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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:17:08 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:17:08 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/1431-0.txt b/1431-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..431a039 --- /dev/null +++ b/1431-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2456 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1431 *** + +TROOPER PETER HALKET OF MASHONALAND + +by Olive Schreiner + +Author of “Dreams,” “Dream Life and Real Life,” “The Story of an African +Farm,” etc. + +Colonial Edition + +(A photographic plate at the front of the book shows three people +hanging from a tree by their necks. Around them stand eight men, looking +not at all troubled by their participation in the scene. Of this event +all the survivors appear to be white, the victims black. The plate is +titled “From a Photograph taken in Matabeleland.” S.A.) + + +To a Great Good Man, Sir George Grey, + +Once Governor of the Cape Colony, who, during his rule in South Africa, +bound to himself the Dutchmen, Englishmen, and Natives he governed, by +an uncorruptible justice and a broad humanity; and who is remembered +among us today as representing the noblest attributes of an Imperial +Rule. + + “Our low life was the level’s and the night’s; + He’s for the morning.” + +Olive Schreiner. + + 19, Russell Road, + Kensington, W., + February, 1897. + + + Aardvark - The great anteater. + Cape Smoke - A very inferior brandy made in Cape Colony. + Kopje - Little hillock. + Kraal - A Kaffir encampment. + Mealies - Maize (corn). + Riem - A thong of undressed leather universally used in South Africa. + Vatje of Old Dop - A little cask of Cape brandy. + Veld - Open Country. + + + + +Chapter I. + +It was a dark night; a chill breath was coming from the east; not enough +to disturb the blaze of Trooper Peter Halket’s fire, yet enough to make +it quiver. He sat alone beside it on the top of a kopje. + +All about was an impenetrable darkness; not a star was visible in the +black curve over his head. + +He had been travelling with a dozen men who were taking provisions of +mealies and rice to the next camp. He had been sent out to act as scout +along a low range of hills, and had lost his way. Since eight in the +morning he had wandered among long grasses, and ironstone kopjes, and +stunted bush, and had come upon no sign of human habitation, but the +remains of a burnt kraal, and a down-trampled and now uncultivated +mealie field, where a month before the Chartered Company’s forces had +destroyed a native settlement. + +Three times in the day it had appeared to him that he had returned to +the very spot from which he had started; nor was it his wish to travel +very far, for he knew his comrades would come back to look for him, to +the neighbourhood where he had last been seen, when it was found at the +evening camping ground that he did not appear. + +Trooper Peter Halket was very weary. He had eaten nothing all day; and +had touched little of the contents of a small flask of Cape brandy +he carried in his breast pocket, not knowing when it would again be +replenished. + +As night drew near he determined to make his resting place on the top of +one of the kopjes, which stood somewhat alone and apart from the others. +He could not easily be approached there, without his knowing it. He had +not much fear of the natives; their kraals had been destroyed and their +granaries burnt for thirty miles round, and they themselves had fled: +but he feared, somewhat, the lions, which he had never seen, but of +which he had heard, and which might be cowering in the long grasses and +brushwood at the kopje’s foot:--and he feared, vaguely, he hardly knew +what, when he looked forward to his first long night alone in the veld. + +By the time the sun had set he had gathered a little pile of stumps and +branches on the top of the kopje. He intended to keep a fire burning all +night; and as the darkness began to settle down he lit it. It might +be his friends would see it from far, and come for him early in the +morning; and wild beasts would hardly approach him while he knelt beside +it; and of the natives he felt there was little fear. + +He built up the fire; and determined if it were possible to keep awake +the whole night beside it. + +He was a slight man of middle height, with a sloping forehead and pale +blue eyes: but the jaws were hard set, and the thin lips of the large +mouth were those of a man who could strongly desire the material good of +life, and enjoy it when it came his way. Over the lower half of the face +were scattered a few soft white hairs, the growth of early manhood. + +From time to time he listened intently for possible sounds from the +distance where his friends might be encamped, and might fire off their +guns at seeing his light; or he listened yet more intently for sounds +nearer at hand: but all was still, except for the occasional cracking +of the wood in his own fire, and the slight whistle of the breeze as it +crept past the stones on the kopje. He doubled up his great hat and put +it in the pocket of his overcoat, and put on a little two-pointed cap +his mother had made for him, which fitted so close that only one lock +of white hair hung out over his forehead. He turned up the collar of his +coat to shield his neck and ears, and threw it open in front that the +blaze of the fire might warm him. He had known many nights colder than +this when he had sat around the camp fire with his comrades, talking of +the niggers they had shot or the kraals they had destroyed, or grumbling +over their rations; but tonight the chill seemed to creep into his very +bones. + +The darkness of the night above him, and the silence of the veld about +him, oppressed him. At times he even wished he might hear the cry of a +jackal or of some larger beast of prey in the distance; and he wished +that the wind would blow a little louder, instead of making that little +wheezing sound as it passed the corners of the stones. He looked down +at his gun, which lay cocked ready on the ground at his right side; +and from time to time he raised his hand automatically and fingered the +cartridges in his belt. Then he stretched out his small wiry hands to +the fire and warmed them. It was only half past ten, and it seemed to +him he had been sitting here ten hours at the least. + +After a while he threw two more large logs on the fire, and took the +flask out of his pocket. He examined it carefully by the firelight to +see how much it held: then he took a small draught, and examined it +again to see how much it had fallen; and put it back in his breast +pocket. + +Then Trooper Peter Halket fell to thinking. + +It was not often that he thought. On patrol and sitting round camp fires +with the other men about him there was no time for it; and Peter Halket +had never been given to much thinking. He had been a careless boy at the +village school; and though, when he left, his mother paid the village +apothecary to read learned books with him at night on history and +science, he had not retained much of them. As a rule he lived in the +world immediately about him, and let the things of the moment impinge +on him, and fall off again as they would, without much reflection. +But tonight on the kopje he fell to thinking, and his thoughts shaped +themselves into connected chains. + +He wondered first whether his mother would ever get the letter he had +posted the week before, and whether it would be brought to her cottage +or she would go to the post office to fetch it. And then, he fell to +thinking of the little English village where he had been born, and where +he had grown up. He saw his mother’s fat white ducklings creep in and +out under the gate, and waddle down to the little pond at the back of +the yard; he saw the school house that he had hated so much as a +boy, and from which he had so often run away to go a-fishing, or +a-bird’s-nesting. He saw the prints on the school house wall on which +the afternoon sun used to shine when he was kept in; Jesus of Judea +blessing the children, and one picture just over the door where he hung +with his arms stretched out and the blood dropping from his feet. Then +Peter Halket thought of the tower at the ruins which he had climbed so +often for birds’ eggs; and he saw his mother standing at her cottage +gate when he came home in the evening, and he felt her arms round his +neck as she kissed him; but he felt her tears on his cheek, because he +had run away from school all day; and he seemed to be making apologies +to her, and promising he never would do it again if only she would not +cry. He had often thought of her since he left her, on board ship, and +when he was working with the prospectors, and since he had joined the +troop; but it had been in a vague way; he had not distinctly seen and +felt her. But tonight he wished for her as he used to when he was +a small boy and lay in his bed in the next room, and saw her shadow +through the door as she bent over her wash-tub earning the money which +was to feed and clothe him. He remembered how he called her and she came +and tucked him in and called him “Little Simon,” which was his second +name and had been his father’s, and which she only called him when he +was in bed at night, or when he was hurt. + +He sat there staring into the blaze. He resolved he would make a great +deal of money, and she should live with him. He would build a large +house in the West End of London, the biggest that had ever been seen, +and another in the country, and they should never work any more. + +Peter Halket sat as one turned into stone, staring into the fire. + +All men made money when they came to South Africa,--Barney Barnato, +Rhodes--they all made money out of the country, eight millions, twelve +millions, twenty-six millions, forty millions; why should not he! + +Peter Halket started suddenly and listened. But it was only the wind +coming up the kopje like a great wheezy beast creeping upwards; and he +looked back into the fire. + +He considered his business prospects. When he had served his time +as volunteer he would have a large piece of land given him, and the +Mashonas and Matabeles would have all their land taken away from them in +time, and the Chartered Company would pass a law that they had to work +for the white men; and he, Peter Halket, would make them work for him. +He would make money. + +Then he reflected on what he should do with the land if it were no good +and he could not make anything out of it. Then, he should have to +start a syndicate; called the Peter Halket Gold, or the Peter Halket +Iron-mining, or some such name, Syndicate. Peter Halket was not very +clear as to how it ought to be started; but he felt certain that he and +some other men would have to take shares. They would not have to pay for +them. And then they would get some big man in London to take shares. He +need not pay for them; they would give them to him; and then the company +would be floated. No one would have to pay anything; it was just the +name--“The Peter Halket Gold Mining Company, Limited.” It would float +in London; and people there who didn’t know the country would buy the +shares; THEY would have to give ready money for them, of course; perhaps +fifteen pounds a share when they were up!--Peter Halket’s eyes blinked +as he looked into the fire.--And then, when the market was up, he, +Peter Halket, would sell out all his shares. If he gave himself only six +thousand and sold them each for ten pounds, then he, Peter Halket, would +have sixty thousand pounds! And then he would start another company, and +another. + +Peter Halket struck his knee softly with his hand. + +That was the great thing--“Always sell out at the right time.” + That point Peter Halket was very clear on. He had heard it so often +discussed. Give some shares to men with big names, and sell out: they +can sell out too at the right time. + +Peter Halket stroked his knee thoughtfully. + +And then the other people, that bought the shares for cash! Well, they +could sell out too; they could all sell out! + +Then Peter Halket’s mind got a little hazy. The matter was getting too +difficult for him, like a rule of three sum at school when he could not +see the relation between the two first terms and the third. Well, if +they didn’t like to sell out at the right time, it was their own faults. +Why didn’t they? He, Peter Halket, did not feel responsible for them. +Everyone knew that you had to sell out at the right time. If they didn’t +choose to sell out at the right time, well, they didn’t. “It’s the +shares that you sell, not the shares you keep, that make the money.” + +But if they couldn’t sell them? + +Here Peter Halket hesitated.--Well, the British Government would have to +buy them, if they were so bad no one else would; and then no one would +lose. “The British Government can’t let British share-holders suffer.” + He’d heard that often enough. The British taxpayer would have to pay for +the Chartered Company, for the soldiers, and all the other things, if IT +couldn’t, and take over the shares if it went smash, because there were +lords and dukes and princes connected with it. And why shouldn’t they +pay for his company? He would have a lord in it too! + +Peter Halket looked into the fire completely absorbed in his +calculations.--Peter Halket, Esq., Director of the Peter Halket Gold +Mining Company, Limited. Then, when he had got thousands, Peter +Halket, Esq., M.P. Then, when he had millions, Sir Peter Halket, Privy +Councillor! + +He reflected deeply, looking into the blaze. If you had five or six +millions you could go where you liked and do what you liked. You could +go to Sandringham. You could marry anyone. No one would ask what your +mother had been; it wouldn’t matter. + +A curious dull sinking sensation came over Peter Halket; and he drew in +his broad leathern belt two holes tighter. + +Even if you had only two millions you could have a cook and a valet, to +go with you when you went into the veld or to the wars; and you could +have as much champagne and other things as you liked. At that moment +that seemed to Peter more important than going to Sandringham. + +He took out his flask of Cape Smoke, and drew a tiny draught from it. + +Other men had come to South Africa with nothing, and had made +everything! Why should not he? + +He stuck small branches under the two great logs, and a glorious flame +burst out. Then he listened again intently. The wind was falling and the +night was becoming very still. It was a quarter to twelve now. His back +ached, and he would have liked to lie down; but he dared not, for fear +he should drop asleep. He leaned forward with his hands between his +crossed knees, and watched the blaze he had made. + +Then, after a while, Peter Halket’s thoughts became less clear: they +became at last, rather, a chain of disconnected pictures, painting +themselves in irrelevant order on his brain, than a line of connected +ideas. Now, as he looked into the crackling blaze, it seemed to be one +of the fires they had make to burn the natives’ grain by, and they were +throwing in all they could not carry away: then, he seemed to see his +mother’s fat ducks waddling down the little path with the green grass +on each side. Then, he seemed to see his huts where he lived with the +prospectors, and the native women who used to live with him; and he +wondered where the women were. Then--he saw the skull of an old Mashona +blown off at the top, the hands still moving. He heard the loud cry of +the native women and children as they turned the maxims on to the kraal; +and then he heard the dynamite explode that blew up a cave. Then again +he was working a maxim gun, but it seemed to him it was more like the +reaping machine he used to work in England, and that what was going down +before it was not yellow corn, but black men’s heads; and he thought +when he looked back they lay behind him in rows, like the corn in +sheaves. + +The logs sent up a flame clear and high, and, where they split, showed +a burning core inside: the cracking and spluttering sounded in his brain +like the discharge of a battery of artillery. Then he thought suddenly +of a black woman he and another man caught alone in the bush, her baby +on her back, but young and pretty. Well, they didn’t shoot her!--and a +black woman wasn’t white! His mother didn’t understand these things; +it was all so different in England from South Africa. You couldn’t +be expected to do the same sort of things here as there. He had an +unpleasant feeling that he was justifying himself to his mother, and +that he didn’t know how to. + +He leaned further and further forward: so far at last, that the little +white lock of his hair which hung out under his cap was almost singed by +the fire. His eyes were still open, but the lids drooped over them, and +his hands hung lower and lower between his knees. There was no picture +left on his brain now, but simply an impress of the blazing logs before +him. + +Then, Trooper Peter Halket started. He sat up and listened. The wind had +gone; there was not a sound: but he listened intently. The fire burnt up +into the still air, two clear red tongues of flame. + +Then, on the other side of the kopje he heard the sound of footsteps +ascending; the slow even tread of bare feet coming up. + +The hair on Trooper Peter Halket’s forehead slowly stiffened itself. He +had no thought of escaping; he was paralyzed with dread. He took up his +gun. A deadly coldness crept from his feet to his head. He had worked a +maxim gun in a fight when some hundred natives fell and only one white +man had been wounded; and he had never known fear; but tonight his +fingers were stiff on the lock of his gun. He knelt low, tending +a little to one side of the fire, with his gun ready. A stone half +sheltered him from anyone coming up from the other side of the kopje, +and the instant the figure appeared over the edge he intended to fire. + +Then, the thought flashed on him; what, and if it were one of his own +comrades come in search of him, and no bare-footed enemy! The anguish of +suspense wrung his heart; for an instant he hesitated. Then, in a cold +agony of terror, he cried out, “Who is there?” + +And a voice replied in clear, slow English, “A friend.” + +Peter Halket almost let his gun drop, in the revulsion of feeling. The +cold sweat which anguish had restrained burst out in large drops on his +forehead; but he still knelt holding his gun. + +“What do you want?” he cried out quiveringly. + +From the darkness at the edge of the kopje a figure stepped out into the +full blaze of the firelight. + +Trooper Peter Halket looked up at it. + +It was the tall figure of a man, clad in one loose linen garment, +reaching lower than his knees, and which clung close about him. His +head, arms, and feet were bare. He carried no weapon of any kind; and on +his shoulders hung heavy locks of dark hair. + +Peter Halket looked up at him with astonishment. “Are you alone?” he +asked. + +“Yes, I am alone.” + +Peter Halket lowered his gun and knelt up. + +“Lost your way, I suppose?” he said, still holding his weapon loosely. + +“No; I have come to ask whether I may sit beside your fire for a while.” + +“Certainly, certainly!” said Peter, eyeing the stranger’s dress +carefully, still holding his gun, but with the hand off the lock. “I’m +confoundedly glad of any company. It’s a beastly night for anyone to be +out alone. Wonder you find your way. Sit down! sit down!” Peter looked +intently at the stranger; then he put his gun down at his side. + +The stranger sat down on the opposite side of the fire. His complexion +was dark; his arms and feet were bronzed; but his aquiline features, and +the domed forehead, were not of any South African race. + +“One of the Soudanese Rhodes brought with him from the north, I +suppose?” said Peter, still eyeing him curiously. + +“No; Cecil Rhodes has had nothing to do with my coming here,” said the +stranger. + +“Oh--” said Peter. “You didn’t perhaps happen to come across a company +of men today, twelve white men and seven coloured, with three cart loads +of provisions? We were taking them to the big camp, and I got parted +from my troop this morning. I’ve not been able to find them, though I’ve +been seeking for them ever since.” + +The stranger warmed his hands slowly at the fire; then he raised his +head:--“They are camped at the foot of those hills tonight,” he said, +pointing with his hand into the darkness at the left. “Tomorrow early +they will be here, before the sun has risen.” + +“Oh, you’ve met them, have you!” said Peter joyfully; “that’s why you +weren’t surprised at finding me here. Take a drop!” He took the small +flask from his pocket and held it out. “I’m sorry there’s so little, but +a drop will keep the cold out.” + +The stranger bowed his head; but thanked and declined. + +Peter raised the flask to his lips and took a small draught; then +returned it to his pocket. The stranger folded his arms about his knees, +and looked into the fire. + +“Are you a Jew?” asked Peter, suddenly; as the firelight fell full on +the stranger’s face. + +“Yes; I am a Jew.” + +“Ah,” said Peter, “that’s why I wasn’t able to make out at first what +nation you could be of; your dress, you know--” Then he stopped, and +said, “Trading here, I suppose? Which country do you come from; are you +a Spanish Jew?” + +“I am a Jew of Palestine.” + +“Ah!” said Peter; “I haven’t seen many from that part yet. I came out +with a lot on board ship; and I’ve seen Barnato and Beit; but they’re +not very much like you. I suppose it’s coming from Palestine makes the +difference.” + +All fear of the stranger had now left Peter Halket. “Come a little +nearer the fire,” he said, “you must be cold, you haven’t too much +wraps. I’m chill in this big coat.” Peter Halket pushed his gun a little +further away from him; and threw another large log on the fire. “I’m +sorry I haven’t anything to eat to offer you; but I haven’t had anything +myself since last night. It’s beastly sickening, being out like this +with nothing to eat. Wouldn’t have thought a fellow’d feel so bad after +only a day of it. Have you ever been out without grub?” said Peter +cheerfully, warming his hands at the blaze. + +“Forty days and nights,” said the stranger. + +“Forty days! Ph--e--ew!” said Peter. “You must have have had a lot to +drink, or you wouldn’t have stood it. I was feeling blue enough when you +turned up, but I’m better now, warmer.” + +Peter Halket re-arranged the logs on the fire. + +“In the employ of the Chartered Company, I suppose?” said Peter, looking +into the fire he had made. + +“No,” said the stranger; “I have nothing to do with the Chartered +Company.” + +“Oh,” said Peter, “I don’t wonder, then, that things aren’t looking very +smart with you! There’s not too much cakes and ale up here for those +that do belong to it, if they’re not big-wigs, and none at all for those +who don’t. I tried it when I first came up here. I was with a prospector +who was hooked on to the Company somehow, but I worked on my own account +for the prospector by the day. I tell you what, it’s not the men +who work up here who make the money; it’s the big-wigs who get the +concessions!” + +Peter felt exhilarated by the presence of the stranger. That one unarmed +man had robbed him of all fear. + +Seeing that the stranger did not take up the thread of conversation, he +went on after a time: “It wasn’t such a bad life, though. I only wish I +was back there again. I had two huts to myself, and a couple of nigger +girls. It’s better fun,” said Peter, after a while, “having these black +women than whites. The whites you’ve got to support, but the niggers +support you! And when you’ve done with them you can just get rid of +them. I’m all for the nigger gals.” Peter laughed. But the stranger sat +motionless with his arms about his knees. + +“You got any girls?” said Peter. “Care for niggers?” + +“I love all women,” said the stranger, refolding his arms about his +knees. + +“Oh, you do, do you?” said Peter. “Well, I’m pretty sick of them. I had +bother enough with mine,” he said genially, warming his hands by the +fire, and then interlocking the fingers and turning the palms towards +the blaze as one who prepares to enjoy a good talk. “One girl was only +fifteen; I got her cheap from a policeman who was living with her, and +she wasn’t much. But the other, by Gad! I never saw another nigger like +her; well set up, I tell you, and as straight as that--” said Peter, +holding up his finger in the firelight. “She was thirty if she was a +day. Fellows don’t generally fancy women that age; they like slips of +girls. But I set my heart on her the day I saw her. She belonged to the +chap I was with. He got her up north. There was a devil of a row about +his getting her, too; she’d got a nigger husband and two children; +didn’t want to leave them, or some nonsense of that sort: you know what +these niggers are? Well, I tried to get the other fellow to let me have +her, but the devil a bit he would. I’d only got the other girl, and I +didn’t much fancy her; she was only a child. Well, I went down Umtali +way and got a lot of liquor and stuff, and when I got back to camp I +found them clean dried out. They hadn’t had a drop of liquor in camp for +ten days, and the rainy season coming on and no knowing when they’d get +any. Well, I’d a vatje of Old Dop as high as that--,” indicating with +his hand an object about two feet high, “and the other fellow wanted to +buy it from me. I knew two of that. I said I wanted it for myself. He +offered me this, and he offered me that. At last I said, ‘Well, just to +oblige you, I give you the vatje and you give me the girl!’ And so +he did. Most people wouldn’t have fancied a nigger girl who’d had two +nigger children, but I didn’t mind; it’s all the same to me. And I tell +you she worked. She made a garden, and she and the other girl worked in +it; I tell you I didn’t need to buy a sixpence of food for them in six +months, and I used to sell green mealies and pumpkins to all the fellows +about. There weren’t many flies on her, I tell you. She picked up +English quicker than I picked up her lingo, and took to wearing a dress +and shawl.” + +The stranger still sat motionless, looking into the fire. + +Peter Halket reseated himself more comfortably before the fire. “Well, +I came home to the huts one day, rather suddenly, you know, to fetch +something; and what did I find? She, talking at the hut door with a +nigger man. Now it was my strict orders they were neither to speak a +word to a nigger man at all; so I asked what it was. And she answers, as +cool as can be, that he was a stranger going past on the road, and asked +her to give him a drink of water. Well, I just ordered him off. I didn’t +think anything more about it. But I remember now. I saw him hanging +about the camp the day after. Well, she came to me the next day and +asked me for a lot of cartridges. She’d never asked me for anything +before. I asked her what the devil a woman wanted with cartridges, and +she said the old nigger woman who helped carry in water to the garden +said she couldn’t stay and help her any more unless she got some +cartridges to give her son who was going up north hunting elephants. The +woman got over me to give her the cartridges because she was going to +have a kid, and she said she couldn’t do the watering without help. So I +gave them her. I never put two and two together. + +“Well, when I heard that the Company was going to have a row with the +Matabele, I thought I’d volunteer. They said there was lots of loot to +be got, and land to be given out, and that sort of thing, and I thought +I’d only be gone about three months. So I went. I left those women +there, and a lot of stuff in the garden and some sugar and rice, and I +told them not to leave till I came back; and I asked the other man to +keep an eye on them. Both those women were Mashonas. They always said +the Mashonas didn’t love the Matabele; but, by God, it turned out +that they loved them better than they loved us. They’ve got the damned +impertinence to say, that the Matabele oppressed them sometimes, but the +white man oppresses them all the time! + +“Well, I left those women there,” said Peter, dropping his hands on his +knees. “Mind you, I’d treated those women really well. I’d never given +either of them one touch all the time I had them. I was the talk of all +the fellows round, the way I treated them. Well, I hadn’t been gone a +month, when I got a letter from the man I worked with, the one who had +the woman first--he’s dead now, poor fellow; they found him at his hut +door with his throat cut--and what do you think he said to me? Why, I +hadn’t been gone six hours when those two women skooted! It was all the +big one. What do you think she did? She took every ounce of ball and +cartridge she could find in that hut, and my old Martini-Henry, and even +the lid off the tea-box to melt into bullets for the old muzzle-loaders +they have; and off she went, and took the young one too. The fellow +wrote me they didn’t touch another thing: they left the shawls and +dresses I gave them kicking about the huts, and went off naked with only +their blankets and the ammunition on their heads. A nigger man met them +twenty miles off, and he said they were skooting up for Lo Magundi’s +country as fast as they could go. + +“And do you know,” said Peter, striking his knee, and looking +impressively across the fire at the stranger; “what I’m as sure of as +that I’m sitting here? It’s that that nigger I caught at my hut, that +day, was her nigger husband! He’d come to fetch her that time; and when +she saw she couldn’t get away without our catching her, she got the +cartridges for him!” Peter paused impressively between the words. “And +now she’s gone back to him. It’s for him she’s taken that ammunition!” + +Peter looked across the fire at the stranger, to see what impression his +story was making. + +“I tell you what,” said Peter, “if I’d had any idea that day who that +bloody nigger was, the day I saw him standing at my door, I’d have given +him one cartridge in the back of his head more than ever he reckoned +for!” Peter looked triumphantly at the stranger. This was his only +story; and he had told it a score of times round the camp fire for the +benefit of some new-comer. When this point was reached, a low murmur +of applause and sympathy always ran round the group: tonight there was +quiet; the stranger’s large dark eyes watched the fire almost as though +he heard nothing. + +“I shouldn’t have minded so much,” said Peter after a while, “though no +man likes to have his woman taken away from him; but she was going to +have a kid in a month or two--and so was the little one for anything I +know; she looked like it! I expect they did away with it before it came; +they’ve no hearts, these niggers; they’d think nothing of doing that +with a white man’s child. They’ve no hearts; they’d rather go back to a +black man, however well you’ve treated them. It’s all right if you get +them quite young and keep them away from their own people; but if once +a nigger woman’s had a nigger man and had children by him, you might as +well try to hold a she-devil! they’ll always go back. If ever I’m shot, +it’s as likely as not it’ll be by my own gun, with my own cartridges. +And she’d stand by and watch it, and cheer them on; though I never gave +her a blow all the time she was with me. But I tell you what--if ever I +come across that bloody nigger, I’ll take it out of him. He won’t count +many days to his year, after I’ve spotted him!” Peter Halket paused. +It seemed to him that the eyes under their heavy, curled lashes, were +looking at something beyond him with an infinite sadness, almost as of +eyes that wept. + +“You look awfully tired,” said Peter; “wouldn’t you like to lie down and +sleep? You could put your head down on that stone, and I’d keep watch.” + +“I have no need of sleep,” the stranger said; “I will watch with you.” + +“You’ve been in the wars, too, I see,” said Peter, bending forward a +little, and looking at the stranger’s feet. “By God! Both of them!--And +right through! You must have had a bad time of it?” + +“It was very long ago,” said the stranger. + +Peter Halket threw two more logs on the fire. “Do you know,” he said, +“I’ve been wondering ever since you came, who it was you reminded me of. +It’s my mother! You’re not like her in the face, but when your eyes look +at me it seems to me as if it was she looking at me. Curious, isn’t it? +I don’t know you from Adam, and you’ve hardly spoken a word since you +came; and yet I seem as if I’d known you all my life.” Peter moved a +little nearer him. “I was awfully afraid of you when you first came; +even when I first saw you;--you aren’t dressed as most of us dress, +you know. But the minute the fire shone on your face I said, ‘It’s all +right.’ Curious, isn’t it?” said Peter. “I don’t know you from Adam, but +if you were to take up my gun and point it at me, I wouldn’t move! I’d +lie down here and go to sleep with my head at your feet; curious, isn’t +it, when I don’t know you from Adam? My name’s Peter Halket. What’s +yours?” + +But the stranger was arranging the logs on the fire. The flames shot up +bright and high, and almost hid him from Peter Halket’s view. + +“By gad! how they burn when you arrange them!” said Peter. + +They sat quiet in the blaze for a while. + +Then Peter said, “Did you see any niggers about yesterday? I haven’t +come across any in this part.” + +“There is,” said the stranger, raising himself, “an old woman in a cave +over yonder, and there is one man in the bush, ten miles from this spot. +He has lived there six weeks, since you destroyed the kraal, living on +roots or herbs. He was wounded in the thigh, and left for dead. He is +waiting till you have all left this part of the country that he may set +out to follow his own people. His leg is not yet so strong that he may +walk fast.” + +“Did you speak to him?” said Peter. + +“I took him down to the water where a large pool was. The bank was too +high for the man to descend alone.” + +“It’s a lucky thing for you our fellows didn’t catch you,” said Peter. +“Our captain’s a regular little martinet. He’d shoot you as soon as look +at you, if he saw you fooling round with a wounded nigger. It’s lucky +you kept out of his way.” + +“The young ravens have meat given to them,” said the stranger, lifting +himself up; “and the lions go down to the streams to drink.” + +“Ah--yes--” said Peter; “but that’s because we can’t help it!” + +They were silent again for a little while. Then Peter, seeing that the +stranger showed no inclination to speak, said, “Did you hear of the +spree they had up Bulawayo way, hanging those three niggers for spies? I +wasn’t there myself, but a fellow who was told me they made the niggers +jump down from the tree and hang themselves; one fellow wouldn’t bally +jump, till they gave him a charge of buckshot in the back: and then he +caught hold of a branch with his hands and they had to shoot ‘em loose. +He didn’t like hanging. I don’t know if it’s true, of course; I wasn’t +there myself, but a fellow who was told me. Another fellow who was at +Bulawayo, but who wasn’t there when they were hung, said they fired at +them just after they jumped, to kill ‘em. I--” + +“I was there,” said the stranger. + +“Oh, you were?” said Peter. “I saw a photograph of the niggers hanging, +and our fellows standing round smoking; but I didn’t see you in it. I +suppose you’d just gone away?” + +“I was beside the men when they were hung,” said the stranger. + +“Oh, you were, were you?” said Peter. “I don’t much care about seeing +that sort of thing myself. Some fellows think it’s the best fun out to +see the niggers kick; but I can’t stand it: it turns my stomach. It’s +not liver-heartedness,” said Peter, quickly, anxious to remove any +adverse impression as to his courage which the stranger might form; “if +it’s shooting or fighting, I’m there. I’ve potted as many niggers as any +man in our troop, I bet. It’s floggings and hangings I’m off. It’s the +way one’s brought up, you know. My mother never even would kill our +ducks; she let them die of old age, and we had the feathers and the +eggs: and she was always drumming into me;--don’t hit a fellow smaller +than yourself; don’t hit a fellow weaker than yourself; don’t hit a +fellow unless he can hit you back as good again. When you’ve always had +that sort of thing drummed into you, you can’t get rid of it, somehow. +Now there was that other nigger they shot. They say he sat as still as +if he was cut out of stone, with his arms round his legs; and some of +the fellows gave him blows about the head and face before they took him +off to shoot him. Now, that’s the sort of thing I can’t do. It makes me +sick here, somehow.” Peter put his hand rather low down over the pit of +his stomach. “I’ll shoot as many as you like if they’ll run, but they +mustn’t be tied up.” + +“I was there when that man was shot,” said the stranger. + +“Why, you seem to have been everywhere,” said Peter. “Have you seen +Cecil Rhodes?” + +“Yes, I have seen him,” said the stranger. + +“Now he’s death on niggers,” said Peter Halket, warming his hands by the +fire; “they say when he was Prime Minister down in the Colony he tried +to pass a law that would give their masters and mistresses the right to +have their servants flogged whenever they did anything they didn’t like; +but the other Englishmen wouldn’t let him pass it. But here he can do +what he likes. That’s the reason some fellows don’t want him to be +sent away. They say, ‘If we get the British Government here, they’ll be +giving the niggers land to live on; and let them have the vote, and get +civilised and educated, and all that sort of thing; but Cecil Rhodes, +he’ll keep their noses to the grindstone.’ ‘I prefer land to niggers,’ +he says. They say he’s going to parcel them out, and make them work on +our lands whether they like it or not--just as good as having slaves, +you know: and you haven’t the bother of looking after them when they’re +old. Now, there I’m with Rhodes; I think it’s an awfully good move. We +don’t come out here to work; it’s all very well in England; but we’ve +come here to make money, and how are we to make it, unless you get +niggers to work for you, or start a syndicate? He’s death on niggers, +is Rhodes!” said Peter, meditating; “they say if we had the British +Government here and you were thrashing a nigger and something happened, +there’d be an investigation, and all that sort of thing. But, with +Cecil, it’s all right, you can do what you like with the niggers, +provided you don’t get HIM into trouble.” + +The stranger watched the clear flame as it burnt up high in the still +night air; then suddenly he started. + +“What is it?” said Peter; “do you hear anything?” + +“I hear far off,” said the stranger, “the sound of weeping, and the +sound of blows. And I hear the voices of men and women calling to me.” + +Peter listened intently. “I don’t hear anything!” he said. “It must be +in your head. I sometimes get a noise in mine.” He listened intently. +“No, there’s nothing. It’s all so deadly still.” + +They sat silent for a while. + +“Peter Simon Halket,” said the stranger suddenly--Peter started; he had +not told him his second name--“if it should come to pass that you should +obtain those lands you have desired, and you should obtain black men to +labour on them and make to yourself great wealth; or should you create +that company”--Peter started--“and fools should buy from you, so that +you became the richest man in the land; and if you should take to +yourself wide lands, and raise to yourself great palaces, so that +princes and great men of earth crept up to you and laid their hands +against yours, so that you might slip gold into them--what would it +profit you?” + +“Profit!” Peter Halket stared: “Why, it would profit everything. +What makes Beit and Rhodes and Barnato so great? If you’ve got eight +millions--” + +“Peter Simon Halket, which of those souls you have seen on earth is to +you greatest?” said the stranger, “Which soul is to you fairest?” + +“Ah,” said Peter, “but we weren’t talking of souls at all; we were +talking of money. Of course if it comes to souls, my mother’s the best +person I’ve ever seen. But what does it help her? She’s got to stand +washing clothes for those stuck-up nincompoops of fine ladies! Wait till +I’ve got money! It’ll be somebody else then, who--” + +“Peter Halket,” said the stranger, “who is the greatest; he who serves +or he who is served?” Peter looked at the stranger: then it flashed on +him that he was mad. + +“Oh,” he said, “if it comes to that, what’s anything! You might as well +say, sitting there in your old linen shirt, that you were as great as +Rhodes or Beit or Barnato, or a king. Of course a man’s just the same +whatever he’s got on or whatever he has; but he isn’t the same to other +people.” + +“There have kings been born in stables,” said the stranger. + +Then Peter saw that he was joking, and laughed. “It must have been a +long time ago; they don’t get born there now,” he said. “Why, if God +Almighty came to this country, and hadn’t half-a-million in shares, they +wouldn’t think much of Him.” + +Peter built up his fire. Suddenly he felt the stranger’s eyes were fixed +on him. + +“Who gave you your land?” the stranger asked. + +“Mine! Why, the Chartered Company,” said Peter. + +The stranger looked back into the fire. “And who gave it to them?” he +asked softly. + +“Why, England, of course. She gave them the land to far beyond the +Zambezi to do what they liked with, and make as much money out of as +they could, and she’d back ‘em.” + +“Who gave the land to the men and women of England?” asked the stranger +softly. + +“Why, the devil! They said it was theirs, and of course it was,” said +Peter. + +“And the people of the land: did England give you the people also?” + +Peter looked a little doubtfully at the stranger. “Yes, of course, she +gave us the people; what use would the land have been to us otherwise?” + +“And who gave her the people, the living flesh and blood, that she might +give them away, into the hands of others?” asked the stranger, raising +himself. + +Peter looked at him and was half afeared. “Well, what could she do with +a lot of miserable niggers, if she didn’t give them to us? A lot of +good-for-nothing rebels they are, too,” said Peter. + +“What is a rebel?” asked the stranger. + +“My Gawd!” said Peter, “you must have lived out of the world if you +don’t know what a rebel is! A rebel is a man who fights against his king +and his country. These bloody niggers here are rebels because they are +fighting against us. They don’t want the Chartered Company to have them. +But they’ll have to. We’ll teach them a lesson,” said Peter Halket, the +pugilistic spirit rising, firmly reseating himself on the South African +earth, which two years before he had never heard of, and eighteen months +before he had never seen, as if it had been his mother earth, and the +land in which he first saw light. + +The stranger watched the fire; then he said musingly, “I have seen a +land far from here. In that land are men of two kinds who live side by +side. Well nigh a thousand years ago one conquered the other; they have +lived together since. Today the one people seeks to drive forth the +other who conquered them. Are these men rebels, too?” + +“Well,” said Peter, pleased at being deferred to, “that all depends who +they are, you know!” + +“They call the one nation Turks, and the other Armenians,” said the +stranger. + +“Oh, the Armenians aren’t rebels,” said Peter; “they are on our +side! The papers are all full of it,” said Peter, pleased to show his +knowledge. “Those bloody Turks! What right had they to conquer the +Armenians? Who gave them their land? I’d like to have a shot at them +myself!” + +“WHY are Armenians not rebels?” asked the stranger, gently. + +“Oh, you do ask such curious questions,” said Peter. “If they don’t +like the Turks, why should they have ‘em? If the French came now and +conquered us, and we tried to drive them out first chance we had; you +wouldn’t call us rebels! Why shouldn’t they try to turn those bloody +Turks out? Besides,” said Peter, bending over and talking in the manner +of one who imparts secret and important information; “you see, if +we don’t help the Armenians the Russians would; and we,” said Peter, +looking exceedingly knowing, “we’ve got to prevent that: they’d get +the land; and it’s on the road to India. And we don’t mean them to. I +suppose you don’t know much about politics in Palestine?” said Peter, +looking kindly and patronisingly at the stranger. + +“If these men,” said the stranger, “would rather be free, or be under +the British Government, than under the Chartered Company, why, when they +resist the Chartered Company, are they more rebels than the Armenians +when they resist the Turk? Is the Chartered Company God, that every knee +should bow before it, and before it every head be bent? Would you, the +white men of England, submit to its rule for one day?” + +“Ah,” said Peter, “no, of course we shouldn’t, but we are white men, and +so are the Armenians--almost--” Then he glanced at the stranger’s dark +face, and added quickly, “At least, it’s not the colour that matters, +you know. I rather like a dark face, my mother’s eyes are brown--but the +Armenians, you know, they’ve got long hair like us.” + +“Oh, it is the hair, then, that matters,” said the stranger softly. + +“Oh, well,” said Peter, “it’s not altogether, of course. But it’s quite +a different thing, the Armenians wanting to get rid of the Turks, +and these bloody niggers wanting to get rid of the Chartered Company. +Besides, the Armenians are Christians, like us!” + +“Are YOU Christians?” A strange storm broke across the stranger’s +features; he rose to his feet. + +“Why, of course, we are!” said Peter. “We’re all Christians, we English. +Perhaps you don’t like Christians, though? Some Jews don’t, I know,” + said Peter, looking up soothingly at him. + +“I neither love nor hate any man for that which he is called,” said the +stranger; “the name boots nothing.” + +The stranger sat down again beside the fire, and folded his hands. + +“Is the Chartered Company Christian also?” he asked. + +“Yes, oh yes,” said Peter. + +“What is a Christian?” asked the stranger. + +“Well, now, you really do ask such curious questions. A Christian is a +man who believes in Heaven and Hell, and God and the Bible, and in Jesus +Christ, that he’ll save him from going to Hell, and if he believes he’ll +be saved, he will be saved.” + +“But here, in this world, what is a Christian?” + +“Why,” said Peter, “I’m a Christian--we’re all Christians.” + +The stranger looked into the fire; and Peter thought he would change the +subject. “It’s curious how like my mother you are; I mean, your ways. +She was always saying to me, ‘Don’t be too anxious to make money, Peter. +Too much wealth is as bad as too much poverty.’ You’re very like her.” + +After a while Peter said, bending over a little towards the stranger, +“If you don’t want to make money, what did you come to this land for? No +one comes here for anything else. Are you in with the Portuguese?” + +“I am not more with one people than with another,” said the stranger. +“The Frenchman is not more to me than the Englishman, the Englishman +than the Kaffir, the Kaffir than the Chinaman. I have heard,” said the +stranger, “the black infant cry as it crept on its mother’s body and +sought for her breast as she lay dead in the roadway. I have heard also +the rich man’s child wail in the palace. I hear all cries.” + +Peter looked intently at him. “Why, who are you?” he said; then, bending +nearer to the stranger and looking up, he added, “What is it that you +are doing here?” + +“I belong,” said the stranger, “to the strongest company on earth.” + +“Oh,” said Peter, sitting up, the look of wonder passing from his face. +“So that’s it, is it? Is it diamonds, or gold, or lands?” + +“We are the most vast of all companies on the earth,” said the stranger; +“and we are always growing. We have among us men of every race and from +every land; the Esquimo, the Chinaman, the Turk, and the Englishman, we +have of them all. We have men of every religion, Buddhists, Mahomedans, +Confucians, Freethinkers, Atheists, Christians, Jews. It matters to us +nothing by what name the man is named, so he be one of us.” + +And Peter said, “It must be hard for you all to understand one another, +if you are of so many different kinds?” + +The stranger answered, “There is a sign by which we all know one +another, and by which all the world may know us.” (By this shall all men +know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.) + +And Peter said, “What is that sign?” + +But the stranger was silent. + +“Oh, a kind of freemasonry!” said Peter, leaning on his elbow towards +the stranger, and looking up at him from under his pointed cap. “Are +there any more of you here in this country?” + +“There are,” said the stranger. Then he pointed with his hand into the +darkness. “There in a cave were two women. When you blew the cave up +they were left unhurt behind a fallen rock. When you took away all the +grain, and burnt what you could not carry, there was one basketful that +you knew nothing of. The women stayed there, for one was eighty, and one +near the time of her giving birth; and they dared not set out to follow +the remnant of their tribe because you were in the plains below. Every +day the old woman doled grain from the basket; and at night they cooked +it in their cave where you could not see their smoke; and every day +the old woman gave the young one two handfuls and kept one for herself, +saying, ‘Because of the child within you.’ And when the child was born +and the young woman strong, the old woman took a cloth and filled it +with all the grain that was in the basket; and she put the grain on +the young woman’s head and tied the child on her back, and said, ‘Go, +keeping always along the bank of the river, till you come north to the +land where our people are gone; and some day you can send and fetch me.’ +And the young woman said, ‘Have you corn in the basket to last till they +come?’ And she said, ‘I have enough.’ And she sat at the broken door of +the cave and watched the young woman go down the hill and up the river +bank till she was hidden by the bush; and she looked down at the plain +below, and she saw the spot where the kraal had been and where she had +planted mealies when she was a young girl--” + +“I met a woman with corn on her head and a child on her back!” said +Peter under his breath. + +“--And tonight I saw her sit again at the door of the cave; and when the +sun had set she grew cold; and she crept in and lay down by the basket. +Tonight, at half-past three, she will die. I have known her since she +was a little child and played about the huts, while her mother worked in +the mealie fields. She was one of our company.” + +“Oh,” said Peter. + +“Other members we have here,” said the stranger. “There was a +prospector”--he pointed north; “he was a man who drank and swore when it +listed him; but he had many servants, and they knew where to find him in +need. When they were ill, he tended them with his own hands; when they +were in trouble, they came to him for help. When this war began, and all +black men’s hearts were bitter, because certain white men had lied +to them, and their envoys had been killed when they would have asked +England to put her hand out over them; at that time certain of the +men who fought the white men came to the prospector’s hut. And the +prospector fired at them from a hole he had cut in his door; but they +fired back at him with an old elephant gun, and the bullet pierced +his side and he fell on the floor:--because the innocent man suffers +oftentimes for the guilty, and the merciful man falls while the +oppressor flourishes. Then his black servant who was with him took him +quickly in his arms, and carried him out at the back of the hut, and +down into the river bed where the water flowed and no man could trace +his footsteps, and hid him in a hole in the river wall. And when the men +broke into the hut they could find no white man, and no traces of his +feet. But at evening, when the black servant returned to the hut to get +food and medicine for his master, the men who were fighting caught him, +and they said, ‘Oh, you betrayer of your people, white man’s dog, +who are on the side of those who take our lands and our wives and our +daughters before our eyes; tell us where you have hidden him?’ And when +he would not answer them, they killed him before the door of the hut. +And when the night came, the white man crept up on his hands and knees, +and came to his hut to look for food. All the other men were gone, but +his servant lay dead before the door; and the white man knew how it must +have happened. He could not creep further, and he lay down before +the door, and that night the white man and the black lay there dead +together, side by side. Both those men were of my friends.” + +“It was damned plucky of the nigger,” said Peter; “but I’ve heard of +their doing that sort of thing before. Even of a girl who wouldn’t tell +where her mistress was, and getting killed. But,” he added doubtfully, +“all your company seem to be niggers or to get killed?” + +“They are of all races,” said the stranger. “In a city in the old Colony +is one of us, small of stature and small of voice. It came to pass on a +certain Sunday morning, when the men and women were gathered before him, +that he mounted his pulpit: and he said when the time for the sermon +came, ‘In place that I should speak to you, I will read you a history.’ +And he opened an old book more than two thousand years old: and he read: +‘Now it came to pass that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which +was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. + +“‘And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may +have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I +will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seemeth good +to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. + +“‘And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the +inheritance of my father unto thee. + +“‘And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word +which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken unto him; for he had said, I will +not give thee the inheritance of my fathers.’ + +“The man read the whole story until it was ended. Then he closed the +book, and he said, ‘My friends, Naboth has a vineyard in this land; +and in it there is much gold; and Ahab has desired to have it that the +wealth may be his.’ + +“And he put the old book aside, and he took up another which was written +yesterday. And the men and women whispered one to another, even in the +church, ‘Is not that the Blue Book Report of the Select Committee of the +Cape Parliament on the Jameson raid?’ + +“And the man said, ‘Friends, the first story I have read you is one of +the oldest stories of the world: the story I am about to read you is +one of the newest. Truth is not more truth because it is three thousand +years old, nor is it less truth because it is of yesterday. All books +which throw light on truth are God’s books, therefore I shall read to +you from the pages before me. Shall the story of Ahab king of Samaria +profit us when we know not the story of the Ahabs of our day; and the +Naboths of our land be stoned while we sit at east?’ And he read to them +portions of that book. And certain rich men and women rose up and went +out even while he spoke, and his wife also went out. + +“And when the service was ended and the man returned to his home, his +wife came to him weeping; and she said, ‘Did you see how some of the +most wealthy and important people got up and went out this morning? Why +did you preach such a sermon, when we were just going to have the new +wing added to our house, and you thought they were going to raise your +salary? You have not a single Boer in your congregation! Why need you +say the Chartered Company raid on Johannesburg was wrong?’ + +“He said, ‘My wife, if I believe that certain men whom we have raised on +high, and to whom we have given power, have done a cowardly wrong, shall +I not say it?’ + +“And she said, ‘Yes, and only a little while ago, when Rhodes was +licking the dust off the Boers’ feet that he might keep them from +suspecting while he got ready this affair, then you attacked both Rhodes +and the Bond (The Afrikander Bond, the organised Dutch political party, +through whom Mr. Rhodes worked, and by whom he was backed.) for trying +to pass a Bill for flogging the niggers, and we lost fifty pounds we +might have got for the church?’ And he said, ‘My wife, cannot God be +worshipped as well under the dome of the heaven He made as in a golden +palace? Shall a man keep silence, when he sees oppression, to earn money +for God? If I have defended the black man when I believed him to be +wronged, shall I not also defend the white man, my flesh-brother? Shall +we speak when one man is wronged and not when it is another?’ + +“And she said, ‘Yes, but you have your family and yourself to think of! +Why are you always in opposition to the people who could do something +for us? You are only loved by the poor. If it is necessary for you to +attack some one, why don’t you attack the Jews for killing Christ, or +Herod, or Pontius Pilate; why don’t you leave alone the men who are in +power today, and who with their money can crush you!’ + +“And he said, ‘Oh my wife, those Jews, and Herod, and Pontius Pilate are +long dead. If I should preach of them now, would it help them? Would it +save one living thing from their clutches? The past is dead, it lives +only for us to learn from. The present, the present only, is ours to +work in, and the future ours to create. Is all the gold of Johannesburg +or are all the diamonds in Kimberley worth, that one Christian man +should fall by the hand of his fellows--aye, or one heathen brother?’ + +“And she answered, ‘Oh, that is all very well. If you were a really +eloquent preacher, and could draw hundreds of men about you, and in time +form a great party with you at its head, I shouldn’t mind what you said. +But you, with your little figure and your little voice, who will ever +follow you? You will be left all alone; that is all the good that will +ever come to you through it.’ + +“And he said, ‘Oh my wife, have I not waited and watched and hoped that +they who are nobler and stronger than I, all over this land, would lift +up their voices and speak--and there is only a deadly silence? Here +and there one has dared to speak aloud; but the rest whisper behind the +hand; one says, ‘My son has a post, he would lose it if I spoke loud’; +and another says, ‘I have a promise of land’; and another, ‘I am +socially intimate with these men, and should lose my social standing if +I let my voice be heard.’ Oh my wife, our land, our goodly land, which +we had hoped would be free and strong among the peoples of earth, is +rotten and honeycombed with the tyranny of gold! We who had hoped to +stand first in the Anglo-Saxon sisterhood for justice and freedom, are +not even fit to stand last. Do I not know only too bitterly how weak is +my voice; and that that which I can do is as nothing: but shall I remain +silent? Shall the glow-worm refuse to give its light, because it is not +a star set up on high; shall the broken stick refuse to burn and warm +one frozen man’s hands, because it is not a beacon-light flaming across +the earth? Ever a voice is behind my shoulder, that whispers to me--‘Why +break your head against a stone wall? Leave this work to the greater and +larger men of your people; they who will do it better than you can do +it! Why break your heart when life could be so fair to you?’ But, oh my +wife, the strong men are silent! and shall I not speak, though I know my +power is as nothing?’ + +“He laid his head upon his hands. + +“And she said, ‘I cannot understand you. When I come home and tell +you that this man drinks, or that that woman has got into trouble, you +always answer me, ‘Wife, what business is it of ours if so be that we +cannot help them?’ A little innocent gossip offends you; and you go to +visit people and treat them as your friends, into whose house I would +not go. Yet when the richest and strongest men in the land, who could +crush you with their money, as a boy crushes a fly between his finger +and thumb, take a certain course, you stand and oppose them.’ + +“And he said, ‘My wife, with the sins of the private man, what have I to +do, if so be I have not led him into them? Am I guilty? I have enough to +do looking after my own sins. The sin that a man sins against himself is +his alone, not mine; the sin that a man sins against his fellows is his +and theirs, not mine: but the sins that a man sins, in that he is taken +up by the hands of a people and set up on high, and whose hand they have +armed with their sword, whose power to strike is their power--his sins +are theirs; there is no man so small in the whole nation that he dares +say, ‘I have no responsibility for this man’s action.’ We armed him, we +raised him, we strengthened him, and the evil he accomplishes is more +ours than his. If this man’s end in South Africa should be accomplished, +and the day should come when, from the Zambezi to the sea, white man +should fly at white man’s throat, and every man’s heart burn with +bitterness against his fellow, and the land be bathed with blood as +rain--shall I then dare to pray, who have now feared to speak? Do not +think I wish for punishment upon these men. Let them take the millions +they have wrung out of this land, and go to the lands of their birth, +and live in wealth, luxury, and joy; but let them leave this land they +have tortured and ruined. Let them keep the money they have made here; +we may be the poorer for it; but they cannot then crush our freedom with +it. Shall I ask my God Sunday by Sunday to brood across the land, and +bind all its children’s hearts in a close-knit fellowship;--yet, when I +see its people betrayed, and their jawbone broken by a stroke from the +hand of gold; when I see freedom passing from us, and the whole land +being grasped by the golden claw, so that the generation after us shall +be born without freedom, to labour for the men who have grasped all, +shall I hold my peace? The Boer and the Englishman who have been in this +land, have not always loved mercy, nor have they always sought after +justice; but the little finger of the speculator and monopolist who are +devouring this land will be thicker on the backs of the children of this +land, black and white, than the loins of the Dutchmen and Englishmen who +have been.’ + +“And she said, ‘I have heard it said that it was our duty to sacrifice +ourselves for the men and women living in the world at the same time as +ourselves; but I never before heard that we had to sacrifice ourselves +for people that are not born. What are they to you? You will be dust, +and lying in your grave, before that time comes. If you believe in God,’ +she said, ‘why cannot you leave it to Him to bring good out of all this +evil? Does He need YOU to be made a martyr of? or will the world be lost +without YOU?’ + +“He said, ‘Wife, if my right hand be in a fire, shall I not pull it out? +Shall I say, ‘God may bring good out of this evil,’ and let it burn? +That Unknown that lies beyond us we know of no otherwise than through +its manifestation in our own hearts; it works no otherwise upon the sons +of men than through man. And shall I feel no bond binding me to the men +to come, and desire no good or beauty for them--I, who am what I am, +and enjoy what I enjoy, because for countless ages in the past men have +lived and laboured, who lived not for themselves alone, and counted no +costs? Would the great statue, the great poem, the great reform ever be +accomplished, if men counted the cost and created for their own lives +alone? And no man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. You +cannot tell me not to love the men who shall be after me; a soft voice +within me, I know not what, cries out ever, ‘Live for them as for your +own children.’ When in the circle of my own small life all is dark, and +I despair, hope springs up in me when I remember that something nobler +and fairer may spring up in the spot where I now stand.’ + +“And she said, ‘You want to put everyone against us! The other women +will not call on me; and our church is more and more made up of poor +people. Money holds by money. If your congregation were Dutchmen, I know +you would be always preaching to love the Englishmen, and be kind to +niggers. If they were Kaffirs you would always be telling them to +help white men. You will never be on the side of the people who can do +anything for us! You know the offer we had from--’ + +“And he said, ‘Oh my wife, what are the Boer, and the Russian, and the +Turk to me; am I responsible for their action? It is my own nation, +mine, which I love as a man loves his own soul, whose acts touch me. I +would that wherever our flag was planted the feeble or oppressed peoples +of earth might gather under it, saying, ‘Under this banner is freedom +and justice which knows no race or colour.’ I wish that on our banner +were blazoned in large letters “Justice and Mercy”, and that in every +new land which our feet touch, every son among us might see ever +blazoned above his head that banner, and below it the great order:--“By +this sign, Conquer!”--and that the pirate flag which some men now wave +in its place, may be torn down and furled for ever! Shall I condone the +action of some, simply because they happen to be of my own race, when in +Bushman or Hottentot I would condemn it? Shall men belonging to one of +the mightiest races of earth, creep softly on their bellies, to attack +an unwarned neighbour; when even the Kaffir has again and again given +notice of war, saying, ‘Be ready, on such and such a day I come to fight +you?’ Is England’s power so broken, and our race so enfeebled, that we +dare no longer to proclaim war; but must creep silently upon our bellies +in the dark to stab, like a subject people to whom no other course is +open? These men are English; but not English-MEN. When the men of our +race fight, they go to war with a blazoned flag and the loud trumpet +before them. It is because I am an Englishman that these things crush +me. Better that ten thousand of us should lie dead and defeated on one +battlefield, fighting for some great cause, and my own sons among +them, than that those twelve poor boys should have fallen at Doornkop, +fighting to fill up the pockets of those already oe’r-heavy with gold.’ + +“And she said, ‘YOU, what does it matter what you feel or think; YOU +will never be able to do anything!’ + +“And he said, ‘Oh my wife, stand by me; do not crush me. For me in this +matter there is no path but one on which light shines.’ + +“And she said, ‘You are very unkind; you don’t care what the people say +about us!’ and she wept bitterly, and went out of the room. But as soon +as the door was shut, she dried her tears; and she said to herself, ‘Now +he will never dare to preach such a sermon again. He dares never oppose +me when once I have set down my foot.’ + +“And the man spoke to no one, and went out alone in the veld. All the +afternoon he walked up and down among the sand and low bushes; and I +walked there beside him. + +“And when the evening came, he went back to his chapel. Many were +absent, but the elders sat in their places, and his wife also was there. +And the light shone on the empty benches. And when the time came he +opened the old book of the Jews; and he turned the leaves and read:--‘If +thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that +are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, ‘Behold we knew it not!’ Doth not +he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, +doth he not know it?’ + +“And he said, ‘This morning we considered the evils this land is +suffering under at the hands of men whose aim is the attainment of +wealth and power. Tonight we shall look at our own share in the matter. +I think we shall realise that with us, and not with the men we have +lifted up on high, lies the condemnation.’ Then his wife rose and went +out, and others followed her; and the little man’s voice rolled among +the empty benches; but he spoke on. + +“And when the service was over he went out. No elder came to the porch +to greet him; but as he stood there one, he saw not whom, slipped a +leaflet into his hand. He held it up, and read in the lamplight what was +written on it in pencil. He crushed it up in his hand, as a man crushes +that which has run a poisonous sting into him; then he dropped it on +the earth as a man drops that he would forget. A fine drizzly rain was +falling, and he walked up the street with his arms folded behind him, +and his head bent. The people walked up the other side; and it seemed to +him he was alone. But I walked behind him.” + +“And then,” asked Peter, seeing that the stranger was silent, “what +happened to him after that?” + +“That was only last Sunday,” said the stranger. + +There was silence again for some seconds. + +Then Peter said, “Well, anyhow, at least he didn’t die!” + +The stranger crossed his hands upon his knees. “Peter Simon Halket,” + he said, “it is easier for a man to die than to stand alone. He who can +stand alone can, also, when the need be, die.” + +Peter looked up wistfully into the stranger’s face. “I should not like +to die myself,” he said, “not yet. I shall not be twenty-one till next +birthday. I should like to see life first.” + +The stranger made no answer. + +Presently Peter said, “Are all the men of your company poor men?” + +The stranger waited a while before he answered; then he said,--“There +have been rich men who have desired to join us. There was a young man +once; and when he heard the conditions, he went away sorrowful, for he +had great possessions.” + +There was silence again for a while. + +“Is it long since your company was started?” asked Peter. + +“There is no man living who can conceive of its age,” said the stranger. +“Even here on this earth it began, when these hills were young, and +these lichens had hardly shown their stains upon the rocks, and man +still raised himself upwards with difficulty because the sinews in his +thighs were weak. In those days, which men reck not of now, man, when +he hungered, fed on the flesh of his fellow man and found it sweet. Yet +even in those days it came to pass that there was one whose head was +higher than her fellows and her thought keener, and, as she picked the +flesh from a human skull, she pondered. And so it came to pass the next +night, when men were gathered around the fire ready to eat, that she +stole away, and when they went to the tree where the victim was bound, +they found him gone. And they cried one to another, ‘She, only she, has +done this, who has always said, ‘I like not the taste of man-flesh; men +are too like me; I cannot eat them.’ ‘She is mad,’ they cried; ‘let us +kill her!’ So, in those dim, misty times that men reck not of now, that +they hardly believe in, that woman died. But in the heads of certain men +and women a new thought had taken root; they said, ‘We also will not eat +of her. There is something evil in the taste of human flesh.’ And ever +after, when the fleshpots were filled with man-flesh, these stood aside, +and half the tribe ate human flesh and half not; then, as the years +passed, none ate. + +“Even in those days, which men reck not of now, when men fell easily +open their hands and knees, they were of us on the earth. And, if you +would learn a secret, even before man trod here, in the days when the +dicynodont bent yearningly over her young, and the river-horse which you +find now nowhere on earth’s surface, save buried in stone, called with +love to his mate; and the birds whose footprints are on the rocks flew +in the sunshine calling joyfully to one another--even in those days when +man was not, the fore-dawn of this kingdom had broken on the earth. And +still as the sun rises and sets and the planets journey round, we grow +and grow.” + +The stranger rose from the fire, and stood upright: around him, and +behind him, the darkness stood out. + +“All earth is ours. And the day shall come, when the stars, looking down +on this little world, shall see no spot where the soil is moist and dark +with the blood of man shed by his fellow man; the sun shall rise in the +East and set in the West and shed his light across this little globe; +and nowhere shall he see man crushed by his fellows. And they shall +beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks: +nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn +war any more. And instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree; +and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and man shall +nowhere crush man on all the holy earth. Tomorrow’s sun shall rise,” + said the stranger, “and it shall flood these dark kopjes with light, and +the rocks shall glint in it. Not more certain is that rising than the +coming of that day. And I say to you that even here, in the land where +now we stand, where today the cries of the wounded and the curses of +revenge ring in the air; even here, in this land where man creeps on +his belly to wound his fellow in the dark, and where an acre of gold +is worth a thousand souls, and a reef of shining dirt is worth half a +people, and the vultures are heavy with man’s flesh--even here that day +shall come. I tell you, Peter Simon Halket, that here on the spot where +now we stand shall be raised a temple. Man shall not gather in it to +worship that which divides; but they shall stand in it shoulder to +shoulder, white man with black, and the stranger with the inhabitant of +the land; and the place shall be holy; for men shall say, ‘Are we not +brethren and the sons of one Father?’” + +Peter Halket looked upward silently. And the stranger said: “Certain +men slept upon a plain, and the night was chill and dark. And, as they +slept, at that hour when night is darkest, one stirred. Far off to the +eastward, through his half-closed eyelids, he saw, as it were, one faint +line, thin as a hair’s width, that edged the hill tops. And he whispered +in the darkness to his fellows: ‘The dawn is coming.’ But they, with +fast-closed eyelids murmured, ‘He lies, there is no dawn.’ + +“Nevertheless, day broke.” + +The stranger was silent. The fire burnt up in red tongues of flame that +neither flickered nor flared in the still night air. Peter Halket crept +near to the stranger. + +“When will that time be?” he whispered; “in a thousand years’ time?” + +And the stranger answered, “A thousand years are but as our yesterday’s +journey, or as our watch tonight, which draws already to its close. See, +piled, these rocks on which we now stand? The ages have been young and +they have grown old since they have lain here. Half that time shall +not pass before that time comes; I have seen its dawning already in the +hearts of men.” + +Peter moved nearer, so that he almost knelt at the stranger’s feet: his +gun lay on the ground at the other side of the fire. + +“I would like to be one of your men,” he said. “I am tired of belonging +to the Chartered Company.” + +The stranger looked down gently. “Peter Simon Halket,” he said, “can you +bear the weight?” + +And Peter said, “Give me work, that I may try.” + +There was silence for a time; then the stranger said, “Peter Simon +Halket, take a message to England”--Peter Halket started--“Go to that +great people and cry aloud to it: ‘Where is the sword was given into +your hand, that with it you might enforce justice and deal out mercy? +How came you to give it up into the hands of men whose search is gold, +whose thirst is wealth, to whom men’s souls and bodies are counters in a +game? How came you to give up the folk that were given into your hands, +into the hand of the speculator and the gamester; as though they were +dumb beasts who might be bought or sold? + +“‘Take back your sword, Great People--but wipe it first, lest some of +the gold and blood stick to your hand. + +“‘What is this, I see!--the sword of the Great People, transformed to +burrow earth for gold, as the snouts of swine for earth nuts! Have you +no other use for it, Great Folk? + +“‘Take back your sword; and, when you have thoroughly cleansed it and +wiped it of the blood and mire, then raise it to set free the oppressed +of other climes. + +“‘Great Prince’s Daughter, take heed! You put your sword into the hands +of recreant knights; they will dull its edge and mar its brightness, +and, when your hour of need comes and you would put it into other hands, +you will find its edge chipped and its point broken. Take heed! Take +heed!’ + +“Cry to the wise men of England: ‘You, who in peace and calm in +shaded chambers ponder on all things in heaven and earth, and take all +knowledge for your province, have you no time to think of this? To whom +has England given her power? How do the men wield it who have filched it +from her? Say not, What have we to do with folk across the waters; have +we not matter enough for thought in our own land? Where the brain of +a nation has no time to go, there should its hands never be sent to +labour: where the power of a people goes, there must its intellect and +knowledge go, to guide it. Oh, you who sit at ease, studying past and +future--and forget the present--you have no right to sit at ease knowing +nothing of the working of the powers you have armed and sent to work on +men afar. Where is your nation’s sword--you men of thought?’ + +“Cry to the women of England: ‘You, who repose in sumptuous houses, with +children on your knees; think not it is only the rustling of the soft +draped curtains, or the whistling of the wind, you hear. Listen! May it +not be the far off cry of those your sword governs, creeping towards +you across wide oceans till it pierces even into your inmost sanctuary? +Listen! + +“For the womanhood of a dominant people has not accomplished all its +labour when it has borne its children and fed them at its breast: there +cries to it also from over seas and across continents the voice of the +child-peoples--‘Mother-heart, stand for us!’ It would be better for you +that your wombs should be barren and that your race should die out; than +that you should listen, and give no answer.’” + +The stranger lifted his hands upwards as he spoke, and Peter saw there +were the marks of old wounds in both. + +“Cry aloud to the working men and women of England: ‘You, who for ages +cried out because the heel of your masters was heavy on you; and who +have said, ‘We curse the kings that sit at ease, and care not who +oppresses the folk, so their coffers be full and their bellies +satisfied, and they be not troubled with the trouble of rule’; you, who +have taken the king’s rule from him and sit enthroned within his seat; +is his sin not yours today? If men should add but one hour to your day’s +labour, or make but one fraction dearer the bread you eat, would you not +rise up as one man? Yet, what is dealt out to men beyond seas whom you +rule wounds you not. Nay, have you not sometimes said, as kings of old: +‘It matters not who holds out our sword, marauder or speculator, so he +calls it ours, we must cloak up the evil it has done!’ Think you, no +other curses rise to heaven but yours? Where is your sword? Into whose +hand has it fallen? Take it quickly and cleanse it!’” + +Peter Halket crouched, looking upwards; then he cried: “Master, I cannot +give that message, I am a poor unlearn’d man. And if I should go to +England and cry aloud, they would say, ‘Who is this, who comes preaching +to a great people? Is not his mother with us, and a washerwoman; and was +not his father a day labourer at two shillings a day?’ and they would +laugh me to scorn. And, in truth, the message is so long I could not +well remember it; give me other work to do.” + +And the stranger said, “Take a message to the men and women of this +land. Go, from the Zambezi to the sea, and cry to its white men and +women, and say: ‘I saw a wide field, and in it were two fair beasts. +Wide was the field about them and rich was the earth with sweet scented +herbs, and so abundant was the pasturage that hardly might they consume +all that grew about them: and the two were like one to another, for +they were the sons of one mother. And as I looked, I saw, far off to the +northward, a speck within the sky, so small it was, and so high it was, +that the eye scarce might mark it. Then it came nearer and hovered over +the spot where the two beasts fed:--and its neck was bare, and its +beak was hooked, and its talons were long, and its wings strong. And it +hovered over the field where the two beasts were; and I saw it settle +down upon a great white stone; and it waited. And I saw more specks to +the northward, and more and more came onward to join him who sat upon +the stone. And some hovered over the beasts, and some sharpened their +beaks on the stones; and some walked in and out between the beasts’ +legs. And I saw that they were waiting for something. + +“‘Then he who first came flew from one of the beasts to the other, and +sat upon their necks, and put his beak within their ears. And he flew +from one to the other and flapped his wings in their faces till the +beasts were blinded, and each believed it was his fellow who attacked +him. And they fell to, and fought; they gored one another’s sides till +the field was red with blood and the ground shook beneath them. The +birds sat by and watched; and when the blood flowed they walked round +and round. And when the strength of the two beasts was exhausted they +fell to earth. Then the birds settled down upon them, and feasted; till +their maws were full, and their long bare necks were wet; and they stood +with their beaks deep in the entrails of the two dead beasts; and looked +out with their keen bright eyes from above them. And he who was king of +all plucked out the eyes, and fed on the hearts of the dead beasts. And +when his maw was full, so that he could eat no more, he sat on his stone +hard by and flapped his great wings.’ + +“Peter Simon Halket, cry to the white men and women of South Africa: +‘You have a goodly land; you and your children’s children shall scarce +fill it; though you should stretch out your arms to welcome each +stranger who comes to live and labour with you. You are the twin +branches of one tree; you are the sons of one mother. Is this goodly +land not wide enough for you, that you should rend each other’s flesh +at the bidding of those who will wet their beaks within both your +vitals?--Look up, see, they circle in the air above you!’” + +Almost Peter Halket started and looked upward; but there was only the +black sky of Mashonaland over his head. + +The stranger stood silent looking downward into the fire. Peter Halket +half clasped his arms about his knees. + +“My master,” he cried, “how can I take this message? The Dutchmen of +South Africa will not listen to me, they will say I am an Englishman. +And the Englishmen will say: ‘Who is this fellow who comes preaching +peace, peace, peace? Has he not been a year in the country and he has +not a share in a single company? Can anything he says be worth hearing? +If he were a man of any sense he would have made five thousand pounds at +least.’ And they will not listen to me. Give me another labour!” + +And the stranger said: “Take a message to one man. Find him, whether he +sleep or wake, whether he eat or drink; and say to him: ‘Where are the +souls of the men that you have bought?’ + +“And if he shall answer you and say: ‘I bought no men’s souls! The souls +that I bought were the souls of dogs?’ Then ask him this question, say +to him, ‘Where are the--’ + +“And if he cry out, ‘You lie, you lie! I know what you are going to say. +What do I know of envoys? Was I ever afraid of the British Government? +It is all a lie!’ Then question him no further. But say: ‘There was a +rushlight once. It flickered and flared, and it guttered down, and went +out--and no man heeded it: it was only a rushlight. + +“‘And there was a light once; men set it on high within a lighthouse, +that it might yield light to all souls at sea; that afar off they might +see its steady light and find harbour, and escape the rocks. + +“‘And that light flickered and flared, as it listed. It went this way +and it went that; it burnt blue, and green, and red; now it disappeared +altogether, and then it burnt up again. And men, far out at sea, kept +their eyes fixed where they knew the light should be: saying, ‘We are +safe; the great light will lead us when we near the rocks.’ And on +dark nights men drifted nearer and nearer; and in the stillness of the +midnight they struck on the lighthouse rocks and went down at its feet. + +“‘What now shall be done to that light, in that it was not a rushlight; +in that it was set on high by the hands of men, and in that men trusted +it? Shall it not be put out?’ + +“And if he shall answer, saying, ‘What are men to me? they are fools, +all fools! Let them die!’--tell him again this story: ‘There was a +streamlet once: it burst forth from beneath the snow on a mountain’s +crown; and the snow made a cove over it. It ran on pure and blue and +clear as the sky above it, and the banks of snow made its cradle. Then +it came to a spot where the snow ended; and two ways lay before it by +which it might journey; one, on the mountain ridges, past rocks and +stones, and down long sunlit slopes to the sea; and the other, down a +chasm. And the stream hesitated: it twirled and purled, and went this +way and went that. It MIGHT have been, that it would have forced its +way past rocks and ridges and along mountain slopes, and made a path for +itself where no path had been; the banks would have grown green, and the +mountain daisy would have grown beside it; and all night the stars would +have looked at their faces in it; and down the long sunny slopes the sun +would have played on it by day; and the wood dove would have built her +nest in the trees beside it; and singing, singing, always singing, it +would have made its way at last to the great sea, whose far-off call all +waters hear. + +“‘But it hesitated.--It might have been, that, had but some hand been +there to move but one stone from its path, it would have forced its way +past rocks and ridges, and found its way to the great sea--it might have +been! But no hand was there. The streamlet gathered itself together, +and (it might be, that it was even in its haste to rush onwards to the +sea!)--it made one leap into the abyss. + +“‘The rocks closed over it. Nine hundred fathoms deep, in a still, dark +pool it lay. The green lichen hung from the rocks. No sunlight came +there, and the stars could not look down at night. The pool lay still +and silent. Then, because it was alive and could not rest, it gathered +its strength together, through fallen earth and broken debris it oozed +its way silently on; and it crept out in a deep valley; the mountains +closed it around. And the streamlet laughed to itself, ‘Ha, ha! I shall +make a great lake here; a sea!’ And it oozed, and it oozed, and it +filled half the plain. But no lake came--only a great marsh--because +there was no way outwards, and the water rotted. The grass died out +along its edges; and the trees dropped their leaves and rotted in the +water; and the wood dove who had built her nest there flew up to the +mountains, because her young ones died. And the toads sat on the stones +and dropped their spittle in the water; and the reeds were yellow that +grew along the edge. And at night, a heavy, white fog gathered over the +water, so that the stars could not see through it; and by day a fine +white mist hung over it, and the sunbeams could not play on it. And no +man knew that once the marsh had leapt forth clear and blue from under +a hood of snow on the mountain’s top: aye, and that the turning of one +stone might have caused that it had run on and on, and mingled its song +with the sea’s song for ever.’” + +The stranger was silent for a while. + +Then he said, “Should he answer you and say, ‘What do I care! What are +coves and mountain tops to me? Gold is real, and the power to crush men +within my hand’; tell him no further. + +“But if by some chance he should listen, then, say this one thing to +him, clearly in the ear, that he may not fail to hear it: ‘The morning +may break grey, and the midday be dark and stormy; but the glory of the +evening’s sunset may wash out for ever the remembrance of the morning’s +dullness, and the darkness of the noon. So that all men shall say, ‘Ah, +for the beauty of that day!’--For the stream that has once descended +there is no path upwards.--It is never too late for the soul of a man.’ + +“And if he should laugh, and say: ‘You fool, a man may remake himself +entirely before twenty; he may reshape himself before thirty; but after +forty he is fixed. Shall I, who for forty-three years have sought money +and power, seek for anything else now? You want me to be Jesus Christ, I +suppose! How can I be myself and another man?’ Then answer him: ‘Deep in +the heart of every son of man lies an angel; but some have their wings +folded. Wake yours! He is larger and stronger than another man’s; mount +up with him!’ + +“But if he curses you, and says, ‘I have eight millions of money, and I +care neither for God nor man!’--then make no answer, but stoop and write +before him.” The stranger bent down and wrote with his finger in the +white ashes of the fire. Peter Halket bent forward, and he saw the two +words the stranger had written. + +The stranger said: “Say to him: ‘Though you should seek to make that +name immortal in this land; and should write it in gold dust, and set it +with diamonds, and cement it with human blood, shed from the Zambezi +to the sea, yet--.” The stranger passed his foot over the words; Peter +Halket looked down, and he saw only a bed of smooth white ashes where +the name had been. + +The stranger said: “And if he should curse yet further, and say, ‘There +is not one man nor woman in South Africa I cannot buy with my money! +When I have the Transvaal, I shall buy God Almighty Himself, if I care +to!’ + +“Then say to him this one thing only, ‘Thy money perish with thee!’ and +leave him.” + +There was a dead silence for a moment. Then the stranger stretched forth +his hand. “Yet in that leaving him, remember;--It is not the act, but +the will, which marks the soul of the man. He who has crushed a nation +sins no more than he who rejoices in the death throe of the meanest +creature. The stagnant pool is not less poisonous drop for drop than the +mighty swamp, though its reach be smaller. He who has desired to be +and accomplish what this man has been and accomplished, is as this man; +though he have lacked the power to perform. Nay, remember this one thing +more:--Certain sons of God are born on earth, named by men Children +of Genius. In early youth each stands at the parting of the way and +chooses; he bears his gift for others or for himself. But forget this +never, whatever his choice may be; that there is laid on him a burden +that is laid not on others--all space is open to him, and his choice is +infinite--and if he falls beneath it, let men weep rather than curse, +for he was born a Son of God.” + +There was silence again. Then Peter Halket clasped his arms about the +stranger’s feet. “My master,” he cried, “I dare not take that message. +It is not that men may say, ‘Here is Trooper Peter Halket, whom we all +know, a man who kept women and shot niggers, turned prophet.’ But it is, +that it is true. Have I not wished--” and Peter Halket would have poured +out all his soul; but the stranger prevented him. + +“Peter Simon Halket,” he said, “is it the trumpet which gives forth +the call to battle, whether it be battered tin or gilded silver, which +boots? Is it not the call? What and if I should send my message by +a woman or a child: shall truth be less truth because the bearer is +despised? Is it the mouth that speaks or the word that is spoken which +is eternal? Nevertheless, if you will have it so, go, and say, ‘I, Peter +Halket, sinner among you all, who have desired women and gold, who have +loved myself and hated my fellow, I--’” The stranger looked down at him, +and placed his hand gently on his head. “Peter Simon Halket,” he said, +“a harder task I give you than any which has been laid upon you. In that +small spot where alone on earth your will rules, bring there into being +the kingdom today. Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you. +Walk ever forward, looking not to the right hand or the left. Heed not +what men shall say of you. Succour the oppressed; deliver the captive. +If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he is athirst give him drink.” + +A curious warmth and gladness stole over Peter Halket as he knelt; +it was as, when a little child, his mother folded him to her: he saw +nothing more about him but a soft bright light. Yet in it he heard a +voice cry, “Because thou hast loved mercy--and hated oppression--” + +When Trooper Peter Halket raised himself, he saw the figure of the +stranger passing from him. He cried, “My Master, let me go with you.” + But the figure did not turn. And, as it passed into the darkness, it +seemed to Peter Halket that the form grew larger and larger: and as it +descended the further side of the kopje it seemed that for one instant +he still saw the head with a pale, white light upon it: then it +vanished. + +And Trooper Peter Halket sat alone upon the kopje. + + + +Chapter II. + +It was a hot day. The sun poured down its rays over the scattered trees, +and stunted bush, and long grass, and over the dried up river beds. Far +in the blue, so high the eye could scarcely mark them, vultures were +flying southward, where forty miles off kraals had been destroyed and +two hundred black carcasses were lying in the sun. + +Under a group of tall straggling trees among the grass and low scrub, +on the banks of an almost dried up river bed, a small camp had been +pitched. + +The party had lost their mules, and pending their recovery had already +been there seven days. The three cart loads of provisions they were +conveying to the large camp were drawn up under the trees and had a sail +thrown across them to form a shelter for some of the men; while on the +other side of the cleared and open space that formed the camp, a smaller +sail was thrown across two poles forming a rough tent; and away to the +left, a little cut off from the rest of the camp by some low bushes, +was the bell-shaped tent of the captain, under a tall tree. Before +the bell-shaped tent stood a short stunted tree; its thick white stem +gnarled and knotted; while two stunted misshapen branches, like arms, +stretched out on either side. + +Before this tree, up and down, with his gun upon his arm, his head +bent and his eyes fixed on the ground, while the hot sun blazed on his +shoulders, walked a man. + +Three or four fires were burning about the camp in different parts, +three cooking the mealies and rice which formed the diet of the men, +their stock of tinned meats having been exhausted; while the fourth, +which was watched by a native boy, contained the more appetising meal of +the Captain. + +Most of the men were out of camp; the coloured boys having gone to fetch +the mules, which had been discovered in the hills a few miles off, and +were expected to arrive in the evening; and the white men had gone out +to see what game they could bring down with their guns to flavour +the mealie pots, or to reconnoitre the country; though all native +habitations had been destroyed within a radius of thirty miles, and the +land was as bare of black men as a child’s hand of hair; and even the +beasts seemed to have vanished. + +In the shade of the tent, formed of the canvas across two posts, lay +three white men, whose work it was to watch the pots and guard the camp. +They were all three Colonial Englishmen, and lay on the ground on their +stomachs, passing the time by carrying on a desultory conversation, +or taking a few whiffs, slowly, and with care, from their pipes, for +tobacco was precious in the camp. + +Under some bushes a few yards off lay a huge trooper, whose nationality +was uncertain, but who was held to hail from some part of the British +Isles, and who had travelled round the world. He was currently reported +to have done three years’ labour for attempted rape in Australia, but +nothing certain was known regarding his antecedents. He had been up on +guard half the night, and was now taking his rest lying on his back with +his arm thrown over his face; but a slight movement could be noted in +his jaw as he slowly chewed a piece of tobacco; and occasionally when +he turned it round the mouth opened, and disclosed two rows of broken +yellow stumps set in very red gums. + +The three Colonial Englishmen took no notice of him. Two, who were +slowly smoking, were of the large and powerful build, and somewhat loose +set about the shoulders, which is common among Colonial Europeans of the +third generation, whether Dutch or English, and had the placidity and +general good temper of expression which commonly marks the Colonial +European who grows up beyond the range of the cities. The third was +smaller and more wiry and of an unusually nervous type, with aquiline +nose, and sallow hatchet face, with a somewhat discontented expression. +He was holding forth, while his companions smoked and listened. + +“Now what I say is this,” he brought his hand down on the red sand; +“here we are with about one half teaspoon of Dop given us at night, +while he has ten empty champagne bottles lying behind his tent. And we +have to live on the mealies we’re convoying for the horses, while he +has pati and beef, and lives like a lord! It’s all very well for the +regulars; they know what they’re in for, and they’ve got gentlemen over +them anyhow, and one can stomach anything if you know what kind of a +fellow you’ve got over you. English officers are gentlemen, anyhow; or +if one was under Selous now--” + +“Oh, Selous’s a MAN!” broke out the other two, taking their pipes from +their mouths. + +“Yes, well, that’s what I say. But these fellows, who couldn’t do as +farmers, and couldn’t do as shopkeepers, and God knows what else; and +their friends in England didn’t want to have them; they’re sent out here +to boss it over us! It’s a damned shame! Why, I want to know, amn’t I as +good as any of these fellows, who come swelling it about here? Friends +got money, I suppose!” He cast his sharp glance over towards the bell +tent. “If they gave us real English officers now--” + +“Ah!” said the biggest of his companions, who, in spite of his huge +form, had something of the simplicity and good nature of a child in his +handsome face; “it’s because you’re not a big enough swell, you know! +He’ll be a colonel, or a general, before we’ve done with him. I call +them all generals or colonels up here; it’s safest, you know; if they’re +not that today they will be tomorrow!” + +This was intended as a joke, and in that hot weather, and in that dull +world, anything was good enough to laugh at: the third man smiled, but +the first speaker remained serious. + +“I only know this,” he said, “I’d teach these fellows a lesson, if any +one belonging to me had been among the people they left to be murdered +here, while they went gallivanting to the Transvaal. If my mother or +sister had been killed here, I’d have taken a pistol and blown out the +brains of the great Panjandrum, and the little ones after him. Fine +administration of a country, this, to invite people to come in and live +here, and then take every fighting man out of the country on a gold +hunting marauding expedition to the Transvaal, and leave us to face +the bitter end. I look upon every man and woman who was killed here as +murdered by the Chartered Company.” + +“Well, Jameson only did what he was told. He had to obey orders, like +the rest of us. He didn’t make the plan, and he’s got the punishment.” + +“What business had he to listen? What’s all this fine administration +they talk of? It’s six years since I came to this country, and I’ve +worked like a nigger ever since I came, and what have I, or any men +who’ve worked hard at real, honest farming, got for it? Everything in +the land is given away for the benefit of a few big folks over the water +or swells out here. If England took over the Chartered Company tomorrow, +what would she find?