Part 19 (1/2)

Having upsaddled their horses, the hunters rode towards the forest, near which Hans had seen the elephants The country was one ame Bucks bounded in all directions, whilst the most stately antelopes continually crossed their path The stately koodoo, the noble water-buck, the striped eland, and land, except in our ame upon which the hunters were bent was elephants No temptation could induce these un would alarm the country, and disturb the elephants; so that there would be but slight chance of finding these acute-scented, sharp-eared ani steadily on, therefore, with an indifference to the animals that they disturbed, the hunters reached the position they desired, and there saw the game they expected There were but four elephants, but they were all bulls, and with fine tusks, and were browsing without any signs of alarht I will take, if you like,” said Hans; ”you ride for the other two”

”Yes, they seem all alike in tusks, so you take him We will ride down on them, and shoot from the saddle,” said Victor

The three hunters separated slightly, each riding doards the elephant he had selected, and each regulating his pace in such a manner that he should reach his elephant at the same time that the others did

Hans was the last to reach his elephant, as he had the farthest to go, but was nearly ready to fire, when the double shots of Victor and Bernhard alarh, and his bullet striking the anied hi well e, and the elephant continued on its course, thus travelling in the opposite direction to that in which the elephants ran which Victor and Bernhard had wounded Hans quickly pursued his elephant, and firing at it behind the shoulder, lodged his two bullets there This the huge anireat speed Loading as he rode at full gallop, Hans continued boreat effect, and he found hi in the opposite direction to that in which they had gone

Powerful as was the elephant, still it was ed time after time close to the anih it, and at length con the coainst which it leaned for support, the ani off both its tusks as it came to the earth

Hans immediately took the saddle off his tired steed, and allowed it to graze, whilst he sat down beside his prize He estiht miles away from the spot on which he had first started the elephants, and in a nearly easterly direction The country was entirely unknown to hiuide him as to the points of the compass, but the instinct of a hunter would tell hio in order to retrace his steps, or he ht follow his spoor back He deterhting his pipe, he enjoyed a quiet smoke Whilst thus occupied, he was surprised to hear human voices near him, and still more so when he saw a party of about a dozen uns, ere co rapidly towards him Hans' first idea was to mount his horse and ride away; but he saw that before he could reach his horse the men would be close to him, and if they intended to injure him, they could easily shoot him at the short distance which they would then be frouns rather disposed Hans to think that they must be partially civilised, and that therefore he need not fear the heard the report of his gun, had cohbourhood, and the elephant soon attracted their attention, and with a shout as they saw it they ran rapidly doards it Hans stood up as they approached, and showed no signs of fear; and when they came close, he noticed that three of the men were evidently half-castes, and one seemed the leader of the party The men saw Hans, and immediately transferred their attention from the dead elephant to hilish, but they seee; so he said a feords in Zulu, which were equally unintelligible The st themselves, and Hans could not understand what they said, and was at a loss to comprehend from whence these hunters--for such they seemed to be--had come After several atte to the west, then at Hans, seenal that it was from the west that Hans had coe of language by signs, i to the men around, then to the east, thus inquired whether these hunters came from the east The chief nodded to this, and thus explained to Hans that he oa Bay, and was probably a cross between souese

Whilst this co on between Hans and the chief, some of the men had pulled the teeth fro to the to carry them away To this appropriation of his property Hans objected, and ns to the chief that the round The chief uttered a feords to thefor further directions

The chief now cans, which, however see to discover what these signals un taken frole which ensued he was thrown violently to the ground, and there held by three of the h to have ly, still Hans was no le on finding himself disarmed, and surrounded by such a force Immediately he was thus quiet, some leather straps were produced, and his hands were firs were then tied by a powerful strap, so that he could walk by taking an average length-pace; but if he atte was out of the question

Whilst this sudden attack, and being thus bound as a prisoner,this anger; he therefore suban to hope that as there seeht be merely kept a prisoner for some time, and then released

”Perhaps they will steal un, and ivory, and leave ht Hans ”If so, I shall have a long journey on foot to reach my people” This idea, however, was soon relinquished, when Hans saw the chief un, and whilst others of the party carried the tusks, three nalled to hi knives froned to hily comply, and thus threatened he followed, as best he could with bound hands and encus, the leaders of the party

Hans could tell that the direction in which he walked was nearly east, and therefore away fro him None of the Dutchmen would be likely, therefore, to come across him or to find him, so that a rescue was out of the question The only chance seeht coht trace hiainst twelve ht result only in the death of his two friends

