The Adventures of Dick Maitland: A Tale of Unknown Africa

by Harry Collingwood

“Of course you couldn’t,” responded Dick, “and I don’t mean that you shall try. Just sit where you are for a little while longer, and leave me to arrange things.” Therewith he drew a whistle from the pocket of his hunting shirt, and upon it blew three piercing blasts in quick succession that, in the breathless stillness of the night, might have been heard at least a mile away. He repeated the signal at brief intervals for about ten minutes, when answering shouts were heard, whereupon he drew three or four matches from the box, bunched them together, ignited them, and held the tiny torch aloft to guide Mafuta and Jantje, whose voices he recognised. A minute later they both arrived upon the scene, anxious to know what was amiss, and received Dick’s hurried explanation with many Au’s! of surprise and apprehension. Then, in obedience to his brief but concise instruction, they hurried away again at a run, to return with very commendable celerity, bearing Grosvenor’s hammock and a long pole, hacked from the nearest tree they could find. The hammock having been spread upon the ground, the patient was, under Dick’s anxious supervision, laid very carefully upon it, so that there might be as little movement of his body as possible; and finally, the hammock having been securely lashed to the pole, the whole was raised upon the shoulders of the two blacks and by them borne to the camp. Arrived there, the hammock was, still with the utmost gentleness and care, slung inside the tent, the lamp was lighted, and Dick proceeded to examine his patient afresh.

By this time the wounded limb had become terribly swollen, and Grosvenor complained of severe pain about the injured region. This, of course, was not to be wondered at, considering the rather heroic treatment to which the leg had been subjected, and Dick was not very greatly concerned about it. But what caused him to look very grave was the fact that his patient also complained of feeling cold, and manifested symptoms of approaching delirium, while his whole body was now beginning to be convulsed, at rapidly shortening intervals, by spasms of violent and uncontrollable twitching. Without wasting a moment Dick now had recourse to alcohol, freely dosing his patient with neat brandy, in the hope of inducing a condition of intoxication—for he knew that if he could succeed in this the excess of alcohol in the system would neutralise the venom, and his patient would be saved. But it was not until he had administered nearly a quart of the spirit that the desired symptoms began to appear; and it was long past midnight before the twitching convulsions entirely ceased and the patient sank into a deathlike sleep; by this time also the swelling of the limb was perceptibly subsiding; and when at length Dick turned down the lamp and disposed himself to take such rest as he might be able to snatch in a folding chair by the side of his friend’s hammock, he had the satisfaction of knowing that the crisis was past and Phil would live.

Up to this moment the young doctor had been far too busy and altogether too deeply preoccupied in attending upon his patient to give any attention to, or indeed be more than vaguely aware of, what was happening outside the tent, although there certainly had been moments when sounds of a more than usually alarming character had reached his ears so distinctly and obtrusively as partially to distract his attention for the fraction of a second or so; but now that Grosvenor was asleep and safe, and Dick began to feel that he also would be the better for a little rest, outside sounds began to obtrude themselves upon him with a force and persistency that would not be denied, and he awoke to a consciousness of the fact that something quite out of his ordinary experience was happening.

At first he was disposed to attribute the babel of sound that reached his ears to the fact that the party were outspanned in close—almost too close—proximity to the only water that, so far as he knew, existed for many miles round, and which was consequently the regular drinking place for every living creature in the neighbourhood, as he and his chum had already ascertained. Indeed the incessant bellowing, snorting, trumpeting, roaring, splashing, and squealing that, slightly mellowed by distance, penetrated to the interior of the tent, was quite enough to justify such an idea. But he had scarcely settled himself in his chair beside Grosvenor’s hammock, and closed his eyes in the hope of wooing sleep to them, than he became aware of other and nearer sounds, dominating the first, the sound of crackling flames, frequent low, muttered ejaculations, the occasional soft thud and swish of feet running through long grass, followed by a shout or two which was almost invariably responded to by a low, angry snarl, while the clashing of horns, the rattling of the trek chain, the almost continuous lowing and moaning of the oxen, the stamping of the horses tethered to the wagon, and the whining of the dogs, indicated the extreme restlessness and uneasiness of the animals. The disturbance was so much greater than usual that Dick finally felt called upon to investigate. So, rising from his chair, he cast a quick glance at his patient which assured him that all was well there, and then, raising the flap of the tent, stepped forth into the open air.

