Hair-Breadth Escapes: The Adventures of Three Boys in South Africa

“I am pretty nearly as bad as you are, Nick,” returned Wilmore. “There’s De Walden for ever teaching those niggers, and there’s Ernest for ever dangling about Ella; and very pleasant I dare say, they find it. But you and I don’t particularly fancy young darkies, and haven’t any girls to talk to, seeing Miss Ella has no ears for any one but Ernest. I am tired of trying to learn Basuto, or to throw an assegai, or shoot with one of their bows and arrows, which are about big enough for a child of ten years old. If we could only go out with our guns every day – ”

“We are not to go out again,” interrupted Nick. “The powder’s running so very short, that there are not above a dozen charges left. So we must learn assegai throwing and archery, if we mean to have any sport in future.”

“I shall never make a hand at either,” said Frank. “A fellow must be born to it, to knock things over as these Basutos do. Well, I agree with you, I don’t think I can stand this much longer, without going stark crazy.”

“Suppose we don’t stand it, Frank,” suggested Gilbert. “It quite rests with ourselves. No one can compel us.”

“I don’t quite understand you,” said Wilmore. “How can we help ourselves?”

“By taking ourselves off,” answered the other.

“Look here. They say we ought to remain until the messengers return that were sent to Cape Town, and that it would be hard upon Lavie, if he were to come here and find us gone. Very good. But De Walden and Warley both mean to remain with Queen Laura; so that whenever he may come (if he does come) he will find them, and that will answer every purpose. But you and I may go our way, and leave them to go theirs.”

“What! you propose that we two should set off for Cape Town alone, hey? Could we find our way, think you?”

“I don’t see why we shouldn’t. We know the exact position of Cape Town, and the pocket compass, which Lavie gave me, will enable us to go at all events in the right direction. It will take a long time, no doubt – ”

“Three or four months, at least,” said Wilmore.

“About that, I judge,” rejoined Gilbert. “But then we shall be tolerably sure to fall in with some Dutch village or farm before we have got half-way; and the Dutch are hospitable, though not civil to the English. They couldn’t turn us out into the wilderness, anyhow.”

“No, I suppose not,” said Frank, “particularly as we have got money to pay for what we want. But then, Nick, how are we to subsist till we reach one of these villages or farms. The nearest, I believe, are fully two hundred miles off, if we went ever so straight. With only six charges in our guns – ”

“We must reserve our fire for great emergencies,” interrupted Nick. “I have my knife, any way, and we have learned something by this time, remember, and know where to find the roots and fruits these fellows eat. Besides, it’s the season for birds’ eggs now, and there’ll be heaps of them.”

“Yes, and we can take a lot of mealeys with us,” added Wilmore. “They will go into a small compass and last a long time. Well, Nick, I don’t mind, if I go in for this with you. So far as I can see, we may wait here, day after day, for the next twelvemonth; and I’d rather take my chance of being devoured alive by the wild beasts, or knocked on the head by the savages, than have to go through that. When do you propose that we should make a start?”

“Well, we must first of all lay in a store of mealeys – I always meant to take them: and I should like to get out of De Walden the nearest way to the banks of the Gariep. I’ve an idea that if we could reach that, we might make another raft like that on which we made our voyage to the island, and float on it till we came to the place where we were carried away by the flood. We should both know that again.”

“That’s not a bad idea, Nick. We should find plenty to eat as we went along. We could store up a lot of figs, or dates or bananas on the raft – enough to last us a week, I dare say; and the current runs pretty swift, I expect. Only how about the falls at different parts of the river? I’ve heard there are several places where there are rapids, or actual cascades.”

“I don’t think there are between this and the place I was speaking of. Anyhow we must be on the look out, and if we see any reason to think we are getting near one, we must run ashore. Of course there must be some risk, you know.”

“Of course. Well, I am game to go, and I think we had better make a start as soon as possible. Suppose we look up the mealeys to-morrow and the next day – Tuesday, that is, and Wednesday, and set out on Thursday.”

“We had better set out on Wednesday night. There is a full moon then, which will light us as well as broad day would. And it would give us a start of ten hours or so before we were missed.”

“Very good. I have no objection. It is the pleasantest time for travelling during the warm weather.”

