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The Gorilla Hunters

by R. M. Ballantyne · English · Gutenberg #21736 · 528,724 chars · public domain (US)

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Title: The Gorilla Hunters

Author: R. M. Ballantyne


        
Release date: June 7, 2007 [eBook #21736]

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21736

Credits: Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GORILLA HUNTERS ***




Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England




THE GORILLA HUNTERS, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE.



CHAPTER ONE.

IN WHICH THE HUNTERS ARE INTRODUCED.

It was five o'clock in the afternoon.  There can be no doubt whatever as
to that.  Old Agnes may say what she pleases--she has a habit of doing
so--but I know for certain (because I looked at my watch not ten minutes
before it happened) that it was exactly five o'clock in the afternoon
when I received a most singular and every way remarkable visit--a visit
which has left an indelible impression on my memory, as well it might;
for, independent of its singularity and unexpectedness, one of its
results was the series of strange adventures which are faithfully
detailed in this volume.

It happened thus:--

I was seated in an armchair in my private study in a small town on the
west coast of England.  It was a splendid afternoon, and it was exactly
five o'clock.  Mark that.  Not that there is anything singular about the
mere fact, neither is it in any way mixed up with the thread of this
tale; but old Agnes is very obstinate--singularly positive--and I have a
special desire that she should see it in print, that I have not given in
on that point.  Yes, it was five precisely, and a beautiful evening.  I
was ruminating, as I frequently do, on the pleasant memories of bygone
days, especially the happy days that I spent long ago among the coral
islands of the Pacific, when a tap at the door aroused me.

"Come in."

"A veesiter, sir," said old Agnes (my landlady), "an' he'll no gie his
name."

Old Agnes, I may remark, is a Scotchwoman.

"Show him in," said I.

"Maybe he's a pickpocket," suggested Agnes.

"I'll take my chance of that."

"Ay! that's like 'ee.  Cares for naethin'.  Losh, man, what if he cuts
yer throat?"

"I'll take my chance of that too; only _do_ show him in, my good woman,"
said I, with a gesture of impatience that caused the excellent (though
obstinate) old creature to depart, grumbling.

In another moment a quick step was heard on the stair, and a stranger
burst into the room, shut the door in my landlady's face as she followed
him, and locked it.

I was naturally surprised, though not alarmed, by the abrupt and
eccentric conduct of my visitor, who did not condescend to take off his
hat, but stood with his arms folded on his breast, gazing at me and
breathing hard.

"You are agitated, sir; pray be seated," said I, pointing to a chair.

The stranger, who was a little man and evidently a gentleman, made no
reply, but, seizing a chair, placed it exactly before me, sat down on it
as he would have seated himself on a horse, rested his arms on the back,
and stared me in the face.

"You are disposed to be facetious," said I, smiling (for I never take
offence without excessively good reason).

"Not at all, by no means," said he, taking off his hat and throwing it
recklessly on the floor.  "You are Mr Rover, I presume?"

"The same, sir, at your service."

"Are you? oh, that's yet to be seen!  Pray, is your Christian name
Ralph?"

"It is," said I, in some surprise at the coolness of my visitor.

"Ah! just so.  Christian name Ralph, t'other name Rover--Ralph Rover.
Very good.  Age twenty-two yesterday, eh?"

"My birthday _was_ yesterday, and my age _is_ twenty-two.  You appear to
know more of my private history than I have the pleasure of knowing of
yours.  Pray, sir, may I--but, bless me! are you unwell?"

I asked this in some alarm, because the little man was rolling about in
his seat, holding his sides, and growing very red in the face.

"Oh no! not at all; perfectly well--never was better in my life," he
said, becoming all at once preternaturally grave.  "You were once in the
Pacific--lived on a coral island--"

"I did."

"Oh, don't trouble yourself to answer.  Just shut up for a minute or
two.  You were rather a soft green youth then, and you don't seem to be
much harder or less verdant now."

"Sir!"  I exclaimed, getting angry.

"Just so," continued he, "and you knew a young rascal there--"

"I know a rascal _here_," I exclaimed, starting up, "whom I'll kick--"

"What!" cried the little stranger, also starting up and capsizing the
chair; "Ralph Rover, has time and sunburning and war so changed my
visage that you cannot recognise Peterkin?"

I almost gasped for breath.

"Peterkin--Peterkin Gay!"  I exclaimed.

I am not prone to indulge in effeminate demonstration, but I am not
ashamed to confess that when I gazed on the weather-beaten though ruddy
countenance of my old companion, and observed the eager glance of his
bright blue eyes, I was quite overcome, and rushed violently into his
arms.  I may also add that until that day I had had no idea of
Peterkin's physical strength; for during the next five minutes he
twisted me about and spun me round and round my own room until my brain
began to reel, and I was fain to cry him mercy.

"So, you're all right--the same jolly, young old wiseacre in whiskers
and long coat," cried Peterkin.  "Come now, Ralph, sit down if you can.
I mean to stay with you all evening, and all night, and all to-morrow,
and all next day, so we'll have lots of time to fight our battles o'er
again.  Meanwhile compose yourself, and I'll tell you what I've come
about.  Of course, my first and chief reason was to see your face, old
boy; but I have another reason too--a very peculiar reason.  I've a
proposal to make and a plan to unfold, both of 'em stunners; they'll
shut you up and screw you down, and altogether flabbergast you when you
hear 'em, so sit down and keep quiet--do."

I sat down accordingly, and tried to compose myself; but, to say truth,
I was so much overjoyed and excited by the sight of my old friend and
companion that I had some difficulty at first in fixing my attention on
what he said, the more especially that he spoke with extreme volubility,
and interrupted his discourse very frequently, in order to ask questions
or to explain.

"Now, old fellow," he began, "here goes, and mind you don't interrupt
me.  Well, I mean to go, and I mean you to go with me, to--but, I
forgot, perhaps you won't be able to go.  What are you?"

"What am I?"

"Ay, your profession, your calling; lawyer, M.D., scrivener--which?"

"I am a naturalist."

"A what?"

"A naturalist."

"Ralph," said Peterkin slowly, "have you been long troubled with that
complaint?"

"Yes," I replied, laughing; "I have suffered from it from my earliest
infancy, more or less."

"I thought so," rejoined my companion, shaking his head gravely.  "I
fancied that I observed the development of that disease when we lived
together on the coral island.  It don't bring you in many thousands a
year, does it?"

"No," said I, "it does not.  I am only an amateur, having a sufficiency
of this world's goods to live on without working for my bread.  But
although my dear father at his death left me a small fortune, which
yields me three hundred a year, I do not feel entitled to lead the life
of an idler in this busy world, where so many are obliged to toil night
and day for the bare necessaries of life.  I have therefore taken to my
favourite studies as a sort of business, and flatter myself that I have
made one or two not unimportant discoveries, and added a few mites to
the sum of human knowledge.  A good deal of my time is spent in
scientific roving expeditions throughout the country, and in
contributing papers to several magazines."

While I was thus speaking I observed that Peterkin's face was undergoing
the most remarkable series of changes of expression, which, as I
concluded, merged into a smile of beaming delight, as he said,--"Ralph,
you're a trump!"

"Possibly," said I, "you are right; but, setting that question aside for
the present, let me remind you that you have not yet told me where you
mean to go to."

"I mean," said Peterkin slowly, placing both hands on his knees and
looking me steadily in the face--"I mean to go a-hunting in--but I
forgot.  You don't know that I'm a hunter, a somewhat famous hunter?"

"Of course I don't.  You are so full of your plans and proposals that
you have not yet told me where you have been or what doing these six
years.  And you ye never written to me once all that time, shabby
fellow.  I thought you were dead."

"Did you go into mourning for me, Ralph?"

"No, of course not."

"A pretty fellow you are to find fault.  You thought that I, your oldest
and best friend, was dead, and you did not go into mourning.  How could
I write to you when you parted from me without giving me your address?
It was a mere chance my finding you out even now.  I was taking a quiet
cup of coffee in the commercial room of a hotel not far distant, when I
overheard a stranger speaking of his friend `Ralph Rover, the
philosopher,' so I plunged at him promiscuously, and made him give me
your address.  But I've corresponded with Jack ever since we parted on
the pier at Dover."

"What!  Jack--Jack Martin?"  I exclaimed, as a warm gush of feeling
filled my heart at the sound of his well-remembered name.  "Is Jack
alive?"

"Alive!  I should think so.  If possible, he's more alive than ever; for
I should suppose he must be full-grown now, which he was not when we
last met.  He and I have corresponded regularly.  He lives in the north
of England, and by good luck happens to be just now within thirty miles
of this town.  You don't mean to say, Ralph, that you have never met!"

"Never.  The very same mistake that happened with you occurred between
him and me.  We parted vowing to correspond as long as we should live,
and three hours after I remembered that we had neglected to exchange our
addresses, so that we could not correspond.  I have often, often made
inquiries both for you and him, but have always failed.  I never heard
of Jack from the time we parted at Dover till to-day."

"Then no doubt you thought us both dead, and yet you did not go into
mourning for either of us!  O Ralph, Ralph, I had entertained too good
an opinion of you."

"But tell me about Jack," said I, impatient to hear more concerning my
dear old comrade.

"Not just now, my boy; more of him in a few minutes.  First let us
return to the point.  What was it?  Oh! a--about my being a celebrated
hunter.  A very Nimrod--at least a miniature copy.  Well, Ralph, since
we last met I have been all over the world, right round and round it.
I'm a lieutenant in the navy now--at least I was a week ago.  I've been
fighting with the Kaffirs and the Chinamen, and been punishing the
rascally sepoys in India, and been hunting elephants in Ceylon and
tiger-shooting in the jungles, and harpooning whales in the polar seas,
and shooting lions at the Cape; oh, you've no notion where all I've
been.  It's a perfect marvel I've turned up here alive.  But there's one
beast I've not yet seen, and I'm resolved to see him and shoot him
too--"

"But," said I, interrupting, "what mean you by saying that you were a
lieutenant in the navy a week ago?"

"I mean that I've given it up.  I'm tired of the sea.  I only value it
as a means of getting from one country to another.  The land, the land
for me!  You must know that an old uncle, a rich old uncle of mine, whom
I never saw, died lately and left me his whole fortune.  Of course he
died in India.  All old uncles who die suddenly and leave unexpected
fortunes to unsuspecting nephews are old Indian uncles, and mine was no
exception to the general rule.  So I'm independent, like you, Ralph,
only I've got three or four thousand a year instead of hundreds, I
believe; but I'm not sure and don't care--and I'm determined now to go
on a long hunting expedition.  What think ye of all that, my boy?"

"In truth," said I, "it would puzzle me to say what I think, I am so
filled with surprise by all you tell me.  But you forget that you have
not yet told me to which part of the world you mean to go, and what sort
of beast it is you are so determined to see and shoot if you can."

"If I can!" echoed Peterkin, with a contemptuous curl of the lip.  "Did
not I tell you that I was a _celebrated_ hunter?  Without meaning to
boast, I may tell you that there is no peradventure in my shooting.  If
I only get there and see the brute within long range, I'll--ha! won't
I!"

"Get _where_, and see _what_?"

"Get to Africa and see the gorilla!" cried Peterkin, while a glow of
enthusiasm lighted up his eyes.  "You've heard of the gorilla, Ralph, of
course--the great ape--the enormous puggy--the huge baboon--the man
monkey, that we've been hearing so much of for some years back, and that
the niggers on the African coast used to dilate about till they caused
the very hair of my head to stand upon end?  I'm determined to shoot a
gorilla, or prove him to be a myth.  And I mean you to come and help me,
Ralph; he's quite in your way.  A bit of natural history, I suppose,
although he seems by all accounts to be a very unnatural monster.  And
Jack shall go too--I'm resolved on that; and we three shall roam the
wild woods again, as we did in days of yore, and--"

"Hold, Peterkin," said I, interrupting.  "How do you know that Jack will
go?"

"How do I know?  Intuitively, of course.  I shall write to him to-night;
the post does not leave till ten.  He'll get it to-morrow at breakfast,
and will catch the forenoon coach, which will bring him down here by two
o'clock, and then we'll begin our preparations at once, and talk the
matter over at dinner.  So you see it's all cut and dry.  Give me a
sheet of paper and I'll write at once.  Ah! here's a bit; now a pen.
Bless me, Ralph, haven't you got a quill?  Who ever heard of a
philosophical naturalist writing with steel.  Now, then, here
goes:--`B'luv'd Jack,'--will that do to begin with, eh?  I'm afraid it's
too affectionate; he'll think it's from a lady friend.  But it can't be
altered,--`Here I am, and here's Ralph--Ralph Rover!!!!!! think of
that,' (I say, Ralph, I've put six marks of admiration there); `I've
found him out.  Do come to see us.  Excruciatingly important business.
Ever thine--Peterkin Gay.'  Will that bring him, d'ye think?"

"I think it will," said I, laughing.

"Then off with it, Ralph," cried my volatile friend, jumping up and
looking hastily round for the bell-rope.  Not being able to find it, my
bell-pull being an unobtrusive knob and not a rope, he rushed to the
door, unlocked it, darted out, and uttered a tremendous roar, which was
followed by a clatter and a scream from old Agnes, whom he had upset and
tumbled over.

It was curious to note the sudden change that took place in Peterkin's
face, voice, and manner, as he lifted the poor old woman, who was very
thin and light, in his arms, and carrying her into the room, placed her
in my easy-chair.  Real anxiety was depicted in his countenance, and he
set her down with a degree of care and tenderness that quite amazed me.
I was myself very much alarmed at first.

"My poor dear old _woman_," said Peterkin, supporting my landlady's
head; "my stupid haste I fear you are hurt."

"Hech! it's nae hurt--it's deed I am, fair deed; killed be a
whaumlskamerin' young blagyird.  Oh, ma puir heed!"

The manner and tone in which this was said convinced me that old Agnes
was more frightened than injured.  In a few minutes the soothing tones
and kind manner of my friend had such an effect upon her that she
declared she was better, and believed after all that she was only a "wee
bit frichtened."  Nay, so completely was she conciliated, that she
insisted on conveying the note to the post-office, despite Peterkin's
assurance that he would not hear of it.  Finally she hobbled out of the
room with the letter in her hand.

It is interesting to note how that, in most of the affairs of humanity,
things turn out very different, often totally different, from what we
had expected or imagined.  During the remainder of that evening Peterkin
and I talked frequently and much of our old friend Jack Martin.  We
recalled his manly yet youthful countenance, his bold, lion-like
courage, his broad shoulders and winning gentle smile, and although we
knew that six years must have made an immense difference in his personal
appearance--for he was not much more than eighteen when we last parted--
we could not think of him except as a hearty, strapping sailor-boy.  We
planned, too, how we would meet him at the coach; how we would stand
aside in the crowd until he began to look about for us in surprise, and
then one of us would step forward and ask if he wished to be directed to
any particular part of the town, and so lead him on and talk to him as a
stranger for some time before revealing who we were.  And much more to
the same effect.  But when next day came our plans and our conceptions
were utterly upset.

A little before two we sauntered down to the coach-office, and waited
impatiently for nearly twenty minutes.  Of course the coach was late; it
always is on such occasions.

"Suppose he does not come," said I.

"What a fellow you are," cried Peterkin, "to make uncomfortable
suppositions!  Let us rather suppose that he does come."

"Oh, then, it would be all right; but if he does not come, what then?"

"Why, then, it would be all wrong, and we should have to return home and
eat our dinner in the sulks, that's all."

As my companion spoke we observed the coach come sweeping round the turn
of the road about half a mile distant.  In a few seconds it dashed into
the town at full gallop, and finally drew up abruptly opposite the door
of the inn, where were assembled the usual group of hostlers and waiters
and people who expected friends by the coach.

"He's not there," whispered Peterkin, in deep disappointment--"at least
he's not on the outside, and Jack would never travel inside of a coach
even in bad weather, much less in fine.  That's not him on the back-seat
beside the fat old woman with the blue bundle, surely!  It's very like
him, but too young, much too young.  There's a great giant of a man on
the box-seat with a beard like a grenadier's shako, and a stout old
gentleman behind him with gold spectacles.  That's all, except two boys
farther aft, and three ladies in the cabin.  Oh, _what_ a bore!"

Although deeply disappointed at the non-arrival of Jack, I could with
difficulty refrain from smiling at the rueful and woe-begone countenance
of my poor companion.  It was evident that he could not bear
disappointment with equanimity, and I was on the point of offering some
consolatory remarks, when my attention was attracted by the little old
woman with the blue bundle, who went up to the gigantic man with the
black beard, and in the gentlest possible tone of voice asked if he
could direct her to the white house.

"No, madam," replied the big man hastily; "I'm a stranger here."

The little old woman was startled by his abrupt answer.  "Deary me, sir,
no offence, I hope."

She then turned to Peterkin and put the same question, possibly under a
vague sort of impression that if a gigantic frame betokened a gruff
nature, diminutive stature must necessarily imply extreme amiability.
If so, she must have been much surprised as well as disappointed, for
Peterkin, rendered irascible by disappointment, turned short round and
said sharply, "Why, madam, how can _I_ tell you where the white house
is, unless you say which white house you want?  Half the houses of the
town are white--at least they're _dirty_ white," he added bitterly, as
he turned away.

"I think I can direct you, ma'am," said I, stepping quickly up with a
bland smile, in order to counteract, if possible, my companion's
rudeness.

"Thank you, sir, kindly," said the little old woman; "I'm glad to find
_some_ little civility in the town."

"Come with me, ma'am; I am going past the white house, and will show you
the way."

"And pray, sir," said the big stranger, stepping up to me as I was about
to move away, "can you recommend me to a good hotel?"

I replied that I could; that there was one in the immediate vicinity of
the white house, and that if he would accompany me I would show him the
way.  All this I did purposely in a very affable and obliging tone and
manner; for I hold that example is infinitely better than precept, and
always endeavour, if possible, to overcome evil with good.  I offered my
arm to the old woman, who thanked me and took it.

"What!" whispered Peterkin, "you don't mean me to take this great ugly
gorilla in tow?"

"Of course," replied I, laughing, as I led the way.

Immediately I entered into conversation with my companion, and I heard
"the gorilla" attempt to do so with Peterkin; but from the few sharp
cross replies that reached my ear, I became aware that he was
unsuccessful.  In the course of a few minutes, however, he appeared to
have overcome his companion's ill-humour, for I overheard their voices
growing louder and more animated as they walked behind me.

Suddenly I heard a shout, and turning hastily round, observed Peterkin
struggling in the arms of the gorilla!  Amazed beyond measure at the
sight, and firmly persuaded that a cowardly assault had been made upon
my friend, I seized the old woman's umbrella, as the only available
weapon, and flew to the rescue.

"Jack, my boy! can it be possible?" gasped Peterkin.

"I believe it is," replied Jack, laughing.--"Ralph, my dear old fellow,
how are you?"

I stood petrified.  I believed that I was in a dream.

I know not what occurred during the next five minutes.  All I could
remember with anything like distinctness was a succession of violent
screams from the little old woman, who fled shouting thieves and murder
at the full pitch of her voice.  We never saw that old woman again, but
I made a point of returning her umbrella to the "white house."

Gradually we became collected and sane.

"Why, Jack, how did you find us out?" cried Peterkin, as we all hurried
on to my lodgings, totally forgetful of the little old woman, whom, as I
have said, we never saw again, but who, I sincerely trust, arrived at
the white house in safety.

"Find you out!  I knew you the moment I set eyes on you.  Ralph puzzled
me for a second, he has grown so much stouter; but I should know your
nose, Peterkin, at a mile off."

"Well, Jack, I did not know you," retorted Peterkin, "but I'm safe never
again to forget you.  Such a great hairy Cossack as you have become!
Why, what do you mean by it?"

"I couldn't help it, please," pleaded Jack; "I grew in spite of myself;
but I think I've stopped now."

"It's time," remarked Peterkin.

Jack had indeed grown to a size that men seldom attain to without losing
in grace infinitely more than they gain in bulk, but he had retained all
the elegance of form and sturdy vigour of action that had characterised
him as a boy.  He was fully six feet two inches in his stockings, but so
perfect were his proportions that his great height did not become
apparent until you came close up to him.  Full half of his handsome
manly face was hid by a bushy black beard and moustache, and his curly
hair had been allowed to grow luxuriantly, so that his whole aspect was
more like to the descriptions we have of one of the old Scandinavian
Vikings than a gentleman of the present time.  In whatever company he
chanced to be he towered high above every one else, and I am satisfied
that, had he walked down Whitechapel, the Horse Guards would have
appeared small beside him, for he possessed not only great length of
limb but immense breadth of chest and shoulders.

During our walk to my lodgings Peterkin hurriedly stated his "plan and
proposal," which caused Jack to laugh very much at first, but in a few
minutes he became grave, and said slowly, "That will just suit--it will
do exactly."