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

HANS CARRIED AWAY--HIS FELLOW-PRISONERS--SLAVERY--THOUGHTS OF ESCAPE-- CARRIED OFF TO SEA--THE VOYAGE--PURSUED--THE CHASE--THE NIGHT BATTLE-- THE REPULSE--THE CAPTURE

With no hesitation as to the direction in which they were to travel, the party who had so unceremoniously captured Hans marched on till near sunset It was evident they knew the country well, and had decided in which direction they were to proceed They talked freely ast each other, and Hans was often apparently the subject of their conversation, but he could not coe It was no colish, or Kaffir, and he therefore concluded it uese

Hans could not understand why he should be taken prisoner He had not, he believed, co in a free country; but having failed to think of any likely reason, he did not further trouble himself about the matter When the sun was so near the horizon that the shadow of the trees h which they walked nearly dark, the party halted Sohted, and soiven his share of the food, and also supplied ater He was carefully tied to one of the men of the party, whose duty it was to watch him, and thus all chance of escape was prevented The party then set oneround Hans, laid themselves down to sleep Bound as he was, Hans could not for a long ti rendered him very much of a philosopher, he slept as soundly as the remainder of the party

The sun had scarcely risen on the following ain travelled on to the eastward The march was continued till mid-day, when a halt was nals After a short interval these shots were replied to by other shots, and soon after a second party of very siht with them three Zulus, bound in the same manner as Hans An immense number of questions and answers passed between the two parties ofto their friends some adventure which had happened to theht of so-party of Zulus, some of the members of which were taken prisoners

Hans was quite sufficiently acquainted with the Zulu dialect to have made inquiries from his fellow-prisoners as to the manner in which they had been captured, but as this would have been ht it more prudent to keep silence, and not to let his captors know that he could speak the language of his dark-coloured fellow-prisoners; besides, he believed that he would soon be able to overhear enough of their conversation to find out in what manner they had been captured; and in this supposition he was correct, for he soon gathered enough infor, and were surprised by their capturers, who shot several men who offered resistance, but seemed more inclined to take prisoners than to kill

The chief whom Hans had seen at first, ca their arms and bodies, as a purchaser pinches cattle

At first a feeling of alar a party of cannibals, who captured reat feasts; but this he could not reconcile with the half-civilised look of the uns Only one other explanation seemed probable, however, and when this occurred to hiht of it before Rust the old colonists that up the East Coast the white o on board shi+p, and then to make them prisoners, and sell theht that he and the Zulus could be captured for no other reason, and this idea was little less satisfactory than was that of being eaten by cannibals That a Kaffir could be thus captured and sold, Hans did not doubt; but it seemed to him impossible that a white man could be thus treated, and he therefore hoped that, as soon as he reached the head-quarters of wherever he , he would be liberated

For four days the party h a country in which there seemed no inhabitants Game was shot occasionally, and the Zulus, as well as Hans, ell fed, this convincing Hans that he and they were destined to be sold for slaves, as a fat, plu slave would always fetchAt the end of the fourth day Hans saw the sea, distant only a few miles, and near the sea he saw, as he advanced, several huts built two stories high, and indicating much more architectural skill than the kraals of the Zulus

Several men, women, and children came out from these huts to welcome the return of the expedition, which had evidently been out slave-hunting

They all looked at Hans with great interest, but took not the slightest notice of his remonstrances or earnest appeals for liberty He was taken with the Zulus to a large hut, in which there were benches and large wooden rails To these were attached chains and fastenings for the hands and legs Theprisoners, and fastened Hans and the Zulus in a very fewthe the placed on guard just outside of the hut to watch them, and to report if any attempt wasafter his arrival at the coast, Hans was surprised to find that he was taken away from the other prisoners, and was conducted to a distant hut, where some coloured men were assembled, whom he had not previously seen As soon as Hans arrived, one of thesehis hair and beard, until as little was left as is found on the woolly pate of a Zulu It was in vain Hans rehtest attention to his words, and seemed not to understand them; and as his hands were fastened by irons he was co clipped his hair to their satisfaction, the men produced a vessel in which was a thick black co from his neck and arms, they deliberately painted his face, neck, hands, and aring what his lace must be from what he could see his hands were, knew he ers e are accustoood imitations of black men as Hans was after his wash

Hans concluded that this disguise was effected in order that it should not be known that he was a white h his hands and face were blackened, yet his tongue ree of English was sufficient to enable him to converse with tolerable freedom; so that if it was intended to conceal his nationality, that was hopeless