"Shame on you, Peterkin," said I, as I reloaded his rifle for him--"shame on you to crow thus over a fallen foe!"
"Ha, boy! it"s all very well for you to say that now, but you know well enough that you would rather have lost your ears than have missed such a chance as this. But, I say, it"ll puzzle you to stuff that fellow, won"t it?"
"No doubt of it," answered Jack, as he drew a percussion cap from his pouch, and placed it carefully on the nipple of his rifle. "Ralph will not find it easy; and it"s a pity, too, not to take it home with us, for under a gla.s.s case it would make such a pretty and appropriate _pendant_, in his museum, to that interesting frog with which you--"
"Oh, you sneaking eavesdropper!" cried Peterkin, laughing. "It is really too bad that a fellow can"t have a little _tete-a-tete_ with a friend but you and Ralph must be thrusting your impertinent noses in the way."
"Not to mention the rhinoceros," observed Jack.
"Ah! to be sure--the rhinoceros; yes, I might have expected to find you in such low company, for `birds of a feather," you know, are said to `flock together.""
"If there be any truth in that," said I, "you are bound, on the same ground, to identify yourself with the frog."
"By the way," cried Peterkin, starting up and looking around the spot on which his interesting _tete-a-tete_ had taken place, "where is the frog?
It was just here that--Ah!--oh!--oh! poor, poor frog!
"`Your course is run, your days are o"er; We"ll never have a chat no more,"
"As Shakespeare has it. Well, well, who would have thought that so conversable and intelligent a creature should have come to such a melancholy end?"
The poor frog had indeed come to a sad and sudden end, and I felt quite sorry for it, although I could not help smiling at my companion"s quaint manner of announcing the fact.
Not being gifted with the activity of Peterkin, it had stood its ground when the rhinoceros charged, and had received an accidental kick from the great foot of that animal which had broken its back and killed it outright.
"There"s one comfort, however," observed Jack, as we stood over the frog"s body: "you have been saved the disagreeable necessity of killing it yourself, Ralph."
This was true, and I was not sorry that the rhinoceros had done me this service; for, to say truth, I have ever felt the necessity of killing animals in cold blood to be one of the few disagreeable points in the otherwise delightful life of a naturalist. To shoot animals in the heat and excitement of the chase I have never felt to be particularly repulsive or difficult; but the spearing of an insect, or the deliberate killing of an unresisting frog, are duties which I have ever performed with a feeling of deep self-abhorrence.
Carefully packing my frog in leaves, and placing it in my pouch, I turned with my companions to quit the scene of our late encounter and return to our camp, on arriving at which we purposed sending back Makarooroo to cut off the horn of the rhinoceros; for we agreed that, as it was impossible to carry away the entire carca.s.s, we ought at least to secure the horn as a memorial of our adventure.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
WE SEE STRANGE THINGS, AND GIVE OUR NEGRO FRIENDS THE SLIP.
During the two following days we pa.s.sed through a country that was more thickly covered with the indiarubber vine than any place we had before met with in our African travels. I could not help feeling regret that such a splendid region should be almost, if not altogether, unknown and useless to civilised man. There seemed to be an unlimited supply of caoutchouc; but the natives practised a method of gathering it which had the effect of destroying the vine.
One day, some weeks after this, we came upon the habitation of a most remarkable species of monkey, named the Nshiego Mbouve, which we had often heard of, but had not up to that time been so fortunate as to see.
Being exceedingly anxious to observe how this remarkable creature made use of its singular house, Peterkin and I lay down near the place, and secreting ourselves in the bushes, patiently awaited the arrival of the monkey, while Jack went off in another direction to procure something for supper.
"I don"t believe he"ll come home to-night," said Peterkin, after we had lain down. "People never do come in when any one chances to be waiting for them. The human race seems to be born to disappointment. Did you never notice, Ralph, how obstinately contrary and cross-grained things go when you want them to go otherwise?"
"I don"t quite understand you," said I.
"Of course you don"t. Yours seems to be a mind that can never take anything in unless it is hammered in by repet.i.tion."
"Come now, Peterkin, don"t become, yourself, an ill.u.s.tration of your own remark in reference to cross-grained things."
"Well, I won"t. But seriously, Ralph, have you not observed, in the course of your observant life, that when you have particular business with a man, and go to his house or office, you are _certain_ to find him out, to use the common phrase? It would be more correct, however, to say `you are certain not to find him in.""
"You are uncommonly particular, Peterkin."
"Truly I had need to be so, with such an uncommonly stupid audience."
"Thank you. Well?"
"Well, have you never observed that if you have occasion to call at a house where you have never been before, the number of that particular house is not in its usual place, and you find it after a search quite away from where it ought to be? Has it never struck you that when you take out your umbrella, the day is certain to become hot and sunny; while, if you omit to carry it with you, it is sure to rain?"