The first sight that greeted him was that of about a dozen fires arranged in a circle round about the tiny camp, in the ruddy-yellow, flickering glare of which he saw Mafuta, Jantje, and ’Nkuku flitting hither and thither, tending the fires and feeding them from an enormous stack of thorns and branches piled up near the wagon, while Ramoo Samee, the Indian groom, stood with the horses, talking to them, caressing them, and soothing their excitement by every means in his power. Most of the oxen, instead of lying down, were on their feet, their tails swishing agitatedly from side to side, their heads turning quickly this way and that, their ears twitching, their nostrils distended, sniffing the air, their hoofs stamping the earth impatiently, while their eyes glowed and shone in the light of the fires, and ever and anon one or another of them would throw up his head and give vent to a low, moaning bellow, which told, as eloquently as words, their state of terror. As for the dogs, they were all huddled together beneath the wagon, shivering with fear, their tails between their legs, and their lips drawn back, revealing their fangs, in a sort of snarling grin. Leo was the only animal who did not seem very greatly perturbed, but even he was awake, and lay crouching at the extreme end of his tether, his eyes lambently aglow, and his tail softly beating the earth now and then.

“Ho there, Mafuta!” called Dick, as he stood taking in the scene and admiring the generally romantic effect of it all—the glowing fires, the wavering columns of smoke, the uneasy animals, the flitting figures, the great bulk of the wagon with its white canvas tent aglow with the firelight, and the mellow stars raining down their soft radiance; “what is all the disturbance about?”

“Lions, baas,” answered the Kafir as he paused for a moment, his arms filled with a great bundle of branches which he was carrying to the fires, and his great bronze body shining with perspiration; “we are beset by them; and if the fires were allowed to die down they would rush in upon us, and kill or stampede the whole of the oxen and horses. See there—and there—and there,” he added, pointing into the darkness beyond the glow of the fires.

Dick looked, but could at first see nothing, his eyes as yet being dazzled by the light of the flames, but presently, looking in the direction toward which Mafuta pointed, he caught sight of first one pair of greenishyellow orbs, and then another, and another, gleaming out of the darkness, until finally he counted no less than seven pairs of eyes, all intently staring inward. By the flitting to and fro of some of these pairs of eyes Dick perceived that certain of the lions were regularly making the circuit of the camp, some in one direction, some in the other, apparently searching for an unguarded spot at which they might venture to make a dash; but there were three pairs of eyes that remained stationary, as though their owners were patiently awaiting a signal of some sort. These, Dick decided, were the most dangerous of their foes, and at the same time the most easy to deal with, because of their immovability; so, returning to the tent he first cast a quick glance at the still soundly sleeping form of Grosvenor. Then he took up his bandolier, threw it over his shoulder and adjusted it in position, seized his rifle and satisfied himself that it was fully loaded, and again made his way outside.

It took a minute or two for his eyes again to adjust themselves to the peculiar conditions of the light, but presently he again caught sight of one of the motionless pairs of eyes, and, sinking upon one knee, he raised his rifle to his shoulder, carefully brought its two sights accurately in line with a point midway between the two glowing orbs, and pressed the trigger. The sharp, whip-like crack of the weapon was answered by several low, snarling growls, and a swishing of the grass suggestive of several heavy bodies bounding away through it, while the stationary and moving pairs of eyes vanished, as if by magic; and a minute or two later some four or five of the oxen lay down where they were tethered to the trek chain, with a sigh of obvious relief.

“They are gone, baas,” remarked Mafuta, as he again passed with more fuel; “but we must keep up the fires; for they are almost certain to come back again. They are young lions who have been driven away from the pool, and not allowed to hunt there by the old ones, and they are hungry. Yes, they will come back again; and you will perhaps have to kill two or three more before they will go away and leave us alone.”