The Young Colonists: A Story of the Zulu and Boer Wars Read online

eat up any surplus that remained--andindeed Mr Harvey found the liberal distribution of meat opened theirhearts and much facilitated trade.

  Two or three days after they had left the scene of the elephant-huntsome objects were seen far out on the plain, which the hunters at oncepronounced to be ostriches. Dick would have started in pursuit, but MrHarvey checked him.

  "They can run," he said, "faster than a horse can gallop. They canindeed be ridden down, as they almost always run in a great circle, andthe pursuit can be taken up with fresh horses, but this is a longbusiness. We will send the hunters out first, to get on the other sideof them, and when they are posted we will ride out. Going quite slowlythe attention of the birds will be directed to us; this will give thehunters an opportunity of creeping up on the other side and shooting orlassoing them. If I am not mistaken they have a good many young oneswith them--this is about the time of year when this is usually the case.If we could catch a dozen of them, they would be prizes, for they fetcha good sum down in the colony, where ostrich-farming is carried on on alarge scale. They are very easily tamed, and would soon keep with thecaravan and give no trouble."

  After remaining quiet for some little time, to give the hunters time tomake a wide circuit, Mr Harvey and Dick rode quietly forward towardsthe birds, who stood on a slight swell of ground at a distance of abouthalf a mile, evidently watching the caravan with great interest.

  By Mr Harvey's instructions Dick unrolled the blanket which he alwayscarried on his saddle, and taking an end in each hand held it out atarm's length on a level with the top of his head. Mr Harvey doing thesame.

  "They are silly birds," Mr Harvey said, "and their attention is easilycaught by anything they don't understand. Like all other wild creaturesthey are afraid of man; but by holding the blankets out like sails theydo not see our outline, and cannot make out what the strange creaturesadvancing towards them can be."

  At a foot-pace they advanced towards the ostriches; these made no signsof retreat until the horsemen approached to within about seventy yards.Then from the brow behind the birds the three hunters suddenly rose up,and whirling the balls of their lassoes round their heads launched themamong the ostriches. Three birds fell with the cords twisted roundtheir legs, and two more were shot as the startled flock dashed off atfull speed across the plain. Mr Harvey and Dick dropped theirblankets, and started at full gallop.

  "Bring down an old bird if you can, Dick, and then let the rest go, andgive your attention to cutting off the young ones."

  Dick fired at one of the old birds, but missed; Mr Harvey brought oneto the ground. The young ostriches, which were but a few weeks old,soon began to tail off in the race, and after ten minutes' riding MrHarvey and Dick had the satisfaction of getting ahead of them andturning them. A little more driving brought the frightened creatures toa standstill, and most of them dropped in a squatting position to theground, huddled together like frightened chickens. They were sixteen innumber, but one which had fallen and broken its leg was at once shot.The legs of the young ostrich are extremely brittle, and one of thetroubles of the farmers who rear them is that they so frequently breaktheir bones and have to be killed.

  Blacking was sent off at his best speed to overtake the caravan andbring back a dozen men with him. The ostriches which had been lassoedhad been at once killed by the hunters, and the feathers of the fivekilled by them and of that shot by Mr Harvey were pulled out. Threeout of the six were in splendid plumage.

  "How much are each of those feathers worth?" Dick asked.

  "Those fine white ones will fetch from 1 pound to 1 pound 5 shillingsapiece out here--some as high as 30 shillings. A perfect ostrichfeather, fit for a court-plume, will sell in England for 3 pounds to 5pounds. The small, dark-coloured feathers are worth from sixpence toone shilling apiece."

  The young birds, after their wings had been tied to their sides, werelifted and carried away, Dick being unable to help laughing at theirlong legs sticking out in front of the bearers, and at their long necksand beaks, with which from time to time they inflicted sharp pecks onthe men who were carrying them.

