Dead Man's Land Part 14

Just then he strode up to where the boys were talking.

"Lions?" said Mark, in a questioning tone.

The man smiled pleasantly, and the boy repeated his question; but it was plain that the black did not understand.

"Oomph! Oomph! Oomph!" growled Mark, in as near an imitation of the monarch of the forest's roar as he could contrive after a couple of visits to the Zoo; but it had no effect whatever on their surroundings till the black, who now fully grasped his meaning, crouched down and uttered a startling, barking roar which made two or three of the nearest bullocks start up and stare in their direction.

"Here, you, sir, stop that!" shouted Buck Denham, the driver of their waggon, the first being in charge of the Hottentot.

The black turned to him, smiling, and nodded, before meeting the boys'

eyes again and shaking his head.

Just then the doctor approached, to ask the reason of their guide's imitation.

"Oh," he said, on being informed, "don't encourage him in anything of that sort again, or we shall have a stampede of the ponies and bullocks.

Well, Mark, recollect that it's your first watch to-night."

"Oh, I shan't forget," was the reply. "But you don't think we have come out far enough yet to meet with dangerous wild beasts, do you?"

"Oh, indeed, but I do," replied the doctor. "We have left the last post of civilisation behind, and we may come upon danger at any time. Of course you will mount guard with one of the double rifles charged with bullet, and if there really is any suggestion of danger you will fire, so as to give the alarm. We shall come to your help directly."

"Oh, yes, I understand," said Mark confidently, and he pa.s.sed the intervening time before he received his orders going round their little camp with his cousin, watching the final preparations made by the drivers and forelopers, a couple of ordinary thick-lipped blacks, and then having a chat with the two keepers about what a change it was from the park and grounds of the old manor.

As the time approached, Mark, in spite of his a.s.sumed cheerfulness, could not master a slight feeling of discomfort. It was evidently going to be a cool, dark night. The very sound of it was startling to the lad--the announcement that he was to keep the full watch over their little camp of two waggons in a country where lions were common, and on one of the banks of the river which might very well be haunted by hippopotami and loathsome crocodiles.

The captain had spoken of its being called Reptile River, and of course that was what it meant. The very thought of it was alarming. He had read enough to know that hippopotami came out to feed by night, crus.h.i.+ng up the succulent weeds and softer canes, grinding all up in their huge portmanteau-like jaws, while it was a well known fact that the ponderous beasts would rush at and trample down anyone who came in their way.

All that was bad enough, but nothing to compare for horror with the thought of a huge lizard or newt-shaped creature lying in wait ready to seize upon human being or ordinary animal, and drag its prey down into some hole beneath the bank, ready to be devoured at the monster's leisure.

Mark tried very hard to chase away such thoughts, but they kept coming on, right up to the time when he finished his supper and met the doctor's eyes.

"Ready, Mark?" he said.

"Yes, sir," said the boy firmly.

"That's right," said his father. "Keep a sharp look out, my boy. We are all trusting you to take care of us for the next few hours.

Good-night."

"Good-night, father."

The boy shouldered the double rifle and followed the doctor.

"I should keep moving, Mark, my boy," said the latter. "It will occupy your attention and make the time seem to pa.s.s more quickly. It will keep you warm too, for it's sure to be very chilly later on. Stop here a minute or two. I just want to go to the forward waggon and say a word or two to the men. I will join you again directly."

Mark drew himself up stiffly as the doctor walked away, and then his heart seemed to give a bound, for there was a faint rustle just in front, and the boy brought his piece down to the present and made the locks click. "It's only me, sir," said a familiar voice. "You, Dan!"

cried the boy, pressing one hand on the region of his heart, which was beating fast.

"Yes, sir; just me. You need not shoot. I have been waiting till the doctor had gone. I thought as it was rather a new job for a youngster like you, I'd come and ask you whether you would like me to come and keep the watch with you. You see, it's all fresh to you, but it's the sort of thing I have been brought up to aboard s.h.i.+p."

"It is very good of you," said Mark, warming up at the man's thoughtfulness, "but you had better go and lie down and go to sleep."

"I don't want to go to sleep, sir."

"But you will lose your night's rest."