--everything of value in the land given over to +private concessionaires--they’ll line their pockets if the whole land +goes to pot! It’ll be the jackals eating all the flesh off the horse’s +bones, and calling the lion in to lick the bones.” + +“Oh, you wait a bit and you’ll be squared,” said the handsome man. “I’ve +been here five years and had lots of promises, though I haven’t got +anything else yet; but I expect it to come some day, so I keep my mouth +shut! If they asked me to sign a paper, that Mr. Over-the-Way”--he +nodded towards the bell tent--“never got drunk or didn’t know how to +swear, I’d sign it, if there was a good dose of squaring to come after +it. I could stand a good lot of that sort of thing--squaring--if it +would only come my way.” + +The men laughed in a dreary sort of way, and the third man, who had +not spoken yet, rolled round on to his back, and took the pipe from his +mouth. + +“I tell you what,” said the keen man, “those of us up here who have got +a bit of land and are trying honestly and fairly to work, are getting +pretty sick of this humbugging fighting. If we’d had a few men like the +Curries and Bowkers of the old days up here from the first, all this +would never have happened. And there’s no knowing when a reason won’t +turn up for keeping the bloody thing on or stopping it off for a +time, to break out just when one’s settled down to work. It’s a damned +convenient thing to have a war like this to turn on and off.” + +Slowly the third man keeled round on to his stomach again: “Let +resignation wait. We fight the Matabele again tomorrow,” he said, +sententiously. + +A low titter ran round the group. Even the man under the bushes, though +his eyes were still closed and his arm across his face, let his mouth +relax a little, and showed his yellow teeth. + +“I’m always expecting,” said the big handsome man, “to have a paper come +round, signed by all the nigger chiefs, saying how much they love the +B.S.A. Company, and how glad they are the Panjandrum has got them, and +how awfully good he is to them; and they’re going to subscribe to the +brazen statue. There’s nothing a man can’t be squared to do.” + +The third man lay on his back again, lazily examining his hand, which he +held above his face. “What’s that in the Bible,” he said, slowly, “about +the statue, whose thighs and belly were of brass, and its feet of mud?” + +“I don’t know much about the Bible,” said the keen man, “I’m going to +see if my pot isn’t boiling over. Won’t yours burn?” + +“No, I asked the Captain’s boy to keep an eye on it--but I expect he +won’t. Do you put the rice in with the mealies?” + +“Got to; I’ve got no other pot. And the fellows don’t object. It’s a +tasty variety, you know!” + +The keen-faced man slouched away across the square to where his fire +burnt; and presently the other man rose and went, either to look at his +own pot or sleep under the carts; and the large Colonial man was left +alone. His fire was burning satisfactorily about fifty feet off, and +he folded his arms on the ground and rested his forehead on them, and +watched lazily the little black ants that ran about in the red sand, +just under his nose. + +A great stillness settled down on the camp. Now and again a stick +cracked in the fires, and the cicadas cried aloud in the tree stems; +but except where the solitary paced up and down before the little +flat-topped tree in front of the captain’s tent, not a creature stirred +in the whole camp; and the snores of the trooper under the bushes might +be heard half across the camp. + +The intense midday heat had settled down. + +At last there was the sound of someone breaking through the long grass +and bushes which had only been removed for a few feet round the camp, +and the figure of a man emerged bearing in one hand a gun, and in the +other a bird which he had shot. He was evidently an Englishman, and not +long from Europe, by the bloom of the skin, which was perceptible in +spite of the superficial tan. His face was at the moment flushed with +heat; but the clear blue eyes and delicate features lost none of their +sensitive refinement. + +He came up to the Colonial, and dropped the bird before him. “That is +all I’ve got,” he said. + +He threw himself also down on the ground, and put his gun under the +loose flap of the tent. + +The Colonial raised his head; and without taking his elbows from the +ground took up the bird. “I’ll put it into the pot; it’ll give it the +flavour of something except weevily mealies”; he said, and fell to +plucking it. + +The Englishman took his hat off, and lifted the fine damp hair from his +forehead. + +“Knocked up, eh?” said the Colonial, glancing kindly up at him. “I’ve a +few drops in my flask still.” + +“Oh, no, I can stand it well enough. It’s only a little warm.” He gave +a slight cough, and laid his head down sideways on his arm. His eyes +watched mechanically the Colonial’s manipulation of the bird. He had +left England to escape phthisis; and he had gone to Mashonaland because +it was a place where he could earn an open-air living, and save his +parents from the burden of his support. + +“What’s Halket doing over there?” he asked suddenly, raising his head. + +“Weren’t you here this morning?” asked the Colonial. “Didn’t you know +they’d had a devil of a row?” + +“Who?” asked the Englishman, half raising himself on his elbows. + +“Halket and the Captain.” The Colonial paused in the plucking. “My God, +you never saw anything like it!” + +The Englishman sat upright now, and looked keenly over the bushes where +Halket’s bent head might be seen as he paced to and fro. + +“What’s he doing out there in this blazing sun?” + +“He’s on guard,” said the Colonial. “I thought you were here when it +happened. It’s the best thing I ever saw or heard of in my whole life!” + He rolled half over on his side and laughed at the remembrance. “You +see, some of the men went down into the river, to look for fresh pools +of water, and they found a nigger, hidden away in a hole in the bank, +not five hundred yards from here! They found the bloody rascal by a +little path he tramped down to the water, trodden hard, just like a +porcupine’s walk. They got him in the hole like an aardvark, with a bush +over the mouth, so you couldn’t see it. He’d evidently been there a long +time, the floor was full of bones of fish he’d caught in the pool, and +there was a bit of root like a stick half gnawed through. He’d been +potted, and got two bullet wounds in the thigh; but he could walk +already. It’s evident he was just waiting till we were gone, to clear +off after his people. He’d got that beastly scurvy look a nigger gets +when he hasn’t had anything to eat for a long time. + +“Well, they hauled him up before the Captain, of course; and he blew +and swore, and said the nigger was a spy, and was to be hanged tomorrow; +he’d hang him tonight, only the big troop might catch us up this +evening, so he’d wait to hear what the Colonel said; but if they didn’t +come he’d hang him first thing tomorrow morning, or have him shot, as +sure as the sun rose. He made the fellows tie him up to that little tree +before his tent, with riems round his legs, and riems round his waist, +and a riem round his neck.” + +“What did the native say?” asked the Englishman. + +“Oh, he didn’t say anything. There wasn’t a soul in the camp could have +understood him if he had. The coloured boys don’t know his language. I +expect he’s one of those bloody fellows we hit the day we cleared the +bush out yonder; but how he got down that bank with his leg in the state +it must have been, I don’t know. He didn’t try to fight when they caught +him; just stared in front of him--fright, I suppose. He must have been a +big strapping devil before he was taken down. + +“Well, I tell you, we’d just got him fixed up, and the Captain was just +going into his tent to have a drink, and we chaps were all standing +round, when up steps Halket, right before the Captain, and pulls his +front lock--you know the way he has? Oh, my God, my God, if you could +have seen it! I’ll never forget it to my dying day!” The Colonial seemed +bursting with internal laughter. “He begins, ‘Sir, may I speak to you?’ +in a formal kind of way, like a fellow introducing a deputation; and +then all of a sudden he starts off--oh, my God, you never heard such a +thing! It was like a boy in Sunday-school saying up a piece of Scripture +he’s learnt off by heart, and got all ready beforehand, and he’s not +going to be stopped till he gets to the end of it.” + +“What did he say,” asked the Englishman. + +“Oh, he started, How did we know this nigger was a spy at all; it would +be a terrible thing to kill him if we weren’t quite sure; perhaps he was +hiding there because he was wounded. And then he broke out that, after +all, these niggers were men fighting for their country; we would fight +against the French if they came and took England from us; and the +niggers were brave men, ‘please sir’--(every five minutes he’d pull his +forelock, and say, ‘please sir!’)--‘and if we have to fight against them +we ought to remember they’re fighting for freedom; we shouldn’t shoot +wounded prisoners when they were black if we wouldn’t shoot them if they +were white!’ And then he broke out pure unmitigated Exeter Hall! You +never heard anything like it! All men were brothers, and God loved a +black man as well as a white; Mashonas and Matabele were poor ignorant +folk, and we had to take care of them. And then he started out, that we +ought to let this man go; we ought to give him food for the road, and +tell him to go back to his people, and tell them we hadn’t come to take +their land but to teach them and love them. ‘It’s hard to love a nigger, +Captain, but we must try it; we must try it!’--And every five minutes +he’d break out with, ‘And I think this is a man I know, Captain; I’m +not sure, but I think he comes from up Lo Magundis way!’--as if any born +devil cared whether a bloody nigger came from Lo Magundis or anywhere +else! I’m sure he said it fifteen times. And then he broke out, ‘I don’t +mean that I’m better than you or anybody else, Captain; I’m as bad a man +as any in camp, and I know it.’ And off he started, telling us all the +sins he’d ever committed; and he kept on, ‘I’m an unlearned, ignorant +man, Captain; but I must stand by this nigger; he’s got no one else!’ +And then he says--‘If you let me take him up to Lo Magundis, sir, I’m +not afraid; and I’ll tell the people there that it’s not their land and +their women that we want, it’s them to be our brothers and love us. If +you’ll only let me go, sir, I’ll go and make peace; give the man to me, +sir!’” The Colonial shook with laughter. + +“What did the Captain say?” asked the Englishman. + +“The Captain; well, you know the smallest thing sets him off swearing +all round the world; but he just stood there with his arms hanging down +at each side of him, and his eyes staring, and his face getting redder +and redder: and all he could say was, ‘My Gawd! my Gawd!’ I thought +he’d burst. And Halket stood there looking straight in front of him, as +though he didn’t see a soul of us all there.” + +“What did the Captain do?” + +“Oh, as soon as Halket turned away he started swearing, but he got the +tail of one oath hooked on to the head of another. It was nearly as good +as Halket himself. And when he’d finished and got sane a bit, he said +Halket was to walk up and down there all day and keep watch on the +nigger. And he gave orders that if the big troop didn’t come up tonight, +that he was to be potted first thing in the morning, and that Halket was +to shoot him.” + +The Englishman started: “What did Halket say?” + +“Nothing. He’s been walking there with his gun all day.” + +The Englishman watched with his clear eyes the spot where Halket’s head +appeared and disappeared. + +“Is the nigger hanging there now?” + +“Yes. The Captain said no one was to go near him, or give him anything +to eat or drink all day: but--” The Colonial glanced round where the +trooper lay under the bushes; and then lowering his voice added, “This +morning, a couple of hours ago, Halket sent the Captain’s coloured boy +to ask me for a drink of water. I thought it was for Halket himself, and +the poor devil must be hot walking there in the sun, so I sent him the +water out of my canvas bag. I went along afterwards to see what had +become of my mug; the boy had gone, and there, straight in front of the +Captain’s tent, before the very door, was Halket letting that bloody +nigger drink out of my mug. The riem was so tight round his neck he +couldn’t drink but slowly, and there was Halket holding it up to him! If +the Captain had looked out! W-h-e-w! I wouldn’t have been Halket!” + +“Do you think he will try to make Halket do it?” asked the Englishman. + +“Of course he will. He’s the Devil in; and Halket had better not make a +fuss about it, or it’ll be the worse for him.” + +“His time’s up tomorrow evening!” + +“Yes, but not tomorrow morning. And I wouldn’t make a row about it if I +was Halket. It doesn’t do to fall out with the authorities here. What’s +one nigger more or less? He’ll get shot some other way, or die of +hunger, if we don’t do it.” + +“It’s hardly sport to shoot a man tied up neck and legs,” said the +Englishman; his finely drawn eyebrows contracting and expanding a +little. + +“Oh, they don’t feel, these niggers, not as we should, you know. I’ve +seen a man going to be shot, looking full at the guns, and falling +like that!--without a sound. They’ve no feeling, these niggers; I don’t +suppose they care much whether they live or die, not as we should, you +know.” + +The Englishman’s eyes were still fixed on the bushes, behind which +Halket’s head appeared and disappeared. + +“They have no right to order Halket to do it--and he will not do it!” + said the Englishman slowly. + +“You’re not going to be such a fool as to step in, are you?” said the +Colonial, looking curiously at him. “It doesn’t pay. I’ve made up my +mind never to speak whatever happens. What’s the good? Suppose one were +to make a complaint now about this affair with Halket, if he’s made to +shoot the nigger against his will; what would come of it? There’d be +half-a-dozen fellows here squared to say what headquarters wanted--not +to speak of a fellow like that”--turning his thumb in the direction of +the sleeping trooper--“who are paid to watch. I believe he reports on +the Captain himself to the big headquarters. All one’s wires are edited +before they go down; only what the Company wants to go, go through. +There are many downright good fellows in this lot; but how many of us +are there, do you think, who could throw away all chance of ever making +anything in Mashonaland, for the sake of standing by Halket; even if he +had a real row with the Company? I’ve a great liking for Halket myself, +he’s a real good fellow, and he’s done me many a good turn--took my +watch only last night, because I was off colour; I’d do anything for him +in reason. But, I say this flatly, I couldn’t and wouldn’t fly in the +face of the authorities for him or anyone else. I’ve my own girl waiting +for me down in the Colony, and she’s been waiting for me these five +years. And whether I’m able to marry her or not depends on how I stand +with the Company: and I say, flatly, I’m not going to fall out with it. +I came here to make money, and I mean to make it! If other people like +to run their heads against stone walls, let them: but they mustn’t +expect me to follow them. This isn’t a country where a man can say what +he thinks.” + +The Englishman rested his elbows on the ground. “And the Union Jack is +supposed to be flying over us.” + +“Yes, with a black bar across it for the Company,” laughed the Colonial. + +“Do you ever have the nightmare?” asked the Englishman suddenly. + +“I? Oh yes, sometimes”; he looked curiously at his companion; “when I’ve +eaten too much, I get it.” + +“I always have it since I came up here,” said the Englishman. “It is +that a vast world is resting on me--a whole globe: and I am a midge +beneath it. I try to raise it, and I cannot. So I lie still under +it--and let it crush me!” + +“It’s curious you should have the nightmare so up here,” said the +Colonial; “one gets so little to eat.” + +There was a silence: he was picking the little fine feathers from the +bird, and the Englishman was watching the ants. + +“Mind you,” the Colonial said at last, “I don’t say that in this case +the Captain was to blame; Halket made an awful ass of himself. He’s +never been quite right since that time he got lost and spent the night +out on the kopje. When we found him in the morning he was in a kind of +dead sleep; we couldn’t wake him; yet it wasn’t cold enough for him to +have been frozen. He’s never been the same man since; queer, you know; +giving his rations away to the coloured boys, and letting the other +fellows have his dot of brandy at night; and keeping himself sort of +apart to himself, you know. The other fellows think he’s got a touch of +fever on, caught wandering about in the long grass that day. But I don’t +think it’s that; I think it’s being alone in the veld that’s got hold of +him. Man, have you ever been out like that, alone in the veld, night +and day, and not a soul to speak to? I have; and I tell you, if I’d been +left there three days longer I’d have gone mad or turned religious. Man, +it’s the nights, with the stars up above you, and the dead still all +around. And you think, and think, and think! You remember all kinds of +things you’ve never thought of for years and years. I used to talk to +myself at last, and make believe it was another man. I was out seven +days: and he was only out one night. But I think it’s the loneliness +that got hold of him. Man, those stars are awful; and that stillness +that comes toward morning!” He stood up. “It’s a great pity, because +he’s as good a fellow as ever was. But perhaps he’ll come all right.” + +He walked away towards the pot with the bird in his hand. When he had +gone the Englishman turned round on to his back, and lay with his arm +across his forehead. + +High, high up, between the straggling branches of the tree, in the +clear, blue African sky above him, he could see the vultures flying +southward. + +***** + +That evening the men sat eating their suppers round the fires. The large +troop had not come up; and the mules had been brought in; and they were +to make a start early the next morning. + +Halket was released from his duty, and had come up, and lain down a +little in the background of the group who gathered round their fire. + +The Colonial and the Englishman had given orders to all the men of their +mess that Halket was to be left in quiet, and no questions were to be +asked him; and the men, fearing the Colonial’s size and the Englishman’s +nerve, left him in peace. The men laughed and chatted round the fire, +while the big Colonial ladled out the mealies and rice into tin plates, +and passed them round to the men. Presently he passed one to Halket, +who lay half behind him leaning on his elbow. For a while Halket ate +nothing, then he took a few mouthfuls; and again lay on his elbow. + +“You are eating nothing, Halket,” said the Englishman, cheerily, looking +back. + +“I am not hungry now,” he said. After a while he took out his red +handkerchief, and emptied carefully into it the contents of the plate; +and tied it up into a bundle. He set it beside him on the ground, and +again lay on his elbow. + +“You won’t come nearer to the fire, Halket?’ asked the Englishman. + +“No, thank you, the night is warm.” + +After a while Peter Halket took out from his belt a small hunting knife +with a rough wooden handle. A small flat stone lay near him, and he +passed the blade slowly up and down on it, now and then taking it up, +and feeling the edge with his finger. After a while he put it back in +his belt, and rose slowly, taking up his small bundle and walked away to +the tent. + +“He’s had a pretty stiff day,” said the Colonial. “I expect he’s glad +enough to turn in.” + +Then all the men round the fire chatted freely over his concerns. Would +the Captain stick to his word tomorrow? Was Halket going to do it? +Had the Captain any right to tell one man off for the work, instead +of letting them fire a volley? One man said he would do it gladly in +Halket’s place, if told off; why had he made such a fool of himself? So +they chatted till nine o’clock, when the Englishman and Colonial left to +turn in. They found Halket asleep, close to the side of the tent, with +his face turned to the canvas. And they lay down quietly that they might +not disturb him. + +At ten o’clock all the camp was asleep, excepting the two men told off +to keep guard; who paced from one end of the camp to the other to keep +themselves awake; or stood chatting by the large fire, which still burnt +at one end. + +In the Captain’s tent a light was kept burning all night, which shone +through the thin canvas sides, and shed light on the ground about; but, +for the rest, the camp was dead and still. + +By half-past one the moon had gone down, and there was left only a blaze +of stars in the great African sky. + +Then Peter Halket rose up; softly he lifted the canvas and crept out. +On the side furthest from the camp he stood upright. On his arm was tied +his red handkerchief with its contents. For a moment he glanced up at +the galaxy of stars over him; then he stepped into the long grass, and +made his way in a direction opposite to that in which the camp lay. But +after a short while he turned, and made his way down into the river bed. +He walked in it for a while. Then after a time he sat down upon the bank +and took off his heavy boots and threw them into the grass at the side. +Then softly, on tip-toe, he followed the little footpath that the men +had trodden going down to the river for water. It led straight up to the +Captain’s tent, and the little flat-topped tree, with its white stem, +and its two gnarled branches spread out on either side. When he was +within forty paces of it, he paused. Far over the other side of the +camp the two men who were on guard stood chatting by the fire. A dead +stillness was over the rest of the camp. The light through the walls of +the Captain’s tent made all clear at the stem of the little tree; but +there was no sound of movement within. + +For a moment Peter Halket stood motionless; then he walked up to the +tree. The black man hung against the white stem, so closely bound to +it that they seemed one. His hands were tied to his sides, and his head +drooped on his breast. His eyes were closed; and his limbs, which had +once been those of a powerful man, had fallen away, making the joints +stand out. The wool on his head was wild and thick with neglect, and +stood out roughly in long strands; and his skin was rough with want and +exposure. + +The riems had cut a little into his ankles; and a small flow of blood +had made the ground below his feet dark. + +Peter Halket looked up at him; the man seemed dead. He touched him +softly on the arm, then shook it slightly. + +The man opened his eyes slowly, without raising his head; and looked at +Peter from under his weary eyebrows. Except that they moved they might +have been the eyes of a dead thing. + +Peter put up his fingers to his own lips--“Hus-h! hus-h!” he said. + +The man hung torpid, still looking at Peter. + +Quickly Peter Halket knelt down and took the knife from his belt. In an +instant the riems that bound the feet were cut through; in another he +had cut the riems from the waist and neck: the riems dropped to +the ground from the arms, and the man stood free. Like a dazed dumb +creature, he stood, with his head still down, eyeing Peter. + +Instantly Peter slipped the red bundle from his arm into the man’s +passive hand. + +“Ari-tsemaia! Hamba! Loop! Go!” whispered Peter Halket; using a word +from each African language he knew. But the black man still stood +motionless, looking at him as one paralysed. + +“Hamba! Sucka! Go!” he whispered, motioning his hand. + +In an instant a gleam of intelligence shot across the face; then a wild +transport. Without a word, without a sound, as the tiger leaps when the +wild dogs are on it, with one long, smooth spring, as though unwounded +and unhurt, he turned and disappeared into the grass. It closed behind +him; but as he went the twigs and leaves cracked under his tread. + +The Captain threw back the door of his tent. “Who is there?” he cried. + +Peter Halket stood below the tree with the knife in his hand. + +The noise roused the whole camp: the men on guard came running; guns +were fired: and the half-sleeping men came rushing, grasping their +weapons. There was a sound of firing at the little tree; and the cry +went round the camp, “The Mashonas are releasing the spy!” + +When the men got to the Captain’s tent, they saw that the nigger was +gone; and Peter Halket was lying on his face at the foot of the tree; +with his head turned towards the Captain’s door. + +There was a wild confusion of voices. “How many were there?” “Where have +they gone to now?” “They’ve shot Peter Halket!”--“The Captain saw them +do it”--“Stand ready, they may come back any time!” + +When the Englishman came, the other men, who knew he had been a medical +student, made way for him. He knelt down by Peter Halket. + +“He’s dead,” he said, quietly. + +When they had turned him over, the Colonial knelt down on the other +side, with a little hand-lamp in his hand. + +“What are you fellows fooling about here for?” cried the Captain. “Do +you suppose it’s any use looking for foot marks after all this tramping! +Go, guard the camp on all sides!” + +“I will send four coloured boys,” he said to the Englishman and the +Colonial, “to dig the grave. You’d better bury him at once; there’s no +use waiting. We start first thing in the morning.” + +When they were alone, the Englishman uncovered Peter Halket’s breast. +There was one small wound just under the left bosom; and one on the +crown of the head; which must have been made after he had fallen down. + +“Strange, isn’t it, what he can have been doing here?” said the +Colonial; “a small wound, isn’t it?” + +“A pistol shot,” said the Englishman, closing the bosom. + +“A pistol--” + +The Englishman looked up at him with a keen light in his eye. + +“I told you he would not kill that nigger.--See--here--” He took up the +knife which had fallen from Peter Halket’s grasp, and fitted it into a +piece of the cut leather that lay on the earth. + +“But you don’t think--” The Colonial stared at him with wide open eyes; +then he glanced round at the Captain’s tent. + +“Yes, I think that--Go and fetch his great-coat; we’ll put him in it. If +it is no use talking while a man is alive, it is no use talking when he +is dead!” + +They brought his great-coat, and they looked in the pockets to see if +there was anything which might show where he had come from or who his +friends were. But there was nothing in the pockets except an empty +flask, and a leathern purse with two shillings in, and a little +hand-made two-pointed cap. + +So they wrapped Peter Halket up in his great-coat, and put the little +cap on his head. + +And, one hour after Peter Halket had stood outside the tent looking up, +he was lying under the little tree, with the red sand trodden down over +him, in which a black man and a white man’s blood were mingled. + +All the rest of the night the men sat up round the fires, discussing +what had happened, dreading an attack. + +But the Englishman and the Colonial went to their tent, to lie down. + +“Do you think they will make any inquiries?” asked the Colonial. + +“Why should they? His time will be up tomorrow.” + +“Are you going to say anything?” + +“What is the use?” + +They lay in the dark for an hour, and heard the men chatting outside. + +“Do you believe in a God?” said the Englishman, suddenly. + +The Colonial started: “Of course I do!” + +“I used to,” said the Englishman; “I do not believe in your God; but I +believed in something greater than I could understand, which moved in +this earth, as your soul moves in your body. And I thought this worked +in such wise, that the law of cause and effect, which holds in the +physical world, held also in the moral: so, that the thing we call +justice, ruled. I do not believe it any more. There is no God in +Mashonaland.” + +“Oh, don’t say that!” cried the Colonial, much distressed. “Are you +going off your head, like poor Halket?” + +“No; but there is no God,” said the Englishman. He turned round on his +shoulder, and said no more: and afterwards the Colonial went to sleep. + +Before dawn the next morning the men had packed up the goods, and +started. + +By five o’clock the carts had filed away; the men rode or walked before +and behind them; and the space where the camp had been was an empty +circle; save for a few broken bottles and empty tins, and the stones +about which the fires had been made, round which warm ashes yet lay. + +Only under the little stunted tree, the Colonial and the Englishman were +piling up stones. Their horses stood saddled close by. + +Presently the large trooper came riding back. He had been sent by the +Captain to ask what they were fooling behind for, and to tell them to +come on. + +The men mounted their horses to follow him; but the Englishman turned +in his saddle and looked back. The morning sun was lighting up the +straggling branches of the tall trees that had overshadowed the +camp; and fell on the little stunted tree, with its white stem and +outstretched arms; and on the stones beneath it. + +“It’s all that night on the kopje!” said the Colonial, sadly. + +But the Englishman looked back. “I hardly know,” he said, “whether it is +not better for him now, than for us.” + +Then they rode on after the troop. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland, by +Olive Schreiner + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1431 *** diff --git a/1431-h/1431-h.htm b/1431-h/1431-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2e7cd9 --- /dev/null +++ b/1431-h/1431-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2921 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland, by Olive Schreiner + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1431 ***</div> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + TROOPER PETER HALKET OF MASHONALAND + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + by Olive Schreiner + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h4> + Author of “Dreams,” “Dream Life and Real Life,"<br /> “The Story of an + African Farm,” etc. + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + Colonial Edition + </p> + <p> + (A photographic plate at the front of the book shows three people hanging + from a tree by their necks. Around them stand eight men, looking not at + all troubled by their participation in the scene. Of this event all the + survivors appear to be white, the victims black. The plate is titled “From + a Photograph taken in Matabeleland.” S.A.) + </p> + <p> + To a Great Good Man, Sir George Grey, + </p> + <p> + Once Governor of the Cape Colony, who, during his rule in South Africa, + bound to himself the Dutchmen, Englishmen, and Natives he governed, by an + uncorruptible justice and a broad humanity; and who is remembered among us + today as representing the noblest attributes of an Imperial Rule. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Our low life was the level’s and the night’s; + He’s for the morning.” + </pre> + <p> + Olive Schreiner. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 19, Russell Road, + Kensington, W., + February, 1897. +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Aardvark - The great anteater. + Cape Smoke - A very inferior brandy made in Cape Colony. + Kopje - Little hillock. + Kraal - A Kaffir encampment. + Mealies - Maize (corn). + Riem - A thong of undressed leather universally used in South Africa. + Vatje of Old Dop - A little cask of Cape brandy. + Veld - Open Country. +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + Contents + </h3> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> Chapter I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> Chapter II. </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + Chapter I. + </h2> + <p> + It was a dark night; a chill breath was coming from the east; not enough + to disturb the blaze of Trooper Peter Halket’s fire, yet enough to make it + quiver. He sat alone beside it on the top of a kopje. + </p> + <p> + All about was an impenetrable darkness; not a star was visible in the + black curve over his head. + </p> + <p> + He had been travelling with a dozen men who were taking provisions of + mealies and rice to the next camp. He had been sent out to act as scout + along a low range of hills, and had lost his way. Since eight in the + morning he had wandered among long grasses, and ironstone kopjes, and + stunted bush, and had come upon no sign of human habitation, but the + remains of a burnt kraal, and a down-trampled and now uncultivated mealie + field, where a month before the Chartered Company’s forces had destroyed a + native settlement. + </p> + <p> + Three times in the day it had appeared to him that he had returned to the + very spot from which he had started; nor was it his wish to travel very + far, for he knew his comrades would come back to look for him, to the + neighbourhood where he had last been seen, when it was found at the + evening camping ground that he did not appear. + </p> + <p> + Trooper Peter Halket was very weary. He had eaten nothing all day; and had + touched little of the contents of a small flask of Cape brandy he carried + in his breast pocket, not knowing when it would again be replenished. + </p> + <p> + As night drew near he determined to make his resting place on the top of + one of the kopjes, which stood somewhat alone and apart from the others. + He could not easily be approached there, without his knowing it. He had + not much fear of the natives; their kraals had been destroyed and their + granaries burnt for thirty miles round, and they themselves had fled: but + he feared, somewhat, the lions, which he had never seen, but of which he + had heard, and which might be cowering in the long grasses and brushwood + at the kopje’s foot:—and he feared, vaguely, he hardly knew what, + when he looked forward to his first long night alone in the veld. + </p> + <p> + By the time the sun had set he had gathered a little pile of stumps and + branches on the top of the kopje. He intended to keep a fire burning all + night; and as the darkness began to settle down he lit it. It might be his + friends would see it from far, and come for him early in the morning; and + wild beasts would hardly approach him while he knelt beside it; and of the + natives he felt there was little fear. + </p> + <p> + He built up the fire; and determined if it were possible to keep awake the + whole night beside it. + </p> + <p> + He was a slight man of middle height, with a sloping forehead and pale + blue eyes: but the jaws were hard set, and the thin lips of the large + mouth were those of a man who could strongly desire the material good of + life, and enjoy it when it came his way. Over the lower half of the face + were scattered a few soft white hairs, the growth of early manhood. + </p> + <p> + From time to time he listened intently for possible sounds from the + distance where his friends might be encamped, and might fire off their + guns at seeing his light; or he listened yet more intently for sounds + nearer at hand: but all was still, except for the occasional cracking of + the wood in his own fire, and the slight whistle of the breeze as it crept + past the stones on the kopje. He doubled up his great hat and put it in + the pocket of his overcoat, and put on a little two-pointed cap his mother + had made for him, which fitted so close that only one lock of white hair + hung out over his forehead. He turned up the collar of his coat to shield + his neck and ears, and threw it open in front that the blaze of the fire + might warm him. He had known many nights colder than this when he had sat + around the camp fire with his comrades, talking of the niggers they had + shot or the kraals they had destroyed, or grumbling over their rations; + but tonight the chill seemed to creep into his very bones. + </p> + <p> + The darkness of the night above him, and the silence of the veld about + him, oppressed him. At times he even wished he might hear the cry of a + jackal or of some larger beast of prey in the distance; and he wished that + the wind would blow a little louder, instead of making that little + wheezing sound as it passed the corners of the stones. He looked down at + his gun, which lay cocked ready on the ground at his right side; and from + time to time he raised his hand automatically and fingered the cartridges + in his belt. Then he stretched out his small wiry hands to the fire and + warmed them. It was only half past ten, and it seemed to him he had been + sitting here ten hours at the least. + </p> + <p> + After a while he threw two more large logs on the fire, and took the flask + out of his pocket. He examined it carefully by the firelight to see how + much it held: then he took a small draught, and examined it again to see + how much it had fallen; and put it back in his breast pocket. + </p> + <p> + Then Trooper Peter Halket fell to thinking. + </p> + <p> + It was not often that he thought. On patrol and sitting round camp fires + with the other men about him there was no time for it; and Peter Halket + had never been given to much thinking. He had been a careless boy at the + village school; and though, when he left, his mother paid the village + apothecary to read learned books with him at night on history and science, + he had not retained much of them. As a rule he lived in the world + immediately about him, and let the things of the moment impinge on him, + and fall off again as they would, without much reflection. But tonight on + the kopje he fell to thinking, and his thoughts shaped themselves into + connected chains. + </p> + <p> + He wondered first whether his mother would ever get the letter he had + posted the week before, and whether it would be brought to her cottage or + she would go to the post office to fetch it. And then, he fell to thinking + of the little English village where he had been born, and where he had + grown up. He saw his mother’s fat white ducklings creep in and out under + the gate, and waddle down to the little pond at the back of the yard; he + saw the school house that he had hated so much as a boy, and from which he + had so often run away to go a-fishing, or a-bird’s-nesting. He saw the + prints on the school house wall on which the afternoon sun used to shine + when he was kept in; Jesus of Judea blessing the children, and one picture + just over the door where he hung with his arms stretched out and the blood + dropping from his feet. Then Peter Halket thought of the tower at the + ruins which he had climbed so often for birds’ eggs; and he saw his mother + standing at her cottage gate when he came home in the evening, and he felt + her arms round his neck as she kissed him; but he felt her tears on his + cheek, because he had run away from school all day; and he seemed to be + making apologies to her, and promising he never would do it again if only + she would not cry. He had often thought of her since he left her, on board + ship, and when he was working with the prospectors, and since he had + joined the troop; but it had been in a vague way; he had not distinctly + seen and felt her. But tonight he wished for her as he used to when he was + a small boy and lay in his bed in the next room, and saw her shadow + through the door as she bent over her wash-tub earning the money which was + to feed and clothe him. He remembered how he called her and she came and + tucked him in and called him “Little Simon,” which was his second name and + had been his father’s, and which she only called him when he was in bed at + night, or when he was hurt. + </p> + <p> + He sat there staring into the blaze. He resolved he would make a great + deal of money, and she should live with him. He would build a large house + in the West End of London, the biggest that had ever been seen, and + another in the country, and they should never work any more. + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket sat as one turned into stone, staring into the fire. + </p> + <p> + All men made money when they came to South Africa,—Barney Barnato, + Rhodes—they all made money out of the country, eight millions, + twelve millions, twenty-six millions, forty millions; why should not he! + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket started suddenly and listened. But it was only the wind + coming up the kopje like a great wheezy beast creeping upwards; and he + looked back into the fire. + </p> + <p> + He considered his business prospects. When he had served his time as + volunteer he would have a large piece of land given him, and the Mashonas + and Matabeles would have all their land taken away from them in time, and + the Chartered Company would pass a law that they had to work for the white + men; and he, Peter Halket, would make them work for him. He would make + money. + </p> + <p> + Then he reflected on what he should do with the land if it were no good + and he could not make anything out of it. Then, he should have to start a + syndicate; called the Peter Halket Gold, or the Peter Halket Iron-mining, + or some such name, Syndicate. Peter Halket was not very clear as to how it + ought to be started; but he felt certain that he and some other men would + have to take shares. They would not have to pay for them. And then they + would get some big man in London to take shares. He need not pay for them; + they would give them to him; and then the company would be floated. No one + would have to pay anything; it was just the name—“The Peter Halket + Gold Mining Company, Limited.” It would float in London; and people there + who didn’t know the country would buy the shares; THEY would have to give + ready money for them, of course; perhaps fifteen pounds a share when they + were up!—Peter Halket’s eyes blinked as he looked into the fire.—And + then, when the market was up, he, Peter Halket, would sell out all his + shares. If he gave himself only six thousand and sold them each for ten + pounds, then he, Peter Halket, would have sixty thousand pounds! And then + he would start another company, and another. + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket struck his knee softly with his hand. + </p> + <p> + That was the great thing—“Always sell out at the right time.” That + point Peter Halket was very clear on. He had heard it so often discussed. + Give some shares to men with big names, and sell out: they can sell out + too at the right time. + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket stroked his knee thoughtfully. + </p> + <p> + And then the other people, that bought the shares for cash! Well, they + could sell out too; they could all sell out! + </p> + <p> + Then Peter Halket’s mind got a little hazy. The matter was getting too + difficult for him, like a rule of three sum at school when he could not + see the relation between the two first terms and the third. Well, if they + didn’t like to sell out at the right time, it was their own faults. Why + didn’t they? He, Peter Halket, did not feel responsible for them. Everyone + knew that you had to sell out at the right time. If they didn’t choose to + sell out at the right time, well, they didn’t. “It’s the shares that you + sell, not the shares you keep, that make the money.” + </p> + <p> + But if they couldn’t sell them? + </p> + <p> + Here Peter Halket hesitated.—Well, the British Government would have + to buy them, if they were so bad no one else would; and then no one would + lose. “The British Government can’t let British share-holders suffer.” + He’d heard that often enough. The British taxpayer would have to pay for + the Chartered Company, for the soldiers, and all the other things, if IT + couldn’t, and take over the shares if it went smash, because there were + lords and dukes and princes connected with it. And why shouldn’t they pay + for his company? He would have a lord in it too! + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket looked into the fire completely absorbed in his calculations.—Peter + Halket, Esq., Director of the Peter Halket Gold Mining Company, Limited. + Then, when he had got thousands, Peter Halket, Esq., M.P. Then, when he + had millions, Sir Peter Halket, Privy Councillor! + </p> + <p> + He reflected deeply, looking into the blaze. If you had five or six + millions you could go where you liked and do what you liked. You could go + to Sandringham. You could marry anyone. No one would ask what your mother + had been; it wouldn’t matter. + </p> + <p> + A curious dull sinking sensation came over Peter Halket; and he drew in + his broad leathern belt two holes tighter. + </p> + <p> + Even if you had only two millions you could have a cook and a valet, to go + with you when you went into the veld or to the wars; and you could have as + much champagne and other things as you liked. At that moment that seemed + to Peter more important than going to Sandringham. + </p> + <p> + He took out his flask of Cape Smoke, and drew a tiny draught from it. + </p> + <p> + Other men had come to South Africa with nothing, and had made everything! + Why should not he? + </p> + <p> + He stuck small branches under the two great logs, and a glorious flame + burst out. Then he listened again intently. The wind was falling and the + night was becoming very still. It was a quarter to twelve now. His back + ached, and he would have liked to lie down; but he dared not, for fear he + should drop asleep. He leaned forward with his hands between his crossed + knees, and watched the blaze he had made. + </p> + <p> + Then, after a while, Peter Halket’s thoughts became less clear: they + became at last, rather, a chain of disconnected pictures, painting + themselves in irrelevant order on his brain, than a line of connected + ideas. Now, as he looked into the crackling blaze, it seemed to be one of + the fires they had make to burn the natives’ grain by, and they were + throwing in all they could not carry away: then, he seemed to see his + mother’s fat ducks waddling down the little path with the green grass on + each side. Then, he seemed to see his huts where he lived with the + prospectors, and the native women who used to live with him; and he + wondered where the women were. Then—he saw the skull of an old + Mashona blown off at the top, the hands still moving. He heard the loud + cry of the native women and children as they turned the maxims on to the + kraal; and then he heard the dynamite explode that blew up a cave. Then + again he was working a maxim gun, but it seemed to him it was more like + the reaping machine he used to work in England, and that what was going + down before it was not yellow corn, but black men’s heads; and he thought + when he looked back they lay behind him in rows, like the corn in sheaves. + </p> + <p> + The logs sent up a flame clear and high, and, where they split, showed a + burning core inside: the cracking and spluttering sounded in his brain + like the discharge of a battery of artillery. Then he thought suddenly of + a black woman he and another man caught alone in the bush, her baby on her + back, but young and pretty. Well, they didn’t shoot her!—and a black + woman wasn’t white! His mother didn’t understand these things; it was all + so different in England from South Africa. You couldn’t be expected to do + the same sort of things here as there. He had an unpleasant feeling that + he was justifying himself to his mother, and that he didn’t know how to. + </p> + <p> + He leaned further and further forward: so far at last, that the little + white lock of his hair which hung out under his cap was almost singed by + the fire. His eyes were still open, but the lids drooped over them, and + his hands hung lower and lower between his knees. There was no picture + left on his brain now, but simply an impress of the blazing logs before + him. + </p> + <p> + Then, Trooper Peter Halket started. He sat up and listened. The wind had + gone; there was not a sound: but he listened intently. The fire burnt up + into the still air, two clear red tongues of flame. + </p> + <p> + Then, on the other side of the kopje he heard the sound of footsteps + ascending; the slow even tread of bare feet coming up. + </p> + <p> + The hair on Trooper Peter Halket’s forehead slowly stiffened itself. He + had no thought of escaping; he was paralyzed with dread. He took up his + gun. A deadly coldness crept from his feet to his head. He had worked a + maxim gun in a fight when some hundred natives fell and only one white man + had been wounded; and he had never known fear; but tonight his fingers + were stiff on the lock of his gun. He knelt low, tending a little to one + side of the fire, with his gun ready. A stone half sheltered him from + anyone coming up from the other side of the kopje, and the instant the + figure appeared over the edge he intended to fire. + </p> + <p> + Then, the thought flashed on him; what, and if it were one of his own + comrades come in search of him, and no bare-footed enemy! The anguish of + suspense wrung his heart; for an instant he hesitated. Then, in a cold + agony of terror, he cried out, “Who is there?” + </p> + <p> + And a voice replied in clear, slow English, “A friend.” + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket almost let his gun drop, in the revulsion of feeling. The + cold sweat which anguish had restrained burst out in large drops on his + forehead; but he still knelt holding his gun. + </p> + <p> + “What do you want?” he cried out quiveringly. + </p> + <p> + From the darkness at the edge of the kopje a figure stepped out into the + full blaze of the firelight. + </p> + <p> + Trooper Peter Halket looked up at it. + </p> + <p> + It was the tall figure of a man, clad in one loose linen garment, reaching + lower than his knees, and which clung close about him. His head, arms, and + feet were bare. He carried no weapon of any kind; and on his shoulders + hung heavy locks of dark hair. + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket looked up at him with astonishment. “Are you alone?” he + asked. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I am alone.” + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket lowered his gun and knelt up. + </p> + <p> + “Lost your way, I suppose?” he said, still holding his weapon loosely. + </p> + <p> + “No; I have come to ask whether I may sit beside your fire for a while.” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly, certainly!” said Peter, eyeing the stranger’s dress carefully, + still holding his gun, but with the hand off the lock. “I’m confoundedly + glad of any company. It’s a beastly night for anyone to be out alone. + Wonder you find your way. Sit down! sit down!” Peter looked intently at + the stranger; then he put his gun down at his side. + </p> + <p> + The stranger sat down on the opposite side of the fire. His complexion was + dark; his arms and feet were bronzed; but his aquiline features, and the + domed forehead, were not of any South African race. + </p> + <p> + “One of the Soudanese Rhodes brought with him from the north, I suppose?” + said Peter, still eyeing him curiously. + </p> + <p> + “No; Cecil Rhodes has had nothing to do with my coming here,” said the + stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Oh—” said Peter. “You didn’t perhaps happen to come across a + company of men today, twelve white men and seven coloured, with three cart + loads of provisions? We were taking them to the big camp, and I got parted + from my troop this morning. I’ve not been able to find them, though I’ve + been seeking for them ever since.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger warmed his hands slowly at the fire; then he raised his head:—“They + are camped at the foot of those hills tonight,” he said, pointing with his + hand into the darkness at the left. “Tomorrow early they will be here, + before the sun has risen.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you’ve met them, have you!” said Peter joyfully; “that’s why you + weren’t surprised at finding me here. Take a drop!” He took the small + flask from his pocket and held it out. “I’m sorry there’s so little, but a + drop will keep the cold out.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger bowed his head; but thanked and declined. + </p> + <p> + Peter raised the flask to his lips and took a small draught; then returned + it to his pocket. The stranger folded his arms about his knees, and looked + into the fire. + </p> + <p> + “Are you a Jew?” asked Peter, suddenly; as the firelight fell full on the + stranger’s face. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; I am a Jew.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” said Peter, “that’s why I wasn’t able to make out at first what + nation you could be of; your dress, you know—” Then he stopped, and + said, “Trading here, I suppose? Which country do you come from; are you a + Spanish Jew?” + </p> + <p> + “I am a Jew of Palestine.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” said Peter; “I haven’t seen many from that part yet. I came out with + a lot on board ship; and I’ve seen Barnato and Beit; but they’re not very + much like you. I suppose it’s coming from Palestine makes the difference.” + </p> + <p> + All fear of the stranger had now left Peter Halket. “Come a little nearer + the fire,” he said, “you must be cold, you haven’t too much wraps. I’m + chill in this big coat.” Peter Halket pushed his gun a little further away + from him; and threw another large log on the fire. “I’m sorry I haven’t + anything to eat to offer you; but I haven’t had anything myself since last + night. It’s beastly sickening, being out like this with nothing to eat. + Wouldn’t have thought a fellow’d feel so bad after only a day of it. Have + you ever been out without grub?” said Peter cheerfully, warming his hands + at the blaze. + </p> + <p> + “Forty days and nights,” said the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Forty days! Ph—e—ew!” said Peter. “You must have have had a + lot to drink, or you wouldn’t have stood it. I was feeling blue enough + when you turned up, but I’m better now, warmer.” + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket re-arranged the logs on the fire. + </p> + <p> + “In the employ of the Chartered Company, I suppose?” said Peter, looking + into the fire he had made. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said the stranger; “I have nothing to do with the Chartered + Company.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Peter, “I don’t wonder, then, that things aren’t looking very + smart with you! There’s not too much cakes and ale up here for those that + do belong to it, if they’re not big-wigs, and none at all for those who + don’t. I tried it when I first came up here. I was with a prospector who + was hooked on to the Company somehow, but I worked on my own account for + the prospector by the day. I tell you what, it’s not the men who work up + here who make the money; it’s the big-wigs who get the concessions!” + </p> + <p> + Peter felt exhilarated by the presence of the stranger. That one unarmed + man had robbed him of all fear. + </p> + <p> + Seeing that the stranger did not take up the thread of conversation, he + went on after a time: “It wasn’t such a bad life, though. I only wish I + was back there again. I had two huts to myself, and a couple of nigger + girls. It’s better fun,” said Peter, after a while, “having these black + women than whites. The whites you’ve got to support, but the niggers + support you! And when you’ve done with them you can just get rid of them. + I’m all for the nigger gals.” Peter laughed. But the stranger sat + motionless with his arms about his knees. + </p> + <p> + “You got any girls?” said Peter. “Care for niggers?” + </p> + <p> + “I love all women,” said the stranger, refolding his arms about his knees. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you do, do you?” said Peter. “Well, I’m pretty sick of them. I had + bother enough with mine,” he said genially, warming his hands by the fire, + and then interlocking the fingers and turning the palms towards the blaze + as one who prepares to enjoy a good talk. “One girl was only fifteen; I + got her cheap from a policeman who was living with her, and she wasn’t + much. But the other, by Gad! I never saw another nigger like her; well set + up, I tell you, and as straight as that—” said Peter, holding up his + finger in the firelight. “She was thirty if she was a day. Fellows don’t + generally fancy women that age; they like slips of girls. But I set my + heart on her the day I saw her. She belonged to the chap I was with. He + got her up north. There was a devil of a row about his getting her, too; + she’d got a nigger husband and two children; didn’t want to leave them, or + some nonsense of that sort: you know what these niggers are? Well, I tried + to get the other fellow to let me have her, but the devil a bit he would. + I’d only got the other girl, and I didn’t much fancy her; she was only a + child. Well, I went down Umtali way and got a lot of liquor and stuff, and + when I got back to camp I found them clean dried out. They hadn’t had a + drop of liquor in camp for ten days, and the rainy season coming on and no + knowing when they’d get any. Well, I’d a vatje of Old Dop as high as that—,” + indicating with his hand an object about two feet high, “and the other + fellow wanted to buy it from me. I knew two of that. I said I wanted it + for myself. He offered me this, and he offered me that. At last I said, + ‘Well, just to oblige you, I give you the vatje and you give me the girl!’ + And so he did. Most people wouldn’t have fancied a nigger girl who’d had + two nigger children, but I didn’t mind; it’s all the same to me. And I + tell you she worked. She made a garden, and she and the other girl worked + in it; I tell you I didn’t need to buy a sixpence of food for them in six + months, and I used to sell green mealies and pumpkins to all the fellows + about. There weren’t many flies on her, I tell you. She picked up English + quicker than I picked up her lingo, and took to wearing a dress and + shawl.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger still sat motionless, looking into the fire. + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket reseated himself more comfortably before the fire. “Well, I + came home to the huts one day, rather suddenly, you know, to fetch + something; and what did I find? She, talking at the hut door with a nigger + man. Now it was my strict orders they were neither to speak a word to a + nigger man at all; so I asked what it was. And she answers, as cool as can + be, that he was a stranger going past on the road, and asked her to give + him a drink of water. Well, I just ordered him off. I didn’t think + anything more about it. But I remember now. I saw him hanging about the + camp the day after. Well, she came to me the next day and asked me for a + lot of cartridges. She’d never asked me for anything before. I asked her + what the devil a woman wanted with cartridges, and she said the old nigger + woman who helped carry in water to the garden said she couldn’t stay and + help her any more unless she got some cartridges to give her son who was + going up north hunting elephants. The woman got over me to give her the + cartridges because she was going to have a kid, and she said she couldn’t + do the watering without help. So I gave them her. I never put two and two + together. + </p> + <p> + “Well, when I heard that the Company was going to have a row with the + Matabele, I thought I’d volunteer. They said there was lots of loot to be + got, and land to be given out, and that sort of thing, and I thought I’d + only be gone about three months. So I went. I left those women there, and + a lot of stuff in the garden and some sugar and rice, and I told them not + to leave till I came back; and I asked the other man to keep an eye on + them. Both those women were Mashonas. They always said the Mashonas didn’t + love the Matabele; but, by God, it turned out that they loved them better + than they loved us. They’ve got the damned impertinence to say, that the + Matabele oppressed them sometimes, but the white man oppresses them all + the time! + </p> + <p> + “Well, I left those women there,” said Peter, dropping his hands on his + knees. “Mind you, I’d treated those women really well. I’d never given + either of them one touch all the time I had them. I was the talk of all + the fellows round, the way I treated them. Well, I hadn’t been gone a + month, when I got a letter from the man I worked with, the one who had the + woman first—he’s dead now, poor fellow; they found him at his hut + door with his throat cut—and what do you think he said to me? Why, I + hadn’t been gone six hours when those two women skooted! It was all the + big one. What do you think she did? She took every ounce of ball and + cartridge she could find in that hut, and my old Martini-Henry, and even + the lid off the tea-box to melt into bullets for the old muzzle-loaders + they have; and off she went, and took the young one too. The fellow wrote + me they didn’t touch another thing: they left the shawls and dresses I + gave them kicking about the huts, and went off naked with only their + blankets and the ammunition on their heads. A nigger man met them twenty + miles off, and he said they were skooting up for Lo Magundi’s country as + fast as they could go. + </p> + <p> + “And do you know,” said Peter, striking his knee, and looking impressively + across the fire at the stranger; “what I’m as sure of as that I’m sitting + here? It’s that that nigger I caught at my hut, that day, was her nigger + husband! He’d come to fetch her that time; and when she saw she couldn’t + get away without our catching her, she got the cartridges for him!” Peter + paused impressively between the words. “And now she’s gone back to him. + It’s for him she’s taken that ammunition!” + </p> + <p> + Peter looked across the fire at the stranger, to see what impression his + story was making. + </p> + <p> + “I tell you what,” said Peter, “if I’d had any idea that day who that + bloody nigger was, the day I saw him standing at my door, I’d have given + him one cartridge in the back of his head more than ever he reckoned for!” + Peter looked triumphantly at the stranger. This was his only story; and he + had told it a score of times round the camp fire for the benefit of some + new-comer. When this point was reached, a low murmur of applause and + sympathy always ran round the group: tonight there was quiet; the + stranger’s large dark eyes watched the fire almost as though he heard + nothing. + </p> + <p> + “I shouldn’t have minded so much,” said Peter after a while, “though no + man likes to have his woman taken away from him; but she was going to have + a kid in a month or two—and so was the little one for anything I + know; she looked like it! I expect they did away with it before it came; + they’ve no hearts, these niggers; they’d think nothing of doing that with + a white man’s child. They’ve no hearts; they’d rather go back to a black + man, however well you’ve treated them. It’s all right if you get them + quite young and keep them away from their own people; but if once a nigger + woman’s had a nigger man and had children by him, you might as well try to + hold a she-devil! they’ll always go back. If ever I’m shot, it’s as likely + as not it’ll be by my own gun, with my own cartridges. And she’d stand by + and watch it, and cheer them on; though I never gave her a blow all the + time she was with me. But I tell you what—if ever I come across that + bloody nigger, I’ll take it out of him. He won’t count many days to his + year, after I’ve spotted him!” Peter Halket paused. It seemed to him that + the eyes under their heavy, curled lashes, were looking at something + beyond him with an infinite sadness, almost as of eyes that wept. + </p> + <p> + “You look awfully tired,” said Peter; “wouldn’t you like to lie down and + sleep? You could put your head down on that stone, and I’d keep watch.” + </p> + <p> + “I have no need of sleep,” the stranger said; “I will watch with you.” + </p> + <p> + “You’ve been in the wars, too, I see,” said Peter, bending forward a + little, and looking at the stranger’s feet. “By God! Both of them!—And + right through! You must have had a bad time of it?” + </p> + <p> + “It was very long ago,” said the stranger. + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket threw two more logs on the fire. “Do you know,” he said, + “I’ve been wondering ever since you came, who it was you reminded me of. + It’s my mother! You’re not like her in the face, but when your eyes look + at me it seems to me as if it was she looking at me. Curious, isn’t it? I + don’t know you from Adam, and you’ve hardly spoken a word since you came; + and yet I seem as if I’d known you all my life.” Peter moved a little + nearer him. “I was awfully afraid of you when you first came; even when I + first saw you;—you aren’t dressed as most of us dress, you know. But + the minute the fire shone on your face I said, ‘It’s all right.’ Curious, + isn’t it?” said Peter. “I don’t know you from Adam, but if you were to + take up my gun and point it at me, I wouldn’t move! I’d lie down here and + go to sleep with my head at your feet; curious, isn’t it, when I don’t + know you from Adam? My name’s Peter Halket. What’s yours?” + </p> + <p> + But the stranger was arranging the logs on the fire. The flames shot up + bright and high, and almost hid him from Peter Halket’s view. + </p> + <p> + “By gad! how they burn when you arrange them!” said Peter. + </p> + <p> + They sat quiet in the blaze for a while. + </p> + <p> + Then Peter said, “Did you see any niggers about yesterday? I haven’t come + across any in this part.” + </p> + <p> + “There is,” said the stranger, raising himself, “an old woman in a cave + over yonder, and there is one man in the bush, ten miles from this spot. + He has lived there six weeks, since you destroyed the kraal, living on + roots or herbs. He was wounded in the thigh, and left for dead. He is + waiting till you have all left this part of the country that he may set + out to follow his own people. His leg is not yet so strong that he may + walk fast.” + </p> + <p> + “Did you speak to him?” said Peter. + </p> + <p> + “I took him down to the water where a large pool was. The bank was too + high for the man to descend alone.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s a lucky thing for you our fellows didn’t catch you,” said Peter. + “Our captain’s a regular little martinet. He’d shoot you as soon as look + at you, if he saw you fooling round with a wounded nigger. It’s lucky you + kept out of his way.” + </p> + <p> + “The young ravens have meat given to them,” said the stranger, lifting + himself up; “and the lions go down to the streams to drink.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah—yes—” said Peter; “but that’s because we can’t help it!” + </p> + <p> + They were silent again for a little while. Then Peter, seeing that the + stranger showed no inclination to speak, said, “Did you hear of the spree + they had up Bulawayo way, hanging those three niggers for spies? I wasn’t + there myself, but a fellow who was told me they made the niggers jump down + from the tree and hang themselves; one fellow wouldn’t bally jump, till + they gave him a charge of buckshot in the back: and then he caught hold of + a branch with his hands and they had to shoot ‘em loose. He didn’t like + hanging. I don’t know if it’s true, of course; I wasn’t there myself, but + a fellow who was told me. Another fellow who was at Bulawayo, but who + wasn’t there when they were hung, said they fired at them just after they + jumped, to kill ‘em. I—” + </p> + <p> + “I was there,” said the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you were?” said Peter. “I saw a photograph of the niggers hanging, + and our fellows standing round smoking; but I didn’t see you in it. I + suppose you’d just gone away?” + </p> + <p> + “I was beside the men when they were hung,” said the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you were, were you?” said Peter. “I don’t much care about seeing that + sort of thing myself. Some fellows think it’s the best fun out to see the + niggers kick; but I can’t stand it: it turns my stomach. It’s not + liver-heartedness,” said Peter, quickly, anxious to remove any adverse + impression as to his courage which the stranger might form; “if it’s + shooting or fighting, I’m there. I’ve potted as many niggers as any man in + our troop, I bet. It’s floggings and hangings I’m off. It’s the way one’s + brought up, you know. My mother never even would kill our ducks; she let + them die of old age, and we had the feathers and the eggs: and she was + always drumming into me;—don’t hit a fellow smaller than yourself; + don’t hit a fellow weaker than yourself; don’t hit a fellow unless he can + hit you back as good again. When you’ve always had that sort of thing + drummed into you, you can’t get rid of it, somehow. Now there was that + other nigger they shot. They say he sat as still as if he was cut out of + stone, with his arms round his legs; and some of the fellows gave him + blows about the head and face before they took him off to shoot him. Now, + that’s the sort of thing I can’t do. It makes me sick here, somehow.” + Peter put his hand rather low down over the pit of his stomach. “I’ll + shoot as many as you like if they’ll run, but they mustn’t be tied up.” + </p> + <p> + “I was there when that man was shot,” said the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Why, you seem to have been everywhere,” said Peter. “Have you seen Cecil + Rhodes?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I have seen him,” said the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Now he’s death on niggers,” said Peter Halket, warming his hands by the + fire; “they say when he was Prime Minister down in the Colony he tried to + pass a law that would give their masters and mistresses the right to have + their servants flogged whenever they did anything they didn’t like; but + the other Englishmen wouldn’t let him pass it. But here he can do what he + likes. That’s the reason some fellows don’t want him to be sent away. They + say, ‘If we get the British Government here, they’ll be giving the niggers + land to live on; and let them have the vote, and get civilised and + educated, and all that sort of thing; but Cecil Rhodes, he’ll keep their + noses to the grindstone.’ ‘I prefer land to niggers,’ he says. They say + he’s going to parcel them out, and make them work on our lands whether + they like it or not—just as good as having slaves, you know: and you + haven’t the bother of looking after them when they’re old. Now, there I’m + with Rhodes; I think it’s an awfully good move. We don’t come out here to + work; it’s all very well in England; but we’ve come here to make money, + and how are we to make it, unless you get niggers to work for you, or + start a syndicate? He’s death on niggers, is Rhodes!” said Peter, + meditating; “they say if we had the British Government here and you were + thrashing a nigger and something happened, there’d be an investigation, + and all that sort of thing. But, with Cecil, it’s all right, you can do + what you like with the niggers, provided you don’t get HIM into trouble.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger watched the clear flame as it burnt up high in the still + night air; then suddenly he started. + </p> + <p> + “What is it?” said Peter; “do you hear anything?” + </p> + <p> + “I hear far off,” said the stranger, “the sound of weeping, and the sound + of blows. And I hear the voices of men and women calling to me.” + </p> + <p> + Peter listened intently. “I don’t hear anything!” he said. “It must be in + your head. I sometimes get a noise in mine.” He listened intently. “No, + there’s nothing. It’s all so deadly still.” + </p> + <p> + They sat silent for a while. + </p> + <p> + “Peter Simon Halket,” said the stranger suddenly—Peter started; he + had not told him his second name—“if it should come to pass that you + should obtain those lands you have desired, and you should obtain black + men to labour on them and make to yourself great wealth; or should you + create that company”—Peter started—“and fools should buy from + you, so that you became the richest man in the land; and if you should + take to yourself wide lands, and raise to yourself great palaces, so that + princes and great men of earth crept up to you and laid their hands + against yours, so that you might slip gold into them—what would it + profit you?” + </p> + <p> + “Profit!” Peter Halket stared: “Why, it would profit everything. What + makes Beit and Rhodes and Barnato so great? If you’ve got eight millions—” + </p> + <p> + “Peter Simon Halket, which of those souls you have seen on earth is to you + greatest?” said the stranger, “Which soul is to you fairest?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” said Peter, “but we weren’t talking of souls at all; we were talking + of money. Of course if it comes to souls, my mother’s the best person I’ve + ever seen. But what does it help her? She’s got to stand washing clothes + for those stuck-up nincompoops of fine ladies! Wait till I’ve got money! + It’ll be somebody else then, who—” + </p> + <p> + “Peter Halket,” said the stranger, “who is the greatest; he who serves or + he who is served?” Peter looked at the stranger: then it flashed on him + that he was mad. + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” he said, “if it comes to that, what’s anything! You might as well + say, sitting there in your old linen shirt, that you were as great as + Rhodes or Beit or Barnato, or a king. Of course a man’s just the same + whatever he’s got on or whatever he has; but he isn’t the same to other + people.” + </p> + <p> + “There have kings been born in stables,” said the stranger. + </p> + <p> + Then Peter saw that he was joking, and laughed. “It must have been a long + time ago; they don’t get born there now,” he said. “Why, if God Almighty + came to this country, and hadn’t half-a-million in shares, they wouldn’t + think much of Him.” + </p> + <p> + Peter built up his fire. Suddenly he felt the stranger’s eyes were fixed + on him. + </p> + <p> + “Who gave you your land?” the stranger asked. + </p> + <p> + “Mine! Why, the Chartered Company,” said Peter. + </p> + <p> + The stranger looked back into the fire. “And who gave it to them?” he + asked softly. + </p> + <p> + “Why, England, of course. She gave them the land to far beyond the Zambezi + to do what they liked with, and make as much money out of as they could, + and she’d back ‘em.” + </p> + <p> + “Who gave the land to the men and women of England?” asked the stranger + softly. + </p> + <p> + “Why, the devil! They said it was theirs, and of course it was,” said + Peter. + </p> + <p> + “And the people of the land: did England give you the people also?” + </p> + <p> + Peter looked a little doubtfully at the stranger. “Yes, of course, she + gave us the people; what use would the land have been to us otherwise?” + </p> + <p> + “And who gave her the people, the living flesh and blood, that she might + give them away, into the hands of others?” asked the stranger, raising + himself. + </p> + <p> + Peter looked at him and was half afeared. “Well, what could she do with a + lot of miserable niggers, if she didn’t give them to us? A lot of + good-for-nothing rebels they are, too,” said Peter. + </p> + <p> + “What is a rebel?” asked the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “My Gawd!” said Peter, “you must have lived out of the world if you don’t + know what a rebel is! A rebel is a man who fights against his king and his + country. These bloody niggers here are rebels because they are fighting + against us. They don’t want the Chartered Company to have them. But + they’ll have to. We’ll teach them a lesson,” said Peter Halket, the + pugilistic spirit rising, firmly reseating himself on the South African + earth, which two years before he had never heard of, and eighteen months + before he had never seen, as if it had been his mother earth, and the land + in which he first saw light. + </p> + <p> + The stranger watched the fire; then he said musingly, “I have seen a land + far from here. In that land are men of two kinds who live side by side. + Well nigh a thousand years ago one conquered the other; they have lived + together since. Today the one people seeks to drive forth the other who + conquered them. Are these men rebels, too?” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Peter, pleased at being deferred to, “that all depends who + they are, you know!” + </p> + <p> + “They call the one nation Turks, and the other Armenians,” said the + stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, the Armenians aren’t rebels,” said Peter; “they are on our side! The + papers are all full of it,” said Peter, pleased to show his knowledge. + “Those bloody Turks! What right had they to conquer the Armenians? Who + gave them their land? I’d like to have a shot at them myself!” + </p> + <p> + “WHY are Armenians not rebels?” asked the stranger, gently. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you do ask such curious questions,” said Peter. “If they don’t like + the Turks, why should they have ‘em? If the French came now and conquered + us, and we tried to drive them out first chance we had; you wouldn’t call + us rebels! Why shouldn’t they try to turn those bloody Turks out? + Besides,” said Peter, bending over and talking in the manner of one who + imparts secret and important information; “you see, if we don’t help the + Armenians the Russians would; and we,” said Peter, looking exceedingly + knowing, “we’ve got to prevent that: they’d get the land; and it’s on the + road to India. And we don’t mean them to. I suppose you don’t know much + about politics in Palestine?” said Peter, looking kindly and patronisingly + at the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “If these men,” said the stranger, “would rather be free, or be under the + British Government, than under the Chartered Company, why, when they + resist the Chartered Company, are they more rebels than the Armenians when + they resist the Turk? Is the Chartered Company God, that every knee should + bow before it, and before it every head be bent? Would you, the white men + of England, submit to its rule for one day?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” said Peter, “no, of course we shouldn’t, but we are white men, and + so are the Armenians—almost—” Then he glanced at the + stranger’s dark face, and added quickly, “At least, it’s not the colour + that matters, you know. I rather like a dark face, my mother’s eyes are + brown—but the Armenians, you know, they’ve got long hair like us.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it is the hair, then, that matters,” said the stranger softly. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, well,” said Peter, “it’s not altogether, of course. But it’s quite a + different thing, the Armenians wanting to get rid of the Turks, and these + bloody niggers wanting to get rid of the Chartered Company. Besides, the + Armenians are Christians, like us!” + </p> + <p> + “Are YOU Christians?” A strange storm broke across the stranger’s + features; he rose to his feet. + </p> + <p> + “Why, of course, we are!” said Peter. “We’re all Christians, we English. + Perhaps you don’t like Christians, though? Some Jews don’t, I know,” said + Peter, looking up soothingly at him. + </p> + <p> + “I neither love nor hate any man for that which he is called,” said the + stranger; “the name boots nothing.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger sat down again beside the fire, and folded his hands. + </p> + <p> + “Is the Chartered Company Christian also?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, oh yes,” said Peter. + </p> + <p> + “What is a Christian?” asked the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Well, now, you really do ask such curious questions. A Christian is a man + who believes in Heaven and Hell, and God and the Bible, and in Jesus + Christ, that he’ll save him from going to Hell, and if he believes he’ll + be saved, he will be saved.” + </p> + <p> + “But here, in this world, what is a Christian?” + </p> + <p> + “Why,” said Peter, “I’m a Christian—we’re all Christians.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger looked into the fire; and Peter thought he would change the + subject. “It’s curious how like my mother you are; I mean, your ways. She + was always saying to me, ‘Don’t be too anxious to make money, Peter. Too + much wealth is as bad as too much poverty.’ You’re very like her.” + </p> + <p> + After a while Peter said, bending over a little towards the stranger, “If + you don’t want to make money, what did you come to this land for? No one + comes here for anything else. Are you in with the Portuguese?” + </p> + <p> + “I am not more with one people than with another,” said the stranger. “The + Frenchman is not more to me than the Englishman, the Englishman than the + Kaffir, the Kaffir than the Chinaman. I have heard,” said the stranger, + “the black infant cry as it crept on its mother’s body and sought for her + breast as she lay dead in the roadway. I have heard also the rich man’s + child wail in the palace. I hear all cries.” + </p> + <p> + Peter looked intently at him. “Why, who are you?” he said; then, bending + nearer to the stranger and looking up, he added, “What is it that you are + doing here?” + </p> + <p> + “I belong,” said the stranger, “to the strongest company on earth.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Peter, sitting up, the look of wonder passing from his face. + “So that’s it, is it? Is it diamonds, or gold, or lands?” + </p> + <p> + “We are the most vast of all companies on the earth,” said the stranger; + “and we are always growing. We have among us men of every race and from + every land; the Esquimo, the Chinaman, the Turk, and the Englishman, we + have of them all. We have men of every religion, Buddhists, Mahomedans, + Confucians, Freethinkers, Atheists, Christians, Jews. It matters to us + nothing by what name the man is named, so he be one of us.” + </p> + <p> + And Peter said, “It must be hard for you all to understand one another, if + you are of so many different kinds?” + </p> + <p> + The stranger answered, “There is a sign by which we all know one another, + and by which all the world may know us.” (By this shall all men know that + ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.) + </p> + <p> + And Peter said, “What is that sign?” + </p> + <p> + But the stranger was silent. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, a kind of freemasonry!” said Peter, leaning on his elbow towards the + stranger, and looking up at him from under his pointed cap. “Are there any + more of you here in this country?” + </p> + <p> + “There are,” said the stranger. Then he pointed with his hand into the + darkness. “There in a cave were two women. When you blew the cave up they + were left unhurt behind a fallen rock. When you took away all the grain, + and burnt what you could not carry, there was one basketful that you knew + nothing of. The women stayed there, for one was eighty, and one near the + time of her giving birth; and they dared not set out to follow the remnant + of their tribe because you were in the plains below. Every day the old + woman doled grain from the basket; and at night they cooked it in their + cave where you could not see their smoke; and every day the old woman gave + the young one two handfuls and kept one for herself, saying, ‘Because of + the child within you.’ And when the child was born and the young woman + strong, the old woman took a cloth and filled it with all the grain that + was in the basket; and she put the grain on the young woman’s head and + tied the child on her back, and said, ‘Go, keeping always along the bank + of the river, till you come north to the land where our people are gone; + and some day you can send and fetch me.’ And the young woman said, ‘Have + you corn in the basket to last till they come?’ And she said, ‘I have + enough.’ And she sat at the broken door of the cave and watched the young + woman go down the hill and up the river bank till she was hidden by the + bush; and she looked down at the plain below, and she saw the spot where + the kraal had been and where she had planted mealies when she was a young + girl—” + </p> + <p> + “I met a woman with corn on her head and a child on her back!” said Peter + under his breath. + </p> + <p> + “—And tonight I saw her sit again at the door of the cave; and when + the sun had set she grew cold; and she crept in and lay down by the + basket. Tonight, at half-past three, she will die. I have known her since + she was a little child and played about the huts, while her mother worked + in the mealie fields. She was one of our company.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Peter. + </p> + <p> + “Other members we have here,” said the stranger. “There was a prospector”—he + pointed north; “he was a man who drank and swore when it listed him; but + he had many servants, and they knew where to find him in need. When they + were ill, he tended them with his own hands; when they were in trouble, + they came to him for help. When this war began, and all black men’s hearts + were bitter, because certain white men had lied to them, and their envoys + had been killed when they would have asked England to put her hand out + over them; at that time certain of the men who fought the white men came + to the prospector’s hut. And the prospector fired at them from a hole he + had cut in his door; but they fired back at him with an old elephant gun, + and the bullet pierced his side and he fell on the floor:—because + the innocent man suffers oftentimes for the guilty, and the merciful man + falls while the oppressor flourishes. Then his black servant who was with + him took him quickly in his arms, and carried him out at the back of the + hut, and down into the river bed where the water flowed and no man could + trace his footsteps, and hid him in a hole in the river wall. And when the + men broke into the hut they could find no white man, and no traces of his + feet. But at evening, when the black servant returned to the hut to get + food and medicine for his master, the men who were fighting caught him, + and they said, ‘Oh, you betrayer of your people, white man’s dog, who are + on the side of those who take our lands and our wives and our daughters + before our eyes; tell us where you have hidden him?’ And when he would not + answer them, they killed him before the door of the hut. And when the + night came, the white man crept up on his hands and knees, and came to his + hut to look for food. All the other men were gone, but his servant lay + dead before the door; and the white man knew how it must have happened. He + could not creep further, and he lay down before the door, and that night + the white man and the black lay there dead together, side by side. Both + those men were of my friends.” + </p> + <p> + “It was damned plucky of the nigger,” said Peter; “but I’ve heard of their + doing that sort of thing before. Even of a girl who wouldn’t tell where + her mistress was, and getting killed. But,” he added doubtfully, “all your + company seem to be niggers or to get killed?” + </p> + <p> + “They are of all races,” said the stranger. “In a city in the old Colony + is one of us, small of stature and small of voice. It came to pass on a + certain Sunday morning, when the men and women were gathered before him, + that he mounted his pulpit: and he said when the time for the sermon came, + ‘In place that I should speak to you, I will read you a history.’ And he + opened an old book more than two thousand years old: and he read: ‘Now it + came to pass that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in + Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. + </p> + <p> + “‘And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may + have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I + will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seemeth good to + thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. + </p> + <p> + “‘And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the + inheritance of my father unto thee. + </p> + <p> + “‘And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word + which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken unto him; for he had said, I will + not give thee the inheritance of my fathers.’ + </p> + <p> + “The man read the whole story until it was ended. Then he closed the book, + and he said, ‘My friends, Naboth has a vineyard in this land; and in it + there is much gold; and Ahab has desired to have it that the wealth may be + his.’ + </p> + <p> + “And he put the old book aside, and he took up another which was written + yesterday. And the men and women whispered one to another, even in the + church, ‘Is not that the Blue Book Report of the Select Committee of the + Cape Parliament on the Jameson raid?’ + </p> + <p> + “And the man said, ‘Friends, the first story I have read you is one of the + oldest stories of the world: the story I am about to read you is one of + the newest. Truth is not more truth because it is three thousand years + old, nor is it less truth because it is of yesterday. All books which + throw light on truth are God’s books, therefore I shall read to you from + the pages before me. Shall the story of Ahab king of Samaria profit us + when we know not the story of the Ahabs of our day; and the Naboths of our + land be stoned while we sit at east?’ And he read to them portions of that + book. And certain rich men and women rose up and went out even while he + spoke, and his wife also went out. + </p> + <p> + “And when the service was ended and the man returned to his home, his wife + came to him weeping; and she said, ‘Did you see how some of the most + wealthy and important people got up and went out this morning? Why did you + preach such a sermon, when we were just going to have the new wing added + to our house, and you thought they were going to raise your salary? You + have not a single Boer in your congregation! Why need you say the + Chartered Company raid on Johannesburg was wrong?’ + </p> + <p> + “He said, ‘My wife, if I believe that certain men whom we have raised on + high, and to whom we have given power, have done a cowardly wrong, shall I + not say it?’ + </p> + <p> + “And she said, ‘Yes, and only a little while ago, when Rhodes was licking + the dust off the Boers’ feet that he might keep them from suspecting while + he got ready this affair, then you attacked both Rhodes and the Bond (The + Afrikander Bond, the organised Dutch political party, through whom Mr. + Rhodes worked, and by whom he was backed.) for trying to pass a Bill for + flogging the niggers, and we lost fifty pounds we might have got for the + church?’ And he said, ‘My wife, cannot God be worshipped as well under the + dome of the heaven He made as in a golden palace? Shall a man keep + silence, when he sees oppression, to earn money for God? If I have + defended the black man when I believed him to be wronged, shall I not also + defend the white man, my flesh-brother? Shall we speak when one man is + wronged and not when it is another?’ + </p> + <p> + “And she said, ‘Yes, but you have your family and yourself to think of! + Why are you always in opposition to the people who could do something for + us? You are only loved by the poor. If it is necessary for you to attack + some one, why don’t you attack the Jews for killing Christ, or Herod, or + Pontius Pilate; why don’t you leave alone the men who are in power today, + and who with their money can crush you!’ + </p> + <p> + “And he said, ‘Oh my wife, those Jews, and Herod, and Pontius Pilate are + long dead. If I should preach of them now, would it help them? Would it + save one living thing from their clutches? The past is dead, it lives only + for us to learn from. The present, the present only, is ours to work in, + and the future ours to create. Is all the gold of Johannesburg or are all + the diamonds in Kimberley worth, that one Christian man should fall by the + hand of his fellows—aye, or one heathen brother?’ + </p> + <p> + “And she answered, ‘Oh, that is all very well. If you were a really + eloquent preacher, and could draw hundreds of men about you, and in time + form a great party with you at its head, I shouldn’t mind what you said. + But you, with your little figure and your little voice, who will ever + follow you? You will be left all alone; that is all the good that will + ever come to you through it.’ + </p> + <p> + “And he said, ‘Oh my wife, have I not waited and watched and hoped that + they who are nobler and stronger than I, all over this land, would lift up + their voices and speak—and there is only a deadly silence? Here and + there one has dared to speak aloud; but the rest whisper behind the hand; + one says, ‘My son has a post, he would lose it if I spoke loud’; and + another says, ‘I have a promise of land’; and another, ‘I am socially + intimate with these men, and should lose my social standing if I let my + voice be heard.’ Oh my wife, our land, our goodly land, which we had hoped + would be free and strong among the peoples of earth, is rotten and + honeycombed with the tyranny of gold! We who had hoped to stand first in + the Anglo-Saxon sisterhood for justice and freedom, are not even fit to + stand last. Do I not know only too bitterly how weak is my voice; and that + that which I can do is as nothing: but shall I remain silent? Shall the + glow-worm refuse to give its light, because it is not a star set up on + high; shall the broken stick refuse to burn and warm one frozen man’s + hands, because it is not a beacon-light flaming across the earth? Ever a + voice is behind my shoulder, that whispers to me—‘Why break your + head against a stone wall? Leave this work to the greater and larger men + of your people; they who will do it better than you can do it! Why break + your heart when life could be so fair to you?’ But, oh my wife, the strong + men are silent! and shall I not speak, though I know my power is as + nothing?’ + </p> + <p> + “He laid his head upon his hands. + </p> + <p> + “And she said, ‘I cannot understand you. When I come home and tell you + that this man drinks, or that that woman has got into trouble, you always + answer me, ‘Wife, what business is it of ours if so be that we cannot help + them?’ A little innocent gossip offends you; and you go to visit people + and treat them as your friends, into whose house I would not go. Yet when + the richest and strongest men in the land, who could crush you with their + money, as a boy crushes a fly between his finger and thumb, take a certain + course, you stand and oppose them.’ + </p> + <p> + “And he said, ‘My wife, with the sins of the private man, what have I to + do, if so be I have not led him into them? Am I guilty? I have enough to + do looking after my own sins. The sin that a man sins against himself is + his alone, not mine; the sin that a man sins against his fellows is his + and theirs, not mine: but the sins that a man sins, in that he is taken up + by the hands of a people and set up on high, and whose hand they have + armed with their sword, whose power to strike is their power—his + sins are theirs; there is no man so small in the whole nation that he + dares say, ‘I have no responsibility for this man’s action.’ We armed him, + we raised him, we strengthened him, and the evil he accomplishes is more + ours than his. If this man’s end in South Africa should be accomplished, + and the day should come when, from the Zambezi to the sea, white man + should fly at white man’s throat, and every man’s heart burn with + bitterness against his fellow, and the land be bathed with blood as rain—shall + I then dare to pray, who have now feared to speak? Do not think I wish for + punishment upon these men. Let them take the millions they have wrung out + of this land, and go to the lands of their birth, and live in wealth, + luxury, and joy; but let them leave this land they have tortured and + ruined. Let them keep the money they have made here; we may be the poorer + for it; but they cannot then crush our freedom with it. Shall I ask my God + Sunday by Sunday to brood across the land, and bind all its children’s + hearts in a close-knit fellowship;—yet, when I see its people + betrayed, and their jawbone broken by a stroke from the hand of gold; when + I see freedom passing from us, and the whole land being grasped by the + golden claw, so that the generation after us shall be born without + freedom, to labour for the men who have grasped all, shall I hold my + peace? The Boer and the Englishman who have been in this land, have not + always loved mercy, nor have they always sought after justice; but the + little finger of the speculator and monopolist who are devouring this land + will be thicker on the backs of the children of this land, black and + white, than the loins of the Dutchmen and Englishmen who have been.’ + </p> + <p> + “And she said, ‘I have heard it said that it was our duty to sacrifice + ourselves for the men and women living in the world at the same time as + ourselves; but I never before heard that we had to sacrifice ourselves for + people that are not born. What are they to you? You will be dust, and + lying in your grave, before that time comes. If you believe in God,’ she + said, ‘why cannot you leave it to Him to bring good out of all this evil? + Does He need YOU to be made a martyr of? or will the world be lost without + YOU?’ + </p> + <p> + “He said, ‘Wife, if my right hand be in a fire, shall I not pull it out? + Shall I say, ‘God may bring good out of this evil,’ and let it burn? That + Unknown that lies beyond us we know of no otherwise than through its + manifestation in our own hearts; it works no otherwise upon the sons of + men than through man. And shall I feel no bond binding me to the men to + come, and desire no good or beauty for them—I, who am what I am, and + enjoy what I enjoy, because for countless ages in the past men have lived + and laboured, who lived not for themselves alone, and counted no costs? + Would the great statue, the great poem, the great reform ever be + accomplished, if men counted the cost and created for their own lives + alone? And no man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. You + cannot tell me not to love the men who shall be after me; a soft voice + within me, I know not what, cries out ever, ‘Live for them as for your own + children.’ When in the circle of my own small life all is dark, and I + despair, hope springs up in me when I remember that something nobler and + fairer may spring up in the spot where I now stand.’ + </p> + <p> + “And she said, ‘You want to put everyone against us! The other women will + not call on me; and our church is more and more made up of poor people. + Money holds by money. If your congregation were Dutchmen, I know you would + be always preaching to love the Englishmen, and be kind to niggers. If + they were Kaffirs you would always be telling them to help white men. You + will never be on the side of the people who can do anything for us! You + know the offer we had from—’ + </p> + <p> + “And he said, ‘Oh my wife, what are the Boer, and the Russian, and the + Turk to me; am I responsible for their action? It is my own nation, mine, + which I love as a man loves his own soul, whose acts touch me. I would + that wherever our flag was planted the feeble or oppressed peoples of + earth might gather under it, saying, ‘Under this banner is freedom and + justice which knows no race or colour.’ I wish that on our banner were + blazoned in large letters “Justice and Mercy”, and that in every new land + which our feet touch, every son among us might see ever blazoned above his + head that banner, and below it the great order:—“By this sign, + Conquer!”—and that the pirate flag which some men now wave in its + place, may be torn down and furled for ever! Shall I condone the action of + some, simply because they happen to be of my own race, when in Bushman or + Hottentot I would condemn it? Shall men belonging to one of the mightiest + races of earth, creep softly on their bellies, to attack an unwarned + neighbour; when even the Kaffir has again and again given notice of war, + saying, ‘Be ready, on such and such a day I come to fight you?’ Is + England’s power so broken, and our race so enfeebled, that we dare no + longer to proclaim war; but must creep silently upon our bellies in the + dark to stab, like a subject people to whom no other course is open? These + men are English; but not English-MEN. When the men of our race fight, they + go to war with a blazoned flag and the loud trumpet before them. It is + because I am an Englishman that these things crush me. Better that ten + thousand of us should lie dead and defeated on one battlefield, fighting + for some great cause, and my own sons among them, than that those twelve + poor boys should have fallen at Doornkop, fighting to fill up the pockets + of those already oe’r-heavy with gold.’ + </p> + <p> + “And she said, ‘YOU, what does it matter what you feel or think; YOU will + never be able to do anything!’ + </p> + <p> + “And he said, ‘Oh my wife, stand by me; do not crush me. For me in this + matter there is no path but one on which light shines.’ + </p> + <p> + “And she said, ‘You are very unkind; you don’t care what the people say + about us!’ and she wept bitterly, and went out of the room. But as soon as + the door was shut, she dried her tears; and she said to herself, ‘Now he + will never dare to preach such a sermon again. He dares never oppose me + when once I have set down my foot.’ + </p> + <p> + “And the man spoke to no one, and went out alone in the veld. All the + afternoon he walked up and down among the sand and low bushes; and I + walked there beside him. + </p> + <p> + “And when the evening came, he went back to his chapel. Many were absent, + but the elders sat in their places, and his wife also was there. And the + light shone on the empty benches. And when the time came he opened the old + book of the Jews; and he turned the leaves and read:—‘If thou + forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are + ready to be slain; if thou sayest, ‘Behold we knew it not!’ Doth not he + that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth + he not know it?’ + </p> + <p> + “And he said, ‘This morning we considered the evils this land is suffering + under at the hands of men whose aim is the attainment of wealth and power. + Tonight we shall look at our own share in the matter. I think we shall + realise that with us, and not with the men we have lifted up on high, lies + the condemnation.’ Then his wife rose and went out, and others followed + her; and the little man’s voice rolled among the empty benches; but he + spoke on. + </p> + <p> + “And when the service was over he went out. No elder came to the porch to + greet him; but as he stood there one, he saw not whom, slipped a leaflet + into his hand. He held it up, and read in the lamplight what was written + on it in pencil. He crushed it up in his hand, as a man crushes that which + has run a poisonous sting into him; then he dropped it on the earth as a + man drops that he would forget. A fine drizzly rain was falling, and he + walked up the street with his arms folded behind him, and his head bent. + The people walked up the other side; and it seemed to him he was alone. + But I walked behind him.” + </p> + <p> + “And then,” asked Peter, seeing that the stranger was silent, “what + happened to him after that?” + </p> + <p> + “That was only last Sunday,” said the stranger. + </p> + <p> + There was silence again for some seconds. + </p> + <p> + Then Peter said, “Well, anyhow, at least he didn’t die!” + </p> + <p> + The stranger crossed his hands upon his knees. “Peter Simon Halket,” he + said, “it is easier for a man to die than to stand alone. He who can stand + alone can, also, when the need be, die.” + </p> + <p> + Peter looked up wistfully into the stranger’s face. “I should not like to + die myself,” he said, “not yet. I shall not be twenty-one till next + birthday. I should like to see life first.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger made no answer. + </p> + <p> + Presently Peter said, “Are all the men of your company poor men?” + </p> + <p> + The stranger waited a while before he answered; then he said,—“There + have been rich men who have desired to join us. There was a young man + once; and when he heard the conditions, he went away sorrowful, for he had + great possessions.” + </p> + <p> + There was silence again for a while. + </p> + <p> + “Is it long since your company was started?” asked Peter. + </p> + <p> + “There is no man living who can conceive of its age,” said the stranger. + “Even here on this earth it began, when these hills were young, and these + lichens had hardly shown their stains upon the rocks, and man still raised + himself upwards with difficulty because the sinews in his thighs were + weak. In those days, which men reck not of now, man, when he hungered, fed + on the flesh of his fellow man and found it sweet. Yet even in those days + it came to pass that there was one whose head was higher than her fellows + and her thought keener, and, as she picked the flesh from a human skull, + she pondered. And so it came to pass the next night, when men were + gathered around the fire ready to eat, that she stole away, and when they + went to the tree where the victim was bound, they found him gone. And they + cried one to another, ‘She, only she, has done this, who has always said, + ‘I like not the taste of man-flesh; men are too like me; I cannot eat + them.’ ‘She is mad,’ they cried; ‘let us kill her!’ So, in those dim, + misty times that men reck not of now, that they hardly believe in, that + woman died. But in the heads of certain men and women a new thought had + taken root; they said, ‘We also will not eat of her. There is something + evil in the taste of human flesh.’ And ever after, when the fleshpots were + filled with man-flesh, these stood aside, and half the tribe ate human + flesh and half not; then, as the years passed, none ate. + </p> + <p> + “Even in those days, which men reck not of now, when men fell easily open + their hands and knees, they were of us on the earth. And, if you would + learn a secret, even before man trod here, in the days when the dicynodont + bent yearningly over her young, and the river-horse which you find now + nowhere on earth’s surface, save buried in stone, called with love to his + mate; and the birds whose footprints are on the rocks flew in the sunshine + calling joyfully to one another—even in those days when man was not, + the fore-dawn of this kingdom had broken on the earth. And still as the + sun rises and sets and the planets journey round, we grow and grow.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger rose from the fire, and stood upright: around him, and behind + him, the darkness stood out. + </p> + <p> + “All earth is ours. And the day shall come, when the stars, looking down + on this little world, shall see no spot where the soil is moist and dark + with the blood of man shed by his fellow man; the sun shall rise in the + East and set in the West and shed his light across this little globe; and + nowhere shall he see man crushed by his fellows. And they shall beat their + swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall + not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. + And instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree; and instead of the + brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and man shall nowhere crush man on + all the holy earth. Tomorrow’s sun shall rise,” said the stranger, “and it + shall flood these dark kopjes with light, and the rocks shall glint in it. + Not more certain is that rising than the coming of that day. And I say to + you that even here, in the land where now we stand, where today the cries + of the wounded and the curses of revenge ring in the air; even here, in + this land where man creeps on his belly to wound his fellow in the dark, + and where an acre of gold is worth a thousand souls, and a reef of shining + dirt is worth half a people, and the vultures are heavy with man’s flesh—even + here that day shall come. I tell you, Peter Simon Halket, that here on the + spot where now we stand shall be raised a temple. Man shall not gather in + it to worship that which divides; but they shall stand in it shoulder to + shoulder, white man with black, and the stranger with the inhabitant of + the land; and the place shall be holy; for men shall say, ‘Are we not + brethren and the sons of one Father?’” + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket looked upward silently. And the stranger said: “Certain men + slept upon a plain, and the night was chill and dark. And, as they slept, + at that hour when night is darkest, one stirred. Far off to the eastward, + through his half-closed eyelids, he saw, as it were, one faint line, thin + as a hair’s width, that edged the hill tops. And he whispered in the + darkness to his fellows: ‘The dawn is coming.’ But they, with fast-closed + eyelids murmured, ‘He lies, there is no dawn.’ + </p> + <p> + “Nevertheless, day broke.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger was silent. The fire burnt up in red tongues of flame that + neither flickered nor flared in the still night air. Peter Halket crept + near to the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “When will that time be?” he whispered; “in a thousand years’ time?” + </p> + <p> + And the stranger answered, “A thousand years are but as our yesterday’s + journey, or as our watch tonight, which draws already to its close. See, + piled, these rocks on which we now stand? The ages have been young and + they have grown old since they have lain here. Half that time shall not + pass before that time comes; I have seen its dawning already in the hearts + of men.” + </p> + <p> + Peter moved nearer, so that he almost knelt at the stranger’s feet: his + gun lay on the ground at the other side of the fire. + </p> + <p> + “I would like to be one of your men,” he said. “I am tired of belonging to + the Chartered Company.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger looked down gently. “Peter Simon Halket,” he said, “can you + bear the weight?” + </p> + <p> + And Peter said, “Give me work, that I may try.” + </p> + <p> + There was silence for a time; then the stranger said, “Peter Simon Halket, + take a message to England”—Peter Halket started—“Go to that + great people and cry aloud to it: ‘Where is the sword was given into your + hand, that with it you might enforce justice and deal out mercy? How came + you to give it up into the hands of men whose search is gold, whose thirst + is wealth, to whom men’s souls and bodies are counters in a game? How came + you to give up the folk that were given into your hands, into the hand of + the speculator and the gamester; as though they were dumb beasts who might + be bought or sold? + </p> + <p> + “‘Take back your sword, Great People—but wipe it first, lest some of + the gold and blood stick to your hand. + </p> + <p> + “‘What is this, I see!—the sword of the Great People, transformed to + burrow earth for gold, as the snouts of swine for earth nuts! Have you no + other use for it, Great Folk? + </p> + <p> + “‘Take back your sword; and, when you have thoroughly cleansed it and + wiped it of the blood and mire, then raise it to set free the oppressed of + other climes. + </p> + <p> + “‘Great Prince’s Daughter, take heed! You put your sword into the hands of + recreant knights; they will dull its edge and mar its brightness, and, + when your hour of need comes and you would put it into other hands, you + will find its edge chipped and its point broken. Take heed! Take heed!’ + </p> + <p> + “Cry to the wise men of England: ‘You, who in peace and calm in shaded + chambers ponder on all things in heaven and earth, and take all knowledge + for your province, have you no time to think of this? To whom has England + given her power? How do the men wield it who have filched it from her? Say + not, What have we to do with folk across the waters; have we not matter + enough for thought in our own land? Where the brain of a nation has no + time to go, there should its hands never be sent to labour: where the + power of a people goes, there must its intellect and knowledge go, to + guide it. Oh, you who sit at ease, studying past and future—and + forget the present—you have no right to sit at ease knowing nothing + of the working of the powers you have armed and sent to work on men afar. + Where is your nation’s sword—you men of thought?’ + </p> + <p> + “Cry to the women of England: ‘You, who repose in sumptuous houses, with + children on your knees; think not it is only the rustling of the soft + draped curtains, or the whistling of the wind, you hear. Listen! May it + not be the far off cry of those your sword governs, creeping towards you + across wide oceans till it pierces even into your inmost sanctuary? + Listen! + </p> + <p> + “For the womanhood of a dominant people has not accomplished all its + labour when it has borne its children and fed them at its breast: there + cries to it also from over seas and across continents the voice of the + child-peoples—‘Mother-heart, stand for us!’ It would be better for + you that your wombs should be barren and that your race should die out; + than that you should listen, and give no answer.’” + </p> + <p> + The stranger lifted his hands upwards as he spoke, and Peter saw there + were the marks of old wounds in both. + </p> + <p> + “Cry aloud to the working men and women of England: ‘You, who for ages + cried out because the heel of your masters was heavy on you; and who have + said, ‘We curse the kings that sit at ease, and care not who oppresses the + folk, so their coffers be full and their bellies satisfied, and they be + not troubled with the trouble of rule’; you, who have taken the king’s + rule from him and sit enthroned within his seat; is his sin not yours + today? If men should add but one hour to your day’s labour, or make but + one fraction dearer the bread you eat, would you not rise up as one man? + Yet, what is dealt out to men beyond seas whom you rule wounds you not. + Nay, have you not sometimes said, as kings of old: ‘It matters not who + holds out our sword, marauder or speculator, so he calls it ours, we must + cloak up the evil it has done!’ Think you, no other curses rise to heaven + but yours? Where is your sword? Into whose hand has it fallen? Take it + quickly and cleanse it!’” + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket crouched, looking upwards; then he cried: “Master, I cannot + give that message, I am a poor unlearn’d man. And if I should go to + England and cry aloud, they would say, ‘Who is this, who comes preaching + to a great people? Is not his mother with us, and a washerwoman; and was + not his father a day labourer at two shillings a day?’ and they would + laugh me to scorn. And, in truth, the message is so long I could not well + remember it; give me other work to do.” + </p> + <p> + And the stranger said, “Take a message to the men and women of this land. + Go, from the Zambezi to the sea, and cry to its white men and women, and + say: ‘I saw a wide field, and in it were two fair beasts. Wide was the + field about them and rich was the earth with sweet scented herbs, and so + abundant was the pasturage that hardly might they consume all that grew + about them: and the two were like one to another, for they were the sons + of one mother. And as I looked, I saw, far off to the northward, a speck + within the sky, so small it was, and so high it was, that the eye scarce + might mark it. Then it came nearer and hovered over the spot where the two + beasts fed:—and its neck was bare, and its beak was hooked, and its + talons were long, and its wings strong. And it hovered over the field + where the two beasts were; and I saw it settle down upon a great white + stone; and it waited. And I saw more specks to the northward, and more and + more came onward to join him who sat upon the stone. And some hovered over + the beasts, and some sharpened their beaks on the stones; and some walked + in and out between the beasts’ legs. And I saw that they were waiting for + something. + </p> + <p> + “‘Then he who first came flew from one of the beasts to the other, and sat + upon their necks, and put his beak within their ears. And he flew from one + to the other and flapped his wings in their faces till the beasts were + blinded, and each believed it was his fellow who attacked him. And they + fell to, and fought; they gored one another’s sides till the field was red + with blood and the ground shook beneath them. The birds sat by and + watched; and when the blood flowed they walked round and round. And when + the strength of the two beasts was exhausted they fell to earth. Then the + birds settled down upon them, and feasted; till their maws were full, and + their long bare necks were wet; and they stood with their beaks deep in + the entrails of the two dead beasts; and looked out with their keen bright + eyes from above them. And he who was king of all plucked out the eyes, and + fed on the hearts of the dead beasts. And when his maw was full, so that + he could eat no more, he sat on his stone hard by and flapped his great + wings.’ + </p> + <p> + “Peter Simon Halket, cry to the white men and women of South Africa: ‘You + have a goodly land; you and your children’s children shall scarce fill it; + though you should stretch out your arms to welcome each stranger who comes + to live and labour with you. You are the twin branches of one tree; you + are the sons of one mother. Is this goodly land not wide enough for you, + that you should rend each other’s flesh at the bidding of those who will + wet their beaks within both your vitals?—Look up, see, they circle + in the air above you!’” + </p> + <p> + Almost Peter Halket started and looked upward; but there was only the + black sky of Mashonaland over his head. + </p> + <p> + The stranger stood silent looking downward into the fire. Peter Halket + half clasped his arms about his knees. + </p> + <p> + “My master,” he cried, “how can I take this message? The Dutchmen of South + Africa will not listen to me, they will say I am an Englishman. And the + Englishmen will say: ‘Who is this fellow who comes preaching peace, peace, + peace? Has he not been a year in the country and he has not a share in a + single company? Can anything he says be worth hearing? If he were a man of + any sense he would have made five thousand pounds at least.’ And they will + not listen to me. Give me another labour!” + </p> + <p> + And the stranger said: “Take a message to one man. Find him, whether he + sleep or wake, whether he eat or drink; and say to him: ‘Where are the + souls of the men that you have bought?’ + </p> + <p> + “And if he shall answer you and say: ‘I bought no men’s souls! The souls + that I bought were the souls of dogs?’ Then ask him this question, say to + him, ‘Where are the—’ + </p> + <p> + “And if he cry out, ‘You lie, you lie! I know what you are going to say. + What do I know of envoys? Was I ever afraid of the British Government? It + is all a lie!’ Then question him no further. But say: ‘There was a + rushlight once. It flickered and flared, and it guttered down, and went + out—and no man heeded it: it was only a rushlight. + </p> + <p> + “‘And there was a light once; men set it on high within a lighthouse, that + it might yield light to all souls at sea; that afar off they might see its + steady light and find harbour, and escape the rocks. + </p> + <p> + “‘And that light flickered and flared, as it listed. It went this way and + it went that; it burnt blue, and green, and red; now it disappeared + altogether, and then it burnt up again. And men, far out at sea, kept + their eyes fixed where they knew the light should be: saying, ‘We are + safe; the great light will lead us when we near the rocks.’ And on dark + nights men drifted nearer and nearer; and in the stillness of the midnight + they struck on the lighthouse rocks and went down at its feet. + </p> + <p> + “‘What now shall be done to that light, in that it was not a rushlight; in + that it was set on high by the hands of men, and in that men trusted it? + Shall it not be put out?’ + </p> + <p> + “And if he shall answer, saying, ‘What are men to me? they are fools, all + fools! Let them die!’—tell him again this story: ‘There was a + streamlet once: it burst forth from beneath the snow on a mountain’s + crown; and the snow made a cove over it. It ran on pure and blue and clear + as the sky above it, and the banks of snow made its cradle. Then it came + to a spot where the snow ended; and two ways lay before it by which it + might journey; one, on the mountain ridges, past rocks and stones, and + down long sunlit slopes to the sea; and the other, down a chasm. And the + stream hesitated: it twirled and purled, and went this way and went that. + It MIGHT have been, that it would have forced its way past rocks and + ridges and along mountain slopes, and made a path for itself where no path + had been; the banks would have grown green, and the mountain daisy would + have grown beside it; and all night the stars would have looked at their + faces in it; and down the long sunny slopes the sun would have played on + it by day; and the wood dove would have built her nest in the trees beside + it; and singing, singing, always singing, it would have made its way at + last to the great sea, whose far-off call all waters hear. + </p> + <p> + “‘But it hesitated.—It might have been, that, had but some hand been + there to move but one stone from its path, it would have forced its way + past rocks and ridges, and found its way to the great sea—it might + have been! But no hand was there. The streamlet gathered itself together, + and (it might be, that it was even in its haste to rush onwards to the + sea!)—it made one leap into the abyss. + </p> + <p> + “‘The rocks closed over it. Nine hundred fathoms deep, in a still, dark + pool it lay. The green lichen hung from the rocks. No sunlight came there, + and the stars could not look down at night. The pool lay still and silent. + Then, because it was alive and could not rest, it gathered its strength + together, through fallen earth and broken debris it oozed its way silently + on; and it crept out in a deep valley; the mountains closed it around. And + the streamlet laughed to itself, ‘Ha, ha! I shall make a great lake here; + a sea!’ And it oozed, and it oozed, and it filled half the plain. But no + lake came—only a great marsh—because there was no way + outwards, and the water rotted. The grass died out along its edges; and + the trees dropped their leaves and rotted in the water; and the wood dove + who had built her nest there flew up to the mountains, because her young + ones died. And the toads sat on the stones and dropped their spittle in + the water; and the reeds were yellow that grew along the edge. And at + night, a heavy, white fog gathered over the water, so that the stars could + not see through it; and by day a fine white mist hung over it, and the + sunbeams could not play on it. And no man knew that once the marsh had + leapt forth clear and blue from under a hood of snow on the mountain’s + top: aye, and that the turning of one stone might have caused that it had + run on and on, and mingled its song with the sea’s song for ever.’” + </p> + <p> + The stranger was silent for a while. + </p> + <p> + Then he said, “Should he answer you and say, ‘What do I care! What are + coves and mountain tops to me? Gold is real, and the power to crush men + within my hand’; tell him no further. + </p> + <p> + “But if by some chance he should listen, then, say this one thing to him, + clearly in the ear, that he may not fail to hear it: ‘The morning may + break grey, and the midday be dark and stormy; but the glory of the + evening’s sunset may wash out for ever the remembrance of the morning’s + dullness, and the darkness of the noon. So that all men shall say, ‘Ah, + for the beauty of that day!’—For the stream that has once descended + there is no path upwards.—It is never too late for the soul of a + man.’ + </p> + <p> + “And if he should laugh, and say: ‘You fool, a man may remake himself + entirely before twenty; he may reshape himself before thirty; but after + forty he is fixed. Shall I, who for forty-three years have sought money + and power, seek for anything else now? You want me to be Jesus Christ, I + suppose! How can I be myself and another man?’ Then answer him: ‘Deep in + the heart of every son of man lies an angel; but some have their wings + folded. Wake yours! He is larger and stronger than another man’s; mount up + with him!’ + </p> + <p> + “But if he curses you, and says, ‘I have eight millions of money, and I + care neither for God nor man!’—then make no answer, but stoop and + write before him.” The stranger bent down and wrote with his finger in the + white ashes of the fire. Peter Halket bent forward, and he saw the two + words the stranger had written. + </p> + <p> + The stranger said: “Say to him: ‘Though you should seek to make that name + immortal in this land; and should write it in gold dust, and set it with + diamonds, and cement it with human blood, shed from the Zambezi to the + sea, yet—.” The stranger passed his foot over the words; Peter + Halket looked down, and he saw only a bed of smooth white ashes where the + name had been. + </p> + <p> + The stranger said: “And if he should curse yet further, and say, ‘There is + not one man nor woman in South Africa I cannot buy with my money! When I + have the Transvaal, I shall buy God Almighty Himself, if I care to!’ + </p> + <p> + “Then say to him this one thing only, ‘Thy money perish with thee!’ and + leave him.” + </p> + <p> + There was a dead silence for a moment. Then the stranger stretched forth + his hand. “Yet in that leaving him, remember;—It is not the act, but + the will, which marks the soul of the man. He who has crushed a nation + sins no more than he who rejoices in the death throe of the meanest + creature. The stagnant pool is not less poisonous drop for drop than the + mighty swamp, though its reach be smaller. He who has desired to be and + accomplish what this man has been and accomplished, is as this man; though + he have lacked the power to perform. Nay, remember this one thing more:—Certain + sons of God are born on earth, named by men Children of Genius. In early + youth each stands at the parting of the way and chooses; he bears his gift + for others or for himself. But forget this never, whatever his choice may + be; that there is laid on him a burden that is laid not on others—all + space is open to him, and his choice is infinite—and if he falls + beneath it, let men weep rather than curse, for he was born a Son of God.” + </p> + <p> + There was silence again. Then Peter Halket clasped his arms about the + stranger’s feet. “My master,” he cried, “I dare not take that message. It + is not that men may say, ‘Here is Trooper Peter Halket, whom we all know, + a man who kept women and shot niggers, turned prophet.’ But it is, that it + is true. Have I not wished—” and Peter Halket would have poured out + all his soul; but the stranger prevented him. + </p> + <p> + “Peter Simon Halket,” he said, “is it the trumpet which gives forth the + call to battle, whether it be battered tin or gilded silver, which boots? + Is it not the call? What and if I should send my message by a woman or a + child: shall truth be less truth because the bearer is despised? Is it the + mouth that speaks or the word that is spoken which is eternal? + Nevertheless, if you will have it so, go, and say, ‘I, Peter Halket, + sinner among you all, who have desired women and gold, who have loved + myself and hated my fellow, I—‘” The stranger looked down at him, + and placed his hand gently on his head. “Peter Simon Halket,” he said, “a + harder task I give you than any which has been laid upon you. In that + small spot where alone on earth your will rules, bring there into being + the kingdom today. Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you. Walk + ever forward, looking not to the right hand or the left. Heed not what men + shall say of you. Succour the oppressed; deliver the captive. If thine + enemy hunger, feed him; if he is athirst give him drink.” + </p> + <p> + A curious warmth and gladness stole over Peter Halket as he knelt; it was + as, when a little child, his mother folded him to her: he saw nothing more + about him but a soft bright light. Yet in it he heard a voice cry, + “Because thou hast loved mercy—and hated oppression—” + </p> + <p> + When Trooper Peter Halket raised himself, he saw the figure of the + stranger passing from him. He cried, “My Master, let me go with you.” But + the figure did not turn. And, as it passed into the darkness, it seemed to + Peter Halket that the form grew larger and larger: and as it descended the + further side of the kopje it seemed that for one instant he still saw the + head with a pale, white light upon it: then it vanished. + </p> + <p> + And Trooper Peter Halket sat alone upon the kopje. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter II. + </h2> + <p> + It was a hot day. The sun poured down its rays over the scattered trees, + and stunted bush, and long grass, and over the dried up river beds. Far in + the blue, so high the eye could scarcely mark them, vultures were flying + southward, where forty miles off kraals had been destroyed and two hundred + black carcasses were lying in the sun. + </p> + <p> + Under a group of tall straggling trees among the grass and low scrub, on + the banks of an almost dried up river bed, a small camp had been pitched. + </p> + <p> + The party had lost their mules, and pending their recovery had already + been there seven days. The three cart loads of provisions they were + conveying to the large camp were drawn up under the trees and had a sail + thrown across them to form a shelter for some of the men; while on the + other side of the cleared and open space that formed the camp, a smaller + sail was thrown across two poles forming a rough tent; and away to the + left, a little cut off from the rest of the camp by some low bushes, was + the bell-shaped tent of the captain, under a tall tree. Before the + bell-shaped tent stood a short stunted tree; its thick white stem gnarled + and knotted; while two stunted misshapen branches, like arms, stretched + out on either side. + </p> + <p> + Before this tree, up and down, with his gun upon his arm, his head bent + and his eyes fixed on the ground, while the hot sun blazed on his + shoulders, walked a man. + </p> + <p> + Three or four fires were burning about the camp in different parts, three + cooking the mealies and rice which formed the diet of the men, their stock + of tinned meats having been exhausted; while the fourth, which was watched + by a native boy, contained the more appetising meal of the Captain. + </p> + <p> + Most of the men were out of camp; the coloured boys having gone to fetch + the mules, which had been discovered in the hills a few miles off, and + were expected to arrive in the evening; and the white men had gone out to + see what game they could bring down with their guns to flavour the mealie + pots, or to reconnoitre the country; though all native habitations had + been destroyed within a radius of thirty miles, and the land was as bare + of black men as a child’s hand of hair; and even the beasts seemed to have + vanished. + </p> + <p> + In the shade of the tent, formed of the canvas across two posts, lay three + white men, whose work it was to watch the pots and guard the camp. They + were all three Colonial Englishmen, and lay on the ground on their + stomachs, passing the time by carrying on a desultory conversation, or + taking a few whiffs, slowly, and with care, from their pipes, for tobacco + was precious in the camp. + </p> + <p> + Under some bushes a few yards off lay a huge trooper, whose nationality + was uncertain, but who was held to hail from some part of the British + Isles, and who had travelled round the world. He was currently reported to + have done three years’ labour for attempted rape in Australia, but nothing + certain was known regarding his antecedents. He had been up on guard half + the night, and was now taking his rest lying on his back with his arm + thrown over his face; but a slight movement could be noted in his jaw as + he slowly chewed a piece of tobacco; and occasionally when he turned it + round the mouth opened, and disclosed two rows of broken yellow stumps set + in very red gums. + </p> + <p> + The three Colonial Englishmen took no notice of him. Two, who were slowly + smoking, were of the large and powerful build, and somewhat loose set + about the shoulders, which is common among Colonial Europeans of the third + generation, whether Dutch or English, and had the placidity and general + good temper of expression which commonly marks the Colonial European who + grows up beyond the range of the cities. The third was smaller and more + wiry and of an unusually nervous type, with aquiline nose, and sallow + hatchet face, with a somewhat discontented expression. He was holding + forth, while his companions smoked and listened. + </p> + <p> + “Now what I say is this,” he brought his hand down on the red sand; “here + we are with about one half teaspoon of Dop given us at night, while he has + ten empty champagne bottles lying behind his tent. And we have to live on + the mealies we’re convoying for the horses, while he has pati and beef, + and lives like a lord! It’s all very well for the regulars; they know what + they’re in for, and they’ve got gentlemen over them anyhow, and one can + stomach anything if you know what kind of a fellow you’ve got over you. + English officers are gentlemen, anyhow; or if one was under Selous now—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Selous’s a MAN!” broke out the other two, taking their pipes from + their mouths. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, well, that’s what I say. But these fellows, who couldn’t do as + farmers, and couldn’t do as shopkeepers, and God knows what else; and + their friends in England didn’t want to have them; they’re sent out here + to boss it over us! It’s a damned shame! Why, I want to know, amn’t I as + good as any of these fellows, who come swelling it about here? Friends got + money, I suppose!” He cast his sharp glance over towards the bell tent. + “If they gave us real English officers now—” + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” said the biggest of his companions, who, in spite of his huge form, + had something of the simplicity and good nature of a child in his handsome + face; “it’s because you’re not a big enough swell, you know! He’ll be a + colonel, or a general, before we’ve done with him. I call them all + generals or colonels up here; it’s safest, you know; if they’re not that + today they will be tomorrow!” + </p> + <p> + This was intended as a joke, and in that hot weather, and in that dull + world, anything was good enough to laugh at: the third man smiled, but the + first speaker remained serious. + </p> + <p> + “I only know this,” he said, “I’d teach these fellows a lesson, if any one + belonging to me had been among the people they left to be murdered here, + while they went gallivanting to the Transvaal. If my mother or sister had + been killed here, I’d have taken a pistol and blown out the brains of the + great Panjandrum, and the little ones after him. Fine administration of a + country, this, to invite people to come in and live here, and then take + every fighting man out of the country on a gold hunting marauding + expedition to the Transvaal, and leave us to face the bitter end. I look + upon every man and woman who was killed here as murdered by the Chartered + Company.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Jameson only did what he was told. He had to obey orders, like the + rest of us. He didn’t make the plan, and he’s got the punishment.” + </p> + <p> + “What business had he to listen? What’s all this fine administration they + talk of? It’s six years since I came to this country, and I’ve worked like + a nigger ever since I came, and what have I, or any men who’ve worked hard + at real, honest farming, got for it? Everything in the land is given away + for the benefit of a few big folks over the water or swells out here. If + England took over the Chartered Company tomorrow, what would she find?—everything + of value in the land given over to private concessionaires—they’ll + line their pockets if the whole land goes to pot! It’ll be the jackals + eating all the flesh off the horse’s bones, and calling the lion in to + lick the bones.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you wait a bit and you’ll be squared,” said the handsome man. “I’ve + been here five years and had lots of promises, though I haven’t got + anything else yet; but I expect it to come some day, so I keep my mouth + shut! If they asked me to sign a paper, that Mr. Over-the-Way”—he + nodded towards the bell tent—“never got drunk or didn’t know how to + swear, I’d sign it, if there was a good dose of squaring to come after it. + I could stand a good lot of that sort of thing—squaring—if it + would only come my way.” + </p> + <p> + The men laughed in a dreary sort of way, and the third man, who had not + spoken yet, rolled round on to his back, and took the pipe from his mouth. + </p> + <p> + “I tell you what,” said the keen man, “those of us up here who have got a + bit of land and are trying honestly and fairly to work, are getting pretty + sick of this humbugging fighting. If we’d had a few men like the Curries + and Bowkers of the old days up here from the first, all this would never + have happened. And there’s no knowing when a reason won’t turn up for + keeping the bloody thing on or stopping it off for a time, to break out + just when one’s settled down to work. It’s a damned convenient thing to + have a war like this to turn on and off.” + </p> + <p> + Slowly the third man keeled round on to his stomach again: “Let + resignation wait. We fight the Matabele again tomorrow,” he said, + sententiously. + </p> + <p> + A low titter ran round the group. Even the man under the bushes, though + his eyes were still closed and his arm across his face, let his mouth + relax a little, and showed his yellow teeth. + </p> + <p> + “I’m always expecting,” said the big handsome man, “to have a paper come + round, signed by all the nigger chiefs, saying how much they love the + B.S.A. Company, and how glad they are the Panjandrum has got them, and how + awfully good he is to them; and they’re going to subscribe to the brazen + statue. There’s nothing a man can’t be squared to do.” + </p> + <p> + The third man lay on his back again, lazily examining his hand, which he + held above his face. “What’s that in the Bible,” he said, slowly, “about + the statue, whose thighs and belly were of brass, and its feet of mud?” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know much about the Bible,” said the keen man, “I’m going to see + if my pot isn’t boiling over. Won’t yours burn?” + </p> + <p> + “No, I asked the Captain’s boy to keep an eye on it—but I expect he + won’t. Do you put the rice in with the mealies?” + </p> + <p> + “Got to; I’ve got no other pot. And the fellows don’t object. It’s a tasty + variety, you know!” + </p> + <p> + The keen-faced man slouched away across the square to where his fire + burnt; and presently the other man rose and went, either to look at his + own pot or sleep under the carts; and the large Colonial man was left + alone. His fire was burning satisfactorily about fifty feet off, and he + folded his arms on the ground and rested his forehead on them, and watched + lazily the little black ants that ran about in the red sand, just under + his nose. + </p> + <p> + A great stillness settled down on the camp. Now and again a stick cracked + in the fires, and the cicadas cried aloud in the tree stems; but except + where the solitary paced up and down before the little flat-topped tree in + front of the captain’s tent, not a creature stirred in the whole camp; and + the snores of the trooper under the bushes might be heard half across the + camp. + </p> + <p> + The intense midday heat had settled down. + </p> + <p> + At last there was the sound of someone breaking through the long grass and + bushes which had only been removed for a few feet round the camp, and the + figure of a man emerged bearing in one hand a gun, and in the other a bird + which he had shot. He was evidently an Englishman, and not long from + Europe, by the bloom of the skin, which was perceptible in spite of the + superficial tan. His face was at the moment flushed with heat; but the + clear blue eyes and delicate features lost none of their sensitive + refinement. + </p> + <p> + He came up to the Colonial, and dropped the bird before him. “That is all + I’ve got,” he said. + </p> + <p> + He threw himself also down on the ground, and put his gun under the loose + flap of the tent. + </p> + <p> + The Colonial raised his head; and without taking his elbows from the + ground took up the bird. “I’ll put it into the pot; it’ll give it the + flavour of something except weevily mealies”; he said, and fell to + plucking it. + </p> + <p> + The Englishman took his hat off, and lifted the fine damp hair from his + forehead. + </p> + <p> + “Knocked up, eh?” said the Colonial, glancing kindly up at him. “I’ve a + few drops in my flask still.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no, I can stand it well enough. It’s only a little warm.” He gave a + slight cough, and laid his head down sideways on his arm. His eyes watched + mechanically the Colonial’s manipulation of the bird. He had left England + to escape phthisis; and he had gone to Mashonaland because it was a place + where he could earn an open-air living, and save his parents from the + burden of his support. + </p> + <p> + “What’s Halket doing over there?” he asked suddenly, raising his head. + </p> + <p> + “Weren’t you here this morning?” asked the Colonial. “Didn’t you know + they’d had a devil of a row?” + </p> + <p> + “Who?” asked the Englishman, half raising himself on his elbows. + </p> + <p> + “Halket and the Captain.” The Colonial paused in the plucking. “My God, + you never saw anything like it!” + </p> + <p> + The Englishman sat upright now, and looked keenly over the bushes where + Halket’s bent head might be seen as he paced to and fro. + </p> + <p> + “What’s he doing out there in this blazing sun?” + </p> + <p> + “He’s on guard,” said the Colonial. “I thought you were here when it + happened. It’s the best thing I ever saw or heard of in my whole life!” He + rolled half over on his side and laughed at the remembrance. “You see, + some of the men went down into the river, to look for fresh pools of + water, and they found a nigger, hidden away in a hole in the bank, not + five hundred yards from here! They found the bloody rascal by a little + path he tramped down to the water, trodden hard, just like a porcupine’s + walk. They got him in the hole like an aardvark, with a bush over the + mouth, so you couldn’t see it. He’d evidently been there a long time, the + floor was full of bones of fish he’d caught in the pool, and there was a + bit of root like a stick half gnawed through. He’d been potted, and got + two bullet wounds in the thigh; but he could walk already. It’s evident he + was just waiting till we were gone, to clear off after his people. He’d + got that beastly scurvy look a nigger gets when he hasn’t had anything to + eat for a long time. + </p> + <p> + “Well, they hauled him up before the Captain, of course; and he blew and + swore, and said the nigger was a spy, and was to be hanged tomorrow; he’d + hang him tonight, only the big troop might catch us up this evening, so + he’d wait to hear what the Colonel said; but if they didn’t come he’d hang + him first thing tomorrow morning, or have him shot, as sure as the sun + rose. He made the fellows tie him up to that little tree before his tent, + with riems round his legs, and riems round his waist, and a riem round his + neck.” + </p> + <p> + “What did the native say?” asked the Englishman. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, he didn’t say anything. There wasn’t a soul in the camp could have + understood him if he had. The coloured boys don’t know his language. I + expect he’s one of those bloody fellows we hit the day we cleared the bush + out yonder; but how he got down that bank with his leg in the state it + must have been, I don’t know. He didn’t try to fight when they caught him; + just stared in front of him—fright, I suppose. He must have been a + big strapping devil before he was taken down. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I tell you, we’d just got him fixed up, and the Captain was just + going into his tent to have a drink, and we chaps were all standing round, + when up steps Halket, right before the Captain, and pulls his front lock—you + know the way he has? Oh, my God, my God, if you could have seen it! I’ll + never forget it to my dying day!” The Colonial seemed bursting with + internal laughter. “He begins, ‘Sir, may I speak to you?’ in a formal kind + of way, like a fellow introducing a deputation; and then all of a sudden + he starts off—oh, my God, you never heard such a thing! It was like + a boy in Sunday-school saying up a piece of Scripture he’s learnt off by + heart, and got all ready beforehand, and he’s not going to be stopped till + he gets to the end of it.” + </p> + <p> + “What did he say,” asked the Englishman. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, he started, How did we know this nigger was a spy at all; it would be + a terrible thing to kill him if we weren’t quite sure; perhaps he was + hiding there because he was wounded. And then he broke out that, after + all, these niggers were men fighting for their country; we would fight + against the French if they came and took England from us; and the niggers + were brave men, ‘please sir’—(every five minutes he’d pull his + forelock, and say, ‘please sir!’)—‘and if we have to fight against + them we ought to remember they’re fighting for freedom; we shouldn’t shoot + wounded prisoners when they were black if we wouldn’t shoot them if they + were white!’ And then he broke out pure unmitigated Exeter Hall! You never + heard anything like it! All men were brothers, and God loved a black man + as well as a white; Mashonas and Matabele were poor ignorant folk, and we + had to take care of them. And then he started out, that we ought to let + this man go; we ought to give him food for the road, and tell him to go + back to his people, and tell them we hadn’t come to take their land but to + teach them and love them. ‘It’s hard to love a nigger, Captain, but we + must try it; we must try it!’—And every five minutes he’d break out + with, ‘And I think this is a man I know, Captain; I’m not sure, but I + think he comes from up Lo Magundis way!’—as if any born devil cared + whether a bloody nigger came from Lo Magundis or anywhere else! I’m sure + he said it fifteen times. And then he broke out, ‘I don’t mean that I’m + better than you or anybody else, Captain; I’m as bad a man as any in camp, + and I know it.’ And off he started, telling us all the sins he’d ever + committed; and he kept on, ‘I’m an unlearned, ignorant man, Captain; but I + must stand by this nigger; he’s got no one else!’ And then he says—‘If + you let me take him up to Lo Magundis, sir, I’m not afraid; and I’ll tell + the people there that it’s not their land and their women that we want, + it’s them to be our brothers and love us. If you’ll only let me go, sir, + I’ll go and make peace; give the man to me, sir!’” The Colonial shook with + laughter. + </p> + <p> + “What did the Captain say?” asked the Englishman. + </p> + <p> + “The Captain; well, you know the smallest thing sets him off swearing all + round the world; but he just stood there with his arms hanging down at + each side of him, and his eyes staring, and his face getting redder and + redder: and all he could say was, ‘My Gawd! my Gawd!’ I thought he’d + burst. And Halket stood there looking straight in front of him, as though + he didn’t see a soul of us all there.” + </p> + <p> + “What did the Captain do?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, as soon as Halket turned away he started swearing, but he got the + tail of one oath hooked on to the head of another. It was nearly as good + as Halket himself. And when he’d finished and got sane a bit, he said + Halket was to walk up and down there all day and keep watch on the nigger. + And he gave orders that if the big troop didn’t come up tonight, that he + was to be potted first thing in the morning, and that Halket was to shoot + him.” + </p> + <p> + The Englishman started: “What did Halket say?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing. He’s been walking there with his gun all day.” + </p> + <p> + The Englishman watched with his clear eyes the spot where Halket’s head + appeared and disappeared. + </p> + <p> + “Is the nigger hanging there now?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. The Captain said no one was to go near him, or give him anything to + eat or drink all day: but—” The Colonial glanced round where the + trooper lay under the bushes; and then lowering his voice added, “This + morning, a couple of hours ago, Halket sent the Captain’s coloured boy to + ask me for a drink of water. I thought it was for Halket himself, and the + poor devil must be hot walking there in the sun, so I sent him the water + out of my canvas bag. I went along afterwards to see what had become of my + mug; the boy had gone, and there, straight in front of the Captain’s tent, + before the very door, was Halket letting that bloody nigger drink out of + my mug. The riem was so tight round his neck he couldn’t drink but slowly, + and there was Halket holding it up to him! If the Captain had looked out! + W-h-e-w! I wouldn’t have been Halket!” + </p> + <p> + “Do you think he will try to make Halket do it?” asked the Englishman. + </p> + <p> + “Of course he will. He’s the Devil in; and Halket had better not make a + fuss about it, or it’ll be the worse for him.” + </p> + <p> + “His time’s up tomorrow evening!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but not tomorrow morning. And I wouldn’t make a row about it if I + was Halket. It doesn’t do to fall out with the authorities here. What’s + one nigger more or less? He’ll get shot some other way, or die of hunger, + if we don’t do it.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s hardly sport to shoot a man tied up neck and legs,” said the + Englishman; his finely drawn eyebrows contracting and expanding a little. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, they don’t feel, these niggers, not as we should, you know. I’ve seen + a man going to be shot, looking full at the guns, and falling like that!—without + a sound. They’ve no feeling, these niggers; I don’t suppose they care much + whether they live or die, not as we should, you know.” + </p> + <p> + The Englishman’s eyes were still fixed on the bushes, behind which + Halket’s head appeared and disappeared. + </p> + <p> + “They have no right to order Halket to do it—and he will not do it!” + said the Englishman slowly. + </p> + <p> + “You’re not going to be such a fool as to step in, are you?” said the + Colonial, looking curiously at him. “It doesn’t pay. I’ve made up my mind + never to speak whatever happens. What’s the good? Suppose one were to make + a complaint now about this affair with Halket, if he’s made to shoot the + nigger against his will; what would come of it? There’d be half-a-dozen + fellows here squared to say what headquarters wanted—not to speak of + a fellow like that”—turning his thumb in the direction of the + sleeping trooper—“who are paid to watch. I believe he reports on the + Captain himself to the big headquarters. All one’s wires are edited before + they go down; only what the Company wants to go, go through. There are + many downright good fellows in this lot; but how many of us are there, do + you think, who could throw away all chance of ever making anything in + Mashonaland, for the sake of standing by Halket; even if he had a real row + with the Company? I’ve a great liking for Halket myself, he’s a real good + fellow, and he’s done me many a good turn—took my watch only last + night, because I was off colour; I’d do anything for him in reason. But, I + say this flatly, I couldn’t and wouldn’t fly in the face of the + authorities for him or anyone else. I’ve my own girl waiting for me down + in the Colony, and she’s been waiting for me these five years. And whether + I’m able to marry her or not depends on how I stand with the Company: and + I say, flatly, I’m not going to fall out with it. I came here to make + money, and I mean to make it! If other people like to run their heads + against stone walls, let them: but they mustn’t expect me to follow them. + This isn’t a country where a man can say what he thinks.” + </p> + <p> + The Englishman rested his elbows on the ground. “And the Union Jack is + supposed to be flying over us.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, with a black bar across it for the Company,” laughed the Colonial. + </p> + <p> + “Do you ever have the nightmare?” asked the Englishman suddenly. + </p> + <p> + “I? Oh yes, sometimes”; he looked curiously at his companion; “when I’ve + eaten too much, I get it.” + </p> + <p> + “I always have it since I came up here,” said the Englishman. “It is that + a vast world is resting on me—a whole globe: and I am a midge + beneath it. I try to raise it, and I cannot. So I lie still under it—and + let it crush me!” + </p> + <p> + “It’s curious you should have the nightmare so up here,” said the + Colonial; “one gets so little to eat.” + </p> + <p> + There was a silence: he was picking the little fine feathers from the + bird, and the Englishman was watching the ants. + </p> + <p> + “Mind you,” the Colonial said at last, “I don’t say that in this case the + Captain was to blame; Halket made an awful ass of himself. He’s never been + quite right since that time he got lost and spent the night out on the + kopje. When we found him in the morning he was in a kind of dead sleep; we + couldn’t wake him; yet it wasn’t cold enough for him to have been frozen. + He’s never been the same man since; queer, you know; giving his rations + away to the coloured boys, and letting the other fellows have his dot of + brandy at night; and keeping himself sort of apart to himself, you know. + The other fellows think he’s got a touch of fever on, caught wandering + about in the long grass that day. But I don’t think it’s that; I think + it’s being alone in the veld that’s got hold of him. Man, have you ever + been out like that, alone in the veld, night and day, and not a soul to + speak to? I have; and I tell you, if I’d been left there three days longer + I’d have gone mad or turned religious. Man, it’s the nights, with the + stars up above you, and the dead still all around. And you think, and + think, and think! You remember all kinds of things you’ve never thought of + for years and years. I used to talk to myself at last, and make believe it + was another man. I was out seven days: and he was only out one night. But + I think it’s the loneliness that got hold of him. Man, those stars are + awful; and that stillness that comes toward morning!” He stood up. “It’s a + great pity, because he’s as good a fellow as ever was. But perhaps he’ll + come all right.” + </p> + <p> + He walked away towards the pot with the bird in his hand. When he had gone + the Englishman turned round on to his back, and lay with his arm across + his forehead. + </p> + <p> + High, high up, between the straggling branches of the tree, in the clear, + blue African sky above him, he could see the vultures flying southward. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + That evening the men sat eating their suppers round the fires. The large + troop had not come up; and the mules had been brought in; and they were to + make a start early the next morning. + </p> + <p> + Halket was released from his duty, and had come up, and lain down a little + in the background of the group who gathered round their fire. + </p> + <p> + The Colonial and the Englishman had given orders to all the men of their + mess that Halket was to be left in quiet, and no questions were to be + asked him; and the men, fearing the Colonial’s size and the Englishman’s + nerve, left him in peace. The men laughed and chatted round the fire, + while the big Colonial ladled out the mealies and rice into tin plates, + and passed them round to the men. Presently he passed one to Halket, who + lay half behind him leaning on his elbow. For a while Halket ate nothing, + then he took a few mouthfuls; and again lay on his elbow. + </p> + <p> + “You are eating nothing, Halket,” said the Englishman, cheerily, looking + back. + </p> + <p> + “I am not hungry now,” he said. After a while he took out his red + handkerchief, and emptied carefully into it the contents of the plate; and + tied it up into a bundle. He set it beside him on the ground, and again + lay on his elbow. + </p> + <p> + “You won’t come nearer to the fire, Halket?’ asked the Englishman. + </p> + <p> + “No, thank you, the night is warm.” + </p> + <p> + After a while Peter Halket took out from his belt a small hunting knife + with a rough wooden handle. A small flat stone lay near him, and he passed + the blade slowly up and down on it, now and then taking it up, and feeling + the edge with his finger. After a while he put it back in his belt, and + rose slowly, taking up his small bundle and walked away to the tent. + </p> + <p> + “He’s had a pretty stiff day,” said the Colonial. “I expect he’s glad + enough to turn in.” + </p> + <p> + Then all the men round the fire chatted freely over his concerns. Would + the Captain stick to his word tomorrow? Was Halket going to do it? Had the + Captain any right to tell one man off for the work, instead of letting + them fire a volley? One man said he would do it gladly in Halket’s place, + if told off; why had he made such a fool of himself? So they chatted till + nine o’clock, when the Englishman and Colonial left to turn in. They found + Halket asleep, close to the side of the tent, with his face turned to the + canvas. And they lay down quietly that they might not disturb him. + </p> + <p> + At ten o’clock all the camp was asleep, excepting the two men told off to + keep guard; who paced from one end of the camp to the other to keep + themselves awake; or stood chatting by the large fire, which still burnt + at one end. + </p> + <p> + In the Captain’s tent a light was kept burning all night, which shone + through the thin canvas sides, and shed light on the ground about; but, + for the rest, the camp was dead and still. + </p> + <p> + By half-past one the moon had gone down, and there was left only a blaze + of stars in the great African sky. + </p> + <p> + Then Peter Halket rose up; softly he lifted the canvas and crept out. On + the side furthest from the camp he stood upright. On his arm was tied his + red handkerchief with its contents. For a moment he glanced up at the + galaxy of stars over him; then he stepped into the long grass, and made + his way in a direction opposite to that in which the camp lay. But after a + short while he turned, and made his way down into the river bed. He walked + in it for a while. Then after a time he sat down upon the bank and took + off his heavy boots and threw them into the grass at the side. Then + softly, on tip-toe, he followed the little footpath that the men had + trodden going down to the river for water. It led straight up to the + Captain’s tent, and the little flat-topped tree, with its white stem, and + its two gnarled branches spread out on either side. When he was within + forty paces of it, he paused. Far over the other side of the camp the two + men who were on guard stood chatting by the fire. A dead stillness was + over the rest of the camp. The light through the walls of the Captain’s + tent made all clear at the stem of the little tree; but there was no sound + of movement within. + </p> + <p> + For a moment Peter Halket stood motionless; then he walked up to the tree. + The black man hung against the white stem, so closely bound to it that + they seemed one. His hands were tied to his sides, and his head drooped on + his breast. His eyes were closed; and his limbs, which had once been those + of a powerful man, had fallen away, making the joints stand out. The wool + on his head was wild and thick with neglect, and stood out roughly in long + strands; and his skin was rough with want and exposure. + </p> + <p> + The riems had cut a little into his ankles; and a small flow of blood had + made the ground below his feet dark. + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket looked up at him; the man seemed dead. He touched him softly + on the arm, then shook it slightly. + </p> + <p> + The man opened his eyes slowly, without raising his head; and looked at + Peter from under his weary eyebrows. Except that they moved they might + have been the eyes of a dead thing. + </p> + <p> + Peter put up his fingers to his own lips—“Hus-h! hus-h!” he said. + </p> + <p> + The man hung torpid, still looking at Peter. + </p> + <p> + Quickly Peter Halket knelt down and took the knife from his belt. In an + instant the riems that bound the feet were cut through; in another he had + cut the riems from the waist and neck: the riems dropped to the ground + from the arms, and the man stood free. Like a dazed dumb creature, he + stood, with his head still down, eyeing Peter. + </p> + <p> + Instantly Peter slipped the red bundle from his arm into the man’s passive + hand. + </p> + <p> + “Ari-tsemaia! Hamba! Loop! Go!” whispered Peter Halket; using a word from + each African language he knew. But the black man still stood motionless, + looking at him as one paralysed. + </p> + <p> + “Hamba! Sucka! Go!” he whispered, motioning his hand. + </p> + <p> + In an instant a gleam of intelligence shot across the face; then a wild + transport. Without a word, without a sound, as the tiger leaps when the + wild dogs are on it, with one long, smooth spring, as though unwounded and + unhurt, he turned and disappeared into the grass. It closed behind him; + but as he went the twigs and leaves cracked under his tread. + </p> + <p> + The Captain threw back the door of his tent. “Who is there?” he cried. + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket stood below the tree with the knife in his hand. + </p> + <p> + The noise roused the whole camp: the men on guard came running; guns were + fired: and the half-sleeping men came rushing, grasping their weapons. + There was a sound of firing at the little tree; and the cry went round the + camp, “The Mashonas are releasing the spy!” + </p> + <p> + When the men got to the Captain’s tent, they saw that the nigger was gone; + and Peter Halket was lying on his face at the foot of the tree; with his + head turned towards the Captain’s door. + </p> + <p> + There was a wild confusion of voices. “How many were there?” “Where have + they gone to now?” “They’ve shot Peter Halket!”—“The Captain saw + them do it”—“Stand ready, they may come back any time!” + </p> + <p> + When the Englishman came, the other men, who knew he had been a medical + student, made way for him. He knelt down by Peter Halket. + </p> + <p> + “He’s dead,” he said, quietly. + </p> + <p> + When they had turned him over, the Colonial knelt down on the other side, + with a little hand-lamp in his hand. + </p> + <p> + “What are you fellows fooling about here for?” cried the Captain. “Do you + suppose it’s any use looking for foot marks after all this tramping! Go, + guard the camp on all sides!” + </p> + <p> + “I will send four coloured boys,” he said to the Englishman and the + Colonial, “to dig the grave. You’d better bury him at once; there’s no use + waiting. We start first thing in the morning.” + </p> + <p> + When they were alone, the Englishman uncovered Peter Halket’s breast. + There was one small wound just under the left bosom; and one on the crown + of the head; which must have been made after he had fallen down. + </p> + <p> + “Strange, isn’t it, what he can have been doing here?” said the Colonial; + “a small wound, isn’t it?” + </p> + <p> + “A pistol shot,” said the Englishman, closing the bosom. + </p> + <p> + “A pistol—” + </p> + <p> + The Englishman looked up at him with a keen light in his eye. + </p> + <p> + “I told you he would not kill that nigger.—See—here—” He + took up the knife which had fallen from Peter Halket’s grasp, and fitted + it into a piece of the cut leather that lay on the earth. + </p> + <p> + “But you don’t think—” The Colonial stared at him with wide open + eyes; then he glanced round at the Captain’s tent. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I think that—Go and fetch his great-coat; we’ll put him in it. + If it is no use talking while a man is alive, it is no use talking when he + is dead!” + </p> + <p> + They brought his great-coat, and they looked in the pockets to see if + there was anything which might show where he had come from or who his + friends were. But there was nothing in the pockets except an empty flask, + and a leathern purse with two shillings in, and a little hand-made + two-pointed cap. + </p> + <p> + So they wrapped Peter Halket up in his great-coat, and put the little cap + on his head. + </p> + <p> + And, one hour after Peter Halket had stood outside the tent looking up, he + was lying under the little tree, with the red sand trodden down over him, + in which a black man and a white man’s blood were mingled. + </p> + <p> + All the rest of the night the men sat up round the fires, discussing what + had happened, dreading an attack. + </p> + <p> + But the Englishman and the Colonial went to their tent, to lie down. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think they will make any inquiries?” asked the Colonial. + </p> + <p> + “Why should they? His time will be up tomorrow.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you going to say anything?” + </p> + <p> + “What is the use?” + </p> + <p> + They lay in the dark for an hour, and heard the men chatting outside. + </p> + <p> + “Do you believe in a God?” said the Englishman, suddenly. + </p> + <p> + The Colonial started: “Of course I do!” + </p> + <p> + “I used to,” said the Englishman; “I do not believe in your God; but I + believed in something greater than I could understand, which moved in this + earth, as your soul moves in your body. And I thought this worked in such + wise, that the law of cause and effect, which holds in the physical world, + held also in the moral: so, that the thing we call justice, ruled. I do + not believe it any more. There is no God in Mashonaland.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, don’t say that!” cried the Colonial, much distressed. “Are you going + off your head, like poor Halket?” + </p> + <p> + “No; but there is no God,” said the Englishman. He turned round on his + shoulder, and said no more: and afterwards the Colonial went to sleep. + </p> + <p> + Before dawn the next morning the men had packed up the goods, and started. + </p> + <p> + By five o’clock the carts had filed away; the men rode or walked before + and behind them; and the space where the camp had been was an empty + circle; save for a few broken bottles and empty tins, and the stones about + which the fires had been made, round which warm ashes yet lay. + </p> + <p> + Only under the little stunted tree, the Colonial and the Englishman were + piling up stones. Their horses stood saddled close by. + </p> + <p> + Presently the large trooper came riding back. He had been sent by the + Captain to ask what they were fooling behind for, and to tell them to come + on. + </p> + <p> + The men mounted their horses to follow him; but the Englishman turned in + his saddle and looked back. The morning sun was lighting up the straggling + branches of the tall trees that had overshadowed the camp; and fell on the + little stunted tree, with its white stem and outstretched arms; and on the + stones beneath it. + </p> + <p> + “It’s all that night on the kopje!” said the Colonial, sadly. + </p> + <p> + But the Englishman looked back. “I hardly know,” he said, “whether it is + not better for him now, than for us.” + </p> + <p> + Then they rode on after the troop. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1431 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..317c13c --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #1431 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1431) diff --git a/old/1431-0.txt b/old/1431-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c43ad36 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1431-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2843 @@ +Project Gutenberg’s Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland, by Olive Schreiner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland + +Author: Olive Schreiner + +Posting Date: September 15, 2008 [EBook #1431] +Release Date: August, 1998 +Last Updated: October 12, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TROOPER PETER HALKET *** + + + + +Produced by Sue Asscher + + + + + +TROOPER PETER HALKET OF MASHONALAND + +by Olive Schreiner + +Author of “Dreams,” “Dream Life and Real Life,” “The Story of an African +Farm,” etc. + +Colonial Edition + +(A photographic plate at the front of the book shows three people +hanging from a tree by their necks. Around them stand eight men, looking +not at all troubled by their participation in the scene. Of this event +all the survivors appear to be white, the victims black. The plate is +titled “From a Photograph taken in Matabeleland.” S.A.) + + +To a Great Good Man, Sir George Grey, + +Once Governor of the Cape Colony, who, during his rule in South Africa, +bound to himself the Dutchmen, Englishmen, and Natives he governed, by +an uncorruptible justice and a broad humanity; and who is remembered +among us today as representing the noblest attributes of an Imperial +Rule. + + “Our low life was the level’s and the night’s; + He’s for the morning.” + +Olive Schreiner. + + 19, Russell Road, + Kensington, W., + February, 1897. + + + Aardvark - The great anteater. + Cape Smoke - A very inferior brandy made in Cape Colony. + Kopje - Little hillock. + Kraal - A Kaffir encampment. + Mealies - Maize (corn). + Riem - A thong of undressed leather universally used in South Africa. + Vatje of Old Dop - A little cask of Cape brandy. + Veld - Open Country. + + + + +Chapter I. + +It was a dark night; a chill breath was coming from the east; not enough +to disturb the blaze of Trooper Peter Halket’s fire, yet enough to make +it quiver. He sat alone beside it on the top of a kopje. + +All about was an impenetrable darkness; not a star was visible in the +black curve over his head. + +He had been travelling with a dozen men who were taking provisions of +mealies and rice to the next camp. He had been sent out to act as scout +along a low range of hills, and had lost his way. Since eight in the +morning he had wandered among long grasses, and ironstone kopjes, and +stunted bush, and had come upon no sign of human habitation, but the +remains of a burnt kraal, and a down-trampled and now uncultivated +mealie field, where a month before the Chartered Company’s forces had +destroyed a native settlement. + +Three times in the day it had appeared to him that he had returned to +the very spot from which he had started; nor was it his wish to travel +very far, for he knew his comrades would come back to look for him, to +the neighbourhood where he had last been seen, when it was found at the +evening camping ground that he did not appear. + +Trooper Peter Halket was very weary. He had eaten nothing all day; and +had touched little of the contents of a small flask of Cape brandy +he carried in his breast pocket, not knowing when it would again be +replenished. + +As night drew near he determined to make his resting place on the top of +one of the kopjes, which stood somewhat alone and apart from the others. +He could not easily be approached there, without his knowing it. He had +not much fear of the natives; their kraals had been destroyed and their +granaries burnt for thirty miles round, and they themselves had fled: +but he feared, somewhat, the lions, which he had never seen, but of +which he had heard, and which might be cowering in the long grasses and +brushwood at the kopje’s foot:--and he feared, vaguely, he hardly knew +what, when he looked forward to his first long night alone in the veld. + +By the time the sun had set he had gathered a little pile of stumps and +branches on the top of the kopje. He intended to keep a fire burning all +night; and as the darkness began to settle down he lit it. It might +be his friends would see it from far, and come for him early in the +morning; and wild beasts would hardly approach him while he knelt beside +it; and of the natives he felt there was little fear. + +He built up the fire; and determined if it were possible to keep awake +the whole night beside it. + +He was a slight man of middle height, with a sloping forehead and pale +blue eyes: but the jaws were hard set, and the thin lips of the large +mouth were those of a man who could strongly desire the material good of +life, and enjoy it when it came his way. Over the lower half of the face +were scattered a few soft white hairs, the growth of early manhood. + +From time to time he listened intently for possible sounds from the +distance where his friends might be encamped, and might fire off their +guns at seeing his light; or he listened yet more intently for sounds +nearer at hand: but all was still, except for the occasional cracking +of the wood in his own fire, and the slight whistle of the breeze as it +crept past the stones on the kopje. He doubled up his great hat and put +it in the pocket of his overcoat, and put on a little two-pointed cap +his mother had made for him, which fitted so close that only one lock +of white hair hung out over his forehead. He turned up the collar of his +coat to shield his neck and ears, and threw it open in front that the +blaze of the fire might warm him. He had known many nights colder than +this when he had sat around the camp fire with his comrades, talking of +the niggers they had shot or the kraals they had destroyed, or grumbling +over their rations; but tonight the chill seemed to creep into his very +bones. + +The darkness of the night above him, and the silence of the veld about +him, oppressed him. At times he even wished he might hear the cry of a +jackal or of some larger beast of prey in the distance; and he wished +that the wind would blow a little louder, instead of making that little +wheezing sound as it passed the corners of the stones. He looked down +at his gun, which lay cocked ready on the ground at his right side; +and from time to time he raised his hand automatically and fingered the +cartridges in his belt. Then he stretched out his small wiry hands to +the fire and warmed them. It was only half past ten, and it seemed to +him he had been sitting here ten hours at the least. + +After a while he threw two more large logs on the fire, and took the +flask out of his pocket. He examined it carefully by the firelight to +see how much it held: then he took a small draught, and examined it +again to see how much it had fallen; and put it back in his breast +pocket. + +Then Trooper Peter Halket fell to thinking. + +It was not often that he thought. On patrol and sitting round camp fires +with the other men about him there was no time for it; and Peter Halket +had never been given to much thinking. He had been a careless boy at the +village school; and though, when he left, his mother paid the village +apothecary to read learned books with him at night on history and +science, he had not retained much of them. As a rule he lived in the +world immediately about him, and let the things of the moment impinge +on him, and fall off again as they would, without much reflection. +But tonight on the kopje he fell to thinking, and his thoughts shaped +themselves into connected chains. + +He wondered first whether his mother would ever get the letter he had +posted the week before, and whether it would be brought to her cottage +or she would go to the post office to fetch it. And then, he fell to +thinking of the little English village where he had been born, and where +he had grown up. He saw his mother’s fat white ducklings creep in and +out under the gate, and waddle down to the little pond at the back of +the yard; he saw the school house that he had hated so much as a +boy, and from which he had so often run away to go a-fishing, or +a-bird’s-nesting. He saw the prints on the school house wall on which +the afternoon sun used to shine when he was kept in; Jesus of Judea +blessing the children, and one picture just over the door where he hung +with his arms stretched out and the blood dropping from his feet. Then +Peter Halket thought of the tower at the ruins which he had climbed so +often for birds’ eggs; and he saw his mother standing at her cottage +gate when he came home in the evening, and he felt her arms round his +neck as she kissed him; but he felt her tears on his cheek, because he +had run away from school all day; and he seemed to be making apologies +to her, and promising he never would do it again if only she would not +cry. He had often thought of her since he left her, on board ship, and +when he was working with the prospectors, and since he had joined the +troop; but it had been in a vague way; he had not distinctly seen and +felt her. But tonight he wished for her as he used to when he was +a small boy and lay in his bed in the next room, and saw her shadow +through the door as she bent over her wash-tub earning the money which +was to feed and clothe him. He remembered how he called her and she came +and tucked him in and called him “Little Simon,” which was his second +name and had been his father’s, and which she only called him when he +was in bed at night, or when he was hurt. + +He sat there staring into the blaze. He resolved he would make a great +deal of money, and she should live with him. He would build a large +house in the West End of London, the biggest that had ever been seen, +and another in the country, and they should never work any more. + +Peter Halket sat as one turned into stone, staring into the fire. + +All men made money when they came to South Africa,--Barney Barnato, +Rhodes--they all made money out of the country, eight millions, twelve +millions, twenty-six millions, forty millions; why should not he! + +Peter Halket started suddenly and listened. But it was only the wind +coming up the kopje like a great wheezy beast creeping upwards; and he +looked back into the fire. + +He considered his business prospects. When he had served his time +as volunteer he would have a large piece of land given him, and the +Mashonas and Matabeles would have all their land taken away from them in +time, and the Chartered Company would pass a law that they had to work +for the white men; and he, Peter Halket, would make them work for him. +He would make money. + +Then he reflected on what he should do with the land if it were no good +and he could not make anything out of it. Then, he should have to +start a syndicate; called the Peter Halket Gold, or the Peter Halket +Iron-mining, or some such name, Syndicate. Peter Halket was not very +clear as to how it ought to be started; but he felt certain that he and +some other men would have to take shares. They would not have to pay for +them. And then they would get some big man in London to take shares. He +need not pay for them; they would give them to him; and then the company +would be floated. No one would have to pay anything; it was just the +name--“The Peter Halket Gold Mining Company, Limited.” It would float +in London; and people there who didn’t know the country would buy the +shares; THEY would have to give ready money for them, of course; perhaps +fifteen pounds a share when they were up!--Peter Halket’s eyes blinked +as he looked into the fire.--And then, when the market was up, he, +Peter Halket, would sell out all his shares. If he gave himself only six +thousand and sold them each for ten pounds, then he, Peter Halket, would +have sixty thousand pounds! And then he would start another company, and +another. + +Peter Halket struck his knee softly with his hand. + +That was the great thing--“Always sell out at the right time.” + That point Peter Halket was very clear on. He had heard it so often +discussed. Give some shares to men with big names, and sell out: they +can sell out too at the right time. + +Peter Halket stroked his knee thoughtfully. + +And then the other people, that bought the shares for cash! Well, they +could sell out too; they could all sell out! + +Then Peter Halket’s mind got a little hazy. The matter was getting too +difficult for him, like a rule of three sum at school when he could not +see the relation between the two first terms and the third. Well, if +they didn’t like to sell out at the right time, it was their own faults. +Why didn’t they? He, Peter Halket, did not feel responsible for them. +Everyone knew that you had to sell out at the right time. If they didn’t +choose to sell out at the right time, well, they didn’t. “It’s the +shares that you sell, not the shares you keep, that make the money.” + +But if they couldn’t sell them? + +Here Peter Halket hesitated.--Well, the British Government would have to +buy them, if they were so bad no one else would; and then no one would +lose. “The British Government can’t let British share-holders suffer.” + He’d heard that often enough. The British taxpayer would have to pay for +the Chartered Company, for the soldiers, and all the other things, if IT +couldn’t, and take over the shares if it went smash, because there were +lords and dukes and princes connected with it. And why shouldn’t they +pay for his company? He would have a lord in it too! + +Peter Halket looked into the fire completely absorbed in his +calculations.--Peter Halket, Esq., Director of the Peter Halket Gold +Mining Company, Limited. Then, when he had got thousands, Peter +Halket, Esq., M.P. Then, when he had millions, Sir Peter Halket, Privy +Councillor! + +He reflected deeply, looking into the blaze. If you had five or six +millions you could go where you liked and do what you liked. You could +go to Sandringham. You could marry anyone. No one would ask what your +mother had been; it wouldn’t matter. + +A curious dull sinking sensation came over Peter Halket; and he drew in +his broad leathern belt two holes tighter. + +Even if you had only two millions you could have a cook and a valet, to +go with you when you went into the veld or to the wars; and you could +have as much champagne and other things as you liked. At that moment +that seemed to Peter more important than going to Sandringham. + +He took out his flask of Cape Smoke, and drew a tiny draught from it. + +Other men had come to South Africa with nothing, and had made +everything! Why should not he? + +He stuck small branches under the two great logs, and a glorious flame +burst out. Then he listened again intently. The wind was falling and the +night was becoming very still. It was a quarter to twelve now. His back +ached, and he would have liked to lie down; but he dared not, for fear +he should drop asleep. He leaned forward with his hands between his +crossed knees, and watched the blaze he had made. + +Then, after a while, Peter Halket’s thoughts became less clear: they +became at last, rather, a chain of disconnected pictures, painting +themselves in irrelevant order on his brain, than a line of connected +ideas. Now, as he looked into the crackling blaze, it seemed to be one +of the fires they had make to burn the natives’ grain by, and they were +throwing in all they could not carry away: then, he seemed to see his +mother’s fat ducks waddling down the little path with the green grass +on each side. Then, he seemed to see his huts where he lived with the +prospectors, and the native women who used to live with him; and he +wondered where the women were. Then--he saw the skull of an old Mashona +blown off at the top, the hands still moving. He heard the loud cry of +the native women and children as they turned the maxims on to the kraal; +and then he heard the dynamite explode that blew up a cave. Then again +he was working a maxim gun, but it seemed to him it was more like the +reaping machine he used to work in England, and that what was going down +before it was not yellow corn, but black men’s heads; and he thought +when he looked back they lay behind him in rows, like the corn in +sheaves. + +The logs sent up a flame clear and high, and, where they split, showed +a burning core inside: the cracking and spluttering sounded in his brain +like the discharge of a battery of artillery. Then he thought suddenly +of a black woman he and another man caught alone in the bush, her baby +on her back, but young and pretty. Well, they didn’t shoot her!--and a +black woman wasn’t white! His mother didn’t understand these things; +it was all so different in England from South Africa. You couldn’t +be expected to do the same sort of things here as there. He had an +unpleasant feeling that he was justifying himself to his mother, and +that he didn’t know how to. + +He leaned further and further forward: so far at last, that the little +white lock of his hair which hung out under his cap was almost singed by +the fire. His eyes were still open, but the lids drooped over them, and +his hands hung lower and lower between his knees. There was no picture +left on his brain now, but simply an impress of the blazing logs before +him. + +Then, Trooper Peter Halket started. He sat up and listened. The wind had +gone; there was not a sound: but he listened intently. The fire burnt up +into the still air, two clear red tongues of flame. + +Then, on the other side of the kopje he heard the sound of footsteps +ascending; the slow even tread of bare feet coming up. + +The hair on Trooper Peter Halket’s forehead slowly stiffened itself. He +had no thought of escaping; he was paralyzed with dread. He took up his +gun. A deadly coldness crept from his feet to his head. He had worked a +maxim gun in a fight when some hundred natives fell and only one white +man had been wounded; and he had never known fear; but tonight his +fingers were stiff on the lock of his gun. He knelt low, tending +a little to one side of the fire, with his gun ready. A stone half +sheltered him from anyone coming up from the other side of the kopje, +and the instant the figure appeared over the edge he intended to fire. + +Then, the thought flashed on him; what, and if it were one of his own +comrades come in search of him, and no bare-footed enemy! The anguish of +suspense wrung his heart; for an instant he hesitated. Then, in a cold +agony of terror, he cried out, “Who is there?” + +And a voice replied in clear, slow English, “A friend.” + +Peter Halket almost let his gun drop, in the revulsion of feeling. The +cold sweat which anguish had restrained burst out in large drops on his +forehead; but he still knelt holding his gun. + +“What do you want?” he cried out quiveringly. + +From the darkness at the edge of the kopje a figure stepped out into the +full blaze of the firelight. + +Trooper Peter Halket looked up at it. + +It was the tall figure of a man, clad in one loose linen garment, +reaching lower than his knees, and which clung close about him. His +head, arms, and feet were bare. He carried no weapon of any kind; and on +his shoulders hung heavy locks of dark hair. + +Peter Halket looked up at him with astonishment. “Are you alone?” he +asked. + +“Yes, I am alone.” + +Peter Halket lowered his gun and knelt up. + +“Lost your way, I suppose?” he said, still holding his weapon loosely. + +“No; I have come to ask whether I may sit beside your fire for a while.” + +“Certainly, certainly!” said Peter, eyeing the stranger’s dress +carefully, still holding his gun, but with the hand off the lock. “I’m +confoundedly glad of any company. It’s a beastly night for anyone to be +out alone. Wonder you find your way. Sit down! sit down!” Peter looked +intently at the stranger; then he put his gun down at his side. + +The stranger sat down on the opposite side of the fire. His complexion +was dark; his arms and feet were bronzed; but his aquiline features, and +the domed forehead, were not of any South African race. + +“One of the Soudanese Rhodes brought with him from the north, I +suppose?” said Peter, still eyeing him curiously. + +“No; Cecil Rhodes has had nothing to do with my coming here,” said the +stranger. + +“Oh--” said Peter. “You didn’t perhaps happen to come across a company +of men today, twelve white men and seven coloured, with three cart loads +of provisions? We were taking them to the big camp, and I got parted +from my troop this morning. I’ve not been able to find them, though I’ve +been seeking for them ever since.” + +The stranger warmed his hands slowly at the fire; then he raised his +head:--“They are camped at the foot of those hills tonight,” he said, +pointing with his hand into the darkness at the left. “Tomorrow early +they will be here, before the sun has risen.” + +“Oh, you’ve met them, have you!” said Peter joyfully; “that’s why you +weren’t surprised at finding me here. Take a drop!” He took the small +flask from his pocket and held it out. “I’m sorry there’s so little, but +a drop will keep the cold out.” + +The stranger bowed his head; but thanked and declined. + +Peter raised the flask to his lips and took a small draught; then +returned it to his pocket. The stranger folded his arms about his knees, +and looked into the fire. + +“Are you a Jew?” asked Peter, suddenly; as the firelight fell full on +the stranger’s face. + +“Yes; I am a Jew.” + +“Ah,” said Peter, “that’s why I wasn’t able to make out at first what +nation you could be of; your dress, you know--” Then he stopped, and +said, “Trading here, I suppose? Which country do you come from; are you +a Spanish Jew?” + +“I am a Jew of Palestine.” + +“Ah!” said Peter; “I haven’t seen many from that part yet. I came out +with a lot on board ship; and I’ve seen Barnato and Beit; but they’re +not very much like you. I suppose it’s coming from Palestine makes the +difference.” + +All fear of the stranger had now left Peter Halket. “Come a little +nearer the fire,” he said, “you must be cold, you haven’t too much +wraps. I’m chill in this big coat.” Peter Halket pushed his gun a little +further away from him; and threw another large log on the fire. “I’m +sorry I haven’t anything to eat to offer you; but I haven’t had anything +myself since last night. It’s beastly sickening, being out like this +with nothing to eat. Wouldn’t have thought a fellow’d feel so bad after +only a day of it. Have you ever been out without grub?” said Peter +cheerfully, warming his hands at the blaze. + +“Forty days and nights,” said the stranger. + +“Forty days! Ph--e--ew!” said Peter. “You must have have had a lot to +drink, or you wouldn’t have stood it. I was feeling blue enough when you +turned up, but I’m better now, warmer.” + +Peter Halket re-arranged the logs on the fire. + +“In the employ of the Chartered Company, I suppose?” said Peter, looking +into the fire he had made. + +“No,” said the stranger; “I have nothing to do with the Chartered +Company.” + +“Oh,” said Peter, “I don’t wonder, then, that things aren’t looking very +smart with you! There’s not too much cakes and ale up here for those +that do belong to it, if they’re not big-wigs, and none at all for those +who don’t. I tried it when I first came up here. I was with a prospector +who was hooked on to the Company somehow, but I worked on my own account +for the prospector by the day. I tell you what, it’s not the men +who work up here who make the money; it’s the big-wigs who get the +concessions!” + +Peter felt exhilarated by the presence of the stranger. That one unarmed +man had robbed him of all fear. + +Seeing that the stranger did not take up the thread of conversation, he +went on after a time: “It wasn’t such a bad life, though. I only wish I +was back there again. I had two huts to myself, and a couple of nigger +girls. It’s better fun,” said Peter, after a while, “having these black +women than whites. The whites you’ve got to support, but the niggers +support you! And when you’ve done with them you can just get rid of +them. I’m all for the nigger gals.” Peter laughed. But the stranger sat +motionless with his arms about his knees. + +“You got any girls?” said Peter. “Care for niggers?” + +“I love all women,” said the stranger, refolding his arms about his +knees. + +“Oh, you do, do you?” said Peter. “Well, I’m pretty sick of them. I had +bother enough with mine,” he said genially, warming his hands by the +fire, and then interlocking the fingers and turning the palms towards +the blaze as one who prepares to enjoy a good talk. “One girl was only +fifteen; I got her cheap from a policeman who was living with her, and +she wasn’t much. But the other, by Gad! I never saw another nigger like +her; well set up, I tell you, and as straight as that--” said Peter, +holding up his finger in the firelight. “She was thirty if she was a +day. Fellows don’t generally fancy women that age; they like slips of +girls. But I set my heart on her the day I saw her. She belonged to the +chap I was with. He got her up north. There was a devil of a row about +his getting her, too; she’d got a nigger husband and two children; +didn’t want to leave them, or some nonsense of that sort: you know what +these niggers are? Well, I tried to get the other fellow to let me have +her, but the devil a bit he would. I’d only got the other girl, and I +didn’t much fancy her; she was only a child. Well, I went down Umtali +way and got a lot of liquor and stuff, and when I got back to camp I +found them clean dried out. They hadn’t had a drop of liquor in camp for +ten days, and the rainy season coming on and no knowing when they’d get +any. Well, I’d a vatje of Old Dop as high as that--,” indicating with +his hand an object about two feet high, “and the other fellow wanted to +buy it from me. I knew two of that. I said I wanted it for myself. He +offered me this, and he offered me that. At last I said, ‘Well, just to +oblige you, I give you the vatje and you give me the girl!’ And so +he did. Most people wouldn’t have fancied a nigger girl who’d had two +nigger children, but I didn’t mind; it’s all the same to me. And I tell +you she worked. She made a garden, and she and the other girl worked in +it; I tell you I didn’t need to buy a sixpence of food for them in six +months, and I used to sell green mealies and pumpkins to all the fellows +about. There weren’t many flies on her, I tell you. She picked up +English quicker than I picked up her lingo, and took to wearing a dress +and shawl.” + +The stranger still sat motionless, looking into the fire. + +Peter Halket reseated himself more comfortably before the fire. “Well, +I came home to the huts one day, rather suddenly, you know, to fetch +something; and what did I find? She, talking at the hut door with a +nigger man. Now it was my strict orders they were neither to speak a +word to a nigger man at all; so I asked what it was. And she answers, as +cool as can be, that he was a stranger going past on the road, and asked +her to give him a drink of water. Well, I just ordered him off. I didn’t +think anything more about it. But I remember now. I saw him hanging +about the camp the day after. Well, she came to me the next day and +asked me for a lot of cartridges. She’d never asked me for anything +before. I asked her what the devil a woman wanted with cartridges, and +she said the old nigger woman who helped carry in water to the garden +said she couldn’t stay and help her any more unless she got some +cartridges to give her son who was going up north hunting elephants. The +woman got over me to give her the cartridges because she was going to +have a kid, and she said she couldn’t do the watering without help. So I +gave them her. I never put two and two together. + +“Well, when I heard that the Company was going to have a row with the +Matabele, I thought I’d volunteer. They said there was lots of loot to +be got, and land to be given out, and that sort of thing, and I thought +I’d only be gone about three months. So I went. I left those women +there, and a lot of stuff in the garden and some sugar and rice, and I +told them not to leave till I came back; and I asked the other man to +keep an eye on them. Both those women were Mashonas. They always said +the Mashonas didn’t love the Matabele; but, by God, it turned out +that they loved them better than they loved us. They’ve got the damned +impertinence to say, that the Matabele oppressed them sometimes, but the +white man oppresses them all the time! + +“Well, I left those women there,” said Peter, dropping his hands on his +knees. “Mind you, I’d treated those women really well. I’d never given +either of them one touch all the time I had them. I was the talk of all +the fellows round, the way I treated them. Well, I hadn’t been gone a +month, when I got a letter from the man I worked with, the one who had +the woman first--he’s dead now, poor fellow; they found him at his hut +door with his throat cut--and what do you think he said to me? Why, I +hadn’t been gone six hours when those two women skooted! It was all the +big one. What do you think she did? She took every ounce of ball and +cartridge she could find in that hut, and my old Martini-Henry, and even +the lid off the tea-box to melt into bullets for the old muzzle-loaders +they have; and off she went, and took the young one too. The fellow +wrote me they didn’t touch another thing: they left the shawls and +dresses I gave them kicking about the huts, and went off naked with only +their blankets and the ammunition on their heads. A nigger man met them +twenty miles off, and he said they were skooting up for Lo Magundi’s +country as fast as they could go. + +“And do you know,” said Peter, striking his knee, and looking +impressively across the fire at the stranger; “what I’m as sure of as +that I’m sitting here? It’s that that nigger I caught at my hut, that +day, was her nigger husband! He’d come to fetch her that time; and when +she saw she couldn’t get away without our catching her, she got the +cartridges for him!” Peter paused impressively between the words. “And +now she’s gone back to him. It’s for him she’s taken that ammunition!” + +Peter looked across the fire at the stranger, to see what impression his +story was making. + +“I tell you what,” said Peter, “if I’d had any idea that day who that +bloody nigger was, the day I saw him standing at my door, I’d have given +him one cartridge in the back of his head more than ever he reckoned +for!” Peter looked triumphantly at the stranger. This was his only +story; and he had told it a score of times round the camp fire for the +benefit of some new-comer. When this point was reached, a low murmur +of applause and sympathy always ran round the group: tonight there was +quiet; the stranger’s large dark eyes watched the fire almost as though +he heard nothing. + +“I shouldn’t have minded so much,” said Peter after a while, “though no +man likes to have his woman taken away from him; but she was going to +have a kid in a month or two--and so was the little one for anything I +know; she looked like it! I expect they did away with it before it came; +they’ve no hearts, these niggers; they’d think nothing of doing that +with a white man’s child. They’ve no hearts; they’d rather go back to a +black man, however well you’ve treated them. It’s all right if you get +them quite young and keep them away from their own people; but if once +a nigger woman’s had a nigger man and had children by him, you might as +well try to hold a she-devil! they’ll always go back. If ever I’m shot, +it’s as likely as not it’ll be by my own gun, with my own cartridges. +And she’d stand by and watch it, and cheer them on; though I never gave +her a blow all the time she was with me. But I tell you what--if ever I +come across that bloody nigger, I’ll take it out of him. He won’t count +many days to his year, after I’ve spotted him!” Peter Halket paused. +It seemed to him that the eyes under their heavy, curled lashes, were +looking at something beyond him with an infinite sadness, almost as of +eyes that wept. + +“You look awfully tired,” said Peter; “wouldn’t you like to lie down and +sleep? You could put your head down on that stone, and I’d keep watch.” + +“I have no need of sleep,” the stranger said; “I will watch with you.” + +“You’ve been in the wars, too, I see,” said Peter, bending forward a +little, and looking at the stranger’s feet. “By God! Both of them!