The Vee-Boers: A Tale of Adventure in Southern Africa

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER NINETEEN.

  A CONGREGATION OF CROCODILES.

  Yes; the river had run out, or, to speak more correctly, run in,underground. Its channel was there extending on ahead of them, a beltof silver-white sand, hollow in the centre, and with a bordering ofbrown, withered reeds. But no water in it; not a drop, nor the sign ofsuch, far as they could see, though commanding a view of it to more thana mile's distance. For they were looking down an Omaramba, a river'sbed, in which water flows only in the season of inundation, at othertimes sinking into the earth, to filter away underneath. To theVee-Boers the thing was neither strange nor new. In their migrationsthey had met the like before, and ofttimes; for a stream periodicallydried up is no rare phenomenon in Southern Africa, nor indeed in otherparts of the world. The same occurs in Asia, notably in Australia, asalso in both divisions of the American continent. Nor is it unknown inthe eastern countries of Europe, by the Black and Caspian Seas.

  To our voyagers, then, it was less a surprise than vexation--indeed,bitter disappointment. All the time spent in the construction of therafts, all their labour lost, to say nought of the helpless, hopelesssituation they were now placed in!

  But was it so helpless or hopeless? That remained to be seen;fortunately so, else they might have despaired indeed. They did notyet, nor could they, till the question had answer--

  "How far does the dried-up channel extend?"

  To determine this was, of course, the next step, with little elsethought of, till it was determined. An exploring party, with Smutz toconduct it, was at once landed from the rafts, and set off down thesandy strip. Going in all haste they were soon lost to view among thereeds and bushes at its lower end. Then their reappearance was lookedfor with eagerness, gradually becoming anxiety as time passed. For thelonger they were out of sight, the greater should be the distance torunning water again, if such were to be found at all.

  They were gone above two hours, which looked bad. But on return, asthey drew near, an expression was visible on their faces, whichbetokened the contrary. The report they brought was that the stream,with abundance of water, issued forth again about five miles below.

  This was as favourable as Jan Van Dorn had expected, and, in concertwith the other baases, he had conceived a plan, now to be acted on. Therafts were to be taken apart, and, with their lading, transportedoverland piecemeal. Their lading had been already put ashore, as river,or no river, they could be of no further service there. But they wouldbe below, as much as ever, and it was only a question of portage.

  The work was at once set about, the huge structures dismembered, beam bybeam, and dragged out on the dry strand. Then a stream of carrierscommenced moving along the track where water had once streamed, eachwith a koker-boom log on his shoulders, that seemed as though it wouldcrush him under its weight. With their naked, bronzed bodies, theylooked like so many Atlases bearing worlds, though, in reality, theirloads were of the lightest.

  Down the omaramba went they, and up again, to and fro, till the lastbeam had been transported from water to water, with oars, poles, ropes,and all the other paraphernalia, the cargoes being conveyed in likemanner. It took time though; all the remainder of that day, and theforenoon of the following, while another day and a half were consumed inthe reconstruction of the rafts. An easy task it was, compared with theoriginal building of them, the place of everything being now known,deck-timbers with their attachments, steering gear, the fixing of thecabins and sheds, even to the stowage of the goods and chattels.

  On the morning of the fourth day, all was ready for re-embarking, whichcommenced as soon as breakfast had been eaten. Then off again startedthe flotilla, water-horses, and everything as before. But not as beforecarried along by the current, since there was none.

  Nor in its absence did the rafters see anything amiss. The place oftheir re-embarkation was at the inner and upper end of a narrow leit,which widened abruptly below. Once down there, they would find thestream flowing, and get into its current. So supposed they, whilepulling and poling on.

  Soon, however, to be undeceived, and sadly. After passing the pointwhere the leit terminated, they still found no flow; instead, the waterstagnant as in a tan-pit. It stretched before them in a sheet ofsmooth, unrippled surface, nearly a mile in length, with a width of twoor three hundred yards, again narrowing at the lower end, where itentered among trees. On each side it was bordered by a ribbon of sandybeach, which would have been white, but for an array of dark forms thatlay thickly over it, giving it a mottled or striated appearance. Thesun had not yet dissipated the film which hung over the water, and, seenthrough this, they might have been mistaken for trunks of trees,stranded when the stream was in flood.