On the Wednesday evening, accordingly, the two boys set out on their expedition. Nick had managed skilfully to extract the information he desired from the missionary, without exciting his suspicions; and they had had no difficulty in gathering a heap of ripe mealeys, as large as they could carry in their knapsacks, unobserved by any one. They were careful to take no more than the exact amount of powder, which they considered to be their share of the remaining stock. Frank also wrote a few lines, addressed to Warley, in which he told him, that they had found their life of late so unendurable that they had resolved to brave every toil and danger, rather than continue to undergo it. He begged that no attempt might be made at pursuit; because in event of their being overtaken, they were resolved positively to refuse to return to the Basuto village. Lastly, he assured Ernest, that if they succeeded in reaching Cape Town, they would take care that steps were immediately taken for securing his safe journey thither.

Having left this letter on the table, where it would be sure to be found on the following morning, the two lads set forth under the bright moonlight, and travelled in safety some fifteen or sixteen miles through the night and into the next day, when the burning heat warned them that it was time to rest. They started again an hour or two after sunset, and again pursued their way through almost unbroken solitude, tracking their way partly by the aid of Gilbert’s compass, partly by their recollection of Mr De Walden’s information. So many days passed on, until the whole of their store of provisions was exhausted, and they were fain to supply themselves with anything eatable, which the desert or forest could furnish.

But here they found, for the first time, their calculations fail them. The plains they traversed were either wastes of arid sand, or ranges of forest producing haak-doorns and kamel doorns and mimosas in abundance, and occasionally sycamores and acacias, but none of the fruit trees they had reckoned on finding. At the end of the second day, they were obliged to expend some of their dearly cherished ammunition in firing at a gemsbok, which came full upon them in one of the turnings of the forest, and which they were fortunate enough to wound with the first shot they fired, and kill with a second.

Collecting a heap of dry grass and wood, they succeeded, by the help of Lavie’s burning-glass, which had been the doctor’s parting gift to Frank, in lighting a fire, at which they roasted a considerable part of the gemsbok’s flesh, and having made a hearty meal upon it, stored the remains in their knapsacks. A considerable supply of meat was thus obtained, and for two or three days they fared well enough, especially as there was a fall of rain, which gave them plenty of water.

But the line of country through which they passed continued as barren of the means of supporting existence as ever, and they were presently reduced to the same straits as before. They began, indeed, now to be somewhat alarmed at their situation. They had reckoned that it would be a fortnight’s journey to the banks of the Gariep; but they had been ten days on their route, and had not, so far as they could calculate, accomplished half the distance. Each of them had only two charges of powder left, and it was evident that their guns alone could be reckoned on, as furnishing them with food in the country where they were now travelling. Their condition was rendered worse by two unsuccessful attempts which they made to shoot a buffalo on the day after the last batch of gemsbok meat had been consumed. They had come on the track of a herd of buffaloes, which they had resolved to follow, and after many hours of careful stalking, they had got so near to the herd at sunset as to venture a shot. But, just as in the former instance, though the animal was hit, and it might be severely wounded, it did not fall, but was able to make off with the rest of the herd.

“Oh, Frank, what will become of us?” exclaimed Nick, as he witnessed this mishap. “If we don’t get food somewhere to-night, I feel as if I should perish of hunger.”

“Never say die, Nick,” said Frank, cheerily. “Look here! This brute is hit hard, I’m sure of that; and I’m pretty sure, too, that he won’t hold out very long. Just look what lots of blood he has left behind him. They’ll be quite enough to enable us to track him, even by this light. We’ll follow up the blood-marks until we find him. Even if another shot should be necessary, we shall still have a charge apiece left, if we should be attacked. If we kill the buffalo it will supply us with food for a long time to come, and it is very unlikely that the country will continue as bare of all fruit, as it has been since we left the village.”

“All right, Frank,” returned Nick; “that is the best way of viewing it at all events. I’ll just take a hole up in my belt to stop the importunities of my stomach, and then we’ll be off after the buffalo. We may as well go that way as any other, at all events.”

