THE TRAVAILS OF THE HUNTER 2

SHORT STORY

THE TRAVAIL OF THE HUNTER 2

I think I have rested enough. I got on my feet, gathered my things and continued my trudging deeper into the forest. From the distance, I saw the branch of a tree swaying vigorously. I checked the wind speed from the trees around me, and looked up at the sky to see if it was going to rain.

It was still a fair day. One thing alone could make a tree to sway that way; monkeys on horse play. I knew I will still make a kill today. It is always a very tiresome excise to walk the forest for a whole day and to go home empty handed. If one is to live on hunting, there will be no food on the table for that day.

I measured the distance of the tree from where I was. About twenty poles through the bush. I will need to be very careful to track my way amongst the trees to that spot.

Monkeys are very intelligent animals, and they have a lot of spies and friends in the wild acting as informants about intruders like me.

I gradually pushed my way forward. I have been standing on a higher ground, looking down at the line of trees that mark out a stream snaking through the forest. The trees along a stream line always grow taller and thicker than those on the hill top.

I slowly made my way toward the spot I had noticed the trees swaying. I kept my eyes and ears alert to pick the sound of any movement of squirrels and other inhabitants of the forest. Squirrels and the Hornbills are very close friends and spies to monkeys as I stated earlier. They could creep up, or fly to someone suddenly and shriek an alert to the monkeys.

I was not aware of this symbiotic relationship between these animals in my early days of game hunting until I made series of lost chances of tracking my games before realizing this friendship.

My part suddenly came to a vehicular track road. I think it is been used by farmers to bring their products home or to take them to the market.

This is going to be a tricky one for me, I thought to myself. From where I was crawling, I can make out a group of monkeys jumping from one tree to another, or from one branch to the other. Any attempt I will make to cross the track will expose me to the one on the lookout, and if it notices the rifle in my hand, it will realize that I am not a farmer but someone coming to attack them.

This is another mystery about this animal. They are in the wild, not tamed by man, yet they could identify the sight of someone with a gun as an enemy, and a farmer as a harmless human.

Across the track, were lines of scrub that join up to smaller trees. The stream is within these trees. Beyond that is the bush where the monkeys are jumping about. I can see one watcher amongst them, sitting on the branch of one of the taller trees, and I can see that it was looking at the direction I was coming from.

They have a high smelling ability that can pick the smell of someone sweat from a considerable distance amongst the multiple smells in the forest.

I did the only thing that came to my mind in the circumstance. I held the rifle with my right hand and hid it behind my back, and pretend cutting the grass with my cutlass; I slipped across the track and into the scrub. I dashed into the line of trees and into the stream quickly before a squirrel could pick my smell and report my presence to the monkeys.

I stepped into the water, which fortunately was just above my ankles. The running water of the stream will cover any sound I may accidentally makes. It also masks the smell from my sweaty clothes.

After the hard walking through the forest all day, the water was so refreshing that I was almost tempted to hang around to savor the moment. Oh! But not just yet, I knew. I was in the midst of the pack. On top of the trees above the stream where I was squatting, I can hear them jumping from one branch to the other, their smell polluting the sweet scent of the forest flowers.

They were searching for the intruder that has just penetrated their ranks. I can hear the groaning of the bigger ones, ‘Mgbrum, Mgbrum,’ urging the smaller ones to come to ground level to look for me. If those little ones that can hide behind any leaf notices my presence, they would shrill loud to alert the group and that will set them on flight.

You can never shoot a monkey on full flight. It would run to the edge of the branch of the tree and just jet itself go into space. But do not imagine that any of them would fall to the ground. No, they will not do that. Somehow, through some natural computation, they had measured the distance to next tree they are aiming at. It is a beauty to watch the group on flight.

But today, I was not here for sightseeing; therefore I will not give them that privilege. I concealed myself very well as I also searched through the opening in the leaves to be able to see any of them. I saw the watcher. It was sitting on one of the branches on top a tree about a pole from where I was crouching.

I slowly raised the rifle to take aim, using an opening between two leaves as an aperture. You know, the position of a hunter at that moment is like a sniper posture that takes aim at his target. I shut my left eye, aimed at the animal on top of the tree with the other. At that moment, the wind gently blew the leaves to cover my sight. I held my breath, and waited. As the leaves opened, I took a deep breath and CRACK.

The sound of the shot was like a sharp wipe in the quiet forest. The sound echoed over the trees into the distance. I jumped out of the water and ran toward the tree even before I heard the thudding sound as the monkey hit the ground. The whole bush came alive as the group took into full flight.

Under the branch of the tree where it was sitting, the animal lay dead. I had taken a clean shot. I put it inside my hunting bag. It is going to be a long walk back to town, but it was worth it. I slung the bag over my shoulder. Far away in the distance I can still hear ‘Mgbrum, Mgbrum.’

Another day of the Hunter is over.