diff options
Diffstat (limited to '36592.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 36592.txt | 25711 |
1 files changed, 25711 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/36592.txt b/36592.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..578bcb6 --- /dev/null +++ b/36592.txt @@ -0,0 +1,25711 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fire Trumpet, by Bertram Mitford + +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: The Fire Trumpet + A Romance of the Cape Frontier + +Author: Bertram Mitford + +Release Date: July 3, 2011 [EBook #36592] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIRE TRUMPET *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +The Fire Trumpet +A Romance of the Cape Frontier +By Bertram Mitford +Published by Spencer Blackett, London. +This edition dated 1889. + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER ONE. + +A QUEER LEGACY. + +"To my valued friend, Arthur Claverton, I bequeath the sum of nine +thousand pounds." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +He to whom this announcement was made could not repress a start of +surprise. The only other occupant of the room paused and laid down the +document from which he had been reading. The room was a solicitor's +office. + +"You hardly expected to be remembered, then?" said the latter. + +"No. At least I won't say that, exactly; but nothing like to such an +extent. I thought poor Spalding might have left me some trifle to +remember him by--his pet breechloader, or something of the kind; but, +candidly, I never expected anything like this!" + +"Yet you saved his life, once." + +"Pooh! Nothing at all. The weather was hot, and the swim did me good. +If I hadn't gone in, the nearest Jack Tar would have, and have thought +nothing of it; nor do I. Poor Spalding!" + +The speaker is a man of about thirty to all appearance. His face, which +is a handsome and a refined one, wears a look of firmness, not unmixed +with recklessness. It is the countenance of one who has seen a good +deal of the world, and knows thoroughly well how to take care of +himself. The other man is more than twice his age, and looks what he +is--every inch the comfortable, well-preserved family solicitor. + +"I don't know about that, Mr Claverton," answered the latter. "The +story our poor friend told me was something very different. The vessel +was going at thirteen knots, the night being pitch dark, and a heavy sea +running. And no one saw him fall overboard but yourself." + +The other laughed in a would-be careless way. "Oh, well, I think you +are making too much of it. But the job was a risky one, I admit, and at +one time I did think we should never be picked up. And now, Mr Smythe, +I'm going to ask you a question that you may think queer. First of all, +you knew my poor friend intimately for a good many years?" + +"I did. When first I made his acquaintance, Herbert Spalding was a +little chap in Eton jackets. I've known him tolerably intimately ever +since." + +"Well, then, didn't it strike you that latterly he had something on his +mind?" + +"Yes, it did. And I happen to know he had. The old story. He was +jilted; and being one of those sensitive men with a high-strung nervous +organisation, he took it to heart too much. I believe it shortened his +life. Poor fellow." + +"Well, whoever did it, has something to answer for, or would have had, +at least; for, between ourselves, that time he went overboard he went of +his own free will." + +"I had suspected as much," said the lawyer, quietly. "That was on the +voyage out, wasn't it?" + +"It was. We first became acquainted on board ship, you know. He hardly +spoke to any one on board till, all of a sudden, he took a violent fancy +to me. We occupied the same cabin. In fact, I soon began to suspect +there was a petticoat in the case, the poor chap was so down on his +luck; but he didn't tell me in so many words, and it wasn't for me to +pry into another fellow's private affairs. One evening I came into the +cabin, and found him loading a revolver. There was nothing very +astonishing in that, you know, because fellows often go in for revolver +practice at sea--shooting bottles from the yard-arm, and all that sort +of thing; but it was the way in which it was done. He hid the thing, +too, when he saw me, and that looked fishy. However, I managed to get +hold of it, unknown to him, and stuck it right away, and made up my mind +to keep an eye on him. That very night, or rather morning, for it was +in the small hours, I was awoke by something moving in the cabin. I +sung out, but got no answer. Then I went over to Spalding's bunk, and, +by Jove, it was empty. When a fellow has been kicked about the world as +much as I have, he don't take long to think; consequently I was on deck +in about a second, with precious little on but my nightshirt, and +luckily so as it happened. It was pitch dark, and blowing half a gale. +I didn't want to sing out if I could help it--wanted to avoid a fuss, +you understand; so I peered about for Spalding. At last I made out a +dark figure standing behind the wheel, looking astern. They don't use +the rudder wheel, you know--steer from the bridge. I was just going to +sing out quietly, when the figure disappeared, and I heard a splash that +there was no mistaking. Then, you bet, I gave a war-whoop loud enough +to wake the dead, as I went over the side after it. Fortunately for +Spalding--for it was him all right--fortunately for us both, the +quarter-master had his wits about him, and pitched over one of those +fire-buoys that are kept handy for these occasions; but there was a +heavy, lamping sea on that nearly knocked the breath out of one. I +wasn't long reaching Spalding; but he could hardly swim a stroke at the +best of times, and at that time was simply helpless. But I can tell you +I had my work cut out for me. By the time the ship was brought round to +us again, and we were picked up, we had been nearer half an hour in the +water than twenty minutes, and not many seconds more would have done for +us. I was all right again next day, and, by way of explanation, I gave +out that Spalding was given to somnambulism. The idea took; and no one +suspected anything, or, if they did, never said so, and the affair +created a deuce of a sensation on board." + +"I should rather imagine it did," said the lawyer, who had been vividly +interested in the other's narrative. "But you were with him when he +died, weren't you--I mean at the moment?" + +"Yes and no. After the affair I've been telling you about we became +greater chums than ever. He seemed to pick up in health and spirits, +and I began to think the poor chap was going to forget all about his +troubles. We stayed in Sydney a little while, and then went up country, +where we spent three or four months, knocking about from station to +station, for Spalding had no end of letters of introduction. At last, +as ill luck would have it, the mail--that curse of existence--overtook +us even away up in the bush. I don't know what news he got; but poor +Spalding became worse than ever. Nothing would satisfy him but we must +return home to England immediately. I say `we,' because I'll be hanged +if I could make him see that I, at any rate, hadn't come to Australia +for fun, but to try and find a means of livelihood. No; I _must_ go +back with him. He had influence and abundant means, and could get me a +much better berth in England than I should ever find out there, he +argued. He wanted my company on the voyage home, and was determined to +have it; I shouldn't be out of pocket by it, and so on. We nearly had a +tremendous row over it; but at last I yielded, partly to sentiment, for +we were great chums and the poor fellow seemed utterly cut up at the +prospect of my leaving him to go back alone, partly to carelessness, +for, I reasoned, I should be no worse off than when I left England, and +could always pick up some sort of a living anywhere. So we sailed by +the first vessel we could catch, and a precious slow old tub she was. +Before we had been a week at sea, Spalding got a notion into his head +that he would never see England again, and all I could say or do to +cheer him was of no use. Well, to cut the matter short, one evening +about half an hour before sundown, we were sitting aft smoking our +weeds. I left him, wanting to do a constitutional before dinner. I +hadn't been gone five minutes when the quarter-master came to say that +my chum didn't seem well. Back I went like a shot. There was Spalding +sitting in his deck-chair just as I left him with his book in front of +him. But his head hung forward queerly. I had only to take one look at +him to know what was up. The poor chap was stone dead." + +"Dear me--dear me!" said the lawyer. + +Claverton paused a little--moved by the recollection. He had never told +the story so circumstantially before. + +"We carried him to the cabin, and the doctor made an official +examination and all that sort of thing. Then the captain sealed up his +effects, and the next evening our poor friend was buried. It was in the +tropical seas, you know, where they don't delay funerals longer than +they can help. And, curiously enough, it could not have been far from +the spot where the poor fellow made his nocturnal plunge on the voyage +out. Yes; whoever _she_ is, she'll have something to answer for. The +doctor called it heart disease; but heart-break would have been nearer +the mark, I believe." + +There was silence for a few moments. It was at length broken by the +lawyer. + +"And you actually knew nothing of that codicil?" + +"Nothing whatever. Hadn't the faintest suspicion of anything of the +kind. It's all right, I suppose; can't be disputed or upset--eh?" + +"No. It's perfectly in order--adequately witnessed and everything. If +Spalding had been a solicitor in busy practice, he couldn't have added +that codicil more correctly. And he did it at sea, too!" + +"What did he die worth?" + +"It's hard to say at present. Most of his property was landed--very +extensive, but all entailed. He has bequeathed to yourself nearly all +that it was in his power to bequeath to anybody; but--" + +"Oh, I wasn't thinking of that," interrupted the other impatiently, and +somewhat annoyed. "I merely asked out of curiosity. And, as I told you +before, I never expected anything at all." + +"But, I was going to say, there's a queer stipulation attached to your +bequest. I don't quite know what you'll think of it," went on Mr +Smythe, with a dry smile. "You only profit by the bequest--which is +funded--provided you remain single until the age of thirty-five. Should +you marry before then you forfeit the whole, which, in that case, would +pass to a distant relative. But I should think you will not have very +long to wait. Three or four years, perhaps?" and he looked inquiringly +at the other. "Of course you draw the interest from now," he added. + +"More likely eight years." + +"You don't say so. I declare you look much older!" + +"The conditions are queer, certainly," said the legatee, with a smile. +"I think I can see through it, though. Poor Spalding was played the +mischief with so severely by a woman, that he thought the best kindness +he could do me was to offer a counter inducement to me against making a +fool of myself in that line. And, look, thirty-five is the age +stipulated--his own age at the time of his death." + +"It's singular, certainly," said Smythe; "but there seems to be method +in it. Probably he thought that he, not having arrived at years of +discretion at that time of life, neither would you. As if a man ever +does arrive at years of discretion where the sex is concerned! But I +congratulate you heartily--at least, I suppose I must; for you look +heart-whole enough at present, anyhow. But you are young--you are +young." + +"Not too young to know the value of nine thousand pounds and its yearly +interest, I can tell you, Mr Smythe," said the other, with a laugh. +And then he took his leave. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER TWO. + +THE LEGATEE. + +If there is one quality in this world which its fortunate possessor is +to be envied the enjoyment of, it is that of absolute _insouciance_. I +don't mean the spurious article known as "putting a bold face on +things," though this is a gift by no means to be despised; but that +downright, thorough, devil-may-care way of taking the vicissitudes of +life, in such wise as these interfere neither with the appetite, sleep, +nor temper, which is well-nigh as rare--at any rate among us +Englishmen--as the Little Bustard. + +When Claverton entered Mr Smythe's office, he owned barely enough +sovereigns in the world to make a creditable jingle in his breeches +pocket; when he left the lawyer he walked out into the street a man of +independent means. Yet the change, welcome and wholly unexpected as it +was, in no wise disturbed his mental equilibrium. He was conscious of +an increased feeling of complacency as he contemplated the world at +large by the light of his own improved prospects; but he would permit +himself no elation. While going through the hardest times he had +known--and he had known some very hard ones indeed--he had cultivated +the severest philosophy; and now it had become second nature to him. +"Bad luck--no use growling, won't last; good luck--no use crowing, may +not last," was his self-invented and favourite maxim. + +At the time when we first make his acquaintance, Arthur Claverton stood +absolutely alone in the world. I don't mean to say that he had no +relatives, but they cold-shouldered him. A few of them were near +relatives, others very distant; but the nearer they were, the more they +cold-shouldered him. He was an only child and an orphan; his mother +having died at his birth, and his father being killed in a railway +accident sortie four years later, leaving him to the care of a guardian, +one of the near relatives aforesaid. Near, too, in another sense of the +word; for, though very comfortably off, and indeed wealthy, this +conscientious and benevolent guardian impounded the scanty substance +left for the orphan's start in life, on the ground that his family was a +large one, and he could not afford the addition of his dead brother's +child. + +His family certainly was a large one, which is to say that it was a +supremely disagreeable and discordant one. The boys, rough and unruly, +worried the girls and their father. The girls, underhand and spiteful, +tormented the boys and their mother. Wrangling and mischief-making was +the order of the day. After this it will not be surprising to learn +that it was a pious family, which is to say, that much attention was +given to morning and evening prayers; and that Sunday, jocosely termed +the day of rest, was to be employed getting up epistles and gospels by +heart, with a slice of catechism or so thrown in, what time the whole +master was not pent up in a square box undergoing edification at the +lips of a prolix and Geneva-clad Boanerges, who seldom said "And now to" +within an hour and a quarter from the enunciation of his text. By an +odd coincidence, the day on which this exemplary piety had its full +scope--notably in the tabooing of all secular literature or any approach +to levity of demeanour--the reign of strife, squabble, and jar seemed to +reach its acme. + +Such was the amiable family circle among which young Arthur's earlier +lot was cast. But somehow he never assimilated. He was a species of +Ishmael when "at home," which, by the way, was not often, for he spent +most of his holidays at school. All things considered, a good thing for +him? No. For it was not a nice school where his educational lines were +cast. It was a very cheap and a very nasty school; one in which he +learnt nothing but the art of getting into serious scrapes, and--perhaps +the only useful thing he did learn--the art of getting out of them. A +bringing up of this kind would have been the ruin of most boys; but it +was not so with Arthur. He came of a splendid stock, and the wretched +associations of his boyhood and youth, instead of destroying his +character, had the effect of forming it. They hardened him. True, they +rendered him cynical at an age when one looks for impulsiveness and +generosity, and if they had inspired him with a disgust for religion, +his mind was absolutely clear of cant. They had taught him utterly to +despise sentiment, while leaving him capabilities of generosity and even +geniality. And if any one showed him a kindness, he never forgot it. + +One day, when he was seventeen, the second master of his school, the +clever son of an army Scripture reader, had the unwisdom to strike him. +In about ten seconds that ill-advised pedagogue was picking himself up +in a corner with a bleeding nose and otherwise in receipt of grievous +bodily harm. Expulsion was imminent; but Arthur did not wait for it. +He took the first train, went straight to his guardian and told him he +wanted to emigrate. + +His guardian looked acidly at the tall, handsome stripling before him, +and began a severe lecture. He also looked uneasily; for it was evident +that Arthur had somehow got to learn that his father had not left him +absolutely penniless, which meant that no appeal on the grounds of +gratitude would lie--for the expenses of the orphan's bringing up and +education, such as it was, had by no means exhausted the sum which the +dead man had left. Of this Arthur had gained a very shrewd idea; but he +merely asked for sufficient to pay his passage and a small sum towards a +necessary outfit, for he intended to go to one of our colonies. + +Then his guardian, unlocking a desk, handed Arthur the sum of +thirty-five pounds, and told him--metaphorically, of course, good pious +man that he was, yet very plainly--to go to the devil. + +He did not go to the devil; he went to the Cape. + +Some of my readers may think this a distinction without a difference. +Well, that is a matter of opinion. He turned his hand first to one +thing, then another; but nothing seemed to answer for long, possibly +because he was young and restless. At last a small "coup" at the +Diamond Fields set him up with a few hundreds. But fortune changed +round again; and, in disgust, he resolved to return to England previous +to trying his luck in some other colony. + +He landed in his native country after several years of a hard, +adventurous life; but there was not a soul to welcome him. Not long did +he stay; but, by the time he had taken his passage to Australia, not +much remained of the proceeds of his Diamond Fields' enterprise. Then +on that eventful voyage he fell in with Herbert Spalding, and the rest +of his experiences we have heard from his own lips. + +A few mornings after his interview with the lawyer, a card was brought +up to Claverton as he sat in his rooms. + +"Rev George Wainwright," reading the name. "Now, who the deuce is the +Rev George Wainwright? Certainly not one of my kinsfolk or +acquaintance." + +There entered an elderly man with stiff, iron-grey hair, a very red face +and fierce brown eyes, peering aggressively from beneath a pair of bushy +brows. He wore clerical attire, and in his hand carried a tall hat like +unto a stove-pipe. There was aggressiveness in his whole aspect, +especially in the short, stiff bow with which he greeted Claverton. +Farther, there was aggressiveness even in the knock and ring which had +heralded his arrival. + +"A country rector," mused our friend, mentally reading off his visitor. +"In earlier life of the sporting order, now gouty and addicted to port. +Domineering in his parish, tyrant in domestic circle. I know the breed. +What the deuce can he want with me?" Then, aloud: "Pray be seated. +Cold morning, isn't it?" and he drew a chair to the fire for his +visitor. + +"No doubt, Mr--er--Claverton, you will readily guess the object of my +visit," began the other, brusquely, leaning both, hands on the knob of +his umbrella, and staring his interlocutor straight in the face. + +"Excuse me, but I hardly do." + +"What! You don't? Why, about this will--this will of Spalding's?" + +"Spalding's will! My dear sir, I am afraid you have come to me by +mistake. My poor friend's solicitor is Smythe of Chancery Lane. I'll +give you his address in full." + +"No mistake at all--no mistake at all," rejoined the other, abruptly. +"I've just come from Smythe, it was he who referred me to you. I want +to know about that preposi--er--that bequest--the bequest to you. Do +you intend to avail yourself of it, may I ask?" + +"Well, really, that is a most astonishing question--" + +"You don't. No--of course you don't," came the angry interruption. "No +young man with any independence of spirit, could possibly take the money +under such conditions. It would be preposterous if he did-- +preposterous." + +"But, Mr Wainwright, I do intend to take the money." + +"You do?" + +"Every farthing of it--bar probate and succession dues." + +The wrath struggling for suppression exhibited in the old man's +countenance beggars description. + +"Well, well," he jerked out at last, "the case is a strange one--a very +strange one. Wills have been upset on less fishy grounds than this. +Here you take this unfortunate man across the world and come back +without him, but profiting substantially by his death. Putting it +mildly, what will be said? Eh, sir, what will people say--what will +they say?" and, throwing out his hand, he glared at his interlocutor as +if awaiting a reply. + +"I don't know what they'll say. Equally certain is it that I don't +care. As you remark, Mr Wainwright, wills have been upset, but I +hardly imagine there's any chance of this one being so dealt with. +Anyhow, I'm ready to take what chance there is. However, you have no +doubt made yourself familiar with the conditions under which I inherit," +he went on good-humouredly, but with a wicked twinkle in his eyes. +"Don't you know, for instance, of some young woman attractive enough to +induce me to pay forfeit? She must be very attractive, mind; not too +young either--'teens mean selfishness; nor too passee--that carries +temper. I incline to the dark style of beauty, or something between the +two. And I should be sure to capitulate at discretion, if only because +it would be in a sense forbidden fruit." + +The other sat speechless with anger. At last he exploded. + +"I did not come here to trifle, sir. But, I tell you, this will bring +you no good. Ill-gotten gains never do. Ill-gotten gains, I say." +And, with a final glare, he bounced out of the room. + +"Poor old man," thought Claverton, watching him from the window. "Dare +say he's rather sore, and it was a sin to chaff him. But then he +brought it upon himself by his bumptiousness. Likely I'm going to cut +my own throat for his benefit. The man must be a fool." + +Had he but known it, his late visitor was at that very moment of the +same opinion, as, jolting along in the 'bus he had just hailed, a sudden +idea struck him. + +"By Jingo! What an ass I am! He thought _I_ was the one who would +benefit. I'll go back. Hi! Conductor--stop--stop! No use, though. +The fellow has no sense of honour. Still, if I hadn't lost my +confounded temper, I might have induced him to yield. No, I shouldn't. +The man's a scamp any way--an utter scamp." + +Wherein the old gentleman was wrong. Had he entered upon the interview +with a clear head and courteous manner, it is highly probable that the +whole course of this not uneventful narrative would have been changed. + +Having got rid of his choleric visitor, Claverton went out. His face +was turned Citywards, and, as he walked, he pondered. + +"Nine thousand pounds contingent on eight years of single blessedness. +Well, the terms oughtn't to be difficult. Why, many a fellow would give +away double the amount for the same privilege, if I know anything of my +world. But as I told that old parson in chaff just now--forbidden fruit +is what attracts. Poor Spalding! What on earth made him clog the +concern with such a condition? The only thing is to turn the lot over-- +capitalise and double it as soon as possible; and, fortunately, I'm not +particular how. Grand thing, a careful training in a pious family." + +An hour's walking, and he is in the heart of the City. Turning down a +little lane out of Fenchurch Street, he looks about him carefully. +Through a doorway, then a couple of flights of stairs, and he is +hammering at a door labelled "Mr Silas B. Morkum." + +"Boss engaged," said the sharp boy who appeared. + +"Of course he is. Take that pasteboard in at once." + +Almost immediately the boy returned and ushered Claverton into an inner +office. A thin, wiry-looking man, with a hooked nose and very keen grey +eyes; advanced with outstretched hand. + +"Well, Claverton, my boy," he began, with a slight Yankee drawl. +"Thought you'd turn up again some day. Devilish cold? Yes. Here's +some stuff, though, to counteract that," and he produced a +wicker-covered bottle and glasses. "Fill up--that's right. Here's to +old times. Now what can I do for you?" + +Claverton laughed drily. + +"That's so like you, Morkum. Can't you imagine any fellow looking you +up purely for the fun of the thing?" + +"Well, not many do--not many," answered the American in an apologetic +tone. "But--" + +"But this time you've hit the right nail on the head. There _is_ +something you can do for me, if any one can. You can put me in the way +of doubling a given sum in the shortest possible time." + +"That all?" answered the other, almost disappointedly. "Reckon I can-- +and I'd do more than that for you--as you know. Silas B. Morkum ain't +the boy to forget--well, we know what. Now let's hear all about it." + +Claverton told him. The tie of gratitude to which Morkum had referred +went back to the time of the former's earlier wanderings, when our +friend had by the merest chance been able to do him a most important +service, and the American had never forgotten it. He was a curious +unit. By profession broker, money-lender, and half-a-dozen other +things; in reality, such of his dealings as were most remunerative were +known only to himself and to those immediately concerned. + +"Well, then," he said, reflectively, lighting up a long Havana and +pushing the box across to his companion, "well, then--you want to turn +over this sum and ain't particular how?" + +"Not in the least." + +"Then I can lay you on to something. But you are open to putting your +hide pretty considerably in pawn?" + +"Quite open. What is it? Mines in Sonora?" + +"No. 'Tain't that. Two years ago I sent a party on that lay. +Twenty-three Western men, all well armed and mounted. Game chickens all +round." + +"What then?" + +"They are there yet. No one ever saw or heard of them again. Beckon +the Apaches wiped 'em out. No. This is less risky; still, it is +risky--tarnation so." + +"What is it?" + +The other fixed his keen grey eyes upon Claverton for a moment. Then he +delivered himself of just three words. + +"The devil!" exclaimed Claverton, astonished, "I thought that game was +played out long ago." + +"No, it ain't; not a bit of it. And it's sure profits, quick returns; +but-all-fired risk." + +"Well, let's hear all about it." + +The other left the papers which he had been sorting, and, drawing his +chair to the fire, began to lay out his scheme. And at last the dingy +office grew shadowy, and the boy came in to know if he shouldn't lock +up. + +"Yes," assented Morkum. "Come along and dine somewhere, Claverton, and +you shall tell me what you've been doing all this time. We can talk +business to-morrow." + +The clocks were chiming a quarter to twelve as they separated at King's +Cross Station. + +"Going to walk home, are you?" said the American, reflectively. "Queer +city, this. Many a man disappears, and is never more heard of by his +inquiring relatives." + +"It would be a precious risky job for any enterprising spirits to try +and conceal my whereabouts. They'd get hurt," answered Claverton, with +a meaning laugh. + +"That's right," said the other, approvingly. "Never have your hand far +from your coat-pocket, and you'll do. Good-night." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The wind howls dismally round a cosy old country rectory on this gloomy +March evening, but, within, all is snugness and warmth. From one +well-lighted room comes a sound of many cheerful voices; but passing by +this, let us take a look into the library, where sits a girl all alone. +She is a lovely girl, as far as we can see by the uncertain firelight, +and may be nineteen or twenty. Her well-shaped head is crowned with an +abundance of soft, dark hair, tinted with strange lights as the +flickering glow plays upon it. Her sweet, lustrous eyes are gazing +pensively at the clock on the mantelpiece, while the rain rolls in gusts +against the old-fashioned casement. + +"Past six. Uncle George should be back by now. The train must be late. +Ah, there he is!" as the sound of wheels is audible on the gravel +outside. + +She hears the occupants of the other room rush to the front door to +welcome their father; but with a hasty kiss all round, the rector goes +straight to the library. + +"Here I am, Uncle George," says the girl, meeting him in the doorway, +for she heard him inquiring for her. "But do go and change first, you +must be very wet." + +"No, I'm not, my dear; not in the least. Come in here and shut the +door; I want to tell you about this." + +Then he hesitates, clears his throat, manages to knock down the tongs +with a hideous clatter, and jerks out: + +"I could do nothing." + +His niece waits for him to continue. + +"Nothing. He says he intends to stick to the money, every penny of it. +Why, when I put it to him fairly, he laughed in my face; made some +ill-chosen jest about it being only a question of time. He's a scamp, a +downright scamp, and will come to no good. Mark my words." + +"Who is he, Uncle George? What's his name?" + +"Some adventurer. I was going to say _low_ adventurer, but he isn't +that; the man's a gentleman by birth, unmistakably. Name! Why, bless +my soul, I've quite forgotten. What is it again? Clinton--Emerson-- +something like that--I forget exactly." + +The girl stood silently gazing into the fire, with one arm on the old +man's shoulder. She was an orphan niece, whom he had welcomed to his +home, nominally until it could be decided what should be done with her; +actually he had already decided this, and his decision was that that +home should be a permanent one. He was a very soft-hearted man, was the +Rev. George Wainwright, in spite of his quick temper and aggressive +exterior. But the girl, for her part, was equally determined in her own +mind not to remain a burden on him. He had a large family of his own, +and she must manage to earn her own livelihood. Then came the news of +the death of her distant cousin, Herbert Spalding, and of the legacy +which would revert to her, contingent upon the nuptials of a stranger. +The rector, with characteristic hot-headedness, had voted the +contingency absolutely monstrous. No man of honour, he had said, could +possibly accept a bequest subject to it, especially as by doing so he +would be robbing a penniless orphan--and had started for town there and +then with the intention of inducing the legatee to forego his claim. In +which laudable mission he had signally failed, as we have seen--a +failure due in no small measure to his own hot temper and want of tact. + +"Never mind, Uncle George; we are only where we were before, you see, +and I think I shall get that situation I advertised for." + +"No you won't, my dear. We shan't let you go away from us." + +She kisses him affectionately. She is determined to carry her point, +but does not press it to-night. "Now you must go and talk to the +others, Uncle George; I've been keeping you from them quite long +enough." And with her arm still on the old man's shoulder she leads him +to the door, and they join the family circle in the cheerful lamplight. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER THREE. + +THE SLAVE SETTLEMENT. + +"Idiot! Don't you see that the poor devil can't move an inch further to +save his wretched life. Leave him alone. You're the greatest brute +even in this bestial land?" + +"Am I? And if I am, what's that to you?" is the defiant reply. + +The first speaker is a young Englishman, whose face, tanned to a coppery +brown by exposure to a torrid sun, bears a stamp of recklessness and +determination. His bearded lips are set firm as he confronts the other, +a powerful, savage-looking mulatto, and his eyes are ablaze with +wrathful contempt. Around stretches a wide, sun-baked desert in Central +Africa. A few palms, dotted about here and there, throw a faint +pretence of a shadow, and not far from the cloudless horizon hangs the +now declining sun. A gang of black men and women, weary and emaciated, +and a few of them tied together, are standing wearily contemplating one +of their number who lies prone upon the earth, sick, footsore, and +unable to move another step. It is a slave-gang on the march. + +"Here, you two," goes on the first speaker, addressing a couple of the +strongest-looking among the slaves, "pick him up and carry him along." + +The two fellows designated pause, and look hesitatingly from one to the +other of their drivers. They stand in mortal fear of the ruffianly +mulatto, and prefer to chance the wrath of the Englishman. + +"Do you hear what I say? Let him alone, Sharkey," repeats the latter in +a warning tone. + +For all answer the ruffian addressed advances upon the fallen slave, and +with a frightful grin, disclosing two pointed, shark-like teeth--whence +his hideous _sobriquet_--curls his raw-hide lash round the naked body of +the emaciated wretch. But a terrific blow full in the face sends him +reeling half-a-dozen paces. + +"There! Won't you listen?" And the Englishman stands between the +miserable wretch and his smiter. With a growl like a wild beast, the +latter springs up. + +"Stand off, Sharkey!" cries his companion in a firm, warning tone. Too +late. With features working in fury, and foaming at the mouth, the +other rushes upon him knife in hand. + +"Stand off, I say, or--" + +Crack! + +The savage makes one spring and rolls over and over at his slayer's +feet, digging his knife into the hard earth in his death-throes. + +"Dog! You would have it!" observes the Englishman, calmly reloading the +discharged chamber of his still smoking revolver. "You won't bite +again. Now then, you fellows, do as I told you just now--pick up that +chap and--march." + +They obey apathetically; and, with many a furtive glance backward, the +slaves move wearily on, leaving the body of their late oppressor to the +vultures and jackals of the desert. + +And now, after a march of several miles further, the melancholy +_cortege_ arrives at its destination. In a natural clearing, surrounded +by dense jungle, stand a few thatched shanties. In the centre is a +large barracoon, and into this the miserable human herd is turned. The +last rays of the sun have disappeared, and here and there in the open +space a fire glows redly. Several men are standing about; awful-looking +cut-throats, villainy personified. Half-a-dozen of them are Portuguese, +the rest Arabs and negroes. They crowd up to inspect the slaves. + +"Well, Lidwell," says one of the first nationality in good English, +addressing the new arrival. "You've brought in a poor-looking lot. How +many did you lose?" + +"Two. Both died." + +"And Sharkey--wasn't he with you? Where's he?" + +"Dead." + +"Dead? Nonsense! What killed him?" And the first speaker stares in +amazement. + +"A pistol ball, regulation calibre." + +A gleam of triumphant malice flits across the other's swarthy features. +He is young, and by no means bad-looking but for a chronic scowl. + +"Comrade," he replies, "you have done a good thing in ridding us of that +beast." But the man addressed as Lidwell has marked that exultant +expression, and he knows that it means mischief. Sharkey has relatives +in the camp who will certainly do their utmost to revenge his death, and +it is doubtful whether the ruffianly European element will have either +the strength or resolution to stand out against these should they +clamour for his slayer's blood. It is more than doubtful if they have +the will; for this Englishman is both hated and feared by them. His +coolness and daring in the pursuit of their lawless traffic has not only +been the means of quadrupling their gains, but has twice saved the whole +party from capture red-handed, for of late the Union Jack has been--to +them--unpleasantly active in Zanzibar waters. Yes, they hate him +bitterly. He has won largely from them at play, for they are great +gamblers, and can they once get him into their power they are fully +determined to make him yield up--by torture if necessary--the large sums +which they know him to keep concealed somewhere. But then, his revolver +is ever ready, and they are most of them cowards at heart. + +Sternly he now looks the young Portuguese in the face. + +"Juarez," he says, in a very significant tone. "Do you know, I always +think I can never have enough revolver practice. It makes a man +invulnerable, does this little bit of wood and iron." + +The other turns away with an oily smile. He has his own reasons for not +being fond of the Englishman. + +The latter strolls leisurely into one of the huts, keeping his eyes +about him, though, unobtrusively. Arrived there, he sits down for a few +minutes to rest and think out his plans. For he is determined to take +leave of his repulsive surroundings; and the sooner the better. Nearly +two years of his life have been spent in this detestable traffic, and +how sick he is of it, he himself hardly knows. He has amassed wealth +with a rapidity little short of marvellous; but not for the ransom of an +empire would he go through the experiences of those two years over +again. Many and many a scene of human suffering has it been his lot to +witness during that period--for he is a slave-dealer, a trafficker in +human flesh. But he is guiltless of any single act of brutality or +wanton oppression towards the unfortunate wretches who have passed +through his hands. In his eyes mere cattle, yet he would never allow +them to be tortured or ill-treated. More than once has he stood between +the victim and the lash, occasionally at the risk of his life--as we +have seen--or interfered to save some worn-out wretch from being +abandoned to the beasts of the desert. More than once, even, during a +long desert march when water was worth its weight in gold, has he shared +his scanty stock of the priceless fluid with some toiling, parched, and +exhausted slave, who, with tongue swollen and protruding, could hardly +drag one foot after the other. Yet, what is he but a hard-hearted, +self-seeking slave-dealer, coining money out of suffering flesh and +blood? + +The gloom deepens. Lidwell, sitting there in his hut, can make out a +knot of his rascally confederates talking earnestly together by one of +the fires. A strange instinct warns him. Unless he leaves this place +to-night he will never leave it alive. Quickly he stows away a flask +and some biscuits in his pockets. Already his gains are secured about +his person, carefully sewn up in his clothes--a large sum, partly in +gold, partly in the paper currency of several nationalities. For some +time past he has been prepared for a sudden flight, and he has a canoe +snugly concealed in a convenient place on the river bank. To-night he +will cut the whole concern for ever, and woe betide the man who shall +try to stop him. + +He looks out of the doorway, carelessly. All seems quiet enough, and it +is now quite dark. His sheath-knife is ready to his hand in case of +need; so, too, is the brace of revolvers without which he never moves. + +"Now for a start," he muses; "but--hang it--I must go round and say +good-bye to Anita. Can't leave without seeing the little one again." + +Down a narrow path through the shadowy forest a few hundred yards, and +he reaches a small thatched dwelling, more substantially built than the +rest. Within all is silence. But for a lamp burning in one of the +windows the place would seem deserted. He imitates the cry of a jackal +twice. A moment, and then a dark figure glides swiftly round the corner +of the house and stands beside him. + +"At last! I wondered when you were coming to see me. You have been +back hours, and never came near me." The voice is low, soft, and +musical; but there is resentment in it. + +"Didn't I? Well, I came as soon as I could. Don't scold me to-night, +little one." + +And he looks down at her with a queer expression. Every moment lost is +a nail in his coffin; yet he is wasting those precious moments gazing +into a pair of dark eyes. + +She nestles close to his side. "I hate it so when you are away. And I +am always afraid you may get killed, or catch that terrible fever over +there, and never come back to me at all." + +"Listen now, Anita," he says, gravely. "I must go away again--now-- +to-night, or my life is not worth a pebble, and I don't feel inclined to +throw it away for the benefit of those brutes." Then he tells her about +the fate of Sharkey, and the unmistakable signs he had read among his +associates of their deadly intentions towards him. + +The girl trembles with horror and apprehension as she listens. + +"You must indeed go, and immediately. You can do nothing against them, +and there are so many of them; and--Ah, I may as well die," she breaks +off in a wail of despair. + +"Don't say that, little one. You will soon learn to do without me; but +I am afraid you will forget all your English. And you were getting on +with it so nicely, too." + +The girl is silent; but looks up at him with a stricken, hopeless +expression that goes to his heart. She is very lovely, standing there +in the starlight, lovely in the rich, southern, voluptuous type. She is +quite young--barely sixteen--but the delicate arched features are fully +formed. As regards education or mental culture, Anita de Castro is a +wild flower indeed. Her father is the head of this slave-dealing +colony. Formerly a merchant in the Portuguese settlement of Delagoa +Bay, his rascalities have landed him in outlawry, and he has taken his +daughter with him into exile. Such is the girl who had attracted the +attention of the Englishman Lidwell, who in her had found the one +redeeming feature in his present reckless life. He had to a certain +extent, and in a desultory sort of way, educated this girl; at any rate +had moulded her into something better than a mere mental blank; and the +process had been to him a real recreation, a refuge from the disgust +which he increasingly felt for his cold-blooded and lawless occupation. +And she? Here, on the threshold of budding womanhood, this stranger, +who looked upon her as a mere plaything, possessed her whole heart. How +it was she could not tell, even had she asked herself the question. +Juarez, her sworn admirer, was softer of speech and far more +deferential; whereas Lidwell sometimes seemed to ignore her very +existence. Yet she would with a heavy heart anticipate the absence of +the latter on long and perilous expeditions, and look forward so +anxiously and so joyfully to his return. And now he has returned only +to leave again immediately, and well she knew that she would see him no +more. Suddenly she throws herself on his breast in a fit of passionate +weeping. + +"Ah, love! I shall never see you again. Never--never." + +A wave of wild temptation sweeps over the man. Why should he not take +her with him? She is beautiful enough in face and form, and it suddenly +strikes him that she is not the child he has hitherto been wont to +consider her. She is in his arms now. He has only to say the word and +she will stay there. But Lidwell is gifted with a cool head, and a +strong one. He knows the world well enough, and he also knows his own +nature. He will not sacrifice this girl to a passing impulse, however +powerful. So he resists the momentary temptation, and--it is the saving +of his life. + +He strokes back the soft hair from her forehead. "Anita, child--you +must not grieve like this for me--I don't say forget the times we have +spent together. What I do say is, you are, made for something better +than this kind of life; leave it as soon as you are able, and--" + +"Hush!" + +She has heard something. With a quick gesture she draws herself from +him, and stands erect and listening intently. A glow suffuses the sky, +and the golden moon peeps above the tree-tops. And now the sound of +stealthy footsteps and smothered voices may be heard approaching. + +"Go!" exclaims the girl, imprinting a shower of kisses upon his lips. +"Go--quick. They are coming. You shall not die here. Good-bye, love. +I shall never see you again. Go." And, as she pushes him from her, the +advancing voices are very near indeed. She has barely time to regain +the house before several men are knocking at the door. Feigning to be +half asleep, she opens. + +"Well, father, what has gone wrong?" + +"Oh, nothing, Anita. Has Lidwell been here? We want him down at the +camp. He promised to help us through with the wine," answers De Castro. + +"The Englishman? No, he hasn't been here. He must be in his own hut." + +A glance goes round the group. + +"But he must have been here, senorita," replies Juarez. "He was seen to +come in this direction." + +A thought strikes the girl. She must gain time. So with an +admirably-feigned glance of uneasiness at a side door leading into +another room, she reiterates that she has not seen him. + +"Ah, well, comrades, I have some old wine in here," says her father, +advancing towards this door. "We will try it." He turns the handle; +but the door is locked. "The key, Anita, the key!" + +"The key? Oh, here it is," and after a pretended search she finds the +key. They throw open the door suddenly, and stand staring in stupid +surprise into an empty room. + +"Juarez," said the girl, calling him apart from the rest--"keep quiet +now. Do you want the Englishman? You shall take him." + +The other started, and his eyes lit up with savage triumph. + +"How? Where? Where is he?" + +"You shall have him. Listen, Juarez. He has been here, but if you try +to find him now you will fail. I promised to meet him two hours after +midnight at the corner of the cane planting. He thinks I love him, but +I hate him," she went on, working herself into a state of +admirably-feigned fury. "He laughed at me and treated me as a +plaything--now I shall have revenge. But listen. Go back to the camp. +He is suspicious of you already; but he will come to me two hours after +midnight. Then be in waiting, and you shall take him as easily as a +leopard in a net. Don't tell the others about it until the time comes, +only get them away now." + +If Juarez felt a qualm of suspicion, she acted her part so well, that he +fell headlong into the trap. With difficulty, he persuaded his fellow +ruffians to abandon their quest for the present. He trusted Anita +implicitly; and, full of elation at the speedy vengeance which would +overtake his rival, he returned with the others to their carousals. + +The hours drag their length, and silence reigns in the tropical forest. +A damp, unwholesome mist rises from the river and spreads over the +tree-tops. Now and again the shout of the revellers breaks upon the +silence, or the deep bass of a bloodhound is raised in dismal bay at the +moon. Still Anita sits there, gazing out upon the forest, and following +in spirit every step of him whose life she has saved, further and +further as each step takes him from her. At last she falls fast asleep, +worn out with the excitement and tension of the past few hours. Then +comes a loud, angry knocking at the door. + +Opening it, she is confronted with her father. He is shaking with +wrath, and behind him are nine or ten others all armed to the teeth. + +"Where is the Englishman?" he roared. "Have you fooled us? It is +nearly daybreak--and two hours after midnight we were to take him! +Where is he?" + +"Where is he?" echoed Anita, her voice as clear as a bell. "Where is +he? Safe. Far away--leagues and leagues. You will never see him +again. He is safe." And her large eyes flashed upon the enraged and +astonished group in scornful defiance as she stood in the doorway. + +With the yell of a wild beast baffled of its prey, the old ruffian +sprang at his daughter. She never moved. But his clenched hand was +seized in a firm grasp before it could descend. + +"Softly--softly, patron!" said Juarez. "You would not strike the +senorita!" + +De Castro struggled in the grasp of the younger man and yelled the most +awful curses upon Lidwell, his daughter, and all present; but Juarez was +firm. He was not all bad, and a glow of admiration went through him at +Anita's daring, and the shrewd way in which she had outwitted them. +Moreover, rivalry apart, he had rather liked Lidwell. The latter they +would never see again, for had not Anita herself said as much. On the +whole, therefore, it was just as well that he had escaped, and saved +them the necessity of killing a former brave comrade. So he tried to +pacify the old man. + +"Patron," he said, "be reasonable. We are well rid of this English +devil. Certainly, he has won a lot of our dollars; but then he will +lose his share in the profits of the last expedition." Then, in a low +tone: "And he has rid us of that turbulent beast, Sharkey. He is a +determined devil, and while he was with us he served us well. Let him +go." + +The old slave-dealer fumed and raved, then fell in with things as they +were. "Ah well," he said at last, "what is--is, and we can't help it. +We will empty another skin of wine." Then they withdrew to drown their +discomfiture in drink, though some of the party, less easily pacified, +would fain have started in pursuit of the fugitive, but that they knew +it would be useless. + +Six weeks later the mail steamer from Zanzibar was securely docked in +the port of London, and Lidwell, bidding farewell to a few fellow +passengers, stepped ashore, and in a moment was lost among the busy +crowd in the great restless city. He was now in easy circumstances for +life. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER FOUR. + +SERINGA VALE. + +One round, black speck high up yonder on the stony hillside. There he +sits--the large old baboon; wary sentinel that he is, keeping jealous +watch over the safety of the nimble troop under his charge, which, +scattered about amid the bush, is feasting upon succulent roots and +other vegetable provender afforded by its native wilds. And from his +lofty perch he can descry something unwonted immediately beneath--danger +possibly, intrusion at any rate--and he lifts up his voice: "Baugch-m! +Baugch-m?" The sun blazes in a blue, cloudless sky, darting down his +beams with a fierceness and vigour somewhat premature this lovely +afternoon of an early South African spring day, and all nature is at +rest in the drowsy stillness now broken by that loud, harsh cry. A +cliff rears its perpendicular face from amid the bush-covered slopes, +which, meeting at its base, form a triangular hollow. From the brow of +the cliff rises a rugged steep, thickly grown with dark prickly aloes, +whose bristling shapes, surmounted by bunches of red blossom, sprout +upwards from the dry, stony soil. The tiniest thread of a streamlet +trickles down the face of the rock, losing itself in a pool beneath, +which reflects, as in a mirror, cliff, and overhanging bushes, and blue +sky. A faint cattle track leading down to the water betokens that in a +land of droughts and burning skies even this reservoir, remote and +insignificant, is of account at times; but to-day here are no cattle. +The long-drawn piping whistle of a spreuw [of the starling species] +echoes now and again from the cool recesses of the rock; the hum of bees +among the blossoming spekboem and mimosa; the twittering of the finks, +whose pear-shaped pendulous nests sway to and fro over the water as the +light-hearted birds fly in and out--all tell of solitude and of the +peace of the wilderness. Here a big butterfly flits lightly on spotted +wings above the flowering bushes; there, stalking solemnly among the +stones, an armour-plated tortoise seems to be in rivalry with a horny +and long-legged beetle as to which of them shall be the first to reach +the other side of the small open space. + +"Baugch-m! Baugch-m!" + +Two round black specks high up there on the stony hillside. The +resounding call is answered, and the two guardians of the troop sit +there, a couple of hundred yards apart, looking down into the +sequestered nook below. + +The sleeper moves, then rolls over on his back and draws his +broad-brimmed hat right over his face. + +Clearly he does not intend rousing himself just yet. The sun's beams +strike full upon him, but he feels them not; evidently he is indisposed +to let even the monarch of light interfere with his siesta. A few +minutes more, and, with a start, he raises himself on his elbow and +looks around. + +"By Jove, how hot it is! I must have been doing the sluggard trick to +some purpose, for the cliff was full in the sun when first I pricked for +the softest plank here, and now it's throwing out a shadow as long as an +attorney's bill of costs. Past four!" looking at his watch. "Now for a +pipe; then a start." + +He picks himself up out of the pass, yawns and stretches. The tortoise, +which had already stood motionless, its bright eye dilated with alarm, +now subsides into its shell, hoping to pass for one of the surrounding +stones; its scarabean competitor likewise is equal to the occasion, +after its own manner, and falling over on its side, with legs stiff and +extended, feigns death industriously. Meanwhile the aloe-dotted steep +overhead is alive with the loud warning cries of the disturbed baboons, +whose ungainly but nimble shapes--some fifty in number--may be seen +making off helter-skelter up the hill, to disappear with all possible +despatch over the brow of the same. + +"Noisy brutes!" grumbles the wayfarer, shading his eyes to watch them. +"But for your unprincipled shindy I could have done a good hour's more +snooze with all the pleasure in life. If only I had a rifle here--even +a Government Snider--it would go hard but that one or two of you would +learn the golden art of silence." + +Look at him as he stands there just six foot high in his boots-- +well-proportioned, broad-shouldered, straight as a dart. The face is of +a very uncommon type, with character and determination in its regular, +clear-cut features; but a look of _insouciance_ in the eyes--which are +neither grey nor blue, but sometimes one, sometimes the other-- +neutralises what would otherwise be an energetic and restless +expression. The mouth is nearly hidden by a drooping, golden-brown +moustache. In the matter of age the man would have satisfied a census +collector by the casual reply, "Rising nine-and-twenty." + +Colonial born you would certainly not pronounce him. Yet not a touch of +the "rawness" of the greenhorn or "new chum" would you descry, even if +the serviceable suit of tancord and the quality of the saddle and riding +gear lying on the ground did not betoken a certain amount of +acquaintance with colonial life on the part of their owner. + +He draws a rough cherrywood pipe from his pocket, fills and lights it, +sending forth vigorous blue puffs which hang upon the drowsy air. He +stands for a moment looking at the sun, and decides that it is time to +start. + +"Now, I wonder what has become of Sticks. The old scamp is given to +erring and straying afar just when wanted. When I don't require his +services he'll fool about the camp by the hour." + +Sticks was his horse. That estimable quadruped had at one time been +addicted to "sticking," an inconvenient vice of which his present owner +had thoroughly cured him. + +Our wayfarer strolls leisurely to the ridge which shuts in the hollow, +and looks around. Then a reddish object amid the green bush, some +hundreds of yards further down, catches his eye. It is the object of +his search; and, with one hand thrust carelessly into a pocket, he makes +for the errant nag and returns leading his steed to the waterhole, where +clouds of yellow finks scatter right and left, vociferously giving vent +to their indignation at being thus invaded. + +And now, having saddled up, he is on his way. Steeper and steeper grows +the ascent; the bush meets here and there over the narrow path, nearly +sweeping the rider from his saddle, and the horse, blinded now and then +by a thick branch of spekboem flying back in his eyes, makes an approach +to a stumble, for which he is not to blame, for the track is rugged +enough in all conscience. At length the narrow path comes to an end, +merging into a broad but stony waggon road. + +But--excelsior! The bay steps out at a brisk walk, ascending ever the +rough road which winds round the abrupt spurs of the hills like a ledge, +mounting higher and higher above the long sweep of bush-covered slope, +where, among the recesses of many a dark ravine, thickets of +"wait-a-bit" thorn, and mimosa, and tangled underwood, afford retreat to +the more retiring denizens of the waste--the sharp-horned bushbuck and +the tusked wild pig, the hooded cobra, and the deadly puff-adder. And +beneath those shades, too, in the still gloom, the spotted leopard +creeps stealthily upon its prey, and the howl of the hyena and the +shrill yelping bay of the jackal resound weirdly through the night. + +"It's waxing chilly. Up, old Sticks!" ejaculates the traveller, with a +light tap of his riding-crop. The horse picks up his head and scrambles +along with new zest. A few minutes more and he is standing on the top +of the _randt_ [the high ground or ridge overlooking the valley of a +river] for a brief blow after his exertions, which his heaving flanks +proclaim to have been of no mean order, while his rider is contemplating +the fresh scene which opens out before his gaze. For the wooded country +has been left, and now before him lies spread a panorama of broad and +rolling plains, dotted capriciously here and there with clumps of bush. +A lovely sweep of country stretches away in many undulations to the +wooded foothills of a beautiful mountain range which forms a background +to the whole view, extending, crescent-like, far as the eye can travel. +The snow-cap yet resting on the lofty peak of the Great Winterberg +flushes first with a delicate tinge and then blood-red; many a jutting +spur and grey cliff starts forth wondrously distinct, while the forest +trees upon a score of distant heights stand soft and feathery, touched +with a shimmer of green and gold from the long beams of the sinking sun +as he dips down and down to the purpling west. + +The stranger rides on, enjoying the glorious beauty of this fair +landscape--never fairer than when seen thus, in the almost unearthly +lustre of a perfect evening. A steinbuck leaps out of the grass, and +after a brief run halts and steadily surveys the intruder. Down in the +hollow a pair of blue cranes utter their musical note of alarm, and +stalk rapidly hither and thither, as though undecided about the quarter +whence danger threatens, and the cooing of doves from yon clump of +euphorbia blends in soft harmony with the peaceful surroundings as in a +vesper chant of rest. + +And now a strange group appears over the rise in front. It is a Kafir +_trek_. Two men, three women, and some children, driving before them +their modest possessions in live stock, consisting of three cows (one +with a calf), and a few sheep and goats. The men wear an ample blanket +apiece thrown loosely round their shoulders, but other clothing have +they none, with the exception of a pair of boots, which however, each +carries slung over his shoulder, preferring to walk barefoot. The women +are somewhat less scantily clad, with nondescript draperies of +blanketing and bead-work falling around them. Each has her baby slung +on her back, and carries an enormous bundle on her head, containing pots +and pans, blankets and matting--the household goods and chattels; for +her lord disdains to bear anything but his kerries, or knobsticks, and +marches along in front looking as if the whole world belonged to him. +Some of the elder children are laden with smaller bundles, and even the +cows are pressed into the service as porters, each having a long roll of +mats fastened across her horns, and two or three mongrel curs slink +behind the group. All Kafir garments are plentifully bedaubed with red +ochre, an adornment frequently extended to their wearers, giving them +the appearance of peripatetic flower-pots. + +"Naand, Baas!" [Note 1] sing out the men as they meet the traveller, +and then continue in their own tongue, "Nxazela." [Tobacco.] + +No bad specimens of their hardy and supple race are these two fellows as +they stand there, their well-knit, active figures glistening like bronze +in the setting sun. They hold their heads well up, and each of their +shrewd and rather good-looking countenances is lighted by a pair of +clear, penetrating eyes. The stranger chucks them a bit of the coveted +plant, and asks how much further it is to Seringa Vale. + +"Over there," replies one of the Kafirs, pointing with his stick to the +second rise in the ground, about two miles off. With a brief good-night +the horseman touches up his nag and breaks into a gentle canter, while +the natives, collecting their stock--which has taken advantage of the +halt to scatter over the _veldt_ and pick up a few mouthfuls of grass-- +resume their way. + +The sun has gone down, and the white peak of the Great Winterberg towers +up cold and spectral to the liquid sky, as the horseman crests the ridge +indicated, and lo--the broad roof of a substantial farmhouse lies +beneath. Around, are several thatched outbuildings, and the whole is +charmingly situated, nestling in a grove of seringas and orange trees. +There is a fruit-garden in front of the house, or rather on one side of +it, though it may almost be said to have two fronts, for the verandah +and the _stoep_ run round the two sides which command the best and +widest view, while another and a larger garden, even more leafy and +inviting-looking, lies down in the kloof. Close to the homestead are +the sheep and cattle kraals, with their prickly thorn-fences, into one +of which a white, fleecy flock is already being counted, while another, +preceded by its _voerbok_ [Note 2] is coming down the kloof, urged on by +the shout and whistle of its Kafir shepherd. The cattle enclosure is +already alive with the dappled hides of its denizens, moving about among +whom are the bronzed forms of the cattle-herd and his small boys, who +are busily employed in sorting out the calves and shutting them up in +their pen for the night, away from their mothers, so that these may +contribute their share towards filling the milk-pails in the morning. +Behind the kraals stand the abodes of the Kafir farm servants, eight or +ten beehive-shaped huts to wit, and stepping along towards these, +calabash on head, comes a file of native women and girls who have been +to draw water from the spring. They sing, as they walk, a monotonous +kind of savage chant, stopping now and then to bawl out some "chaff" to +the shepherd approaching with his flock as aforesaid, and going into +shrill peals of laughter over his reply. + +The traveller draws rein for a little while, till the counting-in +process is accomplished, then rides down to the kraal gate and +dismounts. A man turns away from giving some final directions to the +Kafir who is tying up the gate--an old man, over whose head at least +seventy summers must have passed, but yet stalwart of body and handsome +of feature, with hair and beard like silver. He is dressed in the rough +cord suit and slouch hat of the ordinary frontier farmer, and in his +hand he carries a whip of plaited raw-hide. His clothes have a timeworn +appearance, and his hands are large and hard-looking; but, in spite of +the roughness of his aspect and attire, you need only look once into +Walter Brathwaite's face to know that you were confronting a man of +gentle blood. + +"Good evening," he says, heartily, advancing with outstretched hand +towards the stranger. But a curious smile upon the tatter's face causes +him to pause with a half mystified, hesitating air, as if it were not +unfamiliar to him. "Why, no. It can't be. Bless my soul, it is, +though. Why, Claverton, how are you, my boy? Glad to see you back +again in Africa," and he enclosed the younger man's hand in a strong +grip. "But come in; the wife'll be delighted. Here, Jacob," he +shouted, in stentorian tones which brought a young Hottentot upon the +scene in a twinkling, "take the Baas's horse and off-saddle him." + +Passing through a hall, garnished with trophies of the chase, bushbuck +horns, and tusks of the wild pig, and a couple of grinning +panther-heads, they entered the dining-room, a large, homelike +apartment, plainly but comfortably furnished. + +"Here, Mary, I've brought you a visitor," said the settler, as they +entered. "You remember Arthur Claverton?" + +A tall old lady, whose kindly and still handsome face bore unmistakable +signs of former beauty, rose from a sewing-machine at which she had been +working, with a start of surprise. + +"What! Arthur? Why, so it is. But I should never have known you, +you're so altered. Ah, I always said we should see you out here again," +she continued, shaking his hand cordially. + +The stranger smiled, and a very pleasant smile it was. + +"Well, yes, so you did, Mrs Brathwaite; but at least I have the faculty +of knowing when and where I am well off," he said, really touched by the +genuine warmth of his reception. + +"So you've been all over the world since we saw you last--to Australia +and back?" she went on. "And then the last thing we heard of you was +that you had gone to America." + +"I attempted to; but Providence, or rather the blunder-headed lookout on +board a homeward-bound liner, willed otherwise." + +"How do you mean?" + +"Why! that the said idiotically-handled craft collided with ours, two +days out, cutting her down to the water's edge and sinking her in +thirteen minutes. I and twenty-four others were picked up, but the rest +went to Davy Jones's locker. There weren't many more of them, though, +for it was a small boat, and I was nearly the only passenger." + +"Oh! And you didn't try the voyage again?" said Mrs Brathwaite, in +subdued tones. She was colonial born, and in her own element as brave a +woman as ever stepped. In the earlier frontier wars she had stood by +her husband's side within the laager and loaded his guns for him, while +the conflict waxed long and desperate, and the night was ablaze with the +flash of volleys, and the air was heavy with asphyxiating smoke, and the +detonating crash of musketry and the battle-shouts of the savage foe, +and had never flinched. But she had a shuddering horror of the sea, and +would almost have gone through all her terrible experiences again rather +than trust herself for one hour on its smiling, treacherous expanse. + +"Well, no; I didn't," he answered. "I took it as an omen, and concluded +to dismiss the Far West in favour of the `Sunny South.' So here I am." + +"Ah! well," put in the old settler. "Perhaps we'll be able to find you +something in the way of excitement here, if that's what you were in +search of, and that before very long, too. All isn't so quiet here as +they try to make out. I've lived on the frontier, man and boy, all my +life, and I can see pretty plainly that there's mischief brewing." + +"Is there? I did hear something of the sort on my way up, now I think +of it; but I had an idea that the days of war were over, and that Jack +Kafir had got his quietus." + +"Ha! ha! Had you really, now? Why, bless my soul, the Kafirs are far +more numerous than ever; they outnumber us by fifty to one. They hate +us as much as ever they did, and for some time past have been steadily +collecting guns and ammunition. Now, what do they want those guns and +that ammunition for? Not for hunting, for there's next to no game in +all Kafirland. No, it is to put them on an equal footing with us; and +then, with their numbers, they think to have it all their own way. +There's mischief brewing, mark my words." + +"It wouldn't mean a scrimmage among themselves, would it? They might be +anxious to exterminate each other," ventured Claverton. + +The other smiled significantly, and was about to reply, when the +conversation was interrupted by the entrance of supper and--Hicks. + +The latter was one of those young Englishmen often met with on colonial +farms, learning their business in the capacity of assistant, or general +factotum; and who may be divided into two categories: those who take +kindly to the life and throw themselves thoroughly into it and its +interests, and those who don't, and leave it after a trial. Our friend +Hicks may be placed in the former of these. He was a strong, energetic, +good-tempered fellow, who loved his calling, and was a favourite with +everybody. He had served three years in the Frontier Mounted Police, +and had been two with Mr Brathwaite, and, by virtue of so much hard, +healthy, open-air life, was twice the man he had been when he left his +father's Midlandshire parsonage five years previously. + +"You were asking if the Kafirs might not be preparing for a fight among +themselves?" resumed the old settler as they took their places at the +supper-table, which looked cheerful and homelike in the extreme. He had +got upon a favourite hobby, and was not to be diverted from a congenial +ride. "There isn't the slightest chance of it, because they know very +well we shan't let them. We prefer encouraging them to hammer away at +us." + +"Pickling a rod for our own backs?" remarked Claverton. + +"Just so. By patching up their tribal disputes we check just so much +salutary blood-letting, and foster hordes of lazy, thieving rascals +right on our border. Even if the sham philanthropy, under which we +groan, obliges us to sit still while the savages grow fat on our stolen +cattle and laugh at us, the least it could do would be to allow them to +cut a few of each other's throats when they have a mind to." + +"The Home Government, I suppose?" + +"That's it. A parcel of old women in Downing Street, ruled by Exeter +Hall and the Peace Society. What do they know about the Colony, and +what do they care? After British subjects have been murdered and +plundered all along the border, an official is sent to inquire into it. +Of course the chiefs all pretend ignorance, and throw the blame on +somebody else. Then follows great palaver and buttering over. The +chiefs are told to be good boys and not do it again, and are given +waggon-loads of presents--and a treaty is made. A treaty! With +savages--savages whose boast is that they are a nation of liars. Can't +you imagine the wily rascals sniggering in their blankets, and wondering +how much longer they are going to allow themselves to be governed by +such a race of milksops!" + +His listeners could not forbear a laugh. + +"I can tell you it's no laughing matter to be burned out of house and +home three times as I have been," went on the old man, "and that through +the sentimental cant of our rulers. No; coddling savages doesn't do-- +never did do, and never will. Treat them fairly and with the strictest +justice; but, if you are to rule them at all, you must do so with a +strong hand." + +Walter Brathwaite had, as he said, lived on the frontier, man and boy, +all his life; for he was a mere child when his father, tempted by the +inducement of free grants of land, had transferred the family fortunes +to the shores of Southern Africa in the early days of the settlement of +the Cape Colony. His youth and earlier manhood were passed amid the +hardships and obstacles of an emigrant's life. And also its dangers-- +for the tribes infesting the rugged and difficult country which then was +Kafirland, were wont to lay marauding hands on the settler's flocks and +herds--nor did the savages scruple about adding murder to pillage. +Still the emigrants throve; for those were the days of good seasons and +healthy flocks and herds--when pasturage was plentiful and succulent, +droughts were infrequent, and disease almost unknown. Three successive +wars at short intervals swept away the fruits of the unfortunate +settlers' toil; but they managed to pick up again, and now, at this +period of our narrative, it is twenty years since the last of these, and +there are once more the same signs of restlessness among the tribes +which the experienced remember to have heralded former outbreaks. So if +Walter Brathwaite expresses strong distrust of his barbarous neighbours, +it is not without ample justification. He has done good service, too, +in the time of need; has fought valiantly and ungrudgingly on behalf of +his adopted country, and whether in peace or in war has ever enjoyed the +respect and good opinion of his fellows. In truth, right justly so. +Gifted with strong, practical common sense; his straightforward nature +abhorring anything in the shape of humbug or meanness; of a thoroughly +kind-hearted, genial disposition and open-handed to a degree, he is a +splendid specimen of the colonist who is also by birth and tradition a +true English gentleman; and now in the latter years of his long, useful, +and honourable life, he is an object of esteem and affection to all who +know him--and they are many. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. Dutch, "Evening, master." Dutch is nearly always employed in +the Cape Colony for intercourse with the natives, comparatively few +frontiersmen, even, being well versed in the Kafir language. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 2. "The goat which goes before."--A goat is always used instead of +a bell-wether on the Cape sheep farms, and so accustomed do the flocks +become to their leader that it is a hard and toilsome business to induce +them to enter their fold without it. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER FIVE. + +THE BITER BITTEN. + +It was early when Claverton awoke on the following morning; but, early +as it was, the occupant of the other bed had disappeared. He had +"shaken down" in Hicks' room, and the two had talked and smoked +themselves to sleep; and, early as it was, there were plenty of sounds +outside, which told of the day's doings having begun. + +The most epicurean of late sleepers will find it hard to keep up his +usual luxurious habit in a frontier house. There is a something which +seems to preclude late lying--possibly the consciousness of exceptional +laziness, or a sneaking qualm over taking it easy in bed when every soul +on the place has long been astir; but even the most inveterate sluggard +will hardly find it in his conscience to roll over again, especially if +a companion's long since vacated conch is staring him reproachfully in +the face from the other side of the room. + +Claverton, who was in no sense an epicurean, felt something of this, and +lost no time in turning out. The sun had risen, but was unable to +pierce the heavy mist which hang over the earth in opaque folds. He +found his host busy at the sheep kraals, the thorn-fence dividing which +had been broken through in the night, with the result of mixing the +flocks. Three Kafirs were hard at work sorting them out again, and the +dust flew in clouds as the flock rushed hither and thither within the +confined space--the ground rumbling under their hoofs. + +"Pleasure of farming!" remarked the old man, with a smile, after +greetings had been exchanged. Both turned away their faces a minute as +a pungent and blinding cloud swept past them. "The rascals might have +avoided all this by simply putting a thorn tack or two in its place last +night. You can't trust them, you see--have to look to everything +yourself." + +"Suppose so," replied Claverton, slipping out of his jacket. "I'm going +to give your fellows a hand. The brand, though, is rather indistinct. +Which come out?" + +"All branded B, with the double ear mark." + +"Right?" And he dived into the thick of the fun, with all the energy +and more than the dexterity of the Kafirs, who paused for a moment with +a stare of astonishment and a smothered "Whouw!" They did not know who +the strange _Baas_ was, but he was evidently no greenhorn. + +Another hour's hard work and the flocks are separate again; but it is +rather too early to turn them out to grass. So the two stroll round to +the cattle kraal, whose denizens stand patiently and ruminatingly about +for the most part, though some are restless and on the move, recognising +with responsive "moo" the voices of their calves in the pen. Nearly all +the cows are of good breed--the serviceable and hardy cattle of the +country, crossed with imported stock, though now and again among them +can be descried the small head and straight back of an almost +thorough-bred Alderney. Milking is going on. There sits the old +cattle-herd beneath a wild young animal properly secured, milking away +and gossiping with his satellites as fast as he fills his pail--for +Kafirs are awful gossips. Then he turns the frightened young cow loose, +and, removing the foaming pail out of the way of a possible upset, +proceeds in search of a fresh victim. He salutes his master in passing, +and, with a rapid, keen glance at the stranger, extends his greeting to +him. + +Mr Brathwaite is very proud of his choice and well-bred animals. He +knows every hoof of them like ABC, almost every hair; and as they walk +about among the beasts he entertains his companion with the history of +each, and where it came from, and the events of its career in life. + +"Hullo! Who's this?" said Claverton suddenly, as two horsemen appeared +on the brow of the opposite hill. "One's Hicks, the other looks like, +uncommonly like, Jim." + +"Yes, it is Jim," assented Mr Brathwaite. "What's brought him over +this morning, I wonder?" The said Jim was his eldest son. He was a +married man, and lived on a farm of his own some fifteen or sixteen +miles off. A few minutes more, and the two horsemen drew rein in front +of the cattle kraal. + +"Hullo, Arthur!" sang out Jim, jumping to the ground. "Here we are +again! Hicks told me I should find _you_ here, of all people. Morning, +father! Have Ethel and Laura arrived yet?" + +"I believe so. I saw Jeffreys' trap coming over the hill about an hour +ago, and he was to bring them. I was busy and couldn't go in then. My +brother's children, Arthur," he explained, noting a surprised look in +his guest's face. "They have come from Cape Town to stay a couple of +months while their father is away up the country." + +"Come to enliven us up a bit," said jovial Jim. "Ethel will lead you a +life of it, or I'm a Trojan." + +Jim Brathwaite was a fine, handsome fellow of thirty-five, over six feet +in height, strong as a bull and active as a leopard. His bronzed and +bearded countenance was stamped with that air of dashing intrepidity +with which a genial disposition usually goes hand in hand. He was a +quick-tempered man, and his native dependents stood in considerable awe +of him, for they knew--some of them to their cost--that he would stand +no nonsense. Of untiring energy, and with all his father's practical +common sense, he had prospered exceedingly in good times, and had +managed to hold his own against bad ones. Shrewd and clear-headed, he +was thoroughly well able to look after his own interests; and any one +given to sharp practice or rascality--whether cattle dealer or Dutchman, +Kafir or Hottentot--would have to get up very early indeed to reach the +blind side of him. + +Claverton had been on very intimate terms with the Brathwaites some +years previously. They had been good friends to him in the earlier days +of his wandering life, and he had a warm regard for them. It was more +than pleasant, he thought, being among them again, laughing over many a +reminiscence evoked by the jest-loving Jim as they strolled towards the +house. + +The long, low dining-room looked invitingly cool after the glare and +heat outside. Mrs Brathwaite, who was seated at the table, scolded +them playfully for keeping breakfast waiting. Beside her sat a girl--a +beautiful creature, with large blue eyes fringed with curling lashes, +and a sparkling, dimpled rosebud of a face made for capriciousness and +kisses. The masses of her golden hair, drawn back from the brows, were +allowed to fall in a rippling shower below her waist, and a fresh, cool +morning-dress set off her neat little figure to perfection. + +"Arthur. This is my niece, Ethel," said Mrs Brathwaite. + +Claverton started ever so slightly and bowed. He was wondering where on +earth this vision of loveliness had suddenly dropped from in this +out-of-the-way place. And Mr Brathwaite had said, "My brother's +_children_." + +The girl shot one glance at him from under the curling lashes as she +acknowledged the introduction, and a gleam of merriment darted across +the bright face. Each had been trying to read off the other, and each +had detected the other in the act. She turned away to greet her cousin. + +"Why, what in the world has brought _you_ here?" cried that jovial blade +in his hearty voice. "We weren't expecting you for ever so long. +Where's Laura?" + +"The Union Company's steamer _Basuto_. Cobb and Co, and Mr Jeffreys' +trap. Laura's in the next room. One question at a time, please." + +Jim roared with laughter as he took his seat at the table. Between +himself and Ethel much sparring took place whenever the pair got +together. + +"Sharp as ever, by Jingo," he cried. "I say, Ethel, I wonder you +haven't been quodded for bribery and corruption. They say Uncle George +only gets returned by sending you round to tout for votes." + +The point of this joke lay in the fact that her father was a fervid +politician and a member of the Legislative Assembly. Before Ethel could +retort, a diversion was created by the entrance of Mr Brathwaite and +his other niece. Laura was her sister's junior by a year, and as unlike +her as it was possible to be. She was a slight, graceful girl, with +dark hair and eyes, and as quiet and demure in manner as the other was +merry and impulsive; and though falling far short of her sister in +actual beauty, yet when interested her face would light up in a manner +that was very attractive. So thought, at any rate, our friend Hicks, on +whom, during her last visit at Seringa Vale, Laura had made an +impression. Not to put too fine a point upon it, Hicks was very hard +hit indeed. + +"Really, those two are too bad," said Mrs Brathwaite. "Beginning to +fight before they have been five minutes together. Isn't it too bad of +them, Arthur?" + +He appealed to, looked up just in time to catch Ethel's glance of +defiance which said as plainly as words: "You mind your own business." +She was not going to defer to the opinions of this stranger, and did not +see why he should be called upon to decide in the matter. No doubt he +had come out there with the notion that they were a mere set of +half-civilised, ignorant colonials whom it was his business to set +right. Those new arrivals from England always gave themselves such +airs, and expected to have everything their own way. That might do with +the old people and good-natured Jim, but it would not go down with her, +Ethel Brathwaite, aged nineteen, and she intended to let him know it. +She had taken a dislike to this new arrival, which he saw at once, and +the idea rather entertained him. + +"Uncle, I declare Jim gets worse and worse as he grows older. Yes-- +older, Jim, for you're quite grey since I saw you last, you know. How +are you, Mr Hicks?" she continued, as that tardy youth entered the +room. "Have you shot your twenty backs yet? You know we said last year +we should vote you out of our good opinion unless you could show as +twenty pairs of horns fairly killed by your own gun when next we met?" + +"Well, not yet," was the answer, somewhat reluctantly given. + +"As you are strong, be merciful," put in Claverton, thereby drawing down +upon himself another indignant glance. + +Our friend Hicks, like many a greater man, had his weaknesses. One of +these was a passion for sport. He would lay himself out to the most +arduous labours in the heat of the day, and forego many an hour of +well-earned rest at night, in the pursuit of his favourite pastime. Not +that his efforts were always crowned with the success they deserved-- +indeed, it was the exception rather than the rule if they were so--but +the mere pleasure of having his gun in his hand, expecting, +Micawber-like, something to turn up, satisfied him. When he first came +to Seringa Vale he had been in the habit of starting off in quest of +game at times when by no possibility could he have obtained a shot, and +under such circumstances had been known to empty his gun at such small +fry as spreuws or meercats rather than not discharge it at all. But +whatever he let off his gun at, it didn't make the least difference to +the object under fire. He never hit anything, and much good-humoured +chaff was habitually indulged in at his expense. "He couldn't hit a +house, couldn't Hicks," Mr Brathwaite was wont to observe jocosely, +"unless he were put inside and all the doors and shutters barred up." +Which witticism Jim would supplement by two or three of his own. But +the subject of this rallying was the very essence of good humour. He +didn't mind any amount of chaff, and devoted himself to the pursuit of +_ferae naturae_ with a perseverance which was literally as laid down by +the copy-books--its own reward. + +"I move that we all go down and look at the ostriches," suggested Ethel, +ever anxious to be on the move. + +"Who seconds that?" said Jim, looking around. "Now, then, Arthur!" + +"As junior member my innate modesty forbids," was the reply. + +"That is meant satirically, Mr Claverton," cried Ethel. "You deserve +to be voted out of the expedition, and if you don't apologise you shall +be." + +"Then I withdraw the innate modesty. What--that not enough? Then +there's nothing for it but a pistol or a pipe. Of the two evils here +goes for the pipe. Hicks, we haven't blown our cloud this morning." He +saw how the land lay. + +"Er--well, you see--er--that is--er--I mean," stammered Hicks, who, +good-natured fellow, shrank from refusing outright. "Er--the fact is, +I've got to go down and feed the ostriches some time, so I may as well +go now." + +"Well, I am surprised at _you_, Mr Hicks," said Ethel. "So the +pleasure of our company counts as nothing. You deserve to be put on the +stool of repentance too." + +"But really that's just what I meant--er--that is, I mean--it does, you +know--but--" stuttered the unlucky youth, putting his foot in it deeper +and deeper. + +Laura had fled into another room under the pretext of finding her hat, +whence a stifled sob of suppressed laughter was audible now and again. +The originator of this turn of affairs was imperturbably sticking a +penknife through and through a piece of card, and contemplating the +actors in it as if he were unconscious of anything humorous in the +situation, though in reality he was repressing, with an effort, an +overpowering desire to go outside and roar for five minutes. + +"Good-bye, Mr Claverton," said Ethel, with a mock bow, and emphasising +the first word. She was rather disappointed at his ready acquiescence +in her ostracism of him, as it upset a little scheme of vengeance she +had been forming. + +"Say rather `Au reservoir,' for your way, I believe, lies past the dam." + +"Oh-h!" burst from the whole party at the villainy of the pun, as they +left him. + +"I'm afraid your friend is a dreadful firebrand; Ethel and he will fight +awfully," said Laura to Hicks as they walked down to the large +enclosure. These two had fallen behind, and Hicks was in the seventh +heaven of delight. The mischief of it was that the arrangement would be +of such short duration. Some twenty yards in front Ethel was keeping +her aunt and Jim in fits of laughter. + +"Let me carry that for you," said Hicks, pouncing upon a tiny apology +for a basket which was in her hand. + +"No, no; you've got quite enough to carry," she replied, referring to a +large colander containing the daily ration of maize for the ostriches, +and which formed his burden on the occasion. + +"Not a bit of it. Look, I can carry it easily. Do let me," he went on +in his eagerness. + +"Take care, or you'll drop the other," said she. + +The warning was just one shade too late. Down came the colander, its +contents promptly burying themselves in the long grass. The salvage +which Hicks managed to effect was but a very small fraction of the +original portion. + +"There now, I've spilt all the mealies," said he, ruefully, eyeing the +scattered grain. He was not thinking of its intrinsic value, but that +the necessity of going back for more would do him out of the two or +three hundred yards left to him of his walk with Laura. + +"Your friend would say `it's of no use crying over spilt mealies.' +Never mind, we can go back and get some more." + +"What!" he exclaimed, delightfully. "Do you mean to say you'll go all +the way back with me? But really I can't let you take all that +trouble," he added, with reluctant compunction. + +"I mean to say I'll go _all_ the way back with you, and I intend `to +take _all_ that trouble' with or with out permission," she replied, +looking up at him with a saucy gleam in her eyes. + +Close to the storeroom they came upon Claverton. He was sitting on the +disselboom of a tent-waggon smoking a pipe, and meditatively shying +pebbles at an itinerant scarabaeus, which was wandering aimlessly about +on a sun-baked open patch of ground about seven yards off. + +"Well, has your sister thought better of it, and removed the ban?" asked +he, as the two came up. + +"No, she hasn't," answered Laura, "but I see you're penitent, so I will +do so on her behalf. You may come down with us," she added, demurely. +She knew he would do nothing of the sort, so could safely indulge the +temptation to mischief. + +Poor Hicks was on thorns. "Yes, come along, Claverton," he chimed in, +mechanically, in the plenitude of his self-abnegation fondly imagining +that his doleful tones were the acme of cordiality. + +"Well, I think I will," pretended Claverton, making a feint at moving. +Hicks' countenance fell, and Laura turned away convulsed. "Don't know, +though; think I'll join you later. I must go in and get a fresh fill; +my pipe's gone out," and he sauntered away to Hicks' great relief, as he +and Laura started off to rejoin the others at the ostrich camp. + +The male bird was very savage, and no sooner did he descry the party, +than he came bearing down upon them from the far end of the enclosure. + +"What a grand fellow!" exclaimed Ethel, putting out her hand to stroke +the long serpentine neck of the huge biped, who, so far from +appreciating the caress, resented it by pressing the stone wall with his +hard breast-bone as though he would overthrow it, and making the +splinters fly with a vicious kick or two, in his futile longing to get +at and smash the whole party. And standing there in all the bravery of +his jet-black array, the snowy plumes of his wings dazzling white in the +sun as he waved them in wrathful challenge, he certainly merited to the +full the encomium passed upon him. Hicks emptied the contents of the +colander, which brought the hen bird running down to take her share--a +mild-eyed, grey, unobtrusive-looking creature. She stood timidly +pecking on the outside of the "spread," every now and again running off +some twenty yards as her tyrannical lord made at her, with a sonorous +hiss, aiming a savage kick at her with his pointed toe. + +"Oh, you odious wretch," cried Ethel, apostrophising the bird. "Mr +Hicks, can't we give the poor hen some all to herself?" + +"Behold the way of the world," said a voice behind her. "Every man for +himself and--but I won't finish the saw." + +She turned, and there was Claverton. A cherrywood pipe was in his +mouth, and with one hand thrust carelessly into the pocket of a loose +shooting-coat, he stood regarding her from beneath his broad-brimmed +hat, looking the very personification of coolness and unconcern. + +The sight of him angered her, but a thrill of malicious satisfaction +shot through her, as she thought of the rude shock she would inflict +upon that provoking imperturbability before he was an hour older. + +"So you come down from the stool of repentance without permission," she +said, severely. + +"Couldn't stop away any longer," he replied, without removing his +careless glance from her face. "Besides, your sister absolved me in +your name." + +"Then you may stay," she said, graciously, turning to look at the +ostriches. The male bird was about fifty yards off, reluctant to leave +the spot, and rolling his fiery eye towards them with a frequency that +showed he had not quite given up all hopes of making mincemeat of some +one of the party that day. + +"Mr Claverton," suddenly exclaimed Ethel, even more graciously. "Do +get me those red flowers over there, the ones on the long stalks." + +"With pleasure," he answered, coming to her side. "Indicate them." + +"There they are, those under that bush." + +She pointed out ten or a dozen wiry-looking stalks with a few red +blossoms that would not have overburdened one of them, but were +injudiciously distributed amongst the group, which sprouted amid the +undergrowth in a small clump of thorn-bushes right in the enclosure. To +reach it about seventy yards of open ground, destitute of all cover save +for a single mimosa bush growing half-way, must needs be traversed. + +"Hold on, let's get the bird away first," said Jim, moving off with that +intent. + +"Never mind the bird, Jim, he won't interfere with me," quietly answered +Claverton; and without even pocketing his pipe he climbed deliberately +over the wall. + +"Don't go, Arthur. Good gracious, he'll be killed!" cried Mrs +Brathwaite, in dire trepidation. "Ethel, how could you?" + +"No he won't, auntie; you'll see him run in a minute as for dear life. +I wanted to make him run," she added in a low tone, with a mischievous, +scornful laugh. + +I know of no more perfect exemplification of the old adage about +familiarity breeding contempt than the case of the fall-grown male +ostrich. In his wild state the most timid and wary of creatures, he is +up and away the moment you appear on the skyline, and fleetness and +endurance must be the character of your mount if you hope to overtake +him. In a state of domesticity, however, his aggressiveness and +pugnacity know no bounds. He will charge anything or everything, +resistance only adding to his blind ferocity--and when it is understood +that a single stroke of his sharp horny toe--for he kicks down, not +out--will shatter a man's skull, not to mention the possibility of a +broken limb, it will not be difficult for the reader to realise that +this gigantic fowl is a particularly awkward customer to deal with. Of +course the bird is easily killed, or disabled, a very moderate blow from +a stick being sufficient to break its leg. But it must be remembered +that the creature is, so to say, worth its weight in gold, and any one +would think more than, twice before slaying so valuable a possession, +even in self-defence. So it is manifest that the expedition upon which +Claverton had now embarked was by no means free from the element of +peril. + +Once over the wall he walked coolly forward, seeming altogether to +ignore his foe's existence. The ostrich, however, was by no means +disposed to take matters so quietly, for before he had gone fifteen +paces it bore down upon him with a savage hiss; but a couple of light +bounds brought him to the small bash above mentioned, where he was safe +for the moment. For the moment, because it was only a question which of +the two would tire first, and they dodged each other round the +precarious shelter which was only half-way to his destination. + +Soon, however, besieger and besieged alike came to a complete +standstill, and the situation began to wax rather monotonous. Then the +ostrich, withdrawing a couple of yards, dropped down on its shanks, and +contorting its neck, and at the same time fluttering its wings in +defiance, produced a curious drumming noise, of which grotesque +challenge its human antagonist took not the slightest notice, but waited +on as calmly as ever. Suddenly it sprang up, and uttering its +trumpet-like hiss, dashed right through the bush at him; then, while it +was still blundering among the thorns, Claverton started off upon the +remainder of his journey. This he could have accomplished with ease and +safety, but that above all he intended to do it quietly. He knew why +Ethel had sent him in there as well as she did herself, and that astute +young lady should not have the pleasure of seeing him routed, or +enjoying a laugh at his expense. Consequently he had not covered more +than half the distance that remained to him, at a quick but easy walk, +when the ostrich, now simply infuriate by reason of a few pricks from +the sharp mimosa thorns, which had penetrated even its tough hide, was +upon him. And very huge and formidable looked the ferocious bird, as, +rearing itself up to its full height, its jetty plumage erect and +bristling, its eye glaring, and its fiery red bill wide open, it rushed +upon Claverton, hissing like a fiend. No cover was at hand; there he +stood in the open, completely at the mercy of his savage assailant. + +In vain Jim and Hicks ran into the enclosure shouting, to draw off the +creature's attention; it manifested a fell fixity of purpose, from which +it was not to be turned aside by any such puerile tricks. Mrs +Brathwaite grew pale, and averted her head; even Ethel now saw that she +had carried her practical joke rather too far; but still her gaze was +riveted upon the combatants with a strange, eager fascination. + +But Claverton's coolness always stood him in good stead. He suddenly +advanced a couple of paces, thus forestalling the attack, and seizing +his powerful antagonist by the lower part of the neck, swung himself +nimbly aside, just managing to avoid a kick that would probably have +ripped him up, and held on firmly to the creature's throat, half choking +it. It plunged and stamped, its great feet going all the time like +sledge-hammers, and to hold on was just as much as he could do, for it +was as powerful as a horse. But hold on he did as for dear life; then, +watching his opportunity, he flung himself off, and before the bird, +half-dazed, had recovered from the effects of the choking it had +received, he stood safe within the friendly shelter of the clump of +bush, somewhat used up, but uninjured, except that his right hand was +torn and bleeding from contact with the bird's claw. His pursuer, +indisposed to venture again among thorns, walked quickly up and down +before the entrance to the cover, flicking its wings about in baffled +wrath at the unaccountable escape of its victim. + +The first thing he did was to gather every one of the flowers he had +come for. Then the spectators could see him standing against a tree +doing something with a pencil and the back of an envelope. + +"Hallo! what on earth are you up to now?" called out Jim. "Tell us when +you're ready, and we'll get the bird away." + +"By no means," was the reply. "I'm making a rough sketch of the +situation, now that I'm master of the same. Then you may call it a +drawing by one of the Masters." + +This sally provoked a laugh from all but Ethel. She was silent. To +tell the truth, she was rather ashamed of herself. + +In a few moments he put away his pencil and paper, and set to work to +cut a couple of large thorn branches. This done, he issued forth from +his refuge to return. The ostrich, apparently tired of the turn affairs +had taken, had drawn off a little way; but no sooner was he in the open +than it charged him again. This time, however, it was out of its +reckoning; the _chevaux de frise_ of thorns that Claverton held before +him was not to be got over. With a powerful kick or two it beat down +the branch, which, however, was immediately replaced by the other, and +kick and hiss as it would, it could not get rid of the formidable array +of prickly thorns which met its breast and unprotected neck whenever it +pressed on to the attack. At last, convinced of the futility of the +undertaking, the savage bird turned round and trotted away about fifty +yards, and there stood, looking the picture of sullen defeat. Its cool +opponent walked leisurely to the wall, and, abandoning his valuable +means of defence, climbed over and joined the party. + +"By Jove, but you did that well," said Jim. "Why, man, I expected to +see you most awfully mauled." + +"I don't know. `Needs must where the'--but I won't finish that +quotation, either. Here are the flowers, Miss Brathwaite," he said, +handing her the innocent cause of all the pother. "By the way, Hicks, I +forgot to tell you as I came down that there's been a porcupine in the +mealie-land during the night. We might set the spring-gun for him, eh?" + +"Rather! We'll set it this evening," said Hicks, gleefully, his +instincts of destructiveness coming again to the fore. + +That evening, between nine and ten o'clock, they were all sitting +indoors. Jim had left in the afternoon to return to the bosom of his +family, after making them all promise to ride over in a day or two. +Suddenly a dull, heavy report was heard. + +"_Pace_ the porcupine," remarked Claverton. + +"I say," sputtered Hicks in his eagerness, "let's go down and see if +we've got him. We might set the gun again, you know, in case another +came." + +"Let's all go," cried Ethel. "I'm dying to see the result of our +trap-setting. Yes, _our_ trap-setting, Mr Hicks--you know you'd have +put that trigger too stiff if it hadn't been for me." + +"But, my dear child," feebly protested Mrs Brathwaite, "the grass is as +wet as it can be, and--" + +"And--there's a path all the way down, and--it's a lovely night--and-- +you're a dear old auntie--and--we're going," she replied, with a hug and +a kiss; then darting into the other room reappeared, looking +inexpressibly killing, with a light-blue shawl thrown carelessly over +her golden head. + +"Well, then, don't be too long, and don't get into any mischief. +Arthur, I shall look upon you as the responsible person. Keep them in +order," said the old lady, with her kindly smile. + +"All right, Mrs Brathwaite, I'll keep them well in hand, I promise +you." + +"And--Arthur--just shy that old porcupine up in the air once or twice +for Hicks to practise at," sang out Mr Brathwaite jocosely as they left +the room. + +It was a perfect night, the moon was at half, and the whole earth slept +in silence beneath its mantle of silver sheen, for a heavy dew had +fallen. A grass fire or two shone forth redly upon the slopes of the +far Amatola. Not a breath stirred the air, save for the faintest +suspicion of a cool zephyr which now and again partly dispelled the +light clouds of blue smoke which ascended from Claverton's pipe. Hicks +and Laura were on in front. Suddenly Ethel stopped. + +"Mr Claverton," she said. "Do you know I've been feeling quite ashamed +of myself all day?" + +"What about?" asked her companion. + +"Why, for sending you after those wretched flowers this morning--I +didn't mean you to get hurt, you know; of course I thought you would +easily be able to run away." + +"I see. But running away isn't altogether in my line--I don't mean +under any circumstances--those who declaim most against the lawfulness +of leg-bail at a push are generally the ones most prone to putting it to +the test. In fact, I don't mind telling you that I have `run away' +before now, having no alternative." + +"When I saw that dreadful creature coming at you, I declare I would have +given anything not to have sent you in there. It was horrible." And +she shivered. "Do forgive me." + +"But I assure you the whole affair was fun to me. Keeps one in training +for emergencies. Only--" + +"Only what?" + +"Only that I don't know whether your uncle quite likes his prize ostrich +being made the subject of a bull-fight." + +"And--we are friends?" + +"I hope so." + +He looked with a trifle of wonder into the lovely eyes, now so soft in +the moonlight. What an impulsive little thing it was, he thought. Then +she said: "Do give me that drawing you made while the ostrich was +waiting for you. It's sure to be fun." + +"With pleasure. Here it is," pulling the old envelope out of his +pocket. "It about represents the position, though I'm no artist." + +It did. When Ethel examined it in her room half an hour later she found +a very comical sketch reproducing the situation with graphic and +whimsical distinctness. It was labelled "Cornered--or Brute Force +_versus_ Intellect." + +They found the other two standing over the mortal remains of a large old +porcupine. The spring-gun had been set with the precision of clockwork, +and no sooner had the luckless rodent entered the mealie-land than he +ran his nose against the string and promptly received the contents of +the infernal machine clean through his marauding carcase. There he +lay--a spoiler who would spoil no more. Said Hicks: + +"I'll come down in the morning and get some of his best quills." + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER SIX. + +IN A NEW LINE. + +"Of course you know the place well?" + +"Every inch of it. Two thousand _morgen_, rather over. What did you +say Van Rooyen asks for it?" + +"Three thousand. Probably he'd take less." + +"Far too much. It isn't particularly good veldt; sheep don't do well +there, and the place is nearly all bush. And then there's that stony +hill right over the river, about one-fifth of the whole area. What sort +of house is it?" + +"A classic tenement meriting the veneration of the Society for the +Preservation of Ancient Buildings." + +"Humph! You'd better have nothing to do with the concern." + +The above dialogue took place about three weeks after the events +recorded in the former chapter, the speakers being Claverton and his +host, who were returning from a ride. + +"You have made up your mind to settle here, then?" went on the latter. + +"Yes, I've taken rather a fancy to this part of the country." + +"H'm! Well now, I'll tell you what I think. Don't you be in too great +a hurry to buy; there's nothing like keeping your eyes open a bit first, +and biding your time. Plenty of these fellows would be very glad to +clear out. The Dutchmen round here are mostly a bankrupt lot, living +from hand to mouth, and you'll soon be able to make your own terms and +get a much better place than Springkaan's Hoek, which old Van Roozen, by +the way, has done his best to spoil." + +"But do you know of another place about here that would be likely to +suit me?" + +"Not at present--that is, not one that's in the market. But I've been +thinking, why not stop on here a bit and help me? You'd get into +practice and learn your craft, so to say. You see, at present you know +precious little about it, though you're quicker at picking up wrinkles +than most new hands who come out. I'm getting old now and am beginning +to feel it, and can't look after things as much as I should like them to +be looked after. As for Hicks, he's a smart fellow enough, but then he +can't be everywhere _at_ once, and as it is he has his hands full. Now +between you and him, all might be kept going, which would be a great +help to me, and, as I said before, you would get the experience you want +before setting up on your own account. And it's not enough to see +things done, the great thing is to know how to do them yourself. We do +a little of everything here, as you see, and I don't think you could be +much better placed for learning to farm," added the old man, with a +touch of pardonable pride. + +Claverton readily closed with this offer. Already during his stay he +had done many a hand's turn, helping Hicks to look up missing stock, or +seeing to odd jobs about the homestead when that invaluable majordomo +was out of the way; and his host's practised eye had gauged his +capabilities, seeing that he had all the makings of a first-rate +colonist. The advantage of this offer Claverton could tell at a glance +was all on his own side. + +"You see," pursued Mr Brathwaite, "farming now is not what it was. You +needn't expect to make a fortune at it, but still you can always make a +very decent living, and then the position is a thoroughly independent +one, the life a free and healthy one, you are absolutely your own master +and need care for nobody. Times are very far from what they used to be, +I admit; stock is more expensive, and there are more drawbacks in the +way of bad seasons, diseases, long droughts and used-up _veldt_; but +even then a good farmer can always manage to keep above water, and in a +fairly prosperous season can forge ahead. Look at me: I've been burnt +out, stick and stone, by the Kafirs in three successive wars, and have +had to begin life over again, yet I've always got on. The secret of it +is to look after everything yourself. It won't do to set your people to +work and go away expecting them to do it, you must off with your jacket +and work _with_ them. And you must be here, there, and everywhere at +once, Kafirs want continual looking after; directly they begin to think +the `Baas' is getting careless, good-bye to anything going straight. I +don't mean to say that you must always be finding fault with them, they +are naturally stupid devils and you can't make them anything else; but +you can let them see that you've got your eye on them and will stand no +nonsense. The great thing is to keep your temper with them, and, above +all, to treat them fairly but firmly. Then again, you must make up your +mind to being out in all weathers. The heavier and the colder the +rains, the more certain are the Kafirs to huddle in their blankets under +a bush or before a fire, and leave the flock to take care of itself. +With the result that at nightfall about a third of it is missing and +remains out in the _veldt_ for the benefit of the jackals and wolves; +what these leave perhaps stray to some Dutchman's place, and when you +get them again you find that they are covered with _brand ziekte_ [scab] +from his miserable brutes. As I say, there are drawbacks innumerable, +but it rests with yourself to minimise them." + +"Yes; I quite grasp the situation in all its bearings." + +"Very well, then, that's settled, and I think you'll have reason to see +that my plan is the best." + +They were nearing home now, and the sun, which was about an hour above +the horizon, shed a soft, golden lustre upon the broad, sloping plains +and on shining cliff and undulating vale, with many a dark patch of +forest here and there. The peak of the Great Winterberg, his snowy cap +now removed--sleeping in a filmy haze against the horizon, and the lofty +backs of his lesser satellites purple and gold as they stood in the +shade or in the sun--formed a grand and effective background to the +picture, the beautiful range stretching from east to west, far as the +eye could travel. Beneath lay the homestead, reposing among its shadowy +trees, looking the very abode of peace and prosperity. Scarcely a +breath of wind to ruffle the balminess of the air, nor a sound to create +one, save for the occasional droning hum of some insect, while now and +again the soft mellow note of a hoopoe sounded through the slumbrous +dimness of the far distance. Looking upon this vista of rest and +stillness, and in the midst of its influences, it was hard to realise +that the red tide of war could ever engulf this fair land, and its +fierce and jarring clangour break rudely upon such quiet calm. + +On their return they found a visitor awaiting them. This was one Will +Jeffreys, a sturdy, broad-shouldered fellow of five-and-twenty, with +rather a heavy expression of countenance bordering on the sullen. A man +who was shrewd enough as regarded all matters directly in his line, but +would have a difficulty in grasping a very ordinary joke, and who was +totally deficient in appreciation of aught beyond the humdrum and +practical. A man who might be a good fellow at bottom, but certainly +was a crusty dog on the surface. He was the son of the neighbour +referred to in the foregoing chapter, as having brought the girls to +Seringa Vale, and was well-to-do. But in one respect, at least, Will +Jeffreys wandered out of his natural groove. He had a genuine +admiration for Ethel Brathwaite, whom he had met on previous occasions +of her staying at her uncle's, and though he had returned home only that +morning, had saddled up his horse and ridden over, under pretext of +consulting Mr Brathwaite about a certain span of oxen which he thought +of buying--most transparent of pretexts, which his good-natured father +saw through at once, and went into fits of laughter over as soon as his +hopeful's back was turned. + +"Poor Will!" he would say to himself, "he's only singeing his wings. He +hasn't the ghost of a chance in that quarter." + +"Poor Will" certainly had not the ghost of a chance, for Ethel in no +wise reciprocated his admiration, though she would accept his homage +carelessly and half unconsciously at one time, and ruthlessly snub him +at another, particularly when the admiration became too open and +undisguised. Now it so happened that that afternoon they had been +discussing the latest importation in all his bearings, with the result +that young Jeffreys greeted Claverton with no great show of cordiality +when the two were introduced. Nor was it increased by Ethel's remark: +"At last, Mr Claverton! I thought uncle and you were never coming +back. Why, you've been out nearly the whole day." + +"Well, Will," said the old settler, heartily. "Had a good trip?" + +"Yes, very good on the whole, thanks. It's rather dry up Colesberg way, +and the locusts have been bad there, but my oxen were in good order, and +I came through quick." + +He had just returned from a transport-riding trip up the country. + +"H'm! By the way, did your father manage to get back his horses?" + +"No. He and Bob followed them as far as Tembani. The fellows had got a +forged pass [Note 1] and walked through right under the agent's nose. +After that the spoors separated; the thieves had taken two of the horses +in the direction of the Tambookie country, the other towards Sandili's; +and, of course, at every kraal they inquired at--for the spoor was soon +lost--the headmen did their best to put them on the wrong track, +although they set up to be no end sympathetic. We've got a spy down in +the Gaika location, but a fat lot of good he'll do; he's sure to be in +league with the rest," growled Will, who was not in the best of humours. + +"No, you can't do much when the whole country is in league against you. +We're quite at their mercy. I'm afraid you'll never see a hoof of them +again," said the older man. + +"Of course not. Three as good all-round horses as we ever had on the +place, though Bles was a dev--er--a brute for bucking, at times. +By-the-bye, Mr Brathwaite, there seems to be an awful lot of +stock-lifting going on just now. Seven of Dirk van Heerden's best cows +cleared off last week, and not a head of them has he been able to get +back, except one which had dislocated its shoulder, and the niggers +assegaied it to save its life." + +"Well, it's time to count the sheep. You'll stay to night, Will?" + +He was delighted. + +"Er--thanks--I--er, that is--" + +"All right. Better put your horse in the enclosure; only mind the +bird." + +"How tiresome that Will Jeffreys is getting!" remarked Ethel that +evening, as some of them were standing outside in the garden. "Listen +to him prosing away in there." + +"Ssh! He'll hear you," said Laura. + +"I don't much care. He comes over to see us, and instead of trying to +amuse one he bores us with tiresome yarns about this Dutchman losing his +cows and that Dutchman finding his horses." + +"But what on earth do you want him to tell you about?" asked Hicks. + +"Why, some of the news, of course. The gossip, scandal, engagements, +and so forth." + +"But he don't know anything about that sort of thing, so how can he tell +you about it?" said Hicks. + +"Oh, you're just as bad. Do go and join him and hear about Dirk van +Heerden's cows. Please take my part, Mr Claverton. Isn't Will +Jeffreys a bore?" + +"Haven't been long enough in his company to answer with any certainty. +Will let you know later." + +"How provoking you are! Now I appeal to all of you. If you see me +cornered by Will Jeffreys, come to the rescue." + +"The greatest bore I ever knew," began Claverton, "was a lady--an +elderly lady. She would volunteer instruction on any and every subject +under heaven, from the precise length of Aaron's beard, to the cost of +soup-kitchens; and once she cornered you, you had to listen or pretend +to. One day she cornered me. It was in the drawing-room, and there was +no escape; but there was a clock opposite. It occurred to me to time +her. For exactly twenty-one minutes she prosed on uninterruptedly, like +a stream flowing over its bed; never stopped to take breath once. A +sermon was a joke to it. Twenty-one minutes! Heaven knows how much +longer she would have gone on, but for a lucky interruption." + +"What was she prosing about?" said Ethel. + +"I haven't the very faintest idea." + +"Well, I don't believe a word of the story. I believe you made it all +up." + +"You don't believe a word of that story?" said Claverton, with a stare +of amazement, while Hicks and Laura went into fits. + +"No, I don't; at least, I'll say this much--you may have known such a +bore, but if so it was a man, not a lady." + +"I've told you a bare fact, upon my honour. But if--" + +They were interrupted by the appearance on the scene of Jeffreys +himself; but Ethel was too quick for him. She had seen him coming, and +was already on her way indoors. Then she began to sing duets with +Laura, whom she had manoeuvred to the piano by some mysterious signal. +Young Jeffreys, feeling very sulky and sore at his enslaver's +capriciousness and want of consideration, went and sat by himself at the +other side of the room, whence he could watch the author of his +discomfort. The old people, under no necessity to talk, waxed drowsy, +and nodded through the music. Presently Laura left the piano and, in a +trice, she and Hicks were deep in an animated conversation in a low tone +and in a snug corner, under pretence of looking through a pile of music. +Ethel the while was extracting wondrous combinations from the keys, +under cover of which she was carrying on a sharp running fire of banter, +or rather word-skirmish, with Claverton. + +Jeffreys, watching them, was on thorns and tenterhooks. Who the deuce +was this stranger? A month ago no one had ever heard of him, and now +here he was, with his damned finicking ways and smooth tongue, thinking +that all the world was made for him. A fellow, too, he'd be bound to +say, that with all his easy-going blarney, couldn't sit a bucking horse, +or hit a haystack at ten yards. Yet there was Ethel carrying on +furiously with this fellow, while he, Jeffreys, was sent to the wall. +In reality, however, there was nothing that those two were saying that +all the world--Jeffreys included--would not have been perfectly welcome +to hear. + +"Claverton," suddenly exclaimed Hicks, as two hours later they were +discussing the usual pipe before turning in. Jeffreys had joined them, +but did not add much to the conversation. "I hear you're going to stay +on here." + +"Yes, I am." + +Jeffreys' jaw fell at this announcement. He had been laying balm to his +wounded spirit in the thought that this interloping stranger would soon +be going, and then--well, the field would be clear again. + +"Glad to hear it, old fellow, awfully glad. By Jove, it's the best news +I've heard for a long time." + +"The deuce it is! And why, may I ask?" + +"Why? Only hear him! Haven't I had to do everything by myself, and +knock about by myself? No fellow to talk to at work, or to go out and +sneak a buck with, or to blow a cloud with at night, and so on. Now +we'll have a rare good time of it together." + +"Especially when you go down to feed the ostriches," said Claverton, +with a mischievous laugh. + +The other coloured and looked foolish, and was about to make some +stammering reply. + +"Never mind, Hicks," said Claverton, in that wonderfully attractive +manner which he now and then exhibited, "I don't think you and I will +quarrel. Now I'm going to turn in. Good-night. Good-night, Jeffreys." + +"I say," inquired Jeffreys, after he had gone out. "Is that +cattle-branding on to-morrow?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, I think I'll stay and give you a hand, if Mr Brathwaite doesn't +mind. Times are slack, and there's nothing doing at home." + +"Rather--mind you do; we'll be only too glad," answered Hicks with a +yawn, as he blew out the candle; and in five minutes more a mild snore +or so showed that he was out of reach of any further conversation. + +Jeffreys lay and ruminated. Here, at any rate, he would be in his +element. What sort of a figure would that stuck-up, priggish fool-- +again, reader, pardon a jealous man--cut in the cattle kraal among the +clashing horns and the charging of maddened beasts, and all the dash and +excitement of a piece of very rough work, by no means unattended with +danger? He was all there in the drawing-room; but where would he be at +this? And Jeffreys dropped off to sleep with a sardonic grin upon his +countenance, to dream of his rival--for so he had already begun to +regard Claverton--losing nerve, and being tossed and trampled by the +wildest brute in the herd. As to the fulfilment of which benevolent +expectation the morrow would show. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. No native is allowed to remove stock from the colony without a +pass granted by his late employer to certify that he acquired it +lawfully. This pass is countersigned by the various magistrates and +native agents along the road. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER SEVEN. + +THE CATTLE-BRANDING. + +"Here they come. Is the whole of that lot to be done to-day, Xuvani?" + +"Ja, Baas," replied that worthy, swinging back the ponderous gate of the +cattle enclosure where he and Jeffreys were standing. + +For the ground echoes a low rumble, drawing nearer every moment. It is +the trample of many hoofs, and Jeffreys and his swart companion fix +their attention upon a troop of cattle coming up the kloof. They are +mostly young beasts, and skittish. Now and then one will leave the rest +and attempt to strike out a line for itself, but lo, one of the two +horsemen riding behind is down on it like lightning; a shout and a crack +of the whip, and the recreant is back in the ways of the herd again. +Peradventure half-a-dozen will start off headlong down some well-known +track, and with frolicsome bellow and heels tossed in the air away they +go, refusing to hear the voice of the driver; but the spirited horse +darts beneath the spur like a greyhound from the leash; over ant-heap +and through rhinoster bush straight as an arrow he flies; and behold, +suddenly, from around that clump of spekboem, appears the form of one of +the drivers. A shout, half-a-dozen appalling whip-cracks, the errant +beasts stop short, heads go up and eyeballs dilate upon the unlooked-for +apparition with startled inquiry, then wheeling round they scamper back +to their comrades, helter-skelter, and the unruly mass moves swiftly on, +urged by the horsemen, eyes glaring, horns clashing, and now and again +an aggrieved "moo" as some quarrelsome brute playfully prods his nearest +neighbour, in the crush. One young bull especially, a fine, well-made +animal with curving wicked-looking horns, and not a speck of alien +colour on his glistening red hide, is inordinately given to leading the +rest astray, nor does he take kindly to correction, but puts his head +down and throws his horns about as if he had more than half a mind to +charge his drivers; but he is not quite used to that terrible cracking +whip, and thinks better of it. + +"That brute'll make things lively for some of us to-day," remarked +Hicks, as his companion fell behind after "collecting" it for about the +twentieth time. + +"Shouldn't wonder. The interesting quadruped appears to be getting his +hand in. That last time I had fully made up my mind for a roll, and +should have got it too. `Sticks' is an awful fool at getting out of +anything's way." + +"Well, we're in now," said Hicks. "Hey, Xuvani!" he called out, darting +forward to head the animals into the kraal, "Look out over there!" + +The Kafir gave a couple of bounds and threw up his arms. He was just in +time; two seconds later and the whole troop would have streamed past him +and galloped away across the _veldt_, which meant that a large part of +the morning's work would have to be done over again. The animals +stopped short, glared at the sudden obstacle, then looked wildly round +on one side and on the other, but they were hemmed in; the rear part of +the herd cannoned against the leaders, who at length made for the only +egress open, and amid much crush and plunging, interlacing of horns, and +starting eyeballs, the whole crowd poured through the wide gateway, the +pungent dust rising in clouds from the trampling hoofs. + +"Whew! that's warm work!" said Claverton, as Xuvani made fast the huge +gate and drew a heavy beam across above the top of it for additional +security. "Now for breakfast, I suppose. Hallo, Jeffreys. +Good-morning." + +"Mornin'," replied Will, shortly, as they turned towards the stable to +off-saddle their horses. + +Mr Brathwaite was somewhat unwell that day, and not at all sorry to +have the assistance of Will Jeffreys in the morning's operations. So +with many cautions to Hicks about this and that, more by way of showing +that he didn't let everything slide because of a little indisposition, +than for any misgivings as to his lieutenant's skill, he made up his +mind to remain quiet in his room. Rheumatism is no respecter of +persons, the only wonder being that the old farmer, after such a life of +hardship and exposure, should be let down as easily as he was. + +"Mr Claverton," said Ethel, as they were all seated round the +breakfast-table, "Laura and I are going to see the branding, so I hope +you'll show us some fun." + +"Are you? That determination I should advise you to reconsider." + +"But we won't. Aha, I know why you don't want us. You have never done +that sort of thing before, and you don't want us to see you make a bad +shot and run round the kraal with a cow after you. That's it, isn't it, +Mr Jeffreys?" turning to him. She was in a bright, teasing mood, and +looked bewitchingly pretty. + +Jeffreys chuckled to himself at Claverton's expense, as he thought, and +mumbled something about "it being dangerous for her." + +"Dangerous! Not a bit of it. We shall stand outside and look over the +gate, and we shall be perfectly safe." + +Hicks looked up from his plate with a low whistle. + +"Perfectly safe!" he reiterated. "Why, it was only last branding that +that big black and white ox of Jim's, after chevying Tambusa twice round +the kraal and knocking him down, jumped the gate, charged a big hencoop +that was pitched close by and threw it fifty feet in the air, and then +streaked off to the bush like a mad buffalo." + +"What nonsense, Ethel! Of course you can't go," said her aunt, who had +re-entered the room during this conversation. "Why, the things often +break out of the kraal." + +"Very well, aunt, I don't want to be a witness to poor Mr Claverton's +discomfiture;" and she cast at him a glance of petulance, mingled with +compassion, whose effect upon the object thereof was absolutely nil. + +A business-like appearance was that of the scene of operations. The +animals were standing quietly about the large enclosure seventy yards in +diameter, with its solid, bristling thorn-fence eight or nine feet high +and its massive five-barred gate. In the centre burnt--or rather +smouldered, for it was of the red-hot glowing order--a great fire, over +which bent the bronzed form of Xuvani, the cattle-herd, superintending +the due heating of the branding-irons and gossiping in subdued gutturals +with the other "hands"--two Kafirs and a smart, wiry little Hottentot, +who, with the _penchant_ of his race for scriptural appellations, +rejoiced in the time-honoured and patriarchal one of Abram. Xuvani was +a man of between fifty and sixty, of middle height, and of powerful, +almost herculean build; the muscles stood out upon his limbs like great +ropes, and a blow from his fist--that is, if he had known how to make +use of his fists, which Kafirs very seldom do know--would have sufficed +to fell an ox. He was rather light in colour, and his beard and woolly +head were just shot with grey; there was shrewdness in his rugged +features, and a twinkle of satiric humour lurked in his eye. He had +been a long time in the service of his present master, who had found him +a cut above the average Kafir in honesty and trustworthiness. Moreover, +he was greatly looked up to by the other natives, not only on account of +his great physical strength, but also as one who had shown his prowess +in a marked manner during the wars which have been alluded to. Although +far from quarrelsome by nature, Xuvani never needed a second challenge. +His kerries were all ready, as more than one party of Fingoes passing +Seringa Vale in search of employment could testify, to its sorrow. +Indeed, once he had expiated his share in one of these African +Donnybrooks by a sentence of several months in gaol. + +"Well, Xuvani!" sang out Hicks, as they slipped off their jackets and +flung them on to the kraal fence--"Got the iron hot? All right, let's +begin. Now then, Piet--what the devil are you standing there for, +grinning like a Cheshire cat? Lay hold of the _reim_ and catch that +heifer." + +Piet, a stalwart Kafir, grinned all the harder, and drawing out the +running noose of the _reim_ he made a cast, then, as the heifer ran over +it, with a mighty jerk he drew it taut and the animal, noosed by the +hind leg, fell. Before it could rise again they all threw themselves +upon it, and in a trice its legs were securely bound while two men +firmly held its head. In a second Hicks had taken the branding-iron +from one of the Kafirs, and held it for half a minute lightly but firmly +pressed against the fleshy part of the thigh. The poor brute groaned +and struggled violently as it felt the hot iron; there was a sharp, +hissing sound from the singeing hair, a foetid smoke arose, diffusing a +smell of burnt flesh, and the operation was complete. Whatever danger +there is in the performance generally falls to the lot of him who +releases the victim, which not unfrequently, as soon as it feels its +logs again, fiercely charges its emancipator, all the others having +previously withdrawn themselves behind some of the other cattle standing +about the kraal. The first animal, however, was not of an inherently +vicious nature. Consequently, no sooner was it free than it ran off +among its kindred, greatly scared and bewildered. All went merrily +enough till they had got a fine black and white cow under the iron. She +lay still, but there was rage mingled with pain in her groaning. + +"She'll be at some of us when she gets up," said Jeffreys, exerting all +his strength to restrain the frenzied plunges of her pointed horns. + +They stood aside, as, with a rapid turn of the wrist, Xuvani deftly cast +loose her bonds. She sprang to her feet in a twinkling, and, lowering +her head, furiously charged the old cattle-herd, who, there being no +room for dodging, was constrained to run, with his late victim after +him, head down, all ready to fling him a dozen feet in the air. But the +consummate coolness and agility of the Kafir was to the fore. He +zigzagged as he ran, to avoid a charge, then, seizing his opportunity, +he sprang aside, and placing one hand between the animal's shoulders he +vaulted lightly over her back as she sped past him and got in among the +rest. A cheer broke from the spectators at this splendid feat, but +before it had time to die, a shout of "Look out, she's coming this way," +sent them all scattering; and sure enough, singling out Jeffreys, she +made at him like a streak of lightning. He just avoided her charge by +dodging round the rear of a great trek ox, who was standing quietly +wondering what the deuce all the hubbub was about. The furious charge +of the maddened cow into his unoffending flanks may, or may not, have +enlightened him on the point; anyhow, he resented the familiarity by +lashing out with his heels, one of which coming in violent contact with +the chin of his assailant had the effect of somewhat modifying that +exuberant animal's spirits, and she slunk off in aggrieved fashion, all +thoughts of vengeance at an end. + +"By Jove!" said Claverton. "Xuvani's a smart fellow. That's one of the +neatest things I ever saw done." + +The old Kafir grinned a little, and they went on with the programme. +After two or three more beasts had been branded, Jeffreys remarked: + +"Now then, you fellows, there are lively times in store. It's that +bull's turn. I've been watching him, and he looks wicked--devilish +wicked." He pointed to the young bull which had been troublesome in the +morning. + +"All right," said Claverton. "That's my speciality. I made up my mind +to have the burning of that chap when I turned him back twenty-one times +this morning." + +"The branding's nothing; it's the letting him up that's the fishy part," +said Jeffreys, with a thinly-veiled sneer. + +Noose in hand the Kafirs advanced towards the bull, who was standing in +a corner of the kraal, pawing up the ground, with his head down, and +rolling his eyes viciously. + +"Look out," warned Hicks, "he's all ready for a charge!" + +Scarcely were the words out of his mouth than the animal sprang forward +as the noose was thrown down in front of him; then, as he rushed over +it, the thong was tightened, and he fell sprawling on all-fours and +roaring hideously. He plunged and struggled as for dear life, but +another jerk of the _reim_ threw him, and in ten seconds he was lying +bound and helpless. + +"Now then, Tambusa, bring the iron. Sharp's the word!" cried Claverton; +then receiving it, he deliberately imprinted a neat B upon his prostrate +foe, whose frenzied roars drowned the hissing of burnt flesh, as the +moist steam rose in clouds from his tortured thigh. + +"By Jove, there's a spree sticking out!" said Hicks, emphatically. "We +_shall_ have to mind our eye when he gets up. Are you ready, Xuvani?" + +"No, he isn't. _I'm_ going to loosen the _reim_," answered Claverton, +preparing to make good his words. + +"Bosh, old chap! Better let him do it, he's used to it," remonstrated +Hicks. + +"Devil a bit. Now! Stand aside!" and as the others made themselves +scarce, he drew off the noose, and the bull, springing to his feet, +vented his feelings in an appalling roar as he glared round in search of +somebody to pulverise. As luck would have it, at this moment a cow +behind which Tambusa had taken refuge quietly walked away, thus +disclosing that unfortunate aboriginal to the full view of the +infuriated beast, which came straight at him there and then. Now +Tambusa was a youthful Kafir, and naturally of a mild and unaggressive +disposition, and when he saw the fierce brute making for him, he lost +nerve and blindly fled. The kraal gate towered in front of him, and +with the energy of despair he half leaped, half scrambled over it, and +his foot catching the topmost bar he was hurled headlong, half-stunned +and wholly bewildered, a dozen yards off upon the smooth green sward +outside. His pursuer, without pausing, cleared the gate like a stag, +and there he lay entirely at the mercy of the infuriated bull. Another +minute, and he would be gored and torn in pieces. But a cool brain and +determined heart was between him and certain death. Seizing his jacket +from the hedge whereon it had been flung, Claverton was through the +kraal gate in a twinkling, and not one second too soon, for the bull, +who had been carried on some fifty yards by the impetus of his leap, had +now turned, and with head lowered was thundering down upon his prostrate +prey, "brilling" [Note 1] savagely. At this juncture Claverton darted +in front of him, and throwing out his jacket, after the manner of the +_cappa_ of a _torero_, he succeeded in drawing off the headlong charge, +which temporary respite Xuvani was able to make the most of by lugging +his young compatriot through the gate again. Then the bull stopped, +glared for a moment, and with a terrific roar came at Claverton again. +This time he nimbly leapt aside, striking the animal across the eyes +with the jacket. Had the bull charged at that moment it would probably +have gone hard with him, for what with the violent exertion and the +tension of the nerves, he was somewhat exhausted; but it did not. And +what a picture was that upon the smooth sward. There stood the red +savage brute, the sun glistening on his sleek hide and white horns, +lashing his tail and pawing up the ground with his hoofs; the foam +dropping from his mouth as with head lowered he gathered himself for one +more terrific rush. Facing him ten yards off--his intrepid adversary, +unarmed and exposed to his full fury. The spectators might well hold +their breath. And yet as he slowly retreated step by step, and though +he never took his eyes off the bull, Claverton was aware of every single +movement that went on around him. He knew that the doorway leading into +the garden was thronged, mistress and servant alike being attracted by +the frenzied roars of the maddened beast. He saw Ethel faint dead away, +and then summoning up nerve and strength for one final effort, he flung +the coat right upon the gleaming horns of the ferocious brute, as with a +new fury begotten of its short respite it made its deadly charge. +Suddenly blinded, the bull stopped and began turning round and round in +its efforts to free itself, for the jacket had caught firmly on its +horns; but taking advantage of his dexterous _coup de main_, Claverton +was over the gate again and safe, while his antagonist, having amused +himself by tearing the garment to ribbons, trotted away down the kloof, +growling in baffled wrath. + +"Well, he can go, we've done with him this time, but Heaven help any +nigger that has the ill luck to cross that chap's path within the next +quarter of an hour," were Claverton's first words. He was panting and +breathless, but wanted to create a diversion from the string of +congratulations which he knew was forthcoming; for, of all things, he +hated a scene, and didn't see what there was to make a fuss about +because a fellow had had a little spree with a bull, to divert his +attention from a young idiot of a nigger who had been ass enough to +tumble head-over-heels just at the wrong moment. Whatever his faults, +there wasn't a grain of vanity in the man. + +"Now then, Xuvani--Piet!" he went on sharply, as the Kafirs, with a +chorus of emphatic "whouws," were gazing after the retreating form of +the cause of all the shindy. "What the devil are you fellows staring +at? Come on--fall to--we've lost enough time already." + +They resumed operations. Now and then a beast, when it was let up, +would run at the Kafirs, but in a bewildered, half-hearted sort of a +way, and without doing any damage; and all the younger cattle were +disposed of. There yet remained four or five large oxen who had come +into their present owner's possession late in life, and who were to be +sealed. These were not thrown down, however, but their heads made fast +to a post by a _reim_ round their horns, while with another _reim_ the +leg to be operated on was drawn out at tension. They were sober, sedate +creatures who had undergone plenty of the troubles of life, common to +their race, in the shape of heavy loads, scarcity of water and often of +grass in dry seasons, but, as if to make up for it, a plentiful +allowance of whip; and took this additional affliction philosophically +enough. + +The result of the day's doings was to open Jeffreys' eyes. His +estimation of the other had undergone a considerable change since the +previous evening. The dressed-up, finicking carpet skipper was fully +his own equal in pluck, and in cool-headedness immeasurably his +superior. This he could not but recognise, though he regarded Claverton +with no increase of cordiality. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Yes, life would flow pleasantly enough in this unruffled fashion, +thought Claverton, as they were all strolling in the garden towards +sundown. After the stirring events of the day, the quiet and rest of a +perfect evening seemed more than ordinarily grateful. All was so still, +and calm, and soothing, and such sound as reached them seemed so +softened and mellowed by distance as to harmonise rather than to +disturb. A dove cooed softly from an adjacent thorn-brake, and bees +returning to the old basket hive set in a nook in the wall, made a +tuneful hum upon the sensuous air. Yonder a dragon-fly zigzagged on +gauzy wing above the glassy surface of the dam, seeking its prey among +the gnats whose chrysalids were hatched beneath the overhanging weeds. +Suddenly this idyllic scene was invaded by a brace of Kafirs. They were +Xuvani and Tambusa, and they began to accost Claverton. + +"What on earth do they want? Something to do with that eternal bull, I +suppose. I wish the brute had found its way into some butcher's shop +long ago! Here, Hicks I come and interpret, there's a good fellow!" + +"He says Tambusa is his sister's child, and that you saved his life," +interpreted Hicks; "that is to say you saved his--Xuvani's life, Kafir +way of putting it, you know--and not only did you save his life, or +rather both their lives," went on Hicks, manfully unravelling the +native's long-winded oration; "but you nearly lost your own." + +"That all?" + +"No--don't interrupt him. He says that they are grateful--both he and +the boy. That the future is uncertain, and that we never know what turn +events will take--" + +"He never spoke a truer word than that, anyhow." + +"And that if ever at any time he or Tambusa can render you any service +they will do so, even should it be at the risk of their lives--a life +for a life--and that they are glad to have looked upon such a howling +big swell," concluded Hicks, with the result that Ethel was obliged to +turn away to stifle her laughter. + +"Bosh, Hicks! He didn't say that, you know." + +"He did, upon my word. At least, to be more literal, he said he was +glad to have looked upon so great a chief. But my rendering was more +euphonious--more poetical, don't you see?" + +Then Tambusa knelt down and kissed his rescuer's foot, and the two +Kafirs withdrew. Claverton looked after them with a curious expression. + +"That's all too thickly laid on," he said. "Gratitude, `lively sense of +favours to come,' _i.e._ prospective 'bacco. H'm! much too thick!" + +"What a dreadful person you are!" expostulated Ethel. "Why shouldn't +they mean what they say? I declare that speech of Xuvani's was a +perfect flower of savage poetry, and you don't know what a good fellow +he is. I think it's quite horrid of you to throw cold water on him." + +"So it would be if I had. The noble savage don't affect that fluid much +as a rule in any state of temperature." + +Did the Kafir mean what he said? We shall see. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. Frontier term for the growling noise which is neither roar nor +bellow, made by enraged cattle. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER EIGHT. + +SPOEK KRANTZ. + +It is Sunday. + +Ride we behind the horseman who is picking his way down a stony path +through the ever present bush, making for yon thatched building down +there in the hollow. A low, rough shanty, built in the roughest and +readiest fashion, and of the rawest of red brick. Three windows, +cobwebbed and cloudy with many a patched-up pane of blue or brown paper, +admit light and air, and a door made to open in halves. A smaller +edifice hard by, with tumble-down mud walls and in a state of more or +less rooflessness, does duty as a stable, and in front of the two an +open space slopes down a distance of one hundred and fifty yards to the +river, whose limpid waters dash and sparkle over their stony bed, +between cactus-lined banks--the stubbornly encroaching and well-nigh +ineradicable prickly pear. Opposite rises a great cliff, whose base and +sides are set in the greenest and most luxuriant of forest trees, but +whose brow, like its stern face, is bare of foliage and stands out in +hard relief against the sky. There seems no reason why this cliff +should be there at all, seeing that the hill would have been far more +symmetrical without it, unless in its wild irregularity it were destined +for the purpose alone of giving a magnificent--if a trifle forbidding-- +frontage to the ill-looking and commonplace dwelling-house. On all +sides the towering heights rise to the sky, shutting in this beautiful +and romantic spot which might be a veritable Sleepy Hollow, so far does +it seem from the sights and the sounds of men. But it must be confessed +that its beauty and romance are utterly thrown away upon its present +occupant, who is wont to describe the place as "a beastly stifling hole +out of which I'd be only too glad to clear to-morrow, by Jove; but then +one can't chuck up the lease, you know, and it isn't half a bad place +for stock, too." It rejoices in the inviting name of Spoek Krantz +(Ghost Cliff), and is held in awe and terror as an unholy and +demon-peopled locality by the superstitions natives, as well as by the +scarcely less superstitious Boer; and gruesome tales are told of +unearthly sights and sounds among the rocky caves at its base; shadowy +shapes and strange fearful cries, and now and again mysterious fires are +seen burning upon its ledges in the dead of night, while the most +careful exploration the next morning has utterly failed to discover the +smallest trace of footprint or cinder. Native tradition has stamped the +spot as one to be avoided, for the spirit of a mighty wizard claims it +as his resting-place. Even by day the place, shut in by its frowning +heights, is lonely and forbidding of aspect. + +But utterly impervious to supernatural terrors is he who now dwells in +the haunted locality. The grim traditions of a savage race are to him +as mere old wives' fables, and he laughs to scorn all notion of any +awesome associations whatever. He would just like to see a ghost, that +was all, any and every night you pleased; if he didn't make it lively +for the spectral visitant with a bullet, call him a nigger. Yes, he +would admit seeing strange lights on the cliff at times, and hearing +strange sounds; but to ascribe them to supernatural agency struck him as +utter bosh. The lights were caused by a moonlight reflection, or +will-o'-the-wisps, or something of that sort; and the row, why, it was +only some jackal yowling in the krantz, and as for getting in a funk +about it, that would do for the niggers or white-livered Dutchmen, but +not for him. Tradition said that there was a secret cavern in the +cliff, but the entrance was known to very few even among the natives +themselves, and only to their most redoubted magicians. Certain it is +that no Kafir admitted knowledge of this, and when questioned carefully +evaded the subject. + +And now, as the horseman we have been following emerges from the bush on +to the open space surrounding the low-roofed, thatched shanty, a man is +seated in his shirt-sleeves on a stone in front of the door, intently +watching something upon the ground. It is a large circular glass cover, +such as might be used for placing over cheese or fruit; but to a very +different use is it now being put. For imprisoned within it are two +scorpions of differing species--a red one and a black one--hideous +monsters, measuring five inches from their great lobster-like claws to +the tip of their armed tails, and there they crouch, each upon one side +of its glass prison-house, both, evidently, in that dubious state aptly +known among schoolboys as "one's funky, and t'other's afraid." + +"Hold on a bit," called out the man in the shirt sleeves, but without +turning his head, as the trampling of hoofs behind him warned of the +approach of a visitor, "or, at any rate, come up quietly." + +"Why, what in the name of all that's blue have you got there?" demanded +Hicks, dismounting; for he it is whom we have accompanied to this +out-of-the-way spot. "Well, I'm blest?" he continued, going off into a +roar of laughter as he approached near enough to see the other's +occupation. + +"Tsh! tsh! Don't make such an infernal row, man, you'll spoil all the +fun, and make me lose my bet." + +"What's the bet?" + +"Why, I've got five goats against that blue schimmel heifer of old +Jafta's on these two beggars, that the black one'll polish off the red +'un; but they are to go at it of their own accord, and now I've been +watching them for the last half-hour, but the beggars won't fight," +replied the other, still without moving, or even so much as looking over +his shoulder. + +"Stir them up a bit," suggested Hicks. + +"Can't; it'd scratch the bet." + +"Where's Jafta?" + +"Oh, he wouldn't wait. Went away laughing in his sleeve. He'll laugh +the other side of his mouth, the old _schelm_, when he has to fork out." + +"Well, you must have been hard up for some one to run a bet with. A +nice little occupation, too, for a Sunday morning," replied Hicks, with +sham irony. + +"Sunday be somethinged. There's no Sunday on the frontier. Hullo!" + +This exclamation was the result of a change of attitude on the part of +the grisly denizens of the glass. Slack began slowly to move round the +circumference of his prison, in process of which he cannoned against +red, and Greek met Greek. With claws interlaced, the venomous brutes +plied their sting-armed tails like a couple of striving demons, till at +length their grip relaxed, and red fell over on his back with his legs +doubled up and rigid. + +"Hooroosh! I've won," called out our new acquaintance, jumping up +gleefully. "Hi! Jafta, Jafta!" he bawled, anxious to notify his +triumph over his sceptical retainer. + +"Hold on; not so fast," put in Hicks, "t'other fellow's a gone coon, +too, or not far from it. Look," he added, pointing to the glass. + +And in good sooth the victor began to show signs of approaching +dissolution, which increased to such an extent, that in a couple of +minutes he lay as rigid and motionless as the vanquished. + +"Never mind, it all counts. He did polish off the other. Jafta, we'll +put my mark on that cow to-morrow." + +"Nay, Baas," demurred that ancient servitor, who had just come up. He +was a wiry little old Hottentot, with a yellow skin, and beady monkey +eyes, and as ugly as the seven deadly sins. "Nay, Baas, the bet's an +even one; neither thrashed the other. Isn't it so, Baas Hicks?" + +"Well, as you put it to me, I think the bet's a draw," began Hicks. + +"Oh, no, that won't do," objected Jafta's master, "the black did polish +off the red, you know. If he went off himself afterwards, it was owing +to his uneasy conscience. That wasn't provided for in the agreement. +But never mind, Jafta, you can keep your old `stomp-stert' this time." +[Note 1.] + +The old Hottentot grinned all over his parchment countenance, and the +numerous and grimy wrinkles thereof puckered themselves like the skin of +a withered apple. He, and his two sons, strapping lads of eighteen and +nineteen, constituted the whole staff of farm servants. No Kafir could +be induced to stay on the place, owing to its weird associations; a +circumstance which, according to its occupant, was not without its +compensating advantage, for the marauding savage, in his nocturnal +forays, at any rate kept his hands off these flocks and herds. The old +fellow, however, was fairly faithful to his employer, though not +scrupulously honest in all his dealings with the rest of mankind at +large; the place suited him, and as for ghosts, well, he had never seen +anything to frighten him. + +And now the jolly frontiersman, who has been driven to so eccentric a +form of Sabbath amusement, rises, and we see a man of middle height, +with a humorous and gleeful countenance; in his eyes there lurks a +mirthful twinkle, and every sun-tanned lineament bespeaks "a character." +And he is a character. Always on the look-out for the whimsical side +of events, he is light-hearted to childishness, and has a disastrous +weakness for the perpetration of practical jokes--a vein of humour far +more entertaining to its possessor than to its victims--and game to bet +upon any and every contingency. He is about thirty, and his name is +Jack Armitage. + +"Well, Hicks, old man," said this worthy. "Taken pity on my lonely +estate, eh? That's right; we'll make a day of it. Had breakfast?" + +"No." + +"More have I; we'll have it now. Er--Jafta!" he shouted, "Jafta! Wheel +up those chops. Sharp's the word." + +"Ya, Baas. Just now?" called out that menial, and from the kitchen +sounds of hissing and sputtering betokened the preparation of a +succulent fry. + +"Just now! Only listen. Why, he'll be twenty minutes at least." + +"Not he," said Hicks; "he's nearly ready, I can smell that much." + +"Nearly ready! Give you a dollar to five bob he's twenty minutes from +now. Is that on?" he inquired, putting out his watch to take the time. +[Rix dollar, 1 shilling 6 pence.] + +"No, it isn't. I'm not going to encourage your disgraceful and sporting +proclivities," was the reply, as they entered the house. Three +partitions boasted this domicile--a bedroom, a sitting-room, and the +kitchen aforesaid. Of ceiling it was wholly guiltless, the sole canopy +overhead being plain, unadulterated thatch; and the mud floor, plastered +over with cow-dung, after the manner of the rougher frontier houses, +gave forth a musty, uninviting odour, which it required all the ingress +of the free air of Heaven to atone for. A large, roomy wooden press, +and a row of shelves, with a green baize curtain in front, stood against +the whitewashed wall, and in the middle of the room a coarse cloth was +laid upon the wooden table, with a couple of plates and knives and +forks. Armitage dived into the press and produced a great brown loaf, a +tin of milk, and a mighty jar of quince jam. + +"Hallo! the ants are in possession again," said he, surveying the jar, +whence issued an irregular crowd of those industrious insects--too +industrious sometimes. "Never mind, we can dodge them; besides, they +are fattening. Ah, that's right, Jafta,"--as that worthy entered with a +dish of fizzing chops in one hand and a pot of strong black coffee in +the other. "Now we can fall to." + +"By the way, I shall have to go back soon," said Hicks. "I only came to +see if any of those sheep we lost had got in amongst Van Rooyen's, and +thought I'd sponge on you for a feed whilst I was down this way." + +"Oh, that can't be allowed; I thought you had come to help a fellow kill +Sunday. Hang it, man, don't be in a hurry; stop and have some rifle +practice, and then we can take out that bees' nest down by the river. +Ah, but I forgot," he added, with a quizzical wink. "Never mind, my +boy; I don't want to spoil fun, you'll be better employed at home." + +Hicks was sorely puzzled. He was a good-natured fellow, and could see +that the other had reckoned upon his company for the day. Yet he had +his reasons for wanting to get back. "Look here, Jack," he said, at +length, "I'll tell you what we'll do. I'll hold on here a little and +help you to get out that bees' nest, then you can go back with me and +we'll get to Seringa Vale just nicely in time for dinner. Will that +do?" + +"All right," assented the other, "that'll do me well enough. I've had +nothing but my own blessed company for the last fortnight, except for a +Dutchman or two now and again, and a little jaw with my fellow creatures +will do me a world of good. By the way, is that chap Claverton still +with you?" + +"Yes. How d'you like him?" + +"Oh, he seems good enough sort, but about the most casual bird I ever +saw. He was down here one day; did he tell you about it? No! Well, +then, a couple of Dutchmen came in--Swaart Pexter and his brother +Marthinus--and Swaart, who is one of your bragging devils and `down on' +a `raw Englishman' like a ton of bricks, after yarning a little while +points to Claverton, who was sitting over there blowing a cloud in his +calm way, and says rather cheekily: `Who's that?' I told him. `Can he +talk Dutch?' was the next question. `Don't know,' says I. `How long +has he been in this country?' says he. `Tell him a year,' says +Claverton, quietly, without moving a muscle. I told him. `A year!' +says Pexter, turning up his nose more cheekily than before. `A year and +can't talk Dutch yet! He must be _domm_,' [stupid]. Thereupon +Claverton looks the fellow bang in the eyes, and says in Dutch, `Can you +talk English?' `No!' replies Pexter, with a stare of astonishment. +`And how long have _you_ been here?' `Been here!' says the other, with +a contemptuous laugh at this--to him--new proof of the other fellow's +greenness. `Why, I was born here.' `How old are you?' goes on +Claverton in a tone of friendly interest. `Forty-seven last May,' says +the Dutchman, wondering what the deuce is coming next. `Forty-seven +last May!' repeats our friend, calmly knocking the ash out of his pipe. +`That is, you have been in this country forty-seven years, and can't +talk English yet. Well, you must be _domm_!' I roared and so did +Marthinus. `Got you there, old chap,' says I. Swaart Pexter looked +rather shirty and tried to laugh it off, but Claverton had him. Had +him, sir, fairly--lock, stock, and barrel. Well, after a while we went +outside and stuck up a bottle at four hundred yards to have some rifle +practice. The Dutchmen are first-rate shots, and I--well, a buck or a +nigger would be anything but safe in front of me at that distance--but I +give you my word that none of us could touch that bottle. When we had +fired a dozen shots apiece and nearly covered the beastly thing with +dust, and ploughed up the ground all round it as if a thunderbolt had +fallen, out saunters Claverton with a yellow-backed novel in his fist. +`Doesn't your friend shoot?' asks Marthinus. `Suppose so,' says I. +`Have a shot, Claverton!' `Don't mind,' says he, taking over my gun. I +could see a malicious grin on Swaart's ugly mug, and hugely was he +preparing to chuckle over the `raw Englishman's' wide shooting. +Claverton lay down, and without much aiming--bang--crash--we could +hardly believe our eyes--the bottle had flown. By Jove it had. `Well +done,' says I, `but do that again, old chap'; yes, it was mean of me, I +allow, but I couldn't help it. `Don't want to do for all your bottles, +Armitage,' says my joker as quietly as you please, as I sent the boy to +stick up another, and I had just time to start a bet of five bob with +Marthinus in his favour when--bang--and, by Jove, sir, would you believe +it? that bottle shared the fate of the first. Well, we _were_ +astonished. `Aren't you going to shoot any more?' says Marthinus, +handing over the five bob with a very bad grace. `Too hot out here,' +replies he, sloping into the shade of the house; and diving his nose +into the yellow-back again, leaves us to our bottle-breaking or rather +to our attempts at the same, for I'm dashed if we touched one after +that. After the Pexters had gone I says, `Look here, old chap, we'll +have a quiet match between ourselves, five bob on every dozen shots--you +shall give me odds.' `My dear fellow,' says he, `odds should be the +other way about. I shan't touch that bottle again three times if I +blaze away at it the whole morning.' `The Lord, you won't,' says I; +`never mind, let's try.' He did, and was as good as his word, and +handed over fifteen bob at the close of the entertainment, having hit +the mark twice to my seven times. `And how the deuce did you pink it +before--twice running can't be a fluke, you know?' I asked, when we had +done. `Well, you see, those louts were bent on seeing me shoot wide, so +I held straight just to spite them,' was his cool answer. But didn't he +tell you all about it?" + +"Not a word," said Hicks. "He just said he had been down here, and a +couple of slouching Dutchmen had looked in and tried to take a rise out +of him, but didn't manage it." + +"Well, he is a rum stick and no mistake. What's in the wind now?" and +as the trampling of hoofs fell upon the speaker's ear, he got up hastily +and made for the door, knocking over a wooden chair in his progress, and +treading on the tail of a mongrel puppy which had sneaked in and was +lying under the table, and which now fled, yelling disconsolately. +"Here come two chaps," he went on, shading his eyes from the sun's glare +and looking out into the _veldt_. "Dutchmen--no--one is--David Botha, I +think; t'other's Allen--no mistaking him. Wheu-uw! Now for some fun, +Hicks, my boy. We'll make him help us with the bees' nest, and if you +don't kill yourself with almighty blue fits, call me a nigger." + +The two drew near. The Boer with his stolid, wooden face, slouch hat +(round which was twined a faded blue veil), and bob-tailed and ancient +tail-coat, was an ordinary specimen of his class and nation. The +Englishman, however, was not. He was rather a queer-looking fellow, +tall and loosely-built, with a great mop of yellow hair and an absent +expression of countenance. His age might have been five or +six-and-twenty. He had not been long in the colony, and was +theoretically supposed to be farming. On horseback Allen was quaint of +aspect. His seat in the saddle would not have been a good advertisement +to his riding-master, putting it mildly, and he invariably rode screws. +Moreover, he was great on jack-boots and huge spurs. + +"Good day, David," said Armitage, as the Boer extended a damp and +uncleanly paw. "Hallo, Allen! you're just in the nick of time. We are +just going to get out a bees' nest, and you must come and bear a hand." + +"But--er--I'm not much use at that sort of thing. Botha will help you +much better." + +"Won't do, old chap--won't do," said Armitage, decisively. "In the +words of the poet, `Not to-day, baker!' So come along." + +Allen's jaw fell. If there was one thing on this earth he hated, it was +depriving the little busy bee of the hard-earned fruits of his labours, +not on humanitarian grounds--oh, no--but the despoiled insects had a +knack of buzzing viciously around the noses and ears of the depredators +and their accomplices in a way that was highly trying to weak nerves, to +say nothing of the absolute certainty of two or three stings, if not +half-a-dozen. He glanced instinctively towards David Botha as though +mutely to ask: "Why the deuce won't _he_ do?" But that stolid Boer sat +puffing away at his pipe, and showed no inclination to come to the +rescue. + +"Hicks, give Allen one of those big tins to put the honey in while I +hunt up some brown paper to make a smoke with," said Armitage, as they +went into the house. It had been arranged that Allen should hold the +receptacle for the honey, otherwise he would inevitably have sloped off. + +They went down to the river bank, Armitage leading the way. A keg fixed +in the fork of a small tree constituted the hive, and the busy insects +were winging in and out with a murmuring hum. Armitage divested himself +of his coat so that the bees shouldn't get up the sleeves, as he said, +and slouched his hat well over his face and neck; then with a chisel he +removed the head of the keg, while Hicks ignited the brown paper and +made the very deuce of a smoke. + +"Not much in it--quite the wrong time of year to take it," said +Armitage, as the waxen combs in the hive were disclosed to view. "Never +mind, they'll make a lot more. Oh-h!" as one of the outraged insects +playfully stung him on the ear. "Come a little nearer, Allen;" and he +threw a couple of combs into the tin dish, while Hicks stood close at +hand plying the smoke with all the energy of a Ritualistic thurifer. + +"Oh-h--ah!" echoed Allen, in dismal staccato, as he received a sting on +the hand, and another on the back of the neck. + +"Hang it, man, don't drop the concern!" exclaimed Armitage, pitching +another comb or two into the large tin; nor was the warning altogether +ill-timed, for poor Allen was undergoing a _mauvais quart d'heure_ with +a vengeance, ducking his head spasmodically as the angry insects +"bizzed" savagely around his ears, and all the time looking intensely +wretched under the infliction. + +And in truth the fun began to wax warm. Armitage's hat was invisible +beneath the clusters of bees which swarmed over it, while others were +crawling about on his clothes. Now and then he would give vent to an +ejaculation, as a sting, inflicted more viciously than usual, told +through even his hardened skin; but he kept on manfully at his task, +cutting out the combs and depositing them in the tin, while the air was +filled with buzzing angry bees and suffocating smoke. + +"Think we've got enough now," he said at last, drawing his face out of +the cask, and quickly heading up the latter. Allen, to whom this dictum +was like a reprieve to a condemned criminal, gave a sigh of relief, and +began to breathe freely again. But his self-gratulation was somewhat +premature, for at that moment a bee insinuated itself into his thick, +frizzly-hair just above the neck, and began stinging like mad. Crash! +Down went the tin containing the honey-combs, while the victim danced +and capered and executed the most grotesque contortions for a moment; +then, in a perfect frenzy, away he rushed to the nearest point of the +river--a long, deep reach--where he plunged his head into the water, and +losing his centre of gravity, ended by incontinently tumbling in, while +the spectators were obliged to lie down and indulge their paroxysms of +uncontrollable mirth to the very uttermost. + +"Oh, oh, oh-h-h!" roared Armitage. "P-pick him out, some one; I'm n-not +equal to it." And he lay back on the sward and howled again. + +And in good sooth the warning came none too soon, for at that point the +current flowed swift and deep, and poor Allen, what with his exertions +and the weight of his jack-boots, was in a state of dire exhaustion, and +a few moments more would have put an end to his hopes and fears. Hicks +and the Dutchman, who had managed to recover themselves, ran down to the +water's edge, and shouted to him to seize a branch which swept the +surface, and at length the involuntary swimmer was fished out and stood +dripping and shivering, and looking inexpressibly foolish, on the bank. + +"Oh-h, Lord! oh, Lord!" roared Armitage, bursting out afresh as he +picked up the fallen tin, and gathered up the fragments that remained. +"I never saw anything to beat that, by the holy poker I never did! Come +along, old man. We'll tog you out while I get out some of these stings. +The brutes must have been under the impression that I was a jolly +pincushion, and have used me accordingly." + +"Dud--dud--don't think I'll go up to Seringa Vale to-day," stuttered +Allen, as soon as he recovered breath. He feared the chaff which he +knew full well awaited him on the strength of this latest escapade. + +"Nonsense, man! We'll tog you out in no time, and then we'll all ride +over together and have a jolly day of it," said Armitage. + +Allen yielded, and was speedily arrayed in various garments which didn't +fit him. The jack-boots were inevitably left behind, to the great +concern of their owner, for there was no possibility of their being dry +before sundown at the earliest. Towards noon the horses were brought +round and saddled, and having locked up the house the three started, +while the Dutchman took his leave and rode off home to regale his +_vrouw_ and _hinders_, and his cousins and his aunts, with the story-- +highly coloured--of the "raw Englishman's" discomfiture. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. "Stump tail." Taillessness is frequent among colonial cattle-- +the result of inoculation. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER NINE. + +IN WHICH THE READER BECOMES A PARTY TO MORE CHAFF. + +They rode merrily along, or rather two of them did, for ever and anon +Allen's steed would drop behind, and its sorry pace wax slower and +slower, till at length, taking advantage of its rider's abstraction, it +would stop and snatch up a tuft of grass here and there by the way-side. + +"What the deuce has become of that fellow again?" exclaimed Armitage for +the fifth time since their start, as he rose in his stirrups and turned +to look back. "Hi--Allen. Come on, man, we shan't get there to-night!" +he bawled. + +"All right," echoed feebly from afar; and the white top of a pith +helmet, which had escaped its owner's immersion, hove in sight over the +scrub like a peripatetic mushroom, as the laggard came trotting up. + +"Come on! We thought you had got another bee in your bonnet," was +Armitage's salutation. "Hi--Bles you _schelm_--hold up!" This to his +horse, which started violently as something sprang up at its very feet; +something lithe and red, with curious pointed ears, which darted away +over the ground with lightning speed. "A _rooi-cat_ [lynx], by Moses!" +he went on, "after some of the late lambs. Hicks, _where is_ that old +shooting-iron of yours?" and thinking that though powerless to hurt the +objectionable feline, at any rate he could frighten it, Armitage opened +his mouth and gave vent to a true Kafir war yell, which certainly had +the desired effect. + +"Didn't bring it. Sunday, you know; must respect people's prejudices," +replies Hicks. + +"Oh, Lord! and I would have liked to have peppered that chap's hide," +groaned Armitage. + +They rode on over hill and dale. Suddenly the rasping cry of the wild +guinea-fowl brought Hicks' heart into his mouth, and he certainly did +not bless the good old-world prejudice in deference to which he had left +his beloved gun at home on the first day of the week, and as a cloud of +those splendid game birds rose from a grassy bottom within a few yards +of them and winged away with their chattering note, poor Hicks fairly +groaned. + +"Look at that. Only look at that!" he exclaimed in tones of wrathful +disgust. "Such a chance; did you ever see them rise like that! When a +fellow has his gun and is all ready for them, blest if they won't run +hundreds of yards before they'll get up, whereas--" + +"I suppose they know it's Sunday," put in Allen, with a feeble attempt +at chaff. + +The other turned from him impatiently, without replying. Good-natured +as he was habitually, there were moments when even Hicks felt +justifiably cantankerous. This was one of them. + +They continued their way without event, and, cresting the last ridge, +descended into the long valley, at whose head stood the old farmhouse. + +"Hallo! some one's turned up," said Armitage, indicating the white tent +of a Cape cart, which stood outspanned before the stable-door, with the +harness lying beside the swingle bars. + +"Looks like Naylor's trap," said Hicks. + +"Good. The more the merrier," rejoined Armitage, as they cantered up +and dismounted. + +An air of perfect rest and peace seemed to enshroud the place, as though +nature would supply the absence of all outward signs of the Sabbath. +The gates of the empty kraals stood open, and save for a sickly sheep or +two feeding about near the homestead, there was not a sign of animal +life. Here and there a long rakish-looking hornet flitted beneath the +leaves of a trellised vine, or sought the entrance of his pendulous +paper-like nest in the verandah. In the garden a few butterflies +disported, vying with the flowers in their bright colours; and big +bumble-bees boomed in the burning glow of the noonday sun. There was +that about the sultry stillness which warned of thunder in the air, a +presage not unlikely to be borne out towards evening, judging from the +great solid bank of clouds which loomed up blackly from behind the +distant mountains. + +Hicks was right as to the identity of the visitors, whose conveyance +they had descried. Edward Naylor, Mr Brathwaite's son-in-law, a jolly +bluff frontiersman, whose weather-tanned face heavily bearded, was the +soul of geniality, was seated on the disselboom of a waggon, discoursing +on the state of the country with his host. His wife, a pretty, +fair-haired woman of about thirty, was sitting with Ethel and Laura in +the verandah, and was at that moment arbitrating, amid much laughter, in +an argument which the former had started with Claverton, by way of +passing the time. + +"Hallo, Armitage," said that worthy, as the new arrivals drew nigh. "I +was expecting to be summoned to your funeral." + +"My funeral! What the dev--er--what d'you mean?" + +"Well, you see, it's such a time since I beheld the light of your +countenance that I began to think you must be dead." + +"Wheuw! That's what I call a cheerful greeting," replied Armitage, +shaking hands with the rest of the party. + +The two who had been talking shop now appeared on the scene. + +"How do, Armitage? Hallo, Allen, who's your outrigger?" said Naylor, +eyeing the unwonted garb of that luckless youth, which garb bore +unmistakable appearance of makeshift from head to foot. + +"Er--I stumbled into the river, and--" + +"What; boots and all?" There was a joke about Allen's jack-boots, which +he was seldom seen without. + +"`What is good for a bootless bene?'" quoted Claverton. "Never mind, +Allen, don't you let them chaff you." + +Naylor was an inveterate joker. When he and Armitage got together the +same room would hardly hold them, and when the two got Allen between +them, then, Heaven help Allen. Now this is precisely what happened, for +at that moment the dinner-bell rang, and all adjourned to the festive +board, when, as luck would have it, the unfortunate youth found +himself--partly owing to that curious practice which is, or was, so +often found in frontier houses, of all the men hanging together on one +side of the table, leaving the other to the fair sex--in the +neighbourhood of his tormentors; but he was a good-natured fellow, and +took chaff very equably. + +"I say," began Armitage, "here's a riddle--a regular Sunday one." + +"Is there? Roll it up this way," said Claverton, from the other end of +the table, where he was seated between Mrs Naylor and Ethel, for he +resolutely defied the dividing custom above mentioned. + +"Here you are, then. Why is Allen like Moses?" asked Armitage. + +"Oh, villainous!" laughed Claverton. "Don't anybody attempt it. I +really think you might trot out something a little more original, +Armitage." + +Of course, every one then and there tried hard to solve the conundrum, +and, of course, half of them gave it up, and, of course, the reply came +even as was to be expected: "Because he was drawn out of the water." + +"Oh-h!" groaned the whole party; while the object of the aqueous jest +sat and grinned placidly, and made play with his knife and fork as +though he were the perpetrator of it instead of its butt. + +"I say, Allen," put in Naylor, on the other side, "has that shooting +match between you and Hicks come off yet?" + +"What are the conditions?" asked Armitage. + +"Dollar a side--Target, the shearing-house door--Distance, five yards-- +Hicks to be allowed four yards on account of his want of practice. I'll +bet on Hicks;" and the speaker roared at his own sorry wit. + +"Eh! what's that about me?" called out Hicks from the other end of the +table, which was longer than usual, by reason of the advent of the +Naylors with their five olive-branches. He had just caught his name. + +"Nothing, old man, nothing; we were only talking of those three +guinea-fowl you shot this morning, coming up," replied Armitage, +grinning mischievously. + +"But bother it, I had no gun," said Hicks, thrown off his guard for the +moment by this bare-faced accusation of Sabbath-breaking, and fairly +losing his head as he caught a reproachful glance from Laura, which +seemed to say: "Didn't you promise me you'd leave your gun at home when +you went out this morning?" For he had confidentially imparted to her +his intention to take the trusty shooting-iron, as he was starting so +early that there would be no one about to be scandalised; and Laura, who +had her own ideas of right and wrong, had peremptorily forbidden his +doing anything of the kind. + +"I say!" exclaimed Armitage, with admirably-feigned amazement. He had +taken in the other's look of confusion, and, incorrigible joker as he +was, resolved to turn it to his own mischief-loving account. + +"But, confound it!" began Hicks, wrathfully; for that mute upbraiding +glance made him really savage with his tormentor, who he thought was +carrying the joke too far. Chaff was all very well, but this kind of +thing went beyond chaff, and he would give him a piece of his mind +by-and-by. + +"Er--n-no--of course--you hadn't a gun--I forgot--er--I--was thinking of +yesterday," rejoined Armitage, with the well-simulated air of a man who +has "put his foot in it," and is endeavouring to withdraw that unlucky +member--and endeavouring deucedly badly, too. + +"I say, Jack, what about the scorpion fight, eh?" and Hicks proceeded to +narrate how he had found that unscrupulous joker in the thick of the +useful and intellectual little amusement at which we saw him in the last +chapter, thus drawing upon him the laughter and sallies of the +assemblage, under cover of which he said quietly to Laura: "I didn't +really take the gun this morning, 'pon my word of honour I didn't; it's +only that fellow's lies. He might draw the line somewhere; chaff's all +very well, you know, but hang it, that's beyond a joke." + +"Yes, I think it's really too bad of him. I oughtn't to have thought +you did what you told me you wouldn't do," she replied, with an almost +imperceptible stress on "me," and a glance which Hicks thought fully +compensated for the former doubt. Leave we them beneath the friendly +shelter of the noise at the other end of the table, and turn to the +rest. + +"Don't care, I won my bet," Armitage was saying. + +"What! And so you were betting on it, too--and on Sunday! I think it's +disgraceful of you," said Ethel. + +"He's come up here to be reformed," put in Allen. + +"Oh, you needn't talk," said Armitage, turning off the attack on to the +last speaker. "Miss Brathwaite, what do you think of a fellow who comes +down to my place on a Sunday, and bothers me to take out a bees' nest; +on a Sunday, too!" + +There was a great laugh at this. The notion of Allen bothering any one +to take out a bees' nest, Sunday or any other day, struck them all as +ineffably rich. He would rather travel twenty miles than embark +knowingly in that lively enterprise. And then the joke about the +stings, and the plunge into the river came out, and poor Allen was +roasted unmercifully on the strength of it, and the fun grew apace, when +a vivid flash darting in upon them, and playing upon the knives and +glasses with a blue steely gleam, brought the conversation up with a +round turn. + +"We shall have a storm," said Mr Brathwaite, glancing at the window. +The deep azure of the heavens had become dark and overcast, and even as +he spoke there pealed forth a long, angry roll of thunder. + +A general move from the table now took place, and every one adjourned to +the verandah, which looked out on the wide sweep of country constituting +the great charm of the situation of the house. But now the joyous +sunlight had disappeared, and the earth slept in a dread and boding +stillness. Tall pillars of cloud, black as night, moved steadily on, +their jagged edges taking the forms and faces of hideous and +open-mouthed monsters. All nature seemed waiting for the battle of the +forces of the air, the discharge of the pent-up cloud artillery which +was to strike the awed surface of earth with its blasting fire. Then, +athwart the hot, listening deadness of the atmosphere comes a dazzling +flash, bathing the valley in a sea of flame; and a roll of thunder, +long, loud, and close at hand, makes the expectant group, which is +standing on the verandah to watch the storm, involuntarily start, and +the silence is more intense than before. And now a great chain of fire +shoots from the blackness immediately overhead, and before you could +count one, an appalling crash shakes the solid old house to its very +foundations, while the windows rattle like castanets. + +"Let's go inside," suggested Ethel; "I don't like this." + +"It's getting wicked," said Armitage. "It was just such a shot as this +that killed old Simmonds. That was up in Kaffraria, where the storms +are about as bad as anywhere. He and I were standing in the doorway +watching the fun; I went in to light my pipe, and while I was fumbling +about for the matches something knocked me clean over, and I heard a +bang and a crash enough to wake the dead. At first I thought I had +upset the crockery shelf on top of me; but no, there it stood; then my +head felt queer, and there was a smell of burning about the place. Then +I remembered, and got up and went to the door. There lay poor Simmonds, +half in and half out, as dead as a log. The lightning had caught him +bang on the head, burnt his coat and waistcoat to rags, and mauled him +about horribly. I can tell you it wasn't a nice thing for a fellow to +see, having just narrowly escaped the same luck himself--Ah!" + +Again a sheet of flame darts down, and a roar and a crash as of the +discharge of a dozen eighty-one-ton guns follows upon it. This time +they beat a retreat indoors; and when they had a little recovered from +the momentary shock, Armitage goes on. + +"Well, as I was saying, poor Simmonds was so knocked about, that his +early sepulture became a matter of necessity; besides, the first thing +to do was to get him into the house. He was enormously heavy, and I +couldn't get a Kafir on the place to give me a hand. Not for the cattle +upon a thousand hills will they so much as touch anything that has been +killed by lightning with the end of their little fingers, and the +nearest neighbour was twenty miles off. However, I managed to lug the +poor fellow in, and the next day we buried him." + +"That's a cheerful old yarn of yours, Jack, and well calculated to +reassure Miss Brathwaite," struck in Claverton. + +"I believe he's only trying to frighten us," said Ethel. + +"'Pon my word of honour, every word of what I told you's true," +protested Armitage; and with that love for the horrific implanted in the +human breast, one story led to another, and the storm raved and flashed +without, and a few preliminary hailstones rattled at intervals upon the +roof. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER TEN. + +CAVEANT! + +"Well, you'll have a fine day for your ride. Hicks, leave a buck or two +up at Jim's in case I should be coming over. I suppose you'll all be +back the day after to-morrow. Good-bye." + +The speaker was Mr Brathwaite; the spoken to, an equestrian group of +four, consisting of Claverton, Hicks, and the two girls, who were +starting on a long-promised visit to Jim Brathwaite's place, where a +bushbuck hunt was to be organised on the following day. It was the +morning after the narrow escape of the luckless Allen from a watery +demise--he and Armitage had returned home to fetch their guns, and were +to rejoin the others at the farm of a certain Dutchman who abode +half-way. The Naylors had gone on ahead in their trap, and the four +equestrians were the last to start. And such a morning! The rain had +cleared away, and the great deep vault overhead was unflecked by a +single feathery cloud. The sun shot his golden darts from his amber +wheel, and the outlines of the mountains slept in soft-toned relief +beneath the liquid blue. A perfect day, with exhilaration in every +breath of the fresh, healthy atmosphere, now cooled by the thunderstorm +and rain of the previous evening. And the glorious freshness and +radiant sunlight communicated itself to the spirits of the riders, as +they cantered gaily along, chatting and laughing in thorough enjoyment +of the unclouded present. + +"Now, Mr Claverton," cried Ethel, as their horses bounded along over a +smooth level stretch, "we'll have our race--I'm to have a hundred yards +start, you know. Shall we begin?" + +"On no account. I received strict injunctions from your aunt not to let +you do anything rash, and I intend exerting my authority to the +uttermost." + +"Do you? Well now, why don't you say you're afraid of being beaten? +You are, you know. I'll tell you what. _You_ shall have the hundred +yards start. We shall easily walk in before that lazy old `Sticks,' +shan't we, Springbok, my beauty?" she said, banteringly, patting the +neck of her steed, a light, elastic-stepping animal with blood and +mettle in him, who arched his neck and shook his mane in response to the +caress. She sat him to perfection, the little hand bearing ever so +lightly on the reins; and in a habit fitting her like a glove, and a +coquettish straw hat surrounded by a sweeping ostrich plume, beneath +which the blue eyes danced and sparkled in sheer light-heartedness, she +made as pretty a picture as ever one could wish to look upon. At any +rate, so thought her companion. + +"Well, Sticks is lazy--at times--I grant you; but there's method in his +laziness. Don't abuse Sticks." + +"Never mind, I know you're afraid. Don't think any more about it. Now +I suppose you're dying to. You men always want to do a thing directly +you're told not to." + +What will be the upshot, by-the-bye, of this standing arrangement of +quartette? This is not the first ride by any means that those four have +taken together. Together! It has been shown that one of the party, at +any rate, had reached the "two's company, three's a crowd" stage--or for +the present purpose four. Thus it followed that however often the group +may have started together, it was bound to split up before going very +far. Frequently Hicks would manage to drop behind with one, and that +one was not Ethel. Frequently, also, Ethel would, manoeuvre to rush +ahead in a swinging gallop, in which case she could not be suffered to +ride alone, but whoever undertook to superintend her on these occasions, +certainly it was not Hicks. Whether she was wont to execute these +manoeuvres at Laura's previous instigation, or whether her motives were +less disinterested, deponent sayeth not. As for Claverton, he accepted +the situation with, characteristic indifference. Yet what could be more +fraught with elements of possible combustion? As for the man, he was +perfectly unsusceptible, and wholly devoid of vanity. He looked upon +his beautiful companion as a spoilt, pretty child, fond of teasing and +chaff, and who amused him, and if he thought anything about himself in +the matter, he supposed that he managed to amuse her. This is how he +looked at it--but how did Ethel herself? + +"Hallo! There goes a buck!" cried Claverton, suddenly. "May as well +have a shot," and he made a movement to dismount. + +"No, don't--please don't! Springbok won't stand fire, you know, and +he'll bolt with me." + +"Oh, all right. Then that lazy old Sticks has his good points after +all?" + +"Yes; a steady old arm-chair has its good points too. You can shoot +from it," she replied, scornfully. + +"What a wooden comparison! Why not say a clothes-horse?" + +Bang! The report of a gun behind them. "Hicks to the fore," remarked +Claverton, shading his eyes to watch the effect of the shot. But the +buck held on its way, caring not a straw for the bullet which buried +itself in the earth with a vicious thud some ten or a dozen yards +behind. + +In this way they rode on in the pleasant sunshine, and eventually drew +rein in front of a prettily situated though roughly built house of red +brick, with thatched roof and high _stoep_. This was the abode of a +Dutchman, Isaac Van Rooyen by name, and here they had arranged to stay +and have dinner, for on the frontier a standing hospitality is the rule, +and in travelling every one makes a convenience of his neighbour and is +made a convenience of in turn. The Boer, a large corpulent man of about +sixty, advanced to welcome them as the clamorous tongues of a yelping +and mongrel pack gave warning of their approach, and consigning their +horses to a dilapidated-looking Hottentot, they entered the house. A +long, low room furnished with the characteristic plainness of such an +abode; a substantial table, several chairs, on some of which none but a +lunatic or an inebriate would venture to trust his proportions for a +single instant. In one corner stood an ancient and battered harmonium, +another contained a sewing-machine and a huge family Bible in ponderous +Dutch lettering, while the walls were garnished with sundry grievous +prints, high in colour and grisly in design, representing Moses +destroying the Tables of the Law, Elijah and the prophets of Baal, and +so on. The _vrouw_ arose from her coffee-brewing as they entered--the +absorption of coffee is a _sine qua non_ in a Boer domicile on the +arrival of visitors--and greeted them with stolid and wooden greeting, +and a brace of great shy and ungainly damsels--exact reproductions of +their mother at twenty and twenty-one--looked scared as they limply +shook hands with the new-comers. But others were there besides the +regular inmates, for the Naylors had arrived, as also Armitage and +Allen, and our friend Will Jeffreys, and these were keeping up a +laborious conversation with the worthy Boer and his ponderous _vrouw_, +whose daughters, aforesaid, eat together in speechless inanity, now and +again venturing a "Ja" or a "Nay" if addressed, and straightway +relapsing into a spasmodic giggle beneath their _kapjes_. + +"Doesn't Miss Brathwaite play?" inquired the Boer, with a glance at +Ethel and then at the harmonium. + +"`England expects.' Go now and elicit wheezy strains from yon venerable +and timeworn fire-engine," said Claverton, in a low tone. + +She drew off her gloves in a resigned manner, and was about to sit down +at the despised instrument, when some one putting a book on the +music-stool in order to heighten the seat, that fabric underwent a total +collapse and came to the ground with a crash. Another seat was found, +and she began to play--but oh! what an instrument of torture it was-- +more to the performer than to the audience. Every other note stuck +fast, keeping up an earsplitting and discordant hum throughout; and the +bellows being afflicted with innumerable leaks, were the cause of much +labour and sorrow to the player. + +"I can't play on this thing," she said. "Every other note sticks down, +and the bellows are all in holes, and--I won't." + +Naylor explained to the Dutchman that Ethel was a great pianist but was +nothing at harmoniums, which excuse covered her somewhat petulant +retreat from the abominable instrument, and just then dinner was brought +in. Then it became a question of finding seats, many of the chairs +being _hors de combat_. + +"Here you are, Allen; come and sit here," called out Armitage. In a +confiding moment, and the table being full, the unsuspecting youth +dropped into the seat indicated, and then--dropped on the floor, for the +rickety concern forthwith "resigned," even as the music-stool had done +before it. A roar of laughter went up from the incorrigible joker at +the success of his impromptu trap, and Allen arose from the ruins of the +chair, like Phoenix from the ashes. + +"I say, though, that's better than the cruise down the river with the +bee in your bonnet, isn't it, old chap?" said Armitage, exploding again. +Allen looked rather glum, and another seat, not much less rickety than +the other, was found for him. + +When he was settled, the Boer stood up and with closed eyes began a +long, rambling oration, presumably to the Creator, which was meant for +grace, and having discoursed unctuously on everything, or nothing, for +the space of several minutes, he set the example of falling to. + +"Going up to Jim Brathwaite's for the hunt to-morrow, Oom Isaac?" asked +Armitage of his host. [Note 1.] + +"Ja," replied old Van Rooyen. "Can _he_ shoot?" designating Claverton-- +the popular idea on the frontier being that an "imported" Briton must +necessarily be an ass in all things pertaining to field pursuits. + +"He just can. Didn't you hear how he licked the Pexters down at my +place?" + +"Yes, I did hear that; I remember now;" and the Dutchman looked at +Claverton with increased respect. + +"But that's the fellow to bring down a buck at five hundred yards," went +on Armitage, indicating Allen, who, regardless of what went on around +him, was making terrific play with his knife and fork, and who, although +seated next the speaker, remained in blissful unconsciousness of being +the subject of any chaff, by reason of his ignorance of the Dutch +language. + +"Is he now? I shouldn't have thought that," was the deliberating reply; +the matter-of-fact Boer not dreaming for a moment that the other was +gammoning him. + +And the ball of conversation rolled on, and the unseasoned stew was +succeeded by a ponderous jar of quince preserve, then another lengthy +grace and the inevitable coffee. + +Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Van Rooyen, with the freedom +of his countrymen, was discussing "present company." + +"What a pretty girl she is!" he was saying, referring to Ethel. "Is she +another of Mr Brathwaite's daughters?" + +"No, a niece," replied Naylor, to whom the remark was addressed. "Her +father is George Brathwaite, the M.L.A." + +"`Ja,' I know him," replied the Dutchman. "He isn't a good man (in the +sense of `a good politician'). He voted against our interests in +several things. But she's a pretty girl, a very pretty girl. And the +Englishman's a good-looking fellow, too. Are they engaged?" + +"Damned fool!" angrily muttered Claverton, who, while talking to Ethel, +had overheard the above conversation and wondered whether Ethel had too. + +"What's the matter now?" said she, and the frown left his brow as the +question convinced him she had not heard. But he turned and suggested +to Armitage that it was time to saddle up. + +"Well, yes--I think it is," replied that worthy, who was busily debating +in his own mind whether it would be carrying a joke too far if he +inserted a burr or prickle of some sort beneath the saddle of Allen's +steady-going old mare; and forthwith a general move was made for the +horses, which were duly brought to the door. + +"Now, Allen, old chap, keep those awful spurs of yours out of my horse's +flank, or there'll be the deuce to pay," called out Armitage, as the +absent-minded youth backed his steed violently into that of the +speaker--whereupon a kicking match became imminent. Meanwhile Ethel was +waiting to be put on her horse, and glanced half involuntarily and +somewhat angrily in the direction of Claverton, who, whether by accident +or of set purpose, was still on the _stoep_ beginning to fill his pipe +from Van Rooyen's pouch, and apparently as ignorant of his actual +ungallantry as though the fair sex formed no ingredient of the party. +With concealed mortification she resigned herself to Will Jeffreys, who +advanced to perform that necessary office, and eagerly seized the +opportunity of riding by her side. + +"Mr Armitage," she called out, speaking over her shoulder, "do tell me +that story about Spoek Krantz." + +Armitage ranged his horse on her unoccupied side and began his +narrative, enlarging to an appalling extent as he went on. + +"Don't take in all he says, Miss Brathwaite. He's cooking up a yarn for +the occasion," said Jeffreys. + +Armitage vehemently protested that nothing was further from his +intention, but to the jocular recrimination which followed, Ethel hardly +listened. She thought that Claverton should be punished for his neglect +by being made to ride behind. A punishment to which, by the way, the +delinquent seemed to submit with exemplary patience, for he puffed away +at his pipe, discoursing placidly to Allen, whom he was just in time to +prevent from inflicting himself on Laura, thereby rendering Hicks a +substantial service. Nevertheless Ethel, before they had gone one-third +of the way, began to wish that Armitage was less garrulously disposed, +and would vacate the place to which she had summoned him, and once when +he dropped behind a little to light his pipe, she half turned her head +with a strange wistfulness, and her pulses beat quicker as she hoped +that the hoof-strokes which she heard overtaking her were not those of +_his_ steed. But they were, and as that light-hearted mortal ranged up +beside her and launched out into a fresh stream of chaff and jocularity, +and the end of the ride drew near, it seemed to her that the sunshine +had gone out of the day, although there was not a cloud in the heavens +and the whole beautiful landscape was bathed in that wondrous golden +glow which precedes a South African sunset; and shall it be confessed, +she felt sore and angry, and snubbed poor Jeffreys, and irritably +checked the flow of Armitage's running fire of small wit, till at last +they drew rein at Jim Brathwaite's house and were received by its jovial +occupant in person. + +"Hallo, Ethel; so you've come to help us shoot a buck. But where's your +gun?" chaffed he. "Keep quiet; get away you _schelms_," he went on, +shying a couple of big stones into the midst of some half-dozen huge +rough-haired dogs, which rushed open-mouthed towards the equestrians, +baying furiously. The rude but serviceable pack, stopped in their +career, thought better of it and turned back, one of their number +howling piteously, and limping from the effects of another "rock" hurled +by Jim's forcible and practised hand. "Well, Arthur," as the other two +came up, "we'll show you some fun to-morrow. But come inside; I'll send +Klaas round to off-saddle." + +Note 1. "Uncle." Among the Boers, "Oom" and "Tanta," "Uncle" and +"Aunt," are used as complimentary prefixes when addressing elderly +people, though these stand in no relation whatever to the speaker. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +VENATORIAL. + +It is early morning, and a party of mounted men, consisting of our +friends of the previous day and their genial host, is riding along the +high ground away from Jim Brathwaite's homestead. All carry guns, +mostly of the latest and most improved pattern, though one or two still +hold to the old-fashioned muzzle-loader, and a pack of great +rough-haired dogs, the same which greeted our travellers with such +hostile demonstration last evening, careers around and among the party, +now and then getting a paw or a tail under the horses' hoofs, and +yelping and snapping in consequence. The horses step out briskly in the +fresh morning air--for the sun is not yet up--which briskness will, I +trow, have undergone considerable abatement when they return at the +close of the proceedings, laden with a buck apiece--perchance two--and +their riders to boot. And the dogs break out afresh into a mighty +clamour, leaping and curvetting, and each striving to outbay his fellow +as he realises more and more fully the important part which is to be his +in the coming destruction; and as the full-mouthed chorus rings over +hill and valley, many a graceful spiral-horned antelope starts in his +dewy lair far down in the tangled brake, where yet a white curtain of +mist hangs, waiting till the rising beams shall disperse it into warmth +and sunshine, and listens, it may be, apprehensively to the distant +baying. + +"Here. Spry! Tiger! Shut up that infernal row, you brutes. A fellow +can't hear himself speak!" And loosening a strap from his saddle, Jim +makes a sudden cut with the buckle-end at one of the chief contributors +to the shindy, who, starting back hurriedly to avoid the infliction, +unwarily places his tail beneath the descending hoof of Naylor's horse, +and yells in frantic and heartrending fashion for the next five minutes. + +"Noisy devils, they'll scare away all the bucks in the country-side +before we get near them," remarks that worthy, shading a match with his +hand and lighting his pipe without reining in. + +"They haven't had a hunt for some time now, you see. I've been away a +good deal, and now they're letting off steam a bit," says Jim. "Hallo, +Allen! Look out! If you dig your heels into that horse like that, +he'll have you off as sure as his name's Waschbank." + +For Allen, whose weedy nag had gone lame, is now bestriding a mount +which his host has provided for him--a youthful quadruped, given to +occasional bucking. And at the time of the needed warning the playful +animal is going along with his back stiffly and ominously arched. + +"Then it'll be a case of Allen washing the bank with his tears--to say +nothing of tears--for he is bound to _rend_ his `bags' if he falls among +these stones," strikes in Armitage. + +"Jack, Jack! I trust I may yet live to see you hanged," says Claverton. +"Jim, I put it to you as a man and a brother. Can any success possibly +attend the steps of a hunting-party in whose midst is the perpetrator of +so outrageous a sally?" + +"Name isn't Sally," promptly replies the joker; "I was christened Jack, +not John, mind--Jack; and Jack I'll live and die." + +A laugh is evoked by this repartee, and they break into a canter, while +Allen's steed, the exuberance of whose spirits is in a measure let off +in the increased exercise, ceases to cause his rider more than a dormant +uneasiness. And now the sun is rising slowly and majestically over the +eastern hills. Birds are twittering, and the dewy grass shines beneath +and around. Then the great beams dart forth over the rolling plains, +bathing them in first a red, then a golden light, and the firmament is +blue above, and the earth glows in a warm rich effulgence, the glory of +a new-born summer day. + +Seated under a bush are three persons evidently awaiting the approach of +our party. Their horses saddled, and with bridles trailing on the +ground, are cropping the short grass hard by. The conversation is being +carried on in Dutch for the benefit of half the group, which owns to +that nationality, being in fact our portly friend, Isaac van Rooyen, and +one of his sons. The other one is Thorman, a bearded, surly-looking +fellow, little given to conversation, but greatly addicted to the use of +strong language when he does speak. He is a neighbour of Jim +Brathwaite's. + +"Well, Jim," began Thorman, in response to the other's greeting. "At +last! We've been waiting here a whole damned half-hour." + +"Never mind, old fellow," laughed the other, "patience is a virtue, you +know--especially in these piping times." + +"And you've had an opportunity of seeing a most splendid sunrise," added +the incorrigible Jack. + +"Sunrise be damned," growled Thorman, surlily. + +"I thought we were to begin by sunrise, and now we've wasted half the +damned day. Better get to work at once," and he turned away to catch +his horse. + +The others took no notice of his ill-humour, and chatted among +themselves. Then with its fresh addition the party moved on a quarter +of a mile or so lower down, where, in an open space in the bush, about +thirty Kafirs--boys and men--were assembled. These were the beaters, +and many of them were accompanied by their dogs--slim greyhounds, +rough-haired lurchers, and curs of all shapes and sizes, and of +nondescript aspect. The natives stood up and saluted the new arrivals, +and forthwith plans were laid for the operations. + +"Now then, Jolwane," said Jim, addressing one of them, who, from his age +and standing, had constituted himself, or been constituted, head of his +countrymen there assembled, "we'll sweep down this bush first," +indicating the long deep kloof which sloped away in front of them. +"Send half your fellows on the other side and I'll take my dogs and beat +this. We'll take it straight down." + +"Ewa 'nkos," (yes, chief), replied the Kafir, and he straightway issued +directions to his followers, involving much discussion and voluminous +explanation. + +"Now then--confound it all, are you fellows going to stand jawing all +day?" said Jim, testily. "Off you go," and the Kafirs gathering up +their kerries--a few of them carried assegais as well--moved off in twos +and threes, still chattering volubly. "Jeffreys," he went on, "take +Arthur where he'll get a shot; better go on to that open place yonder, +that'll be exactly where I shall be driving down, and a buck always runs +out there. Naylor, you put Allen up somewhere, better go the other +side. The rest of you can _voerlay_ [lie in wait] anywhere down in the +bottom. Thorman, you know the place as well as I do, so can go where +you like." + +"Ik zal mit you ryd, ou kerel," (I shall ride with you, old fellow), +said Isaac van Rooyen. "The younger ones want all the shots." + +"All right, Oom Isaac," replied Jim. "Now then, look sharp and get to +your places, and we'll begin." + +All move off as directed, making a detour to get well round the tract to +be driven, so as not to alarm the quarry; and at length, now cantering, +now scrambling down some awfully steep and stony bit of ground, they +reach a tolerably open space about one thousand yards from where they +started. Here they leave the horses, and, descending the steep +hillside, they separate. A cordon of shooters is thus formed across the +valley, each man ensconcing himself in some snug ambush, where he lies +in wait with piece cocked and ready, silent and alert, waiting for the +quarry to break cover. + +And now the whole ravine echoes with loud and discordant voices, the +yelling of the native curs in full cry mingles with the deeper bay of +the larger dogs; and the shouts of the Kafirs and the crashing of the +underwood as they force their way through it, beating to right and to +left with their sticks, draw nearer and nearer. Bang! The report of a +gun in the thick of the scrub is answered by a terrific yell from the +dogs, who rush to the spot. A buck has got up in front of Jim, who, +with the Dutchman, is riding through the bush, hounding on his pack. +The path here is fairly open, consequently the animal has not gone many +yards before it falls in a heap, for an unerring eye is behind the +barrels that covered it. + +"Got him," says Jim, putting a fresh cartridge into his smoking barrel. +"Bring him on, some of you fellows, I must go on driving;" and the +Kafirs, beating the dogs off the fallen animal, perform in a trice the +necessary preliminaries, while a loud exultant whoop, from one to the +other of them, tells that blood has been drawn. + +"Look out, Allen," says Naylor, in a quick warning whisper, "there's +something coming out by you." They were about a dozen yards apart, +Allen being of the two far the better placed, as his range commanded a +large open space, a clear sixty yards beneath him, across which +something was almost sure to run, while Naylor's only covered a higher +bit of ground where a snap shot was all he could hope for; but like a +good-natured fellow he had placed the other in the better position. + +Allen starts, rigidly grips his gun in his excitement, and eyes the +brake in front of him. The crashing of the underwood draws nearer and +nearer, and a large bushbuck ram breaks cover. As it does so it catches +sight of Naylor half hidden behind a tree, shears off at a tangent, and +comes charging down nearly on the top of Allen, whose heart is in his +mouth, and he wildly bangs away with both barrels point-blank, as the +animal bounds past him within a yard, missing it clean. In a moment it +will have reached covert, the dread open safely crossed, when--Crack! +the buck rolls over and over with three or four loopers from Naylor's +shot barrel fairly in his carcase. But "many a slip"--he recovers +himself, leaps up and bounds away into the bush. + +"He's hard hit," says his slayer, running to the spot; "it was a devil +of a long shot, though. Look what a lot of blood he's dropped! We'll +put the dogs on him directly. He's a gone coon, anyhow." + +"I can't make out how I managed to miss him," is Allen's doleful remark. +He is terribly mortified, poor fellow. + +"You didn't get a fair shot at him. I thought he was going clean over +you. Never mind, you'll get a better chance soon," says good-natured +Naylor. He thought the other rather a muff, but was too good a fellow +to say so. + +Bang! Bang! + +Who is in luck's way now? Bang, bang! again. A couple of bucks have +dodged the ambushed shooters, and are making off along the high ground +outside the line, making for the adjacent kloof, and Armitage and the +younger Dutchman, who are nearest to them, are having rifle practice at +long range. Four hundred yards--then the sights are altered to five. +Bang! bang! the animals still keep on, though the last shot has thrown +up a cloud of dust perilously near the hinder one. Then the six hundred +yards is reached. Another minute and they will be over the hill and +safe, at any rate for the present, when a ball from young Van Booyen's +rifle strikes the hindermost, which halts in mid course with a spring +and a shudder, and rolls over, dead as a door-nail. + +"Well done, Piet. By George, that was a good shot!" exclaimed the +unsuccessful competitor. + +"_Ja, kerel_," replied the Dutchman, with a complacent grin, as he +fished out his tobacco-pouch. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Claverton is standing where he and Jeffreys had been directed to. He +has refused to avail himself of his privilege of guest and to take the +best place, so they have split the difference by standing near each +other. It is a fine open bit which promises two or three shots at +least, for whatever comes out on that side of the kloof is bound to +break cover there. At last Jeffreys gets tired of waiting; he is of +opinion that everything has run across, and all the fun is on the other +side, so he makes for his horse and announces his intention of waiting +up above for Jim. Claverton however, remains. He is standing under a +mimosa tree and is partly sheltered from view by a large stone, and has +a beautiful clear space for at least eighty yards on either side of him. + +Haow!--ow--ow! The shouts of the Kafirs come nearer and nearer, and the +loud-mouthed chorus of the dogs in one incessant clamour which is never +suffered to die, so quickly is it taken up by fresh throats, rings from +the steep hillsides as the rout sweeps down the kloof. A gentle +rustling approaches, and a graceful animal bounds into the open, and its +ambushed foe can mark the glint of its soft eye and the shiny points of +its straight horns. It is a young bushbuck ram, and as it crosses the +open Claverton waits till it has just passed him and fires. It is +scarcely twenty-five yards from him, yet it is unharmed, and disappears +in the opposite cover with a rush and a bound. + +Claverton shakes his head and whistles softly. "_What_ a shot!" he +says. Then he looks up and catches sight of Will Jeffreys watching him +with a sneering smile upon his face, and the sight angers him for a +moment. + +"Look out--look out, Arthur," sounds Jim's voice close at hand. +"There's a buck coming out, right at you." + +He starts, throws open the breech of his gun, but the cartridge jams +half-way, and will neither come out nor go in again, and at that moment +another antelope breaks cover and crosses the open, if anything rather +nearer than the first. It is a female and hornless, and its dappled +skin gleams in the sun like gold as it bounds along. Immediately +afterwards Jim emerges from the bush. + +"How is it you didn't shoot?" he asks, wonderingly, reining in his +horse. "Why, the buck ran right over you." + +"Look at that!" showing the state of the defaulting piece, in which the +cartridge was yet jammed. + +"Oh! What a nuisance! And didn't you get the first one?" + +"No. Missed him clean. You see, Jim, you build all your bucks eighteen +inches or so too short hereabouts." + +Jim laughed. Jeffreys, who had also come up, did likewise, but +sneeringly. "Well, you've had the two best shots of the day," said the +former. + +"My dear fellow, I'm aware of the fact. Spare my blushes," answered +Claverton, nonchalantly. + +And now dogs and beaters straggle out of the bash, the latter vehemently +discussing the ins and outs of the recent undertaking. Kafirs are +inveterate chatterboxes, and when a number of them get together the +amount of promiscuous "jaw" that goes on is well-nigh incredible--and +the shooters assemble, preparatory to making a fresh start. + +"How many came out?" says Jim. "Let's see--two went up above, one of +them we got--two passed Claverton--one I got inside, and one went out by +Naylor--six. Not bad for the first draw. How is it Naylor didn't get +his?" + +"He did," said the voice of that maligned person at his elbow. "Just +bring some of the dogs up--there's a blood spoor as wide as a footpath. +It's a thundering big old ram, too." + +They put the dogs on the track and followed as quickly as they could, +for the bush was thick, but before they had gone far an awful clamour +and a frenzied scream told that the quarry had been found. The bushbuck +is the largest of the smaller antelopes, the male standing higher than a +large goat. When wounded and brought to bay he is apt to prove +dangerous, as his long, nearly straight horns, from twelve to fifteen +inches in length, can inflict an ugly enough wound. This one was +striking right and left with his horns as they came up, but being +weakened by loss of blood was soon pulled down, though not before he had +scored the sides of a couple of his canine foes with a nasty gash. + +"By Jove, that is a fine fellow," said Jim, as he surveyed the +brown-grey hide with its white specks, and measured the long, pointed +horns. "Who hit him first?" + +"I didn't hit him at all," said Allen, somewhat ruefully. + +"Never mind. We've got him, anyhow. Let's get on again." + +On the ridge, overlooking the next large kloof which is to be driven, +Hicks joins them. He isn't best pleased, isn't Hicks, for the simple +reason that he has seen nothing to empty his piece at, which to his +destructive mind is a very real grievance indeed. It is quite likely +that, had he seen anything, the animal or animals in question would have +passed him unscathed, albeit rather startled by a double detonation; but +he has not had the chance, and meanwhile is dissatisfied, wherefore he +makes up his mind to strike out a line for himself. Again the bush is +alive with the sinuous red forms of the Kafirs, and the dogs thread +through the underwood, giving tongue and rushing hither and thither as +they strike upon a passing scent, and the shooters ride off to _voerlay_ +at their various posts, but Hicks quietly slips away from them all and +makes for a point far below, where the kloof merges into a number of +others. It is a narrow defile, overhung with _krantzes_ on either side; +forest trees twined with monkey creepers rise apace, and beneath their +shadow, in the gloom of the thick scrub, a tiny stream trickles along. +Whatever leaves the kloof will pass this way, and our friend knows that +he is likely to get several shots in the ordinary course of things. + +He conceals his horse, fastening him up among the bushes, then, with +piece all ready, he takes up his position in a cunning ambush, and waits +for whatever may appear. At present all is still as death, except where +the whistle of a spreuw sounds from the overhanging cliffs; but the +sunbeams are focussed into the hollow as through a burning-glass, and +the distant shouting of the beaters, and an occasional shot, now and +again breaks the silence. Nothing moves in grass or brake, and at last +Hicks begins to wax impatient. + +"Whew! how hot it is!" he exclaims, taking off his hat to wipe his +forehead. "They'll be a long while yet. I'll have a drink so long." + +He finds out a place where the stream runs through a deep, limpid basin, +and lying flat on the ground, takes a long and refreshing pull at the +cool water. Then he rises, and something on the ground catches his eye. + +"By Jove! Wild pig, I do believe;" and he examines the furrows and ruts +in the grass, which has been rooted up by the tusks of something, and +not long ago either. "Wild pig or baboons? No, it's pig all right; +there are two distinct spoors. If only I could get quietly among them." + +By this time he has worked his way through the bush about a dozen yards, +following up the spoors, and finding fresh "sign" at every step. "If +only I could get in among them," he repeats, bending over the traces. + +His wish is gratified. A fierce grunt right at his elbow makes him look +up, startled by its unexpected proximity; and within six paces, half out +of a bush, are the head and shoulders of a huge old boar, who, with +every hair of his dirty red-brown hide erect and bristling, and his +wicked little eyes scintillating, stands fearlessly confronting the +intruder, while on each side of his hideous snout his great white tusks +are champing and churning in an unpleasantly suggestive manner. + +Hicks just has time to bring his gun to his shoulder; but the suddenness +of the encounter has a trifle thrown him off his equilibrium, and as he +discharges his piece, point-blank, instead of rolling the animal over, +the ball--for he has fired with his rifled barrel--merely scores its +flank, and with a scream of fury it comes at him. Dropping his gun he +swings himself into the branches of a small tree under which he is +standing, as the ferocious brute rushes by, snapping viciously at empty +air, which within a fraction of a second ago was occupied by our +friend's legs. + +Hicks draws a long breath of relief. "Sold again, old _Baas_," he says, +derisively, contemplating the infuriated boar, who is running backwards +and forwards beneath the tree, the blood flowing freely from his wounded +flank. "Only stay there a little longer, and I'll use your tusks for a +hat-peg yet." + +The brute shows no signs of leaving him, for it charges the tree in +which he has found refuge, ripping off great pieces of bark in its fury; +and from his vantage ground, Hicks can see other wild swine making off +in the distance through the bushes. And now the voices of men and dogs +are drawing near--very near--and the old tusker, wise in time, throws up +his head, sniffs the air a moment, and makes off into the cover with a +disappointed grunt, while Hicks shouts lustily for assistance. + +"Here--Tiger--Punch--Erdwacht--Sah! Sah--in, boys--Sah--Sah!" he calls +out, descending from his prison, as several of the larger dogs come +running up. Then as they strike the scent of the wild pig, they rush +off on the spoor with full-throated chorus. + +"What is it, Hicks?" sings out Jim, riding slowly through the bush. + +"Pig--pig--He's hit, too!" replies Hicks, wild with excitement, as he +drags out his horse and springs into the saddle. + +"Pig! Come along; we'll have him," says Jim, spurring up; and the two +dash off in the wake of the dogs, whose clamour may be heard far ahead. +The bush is thick, and here and there they meet with a check; but thorns +and brambles are nothing when such quarry is in view, and Hicks hardly +notices a gash left in his ear by a specially wicked _wacht-am-bietje_ +spike as he is half dragged through the thicket by his horse. + +"He's at bay, by Jove!" says Jim, as the clamour becomes stationary just +in front of them. "Come on; here he is!" And in an open glade, in an +angle formed by two bushes of bristling thorns, stood the boar, the dogs +springing and snapping around him, but none of them quite liking to +tackle him. + +"Wait! I can get a good shot at him now," said Jim, dismounting. +"Better let _me_ do it; it's a ticklish shot, and you might hit one of +the dogs. Besides, it's all the same; he's yours anyhow. You drew +first blood." + +The creature is hard pressed now, and the foam lies on him in flakes as +he chums with his tusks and snaps at his crowding, yelling foes. Crack! +He sinks lifeless, the blood pouring from a hole in his forehead where +Jim's bullet has found its mark; and then the dogs throw themselves on +the carcase, snarling and tearing in their excitement. + +"Off, you brutes, off!" sings out Jim, coming up. + +"Off! You're plucky enough when the pig's dead. Maarman--Spry--you +_schelms_! What's come over you?" And dispersing them with a kick or +two, he and Hicks proceed to inspect the quarry. + +"I'll make something out of those tusks," says Hicks. "No, I won't, +though; I'll keep the whole skull." + +"It's devilish lucky you had that tree handy," says Jim. "He'd have cut +you to ribbons." + +"Hullo! Where's the pig?" asks Armitage, who, with the others, appear +on the scene; and the Kafirs, standing round the defunct animal, fire +off a volley of astonished "whaows," and Thorman is heard to mutter +something about "not having got a shot the whole damned morning, and +that the damned Britishers seem to get all the fun." + +"By Jove! Those brutes of dogs have wallowed in all the water!" +exclaimed Jim, in consternation, as the party arrived at their midday +halting-place. "Faugh! It's quite spoilt," he added, surveying the +fluid in question, which at no time specially inviting to any but a very +thirsty man, was now positively nauseous, as the tired animals had +rolled and splashed in it before any one had come up. "What will we do? +Wait--there may be a little in the hole higher up; let's go and see. +Ah! it's all right?" he called out, his exploration having proved +satisfactory. "Jolwane, keep the dogs away from this, whatever you do." + +"That's fortunate," said Claverton. "On a day like this, brandy without +water is pretty much the same as mustard without beef." + +They sat down to eat their lunch in true hunter fashion. Mighty +sandwiches, hastily rolled in a bit of newspaper, strips of _biltong_ +[Note 1], and hunks of cheese, began to make their appearance from the +capacious pockets of shooting-coats, while the contents of the spring +were rendered more palatable by the addition of those of sundry flasks +which passed from hand to hand. + +It was a picturesque scene enough. The roughly-clad group lying and +sitting about in various attitudes, their guns resting against a tree, +and in rows upon the grass were the spoils, prominent among which was +the huge carcase of the boar. Dogs lay panting in the shade, a few of +them sitting on their haunches behind the hungry sportsmen, waiting for +stray scraps which might be thrown them, and in the background squatted +the red forms of the Kafirs, whose deep voices kept up a continual hum +as they chattered among themselves and smoked their quaint, angular +pipes, or devoured a mess of cold mealies, while their kerries and +assegais lay on the ground beside them. Above, a great cliff towered in +rugged masses; around stretched the evergreen bush. + +"Have a _sopje_ (dram), Oom Isaac?" said Naylor, holding up a big flask, +and filling out a substantial measure, as the Dutchman replied in the +affirmative. + +"Ach! Det is alto lekker," (that's awfully good), said old Van Rooyen, +drawing his sleeve across his mouth, and Naylor replenished the cup for +the benefit of the youthful Piet. + +"So you got a buck after all, Arthur?" said Jim. + +"Yes, just now--up there." + +"He thinks the bucks here are all eighteen inches too short," struck in +Jeffreys, with half a sneer. + +"That was only in the first kloof, Jeffreys. They're longer about here, +you see," replied Claverton, filling his pipe. "Give us a light, Jack." + +"Here you are, old Baas. One good turn deserves another, so just throw +that flask at me--thanks. Fancy Hicks treed by a pig--eh!" + +"You shut up," called out that worthy. "Didn't I see you turn tail when +that buck ran right over you?" + +"No--you didn't--so help me Moses. But Hicks, you ought not to have +missed the pig at no yards." + +The other retorted, and so they went on, bandying chaff and fighting the +morning's battles over again, till at length it became time to resume +operations. Horses were caught and saddled, and the Kafirs calling +their curs, started off to beat the bush again--but not with the same +spirit as before, for the day was piping hot and the dogs were beginning +to flag--some would hardly be induced to enter the bush at all, but +trotted along with lolling tongue, panting in the heat, and by the time +they had swept down a couple of bits of bush it became obvious that most +of the sport was already behind their backs. + +"We'll just drive this kloof through and then knock off," said Jim. +"Now then, here's every one's last chance. Allen, you haven't got your +buck yet." + +They resumed the drive, and the slumbrous calm of the quiet valley was +broken now and again by a ringing shot, and the blue smoke curled up +through the golden haze in the still, summer afternoon; and every living +thing was routed out of its hitherto secure retreat before the advancing +line of beaters, to run the gauntlet for its life, to fall before its +ambushed foe, or haply to escape until some future field day. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. Biltong is meat which has been dried in the sun till it is +quite hard. It is usually made of venison or beef. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER TWELVE. + +A WILD NIGHT. + +The morning after the hunt was gloomy and dispiriting, for the weather +had undergone a complete change daring the night, and now, instead of +blue sky and a sunny landscape, a dense vaporous curtain hung over the +kloofs, everywhere thick, heavy and impenetrable, while from the dull +grey sky fell a continuous and soaking drizzle. + +"I say, but it'll be poor fun riding back in this," exclaimed Hicks, +contemplating the spongy ground splashed by the drippings from the iron +roof. "We shall have to wait until it clears." + +"Shall we? Speak for yourself, Mr Hicks. _We_ are not made of sugar," +said Ethel, mockingly. She was in high spirits this morning and +brimming over with mischief. + +"Now that _is_ rational," put in a voice behind her. "Hadn't we better +start at once?" + +She turned. "Oh, so you are afraid of the elements, too. Then out of +consideration for you two, we shall have to wait. Or shall we go on and +leave them, Laura?" + +"They deserve it," said Laura. Then dubiously: "It's a nuisance, +though, because I know aunt will be expecting us back." + +"Now look here," rejoined Claverton, quietly. "Your aunt specially +authorised me to see that you did nothing rash. Getting wet through +under circumstances totally unnecessary is an eminently rash proceeding. +Wherefore I am constrained to lay an embargo on anything of the kind. +More especially as by two o'clock there will not be a cloud in the sky." + +"Won't there? Two to one there will. What shall it be?" cut in +Armitage. + +"Jack never bets. At least I heard him not many days ago striving hard +to convince a Methodist parson of that fact," said Claverton, appealing +to the company in general. + +"Wanted to throw him off his guard and book the devil-dodger for a +venture. Besides, it wasn't a parson, it was only that humbugging old +Garthorpe, who goes about preaching, and--" + +"I should have thought you had found out he wasn't such an ass as he +looked, Jack," said Naylor, significantly. + +Armitage looked rather foolish at this; and one or two who knew the joke +tittered slightly. + +"Hallo, what's the jest? Trundle it up, Naylor, we don't often catch +Jack napping," said Claverton. + +"Oh, I'll tell you myself," exclaimed the victim of it, airily. "Well, +you know, I was down at Thorman's place one evening, and old Garthorpe +came jogging up on that spindle-shanked nag of his. It was just about +feeding time, so he off-saddled and got his head well into the trough in +no time. Daring the evening we were talking a lot about the war scare, +and the old chap stuck out that it was all bosh, in fact insinuated that +we were a pack of funks. _He_ wasn't afraid of the Kafirs, he said, not +one of them would hurt him, and so on. This rather put our backs up, +you know; there was myself, and Johnson, and Gough, and a couple of +Dutchmen, so we hit upon a little scheme to give the old fellow a bit of +a funk when he left. It was as dark as pitch--" + +"`And smelt of cheese,'" put in Claverton. "Why not do justice to the +quotation?" + +"Confound it, if you can spin the yarn better than I can, do so, by all +means," retorted Armitage, in mock dudgeon. + +"He wants to get out of it," said Ethel. "It won't do, though, we +insist upon hearing it." + +"Well, then, as I was saying, when that fellow interrupted me, it was as +dark as pitch, but the moon would soon be up. I and Johnson laid our +heads together, and arranged that we two and Gough should blacken our +faces and go and waylay old Garthorpe in the drift about half a mile +from the house. Well, we slipped out one by one and got ourselves up in +style, red blankets and all, looked as thorough-paced cut-throats as +ever you clapped eyes on--" + +"Can quite believe it," murmured the former interrupter. + +"There he is again," exclaimed Armitage, wrathfully. "Well, we got down +into the drift and soon we heard the horse's feet, and old Garthorpe +came mooning along, concocting some sermon or other for the next day, +which was Sunday. The moon had just risen, but was not bright enough to +betray our identity. We jumped out of the bush. Johnson collared the +bridle, and the other two of us drew up in line across the path. What +does the old chap do, but quick as lightning pull out a revolver and +poke it into Johnson's face. He dropped the bridle like a hot potato +and skipped into the bush, and then old Garthorpe levels it dead at us. +We looked sharp to follow Johnson's example, and then the old chap rode +quietly on, chuckling to himself. Gough swears he heard him say +`somethinged scoundrels,' but that may have been part of the sermon he +was concocting. Anyhow, he turned the tables on us most completely." + +"Probably the revolver wasn't loaded," suggested Claverton. + +"Revolver! Sorra a bit. It was a pipe-case. We three skedaddled for +our lives before a preaching old humbug at the fag-end of an old +pipe-case." + +A roar went up from his auditors at the picture. + +"Fact," repeated Armitage. "Tell you what, though; that thing looked +plaguey like a pistol in the moonlight. Besides, it's just the sort of +thing a fellow would bring out, you know, under the circumstances. Old +Garthorpe went bragging about it all over the shop, and very soon the +joke got wind. But this is all very well. How about our bet, +Claverton?" + +"Oh, all right, I'll take you. Two to one in half-crowns there won't be +a cloud in the sky by two o'clock." + +"Done," said Armitage. "Any one else game?" + +But no one was. "We are not going to encourage anything so disreputable +as that betting mania of yours," said Ethel. + +"Well, good people," called out Jim's jovial tones, as he swung himself +out of his dripping mackintosh, and stamped and scraped to rid his boots +of the mud before entering, "how about a start this morning? Not much +chance of it, is there, unless you are ready to swim for it." + +"Well, _we_ must," said Naylor; "I must be home to-day. I'm expecting +Smith round my way about those slaughter-oxen this afternoon, and if I'm +not there, away goes a good bargain." + +"Besides, we shall be all right in the trap," said his wife. "Laura, +why not come with us, if you are in a hurry to get back? We could +manage to make room for you and Ethel, and your horses could be led." + +"Thanks; but I don't think we ought to desert our escort in that way," +she answered. The plan suggested in no wise fell in with her views-- +nor, we may add, with those of Ethel. + +"It'll be outrageously shabby of you if you do, and in fact we shan't +allow it," said Claverton. + +"The damned Britishers are made of salt--afraid of a little rain," +growled Thorman, in a low tone, at the other side of the room. + +Jeffreys, to whom the remark was addressed, and who had reasons of his +own for abhorring the "imported" element, acquiesced in the sneer, and +just then they were summoned to breakfast. It cleared in the afternoon +with startling suddenness, and as the equestrians started for home, the +blue sky was without a cloud. + +"This is lovely," exclaimed Ethel, as they cantered along; "but,"--and +the bright laughing face clouded--"isn't it a nuisance? Will Jeffreys +is going back with us." + +"What, all the way?" said Claverton. "I thought we were going to choke +him off at Van Rooyen's, where we picked him up." + +"No such luck. He's going back to Seringa Vale; at least, so Mr +Armitage says." + +"Oh, that may be only Jack's chaff; but--" + +He checked himself as something seemed to strike him. "Bosh!" he +thought, "Jack only sees that she rather hates the bullet-headed fool, +and is trying to take a rise out of her." Then aloud: "That fellow Jack +is a confounded nuisance at times, and yet on the whole I think he's an +acquisition." + +"Oh, yes; he makes one laugh so often, which is a great thing. Just +look at him now, for instance." + +Both turned to watch the interesting object of their discussion, who was +evidently about to keep up his reputation--for Allen, whose decrepit +steed had gone dead lame, and was incapable of carrying him, had +received the loan of the volatile Waschbank, which sprightly quadruped +was evidently rather more than a handful to him. Armitage perceiving +this, delighted to get behind and by dint of sundry clicking noises, +softly articulated, to induce the already excited animal to plunge and +shake his head frantically, and make violent attempts at bolting, to the +dire discomfiture of the rider, who clutched the bridle spasmodically +with both hands, holding on, as it were, "by the skin of his teeth." + +"It's rather a shame," mused Claverton, as they contemplated the +performance. "Why can't he let the poor devil alone, even for half an +hour? Allen isn't a bad fellow, although he's an ass in some things." + +"Look out, Allen. Hold on, pay out your rein, or, by George, he'll have +you off!" Armitage was saying, while Jeffreys rode behind sardonically +enjoying the other's discomfiture. And the warning came none too soon, +for Waschbank, finding the increased pressure of the rather sharp curb, +which his rider was bearing on more and more heavily, defied his frantic +attempts at a bolt, sought to vary the entertainment by suddenly +rearing. Then as Allen, in a panic, quickly slackened the reins, +grasping at the same time a bit of the mane, away went Waschbank with a +rush and a snort, his rider still clinging on like grim Death. But this +was not to last long, for one of the said rider's long spurs digging +violently into his flank, the animal put down his head, and springing +into the air, all four feet at once, promptly shot the hapless Allen +into space and a thorn-bush which grew handy. Then after vainly +endeavouring in the course of half-a-dozen more "bucks" to rid himself +of his saddle, the amiable brute gave a loud snort and started for home +at a hand gallop. + +"Hallo, Allen!" cried Claverton, dismounting to haul him out of the +bush. "Jump up, old man. Not hurt, are you? That's it?" as the other +staggered to his feet groaning and wincing; as well he might, for his +"continuations" were stuck as full of thorns as a well-stocked +pincushion is of pins. "Better thorns than broken bones, you know. +What's to be done? At the rate that brute's going he'll be within a +hundred yards of Buffel's Kloof by now, or we might have exchanged. +Sticks is as quiet as a village scold on board the ducking-stool." + +"Plenty more thorn-bushes," sneered Jeffreys, in a load aside. "But +it's a safe enough offer now that Waschbank's gone home." + +"I say," began Jack, in mock concern, "what are we to do? Toss up who +shall pursue the absconding Waschbank with a pinch of salt, eh?" + +"Humbugging apart, though," said Claverton, "we are only about a mile +from Van Rooyen's; the best thing for Allen to do will be to walk on +there, and the Dutchman will be able to rig him out with some sort of a +mount to take him home." + +This was arranged, and they rode on. + +"I think Jack carries his jokes too far sometimes," remarked Claverton. +"He'll find his level some day." + +They soon arrived at Van Rooyen's, and the Dutchman, having enjoyed a +hearty laugh over poor Allen's mishap, sent for the steadiest old +roadster in his paddock and mounted the dethroned hero thereon; and +after resting an hour, which somehow had nearly dragged itself out to +two, the party were in the saddle again, bound for their respective +homes. But it is the Seringa Vale quartette--for the obnoxious Jeffreys +had, after all, left them at Van Rooyen's--whom we shall now follow. It +was late when they left Buffel's Kloof, and now, as they rode over the +rising ground which shut the Dutchman's farmstead from sight behind, the +very short gloaming of a South African day was already drawing in. + +"I don't know how it is; as a rule I enjoy a ride at night," said Ethel, +"but this evening I can't help wishing we were safe at home, I feel +quite low and nervous;" and she shivered. + +"I know how it is. You've caught cold," replied her companion. "It's a +particularly warm evening, and you're shivering as if it were +mid-winter. Here--wait a bit--and put this on." + +In a trice he had unstrapped an ample waterproof cloak from his saddle, +and, dismounting, wrapped it twice round her, tightly and securely, yet +so as not to impede the management of the reins. + +"Thanks. No, I wasn't cold--it's very absurd--but I feel as if +something dreadful was going to happen. A kind of presentiment." + +"Nonsense, child. You have been catching cold; but we shall both be +catching it hot soon for being so outrageously late. Come along, here's +a nice level bit, and those two are a good mile ahead." + +"Yes, it's too absurd of me," she said, as they cantered on; "but--I +felt a drop of rain." + +They looked up. Sure enough the sky had suddenly clouded over, and +several large raindrops splashed down upon the road. + +"We are in for a shower, I'm afraid," said Claverton. "Nothing for it +but leg-bail. However, that ancient garment will keep you as dry as a +chip, unless it has suddenly performed the feat in physiology which Holy +Writ associates with the Ethiopian." + +They rode on with heads bent forward, for a fierce gust drove the rain, +which had now increased to a deluging shower, right into their faces. + +"Look at that!" exclaimed Ethel, in a terrified voice, as a vivid flash +played around them, causing the horses to start and swerve. It was +followed by a deep roll of thunder--long, loud, and startlingly near. + +"Who'd have thought it?" said her companion. "It may be just a passing +flash or so, and we shall ride through it in a minute." He spoke +cheerfully; nevertheless, there was anxiety in the quick, half-furtive +glance which he cast upwards and around. + +"Do you think so? It may not be much, after all; and I'm an awful +coward," she answered, trying to laugh; but her voice shook with +apprehension, and her face was pale in the vivid gleam which fell around +them, and faded, leaving the gathering gloom almost pitchy from +contrast. "Do let's go back," she added. + +"Too late. It would take almost as long to get back to Van Rooyen's, as +to reach home. Besides, we should get into the thick of it--it's all +behind us." + +They rode on. The path lay along a high ridge, and the surrounding +_veldt_ looked indescribably desolate as a furious blast tore and howled +over the wild waste, driving the rain into their eyes. But suddenly +wind and rain alike ceased; and lo! a great stream of jagged fire shot +down upon the road in front, accompanied by a terrific crash--a crash as +though the earth had yawned asunder and they were floating in a sea of +flame. The horses, affrighted by the appalling sight and the strong +smell of burning which was plainly perceptible, snorted and plunged, and +then stood still, trembling in every limb. + +"We had better leave the road," said Claverton. "We shall be safe +enough down in the kloof; though here it _is_ a trifle nasty." + +"Shall I dismount?" she asked. + +"No; sit still and follow me. Can you steer your horse all right, or +would you rather I led him?" + +"Oh, no; I can manage." + +They went down and down, deeper and deeper through the long, wet grass +and dripping bushes; and now and again a flash would light up the far +depths of the great, dark kloof with a blue gleam, and the thunder +roared and reverberated among the rocks and krantzes beyond. Before +they had gone far, Claverton dismounted and kept a firm hand on his +companion's bridle, for the horse slipped and stumbled over the wet +stones on the steep side of the kloof. Ethel did not speak, but her +lips would convulsively tighten with fear as each vivid lightning-flash +played around them, with its terrific accompaniment. She was horribly +afraid of thunderstorms, even when safe at home, but to be benighted +thus in the open _veldt_, in the midst of such a one as this, was simply +appalling. + +"At any rate we are safe enough here, though it is infamously wet," said +her escort, reassuringly; "and--by George, we are in luck's way--there's +a house!" + +A roof became apparent at the bottom of the ravine, and in a few minutes +they had reached it. But disappointment was in store, for the welcome +haven of refuge turned out to be an old disused shanty, formerly run up +for the accommodation of some road party, or possibly had served as an +out-station for those in charge of grazing stock. Nevertheless, though +a tumble-down and sorry-looking tenement, yet it would afford a +tolerably substantial shelter from the drenching fury of the storm. +Claverton lifted his companion from her saddle, and pushing open the +mouldering door, which creaked with an unearthly noise on its rusty +hinges, they stood inside. + +"Not exactly the marble halls of the poet's dream--deuced cold they must +have been at times--but it's wet outside and dry in here, which makes +all the difference," he remarked, as he struck a match and surveyed the +interior of the sorry apartment. The dilapidated thatch hung in +cobwebbed festoons, throwing out ghostly, waving shadows in the +flickering light; and a cockroach or two, alarmed by this sudden +intrusion, scurried along the worm-eaten beams. "Wait half a second," +he went on, "while I just go and hitch up the horses, and then we'll +proceed to make ourselves as comfortable as circumstances will allow." + +"Oh, Arthur, don't leave me alone, even for a moment! I am so +frightened!" she exclaimed, clinging to his arm. The name slipped out +in her terror, but she was quite unhinged, and noticed it not. + +"Frightened? You foolish child," he answered, reassuringly; "there's +nothing to be afraid of now--Look. We can afford to laugh at the storm +here, and will be as snug as anything directly." + +"But it's so dark, and--" + +"Dark. Well, yes; unfortunately the last tenant forgot to leave any +candles for our benefit, which was uncivil of him, to say the least of +it. However, `the Heaven above' is kindly doing its best to supply the +deficiency, and we'll meet it half-way by starting a famous blaze." + +So saying, he gathered together some old bits of board which lay about, +and, chipping them into small fragments, built up a fire well in the +middle of the room--for the fireplace was choked up with dust and fallen +bricks--and, lighting it, the flames darted up, crackling and +sputtering, and diffusing a genial and revivifying warmth. + +"There. The smoke will go out through the thatch, and at any rate it +won't be worse than in a Kafir hut. You're not very wet, are you? No, +I thought my old poncho hadn't lost its cunning. And now you won't be +afraid to stay by yourself a minute while I look after the horses. It's +dark as pitch outside, and the brutes will be wandering Heaven knows +where if I don't make them fast at once." + +He went out, and leading the horses round to the back of the house +proceeded to secure them in a sheltered place. While thus engaged a low +scream, emanating from the room he had just quitted, fell on his ear. + +Left alone, Ethel drew the cloak tighter round her, and crouched over +the bright, dancing flames; but in spite of their cheery glow she +shivered. How long would it be before he came back? He had hardly been +gone a minute, and it seemed an age. Then a flash and a loud +thunderpeal made her start, and her face blanched, and she hid it in the +ample cloak, and cowered down in mortal dread. How long would he be? +Supposing the horses had strayed, and he had gone after them, and had +lost his way, and should be unable to find the hut again. Oh, horror of +horrors! if she were to be left alone there all night, alone, in the +silence of that deserted place--a silence only broken by an occasional +and mysterious rustle or creaking--and at the very thought of it her +brain reeled and sickened, and the muffled patter of the rain upon the +thatch sounded like the dull roar of many waters, and--Oh, Heavens! what +was that? + +For a growl, as of some wild beast, fell upon her terrified ears. She +dared not raise her head, and again that grisly sound arose--long, low, +and menacing. + +Opposite to where she sat was a doorway leading into another compartment +of the hovel. This was nearly concealed when the door by which they had +entered stood open, being behind it; but now that the entrance was shut +the gap yawned, dark and shadowy. And as Ethel glanced towards it, her +gaze fell upon two glaring eyes in the blackness beyond. Was she +dreaming? No, there they were--two scintillating green stars--their +awful gaze fixed upon her with a terrible stare. The blood curdled in +her veins; she tried to scream, but her tongue refused to fulfil its +office; her limbs shook, and had she been standing she would have fallen +to the earth prone as a log. And still that piercing, baleful stare +shone through the blackness--and--God!--was she going mad? Her heart +beat as if it would burst; every second was a lifetime; every pulsation +of her throbbing temples seemed like the blow of a sledge-hammer, and +her glance was fixed upon those terrible orbs with basilisk fascination. +Then the sound of Claverton's voice outside apostrophising the horses, +broke the spell, and she uttered the scream of helpless terror which +caught his attention. + +Quickly, yet quietly, the door was opened, and he stood beside her. + +"What is it?" he asked, in the calmest of tones. + +"Look!" was all she could reply; but there was no necessity for +following the direction of her dilated eyes, for at that moment the +dreaded sound came through the doorway louder than ever. + +"Oh!--That all?" he said. "Now, look here, child, don't be in the very +least afraid, there's nothing to be afraid of, and we'll soon put an +extinguisher on that. It's only some half-starved Kafir mongrel that's +got in." His ear detected fear rather than rage in the snarl which to +her overwrought senses had sounded so dread and menacing. He stretched +out his hand towards the gun, which he had placed against the wall on +entering. "Now, sit still, and don't be afraid," he reiterated; but +before he could bring it to bear, there was a loud yell and a rush; +something large and heavy sprang into the room, cannoning against his +legs, and nearly overturning him, then sped out through the half-open +door into the rain and the darkness, while poor Ethel, who had had as +much fright as she could stand, fell backward in a dead faint. + +Quickly he held his handkerchief beneath the dripping thatch before the +door, and in a moment it was soaked through and through. Then, +supporting her head, he placed the cold wet bandage upon her temples, +and drawing forth his pocket-flask, which was about a third full of +brandy and water in equal proportions, he poured a little of the potent +mixture between her lips. A deep sigh of returning consciousness, the +long lashes unfolded, and the blue eyes looked wonderingly into his. +Then, with a start, she made as if she would rise, but he restrained +her. + +"Don't be in a hurry," he said. "Take it easy for a little while +longer--there's lots of time." + +She shivered. "Oh, I've had an awful fright! What was it?" she said, +with a shudder. + +"Nothing. Nothing whatever, except that your too-lively imagination ran +riot with you. Anyhow, it's all right now, so what you've got to do is +just to keep perfectly still until I tell you to move. By-and-by I'm +going to read you a lecture." + +"But you won't leave me alone again," she entreated. + +"No, not as long as you do what I tell you!" + +She was silent, for she felt very weak and helpless after her fright. + +"Take some more of this," he said. + +"No, thanks." + +"But you must." + +She obeyed him passively. Then revived by the invigorating spirit, she +sat up. + +Her companion looked at her. + +"Ethel," he said, "you're an awful little coward. You're worse than any +town-bred English girl, getting into such a fright about nothing-- +absolutely nothing--upon my word you are. I shouldn't have thought it +of you, you know, I shouldn't, really." + +He spoke in a serio-jesting tone of expostulation, not actually meaning +what he said, or that she had had no real cause for alarm. But he did +not want her mind to revert too much to what had happened; wherefore he +treated the occurrence as a mere hallucination. The line he adopted had +the desired effect, for a gleam of her old self shot from the blue eyes +as she answered: + +"You had no business to leave me all alone, then. And, do go and see +that there's nothing in that other room." + +"All right," and he got up to comply; but she followed him. + +"I can't remain here by myself," she pleaded. + +"Can't you? Well, but you see, you can't go with me. So we'll solve +the difficulty by fastening up both doors, and we'll make ourselves +comfortable here till that jolly old sun sneaks up again;" and in a +moment he had secured the doors, and was beside her again. + +"But--I am so hungry," she laughed. + +"H'm, that's unfortunate, because there's nothing to eat unless we fall +to on the stirrup-leathers. Wait a bit, though. By Jove!" He fumbled +in one of the numerous pockets of his shooting-coat, and produced a +packet done up in whitey-brown paper, which being unfolded, disclosed a +large and somewhat demoralised sandwich, considerably the worse for +wear. "Not a very inviting morsel," he remarked, surveying the battered +comestible. "Yet it may do at a pinch to keep the wolf from the door. +Though,"--he added to himself--"that amiable quadruped is likely to give +the door a deuced wide berth considering the mortal funk he was in when +he shot through it just now." + +The girl laughed, quite in her old joyous, light-hearted way. "I should +think so," she cried. "We'll go halves." + +"We'll do nothing of the sort," said her companion. "I'll give you ten +minutes, and if there's a crumb left of that antique sandwich by then +I'll--well, I'll go out again and see how the horses are getting on." + +"But--" + +"No `buts.' Really I'll go." + +This awful threat was effective, and being ravenously hungry, Ethel +speedily made short work of the sandwich, protesting to the last against +the other's decision. But he was firm. + +"Two people under one umbrella, both get wet," he observed, +sententiously. "What will feed one will starve two. I'm going to have +a pipe instead. Lucky that greedy beggar Jack didn't know I had any +more provender yesterday, or he would inevitably have cadged it. I had +forgotten it myself till this moment." + +"I wonder what has become of the others," said Ethel. + +"Safe at home, long ago. They'll think we went back to Van Rooyen's," +he replied. + +"But we might, you know; the storm seems to be over now." + +"Not to be dreamt of," answered he, decisively. "It's pitch dark, and +raining in a way that would set the patriarch Noah spinning yarns about +old times if he were with us. We should be wandering about the _veldt_ +all night, instead of being snug by a good fire." + +"I suppose so," acquiesced the girl, "and, do you know, I'm getting so +sleepy." + +"Glad to hear it," was the reply; and placing one of the saddles near +the fire, Claverton arranged a corner of his ample cloak over it so as +to form a pillow. "Lie down here," he said, "you can imagine yourself +in a railway carriage or anywhere else that's infamously uncomfortable;" +and as she obeyed he wrapped the cloak well round her, and returned to +his former place. + +Presently she opened her eyes--"Arthur." + +"Well?" + +"Promise you won't leave me--or I shan't be able to sleep a wink." + +"Why, I thought you were fairly off. It's twelve o'clock." + +"No--I'm not--Promise!" + +"All right--I won't budge." + +"Thanks;" and in a few moments her regular breathing told that she had +forgotten her troubles in sleep. + +Claverton piled some more wood on to the fire and drew in closer, +shivering slightly, the fact being that he was nearly wet through-- +having given up his cloak as we have seen. Then he proceeded to fill +his pipe. + +"Poor little thing," he mused, contemplating the slumbering form of his +companion in adversity. "What a fright she was in--and small blame to +her. Wonder what the beast could have been," and getting up, he went +and examined the soft ground by the door to see if it had left any +spoor. "Yes--I thought so: a wolf, and a damned big wolf, too." [Note +1.] + +He returned to his seat by the fire and sat dreamily smoking. "What a +pretty picture she makes," he thought; and in good truth she did, as the +long lashes lay in a dark semicircle on the rounded cheek, while the +full red lips were parted ever so lightly, and the firelight danced and +flickered with a ruddy glow on the golden head of the sleeper. + +"Very good fun now, no doubt, that is if it were not so infernally +cold," he went on, "but the situation may begin to look awkward in the +morning, when we are besieged by the kind inquiries of friends. +However, the gentle sex knows devilish well how to take care of itself, +that's one comfort. `Self-preservation is the first law of woman,' I +truly believe to have been the original rendering of the proverb--the +reason of its alteration is but too obvious. But assuredly the child +would have been dead, or deuced near it, by morning if we hadn't found +this place, whereas now, in half-a-dozen hours' time she'll wake up +fresh as paint, and probably abuse me like the prince of pickpockets, +and swear it would have been much better to have slept out in the +_veldt_ all night. That's the way of them." + +A flash of lighting lit up the room with a fitful gleam, and a loud roll +of thunder shook the old house to its very foundations. The storm, as +frequently happens in those regions, had been travelling in a kind of +circle, and was now returning in all its former fury. + +"Will it wake her? She has had enough scare for one night," he thought, +uneasily glancing towards her. But no; thoroughly wearied out, Ethel +never moved as the rickety casements rattled to the fierce gusts which +howled round the building, and Claverton felt relieved. Presently he +got up and went to the window. All was pitch dark outside, but every +now and then the sky would be ablaze with a sudden flash--blue, +plum-coloured, and gold, in its vivid incandescence--the hill tops stood +out as if cut in steel against the misty background, while beneath +yawned the intersecting rifts of black, chasm-like kloofs, every leaf +and twig wet and shining, as clearly definable as at noonday. A +panorama of weirdness and desolation. Then pitchy blackness and the +long heavy roll of the storm king's artillery. Claverton resumed his +seat, and the thunder crashed and roared outside, the lightning played +in vivid gleams, and the rain fell in torrents with a noise like the +rush of many waters; but within, silence, only broken by the soft, +regular breathing of the sleeper, and the plash of a big drop on the +floor, for the tattered thatch was not so watertight as might be wished. +And the night wore on. The fire burnt low, leaving the angles of the +ghostly old room in shadowy darkness, while now and again a scratching +noise might be heard as some creeping thing made its way through the +thatch or along the beams. The storm lulled, and then passed, and, save +for the murmur of falling rain, perfect silence prevailed outside, and +still the chilled watcher sat there, upright and motionless. Then he +fell into a doze. The dismal bark of a jackal was now and again borne +from the lonely bush; but not a sound escaped him as he sat there, till +at last the first faint shiver of dawn thrilled upon the hushened air; a +red glow in the east, then a blood-coloured streak on the few light +clouds which,--but for the soaked earth, were the sole traces of a night +of fierce tempestuousness. + +Claverton rose and went out softly, so as not to arouse his companion, +to where he had tied up the horses. Those long-suffering animals +pricked up their ears and whinnied at his approach, and, except that one +of them had got its leg over the reim, were just as they had been left +the night before. Then he went back to awaken Ethel. A smile was upon +her lips, and as he stood over her a gleam of sunlight shot in at the +open door and played upon the beautiful face. He lingered a few +moments, for he could hardly bring himself to arouse her; but time was +flying, the sun was up, and they must be going. So he said, quietly but +distinctly: "Time to be off, Ethel." + +The girl started slightly, opened her eyes, then started again in +bewilderment. He watched her with an amused expression. + +"Where am I?" she exclaimed, sitting upright and looking round. "Oh, I +remember. I thought it was all a dream." + +"Well, we must be getting home. I'm just going to take the horses down +into the kloof and give them a drink, and then we'll make tracks." + +He went out, and Ethel got up and looked around. "What a selfish little +wretch I am!" she thought, as her eyes rested on the relics of the +night's doings, the dying embers of the fire, beside which lay the empty +pocket-flask, and the bit of paper and string whence the opportune +sandwich had been extracted, and then on the cloak which she had just +thrown off. "I took everything from him, and left him to sit there all +night, cold and wet and hungry. I wish it had to come all over again, +that I might sit out in the rain and the thunder and lightning all +night. That's what I'd do, I swear I would," she ended, vehemently. + +A trampling of hoofs outside showed that the object of her meditations +was returning. + +"Now then, I'll just put the saddles on and we shall get home in nice +time for breakfast," he said; "but, first of all, we'll see how our +friend of last night got in." + +"What, did that actually happen? I thought I dreamt it." + +Claverton laughed. "I intended you should," he said. "It would never +have done for you to have thought about it all night long; but it was a +fact, nevertheless. Come and look here." + +He pointed out three great footmarks just inside the doorway, left by +the terrified animal as it rushed out; then bursting open the door of +the other room, they went in. + +"There's no outlet," he said, looking around. "Stay--yes, here's a hole +behind the fireplace; but it could never have got in there. No; here's +the key to the mystery," as they came upon the mangled carcase of a +half-grown kid. "This little brute must have got in somehow, and the +wolf, attracted by its yelling, charged through that door," showing one +which opened into the room from without; "then it must have banged to +and caught him in a trap. Pity I wasn't able to shoot the scoundrel!" + +Ethel shuddered at the recollection. "Let's start," she said, turning +towards the door. + +He put her into her saddle and they left their opportunely-found +shelter. The sun was now up, and, as they ascended the side of the +kloof, the whole landscape sparkled and glowed beneath the scorching +beams, every leaf and blade of grass studded with diamonds; and the +birds carolled forth gaily in the glad morning air, and doves shook out +their soft plumage, and cooed to each other on the wet sprays, and it +was difficult to realise such a culmination to a night of storm and +terror. Just before they reached the road a strange fancy moved +Claverton to turn and look back upon their late haven of refuge, and +then a clump of bush hid it from view. He little thought when and under +what circumstances he should see it again. + +"What was the joke just now, when I woke you up?" he asked, as they rode +along. + +"Joke? Why--when?" she exclaimed, wonderingly. + +"Oh, only that you were having a downright good laugh all to yourself. +I thought it a pity to disturb you, so had the grace to give you a few +minutes longer, in reward for which I claim to know what it was about." + +She looked at him curiously for a moment, and a faint flush suffused her +cheek; then she broke into a ringing laugh. "I don't believe I was +laughing at all," she said; "and, if I was, I intend to keep the fun all +to myself this time. But what will uncle and aunt say when we get +home?" + +"Say? Oh, that the very best thing we could do was to have--gone back +to Van Rooyen's--got under cover like sensible people," answered he, in +a cool, matter-of-fact tone. + +Ethel was silent for a few moments. She was not quite easy in her mind. +"I was in a great hurry to get home last night, but now it doesn't seem +quite so delightful," she thought, with a sort of strange bitterness; +and she wondered how in the world she could ever have allowed herself to +be so frightened. But meanwhile there was Seringa Vale, and the +adventure, or misadventure, was at an end. + +Greatly to Ethel's relief, neither anxiety nor surprise were manifested +on their return. + +"Hullo!" sang out Hicks. "You were fortunate in being so far behind. +We thought of going back, too; but it seemed no use, so we rode on as +hard as we could, and got here in the thick of the storm, wet through." + +"Ethel doesn't like Dutch houses, but she had to sleep in a worse one +than Van Rooyen's once," said Mrs Brathwaite. "There were only two +rooms, and five of us had to turn into one, while all the men took +possession of the other. But it was such a place! We couldn't sleep +all night." + +"I suppose not," said Claverton. If they were at cross purposes, it was +not his business to go out of his way to enlighten them, especially as, +in this instance, cross purposes were best. + +And Ethel evidently thought so too. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. The large striped hyaena is called "wolf" in South Afrioa, just +as the panther is always referred to as "tiger." Both terms are, of +course, zoologically erroneous. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +"LIKE THUNDERBOLT FROM A CLEAR SKY." + +"Drive on, Piet, Mopela! Sharp's the word; don't give them time to +think. Look alive, now!" + +The speaker is Mr Brathwaite; the scene the wash-pool. A long line of +fleecy backs is moving over the _veldt_, propelled by the shouts of +three or four Kafirs, whose naked bodies glisten in the sun as they +advance swiftly behind the flock, brandishing their red blankets and +whistling shrilly. For it may be that the leaders of that sturdy mass +of fat wethers, over a thousand in number, may take a sudden freak into +their woolly heads, and refuse to go any further when once within that +_cul de sac_ of thorn-fence gradually narrowing down to an outlet, and +that outlet the water--which will mean that each particular animal must +be thrown in separately, not once, but four or five times. Therefore +they must be kept on the move and run down as quickly as possible. Once +they begin jumping all will follow, but should the foremost happen to +jib, then the morning's work will be a hard one indeed. + +A pleasant spot is this; bush and open _veldt_ about in equal +proportion. Yonder, across the river, rises a ridge of high ground +whose slopes are well wooded, and over the wash-pool, which consists of +a long, smooth reach, the finks are flitting about their pendulous, +swaying nests, and twittering in the sunshine; while that shadowy krantz +overhanging the stream further down echoes back the long-drawn piping of +spreuws and the "coo" of a solitary dove. + +Mr Brathwaite and his two lieutenants are evidently got up for +business--rough shirts and trousers and broad-brimmed hats, the last a +very necessary safeguard, for the morning, though still young, is +unconscionably warm. + +"Don't think these will give us any trouble, they always take to the +water like ducks. It's the next lot, the ewes, that are brutes to funk; +and once on that tack the devil himself won't make them jump. Bles, you +_schelm_!" he exclaims, with a crack of his whip to hasten the decision +of the _voerbok_, who is slackening pace dubiously at the entrance to +the _cul de sac_. The old goat gives a start and resumes his course, +trotting down towards the water; the sheep stream after him, and before +he has time to think better of it, even if so disposed, his woolly +followers press so closely upon him that there is no help for it; he +springs from the rock into the water, about two feet and a half beneath, +and the whole flock hastens to follow by threes and fours, and swimming +across emerges dripping on the other side. Indeed, so fast do they +press forward that it becomes necessary for some one to stand at the +water's edge and check them, lest they should injure themselves or their +neighbours by jumping upon each other's backs. + +"That's how I like to see them jump. Fine sheep like that ought never +to want throwing in," says the old farmer, watching his well-bred flock +with some pride. + +On they come, their drivers keeping them well at it, and in a short time +the last jumps in. The whole lot are through and scattering slowly over +the _veldt_ on the other side, the steam arising in clouds from their +dripping fleeces. + +"Bring them on again," calls out Mr Brathwaite, after a little time has +been given them to rest and get warm again. The animals are driven +through at a shallow place lower down the river, and brought round to +the jumping place again. Then they are headed once more for the water, +going through this time even better than the first. + +"Hallo!" cries Hicks, running down to the edge and scrutinising the +surface all alive with panting heads and spongy fleeces. "One's down. +Yes, there it is," pointing to four kicking legs above the surface, but +which immediately disappear. "In with you, Mopela--Piet--look sharp!" +The first addressed pretends not to hear, but Piet, throwing aside his +kaross, takes a header, and as he reappears he just catches sight of the +drowning animal. In a twinkling he has seized it, and holding its head +above water, he strikes out for the bank, dragging his cumbersome and +struggling burthen. The animal had been suddenly taken with a fit and +gone under--an occurrence which now and then happens, and but for Hicks' +promptitude would have been drowned. As it was, it lay upon the ground, +and after some gasping staggered to its legs, tottered a little way, +then lay down again, and finally picked itself up and began nibbling a +little grass, and in a few minutes had quite recovered. + +The operation is repeated in precisely the same way as at first, and +after the flock had been through four times, it wore a very different +appearance to what it had done before; every fleece looking almost snowy +white by contrast as the animals are slowly driven off to their ordinary +pasturage, nibbling as they go. + +"Piet, go and tell Umgiswe to bring on his lot," says Mr Brathwaite. +"There are under five hundred, and it won't take us very long," he adds, +for the benefit of his lieutenants, "that is if they jump well. 'Tisn't +twelve o'clock yet, so there'll be lots of time for them to dry." + +Twenty minutes' rest, and then a sound of approaching bleating told that +the other flock was at hand. + +Then arises a deafening and hideous din as the sheep are driven into the +_cul de sac_. Yelling, and shouting, and whistling, white and black +alike contributing towards the general row, waving karosses, cracking +whips, and beating the ground with branches. The _voerbok_ +spasmodically rushes on ahead, plunges into the water and swims through; +but the sheep, suddenly deserted by their leader, stop half-way down the +passage, and, in spite of the pressure from behind, and the earsplitting +shindy, steadfastly refuse to budge. + +"We've bungled it somehow," says the old farmer, in a cool, +matter-of-fact tone. "No use bothering them any more just now. Bring +round the goat, and we'll try again." + +Two of the Kafirs start off on that intent, but it takes some time to +"collect" the truant, who runs hither and thither, bleating idiotically. +At last he is brought back to his post of honour at the head of the +flock; the driving and the row recommences, and the goat leaps into the +water manfully; but he is leading a forlorn hope, indeed, for not one of +the sheep will follow him--devil a sheep--though they are on the brink +of the water. There they stick, firmly and stubbornly. + +"Come on, Claverton, we must pitch some of them in," cries Hicks, and +the two promptly shove their way through the closely-wedged flock, which +stands packed like sardines, wheezing and panting in the heat. In a +twinkling they have seized half-a-dozen of the obstinate brutes and +shied them in; but the rest show no signs of following, and so they go +on, till at last they pause, breathless and bathed in perspiration, for +two of the Kafirs to take their places; and finally, by relays of +labour, the whole flock is through. + +"Whew! but that's warm work," exclaims Claverton, as, after a short +rest, the word is given to bring them on again. "Perhaps they'll jump +this time." + +His conjecture proves correct. Whether it is that they find their +plunge cool and refreshing on this hot day, or that they are tired of +resistance, or a little of both, is uncertain; but as again, amid +whistling and din, the stupid animals are driven down to the water's +edge, they follow their leader, at first gingerly and by twos and +threes, and then so fast that Hicks takes up his position at the jumping +place to check them; in process whereof, having imprudently got too near +the edge, he is upset bodily into the water, and disappears from mortal +view, to emerge, spluttering and puffing and making awful faces, as he +scrambles up the bank, dripping like a half-drowned rat. + +I know of nothing more funny than the sudden and unexpected descent of +any one into deep water. The utter woefulness, combined with an +indignant air of injured innocence, which the sufferer's countenance +invariably assumes on emerging, should make a cat laugh; anyhow, nothing +human can stand against it. And the savagely furious way in which the +patient hisses between his chattering teeth, "What the devil is there to +grin at?" While the _tout ensemble_, his garments clinging to his +shivering carcase, is in no wise calculated to invest his just +exasperation with the majesty of outraged dignity. + +Poor Hicks formed no exception. Everybody was convulsed; one of the +Kafirs to such an extent, that he could do nothing but roll on the +ground in the exuberance of his glee, though he managed to recover +sufficiently to dart out of the way just in time to avoid a mighty kick +aimed at his nether quarters by the infuriated object of his mirth. + +"There's something for you to grin at, you sooty son of a Cheshire cat!" +exclaimed Hicks, savagely; but, as we have seen, he missed his aim, and +in a minute had recovered all his wonted good humour. + +The sheep gave no more trouble, but went through after that as if they +liked it. Two or three turned over in the water, and were rescued as +previously described, while one died; but these accidents were +inevitable, and soon the flock was straggling away across the _veldt_ to +its feeding ground--white, clean, and freshened up. + +When they reached home, the dining-room table was strewn with letters +and newspapers. The postbag, which was fetched from the nearest agency +once a week, had just arrived, and as they entered, Mrs Brathwaite was +reading a letter aloud for the public benefit. The writer stated her +intention of profiting by an unexpectedly early opportunity, and +availing herself of a long-standing and oft-repeated invitation to visit +them at Seringa Vale, in about a fortnight from then, and subscribed +herself: "_Lilian Strange_." + +"Poor thing!" said Mr Brathwaite. "We'll soon bring the roses back to +her cheeks. A couple of months of this splendid air, and she'll be that +strong and sunburnt they Won't know her when she goes back." + +And the kindly, hospitable old couple went on discussing their +prospective visitor and her joys and sorrows, past, present, and to +come; projecting all manner of schemes for making her stay an enjoyable +and a happy one. + +There was one present whom this letter had set thinking, and that was +Claverton. The name seemed familiar and yet not, for he couldn't for +the life of him fit it to an individual. + +"Lilian--Lilian Strange--Lilian," he kept repeating to himself. "Now +where the deuce have I come across that name before? Lilian--it's a +pretty name, too. No, I can't remember for the life of me." He could +see the writing as the letter lay open on the table. It was rather +large and very distinct, but not masculine. But neither it nor memory +seemed to aid him, and he gave it up. + +"What is she like, aunt?" asked Ethel. "And what sort of age is she? +Young or middling?" + +The old lady laughed. "Young or middling? Gracious me, child. She's +only twenty-three, is sweetly pretty, and has the loveliest eyes I ever +saw." + +"Present company excepted--ahem!" cut in Hicks, thinking he had said an +excessively smart thing, and colouring and looking an ass on the +strength of it. + +"We must make her enjoy her visit," went on Mrs Brathwaite. "Poor +girl, I feel so sorry for her. Her mother is dead, and her stepfather +was a country gentleman in England and a wealthy man. When he died all +his property went to his own family, and Lilian was left without a +penny. Her relations on the stepfather's side were not kind to her, and +she was thrown on the world to get her living as best she could, and now +she's teaching." + +"Universal refuge for the destitute," murmured Ethel. "What brought her +out here?" + +"A ship," chimed in Hicks, intent on being funny. But Ethel looked +angrily at him, and he collapsed. + +"She came out as a companion to some lady," answered Mrs Brathwaite. +"Then the McColls at Port Elizabeth engaged her to teach their children, +and a nice handful she must find them. I fancy her health has rather +broken down. She looked anything but strong when we saw her last June." + +"It'll be a great nuisance," said Ethel afterwards to her sister when +they were alone together, "to have to be always trundling this girl +about. She'll probably give herself no end of airs and try to patronise +us all." + +"I don't know," answered Laura, "I have an idea she'll be rather nice. +Her letter reads like it." + +"Perhaps so," rejoined Ethel, a little ashamed of her inhospitable +speech; "let's hope so, anyhow." + +In due course the shearers arrived, and all being ready, operations were +begun at once. No more long rides or bushbuck bants or anything of the +kind, time was too valuable; and for about three weeks Mr Brathwaite +and his two lieutenants had their hands full in superintending and +otherwise furthering that most important phase of farm routine-- +shearing; and from rosy morn till dewy eve, and often till late within +the latter, were they strictly on duty. + +Yes, those were busy times indeed. There were the Fingo shearers to be +set to their work and kept to it, wool bales to be pressed and sewn up, +rationing to be attended to, and a hundred and one things, large or +small, to tax the mind and employ the hand. Moreover, a sharp eye had +to be kept on the natives aforesaid, lest in their laudable anxiety to +make the largest possible tally, they should inflict grievous bodily +harm upon the animals under operation, and haply remove the cuticle as +well as the fleece. But those there employed were old hands at the +craft, and gave no trouble to speak of. They would clip away by the +hour, chatting among themselves in that seemingly disjointed way wherein +these people are wont to exchange gossip. Now and then they varied the +pastime by humming a barbarous tune on about three notes, whose terrible +monotony would be distracting were it not that the ear gets accustomed +to the wretched crooning, even as to the hum of a threshing machine or +the ticking of an obtrusive clock, but through this, as through all +other sounds, the clip, clip, clip of the shears went steadily on, from +morning till night, from day to day. + +"I've just had another letter from Lilian Strange," said Mrs +Brathwaite, one evening towards the close of the busy time above +mentioned. + +"What does she say?" asked the old settler, who was nodding in a roomy +arm-chair, tired with the heat and exertion of the day. + +"She says she won't be able to come to us this week after all, because +the McColls have put off their start. She may have to wait another ten +days in consequence." + +"H'm. Don't know that it isn't just as well. It would have been +difficult to send for her during shearing time--means two days away from +home. Hicks might have gone to fetch her, or Arthur, but they are both +wanted here. Naylor's busy, too, and so is Jim. Yes, it's just as +well, as things go." + +"She thinks she will have an opportunity in about a fortnight, which +will save us the trouble of sending." + +"Well, that's better still. Besides, who's going to bring her?" + +"She doesn't say," answered Mrs Brathwaite. "She only promises to let +us know." + +To one, at least, of the auditors of this dialogue, the postponement of +the expected guest's arrival was not a source of unmixed grief. That +one was Ethel. She would not own to herself that so commonplace a +failing as jealousy had anything to do with it; still the fact remained +that they were all very jolly together as it was. "Two's company, +three's a bore," applies in principle to circles, and now it was +horribly likely that this Miss Strange would be, from Ethel's point of +view, _de trop_. Her aunt had spoken in warm terms of the other's +beauty and attractiveness. But Ethel herself was conscious of the +possession of a larger share of those commodities than most people. Had +the other been of the colourless and inane order she could have +tolerated her--bore as she might be. As matters stood, however, it was +not in feminine human nature that Ethel should be prepared to welcome +the unexpected guest with open arms. + +"What has become of Arthur?" asked Mrs Brathwaite, as they sat down to +supper. + +"Oh, he'll be here in a minute," said Hicks. "I left him yarning with +Xuvani. He says the old chap's teaching him Kafir, and I'll be hanged +if ever I knew a fellow pick it up so quickly. He didn't know a word +when he came here, but Xavani says he must have really, and was keeping +it dark. He let drop two or three idiomatic expressions which showed +that he must have known something about the language or the structure of +it." + +At that moment the door opened, admitting the object of their +discussion. + +"Late, I'm afraid," he said, sliding into his place. "That long-legged +humbug, Ntyesa, swore he had left his jacket in the shearing-house, and +I had to go and unlock it again for him. Awfully sorry." + +"Mr Claverton can't tear himself away, even at half-past eight," said +Ethel, maliciously. "He will soon be quite glued to the wool bales." + +He glanced up with an amused look. "While there is light, there is +work--in shearing time," he replied. + +"Bother shearing time!" rejoined she, pettishly. "I wish you'd be quick +and finish it. We can't get about at all, because there's no one to +take us. Laura and I have wanted to go over to Thirlestane, and to +Jim's, and a host of places, but we can't. We are just as much shut up +in here as you are in there. Aren't we, Laura?" + +"Ha--ha--ha," laughed her uncle, with whom she was a prime favourite, +and who spoilt her outrageously. "You'd better come and give us a hand, +Ethel. You and Laura. We shall get it over ever so much sooner then. +You shall have six shillings a hundred. Eh?" + +"They oughtn't to have more than five, because they don't bring their +own shears," cut in Hicks. + +"They've got nail-scissors, though," murmured Claverton. + +"Ah, I could see you were going to say something horrid," cried Ethel. + +"There are those two sparring again," was Laura's comment, "as usual." + +Now there was a good deal more underlying Ethel's impatience with the +shearing time than appeared on the surface. It deprived them of their +usual escort on their journeyings abroad, even as she had said, and with +her own particular body-guard on those occasions she found herself less +and less able to dispense. And yet, as her sister had just remarked, +they two were always at daggers-drawn. She had begun by cordially +detesting this man, as she thought. In reality, there had been more of +resentment than of dislike in the matter. She had resented his +coolness, his utter indifference to her charms, his way of treating her +like a spoilt child; laughing at her petulance, and turning off her most +pointed shafts on an impenetrable shield of mild satire, mingled with +surprised amusement. She, Ethel Brathwaite, at whose shrine, when she +shone in the society of the capital, all crowded and fell down and +worshipped, to be thus treated! She counted, among her sworn admirers, +more than one whose name was in many mouths, who boasted much-prized +decorations, well and fairly won, and yet here on the distant frontier +this man, whom, in reality, no one had ever heard of, treated her with a +sort of good-humoured indulgence! And in spite of it--shall we not +rather say, because of it?--she was not angry with him. It was a new +thing to find one who, instead of looking up at, if anything, looked +down to her; and to the wilful little beauty the change was positively +refreshing. Then how helpless she had been in his hands on one or two +occasions--that of the storm, for instance, and the subsequent +terrifying episode--and he had not been wanting. There were many men +within and without the circle of her admirers whom she could snub +capriciously and ruthlessly tyrannise over, but Arthur Claverton was not +one of them, and this she knew full well. And now she had discovered +that his society was becoming very necessary to her, and what had forced +that discovery irresistibly upon her mind was the announcement, two +weeks ago, of the arrival of a new character upon the stage whereon she +and one other were the chief actors. Verily it seemed to Ethel as if a +bomb had emanated from that harmless-looking postbag, and was destined +shortly to explode in their midst. + +Then had come the shearing, and, except on Sundays, from dawn till dark, +Mr Brathwaite's two lieutenants found the whole of their time taken up. +In the middle of the day they would come in, by turns, to get their +dinners, but it was a case of off again directly after. No more long +rides home in the twilight, or quiet strolls in the sunny afternoon, at +least not for some time to come, and then--another would have appeared +on the scene, thought Ethel, with a dire presentiment that those times +which now she looked back on with a sinking kind of regret would never +come round again. Will it be better for her--for both of them--if they +do not? We shall see. + +She is looking bewitchingly pretty to-night as she sits throwing her +bright shafts of laughter and mockery at those around, and at Claverton +in particular--at the latter, indeed, to such an extent as to call forth +Laura's remark. But a very close observer might have detected a kind of +latent wistfulness beneath the brilliant, lively manner, and only then +if he had specially looked for it. + +"So you have been trying your hand at shearing, I hear, Mr Claverton?" +she said. + +"I have." + +"How did you get on, and how did you like it?" asked Laura. + +"Hicks will best tell you how I got on. As for liking it, the +occupation would be a wholly delightful one had a beneficent Providence +but seen fit to arrange the small of one's back upon hinges. By the +way, Armitage wasn't here to-day, was he? We could have sworn we heard +that laugh of his; couldn't we, Hicks?" + +"No; he hasn't been here--and a good thing too," rejoined Mr +Brathwaite. "He'd only have got playing the fool, or something. He +carries that habit of his rather far at times. You heard what he did +over at Naylor's the year before last?" + +"No. What was it?" + +"Well, Naylor was hard at work with his shearing, and one day, in +turning out a lot of old hurdles to fence in the yard with, they came +upon a snake--a thundering big ringhals--and killed it. Jack Armitage +dropped in just afterwards, and Edward showed him the snake, rather +crowing over having killed such a big one. Jack said nothing at the +time, but a little while after, when they were all in the +shearing-house, they heard a yell, and a big black brute of a ringhals +came scooting in among them all, and there stood that villain Jack in +the door, grinning and chuckling, and nearly splitting his sides with +laughter." + +"The beggar!" said Claverton. "Did he scare them?" + +"Didn't he! You never saw such a commotion as it made. The shearers +gave one `whouw,' dropped their sheep, and made for the door with a +rush--they're mortally afraid of a snake, you know--and there were sheep +rushing about the place half shorn, and kicking against the shears which +the fellows had let drop, and making a most infernal clatter. And the +niggers were all crowding to get out, and raising a hubbub, and all the +rest of it. The worst of it, though, was that they got so mad that they +one and all struck work--flatly refused to come back--and it was some +time before Naylor could persuade them to." + +"The mischief! And what did Jack do?" + +"Do? Jumped on his horse and rode away, laughing fit to kill himself. +Naylor was very savage with him though, and now he vows he won't have +Jack on the place at shearing time, not at any price. By the way, that +long fellow, Ntyesa, was one of them. You ask him to-morrow if he +remembers the snake in the shearing-house." + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +LILIAN. + +"There. I'm quite ready now. I'm so sorry if I have delayed you, and I +fear I have." + +"Not at all. We are starting in very good time as it is, and have the +whole day before us." + +The place is the drawing-room of an hotel in Grahamstown; the time, +rather early in the morning; and the first of the two speakers, a tall, +beautiful girl, who has just finished fastening together two or three +articles of light hand-baggage as the second enters to tell her that the +conveyance is all ready at the door. She wears a close-fitting dress of +cool white, which, though making her appear taller, sets off to the +fullest advantage a graceful, undulating figure. Waves of dark hair, +touched, as it were, with a glint of bronze, half conceal the smooth +brow, and the beautiful oval face, with its straight, +delicately-chiselled features, is most killingly and becomingly framed +in a large garden hat, lined with soft lace. The eyes are of that +difficult-to-determine hue which is best defined as green hazel, and a +sensitive curve about the lips imparts to the whole face a tinge of +melancholy when in repose. In fact, there is a trifle of coldness about +its normal expression. But when it lights up--when its owner smiles--as +she now does very sweetly upon him, who is to be her travelling +companion and escort throughout that day--then its charm becomes +dangerous, so inexpressibly captivating is it. + +"_Is sweetly pretty, and has the loveliest eyes I ever saw_," had been +Mrs Brathwaite's dictum. And Claverton there and then mentally +acquitted the old lady of one jot of exaggeration as his glance rested +for the first time upon Lilian Strange when she entered the room +prepared for the journey--fresh, cool, and in all the composure of her +stately beauty. She greeted him perfectly naturally and unaffectedly, +and apologised for delay, real or imaginary, as we have seen. + +He had called at the hotel the evening before, to deliver a note from +Mrs Brathwaite, and to inform Miss Strange in person about her journey. +In the latter object he was disappointed. Miss Strange sent down a +message, apologising for being unable to see him, on the ground of +fatigue. She would, however, be quite ready to start at the hour named. +And Claverton, beyond a slight curiosity to inspect one who would be +for a considerable time an inmate of the same household as himself, +didn't care one way or another. Miss Strange would be there all right +on the morrow, and he meanwhile would go and look up a friend at the +very poor attempt at a club which the city boasted. + +He had expected to see a pretty girl, possibly a very pretty girl, but +nothing like this. As it has been said, he was not a susceptible man. +In point of fact, he rather looked down on the fair sex, a few +individual members of it excepted. Yet now, as he handed his charge +into the light buggy which stood waiting at the door, he was conscious +of an unwonted quickening of the pulse. Not then was he able to analyse +the subtle fascination of her beauty and of her manner, the +extraordinary charm of her voice--such a voice as it was, too; low, +rich, musical; the kind of voice that could not by any possibility have +belonged to a plain woman. + +"Thanks; they are not in my way in the least," said that bewildering +voice as Claverton was making impossible efforts to move certain parcels +in the bottom of the trap--impossible, because of the very limited space +afforded by the confines of a buggy--at the same time keeping a firm +hand on the rather fresh pair of horses which were bowling down the +street at a fine pace. Early as it was, the streets were filling with +traffic; huge loads of wool on buck-waggons from up the country crawling +in behind their long spans of oxen; farmers' carts and buggies; +horsemen; and everywhere the inevitable native, male and female. + +"The worst of it is that the bare fact of coming to the town entails +upon one multifold commissions, utterly regardless of space or carrying +power," he answered. "Look at those bundles, for instance. Not a third +of what I was to have fetched, and shall catch it for not bringing out." + +Lilian laughed. + +"Never mind. I'll bear witness in your favour. And now tell me, when +do we reach Seringa Vale?" + +"Not before sundown. I'm afraid you'll be dreadfully done up. It's +very spirited of you to travel two days running like this. I wonder you +didn't allow yourself a day here to rest after coming up all the way +from Port Elizabeth yesterday." + +"It was tiring, certainly. But I've had a good night's rest, and this +sort of travelling is quite luxurious after the passenger-cart. Is it +going to be very hot?" + +"I'm afraid it'll be warm, but not dusty, which is something to be +thankful for. The heavy shower in the night has done that much for us. +Look! Grahamstown shows well from here." + +A curve in the road brought the city into full view, lying beneath, +embowered in its bosky gardens. + +"Yes. But I don't see anything to admire in these colonial towns. They +are not even picturesque. Frightfully dusty, oppressively hot, and +streets and buildings absolutely hideous." + +"I agree with you. Look at this one, for instance. That mound of baked +clay, plastered up wet and left to dry, which we passed at starting and +which can hardly be distinguished now, doesn't look much like a +cathedral, does it? Yet it is. Then that fifth-rate mongrel Corn +Exchange you see--there--is the Eastern Districts Court, second temple +of Justice in the land. That square barn-like wool-store, beyond the +clay cathedral, is a Methodist chapel with a truly appalling front. It +is the prize barracoon of that connexion, and its habitues fondly +cherish the conviction that it is a second Milan. The building away +there against the hill is to be admired, isn't it? Built for a barrack +it remains a barrack, though it is now a public hospital. The town is +pretty, thanks to its situation and trees, but there isn't a +decent-looking building in it." + +"I want to see something of the country," went on Lilian. "It ought to +be lovely, judging from what I saw of it coming along in the post-cart +yesterday. And I've seen nothing of it as yet." + +"Here we are, then. What do you think of that?" said her companion, as, +having crested the hill which shut the city from view, he whipped up his +horses and they sped merrily along an elevated flat, dashing aside the +dewdrops which lay thickly studding the short grass like a field of +diamonds. The sun was not long up, and a white morning mist hung here +and there among the sprays of the bush, but overhead all was dazzling +blue. The view was extensive. Wooded ridges melted away afar in the +soft morning light, and in the distant background the crescent range of +the Great Winterberg rose purple and dim. + +"Oh, but this is lovely!" cried Lilian. "Don't laugh at me, Mr +Claverton, but it is like drinking in new life after being pent up in a +dusty town." + +"I'd rather be shot than laugh at you," he answered, with an earnestness +very unwonted in him. "I am only too glad you should find anything to +enjoy in what I feared would be to you a very tedious journey. Still +more glad am I that it has been my luck to escort you." + +It was about the first genuine compliment he had ever paid to a woman in +his life, and yet he seemed totally unconscious of intending any +compliment at all. He could hardly take his glance off the beautiful, +animated face beside him. And how was it that this same escort duty had +fallen to his lot? When Lilian Strange found out at nearly the last +moment that the opportunity on which she relied of getting to Seringa +Vale had fallen through, Mr Brathwaite had made arrangements to go to +Grahamstown and fetch her himself. But a sharp attack of rheumatism +precluded this, and Hicks, who otherwise would have been told off on +this mission, and who had his own reasons for not wishing to be away +from home two days, easily prevailed on his friend to go instead of him. + +On they sped, now ascending a hill at a foot's pace, now bowling briskly +down the next declivity, as the road wound over the rolling country. To +Lilian the journey, so far from being a tedious one, was wholly +delightful. She was vividly interested in everything. Even the little +meercats, which sat upright on their hind legs a few yards from the road +and then bolted into their burrows at the approach of the horses, came +in for a share of her notice and admiration. A solitary secretary bird, +stalking away down in the hollow, became the subject of numerous +inquiries, and she gazed with awe upon a cloud of great white vultures +soaring overhead bound for some defunct horse or sheep, appearing from +nowhere and disappearing as mysteriously. To the English girl, with her +keen love of Nature, even these insignificant representatives of wild +African animal life were full of interest. + +They passed a large ostrich farm lying beneath them on the slope, and +she could hardly believe her companion's statement that the distant +black specks at the farther ends of their respective enclosures were as +formidable as the traditional mad bull, until a large troop of +ten-months-old ostriches, under charge of herds, swept past, and he drew +her attention to their size, and the strength of those long legs +terminating in a sharp, horny toe, capable of ripping a man up. But the +birds looked very handsome, very picturesque as they careered by, their +snowy plumes extended and waving, and she was delighted with the picture +they made, though her enjoyment was tempered with alarm as the horses +showed signs of restiveness. But Claverton reassured her, and the +ostriches and their keepers were soon left far behind. + +"You live at Seringa Vale, do you not, Mr Claverton?" + +"Well, yes; I do at present. I am jackarooing there, as they say in +Australia, which is to say that I am imbibing instruction in the craft +in consideration of my valuable services." + +"And are you going to settle out here, then?" + +"To settle! H'm! How do you know I wasn't born and bred out here?" + +"I suppose because there's some sort of secret sign by which one +importation can detect another," answered Lilian. "I don't believe you +have been out here as long as I have." + +"Do I look so thoroughly the `new chum,' then? Point out the +conspicuous sign of `rawness,' that I may at once eradicate it, if it is +worth eradicating, that is." + +"No. I refuse to reveal my masonic sign," she answered, gaily; "but I +know I am right in my conjecture. I could tell the moment I saw you. +Am I not right? Now confess!" + +"Yes and no. That is to say, it is only three months since I left +England this time; but before that I was out here in South Africa for +several years." + +"Then I cannot claim seniority of standing, after all. Are there any +more `importations' at Seringa Vale?" + +"Yes. Hicks. But he's so thoroughly acclimatised that he don't count. +You and I are exiles and sojourners in a far country. I foresee we +shall be talking British `shop' to a grievous extent," said Claverton, +not that he cared a rush about England, or had any great reason to, for +the matter of that, but it would establish an _entente_ with his +beautiful travelling companion, a something quite between themselves. +He was surprised to notice a wearied and even pained expression flit +across the lovely face, like the shadow of a cloud passing over the +bright smooth surface of a mountain lake. + +"I don't know. I think I would rather forget all about England," she +replied, sadly. "It is a subject with no fascination for me. As I'm +here in this country I want to like it, and it is highly probable that I +shall, at any rate during the next two months. By-the-bye, what dear +old people Mr and Mrs Brathwaite are!" + +"That they are," assented the other, heartily. And then for the life of +him he could not help subsiding into silence. She had a history, then. +She would fain forget the land of her birth. It was not wholly the +stern law of necessity that had banished her to a distant land to fight +the rough, hard battle of life. There was another cause, and glancing +at her as she sat beside him, Claverton thought he could in a measure +guess at the nature of that cause. His pulses were strangely stirred, +and even then he was conscious of a longing to comfort her, of a wild, +unreasoning resentment against some person unknown. Remarkable, wasn't +it, considering he had only seen her for the first time in his life that +morning, and that now it was still far short of midday? + +But two persons of opposite sexes, both young, both goodly to look upon, +and under circumstances situated such as these two, will, I trow, find +it difficult to preserve silence for long--seated side by side in the +circumscribed space of a buggy. Lilian was the first to break it. + +"What was that?" she asked, eagerly, as a loud resounding bark echoed +forth from the hillside above them. + +"Only a baboon. Look, there he is--that black speck up there; and the +others are not far off." + +They were driving through a wild and narrow pass. High overhead great +masses of rock cut the skyline in fantastic piles, castellated here, +riven there, and apparently about to crumble in pieces, and hurl +themselves down upon the road. Thick bush grew right down to the road +winding along the side of the hill, which here and there fell straight +away from it in rather an alarming and precipitous manner. + +It was just at the most alarming of these places that a few puffs of +dust and a crack or two of a whip betokened the approach of waggons, and +the next moment the foremost of them appeared round a jutting corner of +rock. Claverton muttered an imprecation as he noted that the oxen were +without a leader, straggling across the very narrow road at their own +sweet will, and bearing down upon him and his charge a great deal faster +than he liked. The waggon, loaded sky high with wool bales, was still a +couple of hundred yards off, but the road from it to the buggy was a +brisk declivity; there seemed very insufficient brake on, and no sign of +any one in charge. One of two things was likely to happen: either the +buggy would be splintered into matchwood against the inner side of the +road, or hurled into perdition over the outer one, by the ponderous mass +now bearing down uncontrolled upon it. Claverton reined in his horses +and hallooed angrily. + +An ugly, mud-coloured head rose from the apex of the pile; then +apparently subsided. + +"Where's your `leader,' you _schepsel_?" he shouted in Dutch. "Get off +and stop your fore oxen, or, by God, I'll shoot them dead on the spot." + +The situation was critical, it must be remembered. A sooty imp of a boy +glided to the front of the span, and succeeded in bringing them up just +in time. The huge, unwieldy machine rolled creaking past the buggy, +narrowly grazing it with the wool bales. The Hottentot driver raised +his ugly head and leered insolently. + +"Hey, you, Engelschman! Don't you know how to pass a waggon yet?" he +shouted. + +Quickly Claverton stood up, and by dint of a dexterous "flick," cut the +fellow with his driving-whip in such wise as to chip a weal of skin out +of his face, and then the pace of the passing vehicles carried him out +of reach. + +The Hottentot yelled and cursed with rage and pain; but there was +something so threatening in Claverton's face and the sudden movement he +made as if to descend and make a further example of him that the fellow +thought better of it, and dropped the empty grog bottle which he had +been about to shy after the trap. He solaced himself, however, with a +shower of parting curses. + +"Lord, Lord! To think that I should have to sit still and be cheeked by +a dirty drunken Tottie," said Claverton to himself yet aloud, as if +oblivious of his companion. Yet he had to. He could hardly drop the +reins and leave her there in the middle of an excessively narrow and +dangerous bit of road, with a pair of very fresh and somewhat restive +horses on hand, while he went to wreak further vengeance on the impudent +rascal whose carelessness might have been productive of a serious +catastrophe. He was handicapped altogether. + +It was an earnest of real life. By himself, with only himself to think +of, he could take care of himself. In charge of another, would he not +have to swallow tons and tons over and above the traditional peck of +"matter in the wrong place" without a murmur? He would be handicapped +altogether. Philosopher as he was, it was hardly likely that such a +consideration should obtrude at this moment. + +The other waggon was engineered by a couple of quiet-looking and civil +Kafirs, who gave them plenty of roadway and the good-morning as they +passed. + +Claverton stole a glance at his companion's face. She had been not a +little startled, he could see that, yet she kept her composure, and the +fact pleased him. Most women under the circumstances would have let fly +exclamations of alarm, perhaps shrieked, possibly even might have +grabbed convulsively at the reins--that most blindly idiotic and utterly +exasperating phase of feminine scare upon wheels. This one, however, +only changed colour ever so little, but did and said nothing. + +"Here we are at an `hotel,' as they call it in this country," he +remarked, pointing out a seedy-looking domicile, like unto a fifth-rate +Dutch farmhouse, which hove in sight before them. "We can either stop +there, or drive on a little farther and outspan in the _veldt_, +whichever you prefer." + +"Oh, do let us outspan in the _veldt_," answered Lilian, gleefully. +"The drive is lovely, and a picnic in the middle of it will be quite the +right thing." + +"Of course it will--or rather two picnics, for we shall have to outspan +again. Look, we don't lose much by giving that barracoon the go-by," he +went on, as they passed the edifice in question. "Goat chops very +tough, pumpkin and rice, and Cape sherry, are about the only items in +its bill of fare, I venture to predict." + +"Horrible!" declared Lilian, with a laughing grimace. + +They drove on a little farther, and halted in a beautiful spot, by a +pool of clear, but brackish water, thickly overhung with bush and +trailing plants, where Lilian was delighted with the colony of pendulous +finks' nests swaying to and fro as their startled occupants dashed in +and out, chirping volubly. Claverton took the horses to the water, then +knee-haltered and allowed them to roll while he placed on the ground one +of the couple of bundles of oat-hay which were carried in the buggy for +their benefit. Then he returned to his charge. + +"I must apologise, Miss Strange. The rule of the _veldt_ is not that of +society. Here it is, `horses first.'" + +He spread the wraps, which kind, thoughtful Mrs Brathwaite had sent for +Lilian's use, under a shady tree, making her a comfortable seat. Then +he unearthed the commissariat, of which the staple articles were a +chicken and a bottle of Moselle. + +"But this is far too luxurious," protested Lilian, her beautiful face +sparkling with animation. She was thoroughly enjoying the +unconventionally of the whole thing. "I declare it does not seem like +camping in the bush if we are to revel in luxury." + +"Take it easy while you can. That's the secret of true philosophy. The +goat chops and pumpkin and rice will come, all in good time." + +She laughed gaily. Then she threw off her large straw hat, and pushed +up her dark hair as if to ease it of the weight. Not a detail of the +movement or its effect escaped her companion. He had not yet seen her +without her hat. It is surprising what a difference this outdoor +appendage makes in the appearance of some women. He noted, without +surprise, that Lilian Strange looked equally beautiful either way. + +"Mr Claverton, why don't you smoke?" she asked, as, having lunched, +there was a dreamy pause in the conversation. + +"I thought you might object. But--how do you know I indulge in the +chimney trick?" + +"Object? No, I'm not so selfish as that. And as for how I knew, I +might answer all men do, but I won't. The fact is, you made a quite +unconscious and mechanical dive at your pocket, and brought out half a +pipe. I'll give you credit that the move _was_ quite unconscious." + +"It was, upon my honour. What a magician you are--you notice +everything." + +It has been stated that Lilian Strange possessed an extraordinarily +dangerous and captivating smile. She was in one of her softest moods +now, thoroughly enjoying the fresh air and wild, extensive scenery; and +the drive, the impromptu picnic _a deux_, and above all her late +emancipation from distasteful drudgery amid uncongenial surroundings, +and the prospect of two months' rest from the same. Then she had taken +a great liking to her travelling escort; short as had been the period of +their acquaintance. So that now as she lay back, laughing over the +quaint dryness of the said escort's remarks, it could not be but that +her winning and attractive spell should weave itself around him to the +full. This girl was something quite new in Claverton's experience. The +soft, sweet tones of her voice, her glorious beauty, her very ways and +movements, seemed to cast a glamour over him such as he had never known +before in the course of his life. Bright, teasing Ethel Brathwaite, +blue-eyed, sunny, impulsive, seemed poor clay when contrasted with this +new arrival with the lovely, expressive face and the undulating, +sensuous form--so stately and yet so unaffected and appreciative--so +cold of demeanour, at times, and withal so sweet and considerate. Yet +nineteen men out of twenty would have given the preference to Ethel; but +then it may be that this other one would have favoured the nineteen with +the coldness devoid of the consideration. + +Be this as it may, Claverton was certainly the twentieth in both senses, +and, as they sat there, resting in the golden sunshine, the drowsy air +around them made musical by the whistling of spreuws and the hum of +summer insects, he, at any rate, found himself wishing that that hour +might last throughout an eternity. + +And the curious part of it was that he had not known her for hours +enough to make a double figure. + +But time cannot be trifled with, and they were due at Seringa Vale +before dark. So the horses were put to in a trice. + +"Can't I help you in any way?" said Lilian. "It seems so hard that you +should have all the trouble while I sit still and look on." + +"It's no trouble at all," answered the other, tugging vigorously at a +refractory strap. "I wouldn't let you bother about this sort of thing +for the world. In fact, I am only too glad that you are not tired to +death with the long, hot ride. And I think we'll put the hood up, for +there's no shade between this and the next outspan." + +Now came the hottest stage of the journey. The full glare of the sun +focussed down into the broad valley, beat fiercely upon the tent of the +buggy, and, but for the rapid movement creating its own draught, there +was not a breath of air. Lilian began to feel drowsy and could have +pleaded guilty to an incipient headache, but she did not complain. Her +companion, however, detected the tired look in her eyes, and was greatly +concerned; but she laughed it off. She would be all right again when it +got cooler, she said. It was really very silly of her, but she was just +a trifle below par. + +On this point he rather vehemently reassured her. Why, he himself often +felt as if about to get a sunstroke riding through these long, hot +valleys, just in the middle of the day--and he was a tolerably +well-seasoned traveller. But it is to be feared that, for once in his +life, he forgot to spare the horses in his anxiety to reach the end of +that stage. + +Lilian, however, forgot her fatigue, as after the next outspan they +wended up the rugged, but picturesque bush-road, in the golden light of +the waning afternoon. They were in shade for the most part now, and the +air grew cooler as they ascended gradually out of the stifling valley, +where the river they had crossed a little while ago, flowed sparkling in +the sun like a silver thread. Opposite, a row of stiff euphorbia reared +their plumed heads, their stems, straight and regular as a line of +organ-pipes, standing out from the darksome, rocky glen behind them like +the bars of a gloomy cage enclosing some ferocious beast. There, a +great cliff, overhung with lichens and monkey ropes, starting +capriciously from among the greenness, and everywhere a shining sea of +bush; not silent, either, but resounding with evidence of animal and +insect life. Far away, almost inaudible, the harsh bark of the sentinel +baboon; close at hand, oppressive in its vociferation, the shrill +chirrup of crickets. Hoopoes were softly calling to each other from the +tangled recesses of some cool and shady nook; and a bright louri, in all +the pride of his crimson wings and glossy plumage, darted across the +road. + +When they arrived at Seringa Vale, all its inmates were at the door to +welcome Lilian. + +"I hope Arthur took great care of you, my dear," said Mrs Brathwaite, +the first genial greetings over. + +"I have to thank Mr Claverton for taking the greatest possible care of +me," answered Lilian, flashing at him one of her sweetest smiles. + +For a brief second their eyes met. One standing there noted both those +glances and read them like an open book--read in one, possibility; in +the other, certainty. And Ethel was forced to admit that her aunt's +description of their visitor's attractions was not one whit exaggerated. + +And it had all come about in a single day. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +IN A SINGLE DAY. + +"Mopela, what on earth have you been doing all this time? I sent you +for that water half an hour ago." + +There is menace as well as wrath in the tones of the speaker as he +confronts the individual addressed, who is calmly squatting on the +ground between two pails containing water just drawn out of the dam. It +is midday, and a blazing sun pours down upon them, to the delectation of +certain mud turtles basking on the hard, cracked surface of the baked +ooze, and who, alarmed by the sound of angry voices, scuttle away into +the water as fast as their legs can carry them; while, in the noontide +stillness, the smooth surface of the reservoir glows like copper beneath +the burnished rays. Again Claverton--for it is he--repeats his question +in a more irate tone than before. + +Mopela rises and eyes his interlocutor in a manner that betokens +mischief. He is a huge Kafir, tall and broad-shouldered, and his +bronze, sinewy frame, whose nudity shows the development of great +muscular power, looks formidable enough. He hates Claverton, who has +more than once had occasion to be "down on" him for careless herding, or +other derelictions, and never loses an opportunity, whether by covert +insolence or neglect of orders, of showing it. And for some time past +the relations between the two have been--in the language of diplomacy--a +trifle "strained." + +"I _haven't_ been half an hour," he replies, defiantly, "I only stopped +a minute to light my pipe." + +"You infernal blackguard, do you mean to give me the lie direct?" says +Claverton; and his voice shakes with pent-up fury as he advances a pace +nearer the last speaker. "Take up those buckets and get away at once!" + +The savage gives an exclamation of disgust, and his eyes glare. Then +throwing back his head contemptuously, he says with an insolent sneer: +"You are not _Baas_ here." + +"The devil I'm not!" Crack!--woof!--a right and left-hander straight +from the shoulder, and the huge barbarian goes down like a ninepin. +"You dog! you've played the fool with me long enough, and now you've +come to the end of your tether. Get up," he continues, spurning with +his foot the prostrate man, from whose mouth and nostrils a red torrent +is gushing. "Get up, and I'll floor you again!" His fierce temper is +now completely beyond his control, and for the moment he is as +thoroughly a savage as the dusky giant lying at his feet. + +How it will end Heaven only knows, but at this juncture a low cry of +horror behind him causes him to turn, and what he sees brings a hot +flush to his face, up till now livid with rage. For there stands Lilian +Strange, and her white face and dilated eyes betray that she has been a +terrified witness of the whole scene. + +Claverton started as if he had been shot. + +"I fear you have been dreadfully frightened," he said. "Needless to +explain I had no idea of your presence." + +He felt very concerned, and his face flushed hotly again as he thought +what an awful ruffian he must seem in her eyes. This was the second +time within twenty-four hours that she had seen him lose his temper, +though yesterday, anxiety for her own safety had been the justification. +His clothes were plentifully splashed with sulphur and lime, in which +salutary decoction he had been dipping sheep when the _fracas_ occurred. +At his feet lay the hulking form of the Kafir, breathing stertorously +and bleeding like a pig. Yes, what a cut-throat he must seem to her! + +But Lilian could not have been of this opinion, for the startled +expression faded from her eyes and a delicate tinge showed in the warm +paleness of her cheek. + +"I had been for a walk in the garden, and came suddenly upon you. I +couldn't help seeing it all. He seems badly hurt; can't we do anything +for him?" she pursued, going up to look at the prostrate barbarian, and +again growing pale at the sight of the blood. For Mopela lying there, +with all the results on his countenance of the punishment he had +received, was not an exhilarating object to gaze upon. + +"Do anything for him? Oh, no; he's all right. Look." + +The Kafir opened his eyes stupidly and staggered to his feet. Then, +with a glance of deadly hatred at his chastiser, he took up the buckets +and walked away, his gait rolling and uneven. + +"You don't know what I've had to put up with from that bru--that rascal +for some time past. Well, he's got it now, at all events. I knew it +was only a question of time. The only thing I regret is that it should +have been at so inopportune a time," he added, in tones of deep concern. +He was exceedingly vexed and disgusted with himself. Mopela might have +inflicted upon him a whole vocabulary of impudence before he would have +afforded Lilian such an exhibition had he but foreseen. + +"I suppose you find these natives very trying?" she said. + +"Not as a rule. On the contrary, I always pull well enough with them. +But that chap's defiance had reached such a point that one of us had to +knuckle under. It would never have done for that one to have been +myself." + +"I suppose not," answered Lilian, with a little smile at the idea of her +escort of yesterday "knuckling under" to anybody. "And now I must not +delay you. I see you are busy--but--would you mind walking back to the +house with me? I am easily frightened, and these savages do look so +dreadful when they are angry." + +"Would I mind? But don't _you_ mind being seen in such ragged company?" +he added, drily, with a glance at his rough and besplashed attire. + +"In Bond Street it is just possible that I should. On an African sheep +farm the escort is appropriate," she answered, with a flash of merriment +in her lovely, changing eyes. + +The distance to the house was not great, but Claverton contrived to +render it as great as possible. + +"How is it you are out all alone?" he asked, as they walked along. + +"Oh, the fact is, Mrs Brathwaite and the girls were busy, very busy. I +wouldn't for the world abuse my guest's privilege, so I slipped off on a +solitary voyage of discovery." + +"And a pretty sort of discovery you made! By-the-bye, I have had no +opportunity of asking if you had quite recovered from yesterday's +fatigue, and it has been lying heavily on my conscience. You did not +appear at breakfast, and we have been desperately busy all the morning." + +There was a tender ring in his tones as he made this very commonplace +observation which could hardly have escaped the other. She answered +very sweetly: + +"I am afraid I was dreadfully lazy. But I was a little tired this +morning. It shan't occur again; there!" + +"You must rest to-day, then, because they are getting up a dance +to-night in your honour. You are literally to make your _debut_ here. +Didn't they tell you?" + +"Now I think of it, they did. Here we are at the house, Mr Claverton. +Thanks, so much, for accompanying me." + +"And now I shall catch it. The dear old man hates any of us to thrash a +nigger. Stand by and support me under my castigation." + +Claverton had seen Mr Brathwaite in the hall, and lost no time in +telling him what had happened. The old settler shook his head as he +listened. + +"It won't do," he said. "You'll never get any good out of them if you +take to hammering them. They cut off to the district town and lay an +information against you, and you're summoned before the magistrate, and +put to no end of bother. And that's not all. It has a bad effect on +the others. They know they'll get the better of you in court, and +invariably do get it; and once a black fellow thinks he can get the +better of you in any way, then good-bye to your authority. Besides, it +earns you a bad name among the Kafirs, which means a constant difficulty +in obtaining labour, and when you do obtain it you only get the refuse. +There's Thorman, for instance. He used to lick his Kafirs for the least +thing, and he never kept a decent servant on his place two months at a +time. I advised him to knock off that plan, and he did; but for years +afterwards he suffered from its effects, in the shape of a constant lack +of decent labour. No; it doesn't pay, take my word for it." + +"Well, but you've no idea how cheeky that fellow was, and has been for +some time past," urged Claverton. + +The other merely shrugged his shoulders with the air of a man +unconvinced, and repeated as he turned away: "It doesn't do." + +Claverton shot a glance at his late companion as much as to say; "There, +I told you how it would be," and caught a bright, rapid smile in return. +Then he went back to his work. + +Hard by the scene of the recent row was the dipping tank, oblong in +shape, fifteen feet by five and about eight in depth. It was two-thirds +full of a decoction of lime and sulphur, and into this the sheep were +dropped, and after swimming about for a couple of minutes or so were +suffered to emerge, by the raising of a sliding door at one end. This +end, unlike the other, was not perpendicular, but the floor was on a +sufficient slope to enable the animals to walk out, which they did, and +stood dripping in a stone-paved enclosure also with a shelving floor so +that the liquid that drained off them should run back into the tank. At +the other end was a larger enclosure containing several hundred sheep, +which four or five Kafirs, among them the recreant Mopela, were busy +catching for the purpose of dipping them in the unsavoury but +scab-eradicating mixture. Over which operation presided Hicks and +Claverton, each with a forked pole in his hand, wherewith to administer +the necessary ducking to the immersed quadrupeds. At last Hicks +proposed that they should knock off, and come back and finish after +dinner. + +"Not worth while, is it?" was the reply. "Let's finish off now we're at +it, then we can take things easy, clothed and in our right minds. We +can hardly go inside the house, even, in this beastly mess." + +Claverton carries his point, as he generally does. So they work on and +on in the heat and the dust, and the air is full of splashes as the +kicking animals are dropped into the tank, and redolent with the ill +savour of sulphur and lime and perspiring natives; and the contents of +one of the great cauldrons simmering over the fire are thrown in to +replenish the medicinal bath, and the number of sheep left undipped +waxes smaller and beautifully less, till at length the last half-dozen +are disposed of and the job is at an end. + +Then Hicks suggested a swim in the dam, and the proposal was soon +carried into effect. After which, in renewed attire and presentable +once more, they appeared among the rest of the household. + +To some at least in that household has come among them a change; an +element of upheaval certainly not even dreamed of by all whom it shall +concern. A change. The acquisition of a beautiful and agreeable young +lady visitor by this circle? No, something more than that. + +Mrs Brathwaite playfully upbraided Claverton for being the unconscious +cause of frightening her visitor on the first morning of her arrival. +Then Lilian came to the rescue. If she had been startled it was her own +fault or ill fortune for going where she was not wanted. Here vehement +protest from him whose cause she was pleading. Then, she urged, he who +had been the means of startling her had made all the amends in his power +by seeing her safely home, coward as she was to need it. Here more +vehement protest. + +What does this vehemence mean on the part of a man to whose nature it is +wholly foreign, who is calmness and equability itself? + +This question--partly its own answer--flashed through Ethel's mind. She +was to all appearances deep in discussion with Laura and Hicks as to +certain debatable arrangements for the coming festivity. In reality she +was performing that extremely difficult feat, keeping an ear for two +distinct conversations. In the course of which difficult feat Ethel was +wondering how it was that these adventuresses (yes, that is the word she +used) with nothing on earth to recommend them, should have the power of +taking everybody by storm in the way their visitor seemed to be doing. + +Lilian was wondering how it was that her visit seemed likely to be far +more pleasant and enjoyable than she had at first anticipated, which was +saying a great deal. Also what there was about this man, now talking so +unconcernedly to herself and her hostess, that raised him on a pedestal +considerably above the residue of the species. + +Claverton was wondering how it was, that his life seemed to have been +cut in two distinct halves since yesterday. + +And Ethel again read both faces like an open book. And this time she +read in the one, greater possibility; in the other, absolute certainty. +Such was the situation. + +And it had all come about in a single day. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +"MINGLE SHADES OF JOY AND WOE." + +The long dining-room is in a blaze of light, such as it has not sparkled +with for some considerable time, and only then on rare and special +occasions such as the present one. The polished floor reflects the glow +of numerous candles, and, as Hicks vigorously puts it, the decks are +thoroughly cleared for action. Expectant groups stand about the room or +throng the doorways--for the fun has not yet commenced, and meanwhile +talk and laughter goes on among the jovial spirits there foregathered, +and the graver ones, when not the subjects of rally, are intent on +contemplating the floor, the ceiling, the fireplace, or anything or +nothing. The party might be an English one to all appearances. You may +descry the usual phases in its ingredients. There is shy humanity, +confident humanity, blatant humanity, fussy humanity, even pompous +humanity. There, however, the resemblance ends. Of stiffness there is +none. Everybody knows everybody, or soon will--meanwhile acts as if it +does. Then, in the little matter of attire, many of the "lords of +creation" are arrayed in orthodox evening costume and white-chokered, +others in black coats of the "go-to-meeting" order, while three or four +Dutchmen, bidden to the festivity on neighbourly grounds, sport raiment +fearfully and wonderfully made, whose effect is enhanced by terrific +neckties, varying in shades from scarlet to green. The company is +composed almost entirely of the settler class. Jolly old fellows who +have come to look on at the enjoyment of their extensive and +well-looking families in various stages of adolescence, and who, in +spite of their white hair and sixty or seventy summers, seem more than +half inclined not to remain passive spectators of the fun. One or two +of these, by the way, judging from nasal rubicundity and other signs, +will, I trow, be found more frequently hovering around the charmed +circle where flows the genial dram, than in the immediate neighbourhood +of the giddy rout. Middle-aged men, bronzed and bearded, looking +serious as they contemplate what is expected of them, for assuredly we +English, in whatever part of the world we be, "take our pleasures +sadly." Young settlers are there, stalwart fellows, several of whom +have ridden from far, carrying their gala array in a saddle-bag, and who +by the time they return will have been three days away from home. But +distance is nothing; their horses are strong and hardy, and the roads +are good, and if not, what matters? Life is nothing without its +enjoyments, and accordingly they intend to enjoy themselves, and do. + +Of the fair sex there is a goodly muster--though fewer in proportion to +that of the men, as is frequently the case at frontier dances-- +consisting of the wives and daughters of the settlers. Some are pretty, +some plain; some are bright and lively, and nicely dressed; others again +are badly attired, and neither bright nor lively; and at present they +are mostly gathered together in the room opening out of the one which is +to be the scene of the fray. + +"Now then, Hicks, Armitage, some of you fellows, let's set the ball +rolling," cried the jovial voice of Jim Brathwaite, as a volunteer +pianist (the orchestral department must be worked entirely by volunteer +agency) sat down at the instrument and dashed off a lively galop. "Come +along, Arthur, give these fellows a lead," he went on. + +Claverton was standing in the doorway. He turned as Jim addressed him. +"Well, if it's all the same, I think I'll cut in later. Fact is, I'm +not much of a dancer. Besides, it's a ridiculous exercise." + +"Aren't you! `England expects,'" said Ethel, maliciously, as she +floated by, a dream-like vision in pink gauziness. Her golden hair, +confined by some cunning device at the back of her head, flowed in +shining ripples below her waist, and the deep blue eyes flashed +laughingly into his as she made her mocking rejoinder. + +"Does it? Expectations are notoriously unsafe assets," was the quiet +reply. + +"Well, we must make a start or we shall never get these fellows to +begin," said Jim. "Come along, Ethel, you promised me the first dance. +If you didn't you ought to have." + +They glided off, and Claverton stood and followed them mechanically with +his glance; but, as a matter of fact, he hardly saw them. He was +wondering what on earth had become of Lilian Strange. The dance wore +on, and then the next, still Claverton stood in the doorway, which coign +of vantage he held conjointly with an uncouth-looking Dutchman and a +burly but bashful compatriot, and still _she_ did not appear. At +length, while crossing the inner room with a vague idea of putting an +artless and roundabout inquiry or two to Mrs Brathwaite as to why +Lilian did not appear, he heard himself hailed by his host. Turning +quickly he perceived the latter sitting in confab with a contemporary in +age, but vastly different in appearance. + +"Arthur, this is an old friend of mine, Mr Garrett." + +Then arose a queer-looking old fellow, short, rotund of person, and +whose exceeding rubicundity of visage betokened, I fear, anything but +aversion for ardent spirits. Running one stubby hand through his +bristly grey hair, he extended the other to Claverton. + +"'Ow do--'ow do? Not been long in the country, have you? My word, but +it's a fine country, this is--fine country for young fellers like you." + +Claverton thought the country contained also some advantages for the +speaker; and he was right. Here was old Joe Garrett, who never knew his +father, if he had one, and who, having early in the century deserted +from a two-hundred-ton merchant brig lying in Algoa Bay, had started in +colonial life as a journeyman carpenter. By hook or by crook he had +made his way, and now, by virtue of the four fine farms which he owned, +he deemed himself very much of a landed proprietor, and every whit the +equal of Walter Brathwaite, "whose ancestors wore chain-armour in the +fourteenth century," as some one or other's definition of a gentleman +runs. + +"I was jest such a young feller as you once," went on this embodiment of +colonial progress. "I landed in this country in nothin' but the clothes +to my back, and look at me now. Now, I'll tell you what I did," and the +oracle, slapping one finger into the palm of the of her hand, looked up +into his victim's face with would-be impressive gravity, "I worked; +that's what I did--I worked. Now, you may depend upon it, that for a +young feller there's nothin' like a noo country--and work!" + +"I suppose so," acquiesced Claverton, horribly sick of this biography. + +"Now a noo country," went on the oracle, "a noo country, sez I, ain't an +old one. 'Ere you're free; there," flinging out a stubby hand in the +imaginary direction of Great Britain, "nothing but forms and sticklin'. +Now, 'ere I can sit down to dinner without putting on a +swallow-tail-coat and a white choker, for instance. No; give me a noo +country and freedom, sez I." + +"Quite right, Mr Garrett. A swallow-tailed coat plays the mischief +with the digestion, and science has discovered that a white choker +tarnishes the silver. Something in the starch, you know--arsenic, they +say." + +"No! You don't say so now?" returned the other, open-mouthed, and not +detecting the fine irony of his banterer's tone. + +"Yes, of course. And now excuse me. I must go and find my partner." + +"Certainly--certainly. You young fellers! I was a young feller once, +ha, ha, ha!" And old Garrett winked, and contorted his visage in the +direction of his recent interlocutor in such wise as should mean +volumes. + +"This is ours, Miss Strange." + +Lilian had just come in. She had passed close behind the speaker while +he was talking to old Garrett, and her entrance did not remain long +undiscovered. + +"Do you know, I had quite begun to fear you were not going to appear +to-night--that you were tired or unwell," he said, as they made their +way to the dancing-room. + +"Bight and wrong. I was tired, and so rested instead of dressing +earlier. Now I am all right again, and never felt so well in my life." + +"Nor looked it." + +It slipped out. The slightest possible flush came into Lilian's face. + +"You must not pay me compliments, Mr Claverton," she said, gravely, but +with a smile lurking in her eyes. "They are what you men call `bad +form.'" + +"But consider the provocation." + +"Again? What am I to do to you? I know. I shall scold you. This is +the second time to-day that you have reproached me for being late. This +morning and now." + +_Certes_ the provocation was excessive. She was looking surpassingly +beautiful this evening, in creamy white, with a velvety rose of deepest +crimson on her breast; another bud, a white one, nestling among the +thick coils of her bronze-tinted dark hair. Many a glance of astonished +admiration greeted her entrance, and followed her about the room; but +the quiet repose of the lovely face was devoid of the least sign of +self-consciousness. + +"By Jove!" remarked Armitage to his partner, a chubby little "bunch" +with big blue eyes and a button mouth. "Claverton's a sly dog. +_That's_ why he was in no hurry to begin. Oho, I see now." + +"She _is_ pretty. How well they look together!" was the reply, as the +two stood against the wall to watch them. + +Ethel, whirling by with the Civil Commissioner's clerk, caught the last +remark. She would have given much to have been able to box poor little +Gertie Wray's ears severely, then and there. That young lady babbled +on, utterly void of offence. + +"I say, though," said her partner. "She cut you out. Claverton was +just on his way to ask you when she came in. He was, really." + +"Was he? Then he should have asked me before. My programme's full +now." + +Meanwhile let us follow the pair under discussion. + +"Who was that poor old man you were chaffing so, just now?" Lilian was +saying. + +"Only a curious specimen of natural history. But how do you know I was +chaffing anybody?" + +"Because I heard you. Who is he?" + +"What perception you have got! `He' is old Garrett, hight Joe, who +migrated hither in the year one, to escape the terrible evil of having +to dress for dinner." + +Lilian could not speak for laughing. + +"Fact, really; he's just been telling me all about it. Bother! This +dance is at an end. We are down for some more together, though." + +"Too many." + +"I claim priority of right. I claim your sympathy as a fellow sojourner +in a far country. I appeal to your compassion to rescue me from +standing out in the cold, in that you are the only one with whom I can +gravitate round this festal room without peril to my neighbours' elbows +and shins, and they know it, and shunt me accordingly." + +"I don't believe a word of it," laughed Lilian. "It is you who shunt +them." + +"No, I am telling you solemn truth. And now have I not made it clear to +you that it is your bounden duty to take pity on me and help the +proverbial lame dog over the ditto stile?" + +"Well then, I'll see what I can do for you. Now find me a seat--there, +thank you--and go and `victimise' some one else," she added, flashing up +at him a bright, mischievous glance. + +"Not yet. Have pity on--the public elbow and shin. I want to rest, +too, after discharging my recent heavy responsibility without disaster;" +and he made a move towards the seat beside her. + +"No. You are not to shirk your duty. Go and do as I wish, or I shall +consider it my duty to lose my programme. That means a new one, blank, +and then memory is not a trustworthy guide." And as at that moment some +one came up to ask her for a dance, Claverton was constrained +unwillingly to obey, or rather, partially to obey, for he fell back on +his old position in the convenient doorway, whence his eyes followed her +round and round the room, to the complete exclusion of the other score +of revolving couples. + +"Mr Claverton, do prove a friend in need, and save me from the clutches +of that awful Dutchman bearing down upon me from over there," said a +flurried, but familiar voice at his elbow. "I promised him in a weak +moment, and now he's coming. Say you've got me down for this, and +persuade him it's his mistake. Quick! here he comes." + +"All right. But you told me once you'd rather go round with a chair, +you know, than with me." + +"Did I? Never mind; don't be mean and rake up things," replied Ethel, +and away they went, while the defrauded Boer, thinking his own sluggish +brain was at fault in the reckoning, adjourned to a certain corner of +the other room in order to solace his wounded feelings with a _sopje_ +(dram). + +"How about England's disappointment?" said Ethel, maliciously, during a +pause. + +"That affliction has been indefinitely averted. By the way, I never +thought to see Allen so screwed." + +"Er--I'm not screwed," mildly objected that long-suffering youth, who +had pulled up with a swaying jerk alongside of them. + +"Aren't you? My good fellow, a man who is capable of mistaking my +substantial and visible means of support for this exceedingly +well-polished floor, must be in a critical condition." + +"Oh--ah--er--was that you I trod upon? I didn't know--I'm awfully +sorry." + +Half-a-dozen bystanders exploded at this, and the dance over, Claverton +began to think he had done a considerable share of duty, and sought an +opportunity of claiming an instalment of the promised reward; but his +turn had not yet come. Presently he overheard a girl near him say: + +"What do you think of that Miss Strange?" + +He recognised in the speaker one Jessie Garrett, a daughter of Joe of +that ilk. + +"Well, she's very pretty, there's no doubt about that," answered her +partner, a stalwart young ostrich-farmer from the Graaff Reinet +district. + +"Should you admire her as much as Ethel Brathwaite?" + +"No; I don't think she's a patch on Miss Brathwaite; but there's +something awfully fetching about her, for all that." + +"Well, there's no accounting for tastes. I think she's too colourless-- +washed-out looking,"--a fault the speaker herself could in no wise plead +guilty to. She was a pretty girl herself, in the florid, barmaid style, +but as different a creature to Lilian Strange as a plump dabchick to an +Arctic tern. + +Claverton's lips curled as he looked from the offending couple to the +object of their remarks. + +_She_ to be discussed according to the clod-hopping ideas of louts and +scullery-maids. He turned away disgusted. Suddenly he heard himself +hailed in loud and jovial tones, and, looking up, found himself in the +vicinity of the refreshment table, where three or four ancient settlers +were exchanging reminiscences, and occasionally clinking glasses. +Prominent among them was old Garrett, his rubicund visage now nearly +purple. + +"I sh-shay, C-Claveringsh!" called out this worthy. "C-come and have a +what-sh-may call a eye-opener--hic!" + +"All right." + +"Thas righ'sh. Told yer 'ee ain't proud," cried the old fellow, beaming +triumphantly on the rest, and attempting to bestow upon Claverton a +friendly slap on the back, which the latter quietly evaded. He +contemplated the individual before him with vast amusement, and +speculated as to how soon this worthy's early retirement would become +imperative. + +The rout went on, and presently Naylor and his violin were pressed into +the service to second the piano. In the passage outside a number of the +Hottentot servants, emulative of their betters, had got up a dance of +their own and waxed merry, and laughed and chattered exceedingly, till +at last Jim Brathwaite, hearing the row, sallied forth and cleared them +all out summarily. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The hours wear on apace. In the silence of the garden the air is +fragrant with the cool breaths of night distilling from the myrtle and +the flowering pomegranate. High in the heavens hangs a gold half-moon +whose lustre pierces a leafy canopy, scattering a network of filmy light +upon the shaded earth. In and out of the gloomy shadows of the orange +trees a firefly or two trails in mid air a floating spark. All is rest. +Now and again a burst of voices and music is borne from the house, yet +here it penetrates but feebly, and Night--silver, moon-pierced, +star-studded Night--is queen amid the mysterious silence of her witching +court. + +Two figures wandering down the orange walk in the alternate light, and +gloom, and dimness. Listen! That low, melodious voice can belong to no +other than Lilian Strange. + +"I am so glad we came out here for a little. I had no idea there could +be such a night as this except in books." + +"Perhaps it strikes you the more, contrasted with the row and junketing +indoors," said her companion. + +"No. In any case it would be delicious. And yet there is something of +awe about a night like this--don't laugh at me--it always seems a +mysterious shadow-land connecting us with another world." + +"Laugh at you! Why won't you give me credit for a capability of +entering into any of your ideas?" + +"But I do. You are more capable of it than any one I know. There." + +"Thanks for that, anyway." + +"Don't stop my rhapsodies, but listen. Doesn't it seem--standing here +in this stillness--as if the world lay far beneath one's feet; that all +the littlenesses and prosaic worries of every-day life could not enter +such an enchanted realm? Ah-h!" + +She uttered a little cry and instinctively drew closer to him as the +sudden, yelping bark of a jackal sounded from the bush apparently within +fifty yards of them, but really much further off, the stillness and a +slight echo adding loudness to the unlooked-for and ill-sounding "bay." + +"Don't be afraid," he said, reassuringly. "It's only a jackal. What +would you have done if it had been a wolf?" + +"I should have been dreadfully frightened. What a coward I am!" + +"At any rate, this time I am not the author of the scare, which is +subject-matter for gratulation," he said. + +She laughed. "No; but the interruption came in most opportunely, in +time to stay my flights. Here am I, inveighing against, and thinking to +rise superior to the prosaic commonplaces of life, when a sound, a mere +sound, fills me with an overwhelming impulse to rush headlong back into +the despised prose. What a step from the sublime to the ridiculous!" + +"I was thinking something of the kind," replied Claverton, with a half +smile; and his voice grew very soft as he looked at her sweet, serious +face. "But don't be in the least afraid. A jackal is about as +formidable or aggressive as a tabby cat, though he does make a +diabolical row; and as for wolves, they are very scarce, and even more +cowardly; and a yet bolder animal would flee from two such unwonted +apparitions in the South African bush," he added, with a laugh, as he +glanced at the regulation "evening-dress" of his companion and himself. +"Come this way." + +He opened a small gate in the high quince hedge, and they passed out +into a narrow bush path which, wound along through the _spekboem_ and +feathery mimosa. + +"Don't be in the very least afraid," he repeated, as they wandered on. +"I want you thoroughly to appreciate and enjoy about the most perfect +night I ever knew--and I've seen a good many--and you can't do so if +you're expecting a wolf or a tiger to spring out of every bush." + +She laughed. "I'll try and be less of a coward, and keep my too-vivid +imagination under control." Yet the light hand which rested on his arm +seemed to lean there with ever so increased a pressure of trust or +dependence, or both. + +Is it the movement of bird or beast in the adjoining brake, or is it the +tread of a stealthy foot, that makes Claverton suddenly turn and gaze +behind him? "I could swear I heard some one," he thinks to himself; but +not a word of this does he say to his companion. Then he laughs at +himself for a fool. But he sees not a tall, shadowy figure standing +back beneath the shelter of a mimosa tree, watching them over the sprays +of the lower scrub. He hears not again that cautious footfall +following--following silently as they wend their way along the moonlit +path. And what should be farther from his thoughts than danger, real or +imaginary? + +Presently the plash of falling water is heard, and they emerge from the +path on to a high, open bank. Beneath, the moon is reflected in the +depths of the still, round pool, whose rocky sides throw a black shadow +on the surface, while a small cascade slides from a height of ten or +twelve feet, and, glancing like a silver thread through festoons of +delicate maidenhair fern fringing the polished face of the rock, +plunges, with a bell-like plash, into the glassy depths. + +"That's pretty, isn't it?" said Claverton. "In the daytime it isn't +much to look at, but by moonlight it shows up rather well." + +"It's lovely! A perfect picture!" + +"I thought you'd like it. Sit down there," he continued, pointing to +the smooth, sloping sward, which he has narrowly scrutinised to make +sure that no noxious reptile, whether serpent or centipede, is at hand. +Yet may he have overlooked the presence of deadlier foe than serpent or +centipede, ay, and wolf or leopard, in that peaceful retreat. "How do +you think you'll like being here?" + +"Very much. I like it already. It is so different to any kind of life +I have ever known before--so strange, and wild, and interesting. And +then every one here is so kind. Why, I might be a very near relative +instead of only a recent acquaintance! The worst of it is, I fear it +will spoil me by the time I have to go back to my work." + +Her listener bit his lip until the blood flowed. His quick perception +had detected the faintest possible sigh of wearyful import which escaped +her. + +"It shall be no fault of mine if you do go back to that same miserable +drudgery," he thought. But it was too early yet to utter the thought +aloud, even he felt that. So he only said--and there was a world of +tender sympathy in his tone: + +"I'm afraid you have been working much too hard, and I don't believe you +are in the least fitted for it." + +"You must not try and make me discontented, Mr Claverton," was the +answer, with a sad little smile. "The fact is, I do feel the change a +great deal more than I ought. Only lately I had a very dear and happy +home, now I am entirely alone in the world." + +Again that irresistible impulse came over her auditor. Was it really +too soon? Why, it seemed as though he had known her for ages. Yet +forty-eight hours ago he had not set eyes upon her. For a few moments +he could hardly trust himself to speak. Then he said, gently: + +"Tell me about your old home." The bush behind them parts, suddenly, +noiselessly. A head rises; a great grim black head, with distended +eyeballs rolling in the moonlight. Then it sinks again and disappears, +but they have not seen it. + +"I suppose I have no right to feel leaving the old place as I did," went +on Lilian. "We were in a way interlopers, for it belonged to my +stepfather, not to our family. I lived there, though, ever since I can +remember, and my mother died there. We were very happy but for one +thing: I had a stepsister about my own age who detested me. In short, +we couldn't get on together, hard though I tried to like her. So when +Mr Dynevard died--" + +"Who?" + +"Mr Dynevard. My stepfather," repeated Lilian. + +"Of Dynevard Chase, near Sandcombe?" + +"Yes. Why, you don't mean to say you know it?" cried Lilian, lost in +wonder. + +"I wish I did. I'm afraid my utmost acquaintance with it lies in having +driven past the place once or twice. Some distant relatives of mine +lived not far from Sandcombe years ago. So that's where you used to +live?" + +"Yes. This is a surprise. I shall make you talk to me such a lot about +it," she cried, gleefully. "You will soon be heartily tired of the +subject, and will wish you had preserved a discreet silence." + +Claverton remembered the reluctance to dwell upon home topics which she +had expressed when the two of them were driving up from the town, and it +was with an extraordinary sense of relief that he did so. There was +nothing more behind it than the painfulness of her change of +circumstances to a proud and sensitive nature. + +"After my stepfather's death," went on Lilian, "I thought it best to +relieve Eveline Dynevard of my presence, and did so. There you have the +whole of my history." + +"And then you struck out a line for yourself, and thought to open that +miserably hard old oyster, the world, with the blade of a miniature +penknife. How enterprising of you!" + +"No, not at once--at least--at the first, that is--" and she hesitated +slightly and the colour rose to her face, as at some painful +recollection. Her trepidation was not lost upon her listener, on whom +it threw a momentary chill. + +Again that grim head rises from the bushes, ten yards behind the +unsuspecting couple, followed this time by a pair of brawny dark +shoulders bent forward in an attitude of intense watchfulness--the +attitude of a crouching tiger. Again the moonbeams fall upon a fierce +visage and eyes glaring with vengeful hate. They fall on something +more--on the gleaming blade of a great assegai, and then the mighty +frame of a gigantic savage slowly begins to emerge from the covert. + +Claverton sees not the baleful stare of his deadly foe, for he is too +intent upon gazing at the lovely preoccupied eyes before him, and +wondering what is their exact colour, changing as it ever does in the +varying light. His companion sees it not, for she is living again in +the past. And no zephyr quivers through the silvered leaves or ruffles +the pool at their feet, no cloud comes over the calm, fair beauty of the +night, no shadow warns of a secret and terrible death hovering over +those two, who sit there beneath the witching influences of restful +calm, of moonlight, and to one of them--of love. + +"Confound it!" angrily exclaims Claverton, half rising as the sound of +approaching voices and laughter is borne upon the stillness. The +threatening form of the watcher disappears--but they have not seen it-- +and the voices draw nearer. "Our retreat is a retreat no longer. The +whole lot of them are bearing down upon us. Always the way." + +"Always the way." So it is. As in small things so in great; we see not +the finger of Providence in fortune's hardest knocks. Yet it must be +admitted that these seldom wear the guise of blessings, and we mortals +are weak--lamentably weak--and our foresight is simply nil. You two, +who resent the intrusion of your fellows into this slumbrous retreat, +you little reck that that intrusion is the saving of the life of at +least one of you. + +"But anyhow we must be going back now. As it is they will be wondering +what has become of as," said Lilian, rising. + +"I suppose we must," assented her companion, ruefully. He thought he +could have sat for ever in that enchanted glade, gazing into the +beautiful face and listening to the modulation of that low, tuneful +voice. "Ah, well. Now for the madding crowd again." + +He wrapped her shawl around her, and they wandered back along the narrow +path and beneath the orange trees again. Then as they gained the last +gate and the sound of music and laughter betokened that they were close +to the house, Lilian lingered a moment to look back towards the moonlit +pool. + +"It is a sweet place, and we have had a lovely walk," she said. "I did +enjoy it so. Thanks so much for bringing me." + +What did she mean? Was she blind? He paused with his hand on the +half-open gate, and glanced at her with a curious expression. + +A small runnel of water coursed along at their feet, shining and glowing +in the moonlight, and she was standing on the single plank that spanned +it. Was she blind, that she failed to read even one-tenth of what that +look expressed? But he made some ordinary remark, and they passed on. + +"Why, where in the world have you two been?" said Mrs Brathwaite as +they entered. + +"Playing truant. Miss Strange had a slight headache, and I recommended +fresh air as a counteracting influence. Then we discovered that we had +been near neighbours for some years without knowing it, and got talking +English `shop'," answered Claverton. The latter half of his statement +was not strictly historical, but the speaker salved his conscience with +the trite reflection that "all's fair in love and war." + +"How curious!" said the old lady, in her interest in the coincidence +losing sight of the delinquency and forgetting mildly to scold him +therefor. "But it's astonishing how small the world is, when one comes +to think of it." + +"Mr Claverton," said Lilian, reproachfully, an hour later. "I'm +surprised at you. How could you say we were neighbours for `some years' +when you knew we were not?" + +He laughed. "Were we not? Then we ought to have been. It was the +merest accident of time and place that precluded it." He could not make +to her the excuse he had made to his own conscience--at least--not yet. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Pass we again to the silence of the garden. Who is this leaning against +yonder fence alone and gazing with stony, set face straight in front of +her? Can it be Ethel? Yes, it is. The laughing, saucy lips, so ready +with badinage and repartee, are closed tightly together, and the blue +eyes, erewhile flashing and sparkling with light-hearted mirth, now +start forth with a hard stare. Must we, in the interests of our story, +partially withdraw the curtain from her reflections? Even so, let us do +it as gently as possible. + +"He never looked at _me_ like that," she murmured, referring to the two +on the little plank bridge. "Ought I to have betrayed my presence? I +don't know. I couldn't, somehow; and they weren't saying anything. But +that look--how plainly I saw it! O, God! if only it had been given to +me--to _me_," she went on, passionately, "I would cheerfully have died +at this moment." + +She paused, and slowly the tears welled to the swimming eyes, and +glistened in the moonlight. "All the walks and rides we've had +together; all the time we have been thrown together! Good God! if I +could but live it over again! Since the very moment I saw him come in, +and he looked me up and down in that calm, searching way of his--it +seems only like yesterday. He never thought of me but as something to +amuse him--a pretty plaything--to be thrown aside for a better. No, I +am wronging him; never by word or look did he deceive me. It is I who +am a fool--an idiot--and must pay the penalty of my folly; but--how +could I help it?" + +And the sounds of revelry came ever and anon from the lighted windows; +and, without, all nature slept in a tranquil hush, and the pale stars +gleamed in the sky--gleamed coldly down upon the lonely watcher. + +"How I flouted you, and said hard, sharp things to you, darling; every +one of them goes through me like a knife as I remember it. Yet that was +at first, and--how could I tell?" and a great sob shook the delicate +frame. "But help me, my pride! Oh, love, you will never know. The +same roof will cover us, and I must talk and even laugh with you as +before--and see you and her together; but--you will never know. Ah! +what a deal it takes to break one poor little heart! And--how I hate +_her_!" + +A voice intrudes upon her reflections, quick, gruff, and horribly +familiar. "Oh, there you are, Miss Brathwaite," it says, "I've been +looking for you everywhere." + +The voice acts upon her even as the trumpet blast upon the proverbial +charger. Not a trace of any recent emotion is visible as she turns and +faces her persistent but unwelcome admirer, Will Jeffreys. + +"And you've found me. What can I do for you?" + +The young fellow is staggered. The fact is that, warmed by the +exhilarating exercise and the yet more exhilarating stimulant which he +has imbibed pretty freely in the course of the evening, he has screwed +up his courage to the sticking point, and intends to throw the dice of +his fate with Ethel before the said exalted quality has time to cool, +which process of refrigeration, it may be remarked, has already begun. + +"Well, there _is_ something you can do for me," he says. + +"What is it? Do you want a partner for the next dance?--because, I'll +be in directly," she asks, quickly. + +The very tones of her voice ought to have brought home to Jeffreys the +inexpediency of pursuing his subject for the present; but some persons +are singularly deficient in a sense of the fitness of things or of +times, and he was one. + +"No; it isn't that. I want to say something--something about me--and +about you," he blunders, lamely; but she will give him no help, "and--I +must--say it--to-night--Ethel!" he jerks out. + +"For goodness' sake don't say it to-night, or at any other time," +replies she, decisively, putting out her hand, with a gesture as if to +stop him. It has the desired effect. Even Jeffreys' dull wits are +alive to the conviction that his is not merely a losing game, but a lost +one; and the reflection exasperates him. + +"Oh, I might have known," was the sneering reply. "Of course--no one +has been fit to speak to since that fellow Claverton came." + +She turned upon him, her face white with wrath in the moonlight. +"Wilfred Jeffreys, you are a brave fellow. You have found me here +alone, and have taken the opportunity of insulting me. Now what do you +think I am going to do?" + +"What?" + +"I am going in to ask uncle to put away the brandy decanter," said she, +in tones of bitter scorn; and without another word she walked away, +leaving him standing there looking and feeling, from the crown of his +head to the soles of his feet, a thorough fool. + +Within doors the fun is kept up with a zest characteristic of such +entertainments. There are no shy ones left now, all are merged in the +ranks of the confident. + +Crash! + +Down comes Hicks like a felled tree, right in the middle of the room. +Matters are at a momentary standstill, and the unlucky one slowly and +shamefacedly picks himself up, red and wrathful and covered with +confusion. He is muttering maledictions on the head of the guileless +Allen, which ass, he declares, not content with cannoning against him, +tripped him up. + +"Never mind, jump up. Lucky it's _before_ supper," laughs jovial Jim +Brathwaite. + +"Hicks, old man, I _told_ you to draw the line at that fourth glass," +says the irrepressible Armitage in a mighty stage whisper as he whirls +by, grinning with malicious delight. The truth being that Hicks is the +most abstemious wight in the world. But the remark does not pass +unheeded, and a laugh, varying in tone from open guffaw to suppressed +titter, further exasperates and discomfits the luckless stumbler, who +vows vengeance on his tormentor. + +Then comes supper, which must be attended to in relays, space being +limited. A Dutchman is desperately anxious to make a speech, and is +with difficulty quelled; while Jack Armitage, who has a bet on with some +one that old Garrett being too far gone to detect the fraud, he will +make him drink three tumblers of water under the impression that it is +grog, is using the noble spur, emulation, to induce that worthy to +swallow the third, and winks and grins triumphantly at the loser as he +succeeds. Meanwhile piano and violin never flag, till at length the +waning summer night begins to hint pretty broadly that it is time to +knock off. + +Then a great deal of inspanning and saddling up; of hunting for stray +saddle-cloths and bridles which have gone adrift; not a little wrangling +among the coloured stable hands belonging to the place or to the guests, +and finally most of the latter are gone. The residue will tarry for a +shakedown and a rest. + +"Good-night--at sunrise!" + +A pressure from a soft, taper hand; a sweet glance from a pair of rather +tired eyes, and the door closes on a tall vision in soft creamy +draperies. + +The recipient of that pressure of the hand, that playful glance, turns +away like a man in a dream. Half instinctively he makes his way to +Hicks' quarters. Here he is enthusiastically hailed. + +"Hallo, Arthur. Come and blow a cloud before you turn in. All these +chaps are asleep already." + +"All right," was the reply, and the speaker, picking his way among +several slumbering wights who rolled in blankets had compassed impromptu +shakedowns on the floor of Hicks' room, seated himself at the foot of +the latter's stretcher. "Give us a fill." + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +BAULKED. + +"Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall," is a good +and safe maxim in other senses than the theological, for it goes to the +very root of human nature. + +Here was a man in the zenith of his strength, at an age when the fire of +youth would be tempered and steeled by rare physical powers of +endurance; a man to whose lot had befallen stirring and eventful +experiences beyond the lot of most men, and in befalling had hardened; a +man of cool judgment and keen, clear, reasoning powers far beyond his +years; a man to whom the other sex would accord a full share of +attention, and who hitherto has been utterly unsusceptible to any such +excusable weakness, has hitherto never known a quickened pulse in +response to soft glance or welcoming smile. And this man has now +surrendered at sight--absolutely, and without the smallest reservation. + +And it had all come about in a single day. + +Just so. It is your apparent icicle that annihilates itself with the +most startling rapidity when suddenly touched by the scorching beam of +the unlooked-for sun. It is the unsusceptible one who goes down +forehead to the earth, not pausing to spread rug or carpet in the way, +when the self-constituted idol appears. And oh, how frequently too, not +the feet only, but the head, the hands, and the heart of the image prove +to be of the veriest clay! + +To-morrow! + +Who among us ever gives a thought to this commonplace word? Not, I +mean, when we are passing through some momentous crisis of our lives, +some care, some expectation for good or for ill, which may either make +us, or crush us well-nigh out of existence. Not then, but when our +lives are flowing on, smooth and undisturbed, then it is that we +practically ignore the possibility of to-morrow bringing with it +anything eventful, or being, in short, other than a mere twenty-four +hours' repetition of to-day. + +To-morrow! + +We go to bed lightly with the word on our lips, our arrangements for it +are all mapped out, all ordered for the next twenty-four hours, ay, and +beyond them, as though there existed not in the sublime philosophy of +the Wise King that most portentous of all warnings: "Boast not thyself +of the morrow, for thou canst not tell what a day may bring forth." + +For an exemplification of both warnings behold it perfected in him who +rides abroad this morning. A single day, and his life has been cut into +two halves. Nor is it even a day that has wrought this change, nor yet +an hour, nor a minute. A moment, a brief flash of time, just so long as +that presence took to appear before him, and he was conquered. One +look, and he fell prostrate, to rise again a slave. And this man, till +the day before yesterday, had not a care in the world. + +He rides slowly on. On the high ground which will directly shut the +homestead out of sight, he turns for a moment to gaze upon the quiet old +place sleeping embowered in trees; to gaze upon it with a lingering and +reverential gaze, as pilgrim taking a last look at some deeply venerated +shrine. Then he urges his horse along a narrow track which leads down +into the wildest part of the farm. Dark bush covers the valley on +either hand, broken only by a beetling _krantz_, frowning down as it +were upon great jagged rocks which, hurled at some remote period from +its face, lie embedded beneath. Yonder, in a sequestered glade, a +couple of spans of fine trek-oxen are grazing, the sun glistening on +their sleek hides; a bushbuck ewe stalks timidly across an open +clearing, and the alarmed note of a pheasant sounds close to the +horseman; but he who rides abroad thus early is neither on business bent +nor on the pleasures of the chase. He is only thinking--ruminating. + +Mechanically his hand grasps the reins, as his steed, which he makes no +attempt to guide, steps briskly out, skilfully avoiding the sweeping +boughs which here and there overhang the path. Monkeys grin and gibber +at him among the branches, and a large secretary bird floats away from +its nest of sticks hard by. In the dewy webs which quiver from the +sprays of the bushes, and sparkle in the sun like strings of gems, he +reads but one name, one name written as it were, in delicate gossamer +characters, and the breaths of morning in this fresh cool retreat are +fraught with a faint but thrilling harmony--the music of low, tuneful +notes which are something more than a recollection, so clearly present +are they in the fancy of the thinker. + +Then he ponders over the three months which have slipped by in such +calm, easy fashion since he cast in his lot here, and found among these +kindly and genial friends a home in its best and truest sense. It seems +to him a marvellous thing that he could have enjoyed, so much +contentment until this new star suddenly blazed forth in the firmament +of his life. He was not susceptible, never had been. How much had not +he and Ethel Brathwaite been thrown together, for instance! Ethel with +her sunny spirits and laughing, wayward moods, and her capacity for +working havoc among his own sex. They had been thrown daily, hourly, +together, from sheer force of circumstances, yet never a pulse of his +had been stirred in the faintest degree by any spell of hers. + +"Too soon." + +He is again seated in imagination by the moonlit pool while that shade +of unhappy recollection steals across his companion's beautiful face. +Again the longing is upon him to clear up the mystery and learn his own +fate. In but a couple of days! Ridiculous! And half aloud he utters +his thoughts: + +"Too soon!" + +Zip!-- + +A metallic ring on the stones behind him. Something lies gleaming on +the sun-baked slope of the hill. It is an assegai. + +From the weapon, which has missed his body by about six inches, his +glance darts searchingly in the direction whence it came. All his +coolness has returned, and now his sole idea in life is the discovery of +his hidden assailant. Yet he is unarmed; it is highly probable that +there are more spears where the first came from; the spot is a lonely +one, and for all present purposes as far removed from human aid as the +centre of the Great Sahara. + +"Ah, I thought as much. I see you, Mopela, you skulking vagabond. Come +down here, you dog, and I'll brain you." + +For a head had appeared from behind a low rock some eighteen or twenty +yards from the speaker, and after watching him for a moment, half the +body of its owner followed. A strip of thick bush lay between him and +Claverton, who he guessed was unarmed, as no weapon was levelled at him. + +"Whaow!" mocked the savage, as he poised another assegai. "Whaow! +Lenzimbi [Note 1]. Yesterday I; to-day, you. What do you say? Can +your fists reach me here? You are as good as dead, and then Mopela will +hang you to a tree by the hind leg, and in an hour the aasvogels will be +tearing away at your carcase;" and springing upon the rock he again +levelled his formidable spear. + +Claverton never moved in his saddle, but sat confronting his deadly foe +as calmly as though he were asking the road; and there, above, stood the +athletic form of the huge barbarian, who, entirely naked, and smeared +from head to foot with red ochre, which glistened in the sun, looked a +very demon of the forest. He knew that the other's words were true, and +that the chances were a hundred to one that in five minutes he would be +a dead man. He was quite unarmed, and his adversary still had two +assegais. Yet he replied quite unconcernedly: + +"You're a fool, Mopela. You can't hurt _me_, and, moreover, let me tell +you this--you're a damned bad shot." + +His coolness rather disconcerted the other, who laughed mockingly. +"Can't I? Mopela's assegais are too sharp for Lenzimbi's `charm,' and +his God is asleep; _He_ can't help him. Look, I have two more assegais, +one for Lenzimbi, and one for his God. His God is asleep, I say." + +"Is he? Look there!" exclaimed Claverton in a sharp, warning tone, +pointing behind the other. The superstitious Kafir turned his head, for +the moment completely thrown off his guard; quick as thought Claverton +slipped from the saddle, and, wrenching off one of the stirrups, dashed +into the bush and made straight for his enemy. He was just in time, for +the other, having recovered himself, launched an assegai with such +unerring effect as to graze the seat of the saddle; the horse, startled +by the unwonted proceedings, threw up his head, snorted and backed, and +finally trotted off by the way he had come. The Kafir, secure in his +point of vantage, awaited the onset, grasping his remaining assegai. +Claverton knew better than to hesitate, and, rushing at his adversary, +dealt him a violent blow on the leg with the stirrup-iron. Maddened by +the pain, Mopela sprang upon him with a wild beast's roar, but Claverton +was ready. Dropping the stirrup he clutched the other's wrists, and +they struggled like fiends. The athletic savage, twice the Englishman's +match for sheer muscular strength, strove with might and main to free +the hand which held his assegai; but the other, knowing full well that +his very life depended on his not doing so, held firm--firm as iron. +Their breath came in quick, short gasps, and every muscle was distended +and rigid. Then the savage, with a hyaena-like howl, opened his great +teeth and made a mighty snap at his antagonist's face, but Claverton +lowered his head and the other's teeth met in his slouch hat; then, +taking advantage of Mopela being off his guard, he drove his right knee +with all the force he could muster into the Kafir's stomach. The game +was now his own. His gigantic foe staggered back ten or a dozen yards, +then fell gasping for breath, and dropping his weapon as he rolled and +writhed among the bush below. With a fierce shout, Claverton seized the +spear and rushed upon his enemy, but it was too late. Mopela had had as +much as he could stomach in more ways than one, and hastened to make +himself scarce; moreover, the trampling of approaching hoofs was heard +and a horseman appeared, leading Claverton's defaulting steed. + +"Hullo! What the very deuce is the row? Is that you, Claverton?" + +"It is. Five minutes ago the chances in favour of the same being fact +were infinitesimal." + +"Well, you _are_ a cool hand," began the new arrival, when a shout far +above them in the bush interrupted him and drew both their attention. +They looked up and beheld Mopela. + +"Gough, have you got a revolver?" asked Claverton in quick, eager tones. +"He's a long way off, but I think I can pink him. No? Haven't you? +I'd give 50 pounds for a single shot at the beast." Then, raising his +voice: "Aha, Mopela, you dog; whose god is asleep now, eh? Come down +here again," he went on, jeeringly; "come down and have another +thrashing; I'll give you one--I alone. The other _Baas_ will see fair +play. You won't? You're not such a fool as I thought, then. Only, +look here, the next time I come across you, wherever it may be, I'll +kill you--kill you, by God. So keep out of my way." + +The savage shook his hand towards the speaker with a menacing gesture. +"Whaow!" he called out. "The next time we meet Lenzimbi will sing to a +different tune. When the land is red with the blood of the _abelungu_ +[whites], and their sheep and cattle are in our kraals, Lenzimbi shall +yet hang by the heels, and Mopela will, with his own hand, put out his +eyes with a red-hot firestick before he is roasted--Haow! Then the +warriors of the Amaxosa will have great sport in hunting out the last of +the whites from their hiding-places, and all the white men will be dead; +but there will be plenty of white women--ha! ha! ha!--plenty of white +women," went on the savage, in his great mocking tones. "And the dark +lily of Seringa Vale," (jerking his thumb in the direction of that +locality), "when Lenzimbi's body and spirit is burnt up in the slow +fire, she and Mopela will--Ha!" He disappeared suddenly, for with a +furious oath Claverton plunged into the bush in pursuit; but he might as +well have searched for the proverbial needle as for the crafty savage, +who simply dodged him in the thick covert, laughing in his sleeve the +while. In less than half an hour he returned to his wondering +companion. + +"Where are you bound for, Gough?" + +"Thorman's--I'm thinking of buying that horse of his." + +"All right. I'll go part of the way with you and get back round by the +_vij-kraal_ [Note 2]. But let's pick up these carving-knives first." +He gathered up the three assegais, all well-made weapons with keen +blades and long, tapering handles; then, as they mounted and rode off, +he told his companion what had happened. + +John Gough was a young man of about twenty-three, who had migrated to +the colony about a year before in search of employment. This he had +found in the capacity of tutor to Naylor's children--four healthy young +romps, as disinclined for their books as frontier children usually are. +He was of a quiet and retiring disposition, but a good fellow. For some +reason or another he rather disliked Claverton, but was too good-natured +to show it; and now, as they rode along in silence--for Claverton had +relapsed into a fit of taciturnity--he began to think he had done him an +injustice. + +"Well, I think I shall turn here," said that worthy, when they had gone +a little way further. "Gough, I'm going to ask you to do me a favour." + +"What is it?" inquired the other, somewhat surprised. + +"To oblige me by not mentioning this little shindy to any one--will +you?" + +"Yes, certainly, if you wish it," answered Gough, rather reluctantly. +He was disappointed as well as surprised; topics of conversation were +scarce, and such a jolly row as Claverton had just had would be nuts; +even as it was, he had been thinking how he would entertain the Thormans +with an account of it, and now it was to be kept dark. Well, Claverton +was a queer fellow, but it was his own business. So he gave the +required undertaking. + +"Thanks; I knew you would. I don't fancy that scoundrel will come near +me again. Good-bye." They shook hands, and went their respective ways. + +A few hundred yards further, and a blue smoke reek above the bush +betokened a dwelling. In an open space stood two huts, dome-shaped, and +constructed of thatch, and hard by, a thorn enclosure at that moment +full of sheep. This was one of the out-stations, where one of the +flocks was wont to be kept. A mangy and spindle-shanked cur rushed +yapping forth, roused by the tread of the horse's hoofs. A mighty crack +of the rider's whip, however, caused it to beat a precipitate retreat, +and also had the effect of bringing a head to the small, beehivelike +entrance of one of the huts. The head was promptly followed by its +owner, who stood up and saluted Claverton. + +"Well, Umgiswe, it's some time since any of us have been down here to +count, so I'll do so now. Turn them out." + +"Ewa 'nkos," (yes, chief), replied the Kafir, curiously eyeing the +assegais which the other carried; and opening the kraal he threw off his +red blanket and began driving out the sheep, while Claverton stood at +the gate and counted. + +"Eighty-one--eighty-three--eighty-seven--ninety--ninety-two-- +ninety-three--six hundred and ninety-three. Why, how's this, Umgiswe? +There are three missing?" + +The old Kafir shrugged his shoulders and muttered something to the +effect that they had died in the _veldt_. Then he fumbled about with +the fastenings of the gate. + +"Now, look here, Umgiswe! When sheep die they don't melt into air. If +these three are dead, I must see their skins. Do you hear? If they are +not dead they must be found. I shall come down to-morrow and count +again; then they must be here," said Claverton, decisively, looking the +man straight in the eyes. + +He was a quick linguist, and, during the short time he had been on the +frontier, had mastered enough of the Kafir language in its tortuous +verbosity, combined with what he had picked up during his former sojourn +in the colony, to be able to converse with tolerable ease, an +acquirement which added in no small degree to his influence with the +natives, who always hold in greater respect a European who can discourse +with them in their own tongue. + +"Ewa 'nkos," said the Kafir again. "They shall be found." Then he +asked for some tobacco. + +"You shall have some, Umgiswe, you shall have some--when the three sheep +are found." + +The man's countenance fell. Then he asked, quietly and respectfully +enough, where the assegais came from. + +"I picked them up. Good spears, are they not? Do you know the owner, +Umgiswe? If you do, tell him to come and claim them, and the sooner he +comes the better." Then nodding in response to the other's farewell +greeting, Claverton touched his horse with the spur and struck into the +bush path. The Kafir stood gazing after him. + +"He is a wizard; he knows everything," said Umgiswe to himself; and then +he turned away, intending to restore the two sheep he had hidden away so +securely till it should be safe to send them off to his kraal in the +Gaika location, there to swell the fruits of his pickings and stealings, +and planning how he could doctor up the skin of the one which he and a +boon companion had devoured two nights ago, so as to make it appear that +the animal had died a natural death. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. One with the qualities of iron. Kafirs are fond of bestowing +nicknames, though frequently of a less complimentary nature than this. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 2. An outlying fold for flocks whose range is at a distance from +the homestead. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +"AT THE FULL OF THE MOON." + +Midnight. + +The silence of desolation. The river, plashing on its sandy bars, makes +faint, tuneful murmur. At intervals the wild weird hoot of an owl, high +up on the wooded hillside, breaks startlingly upon the dead, solemn +stillness. The air hangs heavy down here in this silent hollow, and +above, the dark face of the haunted cliff rises, stern and tremendous, +in clear outline against the stars. + +What are those shadowy figures ranged in a semicircle round the hollow, +motionless as the grave? Are they of earth? Not a whisper, not a +movement in that terrible phalanx. Only two hundred pair of eyes fixed +upon vacancy, with strained and expectant stare, show that these ghostly +shapes have life, or had. But what are they? Grim phantom warriors +gathered there to re-enact the tragedy of blood which the dim legend of +savage tradition associates with the spot. + +And now a glow suffuses the sky, faint at first, then spreading nearly +to the zenith. A great golden disc peers above yonder bush-clad height, +and slowly mounting upward, soars majestically into space. Half of the +valley beneath is flooded with light, but the face of the haunted cliff +is still in gloom, casting a long black shadow upon the plashing river +whence the mist is rising in white wreathe. + +"At the full of the moon." + +A dull, moaning sound is heard in the cliff, seeming to come from the +very heart of the rocky wall, now rising, now falling, awesome and +mysterious. It is as the voices of the spirits of the dead. There is +an overpowering and mesmeric influence in the very atmosphere. Then +gleams forth a flickering green light which plays on the face of the +rock like a corpse candle. Suddenly the whole of that crouching phalanx +starts up erect. A deep-toned murmur, sounding like a muffled roar, +goes forth from the throats of two hundred dark warriors, and the +ghostly light glints on a forest of bristling assegais. + +"At the full of the moon." + +Small wonder that the orb of night, about which poets love to rave, +should be constituted the presiding goddess at the gruesome rites of +savage and superstitious races all the world over; that its changing +quarters should be endued with power to sway their weightiest +undertakings in war or in the chase. It would be strange if the great +lustrous disc stamped with a cold, impassive, remorseless-looking human +countenance, floating silently over the darkened earth, did not appeal +powerfully to the spiritual side of untaught and imaginative races. And +then, just think of the myriads upon myriads of scenes of violence and +treachery--fraud, rapine, murder, and wholesale massacre--upon which +that cold, spectral countenance has looked down, and still looks down; +ay, and will continue to do as long as this miserable world shall be +peopled with countless generations of the tailless and biped demon known +as Man. + +"At the full of the moon." + +And now the black shadow passes from the cliff, revealing a shape--a +shape which seems to have arisen from the earth itself, or peradventure +to have sprung from the smooth wall of rock behind, so sudden is its +appearance. Amid dead silence it glides into the midst of the expectant +semicircle. Truly an appalling monster. The moonlight, now well-nigh +as clear as day, plays upon a pair of glittering, wolf-like eyes and a +lean, gaunt figure, about whose long limbs are dangling ox-tails and +strings of beads. The grinning head-piece of a hyaena rests helmet-like +upon this creature's skull, and from between the open jaws of the beast +starts forth the horrible head of a live serpent, whose sinuous coils +are wound about the wearer's body. The latter, smeared from head to +foot with a glistening pigment, is hung about with birds' claws, reptile +heads and festoons of entrails. A horrible and disgusting object. The +right arm of the wizard is red to the elbow with blood, and in his hand +he carries nothing but one short, broad-headed assegai. + +"Hear the words of Sefele, the spirit of this place, speaking by the +mouth of his descendant, Nomadudwana, the son of Mtyusi." + +Silently the whole phalanx of dark warriors sank back into a crouching +attitude, gazing upon the speaker, expectant and motionless. + +"There are voices above and voices beneath. There are voices in the air +and voices in the water. Lo, I see a mighty host; an army gathered for +battle; an army which fills the earth and the air; many warriors with +their chiefs and leaders; and their right hands are even as this," +(holding up his gore-stained fingers), "and their shields are dinted and +their assegais are broken. And the warriors are angry and they are sad, +for they have fought and fought, always bravely, and now they are tired +and may not rest. And I see another army--an army not of warriors but +of women--and they, too, cannot rest; they must take weapons and go +forth to battle, for there are no men left." + +A deep murmur from the listeners, who, squatted on their haunches, with +bodies bent eagerly forward, drink in every word the wizard speaks. + +"Again, I look. This time I see another army--differing tribes, but all +one host--thousands and thousands and tens of thousands of fighting men; +the land is red with them, but they are all asleep. They have arms-- +they have the sharp weapons which their fathers had, but they have +forgotten how to use them. They have more--they have the fire-weapons +of the whites, but they know not how to use them. The white fools put +their weapons into our hands willingly, joyfully, for money, but we do +not know how to use them. We drink of the white men's poisoned strong +waters and our hearts melt away--we become children--we wallow like +swine upon the ground. The fighting men of the Amaxosa have become dogs +and slaves." + +A fierce ejaculation here went round the circle, while many a sinewy +hand grasped the tough wood of assegai hafts. The grim prophet +continued, his deep tones waxing more and more ferocious like the savage +growl of a beast: + +"We are the dogs and slaves of the white men, even as the cowardly +Amafengu were our dogs. Not to the white men only, also to their women. +Do not our warriors drop their weapons, and take service, and plough +the land, and hoe corn, and milk the cows, and drive waggons for white +women? Ha! We, a free, a brave nation, whose fathers conquered the +land ages and ages before one accursed white-foot trod these mountains +and valleys--our _men_ to be dogs to the white _women_! Ha! Ask +Ncanda, there, who, at the word of a white woman, was tied up and lashed +with whips! Ask Mopela, the brother of Nxabahlana of the house of +Sandili the Great Chief, who was beaten and kicked like a dog in the +presence of a white woman--Hah!" + +A frenzied howl burst from the audience at these words of the wily +wizard, while the two savages referred to by name, gnashed their teeth +with rage. + +"Who are these people that rule us? Who are they? As a calabash of +water is to the Nxumba River in flood, as five stones are to the pebbles +on the sea-shore, so are the whites in this land to the fighting men of +the Amaxosa, to the warriors of the Amanqgika, and of the Amagcaleka, +and even of the peace-loving Abatembu. And we call ourselves men!" + +Then, raising his voice: "Let the omens be sought." + +A stir among the throng. Two stalwart savages rose and stood before the +orator. They were magnificent specimens of their race, prior to its +deterioration in morale and physique through the destroying agencies of +ardent spirits and contagious disease. Of commanding stature and +herculean build, these men represented a type, once common enough, but +now becoming more and more rare among the border tribes. The wizard +muttered an incantation over each, and the two betook themselves to the +bush. A moment of dead silence and they reappeared, dragging with them +two goats--one spotlessly white, the other, jet black. + +The animals were thrown upon the ground in front of the wizard, and +securely tied; even their mouths being bound up, lest the sound of their +agonised bleatings upon the still night air, should reach unwelcome +ears. Then, still chanting his hellish incantation, the cruel monster +bent down, and, with his keen assegai, gashed and mutilated the wretched +creatures in a manner too shocking for detailment, beginning with the +white one. A hoarse rattle, smothered by the precautionary gag, burst +from their tortured throats, and their convulsive struggles were +frightful to behold. Yet they aroused no spark of compassion in these +merciless breasts. + +In silence the Kafirs contemplated the barbarous performance; then, +unable to contain themselves any longer, they sprang to their feet and +burst into a low war-song, rattling the shafts of their assegais as they +beat time to the savage rhythm. It was a weird and gruesome scene, such +a sight as a man might witness once and remember all his life long. +Above, the great beetling cliff looming up against the midnight sky; +around, the shadowy sleeping heights; in the midst that band of demon +warriors, the green light of the magic fire touching their grim +countenances with an unearthly hue as they circled round the hideous +wizard and the quivering bodies of his tortured victims, chanting their +terrific war-song. Every now and again a convulsive shudder would heave +through the bodies of the miserable animals, whose glazing eyes rolled +piteously as they writhed their necks and bared their jaws in their +terrible agony. + +For upwards of half an hour the dance went on, the chief men deeming it +necessary from time to time to put in a restraining word, lest the +suppressed excitement of their followers should break bounds; for sound +travels far at night, and it would never do to attract attention. +Suddenly several voices exclaimed: + +"The omen! The omen!" + +In a moment all gathered round the gory and mangled carcases. One of +the goats had ceased its struggles. The wizard pricked it with his +assegai, but without producing the smallest sign of sensibility. The +poor creature was stone dead. _It was the black one_. + +The savages stared at each other in awed silence, then their +astonishment found words. + +"Ha! The black goat dies! The black goat dies and the white goat +lives! Ha!" + +This patent fact established, they troubled themselves no more about the +other wretched victim, which showed unmistakable signs of lingering for +some time to come, but turned attentively to the wizard in subdued and +eager expectancy. Nomadudwana's tone was now no longer one of fiery +exhortation. When he spoke it was with deliberation, even solemnity. + +"The omen is sure. The black goat dies and the white goat lives. This +night I have heard a voice--the voice of Sefele whom his brethren cast +from yonder height and thought to slay. To slay! One who holds +converse with the spirits! This night I have talked with Sefele in that +cave which none can find but he who is loved by the shades of our +ancestors. These are the words of Sefele: `The fulness of time is not +yet. Though it be long in coming, let not the fighting men of the +Amaxosa fall asleep; let them watch the whites with sure and wakeful +glance; let them take of their flocks and of their herds, when they can. +Let them go and work for the whites and cast dust in their eyes--even +as we have led away on a false search the fool who lives yonder,' +(pointing to Armitage's homestead, lying silent and deserted on the +other side of the river) `and have made helpless with drink the +wallowing Hottentot, his dog. But above all, let them acquire the +fire-weapons of the whites and plenty of ammunition.' Thus speaks +Sefele. Take his words with you. The fulness of time is not yet, but +the omen is sure. Lo, the dawn is not far distant. Return as you +came." + +An awed murmur went round the band. The magic fire disappeared. They +looked wonderingly at each other. Nomadudwana had vanished. + +Breaking up into twos and threes the Kafirs rapidly dispersed, eager to +be gone from the dreaded spot when no longer under the protecting +presence of the powerful magician who communed with the spirit in the +unknown cave. They were impatient, but not disheartened. They must +continue to deceive the hated and masterful whites with soft words and +lying promises. These superstitious souls, with their faith in the +assurances of their wizards, saw their triumph ahead. What they did not +see was their broken and decimated tribes hunted and starving, driven +out of the land of their forefathers, utterly cowed and submissive. +What they did not see was the flower and pick of their manhood strewing +their native hills and kloofs with stiffened corpses in thousands, to +the advantage of the _aasvogel_ and the jackal. + +There was something else that they did not see. They did not see a +recumbent human figure which, from the very brow of the sacred cliff, +had watched the uncanny and repulsive rites from beginning to end. They +did not see this figure, snugly concealed and motionless, watch till the +last of their outlying scouts finally left his post and moved away, and +then descend from the airy vantage ground with the dry chuckle of one +who has stolen a march on an uncommonly shrewd adversary, and going to +where a horse was securely hidden, mount and ride off. Even their keen +vision failed to descry this. + +By sunrise these fierce warriors, who had borne such eager part in the +wild war-dance and the hideous and cruel rites of the night through, +would be once more so many quiet, civil herds and waggon-drivers, for, +with few exceptions, they were all in farm service in the surrounding +neighbourhood. But how came they here, how did they preserve so +inviolate the secret of the nocturnal gathering? The whole thing is +very simple. Two or three natives, inoffensive of aspect and +deferential of manner, provided moreover with unimpeachable passes, had +gone the round of the various employers of labour seeking for work here, +come to visit a relative there, anxious for a day or two's job in +another place, and so on. And wherever they had been they had delivered +their "word" among all fellow-countrymen there employed, provided these +were to be trusted, that is to say. That "word" was brief if slightly +obscure to the uninitiated. Moreover, it occurred quite incidentally in +the thick of conversation on ordinary topics. But those to whom it was +addressed understood perfectly its import. + +"At the full of the moon." + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +"WHAT HAS THE WORLD BEEN SINCE?--THEE ALONE!" + +One of the most blissful delusions, and unaccountable withal, under +which a man desperately in love invariably labours, is the profound +unconsciousness of his state wherewith he credits those among whom he +lives and moves. What renders the delusion all the more inexplicable is +the certainty that its victim himself in his unsmitten days must have +frequently spotted more than one of his friends labouring under the +ravages of the intoxicating malady, or at any rate his feminine kinsfolk +and acquaintance were not slow to make the discovery for him. Yet when +his own turn comes he may, with absolute certainty, be counted upon to +imagine that his own incoherencies of speech and action, in short, all +the symptoms of acute delirium entirely escape the multifold optics of +the Argus feminine; and that his Beeret remains all his own, so +effectually has he guarded it. Which thing, by the way, no _man_ ever +succeeded in accomplishing yet. + +Lilian was singing; a sweet pathetic ballad, rendered with infinite +feeling. The song ended; a final chord or two; and the singer threw it +aside and turned away from the piano. + +"Thanks, Lilian. Why, my child, you sing like an angel," said her +hostess, moved almost to tears by the full, rich voice which, keeping +well within its compass, fills the room just so much as it will bear and +no more, while every word is as distinctly enunciated as though the +singer were reciting it. Even Mr Brathwaite had forgotten to fall into +his post-coenal doze, and sat upright in his arm-chair, wide awake and +listening. + +The three above mentioned are alone in the room this evening--yet stay-- +there enters a fourth. He had been standing quietly in the doorway +during the song, and refrained from entering, for fear of disturbing the +singer. He had been obliged to go out after supper to give some orders +to Xuvani about the morrow, and returning, was surprised and entranced +by the sound of Lilian's voice in song. So he stood in the doorway, +drinking in every note. + +"Why, you vowed you never sang," he exclaimed, reproachfully, advancing +to the piano. "And then you wait until a fellow is out of the way, and +this is the result." + +She turned to him with the most bewitching of smiles. "Well, I don't," +she replied, in a deprecatory tone. "At least, I haven't for a long, +long time, and now I'm only trying over something I picked up the other +day. Just by ourselves, you know." + +"Having carefully waited till I was out of the room." + +"Perhaps I was just a little bit shy, from being so long out of +practice," answered she, with a glance that would have melted a stone. + +But her auditor, though stony enough in all other respects, was wax in +her hands, and her glance thrilled through him like an electric shock. +She had penetrated the one weak joint in his armour most thoroughly. +Did she know it? + +"Shyness, like all other weaknesses, should be conquered," he rejoined. +"The best way of conquering it in this instance is to sing that over +again. Just by ourselves, you know." + +"But Mrs Brathwaite won't thank me. She must have had enough of it," +objected Lilian, with a laugh. + +"Enough of it!" exclaimed the old lady. "My dear child, I would have +asked you myself but I didn't quite like to. Now do. Arthur hasn't +heard the first part." + +Thus adjured, she gave way; but this time the shyness to which she had +pleaded guilty, made itself manifest by an occasional slight tremor in +the sweet, clear voice. Which, however, rendered the pathetic ballad +all the more entrancing to her new auditor. + +There was silence for a minute when she had ended Claverton broke it. + +"That's the loveliest thing I ever heard." + +"What! Did you never hear it before?" + +"Never. But I don't care how soon I hear it again." + +"Now we must have something cheerful," said Lilian. + +"But it will counteract the other." + +She laughed. + +"Just what it should do. What, Mr Claverton? _You_ get the dismals +over a song? Won't do at all." And without giving him time to reply, +she rattled off a lively little ditty, doing full justice to the spirit +and archness of the composition. + +Ethel and Laura were away, spending two or three days with the Naylors, +and to-night Hicks had taken himself there, too; thus these two and the +old people had the house to themselves. To one of the quartett that +afternoon was to be marked with the traditional white stone. A +deliciously long walk with Lilian, unhindered and unrestrained by the +presence of any third person. She had talked freely about the old home, +and her eyes had brightened, and her cheeks had glowed with the +loveliest flush, while on that most congenial of topics. Yet a thorn +beneath every rose. Never could she revert to the favourite subject +without that indefinable moment of restraint coming in. Again this +afternoon it had gone home to her companion, strengthening the resolve +which he had already formed. + +The door stood open. Attracted by the beauty of the night, Lilian went +out on the verandah. + +"Better have a shawl, my child; you'll catch cold," said Mrs +Brathwaite. + +"A shawl!" she echoed. "Dear Mrs Brathwaite, I should be roasted. +It's as warm almost as at midday." + +"Yes, it's a regulation summer evening," said Claverton, following her +on to the _stoep_. "And a light one, too, considering that there's no +moon." + +"I do think you get such glorious starlight here," continued Lilian. +"An English starlight night is the feeblest of misty twinkles, in +comparison. What's that?" as a luminous spark floated by. "A firefly?" + +"Yes. There are lots of them about. Look! there's another." + +"What do they look like, close? Couldn't we catch one?" + +"Oh, yes; nothing easier. I'll get Hicks' butterfly net, it's only in +the passage. Now then," he went on, returning with the implement, +"which shall it be? There's a bright one. We'll go for him." So +saying he made a dexterous cast, ensnaring the shining insect. Their +quest had led them some twenty yards from the house. + +"They are not so brilliant as I thought," remarked Lilian, as they +inspected the captive. "It's rather an insignificant-looking thing," +she continued, allowing the insect to crawl over her delicate palm. +"Let's take it to the light." + +This didn't suit Claverton's purpose at all. "It won't shine there," he +said, "and you'll be disenchanted with it, and--Ah! It's gone." For +the creature, evidently thinking it had instructed them enough in a new +branch of entomology, suddenly opened its wings and soared off among the +orange trees. + +"It's a perfect shame to go indoors on such a night as this," murmured +Lilian, half to herself. + +"No earthly reason exists why we should," replied her companion. "At +least not just yet. Let's stroll round the garden." + +"Shall we? But what will Mrs Brathwaite say?" added Lilian, dubiously. + +"Say? Oh, nothing. The dear old couple generally drop off in their +arm-chairs of an evening, when Ethel isn't here to make a racket; but +to-night you have charmed them back from the land of Nod with those +delicious songs. Come along." + +She yielded, and they wandered down the garden path in the starlight. + +But Claverton was out of his reckoning, for once. The "dear old couple" +in this instance happened to be wide awake, and were discussing him in a +manner that was very much to the point. + +"Walter," began Mrs Brathwaite, when the voices outside were out of +earshot, "I'm greatly afraid Arthur has lost his heart in that quarter." + +"Bah!" replied her husband, with a good-natured laugh; "not he. +Arthur's made of tougher stuff than that. And," he added, "you women +think of nothing but match-making." + +"But I tell you he has," persisted she, ignoring the latter insinuation. +"Now look here. For the last fortnight he has been a changed man. I +can see it, if you can't. Why, he hardly speaks to any one else when +Lilian is there. Every moment that he is not at work he is in the +house, or in the garden, or wherever she is. For some days he has been +looking pale and worn, and no wonder, for he doesn't eat enough to +support life in a child of three years old. And he has become, for him, +quite captious and irritable. Now," she concluded, triumphantly, "do +you mean to tell me all this is only my imagination?" + +"Well, perhaps you are right," answered the old settler, reflectively. +"But somehow I've almost thought, of late, he was rather fond of Ethel." + +"That's because you're not a woman," rejoined his wife. "Now I never +thought so. And I've noticed what I've been telling you ever since the +night of the dance, that is, ever since the day after Lilian's arrival. +You'll see I'm right." + +"Not sure I don't hope you are. It would be a good thing for both of +them. She's one of the sweetest girls I ever saw, as well as the +prettiest. And to be thrown upon the world like that, gaining her +livelihood by hammering a lot of dirty, uproarious brats into shape-- +it's abominable; and if it is as you say I heartily congratulate +Arthur." + +Mrs Brathwaite laughed rather dubiously. "Not so fast," she said, "I'm +by no means sure that Arthur will find it all plain sailing. Mark my +words, that girl has a history, and she isn't to be won by any chance +comer. Ah, well; we shall see." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Meanwhile the objects of their discussion are wandering on beneath the +orange trees, even as they had done barely a fortnight ago for the first +time. + +"You are highly entertaining, I must say," remarked Lilian, amusedly, +when they had strolled some hundred yards further in absolute silence. +"I suppose I ought to offer you the regulation penny." + +"You must make a much higher bid, then. I was thinking of what you have +just been singing." + +"Really now? I should never have thought you were so easily impressed." + +"I don't know. There is a world of pathos in that composition. Those +few lines contain the story of two people who might have been happy. +Why weren't they? Because it pleased a beneficent Providence-- +beneficent, mark you--to decree otherwise, and so Death put in his oar. +Now if all hadn't been going well with them, it isn't likely that +Providence would have been so accommodating." + +There is a brusque harshness in his tones which causes his listener to +glance up at him in surprise and dismay, and she can see that his +features are haggard. She is even alarmed, for she remembers hearing +vaguely that her companion's life had been a stirring and chequered one. +Has she now unwittingly rasped some hidden but unforgotten chord? It +must be so, and she feels sorely troubled. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +They are standing on the brink of the little rock-bound pool where they +lingered and talked on the night of the dance. Almost mechanically they +have struck out the same path and wandered down it, but this time no +deadly foe dogs their footsteps. They are alone; alone in the dim hush +of the African night. Overhead the dark vault is bespangled with its +myriads of golden eyes, which are reflected in the still waters of the +pool, and the Southern Cross flames from a starry zone. Now and then a +large insect of the locust species sends forth a weird, twanging note +from far down the kloof, but no sign of life is there among the +_spekboem_ sprays, which sleep around them as still as if cut out of +steel. + +He picks up a pebble and jerks it into the pool. It strikes the surface +with a dull splashless thud, and sinks. A night-jar darts from beneath +one of the fern-fringed rocks and skims across the water, uttering a +whirring note of alarm. + +"Hadn't we better be going back?" hazards Lilian, at last. Anxious to +withdraw from the dangerous topic, she takes refuge in a commonplace. +"It was rather late when we came out." + +Claverton is standing half turned away from her--his face working +curiously as he looks down into the water. For a minute he makes no +answer; then he faces round upon her, and his voice, hoarse and thick, +can scarcely make its way through his labouring throat. + +"Lilian, Lilian--my darling--my sweet--my own sweetest love. For God's +sake tell me what I would die at this moment to know?" + +He has taken both her hands in his and is gazing hungrily down into the +lovely eyes. She gives a slight start of unfeigned surprise, and he can +see the sweet face pale in the starlight. Trying to speak firm she +gently repeats her former question: "Hadn't we better be going back?" + +Can he read his fate in her eyes? Do those gentle tones echo his +sentence? It seems so. + +"No," he replies, with all the vehemence of a foregone cause--the +passion of shattered hope. "No--not until you have heard everything." +His arms are around her now, and she cannot stir from the spot if she +would, but she does not try. "Listen," he goes on, speaking in a low, +quick, eager voice. "Since the very first day I saw you I have loved +you as no woman was ever yet loved. From the first minute, from the +first glance I caught of you that day you flashed upon me like an angel +of light. Stop. It is true, so help me God, every word of it,"--for +she started as if in surprise. "From the very first moment. Couldn't +you see it? Couldn't you even see it that first day?" + +"No--I could not," is her earnest answer. "I vow to you I could not. I +had no idea of--of anything of the kind. I would have gone away from +here at once--anywhere--sooner than have wrecked your peace! And now +this is what I have done. Heaven knows I never intended it!" + +The sweet eyes are brimming with tears as she stands with bent head +before him, and Claverton is convulsed with a wild, helpless yearning. +The first thought is to comfort her. + +"Don't I know that? Heavens! The intention is a mere superfluity. One +has only to see you to love you. Can the sun help shining?" + +She looks up at him. "Then you believe me? It would be dreadful to +me--the thought that you could imagine I had trifled with you." + +"I could not think so. It would be an impossibility," replies he. For +the moment he almost forgets the death blow which she has dealt to his +own hopes, in his great eagerness to set her at ease with herself, to +reassure her. Forgets? No. Rather he rises above himself. + +"Listen, darling. Every day since you came here I have only seemed to +live when with you. I have never been a fraction of a moment away from +you if I could possibly have been near you. Night after night through I +have lain awake, restlessly longing for morning that I might look upon +you again, and then when I have left you to go about the day's work, how +I have treasured up the last glance of those dear eyes, the last ring of +that sweet voice, till the very air seemed all sunshine and music. +Lilian, darling, I never can live again without you, and--by God, I +never will." + +He pauses; his voice failing him. The expression of his face as he +hangs upon her reply is terrible to behold. It might be compared to +that worn by a convicted murderer when the return of the jury to give +their verdict is announced. And this is the man who, at a comparatively +early age, has looked upon many a harrowing scene of human suffering +unmoved, who has thoroughly steeled himself against all the tenderer +feelings of nature, ever presenting a cold philosophical front to the +fortunes, good or ill, of himself or of his neighbours. Who would know +him standing there, ghastly white, the whole of his being shaken to the +very core? Yet but a few days have wrought this change. + +She makes no answer at first, for she is silently weeping. Then with an +effort she looks at him, and her face wears an expression of unutterable +sadness. + +"Hush! You don't know what you are saying. You must never talk to me +like this again. Try and forget that you have done so. Remember what a +short time you have known me. How can you know anything of me in a +fortnight?" + +His answer is a harsh, jarring laugh. "Forget what I have been saying? +Only a fortnight? Is everything to be subject to the unalterable rule +of thumb? Only a fortnight! My love--my life; do you remember the +first time we were here together? I could have told you even then, what +I am telling you now. Do you remember telling me about yourself; how +you were all alone in the world--you? Only say the word and your life +shall be without a care--all brightness and sunshine, and such love. +Listen, my own! I, too, am alone in the world. I have never found any +one to love--it has all been treasured up--kept for you. Now, take it. +Lilian, Lilian, it cannot be that--you--will not?" + +His voice sinks to a fierce, passionate whisper, and he holds her to him +as if he would never let her go. Above, in the sky, a lustrous meteor +gleams--and then fades. A flight of plover, rising from the ground, +circles in the gloom, with soft and ghostly whistle, and all is still, +save for the beating of two hearts. Around float the fragrant breaths +of the rich, balmy night. + +"I can give you--no--comfort," she replies, dropping out her words as if +with an effort. "Oh, why did you ever tell me this? Do you think it is +nothing to me to see you made wretched for my sake? I tell you it is +heart-breaking--utterly heart-breaking. Yet it cannot be. You must +never, never talk to me like that again. And you have given me all the +best of yourself," she exclaims, the very depth of sadness in her tone, +"and I--can give you--nothing!" + +"Nothing?" he echoes, mechanically, looking down into the white, sad +face, out of which every trace of its usual calm serenity has +disappeared, leaving a weary, hopeless expression that is infinitely +touching. "Ah, I can see that your life has not been without its sore +troubles. It is not for me to pry into them." + +"I can give you this amount of comfort, if it be any comfort," she says, +throwing back her head with a quick movement and fixing her eyes on his. +"I look back upon the hours which I have spent in your society as an +unmixed pleasure, and I look forward to many more, selfish as I am in +doing so. I formed my opinion of you the very first few moments we were +together--and our first meeting was a queer one, was it not?" with a sad +little smile at the recollection. "That opinion is unchanged, except, +perhaps, for the better. I cannot bring myself to forego your society, +though it is only fair to warn you that I can give you no hope; and you +must never ask me to. Are the conditions too hard?" + +"No, they are not." + +Her words had a soothing effect upon her listener, and he began to see a +gleam of light. He was not indifferent to her as it was, and, given the +opportunity, he would make himself absolutely indispensable. Moreover, +it was just possible that he had been premature in his declaration. +Yes, more time and opportunity; that was what he wanted--and he would +succeed. Determination, which had never yet failed him, should effect +that--determination, combined with patience. He would not even ask her +her reasons for refusing him now. No; he would trust her absolutely and +wholly, and take not only her but her cares, whatever they might be. +And at the prospect of a contest, a strife with circumstances, though +the odds were dead against him, his spirits revived. + +"Promise me one thing," he said. "You will not avoid me in any way?" + +She hesitated. + +"No, not in any way," she repeated at last. + +"And all shall be as it has been?" + +"Yes." Then after a pause: "We must really go in." + +He released her, and they moved away, but her steps were unsteady. The +strain had told upon her, and she felt weak and faint. Quickly he +passed his arm round her. "No, not that," she said, gently, but firmly. +"I will take your arm, if I may." And in silence they retraced the +bush path and entered the little gate, then through the orange garden +over the runnel of water where they had stood that night when +accidentally watched by Ethel. A light was burning in the room as they +entered, and in an arm-chair eat Mrs Brathwaite, fast asleep, her lord +having retired half an hour ago. + +"Why, Lilian!" she exclaimed, starting up. "You have been out a long +time! I hope you haven't caught cold, child!" + +"Oh, no; it's such a warm night. We have been astronomising," replied +she, with an attempt at a laugh which fell mournfully flat; but the old +lady was too sleepy to detect its hollowness. + +"Well, better get to bed. I suppose you'll do the same, Arthur, now you +haven't got any one to sit up and smoke all night with." For Hicks was +away, as afore stated. + +"No, I don't feel restful. Good-night. Would that to-morrow were here +now!" he added, in a low, tender voice as he held Lilian's hand in a +lingering clasp. A responsive pressure, and she was gone. + +He withdrew to his quarters--to bed, but not to sleep--and hour followed +hour as he lay with his gaze fixed upon the square patch of golden stars +bounded by the framework of his open window. Well, the die had been +thrown at last. He knew where he was now, at any rate. But it was too +soon to despair, for had he not close upon two months wherein to make +the most of his opportunities? Determination should win, as it always +had in his case. Ah, but this was outside all previous experience. +Well, they had still nearly two months together. Then he began to +wonder whether he was actually undergoing this feeling, or if it were +not a dream from which he would presently awaken. + +He started up from a fitful and disturbed doze before dawn, and resolved +to go for a ride. He would go down to the vij-kraal and count out +Umgiswe's flock. + +During the night the sky had become overcast, and now, as he rode along +in the grey dawn, dark clouds were lowering to the very earth, and the +mist swept in powdery flakes through the sprays of the bush. It was a +thoroughly depressing morning, and the horseman's reflections were +coloured thereby. And through the chill drizzle seemed to echo the +far-off tones of a sweet, low voice: "I can give you no comfort. You +have given me the best of yourself, and I can give you--nothing." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +We allow that to sheep from disappointed love is something of a +transition. Nevertheless, the incident which occurred at the shepherd's +kraal that morning must be narrated, because it is not without its +bearing on the future events of our story. + +"Now, Umgiswe, turn out, and let's count," said Claverton, making a +slash with his whip at a couple of lean, ill-looking curs, which sneaked +sniffing round his horse's heels. "Eh--what's that you've got there?" +as the Kafir, having saluted him, began fumbling about with something on +the kraal fence. + +"Two dead sheep," answered the old fellow, producing a couple of skins, +with the air of a man who has triumphantly vindicated his character +against all aspersions. + +Claverton examined the skins narrowly. Having satisfied himself that +their sometime wearers had died of disease, and had not been slain to +appease the insatiable appetites of Umgiswe and a few boon companions, +he proceeded to count out the flock. The score was correct. + +"All right, Umgiswe; here's some smoke for you," he said, throwing the +old herd a bit of tobacco. "But I say, though--whose dogs are those?" + +The Kafir glanced uneasily at the curs aforesaid. + +"A man who slept here last night left them. They are sure to go after +him. He has not been long gone." + +"No," replied Claverton, carelessly, "he has not been long gone, or +rather _they_ have not been long gone, for they are still here. Turn +them out, Umgiswe." For his ear had detected the sound of several male +voices in the hut as he passed its door. + +"Whouw!" exclaimed the old man, turning half aside to conceal an +embarrassed smile. "They are my brothers, _'Nkos_. They just came to +visit me." + +"Of course they are. If the half of Kafirland were to turn up here they +would all be your brothers, just come to visit you. It won't do. So +turn them out, you old shuffler, and let's have a look at them." + +Then the intruders, to the number of three, who had been attentive +listeners to the above confabulation, turned out and saluted Claverton. +All three were finely-made fellows, but the elder was a man of almost +herculean build. His powerful frame, which was scantily clad, was +smeared from head to foot with red ochre; above his left elbow he wore +an armlet of solid ivory, and from his appearance he was evidently a man +of rank. In his hand he held a couple of kerries made of heavy +iron-wood; one of his companions was similarly armed, while the third +carried a bundle of assegais. + +Claverton looked them up and down, noting every detail in their persons +and weapons. "Loafers all three, and up to no good," was his mental +estimation of them, "but devilish awkward customers to tackle. Never +mind. Off they must go--quietly or the reverse--but go they must." +Then he asked them the usual questions--where they came from, where they +were going, and so on--they being ready with an answer of which he knew +exactly how much to believe. + +"Came only last night, did you? That is strange, because the evening +before and all day yesterday there were three Kafirs here, and one of +them was a tall man with an armlet on, and _they_ had a couple of yellow +dogs with them. How queer that exactly the same thing, should happen +two days in succession!" he said in a quiet, bantering tone. In point +of fact he was drawing a bow at a venture, but could see by the shifty +eyes of the man to whom he was speaking that the shaft had gone home. + +This fellow grinned and shook his head with an exclamation of intense +amusement. + +"_Inkos_ must be _Umtagati_," [one who has dealings with magic or +witchcraft] he said, "to see all that went on when he was not here." + +"_Umtagati_? Well, perhaps," was the easy reply. Then, fixing his eyes +on those of the tall chief, who had been regarding him with a haughty +and indifferent stare, Claverton went on in the same easy tone. "What +do _you_ think, Nxabahlana?" He addressed, started perceptibly. How +did the white man know his name? "What do _you_ think of _Umtagati_? +But listen. No one has any right loafing here without permission from +the _Baas_ up yonder. So now, off you go, all three--now and at once, +or you'll assuredly come to grief. And, be careful, for remember: _The +black goat dies and the white goat lives_." + +"Whouw!" cried all four, unable to conceal their amazement. Then, +without another word, one of the fellows diving into the hut, returned +with the light impedimenta belonging to the three, and with their curs +at their heels, the Kafirs strode off. Just before they entered the +bush the chief turned and gazed fixedly at Claverton for a minute. Then +they disappeared. + +"All right, my friend. I shall know you again when next we meet." Then +to the old herd, who stood holding his stirrup: "Those men must not come +back, Umgiswe. And I tell you what, if you go harbouring any more +conspiring loafers you'll get into trouble." And he rode away. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY. + +ONE GOLDEN DAY. + +The clouds were parting and revealing patches of blue through their +rifts as Claverton reached home, and with the returning sunshine his +spirits revived. It was going to be a lovely day, and he would have +Lilian all to himself for two whole hours that morning, for he was to +take her over to Thirlestane, Naylor's place, and return with the rest +of the party in the afternoon. + +It was just breakfast-time, and Lilian entered at the same time as +himself. Her face looked worn and anxious, as if not much sleep had +fallen to her lot, and though he would have cut off his right hand to +spare her the lightest anxiety, yet he could not feel guiltless of a +sense of consolation that she should have sorrowed with him and for him. +The voice of Mr Brathwaite recalled him to himself with a start. + +"Well, Arthur; where did you go this morning?" + +"Down to Umgiswe's." + +"Was his count all right?" + +"Yes. Which is extraordinary, seeing that he had been entertaining +visitors," and he narrated the presence there of the three strange +Kafirs. + +"Did you find out the big fellow's name?" asked Mr Brathwaite. + +"Yes. It was Nxabahlana. Do you know him? He looked as if he held the +right of succession to the paramount chieftainship of Kafirland." + +"Nxabahlana? Oh, yes, I know him," replied the old man. "He's a kind +of sub-chief, and a relation of Sandili's. One of the greatest +blackguards that ever stepped. Good thing you turned them out; they +were up to no good, that much is certain." + +"A chief!" exclaimed Lilian, raising her eyes, "I _should_ like to see a +real Kafir chief." + +"Would you?" said Claverton. "I wish I had known that; you should have +seen him. I'd have brought him here." + +The others laughed, thinking he was joking, but Lilian knew that he +meant it, every word. + +"Ah, but," she said in a repentant tone, "you couldn't have captured +him, there were three of them; at least I mean--it would not have been +worth the risk." + +Claverton laughed quietly. + +"No such severe measures would have been necessary. If I had promised +his chieftainship a glass of grog and an old hat, he would have come +trundling up here with an alacrity that would surprise you." + +"Really? That quite takes away from the poetry of the idea. I thought +these savage chiefs were very proud." + +"They are proud enough just as far as it suits them to be so--inasmuch +as they affect to look upon us as dust beneath their feet; but they will +condescend to accept anything we may think proper to give them, whether +it be a `tickey' (threepence) or a pair of old boots. In fact Jack +Kafir, of whatever degree, has the bump of acquisitiveness very highly +developed, I assure you. Hullo! who's this?" + +For the door opened and a Dutchman entered--the same who witnessed poor +Allen's immersion at the taking out of the bees' nest. A good-humoured +grin was on his stolid countenance, which looked suggestively warm, and +perhaps not too clean, and his beady black eyes sparkled at the prospect +of a good feed. His corduroy trousers were tucked into a pair of top +boots, and a _sjambok_, or raw-hide whip, dangled from his wrist. Not +until he had gone all round, extending a limp, moist paw to each, did it +occur to him to remove his hat. + +"_Autre pays, autre moeurs_," murmured Claverton in response to a +charming little grimace of amusement which Lilian flashed at him from +across the table, in reference to the new arrival. + +A seat was found for the Dutchman, and a well-garnished plate, and being +provided with a knife and fork he began to make voracious play with the +same. Then having removed the edge of a very exuberant appetite, he +raised his head from the platter and waxed talkative. + +"Oom Walter is well?" + +"Ja. Pretty so so." + +"And Mrs Brathwaite?" + +"Also." + +"_Det is goed_," and then having given a like satisfactory account of +his _vrouw_ and _kinders_ the Boer informed them that he was on his way +to Thirlestane, with the object of purchasing some oxen from Naylor. + +"Claverton's going over there this morning," said Mr Brathwaite, +unthinkingly. "You can go over with him." + +"So," said the Dutchman with a nod of approval. "We will ride +together." + +This didn't meet Claverton's wishes at all. + +"I'm afraid not," he said. "Sticks is rather lame, and I shall have to +send for my other horse. They'll hardly find him till the afternoon--if +then. It won't be worth Botha's while to wait." + +"No. I don't think it will," said good-natured Mrs Brathwaite, who had +taken in the situation at a glance. Lilian, not understanding the Boer +dialect, was an unconscious auditor of what was going on. + +Breakfast over, the Dutchman sat for about half an hour outside, smoking +his pipe and talking over the usual subjects with his host--sheep, +ostriches, the state of the country, how much longer they could do +without rain, and so on. Then, saddling up his small, rough-looking +nag, he shook hands all round and departed, thoroughly content with +himself and all the world. + +"What a queer fellow!" said Lilian, gazing after the awkward, receding +figure of their late guest, who, with his feet jammed to the heels in +the stirrups, was shuffling leisurely along, pipe in mouth. + +"Yes, isn't he?" answered Claverton. "But he's a fair specimen of the +typical Boer. Washes three times a year, sleeps in his clothes, and +wears his hat in the house." + +"Lilian, dear; hadn't you better get ready to start?" suggested Mrs +Brathwaite. + +"I was just thinking the same," said Claverton; "but," he added, in a +lower tone, "I couldn't find it in my conscience to hasten even such a +temporary separation, and yet I was racked with apprehension lest some +other wayfarer should turn up and make a third." + +She gave him a bright smile as she flitted indoors; then he, having got +into his riding-gear, went round to the stable and simply made Jan the +Hottentot groom's life a burden to him over the caparisoning of Lilian's +steed. This bit was too sharp--that too soft--those reins were too hard +for the hands--and what the devil did he mean by leaving those two +specks of rust on the stirrup-iron? Jan and his deputy--an +impish-looking little bushman--couldn't make it out at all; Baas +Clav'ton was usually so easy-going, and now here he was fidgeting worse +than the "sir" in the long boots (Allen). + +Then Lilian came out, looking lovely in her well-fitting blue habit. +There was just a little air of timidity about her which was +inexpressibly charming, as Claverton put her into the saddle. She was +not a bold horsewoman, she confessed. She was ashamed to say that if +anything she was just a wee bit afraid every time she mounted a horse. +Nevertheless she sat beautifully, and the somewhat timid hand held the +reins as gracefully if not quite as firmly as that of any hard-riding +Amazon. To-day she was mounted on a handsome old bay horse of Mr +Brathwaite's, who carried his head well, had a firm, easy walk, and was +as safe as a church, while Claverton rode a dark chestnut just flecked +with white, a fine, spirited animal which he had bought to supplement +the faithful "Sticks," using the latter for the rougher kinds of work. + +"Do you know, nothing but my unblushing mendacity kept that seedy +Dutchman from inflicting himself upon our ride?" remarked Claverton, +when they had started; and he told her of his little subterfuge. + +"Shocking! You had no right to tell such a story," she answered, with a +laugh. + +"Hadn't I? Which would have been best--the lie or the Dutchman? `Of +the two evils,' you know, and I thought the lie the least. Perhaps you +would have preferred the Dutchman?" + +"No, I would not. But I think--well, I think--you did about the very +best thing you could have done," she replied, breaking into a silvery +laugh. "But don't take that as any encouragement to persevere in the +art. It's a dangerous one, and I believe you are quite an adept in it +already. In fact, I've heard you tell one or two shocking fibs myself." + +"All's fair in love and war." Then noting the look which stole over her +face he wished the quotation unsaid. "But I promise you I won't indulge +in mendacity any more than I can help." + +"You must not do it at all. Seriously, it isn't right." + +"Except as a choice of evils. How would society get on without its +mendacities?" + +"Never mind about society," retorted Lilian, brushing aside an +inconvenient argument in right womanly fashion. "And now promise you'll +do what I'm going to ask you." + +"Oh, cheerfully." + +"I'm going to set you a penance." + +"Consider it performed. But what is it?" + +"Well, the next time a choice of evils is offered you, you are to choose +the one which does not involve romancing." + +"That must depend upon its nature." + +"Oh, you promised!" + +"So I did, and so did Herod, and look what came of it." + +"Never mind about Herod," was the laughing reply. "I have got you at a +disadvantage, and I mean to keep you at it. Look, are not those Kafirs +picturesque, in their red blankets, filing through the dark green of the +bush?" she broke off, pointing out half-a-dozen ochre-painted beings who +were crossing the valley some distance from them. They were walking in +single file, and every now and then one would half stop and throw a +remark over his shoulder in a deep bass tone. Their necklaces of +jackals' teeth showed white against their red bodies, which glistened in +the sun, and as they marched along, head erect and with their kerries +over their shoulders, they certainly did look picturesque. + +"Yes, and do you notice how clear the air is? I can make out nearly +every word those fellows are saying," answered Claverton. + +"Can you really? What are they talking about?" + +"What are they talking about? Now look at them. The noble savage on +his native heath, looking too, as if it actually did belong to him, +striding with free and independent bearing, proud and scornful in mien. +You think they are talking of war and tribal greatness, and the +extermination of the hated white man, and such-like lofty and ambitious +schemes? Nothing of the sort. One fellow is narrating how he got a +thorn in his right heel, and how badly his brother extracted it for him, +while three of the others are all trying to say at once what a fool the +brother was, and that they could have done it much better." + +Lilian broke into a peal of laughter. "How absurd you are! You have +quite taken the poetry out of them, and now they look like a very +commonplace lot of beings. But is that really what they were saying?" + +"It is, upon my word. To see a lot of Kafirs talking you would think +they were letting off a stream of oratory, what with all their +gesticulation and modulation of voice. In nine cases out of ten they +are discussing the veriest trivialities." + +"I'm not sure that I'm glad I know that. It spoils the romance of the +thing. I shan't look at them with the same interest." + +"You are given to idealisation, I see," he said. "It is a delightful +pastime, and I must not do anything to shock it. But, look! That, at +all events, is entirely free from the commonplace." + +They had reached the brow of an eminence, and before them lay unfolded a +panorama which brought a flush of delight to Lilian's face. Upland and +valley lay sleeping in the golden sunshine, a rolling expanse of +verdure, now open and grassy, now covered with thick bush, or dotted +here and there with feathery mimosas. Wave upon wave of rise and swell, +there seemed no end to the wide beautiful plains; and the eye wandered +on, over and over it, drinking in a new delight in the far-seeing +vision, then turning to refresh itself in the grand mountain chain which +bounded its range in front. Stretching afar, in a hundred and fifty +miles of stately crescent, rose those lofty mountains with their sunny +slopes and beetling cliffs, and black forest-clad sides seen through the +dim uncertainty of the summer haze; while, towering above the rest, the +Great Winterberg raised his weather-beaten crest to the cloudless bine. +The thatch and white walls of a farmhouse or two, visible here and there +in the distance, redeemed the spectacle from the utter wildness of a +newly-trodden land, but on the other hand added to the peaceful +solemnity of the scene. Hard by, the air resounded with the low hum of +bees busily gathering their stores from the blossoming sprays of a +neighbouring clump of bush; spreuws whistled, and a dainty little +sugar-bird--the humming-bird of Southern Africa--flitted across the +path, his painted plumage glittering in the sun. Down in the valley two +or three pairs of blue cranes roamed about picking in the grass, and +every now and then their strange rasping note floated not unmelodiously +through the calm. + +Lilian, in her intense love of the beautiful, could not restrain a cry +of delight as she gazed upon the splendid panorama before them. The +exhilarating exercise and the warm balminess of the air had brought the +loveliest flush into her clear olive cheeks, and as she sat there +lightly reining in her horse, while the sweet eyes sparkled and dilated +and a witching smile carved the usually sad mouth, her companion thought +he had never seen such a picture in his life. + +"A lovely background with a lovelier central figure," he murmured. +"Look at it well," he added. "Take it all in thoroughly, now; it will +never look the same again. Nothing ever strikes us as it does the first +time." + +She looked half round at him. "Am I delaying you?" + +"Delaying _me_? Good heavens!" is all the reply he can make just then. +Often in the time to come will he remember this day, this moment. Often +will he stand in imagination as he does now with one arm over the pommel +of his saddle, watching the radiant face of this girl in its almost +divine beauty, set in entranced contemplation of the glorious landscape +all gleaming with purple and gold in the flooding sunshine. And +remembering it he will feel as though he had lost Heaven. A dull, +gnawing pain tugs at his heart as a forecast of the future runs darkly +through him, but with a great effort he thrusts it aside; he will live +in the present, and sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. + +"What are those, down there?" cried Lilian. "Bucks of some sort?" + +"Yes. Springbok. There are a few on this side of the place." + +Some two dozen of the graceful creatures were trotting leisurely along +on the slope below them. They were near enough for the dark stripe upon +their shining sides to be plainly discernible, as also the rings on +their black curved horns, as they kept turning their heads to gaze +inquiringly at their human observers. + +"How pretty they are!" said Lilian. "We are seeing ever so many queer +things to-day, and this beautiful country. Do you know, I am thoroughly +enjoying this ride." + +"Are you? I wish it might last for ever." + +His face wears the same look of longing desperation which it wore in the +starlight, while they stood by the pool. Quickly the gladness fades +from hers as a light that has gone out. She thinks how selfish she is +to throw her joyousness at him thus, while his heart is aching for love +of her. + +"Hush!" she says, in a low compassionate tone. "Remember our compact." + +Claverton dare not trust himself to look at her. His eyes are fixed on +the hazy slopes of the far-off mountains, whose green and purple sides +he scarcely so much as sees. For some minutes neither speaks. Then +with a quick restless sigh he throws himself into the saddle. + +"You are right," he says, huskily. "It is I who am weak; weak as water. +Only this once. I will not transgress again." + +They resumed their way. The springboks, startled by the sudden move +forward, bounded off. On the brow of the rise, several of them began +leaping high into the air, with all four feet off the ground together, +and their bodies in the form of a semicircle. Being in relief against +the sky, the effect was not a little bizarre. + +"What ridiculous creatures!" said Lilian, watching them. "I never saw +such contortions." + +"Yes, they are vindicating their name," said her companion, tranquilly. +He had recovered his composure, and was thankful for this diversion. + +Cresting the next ridge they came suddenly upon a couple of advancing +horsemen, heavy-faced, lumbering-looking fellows, their complexions +tanned to the colour of brickdust, and it needed but a glance at their +general untidiness, and seedy get-up, to pronounce upon their +nationality. + +They stopped and shook hands with Claverton, doffing their greasy hats +to his companion, at sight of whom even their wooden countenances showed +signs of animation. A few commonplace questions and answers were +exchanged, then one of the Boers, glancing at Lilian, asked with the +freedom of speech customary among that delightfully primitive people: +"Is that your wife?" + +He answered without moving a muscle, and enlightened them. They were +only ignorant brutes, he reasoned, half savages almost; yet just then, +the question had come upon him with a kind of shock. He was thankful +that Lilian had not understood the conversation. + +"I really must learn Dutch," she said. "It isn't nearly such an +inviting tongue as the full melodious flow of the Kafir language; but +far more useful, I should think. Everybody seems to speak it." + +"Yes, it's the regular go-between jargon here. Very few even of the +frontier people speak Kafir, and not one Kafir in five hundred can talk +English, hence the necessity of a go-between. Look! There's our +destination." + +They had reached the brow of one of those long rolling undulations which +formed a leading feature in the landscape, and on the rise opposite +stood a large single-storeyed house, with an iron roof and deep +verandah. A block of out-buildings adjoined, and several spacious +enclosures sloped down into the hollow; but save for a few tall blue +gums overshadowing the house, the surroundings were destitute of trees. + +"Ah, you've found your way over to us at last," said Emily Naylor, who +with Laura Brathwaite had come out on the stoep to meet Lilian. "So +glad to see you. Was it very hot, riding? You must be tired." + +"Oh, no," answered Lilian, "the air was delightful, and the view--I +never saw anything so perfect;" and she turned to look again at the +wide, sweeping landscape stretching away in front. + +"Yes; it's very pretty," said her hostess. "It is not so pretty here as +at Seringa Vale, because we have no trees, but the look-out is much +wider. But come inside and sit down, or shall we sit out here? You +must be tired after your ride." + +"I'm not though, really. And you must not make me out an invalid," +answered Lilian, with a smile. "I'm far from that." + +"Then come and see the young ostriches." + +Lilian readily assented, and the whole party moved thither accordingly. + +"Well, Miss Laura, you're looking all the better for your change of air; +in fact, blooming," remarked Claverton, who was walking beside her. "By +the way, where's the twin?" + +"Ethel? Oh, she's down at the ostrich enclosure, where we are going. +Mr Allen is there, too, and Will Jeffreys." + +"_Alias_ Scowling Will. So he's here, is he?" + +"Yes. But I can't return you the compliment you just paid me. You look +as if you had been up all night for a week," answered Laura, with a +spice of demure malice. + +"Oh, don't make personal remarks; it's rude," murmured Claverton, +languidly. + +"Ha--ha," struck in Naylor. "Claverton's been getting on the spree, I +expect, now that you two are not there to keep him in order. And now +here we are," he went on, as they arrived at an improvised yard some +twenty feet square, wherein a number of little oval-shaped woolly things +were running about. "They are strong little beggars, not a seedy one +among the lot." + +They had not been long hatched, and as they scuttled about, stopping +occasionally to peck at the chopped lucerne strewn on the ground, they +were just the size and shape of the parent egg, plus legs and a neck. +Naylor picked one of them up. + +"You'd never think that this little chap in less than a year's time +would be able to kick a fellow into the middle of next week, would you?" +he said, showing it to Lilian. + +"No, indeed," replied she, stroking the little creature's glossy brown +neck, and passing her fingers through the thick coating of hair-like +feathers like the soft quills of the porcupine, which covered its back. +"What dear little things they are. They ought always to keep small." + +"Oho!" laughed Naylor. "Bad look out for those who farm them, if they +did. You wouldn't get much for a plucking off this little beggar, for +instance." + +"Of course I didn't mean that," she explained. "I meant that it was a +pity such pretty little things should grow up big, and ugly, and +vicious." + +"It's a good thing sometimes that they are vicious," said Naylor. "It +keeps the niggers from going into the enclosures and stealing the eggs, +and even plucking the birds. They are taking to that already." + +"Are they not too much afraid of them?" + +"Not always. Look at those two black chaps in yonder camp. They are +four-year-old birds, and the nigger isn't born who'd go in and pluck +them. Look, you can see them both now," added Naylor, pointing out a +couple of black moving balls, many hundred yards off, in the middle of +their enclosures. + +"It is all very interesting," exclaimed Lilian, half to herself, gazing +around. Far away on the sunlit plains a herd of cattle was lazily +moving; down by the dam in the hollow, whose glassy waters shone like +burnished silver in the midday heat, stood a few horses, recently turned +out of the kraal, swishing the flies with their tails, or scratching +each other's backs with their teeth, while in the ostrich "camps," whose +long, low walls ran up the slope, the great bipeds stalked majestically +about, pecking at the herbage on the ground, or, with head erect and +neck distended, looked and listened suspiciously, equally ready for a +feed of corn or for an intruder. All seemed to tell of peace, and +sunshine, and prosperity. + +"How you must enjoy your life in this beautiful country!" she went on. + +Naylor was hugely gratified. Subsequently he took occasion to remark to +his wife that Lilian Strange was the nicest and the most sensible girl +he had ever seen. "Why doesn't Claverton cut in for her?" added the +blunt, jovial fellow, in his free-and-easy way. "Then they could get +hold of one of these places round here. He's a fool if he doesn't." To +which his wife answered, with a provoking smile of superior knowledge, +that she supposed most people knew their own business best. + +Now, however, he looked pleased. "Well, yes; we've been brought up in +it, you see, and shouldn't be happy in any other. But I should have +thought that you, coming out from England, would have found it rather +slow. Perhaps you haven't had time to, though, as yet." + +"You mean that the novelty hasn't worn off yet? No more it has; but +even when it did, that would make but little difference. There is a +charm about this beautiful country, with its solitudes, its grand +mountains, and rolling plains, and wild associations, which, so far from +becoming tame, would grow upon one. And the climate, too, is perfect." + +Naylor laughed diffidently. "Yes; but there's another side to that +picture. How about bad seasons, and drought, and war, and locusts, and +stock-lifting, and so on? It isn't all fun here on the frontier." + +"Now, I won't be disenchanted," she retorted, with a bright smile. "You +must not try and spoil the picture I have drawn." + +"Then I won't. Hallo, Ethel! We've been looking for you," he added, +turning as he, for the first time, discovered she had joined them. +"Here's Miss Strange prepared to swear by the frontier--in fact, she has +done so already." + +"Yes?" said Ethel, coming forward to greet Lilian; and Claverton could +not help contrasting the two as they stood together: the one with her +soft, dark, winning beauty, the lovely eyes never losing for a moment +their serene composure; the other, bright, laughing, and golden, the +full red lips ever ready to curl in mischief-loving jest or mocking +retort, and hair like a rippling sunbeam. Yet nine men out of ten would +probably have awarded the palm to Ethel. "Yes?" she said, and, in her +heart of hearts, added, "and with her own reasons." She did not feel +very cordially towards Lilian just then. + +"She says it's perfect, all round," went on Naylor--"a young Paradise." + +"I don't know," said Ethel. "I shouldn't like to stay on the frontier +all the year round. One would miss the balls and theatre in Cape Town." + +"Aha!" laughed Emily, "Ethel is still intent on slaughter. She made +such havoc last session; ever so many poor fellows threw themselves off +the cliffs on Table Mountain on her account; how many was it, Ethel-- +twenty-five?--that she had to be spirited away in the night for fear of +the vengeance of their bereaved mammas." + +"Call it fifty while you're about it," she answered. "How awfully hot +it has become!" + +This served as a pretext for a move indoors, which was made accordingly. + +"So you're all determined to go back this evening," said Naylor, as they +sat in the verandah after dinner. + +"I think we must," answered Ethel; "aunt will think we are never coming +back." + +Hicks, who at the other end of the verandah was "assisting" Laura to +play with the children--these having finished their morning's lessons, +had invaded the party--pricked up his ears and looked rueful in advance. +If they were persuaded to stay, he would have to go anyhow; but Ethel +was firm, and he breathed freely again. + +"But, Claverton, you and Miss Strange might stop--to-night, at any +rate," persisted Naylor. + +It was Ethel's turn to feel apprehensive. She had schooled herself into +accepting the situation, and accepting it patiently. The strife had +been a hard one, and she had suffered in it--suffered acutely, but she +had conquered. Yet the struggle had not been won in a moment, and it +had left its traces; but she seemed not to show them; she was a trifle +graver, and more subdued in manner, that was all. A few days ago she +had longed, with an intense longing, to get away--away from the sound of +his voice, from the glance of his eyes; yet now that it is a question as +to whether they shall return without him, her heart beats quick, and she +seems to hang upon the verdict which they are all discussing so calmly. + +"I don't think we can to-day, Naylor," answered Claverton, a glance at +Lilian having satisfied him that she did not favour the scheme. + +"But look here," Naylor was beginning, when his wife cut him short. + +"Why shouldn't we inspan and go back with them, Ned? We can leave +Seringa Vale again before breakfast if you like, and there's something I +want to see mother about." + +"All right, we'll do that. Don't you think Seringa Vale is rather a +good name for a place, Miss Strange?" + +"Yes--so pretty," answered Lilian; "it's a poem in itself." + +"How do you like Thirlestane?" + +"I like it, too. Did you name it?" + +"Yes," replied Naylor, "it's called after a small place my grandfather +had in England. Its original name is a Dutch one--_Uitkyk_, a look-out; +but Thirlestane's better than _Uitkyk_, isn't it?" + +"Jack Armitage calls it `Oatcake' even to this day," put in Claverton. + +Suddenly, a loud booming noise came from one of the enclosures. All +looked in that direction. The great ostrich was plainly visible, his +neck inflated to six times its size as he emitted his deep call, +volleying it out in heavy booms, three at a time. + +"Fancy an ostrich making such a row as that! You wouldn't have thought +it possible, would you, Miss Strange?" said Gough, the tutor. He had +joined the party at dinner-time, when school was over. + +"I don't think I should," answered Lilian. "The first time I heard it, +I was so frightened. It was at Seringa Vale. I was lying awake at +night, and this great booming sounded so awful in the dead of night. I +hadn't a notion what it was; the first thing I thought of was some wild +beast." + +"A lion, I suppose," said Naylor. + +"I think the whole of the Zoological Gardens ran through my vivid +imagination. How Mr Brathwaite laughed when I told him about it next +morning! Yet I was terribly frightened." + +"No wonder," said Claverton. "It's a precious uncanny sort of row to +strike up in the middle of the night, especially when you don't know +where it comes from, or what it's all about." + +It was now voted time to be getting the horses in. This served as a +signal for a general break-up, the masculine element of the party making +towards the stable, or the enclosure, where some manoeuvring was needed, +as we have seen, to obtain possession of the requisite steeds without +exciting the wrath of the autocratic biped who reigned there. + +Claverton having, as before, submitted Lilian's steed and its gear to a +rigid examination, now whisking a speck of dust off the saddle, or +letting down a link of the curb-chain and readjusting it, assisted her +to mount. + +"Wish that fool would go on," he muttered savagely, referring to Allen, +whose ancient screw was mooning along with a kind of crop-the-grass +gait. The rest of the party were on ahead. "He needn't wait for us," +and flinging himself on his spirited chestnut he bade the groom let go +the reins. The fine animal tossed his head and sidled and champed his +bit as he felt himself free; free yet not free, for his rider was a +consummate horseman and had him perfectly in hand. + +Lilian laughed. "Poor fellow," she said. "Do you know, I sometimes +feel so sorry for him. You all chaff him dreadfully and--Oh!" + +The last exclamation is one of alarm, for at that moment a troop of +ostriches--young ten-month-old birds--having deserted its herd in one of +those stampedes to which these idiotic bipeds are so liable, whirls past +them, with wings outstretched and snowy plumes sparkling in the sun, and +Lilian's steed, which has not yet become quite accustomed to the +gigantic fowls, shows signs of restiveness. + +"Don't be frightened--darling. You're quite safe," says her escort, +noting the scared look in her face, as the old horse tugs at his bridle +and snorts and plunges a little. "He'll be perfectly quiet in half a +minute." + +He is so close beside her all the time, and speaks in such a reassuring +tone that her alarm subsides, and the old steed drops into his normal +steadiness as though half ashamed of himself. + +"Are you not utterly disgusted with such a coward?" says she, with a +faint apologetic laugh. "I ought to have enjoyed the affair as a good +opportunity for showing off, oughtn't I?" + +"One must show on before showing off. I wouldn't have you anything but +timid on board a horse for the world, except for your own sake. It +suits you to perfection." + +He is in earnest. These oft-recurring little alarms of hers are so +captivating in their pure unaffectedness, so womanly; and, withal, the +sense of protection imparted to himself is delicious. And if she is at +times somewhat shrinking, as at present, even that lends an additional +attraction to her delicate refinement. + +"Every one is not an Amazon, thank heaven," he continued, "and you will +soon be as much at home on horseback as in a chair. We will have a lot +of practice. Besides, you know, lately you have not been very well, and +that is calculated to unnerve you. We will do our best to set you up +thoroughly--while--you are here." He tried to speak firmly, but it was +of no use, that tell-tale tremor shook his voice over the last four +words, for they conjured up a picture of when she should be no longer +"here," and he dared not think of it. At present he would thrust the +thought far from him. + +They had now overtaken Allen, and were obliged to shape the conversation +accordingly. "Shall we canter on a little?" suggested Claverton. "The +rest are a good way ahead." + +Lilian acquiesced, and their steeds bounded along the grassy slopes at +an easy elastic canter, but Allen's sorry screw finding a difficulty in +keeping pace with the long stride of the well-bred horses, that +disconsolate youth soon dropped behind. + +"Here is our panorama again," said Claverton, reining in on the top of +the hill, whence they had enjoyed the view that morning. + +"It looks different already. This golden light sheds a rare +peacefulness--an evening repose--upon it, which is perfectly enchanting. +It is hard to determine, but of the two I think I preferred it this +morning. There was an exhilaration in the very air that made one feel +the pleasure of merely living." + +"I liked it best this morning, too," he answered gravely. Then all the +day was before him--so many hours with _her_. Now they had come--never +to return. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +HICKS WAXES INTREPID. + +"Phew-w!" whistled Hicks, staring in consternation at the scene before +him. Then he added in a determined voice: "But I'm going straight over +that bridge or down the river, one of the two." + +"Umph! More fool you," growled his companion. "I'm damned if I am." + +"But look here, Thorman. If we don't get across now while we've a +chance, Heaven only knows when we shall. The river's `down' as it has +never been before, and all along the road we have heard nothing but how +it's coming down harder. Every blessed one of the bridges will go, and +we shall be stuck on this side, it may be for weeks." + +Thorman made no reply, but sat on his horse scowling ferociously at the +flood in front of them. + +The spot was a drift on the Great Fish River crossed by an important +main road which was one of the principal lines of transport up-country. +Some years previously a fine bridge had been thrown across the bed of +the river, which at that point was about fifty feet deep and twice the +distance in width, thus rendering traffic independent of the rise or +fall of the water or the state of the drift--at no time a first-rate +one. But although the actual bed of the river was wide and deep, the +stream itself was an insignificant trickle, dabbling along over stones, +with here and there along sandy reach, after the manner of a North +Country trout stream, but without its dash and sparkle. Except in rainy +seasons; and then its red turbid waters, swelled by the contributions of +numerous confluents and the drainings of the high watershed on either +side, tore foaming between their high banks, carrying down drift-wood +and trunks of trees in their swift pent-up course. But the bridge, a +fine iron one, standing sixty feet from the bottom of the river to its +parapet, rendered the transport-riders [carriers] absolutely independent +of these floods, as has been said. Whether the stream was almost dry in +its bed, or rolling down rocks and tree-stumps, mattered nothing to them +now. Instead of the tedious delay of several days on the bank, and then +the trouble and risk of crossing a bad, washed-out drift, their waggons +rolled as gaily across the bridge as along the road, and they kept on +their way as if there was no river there at all. Once or twice since +the bridge had been built, the water had risen within a few feet of its +roadway; but though an occasional prediction would be made that the +river was capable of rising a great deal higher still, yet it had not +done so. The bridge was of enormous strength, said they who were most +concerned, and would stand against anything. + +But now it seemed as if the predictions of disaster were going to be +verified. For several days and nights it had rained incessantly; not a +series of heavy deluging showers, but a steady, telling downpour. No +break had occurred, not even a pause of ten minutes--rain, rain, rain, +till people became as accustomed to the continuous fall upon their roofs +of zinc or thatch as to the ticking of a clock--and the parched earth, +now thoroughly soft and moistened, ran off the superfluous water in +streams from every runnel and gully, which emptying themselves into the +larger rivers, these in their turn came down in such force as to flood +their banks, doing much and serious damage. + +And the prospect before the two who sat there on their horses swathed +from head to foot in long mackintoshes was, it must be allowed, +sufficient justification for Thorman's retort. An expanse of tossing, +swirling water lay in front, and in the middle of this stood the bridge, +or rather all that could be seen of it, for its roadway lay at least a +foot beneath the surface. The banks of the river were overflowed to +some distance, and here it was comparatively smooth; but in the middle +the mighty stream rushed on its way with a dulling and ever deafening +roar, rolling its huge red waves; curling, hissing, splashing; now +heaving up a great tree-stump which, tossing for a moment, and leaping +half out like a live thing, disappeared again in the boiling depths; now +floating down the carcase of an ox or half-a-dozen drowned sheep. +Against the bridge lay jammed an accumulation of drift-wood and logs, +which groaned and grated with half-human shriek as the fierce current +hurled itself continually upon the obstructing mass, which as yet it was +unable to break through. + +For sky, a pall of dark rain-cloud--heavy, opaque, and without a break +anywhere--resting, in a regular line, low down upon the sides of the +high hills on either side of the valley. Not a breath of wind to toss +about the showers--nor, indeed, could the term shower apply. A +downpour--straight, penetrating, and incessant. On the opposite bank of +the river many waggons lay outspanned, their number augmenting as more +kept on arriving in twos and fours from up-country, and the cracking of +long whips, and the peculiar "carrying" yells of their drivers, were +borne through the roar of the flood in front. Though early in the +afternoon it was dark and gloomy, and the great rolling river, its red, +turbid, hissing surface covered with evidences of damage and +destruction, the lowering sky, the oppressive and woe-begone aspect of +the surroundings, made up a picture of indescribable weirdness and +threatening grandeur. The elements were supreme; man was nowhere. + +"Oh, hang it, Thorman," went on Hicks, impatiently. "You're not afraid +of a little water? I must get home to-night, and it's now or never." + +The two had left some days earlier to attend a sale a good distance from +home; for Hicks, as we have said, was an energetic fellow, and always +alive to the main chance. The rain had just begun at the time they +started; but they hadn't bargained for this. + +"Well, one damned fool makes two damned fools. Come along then," +growled Thorman. It would never do for it to be said he was afraid--and +by a "Britisher," too. + +"That's the sort, old _Baas_. I knew you were humbugging," rejoined +Hicks, heartily. He would have gone through more than the present +undertaking, though that was no child's play, when he thought of the +alternative--several days' weary waiting at the wretched little inn just +left behind. Why, one evening of it would be too awful. But things +gain or suffer by comparison, and now the comparison lay between this +contingency and Seringa Vale, a cheerful room, a snug home circle, and-- +Laura. So quite airily he prepared to risk his life, having persuaded +his companion to follow his wise example. + +A group of men stood at the water's edge exchanging speculations on the +probable turn of affairs, for a few waggons, bound up-country, lay +outspanned on this side, though the large majority, coming down country, +were on the opposite bank. They eyed the two travellers inquiringly. + +"I say, Mister," said a tall fellow, with a beard the size of a +peacock's tail, falling over his chest. "You're never going to try and +get through, are you?" + +"We are going to do just that," growled Thorman. + +"We are not going to try, but we are going to get through," asserted +Hicks confidently. + +"Well, I hope you may," said the other, "but take my advice and don't +attempt it." + +"I'm going to attempt it, at any rate," answered Hicks. "Thanks all the +same." + +"Much better not," said another sturdy purveyor. "Joe's right. There's +nearly a yard of water on the bridge, and the thing's been cracking and +groaning under all that drift-wood. It'll go any minute, I tell you. I +wouldn't go across for fifty pound. Besides, you've got to get to it +first, and there's a lot of water on either side. Better give it up." + +"Oh, I know the road all right, every inch of it," was the reply. "Come +along, Thorman." + +Fortunately for them they did know the road, for on either side of it +lay deep fissures and gullies, now, of course, all under water. To +flounder into one of these would be just better than getting into the +river itself. Still it would be extremely dangerous. + +"Well, good-bye," called out the men on the bank as the two went +plashing into the surging water. "So long! We shall meet in the next +world." + +A jest which contained more than half the truth for all the likelihood +of their ever meeting again in this, and so its utterers knew, perhaps +better than the two on whose ears it fell; yet the rough, venturesome +life led by these men rendered them reckless and indifferent in the face +of danger. They could jest with Death, with his grim hand put out +before them. + +"Well, now we're in for it you'd better let me go first," said Thorman. +"I know these rivers better than you do." + +Hicks acquiesced, and they plunged on. As they neared the bridge the +current increased in strength, but not yet did they feel anything like +its full force. + +"Quick! Turn to your right," shouted Thorman, wheeling his horse. His +experienced eye detected one of those deep fissures above mentioned, +into which his steed even then nearly slipped. A plunge and a splash, +and he was on firm ground again, Hicks following. + +And now, as they neared the bridge, the horses began to show signs of +terror: snorting and tossing their heads, their eyes rolling wildly as +they began to feel the effect of the swift, powerful current flowing +round the great piers at the entrance to the bridge, and had the riders +lost nerve their doom was sealed. And in truth the situation was +somewhat awful, and well calculated to try the strongest nerves. Before +them lay the submerged bridge, the water tearing over its roadway so as +to hide it completely--to what depth they could hardly guess. Even +Hicks began to repent of his headstrong rashness as he looked giddily at +the red, heaving flood rearing up its great waves as it thundered +against the bridge; but it was too late now, there was no turning back. + +"So-ho, boy!--careful!--so-ho!" he cried, patting the neck of his +frightened steed, which, terrified at the roar and rush of water through +the ironwork, showed signs of backing; but the current upon the bridge +shallowing after rather a deep plunge just before reaching it, in a +measure reassured the animals. + +"Don't look at the river, Hicks; keep your eyes on your horse, and look +only at where you're going," said Thorman, in a set, deep voice, +speaking over his shoulder; but the warning was nearly lost in the +deafening roar of the flood. Overhead, on either side, rose the parapet +of the bridge, and, as they splashed along the submerged roadway, every +now and then an uprooted tree or a huge stump would be hurled with an +appalling crash upon the accumulation of drift-wood which lay against +the quivering mass of ironwork. In one place the head of a drowned ox +protruded through an aperture as though the animal were looking into a +road; having been dashed there by the current, and its body being unable +to follow. A bizarre and ghastly sight was this great head, with its +fixed, glassy eyes, and yet living aspect, glaring from out of the ruin. +But such things as these our adventurers saw as in a dream. All their +attention was turned to their horses and their own safety. They could +feel the huge structure quiver and shake as they passed along it, and +ever in their ears was the stunning, deafening roar of the mighty flood +as it boomed beneath and around them. + +And now the worst was over. They had gained the other end of the +bridge, but before them lay an expanse of submerged land, where the +current, if not so strong and deep as on the side they had started from, +was at any rate wide enough still to constitute a source of peril in the +exhausted state of their steeds. But the bottom was a smooth gentle +slope, free from any of the occasional cracks and fissures which had +troubled them at first. + +"Don't stop, Hicks! Keep his head _up_ the stream. We'll be through in +a minute!" cried Thorman; and cramming his hat down, he settled himself +firmer in the saddle, and struck into the open flood again. + +But the horses knew that the worst was over, and kept up bravely, +snorting and puffing like traction-engines as they struggled to maintain +their footing in the swirling tide. As in a dream, the riders could see +a crowd of men at the water's edge; could hear their cheers of +encouragement; then the resistance of the current slackened and ceased, +and the exhausted animals walked despondently out, and stood, their +dripping flanks panting and heaving, as Hicks and Thorman slid to the +ground, little less done up than their steeds. + +"I say--did you do that for a bet?" asked one of the crowd which had +been standing ready to afford them what assistance they could, as well +as to watch an event of some excitement, a perfect godsend to these men +delayed there for many tedious days. + +"No. Bet be damned," growled Thorman. "I did it because that fool +persuaded me to; and I wouldn't do it again for a thousand pounds." + +"Oh, hang it, old man, don't be shirty," cried Hicks. "We are through +now, you know, and the proof of the pudding's in the eating. Besides, +we've shown what our horses can do." + +"By the way, Mister, d'you care to part with that same animal?" said a +tall, lank transport-rider, critically eyeing Hicks' steed. "Because I +want a horse that ain't afraid o' water. I have a lot of drift work to +do at times, and that critter o' yours 'ud just suit me. What's the +figure?" + +"Well, no, I don't," answered Hicks. "It would be rather rough to get +rid of him, just as he's brought me through that, wouldn't it?" + +"Oh, all right," rejoined the other, good-humouredly, "I'd kind of taken +a fancy to him, that's all. When you do, just drop a line to John Kemp, +Salem, Lower Albany." + +The two turned and waved their hats in response to a cheer which arose +from the other side. + +"Well, we shan't meet in the next world yet, my friends," remarked +Hicks, with a laugh, referring to the last God-speed hurled after them +as they began their perilous crossing. Then, leading their horses, they +turned towards the roadside inn, which lay a couple of hundred yards +from the river bank, and whose landlord, by reason of the presence of a +number of men in a state of enforced idleness, was driving a roaring +trade. The inn, or "hotel" as it was usually called, was, this +afternoon, in a state of exceeding liveliness, for it was full of +transport-riders, making merry--one or two of them, indeed, decidedly +"cut," and in that condition affording huge entertainment to the rest. +Ordinarily a sober class of men, they were now indulging through sheer +_ennui_, being driven, as one of them expressed it, "to get on the spree +in self-defence," and to keep their spirits up. So the place rang with +the boisterous mirth of many jovial souls, and the air was heavy with +the fumes of grog and Boer tobacco which not all the open windows and +the door sufficed to carry off. Hicks started, as a dog and an empty +whisky-bottle shot past his legs at the same time in the doorway. + +"Beg pardon, mate," cried a giant in corduroy, from across the room, not +moving from his place on a dingy sofa, where he sat wedged in among +other boon companions. "Sims here bet me I couldn't hit that Kafir cur +on the side of the ear, the loser to stand drinks all round." + +"And, by jingo, you've lost," rejoined Hicks, good-humouredly, "so we +claim to cut in to the penalty." + +"Right you are," cried the other, with a jolly laugh. "What's it to +be--`French'--Whisky? All right. Here, Sims, whisky and soda for these +gentlemen here; Hennessy for me," and then followed much discussion and +questioning among the rest as to what they would take, one rather surly +fellow coming near to having his head punched for curtly declining to +benefit by the general "treat." + +The hotel-keeper, a thin, wiry-looking man, with grey whiskers and a +sharp face, now came forward. + +"Where might you be from?" he began. "Want to off-saddle? You see I'm +pretty busy just now," he went on, as if apologising for the delay. + +"We _might_ be from the bottom of the river, thanks to this fellow, and +we don't _want_ to off-saddle, because we have," growled Thorman. He +was determined, characteristically, to make the worst of the situation, +and resented having been made a fool of, as he phrased it, by Hicks. + +"Why, it can't be that you've come across the river?" cried the landlord +in amazement. + +"The devil it can't! We have, though, unless we've gone down it and got +into hell," fiercely replied the other, with a contemptuous glance +around; but the sulky rejoinder was received with a loud laugh by the +boisterous but good-natured crew as a capital joke. + +"Come through the river?" exclaimed a rough-looking fellow sitting close +by. "Here, Mister, you and your friend must have a drink with me. +What's it to be?" + +"No fear," called out the thrower of the bottle. "The gentlemen are +going to have one with me, Robins; they can have one with you after. +Here, Sims, look alive, trundle up those drinks." + +"Keep your temper, Hallett," replied the imperturbable landlord. "A man +can't wait on a dozen fellows at once, you see; and there are a precious +deal more than a dozen of you here." + +"And devilish glad you are of that same, you old humbug," retorted the +other, cheerily. + +"Tell you what it is," an oracle of "the road" was saying in a loud +voice, for the benefit of the assemblage. "That bridge'll go, I say, +before night; but, anyhow, it's bound to go before morning." + +"Don't know about that, Bill," said another. "It's a good strong bit of +iron, and my opinion is that it'll hold out." + +"It won't, though. It'll never stand the crush of drift-wood that's +against it now. And, mind you, the river's coming down harder nor ever +it was--I know. It's raining like blazes up the country, far more'n it +is here, and what with the Tarka and the Little Fish and half-a-dozen +other streams besides, emptying into this, the bridge is bound to go. +Mark my words." + +"Well, p'raps you're right, Bill. We haven't had such a flood as this +in my time, and I've known this road, man and boy, for over fifty years. +Still I should have thought the bridge'd stand. It's a good bit of +iron. But what do you say, Mister?" he added, appealing to Thorman. +"You've just come over it, I hear." + +"What do I say? Why, that the damned thing won't hold out till night," +was the gruff reply. "It jumped about like a twenty-foot swing while we +were on it. And the fool that made it ought to be strapped upon it now, +say I." + +"I've known one flood bigger than this, but that was before your time," +observed a wiry-looking little man, with white hair and a weasel-like +face, self-complacent in the consciousness of having the pull over the +two last speakers, and, indeed, over most of those present. "That was +the time poor Owens was drowned. The river rose to within a foot of +where we are sitting now before it went down again." + +"Who was Owens, and how was he drowned?" inquired Hicks, spotting an +episode. + +"Who was Owens?" repeated the old man, placidly filling his pipe. "A +fool; because he thought he was smarter than any of us, and thought he +could cross the river when we couldn't. He went in on horseback. The +river was running just as it was to-day, only not quite so deep. He +went down, as a matter of course, before he was half-way through." + +"Couldn't any of you help him?" asked Hicks. + +The old fellow glanced up with a look of silent contempt for any one +capable of putting such a question. Then he calmly struck a match and +lighted his pipe, and having done so he continued: + +"The river was full of drift-wood, and we saw one big tree bearing down +upon Owens full swing. We hollered out to warn him, but the water was +kicking up such a row that he couldn't hear, nor would it have helped +him much if he had. Well, the tree came bang against him, entangling +him and the horse in the branches. They rolled over and over; and tree, +and horse, and Owens disappeared. We never saw him again, but the next +I heard of him was that his body had been found a week afterwards, when +the water had run off, sticking in the bed of the river, among the +drift-wood down Peddie way." + +"Poor devil," exclaimed several of his auditors. + +"No one but a fool would have gone into the river at all," concluded the +old man, sententiously, as he tossed off the remainder of his grog. + +"I say, Thorman, we must be going," said Hicks. + +"All right," replied that worthy, knocking the ashes out of his pipe and +rising to his feet. + +"Oh, but you needn't be off yet," objected he addressed as Hallett. +"Stay here with us and make a night of it; you can go on in the +morning." + +But Hicks was firm. It was not for this he had risked his life. + +"Awfully sorry, old man, but I must get back to-night." + +"Hang it! Well, then, have another drink--just an `off-setter,'" +persisted the other. "No? Well, then, good-bye. If you're round my +way any time, mind you give us a look up. We'll get up a buck hunt, and +some fun of some sort. Ta, ta! Take care of yourself. But you're well +able to do that now, I should think." + +They settled for their horses' forage, and going round to the stable, +saddled-up, and were soon on their way; the steeds, after a good feed +and a rub down, looking none the worse for their gallant efforts in +crossing the perilous flood. And a carious sight was that which the +neighbourhood of the drift presented as they rode forth. In every +direction waggons were outspanned, standing in rows of six or seven, or +in twos and threes, according to the number owned by or in charge of any +one man, but everywhere waggons. A few were empty, but most of them +were loaded high up with wool-bales, sent from up-country stores to the +seaboard--or with hides, and horns, or other produce--for it was before +the days of railroads, and the carrying trade was abundant and thriving. +Their owners stood about in knots, watching the gathering flood; others +passed to and from the inn. Some again sat stolidly by their fires +smoking their pipes as they waited for the pot to boil, while a cloud of +native servants--drivers and leaders--hung about the canteen or lolled +by the fires, the deep bass of the manly Kafir mingling with the shrill +chatter of Hottentots and Bastards [Note 1]. A kind of twilight had +come on prematurely, by reason of the lowering sky, and the red +watch-fires glowed forth, and the crowd of waggons, considerably over a +hundred, standing about, gave the place the appearance of a mining-camp, +or a commissariat train halted while on the march. And every now and +then, more waggons would come lumbering over the rise, the cracking of +whips and the harsh yells of their drivers echoing through the heavy +air. + +"Hi! Here! Where the hell are you coming to? Can't you keep the right +side of the road, instead of the side of the bullocks, damn you?" + +The voice proceeded from an unkempt and perspiring individual, in +flannel shirt and corduroy trousers, who, wielding his long whip, walked +beside a full span of sixteen oxen, the motive power of a mighty load of +wool-bales. So insolent and aggressive was it in its tone, that even +good-natured Hicks, to whom the query was addressed, and than whom a +less quarrelsome fellow never lived, was moved to anger, and answered +the incensed transport-rider pretty much in the same strain. + +"Oh, so you think I ought to get out of _your_ way, do you?" roared the +other. + +"I think you might be civil, confound it all!" fumed Hicks. + +"Suppose I ought to say `sir,' eh?" went on the other, in wrathful, +sneering tones. + +"Oh, go to the devil," cried Hicks, fairly boiling over; "I've no time +to stay jawing here all night with you," he added, contemptuously, +making as if he would ride on. + +"Haven't you? Just get down; I'll soon show you who's the best hand at +jawing, and at hitting, too. Come down here and try, if you're not a +blanked coward!" yelled the fellow. He thought that the other was +afraid of him; but he reckoned without his host. + +"Oh, that's your game, is it?" cried Hicks, springing to the ground, and +throwing off his mackintosh. "Come on, I'm your Moses." And he +advanced towards the irate transport-rider, looking him fall in the +eyes. + +The fellow, who now saw that he had a tough customer to deal with, began +to repent of his hastiness, and would fain have backed out of the scrape +into which his insolent, overbearing temper had led him, but it was too +late to decline the contest, for several of his contemporaries, +attracted by the prospect of a row, had gathered round. So he rushed at +his opponent, hitting out blindly, right and left. But Hicks, who knew +something of "the art of self-defence," and was of sturdy, powerful +build besides, found no difficulty in parrying this unscientific attack. +Then with a well-planted "one--two," straight from the shoulder, he +landed his adversary in a heap on the slippery, trodden-down grass by +the roadside. + +"He's down--give him law," cried one of the bystanders. "Who is it? +What's it all about?" + +"Dick Martin," answered another voice. "He cheeked t'other fellow, or +t'other fellow cheeked him, it don't matter which; so they're having it +out. Get up, Dick, and go in at him again." + +But Dick manifested no such inclination. He raised himself half up and +sat glowering stupidly around, as if dazed. His nose was bleeding, and +a huge lump over his eye betokened pretty plainly that he would wake on +the morrow with that useful organ somewhat obscured. + +"Never mind. Get up and have another try, man," called out the last +speaker. + +"He can't; he's had enough. T'other's been one too many for him," said +some one else. And he had. + +Hicks, who was far too good-hearted a fellow to exult over a fallen foe, +however great the provocation received, said nothing. He lingered a +moment to see if his adversary would show any sign of renewing battle, +and then began to mount his horse. Just then a loud shout went up from +the water's edge about four hundred yards below them. All turned. + +"The bridge! It's going!" cried some one. + +The spot where they stood, being on an eminence, overlooked the river, +and they could see the strong ironwork of the parapet bend to the +ponderous mass of accumulated drift-wood heaped against it. It +yielded--then snapped; and with a thunder-crash sounding loud above the +continuous roar of the flood, the vast obstruction of _debris_ bore it +down. A huge wave reared its head many feet in the air, and fell with a +mighty hiss, covering the rushing surface with seething foam. Then, the +obstruction removed, the mighty river hurled itself forward, its +horrible, many-tongued voices bellowing as if in savage joy at having +overthrown and defeated the works of human ingenuity. All that could +now be seen of the once fine bridge was a few strands of twisted +ironwork clinging about what remained of the piers at each of its ends. + +"Let's give the old bridge three cheers," cried one of the spectators. +"She's been a good friend to us, and now we shall be put about as we +were before for the want of her." + +They did so; and a great shout went up from the outspan, echoing far +along the sides of the darkening hills, where the lowering rain-clouds +rested in an unbroken pall. The bridge had been a good friend to them, +and now it was gone they would sorely feel the want of it for some time +to come, until another should replace it, which might not be for years. +So they cheered right heartily; but with a feeling of genuine regret. + +Meanwhile, at Seringa Vale, everything was at a standstill. The stock +was kept at home, and in the soaked kraals the sheep stood huddled +together, stolidly chewing the cad, and looking very forlorn in the +dripping rain. But their owner's watchful eye was everywhere, as, +wrapped in a waterproof coat, he moved about, noting where it became +necessary to cut a channel for the drainage of a fast accumulating body +of water which threatened damage, and all hands would be turned out with +spade and pick for this and such like duty. Even he was more than +satisfied with the rainfall this time, and now and then cast an anxious +look at the weather quarter. + +"I don't think I ever saw the kloof so full as this before, and it's +still rising," he said. + +"No?" answered Claverton, who was meditatively jerking a pebble or two +across the broad, surging rush of water in front of them. "All the +rivers in the country must be tolerably well down. Why, the bridges +will never stand." + +"No, they won't. If it goes on like this till morning there won't be a +bridge left in the country, that's my opinion. There'll be a heap of +damage done besides. Well, we can't do anything more now, and it's +getting dark," and they turned towards the house. + +Very cosy and cheerful looked the interior of that domicile, as a few +minutes later, Claverton found his way thither, and got into dry +clothes. No one was about--wait--yes--there was some one in the inner +room. It was Lilian. She had been reading, and was seated by the +window with her book open in her hand, just as the twilight and then the +darkness had surprised her. + +"Trying to read in the dark? Worst thing possible for the eyes," he +said. "What have you been doing with yourself all day?" + +She turned to him. + +"Very much what you see me doing now--reading and--dreaming." + +"The best possible occupation for a day like this. I've been doing the +latter--dreaming," he said. + +"You? Why, you have been hard at work all day," said she. "I've been +watching you walking about in the rain with a spade, and pitying you for +being so uncomfortable, while we were all sitting indoors, dry and +warm." + +"Pitying me?" + +"To any extent," she answered, looking up at him with a bright smile. + +He bent over her. "Yes, I was dreaming--of such a moment as this." + +She did not answer. Her eyes were fixed on the gloom without and the +soft falling rain. Oh, the continuous drip, drip of that ceaseless rain +throughout this livelong day, turning the daylight into dusk, and +beating time in her heart to the echoes of the past! And throughout it +all was a vague, indefinable longing for this man's presence. The +enforced imprisonment in the house had been doubly irksome without him, +and at last she had been constrained to own it to herself. Once she had +seen him coming towards the door, and all unconsciously had made ready +such a bright smile of welcome; but he had turned back, and the smile +had faded, and a chill, sickly feeling around her heart had taken its +place. What right had she to feel thus, she thought? In a few weeks +they would part as friends, acquaintances, nothing more, and then--well, +at any rate he knew the worst. But now as he found her in the darkening +twilight, her heart gave a bound, and her voice assumed a dangerous +tenderness as she replied to him. + +"The rain has been very cruel," he went on. "I couldn't catch so much +as one stray glimpse throughout the whole afternoon. If you are +blockaded indoors, you might look out of the window now and then." + +"Why, I've done nothing else. And you, did you get very wet?" And +there is a little inflection as of anxiety in her voice as she raises +her eyes to his. + +"Don't let's talk about me, but about a far more interesting subject-- +yourself. Haven't you been frightfully bored to-day?" + +"Well, I have rather--at least, I mean, I oughtn't to say that, but one +gets rather low sometimes, you know, even without much cause, and I've +been so to-day," she answered, her tone relapsing into one of dejection, +and he, standing there beside her, began to feel deliriously happy, +though well knowing that it was for the moment. But the gloaming was +about them, and they were alone together. What more could he--could +they--want? + +A light flashed from the other room; then a sound of voices. It was not +exactly a blessing that Claverton gulped down, as some one was heard +calling: + +"Lilian. Are you there? It's supper-time. Why, what has become of +her?" added the voice, parenthetically. + +Lilian started as if from a reverie. "Here I am," and she rose hastily. +Claverton was not the only one who watched her as she came out into the +light, but the serene, beautiful face was as calm and unmoved as if she +had been in their midst all the time. + +Very cheerful and homelike looked the lighted room, and the table with +its hissing tea-urn, and knives and forks and dish-covers sparkling on +the snowy cloth. Very bright and exhilarating in contrast to the wet, +chill gloom without, and to those two, who had been at work in the rain +all day, especially so. + +"The flood will do no end of damage," Mr Brathwaite was saying, as he +began to make play with the carving-knife. "There'll be lots of stock +swept away, I fear, and the homesteads along the river banks stand a +good chance of following." + +"That's cheerful, for their owners," remarked Claverton. "I should +think old Garthorpe's place would be one of the first to go." + +"Serve him right, I was nearly saying. He doesn't deserve to own a good +farm like that--always preaching to the Kafirs instead of looking after +it." + +"Is he a missionary?" asked Lilian. + +"No. He ought to be, though. He's quite humbug enough." + +"Tsh!" laughed Mrs Brathwaite. "Lilian will think you a regular +heathen." + +"Can't help it," retorted the old man. "I know what I'm talking about, +which is more than everybody does who professes to give an opinion on +the subject. Any grocer's boy, who in England would never get further +than a shop-counter, makes a fine good trade of it by coming out here to +`preach the Gospel' to the heathen. It's less trouble and pays +infinitely better. What is the consequence? Kafirland is chock-full of +bumptious, uneducated, hypocritical scamps, who live on the fat of the +land, and are never happy unless meddling with what doesn't concern +them. All the disturbances which crop up from time to time, are hatched +and fomented by these rascals. Call themselves teachers, indeed! What +do they teach their lambs? To keep their hands off their neighbours' +property? Not a bit of it. And what missionary ever stuck to his post +when war did break out, I should like to know? Not one. They clear out +in time to save their own skins, never fear, and sneak off to befool the +British public, while we are defending our lives and property. A set of +meddlesome, mischief-brewing, slander-mongering frauds. They are the +curse of the colony." + +On this congenial theme the old man continued to descant for some time. +Then the tread of horses was heard outside, and the arrival of Hicks and +Thorman created a diversion. + +"So the bridge has gone," said Mr Brathwaite, dropping the missionary +question. "I thought it would. It should have been built ten feet +higher from the first. This flood, though, is a flood, and no mistake. +I only remember one like it." + +"Ha, ha?" laughed Thorman, who was quite in a genial mood. "You should +have seen Hicks pitching into a transport-rider. He doubled him up by +the roadside like a ninepin." + +"And how would he double up a ninepin, Mr Thorman?" queried Ethel, +mischievously. + +Meanwhile, Hicks looked sheepish. "I couldn't help it," he said. "The +fellow challenged me." + +As predicted, the flood did an immense amount of damage. Every bridge +was torn away by the force of the waters, as if it had been a bit of +stick. Homesteads by the river-side flooded or swept away; gardens and +corn lands swamped and utterly laid waste; every runnel or golly washed +out as clean as a tube, the piles of drift-wood and rubbish, deposited +here and there on their banks, alone showing the height to which the +waters had risen. And when in a few days the rain ceased, and it was +practicable to ascertain the fall extent of devastation--though even +then in parts of the _veldt_ it was impossible to ride with any safety +or comfort, for a horse would sink knee-deep in the spongy soil--the +land was noisome with the carcases of drowned animals, sheep and goats +lying by tens and by twenties rotting in the sun in roadway and golly. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. Hottentots with an admixture of white blood are thus known in +Colonial parlance. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +THE BUSHMAN'S CAVE. + +Christmas has come and gone, bringing with it, contrary to expectation, +peace instead of a sword. The dreaded outbreak, by some inexplicable +turn of events, has been averted, and instead of deluging the land in +blood, and scattering rain and desolation broadcast, the tribes are, in +their own expressive idiom, "sitting still," and the frontier is at +peace. + +No one can tell exactly how this welcome turn in the tide of affairs +came about. Whether it was that the different sections of the Amaxosa +race distrusted each other, suspicion being a leading trait in the +savage character, and were unable to coalesce; or that they deemed the +time not yet come when they could venture to strike a blow with any hope +of success; or whether the counsels of the peace-loving party in the +nation--the older men, who had everything to lose and nothing to gain by +war, and who, moreover, had learnt by sad experience of former +struggles, the futility of embarking in such undertakings--prevailed, no +one can say for certain. Some contended that with the prospect of such +a thriving good season before them, the Kafirs could not afford to throw +it away, for the recent rains had made the land to blossom like a rose. +Anyhow, the natives were tilling their mealie gardens, and the more +well-to-do of them were laying out cash in the purchase of ploughs and +other agricultural implements, which certainly did not point in the +direction of hostilities. Christmas was past, and once well over +Christmas without an outbreak, there was no fear of war this year, at +any rate. So said the old frontiersmen, and they ought to know. +Anyhow, at that moment, the tribes within and beyond the colonial border +were more quiet and settled than they had been for some years past. +Stock-stealing had decreased with a rapidity bordering on the +miraculous, and daring outrages, which a month ago had been waxing +alarmingly common, were now absolutely unknown. + +So peace reigned, and with it its twin blessing, plenty. In the gardens +the trees groaned beneath their weighted branches; yellow apricots, with +a warm red flush through their golden skin as they turned lovingly +towards the sun; velvety peaches, rosy-cheeked and fragrant, dragged +down the branches, or lay scattered upon the earth in lavish profusion. +Up among the purple figs, the spreuws were having a rare good time, but +nobody grudged even those mischievous birds their share, for was there +not abundance for all? And the long green pears hanging on the drooping +boughs, which swept as in a natural harbour round the wooden seat at the +foot of the tree, what a luscious refection they promised in two or +three weeks' time, when they should have felt a little more sun, to +those who would avail themselves of that cool, shady retreat! + +In the fold, as in the lands, plenty reigned. The flocks and herds were +fat and well-liking, for the grass was abundant and good; and, +strengthened by the sweet and nutritious pasturage, the animals remained +free alike from the ravages of disease or tick, and the better able to +stand against the attacks of those insidious foes, that they were in +excellent condition and likely so to remain; for, as if in compensation +for the widespread havoc it had wrought, the great flood, besides +washing away many impurities, both in noxious herb and insect, had +thoroughly permeated the long parched-up soil, softening it to a depth +of many feet. It had done more than this, for it had broken up the long +continuation of settled drought; and periodical showers, soft and +penetrating, had fallen from time to time since, so that the land had +lost its brown, sun-baked aspect, and lay everywhere green and well +watered, luxuriously reposing in the rich, generous glow of the Southern +summer. + +And now we shall transport the reader to a deep wooded valley, similar +to many of those already described, though it would be hard to find one +to equal it. It is a romantic and beautiful spot. At the upper end is +a deep pool, some thirty yards across, and pear-shaped. Into this, when +there is a rush of water in the stream, falls a really magnificent +cascade; when there is not, well--there is the rock, perpendicular, +black and shining, a film of water silvering down it to plunge into the +pool beneath with a pleasant, cool tinkle. As you stand facing the +cascade or its lofty wall of shining rock, on the left hand, starting +sheer out of the depths of the pool, is a mighty cliff, rising up in +rugged tiers or ledges--which afford root-hold to a profusion of mosses +and trailing plants, with here and there an aloe--to a height of two +hundred feet. Just below the exit of the pool these natural terraces +all culminate in a jutting angle of the cliff, which protrudes, sharp +and awful in its unbroken perpendicularity. On the right hand is also a +cliff, but it stands back, leaving a slope of forest trees and bush +between it and the water's edge. The exit from the basin discloses a +lovely view--with the jutting cliff, above mentioned, as a foreground-- +of the valley, whose wooded slopes, undulating in spurs, either +culminate in a precipice, or cleave the blue sky with a line of feathery +tree-tops. + +But to-day there is not a rush of water in the stream above, though +there is enough to fall into the pool with a resounding plunge, and to +carry off a clear, sparkling stream at the pointed end of the +pear-shape. The cascade is not in force; if it were, the merry party +gathered around its base would be constrained to put up with some less +inviting resting-place, for it would fill all the hollow with a cloud of +showery spray--thick, penetrating as rain. The place is in an outlying +corner of Jim Brathwaite's farm, and, sure enough, there sits jovial Jim +himself, in a shady corner beneath the rock, his legs dangling over the +water, a pipe in his mouth, and in his hand a fishing-rod. Other pipes +and other fishing-rods surround the water-hole, "the fool at the other +end" of each staring stolidly and apathetically at the water or watching +his float with a despairing eagerness begotten of hope deferred, +according to temperament. But the fish are either replete and +satisfied, or cursed with the wiliness characteristic of their species, +for not a float shows any sign of agitation. One rod, indeed, is +submerged even to the second joint, while its manipulator, George +Garrett--a stolid-looking youth of twenty-one--is occupied lying on his +back upon a ledge of rock blowing rings of tobacco smoke skyward, and no +one seems very keen on the sport. A line of blue smoke, curling beneath +the cliff on the more open side of the pool, betokens "camp." + +It may as well be stated that the gathering is nominally a fishing +picnic. I say, nominally, for no one is idiotic enough to suppose for a +moment that the _fishing_ part of it will turn out aught but the veriest +farce, for the day is hot and cloudless, and the still depths of the +water are glassy and translucent. + +"I say, but this is deuced exciting work," cried Jim, who had not had a +bite the whole morning, a misfortune wherein he was not alone. "Let's +knock off." + +"That's right, Jim, always fall back on my advice," said Ethel, who was +seated near him, likewise trying to fish. "I suggested that an hour +ago." + +"You? I like that. Why, it was you who said we didn't deserve our +dinner unless we caught it." + +"Did I? Well, I very soon recanted," laughed she, throwing down her rod +with a yawn. "We are getting sleepy over this, and that's the +preliminary stage to getting quarrelsome, you know. So let's go and see +what the others are about." + +"W-wait a bit," stuttered Allen, eagerly. "I've got a bite." + +He had. Suddenly, after one or two violent bobs, his float +disappeared--down, down--far into the depths. + +"Hallo, Allen, you've got a whale on there, at least," cried Jim. "Hold +on to him and be ready to cut the line before he lugs you in." + +Allen's hands trembled with excitement, and he could hardly work his +tackle for fear of losing the prize, as he felt the series of jerks and +tugs as if something powerful was kicking at the end. At last he +succeeded in bringing it to the surface. It was a huge eel. + +But the next thing was to land his capture. For Allen, with infinite +difficulty, had succeeded in making his way round the rock-bound sides +of the pool to a narrow ledge, whereon he now stood. There was just +standing-room, but only just, and the eel, as it leaped and squirmed on +the narrow ledge, soon made it evident that there was not room for +itself and its captor too. Once it fell back into the water and Allen, +losing his balance, nearly followed; but the tackle was good and he +succeeded in landing it again. Finally he managed to get his heel upon +it and end its writhings by a process of semi-decapitation, but, oh, +Heavens! His jack-boots on which he had that morning bestowed an extra +amount of care and blacking, were profusely defiled by contact with the +slimy reptile as it twisted over them in its death-throes, leaving +trails and trails of slime upon their polished surface. + +"I say, Allen, you'll be wanting to catch another eel after that, I +should think," cried Jim, while Ethel, whom Allen's silent expression of +hopeless woe had convulsed, was nearly choking in her efforts to stifle +her laughter. + +It became necessary to rive a line through the eel and haul it across +the water, as all its captor's efforts were needed to ensure himself a +safe return along the slippery face of the cliff. But he was downcast +and subdued, and the good-natured chaff that fell to his lot as the only +successful angler, was bitter to him. + +"Well, Jim," said his father, as the fishing contingent returned to the +halting-place. "Caught anything?" + +"No. At least Allen has. Caught enough for the lot of us put together. +A regular young python. Look here," and he produced the eel. + +"My! that is a big 'un," cried old Garrett, who was sitting in the shade +with Mr Brathwaite, and talking over old times. "I say, you're a lucky +feller, Allen. We ought to 'ave a drop o' grog over this." + +Mr Brathwaite's eye twinkled as he heard this characteristic remark, +and he turned to say something to Jim as a pretext for not hearing it. +He shrewdly suspected that his old friend and companion-in-arms would +have quite as much grog on board as he could carry before the day was +out, and he didn't want him to get "cumbersome" too early. He had had +more than one "tot" already. + +A dozen yards off, on the other side of the glade, talking to Mrs +Brathwaite, sat Lilian Strange; and the rich, sweet tones were well in +keeping with the languorous beauty of the spot as she now and then +raised her head from some crewel-work she had brought with her, to tell +some little joke to the old lady. She was in cool white and looking +lovelier than ever, for the fresh, healthy air had acted with tonic +result, and she hardly knew herself, so thoroughly bracing had been its +effect upon her. And she had been happy here, too--yes, happy; putting +both past and future resolutely away from her--and happiness and +contentment is a better restorative than all the tonics or bracing +climes in the world. + +Claverton was away with the rest of the party, roaming about the kloof. +She had asked him, as a special favour, to go with them, not feeling +equal to a walk herself in the morning, as it was rather hot. And she +must not monopolise him, she said, with a witching little smile. He +must do his duty, and then, perhaps--no one knew what might happen in +the afternoon. He had complied, as he took occasion to tell her, as he +would have complied with any wish of hers however difficult, and +irrespective of that veiled half-promise; to which latter, however, he +intended holding her, and lived in anticipation on the thought. But it +must be admitted that his presence among the exploring party did not, on +the whole, constitute an adjunct of cheerfulness, though now and again, +by an effort, he would make them laugh. And he persisted in piloting +them to places involving a toilsome climb, ostensibly to descant on the +view; but in his heart of hearts, hoping that the point of vantage would +command the camp--where haply his eye might catch the gleam of a white +dress against the foliage. Whereby it is manifest that, other points in +his favour notwithstanding, Claverton was, after all, a consummate ass. + +"Well, Miss Strange," cried Jim, "how do you like this sort of thing? +Has mother been taking care of you, or have you been taking care of her? +Why, you look as cool as if we were not in a sort of natural oven." + +"I don't know about the oven," replied Lilian. "I know that this is a +delightful place, and falling water always makes a current of air. But +I do feel somewhat guilty, sitting lazily here while every one else is +on the move." + +"_We've_ been taking it rather easy, too. Fishing, you know, is +proverbially a lazy amusement." + +"Is it? Anyhow, I have been pitying all of you poor creatures broiling +in the sun, looking at the water." + +"Ho, ho! Broiling in the sun?" laughed Jim. "Why, you should just have +seen that fellow George, for instance, lying on his back in the shadiest +corner of the place, blowing clouds, and his rod nearly at the bottom of +the water?" + +The youth named grinned shyly and looked sheepish. + +"How about going to look after the others?" suggested Jim, ever +energetic and anxious to be moving. "Do you feel inclined to venture, +Miss Strange, or would you rather stay here?" + +Now the fact was, Lilian had become a little tired of sitting still, and +the proposal was rather a welcome one. She would fain have strolled +away under the cool shade of the trees, but she had resisted her lover's +longing entreaty to make one of the former party, on the ground of +wishing to rest, and now he would come back and find her away with Jim +and the others, and perhaps be hurt. No; he should not. If she could +not give him all he asked--namely, herself--at any rate she would show +an unselfish regard for his feelings in everything else. It was a poor +consolation, but this she could do, no matter what it cost herself; and +this was only one out of a hundred little instances of the kind, all of +which Claverton had seen, and, seeing, could have worshipped her. And +yet, would it not make their parting a hundredfold more bitter when it +came? + +So unhesitatingly she answered: "I think I'll stop here just at +present." + +"That's right, Lilian," said Mrs Brathwaite. "I'm sure you oughtn't to +go scrambling about all day. It'll be much better for you to wait till +this afternoon, dear, when it's a little cooler." + +"Well, I shall go," cried Jim. "Come along, you fellows. Ethel, you'll +come?" + +"No, I won't." + +"What? Well, I didn't think you'd be so lazy!" + +"Thank you, Mr Brathwaite," said Lilian, with a quiet little laugh. +"That's one at me." + +"Oh, no; really not. It's different with you, you see, and--and--Hang +it! I'd better clear out of this; it's getting too warm for me," cried +Jim, in mock helplessness. + +"Well, I think you had," laughed his mother. And he and young Garrett +wandered off. + +Soon the ramblers began to drop in, hot and tired, but in high spirits. +Luncheon was ready laid out. + +"Oh, Ethel, you ought to have come with us! It's lovely down there!" +cried Gertie Wray, who, with Armitage, was the first to arrive. + +"Yes? What _have_ you been doing to yourself?" + +Following the direction of her glance, Gertie put both hands to her hat. +Her mischief-loving cavalier had amused himself by sticking the ends of +several pieces of long grass into it, and these were standing out a yard +above her head, nodding like plumes. There was a laugh at her expense. + +"Oh, you horrid tease!" she cried, crushing them up and throwing them at +him. + +"What? Why, 'pon my word it wasn't me! I didn't do it; it was +Claverton." + +"Was it?" repeated she, indignantly. "It was you. Mr Claverton never +plays practical jokes, and you--" + +"Oh!--h'm!--ah! I say--awfully sorry! Didn't know, really--have put my +foot in it--must be more careful," cried the mischievous dog, in tones +of mock consternation. + +"You're a perfect horror!" cried Gertie, laughing, and blushing +furiously. "I declare I'll never speak to you again?" + +"And was that Claverton, too?" tranquilly asked the owner of the +patronymic in question. For Jessie Garrett, who had also been with +Armitage and Gertie, now arrived on the scene--having lingered behind a +little--similarly adorned. + +"What a mischievous fellow he is!" cried Jim's wife, who had just come +up. "We ought to make him go without his dinner." + +"Or duck him--he deserves ducking," put in Jessie Garrett. "Mr +Claverton; can't some of you duck him?" + +"Too hot for any such violent exertion," replied Claverton, +nonchalantly, as he turned away, and sat down on the ground by the side +of Lilian Strange, while old Garrett was heard to remark that "young +fellers would 'ave their fun." + +"Do you know, I'm a shocking bad waiter," he observed. "I invariably +upset everything--cut over a wing of chicken into somebody's lap, or +pour a tumbler full of liquid down their back, or shoot some one +opposite bang in the eye with a soda-water cork." + +"But to-day you won't do any of these things," laughed Lilian. "And you +seem to have taken care of me pretty well." + +"Have I? As a rule, on these occasions, I skulk in the background, and +pretend not to know that people have begun to feed. Then, when they are +well under weigh, some motherly soul spots me, and makes a descent upon +me, singing out: `Why, I declare, you haven't got anything. Do come and +have some of this and of that, and so on;' and I find myself looked +after as if I was the prodigal calf--prodigal son. I mean--same thing. +Thus the public back is saved from a baptism of soda-water, and I from +making an ass of myself, and every one's happy." + +"Don't be so utterly absurd," said Lilian, laughing as if she could +never stop. + +"Here, I say, what's the joke over there, Claverton?" cried Armitage. +"Roll it down this end." + +"I was only telling Miss Strange about you tumbling into the puddle +yonder, Jack," answered he. + +"Did he? When? How? Do tell us, Mr Claverton," cried Gertie Wray. + +"Oh, hang it, that's not fair," growled he most concerned. + +"Well, he and Hicks went fishing here one Sunday. They were told that +only naughty little boys went fishing on Sunday; but anyhow they went, +and so were bound to come to grief, and come to grief they did--at least +one of them did. The other was spared that he might take warning by it. +Friend Jack, finding it slow, I suppose, lay down on that first flat +rock and went to sleep, and--_presto_!--he found himself floundering in +deep water." + +"You weren't there," retorted Jack. + +"_No_; else you would not have been here to-day, for I should have +deserved well of the State by leaving you in the deep. But the story +goes that Hicks was so immensely tickled by the circumstance as to be +unable for some time to render any help to poor Jack, who in consequence +was nearly drowned, for the rock is perpendicular, and high out of the +water, as you see. My impression is, that Hicks, likewise, wae in the +land of Nod; but if so, no historian was present to record the fact." + +There was a laugh all round at Armitage's expense, and amid the clatter +of knives and forks, and the popping of corks, conversation and chaff +waxed high. + +"By the way, did any one go up to the cave?" asked Mr Brathwaite, +suddenly. + +"No, I think not," replied Hicks. While others inquired: "What cave?" + +"Why, the cave up yonder. It's a regular Bushman's cave. A lot of them +used to live there; but the Dutchmen, who owned the place just below, +polished off the last of them. That was during the '46 war. Some of +their bones are there still, I believe; but it's a long time since I've +been into it." + +"That sounds interesting, but rather ghastly," said Lilian. "But why +were they killed? Did they join the Kafirs in the war?" + +"No. The Kafirs hated them almost more than the Boers did. But they're +mischievous little devils, you see. One scratch of their poisoned +arrows, and it was all up with you." + +"Where is the place?" asked Claverton. + +"Just a little way down the bend, there," pointing to the jutting wall +of cliff. "There's a path leading up to it--a sort of cattle track--you +ought to go and look at it. And there are a lot of regular Bushman +drawings in the rock, which are rather curious things if you haven't +seen them before. Take Miss Strange up to see them, she might like to +make sketches of them." + +For Lilian was an adept in the art of water-colour drawing, and had +already portrayed much of the wild bush scenery in the neighbourhood, +which had never before been reduced to paper. + +"That would be so nice," she said. "I've brought my drawing things with +me, too." + +"Claverton, old feller," cried old Garrett. "We 'aven't 'ad a glass +together all day; let's have one now." + +"All right." + +"That's it. Better late than never. 'Ere's my respects," cried the old +chap, nodding; his rubicund countenance aglow with geniality--and grog. +"I suppose, Miss Strange," he went on, turning to Lilian, "you'd never +'ave thought we could get up such a pleasant little picnic in these +out-of-the-way parts, would you?" + +"Well, yes, I think I should, Mr Garrett," she replied. + +"Aha, yes. I dare say 'e's bin putting you up to the ropes," went on +the old fellow, leering and winking at Claverton, and speaking in a tone +which he thought was the perfection of genial banter; but which made its +object wildly long to shy a bottle at his head. Ordinarily he looked +upon old Garrett with a kind of amused contempt; but to be made the butt +of his muzzy jests, that was quite another thing. So, completely +ignoring him, he drew Lilian's attention to an effect of light and shade +high above them on the cliff opposite. + +"Now we'll make for the cave," he said, as, feeding operations over, +pipes began to appear. + +"Yes. I'll get my drawing things," answered Lilian, rising. + +"Are you going up to the cave?" said Miss Smithson, a pretty, +fair-haired girl, who lived in the neighbourhood and whom they saw a +good deal of. "That'll be delightful--I should so like to see it. Mr +Gough, will you come, too; there are some beautiful ferns up there?" + +Gough assented, while Claverton inwardly anathematised poor Lucy +Smithson, little thinking how unjustly, for she was really going out of +her way to render him a service. + +The four started. No one else seemed inclined to embark in the +undertaking, having had enough knocking about at present, they said; old +Garrett adding: "We old fogies don't feel up to climbing, so we'll just +sit and 'ave a nice comfortable chat and a smoke." + +"And a big drink," added Claverton, cynically, to his companion. "What +an infliction that old fool can become!" + +"He is rather overpowering," assented Lilian. "Who can the old fellow +have been?" + +"A bricklayer, most likely, or a clodhopper of some sort. These fellows +save a little coin, or make a lucky venture at the Diamond Fields, and +buy a farm, and then, there they are. There's precious little class +distinction here." + +"I suppose so. But as the country gets more thickly settled, that'll +all come." + +"Yes. You see, in the old times when all these older men had to rough +it together, and were dependent on each other for mutual help and +defence, it was the smartest fellow who was made most of, irrespective +of social grade. And these bricklayer chaps and journeymen were always +in request, and could not only command high wages at any time, but +didn't care what they did, so they made their pile quickly enough. In a +few generations most of the class distinctions of the old country will +prevail here, as education and the importation of educated people grows. +As it is, the rising generation, if you notice, is better educated than +its parents, and in many instances undisguisedly looks down on its +grandparents." + +"Yes, I've noticed that," said Lilian. "And my predilection generally +lies with the old people, who, if somewhat uncultured, are kindness +itself." + +"And their very roughness makes them the fittest people to open up a new +colony," went on Claverton. "Now look at that scowling fellow +Jeffreys--how weary I am of his eternal scowl, by the way. Well, his +grandfather would hardly have been taken on as valet to Mr Brathwaite's +father in the old country, and yet here the Jeffreys mix with us as +equals, and are among the most well-to-do people anywhere about. Isn't +this shade delightful?" + +For they were walking beneath a growth of massive yellow-wood trees, +whose great twisted limbs overhead shut out the sunlight, though here +and there it struggled through and lay in a golden network on the +ground. Masses of lichen festooned from trunk and bough, and monkey +ropes and trailers of every description hung here straight and +cord-like, there tangled together in the most hopeless confusion. A +gloom lay beneath the shadowing trees, but it was the softened gloom of +a cathedral aisle; and the column-like trunks, firm and massive, stood +in rows along the coarse of the stream which bubbled along--now in +little clear pools, now brawling over a stony shallow. + +"Yes, perfectly sweet," answered Lilian. + +"Then, like all things to which that description applies, it isn't to +last, for here we turn upward." + +A ragged track, half path, half water-course, diverged from the stream, +leading up the bush-covered hillside, steep as a flight of steps. + +"Wait a minute," called out Lucy Smithson, who was overtaking them. "I +don't think I'll go up after all. It's turned out so hot, and here we +leave the shade. Do you mind, Mr Gough?" she added to her companion. +"But don't let me keep you from going, I can easily go back alone. It +isn't far." + +This was out of the question, and she knew it. The fact being that the +whole move was a little ruse on her part with the object of befriending +Claverton and Lilian, in a way covering their retreat, so as not to make +it quite so conspicuous. Who knew, thought the good-natured girl, but +that this very afternoon might decide the future of those two? So she +had laid her little plan. + +Gough, who had his own reasons for wanting to rejoin the others, +professed that turning back was the very course he should have thought +advisable, so with a conventional word or two of regret, they separated. + +"Now one can breathe again," exclaimed Claverton, in a tone of relief. + +"I don't know," laughed his companion; "climbing a flight of very steep +steps is likely to put one out of breath. And it's awfully steep here." + +"It is rather," he answered, taking her arm to help her up the rough +bush path, which was, in truth, like a flight of stairs. "But you'll go +wild with delight when we get to the top, I expect. It's just one of +those views you revel in. And," he added, tenderly, "this is the first +time I have had you all to myself to-day." + +"I thought I should have ridden this morning," she said. + +"Were you sorry you didn't?" + +"They said it was too far for me to ride," she went on as if not hearing +his question. Then, looking suddenly at him: "Yes, I was sorry; but--" + +Claverton's heart gave a bound. Was this anything to augur from, after +all? No. Lilian was not as most girls. + +"But what?" he asked, eagerly. "Nothing," and the expression of her +face was grave and troubled. + +Of late she had been a prey to sad misgivings; at times she felt as if +she had been playing a deceitful and unworthy part. She had let this +man go on thinking she was learning to care for him--for she was sure +that he did think so--knowing the while that she could never be anything +to him; and now the time of her stay was drawing very near its close, +and she must explain to him that the fact of having given him so much of +her society, and sought his confidence, and shown her unmistakable +esteem for him, was only her side to the compact which they had ratified +that evening under the stars, and that they must part as they had met-- +strangers, or what to him would seem but little less cold--friends only. +Yet she had been very happy with him, happier even than she dared own +to herself. And now she must explain all this, and what would he think +of her? Would he hate her? Would his powerful, all-in-all love change +to bitter contempt? Ah! there lay the sting. But, no! She felt that +he was different somehow to other men. He would understand perhaps, and +pity her, and even not withdraw his love. She could not bear the +thought of losing that--and she was so lonely. Yes; she would explain; +this very day, she had made up her mind as to that. But when she tried +to begin she had stopped short, and when he would have had her continue, +had answered "Nothing." + +Claverton did not urge her. He respected her sudden reticence, as he +respected her every word, her lightest look. He, too, had his own +thoughts to occupy him. With the shadow of her approaching departure +lying upon his mind, deepening day by day as the time drew on, he was +fast relapsing into the state of restless despondency to which he had +been a prey before he tempted his fate so futilely. The wave of +reckless happiness into which he had unquestioningly plunged, with +nearly two months of Lilian's society before him, had rolled on, leaving +him even worse than before. He would cast the dice again; but, +instinctively, he felt that this time the throw would be fatal. Should +he do it to-day? The opportunity was a rarely favourable one. But, no! +He would not mar the recollection of this one golden day, one of the +few last they would spend together. + +So in silence they continued the ascent, every now and then pausing to +rest and look back. At length the arching trees overhead gave way, and +a wall of rock rose in front. + +"We are nearly there now," said Claverton, leading the way along beneath +the rock. "This is our way." + +"Oh, look!" + +There was a rustle among the bushes, as a buck, which had been lying in +the sun at the base of the cliff, sprang up and plunged into the cover, +where they could hear it bounding away down the hill. + +"How pretty! I've never seen one so close before--at least, not alive," +she went on. "I could see its eyes quite plainly; but how it startled +me!" she added, with a laugh. + +"All the unwonted eights that you do see are always when you are with +me," said Claverton, with a pleased smile. "But here we are at last. +One more staircase, though." + +They stood before a yawning fissure falling back so as to make a natural +staircase to the brow of the cliff. Nearly a hundred feet above, queer +jagged pinnacles stood one above the other all up the sides of the +gully, at whose entrance rose a great perpendicular tower of rock, with +a huge boulder resting fantastically upon its summit. A tiny thread of +water trickled down a well-worn channel, and from every cornice and +cranny trailed a profusion of the most delicate maiden-hair ferns. + +Lilian was enchanted. While pausing for a moment to rest, she dipped +her hands into some clear water gathered in its little stony basin. In +the act of withdrawing them, a ring slipped from one of her fingers and +fell to the bottom of the water. It was a curious ring, consisting of +two ropes of solid gold twisted together. Her companion fished it out, +and, as he returned it to her, he noticed that she was deathly pale. +But he made no remark, only glanced in the opposite direction for a +moment, in order to give her time to recover her self-possession. Yet +he connected the circumstance with her former lapses of hesitation and +restraint. In silence they resumed their way, and at length gained a +wide ledge at the other end of which was the cave. It seemed of some +depth, being wider and loftier at the month, narrowing thence into +darkness. + +"Wait, let me go in first and explore," he went on, as a matter of +precaution holding ready in his pocket the small revolver which had been +his constant companion since Mopela's attempt on his life. Then +striking a match he was about to advance. + +"What's that?" exclaimed Lilian. But he had seen it as soon as she had, +and placed himself in front of her. It was a human skull, standing on a +ledge of rock about breast-high, and the eyeless sockets and white teeth +looked ghastly enough, grinning at them dimly through the darkness. In +an instant he had laid hold of it and jerked it away out of the cave +down into the bush beneath. + +"What was it?" she repeated. + +"Only a stone. A rolling one, like yours truly. I don't suppose it has +stopped yet." + +He was glad she had not seen the hideous thing, and lighting another +match he peered cautiously around, lest there should be a second skull. +There was, but it was lying on the ground with the face turned away from +them, and Lilian took it for a stone. There would have been to her +something horribly ghastly in these grisly death's-heads, lying there in +that gloomy cavern, just faintly visible by the flickering light of the +match he carried. + +"That's all right," he said, as they returned to the light. "I didn't +much think we should find anything very terrific, but it's as well to +look. Sometimes a snake takes up his quarters in a place like this." + +"What's this?" cried she, as something crackled beneath her feet. + +"Oh, some of those old bones the _Baas_ was telling us about. I don't +suppose there's much left of them now, five-and-twenty years after." + +Lilian shuddered slightly. + +"Let's get into the air again," she said. "This place is rather +awesome." + +"Very well. But look, here are the Bushman drawings." + +The walls of the cavern were plentifully adorned with hieroglyphics-- +rude figures of men and animals--worked into the smoother parts of the +rock with a kind of blue dye. Here and there the surface had been +smoothed away to admit of the barbarous frescoes. + +"They are very queer," said Lilian, "but candidly I am just a little +disappointed in them. I thought they were much more artistically done." + +"Yes, I always think people make more fuss about them than they are +worth. They are sorry attempts after all." + +"I think I shall make a sketch of the kloof, bringing in that great +jutting cliff. What a pity it just hides the waterfall!" continued she. + +He undid her basket and got out her drawing materials. Then they +discovered that the little portable water-tin was empty. + +"I'll get you some from down there in half a minute," he said, starting +to his feet. + +"But--but--I don't quite like being left alone here," she said, +hesitatingly, casting an apprehensive look backward at the gloomy cave. + +Claverton stopped. + +"Then we must go together," he said. "As far as the end of the ledge, +anyhow. Then I shall have you in sight while I scramble down the +rocks." + +"What a helpless creature I am!" she exclaimed, with a sad little smile. + +"I wouldn't have you otherwise for all the world," replied he, tenderly; +and they started on their quest. Swinging himself over the ledge he +filled the little vessel from the trickle of water in the gully, and was +with her again in a minute. + +"Now," he went on, arranging a large flat stone as a seat for her, just +in the shade of the cavern's month. "Now, you must make the most of the +time, and knock up an adequate representation of the scene, and I +believe I shall have the cheek to ask you to copy it again for me," and +he threw himself down on the rock beside her. + +"Don't sit there in the sun," said she. "And I shall tire you out, +keeping you tied here by the hour. It would be much more amusing to you +to be away with the others." + +Claverton indulged in a long, quiet laugh. "That idea strikes me as +something too rich. Tire me out! When I have been longing the whole +day to be with you, and with you only and alone. When I could sit here +for ever and ever only to be by your side and to see you and to hear the +music of your voice, darling. I never want a better heaven than this-- +than this one--here, at this moment," he went on, with a burst of +passionate abandonment as different from his ordinary self-control of +speech as the beautiful scene before them was from a Lincolnshire fen. + +Lilian made no reply, but bent her head rather lower over her drawing, +and her fingers trembled ever so slightly. Clouds of spreuws flitted +among the crags opposite, their shrill whistle echoing melodiously from +rock to rock. Bright-eyed little conies sat up peering warily around +for a moment, and then scampering into their holes among the stones and +ledges; and a large bird of prey circled slowly overhead uttering a loud +rasping cry, then soared away over the valley. Beneath, the forest lay +sleeping in the lustrous sunlight, and now and again from its cool +recess would be upborne the soft note of a hoopoe. + +Lilian worked on, neither of them speaking much. Claverton, for his +part, was content to lounge there, as he had said, for ever, so that +only he might watch that graceful white figure--bending over the +sketch-block--and the delicate patrician profile, the fringed eyelid +opening wide as she kept looking up from the paper to take in the scene. +The sound of his own voice had a tendency to break the charm, so he +kept silence. And thus the time wore on, till at last the sketch was +finished, and Lilian, laying down the block to dry, rose to her feet. + +"There," she said; "I think we must be going." + +Her companion's countenance fell. "Not yet. Look. You haven't filled +in that tuft of aloes on the krantz, and there's more shading wanted +here." + +She laughed. "I can fill that in at home. And the shading's quite +right, really. Do you know how long we have been here?" + +"I know how long we haven't been here--half long enough." + +"Two hours and a quarter. We must really be going. They'll be +wondering what has become of us." + +"Really not. They won't trouble their heads about us. A little longer. +Heaven knows when I shall get you all to myself like this again," he +pleaded. "And--Why, Lilian--darling--what is it?" For she had suddenly +grown very white. + +"You are tired," he went on. "The heat and the climb have been too much +for you. What a ruffian I was to have made you come! But it's shady +and cool here, let's wait a little longer; the rest will do you good." + +"No, I am not tired; but we will wait a little longer. I--I have +something to say to you, and this is a good opportunity of saying it." + +"Yes. What is it?" + +"Do you remember our compact?" she went on, with a sort of shiver, and +speaking in a dead, mechanical voice. "Have you forgotten it--that +night by the water? I had no right to bind you to such a one-sided +agreement. It was not fair to you. I only thought of myself, and it +was selfish of me--sinfully selfish--to ask you to consent to such a +thing." + +"Selfish! You selfish? Well, what next?" + +There was silence for a moment. Before--beneath them lay the beautiful +valley, its abrupt slopes and iron-bound krantzes soft in the golden +sunshine. A couple of crimson-winged louris flitted among the tree-tops +beneath, and the hum of insects floated up with a faint and far-away +sound. Behind--above them yawned the gloomy cave, those whited relics +of primeval barbarism lying silent and ghastly on the shadowed floor, +the sole witnesses of this conflict of love in all its heart-wrung +hopelessness. What a mocking irony of circumstances is that which has +caused such a scene in the drama of civilisation--civilisation in its +highest and most refined phase, to be enacted here in this savage spot, +where lie the dead bones of the most degraded of the human race. + +"Yes, selfish. I valued your society, your friendship, so much, I could +not bear to lose it. I was afraid you would leave me, then and there; +and, oh! I have never known what real chivalrous sympathy was till I +met you, and I have needed it so. Yet I might have known what would be +the result of tasking you to the utmost of your strength--beyond it, +rather. Well, our compact," she went on, in an altered voice, as if +nerving herself for an effort. "You have not kept to it. You must not +talk to me as you have been doing lately--to-day even. You must not--" + +She turned half away; she felt faint and sick at heart and dared not +look at him. What would he say to her? Suddenly something struck her +on the shoulder, just behind the neck. The concussion was of the nature +of a blow, rather quick than violent. She turned upon her companion, +lost in a kind of scared wonder. + +He had sprang to his feet and was shaking something from his hand. It +fell on the ground, and he stamped upon it and crushed it. + +"What is that?" she asked, glancing from the ground to his face, which +was growing very white. + +"Only entomology," he replied. "Look at it." + +A huge red scorpion lay on the ground, where he had trodden upon it. It +died hard, however, and though half-crashed it lay writhing and darting +out its formidable sting in its rage. + +"In half a second it would have been on your neck; it was going there as +fast as it could crawl when I picked it off," he said. + +"Has it stung you? Of course it has," she cried, her rich voice +vibrating with concern. "Why, Arthur," she went on, all in a glow of +admiration; "do you mean to say that you snatched that dreadful creature +off me with your bare hand?" + +It was the first time she had ever called him "Arthur," and for a moment +he almost forgot the furious pain of the sting. + +"Just that. I'd lay hold of the devil himself under far less +provocation, I assure you. It was the only way of getting it off quick +enough. By Jingo, it hurts, though. Look away for a moment, I'm going +to slash it." + +Opening his knife, which was keen and sharp as a razor, he drew its +blade across the wound in a couple of deep gashes. The blood spurted +freely, and he ground his teeth in the convulsive anguish caused by the +venomous brute's sting, which seemed to go through his whole frame. +Then he applied his lips to the wound and sucked. + +"Good thing it missed that large vein," he said. For he had been just +in time to seize the creature and crush it up in his fingers, during +which process it had whipped up its tail and stung him twice just round +the back of the hand. "Oh, I shall be all right, but we'd better get +back. The Baas sometimes carries a bottle of Croft's Tincture. That'll +put it right in no time," continued he, with rather a ghastly smile. +For the sting of a scorpion is terribly painful; indeed, unless a remedy +is at hand the sufferer will undergo the most acute agony. The sting of +the Apocalyptical locusts has been well compared. + +"Yes, yes. Let us be going," she said, hurriedly. "Is it dreadfully +painful?" + +"I hardly feel it when I look into your eyes, darling. And your very +voice has a soothing effect." + +She had just been taking him to task for talking to her in this strain, +regardless of their compact, but how could she upbraid him now--when he +was in this terrible pain--and all for her? Suddenly he reeled giddily, +and his face became even more livid; and the perspiration stood in beads +upon his forehead. An awful fear gripped her heart. All the grim +stories she had heard of deaths from stings and snakebites crowded up. +If this were to prove fatal and he were to die at her feet, having laid +down his life for her! At this moment she knew her own heart if she had +never done so before. Further self-disguise was useless. This incident +had swept away the veil. + +"Ah, why did you do it?" cried she, in tones of thrilling anguish. "I +would sooner it had stung me a hundred times! You can hardly walk! +Lean on me. See! I am not such a weak support, after all." + +She had passed her arm through his, and, for the moment, felt as strong +and determined as even he could have been. All thoughts of prudence and +conventionality were scattered to the winds in her awful apprehension. +He was suffering horribly--it might be, even, that his life was in +danger. + +"Why, how childishly weak I am!" said he, with another forced smile. +"The thing can't hurt so much, after all; hang it, it can't!" + +But it did. There was no getting rid of that fact, try as he might to +ignore it. Thus they made their way back. + +"Look, now, I mustn't make a crutch of you any more. We shall be coming +upon the others directly," said Claverton, as they drew near to the +halting-place. + +"I don't care if we do," she replied, fearlessly. + +"But I care; and I'm not going to let you do what you might regret +afterwards," rejoined he, sadly, remembering the burden of their +conversation at the time of the occurrence. + +"Ah, why did you do it?" she repeated. And by that time they were in +sight and earshot of the rest of the party. + +"Hallo, Arthur! What's up?" asked Mr Brathwaite, noticing his unwonted +aspect. + +"Nothing much; only a sting. Got any Croft's Tincture?" + +"Is it a snake?" inquired the old man, with more alarm in his voice than +he intended to betray. + +"No; a scorpion." + +The while Mr Brathwaite had been uncorking a small bottle. "Lucky I +didn't change my coat at the last moment this morning. I was as nearly +as possible doing so, and this would have been left behind if I had, +sure as fate. Now, let's have a look at it." + +An infusion of the healing fluid was applied, and soon the sufferer +began to feel perceptibly relieved. The throbbing became less violent, +and, although much swollen already, the hand grew no larger. Old +Garrett stood by, watching the doctoring process, lecturing the while, +his theme the deterioration from its ancestry of the rising generation. + +"There," he was saying, "I'll be bound that none of you young fellers +'ave any of that stuff with you--and what would you 'ave done without +it? We old stagers is always ready for any emergence," (his auditors +presumed he meant emergency)--"always ready. All there, sir; all +there?" + +"Have you got any of it yourself?" asked the patient, catting him short. + +"'Ave I? Well, let's see. No, I 'aven't to-day, but I generally 'ave." + +"Oh!" said the patient, significantly. + +"There, you'll do now," said Mr Brathwaite, tying up the hand with a +handkerchief. "It'll hurt a little for a time, but the swelling will +soon go down. But how did it happen?" + +"The scorpion was on my shoulder, and Mr Claverton snatched it off with +his bare hand," answered Lilian, quickly, in her clear tones. + +"Awkwardly enough, too, as the result shows," rejoined Claverton. "By +the way, has Hicks slain anything? We heard him cannonading away down +the kloof like the Siege of Paris." He said this with the object of +changing the topic, and the statement was not strictly historical in +every particular. + +"Ha, ha!" laughed Mr Brathwaite. "Hicks banging away, as usual. He +never will move without his gun. One thing, though, if he isn't +dangerous to beast, he isn't to man either. He's always careful +enough." + +"I've sent for the horses," said Jim, who had just come up. "Hallo, +Claverton! What's the row with your hand?" + +Then the story was raked up afresh, and all eyes were turned upon its +hero, which he hated, and looked around seeking a means of escape, when, +to his intense relief, a diversion occurred, in the shape of Hicks and +Allen dragging between them a huge bushbuck ram, which the former had +shot. + +"Hicks to the fore. Hooray!" cried Armitage. "How much salt did you +lodge on its tail, old man?" + +"Go to Bath, Jack. You're not the only fellow in the world who ever +shot anything," retorted Hicks, who was hot and testy. Then there was a +general laugh, and at length the jollity was cut short by the inexorable +hand of Time. The vehicles were in-spanned, for they must needs depart. +Those who were to ride were busy saddling up, and at length farewells +having been exchanged, all started on their respective ways, some +riding, some driving. Armitage declared that the last thing he saw of +old Garrett was that worthy balancing himself in his trap trying to draw +a cork, while his hopeful held the reins; but no one knew whether to +believe the statement or not. One thing, however, presumption was all +in favour of its veracity, so they gave the old toper the benefit of the +doubt--in the wrong direction. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +"SUNSHINE OUTSIDE--ICE AT THE CORE." + +"After all, this is a glorious sort of life!" exclaimed Hicks, striking +his hatchet into a thorn-stump and standing upright, in all the elation +of his health and strength, to gaze at the sun--now rather more than an +hour high--and then at the surrounding _veldt_, all dewy and sparkling. + +"It is," assented his companion, making a final chop at a thorn-bush +which he had cut down. "Here, Tambusa, lay hold of that `tack' and bang +it up against the others. There. The devil himself would yell if +chucked against that hedge now." + +For they were repairing sundry breaches in the fence of the wet-weather +kraal. + +Tambusa obeyed; but in the act of doing so stumbled, and, trying to save +himself, sat right on the most thorny end of the branch he was +manipulating. + +"I never did see such a nigger for blundering," laughed Claverton, as +Tambusa, picking himself up, endeavoured to extract the sharp mimosa +spikes which had stuck in his naked carcase. "Hang it, man; you had the +whole district for as far round as you can see to sit down in, and yet +you pick out such a seat as that." + +The Kafir grinned dolefully, not much relishing this keen jest; but he +liked its propounder, and so he grinned. + +"Yes. It's a glorious life," continued Hicks, bent on philosophising, +apparently. "One never feels off one's chump. Suits a fellow down to +the ground." + +"It does," acquiesced the other. "By the way, I hear the Brathwaite +girls are going away next week." + +"Eh!--what? No. Who told you that?" cried Hicks, turning sharply. + +"Oh! didn't you know? My informant was Ethel herself. I thought you +knew." + +Hicks looked "off his chump" enough now, to use his own expression, and +his companion's satirical soul discovered something irresistibly comic +in this sudden transition from elation to crestfallenness, which would +have amused him vastly, but that the laugh was not entirely on his own +side. So he only repeated: "I made sure you knew." + +"No, I didn't. But, I say, though, that's a blue look out. I don't +know how we shall get on without them, it'll be slow as slow can be," +and then, remembering that his companion might have good reasons for not +agreeing with this latter statement, Hicks stopped short, and began +blundering out something about "it making all the difference, you know, +having a lot of people in the house--or only a few." + +"Let's knock off," suggested Claverton. "We're about done here. +Tambusa, lug along those `tacks,' we'll bang them up somewhere and go." + +It was a couple of days after the fishing picnic, and just each a +morning. There had been plenty of work of one kind or another to occupy +the whole of the time since then; but to-day they would only ride round +the place, and give an eye to the stock, picking up, perchance, a stray +shot or two on the way. + +"Arthur," said Mr Brathwaite, meeting the two young men on the _stoep_. +"Driscoll's just sent over to say he can take you down to see that +place of his to-day. I advise you to ride over there and go with him. +It's a good place, and going for a mere song. I'd think twice, if I +were you, before letting it slip." + +"You're right; I'll go over and see it. But could you come too, and +give me the benefit of your experience?" + +"I can't to-day, I'm afraid. It's a long way, and I don't feel up to +it. Still, you have a good eye to the capabilities of a place, I should +say. Anyhow, go and look at it." + +On second thoughts, Claverton was rather glad. He would be more the +master of his own movements if alone, and would be able to return as +soon as possible, whereas, at the ordinary regulation speed, the +undertaking would carry him through the whole day. + +"Have you far to go?" asked Lilian, as after breakfast he sat buckling +on his spurs in the passage. + +"Yes; it's a good way. I may not be back till nearly dark," he +answered, ruefully, taking down his riding-crop from the peg. "But +to-day I'm going to imagine myself riding another fellow's horse with my +own spurs. I may as well be off, there's that little chatterbox, +Gertie, bearing down upon us. Good-bye." + +He mounted and rode off in a very discontented frame of mind. What did +he care if any one made him a present of the whole continent of Africa, +if he were not to win _her_? The days were so precious and so few now, +and here he was throwing away a whole one for the sake of a wretched +"bargain." He wouldn't go--he would let the thing slide--he would turn +back. And his face, as he rode, wore an aspect of troubled +preoccupation. + +Turning from the door, Lilian encountered Gertie Wray in the passage. + +"Oh, there you are, Lilian," exclaimed that volatile young lady. "I was +just coming to look for you. Do come and teach me that lovely song you +promised to, last night. We shall have it all to ourselves. Ethel and +Laura are fixed for the morning with Mrs Brathwaite, making dresses or +something." + +"Very well, dear," assented Lilian, always ready to oblige others. She +was not feeling inclined just then to sit hammering out accompaniments +for a not very apt learner to murder a song to; but self came second +with her. So she did her best to instil the desired accompaniment into +the other's understanding; but in about half an hour her pupil got tired +of it. + +"I think I shall sit indoors and read," said Gertie. "It's too hot to +go out." + +"Is it? I like the heat," said Lilian. "I think I shall go for one of +what you call my `somnambulisms.'" + +"And a very good name for them," laughed the other. "To see you walking +along, so still and stately, any one would think you were walking in +your sleep, but that your eyes are open. Well, go for your +`somnambulism,' my peerless Lilian, only don't get too much in the sun +or you'll get freckles," and the speaker nestled down comfortably in a +chair in a cool corner to while away the morning over a novel. + +"You silly child," replied Lilian, laughing as she bent down to kiss +her. "You'll be asleep yourself, really and in good effect, in about +half an hour at that rate. Good-bye." + +She went out, and paused for a moment on the _stoep_ with head +gracefully poised and the beautiful figure erect as she stood gazing, +with eyes opened wide, upon the glories of the sun-steeped landscape. +Then she picked up a volume which lay on a chair under the verandah. + +"I'll sit and read a little on that comfortable old seat under the large +pear-tree when I'm tired," she thought, and, with the book in her hand, +she passed on, down between the orange-trees, and out through the gate +in the wooden fence, where the great scarlet-cactus blossoms twined in +all their prismatic gorgeousness. Now and then she would stop and bend +down to pick a wild flower or to examine some queer insect, and the warm +glow of the summer morning seemed to favour her scheme of solitude and +meditation. It was hot, but she loved the warmth, there was nothing of +enervation in it to her; on the contrary, her thoughts and intellect +never had clearer or freer play than on a day like this. + +Dreamily and in meditative mood, Lilian wandered on; along the wall of +the mealie-land, where the tall stalks spread their broad, drooping +leaves, and many a white tufted ear, just bursting through its vernal +husk, gave promise of an abundant crop; past the dam, where she lingered +a moment to mark the clear shadows in its burning waters now cleft into +ripples as, one by one, the mud-turtles, who had been basking on the +bank, shuffled their slimy, flat shapes in with an ungainly slide; then +by the ostrich camp, whose fierce occupant lazily ambled towards the +wall, and then stopped half-way as if changing his mind. Dreamily still +she leaned, looking over the wall, her taper fingers gathering together +little fragments of stone, which, hardly knowing what she did, she threw +into the enclosure, as if enticing the bird to approach. Then turning +to pursue her way, behold, a high quince hedge barred it. + +"How tiresome!" she said to herself. "I shall have to go such a long +way round." + +But she had not. A friendly gap opened a few yards further down, and, +passing through it, she found herself in a wild, seldom visited part of +the garden. Here tangled grass flourished in delightful confusion; and +tall fig-trees, branching overhead, cast the sunlight in a network upon +the shadowy ground, while among the topmost boughs a few spreuws lazily +piped to each other as they revelled in the purple fruit. Then an open +bit and sunshine, and the boughs of a large peach-tree swept nearly to +the earth, as though to lay its load at her feet. She plucked off one +of the peaches, and pressed its blushing, velvety skin against her own +soft cheek. + +"It seems almost a pity to eat such lovely fruit," she murmured. "They +look so smooth and delicate." + +Still turning over the peach in her hands, she swept aside the long +drooping boughs of a great espalier. A rustic seat was fixed to the +trunk, forming a shady nook--though sun-pierced here and there in a +qualified degree--and on this she sat down. The surrounding branches +falling around, shut in the spot as if it were a tent. + +"It is delicious here, after that glare. I wonder who made this seat," +mused Lilian, throwing off her hat and preparing to discuss her peach +and otherwise enjoy to the full the glories of the golden noontide. +Mechanically she opened the book she had caught up as she came out; but +without attempting to read. The call of birds echoed through the leafy +arches; bees droned in subdued murmur; now and again a tree-cricket +broke the quietude with a shrill screech; the air, though not close or +sultry, was rich and warm and languorous, and presently Lilian's +thoughts began to get confused; her eyes closed; then the book slid from +her lap. The influences of the prevailing calm had conquered--she +slept. + +And what a picture she made, reclining against the rough, twisted arm of +the old rustic seat, one hand supporting the graceful head, and the +delicate oval face, with its refined beauty of feature! The long lashes +lay in a dark fringe upon each smooth cheek, which, lovingly kissed by +the warm, generous air, was tinged with a faint but inexpressibly +charming flush. The sweet, red lips were closed, but without a trace of +hardness in their tender curves; and the whole attitude one of ease, +abandonment, and yet of infinite grace in its every contour. A figure +thoroughly in harmony with the place, clime, and hour. A lovely picture +indeed. + +So thought its only spectator, as, with a rapturous yearning pain at his +heart, he noiselessly moved aside the trailing boughs and stepped within +their shade. He would not disturb the spell, but stood gazing entranced +upon the slumbering form in all its wealth of refinement of beauty. + +A large pear fell to the ground with a dull thud. Lilian stirred +uneasily, then half rose, letting fall the hand she had been leaning +upon. It was seized in a firm grasp by two other hands, and in tones +wherein earnest tenderness struggled with a gleeful laugh, a voice +whispered: + +"One doesn't wear gloves on the frontier, or what a chance of being set +up in them for life!" + +The long lashes unclosed, and she started ever so slightly. It was too +much. The hot blood rushed through Claverton's veins as though it were +molten liquid, and lifting her from the seat, he pressed her to him, +raining down warm, passionate kisses upon her lips, forehead, eyes, and +the soft dark hair which lay against his cheek, whispering wild, +delirious words of love and entreaty. Then he felt ashamed of his +fierce impulsiveness--his brutality as it seemed, in taking her at a +disadvantage. Was she angry or humiliated, or both? She made no +resistance as he held her there. Or had he about frightened her to +death? Then he held her from him. + +"You--here?" she cried, in astonishment; but there was no anger in her +tone, although a lovely blush suffused her face, even to the very roots +of her dark hair. "I thought you were going to be away all day. You +told me you would hardly get back before night." + +"I thought better of it. I couldn't remain away from you anything like +so long; wherefore I turned back. That's the plain, unvarnished truth. +Am I not improving in veracity?" + +"Oh! I am hurting your hand!" she exclaimed, suddenly becoming aware +that her fingers had been leaning hardly on the place where the scorpion +had stung him. No fault of hers, by the way, for she could not have +withdrawn them if she would. + +"Say, rather, you are healing it. Your touch would have more effect in +that line, with me, than that of a whole legion of Apostles," he +replied, still holding her. + +"Hush! You must not talk like that," said she, gently. Then, referring +to the sting: "But I ought not to lecture you, when it was done for me. +Ah, why do you take such care of me?" she cried, in conclusion, and her +eyes were brimming. + +"Why do--Oh, I do take care of you, then, do I?" + +"Always. If I want anything, you are sure to have it ready. If ever I +have a misgiving about anything, you are sure to be there to dispel it +and reassure me. In fact, I can't walk a yard but you are spreading +metaphorical carpets before my feet. And yet--Oh, Arthur, why did we +ever meet?" + +She turned away from him, standing with hands clasped before her, and +her eyes fixed on the ground. + +"Why did we ever meet?" he repeated, again drawing her to him and +bending down to whisper in her ear, a low, quick, passionate whisper. +"Because you and I were made for each other. Because we were brought +together here, both of us, from the other side of the world on purpose +for each other. Darling, that was the first thought that flashed +through me the very moment I saw you that first day. All of me before +that, was a different self; I hardly recognise it, now. You remember +that night by the water--it was the hardest blow I ever had, that that +little hand dealt me. But I wouldn't take it as final, I wouldn't give +it up, and now I've served my apprenticeship fairly well, haven't I? +What you've just said tells me that, even if nothing else did." + +There was a frightened, despairing look in her eyes; her lips moved as +if she were trying to speak, but the words would not come, and she made +as if she would draw away from him. + +"Lilian--sweetest--life of my life! Don't look so frightened, darling," +he cried, in a tone of thrilling tenderness. "Remember what you have +just told me, and for God's sake don't look so frightened. Tell me now +that you are going to give me the care of your whole life--your sweet, +love-diffusing life. Tell me this: Haven't I fairly established a claim +to it? Look at the sunshine around. That shall be an earnest of your +life, if you give it to me. My darling--my more than Heaven--only say +you will." + +He paused, hanging breathlessly on the reply. Again she struggled to +speak. The tension was fearful. Would she faint or die? Then he bent +his ear yet lower to catch two words hoarsely whispered: + +"I--cannot!" + +And then again the black bolt of despair shot through Claverton's heart. +This was the last throw of the dice, the last chance, and he felt it +was. Hitherto he had been almost confident in his hopefulness, now the +cup was dashed to the ground. Thus they stood for a space, neither +speaking. To Lilian it seemed as if the hour of her death had come, and +with her own hand she must drive home the weapon--down, down to her very +heart. The stray sunbeams crept along the ground beneath the old +pear-tree, insects hummed, and a bird twittered in the radiant light +without, and all told of calm and peace, and the very air seemed like a +glow from Heaven. With that mysterious instinct which stamps upon the +mind the veriest trifles at the time of some momentous crisis, she +marked the efforts of two large black ants who were carrying the dead +body of a cricket up the trunk of the tree; and to the end of her days +she would remember the persevering attempts of the laborious insects as +they dragged their burden, regardless of check or stumble, over the +rough bark of the old espalier. It seemed to her that hours had passed +instead of moments. Then he spoke, but his voice had lost its +confident, hopeful ring. "Don't say that. Say you can, and you will!" +She tried to lift her head, to speak firmly, but the attempt was a +failure. + +"I cannot," she repeated. "Forget me--hate me, if you will," and she +shuddered; but he clasped her closer to him. "I can be nothing to you. +I am bound--tied--bound firmly. Nothing can release me--nothing!" + +A look so stony and awful came into Claverton's face that, had she seen +it, she would inevitably have fainted away then and there. + +"Oh, Lilian! It can't be--that you are--that--you are--married?" he +gasped, and his brow was livid as he hang upon her answer. + +"No," she replied, "I am not--that," and again she shuddered. + +For a moment the other did not speak, but his face would have made a +study passing curious as he analysed the position. In the midst of the +shock his coolness seemed to have come back to him in a sudden and +dangerous degree. + +"Listen, now, Lilian," he said. "You are under a promise to some one--a +rash, hasty promise. That much I might almost have seen for myself. I +don't care whether it was made in Heaven or in hell; but you are going +to annul it, and to annul it in favour of me. For it was a rash +promise, and if you keep it you will be doing evil that good may come of +it. Your own creed would tell you that much, and would forbid it, too." + +"You don't care for this man, whoever he is," went on Claverton, having +paused for her reply, but none came, "and he doesn't care for you, or he +would never have allowed you to throw yourself on the world's tender +mercies as he has done," and his voice grew hard at the thought. "You +don't care for him, and you do--for--me," he said, in a desperation +which rose far above conventionalities of speech. + +Again she made no reply, so he continued; but now his tones were very +soft and pleading. + +"Yes, you do for me, darling. I could see it. Haven't I seen your +sweet face light up at my approach? Haven't I noticed the softening in +that exquisite voice when you turned to me? You remember when I came +back that time we went after the stolen oxen," (referring to an episode +which had involved a three days' absence from Seringa Vale). "You were +so glad to see me, then, sweetest. There was no mistaking the speech of +those divine eyes of yours. There's no conceit in my saying this, +because love sometimes begets love, and have not I poured out the whole +of mine at your feet? And I should be a fool not to see that you had +been happy when with me. Oh, my darling, I cannot lose you. We cannot +part. Only think of it! How can we? What will life be worth? Lilian, +I won't live without you. Only give me your future, your past shall +never trouble you in your future's sunshine. This wretched promise, it +is nothing. It was made unthinkingly; you must retract it. You dare +not wreck two lives for the sake of keeping a rash promise. You cannot, +you dare not?" + +He was terribly in earnest. There was something heartrending in the +wild and, as it were, clinging tones of his entreaty, as he saw the +prize slipping from his grasp just as he had thought to win it. He had +played a bold stake, but it was his last, and the game must be boldly +played if it was to be won. + +To Lilian the moment was awful. She looked up at the dark, pleading +face bent over her, drank in every tone of the strong, earnest voice. +It was maddening, delirious. Ah! what happiness might be hers! She +would yield. Then came the recollection of another face, another voice +none the less pleading, a promise given, spoken low in a darkened +chamber and at the side of a deathbed, but spoken in all pure faith and +trust, a promise which was to hold good to the end of time, come weal, +come woe. A promise--and such a promise--was sacred. She might tear +out her own heart in keeping it, but it must be kept. Oh, God! this was +indeed awful. Would she be able to bear up much longer, or would she +die? And in her ears kept ringing _his_ voice--his loving, earnest, +firm voice--firm now, though at times so terribly shaken. "You dare not +wreck two lives for the sake of keeping a rash promise." And the +picture he had drawn for her! Oh, no; the price to be paid was to be +counted in tears of blood, but a promise is sacred to the end of time. + +"Only think of the future, Lilian," he whispered, entreatingly. "The +future, the bright future. Always sunny like this," glancing at the +surroundings. "An earnest of our lives. Yours and mine." + +With a low cry she tore herself from his hold and sank down upon the +rustic seat. + +"Ah, don't tempt me!" she wailed, despairingly, with her face buried in +her hands. "You don't know what you are saying. Why do you tempt me +like this? It is not fair, it is not manly of you." + +The first words of reproach he had ever heard pass her lips--and they +were addressed to him! + +"I want to save two lives from shipwreck," he said. "Yours and mine." + +"Then listen," she said, sitting up, and for the first time speaking +firmly. "You must forget all this--you must forget me--hate me, if you +will, for having brought you to this. I told you from the first that I +could give you no hope whatever, and yet I was selfish enough to ask you +to undertake a one-sided bargain. All through, I have been deceiving +you, more and more. Think me utterly heartless--but forget me. And +you--you have urged me to break a sacred promise for you," she went on +in a hard, dry, monotonous voice, as unlike her usual tones as it was +possible to be. "Arthur Claverton, I have treated you shamefully. You +will always; look back upon my memory with the scorn and contempt it +deserves; but on one point you are wrong: _I do not love you_!" + +"You do." + +The answer came quietly and confidently, as if he had been setting her +right upon some trivial point under discussion. + +She looked up at him with burning, tearless eyes; for she wae about to +pluck her very heart out. + +"What! you refuse to believe me? I must have sunk low in your +estimation. I have told you the truth, and--and--you must leave me. +Will you?" she went on, speaking fast in her fear lest she should break +down in the act of sacrifice. "Will you go quite away until I leave +this place? It will only be for a few days now, and it will be best for +both of us. Will you do this for me?" + +"No." + +"No? You will not? Then that is the extent of your love for me?" she +said. "Ah! now I know you." + +Claverton reeled giddily, as if her words had struck him, as he stood +facing her. He passed his hand across his eyes as though to clear away +a mist. Was it indeed Lilian Strange who sat there before him, dealing +out her pitiless, scornful words in that hard, steely voice--Lilian +Strange, his ideal of all that was tender, and loving, and pitiful--or +had some beautiful demon assumed her form to torment him? He felt half +inclined to break away, and dash off to the house, where he would find +the real Lilian in all her truth and sweetness. No; he was under a +spell. + +Taking a couple of turns of half-a-dozen steps, he again stood before +her. + +"Lilian, do you indeed mean what you say?" he asked, in a quiet, +hopeless tone. "Are you really going to drive me from you? I will go-- +your lightest wish has ever been sacred to me. After this day you will +never see me again; but that will be nothing to you. I see I was quite +mistaken, darling," he said, wishing to spare her the humiliation of +thinking that he knew her love to be his, "quite mistaken. Forgive me-- +it was my fault, not yours--but it does not matter now, we shall never +meet again. Am I to stay or--go?" + +She did not lift her eyes to his--she did not move from her fixed, rigid +position; but, hoarsely her lips framed a single small word: + +"Go." + +With a quick shudder, as one who feels the stab of a knife, Claverton +heard it. And he knew there was no disputing the decree. + +"Lilian, for the love of my whole life which I have laid down before +you--for the sake of the time that is past--give me one more kiss before +we part for ever." + +He bent down to her, and she did not resist. He took her to his heart, +but the burning eyes, dilated and tearless, did not seek his; he pressed +one long, warm, passionate kiss upon her pallid lips, such as he might +have done if he had been looking upon her for the last time ere the lid +of her coffin was shut down, but she made no response. Then he released +her. + +"There. No other woman's lips shall meet mine, after this, till the +grave closes over me--Lilian--my darling love--Heaven send you all +happiness--Good-bye!" + +Still she did not look up. She could not, she dared not. There was a +rustle as the surrounding branches were parted, a sound as of retreating +footsteps, and he was gone. Then, as the last of his footsteps died +away, Lilian fell prone to the ground, and, with her face buried in her +hands, sobbed as if her heart was reft in twain. She had driven him +away--driven him from her with scornful words and with a lie--he, whose +love was to her as something more than life. Now she had kept her +promise. She had been true to that sacred bond, but at what a cost! +She had torn out her own heart, and her act of self-immolation was +complete. Never again in life would she see him whom she had now sent +from her. Ah God! it was terrible. + +So she lay with her face to the earth, watering it with her tears. Yet +the sun continued to shine above; the sky was all cloudless in its azure +glory; bright butterflies glanced from leaf to leaf; birds piped +blithely and called to each other; all nature rejoiced in the golden +forenoon; and there, prostrate on the grass, lay the beautiful form of +that stricken woman pouring out her very heart in tears. For the light +of her life had gone out, and her own was the hand that had quenched it. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +FORTH--A WANDERER. + +After that last heart-breaking farewell, Claverton tried to walk quickly +away, but in vain. Several times he paused to listen. Once he turned +and retraced his steps a few yards, feeling sure he had heard his name +called. But no. It was only the rustle of the leaves as a bird +fluttered among them, or the murmur of a tiny whirlwind which now and +again whisked round a few leaves and bits of stick in the stillness of +the summer morning. On, on he strode, whither he knew not nor cared, +his lips drawn tight over his set teeth, a tumult of desperate thoughts +raging wildly in his breast, a glare almost of mania in his eyes, +dragging his steps heavily as one who staggered beneath a load. This +dream which he had been cherishing, this sweet hope which had made a new +man of him, was dashed from his grasp, and so cruelly, so mercilessly. +Ah, good God! how he had loved her--how he did love her! He had never +loved any living thing before, and now the long-pent-up torrent had +burst its barrier and overwhelmed him; and he tried to look into the +black, bitter future till his brain reeled and all was confusion again-- +wild, surging, chaotic thoughts--as he strode on through the shadeless +glare of the burning _veldt_. Shade or bud, what was it to him? But +human endurance has its limits. Even his iron frame, weakened by the +mental strain, began to fail after hours of tramping beneath that fierce +sun, and he sank to the ground nearly exhausted at the foot of a small +mimosa-tree. He was desperately hard hit, if ever man was. + +"Why, Arthur! What on earth brings you here? I thought you were away +at Driscoll's!" said a voice behind him. + +In his preoccupation he had not heard the tramp of a horse's hoofs. +Turning quickly, he saw Mr Brathwaite. + +"Oh, I didn't go there after all--and I've been taking a little stroll," +he answered, with a ghastly attempt at a laugh, and in a voice so harsh +and strange that the old man, looking at him, began to think he had had +a sunstroke, and was a little off his head. + +"Anything the matter?" he asked, kindly. "You don't look at all the +thing. Have you heard any bad news?" + +Ah, that was a good idea! Claverton remembered that the post had come +in that morning, bringing him two or three letters, which he had thrust +unopened into his pocket. This would cover his retreat. He would be +able to leave without any awkward explanations--called away suddenly. +They would think he had heard of the death of some relative; and grimly +he thought to himself how the death of a hecatomb of relatives would be +mere gossip compared with the "news" he really had heard. + +"Yes," he replied, "that's what it is; and I am afraid I must leave here +as soon as possible." + +"H'm! But where's your horse?" + +"My horse? Oh, I walked." + +"H'm," said the old man again. "Now look here, Arthur, my boy, I've got +through a pretty long spell of life, during which I've learnt the art of +putting two and two together. Whatever you may have heard to upset you, +didn't come through the post. Now I don't want to pry into your +affairs, but I can see tolerably well now how things have gone. Is it +so bad as you think?" + +There was a world of delicate, kindly-hearted sympathy in the other's +voice, and Claverton felt as if it did him good. Grasping the hand +extended to him, he replied: + +"It is. I will not try to convince you that you have got upon the wrong +tack, even if it would not be useless to do so. I must go from here; +you will understand, you will appreciate my reasons, and know why this +place, which has been a dear home to me, the only real home I have ever +known, has become unendurable now, at any rate for a time." + +His voice failed him, and he broke down. Recovering himself with an +effort, he went on: + +"I know it seems abominably hard-hearted, ungrateful even, suddenly to +leave the best and kindest friends I have, in this way, to say nothing +of the possible inconvenience to you. Yet I am going to trespass even +more upon your large-heartedness. I am going to ask you to help me to +leave quietly, not to make it known that I have done so until after I am +gone, and even then to let it be supposed that something I heard through +the post has compelled my departure. Is this too much? I do not ask it +so much for my own sake, as for--for another's." + +Mr Brathwaite mused a moment. + +"You're sure you're right about this, Arthur?" he said. "Well, I +suppose you are; you're hardly the sort of fellow to do a thing by +halves. Now listen: if things are as bad as you say, I think your plan +is a good one. Go away for a change, and do some travel or up-country +hunting. You're naturally a restless man, and a little excitement and +change may do you a world of good now. As to any inconvenience to me, +that's nothing. We are not very busy just now, and though we shall all +miss you terribly, Hicks and I will manage to rub along somehow. And +I'll do what you want about getting off. When do you want to leave?" + +"To-night, or to-morrow morning, rather. There's a good moon now, +nearly at half." + +"All right; but look here, my boy. Don't remain away from us a minute +longer than you feel inclined; and whatever happens, or wherever you may +be, remember that my door is always open to you, all you have to do is +to walk in and make your home with us, as long as we are above ground if +you feel inclined. Now we'd better be going. You are looking very ill; +get on my horse, I'll walk a bit." + +But this the other firmly refused to do. "I feel much better now," he +said, "I'll walk alongside." + +They were not very far from home, for Claverton's wandering had been of +a somewhat tortuous nature, so that he had got over a great deal of +ground without covering much of actual distance. So they started upon +their way back, and for the time he felt calmed by the other's strong, +manly sympathy; but it was the calm of exhaustion rather than that of +relief. + +Assuredly there were disturbing elements underlying the surface of the +household at Seringa Vale, or, at any rate, of its younger members. Yet +that evening, when they met, there was little or no sign of anything of +the kind. Claverton looked rather worn and haggard, but not +conspicuously so, and though quieter than usual, this was accounted for +by one or two hints that Mr Brathwaite had let drop in accordance with +the plan the two had agreed upon. Hicks, however, counterbalanced this +by being uproariously lively on his own account. He had had a rare old +time of it in the _veldt_ that afternoon, having brought back a wild +guinea-fowl, three partridges, and a red koorhaan slung to his saddle, +the spoils of his bow and spear. "Not bad, you know," as he said. "To +say nothing of that other guinea-fowl and another partridge, too, that I +ought to have got." + +"Why didn't you get them, then?" asked Mr Brathwaite. + +"Oh, I dropped them all right, but the grass was so long and they got +away somehow," at which reply the old man laughed meaningly, and +remarked that Hicks was becoming such a crack shot that he felt himself +bound to leave something for another time. + +"By the way, where's Lilian?" went on Mr Brathwaite, forgetting. + +"She isn't very well to-night," replied his wife. "Poor child, I told +her it was too hot to sit out this morning, and she stayed out too long. +It's only a headache, she says, that will be all right to-morrow. I +made her go to bed early and sent her some tea in her room." + +"Well, yes, it has been rather warm to-day," rejoined Mr Brathwaite. +"She ought to be more careful." + +"--And then I heard no end of a cackling on the opposite bank," +continued Hicks, who was narrating how he had circumvented his quarry, +"and I crawled along from bush to bush, and came bang into the middle of +a lot of guinea-fowl. The ground was black with them--by George it +was--perfectly black. Well, the beggars wouldn't rise; they kept +legging it along till I thought I should never get a shot." + +"Well, but don't you know what you should have done then?" said Mr +Brathwaite. + +"What?" + +"Why, shot one on the ground. They'd have got up then." + +So the evening wore on, and Claverton thought it would never end. Was +it a subtle instinct that this would be their last meeting, he wondered, +that made Ethel persist in talking to him the whole evening, while Laura +and Gertie Wray were singing duets together, with Hicks in attendance +turning over, usually at the wrong place, by the way, for which he was +rewarded by a half-angry, half-amused glance from Gertie's big blue +eyes? Somehow or other, things reminded him of that earlier time +there--before this turning-point in his by no means uneventful life--but +he remembered it only as a far-away recollection. Then at last +good-night was said all round, and he found himself alone, though not +yet, for Mr Brathwaite followed him to his room just to say a more +formal good-bye. + +"So you haven't changed your mind about going, Arthur? Well, I didn't +much think you would, and perhaps it's best, for a time. You've got +your horse I see, and we can send on anything you may want after you. +The women will be sorry when they find you've gone. I'll only say what +I did this afternoon--come back when, and as soon as you like, the +sooner the better. Good-bye, now, my boy. Don't take things too much +to heart, all comes right in time, as you'll see when you get to my +age." + +Claverton wrung his hand in silence, then the door closed on the figure +of the old man. Would he ever see that kindly face and genial presence +again? + +He went round to the stable to see that his horse was all ready for him +in the morning. Yes, there stood the fine chestnut, and it snorted and +then whinnied as it recognised its master by the dim light of the +stable-lantern. He cut up a bundle of forage and threw it into the +manger. + +"Ah, Fleck!" he said, as he stood watching the horse eat it. "You and I +have had many a good time of it together, and now we'll have many a bad +time, but we'll never part, old horse. That glossy skin of yours, which +_her_ hand used to stroke half timidly and _her_ eyes used to look upon +and admire, shall never belong to any one but me, go we north, south, +east, or west." + +He patted the shining neck, and passed his hand down each of the smooth +forelegs, and the horse, making one or two playful bites at his +shoulder, whinnied again. Then he extinguished the lantern and went out +of the stable. + +"No use trying to go to sleep. I'll take a walk." + +So saying he strolled away down into the kloof. The moon, nearly at +half, was shining above, silvery and clear. Not a breath stirred the +sleeping foliage, and, except that now and again something would rustle +in the grass or bushes, the stillness was oppressive. He skirted the +dam, whose dark glassy surface twinkled with the reflected stars, and +passing through the gap in the quince hedge, stood under the old +pear-tree, and the network of light beneath its moon-pierced shade was +there still, but paler than that of the golden sun. A gleam of +something lying on the ground caught his eye. He picked it up. It was +a ring--two ropes of twisted gold welded together. Moved by the same +instinct that chilled him the last time he held this trinket in his +hand, he dropped it as if it had been some live thing. Then he changed +his mind, and, picking it up again, slipped it into his pocket, +intending to restore it to its owner, somehow. But the finding of it +created a sudden revulsion of feeling--fierce resentment drove out the +sad, heart-breaking thoughts with which he had come to that spot--and +dark, murderous projects crowded upon his raging soul. Why could he not +find out the original owner of that bauble, and remove him from his +path? The end would more than justify the means. He had shot a man +before to-night, merely to save his own life; and the stake to be won +here was far more than his own life. He would keep the ring, it might +be turned to account. Thus ruminating he passed through the +wicket-gate, and on along the path towards the rocky pool. Here was +where Lilian had started in alarm at the cry of the jackal that first +evening; and then how happily they had conversed, wending their way down +this path--but, be it remembered, with Death stalking the while unknown +to them upon their footsteps. + +At last he returned to the house, and re-entering his room threw himself +upon his couch, sinking, from sheer exhaustion, into a troubled sleep. +And the Southern Cross turned in the heavens, and the moon sank lower, +and the world slumbered; but, at length, that worn-out brain was awake +again. + +Claverton rose, plunged his head into cold water, dressed himself for +travelling, and within half an hour of awaking had saddled-up Fleck, and +nothing remained but to start. Stay--something did remain. Where was +his riding-crop? Then he remembered that he had left it in the +dining-room. It had slipped down behind the sideboard, and something +had diverted his attention at the time so that he had forgotten to pick +it up. Noiselessly he turned the handle of the door and let himself +into the dark passage; then into the dining-room, fearing lest the tread +of his riding-boots or the creak of the floor should disturb the house; +but no--all was still. He found the missing article just where he had +left it; quietly he regained the passage again, in another instant he +would be gone, when--What was that? + +For the dining-room door, which he had just come through, was softly +opened, and a figure stood at the end of the passage--a female figure-- +wrapped in a dressing-gown. Heavens! how his heart leaped! Had she +yielded? Was this indeed her, come to cancel his departure? His +thoughts were running so entirely upon her, or he would have seen that +the figure before him was not tall enough for that of Lilian. But he +turned towards it transfixed. + +"Arthur," whispered a voice, dispelling the illusion at once. "Arthur. +You are going away--for good; I know you are." + +"Ethel! Good Heavens, child! What are you doing here?" he exclaimed in +blank astonishment. + +"You are going away," she answered. "I guessed it last night. I could +feel it, somehow. And you were going to leave us all without saying +good-bye--to leave us without a word," she went on in tones of +suppressed excitement. + +"Ethel, for goodness' sake go back to your room at once," said Claverton +gently, yet firmly. "You don't know what you are doing. Only think, if +any one were to hear you and to come out now." + +To do him justice, he was anxious far more for her than for himself in +the exceedingly awkward position in which her impulsiveness was in +danger of placing them both. + +"Oh, I don't know what I am doing?" repeated the girl, bitterly, and +stifling down a sob. "And you are very anxious to see the last of me; +but remember this, Arthur. At any rate, I did not let you go without +wishing you good-bye, however imprudent I may have been in doing so." + +"Ethel, believe me, I was thinking entirely for you. You never would +think for yourself, you know," he parenthesised, with a sad smile. "I +can't tell you how I appreciate your doing this; but I have too much +regard for you to allow you to remain a moment longer. Now do go back +to your room, if it is the last thing I ever ask you." + +For a moment the girl made no reply. A flood of moonlight streamed in +at the open door, playing with her golden hair, which fell in waves upon +her shoulders as she stood with her hands clasped before her. + +"Good-bye, Arthur. And remember, I was the only one here who saw the +very last of you," she added in a tone of strange triumph, lifting her +eyes suddenly to his. Was it that he had seen that look before in other +eyes, and, recognising it, desired to save her from herself? Was it +that in his mind was seared that last vow, uttered that morning and +wrung from a breaking heart? Who may tell? He pressed both her little +hands in his own, and, without again looking at her, passed through the +doorway and was gone. + +The red half-moon glowered in the sky, with its points turned angrily +upwards, and a cloud-cap stole over the distant mountains one by one, +spreading, creeping over the face of the land, and day broke. And in +the cold grey dawn the wanderer rode on--on in the misty drizzle which +swept through the dark spekboem sprays and made the big stones on the +hillside, far and near, gleam like lumps of ice. Rain or shine, warmth +or chill, it was nothing to him. Down the bush path, smooth or rugged; +winding along a kloof; through a river; neither looking to the right nor +to the left he held on his way, on, on--ever on. + + + +VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. + +"I DIE, AND FAR AWAY. HAST THOU KNOWN?" + +A cheerful wood fire is crackling and sparkling in the grate, throwing +out tremulous shadows upon the plain, massive furniture and polished +floor, ever and anon lighting up the old room with a sudden glow. + +The glow quivers upon a pale, beautiful face and on a coronal of dusky +hair, whose owner sits gazing into the bright caverns formed by the +burning wood, the picture of retrospective meditation. A book lies open +upon her lap, proclaiming that the twilight has overtaken her and +compelled her to give up reading in favour of a more idle but not always +more pleasant resource--reflection; which pastime, in the present +instance, seems to bring her more of sorrow than of joy, for there are +tears brimming in the sweet eyes, and the curves of her mouth are even a +little more wistfully sad than usual. + +It is four months since we saw that horseman, with despair and gloom +upon his countenance, riding away in the cold grey dawn, on, whither he +knew not, neither cared; and Lilian Strange is still at Seringa Vale. A +few days before her projected departure, news came from the McColls to +the effect that they would not be returning to the colony for another +six months, and offering, if she wished it, to release her from her +engagement, otherwise they would be glad to have her back with them at +the time of their return. Mrs Brathwaite, however, who had secretly +formed a plan in her own mind for keeping Lilian altogether, soon +persuaded her to prolong her stay, at any rate until the McColls +returned. "You see, dear," she had said, "you are not nearly strong +enough to go back to work again yet, even if you had anywhere to go. +And just as we have got a little colour into your cheeks and set you up, +here you go getting ill again. Besides, we shan't be able to do without +your bright face, dearie, so if you can put up with such a quiet house +as this is now, don't say anything more about leaving." And Lilian, +lonely and friendless as she was, and shaken and upset by the recent +events, had thrown her arms round the old lady's neck and indulged in a +good cry, and declaring that she loved the dear old place almost beyond +her old home, had done as she was told. + +"_You will be doing evil that good may come of it_." Was this so, +indeed? Had she better have broken that promise? Ah! better not dwell +on that now. And then would arise the thought of him--wandering afar +and alone, uncheered, heartsick and weary in spirit; it might be in +daily peril of death. It was at night--by day she could in a life of +usefulness in a measure lose herself--at night, in the dead, dark, +lonesome hours, that such thoughts would come upon her, and with an +awful feeling of forsakenness, she would lie through the long, silent +watches hardly able to sob out the bitter, voiceless anguish that +overwhelmed her soul. And as yet, Time, the merciful healer, had +brought little or no consolation. She would go about her daily +avocations even cheerfully, always tender and thoughtful, smiling often, +though as yet so sadly, for she would, as she had resolved to herself, +live in the happiness of others. And the event which had kindled this +resolve occurred very shortly after the death-blow to her own happiness. + +One day Hicks and Laura, who had been taking a walk round the garden +together, came in looking a little flurried, and the former at once and +feverishly sought out his employer, whom he informed, with much +stammering and bashfulness, that he had just proposed to and been +accepted by Laura, and he trusted Mr Brathwaite would see no objection, +etc, etc. The old man heard him out, and then mused for a moment in +silence. + +"H'm! You see, Hicks--you'll have to wait a bit, but I don't know that +that'll do you any harm," he replied. "My brother George'll be round +here in a few days--but you did quite right to tell me at once--then you +can speak to him yourself. I dare say he won't object, and I'll do what +I can for you. Ever since you've been with me you've given me nothing +but satisfaction in every respect, and I don't forget it, my lad. +You've learned your work well, and what's better, you've done it well; +go on as you've begun, and you'll make your way. But, as I told you +before, you'll have to wait a bit." + +Hicks mumbled out a string of incoherent thanks, and wrung his +employer's hand. + +"Ah, it's a grand thing to be young and to have all one's life before +one," said the old man, kindly. "Well, it's nearly time to go and +count--or perhaps I'd better do it. Your head will hardly hold such +commonplace things as sheep this evening," added he, with a good-natured +laugh, as he turned away. + +In great elation Hicks bolted off, and, not looking where he was going, +collided against Lilian in the doorway, with such violence as nearly to +upset her. + +"Oh, Miss Strange. I beg your pardon! What a blundering ass I am! +Have I hurt you?" he cried, in abject, remorseful consternation. "How +confoundedly careless of me! Do forgive me?" + +"I'm not in the least hurt, really," answered Lilian, leaning against +the chair, which she had just seized in time to save herself from +falling. "But I'll forgive you, only upon one condition," she added, +with a smile. "That you tell me what you are looking so ridiculously +happy about." + +Hicks told her, there and then. + +"I'm so glad," Lilian said. "I congratulate you most truly. You will +be very happy, and from what I have heard of you, you will deserve to +be." + +Again Hicks mumbled something as he pressed the hand she extended to +him, and passed on. Lilian gazed after him, and the tears rose to her +eyes; but they were grateful, healing tears. "Thank God!" she murmured, +"there is happiness left in the world for some people, and that is a +sight good to look upon." A warm glow crept round her heart--so +stricken and desolate--and she felt that life might be worth living +after all, to take part in the joys and sorrows of others. It was a +turning-point, and the crisis was past; but, oh! the road was to be an +uphill one upon whose thorny way the toiler would oft-times sink crushed +and heartbroken. Then she had kissed and congratulated Laura, who, +though outwardly very demure and reticent, yet felt thoroughly satisfied +with her bargain. + +Mr Brathwaite was as good as his word, and with such a powerful +advocate Hicks' suit was bound to prosper. George Brathwaite, an +easy-going man in any matter wholly dissociated with politics, listened, +and was convinced, as his brother put the case before him. Hicks was a +quiet, steady, hard-working fellow, in fact, bound to make his way. He +had a little stock of his own, and lately some money had been left him, +not much, but enough to help him on a bit when he should set up for +himself, and with a little help from them, would do well enough. He was +good-tempered, and by no means a fool, and, in fact, Laura might have +done worse. And Laura's father thought the same, and the result was +notified to the pair concerned. They must wait, of course, but the +great thing was to have the consent of the authorities, and to know that +it was a settled thing. But a thorn in the rose lay in the fact that in +a couple of days or so George Brathwaite would take both his daughters +away with him--that being the errand upon which he had come to Seringa +Vale. However, they could write. A new experience to Hicks, by the +way, who, with the exception of a stereotyped and brief letter home at +rare intervals, seldom used the weapon mightier than the sword. But he +would find plenty to say now, never fear. + +"How I wish Claverton was back again," Hicks had said to Laura, the day +before she left. "Poor old Arthur. I suppose he's started off on some +mad expedition. The place won't seem the same without him." + +"Won't it? It would have been a good deal better for the place if it +had always remained without him," she retorted, rather bitterly. + +He looked at her with surprise. "Why, Laura, what has he done? I +thought you all liked him no end?" + +"Yes, rather too much," she rejoined, to herself--thinking of Ethel--but +she only said: "Well, I don't know why I said that. Never mind, Alfred, +perhaps I'll tell you what I mean, some day; perhaps I won't; probably I +won't. Try and forget it now, at any rate. You will, won't you?" + +"On one condition," replied Hicks, looking at her. + +What that condition was need not be specified. Nor does it concern the +thread of this narrative whether it was consented to or not. + +Then the two girls had gone; and sorely did those left behind miss the +bright young presences and the merry, jestful times which had prevailed, +and the old farmhouse had settled down into the slumbrous quietude in +which we first saw it that glowing August evening, the best part of a +year back; and the events intervening had melted like a dream, for all +the outward traces they had left. But a dream from which that pale, sad +watcher, now gazing at the fire, would never awaken to life again. + +Twice only had Claverton been heard of since he left. The first time he +had written to Mrs Brathwaite explaining how nothing but the gravest +reasons had induced him to leave thus suddenly--and more to the same +effect; directing where his things were to be sent, and concluding with +the sincerest expressions of appreciation and regard--and the old lady, +who knew pretty well by that time how matters stood, had felt inclined +to cry as she read it. The second letter, after an interval, was to +Hicks, and bore the Durban postmark. The writer was going up-country, +he said, far into the interior, to do a little shooting, and some +knocking about. He wanted to be quite independent, so would go alone, +with a nigger or two to carry the things and look after a spare horse. +He didn't want some cantankerous compatriot with him to worry his life +out at every turn, not he. A few things had been left at Seringa Vale +which Hicks might look after for him, and if he never came back could +stick to--a horse, for instance, and some gimcrackery in the shape of +riding-gear and one or two things. No doubt they'd clash again some of +these days; if not, well, it would come all right in the end, he +supposed, and life was not such a blissful thing, after all. It was not +worth while answering this, concluded the writer, for he would be away +on his travels almost before it had started. + +And it is the crowd of memories and conjectures evoked by this letter +which Lilian is pondering over this evening, alone in the firelight. A +few days ago, Hicks had asked her if she would like to see it, as she +was not in the room when he read out its contents. She had kept it ever +since, and good-natured Hicks, noticing the light in her eyes, and the +tremor of her hand as he gave it her, had "forgotten" to ask her for it +again. She has read every word of it until she knows it by heart, and +has conjured up many and many a picture of that lonely traveller, +wandering on, mile after mile, far into that vast continent of which +this locality was merely the outskirts. And it is her doing! She can +"read between the lines" that time has brought no more healing to him +than to herself, and, thinking over it this evening, one of those +terrible paroxysms of woe is nearly upon her, and she half rises to +leave the room when a step is heard in the passage, then the door opens +and some one enters, whistling a lively tune which stops suddenly as the +whistler becomes aware of her presence. + +"That you, Miss Strange? Good evening; are you trying to read in the +dark? By Jove, how cold it's turned!" rattles on Hicks, rubbing his +hands briskly, and kicking up the logs in the grate. + +"Yes," answered Lilian, for the diversion has called her back to +herself. "And how the days are drawing in!" + +"Rather! And cold? This morning, down there in Aasvogel Kloof, the +ground was white with frost, and at eight o'clock, long after the sun +was up, it was nipping cold. I had to keep changing my bridle-hand +about every minute and a half, keeping one in my pocket till it got +warm, you know; not that it did get warm even then, still it thawed a +bit." + +"Fancy that. And yet there are people who would stare if you mentioned +the word cold, in connection with Africa." + +"Yes, I know. `Afric's sunny fountains,' and all that kind of thing. +The only `fountains' we see here are after a jolly big rain, and then +they're not sunny, but precious muddy. Those poetic fellows do talk +awful bosh." + +Lilian smiled. "Don't try to be satirical, it doesn't suit you at all," +she said. "And now tell me what have you been doing all day?" + +"Oh, I went down and counted at Umgiswe's. He's a regular old humbug, +and is always losing sheep. I'm certain he kills them. Don't I wish I +could catch him, that's all. I thought I had, the other day. Anyhow, +the _Baas_ ought to give him the sack." + +"I shouldn't have thought it. I thought he had such a nice old face, +and he always says, `morning, missis,' to me, so prettily, whenever he +comes up here." + +"A bigger humbug than him couldn't help doing that," said Hicks, +gallantly. "Well, then, I went on to Driscoll's, to see if I couldn't +beat him down in what he asks for that place of his. He wants a great +deal too much, the beggar does; far more than he offered it to Clav--" +and then honest Hicks, suddenly remembering that this very place was the +one Claverton had started to inspect on that day which, somehow, seemed +connected with his abrupt departure and Lilian's simultaneous +depression, waxed very red in the face, and, bending over the fire, +began stirring it and banging it about, as if he would pulverise the +charred, smouldering faggots. + +"And did you succeed?" asked Lilian, so quietly that he thought the +reminiscence involved by the association of ideas had passed unnoticed +by her. + +"N-no," replied Hicks. "But I think I'll manage it in time. He's a +tight fist, is old Driscoll." + +"You will like settling in the old locality, I should think. You are +not one of those who are always longing for change just for the sake of +change." + +"No. In fact, as it is, I hardly like leaving the old place." + +"What--not even with Laura?" said Lilian, with a smile. + +"Well, of course. But you know, when a fellow has been long on a place +like this, and had such a rare good time of it, as I've had, he's bound +to cut up a little rough when it comes to leaving it, no matter how." + +"Naturally. But one must look forward--not back, unless it is for a +pure, strengthening recollection. One might look longingly back from +the rough, toilsome ascent of a steep hill into the sunlit, peaceful +valley one had rested in behind; then to keep on and on till the ascent +was conquered, and an easy road led smoothly down into another restful +calm. That is how you must look at life, when things go the reverse of +smoothly with you at first--as perhaps they will." + +Poor Lilian! Not yet could she realise this herself, and she knew it. +Yet she laid it down in theory to her companion, for he had told her +that he liked that sort of talk--that it did him good, in fact--and its +remembrance encouraged him when he was inclined to take a gloomy view of +things. They had become great friends, those two, thrown together thus +by force of circumstances; and Lilian had never tired of listening to +her companion's hopes and fears, any more than he had ever tired of +confiding them to her--it must be confessed, with something of wearisome +reiteration, the more so that he had found so gentle and sympathetic a +listener. + +"But I forgot. I must not talk like that, or you will say I'm getting +poetic; and `those poetic fellows do talk awful bosh,'" concluded +Lilian, looking up at him with a bright, arch smile. + +"Oh, I say! As if I should think anything of the kind!" exclaimed +Hicks. "It was I who was talking nonsense. I suppose the firelight +makes a fellow get sentimental. The firelight in winter is pretty much +what the moonlight is in summer, I suppose." + +But the sentimental side of this firelight talk was brought to an end by +the entrance of Mr Brathwaite, followed almost immediately by that of +his wife. + +"Sharp evening!" he said, joining the two on the hearth. "We must +expect winter now, at the end of May; and this year it'll be a cold one. +I see there's a little snow on the mountains already--just a +sprinkling." + +"When shall we have a good fall?" asked Lilian. "The mountains must +look perfectly beautiful, all covered, and with such a sun as this upon +them. It must be very cold up there." + +"Cold? I believe you. I was nearly frozen to death up there myself +once. It was some years ago now. I was coming over the Katberg road +with a waggon-load of mealies--I and Ben Jackson. He had three waggons. +We were caught in a snowstorm, and had to outspan. Couldn't see ten +yards in front of us. Ten yards! Not one; for the wind whirled the +powdery stuff into our eyes till we were nearly blinded. It was no +joke, I can tell you. There are some lively _krantzes_ about there; and +it's the easiest thing in the world to drop a few hundred feet before +you know where you are." + +"And how did you manage?" + +"Well, we outspanned, and tied the oxen to the yokes. We couldn't make +a fire, so we turned into our blankets and piled up everything in the +way of covering; but that wasn't enough, and I was quite frozen. +Nothing to eat all the time, except a bit of frozen bread to gnaw at. +One of my Kafirs was nearly dead, and thirteen out of sixteen oxen died +from cold and starvation. Ben was more unlucky still, and lost two +whole spans. Yes, that was a time!" + +Then came the lamp and supper. + +"You were asking when we should have a good fall?" went on Mr +Brathwaite. "The first rains we get here will leave the mountains white +as a sugarloaf down to their very foot." + +Thus, with many an anecdote and reminiscence, the evening wore on. +Eventually the lights were extinguished in the slumbering house, one by +one, till all was dark and silent. And shining upon upland and valley, +and upon homestead and fold, cleaving the frosty sky with a broad path +of pale incandescence, gleamed the Milky Way, with many a brilliant +constellation flashing around its track. Hour follows upon hour, but +the calm influences of the peaceful night bring no relief to that +broken-hearted woman lying there with her face buried in the pillows, +sorrowing as one who is without hope. And every now and then a great +anguished sob shook the prostrate form, for a very torrent of +long-pent-up grief had come over her this evening, fresh and poignant as +on that terrible day when the glories of the radiant summer world were +as staring mockeries. + +Lilian rose and threw open the door. The cool night air flowed in +refreshing waves upon her burning brow, and, oh! how solemnly the golden +stars twinkled in the far blue vault as though the eyes of their Creator +Himself were visibly looking down upon her woe. + +"Come back to me, darling!" she wailed, her brimming eyes fixed on the +cold, star-spangled sky. "Only come back. Ah, love! I sent you away +from me, drove you away with hard, cruel, bitter words, and now my heart +is breaking--breaking. My life is done. I killed it when I sent you +away." + +A ghostly beam streamed in through the open casement. Above hung the +pointed moon, pale, glassy, and cold. + +"My life, my love, come back!" she continued, sinking into a chair by +the window, with her hands tightly locked, in the extremity of her +anguish. "Come back, and we will never part again, never. I will +abjure my word, which I have pledged by a dying bed. I will risk +everything. We will never, never part again, no, not for an hour. Only +come back. Oh! What am I saying? I shall never see you again. +Perhaps even now you are--dead, and it is I who killed you. Ah, love, +my heart is broken! If you are not in life, come and look at me in +death--in pale, cold, still death--and take me with you. Only let me +look upon you once more!" + +The moonbeam crept further along the polished floor, and a puff of air +entered. Ah! What was that? Was it a voice--a name--faint, dreamy, +more felt than heard--a voice from the awesome, mysterious spirit world? +Quickly Lilian raised her head. + +"I thought you would come to me, darling," she murmured, in low, firm +tones, as though she had nerved herself for an effort. "I thought you +would come to me, even though dead. But let me see you! I can hear +your voice. I can hear you call me, once, twice. But, oh! let me see +you. Ah--!" + +She sat upright and rigid, gazing in front of her. For a form floated +upon the shadowy moonlight, seeming to rest everywhere, yet nowhere. +And the features of the recumbent figure she knew too well--pale, +haggard, and drawn as they were. + +"Ah, come to me, my love, my life!" she wailed, stretching out her arms +in wild entreaty, but the apparition vanished. She rushed to the open +window. Only the eyes of a myriad gleaming stars met hers, and a filmy +dark cloud passed over the moon, veiling it for a moment. + +"I have seen his spirit," she exclaimed, passionately, her eyes fixed +upon the dim horizon. "I have seen him, but he is gone. Ah, Christ! +Thou hast a tender and a pitying heart. Let me see my love again--my +sweet lost love!" + +Look out into the still night, Lilian. Fix your eyes upon those distant +mountain-tops, and then can your gaze travel many hundreds of miles +beyond them, you may see--what it is better that you should not see. + +Far away on the wild border of Northern Matabililand, night draws on. +In one of a group of neat, circular kraals lying in a hollow between two +great mountains, it is evident that something momentous has either +happened or is going to happen this evening, for the chief men are +standing together in a knot, talking in low tones and with an anxious +look upon their grave, dignified faces. From the eastward, a mighty +black cloud is rolling up along the rugged, iron-girded heights, and +upon the fitful gusts is borne, ever and anon, a low, heavy boom. Down +the mountain paths the cattle are wending, the shrill whoop of the +children driving them, sounding loud and near, while the chatter of two +or three withered crones, gossiping outside one of the domed huts, is +strangely, distinct in the brooding atmosphere, hushed as it is before +the gathering storm. The shades deepen, and the red fires twinkle out +one by one in the gloaming; but still the men keep on their earnest +discussion. + +"He will die," one of them is saying. "It will bring us ill-luck. The +king, when he hears of it, will visit it upon us--he wants to stand well +just now with the whites. And if this stranger dies here, he will say +it is our fault. Haow!" + +And, with true savage philosophy, the speaker and his auditors refresh +themselves with a huge pinch of snuff. + +"There is a white man living away beyond Intaba Nkulu," says another. +"He might be able to do something to save the stranger." + +"No, he is only a trader--not a medicine-man," exclaim two or three +more, simultaneously. + +A flash; a peal of thunder, loud and long, and one or two large drops of +rain. The Matabili start, look upward, and adjourn to carry on their +discussion inside a hut; but they are soon interrupted by the entrance +of a young Natal native, who, with anxiety and fear on his countenance, +cries: + +"Mgcekweni--Sikoto--come quick and look. My chief is dying." + +With a hurried exclamation the two addressed rise, and, following the +speaker, stoop and enter an adjoining hut. Lying on some native +blankets on the floor, is the form of a man--an Englishman. A rolled-up +mat serves him for a pillow, and he lies tossing about in the wild +throes of fever. A saddle and bridle, a waterproof cloak, a gun, and +one or two small things are scattered around; a bit of candle stuck in +the neck of a bottle, throwing a ghastly flickering light upon the +whole, and making the cockroaches which swarm in the thatch, glisten +like scales. + +"Water, water," moans the sick man, throwing his arms wildly out of bed. + +"_Aow! Manzi_!" murmur the two Matabili, not understanding, but with +ready wit guessing the burden of his cry, and simultaneously making a +move towards the earthen bowl containing the desired fluid. + +But the young native was before them, and, motioning one of them to +raise him, he held the bowl to his master's lips. + +"Ah-h-h," exclaimed the dying man, falling back with a relieved sigh, +and lying with closed eyes. Then he started again. "Where is it?" he +cried, his fingers clutching spasmodically at something in his breast, +which he drew out and held tightly clasped in his hand. "Lilian-- +Lilian--It died with me. Your writing--the only thing I have left of +you--Lilian--!" He paused a moment, breathless. + +Then he sprang up raving. "Sam! Sam! Where are you, you damned +rascal? Sam; do you hear? Go and tell her--find Lilian," and then as +if the beloved name calmed and soothed him, he sank back with a quiet +smile. + +"What does he say?" asked the two Matabili of each other. "Liliane-- +Liliane. Aow! That must be the name of the white man's God." And they +repeated the name over and over to themselves, so as to remember exactly +what the stranger had said, when they should report the matter to their +king. + +He had come there, this stranger, but a few days previously, he and his +native attendant. He had come alone, travelling through their land, as +he said, on his way far, far into the interior beyond, and had stayed +with them, living as they lived, talking with them a little, but usually +grave, taciturn, and sad. He would wander about all day in the +mountains with his double gun, bringing back game at night, buck or +birds, which he shared freely with them, and now he had become ill; no +doubt caught the malaria while lying out all night down by the river, +trying to get a shot at the lion, whose spoor had been seen by a boy who +was wandering on its banks, and who had fled terrified at the sight of +the great round pads in the sand. And Mgcekweni, the petty chief of the +neighbourhood, was in sore perplexity about this stranger lying at the +point of death within their gates; and over and above the fear that his +royal master, with all the unreasoning caprice of a despot, would hold +him and his responsible, he had a genuine liking for the white man--the +grave, quiet traveller, whom he had at once set down as a big "_Inkoa_" +among his own people. + +Crash! + +The thunder pealed without; a vivid blaze of lightning lit up the +interior of the hut, leaving it more gloomy than before in its +semi-darkness; the rain poured in torrents, lashing up the hard earth +outside, and there, in the weird light, stood the tall, erect forms of +the Matabili chief and his brother, conversing in subdued whispers, and +with a world of concern clouding their dark, expressive faces. Kneeling +beside his master, intently watching every change of his countenance, +crouched the native boy, Sam. Again the thunder crashed and roared, and +the scathing blaze darted through the pouring rainfall which hurled +itself to the earth with a deafening rush; and amid the fierce warring +of the elements let loose the wanderer lay dying. Yes, dying. Alone in +a barbarous hut, racked with fever; tossing on a rude couch, almost on +the bare earth; far from friendly or loving glance or touch; not even a +countryman within hundreds of miles; alone in that gloomy apartment, the +cockroaches chasing each other along the wattles of the thatch overhead, +and tall, savage warriors watching his failing moments in wondering, +half-superstitious concern. Thus he lay. + +Suddenly he raised himself and sat upright. + +"Lilian! Lilian!" he cried, in a voice so loud and clear that it +startled his savage auditors. "Ah, I _will_ see you," he went on, his +eyes dilating and fixed on the opposite wall as if to pierce through it +and all space. + +"I _will_ see you--and I can. I see you here, now, here beside me. Are +you going with me? Keep those sweet eyes upon mine, as they are now, +darling--ever--ever--ever." + +His voice sank, and with a glad smile he fell back and lay perfectly +still, and without the faintest movement. + +"He is dead!" exclaimed the savages, holding their breath. + +Precisely at that moment Lilian Strange was uttering her passionate, +despairing invocation, as she gazed through her open casement far into +the clear, starry night. + +The day broke upon Seringa Vale, and the rain gusts howled along the +wind-swept wastes--violent, biting, and chill. But by noon there was +not a cloud in the heavens, and Lilian had her wish, for the mountains +were thickly covered with snow to their very base. And as she gazed +upon the distant peaks starting forth from the blue sky, spotless and +dazzling in their whiteness, it seemed to her that they might be a meet +embodiment of her own frozen despair--ever the same--icebound sight and +day--through calm and through storm. + +And the sun shone down upon the land in his undimmed glory, plenty and +prosperity reigned everywhere; not a whisper of war or disturbance was +in the air, indeed, all such had died away as completely as if it had +never been. And the hearts of the dwellers on the frontier were glad +within them--for the red tide, once threatening, had been stayed, and +upon their borders rested, in all its fulness, the blessing of Peace. + +Part II. + + Once where Amatola mountains rise up purple to the snow, + Where the forests hide the fountains, + And green pastures sleep below-- + Sweeter far than song of battle, + On the breezes of the morn, + Came the lowing of our cattle + And the rustling of our corn. + Where our flocks and herds were feeding + Now the white man's homestead stands; + And while yet his sword lies bleeding, + Lo, his plough is in new lands. + + _Lament of Tyala_--Anon. