The Bush Boys | Page 5

riders disappeared under its dun shadow!
Von Bloom rose to his feet, now seriously alarmed. What could it
mean?
The exclamation to which he gave utterance brought little Truey and
Totty from the house; and Hans with Jan had now got back with the
sheep and goats. All saw the singular phenomenon, but none of them
could tell what it was. All were in a state of alarm.
As they stood gazing, with hearts full of fear, the two riders appeared
coming out of the cloud, and then they were seen to gallop forward
over the plain in the direction of the house. They came on at full speed,
but long before they had got near, the voice of Swartboy could be heard
crying out,--
"Baas Von Bloom! da springhaans are comin!--da springhaan!--da
springhaan!"
CHAPTER THREE.
THE "SPRINGHAAN."
"Ah! the springhaan!" cried Von Bloom, recognising the Dutch name

for the far-famed migratory locust.
The mystery was explained. The singular cloud that was spreading
itself over the plain was neither more nor less than a flight of locusts!
It was a sight that none of them, except Swartboy, had ever witnessed
before. His master had often seen locusts in small quantities, and of
several species,--for there are many kinds of these singular insects in
South Africa. But that which now appeared was a true migratory locust
(Gryllus devastatorius); and upon one of its great migrations--an event
of rarer occurrence than travellers would have you believe.
Swartboy knew them well; and, although he announced their approach
in a state of great excitement, it was not the excitement of terror.
Quite the contrary. His great thick lips were compressed athwart his
face in a grotesque expression of joy. The instincts of his wild race
were busy within him. To them a flight of locusts is not an object of
dread, but a source of rejoicing--their coming as welcome as a take of
shrimps to a Leigh fisherman, or harvest to the husbandman.
The dogs, too, barked and howled with joy, and frisked about as if they
were going out upon a hunt. On perceiving the cloud, their instinct
enabled them easily to recognise the locusts. They regarded them with
feelings similar to those that stirred Swartboy--for both dogs and
Bushmen eat the insects with avidity!
At the announcement that it was only locusts, all at once recovered
from their alarm. Little Truey and Jan laughed, clapped their hands, and
waited with curiosity until they should come nearer. All had heard
enough of locusts to know that they were only grasshoppers that neither
bit nor stung any one, and therefore no one was afraid of them.
Even Von Bloom himself was at first very little concerned about them.
After his feelings of apprehension, the announcement that it was a
flight of locusts was a relief, and for a while he did not dwell upon the
nature of such a phenomenon, but only regarded it with feelings of
curiosity.

Of a sudden his thoughts took a new direction. His eye rested upon his
fields of maize and buckwheat, upon his garden of melons, and fruits,
and vegetables: a new alarm seized upon him; the memory of many
stories which he had heard in relation to these destructive creatures
rushed into his mind, and as the whole truth developed itself, he turned
pale, and uttered new exclamations of alarm.
The children changed countenance as well. They saw that their father
suffered; though they knew not why. They gathered inquiringly around
him.
"Alas! alas! Lost! lost!" exclaimed he; "yes, all our crop--our labour of
the year--gone, gone! O my dear children!"
"How lost, father?--how gone?" exclaimed several of them in a breath.
"See the springhaan! they will eat up our crop--all--all!"
"'Tis true, indeed," said Hans, who being a great student had often read
accounts of the devastations committed by the locusts.
The joyous countenances of all once more wore a sad expression, and it
was no longer with curiosity that they gazed upon the distant cloud,
that so suddenly had clouded their joy.
Von Bloom had good cause for dread. Should the swarm come on, and
settle upon his fields, farewell to his prospects of a harvest. They would
strip the verdure from his whole farm in a twinkling. They would leave
neither seed, nor leaf, nor stalk, behind them.
All stood watching the flight with painful emotions. The swarm was
still a full half-mile distant. They appeared to be coming no nearer,--
good!
A ray of hope entered the mind of the field-cornet. He took off his
broad felt hat, and held it up to the full stretch of his arm. The wind was
blowing from the north, and the swarm was directly to the west of the
kraal. The cloud of locusts had approached from the