The Bush Boys Part 15

The three began to grow impatient. Hendrik asked leave to creep round to another point, and give him a shot that would turn him round.

Just at that moment the elephant made a motion, as though he was about to come out of the water.

He had got fairly round--his head and forepart were over dry land--the three guns were pointed--the eyes of the three hunters were about to glance through the sights of their pieces, when all at once he was seen to rock and stagger,--and then roll over! With a loud plash, his vast body subsided into the water, sending great waves to every corner of the lake.

The hunters unc.o.c.ked their guns, and, springing from their ambush, rushed forward to the bank. They saw at a glance that the elephant was dead. They saw the wound upon his side,--the hole made by the horn of the rhinoceros. It was not very large, but the terrible weapon had penetrated far into his body, into his very vitals. No wonder, then, at the result it had produced--the death of the mightiest of quadrupeds.

As soon as it became known that the elephant was dead, everybody was seen rus.h.i.+ng forward to the spot. Little Truey and Jan were called from their hiding-place--for they had both been hidden in the wagon--and Totty, too, went down with the rest. Swartboy was one of the first upon the spot, carrying an axe and a large knife--for Swartboy had designs upon the carca.s.s--while Hans and Hendrik both threw off their jackets to a.s.sist in the butchering operations.

And what during this time was Von Bloom about? Ha! That is a more important question than you think for. That was an important hour--the hour of a great crisis in the life of the field-cornet.

He was standing with folded arms on the bank of the lake, directly over the spot where the elephant had fallen. He appeared to be wrapt in silent meditation, his eyes bent upon the huge carca.s.s of the animal.

No, not on the carca.s.s. A close observer would have perceived that his eyes did not wander over that mountain of thick skin and flesh, but were resting upon a particular spot.

Was it the wound in the animal's side? And was Von Bloom meditating how the thrust had caused the death of such a huge creature?

Neither one nor the other. His thoughts were upon a very different theme from either.

The elephant had fallen so that his head was clear of the water, and rested upon a little bank of sand; along which, his soft and limber trunk lay extended to its full length. Curving like a pair of gigantic scimitars from its base, were the yellow enamelled tusks; those ivory arms that for years,--ay centuries, perhaps,--had served him to root up the trees of the forest, and rout his antagonists in many a dread encounter. Precious and beautiful trophies were they, but alas! their world-wide fame had cost no less than life to many thousands of his race.

s.h.i.+ning in all their magnificence lay these mated crescents, gently curved and softly rounded. It was upon _these_ that the eyes of the field-cornet were bent.

Ay, and bent too with an eagerness unusual in his glance. His lips were compressed, his chest was visibly heaving. Oh! there was a world of thoughts pa.s.sing through the mind of Von Bloom at that moment.

Were they painful thoughts? The expression of his face told the contrary. The cloud that all that day sat perched upon his brow had vanished. Not a trace of it remained, but in its place could be seen the lines of hope and joy, and these feelings at length found expression in words.

"It is the hand of Heaven!" he exclaimed aloud. "A fortune--a fortune!"

"What is it, papa?" inquired little Truey, who was near him; "what were you speaking about, dear papa?"

And then all the others gathered around him, noticing his excited manner, and pleased at seeing him look so happy.

"What is it, papa?" asked all together, while Swartboy and Totty stood eager as the rest to hear the answer.

In the pleasant excitement of his thoughts, the fond father could no longer conceal from his children the secret of his new-born happiness.

He would gratify them by disclosing it.

Pointing to the long crescents he said,--

"You see those beautiful tusks?"

Yes, of course, they all did.

"Well, do you know their value?"

No. They knew they were worth something. They knew that it was from elephants' tusks that ivory was obtained, or, more properly, that elephants' tusks were ivory itself; and that it was used in the manufacture of hundreds of articles. In fact, little Truey had a beautiful fan made out of it, which had been her mother's; and Jan had a knife with an ivory handle. Ivory was a very beautiful material and cost very dear, they knew. All this they knew, but the value of the two tusks they could not guess at. They said so.

"Well, my children," said Von Bloom, "as near as I can estimate them, they are worth twenty pounds each of English money."

"Oh! oh! Such a grand sum!" cried all in a breath.

"Yes," continued the field-cornet; "I should think each tusk is one hundred pounds in weight, and as ivory at present sells for four s.h.i.+llings and sixpence the pound weight, these two would yield between forty and fifty pounds of sterling money."

"Why, it would buy a full span of best oxen!" cried Hans.

"Four good horses!" said Hendrik.

"A whole flock of sheep!" added little Jan.

"But whom can we sell them to?" asked Hendrik, after a pause. "We are away from the settlements. Who is to give us either oxen, or horses, or sheep, for them? It would not be worth while to carry two tusks all the way--"

"Not _two_, Hendrik," said his father, interrupting him; "but _twenty_ it might,--ay, twice twenty, or three times that number. Now, do you understand what makes me so gay?"

