In the Wilds of AfricaKingston, William Henry Giles
General
In the Wilds of Africa
Kingston, William Henry Giles
Africa -- Juvenile fiction
"As soon as it was daylight, we once more commenced our march. We had
not gone far, when the two boys, who were a little in advance, came
rushing back with countenances of dismay, to let us understand that they
had suddenly come upon some huge beast which was on the point of
springing on them. We advanced, in consequence, cautiously, expecting
every moment to meet the monster. In a short time we caught sight of a
gigantic tiger-wolf, or spotted hyena, sitting under a bush, and
growling fiercely at us. I raised my rifle to fire, expecting the beast
to spring; but it sat without moving. On getting nearer, what was my
horror to see that his forepaws and the skin and flesh of the legs had
been gnawed away! Still he showed his savage nature by endeavouring to
crawl towards us. To put an end to his sufferings, I fired at his head,
when he sank to the ground; and Igubo, running up to him, seized him by
the tail, and struck him several times with his knife, though it was not
until after repeated blows that an end was put to the creature's
existence. How he had been thus mangled, I could not at first
understand, till Igubo asserted that it had been done by a lion; that
probably they had quarrelled over their prey, and that then the lion had
attacked him and mangled him in the dreadful manner I have described.
Had we not found him, he would certainly have died miserably in the
course of another day or two, and very likely have fallen a victim to an
army of soldier-ants.
"We met with several other adventures during the day, and managed
somehow or other to lose our way, or we should have reached home before
nightfall. Contrary to our intentions, we had therefore to camp out for
another night. We had an ample supply of food, but no water could be
found, and we had little more than a couple of pints to divide among us,
which, though it might have been sufficient to supply an old lady with a
cup of tea, was but little to satisfy the thirsty throats of travellers
in this burning clime."
When Stanley heard of the attack made by the lion on our camp, he
declared that he must set out at once and put a stop to his
depredations. After a consultation, however, with Igubo, he agreed to
wait till the evening, when they supposed the lion would go down to a
spot near the river to drink. It was a small creek, rather, where the
banks were sufficiently low and hard to allow the animals to reach the
water without difficulty, which they could not do at many places along
the borders of the lake on account of the wide fringe of reeds and thick
underwood which encircled it.
"Is the gemsbok the only animal we have lost?"
"Oh no, indeed," cried Leo. "Poor Chico is gone!"
"What I did the lion carry him off?" asked Stanley.
"Oh no. A horrid monster of a crocodile," answered Leo. "I wish we
could punish the brute."
Igubo seemed to understand what was said. "I do it," he remarked.
"Yes," said Timbo; "he say he kill crocodile; no 'fraid of crocodile!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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