"Not me, sir. I shall just shut one eye in the morning and let that have a snooze for a couple of hours while I get on with my work or keep on tramp. Then when that one's rested I can make him open and let the other have a snooze."

"No, no, it won't do," said Mark firmly, much as he would have liked to have the man's company. "It's my duty to take the watch, and I must take it."

"Mean it, sir?"

"Certainly," replied Mark. "I wouldn't have it thought that--there, go away; the doctor's coming back."

The sailor slipped away, and the doctor rejoined the boy, and pointed out a beat for him which should take him right round the waggons and the two spans of oxen.

"There," he said, "you know what you have got to do--to fire if there is any cause for anxiety."

"And I suppose I had better not go too near the river?"

"Oh, I don't know," said the doctor. "It's a mere stream just about here, though I daresay it's pretty big after rain. Good-night. You will wake up your cousin at about two. Good-night."

"Good-night," replied Mark, and he felt that his words must have sounded short to the doctor and full of annoyance, for somehow he thought that it was not fair for him to go away and leave such a boy as he was; and besides, it seemed unkind after he had made such a plain allusion to the river, for the doctor to treat it so lightly. Of course he knew that it was only a little river, a mere stream; but then it was big lower down, and what was to prevent any dangerous beast or reptile from crawling up to lie in wait for anyone that was near?

"Never mind," muttered the boy, "I suppose it's natural to feel a bit nervous; but I am not going to show the white feather."

He stood still, listening and trying to make out the doctor's step, but he could not hear a sound.

It was very dark, not a star showing, for a faint mist hung above the trees, and for a long time the only thing he heard was a stamp that sounded startling until he made up his mind that it must have been a fidgety movement on the part of one of the ponies, and shouldering his rifle, he stepped out slowly so as to pa.s.s right round the little camp.

But even that was difficult, for it was not until he was close upon the waggons that he could make them out, and as he went on the big bullocks were only represented to him by what seemed to be so many clumps of bush or heaps of soil.

He walked as slowly as he could so as to make his rounds take up as much time as possible, and as he came to the end of each traverse he tried to think out how many minutes it must have taken. This slow march was completed four times, and then he came to the conclusion that about an hour of his watch must have pa.s.sed away, but only to alter his mind after a little thought and mentally see more clearly, that it could not be a quarter or even an eighth of what he realised now was going to be a very long and dreary watch.

"Well, it's no use to be impatient," he thought. "It's no worse for me than it will be for all the rest. One doesn't like it, but then the pleasure of the travelling and what we shall see right up in the hilly part where the great kopjes rise must make up for a bit of trouble."

He moved on again slowly, keeping a sharp look out in the direction of the stream and feeling convinced that he had heard a splash.

Then as he listened intently he was just about to come to the conclusion that it was fancy, when there was another, this time a regular heavy, wallowing sound. What it was he could not tell, but he felt sure that it must be some huge beast making its way through the shallow water and mud.

Mark's next thought was that the brute, whatever it might be, had left the river and was now stealing slowly towards him.

"Can't be a hippo," he thought, "or I should hear him cras.h.i.+ng through the reeds and bushes. No, it must be one of those loathsome great efts, the scaly slimy brutes, crawling softly;" and at the very thought of it he pressed thumb and finger upon c.o.c.k and trigger of his piece twice over so as to prepare for action without the premonitory click that accompanied the setting of each lock.

It was hard work to keep from turning sharply and running, but the boy set his teeth and mastered the desire. But he held his piece in front with two fingers on the triggers ready to fire, when all at once from a short distance behind him, and right in the direction in which he would have run, there came a deep, elongated puff as of some big animal, and he felt that his first idea was right, and that one of the huge hippos had caused the wallowing sound in leaving the stream and then made its way right behind him so as to cut him off from his friends.

"The doctor might well tell me to load with ball," he said. "Why, a shot gun would not have sent the pellets through the monster's hide."

There was a repet.i.tion of the heavy breath, apparently much nearer, which set the boy's heart thumping rapidly within his chest, and then the heavy beating began to subside as rapidly as it had commenced, for he said to himself, "Oh, you cowardly fool! Why, I am standing close to the bullocks;" and he stepped boldly out in the direction from which the heavy breathing had come, and began to speak softly to the great sleek animals, a couple of them responding with what sounded like so many sighs.