The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1873-07-23
A Stirring south-Afriean Adventure

A Stirring south-Afriean Adventure.
4 recent English Traveller, in the in
terror Of Africa, in his diary oferents,
gives us the following stirring sketch
: of one Of his adventurs which near
" cost him his life, and his escape
: from if under remarkable cireumstan-
, ces
II was on the afternoon OF one Of
} the hottest DAYS of an African sum
: mer that left my farm to acsend the
Drakeusburg mountains. for the pur-
, pose Of finding. ifpOssible, an Gland,
a sPecies Of antelope, to replenish nv
: larder fOr the coming Christmas,
was at the time living alone in q glen
; formed by two spurs Of the mountain.
with but few neighbOrs, and no town
within ffty miles, but as nv Ksfirs
! had become sufficiently civilized to
understand that Christmas time ment
unlimited eating. wished, by proyi-
ding game. 10 save an OK. had on
~ five or six miles 10 go, and was
well mounted, 50 did not hurry, but,
leading my horse up the steep pass,
reached the place where intended
TO sleep just a. the sun was setting
i The scene around. though quite
different from our ideas Of what II
should be in December. was very
beautiful There was no snow no
leahcss trees wiih their delicate ira
Z cery set of by the glistening boar
frost, nor dark green frs bending un-
der their " white load but still there
was enough to keep me standing.
forgetful Of iirewOod, and all / had 70
do for nav comfort during the night
! | was on a narrow ledge Of rock,
separated from the network Of hills
beyond by a deep perpendicular
gorge, at the bottom Of which. 80 far
down that | could hardly distinguish
It. ran a little burn. The setting sun
gave the peaks that rich purple tint
seldom seen away from heather and }
on the other side a. far a. the eve
could reach. Law the thOFR-cOyered !
fats and hills Of Natal
Under the rock was a large cave, {
where | had determined 10 sleep. Ii /
had in olden times been q regular re-
sort for the Bushmen, but few came \
I near it now indeed. had not known 7
they came at all. but on going in, l /
( found some ealobasbes, and the ASH
es Of newly made FIRE, which could /
have been only left by them. There
were other marks on the walls, !
though evidently Of great antiquity ; 4
rude sketches and drawings Of hors- /
e.. cattle. bows andsrrows, and even !
of a Bushman riding. 1t IS most Gu
rious that q race 20 low down in the /
scale Of humanity that their language 1
is onlv a few words made up OF IN I
pronounoeable clicks, and who. with i
the exception Of the use of fire. in
their mode Of life differ but little
from the ape. should have learned TO
do all this. 1t may be that it is a
remnant Of an old sign-language. or
the last relic of some former eiviliza-
ton. 1t was q full moon, and after
admiring the wonderful lights and .
shadows thrown by il on the broken
ground. / turned in and slept till
near daylight. /
As soon a. / could see, started 70
hunt. Much 10 nv annoyance At the
time though l had afterwards cause
to be thankful that ny horse was
spared such a galiOp as riding down
on Gland entails, could find nothing,
and could tell by the spoors that no
herd hsd been about for some DAYS. /,
II was nearly noon before became
convinced Of this; and, tempted by
the shade Of line Of trees and ferns
edging little brook whose bubbling
sounded refreshingly amid the great
heat. | took nv saddle of, kneehalt-
cred Prince, and lay down OF
course | soon dozed of, but became
awake again in about a couple Of
hours: say became awake" be-
cause il was not the natural r0using
up of person who has been asleep,
but a sudden return TO consciousness,
without anv movement. and with all
nv wits about me, and that inward
feeling which perhaps some Of my
readers may have experienced, Of
something being wrong. and a ten
sion of all the powers of hearing to
discover what it Is. | had not long
TO wait whiE, came tiny arrow,
striking the stone on which my head
had been resting, and where my cap
still was. Ii did not require much
thinking to know that q Bushman's
hand held the bow it had come from, I,
nor TO determin that the safest thing
10 do was TO roll quickly into the bed
OF the little brook below me. Luck ,
iIv. this would afford good shelter, I
and could almost reach the edge ,
with nv hand il
The tremendous violence with
which these streams come down from :
the hills during the heavy thunder
storms, wears a deep passage even +.
in the hardest ground, and though
there was only about an inch Of wa
ter. and it was a ward broad, the
banks were to the full fonr feet high. I
Leaving my cap where il was, roll /.
ed over as quickly as l could; but !
Just as | was disappearing, another I
arrow came and struck me in the ,
thigh, the only part EOt vet in safety 7
Ii took all NV self-eOntrol TO continue Z
NV movements a. before until / stood
croaching at the bottom. why" T
the reader NAV exclaim. ''!he pain OF I
such a tinv arrow could not be very a
great - No neither IS the bite of q =
snake in itself. vet Of the two the lat
ter Is the least to be dreaded 1t ,
was of course poisoned with that :
deadly skill for which the whole tribe /,
is famous and, as | stood below, j !
knew | had little chance of seeing !
another sunrise. =
However, with that selfhelp that i
men who lead solitary life acquire, r
instantly drew my hunting-knife, rip a
ped my trousers. and with a steady
hand. cut out the arrowhead, not
sparing myself / then took my task, n
and poured powder into the wound, n
and gently striking match, set IRE b
n = III \.