United States or Curaçao ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Congo did not wish even a brute to think him ungrateful, and yet there was no way by which he could let Spoor'em know that such was the case. Not long after the arrival of the dog, Congo heard the report of a gun. To the sharp ears of the Kaffir it seemed to have a familiar sound. It was very loud, and like the report of a roer.
If not disabled by the bullet, why had she not gone off, taking her young one along with her? "I might as well have been stalking a tree as this buffalo," thought Willem, "for one seems as little inclined to move as the other." Hastily reloading his roer, he rode fearlessly forward, now quite confident that the cow could not escape him.
Why should there be now? There was but one answer to these questions. The natives were looking upon them with that expression of sad curiosity with which men gaze upon one who is about to suffer a violent death. The chief was carrying Willem's roer, and from his behaviour he seemed preparing for an opportunity to use it. At intervals he brought it to his shoulder and glanced along the barrel.
As it advanced, its whole body was covered by the head, its eyes being the highest part of it presented to the view of the hunter. The felidea was now within ten yards of him and rapidly drawing nearer. Something must be done. The roer was raised to his shoulder, and with a steady hand and eye, nerved by the perilous position he was in, he drew a fine sight at the creature's snout and fired.
The Austrians endeavoured with the same want of success, to cover Brussels and Maestricht: they were pursued and beaten by the army of Jourdan, which since its union had taken the name of the army of the Sambre et Meuse, and which did not leave them behind the Roer, as Dumouriez had done, but drove them beyond the Rhine.
One of them was a single-barrelled, smooth bore, fitted for percussion caps a roer we called it which threw a three-ounce ball, and was charged with a handful of coarse black powder. Many is the elephant that I killed with that roer, although it generally knocked me backwards when I fired it, which I only did under compulsion.
Groot Willem again ascended the tree, this time armed with his roer, and followed by his two companions. The elephant was still at the pool; and, to make him leave it and draw nearer, Willem showed himself on the bank. This plan did not succeed.
Their guards only shouted, when Congo attempted to put in a word; while those who were around the chief began to make preparations for carrying out the dread sentence of death. It was soon known to the captives, what mode of death was to be adopted for them. The gestures of the chief made it manifest, that he was about to make trial of his new weapon, Willem's roer.
He seized hold of his roer, and, drawing the damp charge, freshly loaded the gun. Aiming at the eye of one of the hideous monsters, he pulled trigger. The loud report was followed by a heavy plunging in the water, and the behaviour of the crocodile gave evidence of the correctness of the hunter's aim.
Present, who was one of the party, carried his roer, no doubt to perform wonders. The wind blew up the river; I accordingly held up to seek a drift, and crossed a short distance above where the buffalo lay. As we drew near the spot, I observed the lion sitting on the top of the bank, exactly where he had been seen last by my people.
Word Of The Day