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26 - Jock of the Bushveld by Sir James Percy Fitzpatrick · Jock of the Bushveld

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick, Chapter twenty three, Our last hunt. We had not
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: touched fresh meat for many days, as there had been
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: no time for shooting. But I knew that game was
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: plentiful across the river, in the rough country between the
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: carp and the crocodile, and I started off to make
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  Speaker 1: the best of the day's delay, little dreaming that it
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  Speaker 1: was to be the last time Jock and I would
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  Speaker 1: hunt together. Weeks had passed without a hunt, and Jock
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: must have thought there was a sad falling away on
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  Speaker 1: the part of his master. He no longer expected anything.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: The rifle was never taken down now except for an
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: odd shot from the outspan, or to put some poor
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: animal out of its misery. Since the night with the lions,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: when he had been ignominiously cooped up, there had been
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  Speaker 1: nothing to stow his blood and make life worth living.
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  Speaker 1: And this morning, as he saw me rise from breakfast
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  Speaker 1: and proceed to potter about the wagons in the way
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: he had come to regard as inevitable. He looked on
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: indifferently for a few minutes, and then stretched out full
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: length in the sun and went to sleep. I could
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  Speaker 1: not take him with me across the river, as the
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: fly was said to be bad there, and it was
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: no place to risk hoarse or dog. The best of
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  Speaker 1: prospects would not have tempted me to chance with him,
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  Speaker 1: but I hated ordering him to stay behind, as it
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: hurt his dignity and sense of comradeship. So it seemed
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  Speaker 1: a happy accident that he fell asleep and I could
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  Speaker 1: slip away unseen. As the cattle were grazing along the
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  Speaker 1: river bank only a few hundred yards off, I took
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  Speaker 1: a turn that way to have a look at them,
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  Speaker 1: with natural but quite fruitless concern for their welfare, and
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  Speaker 1: a moment later met the herd boy running towards me
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  Speaker 1: and calling out excitedly something which I made out to
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  Speaker 1: be crocodile.
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  Speaker 2: Crocodiling course, a crocodile has taken one of their oxen.
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  Speaker 1: The wagon boys heard it also, and armed with asseguis
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  Speaker 1: and sticks, were on the bank almost as soon as
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  Speaker 1: I was, but there was no sign of crocodile or bullock.
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  Speaker 1: The boy showed us the place where the weakened animal
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: had gone down to drink. The hoof slides were plain enough,
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  Speaker 1: and told how as it drank the long black coffin
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  Speaker 1: head had appeared out of the water. He described stolidly
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: how the big jaws had opened and gripped the bullock's nose,
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  Speaker 1: how he a few yards away, had seen the struggle,
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  Speaker 1: how he had shouted and hurled his sticks and stones
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  Speaker 1: and tufts of grass, and feinted to rush down at it,
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  Speaker 1: And how after a muffled billow and a weak, staggering
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: effort to pull back, the poor beast had slipped out
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  Speaker 1: into the deep water and disappeared. It seemed to be
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: quite unnecessary addition to my troubles. Misfortunes were coming thick
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  Speaker 1: and fast. Half an hour was wasted and watching and searching,
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  Speaker 1: but we saw no more of crocodile or bullock. And
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: as there was nothing to be done, I turned up
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: stream to find a shallower and a safer crossing. At best,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: it was not pleasant. The water was waist high and
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: racing in narrow channels between and over boulders and loose,
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  Speaker 1: slippery stones, and I was glad to get through without
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: a tumble and a swim. The country was rough on
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  Speaker 1: the other side, and the old grass was high and dense,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: for no one went there in those days, and the
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  Speaker 1: grass stood unburnt from season to season, climbing over rocks
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  Speaker 1: and stony ground, crunching dry sticks underfoot, and driving a
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  Speaker 1: path through the rank tumbuki grass, it seemed well nigh
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: hopeless to look for a shot. Several times I heard
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: bucks start up and dash off only a few yards away,
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  Speaker 1: and it began to look as if the wiser course
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  Speaker 1: would be to turn back. At last, I got out
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  Speaker 1: of the valley and into more level and more open ground,
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  Speaker 1: and came out upon a ledge or plateau a hundred
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  Speaker 1: yards or more wide, with a low ridge of rocks
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  Speaker 1: and some thorns on the far side, quite a lightly spot.
