The Wide World Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 129, December, 1908Various
History
The Wide World Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 129, December, 1908
Various
Adventure stories -- Periodicals; English periodicals; History, Modern -- 20th century -- Periodicals; Voyages and travels -- Periodicals
Learning from the headman that he had already sent a number of men down
the river-bank in search of anything that might have been washed up, I
partook of a little mealie meal, which was the best he could offer, and,
having washed it down with copious draughts of new milk, lay down on a
bundle of skins and once more fell asleep, being utterly exhausted by the
previous night’s hardship and the struggle we had made to get out of the
river.
I must have been asleep several hours when I was awakened by a light
touch, and, sitting up, saw the headman, who explained that his boys had
returned, having found several cases of provisions, etc., and asked me if
I would not like some food. I made a good meal and once more retired to
rest, sleeping soundly until sunrise the following morning. Rising early,
I sent a number of men to search the river-banks whilst I was having my
breakfast, telling them that I would follow later. They had been gone
about an hour, and I was preparing to follow them, when one of my own boys
came running towards me from the direction of the river, breathlessly
informing me that they had found Jim, and that he was alive, but had been
badly mauled about by a crocodile. I immediately started off at a run, the
boy leading the way through the bush to a spot where the river turned off
to the left, about a mile farther down. There, under a tree, surrounded by
half-a-dozen natives, lay Jim. He was in a fearful plight, one arm being
almost eaten away and the whole side of his body mangled in an awful
manner; he was still conscious, however, and recognised me immediately. I
at once set to work to construct a kind of litter with branches and
boughs, and, laying him carefully on it, ordered the boys to carry him
back to the kraal. As they were moving off I asked one of the natives
where they had found him. Pointing to what at first sight looked like a
large hole in the ground, the boy answered, “Lapa, baas, hya ka lo
ingwania” (“Here, mas’er, in the crocodile’s house”). I approached the
place and, looking down the hole, was astonished to see a large chamber
beneath and a small tunnel which seemed to lead down to the water. The
ground forming the roof of the chamber had been worn away a good deal, and
the crocodile, in turning round in the hole with his victim, had evidently
broken the crust above, thus exposing his hiding-place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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