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diff --git a/35307.txt b/35307.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..70d4ab1 --- /dev/null +++ b/35307.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14930 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Jasper Lyle, by Harriet Ward + +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: Jasper Lyle + +Author: Harriet Ward + +Release Date: February 18, 2011 [EBook #35307] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JASPER LYLE *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +Jasper Lyle +By Harriet Ward +Published by George Routledge and Co, Soho Square, London. +This edition dated 1851. + +Jasper Lyle, by Harriet Ward. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +________________________________________________________________________ +JASPER LYLE, BY HARRIET WARD. + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +THE TRAVELLERS. + +Kafirland! + +People are beginning now-a-days to know where Kafirland is! + +Verily they have paid dearly for their knowledge! + +It is a beautiful land, with its open savannahs, its wooded glens, its +heathy mountains, its green and undulating parks--nature's plantations! +Pleasant to the eye is the sight of the colonists' sheltered farms, +surrounded by waving cornfields, and backed by noble mountains, +ascending in the distance, one above another, assuming every hue it is +possible to imagine, and finally blending their purple heights with +clouds all radiant with gold, or shaping themselves into canopies of +sombre colouring, and veiling the glories of heaven from the upturned +gaze of man. + +But from these scenes the traveller may suddenly find himself translated +to the most sterile moors, stretching out in apparently illimitable +space, or bounded by bald rocks, which offer no "shadow from the heat," +no "refuge from the storm." In these tracts, the earth, resembling +lava, is bare of all but stones, except where some bright-flowering bulb +has struggled with its destiny, only to waste its beauty on the desert. +There is nothing living to be seen in these inhospitable regions, save +when the hungry travellers pause to "to kill and eat," and lo! as the +scent of blood rises in the atmosphere, a solitary speck hovers in the +sky, another, and another, and, like airy demons waiting for their prey, +the asphogels, the gigantic vultures of South Africa, keep watch over +the bivouac, in anticipation of the feast for which their instinct has +prepared them. + +It was in the centre of an unsightly plain that three travellers were +arrested on their journey by one of those appalling storms which, in the +loveliest spots of Southern Africa, disenchant the mind, impressed with +the beauty of the wooded tracts, or the grandeur of even the solitary +wastes, with the sweet influence of balmy mornings, or the nights serene +and clear, sometimes shining more brilliantly than day. + +All the morning symptoms in the air had warned the attendant of our +travellers, a knowing little bush man, of an approaching storm, and he +had urged his masters to advance with all the speed they could drive +into their patient and active steeds. But the lightning soon played in +all its horrible brightness, piles of clouds like snow began to rise in +front; to the unpractised ear all was silent, but the bushman called a +halt, and dismounting, led the others with their horses behind a heap of +stones. + +Thus partially screened, they awaited the mighty tempest. + +The giant of the storm advanced as with a trumpet-blast from that part +of the horizon whence the lightning had telegraphed his approach. He +came with a rushing sound resembling the passage of an invisible but +powerful host, the desert shook with the terror of his presence, the +clouds came slowly floating on, growing darker and darker, till their +hue was of a leaden aspect, and in a few moments, as with a roar of many +waters, the rains poured down their torrents, the winds whistled an +unearthly chorus to the plashing of the floods, the great stones rocked +and moaned, the thunder pealed, now muttering in ill-subdued wrath, and +now clattering overhead in ungovernable fury, then passing by to burst +its bolts on some far mountain-top, or on fair pasture-lands, where +cattle stood huddled together in terror and dismay. There was silence +at length upon the plain. "The earth trembled and was still," the +horses lifted their heads and snuffed up the refreshing air; the little +bushman groom, whom I shall describe by-and-by, drew the covers from the +saddles, and the two young men, his masters, shook themselves like dogs +on reaching land after a long swim. + +"Well," said the younger, a man of slender frame, but not the less manly +in his appearance for that, "here is a precious specimen of an African +climate!" + +"Yes, my good fellow; you are able to judge of it now," replied his +companion, Major Frankfort, whose darkened complexion and tanned +gloveless hands proved his experience in the country, and who solaced +himself and his friend moderately with a _sopie_ (dram), from the flask +stuck in his leather waist-belt, to which other appendages were fixed. +Neither did he forget the shivering but smiling bushman, May. The name +is not in keeping with this very original little groom, but he had been +so named not without reason. + +These two travellers, Major Frankfort and Mr Ormsby, were officers of +an English regiment employed on the frontier of the British possessions +in South Africa, and had obtained leave of absence for the purpose of +journeying together on a shooting excursion beyond the Orange River. + +The younger one had never seen any sport beyond his father's moors, and, +albeit rather indolent and luxurious of habit, he found himself tempted +to accompany Frankfort into the interior of the country, where he was +told that droves of large game, of manifold species, were to be seen +herding together on the mountain slopes and spacious plains to the +north-east. + +And now the sun burst forth, the clouds rolled away in heavy masses, the +plain stretched wider and wider in the clear expanse, and in the +distance the hills loomed large, till at length the peaks and tableland +stood out strongly defined against the sky. + +The horses were well rubbed down and re-saddled, the travellers resumed +their route, and in another hour some signs of vegetation promised +comfort and repose. + +Clumps of bush adorned either side of the road, the large starry +jessamine, the glowing geranium, the golden-blossomed green mimosa, +emitting a delightful odour from the bowers formed by nature's graceful +hand, were doubly agreeable to the eye that ached with gazing on a +barren space, and ere long the ripple of water sounded musically among +the trees; in another moment a clear stream delighted the eyes of men +and beasts. + +Pleasant it was in that cool drift (ford) to feel the gentle gale +fanning the heated brow, pleasant to lift even the light felt hat from +the head, and halt beneath the over-arching boughs of willows and trees +of statelier growth, in which the monkeys chattered, frightening the +poor guanas from their hiding-places among the stones into the sanctuary +of the tall grasses and plants, prodigal of beauty in the deep solitude. + +They crossed the stream, and after threading a defile thickly studded +with euphorbias and prickly-pear bushes, the honey-bird hovering about +them and striving to beguile them to those delicious nooks where bees +make their nests, and the coneys have colonies in the cliffs, they found +themselves upon another plain, dotted like a park with clumps of trees. +Here the bushman guide halted, and placing the open palm of his right +hand above the left, he measured the space between the sun and the +horizon, and, announcing that "it wanted one hour to sunset," gave his +horse the rein, and cantering on at a smarter pace than before, was +followed by his masters. + +They soon came upon the track of waggon-wheels, next they found the +remains of fire and the _debris_ of a meal; at a little distance lay the +carcase of a poor ox, which had died probably from exhaustion, and round +it were assembled, in greedy conclave, what appeared to Ormsby's +unpractised eye a flock of sheep. It was a company of vultures, seated +in a circle round their prey, and while some still ate, the rest, +unwilling or unable to move from the scene of the repast, kept close +order, and dosingly watched their hungry comrades with a ludicrously +stupified air. + +Unwilling to disturb these scavengers of nature, the three horsemen +moved on, and soon looked down upon a valley, the quiet of which was +relieved by a farm-house of regular proportions; but the shingle roof, +bare white walls, and ill-tended garden had nothing picturesque about +them, although the valley was rich in corn, and a grove of fruit-trees +proved the capabilities of the soil; but these were planted without +taste or order. + +Beyond, the scene was charmingly pastoral; a clear stream, a branch of +the river they had lately forded, wound through the vale, and from the +banks opposite the settlement was a gently-sloping hill, thickly wooded +in some parts. On the open spaces cattle were browsing, unmindful of +the call of the Hottentot herds, too indolent to climb the steep and +drive them down. The call was unheeded till it was accompanied by the +shrill whistle of a little Kafir boy, that whistle which acts like magic +on the cattle of South Africa; with one accord the creatures paused, +lifted up their heads to listen, and then the largest ox of the herd +turning to descend the hill, the rest wended their way after him to meet +these impish guards, while other herdsmen went to collect the great +flocks of sheep and goats, whose approach along the course of the river +was continuously audible enough to charm the most Arcadian taste and +ear. The lowing of the cattle, the bleating of the smaller but more +numerous "creatures of the fold," the Kafir whistle, and the song and +laughter of the Hottentot girls, floated together in a sort of wild +harmony along the vale, and met the travellers in their descent; but not +the least agreeable part of the picture to the latter, was the sight of +their waggons drawn up upon a miniature prairie, or flat on the margin +of the stream, and the smoke, curling upwards from the bush, announced +the preparation for cookery, to which they were disposed to do ample +justice. Their tents were pitched, they were evidently expected, and +the Hottentot courier, who had preceded them by a day, had done his +bidding and "made ready." + +The hospitable Dutchman, the owner of the farm, was on the look-out for +them, for he stood leaning over his wicker gate and watching their +advance. + +They cantered up, and replied to his "Good morrow,"--Frankfort +cordially, Ormsby with cold civility; but the Dutchman invited them +within, and Frankfort, feeling himself indebted for the permission to +_outspan_ (unyoke) on the farm-land, accepted the proffered attention, +much to Ormsby's disgust, for he was hungry, tired, and thoroughly +uncomfortable from the effects of the drenching he had got. + +So was Major Frankfort; but these two men, though friends and +companions, were very different in habits and opinions. Indeed, Ormsby, +had it been practicable, would gladly have faced about and given up that +expedition, so utterly annoyed was he with many _desagremens en route_; +indeed, he had been first induced to accompany Frankfort, because his +brother-officers had offended his manly pride by doubting his powers of +endurance on a _trek_ (journey) through the depopulated wilderness. + +"You lazy dog, Ormsby," his colonel had observed to him one morning, +"how can _you_ talk of going up the country with Frankfort? he will +never make a sportsman of you,--you are always late for parade." + +"I am never _last_, sir," replied the youngster to his commanding +officer, who happened that very day to have kept the parade waiting; a +thing commanding officers constantly do themselves, though they punish +their subordinates for the error. + +"Humph!--You know nothing of sporting--you talk of the moors; why, +Frankfort has shot his five-and-twenty lions; besides, you would be +breakfasting at his dinner-hour, and grumbling that you have no cream +for your coffee as muddy as the water of the Fish River. Tell us, now, +what time you got up this morning." + +"I confess, that is rather a poser, sir; but I will ask my servant, if +you particularly desire to know," answered Ormsby, with a demure look, +which set some of the subs laughing. + +"Can you tell when the sun rose?" asked Colonel J. + +"No, sir," replied the saucy Ormsby, gravely; "he was up before I was." + +It was the manner, not the matter, that made every one laugh, and +Ormsby, running his hand through his shining, but carelessly-arranged +hair, called to his servant to bring him his cigar-case, and the last +new novel he had received from England, in Hookham's box; then, +stretching himself at full length across a window-sill of the mess-room, +he took up a paper, declaring it was too hot for billiards; next he +ordered some pale ale, with which he solaced himself while he waited for +his novel and cigar, and having obtained these, began to long for +luncheon. + +In great contrast to him was his friend Major Frankfort. Though +possessed of attractions which would render many a man vain, Frankfort +was sadly insensible to the charms of a society in which he would have +been flattered and caressed. The principal features in his character +were generosity, and its sister attribute, bravery; but there was withal +a certain reserve in his nature, which prevented him from being +appreciated, except by friends, and these were not numerous; for he was +neither a person to seek, or be sought--he was one who could not be +gratified by the commonplaces of every-day life. His love of adventure +had its impulses, not in the excitement of the gay world, but in the +beauties, harmonies, and sublimities of nature. + +The winter season had passed away without realising the expectation +formed by the colonists of a war with the savage tribes on their border, +and the months succeeding the rains were looked forward to by sportsmen +as a season of relief and enjoyments, after the _desagremens_ of a life +"under arms," without the excitement of "an enemy in sight." + +How often it happens, especially in the naval and military professions, +that two men of totally opposite natures will become the most intimate +friends of the community to which they belong. No two characters could +be more strongly contrasted than those of Edward Frankfort and Charles +Ormsby. Characters may differ where natures may have attributes in +common. + +Frankfort was generous and brave, so was Ormsby; but the latter was +often more generous than just, for he had never been taught the value of +money or opinion, nor how to discriminate between the faults arising +from folly, or those originating in misfortune. Equally brave with +Frankfort, he was hasty in his judgments and impetuous in his decisions, +forgetting that fool-hardiness is no proof of courage, and that valour +is not thought the less of for being coupled with discretion. But, +unlike Frankfort, whose candour was never obtrusive, Ormsby's openness +of manner often degenerated into egotism. + +Frankfort was careless of appearances as far as mere fashion went; +nevertheless, his attire was always suited to the occasion. Ormsby, +while he affected to despise those outward adornings which render men +effeminate, and consequently despicable in the eyes of those they most +seek to please, displayed a certain affectation in the tie of the loose +cravat which showed to advantage the beauty of his throat; the straw hat +he wore in the morning lounge was coarse, but of becoming shape, and his +shooting-coat, or loose jacket, hung on his shoulders as they would have +hung on no other's. + +Pretending to despise the uniform of the soldier, he "sported" a costume +as little like an officer's and as much like a settler's as possible; +but to see him enter a hall-room in all the pride of scarlet and gold, +it was clear that he thought himself the finest there. So Colonel J +said; but Ormsby was perpetually vexing Colonel J, the most selfish of +men, the most exacting of commanding officers. + +This dash of conceit, however, was rather becoming to one so handsome, +so agreeable, and so open-hearted; and Major Frankfort found himself +making allowances for the young sub's faults, and at last taking +sufficient interest in him to endeavour to correct them. Early +indulgences made this a difficult matter; but Frankfort saw, that though +the surface was overrun with weeds and rubbish, there was something +below worth getting at. Little rays of light gleamed up at times, and +showed that there was good ore in the mine. + +Unaccustomed to bestow his regard too readily, Frankfort might never +have yielded to the outward attractions of this fine young man, but duty +brought them together, and Major Frankfort began to like Ormsby against +his will. Happily for the latter, the influence of such a character as +Frankfort's was not thrown away upon him; for his nature, as I have +shown, was capable of excellent impulses. These, like goodly fruits +brought from shade to sunlight, soon ripened into sentiments, which +might hereafter become principles; but the future must not be +forestalled. + +And all this time we have kept them at the gate of the poor Dutchman's +desolate-looking garden. + +Major Frankfort shook hands with Vanbloem, or rather Vanbloem shook +hands with Frankfort. Ormsby did not understand such familiarity, but +he suffered it with a better grace than he would have done had some of +his brother-officers been by, and permitting May to lead off his horse, +followed the Dutchman to the entrance of his neglected-looking abode. + +Vanbloem's wife was a mild-tempered woman, too indolent to scold the +lazy Hottentot girls sitting in the garden, or rather yard, of the +dwelling, awaiting the return of the herdsmen, and totally regardless of +their charges, the children, who, rejoicing in the dirt, were busily +employed, under the tuition of a little Fingo boy [see Note 1], in +moulding most unclassical representations of elands, rhinoceroses, +sea-cows, elephants, and various other denizens of the hunting-grounds. + +The aspect of the principal apartment and only sitting-room of the house +did not strike the travellers as inviting, and to Ormsby, the +slaughtered sheep suspended from the roof, with his head downwards, and +dripping with blood, was particularly revolting; turning his back to it +in disgust, he found himself face to face with two enormous people, the +grandfather and grandmother of the family. He might have doubted their +being alive, but for the pipe in the patriarch's mouth. The ancient +dame sat almost immovable, but a slight tremor in the head indicated +palsy. A teapot stood on a little table beside her, and with her feet +turned backwards round the legs of the chair, and her arms folded under +her apron, she looked as if she had dressed herself in the round-eared +cap and ample gown of _voerchitz_, a coarse print, manufactured in +England, for once and for aye, never to be changed. A felt hat crowned +the white head of the old man, and with more courtesy than the Boer +usually exhibits, he lifted it from his brow, but replaced it ere he +shook hands with Major Frankfort, who offered his palm at once. Two or +three heads of round-faced Dutch girls, Vanbloem's elder daughters, +peeped in from a door leading to a back room; they vanished with a +giggle, and then one, less shy than the rest, came forward and ventured +to offer the "tea-water." This was declined with thanks; but unwilling +to treat the civilities of these poor people with coldness, Frankfort +promised to say "Good night" before he and his friend retired for the +night. + +They then proceeded to the outspan, and gave orders for the preparation +of their repast, while they bathed in the stream, yet warm from the +effects of the sun. + +The pools under the alders were clear and deep. How delicious it was to +cast aside the heavy coat, saturated as it had been with wet; how +refreshing to lave the weary limbs in the crystal bath! + +Then what ample justice was done to the carbonatje (broiled mutton +steaks), and the stewed buck, and the "remove" of quail, to say nothing +of the glass of "warm stuff," when the sun went down and the cool breeze +came up the river. Verily, our travellers enjoyed their repose on that +green bank with a greater zest than they could have done in a +well-appointed foam, after a more luxurious feast in this quiet-going, +"very comfortable" England. + +It must be owned they had not a very military appearance, albeit they +are "armed and accoutred" for "the road." Their jackets of drab duffle, +reaching to the hip, were rendered more useful than ornamental by the +capacious pockets; their felt hats were of that description long since +adopted by the patriarchal Boers of Southern Africa, and of late become +fashionable in England under the designation of "Jem Crows" and +"wide-awakes;" and the ostrich plume, wound round these, not only shaded +their brows from the fervid sun, but attracted the flies from their +faces, somewhat blistered by the alternations of heat and wind and rain. +Their trowsers of pliable brown leather stoutly resisted the thorns, or +rather spikes, of the mimosa bushes; their _veldt scoons_ (shoes) were +of the same material, but stronger, and fitted the foot as easily as a +glove; and their costume was rendered complete by the belt buckled round +the waist, from which was slung, besides the flask, a small pouch of +buckskin, containing gun-caps, a clasp-knife with numerous blades, and +various other articles necessary for the journey,--a pair of +long-barrelled pistols completing the equipment when starting for the +_trek_. When riding without their waggons, they moved with a change of +linen in a small sabretache of tiger-skin, appended to the saddle, while +in a haversack was a good store of dried meat, hard-boiled eggs when +they were to be had, and biscuit; in short, sufficient, on a pinch, for +a good day's meal. + +They rose to pay their adieux to Vanbloem and his family. Frankfort was +unarmed, but Ormsby had by chance stuck in his belt his six-barrelled +pistol, then a great novelty in that far country. Frankfort remarked +this on entering Vanbloem's gateway; but his companion explained that it +was not loaded, which was satisfactory, for the Dutch, though kindly +disposed towards English settlers, were no great friends to the +government, and, alas! there were not wanting men of a bad faction to +turn even a trifling action of this nature to bad account. + +The glory of the sun had departed, but there was twilight, which makes +the summer day of the Cape so much longer and pleasanter than that of +the tropics. The door of the great room at Vanbloem's stood wide open, +and the coarse, flaring, home-made candles shed their flickering rays on +a group assembled to look at the two Englishmen. To the family party +were now added three or four Hottentot servant-girls, their woolly locks +concealed beneath bright-coloured _douks_ (head-kerchiefs). They had a +smart air, for they were arrayed in flaunting colours. Scarlet or +yellow bodices set off a striped or elaborately-patched petticoat, ample +in width and scanty in length, displaying ankles that fine ladies would +have coveted and feet proportionally minute. A bevy of children, very +merry, very noisy, and very dirty, were chattering together at play, and +looking in at an open window, with the strong light falling on their +dusky forms, round which, their blankets loosely and gracefully draped, +were two Kafir herdsmen. Their crisp hair, thicker than that of the +Hottentots, was elaborately _coiffe_, being stiffened with red clay; +round their well-shaped throats were necklaces of beads intermixed with +wolves' teeth, and sundry rude ornaments adopted as charms, having been +endued with certain magic powers by the witch doctors or rain-makers of +the tribe. Their wrists were encircled by brazen bangles, and each +carried his snuffbox, a miniature tortoise-shell, with its long ivory +spoon appended by a brazen chain. + +One of them was in the act of putting a spoonful of the mixture into his +mouth, when Ormsby walked up to him, and with great deliberation began +examining him with the same curiosity that a naturalist would have +evinced on seeing some newly-discovered animal. Both Kafirs returned +his survey with a steady gaze. + +In strong contrast to these sculptured and dignified-looking beings, +rose the noise of chattering among the other occupants of the house and +_stoep_ [the platform that runs along the front of all Dutch houses]. +The old patriarch and his wife indeed maintained their usual +taciturnity, and sat just within the door, their chairs having been +moved there by their son, for the filial deference of the Dutch is +remarkable. + +At last some of the Hottentots, who had retired to a corner of the +stoep, after a due examination of the travellers, began singing in a +soprano key; the men coming from the farm-yards and joining them in +deeper tones, all in perfect harmony, and some of the voices exceedingly +pleasing. + +It was an old but popular air, one which had found its way, like an +angel's voice, across the waters, into the wilderness. It was a hymn +sung to the tune of "Home, sweet Home!" + +The sopranos were a little tremulous, to be sure, but true to time and +tune, and the bass voices gave solemnity to the chorus. + +The associations it called up were strangely contrasted with the scene. +A rude dwelling, oddly peopled, standing in the midst of a wild garden, +ill-tended, but perfumed by orange-trees, waving their scented boughs in +the still air, while beyond, in dreamy profile, rose the boundary of +hills with the spacious silent landscape between; but the far mountains, +of brown and purple and pale blue, had faded utterly away into the +clouds of night. + +"Home, sweet Home!" Ormsby listened only to the air. He was not one +accustomed to give way to those emotions of the soul which soften its +impulses and direct its thoughts to the gentlest and most hallowed ties +of earth; it must, indeed be confessed that he was too much inclined to +discourage such emotions and to quiz them, as it is called, in others; +but his heart, at this distance from the beloved and remembered faces +which had shone upon him at home, was disturbed by its reminiscences. + +The air was identified with a lost sister, the pet of his boyhood. +There was a sudden vision of a long, narrow, day nursery, with many +windows looking out upon green uplands and rich waving woods, where the +fox-hounds used to meet; of another room, within, where old nurse Hetty +used to sit and sing to his consumptive little sister, who died +afterwards. + +As he leaned against one of the rough pillars supporting a gable of the +building, his thoughts wandered back to those early days; vividly he +remembered that one on which his little favourite sister had been +carried away dead; with what terror had he watched the dark and +high-plumed hearse, with its fearful train of black carriages, all drawn +by solemn, heavy sable horses, waiting for the small coffin, to bear it +through the snow of the churchyard. He remembered it was midwinter; the +ground and the trees and the hills and the roofs of the stables were all +white with snow; it powdered the harness of the coal-black horses, and +the carriages and hearse, as they wended their dreary way down the long +avenue of leafless trees, and through the lodge-gates and along the +road, till they were lost sight of below the slopes at the boundary of +the park. + +He remembered hearing his younger brother begin to sing the familiar +tune, and nurse Hetty's dismay because she could not silence him, and +his mother, in her white dressing-gown, looking into the nursery with +eyes streaming with tears. + +That air had long been forbidden in his father's house, and he had not +heard it for years till now. Never had he been so nearly overcome by +tender recollections; he mastered his emotions by a strong effort, and +bowed civilly to Mrs Vanbloem's invitation to sit down. + +The Kafirs had eyed him with some admiration, but were more attracted by +the appearance of Frankfort. The Hottentot girls, having finished their +hymn, came in from the stoep and manifested their unqualified admiration +of his wavy chestnut hair, his brilliant eyes, and the gold chain that +peeked from the folds of his dress. One gazed first at his glossy +locks, then felt her own scanty allowance of frizzled wool; another +cried, "good," "pretty," as she walked round him with a mixed expression +of surprise and delight, and the youngest of all laughed aloud, +exhibiting teeth finer than his own. + +The Kafirs, having followed the Hottentot servants into the house, +seated themselves on the floor at a respectful distance. Frankfort +begged Vanbloem to translate the remarks they were evidently making on +himself and his friend. The handsome countenance and elegant figure of +Ormsby did not make so strong to impression on them as the more powerful +form of Frankfort, who was the taller of the two by some inches. They +were, however, neither loud nor demonstrative, but eyeing him from head +to foot, they passed their deliberate commendations in their own +peculiar manner. "Ma-wo!" had been the first exclamation of the younger +and more excitable Kafir, as the tall figure of Frankfort had cast its +shadow upon the wall, against which they leaned in indolent fashion, as +the travellers walked up the garden-path with Vanbloem--Ma-wo implying +astonishment. + +The other had taken his observations at first in silence; but now he +observed to his companion, in a low musical voice, "Inkosi +enkulu!"--"That is a great captain." + +"Eurci!" was the reply, when the other had satisfied himself that his +friend's judgment was correct. + +Frankfort saw the eyes of both the Kafirs fixed upon him, and returned +their glances with such an expression of good-will, that they with one +accord held out two pair of hands, uttering the old imperative demand +peculiar to Kafirs, "Baseila,"--"Gift." + +All savages are beggars, more or less; but the Kafir does not beg, he +_demands_. + +Frankfort laughed, and took some sticks of tobacco from the vast pockets +of his duffle jacket, and would doubtless have been besieged for more, +but that the light flashing on the six-barrelled weapon in Ormsby's belt +drew the dark and gleaming eyes of the Kafirs upon him, and their +exclamations brought the rest of the household round him in a circle. + +He drew the pistol from the belt to gratify the surprise and curiosity +of Vanbloem, who handed it to his father. The patriarch had the +pleasure of exhibiting it to all, and so great was the astonishment and +admiration displayed, that Ormsby would have offered it to the farmer, +but Frankfort checked the generous intention. + +The dissertation between the old man and his son was amusing; the +patriarch remarking that where the pistol might _wound six_, the _roer_, +the long gun of the Boers, _must_ kill all it aimed at. The old man had +a hearty contempt for all new-fashioned implements of war, but his son +resigned the brilliantly-polished weapon with a sigh, which so touched +Frankfort, that he promised to select a single-barrelled pistol from his +collection of small-arms, and send it from the bivouac, as an offering +of good-will to the good-natured Boer. + +Our sportsmen then took their leave, in spite of the kindly invitation +to sit down to the homely but plentiful table with the family of four +generations, beginning with the aged grandfather, and ending, for the +present, with the grandchild of Vanbloem, junior. + +They found the waggons made snug for the night, and the cattle safely +fastened to the tressel-booms--poor things! they were liable to +molestation from wolves, close as they were to a thriving homestead. + +May threw additional billets on the fire as his masters drew near--the +other attendants were fast asleep beneath the store-waggon, and +Frankfort and Ormsby prepared to luxuriate on the karosses spread within +their sleeping-tent, a species of pavilion, affixed to the ponderous +vehicle, their dwelling-place in rude weather, lined throughout with +baize, furnished with well-stuffed benches, and made complete with +sundry pockets, slings, straps, and thick curtains at either end. +Ormsby was sound asleep before Frankfort had inspected the preparations +for the start at dawn. Having seen to the arrangements for replenishing +the fire for warming the coffee, having ascertained that the curtains +were closed against the invasion of an unexpected storm, that the arms +were secure--the horses safely picqueted, and the oxen safely _reimed_ +(fastened with thongs of hide), he was just about to tie the last knot +of the tent-flap, when he fancied he heard some one breathing nearer to +him than any of the sleeping groups, as Ormsby had thoughtlessly +extinguished the light within the tent, and his low and steady breathing +proved his insensibility to sight or sound--Frankfort stooped down, and, +laying his ear to the ground, distinguished the pressure rather than the +sound of a step upon the short turf. + +Without rising, he whispered from the tent, "May." + +"Does the sir call?" asked the bushman, awakened in a moment, and +rolling himself down the mound, on which the store-waggon stood, to the +tent. + +"Hush!" said Frankfort softly; "some one breathed close by." + +May put his hand to his ear, but all was still, with the exception of an +occasional sigh from an over-tired ox or a muttered growl from one of +the dogs. The ripple of the river tinkled pleasantly some yards off, +but not a breath of wind stirred the boughs. The night was heavy, +though the stars were coming out, and it was impossible to say what +chance of discord existed among the elements. + +May pricked up his ears like a little terrier, and Frankfort and he made +a reconnoitring tour round the bivouac; but nothing was to be seen. The +bushman retired to his mat and Major Frankfort to his tent. + +The Hottentots slept sound, the huge oxen uttered their periodical +sighs, the bats flitted about the tent, through which the moonlight +began to peep, and at intervals the whine of the wolf came up the valley +marring the silence, but too far off to disturb the sleepers and rouse +the dogs. Frankfort gave a last glance at the Dutchman's farm. It +looked exceedingly picturesque by that mellow light. The whole scene +had an air of peace, little in character with the original possessors of +so lovely a soil. Ah! there came the jackal's cry again, destroying the +illusion, and a responsive laugh followed, like mocking echoes from the +gibbering hyena. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. The Fingoes are the remnant of some powerful nations, conquered +and enslaved by the Kafirs, whom they greatly resemble. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +THE BUSHMAN. + +The little bushman, whom we have introduced as the attendant of our +English officers, must be more particularly described ere we advance in +a story in which he will frequently make his appearance. + +The reader will consider his name--May--rather a misnomer for such a +creature. + +He is about three feet and a half high; his head would be bald, but for +a few bead-like tufts of hair, scattered vaguely about the surface. His +eyes are long, black, twinkling, and very merry, but his expression is +less cunning than that of the Hottentot physiognomy. His nose! where is +it? His mouth is wide, but his white teeth redeem this feature from its +ugliness; his skin is of the hue of pale gingerbread. + +The countenance, however, is far from unpleasing; his voice is odd, with +occasional clicks in pronunciation, which May chooses to introduce, +notwithstanding his education. The hands and feet are exquisitely +small, and the frame lithe and agile as a monkey's. His costume is +copied from his masters; the materials are coarser, but the "wide-awake" +hath on him a more jaunty air, the feather a more "knowing" feel, and +this is fastened to the hat with a gilt bugle, the gift of some light +infantry officer, and much prized by May, who had managed to coax from +the same source an old red jacket, which he carries in the waggon-box, +and wears on Sundays when they halt in the wilderness. + +May is a capital mimic, takes off various members of the Graham's Town +garrison, well-known as oddities; imitates with ludicrous gravity the +imposing air of the governor's brother, and elicits peals of laughter +from his Hottentot comrades, when, arrayed in Fitje's yellow petticoat, +he caricatures the dancing of an affected young lady, whom he has +watched through the windows of a ball-room. But I must give you May's +origin, or you will wonder how this monkey came to see the world. + +Behold a chain of mountains rising abruptly and with a bold sweep across +a most lovely wilderness. From the colonial border these mountains look +exquisitely, but faintly blue, in the haze which hangs about them. In +that busy colony how faint an idea can its inhabitants have of the wild +beings that dwell amid those distant solitary fastnesses. In the +shelving rocks, in bowery nooks scented with the rich perfume of plants, +which in our land a queen would prize in her conservatory, beside the +clearest running waters, the little bushmen find their rest among the +coneys, the bright-eyed lizards, and the treacherous snakes; brilliant +birds flit round them as they lie at ease beneath umbrageous boughs or +in cool shady caves, shrouded by luxurious creepers; from the flexile +branches of the banian-trees the monkeys peer down upon what some would +consider almost their fellow-apes, and on the plains thousands of noble +animals in herds are enjoying the gifts of nature, "feeding in large +pastures." An army of elephants is moving through the bush, on a +distant mountain; you cannot see them, but you can hear the loud +trumpet-cry of their leader giving warning of some intruder's stealthy +advance. In the valley the lions are ranged like soldiers awaiting the +return of their scouts, and beyond, far beyond, just where the sunset +reveals a spot which has lain in the shade all day, behold the +advance-guard of the stately giraffe--two of them: the one with neck +outstretched and eye and ear keenly intent, now upon the plain, now on +the mountain-side, while his companion crops the fresh green herbage. A +cloud crosses the sun, and the giraffes are seen no more; their +momentary appearance has drawn the bushmen-hunters from their haunts, to +gaze upon the shy and cautious animals. + +There go the gnoos, tossing their manes, leaping, plunging, half in +play, yet dangerous even to their fellows; see how they wheel round, +advancing with eyes glaring through their shaggy forelocks. A herd of +zebras are comparatively tune to these eager, restless things; but in +greater contrast to the gnoos are the heavy eilands, fat and sleek, fit +mark for the hunter's poisoned arrows. There are ostriches, too, +stalking about; and nearer the bushmen's haunts, but wary of her +neighbours, the pauw, or the wild turkey of South Africa, has her brood; +far up in the air, between the clear sky and the fertile plain, rises +the secretary-bird, with the doomed snake in his beak. The serpent +writhes in its new element, swinging to and fro; up! up! above the rocks +and sea, the bird swoops higher and higher to drop its prey upon a +table-rock; its back is broken. Lie there, powerless, terrible, and +fatal, and doomed wretch, till your tormentor returns and finishes the +deed begun! + +Sunset. The plain is in a glow, except where the mountains cast a +shade, and this will deepen, as the shield of gold dips behind them. +The little honey-bird, which has been wandering in search of travellers +to coax them to the sweet nest it dare not itself invade, goes back +disappointed to await the morning splendour; the sprews, on wings of +green and yellow, go glancing past to their embowered rest; the homely +brown-looking canaries are silent in the golden-blossomed mimosa, the +English swallow trills her way back to the mission-house on the other +side the mountain range; the few goats possessed by the poor bushmen +return bleating to their rude fold, and ere long the wild beasts of the +forest and the valley will come boldly forth; the tiger from the dense +bush in which he has lain stealthily all day; then the jackal's cry will +startle the children lying on their miserable sheepskins, and the lion's +roar will answer it, rousing the echoes and terrifying the horses and +cattle of those who travel in the wilderness. + +Such a scene as this presented itself one glowing evening many years ago +to the eye of a wayfarer, whose appearance with his pack-horse and +saddle-bags, and the somewhat lame condition of the animal he led, gave +proof that he had journeyed far and fast. With home almost in sight, he +had outspanned his waggon in the valley, and ascending the hills had +found that darkness would overshadow his path ere the object he had in +view could be accomplished, if indeed it could be accomplished at all. +A mist was rising in white wreaths over the plain, till the vapour +became concentrated in a hazy shroud floating between the traveller and +his people below; his beasts were weary, and would probably fell if he +attempted the descent while yet it was light; besides, as I have said, +he had an object in view; so he sat down among the shrubs and rocks, +through which he had scrambled with some difficulty and much fatigue, +and began to ponder on what steps he must take to insure a safe bivouac +for himself and his jaded cattle during the night. + +He was a good man, and would have had no personal fear even if he had +not been acquainted with the nature of the locality and its inhabitants; +but he had no mind to have his horses torn limb from limb by wild +beasts, and pitying them as their ears moved nervously backwards and +forwards, their eyeballs starting from their sockets, he regretted that +he had not delayed his expedition till the following morning. + +There was no help for it now; the sinking horses looked piteously at +him, and he longed to take their saddles from their galled backs, but he +needed to look about him ere yet there was daylight: he regretted he had +not brought his waggon-driver with him, but always thinking of others, +he had overlooked his own necessities. He grieved for his horses, not +for himself. + +James Trail was the occupant of the mission-house, whither our English +swallow had trilled her contented way. He was a childless widower, and, +bent on conquering his sorrow for his lost Mary by earnest attention to +his duties "in that path of life in which it had pleased God to call +him," he had made way for a married friend at his former station, and +with a few native herds, a faithful Hottentot servant, and a distant +relative, a trader in skins, ivory, horns, etc, had established a little +location in the lovely but uncivilised part of the country through which +he hoped to preach glad tidings of the Gospel; but the untameable race +of bushmen, whom he longed to attach to himself, looked at him from +their coverts like startled apes, and yelled, and shrieked, and +chattered, and once shot at him with their poisoned arrows, happily +without effect. + +A trifling circumstance brought these mountain sprites to better terms. +One of a hunting-party was severely bitten by a puff-adder while +lingering behind his comrades, and Trail had discovered him, helpless +and terrified, and "like to die," by the side of a stream, to which he +had crawled with the vain wish to ford it. The good Samaritan placed +his neighbour on his own beast, after applying a remedy he always +carried with him to the deadly wound; he took him home, and would have +kept him, but the wild creature had been a rover all his life, and +longed for liberty; as soon as he recovered, he fled to the hills to +join his fellows. At times he would return, accompanied by a mate of +his own tribe. One day he brought his children with him; another, two +or three wild hunters, clothed in fitting skins, sat down in front of +the mission-house, but would not draw near. They waited for their share +of beads, their meal of mutton and bread and milk, and then scurried off +to their nooks to send down others. Wretched creatures! these came in +the dead of night as thieves, and Trail, wearied with their +depredations, and grieved at his want of success among them, made such a +compact as he could, by means of signs, assisted by his knowledge of the +Dutch and Kafir languages. On condition that they would permit his +flocks to feed in peace, he agreed to furnish them with game, Indian +corn, and beads. The bushmen, knowing that if after this compact the +pastor's sheep were lessened in number, mutilated, or poisoned, their +messengers would be sent empty-handed from his door, each kept a +constant watch upon his neighbour, and this sort of truce had been kept +between Trail and the pigmies up to the time when the former was making +arrangements for a journey on business into the colony. + +For a week previously to leaving his house to the trader's care with two +herds only, all, however, well provided with arms, the missionary had +seen and heard nothing of his wild neighbours, and learning from his +cousin, who had occasion to follow him, that they had not come down from +the mountains since his departure, our good minister resolved, when on +his homeward route, on penetrating the fastnesses which he had at first +visited with pious intentions, but from which he had been driven, in +such a fashion as would have made most men hesitate ere they set foot on +such dangerous ground again: he felt it was his duty to seek these +creatures. + +He would have made a fine picture, seated on a grey rock which jutted +out in an angle from the great mountain, which from base to summit, was +seven thousand feet above the level of the ocean. The plain lay some +hundred feet below, but the haze obscured it from the view. Trail felt +very solitary between the sky and this shroud-like vapour; he looked at +the poor brutes still panting beside him, and deliberated, as he took a +survey from the rock on which he was perched. + +There was not a sound now; even that restless caller, the +whip-poor-will, was quiet. On each side of the traveller was a +comparatively clear space, behind was a scarp of rock overhung with +trees. Securing his horses, he relieved them of their saddles and +bridles, laid his saddle-bags against the rock, and having seen that the +animals had length of _reim_ (thong of leather) to give them room to +roll at full length upon the moist grass, he determined to climb higher +up in search of the little colony, whose condition he had long deplored. + +Trail was a man of about three-and-thirty; the features were homely, but +the expression of the whole was highly benevolent; the frame was thin, +and could not be called graceful, but it was neither ungainly nor +vulgarly awkward; the eyes were large, and when lifted up, shone with a +pleasant, not a sparkling, light; the hair was thinning on the temples, +and the brow alone showed that by nature he was a man of a clear and +fair complexion. The rest was bronzed by climate. + +There he stood alone, alone in that magnificent solitude; the purpose +for which he had come faded for a time from his memory, a gust of wind +swept the mist away from the side of the hill to which he turned, and a +part of the valley "lay smiling before him;" a stream of sunlight shot +athwart it, and he saw the wild tenants of the wilderness, disporting +and luxuriating as I have described; another gust opened the landscape +wide, and as Trail's eye swept the scene, his heart was lifted up in +admiration. He turned the angle of the hill again, but the plain was +hidden from his sight on that side, he could see nothing of his people +and the bivouac below. He paused under a tall yellow-wood tree, and sat +down again, his heart melting at the thought of what? his loneliness! +His head rested on his hands, and he went back, back to his wedding-day +at home in England, in the old church. There he stood, hand in hand +with Mary (his old playmate) at the altar: by her side his sister cried +bitterly, behind him her mother sobbed aloud, and the father's silence +was most eloquent, for the lips were firmly closed, and the eyes blinded +with tears. Younger children gazed sorrowfully on--and then--there came +the last parting. A ship in full sail, James and Mary Trail leaning +over the side of the vessel while she is lying-to at Spithead; a boat +below, from which many last gifts are handed up. A little sister +weeping heavily, the mother with her face buried in her handkerchief, a +young brother hastily wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, an +elder sister trying to sooth the father, who "would not be comforted." + +They are all again before him: the boat pushes off; the old man +stretches forth his hands, blessing the voyagers; the sister waves her +handkerchief, the brother his hat, the mother tries to rise, but cannot, +as the boat is swayed between the white-crested waves, which soon part +the little vessel from the gallant ship; the yards are swung round, the +boat has faded to a speck, the bows dash through the sparkling waters, +churches, forts, and towers of the old town Mary Trail has never left +before, glide away from her aching sight, and she lies down like a child +to cry in her bridegroom's sheltering arms. + +And lo! there is a grave, the first grave hollowed in the mound on which +a little chapel stands between two hills in Africa. There are others +near it now, and a deep-toned bell sends out its hallowed call across +the river, and up the kloof and on Sabbath days there is a gathering +from many homesteads; but Trail has left this peopled spot for another. +He visits it sometimes, and sits by Mary's grave, but he can no longer +bear it as a dwelling: nevertheless, he would have stayed there had +there not been one at hand to take charge of the district. + +He had not long left this spot when I introduced him to the reader at +the early part of this chapter. He rises, but not without effort: his +steeds are quietly enjoying the crisp herbage, and above, the baboons +are looking out from their hiding-places, and shouting aloud. Trail +began to fancy his "little people" had caught sight of him, and were +calling to him from the rocks overhanging the platform on which he +stood. + +He determined on seeking at once for some sheltered corner, where he +could kindle a fire, picquet his horses near him, and eat such provision +as he had brought, deferring his further search till dawn. The +non-appearance of a single living being puzzled him, the more when he +discovered the remains of a fire, over which the wind had passed, +scattering the ashes. It was evident that a meal of locusts had been +here cooked and eaten, probably some three or four days before. Some +had been rejected, and some were mingled with corn lying amid the ashes. +A stray arrow or two was also to be found, and a bow, unstrung, rested +against a stone. Whilst examining these evidences of human existence, +something rose heavily from a stunted bush: a huge asphogel, scared at +last from its lethargy, flapped its wings, rose slowly over Trail's +head, and floated down the mountain-side; another and another followed, +and our missionary felt assured that, dead or dying, some members of the +barbarian community were not far off. He discovered a fearful group at +last. It would be a sad task to describe the scene as it was depicted +by him to one who related the circumstances to me. It was probable that +some part of the community had been absent on a hunting expedition when +the fatality occurred, which had destroyed three aged bushmen, four or +five women, old and young, all inconceivably hideous in death, and +several children. One poor baby lay across its miserable mother's +bosom, apparently the victim of a snake, for the creature lay coiled up +beside the dead body, and a wretched little object had been mangled by +vultures at the entrance to the grot or cave into which the party had +apparently crawled to suffer and die together. + +Trail had heard of whole families of bushmen dying from a surfeit of a +hearty meal of locusts,--from poisonous roots being mingled in their +cookery with the larvae of ants,--and of their sometimes falling victims +to the deadly enmity of some adverse tribes; but he saw it would be +dangerous as well as useless to penetrate the charnel-house further; +indeed he had taken as sharp a survey of the interior as the light +falling through a chasm would allow, and he shrunk from ascertaining +whether an inner cave existed. + +Struck with horror, he had made up his mind to move some distance down +the mountain in spite of the coming darkness, when a feeble moan drew +his attention to a cleft in the rock, just at the entrance or mouth of +the cavern. + +He knew it was the moan of a living being, and began to examine the +corner whence it proceeded, but all was in darkness; stretching out his +arm, he groped among the stones, and at length touched a clammy hand, +the fingers of which closed round his with a cold convulsive grasp. He +drew the creature forth, and found it to be a little bushboy, probably +five or six years old. + +It was our friend May. He derived his name from the month in which he +had been brought into the Christian world, as Trail said. Truly the +good man's laying his hand upon the little creature was a wondrous and +providential circumstance. Poor, degraded, barbarous imp, thou wert a +frightful object; but the good minister looked on thee with the deep +anxiety and affection that those only feel who love their neighbour in +the true spirit of a Christian, and helpless and hideous as thou wert, +doubtless there were angels singing triumphantly through the golden +aisles of heaven as a herald on bright wings came among them with glad +tidings of a soul rescued from darkness. It was thine, poor May, lying +lonely and desolate, and apparently forgotten, in that fearful darkness; +the day-star from on high was ready to shed its light upon thee, and +there was great rejoicing among the ministering spirits of the upper +world! + +We cannot trace the melancholy facts of the deaths alluded to to their +sources; nine or ten unredeemed souls had passed the outer threshold of +this world, to that mysterious region whence none return with a record; +but whether the cause arose from accidental poison, or by the agency of +vicious neighbours, Trail never ascertained. How the imp May had +escaped appeared a miracle; mayhap he had been absent gathering honey or +digging for roots; the goats had disappeared, if there had ever been +any; there was sheep wool on the bushes, but there were no sheep, and +the missionary concluded that the hunters had probably returned after +the calamity had befallen their fellows, and, in superstitious dread of +the locality, had hurried to change their quarters without any closer +examination of the spot than they had been induced to make from +curiosity or rapacity. + +Speculation was fruitless, useless; May was rescued, and Trail, carrying +him to the bushes where the horses were picqueted, gave him such +nourishment as he could. It revived him, and as soon as he could manage +it, our traveller descended with his steed and the child to a convenient +spot, where he lit a fire at the opening of a natural alcove. Here he +again fastened his horse to a tree, happy in having found a spot watered +by a rill, which trickled down a channel among the rocks, and spreading +his _veldt combass_, a large rug made of dressed sheepskins, upon the +sward, he laid his saddle beneath his head, and not far from him he did +not disdain to place the weary and frightened being, whose sleep was +soon as peaceful as a Christian child's within "a fair ancestral hall." + +The night passed without further adventure, for Trail's sleep was light, +and he kept up the fire at his feet, so as to prevent the intrusion of +the wild beasts of the neighbourhood. At dawn he found his _protege_ +still sleeping; and by the time he had made further but unavailing +search for some living evidence of the sad spectacle he had beheld, the +mist had cleared away from the hill-side, and he descended with his +child of the wilderness to the bivouac, where he found his people in +some alarm and uncertainty about his safety. + +To untravelled readers the idea of leaving the dead unburied among the +rocks and caves must appear rather unseemly, to say the least of it; +but, in the first place, Trail's party could not have accomplished such +an undertaking by themselves; and, in the next, leaving the waggon and +its contents together with the oxen, would have been madness. Add to +this, the chances were that a horde of bushmen might return to the spot +unexpectedly, and there was dearly no alternative but to make the best +of the early part of the day; for, although the mission-house was only +nine miles distant, the way lay between narrow and rocky passes, wound +up the steepest acclivities, and was at times difficult to penetrate, +owing to intervening clumps of bush, connected by a tangled growth of +underwood. + +So the child was called May, in memory of the period of his rescue. The +bewildered creature's language was utterly untranslatable; but, with the +keenness of perception so peculiar to his race, he soon learned to +express his wants in a curiously-mixed dialect of Hottentot, Dutch, +Kafir, and English, and this part of his education accomplished, Mr +Trail sent him to his friends at the larger mission station to be +trained into something like civilisation by good Mrs Cheslyn. + +And now it may be told, in a few words, how May progressed in his +education; how he learned to sing hymns in a truer voice than the Kafir +children, whose notes, however, far surpassed his in melody; how he +loved to dance in the moonlight with the Fingo herds, when Mrs Cheslyn +thought they were all fast asleep in an old school-house, till their +unearthly chant brought Mr Cheslyn out among them; how when the truant +was punished, he would escape, stay away for days, and come back +afterwards with ostrich eggs; how he would sulk sometimes with his lips +out, and his eyes almost hid by the low frowning brow, run away again, +and again return; how he stood in awe of no one but Mr Trail; how, if +he was saucy to Ellen Cheslyn, it was for her sake he usually returned +from his wanderings; how he would watch her in the doorway, looking up +the road on those days when Mr Trail was expected; then as he caught a +glimpse of horse and rider, winding down the hill, he would ask her, in +Kafir, "Uza kangala nina? uza lunguzela nina apa?"--"What are you +looking for? What are you peeping there for?" Then, with a low +chuckle, he would spring over the _stoep_, topple head over heels down +the garden walk and through the gateway, and, with distorted limbs and +visage, hasten to give his friend and benefactor the "Good morrow," +pointing back to the house to call attention to the watchful Ellen, and +then plunging into the thicket, laughing and singing, and as merry as a +cricket. + +May's life had been comparatively free from care. True, an outburst +from the savage tribes of Kafirs, to whom Mr Trail had been a gentle +and a kind teacher, laid his station, Westleyfield, even with the dust. +It was burnt to ashes, and all his little property with it, but his +wife, Ellen, escaped with her husband and infant to a Dutch lazar, or +encampment. May accompanied them, sometimes as nurse, sometimes as +caterer, with a knob-kierrie (club), knocking down a buck or a bird +occasionally, and cooking the same as opportunity offered. So they +passed on afterwards to the colony; but May, lingering behind one day, +looking for corn, which he believed to be buried in what appeared to him +a deserted _kraal_, or hamlet of huts, was pounced upon by the enemy, +who would have despatched him at once, but that one, more humane than +the rest, listened to the poor bushman's appeal, that he might be +permitted to say his prayer. After a brutal laugh from the wretches, +who boasted that "God Almighty was dead in their land," they consented. + +This circumstance saved his life. As May cast himself prostrate on the +earth, a little party of _roed batjes_ (red jackets), commanded by a +sergeant, who happened to be reconnoitring in the neighbourhood, and who +had crept along the banks of a river, suddenly reared their heads, above +the cliffs of the Keiskama. There lay poor May, praying aloud, while +the savages danced round him, declaiming on the greatness of their +leader, on his bravery, his prowess, flight or ten Kafirs leaped and +howled about the helpless bushman, flourishing their knob-kierries, +shaking their assegais, and varying their war-cries with imitations of +the wild beasts, to which they compared their leader: "Behold," said +one, "he is a tiger!" and there was a chorus, accompanied by the vicious +whispering growl of the stealthy brute: "he is terrible as a lion, +keen-eyed as an eagle, wise as the serpent." Then the chorus-master +roared and shook his assegai, while the rest made their spears shiver +like the wings of passing birds, and the hiss of the serpent was +followed by the wild shout of attack upon their victim. + +"The _roed batjes_!" cried the chorus-master, and the soldiers sprung +into the midst of the enemy with a hearty English cheer: the Kafirs gave +a yell of fear and disappointment, and May jumped up to find himself +surrounded by men he felt to be his friends, though they were almost as +strange to him, as regarded their appearance, as the foes from whom he +was rescued. He gave an answering yell of triumph in imitation of the +chorus-master, as he saw the latter, with his kaross flying in the wind, +stop, mount on a stone, and fling back an assegai, which quivered +through the air, and fell within a few inches of the sergeant's feet, +who drew it up from the ground as a trophy. + +"Well," said the sergeant, turning May round and round, "you are a nice +little article, ain't you, to make such a confounded row about: and +where the--did you spring from, you small chap?" + +"From Westleyfield, sir," answered the bushboy, in a very tolerable +English accent. + +To be brief, he related his story, and followed the soldiers. An old +officer of the corps placed him in the service of his family; and, on +their departure for England, May was handed over to some one else, and +from his last master had been recommended to our travellers, Frankfort +and Ormsby, as an intelligent guide and trusty servant. + +He had never rested after his rescue till he traced out the Trails, who +had terrible misgivings about him; but they could not prevail upon him +to return to Westleyfield; their settled mode of life was by no means so +agreeable to him as the one he led with the troops. He could seldom be +coaxed from head-quarters, the band acted upon him as a spell; but he +grew attached to Captain Frankfort before he became his servant, and +hung about the stable with the groom, who was happy to find his +recommendation of May confirmed in a way that satisfied the sportsman. +The English groom remained at head-quarters while trusty May went up the +country with Frankfort and Ormsby. + +He had married in the colony, and made a bridal tour into the Winterberg +mountains with his wife--a Christian Hottentot gin with a dash of white +blood on her father's side, of which she was justly proud!--to introduce +her to his friends the Trails, and repeated his visit on the birth of +his child, when Mr Trail christened the creature Ellen, after his wife. +They did not return to Westleyfield; that station was handed over to +the charge of an older missionary, whose tall sons made almost a +garrison of defence among themselves. + +May returned to the colony with Fitje and his child. Fitje, like +himself, had been brought up among people from whom she had imbibed +habits of civilisation,--would I could say, industry! but this would be +contrary to the nature of the Hottentot, however utter idleness and vice +may be overcome by good example: but they worked when they were +penniless, and, in spite of indolent propensities, Fitje made a good and +tender mother, and a most kind wife. She loved gossiping in the +sunshine, she could not resist a dance to the music of the drums and +fifes; but she did not smoke a pipe, she was an excellent washerwoman, +and she was a regular attendant at the Dutch chapel. She had a +Hottentot taste for smart _douks_, but she never tasted Cape brandy; and +when May fell under Captain Frankfort's care, she was so proud, that she +would not associate with her earlier acquaintance. She and May had a +little Kafir hut to themselves near Frankfort's garden, and the family +of the bushman, his merry-hearted wife and good-tempered baby, presented +a picture as agreeable to look at, in a moral point of view, as that of +any independent gentleman on earth. + +I think we left him retiring to his mat under the store-waggon of the +sportsmen. Fitje and the child slept beside him soundly, albeit at +midnight the moon's rays slanted right across their swarthy faces. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Morning in Kafirland! The air is filled with delicious perfume. The +toman is spinning about in the hazy atmosphere, the jackals are quietly +wending their way across the plains, looking back at times, in brute +wonderment, perhaps at that great sun; the spider has spread her silver +tissue across the pathways to ensnare the unwary; and + + "Jocund Day + Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain's top." + +What a carpet of green and gold, variegated with the scarlet +"monkey-foot," the lonely, trembling, drooping gladiola, the agapanthus, +the geranium, brilliantly red as the lip of fabled Venus; the wreath of +jessamine and myrtle, and laurel boughs, in which the birds are awaking +to a world lovely to them! + +Ah, what exquisite things hath Nature in her bounty spread before the +heathen! They cannot be counted, they dazzle the eye and set the heart +bounding in the plenitude of a pure, inartificial enjoyment. + +The Dutchman's settlement was beginning to teem with signs of life. The +gates of the kraals were thrown open, and sheep and goats and oxen were +blending their voices with the incessant, uneasy chorus of the dogs, +while the herds divided the multitude to lead them to their separate +pastures. + +The waggons of our party were already prepared to start; the hot coffee +had been thankfully enjoyed, the Kafirs paid in tobacco for their +offering of milk in tightly-woven baskets; and the Boer had come down to +say "thank you," for the pistol he had duly received. + +Frankfort imparted to the Dutchman his suspicions, that some one had +been prowling about the bivouac in the early part of the night, but he +said it was unlikely; it was probably some cunning jackal, or a +herdsman's dog. Frankfort could not help thinking it was some human +being, but Van Bloem said no. May was already in advance of the +cavalcade, turning back now and then, with an impatient gesture at old +Piet, the chief waggon-driver, and Fitje, with her baby on her lap, and +gaily attired, is seated on the waggon-box of the largest vehicle, _en +grande dame_, being the only lady of the party. Happy Fitje! no +rivals--the men of all degrees turn to thee with deference, thankful for +the aid of thy womanly skill, and cheered by thy merry laugh, albeit thy +mouth be none of the smallest. + +"_Trek_!" [Note 1]--what a shout!--"_Trek_!" the slash of the long whip +echoes many times, backwards, forwards, above, around, behind the +mountains and through the _kloofs_ (ravines). May is waiting at the +turn of the winding road, half a mile off. The train of men and +waggons, horses and dogs, moves slowly on, and the sportsmen ride gently +ahead. But May keeps steadily in advance of all, and the dogs raise a +cry of joy as they catch sight of him when he pauses at the angle of a +hill, and stands there a minute or two, whistling as gleefully as though +he were "monarch of all he surveyed." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. There can be no literal translation of this word of command, +but the oxen understand it well,--to them it means "advance," "on." + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +THE SHIPWRECK. + +We must now turn from the inland valley, with its homestead, its +cornfields, and flocks, to a very different scene,--a scene at sea. + +On the day when our friends Frankfort and Ormsby were introduced to my +reader with the tempest warring round them, as they stood shelterless +with May upon the open plain, a solitary ship neared the south-eastern +coast of the great continent of Africa. The hurricane blew there with +frenzied violence; the fiends of the storm were howling aloft among the +shrouds, the canvass cracked and rattled till it split into ribbons, and +was whirled away to the winds; the rudder had been torn from its place, +the masts groaned and shrieked, the waters frothed up in fountains of +spray, and at intervals the heavy surges swept the decks like clouds, +enveloping the vessel, and bearing it down with a force it could ill +resist. + +The sailors were hanging about the ship, but there were few on deck, and +none in the shrouds, for there they could not keep their footing. + +There were troops on board; the dull roll of the drum made itself +audible at times, when there was a lull, and volleys of musketry mingled +their signals of distress with the screams of affrighted women and +children,--and, alas! alas!--with the oaths of terrible men,--for it was +a convict-ship. + +There were but momentary glimpses of the shore as the lightning flashes +rent in twain the dark masses of vapour hanging about the gloomy +rock-bound coast. The captain could only guess where he was, for the +vessel had been driving all the night, and the character of the cliffs +was his only guide now. He saw there was no help for them if the ship +continued to lie with her head to the shore, and he believed that a +sand-bank at the yawning mouth of a river would engulph them, unless the +hand of Providence cast them to the westward of this, where, as he +supposed, the sands sloped from the cliffs, on the summit of which stood +a small fortified barrack, occupied by a slender garrison of British +troops, who would render such assistance as their means permitted in +saving the lives of such as might be fortunate enough to be cast adrift +upon the coast, or be enabled to reach it by rafts, or in the launch. + +The convicts had all been freed from their shackles in the early part of +the night--as soon, in fact, as the desperate situation of the ship was +ascertained; but they were kept between decks till some plan of possible +relief could be devised. Some sat moodily in the corners of the ship, +awaiting the day, in sullen, gloomy despondency. Some blasphemed; some +laughed in bitterness of heart, exulting in the idea, that man's +vengeance had been set at nought by a stronger power;--whether for good +or evil, they did not consider. Some jeered at the soldiers, who bore +the jeers with unswerving spirit; and some of the women, God help them! +jeered the loudest! One, indeed,--who had deeply considered her +position, and repented,--prayed aloud, and some drew round her to +listen, but these were few; others cursed their doom. One soldier's +wife, a young creature with an infant in her arms, leaned against a +riven mast, crying bitterly, while her husband tried in vain to comfort +her. Immovable as images were most of those iron soldiers, except as +they answered to the voice of command; true, even in the jaws of death, +to their country and their profession, they heard the blasphemy and the +jeers and the ribaldry of the wretched beings they guarded, without +evincing the slightest emotion. Between the volleys of musketry, a +heavy gun occasionally boomed out its signal of distress, but it was +only echoed back from the gaping rocks of the dangerous coast; again the +small-arms awakened no answer. + +Silence,--a voice of command from the poop, and all hands are called to +lower the launch. The ship had struck several times against the sand, +shivering, as though terrified at being so assailed. The gangways were +guarded, and the convicts not permitted to pass. Few, indeed, attempted +it, though all had been unmanacled; but discipline, in hours of +difficulty and danger, is generally more than a match for strength. + +The launch was lowered with a will, by those who would have no right to +enter it. It was appropriated, of course, to the women and children, +and those who were to have the charge of it were appointed by lot. + +There was no confusion; those who drew planks turned calmly away, and +went to other duties, while the guardians of the launch marshalled its +passengers in funeral order, and they were cautiously lowered into it. + +There were two officers in command of the convict guard; the elder was +married; his wife looked quite a child, she was barely eighteen. +Melancholy it was to see her clinging to her husband, and begging to be +left with him on that deck, which began already to open its seams, and +show the water boiling below. She threw herself on her knees at last, +and implored him to let her die there with him. + +"Marmaduke, my love, my husband, do not send me from you;" and, turning +to the captain, who gently implored her, for the sake of her unborn +infant, to endeavour to save herself, she replied, in a voice of +indescribable calmness, "Sir, those whom God has joined, let no man put +asunder; I will not leave my husband." + +Then a boy midshipman came forward, and begged the officer to take _his_ +place in the launch, but Captain Dorian would not leave his men; and now +everything was prepared to cut away the boat from the ship, and Mrs +Dorian stood firmly by her husband. + +I have alluded to the knowledge, such as it was, that the captain had of +the coast they had been nearing for so considerable a time. He was not +mistaken in his conjectures that they were within gun-range of a part of +the shore guarded by a garrison of British soldiers. + +See a signal!--the clouds have been lifted by the merciful hand of +Providence; and, though the answering gun from the tower of the little +fort cannot be heard, in consequence of the wind setting in-shore, and +the elements outvying each other in noise at sea, the flash is +distinctly visible. Captain Dorian persuades the poor young creature +that there is help close at hand; appeals to her in the character of a +soldier, who expects his wife to assist him in setting an example of +firmness; points out to her the selfishness of her wish to remain thus +unmanning him in his military duties; and, passive, stupified, at last, +she suffers him to carry her to the ship's side, and she takes her place +in the launch. + +Dorian looked at her as she lifted her eyes in a wild way to him. She +stretched out her hands, as if imploring him to call her back. A +white-crested wave sweeps over her, and throws her down; she tries to +rise; she sees her husband with clasped hands praying for her; she waves +hers in reply, and Dorian is called away on duty. + +He speaks coolly and decidedly; he gives the necessary orders to an old +sergeant, but is stopped by the screams of the unhappy women on the +deck, who are hoping that the launch may come back for them. A strong +rope had been affixed to the ship, and it had been decided that this, +being also connected with the launch, should be fastened ashore by any +means that the will of Providence might offer. The rope was strong, but +the rottenness of the ship's timbers was proved in a sudden and +appalling manner. The poor soldiers had congregated in that part of the +vessel to which the rope had been made last. I have already said that +the seams of the deck had opened, leaving here and there a large space; +still the captain, officers, and crew were in hopes that she would hold +together till she was driven on the sands, and by that time they +anticipated further help by means of the launch, the rope, and perhaps +some surf-boats, if the detachment possessed any, as was probable, from +the garrison being a depot for stores brought thither by coasters. + +An awful crash took place; the great ship parted, and the poor anxious +watchers of the launch were precipitated into the foaming ocean. + +The miserable convicts rushed upon what remained of the deck. They +shouted, they sang, they chattered, they uttered ribald jests; they +climbed the rigging, and swung aloft. It gave way under their feet. +Some seemed to revel in the freedom of the unchained air; they clustered +along the yards like bees. Now the ship's bows are drawn into the +surge; now the shattered poop sinks beneath the waves; now the sea +overwhelms the decks, sweeping living aid inanimate things in its +vortex; and now, oh God! the great beams gape and yawn and part asunder, +and see the wretches are jammed in between; a mast is shivered, a block +falls, and strikes an old man down; his eyes burst from their sockets, +his head is bruised and battered, his limbs quiver, and his fingers are +convulsed. The deck opens again; the bounding: sea bursts up, and draws +into its relentless jaws more than one victim! + +The ship was fairly breaking up. Some rushed to the forecastle, some +looked despairingly from the poop--Between the fore and after part there +was soon an impassable gulf. + +At the scream, which drew the attention of Dorian and his sergeant from +the arrangements they were making, the former rushed to the poop. He +saw the brave fellows who had been swept off struggling in the waters, +trying to regain the shattered vessel. They perished every one of them! +At any other time he would have been stunned by the sight, but his eyes +are strained beyond it; fixed in an aching gaze upon the launch, he can +distinguish no one in her now; her passengers seem all huddled together: +he turns round on hearing the mast crashing over the ship's side; he is +shocked at the sight of the mutilated old man. Again he turns; his eyes +seek the rocks, above which he has seen the flash of the signal-gun; he +fancies he hears the echoes rolling along the cliffs; he distinguishes +another momentary light; the launch is hidden between two watery +mountains, but she rises; he would give worlds to use a spy-glass, but +it is impossible; but he needs it not; he sees the launch again with +terrible distinctness. She has turned over, she goes down! He sees no +more; many of his gallant soldiers have perished in the boiling element +beneath him, and he springs forward in his despair to join his flair and +child-like wife. + +They were found afterwards cast ashore, strange to say, not far from +each other; and the captain of the detachment, as commandant of the +fortress, read the funeral service over them with a faltering voice; +they sleep together in a grove of oaks. The spot was chosen because the +trees that flourished there reminded passers-by of England. + +Signals were now distinctly heard from the heights, and soldiers were +gathered on the cliffs watching the ill-starred convict-ship. Oh, to +see the arms of the maddened wretches stretched towards the shore! +Some, like Captain Dorian, cast themselves in a frenzy upon the angry +waters; some strive to lash themselves to spars; another boat is +lowered, with provisions hastily thrown into it; three or four bold +spirits tempt the surges in the fragile bark, and it is swept towards +the river's mouth, is whirled round in the sparkling eddies, and +disappears. + +It is of one of these "bold spirits" I have to speak. + +I have said that the convicts were relieved from their fetters as soon +as the vessel became unmanageable. + +Sternly awaiting his fate in a dark corner of the labouring and bunting +ship, sat a man of some eight-and-twenty years of age; his arms were +clasped round a gun, and thus he steadied himself as well as he could. + +Strangely indifferent he seemed to the howling of the winds, the +rattling of the cordage, the falling of spars, the crash of timbers, and +the imprecations of his fellow-convicts amid the scream of frightened +women. At times he sneered at the frantic gestures of a soldier's wife, +who was sitting on the deck, with a baby on her lap, rocking herself to +and fro and bemoaning her hard fate, and that of her family, most +bitterly, at the same time directing her husband and children in certain +preparations for leaving the ship, if they should be so fortunate as to +succeed in doing so. Her advice and admonitions were interlarded with +various expressions of terror, sorrow, affection, and anxiety. + +"Oh, Micky O'Toole! Och, wirasthrue, my darlint; sure when we played at +the same door-step as childer, I didn't think we'd come to this. Och, +Larry, my child, the mother that owns you is breaking her heart. Alice, +say your prayers, fast--say them fast, allannan; true for ye, my +darlints, this day we'll be in glory; pray up, Ally, pray up, Larry, the +saints be wid us. Micky O'Toole, what did you do wid the little bundle +of cloth I put up to go ashore wid? Oh, the vanity of me; sure didn't +the priest tell me I'd be punished for setting myself up wid a sunshade +(parasol), when you were made a corpular. Ochon a rhee, my heart is +broke! + +"They'll be missing us at the harvest, Micky; they'll be dancing widout +us, and we drowned--drowned. Oh, Micky!" A wailing cry from the baby +made its mother weep more bitterly, but still she occasionally recalled +her scattered wits to console her children. + +Not far from Lee, the convict, was stretched, in a listless attitude, a +young man, who seemed little more than twenty years of age. He also was +one of the condemned; but no one could have recognised him as a criminal +by his appearance, which was exceedingly prepossessing. His thoughts +were apparently wandering; for though his countenance expressed awe, +there was resignation also. He was looking for a better life than the +career mapped out before him as a felon. In the great crisis taking +place, there was hope for him somewhere. The wretched welcome any +change. He awaited it passively. + +But his heart was touched at sight of a penitent creature, who bewailed +her past errors in an agony of self-reproach, as she uttered the names +of father, mother, brothers, and sisters; at times exclaiming, "Oh +Jamie, Jamie, ye'll be sorry when ye hear of poor Jessie's end." + +"Mother, mother!" was the last appeal of the unhappy young woman, as she +was washed away by the booming waves through a gap in the wreck. + +But Lee saw not this; he was smiling at the scene between Mrs O'Toole +and her family. + +Ere long he had unlashed the boat, assisted in throwing in provisions, +and, casting himself into the frail vessel with two other comrades, +committed himself to what he called chance. + +At length the muskets ceased their roll, the drum its sullen round. The +ship had struggled bravely; the fore and after parts sometimes jamming +each other, and then parting. Both were now engulphed. The death-cry +rose above the roar of the foam, and the noise of falling spars and +blocks; and sea-chests, ship furniture, all that had been carefully +gathered together by the hand of man, were cast into the ocean. + +Now a man, lifted on the crest of a wave, saw his wife, and struggled to +reach her; but she was swept past him with her eyes glaring madly. Now +a woman, with features all convulsed, snatched up some passing child, +and cast it from her when she found it was not her own. Now the prow +neared the shore, and a young officer sprang from the bowsprit into the +sea; dizzy with the leap, he closed his eyes--and opened them--oh, +blessed hour!--in a tent pitched on the cliff for the reception of those +cast on the strand. + +The detachment of English soldiers had assembled on the cliff at the +first signal of distress fired from the convict-ship. They had waited +there from midnight until dawn, knowing by the nearer sound of the guns +and small-arms that she must be driving towards the shore; but they +could give no aid; they could only abide the issue patiently, and +meanwhile make such preparations as might possibly be useful. + +The barrack they occupied was situated on the western bank of a river, +the entrance to which, in the present agitated state of the open ocean, +formed almost a Maelstrom. As day dawned, and the convict-ship was seen +driven in-shore, it was evident to the lookers-on that she must go to +pieces; for fringing the shore was a narrow line of sharp and jagged +rock, and at the very edge of this the ship's bows were already beating. +Still it was doubtful on which side of the river she might be cast +ashore, or whether, indeed, she might pass the whirlpool foaming at its +mouth; for the ledge or shelf, over which the breakers burst with +increased violence every hour, extended across the opening, and made a +bar, which rendered it unnavigable. On either side of the stream the +sands stretched for miles, and the ocean washed the shore with a hoarse +and endless roar; but not with such destructive powers as it did above +or below the river's mouth. On the western side, especially, there was +more chance for the poor creatures struggling for their lives, inasmuch +as the sands beneath the cliffs were not of that shifting nature which +rendered anchorage impossible on the eastern limits; besides which, +whoever escaped drowning, by being flung upon the eastern bank, stood a +chance of having his brains dashed out by detached masses of rock that +had rolled from the cliffs, and were embedded in the shore. Near the +mouth of the stream, indeed, many an incautious rider, on his way from +Kafirland, had been well-nigh overwhelmed by the quicksands. + +Fortunately for those who had outlived the storm so far, the tide drew +the two divisions of the wreck, partially submerged as they were, on the +safer bank of the stream; the colonial side, in feet, of a river +dividing the territory of the British settlers from the "neutral ground" +of the savage inhabitants of the north-east. It was found afterwards +that the two portions of the ill-fated ship had been connected by means +of various spars and cordage interlaced beneath the waters; but she had +not been many minutes fairly among the breakers ere she literally +crumbled to pieces, and scattered her timbers on the waters. + +Out of three hundred souls, not more than eighty were saved. Some swam +till their strength was exhausted, some gave themselves up to their fate +like the young soldier, who spread out his arms, closed his eyes, and +plunged from the poop to the sea; some clung to spars, boxes, tables, +hencoops, anything that came in their way. All who reached the shore +received the hospitable care of the kind soldiers of the fort, and +afterwards pursued their different routes and destinies as Providence +directed, after preserving them for the fulfilment of its own wise and +grand purposes. + +The boat which had been disengaged almost unperceived by Lee, and the +two other convicts, continued to buffet the waves most gallantly. It +reached the entrance of the river--here the rowers used their strong +arms for a time in vain, and there seemed no other prospect than that of +being engulphed, when suddenly the boat rose, as if lifted in air, over +the bar of rocks I have described, and, shot into the stream, was sucked +into a kind of whirlpool, where it spun round like a top, filled and +went down for a few minutes, but came back to the surface empty. Lee +was drawn down with his fellows; his eyes and ears filled, and his +senses failed him: he had an indistinct vision of the convulsed features +of the other two struggling below him, and of a gurgling sound from one +who tried to scream; but all afterwards was blank till he came to his +recollection stretched on a bed of sand, which ran inland from a creek +overhung with bush. + +It was a considerable time before he could bring himself to understand +the reality of his position; but at length he rallied his intellect, and +sat up to look around him. + +The storm still raged--not a vestige of the wreck was to be seen, and +the boat, broken in pieces, was lying high and dry between the rocks, +with which the bush was intersected; the body of one poor drowned wretch +was floating, all swollen and disfigured, in the creek. Jasper Lee rose +by a sudden impulse, and scrambled as far from the sight as his cramped +and aching limbs would allow him; the stunted bush or scrub, by which he +tried to climb the cliffs, gave way in his hands, his feet slipped on +the streaming and slippery weeds; but he reached a ledge at last, and +taking "heart of grace," he scanned the prospect before him. + +Evening was advancing, though as to when the sun was likely to withdraw +his influence from that hemisphere, it was impossible to say. Sky and +ocean were blended together in a hue of lead, and the glancing wings of +sea-birds looked like gleams of silver light between the angry heavens +and the warring sea. His eye fell only on the void expanse. He had +cast himself down on an angle of the cliffs which jutted far out, and +during a momentary lull, the wind brought the sound of drums from the +garrison on the opposite shore. He looked down immediately below, he +perceived some rotten pieces of timber floating by; he expected to see +some human creature still living, for many had lashed themselves to +spars and masts, and might yet be tossing about at the mercy of the +waves. He stretched himself as far forward as he could, and looking to +the westward, where the light of day was lingering longer than +elsewhere, he distinctly saw groups of soldiers, engaged in assisting +those who had been cast ashore below the fort. + +He fancied he heard voices, he looked down. Immediately under his feet +there were, as it seemed, phantoms floating by; some dead, some with +agonised faces and beseeching hands lifted out of the white foam, and +one saw him--she was young and fair, with long tresses, all unbound, +clinging round her white throat and bosom; she seemed to give a gasp of +hope; he leaned over; hardened man as he was, he would have given much +to have saved her; the swell brought her nearer, she saw him; still she +herself tried with desperate energy to catch a ridge of rocks,--she +reached it, the heavy waters swung her forward with terrific violence, +the sweet face was lifted up again. Lee was about to cast himself at +all hazards from his position, when a stream of blood darkened the white +spray, and the head of a shark came up, its huge jaws were filled with +the mangled and bleeding limbs of its victim, and the horrible +sea-monster drew its prey into an inlet where it had been driven by the +storm. + +He buried his face in his hands, turned sick, and almost fainted; after +this he looked no more towards the sea, and ere long found himself +obliged, for safety's sake, to reconnoitre the locality in which he had +awoke to consciousness after so narrow an escape. + +His condition was forlorn enough; his clothes hung in shreds upon him, +his hair was matted with brine, his body was sorely bruised, his hands +and feet lacerated; but it must be confessed, that, in spite of the +horrors he had witnessed, his spirits rose fresh and buoyant, as he +remembered that he was at liberty; though houseless, naked, cold, +hungry, and bleeding, it was not in his nature to despair. + +He turned his eyes again to the westward, and on climbing higher, he +discovered the wall of the fort, with its tower in the angle and its +looped parapet. Soldiers were still straggling up and down the cliff, +intent, as they had been for hours, on their humane efforts in saving +life, and the remnant of property which had been thrown ashore with the +tide. + +"Ha!" muttered the convict, "I am on the right side of the river; +they've had their glasses out at the fort, no doubt; but they cannot +pass this, frothing as it does at the mouth, like a wild beast, for a +week to come. Well, some will fancy themselves in luck when they get +within those four tall walls, and some may have their chains dangling +about their heels again; but this way of escaping death is not to my +taste. I have work before me, I know; but what would life be without +any difficulties! What a stupid life would Adam and Eve have led +without sin! A true woman, Eve; disobedience gave the flavour to the +fruit! Well, I have no objection to difficulties, and although I don't +abide by the trash that gives chapter and verse about first causes, I +know I have not been planted on this continent again for nothing. It +must be owned, though, that I have had a precious welcome;" and, wiping +the blood from his temple, he sat down again, for he was somewhat +exhausted in body, though untiring in spirit. + +The clouds fell lower and lower, and shed no more reflected light; a +pitchy darkness followed. Lee gathered himself up between the bush and +the wet and slippery bank, and lay down to dream of a surging sea, of +pale beseeching faces and mangled bodies of young and beautiful women. +The tide was again rising, and he dared not descend, so he determined on +waiting till the dawn, and then commencing a search for the provisions +which had been put into the boat, and which he hoped he might find +attached to some fragment of her wreck, for they had been securely +lashed to one of the seats. + +Towards midnight, as the tide receded, the fury of the tempest seemed to +abate, and just as day peeped with affrighted eye from the east, our +convict ventured from the shelf on which he had been uneasily stretched +during the hours of darkness. + +A dense fog hung over the river; the wind came in gusts from the ocean, +and some of the trees above the cliffs were torn up by the roots and +cast midway among the stones and scrub. The solitude was perfect to a +man in Lee's position, and the tide having left a spacious strand, he +let himself down from his covert, and began to make a search for the +necessaries of life. + +The wreck of the boat was lying where he had seen it the preceding +evening, and, after a patient search, the hungry man discovered the +bundle of provisions. It was saturated with wet, the rain fell around +in torrents, there was not a spot of ground on which real repose could +be sought; but Lee sat down and satisfied his wants with a relish +indescribably keen. + +Let us take a view of him, resting on the dreary strand, having +refreshed himself with a moderate meal of biscuit and salt pork, the +latter, of course, uncooked, but to him most savoury. + +In the prime of life, highly favoured in personal appearance, with the +spirit of intelligence lighting his clear grey eye, and with the stamp +of the better class upon his frame and countenance, how came he there--a +convict? + +At this moment he was intent chiefly on one point: he was determined to +avoid all chance of further captivity or restraint. + +As the fog was lifted from the river by the evening breeze, he felt the +necessity of keeping out of sight of any stragglers about the opposite +heights. He inspected the bulky package of provisions: a bag of damaged +biscuits, some lumps of salt pork, a case of dried fruit--cabin +property--a canister of cocoa, and various other articles, which had +been hastily thrown into a bundle, and now adhered together like glue. + +These stores were exceedingly precious to one in our adventurer's +condition. + +But the clouds began to gather again; floods of rain poured their +torrents down the channels in the cliffs, and he determined without +delay, and unmindful of his fatigue, which he felt the more after his +meal, to seek a hiding-place which would be secure from intruders, +although there appeared little chance of any one intruding on his +territory. + +All along that riverside deep indentations had been made below the +cliffs by the encroachments of the sea, and Lee was not long in +discovering a cave which penetrated far under them. There was not much +time to lose in conveying the provisions to this covert ere the path was +rendered soft, and therefore dangerous, by the swell of the tide as it +turned again, and Lee was beginning to doubt the safety of the shelter, +when, on drawing his bag of provisions to seek stowage for it at the +furthest limits of the recess, he discovered that the chasm was deep and +wide, and lighted slantwise by an aperture many feet above the level of +the river. His thirst had been heretofore allayed by the channel of +rain-water rippling down the face of the cliffs, and he was beginning to +doubt how he should be supplied in his retreat it compelled to remain +there anytime after such supplies should cease; when, to his +satisfaction, he convinced himself that a little stream, which trickled +into the cave through a crevice, had its source in one of those +bountiful and sweet springs so often discovered near the sea-shore, and +which, in spite of their brackish taste, are so exquisitely refreshing +to the exhausted traveller. + +This was just one of those pieces of luck which often seem to rise in +aid of the vicious,--but we may not question the decrees of Providence. +God has his own reasons for letting the tares thrive for a time, though +the harvest of wheat be thin. + +On the whole, Lee had reason to rejoice in having discovered such a +retreat for the present. He had sufficient stores to support life for +some days; he was free, after his own ideas of freedom; space before +him, above, around, with nothing to guide him but his own free will; he +thought not of check or hazard, for no man held authority over him. + +Misty, vague, dark, dreary, was his future; but it was not so utterly +lost in the darkness as it would have been to a stranger on that great +continent of Africa. + +Contented at first with the comparative shelter he had so opportunely +discovered, he had seated himself on a stone, and surveyed the interior +of his domicile; but the various plans which floated about his busy +brain wanted gathering together and arranging, and he found himself ere +long overshadowed by the gloom of night. Though his wits were sharp, +his body was weary, and growing stiff with cold. The river murmured +hoarsely past the cave; the wind came in gusts through the crevices of +the rocks, and penetrated to the very marrow of his bones. The outline +of the opposite bluff looked like the frowning profile of a giant, when +at intervals the clouds were parted by the broad flashes of lightning; +for the storm at times still wreaked its fury against the rugged coast. + +Having collected the damp leaves of fallen trees together in a heap, the +convict made a very tolerable bed, throwing over them a long strip of +green baize, the table-cover of the cuddy, which had been appropriated +as a wrapper to the provisions. + +The wind still kept up its "sound of mournful wailing," and whistled +through the gaps in the cave; the spray foamed within fifty yards of the +entrance; the thunder came back at times with a mutter frill of wrath, +and his clothes were still wet; but our convict was lulled to sleep by +the roaring of the mighty elements, which held their strife around his +place of refuge. + +Now and then he started up, as livid faces rose before him in his sleep; +and at last the excessive cold roused him, and he was thoroughly +awakened. Darkness was around him, and the stream, flowing down its +channel, dripped over on to the stones, and plashed upon his almost +benumbed feet. He crawled towards the aperture; there was a little +light, just enough to watch the tide, till, by its retrograde movement, +he was able to make a random guess at the "time o' night," or rather +morning. Shivering and melancholy, he crouched, with his head upon his +knees, and, as his eye got accustomed to the outer atmosphere, he began +to see stars. A body of clouds floated seawards, the wind veered about, +and he again perambulated the shore in search of something for fuel. +Day advanced, and he stumbled over a few cask-hoops; they were soaked +with wet; but with the help of a remnant of a well-pitched spar from the +wrecked boat, he determined on tiring to kindle a fire. Flints were +searched for, and again Providence provided for his present wants. + +He re-entered the recess; but, on consideration, deemed it prudent to +take some further steps for insuring his concealment. + +The rocks had been so washed, while the tide was up, by the spray of the +surging river, that some of those which hung over the cave were +loosened. It was a matter of skill and difficulty to separate even the +smaller ones from the earth in which they had been imbedded; but Lee was +a man of great personal strength, and, one block giving way, it bore +down with it a heap of sand and a tree, which had been uprooted, thus +undermining all that immediately surrounded it. The whole mass fell in +front of the cavern. + +There was not much time to lose, as the daylight might betray the +refugee; so making a passage for himself through the stones and rubbish +forming his barrier of defence, he re-entered his hiding-place, and set +to work to light a fire. + +This was not easy; at one moment a stick would catch the flame, blaze +up, and disappoint him by dying so gradually away as to keep him hoping +to the last; at length the pitch grew hot. He had uttered oaths enough +to bring the spirits of fire to his aid. The smoke rose in little +columns, and made his eyes smart with pain; but he persevered till the +light danced upon the steaming and jagged walls, showing him his shadow, +monstrous and undefined. The vapour found vent in the aperture opening +to seaward, through which the spray had ceased to drift; and ere long +some slices of ship's pork hissed on the glowing billets. A soldier's +tin served as a kettle and drinking-cup, and Lee contrived to make +something like a cup of cocoa. After such refreshment his blood flowed +more freely in his veins, and he once more lay down to rest, intending +to keep his wits about him though sleeping, and to replenish his fire, +with a cautious observance of the outer atmosphere from time to time; +for, although a turbid and swollen river intervened between him and the +colonial side of the country, he had no mind to be tracked, by the smoke +of his bivouac, by any wanderers, whether Europeans or natives. + +He felt, indeed, tolerably secure; rightly judging that the Europeans on +the western bank would have enough to do on their own ground, and that +the few _whom he knew_ to be scattered to the north-eastward would be as +unlikely as the natives to hear of the wreck while the heavy rains +filled the rivers to overflowing and rendered the ground dangerous and +toilsome alike to riders and pedestrians. If Kafirs did venture out on +foot, he knew enough of them to satisfy himself that their journeys +would be undertaken to some better purpose than loitering on the coast +without sure prospects of plunder. + +He again lay down, and enjoyed that species of repose which gives ease +to the body without completely deadening the powers of the mind; and it +must be owned that his conscience was by no means so harassed by trouble +or remorse, as from his outward position one would think it must be. In +his own estimation Lee was an ill-used, unfortunate man; and, as to the +latter, truth to tell, his reasons for thinking so were not altogether +fallacious. + +He is a felon; but the circumstances which have brought him to his +present condition have met with extenuation from some: of this, +by-and-by. + +Hush! the earth is loosened without; Lee hears it faffing about the +entrance. Some small stones come clattering down, and then there is +silence. + +The strong man's heart beats, and he clutches the clasp-knife hanging +round his neck, and tries to open it, but his hand trembles; a strong +current of air rushes in, the fire flickers up, and the shadow of a +man's face is for an instant traced on the rocky side of the cave. + +It is suddenly withdrawn. + +Lee revolved the circumstances of his case in a few seconds. He felt +sure it was a white man's shadow, even at that momentary glance; the +outline of the loose cap and prominent nose was unmistakeable. It might +be a mend--a fellow-convict--a sailor; if the latter, Jack would die +rather than betray the fugitive. But if it were any who might, after +all, turn informer, he would doubtless report that the cave was +tenanted, and bring down a file of soldiers upon him, unless the +clasp-knife settled the question, which it was not likely to do in its +rusty condition. Lee's powers of body were a little impaired by the +perils he had undergone, and the exertions he had been obliged to make +in screening his hiding-place, as he hoped, from all observers. + +But he was discovered, that was certain. + +"Who comes there?" he cried, in a voice that shook more than he wished +to confess to himself. "Enter, I am armed." + +"Lee," hoarsely whispered a voice, issuing from lips within which the +teeth chattered audibly,--"It is I, Martin Gray." + +"And where the devil did _you_ cast up from?" asked Lee, in no very +gracious voice, and sitting up with ears and eyes now wide open. + +"I am starved, and miserable, and hungry," was Gray's reply, as he +scrambled through all impediments in his path, and crawling into the +cave, began unceremoniously to draw together the embers of the fire. + +"Are there any more of you?" inquired Lee, hastily. + +"Not one. I have been skewered up in a hole ever since I was flung +ashore. I got hitched on to the rudder of the boat when it broke away, +and except a few bumps, I was all right when I got driven in between the +rocks, and there I have been wedged for hours, for I dared not stir, +except in the dark, when I could find nothing. I had no mind to be +caught by the soldiers up there on the hill, so I have been creeping +along under the rocks looking for luck in some shape or another, and +what should I see, but a glimpse of light from this quarter? Friend or +foe, it was all the same to me; I resolved to take my chance, and here I +am." + +Martin Gray was the young man I have alluded to as lying passively on +the deck of the staggering ship--he had, like others, sprung into the +sea, to take his chance, and clinging to a spar, had been providentially +washed ashore. + +Lee had had much opportunity of judging of Gray's character, which, +though not without good, wanted strength and resolution; he was less +wicked than unfortunate. There was this difference between the two: Lee +would most probably, under any circumstances, have been ambitious, +selfish, and unsound in principle, while Gray, with better fortunes, +would have made a respectable member of society: warm of temperament, he +was docile of disposition; he was, in fact, the very person to be +influenced by a strong and determined mind, under circumstances like +those in which he was now cast. + +In Lee's forlorn condition, he felt there was comfort in fellowship, +with so "safe a fellow as poor Gray," and he therefore set about +proffering hospitality to his guest with a good grace, especially +considering the limited extent of his larder. The meat again hissed +upon the coals, the batch of damp biscuits was re-toasted, and Gray +brewed another cup of cocoa--what a treat it was! + +If you have been shipwrecked, reader, as I have been, you will +understand this. + +Gray having dried his torn clothes, and satisfied the inward cravings of +nature, not without warnings from Lee on the dangers of indigestion from +too hurried a meal after a long fast, which warnings were entirely +self-interested, recommended that the fire should be extinguished, lest +its smoke should betray their hiding-place at sunrise; "though, to tell +the truth," the young man added, "I am much more inclined to surrender +myself than to take my chance; for what is to become of us?" + +"Surrender!" cried Lee; "what, with such a country before us as I know +this to be? No, no, my lad, you'll not surrender; trust to me, there is +nothing to lose by taking our freedom, and what prospects are there +before us, if we give ourselves up? You, for one, would be packed off +to New South Wales by the first opportunity. As for me--I have said it +before--I had rather fall into the hands of God than those of man: here +is space enough for even my free spirit, and with a little caution, and +patience, and perseverance, I will take you into safe quarters for +life!" + +Gray was too weary to enter upon further discussion, and the two +convicts stretching themselves side by side, the former was soon dead +asleep, while Lee lay meditating an infinite variety of plans. + +"This youth is safe," soliloquised the host of the the cave; "he must be +taught to keep my counsel and his own, for although hereafter he may be +rather an incumbrance to me than of use, it will not do to let him go,-- +he would betray me, to a certainty. He has roughed it and seen service; +though he is not clever, he has lots of pluck; on the whole, perhaps, I +may make him useful, and it would be deuced lonely work to find my way +across the country without any help. We must look about for arms; I saw +large pieces of the wreck drifting this way after the crazy old craft +went to pieces. + +"I wish I had not seen that girl, though. I cannot forget her; how the +blood bubbled up with the foam! + +"The wind has changed, I suspect, but the river will be impassable to +those red-jackets for days to come; we must collect our traps together +without loss of time, and make ready for a start; I must do the amiable +to this lad; he is a soft-hearted youth, I know. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"That fellow Tanner, I wonder if he is still trafficking up there in the +kloof; he is an infernal rogue; I hope he won't turn informer--I think +not, though, for I could betray him, and he knows it." + +He rapidly chalked out in his mind's eye a map of his plans, and as he +heard the wind again veering about to all points of the compass, and at +last return to its deadly quarter, from which it had breathed its fury +on the hapless ship, he rubbed his hands cheerfully together. "Blow, +gentle gales," said he, and as Gray answered the apostrophe with a loud +snore, Lee laughed and lay down, taking care to appropriate to himself a +goodly portion of the green baize coverlet. Ere long he, too, was in a +dreamless sleep. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +THE DESERTER. + +It is time to give our reader some further insight into the +circumstances which had brought these two sleepers to their present +condition, for they will occupy a prominent and peculiar part in the +narrative. + +Although Gray is the last adventurer on the scene, I will give him the +precedence, since all that is necessary to relate concerning his +previous history may be comprised in the following sketch. + +He was the foremost boy of the village school of M--, industrious, +high-spirited, and well-looking; he made slow but steady progress in his +education, and his pastor entertained fair hopes touching his future +prospects; but these hopes were suddenly overclouded by Gray's enlisting +into a company of artillery quartered at a neighbouring town. + +Thus it fell out. Let us go back to his earliest days, when he had been +accustomed to stop at his uncle's garden-gate to call for his cousin +Katy on his way to school. She would come with her school-bag hanging +on her arm and singing down the walk as merry as a bird, and hand in +hand they would wend their way along the lane to the school-house, where +they parted at the porch with a tender but most innocent farewell, she +for the girls' class, he for the boys'. On Sundays they stood side by +side round the pulpit to recite their catechism--often, however, +threatened with a separation, because Martin Gray _would_ prompt Katy. + +On Sunday evenings in the summer prime they sat beneath the apple-trees +in the garden belonging to Martin's bereaved father, and on winter +nights it was cheering to see the light glowing on the walls and shining +through the cottage casements; for there were the three assembled round +the fire, Martin reading to earnest auditors. + +A sorrowful evening hour it was for Katy, when her cousin parted with +her at her own door. Love, and joy, and peace, all departed with him, +and she exchanged happiness for the misery of finding her father and +mother quarrelling after their return from the alehouse. Morning would +chase away the sad thoughts the darkness had brought. Morning brought +healing on its wings, for then Katy and Martin were again hand in hand, +singing through the lanes, and gathering primroses or crocuses on their +way to the school-house. + +Then Katy "got a place;" her mother thought it a very fine thing indeed, +to have her daughter admitted as under-housemaid at the Hall. Katy and +her cousin met at church on alternate Sundays, Katy growing smarter and +prettier in Martin's eyes every time he saw her; but he began to find +out that the dashing valets, who accompanied their showy masters to the +Hall, were freely permitted to join him and Katy in their summer evening +strolls. He remonstrated. Katy was clever and self-opinionated. She +replied that she was not a school-girl; he quizzed the valets; she +observed they were _gentlemen_ to him, adding that Mrs White, the +housekeeper, thought she demeaned herself by keeping company with such +as he; he grew angry, Katy laughed at him, and one of her admirers, +passing by, hearing the laugh, paused, stepped up to her, learned the +cause of the merry peal, and walked off with her in triumph. + +She looked in vain for Martin at church on the following Sunday; she +dawdled through the churchyard, and her friend, "My Lord Wellor's +valet," overtook her: he thought she was lingering for him. She did not +drive him away, as she had discarded poor Martin Gray, with a laugh, but +she was evidently thinking of some one else. With all his vanity, he +guessed as much, and quitted her to join some gay ladies'-maids, who +were flaunting along the meadow path. Katy never noticed them, though +they watched her all across the meadow, out at the gate, up the lane to +the turnstile, where she stood for a while, but turned back, and so met +the giddy party again. + +It was now her turn to feel the bitterness of laughter, when directed +against herself; for the prettiest of the party, a rival of hers in the +affections of Lewis the valet, cried out, "Well, Mistress Kate, were you +looking for your sweetheart, Martin Gray? It is all of no use, my dear; +he is gone for a soldier." + +"Gone for a soldier!" Katy passed the giddy waiting-women and their +obsequious attendant, and hastened to the nursery garden of Martin's +father. He was sitting alone beneath the apple boughs. The pathway was +unswept, the clove pinks streeling over the neat box borders. He looked +very sad, indeed. "Uncle," said Katy, with white lips, "where is +Martin?" + +"Gone for a soldier, Katy," replied the old gardener, striking his +gnarled oaken stick angrily on the gravel path. + +"Oh, uncle!" Katy burst into a passionate fit of weeping. + +"It is no use crying now, Katy," said Gray, "it is too late;" and +rising, but not without difficulty, for he was an infirm man, "well +stricken in years," he walked towards the cottage, Katy following him +like a culprit. + +The elder Gray did not close his door upon his pretty niece; in truth, +he could only suspect her as being the cause of his boy's departure, for +Martin had formed some military acquaintances latterly; but one of; his +son's last acts had been to collect some gifts, which this father knew +to be "keepsakes from Katy," and these were lying on the window-sill, +packed up and addressed to "Miss Katharine, at the Hall." + +Martin had left; the cottage two days before with a sergeant of +artillery, who had long had designs of enlisting so fine a young man, +and from the adjoining town had addressed, a few lines to his father. +He spoke of his wish for other countries, of the Artillery service being +one of a superior character, as he considered, to the Line, and +anticipated great satisfaction at speedily embarking for Gibraltar; not +a word was said or Katy, not a single regret was expressed at the idea +of leaving his native village, and from the style of the letter, it was +very evident that it was written as a matter of duty to the old man--all +sorrow at quitting him was superseded by the anticipation of visiting +far lands. The father laid the letter on the table, and observing, for +the first time, the parcel on the window-sill, he wiped the mist from +his spectacles, read the direction, and formed his opinion of Martin's +reasons for leaving home. + +"Don't open it here, if you please," said old Gray, as he put the parcel +into his niece's hands. + +He sat down in his accustomed corner; Katy placed herself in the tall, +old-fashioned arm-chair in front of the window, and Martin's dog, a +long-haired shaggy terrier, lay with its nose to the ground in an +attitude of expectation, which had doubtless been increased by the +entrance of Katy; as she had come, he thought his master must soon +follow. + +There were various trifles belonging to the lad scattered about the room +and its walls. The whip he used when he drove his father's cart into +town--Katy had often heard it _whish_ close to her ear as the tip of the +lash touched the smart blue ribbons of her bonnet, causing her to turn +round sooner than she had intended, though she had recognised the steady +"trot, trot," of the rough-coated aged pony long before. A starling +hopped up and down its perch in a cage manufactured by young Gray, and +made its alternate appeals to "Katy" and "Martin." Festoons of birds' +eggs hung over the neatly-carved wooden mantel-shelf, also the handiwork +of Martin Gray; and a few of his pencil sketches, of much promise, were +wafered against the clean white-washed walls. His books were all in +their usual places on the shelves he had made for them; and the cat-- +ungrateful creature--purred with unaltered complacency, as she sat on +the door-mat woven by the ready fingers of her young master, to whom +Katy had given her three years before. + +Heartless Tibby!--she nodded and dozed, and blinked her green eyes at +the sunset, and washed her face with her white fore paws, just as she +had done two Sundays before, when Martin was calling to her in vain from +his seat beside his father under the apple-trees; but poor Grip was ill +at ease, whining from time to time as he looked at Katy, then at the old +man, at the open door, at puss--the selfish, the luxurious, the +apathetic, the antipodes of Grip himself. + +Katy found, after sitting there some minutes, that her uncle could not +speak. The very clock was silent, for it had not been wound up on +Saturday night; it had always been Martin's task to see to that. She +went up to the old man, kissed him, and wished him good-bye. He +suffered all this, and at last faltered out a few words intended to be +kind. She looked back as she went out, but he said no more. + +She never saw him again. + +Next day the cottage door was closed. Evening came, the old man was not +under the apple boughs as usual; the door was still closed. Some +neighbours opened it, and entered the chamber; old Gray lay on his bed, +as if in a calm sleep--he was dead. + +Deep in the night a step came up the gravel-walk of the garden; Grip +gave a low whine, the latch of the door was lifted, and Martin Gray +entered. The unusual sight of a light at that still hour of village +repose had prepared him for sickness, and he trembled exceedingly as he +crossed the threshold. Friends were sitting there; he gazed at them +with a bewildered stare, walked up to the bed, whither he was followed +by the watchers. One of them, a kind old woman, laid her hand upon the +sheet that covered the body, but Martin whispered, in an unnatural tone, +"Lift it." + +She uncovered the face of the dead, and Martin Gray fell fainting on his +father's breast. They drew him into the garden, the soft summer air +revived him, and he sat down upon the door-step of his home overwhelmed +with grief. In vain poor Grip licked the tears that fell through his +trembling fingers; in vain the faithful beast whined, and thrust his +nose into his young master's bosom; his sympathy was unheeded. + +The youth got up, walked again into the house, looked once more at his +father, felt his brow, on which a few bright silver hairs were smoothly +and decently parted, kissed it, and, saying to the old woman, Margaret +Wilson, "You will take care of all," he gave a glance round the room, +his eye resting for a moment on his father's vacant seat and Katy's +high-backed chair, and then, shaking hands with two other kind-hearted +watchers, he passed out again; Grip watching him, and waiting vainly for +the whistle with which it had always been his master's wont to summon +him. + +The door closed, the latch fell, the step upon the gravel-walk receded +quickly, and Martin Gray was never seen again in M--save by one person. + +He paid it one more visit though, after his return from Gibraltar. His +journey to his native place was made sometimes on foot, sometimes by a +lift from a waggoner, or good-natured stage-coachman, who felt for the +weary traveller, with his knapsack on his back, and sometimes in those +barges which slip so lazily and pleasantly along the deep-winding +streams of England. + +It was in one of the last conveyances that he found himself sailing +slowly up the river in which he had so often fished when a boy; it +looked narrower to him than it had done in his youth, but the +over-arching trees were taller and thicker than of old. He recognised a +pool where he and Katy had drawn their pumpkin boats together; the alder +bushes shaded it now, and it looked cold and gloomy, for the sunlight +could not penetrate it. As the barge neared the bank, he offered +payment to the bargemen, but they refused it--he sprung ashore, and +plunged into the thick coppice that formed part of the grounds of the +Hall where Katy used to be. He came to an open space, near which stood +the ruins of an old keep, part of the ancient castle residence of the +first owners of the soil. In early days, it appeared to him as +something grand and stupendous; now he was surprised to find the windows +and doorways so near him as he stood beneath the mound. + +Having no mind to be recognised at once, he withdrew from the open +ground to the shrubberies, and choosing a sequestered spot where the +rooks were congregating in the old beeches, he sat down upon the leaves +which the winds of autumn had gathered together in a bank. + +It was a lonely place, but from the hawthorn hedge which bounded it +there was a view of the meadows and farm-buildings belonging to the +landlord of the Hall; and he lay contemplating, with something of +pleasurable feelings, the variegated landscape of cornfields and green +uplands--the sweet scent of beans reminded him of those autumn meetings, +when the corn was carrying. There was a cart, loaded with golden +sheaves, standing under the elms of the great meadow, and another coming +down an opposite hill, with laughing children on the top--their voices +rang distinctly across the fields; the sun was glittering on the bright +weather-cock of the church spire, and Martin Gray took up his knapsack, +which he had unstrapped from his tired shoulders, and resolved on +yielding to the impulse which tempted him, to join the reapers... +Voices in the lane close by! There was a laugh, prolonged, and rather +loud, but musical and merry, if not cheerful, and two people advanced +arm-in-arm. The forage-cap with its gold band, the blue surtout and +glittering scales upon the shoulders, bespoke the officer of artillery, +as Martin lightly concluded from the company quartered in the town; but +the other, the lady-- + +The _lady_!--a bonnet with bright-coloured ribbons--ah, Gray thought of +Katy's garish taste!--placed far back on the head, revealed a face +encircled with hair of that rich wavy brown only seen in England. The +curls fell heavily upon the swelling bosom--the large dark and shining +eyes, the red lips, the brilliant cheek, were all of a character too +full and decided for Katy; and yet--Martin stole along the hedge, +keeping pace with these two people; the gentleman, young and showy, with +his cap set jauntily on his shapely head, and she, the woman--for +girlhood was passed, face and form were in their prime--was arrayed in +attire that ill agreed with Katy's condition. + +But it was she--her large shawl slipped from her shoulders, and she +turned to gather up its gaudy folds; she spoke, laughed again, the white +teeth parted the scarlet lips, and Martin knew her. + +He stopped, breathed shorter, and she passed on, after the shawl had +been adjusted, and the lover, or husband, had put aside the sunny hair +and kissed the smooth forehead of that laughing, beaming face. + +Whether wife or mistress, Gray felt she was lost to him, and he sat down +again upon the bank of leaves, till the shadows of the old elms +stretched themselves out like giants on the meadow-grass, and the song +of the reapers mingled with the hum of voices in the village; then he +rose, buckled on his knapsack, and made his way through many +well-remembered paths, past the old school-house, to the garden-gate +opening upon his father's little property. + +Again he trod the well-remembered path, again he lifted up the latch, +and, as he had hoped and expected, found old Margaret by the fire; age +made her feel the cold, though the glow of autumn was in the sky. + +She recognised him at once, in spite of growing infirmities; perhaps it +was because, as she said, she had been expecting him, for she had saved +what rent she could afford to pay out of earnings from the garden, and +had it ready for him; but he set aside all questions of finance and +property, and sat down beside the old woman's spinning-wheel. + +Something whined and moaned at the back-door. Margaret rose, opened it, +and Grip crawled in. He had waited, as it were, till his master came +before he _could_ die. He dragged himself as well as he could along the +sanded floor, lay down at Martin's feet, licked his shoes, tried to +reach his hands, fell back, uttered a long, low whine of joy, and _died +upon the cottage hearth_. Dame Margaret gave the history of Katy in a +few words. She had been encouraged in her insatiable love of dress by +the housekeeper at the Hall, who had her own ends to gain by the setting +off of Katy's beauty; father and mother, brought to the lowest ebb of +vice by drink, quarrelled between themselves about unholy profits, and +their daughter finally exchanged her place at the Hall for a dwelling in +the town, close to the barracks. She had no shame now, Dame Margaret +said, and Martin listened in bitter silence to the tale, and that night +departed. + +He turned and looked at his old home from the garden-gate. The light +shone through the casement and streamed in a glittering line along the +gravel path; the gentle breeze of autumn lifted the boughs of the trees +and murmured through the neighbouring woods; the hum of voices in the +village had died away, the "watch-dog's honest bark" breaking the +silence now and then, and there was but small stir in the long irregular +street as Martin passed through it. + +No one observed him, though some were lingering about the old coach-inn, +expecting the one-pair-horse vehicle that travelled through it "up to +London." He went on his way, avoiding all the pleasant lanes and paths, +through which he had walked in youth and sunshine, and reached a spot +where four cross-roads met. He remembered the time when he and Katy +would tremble if benighted here, for the place was said to be haunted: +there was some old tradition of a suicide being buried beneath the tall +white hand-post, with a stake through his body, and not a villager would +pass this way alone after sunset. + +But now Martin Gray sat down at the foot of the hand-post, in the +twilight, and hailed the coachman when he came up, much to the old +driver's surprise, as he drove along the road, whistling in solitude, +for not a creature was on the top of the vehicle. + +Gray climbed up beside the coachman, and, looking back upon the village +from the summit of a hill, distinguished only a few twinkling lights; +but beyond it the windows of the great house shone resplendent: +doubtless it was filled with company, and poor Martin turned from such a +view with a heavy sigh. + +The coachman tried, without success, to engage him in conversation, and +then lit his cigar, leaving his passenger to his own melancholy +thoughts. + +I must give one or two more scenes in the life of Martin Gray ere I +again bring him forward in companionship with his fellow-convict. + +One fair summer's day, a body of troops was embarking for foreign +service. Among the rest was the company of Royal Artillery to which +Gray belonged, and the officer who had just assumed the command was no +other than the same Captain Trafford, whom he had seen walking with his +old love, Katy. Three years had elapsed since that memorable evening +when Martin quitted his native village; but had he not then learned the +name of this officer, he would have recognised him at once. + +The steamer which was to convey the detachments to the transport lay +alongside the quay of a great mercantile town in England. There were +crowds standing alongside to wish their friends farewell. A gay +regimental band had accompanied the troops, and they passed through the +throng, cheering as they marched. There was not much delay in getting +the steamer underweigh; all the poor property the men possessed was +strapped upon their backs, and they were not long on board ere they +turned their faces to the shore to give a parting hurra! There was a +struggle between the policemen and some of the crowd at the gangway, but +it was soon over, the people giving way. The cheers rose from the deck, +there was an answering hearty shout, and the steamer dropped slowly down +along the quay side. + +A woman had pressed onwards to take a last look; her cloak was dropping +from her shoulders, her bonnet hung at the back of her head; the rich +hair was cast back from her wan, thin face; her dress was torn, +disorderly, and soiled, but Martin Gray recognised her instantly. It +was his lost love--his once bright-faced cousin Katy. + +But she did not see him; and as he gazed with aching eyes and beating +heart upon her, he heard a comrade say, "That is the girl that followed +Captain Trafford all the way from London. I heard him last night, when +I took the orderly-book to the inn, swearing at her, and telling her not +to follow him. I was sorry for the poor thing, for she was so tired she +could hardly stand, and leaned against the wall, staring at him and +crying terribly; but he sent for a waiter and had her turned out. She +gave me such a wild look as she passed me by, I shall never forget it; +but I could not help her, you know." + +The crowd dispersed, but Gray saw a single figure standing alone at the +end of the quay, watching the steamer to the last. She stretched out +her arms, leaned forward, and plunged into the water. + +His involuntary scream brought others to his side, and the news soon +spread along the deck that a woman had drowned herself. Some women had +approached nearer the after-part of the packet than was consistent with +the regulations, and openly coupled her name with Captain Trafford's. +He came forward, and, in a furious tone, sent them forward, and placed a +sentry on the spot they had invaded. + +Some humane ladies of the party requested the captain of the steamer to +let them know the fate of the unfortunate young woman, and late at +night, as the ship's bows began to ruffle the waters, and her sails to +fill, a fisher wherry hailed her, and a note was sent on board. + +It was speedily whispered about that Captain Trafford had been the cause +of the poor young creature's death, but there were no outward signs of +regret on his part; he was as brusque as ever among the women and +children when on duty between decks, and as intolerant and overbearing +as usual towards the men of his company. + +They hated him cordially--they had always done so; but after the sad +incident I have recorded, their dislike increased. + +Martin Gray buried his sorrow in his own breast. None ever knew that +the unhappy girl who had cast herself despairingly into the waters was +his cousin. + +Some trifling dereliction from duly on Gray's part brought a violent +reprimand from Captain Trafford. The young soldier responded in a +strain equally excited, and the result was the imprisonment of Gray in a +solitary cell. + +Some days after, Captain Trafford, being the offices on duty, visited +the prisoner. The sentry at the adjoining guard awaited the officer's +return, and the sergeant, at length growing uneasy at the delay, +proceeded to the cell. + +Trafford lay on the ground at Gray's feet. He had evidently been +stunned by a blow, for he was insensible. + +Gray made no defence, merely remarking, that he "had paid an old debt." + +Had Captain Trafford died, the young soldier must have been hung; but +the former lived to give his evidence at the court-martial, the +sergeant's corroborated the captain's, and the prisoner pleaded guilty. + +But ere the sentence of the court was ascertained, Gray, through some +sailor friends, managed to escape from prison, got on board a merchant +ship where hands were wanting, and worked his passage home. He was +easily traced, was seized as a deserter, and the result of another trial +was transportation for life. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The convicts who had been rescued from the wreck by the soldiers of the +fort were of course handed over to the proper authorities in South +Africa. + +Some met with a merciful destiny, some continued their evil practices-- +these were sent on their way. + +The wreck of the _Trafalgar_ became matter of history in an age when +philanthropy, or the affectation of it, takes the lead in public. + +"Ha!" said Lee to his companion, when they heard, some months after, of +the fate of felons like themselves, "what a fool you would have made of +yourself if you had given yourself up as you wished." + +Poor Martin Gray would at the moment this was said have gladly changed +places with the hardest-worked convict in Norfolk Island. + +But I must not anticipate my tale. + +I have said that Lee had "rapidly chalked out in his mind's eye a map of +his plans." These were rather facilitated in prospect by the unexpected +advent of a companion; and on rising the following morning, he drew out +such a sketch of his intended operations as induced Gray, of necessity, +to assent to them. + +In the first place, he, Gray, knew Lee to be a desperate man, albeit +certain indulgences, the result of a morbid spirit of philanthropy--an +endemic peculiar to England--had been granted to the latter on board the +convict-ship; and he had thus, comparatively with the other voyagers, +been placed beyond complaint. Secondly, there was only the alternative +of giving himself up as a deserter. On the one hand, was infinite space +in a fine country, with strange promises from his comrade, a daring and +clever man; on the other, at best, a renewal of servitude under a yoke +he had been taught by a miserable fatality to dislike. + +Their resolution once taken, they determined, with wise precaution, on +leaving no traces of concealment in a locality so dangerous by its +proximity to the military post; for, although the river to the westward +still remained impassable, and there was no likelihood of an invasion +from the eastward, it was not to be doubted that ere long the scene of +the wreck would prove of sufficient interest to bring some to the spot +in search of such plunder as the tide might cast up. This territory, +held, in Kafir parlance, by "the sons of Congo," contained, besides the +kraals and pasture-lands of its chiefs and their people, a few traders' +huts, and three or four mission stations, all widely separated from each +other. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +THE FLIGHT INTO KAFIRLAND. + +Perseverance and the instinct of self-preservation will effect much +that, under ordinary circumstances, would be abandoned as impossible. +By working at night within the cave, and at dawn at the outer entrance, +they contrived to loosen heavy stones, and piled them together so +cleverly, that they felt sure that in a day or two all traces of their +hiding-place would be obliterated, especially if the surf increased. + +Starting in the depth of a stormy night along the coast, at the imminent +risk of their lives, they resorted by day to the rocks, where they ate +such a portion of the provision they carried as served to keep up their +strength. There was no scarcity of water, the heavens still poured +forth their floods; at times they were almost blinded by the rain, and +had not the heavy fogs occasionally rolled themselves up, they might +have perished. For his own wise purposes, God chose to lead these two +men in safety through the storm, and on the third day of their journey +they entered a dense bush, crept along the bank of a stream, the +Inzonzana, forded it in safety, and, having waited till nightfall to +cross the open plains northwards, they about midnight entered a narrow +gorge or kloof, and lay down to sleep; nor did they wake till the sun, +for the first time since their _entree_ upon this stage of their +existence, came from his chambers unveiled, and rejoicing as a giant to +run his glorious course. + +"We are all right now," said Lee, "and we may light a fire in this dip +under the cliff; we may wait again till night-time to pay a visit to my +friend up there," pointing to a mud hut on the slope of a mountain, +which Gray would not of himself have discovered. "And so now to dinner; +there is a scrap of pork left; our smoke will not attract attention +here, so we may make ourselves comfortable; you will see fires in all +directions by-and-by." + +And so it proved. The swollen rivers had detained many a Kafir from a +thieving or hunting expedition; but Lee knew he was some distance from +any kraal of importance. However, in case of any unexpected visit from +rovers, he selected the densest part of a thicket for their bivouac till +evening. + +The sun went down, and the cool breeze, which stirred the surface of the +stream, fanned the travel-stained faces of the wanderers. The sprews +and smaller finches, the canaries, the titmouses, and the blue birds and +the Cape chlories--a whole airy colony, in fact, of bright-winged +creatures--began to flit about the bush preparatory to taking their +pleasant pest among the myrtle boughs and dwarf lilacs, and soon woke +the adventurers, who had sought repose in that small Eden. + +Gray sat up, and the scene had its influence on his mind, which was not +yet as a garden utterly laid waste and tare-sown. Gentle thoughts stole +over him, and he longed for the wings of the doves crooning near him to +fly away and be at rest; but such thoughts became as a bottle in the +smoke when his companion awoke himself, and, rousing Gray by a rough +shake, bid him get up from the bed of dry leaves on which they had +reposed themselves with a comfort rare to their wearied frames. + +Lee's mind was wide awake. Now that he had readied a place of +comparative security, for he knew well where he was, which was more than +Gray did, he, Lee, almost wished that the latter had been drowned with +the other victims of the storm; but the wish was idle--there he was--his +fellow-convict, his comrade. It would not do to lose sight of him; he +was at his mercy, for the deserter might earn his pardon by betraying +his companion. + +As Lee considered these points, he did not by any means contemplate +getting rid of Gray by violent means. How many men, from whose misdeeds +originate death and misfortune, shudder at the abstract idea of +slaughter in cold blood. + + "The breeze that stirs the stream, + It knows not the depth below." + +And the little bubbling spring, that rises with diamond brightness amid +the flowery turf, wots not of the desolation it may spread in its course +if unrestrained. + +But Lee's career had been little checked in its evil nature; and I +question if Gray had been thoroughly disabled by rheumatism or fatigue, +whether his companion would have had any compunction in leaving him to +the mercy of stray Kafirs or wild beasts. + +But, as matters stood, it was clear he must not be lost sight of; so +Lee, on hearing his companion complain of cramped limbs, made a virtue +of necessity, and bid him take courage, and follow him to the trader's +hut. + +With some little difficulty they scrambled across the stones lying in +the bed of the gorge, through which a swift rivulet was rushing. Had +there been water enough to drown Gray, and had he fallen into it _by +accident_, I know not how he might have fared. + +But they reached the opposite slope dotted with granite heaps and mimosa +clumps, climbed the mountain steep, and traversed another path. The +moon, like a blazing shield, rising above the distant mountains, lit the +plains, but the nearer hills were yet in deep shadow; and it was not +till the wanderers were in full advance upon the ill-tended garden +fronting the hut indicated by Lee, that they discovered, some paces from +them, what appeared a herd of cattle. They drew back stealthily, for +Lee's experience of the country made him cautious, and sunk down in a +hollow beneath the thickest bush at hand. Each held the other by the +arm; they scarcely breathed, and paused with fixed eyes and rigid limbs +for many minutes. + +At length a rustling sound arose among that mysterious crowd, the +shivering noise of assegais announced its warlike calling, and a Fingo +chief marshalled his phalanx with their shields of bullock hides, +beneath which they had been resting till the rising of the moon. Keen +watchers of their great mother, Nature, they had calculated to a nicety +the darkest nook for a shelter to rest beneath their shields preparatory +to their march at night. + +It was clear they were on a mission of vengeance, for the few Kafirs, +whose fires had appeared during the day, were either too terrified to +leave their lairs, and give warning of an enemy's approach; or, what was +more probable, the band of warriors had moved unnoticed to the spot. + +In perfect silence, and within the shadow of the hill, the chief put his +force in order; ere long they were on their march. + +Not a sound was now heard upon the hill-side, but a measured tread of +distant feet was distinctly audible to the convicts, as, impatient of +delay, and, it must be owned, rather disheartened, they lay with their +ears to the ground listening to the receding footsteps of the Fingoes +along the edge of the ravine. + +"What a life we are to lead in this savage country!" murmured Gray, who, +ill, weary, and unhappy, would have given worlds to have been at his +duty as a soldier again. + +"Silence, fool! and follow me," was Lee's reply. + +There was nothing for it but to obey. They crept cautiously into the +garden fronting the trader's hut; it was a desolate piece of ground; +such plants as had once flourished were trodden to the earth; the door +was torn from its hinges, and there was light enough from the moon to +see that the interior had been rifled of some, if not all, of its +contents. + +The two men sat down upon the earthen floor of the despoiled abode; the +one cursing, the other moaning in the anguish of pain and weariness of +heart. + +A man's form suddenly came between them and the moonlight that shone +upon the opposite mountain. A pistol clicked in their ears. + +"Who have we here?" said a stern voice in English. The convicts rose to +their feet, and in a moment all three men stood together in the clear +and radiant atmosphere. + +But, to Lee's disappointment, the man, who had just issued from some +place of concealment near them, was not the person he had expected to +see, and on whose co-operation in his plans he relied, inasmuch as he, +Lee, had some claims on the trader's good-will; and, compelled by +circumstances to be prompt and truthful, he plainly admitted his +surprise and regret. Then, without satisfying his interrogator as to +his identity or his comrade's, he inquired abruptly, "Where is Tanner?" + +To this he received, instead of a reply, the unsatisfactory answer of +"What's that to you? and who the devil are you?" + +The pistol was again elevated, but Lee coolly put it aside; and, +sensible that his desperate position could only be defended by hardy +measures--seeing, too, that the peremptory tone of his opponent was that +of a man whose privacy was not to be further invaded against his will, +answered in a steady tone: + +"I am not a spy, you may trust us both; lead us into your cabin, or we +must climb higher up the hill to the hut where Tanner kept his powder in +old days. If it is not standing now, there is a cave near it, and we +can light a fire there in safety. My companion must have an hour's rest +and food, and we shall be secure enough there. To tell you the truth, +we are both hungry, and have travelled far." + +It was clear that the speaker knew the ground on which he stood and the +calling of the trader, who, to outward observers travelling the country, +carried on a harmless traffic in ostrich-feathers, skins, horns, +tobacco, snuff, and such comforts as civilisation in her slow march +through Kafirland had taught the use of to the natives. Puzzled, and +rather disconcerted, he led the way to the hut. + +It had a counter, shelves, weights and scales--all the accompaniments of +legitimate trade; but on striking a light, and holding it up, both +visitors and host were soon made aware of the devastated state at the +stores. The shelves had been cleared of their blankets, the walls were +bare of all but the nails to which beads and bugles had been suspended +in tempting array; the tobacco had been swept from the counter, the +remnant of tobacco-pipes lay broken on the trampled floor, and scarce a +vestige remained of any portable wares. A bunch of common candles +hanging in a corner had escaped the notice of the thieves. One of these +the host took down, and, going into an inner room, returned with the +welcome intelligence that there was something yet left in the locker. + +Either overlooking the entrance to this inner apartment, or having found +sufficient plunder to satisfy themselves, the thieves had here left all +intact. The marauders had been Kafirs, who, not aware of the Fingoes' +proximity, had swept off all the property they could readily dislodge. + +The Fingoes bore the odium of the theft, but they were only intent on +repossessing themselves of their own property. + +A bed covered with skins stood at one end, a chest, a bench, and a +common table of yellow-wood at the other; a few household utensils +completed the furniture; the window was darkened by a rude shutter, and +the ashes of a wood fire were on the hearth. + +Drawing a few sticks together from the scattered embers, the host, a man +of determined aspect, re-lit the fire, replenishing it with a billet of +wood, and in a short time the three men were seated together on the +ground with closed doors. A repast of dried buck and some mouldy bread, +which did not look particularly inviting even to wayworn travellers, was +spread before them; and the large chest being removed, some clay, which +had been spread to give the surface the same appearance as the floor, +was cleared away, a heavy stone was lifted, and the master of the hut, +descending an aperture, brought up a tiny keg of Cape brandy, filled the +flask he carried in his huge pocket, and, replacing the keg, the stone, +the trap-floor, and the chest, handed a tin cupful of the burning liquid +first to Lee and then to Gray. + +All this, of course, had not been done in silence. The host, who called +himself Brennard, recounted how he had been absent on a trading +excursion for some days to Fort Beaufort, a garrison in the northern +part of the colony; how, on his return, his horses and oxen had fallen +lame, and he had left them at a brother-trader's station; how he had +talked homewards with a pack-ox carrying some of his stores--the ox was +now fastened to a stout oak far down the adjoining kloof; how he had +advanced to reconnoitre, having heard the Fingoes were on march against +Umgee's people, who had stolen Fingo cattle; and how, after watching the +phalanx advance upon their silent path to his own property, which they +despoiled sad left, he had been astonished to meet two white men on his +ground, one of whom was evidently no stranger there. + +Gray remained contented as an auditor to a conversation begun by +Brennard in Dutch, and carried on by Lee, who admitted in English that +he had been in the country before, and that he had known Tanner, the +first trader on the station; but the dialogue was soon wholly carried on +in Dutch, which was incomprehensible to the deserter. He learned, +however, that Tanner had been shot on the other side of the Kei in a +conflict with the tribes there. Brennard, who had been his agent beyond +the Bashee, knowing that the head-quarters of the business needed +looking after, left a deputy on the coast, near the Umtata river, and +removed himself to the hut in the hills. + +In a word, Brennard was a dealer in gunpowder, which he sold secretly to +the tribes on the English frontier; and the men on the coast were the +established consignees of arms from British artificers. + +Lee, of course, soon enlightened Brennard on the subject of his former +acquaintance with Tanner; but how it first came about was a mystery to +the trader. He was beginning to consider how he might sift this out, +and both convicts were on the point of reminding him that they should be +glad of some change of raiment, when a long low whistle, from the side +of the hut nearest the hill, interrupted their plan of operations, and +the trader, rising, prepared to leave the hut. + +His pistol lay on the bench, Gray seized it. + +"Put it down, Gray," said Lee; "I know my man now; besides, you fool, do +you suppose he would have left a loaded weapon behind him if he was +bringing an enemy upon us? Put it down, I say," and he took it out of +the hand of the deserter, who, as his prospects opened before him, began +to deplore his state, and longed, with thoughts half-bewildered, to free +himself from the net he felt gradually closing round him. + +Lee read mistrust, and what he called fear, in the face of his +unfortunate companion. The mistrust was unmistakable, but the fear was +that which a heart, born as honest as human nature can be, feels when +involved in wrong-doing, from which there is no escape. + +"Stay, Brennard," said Lee, indicating an assumption of confidence in +Gray. "I suspect I know what that whistle means. I have no secret from +my friend here," laying his hand on the shoulder of the deserter as he +spoke. "I have told you as much as need be of my tale, and now let us +make a bargain--there is nothing like plain speaking in great +emergencies; and as I have a pretty strong notion that through your +information we might be handed over to the authorities, I do not mind +reminding you that we might do the same by you; and that while our fate +would only be re-transportation--for we have escaped from the wreck of +the _Trafalgar_--_perhaps_ yours would be a dance in the air. Whether +the hut in the kloof is still in its old place, I cannot tell; but a +commando out here would soon rout out your stores, and either take you +prisoner, or set a price on your head. At any rate, the game would be +up with you as a respectable British trader,"--Lee laughed +heartily--"and you would be at the mercy of the Kafirs or the Dutch, +into whatever territory you might wander." + +He whom the convict so addressed was a man of powerful frame-- +deep-chested, and rather short-armed, every limb proved strength; backed +by a couple of Kafirs, he might have despatched his visitors; but, +although a dealer in contraband stores, and accustomed to danger, and at +times to scenes of warfare, in which he was supposed to take a part +against the very population he helped to arm,--although, in fact, he, +like Lee, was a traitor, he would have hesitated at a deed of +cold-blooded murder on his own hearth. + +In a word, no two men could have better understood each other than Lee, +the convict, and John Brennard, the trader of the Witches' Krantz +(Cliff). As for Gray, he might truly be considered, what a late ruffian +was described to be, "the victim of circumstances,"--with wearied body +and aching heart, he sat by, a passive listener; passive, because he +_could_ not help himself. + +The low whistle was repeated, and Brennard, opening the window-shutter, +responded in the tone of a wandering, hungry wolf: then the signal came +clear but slow, and with evident caution, and moving in am upward +direction, died away in some hollow of the hill. Then Brennard, closing +the aperture carefully, proposed entering on a solemn compact with his +new acquaintances, to which they agreed. + +Strange indeed is that species of oath, which binds bad men together, +and which may truly be considered as founded on a superstition, of which +the devil is the founder. There are many to whom the nature of such an +oath is sacred, who will rob, murder, desolate the home of the +industrious and virtuous, and commit every crime which by that oath they +are bound to enter upon, in partnership with others as "blind of heart" +as themselves. In these compacts, they swear by the Bible, thus +blasphemously making the word of God a witness and a guarantee for sin. +Aye, and such compacts have been kept inviolate, even at the gibbet's +foot, and beneath the bloody guillotine. + +And, after all, what is an oath, in the opinion of a truly honest man? +A seal set upon the word of a villain, who only tells the truth because +the fear of punishment on earth compels him to do it. He who lies to +God daily, would hardly hesitate to lie to man, but that he lets "I +dare, not wait upon I would," and trembles, like the Chinese and the +Kafir, not at commission of crime, but at the disgrace and punishment +which must follow its discovery. + +They stood up, did those three desperate men, in the low and narrow +room; the owner of the wild domicile held the book in his hand, for +there was a Bible in the chest. They opened the unholy compact with the +words "I swear." As they spoke, their eyes were fixed distrustingly on +each other, not on Heaven, the witness they invoked, and Brennard was +proceeding to dictate a certain form, with its set phrases of "betrayal +of brotherhood," "rights of partnership," etc, when the whistle came +back from the krantz above, descended gradually down the hill-side, +paused, chirruped like a bird, a gay, innocent bird, and a low tap at +the door was followed by a voice of most musical sweetness. + +"Vuka u zishukumise"--"Awake and be stirring," said the voice. It was a +woman's. + +"Urga lungenalake?"--"Are you ready?" asked Brennard. + +"Ewa--urga kuza ni nina?"--"Yes--when are you coming?" + +"Dirge za"--"I am coming now," replied the trader. + +On which another voice added, "Lexesha kaloku"--"Now is the time." + +A quick but gentle sound of unshod feet patted past the window, there +was silence again in the outer air, and the three Englishmen resumed +their attitude; Brennard in the centre with the Bible--it had the names +of brothers and sisters beneath his own in the fly-leaf--he had kept it +by him in the wilderness--and the two others with their palms spread +open on the cover. They went through the formula again, the oath was +sealed by a kiss upon the sacred record, sad it was restored to its +resting-place, whence it never emerged but on extreme occasions like the +present. The fire was extinguished, and once more refreshing themselves +with a sip from the flask, the light was extinguished, and all three +passed out from the hut, the door was drawn to, as well as its +dilapidated condition would allow, and passing through the garden and +advancing a few yards to the right, they turned the profile of a hill, +descended a steep pathway leading to a dense bush, and in a few minutes +distinguished the hurried tread of naked feet upon the crisp leaves and +underwood; a group of women pattered through a narrow glade, and, +passing our adventurers in silence, led the way into the kloof. + +Lee recognised the locality as he advanced, step by step, down a +declivity intersected with blocks of granite and tufts of scrub, or low +bush; the murmur of a rivulet making its way over the stones was +audible, and the distant cry of the jackal hailed the coming of the +night. Here Lee remembered well to have rested on shooting excursions +in former days; here he had listened to many a tale of Tanner's, and he +could guess the exact spot for which they were bound--the three men in +advance, the Kafir girls in Indian file following. So they proceeded, +till the darkness of the glen deepened, and putting aside a large alder, +they bent their heads, and found themselves beneath a magnificent +oak-tree, to a branch of which was fastened a large ox, black as Erebus. + +Motionless and patient he stood with his heavy load upon his broad back, +for Brennard had intended returning to the spot sooner than +circumstances eventually permitted him, and he bent his head in loving +recognition of Amayeka, whose sweet voice welcomed her favourite. The +unusual roughness of the weather had detained Brennard longer on his +expedition than usual, and Amayeka and her companions had kept their +watch day by day in the hills. + +I know not a more perfect model of obedience and endurance than a Kafir +woman. With the white man, she is never thoroughly tamed. You may take +her under your care in childhood--you may accustom her to English +habits, dress, and religion; but once let her taste of freedom, and she +is like a bird on the wing again. True, however, to the instincts of +her nature, she bows to the thraldom of her race, wields the pickaxe and +the hoe, submits cheerfully to her occupation of "hewer of wood and +drawer of water," yields obedience to her task-masters, abjures her +European costume, albeit she delights in a broidery of many-coloured +beads, and sits meekly silent when bartered for by a lover, who, as a +husband, makes her one of many slaves. + +Such was Amayeka, who had been reared from the age of six years at a +missionary station, near the Caledon river; but from this she had been +withdrawn by her father Doda when she was fourteen, and during the +year--for she was now but fifteen, the prime of a Kafir maiden's life-- +she had thrown off her European habits in every sense, retaining only +the language, which she spoke with the grace so peculiar to her nation +when educated. + +I specify her age from general calculation; her father could only count +her years by connecting her birth with a period of great drought. + +She and her companions, all older than herself, had been sent by Umlala, +a petty chief, to convoy the treasonable stores brought from the colony +in Brennard's wagon, and transferred to Zwartz's back, at a secret +station on the banks of Somerset River. This done, a sagacious old +Kafir had led Zwartz through an intricate defile to Witches' Krantz, and +fastening him to the "trysting tree," returned as herdsman to the +trading wagon, with its span of draught-oxen, on the banks of Somerset +River. For days these poor girls of Kafirland had sat watching the +changes of the atmosphere from the mountain slopes. Their food was +parched corn and strips of _biltongue_ (meat dried in the sun), supplied +by a cleft in the rock, where they had long ago established a simple +larder. Apples, from the banks of the Kei and the Gonube rivers, varied +their repast occasionally, and a large light basket of sour milk, +brought to them from a distant kraal, was a delicious addition. They +were very merry; they laughed, they sang, sometimes hymns, taught them +by Amayeka; they danced, ate their frugal meals, and slept soundly, +pillowed on flowery turf, with heaven's own canopy of blue and gold +above them. If the clouds rose, they withdrew to the caves in the +mountain-side, and these recesses were their shelter, when a scout come +to tell them that Jocqueenis' Fingoes were on a march into Dushani's +country, to "eat up" the son of Ixexa. For, however quiet and unpeopled +the hills of Kafirland may appear, there are always scouts on the +look-out. These tribes carry out the prophecy against the sons of +Ishmael, "their hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand +against them," hence they are ever on the watch. But all this time our +adventurous group are waiting together in the glen. Here Brennard +unslung his haversack from Zwartz's yoke, taking out of it such articles +of raiment as he chose to retain for his own use, bestowed it, with some +acceptable gear, on the convicts. The flask of Cape brandy was added to +the stores, and to each was given a small double-barrelled pistol. Thus +partially provided for, the three bade each other farewell, for it was +necessary to make as much way as they could before morning, and the +defile being threaded, some hours of repose might be obtained in a place +of security, to which their female guides would direct them. + +Brennard, having watched the party as far as the rays of the moon +flickering through the tracery of the trees permitted, returned to his +domicile, there to accomplish such repairs as he could single-handed; +and this done, to return to Somerset River for his wagon, and forward +information to the authorities of the delinquency of the Fingo +marauders; but long before the trader had noted the outrage on paper, +the warriors had stalked through the enemy's kraal, and possessed +themselves of the cattle they called theirs, and crossing a stream about +nine miles to the north, soon chanted their song of triumph and defiance +from their own territory. + +As the reader will readily infer, the compact to which I have alluded +involved a treaty of partnership between Brennard, Lee, and Gray, in the +secret traffic of arms and ammunition with the tribes to the north-east +of the Cape colony. The deputies left by Brennard near the coast held a +situation of little danger, since there was no legal restriction on the +sale of arms; nevertheless, a certain caution was necessarily observed +in the transmission of such stores from Cape Town, lest the eyes of the +authorities should be opened to a fact, at present only suspected by the +non-commercial settlers. The powder traffic, demanding greater care and +secrecy, was not so easily carried on, and it had long been obvious to +Brennard that it would be highly advantageous to establish an +intermediate agent between the Gonube and the Witches' Krantz, for the +disposal of the gunpowder, and the surer interchange of Kafir goods in +return. + +This offer Lee readily accepted, with a reservation that, if it suited +his purpose hereafter, he should proceed to the locations lately +established to the eastward by the disaffected Dutch. As to Gray, a +spell seemed to bind him to such measures as Lee chose to propose. + +I have shown that Lee had given Brennard only such details of his early +acquaintance with Tanner as he thought necessary, and the trader, as he +climbed the hill again, wondered, within himself, at the mysterious +influence which had thus suddenly been imposed upon him. Who Lee was, +or what his position had been in Southern Africa in former days, he +could not tell. All he knew was, that he was a runaway convict, that he +had been acquainted with Tanner, and that he had a thorough knowledge of +that part of the country, and of all the secret nooks for keeping +contraband stores. + +Brennard also felt quite certain that Lee would not have admitted his +real condition as a runaway convict of the wreck of the _Trafalgar_, had +it not been an event of publicity which would elicit close inquiries; +and as there would, probably, be some survivors who had witnessed Lee's +escape in the boat, it would at least be conjectured that he had reached +_terra firma_ and made his way into the interior, where he might become +a dangerous assistant to the Dutch, who were known to welcome such +desperadoes to their gloomy councils. In a word, Lee knew himself to be +a marked man, and, in such an exigency, there was nothing like binding a +useful coadjutor, like Brennard, by ties which, if broken by one, must +be the ruin of both. + +When in the cave, after his preservation from shipwreck, Lee had shaped +out a somewhat crude plan for the future; he certainly entertained a +vision of self-aggrandisement, of leadership among the malcontent Boers, +of founding a settlement, and opening a career of rule; but a new +incentive to be "up and doing" presented itself unexpectedly before him, +and a fresh impetus was at once given to his desires of organising a +party among a people ripe for rebellion, by the perusal of a paragraph +in an English newspaper, of a comparatively late date, which Brennard +had brought with him from the interior, and given to Lee to beguile him +on the stealthy march, in company with the unwilling and melancholy +Gray, and the dusky maiden guides of Kafirland. + +It was on the evening of the first day's march that the instincts of +ambition within the convict's breast assumed a new direction. + +Through what deep and tangled footpaths did those patient maidens lead +the party! A curious sight it was to Gray, a stranger in that far +country, as, lingering behind the rest, he watched the group wending its +slow way, now under the shadow of the great krantzes, now waiting for +him, beside some tiny stream, that shone like steel under the "Green +willows with the hanging boughs." + +He could not run, and had he been able to do so, he knew not his way. +He could only guess by certain constellations, known in both +hemispheres, that he was journeying eastward, and he wandered on like a +man dreaming that a fiend has fixed an evil eye upon him, and beckons +him to a doom he cannot resist. Gray felt that Lee never lost sight of +him. + +It was at night that their longest marches were made; but when the sun +came fairly up, the girls were generally able to point out the +established resting-places, where a commissariat of biltongue and Kafir +corn lay hid in some rocky storehouse. + +In these halting-places all slept through the golden hours of noon, the +women at a prescribed distance. There had been five at first starting, +and the party had been increased by three more joining them in a kloof, +almost impassable from the density of the bush. Zwartz lay like a +guardian in the centre of his female friends; they petted and talked to +him at times, calling him all manner of endearing names, but Amayeka was +his best friend; and Gray, sorrowful and restless, reclined always +within arm's length of the wary Lee. + +The latter was the first stirring. It was a sultry afternoon on the +first day's march, and Lee took from the haversack the paper Brennard +had slipped into it at the Witches' Krantz. The paragraph I have +alluded to was as follows: + +"We regret to learn that the indisposition of our governor, Sir +Marmaduke Faulkner, still detains him in England, and that General Sir +John Manvers has been requested to take command of the frontier forces +at this critical period, when it is pretty well understood, by such as +choose to open their eyes to the fact, that the Kafirs are rife for war, +and that the Boers to the eastward are only waiting a favourable +opportunity to proclaim their disaffection. Sir John may be daily +expected from Cape Town." + +"So," said Lee, his chest heaving, his eye dilating, "_he_ is here! +Well, there will come a day when we shall stand face to face, openly, as +foes; I may fail of success, I may be beaten for want of a regular +force, but I _may_ be revenged--revenged;" and the tone in which he +uttered this aroused the sleeping deserter. + +Lee held a parley with Gray, but did not enlighten him fully on the +subject of his enmity to the man who would soon be first in authority +over the wide territory through which they were roaming. He gave him to +understand, however, that his final object was not to join a tribe of +savages in a fight against his countrymen; once well on the +north-eastward, there would be no difficulty in proceeding by degrees to +those settlements where many Dutch farmers lay bivouacked, with all +their poor household and farm property about them. + +The character Lee had assumed for himself and friend was one which quite +suited his disposition, and would greatly facilitate his movements; the +Kafirs would welcome him as a trader, and pass him safely on as such; +while the Dutch would receive him as a confederate, and hail with +satisfaction so able an assistant as Gray, a deserter from the Royal +Artillery. + +Night fell. The Kafir girls re-adjusted Zwartz's burden; they +frequently lightened it by carrying skins of gunpowder on their heads, +which they did with perfect ease and grace, and Amayeka, uttering the +simple warning, "It is time," passed on, lingered on the hill-side to +point out the smoothest cattle-tracks to Gray, who, as his limbs +recovered their elasticity, tried to reconcile himself to his fate by +admitting the pleasant influence which the glittering eyes and brilliant +smile of Amayeka shed on his moody moments. + +Having passed through many intricate defiles and glens of indescribable +beauty, they emerged, in about a fortnight from the first night march, +upon a more open country. These plains were dotted with kraals, from +each of which some "Great man" came forth; Amayeka acted as interpreter. +A day was fixed for meeting in a secret spot, where a due exchange of +goods was to be made. The wagons sent by the agent from the Gonube were +already, with hides and horns, waiting there, and these were to be +despatched by trusty convoy to the Witches' Krantz; Doda, the great +councillor or the principal chief, firmly believing that unless the +tribes kept to their agreement with Brennard, the latter would withhold +the supplies and betray the storehouses, or rather storehuts, which held +the arms and ammunition of Kafirland. + +A stronger would not have distinguished these huts from others of the +hamlet, but day and night three dusky guards kept watch and ward around +than, for fear of treachery or fire. These guards wove baskets, or +shaped out bullet-moulds, or bound the assegai blades to the slender +shafts; they did anything apparently but keep sentry over the domicile +they so cautiously protected. + +On the twelfth day of the journey, having headed the Imkwali river and +traversed a plain, our travellers suddenly dipped between two hills, and +on ascending the last, found themselves in front of an amphitheatre, +over which Umlala's kraal and pasture-lands were spread. It was the +chief residence of Umlala and his _hemraaden_, or councillors. + +Behind this green space rose a range of purple heights; nearer to it, +and sheltering the village from the north, was a chain of low hills, and +the sides of these were dotted with thousands of beautiful cattle. The +whole population of this territory was astir. Over one slope a +hunting-party wound its way, below were children riding races on the +backs of oxen, far too sleek for such an exertion; girls were laughing +and talking together under the noble groups of trees, but the great mass +of Kafirs had gathered in a crowd in an angle of the kraal. Amayeka, on +perceiving this, bid the convoy await till her father should be sent +for. + +Doda came, he having, as I have shown, already held communication with +Lee on the road, and he now invited him to the front of his hut until +Umlala should be ready to receive him. Ere long, a summons arrived, and +Lee proceeded to a conference with Umlala. + +The chief was seated on the ground, surrounded by several of his +hemraaden. The subject of conversation had for many days touched upon +the preparations for war, which, for months had been secretly +progressing in Kafirland; and the intelligence which Amayeka brought, +and which Lee confirmed, was soon conveyed by Doda: he told Umlala that +the white men were making ready for battle. Even now, it was said, the +white chiefs were beginning to count their red men by tens, for they +were many. + +No immediate or noisy demonstration followed this announcement. Umlala +sat, to all appearance, in deep thought, Doda waiting at his right hand +till it should please his chief to address him. + +At last, having matured his thought, Umlala said, in a low and distinct +voice, + +"Amakosa noburoti bona"--"The Amakosa are brave." + +The crowd testified their satisfaction by a murmur of assent that rolled +through the assembly like the swell of an ocean wave. + +"Our chief is wise," said Doda; "without him we are as the land in +drought--as a bundle of sticks scattered for want of a cord--as people +journeying on vast plains without a purpose, without landmarks. It is +he who leads us from dark places, and sets our feet on open ground--we +are his children--hear him." + +"Umlala," answered Amani, "is my mouth, let him speak." + +"Our ears are open," said Doda, and sat down with an uneasy glance at +Amani. + +For Doda was peacefully inclined--that is to say, though war was in his +heart, he had tasted of the blessings of civilisation. He had seen his +daughter, "sitting in the sun and eating honey," living under virtuous +influences, in peace and plenty, at the mission station, and it was with +inward reluctance that he had obeyed his chief in withdrawing her from +thence. It would have been useless, as well as impolitic, to oppose his +sentiments openly to Umlala's inclinations, especially as of late the +malcontent Dutch had been tampering with the chiefs, and some mercenary +and unprincipled traders had profited by the aspect of affairs to +increase their traffic. + +Amani rose. He was the rain-maker, or witch doctor, of the tribe--one +of those wicked magicians of the country, who, taking advantage of the +Kafir belief in evil agency, manage, with extraordinary tact, to turn +the very changes of the elements to bad account. By his cunning and +audacity, he had made such predictions and revelations as had obtained +for him paramount ascendancy over his chief, and consequently the whole +tribe. Doda both despised and dreaded him. He had missed him lately +for several days. Amani was supposed to be in the retirement of the +hills, preparing charms and incantations for the ceremony they had +assembled to witness, the induction of the young warriors into their +calling. But Doda, who had his scouts ever on the watch, felt sure that +the wizard had made a hurried march to some secret place of meeting with +Brennard, who would have given him the last colonial news; and, armed +with this, he could easily forestall Amayeka and her white confederates, +since Amani could travel faster and by nearer paths than they could +traverse in a body, and with Zwartz, encumbered with their contraband +stores. + +It was soon clear that such was the case. + +Amani began his address by saying, that Umlala's eyes were open. Amani +himself had predicted mischief. He had told his chief that the great +white captains were coming to speak to them with guns; but as for the +red men they had now on the borders of the colony, _they_ could be +counted in a day, they were _not_ many. He called on the sons of Congo +to sound the war-cry from the highest mountain-top. + +"Swear," said he, "by the bones of Congo's forefathers, to drive the +Amglezi to the sea which spits them up. Behold, we will turn the +hail-storm of their fire to water--it shall be as water poured through a +broken calabash. What right has the white man to put his foot before us +on our war-paths, when we choose to quarrel with the Gaikas about grass? +The bad people of Gaika steal from us--he shares the plunder--then we +take up arms against him--the white man comes, and tramples down our +corn; he begins the war, and will not let us rest in our huts, though +our fight with Gaika is no business of his. Gaika calls himself the +white man's friend; he is a liar--he hates the white man--but likes to +sit where he will in the colony with his eyes open. He stretches out +his hand, and the Amglezi fill it. The Amglezi are fools, and believe +him. He does not steal their cattle himself, but sits still upon the +hills, and sees it go by to the kloofs in the Amatolas; and quarrels +with us when he finds us there waiting to share the plunder that belongs +to all the land--our land--a land that will soon be dead to us, for +shall we reap the corn we have planted? Gaika is a woman--he will not +fight us himself, but lifts up his voice, and cries aloud to the white +men, who come among us like locusts, and eat us up, and then pay Gaika +in beads and buttons for his treachery to his brothers. Let the Amglezi +come--let them kill the last man of us--but let not Umlala's children +put their necks under the foot of Gaika. Better to be dead lions in our +own kraals, than live dogs in the Amglezi's territory. The white man +calls himself the protector of the Kafir tribes dwelling on the borders +of the country he has made his own; but we are oppressed by his +protection, and we will not have it; and we know, too, that some of the +Amglezi are with us in heart; for they tell us we are wronged, and bring +us arms and powder wherewith to regain our rights." + +Doda thought within himself, "we pay for such stores;" but the thought +rested in his breast, for he dared not express it. + +Amani proceeded, waving aloft an assegai, which quivered in the grasp of +his muscular palm: + +"Awake, sons of Congo! shout from the mountain-tops! the valleys are +waiting to reply--we have sat still long enough. Behold the children of +the foam will multiply, and come and drive us like monkeys into the +rocks. Shall we consent to sit there in darkness? Shall our young +warriors be mown down like early grass, or be driven into the sea like +ashes before the wind? Shall our cattle be taken from us, to languish +in new pastures? Shout, young warriors of Kafirland! shout, for the +elders of the tribe are women--their hearts grow white. Our old women +would laugh at the old men, whose eyes are unclosed, but that their +hearts tremble as they think of the strong hand of the Umburghi. Hark! +the young women of Kafirland, the daughters of Congo, call to us in our +sleep. Answer them, and let the war-cry be echoed back from the Kei to +the Amatolas. Let Gaika know that we are men. Then shall he be +ashamed--then shall he uncover his face, and turn it towards us, and we +shall have light." + +The Kafir girls, armed with assegais, and ranged in a double semicircle +behind the councillors, responded to this appeal with a shrill chorus, +their weapons rattling like the leaves of a forest in a gale of wind. +Amani ceased speaking, but they took up the strain. + +"Busa Abantu u ba hlanganise"--"Sound the alarm! gather the people +together,"--they chanted over and over again in a tone of triumph and +defiance. "Uya biswa go yithlo"--"You are called by your father." + +"You are called, you are called," was repeated many times, till the +young hunters paused on the hill paths, and, looking down, waved their +muskets, for most of them were thus armed. Some threw their assegais +and knob-kierries into the air, and cried, "Izapa, izapa"--"Come on!" +Six or seven women, the mothers of the kraal, stood round a skin +stretched on sticks to the tightness of a drum; this they began to beat, +now loud, now low, now in slow time, and now in quick, accompanying the +measure with their feet, and repeating the cry, "Sound the +alarm"--"Silathtekile"--"we are lost!"--the strange chorus rising, +swelling, dying away into a cry of wailing and despair, and again +filling the amphitheatre as it was taken up by the whole population of +the valley. + +Suddenly some of the newly-elected young warriors, twenty in number, +stalked from a hut set a little apart from the others of the kraal, and +Lee was thoroughly startled by their appearance. Whitened from head to +foot with a preparation of ashes and chalk, their ghastly hue contrasted +in a most extraordinary manner with the dusky colour of the rest of the +tribe, some of whom drew as near as custom permitted, and united in a +shout of welcome. + +The faces of the youths were almost concealed by a thatched head-dress +of reeds, surmounted by two tall and slender leaves of the palmeet +plant; round their waists, and depending to their knees, were kilts of +the same texture as the head-gear; brass bangles shone upon their arms +and ankles, marking the exquisite contour of their limbs; and, shaking a +reed in his hand, for as yet they were not permitted to wield the +assegai, a youth advanced in pantomimic fashion. At one moment he would +spring forward with a bound like a tiger's, the next he would glide +onward as a bird skims the surface of the earth; then rising suddenly, +he would execute a pirouette in a style that would establish the fame of +an opera dancer. Anon he would balance himself on tiptoe like a +Mercury, then wheeling round, and again springing into the air, would +come down with an _aplomb_ that stirred the spectators to loud applause, +the men crying "It is good," the old women drumming loud and sharp in +the back-ground, the younger ones advancing, retreating, and chanting +shrilly to their accompaniment of rattling assegais; the spectators in +the distance adding their meed of admiration, their cries of applause +and encouragement echoing along the hills, and dying on the air, till +taken up and repeated by the herdsmen in the valleys. + +Umlala had been too much excited to hold a parley even on the important +question of gunpowder traffic. + +The chief and his councillors ceased to speak. Doda led the white men +away, Amayeka following at a distance. A hut was set apart for their +accommodation, and a huge steak, cut from an ox slaughtered in honour of +the young warriors' installation, was sent to them by Umlala, together +with some baskets of sour milk, and a good store of Indian corn. The +bearer closed his message with the usual demand of _baseila_, which Lee +answered with an English oath, and Gray responded to by sending the +chief some tobacco. + +As the night fell, the dark but shapely arm of Amayeka pushed aside the +wicker door of the hut, and set within it a small English saucepan +containing some fresh eggs, a little pipkin of clear water, a few grains +of salt--a great prize--and a cake made of coarsely-ground flour. Gray +would have followed her to offer her thanks, but Lee restrained him at +the doorway. + +Ere closing it for the night, they looked out. The hills were silent, +but, between the summits and the sky, a scout at times appeared, moving +here and there in communication with others. The watch-fires began to +glimmer, the cattle were settling in the kraals for the night, but the +hamlet was still astir, and the dull beating of the great primitive drum +went on. The stars came out, the Southern Cross shed its light upon the +wild scene, and the young warriors still kept up their ghost-like dance +upon the dewy turf, one party relieving the other, as did the +singing-girls and elder women. + +Long after the fire in the centre of the convicts' hut had been +extinguished, did both the inmates, stretched on karosses, try to +collect their somewhat scattered senses together. Still the weary drum +beat on--still the shrill chorus rose and fell upon the clear night +wind, and at times the shout of some excited dancer pierced the air. +Lee, in wish, sent them to the infernal regions--whence, indeed, a +stranger might infer they came--and tried to frame plans connected with +the insurgent operations of the Dutch. Gray strove to pray, but knew +not how--poor wretch! + +"Ah," thought he, with a heavy sigh, "would I were once more a soldier, +and an honest man!" + +And with this vain wish he fell asleep, and dreamed he was a little +child again, kneeling on the hearth beside his mother, and repeating to +her the simple prayer she used to teach him at eventide. + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +THE KAFIR SPY. + +We left Frankfort and Ormsby with their cavalcade of wagons, horses, and +attendants, pursuing their way to the north-east. + +I have no intention of giving you a detailed account of this part of +their expedition, since they are not presented to the reader in the +character of mere sportsmen--indeed such narratives belong to more +experienced hands than mine, albeit, ere their able works appeared, I +had collected a few anecdotes, which would now present no novelty. + +May, the bushman guide, still headed the cavalcade, a unique +advance-guard, closely followed by two or three of the queerest-looking +mongrels possible, of which his favourite was a species of +water-spaniel. + +A fine bloodhound kept close to Ormsby's horse's heels, never +condescending to join May and his scratch-pack, and scorning all offers +from the bushman's cuisine; the only symptom of toleration of inferior +caste shown by the aristocratic dog was a passive endurance of the +infant Ellen's caresses, when she crawled through the grass to Major +Frankfort's tent, into which the yellow face of the little imp no sooner +peered, than she was snatched up by her father, and carried back to +Fitje with a gentle rebuke. "The sir was kind," May said, "and he would +not have him imposed upon." + +In many ways this stunted creature of the wilderness displayed a +refinement of feeling not always met with among worldly beings, jealous +of infringing on the conventionalism of society--people who meet you +with "Unmeaning speech--exaggerated smile," and measure their civilities +by the length of your purse, or your position in fashionable life. + +And are these less treacherous than the savage? Verily, I believe that, +in spirit, they are just as deceitful. + +But let us leave them, and return to our party. + +There they go up the hill--May in advance with Spry and Punch, and +Floss. The sun is blazing out, and our bushman winds his +bright-coloured _douk_ round his head, and tramps round the angle of a +jutting rock, staff in hand. Before he does so, he looks back to see +how the cavalcade gets on, lights his pipe, and alternately smoking, and +singing, and whistling to his dogs, he proceeds leisurely along. At +last, even he, of the active limbs and bronzed skin, begins to pant--his +shadow shows like a frog beneath his feet; tired as he is, he laughs at +it, spreads out his hands, whistles an opera air he has picked up from +some military band, and capers in the glowing light, till wearied, he +sits down on a block of granite, beneath a stunted bush, unslings his +three-string fiddle from his neck, and plays with great skill, +considering the means at hand, the rattling, saucy air of "Rory O'More." + +And he was at it right merrily, when the first wagon, with its oxen +smoking and breathing heavily, reached the spot he had chosen as the +outspan, where a more solid breakfast was to be prepared than the one +that had been hastily snatched at dawn. + +The country, although only about nine miles distant from the picturesque +locality on which our party had rested during the night, was now of a +totally different character; great plains, only relieved here and there +by low bush, or huge masses of stone, stretched out for miles before the +traveller's eye, and the noble natural parks through which they had +journeyed the preceding day were hidden from their view by the +undulations they had traversed. In the distance, between the arid earth +and the glowing sky, at the edge of the horizon, stalked a company of +ostriches, apparently the only tenants of this great solitude. + +There was something very grand, and even affecting, in the contemplation +of such a scene; at least, so thought Frankfort, whose heart expanded +under the impression produced by Nature in her state of lonely majesty. +Here she was not lovely, but sublime; the infinity of space, the +shadowless land, the unclouded sky--too dazzling for mortal eye to dwell +upon--the awful silence, all seemed more fully to betoken the eternal +presence of God, than in green places where shelter was at hand, and +where, therefore, the solitude was not so apparent, so vast. The very +cries of wild beasts give life to the jungle--but here the human voice +broke abruptly on the stillness of the plains, as if it had no business +there, and Frankfort was thoroughly disenchanted of his sublime mood in +contemplating the almost awful expanse, as May scraped his fiddle ere he +laid it down to attend to Ormsby's inquiry as to "where his cigars had +been packed." + +It must be owned, that Ormsby had no taste for the sublime or the +romantic; indeed, there are not many men in the world who would have +found food for contemplation in the desert scene before them; and as for +our young sub, I am forced to admit, that by the time he had smoked +three cigars, he began to wonder what he should do with himself when +breakfast was over. + +Frankfort had stocked the wagon with many more luxuries on Ormsby's +account, than he would have thought of providing for himself; and the +meal, spread out on the shady side of the wagon, was by no means +despicable. Excellent tea, devilled biscuits, cold tongue and honey, an +offering from Vanbloem, and added to these were savoury slices of +porcupines, a viand from which, in its raw state, Ormsby had turned away +in disgust, but to which, when cooked, he addressed himself with a keen +relish. + +The panting oxen had been turned loose to seek what provender they could +among the tufts of grass on the sandy plain--the sun shone upon a _vley_ +(pool), about a hundred yards from the outspan; the place had been +selected by May, because he knew there was no better bivouac for miles +in advance. Like many other bright things, the pool shone with a +delusive lustre; it offered but a muddy draught to the thirsty +traveller--but drivers, _foreloupers_ (leaders of the draught cattle), +guides and oxen, plunged therein their parched lips, and drank +thankfully of the slimy waters... + +"There is certainly nothing like judging of things by comparison," +observed Frankfort, as, after a thorough enjoyment of his breakfast, he +laid his head on his saddle under a stunted bush, and, taking out a +book, prepared to indulge himself, as he called it, till it was time to +assist May in re-packing and preparing for advancing. + +May trudged on with the dogs, and halted again in due time, in a similar +locality, where the solace Ormsby sought was another meal, combining +dinner and supper. An omelette from the egg of an ostrich, whose nest +had been raked out of the sand by the keen and persevering May, was not +a bad wind-up to a refection of game; a cigar and coffee followed, and +while the ostriches were still stalking in the light, the wearied party +were glad to make ready for the night, and lay their limbs at rest. + +For two succeeding days nothing occurred to distinguish the one from the +other; there were the same arid tracts, the same glaring bivouacs, the +chilly midnights and dewy dawns--the same porcupine breakfasts, venison +dinners, and omelette remove. + +On the third day they found themselves on the borders of a river, rapid +and circuitous in its course, and fringed with bush, and here Ormsby, in +a fit of _ennui_, determined that May should get up a regular porcupine +hunt by moonlight--midnight was the time chosen. + +Their tents were pitched on the riverside in expectation of remaining +there some days, for, calm as looked the current, May, from certain +indications, expected it to rise and swell beyond its bounds. Besides, +here was shelter and pasturage for the tired cattle. + +"So much for things by comparison again," said Frankfort, as he sat down +under a foe willow. "Those who sleep in well-curtained beds this night +will hardly enjoy their rest as we shall do for the next three hours." + +Ormsby's thoughts had been floating about in the clouds of his cigar, +the fifteenth since the morning; but as he cast the remainder of it from +his lips, he said, "Ah, all this may be very fine and sublime, as you +call it; but, for my part, I wish I were going to take my rest in the +orange-room at Ormsby Park." + +The contrast of the orange-room at Ormsby Park with the willow drapery, +the starry roof and the silver moon walking demurely in the sky, at once +dragged Major Frankfort from the sublime to the ridiculous, and he burst +out laughing; but his mirth was checked by Ormsby whispering, "Hush, +there is some one in the bush near us; I heard a branch crack--it can be +none of our own people--they are all sitting together over the fire, +listening to that three-stringed lute of May's." + +"Hush, there it is again!