Off to the Wilds: Being the Adventures of Two Brothers

by George Manville Fenn

  CHAPTER THIRTY.

  THE KING'S HUNTING-PARTY.

  There was no mistaking the joy of Coffee and Chicory at finding theirfather safe and sound, and they showed it by performing some mostridiculous antics, making even the stern warrior smile withsatisfaction.

  Mr Rogers also noticed it a good deal, and from that time the two Zuluboys stood far higher in his estimation than of old.

  They had a visit at the camp that morning from the king, one of thefirst of whose questions, as he partook of a sugar-stick with greatgusto, was, had they heard the hippopotami shouting in the night, andwere they frightened?

  Both Dick and Jack declared that they were not in the least alarmed; andthereupon the king, who seemed to get on far better with them than withtheir father, proposed that they should come up the little river, andsee his warriors hunt the great river-horse.

  Mr Rogers consented with a nod; and taking their rifles, the boysaccompanied the king back to the town, where, orders being given, hismajesty's big canoe was prepared, and half-a-dozen great hunters, armedwith throwing-spears, each entered a canoe of his own--a frailrickety-looking affair, that threatened to turn over at any moment, evenwith the weight of one man, but which its occupant sent through thewater at a famous rate, by his clever management of a long paddle.

  The king's boat was none too safe a structure, and the boys laughed theone at the other as they took their seats before their host.

  "If we are overturned, Jack, make for the shore at once, and try andsave your rifle."

  "To be sure, Dick. But how about the crocodiles?"

  "And the hippos, Jack?"

  "Feel afraid?"

  "No. Do you?"

  "Not a bit!"

  The king seemed a little nervous about the boys' rifles when he saw thedeadly weapons in their hands, and he asked if they were safe.

  "A deal safer than your boat, Mr King," said Dick, laughing.

  "Yes, that they are," said Jack, giving the boat a sway to and fro.

  Then the king laughed, and the boys laughed again, and distributed somemore acid-rock sticks, of which his majesty highly approved. Then hegave the word, the rowers dipped their paddles, and six men propelledthe canoe pretty swiftly.

  "I say, Dick," whispered Jack, "black kings are not such bad fellowsafter all, are they?"

  "Not at all. I like this one. But don't whisper; it will make himthink we are talking about him. How many cartridges have you got?"

  "Twenty four. How many have you?"

  "Two dozen."

  The boys laughed and compared their cartridges, when the king, who hadfelt suspicious of their whispering, also smiled, and took greatinterest in the breech-loading guns, exhibiting quite a childish delightin seeing the breech opened, and in being able to look right through theshining barrels. After which he had the pleasure of thrusting in thecartridges with his own fingers; but when they were closed he expressedhis opinion that they were not safe.

  Meanwhile, after being propelled for some distance up the great river,the canoes were turned off into a side stream of no great width, andwhose sluggish waters serpentined amidst muddy beds of reeds, with apalm-tree raising its ornamental fronds here and there to relieve themonotony of the scene.

  The canes and reeds seemed to swarm with ducks and other water-fowl; andhere and there, riding in the calm reaches, they saw for the first timethat curious water-bird, the darter, swimming with its body nearlysubmerged, and its long, snaky neck ready to dart its keen bill withalmost lightning rapidity at the tiny fish upon which it fed.

  "Oh! what a splendid place for a day's fishing, Dick!" whispered Jack."This place must swarm, I know. I wish I had brought the tackle."

  "There's something more interesting than fishing to see," replied Dick."Look! look!"

  He pointed to the side of the river, a hundred yards ahead, where ahuge, clumsily-formed hippopotamus slowly waded into the water and sankout of sight.

  "What a brute!" said Dick. "Why, he could upset us. I say, KingMoseti, couldn't one of those fellows upset the boat?"

  "Yes," said the king; "then all swim ashore if he no catchee."

  "That's pleasant," said Dick. "But look, Jack! what's that?"

  He pointed ahead to something black, seen just above the surface of thewater, and several feet in front of it two prominences; then two moreappeared slowly above the water. There was a sort of gasping sigh, anda couple of little puffs like those emitted by a small steam-engine, andthe black knobs and the black surface disappeared.

  "What a monster!" cried Jack.

  "Now going to begin," said the king.

  But they paddled on another half-mile before they really began.

  They were in a very winding part of the river now, the serpentine curvesbeing so sharp that the banks seemed to be a succession of muddy pointsand reedy bays.

  On one of these points a large, broad-nosed hippo was standing, lookingas shapeless as if it had been roughly modelled in mud, and set uponfour legs of the shortest and squattiest kind. Nearer to them, and inthe water, several of the great amphibious creatures were playing about,raising their heads occasionally, sometimes only their eyes andnostrils, which the boys could see opened and shut like a valve, toadmit air and keep out the water.

  The canoes now stopped, and it was not a very pleasant feeling, to beaware that beneath them, and all around, these monstrous beasts werewalking about at the bottom of the muddy river, ready to rise up atwill, and upset the canoes, or perhaps take a piece out with theirteeth.

  "Now going to begin," said the king.