"What will do exactly?  Do be more explicit, man," said Peterkin, with
some impatience.

"I'll go with you, my boy."

"Will you?" cried Peterkin, seizing his hand and shaking it violently;
"I knew you would.  I said it; didn't I, Ralph?  And now we shall be
sure of a gorilla, if there's one in Africa, for I'll use you as a
stalking-horse."

"Indeed!" exclaimed Jack.

"Yes; I'll put a bear-skin or some sort of fur on your shoulders, and
tie a lady's boa to you for a tail, and send you into the woods.  The
gorillas will be sure to mistake you for a relative until you get quite
close; then you'll take one pace to the left with the left foot (as the
volunteers say), I'll take one to the front with the right--at fifty
yards, ready--present--bang, and down goes the huge puggy with a bullet
right between its two eyes!  There.  And Ralph's agreed to go too."

"O Peterkin, I've done nothing of the sort.  You _proposed_ it."

"Well, and isn't that the same thing?  I wonder, Ralph that you can give
way to such mean-spirited prevarication.  What?  `It's not
prevarication!'  Don't say that now; you know it is.  Ah! you may laugh,
my boy, but you have promised to go with me and Jack to Africa, and go
you shall."

And so, reader, it was ultimately settled, and in the course of two
weeks more we three were on our way to the land of the slave, the black
savage, and the gorilla.



CHAPTER TWO.

LIFE IN THE WILD WOODS.

One night, about five or six weeks after our resolution to go to Africa
on a hunting expedition was formed, I put to myself the question, "Can
it be possible that we are actually here, in the midst of it?"

"Certainly, my boy, in the very thick of it," answered Peterkin, in a
tone of voice which made Jack laugh, while I started and exclaimed--

"Why, Peterkin, how did you come to guess my thoughts?"

"Because, Ralph, you have got into a habit of thinking aloud, which may
do very well as long as you have no secrets to keep but it may prove
inconvenient some day, so I warn you in time."

Not feeling disposed at that time to enter into a bantering conversation
with my volatile companion, I made no reply, but abandoned myself again
to the pleasing fancies and feelings which were called up by the
singular scene in the midst of which I found myself.

It seemed as if it were but yesterday when we drove about the crowded
streets of London making the necessary purchases for our intended
journey, and now, as I gazed around, every object that met my eye seemed
strange, and wild, and foreign, and romantic.  We three were reclining
round an enormous wood fire in the midst of a great forest, the trees
and plants of which were quite new to me, and totally unlike those of my
native land.  Rich luxuriance of vegetation was the feature that filled
my mind most.  Tall palms surrounded us, throwing their broad leaves
overhead and partially concealing the starlit sky.  Thick tough limbs of
creeping plants and wild vines twisted and twined round everything and
over everything, giving to the woods an appearance of tangled
impenetrability; but the beautiful leaves of some, and the delicate
tendrils of others, half concealed the sturdy limbs of the trees, and
threw over the whole a certain air of wild grace, as might a
semi-transparent and beautiful robe if thrown around the form of a
savage.

The effect of a strong fire in the woods at night is to give to
surrounding space an appearance of ebony blackness, against which dark
ground the gnarled stems and branches and pendent foliage appear as if
traced out in light and lovely colours, which are suffused with a rich
warm tone from the blaze.

We were now in the wilds of Africa, although, as I have said, I found it
difficult to believe the fact.  Jack and I wore loose brown shooting
coats and pantaloons; but we had made up our minds to give up waistcoats
and neckcloths, so that our scarlet flannel shirts with turned-down
collars gave to us quite a picturesque and brigand-like appearance as we
encircled the blaze--Peterkin smoking vigorously, for he had acquired
that bad and very absurd habit at sea.  Jack smoked too, but he was not
so inveterate as Peterkin.

Jack was essentially moderate in his nature.  He did nothing violently
or in a hurry; but this does not imply that he was slow or lazy.  He was
leisurely in disposition, and circumstances seldom required him to be
otherwise.  When Peterkin or I had to lift heavy weights, we were
obliged to exert our utmost strength and agitate our whole frames; but
Jack was so powerful that a comparatively slight effort was all that he
was usually obliged to make.  Again, when we two were in a hurry we
walked quickly, but Jack's long limbs enabled him to keep up with us
without effort.  Nevertheless there were times when he was called upon
to act quickly and with energy.  On those occasions he was as active as
Peterkin himself, but his movements were tremendous.  It was, I may
almost say, awful to behold Jack when acting under powerful excitement.
He was indeed a splendid fellow, and not by any means deserving of the
name of gorilla, which Peterkin had bestowed on him.

But to continue my description of our costume.  We all wore homespun
grey trousers of strong material.  Peterkin and Jack wore leggings in
addition, so that they seemed to have on what are now termed
knickerbockers.  Peterkin, however, had no coat.  He preferred a stout
grey flannel shirt hanging down to his knees and belted round his waist
in the form of a tunic.  Our tastes in headdress were varied.  Jack wore
a pork-pie cap; Peterkin and I had wide-awakes.  My facetious little
companion said that I had selected this species of hat because I was
always more than half asleep!  Being peculiar in everything, Peterkin
wore his wide-awake in an unusual manner--namely, turned up at the back,
down at the front, and curled very much up at the sides.

We were so filled with admiration of Jack's magnificent beard and
moustache, that Peterkin and I had resolved to cultivate ours while in
Africa; but I must say that, as I looked at Peterkin's face, the
additional hair was not at that time an improvement, and I believe that
much more could not have been said for myself.  The effect on my little
comrade was to cause the lower part of his otherwise good-looking face
to appear extremely dirty.

"I wonder," said Peterkin, after a long silence, "if we shall reach the
niggers' village in time for the hunt to-morrow.  I fear that we have
spent too much time in this wild-goose chase."

"Wild-goose chase, Peterkin!"  I exclaimed.  "Do you call hunting the
gorilla by such a term?"

"_Hunting_ the gorilla? no, certainly; but _looking_ for the gorilla in
a part of the woods where no such beast was ever heard of since Adam was
a schoolboy--"

"Nay, Peterkin," interrupted Jack; "we are getting very near to the
gorilla country, and you must make allowance for the enthusiasm of a
naturalist."

"Ah! we shall see where the naturalist's enthusiasm will fly to when we
actually do come face to face with the big puggy."

"Well," said I, apologetically, "I won't press you to go hunting again;
I'll be content to follow."

"Press me, my dear Ralph!" exclaimed Peterkin hastily, fearing that he
had hurt my feelings; "why, man, I do but jest with you--you are so
horridly literal.  I'm overjoyed to be pressed to go on the maddest
wild-goose chase that ever was invented.  My greatest delight would be
to go gorilla-hunting down Fleet Street, if you were so disposed.--But
to be serious, Jack, do you think we shall be in time for the
elephant-hunt to-morrow?"

"Ay, in capital time, if you don't knock up."

"What!  _I_ knock up!  I've a good mind to knock you down for suggesting
such an egregious impossibility."

"That's an impossibility anyhow, Peterkin, because I'm down already,"
said Jack, yawning lazily and stretching out his limbs in a more
comfortable and _degage_ manner.

Peterkin seemed to ponder as he smoked his pipe for some time in
silence.

"Ralph," said he, looking up suddenly, "I don't feel a bit sleepy, and
yet I'm tired enough."

"You are smoking too much, perhaps," I suggested.

"It's not that," cried Jack; "he has eaten too much supper."

"Base insinuation!" retorted Peterkin.

"Then it must be the monkey.  That's it.  Roast monkey does not agree
with you."

"Do you know, I shouldn't wonder if you were right; and it's a pity,
too, for we shall have to live a good deal on such fare, I believe.
However, I suppose we shall get used to it.--But I say, boys, isn't it
jolly to be out here living like savages?  I declare it seems to me like
a dream or a romance.--Just look, Ralph, at the strange wild creepers
that are festooned overhead, and the great tropical leaves behind us,
and the clear sky above, with the moon--ah! the moon; yes, that's one
comfort--the moon is unchanged.  The same moon that smiles down upon us
through a tangled mesh-work of palm-leaves and wild vines and monkeys'
tails, is peeping down the chimney-pots of London and Edinburgh and
Dublin!"

"Why, Peterkin, you must have studied hard in early life to be so good a
geographer."

"Rather," observed Peterkin.

"Yes; and look at the strange character of the tree-stems," said I,
unwilling to allow the subject to drop.  "See those huge palmettoes
like--like--"

"Overgrown cabbages," suggested Peterkin; and he continued, "Observe the
quaint originality of form in the body and limbs of that bloated old
spider that is crawling up your leg, Ralph!"

I started involuntarily, for there is no creature of which I have a
greater abhorrence than a spider.

"Where is it? oh!  I see," and the next moment I secured my prize and
placed it with loathing, but interest, in my entomological box.

At that moment a hideous roar rang through the woods, seemingly close
behind us.  We all started to our feet, and seizing our rifles, which
lay beside us ready loaded, cocked them and drew close together round
the fire.

"This won't do, lads," said Jack, after a few minutes' breathless
suspense, during which the only sound we could hear was the beating of
our own hearts; "we have allowed the fire to get too low, and we've
forgotten to adopt our friend the trader's advice, and make two fires."

So saying, Jack laid down his rifle, and kicking the logs with his heavy
boot, sent up such a cloud of bright sparks as must certainly have
scared the wild animal, whatever it was, away; for we heard no more of
it that night.

"You're right, Jack," remarked Peterkin; "so let us get up a blaze as
fast as we can, and I'll take the first watch, not being sleepy.  Come
along."

In a few minutes we cut down with our axes a sufficient quantity of dry
wood to keep two large fires going all night; we then kindled our second
fire at a few yards distant from the first, and made our camp between
them.  This precaution we took in order to scare away the wild animals
whose cries we heard occasionally during the night.  Peterkin, having
proposed to take the first watch--for we had to watch by turns all the
night through--lighted his pipe and sat down before the cheerful fire
with his back against the stem of a palm-tree, and his rifle lying close
to his hand, to be ready in case of a surprise.  There were many natives
wandering about in that neighbourhood, some of whom might be ignorant of
our having arrived at their village on a peaceful errand.  If these
should have chanced to come upon us suddenly, there was no saying what
they might do in their surprise and alarm, so it behoved us to be on our
guard.

Jack and I unrolled the light blankets that we carried strapped to our
shoulders through the day, and laying ourselves down side by side with
our feet to the fire and our heads pillowed on a soft pile of
sweet-scented grass, we addressed ourselves to sleep.  But sleep did not
come so soon as we expected.  I have often noted with some surprise and
much interest the curious phases of the phenomenon of sleep.  When I
have gone to bed excessively fatigued and expecting to fall asleep
almost at once, I have been surprised and annoyed to find that the
longer I wooed the drowsy god the longer he refused to come to me; and
at last, when I have given up the attempt in despair, he has suddenly
laid his gentle hand upon my eyes and carried me into the land of Nod.
Again, when I have been exceedingly anxious to keep awake, I have been
attacked by sleep with such irresistible energy that I have been utterly
unable to keep my eyelids open or my head erect, and have sat with my
eyes blinking like those of an owl in the sunshine, and my head nodding
like that of a Chinese mandarin.

On this our first night in the African bush, at least our first night on
a hunting expedition--we had been many nights in the woods on our
journey to that spot--on this night, I say, Jack and I could by no means
get to sleep for a very long time after we lay down, but continued to
gaze up through the leafy screen overhead at the stars, which seemed to
wink at us, I almost fancied, jocosely.  We did not speak to each other,
but purposely kept silence.  After a time, however, Jack groaned, and
said softly--

"Ralph, are you asleep?"

"No," said I, yawning.

"I'm quite sure that Peterkin is," added Jack, raising his head and
looking across the fire at the half-recumbent form of our companion.

"Is he?" said Peterkin in a low tone.  "Just about as sound as a
weasel!"

"Jack," said I.

"Well?"

"I can't sleep a wink.  Ye-a-ow! isn't it odd?"

"No more can I.  Do you know, Ralph, I've been counting the red berries
in that tree above me for half an hour, in the hope that the monotony of
the thing would send me off; but I was interrupted by a small monkey who
has been sitting up among the branches and making faces at me for full
twenty minutes.  There it is yet, I believe.  Do you see it?"

"No; where?"

"Almost above your head."

I gazed upward intently for a few minutes, until I thought I saw the
monkey, but it was very indistinct.  Gradually, however, it became more
defined; then to my surprise it turned out to be the head of an
elephant!  I was not only amazed but startled at this.

"Get your rifle, Jack!" said I, in a low whisper.

Jack made some sort of reply, but his voice sounded hollow and
indistinct.  Then I looked up again, and saw that it was the head of a
hippopotamus, not that of an elephant, which was looking down at me.
Curiously enough, I felt little or no surprise at this, and when in the
course of a few minutes I observed a pair of horns growing out of the
creature's eyes and a bushy tail standing erect on the apex of its head,
I ceased to be astonished at the sight altogether, and regarded it as
quite natural and commonplace.  The object afterwards assumed the
appearance of a lion with a crocodile's bail, and a serpent with a
monkey's head, and lastly of a gorilla, without producing in me any
other feeling than that of profound indifference.  Gradually the whole
scene vanished, and I became totally oblivious.

This state of happy unconsciousness had scarcely lasted--it seemed to
me--two minutes, when I was awakened by Peterkin laying his hand on my
shoulder and saying--

"Now then, Ralph, it's time to rouse up."

"O Peterkin," said I, in a tone of remonstrance, "how could you be so
unkind as to waken me when I had just got to sleep?  Shabby fellow!"

"Just got to sleep, say you?  You've been snoring like an apoplectic
alderman for exactly two hours."

"You don't say so!"  I exclaimed, getting into a sitting posture.

"Indeed you have.  I'm sorry to rouse you, but time's up, and I'm
sleepy; so rub your eyes, man, and try to look a little less like an
astonished owl if you can.  I have just replenished both the fires, so
you can lean your back against that palm-tree and take it easy for
three-quarters of an hour or so.  After that you'll have to heap on more
wood."

I looked at Jack, who was now lying quite unconscious, breathing with
the slow, deep regularity of profound slumber, and with his mouth wide
open.

"What a chance for some waggish baboon to drop a nut or a berry in!"
said Peterkin, winking at me with one eye as he lay down in the spot
from which I had just risen.

He was very sleepy, poor fellow, and could hardly smile at his own
absurd fancy.  He was asleep almost instantly.  In fact, I do not
believe that he again opened the eye with which he had winked at me, but
that he merely shut the other and began to slumber forthwith.

I now began to feel quite interested in my responsible position as
guardian of the camp.  I examined my rifle to see that it was in order
and capped; then leaning against the palm-tree, which was, as it were,
my sentry-box, I stood erect and rubbed my hands and took off my cap, so
that the pleasant night air might play about my temples, and more
effectually banish drowsiness.

In order to accomplish this more thoroughly I walked round both fires
and readjusted the logs, sending up showers of sparks as I did so.  Then
I went to the edge of the circle of light, in the centre of which our
camp lay, and peered into the gloom of the dark forest.

There was something inexpressibly delightful yet solemn in my feelings
as I gazed into that profound obscurity where the great tree-stems and
the wild gigantic foliage nearest to me appeared ghost-like and
indistinct, and the deep solitudes of which were peopled, not only with
the strange fantastic forms of my excited fancy, but, as I knew full
well, with real wild creatures, both huge and small, such as my
imagination at that time had not fully conceived.  I felt awed, almost
oppressed, with the deep silence around, and, I must confess, looked
somewhat nervously over my shoulder as I returned to the fire and sat
down to keep watch at my post.



CHAPTER THREE.

WHEREIN I MOUNT GUARD, AND HOW I DID IT, ETCETERA.

Now it so happened that the battle which I had to fight with myself
after taking my post was precisely the converse of that which I fought
during the earlier part of that night.  Then, it was a battle with
wakefulness; now, it was a struggle with sleep; and of the two fights
the latter was the more severe by far.

I began by laying down my rifle close by my side, leaning back in a
sitting posture against the palm-tree, and resigning myself to the
contemplation of the fire, which burned merrily before me, while I
pondered with myself how I should best employ my thoughts during the
three long hours of my watch.  But I had not dwelt on that subject more
than three minutes, when I was rudely startled by my own head falling
suddenly and heavily forward on my chest.  I immediately roused myself.
"Ah!  Ralph, Ralph," said I to myself in a whisper, "this won't do, lad.
To sleep at your post! shame on you!  Had you been a sentinel in time
of war that nod would have cost you your life, supposing you to have
been caught in the act."

Soliloquising thus, I arose and shook myself.  Then I slapped my chest
several times and pulled my nose and sat down again.  Only a few minutes
elapsed before the same thing occurred to me again, so I leaped up, and
mended the fires, and walked to and fro, until I felt thoroughly awake,
but in order to make sure that it should not occur again, I walked to
the edge of the circle of light and gazed for some time into the dark
forest, as I had done before.  While standing thus I felt my knees give
way, as if they had been suddenly paralysed, and I awoke just in time to
prevent myself falling to the ground.  I must confess I was much amazed
at this, for although I had often read of soldiers falling asleep
standing at their posts, I had never believed the thing possible.

I now became rather anxious, "for," thought I, "if I go to sleep and the
fires die down, who knows but wild beasts may come upon us and kill us
before we can seize our arms."  For a moment or two I meditated awaking
Jack and begging him to keep me company, but when I reflected that his
watch was to come immediately after mine, I had not the heart to do it.
"No!" said I (and I said it aloud for the purpose of preventing
drowsiness)--"no; I will fight this battle alone!  I will repeat some
stanzas from my favourite authors.  Yes, I will try to remember a
portion of `A Midsummer-Night's Dream.'  It will be somewhat appropriate
to my present circumstances."

Big with this resolve, I sat down with my face to the fire and my back
to the palm-tree, and--fell sound asleep instantly!

How long I lay in this condition I know not, but I was suddenly awakened
by a yell so appalling that my heart leaped as if into my throat, and my
nerves thrilled with horror.  For one instant I was paralysed; then my
blood seemed to rebound on its course.  I sprang up and attempted to
seize my rifle.

The reader may judge of my state of mind when I observed that it was
gone!  I leaped towards the fire, and grasping a lighted brand, turned
round and glared into the woods in the direction whence the yell came.

It was grey dawn, and I could see things pretty distinctly; but the only
living object that met my gaze was Peterkin, who stood with my rifle in
his hand laughing heartily!

I immediately turned to look at Jack, who was sitting up in the spot
where he had passed the night, with a sleepy smile on his countenance.

"Why, what's the meaning of this?"  I inquired.

"The meaning of it?" cried Peterkin, as he advanced and restored the
rifle to its place.  "A pretty fellow you are to mount guard! we might
have been all murdered in our sleep by niggers or eaten alive by
gorillas, for all that you would have done to save us."

"But, Peterkin," said I gravely, "you ought not to have startled me so;
you gave me a terrible fright.  People have been driven mad before now,
I assure you, by practical jokes."

"My dear fellow," cried Peterkin, with much earnestness, "I know that as
well as you.  But, in the first place, you were guilty of so heinous a
crime that I determined to punish you, and at the same time to do it in
a way that would impress it forcibly on your memory; and in the second
place, I would not have done it at all had I not known that your nerves
are as strong as those of a dray-horse.  You ought to be taking shame to
yourself on account of your fault rather than objecting to your
punishment."

"Peterkin is right, my boy," said Jack, laughing, "though I must say he
had need be sure of the nerves of any one to whom he intends to
administer such a ferocious yell as that.  Anyhow, I have no reason to
complain; for you have given me a good long sleep, although I can't say
exactly that you have taken my watch.  It will be broad daylight in half
an hour, so we must be stirring, comrades."

On considering the subject I admitted the force of these remarks, and
felt somewhat crestfallen.  No doubt, my companions had treated the
thing jocularly, and, to say truth, there was much that was comical in
the whole affair; but the more I thought of it, the more I came to
perceive how terrible might have been the consequences of my
unfaithfulness as a sentinel.  I laid the lesson to heart, and I can
truly say that from that day to this I have never again been guilty of
the crime of sleeping at my post.

We now busied ourselves in collecting together the dying embers of our
fire and in preparing breakfast, which consisted of tea, hard biscuit,
and cold monkey.  None of us liked the monkey; not that its flesh was
bad--quite the contrary--but it looked so like a small roasted baby that
we could not relish it at all.  However, it was all we had; for we had
set off on this hunting excursion intending to live by our rifles, but
had been unfortunate, having seen nothing except a monkey or two.

The kettle was soon boiled, and we sat down to our meagre fare with
hearty appetites.  While we are thus engaged, I shall turn aside for a
little and tell the reader, in one or two brief sentences, how we got to
this place.

