Part 10 (1/2)
A business-like appearance was that of the scene of operations. The animals were standing quietly about the large enclosure seventy yards in diameter, with its solid, bristling thorn-fence eight or nine feet high and its ma.s.sive five-barred gate. In the centre burnt--or rather smouldered, for it was of the red-hot glowing order--a great fire, over which bent the bronzed form of Xuvani, the cattle-herd, superintending the due heating of the branding-irons and gossiping in subdued gutturals with the other ”hands”--two Kafirs and a smart, wiry little Hottentot, who, with the _penchant_ of his race for scriptural appellations, rejoiced in the time-honoured and patriarchal one of Abram. Xuvani was a man of between fifty and sixty, of middle height, and of powerful, almost herculean build; the muscles stood out upon his limbs like great ropes, and a blow from his fist--that is, if he had known how to make use of his fists, which Kafirs very seldom do know--would have sufficed to fell an ox. He was rather light in colour, and his beard and woolly head were just shot with grey; there was shrewdness in his rugged features, and a twinkle of satiric humour lurked in his eye. He had been a long time in the service of his present master, who had found him a cut above the average Kafir in honesty and trustworthiness. Moreover, he was greatly looked up to by the other natives, not only on account of his great physical strength, but also as one who had shown his prowess in a marked manner during the wars which have been alluded to. Although far from quarrelsome by nature, Xuvani never needed a second challenge.
His kerries were all ready, as more than one party of Fingoes pa.s.sing Seringa Vale in search of employment could testify, to its sorrow.
Indeed, once he had expiated his share in one of these African Donnybrooks by a sentence of several months in gaol.
”Well, Xuvani!” sang out Hicks, as they slipped off their jackets and flung them on to the kraal fence--”Got the iron hot? All right, let's begin. Now then, Piet--what the devil are you standing there for, grinning like a Ches.h.i.+re cat? Lay hold of the _reim_ and catch that heifer.”
Piet, a stalwart Kafir, grinned all the harder, and drawing out the running noose of the _reim_ he made a cast, then, as the heifer ran over it, with a mighty jerk he drew it taut and the animal, noosed by the hind leg, fell. Before it could rise again they all threw themselves upon it, and in a trice its legs were securely bound while two men firmly held its head. In a second Hicks had taken the branding-iron from one of the Kafirs, and held it for half a minute lightly but firmly pressed against the fleshy part of the thigh. The poor brute groaned and struggled violently as it felt the hot iron; there was a sharp, hissing sound from the singeing hair, a foetid smoke arose, diffusing a smell of burnt flesh, and the operation was complete. Whatever danger there is in the performance generally falls to the lot of him who releases the victim, which not unfrequently, as soon as it feels its logs again, fiercely charges its emanc.i.p.ator, all the others having previously withdrawn themselves behind some of the other cattle standing about the kraal. The first animal, however, was not of an inherently vicious nature. Consequently, no sooner was it free than it ran off among its kindred, greatly scared and bewildered. All went merrily enough till they had got a fine black and white cow under the iron. She lay still, but there was rage mingled with pain in her groaning.
”She'll be at some of us when she gets up,” said Jeffreys, exerting all his strength to restrain the frenzied plunges of her pointed horns.
They stood aside, as, with a rapid turn of the wrist, Xuvani deftly cast loose her bonds. She sprang to her feet in a twinkling, and, lowering her head, furiously charged the old cattle-herd, who, there being no room for dodging, was constrained to run, with his late victim after him, head down, all ready to fling him a dozen feet in the air. But the consummate coolness and agility of the Kafir was to the fore. He zigzagged as he ran, to avoid a charge, then, seizing his opportunity, he sprang aside, and placing one hand between the animal's shoulders he vaulted lightly over her back as she sped past him and got in among the rest. A cheer broke from the spectators at this splendid feat, but before it had time to die, a shout of ”Look out, she's coming this way,”
sent them all scattering; and sure enough, singling out Jeffreys, she made at him like a streak of lightning. He just avoided her charge by dodging round the rear of a great trek ox, who was standing quietly wondering what the deuce all the hubbub was about. The furious charge of the maddened cow into his unoffending flanks may, or may not, have enlightened him on the point; anyhow, he resented the familiarity by las.h.i.+ng out with his heels, one of which coming in violent contact with the chin of his a.s.sailant had the effect of somewhat modifying that exuberant animal's spirits, and she slunk off in aggrieved fas.h.i.+on, all thoughts of vengeance at an end.
”By Jove!” said Claverton. ”Xuvani's a smart fellow. That's one of the neatest things I ever saw done.”
The old Kafir grinned a little, and they went on with the programme.
After two or three more beasts had been branded, Jeffreys remarked:
”Now then, you fellows, there are lively times in store. It's that bull's turn. I've been watching him, and he looks wicked--devilish wicked.” He pointed to the young bull which had been troublesome in the morning.
