After waiting a while we moved on downstream.
Returning four hours later I sneaked up quietly. There the
crocodile lay sunning himself on the sand bank. I supposed he
must be dead; but when I accidentally broke a twig, he
immediately commenced to slide off into the water. Thereupon I
stopped him with a bullet in the spine. The first shot had
smashed a hole in his head, just behind the eye, about the size
of an ordinary coffee cup. In spite of this wound, which would
have been instantly fatal to any warm-blooded animal, the
creature was so little affected that it actually reacted to a
slight noise made at some distance from where it lay. Of course
the wound would probably have been fatal in the long run.
The best spot to shoot at, indeed, is not the head but the spine
immediately back of the head.
These brutes are exceedingly powerful. They are capable of taking
down horses and cattle, with no particular effort. This I know
from my own observation. Mr. Fleischman, however, was privileged
to see the wonderful sight of the capture and destruction of a
full-grown rhinoceros by a crocodile. The photographs he took of
this most extraordinary affair leave no room for doubt. Crossing
a stream was always a matter of concern to us. The boys beat the
surface of the water vigorously with their safari sticks. On
occasion we have even let loose a few heavy bullets to stir up
the pool before venturing in.
A steep climb through thorn and brush would always extricate us
from the river jungle when we became tired of it. Then we found
ourselves in a continuous but scattered growth of small trees.
Between the trunks of these we could see for a hundred yards or
so before their numbers closed in the view. Here was the
favourite haunt of numerous beautiful impalla. We caught glimpses
of them, flashing through the trees; or occasionally standing,
gazing in our direction, their slender necks stretched high,
their ears pointed for us. These curious ones were generally the
does. The bucks were either more cautious or less inquisitive. A
herd or so of eland also liked this covered country; and there were
always a few waterbuck and rhinoceroses about. Often too we here
encountered stragglers from the open plains-zebra or
hartebeeste, very alert and suspicious in unaccustomed
surroundings.
A great deal of the plains country had been burned over; and a
considerable area was still afire. The low bright flames licked
their way slowly through the grass in a narrow irregular band
extending sometimes for miles. Behind it was blackened soil, and
above it rolled dense clouds of smoke. Always accompanied it
thousands of birds wheeling and dashing frantically in and out of
the murk, often fairly at the flames themselves. The published
writings of a certain worthy and sentimental person waste much
sympathy over these poor birds dashing frenziedly about above
their destroyed nests. As a matter of fact they are taking greedy
advantage of a most excellent opportunity to get insects cheap.
Thousands of the common red-billed European storks patrolled the
grass just in front of the advancing flames, or wheeled barely
above the fire. Grasshoppers were their main object, although
apparently they never objected to any small mammals or reptiles
that came their way. Far overhead wheeled a few thousand more
assorted soarers who either had no appetite or had satisfied it.
The utter indifference of the animals to the advance of a big
conflagration always impressed me. One naturally pictures the
beasts as fleeing wildly, nostrils distended, before the
devouring element. On the contrary I have seen kongoni grazing
quite peacefully with flames on three sides of them. The fire
seems to travel rather slowly in the tough grass; although at
times and for a short distance it will leap to a wild and roaring
life. Beasts will then lope rapidly away to right or left, but
without excitement.
On these open plains we were more or less pestered with ticks of
various sizes. These clung to the grass blades; but with no
invincible preference for that habitat; trousers did them just as
well. Then they ascended looking for openings. They ranged in
size from little red ones as small as the period of a printed
page to big patterned fellows the size of a pea. The little ones
were much the most abundant. At times I have had the front of my
breeches so covered with them that their numbers actually
imparted a reddish tinge to the surface of the cloth. This sounds
like exaggeration, but it is a measured statement. The process of
de-ticking (new and valuable word) can then be done only by
scraping with the back of a hunting knife.
Some people, of tender skin, are driven nearly frantic by these
pests. Others, of whom I am thankful to say I am one, get off
comparatively easy. In a particularly bad tick country, one
generally appoints one of the youngsters as "tick toto." It is
then his job in life to de-tick any person or domestic animal
requiring his services. His is a busy existence. But though at
first the nuisance is excessive, one becomes accustomed to it in
a remarkably short space of time. The adaptability of the human
being is nowhere better exemplified. After a time one gets so
that at night he can remove a marauding tick and cast it forth
into the darkness without even waking up. Fortunately ticks are
local in distribution. Often one may travel weeks or months
without this infliction.
I was always interested and impressed to observe how indifferent
the wild animals seem to be to these insects.
