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

found water, and halted next day.

  "So we went on, until we were half-way across the desert. Several ofthe marches had been double ones, the track was heavy from the deepsand, some of the oxen had died, and all were much reduced in strength.Although Macgregor was not a man to allow that he had been wrong, I sawthat he was anxious, and before advancing he sent on a horseman and thenative guide two days' journey to see how the water held out. On theirreturn they reported that twenty miles in front there was a pool of goodwater, and that thirty miles farther there was a small supply, whichwas, however, rapidly drying up. Macgregor determined to push on. Thefirst day's march was got through, although five or six more oxendropped by the way. The second was a terrible march; I have never knowna hotter day in South Africa, and one felt blinded and crushed by theheat. The weakened teams could scarcely draw the waggons along, and bynightfall but half the journey had been performed. The oxen were turnedloose and allowed for an hour or two to crop the bush; then they wereinspanned again. All night long we continued our march; when, just atsunrise, we got to the place where water had been found, the pool wasempty--the two days' sun since the horseman had been there hadcompletely dried it up. We set to work to dig a hole; but the sand wasshallow, the rock lying but a foot or two below, and we only got a fewbuckets of water, but just enough to give a swallow to each of the oxenand horses. Again we searched far up and down the course of the stream,but without success; we dug innumerable holes in its bed, but withoutfinding water.

  "We were still fifty miles from safety; but in that fifty miles thenatives said that they did not think a drop of water would be found, asthis was notoriously the driest point on the route. Half the oxen hadnow died, and Macgregor determined to leave all but two of the waggonsbehind, to harness teams of the strongest of those remaining, and todrive the rest alongside. We halted till night to allow the animals tofeed, and then started. We got on fairly enough until daybreak, thenthe sun rose, and poured down upon us. It was a terrible day. No onespoke, and the creaking of the wheels of the waggons was the only soundto be heard. Every mile we went the numbers lessened, as the bullockslay down to die by the way. My tongue seemed to cleave to the roof ofmy mouth, and the sun to scorch up my brain. I hardly took notice ofwhat was going on around me, but let the reins hang loose on my horse'sneck. Several times he stumbled, and at last fell heavily. I pickedmyself up from the sands, and saw that he was dying. The waggons hadcome to a standstill now, and I had, I saw, for the last quarter of amile gone on alone. I looked at my watch; it was four o'clock, and Iturned and walked slowly back to the waggons. The drivers had unropedthe oxen, but most of them lay where they had halted, incapable ofrising to their feet; others had tottered to the shade cast by thewaggons, and had thrown themselves down there. The drivers were lyingamong them. As I came up Macgregor staggered towards me; he was chewinga handful of leaves. `I have been wrong, Harvey,' he said, in a hoarsevoice, `and it has cost us all our lives. Say you forgive me, my boy.'`I forgive you heartily,' I said; `you thought it was for the best.' Idon't remember much more. I lay down and wondered vaguely what hadbecome of my man, whom I had not seen since we started on the previousevening.

  "The next thing I remember was that it was night. I got up on my feetand staggered to a bullock that I heard faintly groaning; I cut a veinin his neck and sucked the blood, and then started to walk; fortunately,as it turned out, I had not gone a hundred yards when a dizziness cameover me, and I fell again to the ground. I must have lain there forsome hours; when I became conscious, water was being poured between mylips. I soon recovered sufficiently to sit up, and found that it was myfaithful man. When the caravan started from the last halting-place, hehad seen that it was impossible for it to reach its journey's end, andalthough, like the rest, he was exhausted and worn out, he had startedat full speed alone, and by morning reached water, having travelledfifty miles in the night. It was midday before he succeeded in findinga native kraal; then by promise of a large reward he induced forty men,each laden with a heavy skin of water, to start with him, and at threein the morning reached the camp; fortunately he stumbled across me justbefore he got there.