"From all of which you conclude," said I, "that the Nshiego will not come home to-night?"
"Exactly so; that is my meaning precisely."
After Peterkin said this, we relapsed into silence; and it was well that we did so, for had we continued our conversation even in the whispering tones in which it had up to that time been conducted, we should have frightened away the ape which now came, as it were, to rebuke Peterkin for his unbelief.
Coming quickly forward, the Nshiego Mbouve chambered quickly up the tree where its nest was built. This nest was not a structure _into_ which it clambered, but a shelter or canopy formed of boughs with their leaves, somewhat in shape like an umbrella, under which it sat. The construction of this shelter exhibited a good deal of intelligent ingenuity on the part of the ape; for it was tied to the tree by means of wild vines and creepers, and formed a neat, comfortable roof, that was quite capable of shedding the night dews or heavy rains, and thus protecting its occupant.
We were greatly amused by the manner in which the creature proceeded to make itself comfortable. Just below the canopy was a small branch which jutted out horizontally from the stem of the tree. On this branch the ape seated itself, its feet and haunches resting thereon. Then it threw one arm round the tree, and hugging that lovingly to its side, gave what appeared to me to be a small sigh of satisfaction, and prepared to go to sleep.
At this Peterkin chuckled audibly. The Nshiego"s eyes opened at once.
I c.o.c.ked my gun and took aim. The desire to procure a specimen was very strong within me, but an unconquerable aversion to kill an animal in such cozy circ.u.mstances restrained me. The Nshiego got up in alarm. I pointed the gun, but could not fire. It began to descend. I pulled the trigger, and, I am happy to add, missed my aim altogether, to the intense delight of Peterkin, who filled the woods with laughter, while the Nshiego Mbouve, dropping to the ground, ran shrieking from the spot.
My forbearance at this time was afterwards repaid by my obtaining two much finer specimens of this shelter-building ape, both of which were killed by Peterkin.
On quitting this place we had a narrow escape, the recollection of which still fills me with horror. We were walking rapidly back towards our encampment, chatting as we went, when Peterkin suddenly put his foot on what appeared to be the dead branch of a tree. No sooner had he done so than the curling folds of a black snake fully ten feet long scattered the dry leaves into the air, and caused us both to dart aside with a yell of terror.
I have thought that in the complicated and wonderful mechanism of man there lies a species of almost involuntary muscular power which enables him to act in all cases of sudden danger with a degree of prompt celerity that he could not possibly call forth by a direct act of volition. At all events, on the present emergency, without in the least degree knowing what I was about, I brought my gun from my shoulder into a horizontal position, and blew the snake"s head off almost in an instant.
I have pondered this subject, and from the fact that while at one time a man may be prompt and courageous in case of sudden danger, at another time the same man may become panic-stricken and helpless, I have come to the conclusion that the all-wise Creator would teach us--even the bravest among us--the lesson of our dependence upon each other, as well as our dependence upon Himself, and would have us know that while at one time we may prove a tower of strength and protection to our friends, at another time our friends may have to afford succour and protection to us.
I have often wondered, in reference to this, that many men seem to take pride in bold independence, when it is an obvious fact that _every_ man is dependent on his fellow, and that this mutual dependence is one of the chief sources of human happiness.
The black snake which I had killed turned out to be one of a very venomous kind, whose bite is said to be fatal, so that we had good cause to be thankful, and to congratulate ourselves on our escape.
In this region of Africa we were particularly fortunate in what we saw and encountered, as the narrative of our experiences on the day following the above incidents will show.
We had scarcely advanced a few miles on our journey on the morning of that day, when we came upon a part of the country where the natives had constructed a curious sort of trap for catching wild animals; and it happened that a large band of natives were on the point of setting out for a grand hunt at that time.
We were greeted with immense delight on our arrival, for those natives, we soon discovered, had already heard of our exploits in the lands of the gorilla, and regarded us as the greatest hunters that had ever been born. After a short conversation with the chief, through the medium of Makarooroo, we arranged to rest there a day, and accompany them on their hunting expedition; and the better to secure their good will, we presented some of the head men with a few of the beads which we still possessed. Then hauling our canoe out of the water, we prepared ourselves for the chase.
After a long and tedious march through somewhat dense jungle, we came upon the ground, which was partly open, partly clothed with trees and shrubs. Here the natives, who numbered several hundreds, spread themselves out in a long semicircular line, in order to drive the game into the trap.
As we followed them, or rather formed part of the line, I overheard the following conversation between Peterkin and Makarooroo, who chanced to be together.
"Now, Mak," said the former, examining the caps of his rifle, "explain to me what sort of trap this is that we"re coming to, and what sort of brutes we may expect to find in it."
"De trap, ma.s.sa," replied our faithful follower, drawing the back of his hand across his mouth--"de trap am be call _hopo_--"