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Ebook has 55 lines and 21739 words, and 2 pages

'Tween Snow and Fire, by Bertram Mitford.

THE EPISODE OF THE WHITE DOG.

The buck is running for dear life.

The dog is some fifty yards behind the buck. The Kafir is about the same distance behind the dog, which distance he is striving right manfully to maintain; not so unsuccessfully, either, considering that he is pitting the speed of two legs against that of eight.

Down the long grass slope they course--buck, dog, and savage. The former, a game little antelope of the steinbok species, takes the ground in a series of long, flying leaps, his white tail whisking like a flag of defiance. The second, a tawny, black-muzzled grey-hound, stretching his snaky length in the wake of his quarry, utters no sound, as with arrow-like velocity he holds on his course, his cruel eyes gleaming, his jaws dripping saliva in pleasurable anticipation of the coming feast. The third, a fine, well-knit young Kafir, his naked body glistening from head to foot with red ochre, urges on his hound with an occasional shrill whoop of encouragement, as he covers the ground at a surprising pace in his free, bounding stride. He holds a knob-kerrie in his hand, ready for use as soon as the quarry shall be within hurling distance.

Along a high ridge overlooking this primitive chase grow, at regular intervals, several circular clumps of bush. One of these conceals a spectator. The latter is seated on horseback in the very midst of the scrub, his feet dangling loosely in the stirrups, his hand closed tightly and rather suggestively round the breech of a double gun--rifle and smooth bore--which rests across the pommel of his saddle. There is a frown upon his face, as, himself completely hidden, he watches intently the progress of the sport. It is evident that he is more interested than pleased.

For Tom Carhayes is the owner of this Kaffrarian stock run. In that part of Kaffraria, game is exceedingly scarce, owing to the presence of a redundant native population. Tom Carhayes is an ardent sportsman and spares no effort to protect and restore the game upon his farm. Yet here is a Kafir running down a buck under his very nose. Small wonder that he feels furious.

"That scoundrel Goniwe!" he mutters between his set teeth. "I'll put a bullet through his cur, and lick the nigger himself within an inch of his life!"

The offence is an aggravated one. Not only is the act of poaching a very capital crime in his eyes, but the perpetrator ought to be at that moment at least three miles away, herding about eleven hundred of his master's sheep. These he has left to take care of themselves while he indulges in an illicit buck-hunt. Small wonder indeed that his said master, at no time a good-tempered man, vows to make a condign example of him.

The buck has nearly gained the crest of the ridge. Once over it his chances are good. The pursuing hound, running more by sight than by scent, may easily be foiled, by a sudden turn to right or left, and a double or two. The dog is a long way behind now, and the spectator has to rise in his stirrups to command a view of the situation. Fifty yards more and the quarry will be over the ridge and in comparative safety.

But from just that distance above there suddenly darts forth another dog--a white one. It has sprung from a patch of bush similar to that which conceals the spectator. The buck, thoroughly demoralised by the advent of this new enemy, executes a rapid double, and thus pressed back into the very jaws of its first pursuer has no alternative but to head up the valley as fast as its legs can carry it.

On speeds the chase; the new dog, a tall white grey-hound of surprising endurance and speed, gaining rapidly; the other, lashed into a final spurt by the spirit of emulation, not far behind. The two Kafirs, stimulating their hounds with yells of encouragement, are straining every nerve to be in at the death.

The buck--terror and demoralisation in its soft, lustrous eyes--is heading straight for the spectator's hiding place. The latter raises his piece, with the intention of sending a bullet through the first dog as soon as it shall come abreast of his position; the shot barrel will finish off the other.

But he does not fire. The fact is, the man is simply shaking with rage. Grinding his teeth, he recognises his utter inability to hit a haystack at that moment, let alone a swiftly coursing grey-hound.

The chase sweeps by within seventy yards of his position--buck, dog, and Kafirs. Then another diversion occurs.

Two more natives rise, apparently out of the ground itself. One of these, poising himself erect with a peculiar springy, quivering motion, holds his kerrie ready to hurl. The buck is barely thirty yards distant, and going like the wind.

"Whigge--woof!" The hard stick hurls through the air--aimed nearly as far ahead of the quarry as the latter is distant from the marksman. There is a splintering crash, and a shrill, horrid scream--then a reddish brown shape, writhing and rolling in agony upon the ground. The aim of the savage has been true. All four of the buck's legs are snapped and shattered like pipe-stems.

The two hounds hurl themselves upon the struggling carcase, their savage snarls mingling with the sickening, half-human yell emitted by the terrified and tortured steinbok. The four Kafirs gather round their prey.

Were he wise he would elect to leave them alone entirely, and would withdraw quietly without betraying his presence. He might indeed derive some modicum of satisfaction by subsequently sjambokking the defaulting Goniwe for deserting his post, though the wisdom of that act of consolation may be doubted. But a thoroughly angry man is seldom wise, and Tom Carhayes forms no exception to the general rule. With a savage curse he breaks from his cover and rides furiously down upon the offending group.

