by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER XXXVI.
PLANNING THE CAPTURE OF THE QUAGGAS.
Up to this time the field-cornet had scarce deigned to notice thequaggas. He knew what they were, and had often seen a drove ofthem--perhaps the same one--approach the vley and drink. Neither he norany of his people had molested them, though they might have killed many.They knew that the yellow oily flesh of these animals was not fit forfood, and is only eaten by the hungry natives--that their hides,although sometimes used for grain-sacks and other common purposes, areof very little value. For these reasons, they had suffered them to comeand go quietly. They did not wish to waste powder and lead upon them;neither did they desire wantonly to destroy such harmless creatures.
Every evening, therefore, the quaggas had drunk at the vley and gone offagain, without exciting the slightest interest.
Not so upon this occasion. A grand design now occupied the mind of VonBloom. The troop of quaggas became suddenly invested with as muchinterest as if it had been a herd of elephants; and the field-cornet hadstarted to his feet, and stood gazing upon them--his eyes sparkling withpleasure and admiration.
He admired their prettily-striped heads, their plump well-turned bodies,their light elegant limbs; in short, he admired everything about them,size, colour, and proportions. Never before had quaggas appeared sobeautiful in the eyes of the vee-boer.
But why this new-born admiration for the despised quaggas?--for despisedthey are by the Cape farmer, who shoots them only to feed his Hottentotservants. Why had they so suddenly become such favourites with thefield-cornet? That you will understand by knowing the reflections thatwere just then passing through his mind.
They were as follows:--
Might not a number of these animals be caught and broken in?--Why not?Might they not be trained to the saddle?--Why not? Might they not servehim for hunting the elephant just as well as horses?--Why not?
Von Bloom asked these three questions of himself. Half a minute servedto answer them all in the affirmative. There was neither impossibilitynor improbability in any of the three propositions. It was clear thatthe thing could be done, and without difficulty.
A new hope sprang up in the heart of the field-cornet. Once more hiscountenance became radiant with joy.
He communicated his thoughts both to the Bushman and "Bush-boys"--all ofwhom highly approved of the idea, and only wondered that none of themhad thought of it before.
And now the question arose as to how the quaggas were to be captured.This was the first point to be settled; and the four--Von Bloom himself,Hans, Hendrik, and Swartboy,--sat deliberately down to concoct some planof effecting this object.
Of course they could do nothing just then, and the drove that had cometo drink was allowed to depart peacefully. The hunters knew they wouldreturn on the morrow about the same hour; and it was towards theirreturn that the thoughts of all were bent.
Hendrik advised "creasing," which means sending a bullet through theupper part of the neck near the withers, and by this means a quagga canbe knocked over and captured. The shot, if properly directed, does notkill the animal. It soon recovers, and may be easily "broken," thoughits spirit is generally broken at the same time. It is never "itselfagain." Hendrik understood the mode of "creasing." He had seen itpractised by the boer-hunters. He knew the spot where the bullet shouldhit. He believed he could do it easily enough.
Hans considered the "creasing" too cruel a mode. They might kill manyquaggas before obtaining one that was hit in the proper place. Besidesthere would be a waste of powder and bullets--a thing to be considered.Why could they not snare the animals? He had heard of nooses being setfor animals as large as the quaggas, and of many being caught in thatmanner.
Hendrik did not think the idea of snaring a good one. They might get onein that way--the foremost of the drove; but all the others, seeing theleader caught, would gallop off and return no more to the vley; andwhere would they set their snare for a second? It might be a long timebefore they should find another watering-place of these animals; whereasthey might stalk and crease them upon the plains at any time.
Swartboy now put in his plan. It was the pit-fall. That was the way bywhich Bushmen most generally caught large animals, and Swartboyperfectly understood how to construct a pit for quaggas.
Hendrik saw objections to this, very similar to those he had urgedagainst the snare. The foremost of the quaggas might be caught, but theothers would not be fools enough to walk into the pit--after theirleader had fallen in and laid the trap open. They, of course, wouldgallop off, and never come back that way again.
If it could be done at night, Hendrik admitted, the thing might bedifferent. In the darkness several might rush in before catching thealarm. But no--the quaggas had always come to drink in day-time--oneonly could be trapped, and then the others alarmed would keep away.
