the chance of her coming, so we set about making +preparations for her reception. The first thing that we did was to +strengthen the bush wall of the skerm by dragging a large quantity of +the tops of thorn-trees together, and laying them one on the other +in such a fashion that the thorns pointed outwards. This, after our +experience of the fate of Jim-Jim, seemed a very necessary precaution, +since if where one goat can jump another can follow, as the Kaffirs say, +how much more is this the case when an animal so active and so vigorous +as the lion is concerned! And now came the further question, how were we +to beguile the lioness to return? Lions are animals that have a strange +knack of appearing when they are not wanted, and keeping studiously out +of the way when their presence is required. Of course it was possible +that if she had found Jim-Jim to her liking she would come back to see +if there were any more of his kind about, but still it was not to be +relied on. + +"Harry, who as I have said was an eminently practical boy, suggested to +Pharaoh that he should go and sit outside the skerm in the moonlight as +a sort of bait, assuring him that he would have nothing to fear, as +we should certainly kill the lioness before she killed him. Pharaoh +however, strangely enough, did not seem to take to this suggestion. +Indeed, he walked away, much put out with Harry for having made it. + +"It gave me an idea, however. + +"'By Jove!' I said, 'there is the sick ox. He must die sooner or later, +so we may as well utilize him.' + +"Now, about thirty yards to the left of our skerm, as one stood facing +down the hill towards the river, was the stump of a tree that had been +destroyed by lightning many years before, standing equidistant between, +but a little in front of, two clumps of bush, which were severally some +fifteen paces from it. + +"Here was the very place to tie the ox; and accordingly a little before +sunset the sick animal was led forth by Pharaoh and made fast there, +little knowing, poor brute, for what purpose; and we began our long +vigil, this time without a fire, for our object was to attract the +lioness and not to scare her. + +"For hour after hour we waited, keeping ourselves awake by pinching each +other--it is, by the way, remarkable what a difference of opinion as +to the force of pinches requisite to the occasion exists in the mind of +pincher and pinched--but no lioness came. At last the moon went down, +and darkness swallowed up the world, as the Kaffirs say, but no lions +came to swallow us up. We waited till dawn, because we did not dare to +go to sleep, and then at last with many bad thoughts in our hearts we +took such rest as we could get, and that was not much. + +"That morning we went out shooting, not because we wanted to, for we +were too depressed and tired, but because we had no more meat. For three +hours or more we wandered about in a broiling sun looking for something +to kill, but with absolutely no results. For some unknown reason the +game had grown very scarce about the spot, though when I was there two +years before every sort of large game except rhinoceros and elephant +was particularly abundant. The lions, of whom there were many, alone +remained, and I fancy that it was the fact of the game they live on +having temporarily migrated which made them so daring and ferocious. As +a general rule a lion is an amiable animal enough if he is left alone, +but a hungry lion is almost as dangerous as a hungry man. One hears a +great many different opinions expressed as to whether or no the lion is +remarkable for his courage, but the result of my experience is that very +much depends upon the state of his stomach. A hungry lion will not stick +at a trifle, whereas a full one will flee at a very small rebuke. + +"Well, we hunted all about, and nothing could we see, not even a duiker +or a bush buck; and at last, thoroughly tired and out of temper, we +started on our way back to camp, passing over the brow of a steepish +hill to do so. Just as we climbed the crest of the ridge I came to a +stand, for there, about six hundred yards to my left, his beautiful +curved horns outlined against the soft blue of the sky, I saw a noble +koodoo bull (_Strepsiceros kudu_). Even at that distance, for as you +know my eyes are very keen, I could distinctly see the white stripes +on its side when the light fell upon it, and its large and pointed ears +twitch as the flies worried it. + +"So far so good; but how were we to get at it? It was ridiculous to risk +a shot at that great distance, and yet both the ground and the wind lay +very ill for stalking. It seemed to me that the only chance would be to +make a detour of at least a mile or more, and come up on the other side +of the koodoo. I called Harry to my side, and explained to him what I +thought would be our best course, when suddenly, without any delay, the +koodoo saved us further trouble by suddenly starting off down the hill +like a leaping rocket. I do not know what had frightened it, certainly +we had not. Perhaps a hyna or a leopard--a tiger as we call it +there--had suddenly appeared; at any rate, off it went, running +slightly towards us, and I never saw a buck go faster. I am afraid that +forgetting Harry's presence I used strong language, and really there +was some excuse. As for Harry, he stood watching the beautiful animal's +course. Presently it vanished behind a patch of bush, to emerge a +few seconds later about five hundred paces from us, on a stretch of +comparatively level ground that was strewn with boulders. On it went, +clearing the boulders in its path with a succession of great bounds +that were beautiful to behold. As it did so, I happened to look round at +Harry, and perceived to my astonishment that he had got his rifle to his +shoulder. + +"'You young donkey!' I exclaimed, 'surely you are not going to'--and +just at that moment the rifle went off. + +"And then I think I saw what was in its way one of the most wonderful +things I ever remember in my hunting experience. The koodoo was at the +moment in the air, clearing a pile of stones with its fore-legs tucked +up underneath it. All of an instant the legs stretched themselves out +in a spasmodic fashion, it lit on them, and they doubled up beneath it. +Down went the noble buck, down upon his head. For a moment he seemed to +be standing on his horns, his hind-legs high in the air, and then over +he rolled and lay still. + +"'Great Heavens!' I said, 'why, you've hit him! He's dead.' + +"As for Harry, he said nothing, but merely looked scared, as well he +might, for such a marvellous, I may say such an appalling and ghastly +fluke it has never been my lot to witness. A man, let alone a boy, +might have fired a thousand such shots without ever touching the object; +which, mind you, was springing and bounding over rocks quite five +hundred yards away; and here this lad--taking a snap shot, and merely +allowing for speed and elevation by instinct, for he did not put up his +sights--had knocked the bull over as dead as a door-nail. Well, I made +no further remark, as the occasion was too solemn for talking, but +merely led the way to where the koodoo had fallen. There he lay, +beautiful and quite still; and there, high up, about half-way down his +neck, was a neat round hole. The bullet had severed the spinal marrow, +passing through the vertebr and away on the other side. + +"It was already evening when, having cut as much of the best meat as we +could carry from the bull, and tied a red handkerchief and some tufts of +grass to his spiral horns, which, by the way, must have been nearly +five feet in length, in the hope of keeping the jackals and aasvgels +(vultures) from him, we finally got back to camp, to find Pharaoh, who +was getting rather anxious at our absence, ready to greet us with the +pleasing intelligence that another ox was sick. But even this dreadful +bit of intelligence could not dash Harry's spirits; the fact of the +matter being, incredible as it may appear, I do verily believe that in +his heart of hearts he set down the death of the koodoo to the credit +of his own skill. Now, though the lad was a pretty shot enough, this of +course was ridiculous, and I told him so plainly. + +"By the time that we had finished our supper of koodoo steaks (which +would have been better if the koodoo had been a little younger), it was +time to get ready for Jim-Jim's murderess. Accordingly we determined +again to expose the unfortunate sick ox, that was now absolutely on +its last legs, being indeed scarcely able to stand. All the afternoon +Pharaoh told us it had been walking round and round in a circle as +cattle in the last stage of redwater generally do. Now it had come to a +standstill, and was swaying to and fro with its head hanging down. So we +tied him up to the stump of the tree as on the previous night, knowing +that if the lioness did not kill him he would be dead by morning. Indeed +I was afraid that he would die at once, in which case he would be of but +little use as a bait, for the lion is a sportsmanlike animal, and unless +he is very hungry generally prefers to kill his own dinner, though when +that is once killed he will come back to it again and again. + +"Then we again went through our experience of the previous night, +sitting there hour after hour, till at last Harry fell fast asleep, and, +though I am accustomed to this sort of thing, even I could scarcely keep +my eyes open. Indeed I was just dropping off, when suddenly Pharaoh gave +me a push. + +"'_Listen!_' he whispered. + +"I was awake in a second, and listening with all my ears. From the clump +of bush to the right of the lightning-shattered stump to which the sick +ox was tied came a faint crackling noise. Presently it was repeated. +Something was moving there, faintly and quietly enough, but still moving +perceptibly, for in the intense stillness of the night any sound seemed +loud. + +"I woke up Harry, who instantly said, 'Where is she? where is she?' and +began to point his rifle about in a fashion that was more dangerous to +us and the oxen than to any possible lioness. + +"'Be quiet!' I whispered, savagely; and as I did so, with a low and +hideous growl a flash of yellow light sped out of the clump of bush, +past the ox, and into the corresponding clump upon the other side. The +poor sick creature gave a sort of groan, staggered round and then began +to tremble. I could see it do so clearly in the moonlight, which was +now very bright, and I felt a brute for having exposed the unfortunate +animal to such agony as he must undoubtedly be undergoing. The lioness, +for it was she, passed so quickly that we could not even distinguish her +movements, much less fire. Indeed at night it is absolutely useless to +attempt to shoot unless the object is very close and standing perfectly +still, and then the light is so deceptive and it is so difficult to see +the foresight that the best shot will miss more often than he hits. + +"'She will be back again presently,' I said; 'look out, but for Heaven's +sake don't fire unless I tell you to.' + +"Hardly were the words out of my mouth when back she came, and again +passed the ox without striking him. + +"'What on earth is she doing?' whispered Harry. + +"'Playing with it as a cat does with a mouse, I suppose. She will kill +it presently.' + +"As I spoke, the lioness once more flashed out of the bush, and this +time sprang right over the doomed and trembling ox. It was a beautiful +sight to see her clear him in the bright moonlight, as though it were a +trick which she had been taught. + +"'I believe that she has escaped from a circus,' whispered Harry; 'it's +jolly to see her jump.' + +"I said nothing, but I thought to myself that if it was, Master Harry +did not quite appreciate the performance, and small blame to him. At any +rate, his teeth were chattering a little. + +"Then came a longish pause, and I began to think that the lioness must +have gone away, when suddenly she appeared again, and with one mighty +bound landed right on to the ox, and struck it a frightful blow with her +paw. + +"Down it went, and lay on the ground kicking feebly. She put down her +wicked-looking head, and, with a fierce growl of contentment, buried her +long white teeth in the throat of the dying animal. When she lifted +her muzzle again it was all stained with blood. She stood facing us +obliquely, licking her bloody chops and making a sort of purring noise. + +"'Now's our time,' I whispered, 'fire when I do.' + +"I got on to her as well as I could, but Harry, instead of waiting for +me as I told him, fired before I did, and that of course hurried me. +But when the smoke cleared, I was delighted to see that the lioness was +rolling about on the ground behind the body of the ox, which covered her +in such a fashion, however, that we could not shoot again to make an end +of her. + +"'She's done for! she's dead, the yellow devil!' yelled Pharaoh +in exultation; and at that very moment the lioness, with a sort of +convulsive rush, half-rolled, half-sprang, into the patch of thick bush +to the right. I fired after her as she went, but so far as I could see +without result; indeed the probability is that I missed her clean. At +any rate she got to the bush in safety, and once there, began to make +such a diabolical noise as I never heard before. She would whine and +shriek with pain, and then burst out into perfect volleys of roaring +that shook the whole place. + +"'Well,' I said, 'we must just let her roar; to go into that bush after +her at night would be madness.' + +"At that moment, to my astonishment and alarm, there came an answering +roar from the direction of the river, and then another from behind +the swell of bush. Evidently there were more lions about. The wounded +lioness redoubled her efforts, with the object, I suppose, of summoning +the others to her assistance. At any rate they came, and quickly too, +for within five minutes, peeping through the bushes of our skerm fence, +we saw a magnificent lion bounding along towards us, through the tall +tambouki grass, that in the moonlight looked for all the world like +ripening corn. On he came in great leaps, and a glorious sight it was to +see him. When within fifty yards or so, he stood still in an open space +and roared. The lioness roared too; then there came a third roar, and +another great black-maned lion stalked majestically up, and joined +number two, till really I began to realize what the ox must have +undergone. + +"'Now, Harry,' I whispered, 'whatever you do don't fire, it's too risky. +If they let us be, let them be.' + +"Well, the pair marched off to the bush, where the wounded lioness +was now roaring double tides, and the three of them began to snarl and +grumble away together there. Presently, however, the lioness ceased +roaring, and the two lions came out again, the black-maned one first--to +prospect, I suppose--walked to where the carcass of the ox lay, and +sniffed at it. + +"'Oh, what a shot!' whispered Harry, who was trembling with excitement. + +"'Yes,' I said; 'but don't fire; they might all of them come for us.' + +"Harry said nothing, but whether it was from the natural impetuosity of +youth, or because he was thrown off his balance by excitement, or from +sheer recklessness and devilment, I am sure I cannot tell you, never +having been able to get a satisfactory explanation from him; but at +any rate the fact remains, he, without word or warning, entirely +disregarding my exhortations, lifted up his Westley Richards and fired +at the black-maned lion, and, what is more, hit it slightly on the +flank. + +"Next second there was a most awful roar from the injured lion. He +glared around him and roared with pain, for he was badly stung; and +then, before I could make up my mind what to do, the great black-maned +brute, clearly ignorant of the cause of his hurt, sprang right at the +throat of his companion, to whom he evidently attributed his misfortune. +It was a curious sight to see the astonishment of the other lion at this +most unprovoked assault. Over he rolled with an angry snarl, and on to +him sprang the black-maned demon, and began to worry him. This finally +awoke the yellow-maned lion to a sense of the situation, and I am bound +to say that he rose to it in a most effective manner. Somehow or other +he got to his feet, and, roaring and snarling frightfully, closed with +his mighty foe. + +"Then ensued a most tremendous scene. You know what a shocking thing +it is to see two large dogs fighting with abandonment. Well, a whole +hundred of dogs could not have looked half so terrible as those two +great brutes as they rolled and roared and rent in their horrid rage. +They gripped each other, they tore at each other's throat, till their +manes came out in handfuls, and the red blood streamed down their yellow +hides. It was an awful and a wonderful thing to see the great cats +tearing at each other with all the fierce energy of their savage +strength, and making the night hideous with their heart-shaking noise. +And the fight was a grand one too. For some minutes it was impossible +to say which was getting the best of it, but at last I saw that the +black-maned lion, though he was slightly bigger, was failing. I am +inclined to think that the wound in his flank crippled him. Anyway, +he began to get the worst of it, which served him right, as he was the +aggressor. Still I could not help feeling sorry for him, for he had +fought a gallant fight, when his antagonist finally got him by the +throat, and, struggle and strike out as he would, began to shake the +life out of him. Over and over they rolled together, a hideous and +awe-inspiring spectacle, but the yellow one would not loose his hold, +and at length poor black-mane grew faint, his breath came in great +snorts and seemed to rattle in his nostrils, then he opened his huge +mouth, gave the ghost of a roar, quivered, and was dead. + +"When he was quite sure that the victory was his own, the yellow-maned +lion loosed his grip and sniffed at the fallen foe. Then he licked the +dead lion's eye, and next, with his fore-feet resting on the carcass, +sent up his own chant of victory, that went rolling and pealing down +the dark paths of the night. And at this point I interfered. Taking a +careful sight at the centre of his body, in order to give the largest +possible margin for error, I fired, and sent a.570 express bullet right +through him, and down he dropped dead upon the carcass of his mighty +foe. + +"After that, fairly satisfied with our performances, we slept peaceably +till dawn, leaving Pharaoh to keep watch in case any more lions should +take it into their heads to come our way. + +"When the sun was well up we arose, and went very cautiously--at least +Pharaoh and I did, for I would not allow Harry to come--to see if we +could find any trace of the wounded lioness. She had ceased roaring +immediately upon the arrival of the two lions, and had not made a sound +since, from which we concluded that she was probably dead. I was armed +with my express, while Pharaoh, in whose hands a rifle was indeed a +dangerous weapon, to his companions, had an axe. On our way we stopped +to look at the two dead lions. They were magnificent animals, both of +them, but their pelts were entirely spoiled by the terrible mauling they +had given to each other, which was a sad pity. + +"In another minute we were following the blood spoor of the wounded +lioness into the bush, where she had taken refuge. This, I need hardly +say, we did with the utmost caution; indeed, I for one did not at +all like the job, and was only consoled by the reflection that it +was necessary, and that the bush was not thick. Well, we stood there, +keeping as far from the trees as possible, searching and looking about, +but no lioness could we see, though we saw plenty of blood. + +"'She must have gone somewhere to die, Pharaoh,' I said in Zulu. + +"'Yes, Inkoos,' he answered, 'she has certainly gone away.' + +"Hardly were the words out of his mouth, when I heard a roar, and +starting round saw the lioness emerge from the very centre of a bush, in +which she had been curled up, just behind Pharaoh. Up she went on to +her hind-legs, and as she did so I noticed that one of her fore-paws was +broken near the shoulder, for it hung limply down. Up she went, towering +right over Pharaoh's head, as she did so lifting her uninjured paw to +strike him to the earth. And then, before I could get my rifle round or +do anything to avert the oncoming catastrophe, the Zulu did a very brave +and clever thing. Realizing his own imminent danger, he bounded to one +side, and swinging the heavy axe round his head, brought it down right +on to the back of the lioness, severing the vertebr and killing her +instantaneously. It was wonderful to see her collapse all in a heap like +an empty sack. + +"'My word, Pharaoh!' I said, 'that was well done, and none too soon.' + +"'Yes,' he answered, with a little laugh, 'it was a good stroke, Inkoos. +Jim-Jim will sleep better now.' + +"Then, calling Harry to us, we examined the lioness. She was old, if one +might judge from her worn teeth, and not very large, but thickly made, +and must have possessed extraordinary vitality to have lived so long, +shot as she was; for, in addition to her broken shoulder, my express +bullet had blown a great hole in her middle that one might have put a +fist into. + +"Well, that is the story of the death of poor Jim-Jim and how we avenged +it. It is rather interesting in its way, because of the fight between +the two lions, of which I never saw the like in all my experience, and I +know something of lions and their manners." + +"And how did you get back to Pilgrim's Rest?" I asked Hunter Quatermain +when he had finished his yarn. + +"Ah, we had a nice job with that," he answered. "The second sick ox +died, and so did another, and we had to get on as best we could with +three harnessed unicorn fashion, while we pushed behind. We did about +four miles a day, and it took us nearly a month, during the last week of +which we pretty well starved." + +"I notice," I said, "that most of your trips ended in disaster of some +sort or another, and yet you went on making them, which strikes one as a +little strange." + +"Yes, I dare say: but then, remember I got my living for many years out +of hunting. Besides, half the charm of the thing lay in the dangers and +disasters, though they were terrible enough at the time. Another thing +is, my trips were not all disastrous. Some time, if you like, I will +tell you a story of one which was very much the reverse, for I made +several thousand pounds out of it, and saw one of the most extraordinary +sights a hunter ever came across. It was on this trip that I met the +bravest native woman I ever knew; her name was Maiwa. But it is too late +now, and besides, I am tired of talking about myself. 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Rider Haggard + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Tale of Three Lions, by H. Rider Haggard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Tale of Three Lions + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Release Date: December 3, 2008 [EBook #2729] +Last Updated: September 22, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TALE OF THREE LIONS *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, Emma Dudding, Dagny, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + A TALE OF THREE LIONS + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By H. Rider Haggard + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary=""> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. THE INTEREST ON TEN SHILLINGS + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. WHAT WAS FOUND IN THE POOL </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. JIM-JIM IS AVENGED </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. THE INTEREST ON TEN SHILLINGS + </h2> + <p> + Most of you will have heard that Allan Quatermain, who was one of the + party that discovered King Solomon’s mines some little time ago, and who + afterwards came to live in England near his friend Sir Henry Curtis. He + went back to the wilderness again, as these old hunters almost invariably + do, on one pretext or another.[*] They cannot endure civilization for very + long, its noise and racket and the omnipresence of broad-clothed humanity + proving more trying to their nerves than the dangers of the desert. I + think that they feel lonely here, for it is a fact that is too little + understood, though it has often been stated, that there is no loneliness + like the loneliness of crowds, especially to those who are unaccustomed to + them. “What is there in the world,” old Quatermain would say, “so desolate + as to stand in the streets of a great city and listen to the footsteps + falling, falling, multitudinous as the rain, and watch the white line of + faces as they hurry past, you know not whence, you know not whither? They + come and go, their eyes meet yours with a cold stare, for a moment their + features are written on your mind, and then they are gone for ever. You + will never see them again; they will never see you again; they come up out + of the unknown, and presently they once more vanish into the unknown, + taking their secrets with them. Yes, that is loneliness pure and + undefiled; but to one who knows and loves it, the wilderness is not + lonely, because the spirit of nature is ever there to keep the wanderer + company. He finds companions in the winds—the sunny streams babble + like Nature’s children at his feet; high above them, in the purple sunset, + are domes and minarets and palaces, such as no mortal man has built, in + and out of whose flaming doors the angels of the sun seem to move + continually. And there, too, is the wild game, following its + feeding-grounds in great armies, with the springbuck thrown out before for + skirmishers; then rank upon rank of long-faced blesbuck, marching and + wheeling like infantry; and last the shining troops of quagga, and the + fierce-eyed shaggy vilderbeeste to take, as it were, the place of the + cossack host that hangs upon an army’s flanks. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [*] This of course was written before Mr. Quatermain’s + account of the adventures in the newly-discovered country of + Zu-Vendis of himself, Sir Henry Curtis, and Capt. John Good + had been received in England.—Editor. +</pre> + <p> + “Oh, no,” he would say, “the wilderness is not lonely, for, my boy, + remember that the further you get from man, the nearer you grow to God,” + and though this is a saying that might well be disputed, it is one I am + sure that anybody will easily understand who has watched the sun rise and + set on the limitless deserted plains, and seen the thunder chariots of the + clouds roll in majesty across the depths of unfathomable sky. + </p> + <p> + Well, at any rate we went back again, and now for many months I have heard + nothing at all of him, and to be frank, I greatly doubt if anybody will + ever hear of him again. I fear that the wilderness, that has for so many + years been a mother to him, will now also prove his grave and the grave of + those who accompanied him, for the quest upon which he and they have + started is a wild one indeed. + </p> + <p> + But while he was in England for those three years or so between his return + from the successful discovery of the wise king’s buried treasures, and the + death of his only son, I saw a great deal of old Allan Quatermain. I had + known him years before in Africa, and after he came home, whenever I had + nothing better to do, I used to run up to Yorkshire and stay with him, and + in this way I at one time and another heard many of the incidents of his + past life, and most curious some of them were. No man can pass all those + years following the rough existence of an elephant-hunter without meeting + with many strange adventures, and in one way and another old Quatermain + has certainly seen his share. Well, the story that I am going to tell you + in the following pages is one of the later of these adventures, though I + forget the exact year in which it happened, at any rate I know that it was + the only trip upon which he took his son Harry (who is since dead) with + him, and that Harry was then about fourteen. And now for the story, which + I will repeat, as nearly as I can, in the words in which Hunter Quatermain + told it to me one night in the old oak-panelled vestibule of his house in + Yorkshire. We were talking about gold-mining— + </p> + <p> + “Gold-mining!” he broke in; “ah! yes, I once went gold-mining at Pilgrims’ + Rest in the Transvaal, and it was after that that we had the business + about Jim-Jim and the lions. Do you know Pilgrim’s Rest? Well, it is, or + was, one of the queerest little places you ever saw. The town itself was + pitched in a stony valley, with mountains all about it, and in the middle + of such scenery as one does not often get the chance of seeing. Many and + many is the time that I have thrown down my pick and shovel in disgust, + clambered out of my claim, and walked a couple of miles or so to the top + of some hill. Then I would lie down in the grass and look out over the + glorious stretch of country—the smiling valleys, the great mountains + touched with gold—real gold of the sunset, and clothed in sweeping + robes of bush, and stare into the depths of the perfect sky above; yes, + and thank Heaven I had got away from the cursing and the coarse jokes of + the miners, and the voices of those Basutu Kaffirs as they toiled in the + sun, the memory of which is with me yet. + </p> + <p> + “Well, for some months I dug away patiently at my claim, till the very + sight of a pick or of a washing-trough became hateful to me. A hundred + times a day I lamented my own folly in having invested eight hundred + pounds, which was about all that I was worth at the time, in this + gold-mining. But like other better people before me, I had been bitten by + the gold bug, and now was forced to take the consequences. I bought a + claim out of which a man had made a fortune—five or six thousand + pounds at least—as I thought, very cheap; that is, I gave him five + hundred pounds down for it. It was all that I had made by a very rough + year’s elephant-hunting beyond the Zambesi, and I sighed deeply and + prophetically when I saw my successful friend, who was a Yankee, sweep up + the roll of Standard Bank notes with the lordly air of the man who has + made his fortune, and cram them into his breeches pockets. ‘Well,’ I said + to him—the happy vendor—‘it is a magnificent property, and I + only hope that my luck will be as good as yours has been.’ + </p> + <p> + “He smiled; to my excited nerves it seemed that he smiled ominously, as he + answered me in a peculiar Yankee drawl: ‘I guess, stranger, as I ain’t the + one to make a man quarrel with his food, more especial when there ain’t no + more going of the rounds; and as for that there claim, well, she’s been a + good nigger to me; but between you and me, stranger, speaking man to man, + now that there ain’t any filthy lucre between us to obscure the features + of the truth, I guess she’s about worked out!’ + </p> + <p> + “I gasped; the fellow’s effrontery took the breath out of me. Only five + minutes before he had been swearing by all his gods—and they + appeared to be numerous and mixed—that there were half a dozen + fortunes left in the claim, and that he was only giving it up because he + was downright weary of shovelling the gold out. + </p> + <p> + “‘Don’t look so vexed, stranger,’ went on my tormentor, ‘perhaps there is + some shine in the old girl yet; anyway you are a downright good fellow, + you are, therefore you will, I guess, have a real A1 opportunity of + working on the feelings of Fortune. Anyway it will bring the muscle up + upon your arm, for the stuff is uncommon stiff, and, what is more, you + will in the course of a year earn a sight more than two thousand dollars + in value of experience.’ + </p> + <p> + “Then he went just in time, for in another moment I should have gone for + him, and I saw his face no more. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I set to work on the old claim with my boy Harry and half a dozen + Kaffirs to help me, which, seeing that I had put nearly all my worldly + wealth into it, was the least that I could do. And we worked, my word, we + did work—early and late we went at it—but never a bit of gold + did we see; no, not even a nugget large enough to make a scarf-pin out of. + The American gentleman had secured it all and left us the sweepings. + </p> + <p> + “For three months this went on, till at last I had paid away all, or very + near all, that was left of her little capital in wages and food for the + Kaffirs and ourselves. When I tell you that Boer meal was sometimes as + high as four pounds a bag, you will understand that it did not take long + to run through our banking account. + </p> + <p> + “At last the crisis came. One Saturday night I had paid the men as usual, + and bought a muid of mealie meal at sixty shillings for them to fill + themselves with, and then I went with my boy Harry and sat on the edge of + the great hole that we had dug in the hill-side, and which we had in + bitter mockery named Eldorado. There we sat in the moonlight with our feet + over the edge of the claim, and were melancholy enough for anything. + Presently I pulled out my purse and emptied its contents into my hand. + There was a half-sovereign, two florins, ninepence in silver, no coppers—for + copper practically does not circulate in South Africa, which is one of the + things that make living so dear there—in all exactly fourteen and + ninepence. + </p> + <p> + “‘There, Harry, my boy!’ I said, ‘that is the sum total of our worldly + wealth; that hole has swallowed all the rest.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘By George!’ said Master Harry; ‘I say, father, you and I shall have to + let ourselves out to work with the Kaffirs and live on mealie pap,’ and he + sniggered at his unpleasant little joke. + </p> + <p> + “But I was in no mood for joking, for it is not a merry thing to dig like + anything for months and be completely ruined in the process, especially if + you happen to dislike digging, and consequently I resented Harry’s + light-heartedness. + </p> + <p> + “‘Be quiet, boy!’ I said, raising my hand as though to give him a cuff, + with the result that the half-sovereign slipped out of it and fell into + the gulf below. + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh, bother,’ said I, ‘it’s gone.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘There, Dad,’ said Harry, ‘that’s what comes of letting your angry + passions rise; now we are down to four and nine.’ + </p> + <p> + “I made no answer to these words of wisdom, but scrambled down the steep + sides of the claim, followed by Harry, to hunt for my little all. Well, we + hunted and we hunted, but the moonlight is an uncertain thing to look for + half-sovereigns by, and there was some loose soil about, for the Kaffirs + had knocked off working at this very spot a couple of hours before. I took + a pick and raked away the clods of earth with it, in the hope of finding + the coin; but all in vain. At last in sheer annoyance I struck the sharp + end of the pickaxe down into the soil, which was of a very hard nature. To + my astonishment it sunk in right up to the haft. + </p> + <p> + “‘Why, Harry,’ I said, ‘this ground must have been disturbed!’ + </p> + <p> + “‘I don’t think so, father,’ he answered; ‘but we will soon see,’ and he + began to shovel out the soil with his hands. ‘Oh,’ he said presently, + ‘it’s only some old stones; the pick has gone down between them, look!’ + and he began to pull at one of the stones. + </p> + <p> + “‘I say, Dad,’ he said presently, almost in a whisper, ‘it’s precious + heavy, feel it;’ and he rose and gave me a round, brownish lump about the + size of a very large apple, which he was holding in both his hands. I took + it curiously and held it up to the light. It <i>was</i> very heavy. The + moonlight fell upon its rough and filth-encrusted surface, and as I + looked, curious little thrills of excitement began to pass through me. But + I could not be sure. + </p> + <p> + “‘Give me your knife, Harry,’ I said. + </p> + <p> + “He did so, and resting the brown stone on my knee I scratched at its + surface. Great heavens, it was soft! + </p> + <p> + “Another second and the secret was out, we had found a great nugget of + pure gold, four pounds of it or more. ‘It’s gold, lad,’ I said, ‘it’s + gold, or I’m a Dutchman!’ + </p> + <p> + “Harry, with his eyes starting out of his head, glared down at the + gleaming yellow scratch that I had made upon the virgin metal, and then + burst out into yell upon yell of exultation, which went ringing away + across the silent claims like shrieks of somebody being murdered. + </p> + <p> + “‘Be quiet!’ I said; ‘do you want every thief on the fields after you?’ + </p> + <p> + “Scarcely were the words out of my mouth when I heard a stealthy footstep + approaching. I promptly put the big nugget down and sat on it, and + uncommonly hard it was. As I did so I saw a lean dark face poked over the + edge of the claim and a pair of beady eyes searching us out. I knew the + face, it belonged to a man of very bad character known as Handspike Tom, + who had, I understood, been so named at the Diamond Fields because he had + murdered his mate with a handspike. He was now no doubt prowling about + like a human hyæna to see what he could steal. + </p> + <p> + “‘Is that you, ‘unter Quatermain?’ he said. + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes, it’s I, Mr. Tom,’ I answered, politely. + </p> + <p> + “‘And what might all that there yelling be?’ he asked. ‘I was walking + along, a-taking of the evening air and a-thinking on the stars, when I + ‘ears ‘owl after ‘owl.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Well, Mr. Tom,’ I answered, ‘that is not to be wondered at, seeing that + like yourself they are nocturnal birds.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘’Owl after ‘owl!’ he repeated sternly, taking no notice of my + interpretation, ‘and I stops and says, “That’s murder,” and I listens + again and thinks, “No, it ain’t; that ‘owl is the ‘owl of hexultation; + some one’s been and got his fingers into a gummy yeller pot, I’ll swear, + and gone off ‘is ‘ead in the sucking of them.” Now, ‘unter Quatermain, is + I right? is it nuggets? Oh, lor!’ and he smacked his lips audibly—‘great + big yellow boys—is it them that you have just been and tumbled + across?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘No,’ I said boldly, ‘it isn’t’—the cruel gleam in his black eyes + altogether overcoming my aversion to untruth, for I knew that if once he + found out what it was that I was sitting on—and by the way I have + heard of rolling in gold being spoken of as a pleasant process, but I + certainly do not recommend anybody who values comfort to try sitting on it—I + should run a very good chance of being ‘handspiked’ before the night was + over. + </p> + <p> + “‘If you want to know what it was, Mr. Tom,’ I went on, with my politest + air, although in agony from the nugget underneath—for I hold it is + always best to be polite to a man who is so ready with a handspike—‘my + boy and I have had a slight difference of opinion, and I was enforcing my + view of the matter upon him; that’s all.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes, Mr. Tom,’ put in Harry, beginning to weep, for Harry was a smart + boy, and saw the difficulty we were in, ‘that was it—I halloed + because father beat me.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Well, now, did yer, my dear boy—did yer? Well, all I can say is + that a played-out old claim is a wonderful queer sort of place to come to + for to argify at ten o’clock of night, and what’s more, my sweet youth, if + ever I should ‘ave the argifying of yer’—and he leered unpleasantly + at Harry—‘yer won’t ‘oller in quite such a jolly sort ‘o way. And + now I’ll be saying good-night, for I don’t like disturbing of a family + party. No, I ain’t that sort of man, I ain’t. Good-night to yer, ‘unter + Quatermain—good-night to yer, my argified young one;’ and Mr. Tom + turned away disappointed, and prowled off elsewhere, like a human jackal, + to see what he could thieve or kill. + </p> + <p> + “‘Thank goodness!’ I said, as I slipped off the lump of gold. ‘Now, then, + do you get up, Harry, and see if that consummate villain has gone.’ Harry + did so, and reported that he had vanished towards Pilgrim’s Rest, and then + we set to work, and very carefully, but trembling with excitement, with + our hands hollowed out all the space of ground into which I had struck the + pick. Yes, as I hoped, there was a regular nest of nuggets, twelve in all, + running from the size of a hazel-nut to that of a hen’s egg, though of + course the first one was much larger than that. How they all came there + nobody can say; it was one of those extraordinary freaks, with stories of + which, at any rate, all people acquainted with alluvial gold-mining will + be familiar. It turned out afterwards that the American who sold me the + claim had in the same way made his pile—a much larger one than ours, + by the way—out of a single pocket, and then worked for six months + without seeing colour, after which he gave it up. + </p> + <p> + “At any rate, there the nuggets were, to the value, as it turned out + afterwards, of about twelve hundred and fifty pounds, so that after all I + took out of that hole four hundred and fifty pounds more than I put into + it. We got them all out and wrapped them up in a handkerchief, and then, + fearing to carry home so much treasure, especially as we knew that Mr. + Handspike Tom was on the prowl, made up our minds to pass the night where + we were—a necessity which, disagreeable as it was, was wonderfully + sweetened by the presence of that handkerchief full of virgin gold—the + interest of my lost half-sovereign. + </p> + <p> + “Slowly the night wore away, for with the fear of Handspike Tom before my + eyes I did not dare to go to sleep, and at last the dawn came. I got up + and watched its growth, till it opened like a flower upon the eastern sky, + and the sunbeams began to spring up in splendour from mountain-top to + mountain-top. I watched it, and as I did so it flashed upon me, with a + complete conviction which I had not felt before, that I had had enough of + gold-mining to last me the rest of my natural life, and I then and there + made up my mind to clear out of Pilgrims’ Rest and go and shoot buffalo + towards Delagoa Bay. Then I turned, took the pick and shovel, and although + it was a Sunday morning, woke up Harry and set to work to see if there + were any more nuggets about. As I expected, there were none. What we had + got had lain together in a little pocket filled with soil that felt quite + different from the stiff stuff round and outside the pocket. There was not + another trace of gold. Of course it is possible that there were more + pocketfuls somewhere about, but all I have to say is I made up my mind + that, whoever found them, I should not; and, as a matter of fact, I have + since heard that this claim has been the ruin of two or three people, as + it very nearly was the ruin of me. + </p> + <p> + “‘Harry,’ I said presently, ‘I am going away this week towards Delagoa to + shoot buffalo. Shall I take you with me, or send you down to Durban?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh, take me with you, father!’ begged Harry, ‘I want to kill a buffalo!’ + </p> + <p> + “‘And supposing that the buffalo kills you instead?’ I asked. + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh, never mind,’ he said, gaily, ‘there are lots more where I came + from.’ + </p> + <p> + “I rebuked him for his flippancy, but in the end I consented to take him.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. WHAT WAS FOUND IN THE POOL + </h2> + <p> + “Something over a fortnight had passed since the night when I lost + half-a-sovereign and found twelve hundred and fifty pounds in looking for + it, and instead of that horrid hole, for which, after all, Eldorado was + hardly a misnomer, a very different scene stretched away before us clad in + the silver robe of the moonlight. We were camped—Harry and I, two + Kaffirs, a Scotch cart, and six oxen—on the swelling side of a great + wave of bushclad land. Just where we had made our camp, however, the bush + was very sparse, and only grew about in clumps, while here and there were + single flat-topped mimosa-trees. To our right a little stream, which had + cut a deep channel for itself in the bosom of the slope, flowed musically + on between banks green with maidenhair, wild asparagus, and many beautiful + grasses. The bed-rock here was red granite, and in the course of centuries + of patient washing the water had hollowed out some of the huge slabs in + its path into great troughs and cups, and these we used for + bathing-places. No Roman lady, with her baths of porphyry or alabaster, + could have had a more delicious spot to bathe herself than we found within + fifty yards of our skerm, or rough inclosure of mimosa thorn, that we had + dragged together round the cart to protect us from the attacks of lions. + That there were several of these brutes about, I knew from their spoor, + though we had neither heard nor seen them. + </p> + <p> + “Our bath was a little nook where the eddy of the stream had washed away a + mass of soil, and on the edge of it there grew a most beautiful old mimosa + thorn. Beneath the thorn was a large smooth slab of granite fringed all + round with maidenhair and other ferns, that sloped gently down to a pool + of the clearest sparkling water, which lay in a bowl of granite about ten + feet wide by five feet deep in the centre. Here to this slab we went every + morning to bathe, and that delightful bath is among the most pleasant of + my hunting reminiscences, as it is also, for reasons which will presently + appear, among the most painful. + </p> + <p> + “It was a lovely night. Harry and I sat to the windward of the fire, where + the two Kaffirs were busily employed in cooking some impala steaks off a + buck which Harry, to his great joy, had shot that morning, and were as + perfectly contented with ourselves and the world at large as two people + could possibly be. The night was beautiful, and it would require somebody + with more words on the tip of his tongue than I have to describe properly + the chastened majesty of those moonlit wilds. Away for ever and for ever, + away to the mysterious north, rolled the great bush ocean over which the + silence brooded. There beneath us a mile or more to the right ran the wide + Oliphant, and mirror-like flashed back the moon, whose silver spears were + shivered on its breast, and then tossed in twisted lines of light far and + wide about the mountains and the plain. Down upon the river-banks grew + great timber-trees that through the stillness pointed solemnly to Heaven, + and the beauty of the night lay upon them like a cloud. Everywhere was + silence—silence in the starred depths, silence on the bosom of the + sleeping earth. Now, if ever, great thoughts might rise in a man’s mind, + and for a space he might forget his littleness in the sense that he + partook of the pure immensity about him. + </p> + <p> + “‘Hark! what was that?’ + </p> + <p> + “From far away down by the river there comes a mighty rolling sound, then + another, and another. It is the lion seeking his meat. + </p> + <p> + “I saw Harry shiver and turn a little pale. He was a plucky boy enough, + but the roar of a lion heard for the first time in the solemn bush veldt + at night is apt to shake the nerves of any lad. + </p> + <p> + “‘Lions, my boy,’ I said; ‘they are hunting down by the river there; but I + don’t think that you need make yourself uneasy. We have been here three + nights now, and if they were going to pay us a visit I think that they + would have done so before this. However, we will make up the fire.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Here, Pharaoh, do you and Jim-Jim get some more wood before we go to + sleep, else the cats will be purring round you before morning.’ + </p> + <p> + “Pharaoh, a great brawny Swazi, who had been working for me at Pilgrims’ + Rest, laughed, rose, and stretched himself, then calling to Jim-Jim to + bring the axe and a reim, started off in the moonlight towards a clump of + sugar-bush where we cut our fuel from some dead trees. He was a fine + fellow in his way, was Pharaoh, and I think that he had been named Pharaoh + because he had an Egyptian cast of countenance and a royal sort of swagger + about him. But his way was a somewhat peculiar way, on account of the + uncertainty of his temper, and very few people could get on with him; also + if he could find liquor he would drink like a fish, and when he drank he + became shockingly bloodthirsty. These were his bad points; his good ones + were that, like most people of the Zulu blood, he became exceedingly + attached if he took to you at all; he was a hard-working and intelligent + man, and about as dare-devil and plucky a fellow at a pinch as I have ever + had to do with. He was about five-and-thirty years of age or so, but not a + ‘keshla’ or ringed man. I believe that he had got into trouble in some way + in Swaziland, and the authorities of his tribe would not allow him to + assume the ring, and that is why he came to work at the gold-fields. The + other man, or rather lad, Jim-Jim, was a Mapoch Kaffir, or Knobnose, and + even in the light of subsequent events I fear I cannot speak very well of + him. He was an idle and careless young rascal, and only that very morning + I had to tell Pharaoh to give him a beating for letting the oxen stray, + which Pharaoh did with the greatest gusto, although he was by way of being + very fond of Jim-Jim. Indeed, I saw him consoling Jim-Jim afterwards with + a pinch of snuff from his own ear-box, whilst he explained to him that the + next time it came in the way of duty to flog him, he meant to thrash him + with the other hand, so as to cross the old cuts and make a “pretty + pattern” on his back. + </p> + <p> + “Well, off they went, though Jim-Jim did not at all like leaving the camp + at that hour, even when the moonlight was so bright, and in due course + returned safely enough with a great bundle of wood. I laughed at Jim-Jim, + and asked him if he had seen anything, and he said yes, he had; he had + seen two large yellow eyes staring at him from behind a bush, and heard + something snore. + </p> + <p> + “As, however, on further investigation the yellow eyes and the snore + appeared to have existed only in Jim-Jim’s lively imagination, I was not + greatly disturbed by this alarming report; but having seen to the + making-up of the fire, got into the skerm and went quietly to sleep with + Harry by my side. + </p> + <p> + “Some hours afterwards I woke up with a start. I don’t know what woke me. + The moon had gone down, or at least was almost hidden behind the soft + horizon of bush, only her red rim being visible. Also a wind had sprung up + and was driving long hurrying lines of cloud across the starry sky, and + altogether a great change had come over the mood of the night. By the look + of the sky I judged that we must be about two hours from day-break. + </p> + <p> + “The oxen, which were as usual tied to the disselboom of the Scotch cart, + were very restless—they kept snuffling and blowing, and rising up + and lying down again, so I at once suspected that they must wind + something. Presently I knew what it was that they winded, for within fifty + yards of us a lion roared, not very loud, but quite loud enough to make my + heart come into my mouth. + </p> + <p> + “Pharaoh was sleeping on the other side of the cart, and, looking beneath + it, I saw him raise his head and listen. + </p> + <p> + “‘Lion, Inkoos,’ he whispered, ‘lion!’ + </p> + <p> + “Jim-Jim also jumped up, and by the faint light I could see that he was in + a very great fright indeed. + </p> + <p> + “Thinking that it was as well to be prepared for emergencies, I told + Pharaoh to throw wood upon the fire, and woke up Harry, who I verily + believe was capable of sleeping happily through the crack of doom. He was + a little scared at first, but presently the excitement of the position + came home to him, and he grew quite anxious to see his majesty face to + face. I got my rifle handy and gave Harry his—a Westley Richards + falling block, which is a very useful gun for a youth, being light and yet + a good killing rifle, and then we waited. + </p> + <p> + “For a long time nothing happened, and I began to think that the best + thing we could do would be to go to sleep again, when suddenly I heard a + sound more like a cough than a roar within about twenty yards of the + skerm. We all looked out, but could see nothing; and then followed another + period of suspense. It was very trying to the nerves, this waiting for an + attack that might be developed from any quarter or might not be developed + at all; and though I was an old hand at this sort of business I was + anxious about Harry, for it is wonderful how the presence of anybody to + whom one is attached unnerves a man in moments of danger. I know, although + it was now chilly enough, I could feel the perspiration running down my + nose, and in order to relieve the strain on my attention employed myself + in watching a beetle which appeared to be attracted by the firelight, and + was sitting before it thoughtfully rubbing his antennæ against each other. + </p> + <p> + “Suddenly, the beetle gave such a jump that he nearly pitched headlong + into the fire, and so did we all—gave jumps, I mean, and no wonder, + for from right under the skerm fence there came a most frightful roar—a + roar that literally made the Scotch cart shake and took the breath out of + me. + </p> + <p> + “Harry made an exclamation, Jim-Jim howled outright, while the poor oxen, + who were terrified almost out of their hides, shivered and lowed + piteously. + </p> + <p> + “The night was almost entirely dark now, for the moon had quite set, and + the clouds had covered up the stars, so that the only light we had came + from the fire, which by this time was burning up brightly again. But, as + you know, firelight is absolutely useless to shoot by, it is so uncertain, + and besides, it penetrates but a very little way into the darkness, + although if one is in the dark outside, one can see it from far away. + </p> + <p> + “Presently the oxen, after standing still for a moment, suddenly winded + the lion and did what I feared they would do—began to ‘skrek,’ that + is, to try and break loose from the trektow to which they were tied, to + rush off madly into the wilderness. Lions know of this habit on the part + of oxen, which are, I do believe, the most foolish animals under the sun, + a sheep being a very Solomon compared to them; and it is by no means + uncommon for a lion to get in such a position that a herd or span of oxen + may wind him, skrek, break their reims, and rush off into the bush. Of + course, once there, they are helpless in the dark; and then the lion + chooses the one that he loves best and eats him at his leisure. + </p> + <p> + “Well, round and round went our six poor oxen, nearly trampling us to + death in their mad rush; indeed, had we not hastily tumbled out of the + way, we should have been trodden to death, or at the least seriously + injured. As it was, Harry was run over, and poor Jim-Jim being caught by + the trektow somewhere beneath the arm, was hurled right across the skerm, + landing by my side only some paces off. + </p> + <p> + “Snap went the disselboom of the cart beneath the transverse strain put + upon it. Had it not broken the cart would have overset; as it was, in + another minute, oxen, cart, trektow, reims, broken disselboom, and + everything were soon tied in one vast heaving, plunging, bellowing, and + seemingly inextricable knot. + </p> + <p> + “For a moment or two this state of affairs took my attention off from the + lion that had caused it, but whilst I was wondering what on earth was to + be done next, and how we should manage if the cattle broke loose into the + bush and were lost—for cattle frightened in this manner will so + straight away like mad things—my thoughts were suddenly recalled to + the lion in a very painful fashion. + </p> + <p> + “For at that moment I perceived by the light of the fire a kind of gleam + of yellow travelling through the air towards us. + </p> + <p> + “‘The lion! the lion!’ holloaed Pharaoh, and as he did so, he, or rather + she, for it was a great gaunt lioness, half wild no doubt with hunger, lit + right in the middle of the skerm, and stood there in the smoky gloom + lashing her tail and roaring. I seized my rifle and fired it at her, but + what between the confusion, my agitation, and the uncertain light, I + missed her, and nearly shot Pharaoh. The flash of the rifle, however, + threw the whole scene into strong relief, and a wild sight it was I can + tell you—with the seething mass of oxen twisted all round the cart, + in such a fashion that their heads looked as though they were growing out + of their rumps; and their horns seemed to protrude from their backs; the + smoking fire with just a blaze in the heart of the smoke; Jim-Jim in the + foreground, where the oxen had thrown him in their wild rush, stretched + out there in terror, and then as a centre to the picture the great gaunt + lioness glaring round with hungry yellow eyes, roaring and whining as she + made up her mind what to do. + </p> + <p> + “It did not take her long, however, just the time that it takes a flash to + die into darkness, for, before I could fire again or do anything, with a + most fiendish snort she sprang upon poor Jim-Jim. + </p> + <p> + “I heard the unfortunate lad shriek, and then almost instantly I saw his + legs thrown into the air. The lioness had seized him by the neck, and with + a sudden jerk thrown his body over her back so that his legs hung down + upon the further side.[*] Then, without the slightest hesitation, and + apparently without any difficulty, she cleared the skerm face at a single + bound, and bearing poor Jim-Jim with her vanished into the darkness + beyond, in the direction of the bathing-place that I have already + described. We jumped up perfectly mad with horror and fear, and rushed + wildly after her, firing shots at haphazard on the chance that she would + be frightened by them into dropping her prey, but nothing could we see, + and nothing could we hear. The lioness had vanished into the darkness, + taking Jim-Jim with her, and to attempt to follow her till daylight was + madness. We should only expose ourselves to the risk of a like fate. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [*] I have known a lion carry a two-year-old ox over a stone + wall four feet high in this fashion, and a mile away into + the bush beyond. He was subsequently poisoned by strychnine + put into the carcass of the ox, and I still have his claws. + —Editor. +</pre> + <p> + “So with scared and heavy hearts we crept back to the skerm, and sat down + to wait for the dawn, which now could not be much more than an hour off. + It was absolutely useless to try even to disentangle the oxen till then, + so all that was left for us to do was to sit and wonder how it came to + pass that the one should be taken and the other left, and to hope against + hope that our poor servant might have been mercifully delivered from the + lion’s jaws. + </p> + <p> + “At length the faint dawn came stealing like a ghost up the long slope of + bush, and glinted on the tangled oxen’s horns, and with white and + frightened faces we got up and set to the task of disentangling the oxen, + till such time as there should be light enough to enable us to follow the + trail of the lioness which had gone off with Jim-Jim. And here a fresh + trouble awaited us, for when at last with infinite difficulty we had + disentangled the great helpless brutes, it was only to find that one of + the best of them was very sick. There was no mistake about the way he + stood with his legs slightly apart and his head hanging down. He had got + the redwater, I was sure of it. Of all the difficulties connected with + life and travelling in South Africa those connected with oxen are perhaps + the worst. The ox is the most exasperating animal in the world, a negro + excepted. He has absolutely no constitution, and never neglects an + opportunity of falling sick of some mysterious disease. He will get thin + upon the slightest provocation, and from mere maliciousness die of + ‘poverty’; whereas it is his chief delight to turn round and refuse to + pull whenever he finds himself well in the centre of a river, or the + waggon-wheel nicely fast in a mud hole. Drive him a few miles over rough + roads and you will find that he is footsore; turn him loose to feed and + you will discover that he has run away, or if he has not run away he has + of malice aforethought eaten ‘tulip’ and poisoned himself. There is always + something with him. The ox is a brute. It was of a piece with his + accustomed behaviour for the one in question to break out—on purpose + probably—with redwater just when a lion had walked off with his + herd. It was exactly what I should have expected, and I was therefore + neither disappointed nor surprised. + </p> + <p> + “Well, it was no use crying as I should almost have liked to do, because + if this ox had redwater it was probable that the rest of them had it too, + although they had been sold to me as ‘salted,’ that is, proof against such + diseases as redwater and lungsick. One gets hardened to this sort of thing + in South Africa in course of time, for I suppose in no other country in + the world is the waste of animal life so great. + </p> + <p> + “So taking my rifle and telling Harry to follow me (for we had to leave + Pharaoh to look after the oxen—Pharaoh’s lean kine, I called them), + I started to see if anything could be found of or appertaining to the + unfortunate Jim-Jim. The ground round our little camp was hard and rocky, + and we could not hit off any spoor of the lioness, though just outside the + skerm was a drop or two of blood. About three hundred yards from the camp, + and a little to the right, was a patch of sugar bush mixed up with the + usual mimosa, and for this I made, thinking that the lioness would have + been sure to take her prey there to devour it. On we pushed through the + long grass that was bent down beneath the weight of the soaking dew. In + two minutes we were wet through up to the thighs, as wet as though we had + waded through water. In due course, however, we reached the patch of bush, + and by the grey light of the morning cautiously and slowly pushed our way + into it. It was very dark under the trees, for the sun was not yet up, so + we walked with the most extreme care, half expecting every minute to come + across the lioness licking the bones of poor Jim-Jim. But no lioness could + we see, and as for Jim-Jim there was not even a finger-joint of him to be + found. Evidently they had not come here. + </p> + <p> + “So pushing through the bush we proceeded to hunt every other likely spot, + but with the same result. + </p> + <p> + “‘I suppose she must have taken him right away,’ I said at last, sadly + enough. ‘At any rate he will be dead by now, so God have mercy on him, we + can’t help him. What’s to be done now?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘I suppose that we had better wash ourselves in the pool, and then go + back and get something to eat. I am filthy,’ said Harry. + </p> + <p> + “This was a practical if a somewhat unfeeling suggestion. At least it + struck me as unfeeling to talk of washing when poor Jim-Jim had been so + recently eaten. However, I did not let my sentiment carry me away, so we + went down to the beautiful spot that I have described, to wash. I was the + first to reach it, which I did by scrambling down the ferny bank. Then I + turned round, and started back with a yell—as well I might, for + almost from beneath my feet there came a most awful snarl. + </p> + <p> + “I had lit nearly upon the back of the lioness, that had been sleeping on + the slab where we always stood to dry ourselves after bathing. With a + snarl and a growl, before I could do anything, before I could even cock my + rifle, she had bounded right across the crystal pool, and vanished over + the opposite bank. It was all done in an instant, as quick as thought. + </p> + <p> + “She had been sleeping on the slab, and oh, horror! what was that sleeping + beside her? It was the red remains of poor Jim-Jim, lying on a patch of + blood-stained rock. + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh! father, father!’ shrieked Harry, ‘look in the water!’ + </p> + <p> + “I looked. There, floating in the centre of the lovely tranquil pool, was + Jim-Jim’s head. The lioness had bitten it right off, and it had rolled + down the sloping rock into the water.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. JIM-JIM IS AVENGED + </h2> + <p> + “We never bathed in that pool again; indeed for my part I could never look + at its peaceful purity fringed round with waving ferns without thinking of + that ghastly head which rolled itself off through the water when we tried + to catch it. + </p> + <p> + “Poor Jim-Jim! We buried what was left of him, which was not very much, in + an old bread-bag, and though whilst he lived his virtues were not great, + now that he was gone we could have wept over him. Indeed, Harry did weep + outright; while Pharaoh used very bad language in Zulu, and I registered a + quiet little vow on my account that I would let daylight into that lioness + before I was forty-eight hours older, if by any means it could be done. + </p> + <p> + “Well, we buried him, and there he lies in the bread-bag (which I rather + grudged him, as it was the only one we had), where lions will not trouble + him any more—though perhaps the hyænas will, if they consider that + there is enough on him left to make it worth their while to dig him up. + However, he won’t mind that; so there is an end of the book of Jim-Jim. + </p> + <p> + “The question that now remained was, how to circumvent his murderess. I + knew that she would be sure to return as soon as she was hungry again, but + I did not know when she would be hungry. She had left so little of Jim-Jim + behind her that I should scarcely expect to see her the next night, unless + indeed she had cubs. Still, I felt that it would not be wise to miss the + chance of her coming, so we set about making preparations for her + reception. The first thing that we did was to strengthen the bush wall of + the skerm by dragging a large quantity of the tops of thorn-trees + together, and laying them one on the other in such a fashion that the + thorns pointed outwards. This, after our experience of the fate of + Jim-Jim, seemed a very necessary precaution, since if where one goat can + jump another can follow, as the Kaffirs say, how much more is this the + case when an animal so active and so vigorous as the lion is concerned! + And now came the further question, how were we to beguile the lioness to + return? Lions are animals that have a strange knack of appearing when they + are not wanted, and keeping studiously out of the way when their presence + is required. Of course it was possible that if she had found Jim-Jim to + her liking she would come back to see if there were any more of his kind + about, but still it was not to be relied on. + </p> + <p> + “Harry, who as I have said was an eminently practical boy, suggested to + Pharaoh that he should go and sit outside the skerm in the moonlight as a + sort of bait, assuring him that he would have nothing to fear, as we + should certainly kill the lioness before she killed him. Pharaoh however, + strangely enough, did not seem to take to this suggestion. Indeed, he + walked away, much put out with Harry for having made it. + </p> + <p> + “It gave me an idea, however. + </p> + <p> + “‘By Jove!’ I said, ‘there is the sick ox. He must die sooner or later, so + we may as well utilize him.’ + </p> + <p> + “Now, about thirty yards to the left of our skerm, as one stood facing + down the hill towards the river, was the stump of a tree that had been + destroyed by lightning many years before, standing equidistant between, + but a little in front of, two clumps of bush, which were severally some + fifteen paces from it. + </p> + <p> + “Here was the very place to tie the ox; and accordingly a little before + sunset the sick animal was led forth by Pharaoh and made fast there, + little knowing, poor brute, for what purpose; and we began our long vigil, + this time without a fire, for our object was to attract the lioness and + not to scare her. + </p> + <p> + “For hour after hour we waited, keeping ourselves awake by pinching each + other—it is, by the way, remarkable what a difference of opinion as + to the force of pinches requisite to the occasion exists in the mind of + pincher and pinched—but no lioness came. At last the moon went down, + and darkness swallowed up the world, as the Kaffirs say, but no lions came + to swallow us up. We waited till dawn, because we did not dare to go to + sleep, and then at last with many bad thoughts in our hearts we took such + rest as we could get, and that was not much. + </p> + <p> + “That morning we went out shooting, not because we wanted to, for we were + too depressed and tired, but because we had no more meat. For three hours + or more we wandered about in a broiling sun looking for something to kill, + but with absolutely no results. For some unknown reason the game had grown + very scarce about the spot, though when I was there two years before every + sort of large game except rhinoceros and elephant was particularly + abundant. The lions, of whom there were many, alone remained, and I fancy + that it was the fact of the game they live on having temporarily migrated + which made them so daring and ferocious. As a general rule a lion is an + amiable animal enough if he is left alone, but a hungry lion is almost as + dangerous as a hungry man. One hears a great many different opinions + expressed as to whether or no the lion is remarkable for his courage, but + the result of my experience is that very much depends upon the state of + his stomach. A hungry lion will not stick at a trifle, whereas a full one + will flee at a very small rebuke. + </p> + <p> + “Well, we hunted all about, and nothing could we see, not even a duiker or + a bush buck; and at last, thoroughly tired and out of temper, we started + on our way back to camp, passing over the brow of a steepish hill to do + so. Just as we climbed the crest of the ridge I came to a stand, for + there, about six hundred yards to my left, his beautiful curved horns + outlined against the soft blue of the sky, I saw a noble koodoo bull (<i>Strepsiceros + kudu</i>). Even at that distance, for as you know my eyes are very keen, I + could distinctly see the white stripes on its side when the light fell + upon it, and its large and pointed ears twitch as the flies worried it. + </p> + <p> + “So far so good; but how were we to get at it? It was ridiculous to risk a + shot at that great distance, and yet both the ground and the wind lay very + ill for stalking. It seemed to me that the only chance would be to make a + detour of at least a mile or more, and come up on the other side of the + koodoo. I called Harry to my side, and explained to him what I thought + would be our best course, when suddenly, without any delay, the koodoo + saved us further trouble by suddenly starting off down the hill like a + leaping rocket. I do not know what had frightened it, certainly we had + not. Perhaps a hyæna or a leopard—a tiger as we call it there—had + suddenly appeared; at any rate, off it went, running slightly towards us, + and I never saw a buck go faster. I am afraid that forgetting Harry’s + presence I used strong language, and really there was some excuse. As for + Harry, he stood watching the beautiful animal’s course. Presently it + vanished behind a patch of bush, to emerge a few seconds later about five + hundred paces from us, on a stretch of comparatively level ground that was + strewn with boulders. On it went, clearing the boulders in its path with a + succession of great bounds that were beautiful to behold. As it did so, I + happened to look round at Harry, and perceived to my astonishment that he + had got his rifle to his shoulder. + </p> + <p> + “‘You young donkey!’ I exclaimed, ‘surely you are not going to’—and + just at that moment the rifle went off. + </p> + <p> + “And then I think I saw what was in its way one of the most wonderful + things I ever remember in my hunting experience. The koodoo was at the + moment in the air, clearing a pile of stones with its fore-legs tucked up + underneath it. All of an instant the legs stretched themselves out in a + spasmodic fashion, it lit on them, and they doubled up beneath it. Down + went the noble buck, down upon his head. For a moment he seemed to be + standing on his horns, his hind-legs high in the air, and then over he + rolled and lay still. + </p> + <p> + “‘Great Heavens!’ I said, ‘why, you’ve hit him! He’s dead.’ + </p> + <p> + “As for Harry, he said nothing, but merely looked scared, as well he + might, for such a marvellous, I may say such an appalling and ghastly + fluke it has never been my lot to witness. A man, let alone a boy, might + have fired a thousand such shots without ever touching the object; which, + mind you, was springing and bounding over rocks quite five hundred yards + away; and here this lad—taking a snap shot, and merely allowing for + speed and elevation by instinct, for he did not put up his sights—had + knocked the bull over as dead as a door-nail. Well, I made no further + remark, as the occasion was too solemn for talking, but merely led the way + to where the koodoo had fallen. There he lay, beautiful and quite still; + and there, high up, about half-way down his neck, was a neat round hole. + The bullet had severed the spinal marrow, passing through the vertebræ and + away on the other side. + </p> + <p> + “It was already evening when, having cut as much of the best meat as we + could carry from the bull, and tied a red handkerchief and some tufts of + grass to his spiral horns, which, by the way, must have been nearly five + feet in length, in the hope of keeping the jackals and aasvögels + (vultures) from him, we finally got back to camp, to find Pharaoh, who was + getting rather anxious at our absence, ready to greet us with the pleasing + intelligence that another ox was sick. But even this dreadful bit of + intelligence could not dash Harry’s spirits; the fact of the matter being, + incredible as it may appear, I do verily believe that in his heart of + hearts he set down the death of the koodoo to the credit of his own skill. + Now, though the lad was a pretty shot enough, this of course was + ridiculous, and I told him so plainly. + </p> + <p> + “By the time that we had finished our supper of koodoo steaks (which would + have been better if the koodoo had been a little younger), it was time to + get ready for Jim-Jim’s murderess. Accordingly we determined again to + expose the unfortunate sick ox, that was now absolutely on its last legs, + being indeed scarcely able to stand. All the afternoon Pharaoh told us it + had been walking round and round in a circle as cattle in the last stage + of redwater generally do. Now it had come to a standstill, and was swaying + to and fro with its head hanging down. So we tied him up to the stump of + the tree as on the previous night, knowing that if the lioness did not + kill him he would be dead by morning. Indeed I was afraid that he would + die at once, in which case he would be of but little use as a bait, for + the lion is a sportsmanlike animal, and unless he is very hungry generally + prefers to kill his own dinner, though when that is once killed he will + come back to it again and again. + </p> + <p> + “Then we again went through our experience of the previous night, sitting + there hour after hour, till at last Harry fell fast asleep, and, though I + am accustomed to this sort of thing, even I could scarcely keep my eyes + open. Indeed I was just dropping off, when suddenly Pharaoh gave me a + push. + </p> + <p> + “‘<i>Listen!</i>’ he whispered. + </p> + <p> + “I was awake in a second, and listening with all my ears. From the clump + of bush to the right of the lightning-shattered stump to which the sick ox + was tied came a faint crackling noise. Presently it was repeated. Something + was moving there, faintly and quietly enough, but still moving + perceptibly, for in the intense stillness of the night any sound seemed + loud. + </p> + <p> + “I woke up Harry, who instantly said, ‘Where is she? where is she?’ and + began to point his rifle about in a fashion that was more dangerous to us + and the oxen than to any possible lioness. + </p> + <p> + “‘Be quiet!’ I whispered, savagely; and as I did so, with a low and + hideous growl a flash of yellow light sped out of the clump of bush, past + the ox, and into the corresponding clump upon the other side. The poor + sick creature gave a sort of groan, staggered round and then began to + tremble. I could see it do so clearly in the moonlight, which was now very + bright, and I felt a brute for having exposed the unfortunate animal to + such agony as he must undoubtedly be undergoing. The lioness, for it was + she, passed so quickly that we could not even distinguish her movements, + much less fire. Indeed at night it is absolutely useless to attempt to + shoot unless the object is very close and standing perfectly still, and + then the light is so deceptive and it is so difficult to see the foresight + that the best shot will miss more often than he hits. + </p> + <p> + “‘She will be back again presently,’ I said; ‘look out, but for Heaven’s + sake don’t fire unless I tell you to.’ + </p> + <p> + “Hardly were the words out of my mouth when back she came, and again + passed the ox without striking him. + </p> + <p> + “‘What on earth is she doing?’ whispered Harry. + </p> + <p> + “‘Playing with it as a cat does with a mouse, I suppose. She will kill it + presently.’ + </p> + <p> + “As I spoke, the lioness once more flashed out of the bush, and this time + sprang right over the doomed and trembling ox. It was a beautiful sight to + see her clear him in the bright moonlight, as though it were a trick which + she had been taught. + </p> + <p> + “‘I believe that she has escaped from a circus,’ whispered Harry; ‘it’s + jolly to see her jump.’ + </p> + <p> + “I said nothing, but I thought to myself that if it was, Master Harry did + not quite appreciate the performance, and small blame to him. At any rate, + his teeth were chattering a little. + </p> + <p> + “Then came a longish pause, and I began to think that the lioness must + have gone away, when suddenly she appeared again, and with one mighty + bound landed right on to the ox, and struck it a frightful blow with her + paw. + </p> + <p> + “Down it went, and lay on the ground kicking feebly. She put down her + wicked-looking head, and, with a fierce growl of contentment, buried her + long white teeth in the throat of the dying animal. When she lifted her + muzzle again it was all stained with blood. She stood facing us obliquely, + licking her bloody chops and making a sort of purring noise. + </p> + <p> + “‘Now’s our time,’ I whispered, ‘fire when I do.’ + </p> + <p> + “I got on to her as well as I could, but Harry, instead of waiting for me + as I told him, fired before I did, and that of course hurried me. But when + the smoke cleared, I was delighted to see that the lioness was rolling + about on the ground behind the body of the ox, which covered her in such a + fashion, however, that we could not shoot again to make an end of her. + </p> + <p> + “‘She’s done for! she’s dead, the yellow devil!’ yelled Pharaoh in + exultation; and at that very moment the lioness, with a sort of convulsive + rush, half-rolled, half-sprang, into the patch of thick bush to the right. + I fired after her as she went, but so far as I could see without result; + indeed the probability is that I missed her clean. At any rate she got to + the bush in safety, and once there, began to make such a diabolical noise + as I never heard before. She would whine and shriek with pain, and then + burst out into perfect volleys of roaring that shook the whole place. + </p> + <p> + “‘Well,’ I said, ‘we must just let her roar; to go into that bush after + her at night would be madness.’ + </p> + <p> + “At that moment, to my astonishment and alarm, there came an answering + roar from the direction of the river, and then another from behind the + swell of bush. Evidently there were more lions about. The wounded lioness + redoubled her efforts, with the object, I suppose, of summoning the others + to her assistance. At any rate they came, and quickly too, for within five + minutes, peeping through the bushes of our skerm fence, we saw a + magnificent lion bounding along towards us, through the tall tambouki + grass, that in the moonlight looked for all the world like ripening corn. + On he came in great leaps, and a glorious sight it was to see him. When + within fifty yards or so, he stood still in an open space and roared. The + lioness roared too; then there came a third roar, and another great + black-maned lion stalked majestically up, and joined number two, till + really I began to realize what the ox must have undergone. + </p> + <p> + “‘Now, Harry,’ I whispered, ‘whatever you do don’t fire, it’s too risky. + If they let us be, let them be.’ + </p> + <p> + “Well, the pair marched off to the bush, where the wounded lioness was now + roaring double tides, and the three of them began to snarl and grumble + away together there. Presently, however, the lioness ceased roaring, and + the two lions came out again, the black-maned one first—to prospect, + I suppose—walked to where the carcass of the ox lay, and sniffed at + it. + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh, what a shot!’ whispered Harry, who was trembling with excitement. + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes,’ I said; ‘but don’t fire; they might all of them come for us.’ + </p> + <p> + “Harry said nothing, but whether it was from the natural impetuosity of + youth, or because he was thrown off his balance by excitement, or from + sheer recklessness and devilment, I am sure I cannot tell you, never + having been able to get a satisfactory explanation from him; but at any + rate the fact remains, he, without word or warning, entirely disregarding + my exhortations, lifted up his Westley Richards and fired at the + black-maned lion, and, what is more, hit it slightly on the flank. + </p> + <p> + “Next second there was a most awful roar from the injured lion. He glared + around him and roared with pain, for he was badly stung; and then, before + I could make up my mind what to do, the great black-maned brute, clearly + ignorant of the cause of his hurt, sprang right at the throat of his + companion, to whom he evidently attributed his misfortune. It was a + curious sight to see the astonishment of the other lion at this most + unprovoked assault. Over he rolled with an angry snarl, and on to him + sprang the black-maned demon, and began to worry him. This finally awoke + the yellow-maned lion to a sense of the situation, and I am bound to say + that he rose to it in a most effective manner. Somehow or other he got to + his feet, and, roaring and snarling frightfully, closed with his mighty + foe. + </p> + <p> + “Then ensued a most tremendous scene. You know what a shocking thing it is + to see two large dogs fighting with abandonment. Well, a whole hundred of + dogs could not have looked half so terrible as those two great brutes as + they rolled and roared and rent in their horrid rage. They gripped each + other, they tore at each other’s throat, till their manes came out in + handfuls, and the red blood streamed down their yellow hides. It was an + awful and a wonderful thing to see the great cats tearing at each other + with all the fierce energy of their savage strength, and making the night + hideous with their heart-shaking noise. And the fight was a grand one too. + For some minutes it was impossible to say which was getting the best of + it, but at last I saw that the black-maned lion, though he was slightly + bigger, was failing. I am inclined to think that the wound in his flank + crippled him. Anyway, he began to get the worst of it, which served him + right, as he was the aggressor. Still I could not help feeling sorry for + him, for he had fought a gallant fight, when his antagonist finally got + him by the throat, and, struggle and strike out as he would, began to + shake the life out of him. Over and over they rolled together, a hideous + and awe-inspiring spectacle, but the yellow one would not loose his hold, + and at length poor black-mane grew faint, his breath came in great snorts + and seemed to rattle in his nostrils, then he opened his huge mouth, gave + the ghost of a roar, quivered, and was dead. + </p> + <p> + “When he was quite sure that the victory was his own, the yellow-maned + lion loosed his grip and sniffed at the fallen foe. Then he licked the + dead lion’s eye, and next, with his fore-feet resting on the carcass, sent + up his own chant of victory, that went rolling and pealing down the dark + paths of the night. And at this point I interfered. Taking a careful sight + at the centre of his body, in order to give the largest possible margin + for error, I fired, and sent a.570 express bullet right through him, and + down he dropped dead upon the carcass of his mighty foe. + </p> + <p> + “After that, fairly satisfied with our performances, we slept peaceably + till dawn, leaving Pharaoh to keep watch in case any more lions should + take it into their heads to come our way. + </p> + <p> + “When the sun was well up we arose, and went very cautiously—at + least Pharaoh and I did, for I would not allow Harry to come—to see + if we could find any trace of the wounded lioness. She had ceased roaring + immediately upon the arrival of the two lions, and had not made a sound + since, from which we concluded that she was probably dead. I was armed + with my express, while Pharaoh, in whose hands a rifle was indeed a + dangerous weapon, to his companions, had an axe. On our way we stopped to + look at the two dead lions. They were magnificent animals, both of them, + but their pelts were entirely spoiled by the terrible mauling they had + given to each other, which was a sad pity. + </p> + <p> + “In another minute we were following the blood spoor of the wounded + lioness into the bush, where she had taken refuge. This, I need hardly + say, we did with the utmost caution; indeed, I for one did not at all like + the job, and was only consoled by the reflection that it was necessary, + and that the bush was not thick. Well, we stood there, keeping as far from + the trees as possible, searching and looking about, but no lioness could + we see, though we saw plenty of blood. + </p> + <p> + “‘She must have gone somewhere to die, Pharaoh,’ I said in Zulu. + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes, Inkoos,’ he answered, ‘she has certainly gone away.’ + </p> + <p> + “Hardly were the words out of his mouth, when I heard a roar, and starting + round saw the lioness emerge from the very centre of a bush, in which she + had been curled up, just behind Pharaoh. Up she went on to her hind-legs, + and as she did so I noticed that one of her fore-paws was broken near the + shoulder, for it hung limply down. Up she went, towering right over + Pharaoh’s head, as she did so lifting her uninjured paw to strike him to + the earth. And then, before I could get my rifle round or do anything to + avert the oncoming catastrophe, the Zulu did a very brave and clever + thing. Realizing his own imminent danger, he bounded to one side, and + swinging the heavy axe round his head, brought it down right on to the + back of the lioness, severing the vertebræ and killing her + instantaneously. It was wonderful to see her collapse all in a heap like + an empty sack. + </p> + <p> + “‘My word, Pharaoh!’ I said, ‘that was well done, and none too soon.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes,’ he answered, with a little laugh, ‘it was a good stroke, Inkoos. + Jim-Jim will sleep better now.’ + </p> + <p> + “Then, calling Harry to us, we examined the lioness. She was old, if one + might judge from her worn teeth, and not very large, but thickly made, and + must have possessed extraordinary vitality to have lived so long, shot as + she was; for, in addition to her broken shoulder, my express bullet had + blown a great hole in her middle that one might have put a fist into. + </p> + <p> + “Well, that is the story of the death of poor Jim-Jim and how we avenged + it. It is rather interesting in its way, because of the fight between the + two lions, of which I never saw the like in all my experience, and I know + something of lions and their manners.” + </p> + <p> + “And how did you get back to Pilgrim’s Rest?” I asked Hunter Quatermain + when he had finished his yarn. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, we had a nice job with that,” he answered. “The second sick ox died, + and so did another, and we had to get on as best we could with three + harnessed unicorn fashion, while we pushed behind. We did about four miles + a day, and it took us nearly a month, during the last week of which we + pretty well starved.” + </p> + <p> + “I notice,” I said, “that most of your trips ended in disaster of some + sort or another, and yet you went on making them, which strikes one as a + little strange.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I dare say: but then, remember I got my living for many years out of + hunting. Besides, half the charm of the thing lay in the dangers and + disasters, though they were terrible enough at the time. Another thing is, + my trips were not all disastrous. Some time, if you like, I will tell you + a story of one which was very much the reverse, for I made several + thousand pounds out of it, and saw one of the most extraordinary sights a + hunter ever came across. It was on this trip that I met the bravest native + woman I ever knew; her name was Maiwa. But it is too late now, and + besides, I am tired of talking about myself. Pass the water, will you!” + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s A Tale of Three Lions, by H. 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Rider Haggard + +Posting Date: December 3, 2008 [EBook #2729] +Release Date: July, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TALE OF THREE LIONS *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, Emma Dudding, and Dagny + + + + + +A TALE OF THREE LIONS + +By H. Rider Haggard + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE INTEREST ON TEN SHILLINGS + +Most of you will have heard that Allan Quatermain, who was one of the +party that discovered King Solomon's mines some little time ago, and who +afterwards came to live in England near his friend Sir Henry Curtis. +He went back to the wilderness again, as these old hunters almost +invariably do, on one pretext or another.[*] They cannot endure +civilization for very long, its noise and racket and the omnipresence +of broad-clothed humanity proving more trying to their nerves than the +dangers of the desert. I think that they feel lonely here, for it is +a fact that is too little understood, though it has often been stated, +that there is no loneliness like the loneliness of crowds, especially +to those who are unaccustomed to them. "What is there in the world," old +Quatermain would say, "so desolate as to stand in the streets of a great +city and listen to the footsteps falling, falling, multitudinous as the +rain, and watch the white line of faces as they hurry past, you know not +whence, you know not whither? They come and go, their eyes meet yours +with a cold stare, for a moment their features are written on your mind, +and then they are gone for ever. You will never see them again; they +will never see you again; they come up out of the unknown, and presently +they once more vanish into the unknown, taking their secrets with them. +Yes, that is loneliness pure and undefiled; but to one who knows and +loves it, the wilderness is not lonely, because the spirit of nature +is ever there to keep the wanderer company. He finds companions in the +winds--the sunny streams babble like Nature's children at his feet; high +above them, in the purple sunset, are domes and minarets and palaces, +such as no mortal man has built, in and out of whose flaming doors the +angels of the sun seem to move continually. And there, too, is the wild +game, following its feeding-grounds in great armies, with the springbuck +thrown out before for skirmishers; then rank upon rank of long-faced +blesbuck, marching and wheeling like infantry; and last the shining +troops of quagga, and the fierce-eyed shaggy vilderbeeste to take, as it +were, the place of the cossack host that hangs upon an army's flanks. + + [*] This of course was written before Mr. Quatermain's + account of the adventures in the newly-discovered country of + Zu-Vendis of himself, Sir Henry Curtis, and Capt. John Good + had been received in England.--Editor. + +"Oh, no," he would say, "the wilderness is not lonely, for, my boy, +remember that the further you get from man, the nearer you grow to God," +and though this is a saying that might well be disputed, it is one I am +sure that anybody will easily understand who has watched the sun rise +and set on the limitless deserted plains, and seen the thunder chariots +of the clouds roll in majesty across the depths of unfathomable sky. + +Well, at any rate we went back again, and now for many months I have +heard nothing at all of him, and to be frank, I greatly doubt if anybody +will ever hear of him again. I fear that the wilderness, that has for so +many years been a mother to him, will now also prove his grave and the +grave of those who accompanied him, for the quest upon which he and they +have started is a wild one indeed. + +But while he was in England for those three years or so between +his return from the successful discovery of the wise king's buried +treasures, and the death of his only son, I saw a great deal of old +Allan Quatermain. I had known him years before in Africa, and after +he came home, whenever I had nothing better to do, I used to run up to +Yorkshire and stay with him, and in this way I at one time and another +heard many of the incidents of his past life, and most curious some of +them were. No man can pass all those years following the rough existence +of an elephant-hunter without meeting with many strange adventures, +and in one way and another old Quatermain has certainly seen his share. +Well, the story that I am going to tell you in the following pages is +one of the later of these adventures, though I forget the exact year +in which it happened, at any rate I know that it was the only trip upon +which he took his son Harry (who is since dead) with him, and that Harry +was then about fourteen. And now for the story, which I will repeat, as +nearly as I can, in the words in which Hunter Quatermain told it to me +one night in the old oak-panelled vestibule of his house in Yorkshire. +We were talking about gold-mining-- + +"Gold-mining!" he broke in; "ah! yes, I once went gold-mining at +Pilgrims' Rest in the Transvaal, and it was after that that we had the +business about Jim-Jim and the lions. Do you know Pilgrim's Rest? Well, +it is, or was, one of the queerest little places you ever saw. The town +itself was pitched in a stony valley, with mountains all about it, and +in the middle of such scenery as one does not often get the chance of +seeing. Many and many is the time that I have thrown down my pick and +shovel in disgust, clambered out of my claim, and walked a couple of +miles or so to the top of some hill. Then I would lie down in the grass +and look out over the glorious stretch of country--the smiling valleys, +the great mountains touched with gold--real gold of the sunset, and +clothed in sweeping robes of bush, and stare into the depths of the +perfect sky above; yes, and thank Heaven I had got away from the cursing +and the coarse jokes of the miners, and the voices of those Basutu +Kaffirs as they toiled in the sun, the memory of which is with me yet. + +"Well, for some months I dug away patiently at my claim, till the very +sight of a pick or of a washing-trough became hateful to me. A hundred +times a day I lamented my own folly in having invested eight hundred +pounds, which was about all that I was worth at the time, in this +gold-mining. But like other better people before me, I had been bitten +by the gold bug, and now was forced to take the consequences. I bought a +claim out of which a man had made a fortune--five or six thousand pounds +at least--as I thought, very cheap; that is, I gave him five hundred +pounds down for it. It was all that I had made by a very rough +year's elephant-hunting beyond the Zambesi, and I sighed deeply and +prophetically when I saw my successful friend, who was a Yankee, sweep +up the roll of Standard Bank notes with the lordly air of the man who +has made his fortune, and cram them into his breeches pockets. 'Well,' I +said to him--the happy vendor--'it is a magnificent property, and I only +hope that my luck will be as good as yours has been.' + +"He smiled; to my excited nerves it seemed that he smiled ominously, +as he answered me in a peculiar Yankee drawl: 'I guess, stranger, as I +ain't the one to make a man quarrel with his food, more especial when +there ain't no more going of the rounds; and as for that there claim, +well, she's been a good nigger to me; but between you and me, stranger, +speaking man to man, now that there ain't any filthy lucre between us to +obscure the features of the truth, I guess she's about worked out!' + +"I gasped; the fellow's effrontery took the breath out of me. Only five +minutes before he had been swearing by all his gods--and they appeared +to be numerous and mixed--that there were half a dozen fortunes left in +the claim, and that he was only giving it up because he was downright +weary of shovelling the gold out. + +"'Don't look so vexed, stranger,' went on my tormentor, 'perhaps there +is some shine in the old girl yet; anyway you are a downright good +fellow, you are, therefore you will, I guess, have a real A1 opportunity +of working on the feelings of Fortune. Anyway it will bring the muscle +up upon your arm, for the stuff is uncommon stiff, and, what is more, +you will in the course of a year earn a sight more than two thousand +dollars in value of experience.' + +"Then he went just in time, for in another moment I should have gone for +him, and I saw his face no more. + +"Well, I set to work on the old claim with my boy Harry and half a dozen +Kaffirs to help me, which, seeing that I had put nearly all my worldly +wealth into it, was the least that I could do. And we worked, my word, +we did work--early and late we went at it--but never a bit of gold did +we see; no, not even a nugget large enough to make a scarf-pin out of. +The American gentleman had secured it all and left us the sweepings. + +"For three months this went on, till at last I had paid away all, or +very near all, that was left of her little capital in wages and food for +the Kaffirs and ourselves. When I tell you that Boer meal was sometimes +as high as four pounds a bag, you will understand that it did not take +long to run through our banking account. + +"At last the crisis came. One Saturday night I had paid the men as +usual, and bought a muid of mealie meal at sixty shillings for them to +fill themselves with, and then I went with my boy Harry and sat on the +edge of the great hole that we had dug in the hill-side, and which we +had in bitter mockery named Eldorado. There we sat in the moonlight +with our feet over the edge of the claim, and were melancholy enough for +anything. Presently I pulled out my purse and emptied its contents into +my hand. There was a half-sovereign, two florins, ninepence in silver, +no coppers--for copper practically does not circulate in South Africa, +which is one of the things that make living so dear there--in all +exactly fourteen and ninepence. + +"'There, Harry, my boy!' I said, 'that is the sum total of our worldly +wealth; that hole has swallowed all the rest.' + +"'By George!' said Master Harry; 'I say, father, you and I shall have to +let ourselves out to work with the Kaffirs and live on mealie pap,' and +he sniggered at his unpleasant little joke. + +"But I was in no mood for joking, for it is not a merry thing to dig +like anything for months and be completely ruined in the process, +especially if you happen to dislike digging, and consequently I resented +Harry's light-heartedness. + +"'Be quiet, boy!' I said, raising my hand as though to give him a cuff, +with the result that the half-sovereign slipped out of it and fell into +the gulf below. + +"'Oh, bother,' said I, 'it's gone.' + +"'There, Dad,' said Harry, 'that's what comes of letting your angry +passions rise; now we are down to four and nine.' + +"I made no answer to these words of wisdom, but scrambled down the steep +sides of the claim, followed by Harry, to hunt for my little all. Well, +we hunted and we hunted, but the moonlight is an uncertain thing to look +for half-sovereigns by, and there was some loose soil about, for the +Kaffirs had knocked off working at this very spot a couple of hours +before. I took a pick and raked away the clods of earth with it, in the +hope of finding the coin; but all in vain. At last in sheer annoyance I +struck the sharp end of the pickaxe down into the soil, which was of a +very hard nature. To my astonishment it sunk in right up to the haft. + +"'Why, Harry,' I said, 'this ground must have been disturbed!' + +"'I don't think so, father,' he answered; 'but we will soon see,' and +he began to shovel out the soil with his hands. 'Oh,' he said presently, +'it's only some old stones; the pick has gone down between them, look!' +and he began to pull at one of the stones. + +"'I say, Dad,' he said presently, almost in a whisper, 'it's precious +heavy, feel it;' and he rose and gave me a round, brownish lump about +the size of a very large apple, which he was holding in both his hands. +I took it curiously and held it up to the light. It _was_ very heavy. +The moonlight fell upon its rough and filth-encrusted surface, and as I +looked, curious little thrills of excitement began to pass through me. +But I could not be sure. + +"'Give me your knife, Harry,' I said. + +"He did so, and resting the brown stone on my knee I scratched at its +surface. Great heavens, it was soft! + +"Another second and the secret was out, we had found a great nugget of +pure gold, four pounds of it or more. 'It's gold, lad,' I said, 'it's +gold, or I'm a Dutchman!' + +"Harry, with his eyes starting out of his head, glared down at the +gleaming yellow scratch that I had made upon the virgin metal, and then +burst out into yell upon yell of exultation, which went ringing away +across the silent claims like shrieks of somebody being murdered. + +"'Be quiet!' I said; 'do you want every thief on the fields after you?' + +"Scarcely were the words out of my mouth when I heard a stealthy +footstep approaching. I promptly put the big nugget down and sat on it, +and uncommonly hard it was. As I did so I saw a lean dark face poked +over the edge of the claim and a pair of beady eyes searching us out. +I knew the face, it belonged to a man of very bad character known as +Handspike Tom, who had, I understood, been so named at the Diamond +Fields because he had murdered his mate with a handspike. He was now no +doubt prowling about like a human hyaena to see what he could steal. + +"'Is that you, 'unter Quatermain?' he said. + +"'Yes, it's I, Mr. Tom,' I answered, politely. + +"'And what might all that there yelling be?' he asked. 'I was walking +along, a-taking of the evening air and a-thinking on the stars, when I +'ears 'owl after 'owl.' + +"'Well, Mr. Tom,' I answered, 'that is not to be wondered at, seeing +that like yourself they are nocturnal birds.' + +"''Owl after 'owl!' he repeated sternly, taking no notice of my +interpretation, 'and I stops and says, "That's murder," and I listens +again and thinks, "No, it ain't; that 'owl is the 'owl of hexultation; +some one's been and got his fingers into a gummy yeller pot, I'll swear, +and gone off 'is 'ead in the sucking of them." Now, 'unter Quatermain, +is I right? is it nuggets? Oh, lor!' and he smacked his lips +audibly--'great big yellow boys--is it them that you have just been and +tumbled across?' + +"'No,' I said boldly, 'it isn't'--the cruel gleam in his black eyes +altogether overcoming my aversion to untruth, for I knew that if once he +found out what it was that I was sitting on--and by the way I have +heard of rolling in gold being spoken of as a pleasant process, but I +certainly do not recommend anybody who values comfort to try sitting +on it--I should run a very good chance of being 'handspiked' before the +night was over. + +"'If you want to know what it was, Mr. Tom,' I went on, with my politest +air, although in agony from the nugget underneath--for I hold it is +always best to be polite to a man who is so ready with a handspike--'my +boy and I have had a slight difference of opinion, and I was enforcing +my view of the matter upon him; that's all.' + +"'Yes, Mr. Tom,' put in Harry, beginning to weep, for Harry was a smart +boy, and saw the difficulty we were in, 'that was it--I halloed because +father beat me.' + +"'Well, now, did yer, my dear boy--did yer? Well, all I can say is that +a played-out old claim is a wonderful queer sort of place to come to for +to argify at ten o'clock of night, and what's more, my sweet youth, if +ever I should 'ave the argifying of yer'--and he leered unpleasantly at +Harry--'yer won't 'oller in quite such a jolly sort 'o way. And now I'll +be saying good-night, for I don't like disturbing of a family party. +No, I ain't that sort of man, I ain't. Good-night to yer, 'unter +Quatermain--good-night to yer, my argified young one;' and Mr. Tom +turned away disappointed, and prowled off elsewhere, like a human +jackal, to see what he could thieve or kill. + +"'Thank goodness!' I said, as I slipped off the lump of gold. 