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER ONE. + +"IS IT PEACE OR WAR? BETTER WAR." + +George Payne rode slowly away from the village of Komgha. + +The air was warm and balmy, for the time of the southern winter was +past, and on this September day not even the lightest of feathery clouds +flecked the sky above the sunny plains of British Kaffraria. Now and +again on the brow of one of the rolling eminences, which, smooth grassy, +and round, alternated with mimosa-dotted vales, the rider might feel a +puff of fresh air from the bine Indian Ocean thirty miles away, and +which he was leaving further and further behind him with every tread of +his steed. On his left front rose the round tops of the Kabousie hills, +while beyond them a ridge of wooded heights slept in the golden haze of +the early afternoon. + +But he had little thought to spare for beauties of scenery, had this +man, as he mechanically urged on his steed--a compact, well-stepping +roadster--now at a long easy canter, now subsiding into a fast walk; for +all his reflections were at that moment concentrated on the leading +question of the day, a question which for weeks past had been in the +mind of every dweller on that restless line of frontier, a question +which to them was fraught with weighty apprehension--Peace or War? + +And this topic, which was in everybody's month, had it any foundation to +rest upon, or was it merely a recurrence of one of those periodical +scares which, with more or less reason, had of late years seriously +disturbed the border districts? Ministers and legislators might, from +their places in the Assembly, deny all grounds for it; merchants and +snug citizens of the western capital might deride it; the +pseudo-philanthropic party, likewise at safe distance, might decry it as +a libel upon and a plot against the native population, to despoil them +of their lands, and what not. Yet Cape Town was many hundred miles from +the unprotected border, and it is so very easy at a safe distance to +ridicule the apprehensions of those to whom the fulfilment of their +fears would mean ruin and death. For ignore it as some would, the fact +remained that a cloud, at first no bigger than a man's hand, but already +of sufficiently alarming proportions, was gathering beyond the Kei, to +roll on and on till it should overwhelm all within reach--unless stopped +in time, that is. And such check the country's rulers apparently deemed +it their special mission not to facilitate. + +This, then, was the topic whereon George Payne's thoughts were fixed as +he rode over those grassy Kaffrarian plains in the direction of his +home; and some additional rumours which he had heard that morning, had +gone far towards seriously disquieting him. + +He was a broad-shouldered, strongly-built man, about five feet ten in +his shoes, though a slight stoop made him look shorter. He had a quiet, +sensible face, and was sparing and deliberate of speech; this on first +acquaintance might lead one to pronounce him "slow," were it not for an +occasional satiric burst, accompanied by a twinkle in the keen grey +eyes, which alone would suffice to show that he was very far from being +a fool. And, though quiet and reserved on first acquaintance, he had a +sunny geniality of manner which was very taking--in fact, was as +good-natured a fellow as ever lived. He was thirty-six years of age, +and of colonial birth; and though he had made a couple of visits to the +mother country he seldom spoke of it. When he did, his audience, who +had settled in its own mind that he had never been out of the colony, +would be mightily taken aback by his shrewd insight into men and things. + +Around lay the broad, rolling country; here and there in the distance +might be seen the white walls of a homestead or two, glistening in the +sun; or a clump of Kafir huts, smoky, squalid-looking, and tumble-down, +lay about, whence a tribe of yelling mongrels rushed clamouring down to +the path to mouth at the equestrian and snap at his horse's heels, while +their owners stood, with kerries grasped in their dark, sinewy hands, +scowling at the passer-by, and making no attempt to call off their +detestable property. But the horseman cared little or nothing for this. +If the four-footed pests came too near, he slashed them unmercifully +with his long raw-hide whip, sending them howling back to their savage +masters. At length he drew rein before a thatched, white-washed +dwelling, a typical specimen of the rougher class of frontier farmhouse. +A man came out--a tall man, clad in a grey flannel shirt and corduroy +trousers; a slouch hat was stuck on one side of his head, a mighty red +heard descended over his chest, and in his mouth was a short wooden +pipe. + +"Well, Marshall," cried Payne, dismounting. "How's the world been using +you of late?" + +"So so," replied the other, shaking hands. "Where are you from?" + +"Komgha." + +"Any news?" + +"N-no. Nothing but `gas,' in fact. One gets so sick of all the yarns +that have been flying about that really one doesn't know what to +believe. I've got into the way of believing nothing." + +"Ah. Well, now, I think there's something in them. And I'll tell you +what it is, Payne. If I were a married man like you I'd send my family +away to King [King Williamstown. The chief town of British Kaffraria, +commonly thus abbreviated] or somewhere, for depend upon it we shall +have hot work here before long. They're not safe out there at your +place, I tell you." + +Payne laughed lightly. "Why, Marshall," he said, "if you're not +becoming as great an old scare-monger as the rest! Oh, by the way, +there was some news. It's said that the new Governor's coming up to the +frontier." + +"Worse and worse--if it's true. He wouldn't be coming if there wasn't +good cause for it, I can tell you. What sort of a feller is he?" + +"First-rate, from all accounts." + +"H'm. Did you hear anything else?" + +"Two troops of police been ordered across the Kei." + +"Fat lot of good they'll do," growled Marshall. "A lot o' greenhorns. +Why, some of them can't stick on their horses, and hardly know the butt +from the muzzle of their carbines. The police are not what they used to +be, since they've taken to getting out these raw chaps from England. +Time was when the force was made up of good colonial men, who could ride +and shoot, and follow spoor as easily as a waggon-road, and now--pooh!" +And the speaker knocked the ashes out of his pipe with a contemptuous +jerk. + +"That's all very well," said Payne. "They may not be good for much at +spoor, and there are a few greenhorns among them, as you say. But there +are some fine fellows, too--fellows with any amount of fight in them-- +and, after all, that's what we want now. You'll see, they'll do good +service yet, if they get a fair chance." + +The other shook his head. "Dunno. But--have a drop of grog?" + +"No, thanks; I must be moving on." + +"Won't you, really? Do." + +"No, thanks. But I say, Marshall, when are you coming over our way? We +haven't seen you for about ten years. Come on Sunday." + +The other filled and lighted his pipe. "Well, the fact is, I've had a +lot to do of late," he replied at length, between sundry vigorous puffs. +"And then, you see, I'm a rough sort of feller and haven't got any +company manners, and now you've got company. Perhaps, after all, I'm +best here." + +"You surly old humbug," said Payne, with a laugh, "I never heard such +bosh. You come up on Sunday at latest, or we shall quarrel. Call +yourself a neighbour, indeed! Now you'll come, won't you?" + +"I'll try." + +"All right, that's settled. Ta-ta;" and mounting his horse Payne rode +off. + +Gradually the long smooth slopes became steeper, falling off into abrupt +ravines, affording a glimpse of the Great Kei, which glided along, far +down between its lofty banks--now winding round a smooth-headed knoll, +now straightening as it washed the base of some huge wall of rock--a +distant musical murmur being upborne upon the still air as it rushed +over a stony shallow. From the far plains beyond, many a blue column of +smoke rose into the sunshine, where dotted about lay the clustering +kraals of the savage Gcalekas, whose hordes, even then, were gathering +for the long-expected and somewhat dreaded inroad upon the peace of the +colony. A bird sang in the thick thorn-protected brake adjoining the +path, a white vulture or two soared lazily from one of the huge krantzes +overhanging the river, insects hummed in the sunlight, and it seemed as +if nothing but the savagery of man could avail to break the peaceful +calm of that glorious scene, amid which Payne pursued his way wrapped in +uneasy thought; for in spite of his sceptical tone when talking to +Marshall he felt by no means the assurance that he would have had that +worthy believe. + +His horse suddenly pricked up its ears as the sound of deep voices +immediately in front became audible, and in a moment three tall, +savage-looking Kafirs, their athletic bodies smeared from head to foot +with red ochre, advanced down the path at a run, swinging their kerries. + +Now the said path was, just there, only wide enough for a single +horseman, being shut in on either side by high thorn-bushes, and Payne +naturally expected the pedestrians to make way for him. They, however, +had no such intention, and his steed began to show signs of terror at +the sudden appearance of the brawny, ochre-smeared barbarians, with +their gleaming necklaces of jackal's teeth rattling as they advanced. + +"Out of the way, you vagabonds," shouted Payne, angrily. "Out of the +road; d'you hear?" and he raised his whip menacingly. + +"Aow! Out of the way yourself, _umlungu_!" [white man] insolently +replied the foremost Kafir in his great deep tones, at the same time +seizing the bridle and trying to jerk the horse's head round. "We won't +get out of the way for you." + +Payne's whip descended, the lash curling with an angry "swish" round the +naked body of the speaker. + +"Take that, you hound!" he cried. "And now let go." And he clubbed his +whip to strike with the heavy loaded end. + +"Haoo-ow! Hah!" roared the savage, dropping the bridle and stepping +back a pace or two, while the lurid lightnings of wild-beast wrath shot +from his eyes. Then he sprang at Payne like a tiger-cat, aiming a +sledge-hammer blow at him with his heavy stick. + +Fortunately for Payne he managed to throw up his arm in time to save his +head, or he would have fallen to the ground, brained by the terrific +force of the blow. Fortunately, too, for him, his adversaries carried +no assegais, or he would there and then have been stabbed through and +through and his body flung over the adjacent cliff into the Kei, for he +need expect no mercy from such foes. The land was almost in a state of +war, and brutal outrages of this kind were only too terribly common. He +made a furious blow at his opponent with the butt of his whip, but +ineffectively, for at the moment of striking he felt himself seized by a +powerful hand and dragged from his horse, which backed into the bushes +terrified and snorting. Then nearly stunned by the fall he lay upon the +ground, and the sky and earth and foliage all went round in one giddy, +sickening whirl, and still he could see the gigantic figure of the +savage, who, with glaring eyes and white gleaming teeth, was advancing +upon him with kerrie upraised to strike, and he lay there, powerless +even to avoid the blow. In a second it would fall, when--woof! +something descended through the air, a large dark object darted between +him and the sky, and his enemy fell heavily to the earth. He heard the +clash of kerries in strike and parry, a fierce imprecation, and the ring +of a pistol-shot; then he knew no more till he awoke to consciousness +with some one bending over him and fanning his brow. + +"Don't move," said the stranger. "Take it easy a little longer, and +then you'll feel better." + +Payne looked wonderingly at the dark sun-browned face bent over him, +with the calm, resolute, blue-grey eyes and clear-cut features, and it +seemed to him that he had seen the owner of it before. + +"Oh, I feel all right now," he said, raising himself upon one elbow and +then sitting up. "A little muddled, you know, that's all." + +"I venture to say that our friend here, feels `a little muddled,'" +remarked the other, pushing with his foot the form of a prostrate Kafir. + +Payne stood up, rather giddily, and recognised his assailant in the +inert, motionless mass. + +"I say, though, but the brute isn't dead?" he said, with just a tinge of +concern, bending over the fallen savage. + +"He isn't dead. A stirrup-iron properly handled is a grand weapon; but +Kafir skulls are notoriously thick. The chances are a hundred to one, +though, that yours would have been split at this moment, had that +individual carried out his amiable little programme just then." + +"Of course--I was forgetting. You saved my life. Why, what an +ungracious dog you must think me!" + +"And I could have dropped the other two so nicely in their tracks," +continued the stranger, as if he had not heard Payne's remark. "They +both came at me with their kerries; but directly they saw this,"-- +producing a revolver--"off they went. I wanted to fell another chap, so +I didn't trot out the barker at first, till they began to think they had +it all their own way, and pressed me so hard that I was obliged to. +Lord, how they streaked it off!" + +"But you did let drive, didn't you? At least, I thought I heard a +shot." + +"Yes, I did. Couldn't resist the temptation; but just at the moment it +flashed across me how infernally near civilisation we were, and it's a +ticklish moment just now. The authorities would think nothing of +running us in and making scapegoats of us, swearing we had brought on +the war, you know, or something of that sort. So I just blazed over the +fellow's head, to give him a bit of a scare, otherwise I could have +dropped the pair of them--oh, so sweetly! But how did it all happen?" + +Payne told him. + +"H'm," said the other, reflectively. "We could run this fellow over to +the gaol if that would be any satisfaction to you, and if you cared to +go through the bother. But then, unfortunately, you struck the first +blow, as you couldn't have helped doing--and the result would have been +the same in any case--and the chances are some pettifogging attorney, or +meddling missionary, would take up the scoundrel's case and turn the +tables on you. So that's out of the question." + +"Shall we bring him to?" asked Payne. + +"A few slashes of your whip would do it if you're anxious on his +account; if not, let him lie." + +"Poor devil, he seems to be in bad order," said Payne, inspecting his +late foe, who lay with the crown of his head cut and bleeding, exactly +as he had fallen beneath the blow of the stirrup-iron, and breathing +heavily. "I'll take his kerries as a trophy, anyhow." Moved by a +sudden impulse, he glanced narrowly at the stranger, a man of apparently +about his own age, or not far from it; and it still seemed to him that +the dark, handsome face, and determined eyes, no less than the rather +mournful ring in the quiet voice, were familiar to him. + +"Well, then, we'll be moving," continued Payne. "My place isn't far +from here, and of course you are going with me. Don't say no, for I +insist upon it." + +There came an amused gleam into the other's eyes, and he stroked his +long, brown moustache once or twice to conceal a smile. "There's no +need to insist," he said, "because it so happens that that was my +original intention. The first thing I meant to ask you, when you came +round, was the way to George Payne's; but it would be rather superfluous +to ask it of George Payne himself, wouldn't it?" + +"What! Why, good heavens! Who the deuce are you? We've met before +somewhere, I'll swear!" said Payne, looking at him in a puzzled manner. + +The other broke into one of his long, quiet laughs, as if hugely +enjoying the situation, as he steadily returned the puzzled, inquiring +gaze. "Don't you remember that refreshing row close to De Klerk--that +time you were coming from the gold fields? Hang it, it wasn't much more +than two years ago!" Payne burst forth into a mighty expletive--a thing +he very rarely did. "My dear fellow, this is a piece of luck! And I +never recognised you! But you were bearded like the pard then, you +know; and, another thing--my head must have been spinning round, for I +felt an awful whack. Of course. So it is! Why, I ought to have +recognised you by the neat-handed way in which you dropped that nigger, +if by nothing else! That's the second time you saved my hide," and he +seized the hand extended to him, in a mighty grip. + +"Well, these niggers were tougher customers than those four swaggering +Dutchmen, when all's said and done. I haven't been in a good honest row +for a long while. It does one good." + +Mounting their horses they moved off, taking a farewell glance at the +place where the fallen savage still lay at full length, though he began +to show signs of returning consciousness. And the still sunshine glowed +in all its former calmness, as though no fierce and deadly struggle had +just occurred to mar its peace. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER TWO. + +RALPH TRUSCOTT'S QUEST. + +On the same day that these events are occurring on the far Kaffrarian +border, two men are seated together in a dingy office just out of +Chancery Lane. One is a solicitor, evidently the presiding genius of +the place--a man with a high, bald forehead, iron-grey hair, and a keen, +intellectual face; the other is a tall, dark, military-looking man, +faultlessly attired, who sits impatiently tapping his boots with his +cane while he listens to the lawyer in a half-incredulous and wholly +discontented frame of mind, which betrays itself only too plainly in his +eyes. A striking-looking man, in age about five-and-thirty; but there +is an unmistakable air of dissipation, not to say excess, about the +lines of the handsome face--the air of one who had lived too hard and +too fast, and would be prematurely old. And a superciliousness about +the mouth which the short black moustache did not conceal, and a cold, +unscrupulous look in the eyes, would effectually prevent the face from +ever being a pleasing one. + +Ralph Truscott, late Captain in Her Majesty's --th Foot, was a firm +believer in the adage, "All's fair in love and war"--in the former half +of it literally, as more than one rather shady episode in his gallant +career might serve to show, were it known, which it was not, even within +his intimate circle; in the latter half as representing the multifold +'cute devices whereby he had staved off and otherwise evaded the just or +unjust demands of a swarm of importunate creditors, Jew and Gentile. In +a word, the man was a born spendthrift; and having run through one large +fortune, and a second smaller one, in an incredibly short space of time, +found himself compelled to sell, and had been living upon his wits and +high play ever since. Not that he had degenerated into a mere card-room +sharper--far from it--but he was noted as a man with an extraordinary +run of luck; and though some held significantly aloof from him in +connection with the card-table or the billiard-room, yet, on the whole, +he had not lost caste. Of course it had occurred to him that he might +retrieve his fallen fortunes by picking up an heiress. It ought not to +be difficult, for he was just the sort of individual who, gifted with a +striking exterior and unlimited assurance, might carry things pretty +much as he pleased among the society women of his--or of any--set. But +this course was open to two objections. One lay in his own inner +consciousness, which made him fully aware that in three years, at the +outside, he would inevitably have run through the lady's fortune, in +which case he would find himself again destitute, and saddled with a +wife to boot; the other, in the fact that though heiresses themselves +might be soft of heart and compliant of head, their parents or guardians +were not. Indeed, some of these, in the obduracy of their stony hearts, +had been known to veto the transaction forthwith; while others, after a +few private inquiries into the circumstances and antecedents of this +enterprising individual, had briefly refused to entertain any of his +proposals, and had carried off their charges out of harm's way. So, +Captain Ralph, repeatedly thwarted in his schemes of advancement, was +compelled perforce to abandon them. He consoled himself, however, with +the thought that after all it was better to be a free man, even if +living was somewhat precarious, and gave up laying siege to the fair +sex, with an eye to the main chance. But meanwhile his liabilities +decreased not, and at the time the reader has the honour of making his +acquaintance, he was, to use his own expression, "at his last kick" for +want of the needful. + +Such was the man who now sat in the inner office of Messrs. Grantham and +Grantham, solicitors, in close confabulation with the senior partner. + +"Then you can give me no more positive information?" he was saying. + +"I'm sorry to say we can't," replied the lawyer. "The young lady left +England more than four years ago--went to the Cape, I believe, as +governess or companion, or something or other in that line. Since then +we have heard nothing of her." + +"Do you think she is out there still?" + +"My dear sir, it is impossible for us to say. I repeat that it was more +than four years ago, and that we have not heard one word of her since." + +"Well, I am surprised that you, of all people, should be so blankly +ignorant of her whereabouts, considering that it might be necessary to +communi--" He checked himself hurriedly, seeing that he had let out too +much. "I mean--that her friends might be making inquiries after her." + +The faintest possible smile lurked round the corners of the lawyer's +mouth. He fancied that the other had let down his guard in that +incautious speech into which vexation had betrayed him. And it was even +so. + +"You are very interested in this lady's whereabouts," he said. + +"Naturally. We are relations--distant relations, that is." + +"Indeed! How, may I ask?" + +"Well, you know--hang it all, I'm a deuced bad hand at pedigrees and all +that sort of thing, but we are, in a way, cousins, on the mother's +side," replied Truscott, testily, in a sort of tone which resented the +doubt thrown upon his statement by the other's inquisitiveness. + +"I see," said the lawyer, balancing a paper-cutter upon his forefinger. +But though his features preserved their polite imperturbability, the +fact was, he did not believe one word of this statement. "Let me see, +though," he went on, musingly; "I know who might be able to give you +some information." + +"Who?" asked Truscott, eagerly looking up. + +"Miss Dynevard, of Dynevard Chase. She, you are aware, is Miss +Strange's stepsister." + +The other's countenance fell. He was more disappointed than he cared to +say. Eveline Dynevard was the last person he could communicate with on +the subject. + +"Er--yes; of course," he said, hurriedly. "I had forgotten. I will +write to Miss Dynevard." + +"Can I make the inquiry for you?" asked the lawyer, politely. + +"No--no, thanks. I needn't trouble you further. Much obliged; good +morning," and taking up his hat Truscott made his way out into the +street. + +The lawyer went to the window and watched him turn the dingy corner. +"John," he said to his brother and junior partner, who at that moment +entered. "You saw that chap who just went out from here. He's got an +inkling of the contents of old Dynevard's will. I read him like a book +as he sat there, clumsily trying to fish out the whereabouts of Miss +Strange." + +"H'm! Has he?" grunted John Grantham, who was the greatest possible +contrast to his more astute brother, in that he was short, red-faced, +and irritable. "He didn't succeed, I hope?" + +"No. I couldn't have told him if I had wanted to, for the simple reason +that I don't know. But he says he's her cousin." + +"Hanky-panky," replied the other, with a contemptuous snort. "I don't +believe a word of it. It's easy to see what he's after. And it would +be a bad day for Lilian Strange, or indeed for any other pretty girl, +when that rascal got making up to her. I know Master Ralph Truscott and +his goings on, a good deal better than he thinks." + +"Well, it's my opinion that the young lady's married long ago. An +attractive girl like that is sure to be able to pick and choose in a +country where gentlewomen are scarce, I should imagine." + +"Bless my soul--yes," assented the other, changing his coat, and +brushing his hat, preparatory to a start for home. "And the sooner +friend Truscott goes to the devil, the better for society at large; he's +going there as fast as he can, as it is." + +Meanwhile, the subject of this charitable remark was seated in a hansom +with his face turned westward. + +"That damned lawyer was lying," he mused, "lying all the time. I could +see it in his face, and it's those chaps' trade to lie. He could have +told me if he had chosen. Never mind, I'll be even with him yet. I'll +go to the Cape; by Jove, I will, and at once; the sooner the better, and +this place is getting too hot for me just now. A few months of travel +and sport, and it'll cool down again, and then, if I find the fair +Lilian--Find her? I must find her, and I will." Then a suggestion, +which Mr Grantham had thrown out, crossed his mind, and he turned hot +and cold over the idea. + +"I think it not improbable that we might have to seek for her under +another name," the lawyer had said. "Miss Strange, you are aware, was a +young lady of considerable attractions. She may have married." + +"No, she will not," repeated Truscott to himself, "I know her better +than that. Unless--I don't know. Time works queer changes. What a +fool I was ever to let her out of my sight! And yet how could I tell +that she would ever be worth keeping in it? It was the merest fluke +that took me to Doctors' Commons this morning, and a still greater one +that moved me to look at old Dynevard's will. I'll go out and look for +her, the game's worth the candle, and, by George, if I win--and why +shouldn't I? She will almost throw herself into my arms, if only as a +contrast to the Kafirs and Boers she is living amongst. Then I'll turn +over a new leaf. I could with Lilian, almost, I think. I never saw any +woman to come up to her, unless it was--well, never mind. Yes, my luck +is on the turn. Nearly six years ago, though. I wonder what she's like +now." + +He chuckled gleefully to himself as he leaned back in the cab and +lighted a cigar. Then a thought struck him, and opening the trap in the +roof he shouted a direction to the driver. The man turned his horse's +head and in a moment was speeding away Citywards. Somehow, the reader +has already seen the dusty office-door before which Truscott leaped out +of his cab, as also the sharp boy who opened it. + +"Is your master in?" + +The boy nodded and jerked his thumb over his shoulder. Quickly mounting +the stairs Truscott found himself in the same dingy apartment wherein +Claverton had sat, several years previously. + +"Hullo, where's Morkum?" he asked, disappointedly. + +"He is out for de day, sair," replied the occupant of the room, a +hook-nosed son of Benjamin, rising from the table at which he was +seated, and washing his hands with invisible soap, a process they +greatly needed with the material article. "Can I not do anydings for +you?" + +"Yes, you can, Schultz," said the other, in a conciliatory tone. "The +fact is, I want to renew." + +The Jew looked keenly at him, and his little eyes twinkled maliciously. + +"I can't do it, sair. De monish, you see, must be paid. It is +over-due--over-due." + +"What's the amount now?" + +"Fifteen hundred and twenty-fife--six," answered Schultz, having duly +consulted a ponderous tome bound in leather. + +"The devil! Now look here, Schultz. We'll renew, say for three months, +and you shall let me have the odd five hundred on your own terms." + +"No, sair. Mishter Morkum he said he cood not renew. I was haf de +monish or--" and the speaker shrugged his shoulders in a way that was +highly suggestive. + +"But don't you see, Schultz, I must renew, at any rate," said the other, +angrily. "Don't be a damned fool now. I'm on a good thing, I tell you, +and you shall be paid in full in a few months' time. Don't you see?" + +But the Israelite apparently did not see. He was as obdurate towards +this Gentile, as the Egyptian Gentile had erewhile been towards his own +ancestors. He only shrugged his shoulders and repeated: "Mishter +Morkum, he say I was haf de monish. Fifteen hundred and twenty-fife-- +six." + +Then Truscott saw that it was useless, and, unfortunately for him, his +temper got the better of him. He raved, and swore, and shook his fist +under the other's nose, threatening him with swift and sudden +annihilation, and abusing him and his partner in a torrent of the +coarsest invective he could lay tongue to. But of his violence the +little Jew was not one whit afraid, for his hand was in his coat-pocket +and his fingers were grasping the butt of a revolver. His wicked little +eyes sparkled like those of a rhinoceros, and the short grey bristles +stood up upon his upper lip, as he turned upon Truscott in wrath. + +"Hein! Vat do you shay? You shall not bully me, I can tell you dat +much. You call yourself a shentelman, inteed? Yesh, you shall repent +of this, ven you are in shail, dat's vere you shall be. If you come a +step nearer, I shall shoot you," he went on, producing his weapon, for +Truscott in another minute would have seized him by the throat and +dashed him to the floor. But a bullet-wound would in no wise facilitate +the success of his enterprise, if the result were no worse, and this he +had the sense to see in a glimmering of reason which flashed in upon his +rage. So he stopped, and, shaking his fist at the Jew, rushed from the +room with a final curse--the parting epithet and scornful laugh flung +after him by that worthy in no wise tending to allay his ire. + +"Say, sonny," remarked the cabman to the smart boy at the door. "The +Kernel's dustin' your guv'nor's jacket, ain't he?" For the row going on +upstairs was in a measure audible in the street. + +"Reckon he'll be the fust what's done it--and the last," replied the +imp, pulling a handful of nuts from his breeches-pocket, and proceeding +to crack them. Then Truscott emerged, and, flinging himself into the +cab, started off westward. + +"What a fool I was to get in a rage with the brute!" he thought, +bitterly. "An utter fool! Now I've about done for myself, unless I can +get away at once. I'm starting on a fool's errand, though. Six years-- +or even five; it's a long time. She may laugh in my face even if I find +her; and then again--Hang it! I'll just have another look at the will +to make sure. No; it's right enough, though. Still, I'm starting off +on a regular fool's errand. I've a good mind to give it up--a devilish +good mind. But nothing venture, nothing win." + +The last ray of the sickly September sunlight was slanting garishly over +the dust and whirl and roar of the great city, as he alighted at the +steps of his club. Yes, a change would do him good, he thought, looking +around; and when he came back, why, then--Somehow he felt certain of +winning the game which he had set himself to play, and was quite elate. +But the only thorn in his side--and a very sharp one it was--lay in the +haunting fear lest the Jew should have him arrested before he could get +away. And he could not get away for nearly a week. He would go down in +the morning and see Morkum himself, and make it all right with that +dirty little Schultz. Morkum was a reasonable fellow, and would be sure +to renew, if not to accommodate him further, once an inkling of the case +was laid before him; and as for Schultz, why, a bottle of champagne and +a slap on the back would salve his wounded feelings. + +With this comforting resolve, Truscott dined sumptuously, and, in high +good-humour, started off to a friendly rubber, at which he reckoned to +make some nice little pickings. It was a fine evening--he would walk; +so, lighting a cigar, he stepped out briskly, humming a popular tune, +and thinking over his prospects if this move succeeded. + +Before he had gone far, some one accosted him. + +"Beg pardon, Capting. Sorry to trouble a gentleman--" + +"What the devil do you want?" cried Truscott, angrily, an uncomfortable +idea taking hold of him. + +"I must arrest you, Capting, at the soot of Silas B. Morkum and Co," +replied the other, touching him on the shoulder. "Very sorry, sir, +extremely sorry; but dooty is dooty--ain't that right, Tom?" + +"Tom," a thin, quiet-looking individual, who might be anything, from a +Russian spy to a Methodist class leader, nodded, and replied: + +"That's so, Bill." + +"But look here," cried Truscott, "I'm going down to see Morkum the first +thing in the morning. Can't we make some arrangement for to-night? The +fact is, I've got an important engagement now." + +The sheriff's officer smiled pityingly. + +"Extremely sorry, Capting, but the thing can't be done. We'll jest go +quietly to my little crib now, and in the morning you can send and let +your friends know. Here's the writ; better look at it for yourself, +Capting, and see that all's fair, square, and above-board. Fifteen +hundred and twenty-five--six. Cab, Tom." + +"Damn the writ!" cried Truscott, savagely. + +And then, as they entered the rickety, jolting vehicle, he relapsed into +silence. Fifteen hundred and twenty-five pounds! It might be fifteen +million for all the chance there was of his being able to pay a third of +it; for even he had at last come to the end of his tether. And no one +would be likely to help him either; and this scheme, upon which he had +been building such hopes, must fall through, for every day was of +importance now. And all its glowing chances looked fairer than ever now +that he was compelled to abandon it; and his bright castles in the air +seemed crumbling away in the very dust. So, with rage and despair in +his heart, Ralph Truscott alighted at the door of the low +sponging-house--his prison; whither he was consigned at the suit of +Silas B. Morkum and Co, and whence he should not depart until he had +satisfied the debt to the very last farthing; a requirement which at +present he saw remarkably small prospect of fulfilling. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER THREE. + +THE FRIEND IN NEED. + +George Payne and his newly-found friend--a veritable friend in need upon +this occasion even as on a former one--kept on their way, winding along +the picturesque heights overlooking the Kei, and exchanging many a +reminiscence of their past acquaintance. + +"To think of your turning up like this," said the former. "Why, I +thought you were still away up in the interior and never meant to come +near these parts again." + +"Well, I don't know. Fact is, after a few years of wandering, one has +pretty well done this not too interesting continent, at least the +southern part of it; and now I'm thinking of going somewhere else." + +"And you've come straight down country, now?" + +"Yes; ridden all the way. It would be inconvenient in some ways were it +not that one is indifferent to the exigencies of civilisation after such +a spell of savagery as I've been having. One can't carry much baggage, +for instance." + +"Is that all you've got?" said Payne, glancing at the valise strapped +across the other's saddle. + +"Yes; I had the rest sent to Komgha. It's a good way from your place, +but we might pick it up if it was wanted." + +"Better leave it there at present." + +"Why?" + +"Well, it's an even chance that we may all have to trek into laager +there or somewhere, any day; and it's safe there, at any rate." + +"Are things as fishy as that?" + +"They are," replied Payne. "A lot of the Dutchmen down towards the +coast are already in laager; but they're a white-livered lot, when all's +said and done, so that doesn't mean much. Still, from one or two things +I heard to-day, I should say that we shall have some tall rifle practice +before long. I'm no alarmist; on the contrary, I've more than once been +advised to send the wife and kids away to the town, but I don't think +there's any occasion for that just yet." + +"No, perhaps not. And it's as well to keep straight as long as you can. +Directly one begins to trek, another does--then another--and soon +there's a regular panic." + +"Rather. Now there was a scare on in the year of the big flood, and a +lot of fellows round here began laagering, and one heard such a lot of +war shop talked, that one almost wished there was some reason for it. +Well, I remained through it all. I had only just come up here then, and +didn't see the fun of leaving my place to run to wrack and ruin just as +I had got it a little square and shipshape, so I stuck to it, and other +fellows did the same; and we had the laugh of those who ran away in a +funk." + +"That was a bad scare, though." + +"It was," said Payne. "The niggers were quite as cheeky then as they +are now, and you've just had a specimen of what that is. By the way, +don't mention that little scrimmage to the wife; she's very susceptible +to scare, as it is, and once she heard of that, life would be a burden +to her whenever I was away from home. Lately, she's done nothing but +predict that I should come to grief." + +"All right. I'll keep dark." + +"Here we are at last," said Payne, as they entered a narrow gorge +between two high hills, and emerging upon a sort of basin-like hollow, +beheld a substantial-looking farmhouse. In front, a sweep of smooth +sward sloping down to the dam, in whose still surface a cluster of +willows lay mirrored, as they drooped their boughs to the water's edge; +around this a few strips of enclosed and cultivated land, and a +fruit-garden bordered by high quince hedges. On either side of the +hollow, just far enough apart for the place not to be "shut in," rose +green lofty heights, with here and there a clump of dark bush in their +rifts and chasms; and two little streams of clear water met in the +valley and dashed along past the homestead, sparkling as they joined +their forces in a leaping, rushing rivulet--an invaluable boon in that +land of drought. But it was not until one reached the house, which was +situated on a slight eminence in the hollow, that the full charm of the +situation became appreciable. Then, standing on the _stoep_, which ran +round two sides of the building, on the one hand the Kei hills bounded +the limit of vision; while on the other, focussed, as through a glass, +between the double range of green heights narrowing as they stretched +further and further away, a panorama of rolling bush country, with here +and there a purple ridge rising in the sunny air, found its limit on the +distant horizon. The house itself was a good specimen of the +old-fashioned frontier abode, with its thatched roof and canvas +ceilings. It had been added to by the present owner, and was fairly +roomy and comfortable. A passage intersected it, on either side of +which, a door opened into a sitting-room and dining-room respectively, +while another door from the latter communicated with the continuation of +the _stoep_, which ran round that side of the building. Such was +Payne's home--Fountain's Gap--so called from the two streams which met +and flowed through the beautiful hollow, at either end of which one +looked out upon the country beyond as through a gap. + +"So this is your crib," remarked our new acquaintance, glancing +critically around, as if to take in all the capabilities of the +situation. "It strikes me as an uncommonly good one. Why, that stream +alone ought to be a fortune to you." + +"Yes; it's a good all-round place," assented Payne, perceptibly +gratified. "You see, I've got a good deal of land under cultivation +here round the dam. I'm going to break up any amount more, and go in +strong for agriculture, as soon as this confounded scare, or war, +whichever it's to be (and I don't care which), is over. It's of no use +making a lot of improvements, only to be ravaged by these black devils-- +is it?" + +"Not in the least." + +They were now skirting the stream, which here flowed past the dam, +communicating with it by a runnel cut with spades. + +"Let's dismount here," said Payne, "unless you're tired, and would +rather go in. You're not? Well then, look. Here's where I was +thinking I might run up a mill one of these days; with this water power +one might do anything. Higher up it's even better. Wait, we'll get rid +of our horses and stroll along a bit," and a stentorian call brought a +young Kafir running down from the out-buildings, as also three or four +rough, fierce-looking dogs in open-mouthed clamour. The latter were +soon pacified, and leaped around their master in boisterous glee, +wagging their tails and whining joyously as he patted them, or bestowed +a playful punch upon some shaggy hide, while a precautionary sniff +having satisfied them as to the stranger's respectability, they +forthwith took him into their confidence in a less mirthful and more +dignified manner. + +"Here, Booi," went on Payne. "Take the horses up to the stable, and +off-saddle them. Is the missis in?" + +"Don't know, Baas," answered the Kafir, grinning. + +"Don't you? When did one of you fellows ever know anything? Now hook +it," and as the boy led away their steeds, the two strolled on, Payne +pointing out the capabilities of his water advantages, and enlarging on +his schemes of improvement; for this farm of his was his hobby, and in +his heart of hearts he hoped some day to make it a model in the way of +progress, as showing what might be done even there by a fellow with a +little "go" in him. + +They crossed the stream by a plank bridge, and now stood looking down +it, scarcely, a hundred yards from the house, Payne still expatiating. + +"Yes, with a place like this," he said, "one ought to be able to do +anything. It's splendid pasturage, well situated, any amount of water, +in fact, everything. And now comes this confounded war to upset the +whole coach--Hullo!" + +The exclamation is one of surprise and alarm as he turns round. His +companion is standing rigid and motionless. Every particle of blood has +fled from his face, leaving the sun-browned cheeks sallow and livid. +His eyes are fixed and dilated, and one hand nervously grips the rail of +the bridge against which he is leaning. + +"Man alive--what's up?" cried Payne, anxiously. "You look as if you had +seen a ghost." + +"Nothing--nothing at all," replied the other, with a faint smile. "I'm +all right again now; don't make a fuss, it's nothing. I think it's a +remnant of that infernal up-country fever which I can't thoroughly shake +off. It left me as weak as a rat, and even yet I feel the effects now +and then, as you see," and again he made a ghastly attempt at a laugh. + +"By Jove!" cried Payne, in alarm. "Did you get hit in that shindy just +now?" + +"No; don't be afraid--I'm all right. It was only a slight seizure," and +his hand, as he removed it from the rail, still trembled a little, but +the colour returned to his cheek. + +What should have so violently moved this man, who looked as if nothing +could disturb his placid equanimity for an instant? It could not be +that he was in a weak state of health or of nerve, for had he not just +engaged, single-handed, in an encounter with three daring ruffians, and +come off victorious? And his weather-tanned features betokened health +and strength as clearly as if he had not known a day's illness for +years. The heat was not overpowering; he had not been riding fast, or +in any way exerting himself, nor was he subject to attacks of faintness. +No, there was nothing. Unless it was that through the quiet air of +that sunlit valley came the sound of a woman's voice--a rich, full, +sweet voice, distant but clear--singing a pathetic ballad. + +"Are you sure?" went on Payne, looking at him concernedly. "Well, let's +go up to the house and have some brandy and water, you'll want it, after +that, and the sooner the better." + +"Payne," said the other, with a sort of sternness, laying his hand on +his arm. "I don't want anything just now. If you make a fraction of +fuss about me or my idiotic attack, I'll ascend that horse of mine and +say good-bye this very evening." + +"Eccentric as ever!" replied Payne, with a laugh. "My dear fellow, you +shall do nothing of the sort, and I'll promise not to bother you in any +way. Come along, let's go in." + +They walked towards the house, and as they approached it the song ended. +Had that man been afflicted with heart disease he would assuredly have +dropped down dead on the threshold, for a mist was before his eyes and +his heart was beating as if it would burst. + +"This way," said Payne, ushering his guest into the empty sitting-room. +"I'll tell the wife you're here," and, closing the door, he left him +alone. + +Alone? Payne, while he stood holding the door open, could not see the +piano at the far end of the room, and now as he closed it, the graceful +figure of a lady, who had apparently been occupied in looking through a +pile of music in the corner, rose to greet the new arrival. His back +was to the light as she first saw him. + +"Have you ridden far to-day?" she began, in a pleasant conversational +voice. Then with a faint, gasping cry as if she had been stabbed, she +reeled back and leaned against the piano, her face ashy white, and +trembling in every limb. + +"Arthur!" + +"Lilian!" + +He made three steps towards her, and stopped short. No, he dared not +even touch her. She belonged to another, now. She was the wife of his +host and friend, the man whose life he had just saved. Why had _he_, of +all others, been sent there only just in time to rescue that life, and +then have been brought on to this house to witness what the saving of +that life involved? What power of evil had sent him to this fiery +torment--this pang which was worse than hell--as he stood there looking +upon the woman who possessed the love of his whole nature, and whose +pure-souled, beautiful face had ever been before his mental gaze, night +and day, during three years and a half of lonely wanderings? What had +he done to deserve this torture? Like a lightning flash these +reflections pierced through his brain as he stood gazing, with a +terrible agonised stare, upon the delicate beauty of face and form which +had taken all the sunshine and gladness out of his existence, and now +stood before him owned by another, and that other the man whose life he +had just saved. + +Something in his look froze her where she stood. Was she thinking much +the same as himself? With hands clasped tightly before her, and eyes +fixed upon his with a despairing fear, she whispered hoarsely: + +"I thought I should never see you again. I thought--Oh, God--I +thought--that you were--dead!" + +The last ray of the sinking son shot from over the western hills, +entering the window and flooding with a golden and then a ruddy halo the +pale, anguish-stricken face and the wealth of dusky hair. And there +they stood, those two who had been parted three long weary years and +twice that number of months. There they stood--suddenly thrown +together, as it were, by the hand of Fate--facing each other, yet +speechless. Three years and a half of parting, and now to meet again-- +thus. + +"I knew it must be you," he said at length, slowly. "When I heard those +words I knew they could be sung by no one else--like that." + +For it was the same ballad which she had sung on that night at Seringa +Vale, when he was betrayed into the first avowal of his love, nearly +four years ago; and the first words which had thrilled upon his ear now, +as he recovered from his sudden attack of faintness, was the conclusion +of the sad and mournful refrain. + +And then this man, whose death she had mourned long and in secret, +suddenly stood before her. + +When last we saw Claverton lying fever-racked in the Matabili hut, he +was certainly as near to death's door as ever man was without actually +passing that grim portal; and when the uncivilised bystanders, with +bated breath, whispered their verdict, it was only the one which would +have been returned by any onlooker. Falling back, he had lain to all +appearance dead; but that very swoon had been the means of saving his +life, at least, such was the unhesitating opinion of one or two to whom +he afterwards told the circumstances, though of course not what had +caused the swoon, and who, from their training and practice, were +qualified to judge. His life must have been saved by a miracle, said +they. What that miracle was he did not feel called upon to tell them. +The sight--sudden and vivid in its distinctness--of a face the dying man +had longed, with a terrible hopeless longing, to see; death had no +terrors for him, his whole soul was concentrated on this one agonising +desire, and it had been fulfilled. The sight of that loved face, +momentary as it was, had calmed him into a peaceful, death-like sleep, +and the crisis was past. Had it been that in some mysterious manner, +triumphing over nature, spirit had gone to meet spirit on that dark +winter night? Who can tell? The end effected would have sufficed to +justify such a departure from the law of nature, for it is certain that +the apparition, whether due to the imagination of a fever-distorted +brain, or to whatever cause, was the saving of Claverton's life. + +Then, almost too soon after his recovery, he had wandered on. He had +come through the Transvaal, and past the gold fields of the great Dutch +Republic, and now he pushed on beyond the haunts of man striving after +gain, farther and farther into the interior, where the gnu and quagga +roamed the vast plains in countless herds; where the giraffe browsed in +the green mimosa dales, and the elephant and rhinoceros crushed through +the tangled jungle--at night terrific with the resounding roar of the +forest king. On--ever on--alone, save for three or four native +followers to look after his waggon and aid in the chase. + +And he had borne a charmed life. He it was who had shot the huge lion +in mid-air as it leaped right over him to seize one of the oxen tied +fast for the night in the strong brushwood enclosure, the mighty frame +falling nearly upon him as it bit and ramped in the agonies of death. +He it was who had confronted the hostile Matabili chief and his six +hundred men, when that truculent potentate had demanded the person of +one of his followers in satisfaction for some trifling larceny committed +by the hapless lad upon their mealie gardens, and dared the barbarian +and his armed warriors so much as to lay a finger upon him or his; and +the fierce savage, in admiring awe of his sublime indifference to death +or danger, had suddenly become his fast friend, though a moment before, +the chances were a hundred to one against his leaving the spot alive. +He it was who had swum out into the river swarming with crocodiles, and +rescued this very follower, none other than the same, the Natal boy, +Sam--who had watched him through his illness at the Matabili kraal--who, +carried off his feet by the force of the current, was being borne away +down the river, and the other natives had given him up as lost. And +many and many a hair-breadth escape had he, by field and flood, until +the natives began to look upon him as a sort of god, and his own body +servants felt safer in his service from danger or sickness than they +would have done surrounded by British regiments in the former +contingency, or protected by all the "charms" of their most renowned +_izanusi_ [wizards] in the latter. For he was absolutely indifferent to +death, and consequently death was indifferent to him. + +And ever before him, whether amid all the rapturous excitement of the +chase, in the glowing noonday, or in the awesome solitude of the +midnight camp far in the heart of the wilderness, hundreds of miles from +the nearest haunt of civilised man, with the roar of the lion and the +howl of the hyaena echoing along the reedy bank of some turbid lagoon; +while he watched the scintillating eyes of savage beasts glowing like +live coals out of the surrounding gloom as they prowled around his +encampment, haply waiting for the sinking watch-fire to fade +altogether--amid all this, and ever before him, there was one beautiful +face present to his mind's eye, as he had seen it, looking smilingly at +him in the soft moonlight, or set and despairing as he had last gazed +upon it that day in the golden noontide, beneath the old pear-tree. And +as years went on they brought with them no solace, and now he had +returned to civilisation, intending shortly to leave for ever the land +which had made only to mar the successes of his life. + +He had changed slightly--and changed for the better--for his years of +wandering in the wilderness. He was in splendid condition, broader of +chest and firmer-looking, though not one whit less active than in the +old days; but the impatient, restless expression had departed from his +eyes, leaving one of settled calm, the imperturbability of a man who +feels that he has lived his life, and that his past is a far-away +state--a vista, fair and lovely, perhaps, to look back upon, as the +traveller looks back in memory upon some beautiful tract he has left +behind--but still another and a different state of being. Such was +Arthur Claverton, as brought there by a marvellous freak of the hand of +Fate, he stood once more face to face with his first and only love. + +Suddenly the voice of his host on the _stoep_ recalled him to himself; +recalled both of them, and, with a sigh, Lilian turned round as if to +resume what she had been doing, in reality to collect herself, and Payne +entered. + +"Hallo," he said. "You here, Miss Strange? Let me introduce my friend; +or have you already been making acquaintance?" + +Claverton started as if he had been shot, and the room seemed to go +round with him. "Miss Strange!" She was not this man's wife, then, or +anybody's. He hardly heard what was said after that; though outwardly +cool and collected. Then the revulsion of feeling was succeeded by a +relapse almost as overwhelming as the first. For was it likely, he +argued, that she would listen to him now, any more than that morning +three years and a half ago--when for the second time she refused his +love? And his reason answered, No. Still it was a weight lifted, the +discovery that she was not married to his host, as he had at first +thought. He had never seen Payne's wife, nor had that genial-hearted +soul ever touched upon the subject of his spouse in such way as to +enable him to form any idea of her personal appearance. Nor had Payne +mentioned the fact of there being a guest in his house. And then +Lilian's own words--"_I_ thought that I should never see you again--I +thought that you were dead," spoken as if in explanation of her own +circumstances. No wonder he had jumped to that conclusion. Well, it +did not matter either way, he told himself. He would importune her no +more--he could follow the only course open to him--he would go. She +might tolerate his presence just this one evening, and on the morrow he +could depart before any of the household were astir, even as he had done +once before. + +It may be wondered what Payne had been about all this time, after +unconsciously leaving these two together. On going to the back of the +house, the first sight that met his gaze was a troop of young cattle +plunging over a fence and careering madly about one of his cultivated +strips destined to become a model kitchen garden. To dash off then and +there, and eject the intruders before damage, widespread and sore, was +done, became at once the object of his life, and forgetting for the +moment the very existence of his guest--or, indeed, of anybody--away he +started; but the work of reparation was also one of time, and not until +all possibility of a recurrence of the damage had been practically +guarded against, did he so much as begin to think of returning to the +house. + +Fortunately the darkness of the room, as the shades of evening deepened, +kept Payne from noticing Lilian's deathly paleness, and he chatted on in +high good-humour, till the sound of voices and laughter in the passage +proclaimed the advent of his wife and olive-branches--the latter, +Lilian's charges; for she was still plying that delightfully +remunerative and much appreciated craft--teaching the young idea. + +"Well, Lilian," cried Mrs Payne, a bright, cheery little woman of about +her own age, or perhaps a year or two older. "You'd much better have +come out with me instead of moping indoors, on this lovely afternoon, +over that wretched music. Why, who's this?" Then a due introduction +having been effected, she shook hands cordially with the new arrival. +"Ah, Mr Claverton, I'm so glad to see you. I'm always at that dear, +stupid old George for not bringing you here, after saving his life that +time; but I'm so glad you've found us out at last." + +"That dear, stupid old George," the while, was winking at Claverton over +his spouse's shoulder, his satirical nature hugely tickled by the +flutter which the news of the other's opportune aid a second time +rendered would cast her into. He would tell her some day, but not just +yet. + +Claverton laughed. "Well, you see, Mrs Payne, he could hardly have +done that, because I was bound in the opposite direction, but I've taken +advantage of my opportunity as soon as I fell in with it, and here I +am." + +"What! Do you mean to say you've been wandering about up the country +ever since?" + +"Of course he has," struck in Payne. "But hadn't we better get all snug +for the evening? It's about feeding-time! Here, Claverton, come this +way, I dare say you'll like to put your head into cold water. And, +Annie, just tell those kids to shut up that infernal clatter," he added, +as the uproar of juvenile romping, mingled with many a shrill laugh, +came rather too distinctly from an inner room. + +And how comes it that Lilian Strange, whom we last saw at Seringa Vale, +should be quietly installed in this Kaffrarian border dwelling? It will +be necessary to glance back. + +Not long after we saw her, hopeless and heartbroken, more than three +years back, an event happened which caused her to forget for a time her +own grief in the sore affliction of others, of her dearest and truest +friends. One day Mr Brathwaite started for his accustomed ride round +the farm, but the afternoon slipped by and then evening came, and he did +not return. His horse, however, did; for just as Mrs Brathwaite, in +anxiety and alarm, was about to send forth in search of him, that +quadruped put in an appearance, with the rein still on its neck, and +limping up to the stable-door as if it had been injured. Then they +started in search, leaving Mrs Brathwaite a prey to the most terrible +forebodings, which were realised only too soon. The old settler was +found lying in the _veldt_, unable to move. His horse, he said, had put +its foot in a hole, stumbled and rolled over with him, falling upon him; +no bones were broken, but he feared he had received some internal injury +as he could not move without great pain. Carefully they carried him +home, and he was put to bed. Tenderly did his wife and Lilian watch +beside him the night through, while Hicks was riding at a hand-gallop to +fetch a doctor from the district town. An errand, alas, which was only +too futile; for as the clear dawn quivered glowing and chill over the +homestead at Seringa Vale the sufferer's spirit passed slowly away, and +the beams of the rising sun, darting in at the window, lighted upon the +face of a corpse and two watchers weeping by a bedside. + +Thus died Walter Brathwaite--the staunch, persevering settler, the +pioneer of industry and advancement in a new and far-away land, and, +above all, the genial, noble-hearted gentleman. One who had never +turned his back on friend or foe, a man who had never been guilty of a +mean action or reaped advantage from the misfortune of his fellows; open +of hand, kindly of heart and firm of head, he died as he had lived, +regretted, loved, and respected by all who knew him. And that country +is fortunate which can show many of his like. + +And in the dark and rayless days that followed, it was Lilian's task to +whisper words of consolation and hope to the sorrowing widow, crushed to +the very earth in her sudden and comfortless grief; and in no better +hands could it have devolved. But within the year Mrs Brathwaite had +followed her husband, and Lilian, who, up to then, had tended her with +more than all the loving care of a daughter, watched over her to the +last. + +"God bless you, dearie," had been the dying woman's parting words to +her. "You have given yourself up to the comfort and happiness of +others; some day it will return to you a hundredfold. Only be patient." + +They buried her beside her husband; and in one disastrous day, sad +indeed had been the change wrought in that peaceful, happy home. And +then Lilian, craving for work and diversion, had gone back to her old +line of life, which, involving a constant tax on her energies, would +afford her both the one and the other. So here she was, after a lapse +of years, installed at Fountain's Gap, ostensibly as the preceptress of +Mrs Payne's children, in reality as companion to that good-hearted +little woman herself, who had taken an immense fancy to her, and, +moreover, hated being left alone, as must, otherwise, inevitably be +frequently the case from the very nature of her husband's pursuits. + +"Did you hear anything fresh in Komgha to-day, George?" asked his wife, +when they were seated at the table. The curtains were drawn and the +room looked snug and homelike. + +"Two more troops of Police ordered over the Kei." + +"Oh, dear. That looks bad. We are in a dreadful state of scare now, +Mr Claverton," she explained. "I can hardly sleep at night for +thinking of it--and right in the middle of those wretches, too." + +"_We_ are!" rejoined Payne, good-humouredly. "Say, rather, you are. +The fact is, Claverton, my wife thinks of nothing but fire and sword, +morning, noon, and night, till she's worked herself up to such a pitch +that every time a drunken nigger howls in the _veldt_ she vows they are +raising the war-cry." + +"Well, but you know there is reason for it," retorted she. "And if it +gets any worse, Lilian and I will go away with the children to +Grahamstown or somewhere. I really am frightened." + +"That's a long way," said Payne, banteringly. "I also heard that the +new Governor was coming up to the frontier." + +"Ah, we're getting the news by degrees," exclaimed his wife. "What else +did you hear?" + +"That a policeman rode in from the Transkei this morning." + +"What news did he bring?" + +"I don't know." + +"There now. You never find out anything. Some day we shall all be +taken by surprise and murdered in our beds." + +"Ha, ha, ha?" laughed Payne. "Well, at any rate, you're no worse than +the people at Komgha. If an express rides in, they jump to the +conclusion that Kreli is marching on their precious town at the head of +twenty thousand men. For my part I don't believe there'll be a shindy +at all. It's only another case of scare." + +But he did believe it, only he thought a pious fraud justifiable to +reassure the womenkind. + +"When I'm big," remarked Harry Payne, aged seven, "I'll have a gun and +shoot a great _schelm_ Kafir." + +"But, Harry, he may shoot you first," said Lilian, during the laugh that +followed upon this interruption. + +"No he won't," persisted the embryo warrior. "I'll shoot him." + +It was the first time Lilian had spoken, and Claverton, who was sitting +opposite her and almost as silent, heard with a thrill that low, sweet +voice which had haunted his dreams and his waking thoughts during the +long years of solitude. He had been furtively watching her, noting +every turn of the beautifully poised head, striving to catch a glance +from the sweet, serious eyes, which somehow were never suffered to meet +his. And he likewise noted that Lilian Strange at twenty-seven was, if +possible, even more lovely and winning to behold than on that day just +four years ago, when he had first gazed upon the vision which had +completely altered the course of his life. Not even the most spiteful +of critics could say of her that she had "gone off." A trifle graver +perhaps, but it was a gravity that suited well her soft, dark beauty; +and the smile, when it did come, lit up the serene, exquisite face as +the ripple of a sunbeam on a sleeping pool. And it was just such a +smile as this which caused a tug of pain at Claverton's heart, when the +urchin uttered his bellicose aspiration. + +"By the time you're big enough for that, sonny, there may be occasion +for it, not before," said Payne, as he wheeled back his chair. "Come +and have a smoke on the _stoep_, Claverton. What! Did you say, `No'?" + +"That's what I said." + +"Well! Here's a transformation! Why, you haven't given up the only +sociable habit--Ah, I see. Ladies, you may score a triumph; you have +tamed this savage. He is going to give up the soothing weed in favour +of your more soothing society. But I am not, therefore for the +present--so long," and with a laugh the light-hearted fellow went out, +cramming his pipe as he went. + +"Now, Mr Claverton, we shall expect you to tell us some most thrilling +adventures," said his hostess. "You must have a great stock of them." + +"I assure you I have none," he began. + +"Oh, that won't do. But tell me the ins and outs of that affair when +you first met George." + +Claverton started. His wits were, in popular phraseology, +wool-gathering; and at first he thought of to-day's row. Then he +remembered. + +"That affair at De Klerk? It wasn't much of a thing. Payne was holding +his own gallantly against four big Dutchmen, and I came up in time to +turn the scale. You said something about his life just now, but his +life wasn't in danger; the most they'd have done would have been to have +given him rather a mauling." + +"What was it about?" asked Lilian. + +"The right of outspan, usual bone of contention in Dutch neighbourhoods. +And just then the Boers were rather sore about the Gold Fields, and +made themselves very nasty to any one coming from or going to that sham +El Dorado." + +"Sham! Yes, it is a sham; George did no good by going," said Mrs +Payne, rising. "Now, children, bed-time," and with the reluctant +juveniles she left the room; and again those two were alone together. + +Claverton, who had hoped for such a moment, now that it had come, felt +utterly tongue-tied. He felt that he had no right to rake up the past. +She herself had buried it, and now that they were unexpectedly thrown +together again, he felt that it would be unfair to her, not to say +obtrusive, to revert to the forbidden subject. And yet what was he to +say to her? Every topic they had in common was inextricably interwoven +with that terribly painful past, which was as fresh and unhealed in his +heart as on the morning when she had bidden him leave her. + +"Do you know, I had not the remotest idea I should find you here +to-day?" he began, rather lamely. + +"Hadn't you? I suppose not," she answered, speaking quickly, and her +fingers busy at some needlework, trembled ever so slightly. + +"How long have you known the Paynes?" + +"Nearly three years. Just before Mrs Brathwaite's death." + +"What! Is Mrs Brathwaite dead?" he asked, in astonishment. + +"Didn't you know?" she replied. And then she gave him the history of +the sad events which had followed so soon upon his leaving Seringa Vale, +and he listened in amazement, for he had only just returned straight +from the interior, and thus, as it were, into the world again. + +"I am very grieved to hear this," he said, when she had finished. "They +were the truest, kindest friends that ever man had. I little thought I +should never see them again. And I suppose Jim reigns in the old place, +now?" + +"Yes," she answered sadly, and then there was silence for a few moments. +The conversation was taking a decidedly dangerous turn, and Lilian +began to feel embarrassed. Perhaps it was as well that Mrs Payne +returned, having disposed of her offspring in their various couches, and +almost immediately her lord entered from the _stoep_, bringing in a +whiff of fresh night air not guiltless of tobacco smoke. + +"Grand night!" he exclaimed, flinging down his hat in high good-humour. +"We'll have a ride over the place to-morrow, eh, Claverton?" + +Claverton assented mechanically, thinking the while how he might be far +enough away by that time. Then a little more conversation, and a move +was made to retire. How narrowly he scanned Lilian's face, while he +held her fingers in ever so lingering a clasp as he bade her good-night! +He could read nothing there. And then, mechanically again, he followed +his host to the room prepared for him, and once more he was alone. + +Then what a rush of recollections swept over his mind, as he sat at the +open window looking out upon the still night! All the years of +wandering, of peril, and of hardship, were bridged over as by a single +night, and once more it seemed as if he had just heard his doom only a +few hours since, in the garden at Seringa Vale. And now Fate had thrown +him beneath the same roof with this woman, whom he had never expected +nor dared hope to see again. He had once more looked into her eyes, and +drank in the sound of her voice--once more had held her hand in his, and +now the old wound, never even so much as cicatrised over, was lacerated +afresh, and gaped open and bleeding. Could he have been brought here +for the mere sport of circumstances, or was it with a purpose--a deeper +import? And with the superstition in small things which often, and in +spite of himself, clings to a man who has travelled much and in +solitude, he grasped the idea. Yet he dared not hope. Hope and he had +parted company long since, he told himself. But he made up his mind +that, at any rate, he would not leave his friend's hospitable roof the +next day; and having arrived at that conclusion he fell asleep, and +slept soundly. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER FOUR. + +"SO THE FACE BEFORE HER LIVED, DARK-SPLENDID..." + +And what of her to whom this long, weary period had been so many years +and so many months of terrible self-reproach? To her, though Time had +brought no solace, it had brought a certain amount of resignation; and +she had been able to school herself to face the future as best she +might. Then suddenly, without so much as a moment's warning, this man +whom she had mourned as dead, whom she had wept and prayed for, night +and morning, as one whom she would never again behold here on earth, +stood before her. She had looked up, expecting to see a stranger--and +there _he_ stood! No wonder the blood forsook her ashy face and her +heart stood still. + +And now, in the dark, silent hours, she can scarcely realise it. It +must be a dream--such a one as she had many and many a time awakened +from to find her pillow wet with tears. Would she now awaken to find +herself once more the dupe of one of those cruel hallucinations? No, +this was real, she told herself; and looking back upon that meeting, +awful in its suddenness, she wondered how she had so preserved her +calmness. And he--he had shrunk from her--stopped short as soon as he +recognised her. No wonder. She had sent him away with bitter words, +with hard, cruel words, as a last recollection. How could he tell the +agonies of remorse, of repentance, of vain, passionate yearning, which +her life had since undergone? Time had gone by--perhaps he had +eradicated from his heart the image of her who had made a plaything of +it, as it must seem to him; perhaps some other image had taken its +place. Better she could have continued to mourn him as dead than that. +She forgot, in her anguish, how he had been wandering ever since they +two parted--wandering afar in the wild interior, among its wilder +inhabitants, alone with his own thoughts and her memory. She forgot all +this as, the night through, she lay and tortured herself with these and +kindred reflections. + +And even if things were not so, and he had come back as he went, was +there not the same barrier between them? Now that she was face to face +with it once more, could she be false to her word any more now than +then? Did not the old obstacle once more arise? No, it did not. From +that fatal promise she had been absolved since then, absolved by the +inexorable hand of Death--not always a merciless enemy--and at this +moment she was free, absolutely free. But what availed her freedom now? +Years ago it would have meant everything--life, love, and happiness-- +but now-- + +One by one the stars paled overhead, a faint glow suffused the eastern +sky, and, with a chill tremor, the dawn swept clearer and clearer over +the sleeping earth. Very soothing to Lilian's tired brow was the fresh, +cool air as she leaned out of the window, restless and fevered, after a +sleepless night. For a few moments thus she stood, watching the shadows +lightening upon the hills around, then, dressing hurriedly, she +descended, intending to enjoy the early freshness before any one should +be astir. + +Noiselessly unlocking the front door, she passed out; and never had the +pure morning air seemed more grateful or invigorating. She walked to +the gate at the end of the _stoep_ and turned the key--tried to turn it, +rather, for it was firm. Then she tried again with all the strength of +her two hands; but no; the wretched instrument moved not a hair's +breadth, and she stood contemplating a deep-blue imprint on her own +delicate palm--the sole result of her attempt. + +"Allow me," said a voice, and immediately the recalcitrant key yielded, +with a creak and a snap, to the vigorous turn of a strong hand. +"There," said the new arrival, swinging open the gate. "Are you taking +an early stroll?" + +Upon what a startled ear had that voice fallen! Her first impulse was +to disclaim all intention of early exercise, and to go back indoors; but +she answered in the affirmative. + +"I wonder if my company would bore you greatly?" went on Claverton. +"Singularly enough, I turned out early with the same intent, and Fate +seems to have thrown us together." + +Did he say this with a meaning? she wondered. Fate had indeed thrown +them together. + +"It would be very ungrateful of me to refuse it," she answered, with a +smile, "when you have just overcome such an obstacle in the way of my +going out at all." + +They walked along in silence for a few moments, side by side--those two, +who had been so long parted. + +"Do you find this place as pretty as Seringa Vale?" he asked. + +The question somewhat took her aback. Why did he wish to recur to the +past? "No; I have never seen anything like that," answered she. "Still +this is very beautiful in its way. Mr Payne thinks it the most perfect +spot on earth." + +"And--are you happy here, Lilian?" + +"Yes; I have no right to be otherwise. In fact, I consider myself very +fortunate." + +"Oh." + +They had reached the little wooden bridge whence he had first caught the +notes of the old, familiar ballad the evening before. Crossing it, they +turned down a path between two high pomegranate hedges. Beyond was a +garden--cool, leafy, and inviting--where birds twittered and chirped in +the morning air. A gleam beyond the Kei hills betokened the advent of +the sun. + +"It's marvellously warm for daybreak at this time of year," began +Claverton after a pause. "I hope it doesn't mean a storm in the +afternoon, because that isn't exactly an auspicious opening to a +journey." + +"A journey!" echoed Lilian, blank dismay in her face and in her tone. +"_You_ are not going away--to-day?" And moved by an uncontrollable +impulse she looked at him, and in that look was a world of entreaty, of +despair, and of love; such a look as would be with him to his dying day. + +"And is it not better so?" he said, gently. "Believe me, I did not come +here to make it uncomfortable for you--darling." Then, seeing the +imploring look deepen in the white face, he went on in a strangely +altered tone: "What? It cannot be! Oh, Lilian--tell me--am I to--?" + +"Stay." The word was spoken in a low, thrilling voice. "Stay! unless +you want to break my heart. It is only what I should deserve," and a +great sob convulsed the beautiful frame, which was instantly locked fast +in Claverton's embrace; and heart beat against heart as he covered the +shrinking face and the soft hair which lay against his shoulder with +wild, delirious kisses. + +Then the great, golden chariot of day mounted majestically above the +eastern hills, and flamed from the azure vault, darting a bright beam +upon those two happy ones as if in benediction, and flooding the valley +with light and gladness; and the bleat and low of the flocks and herds +sounded from the fold, and the voices of humankind echoed cheerily +through the morning air--and the day was begun. And in that quiet +garden the birds fluttered and piped, bees droned in the sunlight as +they winged their way in search of the luscious store, and now and then +the leaves would tremble in a faint breeze. Birds, insects, whispering +trees, all seemed but to echo one voice, one glad, joyous refrain--"We +will never part again, love, never, never." + +Lilian was the first to break the silence. + +"Oh, Arthur, is this, too, a dream?" she murmured. "Shall I wake up in +a moment and find you vanished, as I have so often done?" + +"Have you, sweetest?" he replied in a tone of reverent tenderness, as if +he could not speak too softly, or too gently, to her. "It is reality +now--if ever anything was--sweet reality;" and at the picture which her +words opened up before his mind he clasped her again to his heart as +though he could never let her go. + +"Let me have a look at you, darling," she said, suddenly raising her +head with a bright, lovely blush, and gazing into the firm, serious face +bent over hers. "You have become so brown, and you are looking ever so +much older, and--" + +"And am quite a battered and hardened campaigner." + +"And are looking ever so much better--ever so much better than you used +to. There, you don't deserve that for interrupting me," she added, with +one of her most bewitching smiles. + +"Let's sit down here," he suggested, as, with his arm still round her, +he drew her towards a rustic seat which might be twin brother to the one +under the pear-tree where that dread parting had taken place those years +ago. "Now tell me all about yourself--about everything." + +She did so. She told him of her life since they parted, and previous to +their first meeting; told him the story of that promise which had +entailed such misery upon both of them. It was the old story--a former +suitor--and the promise had been most solemnly given beside her mother's +deathbed. The man was worthless to the core, selfish, dissipated, and +unprincipled, but he was fascinating both in manner and appearance; and +Lilian, at any rate, fancied him genuine. Over her mother he had cast +the spell of an extraordinary infatuation, and Mrs Dynevard had not a +little to do with the bringing about of her daughter's engagement. +Certain it was that nothing else prevented that daughter from breaking +it, for when--her stepfather dying shortly afterwards--Lilian could no +longer make her home at Dynevard Chase, this fair-weather suitor kept +aloof. He was obliged to leave England, he explained, in order to +better his fortunes, which were in a very bad way. By this time, +however, Lilian had gained some insight into his real character, and +then the weight of that rash promise began to make itself felt. Once +she appealed to him to release her from it, but met with a decided +refusal, and, as though to rivet the bond still tighter, the man +reminded her that her promise was not only given to him but also to her +dead mother. So poor Lilian clung fast to her only hope, which was that +he might not think it worth his while to claim its fulfilment. +Meanwhile she sacrificed herself to sentiment--as men and women have so +sacrificed themselves at the faggot pile, or helpless and defenceless +before ravening beasts in the arena. Then, like a lightning flash, had +come the consciousness of real love, but still she immolated herself to +the sacredness of a rash promise. + +Let us leave them there, those two, in the sunny garden, amid the +unclouded glory of the new-born day. Their cup is full--full and +brimming with such happiness as this world rarely affords. Let them +revel in it while they may, for a dark cloud is rolling up, gathering as +it rolls--a cloud whose edges are red with blood, and whose gruesome +shadow is fraught with desolation, with ruin, and with Death. + +"Payne," quietly remarked Claverton, two hours later, as he and his host +were standing at the gate of one of the sheep-kraals, the latter +counting: "I wonder if I shall succeed in astonishing you directly--by +what I'm going to tell you." + +"Twenty-three--five--seven--thirty-two--six," counted Payne. "Don't +speak to a man on his stroke--or count. Nine--forty-one--forty-four-- +seven hundred and forty-four. Right, Booi. Now, off you go, and keep +away from old Smith's boundary. He's a cantankerous beggar, and I don't +want to have a tiff with him. What were you saying, Claverton?" he +continued, making a playful cut at a native urchin with his whip, which +the boy dodged, and gambolled away swinging his sheepskin kaross and +grinning from ear to ear. + +"I was saying--would it surprise you greatly to learn that I am about to +perpetrate matrimony?" + +Payne whistled. "N-no--I don't know--most fellows fall victims sooner +or later. And after all the knocking about you've had it'll do you good +to settle down for a bit. By the way--if it's not an impertinent +question--who's the lady?" + +"Lilian Strange." + +"Eh?" + +"Lilian Strange." + +"The devil!" + +"No--nothing of the kind. That's deuced uncomplimentary of you when I +tell you a piece of news before I've imparted it to any one else. In +fact, I call it downright shabby," replied Claverton in a tone of mock +remonstrance, while his eyes sparkled with suppressed merriment. For +Payne was staring blankly at him as if he distrusted his sense of +hearing. + +"But--but--Hang it all, how do you know she'll have you? Why, you never +set eyes on her till yesterday." + +Claverton laughed. "I know it because I have it from the very best +authority--her own lips. And I knew her--well, long before I had the +advantage of first beholding the light of your supremely honest and +genial old countenance," he said, quietly. "Come, don't stare at a +fellow as if you thought him a candidate for a glass-case, but say +something decent. Make us a speech, you know." + +"Why, of course, I congratulate you, old chap, and all that sort of +thing; but you've taken one a little aback. Hang it, it's as good as a +play. Aha! that's what we get up so dismally early for, hey?" + +And, indeed, honest Payne was so taken aback by the announcement that he +walked beside the other speechless, with his hands in his pockets, and +whistling. + +Never before had the duties of the schoolroom seemed so irksome to +Lilian as this morning. The warm, sunny air streamed in at the open +windows, and just audible was the hum of male voices in conversation, +and her heart thrilled as every now and then her ear caught a low, +gleeful laugh, which she had learned to know so well. Once, indeed, she +went to the window, in the hope of catching a glimpse of the talkers, or +rather of one of them; but the result was lamentable, for she found +herself dogmatically asserting to her pupils that Pekin, not Paris, was +the capital of France--they staring the while as if they did not quite +know what to make of her. + +"Miss Strange," exclaimed the eldest girl, "do let's have the map of +this country instead. France and Germany, and all those, are so stupid. +We can see where all the Kafirs live, who are coming to fight us." + +"They're not going to fight us," struck in Harry, somewhat indignantly. +"Pa says they're not. They're funky." + +Lilian smiled at this retort, and nipped in the bud an argument, which +promised to wax warm, by producing a large map of the Eastern Province. + +"Now look here, Harry," she said; "here's the River Kei, and here are +we. Here are all the Kafirs and--" + +"But where's Fountain's Gap?" inquired Rose, aged nine. + +"It isn't marked. Look. We'll put a pencil spot for it. Here's King +Williamstown." + +"What, all that way off?" said Harry. + +"Yes. It is a long way off." + +"But we should have to run there if the Kafirs came," protested that +doughty youth. + +"Aha! Who's funky now? Who wants to run away now--eh?" jeered his +sister. + +"Hush!" said Lilian, in that sweet, soothing way of hers, that stood her +in far better stead than any amount of sternness. "You mustn't quarrel +now, you know." Suddenly the urchin fixed his gaze upon her, and, with +mischief gleaming from his blue eyes, exclaimed: + +"I saw you this morning--you and that man." + +Lilian felt herself flushing all over. She tried to direct his +attention to the lesson, but the imp, with that mixture of mulishness +and malice which seems the invariable attribute of the infant prodigy +oft-times petted, continued: + +"I did. I saw you ki--" + +"Harry!" cried Rose, making as if she would rush upon the delinquent. +"I'll go and tell mamma about you, at once. Send him out of the room, +Miss Strange--do!" + +Poor Lilian! Her delicate, sensitive nature was indeed undergoing acute +laceration at the tongue of this urchin, on whom she had lavished +nothing but tenderness and care. Whether from perversity, or with a +savage enjoyment of the pain he was inflicting, the cub went on: + +"I don't care, Rose! I did see them. They were--" + +What they were or were not doing remained unsolved, for the door opened, +and Mrs Payne entered. + +"I want you to give them a holiday to-day, Lilian," she said. "Now +then, children, run away out into the garden. You can put your books +away after. Out you go--quick." + +They obeyed with double alacrity. For their mother, in spite of her +warm-heartedness, had a very decided will of her own at times. And +Rose, taking into consideration all the circumstances, deemed it +advisable to say nothing about Master Harry's ill-conditionedness. + +"Lilian, dear!" exclaimed the good-hearted little woman, as soon as the +children had gone out, "I'm so glad about this. Directly I heard of it +I came straight here. I couldn't let you remain drudging in here +another moment, to-day. You must go out, and at once, or a certain +person will be getting so impatient that he'll be wanting to quarrel +with George, which would be a pity, as they have always been such good +friends." + +And then Lilian, somewhat unnerved by the recent juvenile disclosure, +cried a little, and there was a good deal of kissing. + +"By the way," exclaimed Mrs Payne, ruefully, "of course, I shall lose +you very soon, now; and I don't know how I shall get on without you at +all, dear." + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER FIVE. + +SANDILI. + +Never was war or outbreak more entirely without reason or provocation +than the Kafir rising of 1877-8. + +It is a well-known rule that savage races go under before the +encroachments of white civilisation. The case of the native tribes in +Southern Africa is a notable exception. Far from diminishing, every +year sees their population actually increased. And the reason need not +be sought for long. It lies in the security to life and property +afforded these people by British rule, the quelling of intertribal wars, +the breaking of the power of the chiefs, the abolition of sanguinary +laws relating to witchcraft, the opening up of a vast field for native +labour, and the resources of civilisation brought more and more within +the reach of the tribes, who, for their part, are not slow to avail +themselves of the same. True that, as well as ploughs, and waggons, and +smithies, and schools, British rule has also conferred upon them grog. +That would have come anyhow; but even as things are, in this respect the +natives are no worse than our own countrymen. + +This outbreak was devoid of a shadow of excuse. The different locations +occupied by these tribes were fair and fertile tracts of country. They +had no encroachments to complain of on the part of the colonists, for +their territory was jealously secured to them--good pasturage, fertile +lands, and well watered withal. For their surplus population there wae +abundance of work to be obtained in the colony, and whatever property +they might accumulate it was beyond the power of any hostile tribe or +tyrannical potentate to wrest from them. Yet they were not content. +And the reason thereof does not require much seeking. + +They were thorough savages. They had great martial traditions. For +more than twenty years their warrior energies had found no outlet. Such +a state of things could not be suffered to continue. + +Not all, however, were of this mind. Broadly speaking, public opinion +was divided into two factors. The first consisted of old and elderly +men, who owned property and had something to lose, and, moreover, having +actually fought, knew that war was not all beer and skittles. The +second consisted of young men, who, owning nothing, had the same to +lose; who had only _heard_ of fighting, and consequently imagined that +war _was_ all beer and skittles. And the voice of the latter faction +carried the day. + +As was right and proper the first to take the initiative were the +Gcalekas in the Transkei, the tribe ruled by Kreli, Chief Paramount of +all the Amaxosa divisions. These proceeded to organise a series of +raids against the Fingoes, whose emancipation from serfdom to themselves +had long been a sore point. Matters became serious. The Fingoes were +British subjects and must be protected accordingly. + +The High Commissioner, then newly appointed, proceeded to the border. +Settlers' meetings were held to discuss the important matter of defence, +and deputations waited upon the Governor to a considerable extent. His +Excellency was hopeful and reassuring in his replies, and, winning +golden opinions by his courtesy and decisiveness, he passed on into the +Transkei with the object of conferring with the Paramount Chief in +person. That astute savage, however, plumed himself on being too old a +bird to be caught upon so obviously limed a twig. While at large, he +was safe. At large, therefore, he would remain. So he returned all +manner of evasive replies, even the timeworn native excuse of illness. +It became a case of Mohammed and the mountain, with the difference that +in this case, whereas Kreli would not go to the High Commissioner, it +was morally impossible that His Excellency should go to Kreli. He +accordingly returned to the colony, and preparations were at once made +for the inevitable campaign. + +Even then it was hoped that hostilities would be confined to the +Transkei--hoped, but not believed. The Gcalekas were a warlike tribe, +who could put many thousands of fighting men into the field. It would +be a troublesome matter to subdue them, for they had long been prepared, +and were well supplied with food. But if the tribes within the colonial +border--the Gaikas, Hlambis, Emigrant Tembus, but especially the first +named--should join them, then the war would become a formidable affair, +and, in all probability, a matter of years. Whether this state of +things came about or not will appear in the course of this narrative, +which it closely concerns. + +To-day, however, all seems peaceful enough as the sun beats down upon +the rolling plains and silent kloofs of British Kaffraria, with unwonted +force for a spring day. His rays also fall upon two equestrians, who +are leisurely traversing the mimosa-dotted dales, as led by the +capricious windings of a somewhat tortuous track. Two equestrians, who +are riding very close beside each other, and whose attention seems +somewhat unequally divided between the surrounding scenery and each +other's eyes, to the advantage of which mattereth not. Indeed, so +engrossed are they in each other's conversation, that the tread of hoofs +behind entirely escapes them; but an expression comes over their faces, +of anger on one, and of--well--not best pleased on the other; and they +look over their shoulder as a rough voice exclaims: "Ahem!--er--how d'ye +do?" The last time we saw those two persons, they were together in a +garden, some time about the hour of sunrise; and they were absurdly +happy. They look equally happy now, as side by side they ride leisurely +along, this grand afternoon. To them, at this moment, all the +surroundings are as the sights and sounds of Paradise; for they are +together and alone. More than a week has passed since the sun rose upon +that knitting together of two severed hearts, that transformation of two +sorrowing lives into, as it were, one of joy; more than a week of long, +happy days, so perfect in their unbroken, blissful peace, that to the +wanderer it seemed as if he had "cast" his old self and taken a fresh +personality--that the old loveless existence and restless longing for +excitement could never have belonged to him at all, but to some other +being, so all-satisfying was this new atmosphere of peace. And on +Lilian the outward change wrought was marvellous. As by magic the sad +expression had given place to one of sunny contentment, and there was a +sweet, tender curve in her lips, and the colour of perfect health +returned to her cheek, as no longer grave she moved about the house and +garden, trilling out little snatches of song, with a soft love-light in +her eyes which rendered her more irresistibly charming than ever she had +been in the old time. And now the two were returning from one of those +long rides which they had been in the habit of taking together during +those halcyon days of love deferred but now requited to the full, when +that horribly grating voice burst upon them: + +"Ahem! Er--how d'ye do?" And red-bearded Joe Marshall, overtaking +them, doffed his slouch hat to Lilian, and shook hands with her escort, +as he reined in his raw-boned nag by the side of the latter. + +"Hallo, Marshall! Where have you dropped from?" + +"Oh, I've just been making a round. I'm going home now. Won't you come +round by my place, and rest a bit? 'Tisn't far. No? Ah, well, it's +hardly worth your while, perhaps, so near home." For honest Joe could +see pretty plainly that the two would prefer his room to his company, +though they had conscientiously, at least, suffered no indication of +such preference to escape them. "How are the Paynes?" + +"Flourishing. Any news?" + +"N-no. Kreli won't meet the Governor. Says he's sick. But that's all +an excuse, you know." + +"Yes; we heard that. Anything fresh?" + +"N-no," said Marshall again, with a dubious glance towards Lilian. +"Nothing certain, at least. Some more fellows round me gone into +laager, that's all." + +"H'm. I'm inclined to think with Payne, that the scare's all bosh," +said Claverton. "Look at the one four years ago. That all ended in +smoke. Why shouldn't this?" + +Lilian, too, remembered that time; nor was she ever likely to forget it. +A soft light came into her eyes, and she wished mightily that Marshall +was not with them. + +"Well, I dunno," rejoined that worthy. "It may, and it mayn't. We +shall see, and very soon. Why, who's this?" + +They looked up. The track they had been following merged into a +waggon-road, and about a hundred yards in front of them stood a low +thatched building. It was a native trading-store. Not this, however, +but the sight of a characteristic group, drew forth the remark. Seated +on the ground, with his back against the wall, was a Kafir, an old man, +with a full white beard, and a face which might have been at one time +pleasing and intelligent. A blanket was thrown over his shoulders, and +his lower limbs were encased in a pair of ancient trousers, from whose +tattered extremities projected his bare, dusty feet, one of which was +deformed. He was surrounded by a group of his compatriots; some in +European attire, others in blankets only, and red with ochre; some +sitting, some standing, some running in and out, but all jabbering. + +"Why, I declare?" exclaimed Marshall, in surprise. "If it isn't +Sandili! What on earth can the old blackguard be doing here?" + +"Sandili?" cried Lilian. "The chief? Oh, do let's go and talk to him." + +"We will," agreed Claverton. "Prepare for an interview with royalty." + +The Kafirs stopped jabbering for a minute to stare in astonishment at +the party as it rode into their midst, then went on harder than ever. +It was as Marshall had said. This old savage, with nothing +remarkable-looking about him, unless it were that his countenance wore +an air of semi-drunken stupidity--for he had been imbibing freely, +according to his wont--was none other than Sandili, the chief of the +powerful and warlike Gaika tribe, who, of all the Amaxosa race, had, in +former wars, ever been the most formidable of the colonists' foes. + +"He says he's glad to see us," explained Claverton, as having conferred +for a little with the old chief, he turned, in response to his +companion's inquiring glance. "In a minute he'll be even more glad. +Look," and he emptied half the contents of his tobacco-pouch into the +chief's hands, who immediately instructed one of his followers to fill +his pipe, and looked quite benevolently at the donor. + +"Why, how delighted he is with it!" said Lilian, watching the +interesting individual before her, with a curious glance. + +"Yes, but unless I mistake, he'll want farther delighting directly," +answered Claverton. "The principle of extending the proverbial inch to +the ditto ell, is thoroughly well understood in Kafirland." + +And sure enough the old fellow began making signs and pointing to his +month, after a few words in his own language. + +"What does he say?" asked Lilian. + +"Just what I told you. He's thirsty, and wants sixpence to get a +drink." + +"Old blackguard," said Marshall. "He's got quite as much grog on board +already as is good for him." + +Lilian laughed. "Only think of a great chief like him, asking for +sixpence like a crossing-sweeper," she said. + +The Kafirs standing around had stopped their conversation, and were +gazing admiringly at Lilian, with many a half-smothered exclamation of +astonishment. They had seen many white women on the farms, and when +they had visited King Williamstown; but never had they seen any more +bewitchingly lovely than this one, who sat there looking down on their +chief. + +Claverton produced a sixpence and handed it to one of the attendants, +who disappeared into the store, which was also a canteen, shortly +returning with a measure of the ordinary bad brandy sold to the natives. +This Sandili drained without a pause, and looked up again at the group, +remarking that it was good. + +"Oh, what can be the matter?" exclaimed Lilian, in a frightened tone, as +a hubbub of angry voices arose within the store; and before she could +receive an answer, a brawny red Kafir suddenly shot out of the door, +reeling forward with a quick yet uneven gait suggestive of artificial +propulsion, and half-a-dozen others, with excited "whouws!" also emerged +and stood around the door, as if expecting something. + +They had not long to expect, for the evicted savage, having staggered a +dozen yards, polled himself together and stood shaking his kerries at +some one inside, as with flashing eyes he hurled a torrent of abuse at +the unseen antagonist. But a bottle, which came whizzing through the +open door, hit him on the shoulder, cutting his eloquence suddenly +short, and, deeming discretion the better part of valour, he sneaked +round the angle of the wall, muttering and growling, while the others +stood looking on in dead silence. + +"Don't be frightened, Lilian," said Claverton, reassuringly, noting that +she was growing rather pale. "It's only a fellow been kicked out by the +storekeeper, probably for making himself a nuisance. It's a thing that +happens every day." + +"But he looks as if he'd kill him. I never saw a man look so +ferocious," she faltered. + +"Oh no, he won't," answered Claverton, with a laugh. "In half an hour +he'll sneak round, and ask for a drink to make it square again. That's +what they do." + +"Really?" she said, still with a misgiving. + +"Really. There won't be a vestige of a row, so don't be in the least +afraid. Look. What do you think old Sandili is saying?" + +"What?" + +"That he never saw a white woman who was really pretty until this +moment. And faith, I agree with him." + +Lilian laughed, and flushed softly; not so much at the old savage's +compliment as at her lover's endorsement of it. + +"Eh--what?" cried Claverton, who was listening to something Sandili was +saying. "Fancy spoiling that pretty speech. The old brute?" + +"What does he say?" + +"He says that _you_ haven't given him anything, and must give him +sixpence. I told him you would do nothing of the sort." + +"But I will. I should like to, just for the fun of the thing," she +laughed. "Only, tell him he mustn't drink it; he must buy tobacco or +something else with it. He looks awfully tipsy already." + +This Claverton duly translated, and the old savage nodded assent--of +course as a mere matter of form--and Lilian gave him the sixpence with +her own hand. Then he looked up at Marshall and made the same request; +but that worthy, who had been watching the proceedings with disapproval, +growled out, with something very like an oath, that "the old blackguard +would get nothing out of him." + +"He's going away now," said Claverton. "We'll watch him start. I +imagine there'll be some difficulty in getting him under weigh." + +And there was. For when his horse was brought round--a sorry quadruped, +with ragged caparisonings in keeping with those of its owner--behold, +the old chief was so much the worse for liquor that, when helped into +the saddle, he would have tumbled off on the other side but for the +timely support of one of his followers, who was ready to hand. Then two +others mounted, one on each side of their exalted ruler, and thus +supporting him, rode off, the whole trio swaying and lurching from side +to side; for the supporters were only a degree less "screwed" than the +supported. About thirty followers, mounted and on foot, brought up the +rear, chattering, shouting, and laughing, as they went. + +"There goes the Great Chief of the Gaikas," remarked Claverton, +ironically, as they stood gazing after the receding party; "the man upon +whose nod it depends as to whether the colony will be swamped in war, or +whether the outbreak will be just an abortive affair in the Transkei, to +be settled by the Police. And--look at him!" + +"Drunken brute!" growled Marshall. A tall man, with grizzled hair and +beard, now strolled up to them. It was the storekeeper. "Evenin'," he +said, laconically, doffing his hat as he caught sight of Lilian. "I +heard some one talking outside; but there were too many of those chaps +within, and I couldn't get away for a minute, or they'd have looted the +place. Hello, Joe! Where're you from?" + +"Been the rounds. What was up with that nigger jes' now?" + +"Oh, I kicked him out. He kept plaguing me to give him some 'bacca-- +said he was Sandili's brother. I told him to clear, or, if he was +Sandili himself, I'd kick him out. And I did." + +"Aw, aw!" guffawed Joe. "But I say, Thompson, you don't seem to lay +yourself out much to amuse the chief!" + +"Who? Sandili? Oh, no. He often comes here. I just give him a glass +of grog and a bit of 'bacca, and let him sit down and make himself happy +till he goes. I never bother about him. He cadges a lot of `tickeys'," +(threepenny-bits) "out of his fellows. They come here to get a drink, +and then the old rascal makes them `stand' him instead." + +Marshall guffawed again. "I say," he said, "those chaps are making a +jolly row. Why don't you clear them out?" + +"Where?" said the trader, turning. "Oh, they'll go when they're tired." + +"They" being a group of Kafirs, sitting round the man lately ejected, +who was declaiming violently, and waxing more excited every moment, as +he flung his arms about and brandished his sticks, and his language +became more and more threatening. Claverton, who foresaw a row, was +divided between a wish to get Lilian away and reluctance to desert a +countryman under the circumstances; but the first consideration was +paramount. + +"Well, we must be going. Good day to you," he said, shaking hands with +the trader. "Good day, Marshall. Are you coming?" + +"N-no; I think I'll rest a bit longer." + +Just then the whole party, numbering perhaps a dozen, walked up to +Thompson, the injured individual in advance. The latter, in an +insulting and aggressive tone, demanded a sovereign in satisfaction for +his wrongs. + +Calmly eyeing the braggart and the muttering group behind him, the +storekeeper lighted his pipe and repeated his order to quit. + +"No, we won't!" roared the savage. "We'll roast you in your own +_winkel_ [shop] before long. Only wait a bit." And then the others +began all talking at once, louder and louder, and in a threatening and +excited way, pressing closer and closer upon the two white men. + +"Got a revolver, Joe? That's right; so have I. Always carry it in +these troublous times. Now then, Umsila; off you go--you and all the +rest of them." + +The Kafirs, who saw that both the white men were armed, drew back, and, +still muttering and threatening, they began to depart. Then, with loud +jeering laughter and many threats, they started off at a trot along the +plain, sending forth a long, resounding whoop upon the evening air. It +was taken up by the kraals on the hillsides, and echoed farther and +farther, fainter and fainter, till it died in the distance. The two men +looked at each other. + +"I say, Thompson, if I were you I should pack up my traps and clear out +of this," said Marshall. + +Lilian was rather silent as they rode away from the place. The sight of +that fierce-looking, loud-talking group of angry savages confronting the +two white men had frightened her, and then the voices rose more violent +in tone. + +"Don't be afraid, dear," said her companion, tenderly, "Those two are +perfectly well able to take care of themselves, and Jack Kafir barks a +great deal more than he bites. They're all right." + +"Yes, I know," she replied, trying to smile. "I am so easily +frightened." + +"For your own sake I wish you were not, otherwise I like it, and it +seems rather to suit you. But now, only think what a lot you'll have to +tell them. Why, you've had an interview with no end of a big chief; +and--well, it's a pity that row should have come in just in time to +spoil the recollection of the ride, but it was really nothing." + +Suddenly arose that wild, weird whoop; and turning their heads, they +could see the Kafirs bounding along the hillside waving their karosses +and gesticulating, and calling to each other as they ran. + +"There, I told you so," he went on. "They've had enough `jaw,' and now +they're going home." + +But a gloom seemed to have fallen upon Lilian's spirits. To her, in +those fierce, dark forms bounding along the distant ridge, and in the +weird, savage cry--like the gathering cry of a host--pealing forth and +echoing in sudden answer from point to point till it died away against +the purple slopes of the far mountains, there was something terrible, as +though it pictured forth an earnest of the coming strife--and the smile +faded from her lips. + +"Oh, Arthur, can they do nothing to avert this dreadful war?" + +"I'm afraid not, dearest. The only thing--if only it's done--will be to +nip it in the bud. Let them break out, and then give them a crashing +defeat at the start." + +"And--you will have to go?" + +He was silent for a moment. "Yes," he said at length, "I don't see how +I can sit still when the whole country turns out to a man." + +"Of course not; you must go. I shall have to spare you for a time-- +darling. It will be only for a time, won't it?" she said, beseechingly. + +"It will. There isn't a shadow of danger for me. I truly believe I +bear a charmed life for some reason or other, a reason I think I've +discovered," he added, meaningly. "But I've had so many narrow shaves-- +more than fall to the lot of most people--that I have become a bit of a +fatalist." + +A sudden impulse seized her. "Arthur, I'm going to tell you something I +never told you before." And then she told him the events of that night +at Seringa Vale, shortly before Mr Brathwaite's death. "Now do you see +why I said I thought you were dead? But you'll laugh at the whole thing +as a mere fancy." + +He showed no disposition to laugh; his face wore a grave, even a solemn +look. + +"When was this?" he asked. + +She told him the exact day and hour. + +"Lilian," he said, very solemnly, "it was you and no other agency +whatever that saved my life--saved it for yourself. Therefore, it is +certain that it is not to be taken now, yet awhile." And awestruck, she +listened as he told her how he had lain fevered at the very point of +death in the Matabili hut, and that the sight of her had sent him into +that soothing sleep which was the turning-point. + +And then, as they drew near home, and the soft light faded from the +lofty Kei hills, between which the river flowed far down in the silent +gloom between its frowning krantzes, the calming effects of the hour was +upon these two. The present was very, very sweet. They had had a brief +period of perfect happiness, after the years of dreary waiting, and now, +if separation was to come, it would not be for long, and they would look +forward hopefully to the time when, the disturbances over, peace should +be restored. + +That night Claverton and his host were sitting out on the _stoep_ +smoking their pipes, the rest of the party having long since retired. +The conversation throughout the evening had turned upon the state of +affairs, and now the same topic held. + +"By-the-bye," said Payne, "there was a strange nigger here this evening, +a deuced fine-looking fellow, but an infernal scoundrel, I suspect. He +asked if he might sleep at the huts, and I let him." + +"Why did you?" + +"Well, you see, it would have done no good to turn him away. If he's up +to mischief he'd carry it out anyhow; and if he isn't, well, there's no +harm done." + +"H'm. Marshall seems in a bit of a funk. He told me a couple of yarns +to-day about fellows whose servants had warned them to clear. I should +think that trick's played out, though." + +"Dunno. You'll still find people to believe in it. The niggers, of +course, make it pay. Jack, in his capacity of old and faithful servant, +warns his Baas. His Baas believes him. Henceforth Jack has a high old +time of it, and, provided he is careful in the yarns he invents, may go +on to the end of the chapter. For my part, I don't believe in any +nigger's fidelity. You can't trust one of them." + +"Except my chap, Sam," said Claverton. + +"Ah, that's different. He's away from his own country, you see; and +then you and he have chummed it for ever so long in places where he has +learnt to depend on you." + +It was a still, clear night, the sky seemed crowded with stars, and the +air was warm and balmy for the time of year. Scarce a sound was +audible, save that now and again the faintest possible echo of a savage +song was borne from some kraal many miles across country. Otherwise +there was a stillness that might be felt, and the voices of the two men, +subdued as they were, sounded almost loud. + +"Hallo! What the deuce is that?" said Payne, suddenly. For there arose +a terrific clamour from the dogs at the back of the house. There was a +preliminary "woof" as those vigilant guardians first scented intrusion; +then the whole pack dashed off violently, and showing a very decided +fixity of purpose, towards an angle of the high quince hedge which +bounded the garden--baying savagely. + +Both men rose to their feet. + +"They've got something there, I'll swear," said Claverton in a low tone. +"Wonder what." + +"Very likely a prowling nigger," answered Payne. "We'll just get out +our shooting-irons and go and see." + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER SIX. + +THE FIRE TRUMPET. + +With weapons cocked and ready, and keeping a sharp look-out ahead, our +two friends stole quietly and warily along the shadow of the quince +hedge. Meanwhile the canine clamour increased tenfold; such a yelling, +and growling, and full-voiced baying as never before was heard. + +"Why, they've treed something--look there!" whispered Claverton, as they +arrived upon the scene of the disturbance. And sure enough in the +branches of a small apricot-tree, which grew a little higher than the +quince hedge, they could make out the dark figure of a man, clinging +there as for dear life, while the dogs were leaping, and snapping, and +rolling over upon one another and into the ditch in their frantic +efforts to reach him. And, but for this timely refuge, he would have +been torn in pieces by the great fierce brutes. + +"Come down, whoever you are," said Payne, speaking in the Kafir +language, "or I'll fire. If you attempt to run away the dogs will soon +catch you. Come down." + +They could hear a muttered exclamation or two, and then the unknown +replied: + +"Keep in the dogs, 'Nkos. I came here to visit you, to tell you some +news." + +"All right. Come down. Here, Neptune, Corker, Slow--keep still, you +brutes. _Voertsek, Huis! to_!" [be off; home] cried Payne; and the +excited hounds reluctantly drew off with many a savage growl. + +Then something dropped from the tree, there was a rustle in the quince +hedge, and a man stood before them in the darkness. Payne had just time +to restrain the dogs, who would have flung themselves upon this sudden +apparition there and then. + +"Now, then, who are you and what do you want?" he asked. + +"'Nkos, you remember me? But I can't talk here, it's cold and I've been +frightened, and I am old and weak." + +"Why, it's Mhlanga," cried Payne, in astonishment. "But what the devil +d'you want with me at this time of night?" + +"Hadn't we better take him to the house and give him a tot of grog?" +said Claverton. "He looks rather shaky." + +"Of course. Come with us, Mhlanga," and they returned to the house, +where a liberal ration of undiluted spirit having sent a generous glow +through the Kafir's frame, that unexpected visitor squatted down on the +_stoep_ with his blanket huddled round him, and fired off an ejaculation +or two. + +He was an old man, with a white head and a lean, gaunt frame, and in +spite of the potation shivered slightly from time to time as he sat +there, for he had had a very narrow escape from the jaws of the dogs. +Then he began, speaking in a low, rapid tone: + +"When the grass-fire sweeps along the mountain side, who would stand in +its way because he had built a hut there? When yonder river rushes down +in a flood after the thunderstorms, who would stand in the drift and try +to beat it back with his hands? Why are you still here?" + +"Why not, Mhlanga? You must speak plainer." The old Kafir made a +gesture of impatience. "Are you waiting till this moon is dead?" he +went on. "If so _you_ will never see it die. Go. Go while there is +time. What can two men do to stay the roaring flame through the long, +dry grass? Nothing. Will they stand in the middle and be consumed? +The grass is thoroughly dry and the torch is put in, the flame will +spread and devour all in its way. Even now it is kindled. Are you +tired of life?" concluded the old man in a more eager tone than he had +hitherto employed. + +"The gist of the parable is obvious," remarked Payne to his companion, +who nodded assent. "By the way, this old bird was with me several years +and left suddenly some time ago, because he wanted a change. Now, you +see, he's doing the very confidence trick we were just talking about. +Have some more grog, Mhlanga." + +The old man held out his tin mug with alacrity for Payne to replenish. +Then he tossed off the contents, heaved a sigh or two and was about to +speak, when suddenly he stopped short and appeared to be listening +intently. + +"Come," he said, rising. "Come with me, _Amakosi_!" + +"Oh, that's another pair of shoes," said Payne, suspiciously. "But, +Mhlanga; why should you come here to tell me this--eh?" + +"I was with you for several years, 'Nkosi, and when the snake bit me you +put in the medicine stuff that healed it. I do not wish harm to befall +you." + +"Oho! gratitude's the order of the day, is it?" Then to the Kafir: +"Steer ahead, Mhlanga." + +They followed the old man as he led the way to the brow of a slight +eminence a few hundred yards from the homestead. Above, the stars +twinkled in their silent watch, twinkled on ever the same. The midnight +sky, moonless, and arching overhead like a heavy pall of blue-black +velvet besprinkled with gold-dust, was oppressive in its darksome +serenity, and there was something in the mystery and suddenness of the +whole situation which even to the tried nerves of the two white men was +intolerably awesome and thrilling. Far away in the distance, beyond the +mouth of the defile or gap, a few fires glowed like sparks. + +"Listen," said the Kafir, pointing with his sticks in the direction of +this. "When the _amajoni_ [soldiers] are mustered _kwa Rini_ [at King +Williamstown], the trumpet is blown in the morning sunshine, and all the +town hears it, for its voice is of brass. Ha! When the chiefs of the +Amaxosa gather their fighting men the trumpet is sounded too, but it is +sounded in the blackness of midnight; and all the country hears it, for +its voice is of fire. Look," he went on. "Even now the chiefs are +talking to each other. The Fire Trumpet is calling the tribes to war." + +As he spoke a red tongue of flame leapt forth from the darkness against +the distant horizon, where it flashed and burned for a few minutes. +Then from another high point a second beacon-fire gleamed, followed by a +third; and as the watchers gazed in half-incredulous wonder, not unmixed +with awe, a strange, weird, resounding cry rose upon the midnight air, +gathering volume as it rolled, as if kindled by those threatening +beacons which glowed in the midnight firmament from the Kei to the far +Amatola. Again and again pealed forth that dismal sound, and then all +was still as the fiery signal shot up redly from half-a-dozen lofty +elevations, and then sank as suddenly as it had blazed forth, until +nearly invisible. And that unearthly and ominous cry might well strike +a chill to the hearts of the listeners, for it was the war-cry of the +formidable Gaika clans. + +"Who was the man who asked leave to sleep in the huts, to-night?" asked +the old Kafir, meaningly. "If he is here to-morrow, if your three herds +are here to-morrow, if they answer when you call them, then I have been +telling you lies. Listen, 'Nkosi," he concluded, impressively. "You +are a good man. You saved my life once, and I have come far to talk to +you to-night. Take your wife and your children, and your sheep, and +cattle, and go--go away into the town where they will be safe, and that +to-morrow, _for the call of the Fire Trumpet has rung in the heavens, +and the land is dead_." + +Payne was more impressed than he would care to own, and made up his mind +to act upon the other's words, if not to-morrow, yet at no distant date. + +"Well, Mhlanga," he began, "if it's as you say, and--Why, by George, +what's become of the fellow?" he broke off, in astonishment. + +For the Kafir had disappeared. He had vanished as he had come-- +silently, mysteriously. They called to him once or twice, but without +result. His mission was accomplished and he was gone. + +They turned towards the house. Suddenly, from the summit of one of the +highest of the Kei hills, there blazed forth another fire, reddening the +sky overhead, and they could make out distinctly the darting, leaping +flames, shooting upward like demon tongues. And this startling answer +from the opposite direction brought home to these two more vividly than +ever a sense of their position, hemmed in between the plotting tribes +now flashing their gruesome midnight messages of fire the one to the +other, conveying in a moment to thousands of eager barbarians the dread +signal, of which the destructive element was a terribly fitting +exponent. + +"I say," suddenly exclaimed Payne; "let's go and see if that nigger that +came this afternoon is still in the huts." + +They went to the huts. A snore from inside told that these were still +inhabited, and a sleepy growl or two as in obedience to their master's +summons the slumbering Kafirs aroused themselves. By the light of a +match, which Payne held in his hand, several recumbent forms huddled in +their blankets became visible. + +"Here, Booi; where's the chap who came here this afternoon?" asked +Payne. + +There was a momentary hesitation. "He's gone, Baas." + +"Has he? Oh, all right, go to sleep again. Faugh?" he continued, as +they stood once more in the open air. "The whiff in there reminds one +of the 'tween-decks of a ship in a good rolling sea. The first part of +old Mhlanga's prediction holds good, but I must confess I don't quite +believe the second. Those fellows will be here in the morning." + +After this, neither felt much inclined to sleep, so they sat up chatting +in a low tone far into the small hours. Then Payne's answers began to +get very confused, till at last his pipe dropped from his mouth, and +came to the ground with a clatter. + +"Look here, Payne, go and do the horizontal there on the sofa," said his +companion, with a laugh. "I'll do sentry-go, and it's no good both +doing it." + +"Well, if you really aren't sleepy--the fact is, I am, confoundedly," +and, rolling himself in a jackal-skin rug, Payne stretched himself on +the couch, and in a minute was snoring peacefully. + +His companion, well accustomed to long night-watches, sat at the window, +motionless, but wide awake, looking out into the starlit gloom. Now and +then he would doze off into that half-slumber known as "sleeping with +one eye open," wherein the wakeful faculties seem even more developed +than during actual wakefulness, but nothing occurred of a disturbing +nature. Once the dogs began to bark, but quieted down very soon, and +the hours wore on till the clear still dawn lightened upon the hills and +the sleeping valley. + +Payne opened his eyes with a start, and met those of his companion. +"Hullo! Haven't you had a snooze?" + +"No; that would be a queer way of mounting guard, wouldn't it? I think +I'll have one now, though." + +"Well, I should recommend you to turn in altogether. I'll call you +presently. There'll be no one up for the next three hours, you know," +continued Payne, with a meaning wink. + +Two hours later Claverton was awake again, and found Payne just where he +had left him, snoring in regular cadence. Though the sun was up there +was no sign of life about the place. + +"I wonder if that old Kafir was gammoning us," remarked Payne, as the +two made their way to the kraals. In that cheerful sunshine, the +effects of the dour midnight warning had faded somewhat, as such effects +will, and he was inclined to make light of it. "Here, Booi, Gcoku!" he +shouted; "tumble out--look sharp!" + +There was no answer. + +Meaningly, the two looked at each other. Then they made their way to +the huts, and kicked open the doors. The huts were empty. _If your +three herds are here to-morrow--if they answer when you call them--then +I have been telling you lies_, had been Mhlanga's words. Therefore, no +doubt now existed in his hearers' minds that his strange, mysterious +warning was true. The three Kafirs, with their families and belongings, +had departed, obedient to the "word" of the stranger, the chief's +emissary; had gone to add three more warriors to the martial gathering +of their tribe. + +For a few moments Payne did not speak. He was rapidly revolving the +situation in his mind. War would mean ruinous loss to him. He would +have to send his family away to the settlements for safety, and go into +_laager_ himself; which latter meant months of armed tending of his +stock, in common with others in like predicament; and then, even if the +animals escaped capture at the hands of the savage foe, there were the +chances of catching lung sickness or other diseases from the inferior +and ill-bred stock of less careful or less successful farmers, with whom +they would necessarily mix during all the owners' joint occupation of +the defensive camp. + +"By Jove!" he exclaimed, at length, as his eyes fell upon some spoor. +"The _schelms_ have gone, and they've not gone empty-handed." + +On counting the cattle his worst suspicions were verified. Four of his +finest cows were missing, and there was no difficulty whatever in making +out by the tracks that they had been driven off by his treacherous and +defecting retainers. Payne swore a great oath. + +"We'll go after them!" he cried. "We'll give them pepper. Hallo! +There's Marshall. He's getting quite neighbourly." + +The countenance of that stalwart frontiersman evinced no surprise as, +alighting from his nag, he learnt what had happened. He had come over +to see how they were all getting on, and had also been making a little +patrol on his own hook, he said. + +"You're just in the nick of time, Joe," cried Payne. "You can come with +us." + +"And are you going to leave the ladies here all alone?" replied +Marshall. "I wouldn't, if I were you." + +"I had thought of that, too," said Claverton, quietly. "One of us must +stay." + +"Then I will," said Marshall. "If you fellers are determined to rush +off, you'd better do so at once. Mind, I don't think you'll catch the +beggars in any case; they've got a good start of you. And my old nag +hasn't got go enough in her for a raid into Kreli's country just now." + +"Very well, then, that settles it," said Payne. "It's awfully good of +you, Joe. We'll get breakfast sharp, and then start. By the way, we'd +better not tell the women where we're going." + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER SEVEN. + +A TIMELY FLIGHT. + +Marshall's prediction was verified. Claverton and his host returned to +Fountain's Gap at desk; but without the lost stock. They had spoored +the animals down to a drift of the Kei River, and had even crossed; but +in the then state of things they deemed it imprudent to a degree to +venture farther into the enemy's country; and the thieves, having a good +start of them, escaped with their booty. + +Careful watch was kept that night in Payne's household; but beyond a +couple of alarms--not unjustifiable after the events of the last +twenty-four hours, though happily false--nothing transpired. + +Under the influence of the cheering sunshine all were disposed to think +more lightly of the situation; but Payne had formed his plans. It would +not do to remain there any longer. He, in common with other settlers on +that part of the Kaffrarian border, was very precariously situated. +What with Kreli, just across the river, in a state of declared war; and +the powerful Gaika clans, within colonial territory, liable to rise at +any moment and make common cause with their brethren, George fully +realised that he was in a cleft stick, hemmed in as he would thus be by +hostile natives on every side. So he made up his mind to abandon +Fountain's Gap, and remove his family to Komgha; then he would have his +hands free to take the field if it were still necessary. The move was +to be made that morning, and all the household were hastily preparing +for it. + +It was arranged that they should remain in the settlement for the +present, till it could be seen how things would turn out. There they +would be safe, as the place would be a kind of depot and the +headquarters whence all operations for guarding the border would be +carried on. + +"And now, George, I suppose the Kafirs will have made a bonfire of the +house before I see it again," remarked his wife, as a turn of the road +hid the homestead from view. + +"Dunno. Impossible to predict. They may, and they may not," +sententiously replied George, whose chief object in life, at that +moment, was the lighting of his pipe under the adverse circumstances of +being at the same time obliged to control a pair of strong, fresh +horses, none of the quietest at the best of times. He was driving a +Cape cart, the ordinary family coach of the frontier settler, which, +besides the said family, contained very little else, for he intended to +return at once as soon as the womenkind were in safety, and load up a +waggon with such of his lares and penates as it was most desirable to +preserve; for the rest, well, he supposed it must take its chance. +Lilian was riding--needless to specify with what escort--and Marshall, +who was leading a young horse, and whose attention was wholly taken up +with that intractable animal--or at any rate, said it was--rode a little +way behind. + +"I wonder when I shall get you all to myself again, Arthur," she said, +softly. + +"I was thinking very much the same," he replied. "But keep the mercury +up, dear. The row may not last long." + +"Yes. I must not be such a coward," she said. "But somehow this +morning, in spite of the sunshine and the glorious weather, there is +something so awfully depressing over everything. The whole country +seems deserted. That farmhouse we just passed spoke volumes, standing +there all shut up; and there are no natives about even. It is +dreadful." + +She was rather pale, after the long, anxious night, depressed as with +the shadow of coming woe. Claverton looked tenderly at the sweet face +in its sad, delicate beauty, and wished to Heaven the Kafirs would leave +them all in peace. A fight was very good fun, but, for his part, he had +had enough in the way of excitement to last him all his life, at least +so he thought; and now he would ask nothing better than to spend the +remainder of his days in calm, undisturbed quiet, with this, his +long-lost love. + +"Look," he said; "there are some people coming across there--and they +are Kafirs." + +Lilian started. "Where? Oh, there are only a few," said she, in a +relieved tone. For now, every member of the Amaxosa race assumed, in +her imagination, the form of a fierce enemy threatening destruction to +her and hers. + +The natives, who had been crossing a bushy hollow some four hundred +yards off, suddenly stopped, and began peering over the trees at the +party, as if uncertain as to the reception they would meet with. Far +away stretched the rolling sunny plains, and the lines of wooded hills, +where here and there a thick column of smoke ascended through the clear +air. One or two distant homesteads were visible--empty, and their +pastures tenantless, for a general flight had taken place and the land +seemed dead indeed; and there, a little way off, were the red forms of +the Kafirs watching them from the bush, while the pleasant sun shone +upon the bright points of their assegais. + +"It reminds me rather of our ride over to Thirlestane that day," said +Claverton. "It's just such another day for sunshine and scenery." + +"But not for peace," she rejoined, softly. "Ah, if all was only as +peaceful now." + +"But it will be, darling. Only a little while longer," replied he, glad +to have diverted her thoughts from this unexpected source of fear. And +as they rode on further and further from it, the group of armed savages +could still be seen watching them from the hill, but these were too few +in number to be formidable, and, moreover, the settlement was near at +hand. To which another hour of journeying brought them in due course. + +And how changed was the aspect of the ordinarily quiet little village +now! Waggons stood about everywhere, the three or four irregular +streets were filled with a bustling crowd--men mounted and men afoot-- +men of every class and pursuit--farmer, mechanic, storekeeper, frontier +policeman, with here and there a military uniform, and, amid the crowd, +dark-skinned natives moved quietly about, or stood in knots at the +corners, discussing the latest _indaba_. And the softer sex, too, held +its own, in the shape of the wives and daughters of the settlers--these, +for their part, of as varied a class as their lords--the ponderous frame +of the blowzy Dutch _vrouw_, side by side with the regular features and +straight profile of some tastefully-attired daughter of an old English +line. + +But although at first sight the place wore an air of bustle and +confusion, it must not be supposed that chaos reigned. A regular system +of defence had been organised in the event of attack, and certain points +of vantage entrenched and fortified, and the safety of the place was +provided for ably and well. The surrounding country, undulating and +grassy, was dotted with horses and cattle grazing. These could be +driven in at a moment's warning; and the approaches to the place, being +quite open and devoid of cover, were abundantly commanded by the +artillery barracks of the Frontier Armed and Mounted Police, which stood +upon a hill some eight hundred yards from the village. The church, a +brick and plaster building of unparalleled ugliness, would make an +efficient block-house in the last extremity--surrounded as it was with a +high sod wall. For those to whom their fellows' necessities were their +own opportunities, the existing state of affairs promised a rich +harvest, for the stores were doing a brisk trade, and the canteens and +hotels were full morning, noon, and night. On the steps of one of the +latter lounged a group of men as our friends arrived. + +"Hullo, Payne! You don't mean to say that's yourself?" cried one. +"Why, I thought you were going to stick to your place through it all." + +"Well, and who says I'm not?" retorted Payne. "Can't a fellow drive +into the village for the day without having trekked?" + +"Oh, for the day!" repeated the first speaker, significantly. "Then, my +good fellow, let me recommend you to remain. After that last affair we +shall have old Kreli coming straight across to give as a look up, he'll +be so cock-a-hoop." + +"Wish he would," growled another. "We'd give him particular toko." + +"What last affair?" said Payne, half anticipating the answer. "Has +there been a fight?" + +"I should jes' think there had. A few of the Police and a lot of +Fingoes were tackled by the Gcalekas; but you must have heard!" + +"No, I haven't; not a word." + +"Well, then," went on the other, brightening up as a man will do when he +is the first to impart to you a big bit of news; "the thing was this. A +lot of Gcalekas--five thousand, they say--were going across to thrash +the Fingoes, and the Police were ordered out to support the Fingoes. +They met, and the gun opened fire--one of them seven-pounders they were +practising here with t'other day. It appears that they made very good +shootin', and mowed down the Kafirs like smoke; and then somehow or +other the gun broke down, and, by George, sir, before you could say +`knife' the Fingoes turned tail and ran--bolted clean. Well, of course +it wasn't to be expected a few Police--a mere handful as it were--How +many were there, Jim?" broke off the narrator, turning to a companion. + +"About one hundred and sixty." + +"Yes. Well, it wasn't to be expected they could stand against five +thousand of Kreli's chaps; and they didn't. The order was given to +retire, and then it became a job to catch the horses, and, as the Kafirs +charged them, they were obliged to run for it. Some who couldn't catch +their horses were killed--six--six privates and a sub-inspector; and now +old Kreli's cock of the walk--for the time being." + +"Where was the row?" asked Claverton. + +"Well, it was at a place called Guadana--just on the boundary of the +Idutywa Reserve." + +"When was it--yesterday?" inquired Payne. + +"No--day before. I'm expecting a chap round here directly who's +straight from up there. Come in and liquor, and we'll get him to tell +us all about it." + +"The day before yesterday!" echoed Payne, opening his eyes wide--and he +and Claverton looked meaningly at each other--for it was on the evening +of that very day that the old Kafir had come to them with his stealthy +warning, and the dread Fire Trumpet had blazed forth on the Kei hills, +signalling to the expectant tribes within the colonial boundary, the +news of their brethren's victory. And it was on the following day that +they two had so nearly carried the war into the enemy's country in +pursuit of the stolen cattle, all unconscious, then, of the mad rashness +of the undertaking--an undertaking, which, had it been carried out, +would assuredly have cost them their lives. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER EIGHT. + +THE ATTACK ON THE "GREAT PLACE." + +It is night. Night, that is to say, for all practical purposes, though +strict chronological accuracy might compel us to define it as morning; +for nearly three hours have elapsed since midnight. But, be that as it +may, at present it is as dark as the nethermost shades, as one of that +long, silent file of horsemen, wending its way through the gloom, +remarks to a comrade. + +A chill breeze stirs the raw atmosphere, and sweeps before it puffs of +misty vapour which have been resting thickly alike upon hill-top and +low-lying bottom. Overhead a few sickly stars shine forth through the +flying scud, to be quickly veiled again, and replaced by another +spangled patch. And, advancing at a foot-pace, comes line upon line of +mounted men, moving through the darkness like the phantom horsemen of +some eerie legend. Very little talking is there in the ranks. Muffled +in their overcoats and with hats slouched over their faces the men ride +on, stolid, and meditative, and little inclined for conversation in the +damp, raw air which has a corresponding effect upon their spirits, even +if orders had not been issued for quiet and caution; for it is a night +march in the heart of the enemy's country. + +It is difficult to distinguish face or feature of any description in the +profundity of the gloom; but now and again the dull silence and the dead +monotonous tramp of hoofs is relieved by the clank of arms and the +jingle of a bit; or the smothered imprecation of some one whose horse +has stumbled in the darkness, as he holds up the careless animal, who +gives a snort of alarm. And the march continues on through the night, +till at last the gloom shows signs of lightening, and we begin to make +out the aspect of this bellicose-looking cavalcade advancing over the +hills and dales of savage Gcalekaland. We see a number of roughly-clad, +bearded men, mostly attired in serviceable corduroy and with a +gaily-coloured handkerchief twined round their slouch hats, mounted on +tough, wiry steeds. On their saddles are strapped blankets or +mackintoshes and for arms each man carries a rifle of some sort--from +the Government Snider, to the double-barrelled weapon in ordinary +frontier use, rifled and smooth-barrel for varying distance or quarry. +Not a few have revolvers also; and broad, heavy belts, holding at least +two hundred rounds of cartridge, are buckled round them or slung over +their shoulders. Many of which bullets will, I trow, find their mark in +the dusky bodies of the savage enemy before the day is very far +advanced. This is a corps of Irregular Horse, frontiersmen all of them. +Another side of the column we see, in the gathering dawn, is composed +of mounted volunteers--townsmen--whose gay uniforms, cavalry sabres, and +glittering accoutrements, show out in contrast to the more sombre +trappings of the corps first noticed. Yet of the two it is not +difficult to predict which the enemy would rather meet in battle. +Another ingredient in this martial array is the Frontier Armed and +Mounted Police, two or three troops of which useful force, looking ready +and soldier-like in their helmets and sober uniforms, flank the march-- +these are armed with short carbine and revolver. And lo, moving along, +drawn by several stout horses, black and rakish-looking in the uncertain +light, are the field-pieces, with their attendant gunners--a smart and +efficient selection of men. + +The object of the expedition may be divulged by a scrap of the +conversation of one of its members. + +"So we shall smoke the old fox out of his own earth at last," is saying +a sturdy young fellow in the ranks of the Irregular Horse. + +"Ha, ha! Shall we? You don't suppose old Kreli is sitting at home +waiting for us, do you?" is his comrade's reply. "Why, he's miles off, +I expect." + +"Bet you he isn't," cut in a third. "Bet you one to five in half-crowns +we nobble old Kreli to-day." + +"Ha, ha!" laughed the first speaker. "Jack's so sure of his bet that he +wants all the odds in his favour." + +"Well, well, yes," rejoined the other, briskly. "We must have a bet on, +you know, just as a matter of form. But you'll have to hand over, +Hicks, my boy. You laid me long odds when we started that we shouldn't +burn Kreli's Great Place before Christmas, and--" + +"And we haven't," interrupted Hicks. "There's many a slip, you know, +and we are not there yet; and the commander may take it into his head +to--" + +"Ssh-h! Silence there forward, please?" + +The two disputants subsided. They were very near the scene of +operations now, and almost immediately a halt was called. Beneath, in a +hollow, lay the "Great Place," a large collection of huts--well placed +for convenience and comfort, but extremely badly for purposes of +defence--on a bend of the Xora River, whose clear waters flowed gurgling +past. Overshadowing the village on the one side was a great krantz, and +around lay pleasant slopes of rolling pasture, relieved here and there +by patches of mimosa thorns. All was wrapped in the most profound +silence as the day broke. The inhabitants of the village slumbered +unsuspectingly; and if the old chief was there it was extremely likely +that the attacking column, drawing a cordon round the place, would have +him fast shut within the trap. Meanwhile the said column rested upon +its oars, and grumbled. + +"What the devil _are_ we waiting for?" fumed Hicks. "The niggers'll all +get away before we get so much as a long shot at them. And a fellow +mayn't even have a pipe while he's waiting." + +"Keep cool, old man," replied Armitage. "Or ask Captain Jim." + +"Captain Jim," being none other than our old friend Jim Brathwaite, who, +with characteristic energy, the moment war was fairly declared, had set +to work to raise a select corps of his own--not a difficult proceeding, +for men flocked from all parts to take service under a leader so popular +and so well known for dash and daring--and in three days he had enrolled +nearly a hundred picked men. This corps comprised all of our old +Seringa Vale friends, and, being mainly of local origin, its members +knew and trusted thoroughly each other and their leaders. + +"Ah, now we shall hear something," went on Hicks, as a Police orderly +was seen to ride up and confer with their leader. "The advance, I +expect." + +"Or the retreat," suggested another, cynically. "Just as likely the one +as the other, from all accounts." + +"Hallo. There's the enemy, by Jupiter!" cried another young fellow. + +All turned. A dark column was seen rapidly advancing up the hill in +their rear, and more than one heart beat quicker as its owner watched +the approach of this new factor in the state of affairs. + +"Not it," said Naylor, quietly. "It's the Fingoes for whom we've been +waiting all this time. Now we shall be able to go forward." + +An exclamation of wrath went along the line. + +"Lazy brutes!" + +"Waiting for _them_, indeed!" and so on. + +"Now, men," said Naylor, who was second in command, "here's the +programme. We are to attack on the right with the Kaffrarian fellows. +At the sound of the bugle we advance, in skirmishing order, according to +the number of Kafirs in the kraal, and the fight they show. If +possible, we are to surround them. Now--mount!" + +The last order had not to be given twice, and in a moment the whole +troop was moving round behind the hills, to take up their allotted +position--where they waited, each man, rifle in hand, burning with +impatience to begin. Scarce a sound was audible in that quiet vale; now +and then a small bird fluttered up from the grass with a piping twitter, +once a great black ringhals rustled away, half inflating his hood in +surprised wrath at the unwonted disturbance, but even of this abhorred +foe the men took no notice. They were after heavier game to-day--the +heaviest of all--human game. And the mist rolled back over the bills. + +Suddenly a shot rings out on the morning air, then another and another. +And now, on every face is an expression of the most eager expectancy, +and every one grips his rifle. The hands of some of the younger men, +who have never been in action before, begin to shake; but not with fear. +There is something intensely exciting in this silent waiting, and they +are only longing to begin. Then a volume of white-blue smoke spouts +forth from a point above, a heavy boom, a hurtling rush through the air, +and the shrapnel bursts with a screech and a detonation right over the +nearest cluster of huts. At the same time the bugle-notes peal out from +the hill-top loud and clear--the signal for the attack to begin. + +And the kraal wears the appearance of a disturbed ants' nest. From +everywhere and nowhere, apparently, dark forms are starting up, and the +whole place is alive with fierce warriors, and shining gun-barrels, and +bristling assegais; and puffs of smoke among the thatch huts, and many +an ugly "whiz" in the ears of the attacking force, show that the Kafirs +have opened a tolerably smart fire in return. + +Crack--crack--crack! echo the rifles of the assailants, as the jets of +flame, which in an advancing line play upon the doomed village, draw +nearer and nearer--the sharpshooters taking advantage of every bit of +cover during their approach. And over and above the rattle of +small-arms booms out the thunderous roar of cannon, losing itself in a +hundred echoes on the wall of the great cliff opposite, and again and +again bursts the screeching shell over that swarm of human beings, and +very soon the groans of the stricken and the maimed and the dying begin +to mingle with the fierce war-shouts of the Gcaleka warriors. These, +indeed, are beginning to fall thick and fast, but still their bullets +and bits of potleg [Note 1] whistle about the ears of the attacking +party. + +"Now, men!" cries Jim Brathwaite. "One more volley and then at them. +Ready!" + +A rattling crash as every rifle is emptied, and then with a wild cheer +the men, revolver in hand, are riding at a gallop upon the kraal; but +first and foremost throughout is their undaunted leader. And the +Kafirs, their ranks already sadly thinned out, unable to withstand the +onslaught of this mad charge, turn and fly for dear life. + +"Hurrah! At them, boys!" yells Jim, discharging his revolver at the +foremost of two stalwart Gcalekas, who have sprung like lightning out of +the very ground, as it were. The savage, however, dives to avoid the +shot, which hits one of his fellow-countrymen fair in the back, and, +gathering himself like a panther, leaps at his assailant, assegai in +hand, aiming a furious stab at his side--but too late. The impetus of +his pace carries Jim past, and the Kafir, missing his blow and his +footing, falls forward on his face, to be trampled into a lifeless pulp +beneath the hoofs of the horses, as the whole troop pours through the +village, pistolling the fleeing or opposing enemy, and the ground is +strewn with human forms, dead and dying. + +And now the fight has become a stampede and a rout. Shut in on three +sides by the horsemen bearing down upon them, the fleeing Kafirs run +like bucks along the river bank, to make good their escape ere yon dark +cloud of advancing Fingoes, sweeping steadily down to cut them off, +shall get in front of them. Can they do this, they may yet hope to +count up their scattered remnant in the welcome shelter of that dark +forest line a few miles off. At any rate, they will cut their way +through the Fingo dogs, and many a fierce warrior, grinding his teeth as +he grips his assegai, starts off with renewed vigour, to pour out the +heart's blood of at any rate one of his despised foes before he dies. + +Suddenly the flight stops, and with a rallying cry a body of the Kafirs +make a stand. They are beyond the reach of the shells, and by this time +the rout has scattered far over the plain; and the nearest Fingoes, who +have been slowly overtaking their enemies, waver and hesitate, quailing +before their former masters, who throw out at them threats and fierce +taunts. The fugitives have nothing but empty guns, which being mostly +muzzle-loaders, they have no time to reload. Assegais are thrown, and +more than one whooping and hitherto exultant Fingo wallows in the dust, +transfixed by the deadly javelin. In another minute these cowardly +auxiliaries will turn and fly, as the Gcalekas, with clubbed guns and +gripping their large stabbing assegais, furiously charge them, uttering +their war-cry--when behold, a body of horsemen comes sweeping up, Jim +Brathwaite's troop leading, and the tide is turned. The Fingoes, +inspired with fresh courage, stand, and sneak behind the whites, waiting +for these to disperse the enemy, and then go quietly after them and +assegai the wounded lying upon the ground. + +"Hallo!" cried Armitage. "Hold on; Gough's down." + +"Oh, it's nothing, I'm not hurt," is the plucky reply, as the young +fellow leaps clear of his horse, which, stabbed to the heart by a +wounded Kafir who lay on the ground, had fallen with a crash. + +"Bight you are. Better fall in with the dismounted men," and away rides +the speaker. + +Suddenly one of the Kafirs, watching his opportunity, springs like a cat +on to the saddle of a trooper, and gripping him round the neck with one +arm, stabs him to the heart with the other; then loosing his murderous +embrace as he and his victim slide to the earth together, he runs like +the wind, casting his glance from side to side in search of another +possible victim, when he falls, pierced by a couple of revolver bullets. +Another savage is suddenly descried by Hicks and Armitage, who are +riding together, rushing at a man, who with his bridle over his arm +stands coolly awaiting his approach. This man both of them have noticed +during the pursuit. Working apparently alone, he has kept himself +entirely free from flurry and excitement, reining in every now and then +and taking a deliberate shot at long range, almost invariably bringing +down one of the foe. And now they watch him, as a great sinewy Kafir +rushes at him like a wild beast, now leaping high in the air, now +dropping into the grass, then zig-zagging as if to get round the white +man, who stands perfectly calm through it all, with a slightly sneering +smile upon his face, but covering this dancing, leaping assailant with +his gun-barrels. + +Crack! The savage falls. Then, as suddenly, he picks himself up, and +with a wild shout rushes at his cool antagonist. + +"He's got him, by God!" cries Hicks, as in a tension of excitement he +marks the artful feint of the barbarian and, as he thinks, the turning +of the tables. But the other never moves, nor does the expression of +his countenance alter by a single hair's breadth. + +Crack! Another report, and the fierce warrior falls, this time +stone-dead, leaping nearly against the barrel which at point-blank had +sent a full charge of "loopers" straight through his heart. + +"Whoop! Hooray!" yelled Hicks, wild with excitement. "Grand old shot, +that! Thought you were a gone coon, by Jove!" + +The other quickly slipped a couple of cartridges into the smoking breech +of his gun, and looked up with a slight smile at this remark; and what +he saw soon changed the smile into an outright laugh. For Hicks was +staring at him, speechless and open-mouthed, while even Armitage looked +somewhat dumbfoundered. + +"The devil!" ejaculated Hicks, and relapsed into staring again. + +"That's uncivil," remarked the stranger, drily. + +"Why, hang it, it is--Claverton, no one else! Arthur, old boy, where on +earth _have_ you dropped from? I vow this is the best thing that's +happened for years. We thought you must be dead and buried, hearing +nothing about you," and leaping to the ground, honest Hicks wrung his +former comrade's hand as if he would crush that remarkably useful +member. + +Something in the last phrase jarred upon Claverton. Lilian had said +much the same thing when they had met. + +"Well, here I am at any rate. Turned up again like the proverbial +`shise' coin," he replied. "How's yourself? Flourishing apparently. +You look as if `the holy estate' agreed with you. And Jack? I say, +Jack; bet you two to one in anything you like you don't drop that chap +scuttling away over there." + +"Done for you!" cried Armitage, sighting his rifle and drawing a bead on +one of the retreating enemy, distant some seven hundred yards. + +"No. Hand over!" cried Claverton. "Missed him clean. Give you another +shot, though." + +But the other shot was likewise a failure; and the Gcaleka got off +scot-free to rejoin, if he listed, the bosom of his family. + +"Never mind, Jack. I won't dun you for the stakes, I only wanted to see +if you had left off that villainous sporting habit of yours." + +"But, Arthur--how the deuce did you come here?" went on Hicks. "You're +not a Volunteer--those fellows are all jingling with chains and +whistles." + +"Yes, I am. Kaffrarian Rangers, full private. And then?" + +"And then? Why, you must join us without any further _indaba_. We'll +have a high old time of it. Do you mean to say you can cut all your old +friends and go and fight among strangers? Bosh!" + +Claverton whistled meditatively as he surveyed the field of battle and +of flight. Here and there lay a dark object in a heap amid the grass, +just as it had fallen--the slain body of a Gcaleka warrior--and +scattered afar rode the pursuing horsemen. + +"Well, I don't know," he said. "I should rather like to cut in with you +fellows. I'll see if it can be managed." + +"Of course you will," said Hicks, light-heartedly. "By Jove, if that +isn't `the retire.'" + +For the clear notes of the bugle were ringing afar, and in obedience to +the summons the straggling horsemen began to collect from all parts of +the field, and to retrace their steps, marvelling not a little at this +sudden and unlooked-for mandate. And from the chief's village, the +"Great Place," went up a great cloud of smoke, as, having hunted out its +fleeing inhabitants, the last of the attacking force had flung a torch +into the thatch tenements, setting the whole in a blaze; and above the +bursting flames great rolling pillars of smoke mounted to the sky. + +Slowly the pursuers straggled back, their horses and themselves wet with +perspiration and grimy with dust and powder; many hatless, having lost +their "roofing," they said, in the hurry-scurry of the charge or of the +pursuit; while a darker stain showed upon others, whether on their +clothes or accoutrements--the stain of blood. The horses were panting +after their long gallop, and the riders commenting freely on the events +of the morning in a loud, excited tone. Many carried assegais, whole or +broken, which they had taken as trophies, also bead-work, and other +articles of native apparel or adornment. And in the rear marched the +Fingo contingent, howling their war-song and looking intensely valiant +now that the danger was over. + +"_Manzi! Ndipe manzi_!" ["Water. Give me water."] besought a faint +voice. + +Our party stopped, looking searchingly around. Several bodies of the +enemy lay about, all apparently lifeless. + +"Let the skunk die," said a rough-looking fellow, who, with several +others, had joined them when the rally was sounded. "Or give him his +quietus in the shape of a leaden pill. A pretty dance they've led us +all this time, and now to be calling on us to do hospital nurse for +them. Damned if I do." + +"Well, a pretty dance we've led them to-day, at any rate. Poor devil! +It won't do any one any harm to give him a drink," rejoined Claverton, +dismounting and scrutinising the only one who showed sign of life. A +tall, finely-made young Kafir lay with eyes half unclosed, and breathing +heavily, apparently in great pain. Claverton bent over him as he +repeated his fevered entreaty. + +"Well, you may do nurse, I shan't, so good day to you," jeered the first +speaker, riding on, while Hicks and Armitage reined in a moment, looking +from their newly-found chum to the wounded man as if wondering what was +coming next. But Claverton, without heeding anybody, took a large flask +from his pocket, and poured a little of its contents between the Kafir's +teeth. Then filling the cup with water from the river, which ran hard +by, he raised the wounded man's head, and let him drain off the desired +fluid. + +"More," whispered the Kafir; and having filled the little vessel again, +Claverton watched his _protege_ drink the contents greedily. Then, with +a deep sigh of relief, the sufferer lay back with closed eyes. + +"That'll do, Arthur. Come on, now, and leave the beggar alone," cried +Hicks, impatiently. "Or are you going to set up an `ambulance' all over +the field?" + +"Don't know," replied the other, imperturbably. "It's not much trouble, +and we've been shooting such a lot of the poor devils that one may as +well give one of them the consolation of a drink _in extremis_." And he +stood contemplating his _protege_, who he had ascertained was not +dangerously though badly wounded by a ball in the side. Then it +occurred to him that the face of the stricken savage was not altogether +unfamiliar to him; but where he had seen it he could not remember. + +And now the war-song of the Fingoes drew nearer, and hearing it, the +wounded man once more unclosed his eyes, with a mingled expression of +despair and resignation and contempt. There was not a chance for him, +he thought. The "dogs" would come up, and the white man would stand by +and tell them to kill him. Well, what did it matter? They were dogs, +and he was a warrior of the Amaxosa--nothing could get rid of that fact. +Then, just as he thought his hour had come, the white man remarked in +his own tongue: "Lie perfectly still and shut your eyes. If the Fingoes +see that you're alive, even though I may save you now, they will surely +come back and kill you before you can get away." And the other obeyed. + +Claverton slowly proceeded to fill and light his pipe, as if he had +dismounted with that object and that alone, and the Fingoes, their +assegais red and blood-stained, marched past, looking about as though in +search of any of the dreaded foe still living. They saluted the white +man with servile acclamation, and passed on. + +"Now," continued he, when the savage auxiliaries were well out of the +way, "wait until the coast's clear, and then hook it. Go and tell Kreli +that if he's wise he'll shut up fighting and come and sing small, and +acknowledge that he's made an ass of himself. You see, we don't want to +kill you fellows unless we are obliged, and then we'll do for the lot of +you. Now be off as soon as you can." + +The young Kafir, who was by no means a bad-looking fellow, smiled as he +softly murmured assent, and, with a grateful look in his eyes, he laid +hold of his benefactor's foot and drew it to his lips in token of +gratitude. + +"All right," said the latter; "now look to yourself," and mounting his +horse he overtook the rest, who had been making merry over their +friend's eccentricity. + +"Now you've done the wet-nurse trick, old chap, we'll get back to camp +and have a glass of grog," said Armitage. + +"That's a good idea," assented Claverton. He did not mind their chaff, +and would not have even if it were more ill-natured. A passing impulse +had moved him to befriend this wounded savage, and he had obeyed it. +And it may be that an even yet more humanising influence was at work, +and that on that fierce battle-field, reeking with blood and carnage, +the image of Lilian stood, viewing him with a sweet, approving smile as +he listened to the agonised prayer of the stricken barbarian, who might +be the first, if ever opportunity offered, to repay his charity with an +assegai thrust. But having done this thing he was glad, and a softer +feeling centred round his heart as if he actually heard Lilian's +approving voice in his ear. + +Much growling was indulged in as the burghers and volunteers, returning +to camp, learned that the pursuit was to be discontinued. They had +struck a decisive blow, and now were not to be allowed to follow it up. +Public discontent found its expression freely and in forcible language. + +"Infernal nonsense?" repeated one big fellow in reply to a comrade's +observation. "I believe you. Why, what we've done to-day is no good at +all--not one blessed ha'porth. We've shot a few of these fellers and +chevied a few more; but what o' that? They're thick as bees over +yonder," and the speaker jerked one hand in the direction of the flight, +while with the other he viciously crammed his short, wooden pipe. + +"Ay, that's so," assented a small, wiry-looking man. "If we had only +gone straight on we could have cleared out the Manubi Bush right down to +the coast, and driven the whole lot into the sea." + +"Where they were going to drive us," chimed in another. + +"And it's there we should have nobbled old Kreli," went on the former +speaker. "He's in there, mark my words--in there waiting for news--he, +and Sicgau, and Botmane, and the whole bilin' of 'em. Now we've burnt +his old beehives here; but that's no good, they're built again in a day. +No, sir; what we want is the old fox himself." + +"And don't we wish we may get 'im? No; it's nurses we want to look +after us," put in another. + +There was a reluctant guffaw at this; but the gloom had deepened on +their warlike souls. + +"Well, we may as well go back, streak it straight home again, if we're +going to be commanded by a set of old women," growled the first speaker. +"We didn't come out here to _play_ with the niggers, did we?" + +"Looks like it, anyhow, mate." + +Thus amid much growling, which, however, was not directed at our friend +Jim, but at the power behind that gallant leader, the camps were +pitched. A portion of the Police force started off back to their +headquarters at Ibeka; but here, close to the scene of their late +victory, the volunteers and burgher forces remained; and at nightfall +the horses were driven in and "rung," that is to say, tethered in +circles; while additional sentries were posted, and every precaution +taken, the recent success notwithstanding, for they were in the enemy's +country. + +Jim Brathwaite was mightily glad, and no less surprised at the +unexpected meeting, and warmly seconded Hicks' suggestion that Claverton +should join his corps. + +"Twice I noticed a fellow to-day, Arthur," he said, "who reminded me of +your straight riding; and, by George, it must have been you yourself. +Well, well; we are all bound to meet again some day, however we may +scatter. But what do you think that fellow Hicks has done?" + +"What?" + +"Committed matrimony. And so has Jack." + +"Has he? Jack, I mean. I knew about the other. Who, and when, and +where?" + +"Oh, that's a very old story, Jim," said Armitage, trying to look quite +at his ease. "Claverton heard it ages ago. Give us some baccy." + +They were sitting round the camp-fire. The afternoon had merged into +night, and now the circle was discussing old times. + +"Who?--Gertie Wray--you remember her--now Mrs Jack Armitage, promoted. +When?--last year. Where?--in Grahamstown," replied Jim. + +And then, as others joined them, the conversation turned from things +personal and retrospective, to things political and present; and the +state of affairs was discussed in all its bearings. + +"Well, we've a big enough force in the field to thrash out the Gcaleka +country," Jim was saying; "but then we shall have to be constantly +playing hide-and-seek with the Kafirs until we catch old Kreli. If the +Gaikas don't break out, all that the people on the border will have to +do will be to guard their line so that none of these chaps can cross. +If the Gaikas rise, why, then our friends there will be between two +fires." + +"And the Gaikas will rise," put in Garnier--Jim's second lieutenant--a +quiet-looking, brown-bearded man of about five-and-forty. "You may take +my word for that. It isn't for nothing that they've been going through +all the war-dancing and farrago. It isn't for nothing they've been +sending all their cattle away to the thickest parts of the Amatola +forest. And it isn't likely they'd sit still--they, the warrior race of +all others--and let Kreli do all the fighting. And to hear 'em talk, +too! Why, they've been coming round my place in shoals, and they don't +care what they say. Mind, they mean mischief." + +"But, then, how is it they haven't broken out already?" ventured Hicks. + +Garnier looked pityingly at him. "For several reasons. There's a +strong peace party among them, for one thing. For another, they heard, +or rather saw--for there were lots of them present--what a hammering the +Gcalekas got the other day when they attacked Ibeka; and they're not +ready. But if any of these chaps of Kreli's get through and join them-- +then look out." + +"Well, we can put a tremendous force into the field," went on Jim. +"Why, in the Eastern Province alone we could raise enough to finish the +war in a couple of months, if they're only put to it and not kept +fooling about doing nothing." + +"Yes; and if they're properly looked after in the field," said another. +"No one can fight unless he's fed; and with the commissariat always two +days behind, no body of men will remain long contented." + +"And, while they are fooling about, all their property's going to wrack +and ruin, as ours is at this damned moment," growled Thorman, who was +one of the party. + +"Never mind. All the more reason why we should make a thorough good +thing of it while we are about it," said another, of more cheerful +disposition. "We'll teach Jack Kafir a lesson this time, that he'll +remember." + +Thus talking, they sat round that red camp-fire, which threw a fitful +glow upon bronzed faces and attire, fantastic-looking in the +semi-darkness and in its wild picturesqueness, until at length the bugle +sounded, "lights out," and gradually all subsided to silence. Now and +again the yelp and snarl of a jackal came up from beneath, where lay the +unburied corpses of the slain foe, and where a number of heaps of black +smouldering ashes were all that remained of what in the morning had been +the Kraal of the Paramount Chief of Kafirland. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. In war-time, when lead is scarce, Kafirs manufacture tolerably +efficient slugs by cutting up the legs of their iron cooking-pots. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER NINE. + +A LULL IN THE STORM. + +A dry, scorching wind is whirling the pungent red dust-clouds along the +streets of King Williamstown, and early though it be, not much more than +nine o'clock, life is at the moment exceeding unpleasant for dwellers in +the Kaffrarian capital as the hot blast sweeps down the wide streets and +over the great arid square, powdering the thirsty eucalyptus trees with +a layer of sand, penetrating even the coolest and tightest of houses. A +day on which an easy-chair and nankeen garments seem absolute +necessities, and yet in the busy frontier town there is as much life and +stir as usual. Waggons load and unload before the principal stores; +their oxen standing or lying in the yokes, poor and attenuated, for the +season is a bad one indeed, further up, the country is suffering from a +veritable drought. Men move about singly or by twos and threes, some in +the semi-military uniform affected by officers holding a command in some +frontier corps, others lightly clad and in broad sombrero-like hat or +pith helmet. Round the native shops and canteens bronzed Kafirs squat +and jabber, or, jumping on their weedy, undersized nags, dash off at a +gallop down the street. Here and there, a Police trooper, the +snow-white cover of his peaked cap gleaming in the son, rides briskly +away from the telegraph office, and the scarlet uniforms of a detachment +of regulars, as they march up from the river, returning from their +morning bathe, make a glow of shining colour in the close, dusty street. +It is an ill wind, however, that blows nobody good, as the +drinking-bars could testify; for the number of persons who enter those +useful institutions in the course of the morning--each and all with +precisely the same remark, that it being externally so dry they stand +all the more in need of a wet within--is so large that I will not +attempt to reveal it. + +Leaving the stir and the whirl of the brisk trading centre, we will pass +to a comparatively quiet quarter. In the verandah of a small house, on +the outskirts of the town, some one is standing, looking intently +through a pair of field-glasses, which are levelled at a distant object, +evidently a horseman rapidly approaching by the road leading from the +Transkei. For a moment she stands eager and motionless, gazing with all +her might at that dusty road in the distance; then a red flush of +disappointment tinges the beautiful face as she drops the glass from her +eyes, and the graceful, erect figure suddenly assumes an unconscious +droop. + +"The fifth time this morning," she murmurs to herself, dejectedly. "I +declare I won't look again, it's unlucky." + +"So it is, dear. `A watched kettle never boils,' you know," says a +cheery female voice at her elbow. "That's why I haven't been watching +for George. He'll come, all in good time; and so will the other one. +But you really mustn't stay out in this heat, Lilian, you'll be ill, and +then shan't I catch it!" + +"Oh no, I won't," answered Lilian, with a laugh and a blush. "Besides, +I like the heat." + +"Do you? I wish I did, for I've got to go out in it. I'm not even +going to ask you to come, because I know it will be impossible to get +you off that verandah until--until--well, until," concluded Annie Payne +with another cheerful laugh, as she started upon her unwilling errand, +whatever it was. + +Left to herself, Lilian looked wearily out on the wide expanse of +sun-baked _veldt_, watching ever the white straggling road where it lost +itself over the rise. Once a figure appeared on the sky-line, and her +heart gave a great bound, but it was only a pedestrian, her eyes were +sufficiently practised now to tell her that, without the necessity of +looking through the glass. The heat and the scorching wind were nothing +to her. It might have been the most exhilarating weather, and she would +not have felt the difference, for to-day her lover would return--return +to her, after more than two months of campaigning, two months of danger +and hardship and separation; and now she watched the road, impatiently +pacing the verandah, and longing for his arrival. Yet he came not. She +had done nothing but scan the approaches to the town through the +field-glass; but what to the naked eye had more than once looked like +the well-known form, had speedily changed to that of some ungainly +Dutchman, or sooty native, when the powerful lens was brought to bear +upon it. + +Yes, the campaign is over now--at least, for the present; and the +volunteers and burgher forces are returning home, leaving to the Mounted +Police and Regulars the task of patrolling the Gcaleka country--that +being about all there is left to do. The summer is well advanced; in +fact, it wants only a fortnight to Christmas, and the frontiersmen +composing the colonial forces decline to remain any longer doing mere +patrol work. They have borne their part gallantly in the actual +fighting, and now that this is at an end they rightly deem themselves +entitled to return. So there is great rejoicing in the little domicile +in King Williamstown where George Payne has installed his household +during his absence at the front, and now, on this bright, though +overpoweringly hot day, Lilian stands in the verandah watching for the +return of her lover. + +What an anxious time to her have been those two months! How she has +thought of him, and in spirit been with him all through the campaign! +How eagerly she has sought out every scrap of news of the forces in the +field, whether in the newspaper reports or the telegrams _affiche_-d +outside the post office! And at night she has lain awake picturing all +manner of dreadful contingencies till her pillow was wet with tears; but +she can do nothing--nothing but weep and pray. And now the time of +waiting is past, and she will see him again to-day, and lay her head +upon his breast and feel that life is too good to live. + +But if he should not come till to-morrow or the next day! Something may +have detained him. An accident perhaps, such things do happen. Her +head begins to ache, and she goes into the house in search of some +cooling restorative. She has the house to herself fortunately--for the +children are out somewhere--and sinking into a low chair she holds her +handkerchief, steeped in the grateful liquid, to her throbbing brows. +At last, with a sickening sense of blankness--of hope deferred, at her +heart, she falls asleep, worn out by the heat and the watching coming +upon a night of wakefulness. + +The molten hours creep on. The deep bass voices of a group of Kafir +passers-by, momentarily break their stillness; the thrifty German +housewife opens the door of the dwelling opposite--for it is a new +quarter, and the houses are built almost in the _veldt_--and throws a +pailful of stuff to her fowls, which run clucking up; but no tramp of +hoofs disturbs the midday quiet. + +Suddenly Lilian awakes. Is it an instinct, or is it the clink of a spur +and a light, firm tread on the _stoep_ outside, that makes her start up +and hasten to the door? In the passage she collides against a man who +is entering, and with a quick exclamation he catches her in his arms. + +"Arthur--love--is it indeed you? I am not dreaming, am I?" she murmurs, +clinging tightly to him, the rich voice vibrating with uncontrollable +emotion. "It is you--at last--darling. And I have been waiting and +watching so long--till I began to think all sorts of dreadful things +must have happened," and raising her head from his breast she looks at +him, laughing and weeping at the same time in her ecstasy of joy. + +"Yes; it's myself all right," he replies, kissing away the tears from +her cheeks and eyes. "But I shall begin to think it's some one else +directly, because this is far and away too good for me--too good for me +to believe in. Lilian, my life! Every day since we parted I have been +looking forward to and waiting for this." + +"Ah God! I have got my darling back again safe--safe!" she murmurs +almost inaudibly, but Claverton hears it, and he does not answer, he +only tightens his clasp of the lithe, willowy figure which he holds in +his embrace, and covers the soft dusky hair, lying against his cheek, +with passionate kisses. A thousand years of ten times the peril and +hardship he has gone through since they parted would be a small price to +pay for such a moment as this, he thinks. They make a pleasant picture, +those two, as they stand there. He--well-knit, grave, handsome, in the +rough picturesqueness of his campaigning attire, his features bronzed by +exposure to sun and climate, and with his normal air of quiet resolution +deepened and enhanced by a sense of many dangers recently passed +through; looking at her with a tender, protecting reverence. She--soft, +graceful, and clinging--the sweet lips curving into a succession of +radiant smiles even while her eyes are yet wet with the tears which an +uncontrollable feeling of love and thankfulness has evoked. + +"So you thought I was never going to put in an appearance, darling?" he +says, at length. + +"Ah, how I waited and longed! But I can forget it now--now that I have +got you. Wait! You look so much better for the dreadful time you have +been through, dearest, so strong and well. And you are not going off +again, are you? The war is over now." + +"I hope so," is his rather weary reply. "I'm tired of ruffians and camp +life--utterly sick of them. Not but what the said ruffians are rather +good fellows; but peace is better than fighting, when all's said and +done. By the way, how is it we have the house all to ourselves? This +is an unusual run of luck, my Lilian." + +"Mrs Payne is out somewhere, and the children too. And--" + +"And--why didn't you go with them, instead of moping in here alone all +the morning?" + +"Arthur!" + +"Lilian! Don't look so shocked, my darling. Do you think I don't know +perfectly, that you wouldn't lose a chance of getting the first glimpse +of a certain broken-down and war-worn ragamuffin?" + +A shadow darkened the light. Both looked up quickly as a slim, +well-made native, standing in the doorway, raised his hand above his +head and sang out lustily, "Inkos!" + +"Hallo, Sam!" cried Claverton, not best pleased with the interruption. +"How are you getting on?" + +The native showed a double row of dazzling "ivories" as he grinned in +genuine delight at seeing his master back again. + +"Did you kill many--very many of the Amaxosa, my chief?" he asked, in +the Zulu tongue. + +"H'm. Many of those who got in front of my gun-barrels up there, met +with bad accidents," replied his master, drily. + +Sam chuckled and grinned. His exultation could hardly contain itself. + +"Ha, Missie Liliane," he said, in his broken English, "Sam he tell you +so. Inkos, he kill lots, lots of Amaxosa nigga. He shoot, shoot them-- +so, so," and he began snapping his fingers vehemently, and otherwise +pantomiming the sharp-shooting of a body of skirmishers. "Sam, he tell +you so, Missie Liliane. Amaxosa nigga no good! They no can hurt Inkos. +Sam, he tell you so. Inkos, he shoot, shoot them instead. Amaxosa +nigga no good. Haow!" + +"Sam, you rascal, shut up that," cried Claverton, good-humouredly. "Cut +found to the stable and look after the horse; I've ridden the poor brute +nearly to death. Give him a good rub down, and see that he's cool +before he drinks. D'you hear?" + +"Teh bo 'Nkos," answered Sam, and he disappeared; and they could hear +him as he passed beneath the open window, humming to a sort of chant of +his own: "Aow! Amaxosa nigga no good--no good." + +"Has that chap behaved himself while I've been away, darling?" asked +Claverton. + +"Behaved himself? Why, he's the best of boys. Sometimes when I felt +very, very downhearted about the war, that dear, good Sam would try all +in his power to cheer me up, and persuade me that you would be sure not +to come to harm, love. He used to declare that the Kafirs were sure to +run away whenever you appeared, and he cut such extraordinary antics, +always bringing in that ridiculous phrase of his, that he kept me in +fits of laughter. Yes, he has been as good as possible." + +"That's a feather in Sam's cap, and a deuced good thing for him. Wasn't +it queer, my falling in with all the old lot up there? They were all +just the same; even Jeffreys hasn't quite laid by his scowl, and as for +Jack Armitage, he's a greater lunatic than ever. I hope our little +friend keeps a tight rein on him at his hearth and home, for in the +field there was no holding the fellow. He has started a frightful thing +in bugles, which he toots upon vehemently on the smallest provocation, +though, by Jove, I was glad enough to hear that braying old post-horn +once, when Brathwaite's men turned the tables in our favour in an +awkwardish scrimmage." + +It was a remarkable coincidence that as he uttered these words a +terrific fanfare should be sounded outside. + +"That's it! Jack's post-horn for anything!" cried he, making for the +window. "Talk of the--ah'm! Wonder what the fellow's doing here. And, +look, there's George Payne and the rest of them." + +The whole lot of them it was, and a minute later they all entered, +laughing and talking at a great rate. + +"Why, Jack, what the deuce are _you_ doing up here?" cried Claverton, in +astonishment. + +"We forgot it might be necessary to obtain Mr Claverton's permission to +tread the streets of King Williamstown," demurely said a voice at his +elbow, before the other could reply. + +Claverton turned. + +"Oh--ah--ah'm! So _we_ did. I forgot. How d'you do, Mrs Armitage?" +he said, looking quizzically down at the bright, saucy face of the +speaker. + +Gertie Armitage--_nee_ Wray--laughed and blushed as she shook hands with +him. She looked much the same as when last we saw her, a trifle +saucier, perhaps, but that was only natural, said her friends, seeing +that she had to look after madcap Jack. + +That worthy, meanwhile, was endeavouring to initiate Payne's son and +heir into the mysteries of the key bugle, but the youngster could evoke +no sound from the same, and was ready to cry with chagrin. + +"Look here, Harry, this is the dodge," and, putting the instrument to +his lips, he emitted a series of diabolical and heartrending blasts. + +"Jack--Jack!" cried Claverton, stopping his ears, "for Heaven's sake +drop that fiendish row, or you'll have all the Germans in the quarter +scuttling under their beds, thinking that the Gaikas have risen, and +some fellow has come to commandeer them to go to the front." + +"Fiendish row! There's gratitude for you," retorted Armitage. "He +didn't call it a fiendish row that day down near the Bashi, did he, +Payne?" + +"No, it was all right then," rejoined Claverton. "Music in the wrong +place, you know, degenerates into a diabolical row. Keep the old +post-horn for the ghosts at Spoek Krantz, Jack. They'd appreciate it +keenly." + +"Oh, the ingratitude of human nature!" exclaimed the bugler. "But I've +left Spoek Krantz." + +"Have you? Ah, I thought the ghosts would be too much for you some day. +Where are you now?" + +"Nowhere. Got a roving commission. When the country's quiet again I'm +going to take over that place next door to Hicks. By the way, you +should just see Hicks now, a model family man. Would hardly leave his +missis and brace of kids even to go and have a shot at old Kreli. We +almost had to lug him away by force." + +"When the country is quiet again I'm going to do this," he had said, and +in such wise do we mortals airily make our plans. Meanwhile all was +hilarity and gladness and contentment in that circle, for was it not a +reunion of those dear to each other, after the trials, and perils, and +privations of a hard chapter of savage warfare? + +Lilian was very happy in the days that followed; and to her lover, after +the rough camp life, the toil and the battle, with all the hardening +associations, the sunny quiet spent in the companionship of this +refined, beautiful woman, was as the very peace of Heaven. Oft-times as +he watched the sweet eyes kindle at his approach, and heard the firm, +low voice shake ever so slightly, his heart would thrill and his cheek +flush with a fierce elation over his absolute sense of possessing the +rich, the priceless gift of her entire love; and then would succeed a +momentary wave of despondency as he thought how this must be far too +much happiness to fall to his lot, and with the thought something very +like an unspoken prayer--wild, passionate, and unbridled in burden even +as his own resolute nature--would shape itself within his heart, that +rather than again experience such a blow as that which had sent him +forth a desolate wanderer years ago--he might die--a hundred deaths, if +need be, so that obliteration came to him at last. And had there been +room for it, his tenderness towards Lilian would have redoubled with +these reflections; but there was not--it was always the same. + +"Be quick, darling," he said to her one day, as she was leaving the room +for a moment to fetch some necessary implement missing from her +work-basket. "I hate to have you out of my sight for half a minute more +than is inevitable." + +The two were alone together, and he pitched his book across the room +impatiently as he spoke. She turned and came back to him. + +"Why, I wonder you're not quite tired of me," she said, with her sunny +smile, bending over him and toying with his hair. + +"Tired of you! _My_ Lilian. The only being on earth for me to love. +The capacity has been kept so long in reserve that now there's no +holding it." + +She bent lower and laid her cheek against his brow. "Yes, Arthur. We +are both alone in the world for each other--are we not?" she whispered; +then, suddenly escaping from his would-be detaining arm, she darted to +the door, turning to flash upon him a bright, loving look before she +went out; and he, rising, kicked over a chair and then another, and +opened and threw down three or four books without gleaning an idea of +their contents, and walked to the window, then back again, and whistled, +and otherwise fidgeted outrageously until her return. + +Lose not a minute of your happiness, ye two; gather to the full the +sweets of the present, even while ye may, for ye know not what the +future may have in store. Even yet the war-cloud hangs threatening on +the horizon; it has lifted, but has not vanished. Amid the rage of the +elements may suddenly fall peace. It is but a lull in the tempest. + +To some of his former companions-in-arms, who lived in the town or +neighbourhood, Claverton was an unfailing source of wonder. + +"I should never have known the fellow," one of them would say, as they +discussed him among themselves. "Why, most of us in camp used to look +upon Claverton as a man with no more heart than a stone. A fellow who +would close the eyes of his twin brother and then sit down to a jolly +good breakfast, and crack a joke about it,"--the speaker's idea of the +acme of callousness. "And now he's making a perfect fool of himself +about a girl--hardly leaves her for a moment, they say. I can't +understand it," and the speaker knocked the ashes out of his pipe with a +jerk and a shrug, implying half pity, half contempt. + +"You could if you had seen her," said another, quietly. "She's awfully +fetching." + +"So I'm told. But still--such a hard nail as Claverton. I can't make +it out." + +Thus spoke his companions-in-arms. It could not be expected, however, +that these plain, honest, matter-of-fact frontiersmen should give him +credit for possessing a two-sided nature. They merely spoke of him as +they had seen him. + +One day the two were walking along the upper end of the market-square. +It was in the middle of the forenoon, and though warm, a fine day, and +the traffic on the footway was tolerably brisk, while around an +auctioneer's table a goodly crowd was assembled, and the sale went on in +spirited fashion. They were stopped by some mutual acquaintance, and +Claverton, taking advantage of the incident, left Lilian talking to +these, while he dived into the throng for a moment to speak to some one +whom he had suddenly caught sight of. When he returned, he found Lilian +standing alone, their friends having taken their leave and passed on. + +"So sorry you've had to wait, darling--even a minute. Why, what is it?" +For she was looking a trifle perturbed. + +"Nothing. Really nothing. Let's go on." + +"Is it the heat? We'll go home. It is rather overwhelming, of course; +I ought to have remembered," he said, anxiously. + +"No, it isn't too hot in the least," she answered. Then taking a quick, +furtive look behind: "Arthur--wait--now look round--quick! There's +somebody following us." + +He turned rapidly and scanned the crowd. No one seemed to be making of +them a special point of observation. + +"I don't see any one out of the common. See if you can point him out, +dear." + +"No. He is gone; I could see him shrink out of sight directly I looked +round the second time," she said, excitedly, twirling the handle of her +sun-shade. "I wouldn't say anything at first, thinking it might be my +fancy; but I could see him eyeing you as you went in among all those +people just now. He was standing on the pavement--there." + +"Well, he's disappeared now, at any rate," said Claverton, again looking +carefully around. "What was the animal like--white or black?" + +"Neither. A sort of dirty brown colour, not at all like a native of +these parts. He had woolly hair, though, and a hideous, wrinkled face +with two pointed, shark-like teeth; and he was looking at you so +fiercely," and she shuddered. "And oh--Arthur--when I looked round +again and saw those glaring eyes following on so close behind us, it +quite frightened me." + +Claverton was puzzled. Nine Englishmen out of ten would have gently +pooh-poohed the idea as mere fancy; but his life had been too full of +strange and startling experiences for that. + +"Have you no secret enemy? No one who would owe you a grudge?" she +continued, in a tone of deep anxiety. "That man looked murder at you." + +"N-no; I can't call to mind any. Most likely a case of mistaken +identity. The fellow must have taken me for some one else, and bolted +directly I looked round for fear of being brought to book. That was it, +dear, depend upon it; so don't think anything more about the concern," +he concluded, with the air of a man who has successfully solved a +mystery. But he wished he had caught a glimpse of the mysterious +individual all the same. + +The incident had a depressing effect upon Lilian which she was quite +unable to shake off. That some terrible danger was hovering over and +threatening her lover she was certain; and the idea of being tracked and +watched by a secret foe was to her fraught with horror. But it was for +him she feared--for this man whom every day rendered more unspeakably +dear to her, and for whom, retiring, even timid as her nature was, she +could be brave as a lion, even to the giving of her own life to shield +him from harm. Of his past she knew but little--as yet he had not told +her much, and in all the fulness of her love and trust she took a pride +in abstaining from asking him; but that it had been more eventful than +the lives of most men of his age she had gathered, and what relentless +enemies might he not have, now surely and stealthily pursuing him? Many +a glance of admiration was cast on her--in her serene, dignified beauty, +which the troubled thoughtfulness now clouding her face only seemed to +enhance--as they passed along the busy streets; and people began to +inquire of each other who those two were who were never seen apart, and +who looked such a well-matched couple. + +Meanwhile, the political outlook was becoming gloomier every day, for +the warlike tribes of the Gaikas and Hlambis--whose locations comprised +some of the wildest and most inaccessible parts of Kaffraria--were on +the verge of revolt. The stage of sullen restlessness and daring +outrage was about to culminate in open warfare, and no doubt now existed +that these savages intended to rise and make common cause with their +brethren the Gcalekas, who, though decimated and dispersed, were as far +as ever from being subdued. And, when compared with the rising now +threatening, the fighting in Gcalekaland was a mere fleabite, for the +latter had been localised in the Transkei, whereas this would envelope +the whole Eastern frontier in the flames of war. Day by day the low +rumblings of the gathering storm increased, and from far and near the +families of the settlers came crowding into King Williamstown. Every +hotel and lodging-house was crammed, and not a room was obtainable for +love or money. Many lived in their tent-waggons, failing more +substantial shelter, and the pastureland in the immediate neighbourhood +seemed in danger of exhaustion from the multitudes of live stock which +grazed thereon. The telegraph was actively at work, hourly flashing its +messages of alarm or reassurance according as the latest turn of events +warranted; while many-tongued rumour hinted at a decisive move pending +on the part of the enemy beyond the border simultaneously with the +rising of the tribes within the same. It was understood that the +burgher forces were liable to be called out at any moment, and among the +townsmen fresh volunteers were enrolled, and drill and parades went on +night and day in view of the probability that the regular troops in +garrison would be ordered to take the field, and that the townspeople +must be ready to protect themselves. + +And as if the scourge of impending war--the merciless warfare of the +savage--was not enough, the land lay parched up with drought. +Transport-riders from up-country had gruesome tales to tell of roads +lined with rotting carcases or bleached skeletons of trek-oxen, which +had succumbed unable to find nourishment in the burnt-up grass, or +perishing on the margin of water-holes reduced to patches of dry, baked +mud--pointing to their own attenuated spans in corroboration of their +statements. The crops were failing, and, already in some districts, the +appearance of locusts in sufficiently formidable swarms was reported; +and the scant herbage, which the drought had spared, would be in danger +of disappearing entirely before this new and redoubtable plague. Trade +was at a standstill, and, amid the all-pervading apprehension and gloomy +outlook, it was universally held that the sooner the rising took place +the better. So Christmas approached; but it was not with joy or +gladness that men's hearts looked forward to the kindly festival in that +burning Southern midsummer, for the deserted farms and homesteads told +their own tale, and the savage enemy sullenly sat still, biding his own +time. The war-cloud hung brooding over the land darker and darker. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER TEN. + +THE FIRE TRUMPET AGAIN. + +Payne had removed his household to Grahamstown, as being further from +the seat of hostilities, and a very agreeable change to our party was +the city of the old settlers, nestling in its basin-like hollow, and +with its tree-shaded streets and leafy gardens, after the dust and glare +and over-crowding of the Kaffrarian capital. Here, too, the talk was +all of the war, but its dire evidences were less obtrusive, and, on the +whole, the Paynes made themselves tolerably comfortable. To Lilian +Strange, the time was fraught with a wondrous joy, and she often took +herself to task for feeling so supremely happy while so much suffering +and anxiety was pending over those around her. But she need not have, +for the days of her rejoicing were already numbered. + +She was out riding with her lover one afternoon, when a turn in the road +brought them suddenly upon a man--only a native, apparently on the +tramp--a half-caste Hottentot, and a dark-browed, ruffianly-looking +specimen of the breed. Directly this fellow caught sight of them he +stopped, and, stooping down, pretended to be tying his shoestring, at +the same time keeping his face turned away from them as they passed. +Lilian grew very pale. + +"Arthur," she whispered. "That's the same man who was following us the +other day in King Williamstown. I knew him at once; and he knew me. +Didn't you see how quickly he stopped and pretended not to take any +notice of us?" And glancing at her lover, she saw that his face wore a +slightly puzzled expression and a frown which, however, disappeared as +she spoke. + +"Only some loafer. One often runs against the same specimens of that +class," he said, carelessly. + +"But see how quickly he has come here. Arthur--I can't help looking +upon the circumstance as an ill omen. I never saw such a +murderous-looking ruffian; and I'm certain he knows you. You may laugh +at my silly superstition, dear, but I can't get rid of the feeling." + +He did laugh; but so pleasantly, so tenderly, as he tried to reassure +her. + +"But you must get rid of the feeling. Look now, my darling. We are not +even on the road from King Williamstown, but on one leading almost in +the opposite direction. If that nigger had been following me, and I +don't care a brass doit if he is, he would have come straight and not +all round the country. So let the affair slide. I want you to enjoy +this afternoon; we may not have many more together, for some time, you +know." + +He threw in this to counteract the effect of the unexpected encounter. +Shaking off her depression, she looked up at him with a bright smile. + +"You dreadful prophet of ill. I won't have you predict such things. +Let's have another of those glorious canters. I'm not nearly such a +coward as I was, am I?" + +"No. You're as fearless as a circus-rider," answered he, with a laugh; +and then they started off into a long, level, swinging canter. And the +golden hours of the afternoon fled as they kept on their way, over +breezy grassland and shady bush road; and not till after sundown did +they draw rein at their door, just as the labours of the day were at an +end in the pleasant old frontier city, whose inhabitants were strolling +up the wide streets, or turning into the ever open bars in quest of +their evening "peg," or standing in knots at the corners discussing the +news from the front. + +"Oh, there you are," said Payne, meeting them in the doorway, and +handing Claverton a couple of letters. "Heard the news?" + +"No." + +"Well, here's the deuce to pay all round. A telegram came in to-day +saying that a chap named Kiva, with five or six hundred Gcalekas, has +crossed into the Gaika location, that the Gaikas have risen as one man, +and the whole country is up in arms. The hotel and store at Draaibosch +is burnt to the ground and a lot of farmhouses besides, mine among them, +I expect. The road from `King' to the Transkei is blocked, and Komgha +in a state of siege. A pretty kettle of fish, isn't it?" + +"H'm. Rather. What's going to be done?" + +"They're calling out men. Our old corps is in the thick of it now, I +expect. Brathwaite's will soon be there, too, I should think." + +"I should rather like to take service in that. But, look here," went on +Claverton, who had been opening his letters the while, extending one of +them to Payne. It was an official one, offering him on the +recommendation of Jim Brathwaite the command of a corps of Hottentot +levies which was being raised; the other was from Jim himself strongly +advising him to accept it. + +It was hard--very hard, to leave Lilian again so soon, and for an +indefinite time--but, after all, it had been more than half expected. +He supposed he must go. All would most likely be called out for service +at a later stage of hostilities, perhaps almost at once, and even if it +were not so, how could he hold back? Besides, now, at any rate, here +was a definite command which might lead to something much better. + +"Take it, Arthur. You can't refuse it," Lilian said, bravely, when he +showed her the letter. "You must go; but you need not to-morrow. We +will have one more whole day together, my darling--will we not?" + +"This is Saturday. They will want me to start to-morrow, but they may +want. I can't put it off later than Monday, I'm afraid, or they'll +pitch-fork some other fellow into the concern instead. So we will make +the most of to-morrow. But cheer up, dearest. It won't be for so long +as last time." + +She only answered with a smile, a little forced. She kept her tears for +when she was alone, then they flowed freely enough. Such are the +results of war--glorious war! Men's blood, mingled with women's tears, +fills the cup of the destructive demon. + +That evening Claverton went round to the official to whom the letter +referred him, and notified his acceptance of the post. + +"Ah! Yes. The levies--I remember," and he unearthed one or two papers +from a pile. "You will go round by Fort Beaufort, and Victoria East, +and pick up contingents that have been recruited there, and then report +yourself at King Williamstown, where you will receive further +instructions. Of course you will be ready to start at once--to-morrow +at the latest." + +"No." + +The official looked up quickly, with a stare of astonishment. + +"Pardon me," he said, with some acerbity. "Did I understand you to say +that you could not start upon this service to-morrow?" + +"Not so fast, my dear sir; I didn't say I couldn't, I said I wouldn't. +A vastly different thing," said the other, with a pleasant laugh. + +"But, Mr--Mr Claverton, I would really advise you not to throw up this +appointment. I assure you that I could name at least a dozen men who +would jump at the chance." + +"In that case it might be as well to give them the opportunity of +practising their leaping powers," was the cool, smiling reply, and he +made a movement as if to rise. + +The official was sorely perplexed. To let Claverton go would entail no +end of correspondence and bother before he could fix upon another man +altogether fit for the post; and, what with all the disturbance and +worry of the past few days, he had more than enough on his hands +already, as the heap of letters and telegrams lying before him all +demanding "immediate" attention, and the lateness of the hour for him to +be in his office, abundantly testified. + +"How soon will you be ready, then?" he said at last, wearily pushing +back his chair. + +"On Monday morning--an hour before daylight." + +"Very well, then, that's settled. I suppose a day won't make any great +difference after all. And you might turn the time to account by picking +up three or four likely-looking fellows here. If you want any further +information you'll find me here all to-morrow. No rest for us public +servants, not even on Sunday, since these confounded wars; I feel quite +ashamed to look a parson in the face now--ha, ha, ha! Good-night!" and +chuckling in a dispirited manner over his feeble jest, the official +shook hands with Claverton and returned to grind away at his vouchers, +and requisitions, and reports until midnight. And our new commandant of +levies sallied forth, a flash of satirical mirth lurking in his eyes +over his interlocutor's parting suggestion. So likely that, on the last +day he would spend with Lilian, he was going to bother himself +recruiting a lot of dirty niggers among the grog-shops of Bog-na-fin +[the popular name for a low quarter of Grahamstown]. + +But his fame must have spread very rapidly, for early the next morning +before he was half-dressed, his faithful henchman came to tell him that +a man was asking for him in the back-yard. "What does he look like, +Sam?" + +"An ugly Hottentot, Inkos. Big and strong, though." + +"All right, tell him to wait. And, Sam!" + +"Inkos?" + +"I shall take you with me to the front. So you'll be able to try your +hand at shooting Amaxosa." + +Sam jumped with delight at this. He could hardly believe his ears. The +last time, he had begged and prayed to be allowed to go; but then his +master had gone in the capacity of a private trooper, and couldn't be +encumbered with a servant. Now it was different, and subsequently Sam +might be heard imparting his good news over the wall to the Hottentot +groom belonging to the neighbouring house, winding up with his cherished +formula--"Amaxosa nigga no good." + +In a few minutes Claverton went out to interview his intending recruit, +as he supposed the visitor to be, and an almost imperceptible shade of +annoyance came over his face as he saw before him the man whose sudden +appearance yesterday had so sorely troubled Lilian during their ride. +"Ghosts don't talk!" said he to himself, sardonically and with meaning, +"or this might be one." + +"Good mornin', Baas?" said the new arrival, with his eyes keenly fixed +on the other's face. + +"Morning," replied Claverton, shortly. "What d'you want with me?" + +"I want to join your levies, Baas." + +"Oh, do you? What's your name?" + +"Vargas Smith, Baas," replied the fellow, who spoke English fluently, +narrowly watching the effect of his words. But the said effect was +simply nil. + +"Queer name that. Where d'you come from?" + +"I've bin up Zanzibar way--three, four, five years ago--up the river," +answered the fellow, in a tone full of significance, jerking his thumb +over his shoulder in the supposed direction of that locality. Then +sinking his voice to a whisper: "Don't you know me, Baas?" + +"Never saw you before in my life," replied Claverton, looking him up and +down with a cold stare of astonishment. + +The coolness of this rejoinder fairly staggered Smith, who, for a +minute, stood dumbfoundered. Then he said, still in a would-be +significant whisper: + +"They used to call me `Sharkey,' Baas, up yonder." + +"Did they? A devilish good name, too. But what's `up yonder,' and +where do you hail from, when all's said and done? Are you from these +parts?" + +"No, sah, I'm Cuban gentleman." + +"Cuban gentleman, are you?" said Claverton, with a sneer. "Then let me +tell you this, Mr Vargas Smith, alias Sharkey, that I don't want +_gentlemen_ in my corps; so you won't do for me. Now we understand each +other." + +"Yes, sar. I was only jokin'. Of course I un'stand. But I want to +serve under you, Baas Lidwell--ah--I mean, Baas Claverton--and you'll +let me join." + +Claverton thought for a moment. If the fellow intended mischief, it +would be as well to keep him under his own eye. It might only be, after +all, that Smith wae really desirous of joining his corps, for he, +Claverton, had something of a reputation for coolness and daring, and +this fellow, too, was in no wise wanting in pluck. And he had shown the +man that he was determined not to recognise him, and that any attempt to +trade upon a knowledge, real or imaginary, of former days, would be +worse than useless. So he replied: + +"Well, Smith, you're a likely-looking fellow enough, and, on second +thoughts, I'll take you. But it's only fair to warn you that, as to +promotion or recommendation or anything of that kind, you'll stand just +the same chances as any one else: no more and no less, d'you hear? Now, +you show up at the Public Offices at one o'clock, and I'll let you know +when you will be sworn in, and the rest of it." + +"Very well, Baas," said the other, respectfully. "I'll be there. Good +morning." + +Just then Lilian, throwing open her window, caught sight of the +retreating figure of Smith. Her heart sank. What had this evil-looking +ruffian to do with her lover? Had not his appearance heralded +misfortune already?--for, with true feminine logic, she could not help +connecting him in some way with the turn affairs had taken. And +Claverton, knowing the idea she had taken upon the subject of the man, +purposely forbore to mention the circumstance, and she, fearing to +trouble him, would not ask him. + +All along the frontier the tide of war was rising. The spark had fallen +in dry grass, and now the flame flashed forth with lightning rapidity as +one after another the insurgent tribes rose in open revolt. And amid +the wild glens and bushy wastes of their secluded fastnesses lurked +armed hordes of fierce savages, hungering for prey and plunder; and the +smoke of burning homesteads hung in a pall over the land, telling of the +toil and industry of years laid in ruins. On many a hill-top hovered +dark clouds of the enemy, ever watchful, and ready to swoop down upon +the lonely traveller, or patrol scanty in numbers; and the war-cry, grim +and defiant, mingling with the crackling of musketry, told that each red +wave was rolling on its course. And night after night, beneath the +blackness of the heavens, the terrible Fire Trumpet rang out its lurid +message of destruction, and pillage, and death. + +Thus the year closed. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +"HAVE YOU NO SECRET ENEMY?" + +"Good-bye!" + +Who among us has not uttered the mournful word? Not merely in airy, +hollow fashion, when passing out of a drawing-room door, but in dire +sadness, as we look our last upon the face from which we are about to be +divided by time or distance--and, it may be, upon which there is small +chance of our ever looking again in life? The train rolls out of the +station; the plank is hurriedly thrown back on to the thronged quay, +and, as the great ship glides from her moorings handkerchiefs wave and +voices no longer audible to each other still continue to articulate, it +may be in accents of heartsick pain, or through a forced and broken +smile, or even in tones of genuine cheerfulness, the saddest of all +words--"Good-bye." + +The fatal Monday morning has come at last; and there, in the grey dawn, +Lilian stands bidding farewell to her lover. A light is burning in the +sitting-room, and without it is almost dark, for the morning is lowering +and cloudy. Now and then a puff of warm wind, which seems to herald +rain, sighs mournfully through the trees, whirling up the dust in little +eddies along the empty street--and they two are alone, for none of the +household are astir, which neither regrets. And thus they stand, +looking into each other's eyes and both hesitating to frame the +word--"Good-bye." + +The conditions of parting are unequal, it is true. To the man, going +forth on this dark, desolate morning, the time of separation will be +abundantly occupied--downright hard, honest soldiering--no mere child's +play, and if during those long months there is hardship and privation, +there is also the excitement of peril and the stir of strife, the rough +sociality of camp, and the healthful glow and energy of life in the +open. To the woman it means a period of weary and inactive waiting; of +days unbrightened by the strong, tender presence she has learnt to love +so dearly; of nights, wakeful and self-tormenting, when the overwrought +brain will conjure up visions of deadly peril, of the flashing spears +and wild war-cry of the savage foe, of the wasting form of fell disease +following on wet and exposure, of the swift lightning and the raging of +flooded rivers, and every contingency probable and improbable, attendant +upon campaigning in a barbarous land. + +"Wherever you are, and whatever you do, you _will_ take care of +yourself," she is saying. "You will not run any unnecessary risks, even +for other people. Your life belongs to me now, love." + +"It does," he answers, softly and tenderly. "Keep up a good heart, my +sweet. Don't go imagining all sorts of horrors while I am away, for, +remember, that after these years I was not sent back to you to be taken +away again. Mine is a charmed life--never fear." + +"I believe so, indeed," she answers, looking at him fondly--proudly, and +smiling through her tears. + +"Why, Arthur, I would not keep you if I could, now. It is such as you +who should be to the fore at present, and how could they supply _your_ +place?" + +He makes no reply for a moment, but presses his kisses faster upon the +soft hair and sweet, up-turned face, and he is sad and heavy at heart; +though he will affect as much cheerfulness as he can, with the object of +making light of things. And there seems some excuse for her implied +encomium, looking at him as he stands--ready and calm, entirely devoid +of any affectation of the military in his dress or accoutrements; but +yet, the very ideal of the frontier civilian soldier. + +"Keep up a brave heart, my own," he murmurs again. "The day will soon +come when we shall look back to this, as one of the sad experiences of +the past, even as we look back to that other time. This is a mere +passing minute compared with that." + +"Ah, yes. Now I am delaying you, and you must go. God keep you, +darling, and bring you back to me safe again. Good-bye." + +One more strong, loving embrace, and he is gone. He throws himself upon +his horse, which Sam has with difficulty been holding, and its impatient +hoof-strokes ring through the empty street as he turns for one last look +at the graceful figure waving him a farewell from the gate, and for the +moment he feels inclined to retrace his steps, go straight back and +resign the post which, all unsought, has been thrust upon him, and allow +the war to take care of itself as far as he is concerned. + +And Lilian, returning to the deserted room, now so desolate and empty to +her, as the dawn reduces the light of the candles to a pale garish +flicker, feels the tears welling up afresh as she reproaches herself for +not having kept him at any cost, for round her heart is a terrible +foreboding of evil to come--how, when, and in what form the future will +reveal. Yet the feeling is there. + +We must follow the wayfarer. Throughout the whole day he rode +mechanically forward, absorbed in his own thoughts. A heavy storm drove +him for shelter to a wretched roadside inn; but ever impatient to be +moving, he left before it was nearly over. The roads wet and slippery +with the rain rendered progress slow, so that by the time it grew dark +he was still some miles from Hicks' farm, where he intended to pass the +night. + +"I'm afraid we've lost the way," he ruminated, as having gone some +distance up a long, bush-covered valley, he began to feel rather out of +his bearings. "Sam! Where the devil are we?" + +"Don't know, Inkos. I never was here before. Look. There's a house!" + +"So there is. We'll make for it," and, picking up their horses' heads, +they approached the dwelling, which was a sorry-looking affair. Darker +and darker it grew, and a drizzling shower began to fall. Suddenly a +light gleamed from the ill-closed window, and at the same time a man's +voice, raised high in expostulation, reached their ears--a voice not +unfamiliar to Claverton, withal, and in its tones he caught his own +name. Quickly he dismounted. + +"Sam," he whispered. "Take the horses out of sight, there, in the +bush--quietly, d'you hear? And if you hear a row, come and look after +me without a moment's loss. You'll soon see which way to shoot." + +"Yeh bo 'Nkos," replied the ready-witted native, whose eyes sparkled +with excitement. Then silently, and with a rapid glide, Claverton made +his way round to the back of the house. Through a chink under the +window-joist he could see the interior of a room--a mouldy, disused +room, with damp, discoloured walls, and rotting beams festooned with +cobwebs; but the place wore a look of familiarity to him, even as a +sight or a sound which now and then will strike our imaginations as in +no wise to be accounted for save in the previous experience of a dream. +For a moment he was puzzled; then it flashed upon him that he was +looking into the room where he and Ethel Brathwaite had taken refuge on +the night of the storm. Yes; there was the very place where she had +slept and he had covered her with his cloak, and where she had sat when +terrified by the wolf; and, straining his gaze further, he almost +expected to see that quadruped's footsteps in the dust by the half-open +door. A fire burnt in the middle of the room, and there by the side of +it lay the very stone he had used for a seat. It all seemed so strange +that he seriously began to think he must be dreaming. + +But he was wide awake enough as the sound of voices was heard, and two +men entered the room from outside, closing the door after them. And in +one of them Claverton recognised his recruit of yesterday; the other he +had never seen before. He was an Englishman--a tall, dark man, well +made and erect of carriage, evidently a gentleman by birth, and yet with +a certain sinister expression that would have led the watcher to regard +him with distrust even had he not heard his own name brought into the +conversation. + +"It's all right, Sharkey," this one was saying. + +"Your ears must have played you tricks. There's no sign of any one +moving." + +"No, there ain't. Well, now, Cap'n, about this devil Claverton?" + +"Yes, I'll be as good as my word. One hundred pounds, this day six +months." + +"Make it two, Cap'n; make it two. He's a devil to deal with--a very +devil. You don't know him as well as I do." + +"No; one. Not another stiver. And now, are you downright sure that +Arthur Lidwell and Arthur Claverton are one and the same man? Could you +swear to him?" + +The mulatto laughed--a hideous, hyaena-like grin--showing the long, +sharp, canine teeth which had gained him his repellent sobriquet. + +"Swear to him?" he cried. "I'd swear to him in a million! I recognised +him directly I set eyes on him in the crowd at `King.' But the young +lady spotted me sharp as a needle, and I had to hide. She does seem +awful fond of him. Why, when I--" + +"Drop that damned nonsense, Sharkey, and stick to the point?" exclaimed +the Englishman, with a deep frown. + +"Very sorry, Cap'n. Well, I was going to say, I knew him, and, what's +more, he knew me." + +"The devil he did!" + +"Yes. He recognised me first when I met him on the road on Saturday, +riding with the young lady; then afterwards I spoke to him, but he was +that high and lofty! I told him my name, and watched him closely; then +I called him by his name that he carried up there--just let it slip, +like--and, would you believe it?--he never winced!" + +"Didn't he?" + +"No, he didn't. Says he: `Never saw you before in my life!' as cool as +you please. Ah, he's a plucky devil is Lidwell; he always was!" said +the mulatto, with a sigh of admiration. + +"Why do you owe him a grudge?" asked the other, curiously. + +"He knocked me down once, Cap'n--hit me here, bang on the nose." And +the speaker's features assumed a look of deadly malice. "He shot me, +too, and left me for dead. I could forgive him that, but not the whack +on the nose." + +"So help me Heaven, I'll repeat that operation with interest before +you're many weeks older, friend Sharkey," muttered the watcher, between +his set teeth. + +"And then--one hundred pounds," went on the fellow. "Hist! I'm certain +I heard something." And both men sat in an attitude of listening. For +a moment there was dead silence; then the Englishman rose. "I'll just +take a look round, to make sure," he said, producing a revolver and +going out into the night, while Claverton, drawing his own weapon, +crouched there, covering the angle of the tenement round which he +expected his enemy to appear; for that this man was, for some cause or +other, his deadly enemy was obvious. He would have the advantage of +him, however, for his eyes were accustomed to the darkness, whereas the +other had just come out of the light. For a moment he waited--anxious, +expectant--but no one appeared; then he heard the two men's voices +inside again, and, peering through the crevice, saw the Englishman +return, shutting the door behind him. + +"All right; there's no one moving. You do hear the most unaccountable +noises, though, in this infernal bush at night." + +"Ha, ha, ha! So you do, Cap'n; and you'll hear plenty more when you get +up there to the front among the Kafirs," said the other, with a mocking +laugh. "When do you leave?" + +"As soon as I get my command. Now, no tricks, Sharkey. In three months +this fellow must have disappeared. No violence, mind; _but he must be +induced to leave the country_;" and he emphasised the words with a +significant look into the other's face. "Mind, you mustn't hurt him." + +"All right, Cap'n. I've joined his levies. What d'you think of that, +hey? I'm not a bad shot, you know, and there's no fear of my mistaking +a Kafir for any one else, or any one else for a Kafir, eh? Ha, ha, ha!" +and the villain winked his yellow eyes with a murderous leer. + +The Englishman's dark features grew red and then white. "By Jove, +Sharkey, but you're a knowing one," he said. "I'm deuced glad I ran +against you. One hundred pounds, fair and square." + +"Bight you are, Cap'n. One hundred pounds, and," sinking his voice to a +whisper, every word of which was audible to the listener, "in three +months he'll be out of your way, never fear." + +The gloom spread around, pitchy black, and the rain pattered upon the +bush and upon the crouched form of the man who, with his eye to the +chink in the wall, and gripping his revolver, witnessed these two calmly +plotting his death, for there could be no mistaking the drift of their +scarcely veiled hints. A wave of fierce wrath surged up in his heart as +he gazed upon his would-be murderers. Why should he not quietly walk +round and, flinging open the door, shoot the pair dead? It would be but +the work of a moment. Then came the cold but none the less dangerous +caution which always stood his friend--dangerous to the objects of his +resentment in proportion as it preserved to him his own coolness. It +would not do. How could he prove to the world at large that he had done +it to save his own life? No. He would keep a close eye upon this +ruffianly mulatto, and then the first time they were in action he could +easily turn the tables on his sneaking assassin by shooting him quietly +through the head--_in mistake for one of the enemy_--and he laughed +sardonically at the thought of hoisting the villain with his own petard. +He had no compunction, no nice scruples of honour in such a matter as +this. It was _vae victis_. The other had put the weapon into his hand. +And who was this Englishman who seemed bent on pursuing him in such a +deadly manner? Who was this secret foe, so eager and anxious to plant +the assassin's steel in his back? And as the firelight flickered into +the corners of the grim old room, lighting up the faces of these two +midnight plotters, Claverton scanned every feature of the reckless +lineaments of the arch-schemer again and again, but could detect nothing +familiar in them. He had never seen the man before. + +Suddenly the latter rose. + +"Well, now I shall be off," he said. "I leave it to you, Sharkey. +Here's something to go on with," and there was a chink as of gold as he +passed something into the mulatto's hand, who clutched it greedily. "We +understand each other. Now, the sooner you join your regiment the +better," he added, with a harsh laugh. "Good-bye. Are you going to +stay here to-night?" + +"Why, yes, Cap'n; it's warm and dry." + +"Ha, ha! Supposing Claverton should want to off-saddle here. That +would be a joke--eh?" + +"He's better employed, that devil," replied the Cuban mulatto, and he +chuckled to himself as the other passed out, frowning. And the listener +heard the sound of footsteps, and then the tread of a horse receding in +the distance. The man was evidently riding away up the kloof. + +Left to himself Sharkey got up, fastened the cranky door, and threw some +more wood on the fire. Then he took out his pipe, filled and lighted +it, and drawing his blanket around him, lay down, prepared to make +himself thoroughly comfortable. He grunted once or twice as his pipe +went out, and then with a muttered imprecation threw it down, and, +pulling the blanket over his head, began to snore. A few moments more, +and the watcher arose and softly stole away into the bush, for he was +revolving a merciless and coldblooded plan. + +"Sam!" + +"Inkos?" + +"Tie the horses up and come with me. You remember the scoundrel we +enlisted yesterday?" + +"Yeh bo 'Nkos." + +"Well, he is in that place, and you and I are going to take him. +Directly I kick down the door, you will follow on my heels and collar +him. Now come." + +They stole back to the house, and Claverton took the precaution of once +more peeping in. The mulatto lay quite still, rolled in his blanket, +evidently asleep. Then he returned to the front of the building. + +"Now, Sam--ready!" he whispered. + +A sudden rush, and a tremendous kick, and the door went down with an +appalling crash, as, staggering with the shock and the impetus, +Claverton half fell half rushed upon the sleeper, gripping him by the +throat before he had time to move; while Sam, seizing both his hands, +twisted them behind him, and rolled him over on to his stomach. + +"That's it, Sam; tie him up," cried Claverton, in a steely voice, +restraining with difficulty his longing to throttle the life out of the +prostrate villain, who, for his part, did not yield without a struggle-- +and a violent one. Indeed, it required all their efforts to hold him, +for the mulatto was of powerful and athletic build. + +"So!" said Claverton, approvingly, as Sam dexterously made fast the +prisoner's feet with a _reim_ he had brought for the purpose, having +previously pinioned his hands. "Now, Mr Vargas Smith, alias Sharkey, +alias the Cuban gentleman--now, may I ask, what the devil are you doing +here?" + +The man regarded him with a scowl of hatred. "I was on the way to join +the levy, Baas, and came in here for shelter from the rain," he replied, +sullenly. + +"On the way to join the levy, were you? My good friend, this is not the +way to King Williamstown. That, I believe, is where you were consigned +to--but never mind that. Now, I want to know, who was the _gentleman_ +who has just left?" + +The ruffian's yellow hide grew a dirty, livid colour. "I don't know his +name, Baas," he said, falteringly. + +"It's surprising how we live and learn," said the other, coolly. +"Before I count twenty you'll not only have learnt his name, but you'll +have told it to me. Sam, put up that door. And Sam, go to the corner +and keep watch; and let me know if you hear anybody coming. It isn't in +the least likely, but there's nothing like caution. Now, friend +Sharkey, what is his name? Out with it." + +"Don't know, Baas," repeated the other. + +"That's unfortunate for you. Now, you see this?" taking a glowing +faggot from the fire and blowing upon it. "With this I am about to +tickle the soles of your feet until you do know. Come! Out with it," +and he approached his victim. + +"Mercy, mercy! I'll tell you, Baas," pleaded the mulatto. + +"Well?" + +"It's Wallace--Cap'n Wallace, Baas." + +"Oh. No lies, mind," said Claverton, with a determined look. "You know +me. I stand no nonsense. Well, now, where did you first fall in with +this Captain Wallace?" + +"At Port Elizabeth." + +"Who is he?" + +"That I don't know, really, Baas," pleaded the fellow, piteously. "He's +going to raise a levy and fight the Kafirs, and he wanted me to join +it." + +"H'm. I believe the first statement, the last is a lie. No more lies, +friend Sharkey, if you please, or we shall quarrel. And now, tell me, +how do you purpose earning your hundred pounds?" + +The mulatto's face grew livid as death, and great beads of perspiration +stood out upon his forehead. He knew that from this man, whose murder +he had just been plotting, he need expect no mercy; and he read his doom +in every line of the other's features, as he stared at his captor with +the haggard and hunted expression of a trapped wild creature. Again his +shaking lips reiterated a prayer for mercy. + +"You were going to be very merciful to the man whom you were about to +put out of this Captain Wallace's way in three months, were you not? +Who was the man, by the way?" + +"Yourself. He hates you, Baas, I don't know why, I swear I don't. I +think it's about some money you have that he ought to have--at least, so +he says." + +"Quite so. And he set you to watch me?" + +"Yes." + +"I see." + +Then there was dead silence. It was a strange sight that the ghostly +firelight flickered and danced upon in that lonely hut. The bound and +prostrate-ruffian, and the quiet, refined-looking man sitting opposite +him--sitting in judgment on his would-be murderer. Outside, the rain +pattered with a monotonous, dismal sound, and the distant cry of a +jackal floated upon the heavy night air. + +"Well, now, Sharkey," said Claverton at length, "you are the greatest +scoundrel that ever breathed, you know. I had almost made up my mind to +amuse myself for the rest of the night by drawing figures on your +carcase with this," and again he held up the glowing faggot; "but I will +be merciful, and won't do that." + +A look of relief came into the prisoner's eyes; but his tormentor went +on: + +"But, you see, you have confessed to having intended to murder me for +the sake of a hundred pounds. Now, do you know what we do with +murderers? We hang them; but I won't hang you." The look of relief +increased, and the fellow began to murmur his thanks. + +"Wait, wait, not so fast. I won't hang you. I say, because, to begin +with, I haven't got a rope. But a couple of prods with this,"--touching +the handle of a long, keen sheath-knife--"will answer the purpose a +great deal better. For this is war-time, you know, Sharkey, and this +hut is a devilish lonely place, so that when in about a month you are +found here, a yarn will go the round of the papers as to how the body of +a poor devil of a Hottentot--not even a Cuban _gentleman_, mind, they +don't understand that distinction here--was found slain by Kafirs, with +no end of assegai holes in him. Or it might be safer for us to dig a +hole in the next room, and quietly drop you in--alive, of course--and +cover you up. It would, perhaps, be a little more trouble, but safer." + +The expression of the miserable man's face, as he stared at his +tormentor with a frozen, hopeless look of despair, was awful to behold, +while he listened to the terrible doom which the other pronounced upon +him. Not a gleam of relenting could he trace in that stern, impassive +countenance. + +"Mercy--mercy," he moaned. "I will be your slave--your dog. I will +kill the other man if you wish, only spare me," and his dry, bloodless +lips could hardly articulate his hopeless entreaty. "Only spare my +life--it is yours--I deserve to die; but spare me," and the miserable +wretch grovelled on the earth. + +Claverton contemplated him for a few moments with calm equanimity, +unmoved by the extremity of his terror. + +"Upon my word, Sharkey, I gave you credit for more gameness. Well, now, +listen to me. It is as you say--you deserve to die, and your life is +mine. Never mind about the other man, I won't have him hurt for +anything. Now for yourself. You have gone through all the bitterness +of death in the last few minutes, as I intended you should. That is +enough. I will spare your life--richly as you have deserved to lose +it--but listen to me. You will go from here as a prisoner, and not be +released from arrest till we have joined the others. I will make no +conditions with you--first of all, because you are absolutely powerless +to harm me, now, or at any future time--the very events of to-night +prove that; secondly, because, if I did, you would not keep them. So I +forgive you completely your plot to murder me, and you shall join the +corps as if nothing had happened. One word of warning, though. I shall +have my eye upon you always, and wherever you may be. And remember +this, in case we go into action together--_I'm not a bad shot, you know; +and there's no fear of my mistaking a Kafir for any one else, or any one +else for a Kafir_. Bear all this in mind, for if you are up to any more +tricks, what you have just gone through is a mere joke compared with +what's in store for you. You know _me_." + +The prisoner looked at Claverton with a wild, superstitious awe. This +man must be something more than mortal, and he shuddered as he reflected +that he was indeed powerless to harm him. Then, as he realised that his +life was spared, the look of relief returned to his livid features. He +knew the other only too well, and that every word had been spoken in no +mere spirit of empty threat, but in sober earnest. And now he felt like +a man who has been reprieved from under the very gallows-tree itself. +He had spoken the truth in his revelation in all good faith--indeed, he +dared not have done otherwise--and had told all he knew, marvelling that +he had been asked so few questions. + +Claverton, meanwhile, was sitting opposite, watching his prisoner with a +curious and thoughtful expression. By what stroke of luck had he been +made to lose his way and brought to this place in time to overhear the +plot against his own life? Who on earth could the other man be--the +arch mover in the scheme? He had never seen him before; had never even +heard his name; and then what the mulatto had said, about it being a +question of money. Stay, could it be that some will existed of which +he, Claverton, knew nothing, and under which the other would benefit in +the event of his death? It seemed strange, certainly; but then his +experience had taught him that nothing was too strange to be true. And +then recurred to his mind, with all the force of a prophecy, the words +which Lilian had spoken when first she discovered the ruffian was +following them in the square at King Williamstown: "_Have you no secret +enemy? No one who would owe you a grudge_?" and he had answered lightly +in the negative; whereas, he was actually being dogged by two secret +assassins--one of them no mere common ruffian like the cut-throat lying +there before him, but a man apparently his equal in birth and station. +With whom, however, he promised himself a full and complete reckoning, +all in good time. + +Then the recollection of Lilian's words naturally recalled the image of +Lilian herself. What was she doing then? Thinking of him ever--at that +hour most likely praying for him--and he? With difficulty had he just +restrained himself from an act of wild, lawless vengeance--justified, +perhaps, but still vengeance--one which in earlier days he would not +have shrunk from; and now, as he thought of her, his whole mood softened +and he felt glad that he had spared the villain opposite, even though by +doing so he might have jeopardised his own life. Not that he gave this +side of the question a thought, for his experiences had made him a +fatalist, and he really believed himself under a special protection for +some purpose or other--be that purpose what it might. Thus musing, he +fell into a doze; while the faithful Sam, having stabled the horses in +the adjoining apartment, had barred up the door as well as he could, and +sat, huddled in his blanket, smoking his pipe and keeping watch over the +prisoner and over his master's safety. + +With the first ray of dawn they were astir. The horses being saddled, +the prisoner's feet were untied to allow him to walk. + +"Yon dam Hottentot nigga?" said Sam, administering a sly kick to the +crestfallen Sharkey, when his master's back was turned. "You cheek my +chief, eh? Now, you try to run away, I shoot--shoot you--so. My chief, +he good shot, shoot you dead--ha, ha!" + +With which salutary warning they set out. Sam, in his heart of hearts, +hoping that it would be disregarded, and that the mulatto would really +make an attempt at escape. But that worthy was wise in his generation, +and the Natal native had no opportunity of showing his skill with the +new Snider rifle wherewith a paternal Goverment had supplied him on the +occasion of his joining "Claverton's Levies." + +A curious contrast did this grim _cortege_ present to the last occasion +of his leaving that place in the early dawn, thought Claverton. Instead +of the bright, laughing girl who was his companion then, he cast his eye +on the sullen prisoner and his guard, and then on his own warlike +equipment; and mingled, indeed, were his reflections as he found himself +traversing the old roads, with all the features of the familiar +landscape stretching around. There was old Isaac Van Rooyen's +homestead, down in the hollow, on the right, looking just the same as of +yore, except that that slow-going old Boer had built a new room on to +it, probably for the accommodation of the family of one of his children, +who had quartered themselves upon him. In front, in the distance, rose +the frowning face of Spoek Krantz and the heights from among which it +stood forth. The mountains, too, on the sky-line, wore their well-known +aspect; and every feature of the surroundings, whether bush or open, +seemed to bring back the past. Even Hicks' farm, whither he was now +wending, was the one he himself had started to treat for, and had turned +back, that day when he had heard his fate and been sent forth into +banishment from all that made life for him--four years ago. + +"Hallo, hallo!" cried honest Hicks, looking up in astonishment from some +carpentering he was doing behind the house, as the trio rode up. "Well, +this is a piece of luck! How are you, Arthur, old boy? And who the +deuce have you got there?" + +"A chap who joined my corps and began his service by desertion; I +chanced to pick him up on the way." + +Hicks looked mystified for a moment. "Oh--ah--yes, now I remember! Jim +told me you had got the command of some of the greatest blackguards +under heaven. That bird, by the way, looks as if he would be quite in +his element among them. But I should think you'd manage to lick them +into shape if any one would, eh?" + +"Oh, yes. And they're not bad fellows to fight, once you get them away +from the canteens. I'll manage them, never fear." + +"But come in. Laura will be surprised. Don't bother about the horses, +I'll see to them; and your boy will be enough to look after the +prisoner, I should think." + +"He will. The rascal has been licking his chops over him like a +bull-terrier contemplating a cat in a tree. There's nothing he'd like +better than a chance of practising at the fellow running away." + +By this time they had entered the house, which was a trifle small +perhaps, but comfortable, after the style of the ordinary frontier +dwelling, and Claverton took in at a glance the air of neatness and +domesticity that pervaded it, from the sewing-machine and work-basket on +the table to the rocking-cradle standing in the corner, which latter was +the sole work of Hicks' skilful hands. + +And Laura? She was but little changed in appearance, and that, if +anything, for the better. More matronly-looking and a trifle more +demure perhaps than formerly, and if her greeting to Claverton lacked +ever so slightly in cordiality, it might have been that she still +cherished a latent spark of resentment against him on Ethel's account. +But, after all, there was no altering the past. Whatever was to be-- +was--and there was no help for it. And being a good-hearted little +woman she soon cast aside her first veil of reserve, and talked to him +as in the old times, for she had always liked him, and besides, he had +done her husband more than one good turn. + +"And where is Ethel now, and how is she getting on?" asked Claverton, +presently. + +"She's down at Cape Town still." + +"Does she ever come up to the frontier?" + +"Oh, yes. Sometimes. She would have been coming just about now, only +this new war broke out." + +"Who's that? Ethel?" asked Hicks, returning. He had left the room for +a moment to give some directions to one of his natives outside. "Oh, +yes. She was engaged to some fellow down there and then choked him off +all at once, no one quite knew why. Laura vows that--" Here the speaker +became aware of a battery of warning glances being levelled at him from +his wife's dark eyes, and suddenly collapsed in a violent fit of +coughing, on recovery from which he threw open the door, and looking +frantically up at the heavens declared, with a vehemence wholly unsuited +to the occasion, that the rain would inevitably clear away before twelve +o'clock. Claverton, on whom not one fraction of this by-play was lost, +although he pretended not to see it, could hardly restrain his mirth. +Good old Hicks, he thought, was always a whale at blundering, and he had +done for himself again. Even in trying to extricate it, he had put his +unlucky foot in yet deeper; for, to any one who did not know him, this +violent prognostication as to the weather, taken in conjunction with +what had gone before, would have had slightly an inhospitable smack; but +Claverton enjoyed the situation only too well. By-and-by, when pursuing +his journey, he would shout with laughter over the recollection; now, +however, not a muscle of his countenance moved as he said, in the most +matter-of-fact way: + +"You might remember me to Ethel, when you write. We used to have rather +fun together in the old times." + +Laura said something in assent, though she mentally resolved to do +nothing of the kind. No good would come of waking up old recollections, +she reasoned, by mentioning this man who, even if through no fault of +his own, had, at any rate, she told herself, cast a cloud over her +bright, wayward, beautiful sister's life, and the sooner he was +forgotten the better. For that sister's sake she by no means shared her +husband's joy over his reappearance, and she sincerely hoped that those +two might not meet again, and wished that he would be quick and marry +Lilian Strange, or leave this part of the country, or both. Meanwhile +here he was, still on the frontier, and Ethel might be coming up to +visit her at any time. + +Just then a chubby toddling--an exact infantile reproduction of his +father--rushed into the room; and Laura, with a touch of pride that was +very becoming, exhibited him to her guest, while the urchin opened his +big blue eyes wide, and stood staring, with his finger in his mouth, at +Claverton's long boots and shining spurs. + +"Go and say how d'you do to Mr Claverton, Jimmy," said his mother, in +the tone of half command, half entreaty, usual under the circumstances. +"He's a soldier, you know, going to fight the Kafirs, like Uncle Jim." + +"Uncle Jim" being Jim Brathwaite, who was the urchin's godfather. + +"I'll be soja, when I big," lisped the prodigy, toddling up to +Claverton, and tentatively stroking with one finger the shin of his high +boot. "I got gun--shoot de Kaffa--bang!" + +"Halloa," cried Hicks, re-entering. "Don't let that kid bother you, +Arthur. Kids are a confounded nuisance unless they happen to belong to +a fellow, and very often even then." + +But Jimmy was not to be detached from his new acquaintance, to whom he +had taken an immense fancy, and just then, fortunately for his peace of +mind, a move was made in favour of breakfast. + +They talked of the war and its progress. Hicks declared his intention +of holding on a bit for the present, and joining Jim Brathwaite--who, +with his troop, had already left for the front--later, if things got +worse. Laura had been in a terrible fright the last time when he had +gone, he said; but now, since she saw that none of them had been hurt, +she didn't care--in fact, concluded Hicks, he rather believed she wanted +to get rid of him, so he was determined to stay, just to spite her. +Listening to the playful recrimination that followed, Claverton found +himself thinking what a good thing it was to see two people happy like +this, for there could be no doubt but that happy they were--thoroughly +so--in their quiet and hitherto peaceful (for the tide of war had not +yet rolled in so far as this) frontier home; though such may appear +incredible to those who find their enjoyment of life in the whirl and +feverishness of fashionable civilisation. And thinking it, he rejoiced +greatly on his old chum's account. + +And the said "old chum" was considerably crestfallen at the announcement +that he must take the road again. "Why, hang it all," he grumbled; +"you've hardly had time to look at us." + +"My dear fellow--duty--inexorable duty calls. But I shall assuredly +knock you up again, soon." + +"Why, here's baby!" exclaimed Laura, as an approaching squall resounded +through the passage. "You will just be able to have a peep at her +before you go," and regardless of her lord's impatient protest that +"Claverton didn't want to be bothered with a lot of kids," she took a +limp bundle of clothes from the arms of its bearer and uncovered a wee +red and--shall it be confessed?--rather wet physiognomy for her guest's +inspection. + +"H'm, I'm no judge of infants, Laura," said Claverton, good-humouredly, +"but I should say this one ought to fetch first prize at the next show. +But now I must be off--good-bye." + +"Must you go? I'm so sorry," said Laura. "I should like to get Lilian +up here to stay for a bit, only `some one' would be sure to forbid it as +unsafe," she added, archly. + +"Well, good-bye, old fellow," said Hicks. "My horses are out in the +_veldt_, and will take hours to get in, or I'd go part of the way with +you. Mind you look us up again as soon as ever you can." He was going +to add something about hoping "to see you both here before long"; but +with his recent slip fresh in his mind, he refrained, fearing lest in +some unaccountable manner he should put his foot in it again. +"Good-bye--success to you. Mind you shoot lots of niggers and come back +all jolly," and with a hearty hand-shake the two men parted. + +Claverton rode on, reaching Fort Beaufort, where he tarried a day to +recruit his men, or rather to collect them, for they had already been +recruited by his lieutenant, a young Englishman named Lumley; and it was +high time he appeared on the scene, for the rascals had taken the +opportunity of getting on the spree, indulging in much inebriate +jollification preparatory to starting for the seat of war. They would +be all right, though, once away from the canteens and under proper +discipline--and under proper discipline he intended they should be. So +promptly mustering them he marched them off without any farther delay, +not even waiting a day in Alice, the divisional town of Victoria East, +where a fresh batch was picked up. At the latter place, however, a +despatch awaited him, ordering him, instead of going to King +Williamstown, to proceed straight through to join the main column on the +borders of Sandili's location. + +All along the road he met with fresh rumours and alarms. The rebellion +was spreading; the whole of British Kaffraria and the Transkei was +over-ran; nearly all the settlers' houses in the more exposed districts +were burnt down; the Police express-riders carried their lives in their +hands, as they darted across the hostile country, several of them having +been cut off already. Added to which these districts were in a dire +state of alarm, by reason of impending troubles nearer home, for the +Gaika clans in the Waterkloof and Blinkwater fastnesses, under the +chiefs Tini Macomo and Oba, were in a state of restlessness, and +meanwhile signal fires burnt nightly on the higher peaks of the Amatola. + +It was, indeed, a motley crew, was this "levy" of which the two +Englishmen were in command, numbering between sixty and seventy men. +Yellow-skinned Hottentots; dark Korannas; tall, light-coloured Bastards; +every shade and kindred of the race which though inferior to them in +many respects, yet looked upon themselves as the natural foes of the +Kafirs, and with far more sympathies of rule, of civilisation, or rather +semi-civilisation, and even of blood, with the white man, for few indeed +but had some drops of white blood in them. Even two or three specimens +of the ape-like Bushmen found part in the motley gathering--wiry, active +little rascals, with skulls hard as iron and the agility of cats--and +one and all by virtue of their white strain, and the weapons wherewith +they had been supplied; and confidence in their leaders, felt themselves +immeasurably superior in prowess to the naked tribesmen against whom +they were burning to be led. Not a few of the older men--wrinkled, +shrivelled-looking, sinewy creatures, but game to the backbone--had been +rebels in the war of '50, when the old Cape Mounted Rifles, then +composed of such fellows as these, had gone over in a body to the enemy, +and, bearing in mind the salutary lesson they had been taught, both by +their ill-chosen friends and their deserted employers, were now only too +ready to retrieve the past, and to avenge themselves upon the +treacherous savages who had then misled them. They were mostly plucky; +fair shots and reliable at a pinch; but, as yet, in a state of +indifferent discipline; and it required all their leader's promptitude +and firmness to lick them into anything like decent shape. His first +address to them was short and to the point. + +"Now, men," he said, in the ordinary Boer Dutch, which was their mother +tongue. "We are going out to fight--to fight in real earnest, and not +to play. I have seen fellows I would far less sooner command than I +would you, for I know you can hold your own against any number of these +rascally Gaikas. Many of you are good shots, I know, and we'll soon +have plenty of opportunity of peppering Jack Kafir handsomely, I promise +you. Remember, we are going to fight--and to fight we must always be in +a state of readiness and of order, because we are in the enemy's country +and never know when we may have him down upon us. Now, mark my words. +Any man who gets drunk, or is found asleep at his post, shall have six +dozen well laid on with a couple of new _reims_, as sure as my name's +Claverton, and the second time he'll be shot. Mind, I'll stand no +hanky-panky. When we get home again you can get on the spree as much as +you like; in camp, steadiness is the order of the day. Your rations +you'll get just as I get mine, neither better nor worse. I shall ask no +man to go where I won't lead him, and now we'll just go and thrash Jack +Kafir into a cocked hat--yourselves and Mr Lumley and I. So we +understand each other. I am commanding men, not fools or children-- +isn't it so?" + +"Ja, kaptyn--ja!" they cried, cheering him vociferously. "We shall show +you we are all men--good men and true." + +"That's right. Now I am going to let you elect your own sergeants and +corporals, and, having elected them, by Jove, you'll have to obey them. +I should recommend, for choice, Gert Spielman, Cobus Windvogel, Dirk +Hesler," and he ran through a list of about a dozen of the most +trustworthy veterans, knowing full well that those who were elected +would be devoted to him, and those who were not, scarcely less so for +his having recommended them. And thus having got his corps into working +order, and, in fact, it became more manageable every day, Claverton and +his lieutenant journeyed with light hearts towards the seat of war. + +"These fellows will turn out a very creditable lot, or I'm much +mistaken," remarked Lumley, as they were advancing through one of the +defiles of the Amatola. "They are cool and reliable at a pinch, and not +susceptible to panic like the Fingoes. I'd rather have fifty of them +than five hundred Fingoes." + +"I quite believe it," assented Claverton. "Some of them are tough +customers, and once beyond the reach of grog they're all right." + +"Yes. Look at that old Gert Spielman, for instance," pointing to a +shrivelled, little old Hottentot, with a skin like parchment. "He's a +dead shot. The infernal old scoundrel was a rebel last war, and only +escaped hanging by the skin of his teeth. I suspect he's drawn a bead +with effect many a time on poor Tommy Atkins in those days. Well, now-- +if occasion offers--you'll see he'll turn out to be one of our best +men." + +"No doubt. But I say; this is a queer place, and the sooner we get +through it the better." + +They were threading a long, narrow defile. Overhead the forest-covered +slopes rose to the sky, and down to the path stretched the jungly bush-- +dense, tangled, and apparently impenetrable. Great yellow-wood trees +here and there reared their grey, massive limbs, from which the lichens +dangled, above the lower scrub, and monkeys chattered, and birds flitted +screaming from the road as the troop moved forward. Some fifteen or +twenty of the men had horses of their own, and these, Claverton, like a +prudent commander, had thrown forward as scouts, if not to clear the way +at any rate to give warning of any assemblage of the foe threatening to +oppose their progress--which they could easily do, being as quick of eye +and as agile of limb as the Kafirs themselves. But no sign of +obstruction was encountered, and soon, emerging from the gorge, they +found themselves in more open country, bushy still, but not densely so-- +indeed, such that in the event of attack the advantage would not be +wholly on the enemy's side. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER TWELVE. + +"THE LAND IS DEAD." + +For two days "Claverton's Levy" has continued its march farther and +further into the disturbed country, meeting, as yet, with no opposition. +Now and again, far away on a hill-top, like a black speck, would be +descried the form of a Kafir scout watching their movements, and on two +or three of these occasions shots had been fired, though futilely, for +at present the wily foe was showing a discretion eminently the better +part of valour, and kept his distance. Deserted kraals and +mealie-lands, here and there even the ruins of a once prosperous +homestead, tell in significant, if voiceless testimony, that the "land +is dead" indeed; and no sign of life is visible along the path, save for +the occasional presence of the wild creatures of the waste, who, for +their part, lose no time in getting out of the way of this +quaint-looking crew. Once, indeed, a number of Kafir women came into +the camp with a plausible tale of how they were fleeing from the rebels, +and were on their way to join their husbands and fathers in the colony, +who were loyal to the Government, and wouldn't the white captain give +them rations to carry them on their road? But Claverton, who saw +through the trick, had ordered them out of camp at once, threatening to +make prisoners of the lot if they were even within sight half an hour +later. He knew they were spies--these confiding creatures--sent in by +the enemy to see how great a fool the white chief was, and to report +accordingly; but in the present instance they found him in no sense a +fool at all. + +Very careful and precise has Claverton been in the matter of guard; +visiting the sentries himself, and that often. Indeed, there has been a +tendency among the men to growl a little--always in secret, for they +have already begun to look upon their leader with no inconsiderable +awe--at the extra precautions he takes in posting rather more than the +absolutely necessary number of guards. Very careful and precise is he +in matters of discipline, although, within limits, the men are allowed +and encouraged to make the time pass as cheerfully as possible; and many +are the yells of laughter round the evening camp-fire over the antics of +some yellow-skinned monkey; or another discourses the sweet music of a +Dutch Hottentot song to the accompaniment of a concertina and a battered +old fiddle, for they are fond of music in their way, are these +light-hearted, scatter-brained half-breeds--their own music, that is--a +weird, shrill, bag-pipish chorus, unparalleled in its discordant +monotony. But at a given time all lights out, and woe to the delinquent +who should think it safe to begin "trying it on" in this or any other +respect. So the corps is in capital order for its rough work, and, +thanks to the carefulness of its leaders, runs no more jeopardy than +that provided by the ordinary chances of war--which, indeed, is fully +sufficient. + +And now the troop is halted in a hollow, by the side of a small stream-- +at this season nearly dry--dry, that is, in places where it should run, +though there are several deep pools of standing water very inviting on a +morning like this, for, though not yet high, the sun is making his rays +disagreeably felt. Around, for a distance of about half a mile, the +slopes are dotted with _spekboem_ and aloes; the straight, prickly stems +of the latter looking like an array of dark Kafirs stationed about in +the shimmer of the rising heat. It is the third morning of their march, +and to-day they expect to reach the main body; meanwhile, having been on +the move since dawn, they are halted for breakfast. + +As usual, the sentries have been carefully posted, for their leader has +noticed among his men a certain tendency to carelessness, in proportion +as their advance is made without sign of opposition, and, knowing their +characteristics and their failings well, his watchfulness never relaxes. +And now, as the sun shines pleasantly down, on this cloudless morning, +the men sit and lounge about, taking their well-earned rest ere the word +is given to set forward again. Some are cooking their breakfasts and +those of their fellows; others lie about smoking their pipes and +indulging in drowsy gossip; some lying on their backs, with their ragged +hats between their faces and the son, are fast asleep; while others are +still splashing merrily in one or two of the water-holes, diving into +the water or sitting on the brink basking in the sun. Claverton himself +has just returned from his bath, and stands, in scanty attire, looking +placidly round upon those under his command, in their various attitudes +of ease and restfulness. + +"Not much use tubbing if one has to walk a hundred yards after it," he +is saying. "One wants to go in again directly one gets here." + +"Yes," answers his lieutenant, dreamily. "By the way, I was thinking +what we should do if Jack Kafir were to make a sudden rush on us while +we were splashing away down there. But I don't believe we shall get a +glimpse of the beggar until--" + +Bang! + +A shot is heard just over the brow of the rise about seven hundred yards +off. It rings out on the still morning air with a sharp clearness that +is startling, and immediately it is followed by a second. The effect is +like magic: loungers sit bolt upright, sleepers wake, those in the water +scurry out, and all eyes in camp are turned in the direction of this +unlooked-for alarm. + +"Kaptyn, Kaptyn--Kyk dar so!" [Captain, Captain--Look there!] cries one +of the sergeants, a wiry little Hottentot of some sixty summers. But +even before his warning is uttered Claverton's quick eye has caught the +cause of alarm, and more, has mastered the fact that nothing but the +utmost coolness and determination will save every soul in that camp from +destruction. For the whole ridge is alive with Kafir warriors, swarming +over the brow of the hill like a crowd of red ants; on they come, +straight for the camp, evidently with the intention of carrying it by a +rush. A man is fleeing before them as hard as ever he can run-- +apparently the sentry who has fired the shot--but he has a small start +and they are gaining upon him. Suddenly he falls, then disappears, +pierced by a score of assegais, and the crowd pours over him. + +"Steady, men--steady!" cries Claverton, his clear voice ringing like a +trumpet. "Every man to his place. No one to fire before the word is +given." + +And now the state of discipline into which the corps had been brought, +bore its fruit, as, quickly and without flurry, each man knew exactly +where to find his rifle and ammunition, and found it--for the arms had +been placed separately in a circle, not piled--and now, inspired by +their leader's coolness, every man stood armed and ready, only waiting +the word of command. Once or twice Claverton detected signs of flurry +and scrambling; but a word or two thrown in, and an invincible +coolness--which could not have been greater had they been on parade, +instead of waiting the furious onslaught of a savage horde, rushing down +at a pace which three minutes at the outside would bring right upon +them--instantly had the effect of restoring order. + +"Steady, men," cried Claverton again, as the whole force knelt behind +the light breastwork of thorn-bushes, which a quarter of an hour's work +had sufficed to throw round the camp when they first halted. "Steady. +Don't put up any sights, and aim low. Now--Fire!" + +Truly the attacking force presented a terrific and appalling spectacle. +In a semi-circular formation on they came at a run--hundreds and +hundreds of fierce savages, their naked bodies gleaming with red ochre, +as they poured through the bush like demons, shrilling their wild +war-whistles, and snapping their assegais across their knees to shorten +them for the charge and the irresistible hand-to-hand encounter which it +seemed nothing could stay. + +Crash! + +A roar of the detonation of many rifles. The smoke clears away, and a +confused mass of fallen bodies and red struggling limbs, is descried. +Another and another volley; the assailants roll over in heaps, their +ranks literally ploughed through by the heavy and terribly destructive +Snider bullets--almost explosive in their effects--poured in at such +close quarters. The advancing mass halts a moment like a wave suddenly +stopped by a breakwater, fairly impeded by the fallen bodies of its +slain and the frantic convulsive throes of the stricken. + +"That's right, men!" shouts Claverton. "Give it them again! Hurrah!" + +A wild cheer breaks from his followers as they pour in their fire--a +shrill yell of maddening excitement, nearly drowned by the fierce, +frenzied war-cry of the Gaika warriors. But these are beginning to +waver. The tremendous loss they have suffered, the determined and +wholly unexpected resistance they have met with, all tells, and promptly +they drop down into cover, and commence a rapid and heavy fire upon the +camp. Their shooting, however, is ludicrously bad, and the bullets and +"pot-legs" whiz high overhead, imperilling no one. The Hottentots +answer with a derisive cheer, and every time a Kafir shows his head a +dozen shots are blazed into him, generally with effect. + +Suddenly a tremendous fire is opened upon the camp from quite a new +quarter. One man drops dead, and two or three others are badly hit, and +then on the opposite side a great mass of Kafirs rises from the bush and +sweeps down upon the frail breastwork, uttering a terrific shout. A +chief is at their head--a slightly-built, handsome man, with bright, +clear eyes and a heavy beard for a Kafir--waving his tiger-skin kaross +as, sounding his rallying-cry, he charges straight forward. Claverton +spots him at once, and, coolly drawing a bead upon him, fires and +misses. The chief laughs--a bold, defiant laugh--showing a splendid set +of white teeth, and poising an assegai, hurls it with good aim at his +would-be destroyer, who manages to dodge it, or his hopes and fears +would come to an untimely end then and there. And the rifles roar and +crash into the red, bounding mass, and the smell of powder is heavy in +its asphyxiating denseness; and the demon figures flit athwart the smoke +and jets of belching flame, while the gun-barrels grow hot, and the +brain begins to reel amid that awful, deafening din, and the foot slips +in a dark stain of fresh warm life-blood welling forth upon the grass. +Truly all this is unsurpassed by Pandemonium in its wildest conception. + +The last volley has broken the neck of the charge, but the impetus has +carried a number of the enemy within the breastwork, and among them the +chief, who, grasping a short, broad-bladed assegai, is stabbing right +and left. Claverton sees him, and, amid the frightful turmoil of the +hand-to-hand conflict, cannot help admiring the cool intrepidity of the +man. He tries to get at him, but finds enough on his hands with a huge +Kafir who hurls himself upon him, making herculean efforts to brain him +with a clubbed rifle. A neat revolver shot and the savage falls--the +bullet cleaving his skull, entering straight through the right eye--and +in falling nearly upsets Claverton by stumbling forward on him. + +"The chief! Stop him or kill him!" cries the latter. "Twenty pounds to +whoever kills the chief!" + +He cannot get near him himself, however. He sees his quondam prisoner, +Sharkey, lay hold of one of the enemy and by main force brain the Gaika +warrior as he hurls him head downwards upon a stone. He sees Sam kill +two Kafirs with his own hand by as many strokes with a powerful +Zulu-made assegai, as he replies to their fierce challenge with the most +ear-splitting of whistles. He can make out Lumley and the cool-headed +little Hottentot, Gert Spielmann, with the utmost calmness keeping up, +together with a section of their men, such a fire upon the Kafirs +outside that these are already in full retreat; but get at the chief he +cannot. And, indeed, that bold leader seems to bear a charmed life as +he charges through the camp, till, seeing that the game is up, he bounds +like a deer over the breastwork unharmed amid the shower of bullets that +flies round him, and, shouting his war-cry, regains the friendly cover +with such few of his followers as have had the good fortune to escape. + +The fight is over and the day is saved, and the Kafirs may be seen +slinking off in squads through the bush--some, indeed, dragging the +wounded with them. Orders are given to cease firing, and then about +twenty of the best shots are told off to pepper the retreating enemy at +long range, while the rest are held ready in the event of a fresh and +unexpected attack; for their leader is not the man to overlook the +smallest possibility in the chances of war. But a rally is not among +them in this instance, and, after a sufficient time has elapsed, the men +are paraded. It is found that the loss has been fire killed and twelve +wounded. Silence is restored--all but restored, that is--for a voice +might still be heard in the ranks in half-smothered dispute with a +comrade, and then, with a vehemence which sounded loud upon the silence, +it exclaimed: "Haow! Amaxosa nigga no good!" And at this sudden and +evidently unintentional interruption a roar of laughter broke from one +and all of those present, from their leader downwards, while our friend +Sam, whose feedings had found vent, in his uncontrollable excitement, in +his favourite ejaculation, stood there looking sheepish and guilty to a +degree. Then Claverton addressed them. + +"My men," he said, "you have just shown the stuff you are made of. Half +an hour ago we didn't know there was a Kafir within ten miles of us, and +now in that time, taken by surprise as you were, you have beaten off an +enemy outnumbering you by six to one. You have behaved splendidly +to-day--splendidly, I say--and I am proud to command you. You fought as +well as any Englishmen could have done, in a tough action partly +hand-to-hand, and you have won it by sheer pluck and hard fighting. We +have lost five men, unfortunately--five good men and true. They fell +doing their duty--fell with arms in their hands, like soldiers, and I +shall make it my business strongly to recommend their families to the +Government for a pension. Now, we must keep up our discipline in the +camp stricter than ever after this, as you must see, if only for our +common safety. So we'll just give three cheers for the Queen, and then +we'll set to work and get into marching order. Now, then--" + +Cheer upon cheer went up--three times three again and again; but it is +to be feared that amid their acclamations the men thought far more of +their present leaders than of their absent Sovereign. However, the +effect was that intended--an inspiriting one. + +"One word more," cried Claverton. "The Kafirs have fought us like men-- +in fair, open fight, and we've thrashed them, and thrashed them well. +Now, there are many of them lying wounded round here in the bush. It is +hardly necessary to remind you that soldiers--true soldiers--don't hurt +wounded men after a battle; so when we go round to count the dead +directly, no harm is to be done to the wounded. Leave the poor devils +in peace until their kinsmen come to carry them off, as they will do +when we are gone. So mind--they are not to be hurt." + +"Ja, ja, Kaptyn. Det is recht!" cried many of them. + +"You put that neatly," remarked Lumley. "There's nothing like giving +people a good opinion of themselves." + +"Well, yes," answered the other, with a slightly cynical laugh. "These +fellows are like children--take in everything you tell them in praise of +themselves. Now they're as pleased as Punch, and ready to go anywhere." + +"I wonder what would have been the upshot if the Kafirs had come on more +slowly. These chaps of ours are not half such good shots as they think +themselves, for I noticed some of them firing awfully wide. They +couldn't help hitting the crowd, you see; and being under the influence +of excitement, didn't stop to think. Otherwise the effect of their poor +shooting would have been disheartening to them and encouraging to the +enemy. And the odds were frightfully against us, you know." + +Claverton looked grave. "There's a great deal in what you say, Lumley. +More than ever, then, must we keep the fellows thoroughly up to the +mark." + +Accompanied by ten mounted men, Claverton made a wide circuit of the +camp, by way of reconnaissance. From the ridges not a Kafir was to be +seen, and it seemed incredible that on this spot, within the last +half-hour, a furious conflict had raged. Beyond the camp a film of +smoke still hung heavily upon the air, and there was a thick, sulphurous +smell; otherwise, all was quiet and serene, as if the peace of the +morning had never been disturbed. And then they came upon the bodies of +the slain foe, lying thickly around the camp, most of them struck dead +where they lay, and terribly mangled by the great tearing shock of the +Snider bullets. Some had managed to crawl a few yards, and lay with +their fingers dug deep into the hard earth, which they had clutched in +their convulsive agony. Now and then a shuddering tremor would run +through one of the bodies, and lips would move, and glazed eyes half +unclose. It was a terrible thing to contemplate that mass of humanity +so lately pulsating with life and vigour, now a mere heap of inert +corpses, mangled and hideous, lying there doubled up and contorted by +the throes of death--a sight which, could the intriguing heads of the +war faction in the tribe have seen, would surely have caused a dire +sinking of heart and a regret, all too late, that the counsel of the +older men should have been set at naught. _They_ had had experience of +these things; and such a sight as this hecatomb of their nation's +manhood in its vigour and prime, must have been before their eyes when +they uttered their warning, oft repeated but all unheeded. + +Suddenly they came upon a horrible sight. In the midst of a pile of +bodies, about thirty yards in front of them, a great gaunt savage rose +slowly up to a sitting posture. The whole of his face, neck, and +shoulders was one mass of blood, and he appeared to be intently +listening. Not a muscle moved as, with his head turned sideways towards +them, he awaited their approach. "Poor devil!" muttered Claverton, +contemplating the grisly figure, while even the Hottentots were vehement +in their expressions of commiseration. Then a rapid movement was seen +to agitate the Kafir's limbs, and, springing half up, he discharged his +gun quick as thought right into the astonished party barely ten yards +distant, slightly wounding one of the horses, but doing no further +damage. + +"Stop!" cried Claverton in a tone of command, seeing that his men were +about to fire on the unfortunate savage. "Stop! Not a shot to be +fired; his gun's empty now." Then halting, he ordered the Kafir to lay +down his arms; but the man never moved. + +"Whaow!" he cried, ferociously. "Did I kill any one? But come and kill +me, cowards, as you have sent me into night. Come and kill me. Do you +hear, cowards? Or are you afraid of a man _who cannot see_?" + +His last words were indeed true. A ball had passed through the upper +part of his face, taking away both his eyes. The poor wretch was +stone-blind. And in this condition, maddened by the frightful pain of +his wound and a sense of his calamity, he had quietly awaited their +approach, and then, guided by the sound, had struck a parting blow at +his hated foes. Something very like a shudder ran through the +spectators. + +"No. We are not going to kill you," replied Claverton. "Listen. We +shall soon be away from here, and then your friends will come back and +find you. You may yet live a long time, and there may yet be some +little pleasure in life even for a man who cannot see. So we shall not +harm you. It's the fortune of war--you to-day, myself to-morrow." + +The only answer was a moan of exhaustion as the sufferer sank back on +the ground. Claverton sent one of his men for some water, of which the +wounded man drank copiously. Then he washed his face, and, placing the +poor wretch in a more comfortable position, left him and passed on his +round of the field of slaughter. Many a sickening sight met his gaze--a +sight to curdle the heart's blood and make the brain grow sad, but none +to equal that, and never in after years would he quite forget the +spectacle of the stricken savage all covered with blood, rearing himself +up in the agony of his sightlessness, guided by his hearing alone, to +strike one last blow at his hated foes. + +No time was there to do more than hurriedly bury their dead. They must +get on, and the sooner the better. So the five slain Hottentots were +buried in a common grave, one wizened little old fellow, by virtue of +his office as "elder" of a native chapel in one of the settlements, +making a rambling, incoherent prayer, and leading off, in a nasal twang, +a cracked, doleful Dutch psalm. Scarcely was this impromptu dirge +brought to a close when a group was descried advancing towards the camp, +waving something white. + +"Three Kafirs with a white flag, by Jove!" said Lumley, scanning the +approaching group through his field-glass. "Ah! Lucky for him," he +went on, as on further investigation he made out the sentry, with his +piece at "present," walking distrustfully some twenty yards behind. + +All present were disposed so as to be in readiness should this last move +prove to be a mere ruse--it would not be the first instance in savage +warfare of the abuse of the white flag--and the Kafirs were suffered to +approach. All three were good-looking men of about middle age, shrewd +of countenance, and lithe and well-made of figure. They halted just +outside the camp, and saluted Claverton gravely as he went forth to meet +them. He nodded in reply, looked them rapidly up and down and asked +shortly: + +"What do you want?" + +"We have come to ask the white chief to let us carry away our wounded. +Many of our brethren have fallen, and are lying about in the bushes. +They will die if we do not attend to them." + +For a few moments Claverton made no reply, but stood meditatively +flicking his boot with a small switch he held in his hand, the savage +delegates, the while, eyeing him narrowly. He was turning over the +situation in his mind. Why were they in such a hurry to look after +their wounded--it was not in accordance with their usual practice? +Could it be with the object of keeping his attention employed, of +disarming watchfulness while a large force stole up to surprise them? +Or were they merely enacting the part of spies? At length he replied-- +and his suspicion and deliberateness, so far from offending, caused him +to rise in their estimation; for anything like hastiness either of +speech or decision does not find favour in the eyes of these people: + +"How is it you were not afraid to trust yourselves in our hands? It is +not the time of peace." + +"Aow! The white captain is brave. He will not hurt three men alone in +his camp," replied the spokesman. "We are not afraid. See--we have the +white flag." + +The insidious flattery conveyed in this speech was quite thrown away. +For all the change that came over Claverton's face he might not have +heard it. + +"Who was your leader?" he said. "The man with the leopard-skin cloak?" + +"Matanzima." + +"The son of Sandili?" + +"Yes." + +"He is a brave man and fought well. Now, why are you so anxious to look +after your wounded at once, instead of waiting until we are gone?" + +"The chief's uncle is among them. The chief fears that his kinsman will +die." + +"H'm. Who are you?" + +"I am Usivulele the son of Sikunaya," replied the spokesman of the +three. + +"H'm. Well, now, listen you three. These are my terms," said +Claverton, decisively. "If you, Usivulele, will remain with me as a +hostage till the sun is there" (designating a point in the heavens which +that luminary would reach by about four o'clock), "then your people may +come and look after their wounded, but not until we are over that second +hill. Should they come before, we shall fire on them again, and if they +attack us before the hour named, you, Usivulele, shall die the moment a +shot is fired. At that hour, if your people observe my conditions, you +shall go free and unharmed. Those are my terms, they are not hard; you +are at liberty to accept or to reject them." + +The Kafirs debated rapidly for a moment in an undertone. Then Usivulele +stepped forward, looking Claverton full in the face. + +"We accept them," he said. "I am ready." + +"Very well. Now you two may return and carry my `word' to Matanzima. +When he comes he will find his friends just as they fell. We do not +harm wounded men." + +The two ambassadors saluted again, and turning, strode away from the +camp, escorted to the brow of the hill by a couple of sentries, while +the hostage was placed under a strict guard. They gave him something to +eat, and he was well treated though carefully watched. But not for a +moment would he unbend from the grave, dignified reserve wherewith he +had wrapped himself. Communicativeness was not in the bond, and to all +their questions he returned laconic and evasive replies. It was evident +that he was not to be "drawn." Once during their march Lumley, having +just given him a pipe of tobacco, asked where Sandili was. + +"Chief," replied the Kafir, in a tone of quiet rebuke. "If I were to +ask you where your general and your _amasoja_ (soldiers) were at this +moment--what should you say?" + +"I should say, `Damn your impudence,'" muttered Lumley, half angrily, as +he turned away feeling very much snubbed; but Claverton, listening, +thoroughly enjoyed the retort. + +"Don't be unfair, Lumley," he said. "This fellow has his wits about +him. He's no ordinary nigger, I can see." + +"No, he isn't, confound him," growled the other, unmollified. + +Meanwhile the hostage stalked along among his guards, and showed not the +smallest concern as to his own fate. Evidently the conditions would be +observed in good faith, and of that fact he was aware. In a trifle more +than an hour, now, he would be set at liberty--when lo, cresting the +brow of a hill, one of the saddest and most eloquent tokens of savage +warfare burst upon the eyes of the party. Beneath, lay what had been a +flourishing homestead, now a heap of _debris_ and blackened ruins, from +which, as they gazed, little lines of smoke still arose, showing that +the work of destruction was but recent. The roof had fallen in but the +walls still stood, with their gaping window-holes like the eyeless +sockets of a skull, and fragments of charred rafters stood out overhead, +the fleshless ribs of the frame of the once sheltering roof-tree. And +in contrast to this sad work of desolation, a fine fruit-garden fronted +the house, the trees weighed down beneath their luscious burdens--the +fig and the pomegranate, blushing peaches and yellow pears, golden +apricots, and quinces ripening in the high, straight hedges which shut +in the orchard. Extensive lands under cultivation lay along in the +bottom, and these had not been interfered with. + +"This can't have been done long," observed Lumley, surveying the ruin. +"Shouldn't wonder if it was the same gang that attacked us." + +"Very likely. Stop. Here's a part of it not so smashed up. Let's have +a look round," said Claverton, dismounting. + +One end of the building seemed to have partially escaped--a largish +apartment, evidently a bedroom. A fall of rubbish across the narrow +window had blocked it, and it was almost in darkness. + +"Good heavens! look here," cried Lumley, with a shudder, examining the +ground. Their eyes had become accustomed to the gloom, and both made +out a broad red stain, whose nature there was no mistaking. Upon that +rude floor had been spilt the stream of life, and the greedy earth had +absorbed it. "I don't care for this sort of investigation," continued +he. "It's one thing bowling fellows over in the open air, in fair, +lively scrimmage; but, hang it all, nosing about in this infernal gloomy +den is another. Let's get outside," and again he shuddered, as if +dreading what they might find. + +"Wait a bit," said Claverton, "Look. Some one has come to grief here-- +there's no doubt about it." + +Nor was there. Another great red patch and a few smaller ones were +seen, and then, following a mark made by something heavy trailed along +in the dust, they came to a doorway leading into the burnt part of the +house, and here, among the dust, and bricks, and fallen _debris_, lying +in the gloom cast by an overshadowing fragment of roof, which looked as +if it was about to fall on them, they came upon the charred remains of +three human beings--apparently two men and a woman, for portions of +female attire still hung about one of them. Indeed, only presumably +could their European nationality be pronounced upon, for the ghastly +relics were little more than a few calcined bones. + +"Good God!" exclaimed Lumley, turning sick and faint at the horrid +sight. "They've been burnt alive." + +"No; I don't think that," said Claverton. "Poor wretches--they were +killed first and then flung in here. The marks in the other room show +that, if it's any comfort. They were probably surprised in their beds +and murdered; this very morning, too, I should say. What's this?" + +Something shining, which lay on the floor in a dark corner, had caught +his eye. He picked it up. It was a small crucifix, about eight inches +in length, such as is constructed to stand on a bracket. The cross was +broken and splintered in two or three places, but the figure, being of +metal, was intact. It was exquisitely wrought, and Claverton stood +gazing sadly down upon the holy symbol, which he held in his hand amid +this gloomy scene of ashes, and tears, and blood; and it seemed to him +that a wave of ineffable sorrow swept across the suffering, lifelike +countenance as he gazed. Wrapping the relic in his handkerchief, he +placed it carefully in his pocket. Lilian would certainly value it. + +"By Jove, Lumley; but war isn't all fun, after all!" he said, with +something like a sigh. + +"No, it isn't. I'm glad now that we peppered those black devils this +morning--cowardly, sneaking brutes. I wish we had done for a thousand +of them." + +"Let's see if we can find anything more among this rubbish," went on +Claverton, not heeding his lieutenant's honest vehemence. But nothing +was to be found. The savages had gutted the place, and how the holy +relic had escaped them was incomprehensible, unless it were that, with +superstitious awe, they feared to touch it. A few battered bits of +iron, the remains of a bedstead, and some broken crockery lay strewn +about; but everything combustible--chairs, tables, curtains, etcetera-- +had been given to the flames. + +They went out into the air again. The sun shone placidly down from an +unclouded sky upon this gloomy scene of desolation and death; around, a +fair vision of hill and dale lay spread afar, and now and then the +melodious call of the hoepoe would float upon the summer air as if no +frightful tragedy had been enacted in that peaceful spot, where the +torch and assegai of the savage had been glutted in his lust for blood. + +"I suppose we must let this devil go, too," said Lumley, with a fierce, +vengeful glance at their hostage. + +"Oh, yes," said Claverton, decisively; "no question about that. +Usivulele," he went on, addressing the Kafir, "is this the work of your +band? It'll make no difference to you; I shall let you go all the +same." + +The man gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. + +"Chief," he replied, "we are not the only party of warriors in the bush. +The land is full of them. Some were here this morning, and are yonder +to-night," pointing to the horizon. "Why should it be our work?" + +"A true native answer, but a fair one," said Claverton. "No one's bound +to criminate himself. Hallo; here's a book!" + +For, agitated by the faint breeze, some leaves of paper might be seen +stirring amid the grass a few yards off. He picked it up. It was not a +book, but a few pages of one, in the German language--a hymn-book, from +all appearances--and it must have been flung there by the savages when +they had completed their ruthless work. The finding of it, however, and +some other fragments of books all in the same language, scattered +around, threw additional light upon the incident. Evidently the unhappy +victims were German immigrants, of whom there were many in Kaffraria, +and who either disbelieving the alarming reports, or trusting to the +friendliness of the natives, had been loth to leave their prosperous, +and, as they thought, peaceful home; and had suffered the penalty of +their imprudence. + +A grave having been dug the remains were carefully deposited within it, +and, knocking together a rude cross out of some of the wood-work of the +ruined dwelling, Claverton planted it over the last resting-place of the +unfortunate immigrants slaughtered beneath their own roof-tree. Then +comparing his watch with the sun he addressed the hostage: + +"Usivulele, you have kept your side of the compact and I will keep mine. +The time has come and you are at liberty to return to your chief. Go. +You are free." + +The Kafir's impassive countenance relaxed into a slight smile, and, with +a murmur of assent and a courteous salute to Claverton, he gathered his +blanket about him and strode away into the _veldt_. Many a scowl +followed the retreating figure as the bystanders grasped their rifles +and stole a furtive glance at their leader's face. They longed to send +a volley after the retiring Kafir; but each man knew that to do so would +mean instant death to himself. + +Claverton watched his late prisoner till he was out of sight, and then +returned to explore the ruins afresh, while his men regaled themselves +on the ripe fruit which grew in the garden in such profusion; and very +grateful was the luscious feast to their throats, dry with the smoke of +powder and the shouting and excitement of the morning's fray. Just as +he was about to enter, the part of the roof which had escaped fell in +with a crash, nearly smothering him in a cloud of dust and cinders. + +"I say, Lumley. That was a narrow share of your getting promotion," was +all he said. + +Further investigation was of course barred, and the time for halting +having expired, the "fall-in" was sounded. As they wound their way out +of the valley, they turned to look back. The fall of the roof had +disturbed the still smouldering embers beneath, and now a volume of +smoke was rolling up from the blackened ruins, darkening the azure sky, +and casting a fell shadow upon the sunlit earth. And all Nature smiled +around, in fair, mocking contrast to these hideous tokens of the +vengeful hate of men. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +THE MAIN CAMP. + +It was after sundown when "Claverton's Levy" reached the camp of the +main body of the forces detailed to operate in the Gaika Location. + +The camp was pitched on an open flat, well situated for defensive +purposes, and commanding a wide open sweep of half a mile on the most +closed-in side. In the event of attack upon it the enemy would have to +bring more than his wonted _verve_ and determination to the fore, if he +would render the chance of even partial success so much as possible; for +here were gathered over eight hundred men, all handy with the rifle, and +a few volleys, sweeping across that open approach, would tumble the +advancing foe over so quickly that he would turn and flee before half +the space was covered. A likely-looking force. Border farmers, +up-country transport-riders, frontiersmen all--ready for the roughest +work and the hardest of tussles, at the earliest opportunity--with many +a long score of petty depredation and wholesale marauding, and +insolence, and defiance, and menace, and desertion of service to pay off +upon their erewhile turbulent neighbours, and now open enemies. Dutch +burghers, from the Tarka and Cradock districts--past masters in the art +of skirmishing, competent to pick off an object the size of an orange at +three or four hundred yards, while exposing the smallest fraction of +their own ungainly frames to the enemy's fire. Volunteers--mostly +townsmen--full of fight, if less reliable in their aim than their more +practised brethren, all had their separate camps pitched in close +proximity. Some of the corps were fortunate and had tents, others were +unfortunate and had none. A few waggons were there, containing the +supplies and baggage of each corps, or the ventures of private and +speculative individuals, who retailed indifferent grog and other +"luxuries" at their own prices. On one side of the camp, like a dark +cloud, might be seen a swarm of native warriors; this was the bivouac of +the Fingo levies, and like a disturbed ants' nest, its area was alive +with black forms moving to and fro and making themselves comfortable for +the night, while the hum and murmur of their deep-toned voices rose upon +the air. + +Having fixed upon a camping ground for his men--to augment whose numbers +an additional batch had arrived from King Williamstown--Claverton left +his lieutenant in charge, and proceeded to report himself at +head-quarters. + +"I think you've done exceedingly well, Mr Claverton," said the +Commandant of Colonial Forces--a tall, quiet-looking, middle-aged man-- +as he listened to the narrative of the attack upon the Hottentot levy. +He was a frontier farmer, and something of a politician, clever and +prompt in the field, and of good administrative capacity, by virtue of +which qualities he had been elected to, and subsequently confirmed in +his present post. "In fact, we hardly expected you so soon. I'm very +glad to find that your fellows are made of such good fighting stuff; +and, by the way, you may hardly like to leave them now. I mean," he +went on, seeing the other's look of surprise, "when I say, you may not +like to leave them, that I think we can find you something better. The +fact is, Brathwaite wants to get you into his troop--Garnier, his third +man, was invalided on the way up, fever, result of bad water or +something; and he wants to pitchfork you into his place. I told him I +didn't think you'd care to give up a regular command of your own to put +yourself under another fellow, and, now, while I think of it, you have +managed those Hottentot chaps so well, that I don't much like your +leaving them just as you've got them ship-shape. Still, you'd probably +rather be among your friends, and if you care about taking the post, +I'll get you appointed at once." + +"It's very kind of you," replied Claverton. "If I might, I should like +to think it over. Would it do if I let you know in an hour's time?" It +was even as the other had said; he was not quite prepared to throw up an +absolute command of his own to serve in a subordinate capacity, even +among his old comrades. + +"Oh, yes. Let me know to-morrow morning, that will be time enough," was +the good-natured answer. "Why, there is Brathwaite," and, gaining the +door of the tent with a couple of strides, he called out: "Here, +Brathwaite. Tumble in here for a minute, will you." + +"What's up?" cried Jim, turning. "Why, Arthur! You here? When did you +turn up?" + +"He's had a scrimmage, and a good one," pat in the Commandant before he +could answer. "But look here, Brathwaite. I've been telling Claverton +about your idea, and he'll let us know in the morning. If you can talk +him over meanwhile so much the better--for you," he added, with a smile. + +"Oh! Well, look here, Arthur. Fetch up at my tent as soon as you've +got your camp fixed, and we'll talk things over and make an evening of +it. I can't stop now--got to see about that ammunition that's just +come. So long!" and he wae gone. + +From head-quarters Claverton betook himself to the commissariat +department to arrange for the rationing of his men. He was well pleased +with his reception, and might have been more so had he heard the remark +of the chief authority to a volunteer officer who had dropped in just +after he left. + +"A smart fellow, that--a fine, smart fellow. Wish we had a few more +like him! A cool hand, too. I could see it in his eye." And as the +officer turned to gaze curiously after the receding form, he told him +about the action which Claverton had reported; and the listener, +brimming over with such a piece of veritable "news"--gleaned, too, at +first hand, on the very best authority--was not long in delivering +himself of the same, first to one auditor, then another, till the story, +gathering sundry additions and exaggerations as it went, soon spread +throughout the camp. + +The daylight waned, and hundreds of red fires shone out in the gloaming +as the cooking of the evening meal went merrily forward. Here and there +might be seen a rough, bearded fellow in shirt and trousers, seated on a +log or an upturned biscuit tin, stirring the contents of a three-legged +pot with a long wooden spoon, while his comrades lay or sat around, +smoking their pipes and chaffing the elective cook--on duty by +rotation--suggesting that, as long as he watched the old pot with that +hungry and particularly wolfish stare, it would never boil; or that he +needn't think to keep them all waiting long enough to send them to +sleep, and enable him to polish off half the rations--and so on. Here +and there, too, through the open door of a tent, a man might be seen, by +the light of a lantern, writing on a box turned bottom upwards; or +others, needle in hand, busily stitching at some article of saddlery, or +haply of more personal accoutrement; but for the most part they were +taking it easy. And now and again a buzz of voices suddenly raised or a +burst of laughter was heard, telling of discussion or argument, or jest, +or successful chaff. Prompt at "spotting" a new arrival, not a few were +the glances of inquiry turned upon Claverton as he made his way back to +his quarters. "Who is he?" + +"Where's he from?" would be the half-whispered inquiries as each group, +sinking its occupation for the moment, turned to gaze after the +stranger. "Looks fit, anyhow!" + +"One of Brathwaite's chaps?" + +"Not a `swell,' is he?" was the varying comment as he passed. + +True to his promise, Claverton, as soon as he had seen to the +requirements of his men and posted his sentries, made his way to Jim +Brathwaite's tent. That jovial leader wae busily occupied in setting +out a variety of stores comestible upon a couple of upturned +packing-cases; preserved-meat tins, biscuit, pepper and salt, cheese, +knives and forks, and plates of debatable crockery warranted not to +break, while upon the ground stood several bottles of Bass, and two or +three of something stronger. + +"Now, Klaas," he was saying to his sable acolyte, "I don't want you here +any more, so collar that bucket and go and `skep' out some water from +the clean part of the river--up above; you understand. And look out +that the sentries don't shoot you, or your own countrymen either. +Hallo, Arthur! here we are. Got a dinner-party on to-night." + +"Looks like it--" + +"Rather! No one admitted if not in evening-dress," cried Armitage, +bursting into the tent, followed by Naylor and another man belonging to +the troop. + +"Where's the post-horn, Jack?" was Claverton's first inquiry. + +"Left it at home," replied Armitage, looking rather sheepish. + +"Now bring yourselves to an anchor," cried Jim. "You must sit where you +can, and balance your plates somehow. They forgot to send a supply of +tables. Here, Klaas, drag in that stew. We won't wait for the other +fellows." + +"Won't ye? Indade and that's illigant of ye! Company manners, I should +call it!" And the speaker--a tall, broad-shouldered fellow, with a +curly, reddish beard--entered the tent, a whimsical expression lurking +in his blue Milesian eyes. His companion--a volunteer officer, by name +Barlow--not looking where he was going, stumbled over the tent-rope and +would have fallen had not the Irishman caught him in his athletic grasp. + +"Hould up, me boy! Sure it's too soon by six morthal hours for ye to be +thrying to stand on one leg!" + +The other laughed, and there was a fresh move in order to make way for +the late arrivals, during which a newly-opened tin of salmon emptied its +contents into Armitage's hat, while simultaneously some one managed to +upset and extinguish the lantern. + +"Hold on! Don't move!" cried Jim, striking a match. "There?" And +lighting the lantern again, they surveyed the damage. + +"See what comes of unpunctuality, McShane," said Armitage, gravely, +holding up his hat. + +"Bedad, and ye oughtn't to complain, for ye've got your own rations and +all of ours, too," retorted the Irishman. + +"Never mind; shy it outside, Jack, or give it to Klaas. He'll soon +polish it off," said Jim. "Here," he went on, handing round the Bass +bottles. "Just one apiece; make the most of it because it's the last." + +"Last of the Mohicans," inevitably and simultaneously quoted every one. + +Corks popped and jollification reigned paramount; and sitting there in +that rough tent, whose sole furniture consisted of a camp-stool or so, +and a few old packing-cases turned upside down, Claverton began to find +himself in a very comfortable frame of mind. The not very brilliant +light of the tin lantern shone upon faces full of mirth and good +fellowship, and many a hearty laugh rang out as they discussed the cheer +before them--rough in all conscience, but plentiful and indeed luxurious +compared with what awaited them. His mind was made up. He would accept +the post offered to him. + +The tinned meats disappeared, and so did the rather tough camp rations +in their turn; and the Bass having long since vanished, the grog-bottles +were beginning to show symptoms of decay. + +"Tell you what it is, Claverton, old boy," began Armitage, benignly +contemplating him through a cloud of tobacco smoke. "You'd better cut +in with us; just look how well we live here." + +"Jack, an' it's blarneyin' ye are," remarked the Irishman. "Ye needn't +think to find such a spread ivery night, me boy. It's glad ye'll be to +get your eye-teeth into the hind quarters of the toughest old trek-ox in +the span before you're a week oulder--'dade and it'll be Hobson's choice +for ye then. Tell ye what, Misther Claverton; that fellow Jack +Armitage's the damnedest old humbug in this camp. Now, what d'ye think +he did, when we first came up here?" + +"What?" Claverton was bottling up his mirth. He saw at a glance that +this droll Irishman and Jack were sworn foes--rival wags, in fact--and +was prepared for some fun. + +"Why, he had a dirty, batthered ould tin trumpet, that his father used +to toot on when he drove the Dublin coach, and it's no wonder that same +shandradan came to mortal smash twice a week wid such a dhriver. Well, +this fellow Jack, the first time--and it won't be the last, I'm +thinking--he got his skin too full of Cape smoke, what's he do but go +outside his tent in the middle of the night and blow off a blast on his +old post-horn. I give ye me word it was enough to wake the dead; +anyhow, it woke the whole camp. Ye needn't laff, Jack, ye unfalin' +divil, when it's five innocent men ye blew to death with that trumpet-- +five--I give ye me word." + +"How was that?" asked Claverton. + +"Well, in this way," went on the other, delighted to find a new listener +whom he could regale with Armitage's delinquencies. "Ye see the fellow +kicked up such a shilloo that every one tumbled out like mad, thinkin' +the camp was attacked, and the Fingo levies there, began lettin' off +their guns as hard as they could bang. They knocked over five of their +own men and winged a lot besides, and the bullets were flying about all +over the place. As soon as they could be prevailed on to cease fire, +and the cause of the scare was known, no end of fellows came cruising up +this way, wanting to find the chap who'd sounded the alarm, but Jack, +the villain, he stowed away the old trumpet and joined in the search +louder than any of them, and it hasn't been seen or heard of since. +Anyhow, he killed five innocent men wid his infernal old bray, and about +thirteen of 'em--well, I was hard at work for hours next morning +dhiggin' out the bullets their chums had plugged 'em wid, and nately +they'd done it, too. One chap had his--" + +"Oh, don't go lugging your old butcher's shop in here, Dennis," +interrupted Armitage. "Even at your own trade you're the clumsiest old +sawbones that ever hoodwinked the examiners and slipped through." + +"Clumsy, am I? The divil!" cried McShane, who was accompanying the +colonial forces in the capacity of surgeon. "Wait till I get me probes +into ye, Master Jack Armitage--some of these days when ye get a couple +of pot-legs through ye--and we'll see if it's clumsy I am." + +"Oh, hang it, Jim, only listen to the fellow. Do put an extinguisher on +him. If we must have a butcher, at any rate he might leave the shop +outside." + +There was a laugh. + +"Wait a bit, Jack, me boy. It's meself who'll live to hear ye change +your tone, as sure as me name's Dennis McShane!" cried the other. + +"Well, this is lively sort of talk," put in Barlow, who was of a +melancholy disposition, except when "elevated," and then he was +uproarious to a degree. "Haven't you two fellows ever heard of the +proverb, `Many a true word spoken in jest'?" + +"If Jack gets hit now at any time, he ought to sue the doctor for big +damages," said Naylor, blowing out a cloud of smoke. + +"Or make him put him right for nothing," said Jim. + +"An' that's what I'll do, faith," said the Irishman, "an' it's mighty +small he'll sing when the time comes." + +"You! I wouldn't have you digging for bullets in me, if I had to carry +them for the rest of my natural life," cried Armitage in withering +scorn. "If it came to that I'd send across for old Pollock. A +blacksmith's better than a butcher under those circumstances, and being +a Cornishman he might understand lead mining." + +"An' if it was in your head he had to look for the lead, it's a +bull's-eye lanthern he'd want, for he'd find it mighty foggy in there, +I'm thinkin'," retorted McShane. + +"By Jove, Dennis," cried Armitage, suddenly, "It's deuced queer that I +never noticed it before; but as you sit there you're the very image of +poor Walker--Obadiah Walker." + +"I am, am I? An' who the divil is Obadiah Walker?" + +"The man who wouldn't help himself and wouldn't pass the bottle, though +I must say that it's only in the last particular the likeness holds +good." + +"The bottle!" cried McShane, amid the roar that followed, for it was not +often that even such an old hand as Jack managed to get a rise out of +the astute Milesian. "Is it this one ye mane?" holding it up to the +light. "Because, if so, she's come to an end--as the gossoon said when +he slid down the cow's tail and she kicked him into the praist's +strawberry bed." + +There was other sign of the bottle having come to an end, and it needed +not the misadventure of the too-enterprising youth just quoted, to +support the announcement, for Barlow having passed out of the +confidential stage, during which he had endeavoured to impart to +Claverton, who was sitting next to him, his whole family history and +circumstances, was beginning to wax extremely talkative, his utterance +increasing in levity in proportion to its thickness. Armitage, who had +his eye upon the unconscious sinner, was meditating what practical joke, +that would bear the additional charm of originality, he could play off +upon him as soon as it should be time to convey him to his own tent, +when a tremendous row was heard outside--voices in remonstrance, and, +loud above them, one screaming out torrents of imprecation upon +everything and everybody. Quickly they all turned out, and there, not +half-a-dozen yards off, stood a man of tall, powerful build, brandishing +a revolver, while following on his footsteps, but keeping their +respectful distance, were at least a dozen others. The fellow was mad +drunk, and, as he stood there in the uncertain light, raving and dancing +as he flourished his weapon, and bellowing out the most awful +blasphemies, he looked quite formidable enough to afford a very +sufficient excuse to the onlookers for their scrupulous and praiseworthy +resolve to refrain from interfering in what was not their business. An +infuriated drunkard brandishing a loaded six-shooter, is not an +attractive person to interfere with. + +Quickly McShane stepped up to the raving giant. + +"See here, Flint," he said, in his persuasive Irish way. "What's all +this about, now?" + +The madman glared at him and started back a pace, gnashing his teeth and +foaming at the mouth. + +"I want my officer," he yelled. "Where the hell's my blanked officer? +I want to blow his blanked brains out." + +"But see; your pistol isn't loaded," said McShane, in the quietest way. + +The fellow stared, struck all of a heap by the idea, and, holding up the +weapon to his eyes, began examining it in the dim flickering light. In +a moment it was snatched from his hand by the intrepid Irishman who +repelled his immediate onslaught with a blow in the chest, which sent +him staggering back half-a-dozen paces, and before he had recovered his +balance he was seized by the bystanders and firmly held. + +"And why the divil didn't some of ye do that before?" asked McShane, +wrathfully. "Why, he might have blown up the whole camp while a dozen +of ye were standin' thur open-mouthed. Is it afraid of him ye were?" + +The men looked sheepish, and muttered something about "were just going +to" as they secured the arms of their fallen comrade, who lay on the +ground still raving and cursing. + +"Just going to, were ye!" cried the irascible doctor. "It'd serve ye +right if he'd blown half your heads off. Now take him away. Don't +knock the poor divil about, Saunders," he added, noticing a disposition +to use the prisoner roughly. + +They marched off the erring Flint, who had subsided suddenly, and became +quite rational again; but it would not do to let him get abroad that +night, so he was kept under arrest. + +"Who's that fellow?" said Jim. "If he belonged to my corps I'd bundle +him out, sharp." + +"Yis; it's bad enough havin' such a chap in it as Jack Armitage. He's a +handful in himself, bedad." + +"Well, I'm going to turn in," said Naylor. "Any one going my way?" + +"Yis; hould on," replied the doctor--and there was a general move made. +Now and then a burst of laughter came from one of the tents, which, like +this one, had been holding festival; but for the rest the camp was in +slumbrous quiet, only disturbed by the occasional challenge of sentry, +or the footfall of such loiterers as these our friends. + +"Jim," said Claverton, the last thing as he bade him good-night, "I've +made up my mind about that offer of yours." + +"You'll take it?" + +"Yes." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +In the morning, who should turn up but Hicks and some twenty others, +whose restless spirits would not allow them to remain quiet at home; and +later in the day two more troops of burghers from the Western districts. +And the available forces being thus strengthened, it was resolved that +a forward move should take place at once. + +Claverton's swarthy followers growled considerably at losing their +chief, whom, in the short time he had been with them, they had already +began to look up to and respect. Lumley, especially, put his discontent +into words. + +"Always the way," he grumbled. "Directly you get a fellow you pull well +with--off he goes." + +"But, Lumley; you'll be in command yourself now, don't you see?" + +Lumley evidently didn't see, for this side of the question now burst +upon him with a new light. + +"Don't know. They're sure to keep me out of it," he growled, but as if +he thought the contingency not an unmixed evil. And the fact was, his +late chief thought the same. + +So Claverton, with the faithful Sam as body-servant, entered upon his +new rank of Field-Captain in "Brathwaite's Horse," _vice_ Philip Garnier +resigned. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +"SUMMER HAS STOPPED." + +"No, it's of no use, old fellow. But look as much as you like, that's +everybody's privilege. Deuced pretty girl, isn't she?" + +"Well, yes, now you mention it--that is, I think so." + +"Now I mention it! That's good. Of course it was all piety, pure and +simple, that trundled such a hardened reprobate as your redoubtable self +into church on Sunday evening; an institution you, I make bold to say, +have not patronised since the days of your downy youth. And, of course, +it was by the merest accident that you happened to find a seat not far +from the beautiful Miss Strange within that same tabernacle. +Furthermore, it is purely accidental that she should be on one side of +the street this morning, and you staring at her from the other. No, old +boy. In the words of the poet, it won't wash," ironically concludes the +first speaker. + +A crowd has assembled in High Street to-day to witness the passage +through Grahamstown of a body of men _en route_ for the seat of war, +and, for the time being, those who can do so, leave their shop, or +store, or office, to come and look at this fresh batch of defenders, and +give them a good, hearty cheer as they file away up the King +Williamstown road. Those who have time and inclination to do so, make +their way along the said road to the point where the band, which, +discoursing inspiriting music, precedes the intending warriors, will cut +adrift from them, and where some of the honest townsmen will, in the +fulness of their hearts, air their rhetoric in speeches of an +encouraging order as they weep over their martial brethren. And among +those assembled at this point, to witness the ceremonial, is Payne and +his household, and merged in the crowd about thirty yards away stand our +two speakers. + +"Bosh, Chadwick," answers the butt of the good-humoured raillery. +"Can't a fellow look at a girl without your trying to evolve a `case'?" + +The other laughs light-heartedly. He is a young fellow of +five-and-twenty--slight, fair, and of middle height. His companion is +ten years older, and exactly his opposite in personal appearance. + +"A fellow can do anything he likes in that line--at least, a fellow like +yourself can," he replies. "But in this instance I fancy not. She's +booked, my good friend--booked as deep as the Dead Sea--and you haven't +a chance. You're a day late for the fair." + +The elder man frowns slightly, which to conceal he half turns away. + +"Who's the fortunate individual?" he asks, carelessly, with a sneer. + +"A man named Claverton. He's away at the front now, and the fair Lilian +is looking forward to the time when he shall come back `crowned with +Triumph's flushing honours.' I deeply sympathise; but, barring the +friendly thrust of an assegai, or the good offices of a peripatetic +pot-leg discharged from the blunderbuss of the noble savage, you haven't +a chance. Not even then, for, from all accounts, I don't think she'd +let go the shadow of the departed Claverton in favour of the substance +of even such a fascinating dog as Ralph Truscott. It is with grief that +I say so." + +"It is with grief that I find myself constrained to listen to your +maundering bosh. Now shut up for a moment, Chadwick, because I can't +talk amid the infernal din of this tin-kettle band." + +Shrill shrieks of laughter, much chatter, and some vituperation, drown +their voices as the ragged portion of the crowd--slatternly Hottentot +women and impish dust-coloured brats--fall back precipitately before the +advancing _cortege_. Big drum puffs up the hill letting off a worthy +sense of the importance of the event in well-timed whacks lustily laid +on; and red in the face, hot and breathless, and with loving thoughts of +that cool brandy and soda awaiting their return at the "Masonic Hotel" +bar, the gallant musicians do their utmost to render with effect the +cheery quick-step march destined to invigorate the pilgrimage of their +brethren, going--as one of the orators subsequently puts it--to defend +"their 'arths, 'omes, and haltars." Then a halt is called, and, after +some speech-making, the guard of honour--formed by a detachment of +volunteer infantry--lining the road, presents arms, as the band strikes +up the National Anthem, and the cavalcade of tough-looking, sunburnt +men, two hundred and sixty strong, rifle on hip, and mounted on wiry, +serviceable nags, files past, two deep, between the open ranks, and +everybody feels exuberantly patriotic, and hoorays, and waves hats and +handkerchiefs accordingly. + +"Good compact lot of men, that," is Payne's verdict, as he watches the +retreating burghers somewhat wistfully, for he is tired of hanging about +the town, as he calls it, and would fain go to the front, only just at +present he cannot. His wife detects the wistful expression, and rejoins +mischievously: + +"Yes. If anything, a trifle smarter than your old corps, George." + +"Not a bit of it," says Payne, stoutly. "But--I forgot--you never saw +it. They were all away, and in the field, before I got back from +looking after you womenfolk. As it was, you did me out of half the +fun." + +"Of course. Look, Lilian. There's such a handsome man over there, who +has done nothing but stare at you. He almost seems as if he knew you." + +Lilian is gazing after the retreating troop. It is little more than a +fortnight since she bade farewell to her lover in the grey dawn, and now +she is thinking that in three or four days that body of mounted men will +be his camp-fellows; for the forces in the field have been concentrated +for a combined movement. She has heard from him more than once--long, +cheerful, tender letters, written during hours snatched from his +hard-earned sleep, and despatched as opportunity served--rough scrawls, +indeed, as was inevitable from the lack of appliances, and even of a +knowledge of what time there would be to finish in--but to her so +precious. And to-day, as she stands here gazing up the road, with a +soft love-light in her eyes reflecting the burden of her own reverie, it +is no wonder that the beautiful figure in the cool summer dress, with +the dark, straight, patrician features, attracts many a look of +admiration from several in the crowd. She starts, and softly twirling +the handle of the open sunshade resting upon her shoulder--a pretty +trick of hers when absent-minded--follows the direction of Annie Payne's +gaze. And a sudden flush suffuses her cheek, and fades, leaving it +deathly white. Her glance is riveted to the spot, and it seems as if +she must fall to the ground beneath the suddenness of the shock, for she +gazes upon a face which she had never expected to look upon again in +life. No, it could not be. He was dead, she had heard it for certain. +It could not be. It must be a likeness--a marvellously startling one-- +but still a likeness. But on this point she is prevented from +reassuring herself, for the owner of the face has turned, and is walking +away through the crowd. + +"Hallo!" says Payne, and it seems as if he was talking inside her brain. +"There's Truscott." + +"Who?" inquires his wife. + +"Truscott. A man I met in the town yesterday. He was asking a lot +about the war. Says he wants to raise a corps or something. That's +him--that tall fellow walking away." + +His wife manifests no further interest in the stranger, but with ready +tact begins to talk about other things. Poor Lilian's agitation has not +escaped the kind-hearted little woman, who would rather die than do +anything to increase it, as they return home. And Lilian, if she had a +doubt before, Payne's words have mercilessly dispelled it; and now she +understands the foreboding of evil which came over her at the sight of +the spy following them at King Williamstown for an unerring instinct +leads her to connect that incident with the one of to-day. Her heart +seems made of lead within her, and daring the walk home she hardly +speaks, and even then at random. Even good-natured Payne notices it, +but puts it down to the remembrances called forth by the sight of a +number of men going to the war; but the remembrances called forth are, +in fact, of a very different nature. They go back to a time when she +was light-hearted and happy, and without a care or anxiety in the world; +then to a time of love and trust succeeded by blank, bitter +disappointment; to a hard, uphill struggle for daily bread, alone, +uncheered and unaided. Still her memory carries heron, over afresh +start in a sunny new world, free, indeed, all but for one shackle which +the captive herself had riveted. Then a period of brief, contraband +happiness, and long years of a kind of living death; the fetter falls +off and she is free, and then the cup of life is full--full to +overflowing. These are some of the memories which the sight of that +face in the crowd calls forth. Yet, why should she dread? What can +harm her, secure as they are in each other's love--a love which has been +tried, as by fire, and has come out brighter and more beautiful from the +flame? Yet an unaccountable foreboding is upon her--a dread, chill +presentiment of evil to come. + +The day is overwhelmingly hot, and Payne playfully chides her for +running the risk of sunstroke by standing all the morning on that dusty +road, in which event he would, by the first law of nature, be compelled +to spend the rest of his days speeding about the habitable and +uninhabitable globe, with Claverton six hours behind him, fiercely on +his trail with pistols and coffee. It is not fair of her to risk the +life of a respectable father of a family, he says, even if she is tired +of her own. As it is she is let down easy with a headache, whereat no +one can wonder. + +Poor Lilian smiles, rather faintly. Yes, she has a bit of a headache, +she says; nothing much, she will go and lie down for a little while. +Once in her room, however, she does not lie down, but sits and thinks. +Then she opens a writing-case and begins a long letter to her lover. +She does not know when it may reach him, perhaps not for more than a +week, the movements of the Colonial Forces are so uncertain; but still +the very fact of writing it is a source of comfort to her just now. She +will tell him all about her foolish fears and forebodings, and as she +does so it almost seems as if the calm, tender presence on which she has +learnt to lean is at her side now, and for two hours she writes on, +feeling comforted and happy. She lays aside her pen at last, thinks +awhile, and then begins to read over the letter. She will not send it; +on second thoughts--no; she will not worry him with mere foolish and +superstitious fancies such as these--why should she? Has he not enough +to think about up there, without having his mind troubled by such +chimeras, perhaps just at the time when it should be most undisturbed to +attend to the more serious game of war? As it is, she looks back to the +way in which she yielded to her imaginary fears before, and will not +trouble him with them now, when perhaps his life is in hourly danger. +So with a sigh, she tears up and burns the letter which has taken her +hours to write. Still, the composition of it has done her good, and her +spirits have in great measure returned as she goes downstairs. The +house seems deserted, so quiet is it. Payne is lying fast asleep in a +hammock which he has slang in the little garden at the back, and his +wife is either in the same blissful state of oblivion, or has gone out; +the children are at school, and, meanwhile, quiet reigns. Lilian +reaches the passage just as a man stands in the front doorway, holding +the knocker in his hand as if about to knock, and, seeing her, refrains, +and advances into the hall. She stops short, seeming rooted to the +ground. For the man to whom she made that fatal promise which has +blighted some of the best years of her life, is standing before her. + +"Why, Lilian," he exclaims, taking the hand which she mechanically holds +out. "You look as if you hardly knew me." + +"Do I? This is--rather sudden, you know. But, come in. I'll tell Mrs +Payne you're here." + +"By no means," says Truscott, quickly, placing himself between her and +the door--they are in the drawing-room by now. "This is the most +fortunate thing in the world. Couldn't have been better if we had +arranged it so. You don't suppose I want a third party present the very +first moment we are together again after all this time." + +This bracketing of them jars horribly on Lilian's ear; but she only +answers, somewhat irrelevantly: + +"I thought you knew the Paynes. You do; don't you?" + +"Confound the Paynes. Here have I been searching the world for you +these years and found you at last, and--hang it all, Lilian, you don't +seem in the least glad to see me." + +In fact, she is not. And the statement as to the comprehensiveness of +his search she does not altogether believe. She cannot forget that when +she was thrown upon the world, destitute almost, and alone, at a time +when she most needed help, encouragement, protection, this man had held +himself aloof from her, and now, when after years of desolation of +spirit and of a struggle almost beyond her strength, the battle is won, +and she has found happiness and rest and peace, he jauntily tells her +that she doesn't seem in the least glad to see him. Her heart hardens +towards him; but she checks the impulse which arises to tell him in +words of withering scorn that she is not. Yet she does not contradict +him, for she remembers vividly with what relief she heard that news, and +how thankfully she had accepted the restfulness it brought her--a +restfulness undisturbed until that morning. + +"H'm, well, you don't seem very glad. And yet I've come a good way to +find you, and had a narrow shave of my life, too--as narrow a shave as a +man could well have and escape." + +"Yes? How was that?" she asks, hardly able to restrain her eagerness. +He sees it and is gratified. The old interest is waking, he thinks; +Lilian was always tender-hearted to a fault. + +"Why, out in California. Fact is, I was awfully down on my luck and +went wandering. Well, I got into one of these street rows and was hit-- +hit badly. For thirteen weeks I was lying in a hospital, the most awful +lazar-house you could imagine, and at the end I crawled out more dead +than alive. The best of the joke is that my affectionate relatives +thought I was dead, and advertised me accordingly." + +Lilian makes no answer. It was this advertisement that, seen haphazard +two years ago, had emancipated her from her fatal bond. + +"But didn't you hear of all this?" he asks. + +"You know I have been out of the world for more than four years. When +did it happen?" + +"Only a year ago," is his reply. And then she knows that he is lying to +her--endeavouring to play upon her sympathies--for she has the number of +the newspaper containing the advertisement safely locked up in an inner +drawer of her writing-table, and its date is rather more than two years +previous. "Those fools Grantham, the lawyers, could tell me nothing +about you, though I pestered them with inquiries, till at last I began +to suspect they were telling lies just for practice, to keep their hands +in. But at last I've found you?" And there is a ring of real warmth, +to Lilian's ear, in his voice, which fills her with dismay. Can it be +that he has not heard of her position now, that he comes upon her +suddenly like this and takes possession of her in his tone, so to say? +At all risks she must tell him. + +Just then a cheery voice is heard in the passage, humming an old +colonial song, and Payne walks into the room. He stops short on seeing +the visitor, snatching his pipe from his mouth with one hand, while with +the other he welcomes the unexpected guest. + +"How d'you do?" says Truscott, in his silkiest manner. "I was hoping to +have found Mrs Payne at home this afternoon. Meanwhile, I have been +fortunate enough to renew a very old acquaintance with Miss Strange +here." + +"So?" replies Payne, looking from one to the other. "Well, I'm glad +you've found your way up. I saw you this morning, at a distance, when +we were seeing those men off to the front. Good all-round lot, weren't +they?" + +"Yes, yes; a very fair lot indeed. I suppose there's a tidy number of +men in the field by now?" + +"Too many. If it depended on mere numbers, the war would be finished +to-morrow; but it's the management--we always break down in that. If we +were allowed to go ahead in our own way, we should do the thing +properly; but there's such a tremendous lot of red-tape and +despatch-writing that the forces are kept doing nothing for weeks, +eating their heads off in camp. By the way, have you heard anything +more about your application?" + +"No, nothing. I suppose I shall in a day or two." + +They talked about the war for a little longer, and criticised the +Government, the tactics, and the Commandant-General, and all connected +with the campaign, and then Truscott got up to leave. He was sorry, he +said, but he could not wait; perhaps another day he would be more +fortunate. And so, with a cordial hand-shake from his host, on whom he +had made a golden impression, he took himself off. + +"I like that fellow!" said Payne, returning to the room. "No nonsense +about him." + +"He can be very pleasant," assented Lilian, ambiguously. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Doubtless the reader is wondering how Truscott got out of durance vile, +whither he had just been consigned when last we saw him. The method of +his liberation is immaterial to this narrative; suffice it that he did +get out--obviously, since here he is, at large in Grahamstown. And now, +as he walks away from Payne's door, he is turning over in his mind the +results of the speculation. So far, he is bound to admit, they are not +promising. His influence with Lilian is evidently dead, and to revive +it, he feels, will be no easy task; but that everything depends upon his +ability to revive it he is only too fully aware. Moreover, there is an +additional incentive to success which hitherto he had left entirely out +of his calculations. He was prepared to find Lilian "gone off" in +appearance; a number of years like that--how many he did not care to +reckon--are apt to tell. But the hand of Time, so far from buffeting, +had been laid caressingly on the soft but stately beauty, which had +grown graver, indeed, but far more sweet and attractive than in the +earlier days of girlhood; and when he met her eyes that morning in the +crowd a thrill shot through him as he thought how luck might throw into +his hands, at one _coup_, such loveliness combined with such a +reversion. Might? It should! And now, as he walked down the street, +he revolved and elaborated his plans. He had never seen this lover of +hers, who, he more than feared, would be no ordinary rival; but then the +fact of his absence was an immense advantage. He might be killed in +action, as the light-hearted Chadwick had airily remarked; and there's +many a true word spoken in jest, as we all know. But putting aside this +contingency into the category of exceptional luck, he--Truscott--had +other cards to play, and that warily, for he would not endanger success +by any rash move. If the worst came to the worst, he could always use +the double-edged weapon which chance had thrown into his hand in the +shape of his scoundrelly friend, Sharkey; but win he must. Meanwhile, +he would begin by sedulously ignoring Lilian's engagement. He would +show her the most marked attentions--in fact, compromise her--till at +length this absent lover of hers should hear of it, and hear of it, too, +in such a way that a split would be inevitable. Not that he intended to +do this all at once--oh, no. He would take time, and the while his +rival might be removed to a better sphere by accident or--well, things +could not always be helped. + +So he lost no time in calling again at the Paynes'; and having, with the +attractive manner that he could so well assume, won the heart of that +honest frontiersman, set himself to lay siege to that of his hostess, +and succeeded. Not altogether, for Annie Payne was a shrewd little +woman, and though she found this new acquaintance pleasant and amusing, +watched him narrowly. She remembered the look which had passed between +him and Lilian, and held her true opinion of him in reserve. Meanwhile, +she waited and watched. + +In his intercourse with Lilian, too, he was all that was kind and +thoughtful--scarcely ever referring to the past, and only then with a +half regretful, half aggrieved air that was the perfection of acting. +But somehow or other he was seldom away from her. If she went out, she +was sure to meet Truscott; if she stayed at home, he was sure to call; +or Payne would pick him up in the street--of course, by chance--and +bring him home to lunch; and though she avoided him as much as she +possibly could, without being rude, yet somehow it seemed to her that +she was never seen in public without this man at her side, till at last +the gossips used to say to each other, with a wink and a smile, that "it +was a very convenient arrangement to have a lover away at the front, my +dear, whose place could be so well supplied; and that really Miss +Strange, for all her demureness, was no better than the rest," and so +on. Which tattle, however, fortunately or unfortunately, never reached +Lilian's ears; and the intimacy between Truscott and the house of Payne +grew apace. Not that this state of things had come about all at once-- +Truscott was far too cautious for that; on the contrary, it had been one +of the most gradual growth--so gradual, indeed, that the plotter had +been inclined to blame himself for dilatoriness; but it was a fault in +the right direction. So he bided his time, and was rewarded. Things +were progressing as smoothly as he could wish. + +To Lilian herself, his attentions are a terrible source of annoyance, +and at times she feels as if the toils were closing in about her. She +has never mentioned this new trouble in her letters to Claverton, +thinking--and rightly--that it would bring him to her side at once; and +she does not wish that, for his sake, if it can be avoided; but for her +own, oh, how she longs for it! Why should this man, whom she had +thought never to see again, return to persecute her? Had he not +escaped--by a hair's breadth merely--blighting her whole life, after +embittering some of the best years of it? She feels that she is +beginning to hate him; and it is while in this vein that she goes down +to the drawing-room one afternoon to fetch a book, for she has taken to +remaining in her room when the Paynes are out, as they are now. To her +intense mortification, Truscott is there. + +"Ah! At last!" is his greeting, in a tone which to her ear is provoking +in its cool assurance. "I knew I should find you here, Lilian mine. +The rest of the world has gone picnicking, hasn't it?" + +She had intended to make some excuse, and to leave him at once; but that +possessive alters her plan. Now, once and for all, he must be made to +understand her position, and that this tacitly assertive air of +ownership which he has chosen to set up over her must cease. + +"I don't know why you should _know_ anything of the sort," she replies, +very coldly. + +"Don't be angry, Lilian. You never used to fly out about trifles. What +I meant was, we've had so little opportunity for a quiet talk together +of late, that when I heard you had not gone with the others I thought it +would be a capital opportunity for one now." + +It happened that that day a picnic in a small way had been organised; +but Lilian, somewhat to the Paynes' surprise, excused herself from +going. She felt she could not take part in anything approaching to a +festivity at such a time as this. It might be only a silly fad of hers, +she said, and no one need know of it; still, she would rather stay +quietly at home. + +"But Lilian, child," objected Mrs Payne. "It'll do you a world of +good, and, after all, it's a very mild form of festivity--not like a +ball, you know. And I'm sure Arthur wouldn't wish you to mope yourself +to death just because he is away." + +"It isn't because he's away, but because he's away _as_ he is," she +answered. "He may be risking his life every moment, while I am enjoying +myself as if no one I cared for in the world was in danger. Only think, +he might be lying shot down in the bush at the very moment we are all +laughing and joking," and her voice sank to an awed whisper. "No. I'd +rather stay at home quietly to-day." And the good-hearted little woman +had kissed her, and vowed she was perfectly right; and then they had +gone, and Lilian had her way and the house to herself, instead of +accompanying them to rove about the deep rocky recesses of Fern Kloof +and to eat a scrambling luncheon beneath its tangled shade, looking +down, as in a splendid panorama, on the sunlit plains of Lower Albany. + +The consciousness of this, in conjunction with Truscott's remark, causes +her face to flush with something very like anger, and she answers, +icily: + +"In other words, you thought I had remained at home to receive visitors +in Mrs Payne's absence. Thank you. I might have remembered--were it +not that our acquaintance was a matter of such a long time ago--that +that would be just the interpretation Ralph Truscott might be expected +to put upon my actions." + +"Why will you always harp upon that string, Lilian? You know it wasn't +my fault. You would run away from every one and bury yourself in this +beastly country among Dutchmen, and niggers, and all that sort of thing, +where it has taken me years to find you; and now, when I have found you, +you turn the cold shoulder on me. But, perhaps, you don't believe that +I have done this?" he concludes, dashing his tone of sorrowful reproach +with a touch of irony. + +"No. I do not." + +She looks him straight in the face, and there is a shade of contempt in +the calm eyes. Why should the man tell her such a pitiful falsehood? + +"Oh, you don't?" he says, staring at her from the arm-chair in which he +is lounging, fairly startled by her straightforwardness. + +"No. But why talk about that?" she answers. Her hands nervously grasp +the back of a chair as she stands, speaking in a low, rapid voice. "It +is past, and there is an end of it. What I have to say to you now is of +the present, and it is best said frankly and without reserve. You have +come here and assumed a kind of possession over me, which I must ask you +to discontinue. Of course I have no actual right to request you to drop +your intimacy with the Paynes, but I have a moral right as a defenceless +woman appealing to a gentleman, and therefore presumably an honourable +man, to ask you to discontinue those very marked attentions by which you +have made me conspicuous of late. Whatever has been is past and done +with, nothing can alter that, and under the circumstances there can be +no question even of intimacy between us. I do not wish to say anything +unkind, but it would be better for us not to meet again, much better, +believe me." + +All this time Truscott's countenance has been wearing an expression of +blank and well-feigned amazement. + +"Better not to meet again? No question of intimacy between us? Good +Heavens! Why, Lilian, what _do_ you suppose I've come from one end of +the world to the other for, then?" + +"I don't pretend to guess. But it must be even as I say, and I am sure +you will agree with me that it is best so." + +"Indeed, I am sure I shall do nothing of the sort," he cries. "You are +only playing with me, Lilian, only doing this just to try me. You are; +say you are, my darling. It is not kind of you after I have come far to +find you." + +For all reply she shakes her head, sadly but firmly, and Truscott can +see that every particle of faith she ever had in him is dead and buried. + +"But your promise!" he cries. "I have your promise, at all events. You +cannot get out of that, nor do I intend to let you." + +"My promise!" she answers, and there is a scornful curve in the +beautiful lips and a hard ring in the rich voice. "My promise! To a +man who woos in prosperity and deserts in adversity; who sees an +unprotected girl thrown upon the world, lonely and unfriended; and makes +no sign. Who, when she departs to live among strangers in a far-off +land, suffers her to go without so much as a word of farewell and +encouragement; and that, too, the girl whom in palmier days he professed +to love. No, Ralph Truscott, you have cancelled my promise by your own +act, and, even if no other bar existed its conditions should never be +yours." + +Truscott's face is white with rage. He sees that his game is played +out--that there is not a chance. He was prepared for some reproaches; +in short, a good deal of unpleasantness, but not for such decision as +this. His whole being quivers beneath a sense of overwhelming defeat, +mortification, disappointment--nay, despair--and now, as he sees the +prize slipping from his grasp, he is not sure whether he hates or loves +her most. + +"So the good, the pious, the saintly Lilian Strange can perjure herself +in a way the most unregenerate would shrink from," he sneers. "The +privilege of godliness, I suppose. Oh, so a `bar' does exist, does it? +You should have told me that before." + +"It is impossible that you could not have known of it," she replies, +gently, but with quiet dignity. "That I am plighted--to another." + +His answer is a harsh, jeering laugh. + +"Oh, I have heard some nonsensical story of the kind, but I knew it +couldn't be true. I thought you were only amusing yourself, in fact, +knowing that anything serious was impossible, considering. So, of +course, I didn't believe it." + +"What do you mean?" says Lilian, outwardly calm, but with indignation +and contempt in her voice, for there is something so maliciously +significant in his tone that she is disturbed in spite of herself. +"Don't deal in hints and innuendoes. Speak out--if you dare." + +"If I dare? Well, then, I will speak out," answers Truscott, stung to +madness by her scornful look. He will bring her to her knees, he +thinks. "This is what I mean," dropping out his words deliberately. "I +knew it couldn't be true, because I knew it was impossible that Lilian +Strange could be engaged to an ex-pirate, a murderer, and what, in her +eyes, is probably much worse." + +"Do you know of whom you are speaking?" + +"Of the man who calls himself Arthur Claverton." + +There is dead silence. The clock on the mantelpiece ticks loudly; the +crack of a waggon-whip in the High Street, and the harsh, long-drawn +shout of the driver, sound plainly though distant through the still +afternoon, and in the little garden the bees hum drowsily. + +"You must be mad?" + +Every vestige of colour has fled from Lilian's face, as she stands cold +and statuesque, looking down upon her lover's traducer. But she is +perfectly calm, for she does not believe one word of this, though the +bare suggestion has upset her. He shall speak more plainly, though. + +"Of course you don't believe me," he says. "I wasn't fool enough to +expect you would--without proof. To begin, then. How much has this +Claverton told you of his antecedents?" + +"As much as I wish to know. But this is not proof." + +"Wait a bit. All in good time. He came to South Africa four years ago; +quite so. Now has he by chance ever told you where he spent the two +previous years--what he was doing?" + +In spite of herself Lilian feels her heart sink somewhat. It happens +that concerning that very portion of his career her lover has been +conspicuously reticent. But she says carelessly: + +"I dare say he has." + +"Indeed! You surprise me. Then it will be no news to you to learn that +he was in Central Africa?" + +"I believe he has been there. Go on." + +For Truscott pauses. He is watching her narrowly--playing with her in +devilish malice. But he goes on in affected commiseration. + +"Lilian, Lilian. I don't think I'll tell you any more. Forget what I +have said. Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps my informants are mistaken as +to the man. Let it pass." + +"No. You have made charges against one who is absent; you must not +leave this room until you have proved them. Otherwise the gallant +Captain Truscott will stand branded as a liar and a coward." + +He stares at her in amazement, quite nonplussed. He never could have +given Lilian Strange credit for so much firmness, he thinks. Yet there +she stands over him, calm, even judicial, as she awaits his answer. + +"You would not dare to say these things if he were here," she adds. + +"If he is wise he will not give me the chance," is the prompt reply. +"To be brief, then, our friend, at that period of his history, in +company with seven other spirits more wicked than himself, let us say, +dealt in ebony. Slaves, you understand." + +"Go on." + +"He made a good thing of it, I'm told--a very good thing. But then, +unfortunately, by British law, and, indeed, by international law, +slavery is piracy; and piracy is--a hanging matter." + +"I see," she answers in a dry, stony voice. "We have disposed of the +piracy, now let us get on to the murder; after that to the other thing." + +Truscott's astonishment knows no bounds. "Upon my word, Lilian, you +have a judicial mind. Why, you ought to be a Q.C.," he says, +admiringly. + +She smiles slightly--a hard, defiant smile. + +"Well, then," he continues, "you recollect the affair with the _Sea +Foam_? In case you don't, I'll just go over the facts again. The _Sea +Foam_, then, was a gunboat stationed in Zanzibar waters, where there was +a good deal of dhow-running just at that time--in fact, several captures +were made. But it so happened that on one occasion four dhows got clean +off, beating back the boats' crews with a loss of three men killed and +several wounded. It was a secret expedition, betrayed to the captain of +the man-of-war by a spy, and, but for one man, the whole concern would +have been captured red-handed. That man was Arthur Lidwell--the +commander of the slavers--now known as Arthur Claverton. The +authorities, at that time, did not know who the leader was whose +coolness and daring caused their retreat, with loss; but they suspected +him to be a renegade European, and a price was set on his head; but, +with his usual luck, our friend escaped. Three men were killed, I say; +and recollect our friend is a good shot, and, moreover, not likely to +stand by with his hands in his pockets while fighting is going on," +concludes Truscott, significantly. + +Lilian remembers the circumstance perfectly. She had listened +shudderingly while her stepfather read out the details from the +newspaper, one evening years ago in the cosy, lighted drawing-room at +Dynevard Chase, expressing a hope, as became "a fine, old English +gentleman," that the scoundrels would all be caught and hanged, and +especially their rascally leader. And now this same leader--but it is +incredible--her brain is dazed. Her eyes are fixed on Truscott's face, +but she does not speak. + +"For the other thing," he goes on, narrowly watching her, "the next time +you see Claverton ask him what became of Anita de Castro. Ask him, at +the same time, what made him suddenly give up so paying a thing as the +slave trade." + +Lilian becomes a shade whiter, and Truscott, noting it, feels a fiendish +delight in having at length disturbed her equanimity. + +"Who is Anita de Castro?" she asks, still in a firm voice. + +"The daughter of the chief of the gang. Spanish or Portuguese; but, +they tell me, a lovely girl. Our friend Claverton, to do him justice, +is a man of taste, and, these Spaniards are terribly revengeful when you +take an undue advantage of them." + +Lilian stands in the same attitude as before. Her fingers clutch more +nervously the back of the chair; but that is the only sign she shows of +having even heard. She would fain not believe this; but then, how +confidently this man speaks! He cannot have invented such a story, the +way in which he tells it is enough to show that. And, in spite of +herself, recollections crop up of more than one hint which Claverton has +let fall to the effect that there is a chapter in his life's history +which he would fain forget; mere nothings at the time, and which on one +or two occasions she even gently rallied him about, but now with what +fell significance do they stand out! She knows his bold and daring +disposition, his coolness and powers of administration or command; his +cynical vein, which might under adverse circumstances render him +unscrupulous and even cruel; and all this seems to lend likelihood to +the other's statements. But, ah! how she loves him! Even if every word +of what she has just heard is true, she feels that, in spite of it all, +she loves him if possible ten times more dearly than she did before. +She remembers his neglected and uncared-for childhood and youth which +might palliate, if not excuse, far worse crimes than these; and her +whole soul goes out in a pitying, tender yearning to make his life so +different, so happy with her love, and in time to lead him gradually and +gently to what she reckoned a more lasting source of joy. She hardly +sees Truscott; she is looking out through the open window beyond him +with a soft, pensive expression that is wondrously lovely, and he who +watches her gnaws his lip in fury, and the very fiend of mad burning +jealousy shakes his soul. This prize was within _his_ grasp once, but +he threw it away. + +"Well?" he says, impatiently. + +She brings down her eyes to his, calm and serene as before. "Quite a +romance. But, as yet, we are no farther than when we started. You have +given me no proof." + +"Romance, eh? Well, like many romances, it may have a tragic ending. I +have two witnesses. You remember the man you saw following you in the +crowd at King Williamstown?" + +Again Lilian grows ashy white. It was something more than instinct, +then. And, like a flash, she remembers the troubled look which had come +over her lover's face when they met the man on the road during their +ride, and how the two had been conversing under her window that last +Sunday morning. Doubtless the fellow had been trying to trade on his +knowledge. Merciful heavens! That ruffian--and Arthur in his power! + +"Yes, I see you do. Now for the other. You don't suppose Anita de +Castro would spare him?" + +Lilian gives an imperceptible shudder. "All this may, or may not be," +she replies. "But in the former event, it all happened years ago, and +the bare word of these people would go for nothing here. The idea is +absurd." + +"Ha, ha, ha! Really I shall have to retract what I said just now about +your having a judicial mind," sneers Truscott. "The bare word of these +people would go for just this much here. It would make out a strong +_prima facie_ case for the committal of this precious scoundrel--bail +refused, of course--pending the making of inquiries and the procuring of +more witnesses at Zanzibar, when he would be put upon his trial for +piracy--piracy in its worst phase, mind--and murder. What do you think +of that, Lilian Strange? In either case a conviction is certain, and in +either case with the same result--the rope. So that is the fate in +store for our gallows-bird before six months are over--a dance on +nothing--and I shall get a pass to go into the gaol-yard and witness the +fun." + +He has risen and is standing before her, his features working with a +livid rage that is absolutely devilish. Suddenly the full, awful force +of the situation sweeps across Lilian's mind, and with a low cry, like +that of a stricken animal, and a shrinking motion, she drops her face +into her hands. + +"Ah, good God! Spare him!" she moans. "Why will you harm him? _He_ +never injured you!" + +Heaven help her! She has let down her guard, and the enemy is prompt to +rush in over it. From that moment she is completely at his mercy. + +"Never injured me? What is she dreaming of? Good heavens! hasn't he +robbed me of you--of you? Isn't that enough?" is the harsh, pitiless +reply. "Ha, ha! Six months about will do it. It'll be winter then-- +June or July. The mornings are cold then. Perhaps, as a last kind act, +I'll give the poor wretch a `nip' out of my flask, before he's swung +off, just to keep his spirits up, you know." + +"Demon," whispers Lilian, hoarsely, gazing at him in set, stony despair. + +"I am just what you and he have made me. It is your own doing. You +know I was never one of your godly lot. If a man does me an ill turn I +repay it with interest, that is, if I am in a position to do so, which, +in this case, fortunately I am. Five o'clock"--glancing at his +watch--"I shall just have time to beat up my informant and take him +round to the Public Offices before the magistrate goes away, or the +Clerk of the Peace will do as well; and by making his deposition this +evening we can get a warrant out and save the whole night by it. So you +will soon see our friend again, Lilian, sooner than you expected, eh? +Now good-bye for the present. I am sorry you have driven me to this, +but--" and he moves towards the door. Before he can reach it, she +throws herself in front of him. He cannot leave the room without actual +violence. + +"Stop! Have you no mercy? No pity--for me--for me whom you once +professed to love?" and the clear accents of her voice are wrung with +despair--with a sense of her utter helplessness. + +"None for _him_. None. Less than none. I _hate_ the man who has +robbed me of you. He shall die, and I will go and witness his last +struggles." + +"No. Spare him, Ralph, spare him! In killing him you will be killing +me. Ah, God! Why was I ever sent into this world? I am the +destruction of all whom I would gladly die for!" and she presses her +hands tightly upon her temples, and a tremor of hopeless agony shakes +the tall, beautiful figure. + +Even the heart of that fiend in human shape smites him as he witnesses +her awful grief, listens to her wild, despairing accents. But she is +playing into his hands now--perfectly. At one time he almost thought +the game a lost one, and was about to throw it up, when lo! one false +move, and it is entirely his own. + +"All whom you would gladly die for," he repeats, echoing her words. +"Would you, then, die for this fellow?" + +"God knows I would--a hundred times over," she wails. + +"Well then, listen. I will not require you to do that. What I require +you to do is to live for him." + +She looks up quickly--her face transformed in wonderment, which is on +the point of breaking out into joy. He is relenting. + +"I mean, to live for him by living without him. That is the only way in +which you can save his life." + +Her head droops again, and a shudder runs through her frame at this +alternative, and Truscott, watching her, gloats over her anguish, +remembering how she defied him at first. + +"The conditions are not so hard as they might be," he continues. "I +only stipulate that you shall never see him again, never hold another +word of communication with him, either orally, on paper, or through a +third person, henceforth from this moment. On those conditions I spare +his life--otherwise--well, you know the alternative." + +"May I not even write him one line of farewell?" she asks, with a look +in her dry, tearless eyes that would melt a stone. Her tormentor sees +it, and turns his glance away, fearing for his resolution. One word of +communication might undo the whole plot. At all costs he must separate +them now and for ever. So again he invokes the demon of jealousy to his +aid, and goads and lashes himself to his fiend-like work. + +"No. I will spare his life, but nothing else. Those are my conditions. +Accept them or not. In three minutes it will be too late," and he +stands holding his watch in his hand. + +Lilian is beside herself. An awful numbing sense of fatalism creeps +over her. Is it to be? Ah, well, she will give her life for his, for +this will kill her. + +"Well? In another moment it may be too late." + +"I give in," she says, in the same dreamy, hopeless tone. + +"And you promise to hold no further communication whatever with Arthur +Claverton from this day forward?" + +"I promise!" + +The agony of that moment, as with her own lips she dooms herself and +him! + +"If I were inclined to be hard, Lilian, I might remind you that you are +not wholly superior to the weakness of breaking your promises; but let +that pass. You will find my conditions are not so hard. I only ask +that one thing." By-and-by he intended to ask one other thing--and to +obtain it, too. For the present she had been tried as much as she was +capable of bearing. She would get used to the idea in time, and then, +with the same hold on her as he had now, he would snatch the prize for +which he had risked so much and plotted so wickedly. + +"Now I must go. Don't look like that, Lilian," he says in a kinder +tone. "You have gained one great object at any rate, and in this world +we must be thankful for small mercies. So keep up your spirits." + +She makes no answer to this, at best, cruel mockery. She is leaning +against the wall, with her hands still clasped over her face. Not a +tear falls, her grief is too great for that. He glances uneasily at her +again, for he is anxious to get away. He has already been here more +than two hours; and it would never do, under the circumstances, for him +to be here still when the Paynes return. Besides, she might faint, and +that would still further complicate the situation. + +"Good-bye," he repeats. "Remember, now--everything depends on you." +And she is left alone. + +How long she stands thus she cannot tell. At length the sound of +familiar voices, with many a happy laugh, approaching down the street, +warns her of the return of the party, and gaining her room with +staggering, uneven steps, she locks herself in, and, throwing herself on +the bed, yields herself unrestrained to her terrible, hopeless agony. +"Oh God!" she prays, "let me die! let me die!" And beneath, the house +is filled with merry voices, laughing and talking all at once; and there +in the golden eventide, while the soft flush gathers in its purpling +suffusion over the western mountains where fades the sun, the riven +heart quivers and throbs in its voiceless despair. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +"THERE IS ONE AMONGST US MISSING." + +Meanwhile at the seat of war, events were developing. Several weeks had +now gone by, during which the rebellion had spread. With the insane +fatuity which was luring these people to their destruction, it seemed +that to every disaffected tribe hitherto peaceful, the news of a +crushing blow sustained by its brethren was the signal for itself to +take up arms. There was a lack of cohesion in the enemy's councils and +undertakings that was simply incomprehensible. And now Emigrant +Tembuland had broken out into revolt, threatening Queenstown; and the +Hlambi section of the Gaikas, under the chiefs Ndimba and Seyolo, were +making common cause with Sandili in British Kaffraria, while within the +colony, the clans under Tini Macomo, from their rugged fastnesses in the +Blinkwater forest--famous battle-ground in days gone by--defied the +colonial authorities. Yet as each rose in succession, tribe after +tribe, it seemed as though in their very half-heartedness, they were +fighting against their will. + +For several weeks, then, have the colonial forces been occupied in +clearing out the Gaika location from end to end by a series of +well-arranged patrols--sometimes meeting the wily foe in pitched +battle--or as near approaching it as Jack Kafir deems wise to venture-- +more often exchanging shots in desultory skirmish, with the result of +dispersing the savages after a few of their number had been laid low. +Much cattle has been taken, too--thousands of head--which though an +effective deterrent to the enemy aforesaid, is by no means an unmixed +blessing to the captors; at least, so say more than one of their +leaders. For large numbers of captured cattle in the camp can be +nothing less than a nuisance of the first magnitude; leading to +confusion and worry, the telling off of a considerable body of men as +guards or as escort who might be better employed in the field; and +conducive to much friction and irritability among the various native +levies, each only too anxious to suspect and accuse the other of quiet +purloining from the herds under their charge. + +It was only yesterday that Jim Brathwaite, with feelings of intense +relief, watched the last of a large herd, as it made its way over the +hill under a strong escort, en route for Komgha; and now, with an air of +semi-disgust, he is pondering over a despatch which has just arrived, +bidding him push forward at once, for that a body of rebels, in +considerable force, are known to be on their way through at a point some +fifteen miles lower down, to join Sandili in the Perie forest. Not that +this is the fact which calls an expression of disgust to the brown face +of the dashing and fearless commander; on the contrary. But the sting +of the document--like that of the scorpion--is in its tail, and is to +the effect that an immense number of cattle are with them, which, can +they but be taken, by thus cutting off their resources, a heavy blow +will be struck at the concealed foe, even if he is not so seriously +crippled as to be compelled to surrender. + +"Oh, blazes," growled Jim. "Even the glorious fan of a good old +rough-and-tumble--if the beggars stand, that is--is dashed by the +certainty of the camp being turned into a cattle-market for the next +week or so. Naylor--Claverton, get the men into the saddle at once. No +need to take rations. We shall be back to-night or to-morrow at the +latest, and, if not, we shall find plenty of beefsteaks down there. +Sharp's the word, or we shall have those lumbering Dutchmen away before +us." + +The door of the tent is darkened, and one of "those lumbering Dutchmen" +enters--a tall, strong, but awkward-looking man, who, in that way, seems +to deserve the slightly contemptuous epithet. It is the Commandant of +one of the troops of Dutch Burghers, and he is anxious to confer with +Jim anent the despatch he has just received, and of which, by the way, +being ignorant of English, he cannot make out one word. + +"What have you got to do?" echoes Jim, somewhat impatiently--for he +foresees delay. "Why, you've got to hang it all, Arthur--you're good at +lingo. Translate the orders to him as sharp as you can." + +Gladly the Boer relinquishes the sheet of blue foolscap which he has +been turning over and over in his great hands with a pitiably puzzled +expression to Claverton, who translates it for the benefit of him and +his four "field-captains," who stand round eagerly listening. + +"This is what it says," goes on Claverton, having translated the first +part, which is in all particulars similar to Jim's. "Your troop must +keep on about four miles ahead of us, so as to cut them off from the +pass over yonder. The Fingo levies will also work with it." + +"Ja, kaptyn." + +"We shall keep on this side and drive them into you," and then followed +a few rapid details. + +"Ja, kaptyn, ja, ja!" + +"Well, then, we will work round to you. And now we must be off. You +understand, Mynheer Van Heerden!" + +"Ja, kaptyn." + +"That's all right," and away goes Claverton, jumps on his horse, which +is held ready by the faithful Sam, while the Boer leaders make their way +back to get their men under arms; still a little hazy, perhaps, as to +the plan of operations; but trusting with characteristic phlegm, that +_det sal als recht kom_. + +The camp is placed on an open bit of ground forming the summit of a +small eminence, and commanding a good wide sweep all round. It is shut +in, however, as to view, save on one side, and it is from this side that +they are able to lay their plans. Far away--at least two hours' ride-- +is a bold spur, where rises conspicuous a cliff of considerable +altitude; its brow, crowned by a row of stiff euphorbia trees, whose +straight stems and plumed heads stand out from the soft profusion of the +surrounding forest. At the foot of this cliff is the defile by which +the enemy is expected to pass; and, to reach it, at least three hours of +rough scramble along the bushy valleys branching out in every direction, +will be necessary. + +In an incredibly short space of time all is ready, and the _veldt_ is +alive with horsemen, hastening to make their way to the scene of +operations. Opposite--across the ravine--the Dutch troop, about three +hundred men, is hurrying forward; while beyond them some eight hundred +Fingoes, marching in four columns, advance no less rapidly, chanting +their war-song in a deep bass, and the sun gleams upon the gun-barrels +and assegai blades; and, now and again, the tinkle of a bit and the +neigh of a horse is heard as the expedition moves on. + +It is the middle of the forenoon, and not a cloud is in the heavens to +break the endless blue, and the heat is to be felt. As yet there is no +sign of life. The other column has long been out of sight, and now +carefully Jim's troop moves forward, expecting every moment to get touch +of the enemy, while nearer and nearer rises the lofty krantz which is to +be the rallying-point. No one speaks; all are on the _qui vive_; but +nothing disturbs the stillness of the deep valley into which they have +been constrained to dip down in order to conceal the march as much as +possible. + +Suddenly, from the bush in front, breaks forth a puff of smoke, followed +by another and another, till a regular line of fire bars their progress. +The horses start and swerve, terrified by the detonation, as the +bullets come whizzing about their riders' ears with a horribly near and +suggestive "sing." One volley in return--for as yet they can see no +one--and the order is given to seek cover, for, crack! crack! crack! on +every side now the jets of flame are belching forth from the thick green +bush, and it is evident that the enemy is in strong force. But he has +caught a Tartar. Cool and self-possessed to a man, Brathwaite's Horse +are but waiting their opportunity, and ere long they begin to catch +glimpses of the Kafirs, dodging in and out among the trees. Then the +game becomes two-sided, as the experienced frontiersmen, with many a +deft snap-shot, begin to "drop" their concealed enemy--so quickly, +indeed, that in a quarter of an hour the latter begins to draw off. +Still the fire is unusually warm on their front, and the sagacious Jim +strongly suspects a deliberate intention to hold him in check there +while the main body gets safely off with its spoil, as intimated. + +"Claverton," he says, coming quickly to his lieutenant's side. "Take +about thirty men, and advance upon those fellows in front, while we keep +them occupied here. Try and get round them and take them in the flank; +knock over as many as ever you can, and drive the rest on." + +Claverton hastens to obey, and, with his contingent, makes his way +swiftly and stealthily by a circuit so as, if possible, to take the +enemy in the rear. Meanwhile the fusillade goes on, and the smoke hangs +in a cloud above the valley as the concealed forces, each under cover, +pepper away, but with a caution that, on the part of the Kafirs, is +somewhat unwonted. + +And now the "special service" band has reached the ridge some five +hundred yards above and beyond the main body, and its leader begins to +think about doubling upon the wily foe. A smothered chuckle at his +elbow makes him turn. Below, not six yards off, lying on his stomach on +a rock, is a huge red Kafir. His piece is cocked, and he is worming +himself into a good position for a safe and sure shot; and the chuckle +proceeds from Hicks, who stands with his revolver aimed well between the +greasy shoulders of the recumbent barbarian. But the quick ears of the +savage detect the sound. In a twinkling he wriggles round, but, before +he has time to spring up, his "Youw!" of consternation is cut short in +his throat as Hicks' revolver cracks, and the ball passing fair through +the Kafir's ribs, the huge carcase rolls from its perch, falling with a +crash into the bush below. + +"Sold again?" exclaims Hicks, smothering a shout of laughter. "Not this +journey, my boy. I never saw anything more comic than that bird's face +when he looked round." + +Three more Kafirs spring up at their very feet, but before they can lift +an assegai even, or at any rate use one, they are shot dead, almost +point-blank. And now several dark heads may be detected peering in the +direction of this new danger, but this is just what our friends have +been expecting, and, crack! crack! crack! go their trusty breech-loaders +as they advance down through the scrub, driving the enemy before them. + +But the said enemy is in full retreat. He has had enough, and yonder +over the ridge, dark bodies are running, by twos and threes, while the +fire of the victorious whites still tells as it is kept constantly +playing upon the discomfited savages. Then Jim gives the order to mount +and push forward. No time is to be lost after this delay, or the plan +will fall through. His troop has suffered by two men wounded and the +loss of three horses, the dismounted riders making their way as best +they can by holding on to the stirrup of a comrade. Nothing, indeed, +could have been worse than the enemy's marksmanship. + +They make their way out of the hollow without any further opposition and +are upon the heights overlooking the pass. Have they been misinformed, +or are they too soon? Jim hardly thinks they are too late. It may be +that the Kafirs in charge of the cattle, hearing the firing, have driven +these off in another direction. Suddenly an exclamation breaks from his +lips. + +"Oh-h-h! Good Lord! Where on earth _are_ those damned Dutchmen?" + +For he has been descending all this time, and is standing looking up the +pass. There is the great cliff, towering many hundreds of feet above, +and there about two miles off the whole defile is filled with a dense +mass of cattle, a cloud of dust arising before them as their drivers +urge them along with many a shout which is borne to the ears of the +disappointed pursuers. Even the very spoors at their feet were +tantalisingly fresh. + +"Perhaps they've gone round up above," suggested Naylor. + +"Maybe. In the meantime we'll go down and lie in wait so as to hem the +niggers in when they turn. Van Heerden's sure to have got his men round +too far." + +An outpost was left on the rising ground, and the rest descended. They +were about to take up a position on either side of the road and wait; +when, without any warning, a tremendous volley is poured into them; and +all the bush is alive with dark shapes--hundreds and hundreds of them-- +darting from cover to cover, yelling and brandishing their assegais as +they advance nearer and nearer, while a constant fire is kept up by +those in front. + +So sudden and unlooked-for is this attack, that Jim's men are for the +moment completely taken by surprise. It is, moreover, unparalleled in +its fierceness and determination, for the Kafirs press boldly forward, +waving their weapons. Some of them even may be seen snapping off their +assegais in preparation for a charge. + +"Steady, Allen, old boy. That's a new kind of a tuning-fork," remarks +Claverton, as a bit of pot-leg whistles between his ear and that of him +addressed, with a vicious whirr. "No use ducking when it's past, you +know. Hallo!" + +His attention is drawn by two men struggling, a white man and a Kafir. +The savage, pinned against the very base of the cliff described, is +vainly striving to free his right wrist from his antagonist's grasp, so +as to use the assegai which, held flat against the rock, is useless to +him; the white man, finding it all he can do to hold on to the other's +throat; and thus the two are struggling, each unable to use his weapon. +Then, in response to a half-choked shout from the Kafir, several of his +countrymen are seen rushing through the bush to his assistance, when lo, +a quick movement, something gleams; the white man throws his adversary +off, and with a couple of bounds is at Claverton's side panting, as, +crouching behind a bush to dodge several shots aimed at him, he wipes +the blade of his sheath-knife on the ground. + +"Ripped--the beggar--up." + +"Deuce you did! Well done, Gough. A smart bit of work that," rejoins +his chief. + +And now the great cliff thunders back in tremendous echoes the +volley-firing. Two of Brathwaite's men have fallen, shot dead, another +has been overwhelmed in a sudden rush of the fierce foe, who becomes +more and more daring, and assegaied in a moment. Several are slightly +wounded; and Jim, seeing that no time is to be lost if they are to avoid +being surrounded, gives the word to fall back on higher ground, to a +point where his practised eye detects better facilities for defence, and +for holding out until assistance comes. Suddenly somebody exclaims: + +"Any one seen Jack Armitage?" A chill of blank consternation goes +through all who hear it. + +"Eh, what? Where's Jack? Where's Jack?" echo several voices. + +"He was close to me when first we began to retire," says Claverton. "He +may be there yet. Come along, boys, we'll pick him up, wherever he is. +Who'll volunteer? We can't leave poor Jack to be chopped up by these +devils?" Even as he speaks there floats through his brain the echo of +those soft, entreating words whispered in the hour of parting: "_You +will not run any unnecessary risks, even for other people. Your life +belongs to me now, love_!" And side by side with the tender thought, +runs the consciousness that he cannot leave a comrade to a certain and +cruel death. + +"I will." "I will." "The devil's in it but we'll find Jack." + +"Come on, straight at 'em," were some of the cries in answer to his +appeal, and among the confusion and smoke--for the firing was pretty +brisk--Claverton and a dozen others, gliding rapidly from bush to bush, +revolver in hand, made their way to where the missing man was last seen. +And in doing so they went further and further into the most deadly +peril, and separated themselves more and more from their retreating +comrades; but still they went. + +A couple of hundred yards further, and it seemed as if they had even got +behind the enemy's lines. Two or three Kafirs had sprung up before +them, but these had been immediately shot down, and, amid the confusion +and firing on all sides, they succeeded in breaking through almost +unobserved. + +"Here's where I saw him last," said Claverton. "Jack! Jack!" he called +in a low, penetrating tone. "Where are you, man?" + +No answer. + +A double report, and a couple of bullets came singing over their heads. + +"Half-a-dozen of you fellows keep an eye on our rear," said Claverton. +"We shall have them down upon us directly. But we won't give up yet." + +"Hallo?" cried a faint voice some twenty yards off. + +"There he is, by all that's blue!" exclaimed several. "Hooray?" + +There he was sure enough. Lying under a huge, overhanging yellow-wood +tree--several of which grew along the course of the small stream flowing +through the valley--half hidden away in the long grass, whither he had +crawled in the hope of escaping notice, lay poor Jack Armitage, his +right foot shattered by a ball, while another had penetrated his side. +His only hope was to be allowed to die in peace, though more than once +as he lay there, alone with the anguish of his wounds, forgotten and +left behind in that wild forest, he had thought of calling out to the +savages to come and put an end to him. But hope would again reassert +itself, and his own natural buoyancy of spirits, combined with the +thought of his young wife, whom he would yet live to return to, made him +resolve to cling on at all costs, as he put it. Poor Jack! + +The rescuers were none too soon, for just then a Kafir, attracted by his +faint shout, glided from behind the trunk of a tree, assegai uplifted; +but a couple of revolver bullets, well aimed, stretched him beside his +intended victim. + +"Jack, old man, are you badly hit?" asked Claverton, with a thrill of +concern in his voice, bending over him and grasping his hand. + +"Infernally," was the reply in a weak voice; and the poor fellow's face +was bathed in moisture from the agonies he was undergoing. + +"Well, cheer up, old chap; we'll get you out of this, and you'll live to +have the laugh of John Kafir yet." + +"Ping, ping!" A bullet embedded itself in the trunk of the tree, while +a second whistled perilously close to the speaker's ear. + +"The devil! There's some one among those fellows who can shoot. Lie +close, every one. There's fairly good cover here, and we'll pepper them +a few." + +"Hallo, Allen; you there?" said the wounded man. "Shake hands, old +chap. You're a good sort to come down here and look after a fellow." + +Allen looked a little sheepish. He might be a duffer in some respects, +but he was not deficient in pluck, and had been one of the first to +volunteer in the search. + +The place where they stood, or rather crouched, was a ring of bush. +Above, rose the great yellow-wood tree, with long, tangled monkey ropes +trailing from its boughs. Around, however, all was tolerably open, +although the trunks of the large forest trees which overshadowed the +spot, shutting out the sunlight, might afford some cover to the foe. +And this openness of the surroundings might yet prove the salvation of +the devoted group, who stood there hemmed in by relentless and eager +foes. + +"We'll hold our own, never fear!" cried Claverton. "We were in a worse +fix that day down by the Bashi--you remember, Jack?--when a blast of +your old post-horn sent the niggers flying in every direction." + +The wounded man smiled faintly at the reminiscence. + +"Give us a revolver, some one," he said. "I can still draw a bead lying +here." + +"No, you can't. Just lie quiet, old chap, and leave the fun to us this +time. The Dutchmen are sure to come up soon, and then we'll turn the +tables, as we did that other time." + +It was their only chance. Not for ever could that brave handful hope to +hold their own against such desperate odds. They could hear the firing +of their comrades on the hillside far away; but these had enough to do +to act on the defensive; no relief was to be looked for from them. And +now the savages began to call to each other, and scores of dark shapes +could be seen flitting amid the semi-gloom of the forest--now running a +few yards, now sinking down, as it were, into the very earth, as the +well-directed fire of the defenders began to tell, but each time +springing up again, and more of them crowding on behind, and advancing +nearer--nearer--nearer. + +"Now, then, you six, blaze a volley into that low bush there, at the +foot of the tree. At least three niggers are lying there," said +Claverton. + +They obeyed, and upon the detonation came a loud yell and groans from +more than one throat, notifying that the move had been effective. Two +bodies rolled out into the open, and two more, badly hit, staggered +behind the huge trunk. + +"That's it, boys! Hurrah! We'll give them pepper! They won't come to +close quarters, not they!" And catching their leader's spirit, the men, +all young fellows brimful of pluck, cheered wildly and gazed eagerly +round in search of more targets. + +There was silence for a moment, and then a crowd of Kafirs could be seen +gliding like spectres among the trees. + +"Here they come, by Jingo!" muttered several of the group, but the +savages hardly seemed to see them. They passed on, running, as for dear +life, many of them turning their heads to look back. And the reason of +this soon became evident, as a strong, harsh voice was heard exclaiming: +"_Nouw kerels, skiet maar! Skiet em doed, die verdomde schepsels_," +["Now, boys, shoot away! Shoot them dead, the damned rascals."] and +immediately a tremendous volley was poured into the retreating foe. + +Never was any sound more welcome to mortal ear than the harsh, familiar +dialect to the ears of the beleaguered group to whom it brought +deliverance, and a ringing cheer went up from their midst as they +recognised the voice of the old Dutch commandant, who with his men had +thus arrived timely to the rescue. Spread out in a long line through +the bush the Boers advanced, cautiously but rapidly, shooting down the +flying foe in every direction. And another wild cheer went up in reply, +as Jim Brathwaite, at the head of his mounted men, charged up the path +in the hope of cutting off the enemy's retreat, or at any rate of +thinning his numbers while crossing the open ground some two miles +beyond. + +"Hallo, Claverton!" he cried as he rode past. "Better fall back, as +you're dismounted. The ground's quite clear behind." And the battle, +which had now become a rout, swept on, farther and farther up the pass. + +Indeed our friends had as much as they could, manage in transporting +their wounded comrade with all the comfort--rough at best--that they +could muster under the circumstances; but it had to be done, and the +poor fellow went through agonies. His pluck and cheerfulness never +failed him. "I say, Claverton," he remarked, with an attempt at a +smile, "that old humbug McShane will have the laugh of me now. How the +old beggar will crow!" But the speaker knew full well that not a soul +among the forces now in the field would be more concerned and grieved on +his account than the fiery but soft-hearted Irish doctor. + +The camp was reached at last; but long before it was reached, the whole +force had overtaken them, returning from the pursuit. The bodies of +those who had fallen were found, horribly mutilated, and were hastily +buried where they fell. But the undertaking had been a failure. The +Boer commando had been unable to arrive at the rendezvous in time, owing +to the same reason which had delayed Brathwaite's Horse. It had been +engaged by a large body of the enemy evidently thrown out for the +purpose, and as soon as it had beaten these off it hastened to the +relief of our friends, as we have seen. And the upshot of the whole +affair was that nearly two thousand rebels, with an immense number of +cattle, had succeeded in breaking through, and had gone to join their +countrymen in the fastnesses of the Amatola Mountains. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +All through that night the wounded man lay, watched in turns by his old +comrades, those among whom he had spent his life. A stupor had +succeeded the agony which he had first undergone, and now he lay +comparatively free from pain and breathing heavily. It happened that +there was no surgeon in the camp, McShane being with the larger column +some twenty-five miles off; and though three men were galloping across +country to fetch him, it had long since become evident to all, even the +sufferer himself, that the whole Faculty of Medicine could not save his +life. He was doomed from the very first; that ball in the side had +decided his fate. So they watched beside him there, and many times in +the course of the night would his companions-in-arms steal to the door +of the tent to whisper for news, for poor Jack was a favourite with the +whole corps. So still and beautiful was the night that it required some +extent of imagination to realise the stirring drama which had been +enacted the day before, and an hour after midnight the camp was wrapped +in slumber and darkness, save for that one faint light burning in the +dying man's tent, a meet symbol of the life that was flickering within, +fainter, and fainter, and fainter. Away on the slopes of the far +Amatola the red signal fires of the savages twinkled and glowed, and +above rose the eternal peaks in dark outline. + +It was towards dawn. Jim Brathwaite and Claverton alone were in the +tent when Armitage seemed suddenly to awake from his death-like stupor. + +"Who's there?" he whispered. "That you, Jim?" + +In a moment Jim was at his side. + +"Well, look here, old chap, I'm off the hooks this time, and no mistake. +It wouldn't much matter--only--" and he paused. + +"It wouldn't much matter," he continued, as if with an effort; "but-- +Jim--hang it, it's Gertie I'm thinking of. Poor little girl, she'll be +left all alone--," again he seemed to hesitate, and by the light of the +dim lantern, it could be seen that the dying man's eyes were very moist. +"You'll look after her a little, now and then, won't you, Jim, for the +sake of old times? There'll be enough to keep her comfortably--when +everything's realised--that's one consolation. And tell the little girl +not to fret. It can't be helped." + +Solemnly Jim promised to carry out his wishes. He was a man of few +words, but they were from his heart. + +"Claverton--it was downright good of you to bring a fellow up here to +die among his old friends," went on Armitage, suddenly catching sight of +the other. "Better fun than pegging out with only the sooty-faced +niggers prodding away at you," he added, with an attempt at his old +light-heartedness. "After all, what does it matter? I say, though, you +fellows, don't go bothering to drag me off to `King.' Just slip me in +somewhere here. I'd rather, you see. Best sort of grave for a fellow +campaigning--and it's all God's earth." + +His voice grew somewhat fainter as he ceased. There was silence for a +few minutes, and he lay with closed eyes. The watchers stole a look at +each other, and just then three more figures slipped softly into the +tent. They were Hicks, and Allen, and Naylor. The dying man's lips +began to move, but Claverton, bending over him, could not catch his +words, though he thought he could just detect the name of his wife. + +"Where's Hicks?" he suddenly exclaimed, opening his eyes. "And Naylor, +and all of them? I should just like to say good-bye to them. Oh, hang +it all--it's too soon to give way. One more shot and the beggars'll +run. Ah-h-h! That chap's down." His mind was wandering, and he +fancied himself in the conflict again, "N-no. Where am I? It's awfully +dark. Open those shutters, somebody. A fellow can't see." + +Again the watchers look at each other. This was the beginning of the +end. Hicks had knelt down beside his dying comrade, and, grasping his +hand, something very like a sob is heard to proceed from his broad +chest. The candle in the lantern burns low, flickers, and goes out. +They put back the flaps of the tent door, and just then the first red +flush of dawn glows in the east. Then they bend down to look at their +comrade; but it is all over. The spirit has fled, only the clay +remains--cold and tenantless. + +Thus died, in his full manhood, the joyous, mischief-loving, +sunny-tempered Jack Armitage--light-hearted to the very last; fearless, +for he had never done anything to be ashamed of, or contrary to his +simple, straightforward code. Never a dishonest or malicious action +could he blame himself with, and now he was at peace with all mankind. +And if any one is tempted to ask: "Was the man a Pagan? Was he utterly +Godless?" I reply, not necessarily. He died as he had lived, among his +old comrades, careless and unthinking, perhaps, and with his thoughts +apparently all for those he left behind; but genuinely regretted by all, +and without an enemy in the world. And, O pious reader, when your time +comes and the grim monarch lays his icy grasp upon you, will they be +able to say of you even thus much? + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +FACE TO FACE. + +They buried poor Jack Armitage in the afternoon, and all turned out to +render the last honours to their departed comrade. Brathwaite's Horse, +with arms reversed, formed the principal guard of honour, the improvised +bier being borne by the dead man's most intimate friends. All the Dutch +burghers followed in the _cortege_, and, hovering around in dark groups, +the men of the Fingo Levies gazed curiously but respectfully upon the +white man's burial. No surpliced priest stood to hallow this newly-made +grave in the wilderness, or speak the commendatory words; but all the +solemnity which real feeling could impart was supplied in the demeanour +of these rough bands of armed horsemen, pacing along so silent, and +orderly, and mournful. + +The grave had been dug beneath a couple of euphorbia trees, upon a green +knoll commanding a lovely view of hill and dale, and sweeping grassland +and distant mountain, all blending into one soft picture in the golden +lustre of the afternoon sun. The steady tramp of hoof-strokes ceased as +the horsemen ranged themselves in a semicircle around the grave, and +there was dead silence. All uncovered as Jim Brathwaite, who, as senior +commander and the dead man's intimate friend, had been unanimously voted +to the duty, began to read--in the subdued and serious voice of one +wholly unaccustomed to the performance of such offices--the Anglican +burial service. At its close a firing party stepped forward, and a +threefold volley sounded forth upon the hushened air, rolling its echoes +afar, till the Amaxosa warriors, listening from their tangled fastnesses +to its distant thunder, told each other, with grim satisfaction, that +the English must be burying one of their principal captains. + +So poor Jack Armitage was laid to rest there in his lonely grave amid +the sunny wilds of Kaffraria, and a gloom hung over the camp because of +the cheerful spirit taken from its midst. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +That evening they were joined by the other column, forming part of which +was Claverton's old corps. It happened that Lumley, who had been given +the provisional command on the transfer of his chief, was in hot water. +An excellent subordinate, he was quite unfit for a wholly responsible +position, and, as was disgustedly said by those on whom his mistakes had +nearly entailed serious disaster, he had made an utter mess of it. +Consequently he had been superseded, and was daily expecting the arrival +of the man appointed to take his place. "Quite a new hand," as he said, +in an injured tone; "a fellow only just out from England." All this he +told Claverton, seated that evening in the latter's tent, where he had +come to pour out his grievances. He would clear out, he vowed, and let +the beastly war go to the deuce. Naylor was also present. + +"Don't do anything rash, Lumley. Wait and see who the new fellow is," +was Claverton's advice. "You and I had very good fun together, and so +may you and he. It isn't all walnuts and Madeira being in command, I +can tell you. Anyhow, I found it quite within my conscience to throw +over mine in favour of subordinacy--and am not sorry. No, believe me, +responsibility's a mistake except for the gifted few; and you and I can +have a much better time of it playing second fiddle." + +With such arguments he soothed the other's wounded spirit, and at length +persuaded him that so far from feeling ill-used he ought to rejoice. + +"'Pon my soul, I believe you're right," was poor Lumley's parting +remark, made in a tone of intense relief, partly owing to his former +chief's friendliness and encouragement, partly--it may be--the result of +a couple of glasses of grog warming the cockles of his heart. "But I +wish it was you they were going to put back again, Claverton. It would +be all right then. Good-night--good-night," and he went out. + +"Poor Lumley," remarked Claverton, after he had left. "I'm sorry for +him; but he's no more fit to be at the head of a body of men than I am +to command the Channel Fleet." + +"H'm, isn't he?" said Naylor. "At any rate you have sent him away in +quite a contented frame of mind. I was watching the process leading up +to it, somewhat narrowly." + +Claverton laughed. "Oh, I can always talk over a fool, that is, an +ordinary one, when it's worth while taking the trouble, which in this +case it is, for Lumley's a good fellow in most ways. But I can't talk +over the fool blatant, for he is too overwhelmed with a sense of his own +infallibility to give the slightest attention to any one else's +suggestions. By the way, I must go across and see Jim Brathwaite. Will +you come, or would you rather stay here? Our `business' won't take a +minute." + +"I may as well walk across," and they went out. On arrival at Jim's +tent, however, that redoubted warrior was not there. + +"Probably making a night of it with some of the fellows who have just +come," was Claverton's remark. "Ah, here's what I want," pouncing upon +a bit of blue paper which lay ostentatiously upon an old packing-case, +and was directed to himself. "Now we'll go back." + +The night was moonless and rather dark, for a curtain of cloud had +drifted across the sky; here and there one or two stars twinkled through +its rifts, and the outline of the sombre ridge beyond was scarcely +visible. All was quiet in the camp, the voices of the men made a kind +of monotonous hum, and now and then a laugh arose from some centre of +jollity for the time being. + +A light burned in Claverton's tent as they were about to enter, and, +pausing for a moment, the figures of the two men were thrown out into +full relief. + +Crack! + +A bright jet shoots out of the gloom just beneath the shadowy outline of +the ridge overlooking the camp, and the sharp report rolls away in dull +echo upon the night. Then another flash, and, amid the roar that +follows, Claverton and his companion both experience a strange, jarring +sensation, for a bullet has passed, with a shrill whiz, between them, +narrowly missing the head of either. + +"Good shot that, whoever it is," remarked Naylor, coolly, while his +companion, who had quickly extinguished the light, was by his side +again. "There'll be tall cannonading for the next half-hour, and +tolerably wild shooting, too." + +And there was. The effect of the double shot upon that camp--which +fancied itself so secure--was marvellous. In a moment every man had +seized his piece, and was standing eagerly peering into the gloom in the +direction of the shot--and not merely that, for many discharged their +weapons haphazard--and presently, as Naylor had said, the cannonading +waxed alarming. The frontier corps, beyond a few shots fired on the +impulse of the moment, had remained cool; they knew the futility of +blazing at random into the darkness, and had too much respect for +themselves and their reputation to be made the subject of a practical +joke played by one or two skulking Kafirs. But the camps of the Fingo +and Hottentot levies were like a disturbed ants' nest; and heeding the +voices of their officers no more than the wind, those startled and +panic-stricken auxiliaries poured a terrific fire into the darkness, and +the air was aflame with the flash of their wild, reckless volleys as +they blazed away--round after round--as fast as ever they could reload. +It was in vain that their officers strove to restrain them--their voices +were lost in the constant bellow of musketry. Now and then they would +knock down a refractory nigger or two within reach, but it had no effect +upon the others, and confusion reigned supreme. + +"Well, Lumley, here's a lively kettle of fish." + +He addressed, turned, perspiring and despairing in his frantic attempts +to restore order. + +"Good God! Claverton, is that you? Now just look at these damned +fools. Drop that, will you?" he roared, bestowing a violent kick on one +of his men who was blazing away without even bringing his piece to his +shoulder. The fellow gave a yell of pain and made off. + +At length the confusion began to abate. Seeing no further sign of an +attack upon the camp, and their ammunition having decreased alarmingly, +the native auxiliaries ceased firing by degrees, each man, as he did so, +sneaking off looking very much ashamed of himself. + +"Damned fools, in sooth," assented Claverton, when the uproar had calmed +down. "But, Lumley, I wish you'd just turn up that fellow Smith--Vargas +Smith. There's something I want to see him about at once." + +"Certainly. Here, pass the word there for Corporal Smith," he called +out. + +"Oh, he's promoted, then?" + +"Well, yes. A sharp fellow, you know; helps me no end." + +But Corporal Smith was not forthcoming. He was nowhere to be found, in +fact. He was not on guard, for he had been in the camp not long before +the alarm, they said, but now there was no trace of him. + +"How long before?" + +Well, it might have been half an hour since he was seen, certainly not +much more. + +"Not less?" + +No, not less. On that point they were all ready to swear. + +"Even as I suspected," thought Claverton to himself. And he waited some +time longer talking to Lumley, and ironically bantering some of his +former men for their contribution to the recent chaos. + +"A set of smart fellows you are, eh, old Cobus?" he said, addressing one +of the sergeants. "Blazing away all night at the stars and bushes." + +"Nay what, kaptyn," rejoined the old Hottentot, shamefacedly. "You see +a lot of us shooting like that must hit somebody. We shall find many of +the _schelms_ lying there in the morning." + +"Many of the _schelms_? Devil a bit. One or two of your own sentries, +perhaps." + +"No--Kafirs, kaptyn." + +"Bah. There won't be a leaf or a twig left on the bushes within a +circle of two miles, perhaps, but if you find a single Kafir lying +within it, I'll engage to eat him." + +There was a roar of laughter, half deprecatory, half of intense +amusement, from the group of listeners who had drawn near, at this +sarcastic hit. But just then a diversion occurred in the shape of the +reappearance of the missing Corporal Smith. + +"Hallo, Smith; where the devil have you been?" cried Lumley. + +"Been on guard, sir," was the reply, in a tone which seemed to add, "and +now shut up." + +"You weren't told off." + +"I went because they said Gert Flinders was ill, and I took his place," +he said, with a touch of defiance. + +Claverton, meanwhile, eyed him narrowly. Two impressions were present +to his mind--one, the extremely loose state of discipline into which +Lumley had let the corps drift; the other, which more nearly concerned +himself, the evident anxiety of the Cuban mulatto to avoid further +questioning. He noticed also, with one keen, swift glance, that that +worthy wore a pair of new veldtschoens. + +"By the way, on second thoughts it doesn't matter to-night," he said, +carelessly. "To-morrow will do just as well, Smith. It's late now, and +it's best to get things ship-shape after the row. Good-night, Lumley," +he added. "Come round and feed to-morrow night if we are still here," +and he went away. + +By the time Claverton reached his tent all was quiet again. His +companion had turned in, and was sleeping as unconcernedly as if beneath +the roof of an English dwelling instead of having narrowly escaped being +shot through the head by a nocturnal foe in the wilds of Kafirland. He +hastened to turn in likewise, but not to sleep. Instinct led him to +connect this last attempt upon his life with some evil hovering over +himself and Lilian. For that he was the intended mark of the assassin's +bullet he had known the moment it was fired. + +While it was yet dark Claverton left the camp quietly, and the first +glimmer of dawn saw him narrowly searching for the spot whence the shot +had been fired. It took him nearly an hour, but he found it at last. +And he found something more: he found three distinct footmarks--the +print of a pair of new veldtschoens--in the damp soil, for a heavy dew +had fallen in the night; and furthermore, sticking among the thorns, the +tiny fragment of a flannel shirt of peculiar pattern. And a vindictive +light came into the blue-grey eyes as he walked straight back to camp, +murmuring to himself complacently: + +"Just so--just as I suspected! Mr Corporal Vargas Smith--_alias_ +Sharkey--you have chosen to throw away your life again, and now, if you +are above ground in six weeks at the outside from to-day, may I be +beneath it!" + +For a moment the resolve seized him to have the ruffian arrested. There +was abundant evidence to convict him before a drum-head court-martial, +but then the heads of the field forces would inevitably shrink from +administering the extreme penalty; and besides, the question of motive +must arise, which would be an inconvenient thing to be ventilated in +public just then. No; the safest and best plan would be to pay the +assassin in his own coin; and, strong-headed and unscrupulous in such a +case as this, Claverton doubted not his ability to discharge the debt +with interest. + +He reached his tent in time to find a trooper dismounting there. The +man looked hot, dusty, and tired, having ridden express from Cathcart +with letters and despatches for the camp. Saluting, he handed a +telegram to Claverton and withdrew. The latter held the ominous missive +for a moment, regarding it with a blank stare, then, with a jerk, tore +it open, and, at the first glimpse of its purport, his face became ashy. +This is what he saw: + + From _Payne, Grahamstown_. + + To _Claverton, Brathwaite's Horse, Colonial Forces in Gaika Location, + via Cathcart_. + + _Come at once, and at all risks. No cause for alarm, but come_. + +He looked at the date. The message had been handed in two days before, +and had been lying at Cathcart for lack of an opportunity of transport. +The words swam before his eyes, and his blood ran cold with a chill +fear. This brooding presentiment, then, had not come upon him for +nothing. Handing his companion the telegram, he strode to the door and +called for Sam. + +"'Nkos?" and the native came running up with alacrity. + +"Saddle-up Fleck and the young horse, Sam, and be ready to start in half +an hour at the outside." + +"Yeh bo, 'Nkos," replied Sam, too well accustomed to his master's ways +to be astonished at anything; and he retired to carry out his orders. + +Quickly Claverton went over to arrange with Jim Brathwaite for his +absence, and long before the appointed time he was ready to start. He +fidgeted about, looking at his watch every moment; and lo, just three +minutes short of the half-hour his retainer appeared with the two +horses. + +"My dear fellow, don't give a thought to me," said Naylor, warmly, in +response to his explanations of this sudden departure. "I shall make +myself comfortable while you are away, never fear. Now, don't delay any +longer. Your duty shall be looked after all right," he added, and with +a close hand grip he bade his friend farewell. + +Claverton, with his trusty follower, sped on across the hostile ground, +every yard of which might conceal a foe; but of this he took less than +no heed. All his thoughts were ahead of him by the hundred and odd +miles or so which he had to traverse. His plan was to change horses +half-way, leaving Sam to follow at leisure, once they were well out of +the localities where they might fall in with roving bands of the enemy; +and to push on, even if he killed his steed in the undertaking. Away in +the blue heavens clouds of vultures, the ubiquitous scavengers of +Southern Africa, were visible, poised above the scene of the late +conflict; and these grew fainter and fainter, till they were lost to +view in the far distance, and the sun began to decline in the west as +the travellers kept steadily on over hill and dale, carefully eschewing +short cuts and keeping to the beaten track. Once they were descried by +a group of Kafir scouts, who, from their position on a hill-top, opened +fire at long range, and of course ineffectually. + +"Sam," exclaimed Claverton, as they were saddling up to continue their +road, after a short halt, "there's a devil of a storm coming up. Look +there." + +The native glanced upwards. "There is, Inkos," he replied; "but we may +just ride through it and escape." + +Great inky clouds were gathering with alarming rapidity, and hastening +to unite themselves to the dense black pall which drew on, silent, +spectral, and gigantic, over the mountain-tops, and a dull, muffled roar +boomed nearer and nearer between the fitful puffs of hot wind which +fanned the travellers' faces. And now the scene was a weird one indeed. +They were just entering a long defile--for they had reached the +mountains--and along the rugged crags of the lonely heights towering +above on either side, the red flashes were playing. Higher and higher +piled the solid cloud-masses, and a few large drops of rain began to +patter upon the stones. The gloom deepened, and all Nature was hushed +as if in preparation for the coming battle of the elements. + +Hark! Was that the ring of a horse's hoof far down the pass? No. Not +a human creature is abroad in this awesome place to-night, with the +black, brooding storm overhead, and the clans of the savage enemy +besetting every step of the road with peril. A huge bird of prey soars +away from one of the desolate crags, uttering a hoarse, long-drawn cry +like the wailing of a lost soul. It is pitch dark. Then a flash lights +up the road, and Claverton, profiting by it, peers anxiously ahead. + +"Come along, Sam. There's a smooth bit here, anyhow, and we can get +over a good stride of ground," and, spurring up his horse, away he goes +at a long, even canter, with the Natal boy close behind him striving to +keep up; and the sparks fly from beneath the horses' hoofs as they dash +on through the night. A roll of thunder--long, heavy, and appalling-- +peals through the pass, a vivid flash of plum-coloured flame, and +Claverton suddenly reins in his steed--who, with a snort of terror, +rears and shies--just in time to avoid charging headlong into another +horseman advancing at an equally rapid pace from the contrary direction, +and who also reins in with a jerk. A powerfully-built, dark-featured +man who stifles a half-spoken ejaculation; but beyond that neither +speak. + +What is the spell thrown over these two as they sit their horses gazing +at each other in the lightning's horrible, scathing gleam in that gloomy +pass? Is it an instinct? It is more. In that one vivid flash +occupying not a second of time, Claverton has recognised in this sudden +apparition the man whom he had seen and heard in the deserted hut, +deliberately instigating his assassination. He recognises something +more. As, with a muttered "good-night," the other passes on into the +gloom, the lightning flashes again, revealing upon his bridle-hand a +curious ring. It is an exact facsimile of the lost ring which glittered +in the moonbeams beneath the old pear-tree on that last night at Seringa +Vale. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +"GIVE US LONG REST... DARE DEATH OR DREAMFUL EASE." + +We left Lilian crushed beneath the weight of this fresh blow dealt her +by the man who had been the curse of her life. + +To a night of anguish--anguish so poignant that she sometimes feared for +her very reason--succeeded days of dull and hopeless apathy. Her whole +being, body and soul alike, seemed to be numb and dead. She could not +talk, she dared not think, nor could she pray. Even that last resource +was denied her; for there came upon her a miserable feeling of fatality, +that her God had forsaken her, leaving her to be the sport of some cruel +demon. And, amid her apathy, her thoughts would, in spite of herself, +float dreamily back in a mechanical kind of way to all that had gone +before. She had been sad-hearted then in the temporary separation from +her lover; but now! that time was ecstasy itself in comparison with +this. Somehow, it never occurred to her to doubt one word of Truscott's +statement. He had been so positive, so resolute, that it must be true. +And then she remembered the hundred and one little incidents--hints that +her lover had let fall--uneasiness manifested on an occasion--the veiled +compunction with which he had touched upon his former life--all stood +out now in startling conspicuousness. Even that day had opened so +propitiously, and lo, within one single hour, life was ended for her. + +Sorely anxious were the Paynes over this fell change which had come upon +her on that sunny afternoon. They could elicit nothing from her. She +was not well, she admitted, but would be all right in a day or two, no +doubt. And this, with such a ghost of a smile upon her white face, that +Payne, suddenly struck with an idea, snatched up his hat and rushed down +into the town to inquire if any fresh news had been received from the +seat of war. Had she, unknown to them, heard that harm had befallen her +lover? If so, that would amply account for the depression. So he went +diligently to work to hunt up news; but no telegrams of a dispiriting +nature had been received, quite the contrary--the enemy had had another +thrashing, and there was no mention of loss on the colonial side. All +this was a relief to Payne. But sorely puzzled; indeed, completely +baffled; he returned to his wife and reported accordingly. + +"I tell you what, George," she began, and her face wore a troubled and +concerned expression. "I've heard something--something that makes me +think this Captain Truscott's at the bottom of it." + +"Eh?" + +"Well, he was here yesterday afternoon for more than two hours, and +Lilian hasn't been herself since. She didn't tell me, but I heard it +while you were out." + +Payne stared at her blankly, but made no reply. + +"You know I never did like that man," continued she. "I told you so at +first. And I'm perfectly certain that he and Lilian are something more +than merely old acquaintances." And then she told him of the latter's +dismayed look on first recognising Truscott in the crowd, and one or two +other things that had not escaped her observation. "He has been +persecuting her in some way, I'm sure, and I won't have her persecuted," +concluded the warm-hearted little woman. + +Payne was whistling meditatively. He had a high opinion of his wife's +intelligence in all matters relating to the idiosyncrasies of her sex, +so he would just let her go on. + +"Well, what's to be done?" he said. "We can't ask the fellow what the +devil he's been up to, and Lilian won't tell us." + +"Can't we? I think we can, and ought." + +Payne shook his head, and looked gloomy. The affair was beginning to +assume a serious phase. It was a delicate business, and the honest +frontiersman felt thoroughly perplexed. He did not want to make a fool +of himself, or of any one else, through officiousness or meddling. + +"I know a trick worth two of that, Annie," he said at last. + +"What is it?" + +"Wire to Claverton. Eh?" + +She paused. "Well, perhaps that would be the best plan." + +"Good. I'll cut down and do it now." And, sliding from the table +whereon he had been seated swinging his legs, he reached down a jar of +tobacco from a shelf, and hastily cramming his pipe, started off. "What +shall I tell him, though?" he asked, suddenly stopping in the doorway. +"Won't do to pitch it too strong, eh?" + +"N-no. Wait a bit," and then she concocted the message which we have +seen Claverton receive; and Payne being on his way to despatch it, she +turned away with a look of relief over the prospect of decreasing +responsibility. + +Lilian, meanwhile, had become a mere shadow of her old self, and the one +spark of comfort left to her was that her persecutor had kept himself +out of her sight. For he had left the city, bound for the seat of war, +and, for reasons of his own, he had refrained from bidding farewell to +the Paynes in person, but had sent a note explaining that he was ordered +off at a minute's warning. He had got a command at last, he said; only +some levies, at present, but still that was something to go on with, and +he must leave for the front immediately. Which missive was read by its +recipients with feelings of decided relief. + +The fact was, the gallant Truscott began to suspect that it might be +advisable for him to take himself out of the way for a time, and he had +no desire to meet his rival in person. Let the two settle it as best +they might, was his cynical reflection; settle it they must, and to his, +Truscott's, satisfaction--on that point he felt perfectly safe. He had +played a bold game and had won, and, now that he had won, it would never +do to spoil it by any chance blundering. So with a few lines of renewed +warning, merciless, pithy, and to the point, posted to Lilian--the wily +scoundrel departed for the seat of war, and unless a well-aimed bullet +should pierce the black, scheming heart, and of that there was but small +chance, there would be no more happiness for her on earth. There were +times when she would almost make up her mind to throw off the hateful +thrall, to defy him to do his worst, whatever that worst might be; but +then would rise up the frightful facts, as he had laid them before her +in all their nakedness, and she would fall asleep, only to be haunted by +a series of terrible dreams; visions of a crowded court hushened to a +deathly silence in expectation of the dread sentence; of a small group +in a grim gaol-yard, in the chill morning--one face among them lit up +with fiendish exaltation--a noose, a gallows, and a black, hideous beam. + +"My love--my sweet lost love!" she would moan, waking from one of these +frightful fantasies in a flood of streaming tears. "Was it for this you +were restored to me again? Ah, why did we ever meet?" And the black, +silent hours melted away into dawn, but brought with them no comfort. +More than once had her affectionate hostess tried to get at the secret +of her grief--but Lilian was firm. Meanwhile, the Paynes began to grow +seriously alarmed. A very little more of this, and the results would be +disastrous. Nothing had been heard of the telegram, and they became +more and more anxious every day. + +"Miss Strange, do let's go for a walk when I come back; it'll be such a +lovely evening." The speaker was Rose Payne, who was hurriedly +gathering up her books, and cramming them into a bag, preparatory to +starting for afternoon school. + +"So we will, dear. Only you must come back in good time." + +"Won't I?" gleefully cried the little girl, flinging her arms round +Lilian's neck. She was rapturously fond of her former preceptress, all +the more so, perhaps, now that she was subjected to the sterner +discipline of school; and a long, quiet evening walk with Lilian, all to +herself, was a treat indeed. "Won't I just come straight back! It'll +be nice and cool then, and we can go ever so far over the hill, above +Fern Kloof. So long, till four." + +"Good-bye, Rosie dear," replied Lilian, kissing the child +affectionately, and, with a sigh, watching her bound light-heartedly +away. Then she turned from the doorway, and, with a drooping gesture of +abandonment, threw herself into a low chair. The Paynes were out +somewhere, and, as on that former afternoon, she had the house entirely +to herself. The soft air came in through the open windows, warm but not +oppressive, from the tree-fringed shade. A great striped butterfly +floated in, and, scarcely aware of its mistake, fluttered around a large +vase of flowers upon the table. And still she sat, heedless of +everything, with her hands pressed to her face, thinking, thinking--ever +thinking. + +"Only four days ago," she said to herself, "four short days--and now! +Ah, God, it is too cruel!" and the tears welled forth and slowly began +to force their way through the closed fingers. + +The hum of the voices of a couple of passers-by sound drowsily upon the +calm; then, the ring of hoofs coming up the street at a rapid canter. +It stops, as if some one had reined in before the door--but she heeds it +not. Some one dismounting at the next house, she thinks. Then a quick, +firm tread in the passage, and a man is standing inside the room. With +a low, startled cry, Lilian looks up and falls back in her chair in a +deathly faint. It is Claverton. + +In a moment he is beside her, and has her in his arms. "Oh, Lilian, my +darling! What _is_ this? They did right to send for me--Good God, +Lilian! Why, what have you been doing with yourself to get like this?" +he adds, in a tone of undisguised alarm, startled by her white and +dejected looks. + +But no reply can she make. Fairly taken by storm, she is clinging +tightly to him, her face buried in his breast. Only a convulsive sob +shakes her frame from head to foot. + +"What have you been doing with yourself, child?" he continues, +vehemently. "Why, you are as white and pale as the mere ghost of your +former self. Lilian!" but still she cannot answer. "Lilian; look at +me, I say. I have ridden straight here, day and night as hard as I +could ride, to come to you and never to leave you again." + +He paused; but the expected words of joy and of love came not. Suddenly +she drew herself away from him, and the look on her face was as the look +of death. Already she had failed to keep her side of the compact--that +compact written in tears, and sealed with the throes of a breaking +heart--and she had doomed him. No, but she would not. + +"Arthur, you must leave me. Now, at once, before it is too late," she +exclaimed, in a quick, alarmed tone. + +"Lilian. Are you mad?" + +Not a shade of anger or reproach is there in his voice. Amazement and +indulgent tenderness alone are to be traced. + +And she? Frantic with apprehension, she knew not what to say. To warn +him of danger would be but to drive him right into its jaws. What +should she do? Ah! That was it. The old promise. + +"Lilian, what has come between us, now? Only tell me, darling, and it +will all be cleared away." + +It was terrible. Her brain reeled as, with wild, dilated eyes, she +stood gazing at him. His presence was so unexpected--it had burst upon +her like a thunderbolt. He had, as he said, travelled night and day to +reach her side--and now she must bid him leave her for ever though it +broke her heart, as it certainly would. They two must never look upon +each other again in life. Then her brain grew cold and steady. She +must not flinch, she must save him from this ruthless enemy at all and +whatever cost to herself. To herself! Ah, but--and to him? The answer +to this question flashed across her determination--the consciousness of +how valueless would be the life she was about to save. Yet--O God! the +recollection of those terrible, menacing words! She sank her head into +her clasped hands and shuddered. Again, so softly, so tenderly, he +repeated his question: + +"Lilian; what has come between us? Tell me, darling!" + +She threw back her head with a quick movement, as if quivering beneath +the torture. + +"My former promise, Arthur. You remember," and averting her face, again +she shuddered from head to foot. "He is not--dead--as I thought." + +"And then--?" + +"I cannot break it. I thought him dead--but now--I cannot break it. +God help me!--help us both!" + +A devil took possession of Claverton's heart, and the fixed, vengeful +look in his face was awful to behold as he murmured to himself: "God +help _him_. If he is not dead he soon will be--or I." Then aloud: +"Lilian, you vowed once that nothing ever should part us. You remember, +darling." + +The voice was even more gentle than before. Had it been otherwise she +could almost better have borne it--and yet not. A fraction of a second +and she had yielded, had thrown herself into his arms; but again the +savage threats of Truscott and the diabolical malice of his tones and +looks rose up before her, and she felt strong again. In a paroxysm of +that love, which was at once her strength and her weakness, she cried: + +"I cannot--I cannot, Arthur. I am too weak, and that you must see. I +cannot break that promise. You must go--go and curse my name and +memory--if it be worth cursing, to the end of your days. And I--O God! +let me die!" + +The forced, unnatural hardness which she had thrown into her voice, +struck upon his ear, filling him with amazement and dismay. It was all +like a bad dream. He could hardly realise that she was actually trying +to cast him off. From any other living soul guilty of such vacillating +treachery, he would have turned away in scarcely surprised scorn. To +this woman, rather than speak one word of anger, reproach, or blame--and +what is harder--rather than think it, he would have died a thousand +deaths. How he loved her! Her very weakness was sacred to him. It was +thrown upon his tenderness, now; it was for him to handle it tenderly, +not to crush it--and her. And a curious thrill of ghastly comfort shot +through him in the thought that even at this fearful moment, when his +heart was sick with bitter despair, he was really proving the strength +of his love by something more than words. Three times now had she +repulsed him, each under circumstances more cruel than the previous +one--but the loyal love of the man never flinched--never swerved by a +single hair's breadth. And he must be very gentle and indulgent with +her now. + +"Lilian, my sweet, you hardly know what you are saying," he answered, +imprinting a shower of passionate kisses on the trembling, ashy lips. +"I'm not going to take what you tell me, in earnest at all." + +"Spare me--spare me," she moaned, shuddering in his embrace. "I meant +it--all, and--" + +"Hi--Halloa! Here's some fellow's horse got into the garden!" cried a +man's voice outside. "Yek--yek! Hi! Jafta. Turn the infernal brute +out. He's broken down the fence in two places--confound it--which means +a claim for five pounds from old Cooke next door. Out, you brute!" and +a sound was heard of a stone, launched by an incensed hand, striking +violently against the paling, while the offending quadruped, tearing his +way through and carrying with him two yards of fence, bolted off, +snorting and kicking, down the road. + +"What'll the owner do, George?" said another voice approaching the front +door. "Goodness knows where that horse'll bolt to, now." + +"Blazes, I hope--and his owner after him," replied Payne, surveying +resentfully the receding form of the trespasser. "Why the deuce can't +fellows tie their horses up when they leave 'em in the streets? O +Lord!" + +This last ejaculation was caused by the sight of Claverton, who had come +quickly to the door to meet them and to give Lilian time to recover +herself, and at whom the speaker stood staring open-mouthed and somewhat +dismayed. + +"Was that _your_ horse, old chap?" he asked, dubiously, shaking hands +with the new arrival and experiencing a sensation of huge relief because +of his presence. + +"It was; but it may be the possession of some one else by now. Bother +the horse, though. I say, Payne, I want to talk to you." + +"One minute, old chap. Here, Jafta--Jafta," he called out to his boy. +"Go and catch that horse again. Look sharp--run like the devil. If you +bring him back within a quarter of an hour I'll give you a shilling." + +Away went Jafta, and Payne, glad of the momentary delay, returned to +Claverton sorely perplexed. He had sent for him, indeed, but didn't +know what the deuce to say to him now that he had come. It was more +within a woman's province, he thought; and there and then his spouse +came to the rescue, taking the affair into her own hands. + +"Come inside, Mr Claverton," she said. "I'm so glad you're here." And +then, when they were alone, she told him everything that had happened, +from the day they had first seen Truscott until the moment of their +going out that afternoon just before his arrival. + +He listened quietly. A deadly resolve was shaping itself within his +heart. + +"What sort of a man is this Truscott--I mean what sort of a looking +man?" he asked. + +She described him, and the listener immediately recognised the portrait. +The whole scheme was clear to him now. There was no question of money +at the bottom of this man's hostility towards him. Either the mulatto +was lying when he had told him this, or, more probably, the other had +given such a reason in order to conceal the real one. No. It was to +rob him of Lilian that his would-be assassin was plotting. He was wise, +indeed, to hire the bravo's steel in the shape of Sharkey--for he might +have been sure that only death would part him from Lilian. Ralph +Truscott, look to yourself now. It is no woman, weak in the very +helplessness of her love, with whom you have to deal this time. You +have, indeed, cause to meditate. + +"He's gone to the front, has he?" continued Claverton. "Whereabouts? +Do you know?" + +Annie Payne looked at him with a troubled air. She knew well her +interlocutor's determination and daring, and she saw breakers ahead. + +"But it will be all right now that you are back again," she ventured. +She greatly feared otherwise; still, one must hope for the best. + +The dark look deepened over his features. He hardly seemed to hear her, +but stood gazing through the open window. + +"I must go," he exclaimed, suddenly. "Where is Lilian?" and with three +strides he gained the other room. It was empty. "Ah, better so, +perhaps," he muttered to himself. "Mrs Payne, tell her, with my love, +that a very few days will see me back here again, and everything will +come right then. Now I must not lose another moment. Good-bye, for a +few days." + +"What are you going to do?" was the reply, spoken in a tone of alarm. +"Wait. Don't be in such a hurry. You can't rush off at once. You must +off-saddle if only for an hour. Anyhow, wait until George comes back. +Ah, there he is." + +For at that moment George appeared, leading the runaway by the bridle. +The joint exertions of himself and his stable-boy had availed to catch +the trespasser just in time to prevent his doing further damage. + +Claverton was firm in his refusal. He had his own reasons for wishing +to leave that house. Not even the smallest risk would he run of being +tempted to forego the purpose he had in hand, for a single instant. + +"Here's your critter, old chap," cried Payne, panting from the effects +of his ran. "Je--rusalem! What a chevvy we had after the beggar--Eh? +What? Going away! Not to be thought of." + +"But I am!" replied the other in a tone of settled resolve, as he +prepared to fling the bridle over the animal's neck. "Shall be back +again in four or five days. Hold on. Just walk a little way down the +street with me." + +They walked on. Payne's brow growing more and more serious as he +listened. He had a great regard for this man, who had stepped in to his +rescue twice at a very critical moment. + +"My dear Claverton, be careful what you are about," he said, gravely. +"It's a devilish awkward business, and at any other time than during the +war it would be impossible." + +"Oh, I've served my apprenticeship in a good school for caution, never +fear. But, you'll see me again in a few days or--you'll never see me at +all." + +Payne made no reply. Suddenly he looked up at a house they were +passing. It was a small house standing back from the street. + +"By the way. We were awfully sorry to hear about that poor fellow +Armitage," he said. "His wife is staying there." + +"Staying there? In that house? Why, I thought she was in `King.'" + +"No. She came down here about a week ago--she only heard about the poor +fellow the day before yesterday." + +"Is she very much cut up?" + +"Dreadfully, I'm told. She is staying with another friend of yours-- +Mrs Hicks." + +"Then she's in good hands. Look here, Payne. I'll go in for a moment +and ask after her--poor little thing. And if I'm not out in five +minutes, just take my horse round to Wood's and make them off-saddle him +and give him a feed. It's all on my way and it'll save time. I'll join +you there, if you don't mind waiting." + +Quickly walking up the little gravel path bordered with orange-trees, +and shaded with trellised vines, Claverton knocked gently at the door. +A subdued footstep in the silent passage, and it was opened--by Laura. +She stared at him in amazement. + +"Why, when did you come? I thought you were away at the front. Do come +in." A superfluous request, seeing that she had already shut the door +behind him. "Poor Gertie will like to see you." + +"How does she bear it?" + +"She is dreadfully down-hearted. At first I was quite alarmed for her, +but I think the worst is over now. She was very fond of poor Jack." + +"So were we all. Even such a leather-hearted curmudgeon as your humble +servant." + +"It is no fault of yours that the poor fellow is not alive at this +moment," rejoined Laura, with warmth. "We heard all about it." All +this time she had been furtively watching him, and noting, with some +astonishment, his listless and dejected air. It was owing to no regret +for his deceased comrade, she was certain of that. What could be going +wrong with him? + +"My dear Laura, I give you my word for it there was nothing to hear," he +replied; and seeing that the subject was distasteful to him, she left +him, to go and prepare poor Gertie for his visit. + +Claverton wished he could have forgotten his own trouble as he stood in +the presence of the young widow--this mere girl--sorrowing for the loss +of him with whom she had begun to tread life's path. Very happy and +bright had that path been to her--to them both--during those short two +years. Very happy and peaceful would it have continued to be; but now +he was gone--snatched away from her suddenly by the merciless bullet of +the savage foe--shot down in the dark forest. He lay, cold in his +grave, far away in the wilds of Kafirland; and his gleeful laugh, and +sunny glance, would gladden her heart and her eyes no more. No wonder a +rush of tears came to her eyes, as she remembered under what +circumstances she had last seen her visitor. And now she was desolate +and alone. + +Claverton held her hand in his strong, friendly grasp, and, when the +first paroxysm of her reopened grief was spent, gently he narrated the +circumstances of poor Armitage's last moments; how his last thoughts and +care had been for her; how her name had been almost the last words upon +his lips. Then he dwelt upon the dead man's popularity, and the blank +his loss would leave in the ranks of his comrades, not one of whom but +would have risked life to save him had they known before it was too +late. And there was that in the gentle, sympathetic voice, which +soothed and comforted the girl-widow, sorrowing there as one who had no +hope. + +"My bright-hearted Jack! I shall never see you again. Would that I had +been more loving to you while you were here," she murmured, and, bowing +her head into her hands, again she wept. + +"That I am sure you could not have been," answered Claverton, gently, +placing his hand upon her shoulder, and looking down on her with +infinite pity. "Child, believe me, there are losses more bitter even +than those inflicted upon as by death. Now, I must go. Good-bye--I am +returning to camp now; but I shall come and see you again soon, and you +must try and keep up your spirits." + +She seized his hand. "You risked your life to save his. No--it's of no +use denying it--you did. God bless you for it, and those who were with +you. Tell them from me, when you go back, that I thank them. Good-bye. +God bless you--and Lilian." + +This was too much. The chord of his own grief thus suddenly touched, +vibrated loudly. With a silent pressure of the hand, he left her. + +"Any message for Hicks?" he asked, as Laura met him in the passage. + +"What! Why, you are never going back to the front already?" answered +she, gazing at him in astonishment. + +"I am--straight. In an hour's time I shall be at least eight or nine +miles on the road." + +She saw that he meant it, and her woman's wit saw at once that something +was wrong. + +"I am very sorry," she said. "Do wait ten minutes while I write a line +to Alfred. He will like to get it direct, and the post is such a +chance." + +A superstitious foreboding took hold of Claverton's mind as he watched +her bending over her writing-case at the other side of the room. This +miserable war had made one widow immediately within their own circle, +Heaven grant that it might not make two. It seemed that nothing but +ill-luck had befallen that once happy circle since he had joined it--as +if his presence had something baleful about it, and was destined to work +harm to all with whom he came in contact. Ah, well, he had one more +mission to fulfil, and then what became of him did not much matter. So +Laura having finished her letter he bade her farewell, promising to +deliver it as soon as he reached the camp. + +"I tell you what it is, Claverton. You'll have to ride that animal +rather carefully, or he'll never carry you all the way," remarked Payne, +eyeing the horse critically as his rider, having hastily buckled the +last strap, swung himself into the saddle. + +"No, I've ridden his tail nearly off as it is. But I shall meet Sam on +the road, and shall change. Good-bye, or rather, so long. You'll see +me again in about a week--barring accidents." + +Payne's heart sank within him. There wae a reckless, determined ring in +the other's tone that meant volumes; and he shook his head sadly as he +watched him ride away down the street. Then he walked slowly home, lost +in thought. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +TRAPPED. + +"When did he begin to go lame, Sam?" + +"About two hours the other side of this, Inkos. I had to lead him all +the way here." + +Claverton bends down again to examine the horse's leg, and the light of +the stable-lantern reveals an expression of the most intense and +hopeless disgust upon his face. The stable is that belonging to the inn +half-way along the King Williamstown road, the hour is shortly after +midnight, and he has only just arrived. He has ridden untiringly, not +sparing his mount, which indeed can hardly go a pace further; and now +his other horse, which he has been counting on as a relay, is dead lame. +It will be remembered that he had left Sam on the road, with orders to +rest his horse and follow him at leisure. Shortly after Sam had seen +his master's back disappear over the rising ground, the animal began to +go lame. Carefully the Natal boy examined his feet. There was no shoe +loose, no stone in the frog--no. Poor Fleck had strained a sinew, and, +by dint of much toil and considerable pain, the horse managed to reach +the inn with his fetlock swelled to a ball. + +"Sam, I must get on; and at once. Is there no one here who could sell +me a horse?" The native thought a moment. "There are two men who came +down from the camp to-day, Inkos, but their horses are used up. There's +a Dutchman going up there, he has an extra horse. That's it; this one +over here," and, taking the lantern, Sam led the way to the other end of +the stable. Claverton ran his eye over the animal designated. It was a +large, young horse, well put together and in tolerable condition, but it +rolled the whites of its eyes and laid its ears back in suggestive +fashion. + +"Looks skittish," mused Claverton, as with a wild snort the animal +backed and began "rucking" at its tether, then bounding suddenly +forward, came with a fracas against the rickety crib, and stood snorting +and trembling and rolling its eyes. "Half-broken evidently. What's the +fellow's name, Sam?" + +"Oppermann. Cornelius Oppermann, Inkos." + +"H'm. Getting light," he mused, opening the door and looking skywards. +"Sam, I'm going to buy that brute anyhow, and go straight on at once. +Now you must wait till the young horse is rested, and take him back to +Payne's. Fleck can stay here. And, Sam," he went on in a graver tone, +"you are to wait there till I come back. Do everything they tell you; +and if they send you to me, come at once and as quickly as you can. You +see?" + +Sam looked crestfallen. He had reckoned upon accompanying his master +back to the war. But with the unswerving loyalty of his race towards +those whom they hold in veneration he made no demur, and promised +faithfully to carry out his master's wishes to the best of his ability. + +Ten minutes later Claverton was standing on the _stoep_ of the inn, +bargaining with an unkempt, sandy-bearded Dutchman, who, hastily arrayed +in his shirt and trousers, stood rubbing his eyes with the air of a man +just aroused from a sound sleep; as, indeed, was the case. + +"You can take him for forty-five pounds," the latter was saying, having +finished a cavernous yawn. + +"Ha--ha--ha! Forty-five? Now look here, Oppermann," answered Claverton +in a chaffing, good-natured tone. "You're not awake yet, man, or you'd +remember the brute wasn't worth a dollar more than twenty. He isn't +half-broken, to begin with." + +"Twenty. Nay, what? You shall have him for forty." + +"I rather want him, but I'm in no hurry," was the reply. "Here's +thirty, down on the nail. Look." + +He pulled out some notes, and the Dutchman's eyes glittered. + +"Thirty-five?" he began. + +"No. Thirty. Take it or--leave it." + +"Well, well. Give me the money," and he held out his hand. But +Claverton was not quite so "green" as all that. + +"Here, Sam," he called out. "Look. The Baas has sold me the horse we +were looking at for thirty pounds," and he handed over the money to the +expectant Boer, thus making Sam a witness to the transaction. "Now go +and saddle him up," he continued. + +"Are you starting so soon?" said Oppermann, with surprise. "I'm going +up to the camp--we might ride together. Wait a little quarter of an +hour." + +"Can't wait a moment longer. Look sharp." + +The other disappeared with alacrity. He had been looking forward with +some apprehension to his lonely journey across the hostile ground, and +the escort and companionship of this cool, clear-headed Englishman would +be a perfect godsend to him. So he soon hurried through his scant +preparations, and by the time Claverton had settled with the host, and +had saddled up, the Boer was nearly ready. + +Two rough-looking fellows were talking to the landlord in front of the +door as Claverton was about to start. They were the two referred to by +Sam as having just come from the war. + +"I say, Mister," called out one of them. "You're not going all the way +alone, are you?