--some restless baboon, probably," remarked +Ormsby. + +"No, the bush here is not thick enough for them." + +At this instant, May came from the fireside circle. The night was so +clear that he recommended attacking the porcupine in his haunt at once, +and sleeping after the sport. On being told that some one was hovering +about, he laid his ear to the ground, but could detect nothing. Ormsby +reminded him that he had been under the impression, ever since they left +the Dutchman's valley, that some one was hovering about. Had Frankfort +stated this opinion. May would have put some faith in it; but he did +not like Ormsby. The latter was perpetually scolding and ridiculing the +poor little bushman; and so, as the idea of the stealthy visitant +originated with the young subaltern, May chose to ignore it; but he +determined, nevertheless, on keeping a sharp look-out, and was as much +puzzled as his masters as to who the spy could be. + +They were a tolerably large party; and, knowing the character of the +locality, and the tribes near it, he felt sure that the enemy, if enemy +it was, mustered in no force: so they set out on the porcupine hunt. + +The bushman had already tracked out his victim for the sport. The poor +little creature had set the dogs at defiance on being first discovered, +and kept them at bay till it managed to retreat to its hole. So there +he was, poor fellow, with his ears, almost like a man's, stretched wide +open, listening for his expected besiegers; for, once disturbed, he was +thoroughly uneasy, and all his quills, though lying close to his body, +were ready to shoot out into a panoply for his defence when his castle +should be attacked. + +May tried to get a peep at him in his hole, but he could only hear him +panting; so he fastened the bayonet, with which he had taken care to +provide himself to the long bamboo of old Piet's wagon whip. It was +very sharp at the point; our bushman had taken care to cleanse it from +the rust it had imbibed in the damp ground, in which Ormsby had +occasionally planted it as a candlestick by his bedside. Armed with +this weapon, and followed closely by the dogs, whom he encouraged and +exhorted in the queerest jargon that can be imagined, Frankfort and +Ormsby carrying sticks, he led the way along the banks of the river, and +soon reached the hiding-place of the poor little beast. The dogs gave +tongue at once. May, as I said, tried to get a peep at him, but he +could only hear him panting. + +Floss soon got pricked in the nose, and retreated--only, however, to +return to the charge, and scratch and yelp in vain. Spry and Punch kept +steady sentry, warily taking their opportunities of making an entrance. +At last the earth gave way, and the "wee beastie" emerged from his den, +with all his darts prepared for the charge. His mouth was but a +mockery; he could not bite; so he turned his back again upon the foe, +and as they approached, opened out the weapons that nature had given him +to save himself. These Ormsby believed would be shot out like arrows; +but, as May said, the _schelm_ (rogue) was too _slim_ (knowing) to part +with his arms entirely, adding, that "English man" was "too fond of +_making_ stories, and," with a sly smile, "too ready to believe them." + +The creature, however, made his backward charge, again and again rolled +himself into a ball, with all his quills "on end," and after gathering +strength for another battle, fought his foes gallantly, till May, +fearing the dogs would make a meal of him, drove his bayonet into the +soft part of his body, and laid him dead upon the threshold of his home. + +Ormsby was delighted with the novelty of the porcupine hunt on the edge +of that winding river, its waters flashing in the moonlight, and +clamouring along between the stones, or gurgling in little creeks of +mossy rock. Here a bank stretched out into the stream, with a group of +willows hanging their tresses over their own inverted shadows; there the +grey cliffs were broadly reflected in the waters, and the frogs kept up +a perpetual though most unmusical chorus from the pools in the drift. +Up the stream the murmur was beginning to increase to a roar; and, in +some dread of the torrent suddenly swelling, May scrambled up the bank, +and shortened the way to the bivouac, where the wagons were drawn up in +great precision, and where all were sound asleep save Marmion, who +"bayed the moon" loudly at the approach of his master. + +Ormsby, in horror of "creeping things," had latterly taken it into his +head to sleep in the wagon, instead of sharing the tent with Frankfort; +and still convinced that some one was hanging about the neighbourhood, +he determined to keep watch till dawn; but fatigued by his midnight +sport, he was soon overcome with drowsiness, and the bright African sun +was shining on his face, and May laughing quietly over him, as he woke +with a start, and seizing the bushman's hand, examined it intently, to +May's great amusement. Frankfort, too, was looking in upon him, and +Marmion, with his fore paws on his master's chest, had his great eyes +fixed upon him lovingly. + +"I have had the oddest dream," said Ormsby. "I felt, as I fancied, a +hand clutch mine: I grasped it tightly; and when I thought I had got it +quite safe, I found the arm was gone, and only the hand, hard and cold, +was left in mine." + +"And here it is, I suppose," said Frankfort, laughing, and taking up the +six-barrelled pistol, which Ormsby always placed beside him when lying +down at night. + +May shook his head very solemnly, and then begged the "Masters" to +follow him, and he would show them who had lifted the pistol. + +The bushman led them through a mass of tangled underwood, to a copse all +interlaced with wreaths of starry jessamine and wild convolvulus, and +softly putting aside a geranium-bush, entered the covert, followed by +the others. + +Bending low, and creeping after him, they found themselves soon in the +centre of the thicket, surprised to see scattered about fragments of +bread and meat, and some broken bottles; in short, these were the +_debris_ of a meal eaten on the spot. + +Lifting up a bough, May showed them a young Kafir stretched on the +grass, and wrapped in profound repose; near him were three assegais. He +lay with his head supported by his dusky arm, his dark and +finely-moulded limbs offering a study for the sculptor. But the frame +looked worn, and his hair, long neglected, was of its natural hue, +instead of a dull red, from the clay usually employed in adorning it. + +Frankfort and Ormsby did not at once recognise the young Kafir servant, +Zoonah, whom they had seen at the Dutchman's farm, but May informed them +who the sleeper was. + +Frankfort, surprised at the bushman's want of caution, placed his +forefinger on his lips to enjoin silence. + +May pointed to an empty bottle near the Kafir, and, taking it up, turned +it upside down with a knowing wink, as he proved that it was empty. + +"But," said Ormsby, "when the rascal wakes he will be off; and, as he +has been lurking about for no good, we had better secure him; he would +soon outrun the dogs. Some fellows would shoot him, and serve him +right; he would murder us if he dare." + +"No, master, no," replied May; "a Kafir won't kill you to get nothing by +you; he would, if he could, sell your skin; but he don't want to make a +row for nothing; it's all different when his blood is up. The dog has +been hanging about our _spoor_ (track) ready to steal all he can get, +and he's making his way to his own people to tell them, perhaps, that +there ain't red men enough in the country to keep it. Master Ormsby +said this himself to Vanbloem, and I heard this fellow tell the other +Kafir, who does not understand English." + +"By George!" exclaimed Ormsby, "who would have thought the rascal was +`so wide awake;' but will his people believe him?" + +"He's been sent into the country," said May, "as a spy, to take service, +and find out all he can by lurking about the towns, and picking up news +at canteens or shop-doors; and then he has come to the farm to keep his +eye upon the cattle, and listen to every word that passes between the +farmers and missionaries and travellers. His people will believe him +fast enough, for they've been making ready for war these six months. +Vanbloem's Hottentots told me they had lost cattle lately, but could not +account for it. This vagabond has been at the bottom of it, depend upon +it." + +And May contemplated the sleeper as he would a mischievous animal; +shaking his fist and making hideous grimaces over him. + +"He will be up and at you, you little fool," whispered Frankfort, +surprised at the death-like repose of the Kafir, who scarcely seemed to +breathe. + +"He can't rise, master," replied May, with a low laugh; "first of all, +he's drunk, for I left some brandy in the bottle I pretended to throw +away; and next, see the snake-bite in his leg: `No need to tie him up,' +said I, when I saw that. Ah, the schelm! here's the top joint of his +finger chopped off--he belongs to some of old Mawani's people. Mawani +wouldn't let the Gaika Nazelu marry his daughter, so Nazelu attacked his +kraal ten years ago, and marked all the boys this way, after killing the +men, or cutting off their ears and hands." + +Frankfort and Ormsby shuddered as they discovered the snake-bite in the +bend of Zoonah a knee, who, all unconscious and stupified, still slept +on, in spite of May's chattering and caperings round him. + +Ormsby drew back with a start as the bushman lifted the reptile, which +he had discovered, with its back broken, but with some remains of life, +for it reared itself up, and fixed its filmy eyes on the young officer's +face; but Frankfort stepped briskly forward, and crushed its head. + +Instinct roused the Kafir from his heavy slumber as May waved his +assegai over him; but stupified, and sensible only of intense pain, he +sunk back with a sullen air, keeping, however, a steady gaze on May. + +_This page only partly readable; about an inch down the right, missing_. + +"Poor wretch!" said Frankfort, "he must not, if we can help him. I have +the cure of snake-bites; May, fetch the medicine-chest in my wagon." + +May took the proffered key, from which a shrill whistle ere he went in +search of which, however, he put less faith tha Fitje's _coctions_ of +herbs, which she had prepare as soon as she, good-hearted little that +the young Kafir had been wounded tile. Plenty of healing roots and herb +the spot--for God often plants the ai snakes most abound--and very soon +t and his wife were at their task of huma ing Zoonah's wound; May, while +i bestowing on his patient a variety of ep Hottentot, Dutch, English, +and Kafir la. + +The savage understood the reality though it was not in his nature to +trac or respond to its sympathies by gratitude gloom was on his +countenance at having thus, like a wild beast, in the hunters submitted +to the surgery; and, the t dressed, raised himself against the tru and +stared from one to the other of the him. + +"May," said Ormsby, who held a hand, "what has made the rascal follow +him." + +Zoonah, who understood English, knew, cast his eyes upon the turf, and +bushman's translation of the question. + +After duly considering the answer h and accepting the cigar, he answered +in language-- + +"Zoonah is the white man's dog, they journey in the same path." + +To which assertion May added in "lies." + +_Problem ends here_. + +"Ask him," said Frankfort, "why he followed stealthily." + +"Because I was alone, and thought the Hottentots would kill me," said +Zoonah. + +"He lies," added May. + +"Where are you going?" + +"To my people--I left my heart in the bush,"--meaning his wife. + +"Why did you leave Vanbloem?" + +"He sent me away." + +"Why did you try to steal arms from the master's wagon?" + +"I do not understand you." + +Zoonah's stolid air convinced Frankfort, too, that it was of no use to +question him. It was evident that May was right--he was a spy on his +way to his own chief's kraal, and, as the bushman observed, it was +useless to waste words upon a liar. + +"He's born liar--he'll die liar; he's born blackguard, and he'll die +blackguard." + +And, with this last truly English vituperative, May left the thicket, +and went to prepare his master's breakfast. + +He had tied up the dogs and kept watch himself all night, lying in the +long grass between Frankfort's tent and Ormsby's wagon, and had seen +Zoonah, just as the moon was waning, winding himself along in snake +fashion, till he reached the young officer's sleeping-place, in which he +was wont to spend part of the day, reading and smoking, with "pistol, +sword, and carbine," slung above him. + +Doubtless, Zoonah had long had his attention fixed on these particular +objects, and allowing the cavalcade to pass the open plains, had come up +with it as soon as it was fairly bivouacked in the embowered nook +selected by May. Here he awaited his opportunity to plunder. + +But Kafirs have a dread of what they cannot see--a house, a tent, or a +wagon, may always, they believe, contain some mysterious agency of evil, +and hence, on Ormsby's instinctively clutching the pistol the Kafir +dropped it in terror, which was increased by a movement of May's. The +wily bushman, though, had no mind to throw the Kafir off his guard; the +roar of the river proved that it was impassable; in the rear were the +inhospitable plains of sand, the Kafir must ere this have exhausted such +provision as he could have carried from Vanbloem's, and would therefore +not go far; and, in a word, May resolved not to alarm the little camp +until obliged to do so. + +The result was, that Zoonah traced his way to the thicket where the +bushman had left a decoy, in the shape of scattered bread and meat, and +an apparently empty bottle. + +"I watched that bush yesterday evening," said May, when explaining his +devices to Frankfort; "for though I laughed at Master Ormsby, it's +always right to be `primed and loaded.' Well, I watched that bush +closely, because, whenever the birds lighted on it, they flew away and +would not stop a minute. Some came there to roost in their nests--but +no, off they went, came back again, and then away--`Ah!' says May, `some +one _spenning_ (lurking, hiding) there, I know;' so I was glad to see +Master Ormsby tie Marmion to his wagon, while we were hunting the +porcupine, and I told old Piet to lie between that and the tent, where I +made a good fire. This schelm little thought we went off so far; but I +gave Fitje the long pistol ready loaded, and told her to fire it, if she +was frightened--but she was not," added May quietly, "and lay down as +soon as she heard the dogs coming home with us. I tied them up as soon +as I had fed them, and so now, if the sir pleases, I'll reim the +prisoner." + +"Reim the prisoner?" said Ormsby; "what does he mean?" + +"Tie him to the wagon wheel, master," answered May, "and keep him there, +till we can get rid of him handsomely." + +Probably, May's ideas about getting handsomely rid of Zoonah were rather +vague; at any rate, he had no idea of trusting him in the smallest +degree, and he was greatly astonished when Frankfort observed, "Nay, +nay, we won't bind him; he looks half-starved. + +"Poor wretch; we may make him earn his living by being useful--it is no +business of ours if he chooses to leave Vanbloem, we cannot send him +back--he is but a savage, and we must be kind to him." + +"Right, master," replied May, after grave consideration; "but he's a +thief, as well as a liar, so take care." + +So saying, they left Zoonah in the leafy covert. + +May put no trust in Zoonah, and such was Fitje's dread of him, that she +would not lie down to rest, unless her husband laid his gun beside him. + +The sportsmen decided on crossing the river as soon as it was fordable; +and Zoonah, rejoicing in contributions of tobacco, cigars, and +provisions, was happy, after Kafir fashion, lying on the soft turf, and +contemplating, with a longing eye, the cattle he professed to guard, but +hoped to steal from the men who had saved his life, and now fed him, and +treated him with kindness. + +Although May heartily despised Zoonah, he was always in good humour with +him; for there is nothing in nature more cheery and good-humoured, +though hot-tempered and keenly alive to injury, than a bushman, caught +young, and tamed and educated by real Christian people. + +Three or four evenings after the incident described, as Frankfort and +Ormsby sat by the river, after the last meal of the day, anxiously +comparing the depth of water with a certain mark they had drawn on a +jutting rock, their attention was diverted by an earnest "talk" going on +between May and Zoonah. + +The latter was deriding May's idea of _Umtiko_ (God). Zoonah, finding +disguise was useless, now conversed in excellent English. May's +suppositions were right. He had been educated at Shiloh; but the care +bestowed on a Kafir seldom answers the humane purpose intended. Savage +he is, and savage he will he, unless, indeed, the age of miracles is not +past and gone. + +"You say that Umtiko is good," said Zoonah; "how do you _know_ it?" + +May pointed out the benefits we derive from God. + +"How do you know they come from him? Did you ever see him?" + +"He is invisible." + +"If he is so good and so glorious, why does he not show himself? The +teachers are always telling us about God; but first, a Kafir never +believes what he does not see, and next, the teachers say that all men +are liars; how, then, can they expect _us_ to believe _them_?" + +"But the teachers do not tell you this without proof." + +"Where _is_ the proof?" + +"In the beautiful world, where all things are given for our good, and +where the wicked are unhappy." + +"Who do you call wicked?" + +"Those who commit sin," replied May. + +"Sin!" said Zoonah, after examining the ground,--"sin means pleasing +one's self." + +Before May could answer, Zoonah went on: "You cannot believe in the +existence of what you cannot see." + +"You do not see the wind," interposed May. Zoonah went on in his own +language, May translating sentence by sentence. + +"You cannot take the word of one man, whom you have never seen _nor +heard_," answered the cunning Kafir, "against the wishes of all men. +The invisible God you talk of says, `Obey me, and do nothing that +pleases yourself.' The visible man says, `Enjoy earth, and all that +belongs to it, and be happy.' On one side is a _chance_ of another +world if we punish ourselves in this; on the other is pleasure, ease, +and our own will, under laws made for man by man. You English have a +woman chief; even she never sees the God you speak of. You know not +even whether he is black or white." + +At this point, Ormsby, who had drawn near, burst into a thoughtless and +irreverent laugh, and Zoonah, at this, satisfied that he had the best of +the argument, rose, and wrapping his kaross around him, ascended the +bank, and followed the cattle to the outspan. + +The east was faintly streaked with a crimson line next day, when May +came to rouse the sleeping Ormsby, and call him to an early breakfast, +which he had prepared, that the sportsmen might cross the river, which +at last was fordable for men and horses, although the depth of mud in +its bed rendered it impassable for wagons. It was possible to carry +over such provisions as would last them till they reached the Orange +River, where final arrangements would be made for treking at once into +the depths of the long-desired hunting-grounds. + +The idea of change pleased Ormsby, and he readily assisted in the +necessary preparations. With his usual want of foresight and +discretion, he had begun to make a pet of Zoonah; and, forgetting how +dependent he and Frankfort were on the integrity and sagacity of May, +amused himself with the idea that the latter was jealous; but the +kind-hearted bushman was utterly unconscious of this, and worked away +with his usual aptitude and good humour, keeping, too, a close eye on +Zoonah's movements when the cattle came in at sunset. + +And now, to Frankfort's surprise, May permitted the Kafir to assist him +in making up sundry packages for the trek over the river, soon to be +carried on their own heads as they swam the stream; for May was ever +humane, and strove to lighten the weights on the pack-horses. + +Two leather bags were soon filled. Zoonah's dark eyes glistened at the +goodly store scattered about the ground,--canisters of powder, a pocket +looking-glass, bundles of cigars, and manifold articles delightful to a +Kafir's sight; he gladly helped in the task of tying up the bags, and +after adjusting one on May's head, and lifting one to his own, he +proceeded with the Bushman to the edge of the stream. The rest of the +cavalcade were to cross the river whenever they could do so with safety; +and Frankfort, ascertaining that all was ready, took his horse well in +hand, and plunged into the clear and rapid current, Ormsby following. +By Frankfort's desire, May was to attend as guide and groom, and on +second thoughts, he consented to let Zoonah follow, deeming it unwise to +leave him with the cattle. + +Both sportsmen's horses breasted the torrent gallantly. Ormsby, +despising May's injunctions, had nearly floundered in a sea-cow's hole; +but the opposite bank was safely reached, and both gentlemen, +dismounting to rest their panting steeds, sat down to watch the transit +of May, Zoonah, and the dogs. + +The bushman and Kafir, side by side, were already midway between the +banks, and, in thorough good-fellowship, exhibited their skill and +daring in buffeting the element through which the horses had passed with +less ease. + +Frankfort watched the race--for such it seemed--with some anxiety, for +it called forth equal strength and courage on the part of both the +swimmers. Ormsby laughed heartily at the "dodges" each took to +circumvent the other, when suddenly, as if caught by the current, Zoonah +was whirled round and round, sunk, rose again, keeping his burden safe +supported by one hand, and in another moment struck boldly out with the +right arm and vanished, to the horror of Frankfort, who gave him up for +lost, and the dismay of Ormsby, who had seen Zoonah pack many articles +of which he stood in need. + +May swam gravely on, paying little heed, beyond a grin, at Zoonah's +disappearance; and even Frankfort reproached him severely for +triumphing, as he believed, in his own sagacity, at Ormsby's expense. + +"I told the sir," said the bushman, when he recovered breath on landing, +"that Zoonah was thief as well as liar, but Master Ormsby only laughed." + +"You should not have intrusted him with a package of such value to us +just now," said Frankfort. + +"I obey Master Ormsby," answered May, beginning to shiver. + +"Go and get some dry clothing on you," said Frankfort; and May rose to +do as he was bid, first laying the package, untouched by wet, at +Ormsby's feet. + +The latter kicked it from him with an oath. + +"It is all right, sir," said the bushman, patiently lifting it up again; +"all your powder and other things quite safe. I let Zoonah pack 'em up, +but changed the bags, while Fitje gave him his sopie; he's got a lot of +rubbish packed up in the other. I thought it best to let him go. I +knew he would, as soon as he thought he had got something worth taking. +Ah! the schelm, he'll swim for the next hour. I should like to see him +open his prize;" and Frankfort and Ormsby laughed as heartily as May +himself. + +On, still on. Each succeeding day drew our travellers far from the +settlements of the English colonists, and Ormsby, by degrees, began to +try and reconcile himself to an expedition from which there was no fair +means of retreating. + +Soon the broad and refreshing waters of the glorious Orange River, lying +in lake-like beauty between its richly-wooded borders--the graceful +shelter of the fine trees that grew luxuriantly near its banks--the +murmuring sound of distant falls--the delicious lounge on the smooth +turf, selected as the halting-place for at least a week, that horses and +cattle, as well as men, might repose, were all enchanting to our +sportsmen, to whom the scene was as new as agreeable. + +The Orange River forded, our sportsmen at length looked down upon the +"happy hunting-grounds." But it was not now as in the time when Mr +Trail rescued May from the dwellings in the rocks. + +As the white man's footprints had advanced, the game had retreated to +the deeper solitudes of the wilderness. Herds of gnoos and bucks +occasionally swept across the plains, and May pointed out a drift where +lions sometimes came down to drink; but there were no companies of these +kings of the desert--no sentinel giraffes--no midnight echoes from the +trumpet-signal of wandering elephants. + +It was a grand panorama, and as, while May off-saddled, our sportsmen +cast themselves on the grass of a natural platform overhanging the +scene, a fine buck started out of a bush, and passed them by with head +erect, eyeballs strained, and limbs quivering with terror and dismay. +The rifles of both sportsmen were brought to the shoulder at one +instant, and in another, the beautiful animal was stretched upon the +turf, dying the plants, which enamelled it, in blood. + +The horses secured, away went May--greedy fellow--to kindle a fire; +Frankfort and Ormsby took out their _couteaux de chasse_, and the +former, ere he drew his blade across the neck of the creature, paused +with some compunction at having killed his game with so little credit to +himself as a sportsman, two rifle-balls having lodged in the head of the +buck when only a few feet from his destroyers. + +He paused, I say, and, casting his eyes upon the valley, drew Ormsby's +attention to various species of smaller game, which, roused from their +coverts by the crack of the rifles, were speeding in hot haste across +the plain; gnoos, zebras, and bucks of manifold kind, all at once gave +life to the green valley far below the travellers' reach; and Frankfort +had scarcely had time to point them out, when a noble lion, with +eyeballs of flame and mane erect, sprung at a single bound from his +covert in the cliff above, and, in silent majesty, placed his huge paw +upon the neck of the slaughtered deer, his gleaming orbs fixed in steady +gaze on the astonished countenance of Frankfort. + +He uttered no sound--the lashing of his tail against his sides was the +only proof this magnificent lord of the manor gave of his displeasure at +the intrusion of poachers on his territory. His frown was terrific, and +said plainly, "This is my property by royal right, and here I stand to +defend it." + +How long this scene lasted was never computed by the sportsmen-- +Frankfort always admitted that they left the lion master of the field, +and declared that Ormsby was as ready as he to dive into a bush and +climb a path they would not have attempted "under ordinary +circumstances." + +Not long after this adventure their plans and prospects assumed a +totally different aspect to what they had anticipated; a simple incident +proved the straw that turned the balance, and caused them to turn their +backs upon an expedition to which one, at least, had looked forward with +the prospect of a year's sport and travel. + +At dawn, one roseate morning, a yell from the dogs awoke May in time to +discover a poor little porcupine scuffling back to his hole. Up jumped +Ormsby, who would not wait for May's attack with a short assegai, which +he had at hand; lifting his foot, he laid the quarry sprawling on the +ground, but not before the animal had driven one of his natural weapons +into the thoughtless young man's foot; darting the quill, sharp as a +needle, with all his force, the creature left it two inches deep in the +instep, and would have returned to the attack, but that May, with a +stirrup-leather, laid the enemy dead. + +Ormsby sat down upon a block of granite, in great agony, and the +bushman, after a deliberate survey of the jeopardised limb, remarking, +with a gravity that startled even Frankfort, that "the sir must lose +either his leg or his boot," opened his clasp-knife, and skilfully and +deliberately cut the boot open, then applying his fine but useful teeth +to the quill, he tugged at it bravely, and drew it out with a jerk. A +clear jet of blood bubbled up from the wound, and Ormsby fainted with +the pain. + +The inflammation which followed was so great as to preclude the +possibility of riding far, and as, fortunately, the wagons were only +five miles in the rear, Frankfort deemed it wisest to return to them at +once, as he well knew Piet would not move in haste. + +Everything was as they had left it two days previously, although the +obstinate old wagoner had been told to follow as soon as the sore-footed +oxen had recovered, and they were now fit for their work. There sat +Fitje, stitching at her patchwork petticoat; there lay the herd-boys +beside the green-bordered vley; and there sat old Piet, in the glow of +sunlight, smoking his pipe. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +LIGHT IN THE WILDERNESS. + +Ormsby was thoroughly discomfited by his accident, and his impatience, +and unwillingness to apply the remedies prescribed by Fitje, duly +aggravated the inflammation: he would walk, he would bathe, and at last +was fairly laid prostrate for two or three days. + +Utterly disgusted, and intensely pained by the jolting of the wagon, he +listened one morning with complacency to May's information, that there +was a Dutchman's farm at the foot of a long, low hill in front. The sun +shone down upon the settlement, which at that distance looked fair and +pleasant; but May said it was but a desolate place within, for the +master was heart-sore. He had lost five sons in the last war; he had +but few cattle left; and whenever he began to till the land, he was told +by his neighbours--there were none within twelve miles--that it was not +safe to stay. The bushman had heard this two months ago from the Boer +himself at Beaufort, when he came there, in his perplexity, to consult +his fellow-colonists. + +Frankfort immediately thought of helping this poor man in some way, and +the cavalcade directed its progress towards the farm; but on reaching +it, they found it abandoned--"Silent all and lone." The house was +empty, the doors and windows open, the garden desolate. + +Both sportsmen agreed, that if this abandonment of the location was the +result of a rumour of war, it was high time for them to think of +rejoining their regiment instead of pursuing their expedition. Ormsby +would fain have had the cavalcade halt here for the night; but May +informing them that, if they would consent to advance three miles +further, they would find a halting-place within only two hours' distance +of the settlement of Annerley, a property belonging to a retired British +officer, Frankfort decided on moving on. + +The party proceeded slowly forward, the character of the country +changing at every step. The bush grew thinner; wide undulating plains, +dotted with ant-heaps, and here and there a dump of dwarf mimosas, were +spread before the traveller's eye; and as the last rays of light gleamed +in dying glory on the waste, several dark objects were descried moving +in a body at speed. + +Frankfort, by the aid of the telescope he carried, fancied he recognised +European horsemen. A slight indentation of the ground hid them from his +sight for a minute or two, and as they reached the elevation, the wide +hat, ostrich feather, long _roer_ (gun)--in short, the whole guerilla +air, bespoke the Dutch border colonists of South-Eastern Africa. + +At sight of the wagons, the party came galloping down the slope, and +approaching Frankfort in breathless haste, announced that the new +British commander of the forces, Sir John Manvers, had issued a +manifesto desiring the chiefs of the Gaika and T'Slambie tribes to meet +him in the neighbourhood of the garrison of Fort Beaufort, on the Kat +River, on a certain day; that the chiefs had hesitated, asking for more +time, to consult their councillors, which time was, of course, to be +employed in making ready; that the war-cry had already faintly issued +from the Gaikas, who only waited for the gathering of the tribes to +shout it aloud from the Amatola mountains; and that, as soon as the +warriors could be organised, an attack would be made upon the colonists. + +This mounted troop of stout and determined Burghers had been despatched, +by the commandant of a frontier outpost, to warn the farmers in the +north eastern districts of their danger; and, being loyal to the +Government, were proceeding, as far as they dared, to sound the alarm +among all the landholders who were considered to be discontented, but as +yet were not avowedly disaffected. These were expected to join a +Burgher force, ready for action, if called upon; while the farmers near +the colony were advised to put their homesteads in a state of defence; +and if this was difficult, from want of hands, or faulty position, to +establish _lagers_ (bivouacs), and bring their families together, for +the sake of security. + +It was further stated, that the rivers were rising, and the enemy +congregating along the bush-lined banks of the Fish River, ready to +pounce on stray cattle or hapless travellers; the troops were mustering +in the different garrisons, the new commander-in-chief was at Graham's +Town, ships with stores and reinforcements were daily expected at Algoa +Bay, and the greatest cause for anxiety was the uncertain state of +affairs among the Dutch beyond the Orange River. These, it was +supposed, had been fully conciliated by the visit of the late governor, +whose health had suffered from his fatiguing exertions in negotiating +with the rebellious Boers in person. By these able negotiations peace +had been established, and redress officially promised; but, strange to +say, the arrival of Sir John Manvers had been the signal for another +outbreak, and while Kafirland was up on one side of the Orange River, +the Boers were inspanning their oxen on the other, and preparing +sullenly to trek, roer in hand, and with wives, children, and all their +property in a train, headed by one Vander Roy, a clever fellow, and as +ambitious as he was determined and persevering. Having delivered this +news, and refreshed themselves with sopies of French brandy, the young +Burghers touched their hats, the officers bent over their horses' necks, +and were off at a hand-gallop. + +Ormsby had laid aside his novel at the approach of the riders, and +leaped out of the wagon to hear the news. At the prospect of war he +sent up his hat into the air with a shout, and telling May to +"up-saddle," would have mounted his horse, and insisted on at once +riding forward to Graham's Town. + +He made no allowance for difficulties; he thought not of swelling +rivers, of a lurking enemy, ready to seize upon the horses of +unprotected travellers; he would have taken May and one of the +wagon-drivers with him, and left Frankfort on the instant; for the +latter, though brave, was not rash, and had no idea of such a mad +project as leaving the cavalcade behind, and starting headlong on a +journey of two hundred miles, with horses quite unfit for it. Besides, +he did not expect May to leave both wife and child to the tender mercies +of the dogged Piet; and in short, to Ormsby's infinite disgust, he was +told that haste was out of the question: they must make what way they +could to Annerley, and there act upon the intelligence with such means +as circumstances afforded. If fresh horses could be procured, a couple +of armed guides would be sufficient, and the cavalcade of wagons and +attendants could, for the present, remain behind; besides which +difficulties, Ormsby's foot was too much inflamed to permit him to ride. +On what small hinges do great doors turn! + +Evening fell, heavy and gloomy; the atmosphere was loaded with an +unpleasant vapour. As night drew on, the exhalations floated above the +earth in thin white mist, and as this increased, the travellers could +scarcely see a foot in advance. The road, or rather track, was +grass-grown, the wheels sunk into the sward, and moved noiselessly +along; there was no echo of the horses' feet upon the turf, and as if +the stillness or nature had effect upon the party, not a word was +uttered. Altogether, the vehicles, with their white canvass coverings, +the impish foreloupers, the attendant guides, and the riders, who kept +close to the two foremost wagons for fear of losing their way, all +gliding silently through the shroud-like vapour, might have served as an +illustration of one of the scenes in that delicious romance of "Undine." +They looked as if they must vanish and melt in the snow-white cloud, +wreathing itself closer and closer round them at every step. + +May was wide awake; his keen eyes were riveted to the ground, watching +the slight undulations made by occasional wanderers in the wilderness, +and if his eye failed him, he knelt down, groped about the path, and +having found it, led the way beside the foremost forelouper. Poor, +patient, honest May! how Ormsby muttered his discontent at thee for +being "encumbered" with thy wife and child! How unthinking was he of +thy daily aid! + +The dwelling for which they were bound, and to which May was so +carefully guiding them through the mist, along the almost trackless +waste, had been and was, for aught the bushman knew to the contrary, the +residence of an Englishman, who had been an officer. If still there, +they would ascertain from him, "whose word," May said, "was true," the +real condition of the country. If war had been openly proclaimed by the +English general, Frankfort admitted it would be madness to proceed, and +run the risk of being detained upon the banks of those densely-wooded +streams. + +Ormsby, like all self-opinionated, inexperienced men, would not admit +the necessity of bending to circumstances; he was for advancing "in the +teeth of the enemy. They would know better than shoot down, like dogs, +a couple of English officers. He should like to bag a leash of Kafirs +amazingly. He should send home a skull for his old governor's library. +He hoped there would be war with all his heart. He longed to knock over +some of those black tinkers." + +Frankfort listened quietly, smiling inwardly at the idea of Ormsby in +the bush in the rainy season, sleeping with his head in a pool of water, +and breakfasting on a hard biscuit and a cup of muddy coffee, without +milk or sugar; but he kept his communings to himself, and was not sorry +when he saw lights twinkling through the mist. They looked distant; he +put his horse into a canter, and in a few minutes was greeted by the +"deep-mouthed welcome" of the dogs of the settlement, + +Presently a door opened, but the lights were withdrawn; the butt-end of +a musket rang on the stone step, and a gentlemanly voice uttered the +words "Who comes here?" + +"Friends," said Frankfort. + +"Friends," repeated the voice aloud; the lights re-appeared, a group of +people filled the open doorway, and the owner of the mansion--for it was +a substantial building of stone--descended the steps, and advancing to +the gate, a Hottentot servant following with a lantern, held out both +his hands, saying, "Welcome; excuse our caution, friends and countrymen, +but it behaves us to be wary; for although the open plains are stretched +before us, we have a suspicious kloof to our right, and a chain of hills +to our left, which may contain some objectionable neighbours. The +mistiness of the night prevented our discovering the character of your +cavalcade, nor could we distinguish the usual crack of wagon-whips." + +And no wonder; for the driver of the foremost vehicle was sound asleep, +though sitting bolt-upright upon his box, and to Frankfort's +discomfiture, and May's terror, Piet had not come up. May had collected +the whole party together at a great vley some two miles off, and then +finding that Piet would not be foremost in the van, had moved to the +front as guide. + +As it was supposed, however, that he would arrive ere long, though poor +May had certain misgivings on the subject, Frankfort and Ormsby gladly +accepted Mr Daveney's welcome, and followed him through, what appeared +to them, a garden, for trees bent over the pathway, and the air was +burdened with perfume. + +Ascending the steps of the house, their host stood at the threshold, and +welcomed them again, ushering them, as he did so, into a large +sitting-room, which, though dimly lighted, was evidently furnished with +some attention to taste and comfort. "We are cautious, you see, in the +wilderness," said the host, and ringing a small hand-bell, he bade an +old Griqua, who answered the summons, bring more light, desiring him +further to inform the ladies, that the visitors were friends, and to +"send Erasmus for the gentlemen's saddle-bags." + +Frankfort and Ormsby surveyed their host with that interest which only +travellers in the desert can feel on opening communion with a countryman +and brother-soldier, for Mr Daveney stood avowed "a soldier every inch +of him." The erect carriage, and the kindly, but decided, tone of voice +in which he issued his simple orders, proclaimed his profession at once. +Of the middle height, of strong but slender frame, his life had +doubtless been one of activity and observation: the high, thoughtful +brow was divested of its early curls, but the well-shaped head was still +partially adorned with crisp grey locks; the eye was blue as heaven, and +shone with an honest light; the teeth were perfect, and of that hue +indicating a sound constitution; a grey moustache shaded the upper lip, +but, smiling as he spoke, a most agreeable impression was conveyed by +the contrast of these white and even teeth with the sunburnt face, +marked not so much by care, as with those lines which evince a deep +sense of man's duties to himself and others. The close observer will +often recognise the difference between the restless attributes of +anxiety and the calm thoughtfulness of a mind sensible of its powers and +intent on its responsibilities. He makes the discrimination almost +imperceptibly to himself, but is not the less guided by the impulse +arising from it; and thus Frankfort took the proffered hand of his host +with a feeling of interest he seldom accorded to strangers, and +responding to the light of the honest eye and hospitable smile, said, as +he lifted his hat with the grace of a soldier and a gentleman, yet with +his own frank and unaffected manner, "We are officers of the Eighty --th +regiment; this is my friend Ormsby, and I am Captain Frankfort." + +A door leading to an inner apartment opened, and a lady, followed by the +Griqua servant, bearing lights, entered, and admitting that she had been +somewhat agitated, "not alarmed," by the unexpected arrival of the +party, added, that supper would be served up with as little delay as +possible. + +There followed soon a young lady--yes, a young lady in the wilderness, +and the stamp of a gentlewoman was on her and on her mother. No +adventitious ornaments of dress, or the absence of them, can give or +take away this stamp; be it in the desert, or the court, the English +gentlewoman, in humble garb or courtly robe, needs no herald to proclaim +her position. + +Mother and daughter, in their simple costume of sober hue, were received +by our two wanderers with all the courtesy they would have paid "To +high-born dames in old ancestral halls." + +Ormsby was most agreeably surprised. Miss Daveney was of a charming +height, had fine hair, a gentle voice and winning manner, with a little +dash of coquetry, which in girlhood, as the result of innocence, is so +bewitching. She admitted, that her alarm had been great, for the news +from the colony was startling; her father, as the magistrate of the +district, held a situation of difficulty and responsibility; the Kafirs +had long been anxious for war, and within a few days, Mr Daveney had +been informed, on good authority, that the Dutch in the upper part of +the colony would not respond to the manifesto calling on them to assist +in the defence of the colony: "in short," said she--clasping her pretty +hands together, in an attitude of thankfulness, as she lifted her clear +eyes, honest as her father's, to Ormsby--"we really have been in some +perplexity, and nothing could be more opportune than your arrival. I +confess, I had some dread of remaining in the wilderness--yet, what are +we to do? My father must not desert his post; never were visitors more +welcome." + +And Ormsby fancied--vain Ormsby!--that though the welcome was intended +for both travellers, the smile was especially bestowed on him, and a +very piquant smile it was. + +But, dear reader, this pretty, animated Marion Daveney is not my +heroine; she is a fair, ingenuous creature, with sunny hair, and shining +eyes, and fawnlike step; but methinks you will be more interested in +Eleanor, who has not yet descended to meet the guests. + +Seated at the window of her little bed-room, she had sat looking out +upon the misty night, forgetting that she was alone, and that darkness +had fallen round her. It suited the mood of her stricken heart, veiled +within the shadows that had been cast upon it, and doomed to remain +there, as it seemed to her, for ever. Dim visions of childhood free +from care, passed bird-like among flowers and sunlight, rose at times, +and, like blue specks in a stormy sky, only made the clouds look heavier +and nearer for the contrast. + +She rose, paced the chamber, re-seated herself strove to gain courage to +join the family group--for she loved to please her father--but sunk down +at the idea of encountering strange faces. + +"The thraldom is over," said she, "the chain is broken; but the mark of +the fetter has burnt in its brand upon the heart. As spots upon the +green hills are seared for ever by the lightning's blast, so is the +blight upon my soul. Oh, youth, youth!--in some so verdant and so +fair--why has mine been scathed so ruthlessly?" + +She heard a step approaching, and, hurrying to the window-sill, appeared +to be looking out. The step was her father's, and, recognising that, +she opened the door. + +By the light he held, he looked sorrowfully at that young pale face. + +"My love," he said, "strangers have arrived, who will probably be with +us some days; do you think you can summon resolution to come among us?" + +"My dear father, I will do anything you wish," said the daughter; but, +as she spoke, she burst into a passion of tears. + +The father closed the door, and sat down with his arm round his weeping +child. + +Her youth--she was barely twenty--her sable garb, her beautiful hair +bound simply round her head, in token of mourning, instead of falling on +her bosom in its natural heavy ringlets--her sobs, emanating from the +depths of an aching heart, presented such a picture of desolation as +would have moved a stranger. Her father could only take her to his +breast, and clasp her there, as though he would say, "Lie here, my +stricken one, and be at peace." + +She understood him, for she loved him, she respected him, and she was +anxious, as she said, to do anything he wished. The overburdened heart +gained relief after this outburst of sorrow, and, rising, she said-- + +"Give me half an hour, father, and I will be with you. I am not +selfish, as you know." + +She kissed him, lit the candle on her dressing-table, and began to make +such preparations for her appearance as would prevent any remarks on her +agitated face and trembling frame, except in so far as might arise from +the arrival of the strangers under circumstances of excitement and +alarm. + +Some idea of Mrs Daveney's character in early life may be gathered from +a letter written to a friend in England some five or six years after she +had settled with her husband at Annerley--so, from certain associations, +she had named the residence--which, once but a mere farm, was now a +capacious and picturesque dwelling. + +"You will remember," says she in this letter, "my resolution to marry +for love; you ignored my principle of matrimonial life being all the +happier for mutual struggles, helpfulness one towards another; you +laughed at the idea of care and trouble being stronger ties between man +and wife than hours linked with flowers. Do you remember quizzing my +fanciful notion of the evergreen cypress-wreath and the faded +rose-garland? Nay, you often said I was too anxious for distinction, +for any kind of _eclat_, to marry _only_ for love. You know my story, +my orphaned state, my dependence--no, not dependence--my reliance for +protection on my kind aunt, and my departure from England. Hither I +came; I was honest in my first communication to you; I told you that the +admiration of the world had charms for me, which every pretty woman must +understand. You scoffed at my world, and I--how I laughed at yours!-- +Lighted rooms, conventional forms, worldly tactics, the same circles +revolving and re-revolving--Dinner-parties, where the host and hostess +sat revelling, not in the society of friends, but in the display of +plate, and cookery, and servants--Morning drives through interminable +streets, or between tall hedges, or monotonous parks--Evening visits +among crowds, where mothers came anxious to outdo their auctioneering +compeers in displaying their daughters tricked out for conquest, and +where daughters vied with each other in deceiving the world, by trying +to look as if they cared nothing about it; and where men sneered at +women, and boasted of being too knowing to be caught even with a gilded +hook. _My_ world, I told you, should be where self was not upon the +surface, as in yours; where Nature reigned supreme, and where earth was +peopled with men and women in whom thought was brought into action by +necessity. + +"And the opening chapter of my career in Southern Africa! how you +laughed at that, though in all good humour, because you were prosperous +at the time. Ah, what a brilliant colouring does the rainbow of hope +cast on all it falls upon! + +"There was no contempt in your gratulations at my _success_ on my first +appearance at a colonial _fete_, got up for my especial presentation. +Ah, Emily! I often think of that day. My dear, single-minded aunt, and +her husband, who had begun by being soldier, and turned merchant in +prosperous times; how pleased were they at introducing their niece, +fresh from England, while to me, life in Southern Africa seemed +delicious after the thraldom of school in murky old London. Bands of +military music, young and gallant gentlemen, all struggling for the +ladies' favour, a horse to ride, the prettiest that money could buy, and +Captain Daveney beside me, who _would_ teach me. Ah, what a day that +was! I remember it well, Emily--the repast spread on the green-sward +beneath a spreading oak; the champagne cooling in a nook, where clear +waters rippled over the stones; conversation by the river's side; then +the saddling our steeds by the careful hands of courteous cavaliers; the +canter home by moonlight, Daveney keeping his place beside me all the +time. We assembled at my uncle's house, and refreshed ourselves with +coffee; then we danced, resting in the verandah, all festooned with +vines and roses; then we strolled under the quince hedge in the bright +garden, and parted with smiles, gaily anticipating the morrow. + +"To you, with the wreath of strawberry-leaves floating before you, how +trifling, how shallow did all this appear! and how summarily, Emily, you +closed our correspondence with that daring quotation, in reference to my +contentment, and that you said I thought it `Better to reign in hell +than serve in heaven.' + +"The Court, the ball, the Opera, jewels, dress, carriages, horses, fine +houses, tribes of servants bowing down for hire, hundreds of +_acquaintances_, and no _friends_--these were your heaven, dear friend. +Duchess in perspective though you be, you will own some day that these +are but as a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. + +"I married Daveney--then came the solitary outpost; but love triumphed. + +"My English maid left me, to marry a man who now drives a pair of bays, +and I was fain to help myself. After this came the bustle and +excitement of an anticipated campaign, and we were encamped upon the +plains of Africa. Ah, Emily! you never experienced the hearty +good-will, the earnest kindness that such circumstances draw forth. + +"Fear there was at times, not for myself, but for my husband; but, thank +God! war was averted. Still, the idea of our common danger drew us +closer to each other, and the child born in that encampment, amid the +din of arms and clang of bugles, was dearer to us than others while it +lived. It died, poor babe, and I have now two daughters, of whose +welfare you shall hear, when you desire." + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +THE WAR-CRY IN THE MOUNTAINS. + +The kind uncle referred to by Mrs Daveney was imprudent enough to +speculate, and lost a large sum; but, wiser or better-principled than +most men who gamble, he forswore speculation for ever, and retired to +England, to live on the residue of his property. It had been his +intention to apportion his wife's niece on winding up his affairs; but +ready money in colonial commerce was at that time a dream, and as he had +fine available land in one of the most flourishing districts of the +colony, he proposed that Captain Daveney should leave the army, and take +possession of the land, which was excellent. A magistracy fell vacant +at this time, and, by Mr Morland's influence, was offered to Daveney. + +Thus the alternative was offered the soldier, of a plentiful estate, +with an excellent house, built indeed on the ashes of a former +homestead, and to be held by force of arms, but all preferable, as it +appeared to Mr Morland, to life with a regiment at home. The corps was +on the eve of embarkation, his wife on the eve of her confinement, and, +within a month of the offer, Daveney had "made his book" in his corps, +and, with a goodly stock of furniture from the kind merchant's store, he +bade adieu to his brother-officers, and _trekked_ from the town to the +wilderness. + +He promised his soldier friends he would see them all again before they +marched, and so he did, but from a distance. On the morning that the +Forty --th were to start from Graham's Town, he reached the hill +overlooking the green parade-ground at Fort England. The men were +hurrying from quarters, oxen were yoking to the baggage-wagons--men and +officers were fully accoutred--they fell into the ranks--he could see +some of them looking up the road--were they watching for him? The +regiment formed column, the band struck up "The girl I left behind me," +and Daveney's old comrades turned their backs upon him. + +He sat motionless on his horse, watching, with a swelling heart, the +long cavalcade of troops and baggage. He could see it all passing +through the wide streets of the great straggling African town. People +came running from their houses, waving their hands in token of farewell; +Daveney heard the soldiers cheer, and then, with something more like a +sob than a sigh, he turned his horse's head homewards, led it slowly +down the steep irregular pathway, let it browse upon the sweet green +pasturage, and sat down to shed a flood of tears. + +Still he felt he had acted, as far as he could judge, for the best. A +career of trust and command was before him. He was to think for others +as well as himself. He was in possession of house, land, and cattle. +He was to be umpire, in a large district, between the great powers of +might and right. He stood with ten talents in his hand, for which he +was to be responsible. + +A certain spasm shot through his wife's heart, as well as his own, when +the old uniform was laid aside for ever--the sword hung up, the number +cut from the forage-cap; but within her mind lay, deeper than in his, +the germ and elements of an unrecognised ambition. Had she been born to +power at home, she would have exercised it with the same lofty bearing +with which, on one occasion, in her husband's absence on duty, she had +set her house in array to receive a troop of savages, who had been seen +stalking, brand and assegai in hand, through the passes of the district. + +The letter we have quoted was but a girlish effusion. Still, the shrewd +woman of the world, the embryo Duchess, read her friend and playmate +aright when, on laying down this epistle from a soldier's wife, she +remarked to a friend who had heard its contents, "Africa will suit +Eleanor Daveney. In England she could neither be seen nor heard above +her compeers. I know her better than she knows herself. She is just +one of those who profess self-abnegation in their desire to be placed in +a sphere of usefulness, but whose enthusiasm would fall to the ground +without the excitement of success or applause." + +"There is some good sense, though, and much good feeling," observed the +other lady, "in all Eleanor says, and, without intending it, she has +placed her husband in a pleasant light. I should think he was just the +man to appreciate the good sense, and turn the warmth of heart to wise +account." + +"Yes, I dare say," replied Eleanor's friend, with an absent air, as she +walked to the window, overlooking Piccadilly, and watched the restless +thoroughfare through her eye-glass. Then a carriage, in most perfect +taste, drove up, a portly man, with a hook nose and rubicund visage, +descended, and the Duchess-elect forgot Mrs Daveney's existence for +many years, till her cousin Frankfort, by a letter, revived for a short +time the old association. + +But let future events develop the characters I have faintly sketched. +Supper is ready in the eating-room, and Mr Daveney, as we shall for the +future style him, having introduced his guests to his tiny +dressing-room, where they refreshed themselves with clean water and a +slight change of dress, taps at the door and waits to usher them to his +hospitable board. + +The sportsmen gladly acceded, and followed him to the dining-room, where +Mrs Daveney and two daughters awaited them. + +Frankfort's eye rested at once upon the pale face of Eleanor, the elder +of these daughters. He recognised the high thoughtful forehead of the +father, but the long grey eye, with dark lashes, resembled her mother's, +so did the lip, that had narrowly escaped being scornful; and, though +strongly resembling her mother, the features of the youthful face were +soft. But much older than that young fair face was the expression it +wore,--_wore_, for it was not natural to it. Was it the result of +mournful experiences? Yes, surely so, thought Frankfort, as Mr Daveney +took his daughter's hand, and placing her beside himself, introduced her +to his guests. + +She looked up, and bending gracefully to both gentlemen, her eyes and +Frankfort's met. Oh, the mysterious charm cast on the traveller from +the depths of those earnest, melancholy orbs! + +Ormsby soon found that both sisters had been, in Cape Town, Marion +within the last twelve months, visiting some friends of her father, who +were enjoying the Cape climate after the sultry sun of India. He was +fully prepared to admire his fair neighbour's bright eyes, and at the +same time enjoy the repast spread before him; it was plentiful, savoury, +and far from inelegant. Before the host was that first-rate Irish dish, +a cold shoulder of corned mutton, garnished with fresh, green, crisp +parsley; on lifting the cover from the side-dishes, a fragrant steam +arose, that warmed a hungry man's heart as he inhaled it. In one was a +fine cucumber, scooped hollow, and then stuffed with seasoned meat, and +stewed in rich sauce. In another smoked a famous Dutch _plat_, called +_La partje_, square inches of mutton, skewered on little sticks, dipped +in sauce, made of tomatoes and capsicums and eschalots if none better +offers, and toasted over a wood fire. A third contained a pile of rice, +white as snow; the next a _rechauffe_ of ox-tail curry; added to these +were potatoes, baked with their jackets on in the ashes, roasted +_meelies_ (Indian corn), so delicious when young, grated biltongue, +excellent butter, some delicious rolls, a household loaf on a trencher, +with a knife beside it, whereof the handle was of polished horn from the +head of the African gemsbok; then there was such preserved quince, and +marmalade, as a Scotchman's soul would have delighted in, to say nothing +of poached eggs, brought in hot after all had sat down. It was all like +magic to the travellers, and had they seen the old Malay in the kitchen, +with his mysterious contrivances, which no European cook would +condescend to understand, they would have been still more astonished. +He was an old creature, who had lived with the Morlands, and then +followed the Daveneys to the wilderness, where he had his own way, and +sent forth all manner of savoury dishes from a huge fireplace, without a +grate, before which he was seated all day, issuing his orders to an +assistant imp, something like May. + +There were no fine wines, no foaming English ale, but the Cape Madeira +made good beverage, mixed with water; and there was an old-fashioned +silver service before Mrs Daveney, from which she distilled coffee +clear as amber, and steaming milk; the table-linen was white as an +African sun can bleach it, and the light from two tall wax candles, +mantled in the cherry-patterned delf. The ladies took some coffee, in +compliment to their guests--what trifles place people at ease with one +another. Their light supper was long since over; but Mr Daveney, who +had been busy about his farm defences all day, enjoyed his meal the more +for the companionship of brother-soldiers. + +At the sound of Eleanor's voice, Ormsby, who had paid no attention to +her appearance beyond a bow, glanced across the table, and, with his +usual air of nonchalance, put aside the light on his left hand, that he +might have a better view of the speaker; and having satisfied himself +that the pale cheek and braided hair of the one sister was less +attractive to him than the radiant smile and sunny ringlets of the +other, he helped himself to the smoking _La partje_, and prepared to do +full justice to the good cheer he so little expected to find in the +wilderness. + +Frankfort, as he looked round upon this family group, entered with deep +interest into Mr Daveney's anecdotes of sport and peril--his anxieties +for the present, his projects for the future. They went back together +to the crowded homes of England, its pallid manufacturing children, its +cities with dark buildings jammed together, its thronged populace, +toiling; toiling on, with heaven's sunlight bricked out; its gigantic +schemes,--some successful, blazing up and illuminating the world; some, +like rockets, aiming at the sky, and falling in smoke upon the great +ocean of eternity; some lying in gloom, with hopeless projectors, whose +thoughts were to be seized and worked out by men who could and _would_ +be heard. They talked too, of the struggle of the better classes to +"keep up appearances," to "get their sons on," and their daughters +"settled;" they, who had scarcely wherewithal to buy food and raiment,-- +while here was a fair, plentiful country lying waste--a savage +hunting-ground--space for thousands--a wild and lovely country, awaiting +the hand of civilisation to make it prosperous and peaceful for all. + +Frankfort could see that to touch on domestic questions was tender +ground. His host turned the tide of conversation to the troubles of the +colony, its grand resources; and Mrs Daveney, as she listened to the +conversation, at times joining in it, said earnestly to Frankfort, how +she wished that such as he might stand up in the council-chambers of +England, and plead the cause of the colonist of Southern Africa. But +Eleanor only joined in the discussion with a smile or a sigh, as her +father's reference to past events demanded. Still, Frankfort read the +heart, as he looked into those deep eyes, and pondered afterwards on +trifling things, which would have escaped a man not enthralled with +their expression of deep melancholy. + +The meal ended, the ladies retired to a table, on which books and work +had been scattered in some confusion on the arrival of the sportsmen and +their wagons. The cloth was withdrawn from the polished oaken table; a +little kettle, with its spirit-lamp, was glowing beside Mr Daveney, and +he was about to blew some mulled Pontac, the rich red wine of the Cape, +when Frankfort begged to withdraw, in order to make inquiries concerning +the absent Piet. + +Some unusual sounds without had already caught the ear of the master of +the dwelling. The dogs were growing restless in the yards; the people +were astir in the outbuildings; and at the moment that Daveney and +Frankfort rose together to go out and reconnoitre, Ormsby comfortably +establishing himself in a camp arm-chair, brought from his wagon, the +door was thrown open, and May rushed in; terror was in his face, the +passage behind him was filled with servants, and, gasping for breath, he +exclaimed--"Master, good Master Frankfort, come out and see, come out +and listen; the fires are lighted on the hills; but that is not all-- +open your ears, and hear the war-cry on the mountains. Oh! master," +cried the poor bushman, in a voice of despair, "what shall I do?--my +wife! my little child!" + +Mrs Daveney stood up, silent, but appalled; Marion's cheek faded to the +hue of death; Eleanor went up to her father, and put her arm through +his. + +"My dear," said he, "you must summon all your presence of mind, for I +must go." + +"I know it, father, but tell us what you would have us do; the house is +already defensible"--the windows had been partially bricked up for some +days, in consequence of intelligence from the towns--"but you must +appoint us our places, if you are obliged to leave us." + +"Your mother," said Mr Daveney, "has had my instructions these three +days; she has an able coadjutor in you; but Marion is faint-hearted, I +am afraid." + +Excellent arrangements had indeed been made, in preparation for defence, +if besieged by the savages, which Mr Daveney could not think was +probable, from various circumstances. + +The enemy had got so much plunder lately, that he considered they could +scarcely have disposed of it with sufficient security to enable them to +go openly to war. He had many other arguments against a sudden attack; +but he was an old soldier, who knew that _there is nothing so likely to +keep a foe away as to be always ready to receive him_. Furthermore, he +never disdained advice, or scoffed at information, and he had lately +heard of immense stores of ammunition finding their way into Kafirland +in a manner incredible to him, but perfectly intelligible to the reader. + +The house, then, had been duly set in order. Arms and ammunition were +stored in a large closet adjoining the dining-room; small bags, filled +with sand, were ready to be placed against all apertures left to give +light; a room had been prepared by Mrs Daveney for the wounded, a table +spread with lint, tourniquets, and various salves and styptics; +provisions had been collected together in a store-room, where also stood +several barrels of water; and, in short, it would be quite possible to +hold out against assailants for many days. + +Unfortunately, the cattle, horses, and sheep were unprotected; the stone +wall and blockhouses, begun some weeks back, were yet unfinished. The +plan was admirable, but, owing to want of hands, required much time to +carry it out. + +But I must defer my description of these buildings till a future +occasion. May disappeared in the same frantic way he had entered, and +the master of the house having, with quiet decision, repeated his +instructions to his principal servants, and succeeded in calming his +younger daughter's terrors, proceeded to the _stoep_ of the house, +cautioning the inmates about displaying lights, and followed by his +daughter Eleanor. + +On emerging from the house, a scene was presented, so brilliant, yet so +terrific, as to mock the efforts of my poor pen in describing it. In a +few minutes the whole household were drawn together by one impulse in +the verandah; all the servants clustered in a group at the foot of the +steps. + +The plains which the travellers had journeyed over had to them been +invisible till now, that they were fairly lit up for miles round. The +mountains, stretching, as I have observed, from the left of the +homestead, and extending in a south-westerly direction, were enwreathed +with fire, clearly defining their shape and altitude against the glowing +sky. Some rose proudly to the heavens; some formed a dark but distinct +foreground; some were covered, others only dotted with burning bush, +and, from the most distant peak, crowned with its diadem of basaltic +rock, to the nearest acclivity, sloping seawards, these wreaths of vivid +flame blazed with steady splendour, illuminating acres of trackless +country. From the mountain-tops in the back-ground, great tongues of +flame shot up from time to time, lit the air for a few minutes, and +raided into darkness; anon, some answering light gleamed out from a +distant height, and so disappeared; thus, in all directions, these +luminous telegraphs sparkled and died away, while on the plains, at no +great distance from the settlement, a shimmer here and there proved that +the savages were astir in all directions. + +Mr and Mrs Daveney stood together, and held a parley; their guests +surprised at the steady reasoning of the lady, no less than at the close +calculations of the host. + +"These fires," said Mrs Daveney, "are the forerunners of an open +declaration of war; but I doubt their attacking the settlement, +especially to-night, for the scouts ere this will have told the tale of +a reinforcement at Annerley; you have been tracked hither." + +"The drought of this year has been nothing considerable," remarked her +husband, "and therefore I am inclined to attach some importance to these +illuminations, which are common at this period, when the earth is +parched, and the Kafirs improve the vegetation by burning the old grass +out of the pasture. Still, as there has been no public proclamation of +war--I, as a magistrate, must have received notice of it if there had +been--I can scarcely believe these to be signals of open defiance to our +authorities, however the enemy may translate them between themselves." + +"Ah! father," interposed Eleanor Daveney, who had wound her arm round +the trembling Marion's waist, "the rivers may have risen, the +post-riders may be shot, or their despatches seized." + +"Right, Eleanor--we know not what intelligence these luminous telegraphs +may convey from the Fish River to the Kei, while our poor heralds lie +dead in the bush. We may be thankful," continued the host, bowing to +Frankfort and Ormsby, "for our gallant reinforcement. Marion, are you a +soldier's daughter, and afraid?" + +The light--for it was clear as day beyond the house, the verandah +shading the group out partially--fell on the upturned face of the +frightened girl. + +"Not only for myself," said his daughter; "what would become of hundreds +in the district if you fell in a conflict with these savages?" + +Her father put aside the ringlets from her brow and kissed her. "Let us +hope for the best," said he. "If these demonstrations be hostile, +troops from the garrisons must be on the march; the colony is ill +prepared for war, and the Dutch farmers, to say the least, are +uncertain; but, if once the word to arm is given, thousands of brave and +ready burghers will be up and stirring; for, however incredulous the +authorities may have been, the settler has slept with arms in hand: and +now, let us hold a council of war." + +So saying, he opened a door leading from the stoep to the eating-room, +and, desiring Griqua Adam to arm the trustiest herds, and place them as +sentinels in the kraals and angles of the outbuildings, he sat down with +his family and guests to confer as speedily as might be on the present +emergency. + +What it was immediately necessary to guard against was the stealthy +advance of the enemy on the right; certain duties were also assigned to +the ladies; poor Marion's white lips sadly belied the readiness with +which she obeyed her father in telling off percussion-caps by dozens. +To be sure, Ormsby seated himself beside her to assist her in the task, +and the calmness of her mother and elder sister was her best incentive +to courage. + +A strange sight it would have been to English eyes to see Mrs Daveney +and her elder daughter bringing the muskets from the store-room, Mr +Daveney and Frankfort piling them in readiness for those whom Griqua +Adam had summoned to receive them in a trellised passage at the back of +the dining-room. + +In a few minutes a very fair plan of operations was sketched out for the +instruction especially of the two officers, each having a particular +post allotted him. + +Poor May, who had been patiently sitting on the stoep awaiting his +master's decision, at last tapped in despair at the door, which Mr +Daveney, a little disconcerted by the interruption, opened. + +"Ah! sir," said the poor bushman, "I am heart-sore for my wife and +child; they must be in danger, for these schelms are all round us. Come +out, sir, once more. Oh! master," observing Frankfort advancing, "the +_vrouw_ and the _kiut_ will be murdered;" and thereupon poor May-- +merry-hearted, honest, hopeful, keen-witted May--sat down upon the +ground, and cried like a child. + +"Something must be done, certainly, for this poor fellow," said Mr +Daveney; "let us at once arm the people, and steal out cautiously to +reconnoitre." + +Advancing to the right of the mansion, the two gentlemen looked up +towards the kloof; it was in profound darkness; but, on the krantz above +it, the dark figures of Kafirs, looking more like, demons than human +beings, were seen flitting about, and leaping from ledge to ledge of the +rocky precipices with firebrands in their hands. Below the _stoep_ some +of the Hottentots and Fingo servants of the farm, stood watching these +creatures, and calculating the meaning of every movement with a coolness +that gave Frankfort great confidence in their courage and sagacity. + +The distant signals still shot up at intervals like sky-rockets, and, as +May affirmed, were evidently questions and answers passing between the +Gaika and T'Slambie tribes. + +"See there," observed Mr Daveney; "at the very farthest ridge is a +gleam like a star, this is but a link in the chain which began in some +far valley within the frontier line, and is passing from hill to hill to +the distant bluffs overhanging the sea near the Kei." + +The servants were assembling in the trellised passage to wait their +master's orders, the ladies and Ormsby were still busied in the +dining-room, and Frankfort was intent on May's entreaties that a party +might be sent under his guidance in search of Piet's wagon, when the +deep stillness of the night was broken by a cry so unearthly, so shrill, +yet so strangely prolonged, that all stood still to listen. + +It was the war-cry of Kafirland! + +It came from the farthest mountain-tops, advanced as though a voice, +trumpet-tongued, passed over the hills, descended to the plains, rose +again, the echoes following it. Fainter, fainter, it dies away at last +into a wailing cry, only to be repeated at the starting point, taken up, +passed on as before, and sent again wailing through the great solitudes +from the Amatolas to the ocean. + +Silence, dread and profound, fell upon many tenants of the mansion in +that appalling hour. Mr Daveney and his guest re-entered the +dining-room--Eleanor had sunk upon a chair to receive her falling sister +in her arms, Marion's face was buried in her sister's lap; Mrs Daveney, +in the act of giving a musket to the Griqua, stood transfixed with awe, +for she well knew what that unearthly cry portended, and Ormsby had +opened the door leading to the trellised passage, and stood there with +the servants drawn up awaiting the orders of their master. + +We read of the heroines of old, who armed their heroes for the battle, +or went forth commanding armies; but it is not to such as these our +hearts yield the tribute of earnest admiration: that calm fortitude, +which stands in better stead than the daring elicited by excitement-- +that dignified resignation, which prepares itself to meet danger--that +self-abnegation, which sets aside all difference of opinion, and unites +with all ranks of life in the common cause of defence, is worth all the +sudden impulses of bravery which history has immortalised. The records +of our colonies would furnish forth subject-matter for many a bard; but +they want, so to speak, dramatic colouring, though one would think the +terrific scenes of blazing homesteads and blood-stained hearths were not +without what reporters would call "effect." Verily, our English +settlers' wives, with their patient, work-a-day endurance, would need +the pen of a Goldsmith or a Crabbe to set them in their proper light. + +Eleanor Daveney would have made a charming foreground for such a picture +as men like these have loved to draw. + +Mrs Daveney issued orders in conjunction with her husband, apportioned +to each man his store of ammunition, loosed to the priming of the +muskets in the hands of the herd-boys, who were more accustomed to the +assegai and the knob-kierrie than to our firearms; but Eleanor, while +she soothed her more excitable sister's fears, had a word of +encouragement for every one; and, rousing Marion, bid her accompany her +to the stoep, and comfort the women, who were there huddled together in +mute terror. + +Poor May, who, in the extremity of danger to the household, could not +obtain a hearing, now rushed past the sisters like a madman, and, +springing over the gateway, sped out into the wilderness. They could +hear the terrier yelping at his heels ever so far, and Frankfort, +thoroughly dismayed at the idea, at once gave his faithful bushman up +for lost. + +Eleanor had some comfort for him. + +"These defiances from the hills," said she, "are so decided, that there +is no doubt the assegai hangs over our heads by a single hair; still the +object of these creatures is plunder. When they attack the settlement, +it will be in a quiet guise. If May keeps his wits about him as he +used--as he used to do--he will find his way uninterrupted." + +"Ah!" said Frankfort, "you have seen my friend May before?" + +Eleanor hesitated, but only for a moment, and replied-- + +"Yes, we remember him when quite a boy." + +Candour evidently prevailed over a seeming reluctance to refer to the +past; and yet there was nothing singular in Eleanor Daveney's +remembrance of May, who had been employed from childhood about the +English quarters and locations. It was simply her sudden pause, +hesitation, and hurried tone in admitting the truth, which had attracted +Frankfort's notice. + +Ormsby, on hearing the bushman had sped into the wilderness, grew +furious with Piet, and wished Frankfort had taken his advice in +forbidding Fitje's accompanying her husband. Frankfort reproached +himself for not riding in the rear of the cavalcade, and keeping the +party together, but time was too precious for unavailing regret; it was +deemed prudent to close and secure the front of the dwelling, Eleanor +consoling Marion by reminding her that, for the present, the war-cry of +Kafirland was their best personal security, since "you know," said she, +"that unlike the honest faces of civilised lands, the Kafir comes not +with beating drum and flying standard; and the settler of South Africa +is safest when face to face with his wicked neighbour. Yet," added +Eleanor, "why should I call the Kafir wicked?--it is not for me to +judge." + +Again there arose that shrill, terrific war-cry. Marion shuddered, and +wound her arms round her sister's slender waist. + +"Poor wretches!" said Eleanor, lifting her mournful eyes to +heaven--"poor misguided beings!" and, clasping her hands, her lips moved +in inaudible prayer. + +Frankfort watched her as she implored Heaven in behalf of the unhappy +savages, and could not help contrasting her mild courage with her +mother's authoritative air of resolution and her sister's utter +helplessness and terror. + +All night long the little garrison of Annerley stood to its arms, the +sentinels immovable at the outposts, Daveney and Frankfort going the +rounds at intervals, Ormsby in command of the party guarding the +rearward premises, his head-quarters being the trellised passage, from +which he occasionally looked in upon the ladies. He had been +particularly requested by his host to act under the directions of the +old Griqua, who had been a soldier in the Cape Corps, and whose +experience was invaluable; and, what was more than Frankfort had +expected, Ormsby had the good sense to see this, and acknowledge it. + +Daveney, albeit far from easy as to the safety of his family, would not +permit his domestic troubles to interfere with his duties as master of a +household. + +Once, when on his rounds with Frankfort, he looked in upon the group, +and asked how all went on. Marmion had made his way into the +sitting-room, and stretched himself at Eleanor's feet, with his black +muzzle to the ground, and ears and eyes wide open, keeping watch and +ward over the group. Marion lay on a couch, her head pillowed on her +sister's arm, and fast asleep, her ringlets hanging, all dishevelled, +round her, and Mrs Daveney's anxious gaze was riveted on a loop-hole +looking eastward, watching with weary heart the long-coming of the dawn. + +So wore on the night. The fires on the hills died away; the gorgeous +sun, opening his gates of glory, came forth to dispel the smoke and +vapours that obscured the distant mountains and floated over the plains; +the night sentinels were relieved, and other watches set; the house was +put in order for the morning refreshment, so much needed; the herdsmen, +well armed, led the cattle to the open ground fronting the settlement, +and the ladies retired to their own apartments for a while. + +Frankfort then expressed his deep anxiety about the missing members of +his train; but as it was considered by his host highly imprudent to +reduce the force of the garrison under present circumstances, there was +nothing for it but to leave May to his known sagacity, and hope that old +Piet had not brought himself and others into danger through his +obstinacy and imprudence; for there was no denying that the vley +indicated by May as the outspan was flanked on one side by a dense bush, +a notorious haunt of Kafirs. + +Our two sportsmen were ushered by Mr Daveney into a tolerably-sized +apartment, divided by a wooden partition running little more than half +way to the roof. Everything was in the most homely style, but +exquisitely neat. In each domicile was a small camp bedstead, table, +chair, and chest of drawers, all manufactured by their ingenious host. +Sheepskin mats were spread on the earthen floor, and the walls, +originally white-washed, were gaily papered with manifold prints and +engravings from some of those publications which, for the last fifteen +years, have taken England and her customs through the length and breadth +of the earth. The windows were, of course, partially screened by +brickwork; but the sun pierced one of the loops, and shed its rays on +the picture of a popular _danseuse_. Frankfort would have smiled at the +associations called forth by such an anomaly, but his heart misgave him +about his faithful servant, and though he lay down, he could not rest, +and he longed to start in search of May; but that would have been +absurdly imprudent. + +At noon the cattle herds came running in, to say that horsemen were in +sight; and Daveney, on examining the defile behind the settlement, +descried, to his great satisfaction, a party of burghers, headed by an +escort of Cape cavalry. + +In five minutes they were at the gate, the state of their steeds +indicating sharp riding. Daveney stood with open doors ready to receive +them, and the officer in command dismounted, and presented an official +packet. + +It announced that the Commander-in-Chief, Sir John Manvers, had reached +the frontier; that, deeming it prudent to await his reinforcements, he +had projected a meeting with the Kafir chiefs at the base of the Amatola +range; that, for the present, open hostilities were suspended; that the +Eighty --th had been selected, as the weaker corps, for garrison duty. +Daveney was instructed to put the district under his authority on the +_qui vive_, and to send the General such intelligence as he could +gather. It was anticipated that the meeting in Kafirland would not tend +to a peaceful result, as Sir John had to propose terms most distasteful +to the tribes, who had long been bent on war. "And so," said Captain +Ledyard, coolly dusting his boots on the steps, and looking round on the +unfinished defences, "the sooner you throw up your outworks, Daveney, +the better." Captain Ledyard had, from his bivouac at night, witnessed +the warlike demonstrations on the hills, and pronounced them as evincing +the resolution of the war party in Kafirland. It was very natural to +believe that the Kafir scouts had seen his fires, and carried the +intelligence to the chiefs, that troops were on the march. The warriors +had therefore evidently delayed offensive operations till it, was +ascertained whether more were following. + +"You are too well accustomed," said Ledyard, "to guard against stealthy +attacks, to require any caution on that head; but it is amazing to think +how these devils have supplied themselves with ammunition. Within six +or seven months, they must have completely stored their magazines +afresh. I see, too"--and here the colonial soldier's experienced eye +scanned the defences of the homestead--"that your house is roofed with +zinc; but I do not like the glen in the rear. It is well named the +`Devil's Kloof.' However, you did not choose the site of your farm +yourself, my good brother-soldier, and you will make the best of it, and +give your enemy a good peppering from the loops." + +So saying, he entered the house, where he was introduced to the two +officers, who, on hearing that their regiment was the one selected for +garrison duty, resolved on not rejoining it at present. It was clear +they could be useful to their host, and had more chance of smelling +gunpowder where they were than if they returned to their corps. + +Such refreshment as the times allowed was spread in the darkened +eating-room for Captain Ledyard, while his followers bivouacked in +front, and a sheep was killed, skinned, cut up, and eaten, within half +an hour after the arrival of these welcome visitors. + +As they were to halt till the cool of the evening, Mr Daveney proposed +that poor May's footsteps should be traced, while the sturdy burghers, +resting on their arms, kept guard over his people; so, with a knowing +old Hottentot, and two Fingoes, the latter on foot, the host and +Frankfort well mounted, pistols in their belts, and rifles slung ready +for use, started for the vley, where Piet had lingered on the midnight +march. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +THE GATHERING OF THE SETTLERS. + +Anxious as Frankfort was concerning the fate of his attendants, thoughts +of his host's daughter Eleanor _would_ rise as he rode silently beside +Mr Daveney on the expedition in search of Piet the obstinate. + +Within the last twenty-four hours of his existence a new chapter had +been opened before him in his book of fate--it was not his own inditing. +Frankfort, although not the man to be attracted by a mere pretty, +interesting face, had been taken by surprise in the desert. He had +never been a trifler in those showy circles in which Ormsby was wont to +flutter; he loved books, reflection, and but for his sporting tastes and +military talent might have been considered by his brother-officers a +"slow man." Albeit courteous by nature and education to the gentler +sex, and less uncharitable towards its failings than many more favoured +than himself, he never could bring himself to "philander," as Ormsby +designated flirting, for which the latter had a cruel capacity. + +But this sorrowful, gentle-looking being would have drawn Frankfort to +her side anywhere--so he thought. + +Certainly, the circumstances attending the introduction of our +travellers to this family had brought out features in the character of +all, which placed them in a strong light before the young men, who +naturally yielded to the influence of the fair daughters of the +wilderness. Ormsby was attracted at once by the merry-eyed Marion; +Frankfort's contemplative mind dwelt on the care-worn face and dignified +calmness in the midst of dangers displayed by Eleanor; and now, as he +rode beside her father, he found himself going back to the first moment +of meeting, and counting, as it were, every link in the chain that he +felt had been silently, but surely, cast around him. + +Her quiet courage, her steady reasoning, her unconsciousness of display +as she stood amid the clatter of arms, the centre of a group of uncouth +creatures, so strongly contrasted with herself, as they received the +weapons of death from her hands; the mysterious sadness that superseded +all other feeling, clouding her young brow, and influencing the very +tones of her voice as she addressed words of comfort and encouragement +to her sister, who, like all volatile people, had been struck down at +once by terror--all those attributes, so rare in woman, or so seldom +developed--(perhaps for want of opportunity--that is a mighty word, +though all men may not know it)--would have impressed Frankfort, had the +possessor of them been the plainest woman in the world. + +So he fancied. But was any man ever yet attracted _at once_ by a plain +woman, simply _because_ she displayed courage, tenderness, or was +visibly unhappy? + +Trace the cause to what source you please, our reflective, reasonable +Frankfort could not banish Eleanor from his thoughts; and he found +himself replying vaguely to some of her father's remarks, till the +latter, as he put his horse into a canter, observed-- + +"This creature, you see, is perfectly trained; he is seldom ridden by +any one but my daughter Eleanor, who is an excellent horsewoman." + +"Ah! he is Miss Daveney's favourite, is he?" said Frankfort, struck for +the first time with the graceful action of the animal. + +"My daughter _Eleanor's_," said Mr Daveney--"Mrs Lyle's." + +"Mrs Lyle! I was not aware"--and a sudden glow suffused the manly face +unused to blushing--"that--that the young lady was married." + +"She is a widow," answered Mr Daveney; and then he abruptly changed the +subject, as, settling his reins, he directed Frankfort's attention to a +wild pass on the left, in which he had once had an adventure with +Kafirs. + +Married! a widow! so young! Frankfort was astonished--yet what was it +to him?--His host evidently thought so too; for, having set him right as +to his daughter's position, he began talking on other matters. + +Mr Daveney pointed out many a covert, whence, he said, probably some +dark spirits were looking down on them, but unwilling to show themselves +on the open plains. They soon sighted the vley; but it was necessary to +be cautious in approaching it, in consequence of the dense bush with +which it was partially bordered. + +The keen-eyed old Hottentot gave it as his opinion, that no body of +Kafirs was concealed within, as the birds were swaying in the branches +of the taller trees, and the ground showed no sign of fresh _spoor_ +(track, footmarks). From the spot at which the party halted, only a +portion of the vley was visible, and Mr Daveney was beginning to +consider at which point they were to commence their reconnoitring +operations, when Ormsby's bloodhound dashed into the copse, and came +back whining and importunate. + +Both gentlemen dismounted, gave their horses to the Fingoes, and, +despite the caution of the Hottentot, followed the beast into the bush, +their arms ready. Klaas, seeing this, entered it with them; the dog +leaped in, and the three creeping after him on hands and knees, Mr +Daveney put aside a bough, and within a yard discovered Piet lying on +his face--dead. + +They turned him over; he had been stabbed in the chest by an assegai, +and had doubtless crawled into the thicket to die, for a bloody track +crimsoned the green leaves beyond him. + +But where were May and Fitje and the child? Klaas scrambled through the +copse as fast as he could, and the others, shocked at the sight, drew +back instinctively. + +On emerging from the bush, they found one Fingo with their horses, who +informed them that his comrade had discovered the wagon, or rather the +remains of it, for it had been set fire to. On reaching the side of the +vley where the shattered vehicle lay, they were all greatly relieved at +hearing May's voice issuing, apparently, from the depths of the earth, +and next his head appeared above ground, then Fitje's, and, at last, the +impish, roguish, yellow countenance of the child. + +Kafirs had been concealed in the bush beside the vley the preceding +night. Piet owed his death to his obstinacy. Jealous of May's +authority, he had dawdled behind in spite of Fitje's entreaties to keep +close to the other wagons; the more anxious she became, the more dogged +was he; and, laying the long whip across the roof of the wagon, he +folded his arms, and left the oxen to crawl as they liked along the +pathless waste. Fitje resigned herself to circumstances with true +Hottentot philosophy, and, tying down her _douk_, wrapped her patchwork +petticoat over her child, and lay down within the vehicle to sleep. All +at once she heard a groan; something rolled off the box and obstructed +the fore-wheel, she looked out into the waste, and three dark figures +gibbered at her in the mist. She thought she was dreaming, but she soon +_felt_ she was not; a strong arm dragged her out, and flung her on the +ground, and she saw her child lifted up, about to be impaled most +likely, when one of the men, whom she discovered to be Kafirs, flung it +from him, remarking, "it was a girl, and not worth killing." + +Poor Fitje snatched it up, and remembering that, while outspanning at +the vley, May had indicated a certain spot as a pit-fall for wild +beasts, she crawled thither with all speed, while the savages were +intent on rifling the wagon. She crept into the welcome covert--there +was the skeleton of a wolf in the pit; but "misery makes us acquainted +with strange bedfellows," and so poor Fitje thought little of her +ghastly neighbour, but lay in dread of being dragged out, stifling poor +Ellen's screams as well as she could, till the glad sound of Spry's +shrill bark told her help was near. + +She sat up, listened in agony, lest the enemy should still be lurking +about; the wagon was yet burning, and her fears increased as she +remembered that one of the packages especially commended to her care was +a case of gunpowder. Careful May, however, always in doubt or dudgeon +about Piet the obstinate, had that very morning removed it to safer +keeping; but for this precaution, it would have fallen into the hands of +the enemy, or, by exploding, destroyed the lives of all near it. + +She took heart on hearing May's low whistle near her, for he soon +guessed the hiding-place of his keen-witted _vrouw_, and, descending +beside her, set her fears at rest. + +The ladies of the household were standing at the gateway, watching for +the return of the party with no little anxiety. The distance was short, +the plains open, and commanded by a mound behind the settlement, on +which a vidette had been placed; but still, after the shock their nerves +had sustained the night before, they trembled for the safety of the +reconnoitring party as soon as it was out of sight. No reason will +subdue a woman's fears for others, and Captain Ledyard talked in vain. +They listened anxiously for shots, and felt certain the vidette could +not reach Mr Daveney's people in time, if attacked, never thinking of +their own critical position in such a case. Marion--bright-eyed +Marion--saw them first. "Safe, mother, safe; and there is a little +creature on foot with the Fingoes, and a woman, and--" she gazed +intently on the coming horsemen, whose pace was slackened for poor +Fitje's sake--"oh, mother! Eleanor! some one is leading a horse, and--" +she clasped her hands together in a convulsion of terror--"something is +slung across it--a human creature--a man--he must be dead!" + +Captain Ledyard shaded his eyes from the sun, and said nothing; Mrs +Daveney stood tranquil, but with lips white and quivering; Eleanor +opened the gateway, and stepped out to have a clearer view across the +plains. + +"I see my father," said she, "in advance--I know the horse's pace." + +"Thank God!" exclaimed Mrs Daveney; Marion burst into an hysterical fit +of weeping upon Eleanor's bosom; and, this great terror removed from +their overcharged hearts, there was space for more rational thoughts. + +"It may be the unhappy driver Piet," said Eleanor, and as she looked +again, she recognised Frankfort with her father. He took a handkerchief +from his breast, and waved it. It was a good sign, she felt, and as +soon as the pedestrians were within safe range of the settlement--for +they had to pass the mouth of the kloof--Daveney and his guests galloped +forward. Eleanor's conjecture, as the reader guesses, was right. The +old Hottentot had laid the body of the murdered man across his horse, +and brought it to the settlement. + +Frankfort was still in some doubt as to the fate of one of the +foreloupers, but May had a notion "the little _bavian_ (monkey) had +escaped;" and, on taking the horses to their stables, sure enough there +was the imp, leaning idly and unconcernedly against a gate, with a hunch +of bread in his hand, and a broad grin on his black shining face. + +At sunset, the herdsmen having dug a grave, May and Griqua Adam buried +the miserable old Piet, and piled some stones above him, to save his +remains from the wolves; but when the farm-servants ventured out next +morning, they found the grave had been rifled, and, by chance, casting +their eyes, in the course of the day, on a jutting krantz, lit by the +sun, they discovered the wretched creature's body impaled on a scathed +oak, round which the asphogels were sweeping, eager for their hateful +meal. + +In a day or two, some of the farmers of the district arrived, bringing +with them their families, and proposing to establish a bivouac on the +plains. This Mr Daveney at once acceded to; but, deprecating the +system of leaving the homesteads as lurking-places for the enemy, he +laid his own plans of defence before the colonists, who, satisfied that +their women and children would be under safe guardianship with the +little force the magistrate could organise, consented to return to the +principal farms, and garrison them at once. "Hurrah!" cried a sturdy +young settler, with a complexion bronzed from its original English hue +to the swarthy colour of the Hottentot; "I said we ought to make a stand +for the credit of Old England. I never saw the mother-country, as you +call her, but I have a respect for her, and I take it, the crack of a +few Brummagem rifles will stop the mouths of these yelling devils long +before she takes the trouble to send us soldiers. Well, I suppose she +intends it for a compliment, and thinks we are able to take care of +ourselves; and so we are." He stooped from his saddle to receive a +parting token from a pretty creature, who had been making her toilette, +after the trek, in a cumbrous but cozy old wagon, and who, though +sunburnt, looked as fresh as any girl on a fair-day in England. There +were tears gathering in her eyes, but she brushed them away, and bidding +"God speed him," with an attempt at a smile, dropped the curtains of the +vehicle, as he galloped in hot haste after his companions, far in front, +with Mr Daveney at their head. + +For Frankfort, well instructed by his host, and tolerably experienced in +the warlike character of the enemy he had to guard against, was left in +command of the settlement for the present; in a week Daveney's +magisterial duties in the district would terminate, and he would return +with safe escort. + +These had scarcely departed, ere the good missionary, Mr Trail, arrived +with his wife and children, and begged for room to outspan; but Mr +Daveney's dwelling was of India-rubber quality, for a room was offered +to the Trails, and they accepted it; but, occupying the wagon by night, +this apartment was appropriated by Mr Trail for school purposes; and +the night after the magistrate's departure, as Frankfort and Ormsby were +returning from their superintendence of the outworks, they were taken by +surprise at the sound of the Evening Hymn chanted in good harmony by +some thirty voices. + +Frankfort instinctively lifted his hat from his head; Ormsby remained +covered; there was silence, then the door opened, and a motley +assemblage walked forth decorously: there was the broad-chested, +square-faced Dutch vrouw, and her children, sturdy as herself; the +Hottentot and Bechuana serving-girls, in flaunting _douks_; two or three +Kafir children, who said their fathers were in the bush; some +Englishwomen, wives of the district farmers, and their children, +blue-eyed and fair-haired, like their Saxon ancestors. Then came +Eleanor, Marion, and Mrs Trail; and lastly Mr Trail, with two little +bright-faced creatures hanging at his skirts. No, not lastly, for May +and Fitje, and their merry-eyed infant, brought up the rear. + +As the ladies stepped into the trellised passage, Ormsby raised his hat +and bowed--Frankfort said nothing; but he thought how one-half the world +did homage to the creature, forgetting the Creator. Ormsby followed +Marion into the house. Frankfort waited to address Mr Trail, with +whose reputation he was well acquainted; but he was prevented in his +purpose by hearing Eleanor say to the missionary, "You will come to me, +then, in five minutes. I have much to tell you. You can scarcely feel +sorrow; but you will certainly be shocked." + +She stopped suddenly, seeing Frankfort standing at her side; a glow, +like sunset upon snow, mantled on her marble cheek, her eyes fell to the +ground, and her embarrassment was only relieved by the sound of Mrs +Daveney's voice calling to her to come and assist in some household +concerns. + +Mr Trail apparently did not notice what I have related; he gave his +attention at once to Frankfort, who was desirous of having all the +defences completed before the host's return. + +It was no easy matter to enclose hastily a number of scattered +outbuildings, occupying nearly two acres of ground. The wagons formed a +capital breastwork for the front of the dwelling, already tolerably +secure; the orchard and garden-ground flanking the rear were surrounded +by hedgework of the prickly mimosa, forming a kind of abati [Note 1], in +which picked men were to be placed as checks on the enemy's advance; the +stables, cattle, and sheep kraals, separated from the dwelling by a +miniature vineyard, were as yet scarcely defensible--the stone wall, as +I have before related, being stopped in its progress for want of hands. +But now a redoubt was in speedy progress, the entrances being protected +at night by piles of thorn-bushes; and the vineyard having in peaceful +days been irrigated by a mountain rill, there was abundance of water; +there was a chance of the supply being cut off by the cunning foe, but +tanks and barrels were to be filled, which Mr Trail doubted not would +last as long as water was required; for the plan of the defence was so +admirable, that it was scarcely probable the Kafirs would make an open +assault; still the cattle were a great temptation, and foraging parties +were daily bringing in fresh captures. + +"But," said Mr Trail, pulling out his watch, "I must leave you now, +sir, and at nine o'clock I propose assembling the family, and closing +the day with thanksgiving to the Almighty for the mercies with which He +surrounds us. We shall meet again then, I trust;" and leaving Frankfort +in the vineyard, the missionary returned to the house. + +What could this interview between Eleanor and Mr Trail mean? "Pshaw," +thought Frankfort, "what is it to me?" and then the mantling cheek, the +quivering lip, the trembling hand, on which he had discovered the mystic +ring guarded by a circlet--a gilded snake--came between him and his +reason, and he paced the green retreat, regardless of the fading day, +till the moon rose high and clear, and the path was traced with the +graceful pattern of the vine foliage. + +Something glittered in the path, he picked it up; the moonlit atmosphere +of South Africa is so brilliant that the smallest handwriting is +legible; but what he lifted was a miniature of a lovely child. There +was nothing but the head, bending, as it were, from orient clouds; the +face was angelic, the lips rosy and smiling, the waving hair like +threads of gold in sunlight, the eyes with the pencilled brow +unmistakable. Was it a brother, sister, or child of Eleanor? He looked +at the back, and on an enamel ground was inscribed: "My Harry, born +April 18--died March 18--." + +"Eheu! Eheu! Eheu!" + +He put it carefully up. The bell, hanging in a large mulberry-tree, +under which the household assembled on Sundays to worship that God whose +presence lights the desert, was now struck by Griqua Adam, on returning +through the vineyard, reminded "the Sir," that "prayer-time was come;" +and Frankfort, re-entering the trellised passage, joined the family and +household servants on their way to what Ormsby already nicknamed the +conventicle, where Mr Trail awaited them with the Bible open at the +thirty-seventh Psalm. + +Frankfort was quite accustomed to hear men like Mr Trail called +"swaddlers," "humbugs," nay, terms were applied to them such as no +woman's pen can record; but though he felt what sorry representatives of +their societies some of these teachers of God's solemn will had been, he +was not one to censure the mass for the misdoings of the few; and +therefore, soldier though he was, his heart was moved as he looked on +the reader's calm, benevolent face, and heard him proclaim, in mild but +fervent tones, that "the meek-spirited shall possess the earth;" and +even Ormsby's eye glowed with something of enthusiasm as the missionary +lifted up his voice at the closing verse, "And the Lord shall help them, +and deliver them; he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, +because they put their trust in him." + +Frankfort could not help glancing towards Eleanor. She seemed +unconscious of any one's presence: verily, if by nature she was intended +for loftier purposes, some deep sorrow had stricken her, and she was of +a surety belonging to the "meek-spirited of the earth." Large tears +were stealing slowly and silently down that young and faded face, and +fell in diamond drops unheeded on her sable garb; there were others +weeping in that place of prayer besides herself but these sorrowed not +without hope. If she had hope, it was evidently not of this earth; and +Frankfort was more convinced of this every hour he passed in her +presence, a presence felt more than he liked to acknowledge to himself, +for she had evidently not a thought to bestow on him. + +Her mother's eyes were fixed upon her; Mrs Daveney was seated beside +the reader, Eleanor in a corner where there fell but little light. +Still the watchful gaze seemed to pierce the mourner's very soul, and +Frankfort, a keen observer of countenance, read in that mother's eye +anxiety, tenderness, yet something of reproach. + +"Let us join in prayer," said the teacher, and, for the first time since +he had left England, Ormsby found himself kneeling in a home +congregation. + +He could not follow the teacher,--he was back again in the old dim +library, a little boy, at his mother's side, with his hand clasped in +hers. Perhaps at this very hour [there is little variation of time +between Europe and South Africa] they were all assembled there,--master, +mistress, children, servants on whose heads Time had shed his snow, even +where they had then stood,--while the soldier son was wandering in +distant countries. + +But Frankfort forgot even Eleanor as he listened to the eloquent voice +of Mr Trail. The prayer opened with that fine verse from the ninth +Psalm, "Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail; let the heathen be judged in +thy right. Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know +themselves to be but men;" and at the close of it he added, "And it is +for you too, my friends, to know yourselves to be but men. It is the +arm of the Lord that shall prevail, and not an arm of flesh. We know, O +God, that thou wilt help us; but in His name who commands us to love our +enemies, to do good to them that despitefully entreat us, we beseech +thee to remove these blinded heathen from the blackness and the darkness +with which it has pleased thee to surround them. We know that they +would have our blood poured out like water, but do thou of thy mercy +teach us to subdue our hearts, as well as our enemies, and in the spirit +that bids us turn our cheek to the smiter, teach us charity to our +benighted brethren. Would, O Lord, that it might please thee to quench +the burning brand, and bury the war-spear in the earth for ever; but if +such be not thy will, go forth with our armies, Lord; make them strong +in faith, that in the name of the Lord they may do valiantly. We know +that thy cause must prevail; that the banner of the Cross, though it be +dyed in blood, must be planted wheresoever thy gospel shall be carried. +Help us then in this fierce strife, this mortal conflict for God and for +the right; and, even as thou wert a cloud by day and a fire by night to +the Israelites of old, be with us in this wilderness. Once more, O +Lord, once more, have mercy on our foes, and teach us from the depths of +our hearts to say in the words of Him who died that we might live, +Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." + +It was the sentiment, the tone, the fervency, and the simplicity, which +gave eloquence to this appeal, and Frankfort loved to join in the hymn +that closed the service, all standing; but, alas! habit has more to do +with human nature than the theory of right. The solemn song rose from +lips accustomed to the holy duty, and if Ormsby had little heed of what +was passing, his friend at least felt that there were things to be +searched for and known, whereof his philosophy had not yet dreamt,-- +those mysteries of good and evil which all the metaphysics in the world +can never penetrate, if the true light be wanting on the path that leads +to them. + +The blessing was invoked, the little congregation rose, and Frankfort's +thoughts were earthwards again as he remembered the miniature. + +There was no doubt in his mind to whom it belonged. But to whom should +he restore it? He was following Mrs Daveney into the sitting-room, +intending to place it in her hands, when Mr Trail drew him back. + +"A little accident has happened," said the missionary; "one of my +wagon-boxes broke in the hurry of our rough journey, and in transferring +the contents through the vineyard to the house--" + +Frankfort drew the miniature forth, and said, "Is this your property?" + +"It is one of the articles I have missed," replied Mr Trail; "I am +truly glad it is found." As he spoke, Eleanor approached, and seeing +the miniature handed from one gentleman to the other, looked eagerly in +the missionary's face, as though inquiring the meaning of what was +passing. Mr Trail drew her arm through his, and led her away, leaving +Frankfort mystified. + +He had been told this fair, melancholy creature was a widow. It was +clear she had been a mother, and she was now probably mourning the +recent death of her child; but why were these, apparently, secret or +forbidden themes? + +Then he reasoned as usual,--what was it to him? He was a stranger,--and +yet he could not be considered entirely such under present +circumstances, and how much, too, Mr Daveney had intrusted to him! + +He waited for some minutes, hoping Mr Trail would return, and accompany +him in his night rounds. He stepped into the verandah: the plains were +bathed in moonlight. The inmates of the wagons were retiring to their +rest; only here and there a light glimmered, or the feeble voice of an +infant and some mother's murmured lullaby wailed through the stillness +of the night; but Mr Trail and Eleanor were pacing the stoep in such +earnest conversation, that they did not perceive Frankfort, who withdrew +to his nightly duty. + +The cattle had been secured by Griqua Adam, the gates were closed, the +sentinels posted, and the outworks were nearly completed. Mr Daveney +was expected home on the morrow. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. Abati consists of trees with their branches shortened and +sharpened at the ends, and they serve as a chevaux-de-frize on an +emergency. + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +MYSTERY. + +Noontide in Kafirland! what a glow! A bold but popular authoress was +severely rated lately for the passage, "made twilight undulate." Truly, +in an African noon the atmosphere flickers like water. + +Not a sound, save the great bee, as large as a beetle, going whooming, +whooming, among the doricas and convolvuluses screening the verandah. +The locusts, all emerald and scarlet and gold, lie motionless in the +pomegranate hedges. The cattle stand panting in the plains, too much +exhausted to feed. The Hottentots are enjoying the sun in their own +way, either fast asleep, with their yellow faces turned upward to the +dazzling sky, or sitting smoking in the glare; and the dogs seek shady +corners, and breathe last and hard, with their pink tongues hanging out +of their parched mouths. + +On the reinforcement of the Annerley garrison, the Kafirs had deemed it +prudent to "sit still" in the hills. Doubtless, too, they were awaiting +the issue of the grand meeting in the Amatola valley. A certain feeling +of security for the present drew the inmates of the dwelling-house +together in various occupations. The ladies resumed their feminine +employments, and the mornings were passed in the entrance-hall, which, +like those of most South African residences, was fitted up as a family +sitting-room. + +It was a pretty cool retreat in general, but this morning the air was so +sultry, that every one felt listless--every one but Mr Trail, and he +was busy, as usual, in his school. The hum of the children's voices was +audible in the hall. Marion said it made her quite sleepy to listen to +it; she threw down her pencil. Ormsby sat looking at her over his book, +as he pretended to read, lounging in his camp chair. Mrs Daveney was +writing; but now and then she would raise her eyes to her youngest +daughter, and glance from her to Ormsby. It was evident that the young +officer's attentions to Marion were observed by the mother. Eleanor and +Mrs Trail were sorting books and work for the school, the Bechuana +teacher standing by, looking, as Ormsby said, provokingly cool. + +Frankfort sat with a book in his hand also, but attentively noting all +that was passing. + +He was beginning to feel a little uneasy respecting Marion, and the +thoughtless flirt, Ormsby--the girl so innocent, so fair, and barely +seventeen. He observed, too, that her sister, at times, looked +anxiously towards these young people, who always contrived to be side by +side, interested in some particular object or topic. + +Mrs Daveney finished her despatch, closed her desk, and begging Marion +to follow her, left the room. Marion pouted, but obeyed; Ormsby +retreated to solace himself with a cigar. Mrs Trail was sent for by +her husband, the Bechuana girl carried off the books and work, and +Frankfort and Eleanor were left alone. + +Frankfort was a man unaccustomed to violent emotions, and, as we have +shown, not usually susceptible of sudden impressions; besides which, he +had acquired a habit of reasoning with himself, when other men would +have been too selfish to see the necessity of it; but all the reasoning +in the world now would not subdue the throbbing of his pulses as the +young widow's dress swept past him on her way to the door. + +Mr Daveney was expected that night; the anxious daughter was dreading a +storm. + +"Ah!" said she, shading her eyes as she looked towards the hills, "this +bright day portends mischief, I fear. God grant my father may reach +home by sunset." + +A hot blast of air poured through the doorway. She closed it, and sat +down within a few feet of Frankfort. He felt she was on the point of +addressing him, and saw, by her embarrassed air, that what she was going +to say was not mere commonplace. + +"Major Frankfort," said she, after a short pause, "I am glad to have +this opportunity of addressing a few words to you on a matter of deep +concern to me. I am not going to speak of myself--my history cannot +interest you, although it must be clear to you that I am a joyless +creature--but I, claiming a right to judge and act for those I love, +because sorrowful experience has aged me more than years beyond them--I +venture to ask for a proof of your friendship, albeit we have been +acquainted little more than one week--" She hesitated--Frankfort looked +at her, her eyes were cast down, the tears were beginning to steal from +under the drooping lids; he could not speak, his heart was so full of +pity, and yet there were doubts mingled with this pity--was there any +self-reproach added to the bitterness of the anguish that oppressed that +stricken heart? + +He was thinking only of Eleanor, while she was intent on interesting him +in her sister's welfare--she brushed away the tears. + +"Ah!" said she, "how self stands between us and the impulses of good! +Here I have come, with the resolution to do my duty to my sister, and I +am alluding to my own vain regrets for what can never be amended--it is +of Marion I would speak, Major Frankfort. Your friend Mr Ormsby is +evidently a man of the world, who sees no harm in devoting himself to +any young creature who may take his fancy far the time. Will you pardon +my reminding you, that if you have observed this, it must suggest itself +to you--it must clearly be your--your duty, to speak to him? Alas, +alas!" added she, "I scarcely know how to address you on this most +painful subject; men are so apt to impute evil motives to women, whose +principles are honest, whose minds would be pure, but for the heavy +lessons learned from the other sex. Ah!" continued she, covering her +face with her hands to hide the blushes that crimsoned it, "can I trust +you--will you help me? Save my sister, my darling Marion,--save her +from the misery of a blighted heart. Oh, think, Major Frankfort, how +terrible a doom it is to dwell in the desert, with but the record of a +dream! + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"You would understand me better if you knew all--you would appreciate my +earnestness, my anxiety to shield my sister from a deadly sorrow, ere it +be too late. Ah!" she cried, clasping her hands, and speaking with more +energy than she had hitherto displayed, "if you should set down what I +say to wrong account--if you _should_ misunderstand me!--" + +"Believe me, Mrs Lyle," answered Frankfort, with great +emotion,--"believe me, when I say that, from the depths of my soul, I +understand you." + +He lifted his eyes to her face as he spoke. At the mention of her name, +"Mrs Lyle," something like a spasm passed across her features, and he +saw her slender fingers close convulsively together. His words admitted +of opposite interpretations, but the deep sympathy expressed in that +frank and earnest face was too manifest to be doubted for an instant. +Eleanor's eyes drooped beneath the melting gaze that fixed itself upon +them. It was long since she had received such silent but expressive +homage. She thought but little of it after the first instant of +surprise. She put no trust in man. + +The deep blush passed away, and left the cheek as cold and statue-like +as ever. She went on speaking of her sister. "It may seem," she +continued, "that I am assuming my mother's prerogative in opening this +subject; but I wish to spare both her and my father pain and anxiety +during this period of public harass and responsibility, and therefore, +relying on, or rather treating to, your generosity, I hope I may depend +on you to remonstrate with Mr Ormsby on his show of devotion to my +sister, since it can mean nothing." + +"But," said Frankfort, "is it fair to speak of it as a _show_ of +devotion? Your sister is one who would command admiration in any +circle. She is so charmingly fresh and innocent--so unlike the young +ladies who, as you say, would be pure in heart but for the heavy lessons +taught them by our sex, that, putting beauty out of the question, my +friend would be happy indeed in winning the affections of such a being +as she appears to be." + +"As she _appears_ to be! Oh, wise and cautious that you are!--more +merciful though than he, _you_ would not seek at first sight to win a +prize, believing it to be pure gold, and then reject it, because, on +nearer view, you discovered the dross of human weakness!" She spoke +with a bitterness which Frankfort felt was foreign to her gentle nature. +He had not been for ten days domesticated with this sorrow-laden woman +without discovering, in those trifles which mark the character, how +tender, how feminine she was! She ceased to speak--but he could not +withdraw his gaze from her earnest, mournful face. Every word, every +look, betokened the strangest associations of worldly experience with +the simplicity of a naturally trusting heart. The nervous trepidation, +the modest blush, the sweet, faltering voice, how deeply were they +contrasted with the resolute way in which she urged her right of +sisterly guardianship, and the opinions she permitted to escape her +lips, albeit unused to rebuke, or to the expression of ungentle +thoughts! + +By what silver cords are we often drawn unconsciously towards each +other! Frankfort, for aught Eleanor considered, might have been one of +those who thought ill of the female sex because he had received its +favours; Eleanor, for aught Frankfort _knew_, might be playing a part. +A mere man of the world would have suspected her of laying a scheme to +ensnare Ormsby for her sister's sake, whilst willing to attract himself; +but both were single-minded, honest-hearted people. The woman's heart +was full of anxiety, and she longed for help from a strong and steady +hand; she met with an open palm, and she accepted its assistance in all +confidence and security. + +They parted, Frankfort promising to put the matter in a serious light +before his thoughtless friend, Eleanor thanking him for her sister's +sake, and totally unconscious of the spell she was gradually weaving +round the hitherto untouched heart of the thoughtful, high-souled +soldier. + +He knew the weight of his influence with Ormsby. That night, after Mr +Daveney's return, Eleanor looked from her window into the avenue, +between the mansion and the gateway. Two figures were pacing beneath +the over-arching trees. Now they stopped and talked; now the slighter +of the two left the other, with an angry gesture, then returned; now +they were linked, arm in arm, and approached nearer the house. + +Eleanor had left her light in her sister's room, and Marion was calling +to her to say "Good night;" she was full of a ride next day. "How +charming, after being shut up so long! Papa even thought these might be +peace with Kafirland, after all. Some of the chiefs had sent him +messengers, with flags of truce, and at any rate the open plains would +be safe, and they should have a gallant escort, and--" + +Marion was rattling on, as she sat before her glass, brushing her bright +hair, which hung in great luxuriance over her white dressing-gown; but +hearing no reply from Eleanor, she turned round, and saw her sister, +with her head leaning on her hand, in her old abstracted way: jumping +up, she ran to her, and casting her arms--how dazzlingly fair they +looked against that sable robe!--round Eleanor's neck, she exclaimed, +"Sweet sister mine, how selfish I must seem; but I am so happy!--and +you--ah! you only answer me with your tears; but, my own darling, you +must not refuse to be comforted--you _must_ not." And she kissed the +high, thoughtful brow of the pale, sad face she loved. + +"Comfort, Marion! dear, bright-faced, light-hearted sister!--earth can +give me no comfort, no consolation; but I love you--I love _you_;" and +she took Marion to her bosom, and kissed her tenderly. "Consolation and +comfort are yet to come. Doubtless they _will_ come, but they have not +been granted me yet. Ah! `Sunbeam,'" she added, calling her by the +name a Kafir chieftain had applied to Marion--"`Sunbeam,' may no clouds +overshadow you!" + +She longed--oh! how she longed--to warn Marion of the thorns and rugged +ways of the path which looked so fair, with Love beckoning in the +distance, and smiling at the feet that stumbled in striving to reach his +temple, in which were many altars--some of triumph, most of sacrifice; +but she had not the heart to rend aside the veil. + +She gathered up her sister's radiant tresses, kissed again the rosy +cheek, and withdrew to her own little room. The moon shone through the +latticed windows, chequering the objects it illuminated: she +extinguished her light, and looked out into the avenue. Frankfort and +Ormsby were still there. On the right and left were the wagons: the +_lager_ consisted of some twenty people on either side, but all was +noiseless, save the pacing of a solitary sentinel, who waited for +Frankfort to go the midnight rounds. The latter hurried up the avenue, +and bid the man proceed, saying he would follow; and then she heard the +two officers exchange a friendly "Good night." + +"Remember," said Frankfort. + +"I will," replied Ormsby; "you are right, and I am wrong, my good +fellow." The rest was lost to Eleanor, who retired from the window. + +Another blazing day! Mrs Daveney established herself with Marion and +Mrs Trail in the cool dining-room; Eleanor was assisting Mr Trail in +the school; Frankfort was displaying his success in engineering to his +host, and was planning work for Ormsby and himself. + +Marion was more listless than usual, laying down her work--sad, stupid +work it was--coarse frock-making for those "wretched little +Hottentots"--and lifting up the dark moreen blinds to see if +thunder-clouds were gathering. "No; there were streaks in the sky like +great white plumes, there would be a breeze in the evening, and she +should have her ride." + +"Sit down, Marion," said Mrs Daveney, rather impatiently; "how restless +you are! it is impossible to write while you are wandering about the +room." + +Marion sat down, her cheeks in a glow, and stitched away in nervous +haste. Her mother noted all this. + +At the early dinner all the party met again. There was some change of +seats, in consequence of Mr Daveney resuming his accustomed place at +his table. Mrs Daveney's keen eye remarked that Ormsby was not at +Marion's side as usual, and then, to her surprise, she saw a glance of +intelligence pass between Frankfort and Eleanor. + +She recognised the meaning of this at once. + +The ride was again talked of, and Mr Daveney yielded to Marion's +entreaty "only for an hour's canter in the cool of the day." Eleanor +consented to go; that decided her father. + +You will have discovered, dear reader--I am always inclined to like my +reader--that Mrs Daveney was a woman likely to be a little jealous of +her own authority. It was fortunate that her husband was content to +_share_ his with her, otherwise there would have been struggles for the +real and the fancied prerogative, in which the high-spirited woman would +have surely conquered. She was certain that Eleanor had opened her mind +to Frankfort on the subject of Ormsby's devotion to Marion, and she felt +angry at being, as she considered, forestalled in her prerogative; and +Eleanor, you know, had some compunction in the matter too. + +You will have discovered, too, that between the mother and elder +daughter there was not that tenderness, of manner at least, which +existed between Mrs Daveney and Marion. Eleanor had been born during +the illness of that best-beloved being, who had entered the world when +dangers beset his parents--poor little quiet thing! she was set aside at +once, that this fragile creature might, if possible, be saved. He died; +and then there came, as consolation, the bright-eyed, rosy-lipped +Marion. + +But with the father, the gentle, dark-haired Eleanor had made her steady +way, and kept it. She grew up, to use a trite simile, like a violet in +the shade. No one thought anything of that colourless oval face, those +dove-like eyes, that intelligent brow shaded by heavy curls. There was +no promise in the thin, small figure; the gentle voice was seldom heard; +the smile not often seen; and it was with considerable satisfaction that +Mrs Daveney consented to let the delicate, drooping girl accompany her +father on a visit to the Governor's wife at Cape Town. + +The said Governor's wife, Lady Annabel Fairfax, was a relative of Mr +Daveney's. She had loved him in her youth, but he had never known +_that_; and now she welcomed his gentle daughter with that deep +tenderness which pure-hearted women feel for the children of those on +whom their first affections have been bestowed. + +But we shall have to refer to this part of Eleanor's history by-and-by. + +While she rides, her mother is pacing the verandah with Mr Trail. Good +Mr Trail, he is soothing that ruffled spirit, deprecating its jealousy +of authority in trifles; he analyses Mrs Daveney's motives, he sifts +them like wheat before her very face, and he condenses, in the +"half-hour's talk," almost the history of her moral life since her +marriage. He is a very old friend; he has been associated with her in +her husband's district for years; he has seen her children grow up, and +he loves them. + +He loves Eleanor best, though: we naturally feel most for those we pity. + +And Eleanor--she is riding side-by-side with Major Frankfort. Ah, take +heed, Frankfort--she has, as yet, no thought of thee! + +It was like a picture of a hunting-party in old times. Eleanor revived +to new life on horseback, and her bright bay steed rejoiced in the +precious burden he bore. She took the lead with Frankfort, leaving her +father with Marion and Ormsby. Poor Ormsby, he deserved some credit for +letting Frankfort arrange the reins for Marion; but the rosy lips were +pouting, the eyes reproachfully turned towards him, and he could not +resist the temptation of joining her in the avenue when her father fell +back to see that the escort following them was well armed. + +Start not, reader, at the notion of ladies riding for pleasure with +armed escorts in a heathen land. Many a time and oft have I traversed +these enamelled plains, too much exhilarated with the grandeur of the +scene to think of danger. + +Eleanor, in her dark riding-habit, fitting so as admirably to display +the graceful shape and easy attitude of the rider, a large, simple straw +hat shading the face, over which, under the influence of the refreshing +breeze, a hue like the inside of a delicate shell was stealing, was a +delightful picture to Frankfort, who had often longed to draw her from +the shade she always sought; and Marion, in a riding-dress like her +sister's, but with an ostrich plume wound round her hat, resembled one +of those saucy dames, who "went a hunting" in the merry days of vicious, +pleasant, witty Charles the Second. + +They scarce drew rein for four miles. There was no spoor of Kafirs, the +hills were silent, and there were herds of bucks gathered on the plains. +The tribes were evidently sitting ominously still. + +The Trails and Mrs Daveney were watching at the gateway when the riders +came in sight. Those left behind were always anxious till the wanderers +came back again, in these uncertain days. + +The time of truce was passed by the settlers in the district in "making +ready" for the expectant foe--in Kafirland the people were collecting +cattle, arms, and ammunition. It was the lull that precedes the storm, +and the community at Annerley knew it. All there calmly but resolutely +awaited the crisis. The women, children, and old men, occupying the +wagon bivouac, were fain to be content with the news they received +occasionally from their friends at their homesteads; the Trails kept the +even tenor of their way in the school, and among the humble people of +the settlement; and Ormsby, unable to restrain his passion for Marion, +was in a serious dilemma between his wish to remain and Frankfort's +advice to him to rejoin his regiment at once, if he was not in earnest. + +"In earnest, my good fellow!" exclaimed the incorrigible flirt; "you +don't suppose I am in earnest, do you?" + +"Then, if you are not in earnest, according to the world's acceptance of +the term," replied Frankfort, "you should go. If you remain under such +circumstances, I can neither consider you as a man of honour nor an +honourable man." + +Ormsby was selfish, as you know; but he had a great respect for +Frankfort, who, without making a fuss about being a "man of honour," +_was_ an honourable man. Ah, reader! there is a wide difference between +the two, as perhaps you have found before now. + +That evening Ormsby went to Mr Daveney, and solicited leave to pay his +addresses to his daughter Marion. + +Mr Daveney desired time to think; but, at any rate, refused to hear of +a definite engagement until the young soldier had reconsidered the +subject, and written home to his father for "consent and approbation." +Nay, the honest-hearted settler--Mr Daveney and his wife often referred +to themselves as settlers--would have had the young man return to his +regiment without delay, that he might try the test of time and absence, +before Marion was even consulted; but despatches suddenly arrived, +bringing accounts of the result of the great meeting with the chiefs, +who, contrary to their usual practice, breathed nothing but war and +defiance in the very teeth of the authorities. It was clear, the +borders of the colony could not be passed with any chance of safety. +There seemed no alternative now but to await the reiteration of the +war-cry, and stand to arms from Port Elizabeth to Natal. The Dutch in +the upper districts refused their aid in the Colonial cause, and the +Kafirs chuckled at hearing that the _Amahulu_ and the _Amaglezi_--(the +Boers and the English)--were "barking at each other like dogs." + +The little episode of which Marion was the heroine had been the means of +bringing Eleanor and Frankfort into nearer communion than during the +first week of their acquaintance. The young widow's gravity of manner +was little changed, but the deep melancholy was gradually giving way +before the influence of a mind that opened its stores chiefly for her. +She did not talk more than usual, but she listened, and Frankfort felt +he had gained a vantage-ground. + +He kept it, too. Like Scheherazade in the "Arabian Nights," he always +contrived, when he quitted this fair, sad creature's side, to leave +something for her mind to rest upon; some subject which she would wish +resumed. I am wrong in using the word "contrived"--that was not +Frankfort's "way"--but the interest Eleanor took in all that he so +pleasantly and intelligently discussed invested it with an additional +charm to himself. + +Meanwhile, father, mother, friends, looked on, and hoped that a light +was dawning on the horizon of Eleanor's clouded life, and they rejoiced. +They had no doubt of Frankfort's honesty of purpose. His bearing and +his sentiments were alike frank, just, kind, manly, and single-minded. +He was not blindly, passionately in love with the soft voice and +mournful eyes that had certainly at first enchained his attention-- +bewitched him, as some would have it--but he was most deeply interested +in the young widow; anxious to penetrate the cloud of sorrow that even +in his presence shaded her brow, and, as he reluctantly admitted to +himself, created a gulf between her and him, which he only _hoped_ to +remove or pass over. Every night, as he paced the avenue after the +sentinels were posted, did he resolve on openly addressing Mr Daveney +on the subject of his widowed daughter's position; but the resolve faded +into air, when he reconsidered what had passed between himself and +Eleanor in the day. He had two weighty reasons for pausing. He was by +no means sure of Eleanor's sentiments towards himself, and he had a +dread, though this he was unwilling to acknowledge, in his own mind, of +lifting the veil of mystery with which he _felt_ more than he _knew_ she +was invested. + +But as soon as he did gain courage to sound the depths of his own heart, +he recognised the duty he owed to her, to her family, especially his +gracious, generous host, and to himself; and he resolved that another +sun should not set till the question, on which he felt whole years of +happiness must depend, was decided. + +The dew was on the leaves and the sun high in the east, when Eleanor +Lyle came through the cool hall into the glowing verandah on the morning +when Frankfort had at last resolved on requesting an interview with her +father. + +He had a very strong idea that she liked him. She was one who had +evidently suffered from the treachery or the evil humour of man; +everything she said or did was tinged with some fatal remembrance. She +shrunk from the sound of the name she bore; she could not believe in +Ormsby's faith; she did not openly ignore all honourable feelings in the +other sex, but she clearly set no store by men's promises to women. She +did not volunteer these strong opinions--they were drawn from her; but +Frankfort soon discovered that it was he only who could elicit them. +Yes, she most certainly liked him--she had a good opinion of him, too, +he fancied; he had tested it at times in his own quiet way. + +They met together in the verandah this fine, warm, balmy, dewy morning, +while the world was pleasantly astir. Children creeping out of the +wagon bivouacs with "shining morning faces;" herd-boys coming by the +house with baskets of meelies and fine burnished English tins of milk; +graceful Fingo girls, with fresh-gathered pumpkins and cool green +water-melons on their heads; Mrs Trail's Bechuana nursemaid and ruddy +children--such contrasts to their dusky Abigail--loaded with heather, +lilac, pink, and white, and purple; and then there swung out from the +old mulberry-tree in the vineyard the call to prayers in the school. +The people from the wagons hurried off; the front garden and avenue were +deserted; there was not a sound but the whooming of a great bee that was +always rifling the doricas and invading the roses and convolvuluses, +till the "morning hymn" swelled on the warm, still air in solemn chorus, +and true, though unstudied, harmony. + +They descended the steps, and sought the shade of the avenue. It was +flanked on either side by a little nursery of trees; there was a good +deal of low bramble and brushwood, which made almost a labyrinth of the +ground; but there was a shady spot beside a silver thread of water that +stole from the rill irrigating the vineyard, and Frankfort and Eleanor +were bent on gathering water-cresses for breakfast. I doubt if people +not interested in each other would have thought of taking all this +trouble for a few green leaves; but these two went about it as if they +had laid out for themselves a serious employment. + +It was a delicious nook. Eleanor had even laughed at the scramble she +had had in reaching it, and sat down heated and fatigued with her +descent of the bank, down which Frankfort might have made an excuse to +lift her if he had so pleased--he would have been pleased to do so--but +he did not; there was such a divine purity about this young and graceful +and subdued being, that, had he been in a desert with her, he would, +have felt that it was she who drew the barrier between them, which he +dared not pass. + +All this may seem very anomalous when you think how Frankfort dreaded to +lift the veil between them; but, remember, his doubts were the issue of +lonely reflective hours in Eleanor's presence. He grieved at the secret +sorrow that oppressed her, and bound with its heavy fetters the joyous +impulses of youth. + +How handsome he looked as he cast himself on the green-sward beside the +little rill, his hat laid aside, his open, honest countenance brightened +with enjoyment at the radiance of the morning and the fragrant beauty of +this green retreat, with the shy retiring Eleanor actually smiling in +his face, as he fanned her with the broad green leaves of arums growing +in the shining watercourse. Ah, it was the honesty of that face that +made it so handsome! Eleanor was not one to be attracted by mere +statuesque beauty--she had forsworn love for ever--she was anticipating +peace in this abjuration of love, when the kindly eyes and approving +smile of this true-hearted soldier beamed on her with an effect like +sunlight on the hills in Kafirland, scathed by the lightning. There are +patches on which no green grass will ever again grow--desolate spots in +the great oasis; but these are overlooked as the herald of a new day +touches them with his glory, and casts all that is unsightly into shade. + +Gems of dew glittered on the mossy bank--flowers, rainbow-hued, were +opening their chalices to the genial influence of day--a magnificent +corallodendrum spread its scarlet-tufted boughs over a low rustic bench, +and they seated themselves together under this fine canopy. Eleanor had +desired a little Fingo boy to follow her with a basket for the cresses-- +Frankfort thought he obeyed his mistress much too soon. + +She had taken off the large straw hat--Frankfort held it for her; her +fine hair was slightly disordered; there was a light in her eye, a +colour in her cheek, her lover--we must call him such now--had never +seen before. That young face, that candid smile--nay, the smile +sometimes broke into a low musical laugh. Ah! could, the demon of +self-reproach be lurking beneath all this bewitching feminine charm? + +Frankfort felt that the time must soon come when he should ask her for +her history. He had resolved to learn it from herself. He longed to +pour balm into the wounded heart; he was growing hourly less _afraid_ of +hearing the truth. He was just, too,--he felt that no offer of +confidence could be made to him till he solicited it. + +He would do so now. She sent her little dusky page to the rill and rose +to follow him. She was tying on her hat, when a slender chain +encircling her throat caught in the strings, and she unwittingly drew it +from her bosom. Frankfort saw suspended to it the miniature he had +found in the vineyard. + +He felt emboldened,--he ventured to touch it. + +She made no remonstrance, but with a deep sigh would have replaced it. + +Frankfort held it fast. His hand did not shake, but his heart beat. + +How often does a sudden impulse bring to a crisis what has cost us many +hours of forethought! and how often--oh! how often!--does the one great +event of a life hinge upon some trifle unforeseen! A look, a word, an +unexpected meeting, will often remove the doubts and agonies of years, +when but for what we call _accident_, there might have been no meeting, +no blessed exchange of look or word. + +Frankfort felt that this was a crisis in his life. + +"Eleanor," said he, "whose child was this?" + +"Mine, Major Frankfort," she replied, "mine; he died, and--" she broke +into a passion of tears. He drew close to her--she suffered him to take +her hand. All his doubts faded at sight of those fast-falling tears,-- +those sobs of agony. + +"Not now, not yet," said she; "the bitterness of death is past; but you +have touched a chord which has vibrated through my soul, and I must have +time to recover my trembling senses." + +She took the arm offered her; they returned by an open pathway to the +house, the little Fingo following, carrying his basket piled full of +fresh and glittering leaves, and in his arms a quantity of arums, the +large water-lilies of South Africa. + +Mrs Daveney and Marion were in the entrance-rooms. Since Ormsby's +avowal of his attachment, Marion was more constantly at her mother's +side. I have shown you how Mr Trail had exerted his influence over +Mrs Daveney for good; how his words, like the dew from heaven, falling +on good seed, had revived her best impulses, and removed the tares of +false pride and self-glorification from her heart. Ah, kind, useful +man, there be many that the world calls "as good as thee;" but there are +_ways_ of ministering God's word, "the small rain upon the tender herb," +refreshing the soil, not tearing it up and sweeping it away in the +torrent of over-zeal and self-righteousness. It is such as Mr Trail +who pioneer the way for the timid, and keep the ground for the weak. +Verily, it is the meek-spirited who possess the earth; they consider the +evil of their own nature in reproving others, and obtain concessions to +their humility which would be denied to their assumption of supremacy. + +How dark and unfathomable are the depths of our own hearts, till the +Day-star from on high sheds its divine ray on our souls, and teaches us +to guide others by conquering ourselves! + +But it strikes me you may think me prosy,--too fond of dissecting +people's motives. Pardon me, it is my way, my fault, my habit,--excuse +it if it does not suit you, and pass on. + +"Ah!" cries the worldly-minded reader, "by Eleanor's tact and candour, a +very delicate point has been settled; confidence has been established +among all; Ormsby declares he never should have known his own mind if he +had not been brought to the point; he was never so happy in his life." + +In a word, you will exclaim, "All's well that ends well." Certainly, +that is one of the secrets of self-gratulation and content in this +work-a-day world. + +But do not jump at conclusions--we are not near the end of our story +yet. + +Mrs Daveney saw traces of tears in Eleanor's eyes. She glanced at +Frankfort, and observed that his face was fall of serious thought; but, +albeit Marion had always been the favourite, so to speak, the mother had +every confidence in Eleanor. How often mothers _love_ one child best, +but trust another most! + +Mr Trail had brought this mother and eldest daughter nearer to each +other than they had been for years; and Mrs Daveney anticipated +Eleanor's confidence ere the morning passed. The latter did not appear +at the breakfast-table, and the kind, anxious father went to satisfy +himself that she was not ill. + +There was a shade of anxiety on his brow, and as he passed his wife, on +leaving the table at the call of some farm-servant, he whispered to her +that Eleanor wished to see her. + +The result of their conference was the resolution on Eleanor's part, +with the sanction of father and mother, to "tell Major Frankfort the +history of the miniature, and more if he desired it." + +Light broke on Eleanor as her mother reminded her of many trifling +incidents, plainly manifesting Frankfort's partiality for her. These, +connected with what had lately passed between the young widow and the +generous, candid soldier, left no doubt an her mind of the nature of his +regard for her. She began to weigh every look; she suddenly remembered +he had addressed her as "Eleanor,"--she had been too much startled by +the unexpected allusion to her lost darting to think of anything but the +revival of the bitter pang. + +Then Frankfort's violent emotion was so at variance with his usual +delicacy. She was half-frightened to believe that he loved her. They +had spent three weeks together under the same roof. It might truly be +said that the light of a new day had _dawned_ upon her, so insensibly +had Frankfort's influence stolen over her, and sweetened an existence, +of late so wretched and forlorn. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +To have seen the settlement of Annerley, in the early part of March, +18--, you would have thought, had you known nothing of the terrible +elements gathering silently around, that Mercy and Peace had met +together, that Righteousness and Truth had kissed each other. + +"In the deep noontide, in the sunset's hush," the children's voices +chimed together in the busy school; mothers and sisters plied their +needles in the shady, trellised passage; the cattle herds grew careless, +and dozed away the dreamy day; the ladies of the family party suffered +themselves to hope that the dove with the olive branch was winging her +way from the mountain haunts of the unhappy heathen. Ormsby was hourly +profiting by his association with his energetic, intelligent, +active-minded host. The "maxims" he had been accustomed to laugh at as +"Frankfort's platitudes" were household words here. The fresh, innocent +mind of Marion was a new and beautiful study, and he was a little, a +very little, afraid of Mrs Daveney. He was not quite sure that he +liked her--she was evidently inclined to keep him in order, and then she +was "dreadfully clever." + +So complete was the quiet reigning in this beautiful wilderness, that +even Mr Daveney began to think the chiefs had held council, and +determined on prolonging the truce, owing to the lateness of the season, +the corn being yet unripe in the districts between the Buffalo and +Keiskama rivers. The two officers were awaiting his expected despatch +to rejoin their regiments, if ordered to do so, as they had considered +it right, on so long and unforeseen detention, to "report" their +whereabouts to their commanding officer. + +You will think it all very novel-like and romantic to have brought these +delightful, handsome, intelligent officers into the wilderness, and +established them there with an obliging mamma, and a soldierlike host, +and two charming daughters--you will consider it all perfectly correct +in romance, but not quite so true to nature. Ah! if you had seen the +world at home and abroad as I have done, dear reader, you would have +discovered that romance and reality are much more nearly allied than +untravelled folks imagine. I assure you, the picture of the Annerley +settlement is not exaggerated, though I admit that the family I have +selected to introduce to you is not of common stamp, even in England; +but there is plenty of space for more of them in Southern Africa, and +there is so little room in England, that vice jostles against virtue, +and often has the best of it. + +Frankfort and Eleanor were again seated on the rustic bench, beneath the +scarlet-tufted corallodendrum. He could not doubt any longer that he +had at least touched her heart--how deep the impression was, he could +not tell. In her manner to him she was like a child, all joyousness; at +times smiling, almost gay, and occasionally confiding, but as yet not so +in matters connected with herself. Sometimes she would half promise to +"talk of herself" to him; then the time came, and something would +intervene. If he had shrunk from asking her previous history, she +dreaded to tell it. She said so, but added, for his comfort--"Fear not, +dear Major Frankfort; you may pity me as unfortunate, and contemn me as +weak, but you will not have occasion to condemn. I am only a wronged, +deceived, and, for a long time, most unhappy woman; and if you should +despise me for my misfortunes, which you may do"--she put her hand on +his lips, as he was about to interrupt her--"you will not love me less, +though you may not choose me for your wife." + +He took her hand in his, and pressed it with a fervency, eloquent but +silent. + +"Ah!" said she, shuddering, "it is so long since I was happy, that, +albeit _you_ present the cup, I hold it to my lips, trembling lest it +fall." + +She took the miniature of her boy from her bosom. Frankfort bent over +her, and gazed upon the angel face, dimmed with the young mother's +tears; but though she wept, it was not with that passionate anguish he +had witnessed before. He drew her to him--he ventured to kiss away +those slow-falling tears--he had told her that morning that he loved +her. + +"Tell me," at last whispered Frankfort, trembling and cold with +suspense, "who was this child's father?" + +"I could not nerve myself to tell you my sad story," replied Eleanor. +"I have written it. My father will give it you this evening, I own I +shrunk from this tearing open of the records of the past. There are +some passages from which you will turn perhaps in dismay. You will +discover, what you may have already suspected, that I have loved and +been deceived; but you have yet to decide whether I am a fitting bride +for you. I confess I have no hope." + +Frankfort withdrew his hand from Eleanor's. He paced the walk in great +agitation. + +She waited till he approached her again. "Pity me," said she, rising. +"Ah! it has been a terrible task to make this revelation to you. Do me +justice--I did not seek to win _you_. I had abjured love for ever; but +you came; you were kind; I listened; a new emotion stirred my heart, +unlike the wild passion which once brought me to the depths of despair, +and now, God help me! _you_, too, may forsake me." + +She was weeping. "Tell me," he again whispered, "is there any +self-reproach?--any shame? Ah, Eleanor! I must know--any--" + +"Disgrace!" you would say, interrupted Eleanor. + +Her lover answered her not a word, but stood waiting her reply. The +strong, tall man shook like an aspen-tree. + +"You will learn all," said Eleanor, "in the packet I have left for you +with my father. I leave it to you to decide whether we may meet again." + +The light of day was fading. Side by side, they returned towards the +house; but not a word did either speak. They went round by the +vineyard; they stood at the gateway leading to the trellised passage. +Frankfort opened it, and Eleanor would have passed him by. + +He drew her back. "Shall we meet again, Eleanor?" said he. + +"Alas!" she answered, "I fear _you_ will decide otherwise." And he--his +_heart_ answered her in the spirit, if not in the words, of Moore's +beautiful song: + + "I know not and care not if guilt's in that heart, + I but know that I love thee, whatever thou art!" + +Ah, reader! you will be glad to know, for I cannot help telling you, +that Eleanor, though _disgraced_, was not _guilty_, save in the act, and +that I do not defend, of marrying one for whom she had no real +affection. + +The inmates of Annerley have retired to their rest. The whole household +seems hushed in the deepest repose; but Frankfort is seated with a +packet before him, which he longs, yet dreads, to open. + +He tears the seal away, and the sight of Eleanor Lyle's handwriting +makes his heart beat--he can hear it in the silence of the midnight +hour. + +But we must first see how sped the convicts. + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +THE TORTURE. + +It was in the month of December, 18--, that Lee and Martin Gray +established themselves as traders at Umlala's kraal, in Kafirland. The +reader has been given to understand that Lee had no intention of +domesticating himself with the savages, albeit he adapted himself at +once to the customs of the tribe, persuading the chief and his +councillors that he had been induced to join them from a desire to +better his condition, as well as aid and advise them in their plans and +operations against the colony. He was too well acquainted with the +Kafir character to attempt to impose on them by professing disinterested +motives, for on these he knew they would place no reliance; but by +fixing himself as a trader among them, he could in the first place bide +his time for carrying out his intentions of joining the Dutch; and while +doing so, lay up a fund for future pecuniary wants or emergencies. To +Brennard it was his interest to be a faithful agent. To do Lee justice, +he had no thought of fraud in money matters, and from the traders to the +eastward he easily gathered intelligence of the Dutch farmers' +movements, from the districts of Natal, and beyond the Draakberg, to an +appointed spot between the branches of the Orange River, where a general +gathering of emigrant Boers was to take place previous to treking in a +body to Orichstad, a settlement beyond the 25th degree of south +latitude, and therefore considered by them as not subject to the British +Government. + +With an air of good faith, he opened a correspondence in cipher with +Brennard, who, at his suggestion, placed an agent on the Stormberg +mountains, and thus increased his contraband traffic by disposing of +arms and ammunition to the Boers, who, assisted by these traitors, grew +sanguine in their hopes and determined in their preparations. So blind, +indeed, was the colonial government to the real state of affairs, that +wagons containing guns actually passed the outskirts of the frontier +garrisons, on their way to the Modder and Bilt River settlements, while +smaller arms were landed at the Umtata, and conveyed to a depot at the +foot of the northern extremity of the Stormberg mountains. + +The Dutch soon felt the influence of a master mind at work. A secret +communication was set on foot between Lee and the rebel leader; but Lee +was cautious in his policy, since, to be suspected by the Kafirs as +anything but a trader, would be to draw down attention from the +missionaries, who were, when permitted, in communication with the tribes +most distant from the colony. Those within the border were becoming +every day more lawless. It was said by some of these teachers, in after +times, that they had had an idea of some men of suspicious character +living among Umlala's people; but having no tangible proof of their +existence, having only the word of Kafir spies to depend on, they could +take no steps in the matter, either by offering advice to the Kafirs, +near whom the poor missionaries and their families were living in dread +and peril of their lives, or by giving information to the authorities, +who were too remote to act. + +Lee liked the life he led; the form of government so favourable to the +doctrine that "might is right," though tempered in some measure by +general opinion, in which he succeeded in gaining a voice; the total +absence of all moral discipline except as regarded women, with whom Lee, +as he said, had no mind to trouble himself--a life of ease, yet of +excitement, the spacious and beautiful country, all conspired to render +his temporary location desirable; but while he thus rested on his arms, +his mind was ceaselessly at work. + +With that shrewdness which stands bad men in stead of deeper knowledge, +Lee had long penetrated the weaker outworks, so to speak, of Gray's +heart; keenly susceptible, of facile mind, and imbued with a vanity as +natural to men as to women, he had easily yielded to the gentle +influences and watchful solicitude of Amayeka. Lee at once profited by +this "fancy," as he called it, to turn it to his own account, and used +every means to encourage it. + +Desirous of personal conference with the Dutch agent at the station in +the Stormberg, he had no mind to be attended in such expeditions by +Gray; yet he knew well that without some counter-charm, the deserter, on +being left to himself, would at once appeal, through the missionaries, +to the mercy of the British Government. True, there was the oath which +had bound the three traders together in solemn compact, but paramount to +all other considerations was Gray's horror of his own treachery and +disloyalty as a soldier. However desirous he might be of keeping the +compact, as regarded Brennard and Lee, inviolate, the issue of Gray's +surrender would be keen inquiry, and consequently a fatal result to the +chief convict's schemes. Like a good man's neglected garden, the +surface of the young deserter's character presented a wilderness of +weeds and briars, but below were seeds long sown, some dead, but some +struggling, with every capability of fruition, when the soil should fall +under the hand of the labourer. All considerations, Lee felt, would +vanish before the wish to retrieve the past, to become, in Gray's own +words, "an honest man again." + +Evening time in Kafirland! The sun has all day long been glowing on the +river, lighting it up like burnished steel; the trees motionless, the +birds on listless wing, screening themselves within the shady boughs. +Now the mountain peaks are blending their purple summits with a crimson +sky, and the last rays of light deck the clouds in the west as with a +glory! Lo! it fades, and the heavens are veiled with a mantle of pale +grey; the stream begins to murmur, responsive to the breeze that stirs +its waters; the birds congregate in the balmy air before seeking their +rest; the countless herds more slowly homeward, panting for the +refreshment of cool water brooks; and the women, some singly, some in +parties in single file, trip across the plains to draw water, as is +their custom at eventide. The picture reminds one of what one reads of +in the patriarchal days. + +Lee and Gray sat upon a bank that sloped to the river, a tributary of +the Great Kei--would you had a map, dear reader, to trace the country I +would fain describe. Peals of laughter stirred the air. Beneath the +over-arching boughs a crowd of dusky Nereides were taking their evening +bath, swimming, diving, pulling each other in sport below the surface of +the stream, swinging from branch to branch with amazing activity and +grace, and tossing up fountains of spray on the elder women, who stood +silently filling their calabashes at the clear pools between the stones +at the drift. + +"Amayeka, Amayeka, izapa, izapa (come hither)," cried two or three of +the younger girls, as Amayeka, apparently unconscious of the gathering +below, and with slow step, vacant air, and pitcher on her head, moved +along the opposite bank, followed by her little attendant, a tiny +meercat, which I have hitherto forgotten to mention. + +It is the wisest-looking little thing you can imagine, is this meercat +of South Africa. Its keen, restless black eye looks right into your +own, and asks questions as plainly almost as speech could do. It has a +way of setting itself up bolt-upright, and turning its head from one +object to another with the most inquisitive air, and adapts itself to +the habits of its owners in a manner perfectly marvellous. I remember +one which, though not very young when taken near the Orange River, +became domesticated like a dog, and was far more sociable than a cat. I +think I see it now, sitting at a garden-gate facing a parade-ground, on +which, at stated hours of the day, troops were wont to exercise. As the +warning bugle sounded, it took up its position; when the regiment fell +in, the meercat placed itself in front of the line; when the men +marched, the little beast advanced in front of the column, halted with +the troops, and when they were again in line, sat down before them, and +watched the commanding officer with a knowing air quite indescribable. +At the close of a drill it would head the band to the limits of the +ground; and when all were dismissed, would return to the house. In the +cold weather, if suspicious of any visitors, it would roll itself into a +ball, and squeeze itself into some corner, where it could not easily be +reached; but it loved best to sit before the fire, with its paws on the +fender, surveying the family group, of which it was the pet, with its +sharp twinkling eyes, and bending its ears knowingly to every +unaccustomed sound. + +Such too was the creature that trotted beside Amayeka, now and then +seating itself before her, and glancing from its mistress to the nymphs +in the river, as if to remind her she was called; but she went on, deaf +to the cry "Izapa;" and Gray watched her till she disappeared behind a +tuft of trees overhanging the upper drift. Soon afterwards Lee joined +some young warriors, with whom he had been engaged all the morning in +firing at a mark, and who now summoned him to their employment of +casting bullets at a fire under the rocks; Gray rose also, and descended +by the bank. + +Amayeka was seated by the river's brink, with the meercat at her feet; +twilight lingered long, and the young moon shed its first ray of silver +on the water, when a loose stone rolled past her; there was a light +tread, a rustle in the branches of a long-tressed weeping willow, and +Gray's hand fell on her shoulder. + +But in a copse above lay the wizard Amani, with his elements of +witchcraft gathered round him--strips of skin from the golden back of +the deadly puff-adder, the hood of a cobra capello, some poisonous roots +steeped in gall, the forefinger of a dead Fingo herdsman, and the skull +of a Hottentot, in which last he was busily mixing up these ghastly +charms with a cement of blood and clay. + +He had long had some notion of Amayeka's intercourse with the younger +convict, or trader, as Amani, like the rest of his tribe, supposed the +deserter to be, and he now gloated at his discovery. + +Of the two, he hated Lee the most, for he could discriminate between the +energy of the one and the passive sorrow stamped on the countenance of +the other. Then Doda was an object of special abhorrence; for Doda, +when he could, pleaded the white man's cause. Amayeka, from her +acquirements, invested her father with a power he would not otherwise +have possessed; by her intelligence the wizard often found his plans +forestalled, his prophecies doubted; but he had besides a deeper source +of hatred against her, for a true Kafir she was not. Through her veins +ran the blood of white forefathers; her ancestress was one of those +unfortunates who had been stranded at the Umbeesam River when the +_Grosvenor_ was wrecked. + +To her lineage Amayeka owed her soft, though short, and wavy hair, her +complexion of fairer hue than is usual among the Amakosa race, her +delicately-chiselled outline of feature, and her falling shoulders. Her +limbs I have described as exquisitely moulded, and the voice musically +sweet. + +But although pleased to refer to her white ancestress, whom she faintly +remembered, shrunk, bronzed, withered with age, and degraded to the +state of a savage, Amayeka's habits were those of the wild tribe to +which she belonged; but tender-hearted, with something about her of the +English attribute gratitude, unknown amongst Kafirs, some of those old +associations, whose roots lie deepest in the human heart, had led her to +take an interest in Lee and Gray when she first heard their voices in +the midnight solitude of the Witches' Krantz. Lee's ungracious manner +soon repelled her; but Gray's dependence on her good offices as guide +drew her towards him; and now, kindred, tribe, allegiance, all were +forgotten in her passion for her white lover. + +They sat together in silence for some moments, Amayeka resting her head +on Gray's shoulder, her dusky locks mingling with his brown hair, which +had grown long during his exile, and would have given to his countenance +an air of effeminacy, but for the moustache shading his upper lip. + +Horrible wizard! what a contrast to these youthful beings must thou have +presented, leaning thy clay-painted face from its green covert! +Gall-bladders, jackals' tails, and the polished teeth of monkeys, +wolves, and tigers, made the head inconceivably hideous; and the great +eyes glittering in the dusk would have startled the lovers had they +looked up. + +But they had no thought beyond their own vague destinies. The shades of +night deepened, they could hear the girls and children chanting +monotonously on their way to the kraals, the stream rippled past them +unheeded, the guanas plashing merrily among the little pools, and the +meercat nestled closer to Amayeka's feet. + +"They say, Amayeka," whispered Gray, "that war is proclaimed in the +colony, and that soldiers are marching towards the Kei." + +"Oute!" ("Hear!") said Amayeka, who often used this Kafir prefix. "The +white man's word to kill has not yet gone forth. The red soldiers are +scattered through the bush. The Amakosas sleep with an open eye, but +are not yet up. Soon a voice will be heard on the mountains, and +answered from the valleys, and the war-cry will fill the land." + +There was a pause. + +"Amayeka," said Gray, "what will you do when your tribe is roused? You +cannot stay here. You must fly." + +"And leave you?" asked Amayeka, in a tone indescribably mournful. + +"I love you, Amayeka; you must fly with me." + +"You love me, Martin, you love me!" repeated the Kafir girl, in distinct +and sweetly-toned English, as if she had just acquired a knowledge of +the value attached to the language, because her lover understood her at +once; and then she went on in an innocent, childish way: "Ukutanda, +diyatanda, diyatandiva, diyakutanda"--"To love, I love, I am loved, I +will love;" and laughing gleefully at applying an old lesson to a +purpose hitherto unthought of she forgot the war-cry--the red soldiers-- +she began to teach Gray the lesson, and when he had repeated it over and +over again, to her infinite satisfaction, she tried to look into his +countenance by the dusky light, and laughed softly. + +"But, Amayeka," said Gray again, "tell me, will you go with me from this +wild tribe of yours?" + +"Go!" said Amayeka, her low laugh turned into a sigh--"And whither? +Leave the land, and my people to sit in the ashes! Cowards only fly +from a burning kraal; the brave stand by to quench the flame, and help +the ruined." + +"But the red soldiers are my countrymen," said Gray; "you would not have +me fight them!" + +Amayeka tried to understand her lover's notions of treachery; but the +question resolved itself into these simple words--"Ah! you must not go; +you belong to us now." + +The deserter groaned. + +She took his hand, bent her head upon it, and kissed it with mute +tenderness. + +They sat in silence till night fell, and a pale shimmer on the stream +only served to make the darkness more palpable. But Amani's eyes still +glared upon them fiercely, and he hated them with a deeper bitterness +than ever. + +They rose together, and walked leisurely by the waterside. + +The wizard left his covert, and, gliding along the bank above, peeped +over it occasionally to watch them. Sometimes they stopped on their way +and whispered. He could hear Amayeka's voice falter, and he cursed her +knowledge of the white man's language. Once, just where the moon's rays +glinted, they stood, and Amani could see in Amayeka's hands something +glittering. He recognised it as a steel chain, which he had observed +round Gray's neck, with a knife of many blades suspended by it. How +often he had coveted it! He heard the knife drop; Gray was unconscious +of its fall. The Kafir girl picked it up, and gave it to her lover. +Little thought Amayeka of the great need in which that knife would help +her within a few hours. + +At the lower drift Amayeka crossed the stream. Gray watched her over; +took a keen glance up and down, little dreaming that Amani was watching +him from a wolf-hole ten yards off; and then a low chirrup, like the cry +of the quail, announced that all was safe in the copse Amayeka had +entered. Gray then traversed the stones of the ford. + +Ere long, Amani could see them emerge singly from the covert, Amayeka +taking one path, for it was not too dark for Kafir eyes to distinguish +the outline of a woman's form, with the little meercat trotting after +her; her lover went another way, and then the wizard, profiting by a +cloud which overshadowed the moon's silver rim for a minute or two, +stepped stealthily across; and, biding his time, sought his hut, and +retiring therein, closed the matted entrance, and began to chant his +demoniacal incantations, to the great awe of the people assembled round +their fires at the doors of their dwellings. + +Gray found Lee supping on broiled meat, and one of poor Amayeka's +coarse, sweet cakes; and Lee, after rallying the deserter on his +passion, informed him that he proposed next day to start for the foot of +the mountains with Doda, who had got leave from Umlala to guide the +"White Brother" to the trading station. + +Gray was passive in the strong man's hand. If he ever attempted +remonstrance with his master--for such he felt the elder convict to be-- +the latter invariably denounced him as too weak to be vicious, swearing +he would be a knave if he dared. As to escape from such thraldom, he +could see none; and on the other side of the picture was Amayeka, the +only creature on earth whom he loved, or who loved him. Honourable +servitude was beyond his reach at present, and in the mean time he was +pledged to Amayeka--vaguely--but still pledged. To her he owed all the +comforts of his present sad existence, and she had many ways and means +of ministering to them; he was bound to her by the ties of gratitude as +well as of affection; he pitied her, and he believed, moreover, that if +he left her, she must die--die perhaps by torture! + +He sat down in the hut among the ashes of the dying fire. Lee could not +see his comrade's face, for it was buried in his hands, bowed upon his +knees; but the young man's frame shook like an aspen-tree; and oh! the +bitter agony of the voice that cried aloud, "God have mercy on me!" + +Surely the good angels then shedding their influence on the desolate +being dictated that solemn and heart-rending appeal, and then heralded +the cry to heaven! + +Lee looked at the deserter with some contempt, but uttered no harsh +word. He contented himself with sketching out a plan for Gray's +guidance on the arrival of trading messengers between the Umzimvooboo +and the Witches' Krantz; delivered to his charge a letter in cipher, to +be forwarded to Brennard, explaining the necessity of his visit to the +Stormberg, on trading "thoughts intent," and transmitting a receipt +connected with certain monetary transactions. He also mentioned his +intention of returning to Umlala's kraal within a given time, and then, +in serio-comic phraseology, proceeded to inform Gray that, on rejoining +him, he should make a barter with the chief for "a few Kafir wives." + +"Don't be frightened, my lad," continued the reckless convict; "I assure +you I have no intention of interfering with you, though I must own to a +little regard for your girl on account of her white blood. Not that I +owe the country I came from anything but a curse; but she is a deuced +deal better-looking for her straight nose and smooth hair. The girl has +good points, and I have shared the luck if I have not the love, for she +makes good cakes, and can wash and mend my clothes as well as any +Englishwoman. I should think, too, she was not to be had cheap; but you +can afford to give a good lot of cattle for her, eh!" and Lee went on +jeering, and puffing _dagha_ [the wild hemp, the seeds of which possess +much of the stupefying powers of opium] out of a long wooden pipe, till +Gray was too stupified with the vapour to resent the brutality of his +companion, who having, at the opening of the conversation, drawn from +the deserter all that he could touching his position with Amayeka, +suggested finally, with apparent good faith, that in the event of any +great crisis suddenly taking place among Umlala's people, the lovers +should make their way to a spot, to be selected by Doda, in the road to +the Stormberg. Doda, however, was to imagine the rendezvous was only +for Lee and Gray, and under no circumstances to be enlightened as to the +part Amayeka was to take in this episode of the young deserter's life. + +Gray was awoke the next morning by the light streaming in through the +hut door, which was ajar. He had been late in falling asleep, and was +heavy, and disinclined to rise for the day; but he looked out,--the huts +were yet closed, the cattle still in the kraals; there was profound +silence on the plain,--the sun had just gilded the eastern heights. + +Gray closed the door, which had not been carefully drawn to by Lee, who +had evidently, without rousing his comrade, departed on his journey; for +the "traps" he had set in order to take with him had disappeared. Gray +cast himself down in a sort of sullen despair, and weary thoughts of +past and future disturbed his aching brain. + +Ere long the whole hamlet woke up; the cattle came lowing from the +folds, the dogs were giving tongue, the women and girls were astir, +preparing for the hard labours of the day, building huts, hewing wood, +and tilling the ground. Several youths were assembled on the plain, +some to start on a hunting expedition, some on marauding parties, for +much fine cattle had been brought in the preceding evening by a foraging +band, and was being paraded before Umlala, that he might feast his eyes +on the prize. The sight was a strong temptation to the young men to try +their luck in an adjoining kloof, where it was expected some colonial +cattle had been driven by a neighbouring tribe, ready to swear to the +British authorities that they were alike guiltless and ignorant in the +matter, though in treaty with Umlala to share the stolen property with +him if he would shelter it. + +But all these preparations were brought to a standstill by the +unexpected appearance of the wizard Amani, whose great clay-painted face +first emerged from the low entrance of his hut; he crawled out of it, +and stood upright, waving an assegai with his brawny arm. The people +stood still at sight of this awful apparition, for he was arrayed in the +hideous costume peculiar to these wretches when it is their will and +pleasure to call a solemn assembly of the tribe for the purpose of +publicly denouncing some unhappy creature, whom it is their interest, or +their inclination, to bring to a fearful punishment, by death or +torture. + +The cattle-drivers went on leisurely with their herds towards the +pasture-grounds, but sat down on a near hill-side, to see what would +follow. They were mostly boys, and were not of sufficient importance to +have incurred the wizard's displeasure. The women laid their implements +of labour at their feet, and their children clung to them with vague +dread; the old men trembled as Amani stalked past them, and the youths +parted right and left to let him go by. Amayeka, who had been up and +out before the rest, and had half-crossed the plain with a bundle of +sticks on her head, dropped her burden in great terror, and stood +paralysed, for she had her misgivings. The meercat seated himself +beside her, and glanced his keen black eyes rapidly to and fro; hers +were fixed on Amani, who, advancing to Umlala's hut, the largest in the +Kraal [Note 1], drew the chief's attention to him by a frightful yell. + +I have already given you some notion of his aspect, with its savage +head-gear. A kaross of lion's skin was slung about his short but +powerful frame, the mane forming a ruff round his huge bull-neck. The +kaross was fastened on the right shoulder, leaving the arm free. With +this he continued to wave the assegai, its tip of highly-polished iron, +and the brazen bangles on the wrist, glinting in the morning sunshine, +so brilliant in the Kafir summer-time. The drapery was short enough to +display the legs, which, unlike the limbs of a Kafir, were thick and +unshapely, and ornamented, like the arms, with bangles of burnished +brass; strings of beads, of various colours, and mingled with necklaces +of animals' teeth, garnished his throat, and round his waist, where the +kaross opened, was discernible an elastic brazen belt, from which +dangled a catskin pouch, a small tortoise-shell and spoon appended for +taking snuff, a pipe of tambootie wood, hard almost as iron, and a +variety of other articles, an English coin, an old buckle, etc. + +To the head-dress I have before described, were now added two long +feathers of the beautiful Kafir crane; these being drawn upward by the +breeze, resembled horns, and gave the wizard an appearance more +demoniacal than can be conceived. + +He had doubtless been smoking dagha all the night. His eyes glared with +unnatural light, his lips were parted, his white teeth gleaming between +when he uttered his unearthly cry; and as he advanced, his movements +became more excited; and finally, with a tremendous leap in the air, he +dropped as from a height before Umlala, and writhed and gibbered like +some wretch possessed of a devil. + +The chief councillors gathered the people of the Kraal in a great circle +fronting Umlala's dwelling, which was distinguished from the rest by its +size. Most of the principal members of the tribe had gone towards the +colony as plunderers or spies, or were scattered through the hills and +valleys as scouts and messengers; the circle, therefore, was less +extensive than usual,--still there was a gathering of some three hundred +human beings. + +There were none among these startled creatures who would not willingly +have fled had they dared, but they knew flight or resistance were alike +useless, and they maintained an impressive silence, while Umlala took +his seat on the ground in the space within the circle, Amani on his +right hand, though slightly in the rear, and a chief councillor on his +left, preserving the same respectful distance. + +This dread silence of the crowd was only broken by an occasional bitter +laugh or wrathful exclamation from the wizard, who, having some days +before been summoned by Umlala to prescribe for some trifling ailment, +had taken care that the medicine given, a preparation of herbs, should +not remedy the disease, but increase it. Umlala, however, had almost +forgotten his ailment in his exultation over the cattle brought him by +his foraging party. The wizard was determined on reminding him of it, +and came to tell him now who had bewitched him, first as regarded his +health, and secondly his judgment, which Amani pronounced at fault, from +Umlala having permitted Doda to attend the white man on a journey. +"Whither was the white man going? Did Umlala know his purpose? The +white man's face was white, but his heart was black, and what but a spy +could be the boy left behind?" + +Gray, on hearing an unusual stir, crept from his domicile, which +bordered a ravine, and, plunging into a tangled copse, made his way +unnoticed to a little tuft of orange-trees on the site of an old +missionary station, whence he determined on reconnoitring what was going +on. He had a just horror of Amani as an impostor, but he had no +conception of the power he derived from his misdirected abilities, for +Amani was one of the shrewdest of his race, and possessed an evil +influence over his chief. + +Gray could see the whole face of the plain, and every figure in the +semicircle spread out at his feet. He scanned it rapidly and uneasily, +and, to his infinite dismay, discovered Amayeka. The grove in which he +sat was one of the lovers' trysting-places; and, though the early +morning was not a safe time for meeting, he had hoped to find her there, +or within a short distance from it. + +An undefinable feeling of horror stole over him; but he had sufficient +presence of mind to pause and watch the proceedings. Whatever might be +the result, he mourned his wretched position, not entirely for his own +sake--indeed at this moment self was farthest from his thoughts. But +what could this strange meeting portend? Mischief, he knew; but who was +to be the victim? Naturally his alarm was connected with the unhappy +girl, who had been his only friend of late. Her father was absent, her +mother had years before vanished from the face of the earth, that is, +perished in the bush, whither she had been carried in severe sickness, +and left there to die or be devoured by the wild beasts roaming there,-- +it was never ascertained which. After a lapse of time, some scattered +bones were found, but these were left to whiten and fall to dust. + +Gray climbed the tallest orange-tree, and looked down from its +clustering boughs. He could not distinguish Amayeka's features, but her +head drooped, her arms hung listlessly down, and at her side, in the +begging attitude so peculiar to these tiny brutes, sat the meercat, as +if beseeching pity. + +She looked so friendless, so helpless, yet so far above the other girls, +who, forgetting their terror in excitement, were chattering and whirling +about near her, that Gray could hardly resist his impulse to descend the +hill, cross the glen, and hurry to the scene of action; but he had had +sufficient experience of Kafir habits to feel that he could do no good +by rushing into the midst of the excited assembly. + +Indistinct sounds reached him, and he could see the people were every +moment becoming more earnest as they watched the wizard, who continued +to rock himself to and fro, gibbering and screeching. At length Amani +suddenly sprang up, and rolled his fierce orbs round the circle. + +Miserable victims of a power, which owns no law, a superstition based on +cruelty and vice! How many quailed before the assegai as it was again +waved aloft! Unhappy wretch! who risked thy life to bring the poor +settlers' cattle to thy selfish chieftain's kraal, dost thou think thou +art discovered--doomed--because thou hast secreted in a wooded glen part +of the plunder for thyself wherewith to buy thy wife? Thou boy warrior, +of the strong arm and supple limbs, in form like a young Apollo, does +the fearful wizard know, too, that thou hast fixed thy will upon the +child of one of his foes, for he has many? Thou girl of a laughing eye +and merry voice, does thy blood turn cold as thou rememberest the day +when, resting from thy tillage in the meelie garden, thou didst mock the +wizard, forgetting those were near thee who would seek his favour by +betraying thee? Aged woman, with palsied head and shrivelled features, +almost blind, too, but not deaf, art thou dreading his vengeance, +because thou call'st to mind that he, by whose rude couch thou hast been +watching all the night, and striving to aid in pain and sickness with +thy poor herbal medicines, is one whom Amani hates? Thou mother, with a +baby on thy shoulder, why are thy lips compressed, thy brow with anguish +stamped? Dost thou quail at thought of thy tall son, who is betrothed +to Umlala's daughter, the child of that Gaika wife, whose feet the great +chief gashed and crippled, searing the gory wounds with red-hot +assegais, because Amani, the wizard, denounced her as untrue? + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Such scenes as these had at times been partially detailed to Gray, but +he had had no evidence of their reality. + +The crowd, in their eager fear, spread out like a fan, as though each +member meditated an escape; but a loud summons from the principal +councillor drew them round their chief, and all doubts were soon +dispelled as to the real victim of the day. + +Amani, having held his incantations over the Hottentot's skull and its +contents, dipped the assegai therein, and, drawing it out dripping with +the fiendish potion, began to wave it slowly before him. Tormentor that +he was! he pointed it for a minute or two at the trembling girlish +mimic. Did he know of her delinquency? She bore the ordeal with the +insensibility of a statue, and the wizard passed her by. Some, utterly +unconscious of offence, were inwardly startled when they found the +sharp-bladed weapon within an inch of their breasts; but their dignity +never forsook them. Each awaited his fate with outwardly unshaken +nerves, and then watched the weapon as it passed them by to tantalise or +condemn another victim. + +All this could be distinctly seen by Gray. He was breathless--cold dews +poured down his face--his teeth chattered with horror and suspense--he +covered his face with his hands. A shout!--was it of exultation?-- +pierced the air, and penetrated his very brain. He looked again, + +Amayeka was in the hands of two fiendish women, witch-doctresses, +confederates with Amani. The circle was broken--the throng were +gathered closely together. Amani was standing up, gibbering and +declaiming to the nearest listeners. Gray could distinguish a shrill +scream from Amayeka. + +Once again he bent his gaze upon the frightful picture. + +Amani's glittering wand was again in motion, the witches were tearing +open Amayeka's dress, the bead bodice, of which she had been so proud, +was scattered in shreds on the ground; and oh, unhappy Gray! behold the +proof--the witness in Amani's accusation. They draw from the depths of +her bosom, appended to a bit of reim secured round her waist, the steel +chain thou gavest her last night! + +He comprehended all instantly, dropped from his leafy covert, leaped +into the ravine, and, scrambling through bush and briar, rushed across +the plain, and overtook the hags as they were bearing off their victim +to a fire in a hollow behind Umlala's great hut. + +Shocked, frightened, bewildered, unarmed, still he followed with the +crowd. He could hear Amayeka's cries of agony, and the poor meercat +seeing him stopped, awaiting his white friend's approach with an eye of +wonderment and fear. + +Once only the eye of Gray met Amayeka's; as the unhappy girl was dragged +to the bottom of the hollow, she caught a glimpse of her lover on the +mound above. She made a desperate struggle to shake off her +persecutors; but had she succeeded, not one of the tribe--partly from +superstition, partly from dread of the consequences to themselves--dared +have lifted a finger to assist her. + +Gray was frantic. He rushed back to Umlala, and the white man threw +himself at the feet of the brutal savage. He lifted up his hands in +humble supplication. + +Umlala sat motionless. Not even his eye gave sign that he saw the +supplicator; and Amani grinned silently like a demon at his fallen foe. +No response, no token of regret; all was stolid indifference on the +chief's part; and, ere long, he rose. The wizard shook his assegai in +Gray's face, and crying, in a loud voice, "Y-enzainhlela i be +banzie"--"Make a path: let it be wide," the throng in front parted to +the right and left, the chief moved deliberately onward, Amani at his +ear talking rapidly, and to Gray almost incoherently, although he had +acquired enough of the language to know that the wizard was intent on +keeping Umlala to the dreadful purpose for which the tribe had been +summoned together. + +All at once two strong women seized Gray from behind, and held him +tight. Amayeka saw that, for he heard her shriek. Had they no mercy, +these wretches? Were they women? Was he to be immolated with Amayeka? +They dragged him down the green slope, slippery with dew, that shone in +diamond drops upon flowers of rainbow hues. He heard the fire roaring, +and saw boy devils at their impish work. They had bound poor Amayeka's +slender wrists with hard thongs of hide, and were trying to get the +bangles over her hands. Had they not succeeded, they would have hacked +off the limbs in their impatience to possess themselves of these gauds, +so precious to them. + +She ceased her cries, poor thing, and lay exhausted on the green-sward, +while some of the women, who were foremost in the horrible work, +prepared to stretch her out with the soles of her feet towards the +flames, already greedy of their prey. + +Gray called to her; she made a violent attempt to release herself, but +in vain; and he, in his fury, shaking off the Amazons who held him, +sprang forward, and would have either attempted to rescue the victim, or +insisted on sharing her fearful death; when screams of affright and +gestures indicative of warning drew the attention of the people on the +plain to the herdsmen on the nearest hill. Some were hastily gathering +the cattle together, while others pointed in the direction of Eiland's +glen, an outlet of the ravine which almost encircled the Kraal. + +Some alarming object was evidently in sight; but what it was could not +be distinguished by the people in the hollow. + +They were soon enlightened. A group of Europeans on horseback emerged +from a wooded glen, a branch of the ravine running between two hills to +the north-west. As they reached the summit of the gorge, and halted +between earth and sky, the shining morning light showed them to be +heavily-armed, and fully accoutred for a _trek_; but their horses, +though rough, were fresh; and if they were from a distance, they had +evidently been resting somewhere within an easy ride of the Kraal. The +party swept down the hill at a brisk pace, plunged into the ravine, and +were out of sight for a moment. The next, with arms unslung and ready +poised, they galloped in close column, in number about thirty, across +the open space, to the mound overlooking the hollow, in which the fire +had been lit, and where Gray now knelt, releasing, with his good English +knife, poor Amayeka from her dreadful fate. + +Yet, white men though they were, the unexpected visitants of the Kraal +did not pause in their course to notice the unfortunate lovers, but +dashed on towards the ravine, where they perceived the cattle and their +drivers. The Kafirs, on first observing the farmer's approach, had +whistled off their plunder towards this dense bush, but had not +succeeded in collecting the herd sufficiently close to the only gap +through which such a body of men and beasts could pass in haste. + +Women and children fled into nooks and corners; some found their way to +their huts, and the herdsmen on the hills rushed into the adjacent +kloofs and valleys. The tribe being, as I have observed, much reduced +in numbers, the thirty stout farmers were more than a match for the +thieves who had cleared their homesteads. Umlala, paralysed with fear +and surprise--for visits from the settlers were, on account of his +remote position from the colony, very unusual,--had hastened to conceal +himself in a mimosa thicket; and Amani was quaking in a wolf-hole, his +favourite retreat in intrigue or danger. + +The Kafirs were unprovided with their firearms, some were even without +their assegais. A volley of musketry from the settlers sent them +screeching into the glen; and a Hottentot guide, catching a glimpse of +Amani's head-gear, recognised him as a wizard, and shot him like a wild +beast in his hole. + +The cattle, responding to the call of their rightful owners, soon fell +quietly into order, and were driven off with no further opposition than +a few assegais thrown at random; the enemy calling out to the invaders, +from the safe side of the ravine, "Take care of them; we will come for +them before the hills grow white,"--alluding to the snow on the mountain +ridges. + +To this the colonists turned an indifferent ear, and, forbidding the +guide to fire again, put their horses to speed, galloped round and round +the herd of cattle, whistling, hallooing, and encouraging them forward, +for no time was to be lost, as it was not unlikely that the armed Kafir +scouts in the valleys might pounce upon them, unawares, by certain short +cuts between the hills. + +In the bustle and excitement attending the recovery of their property, +the farmers had, as I have shown, paid but little attention to the +singular situation of the young deserter and the Kafir girl; but, after +securing the cattle _en masse_, five or six of the most daring cantered +to the little eminence in rear of Umlala's hut, and discovered Amayeka +stretched on the grass alone. She had fainted, and Gray had left her to +procure some water to moisten her parched lips, and was hastening at +full speed from a vley in the hollow to tell his miserable tale to the +white men. + +He could see them from the vley, but they, wholly intent on rescuing the +girl--whom, indeed, they were inclined to consider one of the Griqua +race, from her soft hair and regular features--were in too great haste +and too much excited to await the appearance of a white man, who had +vanished, as they supposed, with the rest of the throng, leaving the +wretched victim of superstition and fraud to escape as she could, or lie +powerless till her tormentors returned. + +At the impulse of the moment, a young Boer--the party consisted of Dutch +farmers from the Stormberg, who, worn out in trying to obtain redress +for accumulated grievances, had taken the law in their own hands--bent +from his horse, and, lifting the light, insensible form of Amayeka to +his saddle, bore her off. + +Another, reckless of danger, lingered to seize a brand from the still +burning embers, and, following his comrade with the flaming stick, cast +it at random on the roof of a particularly well-built hut, and joined +his companions. They sped on, their cheers and laughter rousing the +mocking echoes as they retraced their steps up to the mouth of the +gorge, whence they had descended on the Kraal. + +What made Gray draw back, and fly with extraordinary speed towards the +river? What made him shout the Kafir cry "Izapa! Izapa!" to the women +and children still occupying the ground? + +They looked out from the low doors of their huts, and saw in an instant +the cause of his warning. + +It was one of the huts containing ammunition which had caught fire from +the random brand. + +They tried to fly, but some were too late! + +The cattle herds on the hills set up a terrific yell, which made the +colonists look back from the elevation they had just reached. Gray had +crossed the stream, and was at a safe distance from the scene ere the +fire touched the flooring of the hut in which the gunpowder was buried. +He turned to take a last look of the plain; the poor little meercat was +sitting, in its old posture, at the door of Amayeka's hut, just where +the sunlight fell brightest,--a rumbling noise, like the muttering of +distant thunder, woke the neighbouring echoes; the wind, which was +beginning to gather from all quarters, caught the burning embers, and +scattered them in all directions--several huts took fire--the unhappy +women and children scoured over the plain, hardly knowing where to go in +their blind terror. Some, as I have said, lingering about their +dwellings to save their miserable property, and unconscious of the +imminence of the peril, paid the penalty of their ignorance; for finally +a great tongue of flame shot upwards, a loud explosion shook the earth, +and from the mountain ridge Gray beheld the whole Kraal on fire. + +He could not help feeling, since he had every hope of Amayeka's safety, +a glow of exultation, as he beheld the destruction of the scene of his +late sorrows, and waved his hand in token of a glad farewell to some +people huddled together and watching him from the upper drift: horrified +as he was at the issue of the day's events, he was so utterly disgusted +at the part both women and children had taken in the torture scene, that +he could not pity them as he might have done before it took place. + +He resolved at all hazards on delivering himself into the hands of the +colonists, and pressed forward to a tuft of trees crowning the apex of +the hill. + +Shading his eyes from the glare of the sun, he gazed intently into the +valley on the other side. It was a scene of perfect repose. There were +no groups of cattle to give life to the picture, these had long vanished +from the open locations to the dark ravines of Kafirland; the Kraal +filling the centre of the valley was deserted, and not even a _pauw_, or +secretary-bird, was to be seen stalking solemnly along in the glow. + +It was useless to descend the steep at random; he continued to scan the +paths with careful eye. Suddenly he thought he saw the little band of +horsemen, with the cattle in front, wending their way on the side of a +hill, beneath a krantz of granite. He was not sure of this till they +reached the sharp bluff or angle of the mountain range; they turned it, +and he was left alone in the wilderness. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. Kraal indicates a hamlet of huts, as well as a solitary +dwelling: I have endeavoured to distinguish the one from the other by +prefixing a large K to the former. + +END OF VOLUME ONE. + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +ELEANOR'S STORY. + +But Frankfort is sitting in the hush of midnight--before him lies the +manuscript. It is addressed to "Major Frankfort." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +When the heart is very full, it is difficult to know how or where to +begin a recital, which it is due to you as well as to myself to lay +before you. It would harass you, nay, I think it would make your heart +ache, were you to know, before reading it, all the pangs it has cost me +to write this. + +An old diary lies before me--old to me, who have lived through so much +since I penned the first page, three years ago. I remember that I +opened it to begin my task of journalist at a little road-side inn at +the close of the first day's journey from home. I was going, with my +father, to visit Lady Amabel Fairfax, at Cape Town. I was sorry to +leave home and my young sister. I was sorry to think that, for the +first time in my life, I should not say "Good night" to my mother. + +On the other hand, I was pleased at the prospect of staying with Lady +Amabel; and, although my mother had made the most careful arrangements +for me, I fancied she cared less at my leaving her than I did. At that +time, I think she loved Marion best. + +Yet, I need not dwell on this point--I turn to another leaf. + +Lady Amabel! I see her now--graceful, handsome, and so kind--awaiting +our arrival in a large, luxuriant drawing-room at Government House. + +It was night when I met her for the first time. Tired with a voyage of +many days along the coast, I received her cordial embrace with a +comparatively cold return, as she came forward in the hall. A gong was +sounding in the garden. Through an open door, we beheld a vista of +rooms, and servants lighting them. Lady Amabel desired her maid to +conduct me to my apartment. She had contrived many little elegancies of +dress for me, and my toilette was soon made. I was late, and had to +descend the wide staircase alone. My feet trembled as I heard some one +following, and a young man, in the dress of an aide-de-camp, came +clattering past me; he had the grace to wait at the foot of the stairs +and bow. + +His face was as honest in its expression as yours. He apologised for +"rattling by me," with the most graceful air of humility. He was quite +sure I _must_ be Miss Daveney--he _hoped_ so--we were to be inmates of +the same house; for he was the Governor's nephew, Clarence Fairfax. +Would I take his arm? I should be the best apology in the world if any +guests had arrived. He was the Aide-de-Camp in Waiting; it was his duty +to receive the visitors, and there were two great officials expected--a +Governor-General from India, and a foreign Prince in command of a +squadron of the navy. + +I put my arm through his without answering. I was completely frightened +at the idea of the gay crowd I was to encounter. The hall was +brilliantly lighted, and filled with servants. A door was thrown open +before us. I shook from head to foot with nervous agitation. Clarence +Fairfax pressed my arm, to reassure me; he declared his alarm lest I +should fall. I own I was dazzled. The chandeliers, blazing with the +light of myriads of wax candles, the tall mirrors reflecting them again +and again; the variety of uniforms--staff, infantry, cavalry, engineers, +artillery; officers in the costume of the French, Spanish, American, and +Portuguese navies; the magnificent-looking General from India, his empty +sleeve looped at his breast, that breast covered with orders; the young, +bashful, sailor-Prince, fair-haired, blushing like a girl, yet with a +certain lofty consciousness of rank about him that would have marked him +from the rest of the officers had he been without the ribbon and the +star; the buzz of voices of various nations; the ladies in brilliant +dresses; the air redolent of perfumes, breathing through the windows +opening to the garden;--all appeared to me beautiful, but unreal, after +my desert life. I felt as Cinderella must have done when she found +herself transported by the fairy into the lighted palace; and truly he, +on whose arm I rested trembling, was like a prince of fairy tale to me! + +A tall, slight figure, in the uniform of a general officer, with many +decorations, advanced. His piercing eye flashed for an instant on his +nephew, who had delayed his appearance beyond the hour of reception; but +the expression changed on seeing me. He took me from Clarence, +observing, with a slight asperity of tone, that he was, "as usual, very +late;" and led me to Lady Amabel, who stood in the centre of the +apartment, the blaze of the chandelier illuminating her elegant form +robed in white, her graceful head encircled with an emerald wreath of +shamrock-leaves. + +To add to the illusion of the scene, the music of an exquisite band +came, blended with the perfume of roses, through the open windows. A +beautiful arm was extended to me; Lady Amabel pressed my palm between +her soft jewelled fingers; and Clarence Fairfax came up with clasped +hands, and in mock despair at his uncle's reprimand, at being "late, as +usual." + +There was a little stir, a rustle of silks and plumes, and I, in my +innocence, was looking about, longing to see my father, that I might be +near him at the dinner-table. The sailor-Prince advanced, and gave, his +arm to Lady Amabel; she looked round ere dropping mine; a spur was +entangled in my dress; there was a little laugh; Clarence Fairfax +disengaged himself from "my tails," he said, and then, with a somewhat +saucy ease of manner for first acquaintanceship, he drew my hand under +his arm, and led me after the crowd, already half way through the +ante-room. + +"So, Lady Amabel is a relation of Mr Daveney's!" said he--"that is +charming--there is a kind of cousinship between us. Nay, don't look so +demure, you chill me, and I intend that we shall be the best friends in +the world. Let us make that bargain." + +He was so tall, he had to bend low to look into my face, which was +covered with confusion; for I was unaccustomed to such familiarity. It +took me by surprise; but, ah! the fatal air which men assume when they +would please--those earnest looks, those low-pleading whispers. I +forgot to look for my father, and seated myself on Clarence's right hand +at the foot of the table. A magnificent bouquet of flowers almost hid +Lady Amabel from my view, my eyes were bewildered with the blaze of +candelabra and silver covers, and the uniforms of scarlet, and gold, and +blue, mingled with the lighter hues of women's dresses; but, at length, +I met the eye of Lady Amabel: she smiled, nodded, indicated by a gesture +to my father that I was in my proper place, and by one to me that she +was satisfied; and, indeed, so was I. + +Sir Adrian Fairfax's attention was thus called to us--he looked at his +nephew and laughed; we were the last to be seated. "Incorrigible +Clarence," cried the General, shaking his head; "lingering behind--again +late. Too bad, too bad." + +"Do you see that showy woman opposite my uncle?" whispered Clarence +Fairfax to me. + +I glanced across the table, and replied in the affirmative. + +"She is the wife of an official, and falls to my lot generally. I +escaped her to-night. See, my uncle is smiling; he knows why I +lingered; he excuses me, of course. You are my apology." + +"I must take Major Fairfax's part," said the Indian Governor: "he may be +late for dinner, General, but he is always first in the field, you +know." + +"And the last," replied Sir Adrian, laughing; "you see I have the best +of the argument after all. Fairfax, the soup will be cold." + +Everything that passed at the dinner-table on that memorable day is +noted in my diary. I have not looked over it for three years. I need +scarcely do so now; for, as I write, the tide of memory swells high, and +trifles rise to the surface. + +There was a ball that evening at Government House. Sir Adrian brought +the young sailor-Prince to me. Clarence Fairfax stepped aside with a +look of despair, which I took to be real. The first dance over, he came +to claim me in right of "cousinship," he said. His countenance was +radiant with smiles as he led me away. We whirled off in a valse, +talking gaily all the time; he looking down into my eyes, and I +forgetful of the crowd around me, till I heard some one remark, "What a +perfect dancer! so airy--so unstudied!" "A relation of Lady +Amabel's?"--"Yes." "From England?"--"Oh, no!--an officer's daughter." +"Not pretty, is she?"--"Rather." "Good gracious, do you think +so?"--"Interesting--Fairfax is taken." Giddy with the exercise, I +stopped unwittingly close to the speakers--two or three showy girls and +their partners. The band changed the air to a rapid measure, and I was +again borne off as on wings. Breathless and exhilarated, we reached the +door of an ante-room; Clarence thought it was unoccupied, and led me in. + +Ah, conscience! The bloom of a youthful heart once touched, it sees +evil in what it once deemed innocent! + +I was accustomed to dance, to valse, to be associated occasionally with +gentlemen, so why did my heart bound as I met my father and Lady +Amabel?--and why was it relieved on seeing them pass by with only a +smile of pleased recognition? + +The Governor from India fell into conversation at the doorway; Lady +Amabel looked back, and said, "Take care, Clarence, of the draught from +that window;" and left us sitting on a couch alone. Her shawl was +thrown across it. Fairfax drew it round me. + +I had been prepared to admire this gallant young soldier--"first and +last in battle." He had lately been wounded in a pirate fight while +cruising with naval friends off the western coast of Africa; his sleeve, +open from the wrist to the shoulder, showed that his sword-arm had been +disabled. It was a stirring tale--a young captain struck down; the next +in command weakened by fever; the ships lashed yard-arm and yard-arm; a +swarm of frantic beings, who knew that to yield was to die; and a band +of British sailors with a boy lieutenant at their head. + +The rover's crew cheered the boarders as they advanced, the boy +lieutenant fell, but Clarence sprang into his place, and led the sailors +on. He had observed the battened hatchways, had heard the yells of the +miserable captives in the forecastle of the brig, and whilst the battle +raged, had directed the carpenter how to release the crowd of victims. +His coolness turned the fortune of the day; the hatchway burst open, the +wretched slaves, emaciated, starving as they were, mingled with the +English crew, and, elated with, the hope of liberty, sprang upon the +pirates, and cast them into the sea. The victory was decided in a +moment. Clarence Fairfax shared the honours of the day, and gave his +prize-money to the rescued slaves. + +I begged him to tell me this tale himself. He did so, with apparent +reluctance; but the relation dazzled and enchanted me. I was bewildered +with his beauty, his air, his charmed words. + +While thus happily engaged, he talking and I listening, the servants +entered, and throwing open a large window, an exquisite _coup-d'oeil_ +was presented. A marquee, lined with brilliant flags, and lighted with +transparent lamps, stretched away into the spacious gardens. Tables +were scattered about covered with refreshments, all arranged with +exquisite taste; tropical fruits and flowers decorating the feast in +elegant profusion and variety. He started up. "I am forgetting my +duty," said he, "in lingering so pleasantly with you. Ah! here comes +your father. See, he is following Sir Adrian and Lady Westerhaven, and +is escorting the official lady who always falls to my lot. You have yet +to learn, you sweet innocent lily of the desert, that the conventional +forms of colonial society are even more absurd than those of England. +Ah, thank heaven! your father has passed us by." + +But he was mistaken; the showy, shining woman leaning on my father, who +had been darting keen and earnest glances into every corner of the room, +suddenly exclaimed, with a touch of bitterness I could not then +understand, "Now, Mr Daveney, who would have thought to have found your +daughter here? Quite safe, you see; but shy, very shy, on this her +first appearance in public--thank you; but I believe it will be +etiquette to resign your arm. Captain Fairfax, it may not be your +_pleasure_, but I believe it is your _duty_, to take me to the +supper-room to-night." + +He looked at me, at this remark, and smiled; but evidently feared the +scrutiny of the lady, for he assumed a demure look, which, in spite of +my vexation, made me laugh, as he led the offended one to the marquee. + +I followed with my father, who expressed his uneasiness at my long +absence from the ball-room. I dare say some fathers would have been +angry; but he had been so long a stranger to the "conventionalities," as +Clarence called the forms of society, that he did not see any +impropriety in my lingering with my partner in an empty ante-room, and +only feared I might have felt overcome with the heat and the crowd. + +How often men strive to argue women out of a due observation of +"conventionalities" which militate against their schemes, and next +contemn their victims for ignoring what they, the men, have taught them +to despise! + +I think I see that bold, bad woman, Mrs Rashleigh, now. Her black eyes +and hair contrasted strongly with her brilliant cheeks and lips. Beside +me, she was tall, and as she looked down upon me, she seemed to sneer. +Jewels glittered on her unveiled bosom, her handsome hands and arms were +covered with ornaments, a tiara of diamonds crowned her brow, from which +the hair was widely parted, giving her face an unwomanly look; her voice +was loud and dauntless, her laugh rung unpleasantly upon the ear. + +And yet this bold, meretricious woman evidently held sway over the young +and graceful aide-de-camp on whose arm she rested, looking into his eyes +with that audacious stare, from which some men,--you, for instance,-- +would shrink. + +Mrs Rashleigh was evidently rallying him about me. Then Lady Amabel +came up to her. What a contrast between the two,--Lady Amabel was fair, +gentle, feminine, and not what the world calls clever; but the pure mind +shone out of her soft eyes, and made her low voice musical. She said +something civil to her guest, and took my father and myself away with +her to a little room, where a few choice friends were gathered round Sir +Adrian. + +I saw no more of Clarence that night, but retired to my bed to dream of +fairy halls, and diamond palaces, and enchanted princes; and throughout +the dream there hung about me an odious female genius, whose wand turned +all I touched to ashes. I awoke, terrified at the thunder she had +invoked upon _my_ head in her jealous anger. I could not help laughing, +as, in the bad fairy's thunder, I recognised the parting salute of the +young foreign sailor-Prince. + +I descended next morning, listless, unrested. Sir Adrian, my father, +and Clarence Fairfax, were at the breakfast-table, and an aide-de-camp +came in at an opposite door, as I entered. Lady Amabel was in her room. +I took my seat by my father. The usual salutations passed; Clarence +recognised me by one of his brilliant smiles. + +"Oh! Miss Daveney," observed Sir Adrian, "you were the envy of all the +women last night." + +The colour rushed into my face. + +"Why so, sir?" I asked. + +"You monopolised the young Prince for the first dance. Mrs +Vanderlacken expected to be taken out." + +"And," remarked Captain W, the other aide-de-camp, "Mrs Rashleigh was +taken in; for she has established Fairfax as her _cavalier servant_, and +he hung back last night." + +Involuntarily I looked at Clarence. + +"Ah!" remarked Sir Adrian, who was a thorough man of the world, "she is +a little too old for you, Fairfax; she owns to three-and-thirty." + +"I thought," said I, surprised into volunteering a remark, "that Mrs +Rashleigh's husband was alive." + +They burst into a fit of laughter at my _naivete_. + +I believe my father had every hope, from my innocence of character, that +my _sejour_ at Cape Town would do me no harm. Lady Amabel was, as he +knew, one of the most amiable of human beings; it was you who remarked +that my father is one who has "made the most of human experiences, but +is unlearned in those of society;" thus, he had been accustomed to see +me associated with those young men who visited at our house whenever a +commando brought them near Annerley; but society gathered within the +home circle is widely different from that of a gay official residence, +especially where the host is a man of the world, and the hostess facile, +attractive, and unused to exercise her judgment. + +My father returned home, and I was left especially under Lady Amabel's +care. I spent my mornings with her. At luncheon the arrangements were +made for riding or driving in the afternoon. + +Clarence Fairfax trained a beautiful Arab of Sir Adrian's for me; it was +he who taught me to ride! + +You have been at Cape Town. Do you recollect that dusty road to +Newlands, and the delicious change from that space to those long +avenues,--those shady aisles? + +It seems but yesterday that Clarence and I were sauntering there--he +with his hand upon my rein, laughing at my conscious dread of Lady +Amabel's displeasure at our lingering, while the General and herself +were far ahead, fading in the vista. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +We spent the summer months at Newlands. Do you remember one of those +shaded paths between the quince and pomegranate hedges? the tall +mountain rising like a giant between the sun and this quiet retreat. +Here Lady Amabel and I used to bring our work, and sketch-books; and +here Sir Adrian protested he always found Fairfax half an hour after the +horses were ordered for the business visit to the town. The General +complained that his aide-de-camp was more idle than ever; and Lady +Amabel would shake her head at me, and then at Clarence, with a gentle +smile of deprecation at us all. + +She had set her heart upon marrying me to Clarence Fairfax. She did not +tell me so, but I discovered it, albeit her tact veiled her intentions +from all but one besides myself. This was not Clarence; it was Mrs +Rashleigh. + +The moment Lady Amabel had formed this "pretty plus," as she afterwards +called it, she did just what a woman of refined mind would do. She took +care, lest the world should sully my fair name with the breath of +scandal. Had she been a manoeuvrer, she could not have done more to +draw Clarence nearer to me. She kept me more by her side than she had +done; she drew back when we sauntered in the ride; she made excuses to +separate us if we sat too long together; and, in short, often disturbed +Clarence's equanimity. He was of a passionate temper, though not rough +in disposition; but I had never seen his disposition tried in +essentials. I had yet to discover in him the foundation of +selfishness--vanity. Ah! why am I anticipating? Major Frankfort, I did +not anticipate or reason, while writing the first pages of the journal +to which I have to refer in addressing this hurried scrawl to you. + +Not far from the house at Newlands is a beautiful grove. You approach +it by a labyrinth of lemon glades and silver trees--you remember those +silver trees, always whispering on the scented air that pervades those +Arcadian woods. The grove crowns a natural mound within a miniature +forest, a clear stream ripples below, and falls musically over the +rocks, making a natural cascade. In the hottest days of December a soft +breeze murmurs through this grove, and stirs this shining stream. Lady +Amabel would retire here with me in the blazing hours of noon, and +Clarence would follow us, with servants bearing baskets of fruit and the +light wines of Constantia. + +Lady Amabel was always happy with us in this lovely spot. Clarence and +I named it the Fountain of Nigeria; he had been there, and said it +resembled it. I think I hear Lady Amabel's gentle laugh at my unsteady +steps in descending, assisted by her nephew, to cool the wine in the +stream, and gather lemon and pomegranate blossoms to decorate the sylvan +feast; and then my frightened air at being left below, unable to return +without his help, which he so loved to give! I recollect one day a +large party "tracking us out," as Clarence said, and Lady Amabel's +vexation at our nook being invaded. She was the _chaperone_ again, and +drew my arm under hers at once. + +We could hear the voices of the party before they reached us. I +recognised one, Mrs Rashleigh's; she was in advance of all, dressed +with extravagant taste, painted, veiled, and redolent of perfumes. + +There was the old bitter tone in her mode of rallying "Fairfax," on +being "_Lady Amabel's aide-de-camp_;" and, having paid her compliments +with what I thought an impertinent air, she led off Clarence. I could +see them strolling together between the tall pomegranate hedges. Unlike +the conversations between Clarence and myself, it seemed that she was +the talker, and he the listener; for the sun falling where they stopped +for many minutes in the walk, I could distinctly perceive her gestures, +while he appeared silent and grave. + +But, while remarking this curious proceeding, I heard a young Dutch lady +say to another, "Mrs Rashleigh and Captain Fairfax are quarrelling--did +you hear that she was enraged with him at the last ball?" + +"Oh, yes; and they say he has not been at her house since the Governor +has been at Newlands--hush!" + +They discovered I was near them, and were silent. + +I heard remarks of the same nature from others of the party; but Lady +Amabel was engaged with a group of children round the fruit-table. She +had released me from her kind _surveillance_ on seeing Mrs Rashleigh +lead off her nephew. She had only designated Clarence as "her nephew" +since my advent at Government House. + +I fear you may think these puerilities, dear Major Frankfort. I will +turn over three or four leaves of this childish journal. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +One day, Lady Amabel was slightly indisposed; I carried my work-frame to +her morning-room. The General and all his staff had ridden to Cape Town +to meet some foreign official. She begged me to take my walk in the +grounds, and I left her. + +It was one of those dreamy days, such as we have lately had here. The +birds and insects dropped their wings in the boughs. I hastened through +the pathways, glowing with the sun, and sought the "Grove of Egeria." I +went, singing to myself that pretty bit of Handel, + + "Where'er you walk, cool gales shall fan the glade; + Trees where you sit shall crowd into a shade." + +It was in harmony with the scene--all was calm--the glare of the heavens +could not penetrate there--and I sauntered leisurely on, enjoying the +solitude, and sat down beneath the branches of a noble plane-tree. +Suddenly I heard a sound of horses' feet; I thought it was some one +passing along the high road hidden by the plantations; the sound drew +nearer; I looked through a long green vista--it was Clarence Fairfax, +followed by his groom; he looked up as he approached. I was standing in +a natural arch, with the light streaming down through an opening above. +I never thought of drawing back, as I ought to have done, for Lady +Amabel would have objected to our meeting in this retired spot. +Clarence saw me, waved his forage-cap, and, springing from his horse, +threw the reins to the groom. + +He was in the grove in an instant, and at my feet, as I reclined, +trembling with emotion, under the plane-tree boughs. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Ah! Major Frankfort, had you heard his gentle words, his expressions of +pleasure at meeting me alone--the contrasts he drew between other girls +and me; had you seen his smile, as he held my hand in his, and looked +upon me!--you would not have doubted that he loved me. + +But he terrified me by desiring--ah! he was very imperative--that I +would say nothing to Lady Amabel of this meeting. + +I would have retreated from the grove, but he seized me by the hand, and +entreated me to listen to his reasons for _delay_. + +Woe is me! I did listen to this once--_only this once_. + +One might write volumes on such a text; but I was firm in not consenting +to another meeting. I had been brought up in the few of doing wrong. + +I trembled when I met Lady Amabel in the hall; she was tying on her +bonnet, and coming to meet me. + +"Did you see Clarence?" she asked; "his horses have just gone round to +the stable." + +Before I could reply, I heard the tread of a spurred and booted heel +upon the threshold of the hall-door; Lady Amabel took it for granted +Clarence had just dismounted, for she inquired if the General and +Captain Walton were following him. + +No; Clarence had left them "up to their knees in foolscap" in a +government office. + +I escaped to my room, shut the door, and began to think. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Those were two wretched hours, which I spent alone on the 18th of +January, 18--. I pleaded, with truth, the lady's excuse for not driving +with Lady Amabel to meet Sir Adrian. She took Clarence Fairfax with her +in the carriage. + +It was dusk when they returned, and a britzska full of visitors followed +the General's equipage. I was at the head of the stairs, when I heard +Mrs Rashleigh's voice; the servants were lighting the lamps. I looked +over the banisters, she and two or three other ladies were coming up to +arrange their toilette before dinner. + +Clarence stood at the foot of the stairs; he was laughing at some bold +sally of Mrs Rashleigh's, for he said, "for shame." + +She had a brilliant bouquet in her hand; she tapped him on the cheek, +and he, catching the beautiful hand, drew off the glove, and kissed it. + +I rushed back to my dim chamber. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +All this was painfully incomprehensible to me. I was totally ignorant +of the character of a male flirt--I set down Mrs Rashleigh as a +friend!--a dashing, impudent woman, but only a friend--thirty-two years +old, as she acknowledged, and every one said she was at least +thirty-five, to me at sixteen she appeared old; Clarence Fairfax was +five-and-twenty. + +I dare say that the intimacy of these two people would have been a +mystery to you; and yet, ere this, you may have learned how mischievous +is the influence which a bold, meretricious, experienced woman, whose +chief study has been to please the other sex, gains by perseverance over +a vain young man. + +Clarence Fairfax loved me as well as he was capable of loving anything +besides himself; but he was enthralled by this daring being--he was +afraid of her. Ah! you may doubt; but history tells us how vain and +indolent men have quailed before vicious women. She even exercised a +sort of mysterious power over gentle Lady Amabel. The latter had an +instinctive, feminine dread of Mrs Rashleigh's sarcastic laugh and +audacious stare. + +As for Sir Adrian, she amused him. She was a dashing rider, too; she +had given it up for some years, but returned to it on being tempted to +try Zara, my well-trained Arab. God forgive me for my suspicions--it +acquired some dangerous tricks under her tutoring; she used to boast of +her talent for the _manege_, and scandalised the decorous Dutch ladies, +who, she said, were jealous of her, by riding with the General and his +staff about the square at a grand review. + +Lady Amabel was beginning to penetrate the cause of my fits of +dejection, when unexpected news from the military posts startled both +her and myself. + +The war-cry had rung from the mountains in Kafirland. Vividly do I +remember the night on which this intelligence reached Cape Town. The +whole of the authorities, with many members of their families, had +assembled, amid a crowd of pleasure-loving people, on board a fine +English frigate, to celebrate a national festival. Gay groups were +scattered about the decks, awaiting the arrival of Sir Adrian and his +party. I was happy that evening, and stepped on the deck, leaning on +Clarence's arm. How kind, how tender had been his manner, as he almost +lifted me from the barge to the gangway of the noble ship! As people +are said, in the last hours of existence, to review minutely every +incident of their lives, so could I once retrace the most trifling +details of this brilliant and enchanting fete. As I recall it now, I +remember everything--the wreaths, the flags of all the great nations of +the world; the glittering arms interspersed among the laurels, and the +effect of the soft light from the battle-lanterns disposed along the +poop; innumerable lamps shedding their radiance through the draperies of +scarlet and amber, purple, green, and white, and blue; the crowds of +laughing dancers; the imposing array of military and naval uniforms and +decorations. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Ah, fatal gift of beauty! + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +How long it was before I could cease to think of Clarence on that night, +his plumed hat in his hand! How often did his gay laugh haunt me, like +a mockery, in the silence of the night! His countenance beamed like an +angel's, as it leant down to mine, and his whispered accents touched my +very soul amid the din of the giddy throng. + +Arms clattered on the deck, as the Governor, Sir Adrian, acknowledged +the salute from the guard of honour; the stirring air of "God save the +King" pealed from the band on the poop; the crowd parted right and left, +and the Admiral came forward to receive us. Having paid his +compliments, Admiral B gave the order, in a good-humoured voice, to +"clear the decks for action"--dance-music floated from unseen musicians; +the officers selected their partners, and Clarence Fairfax led me to the +head of the quadrille. + +Mrs Rashleigh placed herself opposite to us, with Captain Walton; she +was fanning herself, and was evidently much excited and agitated. I +felt she was my evil genius for the night at least. + +There was a fiendish light in her eye, but Clarence either did not or +_would_ not observe it, and he was in such spirits, that their influence +for a time was irresistible. + +We were laughing merrily together as Mrs Rashleigh sailed past us in +the quadrille. + +"Have you heard the news?" said she, addressing Clarence--she seldom +deigned to recognise me except by an insolent bow. + +"News?--no." And the young aide-de-camp led me back to my place. +"There's a man-of-war just coming in," said he; "she has been making +signals to the station on the hills; what news can she bring?" + +The sun had long set, and the man-of-war dropped her anchor in silence; +it was soon whispered that she had brought news from the south-eastern +coast; and besides this, some excitement prevailed in consequence of her +having had a desperate affray with pirates off the coast of Madagascar, +and she had been looked for with much anxiety and interest, rumours of +the action having reached us some days before? + +There was silence. It was so profound, that we could distinguish the +plash of the oars. The flag-lieutenant descended the gangway to meet +the commander of the sloop, and attending him to the deck, presented him +to Admiral D. After the usual compliments had passed, Captain Leslie +requested to be introduced at once to the Governor, for whom he had +brought important despatches. + +Mrs Rashleigh came up at once to Clarence Fairfax; but looking at _me_, +observed abruptly, "We must bid adieu to balls and fetes immediately. +The Governor and his suite will have to start for the frontier without +delay. You will be charmed, I am sure, to take the field again, Major +Fairfax,"--here she addressed herself to him;--"for you must be tired of +lounging at pianos and superintending embroidery. Don't faint, Miss +Daveney; you are as white as death, I vow. He will come back again; +aides-de-camp never get shot, especially in Kafirland." + +It is a fearful thing for a young heart to feel the germ of dislike +springing in its depths; and, alas! I began to hate this woman. + +Clarence looked round for some one to whose care he could commit me. "I +must go," he said, "to my uncle at once." I instinctively moved away +with him. We left Mrs Rashleigh standing alone. Every one was +crowding towards the poop to hear the news. Lady Amabel had fainted. + +The next few hours are vaguely sketched upon the tablets of my mind--day +was dawning, as we descended the carpeted steps of the gangway to depart +for the shore. I tottered into the barge, Clarence Fairfax supported me +in his arms, and Lady Amabel was reclining on a seat, with Sir Adrian +attempting to comfort her. Mrs Rashleigh was waiting for the Admiral's +cutter to convey her to land. I could not reconcile her levity with the +idea of her regard for Clarence. She was on the last step of the +gangway, and leaning down, she looked under the canopy of the barge: +"Pray, tell Lady Amabel," said she to me, with a mocking smile, "that +she must not alarm herself; it will be quite a question of _words_ on +the frontier, and we shall soon return. I have made up my mind to +accompany Mr Rashleigh, who goes with the Governor. We shall have a +charming party; good night." + +Clarence muttered something between his teeth. I laid my head on his +shoulder, and sobbed bitterly. I forgot Lady Amabel and Sir Adrian; +indeed they were intent on their own regrets and responsibilities. +Clarence pressed me to his heart, and parting the curls from my brow, +kissed me for the first and last time. + +Oh! that stir in the household in the early morning the dread +preparation for war--weapons lying on the gilded tables; holsters flung +across the banisters; servants hurrying hither and thither with saddlery +and accoutrements; the impatient chargers pawing in the stable-yard, as +if they steady "snuffed the battle afar off;" orderlies dashing to the +open doorways on foaming horses; and impatient voices issuing commands +to the startled underlings! + +I rose early and went below; my heart sickened at these evidences of +immediate departure. I returned to my sleeping apartment. It loosed +into the beautiful view of the approach to the house from my +dressing-room. I could hear the clatter of horses' feet in the stables, +and grooms and soldiers laughing, enjoying the prospect of the journey, +and perhaps war. It was early day. How lovely is nature at her +_reveille_ in this soft climate! She was waking in the garden to the +matin songs of birds; she was lifting her veil on the mountain-top, and +unfurling her crimson banner in the sky to herald the coming of the sun. + +But with me all was gloom. That Clarence Fairfax loved me, in his +impetuous way, I _believed_,--alas! I did not know; but the future was +a dark abyss. He was going--going into danger. All the horrible +histories I had been told of death at savage hands rose before me. The +hour or two passed in sleep during the night had been haunted with +bloody spectres. I saw that brow stained with gore, those eyes which +had beamed on me with merry light closed for ever. Gracious heaven! I +had dreamt of torture, agony, and shame, with my beloved Clarence in the +foreground of the picture. + +Up and down, up and down those two rooms I paced, shivering on that +sunny morning with dread, dismay, and doubt. Tears came--they poured in +torrents over my face. I caught sight of it in the large mirror--it was +pitiable to behold. I wept the more at the sight of my miserable and +altered countenance. How sad is self-pity! It is so long since I have +recalled these wretched moments of existence, that I can dwell upon them +now more as a vividly-remembered dream than as actual facts. I give +you, dear friend, more details than you may like to have, but I think +you have a right to watch the phases through which my mind passed under +the influence of that absorbing earthly passion. + +Yes, it was a mere earthly passion; but many wiser than I have been +bewildered and enchained by exceeding beauty, a dazzling smile, a +winning manner, a perfect form, and a reputation distinguished among men +for gallant and generous actions--generous, you know, in the worldly +acceptation of the term. + +Besides, while with me, Clarence was wholly mine; if I might judge by +manner, hanging over my embroidery frame while Lady Amabel was writing; +or-- + +Ah! I have said enough of this. He was to leave me now. Would he die? +Would he return? or, if he did, would he return true to me, and _tell +me that he_ loved me? + +You see, under all this strong current of love for him, there were +doubts. I hardly recognised them; but they existed nevertheless. I had +heard him laugh at "love-stricken damsels," left by men who had been +publicly engaged to them. I recollected his boasting, of giving advice +to a young officer, who had gone "a great deal too far," to get sick +leave, and sail for England by the first ship. The young man did not +take this advice; he stayed, married, and Clarence called him "a +fool."--Yes, these doubts rose to the surface of my mind, and then-- + +I heard his voice in the front of the house. I lifted the blind of the +dressing-room window, and saw him: he looked harassed, he had been up +all night. He was on horseback, and fully accoutred. Oh! was he +departing? I dropped the blind; next I heard the rattle of spurs and +sword; he had dismounted. + +I wiped the tears from my eyes, and ran down to the garden by a back +staircase. Clarence had some deer there in a little paddock. I walked +mechanically along a grape-walk to the inclosure: the pretty things knew +me, for I visited them every day; they put their faces through the +railings, and licked my hands. Nelly--he had named one after me-- +trotted up and down impatiently; she was watching for her master. I +suppose he thought that I should be with his favourites; for, ere long, +he came through the grape-walk. I hastened to meet him--for agitation +and distress overcame my reserve--and we walked up and down the arcade +together. + +He entreated me not to forget him, said he should be wretched till he +returned, and a hundred tender things besides; but I could see that the +change from garrison life to active service was exciting to him: he had +no idea of temporising with savages, he said; he hoped Sir Adrian would +settle the question by "speaking to the Kafirs," as they said +themselves, "with guns." Oh! it would only be a month's affair. They +were to ride five hundred miles a week till they reached the seat of +war; and then, he added, with a gay air, "think how much faster we shall +ride back." + +We met Sir Adrian in the garden; he had been looking for Clarence. The +Governor was too full of public affairs and his own domestic anxiety to +say much to me. A young girl of seventeen, in the full bloom of mirth +and beauty, was an agreeable object to him in a ball-room, but he was +wont to laugh, like Clarence, at "sorrow-stricken damsels;" he saw I had +been weeping, but could enter little into my misery; he uttered some +courteous expressions of regret at leaving me to the dulness of Cape +Town in the absence of officials; and with more show of feeling than I +had seen him exhibit, said, "You will take care of Lady Amabel, my dear +Miss Daveney; I am consoled in these hurried moments of departure at the +idea of leaving her with so sweet a companion." + +"You must make breakfast for us this morning," added he, giving me his +arm, and leading me through the verandah to the room where the repast +was spread. + +I sat down passively in the chair Sir Adrian placed for me, and did the +honours of the breakfast to the Governor, his staff, and two or three +civil functionaries. + +Mr Rashleigh was there--obsequious, prosy, and judicial: he was alike +despised and disliked in private life; but he was "Sir Adrian's right +hand at Cape Town;" was _au fait_ at the working of the difficult +machinery of government from one end of the colony to the other; and, as +I afterwards heard, kept up a sort of civil treaty with Mrs Rashleigh, +who had never loved him, but who had a thorough sense of the advantages +she derived from her position as his wife, surrounded by the appliances, +and, what she considered, the state of official life. She had ample +evidence against him to procure a divorce if she chose it; but such a +proceeding would have been the ruin of both. She had the art to conceal +her most glaring errors from the world, and rumours were afloat of +stormy debates between this worldly, unprincipled pair: he remonstrating +on her extravagance, she defying him, by threatening him with an +_esclandre_ that would have deprived him of his high appointment. + +You may believe that such rumours never reached Sir Adrian and Lady +Amabel. It is "expedient" to overlook the most glaring errors of +powerful and useful men. Probably, if any one had endeavoured to +enlighten Sir Adrian, the latter would have deprecated the information +as intrusive. No; every one believed Mr and Mrs Rashleigh to be +unprincipled people; but they had a fine house, gave elegant +entertainments, were on the best terms with the first authorities +through every successive government, never worried others with their +quarrels; on the contrary, were perfectly civil to each other in public; +and, although the lady was said to be extravagant, she paid her debts. + +I am telling you what, probably, you may have heard of these baneful +people; for it is not very long since circumstances came to light which +would never have been known had the Rashleighs continued prosperous; but +the day came when the world did not care what it believed against them, +and then their very errors were exaggerated--if that were possible--but +I must not be uncharitable. How true that remark of Sir Thomas More--I +forget the exact words--you quoted them the other day--that "our faults +we engraven on marble--our virtues traced in the dust!" + +The gentlemen hurried over their breakfast, and Sir Adrian retired with +Mr Rashleigh. How I longed to rise and escape through the window into +the garden! but it was impracticable, and there I remained for upwards +of an hour, with a heart bursting with grief, while my face was +condemned to wear a calm appearance. Doubtless, "Fairfax's flirtation +with little Miss Daveney" had been talked of at many of these men's +tables; but they were all too much interested in the important events +pending to give a thought to the shy, melancholy little figure, sitting +with her back to the light, and dispensing tea and coffee as fast as the +servants could hand round the silver salvers. + +Oh! weak of heart and weak of mind that I was in those days!--But am I +the wiser for the past? + +I trust so; I pray it may prove good for me that I have been afflicted, +and that, like the land desolated apparently by the dark waters of the +Nile, my soul may be purified and strengthened by the floods that have +gone over my soul, and that the receding tide may leave all refreshed, +hopeful, and serene. + +Oh! the solitude of a great mansion which for weeks has been ringing +with sounds of dancers' feet, of laughter, and of song. The large +vacant rooms, the tall mirrors, reflecting in all directions one +insignificant little object! I went wandering about the apartments at +Government House the greater part of that morning. Lady Amabel was in +bed, exhausted by a succession of fainting-fits. The sudden +announcement of the evil tidings had scared her weak nerves, and Sir +Adrian's speedy departure had prostrated her. They had scarcely been +sundered for twenty years, save in some short brilliant campaigns in +India. No one seemed to dread actual danger to the General's person in +his present expedition; but I had heard something of the foe he was +about to encounter, and I knew what _might_ be. + +Clarence Fairfax and I parted amid a bevy of officials. We shook hands +like commonplace acquaintances. The other members of the staff came +rattling in through the open doors. All was hurry at the last; I ran up +to my dressing-room window, and watched the assemblage of people who had +come to make their parting bow to the popular Governor. + +Horses, men, equipages were crowded together; Sir Adrian appeared--there +was a hearty shout--the grooms and orderlies brought up the chargers, +they were rowing and fretting with impatience. My pretty Zara was led +by a dragoon, to be ridden only occasionally. The General and staff +were soon in their saddles--the crowd gave way--Sir Adrian waved his +hat--the aides-de-camp bowed right and left, and the cavalcade proceeded +at a rapid pace down the street. In ten minutes not a trace was left of +this gallant array. The Rashleighs were to follow the Governor in the +afternoon. They drove up to the door of Government House in their +travelling equipage, saddle and sumpter horses following. Lady Amabel +could not see them--I would not; but from my dressing-room, where I sat +trying to draw, I could hear Mrs Rashleigh's imperative voice. I +looked through the Venetian blinds for an instant, and turned away, sick +at heart. + +It was evening before Lady Amabel and I met. How vast the room looked +as we two sat at dinner, with a lamp shining on a table usually crowded +with guests. Next day we departed for Newlands. + +Sweet, gentle, kind Lady Amabel. She had, as I have told you, begun to +penetrate the cause of my occasional dejection: occasional--for there +were times when I had no doubt of Clarence Fairfax's attachment. But +she had her misgivings about Mrs Rashleigh, whom she spoke of once or +twice as a "dangerous woman;" and this was a strong expression for Lady +Amabel. She now drew from me a part of "Love's sad history," and +expressed her regrets at Clarence's departure without opening his mind +to her. In many ways she betrayed uneasiness at the idea of Mrs +Rashleigh's determination to follow the authorities to the frontier. + +How solitary now to me were those long, green vistas at Newlands! The +fountain of Egeria had its own peculiar melancholy charm, and many early +morning hours were passed in these bowers, consecrated in memory to love +and happiness. + +Letters soon arrived, bringing us hopeful intelligence of peace with +Kafirland; but an immense press of business was likely to detain Sir +Adrian for some time. He even talked of a journey to Natal, on the +northeastern coast; but, the fear of absolute and immediate danger +removed, visitors poured in to offer their congratulations, for Lady +Amabel had endeared herself to many. + +The despatches contained a note for me. I put it aside till I could +open it in solitude. It was full of kindness, and I was comparatively +happy. + +On the other hand, I was doomed to hear of fetes and balls got up to +celebrate Sir Adrian's arrival at Graham's Town, the capital of the +frontier. Mrs Rashleigh was doing the honours of his house; her +husband and herself were its inmates, and I could detect many a lurking +smile on the lips of keen-witted, ill-natured visitors, as they listened +to the relation of these "facts and scraps" to Lady Amabel. + +Some relations of Sir Adrian's happened at this time to take up their +abode at the Cape. They called at Newlands, and introduced a young man, +who had come from England with them, and who brought letters of special +introduction to the Governor. + +Lady Amabel was indisposed, and I received the guests; they remained to +luncheon. Lady Amabel sent to request that they, with _Mr Lyle_, would +remain to dinner. They could not accept the invitation, but Mr Lyle +did, and was left _tete-a-tete_ with me. + +Handsome, original, and clever, he certainly beguiled away those hours +more agreeably than I had expected. He spent the evening with Lady +Amabel and myself. She liked him; she said he was "not _too_ clever for +us," in our unsettled, agitated state, for we were only _hoping_ for +peace; and she gave him a general invitation to our country residence, +to which she had also asked her relatives during their _sejour_ at the +Cape. Unaccustomed to thoroughly "private life," Lady Amabel was happy +to throw her house open again to society. We had no fetes or +dinner-parties; we were not gay, but we were cheerful, for every week +brought us more hopeful intelligence from the seat of war. I heard less +of Mrs Rashleigh and Clarence Fairfax, and believed his excuses for +short and hurried notes to me. The interchange of these notes was not +quite right; but, although kind, they contained no warm expressions of +regard. Lady Amabel considered them harmless, because Clarence signed +himself a "Faithful Cousin." I suppose she had not the heart to forbid +what she saw gave me so much pleasure. He was, he said, "overwhelmed +with office work." + +Mr Lyle had been sent from England to join a force quartered at Natal, +but with especial credentials to the Governor, to whom he enclosed them. +He shortly received instruction to remain at Cape Town for the present, +Sir Adrian anticipating an opportunity of naming him for a staff +appointment. + +He visited us almost daily. Lady Amabel was charmed with his +attentions. He was ever ready to bring us good news, and on the arrival +of despatches would gallop out to Newlands to be the first herald of the +tidings. + +I have told you that the first impression he made was agreeable--but as +for marriage!-- + +He treated me with a certain air of respect, which, I confess, pleased +me exceedingly. He seemed more for my favour than Lady Amabel's. There +was a peculiar kind of cleverness, too, in his conversation, which was +new--it was that of _educated ability_; but he had an original way of +discussing questions, and, through the respectful reserve he maintained +towards me, I could discover a lurking talent for sarcasm, not +ill-natured, but irresistibly amusing. He entertained Lady Amabel very +much with his "quiet impertinences," as she called them, and "drew out" +her colonial visitors to an extent they never dreamt of. I own that I +was a little mystified; it was some time before I could discover the +difference between jest and earnest in this character. + +Lady Amabel, as I have told you, though elegant and charming, was an +idler; she missed Mr Lyle extremely, when some days passed without a +visit from him. It never struck me, till enlightened by his own +subsequent revelations, that he withdrew himself from us occasionally in +order to be recalled--an absence of two or three days was sure to be +followed by a note of invitation to dine at Newlands--and then he came +with news, private and political. His credentials had introduced him to +the principal families at Cape Town, and he was already well received +among them. + +He had the talent of adapting himself to the habits and tastes of all +classes and both sexes; he could talk politics with officials, and was +often asked by Lady Amabel to assist her in entertaining such persons as +she had friendly reasons for inviting to Newlands. She thought him a +little spoiled, for it did not always suit his mood to talk. She did +not discover, nor did I at the time, her own error in spoiling him +herself. + +He turned all kind Lady Amabel's foibles to his own account. + +No two characters could be more opposite than Lyle's and Clarence +Fairfax's, and yet both had certain attributes in common; both were +brave and daring, but Clarence had less moral courage than Lyle--both +loved to conquer, but the one wanted perseverance, and would yield to +passion while success was doubtful. I could recall many circumstances +which would explain these contrasts in the two characters. Clarence +Fairfax, in his resolution to conquer a horse, closed the contest by +shooting it dead in the face of his grooms. Lyle seized the reins of +one of Sir Adrian's fiery steeds, and, mounting it when excited to fury, +fought with it resolutely, till it quailed beneath his hand, and then +galloped it for miles against its will, till it was thoroughly tamed. + +People had seen these two men play billiards, and remarked the dashing +impetuosity of the one, and the cool, calculating game of the other; the +one winning by quiet determination. + +Both Lyle and Fairfax sketched well; the first filled his portfolio with +wild scenes from storms at sea or battle-pieces, roughly done, but full +of spirit--there were also innumerable caricatures--so true as scarcely +to be caricatures; Clarence was a graceful artist. Neither liked +reading, for reading's sake; but Clarence could quote many a passage +from Moore's and Byron's softest poems, while Lyle was more at home with +"Thalaba" or "Cain;" but liked better, he said, to shape his opinions +from his own observation than from books. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +THE CATASTROPHE. + +Rumour began, with bold and busy tongue, to talk more openly of +"scandalous reports" from the frontier concerning Mrs Rashleigh. Lady +Amabel, always charitable, put them down to the account of a little +"natural bitterness" on the part of weak, jealous people, who might +depend on Mrs Rashleigh's influence for invitations to the official +parties; but I heard otherwise, and from no other than Mr Lyle. So +far, he said, from people being desirous of the _entree_ at Sir Adrian's +official residence at Graham's Town, many persons objected to meet Mrs +Rashleigh, whose conduct with Fairfax had become notorious. Lyle +mentioned Clarence as though he was utterly unconscious of my interest +in him, and added, that he knew him slightly--they had been at +Westminster together. He did not tell me that Clarence and he had been +foes in one of those shocking stand-up fights so common in English +schools. Lyle had conquered Clarence, and the latter did not resent the +issue of what was declared a fair fight; but the former never forgot +that, though victory was his, there were few to cheer _him_, while the +vanquished boy was surrounded by friends. + +In short, with many tastes and talents in common, these two men were +totally different. + +Clarence was accustomed to talk to me chiefly of himself. I began to +think of this, as Lyle did homage to talents which he discovered I +possessed. Still there were the doubts about jest and earnest. Every +day I found out how difficult it was to understand the character of men. +Lyle became more marked in his attentions as the time drew near for Sir +Adrian's return; and I--I must confess that I was surprised at having +borne Clarence's absence with patience. + +I had had my hours of sorrow and anxiety nevertheless. The dread of a +war was dissipated soon after the Governor and his troops had left Cape +Town; but diplomatic matters detained them for three months. During +that period I never left Lady Amabel; but Lyle made himself acquainted +with all the domestic history of Sir Adrian's proceedings, laughed at +the scandal about Mrs Rashleigh and Fairfax, but did not doubt it,--it +was too well authenticated; and when he discovered that my countenance +was clouded with dismay, affected bitter regret at having wounded my +feelings; but smiled incredulously at the idea of my entertaining a +serious passion for that young _roue_. + +He did not dwell on this. He knew that in a disposition like mine love +reigned triumphant over pride. + +Woe is me! I knew so too. + +I have tried to detail some of the characteristics of this +deeply-designing man; but you would rather have them passed over, and I +shrink from the recital. He was determined on retrieving a tottering +reputation by an alliance with any one whose friends or fortune might +arrest the progress of ruin and disgrace; I was the victim he singled +out. My thoughts were far apart from his designs. + +I was like a city besieged, with the enemy smiling before me in friendly +array, watching to stalk into the gates, awaiting the arrival of a +faithless ally. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Lady Amabel and I were at Newlands, expecting tidings from the frontier, +and prepared to return to Cape Town to receive Sir Adrian. I was +awakened early one morning by the distant sound of guns--it was a +salute--it must be the Governor and his suite; they were expected to +return by sea. I threw on my dressing-gown, and ran to Lady Amabel's +room. + +I met her in the passage; she was all joy. I trembled with agitation, +pleasure, and dread. + +The carriage drove round within half an hour, and we hastened into Cape +Town. The bells were ringing, the ships in the harbour were decorated +with flags. Crowds lined the streets; the Governor had landed, and was +detained on the shore by a congratulatory deputation. We were received +by the throng with loud hurrahs. Peace had been proclaimed, and +treaties established, which people believed would be satisfactory. +Triumphal arches had been raised within a few hours. On we dashed. We +reached Government House just as the guard of honour passed us after +receiving Sir Adrian. Every one looked joyous; the mansion resounded +again with cheerful voices. + +"Here they come! Here they come!" Carriage-wheels approached. Lady +Amabel and I ran into the hall. She threw herself upon her husband's +breast. Captain Walton and the military secretary advanced to shake +hands with me. They were laughing--quite happy to have escaped the +toils of an inglorious warfare. I could not speak. + +Lady Amabel greeted them, and looking round, said, "But where is my +nephew? Where is Clarence Fairfax?" + +And they both answered with another laugh, which Captain Walton checked +suddenly, as he caught a glimpse of my frightened face. "Oh! he is +quite safe, and very--happy," said the secretary. "Well," said Captain +Walton; "he is coming back overland with the Rashleighs." + +"Yes," observed Sir Adrian, in a tone, partly of sarcasm and partly of +displeasure; "and he had much better have returned with us. I am by no +means satisfied with this arrangement of _Mrs Rashleigh's_." + +I was most bitterly disappointed. + +Shame to me, I had nearly forgotten to ask after the welfare of my +family. I addressed some agitated questions to Captain Walton, who told +me all were well. + +He had always been kind in his manner to me, and could readily guess the +meaning of my melancholy face. My arm trembled on his as we proceeded +to the breakfast-room together--that same room where Clarence Fairfax +and I had parted in a crowd. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +I would fain pass over much that followed. I received a letter from my +father. He had heard somewhat of Clarence Fairfax's "conspicuous +attentions to me." He feared Lady Amabel had been "too indulgent." +Fairfax was the very person to "charm a young girl's senses," but he +hoped they were not overcome by a fine form and a bewitching manner. My +dear father thought too well of me to suppose that I was enthralled by +this lively, dashing, handsome young aide-de-camp, who was, to say +truth, at the feet of a lady whose reputation had suffered from her +carelessness. Every one indeed spoke of Fairfax as a male coquette. + +You see, dear friend, my father would not assume that I was "seriously +enthralled;" he was not with me to judge for himself. You shall read +his letter some day. You will see that though he tried to treat this +matter lightly, it weighed upon his mind; he was bent on having me home +again. "My darling," he says, at the close of this letter, "write to me +at once; you have never mentioned this affair, which others speak of so +carelessly, and your silence makes me anxious. In my anxiety I asked +your sister if you alluded to Captain Fairfax in your communications +with her, but she tells me no. My love, I long to have you with me +again. Captain Walton admitted to me that you were looking ill. He is +most kind, and enters into my anxieties. He was unwilling, I could see, +to commit Fairfax. In a word, dearest Eleanor, he has more respect for +Fairfax than that infatuated young man has for himself..." + +Then followed directions for my return, under the care of friends about +to leave Cape Town for the eastward settlements. They delayed their +departure, and I was detained, to Lady Amabel's satisfaction, for she +had become attached to me. But, albeit firm in her attachments, she was +a person, as you may have discovered, ever open to fresh impressions. +She was as unsuspicious of evil as I was. + +Mr Lyle had made his way, and stood in high favour when Sir Adrian +arrived. + +He was presented, and joined the circle at dinner that day; he took his +station at my side--I was sadly abstracted--he was in his most agreeable +vein, and drew me from myself, as usual. + +I know, dear friend, you will wonder that the letter I received from +home was from _my father_. I had always belonged more to him than my +mother. Marion, you know, was the favourite in her babyhood; and it was +my fault, perhaps, as well as my misfortune, that I was always reserved +to my mother. I well recollect her once expressing impatience at that +reserve; but I never could shake it off; it exists, as you know, to this +day. A sensitive child, once repelled, seldom makes another advance, +and I have told you that I entered the world just as the best-beloved +one was fading from it. My mother had less thought naturally for me +than him. I turned to my father--his arms were open, and I rested +there. + +You have been a member of our family circle for some weeks now; +otherwise, how could I bring myself to cast a shade of reproach on my +mother, for whom you have so high a respect? Ah! _you_ will not set it +down to wrong account. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +You see I linger in my wretched history. + +I look again into my journal. 16th March. "Clarence has returned; at +times dejected; at times excited; he is totally unlike his former self. +We are at Newlands again. All these scenes and objects associated with +happier hours! They bring but bitterness to me. I never approach the +fountain of Egeria... When I hear the sound of horses' feet in those +long avenues, I fly--I am ill--I cannot rest--and oh, this crowd! how it +oppresses me! How I long for a friend to whom I could impart my sorrow. +Oh, for advice!--Dear father! would that I were at home and by thy +side. Mother, you would take your stricken daughter to your arms. +Though weak and ill, how strong within me is the power of suffering..." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +You say, Major Frankfort, that you love me; I believe you; you will love +me ever, for you will ever pity me; and so, knowing what your heart will +feel on reading this, I will not _shed_ all my miserable thoughts of +this period upon paper. + +All this time Lyle was intent upon his purpose. He _felt_ my fate was +in his hands. + +He took up a new position. + +I was sitting one morning in Lady Amabel's boudoir. A servant ushered +in Mr Lyle. He started back; "It was Lady Amabel he came to see," he +said. + +I begged him to be seated, and rose to go for her. + +He detained me gently. + +How specious he was--how blind was I! He had "been studying me for +weeks;" from the first moment we met, he "had been deeply interested in +me. He had perceived the shade that an early sorrow had cast round me, +and had come to ask Lady Amabel if there was no hope for _him_; he would +not press the question on me now, it would be unkind." + +I believed that he felt for me from his soul; that he _would_ have +"given worlds for a _look_ which would bid him not quite despair; but +this was not the time to assail me. He knew I had pride; it was blinded +now, but the mist would clear away, the scales would fall from my eyes. +I should do him justice; he grieved that the world should have dared to +tamper with my name--." He quite frightened me as he said this. I was +oppressed with a sense of bitterness and wrong, against which I was +powerless; but here was one who seemed disposed to do me justice. I +wished to do right. Lady Amabel would have been all kindness had I +unburdened my full heart to her, but she would not have understood me; +she would have proposed a ride or a drive, or a fete, or might have sent +for Clarence, to scold him. Ah me! I had not a friend at hand who +could give me good advice; and here sat this clever experienced, +silver-tongued man, offering me his sympathy, and teaching me to believe +he was the only one near me who could feel for me--who had, in fact, any +real regard for me; and this regard was offered so humbly that I had not +a word to say against the expression of it. On the one hand was +Clarence Fairfax, reckless of my affection, ignoring it indeed, and, as +Lyle remarked, with indignation he protested he could not suppress, +"insulting me publicly, by doing homage before my face to a shameless +woman, whose triumph was the greater in that she had drawn this +infatuated young man from one so lovely and pure-hearted as myself." + +My tears rained down upon the work-table on which he leaned, +contemplating me with an expression of compassion new to me, yet not +unpleasing. + +I began to think I had found a friend. + +More company on that evening! I longed to return to the quiet of home; +but unavoidable delays kept me back. We were to leave Newlands for Cape +Town next day. An irresistible impulse seized me--I stole out at dusk, +to take a last look at the Grove. I walked swiftly through the avenues, +ascended the mound, and went to our old accustomed seat under the +plane-tree. + +The darkness and the silence that prevailed were in accordance with the +gloom that hung over my soul. + +At last I bade adieu for ever to this spot, so painfully dear to me. I +descended to the avenue. A tall figure approached me--it was Lyle's--"I +thought," said he, "that I should find you here; but be not alarmed, I +shall not return with you. I recognised your figure leaving the house, +and came to prepare you for meeting with Mrs Rashleigh to-night; she is +to be among the guests. Lady Amabel's position with regard to this +woman is most difficult--but a crisis is at hand; Fairfax is completely +in her toils--an _esclandre_ must take place soon. I beseech you do not +add to this bad woman's triumph to-night by that heart-broken demeanour +which you have lately worn. Ah! Miss Daveney, I shall look for your +_entree_ with an anxious eye and beating heart. Pardon my presumption +in thus intruding on you, but my interest in your happiness must be my +excuse." + +He took my hand in his, but dropped it immediately, with a sigh; and, +lifting his hat, disappeared in an avenue. + +I went to Lady Amabel's dressing-room. I had not the courage to enter +the saloons alone. I need not have been afraid. Clarence was not there +when I joined the circle; but I felt as if all the guests were looking +at me. I condemned myself for the next few hours to wear "That falsest +of false things, a mask of smiles." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Lyle's eye met mine--it seemed to haunt me. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +It was an _alfresco_ fete. The heat of the season was over, but the +nights were soft and mild. One of the long arcades was enclosed, and +lit with variegated lamps; a brilliant moon illuminated the lime-groves; +every arrangement was made to conduce to the splendour and pleasure of +the scene. + +I could not stand up to dance. My knees trembled, my teeth chattered, +and I felt my lips turn pale as Clarence Fairfax drew near with Mrs +Rashleigh. I could not look at her; she was laughing and talking in her +usual bold strain, and answering for Clarence questions that were +addressed to himself. He saw me not, though he cast himself beside me +on the couch--his sash streamed over my dress, his sword rested against +my hand, his spur touched my foot. I withdrew it quickly, and moved +aside; he begged my pardon for incommoding me. I turned to him to bow, +and the crimson tide flushed that fine face. He started up nervously. +Mrs Rashleigh rose, too, took his arm, and led him off. She named me +to him in my hearing. I heard him say, "Hush! Anna, for mercy's sake; +don't remind me of my misdeed." + +"Anna!"--they were indeed on very familiar terms. + +She was robed imperially that evening, and looked wonderfully youthful. +Whispers passed from lip to lip, as she and Clarence passed up the +apartment, and went out into the lime-grove. Others were following +them. I sat, trying to talk to Lyle, and smiling vacantly at the polite +recognitions of some of the guests. + +Lady Amabel came up to me. "My dear child," said she, "you look quite +ill--come into the air. Mr Lyle, give Miss Daveney your arm." + +But I begged to withdraw for a little while, and Lady Amabel excused me. + +The library was the only room unoccupied on this festal night. A single +lamp stood on the table. The windows of this room opened to that dark +walk overshadowed by the mountain. Here there were no illuminations--no +crowd of dancers. I extinguished the lamp, and sat down by the open +window. + +Two figures were walking slowly up and down the avenue. They stepped a +few paces beyond the shadow of the mountain, into the moonlit path. It +was Mrs Rashleigh and Clarence Fairfax. She was talking vehemently; he +was entreating her to be calm. + +I sat, transfixed; had a voice from the grave summoned me, I could not +have obeyed. + +She was reproaching him for some imagined neglect. He told her that she +fancied it. Now her tones were those of passion, vehement and +imperious; he implored her, for her own sake, to restrain her wrath. + +It is impossible to relate to you all I saw and heard, as, statue-like, +I leaned against the window--bitter imprecations were heaped on my own +head. Clarence would have burst from her at this, but she cast herself +upon his bosom, and clung there, pouring forth the most passionate +expressions of love and regret. "Would he desert her? She should die! +She only lived in his presence. He saw her gay and brilliant in +society--Oh! if he knew the dark hours she passed without him." + +They moved slowly, close by the window; she was talking to him, with her +head resting on his shoulder. She was speaking of her husband-- +complaining of him--for Clarence uttered his name in an angry tone, and +then whispering, "My poor Anna! and you suffered this for me!" folded +her in his arms, and embraced her wildly. + +They were within a yard of me, and I dared not move. Icy cold were my +hands, clasped together; my eyeballs burned and throbbed, but no tears +came to their relief. I seemed to realise the sensation that Niobe must +have felt on being turned to stone. + +They leaned against the window--some one approached--they started, and +were moving on, when the angry voice of the outraged Mr Rashleigh +arrested the steps of the guilty pair. The wretched woman screamed +aloud, and clung to Clarence, who, on Mr Rashleigh raising his hand to +strike him, received a blow on the arm he had lifted to ward it. + +It was Lyle who had thus brought about this terrible _esclandre_, though +of this no one then was aware. It was he who, as the crowd moved to a +refreshment tent, had put a slip of paper into Mr Rashleigh's hands, +warning him of his wife's delinquency, and the scorn in which he was +held for his contemptible indifference to her shamelessness. He was +informed of her whereabouts at that instant. + +Mr Rashleigh opened this document in the sight of many persons; its +tone of contempt galled him to the quick, and, forgetting all +consequences but the desire of revenge, he rushed at once to the scene +of his disgrace. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +I fainted--some one lifted me from the floor. It was Lyle--he carried +me into Lady Amabel's boudoir; she was there, walking nervously up and +down. She received me with tears. Lyle withdrew. I felt grateful for +his sympathy, and the kind and delicate manner in which he had expressed +it. + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +STRIFE. + +I saw Clarence Fairfax but once again. + +The exposure which had taken place separated the Rashleighs for ever. +Challenges were interchanged between the gentlemen at the same hour. + +The selfish woman who had thus brought disgrace on her husband, herself, +and the man she had infatuated by her art, lost all prudence in her +ungovernable state of excitement, and wrote a passionate appeal, from +her retirement near Newlands, entreating Captain Fairfax to see her once +again. But Sir Adrian had placed his nephew under arrest. Mrs +Rashleigh had the hardihood to endeavour to force her way into his +quarters by night; she was repelled from the door at the point of the +bayonet, the sentry having due orders to prevent the ingress of such a +visitor. In vain she implored, in vain she stormed. + +Captain Walton kept watch upon his brother aide-de-camp within, and +would not let him yield to the temptress. + +Clarence resigned his appointment on his uncle's staff, and was ordered +to England forthwith. + +Lady Amabel and I were in the library with Sir Adrian when his nephew +entered to take his leave. It was before official hours, and such a +meeting was wholly unexpected on our part, nor perhaps had he +anticipated it. + +Lady Amabel could not pass him by; her heart was full--her eyes swimming +with tears as he caught her hand. + +"Dear aunt," said he, "_you_ will wish me well." + +"Sit down, Amabel; sit down, Miss Daveney," said Sir Adrian. + +"Yes, Clarence, they will both wish you well; I do, from my soul; I take +some blame to myself in this wretched business; but what is done cannot +be undone. You have been the victim of that wretched, worthless being, +whom it would be an insult to name here. Sit down, my lad, amongst us +again; we are all deucedly sorry to part with you; when we meet again, +you will be all the wiser for this business, I hope. I hardly like to +let you go, but I suppose I must. I shall not get on at all well +without you, my dear boy. Confound that devil. + +"Well, Amabel, it is enough to make any one swear; for, now that she is +fairly down, every one comes forward to say that she ought to have been +banished from society long ago. I don't pity her one bit," continued +the General, rising and pacing the chamber; "but I am heartily vexed to +think she has seduced my sister's son, and in this affair _she_ is the +seducer, not Clarence." + +"Oh! sir, I deserve more reproaches than you dream of," replied his +nephew. "I cannot stay; I unworthy of any kindness or consideration. +Aunt, God bless you." + +Lady Amabel was sobbing audibly. + +I stood mute and tearless. + +Something like "Good-bye" was whispered. I looked up in that face, once +so ingenuous, so happy. The laughing eyes were clouded with melancholy; +the saucy curled lip pale and compressed; the tall, graceful form +trembling with emotion. Not one word could I utter. My fingers closed +upon his shaking hand for an instant. I withdrew them. He had pressed +them so tightly in his nervous agony, that the indentation of a little +ring I wore drew blood. + +"Poor child! poor child!" said Sir Adrian, very kindly--a sudden thought +about me causing him to stop and look fixedly at my sad countenance; "I +pity you, too, from my heart. Amabel, this has been a sad business; it +has moved me more than I like to own." + +I looked up--Clarence Fairfax was gone! + +The vacant appointment of aide-de-camp was offered to Mr Lyle; I +applauded his delicacy when he told me he could not accept it under the +circumstance of Clarence's disgrace. + +I rather quailed, though, at that term, "disgrace," applied to "poor +Clarence," as Lady Amabel began to designate him as soon as he departed. + +Another staff appointment fell vacant in the frontier districts. Lyle +applied for and obtained it. + +He was happy, he said, in the prospect of being associated with me +hereafter, but did not press his suit. + +It was not long before I followed him to the upper districts of South +Africa. + +Lady Amabel and I parted with sorrow; she had been ever kind to me; her +very errors were those of a tender-hearted, loving woman, and what would +it have booted me had she been strong-minded and resolute? Clarence +Fairfax's nature was fickle--I will add no more. + +My journey homeward was a melancholy one; my friends were kind--you know +them--Mrs and Miss C--; but I retired within myself, and they had the +good taste not to weary me with their sympathy. + +On the last day of our journey we halted on the banks of a rapid river; +night fell, and we were about to close the wagons and seek repose, when +we heard voices on the opposite bank. Your little bushman May was one +of our drivers--he had been in our service before, and came to tell me +that he recognised my father's voice. I ran from my tent to the brink +of the river; it was dark, and the rushing of the waters among the +stones in the ford prevented my distinguishing any other sound; at last +I heard my father nailing us--he was in the middle of the stream--he +came nearer--some one accompanied him--two horsemen rode up the bank--my +father and--Lyle! + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +I had not been two days at home before I discovered that Lyle had +established himself in my mother's favour--he was quite a person +calculated to make a decided impression on her imagination--for, +sensible, well-principled, and firm-minded, as she is, you know she is +highly excitable and imaginative. The late _emeute_ in Kafirland had +brought my father from Annerley to B--, a small town largely garrisoned. +Here Lyle held his appointment--here my father was now acting in a high +official capacity in the absence of one of the authorities; both were +thus brought together professionally. Lyle necessarily had the _entree_ +of our house. + +Original in design, prompt to act, and of a determined spirit, Lyle was +a most useful coadjutor to my father. His quickness of perception +taught him at once all the assailable points, so to speak, in my +mother's character, appealing to her judgment frequently in Government +matters; and, although doing this apparently in jest, constantly abiding +by her propositions. It was fortunate that her experience in the colony +was such as to make her advice really available, and this artful man +turned it to full account publicly and privately. He knew well how to +please my father, who had not at first been inclined towards him as my +mother was; whenever the former gave him credit for good policy, he +would refer him to Mrs Daveney as the suggester of the plan; my mother +would disclaim the suggestion, but would confess that Lyle had appealed +to her ere he began to work it. + +At a time when this beautiful colony was on the verge of ruin from the +commotions subsisting between the various races of inhabitants, you may +well believe that men of comprehensive mind and dauntless courage were +invaluable to the Government. My father and Lyle, both personally known +to Sir Adrian, were constantly selected by him for the most difficult +and dangerous services; and it is due to the latter to admit, that he +was ever ready for the severer duties of the field, entreating my father +to consider how much more valuable was the life of the one than the +other. + +The soldiers adored him; in his capacity as a staff-officer he was not +expected to volunteer heading large bodies of the settlers, accompanying +commandos into Kafirland; but he did so with a spirit and efficiency +that materially assisted the Government agents in their measures with +the chiefs. He shared the fatigues and privations of those he +commanded, he was ever first in a foray, and he was such an excellent +sportsman, that his return with a foraging party was always welcomed by +the hungry wanderers in the bush. + +Were this man still living, dear friend, I could not dwell on these +details; but, assured of his death, I have been able to review much of +my past life more calmly than I could ever suppose would be possible. + +This clever, handsome, resolute man had, as I afterwards found, +resolved, in the first period of our acquaintance, on making me his +wife--you will wonder why,--since there was little love on his part, and +my poor heart was bleeding from a sense of wrong at the hands of one I +had loved. But I began to be ashamed of my girlish passion, verily not +without reason. + +Nevertheless, youth receives such impressions readily, fake though they +be, and afterwards the heart shudders at the bare remembrance of what it +suffered in its bewilderment of a first passion; the experience taught +by such a sorrow is very bitter, and can never be forgotten. + +I cannot bear to detail the artful schemes by which this man persuaded +my father at first to listen to his proposals for me; but, on my +assurance that I loved him not, Lyle was forbidden to press his suit +farther, at any rate for a time. + +Thus he was not dismissed finally; he declared himself grievously +mortified, and, obtaining leave of absence during a lull in the +political storms that had threatened to desolate the country, departed +on a sporting expedition. + +He returned in three months laden with the spoils of the chase, and +designated the White _Somtsen_, or, in the Kafir language, a mighty +hunter. + +He again renewed his suit. + +Woe is me! I could see that my father and my mother were not agreed in +this matter; the latter openly reproached me for my weakness in adhering +to my first love--she appealed to my pride. + +Alas, alas! my friend, I own that I had been wanting in that--I admitted +my error, and deplored it. + +She spoke of the family reputation being sullied by the union of my name +with that of Clarence Fairfax and the miserable Mrs Rashleigh. + +I could not see it in the light she did, but I wept sorely when she +alluded to the mortification it had caused her _and my father_; she +emphasised the last two words of this sentence. + +She dwelt on a difference of opinion now existing between her and my +father--"it might estrange them seriously." + +I trembled, and began to waver in my resolution. + +She said that the _esclandre_ had been injurious to my sister's +prospects in life. + +I feared that I had been more to blame than I had believed. + +I said "the world was very hard." + +"Very," replied my mother--"so hard, that your imprudence has been +visited on all of us. I have been blamed for launching you into the +gaieties of life at Cape Town, with all its incidental temptations. +Marion is pointed out as the sister of `that flirt, Miss Daveney, Mrs +Rashleigh's rival;' and your father reproaches himself for not remaining +with you when he discovered that Lady Amabel Fairfax had lost rather +than gained in strength of character--" + +I could have said, "Ah! mother, how do you learn what the world says of +us?--who dares tell _you_ these things?" I was not aware then that +Lyle, in his own specious, deprecatory way, was her informant, directly +or indirectly--"grieving to set such unpleasant truths before her, but +deeming it his duty to do so." + +You will wonder that a clever woman like my mother did not see through +this systematic deceit; but she was bitterly annoyed at the issue of +Clarence Fairfax's attentions to me; she fancied herself pointed at by +the finger of pity--you know how sensitive she is on this point--and she +was impatient at my belief that Clarence had loved me. "Had he ever +told me so seriously? Was I blind enough to believe him in earnest? He +had never loved me; his regard, such as it was, was contemptible." + +More, much more, she said--I admitted that Clarence had never been my +acknowledged lover; but-- + +"Are there no looks, mute, but most eloquent?" + +I confessed that he was fickle--"And vain?"--"Yes." "And selfish, and +heartless, and unprincipled!" + +I could not answer these allegations--I dared not say he had been the +victim of a vicious woman, years older than himself, and deeply versed +in intrigue. I had once ventured to speak in this strain, and had drawn +forth words of scorn and anger, which my mother afterwards repented +using, but which I ever dreaded to evoke again. + +But the climax of Lyle's art lay in an incident I shall record. + +My father and I were riding one day, sauntering through a kloof, when we +were overtaken by him. At the end of this kloof was a branch of a rapid +stream. Here it was deep and dangerous; but my horse and I knew the +ford well--Lyle rode a little behind me. In the middle of the stream my +horse began to plunge among the stones--my father was a few yards in +advance; he could not easily turn to my aid, owing to the strength of +the current--I was alarmed, yet tried to restrain the animal, but he +plunged the more; Lyle, with his powerful arm, drew me from my saddle, +and bore me before him safely across the drift--my horse was swept +down--it is the same old grey we pet sometimes; he was found two days +after, hanging to a branch by his bridle, having found a footing on the +bank. + +Can you conceive a man afterwards boasting of this trick? It was Lyle +who had made the animal plunge that he might rescue me, and thus place +me under a supposed obligation for my life! + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +My mother insisted on my going into society--she was doubtless right; +but you know what society consists of in a great garrison,--a few +ladies, crowds of gentlemen, and some women, whose friendship is far +from desirable; I believe some of the latter were unsparing in their +scandalous chronicles of Cape Town, when Mrs Rashleigh and I were both +made subjects of remark. The girl of seventeen, the daughter of a +representative of authority, and of a mother whose abilities and lofty +aspirations rendered her an object of fear and dislike with many, was +not likely to be dealt with gently by these idle, frivolous, uneducated +women; the story of Miss Daveney's "_liaison_" with Captain Fairfax lost +nothing in such hands; and although most of our earliest friends stood +by us through good report and evil report, these were not many, and it +was evident that the faith of some was shaken. Lyle took care that my +father and mother should see this--he alluded to it with indignation, +and avowed himself more devoted than ever-- + +"My _mither_ urged me sair, my _father_ could na speak, But he looked in +my face--" + +I asked for time--I sincerely believed that I had banished Clarence from +my heart, if not from my mind. I accustomed myself to receive Lyle's +attentions; they were offered, though not offensively, in the sight of +other men, and in an evil hour for all, I yielded. + +I admired Lyle--I admired his courage, his abilities, his apparently +independent spirit, his resolution; I was perpetually told that his +perseverance deserved reward. + +I married him, believing that I felt a regard and admiration for him, +which would ripen into affection. How much it has already cost me to +set down these details, these reasons, or excuses--if you think the last +word the truest--for consenting to a union which has blighted so many +years of my young life! + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +I have him before me now. I hear the solemn adjuration of the minister +of God, as we stood before the altar of the little church of B--: "I +require and charge you both, as ye will answer at the dreadful day of +judgment when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, that if +either of you know any impediment, why ye may not be lawfully joined +together in Matrimony, ye do now confess it." I looked up at the tall, +powerful man standing beside me. Never shall I forget his countenance-- +his features were suffused with a leaden hue, which faded to a deadly +pallor, his lips were colourless, and he leaned against the altar-rails +for support; but he recovered himself by a strong effort, and repeated +the responses distinctly, though in a low time, and with his eyes fixed +on the ground. + +We retired for a time to a beautiful village near the sea. I soon +noticed that my husband was moody, silent, but not unkind. I tried to +please him; I fancied that I must be a dull companion for one so clever. + +We had been married about two months, when I discovered that my husband +was expecting letters from England; he was evidently anxious about +these. And why? He had described himself to my family as being without +a single relation on earth, except the uncle from whom he had brought +recommendatory letters; he had made a fair settlement on me, and my +father had placed before him a due account of his finances and my +prospects. My father was then a wealthy landholder in Albany; but, +unfortunately, he had placed the greater part of his savings in one of +those great banking-houses in India, which failed so suddenly as to ruin +thousands. + +My family had returned to Annerley, and my husband and I had just taken +up our abode at B--, when the fatal news of my father's heavy loss +reached us. + +I had already had some experience of Lyle's violence of temper on his +resuming his official duties: there are some men, you know, whose +tempers are more violent than hasty, who can curb their passions when +obliged to bend before a superior power, and whose wrath finds vent for +itself at home; but I was unprepared for the storm that burst on my +devoted head at the announcement by letter of our pecuniary misfortunes. + +He accused my father of wilfully deceiving him; he bestowed the most +revolting epithets on my mother, and laughed bitterly at my having +believed he could love "such a pale-faced, forsaken, meek-spirited +little idiot for herself alone." + +But you would not have me repeat all the degrading and terrible +imprecations that fell from his lips. + +My first thought was of the pain this sad state of things would cause my +father and mother. + +In the course of a few days my father, rode over to see us. It was, at +first, Lyle's policy to appear on the best possible terms with me. He +had no intention of openly disgracing himself, and it was also very +plain that he was in deep anxiety about news from England. + +My father received letters from Sir Adrian. Here is an extract from +one:--"What will you think, my dear Daveney, when I tell you that this +Lyle, whom we have received in our homes, proves to be nothing more than +a swindler? I have discovered that, not only in England, but at the +Cape, he has persuaded various persons to back bills to a considerable +amount; he has not a sixpence beyond his commission, which he will be +obliged to sell immediately. I have written him a letter on the +subject; and for your sake, my dear Daveney, I do hope the affair will +be managed as quietly as possible. I inclose a few lines from Amabel, +who is deeply distressed for your daughter. We have all been grievously +deceived; and I consider that the credentials he brought me from various +military friends should never have been accorded to this young man, who, +though professing to be a reformed character, was not to be depended +upon. The person to whom he has been chiefly indebted for letters of +introduction granted them under peculiar circumstances, and in the hopes +that this handsome, plausible, clever vagabond would mend his ways: he +is young enough; but, I am sorry to say, I have proofs of his being +thoroughly depraved." + +Sir Adrian did not know the worst. The documents which Lyle had laid +before my father, previous to our marriage, were forgeries. + +You will wonder, since there was clearly no regard for me from beginning +to end, why I was selected as a victim by this being, who, as you will +learn some day, _had_ been unfortunate. It was from his lips I heard +the unwelcome truths: there was little time before him to obtain a sure +footing in South Africa in an honourable position, ere bills, endorsed +by men whom he had succeeded in duping, would become due. Subtle of +purpose, he easily gained such information touching the young _protege_ +of Lady Amabel Fairfax, as made him think it worth his while to lay +siege to me. Lady Amabel was just the facile, guileless, unsuspecting +woman to whom it was easy to gain access, and this once accomplished, he +readily found favour with me--it would not have done to deliberate; and, +furthermore, I was the only girl, with whom he was intimately +associated, whose means were accredited. My father was known to possess +a considerable sum of money, and a fine landed property. Lyle contrived +to have a correspondence with my father touching settlements; the latter +little knew that every line he wrote was sent to England to reassure +creditors. + +He had a deep-laid scheme, too, relative to my young sister, had I +failed him. Time, time, was all he wanted; and by sending home the +correspondence on my father's part, he succeeded in persuading some of +his dupes to renew the bills, offering high interest for this. + +Will you believe it, when ruined in character and fortune, it was his +pleasure to lay bare these schemes before me? + +For some time after he had abjured his military career, it was his +policy to keep up an outward show of kindness to me: he actually +succeeded in making some think he was an ill-used man; and when those +who were charitable enough to believe him more unfortunate than vicious +would invite us to their houses; he would insist on my going. If I +remonstrated, heaven help me! He is dead, and I forgive him all his +trespasses: were he living, I could not confess to any man that he has +sometimes taken me by the hair of my head, and swung me round the +apartment, till, terrified, dizzy, and blind, I have fainted. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +We had a wicked servant too, a Malay woman, who hated me, and who was +readily persuaded into spreading a report that I was ill-tempered. + +My poor father managed, in spite of difficulties, to make us an +allowance that would have been amply sufficient for our wants had my +husband been a reasonable being; but a man utterly devoid of principle, +and angrily deploring the ruin he has brought upon himself, is _not_ a +reasonable being. My wretched partner for life grew frantic at last +with rage and disappointment when Sir Adrian Fairfax found it necessary +to denounce him as a swindler; for, some of the better class of +merchants, deceived by his plausibility, were disposed to trust him; and +he had the hardihood to expect that Sir Adrian, for the sake of my +family, would place him in a situation, with certain emoluments, at the +request of the most influential men connected with the commerce and the +diplomacy of the Cape Colony. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Much that I have last noted down has been drawn from communications +passing between my father, Sir Adrian, and some other gentlemen, who +were anxious, if possible, to save Lyle from utter ruin. + +His reputation was irretrievably gone; but they would still have given +him, if they could, the means of existence. Sir Adrian, however, could +not in honour permit this; and I was beginning to consider where we +should hide our heads, at any rate till after my infant's birth, when +one morning I discovered that the little money we had had in the house +had been taken from my desk. My husband had departed. Whither, it was +not easy to say. + +We traced him into Kafirland. I sought the shelter of my father's +house. My mother opened her arms to receive me. You see her sometimes +look reproachingly upon me. She derives such unmitigated relief at the +idea of my release from bondage by the death of my miserable husband, +that she grows angry at times because I mourn the wasted years I have +passed, and have no heart to meet the future. + +I had remained three months at Annerley, often in dread of my husband's +return, but beginning to hope that a letter which my father had +despatched to him, through a trader, would induce him to accede to a +legal separation. Alas! it seemed to me that it only reminded him that +he held in his hands the power of tormenting me. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +I was one evening walking up and down the trellised passage, pondering +mournfully on my future prospects, when the author of all my misery +appeared before me. He was scarcely recognisable at first. His +complexion was bronzed, his beard and whiskers, enormously grown, gave +him a ferocious appearance, and his costume was more like that of a +buccaneer than anything else. He carried pistols in his belt, and on my +screaming as he seized my hand, he drew one of the weapons out, and, in +sheer recklessness, discharged it. The ball entered the thatched roof; +the noise attracted my father from the vineyard. + +The scene that ensued baffles description. My father drew me towards +him. Lyle held the pistol, with one barrel yet undischarged, close to +my head. My father released me in dismay, and stood helpless, it had +been useless to attempt to thrust the weapon aside--"Advance a finger, +stir a foot," said Lyle, "and I fire. She is my wife; you gave her to +me, and a precious bargain I have got. I will keep her while it suits +me, and when I am inclined to go roving again, I will send her back. +Call _me_ swindler!--it was _you_ who took _me_ in with your promises. +Liar and scoundrel that you are, you had _no_ funds in India, but you +had a mind to palm off upon me what Fairfax had cast off!