Caesar - Patrick O’Brian

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kid’s mother.

      Dropping the kid I awaited the attack of the furious goat. I knew how strong the mother-love was in goats, so I knew that she would fight to the end.

      She charged with her long horns lowered. I darted to one side, and with my paw I got in a blow which ripped her open to the shoulder-bone. Then wonderfully quickly she turned and gored me in the side. I leaped clear, and we stood panting and looking at each other for a second. Then I charged, and leaping on to her back I broke her neck.

      Then I took up the kid again, and set off home, but by another route. On my way I found my wound was beginning to hurt, so I rested and licked it awhile, thinking as I did so that it was rather curious that I should be wounded by a goat.

      I did not notice, however, that the sky was rapidly darkening, so when I started again I had to hurry, for I knew there was about to be a storm. Everything was very quiet, and I was vaguely alarmed, for I had not experienced anything like it before.

      Then a cold wind began to hum through the pines, and I began to run as fast as I possibly could towards home. The pain in my side increased, and so did my terror, when I suddenly came within sight of the old cave. Then the storm broke with a blinding flash of lightning and a formidable roll of thunder.

      I was not more than twenty yards from the cave, but I was soaked through before reaching it. In the cave I found three hares and a faun, which all darted out when they saw me. Then I lay down and watched the storm.

      That night I was lulled to sleep by the swish of the rain, which came down in sheets. When I awoke in the morning it was coming down as hard as ever; the dark sky was lighted by flashes of lightning, and the stream below was converted into a broad, roaring torrent.

      I felt very hungry, and then I remembered the kid which I had put in the back of the cave. I dragged it out and made a good meal. He was very tender, if a little stale.

      Then for the rest of the day I licked myself until my fur shone. There was nothing else to do except watch the rain. As the day wore on the lightning and thunder became worse, and several trees were struck. Forked lightning was particularly beautiful, as it played almost incessantly.

      The night passed uneventfully. But in the morning I noticed that the stream was swollen to five times its previous size, and every now and then drowned animals floated down. I felt very unwell on account of my wound, which I could not easily get at to lick, and it had begun to fester and throb painfully.

      Then suddenly the rain stopped, and there was silence like that which preceded the storm. Soon I heard noises as of animals and birds beginning to move again, and I got up to go down to the stream. Before I had gone far, however, my wound and my weakness through lack of food forced me to stop, and I lay down quite dizzy.

      I soon was able to get up and go to the stream, which was very swollen. Here and there on the banks I could see drowned animals, such as goats, pigs and small deer, on whose dead bodies a number of jackals and hyenas were already feeding. But they fled on my approach.

      I had a drink and felt better for it. Then as evening was coming on I ensconced myself in a heap of debris which had been washed down, in the hope that some deer or goats might come down to drink. My hopes were fulfilled before I expected, for no sooner had I hidden myself when a half-grown sambhur arrived. It had got separated from its mother in the storm.

      I crept up behind it quietly, but it saw me, so I had to charge quickly. I broke its neck quite easily, but my wound had torn open, and I crept back to my shelter carrying the sambhur and bleeding profusely. I lay down for some time, very weak for want of food and loss of blood, and felt very dizzy and soon went into a kind of sleep. I dreamt for the first time. My dream was about the fire in which my mother perished, and I saw her quite plainly just before the pine killed her, and I felt very sad.

      I woke with a start, and I observed several jackals in front of my shelter waiting for a chance to snatch my kill. They retreated hurriedly when I got up, but to prevent them taking it when I slept I made a meal there and then, and took the rest up to the cave.

      My wound had closed, but I knew that any sharp turn or jerk would bring it open again, so I took quite a long time getting up there. I felt strangely weak and shaky about the legs, and I thought I was going to die. But after finishing the sambhur and having a good rest I felt much better, and next morning I was quite myself again.

      I went down to the stream, which had subsided a great deal, and had a drink, which was against my usual custom, for I nearly always drank in the evening like the other animals. But the loss of blood had made me thirsty. After that I wandered down to the ford, which I could not wade as usual, so I swam it.

      To my no little amazement, I found that if I kept my body under the water instead of trying to leap out after each successive stroke, I could swim quite well without much effort.

      On reaching the opposite bank I struck into the forest, and wandered rather aimlessly away from my usual haunts. By noon I had gone farther than I had ever gone before, and when the sun became too oppressive I ascended a tree and rested in the crotch, about twenty-five feet from the ground; and I watched the insects and animals settling down for the midday siesta.

      The monkeys made quite a noise for some time, even after the buzz of the mosquitoes had died down. Soon, however, everything was quiet, and I slept with the rest.

       Five

      I was awakened suddenly by a stinging pain in the tip of my tail, which I switched up with a start.

      Looking down I saw a large party of ants crawling up the bole of the tree, and the front ones had just reached my tail. They covered the whole of the front of the tree in a crawling mass, but in orderly ranks, guarded by warrior ants on either side, in the front and at the back. These warriors had very large jaws, out of all proportion to their size, and one of them was biting me. I whisked it off and went farther up the tree. Soon, however, the ants reached me again, and I went higher this time accompanied by four frightened monkeys and two small pythons.

      The behaviour of these beasts reminded me of the way the animals acted when running from the forest fire. As a rule the pythons would have taken the opportunity of a meal in the form of the monkeys, to which they are particularly partial. However, they just ascended the tree in a panic-stricken sort of fashion.

      Then one of the snakes half slipped on a rotten branch, and did not recover till he had fallen nearly three feet. He fell in among the front ranks of the ants. In a moment he was covered with them. They swarmed over his body; he opened his mouth to hiss, and they poured down his throat. They bit away his eyecoverings and blinded him, and before two minutes had passed they had killed him and were taking him away in small sections to their nest.

      When they had gone I thankfully descended. I could have gone no higher as the branches were getting thinner, and they would soon have broken beneath my weight.

      Having descended I made a bee-line towards the village, as I was feeling too lazy to track deer. In about two hours I reached the edge of the plateau. The flocks were there just the same, but there were six men also.

      Stealing up to the edge of the herd, I sprang up a tree with low-spreading branches. The leaves afforded excellent cover and shade, and I remained there unobserved for some time, awaiting my chance for an easy kill.

      After half an hour had passed I dozed off to sleep. In a few minutes I was awakened by the sound of humans chattering below, one of whom was pointing to my tail, which I had allowed to drop during my sleep so that it hung down through the branches.

      The chattering ceased and one of the men took a bright kind of stick, and resting it on his shoulder pointed it at me. Then there was a tremendous report and a flash of fire which frightened me so that I nearly lost my balance, and then something terribly hot hit me in the shoulder, making a searing gash right to my shoulder-blade.

      After that I remember nothing but a blind, unreasoning wave of fury which overcame me, and confused shouts — and my claws and teeth sank again and again in human

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