"Oh!" exclaimed Hendrik, as well as the others, who now began to perceive what their father was so joyed about, "you think we can obtain more tusks in these parts?"

"Precisely so. I think there are many elephants here. I feel certain of it from the quant.i.ty of their spoor I have already noticed. We have our guns, and fortunately, plenty of ammunition. We are all pretty fair shots--why can we not obtain more of these valuable trophies?

"But we shall," continued Von Bloom. "I know we shall, because I recognise the hand of G.o.d in sending us this wealth in the midst of our misery--after we had lost everything. More will come by the guiding of the same hand. So be of good cheer, my children! We shall not want--we shall yet have plenty--we may be _rich_!"

It was not that any of those young creatures cared much about being rich, but because they saw their father so happy, that they broke out into something more than a murmur of applause. It was, in fact, a cheer, in which both Totty and Swartboy joined. It rang over the little lake, and caused the birds about settling to roost to wonder what was going on. There was no happier group in all Africa than stood at that moment upon the sh.o.r.e of that lonely little vley.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

TURNED HUNTERS.

The field-cornet, then, had resolved upon turning hunter by profession-- a hunter of elephants; and it was a pleasant reflection to think, that this occupation promised, not only exciting sport, but great profit. He knew that it was not so easy a matter to succeed in killing such large and valuable game as elephants. He did not suppose that in a few weeks or months he would obtain any great quant.i.ties of their ivory spoils; but he had made up his mind to spend even years in the pursuit. For years he should lead the life of a Bushman--for years his sons would be "Bush-boys," and he hoped that in time his patience and toil would be amply rewarded.

That night around the camp-fire all were very happy and very merry. The elephant had been left where he lay, to be cut up on the morrow. Only his trunk had been taken off--part of which was cooked for supper.

Although all the flesh of the elephant is eatable, the trunk is esteemed one of the delicate bits. It tastes not unlike ox-tongue; and all of them liked it exceedingly. To Swartboy, who had made many a meal upon "de ole klow," it was a highly-relished feast.

They had plenty of fine milk, too. The cow, now upon the best of pasture, doubled her yield; and the quant.i.ty of this, the most delicious of all drinks, was sufficient to give every one a large allowance.

While enjoying their new-fas.h.i.+oned dish of roast elephant-trunk, the conversation naturally turned upon these animals.

Everybody knows the appearance of the elephant, therefore a description of him is quite superfluous. But everybody does not know that there are two distinct kinds of this gigantic quadruped--the _African_ and _Asiatic_.

Until a late period they were thought to be of the same species. Now they are acknowledged to be, not only distinct, but very different in many respects. The Asiatic, or, as it is more frequently called, the "Indian" elephant is the larger of the two; but it is possible that domestication may have produced a larger kind, as is the rule with many animals. The African species exists only in a wild state; and it would appear that individuals of this kind have been measured having the dimensions of the largest of the _wild_ Asiatic elephants.

The most remarkable points of difference between the two are found in the ears and tusks. The ears of the African elephant are of enormous proportions, meeting each other above the shoulders, and hanging down below the breast. Those of the Indian elephant are scarce one-third the size. In his grand tusks the former has far the advantage--these in some individuals weighing nearly two hundred pounds each--while the tusks of the latter rarely reach the weight of one hundred. To this, however, there are some exceptions. Of course a two hundred pound tusk is one of the very largest, and far above the average even of African elephants. In this species the females are also provided with tusks-- though not of such size as in the males--whereas the female of the Indian elephant has either no tusks at all, or they are so small as to be scarcely perceptible outside the skin of the lips. The other chief points of difference between the two are that the front of the Asiatic elephant is concave, while that of the African is convex; and the former has four h.o.r.n.y toes or _sabots_ on the hind-foot, where only three appear upon that of the latter. The enamel of the teeth presents still another proof of these animals being different in species.

Nor are all Asiatic elephants alike. In this species there are varieties which present very distinct features; and, indeed, these "varieties," as they are called, appear to differ from each other, nearly as much as any one of them does from the African kind.

One variety known among Orientals by the name of "mooknah," has straight tusks that _point downward_, whereas the usual habit of these singular appendages is to _curve upward_.

Asiatics recognise two main _castes_, or perhaps species, among their elephants. One known as "coomareah," is a deep-bodied, compact, and strong animal, with large trunk and short legs. The other called "merghee," is a taller kind, but neither so compact nor strong as the coomareah, nor has he so large a trunk. His long legs enable him to travel faster than the coomareah; but the latter having a larger trunk (a point of beauty among elephant-owners) and being capable of enduring more fatigue, is the favourite, and fetches a larger price in the Oriental market.