'Now, +then, do you get up, Harry, and see if that consummate villain has +gone.' Harry did so, and reported that he had vanished towards Pilgrim's +Rest, and then we set to work, and very carefully, but trembling with +excitement, with our hands hollowed out all the space of ground into +which I had struck the pick. Yes, as I hoped, there was a regular nest +of nuggets, twelve in all, running from the size of a hazel-nut to that +of a hen's egg, though of course the first one was much larger than +that. How they all came there nobody can say; it was one of those +extraordinary freaks, with stories of which, at any rate, all people +acquainted with alluvial gold-mining will be familiar. It turned out +afterwards that the American who sold me the claim had in the same way +made his pile--a much larger one than ours, by the way--out of a single +pocket, and then worked for six months without seeing colour, after +which he gave it up. + +"At any rate, there the nuggets were, to the value, as it turned out +afterwards, of about twelve hundred and fifty pounds, so that after all +I took out of that hole four hundred and fifty pounds more than I put +into it. We got them all out and wrapped them up in a handkerchief, and +then, fearing to carry home so much treasure, especially as we knew that +Mr. Handspike Tom was on the prowl, made up our minds to pass the +night where we were--a necessity which, disagreeable as it was, was +wonderfully sweetened by the presence of that handkerchief full of +virgin gold--the interest of my lost half-sovereign. + +"Slowly the night wore away, for with the fear of Handspike Tom before +my eyes I did not dare to go to sleep, and at last the dawn came. I got +up and watched its growth, till it opened like a flower upon the eastern +sky, and the sunbeams began to spring up in splendour from mountain-top +to mountain-top. I watched it, and as I did so it flashed upon me, with +a complete conviction which I had not felt before, that I had had enough +of gold-mining to last me the rest of my natural life, and I then and +there made up my mind to clear out of Pilgrims' Rest and go and shoot +buffalo towards Delagoa Bay. Then I turned, took the pick and shovel, +and although it was a Sunday morning, woke up Harry and set to work +to see if there were any more nuggets about. As I expected, there were +none. What we had got had lain together in a little pocket filled with +soil that felt quite different from the stiff stuff round and outside +the pocket. There was not another trace of gold. Of course it is +possible that there were more pocketfuls somewhere about, but all I have +to say is I made up my mind that, whoever found them, I should not; and, +as a matter of fact, I have since heard that this claim has been the +ruin of two or three people, as it very nearly was the ruin of me. + +"'Harry,' I said presently, 'I am going away this week towards Delagoa +to shoot buffalo. Shall I take you with me, or send you down to Durban?' + +"'Oh, take me with you, father!' begged Harry, 'I want to kill a +buffalo!' + +"'And supposing that the buffalo kills you instead?' I asked. + +"'Oh, never mind,' he said, gaily, 'there are lots more where I came +from.' + +"I rebuked him for his flippancy, but in the end I consented to take +him." + + + +CHAPTER II. WHAT WAS FOUND IN THE POOL + +"Something over a fortnight had passed since the night when I lost +half-a-sovereign and found twelve hundred and fifty pounds in looking +for it, and instead of that horrid hole, for which, after all, Eldorado +was hardly a misnomer, a very different scene stretched away before us +clad in the silver robe of the moonlight. We were camped--Harry and +I, two Kaffirs, a Scotch cart, and six oxen--on the swelling side of a +great wave of bushclad land. Just where we had made our camp, however, +the bush was very sparse, and only grew about in clumps, while here +and there were single flat-topped mimosa-trees. To our right a little +stream, which had cut a deep channel for itself in the bosom of the +slope, flowed musically on between banks green with maidenhair, wild +asparagus, and many beautiful grasses. The bed-rock here was red +granite, and in the course of centuries of patient washing the water had +hollowed out some of the huge slabs in its path into great troughs and +cups, and these we used for bathing-places. No Roman lady, with her +baths of porphyry or alabaster, could have had a more delicious spot to +bathe herself than we found within fifty yards of our skerm, or rough +inclosure of mimosa thorn, that we had dragged together round the cart +to protect us from the attacks of lions. That there were several of +these brutes about, I knew from their spoor, though we had neither heard +nor seen them. + +"Our bath was a little nook where the eddy of the stream had washed away +a mass of soil, and on the edge of it there grew a most beautiful old +mimosa thorn. Beneath the thorn was a large smooth slab of granite +fringed all round with maidenhair and other ferns, that sloped gently +down to a pool of the clearest sparkling water, which lay in a bowl of +granite about ten feet wide by five feet deep in the centre. Here to +this slab we went every morning to bathe, and that delightful bath is +among the most pleasant of my hunting reminiscences, as it is also, for +reasons which will presently appear, among the most painful. + +"It was a lovely night. Harry and I sat to the windward of the fire, +where the two Kaffirs were busily employed in cooking some impala steaks +off a buck which Harry, to his great joy, had shot that morning, and +were as perfectly contented with ourselves and the world at large as two +people could possibly be. The night was beautiful, and it would require +somebody with more words on the tip of his tongue than I have to +describe properly the chastened majesty of those moonlit wilds. Away for +ever and for ever, away to the mysterious north, rolled the great bush +ocean over which the silence brooded. There beneath us a mile or more to +the right ran the wide Oliphant, and mirror-like flashed back the moon, +whose silver spears were shivered on its breast, and then tossed in +twisted lines of light far and wide about the mountains and the plain. +Down upon the river-banks grew great timber-trees that through the +stillness pointed solemnly to Heaven, and the beauty of the night lay +upon them like a cloud. Everywhere was silence--silence in the starred +depths, silence on the bosom of the sleeping earth. Now, if ever, great +thoughts might rise in a man's mind, and for a space he might forget his +littleness in the sense that he partook of the pure immensity about him. + +"'Hark! what was that?' + +"From far away down by the river there comes a mighty rolling sound, +then another, and another. It is the lion seeking his meat. + +"I saw Harry shiver and turn a little pale. He was a plucky boy enough, +but the roar of a lion heard for the first time in the solemn bush veldt +at night is apt to shake the nerves of any lad. + +"'Lions, my boy,' I said; 'they are hunting down by the river there; +but I don't think that you need make yourself uneasy. We have been here +three nights now, and if they were going to pay us a visit I think that +they would have done so before this. However, we will make up the fire.' + +"'Here, Pharaoh, do you and Jim-Jim get some more wood before we go to +sleep, else the cats will be purring round you before morning.' + +"Pharaoh, a great brawny Swazi, who had been working for me at Pilgrims' +Rest, laughed, rose, and stretched himself, then calling to Jim-Jim to +bring the axe and a reim, started off in the moonlight towards a clump +of sugar-bush where we cut our fuel from some dead trees. He was a +fine fellow in his way, was Pharaoh, and I think that he had been named +Pharaoh because he had an Egyptian cast of countenance and a royal +sort of swagger about him. But his way was a somewhat peculiar way, on +account of the uncertainty of his temper, and very few people could get +on with him; also if he could find liquor he would drink like a fish, +and when he drank he became shockingly bloodthirsty. These were his bad +points; his good ones were that, like most people of the Zulu blood, +he became exceedingly attached if he took to you at all; he was a +hard-working and intelligent man, and about as dare-devil and plucky +a fellow at a pinch as I have ever had to do with. He was about +five-and-thirty years of age or so, but not a 'keshla' or ringed man. I +believe that he had got into trouble in some way in Swaziland, and the +authorities of his tribe would not allow him to assume the ring, and +that is why he came to work at the gold-fields. The other man, or rather +lad, Jim-Jim, was a Mapoch Kaffir, or Knobnose, and even in the light of +subsequent events I fear I cannot speak very well of him. He was an +idle and careless young rascal, and only that very morning I had to tell +Pharaoh to give him a beating for letting the oxen stray, which Pharaoh +did with the greatest gusto, although he was by way of being very fond +of Jim-Jim. Indeed, I saw him consoling Jim-Jim afterwards with a pinch +of snuff from his own ear-box, whilst he explained to him that the next +time it came in the way of duty to flog him, he meant to thrash him with +the other hand, so as to cross the old cuts and make a "pretty pattern" +on his back. + +"Well, off they went, though Jim-Jim did not at all like leaving the +camp at that hour, even when the moonlight was so bright, and in due +course returned safely enough with a great bundle of wood. I laughed at +Jim-Jim, and asked him if he had seen anything, and he said yes, he had; +he had seen two large yellow eyes staring at him from behind a bush, and +heard something snore. + +"As, however, on further investigation the yellow eyes and the snore +appeared to have existed only in Jim-Jim's lively imagination, I was +not greatly disturbed by this alarming report; but having seen to the +making-up of the fire, got into the skerm and went quietly to sleep with +Harry by my side. + +"Some hours afterwards I woke up with a start. I don't know what woke +me. The moon had gone down, or at least was almost hidden behind the +soft horizon of bush, only her red rim being visible. Also a wind had +sprung up and was driving long hurrying lines of cloud across the starry +sky, and altogether a great change had come over the mood of the night. +By the look of the sky I judged that we must be about two hours from +day-break. + +"The oxen, which were as usual tied to the disselboom of the Scotch +cart, were very restless--they kept snuffling and blowing, and rising +up and lying down again, so I at once suspected that they must wind +something. Presently I knew what it was that they winded, for within +fifty yards of us a lion roared, not very loud, but quite loud enough to +make my heart come into my mouth. + +"Pharaoh was sleeping on the other side of the cart, and, looking +beneath it, I saw him raise his head and listen. + +"'Lion, Inkoos,' he whispered, 'lion!' + +"Jim-Jim also jumped up, and by the faint light I could see that he was +in a very great fright indeed. + +"Thinking that it was as well to be prepared for emergencies, I told +Pharaoh to throw wood upon the fire, and woke up Harry, who I verily +believe was capable of sleeping happily through the crack of doom. +He was a little scared at first, but presently the excitement of the +position came home to him, and he grew quite anxious to see his majesty +face to face. I got my rifle handy and gave Harry his--a Westley +Richards falling block, which is a very useful gun for a youth, being +light and yet a good killing rifle, and then we waited. + +"For a long time nothing happened, and I began to think that the best +thing we could do would be to go to sleep again, when suddenly I heard +a sound more like a cough than a roar within about twenty yards of +the skerm. We all looked out, but could see nothing; and then followed +another period of suspense. It was very trying to the nerves, this +waiting for an attack that might be developed from any quarter or might +not be developed at all; and though I was an old hand at this sort of +business I was anxious about Harry, for it is wonderful how the presence +of anybody to whom one is attached unnerves a man in moments of danger. +I know, although it was now chilly enough, I could feel the perspiration +running down my nose, and in order to relieve the strain on my attention +employed myself in watching a beetle which appeared to be attracted +by the firelight, and was sitting before it thoughtfully rubbing his +antennae against each other. + +"Suddenly, the beetle gave such a jump that he nearly pitched headlong +into the fire, and so did we all--gave jumps, I mean, and no wonder, +for from right under the skerm fence there came a most frightful roar--a +roar that literally made the Scotch cart shake and took the breath out +of me. + +"Harry made an exclamation, Jim-Jim howled outright, while the poor +oxen, who were terrified almost out of their hides, shivered and lowed +piteously. + +"The night was almost entirely dark now, for the moon had quite set, and +the clouds had covered up the stars, so that the only light we had came +from the fire, which by this time was burning up brightly again. But, +as you know, firelight is absolutely useless to shoot by, it is so +uncertain, and besides, it penetrates but a very little way into the +darkness, although if one is in the dark outside, one can see it from +far away. + +"Presently the oxen, after standing still for a moment, suddenly winded +the lion and did what I feared they would do--began to 'skrek,' that is, +to try and break loose from the trektow to which they were tied, to rush +off madly into the wilderness. Lions know of this habit on the part of +oxen, which are, I do believe, the most foolish animals under the sun, +a sheep being a very Solomon compared to them; and it is by no means +uncommon for a lion to get in such a position that a herd or span of +oxen may wind him, skrek, break their reims, and rush off into the bush. +Of course, once there, they are helpless in the dark; and then the lion +chooses the one that he loves best and eats him at his leisure. + +"Well, round and round went our six poor oxen, nearly trampling us to +death in their mad rush; indeed, had we not hastily tumbled out of the +way, we should have been trodden to death, or at the least seriously +injured. As it was, Harry was run over, and poor Jim-Jim being caught +by the trektow somewhere beneath the arm, was hurled right across the +skerm, landing by my side only some paces off. + +"Snap went the disselboom of the cart beneath the transverse strain put +upon it. Had it not broken the cart would have overset; as it was, +in another minute, oxen, cart, trektow, reims, broken disselboom, and +everything were soon tied in one vast heaving, plunging, bellowing, and +seemingly inextricable knot. + +"For a moment or two this state of affairs took my attention off from +the lion that had caused it, but whilst I was wondering what on earth +was to be done next, and how we should manage if the cattle broke loose +into the bush and were lost--for cattle frightened in this manner will +so straight away like mad things--my thoughts were suddenly recalled to +the lion in a very painful fashion. + +"For at that moment I perceived by the light of the fire a kind of gleam +of yellow travelling through the air towards us. + +"'The lion! the lion!' holloaed Pharaoh, and as he did so, he, or rather +she, for it was a great gaunt lioness, half wild no doubt with hunger, +lit right in the middle of the skerm, and stood there in the smoky gloom +lashing her tail and roaring. I seized my rifle and fired it at her, +but what between the confusion, my agitation, and the uncertain light, +I missed her, and nearly shot Pharaoh. The flash of the rifle, however, +threw the whole scene into strong relief, and a wild sight it was I can +tell you--with the seething mass of oxen twisted all round the cart, in +such a fashion that their heads looked as though they were growing out +of their rumps; and their horns seemed to protrude from their backs; the +smoking fire with just a blaze in the heart of the smoke; Jim-Jim in the +foreground, where the oxen had thrown him in their wild rush, stretched +out there in terror, and then as a centre to the picture the great gaunt +lioness glaring round with hungry yellow eyes, roaring and whining as +she made up her mind what to do. + +"It did not take her long, however, just the time that it takes a flash +to die into darkness, for, before I could fire again or do anything, +with a most fiendish snort she sprang upon poor Jim-Jim. + +"I heard the unfortunate lad shriek, and then almost instantly I saw his +legs thrown into the air. The lioness had seized him by the neck, and +with a sudden jerk thrown his body over her back so that his legs hung +down upon the further side.[*] Then, without the slightest hesitation, +and apparently without any difficulty, she cleared the skerm face at +a single bound, and bearing poor Jim-Jim with her vanished into the +darkness beyond, in the direction of the bathing-place that I have +already described. We jumped up perfectly mad with horror and fear, and +rushed wildly after her, firing shots at haphazard on the chance that +she would be frightened by them into dropping her prey, but nothing +could we see, and nothing could we hear. The lioness had vanished into +the darkness, taking Jim-Jim with her, and to attempt to follow her till +daylight was madness. We should only expose ourselves to the risk of a +like fate. + + [*] I have known a lion carry a two-year-old ox over a stone + wall four feet high in this fashion, and a mile away into + the bush beyond. He was subsequently poisoned by strychnine + put into the carcass of the ox, and I still have his claws. + --Editor. + +"So with scared and heavy hearts we crept back to the skerm, and sat +down to wait for the dawn, which now could not be much more than an hour +off. It was absolutely useless to try even to disentangle the oxen till +then, so all that was left for us to do was to sit and wonder how it +came to pass that the one should be taken and the other left, and to +hope against hope that our poor servant might have been mercifully +delivered from the lion's jaws. + +"At length the faint dawn came stealing like a ghost up the long slope +of bush, and glinted on the tangled oxen's horns, and with white and +frightened faces we got up and set to the task of disentangling the +oxen, till such time as there should be light enough to enable us to +follow the trail of the lioness which had gone off with Jim-Jim. +And here a fresh trouble awaited us, for when at last with infinite +difficulty we had disentangled the great helpless brutes, it was only +to find that one of the best of them was very sick. There was no mistake +about the way he stood with his legs slightly apart and his head hanging +down. He had got the redwater, I was sure of it. Of all the difficulties +connected with life and travelling in South Africa those connected with +oxen are perhaps the worst. The ox is the most exasperating animal in +the world, a negro excepted. He has absolutely no constitution, and +never neglects an opportunity of falling sick of some mysterious +disease. He will get thin upon the slightest provocation, and from mere +maliciousness die of 'poverty'; whereas it is his chief delight to turn +round and refuse to pull whenever he finds himself well in the centre of +a river, or the waggon-wheel nicely fast in a mud hole. Drive him a few +miles over rough roads and you will find that he is footsore; turn him +loose to feed and you will discover that he has run away, or if he has +not run away he has of malice aforethought eaten 'tulip' and poisoned +himself. There is always something with him. The ox is a brute. It was +of a piece with his accustomed behaviour for the one in question to +break out--on purpose probably--with redwater just when a lion had +walked off with his herd. It was exactly what I should have expected, +and I was therefore neither disappointed nor surprised. + +"Well, it was no use crying as I should almost have liked to do, because +if this ox had redwater it was probable that the rest of them had it +too, although they had been sold to me as 'salted,' that is, proof +against such diseases as redwater and lungsick. One gets hardened to +this sort of thing in South Africa in course of time, for I suppose in +no other country in the world is the waste of animal life so great. + +"So taking my rifle and telling Harry to follow me (for we had to leave +Pharaoh to look after the oxen--Pharaoh's lean kine, I called them), +I started to see if anything could be found of or appertaining to the +unfortunate Jim-Jim. The ground round our little camp was hard and +rocky, and we could not hit off any spoor of the lioness, though just +outside the skerm was a drop or two of blood. About three hundred yards +from the camp, and a little to the right, was a patch of sugar bush +mixed up with the usual mimosa, and for this I made, thinking that the +lioness would have been sure to take her prey there to devour it. On we +pushed through the long grass that was bent down beneath the weight of +the soaking dew. In two minutes we were wet through up to the thighs, +as wet as though we had waded through water. In due course, however, +we reached the patch of bush, and by the grey light of the morning +cautiously and slowly pushed our way into it. It was very dark under the +trees, for the sun was not yet up, so we walked with the most extreme +care, half expecting every minute to come across the lioness licking the +bones of poor Jim-Jim. But no lioness could we see, and as for Jim-Jim +there was not even a finger-joint of him to be found. Evidently they had +not come here. + +"So pushing through the bush we proceeded to hunt every other likely +spot, but with the same result. + +"'I suppose she must have taken him right away,' I said at last, sadly +enough. 'At any rate he will be dead by now, so God have mercy on him, +we can't help him. What's to be done now?' + +"'I suppose that we had better wash ourselves in the pool, and then go +back and get something to eat. I am filthy,' said Harry. + +"This was a practical if a somewhat unfeeling suggestion. At least it +struck me as unfeeling to talk of washing when poor Jim-Jim had been so +recently eaten. However, I did not let my sentiment carry me away, so +we went down to the beautiful spot that I have described, to wash. I was +the first to reach it, which I did by scrambling down the ferny bank. +Then I turned round, and started back with a yell--as well I might, for +almost from beneath my feet there came a most awful snarl. + +"I had lit nearly upon the back of the lioness, that had been sleeping +on the slab where we always stood to dry ourselves after bathing. With a +snarl and a growl, before I could do anything, before I could even cock +my rifle, she had bounded right across the crystal pool, and vanished +over the opposite bank. It was all done in an instant, as quick as +thought. + +"She had been sleeping on the slab, and oh, horror! what was that +sleeping beside her? It was the red remains of poor Jim-Jim, lying on a +patch of blood-stained rock. + +"'Oh! father, father!' shrieked Harry, 'look in the water!' + +"I looked. There, floating in the centre of the lovely tranquil pool, +was Jim-Jim's head. The lioness had bitten it right off, and it had +rolled down the sloping rock into the water." + + + +CHAPTER III. JIM-JIM IS AVENGED + +"We never bathed in that pool again; indeed for my part I could never +look at its peaceful purity fringed round with waving ferns without +thinking of that ghastly head which rolled itself off through the water +when we tried to catch it. + +"Poor Jim-Jim! We buried what was left of him, which was not very much, +in an old bread-bag, and though whilst he lived his virtues were not +great, now that he was gone we could have wept over him. Indeed, Harry +did weep outright; while Pharaoh used very bad language in Zulu, and I +registered a quiet little vow on my account that I would let daylight +into that lioness before I was forty-eight hours older, if by any means +it could be done. + +"Well, we buried him, and there he lies in the bread-bag (which I +rather grudged him, as it was the only one we had), where lions will not +trouble him any more--though perhaps the hyaenas will, if they consider +that there is enough on him left to make it worth their while to dig +him up. However, he won't mind that; so there is an end of the book of +Jim-Jim. + +"The question that now remained was, how to circumvent his murderess. I +knew that she would be sure to return as soon as she was hungry again, +but I did not know when she would be hungry. She had left so little of +Jim-Jim behind her that I should scarcely expect to see her the next +night, unless indeed she had cubs. Still, I felt that it would not +be wise to miss the chance of her coming, so we set about making +preparations for her reception. The first thing that we did was to +strengthen the bush wall of the skerm by dragging a large quantity of +the tops of thorn-trees together, and laying them one on the other +in such a fashion that the thorns pointed outwards. This, after our +experience of the fate of Jim-Jim, seemed a very necessary precaution, +since if where one goat can jump another can follow, as the Kaffirs say, +how much more is this the case when an animal so active and so vigorous +as the lion is concerned! And now came the further question, how were we +to beguile the lioness to return? Lions are animals that have a strange +knack of appearing when they are not wanted, and keeping studiously out +of the way when their presence is required. Of course it was possible +that if she had found Jim-Jim to her liking she would come back to see +if there were any more of his kind about, but still it was not to be +relied on. + +"Harry, who as I have said was an eminently practical boy, suggested to +Pharaoh that he should go and sit outside the skerm in the moonlight as +a sort of bait, assuring him that he would have nothing to fear, as +we should certainly kill the lioness before she killed him. Pharaoh +however, strangely enough, did not seem to take to this suggestion. +Indeed, he walked away, much put out with Harry for having made it. + +"It gave me an idea, however. + +"'By Jove!' I said, 'there is the sick ox. He must die sooner or later, +so we may as well utilize him.' + +"Now, about thirty yards to the left of our skerm, as one stood facing +down the hill towards the river, was the stump of a tree that had been +destroyed by lightning many years before, standing equidistant between, +but a little in front of, two clumps of bush, which were severally some +fifteen paces from it. + +"Here was the very place to tie the ox; and accordingly a little before +sunset the sick animal was led forth by Pharaoh and made fast there, +little knowing, poor brute, for what purpose; and we began our long +vigil, this time without a fire, for our object was to attract the +lioness and not to scare her. + +"For hour after hour we waited, keeping ourselves awake by pinching each +other--it is, by the way, remarkable what a difference of opinion as +to the force of pinches requisite to the occasion exists in the mind of +pincher and pinched--but no lioness came. At last the moon went down, +and darkness swallowed up the world, as the Kaffirs say, but no lions +came to swallow us up. We waited till dawn, because we did not dare to +go to sleep, and then at last with many bad thoughts in our hearts we +took such rest as we could get, and that was not much. + +"That morning we went out shooting, not because we wanted to, for we +were too depressed and tired, but because we had no more meat. For three +hours or more we wandered about in a broiling sun looking for something +to kill, but with absolutely no results. For some unknown reason the +game had grown very scarce about the spot, though when I was there two +years before every sort of large game except rhinoceros and elephant +was particularly abundant. The lions, of whom there were many, alone +remained, and I fancy that it was the fact of the game they live on +having temporarily migrated which made them so daring and ferocious. As +a general rule a lion is an amiable animal enough if he is left alone, +but a hungry lion is almost as dangerous as a hungry man. One hears a +great many different opinions expressed as to whether or no the lion is +remarkable for his courage, but the result of my experience is that very +much depends upon the state of his stomach. A hungry lion will not stick +at a trifle, whereas a full one will flee at a very small rebuke. + +"Well, we hunted all about, and nothing could we see, not even a duiker +or a bush buck; and at last, thoroughly tired and out of temper, we +started on our way back to camp, passing over the brow of a steepish +hill to do so. Just as we climbed the crest of the ridge I came to a +stand, for there, about six hundred yards to my left, his beautiful +curved horns outlined against the soft blue of the sky, I saw a noble +koodoo bull (_Strepsiceros kudu_). Even at that distance, for as you +know my eyes are very keen, I could distinctly see the white stripes +on its side when the light fell upon it, and its large and pointed ears +twitch as the flies worried it. + +"So far so good; but how were we to get at it? It was ridiculous to risk +a shot at that great distance, and yet both the ground and the wind lay +very ill for stalking. It seemed to me that the only chance would be to +make a detour of at least a mile or more, and come up on the other side +of the koodoo. I called Harry to my side, and explained to him what I +thought would be our best course, when suddenly, without any delay, the +koodoo saved us further trouble by suddenly starting off down the hill +like a leaping rocket. I do not know what had frightened it, certainly +we had not. Perhaps a hyaena or a leopard--a tiger as we call it +there--had suddenly appeared; at any rate, off it went, running +slightly towards us, and I never saw a buck go faster. I am afraid that +forgetting Harry's presence I used strong language, and really there +was some excuse. As for Harry, he stood watching the beautiful animal's +course. Presently it vanished behind a patch of bush, to emerge a +few seconds later about five hundred paces from us, on a stretch of +comparatively level ground that was strewn with boulders. On it went, +clearing the boulders in its path with a succession of great bounds +that were beautiful to behold. As it did so, I happened to look round at +Harry, and perceived to my astonishment that he had got his rifle to his +shoulder. + +"'You young donkey!' I exclaimed, 'surely you are not going to'--and +just at that moment the rifle went off. + +"And then I think I saw what was in its way one of the most wonderful +things I ever remember in my hunting experience. The koodoo was at the +moment in the air, clearing a pile of stones with its fore-legs tucked +up underneath it. All of an instant the legs stretched themselves out +in a spasmodic fashion, it lit on them, and they doubled up beneath it. +Down went the noble buck, down upon his head. For a moment he seemed to +be standing on his horns, his hind-legs high in the air, and then over +he rolled and lay still. + +"'Great Heavens!' I said, 'why, you've hit him! He's dead.' + +"As for Harry, he said nothing, but merely looked scared, as well he +might, for such a marvellous, I may say such an appalling and ghastly +fluke it has never been my lot to witness. A man, let alone a boy, +might have fired a thousand such shots without ever touching the object; +which, mind you, was springing and bounding over rocks quite five +hundred yards away; and here this lad--taking a snap shot, and merely +allowing for speed and elevation by instinct, for he did not put up his +sights--had knocked the bull over as dead as a door-nail. Well, I made +no further remark, as the occasion was too solemn for talking, but +merely led the way to where the koodoo had fallen. There he lay, +beautiful and quite still; and there, high up, about half-way down his +neck, was a neat round hole. The bullet had severed the spinal marrow, +passing through the vertebrae and away on the other side. + +"It was already evening when, having cut as much of the best meat as we +could carry from the bull, and tied a red handkerchief and some tufts of +grass to his spiral horns, which, by the way, must have been nearly +five feet in length, in the hope of keeping the jackals and aasvoegels +(vultures) from him, we finally got back to camp, to find Pharaoh, who +was getting rather anxious at our absence, ready to greet us with the +pleasing intelligence that another ox was sick. But even this dreadful +bit of intelligence could not dash Harry's spirits; the fact of the +matter being, incredible as it may appear, I do verily believe that in +his heart of hearts he set down the death of the koodoo to the credit +of his own skill. Now, though the lad was a pretty shot enough, this of +course was ridiculous, and I told him so plainly. + +"By the time that we had finished our supper of koodoo steaks (which +would have been better if the koodoo had been a little younger), it was +time to get ready for Jim-Jim's murderess. Accordingly we determined +again to expose the unfortunate sick ox, that was now absolutely on +its last legs, being indeed scarcely able to stand. All the afternoon +Pharaoh told us it had been walking round and round in a circle as +cattle in the last stage of redwater generally do. Now it had come to a +standstill, and was swaying to and fro with its head hanging down. So we +tied him up to the stump of the tree as on the previous night, knowing +that if the lioness did not kill him he would be dead by morning. Indeed +I was afraid that he would die at once, in which case he would be of but +little use as a bait, for the lion is a sportsmanlike animal, and unless +he is very hungry generally prefers to kill his own dinner, though when +that is once killed he will come back to it again and again. + +"Then we again went through our experience of the previous night, +sitting there hour after hour, till at last Harry fell fast asleep, and, +though I am accustomed to this sort of thing, even I could scarcely keep +my eyes open. Indeed I was just dropping off, when suddenly Pharaoh gave +me a push. + +"'_Listen!