by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER XII.
THE TRAVELLERS BENIGHTED
Our travellers would have talked much about lions, but for the conditionof their horses. This made them feel uneasy. With the exception of a fewhours grazing, the poor brutes had been without food since theappearance of the locusts. Horses do not travel well upon soft grass,and of course they were now suffering severely.
It would be far in the night before the horsemen could reach thecamp--although they were pushing on as fast as the horses could travel.
It was quite dark, when they arrived at the spot where they had haltedthe previous evening. In fact, it was very dark. Neither moon nor starswere to be seen in the sky; and thick black clouds covered the wholecanopy of the heavens. It looked as though a rain-storm might beexpected--still no rain had as yet fallen.
It was the intention of the travellers to halt at this place, and lettheir horses graze a while. With this view they all dismounted; but,after trying one or two places, they could find no grass!
This appeared strange, as they had certainly observed grass at that veryspot the day before. Now there was none!
The horses put their noses to the ground, but raised them up again,snorting as they did so, and evidently disappointed. They were hungryenough to have eaten grass had there been any, for they eagerly snatchedat the leaves of the bushes as they passed along!
Had the locusts been there also? No. The mimosa-bushes still retainedtheir delicate foliage, which would not have been the case had thelocusts visited the spot.
Our travellers were astonished that there was no grass. Surely there wassome the day before? Had they got upon a new track?
The darkness prevented them from having a view of the ground; yet VonBloom could not be mistaken about the route--having travelled it fourtimes already. Though he could not see the surface, every now and againhe caught a glimpse of some tree or bush, which he had marked in hisformer journeys, and these assured him they were still upon the righttrack.
Surprised at the absence of grass where they had so lately observed it,they would have examined the surface more carefully; but they wereanxious to push on to the spring, and at length gave up the idea ofhalting. The water in their gourds had been used up long before this;and both they and their horses were once more suffering from thirst.
Besides, Von Bloom was not without some anxiety about the children atthe wagon. He had been separated from them now a full day and a half,and many a change might take place--many a danger might arise in thattime. In fact, he began to blame himself for having left them alone. Itwould have been better to have let his cattle perish. So thought he now.A presentiment that all was not right was gradually forming in his mind;and he grew more anxious to proceed as he reflected.
They rode on in silence. It was only on Hendrik expressing a doubt aboutthe way, that the conversation recommenced. Swartboy also thought theywere taking a wrong course.
At first Von Bloom assured them they were right; but after going alittle farther, he admitted that he was in doubt; and then, afteranother half-mile's travelling, he declared that he had lost the track.He could no longer recognise any one of the marks or bearings he hadtaken.
The proper thing to be done under these circumstances was to leave thehorses to themselves; and this all three well knew. But the animals weresuffering the pangs of hunger, and when left to themselves, would notjourney forward, but rushed up to the mimosa-bushes, and eagerlycommenced devouring their leaves.
The consequence was, that their riders were obliged to keep them goingwith whip and spur; and in that way there was no certainty of the horsestaking the right direction.
After several hours' advancing, all the while in a state of suspense,and as yet no appearance of either wagon or camp-fire, the travellersresolved upon coming to a halt. It was of no use going forward. Theybelieved they could not be far from the camp; but they were now aslikely to be riding from as towards it; and they concluded at length,that it would be wiser to remain where they were until the day broke.
They all dismounted therefore, and fastened their horses to thebushes--so that the animals could browse upon the leaves tillmorning--which could not now be very far off. They rolled themselves upin their karosses, and lay down upon the earth.
Hendrik and Swartboy were soon asleep. Von Bloom would have slept too,for he was tired enough; but the heart of the father was too full ofanxiety to allow repose to his eyes, and he lay awake watching for thedawn.
It came at length, and at the first light his eyes swept the surface ofthe surrounding country. The party had by chance halted on an eminencethat commanded a good view for miles on each side, but the field-cornethad not glanced half around the circle, when an object came before hiseyes that brought gladness to his heart. It was the white tent of thewagon!
The joyful exclamation he uttered awoke the sleepers, who immediatelysprang to their feet; and all three stood gazing at the welcome sight.
As they continued to gaze, their joy gradually gave place to feelings ofsurprise. Was it their wagon, after all?
It certainly looked like theirs; but it was a full half-mile off, and atsuch a distance one wagon would look just like another. But what ledthem to doubt its being theirs? It was the appearance of the place inwhich they saw it. Surely it was not the same place in which they hadoutspanned!
Theirs had been left in an oblong valley between two gentle ridges--insuch a valley was this one standing. Near a pool formed by aspring--here, too, was the same, for they could perceive the watershining. But in all other respects the situation was different. Thesurface of the valley in which their wagon had been left was covered,both sides and bottom, with a verdant carpet of grass; whereas the onenow before their eyes was brown and bare! Not a blade of grass was to beseen--the trees seeming to be the only things that had any verdure. Eventhe low bushes appeared to be destitute of leaves! The scene had noresemblance whatever to that where they had outspanned. It must be thecamp of some other travellers, thought they.
They had fully arrived at this conclusion, when Swartboy, whose eyes hadbeen rolling about everywhere, now rested upon the ground at his feet.After a moment's observation--which the increasing light now enabled himto make--he turned suddenly to the others, and directed their attentionto the surface of the plain. This they saw was covered with tracks, asif a thousand hoofs had passed over it. In fact, it presented theappearance of a vast sheep-pen; so vast, that as far as their sightextended, they beheld the same tracked and trampled appearance!
What could this mean? Hendrik did not know. Von Bloom was in doubt.Swartboy could tell at the first glance. It was no new sight to him.
"All right, baas," he said, looking up in his master's face. "Da's daole wagon!--da same spring an vley--da same place--dar hab been umtrek-boken!"
"A trek-boken!" cried Von Bloom and Hendrik, in a breath.
"Ya, baas--a mighty big one too; das da spoor of dem antelope--See!"
Von Bloom now comprehended all. The bareness of the country, the absenceof the leaves on the lower bushes, the millions of small hoof-tracks,all were now explained. A migration of the springbok antelope, a"trek-boken," had swept over the spot. That it was that had caused sucha mighty change. The wagon they saw was theirs, after all.
They lost no time, but, catching their horses, bridled them, and roderapidly down the hill.
Though somewhat relieved at seeing the wagon, Von Bloom was stillapprehensive.
As they approached, they perceived the two horses standing beside it,and tied to the wheels, the cow also was there--but neither goats norsheep were in the neighbourhood.
There was a fire burning in the rear of the hind-wheels, and a dark massunderneath the wagon, but no human form could be observed.
The hearts of the horsemen beat loudly as they advanced. Their eyes werebent earnestly upon the wagon. They felt keen anxiety.
They had got within three hundred yards, and still no one stirred--nohuman form made its appearance. Von Bloom and Hendrik now sufferedintense
ly.
At this moment the two horses by the wagon neighed loudly; the dark massunder the wagon moved, rolled outward, rose up, and stood erect. Tottywas recognised!
And now the "after-clap" of the wagon was hurriedly drawn aside, andthree young faces were seen peeping forth.
A shout of joy burst from the horsemen, and the next moment little Janand Trueey leaped out from the cap-tent into the arms of theirfather--while the mutual congratulations of Hans and Hendrik, Swartboyand Totty, produced for some moments a scene of joyful confusion quiteindescribable.