They set out accordingly, following without difficulty, by the help of the moon, the course taken by the herd across the open plain and the intervening patches of scrub for two or three hours. The marks of blood were plainly enough visible all the way, sometimes in large patches, as though the wounded animal had stopped behind the rest through momentary weakness; and then again only a drop here and there, as if it had again exerted its remaining strength to overtake the herd. At last they came to a spot where a larger puddle than any before stained the adjacent grass and sand, and then the marks no longer followed the general track, but turned aside into a deep thicket, through which the two boys had considerable difficulty in following its course.

They had advanced some distance, when Nick suddenly laid his hand on his companion’s arm.

“Did you hear that?” he said.

“Hear what?” returned Wilmore.

“I fancied I heard a shot fired,” said Gilbert, “but I suppose I must have been mistaken.”

“A shot! Who could there be in these parts to fire one? It was the fall of a large stone from the cliffs, most likely. They are often dislodged by the wind, and make a noise like the report of a gun. Come along, we shall not have much further to go, I expect.”

“Hist!” exclaimed Nick, again stopping. “I am quite sure I hear something now, though in a different quarter from that in which I fancied the gun was fired.”

“What do you hear?” asked Wilmore, stopping and listening with all his ears.

“A kind of low growling, or groaning,” answered Nick; “or perhaps grinding of teeth. It is very indistinct; but I am certain that I hear it.”

“It is the poor brute in his dying agony,” said Frank. “Push on. We must be close to him now.”

By this time the dawn had begun to break, and the daylight diffused itself rapidly over the scene. The beams of the rising sun showed that they were, as Frank said, close on the buffalo’s trail. The grass was trampled down, as if by heavy footsteps, and blood, evidently only recently shed, stained the bushes and long grass in profusion. And now the sound heard by Nick became plainly audible to Frank also.

“Cock your gun, Nick!” he said. “He may have life enough left in him to give us some trouble yet.”

As he spoke he turned the corner of a large mass of prickly pear, which had been partly forced aside and partly torn away by the passage of some heavy body, and came upon a sight which was as alarming as it was unexpected.

The carcass of the buffalo lay on the ground, already partially devoured. Standing over it were a male and female panther (or tiger, as the natives of South Africa are wont to call them), engaged in tearing the flesh from the ribs with their long white shining teeth. The animals were as big as an ordinary English mastiff, and the glare of their large yellow eyes showed that the ferocity of their nature was fully awakened. Frank fell back, as soon as his eye lighted on them, conscious that his best hope of escape lay in instantly withdrawing from the spot; but Nick, who had already raised his gun before he had come in sight of the enemy he was about to encounter, drew his trigger, scarcely aware of what he was doing, wounding the male panther severely, but not mortally, in the chest. With a fierce howl of agony and rage combined, the tiger sprang straight upon him; and if he had not been extraordinarily light of limb and quick of eye, the next moment would have been his last. But the moment the charge left the barrel, he perceived the imminence of the danger threatening him, and, dropping his gun, he sprang lightly on one side. The brute’s claws and teeth just missed their aim, but the body, in passing, struck him with sufficient force to prostrate him insensible on the ground. The wounded panther had no sooner recovered from its spring, than it turned back to fasten on its fallen enemy; but Frank, stepping instantly up, with ready presence of mind, applied the muzzle of his rifle to its ear, as it was on the very point of bending its neck, and it fell lifeless on the ground.

But the boys were now left quite helpless. The last charge had been fired, and the remaining panther, which had stood motionless since the discharge of the gun, watching as it were the issue of the struggle, now gave evident signs that it was about to avenge its mate. Erecting its tail, it uttered a low growl, which swelled gradually into a savage roar. Another minute and his teeth would have been fastened in the lad’s throat; but before the animal could make its leap, the sound of pattering feet was heard, and a large dog, bounding through the bushes, sprang on the tiger and caught it by the throat. The brute turned savagely on its new assailant, and a furious combat commenced; the tiger tearing the ribs of the mastiff with its claws, but unable to shake off the hold it had fastened on its throat Frank gazed with blank amazement at the appearance of this unexpected champion, which seemed to have fallen from the skies for his deliverance; and his astonishment was increased when he perceived, as he presently did, that the dog was no other than his long-lost, faithful Lion! How he could be still living, and still more, what could have brought him there, he could not conceive. But it was no moment for speculation. His favourite was matched against an antagonist which, if it did not prove victor in the struggle, might at all events inflict the most deadly wounds before it could be overcome. Frank stooped, and drew the strong clasped knife which Nick always carried in his belt. Opening this, he stepped forward to the spot, where the two animals, now covered with dust and blood, were savagely rending one another; he waited for the moment when the panther’s breast became exposed, and plunged the knife into it up to the hilt. The stab was mortal. Unfastening the grip of its teeth on Lion’s side, the brute endeavoured to seize this new enemy; but it could not disengage itself from Lion’s hold. Its jaws collapsed, its savage eyes grew filmy and dim, and in another minute the mastiff was tearing and shaking the inanimate carcass of its adversary.

