THE ADVENTURES OF SAMBO AND POMPEY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2090, 15 March 1894, Page 45

THE ADVENTURES OF SAMBO AND POMPEY.

By Murray Aston.

A STORY OF AFRICAN ADVENTURE.

Chapter IX. Rhinoceros in Camp.— Elephants.

The splendid " deal " which the party had effected with the Bosjesman hunter seemed to arouse an amount of gceed in their minds which not even their discovery of silver and gold in the cave of the freebooters had evoked. Jamrach seemed particularly elated, and promised Sambo and Pompey a large figure for their share of the proceeds from the ostrich feathers. Truth to tell, the Boer had as yet seen so little of the precious metals in the course of his life that he evidently failed to realise their intrinsic value. Ivory or feathers he was, however, quite " at home " with, and had a very fair idea indeed of their relative prices in the market. "De diamondts vill be mid na soon," he said, as they sat one night around their camp fire. "How many more days' journey do jou think before we arrive at the river 1 " asked the doctor. " Not more den dree 1 " was the reply. " And shall we have much hard work to do before we can get the diamonds ? " said the doctor. " Eh, no ; not ad all. Ye joost pick them op in de bed of de riber." •• Oh I that will be grand," sighed the doctor. " I shall be glad to make a good return to my patron for the confidenco he has so liberally bestowed in me, and you, friend Jamrach, will derive substantial benefit, even if your diamonds turn out to be nothing but ordinary river pebbles. What -with oar silver, our gold, and our ostrich feathers, we form a very wealthy company already. What more can we want to satisfy us 1 " he jokingly inquired. " Veil, I dink a few large tusks of ivory would be vera goot, mien friendt. Ibe vera satisfied den." "I doubt it," replied the doctor. "The more we get the more we want. It is the way of the world all over. I, however, shall feel content if I can reach home with what we have already secured. The ancient money, the feathers, the bars of gold, my specimens — my belovedspecimens 1 " he repeated, throning as he did a tender glance towards the waggon in which his treasures lay securely packed. Then addressing the Zulus* he Baid : " Pile np the fire, my boys. We are well in the wilds now. Our journey is nearly over, and we must spare no pains to ensure oar safety. Ah 1 what is that 1 " he exclaimed, as a strange snorting sound, followed by a loud barking from the dogs, startled them to their feet. A huge black mass suddenly emerged from the darkness and charged straight on the fire, through which it rushed regardless of the heat, and grazing the form of Jamrach in its mad onslaught. The creature, whatever it was, appeared to have lost its senses, and was satisfied with the commotion it had created, for it continued its headlong career, closely attended by the two hounds, whoee deep baying was heard to grow gradually fainter, and at length to die away in the distance. " Tiiat must have been a rhinoceros," slid the doctor. " I hope he won't return. Get your guns ready; although a bullet is not much good except at close quarters." All the party gathered together with their rifles at the present, but their foe was, not to come back that evening. " I never saw one before," exclaimed the doctor. " What a lively beast he was to be sure. He charged us with wonderful speed, although he is so clumsy-looking." '.'Dot fellow could catch a horse," said Jamrach. " What does he live on 1 " asked the professor. "Principally roodts, I dink," replied Jamrach; "and branches of drees," he added. " Where shall we fire if we meet another? " asked the doctor. "Dar best blace ib joost behindt der shouldterl Vender lungs is vounded der animal vera soon dies." "Ah 1 that's worth knowing," replied the other. "I vould rader face five lions dan yon rhinoceros," went on the Boer. "Dey are terrible yellows to fide. Vonce I saw four of dem fiding mid each oder. I shot two of dem, but yon vos so covered mid vounds dot I could not use him vor food. Dere are two sorts, yon black and yon wbide. Der whide yon is goot eading — moch bedder dan de oder, de black fellow!" " For my part," said the doctor, " I would rather not taste either the black or white rhinoceros, although I know that both are spoken of as good for food, especially the white variety, as you have just been saying, Jamrach." The return of the doge to camp, looking very tired and sheepish, here caused the doctor some solicitude for their welfare. They had, however, escaped injury from the savage monster, and the remainder of the night passed without incident. On making their start the following morniDg Sambo and Fompey took their rifles only. Jamrach had said they might come across another rhinoceros, and the part of the country they were now traversing was so full of game that elephants might be met with. The Boer enjoined great caution, and told the Zulus that the elephant never thought of looking elsewhere than on the ground for its foe, so he advised them to seek refuge in the nearest tree if they should come across a herd, not forgetting to take their guns with them. At this suggestion the boys smiled, a very broad smile indeed. They, however, were as usual very cautious, staying every few yards to listen for the proximity of elephants, for these animals can often be only detected by one sound, which thay are continually giving forth. This resembles the bubbling of wine when

poured from a bottle, and is caused by the large amount of water which is stored in their interior. Sure enough, this peculiar noise fell upon their ears during the occasion of one of their halts. Peering in the direction from which it came they failed j to detect any sign of the animals, but the sound was sufficiently close to indicate danger. So they forthwith quickly sought safety in the branches of a large tree. In the course of a minute or so they made out a herd of five huge creatures standing quietly in the forest. In Bpite of their enormous dimensions, of some 9ft in height, they were almost invisible even to the practised eye of the natives. They .were all males, and were armed with huge tusks ; but there was one fellow far larger than his companions, whose ivory must have been worth nearly £100. Sambo whispered to Pompey to fire at that one, and the two lads, taking steady aim at the head of the monster, fired together. A tremendous rushing sound followed, and then all was still. The elephants had vanished. Descending the tree the Zulus made a minute examination of the spot where the animals bad been, an 3 were rewarded by the discovery of huge drops of blood, which spoke plainly enough that one of the bullets, if not both, had gone home. (To be continued.)