We shipped in a merchant ship at Liverpool, and sailed for the west
coast of Africa.  Arrived there we found a party, under the command of a
Portuguese trader, about to set off to the interior.  He could speak a
little English; so we arranged to go with him as far as he intended to
proceed, learn as much of the native language as possible while in his
company, and then obtain a native guide to conduct us to the country in
which the gorillas are found.  To this native guide, we arranged, should
be explained by the trader our object in visiting the country, so that
he might tell the tribes whom we intended to visit.  This, we found, was
an absolutely needful precaution, on the following ground.

The natives of Africa have a singular and very bad style of carrying on
trade with the white men who visit their shores.  The traffic consists
chiefly of ivory, barwood (a wood much used in dyeing), and indiarubber.
The natives of the far interior are not allowed to convey these
commodities directly to the coast, but by the law of the land (which
means the law of the strongest, for they are absolute savages) are
obliged to deliver their goods to the care of the tribe next to them;
these pass them on to the next tribe; and so on they go from tribe to
tribe till they reach the coast, where they are sold by the tribe there.
The price obtained, which usually consists of guns, powder and shot,
looking-glasses, cloth, and sundry other articles and trinkets useful to
men in a savage state, is returned to the owners in the far interior
through the same channel; but as each tribe deducts a percentage for its
trouble, the price dwindles down as it goes, until a mere trifle,
sometimes nothing at all, remains to be handed over to the unfortunate
people of the tribe who originally sent off the goods for sale.  Of
course, such a system almost paralyses trade.  But the intermediate
tribes between the coast and the interior being the gainers by this
system, are exceedingly jealous of anything like an attempt to carry on
direct trade.  They are ready to go to war with the tribes of the
interior, should they attempt it, and they throw all the opposition they
can in the way of the few white men who ever penetrate the interior for
such a purpose.

It will thus be seen that our travels would be hindered very much, if
not stopped altogether, and ourselves be regarded with jealousy, or
perhaps murdered, if our motives in going inland were not fully and
satisfactorily explained to the different tribes as we passed through
their lands.  And we therefore proposed to overcome the difficulty by
taking a native guide with us from the tribe with which we should chance
to be residing when obliged to separate from the Portuguese trader.

We had now reached this point.  The day before that on which we encamped
in the woods, as above related, we arrived at a native village, and had
been received kindly by the king.  Almost immediately after our arrival
we heard so many stories about gorillas that I felt persuaded we should
fall in with one if we went a-hunting, and being exceedingly anxious to
add one to my collection of animals--for I had a small museum at home--I
prevailed on Jack and Peterkin to go one day's journey into the bush to
look for them.  They laughed very much at me indeed, and said that we
were still very far away from the gorilla country; but I had read in
some work on Africa a remark to the effect that there is no cordillera,
or mountain range, extending across the whole continent to limit the
_habitat_ of certain classes of animals, and I thought that if any
animal in Africa would not consent to remain in one region when it
wished to go to another, that animal must be the ferocious gorilla.  The
trader also laughed at me, and said that he had never seen any himself
in that region, and that we would have to cross the desert before seeing
them.  Still, I felt a disposition to try; besides, I felt certain that
we should at least fall in with some sort of animals or plants or
minerals that would be worth collecting; so it was agreed that we should
go out for a single day, and be back in time for a great elephant-hunt
which was about to take place.

But to return from this digression.  Having finished breakfast, we made
three bundles or packages of our blankets, provisions, and camp
equipage; strapped them on our backs; and then, shouldering our rifles,
set out on our return to the negro village.

Of course we gave Jack the largest and heaviest bundle to carry.
Peterkin's and mine were about equal, for although I was taller than
Peterkin, I was not by any means so powerful or active.  I often
wondered at the great strength that lay in the little frame of my
friend.  To look at him, no one would believe that he was such a tough,
wiry, hardy little fellow.  He was the same hearty, jovial creature that
I had lived with so pleasantly when he and Jack and I were cast away on
the coral island.  With the exception of a small scrap of whisker on
each cheek, a scar over the right eye, and a certain air of manliness,
there was little change in my old comrade.

"Ralph," said Jack, as we strode along through the forest, "do you
remember how we three used to wander about together in the woods of our
coral island?"

"Remember!"  I cried with enthusiasm, for at that moment the thought
occurred to my own mind; "how can I ever forget it, Jack?  It seems to
me just like yesterday.  I can hardly believe that six long years have
passed since we drank that delicious natural lemonade out of the green
cocoa-nuts, and wandered on the coral beach, and visited Penguin Island,
and dived into the cave to escape the pirates.  The whole scene rises up
before me so vividly that I could fancy we were still there.  Ah! these
were happy times."

"So they were," cried Peterkin; "but don't you go and become
sentimentally sad, Ralph, when you talk of those happy days.  If we were
happy there, are we not happy _here_?--There's no change in us--except,
indeed, that Jack has become a gorilla."

"Ay, and you a monkey," retorted Jack.

"True; and Ralph a naturalist, which is the strangest beast of all,"
added Peterkin.--"Can you tell me, Ralph, by the way, what tree that
is?"

"I'm sure I cannot tell.  Never saw or heard of one like it before," I
replied, looking at the tree referred to with some interest.  It was a
fine tree, but the great beauty about it was the gorgeous fruit with
which it was laden.  It hung in the form of bunches of large grapes, and
was of the brightest scarlet colour.  The glowing bunches seemed like
precious gems glittering amongst the green foliage, and I observed that
a few monkeys and several parrots were peeping at us through the
branches.

"It seems good for food," said Jack.  "You'd better climb up, Peterkin,
and pull a few bunches.  The puggies won't mind you, of course, being
one of themselves."

"Ralph," said Peterkin, turning to me, and deigning no reply to Jack,
"you call yourself a naturalist; so I suppose you are acquainted with
the habits of monkeys, and can turn your knowledge to practical
account."

"Well," I replied, "I know something about the monkey tribes, but I
cannot say that at this moment I remember any particular habit of which
we might avail ourselves."

"Do you not?  Well, now, that's odd.  I'm a student of nature myself,
and I have picked up a little useful knowledge in the course of my
travels.  Did you ever travel so far as the Zoological Gardens in
London?"

"Of course I have done so, often."

"And did you ever observe a peculiar species of monkey, which, when you
made a face at it, instantly flew into a towering passion, and shook the
bars of its cage until you expected to see them broken?"

"Yes," said I, laughing; "what then?"

"Look here, you naturalist, and I'll put a wrinkle on your horn.  Yonder
hangs a magnificent bunch of fruit that I very much desire to possess."

"But it's too high to reach," said I.

"But there's a monkey sitting beside it," said Peterkin.

"I see.  You don't expect him to pull it and throw it down, do you?"

"Oh no, certainly not; but--" Here Peterkin stepped up to the tree, and
looking up at the monkey, said, "O-o-o-oo-o!" angrily.

"_O-o-o-oo-oo_!" replied the monkey, stretching out its neck and looking
down with an expression of surprise and indignation, as if to say, "What
on earth do you mean by that?"

"Oo-o-o-oo-o!" roared Peterkin.

Hereupon the monkey uttered a terrific shriek of passion, exposed all
its teeth and gums, glared at its adversary like a little fiend, and
seizing the branch with both hands, shook it with all its might.  The
result was, that not only did the coveted bunch of fruit fall to the
ground, but a perfect shower of bunches came down, one of which hit Jack
on the forehead, and, bursting there, sent its fragrant juice down his
face and into his beard, while the parrots and all the other monkeys
took to flight, shrieking with mingled terror and rage.

"You see I'm a practical man," observed Peterkin quietly, as he picked
up the fruit and began to eat it.  "Knowledge is power, my boy.  A man
with a philosophical turn of mind like yourself ought to have been up to
a dodge of this sort.  How capital this fruit is, to be sure!--Does it
make good pomade, Jack?"

"Excellent; but as I'm not in the habit of using pomade, I shall wash
this out of my beard as quickly as possible."

While Jack went to a brook that ran close to where we stood, I tasted
the fruit, and found it most excellent, the pulp being juicy, with a
very pleasant flavour.

While we were thus engaged a wild pig ran grunting past us.

"Doesn't that remind you of some of our doings on the coral island,
Ralph?" said Peterkin.

Before I could reply a herd of lovely small gazelles flew past.  Our
rifles were lying on the ground, and before either of us could take aim
the swift creatures were lost sight of in the thick underwood.  Peterkin
fired one shot at a venture, but without any result.

We were still deploring our stupidity in not having our rifles handy,
when a strange sound was heard in the distance.  By this time Jack had
come up, so we all three seized our rifles and listened intently.  The
sound was evidently approaching.  It was a low, dull, booming roar,
which at one moment seemed to be distant thunder, at another the cry of
some huge animal in rage or pain.  Presently the beating of heavy hoofs
on the turf and the crash of branches were heard.  Each of us sprang
instinctively towards a tree, feeling that if danger were near its trunk
would afford us some protection.

Being ignorant, as yet, of the cries of the various wild beasts
inhabiting those woods, we were greatly at a loss to determine what
creature it could be that approached at such headlong speed.  That its
mad career was caused by fear soon became apparent, for the tones of
terror either in man or beast, when distinctly heard, cannot be
mistaken.

Immediately in front of the spot where we stood was an open space or
glade of considerable extent.  Towards this the animal approached, as
was evident from the increasing loudness of its wild roar, which was
almost continuous.  In another moment the thick wall of underwood at its
farther extremity was burst asunder with a crash, and a wild buffalo
bull bounded into the plain and dashed madly across.  On its neck was
crouched a leopard, which had fixed its claws and teeth deep in the
flesh of the agonised animal.  In vain did the bull bound and rear, toss
and plunge.  At one moment it ran like the wind; the next it stopped
with such violence as to tear up the turf and scatter it around.  Then
it reared, almost falling back; anon it plunged and rushed on again,
with the foam flying from its mouth, and its bloodshot eyes glaring with
the fire of rage and terror, while the woods seemed to tremble with its
loud and deep-toned bellowing.  Twice in its passage across the open
glade it ran, in its blind fury, straight against a tree, almost beating
in its skull, and for a moment arresting its progress; but it instantly
recovered the shock and burst away again as madly as ever.  But no
effort that it was capable of making could relieve the poor creature
from its deadly burden, or cause the leopard in the slightest degree to
relax its fatal gripe.

It chanced that the wild bull's mad gallop was in a direction that
brought it within a few yards of the spot where we stood, so we prepared
to put an end to its misery.  As it drew near, Jack, who was in advance,
raised his rifle.  I, being only a short distance from him, also made
ready to fire, although I confess that in the agitation of the moment I
could not make up my mind whether I should fire at the buffalo or the
leopard.  As far as I can recall my rapid and disjointed thoughts on
that exciting occasion, I reasoned thus: "If I shoot the leopard the
bull will escape, and if I shoot the bull the leopard will escape."  It
did not occur to me at that trying moment, when self-possession and
decision were so necessary, that I might shoot the bull with one barrel,
and the leopard with the other.  Still less did it occur to me that I
might miss bull and leopard altogether.

While I was engaged in this hurried train of troubled thought, Jack
fired both barrels of his rifle, one after the other, as quickly as
possible.  The bull stumbled forward upon its knees.  In order to make
assurance doubly sure, I aimed at its head and fired both barrels at
once.  Instantly the bull rose, with a hideous bellow, and stood for one
moment irresolute, glaring at its new enemies.  The leopard, I observed,
was no longer on its back.  At this moment I heard an exclamation of
anger, and looking round I observed Peterkin struggling violently in the
grasp of one of the wild vines or thorny plants which abound in some
parts of the African forests and render them almost impassable.  It
seems that as the bull drew near, Peterkin, who, like Jack and me, was
preparing to shoot, found that a dense thicket came between him and the
game, so as to prevent his firing.  He leaped nimbly over a bush,
intending to run to another spot, whence he could more conveniently take
aim, but found himself, as I have related, suddenly entangled among the
thorns in such a way that the more he struggled the more firmly he
became ensnared.  Being of an impatient disposition, he did struggle
violently, and it was this, probably, that attracted the attention of
the bull and decided its future course and its ultimate fate; for after
remaining one moment, as I have stated, in an irresolute attitude, it
turned suddenly to the left and rushed, with its head down and its tail
up, straight at Peterkin.

I cannot describe the sensations that overwhelmed me on observing the
imminent danger of my friend.  Horror almost overwhelmed me as I gazed
with a stare of fascination at the frightful brute, which with flashing
eyes and bloody foam dripping from its mouth charged into the thicket,
and crashed through the tough boughs and bushes as if they were grass.
A film came over my eyes.  I tried to reload my rifle, but my trembling
hand refused to act, and I groaned with mingled shame and despair on
finding myself thus incapable of action in the hour of extreme peril.
At that moment I felt I would joyfully have given my own life to have
saved that of Peterkin.  It takes me long to describe it, but the whole
scene passed with the rapidity almost of a flash of light.

Jack did not even attempt to load, but uttering a fearful cry, he sprang
towards our friend with a bound like that of an enraged tiger.  A gleam
of hope flashed through my soul as I beheld his gigantic form dash
through the underwood.  It seemed to me as if no living creature could
withstand such a furious onset.  Alas for Peterkin, had his life
depended on Jack, strong and lion-like though he was!  His aid could not
have been in time.  A higher Power nerved his arm and steeled his heart
at that terrible moment.  As I gazed helplessly at Peterkin, I observed
that he suddenly ceased his struggles to get free, and throwing forward
the muzzle of his piece, stood boldly up and awaited the onset with calm
self-possession.  The bull was on him almost in an instant.  One stride
more and he would have been lost, but that stride was never taken.  His
rifle poured its deadly charge into the skull of the wild bull, which
fell a mass of dead flesh, literally at his feet.

It were vain to attempt to describe the state of our feelings on this
memorable occasion--the fervour with which we thanked our heavenly
Father for our friend's deliverance--the delight with which we shook his
hands, again and again, and embraced him.  It was with considerable
difficulty that we extricated Peterkin from his entanglement.  When this
was accomplished we proceeded to examine our prize.

We were not a little puzzled on discovering that only three bullets had
struck the bull.  For my part, I fired straight at its forehead, and had
felt certain at the time that my shots had taken effect; yet there was
but one ball in the animal's head, and that was undoubtedly Peterkin's,
for the hair all round the hole was singed off, so near had it been to
him when he fired.  The other two shots were rather wide apart--one in
the shoulder, the other in the neck.  Both would have proved mortal in
the long run, but neither was sufficiently near to a vital spot to kill
speedily.

"Now, Ralph, my boy," said Jack, after our excitement was in some degree
abated, "you and I must divide the honour of these two shots, for I fear
we can't tell which of us fired them.  Peterkin only fired once, and
that was pretty effectual."

"Yes," I replied, "it is rather perplexing; for although I have no
objection whatever to your having all the honour of those two shots,
still one likes to know with certainty who actually made them."

"You'd better toss for them," suggested Peterkin, who was seated on the
trunk of a fallen tree, examining, with a somewhat rueful countenance,
the tattered condition of his garments.

"There would not be much satisfaction in that," replied Jack, laughing.

"It is probable," said I, "that each of us hit with one barrel and
missed with the other."

"And it is possible," added Jack, "that one of us hit with both, and the
other missed with both.  All that I can positively affirm is that I
fired both barrels at his shoulder--one after the other."

"And all that I am certain of," said I, "is that I fired both barrels at
his forehead, and that I discharged them both at once."

"Did you?" said Peterkin, looking up quickly; "then, Ralph, I'm afraid
you must give all the honour to Jack, for you have missed altogether."

"How do you know that?"  I asked, in a somewhat piqued tone.

"Simply enough.  If you fired both shots together at so short a
distance, they would have been found close together wherever they had
struck, whereas the two shots in the neck and shoulder are more than two
feet apart."

I was compelled to admit that there was much truth in the observation,
but still felt unwilling to give up all claim to having assisted in
slaying our first buffalo.  I pondered the subject a good deal during
the remainder of the time we spent in cutting up and packing part of the
buffalo meat, and in preparing to continue our journey, but could come
at no satisfactory conclusion in my own mind, and, to say truth, I felt
not a little crestfallen at my conduct in the whole affair.

While wandering in this mood near the spot where the buffalo had been
first wounded, I received a sudden and severe start on observing the
leopard crouching within a couple of yards of me.  I saw it through the
bushes quite distinctly, but could not make quite sure of its attitude.
With a mingled cry of alarm and astonishment I sprang back to the place
where I had left my rifle.

Jack and Peterkin instantly ran up with their pieces cocked.

"Where is it?" they cried in a breath.

"There, crouching just behind that bush."

Jack darted forward.

"Crouching!" he cried, with a loud laugh, seizing the animal by the tail
and dragging it forth; "why, it's dead--stone dead."

"Dead as mutton," said Peterkin.  "Hallo! what's this?" he added in
surprise.  "Two holes close together in its forehead, I do declare!
Hooray!  Ralph, my boy, give us your paw!  You've missed the bull and
hit the leopard!  If you haven't been and put two bullets right between
its two eyes, I'm a Dutchman!"

And so, in truth, it turned out.  I had aimed at the bull and hit the
leopard.  So I left that spot not a little pleased with my bad aim and
my good fortune.



CHAPTER FOUR.

WHEREIN WILL BE FOUND MUCH THAT IS PHILOSOPHICAL.

Having skinned the leopard and cut off as much of the buffalo meat as we
could carry, we started for the negro village at a round pace, for we
had already lost much time in our last adventure.  As we walked along I
could not help meditating on the uncertainty of this life, and the
terrible suddenness with which we might at any unexpected moment be cut
off.  These thoughts led me naturally to reflect how important a matter
it is that every one, no matter how young, should be in a state of
preparedness to quit this world.

I also reflected, and not without a feeling of shame, on my want of
nerve, and was deeply impressed with the importance of boys being inured
from childhood to trifling risks and light dangers of every possible
description, such as tumbling into ponds and off trees, etcetera, in
order to strengthen their nervous system.  I do not, of course, mean to
say that boys ought deliberately to tumble into ponds or climb trees
until they fall off; but they ought not to avoid the risk of such
mishaps.  They ought to encounter such risks and many others
perpetually.  They ought to practise leaping off heights into deep
water.  They ought never to hesitate to cross a stream on a narrow
unsafe plank _for fear of a ducking_.  They ought never to decline to
climb up a tree to pull fruit merely because there is a _possibility_ of
their falling off and breaking their necks.  I firmly believe that boys
were intended to encounter all kinds of risks, in order to prepare them
to meet and grapple with the risks and dangers incident to man's career
with cool, cautious self-possession--a self-possession founded on
experimental knowledge of the character and powers of their own spirits
and muscles.  I also concluded that this reasoning applies to some
extent to girls as well as boys, for they too are liable through life to
occasional encounters with danger--such as meeting with mad bulls, being
run away with on horseback, being upset in boats, being set on fire by
means of crinoline; in all of which cases those who have been trained to
risk slight mishaps during early life will find their nerves equal to
the shock, and their minds cool and collected enough to look around and
take hasty advantage of any opportunity of escape that may exist; while
those who have been unhappily nurtured in excessive delicacy, and
advised from the earliest childhood to "take care of themselves and
carefully avoid all risks," will probably fall victims to their nervous
alarms and the kind but injudicious training of parents or guardians.

The more I pondered this subject the more deeply impressed did I become
with its great importance to the well-being of mankind, and I was so
profoundly engrossed with it that my companions utterly failed to engage
me in general conversation as we walked briskly along through the
forest.  Jack again and again attempted to draw my attention to the
splendour of the curious specimens of tropical foliage and vegetation
through which we passed; but I could not rouse myself to take interest
therein.  In vain did Peterkin jest and rally me, and point out the
monkeys that grinned at us ever and anon as we passed beneath them, or
the serpents that glided more than once from our path, I was fascinated
with my train of meditation, and as I could not then give it up until I
had thought it out, so now I cannot pass from the subject until I have
at least endeavoured to guard myself from misconception.

I beg, then, that it will be understood that I do not by any means
inculcate hare-brained recklessness, or a course of training that will
foster that state of mind.  On the contrary, the course of training
which I should like to see universally practised would naturally tend to
counteract recklessness, for it would enable a boy to judge correctly as
to what he could and could not do.  Take an illustration.  A naturally
bold boy has been unwisely trained to be exceedingly careful of himself.
He does not know the extent of his own courage, or the power and
agility of his own muscles; he knows these things to some extent indeed,
but owing to restraint he does not know them fully.  Hence he is liable
both to over and under estimate them.

This bold boy--we shall call him Tom--takes a walk into the country with
a friend, whom we shall name Pat.  Pat is a bad boy, but he has been
permitted to train his muscles as he pleased, and his natural
disposition has led him to do difficult and sometimes slightly dangerous
things.

"You can't jump over that river, Tom," says Pat.

"Perhaps not," replies Tom: "I never tried such a jump, because my
mother tells me never to go where I am likely to tumble into the water."

"Oh, your mother's a muff!" cries Pat.

