CHAPTER XIV.. Hunting Giraffes--Novel Mode of Capture--a Big Snake.

HUNTING GIRAFFES--NOVEL MODE OF CAPTURE--A BIG SNAKE.

The elephant presented a good broadside toward me, and I fired; or rather I went through the motions of firing, without doing so. The cartridge was defective, and the hammer of the rifle gave forth, as it descended, the disappointing thud with which every hunter is acquainted. It is not much of a sound, but it was enough to send the elephant scampering through the forest.

My disappointment can be, as the reporters say, "more easily imagined than described." Not only was I disappointed, but I was angry--angry all through; and if the maker of that cartridge had been in my reach I am sure I could have wrung his neck.

I followed up the elephants, but it was no use; they had taken the alarm, and were making off through the forest a great deal faster than I could go.

When fully satisfied of the vanity of my pursuit I turned about and started for camp. It was too late for me to join my friends in the hippopotamus-hunt, and so I remained around camp until they arrived.

They had not much to boast of--only one hippo between them; but they proposed that we should try it again the next day, unless something better offered in the meantime. I assented, and added that I thought a change of game would be beneficial, as elephants were getting monotonous. When we went to bed we were fully possessed of the determination to pursue the hippos; but Africa is a good deal like other countries--you never know what a day will bring forth.

So it was in our case. While we were preparing for our day's work one of out runners came in and reported a herd of giraffes in the open country to the south. That was a new kind of game for us, and we determined to go for them. Giraffe-hunting requires some good work on horseback, and also requires good shooting.

We struck out in the direction indicated by the Kafirs, and about three miles from camp came upon the spoor of the giraffes. The country was thorny and stony, and pretty bad traveling generally, but we managed to get over it somehow or other. As we rose over the crest of a ridge I was ahead, and the first to catch sight of the animals; there were eight or ten of them in the group, and they were fully five hundred yards away from us. We struck into a gallop, paying little attention to the obstructions, and gained on them at a good rate; but it is the unexpected that always happens.

My horse had never seen a giraffe before, and when I came within about twenty yards of the herd he stopped and trembled with fear. I drove the spurs into him and managed to start him, but he was as scared as a country girl when she thinks she sees a ghost.

Harry passed me and ranged up close to the giraffes, which had materially widened the distance between me and them. The sight of the other horse gave mine confidence, and away he went as though he had suddenly found out that a giraffe is as harmless as a sheep. Harry picked out the very animal that I had selected for myself--a handsome cow. I picked out a bull which was running away from the herd and making a course for himself; he was a splendid fellow, and could go at great speed, covering as much ground with one bound of his long legs as my horse could cover with three.

When I got the bull separated from the herd my horse seemed to enter into the spirit of the thing, and dashed on through everything. I had brought along a Winchester, thinking it would be better for the business in hand than a Remington, and it did not take me long to find out that I was right. There was no possibility of dismounting to take aim, and, moreover, the giraffe was such a huge beast that it seemed as if he could be hit as easily as the side of a barn. But, after all, he is not very vulnerable, and a bullet must be well planted to disable him.

Ranging up alongside of him, and not more than ten yards away, I fired, hitting him somewhere in the neck. The shot did not seem to have any effect on him, except to turn him in my direction. Whether he intended to charge, or just made a movement of observation, I do not know; but his great head and neck towered above me like a huge tree over a small house. It seemed as if, by stooping and laying my face close to the horse's neck, I could have gone under him without touching his belly. I never realized that any animal which walked was as large as that beast.

I gave him four or five shots, planted as best I could plant them, but without any very serious effect. The next shot, however, brought him down, as it hit him in the fore-shoulder and smashed it all to pieces. When I fired that shot I do not think I was more than two yards from him. The horse stopped as the giraffe fell, and he looked the strange beast all over with the curiosity of a countryman at a menagerie. He did not seem so much alarmed at the appearance of the beast as he was at the powerful odor which arose from him. There is a strong smell about the giraffe, which doubtless the reader may have noticed when looking at these creatures in a show.

Harry brought down his game about half a mile farther back than where I shot mine. Jack was equally fortunate, as he killed a cow; in fact, he was more fortunate than either Harry or myself, as his cow was the slickest and fattest of the three animals. I cut off the mane and tail of my giraffe as a trophy, and also took out the tongue, which is the most delicate portion of the creature. In fact, this rule holds good about most of the African game.

We saved the meat from Jack's cow, and found it very tender and good; the other two giraffes we skinned, and left the meat for the natives and wild animals. There was a Kafir village a mile or so from where our hunt took place, and you can be sure that not much of that meat was wasted. If there are any natives in the vicinity where you have shot an animal, the lions, hyenas, and jackals have very little chance for a feed, as the negroes speedily dispose of all they can hold--which is a great deal--and what they cannot hold they carry away.