  But the Vee-Boers knew better; knew them to be living creatures--themost repulsive of all in the world of animated nature--for they werecrocodiles. Of different sizes were they: from ten or twelve feet inlength to twice as long; the larger ones having bodies thick as anordinary barrel; their bulk, too, exaggerated by the magnifying effectof the mist.

  There would have been nothing in that, nor their presence there, tocause surprise, but for their numbers. All along the stream, crocodileshad been observed at intervals, basking on the banks, sometimes three orfour together. But here were so many hundreds, the strip of beach onboth shores literally black with them. They were in all attitudes, somelying flat and at full stretch, others with heads erect and jaws wideapart; still others holding the tail high in air with a turn backtowards the body, or laid in crescent curve along the surface of thesand. But all motionless, the only movement observable among them beingmade by birds of the insect--eating species, a number of which sateperched on their shoulders, every now and then flittering off to catchflies that swarmed around the reptiles, alighting on their foul,ill-odoured skins.

  Although an astounding and fear-inspiring spectacle, they upon the raftswere, in a manner, prepared for it. On the nights preceding they hadheard loud noises below, as the bellowing of a hundred bulls, knowingthem to be caused by crocodiles, and only wondering that there were somany in one place. Now seeing the reptiles themselves their wonder wasundiminished, with no clearer comprehension of why they were thuscongregated.

  Nor learnt they the reason till later on, no time being then allowedthem to think of it; for scarce had the rafts emerged from the narrowleit when the birds, sighting them, rose up into the air, utteringshrill cries of alarm.

  On the saurians the effect was instantaneous. Hitherto motionless, andmany of them asleep, all became at once active; their activity displayedby a quick uprising on their short, thick legs, and a hurried crawl forthe water. It was their place of safety, as instinct admonished them,and the rafters supposed they were but retreating from an enemy yetunknown to them. Soon to be undeceived, and find it was no retreat, butan intended attack, themselves the object of it! For although thecrocodiles on plunging in, went under, and were for a time out of sight,they came to the surface again, now nearer the rafts, a line on eitherside of them. In threatening attitude too, heads raised on high, jawsopening and closing with a snap, grunting and roaring, while, with theirpowerful muscular tails in violent vibration, they whipped the waterinto foam.

  There was consternation, with quick scampering among the riders of thewater-horses, who had been gaily skirmishing about, as was usual withthem at the start off. Never did sailors bathing beside a becalmed shipmake quicker on board at the cry "Shark!" than made they to get upon therafts.

  With loud cries of alarm, one and all together darted towards these, andswarmed up, leaving the koker-logs to bob about below, or drift awaywherever the surge might carry them. Nor were the rafters themselveswithout fear, but rushed affrightedly about, the women and childrenshrieking in chorus. Even some of the men felt dismay at the fiercebearing of the crocodiles, an incident altogether unexpected and new tothem. Its very novelty made it the more alarming, from its cause beinga mystery. But there was no time to speculate upon causes; the reptileswere still
advancing in menace, and steps needed taking to repel them.

  Fire was at once opened on them, broadsides from both beams, and thefiring kept up, hot and fast as the guns could be loaded again. Shotafter shot, and volley after volley was poured upon them, till the raftsbecame shrouded in smoke, and the water around red with the blood of thedead and wounded reptiles, that for a time seemed insensible to fear.But at length it got the better of them; and, seeing nigh a dozen oftheir number writhing in death throes, at last all turned tail, goingdown to the bottom and staying there.

  Continuing to ply poles and oars, the rafters reached the lower end ofthe water sheet without encountering another crocodile, or even seeingone. There to get explanation of what had so puzzled them, by _findingthe river again run out_!