Part 8 (1/2)
”In a few hours we shall have but one horse,” exclaimed Hans; ”strong as Katie is, her sister is weak, and they can never walk to our people. If the Matabili follow us, we must die. Can you see a remedy, men?”
”We can sell our lives dearly,” exclaimed Bernhard; ”that we can at least do. I have thirty bullets at least in my pouch, and in my horn thirty charges of powder. We may beat off a large party of the enemy.”
”The Matabili are not easily beaten off,” remarked Hans: ”they rush on in a body, and though you may kill some, the others are upon you before you can have time to load. If we could have some of those many-barrelled guns that I have heard of which fire off several times one after the other, we could do nothing but kill more before we were killed; but with our roers only, we can do but little.”
Whilst the men were thus talking in the twilight, Katie and her sister, fully awake, joined them before their presence was known; and hearing this last remark, the quick-witted girl at once suspected that the horses were unfit to continue their journey.
”We can walk, Hans,” said Katrine, as she touched his shoulder, ”we can walk, though, perhaps, not so fast as you can; but we can walk ever so far.”
”If it were walking only, Katie, it would not be much; but it may be we should have to run, and that at a greater speed than a Matabili could follow; that is why I fear.”
”Well, leave us here, and you go on, and bring us back help. The '_Mensch_' will soon come to us, and we could stop here till they arrive.”
”We live or die together, Katie; I will never leave you here,” exclaimed Hans. ”But there is something to be thought of, though. Victor and Bernhard, let me tell you my plan.”
The two men turned from the horses, whose pitiable condition they had been contemplating, to Hans, and waited for his words. After a moment's thought, Hans exclaimed, ”It is our best chance, and it will succeed.
This is the plan:--The black horse is as yet well. You Bernhard, or you Victor, as you may choose, upsaddle at once, and ride for our lager. As soon as you reach it, tell Maritz, or any one who is our friend, of our being left in the desert. I have horses among the people, and there are those who will help us. Come back with help and with horses, and we will get safe again among our people.”
”And where will you be, Hans?” was Victor's inquiry.
”I,” said Hans, ”will move on to that range of hills; there are kloofs and rocks there amidst which I can easily find a place of security for Katie and her sister; for the rest trust a hunter. They shall neither starve nor be made prisoners whilst I live. So now, which of you will go? it is the post of danger to go as much as to remain. You, Bernhard, are the lightest man, and ought thus to ride fastest. In six days you should be back, and by that time we shall be accustomed to a rough life.”
”If Victor agrees to this, I will go,” said Bernhard; ”and the sooner I go the better: first, though, shall we shoot the lion that killed the Kaffir? otherwise he might be an unpleasant neighbour to you, as he has tasted human flesh.”
”We had better let him stand,” said Hans: ”a shot fired here now might be heard on this still day twenty miles. We need not tell every pair of ears within twenty miles that white men are about, for then, perhaps, we might have curious eyes coming to look at us; besides, the lion may be useful to us again.”
”How?” exclaimed the two hunters; ”not in killing another Matabili?”
”No,” said Hans; ”but the sooner our horses are eaten the better. The vultures will be streaming in this direction very shortly, and as long as a sc.r.a.p of flesh is on the bones of the animals the _vogels_ will be hovering around this spot. A Matabili would naturally come to see what was dead here, and might find our spoor; so, instead of one, I wish there were twenty lions ready to feast on our horses. I have no fear of lions when I get to those hills, for I will soon make a place there suitable for our safety. So we had better save our powder and bullets for even more cruel enemies than a lion.”
”That is true,” exclaimed Hans' two companions: ”so we will not seek to kill him. Let us look at the spot where he struck down the Matabili.”
The three hunters walked cautiously in the direction in which the lion might be yet concealed, and examined every bush and patch of gra.s.s around them. The footprints of the Matabili could be easily traced by these expert spoorers, and they soon found the spot on which the man had been killed. The lion had apparently followed the man from the direction of the hunters, and had struck him down at once, the a.s.sagies of the savage being found in a cl.u.s.ter, as though dropped from the helpless hand of the stricken man; the body had then been dragged away about forty yards to some long gra.s.s, where the lion had commenced his feast, which had been finished by hyenas and jackalls; so that except a few bones, nothing remained to indicate that a human being had been, sacrificed to the fury of a wild beast. ”This might have been the fate of one of us,” said Hans, as he pointed to the few remains before him.
”It is the will of G.o.d to have spared us, and to have destroyed our enemy. We will trust that our fate may not be like his. We had better return now and make our arrangements at once. We will conceal the saddles and bridles, and then they may be of use if you bring spare horses. So now for work, men, and you, Bernhard, had better ride on.
You will not mistake your way, will you?”
”No. I shall find the line easy, and my only fear is whether the horse will carry me. I will bring you help, and that very shortly, or my life will be lost in the attempt--trust me, Hans;” and with a hearty farewell to the party, Bernhard rode off, on an expedition fraught with no little danger, for he had pathless plains to traverse, rivers to cross, mountain-ranges to find a pa.s.s through, and all this with the constant possibility of enemies around him, who would follow him till a chance occurred of taking him at a disadvantage.
CHAPTER TWELVE.
PREPARATIONS FOR A SIEGE--THE ROCK AND CAVES--WILD BEES AND ROCK RABBITS--THE BABOONS--THE NIGHT WATCH.
When Bernhard's course had been watched for some time, Hans decided at once to make his preparations for a week's residence in the wilderness.
He called Victor to his side, and explained to him the advantage of selecting the range of hills which were distant about two miles. These hills were rocky and steep, and thus an enemy could approach only from one side. There was much underwood, and thus there seemed every probability of a secure retreat being found. The difficulty, however, seemed to be how to reach these hills without leaving a visible trail.
These advantages and drawbacks having been discussed between the two hunters, it was decided to run the risk of leaving a trail rather than wait where they then were; but scarcely had Hans come to this conclusion than, upon looking westwards, from which direction the wind was blowing, he eagerly exclaimed--
”G.o.d is good, and favours us. Look, Victor, a storm is coming.”
”And what of that, Hans?” exclaimed Victor.