CHAPTER XVII.. Mrs. Roberts Kills a Giraffe--Hunting the

MRS. ROBERTS KILLS A GIRAFFE--HUNTING THE RHINOCEROS--MISS BOLAND SECURES A PET.

Jack brought down a giraffe, and so did Harry. I might have done as well, perhaps, but felt that politeness required me to look after Mrs. Roberts. She disclaimed all intention of trying to kill a giraffe, unless it came around in her way. After her exploit at stalking, Miss Boland joined us, and said she would leave the fleeing herd to the gentlemen, as she thought she had already had enough glory to satisfy her for that day. So we took places in the rear of Jack and Harry, and it was not long before they were out of sight.

We were jogging demurely along, and I suppose half an hour had passed, when I saw a cloud of dust away to the southward. I was at first doubtful about it, but looking a second and a third time, I was satisfied as to its character.

"You are to have your chance now, Mrs. Roberts," I said, doubtless with a good deal of animation.

"How so?" she asked.

"Why, there comes the herd!" I answered; "you said you wouldn't shoot a giraffe unless it came in your way, and there's a lot of them coming now."

"All right, then; if they're coming I'll take a shot."

The plain was quite open where the giraffes were running, and they seemed to be headed directly for a clump of trees a quarter of a mile or so to our right.

"Come on," I shouted, as I led the way to the clump of trees. "The giraffes will go there for security, and that will give you a chance for a shot at them."

We reached the trees easily and dismounted, I holding the horses while the ladies took up their positions behind trees that would screen them well. On came the herd, and it did exactly what I expected it would do--sought the shelter of the trees. One of the animals passed within ten yards of the muzzle of Mrs. Roberts's rifle; she fired at the right time, and her shot was successful. The bullet passed through the cervical column, just above the shoulder, and brought the animal to the ground, where a second shot finished him. Miss Boland refrained from firing, and so did I, as we felt that game enough had been slaughtered for the day, and none of us believed in wanton destruction.

Not far behind the herd came Harry and Jack; they reported, as I have already said, that each had slaughtered a giraffe, and it was then unanimously voted to bring the hunt to an end. Our camp was much nearer than that of the ladies; we invited them to our establishment for luncheon, and they graciously accepted. Mrs. Roberts relieved any possible embarrassment of ours by saying:

"We sha'n't expect any such lunch as you gave us the other day--that is too much to look for more than twice in a season. We will go to your camp with pleasure, and take whatever pot-luck happens to be in order."

"Yes," echoed Miss Boland; "I am hungry enough for whatever you offer us, from hippopotamus to buffalo or giraffe; anything will be welcome."

"Thank you very much," said Jack. "We've a bit of surprise in store for you; at least, I think we have; but I'll keep it a secret till we get to camp."

When we reached the camp we gave up our tent to our guests, sent their horses to the kraal to be fed and cared for, and then proceeded to interview our cook. Table was set, and in due time we sat down to a feast, the principal dish being an elephant's foot, which the reader already knows about. Our guests had never seen or tasted of this dish, and they praised it so warmly as to bring the blushes all over the cheeks of Jack Delafield, who had supervised its preparation.

We had several other things in the luncheon, including buffalo-steaks and rhinoceros-stew; but they received very little attention, the elephant's foot being the pièce de résistance of the occasion.

We lingered a reasonable while over the table, and then it was proposed that the three from our camp should accompany the two from the other on their homeward way, and possibly do a little hunting while making the journey.

We discussed the propriety of attempting to stalk gemsbok or koodoo on the way, and Miss Boland said if she had her favorite ox David along, she would show us what could be done in the pursuit of gemsbok; but the probabilities were that the after-rider, Kleinboy, had returned to the wagons with the ox; and unless a herd of game animals could be found in the neighborhood of the camp, it would be altogether too late in the day for a hunt of that sort.

I went away from the table while the hunting-question was being settled, and went out to find Mirogo. He was regaling the cook with stories of his prowess and the wonderful things he had accomplished in previous excursions up-country with white men. Mirogo was a judicious liar, as he always placed his remarkable achievements at times and localities where it was impossible to confute him. If he found, while telling a story, that any of his auditors had the least knowledge of the affair, he subsided at once. In everything concerning our own affairs, and particularly in reports of game that had just been sighted, he was quite exact--as exact as one could possibly expect a native of South Africa to be.

When I questioned Mirogo as to the chances of game in the direction where we were going, he said he did not think there was much there just at that time. The elephants seemed to have crossed the river and gone farther north, while the buffaloes appeared to have worked away quite a distance to the westward. Some natives had told him about two or three troops of rhinoceroses, and the presence of these animals was a pretty fair indication that the elephants had gone elsewhere.

I have already stated that the elephant and rhinoceros are not friends, and generally fight when they meet. The rhinoceros and buffalo get along very well together, and I have repeatedly seen mixed herds of these two animals living on the most friendly terms. But it is not all peace and happiness with them, as they occasionally get into difficulties with one another; and when a couple of bulls get to fighting, it is generally a fight to the death.