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  Speaker 1: I searched the open ground from my cover, and, seeing
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  Speaker 1: nothing there, crossed over to the rocks, threading my way
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  Speaker 1: silently between them, and expecting to find another clear space beyond.
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  Speaker 1: The snort of a buck brought me to a standstill
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  Speaker 1: among the rocks, and as I listened, it was followed
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  Speaker 1: by another and another from the same quarter, delivered at
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  Speaker 1: irregular intervals, and each snort was accompanied by the sound
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  Speaker 1: of trampling feet, sometimes like stamps of anger, and at
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  Speaker 1: other times seemingly a hasty movement. I had, on several
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  Speaker 1: occasions interrupted fights between angry rivals. Once two splendid koodoo
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  Speaker 1: bulls were at it. A second time it was two sables,
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  Speaker 1: and the vicious and incredibly swift sweep of the scimitar
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  Speaker 1: horn still lives in memory, along with the wonderful nimbleness
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  Speaker 1: of the other fellow who dodged it. And another time
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  Speaker 1: they were blue wildebius. But some interruption had occurred each time,
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  Speaker 1: and I had no more than a glimpse of what
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: might have been a rare scene to witness. I was
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: determined not to spoil at this time, no doubt it
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: was a fight, and probably they were fencing and circling
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  Speaker 1: for an opening, as there were no bump of heads
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  Speaker 1: or clash of horns, and no tearing scrambling of feet
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  Speaker 1: to INDI kate the real struggle. I crept on through
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  Speaker 1: the rocks and found before me a tangle of thorns
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  Speaker 1: and dead wood, impossible to pass through in silence. It
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: was better to work back again and try the other
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: side of the rocks. The way was clearer there, and
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: I crept up to a rock four or five feet high,
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  Speaker 1: feeling certain from the sound that the fight would be
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: in full view a few yards beyond. With the rifle ready.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: I raised myself slowly until my eyes were over the
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  Speaker 1: top of the rock. Some twenty yards off, in an
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  Speaker 1: open flat of down trodden grass, I saw a sable
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  Speaker 1: car She was standing with feet firmly and widely planted,
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  Speaker 1: looking fiercely in front of her, ducking her head in
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  Speaker 1: threatening manner every few seconds and giving angry snorts. And
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  Speaker 1: behind and huddled up against her was her scared, bewildered
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  Speaker 1: little red brown calf. It seemed stupid not to have
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: guessed what it all meant. Yet the fact is that
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  Speaker 1: for the few remaining seconds I was simply puzzled and
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: fascinated by the behavior of the two sables. Then in
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  Speaker 1: the corner of my eye I saw away on my
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: right another red brown thing come into the open. It
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  Speaker 1: was Jock, casting about with nose to ground for my trail,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: which he had overrun at the point where I had
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: turned back near the deadwood on the other side of
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  Speaker 1: the rocks. What happened then was a matter of a
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: second or two. As I turned to look at him,
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  Speaker 1: he raised his head, bristled up all over and made
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  Speaker 1: one jump forward. Then a long, low, yellowish thing moved
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  Speaker 1: in the unbeaten grass in front of the sable cow
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  Speaker 1: raised its head sharply and looked full into my eyes,
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  Speaker 1: and before I could move a finger, it shot away
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  Speaker 1: in one streaklike bound, a wild shot at the lioness
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: as I jumped up full height, a shot at Jock
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  Speaker 1: to come back, A scramble of black and brown on
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  Speaker 1: my left, and it was all over. I was standing
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  Speaker 1: in the open ground, breathless with excitement, and Jock a
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  Speaker 1: few yards off, with hind legs crouched ready for a dash,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: looking back at me for leave to go. The spoor
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  Speaker 1: told the tale. There was the outer circle made by
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  Speaker 1: the lioness in the grass, broken in places where she
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  Speaker 1: had fainted to rush in and stopped before the lowered horns.