"Pat," says Tom, flushing with indignation and confronting his friend,
"don't you ever say that again, else the friendship between you and me
will come to an end.  I know you don't really mean what you say; but I
won't allow you to speak disrespectfully of my mother."

"Well, I won't," says Pat, "but _you're_ a muff, anyhow."

"Perhaps I am," replies Tom.

"Of course you are, because you're afraid to jump over that river, and
I'm not.  So here goes."

Pat thereupon jumps the river (he is a splendid leaper), and Tom
hesitates.

"Come along, Tom; don't be a hen."

Tom gives way, alas! to a disobedient impulse, and dashing at the leap
comes to the edge, when he finds, somehow, that he has not got the
proper foot first for the spring--almost every boy knows the feeling I
allude to; his heart fails, and he balks.

"O Tom, what a nimini-pimini muff you are, to be sure!"

Tom, as I have said, is a bold boy.  His blood boils at this; he rushes
wildly at the bank, hurls himself recklessly into the air, barely
reaches the opposite side with a scramble, and falls souse into the
river, from which he issues, as Pat says amid peals of laughter, "like a
half-drowned rat."

Now, had Tom been permitted to follow the bent of his own bold impulses,
he would have found out, years ago, how far and how high he could leap,
and how far exactly he could depend on his own courage in certain
circumstances; and he would either, on the one hand, have measured the
leap with an accustomed eye, and declined to take it with a
good-humoured admission that it was beyond his powers, or, on the other
hand, he would calmly have collected his well and oft tried energies for
the spring.  The proper foot, from long experience, would have come to
the ground at the right time.  His mind, freed from all anxiety as to
what he could accomplish, would have received a beneficial impulse from
his friend's taunt.  No nervous dread of a ducking would have checked
the completeness of his bound, because he would have often been ducked
before, and would have discovered that in most cases, if the clothes be
changed at once, a ducking is not worth mentioning--from a hydropathic
point of view is, in fact, beneficial--and he would have cleared the
river with comfort to himself and confusion to his friend, and without a
ducking or the uneasiness of conscience caused by the knowledge that he
had disobeyed his mother.  Had Peterkin not been trained to encounter
danger, his natural boldness alone would never have enabled him to stand
the charge of that buffalo bull.

There are muffs in this world.  I do not refer to those hairy articles
of female apparel in which ladies are wont to place their hands,
handkerchiefs, and scent-bottles.  Although not given to the use of
slang, I avail myself of it on this occasion, the word "muff" being
eminently expressive of a certain class of boys, big as well as little,
old as well as young.  There are three distinct classes of boys--namely,
muffs, sensible fellows, and boasters.  I say there are three distinct
classes, but I do not say that every boy belongs to one or other of
those classes.  Those who have studied chemistry know that nature's
elements are few.  Nearly all kinds of matter, and certainly all
varieties of mind, are composite.  There are no pure and simple muffs.
Most boasters have a good deal of the muff in them, and many muffs are
boasters; while sensible fellows are occasionally tinged with a dash of
both the bad qualities--they are, if I may be allowed to coin a word,
_sensible-boasto-muffers_!  Still, for the sake of lucidity, I will
maintain that there are three distinct phases of character in boys.

The muff is a boy who from natural disposition, or early training, or
both, is mild, diffident, and gentle.  So far he is an estimable
character.  Were this all, he were not a muff.  In order to deserve that
title he must be timid and unenthusiastic.  He must refuse to venture
anything that will subject him to danger, however slight.  He must be
afraid of a shower of rain; afraid of dogs in general, good and bad
alike; disinclined to try bold things; indifferent about learning to
swim.  He must object to the game called "dumps," because the blows from
the ball are sometimes severe; and be a sworn enemy to single-stick,
because the whacks are uncommonly painful.  So feeling and acting, he
will, when he becomes a man, find himself unable to act in the common
emergencies of life--to protect a lady from insolence, to guard his
house from robbery, or to save his own child should it chance to fall
into the water.  The muff is addicted to boasting sometimes, especially
when in the company of girls; but when on the playground he hangs on the
skirts of society, and sings very small.  There are many boys, alas! who
are made muffs by injudicious training, who would have grown up to be
bold, manly fellows had they been otherwise treated.  There are also
many kinds of muffs.  Some are good-hearted, amiable muffs; others are
petty, sneaking muffs.

With many of the varieties I have a strong sympathy, and for their
comfort I would say that muffs may cure themselves if they choose to try
energetically.

Courage and cowardice are not two distinct and entirely antagonistic
qualities.  To a great extent those qualities are the result of
training.  Every courageous man has a slight amount of cowardice in his
composition, and all cowards have a certain infusion of courage.  The
matador stands before the infuriated bull, and awaits its charge with
unflinching firmness, not because he has more courage than his comrades
in the ring who run away, but because long training has enabled him to
make almost certain of killing the bull.  He knows what he has done
before, he feels that he can do it again, therefore he stands like a
hero.  Were a doubt of his capacity to cross his mind for an instant,
his cheek would blanch, his hand would tremble, and, ten to one, he
would turn and flee like the rest.

Let muffs, therefore, learn to swim, to leap, and to run.  Let them
wrestle with boys bigger than themselves, regardless of being thrown.
Let them practise "jinking" with their companions, so that if even they
be chased by a mad bull, they will, if unable to get out of his way by
running, escape perhaps by jinking.  Let them learn to leap off
considerable heights into deep water, so that, if ever called on to leap
off the end of a pier or the side of a ship to save a fellow-creature,
they may do so with confidence and promptitude.  Let them even put on
"the gloves," and become regardless of a swelled nose, in order that
they may be able to defend themselves or others from sudden assault.  So
doing they will become sensible fellows, whose character I have thus to
some extent described.  Of course, I speak of sensible fellows only with
reference to this one subject of training the nerves and muscles.  Let
it never be forgotten that there are men who, although sensible in this
respect, are uncommonly senseless in regard to other things of far
higher moment.

As to boasters, I will dismiss them with a few words.  They are too
easily known to merit particular description.  They are usually loud and
bold in the drawing-room, but rather mild in the field.  They are
desperately egotistical, fond of exaggeration, and prone to depreciate
the deeds of their comrades.  They make bad soldiers and sailors, and
are usually held in contempt by others, whatever they may think of
themselves.  I may wind up this digression--into which I have been
tempted by an earnest desire to warn my fellow-men against the errors of
nervous and muscular education, which, in my case, led to the weak
conduct of which I had been guilty that day--I may wind up this
digression, I say, by remarking that the boys who are most loved in this
world are those who are lambs, _almost_ muffs, in the drawing-room, but
lions in the field.

How long I should have gone on pondering this subject I know not, but
Peterkin somewhat rudely interrupted me by uttering a wild scream, and
beginning to caper as if he were a madman.  I was much alarmed as well
as surprised at this course of conduct; for although my friend was an
inveterate joker, he was the very reverse of what is termed a buffoon,
and never indulged in personally grotesque actions with a view to make
people laugh--such as making faces, a practice which, in ninety-nine
cases out of a hundred, causes the face-makers to look idiotical rather
than funny, and induces beholders to pity them, and to feel very
uncomfortable sensations.

Peterkin's yells, instead of ceasing, continued and increased.

"Why, what's wrong?"  I cried, in much alarm.

Instead of answering, Peterkin darted away through the wood like a
maniac, tearing off his clothes as he went.  At the same moment Jack
began to roar like a bull, and became similarly distracted.  It now
flashed across me that they must have been attacked by an army of the
Bashikouay ant, a species of ant which is so ferocious as to prove a
perfect scourge to the parts of the country over which it travels.  The
thought had scarcely occurred to me when I was painfully convinced of
its accuracy.  The ants suddenly came to me, and in an instant I was
covered from head to foot by the passionate creatures, which hit me so
severely that I also began to scream and to tear off my garments; for I
had been told by the trader who accompanied us to this part of the
country that this was the quickest method of getting rid of them.

We all three fled, and soon left the army of Bashikouay ants behind us,
undressing, as we ran, in the best way we could; and when we at length
came to a halt we found ourselves almost in a state of nudity.  Hastily
divesting ourselves of the remainder of our apparel, we assisted each
other to clear away the ants, though we could not rid ourselves of the
painful effects of the bites with which we were covered.

"What dreadful villains!" gasped Peterkin, as he busied himself in
hastily picking off the furious creatures from his person.

"It would be curious to observe the effect of an army of soldiers
stepping into an army of Bashikouays," said Jack.  "They would be routed
instantly.  No discipline or courage could hold them together for two
minutes after they were attacked."

I was about to make some reply, when our attention was attracted by a
shout at no great distance, and in a few seconds we observed, to our
confusion, the trader and a band of negroes approaching us.  We hurried
on our clothes as rapidly as possible, and were a little more
presentable when they arrived.  They had a good laugh at us, of course,
and the naked blacks seemed to be much tickled with the idea that we had
been compelled to divest ourselves, even for a short time, of what they
considered our unnecessary covering.

"We thought you were lost," said the trader, "and I began to blame
myself for letting you away into the woods, where so many dangers may be
encountered, without a guide.  But what have you got there? meat of some
kind?  Your guns seem to have done service on this your first
expedition."

"Ay, that they have," answered Jack.  "We've killed a buffalo bull, and
if you send your black fellows back on our track for some hours they'll
come to the carcass, of which we could not, of course, bring very much
away on our shoulders, which are not accustomed yet to heavy loads."

"Besides," added Peterkin, "we were anxious to get back in time for your
elephant-hunt, else we should have brought more meat with us.  But Jack
has not mentioned what I consider our chief prize, the honour of
shooting which belongs to my friend Ralph Rover.--Come, Ralph, unfasten
your pack and let them see it."

Although unwilling to put off more time, I threw down my pack, and
untying it, displayed my leopard skin.  The shout of delight and
surprise which the sight of it drew from the negroes was so enthusiastic
that I at once perceived I was considered to have secured a great prize.

"Why, Mr Rover, you're in luck," said the trader, examining the skin;
"it's not every day that one falls in with such a fine leopard as that.
And you have already made a reputation as a daring hunter, for the
niggers consider it a bold and dangerous thing to attack these critters;
they're so uncommon fierce."

"Indeed I do not by any means deserve such a reputation," said I,
refastening my pack, "for the shot was entirely accidental; so I pray
you, good sir, to let the negroes know that, as I have no desire to go
under a false flag, as my friend Peterkin would say--"

"Go under a false flag!" exclaimed Peterkin, in contempt.  "Sail under
false colours, man!  That's what you should have said.  Whatever you do,
Ralph, never misquote a man.  Go under a false flag! ha, ha!  Why, you
might just as well have said, `progress beneath assumed bunting.'"

"Well, accidental or otherwise," said the trader, "you've got credit for
the deed, and your fame will be spread among the tribe whether you will
or not; for these fellows are such incorrigible liars themselves that
they will never believe you if you tell them the shot was accidental.
They will only give you credit for some strange though unknown motive in
telling such a falsehood."

While the trader was speaking I observed that the negroes were talking
with the eager looks and gesticulations that are peculiar to the
Africans when excited, and presently two or three of them came forward
and asked several questions, while their eyes sparkled eagerly and their
black faces shone with animation as they pointed into the woods in the
direction whence we had come.

"They want to know where you have left the carcass of the leopard, and
if you have taken away the brains," said the trader, turning to me.  "I
daresay you know--if not you'll soon come to find out--that all the
nigger tribes in Africa are sunk in gross and cruel superstitions.  They
have more fetishes, and greegrees, and amulets, and wooden gods, and
charms, than they know what to do with, and have surrounded themselves
with spiritual mysteries that neither themselves nor anybody else can
understand.  Among other things, they attach a very high value to the
brains of the leopard, because they imagine that he who possesses them
will be rendered extraordinarily bold and successful in hunting.  These
fellows are in hopes that, being ignorant of the value of leopard
brains, you have left them in the carcass, and are burning with anxiety
to be off after them."

"Poor creatures!" said I, "they are heartily welcome to the brains; and
the carcass lies not more than four hours' march from this spot, I
should think,--Is it not so, Jack?"

My friend nodded assent, and the trader, turning to the expectant crowd
of natives, gave them the information they desired.  No sooner had he
finished than with loud cries they turned and darted away, tossing their
arms wildly in the air, and looking more like to a band of scared
monkeys than to human beings.

"They're queer fellows," remarked Peterkin.

"So they are," replied the trader, "and they're kindly fellows too--
jovial and good-humoured, except when under the influence of their
abominable superstitions.  Then they become incarnate fiends, and commit
deeds of cruelty that make one's blood run cold to think of."

I felt much saddened by these remarks, and asked the trader if the
missionaries accomplished any good among them.

"Oh yes," he replied, "they do much good, such of them at least as
really are missionaries; for it does not follow that every one who wears
a black coat and white neck-cloth, and goes abroad, is a missionary.
But what can a few men scattered along the coast here and there, however
earnest they be, do among the thousands upon thousands of savages that
wander about in the interior of Africa?  No good will ever be done in
this land, to any great extent, until traders and missionaries go hand
in hand into the interior, and the system of trade is entirely
remodelled."

"From what you remark," said I, feeling much interested, "I should
suppose that you have given this subject a good deal of attention."

"I have.  But there are people in this world who, supposing that because
I am a trader I am therefore prone to exalt trade to an equality with
religion, do not give me credit for disinterestedness when I speak.
Perhaps you are one of these."

"Not I, in truth," said I, earnestly.  "My chief desire in conversing
with mankind is to acquire knowledge; I therefore listen with attention
and respect to the opinions of others, instead of endeavouring to assert
my own.  In the present instance, being ignorant, I have no opinions to
assert."

"I wish there were more people in your country," replied the trader,
"who felt as you do.  I would tell them that, although a trader, I
regard the salvation of men's souls as the most important work in this
world.  I would argue that until you get men to listen, you cannot
preach the gospel to them; that the present system of trade in Africa is
in itself antagonistic to religion, being based upon dishonesty, and
that, therefore, the natives will not listen to missionaries--of course,
in some cases they will; for I believe that the gospel, when truly
preached, is never preached in vain--but they will throw every possible
impediment in their way.  I would tell them that in order to make the
path of the missionary practicable, the system of trade must be
inverted, the trader and the missionary must go hand in hand, and
commerce and religion--although incomparably different in their nature
and ends--must act the part of brother and sister if anything _great_ is
to be done for the poor natives of Africa."

Conversing thus we beguiled the time pleasantly while we proceeded
rapidly on our way, for the day was drawing to a close, and we were
still at a considerable distance from the native village.



CHAPTER FIVE.

PREPARATIONS FOR A GRAND HUNT.

All was bustle, noise, and activity in the village, or, more correctly
speaking, in the native town of his Majesty King Jambai, early in the
morning after our arrival.  A great elephant-hunt had been resolved on.
The hunters were brushing up their spears and old guns--all of which
latter were flint-locks that had been procured from traders, and were
not worth more than a few shillings.  The women were busy preparing
breakfast, and the children were playing around their huts.

These huts were of the simplest construction--made of bamboo, roofed
with large palm-leaves, and open in front.  The wants of savages are
generally few; their household furniture is very plain, and there is
little of it.  A large hut near to that of his sable majesty had been
set apart for the trader and his party during our residence at the town.
In this we had spent the night as pleasantly as we could, but the
mosquitoes kept up an unceasing warfare upon us, so that daylight was
welcomed gladly when it came.

On going to the hut of King Jambai, who had invited us to breakfast with
him, we found the Princess Oninga alone, seated in the king's armchair
and smoking her pipe with uncommon gusto.  She had spent the early part
of the morning in preparing breakfast for her father and ourselves, and
was now resting from her labours.

"You are early astir, Princess Oninga," said the trader as we entered
and took our seats round the fire, for at that hour the air felt chilly.

The princess took her pipe from her lips and admitted that she was,
blowing a long thin cloud of smoke into the air with a sigh of
satisfaction.

"We are ready for breakfast," added the trader.  "Is the king at home?"

"He is in the woods, but will be back quickly."  With this remark the
princess rose, and knocking the ashes out of her pipe, left the tent.

"Upon my word, she's a cool beauty," said Peterkin.

"I should rather say a black one," remarked Jack.

"Perhaps an odd one would be the most appropriate term," said I.  "Did
you ever see such a headdress?"

The manner in which the Princess Oninga had seen fit to dress her head
was indeed peculiar, I may say ludicrous.  Her woolly hair had been
arranged in the form of a cocked hat, with a horn projecting in front,
and at a short distance off it might easily have been mistaken for the
headpiece of a general officer minus the feathers.  There was little in
the way of artificial ornament about it, but the princess wore a number
of heavy brass rings on her arms and ankles.  Those on the latter
reached half-way up to her knees, and they were so heavy that her walk
was little better than a clumsy waddle.  Before we could pass further
comment on her appearance, King Jambai entered, and saluted us by taking
us each separately and rubbing noses with us.  This done, he ordered in
breakfast, which consisted of roast and boiled plantains, ground nuts,
roast fowl, and roast pig; so we fell to at once, and being exceedingly
hungry after our long walk of the day before, made a hearty meal.

"Now, sir," said Jack, when our repast was about concluded, "as you are
going to leave us soon, you had better arrange with the king about
getting us an interpreter and supplying us with a few men to carry our
goods.  I think you said there was once a man in the tribe who spoke a
little English.  Have you found out whether he is alive?"

"Yes; I have heard that he is alive and well, and is expected in every
day from a hunting expedition.  He is a splendid hunter and a capital
fellow.  His name is Makarooroo, and if you get him you will be
fortunate."

"Then ask his black majesty," said Peterkin, "as quick as you please,
for, to say truth, I'm rather anxious on this point.  I feel that we
should never get on without a good interpreter."

To our satisfaction we found that the king was quite willing to do all
that we wished and a great deal more.  In fact, we soon perceived that
he felt highly honoured by our visit, and had boasted not a little of
"_his white men_" to the chiefs of neighbouring tribes, some of whom had
come a considerable distance to see us.

"You have made quite a conquest, gentlemen, of worthy Jambai," said the
trader, after translating the king's favourable reply.  "The fact is he
is pleased with the liberality you have shown towards him in the way of
gifts, and is proud of the confidence you have placed in him.  Had you
been bent on a trading expedition, he would have opposed your further
progress; but knowing that you are simply hunters, he is anxious to
assist you by all the means at his command.  He is surprised, indeed, at
your taking so much trouble and coming so far merely to kill wild
animals, for he cannot understand the idea of sporting.  He himself
hunts for the sake of procuring meat."

"Can he not understand," said Peterkin, "that _we_ hunt for fun?"

"No, he don't quite see through that.  He said to me a few minutes ago,
`Have these men no meat at home, that they come all this long way to get
it?'  I told him that you had plenty, and then endeavoured to explain
your idea of hunting `for fun.'  But he shook his head, and I think he
does not believe you."

At this point in our conversation the king rose and gave the signal to
set out on the hunting expedition.  Instantly the whole population of
the town turned out and rushed to the banks of the river, near which it
stood, where canoes were prepared for us.  Suddenly there arose a great
shout, and the name "Makarooroo, Makarooroo," passed from mouth to
mouth.  Presently a fine, tall, deep-chested and broad-shouldered negro
stepped up to the king and laid a leopard skin at his feet, while the
people shouted and danced with delight at the success of their
companion; for, as I have already stated, it is deemed a bold feat to
attack and slay a leopard single-handed.

While the commotion caused by this event was going on, I said to the
trader--

"How comes it that Makarooroo can speak English?"

"He spent a couple of years on the coast, in the service of a
missionary, and during that time attended the missionary school, where
he picked up a smattering of English and a trifle of geography and
arithmetic; but although a stout, sturdy hunter, and an intelligent man,
he was a lazy student, and gave the good missionary much trouble to
hammer the little he knows into his thick skull.  At last he grew tired
of it, and returned to his tribe; but he brought his Bible with him, and
I am told is very diligent in the study of it.  His education has gained
for him a great reputation as a fetishman, or doctor of mysteries, among
his people.  I used often to see him at school hammering away at m-a,
ma-b-a, ba, and so on, amid a group of children.  He used to sit beside
the king--"

"The king!" said I, in surprise.

"Ay; the king of that district became a Christian, and he and the queen,
with one or two others of the royal household, used to attend school
with the children every day, and their diligence in studying the A B C
was beyond all praise.  But they were terribly stupid.  The children
beat them easily, showing how true is the saying that `youth is the time
to learn.'  The king was always booby, and Makarooroo was always beside
him."

As the trader spoke, Makarooroo came forward and shook hands with him in
the English fashion.  He was then introduced to us, and expressed his
willingness to become our interpreter in somewhat curious but quite
comprehensible English.  As I looked at his intelligent, good-natured
countenance, I could not help thinking that the trader had underrated
his intellectual powers.

"He's a funny dog that Makarooroo," said Peterkin, as our interpreter
hastened away to fetch his rusty old gun and spears; for he meant to
join our hunting expedition, although he had only that moment arrived
from a long and fatiguing chase.