  "The assistance arrived in time. Two of the drivers were found to bedead, but Macgregor and the other hands, sixteen in number, were allbrought round. The supply carried by the natives was sufficient to givean ample drink to the eighteen oxen which were still alive. A feed ofmaize was then given to each, but as they were too weak to drag even oneof the waggons they were driven on ahead, and most of them got over thetwenty-five miles which still separated them from water. We haltedthere a week, to allow the animals to recover; then, carrying skins ofwater for their supply on the way, they went back and brought in the twowaggons, one at a time. With these I came down to the colony.Macgregor remained behind, and directly the rain set in went up withnative cattle and brought down the other waggons, all the valuablecontents of which, however, had in the intervening time been carried offby natives. It was a near squeak, wasn't it? Macgregor was never thesame man again, and shortly after his return to Natal he sold off hiswaggons and went back to Scotland. Being young and strong I soonrecovered from my privation."

  "Lions are very abundant in some parts of the interior, are they not,Mr Harvey?" one of the officers asked, after they had thanked thetrader for his story.

  "Extraordinarily so," Mr Harvey replied; "in fact it has long been apuzzle among us how such vast quantities could find food--in no othercountry in the world could they do so; but here the abundance of deer isso great that the lions are able to kill vast numbers, without makingany great impression upon them."

  "But I should not have thought," an officer said, "that a lion could rundown a deer!"

  "He cannot," Mr Harvey said, "except for short distances. The SouthAfrican lion is a lighter and more active beast than the northern lion,and can for the first hundred yards run with prodigious swiftness,taking long bounds like a cat. Stealing through the long grass, andkeeping to leeward of the herd, he will crawl up to within a shortdistance unperceived, and then with half a dozen tremendous bounds he isamong them before they have fairly time to get up their full speed.They hunt too in regular packs; twenty or thirty of them will surround aherd, and, gradually lessening their circle, close upon their affrightedprey, who stand paralysed with fear until the lions are fairly amongthem.

  "I was once surrounded by them, and had a very narrow escape of my life.I had left my waggons at a large native village, and had ridden--accompanied only by my native servant--some fifty miles across thecountry to another tribe, to see whether they had lately been visited byany traders, and whether they had goods to dispose of. I reached thekraal in the morning, and the palaver with the chief as usual wasted thebest part of the day; it was nearly dark when I started, but I wasaccustomed to ride by the light of the stars, and had no fear of missingmy way. I had been only two hours on the road, when the sky becameovercast, and half an hour later a tremendous storm burst. Having nowno index for directing my way I found that it was useless to proceed;the plain was open, but I knew that a goodsized river ran a shortdistance to the north, so I turned my horse's head in that direction,knowing that on a river-bank I was likely to meet with trees. Severaltimes I missed my way in the driving rain, for the wind shiftedfrequently, and that was of course the only guide I had.

  "At last, to my great satisfaction, I struck upon the river and keptalong its bank until I came to a large clump of trees; here we unsaddledour horses, picked out a comparatively dry spot under a big tree, whichstood just at the edge of the river, wrapped ourselves in our rugs, andprepared to pass the night as comfortably as we could. The river washigh, and my only fear was that it might overflow its banks and set usafloat before morning. However, we had not been there long before therain ceased, the sky cleared, and the stars came out again; but as thehorses had done a long day's work on the previous day, I determined toremain where I was until morning. Having been in the saddle all theprevious night, I slept heavily.
The wind was still blowing strongly,and I suppose that the noise in the trees, and the lapping of the waterby the bank close by, prevented my hearing the stamping of the horses,which, under ordinary circumstances, would certainly have warned me ofthe approaching danger. Suddenly I awoke with a terrific uproar. Isprang to my feet, but was instantly knocked down, and a beast, I knewto be a lion, seized me by the left shoulder. My revolver was, asalways, in my belt; I drew it out, and fired into the brute's eye; hisjaw relaxed, and I knew the shot was fatal. A terrible din was going onall round; there was light enough for me to see that both the horses hadbeen pulled to the ground; two lions were rending the body of myservant, and others were approaching with loud roars. I sprang to myfeet and climbed up into the tree, just as two more lions arrived uponthe spot. My