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  Speaker 1: And inside this there was the smaller circle, a tangle
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  Speaker 1: of crumpled grass and spour, where the brave mother had
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  Speaker 1: stood between her young and death. Any attempt to follow
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  Speaker 1: the lioness after that would have been waste of time.
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  Speaker 1: We struck off in a new direction, and in crossing
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  Speaker 1: a stretch of level ground where the thorn trees were
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  Speaker 1: well scattered and the grass fairly short, my eye caught
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  Speaker 1: a movement in front that brought me to an instant standstill.
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  Speaker 1: It was as if the stem of a young thorn
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  Speaker 1: tree had suddenly waved itself and settled back again. And
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  Speaker 1: it meant that some long horned buck, perhaps a koodoo
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  Speaker 1: or a saball ball, was lying down and had swung
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  Speaker 1: its head. And it meant also that he was comfortably settled,
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  Speaker 1: quite unconscious of danger. I marked and watched the spot,
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  Speaker 1: or rather the line, for the glimpse was too brief
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  Speaker 1: to tell more than the direction. But there was no
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  Speaker 1: other move. The air was almost still, with just a
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  Speaker 1: faint drift from him to us. And I examined every
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  Speaker 1: stick and branch, every stump and ant heap, every bush
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  Speaker 1: and tussock, without stirring a foot. But I could make
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  Speaker 1: out nothing. I could trace no outline, and see no
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  Speaker 1: patch of color dark or light to betray him. It
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: was an incident very characteristic of bushveld hunting. There I stood,
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  Speaker 1: minute after minute, not risking a move which would be
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  Speaker 1: certain to reveal me, staring and searching for some big
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  Speaker 1: animal lying half asleep within eighty yards of me, on
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  Speaker 1: ground that you would not call good cover for a rabbit.
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  Speaker 1: We were in the sunlight. He lay somewhere beyond where
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: a few scattered thorn trees drew dabs of shade, marbling
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  Speaker 1: with dapple shade and light. The already mottled surface of
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  Speaker 1: earth and grass i was hopelessly beaten. But Jock could
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  Speaker 1: see him well enough. He crouched beside me with ears
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  Speaker 1: cocked and his eyes all ablaze, were fixed intently on
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  Speaker 1: the spot, except for an occasional swift look up at
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  Speaker 1: me to see what on earth was wrong and why
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: the shot did not come. His hind legs were tucked
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  Speaker 1: under him, and he was trembling with excitement. Only those
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  Speaker 1: will realize it who have been through the tantalizing, humiliating experience.
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  Speaker 1: There was nothing to be done but wait, leaving the
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  Speaker 1: buck to make the first move, And at last it came.
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  Speaker 1: There was another slight shake of the horns, and the
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  Speaker 1: whole figure stood out in bold relief. It was a
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  Speaker 1: fine sable bull lying in the shadow of one of
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  Speaker 1: the thorn trees, with his back towards us, and there
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  Speaker 1: was a small ant heap close behind him, making a
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  Speaker 1: grayish blot against his black b and shoulder, and breaking
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  Speaker 1: the expanse of color which the eye would otherwise easily
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  Speaker 1: have picked up. The ant heap made a certain shot impossible,
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  Speaker 1: so I lowered myself slowly to the ground to wait
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: until he should begin feeding or change his position for
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  Speaker 1: comfort or shed, as they often do. This might mean
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: waiting for half an hour or more, but it was
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  Speaker 1: better than risking a shot in the position in which
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  Speaker 1: he was lying. I settled down for a long wet
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: with the rifle resting on my knees, confidently expecting that
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  Speaker 1: when the time came to move, he would get up slowly,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: stretch himself and have a good look round. But he
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: did nothing of the kind A turn or eddy of
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: the faint breeze must have given him my wind, for
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  Speaker 1: there was one twitch of the horns as his nose
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: was laid to windward, and without an instant's pause, he
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  Speaker 1: dashed off. It was the quickest thing imaginable in a
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  Speaker 1: big animal. It looked as though he started racing from
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  Speaker 1: his lying position. The bush was not close enough to
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: save him. However, in spite of his start, and through
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  Speaker 1: the thin veil of smoke, I saw him plunge and stumble,
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  Speaker 1: and then dash off again. And Jock, seeing me give chase,
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  Speaker 1: went ahead, and in half a minute I was left
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  Speaker 1: well behind, but still in sight of the hunt. I
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: shouted at Jock to come back, just as one murmurs
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: good day to a passing friend in the din of traffic.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: From force of habit. Of course, he could hear nothing.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: It was his first and only go at a sable.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: He knew nothing of the terrible horns and the deadly
