Hunting the Lions | Page 4

comrades and carving a
piece of wood with his penknife.
"Does the real felicity, major, result from the tobacco or the
surrounding circumstances?" asked Wilkins.
"From both, Bob," replied the other with a smile, "and you need not
spoil my felicity by repeating your well-known set of phrases about the
evils of smoking, for I know them all by heart, and I dare say so does
Tom."
"Impossible," said Wilkins; "I have not yet been two weeks in his
company; he cannot, therefore, have heard a tithe of the irresistible
arguments which I bring to bear on that pernicious practice, and which
I hope some day to throw into shape and give to the public in the form
of a bulky volume."
"Which will end in smoke," interrupted the major.
"In a literal sense, too," added Tom Brown, "for it will be sold as
waste-paper and be made up into matches."
"We shall see," retorted Wilkins, cutting carefully round the right
nostril of a baboon's head which he had carved on the end of a
walking-stick; "meanwhile, major, as you are better acquainted than we
are with this outlandish country, and have taken on yourself the
leadership of the party, will you condescend to give Tom Brown and
me some idea of your intended movements--that is, if smoke and
felicity will permit you to do so?"
"With pleasure, my dear fellow," said the major puffing vigorously for
a few moments to get his pipe well alight. "It was my intention to make
for Big Buffalo's Village, or kraal as they call it here, and, getting the
assistance of some of his sable Majesty's subjects, hunt the country in
his neighbourhood, but I heard from Hicks this morning, before we left
the camp, that a band of traders, at a kraal not far from us, are about to

start for the Zulu country, and it struck me that we might as well join
forces and advance together, for I prefer a large party to a small
one--there is generally more fun to be got out of it."
"Would it be well to tie ourselves to any one?" asked Tom Brown. "I
have always found that a small party is more manageable than a large
one however, I do but throw out the suggestion in all humility."
"He shall not necessarily be tied to them," replied the major, re-lighting
his pipe, which had a bad habit of going out when he talked; "we may
keep company as long as we find it agreeable to do so, and part when
we please. But what say you to the change of plan? I think it will bring
us into a better hunting country."
"Whatever you think best, major, will please me," said Tom, "for I'm
ignorant of everything here and place myself entirely under your
directions."
"And I am agreeable," added Bob Wilkins.
"You are neither agreeable nor grammatical," said the major.
"Well, if you insist on it, I'm agreed. But do put your pipe out, Tom,
and let us resume our march, for we have a long way to go, and much
work to do before reaching the camp to-night."
Thus admonished, Tom Brown made an extinguisher of the end of his
forefinger, put his short clay pipe in his waistcoat pocket, and,
shouldering his rifle, followed his companions into the forest, on the
edge of which they had been resting.
The country through which they passed was extremely beautiful,
particularly in the eyes of our hero, for whom the magnificence of
tropical vegetation never lost its charms. The three sportsmen had that
morning left their baggage, in a wagon drawn by oxen, in charge of
Hicks the trader, who had agreed to allow them to accompany him on a
trading expedition, and to serve them in the capacity of guide and
general servant. They had made a detour through the forest with a party

of six natives, under the guidance of a Caffre servant named Mafuta,
and were well repaid for the time thus spent, by the immense variety of
insects and plants which the naturalists found everywhere. But that
which delighted them most was the animal life with which the whole
region teemed. They saw immense herds of wolves, deer of various
kinds, hyenas, elands, buffalo, and many other wild beasts, besides
innumerable flocks of water-fowl of all kinds. But they passed these
unmolested, having set their hearts that day on securing higher game.
As Wilkins said, "nothing short of a lion, an elephant, a rhinoceros, or
hippopotamus" would satisfy them and that they had some chance of
securing one or more of these formidable brutes was clear, because
their voices had been several times heard, and their footprints had been
seen everywhere.
About an hour after resuming their walk, the major went