The Giraffe Hunters Part 45

A long consultation was now carried on between the ruffians, in which they all agreed in the necessity of putting the prisoner to death.

It would never do to let him live. He would in the end bring them into trouble, even if kept a prisoner for years. His tongue must be silenced forever. There was but one way of silencing it. That was, never to allow him to leave the place alive.

There was a point upon which his captors were a little in doubt. Had the Kaffir undertaken the task of tracking them upon his own responsibility, or with the knowledge and at the instigation of his masters? In the former case only, would they be safe in destroying him.

In the latter, the act might be attended with danger. To make sure of this, one of the three men--Van Ormon's brother it was--proposed going back to the house, there, if possible, to ascertain how the case stood.

To this the other two readily consented; and, mounting his horse, he rode off for the kraal of his kinsman.

As soon as he was gone, the others tied Congo to a tree, and then seating themselves under the shade of the _cameel-doorn_, they proceeded to amuse themselves with a game of cards.

Four hours pa.s.sed,--hours that to the Kaffir seemed days. He was in a state of indescribable agony. The thongs of hide that bound his wrists to the branches were cutting into the flesh, and besides, there was before his mind the positive certainty that he had not much longer to live.

The fear of death, however, scarce gave him so much mental pain as his anxiety to know something of the fate of his companions, and his wish that Groot Willem should recover the giraffes. He now regretted that he had not revealed his suspicions at the last interview with his young master. This might have saved the hunters from their loss and himself from the fate that now threatened him. It was too late. He had acted for the best, but acted wrongly.

In the afternoon Van Ormon's brother came riding back to the camp.

"Well! what news?" asked James, as he came within speaking distance.

"It ish all right. Dey don't know nothing of what's up. Mine bruder have constant watch over their camp. They be in von quandary, and will soon go home."

"Is Van Ormon sure that they hadn't any communication with this Kaffir?"

asked James.

"Yes.h.!.+ they had. One of them came to the house, and saw this fella yesterday. But for all that, blackee never said von leetle word to him.

They were well watch while they wash togedder."

"Then perhaps it is not all right, as you say. They may have the same suspicion that led him here. Why the deuce don't they go off home? I don't like their hanging about so long."

"I tell you, Shames, it ish all right. We have only to get rid of the spy. He must never see the fools who own him, again. What ish we to do with him?"

"Send a bullet through his body," said the man who had been left in charge of the giraffes.

"Yes; he must be killed in that way or some other, certainly," said James; "but which of us is to do it? It's a pity we did not shoot him down while he was running. Then was the time. I don't like the thing, now that I've cooled down."

Bad as the ruffians were, none of them liked to commit a murder in cold blood. They had determined that Congo must die, yet none of them wished to act as the executioner.

After a good deal of discussion and some wrangling, a bright idea flashed across the brain of Van Ormon's brother. He proposed that their prisoner should be taken to a pool that was some distance down the gorge; that he be tied to a tree by the side of the pool, and left there for the night.

"I see de spoor of lion dare every mornin'," said he, grinning horribly as he spoke. "I'll bet mine life we find no more of dis black fella ash a few red spots."

This plan was agreeable to all; and at sundown the Kaffir was released from his fastenings, conducted down the narrow valley, and firmly spliced to a sapling that stood close to the edge of the pool.

To provide against any chance of his being heard and released by a stray traveller, a stick was stuck crosswise in his mouth, the bight of a string made fast over each end of it, and then securely knotted at the back of his head.

After taking a survey of his fastenings, to see that there was no danger of their coming undone, his cruel captors made him a mocking salute; and, bidding him "good bye," strode off towards their camp.

CHAPTER SEVENTY ONE.

A FIGHT BY FIRELIGHT.

Anxiously did Groot Willem wait for the next morning and the promised visit from Congo.

But the morning came and pa.s.sed without any Congo, Willem became impatient, and could not content himself any longer in the camp.

"This will not do," he exclaimed, as he saw that the sun was again going down in the sky. "We must not remain here. Perhaps Congo _cannot_ come. Of course he cannot, or he would have been here before now. We must look for him, but it will not do for all of us to go together.

Hendrik, will you come with me?"

Hendrik readily responded to the invitation. The two mounted their horses and rode off towards the residence of Van Ormon.

From the behaviour of Congo when Willem had last seen him, the latter was quite certain that his visits at the kraal were not desired. The Kaffir probably supposed that they might interfere with his plans, by bringing suspicion upon himself.

This, however, did not prevent Willem from going to see him once more.

Congo had broken his promise; and that was a proof that something must be wrong.

On their new visit to Mynheer Van Ormon, this gentleman did not take the slightest trouble to show them civility.

"Dat plack villen you call Congo," said he, "goed away last night. We thought he vash mit you. When you fints him again take him to der tuyfel, if you likes, and keep him dare."

"Do you think he has gone away from this place?" asked Willem of Hendrik, as they rode out from Van Ormon's enclosures.

"Yes," answered Hendrik; "I see no reason to doubt it."

"But why did he not come to me, as he promised?"

"There's some good reason for his not having done so."

"I wish I knew in what direction he has gone."

"That difficulty may soon be removed," said Hendrik. "I fancy I can tell it to a point of the compa.s.s. It will be found a little to east of north."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because it was in that quarter we encountered the two men on the day after the giraffes were missing. Moreover, we know they are not south, for that is the way those false guides wanted us to take."

Too excited to return to camp without doing something, Willem proposed that they should ride out on the plain towards the north-east, and see whether anything could be learned about Congo. To this Hendrik agreed; and, after going southward about a mile from Van Ormon's house, they turned, rode circuitously around it, and then struck off for the north-east.

They had no great hope of finding the object of their search, but it was necessary for them to do something; and, as Hendrik's surmise was not without some probability, they kept on.

After making about five miles across the plain, they came within sight of some hills that began to loom up on the horizon to the north-east.

They were still, to all appearance, about four miles distant.

"Just the place where our property might be concealed," suggested Hendrik. "No one would hide giraffes on a plain. If we do not find them yonder, and this very night, we deserve to lose them."

The sun was just setting as they reached the crest of the first range of hills. Looking back over the road they had just travelled, a horseman was seen coming across the plain, a mile distant from the spot where they had halted.

"If we watch that man," said Hendrik, "and not let him see us, we shall probably find what we're in search of. If not one of the thieves themselves, he looks to me very like a messenger going to them from Van Ormon's. From the behaviour of the boer, I'm now convinced that our giraffes have been stolen, and Van Ormon himself is the thief."