--and yet you +were not so keen in this matter as your wife. Ah! start, if you will, +but keep your distance, and send some one for this frightened fool's +kit. You are rightly served; I will take care that you shall pay me for +keeping this daughter of yours, that was to have so fair a fortune." + +The servants, attracted by the noise, gathered round us. My father +would fain have drawn Lyle away, to prevent so public an exposure. +Little May was in our service at that time--he had a _kierrie_ (stick), +and, springing up, struck the pistol out of my persecutor's hand. + +It was impossible, however, to come to terms with him. All that my +father could obtain from him was a Respite till a wagon could be +prepared for travelling, and some arrangement made for occupying a small +farm near B--. It was not far from Mr Trail's mission station, and +within a mile or two of a little military outpost. + +You were speaking of Mimosa Drift the other day. You know the desert +solitude of that beautiful spot. Ah! what terrible hours have I passed +among the alders overhanging that hoarsely-murmuring river! + +For there I would retire to weep, sometimes; there I would hide myself +from my husband in his hours of wrath. + +But these fits of insane rage became unendurable; and one night, after I +had been struck to the earth, I had the presence of mind to lie as if +insensible. The single Bechuana servant we had, terrified at the scene +of violence she witnessed, rushed away in the darkness of the night to +the little fort, where, on the commanding officer being informed of what +was passing in our wretched home, he immediately set off with assistance +to the rescue. + +But I had flown--Lyle was there, raging like a wild beast from room to +room; he was armed, too, and the officer was not sorry that the +threatening language and gestures of my husband were such as to justify +his taking him by force to the outpost. Thinking it wise to avoid +public exposure, he released his prisoner next day. + +The night was pitchy dark when I crawled to Mimosa Drift, and sat down +by the riverside to recover my scattered senses. My feet were bare and +bleeding, a shawl, hastily snatched up, covered my night-dress, and my +hair streamed over my shoulders. I had been dragged from my bed to look +for some ammunition which had been left out, and which I had +unfortunately put away in my ignorance of my husband's intentions to go +out shooting at dawn. Tired, frightened, and confused, I could not +remember where I had put it for safety; discovering it at last, he found +that it had got damp from the rain dripping through the thatch, and I +paid the penalty of my thoughtlessness. + +He left me, as I have stated, lying apparently insensible on the ground. +How I had strength to rise I know not, but I felt my way through the +house and garden. Nettles and briars blistered my feet as I sped across +the plain. The wind was howling between the hills; great masses of +cloud were floating like palls in the lead-coloured atmosphere above; +below all was gloom, except when bright forked tongues of lightning +descended before me, showing every stone, every insect, in my path; a +shower of light struck the earth, and spread into a sheet of flame, that +ran past me, and seemed to set the ground on fire. My shawl was caught +by the blast--I was drawn back--I fancied it was my tormentor--I +shrieked aloud, and the tempest answered me from the hollows in the +mountains; large drops of rain began to fall heavily upon my face--the +thunder roared--I never thought of turning; on I sped, wild with fear. +The drift sheltered me from the strength of the blast for a minute; the +wolves and jackals were screaming to each other from their +hiding-places; the hyenas gibbered and mocked at me, with their sneering +laugh; the bats wheeled on the air whithersoever it drew them--their +cold wings swept at times across my burning cheek--the murmur of the +river increased to a tumult. I dreaded being seized unawares, and, +springing into the stream, forded it, heaven knows how, in safety. + +I must have lost my way, for, after wandering about for hours, I came at +dawn to the foot of one of those sudden elevations which almost baffle +human strength in ascending them. The tempest had subsided, but the +rain shaded the heavens as with a veil. I ascended the mound with much +toil, but could see nothing but bald rocks, and shrubs beaten by the +torrent. I sat down upon a stone, shivering with cold and fear, and +wept as I had not done for months. + +The clouds lifted at last, and showed me more distinctly my utter +loneliness. God sent help. I heard a sheep-bell tinkle, and guessed +rightly that I was not far from Mr Trail's mission station. I followed +the welcome sound, and soon recognised the plentiful gardens sloping to +the road. I crawled up the acclivity. Day was banishing the Genius of +the Storm as I approached the gate. The windows of the school-house +were open, and the servants of the household were assembled there in +prayer. The "Amen" swelled like the murmur of an ocean wave; the voices +of the worshippers rose in the matin hymn, and, overcome with +exhaustion, and the transition from terror to peace, I fell insensible +at the threshold of the mission-house. + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +DISMAY. + +I recovered myself in the arms of kind Mrs Trail. Oh! the repose of a +quiet darkened room after such a night! My friend laid me on her bed, +and, giving me a sedative, left me to the rest I so much needed. + +But fearful dreams pursued me, and I was awoke by angry voices beneath +my window. + +Too weak to move, my sense of hearing was too acute to mistake one of +those voices; Lyle was demanding me from Mr Trail, the latter refused +to "deliver me up;" and my enraged husband, seeing, I suppose, that it +would be in vain to do battle in the mission-garden, where the herds had +gathered to defend their master, if need required, departed, threatening +and cursing as he went. + +Mrs Trail came to me--I could only weep and moan in her arms; by night +I was so extremely ill, that an express was despatched for my father. + +And in this hour of dire distress and perplexity my boy was born. Truly +he was baptised in tears. He was so weak and delicate, that we feared +he would die. I leaned over him in jealous terror as Mr Trail bestowed +the Christian name of Francis upon him--I named him after my father. + +But, like those flowers which unfold their loveliness amid the storms of +the desert, he flourished in spite of the evil influences surrounding +me. + +I was constantly persecuted by the desperate man to whom I was chained +by the law. My fears were now for my boy; if I should lose him! Ah! +what long, miserable watches have I kept by night over his little bed! + +Although I knew that, by legal course, I could be torn from my home, I +yearned once more for my father's sheltering arms. My mother learned, +too late, at what a cost I had obliged her, and came for me herself. + +We were obliged to travel by night, and with an armed party; we well +knew that, as far as law went, Lyle was empowered to bear me off through +the desert; but my father was resolved to risk all to secure me from +wrong and insult, until he could persuade Lyle to agree to a legal +separation. + +But, while this was pending, Lyle's pleasure was to sue my father from +time to time for "harbouring his wife." + +At this time a rumour reached my father that Lyle had another wife +living, but we all shrunk from such additional exposure. The +kind-hearted commandant of the military outpost, near Mimosa Drift, took +advantage of this rumour to threatens Lyle with an investigation; and +doubtless Sir Adrian would have released me from legal bondage pending +the necessary inquiries. The issue would only have involved us in +deeper disgrace, for we have since ascertained that Lyle, by means of +false representations--forgery has been hinted at--had inveigled a girl, +with some money, into a mock marriage, and had deserted her, after +dissipating her property. + +Be this as it may, we deemed it best to ignore the rumour; but it had +its effect on Lyle, who again retired into Kafirland. + +My friends at Fort Wellington entreated me to visit them for a while, +and though my father and mother were unwilling that I should leave them, +and my very dread of the neighbourhood made me hesitate, I consented at +last, considering how much my father's constant anxiety at sight of me +weighed against his zeal in his official capacity. + +Certainly there was a greater feeling of security for me in the little +fortress. Sentinels at the gates, and these closed at night, I could go +to rest, with my boy on my arm, certain that, under Providence, no rude +hand could awaken me, and tear him from my bosom. Long used to lonely +midnight vigils, I would start up sometimes frightened from my sleep by +what seemed an angry voice, and then would fall back on my pillow, +relieved by the sound of the sentinel's measured footsteps, and the loud +clear cry of "All's well!" + +I could have been comparatively happy here, for, although unsettled and +miserable at first, Mrs Lorton was an active, intelligent, cheerful +woman; and I was delighted to share with her the task of instructing her +little family. + +Anxious to relieve my parents, in their present reduced circumstances, +from the burden of maintaining myself and my boy, I entered with some +zest upon my new duties, and each morning found me the centre of a +little group of children, with books, work and music; and, to add to +this feeling of repose, we ascertained that my husband had shaken the +dust of Africa from his feet, and departed for England. + +But he left me his curse, and it pleased Providence that it should be +fulfilled. + +My boy was suddenly stricken with fever--you know how impossible it is +in the desert to obtain timely medical aid. When the surgeon from a +distant garrison arrived, it was too late to save my precious treasure. + +He lay upon his little bed, moaning as he moved his aching head from +side to side, his pretty curls all strewed about his pillow. The +children _would_ come to him--he recognised them at times; then the +large blue eye would grow dim--the angel face would flush and pale by +turns--the lips would murmur indistinct sounds, and he would grasp my +hand convulsively--"Water, water," was his perpetual cry--a +burning-thirst tormented him. One of his young playmates held the cup +to him, my darling drank from it, and tried to raise his weary head and +bow his thanks, but sunk back with a cry of anguish. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The few sands in the hour-glass of that little life ran slowly out; the +light from the beautiful eyes shone into mine like rays of hope. The +children gazed tearfully upon their "pretty Frank;" he would try to +smile, and once he spoke. "Mamma," he whispered, "you will be sorry for +poor little Francy--kiss me, mamma; I love you." I bent down--my hot +tears fell upon his face--he felt them not--my little flower faded so +gently away, that we knew not the moment his spirit departed. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +My cup of sorrow was full to the brim.--With anguish too deep for tears, +I performed the last offices of love for my darling. I would fain have +followed him to his grave in the burying-ground near the fortress; often +it seems to me now that there only could I find rest. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +But this is sinful--I should rather pray that my sorrows may be my +blessings in futurity. Mr Trail came to me with his gentle words of +peace and consolation, but my rebellious heart refused all comfort. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +I _would_ see my darling's little coffin borne from the fortress. I sat +at a window that overlooked the gateway, and watched the simple +procession with a heart so still, that it seemed turned to stone in its +agony. My eyes were fixed and tearless, I dreaded the last look of that +coffin which held all my hopes. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +I am a soldier's daughter--but I could take no pride, for the sake of my +darling, in the last honours that were paid his little corpse--as it +passed the gate, the guard of the Fifty --st regiment turned out and +presented arms to the coffin. At this simple but characteristic +compliment to my dead child, the well-springs of my full heart +overflowed, and I burst into tears. + +The procession passed through thee gateway, the soldiers retired to the +guard-house, the single sentry kept his measured beat, and I, in my +desolation, cast myself upon my bed and cried aloud, "What _have_ I +done, what _have_ I done, to be so afflicted by the hand of God?" + +"Say, rather, _chastened_," said Mrs Lorton. "Ah! Eleanor, believe +me, that those whom the Lord never sees fit to chasten are not to be +envied, as you, in your present sorrow, would believe." + +The little miniature you have seen of my Francis was taken from life by +Mrs Lorton; it fell into Mr Trail's hands through the loss of a box +when I was travelling; it has, you see, twice escaped destruction. + +I returned to Annerley, broken-hearted. It was our winter--a desolate +one, memorable in the annals of the colony for its storms and floods. + +Oh! how long it was before the cold wind and rain, which I heard beating +against the windows, ceased to send a shudder through my heart, for fear +they should injure my poor little lost snowdrop. I had dreaded leaving +Fort Wellington, yet, what a trial it was there--to see the vacant place +in the nursery, and the unused playthings, carefully put away by Mrs +Lorton, but sometimes drawn out by stealth, that I might weep over them! + +These last lines of the manuscript are almost illegible, from the tears +that had fallen on them. + +Frankfort's eyes were dim. + +How shall I tell you the rest? The unhappy being who was bound to me by +my wretched fate disappeared, as I have said. For more than two years +we heard nothing of him. At last, we learned that he was at the head of +one of those factious parties in England, calling themselves patriots, +who stir the people up to discontent by disseminating false principles +among them. He was to be heard of in the different manufacturing +districts, rousing the lower classes, and, as he himself said, "teaching +them what they wanted:" thus he drew the weaver from his poor hearth, to +send him back more discontented and unsettled than ever; the farmer from +the market, to set him against his landlord, whom hitherto he had loved; +the mechanic from his work, which afterwards he had no heart to finish; +the reaper from the sunny fields, and the boy from his home, to destroy +its influences if good, to foster them if evil; and those who listened +went from him dissatisfied with themselves, and with "war in their +hearts" towards their fellow-men. + +In a word, you well knew the name of Jasper Lee, he who was convicted +for a conspiracy against the Government. He was my husband!--the name +of Lee was an assumed one. + +Within six months we have received authentic intelligence of his death, +and I am personally disenthralled of my heavy chain, but I bear its +marks--my head has been bowed to earth by this galling yoke, and I shall +feel that your decree will be just when you renounce me for ever. + +I am thankful that, at last, I _can_ recognise the hand of God in all +the suffering I have undergone. Do you remember my requesting an +interview once with Mr Trail?--you stood by and saw my confusion on +discovering you. Ah! I cannot tell you the consolation I have derived +from that good man. + +You will believe me fully, when I say that the idea of obtaining your +love never entered my head--it will soothe me in my most lonely and +melancholy hours to think that you considered me worthy of it. + +I have written this sad record somewhat roughly--I fear, too, somewhat +incoherently; much that must have wearied you might have been omitted, +and yet, much remains untold. Alas! you have had to learn not so much +the history of my _sorrow_, as of my _disgrace_. + +Yes, _disgrace_--my misfortunes have been greater than my faults, yet, +in justice to others, I would not have you account me blameless. I +believe, if I had the courage at first to tell my mother that I never +could love Lyle as I ought to do, she would not have urged me to marry +him. But I was passive in her hands--indeed, I was bewildered. + +I cannot tell you what it has cost me to write this. While others +sleep, my brain aches with conflicting emotions. I pace my room again; +I take up my pen, scrawl a few lines, then erase them, and again +commence my restless walk. + +Sometimes, overcome with hours of anxiety and unrest, I try to sleep, +but my thoughts sway to and fro like a sea, and I fall into that +visionary state between waking and sleeping, when the real and the +imaginary are so blended together, that no effort of our own can +separate them. Lo, then, I see you for a moment, standing upon a +sun-lit shore, with arms outstretched towards me, then dark clouds arise +between us, I strive to reach the strand; but heavy booming waves +engulph and toss me to and fro, and next my husband's face looks up from +the surge, and his horrible laugh awakens me. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +When I heard of his death, deploring it as I did for his sake, since I +fear he had no time for repentance, I did dream that fresh hopes _might_ +spring from such an event--hopes of security and peace in the bosom of +my own family. + +Alas! having known you, I feel all the bitterness of my lot with double +force. + +But what an apprenticeship I have served to anguish! In time I may +learn to bear even your loss, and shall find consolation in the _memory_ +of your regard. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +I cannot revise what I have written, though I dread lest what I have +said may impress you with a sense of my inferiority. + +I have asked myself this question often--"Will he despise or pity me?" +Both, perhaps. Your reason will induce something of contempt--but your +_heart_ will teach you to pity the unfortunate Eleanor. + +There were many erasures in the manuscript; it was unlike the ladies' +love-letters described as written in "fair Italian characters," but +albeit the style was irregular, the writer's purpose was clear and +decided. + +In her feelings towards Frankfort, she evidently "let I dare not, wait +upon I would." His was just the heart to appreciate the candour and the +delicacy of sentiment betrayed rather than displayed in this record of +human weakness, suffering, and wrong. I have shown you that he was a +man accustomed, to _use_ his reason. It must be owned that he had never +found this so difficult to do as now: he was thoroughly unselfish; but +he had a mother and sisters--how would _they_ look on such connection? +Would it be wise to draw. Eleanor, from the retirement of her father's +home? Facile, easily impressed, would she, were she even free from the +marks of her galling fetters, be suited to him as a companion for life, +or rather could _he_ make her happy? Then he asked himself why this +question of suitability had not presented itself to his mind before now. + +It was fortunate for Eleanor that the question resolved itself to this. +His own position, his mother, sisters, family connections, all became +secondary considerations before the one grand hope of brightening this +joyless creature's career... Frankfort wrote Eleanor a few lines, as +follows:--"I thank you for the last line of your letter--`Your _heart_ +will teach you to pity the unfortunate Eleanor.' For both our sakes, +let us pause one day ere we allude again to the terrible recital I have +passed the night in reading. + +"It may seem cruel to say so little, but day is dawning. You know how +averse I am to decide suddenly on momentous points. Ere long the family +will be assembled for prayer; we shall meet there; till then, adieu, +dear Eleanor." + +Eleanor found this note on her dressing-table. She dwelt most upon the +three last words. + +She was first in the school-room, Mr Trail followed, and the household +worshippers were soon collected. As Eleanor was leaving the room, +Frankfort drew near. They shook hands. It was a friendly greeting on +his part; she bent her head and walked slowly by, he did not follow. + +In after-life Frankfort would look back on that day as the most +momentous in his existence--even more so than that terrible one on +which-- + +But, what am I doing? Anticipating what it is not yet time you should +know, my reader. + +He was absent the greater part of the day, meditating in the solitude of +the hills. The little settlement lay below the mountain slope where he +sat. It was a busy, happy, thriving place; the sunlight fell on +richly-cultivated lands and herds of fine cattle, the vineyard was +filled with workers; Marian and Ormsby were there laughing, he wreathing +her brow with a garland of grapes and vine-leaves--she looked like a +Bacchante; their voices in gay harmony floated up the green hill-side; +women and children were seated in shady nooks at work and at play; the +Trails and Mr and Mrs Daveney were walking up and down the avenue in +earnest conversation. + +In contrast to this scene of employment and cheerfulness, was Eleanor +reclining beneath the corallodendrum tree in the sequestered spot where +she and Frankfort had held their last meeting. + +She was in a deep reverie; her head rested on her hand--her looks were +bent upon the ground. Frankfort could see her distinctly from where he +sat; they were only severed from each other by the ravine through which +sang the rill that irrigated the vineyard. + +And was it in his power to shed light and life on the pathway of this +desolate young creature? + +Motionless she sat as a statue, little dreaming that he, whose image had +filled her thoughts, was so near. + +With all her philosophy, inborn, and lately taught by Mr Trail, she +could not help considering her lot a severe one; but she called to mind +the good minister's reply, on her observing, in the words of the +Psalmist, "I thought to understand this, but it was too hard for me." + +"Yes," he had said, "too hard for _us_ to understand; but look to the +words that follow: `until I went into the sanctuary of God, then +understood! the end of these things.'" + +She rose and resolved on seeking the good teacher; but ere she had moved +many paces along the turf, Frankfort stood beside her. + +Love, charity, and tenderness of heart had triumphed over all selfish +considerations; the power of this patient, suffering, wronged creature +happy superseded all other sentiments. + +The power of making others happy! How few estimate this divine and +lofty attribute as they should! How few understand or prize the +possession of it! + +Again Eleanor and Frankfort met together beside the little fountain, +which glittered like silver in the emerald glass; day was declining ere +they thought of moving. They had sat, hand clasped in hand, their +hearts too full for utterance save in whispers, till the shadow of the +corallodendrums lengthened on the sward. + +They rose to return to the house. + +"Let us go to my father and mother," said Eleanor, + +Hark, a sound!--something whirred past them, and descended so swiftly +that they saw nothing till the long, slender shaft of an assegai +quivered upright in the ground, within a few paces of their feet. May, +who had, unobserved by them, been gathering water-cresses immediately +below the Devil's Kloof, started up before them. He had not from the +hollow observed them; the three stood for a minute or two utterly +confounded. + +Frankfort drew the weapon out in haste, and hurried Eleanor to the +house; they met Marion and Ormsby, mirthful as ever. + +"We were going to look for you," said Ormsby, with a sly smile; but a +glance at Frankfort told of serious matter. + +On reaching the house, and relating what had occurred, Mrs Daveney +congratulated Frankfort on having escaped danger from lurkers in the +hills during his morning saunter with his rifle, which, by the way, he +had forgotten to use. Lights were brought. Mr Daveney said little, +but took the assegai in hand to examine it. + +There were some letters scratched on its polished blade; they gathered +round to look. On the one side was inscribed the year "18--;" Mrs +Daveney held the lamp nearer; on the other, deeply and freshly indented, +were two words-- + +The date was barely a month old. Oh! that shriek! those appalled faces! + +Mr Daveney took his insensible daughter Eleanor in his arms, and +carried her away; her mother covered her face with her hands. They had +no doubt _now_ who was the agitator in Kafirland. + +Before sunset a scout came in, breathlessly announcing that slender +wreaths of smoke were beginning to curl up on the points of the hills, +and that a Kafir herald, with a feather at his ankle, had been seen by +the herds stealing up a pathway from the kloof. Some of these herds had +probably followed him, for there were deserters among the farm-servants. + +"Then," said Mrs Daveney, "this is the surest sign of an attack, if we +wanted no other evidence of mischief. And now, God help us!" She +withdrew with Marion. + +At midnight the watch-fires sparkled on the mountains, and along the +more distant ridges the war-cry sounded faintly; but before morning +dawned it rang out, loud, prolonged, and clear, and the settlers at +Annerley knew that Kafirland was "up." + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +THE SUNLESS KLOOF. + +Meanwhile, guided by Doda, Lee, or, as we may now call him, Lyle, +threaded his way through some of those innumerable defiles which, +cleaving the great mountains of the Amakosa country in twain, afford +covert for many a marauding party with its cattle; and, having passed +the Zonga River, the two wanderers sat down to rest in a "murky glen," +impervious to the sun. + +At the time when the people at Umlala's Kraal were intent on torturing +the unhappy Amayeka, Lyle and Doda were quietly preparing to refresh +themselves with such provision as they had brought with them, and both +were not a little startled at hearing the branches in the jungle giving +way before some footsteps. There was a crash close to them; two horns +emerged from the speck boom, or elephant bush, the head of a huge ox +became visible, the body followed, and then two dusky figures. These +were our old friend Zoonah and a thieving comrade. The animal had been +abstracted from a kloof, where a herd of stolen cattle had been +concealed, and the worthy pair had sought this solitary spot with intent +to slaughter the beast, and keep holiday as long as it lasted. + +The apparition of a white man, seated beside Doda, elicited from them +the usual exclamation of "Ma-wo!" but the party very soon understood +each other, and the three Kafirs having _reimed_ the poor creature, they +proceeded to destroy it after their own fashion, which I should be sorry +to describe. Suffice it to say, that the wretched animal, being secured +beyond all power of resistance, was deprived of its tongue by the most +cruel process, and its skin subjected to the assegai ere it was fairly +dead. + +Of late years the Kafirs have abandoned this shocking mode of slaughter; +but some of them, when beyond the influence of the white man, or of +their less, savage chiefs, will occasionally adhere to the old custom. + +Lyle gave up all idea of proceeding on his journey that day; he knew his +friends too well to suppose they would separate with such a feast before +them. It is just to him to say that he turned with horror and disgust +from the quivering body of the poor ox, and would have ended its agony +by shooting it, had it been prudent to use firearms. + +The three Kafirs--Doda, Zoonah, and Lulu--applied themselves to the +plentiful meal before them with a gusto indescribable, and then lay down +to sleep. Lyle would have travelled on alone, but this was +impracticable, as the only paths that could be safely traversed were new +to him; so he was fain to stretch himself on the grass, and reconsider +his plans, which could not be matured till he came face to face with his +desperate colleagues, the disaffected Boers. Zoonah was to be +questioned as to what he knew of colonial matters, for Doda informed +Lyle that he was a well-known spy; but greediness and sloth are the +principal characteristics of the Kafir, and till these inclinations were +satisfied, nothing could be elicited. Lyle knew that; so, giving way to +weariness himself, he, too, fell asleep. + +But for this, the noise of the explosion at Umlala's Kraal might have +reached them. + +They slept on through the hour of noon, till the sun, reaching its +meridian, pierced even the dense jungle with a ray or two of light, and +Lyle rose, and would have rejoiced much in a cool bath, had there been a +stream near; but the torrent that in the rainy season roared and tumbled +over the rocks in the middle of the kloof was almost dry; he could only +lave his face and hands in the pools, but even this was refreshing. + +The three Kafirs were talking together as he ascended the bank, and Doda +related to him the tradition of the Sunless Kloof. + +It was here that the first white man had been seen by the Amakosas. "He +came," said Doda, "from there," pointing westward. "The tribes whom +this wild rider--for he was on horseback--passed on the way were too +much terrified to stop him--the covering on his head was supposed to be +part of it, but when he lifted it, it caused still greater surprise. He +was seen to get off his horse at one time, and the people followed the +spoor. They had never seen shoes then; and the print of his feet, so +different to our own, made them believe he was not formed like +ourselves. He carried in his hand a long hollow weapon, from which +there came forth fire, smoke, and thunder; and the horse, being an +animal never before seen by Kafirs, caused deeper dread. The natives +shunned him as a being not of earth. Some killed cattle on his +approach, and placed it in his way as a peace-offering, and, in return, +he would leave beads and tobacco beside it. Some honoured him as a +wizard; from him the `Wizard's Glen' takes its name, for his footprints +were discovered there one day. He had nearly reached the sea, when +Narini's people, believing him to be some unnatural animal, determined +to kill him, and, watching him from the rocks, hunted him down, and +assegaied him. Since then, men have said that he was one of a tribe of +white people, who had been sent by their chief to the country beyond +Shiloh: almost all were murdered. Some found their way back by the +Winterberg, but this one must have intended, to seek the Zooluh country, +where it was known that a race with white skins, but hair dark as the +crow's wing, exchanged beads for slaves." [The Portuguese settled on +the south-east coast.] + +Doda ceased to speak, and Zoonah and Lulu commenced singing a wild air, +the first words of which were intended to imitate the clatter of a +horse's hoof. + + "Ite cata, cata mawooka, + Na injormane." + + "Clatter clatter, he is going; + He goes with a horse, he goes with speed." + +Over and over again they repeated this inharmonious, monotonous "Ite +cata, cata mawooka," and then drew the embers of the fire together, and +prepared to set to work anew upon some fresh steaks of meat. + +So, sleeping, and eating, and talking alternately, these savages passed +the day in the Sunless Kloof. Lyle was content to wait till nightfall +ere he advanced, and as he was able to understand much of the language +of these children of the wilderness, he listened not without interest to +a conversation between Doda and Lulu, the latter never having been +located, like Doda and Zoonah, among the missionaries. He had lately, +however, paid, a visit to one of the larger frontier towns, where he had +heard an account of a criminal's execution; he had not seen it himself, +and therefore was sceptical. + +"I do not doubt," said Doda, "for I have been told by the teacher that +the English always kill a murderer." [The literal translation is, "one +murders another."] + +"And I," remarked Zoonah, "have conversed with people who have described +the manner in which they kill them by hanging them with string by the +neck on poles." + +Lulu, after thinking for some minutes, observed, "The English must have +more people than they can manage?" + +"Why do you say so?" asked Doda, who, being the elder, took the lead in +the conversation. + +"Because I see no end to be answered in killing him; it is surely +sufficient that the one already dead should die. Killing his murderer +will not raise him to life again, neither will it benefit his family: +besides, it is depriving the chief of one man more." + +Zoonah interposed, "The English say that the murderer must be made to +feel what the dead man felt--that was, to die." + +"But what help," asked Lulu, who, though the least educated, was the +shrewdest of the three in argument,--"what help is that to the living? +Why do they not _eat him up_ [a Kafir phrase for ruining any one by +confiscation of his property], and let him live?" + +Zoonah spoke, in a low, deep voice, "Where _is_ the dead?" + +"_No_ more!" replied Doda; "he has ceased to be." + +"Then," asked Lulu, "how will he know his murderer has been killed or +eaten up?--he is not there to see him." + +"What need," asked Zoonah, "for him to know he is no more?" + +"It would compensate his heart for the loss of his body," replied Lulu. + +"But," said Doda, "we have nothing more to do with his heart--his body +is gone--he is no longer a man." + +There was a long pause. + +Doda was the first to break silence. "When," said he, "I inquire of my +own heart, one view of the case makes me on the side of the English +lawgivers. We know the two principals in a murder are the murderer and +the murdered. The last has left this world, so we cannot call for his +evidence. The murderer denies all about it. The English say, God made +man; to destroy what God made is _ukwapula umsila_, to break His +representative. It is clearly a case beyond the jurisdiction of man. +It can only be understood and disposed of by the maker of the _dead +thing_; and on these grounds it seems reasonable that the murderer +should be sent the same path that he caused the other to go, in order +that _they may meet and he judged before God_." + +"I see what you say," answered Lulu, after due deliberation; "it is too +strong for me. Do the English do this from such views? They can talk: +they do talk--but one cannot always believe them. His argument is good. +My heart is satisfied; I have heard. My heart is satisfied with your +words. Nevertheless, I do not comprehend--" + +And Lulu withdrew to ponder in silence on this argument. + +After this, Lyle bid Doda question Zoonah on all that he had seen in his +late perambulations "to and fro" upon the earth. + +Zoonah complied partially, but omitted the episode of his being +discovered by May, and outwitted also by the bushman. + +He described the two sportsmen, and the cavalcade with which they were +attended; and added, that they had retraced their steps, and had joined +the bivouac at Annerley, which was known by all the Kafir scouts to be +the rendezvous for the women and children of the district farmers. The +scouts, of course, were in constant communication with some of the +Annerley herdsmen, who, as was shown in the last chapter, were spies, +ready to desert at the right moment. One of these had, some weeks +previously to the open demonstrations of enmity in the frontier +districts, on overhearing Mr Daveney announce to a farmer that England +was sending troops, quitted the settlement, travelled 160 miles without +sleep, and, after delivering his message, dropped dead at the feet of +his chief. All Kafirland now was ripe for war, the tribes were +gathering in the hill, and the watch-fires beginning to smoke. + +Zoonah, in his turn, put manifold queries to Doda. The former said his +path was uncertain; his "feet were towards Umlala's Kraal, but his face +turned away sometimes." He asked, also, about Amani's proceedings. +Amani was his bitter foe. Lulu was bound for the settlements in the +Annerley district, to look for plunder. Was Amayeka at Umlala's Kraal? +He must get cattle to offer Doda, for his daughter. He thought he +should go with Lulu; he must come to Doda with full hands, to ask for +Amayeka. How many bullocks would Doda want for her--the girl with the +shining hair? + +And then there was the usual subtle bartering argument between the two +Kafirs. + +Meanwhile, a thought had struck Lyle. Taking one of Zoonah's assegais +from the bundle, he scratched with his clasp-knife his name and a +certain date on the blade of the weapon. Zoonah, who could elicit no +decided answers from Doda, leaned over the convict's shoulder. + +He had seen books; indeed, as a boy, in a former war, he had, with +others, cut them up as wadding for muskets, but could not read. +Nevertheless, he knew that letters were, as he called them, "silent +words." + +Lulu came too, and sat down beside Lyle--"Was he bewitching Zoonah's +assegai?" + +Zoonah grasped the weapon, and would have drawn it away. + +Lyle explained to him, in a mingled jargon, that the words _were_ +mystical, but not intended to injure _him_. "Take it," he said, "to +Daveney's Great Place, Annerley. Be like the asphogels. Watch them, +but let them not see you till the time comes to cast the weapon before +them. You know that Daveney is your enemy. Doda knows that I am the +friend of the Amakosas. I have brought you guns and powder. I have +made a path between you and the Dutch. The Dutch hate the English more +than you do now. There are people in my country, beyond the great +waters, who know that the English colonists are great liars. Can the +white chiefs sent hither ever carry their threats as far they declare +they will? No. You know that when they have laid schemes to drive you +from your lands, a word comes to them across the foaming vley, and they +are forced to eat their own words.--Your chiefs have many to speak for +them in my country. I have been one of your mouths there. I was here +long ago, when the son of Umlala's great wife was no taller than that +mimosa: when I went back to my land, I spoke in council. I said you +were under the feet of the English here; that you were not permitted to +sit still in green places in your own territory; that you only wanted +grazing-ground and patches of land to grow corn in; but that instead of +rewarding you for refusing to help the Boers against the English, we +have suffered your cattle and your land to be taken from you. You see, +too, that the Boers are angry. They have cause. You and they were as +two gnoos fighting for plunder. One gnoo comes first, and possesses +himself of the prey; another follows, and would seize it. Up stalks the +lion, he parts the combatants, seizes the plunder, and takes it to +himself. What should the gnoos do? They should unite, go to war with +the lion, take the plunder from him and share it. The land is large +enough for all; but when you would have justice, the lion puts his paw +beyond his own boundary, shakes his mane, his eyeballs burn and roll +like flames, he roars, and the very trees of the forest tremble at the +sound. Up, then, Amakosas, and at this roaring, ravaging lion. Quarrel +not among yourselves; the musket and the flint, and the powder and the +bullet, are all good when used together; apart, what are they? + +"Drive these greedy white men to the sea. The Boers are already treking +towards those great solitudes where the sun rises; divide this glorious +country among you, and make a place along the shore for white men to +come and traffic, bringing you beads, and blankets, and knives, and +brandy, and all those good things which white men love best, but which +they tell you, when they preach, that God has no delight in, and +forbids." + +Lyle went on much further in this strain, standing up, and declaiming in +a strange dialect with increasing spirit. The these Kafirs seated +themselves at his feet, and listened attentively to his specious +reasoning. He informed them that he was going among the Boers: that +they too would make a stand for their rights; that there were more men +like himself in the land intent on seeing justice done to all; and that +if the Kafirs were overcame by numbers in the forthcoming onset, they +had but to fall back to the sources of the white Kei, and mingle their +war-cry with the thunder of the Storm mountains. There the Boers would +answer them, and, ere long, the Zooluhs would echo it back, and bring +their hosts to join them in the onslaught. The Zooluhs and the +Amatembus, the Amapondas and the Amakosas, should be brothers; they came +from the same father originally, they were brandies of the same tree. +The Zooluhs were worthy to be the brothers of the Amakosas, for they +were brave. What a day it would be for Kafirland when they should chant +the same war-song, when, the Fingoes should be their dogs again. The +Fingoes, who, like the Zooluhs and Amakosas, had once been a great +nation, but who had lost their name, had no longer a place to sit, and +were fain to do the white man's bidding now, and work! Lyle laughed +scornfully, and there was a low chuckle among the three Kafirs. + +He pursued the theme skilfully, and if he did not persuade the three men +to believe him implicitly, he succeeded in stirring up their hearts to +join hopefully in the coming strife. In proof of his allegations +against his countrymen, he reminded them of what a Kafir chief, who had +visited England, had told them--how he had been brought before a council +[the Committee of the House of Commons], and questioned, and how even +women had stood up and pleaded that their land should be restored. + +They were fully aware, too, of the difficulties which many a "cruel +white Governor" had met with in trying to oppress those whom he was sent +to protect--how strong had been the words of those who spoke in their +favour. They, the Kafirs, had heard of and seen English papers. They +could not read them, but they knew that, like the Kafir watch-fires, +they were silent messengers. They had heard the teachers read from +books. Who asked the teachers to come? What good did they do? They +drew the people away from their chiefs: they would break up +chieftainship in Kafirland. + +The shades of evening were beginning to gather over the glen, and the +sky above was like a spangled banner of deep blue. Lyle was determined +to proceed that evening, and brought his speech to a close by bidding +Zoonah take the mystic assegai to Annerley, and having, when opportunity +offered, cast it where it could not fail to be observed, warned him to +note carefully, by means of household spies, the effect that would be +produced on the whole family at the sight of the inscription on the +blade. Lyle had already been in communication with Brennard regarding +the present position and circumstances of the Daveney family, and +Zoonah's information, gathered from various sources, confirmed him in +the idea that the two young officers, now domesticated at Annerley, +were, whether in earnest or not, on most agreeable terms with the whole +family, especially with the younger ladies. + +He knew every inch of ground about that settlement,--he could realise +the whole scene;--he learned that the place had been made very +defensible, and that a block-house was in progress. It was clear that +the magistrate intended to hold out vigorously against all attacks; but +there was much cattle, said Zoonah, most of which had been seized on +commandoes, and the chiefs were outrageous at being deprived of their +property, for Zoonah did not call it plunder. + +Lyle knew his ground in thus sowing the seed of evil in a small way. A +white man standing up, and venturing opinions among a tribe of Kafirs, +would meet with argument from some, contradiction from others dissent +from most, distrust from all; but these three men would soon be on +different routes. Two were accredited scouts in Kafirland; wherever +they went they were asked, "What news?" then they sat down, and +"talked;" thus what he had said would spread gradually, but surely, and +doubtless gain in importance. + +He had already become popular at Umlala's Kraal; the trade in muskets, +gunpowder, tobacco, and Cape brandy had been brisker under his guidance +than it had ever been. He was an athletic man, a rider, a swimmer, a +perfect marksman, and had once beat a Kafir in hurling the assegai. + +He was wont to respond cheerfully to the cry of "Baseila;" would join in +the games even of the boy warriors--this was the very class to +conciliate; and with his fearless air, his reckless laugh, and withal a +certain deferential manner to the chief, Lyle had contrived, to make +himself much at home with the tribe: while poor Gray was looked upon +with some distrust and much contempt; his step was slow, his whole air +cast down and melancholy, and the women and the youths, had some +suspicion of his passion for Amayeka; but Lyle was his friend, +outwardly, that was clear; and as the whole population must suffer by +quarrelling with the traders, Gray's presence was endured. The children +liked him, for however abstracted or dejected he might be, he had always +a smile for them, and the mothers thanked him for this. The Kafir women +love their children as long as the latter are helpless, but cast them +aside when, they become adults, and able to live by their own exertions. + +Lyle's authoritative manner had due weight with the three Kafirs; the ox +was divided into portions, and each man took a goodly piece with him. +Lyle and Doda started ere the Southern Cross began to bend and tell the +midnight hour had passed. Zoonah and Lulu bent their course westward, +and idling as they went, resting here and talking there, lurking about +the settlements, and helping the Kafir women whom they met in their +commissariat arrangements for the ensuing periods of strife; they +separated in the Buffalo Mountains, Lulu to join the warriors in the +Amatolas, Zoonah to keep watch in the Devil's Kloof. + +You have seen the result of Lyle's plan. The herdsmen at Annerley, who +fled into the wilderness at the sound of the war-cry, caught sight of +Zoonah at sunrise next morning, when he was skimming along a distant +ridge, and recognising him, by the feather at his ankle, to be a special +messenger, waved their karosses. He waited for them; they had not +deserted empty-handed. Two fine heifers were driven before them, and +dropping into a neighbouring kloof on the shady side of a mountain, they +all met together to hold a parley, and fare sumptuously on one of the +slaughtered animals. + +The detention in the "Sunless Kloof" was so far fortunate, that it +prevented Lyle and Doda from encountering the young Dutch burghers +bearing off. Amayeka, and, by a strange coincidence, Gray, in his +uncertain route, passed during the day within two miles of them; his +course, however, lay more to the westward, for he no longer cared to +conceal himself: but, as his ill-luck would have it, he was overtaken by +his fellow-convict two days after, on the northern bank of the Kabousie +River. + +Weak from hunger, he had been obliged to keep to the more fruitful +spots, and had subsisted on roots, Kei apples, and a little Kafir corn, +gathered from deserted gardens. Utterly disheartened, he again yielded +passively to his fate, and told the tale of the events which had driven +him forth as a wanderer again. + +After this, the three pushed forward night after night, and in the +course of a few days, the heavy clouds that had veiled the horizon +cleared off, and they found themselves within a few hours' journey of +the Stormberg Mountains. + +Gray's narration of the events which had been the cause of his leaving +Umlala's Kraal did not particularly move Lyle or Doda; if the latter had +any suspicion of the deserter's regard for his daughter, he did not +betray it. Until a Kafir is excited by incidents passing before him, he +never displays any decided emotion; hating Amani, he was more inclined +to be enraged with him for his condemnation of Amayeka, than anxious for +his daughter's fate. In the hands of white men, he felt certain enough +of her safety to take the matter coolly, suggesting that he was now +among the Boers in the Stormberg; and, under this impression, he tramped +steadily on, staff in hand, and, with a loose assegai, ready to bring +down any game that might cross the path. + +Lyle, on learning the destruction of the ammunition, congratulated +himself on having settled all monetary transactions ere he started. The +articles of barter exchanged by the Kafirs for the gunpowder were all +well on their way to the Witches' Krantz, and the only point now on +which he was ill at ease, was Gray's faint-heartedness, as he termed it. + +"What would you do?" said Lyle, as, side by side, the two Englishmen +followed Doda through the tangled pathways intersecting the small +plains, covered with fine pasturage, and watered by numerous streams +proceeding from the Stormberg,--"what would you do? declare yourself a +runaway convict, a deserter from the Royal Artillery? My good fellow, +you are the man the Boers want--they have got guns, as you know, but few +to handle them--you will meet some old comrades, though, I have no +doubt, up in those hills." + +Then Gray spoke the first resolute words he had uttered for a long time. + +"If," said he, "you think I will work a gun against my own countrymen, +you are mistaken. You may call me fool, coward, if you will--I may be +branded, shot as a deserter but I will not die a traitor!" + +Lyle gave a long, low, contemptuous whistle, and then burst into a +laugh. "What do you call a traitor?" he asked: "to my mind, he is a man +who enlists in a good cause, and then, without rhyme or reason, or for +some vicious purpose, turns against it. Why, they condemned me to +transportation as a traitor, because I took the side of justice and the +oppressed. It is more manly to fight for the weak than for the strong. +Talk of might against right in this country--I should like to know who +are the rightful owners of it--why, those little nations, the bushmen. +As for justice, she may well be painted blind, for the strongest arm +turns for scale, and she can't see to help herself. It is the same +everywhere. We left the Government in England riding rough-shod over +the poor starving devils, and when the worms began to turn, the law, as +they call it, crushed them with its iron heel. The lion of England is a +mighty fine fellow to boast of, but wherever he stalks, he leaves the +traces of his bloody paws. They are beginning to find this out at home. +Home!--it is no home to us." Gray heaved a deep sigh. "They are +getting sick of being taxed for those hired assassins, the soldiers. I +was one of those to show the people what they were taxed for--to pay men +for shooting them like dogs, if they complained of wrong. I did not +conceal from them that I had been a soldier myself and I pointed out the +slavery of such a condition. I was licenced to talk of what I had been. +I might have been pulled up and shown up, for I had got into a few +scrapes from want of money; but this would have dragged forward some +respectable names, so justice was deaf, as well as blind, on this +question, and Jasper Lee was only talked of as a Chartist leader. The +real traitors to the cause were those who sat safely at their desks in +dusty offices, and made promises which gained them popularity at the +time, but which they never intended to perform. One wrote, `If Jasper +Lee leaves the B--D--dock in a felon's van, it shall be over a hurdle of +Chartists' bodies.' Another, that if I `did not walk a free man from my +gaol--free by the verdict of a British jury--thousands of armed citizens +were ready to fling back the defiance I should hurl from the felon's +dock.' One party `resolved,' that the vessel carrying off Jasper Lee, +as a convict, should have to cleave its way through an ocean of Chartist +blood,--`and,' shouted another from a platform at a hill-side meeting in +one of the manufacturing districts, `so long as I live, the manacle will +not be forged that will encircle the heel, or the scissors that will cut +a hair from the head of Jasper Lee, the felon.' + +"I did not take all the epistles I received for gospel, but I did reckon +on a rescue. The miserable mob, however, terrified at the sight of the +soldiers, quailed before an unloaded gun; but at last they began to show +fight with brickbats. There was barely time to read the Riot Act--ha, +ha! how the old mayor's hand trembled that held it, when a charge of +cavalry came down the street and drove the poor devils right and left. +We were the victims of treachery. Some of our pretended friends had +been bribed, turned informers, and went over to the enemy. These were +the traitors and deserters; they have pocketed the price of blood, and +are at work again, no doubt, like spiders in their dark, gloomy offices, +making false promises, deluding the people into the assemblies they +convoke, only to bring the troops upon them, and then reap their reward +for betraying their victims." + +In this strain Lyle proceeded; Gray paid but little heed to his +sophistry--his mind was intent on casting aside the thraldom under which +he writhed; but fate seemed against him. + +And Amayeka, what was to become of her? Lyle next pointed out the +advantages of the prospect before them. It was by no means certain, he +said, that the Boers must necessarily fight against the English +government; it was well-known that Vander Roey had gone to the +Commander-in-Chief to hold a conference; it was not improbable that +terms would be made, and that a territory would be given to the Dutch +settlers, where they might exercise their own laws. + +"Here," said Lyle, "we may find a place of rest, for, unless something +is to be gained by it, I am not inclined for war for fighting's sake." + +This was, as the reader may divine, untrue; but he adapted his expressed +opinions to the tone of Gray's mind at the moment. + +"So, for the present, my lad, make your mind easy; you cannot get away +from this if you would, and you would not if you could, for your dusky +lady-love is, without doubt, yonder in the hills, and no bad refuge +neither. By Jove, this is a fine country--ha! Doda told me it was a +noble pasture-land for horses, and see, the mountain-sides are dotted +with them; and here is a troop of jolly young Boers. Now remember, once +for all, my lad," continued Lyle, clutching Gray suddenly by the +arm--"let me tell you to put a good face on the matter. As to getting +these people just now to listen to your history, and give you a guide or +an escort to take you back--you young fool!--to fight against them, it +is of no use. All your reasoning would be as useless as whistling jigs +to milestones--all your wrath like the grimaces, and the sputtering, and +the swearing of the bushmen at a storm of thunder and lightning. So now +say `good morrow' to these young fellows with the best face you can." + +A party of youths rode up as Lyle spoke; the latter informed them, in +tolerable Dutch, that he was the trader whom Brennard had located at +Umlala's Kraal, and, as he had no intention of at once avowing himself +willing to be enrolled as a rebel, he affected to have started from the +Kraal with mere prospects of traffic. He then related what had occurred +since his departure, and Gray listened with a beating heart to the reply +made to Lyle on his inquiring whether a Kafir girl had been brought to +the mountains by the young men of the foraging party. + +"Yes; but they had earned her over the hills to the Boers' large +encampment, where she would be taken care of by some of the women." + +With this information Gray and Doda were obliged to be content. The +young Dutchmen informed Lyle that the ammunition was on the +south-western side of the mountains, where it was carefully stored in +some of the bushmen's caves, long abandoned by their first tenants, +until Vander Roey sent intelligence of the result of his conference with +the Commander-in-Chief, Vander Roey's wife was in charge of it, and, +under her directions, instalments of gunpowder were daily forwarded on +pack-oxen and horses, the passes of the mountains being impracticable +for wagons. + +The young Boers having turned their horses' heads in the direction of +the mountains, the convicts and Doda accompanied them to the temporary +bivouac, where Vander Roey's wife held sway in the absence of her +husband. The three were left among the scattered tents and wagon-tilts +of the few families congregated together in the sequestered spot, while +the riders hastened to Mrs Vander Roey to inform her of the new +arrivals in the camp. Lyle and Gray were soon summoned by the lady, who +advanced to the door of the cave to receive them, and ask their +business. + +She was a woman apparently five or six and twenty years of age, though +probably she was much less. She was not what might be termed a true +specimen of the Boeress in Southern Africa, but was, in colonial +parlance, an Africander, of French extraction, her father belonging to +the race who established themselves at the Cape after the revocation of +the edict of Nantes; and her mother, although the wife of a Boer, had a +alight touch of dark blood in her veins. To these circumstances, which, +in the eyes of the community to which she belonged, were objectionable, +she owed her raven hair, drawn back from the temples, and bound round +her head in classic fashion. The forehead was low, but well formed; the +eyes long, dark, and fringed with black lashes, that softened their +fiery expression; the nose aquiline, with the delicate nostril +indicative of Indian blood; the mouth scarlet-lipped, and radiant with +pearly teeth; her figure, above the middle height, and gracefully, if +not perfectly, shaped, was set off by the dress, which, albeit coarse +and rough, was picturesque; a petticoat of bright-coloured _voerchitz_, +a bodice of the same material, but of different pattern, over which was +thrown a rich silk handkerchief of orange hue--a gift from Cape Town; +loose sleeves, reaching a little below the elbow of a beautiful arm; +cotton stockings, passing fine, and _veldt scoons_, of better make than +was common among her people, fitted to a tolerable foot and slender +ankle. Such was the attire of Mrs, or, as she chose to call herself, +Madame Vander Roey; and, as she came forward, the rays of the setting +sun illuminated her figure, and set off the manifold hues of her costume +in a very striking manner. Even the attention of the listless deserter +was arrested by the vision of this showy dame, who, with a pistol in her +belt, her arms folded across the orange handkerchief her head thrown +back, and her flashing eyes bent eagerly on Lyle, awaited their approach +in front of her rude but picturesque domicile. She opened the +conversation by the direct inquiry addressed to Lyle in Dutch, of "Where +do you come from, and what is your business?" + +Lyle replied, with equal decision of tone, + +"I am the trader from Umlala's Kraal; I have been, in communication with +Vander Roey for more than six weeks." + +"Vander Roey has been absent nearly a month, but I did not wish Umlala's +people to know this; the scouts were told he was ill, and have received +the ammunition; some of it I have stored, some has been sent over the +mountains. Are you here only as traders, and who is this boy?" + +She scanned the dejected-looking Gray with something like glances of +contempt. + +"Doda, good morrow; you are to be trusted, because you would gain +nothing by betraying us. Go, you will find meat cooking at those fires +in the hollow. Who, I say, is this boy?" + +"A deserter from the service of my king," answered Gray, "and a +miserable creature." + +Lyle would have spoken; Madame Vander Roey forestalled him, by asking in +English, "And what is your business here? Do you come as friend or +enemy?" + +"As neither," replied Gray; "but I am a most unfortunate young man." + +"Neither friend nor enemy!" said Madame Vander Roey, elevating her +dark-pencilled eyebrows; "then why come you here at all?" + +Lyle, seeing that Gray had resolved on making a true statement of past +occurrences, suddenly exclaimed, "At least accept me as your friend; I +am one of those who have been banished by my country for taking part +with the ill-used, the poor, and the weak--in a word, we are convicts, +who escaped lately from the wreck of the _Trafalgar_, and from the +moment that I set foot on shore, I resolved to seek Vander Roey, whose +fame has spread to England--aye, and to the land of his forefathers, to +Holland; but of this we can speak hereafter. We have been travelling +for some days on foot, are weary and hungry, and long for the rest and +refreshment which we believe you will give us. This lad will come to +his senses by-and-by; if he does not," added the elder convict, with a +bitter laugh--one of those laughs which Eleanor could not distinguish +between jest and earnest--"we most teach him the use of his wits." + +Gray knew it was vain to remonstrate with his evil genius. Madame +Vander Roey invited both the travellers into her retreat, and Gray +passively followed Lyle and the lady into the bushmen's cave, her +present dwelling-place. + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +THE PATRIARCH. + +It was, like most of these retreats, a deep recess in the rocks. The +walls were ornamented with grotesque drawings, poorly executed in +coloured clay, of men and animals, the figures of the former more +resembling apes than men. The ground--for flooring there was none, save +a carpet woven by Nature's tasteful hand--was partially covered with +mats and skins, and the furniture consisted of a rickety camp-table and +two or three broken stools. A long roer and a pair of large pistols +were slung against the scarp of rock at the back of the recess, and the +place was faintly illuminated by a primitive kind of lamp--a calabash +filled with sheep-tail oil--from the centre of which rose a rush wick. +The coolness of this retreat,--for the sun's rays never penetrated +therein,--was delicious, after passing so many days in the open air +during the hottest period of the South African summer. + +The lamp only emitted sufficient light to make darkness visible to the +travellers' unaccustomed eyes. On their entrance, they heard voices, +and Lyle stumbling over some object on the ground, there rose up Madame +Vander Roey's attendant pages, Lynx and Frolic, two small bushboy imps; +they uttered a little screech at sight of the new-comers, and were +tumbling out of the cave, when their mistress called them back and +issued some orders, desiring them to send Hans, the Hottentot. She then +lit another lamp, and thereupon they discerned another object in the +corner of the recess. + +This was the aged father of Madame Vander Roey, a venerable Boer, with +snowy hair and a long silvery beard. His seat was an old arm-chair, +which his daughter had rendered more comfortable and sightly by throwing +over it a kaross made of the silver jackal's akin. His dress was of the +usual coarse duffle, a good deal worn, and a crutch beside him indicated +infirmity of body. His mind appeared less enervated than his limbs, and +he bowed with an air of great courtesy to the new-comers, evincing no +surprise at the appearance of strangers. + +He shook his head mournfully, and inquired of his daughter if they were +English; she replied in the affirmative, and added that they were +friends. + +His first thought was hospitable; he reminded her that they must need +refreshment; he next begged them to be seated, and inquired whence they +came. + +Madame Vander Roey said that this question must be deferred for a while, +and left the dwelling to see that food was provided for the evening +meal. + +The old Boer, Du Plessis, began to talk in soliloquising fashion as soon +as he was left with Lyle and Gray; the latter reclining listlessly +against the painted rock, the former with his full grey eye fixed +intently on Du Plessis. + +"Has my daughter's husband returned?" asked the patriarch; but, instead +of waiting for an answer, he went back to memories seventy years old, +when he was a youth and his father a landowner in the lower districts of +the Cape. He repeated the usual tale of complaint. "They robbed us," +said he, speaking of the kafirs. "We offered our humble petitions to +the great men at Cape Town, and asked for help; but, while we waited, +leaning upon promises--broken reeds!--our enemies swept away our +possessions, stole or mutilated our cattle and sheep, and left us poor. +Then we learned with great sorrow that some of our fellow-burghers were +against us, and time was lost in disproving this, and our enemies +laughed at us; therefore we sent messengers to their honours in Cape +Town, and said, `As we possess little, we pray you let us go and live in +peace upon the Sneeuwberg, where, if you will permit us to remain, we +will pay you rent; there is quiet there and much game; indeed, we need a +supply of food, for many of us now have not a hundred sheep and five +cattle. Let us go then with our small flocks and our wives and our +little ones.' So then we waited, and could get no certain answer, and +our great men advised us to go, and we went sorrowfully, and sent again +messengers to implore forgiveness of their honours if we had done amiss +in _trekking_, and prayed the Lord would bestow His grace upon them, +that they might select a fitting person to arrange all disputes between +neighbours. + +"We fared ill with the bushmen: if we went out to kill sea-cows, these +robbers would follow us, or plunder our homes in our absence, or shoot +at us with their poisoned arrows. So we grew more and more +impoverished, and a generation passed away while we were waiting for +help; and so, not being able to hold out against the robbers, we +abandoned our places again." + +Here Madame Vander Roey returned to make such preparations as the times +permitted for setting the supper-table in array; her father went +wandering on. + +"Next," said he, "they took away our slaves. We had been told by good +teachers that slavery was bad, that we had no right to traffic in human +flesh; but we could not understand anything at first except that we were +left without servants, and with pieces of paper in our hands, which we +were told were money-bills, but that we must go to Cape Town to get them +cashed, and so we did; but we had many hundreds of miles to go. Some +trekked away with their slaves altogether, but my father inclined to the +Government, and accepted what they called compensation, and I went with +him to Cape Town, and we were glad to sell our bills for what we could +get from the merchants, and when we came back we found our farms +uncultivated, our cattle gone, and our wives and children very +miserable; so, you see, my white brothers, we have come step by step +further and further and further, and I am heart-sore, and would fain +listen to the word that my son Vander Roey shall bring; for I had rather +die in peace with all men and with my face turned to the west, than with +anger in my heart." + +Hans brought in, on some sticks, some slices of broiled gnoo, and there +was a rusty tin dish, filled with rice and _carbonatje_; the savoury +steam was grateful to the senses of even the melancholy Gray, and some +coarse but sweet bread and a calabash of Cape brandy being added to the +refection, the adventurers did full justice to their hostess's +hospitable display. + +The bald rocks of Asphogels' Kop, a peak distinguished from the other +heights of the Stormberg by this name, were shining like snow in the +rays of the newly-risen silver moon, when Lynx and Frolic put their +impish faces into the cave, and announced that Vander Roey and his +escort were in sight of the Donder Berg, for a fire was blazing on the +hill. + +The old Boer crossed his hands on his breast, closed his eyes, and his +lips moved, as Gray supposed, in prayer. The deserter sat down beside +the aged Du Plessis; Madame Vander Roey, accompanied by Lyle, left the +cave. On emerging from it, into the clear moonlit air, the latter saw +that the whole bivouac was astir; there were some forty men and eight or +nine women, several children, and a motley assembly of Hottentots, +half-castes, and bushmen. These gathered together in a group near +Madame Vander Roey, and the beads of approaching men and horses soon +appeared above the long waving grass of the little plain, on which the +encampment was spread in somewhat disorderly fashion. + +The equestrian party came up leisurely, after the manner of those who +bring no cheerful or decided tidings. The atmosphere was clear and +light as that of day. + +Madame Vander Roey said, in a low voice, to Lyle, "There is no good +news!" + +And so it proved. Vander Roey had not even bees admitted to an +interview with Sir John Manvers; indeed, there was little time for +treating with any one; for, as we have shown, the brand and the spear +were abroad, and the colonists were looking with anxious eyes for the +"sea-wagons from across the broad waters," and their freights of "red +men." + +The captain of the bivouac, Lodewyk, a boater, with a race almost +covered with hair, arms bared to the elbow, but garnished, Kafir +fashion, with bangles of brass, and a ring of ivory, a large straw hat +on his head, and equipped with leather trowsers, girded with a belt +containing immense pistols, and carrying besides an elephant gun, +stepped forwards as Vander Roey swung himself from his jaded horse, and +said, in a loud, distinct voice, in the Dutch language, + +"Vander Roey, is it peace or war with our white brothers?" + +"War," replied the Boer leader, abruptly, and strode on without greeting +his wife, who followed him to the cave. + +"War!" shouted Lodewyk--"War!" echoed Lyle; and Lodewyk, recognising the +trader, whom he had had dealings with of late, turned to Lyle, and +offered his hand. + +Lyle grasped it. + +"Let us smoke a pipe of tobacco together," said Lodewyk, and the two men +strolled off towards the habitation of the latter; it was a domicile, +half hut, half tent, formed of withered boughs and skins, and screened +from the east by a scarp of rock, on which many a grotesque and +unnatural-looking creature was depicted in yellow ochre and +different-coloured chalks. + +Circumstances conspired to induce Lyle to develop his plans and purposes +sooner than he had first intended; there was something in the bearing of +Lodewyk that chimed in with his own feverish desire to be up and doing; +and, on the other hand, Lodewyk had been attracted by the hearty, +dare-devil style in which the Englishman had flung up his hat, in the +moonlight, and shouted "War! war! to the knife!" + +They talked fair into the night, as they reclined on a bank facing the +habitation of the Vander Roeys. Gray had joined them, and lay fast +asleep, his head pillowed by a stone. + +The people in the bivouac, through which the cry of "War!" had rung till +the voices that uttered it were hoarse, were all busied in preparing for +the march at early day across the mountains, the chief having resolved +to move to the plains, where the majority of the Boers and their +families were awaiting his decision to _trek_ or return. + +The women were as busy as the men, collecting the few draught-oxen they +possessed, and yoking them to the wagons with their own hands, that +there might be no delay; and stalking in silence from group to group, +and wagon to wagon, but chiefly intent on superintending the packing of +all the gunpowder that remained, on the backs of the beasts of burden, +might be seen Vander Roey, with his broad-flapped hat and dark ostrich +plume, towering in height above his fellows, and issuing his orders, in +a tone of lofty command. + +Within the cave, Madame Vander Roey was making preparations for the +journey, her father watching her movements with a sad, bewildered dr. + +"Peace or war!" muttered the old man. "How many years have I been +wandering without rest for the sole of my foot, without a roof to +shelter these grey hairs? My son Vander Roey, let it be peace till I +die. Whither would you take me? The mountains will sunder me from my +dead--my buried wife--my three brave sons, all lying in one grave, +killed within a month. I can see from these plains the blue peaks of +the hills beneath which they lie. Let me, too, rest here, within sight +of those blue hills! + +"There has been strife too long, always strife. Let there be peace till +I die!--peace! peace!" + +And so the old man muttered on, his daughter proceeding with her +preparations, and now and then remonstrating with him kindly, and +begging him to rest as long as he could on the couch she had spread for +him, and so arranged that it could be lifted like a litter. In this, +with a light wagon-tilt, the aged patriarch was to be borne over the +mountains on the morrow. + +Ere the night had passed, three men rode into the camp; these were +Brennard and two young Boers of Vander Roey's party. The former had +resolved to join the rebels, and due greetings passed between him and +Lyle. Poor Gray, shuddered at the web gathering round him, but there +was no escape. He was resolved, however, to keep to the one resolution +he had formed during his miserable sojourn among strangers--he would not +fight against his sovereign's troops, come what might. + +He could recollect many a loyal saying of his father's; as a child, he +had been taught to "fear God and honour the King." In spite of the sway +his passions had obtained over him, he remembered the lesson; and now, +in spite of difficulties and danger, he determined to keep his fealty to +his liege. Alas! many a soldier who forgets God abides by his +allegiance to man! + +Brennard confirmed all that Lyle had been striving to impress on +Lodewyk. He swore that Holland had protested against the conduct of the +English Government towards the unfortunate white Africans; that help +would be sent to Natal, near which the Boers might establish a +government of their own, backed by the mother-country; that France was +favourably disposed towards the descendants of her sons. They might +hear through the papers that France was perfectly peaceful; but it was +not so--the people of France would dance over a mine till it sprung and +destroyed them--they were deaf to all warnings; the rising Powers had +already begun to think of the colonial possessions of England, and their +unsatisfactory state. As for the colony, now was the time to make ready +for war. The troops, although they fended the Kafirs would be easily +beaten, would be thoroughly harassed--"used up"--before reinforcements +could arrive. Every one knew that Sir John Manvers, the present +commander of the forces, was an irresolute, sullen, haughty man, anxious +for the arrival of the new Governor, who was reported to be Sir Adrian +Fairfax. Every one knew, too, what Sir Adrian was; he had said that he +compassionated the Boers, but was bound to carry out the orders of +Government, and _must_ shoot them as rebels if they attempted to show +fight. What had they--these poor, unhappy white Africans--gained by +passive endurance of ill? In England, men were already standing up for +a fresh Charter on their own ground--but what did the Boers want? Only +space to feed their cattle, permission to exercise their own laws, +without interfering with the English--and this was not to be granted. +Would they submit like dogs? At any rate, was it not worth while to +_try_ for freedom? + +Vander Roey followed up this tirade by informing those who had not +accompanied him to the British settlements, that he had been turned from +Sir John Manvers's door like a dog. "He sent me word," said he, "that +he had not time to listen to me. His messenger was a youth with +careless mien. I opened my lips to speak, but he heeded me not. I +could hear voices, and see lights through the doorways, and the young +man passed away, leaving me to be shown out of the house by a servant. +I walked by the front of the mansion; the man who `had not time to see +me' was receiving guests in a large lighted room. The windows were +open, and I stood in the garden, grinding my teeth with rage. I strode +out of the light into the darkness; my horse stood patiently at the +great gates of that fine house. He hung his head; he was worn with hard +riding--he had a sorry look--the sentry, standing under the lamp, was +laughing at his miserable plight. I mounted him, dashed through the +town, and never drew rein till I reached a river, the waters whereof +bubbled and foamed, and I was forced to stop to give the good beast +rest. We lay down side by side to sleep, and when I awoke, poor `Starry +Night' was dead! + +"I had to carry my saddle many a mile before I came up with my people; +they asked me few questions, but saw that hope was lost--so now for +war." + +"War! war!"--it was not _shouted_ now, but passed from lip to lip, as +the chief occupants of the bivouac continued their preparations for the +early journey. Only the children and a few of the elder people were +asleep in the open ground, for the tents and other wretched contrivances +for covering were struck, and all the poor property of these unhappy +wanderers packed for the march. + +"War! war!" was the dogged watchword of sullen men without. Du Plessis +sat up on his couch of skins. "Peace! peace! let there be peace!" he +murmured. His daughter laid him gently down on his rude pillow, a +saddle, and, before taking an hour's rest herself, stepped out beyond +the cave to see how the people sped in loading, under Vander Roey's +superintendence, the patient beasts of burden. + +Lo! a brilliant lunar rainbow spanned, with its broad, illuminated arch, +the little plain over which the houseless people were scattered. "See," +said Madame Vander Roey to her husband,--"see the sign of peace God +sends us. Ah! I begin to feel myself but a woman; _must_ you lift your +hand against our white brethren?" + +"We are aliens," replied Vander Roey, sullenly. "We have no white +brethren but those who will echo our cry of war." + +Madame Vander Roey re-entered the cavern, and, casting herself on a pile +of dried leaves, was soon asleep. + +Oh! the contrast of that shining arch, which God had set in the heavens, +and the restless, feverish scene below; horses neighing, bad men +swearing, children wakening from their uneasy asleep, and screaming in +vague terror, women foremost in urging men to up-saddle and trek. +Lodewyk, Brennard, and Lyle, strong in nerve and limb, forswore sleep +till they should pass the mountain ridge which shut out the western +plains from their sight. Gray lay betwixt sleeping and waking, and as +he watched the hues of the rainbow blend one within the other till they +faded into mist and veiled the beauty of the moon, an old fancy revived +within him--a child's fancy--"that the rainbow takes its shape and hues +from the gathered tears of Heaven," and is set in the clouds by angel +heralds, as a token between God and man of a covenant of peace. + +The clouds which, like sheeted ghosts, hung about the sides of the +Stormberg mountains, melted into drizzling showers, and met the party +commanded by Vander Roey, in its journey up the steep and stony +pathways. + +First rode Vander Roey, his flapped hat and sweeping feather drawn down +to his eyebrows. A little apart from him, watching his leader's +countenance with keen and anxious glance, strode the wild hunter on +foot, staff in hand, a handkerchief bound round his head, and this +surmounted by a coarse, weather-beaten straw hat. Close behind were +Brennard, Lyle, and Lodewyk. The former was a sworn ally of Vander +Roey--he, too, had been a deserter. Lyle, introduced as his friend, had +found a ready welcome, but as yet had had no opportunity of close +discussion with Vander Roey; and poor Gray was mounted on a somewhat +tired steed; but this signified little, as the acclivity was +impracticable for a hurried journey; and, besides this, the feeble and +infirm of the party could only proceed at a certain pace. Very few +wagons accompanied the procession, and these halted often, that the +smoking oxen might take fresh breath for the desperate task before them. +Now a wagon was lifted almost edgeways on a huge block of stone, now it +came down with a crash that threatened dislocation to every joint of the +creaking mass; sometimes the poor animals, in utter despair at the sight +of the almost perpendicular track, dashed at it at headlong speed, +halted suddenly, and were almost dragged back by the weight of the huge +vehicle in the rear; or, if they did succeed in gaining a ridge, +overlooking a hollow in the mountain-side, would plunge recklessly on, +and come down _en masse_, jumbled together in a confused heap. + +But, apparently absorbed in thought, sullen, angry, smarting under a +keen sense of wrong and disappointment, the leader expressed no +impatience at the delays occasioned by the feebleness or incapacity of +the most useless followers of the cavalcade. He made no reply when told +that a halt must be called, for the sake of some sickly family, wasted +with fever, from lying long in the open bivouac, or some patriarch of +the tribe, head of three or four generations, who could not walk, was +not strong enough to sit his horse, or whose rheumatic limbs needed a +respite from the jolting of the wagon. Moodily silent, he sat upon his +powerful horse, which he had kept fresh for the work before him, and +apart from his fellow-men, save that Lodewyk and Brennard occasionally +conferred with him. At last Lyle made his way slightly in advance, and, +turning his horse's head to the westward, surveyed the panorama lying +before him. They were on a ridge of table-rock near the summit of the +lowest mountain, over which their path lay, and here it was intended +they should outspan for an hour or two, and make a meal of some of the +poor sheep, which with great difficulty had been driven up the steep by +the bushboys, Lynx and Frolic. + +Lyle's powerful frame, bronzed but handsome face, the very air with +which he carried his rifle, his attitude on horseback,--in fact, his +whole bearing, as he smiled cordially on Vander Roey, attracted the +latter at once to his colleague. The two riders brought their horses +together, neck and neck, and watched the party winding up the steep. + +In rear of all was old Du Plessis on a litter. The mists had cleared +away, the rays of the sun illuminated the hills above them with a glory, +the clouds were tinged with flame. Nature breathed gently on the rocky +soil, and as the aged Boer sat up in his primitive palanquin, the tilt +partially drawn back, the balmy breeze lifted his white hair, and seemed +to refresh him. His daughter rode close by, reining in, with no small +skill, a horse of the same shape and power as her husband's, but with +some attempt at smartness about his harness; the saddle was a man's, but +she had learned to ride in the civilised districts, and with the left +stirrup shortened, and the right one brought over to the near side, she +contrived to sit with comfort and considerable grace; but the head-gear +was unsightly,--a gingham bonnet, shaped like a wagon-tilt, almost +concealed her face, yet from the depths of this miniature tunnel flashed +out the dark and brilliant eyes; but when these turned upon her father, +their radiance softened to a tender light. + +As Vander Roey and Lyle sat conversing in short pithy sentences on the +subject of oppression, the former believing Lyle's indignation to be as +patriotic and disinterested as his own, the latter somewhat discomposed +at finding Vander Roey as shrewd, resolute, and intelligent as himself, +and withal comparatively honest of purpose, though blind in judgment, +they both watched the last division, consisting of the chief Boer's +wife, the litter, its bearers, and some of the younger people of the +clan. + +All at once, Madame Vander Roey dropped her reins, clasped her hands, +sprung from her horse, and cast herself on her knees beside the couch of +her father, then looking upward, beckoned her husband to her; her bonnet +railing off, disclosed an anguished countenance. Vander Roey +dismounted, and leading his horse, descended the few hundred yards, that +lay between him and his wife. Lyle followed, and the little crowd, +halting on the hill-side, looked down upon the litter and the attendant +group. + +Du Plessis had raised himself with a strength unusual to him; an +unnatural light filled his eyes; his voice, though not loud, was firm +and clear. The air was so still, that the gentle breeze wafted his +words to those above. Those who could, drew as near as they could do +with due respect to his immediate relatives. + +"My children," said the old man, "draw near. Let me bless you before I +die. I thank my God that he gives me light at the last. I shall die +within sight of those dark purple hills, whose feet are washed by those +pleasant streams beside which I dwelt through many a long, long year. +There my forefathers came, pitched their tents, and tarried for four +generations. There they sowed, there they reaped, there they were +despoiled, but abided patiently for help that never came. My children, +I would fain have you still wait for help; the race is not to the swift, +nor the battle to the strong; God will take his own time to make the +crooked pathways straight, and the rough places plain; think well before +you lift your hand against your white brethren." + +Old memories seemed to flit in shadows before the eye of the dying +"white African settler;" it looked into the past. A sudden flush +crimsoned the ashy cheek, and the eyes shone with tears. + +Folding his trembling and withered hands together, he gave himself up to +thoughts of bygone days; the cheek paled again, but the tears of +weakness rolled slowly down, and bedewed the old rough jacket. He was +back again at the foot of those hills, purpling in the glory of the +morning sun, but green and fresh in his memory even now. He mentioned +father, mother, brothers, sisters, wife, all gone; all lying beneath the +sod near a ruined chapel. Of all his people, his daughter was the last +one; his sons' bones had bleached unburied in the waste. + +Sometimes swiftly, sometimes slowly, he spoke of the days when the white +men of Africa were all united: "But now," said he, "our white brethren-- +where are they? Some tell us they are sorry. We were friends once. We +ate bread together, we smoked our pipes together at sunset. We had no +thought of strife--strife--strife. Peace, peace"--the wings of the +angel of death swooped down, and overshadowed his recollection. A gleam +of light irradiated his face for a few minutes, he raised himself higher +on his couch, the wind parted the snowy hair on his majestic brow, his +gaze was fixed westward, his arms were stretched towards the mountain +ridges of his first home, his daughter clasped his hands in hers, he +bowed his white head upon her breast, she uttered a loud cry, Vander +Roey stooped to support the patriarch, but he was dead to human +sympathy. The sable wings of Azrael had overshadowed him, and his soul +passed away, while his outward vision was fixed longingly and lovingly +upon those mountain ridges which he was never more to tread in youth or +age, in sorrow or in joy. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +They buried him decently upon the lone hill-side. + +Few of the married families were without their Bibles; and he, who stood +next in age to Du Plessis, said a prayer over the open grave. While +they were occupied in closing it with safe blocks of stone, a mother +gathered a little flock around her, and read them a chapter suited to +the occasion. Madame Vander Roey sat beside her, weeping bitterly; the +men stood apart in groups. Some had been impressed with the old man's +last words, "Peace, peace." + +But as in all disorganised communities the strong and evil spirit of +man's nature prevails over the good, there were not wanting women, as +well as men, to step forward and urge even the incident of old Du +Plessis' death as an incentive to carry out the purpose of wrath and of +revenge. He, the aged, the virtuous, the banished patriarch!--who had +driven him into the wilderness to die, but his white brother, another +Cain? Were they to submit to the will of these jealous, bad white +brethren, who permitted the savage Kafir the exercise of his diabolical +laws, his heathen rites, and denied the poor Dutch colonist the use of +his own moral laws? Who had first robbed them of their slaves, and then +pretended to make them compensation for depriving them of what was +theirs by purchase? Had not Du Plessis himself urged the obligation of +making a sacrifice, because it was disgraceful to white men to trade in +human flesh? What reward had he gained? His cattle had been swept +away, his sons shot down by the Kafirs, his home devastated; he had met +with no pity or redress, and he had died sorrow-stricken amid the +mountains of the storm. + +And to add to these grievances, men had belied them, and were still +belying them, in England. The traders, now with them, had brought them +the evil sayings of wicked or ignorant Englishmen, who proclaimed to the +world that the Boer was cruel and rapacious, never satisfied with the +land he had pillaged from the Hottentots, but committing unequalled +cruelties against them, entering their countries with commandoes, +despoiling them of their cattle, devastating their villages; but men +were among them now who knew how false these allegations were; that the +commandoes, wherein many a life was lost, were undertaken to recover +their own goods stolen from them by the thieving Hottentots, the +bushmen, and Kafirs, who had no villages, except hamlets of huts built +by the hands of women, their beasts of burden; a noble race were these +to be indulged and pitied by enlightened men of the greatest nation in +the world... + +"Peace. Yes, they would have peace; but the waters of many a river must +be turned into blood first ere this would be. On, on! to the land of +promise, the land flowing with milk and honey, where they should have +their own rules, and the judge and the criminal speak one language face +to face!" + +So spoke Lodewyk, the hunter, standing between, and at all times +appealing by gesture to Brennard and Lyle. Alas! the sentiments he +uttered had been strengthened by the agency of these two desperate men. + +Gray sat moodily apart from all, resigned doggedly to the fate that +awaited him, but resolute in his intent to die, rather than fight +against "his own." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Day was dying in glory on the hills Du Plessis loved, ere all the rites +of sepulture were concluded, and as the moon came up calm, serene, and +radiant, the sky cloudless, the elements at peace, the band of pilgrims +halted on the mountain ridge, and, turning their faces towards the homes +of their forefathers, sang their beautiful paraphrase of the 137th +Psalm, "By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept;" and as the last +low notes floated dirge-like over the patriarch's new-made grave, they +descended the eastward side of the mountains, and held their silent +course during the night, halting at daylight, when many an eager, +carious gaze was turned to scenes hitherto unexplored by these +wanderers. As the mists lifted, a strong gleam of sunlight shot down +upon a spot in the centre of a wide-spreading, treeless plain. Some men +of the party advanced and fired a volley from their roers. A thick +wreath of smoke intercepted the glory of the sun's rays, and the signal +was responded to. As the eye became accustomed to the glare, a large +bivouac, dotted with tents, wagons, oxen, sheep, horses, and men, became +distinctly visible. Soon a little body of horsemen were seen skimming +the plains, and ere long the salute of their uplifted hats was answered +by a similar movement on the part of Vander Roey's determined band. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +THE SETTLEMENT BESIEGED. + +How sped they at Annerley, when the war-cry rang loud and clear in the +silence of that night in Kafirland? + +Daveney and Ormsby were pacing the stoep in silence; Frankfort sat +within the entrance-chamber, his head buried in his hands. + +That unearthly cry was a relief to his paralysed heart: he started up, +his host and Ormsby lifted the latch of the door as he put his hand upon +it to go forth. Mrs Daveney and Marion stood by the bedside of the +unfortunate Eleanor, who, pale and motionless as marble, lay insensible +to the yells of the savages on the hills, or the voices of the poor +settlers under the windows. + +Mr Daveney was too good a soldier to be absolutely surprised; but so +stealthy had been the Kafirs in their movements, that not even a distant +scout had been seen for many days. + +They were near at hand now, however: the mountains far and near shone +with the fiery telegraphs of the warrior tribes. The master of the +house summoned his people to arms, and bade the women and children come +from the wagons to the interior of the building. It has been shown that +the settlement was backed by hills, intersected with gullies or kloofs; +one of these, by which Zoonah had approached, was wide and dense: it +will also be remembered that redoubts had been thrown up; but the space +enclosed was so vast that there were barely sufficient hands to defend +all points in rear. The front was well protected by a fortification of +wagons, drawn up in line with great precision; from these wagons the +settlers were able to check the enemy in his advance; and a small +six-pounder, brought in former days from an abandoned fort, filled the +gap between the steps and the avenue. + +In rear of the house, within the trellised passage, was a little _corps +de reserve_ of young men and matrons, the latter being in charge of +spare ammunition, and provided each with a brace of pistols, which they +had earned the use of by experience. It was of course certain that the +Kafirs would make their first attack on the cattle, and as the herdsmen +at sunset were driving in the animals from their pastures, the enemy +poured down the hills in hundreds; by this cunning manoeuvre they at +once cut off the communication between the settlement and the cattle +herds; indeed the latter, of whom some were Kafirs, mostly deserted, the +Hottentots flying off to conceal themselves where they could--they were +not worth following while plunder was to be got; so the poor cows and +oxen and bleating sheep were driven off by the detachment of the enemy +told off for the purpose, and the others advanced, their dark faces +reddened with ochre, their crane plumes waving, and their assegais and +muskets ready poised for the onslaught. + +Mr Daveney had adopted the wise precaution of dividing his flocks and +herds, only sending half to pasture at a time; for, with so large a +population to feed, and at such a distance from any emporium of +provisions, it was necessary to husband the stock with peculiar care. +Thus the kraals in rear of the vineyard were tolerably well filled at +present, and the chief object now would be to keep the enemy at bay, +lest he should carry the redoubt, and rush in upon the cattle. + +But few shots had been exchanged between the herdsmen and the Kafirs; +but, as the marauders carried off the plunder in triumph, a chief +appeared, clad in leopard skin, and riding a noble white charger. +Advancing at a smart canter, he was cheered by the cry of +"Izapa,"--"Come on"--from the hill-sides, and, followed by those who had +assisted in capturing the cattle, he passed the left of the buildings, +turned sharp with his face towards the kraals, and bade his people +advance; they did so, made a dash at the redoubt, were suffered to set +foot on the top, and were received with a rattling volley of musketry, +which tumbled them within the defences sooner than they had bargained +for. A shout of laughter rose from the Annerley garrison, a yell of +defiance burst from the savages. + +Then the chief on the white charger drew back, rallied his forces, +paused for the reinforcements which rushed down the hills in all +directions, lighting their brands at the fires as they passed, and +having formed them in a phalanx, of which he was the centre, the mass +pressed forward, shouting their wild war-cry, and brandishing aloft +their weapons of steel and flame. The blaze on the mountain slope gave +all this a demoniacal aspect; the horrible screams, the excited, rampant +gestures of the Kafirs, the dropping fire of musketry from Annerley, and +the occasional hearty English cheer answering the war-cry, all combined +to make as terrific a scene as the most imaginative eye or ear could +conceive. + +As yet the enemy reserved his fire. + +Two women stood suddenly face to face in the entrance-room of the house. + +"My sister, my little sister!" shrieked the girl. + +"My child, my child!" gasped out the elder. + +"I left her beside you sleeping in the wagon," said the girl. + +"I woke frightened," said the pale mother, "and thought you had taken +her--you did, you did--where is she?" + +"I laid her beside you," again answered the girl. + +The elder one burst through the group that crowded the room, and put her +hand to the door-latch. Ormsby stood sentry there. "No one can pass," +said he; "the house is closed while the enemy advances." The woman +raised her hands imploringly, her lips moved, and she had just power to +articulate the words, "My child!" Ormsby's heart had been softened by +gentle companionship--he opened the door, the pale woman rushed upon the +stoep, flew down the steps--soon they heard her laughing hysterically; +"Let me in, let me in," she cried. Ormsby opened the door again, and +she entered, bearing her infant in her arms. Something followed her +overhead; a sharp whizz made all draw back; the door was slammed to, but +not before a bullet had buried itself in the wall beyond--the little +child pointing to the splintering bricks, with a merry laugh. + +Then the occupants of Annerley knew that the enemy encircled the +settlement; the shots soon began to answer each other swift and sharp. + +That part of the building which was commanded by the hill in the rear +was defended by a wall of earth some twelve feet high; fortunately, the +hill sloped abruptly and was lower than the rest, so that there was no +great range for assegais, and the enemy's shots were fired at random-- +they told, however, among the cattle, and the chief on the white horse, +watching his opportunity, made a dash at a side gate, and succeeded in +forcing an entrance to the kraals between the vineyard and the redoubt. +The confusion that followed is indescribable; the settlers fearing to +fire on the besiegers, lest they should kill the cattle; the beasts +lowing, the sheep bleating, horses flying about wild and terrified, and +the Kafirs yelling, whistling, shouting, and goading the frantic animals +forward with their weapons, till they fairly succeeded in clearing the +stock-yard, the spectators on the ridges above dancing about between the +fires, and mocking at the poor settlers, four of whom had fallen, +severely, if not mortally, wounded. + +May was flitting about, perfectly reckless of the flying bullets, and +when the Kafirs cheered their comrades, he would wait for a pause, and +then set up a laugh of derision, crying out, "Shoot higher, shoot +higher;" while, in fact, the balls were whizzing many feet above the +heads of those at whom they were aimed. Now May would crouch behind the +redoubt, single out his man, get him in a certain position, where the +fires glaring on brim lit him up as a mark, and then, with an original +remark, a grin, and a gibber, would bring him down, draw a long breath, +cut a caper, and anon, lying at frill length, would load his musket in +the dark, and go to work again, _con amore_. + +The enemy in front meanwhile were busy in trying to dislodge the poor +farm-people, who had tied their _span_ (team) oxen to their wagons, and +drew closer every moment to the building. Frankfort stood on the stoep +directing the defence, and striving, by keeping the Kafirs at bay, to +prevent bloodshed as far as possible; but the chief on the white horse, +having seen the cattle from the kraals safely whistled off, resolved, in +the true spirit of rapacity, to have more, and, with a phalanx of his +warriors, advanced at a rapid pace up the avenue. + +Then Frankfort, standing on the upper step of the stoep, said, in a +clear, calm, but most decided tone-- + +"Man the gun." + +And four men, who had been trained to the deadly exercise, took their +stations. + +The firing from the wagons ceased; in the rear all was comparatively +still, for the enemy was resting on his arms, and the settlers were +carrying in their wounded. The Kafirs, unprepared for the reception it +was deemed necessary to greet them with, came up, quivering their +assegais, and shouting their war-cry. In their imagination, the +settlers were paralysed--they were within seven hundred yards of the +wagons. + +"Fire!" said Frankfort. + +The word rose strong and clear above the savage chorus. + +A dazzling flash!