"I am afraid I have hurt you," said the little girl gently. " Ob, do not mind that," said the lily ; "you did not mean to doit, and it is only when people mean to be unkind that it really hurts. lam not quite happy," she went on, "for I have something on my mind." The little girl was very much surprised at the lily talking about having a mind, but she did not say so ; she only said, "Do tell me what it is? I might be able to comfort you." " I do not think anyo ne can do that," said the lily ; " but I will tell you if you sit down beside me and do not look at me so much ; it makes me nervous." It was still more surprising to the little girl to hear that the lily had nerves, but she made no remark. " When I was quite a child," the lily began, " I wasn't at all pretty, but grew up above the ground in such a queer shape — in two or three long spikes — and after I had grown up a little, and had began to understand what was going on around me, I made the acquaintance of my companions on each side of me." Here the lily gave a little sigh. " One was a marigold, and the other had a queer name — very foreign it sounds to me still. It was a nasturtium." •• Ob, ye<«, I know it." "Do you?" said the lily. "Well, these two grew up and soon passed me, and had flowers on them before I was any height, and then they began to make fun of me and say I was Buch a fright, and that they were quite ashamed of me, and wished I had never been born." " That was very naughty indeed," said the little girl. " I bore it a long time," the lily went on ; " but one day I was so aggravated that I called the nasturtium a nasty, smelly thirg, which was a most unladylike thing for me to do ; and worse than that, far worse, I said that I wished the other would die, for it worried me most. " Poor lily," said Little Blue Eyes, stroking her leaves. "Well, that is not all," and the lily trembled, "from that day the little marigold grew quiet. Itjdid not tease me any more — but it seemed to droop, and as the days went on'it grew Bicker and sicker, until at last it really did die," aud the poor lily bent and swayed to and fro as she sobbed aloud. " Oh, don't cry," said the little girl gently ; " you didn't really mean that it should die." " I don't know ; perhaps I did, but I have had terrible remorse ever since." " And what did the nasturtium do 1 " " Ob, it forgave me after the marigold died, and we became good friends, and though it always had a disagreeable smell, I

must be very good, and that she was to shut up her eyes tight, and count ten if she could, and by that time the leaves would be off. Well, the lily, who had evidently thought the matter over, and was looking very pale but determined to do what was right, did shut her eyes and did her best to count ten. Indeed she had time to count far more, for Little Blue Eyes had cut off the leaves and was standing waiting for the lily to speak long before she had stopped counting. When the lily looked up at last and the little girl showed her the leaves, she couldn't believe her eyes, as you might Bay, that they were really off, except that she felt so happy and couldn't keep from smiling, and ycu have no idea how exquisitely lovely the smiles made her. Just look at yourselves when you are frowning or in a bad temper, and smile suddenly, and then you will see what I mean. After that the lily was never seen to look unhappy again. Indeed, she grew so happy that all the flowers near her became happier too, and the little fir tree often said he would scarcely have known her. However, to return to the little girl. That was a most busy day in the garden for her. She was out and in all day, talking to the flowers and the shrubs, and snipping' off the dead leaves everywhere, in case they were hurting the flowers, and she never forgot to ask if tbey were sorry before she did so. Sometimes the flowers answered that they were sorry, but whether they properly understood the little girl or not I really could not say. If they didn't answer at all when she asked if they were sorry Fhe said she hoped tbey were and snipped off the leaves all the same. Well, the days went on, and the little fir tree went on growing, and everything went on as usual, except that all the flowers, or nearly every one, went off to sleep uuder the ground, as they said it was far too cold for them to be out of bed. However, the cold time paßsed away and the spring came again, and the fir tree, who bad kept up very well all through the cold weather withoub any of his friends except the little girl and the ivy, began to feel very, very happy, for he knew that in a very short time — any morning in fact — he might be looking over the wall , and not only that, but that his friend the lily and all the other flowers would soon be awake and talking to him again. Indeed he could often feel the little primroses and violets and daisies stirring in their beds under him, as the little babies do in their cradles before tbey wake up, and lie knew from that that they would soon be all peeping up at him. Well, one sunny spring morning the little girl came ranning down into the garden to see how the little fir tree was getting on, when —will you believe it— that little fir tree '

fir tree said, talking in her sleep as if she had heard everything. In fact", it was such a time of joy and happiness everywhere and for everybody that Little Bine Eyes thought that never — no. never, even on a birthday — had she had each a happy and eventful day. England, December 7, 1893.