Part 39 (1/2)
”I told her you were the white man's son, and she has seen for herself Maybe her words one the son takes his place But in ti is soreat need for us ahead”
Withoutlions” rolled themselves in their blankets and enjoyed the rare luxury of an untroubled sleep, and when they awoke they were in a vast lagoon, out of which stood the bleached skeletons of dead trees, with gaunt bare branches, in all manner of fantastic shapes But it was only the trees that were dead, for the astonished eyes of the boys rested on such a multiplicity of animal life as they had never before seen Birds roosted on the aforesaid dead branches--sooty ibis, white pelicans, crows, kingfishers, and here and there, like sentinels on the tople, with his hooked bill, dos of duck and wisps of snipe in battalions, rows of cranes with their long legs trailing, and on the surface of the sinally by uprooted trees, and under the water, there were yet innu for all There were flies and gnats for the frogs, tadpoles and the spawn of frogs for the little fishes, little fishes were preyed on by the ducks and the big fishes, while the birds and the big fishes in turn provided breakfast, dinner, and supper for the crocodiles Apparently the crocodiles were too tough, too musky, and too powerful, to serve as food for any other aniher up in the scale; but it is not to be supposed that they had merely to open their jaws to snatch a meal, for there were shallows all about where the waders could go to sleep in peace, standing on one leg And there they stood, regiments of theoes, and wild geese And the noise was treht into the thick of this sportsman's paradise, and froaily advanced tocloud around her, only kept off fro up the crew by theand nificent speci ”If we had only brought an air-gun--for I suppose we cannot fire”
”Look at those fat geese in a row,” said Compton ”What a stew they would make Just one shot, sir”
”It won't do,” said Mr Huh to wake the seven sleepers”
”There is another way,” said Muata
”What way?”
”A line such as you used for fish--see” He shaved off so, chewed it, and dropped it astern An inquisitive teal watched hiander, curiously ta its neck in imitation of the swan The boys were at the lockers in a flash, drew out a couple of lines, bent on a large hook, buoyed it, by the advice of Mr Hume, between two floats, baited the hooks, and payed the line over the stem, while Muata dropped over a few eese following in the wake of the Okapi, and in less than a ander, while Venning had a fat duck in tow The Okapi was backed full speed astern and the astonished fowl pulled on board before they knehat had happened The geese sheered off at once, speaking to each other in subdued tones, but in the next quarter of an hour threeThen a piratical craft appeared in the very thick of the peaceful convoy, opened its broadside, as it were, and engulfed a couple There was a swirl in the water, a resounding s scaley tail, and a third foent the way of the others Beating their wings, the duck rose with loud quacks to seek the safety of a shallow, and the leery green eyes of the piratical crocodile appeared above the disturbed water
”You old thief!” cried Venning
”It is his hunting-ground,” said Muata, with a chuckle, as he passed the birds to his an at once to pluck theetables,” said Cory for a week”
The pot was got out, water froain, then, as each bird was cleaned, it was cut up and placed in the pot, the offal falling to the share of the jackal It was a great e, potatoes, onions, and carrots, all mixed up, and when it had been eaten down to the last drop, with a dose of quinine for safety, and a cup of coffee for comfort, they were all shi+ny and happy The oily fat from the birds, which for, had been carefully removed, and when it had cooled, Muata and his mother rubbed it over their faces, necks, arared!” said Co his teeth ”You try”
”Better for the guns, chief''
”Wow! and for the big knife;” and the chief polished up his Ghoorka blade, while the boys greased the rifles and stared at the chief's wife, thinking, as they stared, of the adventures which she had been through since she fled from the kraal of her husband, driven out by the slave-hunters They had seen old black woes, wrinkled old crones, phenomenally thin; but this woman was not ly as those others had been, for she carried herself straight, and there was a dignity about her actions whenever shebare arms But they came to the conclusion that she was not a person to sew on buttons, for there was a hard look about the eyes, and the whole cast of the face was set and stem It did not see the careless laughter of native wo, she was atoout of her, and turned their attention to the lagoon, which stretched away a good ten e of forest Evidently the forest had grohere the shalloaters noere, as the dead trees testified
”The land has sunk about here,” said Venning, ”and underneath there must be a coal-bed in process of formation Now, if there were hills around, and a nice clean sand-beach, I should like to spend months here”
”Tooin, ”there are hills”
”Where? Over there? Why, that's a cloud!”
”Perhaps so; but the cloud rests on a hill-top Isn't that so, Muata?”
”Those be the gates to the Place of Rest”
”By Ji to be excited about
Muata held up five fingers ”So many suns will rise and set”
”And does the forest lie in between?”