"Do you think so?" said Jack.

"I don't agree with you," said I; "to me he seems rather of a grave and
quiet disposition."

"O Ralph, what a bat you are!  He was grave enough just now, truly; but
did you not observe the twinkle in his eye when he spoke to us in
English?  Depend on it he's a funny dog."

"There must be freemasonry, then, among funny dogs," I retorted, "for
Jack and I don't perceive it."

"Is this our canoe?" inquired Jack of the trader.

"It is."

"Then let's jump in."

In a few seconds the river was crowded with a fleet of small canoes, and
we all paddled quickly up the stream, which was sluggish at that part.
We did not intend to proceed more than a few miles by water, as the
place where game was expected was at some distance from the river.  I
felt some regret at this, for the trip up the river was to me most
enchanting.

Every yard we advanced new beauties of scenery were revealed to view.
The richness of the tropical vegetation seemed in this place to
culminate, it was so rank and gorgeous.  The day was fine, too, and all
the strange-looking creatures--ugly and beautiful, large and small--
peculiar to those regions, seemed to have resolved on a general peace in
order to bask in the sunshine and enjoy the glorious weather.  Man alone
was bent on war, and our track, alas! was marked with blood wherever we
passed along.  I pondered much on this subject, and wondered at the
bloodthirsty spirit which seems to be natural to man in all conditions
and climes.  Then I thought of the difficulty these poor Africans have
at times in procuring food, the frequency with which they are reduced
almost to a state of starvation, and I ceased to wonder that they shot
and speared everything that came in their way.

We proceeded up the left bank of the river, keeping close in to the
shore in order to obtain the protection of the overhanging boughs and
foliage; for the sun soon began to grow hot, and in the middle of the
day became so intense that I sometimes feared that I or my companions
would receive a sunstroke.  I confess that the subject of health often
caused me much anxiety; for although I knew that we were all old
experienced travellers--though young in years--and had become in a great
degree inured to hardships, I feared that the deadly climate of Central
Africa might prove too much for our European constitutions.  By the free
use of quinine, however, and careful attention to the roles of health as
far as circumstances would permit, we were fortunate enough to keep in
excellent health and spirits during the whole course of our sojourn
there; for which, when I thought of the hundreds of Europeans who had
perished on that deadly coast without even venturing into the interior,
I felt very thankful.  One of our chief delights, to which I in a great
degree attribute our uninterrupted health, was bathing daily in the
streams and ponds with which we fell in, or on which we paddled during
our travels.  On these occasions we were fain, however, to be exceeding
careful in the selection of our bathing-pool, as crocodiles and
alligators, and I know not what other hideous animals, were constantly
on the lookout for prey, and I make no doubt would have been very ready
to try the flavour of a morsel of English food had we given them the
chance.

On these occasions, when we had made sure of our pool, we were wont to
paddle about in the cool refreshing stream, and recall to mind the
splendid dips we had had together six years before in the clear waters
of the coral island.  Since that time Peterkin had learned to swim well,
which was not only a source of much satisfaction and gratification to
himself now, but, he told me, had been the means of preserving not only
his own life on more than one occasion, but the life of a little child
which he had the good fortune to rescue from drowning when cruising off
the island of Madagascar.

Peterkin used to speak very strongly when talking on this subject, and I
observed, from the unusual seriousness of his manner, that he felt
deeply too.

"Ralph," he said to me one day, "half the world is mad--I am not sure
that I might not say three-quarters of the world is mad--and I'm quite
certain that all the _ladies_ in the world are mad with the exception of
the brown ladies of the South Seas, and a few rare specimens elsewhere;
they're all mad together in reference to the matter of swimming.  Now
that I have learned it nothing is so easy, and any one who is not as
blind as a rheumatic owl must see that nothing is more important; for
every one almost is subject to being pitched now and then into deep
water, and if he can't swim it's all up with him.  Why, every time an
angler goes out to _fish_ he runs the chance of slipping and being swept
into a deep hole, where, if he cannot swim, he is certain to be drowned.
And yet five strokes would save his life.  _Good_ swimming is by no
means what is wanted; swimming of any kind, however poor, is all that is
desiderated.  Every time a lady goes to have a row on a lake she is
liable to be upset by the clumsiness of those who accompany her, and
although it may be close to shore, if she cannot swim, down she goes to
the bottom.  And _floating_ won't do.  Some ladies delude themselves
with the idea that floating is of great value.  In nine cases out of ten
it is of no value at all; for unless water be perfectly smooth and
still, a person cannot float so as to keep the waves from washing over
the face, in which case choking is the certain result.  There is no
excuse for not learning to swim.  In most large cities there are
swimming-baths; if the sea is not available, a river is, everywhere.  I
tell you what it is, Ralph: people who don't learn to swim are--are--I
was going to say asses, but that would be an insult to the much-maligned
long-eared animal; and parents who don't teach their offspring to swim
deserve to be drowned in butter-milk; and I wish I saw--no, I _don't_
quite wish I saw them all drowned in that way, but I do wish that I
could impress upon mankind over the length and breadth of this rotund
world the great, the immense, the intense importance of boys _and girls_
being taught to swim."

"You make use of strong language," said I.

"Quite a powerful orator," added Jack, laughing.

"Bah!" exclaimed Peterkin; "your reception of this grand truth is but a
type of the manner in which it will be received by the pig-headed world.
What's the use of preaching common sense?  I'm a perfect donkey!"

"Nay, Peterkin," said Jack; "I appreciate what you say, and have no
doubt whatever that your remarks, if made public, would create quite a
revolution in the juvenile world, and convert them speedily into aquatic
animals.  Did you ever think of sending your views on that subject to
the _Times_?"

"The _Times_!" cried Peterkin.

"Yes, the _Times_; why not?"

"Because," said Peterkin slowly, "I once sent a letter to that great but
insolent periodical, and what do you think it did?"

"Can't tell, I'm sure."

"_Took no notice of it whatever_!" said Peterkin, with a look of
ineffable disgust.

But to return from this digression.  I was much struck with the splendid
contrast of colours that met my eye everywhere here.  The rich variety
of greens in the different trees harmonised with the bright pink plums
and scarlet berries, and these latter were almost dimmed in their lustre
by the bright plumage of the birds, which I felt intense longing to
procure, many of them being quite new to me, and, I am certain, totally
unknown to naturalists, while others I recognised with delight as
belonging to several of the species of which I had read in
ornithological works.  I tried hard to shoot several of these lovely
creatures, intending to stuff them, but, to my regret, was utterly
unable to hit them.  Seeing this, Peterkin took pity on me, and sitting
down in the bow of our canoe, picked off all the birds I pointed out to
him as we passed, with unerring precision.  Most of them fell into the
water, and were easily secured, while one or two toppled off the
branches into the canoe.  Several of them he shot on the wing--a feat
which even filled Jack with surprise, and so astounded the natives that
they surrounded our canoe at last, and gazed open-mouthed at my friend,
whom they evidently regarded as the greatest fetishman that had ever
come amongst them.

He was obliged to stop at last and lay down his gun in order to make the
natives cease from crowding round us and delaying our voyage.  A number
of iguanas were observed on the branches of the trees that overhung the
stream.  They dropped into the water as we approached; but the natives
succeeded in spearing a good many, and I afterwards found that they
considered them excellent food.

If I was charmed with the birds, Peterkin was no less delighted with the
monkeys that chattered at us as we passed along.  I never saw a man
laugh as he did that day.  He almost became hysterical, so much was he
tickled with their antics; and the natives, who have a keen sense of the
ludicrous, seemed quite to sympathise with his spirit, although, of
course, what amused him could not have similarly affected them, seeing
that they were used to monkeys from infancy.

"There's something new!" exclaimed Jack, as we rounded a bend in the
river and came in view of an open flat where it assumed somewhat the
aspect of a pond or small lake.  He pointed to a flock of birds standing
on a low rock, which I instantly recognised to be pelicans.

"Surely," said I, "pelicans are not new to you!"

"Certainly not; but if you look a little more attentively, I think you
will find material for your note-book."

Jack was right.  I observed a very fine fish-hawk circling over the head
of one of the pelicans.  Its head and neck were white, and its body was
of a reddish chocolate colour.  Just as we came in sight, the pelican
caught a fine fish, which it stowed away safe in the pouch under its
chin.  The sly hawk, which had been watching for this, immediately made
a descent towards its victim, making a considerable noise with its wings
as it came down.  Hearing this, the pelican looked hastily up, and
supposing that a terrible and deadly assault was about to be made,
opened its mouth and screamed in terror.  This was just what the hawk
wanted.  The open bill revealed the fish in the pouch.  Down he swooped,
snatched it out, and then soared away with his ill-gotten gains in his
talons.

"Oh, what a thief!" exclaimed Peterkin.

"And the pelican seems to take his loss in a remarkably philosophical
manner," observed Jack.

To my surprise the great stupid bird, instead of flying away, as I had
expected, quietly resumed his fishing as if nothing had happened.  No
doubt he was well pleased to find himself still alive, and it is not
improbable that the hawk made several more meals at the expense of his
long-beaked friend after we had passed by.

We soon put him to flight, however, by landing near the spot where he
stood, this being the place where we were to quit our canoes and pass
through the jungle on foot.  The hunters now prepared themselves for
action, for the recent tracks of elephants were seen on the bank of the
stream, and the natives said they could not be far off.  Jack and
Peterkin were armed with immensely heavy rifles, which carried balls of
the weight of six-ounces.  I carried my trusty, double-barrelled
fowling-piece, which is of the largest size, and which I preferred to a
rifle, because, not being a good shot, I resolved, on all occasions, to
reserve my fire until we should come to close quarters with game,
leaving my more expert comrades to take the longer shots.  We had also
two natives--one being our guide, Makarooroo, who carried Jack and
Peterkin's double-barrelled guns as a reserve.  These were loaded, of
course, with ball.

"This looks something like business," said Jack, as he leaned on his
heavy rifle and looked at the natives, who were selecting their spears
and otherwise making preparations.

"It does," replied Peterkin.  "Are you loaded?"

"Ay, and I have just examined the caps to see that they are dry; for
it's not like grouse-shooting on the Scottish hills this African
hunting, depend upon it.  A snapping cap might cost us our lives,--
Ralph, my boy, you must keep well in rear.  I don't want to hurt your
feelings, but it won't do to go in front when you cannot depend on your
nerves."

I experienced a feeling of sadness not unmingled with shame as my friend
said this, but I could not question the justness of his remark, and I
knew well that he would not have made it at all, but for his anxiety
lest I should run recklessly into danger, which I might find myself,
when too late, unable to cope with.  I was careful, however, to conceal
my feelings as I replied with a smile--

"You are right, Jack.  I shall act the part of a support, while you and
Peterkin skirmish in advance."

"And be careful," said Peterkin, solemnly, "that you don't fire into us
by mistake."

Somewhat of Peterkin's own spirit came over me as I replied, "Indeed, I
have been thinking of that, and I'm not sure that I can restrain myself
when I see a chimpanzee monkey and a gorilla walking through the woods
before me."

"I think we'd better take his gun from him," suggested Jack.

At this moment the king gave the signal to advance, so we shouldered our
weapons and joined him.  As we walked rapidly along, Jack suggested that
we should allow the natives to kill any elephants we might fall in with
in their own way, so as to observe how they managed it, rather than try
to push ourselves forward on this our first expedition.  We all agreed
to this, and shortly after we came to the place which elephants were
known to frequent.

Here great preparations had evidently been made for them.  A space of
more than a mile was partially enclosed by what might be termed a vine
wall.  The huge, thorny, creeping vines had been torn down from the
trees and woven into a rude sort of network, through which it was almost
impossible for any animal except an elephant to break.  This was
intended--not to stop the elephant altogether, but to entangle and
retard him in his flight, until the hunters could kill him with their
spears.  The work, we were given to understand, was attended with
considerable danger, for some of the natives were occasionally caught by
the thorny vines when flying from the charge of the infuriated animal,
and were instantly stamped to death by his ponderous feet.

I felt a new and powerful excitement creep over me as I saw the natives
extend themselves in a wide semicircle of nearly two miles in extent,
and begin to advance with loud shouts and cries, in order to drive the
game towards the vines, and the flashing eyes and compressed lips of my
two companions showed that they were similarly affected.  We determined
to keep together and follow close on that part of the line where the
king was.

"You no be 'fraid?" said Makarooroo, looking down at Peterkin, who, he
evidently supposed, was neither mentally nor physically adapted for an
African hunter.

Peterkin was so tickled with the question that he suddenly began to
tremble like an aspen leaf, and to chatter with his teeth and display
all the symptoms of abject terror.  Pointing over Makarooroo's shoulder
into the bush behind him, he gasped, "The leopard!"

The negro uttered a hideous yell, and springing nearly his own height
into the air, darted behind a tree with the agility of a wild-cat.

Instantly Peterkin resumed his composure, and turning round with a look
of cool surprise, said--

"What! you're not afraid, Makarooroo?"  The good-humoured fellow burst
into a loud laugh on perceiving the practical joke that had been passed
on him, and it was evident that the incident, trifling though it was,
had suddenly raised his estimation of Peterkin to a very exalted pitch.

We now began to draw near to the enclosure, and I was beginning to fear
that our hunt was to prove unsuccessful that day.  A considerable
quantity of small game had passed us, alarmed by the cries of the
natives; but we purposely withheld our fire, although I saw that Jack
was sorely tempted once or twice, when several beautiful gazelles and
one or two wild pigs ran past within shot.  Presently we heard a shrill
trumpeting sound, which Peterkin, who had hunted in the forests of
Ceylon, told us, in an excited voice, was the cry of the elephant.  We
hastened forward with our utmost speed, when suddenly we were brought to
a stand by hearing a tremendous roar close in front of us.  Immediately
after, a large male lion bounded from among the bushes, and with one
stroke of his enormous paw struck down a negro who stood not twenty
yards from us.  The terrible brute stood for an instant or two, lashing
his sides with his tail and glaring defiance.  It chanced that I
happened to be nearest to him, and that the position of the tangled
underwood prevented my companions from taking good aim; so without
waiting for them, being anxious to save, if possible, the life of the
prostrate negro, I fired both barrels into the lion's side.  Giving
utterance to another terrible roar, he bounded away into the bush,
scattering the negroes who came in his way, and made his escape, to our
great disappointment.

We found, to our horror, on going up to the fallen hunter, that he was
quite dead.  His skull had been literally smashed in, as if it had
received a blow from a sledge-hammer.

I cannot describe my feelings on beholding thus, for the first time, the
king of beasts in all the savage majesty of strength and freedom,
coupled with the terrible death of a human being.  My brain was in a
whirl of excitement; I scarce knew what I was doing.  But I had no time
to think, for almost immediately after firing the shots at the lion, two
elephants came crashing through the bushes.  One was between ten and
eleven feet high, the other could not have been less than twelve feet.
I had never seen anything like this in the menageries of England, and
their appearance, as they burst thus suddenly on my vision, was
something absolutely appalling.

Those who have only seen the comparatively small and sluggish animals
that are wont to ring their bells to attract attention, and to feed on
gingerbread nuts from the hands of little boys, can form no idea of the
terrible appearance of the gigantic monsters of Africa as they go
tearing in mad fury through the forests with their enormous ears, and
tails, and trunks erect, their ponderous tusks glistening in the
sunshine, and their wicked little eyes flashing like balls of fire as
they knock down, rend asunder, and overturn all that comes in their way.

The two that now approached us in full career were flying before a crowd
of negroes who had already fixed a number of spears in their sides, from
which the blood was flowing copiously.  To say that the bushes went down
before them like grass would not give a correct idea of the ponderous
rush of these creatures.  Trees of three and four inches diameter were
run against and snapped off like twigs, without proving in any degree
obstructive.

By this time the negroes had crowded in from all sides, and as the
elephants approached the place where we stood, a perfect cloud of spears
and javelins descended on their devoted sides.  I observed that many of
the active natives had leaped up into the trees and discharged their
spears from above, while others, crouching behind fallen trees or
bushes, threw them from below, so that in a few seconds dozens of spears
entered their bodies at every conceivable angle, and they appeared as if
suddenly transformed into monstrous porcupines or hedgehogs.  There was
something almost ludicrous in this, but the magnitude and aspect of the
animals were too terrible, and our danger was too imminent, to permit
anything like comic ideas to enter our brains.  I observed, too, that
the natives were perfectly wild with excitement.  Their black faces
worked convulsively, and their white eyes and teeth glittered as they
leaped and darted about in a state of almost perfect nudity, so that
their aspect was quite demoniacal.

The suddenness and violence of the attack made near to us had the effect
of turning the elephants aside, and the next instant they were tearing
and wrenching themselves through the meshes of the tough and thorny
vines.  The natives closed in with wild cries and with redoubled energy.
Nothing surprised me so much as to observe the incredible number of
spears that were sticking all over these creatures, and the amount of
blood that they lost, without any apparent diminution of strength
resulting.  It seemed as if no human power could kill them, and at that
moment I almost doubted Peterkin's assertion that he had, while in
Ceylon, actually killed elephants with a single ball.

While Jack and Peterkin and I were gazing in deep interest and surprise
at the curious struggle going on before us, and holding ourselves in
readiness to act, should there be any chance of our game escaping, the
larger of the two elephants succeeded in disentangling himself by
backing out of the snare.  He then wheeled round and charged straight at
King Jambai, who stood close to us, with incredible fury.  The beast, as
it came on with the bristling spears all over it, the blood spirting
from its innumerable wounds, and trumpeting shrill with rage, seemed to
me like some huge unearthly phantom.  It was with difficulty I could
believe the whole scene other than a hideous dream.  Jambai launched his
javelin into the animal's chest, and then turned and fled.  The other
natives also darted and scattered hither and thither, so that the
elephant could not make up its mind on which of its enemies to wreak its
vengeance.  We, too, turned and took to our heels at once with right
good will.  All at once I heard Jack utter a wild shout or yell, very
unlike to anything I ever heard from him before.  I looked back, and saw
that his foot had got entangled in a thorny shrub, and that the elephant
was making at him.

To this day I have never been able to account for the remarkable
condition of mind and body that ensued on this occasion.  Instead of
being paralysed as I had been when Peterkin was in imminent danger, all
sensation of fear or hesitancy seemed to vanish on thine instant.  I
felt my nerves and muscles strung, as it were, and rendered firm as a
rock, and with calm deliberation, yet with the utmost rapidity of which
I was capable, I turned round, sprang between Jack and the enraged
beast, and presented my piece at his head.

"Right in the centre of his forehead," gasped Jack, as he endeavoured to
wrench his foot from the entanglement.

At that moment I observed Peterkin leap to my side; the next instant the
report of both our guns rang through the woods; the elephant bounded
completely over Jack, as Peterkin and I leaped to either side to let it
pass, and fell to the ground with such violence that a tree about six
inches thick, against which it struck, went down before it like a willow
wand.

We immediately assisted Jack to extricate himself; but we had no time to
congratulate ourselves on our narrow escape, for mingled shouts and
yells from the men in the bushes ahead apprised us that some new danger
menaced them in that direction.

Reloading as fast as we could, we hastened forward, and soon gained the
new scene of battle.  Here stood the other elephant, trying to break
down a small tree up which King Jambai had climbed, partly for safety
and partly in order to dart a javelin down on the brute as it passed.

This was a common custom of the natives; but the king, who was a bold,
reckless man, had neglected to take the very necessary precaution of
selecting a strong tree.  The elephant seemed actually to have observed
this, for instead of passing on, it suddenly rushed headlong against the
tree and began to break it down.  When we came up the beast was heaving
and straining with all its might, the stout tree was cracking and
rending fearfully, so that the king could scarcely retain his position
on it.  The natives were plying their spears with the utmost vigour; but
although mortally wounded, it was evident that in a few more seconds the
elephant would succeed in throwing down the tree and trample the king to
death.

Peterkin instantly sprang forward, but Jack laid his hand on his
shoulder.

"It's my turn this time, lad," he cried, and leaping towards the
monster, he placed the muzzle of his rifle close to its shoulder and
sent a six-ounce ball right through its heart.

The effect was instantaneous.  The elephant fell to the ground, a
mountain of dead flesh.

The delight of the negroes at this happy termination of the battle was
excessive.  They leaped and laughed and danced like insane men, and we
had much ado to prevent them seizing us in their arms and rubbing noses
with us.

As we had not commenced the hunt until well on in the day, evening was
now closing in; so the king gave orders to encamp on a dry rising ground
not far distant, where the jungle was less dense, and thither we all
repaired, the natives bringing in all the game, and cutting up the
elephants in a very short space of time.

"Your shot was not such a bad one this time, Ralph," observed Peterkin,
as we three stood looking at the large elephant which the natives were
cutting up.  "There they are, just above the proboscis.  But let me warn
you never again to venture on such a foolhardy thing as to fire in the
face of a charging elephant unless you are a dead shot."