On one occasion, when I was pursuing one of these mixed herds through some low bushes, my attention was attracted by the vultures that were assembling from all directions near a certain spot. I rode to the place, and found a rhinoceros and a buffalo--both powerful bulls--in the agonies of death. No, they were not in agonies, as the buffalo had just died, and the rhinoceros was breathing his last. The latter had cut fearful gashes in the buffalo with the single horn that protrudes from his nose; and at the same time the buffalo had made vigorous use of those powerful horns that adorn his ugly head. I looked a few moments at the spectacle, and then went away, knowing that the vultures would very soon go at their work.

When I announced to my friends the hunting-prospects, nobody seemed particularly elated; the ladies said they had never hunted rhinoceros, and Mrs. Roberts asked if it would be proper for them to do so. I told her everything was game in Africa, and if she felt any compunctions of conscience about shooting the beasts, she might look on and see somebody else perform the work. So we mounted our horses and went off in the direction where the game was to be found.

A sturdy bull-rhinoceros is pretty nearly as dangerous when you hunt him as an elephant is. His body is unwieldy and very clumsy in appearance, but when his temper is up he can get around with it pretty rapidly. Sometimes, when he sees a hunter coming toward him, he does not wait to be fired at before charging, but goes in for the charge at once. This being the way of the animal, I suggested to the ladies that two of our party would begin the fight, while they, with the third one, could stay in the rear and look on.

It was my quiet intention to be that third one myself; but before I said so, Jack and Harry had each volunteered to look after our fair charges. Seeing that there might be some dispute on the subject, Mrs. Roberts suggested that they would take care of themselves, and all three of us might attack the game. This was a very sensible proposition, as it gave us an equal chance all around--that is, an equal chance at the rhinos, and no chance whatever for any of us to stay back and say sweet things to the ladies.

Sure enough, we found the game--about twenty rhinos of all sizes and ages. There was one cow with a calf, the calf a good-sized fellow, who ought to have been going around independently by himself. Some of the rhinos were black, and others white. The white rhinoceros is valuable for his horn, which is much superior to that of the black rhino, and his hide is also of a better quality. In fact, the black rhinoceros is of so little value that a great many hunters pass him by, and do not waste ammunition upon him. They shoot him occasionally in order to give the natives meat, or when they have the fever in their blood, and the feeling that they must kill something.

About half the animals in this herd were white, and so we went in pursuit of them. We each singled out our game, and rode up to it as closely as we could without being discovered. Then we dismounted, leaving the horses in the care of our after-rider, and stalked our way up to the game. The brute I had chosen was standing under a tree, and appeared very uneasy; he seemed to scent the danger in the air, but could not tell from what direction it was coming. I got up to within twenty yards of him, and gave him a shot behind the shoulder, which brought him to the ground. He was up and off in a moment; or rather, he was up, but went off only two or three steps till I finished him with another shot.

Harry and Jack were less successful than I, as they had a long chase, Harry losing his animal altogether; but Jack succeeded in capturing his game just as he was entering the edge of the forest. When Harry found he would lose his, he turned in pursuit of the cow and calf that I mentioned. He stalked up within fifty yards of the cow, when she suddenly perceived him. She turned and trotted straight toward him, her manner indicating that his room would be much preferable to his company, and that it was her intention to secure his immediate departure. He had views of his own on the subject, and so gave her a shot in the chest as she approached. The calf bore quite a resemblance to a good-sized hog; his ears were sharp and pointed, his skin was very smooth and fat, and it shone like a freshly polished boot.

When the shooting was over, and those of the herd that we had not brought down had disappeared in the distance, the ladies joined us to look at our game. We cut out the horns and the tongues of the animals, and Harry suggested to the ladies that we would present them with the young rhinoceros; in fact, he would have that honor, as the game belonged to him. To this we readily assented, and told the after-rider to get a half-dozen or so of the Kafirs to carry away the little brute--not so little, either, as he weighed pretty nearly three hundred pounds!

"Wait a moment," said Miss Boland; "before you send for the men to carry him, let us consider what we can do with him."

"Oh, make a pet of him, Miss Boland," said I; "a young rhinoceros is a delightful pet."

"If it's all the same to you," she replied, "I think a fox-terrier or a pug would be preferable. It looks not altogether unlike a pug; perhaps he is really a gigantic dog of the pug species--who knows?"

"I'm afraid his habits of life," I replied, "are not altogether puggish; and certainly the way his mother charged at Harry just as he was about to fire indicated anything but the disposition of that inoffensive member of the canine race. Perhaps, after all, he wouldn't make a good household pet, but would do as an ornament to the kraal."

"Possibly I can tame him and use him for saddle purposes," the young lady continued. "What do you say to that, Mrs. Roberts?"

"A saddle-rhinoceros would certainly be a novelty," the other lady answered, "but I don't think it would be of much use for hunting-purposes. On seeing its kindred it might dart off and carry you among them, without giving you a chance to slip from the saddle and escape. One's life wouldn't be worth much in a herd of these creatures."