  When the caravan was overtaken, the birds were placed in a waggon, andin the evening were liberated inside the laager formed by the waggons.Some grain was thrown to them, and they soon began to pick this up.After this their expression was rather one of curiosity than fear, andthey exhibited no alarm whatever when Dick, scattering some more corn,came in and moved quietly among them. For the first few days they werecarried in a waggon, but at the end of that time they were completelydomesticated. After the camp was formed they walked about, likebarn-door fowls, picking up any scraps of food that were thrown to them,and indeed getting so bold as sometimes to attempt to snatch it from themen's hands. When on the march, they stalked gravely along by the sideof the waggons.

  "What is the value of an ostrich?" Dick asked Mr Harvey one day.

  "An ostrich of about three or four months old," Mr Harvey replied, "isworth from 30 pounds to 50 pounds. A full-grown cock and two hens, thestock with which most small settlers begin ostrich-farming, are worthfrom 200 pounds to pounds. Each hen will lay about fifty eggs in ayear, so that if only half are reared and sold at the rate of 20 poundsapiece, which is a low price, at three weeks old, there is a good profitupon them. The young birds increase in value at the rate of about 3pounds per month. The feathers are generally sold by weight; fineplumes go from seventy to ninety to the pound, and fetch from 40 to 50pounds. The feathers of the wild birds are worth a third more thanthose of the tame ones, as they are stronger. The quantity of featherssold is astonishing. One firm in Port Elizabeth often buys 10,000pounds' weight of ostrich feathers per week. Of course these are notall first-class plumes, and the prices range down as low as 3 pounds, or50 shillings for the poorest kind."

  "Where do they get water out here in the desert?"

  "They have no difficulty here," Mr Harvey replied, "for an ostrichthinks nothing of going twenty or thirty miles; but they require todrink very seldom."

  "How many feathers can be plucked from each bird a year?"

  "About three quarters of a pound of first-class feathers, besides theinferior sorts. There are now such quantities of ostriches in thecolony, that the price of feathers has gone down materially, and is nownot so high as the figures I have given you. The highest classfeathers, however, still maintain their price, and are likely to do so,for the demand for feathers in Europe increases at as rapid a rate asdoes the production."

  "I suppose they could not be kept in England?" Dick asked; "for theremust be a splendid profit on such farming."

  "No," Mr Harvey replied; "they want above all things a dry climate.Warmth is of course important, but even this is less essential thandryness. They may be reared in England under artificial conditions, butthey would never grow up strong and healthy in this way, and would nodoubt be liable to disease--besides, as even in their native country yousee that the feathers deteriorate in strength and diminish in value indomesticated birds, there would probably be so great a falling off inthe yield and value of feathers in birds kept under artificialconditions in England that the speculation would not be likely to pay."

  "Do the hens sit on their eggs, as ordinary hens?"

  "Just the same," Mr Harvey answered, "and very funny they look withtheir long legs sticking out. Not only does the hen sit, but the cocktakes his turn at keeping the eggs warm when the mother goes out tofeed."

  "I shall ask father," Dick said, "when we get back, to arrange to takethese fifteen ostriches as part of his share of the venture; it would begreat fun to see them stalking about."

  "Ah! we have not got them home yet," Mr Harvey replied, smiling; "wemust not be too sanguine. We have certainly begun capitally, but thereis no saying what adventures are before us yet. We have beenparticularly fortunate in seeing nothing of the tzetze fly. As youknow, we have made several considerable detours to avoid tracts ofcountry where they are known to prevail, still, occasionally they aremet with in unexp
ected places, and I have seldom made a trip withoutlosing some of my horses and cattle from them."

  "How is it that a fly can kill a horse? They are not larger than ourblue-bottles at home, for I saw one in a naturalist's window inPieter-Maritzburg."

  "It is a mystery, Dick, which has not yet been solved; there are fliesin other parts of the world, whose bite is sufficiently poisonous toraise bumps underneath the skins of animals, but nothing approaching thetzetze in virulence. It certainly appears unaccountable that the venomof so small a creature should be able to kill a great animal like ahorse or an ox."

  "Is it found only in the south of Africa?"

  "No, Dick, it extends more or less over the whole of the plateau-landsof Africa, and is almost as great a