Giraffe-hunting is very good sport, but it is less dangerous than hunting elephants and buffaloes, for the reason that the giraffe is naturally an inoffensive animal. He can go at a smashing pace, and it is only by fast riding that he can be overtaken. At one time I shot six of them in three days, but I used up two horses pretty thoroughly in doing it.

I had a stern chase after one of them, which I came in sight of one day while the wagons were on the road. It occurred to me that I would follow the example of the man in California who was chased by a bear one morning directly into camp, his friends shooting the beast just as he arrived there. The man ran through the camp, and paused as he heard the shots. Coming back, he quietly remarked, "I bring in my game alive!" I thought I would manage it so as to fetch that giraffe to the wagons before killing it.

I headed him after the first shot, and, by keeping wide away from him and shouting occasionally, drove him in a circle, and fired a finishing shot within two hundred yards of the wagons. We went into camp at once, and had a grand feast without the necessity of carrying the meat any appreciable distance.

Another of the giraffes that I killed at this time plunged headlong into a tree when he received the finishing shot. His head caught in a fork of the tree about twelve feet from the ground, and remained there wedged fast. I can hardly say that that giraffe died "with his boots on," but he certainly died standing on all-fours, and remained there till he was cut down.

The next day was the time set for our visit to the camp of the ladies, and for luncheon with them. Over our supper after the giraffe-hunt we had an extended debate on the subject; a considerable part of the debate had reference to our costumes, and consisted principally of lamentations.

"What swells we would be," said Jack, "if we only had our New York and London wardrobes!"

"I'm afraid we'd get a mob of the niggers after us if we should come out fitted for a promenade on Broadway or Pall Mall," replied Harry. "These people are patient and long-suffering in enduring the vagaries of foreigners that come here, but they never could stand that."

"Isn't it quite possible," I added, "that our hosts might not appreciate our efforts in their behalf if we arrayed ourselves in gorgeous style to appear before them!"

"They would appreciate the effort," said Harry, "though they might not admire the taste. Anyway, I'll warrant they'll be dressed a good deal more after civilized fashion than after that of South Africa. But as to our get-up, they didn't seem to take any offense at it when they called upon us, and it certainly wasn't of the kind suited to a fashionable parlor."

After a good many arguments it was settled that we would get ourselves up in the best of our outfits, including the checked shirts that had come into use on the day of our luncheon. We had already had our best suits sponged down and made fairly presentable, and on these we hung our fate.

When we were saddling up next morning, preparing to start, Harry suggested that we take our rifles along, and perhaps do a little stroke of hunting on the way. I opposed this, and then we had another brief discussion, which ended in a compromise: we did not take any of the heavy weapons, but only our lighter pieces, Jack and I carrying our smallest rifles and Harry equipping himself with a shot-gun. We were thus kept out of the temptation of chasing any big game that might fall in our way, but would be able to cope with game-birds and small animals.

In our ride across the country toward our destination we had proof of the correctness of the adage, "What odd things we see when we haven't got a gun!" Off to the south we could make out a troop of giraffes; to the north, at the edge of the forest already described, half a dozen elephants were in sight, and offering a splendid chance to the hunter properly equipped for them. When within about two miles of the amazonian hunters we descried a herd of buffaloes, and also, half a mile away from them, a herd of elands--a dozen at least. What splendid sport there was within our reach! But our weapons were not adapted to it.

Jack remarked that the game "would keep," and we might have a chance for some fun the next day.

Harry suggested that we send back to our camp for our heavy rifles, and then invite the ladies to take a run with us after luncheon, cutting that meal a little short to suit the circumstances.

Jack replied that we might be treading on dangerous ground to do so. By making the suggestion we might force them to do something much to their dislike; declining to do so, they would show the white feather as hunters; and they might not be at all desirous of letting us see their skill, or the lack of it.

"That's so," said Harry; "I didn't think of that feature of it. Guess we'll say nothing about it, nor about the game that we saw on our way."

"Oh, as to that," said Jack, "there's no harm in mentioning the game in a careless sort of way, just as though it were an every-day affair with us; and we can add that there will be a good chance for sport to-morrow. Then, if they choose to propose a joint hunt, you bet we'll accept the suggestion and lay our plans accordingly."

We had a use for our small arms, though not in the way we had expected. The sun was hot, and we rode in under a little clump of trees to rest awhile in their shade. We dismounted, and were about to throw ourselves on the ground when Jack espied an enormous snake directly above us, and darting his head as if he resented the intrusion we had made upon his domain.

"Now for your shot-gun, Harry," said Jack, as he called attention to the reptile; "give him both barrels!"