Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz
Category: Nonfiction
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creep at the thought of what would have happenedif they had remained below. Nell, nestling close to him, shook as ifshe already were suffering the first attack of fever, but the tree atleast protected them from an attack of lions. Kali plainly had savedtheir lives.
It was, however, a horrible night--the most horrible in the entirejourney.
They sat like drenched birds on a twig, listening to what was happeningbelow. And there for some time a deep silence continued, but soon camea peculiar sound as though of lapping, smacking of torn-off pieces offlesh, together with the horses' heavy breathing and the groans of themonsters.
The odor of the raw meat and blood reached up to the tree, as the lionsfeasted not farther than twenty paces from the zareba.
And they feasted so long that in the end anger seized Stas. He seizedthe rifle and fired in the direction of the sounds.
But he was answered only by a broken, irritated roar, after whichresounded the cracking of bones, rattling in powerful jaws. In thedepths glared the blue and red eyes of hyenas and jackals waiting fortheir turn.
And thus the long hours of the night passed away.
IV
The sun finally rose and illuminated the jungle, groups of trees, andthe forest. The lions had disappeared before the first ray began togleam on the horizon. Stas commanded Kali to build a fire. Mea wasordered to take Nell's clothes out of the leather bag in which theywere packed, to dry them, and to dress anew the little girl as soon aspossible; while Stas himself, taking his rifle, proceeded to visit thecamp and at the same time to view the devastation wrought by the stormand the two midnight assassins.
Immediately beyond the zareba, of which only the pickets remained, laythe first horse almost half devoured; about a hundred paces farther thesecond, barely touched, and immediately behind him the third,disemboweled, and with crushed head. All presented a horrible sight;their eyes were open, full of settled terror, and their teeth werebared. The ground was trampled upon; in the depressions were wholepuddles of blood. Stas was seized with such rage that at the moment healmost wished that the shaggy head of a marauder, sluggish after thenocturnal feast, would emerge from some cluster of trees that he mightput a bullet in him. But he had to postpone his revenge to a later timefor at present he had something else to do. It was necessary to findand capture the remaining horses. The boy assumed that they must havesought shelter in the forest, and that the same was true of Saba, whosebody was nowhere to be seen. The hope that the faithful companion inmisfortune had not fallen a victim to the predaceous beasts pleasedStas so much that he gained more courage. His happiness was yetaugmented by the discovery of the donkey. It appeared that thesagacious, long-eared creature did not wish to fatigue himself by a toodistant flight. He had ensconced himself outside of the zareba in acorner formed by the white-ant hillock and the tree and there, havinghis head and sides protected, had awaited developments, prepared in anemergency to repel an attack by kicking heroically with his heels. Butthe lions, apparently, did not perceive him at all, so when the sunrose and danger passed away he deemed it proper to lie down and restafter the dramatic sensations of the night.
Stas, strolling about the camp, finally discovered upon the softenedground the imprint of horses' hoofs. The tracks led in the direction ofthe forest and afterwards turned towards the ravine. This was afavorable circumstance for the capture of the horses in the ravine didnot present any great difficulties. Between ten and twenty pacesfarther he found in the grass the fetters which one of the horses hadbroken in his escape. This one must have run away so far that for thetime being he must be regarded as lost. On the other hand, the twoespied by Stas were behind a low rock, not in the hollow itself, but onthe brink. One of them was rolling about, while the other was croppingthe new light-green grass. Both looked unusually exhausted, as if aftera long journey. But the daylight had banished fear from their hearts,so they greeted Stas with a short, friendly neigh. The horse which wasrolling about started to his feet. The boy observed that this one alsohad freed himself from his fetters, but fortunately he apparentlypreferred to remain with his companion instead of running away whereverhis eyes should lead him.
Stas left both horses near the rock and went to the brink of the ravineto ascertain whether a farther journey by way of it was feasible. Andhe saw that owing to the great declivity the water had flowed away andthe bottom was almost dry.
