CHAPTER XXIV.
UNPLEASANT COMPANY—RESCUING THE CASTAWAYS—SHOOTING
LIONS AT NIGHT—MISS BOLAND'S MENAGERIE.
"I wanted to try an experiment with them," continued Miss Boland, "and see if they had not been completely tamed by their experiences; but Mrs. Roberts remarked that it was no time or place for experiments of that sort, and our best policy was to kill them before they got over their fright. So we shot them, and we walked up to within four paces of them to do so. They dropped down so peacefully that I rather think they liked being shot."
"How did you manage with the boa-constrictor?" queried Jack.
"Oh, we shot him too," said Miss Boland; "he was all used up with swimming, and was an easy prey to us. We fired at him simultaneously, putting two bullets through his head. He twisted about a great deal, but did not need any more shooting."
The experiences of the ladies with these wild animals, alarmed as they were by the freshet, is corroborated by that of other travelers in Africa, and also in other countries. Winwood Reade tells about being in Senegambia during a time of flood. He said his party, which was traveling by boat, came to a small island in the river; and on this island there were lying, huddled together, two lions, a leopard, some monkeys and hyenas, two antelopes, and a wild boar. They killed all of these animals without difficulty. None of them took to the water; the leopard and the monkeys made an attempt to escape by running up a tree.
I have a friend who was on a hunting-expedition on the island of Saugor at the time of the great cyclone at Calcutta, twenty odd years ago. Saugor Island was flooded, and my friend was forced to climb into a tree for safety. A tiger—a full-grown Asiatic tiger—sought shelter in the same tree, and for more than twenty hours tiger and man remained there, neither molesting the other. My friend had dropped his rifle in his haste to save himself from drowning, and therefore was unable to make any demonstrations against the tiger. As for the latter animal, he was so overcome by fear that all his natural ferocity was gone.
But to return to the castaways. The question now was how to get them off the island. They were all agreed that there was practically no danger from crocodiles; but at the same time there was a lingering fear that some might have come down the valley in the freshet, just as lizards come down with the rain. Jack suggested that the best plan would be for one of the ladies to get into the boat with him, and be brought over to the shore where we were standing. The boat could carry only two persons, and thus two trips would be required before both of them could be brought over. The fore-looper would follow in the third and last trip of the boat, and he would lead one horse, allowing him to swim through the water; and when the other two horses found they were to be left alone on the island, they would take to the water and follow.
This was exactly what happened, and in due time all were safely ferried over. All the party that had spent the night on the island presented a very dilapidated appearance, as there was no shelter save what the trees afforded, and there are very few trees in the world that can keep out an African rain. But though dilapidated in appearance, they were in good spirits; and now that their mishap was over, were ready to laugh about it, and thought it was not so bad after all.
"We were not as frightened," said Mrs. Roberts, "as we were when the lions had us up that tree; but I am frank to say we were by no means easy in our minds. There was the uncertainty as to what height the waters would attain, and until we found that they had ceased rising we were in quite a state of alarm."