--And +right through! You must have had a bad time of it?” + +“It was very long ago,” said the stranger. + +Peter Halket threw two more logs on the fire. “Do you know,” he said, +“I’ve been wondering ever since you came, who it was you reminded me of. +It’s my mother! You’re not like her in the face, but when your eyes look +at me it seems to me as if it was she looking at me. Curious, isn’t it? +I don’t know you from Adam, and you’ve hardly spoken a word since you +came; and yet I seem as if I’d known you all my life.” Peter moved a +little nearer him. “I was awfully afraid of you when you first came; +even when I first saw you;--you aren’t dressed as most of us dress, +you know. But the minute the fire shone on your face I said, ‘It’s all +right.’ Curious, isn’t it?” said Peter. “I don’t know you from Adam, but +if you were to take up my gun and point it at me, I wouldn’t move! I’d +lie down here and go to sleep with my head at your feet; curious, isn’t +it, when I don’t know you from Adam? My name’s Peter Halket. What’s +yours?” + +But the stranger was arranging the logs on the fire. The flames shot up +bright and high, and almost hid him from Peter Halket’s view. + +“By gad! how they burn when you arrange them!” said Peter. + +They sat quiet in the blaze for a while. + +Then Peter said, “Did you see any niggers about yesterday? I haven’t +come across any in this part.” + +“There is,” said the stranger, raising himself, “an old woman in a cave +over yonder, and there is one man in the bush, ten miles from this spot. +He has lived there six weeks, since you destroyed the kraal, living on +roots or herbs. He was wounded in the thigh, and left for dead. He is +waiting till you have all left this part of the country that he may set +out to follow his own people. His leg is not yet so strong that he may +walk fast.” + +“Did you speak to him?” said Peter. + +“I took him down to the water where a large pool was. The bank was too +high for the man to descend alone.” + +“It’s a lucky thing for you our fellows didn’t catch you,” said Peter. +“Our captain’s a regular little martinet. He’d shoot you as soon as look +at you, if he saw you fooling round with a wounded nigger. It’s lucky +you kept out of his way.” + +“The young ravens have meat given to them,” said the stranger, lifting +himself up; “and the lions go down to the streams to drink.” + +“Ah--yes--” said Peter; “but that’s because we can’t help it!” + +They were silent again for a little while. Then Peter, seeing that the +stranger showed no inclination to speak, said, “Did you hear of the +spree they had up Bulawayo way, hanging those three niggers for spies? I +wasn’t there myself, but a fellow who was told me they made the niggers +jump down from the tree and hang themselves; one fellow wouldn’t bally +jump, till they gave him a charge of buckshot in the back: and then he +caught hold of a branch with his hands and they had to shoot ‘em loose. +He didn’t like hanging. I don’t know if it’s true, of course; I wasn’t +there myself, but a fellow who was told me. Another fellow who was at +Bulawayo, but who wasn’t there when they were hung, said they fired at +them just after they jumped, to kill ‘em. I--” + +“I was there,” said the stranger. + +“Oh, you were?” said Peter. “I saw a photograph of the niggers hanging, +and our fellows standing round smoking; but I didn’t see you in it. I +suppose you’d just gone away?” + +“I was beside the men when they were hung,” said the stranger. + +“Oh, you were, were you?” said Peter. “I don’t much care about seeing +that sort of thing myself. Some fellows think it’s the best fun out to +see the niggers kick; but I can’t stand it: it turns my stomach. It’s +not liver-heartedness,” said Peter, quickly, anxious to remove any +adverse impression as to his courage which the stranger might form; “if +it’s shooting or fighting, I’m there. I’ve potted as many niggers as any +man in our troop, I bet. It’s floggings and hangings I’m off. It’s the +way one’s brought up, you know. My mother never even would kill our +ducks; she let them die of old age, and we had the feathers and the +eggs: and she was always drumming into me;--don’t hit a fellow smaller +than yourself; don’t hit a fellow weaker than yourself; don’t hit a +fellow unless he can hit you back as good again. When you’ve always had +that sort of thing drummed into you, you can’t get rid of it, somehow. +Now there was that other nigger they shot. They say he sat as still as +if he was cut out of stone, with his arms round his legs; and some of +the fellows gave him blows about the head and face before they took him +off to shoot him. Now, that’s the sort of thing I can’t do. It makes me +sick here, somehow.” Peter put his hand rather low down over the pit of +his stomach. “I’ll shoot as many as you like if they’ll run, but they +mustn’t be tied up.” + +“I was there when that man was shot,” said the stranger. + +“Why, you seem to have been everywhere,” said Peter. “Have you seen +Cecil Rhodes?” + +“Yes, I have seen him,” said the stranger. + +“Now he’s death on niggers,” said Peter Halket, warming his hands by the +fire; “they say when he was Prime Minister down in the Colony he tried +to pass a law that would give their masters and mistresses the right to +have their servants flogged whenever they did anything they didn’t like; +but the other Englishmen wouldn’t let him pass it. But here he can do +what he likes. That’s the reason some fellows don’t want him to be +sent away. They say, ‘If we get the British Government here, they’ll be +giving the niggers land to live on; and let them have the vote, and get +civilised and educated, and all that sort of thing; but Cecil Rhodes, +he’ll keep their noses to the grindstone.’ ‘I prefer land to niggers,’ +he says. They say he’s going to parcel them out, and make them work on +our lands whether they like it or not--just as good as having slaves, +you know: and you haven’t the bother of looking after them when they’re +old. Now, there I’m with Rhodes; I think it’s an awfully good move. We +don’t come out here to work; it’s all very well in England; but we’ve +come here to make money, and how are we to make it, unless you get +niggers to work for you, or start a syndicate? He’s death on niggers, +is Rhodes!” said Peter, meditating; “they say if we had the British +Government here and you were thrashing a nigger and something happened, +there’d be an investigation, and all that sort of thing. But, with +Cecil, it’s all right, you can do what you like with the niggers, +provided you don’t get HIM into trouble.” + +The stranger watched the clear flame as it burnt up high in the still +night air; then suddenly he started. + +“What is it?” said Peter; “do you hear anything?” + +“I hear far off,” said the stranger, “the sound of weeping, and the +sound of blows. And I hear the voices of men and women calling to me.” + +Peter listened intently. “I don’t hear anything!” he said. “It must be +in your head. I sometimes get a noise in mine.” He listened intently. +“No, there’s nothing. It’s all so deadly still.” + +They sat silent for a while. + +“Peter Simon Halket,” said the stranger suddenly--Peter started; he had +not told him his second name--“if it should come to pass that you should +obtain those lands you have desired, and you should obtain black men to +labour on them and make to yourself great wealth; or should you create +that company”--Peter started--“and fools should buy from you, so that +you became the richest man in the land; and if you should take to +yourself wide lands, and raise to yourself great palaces, so that +princes and great men of earth crept up to you and laid their hands +against yours, so that you might slip gold into them--what would it +profit you?” + +“Profit!” Peter Halket stared: “Why, it would profit everything. +What makes Beit and Rhodes and Barnato so great? If you’ve got eight +millions--” + +“Peter Simon Halket, which of those souls you have seen on earth is to +you greatest?” said the stranger, “Which soul is to you fairest?” + +“Ah,” said Peter, “but we weren’t talking of souls at all; we were +talking of money. Of course if it comes to souls, my mother’s the best +person I’ve ever seen. But what does it help her? She’s got to stand +washing clothes for those stuck-up nincompoops of fine ladies! Wait till +I’ve got money! It’ll be somebody else then, who--” + +“Peter Halket,” said the stranger, “who is the greatest; he who serves +or he who is served?” Peter looked at the stranger: then it flashed on +him that he was mad. + +“Oh,” he said, “if it comes to that, what’s anything! You might as well +say, sitting there in your old linen shirt, that you were as great as +Rhodes or Beit or Barnato, or a king. Of course a man’s just the same +whatever he’s got on or whatever he has; but he isn’t the same to other +people.” + +“There have kings been born in stables,” said the stranger. + +Then Peter saw that he was joking, and laughed. “It must have been a +long time ago; they don’t get born there now,” he said. “Why, if God +Almighty came to this country, and hadn’t half-a-million in shares, they +wouldn’t think much of Him.” + +Peter built up his fire. Suddenly he felt the stranger’s eyes were fixed +on him. + +“Who gave you your land?” the stranger asked. + +“Mine! Why, the Chartered Company,” said Peter. + +The stranger looked back into the fire. “And who gave it to them?” he +asked softly. + +“Why, England, of course. She gave them the land to far beyond the +Zambezi to do what they liked with, and make as much money out of as +they could, and she’d back ‘em.” + +“Who gave the land to the men and women of England?” asked the stranger +softly. + +“Why, the devil! They said it was theirs, and of course it was,” said +Peter. + +“And the people of the land: did England give you the people also?” + +Peter looked a little doubtfully at the stranger. “Yes, of course, she +gave us the people; what use would the land have been to us otherwise?” + +“And who gave her the people, the living flesh and blood, that she might +give them away, into the hands of others?” asked the stranger, raising +himself. + +Peter looked at him and was half afeared. “Well, what could she do with +a lot of miserable niggers, if she didn’t give them to us? A lot of +good-for-nothing rebels they are, too,” said Peter. + +“What is a rebel?” asked the stranger. + +“My Gawd!” said Peter, “you must have lived out of the world if you +don’t know what a rebel is! A rebel is a man who fights against his king +and his country. These bloody niggers here are rebels because they are +fighting against us. They don’t want the Chartered Company to have them. +But they’ll have to. We’ll teach them a lesson,” said Peter Halket, the +pugilistic spirit rising, firmly reseating himself on the South African +earth, which two years before he had never heard of, and eighteen months +before he had never seen, as if it had been his mother earth, and the +land in which he first saw light. + +The stranger watched the fire; then he said musingly, “I have seen a +land far from here. In that land are men of two kinds who live side by +side. Well nigh a thousand years ago one conquered the other; they have +lived together since. Today the one people seeks to drive forth the +other who conquered them. Are these men rebels, too?” + +“Well,” said Peter, pleased at being deferred to, “that all depends who +they are, you know!” + +“They call the one nation Turks, and the other Armenians,” said the +stranger. + +“Oh, the Armenians aren’t rebels,” said Peter; “they are on our +side! The papers are all full of it,” said Peter, pleased to show his +knowledge. “Those bloody Turks! What right had they to conquer the +Armenians? Who gave them their land? I’d like to have a shot at them +myself!” + +“WHY are Armenians not rebels?” asked the stranger, gently. + +“Oh, you do ask such curious questions,” said Peter. “If they don’t +like the Turks, why should they have ‘em? If the French came now and +conquered us, and we tried to drive them out first chance we had; you +wouldn’t call us rebels! Why shouldn’t they try to turn those bloody +Turks out? Besides,” said Peter, bending over and talking in the manner +of one who imparts secret and important information; “you see, if +we don’t help the Armenians the Russians would; and we,” said Peter, +looking exceedingly knowing, “we’ve got to prevent that: they’d get +the land; and it’s on the road to India. And we don’t mean them to. I +suppose you don’t know much about politics in Palestine?” said Peter, +looking kindly and patronisingly at the stranger. + +“If these men,” said the stranger, “would rather be free, or be under +the British Government, than under the Chartered Company, why, when they +resist the Chartered Company, are they more rebels than the Armenians +when they resist the Turk? Is the Chartered Company God, that every knee +should bow before it, and before it every head be bent? Would you, the +white men of England, submit to its rule for one day?” + +“Ah,” said Peter, “no, of course we shouldn’t, but we are white men, and +so are the Armenians--almost--” Then he glanced at the stranger’s dark +face, and added quickly, “At least, it’s not the colour that matters, +you know. I rather like a dark face, my mother’s eyes are brown--but the +Armenians, you know, they’ve got long hair like us.” + +“Oh, it is the hair, then, that matters,” said the stranger softly. + +“Oh, well,” said Peter, “it’s not altogether, of course. But it’s quite +a different thing, the Armenians wanting to get rid of the Turks, +and these bloody niggers wanting to get rid of the Chartered Company. +Besides, the Armenians are Christians, like us!” + +“Are YOU Christians?” A strange storm broke across the stranger’s +features; he rose to his feet. + +“Why, of course, we are!” said Peter. “We’re all Christians, we English. +Perhaps you don’t like Christians, though? Some Jews don’t, I know,” + said Peter, looking up soothingly at him. + +“I neither love nor hate any man for that which he is called,” said the +stranger; “the name boots nothing.” + +The stranger sat down again beside the fire, and folded his hands. + +“Is the Chartered Company Christian also?” he asked. + +“Yes, oh yes,” said Peter. + +“What is a Christian?” asked the stranger. + +“Well, now, you really do ask such curious questions. A Christian is a +man who believes in Heaven and Hell, and God and the Bible, and in Jesus +Christ, that he’ll save him from going to Hell, and if he believes he’ll +be saved, he will be saved.” + +“But here, in this world, what is a Christian?” + +“Why,” said Peter, “I’m a Christian--we’re all Christians.” + +The stranger looked into the fire; and Peter thought he would change the +subject. “It’s curious how like my mother you are; I mean, your ways. +She was always saying to me, ‘Don’t be too anxious to make money, Peter. +Too much wealth is as bad as too much poverty.’ You’re very like her.” + +After a while Peter said, bending over a little towards the stranger, +“If you don’t want to make money, what did you come to this land for? No +one comes here for anything else. Are you in with the Portuguese?” + +“I am not more with one people than with another,” said the stranger. +“The Frenchman is not more to me than the Englishman, the Englishman +than the Kaffir, the Kaffir than the Chinaman. I have heard,” said the +stranger, “the black infant cry as it crept on its mother’s body and +sought for her breast as she lay dead in the roadway. I have heard also +the rich man’s child wail in the palace. I hear all cries.” + +Peter looked intently at him. “Why, who are you?” he said; then, bending +nearer to the stranger and looking up, he added, “What is it that you +are doing here?” + +“I belong,” said the stranger, “to the strongest company on earth.” + +“Oh,” said Peter, sitting up, the look of wonder passing from his face. +“So that’s it, is it? Is it diamonds, or gold, or lands?” + +“We are the most vast of all companies on the earth,” said the stranger; +“and we are always growing. We have among us men of every race and from +every land; the Esquimo, the Chinaman, the Turk, and the Englishman, we +have of them all. We have men of every religion, Buddhists, Mahomedans, +Confucians, Freethinkers, Atheists, Christians, Jews. It matters to us +nothing by what name the man is named, so he be one of us.” + +And Peter said, “It must be hard for you all to understand one another, +if you are of so many different kinds?” + +The stranger answered, “There is a sign by which we all know one +another, and by which all the world may know us.” (By this shall all men +know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.) + +And Peter said, “What is that sign?” + +But the stranger was silent. + +“Oh, a kind of freemasonry!” said Peter, leaning on his elbow towards +the stranger, and looking up at him from under his pointed cap. “Are +there any more of you here in this country?” + +“There are,” said the stranger. Then he pointed with his hand into the +darkness. “There in a cave were two women. When you blew the cave up +they were left unhurt behind a fallen rock. When you took away all the +grain, and burnt what you could not carry, there was one basketful that +you knew nothing of. The women stayed there, for one was eighty, and one +near the time of her giving birth; and they dared not set out to follow +the remnant of their tribe because you were in the plains below. Every +day the old woman doled grain from the basket; and at night they cooked +it in their cave where you could not see their smoke; and every day +the old woman gave the young one two handfuls and kept one for herself, +saying, ‘Because of the child within you.’ And when the child was born +and the young woman strong, the old woman took a cloth and filled it +with all the grain that was in the basket; and she put the grain on +the young woman’s head and tied the child on her back, and said, ‘Go, +keeping always along the bank of the river, till you come north to the +land where our people are gone; and some day you can send and fetch me.’ +And the young woman said, ‘Have you corn in the basket to last till they +come?’ And she said, ‘I have enough.’ And she sat at the broken door of +the cave and watched the young woman go down the hill and up the river +bank till she was hidden by the bush; and she looked down at the plain +below, and she saw the spot where the kraal had been and where she had +planted mealies when she was a young girl--” + +“I met a woman with corn on her head and a child on her back!” said +Peter under his breath. + +“--And tonight I saw her sit again at the door of the cave; and when the +sun had set she grew cold; and she crept in and lay down by the basket. +Tonight, at half-past three, she will die. I have known her since she +was a little child and played about the huts, while her mother worked in +the mealie fields. She was one of our company.” + +“Oh,” said Peter. + +“Other members we have here,” said the stranger. “There was a +prospector”--he pointed north; “he was a man who drank and swore when it +listed him; but he had many servants, and they knew where to find him in +need. When they were ill, he tended them with his own hands; when they +were in trouble, they came to him for help. When this war began, and all +black men’s hearts were bitter, because certain white men had lied +to them, and their envoys had been killed when they would have asked +England to put her hand out over them; at that time certain of the +men who fought the white men came to the prospector’s hut. And the +prospector fired at them from a hole he had cut in his door; but they +fired back at him with an old elephant gun, and the bullet pierced +his side and he fell on the floor:--because the innocent man suffers +oftentimes for the guilty, and the merciful man falls while the +oppressor flourishes. Then his black servant who was with him took him +quickly in his arms, and carried him out at the back of the hut, and +down into the river bed where the water flowed and no man could trace +his footsteps, and hid him in a hole in the river wall. And when the men +broke into the hut they could find no white man, and no traces of his +feet. But at evening, when the black servant returned to the hut to get +food and medicine for his master, the men who were fighting caught him, +and they said, ‘Oh, you betrayer of your people, white man’s dog, +who are on the side of those who take our lands and our wives and our +daughters before our eyes; tell us where you have hidden him?’ And when +he would not answer them, they killed him before the door of the hut. +And when the night came, the white man crept up on his hands and knees, +and came to his hut to look for food. All the other men were gone, but +his servant lay dead before the door; and the white man knew how it must +have happened. He could not creep further, and he lay down before +the door, and that night the white man and the black lay there dead +together, side by side. Both those men were of my friends.” + +“It was damned plucky of the nigger,” said Peter; “but I’ve heard of +their doing that sort of thing before. Even of a girl who wouldn’t tell +where her mistress was, and getting killed. But,” he added doubtfully, +“all your company seem to be niggers or to get killed?” + +“They are of all races,” said the stranger. “In a city in the old Colony +is one of us, small of stature and small of voice. It came to pass on a +certain Sunday morning, when the men and women were gathered before him, +that he mounted his pulpit: and he said when the time for the sermon +came, ‘In place that I should speak to you, I will read you a history.’ +And he opened an old book more than two thousand years old: and he read: +‘Now it came to pass that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which +was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. + +“‘And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may +have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I +will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seemeth good +to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. + +“‘And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the +inheritance of my father unto thee. + +“‘And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word +which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken unto him; for he had said, I will +not give thee the inheritance of my fathers.’ + +“The man read the whole story until it was ended. Then he closed the +book, and he said, ‘My friends, Naboth has a vineyard in this land; +and in it there is much gold; and Ahab has desired to have it that the +wealth may be his.’ + +“And he put the old book aside, and he took up another which was written +yesterday. And the men and women whispered one to another, even in the +church, ‘Is not that the Blue Book Report of the Select Committee of the +Cape Parliament on the Jameson raid?’ + +“And the man said, ‘Friends, the first story I have read you is one of +the oldest stories of the world: the story I am about to read you is +one of the newest. Truth is not more truth because it is three thousand +years old, nor is it less truth because it is of yesterday. All books +which throw light on truth are God’s books, therefore I shall read to +you from the pages before me. Shall the story of Ahab king of Samaria +profit us when we know not the story of the Ahabs of our day; and the +Naboths of our land be stoned while we sit at east?’ And he read to them +portions of that book. And certain rich men and women rose up and went +out even while he spoke, and his wife also went out. + +“And when the service was ended and the man returned to his home, his +wife came to him weeping; and she said, ‘Did you see how some of the +most wealthy and important people got up and went out this morning? Why +did you preach such a sermon, when we were just going to have the new +wing added to our house, and you thought they were going to raise your +salary? You have not a single Boer in your congregation! Why need you +say the Chartered Company raid on Johannesburg was wrong?’ + +“He said, ‘My wife, if I believe that certain men whom we have raised on +high, and to whom we have given power, have done a cowardly wrong, shall +I not say it?’ + +“And she said, ‘Yes, and only a little while ago, when Rhodes was +licking the dust off the Boers’ feet that he might keep them from +suspecting while he got ready this affair, then you attacked both Rhodes +and the Bond (The Afrikander Bond, the organised Dutch political party, +through whom Mr. Rhodes worked, and by whom he was backed.) for trying +to pass a Bill for flogging the niggers, and we lost fifty pounds we +might have got for the church?’ And he said, ‘My wife, cannot God be +worshipped as well under the dome of the heaven He made as in a golden +palace? Shall a man keep silence, when he sees oppression, to earn money +for God? If I have defended the black man when I believed him to be +wronged, shall I not also defend the white man, my flesh-brother? Shall +we speak when one man is wronged and not when it is another?’ + +“And she said, ‘Yes, but you have your family and yourself to think of! +Why are you always in opposition to the people who could do something +for us? You are only loved by the poor. If it is necessary for you to +attack some one, why don’t you attack the Jews for killing Christ, or +Herod, or Pontius Pilate; why don’t you leave alone the men who are in +power today, and who with their money can crush you!’ + +“And he said, ‘Oh my wife, those Jews, and Herod, and Pontius Pilate are +long dead. If I should preach of them now, would it help them? Would it +save one living thing from their clutches? The past is dead, it lives +only for us to learn from. The present, the present only, is ours to +work in, and the future ours to create. Is all the gold of Johannesburg +or are all the diamonds in Kimberley worth, that one Christian man +should fall by the hand of his fellows--aye, or one heathen brother?’ + +“And she answered, ‘Oh, that is all very well. If you were a really +eloquent preacher, and could draw hundreds of men about you, and in time +form a great party with you at its head, I shouldn’t mind what you said. +But you, with your little figure and your little voice, who will ever +follow you? You will be left all alone; that is all the good that will +ever come to you through it.’ + +“And he said, ‘Oh my wife, have I not waited and watched and hoped that +they who are nobler and stronger than I, all over this land, would lift +up their voices and speak--and there is only a deadly silence? Here +and there one has dared to speak aloud; but the rest whisper behind the +hand; one says, ‘My son has a post, he would lose it if I spoke loud’; +and another says, ‘I have a promise of land’; and another, ‘I am +socially intimate with these men, and should lose my social standing if +I let my voice be heard.’ Oh my wife, our land, our goodly land, which +we had hoped would be free and strong among the peoples of earth, is +rotten and honeycombed with the tyranny of gold! We who had hoped to +stand first in the Anglo-Saxon sisterhood for justice and freedom, are +not even fit to stand last. Do I not know only too bitterly how weak is +my voice; and that that which I can do is as nothing: but shall I remain +silent? Shall the glow-worm refuse to give its light, because it is not +a star set up on high; shall the broken stick refuse to burn and warm +one frozen man’s hands, because it is not a beacon-light flaming across +the earth? Ever a voice is behind my shoulder, that whispers to me--‘Why +break your head against a stone wall? Leave this work to the greater and +larger men of your people; they who will do it better than you can do +it! Why break your heart when life could be so fair to you?’ But, oh my +wife, the strong men are silent! and shall I not speak, though I know my +power is as nothing?’ + +“He laid his head upon his hands. + +“And she said, ‘I cannot understand you. When I come home and tell +you that this man drinks, or that that woman has got into trouble, you +always answer me, ‘Wife, what business is it of ours if so be that we +cannot help them?’ A little innocent gossip offends you; and you go to +visit people and treat them as your friends, into whose house I would +not go. Yet when the richest and strongest men in the land, who could +crush you with their money, as a boy crushes a fly between his finger +and thumb, take a certain course, you stand and oppose them.’ + +“And he said, ‘My wife, with the sins of the private man, what have I to +do, if so be I have not led him into them? Am I guilty? I have enough to +do looking after my own sins. The sin that a man sins against himself is +his alone, not mine; the sin that a man sins against his fellows is his +and theirs, not mine: but the sins that a man sins, in that he is taken +up by the hands of a people and set up on high, and whose hand they have +armed with their sword, whose power to strike is their power--his sins +are theirs; there is no man so small in the whole nation that he dares +say, ‘I have no responsibility for this man’s action.’ We armed him, we +raised him, we strengthened him, and the evil he accomplishes is more +ours than his. If this man’s end in South Africa should be accomplished, +and the day should come when, from the Zambezi to the sea, white man +should fly at white man’s throat, and every man’s heart burn with +bitterness against his fellow, and the land be bathed with blood as +rain--shall I then dare to pray, who have now feared to speak? Do not +think I wish for punishment upon these men. Let them take the millions +they have wrung out of this land, and go to the lands of their birth, +and live in wealth, luxury, and joy; but let them leave this land they +have tortured and ruined. Let them keep the money they have made here; +we may be the poorer for it; but they cannot then crush our freedom with +it. Shall I ask my God Sunday by Sunday to brood across the land, and +bind all its children’s hearts in a close-knit fellowship;--yet, when I +see its people betrayed, and their jawbone broken by a stroke from the +hand of gold; when I see freedom passing from us, and the whole land +being grasped by the golden claw, so that the generation after us shall +be born without freedom, to labour for the men who have grasped all, +shall I hold my peace? The Boer and the Englishman who have been in this +land, have not always loved mercy, nor have they always sought after +justice; but the little finger of the speculator and monopolist who are +devouring this land will be thicker on the backs of the children of this +land, black and white, than the loins of the Dutchmen and Englishmen who +have been.’ + +“And she said, ‘I have heard it said that it was our duty to sacrifice +ourselves for the men and women living in the world at the same time as +ourselves; but I never before heard that we had to sacrifice ourselves +for people that are not born. What are they to you? You will be dust, +and lying in your grave, before that time comes. If you believe in God,’ +she said, ‘why cannot you leave it to Him to bring good out of all this +evil? Does He need YOU to be made a martyr of? or will the world be lost +without YOU?’ + +“He said, ‘Wife, if my right hand be in a fire, shall I not pull it out? +Shall I say, ‘God may bring good out of this evil,’ and let it burn? +That Unknown that lies beyond us we know of no otherwise than through +its manifestation in our own hearts; it works no otherwise upon the sons +of men than through man. And shall I feel no bond binding me to the men +to come, and desire no good or beauty for them--I, who am what I am, +and enjoy what I enjoy, because for countless ages in the past men have +lived and laboured, who lived not for themselves alone, and counted no +costs? Would the great statue, the great poem, the great reform ever be +accomplished, if men counted the cost and created for their own lives +alone? And no man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. You +cannot tell me not to love the men who shall be after me; a soft voice +within me, I know not what, cries out ever, ‘Live for them as for your +own children.’ When in the circle of my own small life all is dark, and +I despair, hope springs up in me when I remember that something nobler +and fairer may spring up in the spot where I now stand.’ + +“And she said, ‘You want to put everyone against us! The other women +will not call on me; and our church is more and more made up of poor +people. Money holds by money. If your congregation were Dutchmen, I know +you would be always preaching to love the Englishmen, and be kind to +niggers. If they were Kaffirs you would always be telling them to +help white men. You will never be on the side of the people who can do +anything for us! You know the offer we had from--’ + +“And he said, ‘Oh my wife, what are the Boer, and the Russian, and the +Turk to me; am I responsible for their action? It is my own nation, +mine, which I love as a man loves his own soul, whose acts touch me. I +would that wherever our flag was planted the feeble or oppressed peoples +of earth might gather under it, saying, ‘Under this banner is freedom +and justice which knows no race or colour.’ I wish that on our banner +were blazoned in large letters “Justice and Mercy”, and that in every +new land which our feet touch, every son among us might see ever +blazoned above his head that banner, and below it the great order:--“By +this sign, Conquer!”--and that the pirate flag which some men now wave +in its place, may be torn down and furled for ever! Shall I condone the +action of some, simply because they happen to be of my own race, when in +Bushman or Hottentot I would condemn it? Shall men belonging to one of +the mightiest races of earth, creep softly on their bellies, to attack +an unwarned neighbour; when even the Kaffir has again and again given +notice of war, saying, ‘Be ready, on such and such a day I come to fight +you?’ Is England’s power so broken, and our race so enfeebled, that we +dare no longer to proclaim war; but must creep silently upon our bellies +in the dark to stab, like a subject people to whom no other course is +open? These men are English; but not English-MEN. When the men of our +race fight, they go to war with a blazoned flag and the loud trumpet +before them. It is because I am an Englishman that these things crush +me. Better that ten thousand of us should lie dead and defeated on one +battlefield, fighting for some great cause, and my own sons among +them, than that those twelve poor boys should have fallen at Doornkop, +fighting to fill up the pockets of those already oe’r-heavy with gold.’ + +“And she said, ‘YOU, what does it matter what you feel or think; YOU +will never be able to do anything!’ + +“And he said, ‘Oh my wife, stand by me; do not crush me. For me in this +matter there is no path but one on which light shines.’ + +“And she said, ‘You are very unkind; you don’t care what the people say +about us!’ and she wept bitterly, and went out of the room. But as soon +as the door was shut, she dried her tears; and she said to herself, ‘Now +he will never dare to preach such a sermon again. He dares never oppose +me when once I have set down my foot.’ + +“And the man spoke to no one, and went out alone in the veld. All the +afternoon he walked up and down among the sand and low bushes; and I +walked there beside him. + +“And when the evening came, he went back to his chapel. Many were +absent, but the elders sat in their places, and his wife also was there. +And the light shone on the empty benches. And when the time came he +opened the old book of the Jews; and he turned the leaves and read:--‘If +thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that +are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, ‘Behold we knew it not!’ Doth not +he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, +doth he not know it?’ + +“And he said, ‘This morning we considered the evils this land is +suffering under at the hands of men whose aim is the attainment of +wealth and power. Tonight we shall look at our own share in the matter. +I think we shall realise that with us, and not with the men we have +lifted up on high, lies the condemnation.’ Then his wife rose and went +out, and others followed her; and the little man’s voice rolled among +the empty benches; but he spoke on. + +“And when the service was over he went out. No elder came to the porch +to greet him; but as he stood there one, he saw not whom, slipped a +leaflet into his hand. He held it up, and read in the lamplight what was +written on it in pencil. He crushed it up in his hand, as a man crushes +that which has run a poisonous sting into him; then he dropped it on +the earth as a man drops that he would forget. A fine drizzly rain was +falling, and he walked up the street with his arms folded behind him, +and his head bent. The people walked up the other side; and it seemed to +him he was alone. But I walked behind him.” + +“And then,” asked Peter, seeing that the stranger was silent, “what +happened to him after that?” + +“That was only last Sunday,” said the stranger. + +There was silence again for some seconds. + +Then Peter said, “Well, anyhow, at least he didn’t die!” + +The stranger crossed his hands upon his knees. “Peter Simon Halket,” + he said, “it is easier for a man to die than to stand alone. He who can +stand alone can, also, when the need be, die.” + +Peter looked up wistfully into the stranger’s face. “I should not like +to die myself,” he said, “not yet. I shall not be twenty-one till next +birthday. I should like to see life first.” + +The stranger made no answer. + +Presently Peter said, “Are all the men of your company poor men?” + +The stranger waited a while before he answered; then he said,--“There +have been rich men who have desired to join us. There was a young man +once; and when he heard the conditions, he went away sorrowful, for he +had great possessions.” + +There was silence again for a while. + +“Is it long since your company was started?” asked Peter. + +“There is no man living who can conceive of its age,” said the stranger. +“Even here on this earth it began, when these hills were young, and +these lichens had hardly shown their stains upon the rocks, and man +still raised himself upwards with difficulty because the sinews in his +thighs were weak. In those days, which men reck not of now, man, when +he hungered, fed on the flesh of his fellow man and found it sweet. Yet +even in those days it came to pass that there was one whose head was +higher than her fellows and her thought keener, and, as she picked the +flesh from a human skull, she pondered. And so it came to pass the next +night, when men were gathered around the fire ready to eat, that she +stole away, and when they went to the tree where the victim was bound, +they found him gone. And they cried one to another, ‘She, only she, has +done this, who has always said, ‘I like not the taste of man-flesh; men +are too like me; I cannot eat them.’ ‘She is mad,’ they cried; ‘let us +kill her!’ So, in those dim, misty times that men reck not of now, that +they hardly believe in, that woman died. But in the heads of certain men +and women a new thought had taken root; they said, ‘We also will not eat +of her. There is something evil in the taste of human flesh.’ And ever +after, when the fleshpots were filled with man-flesh, these stood aside, +and half the tribe ate human flesh and half not; then, as the years +passed, none ate. + +“Even in those days, which men reck not of now, when men fell easily +open their hands and knees, they were of us on the earth. And, if you +would learn a secret, even before man trod here, in the days when the +dicynodont bent yearningly over her young, and the river-horse which you +find now nowhere on earth’s surface, save buried in stone, called with +love to his mate; and the birds whose footprints are on the rocks flew +in the sunshine calling joyfully to one another--even in those days when +man was not, the fore-dawn of this kingdom had broken on the earth. And +still as the sun rises and sets and the planets journey round, we grow +and grow.” + +The stranger rose from the fire, and stood upright: around him, and +behind him, the darkness stood out. + +“All earth is ours. And the day shall come, when the stars, looking down +on this little world, shall see no spot where the soil is moist and dark +with the blood of man shed by his fellow man; the sun shall rise in the +East and set in the West and shed his light across this little globe; +and nowhere shall he see man crushed by his fellows. And they shall +beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks: +nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn +war any more. And instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree; +and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and man shall +nowhere crush man on all the holy earth. Tomorrow’s sun shall rise,” + said the stranger, “and it shall flood these dark kopjes with light, and +the rocks shall glint in it. Not more certain is that rising than the +coming of that day. And I say to you that even here, in the land where +now we stand, where today the cries of the wounded and the curses of +revenge ring in the air; even here, in this land where man creeps on +his belly to wound his fellow in the dark, and where an acre of gold +is worth a thousand souls, and a reef of shining dirt is worth half a +people, and the vultures are heavy with man’s flesh--even here that day +shall come. I tell you, Peter Simon Halket, that here on the spot where +now we stand shall be raised a temple. Man shall not gather in it to +worship that which divides; but they shall stand in it shoulder to +shoulder, white man with black, and the stranger with the inhabitant of +the land; and the place shall be holy; for men shall say, ‘Are we not +brethren and the sons of one Father?’” + +Peter Halket looked upward silently. And the stranger said: “Certain +men slept upon a plain, and the night was chill and dark. And, as they +slept, at that hour when night is darkest, one stirred. Far off to the +eastward, through his half-closed eyelids, he saw, as it were, one faint +line, thin as a hair’s width, that edged the hill tops. And he whispered +in the darkness to his fellows: ‘The dawn is coming.’ But they, with +fast-closed eyelids murmured, ‘He lies, there is no dawn.’ + +“Nevertheless, day broke.” + +The stranger was silent. The fire burnt up in red tongues of flame that +neither flickered nor flared in the still night air. Peter Halket crept +near to the stranger. + +“When will that time be?” he whispered; “in a thousand years’ time?” + +And the stranger answered, “A thousand years are but as our yesterday’s +journey, or as our watch tonight, which draws already to its close. See, +piled, these rocks on which we now stand? The ages have been young and +they have grown old since they have lain here. Half that time shall +not pass before that time comes; I have seen its dawning already in the +hearts of men.” + +Peter moved nearer, so that he almost knelt at the stranger’s feet: his +gun lay on the ground at the other side of the fire. + +“I would like to be one of your men,” he said. “I am tired of belonging +to the Chartered Company.” + +The stranger looked down gently. “Peter Simon Halket,” he said, “can you +bear the weight?” + +And Peter said, “Give me work, that I may try.” + +There was silence for a time; then the stranger said, “Peter Simon +Halket, take a message to England”--Peter Halket started--“Go to that +great people and cry aloud to it: ‘Where is the sword was given into +your hand, that with it you might enforce justice and deal out mercy? +How came you to give it up into the hands of men whose search is gold, +whose thirst is wealth, to whom men’s souls and bodies are counters in a +game? How came you to give up the folk that were given into your hands, +into the hand of the speculator and the gamester; as though they were +dumb beasts who might be bought or sold? + +“‘Take back your sword, Great People--but wipe it first, lest some of +the gold and blood stick to your hand. + +“‘What is this, I see!--the sword of the Great People, transformed to +burrow earth for gold, as the snouts of swine for earth nuts! Have you +no other use for it, Great Folk? + +“‘Take back your sword; and, when you have thoroughly cleansed it and +wiped it of the blood and mire, then raise it to set free the oppressed +of other climes. + +“‘Great Prince’s Daughter, take heed! You put your sword into the hands +of recreant knights; they will dull its edge and mar its brightness, +and, when your hour of need comes and you would put it into other hands, +you will find its edge chipped and its point broken. Take heed! Take +heed!’ + +“Cry to the wise men of England: ‘You, who in peace and calm in +shaded chambers ponder on all things in heaven and earth, and take all +knowledge for your province, have you no time to think of this? To whom +has England given her power? How do the men wield it who have filched it +from her? Say not, What have we to do with folk across the waters; have +we not matter enough for thought in our own land? Where the brain of +a nation has no time to go, there should its hands never be sent to +labour: where the power of a people goes, there must its intellect and +knowledge go, to guide it. Oh, you who sit at ease, studying past and +future--and forget the present--you have no right to sit at ease knowing +nothing of the working of the powers you have armed and sent to work on +men afar. Where is your nation’s sword--you men of thought?’ + +“Cry to the women of England: ‘You, who repose in sumptuous houses, with +children on your knees; think not it is only the rustling of the soft +draped curtains, or the whistling of the wind, you hear. Listen! May it +not be the far off cry of those your sword governs, creeping towards +you across wide oceans till it pierces even into your inmost sanctuary? +Listen! + +“For the womanhood of a dominant people has not accomplished all its +labour when it has borne its children and fed them at its breast: there +cries to it also from over seas and across continents the voice of the +child-peoples--‘Mother-heart, stand for us!’ It would be better for you +that your wombs should be barren and that your race should die out; than +that you should listen, and give no answer.’” + +The stranger lifted his hands upwards as he spoke, and Peter saw there +were the marks of old wounds in both. + +“Cry aloud to the working men and women of England: ‘You, who for ages +cried out because the heel of your masters was heavy on you; and who +have said, ‘We curse the kings that sit at ease, and care not who +oppresses the folk, so their coffers be full and their bellies +satisfied, and they be not troubled with the trouble of rule’; you, who +have taken the king’s rule from him and sit enthroned within his seat; +is his sin not yours today? If men should add but one hour to your day’s +labour, or make but one fraction dearer the bread you eat, would you not +rise up as one man? Yet, what is dealt out to men beyond seas whom you +rule wounds you not. Nay, have you not sometimes said, as kings of old: +‘It matters not who holds out our sword, marauder or speculator, so he +calls it ours, we must cloak up the evil it has done!’ Think you, no +other curses rise to heaven but yours? Where is your sword? Into whose +hand has it fallen? Take it quickly and cleanse it!’” + +Peter Halket crouched, looking upwards; then he cried: “Master, I cannot +give that message, I am a poor unlearn’d man. And if I should go to +England and cry aloud, they would say, ‘Who is this, who comes preaching +to a great people? Is not his mother with us, and a washerwoman; and was +not his father a day labourer at two shillings a day?’ and they would +laugh me to scorn. And, in truth, the message is so long I could not +well remember it; give me other work to do.” + +And the stranger said, “Take a message to the men and women of this +land. Go, from the Zambezi to the sea, and cry to its white men and +women, and say: ‘I saw a wide field, and in it were two fair beasts. +Wide was the field about them and rich was the earth with sweet scented +herbs, and so abundant was the pasturage that hardly might they consume +all that grew about them: and the two were like one to another, for +they were the sons of one mother. And as I looked, I saw, far off to the +northward, a speck within the sky, so small it was, and so high it was, +that the eye scarce might mark it. Then it came nearer and hovered over +the spot where the two beasts fed:--and its neck was bare, and its +beak was hooked, and its talons were long, and its wings strong. And it +hovered over the field where the two beasts were; and I saw it settle +down upon a great white stone; and it waited. And I saw more specks to +the northward, and more and more came onward to join him who sat upon +the stone. And some hovered over the beasts, and some sharpened their +beaks on the stones; and some walked in and out between the beasts’ +legs. And I saw that they were waiting for something. + +“‘Then he who first came flew from one of the beasts to the other, and +sat upon their necks, and put his beak within their ears. And he flew +from one to the other and flapped his wings in their faces till the +beasts were blinded, and each believed it was his fellow who attacked +him. And they fell to, and fought; they gored one another’s sides till +the field was red with blood and the ground shook beneath them. The +birds sat by and watched; and when the blood flowed they walked round +and round. And when the strength of the two beasts was exhausted they +fell to earth. Then the birds settled down upon them, and feasted; till +their maws were full, and their long bare necks were wet; and they stood +with their beaks deep in the entrails of the two dead beasts; and looked +out with their keen bright eyes from above them. And he who was king of +all plucked out the eyes, and fed on the hearts of the dead beasts. And +when his maw was full, so that he could eat no more, he sat on his stone +hard by and flapped his great wings.’ + +“Peter Simon Halket, cry to the white men and women of South Africa: +‘You have a goodly land; you and your children’s children shall scarce +fill it; though you should stretch out your arms to welcome each +stranger who comes to live and labour with you. You are the twin +branches of one tree; you are the sons of one mother. Is this goodly +land not wide enough for you, that you should rend each other’s flesh +at the bidding of those who will wet their beaks within both your +vitals?--Look up, see, they circle in the air above you!’” + +Almost Peter Halket started and looked upward; but there was only the +black sky of Mashonaland over his head. + +The stranger stood silent looking downward into the fire. Peter Halket +half clasped his arms about his knees. + +“My master,” he cried, “how can I take this message? The Dutchmen of +South Africa will not listen to me, they will say I am an Englishman. +And the Englishmen will say: ‘Who is this fellow who comes preaching +peace, peace, peace? Has he not been a year in the country and he has +not a share in a single company? Can anything he says be worth hearing? +If he were a man of any sense he would have made five thousand pounds at +least.’ And they will not listen to me. Give me another labour!” + +And the stranger said: “Take a message to one man. Find him, whether he +sleep or wake, whether he eat or drink; and say to him: ‘Where are the +souls of the men that you have bought?’ + +“And if he shall answer you and say: ‘I bought no men’s souls! The souls +that I bought were the souls of dogs?’ Then ask him this question, say +to him, ‘Where are the--’ + +“And if he cry out, ‘You lie, you lie! I know what you are going to say. +What do I know of envoys? Was I ever afraid of the British Government? +It is all a lie!’ Then question him no further. But say: ‘There was a +rushlight once. It flickered and flared, and it guttered down, and went +out--and no man heeded it: it was only a rushlight. + +“‘And there was a light once; men set it on high within a lighthouse, +that it might yield light to all souls at sea; that afar off they might +see its steady light and find harbour, and escape the rocks. + +“‘And that light flickered and flared, as it listed. It went this way +and it went that; it burnt blue, and green, and red; now it disappeared +altogether, and then it burnt up again. And men, far out at sea, kept +their eyes fixed where they knew the light should be: saying, ‘We are +safe; the great light will lead us when we near the rocks.’ And on +dark nights men drifted nearer and nearer; and in the stillness of the +midnight they struck on the lighthouse rocks and went down at its feet. + +“‘What now shall be done to that light, in that it was not a rushlight; +in that it was set on high by the hands of men, and in that men trusted +it? Shall it not be put out?’ + +“And if he shall answer, saying, ‘What are men to me? they are fools, +all fools! Let them die!’--tell him again this story: ‘There was a +streamlet once: it burst forth from beneath the snow on a mountain’s +crown; and the snow made a cove over it. It ran on pure and blue and +clear as the sky above it, and the banks of snow made its cradle. Then +it came to a spot where the snow ended; and two ways lay before it by +which it might journey; one, on the mountain ridges, past rocks and +stones, and down long sunlit slopes to the sea; and the other, down a +chasm. And the stream hesitated: it twirled and purled, and went this +way and went that. It MIGHT have been, that it would have forced its +way past rocks and ridges and along mountain slopes, and made a path for +itself where no path had been; the banks would have grown green, and the +mountain daisy would have grown beside it; and all night the stars would +have looked at their faces in it; and down the long sunny slopes the sun +would have played on it by day; and the wood dove would have built her +nest in the trees beside it; and singing, singing, always singing, it +would have made its way at last to the great sea, whose far-off call all +waters hear. + +“‘But it hesitated.--It might have been, that, had but some hand been +there to move but one stone from its path, it would have forced its way +past rocks and ridges, and found its way to the great sea--it might have +been! But no hand was there. The streamlet gathered itself together, +and (it might be, that it was even in its haste to rush onwards to the +sea!)--it made one leap into the abyss. + +“‘The rocks closed over it. Nine hundred fathoms deep, in a still, dark +pool it lay. The green lichen hung from the rocks. No sunlight came +there, and the stars could not look down at night. The pool lay still +and silent. Then, because it was alive and could not rest, it gathered +its strength together, through fallen earth and broken debris it oozed +its way silently on; and it crept out in a deep valley; the mountains +closed it around. And the streamlet laughed to itself, ‘Ha, ha! I shall +make a great lake here; a sea!’ And it oozed, and it oozed, and it +filled half the plain. But no lake came--only a great marsh--because +there was no way outwards, and the water rotted. The grass died out +along its edges; and the trees dropped their leaves and rotted in the +water; and the wood dove who had built her nest there flew up to the +mountains, because her young ones died. And the toads sat on the stones +and dropped their spittle in the water; and the reeds were yellow that +grew along the edge. And at night, a heavy, white fog gathered over the +water, so that the stars could not see through it; and by day a fine +white mist hung over it, and the sunbeams could not play on it. And no +man knew that once the marsh had leapt forth clear and blue from under +a hood of snow on the mountain’s top: aye, and that the turning of one +stone might have caused that it had run on and on, and mingled its song +with the sea’s song for ever.’” + +The stranger was silent for a while. + +Then he said, “Should he answer you and say, ‘What do I care! What are +coves and mountain tops to me? Gold is real, and the power to crush men +within my hand’; tell him no further. + +“But if by some chance he should listen, then, say this one thing to +him, clearly in the ear, that he may not fail to hear it: ‘The morning +may break grey, and the midday be dark and stormy; but the glory of the +evening’s sunset may wash out for ever the remembrance of the morning’s +dullness, and the darkness of the noon. So that all men shall say, ‘Ah, +for the beauty of that day!’--For the stream that has once descended +there is no path upwards.--It is never too late for the soul of a man.’ + +“And if he should laugh, and say: ‘You fool, a man may remake himself +entirely before twenty; he may reshape himself before thirty; but after +forty he is fixed. Shall I, who for forty-three years have sought money +and power, seek for anything else now? You want me to be Jesus Christ, I +suppose! How can I be myself and another man?’ Then answer him: ‘Deep in +the heart of every son of man lies an angel; but some have their wings +folded. Wake yours! He is larger and stronger than another man’s; mount +up with him!’ + +“But if he curses you, and says, ‘I have eight millions of money, and I +care neither for God nor man!’--then make no answer, but stoop and write +before him.” The stranger bent down and wrote with his finger in the +white ashes of the fire. Peter Halket bent forward, and he saw the two +words the stranger had written. + +The stranger said: “Say to him: ‘Though you should seek to make that +name immortal in this land; and should write it in gold dust, and set it +with diamonds, and cement it with human blood, shed from the Zambezi +to the sea, yet--.” The stranger passed his foot over the words; Peter +Halket looked down, and he saw only a bed of smooth white ashes where +the name had been. + +The stranger said: “And if he should curse yet further, and say, ‘There +is not one man nor woman in South Africa I cannot buy with my money! +When I have the Transvaal, I shall buy God Almighty Himself, if I care +to!’ + +“Then say to him this one thing only, ‘Thy money perish with thee!’ and +leave him.” + +There was a dead silence for a moment. Then the stranger stretched forth +his hand. “Yet in that leaving him, remember;--It is not the act, but +the will, which marks the soul of the man. He who has crushed a nation +sins no more than he who rejoices in the death throe of the meanest +creature. The stagnant pool is not less poisonous drop for drop than the +mighty swamp, though its reach be smaller. He who has desired to be +and accomplish what this man has been and accomplished, is as this man; +though he have lacked the power to perform. Nay, remember this one thing +more:--Certain sons of God are born on earth, named by men Children +of Genius. In early youth each stands at the parting of the way and +chooses; he bears his gift for others or for himself. But forget this +never, whatever his choice may be; that there is laid on him a burden +that is laid not on others--all space is open to him, and his choice is +infinite--and if he falls beneath it, let men weep rather than curse, +for he was born a Son of God.” + +There was silence again. Then Peter Halket clasped his arms about the +stranger’s feet. “My master,” he cried, “I dare not take that message. +It is not that men may say, ‘Here is Trooper Peter Halket, whom we all +know, a man who kept women and shot niggers, turned prophet.’ But it is, +that it is true. Have I not wished--” and Peter Halket would have poured +out all his soul; but the stranger prevented him. + +“Peter Simon Halket,” he said, “is it the trumpet which gives forth +the call to battle, whether it be battered tin or gilded silver, which +boots? Is it not the call? What and if I should send my message by +a woman or a child: shall truth be less truth because the bearer is +despised? Is it the mouth that speaks or the word that is spoken which +is eternal? Nevertheless, if you will have it so, go, and say, ‘I, Peter +Halket, sinner among you all, who have desired women and gold, who have +loved myself and hated my fellow, I--’” The stranger looked down at him, +and placed his hand gently on his head. “Peter Simon Halket,” he said, +“a harder task I give you than any which has been laid upon you. In that +small spot where alone on earth your will rules, bring there into being +the kingdom today. Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you. +Walk ever forward, looking not to the right hand or the left. Heed not +what men shall say of you. Succour the oppressed; deliver the captive. +If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he is athirst give him drink.” + +A curious warmth and gladness stole over Peter Halket as he knelt; +it was as, when a little child, his mother folded him to her: he saw +nothing more about him but a soft bright light. Yet in it he heard a +voice cry, “Because thou hast loved mercy--and hated oppression--” + +When Trooper Peter Halket raised himself, he saw the figure of the +stranger passing from him. He cried, “My Master, let me go with you.” + But the figure did not turn. And, as it passed into the darkness, it +seemed to Peter Halket that the form grew larger and larger: and as it +descended the further side of the kopje it seemed that for one instant +he still saw the head with a pale, white light upon it: then it +vanished. + +And Trooper Peter Halket sat alone upon the kopje. + + + +Chapter II. + +It was a hot day. The sun poured down its rays over the scattered trees, +and stunted bush, and long grass, and over the dried up river beds. Far +in the blue, so high the eye could scarcely mark them, vultures were +flying southward, where forty miles off kraals had been destroyed and +two hundred black carcasses were lying in the sun. + +Under a group of tall straggling trees among the grass and low scrub, +on the banks of an almost dried up river bed, a small camp had been +pitched. + +The party had lost their mules, and pending their recovery had already +been there seven days. The three cart loads of provisions they were +conveying to the large camp were drawn up under the trees and had a sail +thrown across them to form a shelter for some of the men; while on the +other side of the cleared and open space that formed the camp, a smaller +sail was thrown across two poles forming a rough tent; and away to the +left, a little cut off from the rest of the camp by some low bushes, +was the bell-shaped tent of the captain, under a tall tree. Before +the bell-shaped tent stood a short stunted tree; its thick white stem +gnarled and knotted; while two stunted misshapen branches, like arms, +stretched out on either side. + +Before this tree, up and down, with his gun upon his arm, his head +bent and his eyes fixed on the ground, while the hot sun blazed on his +shoulders, walked a man. + +Three or four fires were burning about the camp in different parts, +three cooking the mealies and rice which formed the diet of the men, +their stock of tinned meats having been exhausted; while the fourth, +which was watched by a native boy, contained the more appetising meal of +the Captain. + +Most of the men were out of camp; the coloured boys having gone to fetch +the mules, which had been discovered in the hills a few miles off, and +were expected to arrive in the evening; and the white men had gone out +to see what game they could bring down with their guns to flavour +the mealie pots, or to reconnoitre the country; though all native +habitations had been destroyed within a radius of thirty miles, and the +land was as bare of black men as a child’s hand of hair; and even the +beasts seemed to have vanished. + +In the shade of the tent, formed of the canvas across two posts, lay +three white men, whose work it was to watch the pots and guard the camp. +They were all three Colonial Englishmen, and lay on the ground on their +stomachs, passing the time by carrying on a desultory conversation, +or taking a few whiffs, slowly, and with care, from their pipes, for +tobacco was precious in the camp. + +Under some bushes a few yards off lay a huge trooper, whose nationality +was uncertain, but who was held to hail from some part of the British +Isles, and who had travelled round the world. He was currently reported +to have done three years’ labour for attempted rape in Australia, but +nothing certain was known regarding his antecedents. He had been up on +guard half the night, and was now taking his rest lying on his back with +his arm thrown over his face; but a slight movement could be noted in +his jaw as he slowly chewed a piece of tobacco; and occasionally when +he turned it round the mouth opened, and disclosed two rows of broken +yellow stumps set in very red gums. + +The three Colonial Englishmen took no notice of him. Two, who were +slowly smoking, were of the large and powerful build, and somewhat loose +set about the shoulders, which is common among Colonial Europeans of the +third generation, whether Dutch or English, and had the placidity and +general good temper of expression which commonly marks the Colonial +European who grows up beyond the range of the cities. The third was +smaller and more wiry and of an unusually nervous type, with aquiline +nose, and sallow hatchet face, with a somewhat discontented expression. +He was holding forth, while his companions smoked and listened. + +“Now what I say is this,” he brought his hand down on the red sand; +“here we are with about one half teaspoon of Dop given us at night, +while he has ten empty champagne bottles lying behind his tent. And we +have to live on the mealies we’re convoying for the horses, while he +has pati and beef, and lives like a lord! It’s all very well for the +regulars; they know what they’re in for, and they’ve got gentlemen over +them anyhow, and one can stomach anything if you know what kind of a +fellow you’ve got over you. English officers are gentlemen, anyhow; or +if one was under Selous now--” + +“Oh, Selous’s a MAN!” broke out the other two, taking their pipes from +their mouths. + +“Yes, well, that’s what I say. But these fellows, who couldn’t do as +farmers, and couldn’t do as shopkeepers, and God knows what else; and +their friends in England didn’t want to have them; they’re sent out here +to boss it over us! It’s a damned shame! Why, I want to know, amn’t I as +good as any of these fellows, who come swelling it about here? Friends +got money, I suppose!” He cast his sharp glance over towards the bell +tent. “If they gave us real English officers now--” + +“Ah!” said the biggest of his companions, who, in spite of his huge +form, had something of the simplicity and good nature of a child in his +handsome face; “it’s because you’re not a big enough swell, you know! +He’ll be a colonel, or a general, before we’ve done with him. I call +them all generals or colonels up here; it’s safest, you know; if they’re +not that today they will be tomorrow!” + +This was intended as a joke, and in that hot weather, and in that dull +world, anything was good enough to laugh at: the third man smiled, but +the first speaker remained serious. + +“I only know this,” he said, “I’d teach these fellows a lesson, if any +one belonging to me had been among the people they left to be murdered +here, while they went gallivanting to the Transvaal. If my mother or +sister had been killed here, I’d have taken a pistol and blown out the +brains of the great Panjandrum, and the little ones after him. Fine +administration of a country, this, to invite people to come in and live +here, and then take every fighting man out of the country on a gold +hunting marauding expedition to the Transvaal, and leave us to face +the bitter end. I look upon every man and woman who was killed here as +murdered by the Chartered Company.” + +“Well, Jameson only did what he was told. He had to obey orders, like +the rest of us. He didn’t make the plan, and he’s got the punishment.” + +“What business had he to listen? What’s all this fine administration +they talk of? It’s six years since I came to this country, and I’ve +worked like a nigger ever since I came, and what have I, or any men +who’ve worked hard at real, honest farming, got for it? Everything in +the land is given away for the benefit of a few big folks over the water +or swells out here. If England took over the Chartered Company tomorrow, +what would she find?--everything of value in the land given over to +private concessionaires--they’ll line their pockets if the whole land +goes to pot! It’ll be the jackals eating all the flesh off the horse’s +bones, and calling the lion in to lick the bones.” + +“Oh, you wait a bit and you’ll be squared,” said the handsome man. “I’ve +been here five years and had lots of promises, though I haven’t got +anything else yet; but I expect it to come some day, so I keep my mouth +shut! If they asked me to sign a paper, that Mr. Over-the-Way”--he +nodded towards the bell tent--“never got drunk or didn’t know how to +swear, I’d sign it, if there was a good dose of squaring to come after +it. I could stand a good lot of that sort of thing--squaring--if it +would only come my way.” + +The men laughed in a dreary sort of way, and the third man, who had +not spoken yet, rolled round on to his back, and took the pipe from his +mouth. + +“I tell you what,” said the keen man, “those of us up here who have got +a bit of land and are trying honestly and fairly to work, are getting +pretty sick of this humbugging fighting. If we’d had a few men like the +Curries and Bowkers of the old days up here from the first, all this +would never have happened. And there’s no knowing when a reason won’t +turn up for keeping the bloody thing on or stopping it off for a +time, to break out just when one’s settled down to work. It’s a damned +convenient thing to have a war like this to turn on and off.” + +Slowly the third man keeled round on to his stomach again: “Let +resignation wait. We fight the Matabele again tomorrow,” he said, +sententiously. + +A low titter ran round the group. Even the man under the bushes, though +his eyes were still closed and his arm across his face, let his mouth +relax a little, and showed his yellow teeth. + +“I’m always expecting,” said the big handsome man, “to have a paper come +round, signed by all the nigger chiefs, saying how much they love the +B.S.A. Company, and how glad they are the Panjandrum has got them, and +how awfully good he is to them; and they’re going to subscribe to the +brazen statue. There’s nothing a man can’t be squared to do.” + +The third man lay on his back again, lazily examining his hand, which he +held above his face. “What’s that in the Bible,” he said, slowly, “about +the statue, whose thighs and belly were of brass, and its feet of mud?” + +“I don’t know much about the Bible,” said the keen man, “I’m going to +see if my pot isn’t boiling over. Won’t yours burn?” + +“No, I asked the Captain’s boy to keep an eye on it--but I expect he +won’t. Do you put the rice in with the mealies?” + +“Got to; I’ve got no other pot. And the fellows don’t object. It’s a +tasty variety, you know!” + +The keen-faced man slouched away across the square to where his fire +burnt; and presently the other man rose and went, either to look at his +own pot or sleep under the carts; and the large Colonial man was left +alone. His fire was burning satisfactorily about fifty feet off, and +he folded his arms on the ground and rested his forehead on them, and +watched lazily the little black ants that ran about in the red sand, +just under his nose. + +A great stillness settled down on the camp. Now and again a stick +cracked in the fires, and the cicadas cried aloud in the tree stems; +but except where the solitary paced up and down before the little +flat-topped tree in front of the captain’s tent, not a creature stirred +in the whole camp; and the snores of the trooper under the bushes might +be heard half across the camp. + +The intense midday heat had settled down. + +At last there was the sound of someone breaking through the long grass +and bushes which had only been removed for a few feet round the camp, +and the figure of a man emerged bearing in one hand a gun, and in the +other a bird which he had shot. He was evidently an Englishman, and not +long from Europe, by the bloom of the skin, which was perceptible in +spite of the superficial tan. His face was at the moment flushed with +heat; but the clear blue eyes and delicate features lost none of their +sensitive refinement. + +He came up to the Colonial, and dropped the bird before him. “That is +all I’ve got,” he said. + +He threw himself also down on the ground, and put his gun under the +loose flap of the tent. + +The Colonial raised his head; and without taking his elbows from the +ground took up the bird. “I’ll put it into the pot; it’ll give it the +flavour of something except weevily mealies”; he said, and fell to +plucking it. + +The Englishman took his hat off, and lifted the fine damp hair from his +forehead. + +“Knocked up, eh?” said the Colonial, glancing kindly up at him. “I’ve a +few drops in my flask still.” + +“Oh, no, I can stand it well enough. It’s only a little warm.” He gave +a slight cough, and laid his head down sideways on his arm. His eyes +watched mechanically the Colonial’s manipulation of the bird. He had +left England to escape phthisis; and he had gone to Mashonaland because +it was a place where he could earn an open-air living, and save his +parents from the burden of his support. + +“What’s Halket doing over there?” he asked suddenly, raising his head. + +“Weren’t you here this morning?” asked the Colonial. “Didn’t you know +they’d had a devil of a row?” + +“Who?” asked the Englishman, half raising himself on his elbows. + +“Halket and the Captain.” The Colonial paused in the plucking. “My God, +you never saw anything like it!” + +The Englishman sat upright now, and looked keenly over the bushes where +Halket’s bent head might be seen as he paced to and fro. + +“What’s he doing out there in this blazing sun?” + +“He’s on guard,” said the Colonial. “I thought you were here when it +happened. It’s the best thing I ever saw or heard of in my whole life!” + He rolled half over on his side and laughed at the remembrance. “You +see, some of the men went down into the river, to look for fresh pools +of water, and they found a nigger, hidden away in a hole in the bank, +not five hundred yards from here! They found the bloody rascal by a +little path he tramped down to the water, trodden hard, just like a +porcupine’s walk. They got him in the hole like an aardvark, with a bush +over the mouth, so you couldn’t see it. He’d evidently been there a long +time, the floor was full of bones of fish he’d caught in the pool, and +there was a bit of root like a stick half gnawed through. He’d been +potted, and got two bullet wounds in the thigh; but he could walk +already. It’s evident he was just waiting till we were gone, to clear +off after his people. He’d got that beastly scurvy look a nigger gets +when he hasn’t had anything to eat for a long time. + +“Well, they hauled him up before the Captain, of course; and he blew +and swore, and said the nigger was a spy, and was to be hanged tomorrow; +he’d hang him tonight, only the big troop might catch us up this +evening, so he’d wait to hear what the Colonel said; but if they didn’t +come he’d hang him first thing tomorrow morning, or have him shot, as +sure as the sun rose. He made the fellows tie him up to that little tree +before his tent, with riems round his legs, and riems round his waist, +and a riem round his neck.” + +“What did the native say?” asked the Englishman. + +“Oh, he didn’t say anything. There wasn’t a soul in the camp could have +understood him if he had. The coloured boys don’t know his language. I +expect he’s one of those bloody fellows we hit the day we cleared the +bush out yonder; but how he got down that bank with his leg in the state +it must have been, I don’t know. He didn’t try to fight when they caught +him; just stared in front of him--fright, I suppose. He must have been a +big strapping devil before he was taken down. + +“Well, I tell you, we’d just got him fixed up, and the Captain was just +going into his tent to have a drink, and we chaps were all standing +round, when up steps Halket, right before the Captain, and pulls his +front lock--you know the way he has? Oh, my God, my God, if you could +have seen it! I’ll never forget it to my dying day!” The Colonial seemed +bursting with internal laughter. “He begins, ‘Sir, may I speak to you?’ +in a formal kind of way, like a fellow introducing a deputation; and +then all of a sudden he starts off--oh, my God, you never heard such a +thing! It was like a boy in Sunday-school saying up a piece of Scripture +he’s learnt off by heart, and got all ready beforehand, and he’s not +going to be stopped till he gets to the end of it.” + +“What did he say,” asked the Englishman. + +“Oh, he started, How did we know this nigger was a spy at all; it would +be a terrible thing to kill him if we weren’t quite sure; perhaps he was +hiding there because he was wounded. And then he broke out that, after +all, these niggers were men fighting for their country; we would fight +against the French if they came and took England from us; and the +niggers were brave men, ‘please sir’--(every five minutes he’d pull his +forelock, and say, ‘please sir!’)--‘and if we have to fight against them +we ought to remember they’re fighting for freedom; we shouldn’t shoot +wounded prisoners when they were black if we wouldn’t shoot them if they +were white!’ And then he broke out pure unmitigated Exeter Hall! You +never heard anything like it! All men were brothers, and God loved a +black man as well as a white; Mashonas and Matabele were poor ignorant +folk, and we had to take care of them. And then he started out, that we +ought to let this man go; we ought to give him food for the road, and +tell him to go back to his people, and tell them we hadn’t come to take +their land but to teach them and love them. ‘It’s hard to love a nigger, +Captain, but we must try it; we must try it!’--And every five minutes +he’d break out with, ‘And I think this is a man I know, Captain; I’m +not sure, but I think he comes from up Lo Magundis way!’--as if any born +devil cared whether a bloody nigger came from Lo Magundis or anywhere +else! I’m sure he said it fifteen times. And then he broke out, ‘I don’t +mean that I’m better than you or anybody else, Captain; I’m as bad a man +as any in camp, and I know it.’ And off he started, telling us all the +sins he’d ever committed; and he kept on, ‘I’m an unlearned, ignorant +man, Captain; but I must stand by this nigger; he’s got no one else!’ +And then he says--‘If you let me take him up to Lo Magundis, sir, I’m +not afraid; and I’ll tell the people there that it’s not their land and +their women that we want, it’s them to be our brothers and love us. If +you’ll only let me go, sir, I’ll go and make peace; give the man to me, +sir!’” The Colonial shook with laughter. + +“What did the Captain say?” asked the Englishman. + +“The Captain; well, you know the smallest thing sets him off swearing +all round the world; but he just stood there with his arms hanging down +at each side of him, and his eyes staring, and his face getting redder +and redder: and all he could say was, ‘My Gawd! my Gawd!’ I thought +he’d burst. And Halket stood there looking straight in front of him, as +though he didn’t see a soul of us all there.” + +“What did the Captain do?” + +“Oh, as soon as Halket turned away he started swearing, but he got the +tail of one oath hooked on to the head of another. It was nearly as good +as Halket himself. And when he’d finished and got sane a bit, he said +Halket was to walk up and down there all day and keep watch on the +nigger. And he gave orders that if the big troop didn’t come up tonight, +that he was to be potted first thing in the morning, and that Halket was +to shoot him.” + +The Englishman started: “What did Halket say?” + +“Nothing. He’s been walking there with his gun all day.” + +The Englishman watched with his clear eyes the spot where Halket’s head +appeared and disappeared. + +“Is the nigger hanging there now?” + +“Yes. The Captain said no one was to go near him, or give him anything +to eat or drink all day: but--” The Colonial glanced round where the +trooper lay under the bushes; and then lowering his voice added, “This +morning, a couple of hours ago, Halket sent the Captain’s coloured boy +to ask me for a drink of water. I thought it was for Halket himself, and +the poor devil must be hot walking there in the sun, so I sent him the +water out of my canvas bag. I went along afterwards to see what had +become of my mug; the boy had gone, and there, straight in front of the +Captain’s tent, before the very door, was Halket letting that bloody +nigger drink out of my mug. The riem was so tight round his neck he +couldn’t drink but slowly, and there was Halket holding it up to him! If +the Captain had looked out! W-h-e-w! I wouldn’t have been Halket!” + +“Do you think he will try to make Halket do it?” asked the Englishman. + +“Of course he will. He’s the Devil in; and Halket had better not make a +fuss about it, or it’ll be the worse for him.” + +“His time’s up tomorrow evening!” + +“Yes, but not tomorrow morning. And I wouldn’t make a row about it if I +was Halket. It doesn’t do to fall out with the authorities here. What’s +one nigger more or less? He’ll get shot some other way, or die of +hunger, if we don’t do it.” + +“It’s hardly sport to shoot a man tied up neck and legs,” said the +Englishman; his finely drawn eyebrows contracting and expanding a +little. + +“Oh, they don’t feel, these niggers, not as we should, you know. I’ve +seen a man going to be shot, looking full at the guns, and falling +like that!--without a sound. They’ve no feeling, these niggers; I don’t +suppose they care much whether they live or die, not as we should, you +know.” + +The Englishman’s eyes were still fixed on the bushes, behind which +Halket’s head appeared and disappeared. + +“They have no right to order Halket to do it--and he will not do it!” + said the Englishman slowly. + +“You’re not going to be such a fool as to step in, are you?” said the +Colonial, looking curiously at him. “It doesn’t pay. I’ve made up my +mind never to speak whatever happens. What’s the good? Suppose one were +to make a complaint now about this affair with Halket, if he’s made to +shoot the nigger against his will; what would come of it? There’d be +half-a-dozen fellows here squared to say what headquarters wanted--not +to speak of a fellow like that”--turning his thumb in the direction of +the sleeping trooper--“who are paid to watch. I believe he reports on +the Captain himself to the big headquarters. All one’s wires are edited +before they go down; only what the Company wants to go, go through. +There are many downright good fellows in this lot; but how many of us +are there, do you think, who could throw away all chance of ever making +anything in Mashonaland, for the sake of standing by Halket; even if he +had a real row with the Company? I’ve a great liking for Halket myself, +he’s a real good fellow, and he’s done me many a good turn--took my +watch only last night, because I was off colour; I’d do anything for him +in reason. But, I say this flatly, I couldn’t and wouldn’t fly in the +face of the authorities for him or anyone else. I’ve my own girl waiting +for me down in the Colony, and she’s been waiting for me these five +years. And whether I’m able to marry her or not depends on how I stand +with the Company: and I say, flatly, I’m not going to fall out with it. +I came here to make money, and I mean to make it! If other people like +to run their heads against stone walls, let them: but they mustn’t +expect me to follow them. This isn’t a country where a man can say what +he thinks.” + +The Englishman rested his elbows on the ground. “And the Union Jack is +supposed to be flying over us.” + +“Yes, with a black bar across it for the Company,” laughed the Colonial. + +“Do you ever have the nightmare?” asked the Englishman suddenly. + +“I? Oh yes, sometimes”; he looked curiously at his companion; “when I’ve +eaten too much, I get it.” + +“I always have it since I came up here,” said the Englishman. “It is +that a vast world is resting on me--a whole globe: and I am a midge +beneath it. I try to raise it, and I cannot. So I lie still under +it--and let it crush me!” + +“It’s curious you should have the nightmare so up here,” said the +Colonial; “one gets so little to eat.” + +There was a silence: he was picking the little fine feathers from the +bird, and the Englishman was watching the ants. + +“Mind you,” the Colonial said at last, “I don’t say that in this case +the Captain was to blame; Halket made an awful ass of himself. He’s +never been quite right since that time he got lost and spent the night +out on the kopje. When we found him in the morning he was in a kind of +dead sleep; we couldn’t wake him; yet it wasn’t cold enough for him to +have been frozen. He’s never been the same man since; queer, you know; +giving his rations away to the coloured boys, and letting the other +fellows have his dot of brandy at night; and keeping himself sort of +apart to himself, you know. The other fellows think he’s got a touch of +fever on, caught wandering about in the long grass that day. But I don’t +think it’s that; I think it’s being alone in the veld that’s got hold of +him. Man, have you ever been out like that, alone in the veld, night +and day, and not a soul to speak to? I have; and I tell you, if I’d been +left there three days longer I’d have gone mad or turned religious. Man, +it’s the nights, with the stars up above you, and the dead still all +around. And you think, and think, and think! You remember all kinds of +things you’ve never thought of for years and years. I used to talk to +myself at last, and make believe it was another man. I was out seven +days: and he was only out one night. But I think it’s the loneliness +that got hold of him. Man, those stars are awful; and that stillness +that comes toward morning!” He stood up. “It’s a great pity, because +he’s as good a fellow as ever was. But perhaps he’ll come all right.” + +He walked away towards the pot with the bird in his hand. When he had +gone the Englishman turned round on to his back, and lay with his arm +across his forehead. + +High, high up, between the straggling branches of the tree, in the +clear, blue African sky above him, he could see the vultures flying +southward. + +***** + +That evening the men sat eating their suppers round the fires. The large +troop had not come up; and the mules had been brought in; and they were +to make a start early the next morning. + +Halket was released from his duty, and had come up, and lain down a +little in the background of the group who gathered round their fire. + +The Colonial and the Englishman had given orders to all the men of their +mess that Halket was to be left in quiet, and no questions were to be +asked him; and the men, fearing the Colonial’s size and the Englishman’s +nerve, left him in peace. The men laughed and chatted round the fire, +while the big Colonial ladled out the mealies and rice into tin plates, +and passed them round to the men. Presently he passed one to Halket, +who lay half behind him leaning on his elbow. For a while Halket ate +nothing, then he took a few mouthfuls; and again lay on his elbow. + +“You are eating nothing, Halket,” said the Englishman, cheerily, looking +back. + +“I am not hungry now,” he said. After a while he took out his red +handkerchief, and emptied carefully into it the contents of the plate; +and tied it up into a bundle. He set it beside him on the ground, and +again lay on his elbow. + +“You won’t come nearer to the fire, Halket?’ asked the Englishman. + +“No, thank you, the night is warm.” + +After a while Peter Halket took out from his belt a small hunting knife +with a rough wooden handle. A small flat stone lay near him, and he +passed the blade slowly up and down on it, now and then taking it up, +and feeling the edge with his finger. After a while he put it back in +his belt, and rose slowly, taking up his small bundle and walked away to +the tent. + +“He’s had a pretty stiff day,” said the Colonial. “I expect he’s glad +enough to turn in.” + +Then all the men round the fire chatted freely over his concerns. Would +the Captain stick to his word tomorrow? Was Halket going to do it? +Had the Captain any right to tell one man off for the work, instead +of letting them fire a volley? One man said he would do it gladly in +Halket’s place, if told off; why had he made such a fool of himself? So +they chatted till nine o’clock, when the Englishman and Colonial left to +turn in. They found Halket asleep, close to the side of the tent, with +his face turned to the canvas. And they lay down quietly that they might +not disturb him. + +At ten o’clock all the camp was asleep, excepting the two men told off +to keep guard; who paced from one end of the camp to the other to keep +themselves awake; or stood chatting by the large fire, which still burnt +at one end. + +In the Captain’s tent a light was kept burning all night, which shone +through the thin canvas sides, and shed light on the ground about; but, +for the rest, the camp was dead and still. + +By half-past one the moon had gone down, and there was left only a blaze +of stars in the great African sky. + +Then Peter Halket rose up; softly he lifted the canvas and crept out. +On the side furthest from the camp he stood upright. On his arm was tied +his red handkerchief with its contents. For a moment he glanced up at +the galaxy of stars over him; then he stepped into the long grass, and +made his way in a direction opposite to that in which the camp lay. But +after a short while he turned, and made his way down into the river bed. +He walked in it for a while. Then after a time he sat down upon the bank +and took off his heavy boots and threw them into the grass at the side. +Then softly, on tip-toe, he followed the little footpath that the men +had trodden going down to the river for water. It led straight up to the +Captain’s tent, and the little flat-topped tree, with its white stem, +and its two gnarled branches spread out on either side. When he was +within forty paces of it, he paused. Far over the other side of the +camp the two men who were on guard stood chatting by the fire. A dead +stillness was over the rest of the camp. The light through the walls of +the Captain’s tent made all clear at the stem of the little tree; but +there was no sound of movement within. + +For a moment Peter Halket stood motionless; then he walked up to the +tree. The black man hung against the white stem, so closely bound to +it that they seemed one. His hands were tied to his sides, and his head +drooped on his breast. His eyes were closed; and his limbs, which had +once been those of a powerful man, had fallen away, making the joints +stand out. The wool on his head was wild and thick with neglect, and +stood out roughly in long strands; and his skin was rough with want and +exposure. + +The riems had cut a little into his ankles; and a small flow of blood +had made the ground below his feet dark. + +Peter Halket looked up at him; the man seemed dead. He touched him +softly on the arm, then shook it slightly. + +The man opened his eyes slowly, without raising his head; and looked at +Peter from under his weary eyebrows. Except that they moved they might +have been the eyes of a dead thing. + +Peter put up his fingers to his own lips--“Hus-h! hus-h!” he said. + +The man hung torpid, still looking at Peter. + +Quickly Peter Halket knelt down and took the knife from his belt. In an +instant the riems that bound the feet were cut through; in another he +had cut the riems from the waist and neck: the riems dropped to +the ground from the arms, and the man stood free. Like a dazed dumb +creature, he stood, with his head still down, eyeing Peter. + +Instantly Peter slipped the red bundle from his arm into the man’s +passive hand. + +“Ari-tsemaia! Hamba! Loop! Go!” whispered Peter Halket; using a word +from each African language he knew. But the black man still stood +motionless, looking at him as one paralysed. + +“Hamba! Sucka! Go!” he whispered, motioning his hand. + +In an instant a gleam of intelligence shot across the face; then a wild +transport. Without a word, without a sound, as the tiger leaps when the +wild dogs are on it, with one long, smooth spring, as though unwounded +and unhurt, he turned and disappeared into the grass. It closed behind +him; but as he went the twigs and leaves cracked under his tread. + +The Captain threw back the door of his tent. “Who is there?” he cried. + +Peter Halket stood below the tree with the knife in his hand. + +The noise roused the whole camp: the men on guard came running; guns +were fired: and the half-sleeping men came rushing, grasping their +weapons. There was a sound of firing at the little tree; and the cry +went round the camp, “The Mashonas are releasing the spy!” + +When the men got to the Captain’s tent, they saw that the nigger was +gone; and Peter Halket was lying on his face at the foot of the tree; +with his head turned towards the Captain’s door. + +There was a wild confusion of voices. “How many were there?” “Where have +they gone to now?” “They’ve shot Peter Halket!”--“The Captain saw them +do it”--“Stand ready, they may come back any time!” + +When the Englishman came, the other men, who knew he had been a medical +student, made way for him. He knelt down by Peter Halket. + +“He’s dead,” he said, quietly. + +When they had turned him over, the Colonial knelt down on the other +side, with a little hand-lamp in his hand. + +“What are you fellows fooling about here for?” cried the Captain. “Do +you suppose it’s any use looking for foot marks after all this tramping! +Go, guard the camp on all sides!” + +“I will send four coloured boys,” he said to the Englishman and the +Colonial, “to dig the grave. You’d better bury him at once; there’s no +use waiting. We start first thing in the morning.” + +When they were alone, the Englishman uncovered Peter Halket’s breast. +There was one small wound just under the left bosom; and one on the +crown of the head; which must have been made after he had fallen down. + +“Strange, isn’t it, what he can have been doing here?” said the +Colonial; “a small wound, isn’t it?” + +“A pistol shot,” said the Englishman, closing the bosom. + +“A pistol--” + +The Englishman looked up at him with a keen light in his eye. + +“I told you he would not kill that nigger.--See--here--” He took up the +knife which had fallen from Peter Halket’s grasp, and fitted it into a +piece of the cut leather that lay on the earth. + +“But you don’t think--” The Colonial stared at him with wide open eyes; +then he glanced round at the Captain’s tent. + +“Yes, I think that--Go and fetch his great-coat; we’ll put him in it. If +it is no use talking while a man is alive, it is no use talking when he +is dead!” + +They brought his great-coat, and they looked in the pockets to see if +there was anything which might show where he had come from or who his +friends were. But there was nothing in the pockets except an empty +flask, and a leathern purse with two shillings in, and a little +hand-made two-pointed cap. + +So they wrapped Peter Halket up in his great-coat, and put the little +cap on his head. + +And, one hour after Peter Halket had stood outside the tent looking up, +he was lying under the little tree, with the red sand trodden down over +him, in which a black man and a white man’s blood were mingled. + +All the rest of the night the men sat up round the fires, discussing +what had happened, dreading an attack. + +But the Englishman and the Colonial went to their tent, to lie down. + +“Do you think they will make any inquiries?” asked the Colonial. + +“Why should they? His time will be up tomorrow.” + +“Are you going to say anything?” + +“What is the use?” + +They lay in the dark for an hour, and heard the men chatting outside. + +“Do you believe in a God?” said the Englishman, suddenly. + +The Colonial started: “Of course I do!” + +“I used to,” said the Englishman; “I do not believe in your God; but I +believed in something greater than I could understand, which moved in +this earth, as your soul moves in your body. And I thought this worked +in such wise, that the law of cause and effect, which holds in the +physical world, held also in the moral: so, that the thing we call +justice, ruled. I do not believe it any more. There is no God in +Mashonaland.” + +“Oh, don’t say that!” cried the Colonial, much distressed. “Are you +going off your head, like poor Halket?” + +“No; but there is no God,” said the Englishman. He turned round on his +shoulder, and said no more: and afterwards the Colonial went to sleep. + +Before dawn the next morning the men had packed up the goods, and +started. + +By five o’clock the carts had filed away; the men rode or walked before +and behind them; and the space where the camp had been was an empty +circle; save for a few broken bottles and empty tins, and the stones +about which the fires had been made, round which warm ashes yet lay. + +Only under the little stunted tree, the Colonial and the Englishman were +piling up stones. Their horses stood saddled close by. + +Presently the large trooper came riding back. He had been sent by the +Captain to ask what they were fooling behind for, and to tell them to +come on. + +The men mounted their horses to follow him; but the Englishman turned +in his saddle and looked back. The morning sun was lighting up the +straggling branches of the tall trees that had overshadowed the +camp; and fell on the little stunted tree, with its white stem and +outstretched arms; and on the stones beneath it. + +“It’s all that night on the kopje!” said the Colonial, sadly. + +But the Englishman looked back. “I hardly know,” he said, “whether it is +not better for him now, than for us.” + +Then they rode on after the troop. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland, by +Olive Schreiner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TROOPER PETER HALKET *** + +***** This file should be named 1431-0.txt or 1431-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/3/1431/ + +Produced by Sue Asscher + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/1431-0.zip b/old/1431-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cc0e810 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1431-0.zip diff --git a/old/1431-h.zip b/old/1431-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5432d17 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1431-h.zip diff --git a/old/1431-h/1431-h.htm b/old/1431-h/1431-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5109f92 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1431-h/1431-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3323 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland, by Olive Schreiner + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +Project Gutenberg's Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland, by Olive Schreiner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland + +Author: Olive Schreiner + +Release Date: September 15, 2008 [EBook #1431] +Last Updated: October 12, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TROOPER PETER HALKET *** + + + + +Produced by Sue Asscher, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + TROOPER PETER HALKET OF MASHONALAND + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + by Olive Schreiner + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h4> + Author of “Dreams,” “Dream Life and Real Life,"<br /> “The Story of an + African Farm,” etc. + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + Colonial Edition + </p> + <p> + (A photographic plate at the front of the book shows three people hanging + from a tree by their necks. Around them stand eight men, looking not at + all troubled by their participation in the scene. Of this event all the + survivors appear to be white, the victims black. The plate is titled “From + a Photograph taken in Matabeleland.” S.A.) + </p> + <p> + To a Great Good Man, Sir George Grey, + </p> + <p> + Once Governor of the Cape Colony, who, during his rule in South Africa, + bound to himself the Dutchmen, Englishmen, and Natives he governed, by an + uncorruptible justice and a broad humanity; and who is remembered among us + today as representing the noblest attributes of an Imperial Rule. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Our low life was the level’s and the night’s; + He’s for the morning.” + </pre> + <p> + Olive Schreiner. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + 19, Russell Road, + Kensington, W., + February, 1897. +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Aardvark - The great anteater. + Cape Smoke - A very inferior brandy made in Cape Colony. + Kopje - Little hillock. + Kraal - A Kaffir encampment. + Mealies - Maize (corn). + Riem - A thong of undressed leather universally used in South Africa. + Vatje of Old Dop - A little cask of Cape brandy. + Veld - Open Country. +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + Contents + </h3> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> Chapter I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> Chapter II. </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + Chapter I. + </h2> + <p> + It was a dark night; a chill breath was coming from the east; not enough + to disturb the blaze of Trooper Peter Halket’s fire, yet enough to make it + quiver. He sat alone beside it on the top of a kopje. + </p> + <p> + All about was an impenetrable darkness; not a star was visible in the + black curve over his head. + </p> + <p> + He had been travelling with a dozen men who were taking provisions of + mealies and rice to the next camp. He had been sent out to act as scout + along a low range of hills, and had lost his way. Since eight in the + morning he had wandered among long grasses, and ironstone kopjes, and + stunted bush, and had come upon no sign of human habitation, but the + remains of a burnt kraal, and a down-trampled and now uncultivated mealie + field, where a month before the Chartered Company’s forces had destroyed a + native settlement. + </p> + <p> + Three times in the day it had appeared to him that he had returned to the + very spot from which he had started; nor was it his wish to travel very + far, for he knew his comrades would come back to look for him, to the + neighbourhood where he had last been seen, when it was found at the + evening camping ground that he did not appear. + </p> + <p> + Trooper Peter Halket was very weary. He had eaten nothing all day; and had + touched little of the contents of a small flask of Cape brandy he carried + in his breast pocket, not knowing when it would again be replenished. + </p> + <p> + As night drew near he determined to make his resting place on the top of + one of the kopjes, which stood somewhat alone and apart from the others. + He could not easily be approached there, without his knowing it. He had + not much fear of the natives; their kraals had been destroyed and their + granaries burnt for thirty miles round, and they themselves had fled: but + he feared, somewhat, the lions, which he had never seen, but of which he + had heard, and which might be cowering in the long grasses and brushwood + at the kopje’s foot:—and he feared, vaguely, he hardly knew what, + when he looked forward to his first long night alone in the veld. + </p> + <p> + By the time the sun had set he had gathered a little pile of stumps and + branches on the top of the kopje. He intended to keep a fire burning all + night; and as the darkness began to settle down he lit it. It might be his + friends would see it from far, and come for him early in the morning; and + wild beasts would hardly approach him while he knelt beside it; and of the + natives he felt there was little fear. + </p> + <p> + He built up the fire; and determined if it were possible to keep awake the + whole night beside it. + </p> + <p> + He was a slight man of middle height, with a sloping forehead and pale + blue eyes: but the jaws were hard set, and the thin lips of the large + mouth were those of a man who could strongly desire the material good of + life, and enjoy it when it came his way. Over the lower half of the face + were scattered a few soft white hairs, the growth of early manhood. + </p> + <p> + From time to time he listened intently for possible sounds from the + distance where his friends might be encamped, and might fire off their + guns at seeing his light; or he listened yet more intently for sounds + nearer at hand: but all was still, except for the occasional cracking of + the wood in his own fire, and the slight whistle of the breeze as it crept + past the stones on the kopje. He doubled up his great hat and put it in + the pocket of his overcoat, and put on a little two-pointed cap his mother + had made for him, which fitted so close that only one lock of white hair + hung out over his forehead. He turned up the collar of his coat to shield + his neck and ears, and threw it open in front that the blaze of the fire + might warm him. He had known many nights colder than this when he had sat + around the camp fire with his comrades, talking of the niggers they had + shot or the kraals they had destroyed, or grumbling over their rations; + but tonight the chill seemed to creep into his very bones. + </p> + <p> + The darkness of the night above him, and the silence of the veld about + him, oppressed him. At times he even wished he might hear the cry of a + jackal or of some larger beast of prey in the distance; and he wished that + the wind would blow a little louder, instead of making that little + wheezing sound as it passed the corners of the stones. He looked down at + his gun, which lay cocked ready on the ground at his right side; and from + time to time he raised his hand automatically and fingered the cartridges + in his belt. Then he stretched out his small wiry hands to the fire and + warmed them. It was only half past ten, and it seemed to him he had been + sitting here ten hours at the least. + </p> + <p> + After a while he threw two more large logs on the fire, and took the flask + out of his pocket. He examined it carefully by the firelight to see how + much it held: then he took a small draught, and examined it again to see + how much it had fallen; and put it back in his breast pocket. + </p> + <p> + Then Trooper Peter Halket fell to thinking. + </p> + <p> + It was not often that he thought. On patrol and sitting round camp fires + with the other men about him there was no time for it; and Peter Halket + had never been given to much thinking. He had been a careless boy at the + village school; and though, when he left, his mother paid the village + apothecary to read learned books with him at night on history and science, + he had not retained much of them. As a rule he lived in the world + immediately about him, and let the things of the moment impinge on him, + and fall off again as they would, without much reflection. But tonight on + the kopje he fell to thinking, and his thoughts shaped themselves into + connected chains. + </p> + <p> + He wondered first whether his mother would ever get the letter he had + posted the week before, and whether it would be brought to her cottage or + she would go to the post office to fetch it. And then, he fell to thinking + of the little English village where he had been born, and where he had + grown up. He saw his mother’s fat white ducklings creep in and out under + the gate, and waddle down to the little pond at the back of the yard; he + saw the school house that he had hated so much as a boy, and from which he + had so often run away to go a-fishing, or a-bird’s-nesting. He saw the + prints on the school house wall on which the afternoon sun used to shine + when he was kept in; Jesus of Judea blessing the children, and one picture + just over the door where he hung with his arms stretched out and the blood + dropping from his feet. Then Peter Halket thought of the tower at the + ruins which he had climbed so often for birds’ eggs; and he saw his mother + standing at her cottage gate when he came home in the evening, and he felt + her arms round his neck as she kissed him; but he felt her tears on his + cheek, because he had run away from school all day; and he seemed to be + making apologies to her, and promising he never would do it again if only + she would not cry. He had often thought of her since he left her, on board + ship, and when he was working with the prospectors, and since he had + joined the troop; but it had been in a vague way; he had not distinctly + seen and felt her. But tonight he wished for her as he used to when he was + a small boy and lay in his bed in the next room, and saw her shadow + through the door as she bent over her wash-tub earning the money which was + to feed and clothe him. He remembered how he called her and she came and + tucked him in and called him “Little Simon,” which was his second name and + had been his father’s, and which she only called him when he was in bed at + night, or when he was hurt. + </p> + <p> + He sat there staring into the blaze. He resolved he would make a great + deal of money, and she should live with him. He would build a large house + in the West End of London, the biggest that had ever been seen, and + another in the country, and they should never work any more. + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket sat as one turned into stone, staring into the fire. + </p> + <p> + All men made money when they came to South Africa,—Barney Barnato, + Rhodes—they all made money out of the country, eight millions, + twelve millions, twenty-six millions, forty millions; why should not he! + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket started suddenly and listened. But it was only the wind + coming up the kopje like a great wheezy beast creeping upwards; and he + looked back into the fire. + </p> + <p> + He considered his business prospects. When he had served his time as + volunteer he would have a large piece of land given him, and the Mashonas + and Matabeles would have all their land taken away from them in time, and + the Chartered Company would pass a law that they had to work for the white + men; and he, Peter Halket, would make them work for him. He would make + money. + </p> + <p> + Then he reflected on what he should do with the land if it were no good + and he could not make anything out of it. Then, he should have to start a + syndicate; called the Peter Halket Gold, or the Peter Halket Iron-mining, + or some such name, Syndicate. Peter Halket was not very clear as to how it + ought to be started; but he felt certain that he and some other men would + have to take shares. They would not have to pay for them. And then they + would get some big man in London to take shares. He need not pay for them; + they would give them to him; and then the company would be floated. No one + would have to pay anything; it was just the name—“The Peter Halket + Gold Mining Company, Limited.” It would float in London; and people there + who didn’t know the country would buy the shares; THEY would have to give + ready money for them, of course; perhaps fifteen pounds a share when they + were up!—Peter Halket’s eyes blinked as he looked into the fire.—And + then, when the market was up, he, Peter Halket, would sell out all his + shares. If he gave himself only six thousand and sold them each for ten + pounds, then he, Peter Halket, would have sixty thousand pounds! And then + he would start another company, and another. + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket struck his knee softly with his hand. + </p> + <p> + That was the great thing—“Always sell out at the right time.” That + point Peter Halket was very clear on. He had heard it so often discussed. + Give some shares to men with big names, and sell out: they can sell out + too at the right time. + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket stroked his knee thoughtfully. + </p> + <p> + And then the other people, that bought the shares for cash! Well, they + could sell out too; they could all sell out! + </p> + <p> + Then Peter Halket’s mind got a little hazy. The matter was getting too + difficult for him, like a rule of three sum at school when he could not + see the relation between the two first terms and the third. Well, if they + didn’t like to sell out at the right time, it was their own faults. Why + didn’t they? He, Peter Halket, did not feel responsible for them. Everyone + knew that you had to sell out at the right time. If they didn’t choose to + sell out at the right time, well, they didn’t. “It’s the shares that you + sell, not the shares you keep, that make the money.” + </p> + <p> + But if they couldn’t sell them? + </p> + <p> + Here Peter Halket hesitated.—Well, the British Government would have + to buy them, if they were so bad no one else would; and then no one would + lose. “The British Government can’t let British share-holders suffer.” + He’d heard that often enough. The British taxpayer would have to pay for + the Chartered Company, for the soldiers, and all the other things, if IT + couldn’t, and take over the shares if it went smash, because there were + lords and dukes and princes connected with it. And why shouldn’t they pay + for his company? He would have a lord in it too! + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket looked into the fire completely absorbed in his calculations.—Peter + Halket, Esq., Director of the Peter Halket Gold Mining Company, Limited. + Then, when he had got thousands, Peter Halket, Esq., M.P. Then, when he + had millions, Sir Peter Halket, Privy Councillor! + </p> + <p> + He reflected deeply, looking into the blaze. If you had five or six + millions you could go where you liked and do what you liked. You could go + to Sandringham. You could marry anyone. No one would ask what your mother + had been; it wouldn’t matter. + </p> + <p> + A curious dull sinking sensation came over Peter Halket; and he drew in + his broad leathern belt two holes tighter. + </p> + <p> + Even if you had only two millions you could have a cook and a valet, to go + with you when you went into the veld or to the wars; and you could have as + much champagne and other things as you liked. At that moment that seemed + to Peter more important than going to Sandringham. + </p> + <p> + He took out his flask of Cape Smoke, and drew a tiny draught from it. + </p> + <p> + Other men had come to South Africa with nothing, and had made everything! + Why should not he? + </p> + <p> + He stuck small branches under the two great logs, and a glorious flame + burst out. Then he listened again intently. The wind was falling and the + night was becoming very still. It was a quarter to twelve now. His back + ached, and he would have liked to lie down; but he dared not, for fear he + should drop asleep. He leaned forward with his hands between his crossed + knees, and watched the blaze he had made. + </p> + <p> + Then, after a while, Peter Halket’s thoughts became less clear: they + became at last, rather, a chain of disconnected pictures, painting + themselves in irrelevant order on his brain, than a line of connected + ideas. Now, as he looked into the crackling blaze, it seemed to be one of + the fires they had make to burn the natives’ grain by, and they were + throwing in all they could not carry away: then, he seemed to see his + mother’s fat ducks waddling down the little path with the green grass on + each side. Then, he seemed to see his huts where he lived with the + prospectors, and the native women who used to live with him; and he + wondered where the women were. Then—he saw the skull of an old + Mashona blown off at the top, the hands still moving. He heard the loud + cry of the native women and children as they turned the maxims on to the + kraal; and then he heard the dynamite explode that blew up a cave. Then + again he was working a maxim gun, but it seemed to him it was more like + the reaping machine he used to work in England, and that what was going + down before it was not yellow corn, but black men’s heads; and he thought + when he looked back they lay behind him in rows, like the corn in sheaves. + </p> + <p> + The logs sent up a flame clear and high, and, where they split, showed a + burning core inside: the cracking and spluttering sounded in his brain + like the discharge of a battery of artillery. Then he thought suddenly of + a black woman he and another man caught alone in the bush, her baby on her + back, but young and pretty. Well, they didn’t shoot her!—and a black + woman wasn’t white! His mother didn’t understand these things; it was all + so different in England from South Africa. You couldn’t be expected to do + the same sort of things here as there. He had an unpleasant feeling that + he was justifying himself to his mother, and that he didn’t know how to. + </p> + <p> + He leaned further and further forward: so far at last, that the little + white lock of his hair which hung out under his cap was almost singed by + the fire. His eyes were still open, but the lids drooped over them, and + his hands hung lower and lower between his knees. There was no picture + left on his brain now, but simply an impress of the blazing logs before + him. + </p> + <p> + Then, Trooper Peter Halket started. He sat up and listened. The wind had + gone; there was not a sound: but he listened intently. The fire burnt up + into the still air, two clear red tongues of flame. + </p> + <p> + Then, on the other side of the kopje he heard the sound of footsteps + ascending; the slow even tread of bare feet coming up. + </p> + <p> + The hair on Trooper Peter Halket’s forehead slowly stiffened itself. He + had no thought of escaping; he was paralyzed with dread. He took up his + gun. A deadly coldness crept from his feet to his head. He had worked a + maxim gun in a fight when some hundred natives fell and only one white man + had been wounded; and he had never known fear; but tonight his fingers + were stiff on the lock of his gun. He knelt low, tending a little to one + side of the fire, with his gun ready. A stone half sheltered him from + anyone coming up from the other side of the kopje, and the instant the + figure appeared over the edge he intended to fire. + </p> + <p> + Then, the thought flashed on him; what, and if it were one of his own + comrades come in search of him, and no bare-footed enemy! The anguish of + suspense wrung his heart; for an instant he hesitated. Then, in a cold + agony of terror, he cried out, “Who is there?” + </p> + <p> + And a voice replied in clear, slow English, “A friend.” + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket almost let his gun drop, in the revulsion of feeling. The + cold sweat which anguish had restrained burst out in large drops on his + forehead; but he still knelt holding his gun. + </p> + <p> + “What do you want?” he cried out quiveringly. + </p> + <p> + From the darkness at the edge of the kopje a figure stepped out into the + full blaze of the firelight. + </p> + <p> + Trooper Peter Halket looked up at it. + </p> + <p> + It was the tall figure of a man, clad in one loose linen garment, reaching + lower than his knees, and which clung close about him. His head, arms, and + feet were bare. He carried no weapon of any kind; and on his shoulders + hung heavy locks of dark hair. + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket looked up at him with astonishment. “Are you alone?” he + asked. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I am alone.” + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket lowered his gun and knelt up. + </p> + <p> + “Lost your way, I suppose?” he said, still holding his weapon loosely. + </p> + <p> + “No; I have come to ask whether I may sit beside your fire for a while.” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly, certainly!” said Peter, eyeing the stranger’s dress carefully, + still holding his gun, but with the hand off the lock. “I’m confoundedly + glad of any company. It’s a beastly night for anyone to be out alone. + Wonder you find your way. Sit down! sit down!” Peter looked intently at + the stranger; then he put his gun down at his side. + </p> + <p> + The stranger sat down on the opposite side of the fire. His complexion was + dark; his arms and feet were bronzed; but his aquiline features, and the + domed forehead, were not of any South African race. + </p> + <p> + “One of the Soudanese Rhodes brought with him from the north, I suppose?” + said Peter, still eyeing him curiously. + </p> + <p> + “No; Cecil Rhodes has had nothing to do with my coming here,” said the + stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Oh—” said Peter. “You didn’t perhaps happen to come across a + company of men today, twelve white men and seven coloured, with three cart + loads of provisions? We were taking them to the big camp, and I got parted + from my troop this morning. I’ve not been able to find them, though I’ve + been seeking for them ever since.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger warmed his hands slowly at the fire; then he raised his head:—“They + are camped at the foot of those hills tonight,” he said, pointing with his + hand into the darkness at the left. “Tomorrow early they will be here, + before the sun has risen.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you’ve met them, have you!” said Peter joyfully; “that’s why you + weren’t surprised at finding me here. Take a drop!” He took the small + flask from his pocket and held it out. “I’m sorry there’s so little, but a + drop will keep the cold out.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger bowed his head; but thanked and declined. + </p> + <p> + Peter raised the flask to his lips and took a small draught; then returned + it to his pocket. The stranger folded his arms about his knees, and looked + into the fire. + </p> + <p> + “Are you a Jew?” asked Peter, suddenly; as the firelight fell full on the + stranger’s face. + </p> + <p> + “Yes; I am a Jew.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” said Peter, “that’s why I wasn’t able to make out at first what + nation you could be of; your dress, you know—” Then he stopped, and + said, “Trading here, I suppose? Which country do you come from; are you a + Spanish Jew?” + </p> + <p> + “I am a Jew of Palestine.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” said Peter; “I haven’t seen many from that part yet. I came out with + a lot on board ship; and I’ve seen Barnato and Beit; but they’re not very + much like you. I suppose it’s coming from Palestine makes the difference.” + </p> + <p> + All fear of the stranger had now left Peter Halket. “Come a little nearer + the fire,” he said, “you must be cold, you haven’t too much wraps. I’m + chill in this big coat.” Peter Halket pushed his gun a little further away + from him; and threw another large log on the fire. “I’m sorry I haven’t + anything to eat to offer you; but I haven’t had anything myself since last + night. It’s beastly sickening, being out like this with nothing to eat. + Wouldn’t have thought a fellow’d feel so bad after only a day of it. Have + you ever been out without grub?” said Peter cheerfully, warming his hands + at the blaze. + </p> + <p> + “Forty days and nights,” said the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Forty days! Ph—e—ew!” said Peter. “You must have have had a + lot to drink, or you wouldn’t have stood it. I was feeling blue enough + when you turned up, but I’m better now, warmer.” + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket re-arranged the logs on the fire. + </p> + <p> + “In the employ of the Chartered Company, I suppose?” said Peter, looking + into the fire he had made. + </p> + <p> + “No,” said the stranger; “I have nothing to do with the Chartered + Company.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Peter, “I don’t wonder, then, that things aren’t looking very + smart with you! There’s not too much cakes and ale up here for those that + do belong to it, if they’re not big-wigs, and none at all for those who + don’t. I tried it when I first came up here. I was with a prospector who + was hooked on to the Company somehow, but I worked on my own account for + the prospector by the day. I tell you what, it’s not the men who work up + here who make the money; it’s the big-wigs who get the concessions!” + </p> + <p> + Peter felt exhilarated by the presence of the stranger. That one unarmed + man had robbed him of all fear. + </p> + <p> + Seeing that the stranger did not take up the thread of conversation, he + went on after a time: “It wasn’t such a bad life, though. I only wish I + was back there again. I had two huts to myself, and a couple of nigger + girls. It’s better fun,” said Peter, after a while, “having these black + women than whites. The whites you’ve got to support, but the niggers + support you! And when you’ve done with them you can just get rid of them. + I’m all for the nigger gals.” Peter laughed. But the stranger sat + motionless with his arms about his knees. + </p> + <p> + “You got any girls?” said Peter. “Care for niggers?” + </p> + <p> + “I love all women,” said the stranger, refolding his arms about his knees. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you do, do you?” said Peter. “Well, I’m pretty sick of them. I had + bother enough with mine,” he said genially, warming his hands by the fire, + and then interlocking the fingers and turning the palms towards the blaze + as one who prepares to enjoy a good talk. “One girl was only fifteen; I + got her cheap from a policeman who was living with her, and she wasn’t + much. But the other, by Gad! I never saw another nigger like her; well set + up, I tell you, and as straight as that—” said Peter, holding up his + finger in the firelight. “She was thirty if she was a day. Fellows don’t + generally fancy women that age; they like slips of girls. But I set my + heart on her the day I saw her. She belonged to the chap I was with. He + got her up north. There was a devil of a row about his getting her, too; + she’d got a nigger husband and two children; didn’t want to leave them, or + some nonsense of that sort: you know what these niggers are? Well, I tried + to get the other fellow to let me have her, but the devil a bit he would. + I’d only got the other girl, and I didn’t much fancy her; she was only a + child. Well, I went down Umtali way and got a lot of liquor and stuff, and + when I got back to camp I found them clean dried out. They hadn’t had a + drop of liquor in camp for ten days, and the rainy season coming on and no + knowing when they’d get any. Well, I’d a vatje of Old Dop as high as that—,” + indicating with his hand an object about two feet high, “and the other + fellow wanted to buy it from me. I knew two of that. I said I wanted it + for myself. He offered me this, and he offered me that. At last I said, + ‘Well, just to oblige you, I give you the vatje and you give me the girl!’ + And so he did. Most people wouldn’t have fancied a nigger girl who’d had + two nigger children, but I didn’t mind; it’s all the same to me. And I + tell you she worked. She made a garden, and she and the other girl worked + in it; I tell you I didn’t need to buy a sixpence of food for them in six + months, and I used to sell green mealies and pumpkins to all the fellows + about. There weren’t many flies on her, I tell you. She picked up English + quicker than I picked up her lingo, and took to wearing a dress and + shawl.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger still sat motionless, looking into the fire. + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket reseated himself more comfortably before the fire. “Well, I + came home to the huts one day, rather suddenly, you know, to fetch + something; and what did I find? She, talking at the hut door with a nigger + man. Now it was my strict orders they were neither to speak a word to a + nigger man at all; so I asked what it was. And she answers, as cool as can + be, that he was a stranger going past on the road, and asked her to give + him a drink of water. Well, I just ordered him off. I didn’t think + anything more about it. But I remember now. I saw him hanging about the + camp the day after. Well, she came to me the next day and asked me for a + lot of cartridges. She’d never asked me for anything before. I asked her + what the devil a woman wanted with cartridges, and she said the old nigger + woman who helped carry in water to the garden said she couldn’t stay and + help her any more unless she got some cartridges to give her son who was + going up north hunting elephants. The woman got over me to give her the + cartridges because she was going to have a kid, and she said she couldn’t + do the watering without help. So I gave them her. I never put two and two + together. + </p> + <p> + “Well, when I heard that the Company was going to have a row with the + Matabele, I thought I’d volunteer. They said there was lots of loot to be + got, and land to be given out, and that sort of thing, and I thought I’d + only be gone about three months. So I went. I left those women there, and + a lot of stuff in the garden and some sugar and rice, and I told them not + to leave till I came back; and I asked the other man to keep an eye on + them. Both those women were Mashonas. They always said the Mashonas didn’t + love the Matabele; but, by God, it turned out that they loved them better + than they loved us. They’ve got the damned impertinence to say, that the + Matabele oppressed them sometimes, but the white man oppresses them all + the time! + </p> + <p> + “Well, I left those women there,” said Peter, dropping his hands on his + knees. “Mind you, I’d treated those women really well. I’d never given + either of them one touch all the time I had them. I was the talk of all + the fellows round, the way I treated them. Well, I hadn’t been gone a + month, when I got a letter from the man I worked with, the one who had the + woman first—he’s dead now, poor fellow; they found him at his hut + door with his throat cut—and what do you think he said to me? Why, I + hadn’t been gone six hours when those two women skooted! It was all the + big one. What do you think she did? She took every ounce of ball and + cartridge she could find in that hut, and my old Martini-Henry, and even + the lid off the tea-box to melt into bullets for the old muzzle-loaders + they have; and off she went, and took the young one too. The fellow wrote + me they didn’t touch another thing: they left the shawls and dresses I + gave them kicking about the huts, and went off naked with only their + blankets and the ammunition on their heads. A nigger man met them twenty + miles off, and he said they were skooting up for Lo Magundi’s country as + fast as they could go. + </p> + <p> + “And do you know,” said Peter, striking his knee, and looking impressively + across the fire at the stranger; “what I’m as sure of as that I’m sitting + here? It’s that that nigger I caught at my hut, that day, was her nigger + husband! He’d come to fetch her that time; and when she saw she couldn’t + get away without our catching her, she got the cartridges for him!” Peter + paused impressively between the words. “And now she’s gone back to him. + It’s for him she’s taken that ammunition!” + </p> + <p> + Peter looked across the fire at the stranger, to see what impression his + story was making. + </p> + <p> + “I tell you what,” said Peter, “if I’d had any idea that day who that + bloody nigger was, the day I saw him standing at my door, I’d have given + him one cartridge in the back of his head more than ever he reckoned for!” + Peter looked triumphantly at the stranger. This was his only story; and he + had told it a score of times round the camp fire for the benefit of some + new-comer. When this point was reached, a low murmur of applause and + sympathy always ran round the group: tonight there was quiet; the + stranger’s large dark eyes watched the fire almost as though he heard + nothing. + </p> + <p> + “I shouldn’t have minded so much,” said Peter after a while, “though no + man likes to have his woman taken away from him; but she was going to have + a kid in a month or two—and so was the little one for anything I + know; she looked like it! I expect they did away with it before it came; + they’ve no hearts, these niggers; they’d think nothing of doing that with + a white man’s child. They’ve no hearts; they’d rather go back to a black + man, however well you’ve treated them. It’s all right if you get them + quite young and keep them away from their own people; but if once a nigger + woman’s had a nigger man and had children by him, you might as well try to + hold a she-devil! they’ll always go back. If ever I’m shot, it’s as likely + as not it’ll be by my own gun, with my own cartridges. And she’d stand by + and watch it, and cheer them on; though I never gave her a blow all the + time she was with me. But I tell you what—if ever I come across that + bloody nigger, I’ll take it out of him. He won’t count many days to his + year, after I’ve spotted him!” Peter Halket paused. It seemed to him that + the eyes under their heavy, curled lashes, were looking at something + beyond him with an infinite sadness, almost as of eyes that wept. + </p> + <p> + “You look awfully tired,” said Peter; “wouldn’t you like to lie down and + sleep? You could put your head down on that stone, and I’d keep watch.” + </p> + <p> + “I have no need of sleep,” the stranger said; “I will watch with you.” + </p> + <p> + “You’ve been in the wars, too, I see,” said Peter, bending forward a + little, and looking at the stranger’s feet. “By God! Both of them!—And + right through! You must have had a bad time of it?” + </p> + <p> + “It was very long ago,” said the stranger. + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket threw two more logs on the fire. “Do you know,” he said, + “I’ve been wondering ever since you came, who it was you reminded me of. + It’s my mother! You’re not like her in the face, but when your eyes look + at me it seems to me as if it was she looking at me. Curious, isn’t it? I + don’t know you from Adam, and you’ve hardly spoken a word since you came; + and yet I seem as if I’d known you all my life.” Peter moved a little + nearer him. “I was awfully afraid of you when you first came; even when I + first saw you;—you aren’t dressed as most of us dress, you know. But + the minute the fire shone on your face I said, ‘It’s all right.’ Curious, + isn’t it?” said Peter. “I don’t know you from Adam, but if you were to + take up my gun and point it at me, I wouldn’t move! I’d lie down here and + go to sleep with my head at your feet; curious, isn’t it, when I don’t + know you from Adam? My name’s Peter Halket. What’s yours?” + </p> + <p> + But the stranger was arranging the logs on the fire. The flames shot up + bright and high, and almost hid him from Peter Halket’s view. + </p> + <p> + “By gad! how they burn when you arrange them!” said Peter. + </p> + <p> + They sat quiet in the blaze for a while. + </p> + <p> + Then Peter said, “Did you see any niggers about yesterday? I haven’t come + across any in this part.” + </p> + <p> + “There is,” said the stranger, raising himself, “an old woman in a cave + over yonder, and there is one man in the bush, ten miles from this spot. + He has lived there six weeks, since you destroyed the kraal, living on + roots or herbs. He was wounded in the thigh, and left for dead. He is + waiting till you have all left this part of the country that he may set + out to follow his own people. His leg is not yet so strong that he may + walk fast.” + </p> + <p> + “Did you speak to him?” said Peter. + </p> + <p> + “I took him down to the water where a large pool was. The bank was too + high for the man to descend alone.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s a lucky thing for you our fellows didn’t catch you,” said Peter. + “Our captain’s a regular little martinet. He’d shoot you as soon as look + at you, if he saw you fooling round with a wounded nigger. It’s lucky you + kept out of his way.” + </p> + <p> + “The young ravens have meat given to them,” said the stranger, lifting + himself up; “and the lions go down to the streams to drink.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah—yes—” said Peter; “but that’s because we can’t help it!” + </p> + <p> + They were silent again for a little while. Then Peter, seeing that the + stranger showed no inclination to speak, said, “Did you hear of the spree + they had up Bulawayo way, hanging those three niggers for spies? I wasn’t + there myself, but a fellow who was told me they made the niggers jump down + from the tree and hang themselves; one fellow wouldn’t bally jump, till + they gave him a charge of buckshot in the back: and then he caught hold of + a branch with his hands and they had to shoot ‘em loose. He didn’t like + hanging. I don’t know if it’s true, of course; I wasn’t there myself, but + a fellow who was told me. Another fellow who was at Bulawayo, but who + wasn’t there when they were hung, said they fired at them just after they + jumped, to kill ‘em. I—” + </p> + <p> + “I was there,” said the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you were?” said Peter. “I saw a photograph of the niggers hanging, + and our fellows standing round smoking; but I didn’t see you in it. I + suppose you’d just gone away?” + </p> + <p> + “I was beside the men when they were hung,” said the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you were, were you?” said Peter. “I don’t much care about seeing that + sort of thing myself. Some fellows think it’s the best fun out to see the + niggers kick; but I can’t stand it: it turns my stomach. It’s not + liver-heartedness,” said Peter, quickly, anxious to remove any adverse + impression as to his courage which the stranger might form; “if it’s + shooting or fighting, I’m there. I’ve potted as many niggers as any man in + our troop, I bet. It’s floggings and hangings I’m off. It’s the way one’s + brought up, you know. My mother never even would kill our ducks; she let + them die of old age, and we had the feathers and the eggs: and she was + always drumming into me;—don’t hit a fellow smaller than yourself; + don’t hit a fellow weaker than yourself; don’t hit a fellow unless he can + hit you back as good again. When you’ve always had that sort of thing + drummed into you, you can’t get rid of it, somehow. Now there was that + other nigger they shot. They say he sat as still as if he was cut out of + stone, with his arms round his legs; and some of the fellows gave him + blows about the head and face before they took him off to shoot him. Now, + that’s the sort of thing I can’t do. It makes me sick here, somehow.” + Peter put his hand rather low down over the pit of his stomach. “I’ll + shoot as many as you like if they’ll run, but they mustn’t be tied up.” + </p> + <p> + “I was there when that man was shot,” said the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Why, you seem to have been everywhere,” said Peter. “Have you seen Cecil + Rhodes?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I have seen him,” said the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Now he’s death on niggers,” said Peter Halket, warming his hands by the + fire; “they say when he was Prime Minister down in the Colony he tried to + pass a law that would give their masters and mistresses the right to have + their servants flogged whenever they did anything they didn’t like; but + the other Englishmen wouldn’t let him pass it. But here he can do what he + likes. That’s the reason some fellows don’t want him to be sent away. They + say, ‘If we get the British Government here, they’ll be giving the niggers + land to live on; and let them have the vote, and get civilised and + educated, and all that sort of thing; but Cecil Rhodes, he’ll keep their + noses to the grindstone.’ ‘I prefer land to niggers,’ he says. They say + he’s going to parcel them out, and make them work on our lands whether + they like it or not—just as good as having slaves, you know: and you + haven’t the bother of looking after them when they’re old. Now, there I’m + with Rhodes; I think it’s an awfully good move. We don’t come out here to + work; it’s all very well in England; but we’ve come here to make money, + and how are we to make it, unless you get niggers to work for you, or + start a syndicate? He’s death on niggers, is Rhodes!” said Peter, + meditating; “they say if we had the British Government here and you were + thrashing a nigger and something happened, there’d be an investigation, + and all that sort of thing. But, with Cecil, it’s all right, you can do + what you like with the niggers, provided you don’t get HIM into trouble.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger watched the clear flame as it burnt up high in the still + night air; then suddenly he started. + </p> + <p> + “What is it?” said Peter; “do you hear anything?” + </p> + <p> + “I hear far off,” said the stranger, “the sound of weeping, and the sound + of blows. And I hear the voices of men and women calling to me.” + </p> + <p> + Peter listened intently. “I don’t hear anything!” he said. “It must be in + your head. I sometimes get a noise in mine.” He listened intently. “No, + there’s nothing. It’s all so deadly still.” + </p> + <p> + They sat silent for a while. + </p> + <p> + “Peter Simon Halket,” said the stranger suddenly—Peter started; he + had not told him his second name—“if it should come to pass that you + should obtain those lands you have desired, and you should obtain black + men to labour on them and make to yourself great wealth; or should you + create that company”—Peter started—“and fools should buy from + you, so that you became the richest man in the land; and if you should + take to yourself wide lands, and raise to yourself great palaces, so that + princes and great men of earth crept up to you and laid their hands + against yours, so that you might slip gold into them—what would it + profit you?” + </p> + <p> + “Profit!” Peter Halket stared: “Why, it would profit everything. What + makes Beit and Rhodes and Barnato so great? If you’ve got eight millions—” + </p> + <p> + “Peter Simon Halket, which of those souls you have seen on earth is to you + greatest?” said the stranger, “Which soul is to you fairest?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” said Peter, “but we weren’t talking of souls at all; we were talking + of money. Of course if it comes to souls, my mother’s the best person I’ve + ever seen. But what does it help her? She’s got to stand washing clothes + for those stuck-up nincompoops of fine ladies! Wait till I’ve got money! + It’ll be somebody else then, who—” + </p> + <p> + “Peter Halket,” said the stranger, “who is the greatest; he who serves or + he who is served?” Peter looked at the stranger: then it flashed on him + that he was mad. + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” he said, “if it comes to that, what’s anything! You might as well + say, sitting there in your old linen shirt, that you were as great as + Rhodes or Beit or Barnato, or a king. Of course a man’s just the same + whatever he’s got on or whatever he has; but he isn’t the same to other + people.” + </p> + <p> + “There have kings been born in stables,” said the stranger. + </p> + <p> + Then Peter saw that he was joking, and laughed. “It must have been a long + time ago; they don’t get born there now,” he said. “Why, if God Almighty + came to this country, and hadn’t half-a-million in shares, they wouldn’t + think much of Him.” + </p> + <p> + Peter built up his fire. Suddenly he felt the stranger’s eyes were fixed + on him. + </p> + <p> + “Who gave you your land?” the stranger asked. + </p> + <p> + “Mine! Why, the Chartered Company,” said Peter. + </p> + <p> + The stranger looked back into the fire. “And who gave it to them?” he + asked softly. + </p> + <p> + “Why, England, of course. She gave them the land to far beyond the Zambezi + to do what they liked with, and make as much money out of as they could, + and she’d back ‘em.” + </p> + <p> + “Who gave the land to the men and women of England?” asked the stranger + softly. + </p> + <p> + “Why, the devil! They said it was theirs, and of course it was,” said + Peter. + </p> + <p> + “And the people of the land: did England give you the people also?” + </p> + <p> + Peter looked a little doubtfully at the stranger. “Yes, of course, she + gave us the people; what use would the land have been to us otherwise?” + </p> + <p> + “And who gave her the people, the living flesh and blood, that she might + give them away, into the hands of others?” asked the stranger, raising + himself. + </p> + <p> + Peter looked at him and was half afeared. “Well, what could she do with a + lot of miserable niggers, if she didn’t give them to us? A lot of + good-for-nothing rebels they are, too,” said Peter. + </p> + <p> + “What is a rebel?” asked the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “My Gawd!” said Peter, “you must have lived out of the world if you don’t + know what a rebel is! A rebel is a man who fights against his king and his + country. These bloody niggers here are rebels because they are fighting + against us. They don’t want the Chartered Company to have them. But + they’ll have to. We’ll teach them a lesson,” said Peter Halket, the + pugilistic spirit rising, firmly reseating himself on the South African + earth, which two years before he had never heard of, and eighteen months + before he had never seen, as if it had been his mother earth, and the land + in which he first saw light. + </p> + <p> + The stranger watched the fire; then he said musingly, “I have seen a land + far from here. In that land are men of two kinds who live side by side. + Well nigh a thousand years ago one conquered the other; they have lived + together since. Today the one people seeks to drive forth the other who + conquered them. Are these men rebels, too?” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Peter, pleased at being deferred to, “that all depends who + they are, you know!” + </p> + <p> + “They call the one nation Turks, and the other Armenians,” said the + stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, the Armenians aren’t rebels,” said Peter; “they are on our side! The + papers are all full of it,” said Peter, pleased to show his knowledge. + “Those bloody Turks! What right had they to conquer the Armenians? Who + gave them their land? I’d like to have a shot at them myself!” + </p> + <p> + “WHY are Armenians not rebels?” asked the stranger, gently. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you do ask such curious questions,” said Peter. “If they don’t like + the Turks, why should they have ‘em? If the French came now and conquered + us, and we tried to drive them out first chance we had; you wouldn’t call + us rebels! Why shouldn’t they try to turn those bloody Turks out? + Besides,” said Peter, bending over and talking in the manner of one who + imparts secret and important information; “you see, if we don’t help the + Armenians the Russians would; and we,” said Peter, looking exceedingly + knowing, “we’ve got to prevent that: they’d get the land; and it’s on the + road to India. And we don’t mean them to. I suppose you don’t know much + about politics in Palestine?” said Peter, looking kindly and patronisingly + at the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “If these men,” said the stranger, “would rather be free, or be under the + British Government, than under the Chartered Company, why, when they + resist the Chartered Company, are they more rebels than the Armenians when + they resist the Turk? Is the Chartered Company God, that every knee should + bow before it, and before it every head be bent? Would you, the white men + of England, submit to its rule for one day?” + </p> + <p> + “Ah,” said Peter, “no, of course we shouldn’t, but we are white men, and + so are the Armenians—almost—” Then he glanced at the + stranger’s dark face, and added quickly, “At least, it’s not the colour + that matters, you know. I rather like a dark face, my mother’s eyes are + brown—but the Armenians, you know, they’ve got long hair like us.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, it is the hair, then, that matters,” said the stranger softly. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, well,” said Peter, “it’s not altogether, of course. But it’s quite a + different thing, the Armenians wanting to get rid of the Turks, and these + bloody niggers wanting to get rid of the Chartered Company. Besides, the + Armenians are Christians, like us!” + </p> + <p> + “Are YOU Christians?” A strange storm broke across the stranger’s + features; he rose to his feet. + </p> + <p> + “Why, of course, we are!” said Peter. “We’re all Christians, we English. + Perhaps you don’t like Christians, though? Some Jews don’t, I know,” said + Peter, looking up soothingly at him. + </p> + <p> + “I neither love nor hate any man for that which he is called,” said the + stranger; “the name boots nothing.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger sat down again beside the fire, and folded his hands. + </p> + <p> + “Is the Chartered Company Christian also?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, oh yes,” said Peter. + </p> + <p> + “What is a Christian?” asked the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “Well, now, you really do ask such curious questions. A Christian is a man + who believes in Heaven and Hell, and God and the Bible, and in Jesus + Christ, that he’ll save him from going to Hell, and if he believes he’ll + be saved, he will be saved.” + </p> + <p> + “But here, in this world, what is a Christian?” + </p> + <p> + “Why,” said Peter, “I’m a Christian—we’re all Christians.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger looked into the fire; and Peter thought he would change the + subject. “It’s curious how like my mother you are; I mean, your ways. She + was always saying to me, ‘Don’t be too anxious to make money, Peter. Too + much wealth is as bad as too much poverty.’ You’re very like her.” + </p> + <p> + After a while Peter said, bending over a little towards the stranger, “If + you don’t want to make money, what did you come to this land for? No one + comes here for anything else. Are you in with the Portuguese?” + </p> + <p> + “I am not more with one people than with another,” said the stranger. “The + Frenchman is not more to me than the Englishman, the Englishman than the + Kaffir, the Kaffir than the Chinaman. I have heard,” said the stranger, + “the black infant cry as it crept on its mother’s body and sought for her + breast as she lay dead in the roadway. I have heard also the rich man’s + child wail in the palace. I hear all cries.” + </p> + <p> + Peter looked intently at him. “Why, who are you?” he said; then, bending + nearer to the stranger and looking up, he added, “What is it that you are + doing here?” + </p> + <p> + “I belong,” said the stranger, “to the strongest company on earth.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Peter, sitting up, the look of wonder passing from his face. + “So that’s it, is it? Is it diamonds, or gold, or lands?” + </p> + <p> + “We are the most vast of all companies on the earth,” said the stranger; + “and we are always growing. We have among us men of every race and from + every land; the Esquimo, the Chinaman, the Turk, and the Englishman, we + have of them all. We have men of every religion, Buddhists, Mahomedans, + Confucians, Freethinkers, Atheists, Christians, Jews. It matters to us + nothing by what name the man is named, so he be one of us.” + </p> + <p> + And Peter said, “It must be hard for you all to understand one another, if + you are of so many different kinds?” + </p> + <p> + The stranger answered, “There is a sign by which we all know one another, + and by which all the world may know us.” (By this shall all men know that + ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.) + </p> + <p> + And Peter said, “What is that sign?” + </p> + <p> + But the stranger was silent. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, a kind of freemasonry!” said Peter, leaning on his elbow towards the + stranger, and looking up at him from under his pointed cap. “Are there any + more of you here in this country?” + </p> + <p> + “There are,” said the stranger. Then he pointed with his hand into the + darkness. “There in a cave were two women. When you blew the cave up they + were left unhurt behind a fallen rock. When you took away all the grain, + and burnt what you could not carry, there was one basketful that you knew + nothing of. The women stayed there, for one was eighty, and one near the + time of her giving birth; and they dared not set out to follow the remnant + of their tribe because you were in the plains below. Every day the old + woman doled grain from the basket; and at night they cooked it in their + cave where you could not see their smoke; and every day the old woman gave + the young one two handfuls and kept one for herself, saying, ‘Because of + the child within you.’ And when the child was born and the young woman + strong, the old woman took a cloth and filled it with all the grain that + was in the basket; and she put the grain on the young woman’s head and + tied the child on her back, and said, ‘Go, keeping always along the bank + of the river, till you come north to the land where our people are gone; + and some day you can send and fetch me.’ And the young woman said, ‘Have + you corn in the basket to last till they come?’ And she said, ‘I have + enough.’ And she sat at the broken door of the cave and watched the young + woman go down the hill and up the river bank till she was hidden by the + bush; and she looked down at the plain below, and she saw the spot where + the kraal had been and where she had planted mealies when she was a young + girl—” + </p> + <p> + “I met a woman with corn on her head and a child on her back!” said Peter + under his breath. + </p> + <p> + “—And tonight I saw her sit again at the door of the cave; and when + the sun had set she grew cold; and she crept in and lay down by the + basket. Tonight, at half-past three, she will die. I have known her since + she was a little child and played about the huts, while her mother worked + in the mealie fields. She was one of our company.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Peter. + </p> + <p> + “Other members we have here,” said the stranger. “There was a prospector”—he + pointed north; “he was a man who drank and swore when it listed him; but + he had many servants, and they knew where to find him in need. When they + were ill, he tended them with his own hands; when they were in trouble, + they came to him for help. When this war began, and all black men’s hearts + were bitter, because certain white men had lied to them, and their envoys + had been killed when they would have asked England to put her hand out + over them; at that time certain of the men who fought the white men came + to the prospector’s hut. And the prospector fired at them from a hole he + had cut in his door; but they fired back at him with an old elephant gun, + and the bullet pierced his side and he fell on the floor:—because + the innocent man suffers oftentimes for the guilty, and the merciful man + falls while the oppressor flourishes. Then his black servant who was with + him took him quickly in his arms, and carried him out at the back of the + hut, and down into the river bed where the water flowed and no man could + trace his footsteps, and hid him in a hole in the river wall. And when the + men broke into the hut they could find no white man, and no traces of his + feet. But at evening, when the black servant returned to the hut to get + food and medicine for his master, the men who were fighting caught him, + and they said, ‘Oh, you betrayer of your people, white man’s dog, who are + on the side of those who take our lands and our wives and our daughters + before our eyes; tell us where you have hidden him?’ And when he would not + answer them, they killed him before the door of the hut. And when the + night came, the white man crept up on his hands and knees, and came to his + hut to look for food. All the other men were gone, but his servant lay + dead before the door; and the white man knew how it must have happened. He + could not creep further, and he lay down before the door, and that night + the white man and the black lay there dead together, side by side. Both + those men were of my friends.” + </p> + <p> + “It was damned plucky of the nigger,” said Peter; “but I’ve heard of their + doing that sort of thing before. Even of a girl who wouldn’t tell where + her mistress was, and getting killed. But,” he added doubtfully, “all your + company seem to be niggers or to get killed?” + </p> + <p> + “They are of all races,” said the stranger. “In a city in the old Colony + is one of us, small of stature and small of voice. It came to pass on a + certain Sunday morning, when the men and women were gathered before him, + that he mounted his pulpit: and he said when the time for the sermon came, + ‘In place that I should speak to you, I will read you a history.’ And he + opened an old book more than two thousand years old: and he read: ‘Now it + came to pass that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in + Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. + </p> + <p> + “‘And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may + have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I + will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seemeth good to + thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. + </p> + <p> + “‘And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the + inheritance of my father unto thee. + </p> + <p> + “‘And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word + which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken unto him; for he had said, I will + not give thee the inheritance of my fathers.’ + </p> + <p> + “The man read the whole story until it was ended. Then he closed the book, + and he said, ‘My friends, Naboth has a vineyard in this land; and in it + there is much gold; and Ahab has desired to have it that the wealth may be + his.’ + </p> + <p> + “And he put the old book aside, and he took up another which was written + yesterday. And the men and women whispered one to another, even in the + church, ‘Is not that the Blue Book Report of the Select Committee of the + Cape Parliament on the Jameson raid?’ + </p> + <p> + “And the man said, ‘Friends, the first story I have read you is one of the + oldest stories of the world: the story I am about to read you is one of + the newest. Truth is not more truth because it is three thousand years + old, nor is it less truth because it is of yesterday. All books which + throw light on truth are God’s books, therefore I shall read to you from + the pages before me. Shall the story of Ahab king of Samaria profit us + when we know not the story of the Ahabs of our day; and the Naboths of our + land be stoned while we sit at east?’ And he read to them portions of that + book. And certain rich men and women rose up and went out even while he + spoke, and his wife also went out. + </p> + <p> + “And when the service was ended and the man returned to his home, his wife + came to him weeping; and she said, ‘Did you see how some of the most + wealthy and important people got up and went out this morning? Why did you + preach such a sermon, when we were just going to have the new wing added + to our house, and you thought they were going to raise your salary? You + have not a single Boer in your congregation! Why need you say the + Chartered Company raid on Johannesburg was wrong?’ + </p> + <p> + “He said, ‘My wife, if I believe that certain men whom we have raised on + high, and to whom we have given power, have done a cowardly wrong, shall I + not say it?’ + </p> + <p> + “And she said, ‘Yes, and only a little while ago, when Rhodes was licking + the dust off the Boers’ feet that he might keep them from suspecting while + he got ready this affair, then you attacked both Rhodes and the Bond (The + Afrikander Bond, the organised Dutch political party, through whom Mr. + Rhodes worked, and by whom he was backed.) for trying to pass a Bill for + flogging the niggers, and we lost fifty pounds we might have got for the + church?’ And he said, ‘My wife, cannot God be worshipped as well under the + dome of the heaven He made as in a golden palace? Shall a man keep + silence, when he sees oppression, to earn money for God? If I have + defended the black man when I believed him to be wronged, shall I not also + defend the white man, my flesh-brother? Shall we speak when one man is + wronged and not when it is another?’ + </p> + <p> + “And she said, ‘Yes, but you have your family and yourself to think of! + Why are you always in opposition to the people who could do something for + us? You are only loved by the poor. If it is necessary for you to attack + some one, why don’t you attack the Jews for killing Christ, or Herod, or + Pontius Pilate; why don’t you leave alone the men who are in power today, + and who with their money can crush you!’ + </p> + <p> + “And he said, ‘Oh my wife, those Jews, and Herod, and Pontius Pilate are + long dead. If I should preach of them now, would it help them? Would it + save one living thing from their clutches? The past is dead, it lives only + for us to learn from. The present, the present only, is ours to work in, + and the future ours to create. Is all the gold of Johannesburg or are all + the diamonds in Kimberley worth, that one Christian man should fall by the + hand of his fellows—aye, or one heathen brother?’ + </p> + <p> + “And she answered, ‘Oh, that is all very well. If you were a really + eloquent preacher, and could draw hundreds of men about you, and in time + form a great party with you at its head, I shouldn’t mind what you said. + But you, with your little figure and your little voice, who will ever + follow you? You will be left all alone; that is all the good that will + ever come to you through it.’ + </p> + <p> + “And he said, ‘Oh my wife, have I not waited and watched and hoped that + they who are nobler and stronger than I, all over this land, would lift up + their voices and speak—and there is only a deadly silence? Here and + there one has dared to speak aloud; but the rest whisper behind the hand; + one says, ‘My son has a post, he would lose it if I spoke loud’; and + another says, ‘I have a promise of land’; and another, ‘I am socially + intimate with these men, and should lose my social standing if I let my + voice be heard.’ Oh my wife, our land, our goodly land, which we had hoped + would be free and strong among the peoples of earth, is rotten and + honeycombed with the tyranny of gold! We who had hoped to stand first in + the Anglo-Saxon sisterhood for justice and freedom, are not even fit to + stand last. Do I not know only too bitterly how weak is my voice; and that + that which I can do is as nothing: but shall I remain silent? Shall the + glow-worm refuse to give its light, because it is not a star set up on + high; shall the broken stick refuse to burn and warm one frozen man’s + hands, because it is not a beacon-light flaming across the earth? Ever a + voice is behind my shoulder, that whispers to me—‘Why break your + head against a stone wall? Leave this work to the greater and larger men + of your people; they who will do it better than you can do it! Why break + your heart when life could be so fair to you?’ But, oh my wife, the strong + men are silent! and shall I not speak, though I know my power is as + nothing?’ + </p> + <p> + “He laid his head upon his hands. + </p> + <p> + “And she said, ‘I cannot understand you. When I come home and tell you + that this man drinks, or that that woman has got into trouble, you always + answer me, ‘Wife, what business is it of ours if so be that we cannot help + them?’ A little innocent gossip offends you; and you go to visit people + and treat them as your friends, into whose house I would not go. Yet when + the richest and strongest men in the land, who could crush you with their + money, as a boy crushes a fly between his finger and thumb, take a certain + course, you stand and oppose them.’ + </p> + <p> + “And he said, ‘My wife, with the sins of the private man, what have I to + do, if so be I have not led him into them? Am I guilty? I have enough to + do looking after my own sins. The sin that a man sins against himself is + his alone, not mine; the sin that a man sins against his fellows is his + and theirs, not mine: but the sins that a man sins, in that he is taken up + by the hands of a people and set up on high, and whose hand they have + armed with their sword, whose power to strike is their power—his + sins are theirs; there is no man so small in the whole nation that he + dares say, ‘I have no responsibility for this man’s action.’ We armed him, + we raised him, we strengthened him, and the evil he accomplishes is more + ours than his. If this man’s end in South Africa should be accomplished, + and the day should come when, from the Zambezi to the sea, white man + should fly at white man’s throat, and every man’s heart burn with + bitterness against his fellow, and the land be bathed with blood as rain—shall + I then dare to pray, who have now feared to speak? Do not think I wish for + punishment upon these men. Let them take the millions they have wrung out + of this land, and go to the lands of their birth, and live in wealth, + luxury, and joy; but let them leave this land they have tortured and + ruined. Let them keep the money they have made here; we may be the poorer + for it; but they cannot then crush our freedom with it. Shall I ask my God + Sunday by Sunday to brood across the land, and bind all its children’s + hearts in a close-knit fellowship;—yet, when I see its people + betrayed, and their jawbone broken by a stroke from the hand of gold; when + I see freedom passing from us, and the whole land being grasped by the + golden claw, so that the generation after us shall be born without + freedom, to labour for the men who have grasped all, shall I hold my + peace? The Boer and the Englishman who have been in this land, have not + always loved mercy, nor have they always sought after justice; but the + little finger of the speculator and monopolist who are devouring this land + will be thicker on the backs of the children of this land, black and + white, than the loins of the Dutchmen and Englishmen who have been.’ + </p> + <p> + “And she said, ‘I have heard it said that it was our duty to sacrifice + ourselves for the men and women living in the world at the same time as + ourselves; but I never before heard that we had to sacrifice ourselves for + people that are not born. What are they to you? You will be dust, and + lying in your grave, before that time comes. If you believe in God,’ she + said, ‘why cannot you leave it to Him to bring good out of all this evil? + Does He need YOU to be made a martyr of? or will the world be lost without + YOU?’ + </p> + <p> + “He said, ‘Wife, if my right hand be in a fire, shall I not pull it out? + Shall I say, ‘God may bring good out of this evil,’ and let it burn? That + Unknown that lies beyond us we know of no otherwise than through its + manifestation in our own hearts; it works no otherwise upon the sons of + men than through man. And shall I feel no bond binding me to the men to + come, and desire no good or beauty for them—I, who am what I am, and + enjoy what I enjoy, because for countless ages in the past men have lived + and laboured, who lived not for themselves alone, and counted no costs? + Would the great statue, the great poem, the great reform ever be + accomplished, if men counted the cost and created for their own lives + alone? And no man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. You + cannot tell me not to love the men who shall be after me; a soft voice + within me, I know not what, cries out ever, ‘Live for them as for your own + children.’ When in the circle of my own small life all is dark, and I + despair, hope springs up in me when I remember that something nobler and + fairer may spring up in the spot where I now stand.’ + </p> + <p> + “And she said, ‘You want to put everyone against us! The other women will + not call on me; and our church is more and more made up of poor people. + Money holds by money. If your congregation were Dutchmen, I know you would + be always preaching to love the Englishmen, and be kind to niggers. If + they were Kaffirs you would always be telling them to help white men. You + will never be on the side of the people who can do anything for us! You + know the offer we had from—’ + </p> + <p> + “And he said, ‘Oh my wife, what are the Boer, and the Russian, and the + Turk to me; am I responsible for their action? It is my own nation, mine, + which I love as a man loves his own soul, whose acts touch me. I would + that wherever our flag was planted the feeble or oppressed peoples of + earth might gather under it, saying, ‘Under this banner is freedom and + justice which knows no race or colour.’ I wish that on our banner were + blazoned in large letters “Justice and Mercy”, and that in every new land + which our feet touch, every son among us might see ever blazoned above his + head that banner, and below it the great order:—“By this sign, + Conquer!”—and that the pirate flag which some men now wave in its + place, may be torn down and furled for ever! Shall I condone the action of + some, simply because they happen to be of my own race, when in Bushman or + Hottentot I would condemn it? Shall men belonging to one of the mightiest + races of earth, creep softly on their bellies, to attack an unwarned + neighbour; when even the Kaffir has again and again given notice of war, + saying, ‘Be ready, on such and such a day I come to fight you?’ Is + England’s power so broken, and our race so enfeebled, that we dare no + longer to proclaim war; but must creep silently upon our bellies in the + dark to stab, like a subject people to whom no other course is open? These + men are English; but not English-MEN. When the men of our race fight, they + go to war with a blazoned flag and the loud trumpet before them. It is + because I am an Englishman that these things crush me. Better that ten + thousand of us should lie dead and defeated on one battlefield, fighting + for some great cause, and my own sons among them, than that those twelve + poor boys should have fallen at Doornkop, fighting to fill up the pockets + of those already oe’r-heavy with gold.’ + </p> + <p> + “And she said, ‘YOU, what does it matter what you feel or think; YOU will + never be able to do anything!’ + </p> + <p> + “And he said, ‘Oh my wife, stand by me; do not crush me. For me in this + matter there is no path but one on which light shines.’ + </p> + <p> + “And she said, ‘You are very unkind; you don’t care what the people say + about us!’ and she wept bitterly, and went out of the room. But as soon as + the door was shut, she dried her tears; and she said to herself, ‘Now he + will never dare to preach such a sermon again. He dares never oppose me + when once I have set down my foot.’ + </p> + <p> + “And the man spoke to no one, and went out alone in the veld. All the + afternoon he walked up and down among the sand and low bushes; and I + walked there beside him. + </p> + <p> + “And when the evening came, he went back to his chapel. Many were absent, + but the elders sat in their places, and his wife also was there. And the + light shone on the empty benches. And when the time came he opened the old + book of the Jews; and he turned the leaves and read:—‘If thou + forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are + ready to be slain; if thou sayest, ‘Behold we knew it not!’ Doth not he + that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth + he not know it?’ + </p> + <p> + “And he said, ‘This morning we considered the evils this land is suffering + under at the hands of men whose aim is the attainment of wealth and power. + Tonight we shall look at our own share in the matter. I think we shall + realise that with us, and not with the men we have lifted up on high, lies + the condemnation.’ Then his wife rose and went out, and others followed + her; and the little man’s voice rolled among the empty benches; but he + spoke on. + </p> + <p> + “And when the service was over he went out. No elder came to the porch to + greet him; but as he stood there one, he saw not whom, slipped a leaflet + into his hand. He held it up, and read in the lamplight what was written + on it in pencil. He crushed it up in his hand, as a man crushes that which + has run a poisonous sting into him; then he dropped it on the earth as a + man drops that he would forget. A fine drizzly rain was falling, and he + walked up the street with his arms folded behind him, and his head bent. + The people walked up the other side; and it seemed to him he was alone. + But I walked behind him.” + </p> + <p> + “And then,” asked Peter, seeing that the stranger was silent, “what + happened to him after that?” + </p> + <p> + “That was only last Sunday,” said the stranger. + </p> + <p> + There was silence again for some seconds. + </p> + <p> + Then Peter said, “Well, anyhow, at least he didn’t die!” + </p> + <p> + The stranger crossed his hands upon his knees. “Peter Simon Halket,” he + said, “it is easier for a man to die than to stand alone. He who can stand + alone can, also, when the need be, die.” + </p> + <p> + Peter looked up wistfully into the stranger’s face. “I should not like to + die myself,” he said, “not yet. I shall not be twenty-one till next + birthday. I should like to see life first.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger made no answer. + </p> + <p> + Presently Peter said, “Are all the men of your company poor men?” + </p> + <p> + The stranger waited a while before he answered; then he said,—“There + have been rich men who have desired to join us. There was a young man + once; and when he heard the conditions, he went away sorrowful, for he had + great possessions.” + </p> + <p> + There was silence again for a while. + </p> + <p> + “Is it long since your company was started?” asked Peter. + </p> + <p> + “There is no man living who can conceive of its age,” said the stranger. + “Even here on this earth it began, when these hills were young, and these + lichens had hardly shown their stains upon the rocks, and man still raised + himself upwards with difficulty because the sinews in his thighs were + weak. In those days, which men reck not of now, man, when he hungered, fed + on the flesh of his fellow man and found it sweet. Yet even in those days + it came to pass that there was one whose head was higher than her fellows + and her thought keener, and, as she picked the flesh from a human skull, + she pondered. And so it came to pass the next night, when men were + gathered around the fire ready to eat, that she stole away, and when they + went to the tree where the victim was bound, they found him gone. And they + cried one to another, ‘She, only she, has done this, who has always said, + ‘I like not the taste of man-flesh; men are too like me; I cannot eat + them.’ ‘She is mad,’ they cried; ‘let us kill her!’ So, in those dim, + misty times that men reck not of now, that they hardly believe in, that + woman died. But in the heads of certain men and women a new thought had + taken root; they said, ‘We also will not eat of her. There is something + evil in the taste of human flesh.’ And ever after, when the fleshpots were + filled with man-flesh, these stood aside, and half the tribe ate human + flesh and half not; then, as the years passed, none ate. + </p> + <p> + “Even in those days, which men reck not of now, when men fell easily open + their hands and knees, they were of us on the earth. And, if you would + learn a secret, even before man trod here, in the days when the dicynodont + bent yearningly over her young, and the river-horse which you find now + nowhere on earth’s surface, save buried in stone, called with love to his + mate; and the birds whose footprints are on the rocks flew in the sunshine + calling joyfully to one another—even in those days when man was not, + the fore-dawn of this kingdom had broken on the earth. And still as the + sun rises and sets and the planets journey round, we grow and grow.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger rose from the fire, and stood upright: around him, and behind + him, the darkness stood out. + </p> + <p> + “All earth is ours. And the day shall come, when the stars, looking down + on this little world, shall see no spot where the soil is moist and dark + with the blood of man shed by his fellow man; the sun shall rise in the + East and set in the West and shed his light across this little globe; and + nowhere shall he see man crushed by his fellows. And they shall beat their + swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall + not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. + And instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree; and instead of the + brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and man shall nowhere crush man on + all the holy earth. Tomorrow’s sun shall rise,” said the stranger, “and it + shall flood these dark kopjes with light, and the rocks shall glint in it. + Not more certain is that rising than the coming of that day. And I say to + you that even here, in the land where now we stand, where today the cries + of the wounded and the curses of revenge ring in the air; even here, in + this land where man creeps on his belly to wound his fellow in the dark, + and where an acre of gold is worth a thousand souls, and a reef of shining + dirt is worth half a people, and the vultures are heavy with man’s flesh—even + here that day shall come. I tell you, Peter Simon Halket, that here on the + spot where now we stand shall be raised a temple. Man shall not gather in + it to worship that which divides; but they shall stand in it shoulder to + shoulder, white man with black, and the stranger with the inhabitant of + the land; and the place shall be holy; for men shall say, ‘Are we not + brethren and the sons of one Father?’” + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket looked upward silently. And the stranger said: “Certain men + slept upon a plain, and the night was chill and dark. And, as they slept, + at that hour when night is darkest, one stirred. Far off to the eastward, + through his half-closed eyelids, he saw, as it were, one faint line, thin + as a hair’s width, that edged the hill tops. And he whispered in the + darkness to his fellows: ‘The dawn is coming.’ But they, with fast-closed + eyelids murmured, ‘He lies, there is no dawn.’ + </p> + <p> + “Nevertheless, day broke.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger was silent. The fire burnt up in red tongues of flame that + neither flickered nor flared in the still night air. Peter Halket crept + near to the stranger. + </p> + <p> + “When will that time be?” he whispered; “in a thousand years’ time?” + </p> + <p> + And the stranger answered, “A thousand years are but as our yesterday’s + journey, or as our watch tonight, which draws already to its close. See, + piled, these rocks on which we now stand? The ages have been young and + they have grown old since they have lain here. Half that time shall not + pass before that time comes; I have seen its dawning already in the hearts + of men.” + </p> + <p> + Peter moved nearer, so that he almost knelt at the stranger’s feet: his + gun lay on the ground at the other side of the fire. + </p> + <p> + “I would like to be one of your men,” he said. “I am tired of belonging to + the Chartered Company.” + </p> + <p> + The stranger looked down gently. “Peter Simon Halket,” he said, “can you + bear the weight?” + </p> + <p> + And Peter said, “Give me work, that I may try.” + </p> + <p> + There was silence for a time; then the stranger said, “Peter Simon Halket, + take a message to England”—Peter Halket started—“Go to that + great people and cry aloud to it: ‘Where is the sword was given into your + hand, that with it you might enforce justice and deal out mercy? How came + you to give it up into the hands of men whose search is gold, whose thirst + is wealth, to whom men’s souls and bodies are counters in a game? How came + you to give up the folk that were given into your hands, into the hand of + the speculator and the gamester; as though they were dumb beasts who might + be bought or sold? + </p> + <p> + “‘Take back your sword, Great People—but wipe it first, lest some of + the gold and blood stick to your hand. + </p> + <p> + “‘What is this, I see!—the sword of the Great People, transformed to + burrow earth for gold, as the snouts of swine for earth nuts! Have you no + other use for it, Great Folk? + </p> + <p> + “‘Take back your sword; and, when you have thoroughly cleansed it and + wiped it of the blood and mire, then raise it to set free the oppressed of + other climes. + </p> + <p> + “‘Great Prince’s Daughter, take heed! You put your sword into the hands of + recreant knights; they will dull its edge and mar its brightness, and, + when your hour of need comes and you would put it into other hands, you + will find its edge chipped and its point broken. Take heed! Take heed!’ + </p> + <p> + “Cry to the wise men of England: ‘You, who in peace and calm in shaded + chambers ponder on all things in heaven and earth, and take all knowledge + for your province, have you no time to think of this? To whom has England + given her power? How do the men wield it who have filched it from her? Say + not, What have we to do with folk across the waters; have we not matter + enough for thought in our own land? Where the brain of a nation has no + time to go, there should its hands never be sent to labour: where the + power of a people goes, there must its intellect and knowledge go, to + guide it. Oh, you who sit at ease, studying past and future—and + forget the present—you have no right to sit at ease knowing nothing + of the working of the powers you have armed and sent to work on men afar. + Where is your nation’s sword—you men of thought?’ + </p> + <p> + “Cry to the women of England: ‘You, who repose in sumptuous houses, with + children on your knees; think not it is only the rustling of the soft + draped curtains, or the whistling of the wind, you hear. Listen! May it + not be the far off cry of those your sword governs, creeping towards you + across wide oceans till it pierces even into your inmost sanctuary? + Listen! + </p> + <p> + “For the womanhood of a dominant people has not accomplished all its + labour when it has borne its children and fed them at its breast: there + cries to it also from over seas and across continents the voice of the + child-peoples—‘Mother-heart, stand for us!’ It would be better for + you that your wombs should be barren and that your race should die out; + than that you should listen, and give no answer.’” + </p> + <p> + The stranger lifted his hands upwards as he spoke, and Peter saw there + were the marks of old wounds in both. + </p> + <p> + “Cry aloud to the working men and women of England: ‘You, who for ages + cried out because the heel of your masters was heavy on you; and who have + said, ‘We curse the kings that sit at ease, and care not who oppresses the + folk, so their coffers be full and their bellies satisfied, and they be + not troubled with the trouble of rule’; you, who have taken the king’s + rule from him and sit enthroned within his seat; is his sin not yours + today? If men should add but one hour to your day’s labour, or make but + one fraction dearer the bread you eat, would you not rise up as one man? + Yet, what is dealt out to men beyond seas whom you rule wounds you not. + Nay, have you not sometimes said, as kings of old: ‘It matters not who + holds out our sword, marauder or speculator, so he calls it ours, we must + cloak up the evil it has done!’ Think you, no other curses rise to heaven + but yours? Where is your sword? Into whose hand has it fallen? Take it + quickly and cleanse it!’” + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket crouched, looking upwards; then he cried: “Master, I cannot + give that message, I am a poor unlearn’d man. And if I should go to + England and cry aloud, they would say, ‘Who is this, who comes preaching + to a great people? Is not his mother with us, and a washerwoman; and was + not his father a day labourer at two shillings a day?’ and they would + laugh me to scorn. And, in truth, the message is so long I could not well + remember it; give me other work to do.” + </p> + <p> + And the stranger said, “Take a message to the men and women of this land. + Go, from the Zambezi to the sea, and cry to its white men and women, and + say: ‘I saw a wide field, and in it were two fair beasts. Wide was the + field about them and rich was the earth with sweet scented herbs, and so + abundant was the pasturage that hardly might they consume all that grew + about them: and the two were like one to another, for they were the sons + of one mother. And as I looked, I saw, far off to the northward, a speck + within the sky, so small it was, and so high it was, that the eye scarce + might mark it. Then it came nearer and hovered over the spot where the two + beasts fed:—and its neck was bare, and its beak was hooked, and its + talons were long, and its wings strong. And it hovered over the field + where the two beasts were; and I saw it settle down upon a great white + stone; and it waited. And I saw more specks to the northward, and more and + more came onward to join him who sat upon the stone. And some hovered over + the beasts, and some sharpened their beaks on the stones; and some walked + in and out between the beasts’ legs. And I saw that they were waiting for + something. + </p> + <p> + “‘Then he who first came flew from one of the beasts to the other, and sat + upon their necks, and put his beak within their ears. And he flew from one + to the other and flapped his wings in their faces till the beasts were + blinded, and each believed it was his fellow who attacked him. And they + fell to, and fought; they gored one another’s sides till the field was red + with blood and the ground shook beneath them. The birds sat by and + watched; and when the blood flowed they walked round and round. And when + the strength of the two beasts was exhausted they fell to earth. Then the + birds settled down upon them, and feasted; till their maws were full, and + their long bare necks were wet; and they stood with their beaks deep in + the entrails of the two dead beasts; and looked out with their keen bright + eyes from above them. And he who was king of all plucked out the eyes, and + fed on the hearts of the dead beasts. And when his maw was full, so that + he could eat no more, he sat on his stone hard by and flapped his great + wings.’ + </p> + <p> + “Peter Simon Halket, cry to the white men and women of South Africa: ‘You + have a goodly land; you and your children’s children shall scarce fill it; + though you should stretch out your arms to welcome each stranger who comes + to live and labour with you. You are the twin branches of one tree; you + are the sons of one mother. Is this goodly land not wide enough for you, + that you should rend each other’s flesh at the bidding of those who will + wet their beaks within both your vitals?—Look up, see, they circle + in the air above you!’” + </p> + <p> + Almost Peter Halket started and looked upward; but there was only the + black sky of Mashonaland over his head. + </p> + <p> + The stranger stood silent looking downward into the fire. Peter Halket + half clasped his arms about his knees. + </p> + <p> + “My master,” he cried, “how can I take this message? The Dutchmen of South + Africa will not listen to me, they will say I am an Englishman. And the + Englishmen will say: ‘Who is this fellow who comes preaching peace, peace, + peace? Has he not been a year in the country and he has not a share in a + single company? Can anything he says be worth hearing? If he were a man of + any sense he would have made five thousand pounds at least.’ And they will + not listen to me. Give me another labour!” + </p> + <p> + And the stranger said: “Take a message to one man. Find him, whether he + sleep or wake, whether he eat or drink; and say to him: ‘Where are the + souls of the men that you have bought?’ + </p> + <p> + “And if he shall answer you and say: ‘I bought no men’s souls! The souls + that I bought were the souls of dogs?’ Then ask him this question, say to + him, ‘Where are the—’ + </p> + <p> + “And if he cry out, ‘You lie, you lie! I know what you are going to say. + What do I know of envoys? Was I ever afraid of the British Government? It + is all a lie!’ Then question him no further. But say: ‘There was a + rushlight once. It flickered and flared, and it guttered down, and went + out—and no man heeded it: it was only a rushlight. + </p> + <p> + “‘And there was a light once; men set it on high within a lighthouse, that + it might yield light to all souls at sea; that afar off they might see its + steady light and find harbour, and escape the rocks. + </p> + <p> + “‘And that light flickered and flared, as it listed. It went this way and + it went that; it burnt blue, and green, and red; now it disappeared + altogether, and then it burnt up again. And men, far out at sea, kept + their eyes fixed where they knew the light should be: saying, ‘We are + safe; the great light will lead us when we near the rocks.’ And on dark + nights men drifted nearer and nearer; and in the stillness of the midnight + they struck on the lighthouse rocks and went down at its feet. + </p> + <p> + “‘What now shall be done to that light, in that it was not a rushlight; in + that it was set on high by the hands of men, and in that men trusted it? + Shall it not be put out?’ + </p> + <p> + “And if he shall answer, saying, ‘What are men to me? they are fools, all + fools! Let them die!’—tell him again this story: ‘There was a + streamlet once: it burst forth from beneath the snow on a mountain’s + crown; and the snow made a cove over it. It ran on pure and blue and clear + as the sky above it, and the banks of snow made its cradle. Then it came + to a spot where the snow ended; and two ways lay before it by which it + might journey; one, on the mountain ridges, past rocks and stones, and + down long sunlit slopes to the sea; and the other, down a chasm. And the + stream hesitated: it twirled and purled, and went this way and went that. + It MIGHT have been, that it would have forced its way past rocks and + ridges and along mountain slopes, and made a path for itself where no path + had been; the banks would have grown green, and the mountain daisy would + have grown beside it; and all night the stars would have looked at their + faces in it; and down the long sunny slopes the sun would have played on + it by day; and the wood dove would have built her nest in the trees beside + it; and singing, singing, always singing, it would have made its way at + last to the great sea, whose far-off call all waters hear. + </p> + <p> + “‘But it hesitated.—It might have been, that, had but some hand been + there to move but one stone from its path, it would have forced its way + past rocks and ridges, and found its way to the great sea—it might + have been! But no hand was there. The streamlet gathered itself together, + and (it might be, that it was even in its haste to rush onwards to the + sea!)—it made one leap into the abyss. + </p> + <p> + “‘The rocks closed over it. Nine hundred fathoms deep, in a still, dark + pool it lay. The green lichen hung from the rocks. No sunlight came there, + and the stars could not look down at night. The pool lay still and silent. + Then, because it was alive and could not rest, it gathered its strength + together, through fallen earth and broken debris it oozed its way silently + on; and it crept out in a deep valley; the mountains closed it around. And + the streamlet laughed to itself, ‘Ha, ha! I shall make a great lake here; + a sea!’ And it oozed, and it oozed, and it filled half the plain. But no + lake came—only a great marsh—because there was no way + outwards, and the water rotted. The grass died out along its edges; and + the trees dropped their leaves and rotted in the water; and the wood dove + who had built her nest there flew up to the mountains, because her young + ones died. And the toads sat on the stones and dropped their spittle in + the water; and the reeds were yellow that grew along the edge. And at + night, a heavy, white fog gathered over the water, so that the stars could + not see through it; and by day a fine white mist hung over it, and the + sunbeams could not play on it. And no man knew that once the marsh had + leapt forth clear and blue from under a hood of snow on the mountain’s + top: aye, and that the turning of one stone might have caused that it had + run on and on, and mingled its song with the sea’s song for ever.’” + </p> + <p> + The stranger was silent for a while. + </p> + <p> + Then he said, “Should he answer you and say, ‘What do I care! What are + coves and mountain tops to me? Gold is real, and the power to crush men + within my hand’; tell him no further. + </p> + <p> + “But if by some chance he should listen, then, say this one thing to him, + clearly in the ear, that he may not fail to hear it: ‘The morning may + break grey, and the midday be dark and stormy; but the glory of the + evening’s sunset may wash out for ever the remembrance of the morning’s + dullness, and the darkness of the noon. So that all men shall say, ‘Ah, + for the beauty of that day!’—For the stream that has once descended + there is no path upwards.—It is never too late for the soul of a + man.’ + </p> + <p> + “And if he should laugh, and say: ‘You fool, a man may remake himself + entirely before twenty; he may reshape himself before thirty; but after + forty he is fixed. Shall I, who for forty-three years have sought money + and power, seek for anything else now? You want me to be Jesus Christ, I + suppose! How can I be myself and another man?’ Then answer him: ‘Deep in + the heart of every son of man lies an angel; but some have their wings + folded. Wake yours! He is larger and stronger than another man’s; mount up + with him!’ + </p> + <p> + “But if he curses you, and says, ‘I have eight millions of money, and I + care neither for God nor man!’—then make no answer, but stoop and + write before him.” The stranger bent down and wrote with his finger in the + white ashes of the fire. Peter Halket bent forward, and he saw the two + words the stranger had written. + </p> + <p> + The stranger said: “Say to him: ‘Though you should seek to make that name + immortal in this land; and should write it in gold dust, and set it with + diamonds, and cement it with human blood, shed from the Zambezi to the + sea, yet—.” The stranger passed his foot over the words; Peter + Halket looked down, and he saw only a bed of smooth white ashes where the + name had been. + </p> + <p> + The stranger said: “And if he should curse yet further, and say, ‘There is + not one man nor woman in South Africa I cannot buy with my money! When I + have the Transvaal, I shall buy God Almighty Himself, if I care to!’ + </p> + <p> + “Then say to him this one thing only, ‘Thy money perish with thee!’ and + leave him.” + </p> + <p> + There was a dead silence for a moment. Then the stranger stretched forth + his hand. “Yet in that leaving him, remember;—It is not the act, but + the will, which marks the soul of the man. He who has crushed a nation + sins no more than he who rejoices in the death throe of the meanest + creature. The stagnant pool is not less poisonous drop for drop than the + mighty swamp, though its reach be smaller. He who has desired to be and + accomplish what this man has been and accomplished, is as this man; though + he have lacked the power to perform. Nay, remember this one thing more:—Certain + sons of God are born on earth, named by men Children of Genius. In early + youth each stands at the parting of the way and chooses; he bears his gift + for others or for himself. But forget this never, whatever his choice may + be; that there is laid on him a burden that is laid not on others—all + space is open to him, and his choice is infinite—and if he falls + beneath it, let men weep rather than curse, for he was born a Son of God.” + </p> + <p> + There was silence again. Then Peter Halket clasped his arms about the + stranger’s feet. “My master,” he cried, “I dare not take that message. It + is not that men may say, ‘Here is Trooper Peter Halket, whom we all know, + a man who kept women and shot niggers, turned prophet.’ But it is, that it + is true. Have I not wished—” and Peter Halket would have poured out + all his soul; but the stranger prevented him. + </p> + <p> + “Peter Simon Halket,” he said, “is it the trumpet which gives forth the + call to battle, whether it be battered tin or gilded silver, which boots? + Is it not the call? What and if I should send my message by a woman or a + child: shall truth be less truth because the bearer is despised? Is it the + mouth that speaks or the word that is spoken which is eternal? + Nevertheless, if you will have it so, go, and say, ‘I, Peter Halket, + sinner among you all, who have desired women and gold, who have loved + myself and hated my fellow, I—‘” The stranger looked down at him, + and placed his hand gently on his head. “Peter Simon Halket,” he said, “a + harder task I give you than any which has been laid upon you. In that + small spot where alone on earth your will rules, bring there into being + the kingdom today. Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you. Walk + ever forward, looking not to the right hand or the left. Heed not what men + shall say of you. Succour the oppressed; deliver the captive. If thine + enemy hunger, feed him; if he is athirst give him drink.” + </p> + <p> + A curious warmth and gladness stole over Peter Halket as he knelt; it was + as, when a little child, his mother folded him to her: he saw nothing more + about him but a soft bright light. Yet in it he heard a voice cry, + “Because thou hast loved mercy—and hated oppression—” + </p> + <p> + When Trooper Peter Halket raised himself, he saw the figure of the + stranger passing from him. He cried, “My Master, let me go with you.” But + the figure did not turn. And, as it passed into the darkness, it seemed to + Peter Halket that the form grew larger and larger: and as it descended the + further side of the kopje it seemed that for one instant he still saw the + head with a pale, white light upon it: then it vanished. + </p> + <p> + And Trooper Peter Halket sat alone upon the kopje. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter II. + </h2> + <p> + It was a hot day. The sun poured down its rays over the scattered trees, + and stunted bush, and long grass, and over the dried up river beds. Far in + the blue, so high the eye could scarcely mark them, vultures were flying + southward, where forty miles off kraals had been destroyed and two hundred + black carcasses were lying in the sun. + </p> + <p> + Under a group of tall straggling trees among the grass and low scrub, on + the banks of an almost dried up river bed, a small camp had been pitched. + </p> + <p> + The party had lost their mules, and pending their recovery had already + been there seven days. The three cart loads of provisions they were + conveying to the large camp were drawn up under the trees and had a sail + thrown across them to form a shelter for some of the men; while on the + other side of the cleared and open space that formed the camp, a smaller + sail was thrown across two poles forming a rough tent; and away to the + left, a little cut off from the rest of the camp by some low bushes, was + the bell-shaped tent of the captain, under a tall tree. Before the + bell-shaped tent stood a short stunted tree; its thick white stem gnarled + and knotted; while two stunted misshapen branches, like arms, stretched + out on either side. + </p> + <p> + Before this tree, up and down, with his gun upon his arm, his head bent + and his eyes fixed on the ground, while the hot sun blazed on his + shoulders, walked a man. + </p> + <p> + Three or four fires were burning about the camp in different parts, three + cooking the mealies and rice which formed the diet of the men, their stock + of tinned meats having been exhausted; while the fourth, which was watched + by a native boy, contained the more appetising meal of the Captain. + </p> + <p> + Most of the men were out of camp; the coloured boys having gone to fetch + the mules, which had been discovered in the hills a few miles off, and + were expected to arrive in the evening; and the white men had gone out to + see what game they could bring down with their guns to flavour the mealie + pots, or to reconnoitre the country; though all native habitations had + been destroyed within a radius of thirty miles, and the land was as bare + of black men as a child’s hand of hair; and even the beasts seemed to have + vanished. + </p> + <p> + In the shade of the tent, formed of the canvas across two posts, lay three + white men, whose work it was to watch the pots and guard the camp. They + were all three Colonial Englishmen, and lay on the ground on their + stomachs, passing the time by carrying on a desultory conversation, or + taking a few whiffs, slowly, and with care, from their pipes, for tobacco + was precious in the camp. + </p> + <p> + Under some bushes a few yards off lay a huge trooper, whose nationality + was uncertain, but who was held to hail from some part of the British + Isles, and who had travelled round the world. He was currently reported to + have done three years’ labour for attempted rape in Australia, but nothing + certain was known regarding his antecedents. He had been up on guard half + the night, and was now taking his rest lying on his back with his arm + thrown over his face; but a slight movement could be noted in his jaw as + he slowly chewed a piece of tobacco; and occasionally when he turned it + round the mouth opened, and disclosed two rows of broken yellow stumps set + in very red gums. + </p> + <p> + The three Colonial Englishmen took no notice of him. Two, who were slowly + smoking, were of the large and powerful build, and somewhat loose set + about the shoulders, which is common among Colonial Europeans of the third + generation, whether Dutch or English, and had the placidity and general + good temper of expression which commonly marks the Colonial European who + grows up beyond the range of the cities. The third was smaller and more + wiry and of an unusually nervous type, with aquiline nose, and sallow + hatchet face, with a somewhat discontented expression. He was holding + forth, while his companions smoked and listened. + </p> + <p> + “Now what I say is this,” he brought his hand down on the red sand; “here + we are with about one half teaspoon of Dop given us at night, while he has + ten empty champagne bottles lying behind his tent. And we have to live on + the mealies we’re convoying for the horses, while he has pati and beef, + and lives like a lord! It’s all very well for the regulars; they know what + they’re in for, and they’ve got gentlemen over them anyhow, and one can + stomach anything if you know what kind of a fellow you’ve got over you. + English officers are gentlemen, anyhow; or if one was under Selous now—” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Selous’s a MAN!” broke out the other two, taking their pipes from + their mouths. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, well, that’s what I say. But these fellows, who couldn’t do as + farmers, and couldn’t do as shopkeepers, and God knows what else; and + their friends in England didn’t want to have them; they’re sent out here + to boss it over us! It’s a damned shame! Why, I want to know, amn’t I as + good as any of these fellows, who come swelling it about here? Friends got + money, I suppose!” He cast his sharp glance over towards the bell tent. + “If they gave us real English officers now—” + </p> + <p> + “Ah!” said the biggest of his companions, who, in spite of his huge form, + had something of the simplicity and good nature of a child in his handsome + face; “it’s because you’re not a big enough swell, you know! He’ll be a + colonel, or a general, before we’ve done with him. I call them all + generals or colonels up here; it’s safest, you know; if they’re not that + today they will be tomorrow!” + </p> + <p> + This was intended as a joke, and in that hot weather, and in that dull + world, anything was good enough to laugh at: the third man smiled, but the + first speaker remained serious. + </p> + <p> + “I only know this,” he said, “I’d teach these fellows a lesson, if any one + belonging to me had been among the people they left to be murdered here, + while they went gallivanting to the Transvaal. If my mother or sister had + been killed here, I’d have taken a pistol and blown out the brains of the + great Panjandrum, and the little ones after him. Fine administration of a + country, this, to invite people to come in and live here, and then take + every fighting man out of the country on a gold hunting marauding + expedition to the Transvaal, and leave us to face the bitter end. I look + upon every man and woman who was killed here as murdered by the Chartered + Company.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Jameson only did what he was told. He had to obey orders, like the + rest of us. He didn’t make the plan, and he’s got the punishment.” + </p> + <p> + “What business had he to listen? What’s all this fine administration they + talk of? It’s six years since I came to this country, and I’ve worked like + a nigger ever since I came, and what have I, or any men who’ve worked hard + at real, honest farming, got for it? Everything in the land is given away + for the benefit of a few big folks over the water or swells out here. If + England took over the Chartered Company tomorrow, what would she find?—everything + of value in the land given over to private concessionaires—they’ll + line their pockets if the whole land goes to pot! It’ll be the jackals + eating all the flesh off the horse’s bones, and calling the lion in to + lick the bones.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, you wait a bit and you’ll be squared,” said the handsome man. “I’ve + been here five years and had lots of promises, though I haven’t got + anything else yet; but I expect it to come some day, so I keep my mouth + shut! If they asked me to sign a paper, that Mr. Over-the-Way”—he + nodded towards the bell tent—“never got drunk or didn’t know how to + swear, I’d sign it, if there was a good dose of squaring to come after it. + I could stand a good lot of that sort of thing—squaring—if it + would only come my way.” + </p> + <p> + The men laughed in a dreary sort of way, and the third man, who had not + spoken yet, rolled round on to his back, and took the pipe from his mouth. + </p> + <p> + “I tell you what,” said the keen man, “those of us up here who have got a + bit of land and are trying honestly and fairly to work, are getting pretty + sick of this humbugging fighting. If we’d had a few men like the Curries + and Bowkers of the old days up here from the first, all this would never + have happened. And there’s no knowing when a reason won’t turn up for + keeping the bloody thing on or stopping it off for a time, to break out + just when one’s settled down to work. It’s a damned convenient thing to + have a war like this to turn on and off.” + </p> + <p> + Slowly the third man keeled round on to his stomach again: “Let + resignation wait. We fight the Matabele again tomorrow,” he said, + sententiously. + </p> + <p> + A low titter ran round the group. Even the man under the bushes, though + his eyes were still closed and his arm across his face, let his mouth + relax a little, and showed his yellow teeth. + </p> + <p> + “I’m always expecting,” said the big handsome man, “to have a paper come + round, signed by all the nigger chiefs, saying how much they love the + B.S.A. Company, and how glad they are the Panjandrum has got them, and how + awfully good he is to them; and they’re going to subscribe to the brazen + statue. There’s nothing a man can’t be squared to do.” + </p> + <p> + The third man lay on his back again, lazily examining his hand, which he + held above his face. “What’s that in the Bible,” he said, slowly, “about + the statue, whose thighs and belly were of brass, and its feet of mud?” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know much about the Bible,” said the keen man, “I’m going to see + if my pot isn’t boiling over. Won’t yours burn?” + </p> + <p> + “No, I asked the Captain’s boy to keep an eye on it—but I expect he + won’t. Do you put the rice in with the mealies?” + </p> + <p> + “Got to; I’ve got no other pot. And the fellows don’t object. It’s a tasty + variety, you know!” + </p> + <p> + The keen-faced man slouched away across the square to where his fire + burnt; and presently the other man rose and went, either to look at his + own pot or sleep under the carts; and the large Colonial man was left + alone. His fire was burning satisfactorily about fifty feet off, and he + folded his arms on the ground and rested his forehead on them, and watched + lazily the little black ants that ran about in the red sand, just under + his nose. + </p> + <p> + A great stillness settled down on the camp. Now and again a stick cracked + in the fires, and the cicadas cried aloud in the tree stems; but except + where the solitary paced up and down before the little flat-topped tree in + front of the captain’s tent, not a creature stirred in the whole camp; and + the snores of the trooper under the bushes might be heard half across the + camp. + </p> + <p> + The intense midday heat had settled down. + </p> + <p> + At last there was the sound of someone breaking through the long grass and + bushes which had only been removed for a few feet round the camp, and the + figure of a man emerged bearing in one hand a gun, and in the other a bird + which he had shot. He was evidently an Englishman, and not long from + Europe, by the bloom of the skin, which was perceptible in spite of the + superficial tan. His face was at the moment flushed with heat; but the + clear blue eyes and delicate features lost none of their sensitive + refinement. + </p> + <p> + He came up to the Colonial, and dropped the bird before him. “That is all + I’ve got,” he said. + </p> + <p> + He threw himself also down on the ground, and put his gun under the loose + flap of the tent. + </p> + <p> + The Colonial raised his head; and without taking his elbows from the + ground took up the bird. “I’ll put it into the pot; it’ll give it the + flavour of something except weevily mealies”; he said, and fell to + plucking it. + </p> + <p> + The Englishman took his hat off, and lifted the fine damp hair from his + forehead. + </p> + <p> + “Knocked up, eh?” said the Colonial, glancing kindly up at him. “I’ve a + few drops in my flask still.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no, I can stand it well enough. It’s only a little warm.” He gave a + slight cough, and laid his head down sideways on his arm. His eyes watched + mechanically the Colonial’s manipulation of the bird. He had left England + to escape phthisis; and he had gone to Mashonaland because it was a place + where he could earn an open-air living, and save his parents from the + burden of his support. + </p> + <p> + “What’s Halket doing over there?” he asked suddenly, raising his head. + </p> + <p> + “Weren’t you here this morning?” asked the Colonial. “Didn’t you know + they’d had a devil of a row?” + </p> + <p> + “Who?” asked the Englishman, half raising himself on his elbows. + </p> + <p> + “Halket and the Captain.” The Colonial paused in the plucking. “My God, + you never saw anything like it!” + </p> + <p> + The Englishman sat upright now, and looked keenly over the bushes where + Halket’s bent head might be seen as he paced to and fro. + </p> + <p> + “What’s he doing out there in this blazing sun?” + </p> + <p> + “He’s on guard,” said the Colonial. “I thought you were here when it + happened. It’s the best thing I ever saw or heard of in my whole life!” He + rolled half over on his side and laughed at the remembrance. “You see, + some of the men went down into the river, to look for fresh pools of + water, and they found a nigger, hidden away in a hole in the bank, not + five hundred yards from here! They found the bloody rascal by a little + path he tramped down to the water, trodden hard, just like a porcupine’s + walk. They got him in the hole like an aardvark, with a bush over the + mouth, so you couldn’t see it. He’d evidently been there a long time, the + floor was full of bones of fish he’d caught in the pool, and there was a + bit of root like a stick half gnawed through. He’d been potted, and got + two bullet wounds in the thigh; but he could walk already. It’s evident he + was just waiting till we were gone, to clear off after his people. He’d + got that beastly scurvy look a nigger gets when he hasn’t had anything to + eat for a long time. + </p> + <p> + “Well, they hauled him up before the Captain, of course; and he blew and + swore, and said the nigger was a spy, and was to be hanged tomorrow; he’d + hang him tonight, only the big troop might catch us up this evening, so + he’d wait to hear what the Colonel said; but if they didn’t come he’d hang + him first thing tomorrow morning, or have him shot, as sure as the sun + rose. He made the fellows tie him up to that little tree before his tent, + with riems round his legs, and riems round his waist, and a riem round his + neck.” + </p> + <p> + “What did the native say?” asked the Englishman. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, he didn’t say anything. There wasn’t a soul in the camp could have + understood him if he had. The coloured boys don’t know his language. I + expect he’s one of those bloody fellows we hit the day we cleared the bush + out yonder; but how he got down that bank with his leg in the state it + must have been, I don’t know. He didn’t try to fight when they caught him; + just stared in front of him—fright, I suppose. He must have been a + big strapping devil before he was taken down. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I tell you, we’d just got him fixed up, and the Captain was just + going into his tent to have a drink, and we chaps were all standing round, + when up steps Halket, right before the Captain, and pulls his front lock—you + know the way he has? Oh, my God, my God, if you could have seen it! I’ll + never forget it to my dying day!” The Colonial seemed bursting with + internal laughter. “He begins, ‘Sir, may I speak to you?’ in a formal kind + of way, like a fellow introducing a deputation; and then all of a sudden + he starts off—oh, my God, you never heard such a thing! It was like + a boy in Sunday-school saying up a piece of Scripture he’s learnt off by + heart, and got all ready beforehand, and he’s not going to be stopped till + he gets to the end of it.” + </p> + <p> + “What did he say,” asked the Englishman. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, he started, How did we know this nigger was a spy at all; it would be + a terrible thing to kill him if we weren’t quite sure; perhaps he was + hiding there because he was wounded. And then he broke out that, after + all, these niggers were men fighting for their country; we would fight + against the French if they came and took England from us; and the niggers + were brave men, ‘please sir’—(every five minutes he’d pull his + forelock, and say, ‘please sir!’)—‘and if we have to fight against + them we ought to remember they’re fighting for freedom; we shouldn’t shoot + wounded prisoners when they were black if we wouldn’t shoot them if they + were white!’ And then he broke out pure unmitigated Exeter Hall! You never + heard anything like it! All men were brothers, and God loved a black man + as well as a white; Mashonas and Matabele were poor ignorant folk, and we + had to take care of them. And then he started out, that we ought to let + this man go; we ought to give him food for the road, and tell him to go + back to his people, and tell them we hadn’t come to take their land but to + teach them and love them. ‘It’s hard to love a nigger, Captain, but we + must try it; we must try it!’—And every five minutes he’d break out + with, ‘And I think this is a man I know, Captain; I’m not sure, but I + think he comes from up Lo Magundis way!’—as if any born devil cared + whether a bloody nigger came from Lo Magundis or anywhere else! I’m sure + he said it fifteen times. And then he broke out, ‘I don’t mean that I’m + better than you or anybody else, Captain; I’m as bad a man as any in camp, + and I know it.’ And off he started, telling us all the sins he’d ever + committed; and he kept on, ‘I’m an unlearned, ignorant man, Captain; but I + must stand by this nigger; he’s got no one else!’ And then he says—‘If + you let me take him up to Lo Magundis, sir, I’m not afraid; and I’ll tell + the people there that it’s not their land and their women that we want, + it’s them to be our brothers and love us. If you’ll only let me go, sir, + I’ll go and make peace; give the man to me, sir!’” The Colonial shook with + laughter. + </p> + <p> + “What did the Captain say?” asked the Englishman. + </p> + <p> + “The Captain; well, you know the smallest thing sets him off swearing all + round the world; but he just stood there with his arms hanging down at + each side of him, and his eyes staring, and his face getting redder and + redder: and all he could say was, ‘My Gawd! my Gawd!’ I thought he’d + burst. And Halket stood there looking straight in front of him, as though + he didn’t see a soul of us all there.” + </p> + <p> + “What did the Captain do?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, as soon as Halket turned away he started swearing, but he got the + tail of one oath hooked on to the head of another. It was nearly as good + as Halket himself. And when he’d finished and got sane a bit, he said + Halket was to walk up and down there all day and keep watch on the nigger. + And he gave orders that if the big troop didn’t come up tonight, that he + was to be potted first thing in the morning, and that Halket was to shoot + him.” + </p> + <p> + The Englishman started: “What did Halket say?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing. He’s been walking there with his gun all day.” + </p> + <p> + The Englishman watched with his clear eyes the spot where Halket’s head + appeared and disappeared. + </p> + <p> + “Is the nigger hanging there now?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. The Captain said no one was to go near him, or give him anything to + eat or drink all day: but—” The Colonial glanced round where the + trooper lay under the bushes; and then lowering his voice added, “This + morning, a couple of hours ago, Halket sent the Captain’s coloured boy to + ask me for a drink of water. I thought it was for Halket himself, and the + poor devil must be hot walking there in the sun, so I sent him the water + out of my canvas bag. I went along afterwards to see what had become of my + mug; the boy had gone, and there, straight in front of the Captain’s tent, + before the very door, was Halket letting that bloody nigger drink out of + my mug. The riem was so tight round his neck he couldn’t drink but slowly, + and there was Halket holding it up to him! If the Captain had looked out! + W-h-e-w! I wouldn’t have been Halket!” + </p> + <p> + “Do you think he will try to make Halket do it?” asked the Englishman. + </p> + <p> + “Of course he will. He’s the Devil in; and Halket had better not make a + fuss about it, or it’ll be the worse for him.” + </p> + <p> + “His time’s up tomorrow evening!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, but not tomorrow morning. And I wouldn’t make a row about it if I + was Halket. It doesn’t do to fall out with the authorities here. What’s + one nigger more or less? He’ll get shot some other way, or die of hunger, + if we don’t do it.” + </p> + <p> + “It’s hardly sport to shoot a man tied up neck and legs,” said the + Englishman; his finely drawn eyebrows contracting and expanding a little. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, they don’t feel, these niggers, not as we should, you know. I’ve seen + a man going to be shot, looking full at the guns, and falling like that!—without + a sound. They’ve no feeling, these niggers; I don’t suppose they care much + whether they live or die, not as we should, you know.” + </p> + <p> + The Englishman’s eyes were still fixed on the bushes, behind which + Halket’s head appeared and disappeared. + </p> + <p> + “They have no right to order Halket to do it—and he will not do it!” + said the Englishman slowly. + </p> + <p> + “You’re not going to be such a fool as to step in, are you?” said the + Colonial, looking curiously at him. “It doesn’t pay. I’ve made up my mind + never to speak whatever happens. What’s the good? Suppose one were to make + a complaint now about this affair with Halket, if he’s made to shoot the + nigger against his will; what would come of it? There’d be half-a-dozen + fellows here squared to say what headquarters wanted—not to speak of + a fellow like that”—turning his thumb in the direction of the + sleeping trooper—“who are paid to watch. I believe he reports on the + Captain himself to the big headquarters. All one’s wires are edited before + they go down; only what the Company wants to go, go through. There are + many downright good fellows in this lot; but how many of us are there, do + you think, who could throw away all chance of ever making anything in + Mashonaland, for the sake of standing by Halket; even if he had a real row + with the Company? I’ve a great liking for Halket myself, he’s a real good + fellow, and he’s done me many a good turn—took my watch only last + night, because I was off colour; I’d do anything for him in reason. But, I + say this flatly, I couldn’t and wouldn’t fly in the face of the + authorities for him or anyone else. I’ve my own girl waiting for me down + in the Colony, and she’s been waiting for me these five years. And whether + I’m able to marry her or not depends on how I stand with the Company: and + I say, flatly, I’m not going to fall out with it. I came here to make + money, and I mean to make it! If other people like to run their heads + against stone walls, let them: but they mustn’t expect me to follow them. + This isn’t a country where a man can say what he thinks.” + </p> + <p> + The Englishman rested his elbows on the ground. “And the Union Jack is + supposed to be flying over us.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, with a black bar across it for the Company,” laughed the Colonial. + </p> + <p> + “Do you ever have the nightmare?” asked the Englishman suddenly. + </p> + <p> + “I? Oh yes, sometimes”; he looked curiously at his companion; “when I’ve + eaten too much, I get it.” + </p> + <p> + “I always have it since I came up here,” said the Englishman. “It is that + a vast world is resting on me—a whole globe: and I am a midge + beneath it. I try to raise it, and I cannot. So I lie still under it—and + let it crush me!” + </p> + <p> + “It’s curious you should have the nightmare so up here,” said the + Colonial; “one gets so little to eat.” + </p> + <p> + There was a silence: he was picking the little fine feathers from the + bird, and the Englishman was watching the ants. + </p> + <p> + “Mind you,” the Colonial said at last, “I don’t say that in this case the + Captain was to blame; Halket made an awful ass of himself. He’s never been + quite right since that time he got lost and spent the night out on the + kopje. When we found him in the morning he was in a kind of dead sleep; we + couldn’t wake him; yet it wasn’t cold enough for him to have been frozen. + He’s never been the same man since; queer, you know; giving his rations + away to the coloured boys, and letting the other fellows have his dot of + brandy at night; and keeping himself sort of apart to himself, you know. + The other fellows think he’s got a touch of fever on, caught wandering + about in the long grass that day. But I don’t think it’s that; I think + it’s being alone in the veld that’s got hold of him. Man, have you ever + been out like that, alone in the veld, night and day, and not a soul to + speak to? I have; and I tell you, if I’d been left there three days longer + I’d have gone mad or turned religious. Man, it’s the nights, with the + stars up above you, and the dead still all around. And you think, and + think, and think! You remember all kinds of things you’ve never thought of + for years and years. I used to talk to myself at last, and make believe it + was another man. I was out seven days: and he was only out one night. But + I think it’s the loneliness that got hold of him. Man, those stars are + awful; and that stillness that comes toward morning!” He stood up. “It’s a + great pity, because he’s as good a fellow as ever was. But perhaps he’ll + come all right.” + </p> + <p> + He walked away towards the pot with the bird in his hand. When he had gone + the Englishman turned round on to his back, and lay with his arm across + his forehead. + </p> + <p> + High, high up, between the straggling branches of the tree, in the clear, + blue African sky above him, he could see the vultures flying southward. + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + That evening the men sat eating their suppers round the fires. The large + troop had not come up; and the mules had been brought in; and they were to + make a start early the next morning. + </p> + <p> + Halket was released from his duty, and had come up, and lain down a little + in the background of the group who gathered round their fire. + </p> + <p> + The Colonial and the Englishman had given orders to all the men of their + mess that Halket was to be left in quiet, and no questions were to be + asked him; and the men, fearing the Colonial’s size and the Englishman’s + nerve, left him in peace. The men laughed and chatted round the fire, + while the big Colonial ladled out the mealies and rice into tin plates, + and passed them round to the men. Presently he passed one to Halket, who + lay half behind him leaning on his elbow. For a while Halket ate nothing, + then he took a few mouthfuls; and again lay on his elbow. + </p> + <p> + “You are eating nothing, Halket,” said the Englishman, cheerily, looking + back. + </p> + <p> + “I am not hungry now,” he said. After a while he took out his red + handkerchief, and emptied carefully into it the contents of the plate; and + tied it up into a bundle. He set it beside him on the ground, and again + lay on his elbow. + </p> + <p> + “You won’t come nearer to the fire, Halket?’ asked the Englishman. + </p> + <p> + “No, thank you, the night is warm.” + </p> + <p> + After a while Peter Halket took out from his belt a small hunting knife + with a rough wooden handle. A small flat stone lay near him, and he passed + the blade slowly up and down on it, now and then taking it up, and feeling + the edge with his finger. After a while he put it back in his belt, and + rose slowly, taking up his small bundle and walked away to the tent. + </p> + <p> + “He’s had a pretty stiff day,” said the Colonial. “I expect he’s glad + enough to turn in.” + </p> + <p> + Then all the men round the fire chatted freely over his concerns. Would + the Captain stick to his word tomorrow? Was Halket going to do it? Had the + Captain any right to tell one man off for the work, instead of letting + them fire a volley? One man said he would do it gladly in Halket’s place, + if told off; why had he made such a fool of himself? So they chatted till + nine o’clock, when the Englishman and Colonial left to turn in. They found + Halket asleep, close to the side of the tent, with his face turned to the + canvas. And they lay down quietly that they might not disturb him. + </p> + <p> + At ten o’clock all the camp was asleep, excepting the two men told off to + keep guard; who paced from one end of the camp to the other to keep + themselves awake; or stood chatting by the large fire, which still burnt + at one end. + </p> + <p> + In the Captain’s tent a light was kept burning all night, which shone + through the thin canvas sides, and shed light on the ground about; but, + for the rest, the camp was dead and still. + </p> + <p> + By half-past one the moon had gone down, and there was left only a blaze + of stars in the great African sky. + </p> + <p> + Then Peter Halket rose up; softly he lifted the canvas and crept out. On + the side furthest from the camp he stood upright. On his arm was tied his + red handkerchief with its contents. For a moment he glanced up at the + galaxy of stars over him; then he stepped into the long grass, and made + his way in a direction opposite to that in which the camp lay. But after a + short while he turned, and made his way down into the river bed. He walked + in it for a while. Then after a time he sat down upon the bank and took + off his heavy boots and threw them into the grass at the side. Then + softly, on tip-toe, he followed the little footpath that the men had + trodden going down to the river for water. It led straight up to the + Captain’s tent, and the little flat-topped tree, with its white stem, and + its two gnarled branches spread out on either side. When he was within + forty paces of it, he paused. Far over the other side of the camp the two + men who were on guard stood chatting by the fire. A dead stillness was + over the rest of the camp. The light through the walls of the Captain’s + tent made all clear at the stem of the little tree; but there was no sound + of movement within. + </p> + <p> + For a moment Peter Halket stood motionless; then he walked up to the tree. + The black man hung against the white stem, so closely bound to it that + they seemed one. His hands were tied to his sides, and his head drooped on + his breast. His eyes were closed; and his limbs, which had once been those + of a powerful man, had fallen away, making the joints stand out. The wool + on his head was wild and thick with neglect, and stood out roughly in long + strands; and his skin was rough with want and exposure. + </p> + <p> + The riems had cut a little into his ankles; and a small flow of blood had + made the ground below his feet dark. + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket looked up at him; the man seemed dead. He touched him softly + on the arm, then shook it slightly. + </p> + <p> + The man opened his eyes slowly, without raising his head; and looked at + Peter from under his weary eyebrows. Except that they moved they might + have been the eyes of a dead thing. + </p> + <p> + Peter put up his fingers to his own lips—“Hus-h! hus-h!” he said. + </p> + <p> + The man hung torpid, still looking at Peter. + </p> + <p> + Quickly Peter Halket knelt down and took the knife from his belt. In an + instant the riems that bound the feet were cut through; in another he had + cut the riems from the waist and neck: the riems dropped to the ground + from the arms, and the man stood free. Like a dazed dumb creature, he + stood, with his head still down, eyeing Peter. + </p> + <p> + Instantly Peter slipped the red bundle from his arm into the man’s passive + hand. + </p> + <p> + “Ari-tsemaia! Hamba! Loop! Go!” whispered Peter Halket; using a word from + each African language he knew. But the black man still stood motionless, + looking at him as one paralysed. + </p> + <p> + “Hamba! Sucka! Go!” he whispered, motioning his hand. + </p> + <p> + In an instant a gleam of intelligence shot across the face; then a wild + transport. Without a word, without a sound, as the tiger leaps when the + wild dogs are on it, with one long, smooth spring, as though unwounded and + unhurt, he turned and disappeared into the grass. It closed behind him; + but as he went the twigs and leaves cracked under his tread. + </p> + <p> + The Captain threw back the door of his tent. “Who is there?” he cried. + </p> + <p> + Peter Halket stood below the tree with the knife in his hand. + </p> + <p> + The noise roused the whole camp: the men on guard came running; guns were + fired: and the half-sleeping men came rushing, grasping their weapons. + There was a sound of firing at the little tree; and the cry went round the + camp, “The Mashonas are releasing the spy!” + </p> + <p> + When the men got to the Captain’s tent, they saw that the nigger was gone; + and Peter Halket was lying on his face at the foot of the tree; with his + head turned towards the Captain’s door. + </p> + <p> + There was a wild confusion of voices. “How many were there?” “Where have + they gone to now?” “They’ve shot Peter Halket!”—“The Captain saw + them do it”—“Stand ready, they may come back any time!” + </p> + <p> + When the Englishman came, the other men, who knew he had been a medical + student, made way for him. He knelt down by Peter Halket. + </p> + <p> + “He’s dead,” he said, quietly. + </p> + <p> + When they had turned him over, the Colonial knelt down on the other side, + with a little hand-lamp in his hand. + </p> + <p> + “What are you fellows fooling about here for?” cried the Captain. “Do you + suppose it’s any use looking for foot marks after all this tramping! Go, + guard the camp on all sides!” + </p> + <p> + “I will send four coloured boys,” he said to the Englishman and the + Colonial, “to dig the grave. You’d better bury him at once; there’s no use + waiting. We start first thing in the morning.” + </p> + <p> + When they were alone, the Englishman uncovered Peter Halket’s breast. + There was one small wound just under the left bosom; and one on the crown + of the head; which must have been made after he had fallen down. + </p> + <p> + “Strange, isn’t it, what he can have been doing here?” said the Colonial; + “a small wound, isn’t it?” + </p> + <p> + “A pistol shot,” said the Englishman, closing the bosom. + </p> + <p> + “A pistol—” + </p> + <p> + The Englishman looked up at him with a keen light in his eye. + </p> + <p> + “I told you he would not kill that nigger.—See—here—” He + took up the knife which had fallen from Peter Halket’s grasp, and fitted + it into a piece of the cut leather that lay on the earth. + </p> + <p> + “But you don’t think—” The Colonial stared at him with wide open + eyes; then he glanced round at the Captain’s tent. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I think that—Go and fetch his great-coat; we’ll put him in it. + If it is no use talking while a man is alive, it is no use talking when he + is dead!” + </p> + <p> + They brought his great-coat, and they looked in the pockets to see if + there was anything which might show where he had come from or who his + friends were. But there was nothing in the pockets except an empty flask, + and a leathern purse with two shillings in, and a little hand-made + two-pointed cap. + </p> + <p> + So they wrapped Peter Halket up in his great-coat, and put the little cap + on his head. + </p> + <p> + And, one hour after Peter Halket had stood outside the tent looking up, he + was lying under the little tree, with the red sand trodden down over him, + in which a black man and a white man’s blood were mingled. + </p> + <p> + All the rest of the night the men sat up round the fires, discussing what + had happened, dreading an attack. + </p> + <p> + But the Englishman and the Colonial went to their tent, to lie down. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think they will make any inquiries?” asked the Colonial. + </p> + <p> + “Why should they? His time will be up tomorrow.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you going to say anything?” + </p> + <p> + “What is the use?” + </p> + <p> + They lay in the dark for an hour, and heard the men chatting outside. + </p> + <p> + “Do you believe in a God?” said the Englishman, suddenly. + </p> + <p> + The Colonial started: “Of course I do!” + </p> + <p> + “I used to,” said the Englishman; “I do not believe in your God; but I + believed in something greater than I could understand, which moved in this + earth, as your soul moves in your body. And I thought this worked in such + wise, that the law of cause and effect, which holds in the physical world, + held also in the moral: so, that the thing we call justice, ruled. I do + not believe it any more. There is no God in Mashonaland.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, don’t say that!” cried the Colonial, much distressed. “Are you going + off your head, like poor Halket?” + </p> + <p> + “No; but there is no God,” said the Englishman. He turned round on his + shoulder, and said no more: and afterwards the Colonial went to sleep. + </p> + <p> + Before dawn the next morning the men had packed up the goods, and started. + </p> + <p> + By five o’clock the carts had filed away; the men rode or walked before + and behind them; and the space where the camp had been was an empty + circle; save for a few broken bottles and empty tins, and the stones about + which the fires had been made, round which warm ashes yet lay. + </p> + <p> + Only under the little stunted tree, the Colonial and the Englishman were + piling up stones. Their horses stood saddled close by. + </p> + <p> + Presently the large trooper came riding back. He had been sent by the + Captain to ask what they were fooling behind for, and to tell them to come + on. + </p> + <p> + The men mounted their horses to follow him; but the Englishman turned in + his saddle and looked back. The morning sun was lighting up the straggling + branches of the tall trees that had overshadowed the camp; and fell on the + little stunted tree, with its white stem and outstretched arms; and on the + stones beneath it. + </p> + <p> + “It’s all that night on the kopje!” said the Colonial, sadly. + </p> + <p> + But the Englishman looked back. “I hardly know,” he said, “whether it is + not better for him now, than for us.” + </p> + <p> + Then they rode on after the troop. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland, by +Olive Schreiner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TROOPER PETER HALKET *** + +***** This file should be named 1431-h.htm or 1431-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/3/1431/ + +Produced by Sue Asscher, and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland + +Author: Olive Schreiner + +Posting Date: September 15, 2008 [EBook #1431] +Release Date: August, 1998 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TROOPER PETER HALKET *** + + + + +Produced by Sue Asscher + + + + + +TROOPER PETER HALKET OF MASHONALAND + +by Olive Schreiner + +Author of "Dreams," "Dream Life and Real Life," "The Story of an African +Farm," etc. + +Colonial Edition + +(A photographic plate at the front of the book shows three people +hanging from a tree by their necks. Around them stand eight men, looking +not at all troubled by their participation in the scene. Of this event +all the survivors appear to be white, the victims black. The plate is +titled "From a Photograph taken in Matabeleland." S.A.) + + +To a Great Good Man, Sir George Grey, + +Once Governor of the Cape Colony, who, during his rule in South Africa, +bound to himself the Dutchmen, Englishmen, and Natives he governed, by +an uncorruptible justice and a broad humanity; and who is remembered +among us today as representing the noblest attributes of an Imperial +Rule. + + "Our low life was the level's and the night's; + He's for the morning." + +Olive Schreiner. + + 19, Russell Road, + Kensington, W., + February, 1897. + + + Aardvark - The great anteater. + Cape Smoke - A very inferior brandy made in Cape Colony. + Kopje - Little hillock. + Kraal - A Kaffir encampment. + Mealies - Maize (corn). + Riem - A thong of undressed leather universally used in South Africa. + Vatje of Old Dop - A little cask of Cape brandy. + Veld - Open Country. + + + + +Chapter I. + +It was a dark night; a chill breath was coming from the east; not enough +to disturb the blaze of Trooper Peter Halket's fire, yet enough to make +it quiver. He sat alone beside it on the top of a kopje. + +All about was an impenetrable darkness; not a star was visible in the +black curve over his head. + +He had been travelling with a dozen men who were taking provisions of +mealies and rice to the next camp. He had been sent out to act as scout +along a low range of hills, and had lost his way. Since eight in the +morning he had wandered among long grasses, and ironstone kopjes, and +stunted bush, and had come upon no sign of human habitation, but the +remains of a burnt kraal, and a down-trampled and now uncultivated +mealie field, where a month before the Chartered Company's forces had +destroyed a native settlement. + +Three times in the day it had appeared to him that he had returned to +the very spot from which he had started; nor was it his wish to travel +very far, for he knew his comrades would come back to look for him, to +the neighbourhood where he had last been seen, when it was found at the +evening camping ground that he did not appear. + +Trooper Peter Halket was very weary. He had eaten nothing all day; and +had touched little of the contents of a small flask of Cape brandy +he carried in his breast pocket, not knowing when it would again be +replenished. + +As night drew near he determined to make his resting place on the top of +one of the kopjes, which stood somewhat alone and apart from the others. +He could not easily be approached there, without his knowing it. He had +not much fear of the natives; their kraals had been destroyed and their +granaries burnt for thirty miles round, and they themselves had fled: +but he feared, somewhat, the lions, which he had never seen, but of +which he had heard, and which might be cowering in the long grasses and +brushwood at the kopje's foot:--and he feared, vaguely, he hardly knew +what, when he looked forward to his first long night alone in the veld. + +By the time the sun had set he had gathered a little pile of stumps and +branches on the top of the kopje. He intended to keep a fire burning all +night; and as the darkness began to settle down he lit it. It might +be his friends would see it from far, and come for him early in the +morning; and wild beasts would hardly approach him while he knelt beside +it; and of the natives he felt there was little fear. + +He built up the fire; and determined if it were possible to keep awake +the whole night beside it. + +He was a slight man of middle height, with a sloping forehead and pale +blue eyes: but the jaws were hard set, and the thin lips of the large +mouth were those of a man who could strongly desire the material good of +life, and enjoy it when it came his way. Over the lower half of the face +were scattered a few soft white hairs, the growth of early manhood. + +From time to time he listened intently for possible sounds from the +distance where his friends might be encamped, and might fire off their +guns at seeing his light; or he listened yet more intently for sounds +nearer at hand: but all was still, except for the occasional cracking +of the wood in his own fire, and the slight whistle of the breeze as it +crept past the stones on the kopje. He doubled up his great hat and put +it in the pocket of his overcoat, and put on a little two-pointed cap +his mother had made for him, which fitted so close that only one lock +of white hair hung out over his forehead. He turned up the collar of his +coat to shield his neck and ears, and threw it open in front that the +blaze of the fire might warm him. He had known many nights colder than +this when he had sat around the camp fire with his comrades, talking of +the niggers they had shot or the kraals they had destroyed, or grumbling +over their rations; but tonight the chill seemed to creep into his very +bones. + +The darkness of the night above him, and the silence of the veld about +him, oppressed him. At times he even wished he might hear the cry of a +jackal or of some larger beast of prey in the distance; and he wished +that the wind would blow a little louder, instead of making that little +wheezing sound as it passed the corners of the stones. He looked down +at his gun, which lay cocked ready on the ground at his right side; +and from time to time he raised his hand automatically and fingered the +cartridges in his belt. Then he stretched out his small wiry hands to +the fire and warmed them. It was only half past ten, and it seemed to +him he had been sitting here ten hours at the least. + +After a while he threw two more large logs on the fire, and took the +flask out of his pocket. He examined it carefully by the firelight to +see how much it held: then he took a small draught, and examined it +again to see how much it had fallen; and put it back in his breast +pocket. + +Then Trooper Peter Halket fell to thinking. + +It was not often that he thought. On patrol and sitting round camp fires +with the other men about him there was no time for it; and Peter Halket +had never been given to much thinking. He had been a careless boy at the +village school; and though, when he left, his mother paid the village +apothecary to read learned books with him at night on history and +science, he had not retained much of them. As a rule he lived in the +world immediately about him, and let the things of the moment impinge +on him, and fall off again as they would, without much reflection. +But tonight on the kopje he fell to thinking, and his thoughts shaped +themselves into connected chains. + +He wondered first whether his mother would ever get the letter he had +posted the week before, and whether it would be brought to her cottage +or she would go to the post office to fetch it. And then, he fell to +thinking of the little English village where he had been born, and where +he had grown up. He saw his mother's fat white ducklings creep in and +out under the gate, and waddle down to the little pond at the back of +the yard; he saw the school house that he had hated so much as a +boy, and from which he had so often run away to go a-fishing, or +a-bird's-nesting. He saw the prints on the school house wall on which +the afternoon sun used to shine when he was kept in; Jesus of Judea +blessing the children, and one picture just over the door where he hung +with his arms stretched out and the blood dropping from his feet. Then +Peter Halket thought of the tower at the ruins which he had climbed so +often for birds' eggs; and he saw his mother standing at her cottage +gate when he came home in the evening, and he felt her arms round his +neck as she kissed him; but he felt her tears on his cheek, because he +had run away from school all day; and he seemed to be making apologies +to her, and promising he never would do it again if only she would not +cry. He had often thought of her since he left her, on board ship, and +when he was working with the prospectors, and since he had joined the +troop; but it had been in a vague way; he had not distinctly seen and +felt her. But tonight he wished for her as he used to when he was +a small boy and lay in his bed in the next room, and saw her shadow +through the door as she bent over her wash-tub earning the money which +was to feed and clothe him. He remembered how he called her and she came +and tucked him in and called him "Little Simon," which was his second +name and had been his father's, and which she only called him when he +was in bed at night, or when he was hurt. + +He sat there staring into the blaze. He resolved he would make a great +deal of money, and she should live with him. He would build a large +house in the West End of London, the biggest that had ever been seen, +and another in the country, and they should never work any more. + +Peter Halket sat as one turned into stone, staring into the fire. + +All men made money when they came to South Africa,--Barney Barnato, +Rhodes--they all made money out of the country, eight millions, twelve +millions, twenty-six millions, forty millions; why should not he! + +Peter Halket started suddenly and listened. But it was only the wind +coming up the kopje like a great wheezy beast creeping upwards; and he +looked back into the fire. + +He considered his business prospects. When he had served his time +as volunteer he would have a large piece of land given him, and the +Mashonas and Matabeles would have all their land taken away from them in +time, and the Chartered Company would pass a law that they had to work +for the white men; and he, Peter Halket, would make them work for him. +He would make money. + +Then he reflected on what he should do with the land if it were no good +and he could not make anything out of it. Then, he should have to +start a syndicate; called the Peter Halket Gold, or the Peter Halket +Iron-mining, or some such name, Syndicate. Peter Halket was not very +clear as to how it ought to be started; but he felt certain that he and +some other men would have to take shares. They would not have to pay for +them. And then they would get some big man in London to take shares. He +need not pay for them; they would give them to him; and then the company +would be floated. No one would have to pay anything; it was just the +name--"The Peter Halket Gold Mining Company, Limited." It would float +in London; and people there who didn't know the country would buy the +shares; THEY would have to give ready money for them, of course; perhaps +fifteen pounds a share when they were up!--Peter Halket's eyes blinked +as he looked into the fire.--And then, when the market was up, he, +Peter Halket, would sell out all his shares. If he gave himself only six +thousand and sold them each for ten pounds, then he, Peter Halket, would +have sixty thousand pounds! And then he would start another company, and +another. + +Peter Halket struck his knee softly with his hand. + +That was the great thing--"Always sell out at the right time." +That point Peter Halket was very clear on. He had heard it so often +discussed. Give some shares to men with big names, and sell out: they +can sell out too at the right time. + +Peter Halket stroked his knee thoughtfully. + +And then the other people, that bought the shares for cash! Well, they +could sell out too; they could all sell out! + +Then Peter Halket's mind got a little hazy. The matter was getting too +difficult for him, like a rule of three sum at school when he could not +see the relation between the two first terms and the third. Well, if +they didn't like to sell out at the right time, it was their own faults. +Why didn't they? He, Peter Halket, did not feel responsible for them. +Everyone knew that you had to sell out at the right time. If they didn't +choose to sell out at the right time, well, they didn't. "It's the +shares that you sell, not the shares you keep, that make the money." + +But if they couldn't sell them? + +Here Peter Halket hesitated.--Well, the British Government would have to +buy them, if they were so bad no one else would; and then no one would +lose. "The British Government can't let British share-holders suffer." +He'd heard that often enough. The British taxpayer would have to pay for +the Chartered Company, for the soldiers, and all the other things, if IT +couldn't, and take over the shares if it went smash, because there were +lords and dukes and princes connected with it. And why shouldn't they +pay for his company? He would have a lord in it too! + +Peter Halket looked into the fire completely absorbed in his +calculations.--Peter Halket, Esq., Director of the Peter Halket Gold +Mining Company, Limited. Then, when he had got thousands, Peter +Halket, Esq., M.P. Then, when he had millions, Sir Peter Halket, Privy +Councillor! + +He reflected deeply, looking into the blaze. If you had five or six +millions you could go where you liked and do what you liked. You could +go to Sandringham. You could marry anyone. No one would ask what your +mother had been; it wouldn't matter. + +A curious dull sinking sensation came over Peter Halket; and he drew in +his broad leathern belt two holes tighter. + +Even if you had only two millions you could have a cook and a valet, to +go with you when you went into the veld or to the wars; and you could +have as much champagne and other things as you liked. At that moment +that seemed to Peter more important than going to Sandringham. + +He took out his flask of Cape Smoke, and drew a tiny draught from it. + +Other men had come to South Africa with nothing, and had made +everything! Why should not he? + +He stuck small branches under the two great logs, and a glorious flame +burst out. Then he listened again intently. The wind was falling and the +night was becoming very still. It was a quarter to twelve now. His back +ached, and he would have liked to lie down; but he dared not, for fear +he should drop asleep. He leaned forward with his hands between his +crossed knees, and watched the blaze he had made. + +Then, after a while, Peter Halket's thoughts became less clear: they +became at last, rather, a chain of disconnected pictures, painting +themselves in irrelevant order on his brain, than a line of connected +ideas. Now, as he looked into the crackling blaze, it seemed to be one +of the fires they had make to burn the natives' grain by, and they were +throwing in all they could not carry away: then, he seemed to see his +mother's fat ducks waddling down the little path with the green grass +on each side. Then, he seemed to see his huts where he lived with the +prospectors, and the native women who used to live with him; and he +wondered where the women were. Then--he saw the skull of an old Mashona +blown off at the top, the hands still moving. He heard the loud cry of +the native women and children as they turned the maxims on to the kraal; +and then he heard the dynamite explode that blew up a cave. Then again +he was working a maxim gun, but it seemed to him it was more like the +reaping machine he used to work in England, and that what was going down +before it was not yellow corn, but black men's heads; and he thought +when he looked back they lay behind him in rows, like the corn in +sheaves. + +The logs sent up a flame clear and high, and, where they split, showed +a burning core inside: the cracking and spluttering sounded in his brain +like the discharge of a battery of artillery. Then he thought suddenly +of a black woman he and another man caught alone in the bush, her baby +on her back, but young and pretty. Well, they didn't shoot her!--and a +black woman wasn't white! His mother didn't understand these things; +it was all so different in England from South Africa. You couldn't +be expected to do the same sort of things here as there. He had an +unpleasant feeling that he was justifying himself to his mother, and +that he didn't know how to. + +He leaned further and further forward: so far at last, that the little +white lock of his hair which hung out under his cap was almost singed by +the fire. His eyes were still open, but the lids drooped over them, and +his hands hung lower and lower between his knees. There was no picture +left on his brain now, but simply an impress of the blazing logs before +him. + +Then, Trooper Peter Halket started. He sat up and listened. The wind had +gone; there was not a sound: but he listened intently. The fire burnt up +into the still air, two clear red tongues of flame. + +Then, on the other side of the kopje he heard the sound of footsteps +ascending; the slow even tread of bare feet coming up. + +The hair on Trooper Peter Halket's forehead slowly stiffened itself. He +had no thought of escaping; he was paralyzed with dread. He took up his +gun. A deadly coldness crept from his feet to his head. He had worked a +maxim gun in a fight when some hundred natives fell and only one white +man had been wounded; and he had never known fear; but tonight his +fingers were stiff on the lock of his gun. He knelt low, tending +a little to one side of the fire, with his gun ready. A stone half +sheltered him from anyone coming up from the other side of the kopje, +and the instant the figure appeared over the edge he intended to fire. + +Then, the thought flashed on him; what, and if it were one of his own +comrades come in search of him, and no bare-footed enemy! The anguish of +suspense wrung his heart; for an instant he hesitated. Then, in a cold +agony of terror, he cried out, "Who is there?" + +And a voice replied in clear, slow English, "A friend." + +Peter Halket almost let his gun drop, in the revulsion of feeling. The +cold sweat which anguish had restrained burst out in large drops on his +forehead; but he still knelt holding his gun. + +"What do you want?" he cried out quiveringly. + +From the darkness at the edge of the kopje a figure stepped out into the +full blaze of the firelight. + +Trooper Peter Halket looked up at it. + +It was the tall figure of a man, clad in one loose linen garment, +reaching lower than his knees, and which clung close about him. His +head, arms, and feet were bare. He carried no weapon of any kind; and on +his shoulders hung heavy locks of dark hair. + +Peter Halket looked up at him with astonishment. "Are you alone?" he +asked. + +"Yes, I am alone." + +Peter Halket lowered his gun and knelt up. + +"Lost your way, I suppose?" he said, still holding his weapon loosely. + +"No; I have come to ask whether I may sit beside your fire for a while." + +"Certainly, certainly!" said Peter, eyeing the stranger's dress +carefully, still holding his gun, but with the hand off the lock. "I'm +confoundedly glad of any company. It's a beastly night for anyone to be +out alone. Wonder you find your way. Sit down! sit down!" Peter looked +intently at the stranger; then he put his gun down at his side. + +The stranger sat down on the opposite side of the fire. His complexion +was dark; his arms and feet were bronzed; but his aquiline features, and +the domed forehead, were not of any South African race. + +"One of the Soudanese Rhodes brought with him from the north, I +suppose?" said Peter, still eyeing him curiously. + +"No; Cecil Rhodes has had nothing to do with my coming here," said the +stranger. + +"Oh--" said Peter. "You didn't perhaps happen to come across a company +of men today, twelve white men and seven coloured, with three cart loads +of provisions? We were taking them to the big camp, and I got parted +from my troop this morning. I've not been able to find them, though I've +been seeking for them ever since." + +The stranger warmed his hands slowly at the fire; then he raised his +head:--"They are camped at the foot of those hills tonight," he said, +pointing with his hand into the darkness at the left. "Tomorrow early +they will be here, before the sun has risen." + +"Oh, you've met them, have you!" said Peter joyfully; "that's why you +weren't surprised at finding me here. Take a drop!" He took the small +flask from his pocket and held it out. "I'm sorry there's so little, but +a drop will keep the cold out." + +The stranger bowed his head; but thanked and declined. + +Peter raised the flask to his lips and took a small draught; then +returned it to his pocket. The stranger folded his arms about his knees, +and looked into the fire. + +"Are you a Jew?" asked Peter, suddenly; as the firelight fell full on +the stranger's face. + +"Yes; I am a Jew." + +"Ah," said Peter, "that's why I wasn't able to make out at first what +nation you could be of; your dress, you know--" Then he stopped, and +said, "Trading here, I suppose? Which country do you come from; are you +a Spanish Jew?" + +"I am a Jew of Palestine." + +"Ah!" said Peter; "I haven't seen many from that part yet. I came out +with a lot on board ship; and I've seen Barnato and Beit; but they're +not very much like you. I suppose it's coming from Palestine makes the +difference." + +All fear of the stranger had now left Peter Halket. "Come a little +nearer the fire," he said, "you must be cold, you haven't too much +wraps. I'm chill in this big coat." Peter Halket pushed his gun a little +further away from him; and threw another large log on the fire. "I'm +sorry I haven't anything to eat to offer you; but I haven't had anything +myself since last night. It's beastly sickening, being out like this +with nothing to eat. Wouldn't have thought a fellow'd feel so bad after +only a day of it. Have you ever been out without grub?" said Peter +cheerfully, warming his hands at the blaze. + +"Forty days and nights," said the stranger. + +"Forty days! Ph--e--ew!" said Peter. "You must have have had a lot to +drink, or you wouldn't have stood it. I was feeling blue enough when you +turned up, but I'm better now, warmer." + +Peter Halket re-arranged the logs on the fire. + +"In the employ of the Chartered Company, I suppose?" said Peter, looking +into the fire he had made. + +"No," said the stranger; "I have nothing to do with the Chartered +Company." + +"Oh," said Peter, "I don't wonder, then, that things aren't looking very +smart with you! There's not too much cakes and ale up here for those +that do belong to it, if they're not big-wigs, and none at all for those +who don't. I tried it when I first came up here. I was with a prospector +who was hooked on to the Company somehow, but I worked on my own account +for the prospector by the day. I tell you what, it's not the men +who work up here who make the money; it's the big-wigs who get the +concessions!" + +Peter felt exhilarated by the presence of the stranger. That one unarmed +man had robbed him of all fear. + +Seeing that the stranger did not take up the thread of conversation, he +went on after a time: "It wasn't such a bad life, though. I only wish I +was back there again. I had two huts to myself, and a couple of nigger +girls. It's better fun," said Peter, after a while, "having these black +women than whites. The whites you've got to support, but the niggers +support you! And when you've done with them you can just get rid of +them. I'm all for the nigger gals." Peter laughed. But the stranger sat +motionless with his arms about his knees. + +"You got any girls?" said Peter. "Care for niggers?" + +"I love all women," said the stranger, refolding his arms about his +knees. + +"Oh, you do, do you?" said Peter. "Well, I'm pretty sick of them. I had +bother enough with mine," he said genially, warming his hands by the +fire, and then interlocking the fingers and turning the palms towards +the blaze as one who prepares to enjoy a good talk. "One girl was only +fifteen; I got her cheap from a policeman who was living with her, and +she wasn't much. But the other, by Gad! I never saw another nigger like +her; well set up, I tell you, and as straight as that--" said Peter, +holding up his finger in the firelight. "She was thirty if she was a +day. Fellows don't generally fancy women that age; they like slips of +girls. But I set my heart on her the day I saw her. She belonged to the +chap I was with. He got her up north. There was a devil of a row about +his getting her, too; she'd got a nigger husband and two children; +didn't want to leave them, or some nonsense of that sort: you know what +these niggers are? Well, I tried to get the other fellow to let me have +her, but the devil a bit he would. I'd only got the other girl, and I +didn't much fancy her; she was only a child. Well, I went down Umtali +way and got a lot of liquor and stuff, and when I got back to camp I +found them clean dried out. They hadn't had a drop of liquor in camp for +ten days, and the rainy season coming on and no knowing when they'd get +any. Well, I'd a vatje of Old Dop as high as that--," indicating with +his hand an object about two feet high, "and the other fellow wanted to +buy it from me. I knew two of that. I said I wanted it for myself. He +offered me this, and he offered me that. At last I said, 'Well, just to +oblige you, I give you the vatje and you give me the girl!' And so +he did. Most people wouldn't have fancied a nigger girl who'd had two +nigger children, but I didn't mind; it's all the same to me. And I tell +you she worked. She made a garden, and she and the other girl worked in +it; I tell you I didn't need to buy a sixpence of food for them in six +months, and I used to sell green mealies and pumpkins to all the fellows +about. There weren't many flies on her, I tell you. She picked up +English quicker than I picked up her lingo, and took to wearing a dress +and shawl." + +The stranger still sat motionless, looking into the fire. + +Peter Halket reseated himself more comfortably before the fire. "Well, +I came home to the huts one day, rather suddenly, you know, to fetch +something; and what did I find? She, talking at the hut door with a +nigger man. Now it was my strict orders they were neither to speak a +word to a nigger man at all; so I asked what it was. And she answers, as +cool as can be, that he was a stranger going past on the road, and asked +her to give him a drink of water. Well, I just ordered him off. I didn't +think anything more about it. But I remember now. I saw him hanging +about the camp the day after. Well, she came to me the next day and +asked me for a lot of cartridges. She'd never asked me for anything +before. I asked her what the devil a woman wanted with cartridges, and +she said the old nigger woman who helped carry in water to the garden +said she couldn't stay and help her any more unless she got some +cartridges to give her son who was going up north hunting elephants. The +woman got over me to give her the cartridges because she was going to +have a kid, and she said she couldn't do the watering without help. So I +gave them her. I never put two and two together. + +"Well, when I heard that the Company was going to have a row with the +Matabele, I thought I'd volunteer. They said there was lots of loot to +be got, and land to be given out, and that sort of thing, and I thought +I'd only be gone about three months. So I went. I left those women +there, and a lot of stuff in the garden and some sugar and rice, and I +told them not to leave till I came back; and I asked the other man to +keep an eye on them. Both those women were Mashonas. They always said +the Mashonas didn't love the Matabele; but, by God, it turned out +that they loved them better than they loved us. They've got the damned +impertinence to say, that the Matabele oppressed them sometimes, but the +white man oppresses them all the time! + +"Well, I left those women there," said Peter, dropping his hands on his +knees. "Mind you, I'd treated those women really well. I'd never given +either of them one touch all the time I had them. I was the talk of all +the fellows round, the way I treated them. Well, I hadn't been gone a +month, when I got a letter from the man I worked with, the one who had +the woman first--he's dead now, poor fellow; they found him at his hut +door with his throat cut--and what do you think he said to me? Why, I +hadn't been gone six hours when those two women skooted! It was all the +big one. What do you think she did? She took every ounce of ball and +cartridge she could find in that hut, and my old Martini-Henry, and even +the lid off the tea-box to melt into bullets for the old muzzle-loaders +they have; and off she went, and took the young one too. The fellow +wrote me they didn't touch another thing: they left the shawls and +dresses I gave them kicking about the huts, and went off naked with only +their blankets and the ammunition on their heads. A nigger man met them +twenty miles off, and he said they were skooting up for Lo Magundi's +country as fast as they could go. + +"And do you know," said Peter, striking his knee, and looking +impressively across the fire at the stranger; "what I'm as sure of as +that I'm sitting here? It's that that nigger I caught at my hut, that +day, was her nigger husband! He'd come to fetch her that time; and when +she saw she couldn't get away without our catching her, she got the +cartridges for him!" Peter paused impressively between the words. "And +now she's gone back to him. It's for him she's taken that ammunition!" + +Peter looked across the fire at the stranger, to see what impression his +story was making. + +"I tell you what," said Peter, "if I'd had any idea that day who that +bloody nigger was, the day I saw him standing at my door, I'd have given +him one cartridge in the back of his head more than ever he reckoned +for!" Peter looked triumphantly at the stranger. This was his only +story; and he had told it a score of times round the camp fire for the +benefit of some new-comer. When this point was reached, a low murmur +of applause and sympathy always ran round the group: tonight there was +quiet; the stranger's large dark eyes watched the fire almost as though +he heard nothing. + +"I shouldn't have minded so much," said Peter after a while, "though no +man likes to have his woman taken away from him; but she was going to +have a kid in a month or two--and so was the little one for anything I +know; she looked like it! I expect they did away with it before it came; +they've no hearts, these niggers; they'd think nothing of doing that +with a white man's child. They've no hearts; they'd rather go back to a +black man, however well you've treated them. It's all right if you get +them quite young and keep them away from their own people; but if once +a nigger woman's had a nigger man and had children by him, you might as +well try to hold a she-devil! they'll always go back. If ever I'm shot, +it's as likely as not it'll be by my own gun, with my own cartridges. +And she'd stand by and watch it, and cheer them on; though I never gave +her a blow all the time she was with me. But I tell you what--if ever I +come across that bloody nigger, I'll take it out of him. He won't count +many days to his year, after I've spotted him!" Peter Halket paused. +It seemed to him that the eyes under their heavy, curled lashes, were +looking at something beyond him with an infinite sadness, almost as of +eyes that wept. + +"You look awfully tired," said Peter; "wouldn't you like to lie down and +sleep? You could put your head down on that stone, and I'd keep watch." + +"I have no need of sleep," the stranger said; "I will watch with you." + +"You've been in the wars, too, I see," said Peter, bending forward a +little, and looking at the stranger's feet. "By God! Both of them!--And +right through! You must have had a bad time of it?" + +"It was very long ago," said the stranger. + +Peter Halket threw two more logs on the fire. "Do you know," he said, +"I've been wondering ever since you came, who it was you reminded me of. +It's my mother! You're not like her in the face, but when your eyes look +at me it seems to me as if it was she looking at me. Curious, isn't it? +I don't know you from Adam, and you've hardly spoken a word since you +came; and yet I seem as if I'd known you all my life." Peter moved a +little nearer him. "I was awfully afraid of you when you first came; +even when I first saw you;--you aren't dressed as most of us dress, +you know. But the minute the fire shone on your face I said, 'It's all +right.' Curious, isn't it?" said Peter. "I don't know you from Adam, but +if you were to take up my gun and point it at me, I wouldn't move! I'd +lie down here and go to sleep with my head at your feet; curious, isn't +it, when I don't know you from Adam? My name's Peter Halket. What's +yours?" + +But the stranger was arranging the logs on the fire. The flames shot up +bright and high, and almost hid him from Peter Halket's view. + +"By gad! how they burn when you arrange them!" said Peter. + +They sat quiet in the blaze for a while. + +Then Peter said, "Did you see any niggers about yesterday? I haven't +come across any in this part." + +"There is," said the stranger, raising himself, "an old woman in a cave +over yonder, and there is one man in the bush, ten miles from this spot. +He has lived there six weeks, since you destroyed the kraal, living on +roots or herbs. He was wounded in the thigh, and left for dead. He is +waiting till you have all left this part of the country that he may set +out to follow his own people. His leg is not yet so strong that he may +walk fast." + +"Did you speak to him?" said Peter. + +"I took him down to the water where a large pool was. The bank was too +high for the man to descend alone." + +"It's a lucky thing for you our fellows didn't catch you," said Peter. +"Our captain's a regular little martinet. He'd shoot you as soon as look +at you, if he saw you fooling round with a wounded nigger. It's lucky +you kept out of his way." + +"The young ravens have meat given to them," said the stranger, lifting +himself up; "and the lions go down to the streams to drink." + +"Ah--yes--" said Peter; "but that's because we can't help it!" + +They were silent again for a little while. Then Peter, seeing that the +stranger showed no inclination to speak, said, "Did you hear of the +spree they had up Bulawayo way, hanging those three niggers for spies? I +wasn't there myself, but a fellow who was told me they made the niggers +jump down from the tree and hang themselves; one fellow wouldn't bally +jump, till they gave him a charge of buckshot in the back: and then he +caught hold of a branch with his hands and they had to shoot 'em loose. +He didn't like hanging. I don't know if it's true, of course; I wasn't +there myself, but a fellow who was told me. Another fellow who was at +Bulawayo, but who wasn't there when they were hung, said they fired at +them just after they jumped, to kill 'em. I--" + +"I was there," said the stranger. + +"Oh, you were?" said Peter. "I saw a photograph of the niggers hanging, +and our fellows standing round smoking; but I didn't see you in it. I +suppose you'd just gone away?" + +"I was beside the men when they were hung," said the stranger. + +"Oh, you were, were you?" said Peter. "I don't much care about seeing +that sort of thing myself. Some fellows think it's the best fun out to +see the niggers kick; but I can't stand it: it turns my stomach. It's +not liver-heartedness," said Peter, quickly, anxious to remove any +adverse impression as to his courage which the stranger might form; "if +it's shooting or fighting, I'm there. I've potted as many niggers as any +man in our troop, I bet. It's floggings and hangings I'm off. It's the +way one's brought up, you know. My mother never even would kill our +ducks; she let them die of old age, and we had the feathers and the +eggs: and she was always drumming into me;--don't hit a fellow smaller +than yourself; don't hit a fellow weaker than yourself; don't hit a +fellow unless he can hit you back as good again. When you've always had +that sort of thing drummed into you, you can't get rid of it, somehow. +Now there was that other nigger they shot. They say he sat as still as +if he was cut out of stone, with his arms round his legs; and some of +the fellows gave him blows about the head and face before they took him +off to shoot him. Now, that's the sort of thing I can't do. It makes me +sick here, somehow." Peter put his hand rather low down over the pit of +his stomach. "I'll shoot as many as you like if they'll run, but they +mustn't be tied up." + +"I was there when that man was shot," said the stranger. + +"Why, you seem to have been everywhere," said Peter. "Have you seen +Cecil Rhodes?" + +"Yes, I have seen him," said the stranger. + +"Now he's death on niggers," said Peter Halket, warming his hands by the +fire; "they say when he was Prime Minister down in the Colony he tried +to pass a law that would give their masters and mistresses the right to +have their servants flogged whenever they did anything they didn't like; +but the other Englishmen wouldn't let him pass it. But here he can do +what he likes. That's the reason some fellows don't want him to be +sent away. They say, 'If we get the British Government here, they'll be +giving the niggers land to live on; and let them have the vote, and get +civilised and educated, and all that sort of thing; but Cecil Rhodes, +he'll keep their noses to the grindstone.' 'I prefer land to niggers,' +he says. They say he's going to parcel them out, and make them work on +our lands whether they like it or not--just as good as having slaves, +you know: and you haven't the bother of looking after them when they're +old. Now, there I'm with Rhodes; I think it's an awfully good move. We +don't come out here to work; it's all very well in England; but we've +come here to make money, and how are we to make it, unless you get +niggers to work for you, or start a syndicate? He's death on niggers, +is Rhodes!" said Peter, meditating; "they say if we had the British +Government here and you were thrashing a nigger and something happened, +there'd be an investigation, and all that sort of thing. But, with +Cecil, it's all right, you can do what you like with the niggers, +provided you don't get HIM into trouble." + +The stranger watched the clear flame as it burnt up high in the still +night air; then suddenly he started. + +"What is it?" said Peter; "do you hear anything?" + +"I hear far off," said the stranger, "the sound of weeping, and the +sound of blows. And I hear the voices of men and women calling to me." + +Peter listened intently. "I don't hear anything!" he said. "It must be +in your head. I sometimes get a noise in mine." He listened intently. +"No, there's nothing. It's all so deadly still." + +They sat silent for a while. + +"Peter Simon Halket," said the stranger suddenly--Peter started; he had +not told him his second name--"if it should come to pass that you should +obtain those lands you have desired, and you should obtain black men to +labour on them and make to yourself great wealth; or should you create +that company"--Peter started--"and fools should buy from you, so that +you became the richest man in the land; and if you should take to +yourself wide lands, and raise to yourself great palaces, so that +princes and great men of earth crept up to you and laid their hands +against yours, so that you might slip gold into them--what would it +profit you?" + +"Profit!" Peter Halket stared: "Why, it would profit everything. +What makes Beit and Rhodes and Barnato so great? If you've got eight +millions--" + +"Peter Simon Halket, which of those souls you have seen on earth is to +you greatest?" said the stranger, "Which soul is to you fairest?" + +"Ah," said Peter, "but we weren't talking of souls at all; we were +talking of money. Of course if it comes to souls, my mother's the best +person I've ever seen. But what does it help her? She's got to stand +washing clothes for those stuck-up nincompoops of fine ladies! Wait till +I've got money! It'll be somebody else then, who--" + +"Peter Halket," said the stranger, "who is the greatest; he who serves +or he who is served?" Peter looked at the stranger: then it flashed on +him that he was mad. + +"Oh," he said, "if it comes to that, what's anything! You might as well +say, sitting there in your old linen shirt, that you were as great as +Rhodes or Beit or Barnato, or a king. Of course a man's just the same +whatever he's got on or whatever he has; but he isn't the same to other +people." + +"There have kings been born in stables," said the stranger. + +Then Peter saw that he was joking, and laughed. "It must have been a +long time ago; they don't get born there now," he said. "Why, if God +Almighty came to this country, and hadn't half-a-million in shares, they +wouldn't think much of Him." + +Peter built up his fire. Suddenly he felt the stranger's eyes were fixed +on him. + +"Who gave you your land?" the stranger asked. + +"Mine! Why, the Chartered Company," said Peter. + +The stranger looked back into the fire. "And who gave it to them?" he +asked softly. + +"Why, England, of course. She gave them the land to far beyond the +Zambezi to do what they liked with, and make as much money out of as +they could, and she'd back 'em." + +"Who gave the land to the men and women of England?" asked the stranger +softly. + +"Why, the devil! They said it was theirs, and of course it was," said +Peter. + +"And the people of the land: did England give you the people also?" + +Peter looked a little doubtfully at the stranger. "Yes, of course, she +gave us the people; what use would the land have been to us otherwise?" + +"And who gave her the people, the living flesh and blood, that she might +give them away, into the hands of others?" asked the stranger, raising +himself. + +Peter looked at him and was half afeared. "Well, what could she do with +a lot of miserable niggers, if she didn't give them to us? A lot of +good-for-nothing rebels they are, too," said Peter. + +"What is a rebel?" asked the stranger. + +"My Gawd!" said Peter, "you must have lived out of the world if you +don't know what a rebel is! A rebel is a man who fights against his king +and his country. These bloody niggers here are rebels because they are +fighting against us. They don't want the Chartered Company to have them. +But they'll have to. We'll teach them a lesson," said Peter Halket, the +pugilistic spirit rising, firmly reseating himself on the South African +earth, which two years before he had never heard of, and eighteen months +before he had never seen, as if it had been his mother earth, and the +land in which he first saw light. + +The stranger watched the fire; then he said musingly, "I have seen a +land far from here. In that land are men of two kinds who live side by +side. Well nigh a thousand years ago one conquered the other; they have +lived together since. Today the one people seeks to drive forth the +other who conquered them. Are these men rebels, too?" + +"Well," said Peter, pleased at being deferred to, "that all depends who +they are, you know!" + +"They call the one nation Turks, and the other Armenians," said the +stranger. + +"Oh, the Armenians aren't rebels," said Peter; "they are on our +side! The papers are all full of it," said Peter, pleased to show his +knowledge. "Those bloody Turks! What right had they to conquer the +Armenians? Who gave them their land? I'd like to have a shot at them +myself!" + +"WHY are Armenians not rebels?" asked the stranger, gently. + +"Oh, you do ask such curious questions," said Peter. "If they don't +like the Turks, why should they have 'em? If the French came now and +conquered us, and we tried to drive them out first chance we had; you +wouldn't call us rebels! Why shouldn't they try to turn those bloody +Turks out? Besides," said Peter, bending over and talking in the manner +of one who imparts secret and important information; "you see, if +we don't help the Armenians the Russians would; and we," said Peter, +looking exceedingly knowing, "we've got to prevent that: they'd get +the land; and it's on the road to India. And we don't mean them to. I +suppose you don't know much about politics in Palestine?" said Peter, +looking kindly and patronisingly at the stranger. + +"If these men," said the stranger, "would rather be free, or be under +the British Government, than under the Chartered Company, why, when they +resist the Chartered Company, are they more rebels than the Armenians +when they resist the Turk? Is the Chartered Company God, that every knee +should bow before it, and before it every head be bent? Would you, the +white men of England, submit to its rule for one day?" + +"Ah," said Peter, "no, of course we shouldn't, but we are white men, and +so are the Armenians--almost--" Then he glanced at the stranger's dark +face, and added quickly, "At least, it's not the colour that matters, +you know. I rather like a dark face, my mother's eyes are brown--but the +Armenians, you know, they've got long hair like us." + +"Oh, it is the hair, then, that matters," said the stranger softly. + +"Oh, well," said Peter, "it's not altogether, of course. But it's quite +a different thing, the Armenians wanting to get rid of the Turks, +and these bloody niggers wanting to get rid of the Chartered Company. +Besides, the Armenians are Christians, like us!" + +"Are YOU Christians?" A strange storm broke across the stranger's +features; he rose to his feet. + +"Why, of course, we are!" said Peter. "We're all Christians, we English. +Perhaps you don't like Christians, though? Some Jews don't, I know," +said Peter, looking up soothingly at him. + +"I neither love nor hate any man for that which he is called," said the +stranger; "the name boots nothing." + +The stranger sat down again beside the fire, and folded his hands. + +"Is the Chartered Company Christian also?" he asked. + +"Yes, oh yes," said Peter. + +"What is a Christian?" asked the stranger. + +"Well, now, you really do ask such curious questions. A Christian is a +man who believes in Heaven and Hell, and God and the Bible, and in Jesus +Christ, that he'll save him from going to Hell, and if he believes he'll +be saved, he will be saved." + +"But here, in this world, what is a Christian?" + +"Why," said Peter, "I'm a Christian--we're all Christians." + +The stranger looked into the fire; and Peter thought he would change the +subject. "It's curious how like my mother you are; I mean, your ways. +She was always saying to me, 'Don't be too anxious to make money, Peter. +Too much wealth is as bad as too much poverty.' You're very like her." + +After a while Peter said, bending over a little towards the stranger, +"If you don't want to make money, what did you come to this land for? No +one comes here for anything else. Are you in with the Portuguese?" + +"I am not more with one people than with another," said the stranger. +"The Frenchman is not more to me than the Englishman, the Englishman +than the Kaffir, the Kaffir than the Chinaman. I have heard," said the +stranger, "the black infant cry as it crept on its mother's body and +sought for her breast as she lay dead in the roadway. I have heard also +the rich man's child wail in the palace. I hear all cries." + +Peter looked intently at him. "Why, who are you?" he said; then, bending +nearer to the stranger and looking up, he added, "What is it that you +are doing here?" + +"I belong," said the stranger, "to the strongest company on earth." + +"Oh," said Peter, sitting up, the look of wonder passing from his face. +"So that's it, is it? Is it diamonds, or gold, or lands?" + +"We are the most vast of all companies on the earth," said the stranger; +"and we are always growing. We have among us men of every race and from +every land; the Esquimo, the Chinaman, the Turk, and the Englishman, we +have of them all. We have men of every religion, Buddhists, Mahomedans, +Confucians, Freethinkers, Atheists, Christians, Jews. It matters to us +nothing by what name the man is named, so he be one of us." + +And Peter said, "It must be hard for you all to understand one another, +if you are of so many different kinds?" + +The stranger answered, "There is a sign by which we all know one +another, and by which all the world may know us." (By this shall all men +know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.) + +And Peter said, "What is that sign?" + +But the stranger was silent. + +"Oh, a kind of freemasonry!" said Peter, leaning on his elbow towards +the stranger, and looking up at him from under his pointed cap. "Are +there any more of you here in this country?" + +"There are," said the stranger. Then he pointed with his hand into the +darkness. "There in a cave were two women. When you blew the cave up +they were left unhurt behind a fallen rock. When you took away all the +grain, and burnt what you could not carry, there was one basketful that +you knew nothing of. The women stayed there, for one was eighty, and one +near the time of her giving birth; and they dared not set out to follow +the remnant of their tribe because you were in the plains below. Every +day the old woman doled grain from the basket; and at night they cooked +it in their cave where you could not see their smoke; and every day +the old woman gave the young one two handfuls and kept one for herself, +saying, 'Because of the child within you.' And when the child was born +and the young woman strong, the old woman took a cloth and filled it +with all the grain that was in the basket; and she put the grain on +the young woman's head and tied the child on her back, and said, 'Go, +keeping always along the bank of the river, till you come north to the +land where our people are gone; and some day you can send and fetch me.' +And the young woman said, 'Have you corn in the basket to last till they +come?' And she said, 'I have enough.' And she sat at the broken door of +the cave and watched the young woman go down the hill and up the river +bank till she was hidden by the bush; and she looked down at the plain +below, and she saw the spot where the kraal had been and where she had +planted mealies when she was a young girl--" + +"I met a woman with corn on her head and a child on her back!" said +Peter under his breath. + +"--And tonight I saw her sit again at the door of the cave; and when the +sun had set she grew cold; and she crept in and lay down by the basket. +Tonight, at half-past three, she will die. I have known her since she +was a little child and played about the huts, while her mother worked in +the mealie fields. She was one of our company." + +"Oh," said Peter. + +"Other members we have here," said the stranger. "There was a +prospector"--he pointed north; "he was a man who drank and swore when it +listed him; but he had many servants, and they knew where to find him in +need. When they were ill, he tended them with his own hands; when they +were in trouble, they came to him for help. When this war began, and all +black men's hearts were bitter, because certain white men had lied +to them, and their envoys had been killed when they would have asked +England to put her hand out over them; at that time certain of the +men who fought the white men came to the prospector's hut. And the +prospector fired at them from a hole he had cut in his door; but they +fired back at him with an old elephant gun, and the bullet pierced +his side and he fell on the floor:--because the innocent man suffers +oftentimes for the guilty, and the merciful man falls while the +oppressor flourishes. Then his black servant who was with him took him +quickly in his arms, and carried him out at the back of the hut, and +down into the river bed where the water flowed and no man could trace +his footsteps, and hid him in a hole in the river wall. And when the men +broke into the hut they could find no white man, and no traces of his +feet. But at evening, when the black servant returned to the hut to get +food and medicine for his master, the men who were fighting caught him, +and they said, 'Oh, you betrayer of your people, white man's dog, +who are on the side of those who take our lands and our wives and our +daughters before our eyes; tell us where you have hidden him?' And when +he would not answer them, they killed him before the door of the hut. +And when the night came, the white man crept up on his hands and knees, +and came to his hut to look for food. All the other men were gone, but +his servant lay dead before the door; and the white man knew how it must +have happened. He could not creep further, and he lay down before +the door, and that night the white man and the black lay there dead +together, side by side. Both those men were of my friends." + +"It was damned plucky of the nigger," said Peter; "but I've heard of +their doing that sort of thing before. Even of a girl who wouldn't tell +where her mistress was, and getting killed. But," he added doubtfully, +"all your company seem to be niggers or to get killed?" + +"They are of all races," said the stranger. "In a city in the old Colony +is one of us, small of stature and small of voice. It came to pass on a +certain Sunday morning, when the men and women were gathered before him, +that he mounted his pulpit: and he said when the time for the sermon +came, 'In place that I should speak to you, I will read you a history.' +And he opened an old book more than two thousand years old: and he read: +'Now it came to pass that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which +was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. + +"'And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may +have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I +will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seemeth good +to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. + +"'And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the +inheritance of my father unto thee. + +"'And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word +which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken unto him; for he had said, I will +not give thee the inheritance of my fathers.' + +"The man read the whole story until it was ended. Then he closed the +book, and he said, 'My friends, Naboth has a vineyard in this land; +and in it there is much gold; and Ahab has desired to have it that the +wealth may be his.' + +"And he put the old book aside, and he took up another which was written +yesterday. And the men and women whispered one to another, even in the +church, 'Is not that the Blue Book Report of the Select Committee of the +Cape Parliament on the Jameson raid?' + +"And the man said, 'Friends, the first story I have read you is one of +the oldest stories of the world: the story I am about to read you is +one of the newest. Truth is not more truth because it is three thousand +years old, nor is it less truth because it is of yesterday. All books +which throw light on truth are God's books, therefore I shall read to +you from the pages before me. Shall the story of Ahab king of Samaria +profit us when we know not the story of the Ahabs of our day; and the +Naboths of our land be stoned while we sit at east?' And he read to them +portions of that book. And certain rich men and women rose up and went +out even while he spoke, and his wife also went out. + +"And when the service was ended and the man returned to his home, his +wife came to him weeping; and she said, 'Did you see how some of the +most wealthy and important people got up and went out this morning? Why +did you preach such a sermon, when we were just going to have the new +wing added to our house, and you thought they were going to raise your +salary? You have not a single Boer in your congregation! Why need you +say the Chartered Company raid on Johannesburg was wrong?' + +"He said, 'My wife, if I believe that certain men whom we have raised on +high, and to whom we have given power, have done a cowardly wrong, shall +I not say it?' + +"And she said, 'Yes, and only a little while ago, when Rhodes was +licking the dust off the Boers' feet that he might keep them from +suspecting while he got ready this affair, then you attacked both Rhodes +and the Bond (The Afrikander Bond, the organised Dutch political party, +through whom Mr. Rhodes worked, and by whom he was backed.) for trying +to pass a Bill for flogging the niggers, and we lost fifty pounds we +might have got for the church?' And he said, 'My wife, cannot God be +worshipped as well under the dome of the heaven He made as in a golden +palace? Shall a man keep silence, when he sees oppression, to earn money +for God? If I have defended the black man when I believed him to be +wronged, shall I not also defend the white man, my flesh-brother? Shall +we speak when one man is wronged and not when it is another?' + +"And she said, 'Yes, but you have your family and yourself to think of! +Why are you always in opposition to the people who could do something +for us? You are only loved by the poor. If it is necessary for you to +attack some one, why don't you attack the Jews for killing Christ, or +Herod, or Pontius Pilate; why don't you leave alone the men who are in +power today, and who with their money can crush you!' + +"And he said, 'Oh my wife, those Jews, and Herod, and Pontius Pilate are +long dead. If I should preach of them now, would it help them? Would it +save one living thing from their clutches? The past is dead, it lives +only for us to learn from. The present, the present only, is ours to +work in, and the future ours to create. Is all the gold of Johannesburg +or are all the diamonds in Kimberley worth, that one Christian man +should fall by the hand of his fellows--aye, or one heathen brother?' + +"And she answered, 'Oh, that is all very well. If you were a really +eloquent preacher, and could draw hundreds of men about you, and in time +form a great party with you at its head, I shouldn't mind what you said. +But you, with your little figure and your little voice, who will ever +follow you? You will be left all alone; that is all the good that will +ever come to you through it.' + +"And he said, 'Oh my wife, have I not waited and watched and hoped that +they who are nobler and stronger than I, all over this land, would lift +up their voices and speak--and there is only a deadly silence? Here +and there one has dared to speak aloud; but the rest whisper behind the +hand; one says, 'My son has a post, he would lose it if I spoke loud'; +and another says, 'I have a promise of land'; and another, 'I am +socially intimate with these men, and should lose my social standing if +I let my voice be heard.' Oh my wife, our land, our goodly land, which +we had hoped would be free and strong among the peoples of earth, is +rotten and honeycombed with the tyranny of gold! We who had hoped to +stand first in the Anglo-Saxon sisterhood for justice and freedom, are +not even fit to stand last. Do I not know only too bitterly how weak is +my voice; and that that which I can do is as nothing: but shall I remain +silent? Shall the glow-worm refuse to give its light, because it is not +a star set up on high; shall the broken stick refuse to burn and warm +one frozen man's hands, because it is not a beacon-light flaming across +the earth? Ever a voice is behind my shoulder, that whispers to me--'Why +break your head against a stone wall? Leave this work to the greater and +larger men of your people; they who will do it better than you can do +it! Why break your heart when life could be so fair to you?' But, oh my +wife, the strong men are silent! and shall I not speak, though I know my +power is as nothing?' + +"He laid his head upon his hands. + +"And she said, 'I cannot understand you. When I come home and tell +you that this man drinks, or that that woman has got into trouble, you +always answer me, 'Wife, what business is it of ours if so be that we +cannot help them?' A little innocent gossip offends you; and you go to +visit people and treat them as your friends, into whose house I would +not go. Yet when the richest and strongest men in the land, who could +crush you with their money, as a boy crushes a fly between his finger +and thumb, take a certain course, you stand and oppose them.' + +"And he said, 'My wife, with the sins of the private man, what have I to +do, if so be I have not led him into them? Am I guilty? I have enough to +do looking after my own sins. The sin that a man sins against himself is +his alone, not mine; the sin that a man sins against his fellows is his +and theirs, not mine: but the sins that a man sins, in that he is taken +up by the hands of a people and set up on high, and whose hand they have +armed with their sword, whose power to strike is their power--his sins +are theirs; there is no man so small in the whole nation that he dares +say, 'I have no responsibility for this man's action.' We armed him, we +raised him, we strengthened him, and the evil he accomplishes is more +ours than his. If this man's end in South Africa should be accomplished, +and the day should come when, from the Zambezi to the sea, white man +should fly at white man's throat, and every man's heart burn with +bitterness against his fellow, and the land be bathed with blood as +rain--shall I then dare to pray, who have now feared to speak? Do not +think I wish for punishment upon these men. Let them take the millions +they have wrung out of this land, and go to the lands of their birth, +and live in wealth, luxury, and joy; but let them leave this land they +have tortured and ruined. Let them keep the money they have made here; +we may be the poorer for it; but they cannot then crush our freedom with +it. Shall I ask my God Sunday by Sunday to brood across the land, and +bind all its children's hearts in a close-knit fellowship;--yet, when I +see its people betrayed, and their jawbone broken by a stroke from the +hand of gold; when I see freedom passing from us, and the whole land +being grasped by the golden claw, so that the generation after us shall +be born without freedom, to labour for the men who have grasped all, +shall I hold my peace? The Boer and the Englishman who have been in this +land, have not always loved mercy, nor have they always sought after +justice; but the little finger of the speculator and monopolist who are +devouring this land will be thicker on the backs of the children of this +land, black and white, than the loins of the Dutchmen and Englishmen who +have been.' + +"And she said, 'I have heard it said that it was our duty to sacrifice +ourselves for the men and women living in the world at the same time as +ourselves; but I never before heard that we had to sacrifice ourselves +for people that are not born. What are they to you? You will be dust, +and lying in your grave, before that time comes. If you believe in God,' +she said, 'why cannot you leave it to Him to bring good out of all this +evil? Does He need YOU to be made a martyr of? or will the world be lost +without YOU?' + +"He said, 'Wife, if my right hand be in a fire, shall I not pull it out? +Shall I say, 'God may bring good out of this evil,' and let it burn? +That Unknown that lies beyond us we know of no otherwise than through +its manifestation in our own hearts; it works no otherwise upon the sons +of men than through man. And shall I feel no bond binding me to the men +to come, and desire no good or beauty for them--I, who am what I am, +and enjoy what I enjoy, because for countless ages in the past men have +lived and laboured, who lived not for themselves alone, and counted no +costs? Would the great statue, the great poem, the great reform ever be +accomplished, if men counted the cost and created for their own lives +alone? And no man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. You +cannot tell me not to love the men who shall be after me; a soft voice +within me, I know not what, cries out ever, 'Live for them as for your +own children.' When in the circle of my own small life all is dark, and +I despair, hope springs up in me when I remember that something nobler +and fairer may spring up in the spot where I now stand.' + +"And she said, 'You want to put everyone against us! The other women +will not call on me; and our church is more and more made up of poor +people. Money holds by money. If your congregation were Dutchmen, I know +you would be always preaching to love the Englishmen, and be kind to +niggers. If they were Kaffirs you would always be telling them to +help white men. You will never be on the side of the people who can do +anything for us! You know the offer we had from--' + +"And he said, 'Oh my wife, what are the Boer, and the Russian, and the +Turk to me; am I responsible for their action? It is my own nation, +mine, which I love as a man loves his own soul, whose acts touch me. I +would that wherever our flag was planted the feeble or oppressed peoples +of earth might gather under it, saying, 'Under this banner is freedom +and justice which knows no race or colour.' I wish that on our banner +were blazoned in large letters "Justice and Mercy", and that in every +new land which our feet touch, every son among us might see ever +blazoned above his head that banner, and below it the great order:--"By +this sign, Conquer!"