After a while his attention was attracted to a white object entangledin the climbing plants in the recess of the opposite rocky wall. Itappeared that it was the top of the tent which the wind had carried asfar as that and driven into the thicket so that the water could notcarry it away. The tent, at any rate, assured Nell of a betterprotection than a hut hurriedly constructed of boughs; so its recoverygreatly delighted Stas.
But his joy increased still more when from a lower recess partly hiddenby lianas Saba sprang out, holding in his teeth some kind of animalwhose head and tail hung from his jaws. The powerful dog, in thetwinkling of an eye, reached the top, and laid at Stas' feet a stripedhyena with broken back and gnawed foot. After which he began to wag histail and bark joyfully as if he wanted to say:
"I admit that I behaved like a coward before the lions, but to tell thetruth, you sat perched on the tree like guinea-fowls. Look, however! Idid not waste the night altogether."
And he was so proud of himself that Stas was barely able to induce himto leave the bad-smelling animal on the spot and not to carry it as agift to Nell.
When they both returned a good fire was burning in the camp; water wasbubbling in the utensils in which boiled durra grain, two guinea-fowls,and smoked strips of venison. Nell was already attired in a dry dressbut looked so wretched and pale that Stas became alarmed about her,and, taking her hand to ascertain whether she had a fever, asked:
"Nell, what ails you?"
"Nothing, Stas; only I do want to sleep so much."
"I believe you! After such a night! Thank God, your hands are cool. Ah,what a night it was! No wonder you want to sleep. I do also. But don'tyou feel sick?"
"My head aches a little."
Stas placed his palm on her head. Her little head was as cold as herhands; this, however, only proved great exhaustion and weakness, so theboy sighed and said:
"Eat something warm and immediately afterwards lie down to sleep andyou will sleep until the evening. To-day, at least, the weather is fineand it will not be as it was yesterday."
And Nell glanced at him with fear.
"But we will not pass the night here."
"No, not here, for there lie the gnawed remains of the horses; we willselect some other tree, or will go to the ravine and there will build azareba such as the world has not seen. You will sleep as peacefully asin Port Said."
But she folded her little hands and began to beg him with tears thatthey should ride farther, as in that horrible place she would not beable to close her eyes and surely would become ill. And in this way shebegged him, in this way she repeated, gazing into his eyes, "What,Stas? Well?" so that he agreed to everything.
"Then we shall ride by way of the ravine," he said, "for there is shadethere. Only promise me that if you feel weak or sick, you will tell me."
"I am strong enough. Tie me to the saddle and I will sleep easily onthe road."
"No. I shall place you on my horse and I shall hold you. Kali and Meawill ride on the other and the donkey will carry the tent and things."
"Very well! very well!"
"Immediately after breakfast you must take a nap. We cannot startanyway before noon. It is necessary to catch the horses, to fold thetent, to rearrange the packs. Part of the things we shall leave herefor now we have but two horses altogether. This will require a fewhours and in the meantime you will sleep and refresh yourself. To-daywill be hot, but shade will not be lacking under the tree."
"And you--and Mea and Kali? I am so sorry that I alone shall sleepwhile you will be tiring yourselves--"
"On the contrary, we shall have time to nap. Don't worry about me. InPort Said during ex
amination time I often did not sleep whole nights;of which my father knew nothing. My classmates also did not sleep. Buta man is not a little fly like you. You have no idea how you lookto-day--just like glass. There remain only eyes and tufts of hair;there is no face at all."
He said this jestingly, but in his soul he feared, as by the strongdaylight Nell plainly had a sickly countenance and for the first timehe clearly understood that if it continued thus the poor child not onlymight, but must, die. At this thought his legs trembled for he suddenlyfelt that in case of her death he would not have anything to live for,or a reason for returning to Port Said.
"For what would I then have to do?" he thought.
For a while he turned away in order that Nell might not observe thegrief and fear in his eyes, and afterwards went to the things depositedunder the tree. He threw aside the saddle-cloth with which thecartridge box was covered, opened