"Thank you, Peterkin, for your advice, which, however, I will not take
when a comrade's life may depend on my doing so."

"I give you full credit for the excellence of your intention," rejoined
my friend; "but if Jack's life had depended on those two shots from your
double-barrel, he would have been but a dead man now.  There is only one
vulnerable spot in the front of an elephant's head; that is, exactly in
the centre of the forehead.  The spot is not bigger than a saucer, and
the bone is comparatively thin there.  If you cannot make _sure_ of
hitting that, you simply face certain death.  I would not have tried it
on any account whatever, had I not seen that both you and Jack would
have been killed had I not done so."

On examination we found that the heavy ball from Peterkin's rifle had
indeed penetrated the exact spot referred to, and had been the means of
killing the elephant, while my two bullets were found embedded in the
bone.

The tusks of this animal were magnificent.  I do not know what their
exact weight was, not having the means wherewith to weigh them.  They
were probably worth a considerable sum of money in the British market.
Of course we did not lay claim to any part of the spoil of that day,
with the exception of a few of the beautiful birds shot on the voyage up
the river, which were of no value to the natives, although priceless to
me.  Alas! when I came to examine them next morning, I found that those
destructive creatures the white ants had totally destroyed the greater
part of them, and the few that were worth stuffing were very much
damaged.

Experience is a good though sometimes a severe teacher.  Never again did
I, after that, put off the stuffing of any valuable creature till the
next day.  I always stuffed it in the evening of the day on which it was
killed; and thus, although the practice cost me many a sleepless night,
I preserved, and ultimately brought home, many specimens of rare and
beautiful birds and beasts, which would otherwise have been destroyed by
those rapacious insects.

That night the scene of our camp was indescribably romantic and wild.
Numerous huge fires were lighted, and round these the negroes circled
and cooked elephant and venison steaks, while they talked over the
events of the day or recounted the adventures of former hunts with noisy
volubility and gesticulation.

The negro has a particular love for a fire.  The nights in his warm
climate are chill to him, though not so to Europeans, and he luxuriates
in the heat of a fire as a cat does in the rays of the sun.  The warm
blaze seems to draw out his whole soul, and causes his eyes to sparkle
with delight.  A good supper and a warm fire render him almost perfectly
happy.  There is but one thing wanting to render him supremely so, and
that is--a pipe!  No doubt, under similar circumstances, the white man
also is in a state of enviable felicity, but he does not show his joy
like the negro, who seems to forget his cares and sorrows, the miseries
which his gross superstitions entail on him, the frequency with which he
is exposed to sudden destruction; everything, in short, is forgotten
save the present, and he enjoys himself with unmitigated fervour.

It really did my heart good as I sat with my comrades beside our fire
and looked around me on their happy faces, which were rendered still
happier by the gift from us of a small quantity of tobacco, with which
we had taken care to provide ourselves for this very purpose.

I could scarcely believe that the jovial, kindly, hearty fellows were
the very men who are well-known to be such cruel, bloodthirsty fiends
when under the influence of their dreadful superstitions, and who, but a
few hours before, had been darting through the woods besmeared with
blood and yelling like maniacs or demons.  In fact, the whole scene
before me, and the day's proceedings, seemed to me, at that time, like a
vivid dream instead of a reality.  Moreover, after I lay down, the
reality became a dream, and I spent that night, as I had spent the day,
shooting gazelles, lions, wild pigs, and elephants in imagination.



CHAPTER SIX.

DREAMING AND FEEDING AND BLOODY WORK ENLARGED UPON.

The first object of which my senses became cognisant on awaking next
morning was my friend Peterkin, who had evidently awakened just a moment
or two before me, for he was in the act of yawning and rubbing his eyes.

I have all my life been a student of character, and the most interesting
yet inexplicable character which I have ever studied has been that of my
friend Peterkin, whose eccentricities I have never been able fully to
understand or account for.  I have observed that, on first awaking in
the mornings, he has been wont to exhibit several of his most eccentric
and peculiar traits, so I resolved to feign myself asleep and watch him.

"Heigh-ho!" he exclaimed, after the yawn I have just referred to.
Having said this, he stretched out both arms to the utmost above his
head, and then flung himself back at full length on his couch, where he
lay still for about half a minute.  Then he started up suddenly into a
sitting posture and looked slowly from one to another of the recumbent
forms around him.  Satisfied, apparently, that they were asleep, he gave
vent to a long yawn which terminated in a gasp, and then he looked up
contemplatively at the sky, which was at that hour beginning to warm
with the red rays of the rising sun.  While thus engaged, he caressed
with his right hand the very small scrap of whisker that grew on his
right cheek.  At first it seemed as if this were an unconscious action,
but he suddenly appeared to become absorbed in it, and stared straight
before him as one does when only half awake, mumbling the while in an
undertone.  I could not make out distinctly what he said, but I think I
caught the words, "Yes, a little--a _very_ little thicker--six new
hairs, I think--umph! slow, very slow."  Here he looked at Jack's bushy
beard and sighed.

Suddenly he thrust both hands deep into his breeches pockets and stared
at the black embers of the extinct fire; then as suddenly he pulled out
his hands, and placing the forefinger of his right hand on the end of
the thumb of his left, said slowly--

"Let me see--I'll recall it."

He spoke with intense gravity.  Most persons do when talking to
themselves.

"Yes, I remember now.  There were two elephants and four--or three, was
it?--no, it must have been four lions.  The biggest elephant had on a
false front of fair curls and a marriage-ring on its tail.  Stay; was it
not the other one had that?  No, it was the biggest.  I remember now,
for it was just above the marriage-ring I grasped it when I pulled its
tail out.  I didn't pull it off, for it wouldn't come off; it came out
like a telescope or a long piece of indiarubber.  Ha! and I remember
thinking how painful it must be.  That was odd, now, to think of that.
The other elephant had on crinoline.  That was odder still; for of all
animals in the world it least required it.  Well, let me see.  What did
I do?  Oh yes, I shot them both.  Of course, that was natural; but it
wasn't quite so natural that the big one should vomit up a live lion,
which attacked me with incredible fury.  But I killed it cleverly.  Yes,
it _was_ a clever thing, undoubtedly, to split a lion in two, from the
tip of its nose to the extremity of its tail, with one stroke of a
penknife--"

At this climax I could contain myself no longer, and burst into a loud
laugh as I perceived that Peterkin had spent the night, as I myself had
done, in hunting--though, I confess, there was a considerable difference
in the nature of our achievements, and in the manner of their
accomplishment.

"Why, what are you laughing at?" said Jack, sitting up and gazing at me
with a stupid stare.

"At Peterkin's dreams," said I.

"Ah!" said Jack, with a smiling yawn, "that's it, is it?  Been hunting
elephants and lions, eh?"

"Why, how did you guess that?"  I asked, in surprise; "were you not
asleep just now?"

"Of course I was, and dreaming too, like yourself, I make no doubt.  I
had just bagged my fifteenth elephant and my tenth lion when your laugh
awoke me.  And the best of it is that I was carrying the whole bagful on
my back at once, and did not feel much oppressed by the weight."

"That beats my dream hollow," observed Peterkin; "so its my opinion we'd
better have breakfast.--Makarooroo, hy! d'ye hear? rouse up, you junk of
ebony."

"Yis, massa, comin'," said our guide, rising slowly from his lair on the
opposite side of our fireplace.

"D'you hear?"

"Yis, massa."

"You're a nigger!"

"Dat am a fact."

"Well, being a nigger you're a brick, so look sharp with that splendid
breakfast you promised us last night.  I'll wager a million pounds that
you had forgotten all about it."

"No, massa, me no forgit.  Me up in centre ob de night and put 'im in de
hole.  Wat you call 'im--oben?"

"Ay, oven, that's it."

"Yis.  Well, me git 'im d'rec'ly."

"And, I say, hold on," added Peterkin.  "Don't you suppose I'm going to
stand on ceremony with you.  Your name's too long by half.  Too many
rooroos about it, so I'm going to call you Mak in future, d'ye
understand?"

The negro nodded and grinned from ear to ear as he left us.  Presently
he returned with a huge round, or lump of meat, at which we looked
inquisitively.  The odour from it was delightful, and the tender, juicy
appearance of the meat when Makarooroo, who carved it for us, cut the
first slice, was quite appetising to behold.

"What is it?" inquired Peterkin.

"Elephant's foot," replied the guide.

"Gammon," remarked Peterkin.

"It's true, massa.  Don't you see him's toe?"

"So it is," said Jack.

"And it's first-rate," cried I, tasting a morsel.

With that we fell to and made a hearty meal, after which we, along with
the king and all his people, retraced our steps to the river and
returned to the native town, where we spent another day in making
preparations to continue our journey towards the land of the gorilla.

During the hunt which I have just described I was very much amused as
well as amazed at the reckless manner in which the negroes loaded their
rusty old trade-guns.  They put in a whole handful of powder each time,
and above that as much shot and bits of old iron of all kinds as they
dared; some I saw charged thus to within a few inches of the muzzle, and
the owners seemed actually afraid to put them to their shoulders, as
well they might be, for the recoil was tremendous, and had the powder
been good their guns must have been blown to pieces and themselves
killed.

On our return to the village we found the people on the eve of one of
those terrible outbursts of superstitious passion which rarely if ever
pass away without some wretched human creature perishing under the hands
of murderers.

"There is something wrong with the fetishman, I think," remarked Jack,
as we disembarked at the landing.  "He seems excited.  Do you know what
it can be at, Makarooroo?"

"Jack," interposed Peterkin, "I have changed his name to Mak, so you and
Ralph will please to remember that.--Mak, my boy, what's wrong with your
doctor?"

The negro looked very grave and shook his head as he replied, "Don'
know, massa.  Him's be goin' to rizz de peepil wid him norrible doin's.
Dere will be death in the camp mos' bery quick--p'raps dis night."

"That is terrible," said I.  "Are you sure of what you say?"

"Sartin sure," replied the negro, with another shake of the head.

"Then, Mak," said Jack, "it behoves us to look to ourselves.  You look
like an honest fellow, and I believe we may trust you.  We cannot expect
you to help us to fight against your own kith and kin, but I do expect
that you will assist us to escape if any foul play is intended.
Whatever betides, it is as well that you should know that white men are
not easily conquered.  Our guns are good--they never miss fire.  We will
sell our lives dearly, you may depend on it."

"Ay," added Peterkin, "it is well that you should know that; moreover,
it is well that the rascally niggers of your tribe should know it too;
so you can take occasion to give them a hint that we shall keep
ourselves prepared for them, with my compliments."

"De mans ob my peepil," replied the negro, with some dignity of manner,
"be not wuss dan oder mans.  But dem is bad enuff.  But you no hab need
for be fraid.  Dey no touch de white mans.  Dem bery much glad you com'
here.  If any bodies be killed it be black mans or 'oomans."

We felt somewhat relieved on hearing this, for, to say truth, we knew
well enough that three men, no matter how well-armed or resolute they
might be, could not hope to defend themselves against a whole tribe of
savages in their own country.  Nevertheless we resolved to keep a sharp
lookout, and be prepared for the worst.  Meanwhile we did all in our
power to expedite our departure.

That evening the trader started on his return journey to the coast,
leaving us in charge of King Jambai, who promised earnestly to take good
care of us.  We immediately put his willingness to fulfil his promise to
the test by begging him to furnish us with men to carry our goods into
the interior.  He tried very hard to induce us to change our minds and
remain hunting with his tribe, telling us that the gorilla country was
far far away from his lands; that we should never reach it alive, or
that if we did we should certainly be killed by the natives, who,
besides being cruel and warlike, were cannibals; and that if we did meet
in with gorillas we should all be certainly slain, for no one could
combat successfully with that ferocious giant of the monkey tribe.

To this we replied that we were quite aware of the dangers we should
have to encounter in our travels, but added that we had come there for
the very purpose of encountering such dangers, and especially to pay a
visit to the giant monkeys in their native land, so that it was in vain
his attempting to dissuade us, as we were resolved to go.

Seeing that we were immovable, the king eventually gave in, and ordered
some of his best men to hold themselves in readiness to start with us on
the following morning.  We then proceeded to his majesty's house, where
we had supper, and afterwards retired to our own hut to rest.

But we were destined to have little or no rest that night.  The doctor
or fetishman of the tribe had stirred up the passions of the people in a
manner that was quite incomprehensible to us.  King Jambai, it seems,
had been for some weeks suffering from illness--possibly from
indigestion, for he was fond of gorging himself--and the medicine-man
had stated that his majesty was bewitched by some of the members of his
own tribe, and that unless these sorcerers were slain there was no
possibility of his getting well.

We never could ascertain why the fetishman should fix upon certain
persons to be slain, unless it was that he had a personal enmity against
them; but this seemed unlikely, for two of the persons selected were old
female slaves, who could never, of course, have injured the doctor in
any way.  But the doings of Africans, especially in regard to religious
superstitions, I afterwards found were so mysterious that no one could
or would explain the meaning of them to us.  And I am inclined to
believe that in reference to the meaning of many things they were
themselves utterly ignorant.

Towards midnight the people had wrought themselves up to a frenzied
condition, and made so much noise that we could not sleep.  In the midst
of the uproar Makarooroo, who we observed had been very restless all the
evening, rushed into our hut, exclaiming, "Massa! massa! come, save my
Okandaga! come quick!"

The poor fellow was trembling with anxiety, and was actually pale in the
face; for a distinctly discernible pallor overspreads the countenance of
the negro when under the influence of excessive terror.

Okandaga we had previously heard of and seen.  She was, according to
African notions, an exceedingly pretty young girl, with whom our worthy
guide had fallen desperately in love.  Makarooroo's education had done
much for him, and especially in regard to females.  Having observed the
kind, respectful consideration with which the missionaries treated their
wives, and the happiness that seemed to be the result of that course of
conduct, he resolved in his own mind to try the experiment with one of
the girls of his own tribe, and soon after rejoining it paid his
attentions to Okandaga, who seemed to him the most modest and lovable
girl in the village.

Poor Okandaga was first amazed and then terrified at the strangely
gentle conduct of her lover, and thought that he meant to bewitch her;
for having never before been accustomed to other than harsh and
contemptuous treatment from men, she could not believe that Makarooroo
meant her any good.  Gradually, however, she began to like this
respectful wooer, and finally she agreed to elope with him to the
sea-coast and live near the missionaries.  It was necessary, however, to
arrange their plans with great caution.  There was no difficulty in
their getting married.  A handsome present to the girl's father was all
that was necessary to effect that end, and a good hunter like Makarooroo
knew he could speedily obtain possession of his bride, but to get her
removed from her tribe and carried to the coast was quite a different
affair.  While the perplexed negro was pondering this subject and
racking his brains to discover a way of getting over the difficulty, our
arrival at the village occurred.  At once he jumped to the conclusion
that somehow or other he should accomplish his object through our
assistance; and holding this in view, he the more willingly agreed to
accompany us to the gorilla country, intending first to make our
acquaintance, and afterwards to turn us to account in furthering his
plans.  All this we learned long afterwards.  At the period of which I
am now writing, we were profoundly ignorant of everything save the fact
that Okandaga was his affianced bride, and that the poor fellow was now
almost beside himself with horror because the fetishman had condemned
her, among others, to drink the poisoned cup.

This drinking of the poisoned cup is an ordeal through which the unhappy
victims to whom suspicion has been attached are compelled to pass.  Each
one drinks the poison, and several executioners stand by, with heavy
knives, to watch the result.  If the poison acts so as to cause the
supposed criminal to fall down, he is hacked in pieces instantly; but
if, through unusual strength or peculiarity of constitution, he is
enabled to resist the effects of the poison, his life is spared, and he
is declared innocent.

Jack and Peterkin and I seized our weapons, and hurrying out, followed
our guide to the spot where this terrible tragedy was enacting.

"Don't fear, Mak," said Peterkin, as we ran along; "we'll save her
somehow.  I'm certain of that."

The negro made no reply, but I observed a more hopeful expression on his
countenance after the remark.  He evidently had immense faith in
Peterkin; which I must say was more than I had, for when I considered
our small numbers, my hope of influencing savages was very slight.

The scene that met our eyes was indescribably horrible.  In the centre
of a dense circle of negroes, who had wrought themselves up to a pitch
of ferocity that caused them to look more like wild beasts than men,
stood the king, and beside him the doctor or fetishman.  This latter was
ornamented with a towering headdress of feathers.  His face was painted
white, which had the effect of imparting to him an infinitely more
hideous and ghastly aspect than is produced in the white man when he is
painted black.  A stripe of red passed round his head, and another down
his forehead and nose.  His naked body was decked with sundry fantastic
ornaments, and altogether he looked more like a fiend than I had
believed it possible for man to appear.

The ground all round him was saturated with blood and strewn with arms,
fingers, cleft skulls, and masses of flesh that had been hewn from the
victims who had already fallen, one of whom, we afterwards learned, had
belonged to the royal family.  Two still remained--a young female and an
old man.  The emaciated frame and white woolly head of the latter showed
that in the course of nature his earthly career must soon terminate.  It
is probable that the poor old man had become a burden to his relations,
and the doctor took this opportunity of ridding the tribe of him.  The
girl was Okandaga, who stood weeping and trembling as she gazed upon the
butchery that had already taken place.

The old man had swallowed the poison shortly before we arrived, and he
was now struggling to maintain an erect position.  But he failed, his
quivering limbs sank beneath him, and before we could interfere the
bloody executioners had cut off his head, and then, in a transport of
passion, they literally hacked his body to pieces.

We rushed hastily forward to the king, and Jack, in an earnest voice,
implored him to spare the last victim.

"Surely," said he, "enough have been sacrificed already.--Tell him,
Makarooroo, that I will quit his village and never see him more if he
does not spare the life of that young girl."

The king appeared much perplexed by this unlooked-for interference on
our part.

"I cannot check the spirits of my people now," he replied.  "They are
roused.  The girl has bewitched me and many others.  She must die.  It
is our custom.  Let not my white men be offended.  Let them go to their
hut and sleep."

"We cannot sleep while injustice is done in the village," answered Jack,
in a lofty tone.  "Let not King Jambai do that which will make his
visitors ashamed of him.  Let the girl live till to-morrow at midnight.
Let the case be investigated, and if she be proved guilty then let her
die."

The king commenced a long reply in the same dignified manner and tone
which Jack had assumed.  While he was thus engaged Peterkin touched our
guide on the shoulder and whispered--

"I say, Mak, tell the doctor to back up Jack's request, and I'll give
him a gun."

The negro slipped at once to the side of the doctor, who had begun to
frown fiercely on Jack, and whispered a few words in his ear.  Instantly
his face assumed a calmer aspect, and presently he stepped up to the
king, and a whispering conversation ensued, in which the doctor,
carefully refraining from making any mention of the gun, commended the
wise advice of the white man, and suggested that the proposal should be
agreed to, adding, however, that he knew for certain that the girl was a
witch, but that the investigation would do good in the way of proving
that he, the doctor, was correct, and thus the girl should perish on the
following night, and the white men would be satisfied.

Having announced this to the multitude, the king ordered Okandaga to be
conducted back to her prison and carefully guarded; and we returned to
our hut--not, however, to sleep, but to consult as to what was to be
done next.

"I knew that you wanted a respite for her," said Peterkin, as we sat
round our fire, "that you might have time to consider how to act, and I
backed up your request accordingly, as you know.  But now, I confess,
I'm very much at a loss what to suggest.  It seems to me we have only
purchased a brief delay."

"True," answered Jack.  "The delay is not so brief, however, but that we
may plan some method of getting the poor girl out of this scrape.--What
say you, Mak?"

"If _you_ no can tink 'pon someting, I gib up all hope," replied our
guide sorrowfully.

"Come, Mak, cheer up," cried Peterkin.  "If the worst comes to the
worst, you can, at any rate, fight for your bride."

"Fight!" exclaimed the negro, displaying his white teeth like a mastiff,
rolling his eyes and clinching his fists convulsively.  Then in a calmer
tone he continued, "Ay, me can fight.  Me could kill all de guards an'
take Okandaga by de hand, an' run troo de bushes for eber.  But guards
no die widout hollerin' an' yellerin' like de gorilla; an' nigger mans
can run fasterer dan womans.  No, no, dat am dumpossobable."

"Nothing's `dumpossobable' to brave hearts and stout arms," replied
Jack.  "There are only four guards put over her, I believe.  Well, there
are just four of us--not that we require to be equal, by any means.
Peterkin and I could settle them easily; but we require to be equal in
numbers, in order to do it quietly.  I have a plan in my head, but
there's one hitch in it that I cannot unravel."

"And what may that be?"  If asked.

"Why, I don't see how, after getting clear off with Okandaga, we are to
avoid being pursued on suspicion and captured."

