by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER EIGHT.
TRAPPED BY A TREE.
The feelings of the young Boer may be better imagined than described.For a time mystification, then changing to weird fear, as a sense of thesupernatural stole over him. Around the spot upon which he had beenpitched were several small ant-hills; so, scrambling to the top of thenearest, and then standing erect, he had the veldt under his view formiles on every side. He could see no bush, nor other cover that wouldhave concealed an animal so large as was the buffalo. Yet buffalo therewas none on it.
It now recurred to him that his unconsciousness might have been oflonger duration than he had supposed it; giving the buffalo time toscamper off out of sight. But this hypothesis was also untenable formore reasons than one. For an animal of such bulk to have got beyondhis view on that smooth, level plain was of itself highly improbable.Besides, why should the buffalo have run away from him? The lastglimpse he had of it was while in mad, determined rush towards himself,and he knew it was the shock of its horns against the doorn-boom thathad shot him off the tree as from a catapult. What reason would it havefor retreating then, wounded as it was, and feeling itself, too, masterof the situation, as it must have felt on becoming the aggressor? Ofall this the young hunter was conscious, and not on that account themore mystified. For he had also bethought him of his three bullets sentinto the buffalo's body, recalling how carefully he had taken aim, andhow their failing to bring the animal down, had surprised and puzzledhim. It was then the weird fear came over him in full, almost a horror,as the mystery remained unsolved. He rubbed his eyes, and once moretook a survey of the veldt; scanning it minutely all over, as hemechanically interrogated, "Am I in my senses? or has it been a dream?"
At this crisis his ears were saluted by a sound, seemingly in responseto his questioning, and promising to end his perplexity. It was a loudsnort, which he knew could only proceed from the throat of abuffalo-bull, and the same whose sudden disappearance had been puzzlinghim. Just then reverberating all over the veldt in a long, continuedroar, it seemed to rise out of the earth.
But another noise in accompaniment was less misleading as to direction.This was the swish of leaves, with a snapping of twigs, as a tree tossedabout by the wind. Turning his eyes upon that he had late essayed toclimb, he saw it was in violent agitation; oscillating to and fro, as ifunder the impulse of a tornado. But the bellowing which he now knew tocome from among its branches told a different tale, proclaiming thebuffalo still there.
Though thus relieved from all awe of the unearthly, Piet Van Dorn wasalmost as much mystified as ever. What could the animal be doing by thedoorn-boom, and why had it stayed there? As yet he saw it not, thethick foliage intervening, but its repeated routs, with the shakings ofthe tree, left no doubt about its presence. The thought flashed uponhim that the bull supposed he had succeeded in ascending the tree, andwas still up in it; so in blind fury had remained there, at intervalsbutting the trunk and bellowing.
Under this belief, both natural and probable, the first impulse of theyoung hunter was to take to his heels, and put space between himself andthe dangerous brute, as much as the time would permit. For at anymoment the bull might part from the tree, or come round it, and againcatching sight of him renew the attack. So dropping down from theant-hill, he was about to make off, when he bethought of his gun, twiceshaken out of his grasp, and lying on the ground near by. But it wasalso dangerously near the doorn-boom, and to get hold of it would be aticklish affair. Still, to return to the camp without his gun--badenough having to go without his horse--would be fearfully humiliating.How delighted Andries Blom would be, and how he would crow over it!
"No! I won't go back without the gun, at all events," soliloquised PietVan Dorn, with returning courage, more confidently adding, "Nor leave Ithis spot, till I can take with me a better account of what's happenedthan I can now."
Thus resolving, he stepped softly towards the roer, with his eye uponthe shaking tree; and soon had the gun in hand again. Of course, it wasempty; as while retreating before the buffalo, he had not found anopportunity to reload. Luckily, his quilted cartridge-belt was stillfast buckled around his body, and a supply of percussion caps layconvenient in the pocket of his civet-skin waistcoat. Down went thecartridge and rammed home, almost as quick as a partridge-shooter couldhave charged his patent "central fire." And now ready, the young jagerset face for the doorn-boom, determined to try final conclusions withthe brute that had parted him from his horse, besides giving him ascare, such as he had never before experienced.
Notwithstanding his restored courage, he was far from feeling reckless,and made approach with all due caution. For as yet, much of the mysteryremained unsolved, and the behaviour of the buffalo as great an enigmaas ever. The animal still continued its terrific routing, while thetree zig-zagged to and fro, both trunks, as though threatening to breakdown with a double crash. But for the thick foliage around the base,the young hunter would long before have had explanation of a thing soincomprehensible. It came at last, however, as he drew close in to thetree, and saw the buffalo with neck caught between the twin trunk, fixedand fast as if in a vice. In its furious rush it had forced its headthrough; the young flexible stems parting to let it pass, thenreclosing; the neck was held as in a yoke, and the huge buttressed hornscould not be drawn back again. So the bull had trapped himself in atree!
Seeing how things stood, Piet Van Dorn could not restrain himself fromgiving way to loud laughter. He did smile, a vengeful smile, as hethought of the trouble the black brute had put him to, with the chagrinit had caused him. But the better feeling of humanity soon triumphedover that of anger and revenge. He saw that the buffalo had receivedits death wound, from the shots he had fired at it, and its struggles inthe clasp of the doorn-boom were but its last throes of life. Mercyappealed to him to put an end to them; which he did by stepping close upto the animal, and sending a fourth bullet into its body; this was soaimed as to deprive it of life, with scarce a kick given after.