--a wreath of smoke--a roar--a sharp sound of a ball +cleaving the air, and the dark mass of human beings burst asunder like a +splintered oak. + +The shrieks of startled men rose to the sky, that, lurid as the vaults +of the infernal regions, burned fiercely overhead, and the +compassionate-hearted Frankfort shuddered at the shout of exultation +uttered by the settlers as they saw the havoc the discharge of the gun +had effected, and the dispersion of the enemy in front. + +It may be imagined that Daveney's mind had been so disturbed by the +renewal of anxiety about his daughter, as to render him scarcely fit to +meet the emergencies of the hour; hence the surprise of the +cattle-kraals, an advantage the Kafirs fortunately cared not to improve, +since they quitted their ground as soon as they had collected the stock. +The aperture was immediately closed and manned with steady hands, and, +as the besieged were beginning to suffer from the enemy on the hills, +and the water irrigating the vineyard was discovered to be cut off, the +magistrate deemed it advisable to draw the rear guard within the house; +the front was not likely to be attacked again, the gun occasionally +making play along the avenue. + +Among the defences, Daveney had erected a small block-house, or square +tower of stone; this was well provisioned, and contained the principal +stores of ammunition. This building was now under the command of Mr +Trail, who, with some of the younger hands, kept the enemy in check from +attacking the trellis-work uniting the vineyard with the house. +Bitterly, indeed, did the good man deplore the necessity for action; but +there was no alternative, and he calmly directed the movements of his +subordinates in keeping off the Kafirs, who drew near with lighted +brands. The house, built of stone and roofed with zinc, would have +withstood an attack by fire; but the destruction of property and +inconvenience attending the ignition of the outworks would have been +very serious. + +To this block-house Mr Daveney determined to remove his still +insensible daughter as soon as a lull in the siege permitted it; and the +chief attraction being withdrawn, it was likely the enemy would retire +for a time; indeed he would probably have done so before; but the +destruction, at a single blow, of so many of the band, elicited a thirst +for revenge, which the abler warriors declared their intention of +satisfying, swearing, by the bones of the great chief Gwanga, that they +would "eat up" the white man's kraal, and trample the inmates to dust! + +Banishing for the time his own domestic anxieties, Daveney went from man +to man of his little garrison, and, returning with them from the redoubt +to the house, concentrated his rearward force, and, drawing up a body of +men in line, poured forth a heavy volley of musketry just as the enemy, +having rushed down the hills, had succeeded again in reaching the top of +the parapet. This daunted the Kafirs considerably, and they drew off in +skirmishing order, dragging their dead and wounded with them; and thus +encumbered, the rage of the fight moderated, and the settlers had time +to wipe the smoke and blood from their faces, take breath, and refresh +themselves with some water, which Mrs Trail, aided by Fitje, served out +to them as carefully as if it had been wine; for she believed, like +others, that this was but the beginning of a long season of tumult and +bloodshed. + +Mr Daveney ascended the staircase leading to his daughter's apartment; +he carried no light, for day was approaching. A shadow flitted by, +noiseless and swift, and he heard the latch of a side door, which had +been unbarred, lifted quickly, and the door cautiously closed. He +thought little of it; but, on mustering the attendants, it was +discovered that little Sana, Eleanor's especial _protegee_, was missing. +She was Zoonah's sister, and, having been present at the scene which +followed the examination of the assegai, had, in the confusion, +possessed herself of the weapon, and, gliding along a vegetable garden +flanking one end of the house, soon escaped to a kloof in the hills; +and, ascertaining Zoonah's route from some of the scouts, followed his +footsteps for two days, when she came up with him on the banks of a +river, whence they could perceive, on a distant elevation, an encampment +of British troops. She related the issue of Zoonah's manoeuvre, and he +departed, and told Lyle, as will be shown, how his mission had +prospered. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Poor Eleanor! + +"She lay upon her pillow, pale," her cheek ashy white, and cold as clay. +The expression of utter hopelessness is seldom blended with that of +terror, for the grave of Hope is generally that of Fear also. But this +poor young creature seemed to have been singled out by Fortune as a +worthy victim for her angry caprices in every phase. Yes, utterly +despairing, she lay moaning softly, like a child that can scarce +comprehend its pain; but the large eye, usually so soft and downcast, +now shone with a wild lustre, and glanced rapidly and uneasily around. +Even her father's tread alarmed her--her lips quivered with affright, +and she gazed long at him before she could quite believe it was he. + +Marion was sobbing, as though her overcharged heart would burst. Mr +Daveney took Eleanor's cold hand within his agitated palm. She tried to +smile in his face; it was the saddest smile you can imagine. Mrs +Daveney, overwhelmed with anxiety on her husband's account, had, on +Eleanor's recovering from her death-like trance, descended to the +trellised passage, and there watched the progress of the siege, till, on +the wounded being brought in, she had shared with Mrs Trail and Fitje +their duties towards them; poor Fitje running out at times to call May, +that she might employ him within--May sometimes answering her summons, +but oftener disobeying. + +There were no cases requiring surgical skill--alas! those whose wounds +had disabled their limbs lay dead within the redoubt, speared by the +assegai of the relentless savage. Three had fallen, never to rise +again, and within the house rose the wailing sounds of "lamentation and +mourning and woe!" They reached the upper apartments. Eleanor's senses +were awakened at the cry of sorrow from the women. + +She spoke for the first time. + +"The world seems filled with grief," said she, and then looked vacantly +from her father's face to Marion's, and back again, with an air of sad +inquiry. + +Mr Daveney took his stricken daughter in his arms; Marion followed. +Mrs Daveney waited for them at the foot of the stairs. Loud cries of +anguish burst upon them. Children were sitting on the floor, weeping +for lost fathers or brothers. A woman had fainted, and her baby tried +in vain to rouse her. + +May drew a little cordon round the father and daughters, as they hurried +to the block-house, for shots were still interchanging between the +besieged and the besiegers, and Mrs Daveney, vacating her office in +favour of the matrons who had borne their part in the strife, followed +with Mrs Trail and Fitje, the latter carrying her sleeping infant in +her arms. + +The grey light of morning was streaming through the loops of the little +tower. The enemy was evidently on the retreat, and firing as he +retired; and Mr Daveney, having seen Eleanor again laid upon a couch, +and gradually awakening to the consciousness of her mother's presence, +returned to the dwelling to restore order, as far as he could, among the +mourners, the wounded, and the untiring, fighting members of the +community. + +Ormsby's first inquiry was for Eleanor--next for Marion; Ormsby was +becoming accustomed to think of others before himself. Frankfort, for +the first time since the beginning of the siege, cast himself on the +sofa, and, after several minutes' deliberation, inquired of Mr Daveney +whether he thought it likely that the troops had taken the field. + +"I have not the slightest doubt of it," replied the magistrate; "the +demonstrations we have witnessed to-night are the result of information +from the tribes to the westward that the army is on the march; it will +not be long now before the expresses reach us,--that is, if the savages +do not cut them off. Sir John Manvers is new to this country; I hope he +will be guided by good advisers, and send strong escorts with his +dispatches." + +"The escorts will of course return to the camps," observed Frankfort +inquiringly, "or will they proceed further?" + +"I shall take advantage of the first arrival," answered his host, "to +communicate with some of the farms in the district; but," he added, +anticipating Frankfort's intentions, "they will return hither with all +possible speed after delivering their dispatches." + +"Then," said Frankfort, rising, and clasping his host's hand warmly in +his own, "it will be time for me to go; if my regiment is not in the +field, I doubt not Sir John Manvers will permit me to accompany his +force as a volunteer; or I may be useful to him in heading a band of +burghers--" + +All he could say in addition was, "I fear I shall ever remember Annerley +too well. You will, I hope, sometimes think of me as linked to you by +being a sharer of the calamity that haunts your house." + +Only the commonplace remarks of life passed afterwards between these two +good men. + +Mr Daveney admitted that this was clearly his duty as a soldier. + +Three weary days dragged their slow length along ere the expresses +arrived. The Kafirs had occupied the immediate frontier in such +multitudes, that no small force could move; but now, having plundered +the settlements, and disposed of their prey to their hearts' content, +they had dispersed, and spread themselves along the bushy banks of the +great Fish River, waiting their opportunities of crossing into the +colony, which, had they known their own strength, they might have +devastated from the Fish River to the sea. + +The dead were decently laid out beneath the mulberry-tree, the bell +swinging heavily in the oppressive air of a sultry autumn day. Here the +mourners gathered round to take a last look of the uncoffined corpses of +the brave. The household, with few exceptions, assembled to listen to +the prayer and exhortation pronounced by the good missionary, for the +pressure of circumstances would not admit of their lingering over the +grave, which was to contain all three. Then the comrades of the poor, +sacrificed settlers, with muskets reversed, formed in funeral order +round the bearers, and Mr Daveney having taken his place as chief +mourner, the sorrowful procession wended its way to the ground which had +been purchased for a chapel; and there, in sad and hurried fashion, the +deep, deep grave was filled. + +It was well, indeed, that the master of Annerley had provisioned his +little fortress, the inmates of which amounted to forty persons, the +greater proportion women and children. The defenders of the wagon +barricades had saved their span-oxen, but it would have been imprudent +to kill these unless driven to the necessity, as, without oxen, how were +they to travel, if obliged to desert the settlement? + +Daveney himself contemplated removing his family as soon as +circumstances would permit; for, although the buildings were safe, a sad +scene of devastation presented itself when day dawned upon it, after the +terrors of the night attack--broken palisades, scattered thorn-bushes, +the earth torn and bloody with the fearful struggles of men and beasts, +the vineyard laid waste and trampled, assegais half buried in heaps of +rubbish, and sheep that had been stabbed, and left to die, running +hither and thither, mutilated, and bleating piteously. The pretty +trellis-work was battered to pieces, and the walls defaced with +bullet-holes. + +The enemy had taken his departure towards the colony, but this was only +suspected, till the fourth day, when the expresses from Sir John +Manvers's camp brought news of his whereabouts. + +Then the younger men of the garrison sallied forth to the known +fastnesses for cattle, and brought back a few foot-sore beasts, which +had strayed from the rest; and the good host held a consultation with +Mr Trail, on the re-organisation of the little band under a stout old +settler, no longer able to ride, but quite capable of defending a post. + +Marion looked from the loops of the block-house, and saw the departure +of her lover and Frankfort with an aching heart. It was known beyond +doubt that the Kafirs were mustering in the mountains; it was fully +believed that there must be an action; and even this, with such an +enemy, in such a country, could not be decisive. + +She consoled herself by contrasting her own lot with that of her +unfortunate sister. Frankfort had not trusted himself to a last +interview with Eleanor; Ormsby's adieu had been as tender to her as to +her sister. Buoyant of spirit as he was, he yet could not help +admitting that the aspect of affairs was very grave. + +Marion watched the two young men and their heavily-armed escort as they +traversed the plain through a slanting shower of rain, so determined, +that the space between the sky and earth looked as if it was ruled +slantwise with thick leaden lines. She could not see them long for the +storm, and she was descending from her look-out to her sister's bedside, +when she heard May, who was on the top of the block-house, exclaim, +"More riders--more news!" + +A dozen men galloped from the eastward at speed. They brought the +welcome intelligence that Sir Adrian Fairfax had arrived at the mouth of +the Buffalo River with reinforcements from Cape Town, and that the +burghers from the upper districts had rallied round Sir John Manvers. + +"Hurrah!" cried May, "we've got the Kafirs in a calabash;" and May was +right--the warriors were in the mountains between the forces of the two +generals; but the cattle, the great source of contention, was far +eastward, under the charge of a chief professedly friendly to England. + +Mr Daveney hastened to send Sir Adrian a dispatch announcing his +suspicions of Lyle's confederacy with the rebel Boers, but suggested +that the idea should not be mooted for the present. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The roar of cannon and the sharp rattle of musketry proclaimed to the +settlers at Annerley, on the 18th of March, that the colonial forces to +the westward were engaged with the Kafir warriors. + +It thundered on till night; then the fiery telegraphs were lit again +upon the mountain ridges--silence fell--heaven and earth grew dark +again. Morning came, the sun struggled with flying mists, and again the +echoes from shot and shell and musket reverberated from kloof to kloof, +and filled the hearts of the listeners with terror and dismay. + +The little bushman kept watch upon the top of the block-house from dawn +till sunset, and Marion shared his vigil for hours. They were strongly +contrasted, were those two beings, both fashioned by God's wise hand. +The girl young, blooming, sunny-haired, and graceful; the bushman +stunted, ugly, and uncouth; nevertheless, they had many thoughts and +feelings in common. + +Another day was passing, and still the battle raged; but in the +afternoon there was a lull. The very elements were still, and a soft +rain descended gently. + +Still May and Marion kept watch together. + +"Express!" shouted May. + +Marion's lips were closed rigidly, her teeth chattered within; she knew +not how she reached the lower apartment: her father had left it; the +door stood open; the riders galloped in by the trampled vineyard paths. + +"They are beaten, of course?" said Mr Daveney to the captain of the +riders. + +"Beaten, but not conquered," replied the latter gravely; "and we have +lost--" + +Marion, statue-like, appeared at her father's side. + +"A hundred men and five officers," continued the burgher captain. + +"We had friends in the action," said Mr Daveney, trying to be firm. +"Can you tell us if they are safe?" + +"Their names, sir?" + +"Frankfort and Ormsby." + +"I have the list of officers killed and wounded," said the man; and +first he looked in his hat, next he fumbled in his capacious pockets, +then he turned his haversack round,--it was not there; examined his +pouch--"No; he was afraid he had lost it." How little could he +understand the agonised suspense of Marion. + +He took off his wide-flapped hat again. + +"See under the feather," said May. + +The bushman's quick eye had detected a paper stuck in the string +encircling the hat; it was the list. May snatched it from him, and +handed it to Mr Daveney. + +Neither Ormsby's nor Frankfort's name was there. + +Marion burst into tears of gratitude and excitement. + +The burgher spoke truth when he said the enemy was beaten, but not +conquered. May said there were holes in the calabash, and so it was; +the warrior bands were broken, but they infested the colony in all +directions, walking in and out of it as it pleased them, by manifold +kloofs and passes untrod by settlers. + +It was Sir John Manvers's division which had been engaged. Sir Adrian +was still to the eastward, preparing to march beyond the Orange River; +the messages of defiance addressed to Sir John Manvers were referred to +him. + +The master of Annerley, in utter dread of Lyle's reappearance at no +distant period, determined on retiring, as soon as possible, to the +lower and more civilised districts of the Cape Colony; and Mrs Daveney, +eagerly according with his plan, prepared at once for the journey, which +was to be undertaken as opportunities offered of travelling with +escorts. + +Meanwhile comforting letters were received from Ormsby. Frankfort had +joined Sir Adrian's force. Eleanor tried to rouse herself to exertion, +and the day arrived when the family was to quit Annerley for ever. + +May, to his infinite joy, was, with Fitje and his child, to accompany +the Daveneys. + +"Be not heart-sore, missis," said he to Eleanor; "when the night gets +darkest, day is nearest;" and taking the long whip from Griqua Adam, he +gave the signal for departure by a loud sharp crack, that echoed like +twenty whips up the kloof. + +The colonists, men, women, and children, with Mr and Mrs Trail, stood +at the gate of the avenue. Some begged to say "Good-bye" to the young +"missis," and the curtains of the wagon were drawn aside for a minute; +but those who caught sight of Eleanor turned away frightened and +sorrowful at her ghastly looks, and begged the rest not to trouble her. + +Her mother was beside her. Eleanor's head was pillowed on her +sympathising bosom. Truly did that mother deplore her own blind, +obstinate folly in trusting her unfortunate daughter's happiness to that +which, had she chosen to look deeply into it, she would have seen was +but a chance of well-doing after all. + +Oh! how many are there who _will_ work for themselves, instead of +waiting for Providence's gracious helping hand. + +Mr Daveney and Marion were on horseback. + +The people pressed forward to say "Farewell." Father and daughter had a +hand for each, and one blue-eyed, fair-haired child would be lifted up +to be kissed. + +"Ah!" said an Englishwoman, "bless Miss Marion! she has no pride." + +"Troth, an ye'r wrong," interposed an Irish one. "Sure it's herself +that has the real pride--the pride of the lady, that knows she does not +demean herself by showing the good-will to all God's creatures." + +The little procession moved slowly and silently across the grassy plain. +The people at Annerley watched it till the glittering bayonets of the +escort were lost in the haze; and when "the master" was fairly out of +sight, Markland, the old settler, put the house in order, and assumed +the command. + +Daveney had planned his line of march intending to avoid Sir John +Manvers's camp; but, on the third day's journey, the sound of harmonious +voices swelling in chorus struck on the surprised ears of the party. A +deep glen lay just below; the cavalcade halted; they could see nothing, +for the cliffs overhung the gorge. The sounds drew near--'twas an old +Scotch air, very martial and stirring, especially in that deep solitude. +In front was an opening, an outlet from the glen. Mr Daveney and +Marion rode forward, and looked down. + +Soldiers singing on a march! Reader, did you ever hear it? Ah, it is +worth a world of fine, well-taught, scientific melodies! You should +have seen them in this mountain-pass. They were Highlanders, not +kilted, but they wore the "tartan trews." + +Beating time with steady tread to the noble chorus, they passed below +the cliff from which Daveney and his daughter Marion watched them. +Truly this had a singular effect in that ravine, so like a Scottish +glen, with mountains looming far and near, and--oh! rare in Southern +Africa--a waterfall tumbling and foaming over hoary rocks. + +Softly it rose and fell upon the air, again burst forth in full harmony +as the glen widened, and died away in the shade where the pathway +narrowed between tall hills. + +All was still once more, save the murmur of the waterfall. The Daveneys +took their station for the night. The escort formed its cordon round +the little bivouac, and May directed the lighting of the fires and +preparations for the usual sunset meal. + +Midnight--Daveney held that watch himself. + +"Who goes there?" + +"Friends," answered a voice--it was Ormsby's. He was in command of a +company of soldiers. Sir John Manvers was extending his force. The +Daveneys found themselves unexpectedly within the lines of the British +troops. + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +THE BATTLE. + +I have said that the salute of the horsemen who advanced to meet Vander +Roey's band was answered by a corresponding movement from the latter. +Each party moved along its path in stern silence. They met at the foot +of the lull, and then palm met palm, as though sealing a sullen but +determined compact. + +Vander Roey's countenance proclaimed evil tidings. No one liked to ask +him questions; besides, the very advance of the pilgrims over the hills +was a signal that hope was lost. Lodewyk was the spokesman, while +Vander Roey and his wife rode forward with Vanbloem, a son of the +settler introduced in the early chapters of this work. He was young, +active, brave, and clever. Each of these two men had much to tell the +other. + +Lodewyk strode on declaiming--Vander Roey told again how he had been +turned from Sir John Manvers's door with scorn. + +The colonists had sympathised with him at the insult, but what could +they do? All hope of redress of grievances was over, and no better time +could be chosen for _trekking_. The troops were marching towards +Kafirland. Sir John was as bewildered as a bird in a mist. Here were +men--pointing to Lyle and Brennard--who could tell them that the eyes of +England, and France, and Holland were upon them. Lyle was a patriot, +had suffered in the cause of patriotism; he had been cast upon the +shores of Africa for a great purpose. They already knew the services +that Brennard had rendered them; well, Lyle had been an able colleague-- +his plans had proved his ability; through his means arms and ammunition +had been safely conveyed through various branches of the colony; every +Boer was armed, every honest man was roused to a just sense of his +forlorn and degraded position; but the time had come--if they were +permitted to go in peace, well and good; if not-- + +"Ah! if not," said Lodewyk's brother, "we will dress ourselves in +thunder, and mark a boundary-line for ourselves with blood." + +They reached the bivouac: it was more wretched than the last. The +plains were saturated with water from the heavy rains which had +prevailed on the eastern flats. There were but few tents or +wagon-tilts, and these were ragged and damp, serving as poor coverings +to the sickly, shivering wretches beneath. + +Lyle's first salutation from a sallow man, who sat making a coffin for +his wife and baby, was, "Welcome to the place of graves." He passed on; +some squalid children in rags were stirring up a pool of stagnant water +to find frogs; an agueish woman with parched lips remonstrated with them +for troubling the waters; she wished to slake her thirst. Two women +were grinding corn between stones, others looked greedily on. There was +neither milk nor bread. Some wretched sheep, lately brought in by a +foraging party, awaited their doom--they had been earned at great cost; +three men lay dying of their wounds; in truth, it was a sorry sight. + +Poor Gray was more disheartened than ever. The Boers had begun to look +upon him with a suspicious eye; it was evident he was not a volunteer. +He felt that he was despised, and his heart died within him. He sat +down upon an old pack-saddle; he looked so weary, so dejected, that +young Vanbloem's wife took pity on him. She was an Englishwoman. She +spoke kindly to him in his own language. The deserter could have wept, +but for very shame. + +"Come hither," said she, "you poor young Englishman; has your country +done you any wrong, that you should turn rebel? You look miserable +enough in mind and body, but I can give you something for your heart to +rest upon,--see here." + +She raised a canvass screen, and showed him Amayeka fast asleep. +Amayeka had found a kind heart, and trusted it. + +Gray's face shone with sudden light. + +Anne Vanbloem dropped the screen: "There," said she; "it is good for you +to know she is safe; be satisfied with that for the present." + +Poor Amayeka! Vanbloem was the man who had rescued her from the +torture, and his wife "had compassion on her." + +Gray would have given much to have poured out his heart to the young +Dutchman; but Vander Roey's disastrous mission and its results had +fanned the flame of rebellion to such a height, that no one could expect +to meet with a hearing who was not resolved on freedom, or on fighting +for it; besides, Gray knew that his confession might draw on him the +imputation of cowardice, and then--alas for resolution!--here was +Amayeka, the only being on earth who truly loved him. + +Doda was as philosophical on discovering that his daughter was in safe +hands as he would have been had he heard that she had died by torture. +In the latter case, he would have excused his apparent want of feeling +by alleging that grief was useless--a Kafir has as little idea of +gratuitous sorrow as gratuitous labour. + +Brennard expected that Zoonah would bring them news from the colony, and +it was resolved in council that, on the arrival of the scouts from +different points, if the intelligence of each agreed with the other, the +bivouac should be entirely broken up. + +Vander Roey had brought some supplies with him, and parties were formed +to obtain provisions from the hunting-grounds. In these expeditions +Gray redeemed his character for skill and courage, albeit he was no +longer strong and lithe of limb as he had been. + +He saw little of Amayeka. Anne Vanbloem had her own plans about her, +and changed the subject whenever Gray alluded to her. He saw, however, +that the young Boeress meant kindly, and was obliged to content himself +with that idea. + +Anne and Gray were left together one afternoon; he had been assisting +her in carrying goods from her tent to the wagons, which were to move +towards the Modder River on the morrow with various stores and a strong +escort of the Boers, Vander Roey's object being to advance gradually +beyond the colony, and to give battle, if driven to such an alternative, +in a position of which he knew the advantages. Thus the elder men, +women, children, goods, and arms, were sent off from time to time by +small divisions. The Kafir scouts, and five or six more traders from +the British settlements, were anxiously expected; and, although the +Boers did not contemplate success on the side of the savages in the +present strife in Kafirland, they knew that the warfare would be such as +to harass the troops, and keep them employed for a considerable time. +In the mean time he despatched his message of defiance to Sir John +Manvers. + +"It is very clear, young man," remarked Anne Vanbloem, "that your heart +is not in this business." + +"I am a miserable creature," replied the poor young deserter; "my heart +is, indeed, quite opposed to the treachery I am called upon to join in." + +"And mine also," said Anne; "I do not see my way; but, by God's help, +Vanbloem shall have no part in this war." + +It may be believed that Lyle improved every hour of his new acquaintance +with Vander Roey. He ascertained from the chief that the great body of +the Dutch had formed a settlement near a river, which, it was necessary +to cross ere the English could satisfy themselves of the existence of +the great Salt Lake. The Boers and aborigines had explored this part +long ago [Note 1]; but men of science professed themselves unbelievers +on this point. Lyle showed his colleagues the advantage of such a +position, and stirred up the rest of the unfortunate wanderers into the +belief that it would be as unavailing as cowardly to yield without a +struggle. Rumours had reached Lyle and Brennard of the prospect of Sir +Adrian Fairfax's return to South Africa, but they determined on keeping +this to themselves. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The scouts came in, Zoonah among them; Lyle took the latter aside, and +learned from him how he had hovered about the neighbourhood of Annerley, +holding daily parleys with his little sister--the traitress!--how she +had brought him back the assegai, and related the issue of its +discovery. + +"Ha! ha!" thought Lyle, laughing bitterly; "they know now that I am not +at the bottom of the sea, as they hoped." + +The reports of the scouts encouraged some and daunted others. + +On the one hand, Sir John Manvers was harassed by the Kafirs--on the +other, Sir Adrian's sudden appearance in the heart of the country struck +terror into the minds of the less resolute. + +The season of dewy mornings and bitter nights was fast approaching, +sickness was increasing in the camp; Lyle, Brennard--all the English +traitors, in fact--urged Vander Roey to retire to the north-eastward +without delay. With his usual policy, the former had contrived to send +forward a member from almost every family, and thus all had an interest +in falling into a position where they might make a stand against the +British forces. + +The chill dawn of an April morning saw the bivouac again broken up, and +by noon the plain was vacant. + +Vanbloem rode in the rear with a heavy heart--he was beginning hourly to +repent; Gray was beside him. Each knew what was passing in the other's +mind, but neither spoke. + +It was midnight; the wanderers had halted at the foot of a bill on the +site of an old mission station--part of the house still remained. The +rain fell in torrents, a few stunted bushes were all that afforded +shelter to the poor pilgrims of the desert. + +Gray heard his name called. + +It was Vanbloem--he came for help; he had removed his wife into the +dilapidated building--Amayeka was with her; ere long he hoped to behold +his first-born; but he was in dismay at the sudden pain and peril of +Anne, who, hurried by the journey, and terrified at the prospect of her +husband leaving her, had been brought sooner into her trouble than she +expected. + +Gray assisted Vanbloem in removing certain comforts from his wagon to +the deserted mission-garden; Amayeka came out under the dripping trees, +and received them from her master's hand, for the poor girl was now in +the capacity of a domestic. + +God was gracious. Vanbloem held a living girl in his arms ere the night +had passed; but it was impossible for his wife to be removed, and he +would not leave her desolate. + +How Lyle cursed the woman! + +"Oh!" thought Gray, "that I might stay with them, and wait my doom from +the hands of my countrymen." + +He liked Vanbloem; he had told him his history, and now proposed +remaining with him, and stating to Vander Roey his resolution not to +turn traitor. + +"And," said Vanbloem, "what reply do you expect?" + +"Perhaps," said Gray, very quietly, "he may order me to be shot on the +spot." + +Vanbloem looked at the young deserter. "You are no coward," thought he. +"You are wrong," he continued, speaking aloud; "he would not shoot you, +but they would brand you with a coward's name. I pity you from my soul. +May God have compassion on you, and help you! I see the finger of +Providence in what has just occurred to myself. I will remain in the +desert with my wife and Amayeka." + +Gray led the young Dutchman to a retired spot, and poured forth his +whole soul to him. + +"I leave Amayeka," said he, "to you and your kind English wife; tell her +never to forget poor Gray, the deserter." + +Vander Roey felt that Vanbloem would never join his band again. They +parted friends, however, the latter resolving, if opportunity required +it, to act as intercessor between the Government and his countrymen. + +Sir Adrian was indeed utterly confounded at hearing that Lyle was alive, +at liberty, and at work in such a field. His career from the time he +had left the Cape had been, as I have shown, short and mischievous. He +had been foremost as a Chartist leader, had organised bodies of men in +Wales and Cornwall; but had, at a fortunate moment for his country and +the people he had misled, been seized by the Government, tried, found +guilty, and transported, ere the wretched men under him had recovered +their breath, after their frantic but useless demonstrations. + +Well, there was enough work before Sir Adrian for the cleverest and most +active of governors. In front were thousands of savages at war with +troops and colonists; to the north-eastward, with a space between of 400 +miles, through a difficult country, was a sullen, determined enemy, well +prepared with arms and ammunition, bent alike on revenge and the +establishment of privileges "dearer to these Boers than life." + +Mr Daveney soon found that it would be madness to attempt proceeding +with his family to the more civilised districts. He therefore contented +himself by forming a little encampment of his own, some fifteen miles +from Sir John Manvers's. Major Frankfort, having received an offer of +active employment from Sir Adrian, had joined the division on the banks +of the Buffalo River. Ormsby was in command of a detachment of his own +corps, under Sir John. + +Here we must leave our friends for a short time. The good master of +Annerley set to work upon the erection of a temporary dwelling, round +which was drawn a _cordon militaire_. His advice and assistance would +have been of the utmost advantage to Sir John Manvers, but +circumstances, which shall hereafter be explained, prevented their +holding any but necessary communications with each other, and no +alternative was left the General but to harass his savage antagonists +till they were compelled to sue for peace. + +Meanwhile many Boers in the lower districts, hearing that Vander Roey +was on his way to join those who had already _trekked_ beyond the +boundary, deserted their farms and bivouacs, and on coming up with him +learned that he had resolved on halting in a position where he might +give battle to the British forces, or pause in security till the +helpless part of the community had reached a more habitable tract of +country. + +It was to Gray a melancholy thing to hear so many English voices among +those who came, day by day, into the rebel camp. Most of these were +deserters like himself; but, unlike him, alas! they entered with zest +into the prospect of battle with their fellow-subjects. + +It was June, but not like that balmy month in England. All day long a +blinding shower of snow had been falling; it was bitterly cold, and a +cruel north-east wind drove the storm before the Dutch videttes of +Vander Roey's camp, who, posted on a stony ridge, kept the look-out for +a reconnoitring party, long expected. + +Night drew on; rain and sleet veiled the prospect; the videttes +descended the ridge, and joined their comrades round the great bonfire, +which was no easy matter to keep up, from the scarcity of wood. + +Wrapped in their heavy coats, with hats flapped over their brows, their +arms at hand, the red light of their pipes irradiating their bearded and +swarthy faces, the rebels listened to the alternate tirades of Lyle and +Brennard. + +It was these two connoisseurs in human nature who had taken care that +there should be plenty of tobacco among the stores of the bivouac. The +Boers they knew would make the better listeners for this solace. + +It was a scene fit for a painter of the wild and picturesque. Rising +abruptly in front was the stony ridge, the outline dimly marked against +the murky sky; two or three ragged tents and as many wagons were drawn +close to the fire, which, from time to time, emitting its fitful light, +shone on none but angry or anxious faces. + +Vander Roey paced restlessly up and down between his wife's wagon and +the fire. Madame Vander Roey was the only woman in the bivouac. She +sat with the curtains of the wagon drawn aside, listening for the +approach of expected horsemen. The wind had died away, and the sleet +continued to fall noiselessly. The silence of nature was alone +disturbed by Lyle's voice declaiming, and by an occasional challenge +from sentinels. The two little bushboys, Lynx and Frolic, wrapped in +skins and coiled up under the wagon, peered with their sharp eyes into +the mist. + +"Here they come," said Lynx. Frolic laid his ear to the earth, +satisfied himself that horses' feet were beating the ground at a +distance, and announced the fact to his mistress, who called Vander +Roey. + +He was already by her side. + +"Who comes there?" + +"Who goes there?" shouted sentinel number one; it was repeated by number +two, and in an instant the rebels were on their feet. + +"Who comes there?" + +"Friends!" and about a dozen horsemen galloped in hot haste down the +stony acclivity. + +The foremost threw himself from his horse: it was Hermanus the +stutterer; the light from the fire shone upon his face; in his endeavour +to speak, he made hideous grimaces. Lynx and Frolic laughed. Lyle +kicked the one aside, and struck Lynx such a blow with his rifle, that +the boy was stunned for a few minutes, but recovered to gibber and +curse--he had learned to swear in English. + +The riders brought word that Sir Adrian was on his way to attack the +rebels, if they were unwilling to listen to terms. The Kafirs were +coaxed into quietude for a while, that Sir John Manvers might follow the +Governor, if necessary, with a _corps de reserve_; it was clear that all +other political questions were to be laid aside, that a heavy blow might +be struck against the Boers. + +Vander Roey had never anticipated the sudden appearance of Sir Adrian +and his troops in the heart of the country, nevertheless there seemed +nothing for it now but to fight or surrender, and the cunning English +traitors implicated in the rebellion, men who had nothing to lose, +persuaded him, through Lyle and Brennard, that to yield at once would be +to draw on themselves greater odium, and as heavy a penalty as though +they resisted the law to the death. + +"Let it," said Lyle, addressing Vander Roey, in the presence of his +wife, "be only a feint of resistance, if you will, but do not, after all +your proclamations and messages to that insolent General, throw down +your arms as soon as you face the troops; they will laugh, at you, +despise you, and you will deserve to be beaten like a dog." + +Vander Roey could not help reminding Lyle, that it was he who had +dictated his very last "message" to Sir John Manvers, to the effect +that, "as Sir John, had not written to Vander Roey, the latter should +answer him as he chose, and that his determination now was to fight, to +conquer, or to die." + +Lyle laughed scornfully, raising his voice, and thus gathering a crowd +round him, while Madame Vander Roey, undaunted, but anxious, watched her +husband's countenance by the light of the wagon lantern. + +"It is well for you to talk thus," said Hermanus the stutterer, who, +once set going, could talk glibly; "you may run away in the scuffle, and +you know you cannot escape justice if we yield--you are speaking in +favour of your own interests. I say it is folly to fight now,--make a +truce." + +"Never," shouted Vander Roey, suddenly kindling with anger, as he +remembered his contemptuous, dismissal from Sir John Manvers's +residence. "Fight or fly,--which shall it be, my friends? Speak, for +before daylight we must be up and doing." + +He raised his lofty figure to its utmost height and looked round, his +wife leaned anxiously over his shoulder; the lantern, swinging to and +fro, showed the expression on the face of each; hers was anxious, yet +fearless; his brows were knit, his eyes flashed, and he added, "Let the +majority decide; remember my watchword is still `War--war to the +knife!'" + +The English traitors sent up their hats in the air, and cheered the +leader, and all the young Boers did the same. Our convict had taken +care that not a youth should leave the force; within a circle of two +miles behind the strong ridge there were four hundred good men and true, +between the ages of twenty-five and thirty; the whole force amounted to +eight hundred, and few of the oldest had reached the age of fifty. + +Lyle turned to congratulate Madame Vander Roey on her husband's +decision; the curtains of her wagon were closed--he lifted a corner, her +head, covered with her scarlet handkerchief, was almost buried in the +cushions of her bed; by the light of the lantern he could see her whole +frame was shaking with emotion, and stifled groans issued from her lips. + +He dropped the screen with a sneer; "She will come to her senses +by-and-by," muttered he; and he was right. At dawn, in spite of a wind +which cut like razors, she was busied with Hermanus and others at the +stores hidden in the rocks. + +Lyle and Brennard took charge of the "Cape Smoke," and served out to +every man his _sopie_. The _spirits_ of the bivouac were never suffered +to flag. + +The horsemen had been sent on with all speed to the larger encampment of +Boers, Vander Roey's party being in front, to defend and keep possession +of the strong ridge, along which, at intervals, the few guns the rebels +possessed had been ranged. To the guns were attached the number of men +necessary to work them. Gray had yielded passively enough to Lyle's +orders on the subject, but that very apathy made the latter more +suspicious of his victim. Unnoticed by the deserter, he watched him +narrowly, and, all-daring and subtle as he was, felt baffled in his +conjectures as to the probable issue of Gray's forced enlistment in the +rebels' cause. + +The position taken up by Vander Roey was the strongest in the whole +country, being a succession of hills covered with large loose stones. +In his front rose the ridge, surmounted by a natural rampart, rendered +more complete by the art of deserters from the corps of Sappers and +Miners. In the rear was a stream, lined with rushes and long reeds, +fordable to those well acquainted with its depths, but offering no easy +passage to British infantry. The line of fire extended a full mile. + +At dawn of day, the videttes reported the appearance of a mounted +reconnoitring party from the enemy's force, and within half an hour +every man was at his post; Gray taking his place at the gun he was to +serve. + +Lift aside the curtain of that wagon, reader, and see within, a woman +kneeling and praying in an agony. Ah! how many there are, who dare +unseen dangers, who even meet the reality of peril with flashing eye, a +fevered cheek, and brow unblenched, but who, in the dread pause between +plan and action, quail at the loud beating of their own hearts! + +For months, Madame Vander Roey had looked forward to some such moment as +this--she was accustomed to scenes of danger, she had been present at +those strifes in cattle-lifting which are the common occurrences of a +South African settler's life; but this sudden call to arms against men, +whom her father had been wont to term his "white brethren," rang on her +ear like a knell, and a presentiment of evil overpowered her for the +moment. + +Still she was persuaded that her husband was right, and she knelt down +and implored help and mercy from Him who is "the Father of the +oppressed." + +Reassured after her devotions, she assumed the costume she had lately +worn in camp, and leaving the wagon, untied her horse from the wheel, +saddled and bridled it herself, and mounting it without assistance, rode +along the foot of the hill, inspecting the defences with a steady eye +and considerable judgment. + +Her dress was simple enough, a long stuff petticoat serving her for a +habit, her face being shaded by a large straw hat, with the ostrich +feather depending from it. It was typical of the times, was that +drooping plume, soiled and saturated as it was with the cold mist of +that sad morning. Her horse, handsome, fleet, and with that easy action +so peculiar to the mountain steeds of Africa, looked somewhat the worse +for scanty rations; and her face, once so radiant with health and joy, +wore a look of intense anxiety, as, on hearing a murmur among the Boers, +she glanced in the direction indicated by their gestures, and saw her +husband heading the large force which he had gone forth to meet, and +descending the low ridge on the other side of the stream. It was +traversed in silence, and, hurrying forward somewhat irregularly, they +spread out in extended order. + +In twenty minutes each had his station assigned him. Madame Vander Roey +dismounted, and took hers beside her husband, to the right of the +granite rampart. Gray stood as steady as the rock that screened him. +Brennard assumed the command of the left wing. Lyle occupied the centre +of the line, where there was a slight bend, and thus he was enabled to +watch both flanks, and keep a close eye on Gray, to whom, as he fell +into his place, he addressed a few words. + +"Gray," said Lyle, "do you intend to do your duty?" + +"By God's help, I will," was the reply of the young deserter, in a tone +of confidence quite unexpected by the Mephistophiles of the wilderness. + +The latter looked at him, sneered, but was satisfied; and then, with his +head bent below the ridge, scrambled over stone and scrub, reached his +post, and there knelt down, his rifle ready for work, and his eye fixed +on the line of march by which the troops were expected. + +But rain and sleet still occasionally veiled the prospect in vapour. +The report of the videttes was questioned in its accuracy by some, and +each man strove to pierce the mist, and give the first warning of the +enemy's advance. + +A death-like silence reigned throughout that expectant company. + +At length the clouds slowly and almost imperceptibly lifted, and here +and there some new feature in the scene developed itself--a solitary +bush, the carcass of an ox, or a grave covered with stones--and, +finally, two mounted men, soldiers of the Cape cavalry, moving leisurely +forward, and, as May would have said, evidently _spenning_. + +"By heavens!" exclaimed Lyle, "they see us, and have turned to report. +Confound that fellow Gray, he has run out the gun too far, and these +Totties [Hottentots; particularly those of the Cape corps] have +distinguished its black muzzle among the grey rocks." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +It needed no oaths to confirm the truth of his statement--the +reconnoitrers had faced to the rear so suddenly, that there seemed but +little doubt as to the cause of the movement, and a few minutes decided +it. + +As the sun came up, the veil of mist was rent in twain, and fully +disclosed to view a small body of English troops, under the command of +Sir Adrian Fairfax. Lyle unslung his spy-glass, took a deliberate view +of the encampment, and, closing the telescope in haste, exclaimed, +"Every tent is struck--the advance-guard is on the march." + +The word passed to the right and left. + +Vander Roey, white as death, but steady as ever, glanced his eye, now +along the line, now forward, now in the rear. His spies had evidently +been mistaken as to the strength of the force; and now reason whispered +him that his chance of success was small, but he had much dependence on +his position. It was perfect in every way, whereas the British forces +were on open, stony ground; they were new to the locality, and well worn +with a march of thirty miles, which they must have made within twelve +hours. + +But, as the troops advanced, it appeared that a manoeuvre of Lyle's had +answered his purpose for the present. To the extreme right, where a +road cut the ridge in two, he had placed several men, who were only to +affect concealment. It was to this point that the attention of the +advance-guard was evidently directed, for, instead of making a forward +movement, they took an oblique path, intent on attacking the detached +party to their left, who were fully prepared to retreat within a narrow +gorge, capable of containing some twenty men, and defended by a gun +placed at the opening. + +Poor Gray was guiltless of running out his piece of ordnance, as Lyle +imagined--the error lay with a less practised hand, but the circumstance +turned the fortune of the hour; for the Boers, misled by the diagonal +march of the soldiers, were somewhat off their guard, and, in imagined +security, watched the forces of the Government. + +It was curious and painful to Gray to hear the cool way in which the +deserters of the party made their observations on the scene before them. + +"Ha!" said one, who knelt beside him, gazing intently through a fissure +in the rock, "they have got up a company of the old Ninety --th; that +rascal Zoonah said they were to remain in garrison."--An oath or two +filled the space--"they know this part of the country."--"Matthews and +Wilton, and you, Jem Blaine, you belonged to it."--"How they march!" +said Jem Blaine; "they are as fresh as when I saw them at drill at +Graham's Town;"--and the last oath was uttered heartily, and in thorough +good humour, as a strange touch of pride in his old corps brought the +red colour to his hard brown cheek. "By --, there's my old captain, +Frankfort. Well done, grenadiers; well done, old fellows--step out. +Look sharp, Frankfort. Oh! I see he is a staff man. God bless you, +old fellow; if you had not been on leave when I had my last lark, I +should have been marching with you now. You would have recommended me +to mercy;" and then Jem Blaine sat down, turned his back upon the +fissure, and would look no more. + +Standing up, leaning on his long roer, his hat at his feet, and great +drops of perspiration on his broad forehead, Vander Roey followed the +troops with his eye. The mist had not yet quite cleared off, but he +could distinguish the rear of the division. He saw that the force was +small, but well chosen, but he said nothing. + +"They have no artillery," said a young Boer. + +Vander Roey made no reply, but watched his wife, who was looking through +a telescope beyond the division. + +In another moment Madame Vander Roey exclaimed, "They have artillery; I +see a gun advancing." + +She handed the telescope to her husband. + +First came the division, consisting of infantry and a small body of Cape +cavalry. The Boers had gained heart at sight of this little force, and +Vander Roey took it as a sign of the Governor's contempt of his enemy; +still he could scarcely believe that the great Sir Adrian Fairfax would +head a mere handful of men; and, therefore, he did not exult +prematurely. "Were this the only force," said he to his wife, "we +should powder them to dust in an hour." + +But it was not the only force. The mists hanging to the westward still +screened the barren landscape far in rear of the troops, but ere the +latter had moved half a mile across the broken plain, there emerged, as +from the clouds, four "coal-black steeds," of great power. These drew a +deadly weapon, and, following them, were two slender pieces of ordnance, +the nature of which was incomprehensible to the unfortunate Dutch, who +soon, however, learned what a rocket could do from their English +opponents. Added to these was a strong body of infantry, and a troop of +cavalry, protecting the artillery. + +Vander Roey's courage and presence of mind did not forsake him. He saw +at once the advantage to be gained by the false move the enemy was +making. His plan was to attack him on the broken ground, up which the +infantry must move in skirmishing order, in the endeavour to dislodge +the Boers on the left. + +It seemed clear that the General had no idea of the strength of the +rebel forces, and, believing that infantry would rout them out, was bent +on bringing the wretched men to terms without using the artillery or +charging with his cavalry. + +But while nearly a mile distant from the stony ramparts, that looked so +still and lifeless, Sir Adrian called a halt. Lyle watched him +narrowly; the General conversed for a few minutes with Frankfort, who +next rode into the ranks, and brought with him some old sergeants of the +corps. It was evident that a council of war was held; it lasted but a +few minutes, yet time was thus given for the artillery to advance. +Still it was considerably in rear of the front division, and Lyle was +slightly baffled in his conjectures. + +Brennard would have had Vander Roey open out his guns upon the infantry +as they drew near the rebels' right flank, but at this instant Vander +Roey hesitated, and the opportunity was lost. Had the rebel chief +followed this advice, he might have conquered, and retired far to the +north-east; but his heart failed him at the thought of dealing death +from a masked battery on the soldiers. + +Probably he would have felt differently had Sir John Manvers headed the +enemy, and Lyle, in that case, would have urged a death-blow without +hesitation. + +Steadily, although the ground was more broken at every step, the British +infantry pursued their march; slowly after them moved the cavalry and +guns. + +"See," exclaimed Madame Vander Roey, who no longer needed a telescope, +"they march still, but there is some stir among them. The tall man on +the _skimmel_ (sorrel) horse is flying backwards and forwards from the +ranks to the General, from the General to the ranks, and now he gallops +to the rear with orders; the artillery halt again, and the skimmel rider +dashes back in spite of stones and stunted bush." + +The troops suddenly halted, their bayonets glittered in the morning sun +as they changed their position, and they paused for an instant within +gun-range of both ridges. + +This was the moment Vander Roey had anticipated; piles of loose stones +still lay between the two divisions of the British forces; the ground +was scarcely practicable for cavalry or artillery. At this juncture the +rebel chief turned to the rugged valley in the rear, and lifting his hat +from his feet, waved it three times. Five hundred rebels started up +from among the reeds and rushes of the river, from behind the great +stones, and from the natural caverns at the base of the hills. In rear +of the left battery sprung up a hundred others. The summit of each +ridge was carefully manned with the deserters, some from the artillery, +some from the line, all armed with roers; and mingled with these were +many traders and wandering thieves. + +Sir Adrian's consultation with the old soldiers of the Ninety --th had +caused him first to pause, and next to alter his movement. These +experienced fellows had detected first the muzzle of Gray's six-pounder, +next a Boer's hat, which, albeit nearly the colour of the stone near +which the head leaned, was easily discerned by accustomed eyes. These +two indications were quite sufficient to point out the real position of +the rebels, and Sir Adrian changed his route accordingly. + +"Sit there till I come for you," said Vander Roey to his wife, taking +her by the arm, and placing her in a hollow some feet below the rampart, +with a gun above her; he leaned over her, placed his hand on her +shoulder, looked sorrowfully into her face, and uttering in a tender +tone the words "Poor wife, poor wife!" dashed down the hill, sprung on +his horse at the foot of the ridge, and galloped to the front of the +rebel band. + +Some of the Boers, like Vander Roey, were mounted, but many were on +foot. The latter were speedily and silently formed into parties +commanded by the horsemen. Each division was still screened by the +ridge, and Vander Roey's plan was to rush out upon the enemy when he +should have begun to mount the acclivity. The larger division of the +British troops remained halted, and it was plain that Sir Adrian had no +idea of the strength of the rebel forces. + +But the General learned his mistake soon enough. Scarcely had the +infantry advanced many paces up the steep and rugged hills, ere, with a +shout of defiance, the rebel Dutch dashed out from their ambush. The +road between the ridges was narrow. Horse and foot made a simultaneous +charge, and pouring the fire from their long roers right and left with +unerring aim, laid many a gallant fellow low. + +Staggered at the unexpected appearance of five hundred men in a body, +uncertain too of the numbers concealed behind the formidable rampart +above, the infantry drew back. Sir Adrian galloped forward, a bullet +took the peak from his forage-cap, he met the retiring infantry: he saw +the madness of attempting to charge on such ground, and gave orders to +retreat beyond gun-range till the artillery should come up, and be put +in position. + +Lyle laughed aloud. + +The Boers, having expended their fire, retired before the infantry had +time to return it with any kind of precision; five of the Dutch, +however, lay stretched in their blood, and many came back wounded. + +The scene now, with the exception of the dead and wounded scattered +about, presented the same appearance as at first--the British troops +forming for the advance, the ridges silent, and apparently unpeopled. + +Madame Vander Roey, implicitly obedient to her husband's orders, sat +where he had placed her, and with eyes of stone watched the sharp angle +at the base of the ridge. The Boers came back in masses. She saw not +Vander Roey; he was the very last, and then he turned and fired a +parting shot at one gallant soldier who had lingered in rear of his +company, and who paid the penalty of his imprudence--the roer's bullet +laid him dead among the rocks. + +Having thus crippled the infantry, a great point was gained, for foot +soldiers were the only people who could work in such a position; and as +for the artillery, the ground was equally against that, or cavalry, +following up what it might begin. So thought the Dutch; "but," thought +Lyle and Gray and some twenty others, "they have never seen rocket +practice!" + +"How d--d passive that fellow Gray looks," said Lyle to Brennard, as the +latter, during the awful pause, held a parley with his colleague. + +"I never could make him out," replied Brennard, indifferently. "I think +the fellow is half a fool." + +"He is no knave, certainly," said Lyle, contemptuously. + +The British force now began to move, in that determined way which proved +it was in earnest, and having reached the points whence the artillery +could work against the enemy, again halted. + +Lyle saw that the humane Sir Adrian was still awaiting a signal for +peace, and what was his horror, his rage, when he saw Gray rise from his +kneeling position, and leap on the rough parapet before him. There +stood the young deserter, unarmed, erect, motionless, undaunted. + +Then Lyle, furious beyond control, raised his rifle, and fired; the ball +struck the poor youth, who fell forward, and rolled down the face of the +ridge into a rocky hollow, his blood marking his descent. + +"Frankfort," said Sir Adrian, "what can be the meaning of that?" + +"I cannot tell, Sir," replied Major Frankfort; "the man who so suddenly +rose to our view was either a coward and panic-stricken, or a traitor to +the cause he has enlisted in." + +"I rather think," said Sir Adrian, "he is some poor victim enlisted +against his will, who chose to die rather than fight against us. He +must have been sure that either we or his own party would have shot him +after such a manoeuvre." + +And then, too much occupied to give a second thought to the unfortunate +young man, Sir Adrian proceeded to inspect his force. + +But Lyle's shot was received by Brennard as a signal, and forthwith he +poured forth a volley from his flank. That to the left of the troops, +and the right of the Boers, followed his example; but they miscalculated +their distance, and did little mischief; it was returned, however, by a +hearty salute of grape-shot, which, however, did little harm among the +Dutch. Screened from their opponents, they affected to treat it with +contempt, and Vander Roey, having dismounted and joined the line above, +took off his hat, and gave an exalting cheer. + +Then Lyle, and the gunners under him, made the great gun roar, as Lynx +and Frolic described it, sitting at their mistress's feet, and laughing +impishly at the deadly game playing before them. + +A sharp tongue of flame, and then a great volume of smoke, burst from a +gap in the ridge, and the ball, moving swiftly through the air, fell +into the very centre of the troops, and made a vacant space, where it +burst. + +The broken ground, the masked battery, the uncounted enemy, all were +forgotten in the moment of indignation which followed this assault. Sir +Adrian waved his cap, and advanced with his staff, but not too rapidly, +giving time for the guns to work their way. The infantry proceeded in +extended order. Another tongue of flame, another volume of smoke, +threatened more mischief; but at this the force quickened its pace +marvellously, and the ball fell harmlessly in the rear. + +"Down the Trongate, my boys!" shouted an old grenadier of the Ninety -- +th,--the regiment was composed chiefly of Renfrewshire-men--"down the +Trongate!" [Note 2] and away went the brave fellows over the rocky +plain as steadily as though moving at the double along the peaceful +streets of the old town of Glasgow. + +This experienced little body of tried men, led by a cool-headed officer, +were directed to their extreme left, where, it will be remembered, Lyle +had placed a small party, which, by affecting concealment, was to divert +the attention of the troops. In rear of this, it will also be +remembered, was a gun fixed in the narrow jaws of a gorge. If a passage +could be made over this ridge into the gorge, the gun, which was +immovably fixed in the rocks, could be brought to bear upon the rebels +themselves. + +On the first grand movement of the troops, this smaller rampart was +abandoned to a very small force, and as there were no guns to spare, was +defended by roers and rifles. British soldiers, however, were not to be +daunted even by these unerring weapons; unencumbered by their knapsacks, +in lieu of which Sir Adrian had ordered them to substitute light +haversacks, they persevered in spite of the dropping fire which slightly +thinned their ranks, and gradually working their way through the stones +and scrub, took possession of the _rossjies_ (ridge), and speedily +dislodging the besieged, scrambled down towards the gorge, and poured +such a volley of musketry into it, as made the poor defenders of the +pass cast their arms from them, and cry aloud for quarter. + +The gun was instantly taken in hand, and, not without difficulty, +brought to bear upon the right flank of the rebels in the rear, several +of the Boers being detained in the gorge by the guard of the Ninety -- +th, who knew that, without this precaution, the roers and rifles above +would pour their fire upon them. + +Lyle, standing in the bend of the rossjies, saw by this manoeuvre of the +old soldiers that all chance of defence was lost, and at once rushed +towards Vander Roey, and advised him to meet the forces on the plain. + +The manoeuvre would have answered, had the Boers been organised for +battle face to face with the foe; but the plan of operations had been to +begin on the defensive, and retire behind a succession of these +rossjies, till they reached a river impassable save at a ford difficult +to pass except by practised men. + +It was not long before Madame Vander Roey found herself the only tenant +of the stony hill; the battery was deserted, but below were ranged a +party of Boers, who, contriving to keep out of sight or the soldiers in +the gorge, stepped out one by one, and, taking with sad precision, shot +several. This insolence the Ninety --th attempted to return by firing +the gun, but the ball fell innocently among the stones in the valley. + +Again a Boer advanced, and lifted his roer--it was Hermanus the +stutterer, one of the most determined--but this time the soldiers were +beforehand with him; ere he had time to lift his roer, he was stretched +bleeding on the stones. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Madame Vander Roey watched the action from the very edge of the parapet. + +Amid the din, the smoke, the groans of dying men and horses--a strange +adjunct in that picture of strife and agony--was the figure of the +rebel's wife; her long skirt falling far below her feet over the rocks, +giving her the appearance of supernatural height, her head uncovered, +and all her sable tresses streaming in the wind. + +Many a stout heart quailed at first view of this singular apparition, as +the sun, opening his crimson chambers behind it, threw out the tall form +in bold relief between the rocks and sky. + +On either side of her were crouched her impish pages, Lynx and Frolic, +immovable and unappalled, as she was apparently. + +But, ah! that woman's heart was beating as her eyes followed the plumed +hat, which towered above the rest, and was always foremost. + +The Boers had now all dismounted, and were fighting hand to hand, muzzle +to muzzle, with the troops. Even the guns could not work, for the +artillerymen had been the first to fall, and the rockets had had no +opportunity for use. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +But there is a lull in the strife; Madame Vander Roey sees her husband +fall--he is seized, not by the enemy--but Brennard flings the wounded +chief across his swift steed, mounts it, and, with his burden bleeding +before him, gallops furiously to the rear. + +"Vander Roey has fled!--has fled!--has fled!" passes from mouth to mouth +among the rebel ranks--they break asunder, fall into disorder, and +retreat. In vain Lyle attempts to rally them--he sees that he must run +like the rest, or fail into the hands of a governor from whom he must +expect justice rather than mercy. + +But he is cool, as usual, selects the swiftest horse at hand, gallops a +few paces through a shower of bullets, turns, faces the troops, takes +aim with his rifle, and brings down the man next Frankfort--he marked +this "fellow on the staff" for his prey--again retreats--again pauses +between the ridges to fire, and finally dashes like lightning beyond the +range of the gun in the gorge. + +The poor rebels, caught in that trap, became at once prisoners of war; +they surrendered unconditionally, and were sent to the rear with the +wounded. + +The British troops pursue, the guns are limbered up, and dragged through +the rocky pass; the Boers succeed in crossing first the stream, and next +the stony neck beyond, and Lyle again posts a strong line of defence +along another natural rampart; but Sir Adrian is better prepared now for +the attack. + +A long streak of light shoots upward from the river's brink, and, +breaking far forward towards the sky into a thousand golden drops, falls +among the fugitives, scattering them apart, and strewing the rough +ground with bleeding corpses! + +Madame Vander Roey had turned to watch the retreat of her husband; she +tried to descend the ridge, but her heart sickened and her limbs failed +her; she sunk, terror-stricken and shocked, upon the stone where her +husband had bid her wait for him. + +She was found there that afternoon. Lynx and Frolic brought some old +soldiers of the Ninety --th up the slope; they spoke in Dutch, and +begged her to go with them to the wagons in the rear; but she told them +her husband had bid her wait for him there. + +But he never came; the kind soldiers brought her provisions, but she +would accept nothing at their hands. + +She sat there through the day, still watching the combatants, as the +English pursued the Dutch from ridge to ridge. + +The sun went down amid the vapours that rose from the conflict; night +fell moody and dark; the din of battle was succeeded by the whistling of +the wind through the rocky passes; the sleet began to drive; the dress +of the miserable watcher was saturated with damp, but she was reckless +of bodily discomfort. The mind, for many months wound up to a pitch +beyond its powers, gave way, "started aside like a broken bow," and, +helpless and "infirm of purpose," she continued to keep the vigil till +nature was exhausted, and she fell insensible upon the cold earth. + +She awoke to consciousness under the kind hands of an English surgeon; +she was lying on a couch in a comfortable marquee, Anne Vanbloem and +Amayeka were watching beside her--a baby slept on Anne's lap--Amayeka, +mournful but very quiet, sat sewing at the opening of the tent. Madame +Vander Roey could see far out upon the plain; she pressed her hand to +her eyes, looked again, collected her scattered memories, and recognised +the position of a former bivouac; it was occupied now by the tents and +wagons of the English. Soldiers were lying on the ground, or passing to +and fro, or engaged in merry games, or singing beside the scanty fires. +The air came in cold, but dry and balmy; it gave her strength to rise +and look around, and to question Anne. + +And then she learned that Vander Roey was dead. + +She waited many minutes before she uttered any remark, and then she +said-- + +"Did they take him prisoner?" + +"No," replied Madame Vanbloem; "he died of his wounds among his own +people." + +"It is well!" said the widow, and, turning her face from the light, she +never spoke again. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. The lake lately discovered is said to have long been known to +the Dutch. Pretorius, the rebel Boer, will not allow travellers to pass +through his settlements to explore the locality. + +Note 2. A story is told of the regiment, which was composed of many men +from Glasgow. Being checked in their charge in battle, an old soldier +cried out, "Down the Gallowgate, my boys," and away they dashed. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +THE GENERAL. + +From the head-quarters of Sir Adrian Fairfax, I most transport you, my +reader, to one of the most lonely and romantic districts in Southern +Africa, where Sir John Manvers, with the second division of the army, +had pitched his camp. Stretching in a south-easterly direction rose the +green Chumie Mountains, their verdure contrasted occasionally with bold +grey columns of rock; beyond these again, the Amatolas blended their +purple heights with the roseate clouds; northward, the Winterberg range +formed a barrier between the colony and Tambookieland, where dwelt the +"royal race" of the Kafirs, and, towering to the sky like a gigantic +elephant, with a howdah on its back, the Great Winterberg, nine thousand +feet high, lifted its lofty head, crowned with a diadem of snow. + +On a fair green plain, the clear stream of the Kat running through the +midst, were ranged with beautiful precision the white tents of the +little army, which had been at first employed against the Kafir +warriors, and afterwards held in reserve, lest the Dutch should rally in +their strongholds. But Vander Roey's fate had been the death-blow to +all further opposition for the present, and the troops were only waiting +Sir Adrian's return from the Orange River to disperse, provided the +aspect of affairs was peaceful. + +It promised to be so, for the Kafirs were considerably dismayed at the +news of the severe loss the Boers had suffered, in spite of their +unerring roers and strong position, and now promised submission with the +meekness of the dove and the wiliness of the serpent! + +Sir Adrian's detention arose from delay in diplomatic measures. Several +prisoners were yet to be disposed of. The principal traitor, Lyle, +still eluded discovery, but a price was set upon his head. + +On the outskirts of this encampment, just where the bright waters of the +Kat River and the Mancazana meet, were scattered over a few acres of +ground some temporary dwellings. Simple and rudely fashioned as they +were, these thatched tenements looked exceedingly picturesque among the +natural groves overshadowing them. The walls were white-washed, the +little windows neatly glazed, and the verandahed fronts were gracefully +wreathed with the wild creepers that grew about in profusion. + +These dwellings, albeit not quite proof against the storms that often +sweep in terrific grandeur through this lovely region, were +comparatively luxurious, contrasted with the poor shelter of the tent or +marquee, and one, divided far apart from the rest by a _banquette_ of +earth, would have made apparently a sufficiently pleasant summer +dwelling in England. + +Mr Daveney finding it impracticable to reach the lower districts in +safety, and earnestly requested by Sir Adrian Fairfax to accept an +appointment of trust and responsibility, if only for a time, had taken +up his abode here. The whole fabric had been run up within six weeks, +despite untoward weather; a few days of sunshine made the little +habitation of wattle, clay, thatch, and whitewash fit for the reception +of his family. The ladies occupied one bed-room, a small office served +the Commissioner--for such was Mr Daveney's new appointment--for a +reception and sleeping apartment. The common sitting-room opened as +usual from the verandah, and the simple cookery was carried on by the +old Malay in the hollow of a tall rock, backing the premises. A couple +of tents added materially to the accommodation and comfort of the +tenement. + +The intense anxiety of Eleanor's mind had produced a low fever, which +kept the unfortunate young creature on her couch--wasted to a shadow, +she lay beneath a little casement, her only rest snatches of fitful +sleep, her only enjoyment the fresh air, that brought sweet odours with +it from the heath-clad hills. Her mother and sister watched day and +night by turns beside her. The Trails were again their neighbours, and +were a great solace to the afflicted invalid. + +"It is a sad strait for one so young to come to," said Eleanor to Mr +Trail one day, "to wish to die." + +"Sad, indeed," replied the good missionary; "sad, because so sinful." + +"Ah, me!" said the sufferer, "this suspense is killing me--is it not +natural that I should long to be where the tears will be wiped from off +all faces?" + +"Patience, Eleanor, patience," whispered Mr Trail. "God has His own +means of bestowing happiness; you _have_ been sorely tried, my poor +child; but you are young, a long future may lie before you." + +And the invalid lifted up her large luminous eyes to Heaven with the +most hopeless expression of despair. + +Hark! horses are galloping past the dwelling--the rattle of +accoutrements announces that soldiers are on their way. They soon go +by; there are but few--it must be an express. + +And the question passes along the tented line, "Is Lee taken?" + +"Not yet; but the dispatches from Sir Adrian relate that a clue is +obtained to his discovery." + +In a word, Hermanus the stutterer, who, rebel as he was, hated English +traitors, succeeded in persuading his comrades that Lee and Brennard had +never had any view but self-aggrandisement. It was therefore resolved +in council to purchase their own pardon by delivering up the trader and +the convict. Poor Gray had been carried off with the wounded to the +hospital tent, and found to be seriously, though not mortally, hurt. He +had not an enemy among the Boers; but it was proved that he had +consented to serve a gun, and despite the decided step he had taken to +avoid firing upon his countrymen, there was no evidence to show whether +the act was the result of panic, or repentance. + +He was, however, not to be condemned without a further hearing, when +more evidence could be collected, and was sent to Sir John Manvers's +division, with other convalescents, after the action. + +Perfectly passive and resigned to his impending fate, the young deserter +met with compassion and solace at the kind hands of Mr Trail, who +obtained permission to lodge him in his own little dwelling. Gray was, +however, ironed whenever he passed the threshold; but, in spite of his +bonds, the poor lad confessed himself happier than he had been for +years. + +Marion and Ormsby were, as in happier times, sitting, side by side, +under the willows that bent over the rushing waters of the two rivers. +They were not many paces from the house, and hearing the tramp of +horses' feet, hastened to learn the news brought by the express. + +As they passed Mr Trail's cottage, they saw Gray walking up and down, +as he was permitted to do at certain hours of the day, between two +sentries. + +Marion shuddered at sight of the manacled limbs of this slight, +handsome, and frank-hearted looking youth. He had been the associate of +Lyle! She was turning from him with a feeling of dislike, when his poor +attempt to salute her with his fettered hands disarmed the sentiment and +filled her heart with pity. + +She passed on with her lover, and on entering the house, they learned +from Mrs Daveney that the express had brought private letters from Sir +Adrian to Sir John Manvers and Mr Daveney. + +The latter was at this moment sent for by the General commanding the +division. + +Sir John Manvers's marquee stood in the centre of the "canvas city," +distinguished from all similar habitations by its superior size and the +greater space of ground allotted to it. The marquee was closed, two +sentinels were pacing silently up and down before it; the still aspect +of the domicile strongly contrasted with the life and stir of the +encampment, which, as usual in hours of peace, presented an agreeable +and busy scene. + +The afternoon sun shone brightly on the gleaming waters of the winding +river, groups of soldiers dotted its banks, some sitting, talking +quietly together, some wrestling, some running, some cutting wood to +replenish the cooking fires. Among these were intermingled the dusky +forms of of Kafir men and women, the latter with long bundles of sticks, +accurately poised on their heads, which they had brought to exchange for +tobacco, or money where it could be got. Intermingled with these +scattered and motley groups might be seen the tall, manly form of the +young English settler, the diminutive shape of the lithe-limbed +Hottentot, the swarthy Griqua, and the grave Dutch colonist, and +collected in knots, or waiting apart in twos and threes, in grave +communion, were the officers of the division. + +I have spoken of this division as a little army; in truth, it might so +be called, for on either side, parted from the encampment by a little +wilderness of mimosas, were the lagers and bivouacs of the native +levies, in all amounting with the regular troops to 3,000 men, who were +waiting the decision of Sir Adrian Fairfax to be disbanded. + +Daveney walked through the encampment, neither looking to the right nor +the left, but not unobserved by the officers, who, heartily tired of the +inactivity without the excitement of the field, were longing to return +to quarters, and anxiously looked for news of all descriptions. + +The General, Sir John Manvers, was not popular with those he commanded. +Cold, abstracted, haughty, self-opinionated, he was a striking evidence +of that mischievous system of _interest_, which, like a destructive +insect in a noble structure, injures and often destroys the whole. + +Sir John had been appointed commander of the forces in Southern Africa +and temporary governor, not because he had served his country, not +because his judgment, his experience, his temper, or his principles +fitted him for the deep responsibility he assumed, but because he was +the brother-in-law of a man who had long held sway in the House of +Commons, and whose silence or vote could determine a question of vital +importance to certain landed proprietors of rank and power. + +Sir John was provided for, and the bill was passed. + +But a very short essay in the management of affairs served to prove that +the General was not the diplomatist for the Cape colony, with its +extraordinary mixture of tribes, its extended and complicated interests, +its untried population, its vague lines of demarcation between the +varied races occupying the pasture-grounds; and on the first substantial +information of the prospect of a war, one member of the Ministry +fortunately recollected that a former one had proved expensive, and that +Sir Adrian Fairfax had been the man who succeeded in bringing it to a +close. But Sir John Manvers could not be dismissed without a saving +clause in the document that gave him his _conge_; by this clause he was +offered a more agreeable and more lucrative government in a less +troublesome country. With this arrangement he was perfectly satisfied. + +Thus it was desirable for all parties to bring the warfare to a close; +but Sir Adrian was a conscientious man, who did the duty he was paid to +do, and would not hurry over proceedings involving great results. + +Sir John Manvers was chafed at the delay, and angry because Sir Adrian +would not take himself the office of Governor, and thus relieve the +former from his duties. With a delicacy as graceful as it was politic, +Sir Adrian delayed his installation as Governor till peace should be +proclaimed, contenting himself with the command of the principal +division of the army. + +But, on hearing from Mr Daveney that Lyle was one of the principal +instigators to mischief, he deeply regretted the arrangement he had +made. It was, however, too late to alter his plan without compromising +his character for consistency. + +On looking through the list of killed appended to the humble memorial of +the conquered Boers, it must be owned that a feeling of disappointment +arose in the breast of the General, all humane as he was, and he could +not conceal his uneasiness from his secretary, Frankfort, when he was +officially informed of Lyle's whereabouts, and of the convict's +intention to rally the Boers, and cause further trouble to the +Government. + +But Daveney is wending his way across the camp-ground to Sir John +Manvers's marquee. + +He held in his hand a letter, which he was requested by Sir Adrian to +place in Sir John's hands, when the latter should have been duly +prepared for its reception. Sir Adrian felt that the Commissioner was +one of the few men in the world whom he could trust with the unthankful +task. + +Sir John Manvers bowed coldly on the entrance of Daveney, and pointing +to an open note before him, said, in a tone of vexation, "That note is +from Sir Adrian Fairfax; I confess its contents are beyond my +comprehension, and I am utterly at a loss to know, sir, why my friend +has thought it necessary to make you the medium of communication to me, +instead of addressing me on a point which he chooses to invest with +mystery." + +Sir John Manvers had been accustomed to see men bend at once to his +haughty, imperious manner; but this was not the case now. Daveney bowed +with due deference to the General, but the mild blue eye of our good +friend expressed sincere compassion for the man, as he replied, "I +grieve indeed, sir, to be made the medium of communication on a subject +which will cause you not only surprise, but unmitigated pain. Sir, I +must beg you to be prepared for exceedingly unwelcome intelligence." + +The last words were uttered less blandly than at first, for the proud +General sat with his arms folded and wrath darkening his brow, as the +Commissioner stood before him; but the latter was too kind at heart to +be overcome by the arrogant bearing of one who he knew must suffer +bitterly ere they parted, and checking the indignation incident on Sir +John's arrogant bearing, he said gently, "I admit that I am in your +eyes, sir, unduly honoured; but Sir Adrian Fairfax is my friend as well +as yours, and he has chosen that I should impart to you personally what +he dreads to write." + +"Dread, sir! what do you mean? Speak out; what is there that _you_ can +tell me to make me shrink from hearing it?" and the stern man rose and +stood up with an air of defiance and contempt, as his eyes gleamed from +beneath his bent brows upon the kind countenance of the Commissioner. +"Speak, sir!" he continued, "I command you." + +"This communication," replied Daveney, quietly, placing Sir Adrian's +letter on the table, "is private, as you perceive; this," laying a +larger document before the General, "is official. In the last, Sir +Adrian informs you, that a man of the name of Lee has been, with one or +two others, the chief confederate of the rebel chief Vander Roey, has +assisted the Boers in every way by facilitating the trade in gunpowder, +and is now on his way to the Singpoo River, where he purposes +establishing a settlement, and defying the laws of the colonial +government--" + +Here the Commissioner paused. + +"Well, sir!" said Sir John; "and again I desire to know why this +communication is not forwarded to me directly, instead of through you." + +"Sir," replied Daveney, "I had imagined that my name was not altogether +unknown to you." A sudden flush suffused even the bald forehead of the +General; but he recovered himself instantly, and coldly remarked, "I had +not forgotten it, but you will excuse my saying that the reminiscence is +not agreeable to me, and expressing at the same time my perplexity at +your referring to private matters when employed--very strangely, it +seems to me--on official business you must excuse my requesting you to +speak to the purpose for which you came." + +"The real name of the offender," replied the Commissioner, "is +communicated in the private letter; he is a convict, who was supposed to +have been wrecked in the _Trafalgar_, but who was wonderfully saved with +the deserter Gray, and succeeded in reaching the Amaponda country, spent +some months among Umlala's people, encouraging them in sedition, +trafficking in brandy and gunpowder, and at last made his way to Vander +Roey to fan the flame of rebellion among the Dutch." + +Mr Daveney had summoned resolution to convey the above intelligence +with perfect calmness, and as he spoke he clearly perceived the inward +working of the heart he probed, despite the struggle against the display +of outward suffering. + +As he referred to the "private letter," Sir John Manvers re-seated +himself, but forbore to take up the document, although his hand was +impulsively stretched out to take it. At the mention of the wreck of +the _Trafalgar_, the handsome face of the proud General was again deeply +suffused--the flush passed away, leaving a livid ring round the eyes and +mouth, and when the Commissioner ceased to speak, the countenance before +him, with its ashy lips and stony orbs, more resembled that of a corpse +than a living being. + +The stern man moved his head with the rigidity of a figure worked by +springs--he waved his hand, indicating a wish to be left alone, but +Daveney did not stir. Hat in hand, he still stood contemplating with an +air of earnest sympathy the unfortunate Sir John Manvers--_the father of +Jasper Lyle--the convict--the rebel--the doomed traitor_! + +Several minutes elapsed, mind and body seemed equally prostrated; but +Sir John's senses had not forsaken him, he had still the _capacity to +suffer_. His right hand lay fixed as marble on the table beside the +fatal letter, the nails were blue from the stagnant blood within, his +chest heaved with stifled sighs, the stony orbs grew bloodshot, the +ghastly features were convulsed. + +He fought manfully, desperately, against nature, and conquered. He +rose, and trembling violently, Daveney was prepared to see him fall; but +although he tottered, he kept his ground. + +Still he could not speak. A watch ticking on the camp-table sounded +like Time passing with a heavy tread; the din of the camp was but a +murmur in the distance, but it seemed strangely distinct. So did the +sentry's foot on the grass. How close he was; a canvas screen only +separated the suffering General from the careless happy soldier. A +chorus rose clear and joyous from the banks of the river, and laughter, +shrill and boisterous, pierced the air. + +All these accustomed sounds now jarred harshly on the Commissioner's +ear, as before him stood the stern, cold, haughty man, suddenly assailed +by trouble, his ride tottering in the dust. He, the centre of this busy +crowd, had not a friend to whom he could turn for support or +consolation. In the kind Daveney's breast he might have met with +sympathy, but his was a nature which resented pity. Again he bade the +Commissioner depart, and the latter, regretful and anxious, retired, +leaving the unhappy man to the solitude of his marquee. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The sun was setting, the camp-ground was dotted with fires, the games +were over, but the laughter and the song continued as the soldiers +lounged over their evening meal. The herd-boys were driving the flocks +and cattle over the heathy uplands, and Marion, Ormsby, and Mr Trail +stood at the rude gate of the new-made garden, watching the +Commissioner's approach from the lines. + +He was so intent on what had passed between the General and himself, +that he forgot to ask the usual question, "How is my darling?" but he +was reminded of her by Marion telling him that her sister had fallen +into a deep and quiet sleep, and that the medical attendant foretold +improvement from the moisture which already bedewed her tense brow and +wasted hands. + +At midnight Daveney looked forth upon the hushed camp-ground. The +stillness was only broken by the occasional challenge between the +watchful sentinels, and but one light burnt strong and clear in the vast +and tented field; it was in the General's marquee. + +Before daybreak the Commissioner, accompanied by Mr Trail, and followed +by May, reconnoitred the location in which he had placed his dwelling. +Perfect silence reigned throughout, but still that light shone steadily. + +Oh! to have lifted the canvassed screen of that pavilion, and seen +therein a strong man and a proud, pacing, pacing, to and fro, to and +fro, with arms lightly folded across his chest, striving to stifle the +emotions which rose and fell like a heavy tide, as his thoughts dragged +him back, and forced him to look upon the wasted, the irredeemable past! + +And the laughing sun came forth from his gorgeous eastern throne, and +poured his beams alike upon the sleeping soldier and the waking General, +and it mocked the light of the poor lamp even as the things of heaven +mock all things of earth! + +Both the public and the private despatch from Sir Adrian Fairfax to Sir +John Manvers lay open on the camp-table. + +The first simply contained the official information respecting Lee; the +second was as follows:-- + +"My dear Sir John,-- + +"I have requested my good friend Daveney, the present Commissioner for +the Gaika tribes, to prepare you for intelligence which it gives me +unmitigated pain to write. My resolution not to accept the post of +Governor till my work here was done was founded on the best principles; +but I regret it now for your sake, since as you will have learned, +before opening this, the man Lee, named in my official despatch, 10th +May, 18--, is no other than Jasper Lyle. At present his identity is +known only to the Daveneys, their immediate friends, and myself, and I +see no way of your avoiding personal contact or correspondence with him, +unless you resolve to throw over publicly the reins of government to me. +Would to heaven, my dear friend, that this man had perished among the +unfortunate passengers of the _Trafalgar_, or that he had fallen in the +encounter with the Dutch at the stony ridges! My chief desire now is to +hear that he has got clear into the upper districts; but unhappily he +has made enemies among the people he affects to assist, and I am told +they are determined to yield him up to me. In such a case, as a +soldier, you know I have no alternative. + +"In a word, my dear Sir John, my mind would be greatly relieved at +hearing that either you or he had quitted the colony. Pardon language +that appears uncourteous; my pen fails in expressing as it ought all +that I feel, all that I am ready to do in any way in which I may serve +you at this lamentable crisis. + +"With great regard, and assuring you of my earnest regret at this +unfortunate and unlooked-for result of the late action against the +misguided Boers, + +"I beg you to believe me most truly yours, + +"Adrian Fairfax." + +"To Sir John Manvers, Bart, K.C.B." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"Known only to the Daveneys, their immediate friends, and myself!" Sir +John Manvers stopped from time to time in his circumscribed walk, and +read and re-read these odious and degrading words frequently during the +night, and as the sun poured his beams athwart the sickly lamp, he held +the letter to the flame, and finally casting the blackened paper to the +ground, crushed the ashes beneath his boot. + +"So so--I am a gazing-stock for the Daveneys and their immediate +friends,--that soft-voiced, cautious missionary, that idler Ormsby, that +Frankfort, who writes such d--d laconic memoranda, that are in reality +orders! I am a mark for bad men's scorn and good men's pity. _Good_ +men! What constitutes a good man? Is he one whom the devil has not +been _permitted_ to tempt?--_permitted_ to tempt, mark that! + +"That one fatal error of my life. Was it my misfortune or my crime that +the citadel of my heart was weak, and that I could not drive out the +Tempter, who had been permitted to besiege and enter it? + +"I am utterly confounded--which way shall I turn?