"Dere is one cave," remarked the guide, "not far off to here.  P'raps we
be safe if we git into 'im.  But I 'fraid it not do, cause him be
peepiled by fiends an' dead man's spirits."

"That's a grave objection," said Peterkin, laughing.

"Yes, an' de tribe neber go near dere; dey is most drefful terrorfied to
be cotched dere."

"Then, that will just do," cried Jack, with animation.  "The very thing.
And now I'll tell you what my plan is.  To-morrow morning early we will
tell the king that we wish to be off at once--that we have put off too
much time already, and wish to make no further delay.  Then we'll pack
up and start.  At night we will encamp in a quiet, out-of-the-way part
of the woods, and slip back to the village in the dark a short time
before midnight.  The whole village will at that time be assembled,
probably, at the spot where the execution is to take place; so we can
rush in, overpower the guard, free Okandaga, and make our escape to the
cave, where they will never think of looking for us."

Peterkin shook his head.  "There are two difficulties in your plan,
Jack.  First, what if the natives are _not_ assembled on the place of
execution, and we find it impossible to make our entrance into or exit
from the village quietly?"

"I propose," replied Jack, "that we shall undress ourselves, rub
ourselves entirely over with charcoal and grease, so that they shall not
recognise us, and dash in and carry the girl off by a _coup de main_.
In which case it will, of course, be neck or nothing, and a tremendous
race to the cave, where, if they follow us, we will keep them at bay
with our rifles."

"Umph! dashing, no doubt, but risky," said Peterkin--"extremely risky.
Yet it's worth trying.  Well, my second difficulty is--what if they
don't stick to their promise after we quit, and kill the poor thing
before midnight?"

"We must take our chance of that.  But I shall put the king on his
honour before leaving, and say that I will make particular inquiry into
the way in which the trial has been conducted on my return."

"Put the king on his honour!" observed Peterkin.  "I'm afraid that
you'll put his majesty on an extremely unstable foundation.  However, I
see nothing better that can be done."

"Have you any more difficulties?"

"Yes," said I.  "There is one other.  What do you propose to do with the
men who are to be supplied us by the king during these extremely
delicate and difficult manoeuvres?"

The countenances of my comrades fell at this question.

"I never thought of them," said Jack.

"Nor I," said Peterkin.

Makarooroo groaned.

"Well," said I, "if you will allow me to suggest, I would recommend that
we should, towards the close of the day, send them on ahead of us, and
bid them encamp at a certain place, saying that we shall spend the night
in hunting, and return to them in the morning."

"The very thing," said Jack.  "Now, comrades, to rest.  I will occupy
myself until I fall asleep in maturing my plans and thinking out the
details.  Do you the same, and if anything should occur to you let us
consult over it in the morning."

We were all glad to agree to this, being wearied more perhaps by
excitement than want of rest; so bidding each other good-night, we lay
down side by side to meditate, and for my part to dream of the difficult
and dangerous work that awaited us on the morrow.



CHAPTER SEVEN.

WE CIRCUMVENT THE NATIVES.

We arose on the following morning with the dawn of day, and began to
make preparation for our departure.

To our satisfaction we found the king quite willing that we should go;
so embarking our goods in one of the native canoes, we ordered our
negroes to embark, and commenced our journey amid the firing of guns and
the good wishes of the natives.  I must confess that I felt some
probings of conscience at the thought of the double part we were
compelled to play; but the recollection of the horrid fate that awaited
the poor negro girl put to flight such feelings, and induced a longing
for the time of action to arrive.

I have more than once referred to our goods.  Perhaps it may be as well
to explain that, when we first landed on the African coast, we made
inquiries of those who were best acquainted with the nature and
requirements of the country we were about to explore, as to what goods
we ought to purchase of the traders, in order to be in a position to pay
our way as we went along; for we could not, of course, expect the
savages to feed us and lodge us and help us on our way for nothing.
After mature consideration, we provided ourselves with a supply of such
things as were most necessary and suitable--such as tobacco, powder, and
shot, and ball, a few trade-guns, several pieces of brightly-coloured
cloth, packages of beads (some white enamelled, others of coloured
glass), coffee and tea, knives, scissors, rings, and a variety of other
knick-knacks.  These, with a little brandy to be used medicinally, our
blankets and camp cooking utensils, formed a heavy load for ten men;
but, of course, as we advanced, the load was lightened by the
consumption of our provisions and the giving away of goods.  The
additions which I made, however, in the shape of stuffed specimens,
began in the course of time to more than counterbalance this advantage.

Being resolved to impress the natives with a respect for our physical
powers, we made a point of each carrying a pretty heavy load on our
journeys--excepting, of course, when we went out a-hunting.  But to
return.

Our crew worked willingly and well, so that ere night closed in upon us
we were a considerable distance away from the village.  As the sun set
we landed, and ordering our men to advance in the canoe to a certain
bend in the river, and there encamp and await our return, we landed and
went off into the woods as if to search for game.

"Now, Makarooroo, quick march, and don't draw rein till we reach the
cave," said Jack when we were out of sight of the canoe.

Our guide obeyed in silence, and for the next two hours we travelled
through the woods at a sort of half trot that must have carried us over
the ground at the rate of five miles in hour.  The pace was indeed
tremendous, and I now reaped the benefit of those long pedestrian
excursions which for years past I had been taking, with scientific ends
in view, over the fields and hills of my native land.  Jack and Peterkin
seemed both to be made of iron, and incapable of suffering from fatigue.
But I have no doubt that the exciting and hazardous nature of the
expedition on which we had embarked had much to do with our powers of
endurance.

After running and doubling, gliding and leaping through the dense woods,
as I have said, for two hours, we arrived at a broken, rocky piece of
ground, over which we passed, and eventually came upon a thick jungle
that concealed a vast cliff almost entirely from view.  The cracking of
the bushes as we approached showed that we had disturbed the slumbers of
more than one of the wild beasts that inhabited the spot.  Here
Makarooroo paused, and although it was intensely dark I could observe
that he was trembling violently.

"Come, Mak," said I in a whisper, "surely you, who have received a
Christian education, do not really believe that devils inhabit this
spot?"

"Me don know, massa.  Eber since me was be a pikaniny me 'fraid--
horrobably 'fraid ob dat cave."

"Come, come," said Jack impatiently; "we have no time for fears of any
kind this night.  Think of Okandaga, Mak, and be a man."

This was sufficient.  The guide pushed boldly forward, and led us to the
mouth of a large cavern, at which he halted and pointed to the gloomy
interior.

"You have the matches, Peterkin; quick, strike a light.  It is getting
late," said Jack.

In another moment a light was struck, and with it we kindled three
goodly-sized torches with which we had provided ourselves.  Holding
these high over our heads, we entered the cavern--Jack first, Peterkin
second, I next, and the terrified negro in rear.

We had scarcely entered, and were peering upwards at the black vault
overhead, when an indescribable rushing sound filled the air of the
cavern, and caused the flame of our torches to flicker with such
violence that we could not see any object distinctly.  We all came to a
sudden pause, and I confess that at that moment a feeling of
superstitious dread chilled the blood in my veins.  Before we could
discover the cause of this strange effect, several large black objects
passed through the air near our heads with a peculiar muffled noise.
Next instant the three torches were extinguished.

Unable to command himself any longer, the negro uttered a cry of terror
and turned to fly; but Jack, whose wits seemed always prepared for any
emergency, had foreseen the probability of this, and springing quickly
after him, threw his arms round his neck and effectually prevented his
running away.

The noise caused by the scuffle seemed to arouse the fury of all the
evil spirits of the place, for a perfect hurricane of whirring sounds
raged around us for a few seconds.

"It's only bats," cried Jack.--"Look alive, Peterkin; another light."

In a few seconds the torches were rekindled, and we advanced into the
cavern; and Mak, after recovering from his fright and learning the cause
thereof, became much bolder.  The cave was about a hundred yards deep by
about fifty wide; but we could not ascertain its height, for the light
of our torches failed to penetrate the deep gloom overhead.  It was
divided into two natural chambers, the outer being large, the inner
small--a mere recess, in fact.  In this latter we planted our torches,
and proceeded with our hasty preparations.  Peterkin was ready first.
We endeavoured to make ourselves as like to the natives in all respects
as possible; and when I looked at my companions, I was obliged to
confess that, except in the full blaze of the torch-light, I could not
discern any point of difference between them and our guide.

"Now then, Jack," said Peterkin, "as you're not quite ready and I am, I
shall employ myself in preparing a little plan of my own which I intend
to put in force if the savages dare to venture into the cavern after
us."

"Very good; but see that you finish it in less than five minutes, for
I'll be ready in that time."

Peterkin immediately poured out a large quantity of powder on a flat
rock, and mingling with it a little water from a pool near by, converted
it into a semi-moist ball.  This he divided into three parts, and
forming each part into the shape of a tall cone, laid the whole
carefully aside.

"There!" said he, "lie you there until you are wanted."

At this moment, while Jack and I were bending down fastening the latchet
of our shoes, our ears were saluted with one of the most appalling yells
I ever listened to.  Makarooroo fell flat to the earth in his fright,
and my own heart chilled with horror, while Jack sprang up and
instinctively grasped the handle of his hunting-knife.

"Very good," said Peterkin, as he stood laughing at us quietly, and we
immediately perceived that it was he who uttered the cry.

"Why, what mean you?" said Jack, almost angrily.  "Surely this is no
time for foolish jesting."

"I am anything but jesting, Jack.  I'm only rehearsing another part of
my plan."

"But you ought to give us warning when you are about to do such
startling things," said I remonstratively.

"Nay, that would not have done at all, because then I should not have
known what effect my cry is likely to produce on unexpectant ears."

"Well, now, are you all ready?" inquired Jack.  "Then let us go."

Issuing forth armed only with our double-barrelled guns and heavy
hunting-knives, we hastened towards the native village.  When within a
hundred yards of the edge of the wood that skirted it we stopped to pull
off our shoes, for it was necessary that we should have nothing about
our persons to tell who we were should any one chance to see us as we
ran.  We also left our rifles beside the shoes at a spot where we could
find them in an instant in passing, and then slowly approached the
outskirts of the village.

Presently we heard the hum of distant voices shouting, and the fear that
the scene of bloodshed had already begun induced us to quicken our pace
to a smart run.  I never saw a man so deeply affected as was our poor
guide, and when I looked at him I felt extremely anxious lest his state
of mind should unfit him for acting with needful caution.

We gained the first cottages--they were empty.  The village having been
recently built, no stockade had yet been thrown round it, so our
progress was unimpeded.

"We must be very cautious now," observed Jack in a whisper.--"Restrain
yourself, Makarooroo; Okandaga's life depends on our coolness."

On reaching the back of the next hut, which was also empty.  Jack
motioned to us to halt, and coming close to us looked earnestly in each
of our faces without saying a word.  I supposed that, like a wise
general, he was reviewing his troops--seeing whether the men he was
about to lead into battle were fit for their work.

"Now," said he rapidly, "it's evident from the shouting that's going on
that they won't waste much time with their palaver.  The hut in which
she is confined is not fifty yards off; I took care to ascertain its
position before leaving this morning.  What we have to do is simple.
Spring on the guards and knock them down with our fists or the hilts of
our hunting-knives, or with bits of stick, as suits us best.  But
_mind_"--here he looked pointedly at our guide--"no shedding of blood if
it can be avoided.  These men are not our enemies.  Follow me in single
file; when I halt, come up into line; let each single out the man
nearest to him, and when I hold up my hand spring like wild-cats.  If
there happen to be five or six guards instead of four, leave the
additional ones to me."  We merely nodded assent, and in another minute
were close upon the prison.  Peterkin, Mak, and I had provided us with
short heavy bludgeons on our way.  These we held in our right hands; our
left hands we kept free either to grasp our opponents with, or to draw
our knives if necessary.  Jack carried his long knife--it might almost
have been termed a short sword--in his left hand, and from the manner in
which he clinched his right I saw that he meant to make use of it as his
principal weapon.

On gaining the back of the house we heard voices within, but could see
nothing, so we moved softly round to the front, keeping, however, well
behind the screen of bushes.  Here Jack halted, and we ranged up
alongside of him and peeped through the bushes.  The hut was quite open
in front and the interior was brightly lighted by a strong fire, round
which the four guards--stout fellows all of them--were seated with their
spears beside them on the ground.  They were conversing in an excited
tone, and taking no notice of Okandaga, who sat behind them, partially
in the shade, with her face buried in her hands.  She was not tied in
any way, as the guards knew well enough that she could not hope to
escape them by mere running way.

One rapid glance showed us all this, and enabled us to select our men.
Then Jack gave the signal, and without an instant's hesitation we darted
upon them.  I know not in what manner my comrades acted their part.
From the moment I set eyes on the negro nearest to me, my blood began to
boil.  Somehow or other I saw Jack give the signal without taking my
eyes off my intended victim, then I sprang forward, and he had barely
time to look up in alarm when I struck him with all my force on the
right temple.  He fell without a groan.  I looked round instantly, and
there lay the other three, with my companions standing over them.  Our
plan had been so well concerted and so promptly executed that the four
men fell almost at the same instant, and without a cry.

Poor Okandaga leaped up and uttered a faint scream of alarm, but
Makarooroo's voice instantly reassured her, and with an exclamation of
joy she sprang into his arms.  There was no time for delay.  While the
scene I have described was being enacted the shouts in the centre of the
village had been increasing, and we guessed that in a few minutes more
the bloodthirsty executioners would come for their helpless victim.  We
therefore left the hut at once, and ran as fast as we could towards the
place where our guns and shoes had been left.  Our guide seized Okandaga
by the wrist and dragged her along; but indeed she was so nimble that at
first she required no assistance.  In a short time, however, we were
obliged to slacken our pace in order to enable her to keep up.  We
reached the guns in safety; but while we were in the act of lifting them
a burst of wild cries, that grew louder and fiercer as they approached,
told that the natives were rushing tumultuously towards the prison.

"Now, lads," said Jack, "we must put on full speed.--Mak, take her right
hand.--Here, Okandaga, your left."

At that instant there was a shout in the village, so loud that we knew
the escape was discovered.  An indescribable hubbub ensued, but we soon
lost it in the crackling of the underwood as we burst through it in our
headlong flight towards the cave.  The poor girl, feeling that her life
depended on it, exerted herself to the utmost, and with the aid of Jack
and her lover kept well up.

"She'll never hold out to the end," said Peterkin, glancing over his
shoulder as he ran.

The cries of the savages filled the woods in all directions, showing
that they had instantly scattered themselves in the pursuit, in order to
increase their chances of intercepting us.  We had already traversed the
greater part of the wood that lay between the village and the haunted
cavern, when two negroes, who must have taken a shorter route, descried
us.  They instantly uttered a yell of triumph and followed us at full
speed, while from the cries closing in upon us we could tell that the
others had heard and understood the shout.  Just then Okandaga's
strength began to fail, and her extreme terror, as the pursuers gained
on us, tended still further to increase her weakness.  This was all the
more unfortunate that we were now almost within a couple of hundred
yards of the mouth of the cave.

Makarooroo spoke encouragingly to her, but she was unable to reply, and
it became evident that she was about to sink down altogether.  Jack
glanced over his shoulder.  The two negroes were within fifty yards of
us, but no others were in sight.

"Hold my gun," said Jack to me sharply.

I seized it.  He instantly stooped down, grasped Okandaga round the
waist, and without stopping, swung her, with an exertion of strength
that seemed to me incredible, into his arms.  We gained the mouth of the
cavern; Jack dropped Okandaga, who immediately ran in, while the rest of
us stopped abruptly and faced about.

"Back, all of you," cried Jack, "else they will be afraid to come on."

The words had scarcely passed his lips when the two negroes came up, but
halted a few yards from the mouth of the cave on seeing such a giant
form guarding the entrance.

To let those men escape and reveal the place of our concealment was not
to be thought of.  Jack darted out upon them.  They separated from each
other as they turned to fly.  I was peeping out of the cave, and saw
that Jack could not secure them both; I therefore darted out, and
quickly overtaking one, seized him by the hair of the head and dragged
him into the cave with the aid of Peterkin.  Jack lifted the other
savage completely from the ground, and carried him in struggling in his
gripe like a child in its nurse's arms.

This last episode was enacted so quickly that the two negroes were
carried into the cavern and gagged before the other pursuers came up.
At the cave's mouth the whole of the men of the village shortly
assembled with the king at their head.  Thus far the excitement of the
chase had led them; but now that the first burst of their rage was over,
and they found themselves on the threshold of that haunted cavern, the
fear of which had been an element in their training from infancy, they
felt, no doubt, overawed by superstitious dread, and hesitated to enter,
although most of them must have been convinced that the fugitives were
there.  Their fears increased as their anger abated, and they crowded
round King Jambai, who seemed loath to take upon himself the honour of
leader.

"They must have sought shelter here," said the king, pointing to the
cavern and looking round with an assumption of boldness which he was
evidently far from feeling.  "Who among my warriors will follow me?"

"Perhaps the evil spirits have carried them away," suggested one of the
sable crew.

"That is the word of a coward," cried the king, who, although somewhat
timorous about spirits, was in reality a bold, brave man, and felt
nettled that any of his warriors should show the white feather.  "If
evil spirits are there, our fetishman will drive them away.  Let the
doctor stand forth."

At that moment the doctor, worthy knave, must have wished in his inmost
soul that he had remained quietly at home and left to warriors the task
of capturing the fugitives, but there was no resisting the mandate of
the king; besides, his honour and credit as a fetishman was at stake;
moreover, no doubt he felt somewhat emboldened by the presence of such a
large number of men--there were certainly several hundreds on the
ground--so, all things considered, he thought it best to accept the post
of leader with a good grace.  Stepping quickly forward, he cried, "Let
torches be brought, and I will lead the way."

A murmur of approbation ran through the crowd of blacks, who, like a
flock of sheep, felt bold enough to follow a leader blindly.

While the consultation was going on outside, we were making hasty
preparation for defending ourselves to the last extremity.  Peterkin, in
particular, was extremely active, and, to say truth, his actions
surprised us not a little.  I once or twice fancied that excitement had
turned his brain.  He first dressed up his head in a species of wild
turban made of dried grass and tall sedgy leaves; then he put several
patches of red and white earth on his black face, as well as on his body
in various places, and fastened a number of loose pieces of rag, torn
from a handkerchief, and bits of tattered leaves to his arms and legs in
such a manner as to give him an extremely wild and dishevelled
appearance.  I must say that when his hasty toilet was completed he
seemed to me the most horrible-looking demon I had ever conceived of.
He next poured out nearly a whole flask of gunpowder on a ledge of rock,
the edge of which was visible from the entrance to the cave, while the
rock itself concealed him from view.  Last of all, he took up the three
cones of moistened gunpowder which the reader will remember he had made
before we left the cave to attack the village.  One of these he placed
among the grass and branches on his head, the other two he held in his
hands.

"Now, boys," he said, when all was ready, "all I have to ask of you is
that you will stand by with matches, and when I give the word light the
points of those three cones of gunpowder simultaneously and instantly,
and leave me to finish the remainder of my part.  Of course you will be
prepared to back me up with your rifles if need be, but keep well out of
sight at first."

We now saw the drift of our eccentric friend's intention, but for my
part I felt little confidence in his success.  The plan seemed
altogether too wild and absurd.  But our danger was imminent.  No way of
escape seemed possible, and it is wonderful how readily men will grasp
at anything in the shape of a ruse or stratagem, no matter how silly or
wild, that affords the most distant chance of escape from danger.  Jack,
too, I could see from the look of his face, put little faith in the
plan; and I observed an expression on the countenance of our negro guide
which seemed to indicate that his respect for Peterkin's wisdom was on
the wane.

We had not to wait long.  The doctor, with several torch-bearers,
suddenly darted in with a shout, followed closely by the warriors, who
yelled furiously, in order, no doubt, to keep up their courage.

Alarmed by such an unusual hubbub in their usually quiet domain, the
bats came swooping from their holes in the walls by hundreds, and the
torches were extinguished almost instantly.  The savages who were near
the entrance drew back in haste; those who had entered stood rooted to
the spot in terror.

"Now!" whispered Peterkin eagerly.

We struck our lights at once and applied them to the points of the
gunpowder cones, which instantly began to spout forth a shower of sparks
with great violence.  Peterkin darted out from behind the rock with a
yell so appalling that we ourselves were startled by it, having
forgotten that it formed an element in his plan.  In passing he allowed
a few sparks to fall on the heap of powder, which exploded with so
bright a flame that the whole cavern was illuminated for an instant.  It
also set fire to the ragged scraps with which Peterkin had decked
himself out--a result which had neither been intended nor anticipated--
so that he rushed towards the mouth of the cave howling with pain as
well as with a desire to scare the savages.

