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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/2730-0.txt b/2730-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b63b531 --- /dev/null +++ b/2730-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,949 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Long Odds, 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: Long Odds + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Release Date: March 31, 2006 [EBook #2730] +Last Updated: September 22, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LONG ODDS *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; Emma Dudding + + + + + +LONG ODDS + +by H. Rider Haggard + + +This is the second PG version of Long Odds, also see Etext #1918. + + + +The story which is narrated in the following pages came to me from the +lips of my old friend Allan Quatermain, or Hunter Quatermain, as we used +to call him in South Africa. He told it to me one evening when I was +stopping with him at the place he bought in Yorkshire. Shortly after +that, the death of his only son so unsettled him that he immediately +left England, accompanied by two companions, his old fellow-voyagers, +Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good, and has now utterly vanished into the +dark heart of Africa. He is persuaded that a white people, of which he +has heard rumours all his life, exists somewhere on the highlands in the +vast, still unexplored interior, and his great ambition is to find them +before he dies. This is the wild quest upon which he and his companions +have departed, and from which I shrewdly suspect they never will return. +One letter only have I received from the old gentleman, dated from a +mission station high up the Tana, a river on the east coast, about three +hundred miles north of Zanzibar. In it he says they have gone through +many hardships and adventures, but are alive and well, and have found +traces which go far towards making him hope that the results of their +wild quest may be a “magnificent and unexampled discovery.” I greatly +fear, however, that all he has discovered is death; for this letter came +a long while ago, and nobody has heard a single word of the party since. +They have totally vanished. + +It was on the last evening of my stay at his house that he told the +ensuing story to me and Captain Good, who was dining with him. He had +eaten his dinner and drunk two or three glasses of old port, just to +help Good and myself to the end of the second bottle. It was an unusual +thing for him to do, for he was a most abstemious man, having conceived, +as he used to say, a great horror of drink from observing its effects +upon the class of men--hunters, transport riders, and others--amongst +whom he had passed so many years of his life. Consequently the good wine +took more effect on him that it would have done on most men, sending a +little flush into his wrinkled cheeks, and making him talk more freely +than usual. + +Dear old man! I can see him now, as he went limping up and down the +vestibule, with his grey hair sticking up in scrubbing-brush fashion, +his shrivelled yellow face, and his large dark eyes, that were as keen +as any hawk’s, and yet soft as a buck’s. The whole room was hung with +trophies of his numerous hunting expeditions, and he had some story +about every one of them, if only he could be got to tell them. Generally +he would not, for he was not very fond of narrating his own adventures, +but to-night the port wine made him more communicative. + +“Ah, you brute!” he said, stopping beneath an unusually large skull of +a lion, which was fixed just over the mantelpiece, beneath a long row of +guns, its jaws distended to their utmost width. “Ah, you brute! you have +given me a lot of trouble for the last dozen years, and will, I suppose, +to my dying day.” + +“Tell us the yarn, Quatermain,” said Good. “You have often promised to +tell me, and you never have.” + +“You had better not ask me to,” he answered, “for it is a longish one.” + +“All right,” I said, “the evening is young, and there is some more +port.” + +Thus adjured, he filled his pipe from a jar of coarse-cut Boer tobacco +that was always standing on the mantelpiece, and still walking up and +down the room, began-- + +“It was, I think, in the March of ‘69 that I was up in Sikukuni’s +country. It was just after old Sequati’s time, and Sikukuni had got into +power--I forget how. Anyway, I was there. I had heard that the Bapedi +people had brought down an enormous quantity of ivory from the interior, +and so I started with a waggon-load of goods, and came straight away +from Middelburg to try and trade some of it. It was a risky thing to +go into the country so early, on account of the fever; but I knew that +there were one or two others after that lot of ivory, so I determined +to have a try for it, and take my chance of fever. I had become so tough +from continual knocking about that I did not set it down at much. + +“Well, I got on all right for a while. It is a wonderfully beautiful +piece of bush veldt, with great ranges of mountains running through it, +and round granite koppies starting up here and there, looking out like +sentinels over the rolling waste of bush. But it is very hot--hot as a +stew-pan--and when I was there that March, which, of course, is autumn +in this part of Africa, the whole place reeked of fever. Every morning, +as I trekked along down by the Oliphant River, I used to creep from the +waggon at dawn and look out. But there was no river to be seen--only a +long line of billows of what looked like the finest cotton wool tossed +up lightly with a pitchfork. It was the fever mist. Out from among the +scrub, too, came little spirals of vapour, as though there were hundreds +of tiny fires alight in it--reek rising from thousands of tons of +rotting vegetation. It was a beautiful place, but the beauty was the +beauty of death; and all those lines and blots of vapour wrote one great +word across the surface of the country, and that word was ‘fever.’ + +“It was a dreadful year of illness that. I came, I remember, to one +little kraal of Knobnoses, and went up to it to see if I could get some +_maas_, or curdled butter-milk, and a few mealies. As I drew near I was +struck with the silence of the place. No children began to chatter, and +no dogs barked. Nor could I see any native sheep or cattle. The place, +though it had evidently been recently inhabited, was as still as the +bush round it, and some guinea fowl got up out of the prickly pear +bushes right at the kraal gate. I remember that I hesitated a little +before going in, there was such an air of desolation about the spot. +Nature never looks desolate when man has not yet laid his hand upon her +breast; she is only lonely. But when man has been, and has passed away, +then she looks desolate. + +“Well, I passed into the kraal, and went up to the principal hut. In +front of the hut was something with an old sheep-skin _kaross_ thrown +over it. I stooped down and drew off the rug, and then shrank back +amazed, for under it was the body of a young woman recently dead. For a +moment I thought of turning back, but my curiosity overcame me; so going +past the dead woman I went down on my hands and knees and crept into the +hut. It was so dark that I could not see anything, though I could smell +a great deal, so I lit a match. It was a ‘tandstickor’ match, and burnt +slowly and dimly, and as the light gradually increased I made out what +I took to be a family of people, men, women, and children, fast asleep. +Presently it burnt up brightly, and I saw that they too, five of them +altogether, were quite dead. One was a baby. I dropped the match in a +hurry, and was making my way from the hut as quick as I could go, when I +caught sight of two bright eyes staring out of a corner. Thinking it was +a wild cat, or some such animal, I redoubled my haste, when suddenly +a voice near the eyes began first to mutter, and then to send up a +succession of awful yells. + +“Hastily I lit another match, and perceived that the eyes belonged to +an old woman, wrapped up in a greasy leather garment. Taking her by +the arm, I dragged her out, for she could not, or would not, come by +herself, and the stench was overpowering me. Such a sight as she was--a +bag of bones, covered over with black, shrivelled parchment. The only +white thing about her was her wool, and she seemed to be pretty well +dead except for her eyes and her voice. She thought that I was a devil +come to take her, and that is why she yelled so. Well, I got her down to +the waggon, and gave her a ‘tot’ of Cape smoke, and then, as soon as it +was ready, poured about a pint of beef-tea down her throat, made from +the flesh of a blue vilderbeeste I had killed the day before, and after +that she brightened up wonderfully. She could talk Zulu--indeed, it +turned out that she had run away from Zululand in T’Chaka’s time--and +she told me that all the people whom I had seen had died of fever. When +they had died the other inhabitants of the kraal had taken the cattle +and gone away, leaving the poor old woman, who was helpless from age and +infirmity, to perish of starvation or disease, as the case might be. She +had been sitting there for three days among the bodies when I found her. +I took her on to the next kraal, and gave the headman a blanket to look +after her, promising him another if I found her well when I came back. I +remember that he was much astonished at my parting with two blankets for +the sake of such a worthless old creature. ‘Why did I not leave her in +the bush?’ he asked. Those people carry the doctrine of the survival of +the fittest to its extreme, you see. + +“It was the night after I had got rid of the old woman that I made my +first acquaintance with my friend yonder,” and he nodded towards the +skull that seemed to be grinning down at us in the shadow of the wide +mantel-shelf. “I had trekked from dawn till eleven o’clock--a long +trek--but I wanted to get on, and had turned the oxen out to graze, +sending the voorlooper to look after them, my intention being to inspan +again about six o’clock, and trek with the moon till ten. Then I got +into the waggon, and had a good sleep till half-past two or so in the +afternoon, when I rose and cooked some meat, and had my dinner, washing +it down with a pannikin of black coffee--for it was difficult to get +preserved milk in those days. Just as I had finished, and the driver, a +man called Tom, was washing up the things, in comes the young scoundrel +of a voorlooper driving one ox before him. + +“‘Where are the other oxen?’ I asked. + +“‘Koos!’ he said, ‘Koos! the other oxen have gone away. I turned my back +for a minute, and when I looked round again they were all gone except +Kaptein, here, who was rubbing his back against a tree.’ + +“‘You mean that you have been asleep, and let them stray, you villain. I +will rub your back against a stick,’ I answered, feeling very angry, for +it was not a pleasant prospect to be stuck up in that fever trap for a +week or so while we were hunting for the oxen. ‘Off you go, and you too, +Tom, and mind you don’t come back till you have found them. They have +trekked back along the Middelburg Road, and are a dozen miles off by +now, I’ll be bound. Now, no words; go both of you.’ + +“Tom, the driver, swore, and caught the lad a hearty kick, which he +richly deserved, and then, having tied old Kaptein up to the disselboom +with a reim, they took their assegais and sticks, and started. I would +have gone too, only I knew that somebody must look after the waggon, and +I did not like to leave either of the boys with it at night. I was in a +very bad temper, indeed, although I was pretty well used to these sort +of occurrences, and soothed myself by taking a rifle and going to kill +something. For a couple of hours I poked about without seeing anything +that I could get a shot at, but at last, just as I was again within +seventy yards of the waggon, I put up an old Impala ram from behind a +mimosa thorn. He ran straight for the waggon, and it was not till he was +passing within a few feet of it that I could get a decent shot at him. +Then I pulled, and caught him half-way down the spine; over he went, +dead as a door-nail, and a pretty shot it was, though I ought not to say +it. This little incident put me into rather a better humour, especially +as the buck had rolled over right against the after-part of the waggon, +so I had only to gut him, fix a reim round his legs, and haul him up. By +the time I had done this the sun was down, and the full moon was up, and +a beautiful moon it was. And then there came down that wonderful hush +which sometimes falls over the African bush in the early hours of the +night. No beast was moving, and no bird called. Not a breath of air +stirred the quiet trees, and the shadows did not even quiver, they only +grew. It was very oppressive and very lonely, for there was not a sign +of the cattle or the boys. I was quite thankful for the society of old +Kaptein, who was lying down contentedly against the disselboom, chewing +the cud with a good conscience. + +“Presently, however, Kaptein began to get restless. First he snorted, +then he got up and snorted again. I could not make it out, so like a +fool I got down off the waggon-box to have a look round, thinking it +might be the lost oxen coming. + +“Next instant I regretted it, for all of a sudden I heard a roar and saw +something yellow flash past me and light on poor Kaptein. Then came +a bellow of agony from the ox, and a crunch as the lion put his teeth +through the poor brute’s neck, and I began to realize what had happened. +My rifle was in the waggon, and my first thought being to get hold of +it, I turned and made a bolt for it. I got my foot on the wheel and +flung my body forward on to the waggon, and there I stopped as if I were +frozen, and no wonder, for as I was about to spring up I heard the lion +behind me, and next second I felt the brute, ay, as plainly as I can +feel this table. I felt him, I say, sniffing at my left leg that was +hanging down. + +“My word! I did feel queer; I don’t think that I ever felt so queer +before. I dared not move for the life of me, and the odd thing was +that I seemed to lose power over my leg, which had an insane sort of +inclination to kick out of its own mere motion--just as hysterical +people want to laugh when they ought to be particularly solemn. Well, +the lion sniffed and sniffed, beginning at my ankle and slowly nosing +away up to my thigh. I thought that he was going to get hold then, but +he did not. He only growled softly, and went back to the ox. Shifting my +head a little I got a full view of him. He was about the biggest lion +I ever saw, and I have seen a great many, and he had a most tremendous +black mane. What his teeth were like you can see--look there, pretty big +ones, ain’t they? Altogether he was a magnificent animal, and as I lay +there sprawling on the fore-tongue of the waggon, it occurred to me that +he would look uncommonly well in a cage. He stood there by the carcass +of poor Kaptein, and deliberately disembowelled him as neatly as a +butcher could have done. All this while I dared not move, for he kept +lifting his head and keeping an eye on me as he licked his bloody chops. +When he had cleared Kaptein out he opened his mouth and roared, and I am +not exaggerating when I say that the sound shook the waggon. Instantly +there came back an answering roar. + +“‘Heavens!’ I thought, ‘there is his mate.’ + +“Hardly was the thought out of my head when I caught sight in the +moonlight of the lioness bounding along through the long grass, and +after her a couple of cubs about the size of mastiffs. She stopped +within a few feet of my head, and stood, waved her tail, and fixed me +with her glowing yellow eyes; but just as I thought that it was all over +she turned and began to feed on Kaptein, and so did the cubs. There were +four of them within eight feet of me, growling and quarrelling, rending +and tearing, and crunching poor Kaptein’s bones; and there I lay shaking +with terror, and the cold perspiration pouring out of me, feeling like +another Daniel come to judgment in a new sense of the phrase. Presently +the cubs had eaten their fill, and began to get restless. One went round +to the back of the waggon and pulled at the Impala buck that hung there, +and the other came round my way and commenced the sniffing game at my +leg. Indeed, he did more than that, for my trouser being hitched up a +little, he began to lick the bare skin with his rough tongue. The more +he licked the more he liked it, to judge from his increased vigour and +the loud purring noise he made. Then I knew that the end had come, for +in another second his file-like tongue would have rasped through the +skin of my leg--which was luckily pretty tough--and have tasted the +blood, and then there would be no chance for me. So I just lay there and +thought of my sins, and prayed to the Almighty, and reflected that after +all life was a very enjoyable thing. + +“Then all of a sudden I heard a crashing of bushes and the shouting +and whistling of men, and there were the two boys coming back with the +cattle, which they had found trekking along all together. The lions +lifted their heads and listened, then bounded off without a sound--and I +fainted. + +“The lions came back no more that night, and by the next morning my +nerves had got pretty straight again; but I was full of wrath when I +thought of all that I had gone through at the hands, or rather noses, +of those four brutes, and of the fate of my after-ox Kaptein. He was a +splendid ox, and I was very fond of him. So wroth was I that like a +fool I determined to attack the whole family of them. It was worthy of +a greenhorn out on his first hunting trip; but I did it nevertheless. +Accordingly after breakfast, having rubbed some oil upon my leg, which +was very sore from the cub’s tongue, I took the driver, Tom, who did not +half like the business, and having armed myself with an ordinary double +No. 12 smoothbore, the first breechloader I ever had, I started. I took +the smoothbore because it shot a bullet very well; and my experience has +been that a round ball from a smoothbore is quite as effective against a +lion as an express bullet. The lion is soft, and not a difficult animal +to finish if you hit him anywhere in the body. A buck takes far more +killing. + +“Well, I started, and the first thing I set to work to do was to try to +discover whereabouts the brutes lay up for the day. About three hundred +yards from the waggon was the crest of a rise covered with single +mimosa trees, dotted about in a park-like fashion, and beyond this was +a stretch of open plain running down to a dry pan, or waterhole, which +covered about an acre of ground, and was densely clothed with reeds, +now in the sere and yellow leaf. From the further edge of this pan the +ground sloped up again to a great cleft, or nullah, which had been cut +out by the action of the water, and was pretty thickly sprinkled with +bush, amongst which grew some large trees, I forget of what sort. + +“It at once struck me that the dry pan would be a likely place to find +my friends in, as there is nothing a lion is fonder of than lying up +in reeds, through which he can see things without being seen himself. +Accordingly thither I went and prospected. Before I had got half-way +round the pan I found the remains of a blue vilderbeeste that had +evidently been killed within the last three or four days and partially +devoured by lions; and from other indications about I was soon assured +that if the family were not in the pan that day they spent a good deal +of their spare time there. But if there, the question was how to get +them out; for it was clearly impossible to think of going in after +them unless one was quite determined to commit suicide. Now there was a +strong wind blowing from the direction of the waggon, across the reedy +pan towards the bush-clad kloof or donga, and this first gave me the +idea of firing the reeds, which, as I think I told you, were pretty dry. +Accordingly Tom took some matches and began starting little fires to the +left, and I did the same to the right. But the reeds were still green +at the bottom, and we should never have got them well alight had it not +been for the wind, which grew stronger and stronger as the sun climbed +higher, and forced the fire into them. At last, after half-an-hour’s +trouble, the flames got a hold, and began to spread out like a fan, +whereupon I went round to the further side of the pan to wait for the +lions, standing well out in the open, as we stood at the copse to-day +where you shot the woodcock. It was a rather risky thing to do, but I +used to be so sure of my shooting in those days that I did not so +much as mind the risk. Scarcely had I got round when I heard the reeds +parting before the onward rush of some animal. ‘Now for it,’ said I. On +it came. I could see that it was yellow, and prepared for action, when +instead of a lion out bounded a beautiful reit bok which had been lying +in the shelter of the pan. It must, by the way, have been a reit bok of +a peculiarly confiding nature to lay itself down with the lion, like the +lamb of prophecy, but I suppose the reeds were thick, and that it kept a +long way off. + +“Well, I let the reit bok go, and it went like the wind, and kept my +eyes fixed upon the reeds. The fire was burning like a furnace now; the +flames crackling and roaring as they bit into the reeds, sending spouts +of fire twenty feet and more into the air, and making the hot air dance +above it in a way that was perfectly dazzling. But the reeds were +still half green, and created an enormous quantity of smoke, which came +rolling towards me like a curtain, lying very low on account of the +wind. Presently, above the crackling of the fire, I heard a startled +roar, then another and another. So the lions were at home. + +“I was beginning to get excited now, for, as you fellows know, there +is nothing in experience to warm up your nerves like a lion at close +quarters, unless it is a wounded buffalo; and I became still more so +when I made out through the smoke that the lions were all moving about +on the extreme edge of the reeds. Occasionally they would pop their +heads out like rabbits from a burrow, and then, catching sight of me +standing about fifty yards away, draw them back again. I knew that it +must be getting pretty warm behind them, and that they could not keep +the game up for long; and I was not mistaken, for suddenly all four of +them broke cover together, the old black-maned lion leading by a few +yards. I never saw a more splendid sight in all my hunting experience +than those four lions bounding across the veldt, overshadowed by the +dense pall of smoke and backed by the fiery furnace of the burning +reeds. + +“I reckoned that they would pass, on their way to the bushy kloof, +within about five and twenty yards of me, so, taking a long breath, I +got my gun well on to the lion’s shoulder--the black-maned one--so as to +allow for an inch or two of motion, and catch him through the heart. +I was on, dead on, and my finger was just beginning to tighten on the +trigger, when suddenly I went blind--a bit of reed-ash had drifted into +my right eye. I danced and rubbed, and succeeded in clearing it more or +less just in time to see the tail of the last lion vanishing round the +bushes up the kloof. + +“If ever a man was mad I was that man. It was too bad; and such a shot +in the open! However, I was not going to be beaten, so I just turned and +marched for the kloof. Tom, the driver, begged and implored me not +to go, but though as a personal rule I never pretend to be very brave +(which I am not), I was determined that I would either kill those lions +or they should kill me. So I told Tom that he need not come unless he +liked, but I was going; and being a plucky fellow, a Swazi by birth, +he shrugged his shoulders, muttered that I was mad or bewitched, and +followed doggedly in my tracks. + +“We soon reached the kloof, which was about three hundred yards in +length and but sparsely wooded, and then the real fun began. There might +be a lion behind every bush--there certainly were four lions somewhere; +the delicate question was, where. I peeped and poked and looked in every +possible direction, with my heart in my mouth, and was at last rewarded +by catching a glimpse of something yellow moving behind a bush. At the +same moment, from another bush opposite me out burst one of the cubs +and galloped back towards the burnt pan. I whipped round and let drive a +snap shot that tipped him head over heels, breaking his back within two +inches of the root of the tail, and there he lay helpless but glaring. +Tom afterwards killed him with his assegai. I opened the breech of the +gun and hurriedly pulled out the old case, which, to judge from what +ensued, must, I suppose, have burst and left a portion of its fabric +sticking to the barrel. At any rate, when I tried to get in the new +cartridge it would only enter half-way; and--would you believe it?--this +was the moment that the lioness, attracted no doubt by the outcry of her +cub, chose to put in an appearance. There she stood, twenty paces or so +from me, lashing her tail and looking just as wicked as it is possible +to conceive. Slowly I stepped backwards, trying to push in the new case, +and as I did so she moved on in little runs, dropping down after each +run. The danger was imminent, and the case would not go in. At the +moment I oddly enough thought of the cartridge maker, whose name I will +not mention, and earnestly hoped that if the lion got _me_ some condign +punishment would overtake _him_. It would not go in, so I tried to pull +it out. It would not come out either, and my gun was useless if I could +not shut it to use the other barrel. I might as well have had no gun. + +“Meanwhile I was walking backward, keeping my eye on the lioness, who +was creeping forward on her belly without a sound, but lashing her tail +and keeping her eye on me; and in it I saw that she was coming in a +few seconds more. I dashed my wrist and the palm of my hand against the +brass rim of the cartridge till the blood poured from them--look, there +are the scars of it to this day!” + +Here Quatermain held up his right hand to the light and showed us four +or five white cicatrices just where the wrist is set into the hand. + +“But it was not of the slightest use,” he went on; “the cartridge would +not move. I only hope that no other man will ever be put in such an +awful position. The lioness gathered herself together, and I gave myself +up for lost, when suddenly Tom shouted out from somewhere in my rear-- + +“‘You are walking on to the wounded cub; turn to the right.’ + +“I had the sense, dazed as I was, to take the hint, and slewing round at +right-angles, but still keeping my eyes on the lioness, I continued my +backward walk. + +“To my intense relief, with a low growl she straightened herself, +turned, and bounded further up the kloof. + +“‘Come on, Inkoos,’ said Tom, ‘let’s get back to the waggon.’ + +“‘All right, Tom,’ I answered. ‘I will when I have killed those three +other lions,’ for by this time I was bent on shooting them as I never +remember being bent on anything before or since. ‘You can go if you +like, or you can get up a tree.’ + +“He considered the position a little, and then he very wisely got up a +tree. I wish that I had done the same. + +“Meanwhile I had found my knife, which had an extractor in it, and +succeeded after some difficulty in pulling out the cartridge which had +so nearly been the cause of my death, and removing the obstruction in +the barrel. It was very little thicker than a postage-stamp; certainly +not thicker than a piece of writing-paper. This done, I loaded the gun, +bound a handkerchief round my wrist and hand to staunch the flowing of +the blood, and started on again. + +“I had noticed that the lioness went into a thick green bush, or rather +a cluster of bushes, growing near the water, about fifty yards higher +up, for there was a little stream running down the kloof, and I walked +towards this bush. When I got there, however, I could see nothing, so I +took up a big stone and threw it into the bushes. I believe that it hit +the other cub, for out it came with a rush, giving me a broadside shot, +of which I promptly availed myself, knocking it over dead. Out, too, +came the lioness like a flash of light, but quick as she went I managed +to put the other bullet into her ribs, so that she rolled right over +three times like a shot rabbit. I instantly got two more cartridges +into the gun, and as I did so the lioness rose again and came crawling +towards me on her fore-paws, roaring and groaning, and with such an +expression of diabolical fury on her countenance as I have not often +seen. I shot her again through the chest, and she fell over on to her +side quite dead. + +“That was the first and last time that I ever killed a brace of lions +right and left, and, what is more, I never heard of anybody else doing +it. Naturally I was considerably pleased with myself, and having again +loaded up, I went on to look for the black-maned beauty who had killed +Kaptein. Slowly, and with the greatest care, I proceeded up the kloof, +searching every bush and tuft of grass as I went. It was wonderfully +exciting work, for I never was sure from one moment to another but that +he would be on me. I took comfort, however, from the reflection that a +lion rarely attacks a man--rarely, I say; sometimes he does, as you will +see--unless he is cornered or wounded. I must have been nearly an hour +hunting after that lion. Once I thought I saw something move in a clump +of tambouki grass, but I could not be sure, and when I trod out the +grass I could not find him. + +“At last I worked up to the head of the kloof, which made a +_cul-de-sac_. It was formed of a wall of rock about fifty feet high. +Down this rock trickled a little waterfall, and in front of it, some +seventy feet from its face, was a great piled-up mass of boulders, in +the crevices and on the top of which grew ferns, grasses, and stunted +bushes. This mass was about twenty-five feet high. The sides of the +kloof here were also very steep. Well, I came to the top of the nullah +and looked all round. No signs of the lion. Evidently I had either +overlooked him further down, or he had escaped right away. It was very +vexatious; but still three lions were not a bad bag for one gun before +dinner, and I was fain to be content. Accordingly I departed back again, +making my way round the isolated pillar of boulders, beginning to feel, +as I did so, that I was pretty well done up with excitement and fatigue, +and should be more so before I had skinned those three lions. When I had +got, as nearly as I could judge, about eighteen yards past the pillar or +mass of boulders, I turned to have another look round. I have a pretty +sharp eye, but I could see nothing at all. + +“Then, on a sudden, I saw something sufficiently alarming. On the top +of the mass of boulders, opposite to me, standing out clear against +the rocks beyond, was the huge black-maned lion. He had been crouching +there, and now arose as though by magic. There he stood lashing his +tail, just like a living reproduction of the animal on the gateway of +Northumberland House that I have seen in a picture. But he did not stand +long. Before I could fire--before I could do more than get the gun to my +shoulder--he sprang straight up and out from the rock, and driven by the +impetus of that one mighty bound came hurtling through the air towards +me. + +“Heavens! how grand he looked, and how awful! High into the air he flew, +describing a great arch. Just as he touched the highest point of his +spring I fired. I did not dare to wait, for I saw that he would clear +the whole space and land right upon me. Without a sight, almost without +aim, I fired, as one would fire a snap shot at a snipe. The bullet told, +for I distinctly heard its thud above the rushing sound caused by the +passage of the lion through the air. Next second I was swept to the +ground (luckily I fell into a low, creeper-clad bush, which broke the +shock) and the lion was on the top of me, and the next those great white +teeth of his had met in my thigh--I heard them grate against the bone. I +yelled out in agony, for I did not feel in the least benumbed and happy, +like Dr. Livingstone--who, by the way, I knew very well--and gave myself +up for dead. But suddenly, as I did so, the lion’s grip on my thigh +loosened, and he stood over me, swaying to and fro, his huge mouth, from +which the blood was gushing, wide open. Then he roared, and the sound +shook the rocks. + +“To and fro he swung, and suddenly the great head dropped on me, +knocking all the breath from my body, and he was dead. My bullet had +entered in the centre of his chest and passed out on the right side of +the spine about half-way down the back. + +“The pain of my wound kept me from fainting, and as soon as I got my +breath I managed to drag myself from under him. Thank heavens, his great +teeth had not crushed my thigh-bone; but I was losing a great deal of +blood, and had it not been for the timely arrival of Tom, with whose +aid I loosed the handkerchief from my wrist and tied it round my leg, +twisting it tight with a stick, I think that I should have bled to +death. + +“Well, it was a just reward for my folly in trying to tackle a family +of lions single-handed. The odds were too long. I have been lame ever +since, and shall be to my dying day; in the month of March the wound +always troubles me a great deal, and every three years it breaks out +raw. + +“I need scarcely add that I never traded the lot of ivory at Sikukuni’s. +Another man got it--a German--and made five hundred pounds out of it +after paying expenses. I spent the month on the broad of my back, and +was a cripple for six months after that. And now I’ve told you the yarn, +so I will have a drop of Hollands and go to bed. Good-night to you all, +good-night!” + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Long Odds, by H. Rider Haggard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LONG ODDS *** + +***** This file should be named 2730-0.txt or 2730-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/3/2730/ + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; Emma Dudding; David Widger + +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. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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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 Long Odds, 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: Long Odds + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Release Date: March 31, 2006 [EBook #2730] +Last Updated: September 22, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LONG ODDS *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; Emma Dudding; David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + LONG ODDS + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + by H. Rider Haggard + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h4> + This is the second PG version of Long Odds, also see Etext #1918. + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + The story which is narrated in the following pages came to me from the + lips of my old friend Allan Quatermain, or Hunter Quatermain, as we used + to call him in South Africa. He told it to me one evening when I was + stopping with him at the place he bought in Yorkshire. Shortly after that, + the death of his only son so unsettled him that he immediately left + England, accompanied by two companions, his old fellow-voyagers, Sir Henry + Curtis and Captain Good, and has now utterly vanished into the dark heart + of Africa. He is persuaded that a white people, of which he has heard + rumours all his life, exists somewhere on the highlands in the vast, still + unexplored interior, and his great ambition is to find them before he + dies. This is the wild quest upon which he and his companions have + departed, and from which I shrewdly suspect they never will return. One + letter only have I received from the old gentleman, dated from a mission + station high up the Tana, a river on the east coast, about three hundred + miles north of Zanzibar. In it he says they have gone through many + hardships and adventures, but are alive and well, and have found traces + which go far towards making him hope that the results of their wild quest + may be a “magnificent and unexampled discovery.” I greatly fear, however, + that all he has discovered is death; for this letter came a long while + ago, and nobody has heard a single word of the party since. They have + totally vanished. + </p> + <p> + It was on the last evening of my stay at his house that he told the + ensuing story to me and Captain Good, who was dining with him. He had + eaten his dinner and drunk two or three glasses of old port, just to help + Good and myself to the end of the second bottle. It was an unusual thing + for him to do, for he was a most abstemious man, having conceived, as he + used to say, a great horror of drink from observing its effects upon the + class of men—hunters, transport riders, and others—amongst + whom he had passed so many years of his life. Consequently the good wine + took more effect on him that it would have done on most men, sending a + little flush into his wrinkled cheeks, and making him talk more freely + than usual. + </p> + <p> + Dear old man! I can see him now, as he went limping up and down the + vestibule, with his grey hair sticking up in scrubbing-brush fashion, his + shrivelled yellow face, and his large dark eyes, that were as keen as any + hawk’s, and yet soft as a buck’s. The whole room was hung with trophies of + his numerous hunting expeditions, and he had some story about every one of + them, if only he could be got to tell them. Generally he would not, for he + was not very fond of narrating his own adventures, but to-night the port + wine made him more communicative. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, you brute!” he said, stopping beneath an unusually large skull of a + lion, which was fixed just over the mantelpiece, beneath a long row of + guns, its jaws distended to their utmost width. “Ah, you brute! you have + given me a lot of trouble for the last dozen years, and will, I suppose, + to my dying day.” + </p> + <p> + “Tell us the yarn, Quatermain,” said Good. “You have often promised to + tell me, and you never have.” + </p> + <p> + “You had better not ask me to,” he answered, “for it is a longish one.” + </p> + <p> + “All right,” I said, “the evening is young, and there is some more port.” + </p> + <p> + Thus adjured, he filled his pipe from a jar of coarse-cut Boer tobacco + that was always standing on the mantelpiece, and still walking up and down + the room, began— + </p> + <p> + “It was, I think, in the March of ‘69 that I was up in Sikukuni’s country. + It was just after old Sequati’s time, and Sikukuni had got into power—I + forget how. Anyway, I was there. I had heard that the Bapedi people had + brought down an enormous quantity of ivory from the interior, and so I + started with a waggon-load of goods, and came straight away from + Middelburg to try and trade some of it. It was a risky thing to go into + the country so early, on account of the fever; but I knew that there were + one or two others after that lot of ivory, so I determined to have a try + for it, and take my chance of fever. I had become so tough from continual + knocking about that I did not set it down at much. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I got on all right for a while. It is a wonderfully beautiful piece + of bush veldt, with great ranges of mountains running through it, and + round granite koppies starting up here and there, looking out like + sentinels over the rolling waste of bush. But it is very hot—hot as + a stew-pan—and when I was there that March, which, of course, is + autumn in this part of Africa, the whole place reeked of fever. Every + morning, as I trekked along down by the Oliphant River, I used to creep + from the waggon at dawn and look out. But there was no river to be seen—only + a long line of billows of what looked like the finest cotton wool tossed + up lightly with a pitchfork. It was the fever mist. Out from among the + scrub, too, came little spirals of vapour, as though there were hundreds + of tiny fires alight in it—reek rising from thousands of tons of + rotting vegetation. It was a beautiful place, but the beauty was the + beauty of death; and all those lines and blots of vapour wrote one great + word across the surface of the country, and that word was ‘fever.’ + </p> + <p> + “It was a dreadful year of illness that. I came, I remember, to one little + kraal of Knobnoses, and went up to it to see if I could get some <i>maas</i>, + or curdled butter-milk, and a few mealies. As I drew near I was struck + with the silence of the place. No children began to chatter, and no dogs + barked. Nor could I see any native sheep or cattle. The place, though it + had evidently been recently inhabited, was as still as the bush round it, + and some guinea fowl got up out of the prickly pear bushes right at the + kraal gate. I remember that I hesitated a little before going in, there + was such an air of desolation about the spot. Nature never looks desolate + when man has not yet laid his hand upon her breast; she is only lonely. + But when man has been, and has passed away, then she looks desolate. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I passed into the kraal, and went up to the principal hut. In front + of the hut was something with an old sheep-skin <i>kaross</i> thrown over + it. I stooped down and drew off the rug, and then shrank back amazed, for + under it was the body of a young woman recently dead. For a moment I + thought of turning back, but my curiosity overcame me; so going past the + dead woman I went down on my hands and knees and crept into the hut. It + was so dark that I could not see anything, though I could smell a great + deal, so I lit a match. It was a ‘tandstickor’ match, and burnt slowly and + dimly, and as the light gradually increased I made out what I took to be a + family of people, men, women, and children, fast asleep. Presently it + burnt up brightly, and I saw that they too, five of them altogether, were + quite dead. One was a baby. I dropped the match in a hurry, and was making + my way from the hut as quick as I could go, when I caught sight of two + bright eyes staring out of a corner. Thinking it was a wild cat, or some + such animal, I redoubled my haste, when suddenly a voice near the eyes + began first to mutter, and then to send up a succession of awful yells. + </p> + <p> + “Hastily I lit another match, and perceived that the eyes belonged to an + old woman, wrapped up in a greasy leather garment. Taking her by the arm, + I dragged her out, for she could not, or would not, come by herself, and + the stench was overpowering me. Such a sight as she was—a bag of + bones, covered over with black, shrivelled parchment. The only white thing + about her was her wool, and she seemed to be pretty well dead except for + her eyes and her voice. She thought that I was a devil come to take her, + and that is why she yelled so. Well, I got her down to the waggon, and + gave her a ‘tot’ of Cape smoke, and then, as soon as it was ready, poured + about a pint of beef-tea down her throat, made from the flesh of a blue + vilderbeeste I had killed the day before, and after that she brightened up + wonderfully. She could talk Zulu—indeed, it turned out that she had + run away from Zululand in T’Chaka’s time—and she told me that all + the people whom I had seen had died of fever. When they had died the other + inhabitants of the kraal had taken the cattle and gone away, leaving the + poor old woman, who was helpless from age and infirmity, to perish of + starvation or disease, as the case might be. She had been sitting there + for three days among the bodies when I found her. I took her on to the + next kraal, and gave the headman a blanket to look after her, promising + him another if I found her well when I came back. I remember that he was + much astonished at my parting with two blankets for the sake of such a + worthless old creature. ‘Why did I not leave her in the bush?’ he asked. + Those people carry the doctrine of the survival of the fittest to its + extreme, you see. + </p> + <p> + “It was the night after I had got rid of the old woman that I made my + first acquaintance with my friend yonder,” and he nodded towards the skull + that seemed to be grinning down at us in the shadow of the wide + mantel-shelf. “I had trekked from dawn till eleven o’clock—a long + trek—but I wanted to get on, and had turned the oxen out to graze, + sending the voorlooper to look after them, my intention being to inspan + again about six o’clock, and trek with the moon till ten. Then I got into + the waggon, and had a good sleep till half-past two or so in the + afternoon, when I rose and cooked some meat, and had my dinner, washing it + down with a pannikin of black coffee—for it was difficult to get + preserved milk in those days. Just as I had finished, and the driver, a + man called Tom, was washing up the things, in comes the young scoundrel of + a voorlooper driving one ox before him. + </p> + <p> + “‘Where are the other oxen?’ I asked. + </p> + <p> + “‘Koos!’ he said, ‘Koos! the other oxen have gone away. I turned my back + for a minute, and when I looked round again they were all gone except + Kaptein, here, who was rubbing his back against a tree.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘You mean that you have been asleep, and let them stray, you villain. I + will rub your back against a stick,’ I answered, feeling very angry, for + it was not a pleasant prospect to be stuck up in that fever trap for a + week or so while we were hunting for the oxen. ‘Off you go, and you too, + Tom, and mind you don’t come back till you have found them. They have + trekked back along the Middelburg Road, and are a dozen miles off by now, + I’ll be bound. Now, no words; go both of you.’ + </p> + <p> + “Tom, the driver, swore, and caught the lad a hearty kick, which he richly + deserved, and then, having tied old Kaptein up to the disselboom with a + reim, they took their assegais and sticks, and started. I would have gone + too, only I knew that somebody must look after the waggon, and I did not + like to leave either of the boys with it at night. I was in a very bad + temper, indeed, although I was pretty well used to these sort of + occurrences, and soothed myself by taking a rifle and going to kill + something. For a couple of hours I poked about without seeing anything + that I could get a shot at, but at last, just as I was again within + seventy yards of the waggon, I put up an old Impala ram from behind a + mimosa thorn. He ran straight for the waggon, and it was not till he was + passing within a few feet of it that I could get a decent shot at him. + Then I pulled, and caught him half-way down the spine; over he went, dead + as a door-nail, and a pretty shot it was, though I ought not to say it. + This little incident put me into rather a better humour, especially as the + buck had rolled over right against the after-part of the waggon, so I had + only to gut him, fix a reim round his legs, and haul him up. By the time I + had done this the sun was down, and the full moon was up, and a beautiful + moon it was. And then there came down that wonderful hush which sometimes + falls over the African bush in the early hours of the night. No beast was + moving, and no bird called. Not a breath of air stirred the quiet trees, + and the shadows did not even quiver, they only grew. It was very + oppressive and very lonely, for there was not a sign of the cattle or the + boys. I was quite thankful for the society of old Kaptein, who was lying + down contentedly against the disselboom, chewing the cud with a good + conscience. + </p> + <p> + “Presently, however, Kaptein began to get restless. First he snorted, then + he got up and snorted again. I could not make it out, so like a fool I got + down off the waggon-box to have a look round, thinking it might be the + lost oxen coming. + </p> + <p> + “Next instant I regretted it, for all of a sudden I heard a roar and saw + something yellow flash past me and light on poor Kaptein. Then came a + bellow of agony from the ox, and a crunch as the lion put his teeth + through the poor brute’s neck, and I began to realize what had happened. + My rifle was in the waggon, and my first thought being to get hold of it, + I turned and made a bolt for it. I got my foot on the wheel and flung my + body forward on to the waggon, and there I stopped as if I were frozen, + and no wonder, for as I was about to spring up I heard the lion behind me, + and next second I felt the brute, ay, as plainly as I can feel this table. + I felt him, I say, sniffing at my left leg that was hanging down. + </p> + <p> + “My word! I did feel queer; I don’t think that I ever felt so queer + before. I dared not move for the life of me, and the odd thing was that I + seemed to lose power over my leg, which had an insane sort of inclination + to kick out of its own mere motion—just as hysterical people want to + laugh when they ought to be particularly solemn. Well, the lion sniffed + and sniffed, beginning at my ankle and slowly nosing away up to my thigh. + I thought that he was going to get hold then, but he did not. He only + growled softly, and went back to the ox. Shifting my head a little I got a + full view of him. He was about the biggest lion I ever saw, and I have + seen a great many, and he had a most tremendous black mane. What his teeth + were like you can see—look there, pretty big ones, ain’t they? + Altogether he was a magnificent animal, and as I lay there sprawling on + the fore-tongue of the waggon, it occurred to me that he would look + uncommonly well in a cage. He stood there by the carcass of poor Kaptein, + and deliberately disembowelled him as neatly as a butcher could have done. + All this while I dared not move, for he kept lifting his head and keeping + an eye on me as he licked his bloody chops. When he had cleared Kaptein + out he opened his mouth and roared, and I am not exaggerating when I say + that the sound shook the waggon. Instantly there came back an answering + roar. + </p> + <p> + “‘Heavens!’ I thought, ‘there is his mate.’ + </p> + <p> + “Hardly was the thought out of my head when I caught sight in the + moonlight of the lioness bounding along through the long grass, and after + her a couple of cubs about the size of mastiffs. She stopped within a few + feet of my head, and stood, waved her tail, and fixed me with her glowing + yellow eyes; but just as I thought that it was all over she turned and + began to feed on Kaptein, and so did the cubs. There were four of them + within eight feet of me, growling and quarrelling, rending and tearing, + and crunching poor Kaptein’s bones; and there I lay shaking with terror, + and the cold perspiration pouring out of me, feeling like another Daniel + come to judgment in a new sense of the phrase. Presently the cubs had + eaten their fill, and began to get restless. One went round to the back of + the waggon and pulled at the Impala buck that hung there, and the other + came round my way and commenced the sniffing game at my leg. Indeed, he + did more than that, for my trouser being hitched up a little, he began to + lick the bare skin with his rough tongue. The more he licked the more he + liked it, to judge from his increased vigour and the loud purring noise he + made. Then I knew that the end had come, for in another second his + file-like tongue would have rasped through the skin of my leg—which + was luckily pretty tough—and have tasted the blood, and then there + would be no chance for me. So I just lay there and thought of my sins, and + prayed to the Almighty, and reflected that after all life was a very + enjoyable thing. + </p> + <p> + “Then all of a sudden I heard a crashing of bushes and the shouting and + whistling of men, and there were the two boys coming back with the cattle, + which they had found trekking along all together. The lions lifted their + heads and listened, then bounded off without a sound—and I fainted. + </p> + <p> + “The lions came back no more that night, and by the next morning my nerves + had got pretty straight again; but I was full of wrath when I thought of + all that I had gone through at the hands, or rather noses, of those four + brutes, and of the fate of my after-ox Kaptein. He was a splendid ox, and + I was very fond of him. So wroth was I that like a fool I determined to + attack the whole family of them. It was worthy of a greenhorn out on his + first hunting trip; but I did it nevertheless. Accordingly after + breakfast, having rubbed some oil upon my leg, which was very sore from + the cub’s tongue, I took the driver, Tom, who did not half like the + business, and having armed myself with an ordinary double No. 12 + smoothbore, the first breechloader I ever had, I started. I took the + smoothbore because it shot a bullet very well; and my experience has been + that a round ball from a smoothbore is quite as effective against a lion + as an express bullet. The lion is soft, and not a difficult animal to + finish if you hit him anywhere in the body. A buck takes far more killing. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I started, and the first thing I set to work to do was to try to + discover whereabouts the brutes lay up for the day. About three hundred + yards from the waggon was the crest of a rise covered with single mimosa + trees, dotted about in a park-like fashion, and beyond this was a stretch + of open plain running down to a dry pan, or waterhole, which covered about + an acre of ground, and was densely clothed with reeds, now in the sere and + yellow leaf. From the further edge of this pan the ground sloped up again + to a great cleft, or nullah, which had been cut out by the action of the + water, and was pretty thickly sprinkled with bush, amongst which grew some + large trees, I forget of what sort. + </p> + <p> + “It at once struck me that the dry pan would be a likely place to find my + friends in, as there is nothing a lion is fonder of than lying up in + reeds, through which he can see things without being seen himself. + Accordingly thither I went and prospected. Before I had got half-way round + the pan I found the remains of a blue vilderbeeste that had evidently been + killed within the last three or four days and partially devoured by lions; + and from other indications about I was soon assured that if the family + were not in the pan that day they spent a good deal of their spare time + there. But if there, the question was how to get them out; for it was + clearly impossible to think of going in after them unless one was quite + determined to commit suicide. Now there was a strong wind blowing from the + direction of the waggon, across the reedy pan towards the bush-clad kloof + or donga, and this first gave me the idea of firing the reeds, which, as I + think I told you, were pretty dry. Accordingly Tom took some matches and + began starting little fires to the left, and I did the same to the right. + But the reeds were still green at the bottom, and we should never have got + them well alight had it not been for the wind, which grew stronger and + stronger as the sun climbed higher, and forced the fire into them. At + last, after half-an-hour’s trouble, the flames got a hold, and began to + spread out like a fan, whereupon I went round to the further side of the + pan to wait for the lions, standing well out in the open, as we stood at + the copse to-day where you shot the woodcock. It was a rather risky thing + to do, but I used to be so sure of my shooting in those days that I did + not so much as mind the risk. Scarcely had I got round when I heard the + reeds parting before the onward rush of some animal. ‘Now for it,’ said I. + On it came. I could see that it was yellow, and prepared for action, when + instead of a lion out bounded a beautiful reit bok which had been lying in + the shelter of the pan. It must, by the way, have been a reit bok of a + peculiarly confiding nature to lay itself down with the lion, like the + lamb of prophecy, but I suppose the reeds were thick, and that it kept a + long way off. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I let the reit bok go, and it went like the wind, and kept my eyes + fixed upon the reeds. The fire was burning like a furnace now; the flames + crackling and roaring as they bit into the reeds, sending spouts of fire + twenty feet and more into the air, and making the hot air dance above it + in a way that was perfectly dazzling. But the reeds were still half green, + and created an enormous quantity of smoke, which came rolling towards me + like a curtain, lying very low on account of the wind. Presently, above + the crackling of the fire, I heard a startled roar, then another and + another. So the lions were at home. + </p> + <p> + “I was beginning to get excited now, for, as you fellows know, there is + nothing in experience to warm up your nerves like a lion at close + quarters, unless it is a wounded buffalo; and I became still more so when + I made out through the smoke that the lions were all moving about on the + extreme edge of the reeds. Occasionally they would pop their heads out + like rabbits from a burrow, and then, catching sight of me standing about + fifty yards away, draw them back again. I knew that it must be getting + pretty warm behind them, and that they could not keep the game up for + long; and I was not mistaken, for suddenly all four of them broke cover + together, the old black-maned lion leading by a few yards. I never saw a + more splendid sight in all my hunting experience than those four lions + bounding across the veldt, overshadowed by the dense pall of smoke and + backed by the fiery furnace of the burning reeds. + </p> + <p> + “I reckoned that they would pass, on their way to the bushy kloof, within + about five and twenty yards of me, so, taking a long breath, I got my gun + well on to the lion’s shoulder—the black-maned one—so as to + allow for an inch or two of motion, and catch him through the heart. I was + on, dead on, and my finger was just beginning to tighten on the trigger, + when suddenly I went blind—a bit of reed-ash had drifted into my + right eye. I danced and rubbed, and succeeded in clearing it more or less + just in time to see the tail of the last lion vanishing round the bushes + up the kloof. + </p> + <p> + “If ever a man was mad I was that man. It was too bad; and such a shot in + the open! However, I was not going to be beaten, so I just turned and + marched for the kloof. Tom, the driver, begged and implored me not to go, + but though as a personal rule I never pretend to be very brave (which I am + not), I was determined that I would either kill those lions or they should + kill me. So I told Tom that he need not come unless he liked, but I was + going; and being a plucky fellow, a Swazi by birth, he shrugged his + shoulders, muttered that I was mad or bewitched, and followed doggedly in + my tracks. + </p> + <p> + “We soon reached the kloof, which was about three hundred yards in length + and but sparsely wooded, and then the real fun began. There might be a + lion behind every bush—there certainly were four lions somewhere; + the delicate question was, where. I peeped and poked and looked in every + possible direction, with my heart in my mouth, and was at last rewarded by + catching a glimpse of something yellow moving behind a bush. At the same + moment, from another bush opposite me out burst one of the cubs and + galloped back towards the burnt pan. I whipped round and let drive a snap + shot that tipped him head over heels, breaking his back within two inches + of the root of the tail, and there he lay helpless but glaring. Tom + afterwards killed him with his assegai. I opened the breech of the gun and + hurriedly pulled out the old case, which, to judge from what ensued, must, + I suppose, have burst and left a portion of its fabric sticking to the + barrel. At any rate, when I tried to get in the new cartridge it would + only enter half-way; and—would you believe it?—this was the + moment that the lioness, attracted no doubt by the outcry of her cub, + chose to put in an appearance. There she stood, twenty paces or so from + me, lashing her tail and looking just as wicked as it is possible to + conceive. Slowly I stepped backwards, trying to push in the new case, and + as I did so she moved on in little runs, dropping down after each run. The + danger was imminent, and the case would not go in. At the moment I oddly + enough thought of the cartridge maker, whose name I will not mention, and + earnestly hoped that if the lion got <i>me</i> some condign punishment + would overtake <i>him</i>. It would not go in, so I tried to pull it out. + It would not come out either, and my gun was useless if I could not shut + it to use the other barrel. I might as well have had no gun. + </p> + <p> + “Meanwhile I was walking backward, keeping my eye on the lioness, who was + creeping forward on her belly without a sound, but lashing her tail and + keeping her eye on me; and in it I saw that she was coming in a few + seconds more. I dashed my wrist and the palm of my hand against the brass + rim of the cartridge till the blood poured from them—look, there are + the scars of it to this day!” + </p> + <p> + Here Quatermain held up his right hand to the light and showed us four or + five white cicatrices just where the wrist is set into the hand. + </p> + <p> + “But it was not of the slightest use,” he went on; “the cartridge would + not move. I only hope that no other man will ever be put in such an awful + position. The lioness gathered herself together, and I gave myself up for + lost, when suddenly Tom shouted out from somewhere in my rear— + </p> + <p> + “‘You are walking on to the wounded cub; turn to the right.’ + </p> + <p> + “I had the sense, dazed as I was, to take the hint, and slewing round at + right-angles, but still keeping my eyes on the lioness, I continued my + backward walk. + </p> + <p> + “To my intense relief, with a low growl she straightened herself, turned, + and bounded further up the kloof. + </p> + <p> + “‘Come on, Inkoos,’ said Tom, ‘let’s get back to the waggon.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘All right, Tom,’ I answered. ‘I will when I have killed those three + other lions,’ for by this time I was bent on shooting them as I never + remember being bent on anything before or since. ‘You can go if you like, + or you can get up a tree.’ + </p> + <p> + “He considered the position a little, and then he very wisely got up a + tree. I wish that I had done the same. + </p> + <p> + “Meanwhile I had found my knife, which had an extractor in it, and + succeeded after some difficulty in pulling out the cartridge which had so + nearly been the cause of my death, and removing the obstruction in the + barrel. It was very little thicker than a postage-stamp; certainly not + thicker than a piece of writing-paper. This done, I loaded the gun, bound + a handkerchief round my wrist and hand to staunch the flowing of the + blood, and started on again. + </p> + <p> + “I had noticed that the lioness went into a thick green bush, or rather a + cluster of bushes, growing near the water, about fifty yards higher up, + for there was a little stream running down the kloof, and I walked towards + this bush. When I got there, however, I could see nothing, so I took up a + big stone and threw it into the bushes. I believe that it hit the other + cub, for out it came with a rush, giving me a broadside shot, of which I + promptly availed myself, knocking it over dead. Out, too, came the lioness + like a flash of light, but quick as she went I managed to put the other + bullet into her ribs, so that she rolled right over three times like a + shot rabbit. I instantly got two more cartridges into the gun, and as I + did so the lioness rose again and came crawling towards me on her + fore-paws, roaring and groaning, and with such an expression of diabolical + fury on her countenance as I have not often seen. I shot her again through + the chest, and she fell over on to her side quite dead. + </p> + <p> + “That was the first and last time that I ever killed a brace of lions + right and left, and, what is more, I never heard of anybody else doing it. + Naturally I was considerably pleased with myself, and having again loaded + up, I went on to look for the black-maned beauty who had killed Kaptein. + Slowly, and with the greatest care, I proceeded up the kloof, searching + every bush and tuft of grass as I went. It was wonderfully exciting work, + for I never was sure from one moment to another but that he would be on + me. I took comfort, however, from the reflection that a lion rarely + attacks a man—rarely, I say; sometimes he does, as you will see—unless + he is cornered or wounded. I must have been nearly an hour hunting after + that lion. Once I thought I saw something move in a clump of tambouki + grass, but I could not be sure, and when I trod out the grass I could not + find him. + </p> + <p> + “At last I worked up to the head of the kloof, which made a <i>cul-de-sac</i>. + It was formed of a wall of rock about fifty feet high. Down this rock + trickled a little waterfall, and in front of it, some seventy feet from + its face, was a great piled-up mass of boulders, in the crevices and on + the top of which grew ferns, grasses, and stunted bushes. This mass was + about twenty-five feet high. The sides of the kloof here were also very + steep. Well, I came to the top of the nullah and looked all round. No + signs of the lion. Evidently I had either overlooked him further down, or + he had escaped right away. It was very vexatious; but still three lions + were not a bad bag for one gun before dinner, and I was fain to be + content. Accordingly I departed back again, making my way round the + isolated pillar of boulders, beginning to feel, as I did so, that I was + pretty well done up with excitement and fatigue, and should be more so + before I had skinned those three lions. When I had got, as nearly as I + could judge, about eighteen yards past the pillar or mass of boulders, I + turned to have another look round. I have a pretty sharp eye, but I could + see nothing at all. + </p> + <p> + “Then, on a sudden, I saw something sufficiently alarming. On the top of + the mass of boulders, opposite to me, standing out clear against the rocks + beyond, was the huge black-maned lion. He had been crouching there, and + now arose as though by magic. There he stood lashing his tail, just like a + living reproduction of the animal on the gateway of Northumberland House + that I have seen in a picture. But he did not stand long. Before I could + fire—before I could do more than get the gun to my shoulder—he + sprang straight up and out from the rock, and driven by the impetus of + that one mighty bound came hurtling through the air towards me. + </p> + <p> + “Heavens! how grand he looked, and how awful! High into the air he flew, + describing a great arch. Just as he touched the highest point of his + spring I fired. I did not dare to wait, for I saw that he would clear the + whole space and land right upon me. Without a sight, almost without aim, I + fired, as one would fire a snap shot at a snipe. The bullet told, for I + distinctly heard its thud above the rushing sound caused by the passage of + the lion through the air. Next second I was swept to the ground (luckily I + fell into a low, creeper-clad bush, which broke the shock) and the lion + was on the top of me, and the next those great white teeth of his had met + in my thigh—I heard them grate against the bone. I yelled out in + agony, for I did not feel in the least benumbed and happy, like Dr. + Livingstone—who, by the way, I knew very well—and gave myself + up for dead. But suddenly, as I did so, the lion’s grip on my thigh + loosened, and he stood over me, swaying to and fro, his huge mouth, from + which the blood was gushing, wide open. Then he roared, and the sound + shook the rocks. + </p> + <p> + “To and fro he swung, and suddenly the great head dropped on me, knocking + all the breath from my body, and he was dead. My bullet had entered in the + centre of his chest and passed out on the right side of the spine about + half-way down the back. + </p> + <p> + “The pain of my wound kept me from fainting, and as soon as I got my + breath I managed to drag myself from under him. Thank heavens, his great + teeth had not crushed my thigh-bone; but I was losing a great deal of + blood, and had it not been for the timely arrival of Tom, with whose aid I + loosed the handkerchief from my wrist and tied it round my leg, twisting + it tight with a stick, I think that I should have bled to death. + </p> + <p> + “Well, it was a just reward for my folly in trying to tackle a family of + lions single-handed. The odds were too long. I have been lame ever since, + and shall be to my dying day; in the month of March the wound always + troubles me a great deal, and every three years it breaks out raw. + </p> + <p> + “I need scarcely add that I never traded the lot of ivory at Sikukuni’s. + Another man got it—a German—and made five hundred pounds out + of it after paying expenses. I spent the month on the broad of my back, + and was a cripple for six months after that. And now I’ve told you the + yarn, so I will have a drop of Hollands and go to bed. Good-night to you + all, good-night!” + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Long Odds, by H. Rider Haggard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LONG ODDS *** + +***** This file should be named 2730-h.htm or 2730-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/3/2730/ + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; Emma Dudding; David Widger + +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. 