“Lion! Lion! dear old boy! – are you much hurt,” exclaimed Frank, running up, and throwing his arms round his favourite’s neck; “however did you come here? and where have you been all these weeks and months? I can hardly believe, even now, that it is really you.”

“Yes, it really him – it Lion for sure. Kobo and he make friends – know each other ever so long,” said a tall Bechuana, who had now joined the party, and stood with a grin on his black face. “But, Master Nick – he not hurt, is he?”

“What, Kobo, you too here!” exclaimed Frank. “But we’ll talk about that presently. We must see to Nick here. I declare I almost forgot him in the surprise and joy at seeing old Lion again. But men before dogs. I am pretty sure, though, Gilbert isn’t hurt. He’s only stunned by the weight of the leopard’s body, when he sprang on him.”

They raised the lad between them, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing him open his eyes, and draw in a long breath; and then, after once or twice stretching himself, and feeling his chest and ribs, declare that he wasn’t a pin the worse, and would be ready for his dinner, as soon as ever Kobo could supply him with any!

Chapter Twenty Four

The Long-Expected Arrival – Captain Wilmore’s Narrative – The Tutelary Spirit – Lion to the Rescue – Plans for the Future – The Future Church

It was not until quite late on the morning after the departure of the boys, that the fact became known to De Walden and Ernest. It chanced to be the day appointed by the missionary for the baptism of two of his adult converts, for whom Ernest and Ella were to act as sponsors. In the interest of the occasion, the absence of the two boys was not noticed; and it was not until after the conclusion of the rite, that Ernest, happening to enter Frank’s sleeping room, to ask some casual question of him, saw the note left on the table. As soon as he had read it, he repaired to his friend’s apartment, and the two held an anxious consultation as to the course which, under the circumstances, it would be most expedient for them to pursue. De Walden knew – what none of the three lads could surmise – how great was the danger incurred by the truants, and how slender the hope of their succeeding in carrying out their projected scheme. They must be pursued, and overtaken, and warned of their peril, whatever might be the risk or fatigue incurred by so doing. If, after such warning, they persisted in their rash enterprise, they could not, of course, be prevented from pursuing it; but the blame would then rest wholly with themselves.

They were still engaged in arranging their plans for immediate pursuit, when Ella entered the room where they were seated, with tidings which were even more unexpected than those they had that morning received.

“My father,” she said – so she always addressed De Walden – “the visitors you and Ernest have been so long expecting, have arrived, and are now with my mother. Will you come and see them?”

“The visitors, Ella!” exclaimed Warley, starting up. “Whom can you mean? – not Lavie surely – ”

“Yes, he is one,” returned Ella, “and there is a captain, an English captain. He is Frank’s father or uncle – ”

“Captain Wilmore!” cried Warley. “Has he fallen in with Frank?”

“No, we have told him that he and Gilbert have gone off by themselves, and that they cannot be very far off, and he means to go in search of them, I believe. But he wants to see you first.”

De Walden and Ernest hastened to the Queen’s apartment, and were soon exchanging a cordial grasp of the hand with the new-comers.

“God be praised for this!” said the missionary. “You cannot think how anxious I have been about you, Charles, though I did not tell the lads so. Unwilling as I was to leave this place, I had fully resolved that if the present month should pass without tidings of you, I would set off with them for Cape Town. I wish now I had told them of my intention; it would no doubt have prevented this foolish escapade of theirs. I knew I could trust Ernest to remain quiet, and I thought I could trust the others.”

“You must not blame them, sir,” said Warley. “I have no doubt they had the same idea which I have entertained myself, though I thought it best to say nothing about it, that treacherous orders had been given to your guide to prevent your ever reaching Cape Town.”