The effect of this apparition was tremendous.  The negroes turned and
crushed through the narrow entrance screaming and shrieking with terror.
The bats, no less alarmed than the men, and half suffocated with smoke,
fled out of the cave like a whirlwind, flapping their wings on the heads
of the negroes in their flight, and adding, if that were possible, to
their consternation.  The negroes ran as never men ran before, tumbling
over each other in their mad haste, dashing against trees and crashing
through bushes in their terror, while Peterkin stood leaping in the
cave's mouth, smoking and blazing and spurting, and unable to contain
himself, giving vent to prolonged peals of demoniacal laughter.  Had the
laugh been that of negroes it might have been recognised; but Peterkin's
was the loud, violent, British guffaw, which, I make no doubt, was
deemed by them worthy of the fiends of the haunted cave, and served to
spur them on to still greater rapidity in their wild career.

Returning into the cave's innermost recess, we lighted one of the
torches dropped by the savages, and placing it in a sort of natural
niche, seated ourselves on several pieces of rock to rest.

Our first act was to look earnestly in each other's faces; our next to
burst into peals of laughter.

"I say, comrades," I exclaimed, checking myself, "don't we run some risk
in giving vent to our feelings so freely?"

"No fear," cried Peterkin, who was still smoking a little from
unextinguished sparks.  "There is not a man in the whole crew who will
draw rein till he is sitting, with the teeth still chattering in his
head, at his own fireside.  I never saw men in such a fright since I was
born.  Depend upon it, we are safe enough here from this day forth.--
Don't you think so, Mak?"

Our guide, who was now trying to reassure his trembling bride, turned,
with a broad grin on his sable countenance, and said--

"Safe? ho! yis, massa.  Dere not be a man as'll come to dis yere cuvern
for de nix tree hun'r year or more.  Massa Peterkin be de most
horriboble ghost dey ever did saw, an' no mistake.  But, massas, we mus'
go 'way quick an' git to our camp, for de king sure to go dere an' see
if you no hab someting to do wid it all.  Him's a bery clebber king, am
Jambai--bery clebber; him's no be bughummed bery easy."

"Humbugged, you mean," said Jack, laughing.  "You're right, Mak; we must
set off at once.  But what _are_ we to do with poor Okandaga, now that
we have got her?"

This was indeed a puzzling question.  It was impossible to take her to
our camp and account to the negroes for her appearance in a satisfactory
manner; besides, if Jambai took it into his head to pursue us, in order
to ascertain whether we had had anything to do with the rescue, our case
would be hopeless.  It was equally impossible to leave her where she
was, and to let her try to make her escape through the woods alone was
not to be thought of.  While we pondered this dilemma an idea occurred
to me.

"It seems to me," said I, "that men are seldom, perhaps never, thrown
into a danger or difficulty in this world without some way of escape
being opened up, which, if they will but grasp at it promptly, will
conduct them at last out of their perplexities.  Now, it has just
occurred to me that, since everything else seems to be impossible, we
might send Okandaga into the woods, with Makarooroo to guide and defend
her and to hunt for her.  Let them travel in a line parallel with the
river route which we intend to follow.  Each night Mak will make a
secure shelter for her, and then return to our camp as if he had come in
from hunting.  Each morning he will set off again into the woods as if
to hunt, rejoin Okandaga; and thus we will journey together, as it were,
and when we reach the next tribe of natives we will leave the girl in
their charge until we return from the gorilla country.  What do you
think of that plan?"

"Not a bad one," replied Jack; "but if Mak is away all day, what are we
to do for an interpreter?"

"Make him describe to us and to the men the day's route before leaving
us," suggested Peterkin; "and as for the talking, we can manage that
well enough for all needful purposes by a mixture of the few phrases we
know with signs."

In the excitement of this whole affair we had totally forgotten our two
prisoners, who lay not far from us on the ground, gagged and pinioned.
We were now reminded of their presence rather abruptly.  We must have
secured their fastenings badly, for during the time we were conversing
they managed to free themselves, and made a sudden dash past us.  Jack's
eye fortunately caught sight of them in time.  He sprang up, rushed at
the one nearest him, and throwing out his foot as he passed, tripped him
up.  It chanced that at that spot there was a deep hole in the floor of
the cavern.  Into this the poor wretch plunged head first, and he was
killed on the spot.  Meanwhile, the other gained the outlet of the cave,
and had almost escaped into the forest, when Makarooroo darted after him
with the speed of an antelope.  In a few seconds we heard a cry, and
shortly after our guide returned with his knife clotted with blood.  He
had overtaken and slain the other negro.

I cannot convey to the reader the horror that filled me and my two
companions at this unexpected and melancholy termination of the affair.
Yet we felt that we were guiltless of rashly spilling human blood, for
Jack had no intention of killing the poor negro whom he tripped up; and
as to the other, we could not have prevented our guide from doing what
he did.  He himself deemed it justifiable, and said that if that man had
escaped to the village, and told who it was that frightened them out of
the cave, they would certainly have come back and murdered us all.
There was truth in this.  Still we could not but feel overwhelmed with
sadness at the incident.

We were now doubly anxious to get away from this cave, so we rapidly
finished the discussion of our plan, and Jack arranged that he should
accompany what may be termed the overland part of our expedition.  This
settled, we washed the charcoal off our persons, with the exception of
that on our faces, having been advised by King Jambai himself to hunt
with black faces, as wild animals were quicker to perceive our white
skins than their black ones.  Then we resumed our garments, and quitting
the haunted cavern, set out on our return journey to the camp.



CHAPTER EIGHT.

PETERKIN DISTINGUISHES HIMSELF, AND OKANDAGA IS DISPOSED OF, ETCETERA.

When within about three miles of the place where our men had been
ordered to haul the canoe out of the water and make the camp, we came to
a halt and prepared a spot for Okandaga to spend an hour or two in
sleep.  The poor creature was terribly exhausted.  We selected a very
sequestered place in a rocky piece of ground, where the light of the
small fire we kindled, in order to cook her some supper, could not be
seen by any one who might chance to pass by that way.

Jack remained with her, but the guide went on with us, in order to give
instructions to our men, who, when we arrived, seemed much surprised
that we had made such a bad hunt during the night.  Having pointed out
our route, Makarooroo then left us, and we lay down to obtain a few
hours' repose.

We had not lain more than an hour when one of our men awoke us, saying
that it was time to start; so we rose, very unwillingly, and embarked.

"I say, Ralph," observed Peterkin, as we glided up the stream, which in
this place was narrow and sluggish, "isn't it strange that mankind, as a
rule, with very few exceptions, should so greatly dislike getting up in
the morning?"

"It is rather curious, no doubt.  But I suspect we have ourselves to
thank for the disinclination.  If we did not sit up so late at night we
should not feel the indisposition to rise so strong upon us in the
morning."

"There you are quite wrong, Ralph.  I always find that the sooner I go
to bed the later I am in getting up.  The fact is, I've tried every
method of rousing myself, and without success.  And yet I can say
conscientiously that I am desirous of improving; for when at sea I used
to have my cot slung at the head with a block-tackle, and I got one of
the middies to come when the watch was changed and lower me, so that my
head lay on the deck below, and my feet pointed to the beams above.  And
would you believe it, I got so accustomed to this at last that, when
desperately sleepy, I used to hold on in that position for a few
minutes, and secure a short nap during the process of suffocation with
blood to the head."

"You must indeed have been incorrigible," said I, laughing.
"Nevertheless, I feel assured that the want of will lies at the root of
the evil."

"Of course you do," retorted Peterkin testily; "people always say that
when I try to defend myself."

"Is it not probable that people always say that just because they feel
that there is truth in the remark?"

"Humph!" ejaculated my friend.

"Besides," I continued, "our success in battling with the evil
tendencies of our natures depends often very much on the manner in which
we make the attack.  I have pondered this subject deeply, and have come
to the conclusion that there is a certain moment in the awaking hour of
each day which if seized and improved gains for us the victory.  You
know Shakespeare's judicious remark--`There is a tide in the affairs of
men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune,' or something to
that effect.  I never feel quite sure of the literal correctness of my
quotations, although I am generally certain as to the substance.  Well,
there is a tide also in the affair of getting up in the morning, and its
flood-point is the precise instant when you recover consciousness.  At
that moment every one, I believe, has moral courage to leap violently
out of bed; but let that moment pass, and you sink supinely back, if not
to sleep, at least into a desperate condition of unconquerable
lethargy."

"You may be very correct in your reasoning," returned Peterkin; "but not
having pondered that subject quite so deeply as you seem to have done, I
shall modestly refrain from discussing it.  Meanwhile I will go ashore,
and stalk yonder duck which floats so comfortably and lazily in the cove
just beyond the point ahead of us, that I think it must be in the
condition of one who, having missed the flood-tide you have just
referred to, is revelling in the luxury of its second nap.--Ho, you
ebony-faced scoundrel!" he added, turning to the negro who steered our
canoe; "shove ashore, like a good fellow.--Come, Ralph, lend me your
fowling-piece, and do you carry my big rifle.  There is nothing so good
for breakfast as a fat duck killed and roasted before it has had time to
cool."

"And here is a capital spot on which to breakfast," said I, as we
landed.

"First-rate.  Now then, follow me, and mind your muzzle.  Better put the
rifle over your shoulder, Ralph, so that if it does go off it may hit
the sun or one of the stars.  A six-ounce ball in one's spine is not a
pleasant companion in a hunting expedition."

"But," retorted I, "you forget that I am particularly careful.  I always
carry my piece on half-cock, and _never_ put my finger on the trigger."

"Indeed: not even when you pull it?"

"Of course when I am about to fire; but you know well enough what I
mean."

"Hush, Ralph! we must keep silence now and step lightly."

In a few minutes we had gained the clump of bushes close behind which
the duck lay; and Peterkin, going down on all fours, crept forward to
get a shot.  I followed him in the same manner, and when he stopped to
take a deliberate aim, I crept up alongside.  The duck had heard our
approach, and was swimming about in a somewhat agitated manner among the
tall reeds, so that my companion made one or two unsuccessful attempts
to take aim.

"What an aggravating thing!" exclaimed Peterkin in a whisper.

At that moment I happened to cast my eyes across the river, and the
reader may judge of my surprise when I beheld two elephants standing
among the trees.  They stood so silently and so motionless, and were so
like in colour to the surrounding foliage, that we had actually
approached to within about thirty yards without observing them.  I
touched Peterkin on the shoulder, and pointed to them without saying a
word.  The expression of amazement that instantly overspread his
features showed that he also saw them.

"The rifle, Ralph," he said, in a low, excited whisper.

I handed it to him.  With careful deliberation he took aim, and fired at
the animal nearest to us.  The heavy ball entered its huge body just
behind the shoulder.  Both elephants tossed up their trunks, and
elevating their great ears they dashed furiously into the bush; but the
one that had been hit, after plunging head foremost down a low bank fell
to the ground with a heavy crash, quite dead.

It was a splendid shot.  The natives, who almost immediately after came
up screaming with delight, could scarcely believe their eyes.  They
dashed across the river in the canoe, while some of them, regardless of
the alligators that might be hidden there, sprang into the water and
swam over.

"I'm sorry we did not get the duck, however," observed Peterkin, as we
returned to the place where we had left the canoe.  "Elephant meat is
coarse, nasty stuff, and totally unfit for civilised mouths, though
these niggers seem to relish it amazingly."

"You forget the baked foot," said I.

"Well, so I did.  It was pretty good, certainly; but that's the only
part o' the brute that's fit to eat."

Soon after this the canoe came back and took us over the river; and we
breakfasted on the side where the elephant had fallen, in order to allow
the natives to cut off such portions of the meat as they required, and
to secure the tusks.  Then we continued our journey, and at night
encamped near a grove of palm-trees which Makarooroo had described to
us, and where we were soon joined by him and Jack, who told us that he
had got on well, during the day--that he had shot an antelope, and had
seen a zebra and a rhinoceros, besides a variety of smaller game.  He
also told us that Okandaga was encamped in a place of safety a few miles
to the right of our position, and that she had stood the journey well.

I was much interested by Jack's account of the zebra and the rhinoceros,
specimens of both of which animals I had seen in menageries, and felt
disposed to change places with him on the march; but reflecting that he
was much more likely than I successfully to hunt anything he might
pursue, I made up my mind to remain by the canoe.

Thus we travelled for several days without anything particular
occurring, and at length arrived at a native village which lay on the
banks of a noble stream.

Here Makarooroo introduced us to Mbango the chief, a fine-looking and
good-natured negro, who received us most hospitably, supplied us with
food, and urged us to remain and hunt with his people.  This, however,
we declined to do, telling our entertainer that we had come to his
country for the purpose of shooting that wonderful animal the gorilla,
but assuring him that we would come back without fail if we should be
spared.  We further assured him on this head by proposing to leave in
his charge a woman for whom we had a great respect and love, and whom we
made him promise faithfully to take care of till we returned.

Peterkin, who soon gave them a specimen of his powers as a marksman, and
contrived in other ways to fill the minds of the chief and his people
with a very exalted idea of his powers both of body and intellect,
endeavoured to make assurance doubly sure by working on their
superstitious fears.

"Tell Mbango," said he to our guide, "that though we be small in numbers
we are very powerful; that we can do deeds" (here he became awfully
solemn and mysterious) "such as no black man ever conceived of; and that
if a hair of the head of Okandaga is hurt, we will on our return--"

Instead of completing the sentence, Peterkin started up, threw himself
into violent contortions, rolled his eyes in a fearful manner, and, in
short, gave the chief and his people to understand that something quite
indescribable and unutterably terrible would be the result of their
playing us false.

"Send for Njamie," said Mbango to one of his retainers.

Njamie, who was the chief's principal wife, soon appeared.  She led a
sturdy little boy by the hand.  He was her only son, and a very fine
little fellow, despite the blackness of his skin and his almost total
want of clothing.

To this woman Mbango gave Okandaga in charge, directing her in our
presence how to care for her, and assuring her of the most terrible
punishment should anything befall the woman committed to her care.

Njamie was a mild, agreeable woman.  She had more modesty of demeanour
and humility of aspect than the most of the women of her tribe whom we
happened to see, so that we felt disposed to believe that Okandaga was
placed in as safe keeping as it was possible for us to provide for her
in our circumstances.  Even Makarooroo appeared to be quite at ease in
his mind; and it was evidently with a relieved breast and a light heart
that he bade adieu to his bride, and started along with us on the
following day on our journey into the deeper recesses of the wilderness.

Before entering upon these transactions with the people of this village,
we took care to keep our crew in total ignorance of what passed by
sending them on in advance with the canoe under Jack's care, a few hours
before we brought Okandaga into the village, or even made mention of her
existence; and we secured their ready obedience to our orders, and total
indifference as to our motives in these incomprehensible actions, by
giving them each a few inches of tobacco--a gift which rendered them
supremely happy.

One day, about a week after the events above narrated, we met with an
adventure which well-nigh cost Jack his life, but which ultimately
resulted in an important change in our manner of travelling.  We were
traversing an extremely beautiful country with the goods on our
shoulders, having, in consequence of the increasing turbulence of the
river as well as its change of direction, been compelled to abandon our
canoe, and cut across the country in as straight a line as its nature
would permit.  But this was not easy, for the grass, which was bright
green, was so long as to reach sometimes higher than our shoulders.

In this species of country Jack's towering height really became of great
use, enabling him frequently to walk along with his head above the
surrounding herbage, while we were compelled to grope along, ignorant of
all that was around us save the tall grass at our sides.  Occasionally,
however, we came upon more open ground, where the grass was short, and
then we enjoyed the lovely scenery to the full.  We met with a great
variety of new plants and trees in this region.  Many of the latter were
festooned with wild vines and other climbing plants.  Among others, I
saw several specimens of that curious and interesting tree the banyan,
with its drop-shoots in every state of growth--some beginning to point
towards the earth, in which they were ultimately destined to take root;
some more than half-way down; while others were already fixed, forming
stout pillars to their parent branches--thus, as it were, on reaching
maturity, rendering that support which it is the glory as well as the
privilege of youth to accord to age.  Besides these, there were wild
dates and palmyra trees, and many others too numerous to mention, but
the peculiar characteristics of which I carefully jotted down in my
note-book.  Many small water-courses were crossed, in some of which Mak
pointed out a number of holes, which he said were made by elephants
wading in them.  He also told us that several mud-pools, which seemed to
have been recently and violently stirred up, were caused by the
wallowing of the rhinoceros; so we kept at all times a sharp lookout for
a shot.

Lions were also numerous in this neighbourhood, and we constantly heard
them roaring at night, but seldom saw them during our march.

Well, as I have already remarked, one day we were travelling somewhat
slowly through the long grass of this country, when, feeling oppressed
by the heat, as well as somewhat fatigued with my load, I called to
Jack, who was in advance, to stop for a few minutes to rest.

"Most willingly," he replied, throwing down his load, and wiping away
the perspiration which stood in large drops on his brow.  "I was on the
point of calling a halt when you spoke.--How do you get on down there,
Peterkin?"

Our friend, who had seated himself on the bale he had been carrying, and
seemed to be excessively hot, looked up with a comical expression of
countenance, and replied--

"Pretty well, thank'ee.  How do _you_ get on _up there_?"

"Oh, capitally.  There's such a nice cool breeze blowing, I'm quite
sorry that I cannot send a little of it down."

"Don't distress yourself, my dear fellow; I'll come up to snuff it."

So saying, Peterkin sprang nimbly upon Jack's shoulders, and began to
gaze round him.

"I say, Peterkin," said Jack, "why are you a very clever fellow just
now?"

"Don't know," replied Peterkin.  "I give it up at once.  Always do.
Never could guess a riddle in all my life."

"Because," said Jack, "you're `_up to snuff_.'"

"Oh, oh! that certainly deserves a _pinch_; so there's for you."

Jack uttered a roar, and tossed Peterkin off his shoulders, on receiving
the punishment.

"Shabby fellow!" cried Peterkin, rubbing his head.  "But, I say, do let
me up again.  I thought, just as you dropped me, that I saw a place
where the grass is short.  Ay, there it is, fifty yards or so ahead of
us, with a palmyra tree on it.  Come, let us go rest there, for I
confess that I feel somewhat smothered in this long grass."

We took up our packs immediately, and carried them to the spot
indicated, which we found almost free from long grass.  Here we lay down
to enjoy the delightful shade of the tree, and the magnificent view of
the country around us.  Our negroes also seemed to enjoy the shade, but
they were evidently not nearly so much oppressed with the heat as we
were, which was very natural.  They seemed to have no perception of the
beautiful in nature, however, although they appreciated fully the
agreeable influences by which they were surrounded.

While I lay at the foot of that tree, pondering this subject, I observed
a very strange-looking insect engaged in a very curious kind of
occupation.  Peterkin's eye caught sight of it at the same instant with
mine.

"Hollo!  Jack, look here!" he cried in a whisper.  "I declare, here's a
beast been and shoved its head into a hole, and converted its tail into
a trap!"

We all three lay down as quietly as possible, and I could not but smile
when I thought of the literal correctness of my friend's quaint
description of what we saw.

The insect was a species of ant-eater.  It was about an inch and a
quarter long, as thick as a crow-quill, and covered with black hair.  It
put its head into a little hole in the ground, and quivered its tail
rapidly.  The ants, which seemed to be filled with curiosity at this
peculiar sight, went near to see what the strange thing could be; and no
sooner did one come within the range of the forceps on the insect's
tail, than it was snapped up.

"Now, that is the most original trapper I ever did see or hear of,"
remarked Peterkin, with a broad grin.  "I've seen many things in my
travels, but I never expected to meet with a beast that could catch
others by merely wagging its tail."

"You forget the hunters of North America," said Jack, "who entice little
antelopes towards them by merely wagging a bit of rag on the end of a
ramrod."

"I forget nothing of the sort," retorted Peterkin.  "Wagging a ramrod is
not wagging a tail.  Besides, I spoke of beasts doing it; men are not
beasts."

"Then I hold you self-convicted, my boy," exclaimed Jack; "for you have
often called _me_ a beast."

"By no means, Jack.  I am not self-convicted, but quite correct, as I
can prove to the satisfaction of any one who isn't a philosopher.  You
never can prove anything to a philosopher."

"Prove it, then."

"I will.  Isn't a monkey a beast?"

"Certainly."

"Isn't a gorilla a monkey?"

"No doubt it is."

"And aren't _you_ a gorilla?"

"I say, lads, it's time to be going," cried Jack, with a laugh, as he
rose and resumed his load.

At that moment Mak uttered an exclamation, and pointed towards a
particular spot in the plain before us, where, close by a clump of
trees, we saw the graceful head and neck and part of the shoulders of a
giraffe.  We were naturally much excited at the sight, this being the
first we had fallen in with.

"You'd better go after it," said Jack to Peterkin, "and take Mak with
you."

"I'd rather you'd go yourself," replied Peterkin; "for, to say truth,
I'm pretty well knocked up to-day.  I don't know how it is--one day one
feels made of iron, as if nothing could tire one; and the next, one
feels quite weak and spiritless."

"Well, I

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