There would have been reason in what Hendrik said, but for a remarkablefact which the field-cornet himself had observed when the quaggas cameto the lake to drink. It was that the animals had invariably entered thewater at one point, and gone out at another. It was of course a mereaccident that they did so, and owing to the nature of the ground; butsuch was the case, and Von Bloom had observed it on several occasions.They were accustomed to enter by the gorge, already described; and,after drinking, wade along the shallow edge for some yards, and thenpass out by another break in the bank.
The knowledge of this fact was of the utmost importance, and all sawthat at once. A pit-fall dug upon the path by which the animals enteredthe lake, would no doubt operate as Hendrik said--one might be caught,and all the rest frightened off. But a similar trap placed upon thetrail that led outward, would bring about a very different result. Oncethe quaggas had finished drinking, and just at the moment they wereheading out of the water, the hunters could show themselves upon theopposite side, set the troop in quick motion, and gallop them into thetrap. By this means not only one, but a whole pit-full might be capturedat once!
All this appeared so feasible that not another suggestion wasoffered--the plan of the pit-fall was at once, and unanimously adopted.
It remained only to dig the pit, cover it properly, and then wait theresult.
During all the time their capture was being planned, the herd of quaggashad remained in sight, disporting themselves upon the open plain. It wasa tantalizing sight to Hendrik, who would have liked much to have shownhis marksman skill by "creasing" one. But the young hunter saw that itwould be imprudent to fire at them there, as it would prevent them fromreturning to the vley; so he restrained himself, and along with theothers remained watching the quaggas--all regarding them with a degreeof interest which they had never before felt in looking at a drove ofthese animals.
The quaggas saw nothing of them, although quite near to the greatnwana-tree. They--the hunters--were up among the branches, where theanimals did not think of looking, and there was nothing around thebottom of the tree to cause them alarm. The wagon-wheels had long agobeen disposed of in the bush, partly to shelter them from the sun, andpartly because game animals frequently came within shot of the tree, andwere thus obtained without any trouble. There were scarce any tracesupon the ground that would have betrayed the existence of a "camp" inthe tree; and a person might have passed very near without noticing theodd aerial dwelling of the hunter family.
All this was design upon the part of the field-cornet. As yet he knewlittle of the country around. He did not know but that it might containworse enemies than either hyenas or lions.
While they sat watching the manoeuvres of the quaggas, a movement wasmade by one of these creatures more singular than any that had yet beenwitnessed.
The animal in question was browsing quietly along, and at lengthapproached a small clump of bushes that stood out in the open ground.When close to the copse it was observed to make a sudden spring forward;and almost at the same instant, a shaggy creature leaped out of thebushes, and ran off. This last was no other than the ugly "striped"hyena. Instead of turning upon the quagga and showin
g fight, as onemight have supposed so strong and fierce a brute would have done, thehyena uttered a howl of alarm, and ran off as fast as its legs wouldcarry it.
They did not carry it far. It was evidently making for a larger tractof bush that grew near; but before it had got half-way across the openground, the quagga came up behind, and uttering his shrill "couaag,"reared forward, and dropped with his fore-hoofs upon the hyena's back.At the same instant the neck of the carnivorous animal was clutched bythe teeth of the ruminant and held as fast, as if grasped by a vice.
THE QUAGGA AND THE HYENA.]
All looked to see the hyena free itself and run off again. They lookedin vain. It never ran another yard. It never came alive out of theclutch of those terrible teeth.
The quagga still held his struggling victim with firm hold--trampling itwith his hoofs, and shaking it in his strong jaws, until in a fewminutes the screams of the hyena ceased, and his mangled carcass laymotionless upon the plain!
One would think that this incident might have been enough to warn ourhunters to be cautious in their dealings with the quagga. Such a sharpbiter would be no pleasant horse to "bit and bridle."
But all knew the antipathy that exists between the wild horse and thehyena; and that the quagga, though roused to fury at the sight of one ofthese animals, is very different in its behaviour towards man. Sostrong, in fact, is this antipathy, and so complete is the mastery ofthe ruminant over the carnivorous animal, that the frontier farmersoften take advantage of these peculiar facts, and keep the hyenas fromtheir cattle by bringing up with the herd a number of quaggas, who actas its guards and protectors!