“I cannot wonder that either you or they thought that,” said De Walden, “after Chuma’s treatment of us.”

“But,” resumed Warley, “if I was doubtful about Charles’s safety, I was much more despondent about Captain Wilmore. I had little hope, I confess, of ever seeing him again.”

“And you would have had less hope still, my lad,” said Captain Wilmore, “if you had known what befell us when we left the Hooghly.”

“You must hear the whole history from his own lips,” said Lavie; “but not just now. We have a good deal to do this morning that must be attended to.”

“I dare say the captain will relate it after supper,” said De Walden. “Now come and hear the report of the scouts.”

That evening, accordingly, when the repast in the Queen’s apartments was concluded, Captain Wilmore was called upon for the particulars of his adventures, which he was no way unwilling to relate.

“You two will remember,” he began, “the gale soon after we left the Cape de Verdes. The foreigners I had taken on board showed themselves much smarter hands than I had expected, and worked double tides all the afternoon. I didn’t suspect their motive for showing so much zeal, which was no doubt to remove any suspicions I might have entertained, and make me relax my watch over them. It quite succeeded. I turned in about sundown thoroughly knocked up, but well satisfied with the behaviour of the ship’s company, and intending to have a long sleep. A very long sleep it was nearly being – ”

“Did they intend to murder you, sir, do you think?” asked Warley.

“I do not think about it,” returned the captain. “I am sure of it. Half a dozen of them, with their knives drawn, and accompanied by those villains Duncan and O’Hara, were stealing down the companion to my cabin when they were challenged by old Jennings, who gave the alarm, and the pirates were obliged to make the attack openly. They cut the poor old man down, but he saved all our lives nevertheless. I have heard what became of him from Lavie, and it grieves me much to think that I shall never have an opportunity in this world of thanking the good old man for his bravery and self-devotion; but he will not miss his reward.”

The captain’s voice was husky, and no one spoke for a minute or two; then Warley broke the silence.

“Well, I should quite have believed that they intended to do it from all I heard from Jennings and others about Duncan and O’Hara, as well as from the well-known character of these pirates. But then, if that was their intention, why did they allow you to leave the ship unhurt?”

“Ah, why indeed,” repeated the captain. “I can’t blame you for entertaining that notion, my lad; for I, old hand as I am, did not suspect their infernal treachery and cunning. You see, when the pirate ship came up, we were just preparing to blow up the hatches and rush on deck. No doubt they would have got the better of us, and killed us to a man; but before they had managed that they would have suffered considerably themselves. That wily villain, Andy Duncan – I have been told since it was he, and I have no doubt it was – devised a scheme by which they would be enabled to get rid of us quite as easily as if they had blown out all our brains, but without incurring any risks themselves. We discovered, when we had been an hour or two on board the boats, that some trick had been played with them, and they were very slowly but surely filling.”

“The merciless wretches!” exclaimed Ernest; “and you were some hundreds of miles from shore?”

“Yes, quite five hundred from Ascension, which was the nearest land.”

“How did you escape, sir?” exclaimed De Walden.

“Only by God’s mercy. The discovery was first made in the launch which Grey commanded. The night, you will remember, was very dark, or it probably would have been made before; but they did not find it out till it was too late to keep it afloat even for a time. They shouted to us for help, but she had sunk before we could reach them, and there was a strong current just where she went down, which swept them all away – except one of the mates, who managed to keep afloat until we picked him up. On hearing his story, we contrived to strike a light, and examined our own boat. There was a leak in her too, but providentially only just below the waterline. I suppose whoever did the job, thought the boat floated deeper than she did; but by lightening her as much as possible, and throwing all the weight that remained on the other side, we raised the damaged part out of water, and then baled her out. When day broke we were enabled to examine her more carefully. The injury was beyond our power to repair effectually. All we could do was just to keep her afloat, and if the sea had not been exceptionally calm we could not have done even that. Moreover, we had been obliged to throw overboard nearly all our provisions and water. In short, we should not only have never reached Ascension, but must have perished of hunger and thirst very speedily, if on the morning of the third day, shortly after dawn, a vessel had not appeared on our lee beam, apparently running before the light breeze which rippled the sea.