CHAPTER XXVIII.. Miscellaneous Hunting--Sudden Call for Help--the Ladies

MISCELLANEOUS HUNTING--SUDDEN CALL FOR HELP--THE LADIES BESIEGED BY AN AFRICAN CHIEF--FOREIGNERS' MAGIC.

"Shall we call on the ladies to-morrow to ask how they are, or wait until we hear from them?" Harry asked.

"Oh, we'll call on them, of course," responded Jack.

"I think," said I, "that we'll do neither. We won't disturb them by a call, and we won't neglect them by waiting till they send to us."

"Then what do you propose to do?"

"That's very simple," said I: "we'll send our manager over to ask how they are, and if it would please them to have a call from us."

"You're a diplomat of the first water," said Jack, "and have mistaken your vocation. Instead of hunting big game in South Africa, you should be representing your country in a foreign capital, where difficult questions are often arising."

I thanked him for the compliment, and explained that my desires did not run in that direction. I had been offered a diplomatic appointment, which I declined, partly because I had no taste for the life, and partly in consequence of the feeling that I was not fully adequate to the duties of the position. "And speaking of diplomacy," I added, "shall we do any hunting this afternoon?"

As I asked this question Mirogo appeared at the door of our tent and announced a herd of elephants--a small herd--about two miles to the eastward.

"There's the answer to your question." said Harry, as he rose from the table and reached for his rifle.

"Yes, that's the answer," said Jack; "no necessity for any further talking."

In a few minutes we were off for the chase, which I will not describe, as it would be a practical repetition of previous elephant-hunts. We each bagged an animal, and all three were good ones--that is, they had good tusks.

The next day we sent our manager to the ladies' camp. He returned with the report that our friends were pretty well recovered from the shock they had received during the buffalo-chase, and with the statement, by way of postscript, that they would be pleased to see us at any time when we chose to call. They did not think they would go out hunting for the next two or three days, and if we made a visit within that time we would be pretty sure to find them at home.

Needless to say, we made it in our way to call there the next day. We were intending to pursue the buffaloes, and had a cold luncheon with us; but they pressed us so hard that we remained to luncheon, and, in fact, remained so late that we postponed our buffalo-hunt until the following day.

We remained in that region a fortnight and more, dividing our time between hunting the various kinds of game which abounded there, calling every few days at the ladies' camp, and receiving occasional prearranged visits from Mrs. Roberts and Miss Boland about luncheon-time. Needless to say, we became well acquainted, and the acquaintance ripened into friendship, and, in certain quarters, into love. We arranged that the next time we made a move we would go in company and form our camps more nearly together.

I had a large map of South Africa--the best I could find in Durban--and we studied it a good deal to determine where we would next go. We also obtained all the information possible from the natives; but such information, except as concerned the immediate neighborhood, was never reliable and always exaggerated. If you ask a question of a Kafir or a Zulu, and he knows the correct answer, he may possibly give it to you; if he does not know it he will give you the first that his imagination suggests, and he generally endeavors to make it of a pleasing character.

We had about made up our minds to trek for three or four days in an easterly direction; the natives reported an abundance of game there, and their report was confirmed by some of our own people, whom we sent out on a scouting-expedition. They saw several herds of elephants and buffaloes; and as for the divers members of the antelope family, they answered the Irishman's description of the absentee landlords of Ireland: "The country was full of 'em." The question was not fully decided, but was to be at the next meeting of our friends and ourselves.

On the morning of the day when we were to take luncheon together and decide the question, the after-rider of the ladies' expedition came into our camp in great haste with a note, which he brought to me. It was addressed to all three of us by our surnames only, and had evidently been written in great haste. It said, briefly:

"Please come immediately, and bring your Winchesters. We are in peril."

The only signature to the letter was that of Mrs. Roberts. Needless to say, "there was mounting in hot haste," to use the words of Byron, and we went off at a brisk canter in the direction of our friends.

As we neared their camp we saw that it was surrounded by two or three hundred negroes, armed with spears and equipped with shields. Our hearts rose in our mouths, as we feared that our fair friends were prisoners in the hands of the natives.

"What shall we do," said Jack--"ride up slowly and parley with them, or send in our after-rider [who accompanied us] and find out what the trouble is?"

"No," I answered, "we'll ride right in among them, straight up to the wagon and the tent. We'll find out from those who can best tell us."

"Yes, that's the best way," said Harry; "no use parleying with these fellows, or they'll think we're afraid of them."

We rode right on to the kraal, straight up to the wagon and the tent. The natives pushed up against us, and we pushed them vigorously aside, dismounting instantly and giving the reins of our horses to the after-rider. It is proper to say that he was well armed and ready for his share of the fighting in case any occurred.

The manager of the camp came out as we dismounted, pushing his way with some difficulty through the crowd. As I caught sight of him I said:

"Tell the ladies we are here."