--and that the pirate flag which some men now wave +in its place, may be torn down and furled for ever! Shall I condone the +action of some, simply because they happen to be of my own race, when in +Bushman or Hottentot I would condemn it? Shall men belonging to one of +the mightiest races of earth, creep softly on their bellies, to attack +an unwarned neighbour; when even the Kaffir has again and again given +notice of war, saying, 'Be ready, on such and such a day I come to fight +you?' Is England's power so broken, and our race so enfeebled, that we +dare no longer to proclaim war; but must creep silently upon our bellies +in the dark to stab, like a subject people to whom no other course is +open? These men are English; but not English-MEN. When the men of our +race fight, they go to war with a blazoned flag and the loud trumpet +before them. It is because I am an Englishman that these things crush +me. Better that ten thousand of us should lie dead and defeated on one +battlefield, fighting for some great cause, and my own sons among +them, than that those twelve poor boys should have fallen at Doornkop, +fighting to fill up the pockets of those already oe'r-heavy with gold.' + +"And she said, 'YOU, what does it matter what you feel or think; YOU +will never be able to do anything!' + +"And he said, 'Oh my wife, stand by me; do not crush me. For me in this +matter there is no path but one on which light shines.' + +"And she said, 'You are very unkind; you don't care what the people say +about us!' and she wept bitterly, and went out of the room. But as soon +as the door was shut, she dried her tears; and she said to herself, 'Now +he will never dare to preach such a sermon again. He dares never oppose +me when once I have set down my foot.' + +"And the man spoke to no one, and went out alone in the veld. All the +afternoon he walked up and down among the sand and low bushes; and I +walked there beside him. + +"And when the evening came, he went back to his chapel. Many were +absent, but the elders sat in their places, and his wife also was there. +And the light shone on the empty benches. And when the time came he +opened the old book of the Jews; and he turned the leaves and read:--'If +thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that +are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, 'Behold we knew it not!' Doth not +he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, +doth he not know it?' + +"And he said, 'This morning we considered the evils this land is +suffering under at the hands of men whose aim is the attainment of +wealth and power. Tonight we shall look at our own share in the matter. +I think we shall realise that with us, and not with the men we have +lifted up on high, lies the condemnation.' Then his wife rose and went +out, and others followed her; and the little man's voice rolled among +the empty benches; but he spoke on. + +"And when the service was over he went out. No elder came to the porch +to greet him; but as he stood there one, he saw not whom, slipped a +leaflet into his hand. He held it up, and read in the lamplight what was +written on it in pencil. He crushed it up in his hand, as a man crushes +that which has run a poisonous sting into him; then he dropped it on +the earth as a man drops that he would forget. A fine drizzly rain was +falling, and he walked up the street with his arms folded behind him, +and his head bent. The people walked up the other side; and it seemed to +him he was alone. But I walked behind him." + +"And then," asked Peter, seeing that the stranger was silent, "what +happened to him after that?" + +"That was only last Sunday," said the stranger. + +There was silence again for some seconds. + +Then Peter said, "Well, anyhow, at least he didn't die!" + +The stranger crossed his hands upon his knees. "Peter Simon Halket," +he said, "it is easier for a man to die than to stand alone. He who can +stand alone can, also, when the need be, die." + +Peter looked up wistfully into the stranger's face. "I should not like +to die myself," he said, "not yet. I shall not be twenty-one till next +birthday. I should like to see life first." + +The stranger made no answer. + +Presently Peter said, "Are all the men of your company poor men?" + +The stranger waited a while before he answered; then he said,--"There +have been rich men who have desired to join us. There was a young man +once; and when he heard the conditions, he went away sorrowful, for he +had great possessions." + +There was silence again for a while. + +"Is it long since your company was started?" asked Peter. + +"There is no man living who can conceive of its age," said the stranger. +"Even here on this earth it began, when these hills were young, and +these lichens had hardly shown their stains upon the rocks, and man +still raised himself upwards with difficulty because the sinews in his +thighs were weak. In those days, which men reck not of now, man, when +he hungered, fed on the flesh of his fellow man and found it sweet. Yet +even in those days it came to pass that there was one whose head was +higher than her fellows and her thought keener, and, as she picked the +flesh from a human skull, she pondered. And so it came to pass the next +night, when men were gathered around the fire ready to eat, that she +stole away, and when they went to the tree where the victim was bound, +they found him gone. And they cried one to another, 'She, only she, has +done this, who has always said, 'I like not the taste of man-flesh; men +are too like me; I cannot eat them.' 'She is mad,' they cried; 'let us +kill her!' So, in those dim, misty times that men reck not of now, that +they hardly believe in, that woman died. But in the heads of certain men +and women a new thought had taken root; they said, 'We also will not eat +of her. There is something evil in the taste of human flesh.' And ever +after, when the fleshpots were filled with man-flesh, these stood aside, +and half the tribe ate human flesh and half not; then, as the years +passed, none ate. + +"Even in those days, which men reck not of now, when men fell easily +open their hands and knees, they were of us on the earth. And, if you +would learn a secret, even before man trod here, in the days when the +dicynodont bent yearningly over her young, and the river-horse which you +find now nowhere on earth's surface, save buried in stone, called with +love to his mate; and the birds whose footprints are on the rocks flew +in the sunshine calling joyfully to one another--even in those days when +man was not, the fore-dawn of this kingdom had broken on the earth. And +still as the sun rises and sets and the planets journey round, we grow +and grow." + +The stranger rose from the fire, and stood upright: around him, and +behind him, the darkness stood out. + +"All earth is ours. And the day shall come, when the stars, looking down +on this little world, shall see no spot where the soil is moist and dark +with the blood of man shed by his fellow man; the sun shall rise in the +East and set in the West and shed his light across this little globe; +and nowhere shall he see man crushed by his fellows. And they shall +beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks: +nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn +war any more. And instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree; +and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and man shall +nowhere crush man on all the holy earth. Tomorrow's sun shall rise," +said the stranger, "and it shall flood these dark kopjes with light, and +the rocks shall glint in it. Not more certain is that rising than the +coming of that day. And I say to you that even here, in the land where +now we stand, where today the cries of the wounded and the curses of +revenge ring in the air; even here, in this land where man creeps on +his belly to wound his fellow in the dark, and where an acre of gold +is worth a thousand souls, and a reef of shining dirt is worth half a +people, and the vultures are heavy with man's flesh--even here that day +shall come. I tell you, Peter Simon Halket, that here on the spot where +now we stand shall be raised a temple. Man shall not gather in it to +worship that which divides; but they shall stand in it shoulder to +shoulder, white man with black, and the stranger with the inhabitant of +the land; and the place shall be holy; for men shall say, 'Are we not +brethren and the sons of one Father?'" + +Peter Halket looked upward silently. And the stranger said: "Certain +men slept upon a plain, and the night was chill and dark. And, as they +slept, at that hour when night is darkest, one stirred. Far off to the +eastward, through his half-closed eyelids, he saw, as it were, one faint +line, thin as a hair's width, that edged the hill tops. And he whispered +in the darkness to his fellows: 'The dawn is coming.' But they, with +fast-closed eyelids murmured, 'He lies, there is no dawn.' + +"Nevertheless, day broke." + +The stranger was silent. The fire burnt up in red tongues of flame that +neither flickered nor flared in the still night air. Peter Halket crept +near to the stranger. + +"When will that time be?" he whispered; "in a thousand years' time?" + +And the stranger answered, "A thousand years are but as our yesterday's +journey, or as our watch tonight, which draws already to its close. See, +piled, these rocks on which we now stand? The ages have been young and +they have grown old since they have lain here. Half that time shall +not pass before that time comes; I have seen its dawning already in the +hearts of men." + +Peter moved nearer, so that he almost knelt at the stranger's feet: his +gun lay on the ground at the other side of the fire. + +"I would like to be one of your men," he said. "I am tired of belonging +to the Chartered Company." + +The stranger looked down gently. "Peter Simon Halket," he said, "can you +bear the weight?" + +And Peter said, "Give me work, that I may try." + +There was silence for a time; then the stranger said, "Peter Simon +Halket, take a message to England"--Peter Halket started--"Go to that +great people and cry aloud to it: 'Where is the sword was given into +your hand, that with it you might enforce justice and deal out mercy? +How came you to give it up into the hands of men whose search is gold, +whose thirst is wealth, to whom men's souls and bodies are counters in a +game? How came you to give up the folk that were given into your hands, +into the hand of the speculator and the gamester; as though they were +dumb beasts who might be bought or sold? + +"'Take back your sword, Great People--but wipe it first, lest some of +the gold and blood stick to your hand. + +"'What is this, I see!--the sword of the Great People, transformed to +burrow earth for gold, as the snouts of swine for earth nuts! Have you +no other use for it, Great Folk? + +"'Take back your sword; and, when you have thoroughly cleansed it and +wiped it of the blood and mire, then raise it to set free the oppressed +of other climes. + +"'Great Prince's Daughter, take heed! You put your sword into the hands +of recreant knights; they will dull its edge and mar its brightness, +and, when your hour of need comes and you would put it into other hands, +you will find its edge chipped and its point broken. Take heed! Take +heed!' + +"Cry to the wise men of England: 'You, who in peace and calm in +shaded chambers ponder on all things in heaven and earth, and take all +knowledge for your province, have you no time to think of this? To whom +has England given her power? How do the men wield it who have filched it +from her? Say not, What have we to do with folk across the waters; have +we not matter enough for thought in our own land? Where the brain of +a nation has no time to go, there should its hands never be sent to +labour: where the power of a people goes, there must its intellect and +knowledge go, to guide it. Oh, you who sit at ease, studying past and +future--and forget the present--you have no right to sit at ease knowing +nothing of the working of the powers you have armed and sent to work on +men afar. Where is your nation's sword--you men of thought?' + +"Cry to the women of England: 'You, who repose in sumptuous houses, with +children on your knees; think not it is only the rustling of the soft +draped curtains, or the whistling of the wind, you hear. Listen! May it +not be the far off cry of those your sword governs, creeping towards +you across wide oceans till it pierces even into your inmost sanctuary? +Listen! + +"For the womanhood of a dominant people has not accomplished all its +labour when it has borne its children and fed them at its breast: there +cries to it also from over seas and across continents the voice of the +child-peoples--'Mother-heart, stand for us!' It would be better for you +that your wombs should be barren and that your race should die out; than +that you should listen, and give no answer.'" + +The stranger lifted his hands upwards as he spoke, and Peter saw there +were the marks of old wounds in both. + +"Cry aloud to the working men and women of England: 'You, who for ages +cried out because the heel of your masters was heavy on you; and who +have said, 'We curse the kings that sit at ease, and care not who +oppresses the folk, so their coffers be full and their bellies +satisfied, and they be not troubled with the trouble of rule'; you, who +have taken the king's rule from him and sit enthroned within his seat; +is his sin not yours today? If men should add but one hour to your day's +labour, or make but one fraction dearer the bread you eat, would you not +rise up as one man? Yet, what is dealt out to men beyond seas whom you +rule wounds you not. Nay, have you not sometimes said, as kings of old: +'It matters not who holds out our sword, marauder or speculator, so he +calls it ours, we must cloak up the evil it has done!' Think you, no +other curses rise to heaven but yours? Where is your sword? Into whose +hand has it fallen? Take it quickly and cleanse it!'" + +Peter Halket crouched, looking upwards; then he cried: "Master, I cannot +give that message, I am a poor unlearn'd man. And if I should go to +England and cry aloud, they would say, 'Who is this, who comes preaching +to a great people? Is not his mother with us, and a washerwoman; and was +not his father a day labourer at two shillings a day?' and they would +laugh me to scorn. And, in truth, the message is so long I could not +well remember it; give me other work to do." + +And the stranger said, "Take a message to the men and women of this +land. Go, from the Zambezi to the sea, and cry to its white men and +women, and say: 'I saw a wide field, and in it were two fair beasts. +Wide was the field about them and rich was the earth with sweet scented +herbs, and so abundant was the pasturage that hardly might they consume +all that grew about them: and the two were like one to another, for +they were the sons of one mother. And as I looked, I saw, far off to the +northward, a speck within the sky, so small it was, and so high it was, +that the eye scarce might mark it. Then it came nearer and hovered over +the spot where the two beasts fed:--and its neck was bare, and its +beak was hooked, and its talons were long, and its wings strong. And it +hovered over the field where the two beasts were; and I saw it settle +down upon a great white stone; and it waited. And I saw more specks to +the northward, and more and more came onward to join him who sat upon +the stone. And some hovered over the beasts, and some sharpened their +beaks on the stones; and some walked in and out between the beasts' +legs. And I saw that they were waiting for something. + +"'Then he who first came flew from one of the beasts to the other, and +sat upon their necks, and put his beak within their ears. And he flew +from one to the other and flapped his wings in their faces till the +beasts were blinded, and each believed it was his fellow who attacked +him. And they fell to, and fought; they gored one another's sides till +the field was red with blood and the ground shook beneath them. The +birds sat by and watched; and when the blood flowed they walked round +and round. And when the strength of the two beasts was exhausted they +fell to earth. Then the birds settled down upon them, and feasted; till +their maws were full, and their long bare necks were wet; and they stood +with their beaks deep in the entrails of the two dead beasts; and looked +out with their keen bright eyes from above them. And he who was king of +all plucked out the eyes, and fed on the hearts of the dead beasts. And +when his maw was full, so that he could eat no more, he sat on his stone +hard by and flapped his great wings.' + +"Peter Simon Halket, cry to the white men and women of South Africa: +'You have a goodly land; you and your children's children shall scarce +fill it; though you should stretch out your arms to welcome each +stranger who comes to live and labour with you. You are the twin +branches of one tree; you are the sons of one mother. Is this goodly +land not wide enough for you, that you should rend each other's flesh +at the bidding of those who will wet their beaks within both your +vitals?--Look up, see, they circle in the air above you!'" + +Almost Peter Halket started and looked upward; but there was only the +black sky of Mashonaland over his head. + +The stranger stood silent looking downward into the fire. Peter Halket +half clasped his arms about his knees. + +"My master," he cried, "how can I take this message? The Dutchmen of +South Africa will not listen to me, they will say I am an Englishman. +And the Englishmen will say: 'Who is this fellow who comes preaching +peace, peace, peace? Has he not been a year in the country and he has +not a share in a single company? Can anything he says be worth hearing? +If he were a man of any sense he would have made five thousand pounds at +least.' And they will not listen to me. Give me another labour!" + +And the stranger said: "Take a message to one man. Find him, whether he +sleep or wake, whether he eat or drink; and say to him: 'Where are the +souls of the men that you have bought?' + +"And if he shall answer you and say: 'I bought no men's souls! The souls +that I bought were the souls of dogs?' Then ask him this question, say +to him, 'Where are the--' + +"And if he cry out, 'You lie, you lie! I know what you are going to say. +What do I know of envoys? Was I ever afraid of the British Government? +It is all a lie!' Then question him no further. But say: 'There was a +rushlight once. It flickered and flared, and it guttered down, and went +out--and no man heeded it: it was only a rushlight. + +"'And there was a light once; men set it on high within a lighthouse, +that it might yield light to all souls at sea; that afar off they might +see its steady light and find harbour, and escape the rocks. + +"'And that light flickered and flared, as it listed. It went this way +and it went that; it burnt blue, and green, and red; now it disappeared +altogether, and then it burnt up again. And men, far out at sea, kept +their eyes fixed where they knew the light should be: saying, 'We are +safe; the great light will lead us when we near the rocks.' And on +dark nights men drifted nearer and nearer; and in the stillness of the +midnight they struck on the lighthouse rocks and went down at its feet. + +"'What now shall be done to that light, in that it was not a rushlight; +in that it was set on high by the hands of men, and in that men trusted +it? Shall it not be put out?' + +"And if he shall answer, saying, 'What are men to me? they are fools, +all fools! Let them die!'--tell him again this story: 'There was a +streamlet once: it burst forth from beneath the snow on a mountain's +crown; and the snow made a cove over it. It ran on pure and blue and +clear as the sky above it, and the banks of snow made its cradle. Then +it came to a spot where the snow ended; and two ways lay before it by +which it might journey; one, on the mountain ridges, past rocks and +stones, and down long sunlit slopes to the sea; and the other, down a +chasm. And the stream hesitated: it twirled and purled, and went this +way and went that. It MIGHT have been, that it would have forced its +way past rocks and ridges and along mountain slopes, and made a path for +itself where no path had been; the banks would have grown green, and the +mountain daisy would have grown beside it; and all night the stars would +have looked at their faces in it; and down the long sunny slopes the sun +would have played on it by day; and the wood dove would have built her +nest in the trees beside it; and singing, singing, always singing, it +would have made its way at last to the great sea, whose far-off call all +waters hear. + +"'But it hesitated.--It might have been, that, had but some hand been +there to move but one stone from its path, it would have forced its way +past rocks and ridges, and found its way to the great sea--it might have +been! But no hand was there. The streamlet gathered itself together, +and (it might be, that it was even in its haste to rush onwards to the +sea!)--it made one leap into the abyss. + +"'The rocks closed over it. Nine hundred fathoms deep, in a still, dark +pool it lay. The green lichen hung from the rocks. No sunlight came +there, and the stars could not look down at night. The pool lay still +and silent. Then, because it was alive and could not rest, it gathered +its strength together, through fallen earth and broken debris it oozed +its way silently on; and it crept out in a deep valley; the mountains +closed it around. And the streamlet laughed to itself, 'Ha, ha! I shall +make a great lake here; a sea!' And it oozed, and it oozed, and it +filled half the plain. But no lake came--only a great marsh--because +there was no way outwards, and the water rotted. The grass died out +along its edges; and the trees dropped their leaves and rotted in the +water; and the wood dove who had built her nest there flew up to the +mountains, because her young ones died. And the toads sat on the stones +and dropped their spittle in the water; and the reeds were yellow that +grew along the edge. And at night, a heavy, white fog gathered over the +water, so that the stars could not see through it; and by day a fine +white mist hung over it, and the sunbeams could not play on it. And no +man knew that once the marsh had leapt forth clear and blue from under +a hood of snow on the mountain's top: aye, and that the turning of one +stone might have caused that it had run on and on, and mingled its song +with the sea's song for ever.'" + +The stranger was silent for a while. + +Then he said, "Should he answer you and say, 'What do I care! What are +coves and mountain tops to me? Gold is real, and the power to crush men +within my hand'; tell him no further. + +"But if by some chance he should listen, then, say this one thing to +him, clearly in the ear, that he may not fail to hear it: 'The morning +may break grey, and the midday be dark and stormy; but the glory of the +evening's sunset may wash out for ever the remembrance of the morning's +dullness, and the darkness of the noon. So that all men shall say, 'Ah, +for the beauty of that day!'--For the stream that has once descended +there is no path upwards.--It is never too late for the soul of a man.' + +"And if he should laugh, and say: 'You fool, a man may remake himself +entirely before twenty; he may reshape himself before thirty; but after +forty he is fixed. Shall I, who for forty-three years have sought money +and power, seek for anything else now? You want me to be Jesus Christ, I +suppose! How can I be myself and another man?' Then answer him: 'Deep in +the heart of every son of man lies an angel; but some have their wings +folded. Wake yours! He is larger and stronger than another man's; mount +up with him!' + +"But if he curses you, and says, 'I have eight millions of money, and I +care neither for God nor man!'--then make no answer, but stoop and write +before him." The stranger bent down and wrote with his finger in the +white ashes of the fire. Peter Halket bent forward, and he saw the two +words the stranger had written. + +The stranger said: "Say to him: 'Though you should seek to make that +name immortal in this land; and should write it in gold dust, and set it +with diamonds, and cement it with human blood, shed from the Zambezi +to the sea, yet--." The stranger passed his foot over the words; Peter +Halket looked down, and he saw only a bed of smooth white ashes where +the name had been. + +The stranger said: "And if he should curse yet further, and say, 'There +is not one man nor woman in South Africa I cannot buy with my money! +When I have the Transvaal, I shall buy God Almighty Himself, if I care +to!' + +"Then say to him this one thing only, 'Thy money perish with thee!' and +leave him." + +There was a dead silence for a moment. Then the stranger stretched forth +his hand. "Yet in that leaving him, remember;--It is not the act, but +the will, which marks the soul of the man. He who has crushed a nation +sins no more than he who rejoices in the death throe of the meanest +creature. The stagnant pool is not less poisonous drop for drop than the +mighty swamp, though its reach be smaller. He who has desired to be +and accomplish what this man has been and accomplished, is as this man; +though he have lacked the power to perform. Nay, remember this one thing +more:--Certain sons of God are born on earth, named by men Children +of Genius. In early youth each stands at the parting of the way and +chooses; he bears his gift for others or for himself. But forget this +never, whatever his choice may be; that there is laid on him a burden +that is laid not on others--all space is open to him, and his choice is +infinite--and if he falls beneath it, let men weep rather than curse, +for he was born a Son of God." + +There was silence again. Then Peter Halket clasped his arms about the +stranger's feet. "My master," he cried, "I dare not take that message. +It is not that men may say, 'Here is Trooper Peter Halket, whom we all +know, a man who kept women and shot niggers, turned prophet.' But it is, +that it is true. Have I not wished--" and Peter Halket would have poured +out all his soul; but the stranger prevented him. + +"Peter Simon Halket," he said, "is it the trumpet which gives forth +the call to battle, whether it be battered tin or gilded silver, which +boots? Is it not the call? What and if I should send my message by +a woman or a child: shall truth be less truth because the bearer is +despised? Is it the mouth that speaks or the word that is spoken which +is eternal? Nevertheless, if you will have it so, go, and say, 'I, Peter +Halket, sinner among you all, who have desired women and gold, who have +loved myself and hated my fellow, I--'" The stranger looked down at him, +and placed his hand gently on his head. "Peter Simon Halket," he said, +"a harder task I give you than any which has been laid upon you. In that +small spot where alone on earth your will rules, bring there into being +the kingdom today. Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you. +Walk ever forward, looking not to the right hand or the left. Heed not +what men shall say of you. Succour the oppressed; deliver the captive. +If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he is athirst give him drink." + +A curious warmth and gladness stole over Peter Halket as he knelt; +it was as, when a little child, his mother folded him to her: he saw +nothing more about him but a soft bright light. Yet in it he heard a +voice cry, "Because thou hast loved mercy--and hated oppression--" + +When Trooper Peter Halket raised himself, he saw the figure of the +stranger passing from him. He cried, "My Master, let me go with you." +But the figure did not turn. And, as it passed into the darkness, it +seemed to Peter Halket that the form grew larger and larger: and as it +descended the further side of the kopje it seemed that for one instant +he still saw the head with a pale, white light upon it: then it +vanished. + +And Trooper Peter Halket sat alone upon the kopje. + + + +Chapter II. + +It was a hot day. The sun poured down its rays over the scattered trees, +and stunted bush, and long grass, and over the dried up river beds. Far +in the blue, so high the eye could scarcely mark them, vultures were +flying southward, where forty miles off kraals had been destroyed and +two hundred black carcasses were lying in the sun. + +Under a group of tall straggling trees among the grass and low scrub, +on the banks of an almost dried up river bed, a small camp had been +pitched. + +The party had lost their mules, and pending their recovery had already +been there seven days. The three cart loads of provisions they were +conveying to the large camp were drawn up under the trees and had a sail +thrown across them to form a shelter for some of the men; while on the +other side of the cleared and open space that formed the camp, a smaller +sail was thrown across two poles forming a rough tent; and away to the +left, a little cut off from the rest of the camp by some low bushes, +was the bell-shaped tent of the captain, under a tall tree. Before +the bell-shaped tent stood a short stunted tree; its thick white stem +gnarled and knotted; while two stunted misshapen branches, like arms, +stretched out on either side. + +Before this tree, up and down, with his gun upon his arm, his head +bent and his eyes fixed on the ground, while the hot sun blazed on his +shoulders, walked a man. + +Three or four fires were burning about the camp in different parts, +three cooking the mealies and rice which formed the diet of the men, +their stock of tinned meats having been exhausted; while the fourth, +which was watched by a native boy, contained the more appetising meal of +the Captain. + +Most of the men were out of camp; the coloured boys having gone to fetch +the mules, which had been discovered in the hills a few miles off, and +were expected to arrive in the evening; and the white men had gone out +to see what game they could bring down with their guns to flavour +the mealie pots, or to reconnoitre the country; though all native +habitations had been destroyed within a radius of thirty miles, and the +land was as bare of black men as a child's hand of hair; and even the +beasts seemed to have vanished. + +In the shade of the tent, formed of the canvas across two posts, lay +three white men, whose work it was to watch the pots and guard the camp. +They were all three Colonial Englishmen, and lay on the ground on their +stomachs, passing the time by carrying on a desultory conversation, +or taking a few whiffs, slowly, and with care, from their pipes, for +tobacco was precious in the camp. + +Under some bushes a few yards off lay a huge trooper, whose nationality +was uncertain, but who was held to hail from some part of the British +Isles, and who had travelled round the world. He was currently reported +to have done three years' labour for attempted rape in Australia, but +nothing certain was known regarding his antecedents. He had been up on +guard half the night, and was now taking his rest lying on his back with +his arm thrown over his face; but a slight movement could be noted in +his jaw as he slowly chewed a piece of tobacco; and occasionally when +he turned it round the mouth opened, and disclosed two rows of broken +yellow stumps set in very red gums. + +The three Colonial Englishmen took no notice of him. Two, who were +slowly smoking, were of the large and powerful build, and somewhat loose +set about the shoulders, which is common among Colonial Europeans of the +third generation, whether Dutch or English, and had the placidity and +general good temper of expression which commonly marks the Colonial +European who grows up beyond the range of the cities. The third was +smaller and more wiry and of an unusually nervous type, with aquiline +nose, and sallow hatchet face, with a somewhat discontented expression. +He was holding forth, while his companions smoked and listened. + +"Now what I say is this," he brought his hand down on the red sand; +"here we are with about one half teaspoon of Dop given us at night, +while he has ten empty champagne bottles lying behind his tent. And we +have to live on the mealies we're convoying for the horses, while he +has pati and beef, and lives like a lord! It's all very well for the +regulars; they know what they're in for, and they've got gentlemen over +them anyhow, and one can stomach anything if you know what kind of a +fellow you've got over you. English officers are gentlemen, anyhow; or +if one was under Selous now--" + +"Oh, Selous's a MAN!" broke out the other two, taking their pipes from +their mouths. + +"Yes, well, that's what I say. But these fellows, who couldn't do as +farmers, and couldn't do as shopkeepers, and God knows what else; and +their friends in England didn't want to have them; they're sent out here +to boss it over us! It's a damned shame! Why, I want to know, amn't I as +good as any of these fellows, who come swelling it about here? Friends +got money, I suppose!" He cast his sharp glance over towards the bell +tent. "If they gave us real English officers now--" + +"Ah!" said the biggest of his companions, who, in spite of his huge +form, had something of the simplicity and good nature of a child in his +handsome face; "it's because you're not a big enough swell, you know! +He'll be a colonel, or a general, before we've done with him. I call +them all generals or colonels up here; it's safest, you know; if they're +not that today they will be tomorrow!" + +This was intended as a joke, and in that hot weather, and in that dull +world, anything was good enough to laugh at: the third man smiled, but +the first speaker remained serious. + +"I only know this," he said, "I'd teach these fellows a lesson, if any +one belonging to me had been among the people they left to be murdered +here, while they went gallivanting to the Transvaal. If my mother or +sister had been killed here, I'd have taken a pistol and blown out the +brains of the great Panjandrum, and the little ones after him. Fine +administration of a country, this, to invite people to come in and live +here, and then take every fighting man out of the country on a gold +hunting marauding expedition to the Transvaal, and leave us to face +the bitter end. I look upon every man and woman who was killed here as +murdered by the Chartered Company." + +"Well, Jameson only did what he was told. He had to obey orders, like +the rest of us. He didn't make the plan, and he's got the punishment." + +"What business had he to listen? What's all this fine administration +they talk of? It's six years since I came to this country, and I've +worked like a nigger ever since I came, and what have I, or any men +who've worked hard at real, honest farming, got for it? Everything in +the land is given away for the benefit of a few big folks over the water +or swells out here. If England took over the Chartered Company tomorrow, +what would she find?--everything of value in the land given over to +private concessionaires--they'll line their pockets if the whole land +goes to pot! It'll be the jackals eating all the flesh off the horse's +bones, and calling the lion in to lick the bones." + +"Oh, you wait a bit and you'll be squared," said the handsome man. "I've +been here five years and had lots of promises, though I haven't got +anything else yet; but I expect it to come some day, so I keep my mouth +shut! If they asked me to sign a paper, that Mr. Over-the-Way"--he +nodded towards the bell tent--"never got drunk or didn't know how to +swear, I'd sign it, if there was a good dose of squaring to come after +it. I could stand a good lot of that sort of thing--squaring--if it +would only come my way." + +The men laughed in a dreary sort of way, and the third man, who had +not spoken yet, rolled round on to his back, and took the pipe from his +mouth. + +"I tell you what," said the keen man, "those of us up here who have got +a bit of land and are trying honestly and fairly to work, are getting +pretty sick of this humbugging fighting. If we'd had a few men like the +Curries and Bowkers of the old days up here from the first, all this +would never have happened. And there's no knowing when a reason won't +turn up for keeping the bloody thing on or stopping it off for a +time, to break out just when one's settled down to work. It's a damned +convenient thing to have a war like this to turn on and off." + +Slowly the third man keeled round on to his stomach again: "Let +resignation wait. We fight the Matabele again tomorrow," he said, +sententiously. + +A low titter ran round the group. Even the man under the bushes, though +his eyes were still closed and his arm across his face, let his mouth +relax a little, and showed his yellow teeth. + +"I'm always expecting," said the big handsome man, "to have a paper come +round, signed by all the nigger chiefs, saying how much they love the +B.S.A. Company, and how glad they are the Panjandrum has got them, and +how awfully good he is to them; and they're going to subscribe to the +brazen statue. There's nothing a man can't be squared to do." + +The third man lay on his back again, lazily examining his hand, which he +held above his face. "What's that in the Bible," he said, slowly, "about +the statue, whose thighs and belly were of brass, and its feet of mud?" + +"I don't know much about the Bible," said the keen man, "I'm going to +see if my pot isn't boiling over. Won't yours burn?" + +"No, I asked the Captain's boy to keep an eye on it--but I expect he +won't. Do you put the rice in with the mealies?" + +"Got to; I've got no other pot. And the fellows don't object. It's a +tasty variety, you know!" + +The keen-faced man slouched away across the square to where his fire +burnt; and presently the other man rose and went, either to look at his +own pot or sleep under the carts; and the large Colonial man was left +alone. His fire was burning satisfactorily about fifty feet off, and +he folded his arms on the ground and rested his forehead on them, and +watched lazily the little black ants that ran about in the red sand, +just under his nose. + +A great stillness settled down on the camp. Now and again a stick +cracked in the fires, and the cicadas cried aloud in the tree stems; +but except where the solitary paced up and down before the little +flat-topped tree in front of the captain's tent, not a creature stirred +in the whole camp; and the snores of the trooper under the bushes might +be heard half across the camp. + +The intense midday heat had settled down. + +At last there was the sound of someone breaking through the long grass +and bushes which had only been removed for a few feet round the camp, +and the figure of a man emerged bearing in one hand a gun, and in the +other a bird which he had shot. He was evidently an Englishman, and not +long from Europe, by the bloom of the skin, which was perceptible in +spite of the superficial tan. His face was at the moment flushed with +heat; but the clear blue eyes and delicate features lost none of their +sensitive refinement. + +He came up to the Colonial, and dropped the bird before him. "That is +all I've got," he said. + +He threw himself also down on the ground, and put his gun under the +loose flap of the tent. + +The Colonial raised his head; and without taking his elbows from the +ground took up the bird. "I'll put it into the pot; it'll give it the +flavour of something except weevily mealies"; he said, and fell to +plucking it. + +The Englishman took his hat off, and lifted the fine damp hair from his +forehead. + +"Knocked up, eh?" said the Colonial, glancing kindly up at him. "I've a +few drops in my flask still." + +"Oh, no, I can stand it well enough. It's only a little warm." He gave +a slight cough, and laid his head down sideways on his arm. His eyes +watched mechanically the Colonial's manipulation of the bird. He had +left England to escape phthisis; and he had gone to Mashonaland because +it was a place where he could earn an open-air living, and save his +parents from the burden of his support. + +"What's Halket doing over there?" he asked suddenly, raising his head. + +"Weren't you here this morning?" asked the Colonial. "Didn't you know +they'd had a devil of a row?" + +"Who?" asked the Englishman, half raising himself on his elbows. + +"Halket and the Captain." The Colonial paused in the plucking. "My God, +you never saw anything like it!" + +The Englishman sat upright now, and looked keenly over the bushes where +Halket's bent head might be seen as he paced to and fro. + +"What's he doing out there in this blazing sun?" + +"He's on guard," said the Colonial. "I thought you were here when it +happened. It's the best thing I ever saw or heard of in my whole life!" +He rolled half over on his side and laughed at the remembrance. "You +see, some of the men went down into the river, to look for fresh pools +of water, and they found a nigger, hidden away in a hole in the bank, +not five hundred yards from here! They found the bloody rascal by a +little path he tramped down to the water, trodden hard, just like a +porcupine's walk. They got him in the hole like an aardvark, with a bush +over the mouth, so you couldn't see it. He'd evidently been there a long +time, the floor was full of bones of fish he'd caught in the pool, and +there was a bit of root like a stick half gnawed through. He'd been +potted, and got two bullet wounds in the thigh; but he could walk +already. It's evident he was just waiting till we were gone, to clear +off after his people. He'd got that beastly scurvy look a nigger gets +when he hasn't had anything to eat for a long time. + +"Well, they hauled him up before the Captain, of course; and he blew +and swore, and said the nigger was a spy, and was to be hanged tomorrow; +he'd hang him tonight, only the big troop might catch us up this +evening, so he'd wait to hear what the Colonel said; but if they didn't +come he'd hang him first thing tomorrow morning, or have him shot, as +sure as the sun rose. He made the fellows tie him up to that little tree +before his tent, with riems round his legs, and riems round his waist, +and a riem round his neck." + +"What did the native say?" asked the Englishman. + +"Oh, he didn't say anything. There wasn't a soul in the camp could have +understood him if he had. The coloured boys don't know his language. I +expect he's one of those bloody fellows we hit the day we cleared the +bush out yonder; but how he got down that bank with his leg in the state +it must have been, I don't know. He didn't try to fight when they caught +him; just stared in front of him--fright, I suppose. He must have been a +big strapping devil before he was taken down. + +"Well, I tell you, we'd just got him fixed up, and the Captain was just +going into his tent to have a drink, and we chaps were all standing +round, when up steps Halket, right before the Captain, and pulls his +front lock--you know the way he has? Oh, my God, my God, if you could +have seen it! I'll never forget it to my dying day!" The Colonial seemed +bursting with internal laughter. "He begins, 'Sir, may I speak to you?' +in a formal kind of way, like a fellow introducing a deputation; and +then all of a sudden he starts off--oh, my God, you never heard such a +thing! It was like a boy in Sunday-school saying up a piece of Scripture +he's learnt off by heart, and got all ready beforehand, and he's not +going to be stopped till he gets to the end of it." + +"What did he say," asked the Englishman. + +"Oh, he started, How did we know this nigger was a spy at all; it would +be a terrible thing to kill him if we weren't quite sure; perhaps he was +hiding there because he was wounded. And then he broke out that, after +all, these niggers were men fighting for their country; we would fight +against the French if they came and took England from us; and the +niggers were brave men, 'please sir'--(every five minutes he'd pull his +forelock, and say, 'please sir!')--'and if we have to fight against them +we ought to remember they're fighting for freedom; we shouldn't shoot +wounded prisoners when they were black if we wouldn't shoot them if they +were white!' And then he broke out pure unmitigated Exeter Hall! You +never heard anything like it! All men were brothers, and God loved a +black man as well as a white; Mashonas and Matabele were poor ignorant +folk, and we had to take care of them. And then he started out, that we +ought to let this man go; we ought to give him food for the road, and +tell him to go back to his people, and tell them we hadn't come to take +their land but to teach them and love them. 'It's hard to love a nigger, +Captain, but we must try it; we must try it!'--And every five minutes +he'd break out with, 'And I think this is a man I know, Captain; I'm +not sure, but I think he comes from up Lo Magundis way!'--as if any born +devil cared whether a bloody nigger came from Lo Magundis or anywhere +else! I'm sure he said it fifteen times. And then he broke out, 'I don't +mean that I'm better than you or anybody else, Captain; I'm as bad a man +as any in camp, and I know it.' And off he started, telling us all the +sins he'd ever committed; and he kept on, 'I'm an unlearned, ignorant +man, Captain; but I must stand by this nigger; he's got no one else!' +And then he says--'If you let me take him up to Lo Magundis, sir, I'm +not afraid; and I'll tell the people there that it's not their land and +their women that we want, it's them to be our brothers and love us. If +you'll only let me go, sir, I'll go and make peace; give the man to me, +sir!'" The Colonial shook with laughter. + +"What did the Captain say?" asked the Englishman. + +"The Captain; well, you know the smallest thing sets him off swearing +all round the world; but he just stood there with his arms hanging down +at each side of him, and his eyes staring, and his face getting redder +and redder: and all he could say was, 'My Gawd! my Gawd!' I thought +he'd burst. And Halket stood there looking straight in front of him, as +though he didn't see a soul of us all there." + +"What did the Captain do?" + +"Oh, as soon as Halket turned away he started swearing, but he got the +tail of one oath hooked on to the head of another. It was nearly as good +as Halket himself. And when he'd finished and got sane a bit, he said +Halket was to walk up and down there all day and keep watch on the +nigger. And he gave orders that if the big troop didn't come up tonight, +that he was to be potted first thing in the morning, and that Halket was +to shoot him." + +The Englishman started: "What did Halket say?" + +"Nothing. He's been walking there with his gun all day." + +The Englishman watched with his clear eyes the spot where Halket's head +appeared and disappeared. + +"Is the nigger hanging there now?" + +"Yes. The Captain said no one was to go near him, or give him anything +to eat or drink all day: but--" The Colonial glanced round where the +trooper lay under the bushes; and then lowering his voice added, "This +morning, a couple of hours ago, Halket sent the Captain's coloured boy +to ask me for a drink of water. I thought it was for Halket himself, and +the poor devil must be hot walking there in the sun, so I sent him the +water out of my canvas bag. I went along afterwards to see what had +become of my mug; the boy had gone, and there, straight in front of the +Captain's tent, before the very door, was Halket letting that bloody +nigger drink out of my mug. The riem was so tight round his neck he +couldn't drink but slowly, and there was Halket holding it up to him! If +the Captain had looked out! W-h-e-w! I wouldn't have been Halket!" + +"Do you think he will try to make Halket do it?" asked the Englishman. + +"Of course he will. He's the Devil in; and Halket had better not make a +fuss about it, or it'll be the worse for him." + +"His time's up tomorrow evening!" + +"Yes, but not tomorrow morning. And I wouldn't make a row about it if I +was Halket. It doesn't do to fall out with the authorities here. What's +one nigger more or less? He'll get shot some other way, or die of +hunger, if we don't do it." + +"It's hardly sport to shoot a man tied up neck and legs," said the +Englishman; his finely drawn eyebrows contracting and expanding a +little. + +"Oh, they don't feel, these niggers, not as we should, you know. I've +seen a man going to be shot, looking full at the guns, and falling +like that!--without a sound. They've no feeling, these niggers; I don't +suppose they care much whether they live or die, not as we should, you +know." + +The Englishman's eyes were still fixed on the bushes, behind which +Halket's head appeared and disappeared. + +"They have no right to order Halket to do it--and he will not do it!" +said the Englishman slowly. + +"You're not going to be such a fool as to step in, are you?" said the +Colonial, looking curiously at him. "It doesn't pay. I've made up my +mind never to speak whatever happens. What's the good? Suppose one were +to make a complaint now about this affair with Halket, if he's made to +shoot the nigger against his will; what would come of it? There'd be +half-a-dozen fellows here squared to say what headquarters wanted--not +to speak of a fellow like that"--turning his thumb in the direction of +the sleeping trooper--"who are paid to watch. I believe he reports on +the Captain himself to the big headquarters. All one's wires are edited +before they go down; only what the Company wants to go, go through. +There are many downright good fellows in this lot; but how many of us +are there, do you think, who could throw away all chance of ever making +anything in Mashonaland, for the sake of standing by Halket; even if he +had a real row with the Company? I've a great liking for Halket myself, +he's a real good fellow, and he's done me many a good turn--took my +watch only last night, because I was off colour; I'd do anything for him +in reason. But, I say this flatly, I couldn't and wouldn't fly in the +face of the authorities for him or anyone else. I've my own girl waiting +for me down in the Colony, and she's been waiting for me these five +years. And whether I'm able to marry her or not depends on how I stand +with the Company: and I say, flatly, I'm not going to fall out with it. +I came here to make money, and I mean to make it! If other people like +to run their heads against stone walls, let them: but they mustn't +expect me to follow them. This isn't a country where a man can say what +he thinks." + +The Englishman rested his elbows on the ground. "And the Union Jack is +supposed to be flying over us." + +"Yes, with a black bar across it for the Company," laughed the Colonial. + +"Do you ever have the nightmare?" asked the Englishman suddenly. + +"I? Oh yes, sometimes"; he looked curiously at his companion; "when I've +eaten too much, I get it." + +"I always have it since I came up here," said the Englishman. "It is +that a vast world is resting on me--a whole globe: and I am a midge +beneath it. I try to raise it, and I cannot. So I lie still under +it--and let it crush me!" + +"It's curious you should have the nightmare so up here," said the +Colonial; "one gets so little to eat." + +There was a silence: he was picking the little fine feathers from the +bird, and the Englishman was watching the ants. + +"Mind you," the Colonial said at last, "I don't say that in this case +the Captain was to blame; Halket made an awful ass of himself. He's +never been quite right since that time he got lost and spent the night +out on the kopje. When we found him in the morning he was in a kind of +dead sleep; we couldn't wake him; yet it wasn't cold enough for him to +have been frozen. He's never been the same man since; queer, you know; +giving his rations away to the coloured boys, and letting the other +fellows have his dot of brandy at night; and keeping himself sort of +apart to himself, you know. The other fellows think he's got a touch of +fever on, caught wandering about in the long grass that day. But I don't +think it's that; I think it's being alone in the veld that's got hold of +him. Man, have you ever been out like that, alone in the veld, night +and day, and not a soul to speak to? I have; and I tell you, if I'd been +left there three days longer I'd have gone mad or turned religious. Man, +it's the nights, with the stars up above you, and the dead still all +around. And you think, and think, and think! You remember all kinds of +things you've never thought of for years and years. I used to talk to +myself at last, and make believe it was another man. I was out seven +days: and he was only out one night. But I think it's the loneliness +that got hold of him. Man, those stars are awful; and that stillness +that comes toward morning!" He stood up. "It's a great pity, because +he's as good a fellow as ever was. But perhaps he'll come all right." + +He walked away towards the pot with the bird in his hand. When he had +gone the Englishman turned round on to his back, and lay with his arm +across his forehead. + +High, high up, between the straggling branches of the tree, in the +clear, blue African sky above him, he could see the vultures flying +southward. + +***** + +That evening the men sat eating their suppers round the fires. The large +troop had not come up; and the mules had been brought in; and they were +to make a start early the next morning. + +Halket was released from his duty, and had come up, and lain down a +little in the background of the group who gathered round their fire. + +The Colonial and the Englishman had given orders to all the men of their +mess that Halket was to be left in quiet, and no questions were to be +asked him; and the men, fearing the Colonial's size and the Englishman's +nerve, left him in peace. The men laughed and chatted round the fire, +while the big Colonial ladled out the mealies and rice into tin plates, +and passed them round to the men. Presently he passed one to Halket, +who lay half behind him leaning on his elbow. For a while Halket ate +nothing, then he took a few mouthfuls; and again lay on his elbow. + +"You are eating nothing, Halket," said the Englishman, cheerily, looking +back. + +"I am not hungry now," he said. After a while he took out his red +handkerchief, and emptied carefully into it the contents of the plate; +and tied it up into a bundle. He set it beside him on the ground, and +again lay on his elbow. + +"You won't come nearer to the fire, Halket?' asked the Englishman. + +"No, thank you, the night is warm." + +After a while Peter Halket took out from his belt a small hunting knife +with a rough wooden handle. A small flat stone lay near him, and he +passed the blade slowly up and down on it, now and then taking it up, +and feeling the edge with his finger. After a while he put it back in +his belt, and rose slowly, taking up his small bundle and walked away to +the tent. + +"He's had a pretty stiff day," said the Colonial. "I expect he's glad +enough to turn in." + +Then all the men round the fire chatted freely over his concerns. Would +the Captain stick to his word tomorrow? Was Halket going to do it? +Had the Captain any right to tell one man off for the work, instead +of letting them fire a volley? One man said he would do it gladly in +Halket's place, if told off; why had he made such a fool of himself? So +they chatted till nine o'clock, when the Englishman and Colonial left to +turn in. They found Halket asleep, close to the side of the tent, with +his face turned to the canvas. And they lay down quietly that they might +not disturb him. + +At ten o'clock all the camp was asleep, excepting the two men told off +to keep guard; who paced from one end of the camp to the other to keep +themselves awake; or stood chatting by the large fire, which still burnt +at one end. + +In the Captain's tent a light was kept burning all night, which shone +through the thin canvas sides, and shed light on the ground about; but, +for the rest, the camp was dead and still. + +By half-past one the moon had gone down, and there was left only a blaze +of stars in the great African sky. + +Then Peter Halket rose up; softly he lifted the canvas and crept out. +On the side furthest from the camp he stood upright. On his arm was tied +his red handkerchief with its contents. For a moment he glanced up at +the galaxy of stars over him; then he stepped into the long grass, and +made his way in a direction opposite to that in which the camp lay. But +after a short while he turned, and made his way down into the river bed. +He walked in it for a while. Then after a time he sat down upon the bank +and took off his heavy boots and threw them into the grass at the side. +Then softly, on tip-toe, he followed the little footpath that the men +had trodden going down to the river for water. It led straight up to the +Captain's tent, and the little flat-topped tree, with its white stem, +and its two gnarled branches spread out on either side. When he was +within forty paces of it, he paused. Far over the other side of the +camp the two men who were on guard stood chatting by the fire. A dead +stillness was over the rest of the camp. The light through the walls of +the Captain's tent made all clear at the stem of the little tree; but +there was no sound of movement within. + +For a moment Peter Halket stood motionless; then he walked up to the +tree. The black man hung against the white stem, so closely bound to +it that they seemed one. His hands were tied to his sides, and his head +drooped on his breast. His eyes were closed; and his limbs, which had +once been those of a powerful man, had fallen away, making the joints +stand out. The wool on his head was wild and thick with neglect, and +stood out roughly in long strands; and his skin was rough with want and +exposure. + +The riems had cut a little into his ankles; and a small flow of blood +had made the ground below his feet dark. + +Peter Halket looked up at him; the man seemed dead. He touched him +softly on the arm, then shook it slightly. + +The man opened his eyes slowly, without raising his head; and looked at +Peter from under his weary eyebrows. Except that they moved they might +have been the eyes of a dead thing. + +Peter put up his fingers to his own lips--"Hus-h! hus-h!" he said. + +The man hung torpid, still looking at Peter. + +Quickly Peter Halket knelt down and took the knife from his belt. In an +instant the riems that bound the feet were cut through; in another he +had cut the riems from the waist and neck: the riems dropped to +the ground from the arms, and the man stood free. Like a dazed dumb +creature, he stood, with his head still down, eyeing Peter. + +Instantly Peter slipped the red bundle from his arm into the man's +passive hand. + +"Ari-tsemaia! Hamba! Loop! Go!" whispered Peter Halket; using a word +from each African language he knew. But the black man still stood +motionless, looking at him as one paralysed. + +"Hamba! Sucka! Go!" he whispered, motioning his hand. + +In an instant a gleam of intelligence shot across the face; then a wild +transport. Without a word, without a sound, as the tiger leaps when the +wild dogs are on it, with one long, smooth spring, as though unwounded +and unhurt, he turned and disappeared into the grass. It closed behind +him; but as he went the twigs and leaves cracked under his tread. + +The Captain threw back the door of his tent. "Who is there?" he cried. + +Peter Halket stood below the tree with the knife in his hand. + +The noise roused the whole camp: the men on guard came running; guns +were fired: and the half-sleeping men came rushing, grasping their +weapons. There was a sound of firing at the little tree; and the cry +went round the camp, "The Mashonas are releasing the spy!" + +When the men got to the Captain's tent, they saw that the nigger was +gone; and Peter Halket was lying on his face at the foot of the tree; +with his head turned towards the Captain's door. + +There was a wild confusion of voices. "How many were there?" "Where have +they gone to now?" "They've shot Peter Halket!"--"The Captain saw them +do it"--"Stand ready, they may come back any time!" + +When the Englishman came, the other men, who knew he had been a medical +student, made way for him. He knelt down by Peter Halket. + +"He's dead," he said, quietly. + +When they had turned him over, the Colonial knelt down on the other +side, with a little hand-lamp in his hand. + +"What are you fellows fooling about here for?" cried the Captain. "Do +you suppose it's any use looking for foot marks after all this tramping! +Go, guard the camp on all sides!" + +"I will send four coloured boys," he said to the Englishman and the +Colonial, "to dig the grave. You'd better bury him at once; there's no +use waiting. We start first thing in the morning." + +When they were alone, the Englishman uncovered Peter Halket's breast. +There was one small wound just under the left bosom; and one on the +crown of the head; which must have been made after he had fallen down. + +"Strange, isn't it, what he can have been doing here?" said the +Colonial; "a small wound, isn't it?" + +"A pistol shot," said the Englishman, closing the bosom. + +"A pistol--" + +The Englishman looked up at him with a keen light in his eye. + +"I told you he would not kill that nigger.--See--here--" He took up the +knife which had fallen from Peter Halket's grasp, and fitted it into a +piece of the cut leather that lay on the earth. + +"But you don't think--" The Colonial stared at him with wide open eyes; +then he glanced round at the Captain's tent. + +"Yes, I think that--Go and fetch his great-coat; we'll put him in it. If +it is no use talking while a man is alive, it is no use talking when he +is dead!" + +They brought his great-coat, and they looked in the pockets to see if +there was anything which might show where he had come from or who his +friends were. But there was nothing in the pockets except an empty +flask, and a leathern purse with two shillings in, and a little +hand-made two-pointed cap. + +So they wrapped Peter Halket up in his great-coat, and put the little +cap on his head. + +And, one hour after Peter Halket had stood outside the tent looking up, +he was lying under the little tree, with the red sand trodden down over +him, in which a black man and a white man's blood were mingled. + +All the rest of the night the men sat up round the fires, discussing +what had happened, dreading an attack. + +But the Englishman and the Colonial went to their tent, to lie down. + +"Do you think they will make any inquiries?" asked the Colonial. + +"Why should they? His time will be up tomorrow." + +"Are you going to say anything?" + +"What is the use?" + +They lay in the dark for an hour, and heard the men chatting outside. + +"Do you believe in a God?" said the Englishman, suddenly. + +The Colonial started: "Of course I do!" + +"I used to," said the Englishman; "I do not believe in your God; but I +believed in something greater than I could understand, which moved in +this earth, as your soul moves in your body. And I thought this worked +in such wise, that the law of cause and effect, which holds in the +physical world, held also in the moral: so, that the thing we call +justice, ruled. I do not believe it any more. There is no God in +Mashonaland." + +"Oh, don't say that!" cried the Colonial, much distressed. "Are you +going off your head, like poor Halket?" + +"No; but there is no God," said the Englishman. He turned round on his +shoulder, and said no more: and afterwards the Colonial went to sleep. + +Before dawn the next morning the men had packed up the goods, and +started. + +By five o'clock the carts had filed away; the men rode or walked before +and behind them; and the space where the camp had been was an empty +circle; save for a few broken bottles and empty tins, and the stones +about which the fires had been made, round which warm ashes yet lay. + +Only under the little stunted tree, the Colonial and the Englishman were +piling up stones. Their horses stood saddled close by. + +Presently the large trooper came riding back. He had been sent by the +Captain to ask what they were fooling behind for, and to tell them to +come on. + +The men mounted their horses to follow him; but the Englishman turned +in his saddle and looked back. The morning sun was lighting up the +straggling branches of the tall trees that had overshadowed the +camp; and fell on the little stunted tree, with its white stem and +outstretched arms; and on the stones beneath it. + +"It's all that night on the kopje!" said the Colonial, sadly. + +But the Englishman looked back. "I hardly know," he said, "whether it is +not better for him now, than for us." + +Then they rode on after the troop. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland, by +Olive Schreiner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TROOPER PETER HALKET *** + +***** This file should be named 1431.txt or 1431.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/3/1431/ + +Produced by Sue Asscher + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by Sue Asscher <asschers@aia.net.au> + + + + + +Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland + +by + +Olive Schreiner + +Author of "Dreams," "Dream Life and Real Life," "The Story of an African +Farm," etc. + +Colonial Edition + +(A photographic plate at the front of the book shows three people hanging +from a tree by their necks. Around them stand eight men, looking not at +all troubled by their participation in the scene. Of this event all the +survivors appear to be white, the victims black. The plate is titled "From +a Photograph taken in Matabeleland." S.A.) + + +To a Great Good Man, Sir George Grey, + +Once Governor of the Cape Colony, who, during his rule in South Africa, +bound to himself the Dutchmen, Englishmen, and Natives he governed, by an +uncorruptible justice and a broad humanity; and who is remembered among us +today as representing the noblest attributes of an Imperial Rule. + +"Our low life was the level's and the night's; + He's for the morning." + +Olive Schreiner. + +19, Russell Road, +Kensington, W., +February, 1897. + + +Aardvark - The great anteater. +Cape Smoke - A very inferior brandy made in Cape Colony. +Kopje - Little hillock. +Kraal - A Kaffir encampment. +Mealies - Maize (corn). +Riem - A thong of undressed leather universally used in South Africa. +Vatje of Old Dop - A little cask of Cape brandy. +Veld - Open Country. + + + + +Chapter I. + +It was a dark night; a chill breath was coming from the east; not enough to +disturb the blaze of Trooper Peter Halket's fire, yet enough to make it +quiver. He sat alone beside it on the top of a kopje. + +All about was an impenetrable darkness; not a star was visible in the black +curve over his head. + +He had been travelling with a dozen men who were taking provisions of +mealies and rice to the next camp. He had been sent out to act as scout +along a low range of hills, and had lost his way. Since eight in the +morning he had wandered among long grasses, and ironstone kopjes, and +stunted bush, and had come upon no sign of human habitation, but the +remains of a burnt kraal, and a down-trampled and now uncultivated mealie +field, where a month before the Chartered Company's forces had destroyed a +native settlement. + +Three times in the day it had appeared to him that he had returned to the +very spot from which he had started; nor was it his wish to travel very +far, for he knew his comrades would come back to look for him, to the +neighbourhood where he had last been seen, when it was found at the evening +camping ground that he did not appear. + +Trooper Peter Halket was very weary. He had eaten nothing all day; and had +touched little of the contents of a small flask of Cape brandy he carried +in his breast pocket, not knowing when it would again be replenished. + +As night drew near he determined to make his resting place on the top of +one of the kopjes, which stood somewhat alone and apart from the others. +He could not easily be approached there, without his knowing it. He had +not much fear of the natives; their kraals had been destroyed and their +granaries burnt for thirty miles round, and they themselves had fled: but +he feared, somewhat, the lions, which he had never seen, but of which he +had heard, and which might be cowering in the long grasses and brushwood at +the kopje's foot:--and he feared, vaguely, he hardly knew what, when he +looked forward to his first long night alone in the veld. + +By the time the sun had set he had gathered a little pile of stumps and +branches on the top of the kopje. He intended to keep a fire burning all +night; and as the darkness began to settle down he lit it. It might be his +friends would see it from far, and come for him early in the morning; and +wild beasts would hardly approach him while he knelt beside it; and of the +natives he felt there was little fear. + +He built up the fire; and determined if it were possible to keep awake the +whole night beside it. + +He was a slight man of middle height, with a sloping forehead and pale blue +eyes: but the jaws were hard set, and the thin lips of the large mouth +were those of a man who could strongly desire the material good of life, +and enjoy it when it came his way. Over the lower half of the face were +scattered a few soft white hairs, the growth of early manhood. + +From time to time he listened intently for possible sounds from the +distance where his friends might be encamped, and might fire off their guns +at seeing his light; or he listened yet more intently for sounds nearer at +hand: but all was still, except for the occasional cracking of the wood in +his own fire, and the slight whistle of the breeze as it crept past the +stones on the kopje. He doubled up his great hat and put it in the pocket +of his overcoat, and put on a little two-pointed cap his mother had made +for him, which fitted so close that only one lock of white hair hung out +over his forehead. He turned up the collar of his coat to shield his neck +and ears, and threw it open in front that the blaze of the fire might warm +him. He had known many nights colder than this when he had sat around the +camp fire with his comrades, talking of the niggers they had shot or the +kraals they had destroyed, or grumbling over their rations; but tonight the +chill seemed to creep into his very bones. + +The darkness of the night above him, and the silence of the veld about him, +oppressed him. At times he even wished he might hear the cry of a jackal +or of some larger beast of prey in the distance; and he wished that the +wind would blow a little louder, instead of making that little wheezing +sound as it passed the corners of the stones. He looked down at his gun, +which lay cocked ready on the ground at his right side; and from time to +time he raised his hand automatically and fingered the cartridges in his +belt. Then he stretched out his small wiry hands to the fire and warmed +them. It was only half past ten, and it seemed to him he had been sitting +here ten hours at the least. + +After a while he threw two more large logs on the fire, and took the flask +out of his pocket. He examined it carefully by the firelight to see how +much it held: then he took a small draught, and examined it again to see +how much it had fallen; and put it back in his breast pocket. + +Then Trooper Peter Halket fell to thinking. + +It was not often that he thought. On patrol and sitting round camp fires +with the other men about him there was no time for it; and Peter Halket had +never been given to much thinking. He had been a careless boy at the +village school; and though, when he left, his mother paid the village +apothecary to read learned books with him at night on history and science, +he had not retained much of them. As a rule he lived in the world +immediately about him, and let the things of the moment impinge on him, and +fall off again as they would, without much reflection. But tonight on the +kopje he fell to thinking, and his thoughts shaped themselves into +connected chains. + +He wondered first whether his mother would ever get the letter he had +posted the week before, and whether it would be brought to her cottage or +she would go to the post office to fetch it. And then, he fell to thinking +of the little English village where he had been born, and where he had +grown up. He saw his mother's fat white ducklings creep in and out under +the gate, and waddle down to the little pond at the back of the yard; he +saw the school house that he had hated so much as a boy, and from which he +had so often run away to go a-fishing, or a-bird's-nesting. He saw the +prints on the school house wall on which the afternoon sun used to shine +when he was kept in; Jesus of Judea blessing the children, and one picture +just over the door where he hung with his arms stretched out and the blood +dropping from his feet. Then Peter Halket thought of the tower at the +ruins which he had climbed so often for birds' eggs; and he saw his mother +standing at her cottage gate when he came home in the evening, and he felt +her arms round his neck as she kissed him; but he felt her tears on his +cheek, because he had run away from school all day; and he seemed to be +making apologies to her, and promising he never would do it again if only +she would not cry. He had often thought of her since he left her, on board +ship, and when he was working with the prospectors, and since he had joined +the troop; but it had been in a vague way; he had not distinctly seen and +felt her. But tonight he wished for her as he used to when he was a small +boy and lay in his bed in the next room, and saw her shadow through the +door as she bent over her wash-tub earning the money which was to feed and +clothe him. He remembered how he called her and she came and tucked him in +and called him "Little Simon," which was his second name and had been his +father's, and which she only called him when he was in bed at night, or +when he was hurt. + +He sat there staring into the blaze. He resolved he would make a great +deal of money, and she should live with him. He would build a large house +in the West End of London, the biggest that had ever been seen, and another +in the country, and they should never work any more. + +Peter Halket sat as one turned into stone, staring into the fire. + +All men made money when they came to South Africa,--Barney Barnato, Rhodes- +-they all made money out of the country, eight millions, twelve millions, +twenty-six millions, forty millions; why should not he! + +Peter Halket started suddenly and listened. But it was only the wind +coming up the kopje like a great wheezy beast creeping upwards; and he +looked back into the fire. + +He considered his business prospects. When he had served his time as +volunteer he would have a large piece of land given him, and the Mashonas +and Matabeles would have all their land taken away from them in time, and +the Chartered Company would pass a law that they had to work for the white +men; and he, Peter Halket, would make them work for him. He would make +money. + +Then he reflected on what he should do with the land if it were no good and +he could not make anything out of it. Then, he should have to start a +syndicate; called the Peter Halket Gold, or the Peter Halket Iron-mining, +or some such name, Syndicate. Peter Halket was not very clear as to how it +ought to be started; but he felt certain that he and some other men would +have to take shares. They would not have to pay for them. And then they +would get some big man in London to take shares. He need not pay for them; +they would give them to him; and then the company would be floated. No one +would have to pay anything; it was just the name--"The Peter Halket Gold +Mining Company, Limited." It would float in London; and people there who +didn't know the country would buy the shares; THEY would have to give ready +money for them, of course; perhaps fifteen pounds a share when they were +up!--Peter Halket's eyes blinked as he looked into the fire.--And then, +when the market was up, he, Peter Halket, would sell out all his shares. +If he gave himself only six thousand and sold them each for ten pounds, +then he, Peter Halket, would have sixty thousand pounds! And then he would +start another company, and another. + +Peter Halket struck his knee softly with his hand. + +That was the great thing--"Always sell out at the right time." That point +Peter Halket was very clear on. He had heard it so often discussed. Give +some shares to men with big names, and sell out: they can sell out too at +the right time. + +Peter Halket stroked his knee thoughtfully. + +And then the other people, that bought the shares for cash! Well, they +could sell out too; they could all sell out! + +Then Peter Halket's mind got a little hazy. The matter was getting too +difficult for him, like a rule of three sum at school when he could not see +the relation between the two first terms and the third. Well, if they +didn't like to sell out at the right time, it was their own faults. Why +didn't they? He, Peter Halket, did not feel responsible for them. +Everyone knew that you had to sell out at the right time. If they didn't +choose to sell out at the right time, well, they didn't. "It's the shares +that you sell, not the shares you keep, that make the money." + +But if they couldn't sell them? + +Here Peter Halket hesitated.--Well, the British Government would have to +buy them, if they were so bad no one else would; and then no one would +lose. "The British Government can't let British share-holders suffer." +He'd heard that often enough. The British taxpayer would have to pay for +the Chartered Company, for the soldiers, and all the other things, if IT +couldn't, and take over the shares if it went smash, because there were +lords and dukes and princes connected with it. And why shouldn't they pay +for his company? He would have a lord in it too! + +Peter Halket looked into the fire completely absorbed in his calculations.- +-Peter Halket, Esq., Director of the Peter Halket Gold Mining Company, +Limited. Then, when he had got thousands, Peter Halket, Esq., M.P. Then, +when he had millions, Sir Peter Halket, Privy Councillor! + +He reflected deeply, looking into the blaze. If you had five or six +millions you could go where you liked and do what you liked. You could go +to Sandringham. You could marry anyone. No one would ask what your mother +had been; it wouldn't matter. + +A curious dull sinking sensation came over Peter Halket; and he drew in his +broad leathern belt two holes tighter. + +Even if you had only two millions you could have a cook and a valet, to go +with you when you went into the veld or to the wars; and you could have as +much champagne and other things as you liked. At that moment that seemed +to Peter more important than going to Sandringham. + +He took out his flask of Cape Smoke, and drew a tiny draught from it. + +Other men had come to South Africa with nothing, and had made everything! +Why should not he? + +He stuck small branches under the two great logs, and a glorious flame +burst out. Then he listened again intently. The wind was falling and the +night was becoming very still. It was a quarter to twelve now. His back +ached, and he would have liked to lie down; but he dared not, for fear he +should drop asleep. He leaned forward with his hands between his crossed +knees, and watched the blaze he had made. + +Then, after a while, Peter Halket's thoughts became less clear: they +became at last, rather, a chain of disconnected pictures, painting +themselves in irrelevant order on his brain, than a line of connected +ideas. Now, as he looked into the crackling blaze, it seemed to be one of +the fires they had make to burn the natives' grain by, and they were +throwing in all they could not carry away: then, he seemed to see his +mother's fat ducks waddling down the little path with the green grass on +each side. Then, he seemed to see his huts where he lived with the +prospectors, and the native women who used to live with him; and he +wondered where the women were. Then--he saw the skull of an old Mashona +blown off at the top, the hands still moving. He heard the loud cry of the +native women and children as they turned the maxims on to the kraal; and +then he heard the dynamite explode that blew up a cave. Then again he was +working a maxim gun, but it seemed to him it was more like the reaping +machine he used to work in England, and that what was going down before it +was not yellow corn, but black men's heads; and he thought when he looked +back they lay behind him in rows, like the corn in sheaves. + +The logs sent up a flame clear and high, and, where they split, showed a +burning core inside: the cracking and spluttering sounded in his brain +like the discharge of a battery of artillery. Then he thought suddenly of +a black woman he and another man caught alone in the bush, her baby on her +back, but young and pretty. Well, they didn't shoot her!--and a black +woman wasn't white! His mother didn't understand these things; it was all +so different in England from South Africa. You couldn't be expected to do +the same sort of things here as there. He had an unpleasant feeling that +he was justifying himself to his mother, and that he didn't know how to. + +He leaned further and further forward: so far at last, that the little +white lock of his hair which hung out under his cap was almost singed by +the fire. His eyes were still open, but the lids drooped over them, and +his hands hung lower and lower between his knees. There was no picture +left on his brain now, but simply an impress of the blazing logs before +him. + +Then, Trooper Peter Halket started. He sat up and listened. The wind had +gone; there was not a sound: but he listened intently. The fire burnt up +into the still air, two clear red tongues of flame. + +Then, on the other side of the kopje he heard the sound of footsteps +ascending; the slow even tread of bare feet coming up. + +The hair on Trooper Peter Halket's forehead slowly stiffened itself. He +had no thought of escaping; he was paralyzed with dread. He took up his +gun. A deadly coldness crept from his feet to his head. He had worked a +maxim gun in a fight when some hundred natives fell and only one white man +had been wounded; and he had never known fear; but tonight his fingers were +stiff on the lock of his gun. He knelt low, tending a little to one side +of the fire, with his gun ready. A stone half sheltered him from anyone +coming up from the other side of the kopje, and the instant the figure +appeared over the edge he intended to fire. + +Then, the thought flashed on him; what, and if it were one of his own +comrades come in search of him, and no bare-footed enemy! The anguish of +suspense wrung his heart; for an instant he hesitated. Then, in a cold +agony of terror, he cried out, "Who is there?" + +And a voice replied in clear, slow English, "A friend." + +Peter Halket almost let his gun drop, in the revulsion of feeling. The +cold sweat which anguish had restrained burst out in large drops on his +forehead; but he still knelt holding his gun. + +"What do you want?" he cried out quiveringly. + +From the darkness at the edge of the kopje a figure stepped out into the +full blaze of the firelight. + +Trooper Peter Halket looked up at it. + +It was the tall figure of a man, clad in one loose linen garment, reaching +lower than his knees, and which clung close about him. His head, arms, and +feet were bare. He carried no weapon of any kind; and on his shoulders +hung heavy locks of dark hair. + +Peter Halket looked up at him with astonishment. "Are you alone?" he +asked. + +"Yes, I am alone." + +Peter Halket lowered his gun and knelt up. + +"Lost your way, I suppose?" he said, still holding his weapon loosely. + +"No; I have come to ask whether I may sit beside your fire for a while." + +"Certainly, certainly!" said Peter, eyeing the stranger's dress carefully, +still holding his gun, but with the hand off the lock. "I'm confoundedly +glad of any company. It's a beastly night for anyone to be out alone. +Wonder you find your way. Sit down! sit down!" Peter looked intently at +the stranger; then he put his gun down at his side. + +The stranger sat down on the opposite side of the fire. His complexion was +dark; his arms and feet were bronzed; but his aquiline features, and the +domed forehead, were not of any South African race. + +"One of the Soudanese Rhodes brought with him from the north, I suppose?" +said Peter, still eyeing him curiously. + +No; Cecil Rhodes has had nothing to do with my coming here," said the +stranger. + +"Oh--" said Peter. "You didn't perhaps happen to come across a company of +men today, twelve white men and seven coloured, with three cart loads of +provisions? We were taking them to the big camp, and I got parted from my +troop this morning. I've not been able to find them, though I've been +seeking for them ever since." + +The stranger warmed his hands slowly at the fire; then he raised his head:- +-"They are camped at the foot of those hills tonight," he said, pointing +with his hand into the darkness at the left. "Tomorrow early they will be +here, before the sun has risen." + +"Oh, you've met them, have you!" said Peter joyfully; "that's why you +weren't surprised at finding me here. Take a drop!" He took the small +flask from his pocket and held it out. "I'm sorry there's so little, but a +drop will keep the cold out." + +The stranger bowed his head; but thanked and declined. + +Peter raised the flask to his lips and took a small draught; then returned +it to his pocket. The stranger folded his arms about his knees, and looked +into the fire. + +"Are you a Jew?" asked Peter, suddenly; as the firelight fell full on the +stranger's face. + +"Yes; I am a Jew." + +"Ah," said Peter, "that's why I wasn't able to make out at first what +nation you could be of; your dress, you know--" Then he stopped, and said, +"Trading here, I suppose? Which country do you come from; are you a +Spanish Jew?" + +"I am a Jew of Palestine." + +"Ah!" said Peter; "I haven't seen many from that part yet. I came out with +a lot on board ship; and I've seen Barnato and Beit; but they're not very +much like you. I suppose it's coming from Palestine makes the difference." + +All fear of the stranger had now left Peter Halket. "Come a little nearer +the fire," he said, "you must be cold, you haven't too much wraps. I'm +chill in this big coat." Peter Halket pushed his gun a little further away +from him; and threw another large log on the fire. "I'm sorry I haven't +anything to eat to offer you; but I haven't had anything myself since last +night. It's beastly sickening, being out like this with nothing to eat. +Wouldn't have thought a fellow'd feel so bad after only a day of it. Have +you ever been out without grub?" said Peter cheerfully, warming his hands +at the blaze. + +"Forty days and nights," said the stranger. + +"Forty days! Ph--e--ew!" said Peter. "You must have have had a lot to +drink, or you wouldn't have stood it. I was feeling blue enough when you +turned up, but I'm better now, warmer." + +Peter Halket re-arranged the logs on the fire. + +"In the employ of the Chartered Company, I suppose?" said Peter, looking +into the fire he had made. + +"No," said the stranger; "I have nothing to do with the Chartered Company." + +"Oh," said Peter, "I don't wonder, then, that things aren't looking very +smart with you! There's not too much cakes and ale up here for those that +do belong to it, if they're not big-wigs, and none at all for those who +don't. I tried it when I first came up here. I was with a prospector who +was hooked on to the Company somehow, but I worked on my own account for +the prospector by the day. I tell you what, it's not the men who work up +here who make the money; it's the big-wigs who get the concessions!" + +Peter felt exhilarated by the presence of the stranger. That one unarmed +man had robbed him of all fear. + +Seeing that the stranger did not take up the thread of conversation, he +went on after a time: "It wasn't such a bad life, though. I only wish I +was back there again. I had two huts to myself, and a couple of nigger +girls. It's better fun," said Peter, after a while, "having these black +women than whites. The whites you've got to support, but the niggers +support you! And when you've done with them you can just get rid of them. +I'm all for the nigger gals." Peter laughed. But the stranger sat +motionless with his arms about his knees. + +"You got any girls?" said Peter. "Care for niggers?" + +"I love all women," said the stranger, refolding his arms about his knees. + +"Oh, you do, do you?" said Peter. "Well, I'm pretty sick of them. I had +bother enough with mine," he said genially, warming his hands by the fire, +and then interlocking the fingers and turning the palms towards the blaze +as one who prepares to enjoy a good talk. "One girl was only fifteen; I +got her cheap from a policeman who was living with her, and she wasn't +much. But the other, by Gad! I never saw another nigger like her; well +set up, I tell you, and as straight as that--" said Peter, holding up his +finger in the firelight. "She was thirty if she was a day. Fellows don't +generally fancy women that age; they like slips of girls. But I set my +heart on her the day I saw her. She belonged to the chap I was with. He +got her up north. There was a devil of a row about his getting her, too; +she'd got a nigger husband and two children; didn't want to leave them, or +some nonsense of that sort: you know what these niggers are? Well, I tried +to get the other fellow to let me have her, but the devil a bit he would. +I'd only got the other girl, and I didn't much fancy her; she was only a +child. Well, I went down Umtali way and got a lot of liquor and stuff, and +when I got back to camp I found them clean dried out. They hadn't had a +drop of liquor in camp for ten days, and the rainy season coming on and no +knowing when they'd get any. Well, I'd a vatje of Old Dop as high as that- +-," indicating with his hand an object about two feet high, "and the other +fellow wanted to buy it from me. I knew two of that. I said I wanted it +for myself. He offered me this, and he offered me that. At last I said, +'Well, just to oblige you, I give you the vatje and you give me the girl!' +And so he did. Most people wouldn't have fancied a nigger girl who'd had +two nigger children, but I didn't mind; it's all the same to me. And I +tell you she worked. She made a garden, and she and the other girl worked +in it; I tell you I didn't need to buy a sixpence of food for them in six +months, and I used to sell green mealies and pumpkins to all the fellows +about. There weren't many flies on her, I tell you. She picked up English +quicker than I picked up her lingo, and took to wearing a dress and shawl." + +The stranger still sat motionless, looking into the fire. + +Peter Halket reseated himself more comfortably before the fire. "Well, I +came home to the huts one day, rather suddenly, you know, to fetch +something; and what did I find? She, talking at the hut door with a nigger +man. Now it was my strict orders they were neither to speak a word to a +nigger man at all; so I asked what it was. And she answers, as cool as can +be, that he was a stranger going past on the road, and asked her to give +him a drink of water. Well, I just ordered him off. I didn't think +anything more about it. But I remember now. I saw him hanging about the +camp the day after. Well, she came to me the next day and asked me for a +lot of cartridges. She'd never asked me for anything before. I asked her +what the devil a woman wanted with cartridges, and she said the old nigger +woman who helped carry in water to the garden said she couldn't stay and +help her any more unless she got some cartridges to give her son who was +going up north hunting elephants. The woman got over me to give her the +cartridges because she was going to have a kid, and she said she couldn't +do the watering without help. So I gave them her. I never put two and two +together. + +"Well, when I heard that the Company was going to have a row with the +Matabele, I thought I'd volunteer. They said there was lots of loot to be +got, and land to be given out, and that sort of thing, and I thought I'd +only be gone about three months. So I went. I left those women there, and +a lot of stuff in the garden and some sugar and rice, and I told them not +to leave till I came back; and I asked the other man to keep an eye on +them. Both those women were Mashonas. They always said the Mashonas +didn't love the Matabele; but, by God, it turned out that they loved them +better than they loved us. They've got the damned impertinence to say, +that the Matabele oppressed them sometimes, but the white man oppresses +them all the time! + +"Well, I left those women there," said Peter, dropping his hands on his +knees. "Mind you, I'd treated those women really well. I'd never given +either of them one touch all the time I had them. I was the talk of all +the fellows round, the way I treated them. Well, I hadn't been gone a +month, when I got a letter from the man I worked with, the one who had the +woman first--he's dead now, poor fellow; they found him at his hut door +with his throat cut--and what do you think he said to me? Why, I hadn't +been gone six hours when those two women skooted! It was all the big one. +What do you think she did? She took every ounce of ball and cartridge she +could find in that hut, and my old Martini-Henry, and even the lid off the +tea-box to melt into bullets for the old muzzle-loaders they have; and off +she went, and took the young one too. The fellow wrote me they didn't +touch another thing: they left the shawls and dresses I gave them kicking +about the huts, and went off naked with only their blankets and the +ammunition on their heads. A nigger man met them twenty miles off, and he +said they were skooting up for Lo Magundi's country as fast as they could +go. + +"And do you know," said Peter, striking his knee, and looking impressively +across the fire at the stranger; "what I'm as sure of as that I'm sitting +here? It's that that nigger I caught at my hut, that day, was her nigger +husband! He'd come to fetch her that time; and when she saw she couldn't +get away without our catching her, she got the cartridges for him!" Peter +paused impressively between the words. "And now she's gone back to him. +It's for him she's taken that ammunition!" + +Peter looked across the fire at the stranger, to see what impression his +story was making. + +"I tell you what," said Peter, "if I'd had any idea that day who that +bloody nigger was, the day I saw him standing at my door, I'd have given +him one cartridge in the back of his head more than ever he reckoned for!" +Peter looked triumphantly at the stranger. This was his only story; and he +had told it a score of times round the camp fire for the benefit of some +new-comer. When this point was reached, a low murmur of applause and +sympathy always ran round the group: tonight there was quiet; the +stranger's large dark eyes watched the fire almost as though he heard +nothing. + +"I shouldn't have minded so much," said Peter after a while, "though no man +likes to have his woman taken away from him; but she was going to have a +kid in a month or two--and so was the little one for anything I know; she +looked like it! I expect they did away with it before it came; they've no +hearts, these niggers; they'd think nothing of doing that with a white +man's child. They've no hearts; they'd rather go back to a black man, +however well you've treated them. It's all right if you get them quite +young and keep them away from their own people; but if once a nigger +woman's had a nigger man and had children by him, you might as well try to +hold a she-devil! they'll always go back. If ever I'm shot, it's as likely +as not it'll be by my own gun, with my own cartridges. And she'd stand by +and watch it, and cheer them on; though I never gave her a blow all the +time she was with me. But I tell you what--if ever I come across that +bloody nigger, I'll take it out of him. He won't count many days to his +year, after I've spotted him!" Peter Halket paused. It seemed to him that +the eyes under their heavy, curled lashes, were looking at something beyond +him with an infinite sadness, almost as of eyes that wept. + +"You look awfully tired," said Peter; "wouldn't you like to lie down and +sleep? You could put your head down on that stone, and I'd keep watch." + +"I have no need of sleep," the stranger said; "I will watch with you." + +"You've been in the wars, too, I see," said Peter, bending forward a +little, and looking at the stranger's feet. "By God! Both of them!