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: sight like sweep that makes the wounded sable so dangerous.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Even the Lioness had fought shy of them, And great
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: was my faith in him. The risk in this case
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: was not one I would have taken. There was nothing
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: to do but follow. A quarter of a mile on,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: I drew closer up and found them standing face to
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  Speaker 1: face among the thorns. It was the first of three
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: or four stands. The sable, with a watchful eye on me,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: always moved on. As I drew near enough to shoot.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: The beautiful black and white bull stood facing his little
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: red enemy, and the fence and play of faint and thrust,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: guard and dodge was wonderful to see. Not once did
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: either touch the other. At Jock's least movement, the sable's
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: head would go down with his nose into his chest,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: and the magnificent horns arched forward and poised so as
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: to strike either right or left, and if Jock fainted
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: a rush either way. The scythe's sweep came with lightning quickness,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: covering more than half a circle and carrying the gleaming
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: points with a swing right over the sable's own back.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Then he would advance slowly and menacingly, with horns well forward,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: ready to strike, and eyes blazing through his eyebrows, driving
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: Jock before him. There were three or four of these
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: encounters in which I could take no hand. The distance,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: the intervening thorns and grass, and the quickness of their
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: movements made a safe shot impossible, and there was always
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: the risk of hitting Jock for a hard run does
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: not make for good shooting. Each time, as the sable
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: drove him back, there would be a vicious rush suddenly
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: following the first deliberate advance, and as Jock scrambled back
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: out of the way, the ball would swing round with
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: incredible quickness and be off full gallop in another direction. Evidently,
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: the final rush was a maneuver to get Jock clear
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: of his heels and flanks as he started, and thus
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: secure a lead for the next run. Since the day
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: he was kicked by the koodoo car. Jock had never
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: tackled an unbroken hind leg, a dangling one he never missed,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: but the lesson of the flying heels had been too
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: severe to be forgotten, and he never made that mistake again.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: In this chase. I saw him time after time try
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: at the sable's flanks and run up her breast of
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: his shoulder and make flying leaps at the throat, but
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: he never got in front where the horns could reach him,
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: and although he passed and repassed behind to try on
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: the other side, when he had failed at the one,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: and looked up eagerly at the hind legs as he
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: passed them, he made no attempt to them. It must
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: have been at the fourth or fifth stand that Jock
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: got through the guard at last. The sable was badly
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: wounded in the body, and doubtless strength was failing, but
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: there was little evidence of this yet. In the pauses.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Jock's tongue shot and slithered about a glittering red streak,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: but after short spells of panting, his head would shut
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: up with a snap like a steel trap, and his
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: face set with a look of invincible resolution, which had
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: got in part from the pursed up mouth and in
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: part from the intensity of the beady black brown eyes.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: He was good for hours of this sort of work.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: This time the sable drove him back towards a big
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: thorn tree. It may have been done without design, or
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: it may have been done with the idea of pinning
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: him up against the trunk. But Jock was not to
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: be caught that way in a fight. He took in
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: the whole field behind as well as in front, as
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: he had shown the knight. The second wild dog tackled
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: him on his side too. There may or may not
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: have been designed in backing towards the tree. Who knows.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: I thought that he scored not by a maneuver, but
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: simply because of his unrelaxing watchfulness and his resolute, unhesitating courage.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: He seemed to know instinctively that the jump aside, so
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: safe with the straight charging animals, was no game to
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: play against the side sweep of a sable's horns, and
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: at each charge of the enemy he had scrambled back
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: out of range without the least pretense of taking liberties.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: This time the sable drove him steadily back towards the tree,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: but in the last step, just as the ball made
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: his rush, Jock jumped past the tree, and instead of
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: scrambling back out of reaches before, dodged round and was
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: in the rear of the buck before it could turn
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: on him. There were no flying heels to fear then,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: and without an instant's hesitation, he fastened on one of
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: the hind legs above the hock with a snort of
