Part 2 (1/2)
”There,” said Hans, ”we have good water, plenty of wood and other stuff for fires, ga to do but eat, drink, sleep, and shoot; we shall kill the game that will yield us money, and so we need have no care A hunter's life is happy, and ould not be a hunter? Can you believe it, that Karl Zeits, because he wants to make money? Why our fore-looper's life is a better one than his; and as to ours, one day in the veldt after game is worth a year in a tohere all is dirty, s like a free life, Bernhard, is there? and elephant hunting is the very best of all
Good-night, and sleep well, Bernhard,” said Hans as he crawled into his waggon; and, undisturbed by the roars of a distant lion, or the snores of his companions, he slept soundly and peacefully till near daybreak
CHAPTER FOUR
SEEKING THE DEAD ELEPHANTS--AMBUSCADE OF THE MATABILI WARRIORS--ESCAPE OF HANS STERK AND HIS PARTY--BATTLE WITH THE MATABILI--THE SLAUGHTER OF SIEDENBERG
”The waggons can follow,” said Hans; ”that will be best The Kaffir can shohere the dead elephants are lying, and ill ride on Shall we follow the spoor, Victor, or try and cut off the track?”
”Better follow the spoor, Hans, I think,” replied Victor; ”but what does Heinrich say?”
”Follow the spoor from where we last saw the elephants; we are sure to find the the most experienced to follow the spoor, the whole party mounted their horses and rode on their journey, little expecting as before theame visible to the hunters as they rode towards the locality on which their yesterday's sport had been enjoyed; but this they believed was due to the alar had caused; for so wide, is the country in Africa, that the ani the night, and yet obtain a good grazing-ground free froame in any district which has been hunted on the day previously, but looks for it some thirty miles distant As the hunters rode forward the sun rose, and dried up the heavy dehich had covered the herbage during the night The fog andrays, and the country once more exhibited its tropical appearance
Hans, who had taken out his telescope to exath exclaimed, ”There is one of the Kaffirs near the elephants How could he get there before us?”
”It is 'Nquane, perhaps; he is very quick, and ”
”No,” replied Hans; ”'Nquane, like all Kaffirs, does not like going a journey before the sun has dried and warmed the air Can the man be a stray Matabili?”
”No matter if he is,” said one of the Boers ”Let us canter on; we shall soon see”
The hunters increased their speed, and rode on towards their dead elephants, but saw, as they approached, no Kaffirs; and all except Hans began to doubt whether the figure he had seen really was a Kaffir, or only a stump burned and blackened so as to resemble a man The party left the open country, and rode into the forest, being obliged to ride in file along the paths made by the elephants They had penetrated about two hundred yards into the forest, when a shrill whistle was uttered from the wood behind, and instantly fro to his feet Two hundred , in the midst of which were the hunters These warriors did not leave the whitetheir shi+elds, and waving their assagies, they rushed in towards their supposed victi training in such hunting expeditions as those we have described is likely to produce, the Dutchmen saw their only chance for escape They turned their horses, and firing a destructive volley at the Matabili who blocked the path in their rear, spurred their horses, and charged at the opening which their bullets and slugs had cleared Each e in one barrel; and as each neared the enemy he fired from the saddle, and mostly killed or disabled his foe So sudden had been the attack, and so rapid the retreat, that in five minutes from the first alarm the hunters found themselves clear of the bush, and with no further loss than two horses severely gashed by the assagies of their enemies, who fortunately possessed no fire-ar to the old villain Moselekatse,” said Hans; ”we on and oxen will be captured; let us halt and try to draw them out into this open bush
Are you all loaded, est of the party, seemed at once to assume the position of leader
”Yes, we are all, I think,” replied several ”And here co to close with us Now, for not wasting a single charge, give them the bullet in the distance, buckshot when nearer, the treacherous villains;” as he finished speaking he fired, and a dozen bullets were discharged; immediately afterwards, the dull thud of the bullets and the falling bodies of the ene for the Matabili to approach within range of buckshot and slugs; but Victor, luckily looking round, saw that two detachments had been sent round on the flanks in an endeavour to surround the horsemen, so that an immediate retreat was necessary
Every one of the hunters was, however, able to load his weapon whilst proceeding at full gallop; so that, having retreated far enough to escape being surrounded, the Boers halted, faced about, and again discharged their deadly weapons at the foe
The leader of the Matabili soon saw that this syste was not likely to lead to satisfactory results, so he whistled a signal to his an a retreat The hunters however were not thedown their enemy with a fatal accuracy, until they reached the denser part of the forest, where the hunters dared not enter on foot against at least ten times their number, and where they could not enter on horseback A short council of war decided them to leave half their number to watch the Matabili, whilst the reons, to stop them in their advance, and to make preparations for their defence in case an attack should be ons was very ht cavalry manoeuvres which had been so successful in the late attack of the black warriors
There are few incidents of greater interest in connexion with our colonies than the desertion from our eastern frontier of the Cape of Good Hope of a body of about 5000 souls, who, dissatisfied with the Governiance, departed ives, children, goods, cattle, and horses into the wilderness, there to find a new holish doration took place, and it was just previous to that date that our tale coe portion of country in about the twenty-sixth parallel of latitude, there was a chief named Moselekatse, whose tribe was terade from the Zulu nation, and had by his talents formed a nation of soldiers Between the warriors of Moselekatse and soe River, several encounters had taken place, the latter being usually the assailants, their object being the capture of cattle, the Matabili being rich in herds The Griquas are a tribe of bastard Hottentots,nearly white; and thus, in a Matabili's opinion, nearly every white round on which they were hunting was too far from the doerous one, Hans and his party had neither sent a, nor had they expected to meet any bipeds in the district in which they had decided to hunt elephants They probably would not even have been heard of by the soldiers of Moselekatse, and therefore not e party of the Matabili been ordered to hbourhood of Natal where the Zulus were in force, and where it was said preparations were being made for an invasion of the Matabili territory These men on their return heard the report of the whiteif these rifles were brought into his presence
Concealing the out a few spies to watch as going on, the Matabili discovered where the elephants had been shot, and at once knew that on the following day the hunters would come to procure their ivory, so that an aed and the hunters surrounded and taken at a disadvantage All was very carefully planned by the Matabili; but in consequence of the rapid decision and skill of the hunters, their plot was a failure The Matabili were, however, formidable as enemies; they plotted deeply before they acted; and had the hunters been aware of the cunning of their foes, they would scarcely have felt as satisfied as they did when they had driven their assailants into a dense cover, and had thus coe their attack into a defence
Five of the hunters remained near the bush to watch the eneons; and thus the whitetheir back trail, the hunters rode at a canter in the direction of their last night's outspan, eager to get to their waggons, and either put them into a state of defence, or start them in a direction away from that likely to be followed by the Matabili
Hans Sterk, Victor, and three other Dutchons After riding at a canter for some miles, they drew up and walked their horses, in order to allow theain their wind
”This will be a bad day's work for Moselekatse,” said Victor, ”for we are too strong for hie river now; and if we make up a commando and attack hih on his hands noith the Zulus, ill certainly make an attack on hietting up a large party to attack the Matabili; for they have thousands of cattle, and there would bethose who ventured,” replied one of the Boers