_ CHAPTER THIRTY. THE KING'S HUNTING-PARTY
There was no mistaking the joy of Coffee and Chicory at finding their father safe and sound, and they showed it by performing some most ridiculous antics, making even the stern warrior smile with satisfaction.
Mr Rogers also noticed it a good deal, and from that time the two Zulu boys stood far higher in his estimation than of old.
They had a visit at the camp that morning from the king, one of the first of whose questions, as he partook of a sugar-stick with great gusto, was, had they heard the hippopotami shouting in the night, and were they frightened?
Both Dick and Jack declared that they were not in the least alarmed; and thereupon the king, who seemed to get on far better with them than with their father, proposed that they should come up the little river, and see his warriors hunt the great river-horse.
Mr Rogers consented with a nod; and taking their rifles, the boys accompanied the king back to the town, where, orders being given, his majesty's big canoe was prepared, and half-a-dozen great hunters, armed with throwing-spears, each entered a canoe of his own--a frail rickety-looking affair, that threatened to turn over at any moment, even with the weight of one man, but which its occupant sent through the water at a famous rate, by his clever management of a long paddle.
The king's boat was none too safe a structure, and the boys laughed the one at the other as they took their seats before their host.
"If we are overturned, Jack, make for the shore at once, and try and save your rifle."
"To be sure, Dick. But how about the crocodiles?"
"And the hippos, Jack?"
"Feel afraid?"
"No. Do you?"
"Not a bit!"
The king seemed a little nervous about the boys' rifles when he saw the deadly weapons in their hands, and he asked if they were safe.
"A deal safer than your boat, Mr King," said Dick, laughing.
"Yes, that they are," said Jack, giving the boat a sway to and fro.
Then the king laughed, and the boys laughed again, and distributed some more acid-rock sticks, of which his majesty highly approved. Then he gave the word, the rowers dipped their paddles, and six men propelled the canoe pretty swiftly.
"I say, Dick," whispered Jack, "black kings are not such bad fellows after all, are they?"
"Not at all. I like this one. But don't whisper; it will make him think we are talking about him. How many cartridges have you got?"
"Twenty four. How many have you?"
"Two dozen."
The boys laughed and compared their cartridges, when the king, who had felt suspicious of their whispering, also smiled, and took great interest in the breech-loading guns, exhibiting quite a childish delight in seeing the breech opened, and in being able to look right through the shining barrels. After which he had the pleasure of thrusting in the cartridges with his own fingers; but when they were closed he expressed his opinion that they were not safe.
Meanwhile, after being propelled for some distance up the great river, the canoes were turned off into a side stream of no great width, and whose sluggish waters serpentined amidst muddy beds of reeds, with a palm-tree raising its ornamental fronds here and there to relieve the monotony of the scene.
The canes and reeds seemed to swarm with ducks and other water-fowl; and here and there, riding in the calm reaches, they saw for the first time that curious water-bird, the darter, swimming with its body nearly submerged, and its long, snaky neck ready to dart its keen bill with almost lightning rapidity at the tiny fish upon which it fed.
"Oh! what a splendid place for a day's fishing, Dick!" whispered Jack. "This place must swarm, I know. I wish I had brought the tackle."
"There's something more interesting than fishing to see," replied Dick. "Look! look!"
He pointed to the side of the river, a hundred yards ahead, where a huge, clumsily-formed hippopotamus slowly waded into the water and sank out of sight.
"What a brute!" said Dick. "Why, he could upset us. I say, King Moseti, couldn't one of those fellows upset the boat?"
"Yes," said the king; "then all swim ashore if he no catchee."
"That's pleasant," said Dick. "But look, Jack! what's that?"
He pointed ahead to something black, seen just above the surface of the water, and several feet in front of it two prominences; then two more appeared slowly above the water. There was a sort of gasping sigh, and a couple of little puffs like those emitted by a small steam-engine, and the black knobs and the black surface disappeared.
"What a monster!" cried Jack.
"Now going to begin," said the king.
But they paddled on another half-mile before they really began.
They were in a very winding part of the river now, the serpentine curves being so sharp that the banks seemed to be a succession of muddy points and reedy bays.
On one of these points a large, broad-nosed hippo was standing, looking as shapeless as if it had been roughly modelled in mud, and set upon four legs of the shortest and squattiest kind. Nearer to them, and in the water, several of the great amphibious creatures were playing about, raising their heads occasionally, sometimes only their eyes and nostrils, which the boys could see opened and shut like a valve, to admit air and keep out the water.
The canoes now stopped, and it was not a very pleasant feeling, to be aware that beneath them, and all around, these monstrous beasts were walking about at the bottom of the muddy river, ready to rise up at will, and upset the canoes, or perhaps take a piece out with their teeth.
"Now going to begin," said the king.
And in obedience to a signal made with his stick, three of the little canoes went in advance, their occupants managing the paddles with one hand, their assegais with the other, and gliding cautiously over the surface of the river, to the attack of one of the great hippopotami.
