Part 26 (1/2)
Its last circle was accos, as the others had done, its head towards ht dead upon its breast, and touched the hair-trigger As the charge exploded I saw the aasvogel give a kind of backward twist Next instant I heard a loud clap, and a surge of joy went through ht that the bullet had found its billet But alas! it was not so
The clap was that of the air disturbed by the passing of the ball and the striking of this air against the stiff feathers of the wings Anyone who has shot at great birds on the ith a bullet will be acquainted with the sound Instead of falling the vulture recovered itself Not knowing theof this unaccustomed noise, it dropped quietly to earth and sat down near the bodies, pitching forward in the natural way and running a few paces, as the others had done that afternoon
Evidently it was quite unhurt
”Missed!” gasped Hans as he grasped the rifle to load it ”Oh! why did you not throw a stone on to the first heap?”
I gave Hans a look that htened him; at any rate, he spoke no an to pray harder than ever, while the Zulus clustered round the king and whispered to hiainst ed to take, unwillingly enough
Hans finished loading, capped and cocked the rifle, and handed it todesperately anxious to get the thing over one way or another, at the proper ain I covered it dead and pressed Again as the gun exploded I saw that backward lurch of the bird, and heard the clap of the air upon its wings Then--oh horror!--this aasvogel turned quietly, and began to mount the ladder of the sky in the same fashi+on as it had descended I had missed once more
”The second heap of stones has done this, baas,” said Hans faintly, and this time I did not even look him I only sat down and buried my face in an to whisper to els see the flash of the gun, and shy at it like a horse Baas, you are shooting into their faces, for they all hang with their beaks toward you before they drop You et behind theel cannot see with its tail”
I let fall my hands and stared at hih! I understood it all now While their beaks were towards ht fire at fifty vultures and never hit one, for each ti the bullet to asped, and began to walk quickly round the edge of the depression to a rock, which I saw opposite about a hundred yards away
My journey tookwhere ic was, and if I wished to see the white people killed presently Dingaan was now offering odds of fifty cattle to one against
I made no answer; no, not even when they askedaway” Grily, I marched on to the rock, and took shelter behind it with Hans The Boers, I saere still upon their knees, but see; the men stared at each other; Vrouw Prinsloo had her ar there behind the rock, e returned to me, as it sometimes does in the last extremity I remembered my dream and took comfort Surely God would not be so cruel as to sufferall those poor people to their deaths
snatching the rifle fro must be trusted to another As I put on the cap a vulturein the air just as the others had done, and oh! its tail was towards s, I pressed and shut my eyes, for I did not dare to look
I heard the bullet strike, or see else--the noise of a heavy thud upon the ground I looked, and there with outstretched wings lay the foul bird dead, stone dead, eight or ten paces from the bodies
”Allemachte! that's better,” said Hans ”You threw stones on to _all_ the other heaps, didn't you, baas?”
The Zulus grew excited, and the odds went down a little The Boers stretched out their white faces and stared at ain Another vulture caround, if in a soht that there could be nothing to fear I leaned against my rock, aimed, and fired, almost carelessly, so sure was I of the result This time I did not shut my eyes, but watched to see what happened
The bullet struck the bird between its thighs, raked it from end to end, and down it came like a stone alood!” said Hans with a guttural chuckle of delight ”Now, baas, make no mistake with the third, and 'als sall recht kommen' (all shall be well)”
”Yes,” I answered; ”_if_ I ainvery careful to ram down the poell and to select a bullet that fitted perfectly true to the bore Moreover, I cleared the nipple with a thorn, and shook a little fine powder into it, so as to obviate any chance of aon a the Boers or the Zulus I do not know In this last crisis of all our fates I never looked, being too intent upon my own part in the drama
By now the vultures appeared to have realised that soer to theh by this time they had collected in hundreds fro the heavens above in their vast, majestic circles, none of them seemed to care to descend to prey upon the bodies
I watched, and saw that a bird which had bitten Hans in the face; it was easy to distinguish hier than the others Also, he had sos I observed that certain of his coether in a knot, as though in consultation
They separated out again, and the king began to descend, deputed probably to spy out the land Down he ca turns, till he reached the appointed spot for the plunge, and, according to the i a while before he pounced with his head to the south and his great, spreading tail towards e a ht upon him and pulled The bullet thudded, soone home, and I looked to see him fall as the others had done But alas! he did not fall For a few seconds he rocked to and fro upon his great wings, then coradually ht into the empyrean I stared and stared Everybody stared, till that enorth but a speck Then it vanished altogether into regions far beyond the sight of man
”Now there is an end,” I said to Hans
”Ja, baas,” answered the Hottentot between his chattering teeth, ”there is an end You did not put in enough powder Presently we shall all be dead”