--And +right through! You must have had a bad time of it?" + +"It was very long ago," said the stranger. + +Peter Halket threw two more logs on the fire. "Do you know," he said, +"I've been wondering ever since you came, who it was you reminded me of. +It's my mother! You're not like her in the face, but when your eyes look +at me it seems to me as if it was she looking at me. Curious, isn't it? I +don't know you from Adam, and you've hardly spoken a word since you came; +and yet I seem as if I'd known you all my life." Peter moved a little +nearer him. "I was awfully afraid of you when you first came; even when I +first saw you;--you aren't dressed as most of us dress, you know. But the +minute the fire shone on your face I said, 'It's all right.' Curious, +isn't it?" said Peter. "I don't know you from Adam, but if you were to +take up my gun and point it at me, I wouldn't move! I'd lie down here and +go to sleep with my head at your feet; curious, isn't it, when I don't know +you from Adam? My name's Peter Halket. What's yours?" + +But the stranger was arranging the logs on the fire. The flames shot up +bright and high, and almost hid him from Peter Halket's view. + +"By gad! how they burn when you arrange them!" said Peter. + +They sat quiet in the blaze for a while. + +Then Peter said, "Did you see any niggers about yesterday? I haven't come +across any in this part." + +"There is," said the stranger, raising himself, "an old woman in a cave +over yonder, and there is one man in the bush, ten miles from this spot. +He has lived there six weeks, since you destroyed the kraal, living on +roots or herbs. He was wounded in the thigh, and left for dead. He is +waiting till you have all left this part of the country that he may set out +to follow his own people. His leg is not yet so strong that he may walk +fast." + +"Did you speak to him?" said Peter. + +"I took him down to the water where a large pool was. The bank was too +high for the man to descend alone." + +"It's a lucky thing for you our fellows didn't catch you," said Peter. +"Our captain's a regular little martinet. He'd shoot you as soon as look +at you, if he saw you fooling round with a wounded nigger. It's lucky you +kept out of his way." + +"The young ravens have meat given to them," said the stranger, lifting +himself up; "and the lions go down to the streams to drink." + +"Ah--yes--" said Peter; "but that's because we can't help it!" + +They were silent again for a little while. Then Peter, seeing that the +stranger showed no inclination to speak, said, "Did you hear of the spree +they had up Bulawayo way, hanging those three niggers for spies? I wasn't +there myself, but a fellow who was told me they made the niggers jump down +from the tree and hang themselves; one fellow wouldn't bally jump, till +they gave him a charge of buckshot in the back: and then he caught hold of +a branch with his hands and they had to shoot 'em loose. He didn't like +hanging. I don't know if it's true, of course; I wasn't there myself, but +a fellow who was told me. Another fellow who was at Bulawayo, but who +wasn't there when they were hung, said they fired at them just after they +jumped, to kill 'em. I--" + +"I was there," said the stranger. + +"Oh, you were?" said Peter. "I saw a photograph of the niggers hanging, +and our fellows standing round smoking; but I didn't see you in it. I +suppose you'd just gone away?" + +"I was beside the men when they were hung," said the stranger. + +"Oh, you were, were you?" said Peter. "I don't much care about seeing that +sort of thing myself. Some fellows think it's the best fun out to see the +niggers kick; but I can't stand it: it turns my stomach. It's not liver- +heartedness," said Peter, quickly, anxious to remove any adverse impression +as to his courage which the stranger might form; "if it's shooting or +fighting, I'm there. I've potted as many niggers as any man in our troop, +I bet. It's floggings and hangings I'm off. It's the way one's brought +up, you know. My mother never even would kill our ducks; she let them die +of old age, and we had the feathers and the eggs: and she was always +drumming into me;--don't hit a fellow smaller than yourself; don't hit a +fellow weaker than yourself; don't hit a fellow unless he can hit you back +as good again. When you've always had that sort of thing drummed into you, +you can't get rid of it, somehow. Now there was that other nigger they +shot. They say he sat as still as if he was cut out of stone, with his +arms round his legs; and some of the fellows gave him blows about the head +and face before they took him off to shoot him. Now, that's the sort of +thing I can't do. It makes me sick here, somehow." Peter put his hand +rather low down over the pit of his stomach. "I'll shoot as many as you +like if they'll run, but they mustn't be tied up." + +"I was there when that man was shot," said the stranger. + +"Why, you seem to have been everywhere," said Peter. "Have you seen Cecil +Rhodes?" + +"Yes, I have seen him," said the stranger. + +"Now he's death on niggers," said Peter Halket, warming his hands by the +fire; "they say when he was Prime Minister down in the Colony he tried to +pass a law that would give their masters and mistresses the right to have +their servants flogged whenever they did anything they didn't like; but the +other Englishmen wouldn't let him pass it. But here he can do what he +likes. That's the reason some fellows don't want him to be sent away. +They say, 'If we get the British Government here, they'll be giving the +niggers land to live on; and let them have the vote, and get civilised and +educated, and all that sort of thing; but Cecil Rhodes, he'll keep their +noses to the grindstone.' 'I prefer land to niggers,' he says. They say +he's going to parcel them out, and make them work on our lands whether they +like it or not--just as good as having slaves, you know: and you haven't +the bother of looking after them when they're old. Now, there I'm with +Rhodes; I think it's an awfully good move. We don't come out here to work; +it's all very well in England; but we've come here to make money, and how +are we to make it, unless you get niggers to work for you, or start a +syndicate? He's death on niggers, is Rhodes!" said Peter, meditating; +"they say if we had the British Government here and you were thrashing a +nigger and something happened, there'd be an investigation, and all that +sort of thing. But, with Cecil, it's all right, you can do what you like +with the niggers, provided you don't get HIM into trouble." + +The stranger watched the clear flame as it burnt up high in the still night +air; then suddenly he started. + +"What is it?" said Peter; "do you hear anything?" + +"I hear far off," said the stranger, "the sound of weeping, and the sound +of blows. And I hear the voices of men and women calling to me." + +Peter listened intently. "I don't hear anything!" he said. "It must be in +your head. I sometimes get a noise in mine." He listened intently. "No, +there's nothing. It's all so deadly still." + +They sat silent for a while. + +"Peter Simon Halket," said the stranger suddenly--Peter started; he had not +told him his second name--"if it should come to pass that you should obtain +those lands you have desired, and you should obtain black men to labour on +them and make to yourself great wealth; or should you create that company"- +-Peter started--"and fools should buy from you, so that you became the +richest man in the land; and if you should take to yourself wide lands, and +raise to yourself great palaces, so that princes and great men of earth +crept up to you and laid their hands against yours, so that you might slip +gold into them--what would it profit you?" + +"Profit!" Peter Halket stared: "Why, it would profit everything. What +makes Beit and Rhodes and Barnato so great? If you've got eight +millions--" + +"Peter Simon Halket, which of those souls you have seen on earth is to you +greatest?" said the stranger, "Which soul is to you fairest?" + +"Ah," said Peter, "but we weren't talking of souls at all; we were talking +of money. Of course if it comes to souls, my mother's the best person I've +ever seen. But what does it help her? She's got to stand washing clothes +for those stuck-up nincompoops of fine ladies! Wait till I've got money! +It'll be somebody else then, who--" + +"Peter Halket," said the stranger, "who is the greatest; he who serves or +he who is served?" Peter looked at the stranger: then it flashed on him +that he was mad. + +"Oh," he said, "if it comes to that, what's anything! You might as well +say, sitting there in your old linen shirt, that you were as great as +Rhodes or Beit or Barnato, or a king. Of course a man's just the same +whatever he's got on or whatever he has; but he isn't the same to other +people." + +"There have kings been born in stables," said the stranger. + +Then Peter saw that he was joking, and laughed. "It must have been a long +time ago; they don't get born there now," he said. "Why, if God Almighty +came to this country, and hadn't half-a-million in shares, they wouldn't +think much of Him." + +Peter built up his fire. Suddenly he felt the stranger's eyes were fixed +on him. + +"Who gave you your land?" the stranger asked. + +"Mine! Why, the Chartered Company," said Peter. + +The stranger looked back into the fire. "And who gave it to them?" he +asked softly. + +"Why, England, of course. She gave them the land to far beyond the Zambezi +to do what they liked with, and make as much money out of as they could, +and she'd back 'em." + +"Who gave the land to the men and women of England?" asked the stranger +softly. + +"Why, the devil! They said it was theirs, and of course it was," said +Peter. + +"And the people of the land: did England give you the people also?" + +Peter looked a little doubtfully at the stranger. "Yes, of course, she +gave us the people; what use would the land have been to us otherwise?" + +"And who gave her the people, the living flesh and blood, that she might +give them away, into the hands of others?" asked the stranger, raising +himself. + +Peter looked at him and was half afeared. "Well, what could she do with a +lot of miserable niggers, if she didn't give them to us? A lot of good- +for-nothing rebels they are, too," said Peter. + +"What is a rebel?" asked the stranger. + +"My Gawd!" said Peter, "you must have lived out of the world if you don't +know what a rebel is! A rebel is a man who fights against his king and his +country. These bloody niggers here are rebels because they are fighting +against us. They don't want the Chartered Company to have them. But +they'll have to. We'll teach them a lesson," said Peter Halket, the +pugilistic spirit rising, firmly reseating himself on the South African +earth, which two years before he had never heard of, and eighteen months +before he had never seen, as if it had been his mother earth, and the land +in which he first saw light. + +The stranger watched the fire; then he said musingly, "I have seen a land +far from here. In that land are men of two kinds who live side by side. +Well nigh a thousand years ago one conquered the other; they have lived +together since. Today the one people seeks to drive forth the other who +conquered them. Are these men rebels, too?" + +"Well," said Peter, pleased at being deferred to, "that all depends who +they are, you know!" + +"They call the one nation Turks, and the other Armenians," said the +stranger. + +"Oh, the Armenians aren't rebels," said Peter; "they are on our side! The +papers are all full of it," said Peter, pleased to show his knowledge. +"Those bloody Turks! What right had they to conquer the Armenians? Who +gave them their land? I'd like to have a shot at them myself!" + +"WHY are Armenians not rebels?" asked the stranger, gently. + +"Oh, you do ask such curious questions," said Peter. "If they don't like +the Turks, why should they have 'em?" If the French came now and conquered +us, and we tried to drive them out first chance we had; you wouldn't call +us rebels! Why shouldn't they try to turn those bloody Turks out? +Besides," said Peter, bending over and talking in the manner of one who +imparts secret and important information; "you see, if we don't help the +Armenians the Russians would; and we," said Peter, looking exceedingly +knowing, "we've got to prevent that: they'd get the land; and it's on the +road to India. And we don't mean them to. I suppose you don't know much +about politics in Palestine?" said Peter, looking kindly and patronisingly +at the stranger. + +"If these men," said the stranger, "would rather be free, or be under the +British Government, than under the Chartered Company, why, when they resist +the Chartered Company, are they more rebels than the Armenians when they +resist the Turk? Is the Chartered Company God, that every knee should bow +before it, and before it every head be bent? Would you, the white men of +England, submit to its rule for one day?" + +"Ah," said Peter, "no, of course we shouldn't, but we are white men, and so +are the Armenians--almost--" Then he glanced at the stranger's dark face, +and added quickly, "At least, it's not the colour that matters, you know. +I rather like a dark face, my mother's eyes are brown--but the Armenians, +you know, they've got long hair like us." + +"Oh, it is the hair, then, that matters," said the stranger softly. + +"Oh, well," said Peter, "it's not altogether, of course. But it's quite a +different thing, the Armenians wanting to get rid of the Turks, and these +bloody niggers wanting to get rid of the Chartered Company. Besides, the +Armenians are Christians, like us!" + +"Are YOU Christians?" A strange storm broke across the stranger's +features; he rose to his feet. + +"Why, of course, we are!" said Peter. "We're all Christians, we English. +Perhaps you don't like Christians, though? Some Jews don't, I know," said +Peter, looking up soothingly at him. + +"I neither love nor hate any man for that which he is called," said the +stranger; "the name boots nothing." + +The stranger sat down again beside the fire, and folded his hands. + +"Is the Chartered Company Christian also?" he asked. + +"Yes, oh yes," said Peter. + +"What is a Christian?" asked the stranger. + +"Well, now, you really do ask such curious questions. A Christian is a man +who believes in Heaven and Hell, and God and the Bible, and in Jesus +Christ, that he'll save him from going to Hell, and if he believes he'll be +saved, he will be saved." + +"But here, in this world, what is a Christian?" + +"Why," said Peter, "I'm a Christian--we're all Christians." + +The stranger looked into the fire; and Peter thought he would change the +subject. "It's curious how like my mother you are; I mean, your ways. She +was always saying to me, 'Don't be too anxious to make money, Peter. Too +much wealth is as bad as too much poverty.' You're very like her." + +After a while Peter said, bending over a little towards the stranger, "If +you don't want to make money, what did you come to this land for? No one +comes here for anything else. Are you in with the Portuguese?" + +"I am not more with one people than with another," said the stranger. "The +Frenchman is not more to me than the Englishman, the Englishman than the +Kaffir, the Kaffir than the Chinaman. I have heard," said the stranger, +"the black infant cry as it crept on its mother's body and sought for her +breast as she lay dead in the roadway. I have heard also the rich man's +child wail in the palace. I hear all cries." + +Peter looked intently at him. "Why, who are you?" he said; then, bending +nearer to the stranger and looking up, he added, "What is it that you are +doing here?" + +"I belong," said the stranger, "to the strongest company on earth." + +"Oh," said Peter, sitting up, the look of wonder passing from his face. +"So that's it, is it? Is it diamonds, or gold, or lands?" + +"We are the most vast of all companies on the earth," said the stranger; +"and we are always growing. We have among us men of every race and from +every land; the Esquimo, the Chinaman, the Turk, and the Englishman, we +have of them all. We have men of every religion, Buddhists, Mahomedans, +Confucians, Freethinkers, Atheists, Christians, Jews. It matters to us +nothing by what name the man is named, so he be one of us." + +And Peter said, "It must be hard for you all to understand one another, if +you are of so many different kinds?" + +The stranger answered, "There is a sign by which we all know one another, +and by which all the world may know us." (By this shall all men know that +ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.) + +And Peter said, "What is that sign?" + +But the stranger was silent. + +"Oh, a kind of freemasonry!" said Peter, leaning on his elbow towards the +stranger, and looking up at him from under his pointed cap. "Are there any +more of you here in this country?" + +"There are," said the stranger. Then he pointed with his hand into the +darkness. "There in a cave were two women. When you blew the cave up they +were left unhurt behind a fallen rock. When you took away all the grain, +and burnt what you could not carry, there was one basketful that you knew +nothing of. The women stayed there, for one was eighty, and one near the +time of her giving birth; and they dared not set out to follow the remnant +of their tribe because you were in the plains below. Every day the old +woman doled grain from the basket; and at night they cooked it in their +cave where you could not see their smoke; and every day the old woman gave +the young one two handfuls and kept one for herself, saying, 'Because of +the child within you.' And when the child was born and the young woman +strong, the old woman took a cloth and filled it with all the grain that +was in the basket; and she put the grain on the young woman's head and tied +the child on her back, and said, 'Go, keeping always along the bank of the +river, till you come north to the land where our people are gone; and some +day you can send and fetch me.' And the young woman said, 'Have you corn +in the basket to last till they come?' And she said, 'I have enough.' And +she sat at the broken door of the cave and watched the young woman go down +the hill and up the river bank till she was hidden by the bush; and she +looked down at the plain below, and she saw the spot where the kraal had +been and where she had planted mealies when she was a young girl--" + +"I met a woman with corn on her head and a child on her back!" said Peter +under his breath. + +"--And tonight I saw her sit again at the door of the cave; and when the +sun had set she grew cold; and she crept in and lay down by the basket. +Tonight, at half-past three, she will die. I have known her since she was +a little child and played about the huts, while her mother worked in the +mealie fields. She was one of our company." + +"Oh," said Peter. + +"Other members we have here," said the stranger. "There was a prospector"- +-he pointed north; "he was a man who drank and swore when it listed him; +but he had many servants, and they knew where to find him in need. When +they were ill, he tended them with his own hands; when they were in +trouble, they came to him for help. When this war began, and all black +men's hearts were bitter, because certain white men had lied to them, and +their envoys had been killed when they would have asked England to put her +hand out over them; at that time certain of the men who fought the white +men came to the prospector's hut. And the prospector fired at them from a +hole he had cut in his door; but they fired back at him with an old +elephant gun, and the bullet pierced his side and he fell on the floor:-- +because the innocent man suffers oftentimes for the guilty, and the +merciful man falls while the oppressor flourishes. Then his black servant +who was with him took him quickly in his arms, and carried him out at the +back of the hut, and down into the river bed where the water flowed and no +man could trace his footsteps, and hid him in a hole in the river wall. +And when the men broke into the hut they could find no white man, and no +traces of his feet. But at evening, when the black servant returned to the +hut to get food and medicine for his master, the men who were fighting +caught him, and they said, 'Oh, you betrayer of your people, white man's +dog, who are on the side of those who take our lands and our wives and our +daughters before our eyes; tell us where you have hidden him?' And when he +would not answer them, they killed him before the door of the hut. And +when the night came, the white man crept up on his hands and knees, and +came to his hut to look for food. All the other men were gone, but his +servant lay dead before the door; and the white man knew how it must have +happened. He could not creep further, and he lay down before the door, and +that night the white man and the black lay there dead together, side by +side. Both those men were of my friends." + +"It was damned plucky of the nigger," said Peter; "but I've heard of their +doing that sort of thing before. Even of a girl who wouldn't tell where +her mistress was, and getting killed. But," he added doubtfully, "all your +company seem to be niggers or to get killed?" + +"They are of all races," said the stranger. "In a city in the old Colony +is one of us, small of stature and small of voice. It came to pass on a +certain Sunday morning, when the men and women were gathered before him, +that he mounted his pulpit: and he said when the time for the sermon came, +'In place that I should speak to you, I will read you a history.' And he +opened an old book more than two thousand years old: and he read: 'Now it +came to pass that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in +Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. + +"'And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have +it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will +give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seemeth good to thee, +I will give thee the worth of it in money. + +"'And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the +inheritance of my father unto thee. + +"'And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word +which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken unto him; for he had said, I will +not give thee the inheritance of my fathers.' + +"The man read the whole story until it was ended. Then he closed the book, +and he said, 'My friends, Naboth has a vineyard in this land; and in it +there is much gold; and Ahab has desired to have it that the wealth may be +his.' + +"And he put the old book aside, and he took up another which was written +yesterday. And the men and women whispered one to another, even in the +church, 'Is not that the Blue Book Report of the Select Committee of the +Cape Parliament on the Jameson raid?' + +"And the man said, 'Friends, the first story I have read you is one of the +oldest stories of the world: the story I am about to read you is one of +the newest. Truth is not more truth because it is three thousand years +old, nor is it less truth because it is of yesterday. All books which +throw light on truth are God's books, therefore I shall read to you from +the pages before me. Shall the story of Ahab king of Samaria profit us +when we know not the story of the Ahabs of our day; and the Naboths of our +land be stoned while we sit at east?' And he read to them portions of that +book. And certain rich men and women rose up and went out even while he +spoke, and his wife also went out. + +"And when the service was ended and the man returned to his home, his wife +came to him weeping; and she said, 'Did you see how some of the most +wealthy and important people got up and went out this morning? Why did you +preach such a sermon, when we were just going to have the new wing added to +our house, and you thought they were going to raise your salary? You have +not a single Boer in your congregation! Why need you say the Chartered +Company raid on Johannesburg was wrong?' + +"He said, 'My wife, if I believe that certain men whom we have raised on +high, and to whom we have given power, have done a cowardly wrong, shall I +not say it?' + +"And she said, 'Yes, and only a little while ago, when Rhodes was licking +the dust off the Boers' feet that he might keep them from suspecting while +he got ready this affair, then you attacked both Rhodes and the Bond (The +Afrikander Bond, the organised Dutch political party, through whom Mr. +Rhodes worked, and by whom he was backed.) for trying to pass a Bill for +flogging the niggers, and we lost fifty pounds we might have got for the +church?' And he said, 'My wife, cannot God be worshipped as well under the +dome of the heaven He made as in a golden palace? Shall a man keep +silence, when he sees oppression, to earn money for God? If I have +defended the black man when I believed him to be wronged, shall I not also +defend the white man, my flesh-brother? Shall we speak when one man is +wronged and not when it is another?' + +"And she said, 'Yes, but you have your family and yourself to think of! +Why are you always in opposition to the people who could do something for +us? You are only loved by the poor. If it is necessary for you to attack +some one, why don't you attack the Jews for killing Christ, or Herod, or +Pontius Pilate; why don't you leave alone the men who are in power today, +and who with their money can crush you!' + +"And he said, 'Oh my wife, those Jews, and Herod, and Pontius Pilate are +long dead. If I should preach of them now, would it help them? Would it +save one living thing from their clutches? The past is dead, it lives only +for us to learn from. The present, the present only, is ours to work in, +and the future ours to create. Is all the gold of Johannesburg or are all +the diamonds in Kimberley worth, that one Christian man should fall by the +hand of his fellows--aye, or one heathen brother?' + +"And she answered, 'Oh, that is all very well. If you were a really +eloquent preacher, and could draw hundreds of men about you, and in time +form a great party with you at its head, I shouldn't mind what you said. +But you, with your little figure and your little voice, who will ever +follow you? You will be left all alone; that is all the good that will +ever come to you through it.' + +"And he said, 'Oh my wife, have I not waited and watched and hoped that +they who are nobler and stronger than I, all over this land, would lift up +their voices and speak--and there is only a deadly silence? Here and there +one has dared to speak aloud; but the rest whisper behind the hand; one +says, 'My son has a post, he would lose it if I spoke loud'; and another +says, 'I have a promise of land'; and another, 'I am socially intimate with +these men, and should lose my social standing if I let my voice be heard.' +Oh my wife, our land, our goodly land, which we had hoped would be free and +strong among the peoples of earth, is rotten and honeycombed with the +tyranny of gold! We who had hoped to stand first in the Anglo-Saxon +sisterhood for justice and freedom, are not even fit to stand last. Do I +not know only too bitterly how weak is my voice; and that that which I can +do is as nothing: but shall I remain silent? Shall the glow-worm refuse +to give its light, because it is not a star set up on high; shall the +broken stick refuse to burn and warm one frozen man's hands, because it is +not a beacon-light flaming across the earth? Ever a voice is behind my +shoulder, that whispers to me--'Why break your head against a stone wall? +Leave this work to the greater and larger men of your people; they who will +do it better than you can do it! Why break your heart when life could be +so fair to you?' But, oh my wife, the strong men are silent! and shall I +not speak, though I know my power is as nothing?' + +"He laid his head upon his hands. + +"And she said, 'I cannot understand you. When I come home and tell you +that this man drinks, or that that woman has got into trouble, you always +answer me, 'Wife, what business is it of ours if so be that we cannot help +them?' A little innocent gossip offends you; and you go to visit people +and treat them as your friends, into whose house I would not go. Yet when +the richest and strongest men in the land, who could crush you with their +money, as a boy crushes a fly between his finger and thumb, take a certain +course, you stand and oppose them.' + +"And he said, 'My wife, with the sins of the private man, what have I to +do, if so be I have not led him into them? Am I guilty? I have enough to +do looking after my own sins. The sin that a man sins against himself is +his alone, not mine; the sin that a man sins against his fellows is his and +theirs, not mine: but the sins that a man sins, in that he is taken up by +the hands of a people and set up on high, and whose hand they have armed +with their sword, whose power to strike is their power--his sins are +theirs; there is no man so small in the whole nation that he dares say, 'I +have no responsibility for this man's action.' We armed him, we raised +him, we strengthened him, and the evil he accomplishes is more ours than +his. If this man's end in South Africa should be accomplished, and the day +should come when, from the Zambezi to the sea, white man should fly at +white man's throat, and every man's heart burn with bitterness against his +fellow, and the land be bathed with blood as rain--shall I then dare to +pray, who have now feared to speak? Do not think I wish for punishment +upon these men. Let them take the millions they have wrung out of this +land, and go to the lands of their birth, and live in wealth, luxury, and +joy; but let them leave this land they have tortured and ruined. Let them +keep the money they have made here; we may be the poorer for it; but they +cannot then crush our freedom with it. Shall I ask my God Sunday by Sunday +to brood across the land, and bind all its children's hearts in a close- +knit fellowship;--yet, when I see its people betrayed, and their jawbone +broken by a stroke from the hand of gold; when I see freedom passing from +us, and the whole land being grasped by the golden claw, so that the +generation after us shall be born without freedom, to labour for the men +who have grasped all, shall I hold my peace? The Boer and the Englishman +who have been in this land, have not always loved mercy, nor have they +always sought after justice; but the little finger of the speculator and +monopolist who are devouring this land will be thicker on the backs of the +children of this land, black and white, than the loins of the Dutchmen and +Englishmen who have been.' + +"And she said, 'I have heard it said that it was our duty to sacrifice +ourselves for the men and women living in the world at the same time as +ourselves; but I never before heard that we had to sacrifice ourselves for +people that are not born. What are they to you? You will be dust, and +lying in your grave, before that time comes. If you believe in God,' she +said, 'why cannot you leave it to Him to bring good out of all this evil? +Does He need YOU to be made a martyr of? or will the world be lost without +YOU?' + +"He said, 'Wife, if my right hand be in a fire, shall I not pull it out? +Shall I say, 'God may bring good out of this evil,' and let it burn? That +Unknown that lies beyond us we know of no otherwise than through its +manifestation in our own hearts; it works no otherwise upon the sons of men +than through man. And shall I feel no bond binding me to the men to come, +and desire no good or beauty for them--I, who am what I am, and enjoy what +I enjoy, because for countless ages in the past men have lived and +laboured, who lived not for themselves alone, and counted no costs? Would +the great statue, the great poem, the great reform ever be accomplished, if +men counted the cost and created for their own lives alone? And no man +liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. You cannot tell me not to +love the men who shall be after me; a soft voice within me, I know not +what, cries out ever, 'Live for them as for your own children.' When in +the circle of my own small life all is dark, and I despair, hope springs up +in me when I remember that something nobler and fairer may spring up in the +spot where I now stand.' + +"And she said, 'You want to put everyone against us! The other women will +not call on me; and our church is more and more made up of poor people. +Money holds by money. If your congregation were Dutchmen, I know you would +be always preaching to love the Englishmen, and be kind to niggers. If +they were Kaffirs you would always be telling them to help white men. You +will never be on the side of the people who can do anything for us! You +know the offer we had from--' + +"And he said, 'Oh my wife, what are the Boer, and the Russian, and the Turk +to me; am I responsible for their action? It is my own nation, mine, which +I love as a man loves his own soul, whose acts touch me. I would that +wherever our flag was planted the feeble or oppressed peoples of earth +might gather under it, saying, 'Under this banner is freedom and justice +which knows no race or colour.' I wish that on our banner were blazoned in +large letters "Justice and Mercy", and that in every new land which our +feet touch, every son among us might see ever blazoned above his head that +banner, and below it the great order:--"By this sign, Conquer!"--and that +the pirate flag which some men now wave in its place, may be torn down and +furled for ever! Shall I condone the action of some, simply because they +happen to be of my own race, when in Bushman or Hottentot I would condemn +it? Shall men belonging to one of the mightiest races of earth, creep +softly on their bellies, to attack an unwarned neighbour; when even the +Kaffir has again and again given notice of war, saying, 'Be ready, on such +and such a day I come to fight you?' Is England's power so broken, and our +race so enfeebled, that we dare no longer to proclaim war; but must creep +silently upon our bellies in the dark to stab, like a subject people to +whom no other course is open? These men are English; but not English-MEN. +When the men of our race fight, they go to war with a blazoned flag and the +loud trumpet before them. It is because I am an Englishman that these +things crush me. Better that ten thousand of us should lie dead and +defeated on one battlefield, fighting for some great cause, and my own sons +among them, than that those twelve poor boys should have fallen at +Doornkop, fighting to fill up the pockets of those already oe'r-heavy with +gold.' + +"And she said, 'YOU, what does it matter what you feel or think; YOU will +never be able to do anything!' + +"And he said, 'Oh my wife, stand by me; do not crush me. For me in this +matter there is no path but one on which light shines.' + +"And she said, 'You are very unkind; you don't care what the people say +about us!' and she wept bitterly, and went out of the room. But as soon as +the door was shut, she dried her tears; and she said to herself, 'Now he +will never dare to preach such a sermon again. He dares never oppose me +when once I have set down my foot.' + +"And the man spoke to no one, and went out alone in the veld. All the +afternoon he walked up and down among the sand and low bushes; and I walked +there beside him. + +"And when the evening came, he went back to his chapel. Many were absent, +but the elders sat in their places, and his wife also was there. And the +light shone on the empty benches. And when the time came he opened the old +book of the Jews; and he turned the leaves and read:--'If thou forbear to +deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be +slain; if thou sayest, 'Behold we knew it not!' Doth not he that pondereth +the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth he not know it?' + +"And he said, 'This morning we considered the evils this land is suffering +under at the hands of men whose aim is the attainment of wealth and power. +Tonight we shall look at our own share in the matter. I think we shall +realise that with us, and not with the men we have lifted up on high, lies +the condemnation.' Then his wife rose and went out, and others followed +her; and the little man's voice rolled among the empty benches; but he +spoke on. + +"And when the service was over he went out. No elder came to the porch to +greet him; but as he stood there one, he saw not whom, slipped a leaflet +into his hand. He held it up, and read in the lamplight what was written +on it in pencil. He crushed it up in his hand, as a man crushes that which +has run a poisonous sting into him; then he dropped it on the earth as a +man drops that he would forget. A fine drizzly rain was falling, and he +walked up the street with his arms folded behind him, and his head bent. +The people walked up the other side; and it seemed to him he was alone. +But I walked behind him." + +"And then," asked Peter, seeing that the stranger was silent, "what +happened to him after that?" + +"That was only last Sunday," said the stranger. + +There was silence again for some seconds. + +Then Peter said, "Well, anyhow, at least he didn't die!" + +The stranger crossed his hands upon his knees. "Peter Simon Halket," he +said, "it is easier for a man to die than to stand alone. He who can stand +alone can, also, when the need be, die." + +Peter looked up wistfully into the stranger's face. "I should not like to +die myself," he said, "not yet. I shall not be twenty-one till next +birthday. I should like to see life first." + +The stranger made no answer. + +Presently Peter said, "Are all the men of your company poor men?" + +The stranger waited a while before he answered; then he said,--"There have +been rich men who have desired to join us. There was a young man once; and +when he heard the conditions, he went away sorrowful, for he had great +possessions." + +There was silence again for a while. + +"Is it long since your company was started?" asked Peter. + +"There is no man living who can conceive of its age," said the stranger. +"Even here on this earth it began, when these hills were young, and these +lichens had hardly shown their stains upon the rocks, and man still raised +himself upwards with difficulty because the sinews in his thighs were weak. +In those days, which men reck not of now, man, when he hungered, fed on the +flesh of his fellow man and found it sweet. Yet even in those days it came +to pass that there was one whose head was higher than her fellows and her +thought keener, and, as she picked the flesh from a human skull, she +pondered. And so it came to pass the next night, when men were gathered +around the fire ready to eat, that she stole away, and when they went to +the tree where the victim was bound, they found him gone. And they cried +one to another, 'She, only she, has done this, who has always said, 'I like +not the taste of man-flesh; men are too like me; I cannot eat them.' 'She +is mad,' they cried; 'let us kill her!' So, in those dim, misty times that +men reck not of now, that they hardly believe in, that woman died. But in +the heads of certain men and women a new thought had taken root; they said, +'We also will not eat of her. There is something evil in the taste of +human flesh.' And ever after, when the fleshpots were filled with man- +flesh, these stood aside, and half the tribe ate human flesh and half not; +then, as the years passed, none ate. + +"Even in those days, which men reck not of now, when men fell easily open +their hands and knees, they were of us on the earth. And, if you would +learn a secret, even before man trod here, in the days when the dicynodont +bent yearningly over her young, and the river-horse which you find now +nowhere on earth's surface, save buried in stone, called with love to his +mate; and the birds whose footprints are on the rocks flew in the sunshine +calling joyfully to one another--even in those days when man was not, the +fore-dawn of this kingdom had broken on the earth. And still as the sun +rises and sets and the planets journey round, we grow and grow." + +The stranger rose from the fire, and stood upright: around him, and behind +him, the darkness stood out. + +"All earth is ours. And the day shall come, when the stars, looking down +on this little world, shall see no spot where the soil is moist and dark +with the blood of man shed by his fellow man; the sun shall rise in the +East and set in the West and shed his light across this little globe; and +nowhere shall he see man crushed by his fellows. And they shall beat their +swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall +not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. +And instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree; and instead of the +brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and man shall nowhere crush man on +all the holy earth. Tomorrow's sun shall rise," said the stranger, "and it +shall flood these dark kopjes with light, and the rocks shall glint in it. +Not more certain is that rising than the coming of that day. And I say to +you that even here, in the land where now we stand, where today the cries +of the wounded and the curses of revenge ring in the air; even here, in +this land where man creeps on his belly to wound his fellow in the dark, +and where an acre of gold is worth a thousand souls, and a reef of shining +dirt is worth half a people, and the vultures are heavy with man's flesh-- +even here that day shall come. I tell you, Peter Simon Halket, that here +on the spot where now we stand shall be raised a temple. Man shall not +gather in it to worship that which divides; but they shall stand in it +shoulder to shoulder, white man with black, and the stranger with the +inhabitant of the land; and the place shall be holy; for men shall say, +'Are we not brethren and the sons of one Father?'" + +Peter Halket looked upward silently. And the stranger said: "Certain men +slept upon a plain, and the night was chill and dark. And, as they slept, +at that hour when night is darkest, one stirred. Far off to the eastward, +through his half-closed eyelids, he saw, as it were, one faint line, thin +as a hair's width, that edged the hill tops. And he whispered in the +darkness to his fellows: 'The dawn is coming.' But they, with fast-closed +eyelids murmured, 'He lies, there is no dawn.' + +"Nevertheless, day broke." + +The stranger was silent. The fire burnt up in red tongues of flame that +neither flickered nor flared in the still night air. Peter Halket crept +near to the stranger. + +"When will that time be?" he whispered; "in a thousand years' time?" + +And the stranger answered, "A thousand years are but as our yesterday's +journey, or as our watch tonight, which draws already to its close. See, +piled, these rocks on which we now stand? The ages have been young and +they have grown old since they have lain here. Half that time shall not +pass before that time comes; I have seen its dawning already in the hearts +of men." + +Peter moved nearer, so that he almost knelt at the stranger's feet: his +gun lay on the ground at the other side of the fire. + +"I would like to be one of your men," he said. "I am tired of belonging to +the Chartered Company." + +The stranger looked down gently. "Peter Simon Halket," he said, "can you +bear the weight?" + +And Peter said, "Give me work, that I may try." + +There was silence for a time; then the stranger said, "Peter Simon Halket, +take a message to England"--Peter Halket started--"Go to that great people +and cry aloud to it: 'Where is the sword was given into your hand, that +with it you might enforce justice and deal out mercy? How came you to give +it up into the hands of men whose search is gold, whose thirst is wealth, +to whom men's souls and bodies are counters in a game? How came you to +give up the folk that were given into your hands, into the hand of the +speculator and the gamester; as though they were dumb beasts who might be +bought or sold? + +"'Take back your sword, Great People--but wipe it first, lest some of the +gold and blood stick to your hand. + +"'What is this, I see!--the sword of the Great People, transformed to +burrow earth for gold, as the snouts of swine for earth nuts! Have you no +other use for it, Great Folk? + +"'Take back your sword; and, when you have thoroughly cleansed it and wiped +it of the blood and mire, then raise it to set free the oppressed of other +climes. + +"'Great Prince's Daughter, take heed! You put your sword into the hands of +recreant knights; they will dull its edge and mar its brightness, and, when +your hour of need comes and you would put it into other hands, you will +find its edge chipped and its point broken. Take heed! Take heed!' + +"Cry to the wise men of England: 'You, who in peace and calm in shaded +chambers ponder on all things in heaven and earth, and take all knowledge +for your province, have you no time to think of this? To whom has England +given her power? How do the men wield it who have filched it from her? +Say not, What have we to do with folk across the waters; have we not matter +enough for thought in our own land? Where the brain of a nation has no +time to go, there should its hands never be sent to labour: where the +power of a people goes, there must its intellect and knowledge go, to guide +it. Oh, you who sit at ease, studying past and future--and forget the +present--you have no right to sit at ease knowing nothing of the working of +the powers you have armed and sent to work on men afar. Where is your +nation's sword--you men of thought?' + +"Cry to the women of England: 'You, who repose in sumptuous houses, with +children on your knees; think not it is only the rustling of the soft +draped curtains, or the whistling of the wind, you hear. Listen! May it +not be the far off cry of those your sword governs, creeping towards you +across wide oceans till it pierces even into your inmost sanctuary? +Listen! + +"For the womanhood of a dominant people has not accomplished all its labour +when it has borne its children and fed them at its breast: there cries to +it also from over seas and across continents the voice of the child- +peoples--'Mother-heart, stand for us!' It would be better for you that +your wombs should be barren and that your race should die out; than that +you should listen, and give no answer.'" + +The stranger lifted his hands upwards as he spoke, and Peter saw there were +the marks of old wounds in both. + +"Cry aloud to the working men and women of England: 'You, who for ages +cried out because the heel of your masters was heavy on you; and who have +said, 'We curse the kings that sit at ease, and care not who oppresses the +folk, so their coffers be full and their bellies satisfied, and they be not +troubled with the trouble of rule'; you, who have taken the king's rule +from him and sit enthroned within his seat; is his sin not yours today? If +men should add but one hour to your day's labour, or make but one fraction +dearer the bread you eat, would you not rise up as one man? Yet, what is +dealt out to men beyond seas whom you rule wounds you not. Nay, have you +not sometimes said, as kings of old: 'It matters not who holds out our +sword, marauder or speculator, so he calls it ours, we must cloak up the +evil it has done!' Think you, no other curses rise to heaven but yours? +Where is your sword? Into whose hand has it fallen? Take it quickly and +cleanse it!'" + +Peter Halket crouched, looking upwards; then he cried: "Master, I cannot +give that message, I am a poor unlearn'd man. And if I should go to +England and cry aloud, they would say, 'Who is this, who comes preaching to +a great people? Is not his mother with us, and a washerwoman; and was not +his father a day labourer at two shillings a day?' and they would laugh me +to scorn. And, in truth, the message is so long I could not well remember +it; give me other work to do." + +And the stranger said, "Take a message to the men and women of this land. +Go, from the Zambezi to the sea, and cry to its white men and women, and +say: 'I saw a wide field, and in it were two fair beasts. Wide was the +field about them and rich was the earth with sweet scented herbs, and so +abundant was the pasturage that hardly might they consume all that grew +about them: and the two were like one to another, for they were the sons +of one mother. And as I looked, I saw, far off to the northward, a speck +within the sky, so small it was, and so high it was, that the eye scarce +might mark it. Then it came nearer and hovered over the spot where the two +beasts fed:--and its neck was bare, and its beak was hooked, and its talons +were long, and its wings strong. And it hovered over the field where the +two beasts were; and I saw it settle down upon a great white stone; and it +waited. And I saw more specks to the northward, and more and more came +onward to join him who sat upon the stone. And some hovered over the +beasts, and some sharpened their beaks on the stones; and some walked in +and out between the beasts' legs. And I saw that they were waiting for +something. + +"'Then he who first came flew from one of the beasts to the other, and sat +upon their necks, and put his beak within their ears. And he flew from one +to the other and flapped his wings in their faces till the beasts were +blinded, and each believed it was his fellow who attacked him. And they +fell to, and fought; they gored one another's sides till the field was red +with blood and the ground shook beneath them. The birds sat by and +watched; and when the blood flowed they walked round and round. And when +the strength of the two beasts was exhausted they fell to earth. Then the +birds settled down upon them, and feasted; till their maws were full, and +their long bare necks were wet; and they stood with their beaks deep in the +entrails of the two dead beasts; and looked out with their keen bright eyes +from above them. And he who was king of all plucked out the eyes, and fed +on the hearts of the dead beasts. And when his maw was full, so that he +could eat no more, he sat on his stone hard by and flapped his great +wings.' + +"Peter Simon Halket, cry to the white men and women of South Africa: 'You +have a goodly land; you and your children's children shall scarce fill it; +though you should stretch out your arms to welcome each stranger who comes +to live and labour with you. You are the twin branches of one tree; you +are the sons of one mother. Is this goodly land not wide enough for you, +that you should rend each other's flesh at the bidding of those who will +wet their beaks within both your vitals?--Look up, see, they circle in the +air above you!'" + +Almost Peter Halket started and looked upward; but there was only the black +sky of Mashonaland over his head. + +The stranger stood silent looking downward into the fire. Peter Halket +half clasped his arms about his knees. + +"My master," he cried, "how can I take this message? The Dutchmen of South +Africa will not listen to me, they will say I am an Englishman. And the +Englishmen will say: 'Who is this fellow who comes preaching peace, peace, +peace? Has he not been a year in the country and he has not a share in a +single company? Can anything he says be worth hearing? If he were a man +of any sense he would have made five thousand pounds at least.' And they +will not listen to me. Give me another labour!" + +And the stranger said: "Take a message to one man. Find him, whether he +sleep or wake, whether he eat or drink; and say to him: 'Where are the +souls of the men that you have bought?' + +"And if he shall answer you and say: 'I bought no men's souls! The souls +that I bought were the souls of dogs?' Then ask him this question, say to +him, 'Where are the--' + +"And if he cry out, 'You lie, you lie! I know what you are going to say. +What do I know of envoys? Was I ever afraid of the British Government? It +is all a lie!' Then question him no further. But say: 'There was a +rushlight once. It flickered and flared, and it guttered down, and went +out--and no man heeded it: it was only a rushlight. + +"'And there was a light once; men set it on high within a lighthouse, that +it might yield light to all souls at sea; that afar off they might see its +steady light and find harbour, and escape the rocks. + +"'And that light flickered and flared, as it listed. It went this way and +it went that; it burnt blue, and green, and red; now it disappeared +altogether, and then it burnt up again. And men, far out at sea, kept +their eyes fixed where they knew the light should be: saying, 'We are +safe; the great light will lead us when we near the rocks.' And on dark +nights men drifted nearer and nearer; and in the stillness of the midnight +they struck on the lighthouse rocks and went down at its feet. + +"'What now shall be done to that light, in that it was not a rushlight; in +that it was set on high by the hands of men, and in that men trusted it? +Shall it not be put out?' + +"And if he shall answer, saying, 'What are men to me? they are fools, all +fools! Let them die!'--tell him again this story: 'There was a streamlet +once: it burst forth from beneath the snow on a mountain's crown; and the +snow made a cove over it. It ran on pure and blue and clear as the sky +above it, and the banks of snow made its cradle. Then it came to a spot +where the snow ended; and two ways lay before it by which it might journey; +one, on the mountain ridges, past rocks and stones, and down long sunlit +slopes to the sea; and the other, down a chasm. And the stream hesitated: +it twirled and purled, and went this way and went that. It MIGHT have +been, that it would have forced its way past rocks and ridges and along +mountain slopes, and made a path for itself where no path had been; the +banks would have grown green, and the mountain daisy would have grown +beside it; and all night the stars would have looked at their faces in it; +and down the long sunny slopes the sun would have played on it by day; and +the wood dove would have built her nest in the trees beside it; and +singing, singing, always singing, it would have made its way at last to the +great sea, whose far-off call all waters hear. + +"'But it hesitated.--It might have been, that, had but some hand been there +to move but one stone from its path, it would have forced its way past +rocks and ridges, and found its way to the great sea--it might have been! +But no hand was there. The streamlet gathered itself together, and (it +might be, that it was even in its haste to rush onwards to the sea!)--it +made one leap into the abyss. + +"'The rocks closed over it. Nine hundred fathoms deep, in a still, dark +pool it lay. The green lichen hung from the rocks. No sunlight came +there, and the stars could not look down at night. The pool lay still and +silent. Then, because it was alive and could not rest, it gathered its +strength together, through fallen earth and broken debris it oozed its way +silently on; and it crept out in a deep valley; the mountains closed it +around. And the streamlet laughed to itself, 'Ha, ha! I shall make a +great lake here; a sea!' And it oozed, and it oozed, and it filled half +the plain. But no lake came--only a great marsh--because there was no way +outwards, and the water rotted. The grass died out along its edges; and +the trees dropped their leaves and rotted in the water; and the wood dove +who had built her nest there flew up to the mountains, because her young +ones died. And the toads sat on the stones and dropped their spittle in +the water; and the reeds were yellow that grew along the edge. And at +night, a heavy, white fog gathered over the water, so that the stars could +not see through it; and by day a fine white mist hung over it, and the +sunbeams could not play on it. And no man knew that once the marsh had +leapt forth clear and blue from under a hood of snow on the mountain's top: +aye, and that the turning of one stone might have caused that it had run on +and on, and mingled its song with the sea's song for ever.'" + +The stranger was silent for a while. + +Then he said, "Should he answer you and say, 'What do I care! What are +coves and mountain tops to me? Gold is real, and the power to crush men +within my hand'; tell him no further. + +"But if by some chance he should listen, then, say this one thing to him, +clearly in the ear, that he may not fail to hear it: 'The morning may +break grey, and the midday be dark and stormy; but the glory of the +evening's sunset may wash out for ever the remembrance of the morning's +dullness, and the darkness of the noon. So that all men shall say, 'Ah, +for the beauty of that day!'--For the stream that has once descended there +is no path upwards.--It is never too late for the soul of a man.' + +"And if he should laugh, and say: 'You fool, a man may remake himself +entirely before twenty; he may reshape himself before thirty; but after +forty he is fixed. Shall I, who for forty-three years have sought money +and power, seek for anything else now? You want me to be Jesus Christ, I +suppose! How can I be myself and another man?' Then answer him: 'Deep in +the heart of every son of man lies an angel; but some have their wings +folded. Wake yours! He is larger and stronger than another man's; mount +up with him!' + +"But if he curses you, and says, 'I have eight millions of money, and I +care neither for God nor man!'--then make no answer, but stoop and write +before him." The stranger bent down and wrote with his finger in the white +ashes of the fire. Peter Halket bent forward, and he saw the two words the +stranger had written. + +The stranger said: "Say to him: 'Though you should seek to make that name +immortal in this land; and should write it in gold dust, and set it with +diamonds, and cement it with human blood, shed from the Zambezi to the sea, +yet--." The stranger passed his foot over the words; Peter Halket looked +down, and he saw only a bed of smooth white ashes where the name had been. + +The stranger said: "And if he should curse yet further, and say, 'There is +not one man nor woman in South Africa I cannot buy with my money! When I +have the Transvaal, I shall buy God Almighty Himself, if I care to!' + +"Then say to him this one thing only, 'Thy money perish with thee!' and +leave him." + +There was a dead silence for a moment. Then the stranger stretched forth +his hand. 'Yet in that leaving him, remember;--It is not the act, but the +will, which marks the soul of the man. He who has crushed a nation sins no +more than he who rejoices in the death throe of the meanest creature. The +stagnant pool is not less poisonous drop for drop than the mighty swamp, +though its reach be smaller. He who has desired to be and accomplish what +this man has been and accomplished, is as this man; though he have lacked +the power to perform. Nay, remember this one thing more:--Certain sons of +God are born on earth, named by men Children of Genius. In early youth +each stands at the parting of the way and chooses; he bears his gift for +others or for himself. But forget this never, whatever his choice may be; +that there is laid on him a burden that is laid not on others--all space is +open to him, and his choice is infinite--and if he falls beneath it, let +men weep rather than curse, for he was born a Son of God." + +There was silence again. Then Peter Halket clasped his arms about the +stranger's feet. "My master," he cried, "I dare not take that message. It +is not that men may say, 'Here is Trooper Peter Halket, whom we all know, a +man who kept women and shot niggers, turned prophet.' But it is, that it +is true. Have I not wished--" and Peter Halket would have poured out all +his soul; but the stranger prevented him. + +"Peter Simon Halket," he said, "is it the trumpet which gives forth the +call to battle, whether it be battered tin or gilded silver, which boots? +Is it not the call? What and if I should send my message by a woman or a +child: shall truth be less truth because the bearer is despised? Is it +the mouth that speaks or the word that is spoken which is eternal? +Nevertheless, if you will have it so, go, and say, 'I, Peter Halket, sinner +among you all, who have desired women and gold, who have loved myself and +hated my fellow, I--'" The stranger looked down at him, and placed his +hand gently on his head. "Peter Simon Halket," he said, "a harder task I +give you than any which has been laid upon you. In that small spot where +alone on earth your will rules, bring there into being the kingdom today. +Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you. Walk ever forward, +looking not to the right hand or the left. Heed not what men shall say of +you. Succour the oppressed; deliver the captive. If thine enemy hunger, +feed him; if he is athirst give him drink." + +A curious warmth and gladness stole over Peter Halket as he knelt; it was +as, when a little child, his mother folded him to her: he saw nothing more +about him but a soft bright light. Yet in it he heard a voice cry, +"Because thou hast loved mercy--and hated oppression--" + +When Trooper Peter Halket raised himself, he saw the figure of the stranger +passing from him. He cried, "My Master, let me go with you." But the +figure did not turn. And, as it passed into the darkness, it seemed to +Peter Halket that the form grew larger and larger: and as it descended the +further side of the kopje it seemed that for one instant he still saw the +head with a pale, white light upon it: then it vanished. + +And Trooper Peter Halket sat alone upon the kopje. + + +Chapter II. + +It was a hot day. The sun poured down its rays over the scattered trees, +and stunted bush, and long grass, and over the dried up river beds. Far in +the blue, so high the eye could scarcely mark them, vultures were flying +southward, where forty miles off kraals had been destroyed and two hundred +black carcasses were lying in the sun. + +Under a group of tall straggling trees among the grass and low scrub, on +the banks of an almost dried up river bed, a small camp had been pitched. + +The party had lost their mules, and pending their recovery had already been +there seven days. The three cart loads of provisions they were conveying +to the large camp were drawn up under the trees and had a sail thrown +across them to form a shelter for some of the men; while on the other side +of the cleared and open space that formed the camp, a smaller sail was +thrown across two poles forming a rough tent; and away to the left, a +little cut off from the rest of the camp by some low bushes, was the bell- +shaped tent of the captain, under a tall tree. Before the bell-shaped tent +stood a short stunted tree; its thick white stem gnarled and knotted; while +two stunted misshapen branches, like arms, stretched out on either side. + +Before this tree, up and down, with his gun upon his arm, his head bent and +his eyes fixed on the ground, while the hot sun blazed on his shoulders, +walked a man. + +Three or four fires were burning about the camp in different parts, three +cooking the mealies and rice which formed the diet of the men, their stock +of tinned meats having been exhausted; while the fourth, which was watched +by a native boy, contained the more appetising meal of the Captain. + +Most of the men were out of camp; the coloured boys having gone to fetch +the mules, which had been discovered in the hills a few miles off, and were +expected to arrive in the evening; and the white men had gone out to see +what game they could bring down with their guns to flavour the mealie pots, +or to reconnoitre the country; though all native habitations had been +destroyed within a radius of thirty miles, and the land was as bare of +black men as a child's hand of hair; and even the beasts seemed to have +vanished. + +In the shade of the tent, formed of the canvas across two posts, lay three +white men, whose work it was to watch the pots and guard the camp. They +were all three Colonial Englishmen, and lay on the ground on their +stomachs, passing the time by carrying on a desultory conversation, or +taking a few whiffs, slowly, and with care, from their pipes, for tobacco +was precious in the camp. + +Under some bushes a few yards off lay a huge trooper, whose nationality was +uncertain, but who was held to hail from some part of the British Isles, +and who had travelled round the world. He was currently reported to have +done three years' labour for attempted rape in Australia, but nothing +certain was known regarding his antecedents. He had been up on guard half +the night, and was now taking his rest lying on his back with his arm +thrown over his face; but a slight movement could be noted in his jaw as he +slowly chewed a piece of tobacco; and occasionally when he turned it round +the mouth opened, and disclosed two rows of broken yellow stumps set in +very red gums. + +The three Colonial Englishmen took no notice of him. Two, who were slowly +smoking, were of the large and powerful build, and somewhat loose set about +the shoulders, which is common among Colonial Europeans of the third +generation, whether Dutch or English, and had the placidity and general +good temper of expression which commonly marks the Colonial European who +grows up beyond the range of the cities. The third was smaller and more +wiry and of an unusually nervous type, with aquiline nose, and sallow +hatchet face, with a somewhat discontented expression. He was holding +forth, while his companions smoked and listened. + +"Now what I say is this," he brought his hand down on the red sand; "here +we are with about one half teaspoon of Dop given us at night, while he has +ten empty champagne bottles lying behind his tent. And we have to live on +the mealies we're convoying for the horses, while he has pati and beef, and +lives like a lord! It's all very well for the regulars; they know what +they're in for, and they've got gentlemen over them anyhow, and one can +stomach anything if you know what kind of a fellow you've got over you. +English officers are gentlemen, anyhow; or if one was under Selous now--" + +"Oh, Selous's a MAN!" broke out the other two, taking their pipes from +their mouths. + +"Yes, well, that's what I say. But these fellows, who couldn't do as +farmers, and couldn't do as shopkeepers, and God knows what else; and their +friends in England didn't want to have them; they're sent out here to boss +it over us! It's a damned shame! Why, I want to know, amn't I as good as +any of these fellows, who come swelling it about here? Friends got money, +I suppose!" He cast his sharp glance over towards the bell tent. "If they +gave us real English officers now--" + +"Ah!" said the biggest of his companions, who, in spite of his huge form, +had something of the simplicity and good nature of a child in his handsome +face; "it's because you're not a big enough swell, you know! He'll be a +colonel, or a general, before we've done with him. I call them all +generals or colonels up here; it's safest, you know; if they're not that +today they will be tomorrow!" + +This was intended as a joke, and in that hot weather, and in that dull +world, anything was good enough to laugh at: the third man smiled, but the +first speaker remained serious. + +"I only know this," he said, "I'd teach these fellows a lesson, if any one +belonging to me had been among the people they left to be murdered here, +while they went gallivanting to the Transvaal. If my mother or sister had +been killed here, I'd have taken a pistol and blown out the brains of the +great Panjandrum, and the little ones after him. Fine administration of a +country, this, to invite people to come in and live here, and then take +every fighting man out of the country on a gold hunting marauding +expedition to the Transvaal, and leave us to face the bitter end. I look +upon every man and woman who was killed here as murdered by the Chartered +Company." + +"Well, Jameson only did what he was told. He had to obey orders, like the +rest of us. He didn't make the plan, and he's got the punishment." + +"What business had he to listen? What's all this fine administration they +talk of? It's six years since I came to this country, and I've worked like +a nigger ever since I came, and what have I, or any men who've worked hard +at real, honest farming, got for it? Everything in the land is given away +for the benefit of a few big folks over the water or swells out here. If +England took over the Chartered Company tomorrow, what would she find?-- +everything of value in the land given over to private concessionaires-- +they'll line their pockets if the whole land goes to pot! It'll be the +jackals eating all the flesh off the horse's bones, and calling the lion in +to lick the bones." + +"Oh, you wait a bit and you'll be squared," said the handsome man. "I've +been here five years and had lots of promises, though I haven't got +anything else yet; but I expect it to come some day, so I keep my mouth +shut! If they asked me to sign a paper, that Mr. Over-the-Way"--he nodded +towards the bell tent--"never got drunk or didn't know how to swear, I'd +sign it, if there was a good dose of squaring to come after it. I could +stand a good lot of that sort of thing--squaring--if it would only come my +way." + +The men laughed in a dreary sort of way, and the third man, who had not +spoken yet, rolled round on to his back, and took the pipe from his mouth. + +"I tell you what," said the keen man, "those of us up here who have got a +bit of land and are trying honestly and fairly to work, are getting pretty +sick of this humbugging fighting. If we'd had a few men like the Curries +and Bowkers of the old days up here from the first, all this would never +have happened. And there's no knowing when a reason won't turn up for +keeping the bloody thing on or stopping it off for a time, to break out +just when one's settled down to work. It's a damned convenient thing to +have a war like this to turn on and off." + +Slowly the third man keeled round on to his stomach again: "Let +resignation wait. We fight the Matabele again tomorrow," he said, +sententiously. + +A low titter ran round the group. Even the man under the bushes, though +his eyes were still closed and his arm across his face, let his mouth relax +a little, and showed his yellow teeth. + +"I'm always expecting," said the big handsome man, "to have a paper come +round, signed by all the nigger chiefs, saying how much they love the +B.S.A. Company, and how glad they are the Panjandrum has got them, and how +awfully good he is to them; and they're going to subscribe to the brazen +statue. There's nothing a man can't be squared to do." + +The third man lay on his back again, lazily examining his hand, which he +held above his face. "What's that in the Bible," he said, slowly, "about +the statue, whose thighs and belly were of brass, and its feet of mud?" + +"I don't know much about the Bible," said the keen man, "I'm going to see +if my pot isn't boiling over. Won't yours burn?" + +"No, I asked the Captain's boy to keep an eye on it--but I expect he won't. +Do you put the rice in with the mealies?" + +"Got to; I've got no other pot. And the fellows don't object. It's a +tasty variety, you know!" + +The keen-faced man slouched away across the square to where his fire burnt; +and presently the other man rose and went, either to look at his own pot or +sleep under the carts; and the large Colonial man was left alone. His fire +was burning satisfactorily about fifty feet off, and he folded his arms on +the ground and rested his forehead on them, and watched lazily the little +black ants that ran about in the red sand, just under his nose. + +A great stillness settled down on the camp. Now and again a stick cracked +in the fires, and the cicadas cried aloud in the tree stems; but except +where the solitary paced up and down before the little flat-topped tree in +front of the captain's tent, not a creature stirred in the whole camp; and +the snores of the trooper under the bushes might be heard half across the +camp. + +The intense midday heat had settled down. + +At last there was the sound of someone breaking through the long grass and +bushes which had only been removed for a few feet round the camp, and the +figure of a man emerged bearing in one hand a gun, and in the other a bird +which he had shot. He was evidently an Englishman, and not long from +Europe, by the bloom of the skin, which was perceptible in spite of the +superficial tan. His face was at the moment flushed with heat; but the +clear blue eyes and delicate features lost none of their sensitive +refinement. + +He came up to the Colonial, and dropped the bird before him. "That is all +I've got," he said. + +He threw himself also down on the ground, and put his gun under the loose +flap of the tent. + +The Colonial raised his head; and without taking his elbows from the ground +took up the bird. "I'll put it into the pot; it'll give it the flavour of +something except weevily mealies"; he said, and fell to plucking it. + +The Englishman took his hat off, and lifted the fine damp hair from his +forehead. + +"Knocked up, eh?" said the Colonial, glancing kindly up at him. 'I've a +few drops in my flask still." + +"Oh, no, I can stand it well enough. It's only a little warm." He gave a +slight cough, and laid his head down sideways on his arm. His eyes watched +mechanically the Colonial's manipulation of the bird. He had left England +to escape phthisis; and he had gone to Mashonaland because it was a place +where he could earn an open-air living, and save his parents from the +burden of his support. + +"What's Halket doing over there?" he asked suddenly, raising his head. + +"Weren't you here this morning?" asked the Colonial. "Didn't you know +they'd had a devil of a row?" + +"Who?" asked the Englishman, half raising himself on his elbows. + +"Halket and the Captain." The Colonial paused in the plucking. "My God, +you never saw anything like it!" + +The Englishman sat upright now, and looked keenly over the bushes where +Halket's bent head might be seen as he paced to and fro. + +"What's he doing out there in this blazing sun?" + +"He's on guard," said the Colonial. "I thought you were here when it +happened. It's the best thing I ever saw or heard of in my whole life!" +He rolled half over on his side and laughed at the remembrance. "You see, +some of the men went down into the river, to look for fresh pools of water, +and they found a nigger, hidden away in a hole in the bank, not five +hundred yards from here! They found the bloody rascal by a little path he +tramped down to the water, trodden hard, just like a porcupine's walk. +They got him in the hole like an aardvark, with a bush over the mouth, so +you couldn't see it. He'd evidently been there a long time, the floor was +full of bones of fish he'd caught in the pool, and there was a bit of root +like a stick half gnawed through. He'd been potted, and got two bullet +wounds in the thigh; but he could walk already. It's evident he was just +waiting till we were gone, to clear off after his people. He'd got that +beastly scurvy look a nigger gets when he hasn't had anything to eat for a +long time. + +"Well, they hauled him up before the Captain, of course; and he blew and +swore, and said the nigger was a spy, and was to be hanged tomorrow; he'd +hang him tonight, only the big troop might catch us up this evening, so +he'd wait to hear what the Colonel said; but if they didn't come he'd hang +him first thing tomorrow morning, or have him shot, as sure as the sun +rose. He made the fellows tie him up to that little tree before his tent, +with riems round his legs, and riems round his waist, and a riem round his +neck." + +"What did the native say?" asked the Englishman. + +"Oh, he didn't say anything. There wasn't a soul in the camp could have +understood him if he had. The coloured boys don't know his language. I +expect he's one of those bloody fellows we hit the day we cleared the bush +out yonder; but how he got down that bank with his leg in the state it must +have been, I don't know. He didn't try to fight when they caught him; just +stared in front of him--fright, I suppose. He must have been a big +strapping devil before he was taken down. + +"Well, I tell you, we'd just got him fixed up, and the Captain was just +going into his tent to have a drink, and we chaps were all standing round, +when up steps Halket, right before the Captain, and pulls his front lock-- +you know the way he has? Oh, my God, my God, if you could have seen it! +I'll never forget it to my dying day!" The Colonial seemed bursting with +internal laughter. "He begins, 'Sir, may I speak to you?' in a formal kind +of way, like a fellow introducing a deputation; and then all of a sudden he +starts off--oh, my God, you never heard such a thing! It was like a boy in +Sunday-school saying up a piece of Scripture he's learnt off by heart, and +got all ready beforehand, and he's not going to be stopped till he gets to +the end of it." + +"What did he say," asked the Englishman. + +"Oh, he started, How did we know this nigger was a spy at all; it would be +a terrible thing to kill him if we weren't quite sure; perhaps he was +hiding there because he was wounded. And then he broke out that, after +all, these niggers were men fighting for their country; we would fight +against the French if they came and took England from us; and the niggers +were brave men, 'please sir'--(every five minutes he'd pull his forelock, +and say, 'please sir!')--'and if we have to fight against them we ought to +remember they're fighting for freedom; we shouldn't shoot wounded prisoners +when they were black if we wouldn't shoot them if they were white!' And +then he broke out pure unmitigated Exeter Hall! You never heard anything +like it! All men were brothers, and God loved a black man as well as a +white; Mashonas and Matabele were poor ignorant folk, and we had to take +care of them. And then he started out, that we ought to let this man go; +we ought to give him food for the road, and tell him to go back to his +people, and tell them we hadn't come to take their land but to teach them +and love them. 'It's hard to love a nigger, Captain, but we must try it; +we must try it!'--And every five minutes he'd break out with, 'And I think +this is a man I know, Captain; I'm not sure, but I think he comes from up +Lo Magundis way!'--as if any born devil cared whether a bloody nigger came +from Lo Magundis or anywhere else! I'm sure he said it fifteen times. And +then he broke out, 'I don't mean that I'm better than you or anybody else, +Captain; I'm as bad a man as any in camp, and I know it.' And off he +started, telling us all the sins he'd ever committed; and he kept on, 'I'm +an unlearned, ignorant man, Captain; but I must stand by this nigger; he's +got no one else!' And then he says--'If you let me take him up to Lo +Magundis, sir, I'm not afraid; and I'll tell the people there that it's not +their land and their women that we want, it's them to be our brothers and +love us. If you'll only let me go, sir, I'll go and make peace; give the +man to me, sir!'" The Colonial shook with laughter. + +"What did the Captain say?" asked the Englishman. + +"The Captain; well, you know the smallest thing sets him off swearing all +round the world; but he just stood there with his arms hanging down at each +side of him, and his eyes staring, and his face getting redder and redder: +and all he could say was, 'My Gawd! my Gawd!' I thought he'd burst. And +Halket stood there looking straight in front of him, as though he didn't +see a soul of us all there." + +"What did the Captain do?" + +"Oh, as soon as Halket turned away he started swearing, but he got the tail +of one oath hooked on to the head of another. It was nearly as good as +Halket himself. And when he'd finished and got sane a bit, he said Halket +was to walk up and down there all day and keep watch on the nigger. And he +gave orders that if the big troop didn't come up tonight, that he was to be +potted first thing in the morning, and that Halket was to shoot him." + +The Englishman started: "What did Halket say?" + +"Nothing. He's been walking there with his gun all day." + +The Englishman watched with his clear eyes the spot where Halket's head +appeared and disappeared. + +"Is the nigger hanging there now?" + +"Yes. The Captain said no one was to go near him, or give him anything to +eat or drink all day: but--" The Colonial glanced round where the trooper +lay under the bushes; and then lowering his voice added, "This morning, a +couple of hours ago, Halket sent the Captain's coloured boy to ask me for a +drink of water. I thought it was for Halket himself, and the poor devil +must be hot walking there in the sun, so I sent him the water out of my +canvas bag. I went along afterwards to see what had become of my mug; the +boy had gone, and there, straight in front of the Captain's tent, before +the very door, was Halket letting that bloody nigger drink out of my mug. +The riem was so tight round his neck he couldn't drink but slowly, and +there was Halket holding it up to him! If the Captain had looked out! +W-h-e-w! I wouldn't have been Halket!" + +"Do you think he will try to make Halket do it?" asked the Englishman. + +"Of course he will. He's the Devil in; and Halket had better not make a +fuss about it, or it'll be the worse for him." + +"His time's up tomorrow evening!" + +"Yes, but not tomorrow morning. And I wouldn't make a row about it if I +was Halket. It doesn't do to fall out with the authorities here. What's +one nigger more or less? He'll get shot some other way, or die of hunger, +if we don't do it." + +"It's hardly sport to shoot a man tied up neck and legs," said the +Englishman; his finely drawn eyebrows contracting and expanding a little. + +"Oh, they don't feel, these niggers, not as we should, you know. I've seen +a man going to be shot, looking full at the guns, and falling like that!-- +without a sound. They've no feeling, these niggers; I don't suppose they +care much whether they live or die, not as we should, you know." + +The Englishman's eyes were still fixed on the bushes, behind which Halket's +head appeared and disappeared. + +"They have no right to order Halket to do it--and he will not do it!" said +the Englishman slowly. + +"You're not going to be such a fool as to step in, are you?" said the +Colonial, looking curiously at him. "It doesn't pay. I've made up my mind +never to speak whatever happens. What's the good? Suppose one were to +make a complaint now about this affair with Halket, if he's made to shoot +the nigger against his will; what would come of it? There'd be half-a- +dozen fellows here squared to say what headquarters wanted--not to speak of +a fellow like that"--turning his thumb in the direction of the sleeping +trooper--"who are paid to watch. I believe he reports on the Captain +himself to the big headquarters. All one's wires are edited before they go +down; only what the Company wants to go, go through. There are many +downright good fellows in this lot; but how many of us are there, do you +think, who could throw away all chance of ever making anything in +Mashonaland, for the sake of standing by Halket; even if he had a real row +with the Company? I've a great liking for Halket myself, he's a real good +fellow, and he's done me many a good turn--took my watch only last night, +because I was off colour; I'd do anything for him in reason. But, I say +this flatly, I couldn't and wouldn't fly in the face of the authorities for +him or anyone else. I've my own girl waiting for me down in the Colony, +and she's been waiting for me these five years. And whether I'm able to +marry her or not depends on how I stand with the Company: and I say, +flatly, I'm not going to fall out with it. I came here to make money, and +I mean to make it! If other people like to run their heads against stone +walls, let them: but they mustn't expect me to follow them. This isn't a +country where a man can say what he thinks." + +The Englishman rested his elbows on the ground. "And the Union Jack is +supposed to be flying over us." + +"Yes, with a black bar across it for the Company," laughed the Colonial. + +"Do you ever have the nightmare?" asked the Englishman suddenly. + +"I? Oh yes, sometimes"; he looked curiously at his companion; "when I've +eaten too much, I get it." + +"I always have it since I came up here," said the Englishman. "It is that +a vast world is resting on me--a whole globe: and I am a midge beneath it. +I try to raise it, and I cannot. So I lie still under it--and let it crush +me!" + +"It's curious you should have the nightmare so up here," said the Colonial; +"one gets so little to eat." + +There was a silence: he was picking the little fine feathers from the +bird, and the Englishman was watching the ants. + +"Mind you," the Colonial said at last, "I don't say that in this case the +Captain was to blame; Halket made an awful ass of himself. He's never been +quite right since that time he got lost and spent the night out on the +kopje. When we found him in the morning he was in a kind of dead sleep; we +couldn't wake him; yet it wasn't cold enough for him to have been frozen. +He's never been the same man since; queer, you know; giving his rations +away to the coloured boys, and letting the other fellows have his dot of +brandy at night; and keeping himself sort of apart to himself, you know. +The other fellows think he's got a touch of fever on, caught wandering +about in the long grass that day. But I don't think it's that; I think +it's being alone in the veld that's got hold of him. Man, have you ever +been out like that, alone in the veld, night and day, and not a soul to +speak to? I have; and I tell you, if I'd been left there three days longer +I'd have gone mad or turned religious. Man, it's the nights, with the +stars up above you, and the dead still all around. And you think, and +think, and think! You remember all kinds of things you've never thought of +for years and years. I used to talk to myself at last, and make believe it +was another man. I was out seven days: and he was only out one night. +But I think it's the loneliness that got hold of him. Man, those stars are +awful; and that stillness that comes toward morning!" He stood up. "It's +a great pity, because he's as good a fellow as ever was. But perhaps he'll +come all right." + +He walked away towards the pot with the bird in his hand. When he had gone +the Englishman turned round on to his back, and lay with his arm across his +forehead. + +High, high up, between the straggling branches of the tree, in the clear, +blue African sky above him, he could see the vultures flying southward. + +... + +That evening the men sat eating their suppers round the fires. The large +troop had not come up; and the mules had been brought in; and they were to +make a start early the next morning. + +Halket was released from his duty, and had come up, and lain down a little +in the background of the group who gathered round their fire. + +The Colonial and the Englishman had given orders to all the men of their +mess that Halket was to be left in quiet, and no questions were to be asked +him; and the men, fearing the Colonial's size and the Englishman's nerve, +left him in peace. The men laughed and chatted round the fire, while the +big Colonial ladled out the mealies and rice into tin plates, and passed +them round to the men. Presently he passed one to Halket, who lay half +behind him leaning on his elbow. For a while Halket ate nothing, then he +took a few mouthfuls; and again lay on his elbow. + +"You are eating nothing, Halket," said the Englishman, cheerily, looking +back. + +"I am not hungry now," he said. After a while he took out his red +handkerchief, and emptied carefully into it the contents of the plate; and +tied it up into a bundle. He set it beside him on the ground, and again +lay on his elbow. + +"You won't come nearer to the fire, Halket?' asked the Englishman. + +"No, thank you, the night is warm." + +After a while Peter Halket took out from his belt a small hunting knife +with a rough wooden handle. A small flat stone lay near him, and he passed +the blade slowly up and down on it, now and then taking it up, and feeling +the edge with his finger. After a while he put it back in his belt, and +rose slowly, taking up his small bundle and walked away to the tent. + +"He's had a pretty stiff day," said the Colonial. "I expect he's glad +enough to turn in." + +Then all the men round the fire chatted freely over his concerns. Would +the Captain stick to his word tomorrow? Was Halket going to do it? Had +the Captain any right to tell one man off for the work, instead of letting +them fire a volley? One man said he would do it gladly in Halket's place, +if told off; why had he made such a fool of himself? So they chatted till +nine o'clock, when the Englishman and Colonial left to turn in. They found +Halket asleep, close to the side of the tent, with his face turned to the +canvas. And they lay down quietly that they might not disturb him. + +At ten o'clock all the camp was asleep, excepting the two men told off to +keep guard; who paced from one end of the camp to the other to keep +themselves awake; or stood chatting by the large fire, which still burnt at +one end. + +In the Captain's tent a light was kept burning all night, which shone +through the thin canvas sides, and shed light on the ground about; but, for +the rest, the camp was dead and still. + +By half-past one the moon had gone down, and there was left only a blaze of +stars in the great African sky. + +Then Peter Halket rose up; softly he lifted the canvas and crept out. On +the side furthest from the camp he stood upright. On his arm was tied his +red handkerchief with its contents. For a moment he glanced up at the +galaxy of stars over him; then he stepped into the long grass, and made his +way in a direction opposite to that in which the camp lay. But after a +short while he turned, and made his way down into the river bed. He walked +in it for a while. Then after a time he sat down upon the bank and took +off his heavy boots and threw them into the grass at the side. Then +softly, on tip-toe, he followed the little footpath that the men had +trodden going down to the river for water. It led straight up to the +Captain's tent, and the little flat-topped tree, with its white stem, and +its two gnarled branches spread out on either side. When he was within +forty paces of it, he paused. Far over the other side of the camp the two +men who were on guard stood chatting by the fire. A dead stillness was +over the rest of the camp. The light through the walls of the Captain's +tent made all clear at the stem of the little tree; but there was no sound +of movement within. + +For a moment Peter Halket stood motionless; then he walked up to the tree. +The black man hung against the white stem, so closely bound to it that they +seemed one. His hands were tied to his sides, and his head drooped on his +breast. His eyes were closed; and his limbs, which had once been those of +a powerful man, had fallen away, making the joints stand out. The wool on +his head was wild and thick with neglect, and stood out roughly in long +strands; and his skin was rough with want and exposure. + +The riems had cut a little into his ankles; and a small flow of blood had +made the ground below his feet dark. + +Peter Halket looked up at him; the man seemed dead. He touched him softly +on the arm, then shook it slightly. + +The man opened his eyes slowly, without raising his head; and looked at +Peter from under his weary eyebrows. Except that they moved they might +have been the eyes of a dead thing. + +Peter put up his fingers to his own lips--"Hus-h! hus-h!" he said. + +The man hung torpid, still looking at Peter. + +Quickly Peter Halket knelt down and took the knife from his belt. In an +instant the riems that bound the feet were cut through; in another he had +cut the riems from the waist and neck: the riems dropped to the ground +from the arms, and the man stood free. Like a dazed dumb creature, he +stood, with his head still down, eyeing Peter. + +Instantly Peter slipped the red bundle from his arm into the man's passive +hand. + +"Ari-tsemaia! Hamba! Loop! Go!" whispered Peter Halket; using a word +from each African language he knew. But the black man still stood +motionless, looking at him as one paralysed. + +"Hamba! Sucka! Go!" he whispered, motioning his hand. + +In an instant a gleam of intelligence shot across the face; then a wild +transport. Without a word, without a sound, as the tiger leaps when the +wild dogs are on it, with one long, smooth spring, as though unwounded and +unhurt, he turned and disappeared into the grass. It closed behind him; +but as he went the twigs and leaves cracked under his tread. + +The Captain threw back the door of his tent. "Who is there?" he cried. + +Peter Halket stood below the tree with the knife in his hand. + +The noise roused the whole camp: the men on guard came running; guns were +fired: and the half-sleeping men came rushing, grasping their weapons. +There was a sound of firing at the little tree; and the cry went round the +camp, "The Mashonas are releasing the spy!" + +When the men got to the Captain's tent, they saw that the nigger was gone; +and Peter Halket was lying on his face at the foot of the tree; with his +head turned towards the Captain's door. + +There was a wild confusion of voices. "How many were there?" "Where have +they gone to now?" "They've shot Peter Halket!"--"The Captain saw them do +it"--"Stand ready, they may come back any time!" + +When the Englishman came, the other men, who knew he had been a medical +student, made way for him. He knelt down by Peter Halket. + +"He's dead," he said, quietly. + +When they had turned him over, the Colonial knelt down on the other side, +with a little hand-lamp in his hand. + +"What are you fellows fooling about here for?" cried the Captain. "Do you +suppose it's any use looking for foot marks after all this tramping! Go, +guard the camp on all sides!" + +"I will send four coloured boys," he said to the Englishman and the +Colonial, "to dig the grave. You'd better bury him at once; there's no use +waiting. We start first thing in the morning." + +When they were alone, the Englishman uncovered Peter Halket's breast. +There was one small wound just under the left bosom; and one on the crown +of the head; which must have been made after he had fallen down. + +"Strange, isn't it, what he can have been doing here?" said the Colonial; +"a small wound, isn't it?" + +"A pistol shot," said the Englishman, closing the bosom. + +"A pistol--" + +The Englishman looked up at him with a keen light in his eye. + +"I told you he would not kill that nigger.--See--here--" He took up the +knife which had fallen from Peter Halket's grasp, and fitted it into a +piece of the cut leather that lay on the earth. + +"But you don't think--" The Colonial stared at him with wide open eyes; +then he glanced round at the Captain's tent. + +"Yes, I think that-- Go and fetch his great-coat; we'll put him in it. If +it is no use talking while a man is alive, it is no use talking when he is +dead!" + +They brought his great-coat, and they looked in the pockets to see if there +was anything which might show where he had come from or who his friends +were. But there was nothing in the pockets except an empty flask, and a +leathern purse with two shillings in, and a little hand-made two-pointed +cap. + +So they wrapped Peter Halket up in his great-coat, and put the little cap +on his head. + +And, one hour after Peter Halket had stood outside the tent looking up, he +was lying under the little tree, with the red sand trodden down over him, +in which a black man and a white man's blood were mingled. + +All the rest of the night the men sat up round the fires, discussing what +had happened, dreading an attack. + +But the Englishman and the Colonial went to their tent, to lie down. + +"Do you think they will make any inquiries?" asked the Colonial. + +"Why should they? His time will be up tomorrow." + +"Are you going to say anything?" + +"What is the use?" + +They lay in the dark for an hour, and heard the men chatting outside. + +"Do you believe in a God?" said the Englishman, suddenly. + +The Colonial started: "Of course I do!" + +"I used to," said the Englishman; "I do not believe in your God; but I +believed in something greater than I could understand, which moved in this +earth, as your soul moves in your body. And I thought this worked in such +wise, that the law of cause and effect, which holds in the physical world, +held also in the moral: so, that the thing we call justice, ruled. I do +not believe it any more. There is no God in Mashonaland." + +"Oh, don't say that!" cried the Colonial, much distressed. "Are you going +off your head, like poor Halket?" + +"No; but there is no God," said the Englishman. He turned round on his +shoulder, and said no more: and afterwards the Colonial went to sleep. + +Before dawn the next morning the men had packed up the goods, and started. + +By five o'clock the carts had filed away; the men rode or walked before and +behind them; and the space where the camp had been was an empty circle; +save for a few broken bottles and empty tins, and the stones about which +the fires had been made, round which warm ashes yet lay. + +Only under the little stunted tree, the Colonial and the Englishman were +piling up stones. Their horses stood saddled close by. + +Presently the large trooper came riding back. He had been sent by the +Captain to ask what they were fooling behind for, and to tell them to come +on. + +The men mounted their horses to follow him; but the Englishman turned in +his saddle and looked back. The morning sun was lighting up the straggling +branches of the tall trees that had overshadowed the camp; and fell on the +little stunted tree, with its white stem and outstretched arms; and on the +stones beneath it. + +"It's all that night on the kopje!" said the Colonial, sadly. + +But the Englishman looked back. "I hardly know," he said, "whether it is +not better for him now, than for us." + +Then they rode on after the troop. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext of Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland + diff --git a/old/old/trptr10.zip b/old/old/trptr10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5af50b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/trptr10.zip |