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Rider Haggard + +Release Date: March 31, 2006 [EBook #2730] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LONG ODDS *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; Emma Dudding + + + + + +LONG ODDS + +by H. Rider Haggard + + +This is the second PG version of Long Odds, also see Etext #1918. + + + +The story which is narrated in the following pages came to me from the +lips of my old friend Allan Quatermain, or Hunter Quatermain, as we used +to call him in South Africa. He told it to me one evening when I was +stopping with him at the place he bought in Yorkshire. Shortly after +that, the death of his only son so unsettled him that he immediately +left England, accompanied by two companions, his old fellow-voyagers, +Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good, and has now utterly vanished into the +dark heart of Africa. He is persuaded that a white people, of which he +has heard rumours all his life, exists somewhere on the highlands in the +vast, still unexplored interior, and his great ambition is to find them +before he dies. This is the wild quest upon which he and his companions +have departed, and from which I shrewdly suspect they never will return. +One letter only have I received from the old gentleman, dated from a +mission station high up the Tana, a river on the east coast, about three +hundred miles north of Zanzibar. In it he says they have gone through +many hardships and adventures, but are alive and well, and have found +traces which go far towards making him hope that the results of their +wild quest may be a "magnificent and unexampled discovery." I greatly +fear, however, that all he has discovered is death; for this letter came +a long while ago, and nobody has heard a single word of the party since. +They have totally vanished. + +It was on the last evening of my stay at his house that he told the +ensuing story to me and Captain Good, who was dining with him. He had +eaten his dinner and drunk two or three glasses of old port, just to +help Good and myself to the end of the second bottle. It was an unusual +thing for him to do, for he was a most abstemious man, having conceived, +as he used to say, a great horror of drink from observing its effects +upon the class of men--hunters, transport riders, and others--amongst +whom he had passed so many years of his life. Consequently the good wine +took more effect on him that it would have done on most men, sending a +little flush into his wrinkled cheeks, and making him talk more freely +than usual. + +Dear old man! I can see him now, as he went limping up and down the +vestibule, with his grey hair sticking up in scrubbing-brush fashion, +his shrivelled yellow face, and his large dark eyes, that were as keen +as any hawk's, and yet soft as a buck's. The whole room was hung with +trophies of his numerous hunting expeditions, and he had some story +about every one of them, if only he could be got to tell them. Generally +he would not, for he was not very fond of narrating his own adventures, +but to-night the port wine made him more communicative. + +"Ah, you brute!" he said, stopping beneath an unusually large skull of +a lion, which was fixed just over the mantelpiece, beneath a long row of +guns, its jaws distended to their utmost width. "Ah, you brute! you have +given me a lot of trouble for the last dozen years, and will, I suppose, +to my dying day." + +"Tell us the yarn, Quatermain," said Good. "You have often promised to +tell me, and you never have." + +"You had better not ask me to," he answered, "for it is a longish one." + +"All right," I said, "the evening is young, and there is some more +port." + +Thus adjured, he filled his pipe from a jar of coarse-cut Boer tobacco +that was always standing on the mantelpiece, and still walking up and +down the room, began-- + +"It was, I think, in the March of '69 that I was up in Sikukuni's +country. It was just after old Sequati's time, and Sikukuni had got into +power--I forget how. Anyway, I was there. I had heard that the Bapedi +people had brought down an enormous quantity of ivory from the interior, +and so I started with a waggon-load of goods, and came straight away +from Middelburg to try and trade some of it. It was a risky thing to +go into the country so early, on account of the fever; but I knew that +there were one or two others after that lot of ivory, so I determined +to have a try for it, and take my chance of fever. I had become so tough +from continual knocking about that I did not set it down at much. + +"Well, I got on all right for a while. It is a wonderfully beautiful +piece of bush veldt, with great ranges of mountains running through it, +and round granite koppies starting up here and there, looking out like +sentinels over the rolling waste of bush. But it is very hot--hot as a +stew-pan--and when I was there that March, which, of course, is autumn +in this part of Africa, the whole place reeked of fever. Every morning, +as I trekked along down by the Oliphant River, I used to creep from the +waggon at dawn and look out. But there was no river to be seen--only a +long line of billows of what looked like the finest cotton wool tossed +up lightly with a pitchfork. It was the fever mist. Out from among the +scrub, too, came little spirals of vapour, as though there were hundreds +of tiny fires alight in it--reek rising from thousands of tons of +rotting vegetation. It was a beautiful place, but the beauty was the +beauty of death; and all those lines and blots of vapour wrote one great +word across the surface of the country, and that word was 'fever.' + +"It was a dreadful year of illness that. I came, I remember, to one +little kraal of Knobnoses, and went up to it to see if I could get some +_maas_, or curdled butter-milk, and a few mealies. As I drew near I was +struck with the silence of the place. No children began to chatter, and +no dogs barked. Nor could I see any native sheep or cattle. The place, +though it had evidently been recently inhabited, was as still as the +bush round it, and some guinea fowl got up out of the prickly pear +bushes right at the kraal gate. I remember that I hesitated a little +before going in, there was such an air of desolation about the spot. +Nature never looks desolate when man has not yet laid his hand upon her +breast; she is only lonely. But when man has been, and has passed away, +then she looks desolate. + +"Well, I passed into the kraal, and went up to the principal hut. In +front of the hut was something with an old sheep-skin _kaross_ thrown +over it. I stooped down and drew off the rug, and then shrank back +amazed, for under it was the body of a young woman recently dead. For a +moment I thought of turning back, but my curiosity overcame me; so going +past the dead woman I went down on my hands and knees and crept into the +hut. It was so dark that I could not see anything, though I could smell +a great deal, so I lit a match. It was a 'tandstickor' match, and burnt +slowly and dimly, and as the light gradually increased I made out what +I took to be a family of people, men, women, and children, fast asleep. +Presently it burnt up brightly, and I saw that they too, five of them +altogether, were quite dead. One was a baby. I dropped the match in a +hurry, and was making my way from the hut as quick as I could go, when I +caught sight of two bright eyes staring out of a corner. Thinking it was +a wild cat, or some such animal, I redoubled my haste, when suddenly +a voice near the eyes began first to mutter, and then to send up a +succession of awful yells. + +"Hastily I lit another match, and perceived that the eyes belonged to +an old woman, wrapped up in a greasy leather garment. Taking her by +the arm, I dragged her out, for she could not, or would not, come by +herself, and the stench was overpowering me. Such a sight as she was--a +bag of bones, covered over with black, shrivelled parchment. The only +white thing about her was her wool, and she seemed to be pretty well +dead except for her eyes and her voice. She thought that I was a devil +come to take her, and that is why she yelled so. Well, I got her down to +the waggon, and gave her a 'tot' of Cape smoke, and then, as soon as it +was ready, poured about a pint of beef-tea down her throat, made from +the flesh of a blue vilderbeeste I had killed the day before, and after +that she brightened up wonderfully. She could talk Zulu--indeed, it +turned out that she had run away from Zululand in T'Chaka's time--and +she told me that all the people whom I had seen had died of fever. When +they had died the other inhabitants of the kraal had taken the cattle +and gone away, leaving the poor old woman, who was helpless from age and +infirmity, to perish of starvation or disease, as the case might be. She +had been sitting there for three days among the bodies when I found her. +I took her on to the next kraal, and gave the headman a blanket to look +after her, promising him another if I found her well when I came back. I +remember that he was much astonished at my parting with two blankets for +the sake of such a worthless old creature. 'Why did I not leave her in +the bush?' he asked. Those people carry the doctrine of the survival of +the fittest to its extreme, you see. + +"It was the night after I had got rid of the old woman that I made my +first acquaintance with my friend yonder," and he nodded towards the +skull that seemed to be grinning down at us in the shadow of the wide +mantel-shelf. "I had trekked from dawn till eleven o'clock--a long +trek--but I wanted to get on, and had turned the oxen out to graze, +sending the voorlooper to look after them, my intention being to inspan +again about six o'clock, and trek with the moon till ten. Then I got +into the waggon, and had a good sleep till half-past two or so in the +afternoon, when I rose and cooked some meat, and had my dinner, washing +it down with a pannikin of black coffee--for it was difficult to get +preserved milk in those days. Just as I had finished, and the driver, a +man called Tom, was washing up the things, in comes the young scoundrel +of a voorlooper driving one ox before him. + +"'Where are the other oxen?' I asked. + +"'Koos!' he said, 'Koos! the other oxen have gone away. I turned my back +for a minute, and when I looked round again they were all gone except +Kaptein, here, who was rubbing his back against a tree.' + +"'You mean that you have been asleep, and let them stray, you villain. I +will rub your back against a stick,' I answered, feeling very angry, for +it was not a pleasant prospect to be stuck up in that fever trap for a +week or so while we were hunting for the oxen. 'Off you go, and you too, +Tom, and mind you don't come back till you have found them. They have +trekked back along the Middelburg Road, and are a dozen miles off by +now, I'll be bound. Now, no words; go both of you.' + +"Tom, the driver, swore, and caught the lad a hearty kick, which he +richly deserved, and then, having tied old Kaptein up to the disselboom +with a reim, they took their assegais and sticks, and started. I would +have gone too, only I knew that somebody must look after the waggon, and +I did not like to leave either of the boys with it at night. I was in a +very bad temper, indeed, although I was pretty well used to these sort +of occurrences, and soothed myself by taking a rifle and going to kill +something. For a couple of hours I poked about without seeing anything +that I could get a shot at, but at last, just as I was again within +seventy yards of the waggon, I put up an old Impala ram from behind a +mimosa thorn. He ran straight for the waggon, and it was not till he was +passing within a few feet of it that I could get a decent shot at him. +Then I pulled, and caught him half-way down the spine; over he went, +dead as a door-nail, and a pretty shot it was, though I ought not to say +it. This little incident put me into rather a better humour, especially +as the buck had rolled over right against the after-part of the waggon, +so I had only to gut him, fix a reim round his legs, and haul him up. By +the time I had done this the sun was down, and the full moon was up, and +a beautiful moon it was. And then there came down that wonderful hush +which sometimes falls over the African bush in the early hours of the +night. No beast was moving, and no bird called. Not a breath of air +stirred the quiet trees, and the shadows did not even quiver, they only +grew. It was very oppressive and very lonely, for there was not a sign +of the cattle or the boys. I was quite thankful for the society of old +Kaptein, who was lying down contentedly against the disselboom, chewing +the cud with a good conscience. + +"Presently, however, Kaptein began to get restless. First he snorted, +then he got up and snorted again. I could not make it out, so like a +fool I got down off the waggon-box to have a look round, thinking it +might be the lost oxen coming. + +"Next instant I regretted it, for all of a sudden I heard a roar and saw +something yellow flash past me and light on poor Kaptein. Then came +a bellow of agony from the ox, and a crunch as the lion put his teeth +through the poor brute's neck, and I began to realize what had happened. +My rifle was in the waggon, and my first thought being to get hold of +it, I turned and made a bolt for it. I got my foot on the wheel and +flung my body forward on to the waggon, and there I stopped as if I were +frozen, and no wonder, for as I was about to spring up I heard the lion +behind me, and next second I felt the brute, ay, as plainly as I can +feel this table. I felt him, I say, sniffing at my left leg that was +hanging down. + +"My word! I did feel queer; I don't think that I ever felt so queer +before. I dared not move for the life of me, and the odd thing was +that I seemed to lose power over my leg, which had an insane sort of +inclination to kick out of its own mere motion--just as hysterical +people want to laugh when they ought to be particularly solemn. Well, +the lion sniffed and sniffed, beginning at my ankle and slowly nosing +away up to my thigh. I thought that he was going to get hold then, but +he did not. He only growled softly, and went back to the ox. Shifting my +head a little I got a full view of him. He was about the biggest lion +I ever saw, and I have seen a great many, and he had a most tremendous +black mane. What his teeth were like you can see--look there, pretty big +ones, ain't they? Altogether he was a magnificent animal, and as I lay +there sprawling on the fore-tongue of the waggon, it occurred to me that +he would look uncommonly well in a cage. He stood there by the carcass +of poor Kaptein, and deliberately disembowelled him as neatly as a +butcher could have done. All this while I dared not move, for he kept +lifting his head and keeping an eye on me as he licked his bloody chops. +When he had cleared Kaptein out he opened his mouth and roared, and I am +not exaggerating when I say that the sound shook the waggon. Instantly +there came back an answering roar. + +"'Heavens!' I thought, 'there is his mate.' + +"Hardly was the thought out of my head when I caught sight in the +moonlight of the lioness bounding along through the long grass, and +after her a couple of cubs about the size of mastiffs. She stopped +within a few feet of my head, and stood, waved her tail, and fixed me +with her glowing yellow eyes; but just as I thought that it was all over +she turned and began to feed on Kaptein, and so did the cubs. There were +four of them within eight feet of me, growling and quarrelling, rending +and tearing, and crunching poor Kaptein's bones; and there I lay shaking +with terror, and the cold perspiration pouring out of me, feeling like +another Daniel come to judgment in a new sense of the phrase. Presently +the cubs had eaten their fill, and began to get