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: rage and indignation. The sable spun round and round, kicking
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: and plunging wildly and making vicious sweeps with his horns.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: But Jock, although swung about and shaken like a rat,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: was out of reach and kept his grip. It was
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: a quick and furious struggle in which I was altogether forgotten,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: And as one more desperate plunge brought the bull down
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: in a struggling, kicking heap, with Jock completely hidden under him,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: I ran up and ended the fight. It always took
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: him some time to calm down after these tussles. He
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: became so wound up by the excitement of the struggle
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: that time was needed to run down again. So to say,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: while I was busy on the double precaution of fixing
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: up a scare for the arsfals and cutting grass and
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: branches to cover the back. Jock moved restlessly round the sable,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: ever ready to pounce on him again at the least
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: sign of life. The slithering tongue and wide open mouth
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: looked like a big red gash splitting his head in two.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: He was so blow his breath came and went like
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: a puffing of a diminutive steam engine at full speed,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: and his eyes, with all the wickedness of fight, but
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: none of the watchfulness gone out of them, flickered incessantly
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: from the buck to me. One sign from either would
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: have been enough. It was the same old scene, the
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: same old performance that I had watched scores of times.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: But it never grew stale or failed to draw a laugh,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: a word of chair, and pat of affection. And from
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: him there was always the same response, the friendly wagging
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: of that stumpy tail, a splashy lick, a soft upward look,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: and a wider split of the mouth. That was a laugh,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: as plain as if one heard it. But that was
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: only an interruption, a few seconds distraction. It did not
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: put him off or satisfy him that all was well.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: His attention went back to the buck, and the everlasting
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: footwork went on again, with his front to the fallen enemy,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: and his fore legs well apart. He kept ever on them,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: move forwards and backwards in quick steps of a few
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: inches each, and at the same time edging round in
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: his zigzag circle, making a track round the buck like
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: a weather chart, with the glass at changeable. Silly, old FUSSA,
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: can't you see he's finished? He could not hear anything,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: but the responsive wag showed that he knew I was
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: talking to him, and dodging the piece of BARKYE threw
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: at him, he resumed his ridiculous round. I was still
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: laughing at him when he stopped and, turning sharply round,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: made a snap at his side, and a few seconds
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: later he did it again. Then there was a thin
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: sing of insect wings, and I knew that the SETSI
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: fly were on us. The only thought then was for Jock,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: who was still working busily round the sable. For some minutes,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: I sat with him between my legs, whispering away at
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: the flies with a small branch, and wondering what to do.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: It soon became clear that there was nothing to be
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: gained by waiting. Instead of passing away, the fly became
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: more new, and there was not a moment's peace or
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: comfort to be had, for they were tackling me on
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: the neck, arms, and legs, where the thorn ripped pants
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: left them bare to the knees. So slinging the rifle
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: over my shoulder, I picked Jock up greatly, to his discomfort,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: and carried him off in my arms at the best
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: pace possible under the circumstances. Half a mile of that
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: was enough. However, the weight, the awkwardness of the position,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: the effort to screen him, and the difficulty of picking
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: my way in very rough country at the same time
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: were too much for me. A tumble into a grass
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: hidden hole laid us both out, sprawling, and I sat
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: down again to rest and think, swishing the flier's office.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Before then an idea came which, in spite of all
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: the anxiety, made me laugh and ended in putting poor
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: old Jock in quite the most undignified and ridiculous plight
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: he had known since the days of his puppyhood. When
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: his head stuck in the bully beef tin or the
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: hen pecked him on the nose. I ripped off as
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: much of my shirt was not needed to protect me
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: against the flies, and making holes in it for his
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: legs and tail fitted him out with a home made
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: suit in about five minutes. Time was everything. It was
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: impossible to run with him in my arms, but we
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: could run together until we got out of the fly belt,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: and there was not much risk of being bitten as
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: long as we kept up the running in the long grass.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: It was a long spell, and what with the rough