"I wish they hadn't got such long names," said Jack, who was getting deeply interested; "it's quite a mouthful."
"Never mind, they've got good broad backs and heads," said Dick. "I say, Jack, look at that one! What a mouth! It's like a great leather portmanteau being opened."
"Or a big carpet-bag," replied Jack; "and what teeth!"
They were indeed monstrous, and as the animal raised its ears and eyes above the water, and just displayed a portion of its prominent nostrils, it was plain to see why the ancients called them river-horses; for, seen like this, the head bore a remarkable resemblance to that of some large horse.
"Now look!" said the king, who then started, for the boys involuntarily cocked their rifles. For one of the canoes, with the hunter therein, approached the great beast just named, the hunter standing up to work his paddle, and holding his assegai poised for throwing, while the huge brute upon the point of land where he stood out as if displaying his mighty proportions, kept uttering grunts of dissatisfaction.
Just as the canoe approached the beast in the water, it allowed itself slowly to subside; but it rose again directly after, a few yards farther off, when, giving his paddle a sweep, the hunter poised and hurled his assegai with such force, and so true an aim, that it was seen sticking in the hippo, just where the neck joins the shoulder.
The moment he had thrown, the hunter stooped and picked up another spear; but even as he did so the hippopotamus made a dash at his canoe, bit at the side, shook it, and the man was precipitated into the water.
In another instant the hippopotamus would have had him in his jaws; but now was the time for the other hunters, whose canoes skimmed over the surface side by side, and before the animal could reach the man in the water, first one and then another spear was hurled, taking effect in its neck.
This took off the monster's attention for a few moments; just sufficient to enable the owner of the overturned canoe to get ashore, right his boat, pour out all the water, and once more return to the attack.
Meanwhile, the other three canoes had gone into the _melee_, each man sending a spear into the neck or shoulder of the huge hippopotamus whenever he pressed one of the other hunters too hard.
This went on for some time, with the monster growing weaker in his resistance, the plan adopted being to weary him out by constant assault; and all this time the great fellow on the mud point had looked on, giving a fierce grunt now and then, and at times prolonging this grunt into a deafening bellow. He evidently mightily disapproved of what was being done to his fellow; but it did not seem to enter into his brain how he was to help him.
The idea seemed to come at last; for, turning his head towards the king's canoe, he opened his mouth to its fullest extent displaying the great worn-down tusks, and uttered a tremendous roar, that can only be rendered on paper by a repetition of the words, "Hawgnph! hawgnph!" sent through a huge waterpipe, by the blast of a steam-engine of mighty power.
This done he closed his mouth with a tremendous chop, and rushed into the water and disappeared.
"What a brute!" cried Dick.
"He's coming right for us, I know," cried his brother. "You see if he don't come up close here."
The king seemed to expect it too, and he gave orders to his men; but before the large canoe could be got under weigh the monster rose quite close to them, opened its huge jaws, its little pig-like eyes glowing with fury, and took a piece out of the canoe.
Half the paddlers leaped overboard in their dread, as the monster opened its huge jaws for a second bite, this time close to where the two boys and the king were seated, the latter seeming paralysed at the imminence of the danger.
No word was spoken, one will seeming to guide both Dick and Jack, who, without raising their rifles to their shoulders, rested them pistol-fashion upon the side of the canoe, and fired straight into the monster's mouth.
There was a tremendous clap-to of his jaws, but not upon the side of the canoe; and then the huge head slowly sank down out of sight, as a couple of fresh cartridges were thrust into the rifles.
But now there was a fresh danger, water was coming in over the side where the piece was taken out; and it took a great deal of shouting, and no little help with the spare paddles, given by his majesty and his two visitors, to get the canoe run aground before she could sink.
Wet legs were the worst misfortune, and as they leaped ashore the men set to, hauled up the canoe, and emptied out the water, and in an hour they had sewn on a thick skin so as to temporarily keep out the water at the side, thin canes answering for needle and thread, after which they embarked.
It was none too soon; for as the last man got on board and the canoe was pushed off, there was a loud snorting and rustling in the reeds, and a hippopotamus rushed at them, giving the lads such an opportunity that they both sent a bullet into it as it entered the water, and they saw it no more.
Meanwhile the six hunters had not only killed their hippo, but had seen the monster shot by the boys aground, quite dead, upon one of the sandy bits of land, and they had steered their own trophy to its side, where they were busy drawing out the spears with which it bristled, as the king's canoe came up.
A rope was made fast to each of the monsters then, and they were towed down stream and out into the big river, where, upon their reaching the town, an attack was made upon the great beasts, and the flesh hewed off amidst a great deal of shouting, singing, and drumming, the boys feeling no great temptation to eat hippopotamus, but being proud enough to display the head of the monster they had shot--a head that was even startling in its size and weight. _