--There seems but one +remedy." + +He took up a pistol which lay, loaded only with powder, on the table. +With this he was wont to summon his valet, who occupied a tent too +distant to distinguish any other call. + +Had it been loaded with ball, he might have lifted it to his head. He +cast it impatiently from him; the trigger caught in his watch-chain, and +the weapon went off. The valet, who stood with his master's coffee at +hand, entered the marquee almost immediately. + +The General instinctively turned his back upon his servant; the latter, +accustomed to execute his duties without observation and without, +thanks, placed the little tray, with its small silver service, on the +table, and stood waiting further orders. + +"You may go," said the General, in his usual voice; and the valet +retired. + +It is indeed strange how a mind torn for hours by conflicting emotions +can in a moment, when pressed by necessity, bring itself to act in the +most trifling occurrences of life; reaction once produced, the brain +partially recovers its tone. + +The morning light, the sound of the stirring _reveille_, its bugle +echoes answering each other from kloof to kloof, the rattle of +accoutrements, and the roll of the martial drums, with their shrill +accompaniments, the fifes, awoke the little world around. + +Day is well represented as scattering roses in her path, for she brings +much comfort to the wretched, whose wretchedness is not all of their own +making. Amid the multitude who wake to the sunlight, some kind hand may +be stretched out to those who suffer. Hope is ever moving among the +crowd, but her mirror, remember, turns its bright face only to the +repentant--the truly repentant--to those who lift up their hearts to an +offended God, and pray that they may sin no more. Those who suffer +remorse, and dread only the world's contempt, have no part in the bright +promises of Hope; and all the freshness and the fragrance that life +offers to the humbly sorrowful falls to dust and ashes before the breath +of pride, which trembles before man, but seeks to defy the very laws +divine. + +Yes; Sir John Manvers repented him truly of his former sin, not because +he feared God, but because he dreaded man's scorn and pity. + +Reader, do we not see this day by day? + +Sir John Manvers's destruction of Sir Adrian Fairfax's letter was +perfectly characteristic of the man. It was a written record against +him, therefore it should perish; and could he have seen all those who +were initiated in his secret perish likewise, he would have gone forth +to the world apparently unmoved, or with satisfaction so predominant as +to smother all remorseful sentiments. + +Still they did not know all. + +The real secret lay dormant in a little dark nook in one of the remotest +corners of Cornwall, and was inscribed in letters, now somewhat browned +by time, in a huge old volume, a parish register, kept as securely as if +the clergyman's whole welfare depended on the safety of its contents, in +a dim oak-wainscoted Vestry-room of a dilapidated church. + +In a leaf of that register might be read these words, among the +Marriages solemnised in the parish of G--, county of Cornwall. + +"John Lyle and Mary L--, residing at G--. + +"In the presence of us, etc, etc." + +By this time, dear reader, you will have given up all hopes of learning +the early part of Sir John Manvers's history from himself. He was not +the man to indite a record of his sin, or "folly," as he would probably +have termed it, even to his friend Sir Adrian Fairfax. I shall +therefore relate as succinctly as possible those events connected with +his opening career which influenced him through life, and finally +brought him to the strait in which he stands so miserably before you. + +His first prospects were uncheering. His father held a small curacy in +Devonshire, and the circumstance of this poor curate marrying the +daughter of a baronet, in whose household he held the appointment of +chaplain, instead of leading to prosperous results, was the means of +impeding his progress in the Church. The union was cursed with the deep +and undying resentment of the lady's father, and the poor curate +struggled on till the grave gave him that rest which earth had denied +the living. + +The wife he had chosen was not worthy of him. She had married him from +pique, and when he felt the world's frowns most keenly, she told him so. +But she did not often remind him of the wrong she had "done herself." +Cold, sullen, impatient of misfortune, and angry with him whose fault +had been in loving her too well, she nursed her wrath in silence. But +it was stamped upon her haughty brow, her dilated nostril, her curled +lip. She lived upon it! She looked upon the whole world as her enemy; +but the world did not think her worth quarrelling with--some called her +"poor Mrs Lyle." + +"Poor Mrs Lyle! Who made me so?" she would say; and then, because her +Christian husband met her scorn without retort, she would utter some +bitter word, indicative of contempt, and relapse again into gloom. + +But the iron entered into _his_ soul. He died, leaving her with a son, +who had little knowledge of his father, save that his mother spoke of +him as the author of all her misfortunes. + +The child did not understand this. All he could recollect of his father +was the good man's deathbed--the thin hands held out to wife and child-- +and pale lips parting, and blessing them that had mocked him; for the +boy had been taught to laugh his father to scorn. + +An elder brother allowed Mrs Lyle a small annuity. She accepted it, +grumbling, because it was scanty; but the baronetcy was not rich, and +the brother did more for the sister than she deserved, for she had +always been ungracious. + +Her son, although he resembled her, was not happy in her society; he was +glad when he went to school, and he found companions there who drew out +his better qualities; at sixteen his uncle desired that he should be +sent as a private pupil to a clergyman; at seventeen he lost his mother; +and at twenty, his uncle being also dead, he found himself without a +profession, and with two thousand pounds, a remnant of his mother's +fortune, for patrimony. + +One being in the world loved this proud and gloomy boy--she was the +daughter of the Cornish clergyman whose pupil he had been. She was not +beautiful, but there was a graceful gaiety about her which relieved him +from himself. The principles of this poor motherless creature were not +what her father imagined them to be; indeed, he was too learned to have +much knowledge of human nature; but when he discovered the result of +Lyle's intimacy with his daughter, the old man's grief and terror were +overwhelming. + +The sight of those white hairs bent to the dust with shame and sorrow, +was more than Lyle could bear--he, who had never known the strength of a +parent's love, was overcome. He married his victim--married her on her +deathbed: for, five hours afterwards he was a widower, and the father of +a son--the convict, Jasper Lyle. + +The poor old clergyman wrote the record himself in the parish register, +and died the day after. By one of those fatalities which for a time are +permitted, to arrest the course of truth's clear stream, the medical +attendant and the nurse, who were the only people present at this +melancholy bridal, were laid together in the narrow churchyard of the +remote village, and the poor boy was committed to the care of a woman, +who, so long as she was regularly paid, was content to let him share her +scanty living with her own children. This woman believed the boy to be +young Lyle's natural son, for her husband was a new-comer in the +village, and neither of them could read, nor had they any acquaintances +there. After a while they left it, and carried young Jasper to London. +The stipend paid for him was unexpectedly raised to what was to them a +considerable annuity. + +The baronetcy of Manvers, for want of male heirs, passed to the female +line, and, at the age of five-and-twenty, John Lyle found himself, by an +unlooked-for concurrence of circumstances, Sir John Manvers, with but a +slender income for his position. + +Interest, however, got him a commission, though he was beyond the +regulated age--interest placed him on the staff of the Lord Lieutenant +of Ireland, and he, whose destinies had once appeared of no account, was +now the admired favourite of a showy court, for such might then be +termed the official residence of the Duke of L--, in Dublin. His tall, +aristocratic form, his grave beauty, his proud reserve, attracted the +attention of the elegant and witty Duchess of L--, and her admiration +stamped him with a _prestige_ surprising even to himself. + +His past love! what was it now to him?--a dream-one, however, to which +he looked back with uneasiness, for was there not a living witness of +this "fantasy?" Every day, every hour, deepened the gulf between him +and the dark paths of his young life. He had never made a friend. No +one stood at hand to whom he might unburden his soul, and each +succeeding week found him placed more irrevocably in a false position. +He was looked upon as a rising man, poor in patrimony, but sure to force +his way to better things. + +While he was halting between two opinions, a familiar face suddenly +carried him back to the old parsonage, and its dim and silent groves. + +Although we may not have been intimate with an early associate, our +hearts are strangely stirred at sight of one with whom we have been in +communion under circumstances different or distant from those in which +we again meet. + +Something of pleasure lit up Sir John's intelligent eye as he recognised +the open countenance of Sir Adrian Fairfax, who was younger than +himself, and whom he had known during the last few months of his +residence at the vicarage; they were the first months of love--months in +which life had been presented to him in its happiest phase. + +But while the proud mind was debating which ought to be the first to +speak, a vision stood between the two which riveted the gaze of both, +and turned the current of young Manvers's thoughts. + +It was the Lady Amabel, who in all the purity of beautiful and innocent +sixteen, suddenly appeared--the lily of the dazzling parterre. She +leaned on the arm of the Duke of L--, and moved up the room to the dais, +on which the Duchess was seated with the handsome and favourite +aide-de-camp. + +But love is ever at cross purposes. The heart of this gentle being +stirred not, the eye was not illumined, as the young and handsome +baronet bent over her. She smiled when Sir Adrian came to greet her; +but he, at whose approach she blushed and trembled like a rose at +morning prime, was Daveney, then a young ensign, without a prospect in +the world save that to which blind fortune might lead him. + +But the reader has seen that Daveney thought not of his gentle cousin. +Both were much together in the early part of that brilliant Dublin +season: but the young soldier changed his quarters--some said he +withdrew purposely from the light of those eyes, that tempted him to +love one whom it would be ruin to marry--some, that he was blind--some, +that he was heartless; no matter--they were sundered. + +Meanwhile Sir John's heart was chilled towards one in whom he might have +found a friend; and when some months afterwards he saw that Lady Amabel +suffered Sir Adrian to talk to her for hours, the circumstance widened +the gulf. + +Later, at the age of eight-and-twenty, Manvers became associated in +Ireland with the sweet and gracious being who eventually became his +wife. She had wealth, connection, talent, and, above all, the most +amiable disposition. The grave, austere young soldier was drawn +imperceptibly towards this happy, ardent being. She shone upon him like +sunlight upon snow--she was like a beam from heaven gilding the darkest +recesses of a mine. + +He might have told her all. Many a time he was disposed to throw +himself at her feet, and disclose his early history; but her father--it +was from her mother she derived the stamp of aristocracy--was a +_parvenu_. Manvers dreaded, to lose this first real love, this darling +of his heart and albeit she would have gone with him to the desert, he +knew full well that his title and military interest, weighed heavily in +his favour with the father. + +He kept his secret, and married the heiress; and, in the course of time, +he had almost forgot the very existence of his eldest born, when one day +he received a letter from the woman Watson, informing him that his son +had run away from her home; the boy, she said, must have been led +astray, and she hoped to trace him. The annuity must be paid as usual. +She doubted not he would be found, in same of the haunts of the +metropolis, and she would inform Sir John as soon as she received +tidings of the boy. + +Upon this, after some hours' deliberation, Sir John Manvers wrote to +Mrs Watson, and, making it a condition that she should never again +address him on the subject of this miserable child, he settled an +annuity of two hundred a year on this woman and her husband for the +boy's maintenance, till of age, if he returned and reached the age of +one-and-twenty. At the age of one-and-twenty some other steps were to +be considered. + +Sir John believed that the Watsons had some reason for endeavouring to +overreach him, but it was not so in this instance; the child really was +missing. + +The man Watson would have pocketed the annuity without acting further in +the matter. Mrs Watson was "used to the child," and "had a liking for +him;" so she did her best to discover him, but for a long time without +success. Her husband kept back part of the sum allowed, and she +afterwards learned that he bribed some infamous people to keep young +Jasper out of the way of his nurse, who, though without firm principles, +was not bad-hearted. + +Sir John soon began to hope--God forgive him!--that he should hear no +more of the poor boy cast upon the troubled waters of the world. In +those days there were no railways, nor electric telegraphs, nor police; +sin prospered much more secretly than it does now. Even now the little +church in Cornwall lies remote from populous places, for no _iron road_ +can penetrate through the rugged defiles that lead to it. + +Oh! that men would consider the future, and calculate even the chances +of the evils which may accumulate from the commission of one solitary +sin. + +We are inclined to pity the youth, who in the poor curate's daughter +found relief after the gloomy days spent at home, and surely for him +whose heart was softened at the sight of the father's anguish them were +hopes of better things; but his besetting demon was pride--pride +fostered by his mother. Oh mothers! do you deeply weigh your +responsibilities?--do you remember that it is to your hands the virgin +soil of the garden foils for culture? + +And lo! see what a strait this pride brought him to at last! And is it +not always so? Are we not perpetually punished by the very instruments +we have ourselves employed for evil? Do we not constantly stumble at +the pit we have digged to serve our own purposes? + +Pride made Sir John Manvers hesitate ere he recognised Sir Adrian +Fairfax in the lighted saloons of Dublin Castle; he would have been his +friend, but the opportunity was lost; and, though in after-years the +incidents of their profession brought them nearer to each other, it then +was too late to remedy the evil. + +When a man is embarked in a bad scheme, he is at no loss for reasons, or +rather excuses, for persevering in mischief; and Sir John Manvers, +becoming day by day more accustomed to look on the sin he had committed +as an error which could not be repaired, at last satisfied himself with +the notion, that to place his son in his true position would be to +entail irremediable sorrow on his household, and in nowise benefit the +unfortunate Jasper. + +Jasper!--what could have induced him to permit the child to be called +after his grandfather, that poor, imbecile, wretched old curate? + +Still, who was likely to search through an old parish register, and, in +doing so, who would stop to inquire into the identity of John Lyle and +his wife Mary and their son Jasper? + +The very devils, we are told, "believe and tremble;" but how +short-sighted are men, who only calculate on human chances! + +No; there was little chance of the old yellow-leaved parish register of +Tremorna ever being brought in evidence against him; and, besides, where +_was_ this boy--this Jasper? + +Nurse Watson at length traced the child at last to some den of iniquity +in the heart of London. She had a woman's heart--it yearned to Jasper-- +he was a fine, manly child; and when she had relieved him of his soiled +habiliments, and purified his strong young limbs with water, she was +pleased with herself at having rescued this gentleman's son from filth +and vice. + +She had, it is true, no fixed principles; but she had benefited by this +child. She and her husband and children were living in ease and plenty +on the money paid for him; and she believed that, in spite of what he +had said, his father would rejoice at hearing that the lost sheep was +found and in safe keeping. + +She sought Sir John at his house in one of the squares; she was +ungraciously received by his confidential valet, who would not give her +admittance to his master. She was of a passionate and determined +temper, and, enraged at the imperative tone of the saucy London menial, +she told him, in plain terms, that as he would not let her see Sir John, +whom she had watched into the house a few minutes before, he might carry +the message himself, and tell him that "Jasper was found." + +Her voice was raised, her cheeks were crimson, her eyes flashed at the +cool impertinence of Sir John's "gentleman," and at this juncture a lady +descended the staircase and crossed the hall. + +Lady Manvers, for it was she, stopped at once; and instead of retiring, +as some fine ladies would have done, or ordering the angry woman from +the hall, she walked quietly up to Mrs Watson, and with a look of +reproof to the valet, whose temper she knew, said, "My good woman, what +is the matter, and who is Jasper?" + +The voice, the calm sweet face, the graceful air of the gentle +questioner, disarmed the wrath of the irritated woman; but she was at a +loss what to say. She stammered, looked confused; the valet's +self-satisfied mien provoked her, and, in a word, Lady Manvers was very +soon made aware that her husband had a secret which it was not his +intention to share with her. + +Lady Manvers trembled exceedingly, but not with anger. No; after a +short time she was able to question herself as to what it would be her +duty to do. She led Mrs Watson into her dressing-room, and bid her +wait there till sent for; but Lady Manvers asked her no questions. No; +this high-minded, generous lady went at once to her husband. + +She would scarcely have believed the truth from his own lips. She was +so proud of him, she would as soon have dreamt of his making her his +wife while another claimant to that title lived, as of his having an +heir to his estate unknown to her, the mother of his beautiful boy, his +darling Gerard. + +Sir John was utterly startled and thrown off his guard, as his wife, in +her softest accent, but with her clear honest eyes fixed on his, asked +him to "trust her with the secret which the woman Watson would not +tell?" Who was Jasper? Who was Mrs Watson? Surely, if there was +concealment, there must be something wrong; or did dear John think she, +his own Nina, did not love him as she ought to do? Oh! if he had a +sorrow or anxiety, might she not share it? If the sin of an early day +hung heavy on his mind, would he not let her bear the burden with him? + +And a hundred other such persuasive things she said, hanging on his +shoulder, with her sweet face lifted imploringly to his moody +countenance. + +He bade her wait till evening for his reply; but she would not. She +drew from him that Jasper was his son; but, he added, she was never to +ask him about the boy's unfortunate and ruined mother. + +So the father tacitly stamped the brand of illegitimacy on the brow of +his first-born; and the innocent woman he now deceived thanked him for +such concessions as he had made, and resolved, without asking further +permission, to send for Jasper. + +But when Mrs Watson reached home, he had again absconded; and of this +she did not fail to inform Lady Manvers, whose gentleness had won her +regard. + +The idea of this unfortunate child of ten years old, her husband's son, +wandering from haunt to haunt of iniquity, was a source of perpetual +anxiety to Lady Manvers. She drove from one magistrate's house to +another, trying to discover the little recreant. She dreaded +compromising her husband, yet was resolved on doing her duty. She met +with nothing but courtesy and kindness, but all seemed unavailing; and +she was beginning to despair, when, on the eve of departing for +Scotland, where Sir John's regiment was quartered, her attention was +riveted by a paragraph in the newspaper, which she could not help +connecting with the object of her search. + +It was an extract from the minutes of a magistrate's court. A little +boy, "apparently between ten and eleven years," had been brought before +a magistrate, having been found among thieves and pickpockets in some +disorderly meeting. + +The evidence presented a sorry picture. + +There stood the child in the dock. + +The magistrate, a man esteemed for his benevolence, examined the little +prisoner attentively ere he questioned him. At length the good man +said,--"How old are you, my boy?" The child did not answer. The +magistrate put the question again. No reply. + +"Do you know," said Mr M--, "how old you are?" + +"No," said the boy, his head bent down. + +"Have you been brought here before?" + +"No." Here a constable intimated that this was not true. + +"It seems," said Mr M--, "that you _have_ been brought here before. +Why do you say no? Do you know that is a falsehood?" + +"No:" still the same dogged look. + +"Have you any parents?" + +"No." + +"Who do you belong to?" + +"No one." + +"Do you know what a lie is?" + +"No." + +"Do you know that it is wrong to steal?" + +"No." + +"Did you never hear of the Commandments?" + +"No." + +"Do you know the name of God?" + +"No." + +The kind-hearted magistrate stopped in these interrogatories, and laying +down his pen, leaned forward; sorrow shaded his benevolent face as he +said,--"My poor boy, what _do_ you know?" [This scene is taken from a +record in the _Times_ newspaper of 1850.] + +These were the first words of kindness which had ever been spoken to +Jasper Lyle in his life, for he was the little prisoner; for though Mrs +Watson had, as she expressed, "a liking for him," she was rough-spoken +to her own children, whom she always _ordered_, never _asked_, to do her +bidding. + +The unfortunate child lifted his face to Mr M--, and looked +half-wonderingly at it. The mode of speech was evidently beyond his +comprehension: he looked round at his evil associates, older by years in +crime than he was, and laughed. + +The magistrate had the young prisoner removed from the dock, and taken +to his own house. + +Lady Manvers ordered her carriage as soon as she had finished reading +this paragraph. She drove, without delay, to Mrs Watson's at Lambeth, +and then hastened to Mr M--'s. + +She found him at home, and told her mission with her accustomed grace +and tact. Mr M--rose from his chair, opened the door of his library, +and led from an inner room a handsome boy, who, accustomed to resist, +would have run back, and even now drew his curly locks against his large +speaking eyes, and strove to shut out the sight of her who stood before +him as an angel of compassion. + +Mrs Watson was summoned, and as Jasper recognised her, he dropped the +magistrate's hand, and went to the woman; but there was no demonstration +of tenderness on the part of either, and Lady Manvers, agitated and +dismayed, burst into tears. + +When Sir John Manvers found that his wife had actually stood face to +face with his first-born son, he felt the reality of the secret buried +in the old Cornish church. + +The departure for Scotland was delayed for some days. He spent many +hours in his library, affecting to be engaged in business with his +agent; but oh! the tortures he suffered! Now he would go to Nina, and +confess all. He opened the door; a merry voice echoed from the stairs, +his boy Gerard came bounding down, crying "Papa, papa." Sir John closed +the door abruptly; the boy cast his whip upon the ground and sat down +weeping on the mat. He had never been denied admittance before; but his +father's countenance had frightened him; he dared not lift his hand to +the lock, but he did not move; he sat there sobbing as if his little +heart would break. + +And the father sat within; he had no tears, but his youngest son's +honest sobs struck to his heart. + +He heard his wife come down the staircase; he heard her carry off the +weeping Gerard. The child went sobbing up the stairs on its mother's +shoulder, and Sir John felt that she would not intrude upon his privacy +at a juncture when old associations were so seriously revived. + +Ah! how could that pure-minded, high-souled woman understand or believe +in his remorse? + +Remorse without repentance! + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Sir John Manvers easily taught his amiable wife to believe that she +having succeeded in persuading him to adopt his son and provide for him, +her mission was over; still Lady Manvers entreated that she might +continue to interest herself in the boy, till he became accustomed to +his new sphere of existence. She sought out an excellent clergyman at +Clapham, who took a limited number of pupils; she candidly admitted the +chief points in Jasper's story, she anticipated for the good man much +trouble and discouragement, she prepared him for the worst. He tried +his best with the child, but he had not strength either of mind or body +to cope with young Jasper. + +The boy passed from one master to another, till a resolute man was found +to take charge of him as a Westminster scholar, when he battled through +life in Dean's Yard, Westminster, for twelve months; headed a conspiracy +against the assistant-masters, and would have been expelled, but that +his "uncle," as Sir John was reputed to be, had interest enough to +withdraw him privately, and finally to get him a commission. + +It was Jasper Lyle's luck to be ordered at once to join his regiment in +India. He opened his military career before a fortress which +surrendered to the British arms. The banner planted on the battlements +was a rag dripping with gore. The young ensign was mentioned honourably +in general orders, and for a time the laurel wreath of fame acted as a +talisman in checking evil principles; but ill weeds are hard to +eradicate, and he would have been disgraced for debt; _had debt in the +army been disgraceful_. Sir John found himself answerable for bills +which his son had chosen to draw on his father's bankers, and an angry +correspondence took place, in which the baronet threatened to leave the +young man to the consequences of his folly and dishonesty. + +And at every fresh revival of error, Lady Manvers pleaded for the +recreant, who each time promised fair; for his connection with the upper +classes of society had taught him to dread the ills of poverty. + +Although he had been first made to believe that he was a distant +relation of Sir John's, he soon ascertained, through Mrs Watson, the +real position he held in Lady Manvers's eyes. Of his true condition he +could not dream. He was specious enough to keep his ground with his +father's gentle wife, and so, alternately in disgrace with the former, +and in treaty with the latter as a mediator, he contrived to keep his +commission and to satisfy his creditors. + +An opportunity for an exchange to a regiment at the Cape occurred during +the government of Sir Adrian Fairfax, and Sir John Manvers, anxious to +rid himself even for a period of Jasper's presence, addressed a +confidential letter to Sir Adrian, with whom of late years he had become +more intimately acquainted, through the friendship existing between Lady +Amabel and Lady Manvers, and introducing the reprobate to him as "the +issue of an unfortunate connection," asked his Excellency's patronage. + +Lyle had capital credentials as a soldier; his _domestic_ principles +were but lightly touched upon. He had been "rather wild," was "careless +in expenditure," etc. Sir John trusted that under Sir Adrian's kind +patronage he would "become steady;" in a word, the kind Sir Adrian, on +reading the letters of introduction forwarded to him by Lady Amabel, on +Lyle's arrival at Cape Town was more inclined to pity than condemn the +young man, and accordingly wrote, as we have seen, to his wife, +requesting her to receive the new-comer with hospitality. + +From the period of his arrival at Newlands to his departure from the +colony, the reader has watched young Lyle's career. Afterwards ruined +in fortune, overcome by his evil passions, possessed, so to speak, by a +devil, he abjured all allegiance to his country's laws. Branded as a +swindler, he resolved on making a new road for himself in the great +wilderness of life, where bad men think that the race is to the swift +and the battle to the strong. The details of that career need not be +enlarged upon. Lyle himself related to Gray how the disciples of his +evil creed treated him: they abandoned him as recklessly as he would +have abandoned them. + +Tried and convicted of seditious leadership at a time when other nations +were shaken to their centre by the thunders of republican eloquence, he +was condemned to transportation for life, and Sir John Manvers, striving +to suppress the whispers of conscience, reconciled himself to the issue +of events by hoping that he had "done the State some service" in +substituting for this vicious heir to his title and estate the docile +yet manly Gerard. + +Ah! he _would_ not, he dared not, look into first causes. + +News came home of the loss of the _Trafalgar_; a list of survivors and +of those drowned accompanied the official notification of the event. +Sir John Manvers was absent from his wife when informed of the dreadful +tidings. He shut himself up for some days, and people looked at him +when he emerged from his solitude, and whispers went about--"What a +shock Sir John Manvers had sustained in the death of his nephew, or, as +people believed him to be, his son, for whom he had formerly done so +much, but who was so incorrigibly vicious." + +Next Sir John took steps to ascertain, through Sir Adrian Fairfax, all +the particulars of Jasper's marriage with Eleanor Daveney. He had heard +of the birth of a son, and he received with breathless thankfulness of +heart the tidings of poor little Francis Lyle's death. + +He tried to wash his brain of these awful realities; he at times +rejoiced in some of the pleasantest things that life could give--a +lovely wife, with the sweetest temper and the firmest principles, graced +his hearth; beautiful children made his lofty halls musical with +laughter; many partings and meetings had endeared him more and more to +that beloved wife, those noble-looking children. He was in the prime of +life, and had won many laurels; but he was restless, eager for command, +impatient of solitude, yet reserved and abstracted in society. + +He could not keep away the dread remorse that haunted him. All the +sophistry in the world could not veil the sin he had committed against +the helpless, unoffending infant, the melancholy legacy of his +ill-starred Mary. True, he had a strange facility of suppressing deadly +memories by the aspirations of some new ambition; but there were times +when, like our fallen parents at noon-day in the garden, he "heard the +voice of God," and was "afraid." + +But all the remorse, all the repentance in the world, could not compel +the sea to "give up her dead;" and, if the strict performance of his +duty to his family and his country could have made atonement for his +early crime, God would have had compassion on the sinner. But God +requires another kind of repentance, another atonement, than that +existing between man and his brother. The thief on the cross was +justified and pardoned at the last moment; but albeit the justification +and the atonement sufficed to save, he acknowledged the justice of this +world's condemnation. + +There was nothing of this in all Sir John Manvers's regrets for the +past. He trembled at the warning voice that pierced the worldly din +surrounding him, or disturbed the repose he sought; but he did not say +with David, "Against Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy +sight." + +And so it is ever with sin prosperous; there may be warnings, there may +be misgivings, there may be heavy regrets for the ill we have done our +neighbour; but there is not that depth of remorse which bids us cast +ourselves before God for pardon and for grace to "lead a new life." + +Still, long association with an amiable woman and an innocent family had +softened the heart of Sir John Manvers, and he would have given worlds +that he had never been tempted. + +The command at the Cape of Good Hope was offered to him soon after the +loss of the _Trafalgar_; his acceptance of it was requested as a favour, +since every one knew it was eventually designed for Sir Adrian Fairfax, +then absent in India. Change of any kind was agreeable to Sir John, who +was weary of a country gentleman's life at home, and whose finances +would be advantageously recruited by a measure which would lead to +something better. He parted from his family with the less regret, that, +on obtaining a better appointment, they were to join him. + +But when Mr Daveney presented himself before this proud General, with +the information that the wretched prodigal was not only alive, but would +ere long be brought forth to be tried for his life as a traitor, Sir +John Manvers beheld the truth in all its hideous nakedness. + +"Better, oh better, had the sea engulfed him!" exclaimed the sinful +father, in the solitude of his tent, "than that my hand should sign his +death-warrant." + +Sir John Manvers uttered these words as he heard the sentry again +challenge some invader of his privacy. He re-seated himself in his +easy-chair, tried to quell the anguished thoughts that surged within his +breast, and turned, with apparent calmness, to his aide-de-camp, who, +putting aside the canvas screen, stepped into the General's presence, +and laid before him a packet of letters brought in by another express. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +CONCLUSION. + +It was a bright autumn day in Kafirland. Eleanor was borne out into the +garden. They laid her on a couch on the sunny side of the cottage; the +lime-trees and acacias met over her head. May had shaped them into a +bower; they were the remains of a grove planted on the spot by some poor +colonist, who had been long since driven by the savage from his +homestead. The cheek of the invalid had resumed its marble hue, the +eyes shone less brightly, the fever had abated. + +The morning was delicious,--it reminded one of June in England; the +canaries were singing their last summer melodies, and the swallows +trilled their farewell lays to Kafirland. Below the willow bank, the +stream murmured with a sound that pleased the ear and refreshed the +senses. + +Eleanor had been told by her father that her husband had again eluded +justice. By a tacit agreement, the convict's name was never referred +to. All hoped alike that he would never more occupy a prominent +position in the world, and the patient wife, daily praying for strength +to support her in her trials, daily grew more resigned. + +She longed to get away to some quiet nook, and be at rest. + +She leaned on her mother's bosom--Mrs Daveney was devoted to this sad +daughter now. A faint colour tinged the sufferer's wan cheek, the soft +air lifted the dark braids from the temples: how tense they were! What +a picture of desolation she presented--that young, intelligent, +graceful, desolate being! + +Mr Trail was reading, His wife working, the little Trails were watching +the antics of May, who was dancing for their amusement, after making +herds of clay oxen for them. Marion and Ormsby were walking up and +down, talking earnestly, for both had grown more serious of late; and +Mr Daveney was superintending the irrigation of his garden, when the +quietude of the party was disturbed by a message summoning Mr Trail to +his cottage, which, it will be remembered, was only separated by a lane +from the Daveneys' home. + +Presently there was a clatter of arms, and the steady tread of soldiers; +then the guard passed by--it soon re-appeared, bringing with them the +young prisoner Gray. + +Mr Trail walked by his side. The party passed close to the garden +fence--Gray, though handcuffed, contrived to salute the compassionate +people, who had in many ways softened the miseries of his confinement. + +On the afternoon of that day, it was understood that the evidence on the +court-martial was entirely against him--that his showing himself to the +troops was pronounced the effect of terror and panic, and that it was +proved he had lived for months among the Kafirs and Boers, trafficking +in gunpowder with the former, and assisting the latter in their +preparations for treking and for war. There was little time given for +the defence. The accused could only affirm on oath that he had +constantly remonstrated with Lyle on the course they were both pursuing, +while, on the other hand, a Dutch prisoner related Gray's reply to his +fellow-convict, when the latter desired him to "do his duty." + +Poor Gray also admitted that he might have made an effort to remain with +Vanbloem, when the latter fell to the rear with his wife, but he also +urged, that by doing so he might have involved the young Dutchman in +serious trouble. In short, he had no sound ground or defence to +present, and the court-martial closed, after sitting four days. The +finding was approved, and the sentence ere long promulgated. The poor +youth was condemned to be shot as a deserter and a rebel. + +Mr Trail was with him soon after this was made known to him. He bowed +his head in silent submission to the laws of his country, and requested +the good missionary to come to him that evening, when he should be glad +to impart his last wishes to him. "That done," said the poor youth, "I +will turn my back to the things of earth, and give all my thoughts to +heaven." + +And, as the sun went down, Mr Trail went again to the condemned man, +who was now a solitary prisoner, strongly guarded. They talked far into +the night. Poor Amayeka! thou wert foremost in the thoughts of thine +ill-starred young soldier-love. He gave Mr Trail some tokens of +affection and kindness for the friends of his early youth, "if they +still lived;" but for Amayeka, he entreated the missionary's care of her +welfare, "that she might know there was a future, where the tears shall +be wiped from off all faces." + +No further intelligence of Lyle--or Lee, as he was denominated +officially--reached the British camps. The last accounts of Sir Adrian +Fairfax referred to his being deep in diplomatic business with the +conquered Dutch beyond the Orange River; and, save the anticipated +execution of Gray, matters remained in abeyance with Sir John Manvers's +division until the two Generals should meet, to hold a parley with the +Kafir chiefs and people; for, although subdued for a time, these +restless savages would not "sit still"--the great array of forces +scattered over the face of the land kept them in check; but though their +words were "sweeter than honey in the honeycomb, and smoother than oil," +there was war in their hearts. + +Mr Daveney had long asserted this to Sir John Manvers, who, jealous of +all interference from the Commissioner, and haughtily reserved alike in +communicating or receiving opinions, especially from him, made no +serious objections to the return homeward of some of his best burgher +captains. Troops and colonists rested on their arms, and the usual +amusements of camp life were entered into with all the avidity of +excitement-loving soldiers. + +Poor Gray had now but three days to live. Mr Trail could not help +thinking, that if all the circumstances of the case were related to Sir +Adrian Fairfax, that kind General might mitigate the sentence. The +missionary had drawn the young deserter's history from him, and every +word he spoke increased the good man's interest, and made him long to +rescue the youth from an ignominious death. + +Even the eyes of the president of the court-martial, Colonel Graham, +were observed to fill with tears when the question was asked of the +prisoner-- + +"How old are you?" + +And Gray replied, "I am twenty-two to-day." + +His air was so different to the reckless, daring manner of men hardened +in crime, and every one felt the force of the words he uttered in his +defence. + +"I acknowledge my crimes," he said; "but I have been very unfortunate." + +His open countenance when his eyes were raised, for shame and sorrow +usually weighed them down; his slight boyish frame, attenuated by +illness; his air of deep humility--humility without fear--for every +question was answered unhesitatingly and honestly; the gentle way in +which he met the accusations of the chief witness against him, a man who +hoped to purchase his own freedom by the blood of his fellow creature; +and the straightforward manner in which he related his history from the +time he and Lyle had been cast ashore from the _Trafalgar_, taking more +blame to himself in the matter of gunpowder traffic; than he deserved, +were all adjuncts in his favour with the honourable court; but, alas! +there was the damning evidence to prove the life he had lived for the +last six months, and nothing to confirm his assertion that he deprecated +his occupation or position. + +Under present circumstances, Gray was not permitted to occupy his little +chamber in the kind missionary's cottage; but Ormsby--no longer the +thoughtless, selfish Ormsby--gave up his hut to the poor young prisoner, +who, patient and resigned, sat within, looking through the open door +upon the distant plains of Kafirland. + +He was fettered, and safely guarded by sentries, who would fain have +avoided their sad duty. + +Mr Trail sat beside him--the Bible he had been reading was closed upon +his knee--the two were silent now--"thoughts too deep for words" filled +the breasts of both. The missionary's eyes were overflowing with a +sorrow he could not repress, and the tears fell drop by drop upon his +sleeve.--The deserter took no notice of this; he continued to gaze upon +the plains. Between him and the great space beyond was spread the +camp-ground--the troops with glittering arms--the sturdy burghers +scattered in somewhat disorderly fashion--the Fingo warriors dancing +their untiring dance and chanting their war-song. But he noted not this +stir--his interests were no longer of earth--his eyes were lifted above +those vacant green plains to those "aisles of light," beyond which men +have a vague idea that God dwells in heaven. + +At the foot of the camp-ground the waters of the two rivers spread east +and west; eastward the stream widened considerably, foaming and tumbling +over gigantic blocks of stone; westward the current was comparatively +smooth and shallow; precipitous banks, intersected with kloofs, formed +the boundary on the opposite side, the cliffs overhanging the eastward +being densely-wooded. + +The ground above these cliffs sloped up to a long green ridge, sharply +defined against the clear breezy sky of a Cape autumn day. The young +prisoner's eye swept this ridge with a purposeless look; but the +sentries who watched him, following that look, were surprised to +perceive several men on horseback with one in the midst, whom they soon +discovered to be unarmed and bound upon the saddle he bestrode. This +body of men inclined to the bank leading to the smoother waters of the +river, dipped suddenly into a gorge, and did not reappear till they +ascended the slight declivity at the extremity of the encampment. The +horses, somewhat jaded, flagged in their pace till they came in full +sight of the troops, when the party, some fifty strong, cantered to the +guard-house, demanding to see the commanding officer of the troops, to +whom they desired to deliver up Lee the convict. + +Bound in limb, but with the dauntless spirit blazing in his eye, Jasper +was led into the guard-house, and there, surrounded by his captors and +the soldiers, awaited the arrival of the officer who was to receive him. + +Colonel Graham was directed to dispose of the contumacious rebel for the +present--no words passed between this officer and the prisoner. The +elder Boer of the party delivered him to British authority, and claimed +the reward, which was to be applied to kindly purposes among the +sufferers by the war; and Lyle was conducted to a cell, rudely but +strongly built, adjoining the guard-house. It contained a bench, a +table, an iron bedstead with a straw pallet, and was but faintly lighted +by a narrow slit high up in the thick stone wall. An iron ring in this +wall showed that, if necessary, the prisoner could be chained to his +desolate abode. + +All that could be seen from this narrow chamber was the blue vault of +heaven, with sometimes a bird careering freely in the clear ether. + +The door swung heavily behind Jasper Lyle as he entered the cell--we +must leave him there for the present. No one visited him for some +hours--the chained eagle was left to beat its wings against its cage. + +It was on the afternoon of this very day that an advance-guard of +cavalry emerged from a glen heading the encampment, and announced that +Sir Adrian Fairfax was at hand; the little knots of officers, dotted +about the ground, canvassing the various reports which had lately +floated about concerning the convict so unexpectedly delivered up to +British authority, dispersed instantly. The bugles gave warning to fall +in, and Sir Adrian, attended by his staff, and followed by a small body +of troops, rode at a sharp pace into the square, where all, save Sir +John Manvers, were in readiness to receive him. + +It may be imagined that rumour's busy tongue had not been still as +regarded Jasper Lyle, for it began to be known that Lee was not the real +name of the man who had made himself so notorious beyond the borders of +the colony. + +It was first ascertained that this rebel had been in South Africa +before; then, some one remembered having heard of a so-called nephew, +but, in reality, as it was said, a natural son of Sir John Manvers, who +had given him an infinity of trouble, but who had been reported lost off +the Cape of Good Hope; in short, one link after another was furnished to +complete a chain on which to hang something very like the truth. + +But the Daveneys were unconscious of the curiosity and interest they +excited. Eleanor as yet knew nothing of what had taken place, and +Marion, although she felt acutely, was consoled by Ormsby's generosity. + +Mr Daveney parted these two young people, and led Ormsby away to Mr +Trail's cottage. + +There, in the presence of the missionary, the Commissioner proposed to +release the young man from his engagement with his daughter. + +"You see the strait we are in," said Daveney; "there is no shutting our +eyes to the fact that my wretched son-in-law must die the death of a +traitor. You must not ally yourself to the sister-in-law of a +malefactor." + +"It is my Marion's misfortune, not her fault, that she is so allied," +replied Ormsby. "I love her, and she loves me, and we will not be +parted." + +Mr Daveney's mind felt somewhat lightened of its weight of anxiety on +seeing his old friend Sir Adrian Fairfax. He did not believe, for an +instant, that, by any circumstances, Lyle could be absolved from +punishment; but a vague hope filled his breast that the convict's life +would be spared. Stern and cold and unfeeling as Sir John Manvers had +been in his communications with him, the mild-tempered Daveney +experienced the deepest compassion towards the father of such a son. + +But what if he had known that that son was the legitimate first-born of +the baronet? + +And how had Sir John received the fatal news that his ill-starred son +Jasper was a fettered prisoner within a few hundred yards of his own +marquee? + +On the day after hearing who this Lee really was, he had sent for +Colonel Graham, who stood next in command, and desired that whenever the +convict should be brought into the encampment, Colonel Graham should be +ready to receive him, without reference to the higher authority. He +dreaded lest a panic should seize him on suddenly hearing of Jasper's +unwelcome approach. + +Accustomed to his cold manner, his aide-de-camp had, on the convict's +arrival, placed before Sir John the document from Colonel Graham +reporting the outlaw's capture. + +"You may go, sir," said Sir John, on receiving this dire intelligence; +and he did not lift the paper, on which he recognised the handwriting, +until the canvas screen dropped between him and the young officer. + +He opened it and tried to read it through; the letters swam before his +eyes, they turned blood-red, they blazed like characters of fire, the +paper fell to the ground, and for the first time in his life the strong +man fainted away. + +A very few minutes sufficed for the hasty review Sir Adrian took of the +assembled forces, and profiting by Colonel Graham's offer of his +marquee, he retired thither, and sent at once for Mr Daveney. + +Frankfort, who, with the General, awaited the Commissioner, wrung the +hand of his friend in silence, and all four entering the tent, where +some refreshment had been hastily spread, Colonel Graham informed Sir +Adrian of the apprehension of the rebel convict. + +Frankfort was a stranger to the old colonel, who was fortunately too +much occupied with matters of duty to notice the death-like hue which +suddenly overspread the young man's face. At a signal from Sir Adrian, +Mr Daveney drew Frankfort into the air, but he turned from the sight of +the busy camp. At this moment the Commissioner's attention was +attracted towards a little cavalcade of a couple of wagons drawn by +mules, and attended by a mounted escort of one of the town levies: it +passed the guard-house, and was directed by a soldier to the dwelling of +Mr Trail. + +Anon, a messenger hastened across the square, and announced the arrival +of Lady Amabel Fairfax. The messenger was fortunately Ormsby, who knew +by Frankfort's expression of horror and surprise, that he had learned +the tidings of the day. Daveney hurried off; neither of the young men +spoke. They strode on till a thicket shut the camp from their sight, +and, descending a bank, cast themselves on the turf. + +"Where is Eleanor?" asked Frankfort. + +"Do you see those willows?" said Ormsby, pointing up the little rivulet; +"the tops of them wave just below her window. She has been almost dead, +but is better and more resigned, for she thinks--" + +"That he is still dead?" said Frankfort; and, in the bitterness of his +heart, he added, "Would to Heaven he were!" The next moment he prayed +God to forgive him, and, burying his face in his hands, groaned aloud. + +"She believes," replied Ormsby, "that he has again escaped." + +"Lady Amabel arrived!" exclaimed Sir Adrian, in great surprise, as Mr +Trail entered Colonel Graham's tent with the information. + +"Arrived--impossible! have you seen her?" + +"I have, sir." + +"Now, then, thank Heaven," said Sir Adrian! "had I known yesterday that +my wife was travelling, I should have been less able for the work I had +before me. Mr Trail, it may be well to inform you that, in spite of +this calm, which apparently pervades the whole of Kafirland, the Gaika +warriors are assembling in the mountains, and my trusty Fingoes have +warned me that they are meditating an attack on the camp. I have long +had the idea that Sir John Manvers was not so prepared for mischief as +myself and I hastened hither; but I have distributed my forces I hope +advantageously; and although we may not keep the enemy out altogether, +we may check his advance, and meet it with caution. It is time that I +conferred with Sir John: it is strange that I should have received no +message from him." + +The three gentlemen left the marquee. Colonel Graham bent his way to +the tents of his regiment; the other two directed their steps to the +canvas pavilion. A military surgeon met them at the door--dismay was +painted on his face. + +General Manvers lay as dead upon his camp bedstead--his jaw dropped, his +cheek sunken, his eyes glaring and fixed. He had been found in this +state by his servant. The document relative to Lyle was crushed between +his fingers. + +While Sir Adrian stood beside this rigid object of despair, the eyelids +quivered, a faint sigh stole from the blue parted lips, and some low +words were breathed, not uttered, but Sir Adrian distinguished them. + +"My son! my son!--my first-born! Save my miserable son Jasper!" + +The sudden surprise of seeing Sir Adrian Fairfax caused the unfortunate +man to start up; he was bewildered--looked first at one, and then at the +other, of the two kind men who leaned over him. The surgeon was utterly +in the dark as to the cause of this sudden seizure. + +Greatly disturbed at what he saw, deeply anxious about his wife, and +keenly alive to the responsibilities of his command, Sir Adrian was +anxious to withdraw, but Sir John held him firmly by the hand. + +"Fairfax," said the latter, "I _must_ speak with you alone." + +The interview lasted but a few minutes. Dr E--, who had only retired +to a tent close at hand, was speedily summoned again. "I am obliged, +you see, Dr E--," said Sir Adrian, "to leave this unfortunate +gentleman. I fear he will disclose to you much of a history which it +will shock you to hear, but I leave him, I know, in honourable hands, +and his valet is faithful. The sentries had better be removed beyond +ear-shot of the marquee. You are aware that there are symptoms of a +warlike nature among the Gaikas in those hills; but, come what may, you +must not leave Sir John. Delirium, I have little doubt, will supervene, +for he is fearfully excited, and, alas! there is no earthly comfort for +him. In a word, the convict who has been brought within our lines +to-day is his son." + +The good surgeon stood confounded. Low moans struck on his ear--then a +bitter cry; he had only time to send for the valet and a trusty sergeant +before the patient was wild with delirium. + +Miserable man! we must leave him; his pride is humbled to the dust--he +weeps aloud, and implore his servant to intercede, to pray for his son, +his first-born son. + +Sir Adrian Fairfax did not seek his wife till he had made a minute +inspection of the defences of the camp. He entered the guard-house. A +thrill of anguish pierced his very soul at sight of the heavily-barred +door of the convict's cell. All was still within. + +The day was more than half spent ere the general had time to greet the +Lady Amabel. Mr Trail's cottage was appropriated to her use, but the +kind and gracious woman had found her way to Eleanor's little +white-washed room. Still equipped in her riding-dress, she reclined on +cushions spread upon the floor. + +She looked like some fair lily, beaten by the storm. Her riding-hat was +laid aside, and her hair, still beautiful, hung disordered about her +face, which had lost in loveliness of outline, but had preserved all its +grace and sweetness of expression. + +She silenced her husband's tender reproof at having undertaken such a +journey without his knowledge or permission. "Permission, dear love!" +said she; "I did not ask for what I knew you would not grant, and it has +been my great pleasure to surprise you in this beautiful desert. +Besides," she added, with a grave face, "truth to tell, I hastened my +journey in consequence of news gathered by the way by my trusty Klaas, +the Hottentot. + +"Preferring my travelling accommodation to the discomforts of the little +village inn at B--, where we halted last night, thirty miles from this, +I sent Klaas to the mission station, for Mr M--, who I knew would give +my people milk and vegetables; but Klaas, hearing on his way that Mr +M--was absent, descended towards a Kafir Kraal in the valley. You know +how cautious he is--he never trusts a Kafir in time of peace, so he +crawled on his hands and knees to a bush crowning a height, where he +stopped to reconnoitre. He was horror-stricken, when, on looking down +upon the location, he saw two murdered Englishmen lying among the stones +and thorn-bushes, and, at a little distance from them, sat a council of +Kafirs. He waited till it grew dusk, and then crept down to listen to +their conversation. He brought me back the fearful intelligence, that +all the Kafir servants in the colony are to be mustered this day, by the +Gaika warriors, in the mountains.--Ah! I see," exclaimed Lady Amabel, +looking from her husband to the Commissioner, "that this is no news to +you. Gracious Heaven! is it possible that these fearful savages are +likely to come down upon us? Oh! Adrian, Adrian! I am glad I have +come." + +"There spoke the true soldier's wife," said the General; "but I trust we +are too well prepared, for the enemy to approach our lines; they may +harass us in many ways. They have already, I understand, swept off our +cattle from the hills." + +But all day long the wary foe, from his mountain fastnesses, watched the +proceedings in the British camp. All idea of attacking it was given up +for the present, and, at the close of day, several Kafirs, graceful, +gentle, dignified, and smiling, came to offer milk and corn and wood for +sale. + +Lady Amabel, who had never seen these wild beings before, looked from +the garden at the dusky groups mingling with the soldiery, and could +scarcely be persuaded that these were the people meditating a fiery +onset with the burning brand and the gleaming assegai upon the camp they +entered like messengers of peace. + +Men and women, however, were armed with the weapons used by their race +of old. + +Despite this fair seeming on the part of the Gaika Kafirs, every +preparation was made for their reception in hostile array. All day long +scouts had been seen skimming along the ridges; much of the cattle +belonging to the burgher camps had been carried off, and here and there +glimmered a telegraphic fire. + +No member of Mr Daveney's household retired to rest: the night was +spent much as I have described one on a similar occasion at Annerley. +Still there was a certain feeling of security in being surrounded by a +large, well-disciplined garrison, _well prepared_. + +Wearied with her journey, and attired in a loose morning robe; Lady +Amabel reclined on a camp chair; Eleanor was seated on the cushions at +her feet, and both had dropped into an uneasy slumber, when they were +awakened by the echoes of the morning gun. + +No sign of scouts upon the ridges, no smoke from dying signal-fires; all +was still, calm, and peaceful in the outer world. The heavens shone +serene and clear, the sun careered in brightness along the hills, and +the busy camp was soon astir. + +And so passed another day. Kafir men and women and children again came +among the soldiery, bartering and chattering and laughing; you would, +indeed, have thought they were the "pastoral and peaceful race" +described by some deluded men. + +The door of Gray's hut was closed that day, and none saw him but Mr +Trail. + +Midnight went by; the camp was hushed in deep repose, though the ear at +intervals was startled by the challenge of a sentry, or the rattle of +muskets, as the officers on duty went their rounds, and, fatigued with +the excitement and harass of the previous hours, most of the community, +except the watchful sentinels, were hushed in sleep. Even Sir John +Manvers's delirium had yielded to the anodynes administered, and he lay +stupified and still, watched by Dr E--and his servant. + +But Eleanor, who had longed to be alone, and who was too wretched to +fear for herself, sat with the Book of Consolation before her, in her +little chamber. The sofa-bed was undisturbed, her light burnt low, and +she had just unfastened her hair to bind it up again ere she lay down to +rest, when the flame of her candle flickered in a sudden current of air. +In the room were two tiny windows, scarcely two feet square, at right +angles with each other. That to the east was uncurtained and was +lighted by the coming dawn; she looked up at the one opposite to her; it +was open, and a face filled it as a picture would fill a frame. + +It was the face of her husband--and the large full eyes were fixed upon +her in a fashion that riveted her own as though attracted by a +rattle-snake. They had not met since that fearful night when, with +throbbing heart and bleeding feet, Eleanor had rushed from her home to +the sanctuary of the mission station. + +Each looked in silence at the other. Only a minute passed away, there +was a low growl from the hound Marmion, a foot pressed the ground below +the eastern window, and the dread presence vanished. + +She heard the willow boughs breaking, Ormsby's dog barked furiously, +hurried footsteps again passed her window, and before she had strength +to rise, Fitje with Ellen in her arms crept quietly into the room. + +Voices sounded through the cottage, in the garden,--the dog's angry bark +retreated up the ravine, the whole camp was roused, and the cry went +along the lines--"The prisoner has escaped." + +With his usual tact and presence of mind, though death stared him in the +face, Jasper Lyle had contrived to conciliate the young sergeant on +guard so far, that the latter did not turn a deaf ear to the man who, +though he knew him to be a rebel, he believed to be brave and +adventurous. Lyle asked but few questions, and these in a careless way. +He ascertained that Sir John Manvers was "like to die, he was so ill;" +that Sir Adrian was in command, and that the family of the Commissioner, +Mr Daveney, was living in a cottage within five hundred yards of the +guard-house. + +Sir John Manvers ill--delirious! Had the blow told? Sir Adrian in +command! He was the last man to punish by death, if it was possible to +avoid such an extremity. Life might be spared, but there would be no +more freedom for Jasper Lyle. Gray convicted--condemned!--how, then, +could he expect favour? Something like a spasm of remorse touched his +heart as he thought of the young deserter. His wife!--was she so near? + +There are moments in the lives of evil men over which good angels hold +their sway. Gray and Eleanor!--were they not his victims? He would +fain have said a good word for one,--a strange desire arose to see the +other. + +He had not been an hour in his prison ere his quick eye had descried a +possible means of escape. + +The walls were of stone, the roof of shingles, the loop-hole a mere +narrow slit high up in the wall. Lyle drew his bedstead near it, he +stood up and looked out; he could see the southern plains and part of +the encampment, he could hear the reliefs passing too and fro; he +listened and distinguished the parole, "Albany." He rubbed his hands +with glee, he examined the loop-hole, and discovered that no +coping-stone supported the roof. A bar of iron from his bedstead would +remove the shingle overhanging the loop. + +He sat down upon the bedstead in a desponding attitude. When the +sergeant entered with the afternoon meal, the prisoner was weeping. + +Fortune favoured Lyle. The sun set in heavy clouds, torrents of rain +began to fall, the sentry who paced below the loop-hole retired to his +box in the angle of the building, the thunder roared, the lightning +flashed, and the convict worked amid the din of the elements. Every now +and then he listened at the door; in the pauses of the storm he could +hear the sleepers in the guardroom breathing hard; he went to work +again, the roof had rotted from the effects of the rainy season, it gave +way, and Lyle raised his head through the aperture. + +In another instant he had slid down the wall, and was on the turf. + +The sentry was within a few paces of him, but the wind, coming from an +opposite direction, blew the blinding rain in the soldier's face. He +was wide awake, though, and, on finding something was astir not far off, +uttered the usual query, "Who goes there?" The steady reply of +"Friend," and the countersign "Albany," were sufficient; the sentry +imagined it was some officer passing from one tent to another; the +convict plunged below the bank in rear of the guardroom, which was on a +line with the Daveneys' cottage; and, scrambling on till he came to the +group of willows, sprang into the garden, and saw before him a window. +A light shone through the muslin curtain. + +It readily yielded to his touch; he looked in--his pale, +sorrowful-looking wife was before him. + +What a contrast with the turmoils through which he had passed, with the +wild uncertainty which made his bosom throb, was the sight of this +grave, sad, innocent woman, alone in the stillness of dawn, with her +Bible beside her! + +It was so totally unlike what he had experienced since he had first +known her, that he was softened, though confounded, at the sight. He +wanted words; he felt as if he could have said something kind, but did +not know how. + +Ah! the scorched and fiery ground of the sinful man's mind hath no +resting-place for the angel's foot. The good spirit halted on the +threshold; nevertheless, Jasper wore a look unusual to him, and when it +had passed away, it haunted Eleanor like a vision. Her memory of it was +touched with something like compassion, and it was well that it was so. + +The cry was raised, "The prisoner has escaped." + +The morning broke cold and chill, and the vapours hung about the hills, +as the little force of Cape cavalry and its infantry supports were +mustered, ere they started on the _spoor_ of the convict, with orders +also to reconnoitre the ground haunted by the enemy. It was May who had +discovered the _spoor_. + +Devoted to the Daveneys, and especially attached to Eleanor, he had +built for himself a little pent-house, a _lean-to_, beneath the eastern +window of her room. In this he, and Fitje, and Ellen, and Ormsby's +gallant hound--May's friend and playmate--all slept at night. May was +always ready to accompany the Commissioner in his rounds; he was at hand +any moment during the twenty-four hours; he was as watchful as the +hound. Although he had never enlightened Fitje on the subject of +Eleanor's miserable connection with Lyle, he had followed her through +her whole history, and a vague sense of dread for her sake hung about +him as soon as he learned that her tormentor had re-appeared in the +shape of Lee the convict. + +On the night in question, May, like a true bushman, was too much +disconcerted by the commotion in the elements to sleep. He never could +banish the idea, entertained by his race, that evil spirits were working +mischief in the stormy air; and he had just turned round upon his mat, +comforted by the streaks of daylight penetrating the shed, when his +quick ear detected a foot-fall to which he was unaccustomed-- + +"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes," thought +May, in words not unlike the text; and, creeping from the shed, he saw a +tall, dark form between him and the white wall of the cottage. + +Lyle's ear, almost as keen as May's, was disturbed by the bushman's +movement, stealthy as it was; the next instant the hound sprung out. +The convict swung himself down the bank by the bough of one of the +willows, and, lifting a stone, cast it with such sure aim at poor +Marmion, that he fell lame on the spot. Still the beast managed to +follow him up the ravine, and May tracked the steps from bush to bush +till Marmion sank down whining piteously, and holding his bleeding limb +up with an imploring look that May could not resist. + +He returned to the house, informed his master of the route taken by the +convict, and honour left no alternative to Mr Daveney but to report it +to the commanding officer of the party of soldiery about to start in +search of him. + +It was the fate of Frankfort and Ormsby to be of this party; but +whatever they felt on the occasion was not expressed between them. +Doubtless each had the same wish--never again to behold the miserable +being, who spread sorrow and dismay wherever he went. + +But the advanced guard of gallant Fingoes has entered the defile; the +troops proceed with cautious steps and muskets loaded, for, +peradventure, many a dusky head is peering out from behind the green +tufts and rocky masses that make the way so steep and toilsome. + +The sun poured a flood of golden light upon a scene so fair, that it +should have been peopled by beings as guileless as our first parents +when tenants of Eden. It was an open tongue of land stretching from the +kloof through which the troops had passed, and planted by the graceful +hand of nature with those clumps of bush which give to African scenery +the air of a noble park. On the one side a mountain, wooded from the +base to the summit, rose majestically to the clouds, all golden-tinted +with the radiance of the east; on the other rose a krantz, abrupt and +rugged, the white rocks standing out in strong relief from the dark +foliage of the yellow-wood trees, among which the monkeys were +chattering, and swinging by their long tails from bough to bough. The +foot of this grand barrier was watered by a stream clear and still, +being gathered into pools between the rocks; and over the shining waters +hung groups of willows, weighed down by the oblong nests of those pretty +birds which most dread the snake, sure denizen of the loveliest nooks in +Southern Africa. + +There were cattle drinking at the stream, and these were unattended by +their guards, as usual. It was this circumstance which made the +Hottentot soldiers in advance halt, and keenly examine the locality. + +A slight elevation concealed part of this little prairie from the +soldiers, who, with May and three or four Fingoes, plunged into some +intervening bush to reconnoitre. Those in rear dropped behind the +embowered rocks, and kept strict silence till ordered by the commanding +officer, Frankfort, to advance upon the enemy, who was soon discovered. + +Half way down the slope stood a noble grove of trees; interspersed among +these were several Kafir women and boys, all carrying assegais and +knob-kierries, and all in a state of excitement; for, although silent, +they were dancing in their strange way upon the flowery turf, and waving +their weapons aloft with wild gesticulations. A few aged Kafirs +contemplated the scene with manifest satisfaction, but grinned a +noiseless applause; and far down were gathered some sixty or seventy +Kafirs, ranged in a semicircle round a stately oak. They had been +sitting in council, and rose at the very instant Frankfort's eye fell +upon them. + +They were, however, unconscious of being overlooked; they stood up, cast +aside their karosses, and began to dance a solemn measure, which soon +changed to the wildest gestures. They leaped high in the air, swung +themselves round and round, brandished their spears, and presently a low +hum of voices ascended the bank, and swelled into a chorus. + +A great pile of sticks was gathered round this tree, and Frankfort began +to believe that they were performing some heathenish rite, when a sharp, +clear whistle issued from a clump of euphorbias and mimosas on the +right, and a yell from the women proclaimed that the soldiers were +discovered. + +It was not ground on which Kafirs would make a stand under any +circumstances, and it was not their policy to fire the first shot. They +began to retire slowly, as if peaceably disposed, and retreated to the +krantz; but, as they went, the boys cast their knob-kierries at the +oak-tree, and raised a shout of defiance to the troops, who showed +themselves on the green ridge. Finally, the savages collected in a body +near the pools, and, casting back a shower of assegais, disappeared with +their cattle among the yellow-wood trees. + +The echoes of that savage yell rang far and wide, but a dead silence +ensued; the Cape cavalry galloped down the slope, and poured a volley of +musketry amid the trees and cliffs; they were answered by the shrill +war-cry of Kafirland, and in a few minutes they beheld the savages and +their cattle on a ledge of rocks far beyond the white man's reach. The +savages uttered one derisive shout, and vanished. + +It was useless to attempt to follow them. The first signal of defiance +was given, there was no further doubt of hostility; but the troops were +left upon the lovely prairie without an enemy. + +Many a gallant fellow lay bleeding on the flowery turf; Ormsby was +stretched beside one of the pools, the blood poured from an +assegai-wound in his side; his soft shining hair was matted with gore +from another in the temple. + +A horrible object presented itself to the troops as they faced about, +carrying their wounded up the slope; it was the figure of a white man +bound with thongs to the oak, round which the faggots had been piled, +but happily not ignited. The arms were stretched out, and fastened to +two wide-spreading branches of the noble tree; the feet rested on the +sticks, which it had been intended should blaze beneath them, and there +were the marks of heavy blows upon the fine athletic limbs; the face was +distorted, the eyes glared in their sockets, and the body was +transpierced by assegais. + +The Kafirs, athirst for blood, afraid to attack the camps, had gone +roaming about for days seeking whom they might devour. Here, in this +lovely and sequestered spot, a group of Gaikas had halted with their +cattle; a solitary white man suddenly appeared among them--he was alone, +unarmed--miserable wretch that he was!--he was in search of freedom in +the beautiful desert. They rushed upon him, seized him, and, pinioning +his arms, fastened him to the tree, and sat down before him to +deliberate how he should die by their ruthless hands. + +Reader, he understood their language! + +He heard them, and was powerless. + +They were all of one opinion.-- + +He should be killed by slow torture! + +But how? + +And then they talked together, and the victim, for the first time in his +life, called on God to have mercy upon him, the sinner. + +And Zoonah was there--Zoonah, who, in early youth, had been fostered and +kindly trained by white men, and taught who God was, and how all the +beautiful and pleasant gifts of earth came from God--and Zoonah mocked +him, and cried aloud-- + +"Is your God black or white?" + +Then all was still again, and it was decided how he should die; and they +took their assegais, and drew a red circle round his throat, and sat +down to see the beginning of their work, sharpening their weapons, and +bidding the young boys take good aim at the quivering and bleeding form +with their knob-kierries. Some of the women came, and looked shyly at +him at first, and so went away, and danced and returned; and it was at +this period of the tragic drama that a girl caught sight of a carbine in +the bush above, and shrieked her warning-- + +"The soldiers!--the soldiers!--and the Fingo dogs!" + +They fled, but left their victim no chance of life from his fellow-men. + +Jasper Lyle was quite dead when they unbound him from the oak, down the +bark of which the blood streamed from his mangled limbs. + +It was riven by lightning afterwards, and, till Mr Trail had it cut +down, stood all white and ghastly, an unsightly memento of the convict's +awful death. + +The hour fixed for Gray's execution passed by--the world was already +dead to him; but had Mr Trail, the kind, the thoughtful, the unselfish, +forgotten him? + +How clear are the heavens! how serene and still! how balmy the autumnal +breeze of Kafirland. + +Hark to the sullen roar of artillery close at hand! It shakes the +darkened hut of the poor prisoner. + +Cries of anger and defiance disturb the silence of the majestic hills; +men rush by with clattering arms. + +The dusky host has gathered on the mountain slopes; they hover about in +clouds. Gray recognises the well-known challenge, "Izapa!" it is +answered by a volley of musketry. Again the deep-mouthed guns open wide +their fiery throats, and a hearty English cheer announces that shot and +shell have told upon the savage foe. + +But the wild war-cry rings out shrill and strong again; it draws nearer, +and is answered by the Fingoes. + +Gray could see but little from the aperture of his hut. He noticed +though that the Kafirs, emboldened by their superiority of numbers, came +muzzle to muzzle with the infantry; they grappled with the soldiers, +they snapped their reed-like assegais in two and gave back stab for +stab; they gibbered, they leaped, they dropped as if dead into the bush, +only to rise the next moment and wound their adversaries in the back; +they came bounding down the hills in fresh bodies, among which the +British artillery soon began to make havoc; but, for those that fell, +numbers started from behind the rocks and shrubs, and dashed forward to +the onslaught. + +They stepped into the open ground. Up rose the warlike Fingoes from +beneath their shields! Their spears glittered in the glowing sun; the +mass extended, it spread east and west, and they advanced to the charge. + +Slave and master meet in the deadly strife! How the dark eyes of each +glare with vengeance and detestation! but the Fingoes not only know the +warfare of their enemy, they also fight with the skill and coolness of +the British. They will die rather than yield, for they feel that to +surrender were worse than death. + +And they do conquer, before the outlying picquets posted in the mountain +glens, by the experienced orders of Sir Adrian Fairfax, emerge from +their ambush to meet the retiring warriors. + +It was a deadly struggle. The Kafirs, beaten back from the encampment, +hoped to find safe shelter in their strongholds; but Sir Adrian's policy +was as deep as their own. He, too, had had his spies scattered through +the land; and albeit these specious savages had sworn to sit still--had +humbled themselves like dogs, and sworn by the bones of their dead +chiefs to keep faith, he knew that when they professed most they meant +least; and, on being informed that Sir John Manvers's large force was +scattered, and that some of the burghers had anticipated their +dispersion, and were about to depart, he hurried his march, after +closing his treaties with the Boers, whom he contrived also to +conciliate, and made such an admirable disposition of his troops that +the Kafirs were deceived completely. + +The soldiers, dispersed among the kloofs, appeared to the Gaikas to be +making roads and hewing wood: they little knew that, at a certain sound +of the bugle, they would be up and ready at any hour of the day or +night. + +Hundreds of the enemy were left dead, after the action, near Sir John +Manvers's camp: and, alas! many a family in England, whose best +sympathies had been enlisted in favour of this "ill-used race," "driven +from their land"--"a peaceful, inoffensive people, asking only grass for +their cattle," mourned the loss of a gallant son or brother shot down or +assegaied by these cunning and untameable beings. + +And all day long, and through the dark night, the wailing cry of women +mourning for their dead resounded in the mountains, and, lo! from the +British camp the triumphant chorus of the Fingoes answered it. + +The enemy were beaten, and councils were held, and the warriors crawled +to the feet of their "white Father," and prayed to be forgiven as little +children! + +But melancholy experience teaches us the value of a Kafir's word! + +A little pyramid marks the spot where, on the evening of that fatal day, +a funeral party of British soldiers dug a grave for the comrades who had +fallen in the fray. + +There are other monuments around it, for a town stands now where long +lines of tents dotted the green-sward, and a church is rising in the +midst. Within it is a grand monument to the memory of Sir John Manvers, +who died ere the body of his murdered son was brought into the +encampment. + +Divided in their lives, are they united in eternity? + +Within the encampment there were no great signs of the struggle which +had taken place on the preceding day. On the contrary, there was an +unusual stillness about it, for short and conclusive as had been the +battle, the heavy wings of Death had cast a dark shadow on the scene, +which had its influence on all. The cottages were closed, there were no +people at work in the gardens, men spoke apart and in whispers, and, +though morning was in her prime, a stillness like that of night +prevailed. + +Presently, there came forth from the tents soldiers fully accoutred; +then their officers; next Sir Adrian Fairfax and his staff. All wore +the same grave aspect. + +But the brilliant uniforms, the glittering arms, the waving plumes, made +a dazzling array, as the troops fell in and formed three sides of a +square. + +Nine or ten men stepped out from the rest. + +Beyond the soldiery, were the Fingo warriors, seated on the turf; and a +few Kafir women and children looked from the hills upon the scene, which +they could not understand, for, with arms bound, and head uncovered, +there walked into the square a young man, whose whole air and aspect +bespoke him anything but a malefactor--a rebel doomed to die: it was +Gray! + +Mr Trail was with him. The prisoner advanced with steady step, but the +flush of shame overspread his face, as he felt that the gaze of hundreds +was fixed upon him. He would have read sincere and sorrowful pity in +that gaze, had he seen it, but his eyes were fixed upon the ground. + +Anon, there swelled upon the air that solemn march for the dead that +thrills to the very soul when we hear it. The sudden burst of the drum +startled the prisoner, and he looked up. He saw his coffin borne before +him; he moved on mechanically to the time of the wailing music; he +passed the long lines of soldiers; he did not lose his presence of mind. +As he drew near Sir Adrian Fairfax, he raised his eyes for an instant, +and lifting his fettered hands, bowed on them. Frankfort's heart beat +with the dread of being overcome to tears; Colonel Graham brushed the +drops away from his eyes, and one young soldier fainted in the ranks. + +All at last was ready; the drum ceased to beat. + +The prisoner's eyes were bound; it was observed that he cast one long, +lingering look upon the bright and lovely scenes around him, ere this +was done. + +He wished to take a last look of earth! + +He was told that some moments would be allowed him for prayer at the +last. He pressed Mr Trail's hands within his own, and the good +minister left him. + +The lightest whisper might have been heard while the prisoner was +absorbed in prayer. He never moved when the firing party knelt down, +although their arms and accoutrements broke the silence sharply. The +officer in command of this party uttered the word, "Ready!" in a voice +so clear that it penetrated to the farthest in the ranks. + +Did Gray hear it? None could tell. + +"Present!"--he heard that, for he lifted his head and dropped his hands +before him, awaiting the fiery shower of musketry. + +Still, not a movement in those disciplined ranks! + +"Prisoner!" + +It was another voice that spoke. + +The General had bid the party wait his order to fire, and, lest any +fatal error should occur, had warned the men, that he should step before +them to address the prisoner.--"Remember," said Sir Adrian, "if you do +not strictly adhere to my orders, you will shoot me." + +None but the firing party and Mr Trail were prepared for this pause in +the ceremonial. + +"Prisoner--" + +Gray remained kneeling, but bent his head in recognition of the voice +addressing him. + +"The offence of which you were found guilty on the --th of--should have +been punished yesterday by death; but the events of that day delayed +your doom. Extenuating circumstances induced your merciful judges to +reconsider your case, and finally to accept your own assertions as +evidence in your favour. God is the judge of your word, whether true or +false. In the name then of Him, who loves mercy better than sacrifice, +I entreat you to redeem your past errors by a deep repentance. +Prisoner, rise!--you are pardoned!" + +Some one removed the bandage from Gray's eyes--the light dazzled them-- +he could see nothing; but, though faint and powerless, he knew it was in +Mr Trail's kind arms that he reclined. + +He heard the clattering arms of the dispersing soldiers, and the drums +and fifes beating merry time in marching off the ground, but he felt +utterly unable to help himself. He was lifted up--he fainted as they +carried him away, and on reviving, found himself in the little room he +had occupied in Mr Trail's cottage. + +But it was strangely metamorphosed--a carpet covered the hitherto matted +floor, snowy curtains shaded the small windows, there were books on the +table, and a glass with wild flowers, and, beside the sofa on which he +leaned, stood a lady tall and fair, who looked to him like some +ministering angel. + +It was Lady Amabel Fairfax. + +Peace was proclaimed in Kafirland--peace for a time. + +There were busy artificers on the camp-ground; fortifications were in +progress, and traders were opening their stores. Everything gave +promise of establishing a thriving town; wagons were winding down the +green slopes of the western hills, and fine herds of cattle and flocks +of sheep and goats were passing through on their way to fresh +pasture-lands. + +A cumbrous and old-fashioned, but comfortable, English carriage with +four fine horses stood at the gate of the Daveneys' cottage. Ormsby, +somewhat wasted by his wounds--happily the one on the temple, was but a +cut from a passing assegai--led Lady Amabel to her equipage, and Mr +Daveney followed, leading Eleanor in deep mourning. Major Frankfort +stood at the gate with Sir Adrian; he gave his hand to Lady Amabel--she +felt it tremble. + +He could not see Eleanor's face, it was closely veiled; they had never +met since that fearful night at Annerley, but now she held her hand out +to him. He heard her utter the word "Farewell." + +Sir Adrian shook hands with him, and Lady Amabel leaned forward to say +"God bless you." + +But Frankfort answered not a word. + +"Farewell." In after-years, in the deep solitude of midnight, on the +sea, in the still noon of summer days in English woods, where he loved +to cast himself beneath the umbrageous oaks, and dream of Kafirland, +that soft and sorrowful voice still whispered "Farewell." + +Lady Amabel retired with her young and mourning guest to the shades of +Newlands. Eleanor never accompanied her friend to the busy scenes of +Government House. Her father and mother soon established themselves in +a lovely spot within a day's journey of Cape Town, and here she hoped to +find that seclusion and repose, which she had vainly sought before. + +Marion and Ormsby were married, and embarked for England; soon +afterwards, Lady Amabel and Eleanor bade them adieu, as they stepped +into the boat awaiting them in the treacherous waters of Table Bay; poor +Marion's cheeks were flooded with tears. + +Eleanor was calm and pale, but it seemed now as though she never could +weep. + +Lady Amabel longed to see some change in her demeanour, but nothing +seemed to move her. The evening after her sister's departure she sat so +still within the embrasure of a window, that her kind friend thought she +must be asleep; but no, the large mournful orbs were fixed on the +darkening heavens in which the sentinel stars were mustering their +radiant hosts. Her thoughts were not of earth--they were with her angel +boy--her lost Francis--that link between herself and the mysterious +world, of which we know nothing, save that there is no sin there, and +therefore no sorrow. + +The dwelling purchased and improved by the Daveneys commanded a +magnificent view of the sea. + +Eleanor sat in one of her mournful reveries, as was usual with her at +eventide. In the daytime she resolutely employed herself--mechanically, +if possible. She never sang now, but she would play whole pages of +difficult music, then work in the garden; walking, or riding for miles +with her father, filled up the afternoons; but the evening time was +truly the dark hour with her. She loved best to be alone at this time. + +So there she sat, her book dropped listlessly on her knee, and her +melancholy gaze fastened on the shining waters of the moonlit ocean, +that washed the rocky boundary of the grounds she had helped to fashion +and to plant with orange-groves. + +Her father and mother were in an adjoining room; she heard a door open, +and some one, not of the household, spoke in a low voice; but she +recognised it--it was May's. + +She went to meet him, and give him welcome; the poor little bushman +cried and laughed with joy. + +And Fitje came, and Ellen, and they sat down in the doorway, and said +they would stay, if they might. May was going to Cape Town, and would +come back again, and be gardener and groom, and everything, if Daveney +would have him. + +"Going to Cape Town?" + +"Yes, with Master--Master Frankfort." They were travelling by land from +Algoa Bay, and had come to see the Knysna River, and May had a letter +for the _Bass_. It contained an inclosure. + +Eleanor retreated into the other room. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Eleanor's Note to Frankfort. + +"Most generous Friend,-- + +"I love you too well to take undue advantage of your kindness. Return +to England; there, earlier and happier impressions may be revived; and +although I would not have you forget me, think only of the unfortunate +Eleanor as one whose hopes are fixed on Heaven. + +"Farewell." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The Trails, weary with the repeated aggressions on their property in +Kafirland, came nearer the civilised districts of the Cape; they +established a mission and a school within a few miles of the Knysna +River. A young assistant of Mr Trail's attracted the notice of all the +farmers' daughters around, but he paid no heed, did "that handsome young +teacher," to the bright glances aimed at him. He seldom entered the +houses of the richer settlers, except in cases of sickness, when Mr +Trail was absent from home. + +The Vanbloems had returned to an old family farm, which they had +deserted in the hopes of bettering themselves by seeking "larger +pastures;" they were wiser than their rebellious brethren, for, instead +of flying beyond the boundary, they retreated to their original +settlement, and contented themselves with less land but surer ground. I +speak of the elder Vanbloem, with whom Frankfort and Ormsby made +acquaintance in their first days of travelling. + +Gray--for he was the young teacher--had resolved one day on asking Mr +Trail to make some inquiries of Amayeka, albeit he dreaded the issue of +such inquiry. + +Poor Amayeka!--Surely the younger Vanbloem's had not deserted her; but +she might have been taken from them by violence. + +That day old Vanbloem came to tell Mr Trail that his son's wagon was +outspanned in a valley an hour's ride from the station; he and some +neighbours were going to meet him, would Mr Trail go too? + +The party passed the mission station that evening; there were horsemen +and wagons, quite a cavalcade--for some one from every family had gone +out to welcome the new-comers, returning to the land of their +forefathers. + +It was dusk when Mr Trail returned home; Gray started on hearing his +master's voice. + +"Master"--so he called the missionary--"master, are there bad tidings?-- +has she survived the fury of her people?" + +"Come hither, Gray," said Mr Trail; "Amayeka is here." + +Meek and trembling, poor Amayeka had seated herself on the lowest step +of the stoep; her head was bent low, and her cloak drawn around her. + +"Amayeka," said Mr Trail, "rise, and come in." + +She shook her head, and crouched lower. + +"Master," whispered she, "I am ashamed--" + +"Amayeka," said another voice beside her. + +Mr Trail had prepared her to meet her lover. + +He left them together. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Next day a group entered the chapel of the mission station; it was said +there was to be a wedding--a strange wedding; the young English teacher +was to be married to a Kafir girl--it was quite true. + +At first the settlers in the neighbourhood turned away their heads when +the young teacher and his dusky wife passed them by; but Amayeka was so +humble, so industrious, so neat, what could be said against her? + +Mrs Trail helped her to establish a school. To look into her room on +Sabbath nights, and see her the centre of a crowd of children, would do +your heart good. She is no longer young--at thirty the women of her +race are old--but her voice is musical and girlish as ever; and were you +to hear her and her husband leading the Evening Hymn, you would never +recognise, in the grave and neatly-dressed catechist and his wife, the +young unhappy pair whom I once introduced to you sitting forlorn and +wretched by the riverside in Kafirland, with the eyes of the Wizard +Amani glaring at them from his ambush. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Ormsby's patrimony was large; his family at first were disposed to +receive his wife with hauteur--they were among that class of English +owls who fancy themselves eagles, especially in their own county. + +Ormsby took possession of his fine estate, and left the army, glad that +he had been a soldier for many reasons; but, above all, because he had +thus been given the means of finding a fair and happy-tempered wife in +Kafirland. He made his sisters welcome to Ormsby Park, and they +confessed, among their country friends, that she was to be "tolerated." + +Frankfort's cousin, the Duchess, the former friend of Mrs Daveney, +begged to be introduced to young Mrs Ormsby at a ball, and asked +affectionately about her mother's welfare. The Duchess was childless, +had led "the most monotonous life in the world;" she was dying to hear +of Kafirland. + +"Did the people there live on the white men they killed in war time? and +how was it that Marion was so fair, and would Mr and Mrs Daveney ever +come to England again?" etc. + +"Yes; Marion expected them to spend a year with her, and, after that, +they would return; for her father and mother had many interests and +occupations in Southern Africa which they would not wish to give up." + +"Interests and occupations!"--the Duchess yawned, and begged Mr Ormsby +to find her carriage, and "was glad the ball was over; but it was marked +by one pleasant fact, that of meeting Marion, the daughter of her old +friend." + +They shook hands cordially. + +"Who on earth is the Duchess of M--shaking hands with so heartily?" said +the member's wife. + +"Mrs Ormsby, of Ormsby Park." + +"Oh! yes; the uncle is dead, and has left young Ormsby seven thousand a +year, has he not?" + +"Nine, they say," replied the other speaker. + +"Dear me, how fortunate!--his wife is pretty, rather; I should like to +know her." + +Summer was dying in all her pomp, the woods of Ormsby were arrayed in +their mantles of green and gold and crimson and rich brown; the shadows +from the old oaks were lengthening on the grass, when the lodge-gates +were thrown open to admit the carriage which had been sent to Portsmouth +to meet the voyagers from Kafirland. + +A touch of the old ambitious feeling thrilled through Mrs Daveney's +heart, as the elegant equipage swept along the noble aisles of +horse-chestnut trees and beeches, through which the mansion, with +windows illuminated by the setting sun, showed fair and stately. + +But Eleanor's face was opposite, revealing its mournful history of past +suffering. It had lost its look of anxiety, and something like pleasure +shone in the large dark orbs as they caught sight of Marion's home, and +her sister and husband, with Marmion between them, in the open doorway, +waving their handkerchiefs. + +Who thought that, instead of an embowered porch, rudely built and +thatched with rushes, they now met beneath the stately colonnade of a +noble mansion! + +Oh! those precious meetings, when the sea has long divided us. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The cultivated lands of England! the fields crowded with reapers! the +heavily-laden wains--women and youths and children singing along the +roads, as if rejoicing in the plentiful harvest; the noble woods, +stretching afar, and glowing in the mellow light of autumn!--all +contributed to bring repose to Eleanor's soul. She lived a new life-- +she seemed to begin a new career in a new world. Here she was indeed at +peace--no fearful storms, no savage war-cry, no dread of an enemy +stalking in and making desolate the hearth! The space between her and +the past seemed suddenly widened. + +Sir Adrian and Lady Amabel were of the party; there were no strangers-- +neighbours there were none within five miles. + +The events of former years were scarcely ever alluded to; Marion's twins +were painfully like their little cousin buried in the African desert; +but no one spoke of him. The children lived almost in Eleanor's room. + +One evening, after she had gone upstairs to dress for dinner, these +little creatures detained her till the second bell rang. Her hair was +hanging over her dressing-gown, and, finding that she could not possibly +be in time, she ran to Marion to say she would join the little circle at +tea. + +"Marion! Marion!"--but Marion had gone. Ormsby's study door was open; +there was a light within! She called to him--no answer. + +The children ran up to her; they threw the door wide open; two +wax-lights were burning on the table, and before the fire stood +Frankfort. + +And for the first time for many long years Eleanor uttered a cry of joy. + +She forgot that she was in her dressing-gown, that her hair hung +disordered about her, that the children were half-frightened at the +sight of a stranger. + +Frankfort opened his arms again to her-- + +"Never again to part, Eleanor," said he. + +"Never, never," she answered. + +He strained her to his breast, and her tears of unutterable joy mingled +with his kisses. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"Nurse--nurse Abbot, here is Aunty crying, and a strange gentleman +kissing her. Oh! nurse, do come here." + +But nurse Abbot drew the twins from the corridor into their nursery, and +kept them there as long as she thought proper. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +When Colonel Frankfort had been married a year or two, people who had +been mystified about Mrs Lyle's widowhood forgot everything but that +she was the sweetest and gentlest and most, lowly-mannered lady they had +ever seen. The old air of melancholy was so habitual to her, she would +have been less charming without it. The sisters were near neighbours +during half the year, and for one month in their lives were united with +all their South African friends; for the Daveneys paid another visit to +England, and the Trails accompanied them. May and Fitje and Ellen were +on the establishment; Mr Trail had brought them home as honest and rare +specimens of what Christianity had done for South Africa. Gray and +Amayeka--we never _can_ call her Mrs Gray--were left in charge of +school and pupils, and did their duty well in the good teacher's +absence. + +Sir Adrian Fairfax himself examined the register in the old church in +Cornwall, and finding that the death of the curate's daughter preceded +Sir John Manvers's second marriage, he never revealed the sad history of +Sir John's earlier years. + +Not long since, I saw two charming pictures of the sisters in the +exhibition of the Royal Academy. They were in the characters of Day and +Night. I recognised them, though they were not mentioned by name in the +catalogue. Marion stood in the sunlight, with a smile on her face and +the glow of summer on her azure scarf. Eleanor was seated in the shade +of twilight, with the sea in the distance, and a star rising over her +head and irradiating her pale and thoughtful brow. + +Were her thoughts wandering over those shining depths to the wilderness +where her boy lay buried far from any kindred? + +I heard a deep sigh behind me as I stood contemplating these sweet +portraits. I turned, and recognised in the somewhat roue-looking young +man behind me Clarence Fairfax. A celebrated _danseuse_ of the day hung +upon his arm, but she was too much occupied with another admirer to +notice his abstracted gaze. + +I hope Eleanor did not meet this idol of her former fancy. I saw her +five minutes after with her husband and sister. Her veil was down, and +I could only hear the music of her gentle and cordial salutation. And +then, as exciting intelligence from Southern Africa was filling the +papers of the day, she asked, "Is there any news from Kafirland?" + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Jasper Lyle, by Harriet Ward + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JASPER LYLE *** + +***** This file should be named 35307.txt or 35307.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/3/0/35307/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +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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