Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-03-10

I III.
! mentally thanked God for our deliverance.
| OF all the beasts of the forest we dreaded
! to encounter the lion was the one which we
| feared the most, and it was understood
among Us when we left Cape Town that
! should one cross our path shot should rot
| be fred unless It was imperative to do so to
save our own lives.
Fix the fires at once, cried Wbipley,
when he saw the carcass OF the lion. A
large quantity of shrub had been piled up.
IN the camp before night set in, and frcm
this the fires were fed, and soon they were
burning brightly.
The probability that mora lions might
be proving around the camp efectually
DESTROYED our inclination to sleep any moro
that night, and we agreed to remain on
guard until daylight.
The sharp report of the rifles, followed
| By the growls Of the lio1, seemed to arouse
the drunken negroes 10 a sense of their
| danger. and they staggered TO the eanter of
the camp and huddled close together. per-
| fectly submissive nov and doeile as kittens.
| Whipiey expressed the greatest contempt
! for them. and had it not been for Baker, I
verify believe he would have driven them
/ beyond the fires TO take their chances with
the lions and hyenss. Some time later
! whitley explained that he fell aaleep dur.
! ing the latter part It his watch, and the
| negroes had taken advantage Of this to
steal our supplies and get drunk. He
knew it was bad thing to do, but he was
go overcome by the bodily exertions Of the
! day that he could not help 1t.
The fesr that lions and other savage
beasts were proving around, only waiting
/ for favorable opportunity to make dash
! at US, kept our nerves strung up TO the high
est tension, and when at last daylight APP
peared we felt as if s mighty load had been
| lifted from our minds. Tue negroes had
nearly demolished cur stores, for what they
could not eat they had scattered over the
ground in the most wss5efll manner. We
gathered enough bread and cheese to last
| for day or two. Baker found some coffee,
bat for awhile we thought we should have
20 do without it, as the cofee-pot could not
be found. Kaowing that TIE negroes could
not eat it, we made a close search ana
finally found it under some bushes twenty
feet beyond the camp. It smelied power
fully Of stale ale, and this was convincing
proof that the negroes had used it to drink
out of, and when they were well " set up"
they had tossed it away. The bold man.
ner in which they had acted convinced us
| that we had picked up about as bad lot
of black thieves as could be found in Cape
+ Town, and it was decided TO drive them cut
OF the camp as sooD as they could stand.
1t was now impossible to continue out
week, and it " as agreed that we should
hunt that day and return to Cape Town the
following day. The wounded dog was be-
yond the hope of recovery, and we shot
him to put him out Of agony.
Whipley took the coifee.pet and started
toward the river TO get some water, and
after an absence of ten or fifteen minutes
he returned with it filled. He said he had
seen a full-grown hippopotamus just emerg
/ ing from the water not more than one hun
dred yards from where he was standing,
and not wishing to alarm it he had filed
his coffee-pot and made his way back very
quietly.
Whipley was true hunter, and could
see how intensely pleased he was at the
chance of getting a shot at the hippopo-
tamus. Our bad luck and misfortune of
the night had temporarily flown from his
mind, and while waiting for the coffee to
boil his impotence to be off to the river
was manifested by several vigorous express
sions, and the coffee pot was consigned TO
the devil more than once. AT last the
coffee was ready, and after making basty
breakfast we gathered up the few remain
ing supplies and the tent, and hid them
under some bushes. piling lot Of brush on
top to make them as safe as possible. As
we apprehended no immediate nae for the
two shotguns, they were hidden Ia another
place, and more carefully, as We did not
care TO have the negroes ind them after we
left the camp.
We now took the ramrods from our rifles
tthis was before the era of breach losdersl,
and applied them to the carcasses OF the
negroes and so vigorously and heartily was
this done thai it proved the very best med
icine we could administer to the half-drunk-
en- brutes. They were soon dancing about,
and after Whipley had explained to them
that their company could be Immediately
| dispensed with, they realized that their fun
was over, and slowly SUNK away in the
forest. The only dog Left belonged to the
negroes, and he followed them despite all
we could do to coax him TO remain with us.
This we regretted, for we could have used
him to advantage in the jungle.
After reaching the banks of the river we
made an effort TO walk along its margin,
but the soft mud was go yielding we had to
abandon the attempt. We now forced our
way into the jungle, and after an hours Ia
! borious work we struck rift leading from
the river to the direction of the forest. 1t
wss apparent that it had been caused by
the tread OF many large animals, and
Whipley thought it was their path to the
water. As we approached the river we saw
a large hippopotamus coming out OF 1t.
His body was well out of the water, and
offered a good mark for our rifles. We had
come upon him so suddenly that he was not
aware OF our presence, and before he had
time to discover us, Whipley and Baker
gave him a shot from their rifles. He bel
lowed and tried to back into deep water,
but it was evident that ne had been hit
hard, for he soon after rolled over, and
after few kicks remained quiet. As the
water was not very deep where he fell, we
had good view of his body, and we found
him to be large specimen of his kind. If
our negroes had been left with us they could
have had royal feast off his carcass, for it
was certainly large enough to supply even
their wants, gluttons as they were.
While viewing the dead hippopotamus
we were startled by hearing several loud
and savage yells, which were followed by
the barking of dog.
"What's up!" cried Baker. at sounds
like the yeIls of party of black devils.
Let's investigate, and moving toward the
border of the jungle which faced the for.
est, we saw large party OF Bushmen who
were shouting aud pointing with their as
segais toward the place where we were
standing
"Our thievish niggers have joined them, 5"
said Whipley, and they mean to attack u.s.
Shall we make dash for the forest and
fight them from behind the trees ?"
| I'VE can't do it, replied Baker. ''They
will overtake us before we reach it. We
had better lie low here and give them few
shots before we make the effort.
The Bushmen ran huddled together, and
advanced toward the jungle, and as they
came on we heard the yelping of dog some
distance ahead of them. The cur seemed
II Ac5 t--ba 20 md az