_' he whispered. + +"I was awake in a second, and listening with all my ears. From the clump +of bush to the right of the lightning-shattered stump to which the sick +ox was tied came a faint crackling noise. Presently it was repeated. +Something was moving there, faintly and quietly enough, but still moving +perceptibly, for in the intense stillness of the night any sound seemed +loud. + +"I woke up Harry, who instantly said, 'Where is she? where is she?' and +began to point his rifle about in a fashion that was more dangerous to +us and the oxen than to any possible lioness. + +"'Be quiet!' I whispered, savagely; and as I did so, with a low and +hideous growl a flash of yellow light sped out of the clump of bush, +past the ox, and into the corresponding clump upon the other side. The +poor sick creature gave a sort of groan, staggered round and then began +to tremble. I could see it do so clearly in the moonlight, which was +now very bright, and I felt a brute for having exposed the unfortunate +animal to such agony as he must undoubtedly be undergoing. The lioness, +for it was she, passed so quickly that we could not even distinguish her +movements, much less fire. Indeed at night it is absolutely useless to +attempt to shoot unless the object is very close and standing perfectly +still, and then the light is so deceptive and it is so difficult to see +the foresight that the best shot will miss more often than he hits. + +"'She will be back again presently,' I said; 'look out, but for Heaven's +sake don't fire unless I tell you to.' + +"Hardly were the words out of my mouth when back she came, and again +passed the ox without striking him. + +"'What on earth is she doing?' whispered Harry. + +"'Playing with it as a cat does with a mouse, I suppose. She will kill +it presently.' + +"As I spoke, the lioness once more flashed out of the bush, and this +time sprang right over the doomed and trembling ox. It was a beautiful +sight to see her clear him in the bright moonlight, as though it were a +trick which she had been taught. + +"'I believe that she has escaped from a circus,' whispered Harry; 'it's +jolly to see her jump.' + +"I said nothing, but I thought to myself that if it was, Master Harry +did not quite appreciate the performance, and small blame to him. At any +rate, his teeth were chattering a little. + +"Then came a longish pause, and I began to think that the lioness must +have gone away, when suddenly she appeared again, and with one mighty +bound landed right on to the ox, and struck it a frightful blow with her +paw. + +"Down it went, and lay on the ground kicking feebly. She put down her +wicked-looking head, and, with a fierce growl of contentment, buried her +long white teeth in the throat of the dying animal. When she lifted +her muzzle again it was all stained with blood. She stood facing us +obliquely, licking her bloody chops and making a sort of purring noise. + +"'Now's our time,' I whispered, 'fire when I do.' + +"I got on to her as well as I could, but Harry, instead of waiting for +me as I told him, fired before I did, and that of course hurried me. +But when the smoke cleared, I was delighted to see that the lioness was +rolling about on the ground behind the body of the ox, which covered her +in such a fashion, however, that we could not shoot again to make an end +of her. + +"'She's done for! she's dead, the yellow devil!' yelled Pharaoh +in exultation; and at that very moment the lioness, with a sort of +convulsive rush, half-rolled, half-sprang, into the patch of thick bush +to the right. I fired after her as she went, but so far as I could see +without result; indeed the probability is that I missed her clean. At +any rate she got to the bush in safety, and once there, began to make +such a diabolical noise as I never heard before. She would whine and +shriek with pain, and then burst out into perfect volleys of roaring +that shook the whole place. + +"'Well,' I said, 'we must just let her roar; to go into that bush after +her at night would be madness.' + +"At that moment, to my astonishment and alarm, there came an answering +roar from the direction of the river, and then another from behind +the swell of bush. Evidently there were more lions about. The wounded +lioness redoubled her efforts, with the object, I suppose, of summoning +the others to her assistance. At any rate they came, and quickly too, +for within five minutes, peeping through the bushes of our skerm fence, +we saw a magnificent lion bounding along towards us, through the tall +tambouki grass, that in the moonlight looked for all the world like +ripening corn. On he came in great leaps, and a glorious sight it was to +see him. When within fifty yards or so, he stood still in an open space +and roared. The lioness roared too; then there came a third roar, and +another great black-maned lion stalked majestically up, and joined +number two, till really I began to realize what the ox must have +undergone. + +"'Now, Harry,' I whispered, 'whatever you do don't fire, it's too risky. +If they let us be, let them be.' + +"Well, the pair marched off to the bush, where the wounded lioness +was now roaring double tides, and the three of them began to snarl and +grumble away together there. Presently, however, the lioness ceased +roaring, and the two lions came out again, the black-maned one first--to +prospect, I suppose--walked to where the carcass of the ox lay, and +sniffed at it. + +"'Oh, what a shot!' whispered Harry, who was trembling with excitement. + +"'Yes,' I said; 'but don't fire; they might all of them come for us.' + +"Harry said nothing, but whether it was from the natural impetuosity of +youth, or because he was thrown off his balance by excitement, or from +sheer recklessness and devilment, I am sure I cannot tell you, never +having been able to get a satisfactory explanation from him; but at +any rate the fact remains, he, without word or warning, entirely +disregarding my exhortations, lifted up his Westley Richards and fired +at the black-maned lion, and, what is more, hit it slightly on the +flank. + +"Next second there was a most awful roar from the injured lion. He +glared around him and roared with pain, for he was badly stung; and +then, before I could make up my mind what to do, the great black-maned +brute, clearly ignorant of the cause of his hurt, sprang right at the +throat of his companion, to whom he evidently attributed his misfortune. +It was a curious sight to see the astonishment of the other lion at this +most unprovoked assault. Over he rolled with an angry snarl, and on to +him sprang the black-maned demon, and began to worry him. This finally +awoke the yellow-maned lion to a sense of the situation, and I am bound +to say that he rose to it in a most effective manner. Somehow or other +he got to his feet, and, roaring and snarling frightfully, closed with +his mighty foe. + +"Then ensued a most tremendous scene. You know what a shocking thing +it is to see two large dogs fighting with abandonment. Well, a whole +hundred of dogs could not have looked half so terrible as those two +great brutes as they rolled and roared and rent in their horrid rage. +They gripped each other, they tore at each other's throat, till their +manes came out in handfuls, and the red blood streamed down their yellow +hides. It was an awful and a wonderful thing to see the great cats +tearing at each other with all the fierce energy of their savage +strength, and making the night hideous with their heart-shaking noise. +And the fight was a grand one too. For some minutes it was impossible +to say which was getting the best of it, but at last I saw that the +black-maned lion, though he was slightly bigger, was failing. I am +inclined to think that the wound in his flank crippled him. Anyway, +he began to get the worst of it, which served him right, as he was the +aggressor. Still I could not help feeling sorry for him, for he had +fought a gallant fight, when his antagonist finally got him by the +throat, and, struggle and strike out as he would, began to shake the +life out of him. Over and over they rolled together, a hideous and +awe-inspiring spectacle, but the yellow one would not loose his hold, +and at length poor black-mane grew faint, his breath came in great +snorts and seemed to rattle in his nostrils, then he opened his huge +mouth, gave the ghost of a roar, quivered, and was dead. + +"When he was quite sure that the victory was his own, the yellow-maned +lion loosed his grip and sniffed at the fallen foe. Then he licked the +dead lion's eye, and next, with his fore-feet resting on the carcass, +sent up his own chant of victory, that went rolling and pealing down +the dark paths of the night. And at this point I interfered. Taking a +careful sight at the centre of his body, in order to give the largest +possible margin for error, I fired, and sent a.570 express bullet right +through him, and down he dropped dead upon the carcass of his mighty +foe. + +"After that, fairly satisfied with our performances, we slept peaceably +till dawn, leaving Pharaoh to keep watch in case any more lions should +take it into their heads to come our way. + +"When the sun was well up we arose, and went very cautiously--at least +Pharaoh and I did, for I would not allow Harry to come--to see if we +could find any trace of the wounded lioness. She had ceased roaring +immediately upon the arrival of the two lions, and had not made a sound +since, from which we concluded that she was probably dead. I was armed +with my express, while Pharaoh, in whose hands a rifle was indeed a +dangerous weapon, to his companions, had an axe. On our way we stopped +to look at the two dead lions. They were magnificent animals, both of +them, but their pelts were entirely spoiled by the terrible mauling they +had given to each other, which was a sad pity. + +"In another minute we were following the blood spoor of the wounded +lioness into the bush, where she had taken refuge. This, I need hardly +say, we did with the utmost caution; indeed, I for one did not at +all like the job, and was only consoled by the reflection that it +was necessary, and that the bush was not thick. Well, we stood there, +keeping as far from the trees as possible, searching and looking about, +but no lioness could we see, though we saw plenty of blood. + +"'She must have gone somewhere to die, Pharaoh,' I said in Zulu. + +"'Yes, Inkoos,' he answered, 'she has certainly gone away.' + +"Hardly were the words out of his mouth, when I heard a roar, and +starting round saw the lioness emerge from the very centre of a bush, in +which she had been curled up, just behind Pharaoh. Up she went on to +her hind-legs, and as she did so I noticed that one of her fore-paws was +broken near the shoulder, for it hung limply down. Up she went, towering +right over Pharaoh's head, as she did so lifting her uninjured paw to +strike him to the earth. And then, before I could get my rifle round or +do anything to avert the oncoming catastrophe, the Zulu did a very brave +and clever thing. Realizing his own imminent danger, he bounded to one +side, and swinging the heavy axe round his head, brought it down right +on to the back of the lioness, severing the vertebrae and killing her +instantaneously. It was wonderful to see her collapse all in a heap like +an empty sack. + +"'My word, Pharaoh!' I said, 'that was well done, and none too soon.' + +"'Yes,' he answered, with a little laugh, 'it was a good stroke, Inkoos. +Jim-Jim will sleep better now.' + +"Then, calling Harry to us, we examined the lioness. She was old, if one +might judge from her worn teeth, and not very large, but thickly made, +and must have possessed extraordinary vitality to have lived so long, +shot as she was; for, in addition to her broken shoulder, my express +bullet had blown a great hole in her middle that one might have put a +fist into. + +"Well, that is the story of the death of poor Jim-Jim and how we avenged +it. It is rather interesting in its way, because of the fight between +the two lions, of which I never saw the like in all my experience, and I +know something of lions and their manners." + +"And how did you get back to Pilgrim's Rest?" I asked Hunter Quatermain +when he had finished his yarn. + +"Ah, we had a nice job with that," he answered. "The second sick ox +died, and so did another, and we had to get on as best we could with +three harnessed unicorn fashion, while we pushed behind. We did about +four miles a day, and it took us nearly a month, during the last week of +which we pretty well starved." + +"I notice," I said, "that most of your trips ended in disaster of some +sort or another, and yet you went on making them, which strikes one as a +little strange." + +"Yes, I dare say: but then, remember I got my living for many years out +of hunting. Besides, half the charm of the thing lay in the dangers and +disasters, though they were terrible enough at the time. Another thing +is, my trips were not all disastrous. Some time, if you like, I will +tell you a story of one which was very much the reverse, for I made +several thousand pounds out of it, and saw one of the most extraordinary +sights a hunter ever came across. It was on this trip that I met the +bravest native woman I ever knew; her name was Maiwa. But it is too late +now, and besides, I am tired of talking about myself. Pass the water, +will you!" + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Tale of Three Lions, by H. Rider Haggard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TALE OF THREE LIONS *** + +***** This file should be named 2729.txt or 2729.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/2729/ + +Produced by John Bickers, Emma Dudding, and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5658b73 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #2729 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2729) diff --git a/old/2729-h.htm.2021-01-27 b/old/2729-h.htm.2021-01-27 new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d207491 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2729-h.htm.2021-01-27 @@ -0,0 +1,1745 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + A Tale of Three Lions, by H. Rider Haggard + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Tale of Three Lions, by H. Rider Haggard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Tale of Three Lions + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Release Date: December 3, 2008 [EBook #2729] +Last Updated: September 22, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TALE OF THREE LIONS *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, Emma Dudding, Dagny, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + A TALE OF THREE LIONS + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By H. Rider Haggard + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary=""> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. THE INTEREST ON TEN SHILLINGS + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. WHAT WAS FOUND IN THE POOL </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. JIM-JIM IS AVENGED </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. THE INTEREST ON TEN SHILLINGS + </h2> + <p> + Most of you will have heard that Allan Quatermain, who was one of the + party that discovered King Solomon’s mines some little time ago, and who + afterwards came to live in England near his friend Sir Henry Curtis. He + went back to the wilderness again, as these old hunters almost invariably + do, on one pretext or another.[*] They cannot endure civilization for very + long, its noise and racket and the omnipresence of broad-clothed humanity + proving more trying to their nerves than the dangers of the desert. I + think that they feel lonely here, for it is a fact that is too little + understood, though it has often been stated, that there is no loneliness + like the loneliness of crowds, especially to those who are unaccustomed to + them. “What is there in the world,” old Quatermain would say, “so desolate + as to stand in the streets of a great city and listen to the footsteps + falling, falling, multitudinous as the rain, and watch the white line of + faces as they hurry past, you know not whence, you know not whither? They + come and go, their eyes meet yours with a cold stare, for a moment their + features are written on your mind, and then they are gone for ever. You + will never see them again; they will never see you again; they come up out + of the unknown, and presently they once more vanish into the unknown, + taking their secrets with them. Yes, that is loneliness pure and + undefiled; but to one who knows and loves it, the wilderness is not + lonely, because the spirit of nature is ever there to keep the wanderer + company. He finds companions in the winds—the sunny streams babble + like Nature’s children at his feet; high above them, in the purple sunset, + are domes and minarets and palaces, such as no mortal man has built, in + and out of whose flaming doors the angels of the sun seem to move + continually. And there, too, is the wild game, following its + feeding-grounds in great armies, with the springbuck thrown out before for + skirmishers; then rank upon rank of long-faced blesbuck, marching and + wheeling like infantry; and last the shining troops of quagga, and the + fierce-eyed shaggy vilderbeeste to take, as it were, the place of the + cossack host that hangs upon an army’s flanks. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [*] This of course was written before Mr. Quatermain’s + account of the adventures in the newly-discovered country of + Zu-Vendis of himself, Sir Henry Curtis, and Capt. John Good + had been received in England.—Editor. +</pre> + <p> + “Oh, no,” he would say, “the wilderness is not lonely, for, my boy, + remember that the further you get from man, the nearer you grow to God,” + and though this is a saying that might well be disputed, it is one I am + sure that anybody will easily understand who has watched the sun rise and + set on the limitless deserted plains, and seen the thunder chariots of the + clouds roll in majesty across the depths of unfathomable sky. + </p> + <p> + Well, at any rate we went back again, and now for many months I have heard + nothing at all of him, and to be frank, I greatly doubt if anybody will + ever hear of him again. I fear that the wilderness, that has for so many + years been a mother to him, will now also prove his grave and the grave of + those who accompanied him, for the quest upon which he and they have + started is a wild one indeed. + </p> + <p> + But while he was in England for those three years or so between his return + from the successful discovery of the wise king’s buried treasures, and the + death of his only son, I saw a great deal of old Allan Quatermain. I had + known him years before in Africa, and after he came home, whenever I had + nothing better to do, I used to run up to Yorkshire and stay with him, and + in this way I at one time and another heard many of the incidents of his + past life, and most curious some of them were. No man can pass all those + years following the rough existence of an elephant-hunter without meeting + with many strange adventures, and in one way and another old Quatermain + has certainly seen his share. Well, the story that I am going to tell you + in the following pages is one of the later of these adventures, though I + forget the exact year in which it happened, at any rate I know that it was + the only trip upon which he took his son Harry (who is since dead) with + him, and that Harry was then about fourteen. And now for the story, which + I will repeat, as nearly as I can, in the words in which Hunter Quatermain + told it to me one night in the old oak-panelled vestibule of his house in + Yorkshire. We were talking about gold-mining— + </p> + <p> + “Gold-mining!” he broke in; “ah! yes, I once went gold-mining at Pilgrims’ + Rest in the Transvaal, and it was after that that we had the business + about Jim-Jim and the lions. Do you know Pilgrim’s Rest? Well, it is, or + was, one of the queerest little places you ever saw. The town itself was + pitched in a stony valley, with mountains all about it, and in the middle + of such scenery as one does not often get the chance of seeing. Many and + many is the time that I have thrown down my pick and shovel in disgust, + clambered out of my claim, and walked a couple of miles or so to the top + of some hill. Then I would lie down in the grass and look out over the + glorious stretch of country—the smiling valleys, the great mountains + touched with gold—real gold of the sunset, and clothed in sweeping + robes of bush, and stare into the depths of the perfect sky above; yes, + and thank Heaven I had got away from the cursing and the coarse jokes of + the miners, and the voices of those Basutu Kaffirs as they toiled in the + sun, the memory of which is with me yet. + </p> + <p> + “Well, for some months I dug away patiently at my claim, till the very + sight of a pick or of a washing-trough became hateful to me. A hundred + times a day I lamented my own folly in having invested eight hundred + pounds, which was about all that I was worth at the time, in this + gold-mining. But like other better people before me, I had been bitten by + the gold bug, and now was forced to take the consequences. I bought a + claim out of which a man had made a fortune—five or six thousand + pounds at least—as I thought, very cheap; that is, I gave him five + hundred pounds down for it. It was all that I had made by a very rough + year’s elephant-hunting beyond the Zambesi, and I sighed deeply and + prophetically when I saw my successful friend, who was a Yankee, sweep up + the roll of Standard Bank notes with the lordly air of the man who has + made his fortune, and cram them into his breeches pockets. ‘Well,’ I said + to him—the happy vendor—‘it is a magnificent property, and I + only hope that my luck will be as good as yours has been.’ + </p> + <p> + “He smiled; to my excited nerves it seemed that he smiled ominously, as he + answered me in a peculiar Yankee drawl: ‘I guess, stranger, as I ain’t the + one to make a man quarrel with his food, more especial when there ain’t no + more going of the rounds; and as for that there claim, well, she’s been a + good nigger to me; but between you and me, stranger, speaking man to man, + now that there ain’t any filthy lucre between us to obscure the features + of the truth, I guess she’s about worked out!’ + </p> + <p> + “I gasped; the fellow’s effrontery took the breath out of me. Only five + minutes before he had been swearing by all his gods—and they + appeared to be numerous and mixed—that there were half a dozen + fortunes left in the claim, and that he was only giving it up because he + was downright weary of shovelling the gold out. + </p> + <p> + “‘Don’t look so vexed, stranger,’ went on my tormentor, ‘perhaps there is + some shine in the old girl yet; anyway you are a downright good fellow, + you are, therefore you will, I guess, have a real A1 opportunity of + working on the feelings of Fortune. Anyway it will bring the muscle up + upon your arm, for the stuff is uncommon stiff, and, what is more, you + will in the course of a year earn a sight more than two thousand dollars + in value of experience.’ + </p> + <p> + “Then he went just in time, for in another moment I should have gone for + him, and I saw his face no more. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I set to work on the old claim with my boy Harry and half a dozen + Kaffirs to help me, which, seeing that I had put nearly all my worldly + wealth into it, was the least that I could do. And we worked, my word, we + did work—early and late we went at it—but never a bit of gold + did we see; no, not even a nugget large enough to make a scarf-pin out of. + The American gentleman had secured it all and left us the sweepings. + </p> + <p> + “For three months this went on, till at last I had paid away all, or very + near all, that was left of her little capital in wages and food for the + Kaffirs and ourselves. When I tell you that Boer meal was sometimes as + high as four pounds a bag, you will understand that it did not take long + to run through our banking account. + </p> + <p> + “At last the crisis came. One Saturday night I had paid the men as usual, + and bought a muid of mealie meal at sixty shillings for them to fill + themselves with, and then I went with my boy Harry and sat on the edge of + the great hole that we had dug in the hill-side, and which we had in + bitter mockery named Eldorado. There we sat in the moonlight with our feet + over the edge of the claim, and were melancholy enough for anything. + Presently I pulled out my purse and emptied its contents into my hand. + There was a half-sovereign, two florins, ninepence in silver, no coppers—for + copper practically does not circulate in South Africa, which is one of the + things that make living so dear there—in all exactly fourteen and + ninepence. + </p> + <p> + “‘There, Harry, my boy!’ I said, ‘that is the sum total of our worldly + wealth; that hole has swallowed all the rest.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘By George!’ said Master Harry; ‘I say, father, you and I shall have to + let ourselves out to work with the Kaffirs and live on mealie pap,’ and he + sniggered at his unpleasant little joke. + </p> + <p> + “But I was in no mood for joking, for it is not a merry thing to dig like + anything for months and be completely ruined in the process, especially if + you happen to dislike digging, and consequently I resented Harry’s + light-heartedness. + </p> + <p> + “‘Be quiet, boy!’ I said, raising my hand as though to give him a cuff, + with the result that the half-sovereign slipped out of it and fell into + the gulf below. + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh, bother,’ said I, ‘it’s gone.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘There, Dad,’ said Harry, ‘that’s what comes of letting your angry + passions rise; now we are down to four and nine.’ + </p> + <p> + “I made no answer to these words of wisdom, but scrambled down the steep + sides of the claim, followed by Harry, to hunt for my little all. Well, we + hunted and we hunted, but the moonlight is an uncertain thing to look for + half-sovereigns by, and there was some loose soil about, for the Kaffirs + had knocked off working at this very spot a couple of hours before. I took + a pick and raked away the clods of earth with it, in the hope of finding + the coin; but all in vain. At last in sheer annoyance I struck the sharp + end of the pickaxe down into the soil, which was of a very hard nature. To + my astonishment it sunk in right up to the haft. + </p> + <p> + “‘Why, Harry,’ I said, ‘this ground must have been disturbed!’ + </p> + <p> + “‘I don’t think so, father,’ he answered; ‘but we will soon see,’ and he + began to shovel out the soil with his hands. ‘Oh,’ he said presently, + ‘it’s only some old stones; the pick has gone down between them, look!’ + and he began to pull at one of the stones. + </p> + <p> + “‘I say, Dad,’ he said presently, almost in a whisper, ‘it’s precious + heavy, feel it;’ and he rose and gave me a round, brownish lump about the + size of a very large apple, which he was holding in both his hands. I took + it curiously and held it up to the light. It <i>was</i> very heavy. The + moonlight fell upon its rough and filth-encrusted surface, and as I + looked, curious little thrills of excitement began to pass through me. But + I could not be sure. + </p> + <p> + “‘Give me your knife, Harry,’ I said. + </p> + <p> + “He did so, and resting the brown stone on my knee I scratched at its + surface. Great heavens, it was soft! + </p> + <p> + “Another second and the secret was out, we had found a great nugget of + pure gold, four pounds of it or more. ‘It’s gold, lad,’ I said, ‘it’s + gold, or I’m a Dutchman!’ + </p> + <p> + “Harry, with his eyes starting out of his head, glared down at the + gleaming yellow scratch that I had made upon the virgin metal, and then + burst out into yell upon yell of exultation, which went ringing away + across the silent claims like shrieks of somebody being murdered. + </p> + <p> + “‘Be quiet!’ I said; ‘do you want every thief on the fields after you?’ + </p> + <p> + “Scarcely were the words out of my mouth when I heard a stealthy footstep + approaching. I promptly put the big nugget down and sat on it, and + uncommonly hard it was. As I did so I saw a lean dark face poked over the + edge of the claim and a pair of beady eyes searching us out. I knew the + face, it belonged to a man of very bad character known as Handspike Tom, + who had, I understood, been so named at the Diamond Fields because he had + murdered his mate with a handspike. He was now no doubt prowling about + like a human hyæna to see what he could steal. + </p> + <p> + “‘Is that you, ‘unter Quatermain?’ he said. + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes, it’s I, Mr. Tom,’ I answered, politely. + </p> + <p> + “‘And what might all that there yelling be?’ he asked. ‘I was walking + along, a-taking of the evening air and a-thinking on the stars, when I + ‘ears ‘owl after ‘owl.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Well, Mr. Tom,’ I answered, ‘that is not to be wondered at, seeing that + like yourself they are nocturnal birds.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘’Owl after ‘owl!’ he repeated sternly, taking no notice of my + interpretation, ‘and I stops and says, “That’s murder,” and I listens + again and thinks, “No, it ain’t; that ‘owl is the ‘owl of hexultation; + some one’s been and got his fingers into a gummy yeller pot, I’ll swear, + and gone off ‘is ‘ead in the sucking of them.” Now, ‘unter Quatermain, is + I right? is it nuggets? Oh, lor!’ and he smacked his lips audibly—‘great + big yellow boys—is it them that you have just been and tumbled + across?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘No,’ I said boldly, ‘it isn’t’—the cruel gleam in his black eyes + altogether overcoming my aversion to untruth, for I knew that if once he + found out what it was that I was sitting on—and by the way I have + heard of rolling in gold being spoken of as a pleasant process, but I + certainly do not recommend anybody who values comfort to try sitting on it—I + should run a very good chance of being ‘handspiked’ before the night was + over. + </p> + <p> + “‘If you want to know what it was, Mr. Tom,’ I went on, with my politest + air, although in agony from the nugget underneath—for I hold it is + always best to be polite to a man who is so ready with a handspike—‘my + boy and I have had a slight difference of opinion, and I was enforcing my + view of the matter upon him; that’s all.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes, Mr. Tom,’ put in Harry, beginning to weep, for Harry was a smart + boy, and saw the difficulty we were in, ‘that was it—I halloed + because father beat me.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Well, now, did yer, my dear boy—did yer? Well, all I can say is + that a played-out old claim is a wonderful queer sort of place to come to + for to argify at ten o’clock of night, and what’s more, my sweet youth, if + ever I should ‘ave the argifying of yer’—and he leered unpleasantly + at Harry—‘yer won’t ‘oller in quite such a jolly sort ‘o way. And + now I’ll be saying good-night, for I don’t like disturbing of a family + party. No, I ain’t that sort of man, I ain’t. Good-night to yer, ‘unter + Quatermain—good-night to yer, my argified young one;’ and Mr. Tom + turned away disappointed, and prowled off elsewhere, like a human jackal, + to see what he could thieve or kill. + </p> + <p> + “‘Thank goodness!’ I said, as I slipped off the lump of gold. ‘Now, then, + do you get up, Harry, and see if that consummate villain has gone.’ Harry + did so, and reported that he had vanished towards Pilgrim’s Rest, and then + we set to work, and very carefully, but trembling with excitement, with + our hands hollowed out all the space of ground into which I had struck the + pick. Yes, as I hoped, there was a regular nest of nuggets, twelve in all, + running from the size of a hazel-nut to that of a hen’s egg, though of + course the first one was much larger than that. How they all came there + nobody can say; it was one of those extraordinary freaks, with stories of + which, at any rate, all people acquainted with alluvial gold-mining will + be familiar. It turned out afterwards that the American who sold me the + claim had in the same way made his pile—a much larger one than ours, + by the way—out of a single pocket, and then worked for six months + without seeing colour, after which he gave it up. + </p> + <p> + “At any rate, there the nuggets were, to the value, as it turned out + afterwards, of about twelve hundred and fifty pounds, so that after all I + took out of that hole four hundred and fifty pounds more than I put into + it. We got them all out and wrapped them up in a handkerchief, and then, + fearing to carry home so much treasure, especially as we knew that Mr. + Handspike Tom was on the prowl, made up our minds to pass the night where + we were—a necessity which, disagreeable as it was, was wonderfully + sweetened by the presence of that handkerchief full of virgin gold—the + interest of my lost half-sovereign. + </p> + <p> + “Slowly the night wore away, for with the fear of Handspike Tom before my + eyes I did not dare to go to sleep, and at last the dawn came. I got up + and watched its growth, till it opened like a flower upon the eastern sky, + and the sunbeams began to spring up in splendour from mountain-top to + mountain-top. I watched it, and as I did so it flashed upon me, with a + complete conviction which I had not felt before, that I had had enough of + gold-mining to last me the rest of my natural life, and I then and there + made up my mind to clear out of Pilgrims’ Rest and go and shoot buffalo + towards Delagoa Bay. Then I turned, took the pick and shovel, and although + it was a Sunday morning, woke up Harry and set to work to see if there + were any more nuggets about. As I expected, there were none. What we had + got had lain together in a little pocket filled with soil that felt quite + different from the stiff stuff round and outside the pocket. There was not + another trace of gold. Of course it is possible that there were more + pocketfuls somewhere about, but all I have to say is I made up my mind + that, whoever found them, I should not; and, as a matter of fact, I have + since heard that this claim has been the ruin of two or three people, as + it very nearly was the ruin of me. + </p> + <p> + “‘Harry,’ I said presently, ‘I am going away this week towards Delagoa to + shoot buffalo. Shall I take you with me, or send you down to Durban?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh, take me with you, father!’ begged Harry, ‘I want to kill a buffalo!’ + </p> + <p> + “‘And supposing that the buffalo kills you instead?’ I asked. + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh, never mind,’ he said, gaily, ‘there are lots more where I came + from.’ + </p> + <p> + “I rebuked him for his flippancy, but in the end I consented to take him.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. WHAT WAS FOUND IN THE POOL + </h2> + <p> + “Something over a fortnight had passed since the night when I lost + half-a-sovereign and found twelve hundred and fifty pounds in looking for + it, and instead of that horrid hole, for which, after all, Eldorado was + hardly a misnomer, a very different scene stretched away before us clad in + the silver robe of the moonlight. We were camped—Harry and I, two + Kaffirs, a Scotch cart, and six oxen—on the swelling side of a great + wave of bushclad land. Just where we had made our camp, however, the bush + was very sparse, and only grew about in clumps, while here and there were + single flat-topped mimosa-trees. To our right a little stream, which had + cut a deep channel for itself in the bosom of the slope, flowed musically + on between banks green with maidenhair, wild asparagus, and many beautiful + grasses. The bed-rock here was red granite, and in the course of centuries + of patient washing the water had hollowed out some of the huge slabs in + its path into great troughs and cups, and these we used for + bathing-places. No Roman lady, with her baths of porphyry or alabaster, + could have had a more delicious spot to bathe herself than we found within + fifty yards of our skerm, or rough inclosure of mimosa thorn, that we had + dragged together round the cart to protect us from the attacks of lions. + That there were several of these brutes about, I knew from their spoor, + though we had neither heard nor seen them. + </p> + <p> + “Our bath was a little nook where the eddy of the stream had washed away a + mass of soil, and on the edge of it there grew a most beautiful old mimosa + thorn. Beneath the thorn was a large smooth slab of granite fringed all + round with maidenhair and other ferns, that sloped gently down to a pool + of the clearest sparkling water, which lay in a bowl of granite about ten + feet wide by five feet deep in the centre. Here to this slab we went every + morning to bathe, and that delightful bath is among the most pleasant of + my hunting reminiscences, as it is also, for reasons which will presently + appear, among the most painful. + </p> + <p> + “It was a lovely night. Harry and I sat to the windward of the fire, where + the two Kaffirs were busily employed in cooking some impala steaks off a + buck which Harry, to his great joy, had shot that morning, and were as + perfectly contented with ourselves and the world at large as two people + could possibly be. The night was beautiful, and it would require somebody + with more words on the tip of his tongue than I have to describe properly + the chastened majesty of those moonlit wilds. Away for ever and for ever, + away to the mysterious north, rolled the great bush ocean over which the + silence brooded. There beneath us a mile or more to the right ran the wide + Oliphant, and mirror-like flashed back the moon, whose silver spears were + shivered on its breast, and then tossed in twisted lines of light far and + wide about the mountains and the plain. Down upon the river-banks grew + great timber-trees that through the stillness pointed solemnly to Heaven, + and the beauty of the night lay upon them like a cloud. Everywhere was + silence—silence in the starred depths, silence on the bosom of the + sleeping earth. Now, if ever, great thoughts might rise in a man’s mind, + and for a space he might forget his littleness in the sense that he + partook of the pure immensity about him. + </p> + <p> + “‘Hark! what was that?’ + </p> + <p> + “From far away down by the river there comes a mighty rolling sound, then + another, and another. It is the lion seeking his meat. + </p> + <p> + “I saw Harry shiver and turn a little pale. He was a plucky boy enough, + but the roar of a lion heard for the first time in the solemn bush veldt + at night is apt to shake the nerves of any lad. + </p> + <p> + “‘Lions, my boy,’ I said; ‘they are hunting down by the river there; but I + don’t think that you need make yourself uneasy. We have been here three + nights now, and if they were going to pay us a visit I think that they + would have done so before this. However, we will make up the fire.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Here, Pharaoh, do you and Jim-Jim get some more wood before we go to + sleep, else the cats will be purring round you before morning.’ + </p> + <p> + “Pharaoh, a great brawny Swazi, who had been working for me at Pilgrims’ + Rest, laughed, rose, and stretched himself, then calling to Jim-Jim to + bring the axe and a reim, started off in the moonlight towards a clump of + sugar-bush where we cut our fuel from some dead trees. He was a fine + fellow in his way, was Pharaoh, and I think that he had been named Pharaoh + because he had an Egyptian cast of countenance and a royal sort of swagger + about him. But his way was a somewhat peculiar way, on account of the + uncertainty of his temper, and very few people could get on with him; also + if he could find liquor he would drink like a fish, and when he drank he + became shockingly bloodthirsty. These were his bad points; his good ones + were that, like most people of the Zulu blood, he became exceedingly + attached if he took to you at all; he was a hard-working and intelligent + man, and about as dare-devil and plucky a fellow at a pinch as I have ever + had to do with. He was about five-and-thirty years of age or so, but not a + ‘keshla’ or ringed man. I believe that he had got into trouble in some way + in Swaziland, and the authorities of his tribe would not allow him to + assume the ring, and that is why he came to work at the gold-fields. The + other man, or rather lad, Jim-Jim, was a Mapoch Kaffir, or Knobnose, and + even in the light of subsequent events I fear I cannot speak very well of + him. He was an idle and careless young rascal, and only that very morning + I had to tell Pharaoh to give him a beating for letting the oxen stray, + which Pharaoh did with the greatest gusto, although he was by way of being + very fond of Jim-Jim. Indeed, I saw him consoling Jim-Jim afterwards with + a pinch of snuff from his own ear-box, whilst he explained to him that the + next time it came in the way of duty to flog him, he meant to thrash him + with the other hand, so as to cross the old cuts and make a “pretty + pattern” on his back. + </p> + <p> + “Well, off they went, though Jim-Jim did not at all like leaving the camp + at that hour, even when the moonlight was so bright, and in due course + returned safely enough with a great bundle of wood. I laughed at Jim-Jim, + and asked him if he had seen anything, and he said yes, he had; he had + seen two large yellow eyes staring at him from behind a bush, and heard + something snore. + </p> + <p> + “As, however, on further investigation the yellow eyes and the snore + appeared to have existed only in Jim-Jim’s lively imagination, I was not + greatly disturbed by this alarming report; but having seen to the + making-up of the fire, got into the skerm and went quietly to sleep with + Harry by my side. + </p> + <p> + “Some hours afterwards I woke up with a start. I don’t know what woke me. + The moon had gone down, or at least was almost hidden behind the soft + horizon of bush, only her red rim being visible. Also a wind had sprung up + and was driving long hurrying lines of cloud across the starry sky, and + altogether a great change had come over the mood of the night. By the look + of the sky I judged that we must be about two hours from day-break. + </p> + <p> + “The oxen, which were as usual tied to the disselboom of the Scotch cart, + were very restless—they kept snuffling and blowing, and rising up + and lying down again, so I at once suspected that they must wind + something. Presently I knew what it was that they winded, for within fifty + yards of us a lion roared, not very loud, but quite loud enough to make my + heart come into my mouth. + </p> + <p> + “Pharaoh was sleeping on the other side of the cart, and, looking beneath + it, I saw him raise his head and listen. + </p> + <p> + “‘Lion, Inkoos,’ he whispered, ‘lion!’ + </p> + <p> + “Jim-Jim also jumped up, and by the faint light I could see that he was in + a very great fright indeed. + </p> + <p> + “Thinking that it was as well to be prepared for emergencies, I told + Pharaoh to throw wood upon the fire, and woke up Harry, who I verily + believe was capable of sleeping happily through the crack of doom. He was + a little scared at first, but presently the excitement of the position + came home to him, and he grew quite anxious to see his majesty face to + face. I got my rifle handy and gave Harry his—a Westley Richards + falling block, which is a very useful gun for a youth, being light and yet + a good killing rifle, and then we waited. + </p> + <p> + “For a long time nothing happened, and I began to think that the best + thing we could do would be to go to sleep again, when suddenly I heard a + sound more like a cough than a roar within about twenty yards of the + skerm. We all looked out, but could see nothing; and then followed another + period of suspense. It was very trying to the nerves, this waiting for an + attack that might be developed from any quarter or might not be developed + at all; and though I was an old hand at this sort of business I was + anxious about Harry, for it is wonderful how the presence of anybody to + whom one is attached unnerves a man in moments of danger. I know, although + it was now chilly enough, I could feel the perspiration running down my + nose, and in order to relieve the strain on my attention employed myself + in watching a beetle which appeared to be attracted by the firelight, and + was sitting before it thoughtfully rubbing his antennæ against each other. + </p> + <p> + “Suddenly, the beetle gave such a jump that he nearly pitched headlong + into the fire, and so did we all—gave jumps, I mean, and no wonder, + for from right under the skerm fence there came a most frightful roar—a + roar that literally made the Scotch cart shake and took the breath out of + me. + </p> + <p> + “Harry made an exclamation, Jim-Jim howled outright, while the poor oxen, + who were terrified almost out of their hides, shivered and lowed + piteously. + </p> + <p> + “The night was almost entirely dark now, for the moon had quite set, and + the clouds had covered up the stars, so that the only light we had came + from the fire, which by this time was burning up brightly again. But, as + you know, firelight is absolutely useless to shoot by, it is so uncertain, + and besides, it penetrates but a very little way into the darkness, + although if one is in the dark outside, one can see it from far away. + </p> + <p> + “Presently the oxen, after standing still for a moment, suddenly winded + the lion and did what I feared they would do—began to ‘skrek,’ that + is, to try and break loose from the trektow to which they were tied, to + rush off madly into the wilderness. Lions know of this habit on the part + of oxen, which are, I do believe, the most foolish animals under the sun, + a sheep being a very Solomon compared to them; and it is by no means + uncommon for a lion to get in such a position that a herd or span of oxen + may wind him, skrek, break their reims, and rush off into the bush. Of + course, once there, they are helpless in the dark; and then the lion + chooses the one that he loves best and eats him at his leisure. + </p> + <p> + “Well, round and round went our six poor oxen, nearly trampling us to + death in their mad rush; indeed, had we not hastily tumbled out of the + way, we should have been trodden to death, or at the least seriously + injured. As it was, Harry was run over, and poor Jim-Jim being caught by + the trektow somewhere beneath the arm, was hurled right across the skerm, + landing by my side only some paces off. + </p> + <p> + “Snap went the disselboom of the cart beneath the transverse strain put + upon it. Had it not broken the cart would have overset; as it was, in + another minute, oxen, cart, trektow, reims, broken disselboom, and + everything were soon tied in one vast heaving, plunging, bellowing, and + seemingly inextricable knot. + </p> + <p> + “For a moment or two this state of affairs took my attention off from the + lion that had caused it, but whilst I was wondering what on earth was to + be done next, and how we should manage if the cattle broke loose into the + bush and were lost—for cattle frightened in this manner will so + straight away like mad things—my thoughts were suddenly recalled to + the lion in a very painful fashion. + </p> + <p> + “For at that moment I perceived by the light of the fire a kind of gleam + of yellow travelling through the air towards us. + </p> + <p> + “‘The lion! the lion!’ holloaed Pharaoh, and as he did so, he, or rather + she, for it was a great gaunt lioness, half wild no doubt with hunger, lit + right in the middle of the skerm, and stood there in the smoky gloom + lashing her tail and roaring. I seized my rifle and fired it at her, but + what between the confusion, my agitation, and the uncertain light, I + missed her, and nearly shot Pharaoh. The flash of the rifle, however, + threw the whole scene into strong relief, and a wild sight it was I can + tell you—with the seething mass of oxen twisted all round the cart, + in such a fashion that their heads looked as though they were growing out + of their rumps; and their horns seemed to protrude from their backs; the + smoking fire with just a blaze in the heart of the smoke; Jim-Jim in the + foreground, where the oxen had thrown him in their wild rush, stretched + out there in terror, and then as a centre to the picture the great gaunt + lioness glaring round with hungry yellow eyes, roaring and whining as she + made up her mind what to do. + </p> + <p> + “It did not take her long, however, just the time that it takes a flash to + die into darkness, for, before I could fire again or do anything, with a + most fiendish snort she sprang upon poor Jim-Jim. + </p> + <p> + “I heard the unfortunate lad shriek, and then almost instantly I saw his + legs thrown into the air. The lioness had seized him by the neck, and with + a sudden jerk thrown his body over her back so that his legs hung down + upon the further side.[*] Then, without the slightest hesitation, and + apparently without any difficulty, she cleared the skerm face at a single + bound, and bearing poor Jim-Jim with her vanished into the darkness + beyond, in the direction of the bathing-place that I have already + described. We jumped up perfectly mad with horror and fear, and rushed + wildly after her, firing shots at haphazard on the chance that she would + be frightened by them into dropping her prey, but nothing could we see, + and nothing could we hear. The lioness had vanished into the darkness, + taking Jim-Jim with her, and to attempt to follow her till daylight was + madness. We should only expose ourselves to the risk of a like fate. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [*] I have known a lion carry a two-year-old ox over a stone + wall four feet high in this fashion, and a mile away into + the bush beyond. He was subsequently poisoned by strychnine + put into the carcass of the ox, and I still have his claws. + —Editor. +</pre> + <p> + “So with scared and heavy hearts we crept back to the skerm, and sat down + to wait for the dawn, which now could not be much more than an hour off. + It was absolutely useless to try even to disentangle the oxen till then, + so all that was left for us to do was to sit and wonder how it came to + pass that the one should be taken and the other left, and to hope against + hope that our poor servant might have been mercifully delivered from the + lion’s jaws. + </p> + <p> + “At length the faint dawn came stealing like a ghost up the long slope of + bush, and glinted on the tangled oxen’s horns, and with white and + frightened faces we got up and set to the task of disentangling the oxen, + till such time as there should be light enough to enable us to follow the + trail of the lioness which had gone off with Jim-Jim. And here a fresh + trouble awaited us, for when at last with infinite difficulty we had + disentangled the great helpless brutes, it was only to find that one of + the best of them was very sick. There was no mistake about the way he + stood with his legs slightly apart and his head hanging down. He had got + the redwater, I was sure of it. Of all the difficulties connected with + life and travelling in South Africa those connected with oxen are perhaps + the worst. The ox is the most exasperating animal in the world, a negro + excepted. He has absolutely no constitution, and never neglects an + opportunity of falling sick of some mysterious disease. He will get thin + upon the slightest provocation, and from mere maliciousness die of + ‘poverty’; whereas it is his chief delight to turn round and refuse to + pull whenever he finds himself well in the centre of a river, or the + waggon-wheel nicely fast in a mud hole. Drive him a few miles over rough + roads and you will find that he is footsore; turn him loose to feed and + you will discover that he has run away, or if he has not run away he has + of malice aforethought eaten ‘tulip’ and poisoned himself. There is always + something with him. The ox is a brute. It was of a piece with his + accustomed behaviour for the one in question to break out—on purpose + probably—with redwater just when a lion had walked off with his + herd. It was exactly what I should have expected, and I was therefore + neither disappointed nor surprised. + </p> + <p> + “Well, it was no use crying as I should almost have liked to do, because + if this ox had redwater it was probable that the rest of them had it too, + although they had been sold to me as ‘salted,’ that is, proof against such + diseases as redwater and lungsick. One gets hardened to this sort of thing + in South Africa in course of time, for I suppose in no other country in + the world is the waste of animal life so great. + </p> + <p> + “So taking my rifle and telling Harry to follow me (for we had to leave + Pharaoh to look after the oxen—Pharaoh’s lean kine, I called them), + I started to see if anything could be found of or appertaining to the + unfortunate Jim-Jim. The ground round our little camp was hard and rocky, + and we could not hit off any spoor of the lioness, though just outside the + skerm was a drop or two of blood. About three hundred yards from the camp, + and a little to the right, was a patch of sugar bush mixed up with the + usual mimosa, and for this I made, thinking that the lioness would have + been sure to take her prey there to devour it. On we pushed through the + long grass that was bent down beneath the weight of the soaking dew. In + two minutes we were wet through up to the thighs, as wet as though we had + waded through water. In due course, however, we reached the patch of bush, + and by the grey light of the morning cautiously and slowly pushed our way + into it. It was very dark under the trees, for the sun was not yet up, so + we walked with the most extreme care, half expecting every minute to come + across the lioness licking the bones of poor Jim-Jim. But no lioness could + we see, and as for Jim-Jim there was not even a finger-joint of him to be + found. Evidently they had not come here. + </p> + <p> + “So pushing through the bush we proceeded to hunt every other likely spot, + but with the same result. + </p> + <p> + “‘I suppose she must have taken him right away,’ I said at last, sadly + enough. ‘At any rate he will be dead by now, so God have mercy on him, we + can’t help him. What’s to be done now?’ + </p> + <p> + “‘I suppose that we had better wash ourselves in the pool, and then go + back and get something to eat. I am filthy,’ said Harry. + </p> + <p> + “This was a practical if a somewhat unfeeling suggestion. At least it + struck me as unfeeling to talk of washing when poor Jim-Jim had been so + recently eaten. However, I did not let my sentiment carry me away, so we + went down to the beautiful spot that I have described, to wash. I was the + first to reach it, which I did by scrambling down the ferny bank. Then I + turned round, and started back with a yell—as well I might, for + almost from beneath my feet there came a most awful snarl. + </p> + <p> + “I had lit nearly upon the back of the lioness, that had been sleeping on + the slab where we always stood to dry ourselves after bathing. With a + snarl and a growl, before I could do anything, before I could even cock my + rifle, she had bounded right across the crystal pool, and vanished over + the opposite bank. It was all done in an instant, as quick as thought. + </p> + <p> + “She had been sleeping on the slab, and oh, horror! what was that sleeping + beside her? It was the red remains of poor Jim-Jim, lying on a patch of + blood-stained rock. + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh! father, father!’ shrieked Harry, ‘look in the water!’ + </p> + <p> + “I looked. There, floating in the centre of the lovely tranquil pool, was + Jim-Jim’s head. The lioness had bitten it right off, and it had rolled + down the sloping rock into the water.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. JIM-JIM IS AVENGED + </h2> + <p> + “We never bathed in that pool again; indeed for my part I could never look + at its peaceful purity fringed round with waving ferns without thinking of + that ghastly head which rolled itself off through the water when we tried + to catch it. + </p> + <p> + “Poor Jim-Jim! We buried what was left of him, which was not very much, in + an old bread-bag, and though whilst he lived his virtues were not great, + now that he was gone we could have wept over him. Indeed, Harry did weep + outright; while Pharaoh used very bad language in Zulu, and I registered a + quiet little vow on my account that I would let daylight into that lioness + before I was forty-eight hours older, if by any means it could be done. + </p> + <p> + “Well, we buried him, and there he lies in the bread-bag (which I rather + grudged him, as it was the only one we had), where lions will not trouble + him any more—though perhaps the hyænas will, if they consider that + there is enough on him left to make it worth their while to dig him up. + However, he won’t mind that; so there is an end of the book of Jim-Jim. + </p> + <p> + “The question that now remained was, how to circumvent his murderess. I + knew that she would be sure to return as soon as she was hungry again, but + I did not know when she would be hungry. She had left so little of Jim-Jim + behind her that I should scarcely expect to see her the next night, unless + indeed she had cubs. Still, I felt that it would not be wise to miss the + chance of her coming, so we set about making preparations for her + reception. The first thing that we did was to strengthen the bush wall of + the skerm by dragging a large quantity of the tops of thorn-trees + together, and laying them one on the other in such a fashion that the + thorns pointed outwards. This, after our experience of the fate of + Jim-Jim, seemed a very necessary precaution, since if where one goat can + jump another can follow, as the Kaffirs say, how much more is this the + case when an animal so active and so vigorous as the lion is concerned! + And now came the further question, how were we to beguile the lioness to + return? Lions are animals that have a strange knack of appearing when they + are not wanted, and keeping studiously out of the way when their presence + is required. Of course it was possible that if she had found Jim-Jim to + her liking she would come back to see if there were any more of his kind + about, but still it was not to be relied on. + </p> + <p> + “Harry, who as I have said was an eminently practical boy, suggested to + Pharaoh that he should go and sit outside the skerm in the moonlight as a + sort of bait, assuring him that he would have nothing to fear, as we + should certainly kill the lioness before she killed him. Pharaoh however, + strangely enough, did not seem to take to this suggestion. Indeed, he + walked away, much put out with Harry for having made it. + </p> + <p> + “It gave me an idea, however. + </p> + <p> + “‘By Jove!’ I said, ‘there is the sick ox. He must die sooner or later, so + we may as well utilize him.’ + </p> + <p> + “Now, about thirty yards to the left of our skerm, as one stood facing + down the hill towards the river, was the stump of a tree that had been + destroyed by lightning many years before, standing equidistant between, + but a little in front of, two clumps of bush, which were severally some + fifteen paces from it. + </p> + <p> + “Here was the very place to tie the ox; and accordingly a little before + sunset the sick animal was led forth by Pharaoh and made fast there, + little knowing, poor brute, for what purpose; and we began our long vigil, + this time without a fire, for our object was to attract the lioness and + not to scare her. + </p> + <p> + “For hour after hour we waited, keeping ourselves awake by pinching each + other—it is, by the way, remarkable what a difference of opinion as + to the force of pinches requisite to the occasion exists in the mind of + pincher and pinched—but no lioness came. At last the moon went down, + and darkness swallowed up the world, as the Kaffirs say, but no lions came + to swallow us up. We waited till dawn, because we did not dare to go to + sleep, and then at last with many bad thoughts in our hearts we took such + rest as we could get, and that was not much. + </p> + <p> + “That morning we went out shooting, not because we wanted to, for we were + too depressed and tired, but because we had no more meat. For three hours + or more we wandered about in a broiling sun looking for something to kill, + but with absolutely no results. For some unknown reason the game had grown + very scarce about the spot, though when I was there two years before every + sort of large game except rhinoceros and elephant was particularly + abundant. The lions, of whom there were many, alone remained, and I fancy + that it was the fact of the game they live on having temporarily migrated + which made them so daring and ferocious. As a general rule a lion is an + amiable animal enough if he is left alone, but a hungry lion is almost as + dangerous as a hungry man. One hears a great many different opinions + expressed as to whether or no the lion is remarkable for his courage, but + the result of my experience is that very much depends upon the state of + his stomach. A hungry lion will not stick at a trifle, whereas a full one + will flee at a very small rebuke. + </p> + <p> + “Well, we hunted all about, and nothing could we see, not even a duiker or + a bush buck; and at last, thoroughly tired and out of temper, we started + on our way back to camp, passing over the brow of a steepish hill to do + so. Just as we climbed the crest of the ridge I came to a stand, for + there, about six hundred yards to my left, his beautiful curved horns + outlined against the soft blue of the sky, I saw a noble koodoo bull (<i>Strepsiceros + kudu</i>). Even at that distance, for as you know my eyes are very keen, I + could distinctly see the white stripes on its side when the light fell + upon it, and its large and pointed ears twitch as the flies worried it. + </p> + <p> + “So far so good; but how were we to get at it? It was ridiculous to risk a + shot at that great distance, and yet both the ground and the wind lay very + ill for stalking. It seemed to me that the only chance would be to make a + detour of at least a mile or more, and come up on the other side of the + koodoo. I called Harry to my side, and explained to him what I thought + would be our best course, when suddenly, without any delay, the koodoo + saved us further trouble by suddenly starting off down the hill like a + leaping rocket. I do not know what had frightened it, certainly we had + not. Perhaps a hyæna or a leopard—a tiger as we call it there—had + suddenly appeared; at any rate, off it went, running slightly towards us, + and I never saw a buck go faster. I am afraid that forgetting Harry’s + presence I used strong language, and really there was some excuse. As for + Harry, he stood watching the beautiful animal’s course. Presently it + vanished behind a patch of bush, to emerge a few seconds later about five + hundred paces from us, on a stretch of comparatively level ground that was + strewn with boulders. On it went, clearing the boulders in its path with a + succession of great bounds that were beautiful to behold. As it did so, I + happened to look round at Harry, and perceived to my astonishment that he + had got his rifle to his shoulder. + </p> + <p> + “‘You young donkey!’ I exclaimed, ‘surely you are not going to’—and + just at that moment the rifle went off. + </p> + <p> + “And then I think I saw what was in its way one of the most wonderful + things I ever remember in my hunting experience. The koodoo was at the + moment in the air, clearing a pile of stones with its fore-legs tucked up + underneath it. All of an instant the legs stretched themselves out in a + spasmodic fashion, it lit on them, and they doubled up beneath it. Down + went the noble buck, down upon his head. For a moment he seemed to be + standing on his horns, his hind-legs high in the air, and then over he + rolled and lay still. + </p> + <p> + “‘Great Heavens!’ I said, ‘why, you’ve hit him! He’s dead.’ + </p> + <p> + “As for Harry, he said nothing, but merely looked scared, as well he + might, for such a marvellous, I may say such an appalling and ghastly + fluke it has never been my lot to witness. A man, let alone a boy, might + have fired a thousand such shots without ever touching the object; which, + mind you, was springing and bounding over rocks quite five hundred yards + away; and here this lad—taking a snap shot, and merely allowing for + speed and elevation by instinct, for he did not put up his sights—had + knocked the bull over as dead as a door-nail. Well, I made no further + remark, as the occasion was too solemn for talking, but merely led the way + to where the koodoo had fallen. There he lay, beautiful and quite still; + and there, high up, about half-way down his neck, was a neat round hole. + The bullet had severed the spinal marrow, passing through the vertebræ and + away on the other side. + </p> + <p> + “It was already evening when, having cut as much of the best meat as we + could carry from the bull, and tied a red handkerchief and some tufts of + grass to his spiral horns, which, by the way, must have been nearly five + feet in length, in the hope of keeping the jackals and aasvögels + (vultures) from him, we finally got back to camp, to find Pharaoh, who was + getting rather anxious at our absence, ready to greet us with the pleasing + intelligence that another ox was sick. But even this dreadful bit of + intelligence could not dash Harry’s spirits; the fact of the matter being, + incredible as it may appear, I do verily believe that in his heart of + hearts he set down the death of the koodoo to the credit of his own skill. + Now, though the lad was a pretty shot enough, this of course was + ridiculous, and I told him so plainly. + </p> + <p> + “By the time that we had finished our supper of koodoo steaks (which would + have been better if the koodoo had been a little younger), it was time to + get ready for Jim-Jim’s murderess. Accordingly we determined again to + expose the unfortunate sick ox, that was now absolutely on its last legs, + being indeed scarcely able to stand. All the afternoon Pharaoh told us it + had been walking round and round in a circle as cattle in the last stage + of redwater generally do. Now it had come to a standstill, and was swaying + to and fro with its head hanging down. So we tied him up to the stump of + the tree as on the previous night, knowing that if the lioness did not + kill him he would be dead by morning. Indeed I was afraid that he would + die at once, in which case he would be of but little use as a bait, for + the lion is a sportsmanlike animal, and unless he is very hungry generally + prefers to kill his own dinner, though when that is once killed he will + come back to it again and again. + </p> + <p> + “Then we again went through our experience of the previous night, sitting + there hour after hour, till at last Harry fell fast asleep, and, though I + am accustomed to this sort of thing, even I could scarcely keep my eyes + open. Indeed I was just dropping off, when suddenly Pharaoh gave me a + push. + </p> + <p> + “‘<i>Listen!</i>’ he whispered. + </p> + <p> + “I was awake in a second, and listening with all my ears. From the clump + of bush to the right of the lightning-shattered stump to which the sick ox + was tied came a faint crackling noise. Presently it was repeated. Something + was moving there, faintly and quietly enough, but still moving + perceptibly, for in the intense stillness of the night any sound seemed + loud. + </p> + <p> + “I woke up Harry, who instantly said, ‘Where is she? where is she?’ and + began to point his rifle about in a fashion that was more dangerous to us + and the oxen than to any possible lioness. + </p> + <p> + “‘Be quiet!’ I whispered, savagely; and as I did so, with a low and + hideous growl a flash of yellow light sped out of the clump of bush, past + the ox, and into the corresponding clump upon the other side. The poor + sick creature gave a sort of groan, staggered round and then began to + tremble. I could see it do so clearly in the moonlight, which was now very + bright, and I felt a brute for having exposed the unfortunate animal to + such agony as he must undoubtedly be undergoing. The lioness, for it was + she, passed so quickly that we could not even distinguish her movements, + much less fire. Indeed at night it is absolutely useless to attempt to + shoot unless the object is very close and standing perfectly still, and + then the light is so deceptive and it is so difficult to see the foresight + that the best shot will miss more often than he hits. + </p> + <p> + “‘She will be back again presently,’ I said; ‘look out, but for Heaven’s + sake don’t fire unless I tell you to.’ + </p> + <p> + “Hardly were the words out of my mouth when back she came, and again + passed the ox without striking him. + </p> + <p> + “‘What on earth is she doing?’ whispered Harry. + </p> + <p> + “‘Playing with it as a cat does with a mouse, I suppose. She will kill it + presently.’ + </p> + <p> + “As I spoke, the lioness once more flashed out of the bush, and this time + sprang right over the doomed and trembling ox. It was a beautiful sight to + see her clear him in the bright moonlight, as though it were a trick which + she had been taught. + </p> + <p> + “‘I believe that she has escaped from a circus,’ whispered Harry; ‘it’s + jolly to see her jump.’ + </p> + <p> + “I said nothing, but I thought to myself that if it was, Master Harry did + not quite appreciate the performance, and small blame to him. At any rate, + his teeth were chattering a little. + </p> + <p> + “Then came a longish pause, and I began to think that the lioness must + have gone away, when suddenly she appeared again, and with one mighty + bound landed right on to the ox, and struck it a frightful blow with her + paw. + </p> + <p> + “Down it went, and lay on the ground kicking feebly. She put down her + wicked-looking head, and, with a fierce growl of contentment, buried her + long white teeth in the throat of the dying animal. When she lifted her + muzzle again it was all stained with blood. She stood facing us obliquely, + licking her bloody chops and making a sort of purring noise. + </p> + <p> + “‘Now’s our time,’ I whispered, ‘fire when I do.’ + </p> + <p> + “I got on to her as well as I could, but Harry, instead of waiting for me + as I told him, fired before I did, and that of course hurried me. But when + the smoke cleared, I was delighted to see that the lioness was rolling + about on the ground behind the body of the ox, which covered her in such a + fashion, however, that we could not shoot again to make an end of her. + </p> + <p> + “‘She’s done for! she’s dead, the yellow devil!’ yelled Pharaoh in + exultation; and at that very moment the lioness, with a sort of convulsive + rush, half-rolled, half-sprang, into the patch of thick bush to the right. + I fired after her as she went, but so far as I could see without result; + indeed the probability is that I missed her clean. At any rate she got to + the bush in safety, and once there, began to make such a diabolical noise + as I never heard before. She would whine and shriek with pain, and then + burst out into perfect volleys of roaring that shook the whole place. + </p> + <p> + “‘Well,’ I said, ‘we must just let her roar; to go into that bush after + her at night would be madness.’ + </p> + <p> + “At that moment, to my astonishment and alarm, there came an answering + roar from the direction of the river, and then another from behind the + swell of bush. Evidently there were more lions about. The wounded lioness + redoubled her efforts, with the object, I suppose, of summoning the others + to her assistance. At any rate they came, and quickly too, for within five + minutes, peeping through the bushes of our skerm fence, we saw a + magnificent lion bounding along towards us, through the tall tambouki + grass, that in the moonlight looked for all the world like ripening corn. + On he came in great leaps, and a glorious sight it was to see him. When + within fifty yards or so, he stood still in an open space and roared. The + lioness roared too; then there came a third roar, and another great + black-maned lion stalked majestically up, and joined number two, till + really I began to realize what the ox must have undergone. + </p> + <p> + “‘Now, Harry,’ I whispered, ‘whatever you do don’t fire, it’s too risky. + If they let us be, let them be.’ + </p> + <p> + “Well, the pair marched off to the bush, where the wounded lioness was now + roaring double tides, and the three of them began to snarl and grumble + away together there. Presently, however, the lioness ceased roaring, and + the two lions came out again, the black-maned one first—to prospect, + I suppose—walked to where the carcass of the ox lay, and sniffed at + it. + </p> + <p> + “‘Oh, what a shot!’ whispered Harry, who was trembling with excitement. + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes,’ I said; ‘but don’t fire; they might all of them come for us.’ + </p> + <p> + “Harry said nothing, but whether it was from the natural impetuosity of + youth, or because he was thrown off his balance by excitement, or from + sheer recklessness and devilment, I am sure I cannot tell you, never + having been able to get a satisfactory explanation from him; but at any + rate the fact remains, he, without word or warning, entirely disregarding + my exhortations, lifted up his Westley Richards and fired at the + black-maned lion, and, what is more, hit it slightly on the flank. + </p> + <p> + “Next second there was a most awful roar from the injured lion. He glared + around him and roared with pain, for he was badly stung; and then, before + I could make up my mind what to do, the great black-maned brute, clearly + ignorant of the cause of his hurt, sprang right at the throat of his + companion, to whom he evidently attributed his misfortune. It was a + curious sight to see the astonishment of the other lion at this most + unprovoked assault. Over he rolled with an angry snarl, and on to him + sprang the black-maned demon, and began to worry him. This finally awoke + the yellow-maned lion to a sense of the situation, and I am bound to say + that he rose to it in a most effective manner. Somehow or other he got to + his feet, and, roaring and snarling frightfully, closed with his mighty + foe. + </p> + <p> + “Then ensued a most tremendous scene. You know what a shocking thing it is + to see two large dogs fighting with abandonment. Well, a whole hundred of + dogs could not have looked half so terrible as those two great brutes as + they rolled and roared and rent in their horrid rage. They gripped each + other, they tore at each other’s throat, till their manes came out in + handfuls, and the red blood streamed down their yellow hides. It was an + awful and a wonderful thing to see the great cats tearing at each other + with all the fierce energy of their savage strength, and making the night + hideous with their heart-shaking noise. And the fight was a grand one too. + For some minutes it was impossible to say which was getting the best of + it, but at last I saw that the black-maned lion, though he was slightly + bigger, was failing. I am inclined to think that the wound in his flank + crippled him. Anyway, he began to get the worst of it, which served him + right, as he was the aggressor. Still I could not help feeling sorry for + him, for he had fought a gallant fight, when his antagonist finally got + him by the throat, and, struggle and strike out as he would, began to + shake the life out of him. Over and over they rolled together, a hideous + and awe-inspiring spectacle, but the yellow one would not loose his hold, + and at length poor black-mane grew faint, his breath came in great snorts + and seemed to rattle in his nostrils, then he opened his huge mouth, gave + the ghost of a roar, quivered, and was dead. + </p> + <p> + “When he was quite sure that the victory was his own, the yellow-maned + lion loosed his grip and sniffed at the fallen foe. Then he licked the + dead lion’s eye, and next, with his fore-feet resting on the carcass, sent + up his own chant of victory, that went rolling and pealing down the dark + paths of the night. And at this point I interfered. Taking a careful sight + at the centre of his body, in order to give the largest possible margin + for error, I fired, and sent a.570 express bullet right through him, and + down he dropped dead upon the carcass of his mighty foe. + </p> + <p> + “After that, fairly satisfied with our performances, we slept peaceably + till dawn, leaving Pharaoh to keep watch in case any more lions should + take it into their heads to come our way. + </p> + <p> + “When the sun was well up we arose, and went very cautiously—at + least Pharaoh and I did, for I would not allow Harry to come—to see + if we could find any trace of the wounded lioness. She had ceased roaring + immediately upon the arrival of the two lions, and had not made a sound + since, from which we concluded that she was probably dead. I was armed + with my express, while Pharaoh, in whose hands a rifle was indeed a + dangerous weapon, to his companions, had an axe. On our way we stopped to + look at the two dead lions. They were magnificent animals, both of them, + but their pelts were entirely spoiled by the terrible mauling they had + given to each other, which was a sad pity. + </p> + <p> + “In another minute we were following the blood spoor of the wounded + lioness into the bush, where she had taken refuge. This, I need hardly + say, we did with the utmost caution; indeed, I for one did not at all like + the job, and was only consoled by the reflection that it was necessary, + and that the bush was not thick. Well, we stood there, keeping as far from + the trees as possible, searching and looking about, but no lioness could + we see, though we saw plenty of blood. + </p> + <p> + “‘She must have gone somewhere to die, Pharaoh,’ I said in Zulu. + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes, Inkoos,’ he answered, ‘she has certainly gone away.’ + </p> + <p> + “Hardly were the words out of his mouth, when I heard a roar, and starting + round saw the lioness emerge from the very centre of a bush, in which she + had been curled up, just behind Pharaoh. Up she went on to her hind-legs, + and as she did so I noticed that one of her fore-paws was broken near the + shoulder, for it hung limply down. Up she went, towering right over + Pharaoh’s head, as she did so lifting her uninjured paw to strike him to + the earth. And then, before I could get my rifle round or do anything to + avert the oncoming catastrophe, the Zulu did a very brave and clever + thing. Realizing his own imminent danger, he bounded to one side, and + swinging the heavy axe round his head, brought it down right on to the + back of the lioness, severing the vertebræ and killing her + instantaneously. It was wonderful to see her collapse all in a heap like + an empty sack. + </p> + <p> + “‘My word, Pharaoh!’ I said, ‘that was well done, and none too soon.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Yes,’ he answered, with a little laugh, ‘it was a good stroke, Inkoos. + Jim-Jim will sleep better now.’ + </p> + <p> + “Then, calling Harry to us, we examined the lioness. She was old, if one + might judge from her worn teeth, and not very large, but thickly made, and + must have possessed extraordinary vitality to have lived so long, shot as + she was; for, in addition to her broken shoulder, my express bullet had + blown a great hole in her middle that one might have put a fist into. + </p> + <p> + “Well, that is the story of the death of poor Jim-Jim and how we avenged + it. It is rather interesting in its way, because of the fight between the + two lions, of which I never saw the like in all my experience, and I know + something of lions and their manners.” + </p> + <p> + “And how did you get back to Pilgrim’s Rest?” I asked Hunter Quatermain + when he had finished his yarn. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, we had a nice job with that,” he answered. “The second sick ox died, + and so did another, and we had to get on as best we could with three + harnessed unicorn fashion, while we pushed behind. We did about four miles + a day, and it took us nearly a month, during the last week of which we + pretty well starved.” + </p> + <p> + “I notice,” I said, “that most of your trips ended in disaster of some + sort or another, and yet you went on making them, which strikes one as a + little strange.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I dare say: but then, remember I got my living for many years out of + hunting. Besides, half the charm of the thing lay in the dangers and + disasters, though they were terrible enough at the time. Another thing is, + my trips were not all disastrous. Some time, if you like, I will tell you + a story of one which was very much the reverse, for I made several + thousand pounds out of it, and saw one of the most extraordinary sights a + hunter ever came across. It was on this trip that I met the bravest native + woman I ever knew; her name was Maiwa. But it is too late now, and + besides, I am tired of talking about myself. Pass the water, will you!” + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s A Tale of Three Lions, by H. 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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 + + + + + +A TALE OF THREE LIONS + +by H. Rider Haggard + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE INTEREST ON TEN SHILLINGS + +Most of you will have heard that Allan Quatermain, who was one of the +party that discovered King Solomon's mines some little time ago, and +who afterwards came to live in England near his friend Sir Henry +Curtis. He went back to the wilderness again, as these old hunters +almost invariably do, on one pretext or another.[*] They cannot endure +civilization for very long, its noise and racket and the omnipresence +of broad-clothed humanity proving more trying to their nerves than the +dangers of the desert. I think that they feel lonely here, for it is a +fact that is too little understood, though it has often been stated, +that there is no loneliness like the loneliness of crowds, especially +to those who are unaccustomed to them. "What is there in the world," +old Quatermain would say, "so desolate as to stand in the streets of a +great city and listen to the footsteps falling, falling, multitudinous +as the rain, and watch the white line of faces as they hurry past, you +know not whence, you know not whither? They come and go, their eyes +meet yours with a cold stare, for a moment their features are written +on your mind, and then they are gone for ever. You will never see them +again; they will never see you again; they come up out of the unknown, +and presently they once more vanish into the unknown, taking their +secrets with them. Yes, that is loneliness pure and undefiled; but to +one who knows and loves it, the wilderness is not lonely, because the +spirit of nature is ever there to keep the wanderer company. He finds +companions in the winds--the sunny streams babble like Nature's +children at his feet; high above them, in the purple sunset, are domes +and minarets and palaces, such as no mortal man has built, in and out +of whose flaming doors the angels of the sun seem to move continually. +And there, too, is the wild game, following its feeding-grounds in +great armies, with the springbuck thrown out before for skirmishers; +then rank upon rank of long-faced blesbuck, marching and wheeling like +infantry; and last the shining troops of quagga, and the fierce-eyed +shaggy vilderbeeste to take, as it were, the place of the cossack host +that hangs upon an army's flanks. + +[*] This of course was written before Mr. Quatermain's account of the + adventures in the newly-discovered country of Zu-Vendis of + himself, Sir Henry Curtis, and Capt. John Good had been received + in England.--Editor. + +"Oh, no," he would say, "the wilderness is not lonely, for, my boy, +remember that the further you get from man, the nearer you grow to +God," and though this is a saying that might well be disputed, it is +one I am sure that anybody will easily understand who has watched the +sun rise and set on the limitless deserted plains, and seen the +thunder chariots of the clouds roll in majesty across the depths of +unfathomable sky. + +Well, at any rate we went back again, and now for many months I have +heard nothing at all of him, and to be frank, I greatly doubt if +anybody will ever hear of him again. I fear that the wilderness, that +has for so many years been a mother to him, will now also prove his +grave and the grave of those who accompanied him, for the quest upon +which he and they have started is a wild one indeed. + +But while he was in England for those three years or so between his +return from the successful discovery of the wise king's buried +treasures, and the death of his only son, I saw a great deal of old +Allan Quatermain. I had known him years before in Africa, and after he +came home, whenever I had nothing better to do, I used to run up to +Yorkshire and stay with him, and in this way I at one time and another +heard many of the incidents of his past life, and most curious some of +them were. No man can pass all those years following the rough +existence of an elephant-hunter without meeting with many strange +adventures, and in one way and another old Quatermain has certainly +seen his share. Well, the story that I am going to tell you in the +following pages is one of the later of these adventures, though I +forget the exact year in which it happened. at any rate I know that it +was the only trip upon which he took his son Harry (who is since dead) +with him, and that Harry was then about fourteen. And now for the +story, which I will repeat, as nearly as I can, in the words in which +Hunter Quatermain told it to me one night in the old oak-panelled +vestibule of his house in Yorkshire. We were talking about gold- +mining-- + +"Gold-mining!" he broke in; "ah! yes, I once went gold-mining at +Pilgrims' Rest in the Transvaal, and it was after that that we had the +business about Jim-Jim and the lions. Do you know Pilgrim's Rest? +Well, it is, or was, one of the queerest little places you ever saw. +The town itself was pitched in a stony valley, with mountains all +about it, and in the middle of such scenery as one does not often get +the chance of seeing. Many and many is the time that I have thrown +down my pick and shovel in disgust, clambered out of my claim, and +walked a couple of miles or so to the top of some hill. Then I would +lie down in the grass and look out over the glorious stretch of +country--the smiling valleys, the great mountains touched with gold-- +real gold of the sunset, and clothed in sweeping robes of bush, and +stare into the depths of the perfect sky above; yes, and thank Heaven +I had got away from the cursing and the coarse jokes of the miners, +and the voices of those Basutu Kaffirs as they toiled in the sun, the +memory of which is with me yet. + +"Well, for some months I dug away patiently at my claim, till the very +sight of a pick or of a washing-trough became hateful to me. A hundred +times a day I lamented my own folly in having invested eight hundred +pounds, which was about all that I was worth at the time, in this +gold-mining. But like other better people before me, I had been bitten +by the gold bug, and now was forced to take the consequences. I bought +a claim out of which a man had made a fortune--five or six thousand +pounds at least--as I thought, very cheap; that is, I gave him five +hundred pounds down for it. It was all that I had made by a very rough +year's elephant-hunting beyond the Zambesi, and I sighed deeply and +prophetically when I saw my successful friend, who was a Yankee, sweep +up the roll of Standard Bank notes with the lordly air of the man who +has made his fortune, and cram them into his breeches pockets. 'Well,' +I said to him--the happy vendor--'it is a magnificent property, and I +only hope that my luck will be as good as yours has been.' + +"He smiled; to my excited nerves it seemed that he smiled ominously, +as he answered me in a peculiar Yankee drawl: 'I guess, stranger, as I +ain't the one to make a man quarrel with his food, more especial when +there ain't no more going of the rounds; and as for that there claim, +well, she's been a good nigger to me; but between you and me, +stranger, speaking man to man, now that there ain't any filthy lucre +between us to obscure the features of the truth, I guess she's about +worked out!' + +"I gasped; the fellow's effrontery took the breath out of me. Only +five minutes before he had been swearing by all his gods--and they +appeared to be numerous and mixed--that there were half a dozen +fortunes left in the claim, and that he was only giving it up because +he was downright weary of shovelling the gold out. + +"'Don't look so vexed, stranger,' went on my tormentor, 'perhaps there +is some shine in the old girl yet; anyway you are a downright good +fellow, you are, therefore you will, I guess, have a real A1 +opportunity of working on the feelings of Fortune. Anyway it will +bring the muscle up upon your arm, for the stuff is uncommon stiff, +and, what is more, you will in the course of a year earn a sight more +than two thousand dollars in value of experience.' + +"Then he went just in time, for in another moment I should have gone +for him, and I saw his face no more. + +"Well, I set to work on the old claim with my boy Harry and half a +dozen Kaffirs to help me, which, seeing that I had put nearly all my +worldly wealth into it, was the least that I could do. And we worked, +my word, we did work--early and late we went at it--but never a bit of +gold did we see; no, not even a nugget large enough to make a scarf- +pin out of. The American gentleman had secured it all and left us the +sweepings. + +"For three months this went on, till at last I had paid away all, or +very near all, that was left of her little capital in wages and food +for the Kaffirs and ourselves. When I tell you that Boer meal was +sometimes as high as four pounds a bag, you will understand that it +did not take long to run through our banking account. + +"At last the crisis came. One Saturday night I had paid the men as +usual, and bought a muid of mealie meal at sixty shillings for them to +fill themselves with, and then I went with my boy Harry and sat on the +edge of the great hole that we had dug in the hill-side, and which we +had in bitter mockery named Eldorado. There we sat in the moonlight +with our feet over the edge of the claim, and were melancholy enough +for anything. Presently I pulled out my purse and emptied its contents +into my hand. There was a half-sovereign, two florins, ninepence in +silver, no coppers--for copper practically does not circulate in South +Africa, which is one of the things that make living so dear there--in +all exactly fourteen and ninepence. + +"'There, Harry, my boy!' I said, 'that is the sum total of our worldly +wealth; that hole has swallowed all the rest.' + +"'By George!' said Master Harry; 'I say, father, you and I shall have +to let ourselves out to work with the Kaffirs and live on mealie pap,' +and he sniggered at his unpleasant little joke. + +"But I was in no mood for joking, for it is not a merry thing to dig +like anything for months and be completely ruined in the process, +especially if you happen to dislike digging, and consequently I +resented Harry's light-heartedness. + +"'Be quiet, boy!' I said, raising my hand as though to give him a +cuff, with the result that the half-sovereign slipped out of it and +fell into the gulf below. + +"'Oh, bother,' said I, 'it's gone.' + +"'There, Dad,' said Harry, 'that's what comes of letting your angry +passions rise; now we are down to four and nine.' + +"I made no answer to these words of wisdom, but scrambled down the +steep sides of the claim, followed by Harry, to hunt for my little +all. Well, we hunted and we hunted, but the moonlight is an uncertain +thing to look for half-sovereigns by, and there was some loose soil +about, for the Kaffirs had knocked off working at this very spot a +couple of hours before. I took a pick and raked away the clods of +earth with it, in the hope of finding the coin; but all in vain. At +last in sheer annoyance I struck the sharp end of the pickaxe down +into the soil, which was of a very hard nature. To my astonishment it +sunk in right up to the haft. + +"'Why, Harry,' I said, 'this ground must have been disturbed!' + +"'I don't think so, father,' he answered; 'but we will soon see,' and +he began to shovel out the soil with his hands. 'Oh,' he said +presently, 'it's only some old stones; the pick has gone down between +them, look!' and he began to pull at one of the stones. + +"'I say, Dad,' he said presently, almost in a whisper, 'it's precious +heavy, feel it;' and he rose and gave me a round, brownish lump about +the size of a very large apple, which he was holding in both his +hands. I took it curiously and held it up to the light. It /was/ very +heavy. The moonlight fell upon its rough and filth-encrusted surface, +and as I looked, curious little thrills of excitement began to pass +through me. But I could not be sure. + +"'Give me your knife, Harry,' I said. + +"He did so, and resting the brown stone on my knee I scratched at its +surface. Great heavens, it was soft! + +"Another second and the secret was out, we had found a great nugget of +pure gold, four pounds of it or more. 'It's gold, lad,' I said, 'it's +gold, or I'm a Dutchman!' + +"Harry, with his eyes starting out of his head, glared down at the +gleaming yellow scratch that I had made upon the virgin metal, and +then burst out into yell upon yell of exultation, which went ringing +away across the silent claims like shrieks of somebody being murdered. + +"'Be quiet!' I said; 'do you want every thief on the fields after +you?' + +"Scarcely were the words out of my mouth when I heard a stealthy +footstep approaching. I promptly put the big nugget down and sat on +it, and uncommonly hard it was. As I did so I saw a lean dark face +poked over the edge of the claim and a pair of beady eyes searching us +out. I knew the face, it belonged to a man of very bad character known +as Handspike Tom, who had, I understood, been so named at the Diamond +Fields because he had murdered his mate with a handspike. He was now +no doubt prowling about like a human hyna to see what he could steal. + +"'Is that you, 'unter Quatermain?' he said. + +"'Yes, it's I, Mr. Tom,' I answered, politely. + +"'And what might all that there yelling be?' he asked. 'I was walking +along, a-taking of the evening air and a-thinking on the stars, when I +'ears 'owl after 'owl.' + +"'Well, Mr. Tom,' I answered, 'that is not to be wondered at, seeing +that like yourself they are nocturnal birds.' + +"''Owl after 'owl!' he repeated sternly, taking no notice of my +interpretation, 'and I stops and says, "That's murder," and I listens +again and thinks, "No, it ain't; that 'owl is the 'owl of hexultation; +some one's been and got his fingers into a gummy yeller pot, I'll +swear, and gone off 'is 'ead in the sucking of them." Now, 'unter +Quatermain, is I right? is it nuggets? Oh, lor!' and he smacked his +lips audibly--'great big yellow boys--is it them that you have just +been and tumbled across?' + +"'No,' I said boldly, 'it isn't'--the cruel gleam in his black eyes +altogether overcoming my aversion to untruth, for I knew that if once +he found out what it was that I was sitting on--and by the way I have +heard of rolling in gold being spoken of as a pleasant process, but I +certainly do not recommend anybody who values comfort to try sitting +on it--I should run a very good chance of being 'handspiked' before +the night was over. + +"'If you want to know what it was, Mr. Tom,' I went on, with my +politest air, although in agony from the nugget underneath--for I hold +it is always best to be polite to a man who is so ready with a +handspike--'my boy and I have had a slight difference of opinion, and +I was enforcing my view of the matter upon him; that's all.' + +"'Yes, Mr. Tom,' put in Harry, beginning to weep, for Harry was a +smart boy, and saw the difficulty we were in, 'that was it--I halloed +because father beat me.' + +"'Well, now, did yer, my dear boy--did yer? Well, all I can say is +that a played-out old claim is a wonderful queer sort of place to come +to for to argify at ten o'clock of night, and what's more, my sweet +youth, if ever I should 'ave the argifying of yer'--and he leered +unpleasantly at Harry--'yer won't 'oller in quite such a jolly sort 'o +way. And now I'll be saying good-night, for I don't like disturbing of +a family party. No, I ain't that sort of man, I ain't. Good-night to +yer, 'unter Quatermain--good-night to yer, my argified young one;' and +Mr. Tom turned away disappointed, and prowled off elsewhere, like a +human jackal, to see what he could thieve or kill. + +"'Thank goodness!' I said, as I slipped off the lump of gold. 'Now, +then, do you get up, Harry, and see if that consummate villain has +gone.' Harry did so, and reported that he had vanished towards +Pilgrim's Rest, and then we set to work, and very carefully, but +trembling with excitement, with our hands hollowed out all the space +of ground into which I had struck the pick. Yes, as I hoped, there was +a regular nest of nuggets, twelve in all, running from the size of a +hazel-nut to that of a hen's egg, though of course the first one was +much larger than that. How they all came there nobody can say; it was +one of those extraordinary freaks, with stories of which, at any rate, +all people acquainted with alluvial gold-mining will be familiar. It +turned out afterwards that the American who sold me the claim had in +the same way made his pile--a much larger one than ours, by the way-- +out of a single pocket, and then worked for six months without seeing +colour, after which he gave it up. + +"At any rate, there the nuggets were, to the value, as it turned out +afterwards, of about twelve hundred and fifty pounds, so that after +all I took out of that hole four hundred and fifty pounds more than I +put into it. We got them all out and wrapped them up in a +handkerchief, and then, fearing to carry home so much treasure, +especially as we knew that Mr. Handspike Tom was on the prowl, made up +our minds to pass the night where we were--a necessity which, +disagreeable as it was, was wonderfully sweetened by the presence of +that handkerchief full of virgin gold--the interest of my lost half- +sovereign. + +"Slowly the night wore away, for with the fear of Handspike Tom before +my eyes I did not dare to go to sleep, and at last the dawn came. I +got up and watched its growth, till it opened like a flower upon the +eastern sky, and the sunbeams began to spring up in splendour from +mountain-top to mountain-top. I watched it, and as I did so it flashed +upon me, with a complete conviction which I had not felt before, that +I had had enough of gold-mining to last me the rest of my natural +life, and I then and there made up my mind to clear out of Pilgrims' +Rest and go and shoot buffalo towards Delagoa Bay. Then I turned, took +the pick and shovel, and although it was a Sunday morning, woke up +Harry and set to work to see if there were any more nuggets about. As +I expected, there were none. What we had got had lain together in a +little pocket filled with soil that felt quite different from the +stiff stuff round and outside the pocket. There was not another trace +of gold. Of course it is possible that there were more pocketfuls +somewhere about, but all I have to say is I made up my mind that, +whoever found them, I should not; and, as a matter of fact, I have +since heard that this claim has been the ruin of two or three people, +as it very nearly was the ruin of me. + +"'Harry,' I said presently, 'I am going away this week towards Delagoa +to shoot buffalo. Shall I take you with me, or send you down to +Durban?' + +"'Oh, take me with you, father!' begged Harry, 'I want to kill a +buffalo!' + +"'And supposing that the buffalo kills you instead?' I asked. + +"'Oh, never mind,' he said, gaily, 'there are lots more where I came +from.' + +"I rebuked him for his flippancy, but in the end I consented to take +him. + + + +CHAPTER II + +WHAT WAS FOUND IN THE POOL + +"Something over a fortnight had passed since the night when I lost +half-a-sovereign and found twelve hundred and fifty pounds in looking +for it, and instead of that horrid hole, for which, after all, +Eldorado was hardly a misnomer, a very different scene stretched away +before us clad in the silver robe of the moonlight. We were camped-- +Harry and I, two Kaffirs, a Scotch cart, and six oxen--on the swelling +side of a great wave of bushclad land. Just where we had made our +camp, however, the bush was very sparse, and only grew about in +clumps, while here and there were single flat-topped mimosa-trees. To +our right a little stream, which had cut a deep channel for itself in +the bosom of the slope, flowed musically on between banks green with +maidenhair, wild asparagus, and many beautiful grasses. The bed-rock +here was red granite, and in the course of centuries of patient +washing the water had hollowed out some of the huge slabs in its path +into great troughs and cups, and these we used for bathing-places. No +Roman lady, with her baths of porphyry or alabaster, could have had a +more delicious spot to bathe herself than we found within fifty yards +of our skerm, or rough inclosure of mimosa thorn, that we had dragged +together round the cart to protect us from the attacks of lions. That +there were several of these brutes about, I knew from their spoor, +though we had neither heard nor seen them. + +"Our bath was a little nook where the eddy of the stream had washed +away a mass of soil, and on the edge of it there grew a most beautiful +old mimosa thorn. Beneath the thorn was a large smooth slab of granite +fringed all round with maidenhair and other ferns, that sloped gently +down to a pool of the clearest sparkling water, which lay in a bowl of +granite about ten feet wide by five feet deep in the centre. Here to +this slab we went every morning to bathe, and that delightful bath is +among the most pleasant of my hunting reminiscences, as it is also, +for reasons which will presently appear, among the most painful. + +"It was a lovely night. Harry and I sat to the windward of the fire, +where the two Kaffirs were busily employed in cooking some impala +steaks off a buck which Harry, to his great joy, had shot that +morning, and were as perfectly contented with ourselves and the world +at large as two people could possibly be. The night was beautiful, and +it would require somebody with more words on the tip of his tongue +than I have to describe properly the chastened majesty of those +moonlit wilds. Away for ever and for ever, away to the mysterious +north, rolled the great bush ocean over which the silence brooded. +There beneath us a mile or more to the right ran the wide Oliphant, +and mirror-like flashed back the moon, whose silver spears were +shivered on its breast, and then tossed in twisted lines of light far +and wide about the mountains and the plain. Down upon the river-banks +grew great timber-trees that through the stillness pointed solemnly to +Heaven, and the beauty of the night lay upon them like a cloud. +Everywhere was silence--silence in the starred depths, silence on the +bosom of the sleeping earth. Now, if ever, great thoughts might rise +in a man's mind, and for a space he might forget his littleness in the +sense that he partook of the pure immensity about him. + +"'Hark! what was that?' + +"From far away down by the river there comes a mighty rolling sound, +then another, and another. It is the lion seeking his meat. + +"I saw Harry shiver and turn a little pale. He was a plucky boy +enough, but the roar of a lion heard for the first time in the solemn +bush veldt at night is apt to shake the nerves of any lad. + +"'Lions, my boy,' I said; 'they are hunting down by the river there; +but I don't think that you need make yourself uneasy. We have been +here three nights now, and if they were going to pay us a visit I +think that they would have done so before this. However, we will make +up the fire.' + +"'Here, Pharaoh, do you and Jim-Jim get some more wood before we go to +sleep, else the cats will be purring round you before morning.' + +"Pharaoh, a great brawny Swazi, who had been working for me at +Pilgrims' Rest, laughed, rose, and stretched himself, then calling to +Jim-Jim to bring the axe and a reim, started off in the moonlight +towards a clump of sugar-bush where we cut our fuel from some dead +trees. He was a fine fellow in his way, was Pharaoh, and I think that +he had been named Pharaoh because he had an Egyptian cast of +countenance and a royal sort of swagger about him. But his way was a +somewhat peculiar way, on account of the uncertainty of his temper, +and very few people could get on with him; also if he could find +liquor he would drink like a fish, and when he drank he became +shockingly bloodthirsty. These were his bad points; his good ones were +that, like most people of the Zulu blood, he became exceedingly +attached if he took to you at all; he was a hard-working and +intelligent man, and about as dare-devil and plucky a fellow at a +pinch as I have ever had to do with. He was about five-and-thirty +years of age or so, but not a 'keshla' or ringed man. I believe that +he had got into trouble in some way in Swaziland, and the authorities +of his tribe would not allow him to assume the ring, and that is why +he came to work at the gold-fields. The other man, or rather lad, Jim- +Jim, was a Mapoch Kaffir, or Knobnose, and even in the light of +subsequent events I fear I cannot speak very well of him. He was an +idle and careless young rascal, and only that very morning I had to +tell Pharaoh to give him a beating for letting the oxen stray, which +Pharaoh did with the greatest gusto, although he was by way of being +very fond of Jim-Jim. Indeed, I saw him consoling Jim-Jim afterwards +with a pinch of snuff from his own ear-box, whilst he explained to him +that the next time it came in the way of duty to flog him, he meant to +thrash him with the other hand, so as to cross the old cuts and make a +"pretty pattern" on his back. + +"Well, off they went, though Jim-Jim did not at all like leaving the +camp at that hour, even when the moonlight was so bright, and in due +course returned safely enough with a great bundle of wood. I laughed +at Jim-Jim, and asked him if he had seen anything, and he said yes, he +had; he had seen two large yellow eyes staring at him from behind a +bush, and heard something snore. + +"As, however, on further investigation the yellow eyes and the snore +appeared to have existed only in Jim-Jim's lively imagination, I was +not greatly disturbed by this alarming report; but having seen to the +making-up of the fire, got into the skerm and went quietly to sleep +with Harry by my side. + +"Some hours afterwards I woke up with a start. I don't know what woke +me. The moon had gone down, or at least was almost hidden behind the +soft horizon of bush, only her red rim being visible. Also a wind had +sprung up and was driving long hurrying lines of cloud across the +starry sky, and altogether a great change had come over the mood of +the night. By the look of the sky I judged that we must be about two +hours from day-break. + +"The oxen, which were as usual tied to the disselboom of the Scotch +cart, were very restless--they kept snuffling and blowing, and rising +up and lying down again, so I at once suspected that they must wind +something. Presently I knew what it was that they winded, for within +fifty yards of us a lion roared, not very loud, but quite loud enough +to make my heart come into my mouth. + +"Pharaoh was sleeping on the other side of the cart, and, looking +beneath it, I saw him raise his head and listen. + +"'Lion, Inkoos,' he whispered, 'lion!' + +"Jim-Jim also jumped up, and by the faint light I could see that he +was in a very great fright indeed. + +"Thinking that it was as well to be prepared for emergencies, I told +Pharaoh to throw wood upon the fire, and woke up Harry, who I verily +believe was capable of sleeping happily through the crack of doom. He +was a little scared at first, but presently the excitement of the +position came home to him, and he grew quite anxious to see his +majesty face to face. I got my rifle handy and gave Harry his--a +Westley Richards falling block, which is a very useful gun for a +youth, being light and yet a good killing rifle, and then we waited. + +"For a long time nothing happened, and I began to think that the best +thing we could do would be to go to sleep again, when suddenly I heard +a sound more like a cough than a roar within about twenty yards of the +skerm. We all looked out, but could see nothing; and then followed +another period of suspense. It was very trying to the nerves, this +waiting for an attack that might be developed from any quarter or +might not be developed at all; and though I was an old hand at this +sort of business I was anxious about Harry, for it is wonderful how +the presence of anybody to whom one is attached unnerves a man in +moments of danger. I know, although it was now chilly enough, I could +feel the perspiration running down my nose, and in order to relieve +the strain on my attention employed myself in watching a beetle which +appeared to be attracted by the firelight, and was sitting before it +thoughtfully rubbing his antenn against each other. + +"Suddenly, the beetle gave such a jump that he nearly pitched headlong +into the fire, and so did we all--gave jumps, I mean, and no wonder, +for from right under the skerm fence there came a most frightful roar +--a roar that literally made the Scotch cart shake and took the breath +out of me. + +"Harry made an exclamation, Jim-Jim howled outright, while the poor +oxen, who were terrified almost out of their hides, shivered and lowed +piteously. + +"The night was almost entirely dark now, for the moon had quite set, +and the clouds had covered up the stars, so that the only light we had +came from the fire, which by this time was burning up brightly again. +But, as you know, firelight is absolutely useless to shoot by, it is +so uncertain, and besides, it penetrates but a very little way into +the darkness, although if one is in the dark outside, one can see it +from far away. + +"Presently the oxen, after standing still for a moment, suddenly +winded the lion and did what I feared they would do--began to 'skrek,' +that is, to try and break loose from the trektow to which they were +tied, to rush off madly into the wilderness. Lions know of this habit +on the part of oxen, which are, I do believe, the most foolish animals +under the sun, a sheep being a very Solomon compared to them; and it +is by no means uncommon for a lion to get in such a position that a +herd or span of oxen may wind him, skrek, break their reims, and rush +off into the bush. Of course, once there, they are helpless in the +dark; and then the lion chooses the one that he loves best and eats +him at his leisure. + +"Well, round and round went our six poor oxen, nearly trampling us to +death in their mad rush; indeed, had we not hastily tumbled out of the +way, we should have been trodden to death, or at the least seriously +injured. As it was, Harry was run over, and poor Jim-Jim being caught +by the trektow somewhere beneath the arm, was hurled right across the +skerm, landing by my side only some paces off. + +"Snap went the disselboom of the cart beneath the transverse strain +put upon it. Had it not broken the cart would have overset; as it was, +in another minute, oxen, cart, trektow, reims, broken disselboom, and +everything were soon tied in one vast heaving, plunging, bellowing, +and seemingly inextricable knot. + +"For a moment or two this state of affairs took my attention off from +the lion that had caused it, but whilst I was wondering what on earth +was to be done next, and how we should manage if the cattle broke +loose into the bush and were lost--for cattle frightened in this +manner will so straight away like mad things--my thoughts were +suddenly recalled to the lion in a very painful fashion. + +"For at that moment I perceived by the light of the fire a kind of +gleam of yellow travelling through the air towards us. + +"'The lion! the lion!' holloaed Pharaoh, and as he did so, he, or +rather she, for it was a great gaunt lioness, half wild no doubt with +hunger, lit right in the middle of the skerm, and stood there in the +smoky gloom lashing her tail and roaring. I seized my rifle and fired +it at her, but what between the confusion, my agitation, and the +uncertain light, I missed her, and nearly shot Pharaoh. The flash of +the rifle, however, threw the whole scene into strong relief, and a +wild sight it was I can tell you--with the seething mass of oxen +twisted all round the cart, in such a fashion that their heads looked +as though they were growing out of their rumps; and their horns seemed +to protrude from their backs; the smoking fire with just a blaze in +the heart of the smoke; Jim-Jim in the foreground, where the oxen had +thrown him in their wild rush, stretched out there in terror, and then +as a centre to the picture the great gaunt lioness glaring round with +hungry yellow eyes, roaring and whining as she made up her mind what +to do. + +"It did not take her long, however, just the time that it takes a +flash to die into darkness, for, before I could fire again or do +anything, with a most fiendish snort she sprang upon poor Jim-Jim. + +"I heard the unfortunate lad shriek, and then almost instantly I saw +his legs thrown into the air. The lioness had seized him by the neck, +and with a sudden jerk thrown his body over her back so that his legs +hung down upon the further side.