  And in obedience to a signal made with his stick, three of the littlecanoes went in advance, their occupants managing the paddles with onehand, their assegais with the other, and gliding cautiously over thesurface of the river, to the attack of one of the great hippopotami.

  "I wish they hadn't got such long names," said Jack, who was gettingdeeply interested; "it's quite a mouthful."

  "Never mind, they've got good broad backs and heads," said Dick. "Isay, Jack, look at that one! What a mouth! It's like a great leatherportmanteau being opened."

  "Or a big carpet-bag," replied Jack; "and what teeth!"

  They were indeed monstrous, and as the animal raised its ears and eyesabove the water, and just displayed a portion of its prominent nostrils,it was plain to see why the ancients called them river-horses; for, seenlike this, the head bore a remarkable resemblance to that of some largehorse.

  "Now look!" said the king, who then started, for the boys involuntarilycocked their rifles. For one of the canoes, with the hunter therein,approached the great beast just named, the hunter standing up to workhis paddle, and holding his assegai poised for throwing, while the hugebrute upon the point of land where he stood out as if displaying hismighty proportions, kept uttering grunts of dissatisfaction.

  Just as the canoe approached the beast in the water, it allowed itselfslowly to subside; but it rose again directly after, a few yards fartheroff, when, giving his paddle a sweep, the hunter poised and hurled hisassegai with such force, and so true an aim, that it was seen stickingin the hippo, just where the neck joins the shoulder.

  The moment he had thrown, the hunter stooped and picked up anotherspear; but even as he did so the hippopotamus made a dash at his canoe,bit at the side, shook it, and the man was precipitated into the water.

  In another instant the hippopotamus would have had him in his jaws; butnow was the time for the other hunters, whose canoes skimmed over thesurface side by side, and before the animal could reach the man in thewater, first one and then another spear was hurled, taking effect in itsneck.

  This took off the monster's attention for a few moments; just sufficientto enable the owner of the overturned canoe to get ashore, right hisboat, pour out all the water, and once more return to the attack.

  Meanwhile, the other three canoes had gone into the _melee_, each mansending a spear into the neck or shoulder of the huge hippopotamuswhenever he pressed one of the other hu
nters too hard.

  This went on for some time, with the monster growing weaker in hisresistance, the plan adopted being to weary him out by constant assault;and all this time the great fellow on the mud point had looked on,giving a fierce grunt now and then, and at times prolonging this gruntinto a deafening bellow. He evidently mightily disapproved of what wasbeing done to his fellow; but it did not seem to enter into his brainhow he was to help him.

  The idea seemed to come at last; for, turning his head towards theking's canoe, he opened his mouth to its fullest extent displaying thegreat worn-down tusks, and uttered a tremendous roar, that can only berendered on paper by a repetition of the words, "Hawgnph! hawgnph!" sentthrough a huge waterpipe, by the blast of a steam-engine of mightypower.

  This done he closed his mouth with a tremendous chop, and rushed intothe water and disappeared.

  "What a brute!" cried Dick.

  "He's coming right for us, I know," cried his brother. "You see if hedon't come up close here."

  The king seemed to expect it too, and he gave orders to his men; butbefore the large canoe could be got under weigh the monster rose quiteclose to them, opened its huge jaws, its little pig-like eyes glowingwith fury, and took a piece out of the canoe.

  Half the paddlers leaped overboard in their dread, as the monster openedits huge jaws for a second bite, this time close to where the two boysand the king were seated, the latter seeming paralysed at the imminenceof the danger.

  No word was spoken, one will seeming to guide both Dick and Jack, who,without raising their rifles to their shoulders, rested thempistol-fashion upon the side of the canoe, and fired straight into themonster's mouth.

  There was a tremendous clap-to of his jaws, but not upon the side of thecanoe; and then the huge head slowly sank down out of sight, as a coupleof fresh cartridges were thrust into the rifles.

  But now there was a fresh danger, water was coming in over the sidewhere the piece was taken out; and it took a great deal of shouting, andno little help with the spare paddles, given by his majesty and his twovisitors, to get the canoe run aground before she could sink.

  Wet legs were the worst misfortune, and as they leaped ashore the menset to, hauled up the canoe, and emptied out the water, and in an hourthey had sewn on a thick skin so as to temporarily keep out the water atthe side, thin canes answering for needle and thread, after which theyembarked.

  It was none too soon; for as the last man got on board and the canoe waspushed off, there was a loud snorting and rustling in the reeds, and ahippopotamus rushed at them, giving the lads such an opportunity thatthey both sent a bullet into it as it entered the water, and they saw itno more.

  Meanwhile the six hunters had not only killed their hippo, but had seenthe monster shot by the boys aground, quite dead, upon one of the sandybits of land, and they had steered their own trophy to its side, wherethey were busy drawing out the spears with which it bristled, as theking's canoe came up.

  A rope was made fast to each of the monsters then, and they were toweddown stream and out into the big river, where, upon their reaching thetown, an attack was made upon the great beasts, and the flesh hewed offamidst a great deal of shouting, singing, and drumming, the boys feelingno great temptation to eat hippopotamus, but being proud enough todisplay the head of the monster they had shot--a head that was evenstartling in its size and weight.