restless. One went round +to the back of the waggon and pulled at the Impala buck that hung there, +and the other came round my way and commenced the sniffing game at my +leg. Indeed, he did more than that, for my trouser being hitched up a +little, he began to lick the bare skin with his rough tongue. The more +he licked the more he liked it, to judge from his increased vigour and +the loud purring noise he made. Then I knew that the end had come, for +in another second his file-like tongue would have rasped through the +skin of my leg--which was luckily pretty tough--and have tasted the +blood, and then there would be no chance for me. So I just lay there and +thought of my sins, and prayed to the Almighty, and reflected that after +all life was a very enjoyable thing. + +"Then all of a sudden I heard a crashing of bushes and the shouting +and whistling of men, and there were the two boys coming back with the +cattle, which they had found trekking along all together. The lions +lifted their heads and listened, then bounded off without a sound--and I +fainted. + +"The lions came back no more that night, and by the next morning my +nerves had got pretty straight again; but I was full of wrath when I +thought of all that I had gone through at the hands, or rather noses, +of those four brutes, and of the fate of my after-ox Kaptein. He was a +splendid ox, and I was very fond of him. So wroth was I that like a +fool I determined to attack the whole family of them. It was worthy of +a greenhorn out on his first hunting trip; but I did it nevertheless. +Accordingly after breakfast, having rubbed some oil upon my leg, which +was very sore from the cub's tongue, I took the driver, Tom, who did not +half like the business, and having armed myself with an ordinary double +No. 12 smoothbore, the first breechloader I ever had, I started. I took +the smoothbore because it shot a bullet very well; and my experience has +been that a round ball from a smoothbore is quite as effective against a +lion as an express bullet. The lion is soft, and not a difficult animal +to finish if you hit him anywhere in the body. A buck takes far more +killing. + +"Well, I started, and the first thing I set to work to do was to try to +discover whereabouts the brutes lay up for the day. About three hundred +yards from the waggon was the crest of a rise covered with single +mimosa trees, dotted about in a park-like fashion, and beyond this was +a stretch of open plain running down to a dry pan, or waterhole, which +covered about an acre of ground, and was densely clothed with reeds, +now in the sere and yellow leaf. From the further edge of this pan the +ground sloped up again to a great cleft, or nullah, which had been cut +out by the action of the water, and was pretty thickly sprinkled with +bush, amongst which grew some large trees, I forget of what sort. + +"It at once struck me that the dry pan would be a likely place to find +my friends in, as there is nothing a lion is fonder of than lying up +in reeds, through which he can see things without being seen himself. +Accordingly thither I went and prospected. Before I had got half-way +round the pan I found the remains of a blue vilderbeeste that had +evidently been killed within the last three or four days and partially +devoured by lions; and from other indications about I was soon assured +that if the family were not in the pan that day they spent a good deal +of their spare time there. But if there, the question was how to get +them out; for it was clearly impossible to think of going in after +them unless one was quite determined to commit suicide. Now there was a +strong wind blowing from the direction of the waggon, across the reedy +pan towards the bush-clad kloof or donga, and this first gave me the +idea of firing the reeds, which, as I think I told you, were pretty dry. +Accordingly Tom took some matches and began starting little fires to the +left, and I did the same to the right. But the reeds were still green +at the bottom, and we should never have got them well alight had it not +been for the wind, which grew stronger and stronger as the sun climbed +higher, and forced the fire into them. At last, after half-an-hour's +trouble, the flames got a hold, and began to spread out like a fan, +whereupon I went round to the further side of the pan to wait for the +lions, standing well out in the open, as we stood at the copse to-day +where you shot the woodcock. It was a rather risky thing to do, but I +used to be so sure of my shooting in those days that I did not so +much as mind the risk. Scarcely had I got round when I heard the reeds +parting before the onward rush of some animal. 'Now for it,' said I. On +it came. I could see that it was yellow, and prepared for action, when +instead of a lion out bounded a beautiful reit bok which had been lying +in the shelter of the pan. It must, by the way, have been a reit bok of +a peculiarly confiding nature to lay itself down with the lion, like the +lamb of prophecy, but I suppose the reeds were thick, and that it kept a +long way off. + +"Well, I let the reit bok go, and it went like the wind, and kept my +eyes fixed upon the reeds. The fire was burning like a furnace now; the +flames crackling and roaring as they bit into the reeds, sending spouts +of fire twenty feet and more into the air, and making the hot air dance +above it in a way that was perfectly dazzling. But the reeds were +still half green, and created an enormous quantity of smoke, which came +rolling towards me like a curtain, lying very low on account of the +wind. Presently, above the crackling of the fire, I heard a startled +roar, then another and another. So the lions were at home. + +"I was beginning to get excited now, for, as you fellows know, there +is nothing in experience to warm up your nerves like a lion at close +quarters, unless it is a wounded buffalo; and I became still more so +when I made out through the smoke that the lions were all moving about +on the extreme edge of the reeds. Occasionally they would pop their +heads out like rabbits from a burrow, and then, catching sight of me +standing about fifty yards away, draw them back again. I knew that it +must be getting pretty warm behind them, and that they could not keep +the game up for long; and I was not mistaken, for suddenly all four of +them broke cover together, the old black-maned lion leading by a few +yards. I never saw a more splendid sight in all my hunting experience +than those four lions bounding across the veldt, overshadowed by the +dense pall of smoke and backed by the fiery furnace of the burning +reeds. + +"I reckoned that they would pass, on their way to the bushy kloof, +within about five and twenty yards of me, so, taking a long breath, I +got my gun well on to the lion's shoulder--the black-maned one--so as to +allow for an inch or two of motion, and catch him through the heart. +I was on, dead on, and my finger was just beginning to tighten on the +trigger, when suddenly I went blind--a bit of reed-ash had drifted into +my right eye. I danced and rubbed, and succeeded in clearing it more or +less just in time to see the tail of the last lion vanishing round the +bushes up the kloof. + +"If ever a man was mad I was that man. It was too bad; and such a shot +in the open! However, I was not going to be beaten, so I just turned and +marched for the kloof. Tom, the driver, begged and implored me not +to go, but though as a personal rule I never pretend to be very brave +(which I am not), I was determined that I would either kill those lions +or they should kill me. So I told Tom that he need not come unless he +liked, but I was going; and being a plucky fellow, a Swazi by birth, +he shrugged his shoulders, muttered that I was mad or bewitched, and +followed doggedly in my tracks. + +"We soon reached the kloof, which was about three hundred yards in +length and but sparsely wooded, and then the real fun began. There might +be a lion behind every bush--there certainly were four lions somewhere; +the delicate question was, where. I peeped and poked and looked in every +possible direction, with my heart in my mouth, and was at last rewarded +by catching a glimpse of something yellow moving behind a bush. At the +same moment, from another bush opposite me out burst one of the cubs +and galloped back towards the burnt pan. I whipped round and let drive a +snap shot that tipped him head over heels, breaking his back within two +inches of the root of the tail, and there he lay helpless but glaring. +Tom afterwards killed him with his assegai. I opened the breech of the +gun and hurriedly pulled out the old case, which, to judge from what +ensued, must, I suppose, have burst and left a portion of its fabric +sticking to the barrel. At any rate, when I tried to get in the new +cartridge it would only enter half-way; and--would you believe it?--this +was the moment that the lioness, attracted no doubt by the outcry of her +cub, chose to put in an appearance. There she stood, twenty paces or so +from me, lashing her tail and looking just as wicked as it is possible +to conceive. Slowly I stepped backwards, trying to push in the new case, +and as I did so she moved on in little runs, dropping down after each +run. The danger was imminent, and the case would not go in. At the +moment I oddly enough thought of the cartridge maker, whose name I will +not mention, and earnestly hoped that if the lion got _me_ some condign +punishment would overtake _him_. It would not go in, so I tried to pull +it out. It would not come out either, and my gun was useless if I could +not shut it to use the other barrel. I might as well have had no gun. + +"Meanwhile I was walking backward, keeping my eye on the lioness, who +was creeping forward on her belly without a sound, but lashing her tail +and keeping her eye on me; and in it I saw that she was coming in a +few seconds more. I dashed my wrist and the palm of my hand against the +brass rim of the cartridge till the blood poured from them--look, there +are the scars of it to this day!" + +Here Quatermain held up his right hand to the light and showed us four +or five white cicatrices just where the wrist is set into the hand. + +"But it was not of the slightest use," he went on; "the cartridge would +not move. I only hope that no other man will ever be put in such an +awful position. The lioness gathered herself together, and I gave myself +up for lost, when suddenly Tom shouted out from somewhere in my rear-- + +"'You are walking on to the wounded cub; turn to the right.' + +"I had the sense, dazed as I was, to take the hint, and slewing round at +right-angles, but still keeping my eyes on the lioness, I continued my +backward walk. + +"To my intense relief, with a low growl she straightened herself, +turned, and bounded further up the kloof. + +"'Come on, Inkoos,' said Tom, 'let's get back to the waggon.' + +"'All right, Tom,' I answered. 'I will when I have killed those three +other lions,' for by this time I was bent on shooting them as I never +remember being bent on anything before or since. 'You can go if you +like, or you can get up a tree.' + +"He considered the position a little, and then he very wisely got up a +tree. I wish that I had done the same. + +"Meanwhile I had found my knife, which had an extractor in it, and +succeeded after some difficulty in pulling out the cartridge which had +so nearly been the cause of my death, and removing the obstruction in +the barrel. It was very little thicker than a postage-stamp; certainly +not thicker than a piece of writing-paper. This done, I loaded the gun, +bound a handkerchief round my wrist and hand to staunch the flowing of +the blood, and started on again. + +"I had noticed that the lioness went into a thick green bush, or rather +a cluster of bushes, growing near the water, about fifty yards higher +up, for there was a little stream running down the kloof, and I walked +towards this bush. When I got there, however, I could see nothing, so I +took up a big stone and threw it into the bushes. I believe that it hit +the other cub, for out it came with a rush, giving me a broadside shot, +of which I promptly availed myself, knocking it over dead. Out, too, +came the lioness like a flash of light, but quick as she went I managed +to put the other bullet into her ribs, so that she rolled right over +three times like a shot rabbit. I instantly got two more cartridges +into the gun, and as I did so the lioness rose again and came crawling +towards me on her fore-paws, roaring and groaning, and with such an +expression of diabolical fury on her countenance as I have not often +seen. I shot her again through the chest, and she fell over on to her +side quite dead. + +"That was the first and last time that I ever killed a brace of lions +right and left, and, what is more, I never heard of anybody else doing +it. Naturally I was considerably pleased with myself, and having again +loaded up, I went on to look for the black-maned beauty who had killed +Kaptein. Slowly, and with the greatest care, I proceeded up the kloof, +searching every bush and tuft of grass as I went. It was wonderfully +exciting work, for I never was sure from one moment to another but that +he would be on me. I took comfort, however, from the reflection that a +lion rarely attacks a man--rarely, I say; sometimes he does, as you will +see--unless he is cornered or wounded. I must have been nearly an hour +hunting after that lion. Once I thought I saw something move in a clump +of tambouki grass, but I could not be sure, and when I trod out the +grass I could not find him. + +"At last I worked up to the head of the kloof, which made a +_cul-de-sac_. It was formed of a wall of rock about fifty feet high. +Down this rock trickled a little waterfall, and in front of it, some +seventy feet from its face, was a great piled-up mass of boulders, in +the crevices and on the top of which grew ferns, grasses, and stunted +bushes. This mass was about twenty-five feet high. The sides of the +kloof here were also very steep. Well, I came to the top of the nullah +and looked all round. No signs of the lion. Evidently I had either +overlooked him further down, or he had escaped right away. It was very +vexatious; but still three lions were not a bad bag for one gun before +dinner, and I was fain to be content. Accordingly I departed back again, +making my way round the isolated pillar of boulders, beginning to feel, +as I did so, that I was pretty well done up with excitement and fatigue, +and should be more so before I had skinned those three lions. When I had +got, as nearly as I could judge, about eighteen yards past the pillar or +mass of boulders, I turned to have another look round. I have a pretty +sharp eye, but I could see nothing at all. + +"Then, on a sudden, I saw something sufficiently alarming. On the top +of the mass of boulders, opposite to me, standing out clear against +the rocks beyond, was the huge black-maned lion. He had been crouching +there, and now arose as though by magic. There he stood lashing his +tail, just like a living reproduction of the animal on the gateway of +Northumberland House that I have seen in a picture. But he did not stand +long. Before I could fire--before I could do more than get the gun to my +shoulder--he sprang straight up and out from the rock, and driven by the +impetus of that one mighty bound came hurtling through the air towards +me. + +"Heavens! how grand he looked, and how awful! High into the air he flew, +describing a great arch. Just as he touched the highest point of his +spring I fired. I did not dare to wait, for I saw that he would clear +the whole space and land right upon me. Without a sight, almost without +aim, I fired, as one would fire a snap shot at a snipe. The bullet told, +for I distinctly heard its thud above the rushing sound caused by the +passage of the lion through the air. Next second I was swept to the +ground (luckily I fell into a low, creeper-clad bush, which broke the +shock) and the lion was on the top of me, and the next those great white +teeth of his had met in my thigh--I heard them grate against the bone. I +yelled out in agony, for I did not feel in the least benumbed and happy, +like Dr. Livingstone--who, by the way, I knew very well--and gave myself +up for dead. But suddenly, as I did so, the lion's grip on my thigh +loosened, and he stood over me, swaying to and fro, his huge mouth, from +which the blood was gushing, wide open. Then he roared, and the sound +shook the rocks. + +"To and fro he swung, and suddenly the great head dropped on me, +knocking all the breath from my body, and he was dead. My bullet had +entered in the centre of his chest and passed out on the right side of +the spine about half-way down the back. + +"The pain of my wound kept me from fainting, and as soon as I got my +breath I managed to drag myself from under him. Thank heavens, his great +teeth had not crushed my thigh-bone; but I was losing a great deal of +blood, and had it not been for the timely arrival of Tom, with whose +aid I loosed the handkerchief from my wrist and tied it round my leg, +twisting it tight with a stick, I think that I should have bled to +death. + +"Well, it was a just reward for my folly in trying to tackle a family +of lions single-handed. The odds were too long. I have been lame ever +since, and shall be to my dying day; in the month of March the wound +always troubles me a great deal, and every three years it breaks out +raw. + +"I need scarcely add that I never traded the lot of ivory at Sikukuni's. +Another man got it--a German--and made five hundred pounds out of it +after paying expenses. I spent the month on the broad of my back, and +was a cripple for six months after that. And now I've told you the yarn, +so I will have a drop of Hollands and go to bed. Good-night to you all, +good-night!" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Long Odds, 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 + + + + + +This is our second version of Long Odds, also see Etext #1918. + + + + + +Long Odds + +by H. Rider Haggard + + + + +The story which is narrated in the following pages came to me from the +lips of my old friend Allan Quatermain, or Hunter Quatermain, as we +used to call him in South Africa. He told it to me one evening when I +was stopping with him at the place he bought in Yorkshire. Shortly +after that, the death of his only son so unsettled him that he +immediately left England, accompanied by two companions, his old +fellow-voyagers, Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good, and has now +utterly vanished into the dark heart of Africa. He is persuaded that a +white people, of which he has heard rumours all his life, exists +somewhere on the highlands in the vast, still unexplored interior, and +his great ambition is to find them before he dies. This is the wild +quest upon which he and his companions have departed, and from which I +shrewdly suspect they never will return. One letter only have I +received from the old gentleman, dated from a mission station high up +the Tana, a river on the east coast, about three hundred miles north +of Zanzibar. In it he says they have gone through many hardships and +adventures, but are alive and well, and have found traces which go far +towards making him hope that the results of their wild quest may be a +"magnificent and unexampled discovery." I greatly fear, however, that +all he has discovered is death; for this letter came a long while ago, +and nobody has heard a single word of the party since. They have +totally vanished. + +It was on the last evening of my stay at his house that he told the +ensuing story to me and Captain Good, who was dining with him. He had +eaten his dinner and drunk two or three glasses of old port, just to +help Good and myself to the end of the second bottle. It was an +unusual thing for him to do, for he was a most abstemious man, having +conceived, as he used to say, a great horror of drink from observing +its effects upon the class of men--hunters, transport riders, and +others--amongst whom he had passed so many years of his life. +Consequently the good wine took more effect on him that it would have +done on most men, sending a little flush into his wrinkled cheeks, and +making him talk more freely than usual. + +Dear old man! I can see him now, as he went limping up and down the +vestibule, with his grey hair sticking up in scrubbing-brush fashion, +his shrivelled yellow face, and his large dark eyes, that were as keen +as any hawk's, and yet soft as a buck's. The whole room was hung with +trophies of his numerous hunting expeditions, and he had some story +about every one of them, if only he could be got to tell them. +Generally he would not, for he was not very fond of narrating his own +adventures, but to-night the port wine made him more communicative. + +"Ah, you brute!" he said, stopping beneath an unusually large skull of +a lion, which was fixed just over the mantelpiece, beneath a long row +of guns, its jaws distended to their utmost width. "Ah, you brute! you +have given me a lot of trouble for the last dozen years, and will, I +suppose, to my dying day." + +"Tell us the yarn, Quatermain," said Good. "You have often promised to +tell me, and you never have." + +"You had better not ask me to," he answered, "for it is a longish +one." + +"All right," I said, "the evening is young, and there is some more +port." + +Thus adjured, he filled his pipe from a jar of coarse-cut Boer tobacco +that was always standing on the mantelpiece, and still walking up and +down the room, began-- + +"It was, I think, in the March of '69 that I was up in Sikukuni's +country. It was just after old Sequati's time, and Sikukuni had got +into power--I forget how. Anyway, I was there. I had heard that the +Bapedi people had brought down an enormous quantity of ivory from the +interior, and so I started with a waggon-load of goods, and came +straight away from Middelburg to try and trade some of it. It was a +risky thing to go into the country so early, on account of the fever; +but I knew that there were one or two others after that lot of ivory, +so I determined to have a try for it, and take my chance of fever. I +had become so tough from continual knocking about that I did not set +it down at much. + +"Well, I got on all right for a while. It is a wonderfully beautiful +piece of bush veldt, with great ranges of mountains running through +it, and round granite koppies starting up here and there, looking out +like sentinels over the rolling waste of bush. But it is very hot--hot +as a stew-pan--and when I was there that March, which, of course, is +autumn in this part of Africa, the whole place reeked of fever. Every +morning, as I trekked along down by the Oliphant River, I used to +creep from the waggon at dawn and look out. But there was no river to +be seen--only a long line of billows of what looked like the finest +cotton wool tossed up lightly with a pitchfork. It was the fever mist. +Out from among the scrub, too, came little spirals of vapour, as +though there were hundreds of tiny fires alight in it--reek rising +from thousands of tons of rotting vegetation. It was a beautiful +place, but the beauty was the beauty of death; and all those lines and +blots of vapour wrote one great word across the surface of the +country, and that word was 'fever.' + +"It was a dreadful year of illness that. I came, I remember, to one +little kraal of Knobnoses, and went up to it to see if I could get +some /maas/, or curdled butter-milk, and a few mealies. As I drew near +I was struck with the silence of the place. No children began to +chatter, and no dogs barked. Nor could I see any native sheep or +cattle. The place, though it had evidently been recently inhabited, +was as still as the bush round it, and some guinea fowl got up out of +the prickly pear bushes right at the kraal gate. I remember that I +hesitated a little before going in, there was such an air of +desolation about the spot. Nature never looks desolate when man has +not yet laid his hand upon her breast; she is only lonely. But when +man has been, and has passed away, then she looks desolate. + +"Well, I passed into the kraal, and went up to the principal hut. In +front of the hut was something with an old sheep-skin /kaross/ thrown +over it. I stooped down and drew off the rug, and then shrank back +amazed, for under it was the body of a young woman recently dead. For +a moment I thought of turning back, but my curiosity overcame me; so +going past the dead woman I went down on my hands and knees and crept +into the hut. It was so dark that I could not see anything, though I +could smell a great deal, so I lit a match. It was a 'tandstickor' +match, and burnt slowly and dimly, and as the light gradually +increased I made out what I took to be a family of people, men, women, +and children, fast asleep. Presently it burnt up brightly, and I saw +that they too, five of them altogether, were quite dead. One was a +baby. I dropped the match in a hurry, and was making my way from the +hut as quick as I could go, when I caught sight of two bright eyes +staring out of a corner. Thinking it was a wild cat, or some such +animal, I redoubled my haste, when suddenly a voice near the eyes +began first to mutter, and then to send up a succession of awful +yells. + +"Hastily I lit another match, and perceived that the eyes belonged to +an old woman, wrapped up in a greasy leather garment. Taking her by +the arm, I dragged her out, for she could not, or would not, come by +herself, and the stench was overpowering me. Such a sight as she was-- +a bag of bones, covered over with black, shrivelled parchment. The +only white thing about her was her wool, and she seemed to be pretty +well dead except for her eyes and her voice. She thought that I was a +devil come to take her, and that is why she yelled so. Well, I got her +down to the waggon, and gave her a 'tot' of Cape smoke, and then, as +soon as it was ready, poured about a pint of beef-tea down her throat, +made from the flesh of a blue vilderbeeste I had killed the day +before, and after that she brightened up wonderfully. She could talk +Zulu--indeed, it turned out that she had run away from Zululand in +T'Chaka's time--and she told me that all the people whom I had seen +had died of fever. When they had died the other inhabitants of the +kraal had taken the cattle and gone away, leaving the poor old woman, +who was helpless from age and infirmity, to perish of starvation or +disease, as the case might be. She had been sitting there for three +days among the bodies when I found her. I took her on to the next +kraal, and gave the headman a blanket to look after her, promising him +another if I found her well when I came back. I remember that he was +much astonished at my parting with two blankets for the sake of such a +worthless old creature. 'Why did I not leave her in the bush?' he +asked. Those people carry the doctrine of the survival of the fittest +to its extreme, you see. + +"It was the night after I had got rid of the old woman that I made my +first acquaintance with my friend yonder," and he nodded towards the +skull that seemed to be grinning down at us in the shadow of the wide +mantel-shelf. "I had trekked from dawn till eleven o'clock--a long +trek--but I wanted to get on, and had turned the oxen out to graze, +sending the voorlooper to look after them, my intention being to +inspan again about six o'clock, and trek with the moon till ten. Then +I got into the waggon, and had a good sleep till half-past two or so +in the afternoon, when I rose and cooked some meat, and had my dinner, +washing it down with a pannikin of black coffee--for it was difficult +to get preserved milk in those days. Just as I had finished, and the +driver, a man called Tom, was washing up the things, in comes the +young scoundrel of a voorlooper driving one ox before him. + +"'Where are the other oxen?' I asked. + +"'Koos!' he said, 'Koos! the other oxen have gone away. I turned my +back for a minute, and when I looked round again they were all gone +except Kaptein, here, who was rubbing his back against a tree.' + +"'You mean that you have been asleep, and let them stray, you villain. +I will rub your back against a stick,' I answered, feeling very angry, +for it was not a pleasant prospect to be stuck up in that fever trap +for a week or so while we were hunting for the oxen. 'Off you go, and +you too, Tom, and mind you don't come back till you have found them. +They have trekked back along the Middelburg Road, and are a dozen +miles off by now, I'll be bound. Now, no words; go both of you.' + +"Tom, the driver, swore, and caught the lad a hearty kick, which he +richly deserved, and then, having tied old Kaptein up to the +disselboom with a reim, they took their assegais and sticks, and +started. I would have gone too, only I knew that somebody must look +after the waggon, and I did not like to leave either of the boys with +it at night. I was in a very bad temper, indeed, although I was pretty +well used to these sort of occurrences, and soothed myself by taking a +rifle and going to kill something. For a couple of hours I poked about +without seeing anything that I could get a shot at, but at last, just +as I was again within seventy yards of the waggon, I put up an old +Impala ram from behind a mimosa thorn. He ran straight for the waggon, +and it was not till he was passing within a few feet of it that I +could get a decent shot at him. Then I pulled, and caught him half-way +down the spine; over he went, dead as a door-nail, and a pretty shot +it was, though I ought not to say it. This little incident put me into +rather a better humour, especially as the buck had rolled over right +against the after-part of the waggon, so I had only to gut him, fix a +reim round his legs, and haul him up. By the time I had done this the +sun was down, and the full moon was up, and a beautiful moon it was. +And then there came down that wonderful hush which sometimes falls +over the African bush in the early hours of the night. No beast was +moving, and no bird called. Not a breath of air stirred the quiet +trees, and the shadows did not even quiver, they only grew. It was +very oppressive and very lonely, for there was not a sign of the +cattle or the boys. I was quite thankful for the society of old +Kaptein, who was lying down contentedly against the disselboom, +chewing the cud with a good conscience. + +"Presently, however, Kaptein began to get restless. First he snorted, +then he got up and snorted again. I could not make it out, so like a +fool I got down off the waggon-box to have a look round, thinking it +might be the lost oxen coming. + +"Next instant I regretted it, for all of a sudden I heard a roar and +saw something yellow flash past me and light on poor Kaptein. Then +came a bellow of agony from the ox, and a crunch as the lion put his +teeth through the poor brute's neck, and I began to realize what had +happened. My rifle was in the waggon, and my first thought being to +get hold of it, I turned and made a bolt for it. I got my foot on the +wheel and flung my body forward on to the waggon, and there I stopped +as if I were frozen, and no wonder, for as I was about to spring up I +heard the lion behind me, and next second I felt the brute, ay, as +plainly as I can feel this table. I felt him, I say, sniffing at my +left leg that was hanging down. + +"My word! I did feel queer; I don't think that I ever felt so queer +before. I dared not move for the life of me, and the odd thing was +that I seemed to lose power over my leg, which had an insane sort of +inclination to kick out of its own mere motion--just as hysterical +people want to laugh when they ought to be particularly solemn. Well, +the lion sniffed and sniffed, beginning at my ankle and slowly nosing +away up to my thigh. I thought that he was going to get hold then, but +he did not. He only growled softly, and went back to the ox. Shifting +my head a little I got a full view of him. He was about the biggest +lion I ever saw, and I have seen a great many, and he had a most +tremendous black mane. What his teeth were like you can see--look +there, pretty big ones, ain't they? Altogether he was a magnificent +animal, and as I lay there sprawling on the fore-tongue of the waggon, +it occurred to me that he would look uncommonly well in a cage. He +stood there by the carcass of poor Kaptein, and deliberately +disembowelled him as neatly as a butcher could have done. All this +while I dared not move, for he kept lifting his head and keeping an +eye on me as he licked his bloody chops. When he had cleared Kaptein +out he opened his mouth and roared, and I am not exaggerating when I +say that the sound shook the waggon. Instantly there came back an +answering roar. + +"'Heavens!' I thought, 'there is his mate.' + +"Hardly was the thought out of my head when I caught sight in the +moonlight of the lioness bounding along through the long grass, and +after her a couple of cubs about the size of mastiffs. She stopped +within a few feet of my head, and stood, waved her tail, and fixed me +with her glowing yellow eyes; but just as I thought that it was all +over she turned and began to feed on Kaptein, and so did the cubs. +There were four of them within eight feet of me, growling and +quarrelling, rending and tearing, and crunching poor Kaptein's bones; +and there I lay shaking with terror, and the cold perspiration pouring +out of me, feeling like another Daniel come to judgment in a new sense +of the phrase. Presently the cubs had eaten their fill, and began to +get restless. One went round to the back of the waggon and pulled at +the Impala buck that hung there, and the other came round my way and +commenced the sniffing game at my leg. Indeed, he did more than that, +for my trouser being hitched up a little, he began to lick the bare +skin with his rough tongue. The more he licked the more he liked it, +to judge from his increased vigour and the loud purring noise he made. +Then I knew that the end had come, for in another second his file-like +tongue would have rasped through the skin of my leg--which was luckily +pretty tough--and have tasted the blood, and then there would be no +chance for me. So I just lay there and thought of my sins, and prayed +to the Almighty, and reflected that after all life was a very +enjoyable thing. + +"Then all of a sudden I heard a crashing of bushes and the shouting +and whistling of