[*] Then, without the slightest +hesitation, and apparently without any difficulty, she cleared the +skerm face at a single bound, and bearing poor Jim-Jim with her +vanished into the darkness beyond, in the direction of the bathing- +place that I have already described. We jumped up perfectly mad with +horror and fear, and rushed wildly after her, firing shots at +haphazard on the chance that she would be frightened by them into +dropping her prey, but nothing could we see, and nothing could we +hear. The lioness had vanished into the darkness, taking Jim-Jim with +her, and to attempt to follow her till daylight was madness. We should +only expose ourselves to the risk of a like fate. + +[*] I have known a lion carry a two-year-old ox over a stone wall four + feet high in this fashion, and a mile away into the bush beyond. + He was subsequently poisoned by strychnine put into the carcass of + the ox, and I still have his claws.--Editor. + +"So with scared and heavy hearts we crept back to the skerm, and sat +down to wait for the dawn, which now could not be much more than an +hour off. It was absolutely useless to try even to disentangle the +oxen till then, so all that was left for us to do was to sit and +wonder how it came to pass that the one should be taken and the other +left, and to hope against hope that our poor servant might have been +mercifully delivered from the lion's jaws. + +"At length the faint dawn came stealing like a ghost up the long slope +of bush, and glinted on the tangled oxen's horns, and with white and +frightened faces we got up and set to the task of disentangling the +oxen, till such time as there should be light enough to enable us to +follow the trail of the lioness which had gone off with Jim-Jim. And +here a fresh trouble awaited us, for when at last with infinite +difficulty we had disentangled the great helpless brutes, it was only +to find that one of the best of them was very sick. There was no +mistake about the way he stood with his legs slightly apart and his +head hanging down. He had got the redwater, I was sure of it. Of all +the difficulties connected with life and travelling in South Africa +those connected with oxen are perhaps the worst. The ox is the most +exasperating animal in the world, a negro excepted. He has absolutely +no constitution, and never neglects an opportunity of falling sick of +some mysterious disease. He will get thin upon the slightest +provocation, and from mere maliciousness die of 'poverty'; whereas it +is his chief delight to turn round and refuse to pull whenever he +finds himself well in the centre of a river, or the waggon-wheel +nicely fast in a mud hole. Drive him a few miles over rough roads and +you will find that he is footsore; turn him loose to feed and you will +discover that he has run away, or if he has not run away he has of +malice aforethought eaten 'tulip' and poisoned himself. There is +always something with him. The ox is a brute. It was of a piece with +his accustomed behaviour for the one in question to break out--on +purpose probably--with redwater just when a lion had walked off with +his herd. It was exactly what I should have expected, and I was +therefore neither disappointed nor surprised. + +"Well, it was no use crying as I should almost have liked to do, +because if this ox had redwater it was probable that the rest of them +had it too, although they had been sold to me as 'salted,' that is, +proof against such diseases as redwater and lungsick. One gets +hardened to this sort of thing in South Africa in course of time, for +I suppose in no other country in the world is the waste of animal life +so great. + +"So taking my rifle and telling Harry to follow me (for we had to +leave Pharaoh to look after the oxen--Pharaoh's lean kine, I called +them), I started to see if anything could be found of or appertaining +to the unfortunate Jim-Jim. The ground round our little camp was hard +and rocky, and we could not hit off any spoor of the lioness, though +just outside the skerm was a drop or two of blood. About three hundred +yards from the camp, and a little to the right, was a patch of sugar +bush mixed up with the usual mimosa, and for this I made, thinking +that the lioness would have been sure to take her prey there to devour +it. On we pushed through the long grass that was bent down beneath the +weight of the soaking dew. In two minutes we were wet through up to +the thighs, as wet as though we had waded through water. In due +course, however, we reached the patch of bush, and by the grey light +of the morning cautiously and slowly pushed our way into it. It was +very dark under the trees, for the sun was not yet up, so we walked +with the most extreme care, half expecting every minute to come across +the lioness licking the bones of poor Jim-Jim. But no lioness could we +see, and as for Jim-Jim there was not even a finger-joint of him to be +found. Evidently they had not come here. + +"So pushing through the bush we proceeded to hunt every other likely +spot, but with the same result. + +"'I suppose she must have taken him right away,' I said at last, sadly +enough. 'At any rate he will be dead by now, so God have mercy on him, +we can't help him. What's to be done now?' + +"'I suppose that we had better wash ourselves in the pool, and then go +back and get something to eat. I am filthy,' said Harry. + +"This was a practical if a somewhat unfeeling suggestion. At least it +struck me as unfeeling to talk of washing when poor Jim-Jim had been +so recently eaten. However, I did not let my sentiment carry me away, +so we went down to the beautiful spot that I have described, to wash. +I was the first to reach it, which I did by scrambling down the ferny +bank. Then I turned round, and started back with a yell--as well I +might, for almost from beneath my feet there came a most awful snarl. + +"I had lit nearly upon the back of the lioness, that had been sleeping +on the slab where we always stood to dry ourselves after bathing. With +a snarl and a growl, before I could do anything, before I could even +cock my rifle, she had bounded right across the crystal pool, and +vanished over the opposite bank. It was all done in an instant, as +quick as thought. + +"She had been sleeping on the slab, and oh, horror! what was that +sleeping beside her? It was the red remains of poor Jim-Jim, lying on +a patch of blood-stained rock. + +"'Oh! father, father!' shrieked Harry, 'look in the water!' + +"I looked. There, floating in the centre of the lovely tranquil pool, +was Jim-Jim's head. The lioness had bitten it right off, and it had +rolled down the sloping rock into the water. + + + +CHAPTER III + +JIM-JIM IS AVENGED + +"We never bathed in that pool again; indeed for my part I could never +look at its peaceful purity fringed round with waving ferns without +thinking of that ghastly head which rolled itself off through the +water when we tried to catch it. + +"Poor Jim-Jim! We buried what was left of him, which was not very +much, in an old bread-bag, and though whilst he lived his virtues were +not great, now that he was gone we could have wept over him. Indeed, +Harry did weep outright; while Pharaoh used very bad language in Zulu, +and I registered a quiet little vow on my account that I would let +daylight into that lioness before I was forty-eight hours older, if by +any means it could be done. + +"Well, we buried him, and there he lies in the bread-bag (which I +rather grudged him, as it was the only one we had), where lions will +not trouble him any more--though perhaps the hynas will, if they +consider that there is enough on him left to make it worth their while +to dig him up. However, he won't mind that; so there is an end of the +book of Jim-Jim. + +"The question that now remained was, how to circumvent his murderess. +I knew that she would be sure to return as soon as she was hungry +again, but I did not know when she would be hungry. She had left so +little of Jim-Jim behind her that I should scarcely expect to see her +the next night, unless indeed she had cubs. Still, I felt that it +would not be wise to miss the chance of her coming, so we set about +making preparations for her reception. The first thing that we did was +to strengthen the bush wall of the skerm by dragging a large quantity +of the tops of thorn-trees together, and laying them one on the other +in such a fashion that the thorns pointed outwards. This, after our +experience of the fate of Jim-Jim, seemed a very necessary precaution, +since if where one goat can jump another can follow, as the Kaffirs +say, how much more is this the case when an animal so active and so +vigorous as the lion is concerned! And now came the further question, +how were we to beguile the lioness to return? Lions are animals that +have a strange knack of appearing when they are not wanted, and +keeping studiously out of the way when their presence is required. Of +course it was possible that if she had found Jim-Jim to her liking she +would come back to see if there were any more of his kind about, but +still it was not to be relied on. + +"Harry, who as I have said was an eminently practical boy, suggested +to Pharaoh that he should go and sit outside the skerm in the +moonlight as a sort of bait, assuring him that he would have nothing +to fear, as we should certainly kill the lioness before she killed +him. Pharaoh however, strangely enough, did not seem to take to this +suggestion. Indeed, he walked away, much put out with Harry for having +made it. + +"It gave me an idea, however. + +"'By Jove!' I said, 'there is the sick ox. He must die sooner or +later, so we may as well utilize him.' + +"Now, about thirty yards to the left of our skerm, as one stood facing +down the hill towards the river, was the stump of a tree that had been +destroyed by lightning many years before, standing equidistant +between, but a little in front of, two clumps of bush, which were +severally some fifteen paces from it. + +"Here was the very place to tie the ox; and accordingly a little +before sunset the sick animal was led forth by Pharaoh and made fast +there, little knowing, poor brute, for what purpose; and we began our +long vigil, this time without a fire, for our object was to attract +the lioness and not to scare her. + +"For hour after hour we waited, keeping ourselves awake by pinching +each other--it is, by the way, remarkable what a difference of opinion +as to the force of pinches requisite to the occasion exists in the +mind of pincher and pinched--but no lioness came. At last the moon +went down, and darkness swallowed up the world, as the Kaffirs say, +but no lions came to swallow us up. We waited till dawn, because we +did not dare to go to sleep, and then at last with many bad thoughts +in our hearts we took such rest as we could get, and that was not +much. + +"That morning we went out shooting, not because we wanted to, for we +were too depressed and tired, but because we had no more meat. For +three hours or more we wandered about in a broiling sun looking for +something to kill, but with absolutely no results. For some unknown +reason the game had grown very scarce about the spot, though when I +was there two years before every sort of large game except rhinoceros +and elephant was particularly abundant. The lions, of whom there were +many, alone remained, and I fancy that it was the fact of the game +they live on having temporarily migrated which made them so daring and +ferocious. As a general rule a lion is an amiable animal enough if he +is left alone, but a hungry lion is almost as dangerous as a hungry +man. One hears a great many different opinions expressed as to whether +or no the lion is remarkable for his courage, but the result of my +experience is that very much depends upon the state of his stomach. A +hungry lion will not stick at a trifle, whereas a full one will flee +at a very small rebuke. + +"Well, we hunted all about, and nothing could we see, not even a +duiker or a bush buck; and at last, thoroughly tired and out of +temper, we started on our way back to camp, passing over the brow of a +steepish hill to do so. Just as we climbed the crest of the ridge I +came to a stand, for there, about six hundred yards to my left, his +beautiful curved horns outlined against the soft blue of the sky, I +saw a noble koodoo bull (/Strepsiceros kudu/). Even at that distance, +for as you know my eyes are very keen, I could distinctly see the +white stripes on its side when the light fell upon it, and its large +and pointed ears twitch as the flies worried it. + +"So far so good; but how were we to get at it? It was ridiculous to +risk a shot at that great distance, and yet both the ground and the +wind lay very ill for stalking. It seemed to me that the only chance +would be to make a detour of at least a mile or more, and come up on +the other side of the koodoo. I called Harry to my side, and explained +to him what I thought would be our best course, when suddenly, without +any delay, the koodoo saved us further trouble by suddenly starting +off down the hill like a leaping rocket. I do not know what had +frightened it, certainly we had not. Perhaps a hyna or a leopard--a +tiger as we call it there--had suddenly appeared; at any rate, off it +went, running slightly towards us, and I never saw a buck go faster. I +am afraid that forgetting Harry's presence I used strong language, and +really there was some excuse. As for Harry, he stood watching the +beautiful animal's course. Presently it vanished behind a patch of +bush, to emerge a few seconds later about five hundred paces from us, +on a stretch of comparatively level ground that was strewn with +boulders. On it went, clearing the boulders in its path with a +succession of great bounds that were beautiful to behold. As it did +so, I happened to look round at Harry, and perceived to my +astonishment that he had got his rifle to his shoulder. + +"'You young donkey!' I exclaimed, 'surely you are not going to'--and +just at that moment the rifle went off. + +"And then I think I saw what was in its way one of the most wonderful +things I ever remember in my hunting experience. The koodoo was at the +moment in the air, clearing a pile of stones with its fore-legs tucked +up underneath it. All of an instant the legs stretched themselves out +in a spasmodic fashion, it lit on them, and they doubled up beneath +it. Down went the noble buck, down upon his head. For a moment he +seemed to be standing on his horns, his hind-legs high in the air, and +then over he rolled and lay still. + +"'Great Heavens!' I said, 'why, you've hit him! He's dead.' + +"As for Harry, he said nothing, but merely looked scared, as well he +might, for such a marvellous, I may say such an appalling and ghastly +fluke it has never been my lot to witness. A man, let alone a boy, +might have fired a thousand such shots without ever touching the +object; which, mind you, was springing and bounding over rocks quite +five hundred yards away; and here this lad--taking a snap shot, and +merely allowing for speed and elevation by instinct, for he did not +put up his sights--had knocked the bull over as dead as a door-nail. +Well, I made no further remark, as the occasion was too solemn for +talking, but merely led the way to where the koodoo had fallen. There +he lay, beautiful and quite still; and there, high up, about half-way +down his neck, was a neat round hole. The bullet had severed the +spinal marrow, passing through the vertebr and away on the other +side. + +"It was already evening when, having cut as much of the best meat as +we could carry from the bull, and tied a red handkerchief and some +tufts of grass to his spiral horns, which, by the way, must have been +nearly five feet in length, in the hope of keeping the jackals and +aasvgels (vultures) from him, we finally got back to camp, to find +Pharaoh, who was getting rather anxious at our absence, ready to greet +us with the pleasing intelligence that another ox was sick. But even +this dreadful bit of intelligence could not dash Harry's spirits; the +fact of the matter being, incredible as it may appear, I do verily +believe that in his heart of hearts he set down the death of the +koodoo to the credit of his own skill. Now, though the lad was a +pretty shot enough, this of course was ridiculous, and I told him so +plainly. + +"By the time that we had finished our supper of koodoo steaks (which +would have been better if the koodoo had been a little younger), it +was time to get ready for Jim-Jim's murderess. Accordingly we +determined again to expose the unfortunate sick ox, that was now +absolutely on its last legs, being indeed scarcely able to stand. All +the afternoon Pharaoh told us it had been walking round and round in a +circle as cattle in the last stage of redwater generally do. Now it +had come to a standstill, and was swaying to and fro with its head +hanging down. So we tied him up to the stump of the tree as on the +previous night, knowing that if the lioness did not kill him he would +be dead by morning. Indeed I was afraid that he would die at once, in +which case he would be of but little use as a bait, for the lion is a +sportsmanlike animal, and unless he is very hungry generally prefers +to kill his own dinner, though when that is once killed he will come +back to it again and again. + +"Then we again went through our experience of the previous night, +sitting there hour after hour, till at last Harry fell fast asleep, +and, though I am accustomed to this sort of thing, even I could +scarcely keep my eyes open. Indeed I was just dropping off, when +suddenly Pharaoh gave me a push. + +"'/Listen!/' he whispered. + +"I was awake in a second, and listening with all my ears. From the +clump of bush to the right of the lightning-shattered stump to which +the sick ox was tied came a faint crackling noise. Presently it was +repeated. Something was moving there, faintly and quietly enough, but +still moving perceptibly, for in the intense stillness of the night +any sound seemed loud. + +"I woke up Harry, who instantly said, 'Where is she? where is she?' +and began to point his rifle about in a fashion that was more +dangerous to us and the oxen than to any possible lioness. + +"'Be quiet!' I whispered, savagely; and as I did so, with a low and +hideous growl a flash of yellow light sped out of the clump of bush, +past the ox, and into the corresponding clump upon the other side. The +poor sick creature gave a sort of groan, staggered round and then +began to tremble. I could see it do so clearly in the moonlight, which +was now very bright, and I felt a brute for having exposed the +unfortunate animal to such agony as he must undoubtedly be undergoing. +The lioness, for it was she, passed so quickly that we could not even +distinguish her movements, much less fire. Indeed at night it is +absolutely useless to attempt to shoot unless the object is very close +and standing perfectly still, and then the light is so deceptive and +it is so difficult to see the foresight that the best shot will miss +more often than he hits. + +"'She will be back again presently,' I said; 'look out, but for +Heaven's sake don't fire unless I tell you to.' + +"Hardly were the words out of my mouth when back she came, and again +passed the ox without striking him. + +"'What on earth is she doing?' whispered Harry. + +"'Playing with it as a cat does with a mouse, I suppose. She will kill +it presently.' + +"As I spoke, the lioness once more flashed out of the bush, and this +time sprang right over the doomed and trembling ox. It was a beautiful +sight to see her clear him in the bright moonlight, as though it were +a trick which she had been taught. + +"'I believe that she has escaped from a circus,' whispered Harry; +'it's jolly to see her jump.' + +"I said nothing, but I thought to myself that if it was, Master Harry +did not quite appreciate the performance, and small blame to him. At +any rate, his teeth were chattering a little. + +"Then came a longish pause, and I began to think that the lioness must +have gone away, when suddenly she appeared again, and with one mighty +bound landed right on to the ox, and struck it a frightful blow with +her paw. + +"Down it went, and lay on the ground kicking feebly. She put down her +wicked-looking head, and, with a fierce growl of contentment, buried +her long white teeth in the throat of the dying animal. When she +lifted her muzzle again it was all stained with blood. She stood +facing us obliquely, licking her bloody chops and making a sort of +purring noise. + +"'Now's our time,' I whispered, 'fire when I do.' + +"I got on to her as well as I could, but Harry, instead of waiting for +me as I told him, fired before I did, and that of course hurried me. +But when the smoke cleared, I was delighted to see that the lioness +was rolling about on the ground behind the body of the ox, which +covered her in such a fashion, however, that we could not shoot again +to make an end of her. + +"'She's done for! she's dead, the yellow devil!' yelled Pharaoh in +exultation; and at that very moment the lioness, with a sort of +convulsive rush, half-rolled, half-sprang, into the patch of thick +bush to the right. I fired after her as she went, but so far as I +could see without result; indeed the probability is that I missed her +clean. At any rate she got to the bush in safety, and once there, +began to make such a diabolical noise as I never heard before. She +would whine and shriek with pain, and then burst out into perfect +volleys of roaring that shook the whole place. + +"'Well,' I said, 'we must just let her roar; to go into that bush +after her at night would be madness.' + +"At that moment, to my astonishment and alarm, there came an answering +roar from the direction of the river, and then another from behind the +swell of bush. Evidently there were more lions about. The wounded +lioness redoubled her efforts, with the object, I suppose, of +summoning the others to her assistance. At any rate they came, and +quickly too, for within five minutes, peeping through the bushes of +our skerm fence, we saw a magnificent lion bounding along towards us, +through the tall tambouki grass, that in the moonlight looked for all +the world like ripening corn. On he came in great leaps, and a +glorious sight it was to see him. When within fifty yards or so, he +stood still in an open space and roared. The lioness roared too; then +there came a third roar, and another great black-maned lion stalked +majestically up, and joined number two, till really I began to realize +what the ox must have undergone. + +"'Now, Harry,' I whispered, 'whatever you do don't fire, it's too +risky. If they let us be, let them be.' + +"Well, the pair marched off to the bush, where the wounded lioness was +now roaring double tides, and the three of them began to snarl and +grumble away together there. Presently, however, the lioness ceased +roaring, and the two lions came out again, the black-maned one first-- +to prospect, I suppose--walked to where the carcass of the ox lay, and +sniffed at it. + +"'Oh, what a shot!' whispered Harry, who was trembling with +excitement. + +"'Yes,' I said; 'but don't fire; they might all of them come for us.' + +"Harry said nothing, but whether it was from the natural impetuosity +of youth, or because he was thrown off his balance by excitement, or +from sheer recklessness and devilment, I am sure I cannot tell you, +never having been able to get a satisfactory explanation from him; but +at any rate the fact remains, he, without word or warning, entirely +disregarding my exhortations, lifted up his Westley Richards and fired +at the black-maned lion, and, what is more, hit it slightly on the +flank. + +"Next second there was a most awful roar from the injured lion. He +glared around him and roared with pain, for he was badly stung; and +then, before I could make up my mind what to do, the great black-maned +brute, clearly ignorant of the cause of his hurt, sprang right at the +throat of his companion, to whom he evidently attributed his +misfortune. It was a curious sight to see the astonishment of the +other lion at this most unprovoked assault. Over he rolled with an +angry snarl, and on to him sprang the black-maned demon, and began to +worry him. This finally awoke the yellow-maned lion to a sense of the +situation, and I am bound to say that he rose to it in a most +effective manner. Somehow or other he got to his feet, and, roaring +and snarling frightfully, closed with his mighty foe. + +"Then ensued a most tremendous scene. You know what a shocking thing +it is to see two large dogs fighting with abandonment. Well, a whole +hundred of dogs could not have looked half so terrible as those two +great brutes as they rolled and roared and rent in their horrid rage. +They gripped each other, they tore at each other's throat, till their +manes came out in handfuls, and the red blood streamed down their +yellow hides. It was an awful and a wonderful thing to see the great +cats tearing at each other with all the fierce energy of their savage +strength, and making the night hideous with their heart-shaking noise. +And the fight was a grand one too. For some minutes it was impossible +to say which was getting the best of it, but at last I saw that the +black-maned lion, though he was slightly bigger, was failing. I am +inclined to think that the wound in his flank crippled him. Anyway, he +began to get the worst of it, which served him right, as he was the +aggressor. Still I could not help feeling sorry for him, for he had +fought a gallant fight, when his antagonist finally got him by the +throat, and, struggle and strike out as he would, began to shake the +life out of him. Over and over they rolled together, a hideous and +awe-inspiring spectacle, but the yellow one would not loose his hold, +and at length poor black-mane grew faint, his breath came in great +snorts and seemed to rattle in his nostrils, then he opened his huge +mouth, gave the ghost of a roar, quivered, and was dead. + +"When he was quite sure that the victory was his own, the yellow-maned +lion loosed his grip and sniffed at the fallen foe. Then he licked the +dead lion's eye, and next, with his fore-feet resting on the carcass, +sent up his own chant of victory, that went rolling and pealing down +the dark paths of the night. And at this point I interfered. Taking a +careful sight at the centre of his body, in order to give the largest +possible margin for error, I fired, and sent a .570 express bullet +right through him, and down he dropped dead upon the carcass of his +mighty foe. + +"After that, fairly satisfied with our performances, we slept +peaceably till dawn, leaving Pharaoh to keep watch in case any more +lions should take it into their heads to come our way. + +"When the sun was well up we arose, and went very cautiously--at least +Pharaoh and I did, for I would not allow Harry to come--to see if we +could find any trace of the wounded lioness. She had ceased roaring +immediately upon the arrival of the two lions, and had not made a +sound since, from which we concluded that she was probably dead. I was +armed with my express, while Pharaoh, in whose hands a rifle was +indeed a dangerous weapon, to his companions, had an axe. On our way +we stopped to look at the two dead lions. They were magnificent +animals, both of them, but their pelts were entirely spoiled by the +terrible mauling they had given to each other, which was a sad pity. + +"In another minute we were following the blood spoor of the wounded +lioness into the bush, where she had taken refuge. This, I need hardly +say, we did with the utmost caution; indeed, I for one did not at all +like the job, and was only consoled by the reflection that it was +necessary, and that the bush was not thick. Well, we stood there, +keeping as far from the trees as possible, searching and looking +about, but no lioness could we see, though we saw plenty of blood. + +"'She must have gone somewhere to die, Pharaoh,' I said in Zulu. + +"'Yes, Inkoos,' he answered, 'she has certainly gone away.' + +"Hardly were the words out of his mouth, when I heard a roar, and +starting round saw the lioness emerge from the very centre of a bush, +in which she had been curled up, just behind Pharaoh. Up she went on +to her hind-legs, and as she did so I noticed that one of her fore- +paws was broken near the shoulder, for it hung limply down. Up she +went, towering right over Pharaoh's head, as she did so lifting her +uninjured paw to strike him to the earth. And then, before I could get +my rifle round or do anything to avert the oncoming catastrophe, the +Zulu did a very brave and clever thing. Realizing his own imminent +danger, he bounded to one side, and swinging the heavy axe round his +head, brought it down right on to the back of the lioness, severing +the vertebr and killing her instantaneously. It was wonderful to see +her collapse all in a heap like an empty sack. + +"'My word, Pharaoh!' I said, 'that was well done, and none too soon.' + +"'Yes,' he answered, with a little laugh, 'it was a good stroke, +Inkoos. Jim-Jim will sleep better now.' + +"Then, calling Harry to us, we examined the lioness. She was old, if +one might judge from her worn teeth, and not very large, but thickly +made, and must have possessed extraordinary vitality to have lived so +long, shot as she was; for, in addition to her broken shoulder, my +express bullet had blown a great hole in her middle that one might +have put a fist into. + +"Well, that is the story of the death of poor Jim-Jim and how we +avenged it. It is rather interesting in its way, because of the fight +between the two lions, of which I never saw the like in all my +experience, and I know something of lions and their manners." + + + +"And how did you get back to Pilgrim's Rest?" I asked Hunter +Quatermain when he had finished his yarn. + +"Ah, we had a nice job with that," he answered. "The second sick ox +died, and so did another, and we had to get on as best we could with +three harnessed unicorn fashion, while we pushed behind. We did about +four miles a day, and it took us nearly a month, during the last week +of which we pretty well starved." + +"I notice," I said, "that most of your trips ended in disaster of some +sort or another, and yet you went on making them, which strikes one as +a little strange." + +"Yes, I dare say: but then, remember I got my living for many years +out of hunting. Besides, half the charm of the thing lay in the +dangers and disasters, though they were terrible enough at the time. +Another thing is, my trips were not all disastrous. Some time, if you +like, I will tell you a story of one which was very much the reverse, +for I made several thousand pounds out of it, and saw one of the most +extraordinary sights a hunter ever came across. It was on this trip +that I met the bravest native woman I ever knew; her name was Maiwa. +But it is too late now, and besides, I am tired of talking about +myself. Pass the water, will you!" + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext A Tale of Three Lions, by H. R. Haggard + diff --git a/old/3lion10.zip b/old/3lion10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0c7fc8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/3lion10.zip |