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: country and the uncontrollable laughter at the sight of Jock,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: I was pretty well done by the time we were
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: safely out of the fly We pulled up when the
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: country began to fall away sharply towards the river, and there,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: to Jock's evident satisfaction, I took off his suit, by
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: that time very much tattered and AWRYE It was there,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: lying between two rocks in the shade of a marula tree,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: that I got one of those chances to see game
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: at close quarters, of which most men only hear or dream.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: There were no snap shot cameras then. We had been
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: lying there it may be for half an hour or more.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Jock asleep and I spread out on my back when
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: a slight but distinct click as of a hoof against
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: a stone made me turn quietly over on my side
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: and listen. The rock beside me was about four feet high,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: and on the other side of it a buck of
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: some kind, and a big one too, was walking with
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: easy stride towards the river. Every footstep was perfectly clear,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: The walk was firm and confident. Evidently there was not
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: the least suspicion of danger. It was only a matter
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: of yards between us and what little breeze there was
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: drifted across his course towards me. As he too made
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: for the river, holding a coarse parallel with the two
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: long rocks between which we were lying, the footsteps came
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: abreast of us and then stopped, just as I was
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: expecting him to walk on past the rock and down
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: the hill in front of me. The sudden halt seemed
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: to mean that some warning instinct had arrested him, or
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: some least tint upon the pure air softly indying between
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: the rocks, had reached him. I could hear his sniffs
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: and pictured him looking about, silent but alarmed. Before deciding
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: which way to make his rush, I raised myself by
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: inches close to the rock until I could see over
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: it a magnificent water buck ball, full grown and in
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: perfect coat and condition, were standing less than five yards away,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: and a little to the right, having already passed me.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: When he came to a stop. He was so close
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: that I could see the waves and partings in his
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: heavy coat, the rise and fall in his flanks, as
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: he breathed, the ruff on his shaggy bearded throat that
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: gave such an air of grander to the head, the
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: noble carriage, as with head held high and slightly turned windward,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: he sniffed the breeze from the valley, the nostrils mobile
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: and sensitive, searching for the least hint of danger, and
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: the eye large and full and soft, luminous with watchful intelligence,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: and yet mild and calm. So free was it from
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: all trace of a disturbing thought. And yet I was
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: so close it seemed almost possible to reach out and
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: touch him. There was no thought of shooting. It was
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: a moment of supreme enjoyment, just to watch him. That
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: was enough. In a while, he seemed satisfied that all
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: was well, and with head thrown slightly forward and the sure,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: clean tread of his kind, he took his line unhesitatingly
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: down the hill. As he neared the thicker bush twenty
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: yards away, A sudden impulse made me give a shot.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: In a single bond. He was lost among the trees,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: and the clattering of loose stones and the crackle of
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: sticks in his path had ceased before the cold shiver
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: down the back which my spell breaking shot provoked had
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: passed away. When I turned round, Jock was still asleep.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Little incidents like that brought his deafness home. It was
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: our last days hunting together, and I went back to
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: the dreary round of hard, hopeless, useless struggle and daily loss.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: One day, a calm, cloudless day, there came without warning
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: a tremendous booming roar that left the air vibrating and
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: seemed to shake the very earth. As a thousand echoes
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: called and answered from hill to hill down the long valley.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: There was nothing to explain it. The katters turned as
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: sickly gray and appealed to me, but I could give
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: them no explanation. It was something beyond my ken, and
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: they seemed to think of an evil omen of still
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: greater ill luck. But as it turned out, the luck
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: was not all bad. Some days passed before the mystery
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: was solved, and then we came to were Combs, with
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: whom a week earlier I had tried and failed to
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: keep pace, had been blown to pieces with his boys, wagon,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: oxen and three tons of dynamite. There was no fragment
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: of wagon bigger than one's hand, and the trees all
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: around were barked on one side. We turned out to