But if he imagines his unlooked for arrival is going to strike terror to the hearts of those daring and impudent poachers, he soon becomes alive to his mistake. Two of them, including his own herd, are already standing. The others make no attempt to rise from their careless and squatting posture. All contemplate him with absolute unconcern, and the half-concealed and contemptuous grin spread across the broad countenance of his retainer in no wise tends to allay his fury.

"What the devil are you doing here, Goniwe?" he cries. "Get away back to your flock at once, or I'll tan your hide to ribbons. Here. Get out of the light you two--I'm going to shoot that dog--unless you want the charge through yourselves instead."

This speech, delivered half in Boer Dutch, half in the Xosa language, has a startling effect. The other two Kafirs spring suddenly to their feet, and all four close up in a line in front of the speaker, so as to stand between him and their dogs. Their demeanour is insolent and threatening to the last degree.

The purport of this menace is unmistakable. The speaker even advances a step, shifting, as he does so, his assegais from his right hand to his left--leaving the former free to wield an ugly looking kerrie. His fellow-countrymen seem equally ready for action.

Carhayes is beside himself with fury. To be defied and bearded like this on his own land, and by four black scoundrels whom he has caught red-handed in the act of killing his own game! The position is intolerable. But through his well-nigh uncontrollable wrath there runs a vein of caution.

Were he to act upon his first impulse and shoot the offending hound, he would have but one charge left. The Kafirs would be upon him before he could draw trigger. They evidently mean mischief, and they are four to one. Two of them are armed with assegais and all four carry--in their hands the scarcely less formidable weapon--the ordinary hard-wood kerrie. Moreover, were he to come off victorious at the price of shooting one of them dead, the act would entail very ugly consequences, for although the frontier was practically in little short of a state of war, it was not actually so, which meant that the civil law still held sway and would certainly claim its vindication to the full.

For a moment or two the opposing parties stand confronting each other. The white man, seated on his horse, grips the breech of his gun convulsively, and the veins stand out in cords upon his flushed face as he realises his utter powerlessness. The Kafirs, their naked, muscular frames repulsive with red ochre, stand motionless, their savage countenances wreathed in a sneer of hate and defiance. There are scarcely ten yards between them.

The train is laid. It only needs the application of a spark to cause a magnificent flare-up. That spark is applied by the tall barbarian who has first spoken.

"Stand back, you curs!" he roars, dropping his piece to a level with the chest of the foremost. "The first who moves another step shall be served the same as that brute of a dog!"

But the Kafirs only laugh derisively. They are shrewd enough to know that the civil law is still paramount, and imagine he dare not fire on them. A kerrie hurtles through the air with an ugly "whigge." Blind ta.

Vartalo eli varsi sanotaan olevan:

Haaroista.

Erilaatuisia haaroja ovat:

Lehdeist?.

Per?lehdeist?.

Apulehdeist?.

Silmikoista.

Kukista.

Norkon m??r?-ajallansa variseminen erottaa sen t?hk?st?, ja hein?in t?hk?st? sekin, ett? suojukset eiv?t ole tuppimaisia.

Siittimist?.

Hedelm?st?.

Kukkain lis?osista.

Kasvien v?reist?.

Mausta ja hajusta.

Kasvipaikoista.

Pituuden ja leveyden mitoista.

J?lkisananen.

Yhdyssanain edellisist? puolista vastaavat eri kieliss? toisillensa:

suom. yksi- kaksi- kolmi- neli- viisi- kuusi- seitsen- latin. uni- bi- tri- quadri- quinque- sex- septem- kreik. mono- di- tri- tetra- penta- hexa- hepta- ruots. en- tv?- tre- fyr- fem- sex- sju-.

Semmoisten sanain j?lkim?inen puoli nimitt?? itsen asian eli aineen ja edellinen puoli vaan sanoo, jos niit? on yksi eli useampi. Enimm?t sanat sit? laatua, joiden alkuna on yksi-, uni-, mono-, en-, tavataan siis my?skin aluilla kaksi-, bi-, di-, tv?- j.n.e. Se on sit? varten muistutettava, ett? jos semmoisia yhdyssanoja ei aina l?ydett?isi yhdell?, niit? silloin taidetaan jolla kulla toisella alulla etsi?.

Tarkoitukseni on ollut saada vaan ne sanat suomennetuksi, joita tavallisesti k?ytet??n ilmisiitti?isten kasvien muodon selitt?miseksi, taikka niiden toinen toisestaan erottamiseksi; niill?, jotka eritt?in kuuluvat salasiitti?isiin kasveihin taikka kasvielon eli sis?llisen laadun ja luonnon esitt?miseksi, en ole tahtonut t?t? ty?t?ni laajentaa.

Se joka l?htee virheit? ja puuttuvaisuuksia urkkimaan, l?yt?? niit? kyllinki t?ss? kokeessani, mutta olkoonpa niit? miten hyv?ns?, tavattakoon siin? jos paljonki sopimattomia sanoja ja muuta moittimista, niin kuitenki, kaikitenki

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