men, and there were the two boys coming back with the +cattle, which they had found trekking along all together. The lions +lifted their heads and listened, then bounded off without a sound--and +I fainted. + +"The lions came back no more that night, and by the next morning my +nerves had got pretty straight again; but I was full of wrath when I +thought of all that I had gone through at the hands, or rather noses, +of those four brutes, and of the fate of my after-ox Kaptein. He was a +splendid ox, and I was very fond of him. So wroth was I that like a +fool I determined to attack the whole family of them. It was worthy of +a greenhorn out on his first hunting trip; but I did it nevertheless. +Accordingly after breakfast, having rubbed some oil upon my leg, which +was very sore from the cub's tongue, I took the driver, Tom, who did +not half like the business, and having armed myself with an ordinary +double No. 12 smoothbore, the first breechloader I ever had, I +started. I took the smoothbore because it shot a bullet very well; and +my experience has been that a round ball from a smoothbore is quite as +effective against a lion as an express bullet. The lion is soft, and +not a difficult animal to finish if you hit him anywhere in the body. +A buck takes far more killing. + +"Well, I started, and the first thing I set to work to do was to try +to discover whereabouts the brutes lay up for the day. About three +hundred yards from the waggon was the crest of a rise covered with +single mimosa trees, dotted about in a park-like fashion, and beyond +this was a stretch of open plain running down to a dry pan, or +waterhole, which covered about an acre of ground, and was densely +clothed with reeds, now in the sere and yellow leaf. From the further +edge of this pan the ground sloped up again to a great cleft, or +nullah, which had been cut out by the action of the water, and was +pretty thickly sprinkled with bush, amongst which grew some large +trees, I forget of what sort. + +"It at once struck me that the dry pan would be a likely place to find +my friends in, as there is nothing a lion is fonder of than lying up +in reeds, through which he can see things without being seen himself. +Accordingly thither I went and prospected. Before I had got half-way +round the pan I found the remains of a blue vilderbeeste that had +evidently been killed within the last three or four days and partially +devoured by lions; and from other indications about I was soon assured +that if the family were not in the pan that day they spent a good deal +of their spare time there. But if there, the question was how to get +them out; for it was clearly impossible to think of going in after +them unless one was quite determined to commit suicide. Now there was +a strong wind blowing from the direction of the waggon, across the +reedy pan towards the bush-clad kloof or donga, and this first gave me +the idea of firing the reeds, which, as I think I told you, were +pretty dry. Accordingly Tom took some matches and began starting +little fires to the left, and I did the same to the right. But the +reeds were still green at the bottom, and we should never have got +them well alight had it not been for the wind, which grew stronger and +stronger as the sun climbed higher, and forced the fire into them. At +last, after half-an-hour's trouble, the flames got a hold, and began +to spread out like a fan, whereupon I went round to the further side +of the pan to wait for the lions, standing well out in the open, as we +stood at the copse to-day where you shot the woodcock. It was a rather +risky thing to do, but I used to be so sure of my shooting in those +days that I did not so much as mind the risk. Scarcely had I got round +when I heard the reeds parting before the onward rush of some animal. +'Now for it,' said I. On it came. I could see that it was yellow, and +prepared for action, when instead of a lion out bounded a beautiful +reit bok which had been lying in the shelter of the pan. It must, by +the way, have been a reit bok of a peculiarly confiding nature to lay +itself down with the lion, like the lamb of prophecy, but I suppose +the reeds were thick, and that it kept a long way off. + +"Well, I let the reit bok go, and it went like the wind, and kept my +eyes fixed upon the reeds. The fire was burning like a furnace now; +the flames crackling and roaring as they bit into the reeds, sending +spouts of fire twenty feet and more into the air, and making the hot +air dance above it in a way that was perfectly dazzling. But the reeds +were still half green, and created an enormous quantity of smoke, +which came rolling towards me like a curtain, lying very low on +account of the wind. Presently, above the crackling of the fire, I +heard a startled roar, then another and another. So the lions were at +home. + +"I was beginning to get excited now, for, as you fellows know, there +is nothing in experience to warm up your nerves like a lion at close +quarters, unless it is a wounded buffalo; and I became still more so +when I made out through the smoke that the lions were all moving about +on the extreme edge of the reeds. Occasionally they would pop their +heads out like rabbits from a burrow, and then, catching sight of me +standing about fifty yards away, draw them back again. I knew that it +must be getting pretty warm behind them, and that they could not keep +the game up for long; and I was not mistaken, for suddenly all four of +them broke cover together, the old black-maned lion leading by a few +yards. I never saw a more splendid sight in all my hunting experience +than those four lions bounding across the veldt, overshadowed by the +dense pall of smoke and backed by the fiery furnace of the burning +reeds. + +"I reckoned that they would pass, on their way to the bushy kloof, +within about five and twenty yards of me, so, taking a long breath, I +got my gun well on to the lion's shoulder--the black-maned one--so as +to allow for an inch or two of motion, and catch him through the +heart. I was on, dead on, and my finger was just beginning to tighten +on the trigger, when suddenly I went blind--a bit of reed-ash had +drifted into my right eye. I danced and rubbed, and succeeded in +clearing it more or less just in time to see the tail of the last lion +vanishing round the bushes up the kloof. + +"If ever a man was mad I was that man. It was too bad; and such a shot +in the open! However, I was not going to be beaten, so I just turned +and marched for the kloof. Tom, the driver, begged and implored me not +to go, but though as a personal rule I never pretend to be very brave +(which I am not), I was determined that I would either kill those +lions or they should kill me. So I told Tom that he need not come +unless he liked, but I was going; and being a plucky fellow, a Swazi +by birth, he shrugged his shoulders, muttered that I was mad or +bewitched, and followed doggedly in my tracks. + +"We soon reached the kloof, which was about three hundred yards in +length and but sparsely wooded, and then the real fun began. There +might be a lion behind every bush--there certainly were four lions +somewhere; the delicate question was, where. I peeped and poked and +looked in every possible direction, with my heart in my mouth, and was +at last rewarded by catching a glimpse of something yellow moving +behind a bush. At the same moment, from another bush opposite me out +burst one of the cubs and galloped back towards the burnt pan. I +whipped round and let drive a snap shot that tipped him head over +heels, breaking his back within two inches of the root of the tail, +and there he lay helpless but glaring. Tom afterwards killed him with +his assegai. I opened the breech of the gun and hurriedly pulled out +the old case, which, to judge from what ensued, must, I suppose, have +burst and left a portion of its fabric sticking to the barrel. At any +rate, when I tried to get in the new cartridge it would only enter +half-way; and--would you believe it?--this was the moment that the +lioness, attracted no doubt by the outcry of her cub, chose to put in +an appearance. There she stood, twenty paces or so from me, lashing +her tail and looking just as wicked as it is possible to conceive. +Slowly I stepped backwards, trying to push in the new case, and as I +did so she moved on in little runs, dropping down after each run. The +danger was imminent, and the case would not go in. At the moment I +oddly enough thought of the cartridge maker, whose name I will not +mention, and earnestly hoped that if the lion got /me/ some condign +punishment would overtake /him/. It would not go in, so I tried to +pull it out. It would not come out either, and my gun was useless if I +could not shut it to use the other barrel. I might as well have had no +gun. + +"Meanwhile I was walking backward, keeping my eye on the lioness, who +was creeping forward on her belly without a sound, but lashing her +tail and keeping her eye on me; and in it I saw that she was coming in +a few seconds more. I dashed my wrist and the palm of my hand against +the brass rim of the cartridge till the blood poured from them--look, +there are the scars of it to this day!" + +Here Quatermain held up his right hand to the light and showed us four +or five white cicatrices just where the wrist is set into the hand. + +"But it was not of the slightest use," he went on; "the cartridge +would not move. I only hope that no other man will ever be put in such +an awful position. The lioness gathered herself together, and I gave +myself up for lost, when suddenly Tom shouted out from somewhere in my +rear-- + +"'You are walking on to the wounded cub; turn to the right.' + +"I had the sense, dazed as I was, to take the hint, and slewing round +at right-angles, but still keeping my eyes on the lioness, I continued +my backward walk. + +"To my intense relief, with a low growl she straightened herself, +turned, and bounded further up the kloof. + +"'Come on, Inkoos,' said Tom, 'let's get back to the waggon.' + +"'All right, Tom,' I answered. 'I will when I have killed those three +other lions,' for by this time I was bent on shooting them as I never +remember being bent on anything before or since. 'You can go if you +like, or you can get up a tree.' + +"He considered the position a little, and then he very wisely got up a +tree. I wish that I had done the same. + +"Meanwhile I had found my knife, which had an extractor in it, and +succeeded after some difficulty in pulling out the cartridge which had +so nearly been the cause of my death, and removing the obstruction in +the barrel. It was very little thicker than a postage-stamp; certainly +not thicker than a piece of writing-paper. This done, I loaded the +gun, bound a handkerchief round my wrist and hand to staunch the +flowing of the blood, and started on again. + +"I had noticed that the lioness went into a thick green bush, or +rather a cluster of bushes, growing near the water, about fifty yards +higher up, for there was a little stream running down the kloof, and I +walked towards this bush. When I got there, however, I could see +nothing, so I took up a big stone and threw it into the bushes. I +believe that it hit the other cub, for out it came with a rush, giving +me a broadside shot, of which I promptly availed myself, knocking it +over dead. Out, too, came the lioness like a flash of light, but quick +as she went I managed to put the other bullet into her ribs, so that +she rolled right over three times like a shot rabbit. I instantly got +two more cartridges into the gun, and as I did so the lioness rose +again and came crawling towards me on her fore-paws, roaring and +groaning, and with such an expression of diabolical fury on her +countenance as I have not often seen. I shot her again through the +chest, and she fell over on to her side quite dead. + +"That was the first and last time that I ever killed a brace of lions +right and left, and, what is more, I never heard of anybody else doing +it. Naturally I was considerably pleased with myself, and having again +loaded up, I went on to look for the black-maned beauty who had killed +Kaptein. Slowly, and with the greatest care, I proceeded up the kloof, +searching every bush and tuft of grass as I went. It was wonderfully +exciting work, for I never was sure from one moment to another but +that he would be on me. I took comfort, however, from the reflection +that a lion rarely attacks a man--rarely, I say; sometimes he does, as +you will see--unless he is cornered or wounded. I must have been +nearly an hour hunting after that lion. Once I thought I saw something +move in a clump of tambouki grass, but I could not be sure, and when I +trod out the grass I could not find him. + +"At last I worked up to the head of the kloof, which made a /cul-de- +sac/. It was formed of a wall of rock about fifty feet high. Down this +rock trickled a little waterfall, and in front of it, some seventy +feet from its face, was a great piled-up mass of boulders, in the +crevices and on the top of which grew ferns, grasses, and stunted +bushes. This mass was about twenty-five feet high. The sides of the +kloof here were also very steep. Well, I came to the top of the nullah +and looked all round. No signs of the lion. Evidently I had either +overlooked him further down, or he had escaped right away. It was very +vexatious; but still three lions were not a bad bag for one gun before +dinner, and I was fain to be content. Accordingly I departed back +again, making my way round the isolated pillar of boulders, beginning +to feel, as I did so, that I was pretty well done up with excitement +and fatigue, and should be more so before I had skinned those three +lions. When I had got, as nearly as I could judge, about eighteen +yards past the pillar or mass of boulders, I turned to have another +look round. I have a pretty sharp eye, but I could see nothing at all. + +"Then, on a sudden, I saw something sufficiently alarming. On the top +of the mass of boulders, opposite to me, standing out clear against +the rocks beyond, was the huge black-maned lion. He had been crouching +there, and now arose as though by magic. There he stood lashing his +tail, just like a living reproduction of the animal on the gateway of +Northumberland House that I have seen in a picture. But he did not +stand long. Before I could fire--before I could do more than get the +gun to my shoulder--he sprang straight up and out from the rock, and +driven by the impetus of that one mighty bound came hurtling through +the air towards me. + +"Heavens! how grand he looked, and how awful! High into the air he +flew, describing a great arch. Just as he touched the highest point of +his spring I fired. I did not dare to wait, for I saw that he would +clear the whole space and land right upon me. Without a sight, almost +without aim, I fired, as one would fire a snap shot at a snipe. The +bullet told, for I distinctly heard its thud above the rushing sound +caused by the passage of the lion through the air. Next second I was +swept to the ground (luckily I fell into a low, creeper-clad bush, +which broke the shock) and the lion was on the top of me, and the next +those great white teeth of his had met in my thigh--I heard them grate +against the bone. I yelled out in agony, for I did not feel in the +least benumbed and happy, like Dr. Livingstone--who, by the way, I +knew very well--and gave myself up for dead. But suddenly, as I did +so, the lion's grip on my thigh loosened, and he stood over me, +swaying to and fro, his huge mouth, from which the blood was gushing, +wide open. Then he roared, and the sound shook the rocks. + +"To and fro he swung, and suddenly the great head dropped on me, +knocking all the breath from my body, and he was dead. My bullet had +entered in the centre of his chest and passed out on the right side of +the spine about half-way down the back. + +"The pain of my wound kept me from fainting, and as soon as I got my +breath I managed to drag myself from under him. Thank heavens, his +great teeth had not crushed my thigh-bone; but I was losing a great +deal of blood, and had it not been for the timely arrival of Tom, with +whose aid I loosed the handkerchief from my wrist and tied it round my +leg, twisting it tight with a stick, I think that I should have bled +to death. + +"Well, it was a just reward for my folly in trying to tackle a family +of lions single-handed. The odds were too long. I have been lame ever +since, and shall be to my dying day; in the month of March the wound +always troubles me a great deal, and every three years it breaks out +raw. + +"I need scarcely add that I never traded the lot of ivory at +Sikukuni's. Another man got it--a German--and made five hundred pounds +out of it after paying expenses. I spent the month on the broad of my +back, and was a cripple for six months after that. And now I've told +you the yarn, so I will have a drop of Hollands and go to bed. Good- +night to you all, good-night!" + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Long Odds, by H. Rider Haggard + diff --git a/old/lodds10a.zip b/old/lodds10a.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e686dec --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lodds10a.zip |