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: avoid the huge hole in the drift and passed on.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: There were only twenty oxen left when we reached the
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: drift below fig Tree. The water was nearly breast high,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: and we carried three fourths of the loads through on
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: our heads, case by case to make the pool as
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: easy as possible for the oxen, as they could only crawl.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Then we got one wagon through with some difficulty, but
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: at nightfall the second was still in the river. We
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: had carried out everything removable, even to the buck sails,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: but the weakened bullocks could not move the empty wagon.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: The thunder clouds were piling up ahead, and distant lightning
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: gave warning of a storm away up river, so we
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: wound the trek chain round a big tree on the
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: bank to anchor the wagon in case of flood. And
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: reeling from work and wariness. Too tired to think of food,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: I flung myself down in my blankets under the other wagon,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: which was outspanned where we had stopped it in the
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: double rutted felt road, and settling comfortably into the sandy
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: furrow cut by many wheels, was dead to the w
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: In a few minutes near midnight, the storm awoke me
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: in a curious coldness about the neck and shoulders, made
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: me turn over to pull the blankets up. The road
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: had served as a storm water drain, converting the two
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: wheel furrows into running streams, and I rolled in my
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: blankets had dammed up one of them. The prompt flow
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: of the released water as soon as I turned over
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: told plainly what had happened. I looked out at the
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: driving rain and the glistening earth as shone up by
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: constant flashes of lightning. It was a world of rain
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: and spray and running water. It seemed that there was
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: neither hope nor mercy anywhere. I was too tired to care,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: and dropping back into the trough, slipped the night out
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: in water. In the morning, we found the wagon still
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: in the drift, although partly hidden by the flood, but
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: the force of the stream had half floated and half
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: forced it round on to higher ground. Only the anchoring
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: chain had saved it. We had to wait some hours
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: for the river run down, and then, to my relief,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: the rested but staggering oxen pulled it out at the
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: first attempt. Roy Lunt, the light red ox with blazing
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: yellow eyes and toppled horns, fierce and untamable to the end,
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: was in the lead. Then I saw him as he
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: took the strain in that last pool, and it was
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: pitiful to see the restless, eager spirit fighting against the
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: failing strength. He looked desperate. The thought seems fanciful about
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: a dumb animal, and perhaps it is, but what happened
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: just afterwards makes it still vivid and fitted in very
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: curiously with the superstitious notions of the boys. We outspanned
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: in order to repack the loads, and Roylunt, who as
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: front ox, was the last to be released, stood for
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: a few moments alone while the rest of the cattle
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: moved away. Then, turning his back on them, he gave
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: a couple of low moaning bellows and walked down the
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: road back to the drift. Again. I had no doubt
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: it was to drink. But the boys stopped their work
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: and watched him curiously, and some remarks passed which were
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: inaudible to me. As the ox disappeared down the slope
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: into the drift, Jim called to his leader to bring
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: him back, and then, turning to me, added with his
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: usual positiveness, Rueland is mad.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: Al tagatti, bewitched. He is looking for the dead ones.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: He is going to die to day. The boy came
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: back presently alone. When he reached the drift, he said
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: Roylant was standing breast high in the river, and then
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: in a moment, whether by step or slip, he was
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: into the flood and swept away. The leader's account was
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: received by the others in absolute silence. A little tightening
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: of the doors and a little brightening.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: Of the eyes perhaps were all I could detect. They
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: were saturated with superstition, and as pagan fatalists, they accepted
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: the position without a word. I suggested Gem that it
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: was nothing but a return of Royland's old straying habit,
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: and probed him with questions, but could get nothing out
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: of him. Finally, he walked off with an expressive shake
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: of the head and the repetition of his former remark,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: without a shade of triumph, surprise, or excitement in his voice.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: He is looking for their dead ones. We were out
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: of the fly then, and the next day we reached
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: fig Tree. That was the end of the last trek.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: Only three Oxen reached Barbiton, and they died within the week.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: The ruin was complete. End of Chapter twenty five.