He disappeared, returned in a moment, and said they wished us to walk into the tent.

We did not wait for a second invitation, but proceeded there at once. Mrs. Roberts came to the door of the tent and shook our hands convulsively one after the other, repeating several times, "I'm so glad you've come! I'm so glad you've come!"

"What is the matter?" we all asked in a breath.

"The matter is just this," she replied: "Macatese, the chief who owns this land, came here early this morning and demanded to see us. We were both in bed at the time, and sent word to him that he could not be received. He sent back that his time was precious---as if the time of these natives ever amounted to anything--and he could not wait. We answered that he could see us as soon as we were dressed, and not before. He threatened to come into our tent, and our manager told him he would certainly be shot if he did so, and that any of his followers who invaded our tent would be killed. That seemed to frighten him, and he concluded to wait.

"We dressed as quickly as we could, and then received him. He said we had come into his lands without permission. We told him we didn't know that any permission was required, but if we had violated any of his rules we were willing to pay whatever damage was proper. Then he said that we need not pay anything, but he wanted us at his kraal--he wanted some white wives. His people had reported that two white women were hunting in his territory, and he had decided they must be his wives and form a part of his household."

The three of us stood open-mouthed with astonishment, but only for a moment; I broke the silence by asking where the chief was at that moment.

"He's in the other tent, with two of his followers, the fore-looper, who is acting as interpreter, and Miss Boland. He has been trying all his powers of persuasion to induce us to become his wives; he promises that we shall have authority over all others, and be the queens of the land!"

In spite of her indignation Mrs. Roberts could not help laughing when she reached this point in the story, and I felt a smile endeavoring to spread itself over my face. The idea of two refined, educated Englishwomen becoming the wives of an African chief was about as ridiculous a thing as I ever heard of.

"Realizing our helplessness, we decided to send word to you, and I wrote the very hasty note that you received."

"We are very glad you did so," I replied, "and I think the best thing we can do is to interview this African potentate at once. Please lead the way into the tent where he is."

Mrs. Roberts did as requested, and in a moment we stood in the presence of the chief, or king, as he was pleased to call himself. Miss Boland rose and shook us warmly by the hand, with more composure than Mrs. Roberts had shown when she greeted us. There was reason for this, however, as she had heard us talking outside the tent, and had known for several minutes of our arrival.

I had a little acquaintance with the native language, though not a great deal. It was possible for me to talk in a fragmentary sort of way, and with the aid of the fore-looper I got along very well with his majesty; at all events, I made sure that he understood what I said. My impulse was to begin the conversation very abruptly by ordering him out of the tent and away from the kraal; but the thought arose that diplomacy might be better, and so I greeted him as amiably as was possible for me under the circumstances. He seemed somewhat disconcerted at our appearance, and this gave me an advantage.

I praised his country and the game that we had found in it, and told him we were intending to call on him that very day to pay our hongo, or tribute, for hunting in his dominions. He seemed pleased at the suggestion, and said he would receive us in the afternoon.

I suggested that as his residence was some twelve or fifteen miles away we might defer our visit till the next day, or possibly the day after; to which he assented. Then I invited him to come outside the tent, where I would show him some foreign magic.

The natives all over Africa are great believers in magic, and nowhere more so than in the region where we were. Everything they do not understand is at once attributed to supernatural powers, and it is this belief which has enabled foreigners to penetrate their country to the extent they have. A watch is regarded as a living thing with magical powers, and so is every piece of machinery, whether elaborate or simple. Firearms of all kinds are supposed to be of magical production, and the more effective they are and the more rapidly loaded and fired the greater is the amount of magic they contain. Mrs. Roberts had asked us to bring our Winchesters, with a view to their rapid use in case of actual fighting; I immediately saw, or thought I saw, a use for these weapons that she had not counted upon.

After getting Macatese outside the tent, and also outside the kraal, I called his attention to my rifle, telling him it was the newest magic of the white man. He looked at it in wonderment, and then asked me to fire it. His people meanwhile had gathered around us, and were intently watching the proceedings. There was a large tree about a hundred yards away, and I indicated that as the mark at which I would fire; then I drew the weapon to my shoulder, and fired five shots at the tree as fast as I could pump them out.

The first and second shots did not seem to startle him, as he had seen double-barreled guns fired before; but the third, fourth, and fifth shots were what may be termed, in slang, "corkers." A look of astonishment overspread his face, and if his complexion had permitted I think he would have turned pale! He was one of the most surprised Africans I ever saw.

I paused at the fifth shot, intimating to him that I could go on indefinitely, and then pointed to the weapons of my companions to show that they were of the same sort and of the same magical powers as mine. I further told him that we had a hundred such guns in our wagons (may the Lord forgive me for lying!), and we had a hundred men who could use them. I also averred that we had other things of much greater powers than these, and when we visited his kraal we would exhibit them.