”All right,” said Claverton. ”That's my speciality. I made up my mind to have the burning of that chap when I turned him back twenty-one times this morning.”
”The branding's nothing; it's the letting him up that's the fishy part,”
said Jeffreys, with a thinly-veiled sneer.
Noose in hand the Kafirs advanced towards the bull, who was standing in a corner of the kraal, pawing up the ground, with his head down, and rolling his eyes viciously.
”Look out,” warned Hicks, ”he's all ready for a charge!”
Scarcely were the words out of his mouth than the animal sprang forward as the noose was thrown down in front of him; then, as he rushed over it, the thong was tightened, and he fell sprawling on all-fours and roaring hideously. He plunged and struggled as for dear life, but another jerk of the _reim_ threw him, and in ten seconds he was lying bound and helpless.
”Now then, Tambusa, bring the iron. Sharp's the word!” cried Claverton; then receiving it, he deliberately imprinted a neat B upon his prostrate foe, whose frenzied roars drowned the hissing of burnt flesh, as the moist steam rose in clouds from his tortured thigh.
”By Jove, there's a spree sticking out!” said Hicks, emphatically. ”We _shall_ have to mind our eye when he gets up. Are you ready, Xuvani?”
”No, he isn't. _I'm_ going to loosen the _reim_,” answered Claverton, preparing to make good his words.
”Bosh, old chap! Better let him do it, he's used to it,” remonstrated Hicks.
”Devil a bit. Now! Stand aside!” and as the others made themselves scarce, he drew off the noose, and the bull, springing to his feet, vented his feelings in an appalling roar as he glared round in search of somebody to pulverise. As luck would have it, at this moment a cow behind which Tambusa had taken refuge quietly walked away, thus disclosing that unfortunate aboriginal to the full view of the infuriated beast, which came straight at him there and then. Now Tambusa was a youthful Kafir, and naturally of a mild and unaggressive disposition, and when he saw the fierce brute making for him, he lost nerve and blindly fled. The kraal gate towered in front of him, and with the energy of despair he half leaped, half scrambled over it, and his foot catching the topmost bar he was hurled headlong, half-stunned and wholly bewildered, a dozen yards off upon the smooth green sward outside. His pursuer, without pausing, cleared the gate like a stag, and there he lay entirely at the mercy of the infuriated bull. Another minute, and he would be gored and torn in pieces. But a cool brain and determined heart was between him and certain death. Seizing his jacket from the hedge whereon it had been flung, Claverton was through the kraal gate in a twinkling, and not one second too soon, for the bull, who had been carried on some fifty yards by the impetus of his leap, had now turned, and with head lowered was thundering down upon his prostrate prey, ”brilling” [Note 1] savagely. At this juncture Claverton darted in front of him, and throwing out his jacket, after the manner of the _cappa_ of a _torero_, he succeeded in drawing off the headlong charge, which temporary respite Xuvani was able to make the most of by lugging his young compatriot through the gate again. Then the bull stopped, glared for a moment, and with a terrific roar came at Claverton again.
This time he nimbly leapt aside, striking the animal across the eyes with the jacket. Had the bull charged at that moment it would probably have gone hard with him, for what with the violent exertion and the tension of the nerves, he was somewhat exhausted; but it did not. And what a picture was that upon the smooth sward. There stood the red savage brute, the sun glistening on his sleek hide and white horns, las.h.i.+ng his tail and pawing up the ground with his hoofs; the foam dropping from his mouth as with head lowered he gathered himself for one more terrific rush. Facing him ten yards off--his intrepid adversary, unarmed and exposed to his full fury. The spectators might well hold their breath. And yet as he slowly retreated step by step, and though he never took his eyes off the bull, Claverton was aware of every single movement that went on around him. He knew that the doorway leading into the garden was thronged, mistress and servant alike being attracted by the frenzied roars of the maddened beast. He saw Ethel faint dead away, and then summoning up nerve and strength for one final effort, he flung the coat right upon the gleaming horns of the ferocious brute, as with a new fury begotten of its short respite it made its deadly charge.
Suddenly blinded, the bull stopped and began turning round and round in its efforts to free itself, for the jacket had caught firmly on its horns; but taking advantage of his dexterous _coup de main_, Claverton was over the gate again and safe, while his antagonist, having amused himself by tearing the garment to ribbons, trotted away down the kloof, growling in baffled wrath.
”Well, he can go, we've done with him this time, but Heaven help any n.i.g.g.e.r that has the ill luck to cross that chap's path within the next quarter of an hour,” were Claverton's first words. He was panting and breathless, but wanted to create a diversion from the string of congratulations which he knew was forthcoming; for, of all things, he hated a scene, and didn't see what there was to make a fuss about because a fellow had had a little spree with a bull, to divert his attention from a young idiot of a n.i.g.g.e.r who had been a.s.s enough to tumble head-over-heels just at the wrong moment. Whatever his faults, there wasn't a grain of vanity in the man.