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, now--if I might be so bold as to advise--you be a bit careful. A +lot more of them Kafirs have broken out, and there are gangs of 'em out +all over this side of the Buffalo range, and that's where you'll have to +cut through to reach the main camp--unless you go all the way round by +`King,' which'll take you a day longer." + +"Well, I shan't do that, anyhow. Thanks for the hint, all the same. +Here, Sam." + +"Inkos?" + +"Don't forget what I told you, and--here--give this to Miss Lilian." + +"This" was a note, and the speaker's tone trembled ever so slightly over +the name. + +"Yeh bo, Inkos," replied Sam, earnestly. Then a sudden impulse seized +him, and, bending down, he kissed his master's foot as it rested in the +stirrup. A vague superstitious thrill shot through Claverton's heart. +These natives were sometimes gifted with marvellous presage. Did this +touching act of homage on the part of his humble follower portend that +they would never see each other again. Claverton put out his hand. + +"Good-bye, Sam. Mind what I told you." + +The native took it shyly. Then he turned away, his eyes sparkling as he +held up his head proudly. His master had shaken hands with him--a black +man. Death itself would be nothing to what he would willingly undergo +for that master. Meanwhile the white spectators smiled indulgently +among themselves. They did not sneer; a little of Claverton's +reputation had been noised abroad, and they respected him too much. But +some of these Englishmen were such queer fellows. Shaking hands with a +nigger, for instance--etcetera, etcetera! + +The temporary diversion afforded by these preparations and precautions +over, Claverton's thoughts again ran in the old channel. He gazed on +the mountain range in front of him, peak after peak rising up to the +eternal blue, and remembered how they two had looked on them together +from that very spot when all seemed so secure and propitious not much +more than a couple of months before; and it was like the mocking smile +of a demon, this same landscape smiling on him now in the bright fresh +morning. Something or other made his mind recur to poor Herbert +Spalding plunging overboard in the dead of night deliberately intending +to take his own life, and the thought stung him like a spur. _He_ would +take not his own life, but that of the man who had taken what was far +dearer to him than his own life. Every stride of his horse was bringing +him nearer and nearer to his sure vengeance. + +The sound of hoofs behind interrupted his meditations, and the Boer, +whom true to his word he had not waited for a minute beyond the +stipulated time, overtook him, riding at a gallop. He frowned. In no +mood for conversation, he would be obliged to listen to and answer the +commonplaces of this lout, and there was no getting rid of him. But the +Dutchman was of the taciturn order. In half an hour his topics of +conversation were used up, and he was content to jog along in silence by +the side of his companion, who certainly gave him no encouragement to +break it. Thus the day wore on, and by the middle of the afternoon they +were in among the mountains. Hitherto there had been little sign of +disturbance. They had passed a few farmsteads and a native kraal or +two--the latter still inhabited by so-called "loyals," in other words, +natives who did not fight against the Goverment themselves, but assisted +with supplies and information those who did. But even these habitations +had ceased now, and they wound their way through the great gloomy gorges +covered with dense bush, where the sentinel baboons eat and looked down +upon them from many an overhanging cliff, which echoed their loud +resounding bark. + +Suddenly their steeds pricked up their ears, with an inquiring snort. +Promptly Claverton's revolver was in his hand, while his companion held +his rifle--an excellent Martini-Henry--ready on his hip. Something was +heard approaching. + +"Kafirs!" exclaimed the Dutchman, excitedly. + +"Tsh! No; it's a horseman." + +It was--and a strange figure he cut as at that moment he appeared round +a bend in the track. A middle-sized, plebeian-looking man, mounted on a +sorry nag. His hair, and the wispy scraps of beard stuck about his +parchment-coloured visage, were of a neutral tint; and a snub nose, and +projecting lower jaw, in no wise prepossessed one towards the +individual. He was arrayed in a rusty suit of black, and a dirty white +tie was stuck half in half out of the throat of his clerical waistcoat, +and he sat his horse "like a tailor;" but the most grotesque article of +this out-of-keeping costume was his hat--a reduced "chimney-pot," with a +huge puggaree wound turban-wise about the crown, the ends falling down +over the wearer's back. + +"Bah!" exclaimed Claverton. "Why, it's a parson. What the deuce can he +be doing here?" + +The stranger's countenance lighted up with satisfaction at sight of the +pair. + +"This is a relief," he said. "I thought I should never get out of this +dreadful bush alive." + +"Where were you going to?" asked Claverton. "I was going to take a +short cut through to Cathcart. They told me the way was safe, and now I +find it isn't. The whole bush is full of Kafirs. I could hear them +calling to each other in every direction." + +"Quite sure it wasn't baboons?" + +"Oh, yes; I saw them--hundreds of them. Luckily they didn't see me. It +was in trying to avoid them that I lost myself." + +"Where did you say they were?" went on Claverton. He had formed no very +high opinion of his new acquaintance, who informed him that his name was +Swaysland, and that he was a missionary. + +"Over in that next kloof. But you are not going on, surely? The way is +not safe, indeed it is not." + +"We are, though--straight. But I--" + +The words were cut short, for the young horse, all unbroken as it was, +gave a violent shy, which, taking its rider unawares, nearly unseated +him, so unexpected was it. And, simultaneously, several red forms rose +up amid the bushes three hundred yards in their rear and poured in a +rattling volley, but, as usual, firing well over the heads of their +destined victims. + +"By Jove! there they are," cried Claverton. "Come along; there's no +turning back now. We must ride like the devil," and he spurred along +the path followed closely by the other two. At least two hundred Kafirs +sprang up and started in pursuit, discharging their pieces as they +leaped from cover with a fierce shout, and the bullets whistled around +the fugitives with a sharp, shrill hiss. + +"Come on, Mr Swaysland. Spur up that nag of yours; we shall get a good +start here," cried Claverton, as they reached a comparatively open +plateau of about a mile in extent. But it was uphill ground and rough +withal, and the pursuers were only too evidently gaining on them. + +Pphit! Pphit! A bullet ploughs up the ground almost between the very +hoofs of Claverton's horse, while another splinters itself against a +stone just in front. + +"The devil! It's getting lively," he ejaculated as, without slackening +speed, he looked round for a target for his revolver. The missionary +was deathly white, and cut a grotesque figure, spurring up his seedy +animal, almost holding on round its neck, while the flaps of his +long-tailed coat and the ends of his puggaree streamed out behind him. +For the life of him Claverton could not repress a laugh. + +Suddenly the Dutchman lurches in his saddle and falls headlong to the +ground--shot dead by one of the pursuers, whose bullet has entered +between the shoulders--probably to the great surprise of the marksman. +His horse, terrified, starts off, dragging him in the stirrup for a few +paces, then his foot disentangles itself and he lies an inanimate heap. +With a wild-beast howl the savages bound forward, and Claverton, +glancing over his shoulder, can see a score of assegais flash and gleam +blood-red in the sunshine, as the fierce warriors crowd round the +ill-fated Boer, literally cutting him to pieces. + +Like wolves delayed in the pursuit of a sledge by a forestalment of the +prey which must eventually be theirs, the Kafirs halt for a moment, each +eager to bury his spear-head in the body of the fallen man; but it is +only for a moment. With a wild yell of triumph they press on--thirsting +for more blood. A sudden groan from his companion causes Claverton to +turn his head. Is he hit, too? The missionary's face is livid with +terror, and following the glance of the staring, dilated eyeballs-- +dilated with a fear that has almost mania in it--all hope dies within +him. A dense swarm of Kafirs is issuing from the bush immediately in +front, and the two white men are thus securely caught, as in a trap. +For on the only side left open falls a huge precipice, down which +nothing breathing can go--and live. + +"God help us?" exclaimed the missionary. "We are lost," and he fell to +the ground in a dead faint. + +Claverton reins in his horse, and confronts the savages, with a calm +brow and revolver in hand. Death has overtaken him at last. He has +stared the grim Monarch in the face full oft, but now his time has come. +He feels that his lucky star has set; his meeting with Lilian +yesterday--only yesterday--was the beginning of the end. What can a man +do when his star has set? All this runs through his mind like a +lightning-flash. + +It is a marvellous picture, that last scene in the awful drama on this +lonely mountain top. The sweet golden sunshine falls upon a crowd of +bounding shapes, sweeping forward in a fast diminishing semicircle, and +the still air is rent with fiendish howls. Eyeballs roll with a +merciless gleam, white teeth are bared in grinning triumph, and the +pointed blades of the assegais bristle like a forest among the leaping, +naked red bodies. And turning to confront this hideous array--calmly +awaiting the approach of his destroyers, this one man--cool, fearless, +and noble-looking--sits his horse, whose terrified restiveness he can +scarcely curb with one hand, while in the other he holds his revolver in +a firm, steady grasp. Before him, the spears of the savage host; +behind, the awful brow of the cliff. A ghastly choice. + +The Kafirs have ceased firing and are advancing eagerly to secure their +prey. They will take him alive. + +"Ha, ha, ha!" A mocking laugh goes up from their midst. "You are in a +trap, white man. Better yield!" cry some; while others, eager for such +a rare spectacle as a man taking a flying leap into four hundred feet of +space, wave their weapons and shout madly in the hope of terrifying the +horse and driving it over. + +"Does even a wolf yield without biting?" is the cold, scornful answer. +Not a dozen paces lie between him and the brink of the precipice, +towards which he is backing his horse, step by step. + +Fifty yards--forty--thirty. They approach more leisurely now, sure of +their capture. + +He raises his revolver and fires. One of the foremost falls headlong +upon the ground, clutching it with his hands, as his body quivers in the +throes of death. But the young horse, maddened by the sudden flash and +report and the onward rush of the advancing crowd, plunges and rears, +uttering a frenzied squeal. Three steps more. No power short of a +miracle can save him now. The frantic hoof-strokes rip up the sward in +long furrows--and then a plunge--a slide and a struggle--they are gone! +Horse and man have disappeared. A moment of dead silence--a crash and a +dull thud is heard far beneath. And then a wild shout--in which awe, +and admiration, and baffled rage are all mingled--arises from the +savages, one and all of whom press forward to peer over the giddy +height. + +Nothing can they see, however. A few leaves and broken twigs, scattered +by the fall of a heavy body through the tangled bushes sprouting here +and there from a crevice or ledge in the face of the cliff, float upon +the air; beneath, the great sweep of dense bush lies silent and +unbroken; a few vultures glide lazily off from the rugged cliffs +opposite, looking in the distance like great white feathers as they soar +over the broad valley; but nothing is to be seen lying below, neither +horse nor man. At length their keen eyes detected a spot where the bush +was slightly displaced. + +"Ha--there he is! Good. His bones will be like the stamped mealies in +the mortar, after that jump. Aow!" + +A low laugh greeted this speech, and the Kafirs were about to turn away +in quest of fresh excitement, when one of their number--a tall, +evil-looking barbarian--who had been lying flat on his stomach narrowly +scanning the bush beneath, exclaimed: + +"Wait. Are you going to leave him on the _chance_ of his being dead? +He may not be dead, I tell you. He may not be even hurt." + +A mighty shout of laughter greeted this utterance. + +"Ha, ha! Not dead--not even hurt! Whaaow! What madness! Is the white +man a bird, that he can fly down there? Did any one see his wings?" +Such were the derisive comments on the proposal of the first speaker, +who waited with a sneer upon his face until they had done, and then went +on: + +"He is not a bird, but he is something else. He is a wizard--a devil. +I tell you I know this white man. He is no ordinary man. I have seen +him escape where no one but a wizard could have done it; not once, but +twice, three times. Now, are you sure he is dead? Will you leave it to +chance?" + +A murmur of mingled assent and incredulity rose from the listeners. +Some shook their heads and smiled scornfully, but the majority evidently +thought there was "something in it." + +"And even if he is dead," continued the first speaker. "Even if he is +dead, what a war-potion could be made out of the heart of such a man! +Haow!" + +This decided them, and, with a ferocious hum of anticipation, they +started off to descend into the valley round the end of the cliff, and +make sure of their prey; leaving a few behind to secure the missionary. + +The unfortunate preacher was still lying where he had fallen in a faint, +and the Kafirs had been too fully occupied with their principal foe to +pay any attention to him. Now, however, they clustered round him, +examining him curiously. + +"Get up, white man!" cried one of the party, roughly, adding force to +the injunction by a sharp prick with his assegai. The victim gave a +groan and opened his eyes, but shut them again with a gasp of terror, +and a prayer for mercy escaped his lips at the sight of the scowling +dark faces and gleaming assegai points, some of them red with blood. + +A muttered consultation took place. The captive must be taken to the +chief, Sandili. He was the first white man captured alive during the +war. + +"Whaow! It is not a warrior, it is a miserable _Umfundisi_," [Preacher] +said the most important man of the group, with a contemptuous scowl on +his fierce, wrinkled countenance. "We shall frighten him to death if we +are not careful. Here, _Umfundisi_!" he continued in a persuasive tone. +"Get up. We are not going to hurt you. Don't be frightened." + +The poor missionary could hardly believe his ears. + +"No, no. I am not frightened," he replied, in a quavering voice, +sitting up and looking around; while several of the younger Kafirs +spluttered with laughter at his abject appearance. "No, no--you will +not hurt me; I am your friend. I like the Kafirs. You know me--I am a +man of peace--not a fighting man--a man of peace." + +The savage leader contemplated him with a sneer upon his face, then with +a muttered injunction to the rest, he turned away with a grunt of +contempt, whisking the tops off the grass-stalks with his knobkerrie as +he strode off in the direction taken by the bulk of the party. A scream +of terror arose from the unfortunate missionary. His hands had already +been tied behind him; and just then one of the young Kafirs, in sheer +devilment, jerked his head back and held the cold edge of an assegai +against his throat. The unhappy prisoner thought his hour had come, and +closed his eyes, shuddering. A roar of laughter arose from the +spectators, and his tormentor let go of him, uttering a disdainful +"click." + +"Take care," warned one of the older men. "You'll kill him with fear, +among you. That won't do. He must be taken to the Great Chief." + +Meanwhile the searching party had reached the base of the cliff and were +working their way along with some difficulty through the bush, while two +men remained above to designate the exact spot where the fugitive had +fallen. So dense and tangled was the profuse vegetation that it was +some time before they could find it, and the rock above, half veiled by +largish trees growing up against its surface, afforded no clue. +Suddenly a shout announced that the object of their search was found. +There, in a hollow formed by its own weight, lay the unfortunate horse. +Its legs were doubled under its body, the bones in many places had +started through the skin, and it was horribly mangled. The girths had +given way and the saddle lay, bent and scratched, partly detached from +the carcase. It was a horrid sight. + +By twos and threes the Kafirs straggling up, clustered around with +exclamations of astonishment. Then a shout arose: + +"Where is the white man?" + +They looked at one another in blank amazement. There was the horse, +sure enough--but--where was the rider? + +Where, indeed? The ground all round had been carefully searched, and, +unless he was gifted with wings as some of them had derisively +suggested, he could not have escaped, for at that point the cliff was +sheer. Involuntarily they glanced upwards as if they half expected to +see him soaring in the air, laughing at them. They turned over the +carcase of the horse, with a kind of forlorn hope that he might be lying +crushed beneath--but no--he was not there, nor had they even expected he +would be. Fairly puzzled they shook their heads, and a volley of +ejaculations expressing astonishment, dismay, even alarm, gave vent to +their unbounded surprise. + +"There is no trace. He has disappeared into air?" they said. + +From all this discussion the tall barbarian who had first suggested the +search, had stood aloof. Now he struck in with a kind of "I told you +so" expression in his look and voice: + +"Did I not say that the white man was a wizard? Who laughs now? Where +is he? Where is the man who jumped from yon height?" + +He might well ask. For of the fugitive, alive or dead, there was +absolutely no trace. Had his body stuck in one of the trees, or rested +on a ledge? No. Those above could see every projection in the rock, +and the trees were free from any such burden. And around the spot where +the horse lay and on to which it had fallen straight, there was no sign +or shadow of a footmark to show whither the human performer of that +fearful leap had betaken himself, even if he had reached the ground +alive--which was impossible. He had melted into air, and it was nearly +evening; to continue the search would be useless. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +THE DARKEST HOUR. + +When Lilian saw Payne return to the house alone, unaccompanied by her +lover, it seemed that her cup of bitterness was full to the brim. + +He had taken her at her word, then, even as she had besought him to do, +and had left her, wearied of her weakness and vacillation; had left her +in bitter anger that she should have made a plaything of his love, +taking it up and casting it from her again as the humour seized her. +Yes; it must be so, she told herself; and yet, if he only knew! But he +never would know. Her martyrdom was complete. Not even would she have +the consolation of knowing that if they parted in sorrow, at any rate +they parted in love, as was the case that former time. No; this time +anger and contempt for a weak creature who did not know her own mind +would soon take the place of his former love--and then? Ah, what did it +matter? She had sacrificed herself, and the sacrifice was complete; +what mattered a mere triviality of detail? He was gone, and she would +see his face no more, and she--she had saved him and ought to be only +too glad that the opportunity of doing so had been allowed her--at +least, so she told herself. + +So she told herself, but ah! she could not feel glad. Her plan had +succeeded, as she had been hoping, yet not daring to pray, that it +would; but now that it had, she discovered that side by side with her +heroic resolution had lurked a subtle hope that even yet she might look +upon him again. That hope was now fulfilled, and lo! all was darker +than it had been hitherto--so dark that it could never be light again. + +Could it not? Even then, breaking in upon the outer gloom of her +terrible despair, came her lover's last message--"_A very few days will +see me back here again. Everything will come right then_"--bringing a +gleam of hope to her crushed heart. He would come back--at any rate he +would come back--and then, those confident words: "_Everything will come +right then_." For the first time a strong doubt came over her as to the +truth of Truscott's allegations. It might be that he was lying, +according to his wont--lying in order to gain some private end, to +revenge himself upon her--for she now no longer believed that he really +loved her. Yet he had spoken so confidently, with such an exhaustive +reliance in his facts. Still there might be some mystery about it, +which her lover was able to solve. Ah! why had she not asked him when +he was here just now? Why had she not begged him to clear up this +horrid doubt; to tell her openly about his past life? She had been +unnerved: had lost her head for the time being. Still it is probable +that she would have asked him, but for the inopportune return of the +Paynes. Well, it was too late now; she must wait patiently for his +return, and then--if only the opportunity was allowed her--a lifetime of +tenderness and devotion could hardly atone for this dreadful doubt. + +"Why, Lilian," exclaimed her hostess, affectionately, "you are looking +quite your old self again. Cheer up, darling. All will come right, I'm +sure of that; and so are you, I can see it in your eyes." + +And, indeed, the revulsion of hope, setting in upon that black tide of +despair, had brought a glow into Lilian's cheek and a light into her +eyes such as had not been seen there for many a day. Yet it would not +do to be too elated yet. + +"God grant it may," she replied, with an attempt at a smile, and there +was a good deal of hugging and kissing between the two women, and a few +tears; and then Lilian went down to delight Rose's heart by telling her +she would go for a walk with her, after all; that part of the +afternoon's programme having fallen through in subservience to the more +important events which had supervened, to the little girl's intense +disappointment. + +And the walk did her good. Everything would come right, she kept +telling herself, and, as they strolled homeward when the afterglow in +the west was purpling into twilight gloom and the peaks of the +Winterberg range stood out--cold, distant, and steely--Lilian's heart +was full of a prayerful hope that their future might, after all, be +bright and cloudless as yon clear sky, when doubts and torturing fears +had all been swept away; and though her little companion found her +somewhat grave and disinclined to talk, yet the calm, sweet light of +returning peace in her eyes, which the child stole many a wondering look +at, more than made up for her silence. + +If the Paynes were somewhat apprehensive as to the future--or rather as +to the events of the next few days--they kept it to themselves, and that +evening was quite a cheerful one. Hope had taken root and thriven in +Lilian's heart, and, as she kept on repeating to herself her lover's +message, she seemed to hear the confident ring of his own words: +"_Everything will come right then_," and wae comforted; at least, +comparatively so. But whatever happened she would ask him to tell her +all his past life, and somehow she did not look forward to the +revelation with dread. + +Payne, however, was by no means easy in his mind about the somewhat +desperate plan which his friend had unfolded to him. To honest George's +straightforward reasoning it thoroughly recommended itself. The best +way to settle an affair of this kind was by a downright +"rough-and-tumble," as he put it, but then there was the law, an +uncommonly ticklish customer to deal with, once it took it into its head +to vindicate its outraged dignity. As regarded that, however, the +business might be managed away on the quiet somewhere, at the seat of +hostilities, where law was very much in abeyance just then; though at +any other time, as he had told his friend, it would be impossible. But +for all that, he heartily wished him safe through the business. +Claverton was a splendid pistol-shot, of that he had, on more than one +occasion, had ocular evidence, and if he winged his man, or even killed +him, it was all in the fortune of war; for Payne had seen rough times +himself at the Gold Fields and even on the Kaffrarian border, and did +not hold human life as so momentous a thing as did, for instance, the +clergyman of the parish wherein he at present resided. To the wife of +his bosom, however, he did not impart any of these reflections; on the +contrary, he made rather light of the affair. + +"A row?" he said, in answer to her misgivings. "Oh, yes, there's sure +to be a row--the very devil of a row, in fact; but then Claverton's +thoroughly well able to take care of himself." + +"But they will be shooting each other," she said, with a troubled shake +of the head. + +He turned quickly. "Eh? What? Not they! They'll only get to punching +each other's heads--that's all, take my word for it." And honest George +laughed light-heartedly at his wife's fears, though he knew that there +was ample justification for them. + +The following day brought even further comfort to poor Lilian, for +towards evening Sam arrived. With a start and a flush she saw the +native rein up at the gate, and then she grew deathly pale. He was +riding his master's horse; she recognised the animal at a glance. Oh, +what had happened? But then she noticed that Sam looked in no wise +perturbed, as would have been the case were he the bearer of ill +tidings. She noticed, further, that he was carefully extracting +something from his pocket as he came up the garden path--something done +up in paper. She flew to the door with a bright flush upon the sweet, +sad face. + +"Good evenin', Missie Lilian. Master said I was give you dis," +exclaimed Sam, placing the note in her hand. It was a hastily-pencilled +scrap--only a few words, but words expressing such a wealth of undying +love, ever and in spite of anything which had occurred or which might +occur, that she retired into the room, and, sinking into a chair, +pressed the bit of crumpled paper to her lips, and her tears fell like +rain upon it. + +"Oh, Arthur, my own darling love! you do not think the worse of me! Ah, +I can bear anything now?" she murmured. + +Could she? Nevertheless, it was well that the merciful veil of distance +was drawn between her eyes and the tragedy which at that very moment was +being enacted on the brow of a certain cliff, that calm, fair, cloudless +evening. + +Meanwhile, Sam was busy putting up the horse. It had not needed the +haggard features and harsh, strained tones to bring home to his quick +perception the certainty that something had gone decidedly wrong with +his beloved master, hence the more than ordinary display of loyalty he +had exhibited when they parted; and now, with the ready tact of his +race, he turned away directly he had delivered the note to Lilian, +awaiting her own time to call him and question him about its writer. +So, with his jacket off, and armed with a curry-comb and brush, Sam was +making great play upon the matted and soiled coat of the tired horse +when a sweet voice from the back-door called his name. + +"Coming, Missie Lilian--coming," cried the faithful fellow, as he flung +down his stable implements and hurried across the intervening bit of +garden, shuffling on his jacket as he went. + +"Sam, you must be very hot and tired after your journey. Drink this, +and then I want to talk to you." + +"This" being a large tumbler of cool, sparkling lemonade, which she held +in her hand. Sam took it with a grateful, pleasing ejaculation of +thanks. A dusky savage, born in a remote kraal beneath the towering +cones of the Kwahlamba range, he appreciated her thoughtful kindness far +more than many a white "Christian" would have done--the action more than +the result. + +"Dat good," he said, after a long pull at the refreshing liquid, "but +not so good as see Missie Lilian again." + +She smiled at the genuine though inaccurately-worded compliment, and +began questioning him, a little shyly at first, but soon so fast that +she found herself asking the same questions over again, and hardly +giving time for answers. Sam, who, like all natives, dearly loved to +hear himself talk, once on the congenial topic of his master and the +war, lectured away _ad libitum_. + +"Missie Lilian--master he say, I stop here till he come back. I do +everyting you tell me. If you want tell master anyting, you send Sam, +straight--so!" and, extending his arm, he cracked his fingers in the +direction of Kafirland with an expressive gesture. "Sam he go in no +time. Dat what Inkos say." + +"And, Sam--didn't your master tell you how long he would be away?" + +"No, Missie Lilian--yes, he did. He say, be away not long--come back +very soon--in few days. Yes, he come back in very few days--dat what +Inkos say, de last ting." + +"A very few days!" Just what he had told Mrs Payne. Things looked +promising. + +"Was he looking--looking well, Sam? He has to travel alone, too," she +added, half to herself. + +"No, Missie Lilian, he not ride 'lone. One Dutchman going back to +laager. Inkos and dat Dutchman ride together. Inkos he buy horse from +dat Dutchman--big young horse--'cos Fleck go lame. Dey see Amaxosa +nigger, dey shoot--shoot. Amaxosa not hurt. Inkos--Amaxosa nigga no +good. Ha?" + +"Why, Sam; you don't mean they met any Kafirs?" exclaimed Lilian in +alarm. + +"No. Dey not see any nigga, Missie Lilian. Sam mean _if_ dey see +Amaxosa dey shoot--shoot 'em dead. Bang!" + +He did not tell her of the warning as to the dangers of the road, which +the two troopers had given his master the last thing before he started. +It would only make her uneasy, and, besides, Sam had the most rooted +faith in his chief's invulnerability. + +Then Sam, being once under weigh, launched out into much reminiscence, +all tending towards one point, the glorification of his master and his +master's exploits; for which his said master would have been sorely +tempted to kick him, could he have overheard; but which, to his present +listener, was of all topics the most welcome. + +"Hallo, Sam, you rascal! Where have you dropped from?" + +"Evenin', Baas Payne!" said Sam, jumping to his feet, for he had been +squatting, tailor-fashion, while Lilian had been talking to him. "Sam, +he come from Inkos. Inkos he say, Sam stay here till he come. Sam do +all he told. Dat what Inkos say." + +"You've got fat, Sam, since we saw you last. Campaigning seems to agree +with you," said Payne. + +The boy grinned, and, seeing that they had done with him, he returned to +his work. + +"I rather think I shall go to the front for a spell myself when +Claverton comes back," remarked Payne, as they went in. + +"Oh, do you?" put in his wife, of whose presence he was unaware. "And +since when have you come to that conclusion, Mr George?" + +He started. "Hallo! I didn't know you there. But, seriously, it +wouldn't do a fellow any harm. Needn't stay away long, you know. Shoot +a few niggers and come back again." + +"Yes, pa," cried Harry, delightedly. "Do go and shoot the Kafirs, and +you'll be able to tell us such lots of stunning stories." + +"Oh, ah! Anything else in a small way, Master Harry?" said his father, +ironically. + +The urchin laughed. + +"I want an assegai," he replied. "A real Kafir assegai; like the one +Johnny Timms has got. It's a beauty. He throws it at the fowls in the +garden." + +"And you want to do likewise, eh? Only as there are no fowls to +practise at here, you'd be hurling it at old Cooke's next door. No, +sonny; little boys mustn't play with edged tools, as the copy-books +say." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +It is the third day after Claverton's departure--a bright, beautiful +morning, with the already tangible promise of great heat. Slowly Lilian +strolls along the street, hardly heeding the throng of busy life on all +sides; the rolling waggons, with their long, jaded spans, moving to the +crack of the driver's whip, accompanied by a shrill, harsh yell; the +sun-tanned horsemen ambling about; or the three or four pedestrians, +who, booted and spurred, are striding among the crowd in all the glory +of their spiked helmets, where an open-air sale is taking place, +flattering themselves they present an intensely martial aspect, and +putting on "side" accordingly. Here and there a storekeeper stands +before his shop-door exchanging gossip with the passers-by; and black +fellows of every nationality, clothed in ragged trousers and greasy +shirts, with, it may be, a battered hat stuck on top of their dusty +wool, stand in knots chattering in their deep bass, or trundle great +packages in and out of the stores. All this Lilian hardly sees as she +strolls along, a world of tender thought in the sweet eyes; and the +beautiful figure in the cool summer dress forms a very bright and +pleasing contrast in that busy workaday throng. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +She has been to the library and changed her books, has done one or two +little commissions, and now it is getting very hot, as she pauses for a +moment to rest and look in at a shop-window. Three days have gone, +three days out of the time she has to wait. Ah! how she longs for that +time to come to an end! And the hum of traffic increases in the busy +street, and from the cathedral spire the hour of ten chimes out. +Suddenly the hand which has been gently twirling the sunshade on her +shoulder, closes in rigid grasp round the knob; and lo! the beautiful, +pensive face is white and bloodless--pale as the snowy ostrich feather +adorning her hat--a peerless "prime white," which her lover had +ransacked the country to procure in order to devote it to its present +purpose. For as she stands there Lilian catches that lover's name, and, +before she has overheard many words of the conversation of a knot of men +chattering behind her, she feels as if she must fall to the ground. + +"How do they know he's killed?" one of them was saying, evidently in +response to a preceding query. "They know it as well as they can know +it short of finding the body, and the niggers don't leave much of that-- +butchering brutes. But, look here. If Claverton started on the line of +country Jos Sanders said he did, and didn't turn up at the main camp +yesterday by twelve o'clock at latest, he's a dead man. The whole of +those locations that side o' the mountains have risen, and a flea +couldn't have got through without their spottin' him." + +"He may have gone round t'other way, though." + +"Not likely. Jos said he was in a mighty cast-iron hurry, and laughed +in his face when he just cautioned him to look out. There was a +Dutchman with him, too." + +"In a hurry? Claverton in a hurry? That'd be a sight worth seeing," +struck in another. "Why, if all the niggers in Kafirland were on his +spoor, he'd stop to fill his pipe before he'd move." + +"Ah, he's a mighty cool hand," rejoined the first speaker, admiringly. +"We want a few more like him. You should jes' have seen him that time +when we were out under old Hughes. There was only eighteen of us all +told, and the niggers were on us by hundreds. If it hadn't been for +Brathwaite's fellers we should all have been cut up. We fought the +whole afternoon; and Claverton, he seemed to care no more about the +niggers than if there hadn't been one of 'em there." + +"Yes, and the way he brought out poor Jack Armitage that time! It was a +doosid plucky thing." + +"I say, what's this about Claverton being killed?" exclaimed another +voice, whose owner had evidently just joined the group. "I see the +telegram says he may have been taken prisoner." + +The first speaker shook his head ominously. + +"Kafirs don't take prisoners," he said. "If they do, so much the worse +for the prisoners. No, sir. Claverton would fight like the devil, but +he'd never let those brutes take him alive, you may safely bet your +bottom dollar on that. Poor chap! Hot, isn't it? Let's go and +liquor." + +They moved off, and Lilian stood there feeling as if the whole world had +suddenly given way beneath her feet. Then she remembered that the +newspaper office was but a few yards off. With swaying and uneven steps +she made her way there. A boy was standing at the counter, rapidly +folding copy after copy of the morning's edition. + +"I want a paper, please. One with the very latest telegrams." + +Lilian was surprised at her own calmness; but her ashy face and +quivering lips might have told their own tale. + +"Yes, mum," said the boy, handing her one of those lying on the counter, +and with it a small, printed slip. "Latest from the front--an officer +killed." + +The words beat like a sledge-hammer in her brain, but she managed to +stagger out of the shop. The whole street--vehicles, passengers, trees, +everything--seemed to go round before her as she strained her eyes upon +the printed words of that fatal slip. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +An Officer Missing. + +"Field-Captain Claverton, of Brathwaite's Horse, left Breakfast Vley two +days ago for the main camp, and has not since been heard of. He was +accompanied by a Dutchman named Oppermann. There is every reason to +fear that they have been out off and killed, as the bushy defiles +through which lay their road, are swarming with rebel Gaikas." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Later. + +"A rumour is afloat in camp that the missing officer is alive, but a +prisoner; and that a missionary, supposed to be Rev Swaysland, of +Mount Ararat Station, is also in the hands of the rebels. This seems +probable, as the body of the Dutchman has been found, headless and +terribly mutilated, near the brow of a high krantz; but there was no +sign of the others. The rumour originated with a native, who has since +disappeared. He says that the missing men will be taken to Sandili." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Hardly had Lilian left the shop when a young man, with a pen stuck +behind his ear, emerged from an inner office. With three strides he +gained the front door, and stood staring after her for a moment down the +street. Then he turned back. + +"Jones, what did that lady want?" he asked, in a tone of concern. + +"S'mornin's paper, and latest telegram," replied the boy, laconically, +and somewhat defiantly, as he went on folding his papers. + +"And you gave it her?" + +"Yes," still more defiantly. "She asked for it." + +"You egregious jackass?" + +"What for?" said the boy, indignantly. "If a party asks for the paper, +ain't I to sell it?" He evidently thought his superior was drunk. + +"Look at that, Jones," said the latter, tapping the telegraphic slip +impressively with his pen. "What's that about--eh?" + +"I see it. It's about an officer killed at the front. Why, that's just +the very thing the lady wanted to see," replied the boy, brightening up. + +"Yes. Quite so, you infernal young fool. She's his sweetheart." + +"O Lord!" And the boy, dropping the paper he was folding, stood gazing +at his superior the very picture of open-mouthed horror. + +"Yes, it is `Lord,'" said the latter, with a gloomy shake of the head. +"Well, the mischief's done now, anyway;" and he retired into his den +with a feeling of intense and real pity for the beautiful, sad-looking +girl who had so often called at the office for telegrams from the seat +of war. The boy was a new hand, and had not known who she was. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +How Lilian got home was a mystery. She just remembered staggering in at +the doorway, and then nothing more until she awoke to find herself upon +her bed with Annie Payne bathing her forehead. No need had there been +to ask what the matter was--the printed slip which she held clutched in +her hand spoke for itself. + +A shudder of returning consciousness, an inquiring look around, and then +the dread remembrance burst upon her. + +"Oh, Arthur!" she wailed forth, in a despairing, bitter moan, "you are +dead, love, and I--why do I still live?" and the tears rushed forth as +her frame shook beneath its weight of sobbing woe. + +"Hush, dear!" whispered Annie. "It does not say that, you know; it says +he is a prisoner, and he may have escaped by now, or been rescued. +While there is life there is hope." + +Something in the idea seemed suddenly to strike her. Starting up, she +pressed her hand against her brows. + +"So there is! Hope, hope! He is not dead. We must rescue him;" and +with a new-born determination, Lilian rose and walked towards the door. +Her hostess stared at her with a vague misgiving. Had this shock turned +her brain? + +"Mr Payne," said Lilian, quite calmly, as she entered the sitting-room, +"what can we do?" + +Payne, who was busy buckling on a pair of stout riding gaiters, looked +up, no less astonished than his wife had been. A cartridge-belt, well +stocked, lay on a chair, and just then Sam entered with a gun which he +had been wiping out. + +"Do? Well, I'm going to start off at once for Brathwaite's camp and see +what can be done. But cheer up, Miss Lilian. We may bring our friend +out of his troubles all right enough. While there's life there's hope, +you know." + +Just what his wife had said, and the twofold reiteration struck Lilian +vaguely as a good omen. + +"Mr Payne," she said, suddenly, "I want to go with you." + +Payne stared, as well he might. "Go with me? Where? To Brathwaite's +camp?" + +"No; as far as the front. After that to the chief, Sandili." + +If she had said "To his Satanic majesty," Payne could not have been more +thunderstruck. He began to think, as his wife had thought, that the +shock had turned her brain. + +"To the chief, Sandili!" he echoed. "Why, you would never get there; +and if you did, what on earth would be the use of it?" + +"I want to beg him to spare Arthur's life. I have heard that these +Kafirs respect women, even in time of war, and the chief might listen to +me. I am not afraid of him. He was very friendly, and spoke quite +kindly to us that day we saw him up in Kaffraria, and he will remember +me. And I might succeed where nothing or nobody else would--if it is +not too late," she concluded, choking down a rising sob. She must keep +firm now, and crush all mere womanly weakness, for she would need all +her strength. + +Payne stared at her, speechless with astonishment and admiration. The +notion of this delicate, beautiful creature calmly stating her wish to +go alone into the midst of these merciless savages; to beard the Gaika +chief, at bay in his stronghold, far in the gloomy recesses of the +Amatola forest; reached a height of sublimity bordering closely upon the +ridiculous. But she wae thoroughly in earnest--he could see that--and +meant every word of it. + +"Why, Lilian, it is not to be thought of," he replied, seriously; "the +thing is simply impossible to carry out, even if it were. Why, you +would never reach the chief, to begin with; you would--hang it all--you +would come to grief long before." + +"Nothing is impossible. Are you going to sacrifice his life because you +will not use a means of saving it?" she asked. + +"Now, do be reasonable," replied Payne. "Listen. We have a better plan +than that. Sam is going straight to the front; with a daub of red clay +and a blanket he will pass perfectly for a Gaika. He will find out +where Arthur is, and, depend upon it Sam will get him out if any one +can; and you may be perfectly sure that I shall leave no stone +unturned." + +"Ah, yes. He will. That is a good idea." + +"Yes," went on Payne, who, meanwhile, was busy getting his things +together. "And, another thing, Arthur understands the Kafirs thoroughly +and can talk to them fluently. He isn't the fellow to lose his head in +any kind of fix, and he may manage to talk them over, or bribe them to +let him go. So just keep your spirits up and don't begin thinking the +worst. Now, good-bye, we'll do the best we can. Good-bye, Annie!" and +with a grasp of the hand to Lilian, and a hurried embrace to his wife, +Payne mounted his horse, which was being held for him at the gate, and +rode off. + +"Missie Lilian!" exclaimed Sam, "I go look for Inkos, now--straight--at +once. Amaxosa not hurt him; I find him and bring him back. If Inkos +alive, Sam bring him back or die by him. Dat what Sam do." + +"Wait. You are not armed. Go, quick, and buy a revolver before you +start," and with trembling hands Lilian began searching hurriedly for +her purse. + +"He won't be able to get it without a permit from the magistrate," said +Annie Payne, "and if he could, it would be of no use to him. No, leave +him alone for doing the best thing." + +"I not want revolva, Missie Lilian, I not want anyting. Better jes as I +am. Now I go quick. I bring back Inkos, or never come back. I bring +him back, or I die by him," and, without another word, away started the +faithful fellow; and so serious did he consider the position that he +forgot his usual formula, "Amaxosa nigga no good." + +Throughout that afternoon whatever hopes Lilian had allowed herself to +cherish sank slowly and by degrees till they had almost totally +disappeared. Suspense, terrible at any time, but doubly so during +forced inactivity, weighed down her soul till it seemed that it must +crush her to the very dust, and she could do nothing. Payne--even Sam-- +had the satisfaction of joining in search of her missing lover, while +she, a weak, helpless woman, could only sit at home and wait, and weep, +and pray. Ah, why did she not insist upon her plan of going straight to +the Gaika chief to beg for her lover's life? What to her were the +terrors of so desperate an undertaking; the gloomy forest; the +loneliness; the crowd of grim barbarians, their weapons, it might be, +red with recently shed blood? And she was by nature timid, as we have +already seen; yet her great overwhelming love had made this frail, +delicate creature brave with a fearlessness taking no account of lesser +horrors, all of which were swallowed up in this one dread issue. But it +was too late now. Payne had gone, and the faithful native with him; and +the two women were left alone, to wait, and weep, and pray. + +Then as the afternoon wore on, and the messenger whom Annie Payne had +stationed at the telegraph office to hasten up to them with every detail +of news that might arrive, returned with the intelligence that a great +storm was gathering in Kaffraria, and the electricity had interfered +with the working of the wires, Lilian could bear no more. AH the +direful stories which she had heard of the cruelties practised by the +savages towards their helpless prisoners crowded upon her mind. He--her +heart's love! He--a captive in their ruthless hands! And it was by +_her_ act that this had come about. _Her_ lips had doomed him. She had +sent him to his death. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER TWENTY. + +THROUGH THE HEART OF THE EARTH. + +When he felt his horse's feet slipping from beneath him over the brink, +Claverton expected nothing less than instant death. Yet in that +terrible moment the whole picture was imprinted on his brain--the fierce +foes rushing on, assegai uplifted; the terrified, rolling eye of his +trembling steed; the sunlit sward; the green, monotonous sweep of bush +in the valley far below, into which he was being hurled; even a thin +line of blue smoke, which might be from a friendly camp miles and miles +away in the bush, did not escape him. And side by side with the picture +spread before and around him, in every minutest detail, came the thought +of Lilian--what she would say when she came to hear of his end, and +whether, from the spirit-world, he would be allowed to look once more on +that tenderly-loved face, and, above all, whether he would ever be able +to carry out his vengeance upon the man who had brought him to this. +All passed like a lightning gleam across his brain, and then he felt +himself falling--falling--down into space. The air roared and shrieked +in his ears, his breath failed him, then his hands seized something. +The whole world was hanging in his grasp, rocking and swaying; he could +not leave go; it was dragging him downward--downward--downward--it was +tearing his arms out by the sockets. He must throw it off; and yet he +could not. Then a crash, and--oblivion. + +How long he lay he could not tell. Slowly and confusedly consciousness +began to reassert itself. He half opened his eyes, and quickly closed +them again. It was dark; there was a cold, earthy smell. Stars floated +before his vision, and indefinite shapes, with dull, far-away echoes. +He was dead, and they had buried him. He could hear the spadefuls of +earth being thrown upon his coffin. The sound was growing fainter and +fainter; they had nearly finished. And Lilian--she was standing weeping +over his grave. Ah, Lilian, it is too late to weep now! Yes, she was +weeping as if her heart would break, and the horrible weight of the +earth, with its cold, damp, mouldy smell, kept him down; he could not +reach her. Only seven feet of earth--oh, God! and it might as well be +seven hundred! Then he heard Truscott's voice--as the voice of a +smooth, insidious demon--whispering words of love to her, and claiming +the fulfilment of her promise. Fiend, traitor, murderer! He would +burst his grave now, and rend him limb from limb! Not the weight of a +thousand worlds could hold him down! And, with a mighty effort he +raised himself into a sitting posture and looked around. + +A puff of cool air fanned his brow. It was dark--no, not quite. A beam +of light, shooting through from the outer world like a dart of flame, +dazzled his eyes; then another and another, losing themselves in the +further gloom. Is he not dead after all? How can that be? Yes, he is +dead, and this is the world of spirits. + +Again he closes his eyes. A few moments more, and the suspended +faculties become clearer. He looks forth again. He is alive, and in a +cave, and the shafts of light are as much of that indispensable element +as can penetrate a thick mass of creepers which falls over its entrance. +But how came he there? + +Instinctively, as he felt himself falling, Claverton had kicked his feet +free of the stirrups; and instinctively again, and without being aware +of it, he had clutched at the first substance which had come in his +way--a trailing ladder of creepers hanging from the rock--and this it +was which had made him feel as if he was supporting the whole weight of +the globe in his hands. But the jerk had been too great. For a +fraction of a second he thus hung, then fell--fell clean through a dense +network of creepers which closed over him with a spring, thus shutting +him into the cave, or rather hole, in which he awoke to find himself. + +And now the spark of hope rekindled darts through his frame with an +electric thrill. He is still alive and unhurt, in the more serious +sense of the word, that is, for no bones are broken, though he is stiff +and sore and shaken by his fall. He will yet live--live to destroy his +enemy, and to possess himself once more of Lilian's love, free from the +possibility of any further disturbing influence. He looks round his +present quarters--truly an ark of refuge--but can make out nothing save +the shadowy rock overhead. Then, cautiously approaching the entrance, +he listens. + +No; it will not do to look out just yet. The Kafirs are still beneath, +and he can hear distinctly the deep bass hum of their voices, can even +catch their exclamations of surprise at his unaccountable disappearance. +He is unaware of the exact position of his hiding-place, and the +faintest movement on his part might lead to his instant detection. So +he restrains his anxiety to peep forth, and, as he lies _perdu_, even +chuckles over the supernatural theories set forth by the Kafirs to +account for his disappearance. + +For upwards of an hour he remains perfectly still; long after he has +heard the voices of his enemies grow fainter and fainter, and ultimately +cease to be audible as they give up the search. Then, thrusting his +head through the network of trailers, he peers cautiously out. The sun +has set, and a peaceful evening stillness lies upon the forest beneath, +and there is no sign of the enemy. Then Claverton begins seriously to +take account of his position. He cannot see the brink of the precipice +overhead, but he judges from its height further along, that he has +fallen about forty feet, and that the network of creepers, yielding to +his weight, alone had saved him from certain death. But, meanwhile, how +is he to get down, or up? One way is about as practicable as the other. +Beneath, the rock falls, with here and there a rugged pinnacle +projecting from its face, but sheer; while above, its surface for long +intervals is perfectly smooth. A terrible fear chills his heart. He +has only escaped from a sudden and swift death, to meet with a lingering +one by starvation; here, in this hideous, lonely cave, beyond the +possibility of human aid. A rope from the summit might reach him, but +was it in the least likely that any friendly patrol would visit this +wild fastness, haunted, as it was, by hostile bands? And even if it +did, how improbable that its members would have a rope, or be able to +improvise one long enough and strong enough to reach him; even were he +not too weak from the effects of starvation to use it if they did. No. +He must look for no succour that way. + +Then his thoughts recur to the day that he and Lilian climbed up to that +other cave during the fishing picnic four years ago. But for the +inaccessibility of the place, some holiday party, in years to come, +might make their way up here and find his crumbling bones, and recoil +with loathing horror from his whitened skull, even as she had done from +the grisly remains in that other cavern. And the grey rocks stand forth +beneath and around, waxing greyer in the fading light; bright-eyed +conies peep forth from their holes, and scamper along the ledges; a +night-jar darts noiselessly on soft wing in pursuit of its prey; bats +flit and circle in the gloaming; beneath, the green bush has changed to +a sombre blackness; while floating upon the stillness of desolation, the +weird voices of the forest begin their mysterious concert. And there, +upon that narrow ledge, poised in mid-air, beyond the reach of all human +aid--lost, forgotten and alone--stands this man, with death before him +at last. + +Carefully he looks over the ledge, narrowly scrutinising the rock +beneath and around; but the first glance convinces him that it is +useless. No creepers grow on the face of the cliff; even the tops of +the highest trees are at a dizzy distance below. There is no foothold, +even for a baboon. Ah! The cave itself! He has not explored that. +Re-entering, he strikes a match--a knife, a box of matches, and a bit of +_reimpje_ being the proverbial contents of a frontiersman's pockets, +even though they contain nothing else--and begins his exploration. +There is no outlet that way. Overhead the rock slopes down to the back +of the cave, and here and there it is wet with ooze. He can but dimly +make out the outlines in the gloom by the flicker of his wax vesta. +Suddenly the flame goes out, extinguished by a puff of cold air which +blows up into the explorer's face. He lights another. Yawning at his +very feet is a hole--a long, jagged hole, just wide enough to admit his +body; one step more and he would have fallen in. Tearing a bit of paper +from his pocket he lights it and throws it in. At first it will not +fall: quite a strong current of air holds it up. This, in itself is a +good sign, and Claverton begins to feel hopeful as he watches it sink, +down, down, lighting up the chasm, and throwing a wet gleam on the +slippery sides eloping down into unknown depths. + +He sits down and begins to ponder over the situation. A strong current +such as comes up this hole betokens an outlet somewhere, and the only +way of finding that outlet is _to go down the hole_. He can get down, +for the sides are near enough together for a man to descend by using his +hands and knees freely. But once down, can he get up again? A natural +thrill of horror runs through him at the idea of burying himself away +down in the very bowels of the earth. To remain where he is means +death, but it is to die in the full, open light of day, with the air of +heaven breathing around him. To descend into that dark, slimy pit, and +perhaps find no outlet after all, and not even be able to retrace his +steps; to die in that frightful _oubliette_, amid who can tell what +noisome horrors! It is an alternative enough to appal the stoutest +heart, and no wonder Claverton's brain sickens at the thought. But it +is his only chance. He rises, goes out on the ledge once more, and +stands for a few moments drinking in the fresh cool breaths of the +fast-gathering night; then, returning to the chasm, begins his descent. + +A lighted match in his hand, and with pieces of paper torn up in his +pocket ready to kindle at intervals, he lets himself down, working his +way cautiously with his knees against the opposite rock, but the task is +a far more difficult one than it appears. Once or twice he slips +several feet, and the skin is worn from his hands and knees in several +places. At length he stops; panting violently and nearly exhausted; and +as he holds himself wedged against the sides of the crevice to rest, it +strikes him that those sides are getting wider. By the light of another +match he looks down. Oh, horror! Two yards deeper--he has already +descended ten--and the chasm widens out to a breadth of at least twenty +feet. A cold perspiration breaks from every pore. Great beads stand +upon his forehead and his brain is on the whirl. It is frightful; +there, in the pitchy darkness. His blood curdles in every vein. His +strength can hold out no longer; in a moment he will yield, and +disappear for ever from the sight of humankind, immured, self-entombed +in the rocky heart of the earth. Rushing noises are in his ears, hands +touch him, wings sweep over him; then he slips, slides with the rapidity +of lightning; he is being torn in pieces, flayed alive. Then, with a +shock, his descent ceases. He is on his feet. But where? + +During the fall he has retained consciousness, and now, as he opens his +eyes in the pitchy darkness, it seems that he can hear the sound of +running water. Is it, too, a delusion? No, there it is distinctly, a +mere runnel, but echoing with a cavernous boom through that grim +silence. And the sound is as the music of hope. The water must have an +outlet somewhere. Again Claverton lights a match. He is on +comparatively level ground, sloping away in the form of a conduit, down +which the water is trickling, while above, the rocks lose themselves in +gloomy distance. With a new-born joy at his heart, he follows the +course of this subterranean stream, guided by the sound of the water, +now falling headlong over a boulder, now knocking his head against the +roof, for he must husband his matches, as they are drawing near the end. +Oh, God! Will this awful, rayless night never cease--this thick +blackness, this horrible silence? His heart dies again within him as +the atmosphere becomes more and more heavy and oppressive. + +Header, have you ever stood within a disused mine, or any other cavern, +artificial or natural, far beneath the surface of the earth? Have you +then extinguished your light and caused your companions to do the same, +keeping perfect silence for a few minutes? If you have you will +remember the intense longing that came over you for one spark of light, +the sound of a voice to break the frightful stillness, for one breath of +the upper air, so shut out do you seem from the rest of humankind even +as in the nethermost shades. What must be the feelings, then, of one to +whom it is probable that the light of day will never again be +vouchsafed? + +Claverton puts out his hand. It encounters something cold and writhing. +With a thrill of shuddering horror he recoils, and his fingers shake-- +he can hardly strike a match. At length he does so, and lo, by the red, +flickering light he can see two or three great, dark, hideous shapes, +whose multitudinous legs cling to the rock as the shining, creeping +things wind their lengths along. Oh, God--what is to be the end of +this? Will he go mad? Entombed in that pitchy darkness, with these +frightful creatures crawling around him--upon him. It happened that +Claverton had an exaggerated horror of anything creeping, and now in +this hell-pit, alone with those loathsome creatures, the man who has +just faced death with perfect calmness in two of its most appalling +forms--the spears of five hundred merciless foes in front, a giddy +height behind--trembles and shudders like a woman. For a dozen yards he +dashes forward as fast as his legs can carry him, and, coming violently +against the wall of the cavern, sinks down panting and breathless upon a +rock. Something falls into the water at his feet with a splash. Light! +Air! This den of darkness seems swarming with noisome reptiles. The +legs of some creeping thing pass swiftly across his cheek, and again he +shudders, and his heart throbs as if it would burst. + +A faint rustle just above his ear. He looks up with a start, prepared +for fresh horrors. What does he see that causes the blood to course and +bound through his veins with such a wild thrill? It is a star. Yes, a +star--bright, beautiful, and twinkling--only one solitary star, piercing +the blackness of this frightful hell-cave, telling of light and air--the +free air of heaven--and--he dare not add--possible deliverance. A cool +breeze fans his brow, wafted through a crevice in the rock, and through +the crevice he can just see that one solitary star. Even if he must die +now he can still keep his gaze fixed upon that one shining eye of +heaven, looking in upon him from the outer air--the sweet, blessed outer +air. But no. That star is there to cheer him, to encourage him--not to +doom him. With hope rekindled he advances a few steps and lights a +match. It will hardly burn, so strong is the draught which blows in. +He continues his way. Every now and again he can see more stars through +the holes which become more frequent and larger, and he can see that he +is in a fissure which runs along beneath the face of the rock, and which +now begins to slant rapidly downwards. Everything is forgotten now; +deliverance is at hand; for a rush of wind, which can come through no +smaller an aperture than one wide enough to admit the body of a man, +blows up into the tunnel. Patience! Care! He can hear the rustle of +trees against the cliff on a level with his ear, and he guesses that he +must be near the base of the precipice. A slide of a few feet--a dozen +yards along a rocky ledge crawling on his hands and knees, the cavern +widens, and, with such a feeling of relief as he has seldom, if ever, +experienced before in the course of his life, Claverton steps forth from +his subterranean prison-house and stands looking out into the moonlit +valley, drinking in the fresh, cool night air in grateful draughts. + +How delicious is that refreshing breeze after his terrible immurement! +How beautiful the silvery hue of the sprays of the unending bush, +sleeping beneath the stars, how soft their rustle as they quiver in the +night wind! A pointed moon hangs in the sky nearly at half, and the +Southern Cross rivals in its flashing brilliance the whole complement of +the rolling planets. Then comes a reaction, and Claverton begins to +feel stiff and battered, for he has been badly bruised in both his +falls, and his nerves have been sorely shaken by the events of the last +few hours; moreover, he has eaten next to nothing that day, and a +faintness begins to creep over him. The prostration of body extends to +his mind. What does it matter if he dies here alone in the wilderness? +he thinks. Lilian has cast him off; she could never really have loved +him. Better die and save all further trouble. In health such thoughts +would never have occurred to him; now--bruised, shaken, and prostrate--a +languorous feeling of fatality takes hold of his mind, and, shutting his +eyes, he sits down at the foot of the great cliff, and the cool air +plays upon his brow. + +Ha! what is that? Cautiously he raises his head and listens. Is it a +patrol? Aid--succour? No; the tread is of light feet--naked feet. It +draws near, and Claverton has just time to step back within the gloom of +his late prison-house as a large band of warriors glides swiftly past, +and the moonlight gleams on the red, naked shoulders and on the +gun-barrels and assegai blades, as the savages flit silently like +spectres through the bush. They have not seen him, it is true, but can +it be that they are still hunting for him? In the morning they will +find his spoor, and then it will be the work of an hour or two to run +him down--enfeebled, nearly exhausted, and quite unarmed as he is; for +in his fall his belt broke and got lost, and with it his revolver and +sheath-knife. An unarmed and half-starved man, alone in an unknown +country, with bands of fierce savages quartering the forest like hounds +in his pursuit. What chance had he? + +But whatever chance he has must not be thrown away. He will start at +once; yet not at once, for sound travels an enormous distance in the +bush at night, and it is indispensable that the party which has just +gone by shall be allowed sufficient time to get out of hearing. So he +waits and waits, till at last he can wait no longer. Emerging from his +shelter he glances at the stars, and, guided by those friendly lamps of +heaven, steps boldly forth into the bush. + +"Never say die," he ejaculates, half aloud. "I shall live to talk over +this fix yet." + +A low mocking laugh at his very elbow breaks the silence of the night. +Starting, as if he had been shot, he turns, and, as he does so, he is +violently seized from behind. With a spring he shakes himself free. A +dozen Kafirs are upon him, and their uplifted assegais flash in the +moonlight. A straight, neat hit from the shoulder, and the foremost +goes down like a ninepin; but they see that he is unarmed, and +fearlessly throw themselves upon him. A rapid struggle, a fall--and in +a moment Claverton is lying on the ground, securely bound and helpless +as a log. + +"Ha--ha--ha!" laughed the tall barbarian who had set his face against +the abandonment of the search. "The white man is a wizard. He can melt +into air, and then rise up again out of the earth, but we have been too +knowing for him this time. Ha--ha--ha!" + +"Oh, damn you, do your worst, and the sooner the better," retorted the +prisoner, in a tone of weary, hopeless disgust. + +"Ha!" jeered the savage. "Lenzimbi is a skilled wizard. He can +disappear into the solid rock. He can light his magic candle and walk +through the heart of the earth; but his God has quarrelled with him, and +has deserted him at last. Yes, Lenzimbi is a great wizard, a valiant +fighting man; but now _the black goat lives and the white goat dies_. +Ha!" + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +"...IN EVER CLIMBING UP THE CLIMBING WAVE." + +Claverton looked sharply at the speaker. The voice seemed familiar to +him, but the features less so. And then, the other had addressed him by +the name given him by the natives at the time he was living at Seringa +Vale. Not only that. He had uttered words which sounded familiar. In +a moment the floodgates of memory were opened; Claverton remembered the +midnight meeting at Spoek Krantz, and the oracle with which its +proceedings closed. Now his captor had repeated the words of that +augury, but had reversed them with grim significance. Still, he thought +he saw a glimmer of light. + +"Stand up?" said the savage, peremptorily. + +"Needs must where literally the devil drives," was the prisoner's reply, +given with all his wonted coolness, as he obeyed. Resistance would be +worse than useless, for it would only subject him to further indignity. +He was absolutely in their power. + +"Now walk," was the next order. + +"Which way?" + +"_Hamba-ke_!" ["Walk, then," or "Go on."] repeated the tall Kafir--who +seemed to be the chief of the gang--and the command, uttered in a fierce +and threatening tone, was emphasised by a prod with his assegai. + +Not by word or sign did the prisoner show that he even felt the sharp +dig of the weapon, though the blood was running freely down his leg. +Then they started in single file, with the prisoner in the middle, a +_reim_ fastened to his bound hands being held by the man immediately +behind him. Thus they made their way out of that moonlit valley, and +the strange procession wended on through the still, beautiful night. +The Kafirs, for the most part, kept perfect silence as they walked, and +now even Claverton was surprised by the readiness with which they got +through the dense bush, picking out the most unlikely paths, and +threading them with an ease and rapidity that savoured of the +marvellous; but although they hit upon the smoothest paths, the +prisoner's powers were sorely tried, for he had undergone no slight +strain within the last twenty-four hours, and his footsteps began to +drag in spite of himself. The first sign of this, however, met with +encouragement in the shape of a dig from the assegai of the man behind +him, accompanied by a brutal laugh. There was no help for it--he was +entirely in their hands. + +"The white man is a very great warrior," remarked the Kafir whom he had +knocked down. "He can turn his hand into a club when he has no other +weapon. He is made of iron; but even iron will bend and melt in the +fire--in the fire. Whaow!" repeated the savage, with a dark, meaning +look; and Claverton knew that the reference was to his probable fate. +His probable?--nay, his certain fate. + +"Look here, you fellows," said the prisoner coolly. "You're rather a +skulking lot, when all's said and done. Here you've got me in your +power--me whom you've fought fairly and openly in the field--and you +think it immense fun to give me a quiet dig now and then with your +assegais, like a lot of old women's spiteful pinches. That's not the +way in which warriors of the Amaxosa should behave, even to a prisoner." + +A laugh, not wholly an ill-natured one, greeted this remonstrance. + +"If you intend to cut my throat, as no doubt you do, cut it and have +done with it; but, hang it, until you do you might give a fellow a +little peace," he went on. + +"Peace, peace? No, it's war now, white man--war," they replied. "Why +should we give you any peace until the time comes to roast you? That's +what we are going to do with you." + +"Are you? Well, that's for the Great Chief to decide. Meanwhile, if +you were decent fellows, you'd fill me up a pipe and let me have a smoke +as we go along." + +His coolness staggered them. But it stood him in good stead, for among +these people a bold and fearless mien always commands respect. The tall +chief stepped back to the prisoner's side, and filling up a pipe from +Claverton's own tobacco pouch, lighted it and gave it to him, or rather +stuck it into his mouth, with a grim laugh. + +"There. You won't smoke many more pipes in this world, Lenzimbi," he +said. + +The Kafirs became quite good-humoured and began to sing, or rather hum, +snatches of their war-songs as they stepped briskly out. They ceased to +ill-treat their prisoner, and even showed a disposition to talk. They +told him about the different engagements that had been fought between +them and the colonists, and how they intended to go on fighting until +every tribe had risen and joined them, and that then they would eat up +the Fingo "dogs," and ultimately, when they had fought enough, make +peace with the whites. It was of no use for him to try and persuade +them that in six months' time they would be thoroughly beaten and broken +up, and their chiefs either hanged or undergoing penal servitude as +common convicts. They laughed him to scorn. The open air, the unending +bush and impenetrable fastnesses of the rocks and caves were around them +now, the white man's warnings they treated as mere fables. + +Suddenly Claverton was dragged to the earth, all the Kafirs sinking +silently and like shadows. A blanket was thrown over his head, +enveloping him in darkness and nearly suffocating him. It was +impossible for him to utter so much as a sound. A few minutes of this +silent darkness and the impromptu gag was removed. Something had +alarmed the savages, and they had taken these precautions. They now +resumed their way, and glad indeed was the prisoner to get rid of the +horrible extinguisher that had been put upon him, and breathe the fresh +air again; for a Kafir blanket, all nauseous with red ochre and grease +and something more, diffuseth not a balmy perfume. + +Towards dawn they halted for a short rest, and now the air became +piercingly cold, for they were at a considerable elevation. Great +clouds worked up from seaward, and the wind arose in dull, moaning +gusts, driving the grey scud along the slopes beneath, and wrapping in a +misty veil the brow of a lofty cliff which every now and then frowned +down upon their way. Then, as it grew lighter, Claverton could just +make out a town lying far away upon the plain, glimpsed between the +slopes of the hills. It was King Williamstown, and at the sight he +thought how happily he and Lilian had driven out of it and along that +bit of road, the continuation of which he could see like a white thread +winding along over the flat. He wae roused by a voice at his elbow. + +"Now, white man, we are going to start again." + +Turning, he beheld the tall chief, and now, by the light of day, he +recognised this man's features. It was the man whom, with two others, +he had turned away from Umgiswe's out-station, on the morning of that +never-to-be-forgotten ride over to Thirlestane, and whom Lilian had so +much wished to see as a specimen of a real Kafir chief. He wondered if +the other recognised him. + +"Do you know me now, Lenzimbi?" was the quiet, but somewhat sneering +question. + +"Are you a rich man, Nxabahlana?" said Claverton, answering the query by +another, in true native fashion. + +The Kafir eyed him suspiciously. "It is war-time now," he replied, with +a shrug of the shoulders; "no one can be said to be rich in war-time." + +"True; but war does not last for ever. Some day there will be peace, +and then, when the whites have taken all their cattle and the Gaikas are +starving, and begging for food, supposing that Nxabahlana found he had +plenty of cattle in his kraals. He would be a rich man when all his +people were poor; and a rich man is always the most powerful chief." + +A gleam in the other's eyes, and the least movement of a glance in the +direction of the rest, convinced the prisoner that he was understood, +and he began to hope. + +"Supposing, then," he went on, "that when all of Nxabahlana's wives had +been captured and distributed among the Fingoes, or were half-starved +and too weak to work, and worn out, and thin, and useless, Nxabahlana +had plenty of cattle, he could buy more wives--young, and fresh, and +healthy. And then, when all the chiefs of the Gaikas were deposed and +in disgrace, supposing the Government were to say: `During the war a +white man, an officer in the colonial forces, was captured by the +Gaikas, and his life was saved by a chief who set him free, and provided +him with a horse and a guide to lead him into the colonial camp. This, +then, is the chief whom we must put in Sandili's place, although he is +of the house of the Great Chief, for he is our friend--and his name is +Nxabahlana.'" + +The eyes of the savage glistened at the prospect thus opened out before +him. All Kafirs are by nature covetous, and this man's greediest +instincts were powerfully appealed to. Plenty amid scarcity--wives, +cattle, power--for that last consideration thrown out by the prisoner +had carried more weight than he thought. He, Nxabahlana, was now +disliked and distrusted by Sandili. Here, then, would be a good +opportunity of securing the favour of the Colonial Government, and +benefiting himself at the expense of his kinsman and chief. + +"How many cattle will Nxabahlana find in his kraal, after the war, if +Lenzimbi goes free?" he asked. + +"One hundred fat beasts," replied Claverton. He knew his man, and that +the other would take advantage of his necessity to the utmost, so he +purposely began at a low figure. + +"Aow! A chief cannot buy many wives with that," was the reply, given +with a dissatisfied head-shake. + +"Say one hundred and fifty, then." + +But this, too, proved too little. At length, after much haggling, which +evoked many a smile from the prisoner--so strongly was his sense of +humour tickled by the notion of haggling over the price of his own life, +as if he was merely buying a waggon or a farm--a bargain was struck. +Two hundred head of cattle should be handed over to Nxabahlana at any +time and place that worthy chose to name, and if at the close of the war +Claverton's good offices should not avail to obtain for the chief a +position of considerable wealth and influence, then he was to receive +another hundred. In consideration whereof the Gaika agreed to release +his prisoner, and, if not to conduct him within the colonial lines, at +any rate to leave him in a place of safety. Not that all this was set +forth in so many words--both of them knew better than that--the others +might be listening. No, the negotiations were carried on in that dark +undercurrent of half hints, half veiled references, which the Kafirs +employ when anxious not to be readily understood by outsiders; and it +will be remembered that Claverton spoke the native languages with ease +and fluency, and, what in this instance stood him in almost better +stead, thoroughly understood the native character. + +"What if Lenzimbi should _forget_ his word, when he found himself safe +among his own people?" said the savage, suspiciously. "What if when +Nxabahlana went to ask for his reward he received a bullet instead of +the cattle, or was seized and thrown into the _tronk_ as a rebel? Look. +Here is a better plan. Lenzimbi shall give the money value of half the +cattle now. He can turn paper into money by writing upon it." + +"Lenzimbi isn't such a fool as he looks," was the prompt reply. "No, my +friend, you know perfectly well that you can trust me far better than I +can trust you, and as for writing you a cheque now, which I suppose is +what you mean, I couldn't if I would, because I've no paper or ink or +anything; and I wouldn't if I could, because you know, as well as I do, +that I shall keep to my side of the bargain. Besides, even if I did +what you want me to, and gave you a cheque now, how the devil could you +read it so as to make sure it was all right? Eh?" + +This was conclusive. + +"It will be difficult," mused the Kafir, referring to the escape. "Very +difficult. Look. Yonder is the camp of your people. We shall pass +very near it presently. Then, if you should find yourself free, make +for it as hard as you can. There is no other chance. But until after +the war is over you must keep silent about the way in which you escaped. +That is one of the conditions." + +Claverton agreed to this, and now hope ran very strong within him. He +had every reason to believe that the Gaika would fulfil his word; +indeed, two powerful considerations would ensure his doing so, cupidity +and fear. For if he were denounced to Sandili as having even +contemplated such an act of treason as the release of a prisoner, his +life would not be worth a moment's purchase. After some discussion as +to the best way the order was given to start, and, with their prisoner +in their midst as before, the Kafirs resumed their march. Once +Claverton stole a side look at the chief's face, but Nxabahlana was +moody and taciturn, and when he did speak to the prisoner it was with +the rough brutality he had employed at first; but this might be only a +blind. Which was it to be--life or doom? Every chance now was in +favour of the former, and hope ran high. + +Doubtless the reader will wonder at Claverton's marvellous ill-luck in +three times escaping a terrible death only to fall straight into the +hands of his enemies. When the Kafirs had abandoned their search as +useless, thinking that the white man was a wizard indeed, as Nxabahlana +had tauntingly said, that worthy, with a dozen followers, had remained +behind. Of a cynical disposition, and a very sceptic as regarded the +superstitions of his countrymen, that astute savage, although he had +been the first to start the miraculous theory as accounting for the +fugitive's disappearance, believed in it himself not one whit. He was +puzzled, he admitted, but by natural causes. He would fathom the +mystery yet; so he sneeringly watched the bulk of his countrymen move +off, while, with a few chosen followers, he remained on the watch. +Carefully they examined the ground, but, of course, found no trace of a +footmark. They searched the cave whence the fugitive had emerged, but +did not venture far into it, being influenced by two considerations. +One was that not a shadow of spoor was seen to lead into it; another, a +very natural repugnance to penetrating deep into that gloomy hole. It +was nearly dark, and if the fugitive moved at all, it would be at night. +So Nxabahlana and his warriors took up their position on the cliff a +little way above the mouth of the cavern, in a spot commanding a +considerable view of the moonlit valley, wherein nothing could move +without at once attracting their attention, and waited and watched with +the steady patience of their kind. This was at length rewarded when +they saw the object of their quest emerge, weary and exhausted, from the +cavern, walking, so to say, straight into their very jaws. The sequel +we have seen. + +During the march Claverton noticed with some uneasiness, that the man +who had felt the weight of his fist was watching him very narrowly. +Whichever way he looked, this man's shrewd, suspicious glance was upon +him, and more than once it seemed to wander to the chief. Could he have +overheard? If so, it would add seriously to the difficulties in the way +of escape. But he consoled himself with the knowledge that if it was to +be effected Nxabahlana would manage it somehow. + +And now, as they drew nearer to the critical spot, the sound of voices +was heard close by, causing, however, no alarm to the party, and a large +body of Kafirs, emerging from the bush, joined them. Of course a halt +was called while they exchanged news, and great was the exultation of +the new arrivals over the capture of so formidable an enemy as this +white man had proved--for his fame had spread among them. They crowded +round to look at him as he sat on the ground, some jeering, some +threatening, but all, in their heart of hearts, rather respecting the +man who sat there absolutely in their power, and yet taking no more +notice of them than if they were stones. + +"Whaaow!" exclaimed a great mocking voice at his side. "Whaaow, +Lenzimbi! I told you we should meet again. You knocked me down once-- +twice. It was your turn then--now it is mine," and, looking up, he +recognised at a glance his old enemy--Mopela. + +"Ha--ha! I told you so, didn't I? How do you like that, Lenzimbi--how +do you like that?" continued the savage, striking him twice on the head +with the shaft of his assegai. "Yesterday, you--to-day, I. Haow!" + +"What has come over the warriors of the Amaxosa that they keep such a +cur in their midst?" said Claverton, looking straight before him, and +steadily ignoring his persecutor. "Only a cur bites and worries a +helpless man, but if one even looks at a stone he runs away with his +tail between his legs, as this cur called Mopela would do if my hands +were for a moment free--even as he has done twice already." + +With a yell of rage, and foaming at the mouth, Mopela flourished his +assegai within an inch of Claverton's face, but the prisoner never +flinched. It seemed that the savage was working himself up to such a +pitch that in a moment he would plunge the weapon into the body of his +helpless enemy, when his arm was seized in a firm grasp, and Nxabahlana +said, coldly: + +"Stop, Mopela. You must not kill the prisoner. He belongs to the Great +Chief, Sandili." + +"Yes, yes," chimed in the others, "he belongs to Sandili; he is not +ours!" And favouring Claverton with a frightful glare of disappointed +hate, Mopela fell back sullenly among the rest. + +"Yes, the white man belongs to Sandili. He is not ours--he is not +ours!" repeated the Kafir whose suspicions had been awakened, with a +significant glance at his leader's face. + +The latter, who, by the way, was Mopela's half-brother, ignored the +hint, and gave orders to resume the march. + +"Aow!" exclaimed one of the Kafirs, suddenly stopping. "This is not the +way to Sandili." + +"No, no. It isn't?" agreed several of the others. + +"It takes us dangerously near the white man's camp," said the suspicious +one, stopping short with a determined air. + +"And we might be attacked by a strong patrol," urged Mopela. "Senhlu is +right." + +A great hubbub now arose. The Kafirs, to a man, objected to pursuing +that road any further. It was not safe, they said; they might lose the +prisoner, and perhaps all be shot themselves. No. The best plan would +be to go straight to head-quarters, and as soon as possible. + +Nxabahlana saw that they were determined to have their way. He was only +a petty chief, and the great bulk of these men were not his own +clansmen; moreover, he was greatly out of favour with Sandili and +Matanzima, who would be glad of a pretext to get rid of him. He dared +not persevere in his plan; to incur further suspicion would be to court +death. So he gave way. + +"I intended to have reconnoitred and carried back some news to the Great +Chief," he replied, coldly, and with a sneer. "But since you are all so +afraid of the white men that you dare not venture within three hours' +run of their camp, you can have your way. I shall carry out my scheme +alone, while you go back with the prisoner." + +To this plan they one and all objected. It might be that they detected +defection in the tone of their leader's voice. He, however, deemed it +safer to fall in with their wishes. + +"So be it, then," he said. "We will all go straight to Sandili." And +the whole party, turning, struck off into the deep wooded fastnesses of +the mountains; and the captive's heart sank within him, for he knew that +the plan for his deliverance had failed on the verge of its fulfilment, +and now every step carried him nearer and nearer to his death. Half an +hour ago the flame of life and hope glowed brightly; now the last spark +was extinguished in the darkness of a certain and terrible doom. + +On they went--on through the dark forest, where the crimson-winged +louris flashed across the path, sounding their shrill, cheery whistle, +and monkeys skipped away with a chattering noise among the long, tangled +trailers and lichens which festooned the boughs of the massive +yellow-wood trees. Now and then an ominous, stealthy rustle betokened +the presence of some great reptile, quietly gliding away among the safe +recesses of the thicket; and high above, the harsh, resounding cry of a +huge bird of prey floated from a mighty cliff overhanging the line of +march. All these things the prisoner noted as a dying man looks at the +trivial sights and sounds of earth; for he knew he should never leave +this place alive. The clouds had cleared off, and now the sun's rays +poured down upon his head like molten fire; fortunately for them the +Kafirs had left him his hat, or their captive would have been snatched +out of their merciless grasp by a sunstroke, long before he reached the +place of torture and death. + +At about noon they halted; and one of the Kafirs, advancing a little way +ahead, uttered a loud, strange call. It was answered, and, being +beckoned to come on, the whole party moved forward and joined him. Then +they formed up in a column, and, striking up a war-song, they stepped +out, beating time with the handles of their sticks and assegais; those +nearest to him, turning every now and then to brandish their weapons in +the prisoner's face. + +And now they entered an open space covered with huts--these, however, +being of a very temporary order--and a swarm of human beings crowded out +to meet them. A few starved-looking dogs rushed forward, yelping, but +were promptly driven back with stones; and men, women, and children, +stood eagerly watching the return of the warriors, and speculating +loudly on the identity and probable fate of the captive. + +Grasping instinctively the capabilities of the place, Claverton saw that +he was on a kind of plateau, shut in on three sides by high, wooded +slopes and rugged krantzes, while on the fourth, which was open, he +could just make out a wide stretch of country far away beneath. The +cunning old Gaika chieftain had well chosen his eyrie of a hiding-place. +On every side, however, the bush grew thickly right up to the huts, +which were built in a circle. Claverton noted, moreover, that, save for +a few very indifferent cows, there was no cattle anywhere about, and +that the people themselves were looking lean and starved, and drew his +own conclusions accordingly. + +With many a shrill laugh, and chattering like magpies, the women crowded +round to look at the prisoner as he sat in the midst of his captors and +guards, stoically indifferent to his fate. Hideous, toothless crones, +whose wrinkled hides hung about them in a succession of disgusting +flaps; crushed-looking middle-aged women and plump, well-made girls, all +in different stages of undress. One of the latter slily put out her +hand and gave Claverton a sharp pinch on the arm, amid screams of +laughter from her fellows as they watched its effect upon the +countenance of the captive. + +"Yaow!" they cried. "The white man cannot feel. See, he does not +move!" + +Then a frightful hag stepped in front of the prisoner, and, amid a +torrent of invective, began brandishing a butcher-knife within an inch +of his nose. + +"Ah--wolf--white snake--vulture's spawn!" she yelled. "We will spoil +your handsome face for you. Our young men are lying about the land in +thousands, and the jackals are devouring their carcases, and it is your +work. For every one of their lives you shall undergo a pang that will +make you pray for death. Do you hear, tiger-cat; do you hear?" screamed +the hag in a frenzy of rage. + +Again a grim smile was upon Claverton's face. The idea of him, who had +made himself felt in sober earnest, who had escaped peril and death so +narrowly and so often, coming to this--that it was in the power of such +a thing as this to cut his throat like a fowl. + +"He dares to laugh!" yelled the she-devil, brandishing her knife and +clawing him by the hair. Just then one of the warriors took her by the +shoulders and sent her spinning a dozen yards off, where she lay on the +ground foaming with rage. + +"_Hamba-ke_! Leave the prisoner alone. He belongs to the chief!" + +At a sign from the speaker a girl came forward rather timidly and held a +bowl to the captive's lips. It contained curdled milk, with some +mealie-paste thrown in. It was cool and refreshing, and Claverton drank +deeply. + +"Thanks," he said, with a nod and a pleasant smile. "That's good." + +The rest of the contents of the bowl were drained by his guards; and the +girl, retiring amongst her companions with many a sidelong glance at the +prisoner, remarked, in a half whisper, what a handsome fellow the white +man was, and she was sure he must be a very great chief, and it was a +shame to kill such a man as this. + +And now a commotion arose on the other side of the kraal. All eyes were +turned, and so grotesque was the sight that met his glance that +Claverton could hardly keep from laughing outright. In the centre of a +group of women and children, who were hustling him along, was a man--a +white man. On his head was a tall black hat, the puggaree had been +impounded by one of his captors. His arms were bound to his sides, +while his long-tailed coat, now in a woeful and tattered condition, hung +about his legs. Some brat, more mischievous than the rest, would every +now and then swing on to its tails, or bestow a severe pinch underneath, +while buffets of every description seemed the sufferer's momentary +portion. His eyes were starting out of his head with fear, and his +countenance was more abject than ever. In this miserable-looking +specimen of British humanity Claverton recognised his companion in +adversity--the missionary, Swaysland. + +"Yaow--man of peace--get on!" yelled the rabble, hustling the poor +wretch forward. One urchin leaped upon his back, and nearly made his +teeth meet in the tip of his ear, while another playfully flicked him on +the cheek with the lash of a toy-whip. Altogether the unfortunate +missionary seemed to be having a bad time of it. + +"Is there too much light, _Umfundisi_?" mocked a young woman, as he +blinked his eyes, partly to dodge an expected blow, partly because the +sudden glare of the sun tried them. "There, now it is dark. Is that +better?" and she banged the tall hat down over the luckless man's eyes, +head and face, thereby performing the operation known to the uncivilised +Briton as "bonneting." A scream of laughter from the barbarous mob +greeted this performance, which increased as, with the "chimney-pot" +sticking over his head and face, their victim stumbled forward, +completely blinded. Scattering the women, two of the warriors roughly +removed this visual obstruction, and marched him up to where Claverton +was sitting. + +"Hallo, Mr Swaysland, I never expected to see you again in this +terrestrial orb!" + +There was something almost cheerful in this greeting, and the poor +missionary felt hopeful. + +"How did you escape? I am so glad!" he began in a tone of breathless +relief. "Now you will be able to interpret for me. I am sure they +would not have ill-treated me if I could have made them understand who I +am. And they have ill-treated me shockingly--shockingly." + +"Why! Can't you talk their lingo?" + +"No. I have only been in this country a few months. Ah, why did I +leave Islington! I was President of the Young Men's Christian +Association there, and I must needs come to convert the heathen in this +benighted country. I was afternoon preacher at--" + +"Yes, yes," interrupted his companion in adversity. "But I'm afraid +that won't inspire John Kafir with either respect or compunction. What +do you want me to tell them?" + +"Tell them that I am the Rev Josiah Swaysland, and that I belong to +the Mount Ararat Mission Station. Tell them that I am the Kafir's +friend, and that I gave up a comfortable place in a high-class drapery +establi--er--ah--er--I mean in a--er--in easy circumstances at home, in +order to come and be their friend. Tell them to let me go. I am not a +fighting man. I am a man of peace, and never did them any harm. Tell +them--" + +"That's enough for one sitting," said Claverton, with a sneer of +profound contempt for the other's egotism and cowardice. It was all +"I--I," "Let _me_ go." A brutal laugh was the only answer which the +savages vouchsafed. + +"Ha!" they mocked. "A man of peace! What are men of peace doing here +in war-time? This is not the land for a man of peace!" + +Nevertheless, Claverton did his best to obtain the other's release, and +disinterestedly, too, for he knew that long before his own position +could be made known he himself would be a dead man. He represented to +the Kafirs--very contemptuously, it must be admitted--that the +missionary was a pitiful devil, not worth the trouble of killing; that +they could gain no good by it; but might by releasing him, as he would +be only too ready to trumpet their generosity far and wide. They only +shook their heads in response to all his arguments. They had no voice +in the matter; it was a question for the chief to decide. + +"What do they say?" anxiously inquired Swaysland. + +"They can do nothing. It all depends upon Sandili. He will be back +this evening, and then our fate will be settled." + +The other shuddered. + +"You seem to take things very calmly, Mr Claverton," said he, at +length. + +"Well, yes. What on earth's the good of kicking up a row? It won't +mend matters." + +"Oh! God help us!" wailed the missionary, in mortal fear. + +"That's about our only chance. But you don't seem to calculate over +much on the contingency," rejoined his companion, with a very visible +sneer. + +"Don't talk like that--don't, I beg you. Remember our awful position." + +"`The devil was ill, the devil a monk would be,'" quoted the other, with +a bitter laugh. "I've been in `awful positions' before now, on more +than one occasion, but this time I verily believe it's all UP. My God +has quarrelled with me, as that long devil over yonder graciously +informed me last night." + +Swaysland stared at him in amazement. Here was a man with torture and +death before him in a few hours, talking as calmly and as cynically as +if he was having his evening pipe. He had never even heard of anything +like this before, and, if he had, would not have believed it. + +"Now, look here," continued Claverton. "I don't want to raise any false +hopes, mind that; but I think it's just possible that they may let you +go. You see, the chiefs always like to stand well with the +missionaries, not because they believe in them, but because Exeter Hall +is a power in the land, worse luck. Now, you represent that you're no +end of a swell in that connection, and that you'll do great things for +them if they let you go. But, whatever you do, don't promise to leave +the country by way of an inducement." + +"But if they ask me?" + +"They won't. On the contrary. If you leave the country, you can be of +no further service to them, and they know it. It is only by remaining +here and saying what fine, generous fellows they are, that you can do +them any good. In fact, I think you stand a very fair chance; but, as I +say, I don't want to raise any false hopes." + +"Really, I declare I am quite hopeful already. If I get away, never +again will I set foot in these frightful wilds," vehemently replied this +preacher of the Gospel. "But, about yourself?" he added, ashamed of his +egotism, a consciousness of which had just begun to dawn upon him. + +"Oh, I? Well, I'm a gone coon. There isn't a chance for me. They know +me too well." Then, as if moved by a sudden impulse, he added: "If you +escape you might do me a service. It isn't a very big thing." + +"I pledge you my word that I will. What is it?" + +"Find out a man named Payne--George Payne. He's from Kaffraria, but at +present he's living in Grahamstown, and--tell him--tell them--all--that +you saw the last of me." + +"I will--I will. But--" + +"Do you know this, Lenzimbi?" and Mopela stood confronting him, with a +diabolical grin upon his face. As he spoke he removed an old rag from +over something he carried, disclosing to view a hideous object. It was +a human head, and in the swollen, distorted lineaments, the glazed eyes, +and the sandy beard all matted with gore, Claverton recognised the +features of the unhappy Boer, Cornelius Oppermann. At this ghastly +sight Swaysland started back, his face livid with terror, and trembling +in every limb. + +"Look at it, Lenzimbi. Look at it. One of your countrymen," went on +the savage, thrusting the frightful object within an inch of the +prisoner's nose. It had begun to decompose, for the weather was hot, +and it was all that Claverton could do to restrain his repugnance. + +"I see it," he replied, self-possessedly. "Any one but a fool would +know that that article of furniture had belonged to a Dutchman, whom +every one but a fool would know was _not_ `one of my countrymen.'" + +"Hey, Mopela, take it away!" cried the bystanders, disgustedly. "We +don't want to be killed by the carcase of a stinking Boer," and, with a +grin of malice, the barbarian chucked the hideous trophy at a small boy +who was passing, and who bolted with a panic-stricken yell. + +"Here, _Umfundisi_, you have talked long enough; you must go back to +your hut," said Nxabahlana. The poor missionary's heart sank within +him. Claverton's conversation, though sadly profane, had cheered him +up, and now he was to be alone again. + +"Good-bye, in case we do not meet again," he said, with more feeling +than he had hitherto displayed--on other account than his own, that is. + +"Good-bye. Keep your spirits up, and don't forget to make the most of +yourself," replied Claverton. "And remember Payne--George Payne." + +"Now then, _Umfundisi_," impatiently exclaimed one of the Kafirs, +dragging him by the shoulder. Swaysland walked dejectedly away, glad of +the Kafir's escort to protect him from the ill-treatment of the women +and children; and Claverton, leaning back, wondered, dreamily, what the +deuce would be his own fate. So the hours dragged their slow length; +and it was with but scant hope that the captives awaited the arrival of +the Gaika chief. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +THE "WORD" OF THE GREAT CHIEF. + +Tired of gazing at the prisoner, and realising, moreover, that there was +not much fun to be got out of one who took matters so coolly, the women +and children ceased to crowd round him, and he was left very much, to +himself. It was broiling hot, and every now and then upon the sultry +hushened air came the discharge of firearms in the far distance. +Evidently the rival forces were making targets of each other; but it was +probably only a slight skirmish with some patrol, and Claverton did not +allow himself to hope anything from the circumstance. The Kafirs, too, +seemed in no way to trouble themselves about it. + +"Time passes slowly, doesn't it, Lenzimbi?" said Mopela, mockingly. "It +passed quicker sitting by the pool at midnight, you and the tall dark +lily at Seringa Vale. How well you looked together! Why didn't you +bring her here with you, eh? It would have been much more comfortable +for you, and for us, ha, ha!" + +At that moment Claverton would have bartered his life to be free to +spring upon the jibing savage and tear him in pieces with his bare +hands. But it is safe to worry a chained mastiff, if only the chain is +strong enough. + +"Ha! ha! What will the dark lily say when you do not return to her?" +went on Mopela. "When she hears how you were cut in pieces like a +sheep, or roasted. Once we killed a man by putting red-hot stones upon +him. At last they slid off, but we held them on again with sticks. He +was two days dying. That was for witchcraft. Another was smeared over +with honey, and a nest of black ants was broken over him. They stung +him, they got into his ears, and nose, and eyes, and stung him +everywhere. He died raving mad. Another was skinned alive, and then +his skin was sewn round him again. Another was hung by the heels over a +slow fire, and his eyes were put out with red-hot fire-sticks. Which of +these things would you rather have happen to you, Lenzimbi?" concluded +the Kafir with a hideous laugh. + +"Nothing of the kind will happen to me," was the imperturbable reply. + +A low boom of thunder smote upon the air--long, very distant, but +distinctly audible. On the farthest horizon a little cloud was just +visible. The slightest suspicion of a superstitious misgiving was in +the breasts of the bystanders. How could this man preserve such perfect +imperturbability unless he were sure of some miraculous deliverance? + +"Will it not?" jeered Mopela. "What will happen then?" + +"Wait and see. If you have been telling me those interesting stories to +try and frighten me--well, then, Mopela, you're a bigger fool than even +I took you for, and have been taking a vast deal of trouble about +nothing. But now, if it's all the same to you, I think I'll go to +sleep." + +They stared at him. Here was a marvellous thing. These white men, too, +were so afraid of pain; and this one, whom in a few hours they intended +to burn alive, announced his intention of going to sleep. But they +offered no objection. He was in their eyes a natural curiosity, and to +be studied as such. + +And he actually did sleep, and slept soundly, too, so that two hours +later when the whole kraal was astir and in a commotion, he awoke quite +refreshed. The arbiters of his fate had arrived. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The chief, Sandili, a refugee with the remnant of his tribe in the +fastnesses of the Amatola forest, was a very different personage to the +sleek, well-fed, benevolent-looking old "sponge" who had asked for +sixpences when sitting against the wall of the Kaffrarian trading-store. +To begin with, he was sober, a state he could rarely plead guilty to +during the piping times of peace. But there were no canteens in these +rugged strongholds, and the very limited supply of liquor that could be +smuggled in was but as a drop in the bucket to this habitual old toper. +His temper, too, was peevish and uncertain, whether owing to the +supplies of grog being cut off, or the reverses sustained by his arms, +was open to debate. So when this prisoner stood before him as he sat in +front of his hut surrounded by his _amapakati_ [councillors] and +attendants, the old chief's countenance wore none of its former +friendliness and geniality. + +One swift glance at the rows of dark, impassive faces, whose eyes were +fixed upon him, keenly noting every point of his demeanour, and +Claverton saluted the chief--easily, naturally, and as between equals. +A murmur ran through the group in acknowledgment, and every eye was bent +upon the prisoner. For some moments they regarded each other in +silence, and then Sandili spoke. + +"Who are you, white man, and what are you doing here?" + +"Who am I? The chief will recollect that we have met before. Does he +not remember Thompson's store and the man who talked with him there? +That was myself." + +Again a hum of assent ran through the group, and the chief sat gazing at +his prisoner as if in deep thought. And what an unaccountable turn of +fate it seemed to Claverton! The last time he had talked with this man +he had felt for him a good-humoured, contemptuous kind of pity as he +gave him the trifling gifts which the other had asked for; and Lilian's +sweet eyes had looked upon the old savage with a delicious air of +half-frightened interest, much as she might have regarded a tame old +lion, and then they had ridden so light-heartedly away, without much +thought of the evil to come. How vividly that day came back to him +now--now, as he once more stood before the old chief, whose lightest +word was sufficient to decide his fate! Verily, the turns in the wheel +of Fortune are capricious. + +Seeing that no one was in a hurry to break the silence, Claverton +continued: + +"As to what I am doing here, I was brought here, very much against my +will, I admit. Our friends here drove me over a cliff higher than that +one yonder," pointing to one that overhung the hollow; "but I stopped +half-way down and got inside. Then I walked down through the heart of +the earth, and came out at the foot of the cliff, where your people +found me." + +"What childishness is this?" said the chief, sternly. "Are we children +and fools that you tell us such tales, white man?" + +"Ask those who brought me here if it is not as I say," was the cool +reply. + +A rapid conversation took place among the Kafirs, many of whom confirmed +the prisoner's statement. It was an unaccountable thing, they said; but +the white man seemed to be something of a sorcerer. Anyhow, all that he +said about the cliff was true. + +And now a fresh excitement took place in the shape of some new arrivals, +some mounted, some on foot. Claverton noticed a stoutly-built man in +European clothing, who seemed rather to shrink back as if anxious to +avoid observation. + +"Who is that?" he asked of his guards during the slight confusion that +followed. + +"Gonya--Sandili's son," was the reply. + +This Gonya, or Edmund Sandili, as he was known to the colonists, had +received a civilised education, and, at the time of the outbreak, held a +post as clerk and interpreter in the Civil Service of the colony. This +post he had thrown up in order to cast in his lot with his own people--a +course which, whether that of a traitorous rebel or self-sacrificing +patriot, is a matter of opinion. + +"And who is the _Umfundisi_?" he went on, in an ironical tone, glancing +in the direction of a thoroughbred Kafir who was arrayed in a clerical +suit of black, with which, and with the white choker adorning his +throat, the rifle he carried in his hand seemed startlingly out of +keeping. + +"Ha! that's Dukwana. He's a real _Umfundisi_ at Emgwali. He can pray +well, but he can shoot better," replied the barbarian, with a sneering +laugh. "Ha! there's Matanzima--Sandili's other son. He _is_ a +warrior?" + +"Yes, I know him," said Claverton, as he watched his former enemy join +the group and seat himself near his father. The old chief looked not +best pleased at the interruption as he turned frowningly towards his +impetuous son. + +"Where is the prisoner?" the latter was saying. "Aha! white man, we +have caught you at last!" he went on, as Claverton again stood before +the group. + +"Why did you not `catch' me that day in the thorns, when we met in real +battle, Matanzima?" he retorted. "That was a good rough-and-tumble, +wasn't it?" + +The other showed all his white teeth and laughed. He had a pleasing +face--bold, daring, and reckless. Then they began questioning the +prisoner about the colonial movements. To each query he replied with a +readiness that astonished them. + +"You are not misleading us?" said one of the _amapakati_, threateningly. +"Why do you tell us all your countrymen's moves so readily?" + +"I am not misleading you, because not the slightest advantage would be +gained by it; the result will be the same, anyhow. I tell you, Sandili, +and all you _amapakati_, that you are going straight to destruction. +You had much better make terms before it is too late. You can get +better terms now than a month hence." + +A murmur of amazement ran round the assembly. Here was a prisoner--a +bound, helpless prisoner--talking to them, the chiefs and councillors of +the Gaika nation, like a victorious general dictating terms! It was a +thing unheard of. + +Suddenly a strange interruption occurred. A figure bounded into the +midst--a frightful figure, with long, gaunt limbs and gleaming eyes. +From neck, and shoulder, and wrist, and ankle, dangled beads, and cows' +tails, and feathers, and magic strings of birds' beaks and claws, while +the creature's body wae hideously tattooed from head to foot. Of tall +stature, a coif, consisting of a huge snake's skin all entwined with the +claws of scorpions, made him look even taller. With a long, wild +beast-like howl, this hideous object stood poised on one foot before the +group. + +"Treason! Treason!" he mouthed. + +All started; each man, by an involuntary movement, looking uneasily at +his neighbour. In one glance Claverton recognised this +diabolical-looking creature. It was the wizard, Nomadudwana. + +"Treason! Treason?" he repeated, foaming at the mouth and gnashing his +teeth. + +"What does the sorcerer mean?" asked Sandili. "Who is the traitor?" + +"There is a white prisoner here," bellowed the wizard. "He belongs to +us. He belongs to the nation--to the Great Chief--to me--to us all--for +we shall all take of the war-medicine which I will make out of his +heart. He is a brave man; his heart will make strong war-medicine. The +Great Chief, Sandili, is our father; but there is treason in his house-- +in his own house!" And again the hideous wizard broke into a series of +prolonged and diabolical howls. "There is one here who would have +deprived us of our spoil," he went on; "who would have released our +prisoner and enriched himself; who would have gone over to the white men +and betrayed us, his brethren--betrayed the Great Chief, his father, and +the head of his father's house!" + +The councillors were visibly agitated. Though their consciences were +clear, it might be in the purpose of Nomadudwana to denounce any one of +them. A shout of wrath went up from the crowd beyond. + +"Who is the traitor? What is his name? He must be killed!" exclaimed +the Kafirs, gripping their sticks and assegais. "Name him! Name him!" + +The wizard glared around, and many a bold spirit quailed before the +glance of those dreaded eyes. + +"The traitor is of the house of the Great Chief--of his own house. +Where is Nxabahlana?" + +A loud murmur of mingled amazement and relief arose, succeeded by +ominous mutterings. + +"Here!" roared the warrior named, springing into the circle and +confronting his denouncer. "Here! What have you to say against +Nxabahlana? Liar, fool, juggler! Out with it, before I cut out your +lying tongue!" + +"Stop!" cried Matanzima. "Stop! We must hear what all have to say. If +Nxabahlana is true, he need fear nothing. Where is Senhlu?" + +Then stepped forward the suspicious one, and narrated how his leader had +been in close confabulation with the captive, whom he--Senhlu--had heard +him agree to release, on condition of receiving five hundred head of +cattle (exaggeration Number 1); further stipulating that, when the +whites were victorious, Sandili and Matanzima should be slain, and he, +Nxabahlana, put into their place (exaggeration Number 2). He told how +anxious his leader had been to go dangerously near the white men's camp, +and how he and Mopela had stirred up the others to resist this plan, +feeling sure that their said leader intended to desert and betray them. + +As he concluded, the ominous murmur had risen to angry shouts, and every +eye was bent upon the accused with a glare of vengeful wrath. But the +object of it never quailed. He stood cold, erect, and disdainful--his +tall, herculean frame looking quite majestic, as with a sneer on his +face he listened unmoved to the shouts of execration around him. And +Claverton, for the time, forgot his own position in the vivid interest +which this unlooked-for turn of affairs afforded him. He could see that +the whole thing was a plot, and he felt quite sympathetic towards his +captor and would-be deliverer, who he saw was doomed, otherwise no +common fellow like Senhlu would dare raise his voice against a kinsman +of the Great Chief. + +"It is a lie!" shouted the accused, waving his hand in the air. "It is +a lie. Give this lying sorcerer a weapon and let us meet hand to hand. +I will kill him and then whip Senhlu like a dog--my dog that turns to +bite me. Listen, Ama Nqgika. Who has been in the front rank whenever +we fought the whites? Nxabahlana. Who has shot three of them with his +own hand, and seven dogs of Fingoes besides? Nxabahlana. Who has lost +the whole of his possessions--cattle, wives, even his very dogs--in the +cause of his people? Nxabahlana. Even now," he went on, working +himself up into a pitch of fervid eloquence, "even now, look at me. Am +I afraid? Am I afraid of any man living? Who remained on the watch all +night and captured this white man, when all the rest were afraid of him +and had given up the search? Nxabahlana. Well, then--is it likely I +should wish to let him escape? Is it, I say? Surely none but a fool +would do this. None but a child like Senhlu. None but a covetous, +jackal-faced impostor like Nomadudwana. None but a wolf who devours his +own flesh and blood, like Mopela. None but these. Certainly not a +warrior. Certainly not Nxabahlana--a warrior, a man of the house of +Nqgika. Is the Great Chief, Sandili, a child? Are the _amapakati_ +children that they should have their ears filled with such childish +tales? It is absurd, I say--absurd." + +He ceased, and a hum of mingled doubt and anger greeted his words. + +"Nxabahlana talks well," said Matanzima, with a gleam of malice in his +eyes. "But we know that the whites are very liberal towards traitors. +We know that if we are conquered the man who stood the white man's +friend will be well rewarded. When a prisoner is in our hands we do not +go and look in at the enemy's camp on our way home for nothing. +Nxabahlana talks of children. Who but a child would do such a thing as +this?" concluded he, in a tone of significant cunning. + +"A traitor! A traitor!" howled the wizard. "How shall we hold our own +with a traitor in our midst?" + +And the crowd answered with yells of execration, even the women in the +background screaming and brandishing sticks. + +"Ha! Matanzima is a boy," replied the accused in scornful accents. +"Let him be silent when he is by his father's side. Now listen. Here +is the white prisoner himself. Let the Great Chief--let the _amapakati_ +ask him. Ask him whether I agreed to release him." + +It was a bold stroke. A brief glance at Claverton's face had inspired +the Gaika warrior that here might lie his chance of safety. It was, +indeed, a bold stroke, thus throwing himself upon the mercy of the +captive. As for Claverton, the unbounded courage of the man filled him +with admiration, and on that account alone he would willingly have saved +his life, apart from any other consideration. + +"Ask him, I say," repeated Nxabahlana. "Ask the prisoner whether +anything passed between us." + +"Ewa! Ewa!" [Yes--yes] echoed the crowd, "ask him?" + +"Is this true, white man?" asked Sandili. "Are the words of Nxabahlana +true?" + +All eyes were bent upon Claverton, and there was a hush that might have +been felt. Every ear was strained to catch his answer. It came in a +bold, clear voice. + +"Yes. They are. The words of Nxabahlana are true." + +"But what of the wizard and Senhlu? You heard what they said." + +"They are liars." + +The whole assembly was taken aback. Not a man present but expected the +answer would be unfavourable to the accused, and it may be added, that +not a man present believed it now that it was the reverse. Wherefore +Claverton went up a hundredfold in their estimation, for had he not just +excelled in one of their most cherished virtues--the art of lying well +when convenient; and he, himself, felt a glow of satisfaction over +having saved this brave man's life; but even he forgot that among the +Kafirs it is not necessary to convict a subject obnoxious to his chief, +to ensure that subject's condemnation. + +"There!" exclaimed Nxabahlana, triumphantly, drawing his gigantic figure +up to its full height. "You hear what the prisoner has said! Now let +my accusers stand forth. Where are they?" and he looked searchingly +around. There was dead silence. No one moved; but the eyes of the +councillors were bent upon him with an ominous glance, and, meeting that +glance, Nxabahlana knew that he was a doomed man. Yet he was game to +the very last. + +"Where are they?" he repeated. "Ah, they have hidden themselves, and +well they may. But I appeal to the Great Chief. Let him order my +traducers to stand before my face. I claim my rights. The Great Chief +cannot refuse," and in his eagerness he made two steps towards where +Sandili was sitting. + +Now it happened that Nxabahlana held in his hand a kerrie--just such an +ordinary stick as the Kafirs always carry. He had better have dropped +it before approaching his chief; but at the moment he forgot everything +in his excitement. Not that the difference would have been great either +way, for they were determined to get rid of him. + +"I claim my rights! The Great Chief cannot refuse!" he repeated, +standing with outstretched arm, and looking Sandili straight in the +eyes. + +The old chief started slightly. A dark expression came into his +countenance as he gazed upon his audacious subject for a few moments in +silence. + +"What!" he exclaimed, in tones of indignation, "What is this? Who is +this that dares to command his chief? Who is this that approaches me +with threats? Who is this that dares to threaten his chief? _Have I no +men_?" and he looked around with a volume of meaning in his fierce eyes. + +Like a spark applied to an explosive the glance told. There was a rash +forward on the part of the crowd, a swift flash or two, and a gleam as +of the sunlight upon steel. The throng separated, and upon the ground +lay the huge frame of Nxabahlana, the hot life-blood welling from +half-a-dozen assegai wounds in his chest and sides. + +It was a dastardly act, and, although he knew that the victim had richly +deserved his fate, yet Claverton felt that the weight of evidence was in +his favour, and he should, at any rate, have been allowed to meet his +accusers face to face. But little time had he to indulge in regrets on +another's behalf, for now all eyes were turned upon him with a +bloodthirsty glare, and voices began to clamour that the white prisoner +should be given over to them. + +And as he looked upon the wild scene it seemed hardly credible to +Claverton that scarcely forty-eight hours had gone since he had left +Lilian and set his face eastward to carry out his plan of revenge. He +glanced down the line of stern, relentless countenances, where sat the +chief and his councillors, the late victim of their tyrannous vengeance +bleeding at their very feet; but in the shrewd, rugged features he could +detect no hope of mercy. Around, hemming him in, crowded the clamouring +savages, their fierce eyes burning with a lust for blood. Behind them +he caught a glimpse of a large fire, wherein a group of women and boys +were heating bits of iron red-hot, and he had small doubt as to the use +to which that fire would be put. The only man who might have befriended +him was lying dead at his feet, and the weapons that had done the deed +had slain his own hopes. His time had come. + +"Give me a drink of water," said the prisoner. + +They brought him some in a bowl. His arms were bound to his sides at +the elbows, but his hands were free, and he took a long, deep drink. +This attention conveyed to him no false hopes; he had no doubt as to his +ultimate fate. He looked around. The sun, which was nearing its +western bed, had sunk behind a heavy bank of cloud which loomed upon the +horizon, and a roll of thunder stirred the still, hot afternoon. The +storm which had been threatening all day was drawing near. + +And now the wizard, decked in all his hideous paraphernalia, bounded +into the midst. + +"Hear, now, Sandili, Great Chief, of the house of Gaika! Hear, ye +_amapakati_! Hear, all ye warriors of the race of Gaika!" he cried. +"For two moons we have been fighting the English. For two moons we have +shed our blood and given our best lives in the endeavour to drive the +English into the sea. Have we been successful? We and our brethren, +the Ama Gcaleka, who can show twenty warriors for every one of the +English, have spent our strength in vain. Whenever we met them the +English have driven us back. Even when we met them--a mere handful that +we ought to have eaten up--we have been driven back before their charmed +bullets. They have charmed bullets and charmed guns which they keep on +firing without loading. Why can we do nothing against these English? +Listen, and I will tell you. You see the man before you? _He_ is their +sorcerer. _He_ it is who causes our bullets to fly off them without +harming them. He is in every fight. Who can mention a battle that this +man was not present in? Now we have this sorcerer in our midst. What +shall we do with him, I say? Shall we let him go? My magic is stronger +than his; I have delivered him into your hands. Will you, then, suffer +him to escape again? Cut his bonds and let him free, and you will all +be destroyed." + +A roar of execration was the answer to this appeal. Weapons were +brandished, and the crowd pressed closer around. + +"Give him to us!" they yelled. "See, there is a fire; we will burn him, +one limb at a time." + +"Old men, where are your sons?" went on the wizard. "Young men, where +are your brothers? Where are they? Ask the vulture of the rocks, the +wolf and the wild dog of the forest, even the skulking jackal who +burrows in the earth. Ask the breezes of the air, which blow over their +whitening bones where they lie by thousands, slain by the charmed +bullets of the English. Hark; I hear their voices in the wind--the +voices of their spirits crying for vengeance. I hear it in the trees, +in the rocks, in yon thundercloud which is drawing nearer and nearer," +and at his words a heavy boom was heard, followed by a spasmodic +rustling gust violently agitating the surrounding bush, and stirring up +the air around. With awe-stricken looks, his superstitious listeners +bent their heads. "Yes," roared the ferocious demon, working himself +into a state of frenzy. "Do you not hear them? They are +crying--`Vengeance! Vengeance! Vengeance!' And we, who are left--are +we not hunted like wild beasts? Are we not driven from bush to bush by +these white men--who have not a tenth of our number--by them and our +dogs the Fingoes? Soon shall we follow our brethren, and the name of +Gaika will exist no more. Here is a white man! Here is the destroyer +of our race. Shall we not make him weep out in tears of blood the woe +which has come upon us? Shall we not make him writhe in torment for +many days, to appease the spirits of our slaughtered sons? We await the +word of the Great Chief!" + +Every eye was fixed upon the semicircle of grey-bearded councillors +seated round the chief--dark, stern, and immovable. With bodies bent +forward, and a wolfish, bloodthirsty grin, the warriors stood scanning +the expression of the impassive countenances before them, eagerly +awaiting the word, which they doubted not would be given. Again +reverberated that thunder-roll--nearer still--as half the sky was hidden +beneath an inky shroud, and the dull red flash gleamed from its depths. +One of those storms which, in the hot weather, break with such fearful +violence over the wilds of Southern Africa, would shortly be upon them. + +But "the word" remained still unspoken. Sandili--whose pliant, +vacillating nature ever ready to yield to the pressure of circumstances +or to the advice of whoever had his ear last, was so powerfully appealed +to--would have spoken it, and ended the difficulty; but it was evident +that the councillors were not unanimous on the point. On the one hand, +the nation was clamouring for the captive's life; on the other, some of +the councillors were clearly opposed to the expediency of sacrificing +it, and even the Great Chief dared not fly dead in the teeth of their +advice without some show of debate. So he gave orders that the prisoner +should be removed out of hearing while they talked, but that he should +not be harmed. + +"We have heard what Nomadudwana, the seer, has told us," said the chief, +looking inquiringly around. "Shall we then allow the prisoner to go +free?" + +Now the wizard was hated and despised by the older men of the tribe, +though among the younger he was in the zenith of his popularity as a +fierce and unswerving preacher of a crusade among the whites. +Consequently the mention of his name struck a chord calculated to tune +the whole instrument in Claverton's favour. The mutterings of Matanzima +and a few of the younger men, to the effect that a prisoner ought to be +treated in the accustomed way--_i.e._ handed over to the people without +all this _indaba_--were stifled by the decided and dissenting +head-shakes of many of their seniors. + +Then one of the _amapakati_ spoke. He was a very old man; and an +expectant murmur greeted his appearance. + +"It is Tyala!" murmured the group. "Hear Tyala--he is wise!" + +"My chief, Sandili," began the old man, in a low, earnest voice; "my +brethren, the wise men and councillors of the house of Gaika; my +children, its warriors--listen to my words, which have always been +spoken for your welfare. Have they not?" + +An emphatic hum of assent having testified to the veneration in which +the speaker was held, he proceeded: + +"I am an old man now, far older than most of you here, and, as I look +back upon the past of the Gaika nation I look forward all the more +gladly to the grave. There was a time when we possessed the land; a +time when our chiefs were feared almost from sea to sea; a time when our +people dwelt at ease, and their cattle lowed upon a thousand hills; when +the hearts of our young men were glad, and the songs of our young women +resounded among the rustling corn. All was then well with us. The +fountains gushed from yon cool forests, and the pastures were green, and +our eyes were glad, for we dwelt in the fairest land that eye could look +upon. The whites, our neighbours, did not molest us, but traded with us +many things which now we cannot do without. Why did we not keep what we +had got? We could not. There came a demon among us, and we could not +sit still. We made war. + +"What was the result? We were beaten, driven back. We lost our +warriors by hundreds, and our cattle were taken. We lost a portion even +of our lands. Here was a lesson to us--to us who proudly thought we +could eat up the whites because they were so few. But we would not +learn. We made war again; and this time we fought well, but it was of +no use, again we were beaten. And this time the white man gave us back +the land which he had taken from us--gave it us back! Was ever such a +thing heard of before? Did not this show that he desired to save us--to +treat us as his friends? Yet we could not sit still. Evil counsels +prevailed among us, false prophets sprang up, and lured the people to +destruction. They went--poor blind sheep--they went straight to the +slaughter. What could I do--I, Tyala? It was in vain that I warned and +entreated; in vain that I lifted up my voice day and night against their +besotted folly. They even threatened to take my life--my wretched life; +that, they were quite welcome to if it would but save them from +themselves. The counsels of the false prophets prevailed. The war-cry +was raised again. + +"Why should I go on? The rest you all know. We lost what we had +retaken before, but even the third time the English forgave us poor +deluded people, and then, when the famine came they fed us when we were +starving and crept to their doors to beg for food. Why did they not +kill us all then, when we were in their hands? And now look around; +look at the fair lands which are about to be taken from us--rather which +we ourselves have given up because we could not rest quiet upon them. +Are they not large enough? Are they not fertile enough? Are our +streams not abundant enough, and our pastures not rich enough? Yet we +have thrown all this away because the chiefs of the house of Gaika have +allowed themselves to be led astray by a parcel of youths, a parcel of +boys, who had never seen war and must needs clamour for it as for a new +plaything. And what is the result? Look at us now--hunted into our +stronghold, tracked like criminals and wild beasts. And yet, I say, it +is all our own doing." + +The old man's voice had become strong and firm as he spoke, though it +shook slightly with the halting tremor of age. As he paused, many a +deep murmur from his auditors told that his words had struck home. + +"Who warned you against all this?--Tyala. Who warned you against the +words of the false prophets?--Tyala. Who warned you against the rifles +of the English?--Tyala. Whose voice has ever been raised in your +behalf, in council, in diplomacy, even in the battle?--That of Tyala. +But it has never been heeded. Now listen, my chief Sandili; and you, +_amapakati_, my brothers. Here is a chance to stand well with the +English, our conquerors; for they are our conquerors, even now. Do not +throw it away. This man, our prisoner, is a man of rank and standing +among his own people. What, then, shall we gain by taking his life? +Let us restore him to his own people and say: `The Gaika people are not +wolves, when they make war they do not kill the prisoners. Take this +man, whom we found among us unarmed.' The English are generous as well +as brave. They will remember this act when they make terms with us. +The man himself will speak well for us. It is an act that will gain us +sympathy everywhere. Do I hear it said that Tyala is the white man's +friend? That is true, he is. But he is still more the friend of his +own people. Have we not seen enough blood? Has not blood been poured +out until the whole of the land is red with it--blood, blood, +everywhere, nothing but blood? We are weary of blood-shedding, we would +fain rest. Now, my chief, do not listen to the clamour of the young +men, or the boys. Do not allow them to shed the blood of this white +man. Restore him to his own people alive and well. We shall be glad of +it, when we have done so, and the English will treat us generously. +This is the counsel of Tyala." + +The old man ceased, and drawing his blanket around him, sat silent and +motionless. Every word of his speech, illustrated by many a graceful +wave of the hand and inflection of the voice, with here and there an +expressive native ejaculation, was listened to with profound attention. +When the murmurs which greeted its conclusion had subsided, another +councillor, scarcely the junior of the first either in age or +appearance, gave his opinion. His advice, too, was in favour of mercy. +Unlike his predecessor he did not recommend the unconditional release of +the prisoner, but rather that terms should be made beforehand. + +After him, no one seemed inclined to plead the prisoner's cause any +further, when, just as the opposite opinion was going to speak, +Claverton suddenly found an unexpected advocate. This was Usivulele, +the man whom he had held as a hostage, after the fight with the +Hottentot Levy, when he had allowed the Kafirs to look after their +wounded. He was not a councillor, but being a warrior of considerable +standing, and a man of great shrewdness and sagacity, he was allowed a +seat and a voice among that august body. As he had only arrived when +the prisoner had been removed, the latter had not seen him. + +Beginning with the usual complimentary allusion to the wisdom of his +hearers, the speaker followed the lead of Tyala, setting forth with +considerable power the inexpediency of provoking the vengeance of the +English by pushing matters to their bitterest end. He dwelt upon the +bravery in the field of the white leader now in their hands--having +witnessed it in battle himself--upon his humanity to the wounded shown +on more than one occasion, as in giving them water with his own hand, +and saving their lives from the merciless rage of his own followers. +Such men were scarce, and if the Amaxosa rewarded them by torturing and +killing them, others of a different order would be put into their place. +Far better let this man go. Then Usivulele went on, with cunningly +veiled sneers, to cast ridicule upon the wizard Nomadudwana, whom they +all hated. These impostors, he said, were gaining more and more +ascendancy, till at last it seemed that chiefs and people were to be led +by the nose by this impudent quack, who made pretended war charms, whose +efficiency he had not the courage to test himself. He concluded with a +powerful appeal to the chiefs to spare the prisoner's life, if only to +show that they were still chiefs, and as such not to be dictated to by a +shouting mob, or influenced by the wretched jugglery of a sham +soothsayer. + +But if men were to be found who had the courage of their convictions, +the majority of those who sat there were wedded to the traditions of +their order and of their race. They, indeed, regarded the wizard as a +despicable sham, but then he was necessary to such a national +institution as "smelling out," [Note 1] whereby, for purposes of gain or +policy, obnoxious individuals might from time to time be got rid of; and +the common people believed in him. It would not do to shake the popular +faith in national institutions; to do so would be to aim a blow at +authority itself, especially at such a time as this, when the Colonial +Government was strenuously exerting itself to do away with chieftainship +and tribal independence, and to substitute white magistrates everywhere. +So one after another spoke at considerable length, combating the +opinions of those who advocated mercy. It was a mistake to suppose, +they said, that the liberation of this one man would make any difference +whatever. They had reddened their spears, and must take the +consequences; it was of no use thinking to cleanse them in such simple +and easy fashion. There was no reason why this man's life should be +spared. He had proved a formidable enemy in battle, and had slain +dozens of their warriors; it was only fair, then, to hand him over to +the vengeance of the people. The people were clamouring for him, and +they ought to have him. That was the custom of the nation. + +Thus spake the majority of the _amapakati_. One especially, a grim old +war-wolf, whose toothless fangs could scarcely mumble out his +bloodthirsty words, did his utmost to influence his hearers in the +direction of vengeance. The English, he said, were not to be trusted. +They would probably visit it upon them ten times more heavily for having +taken the man prisoner at all. Did the English spare the Gaikas when +they captured them? No, they handed them over to the _Amafengu_ to be +put to death by them. Free warriors of the house of Gaika to die at the +hands of Fingo dogs! Let this white man be burnt. + +The last consideration told, as the ferocious old ruffian intended that +it should. The councillors were now all but unanimous against the +prisoner, and Sandili, whose sympathies, moreover, were with them, +yielded, as usual, to the voice of the majority. One or two urged Tyala +again to speak, but the old man shook his head sadly. + +"No," he said, "I have advised my chief and my people all my life. They +have ever rejected my councils, and they have repented of it. They +reject them now, and they will repent of it. I will say no more," and +sinking his chin in his blanket, he sat motionless as a statue, and +heedless of what went on around him. + +Meanwhile, outside the notice of the august circle a livelier scene was +being enacted. + +When Claverton was ordered to be taken out of hearing, the crowd, seeing +him brought towards them, took for granted that their prey was indeed +theirs at last, and surged forward with a roar like a den of wild beasts +let loose. Their longing for blood was about to be gratified. + +"Bring him to the fire!" they yelled. "Bring him to the fire?" + +Some fanned up the flames; others, bending down, drew out bits of +red-hot iron and blew upon them. It was difficult for his guards, amid +that deafening roar, to persuade the mob that the time had not yet come. +They pressed forward, weighed on by those behind. They shook their +assegais towards the prisoner, they glared and mouthed upon him, they +howled and threatened, and all the while the red flames shot up with a +dull, hungry roar, and the bright caverns glowed around the instruments +of torture which lay in them. The women were among the most merciless +of that fiendish crowd. Hideous hags brandished knives and skewers, +explaining to the prisoner exactly how they meant to begin upon him, and +their repulsive wrinkled skins, all shaking and perspiring in the heat, +gave them the air of toad-like fiends from the nethermost hell. Boys +held up assegai points which had been heated in the fire, and yelled +shrilly that they were going to dig them into the white flesh. One imp, +with a diabolical leer upon his face, took a bit of hot iron and glided +between the guards, intending to apply it to the prisoner's leg. +Unfortunately for him, however, some one jostled him, and, instead of +"touching up" the captive, the iron was brought into contact with the +naked thigh of one of the guards, who, with a startled exclamation, +turned sharply round, and, seizing the youthful fiend, administered to +him such a thrashing that he slunk off, howling like a whipped dog, amid +the jeers and laughter of his fellows. And the said guards had their +work cut out for them. They dared not, on their peril, allow a finger +to be laid on their charge before the chief's "word" was given, and yet +every moment the mob nearly tore him from their possession. So they +laid about them lustily, whacking the women and children on the backs +and shoulders with their assegai shafts, and even threatening some of +the young men with the blades, and the crowd fell back a little. Then +they were able to explain that the prisoner still belonged to the chief, +and they must wait. + +It was a frightful moment for Claverton; even though he knew that he was +for the time being safe, yet the position was one calculated to try the +strongest nerves. And it was but delaying the hour. He had small hopes +that the councillors would decide to spare his life. It might be that +they would elect to keep him prisoner a little longer; there was just +this chance, and it was worth next to nothing at all. + +"Aha, Lenzimbi! Did I not tell you it would come to this?" mocked +Mopela, gloating over his helpless enemy. "In a few minutes I shall put +one of those red-hot irons into your eye--slowly--slowly--like this," +and he illustrated his blood-curdling speech by taking one of the hot +nails from the fire and gently boring a hole in the ground. The crowd +had fallen back now, leaving an open space around the prisoner and his +guards. + +"Ha! What is this?" he continued, as something bright was disclosed to +view through the open breast of the prisoner's shirt; and, inserting his +fingers, he drew out a chain, at the end of which hung a large and +curiously-wrought locket of steel. The chain was clasped so near to the +wearer's throat that there was no getting it off by any method short of +decapitation, it being fastened by a secret spring. In vain the savage +jerked and tugged at the loose end by which the locket hung down on +Claverton's chest. It was of strong steel, and showed no signs of +giving. + +"Haow! Lenzimbi's charm!" he cried. "We must take it away, then +Lenzimbi will be weak and full of fear. This is what makes him strong. +We must take it away." + +But this was easier said than done, for the chain was made of stout +metal. At last a pair of pincers was procured, and Mopela wrenched and +twisted with all the strength of his muscular grip. + +"Take care what you are about!" whispered Claverton, his face livid with +deadly rage. "The man who succeeds in taking that off will die on the +spot. It is magic. Take care!" + +For answer the savage only laughed, and redoubled his efforts to break +the chain. A snap--a wrench--another snap--and Mopela sprang to his +feet, triumphantly holding up the locket, with three inches of chain +dangling from his hand, and crying: "Lo! the white man's charm?" +Claverton's face was pale as death, white to the very lips, but his eyes +were glowing like coals of fire. The crowd was watching him curiously. +Already the removal of the charm had begun to take effect, they thought. + +How it happened he himself could not have told to save his life, but the +locket, which seemed as close as an unbroken egg-shell as Mopela was +turning it over and over in his hands, suddenly flew open, disclosing, +to the astonished eyes of the savage, the face of Lilian Strange. Yes, +there it was, beautiful and lifelike, an exquisitely-painted miniature-- +her own work. A tender smile played round the curves of the sweet +mouth, and the lovely eyes, opening wide beneath their long lashes, +looked out with a calm, glad, trustful air that was inexpressibly +bewitching. Even the warm flush beneath the delicate olive skin, and +the soft wealth of bronzed, dusky hair, was true to the very life. A +bordering of forget-me-nots, beautifully painted, was wound round the +portrait, and in the opposite compartment of the locket reposed a thick +coil of hair, matching exactly that in the miniature, and half hidden +beneath this was the letter "L," painted in blue upon a white ground. +And this token of the purest, holiest love wherewith man was ever blest, +was now held in the rude hand and gazed upon by the bold eyes of a +savage. The firelight destined to wither up the limbs of her lover +glowed upon the sweet, delicate features of Lilian, portrayed there, +lifelike in her radiant beauty; and still Mopela stood gazing into the +locket which lay in his hand, fairly lost in wondering amazement. + +"Whaow!" he exclaimed. "Lenzimbi should have brought her here;" and +then his voice was jammed in his throat. He was choking. For a +marvellous thing had happened, and a shout arose from the crowd--a shout +of awe, and consternation, and warning. The prisoner was free. + +A madman, we know, is at times endowed with superhuman strength. +Claverton was for the moment mad, and the stout raw-hide thongs fell +from him like packthread, as with one tiger bound, he sprang upon Mopela +and bore him to the earth. Then digging his knee into the shoulders of +the barbarian, who had fallen face downwards, he grasped him by the hair +and thrust his head into the blazing fire. It was all done in a +twinkling, and a deathly hush was upon the bystanders, who seemed +thunderstruck. He might even have escaped; but no thought had he of +anything other than vengeance. He seemed transformed into a wild beast. +His eyes started from their sockets, and he gnashed his teeth as he +literally ground the glowing cinders with the face of the prostrate man, +till the flesh crackled horribly and roasted in the heat, and even then +his fury seemed but to increase. + +With a loud shout the Kafirs, recovering from their momentary stupor, +threw themselves upon him. He hardly saw them, he continued to beat his +adversary's head into the fierce fire without heeding them. They +dragged him off and secured him, but with difficulty; he was mad. Then +some of them raised Mopela. The huge barbarian presented an awful +appearance. The whole of his face was peeled and blackened--burnt to a +cinder--and the sight of both his eyes was for ever destroyed. He lay, +half insensible, and moaning like an animal. + +"There!" shouted Claverton, in ringing tones. "There! That is my +vengeance. That dog lying yonder dared to profane with his filthy eyes +what was sacred. Now he will never see with those eyes again. They are +taken from him. He will be in darkness until he dies." + +A vengeful murmur rose among his listeners. Suddenly some one cried: + +"The charm--where is the charm?" + +Where, indeed? They looked around--on the ground--in the fire-- +everywhere. In vain. Of the steel locket there was no sign. It had +completely disappeared. + +But the wonder and speculation of the superstitions savages was nipped +in the bud by a mandate from Sandili that the prisoner should again be +brought before him. + +And now, once more, Claverton stood before that semicircle of dark, +stern countenances, but he read no hope. They were about to doom him to +torture and to death. Around pressed the crowd, eager, expectant, the +women and children jostling against the warriors in front, struggling to +obtain a view of the proceedings. Every now and then a red flash of +lightning played upon the half-naked figures of the barbarians, and upon +assegai points, and rolling eyeballs, and necklaces of jackals' white +teeth and all the savage paraphernalia wherewith the fierce, lithe forms +were decked. + +A silence was upon all as the wizard stood, looking like a figure +conjured up from hell, haranguing the assembly. The burden of his +speech was a mere repetition of the wrongs they had suffered at the +hands of the white men in general, and this one in particular, whom he +now claimed on behalf of the nation, in pursuance of unvarying custom. +And at his words a shout of assent went up from the fierce crew standing +around. + +"Give him to us!" they cried. "Give him to us, Great Chief!" + +Then Sandili was about to speak, to utter the words of doom, when, in a +strong, ringing voice which echoed through that savage fastness like the +notes of a clarion, the prisoner cried: + +"Stop! I, too, have something to say; listen to it all of you. First +of all, who is this Nomadudwana, that claims to direct your councils? I +will tell you--" + +But he could get no further. + +The cunning wizard was too much for him. Raising a series of terrific +howls and effectually drowning his voice, and the voices of Usivulele +and others, who would fain have allowed him a hearing, Nomadudwana made +his way among the people brandishing his "medicine charms," and crying +out that there was a plot on foot to defraud them of their prey--of +their lawful vengeance on the white captive--and stirring them up to +clamour for him to be delivered over to them. The plan was successful. +With one mighty roar every voice was raised besieging the chief with its +bloodthirsty demands. Waiting until the tumult had subsided somewhat, +Sandili raised his hand, and pointing his finger at the prisoner said, +in slow but distinct tones: + +"_Do with him what you will_." + +Immediately the firm grasp of many hands was upon him, and Claverton +felt that his time had now come. + +"Wait!" he cried, in a ringing voice. "Wait--I have a message for the +Great Chief." + +His guards paused awe-stricken. A red flash darted into their midst, +and loud rolled the thunderpeal immediately overhead. With a swift +glance upward the prisoner continued: + +"Hear me now, Sandili. My magic is greater than that of your most +redoubted wizards. Who stood unseen at Nomadudwana's side in the spirit +cave in Sefele's cliff and laughed?--I did. Who was wafted safely down +yonder tremendous height and walked forth unhurt?--Ask the spirit of +Nxabahlana, and the men who saw me. This is your sentence. Your tribe +shall soon be driven from this land, which the English shall enjoy in +its place. Your sons, Matanzima and Gonya there, shall work in chains +for the English for many long years--the best years of their lives-- +shall slave beneath the hot sun with common convicts, driven like oxen +by their taskmasters. And you, yourself," he went on, speaking slowly +and solemnly, as with outstretched hand he pointed at the savage +chieftain, "you, Sandili--the Great Chief of the House of Gaika--before +six moons are dead, you shall meet a dog's death at the hand of a Fingo +`dog,' and the chieftainship of the House of Gaika shall become in you a +thing of the past. This is my `word' to you, Sandili, and to all +present." + +Nothing but the speaker's reputation as a wizard, who had made his magic +felt, would have obtained for him a hearing. His listeners were +obviously impressed. There was a moment of silence. + +"Whaow!" suddenly exclaimed the Kafirs standing around. "Listen to the +white man! He dares to revile the Great Chief!" + +The countenance of the old chief became gloomy and troubled as Claverton +finished speaking. Then again he raised his hand in fatal gesture. + +"_Do with him what you will_." + +What is that frightful crash as if the earth were split in twain, rent +by an indescribably terrible blow? What is that dazzling, steely glare, +all blue and plum-coloured and liquid in its blinding incandescence? +There is a smell of burning in the air, in spite of the rush of deluging +rain slanting down like waterspouts on to the earth. Chief, +councillors, captive, populace, can hardly see each other as they raise +their heads, which they have bent, appalled beneath the crashing +thunder-note of heaven. The blinding flood pours down upon them, +lashing up the ground into a very torrent of liquid mud, as again that +frightful peal shakes the earth, and the gleam of a fiery sea is in +their eyes. No other thought have they for the moment than that of +refuge from the fury of the storm. The prisoner is dragged into a hut, +and, in a moment, not a single human form is to be seen in the open, +while the terrific thunderclaps peal forth, and the lightning gleams +blue upon the rush of water now flowing several inches deep over the +soaked ashes of the fire which, but for this timely interference, would +even now be devouring Claverton's limbs. + +The hideous sport of these barbarians must even be deferred till +morning, for not another stick or straw will be induced by any power on +earth to light as the deluging rain still beats down upon the earth in +unabated fury--nor can the people stand out in such weather to witness +it, and this is of the very essence of the performance. + +So there in the dark, stuffy Kafir hut, securely bound, jealously +watched, and the last hope of deliverance fled, lies Arthur Claverton; +beyond all reach of his friends; cast off by her of whose love he was +more certain than of his own life; his hated rival triumphant and secure +from his just vengeance; and he only awaiting the morrow to be dragged +forth, in the prime of life, to suffer a slow and lingering death among +unheard-of tortures in order to make sport for a crowd of brutal +savages. Truly his lot is a hopeless one indeed. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. An institution similar to the good old custom of "witch +finding," among ourselves. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +"A LIFE FOR A LIFE." + +When a man knows that the first light of dawn will see him led forth to +a lingering death by torture, he is not likely to pass a very tranquil +night, be he never so courageous or philosophical. Claverton +exemplified both of these attributes to the full; yet as he lay there, +thinking upon his position, even his fearless spirit sank within him. + +To begin with, there was not the shadow of a chance of escape. He was +firmly secured with strong and well-tried _reims_--a detail to which his +captors, warned by the Mopela episode, had given their extra attention-- +and two stalwart Kafirs, fully armed, mounted guard over him by relays, +one lying across the door of the hut. Not a muscle could he move, not +ever so slightly could he shift his wearisome position, but their eyes +were upon him, as they sat chatting in their deep bass tones; but +carefully avoiding any subject likely to interest their charge. + +And he? He looked upon himself as dead already. His guards started and +gazed at him watchfully, handling their weapons, as he ground his teeth +audibly in the fury begotten of his reflections. Their task was not a +congenial one, for in their superstitions souls, hatred of a powerful +enemy was strongly dashed with a touch of secret awe. They had +witnessed what hid befallen Mopela, then the terrific storm breaking +over them all at the very moment when they were about to sacrifice the +prisoner, and now they were by no means easy in their minds, shut up at +such close quarters with such a formidable foe, even though he was +bound, and helpless as a log. The rain swept down in sheets outside, +and the wind howled in furious gusts; within sat the prisoner and his +savage sentinels, the latter huddled in their blankets and talking +drowsily. + +Yes. At last Claverton felt that he must yield to Fate. Fortune had +befriended him for long, but now it had forsaken him. Many a trifling +incident, little thought of at the time, now seemed fraught with direful +omen. Lilian's forebodings of ill, followed by the reappearance of the +hated rival; the unusually devoted leave-taking of his faithful +follower; but what weighed him down most was the loss of the steel +locket--the "charm," to which scarcely less than the savages he attached +a superstitious importance--as symbolising the constant protecting +presence of his adored love with him in all danger. And now even this +amulet had been taken from him, simultaneously with the love--the +guiding star of his life--which it symbolised; well might the incident +presage his doom, for life was of no further value to him. + +Then an intense craving came over his soul once more to behold the +tenderly-loved face, to hear the soothing tones of that voice; and with +the grave yawning to receive him, Claverton would have bartered his +salvation a dozen times over for one momentary glance of her who +represented his all--his world--his Heaven--his God. And ever upon the +thatch beat the monotonous fall of the rain, and in the dead silent +night floated a weird cry from the lonely bush, answered by the +occasional yelp of a half-starved cur prowling among the silent huts-- +and the prisoner slept. Slept, but rested not, for his mind was wide +awake. Now he was talking with Lilian, as of old at Seringa Vale, when +all their future was wrapped in apprehensive uncertainty. Now he sat +with her in the garden at Fountains Gap, and the birds sang around, and +overhead the sky was one fair expanse of unclouded blue, even as the +golden dawn of perfect and uninterrupted love opening its flowery +pathway before them. Now it was that sweet sad parting in the grey, +chill morning--and lo, he stood within a lonely valley, and his pistol +was pointing at the heart of a man who stood before him--a man with an +awful expression of rage, and terror, and despair upon his features--and +the face was that of Ralph Truscott. Ah, so real! Then he awoke. It +was morning, and his time had come. Other voices were mingled with +those of his guards, and a chill blast of air came in at the open door +of the hut, which was what had aroused him. But it was far from +morning, for outside all was still dark and silent, save for the +ceaseless patter of the rain. + +"Good; we will go," the sentinels were saying in response to one of the +new arrivals. "We are tired of sitting here in the dark, watching this +white wizard; but it will soon be day, and then we shall get some rare +fun out of him," and with a grunt of farewell the two Kafirs, huddling +their blankets about them, crawled through the diminutive door and made +off in search of more congenial quarters. + +For some time after the sound of their retreating footsteps had ceased, +the relief guards kept almost complete silence. The prisoner could hear +them settling themselves down with a word or two of remark, and every +now and then the rattle of their assegais on the ground beside them, but +the circumstance mattered nothing to him. His guards had been changed-- +that was all. But after a while one of the said worthies, opening a +little of the wicker-work door, bent his ear to the aperture, and +appeared to be listening intently. Then he softly closed it and +whispered: + +"Lenzimbi!" + +In spite of himself, Claverton could not restrain a start. He did not +recognise the voice, but the whole action had been suspicions to a +degree. Surely he was dreaming. + +"Whaow!" exclaimed one of the Kafirs in a brutal tone. "This is poor +work. Let's amuse ourselves a little with the cursed white dog!" and +the speaker struck a match and proceeded to light his pipe, and, with a +start of amazement, Claverton recognised the rugged, massive features of +Xuvani, the ex-cattle-herd of Seringa Vale. + +Hardly able to believe his eyes, he stared again and again; but there +the old man was, his face distinctly visible as he pressed down the +tobacco with his middle finger, blowing out great clouds of smoke from +his thick, bearded lips. The discovery, however, brought Claverton no +hope. Yielding to the combination of circumstances, he had long pitched +that article overboard, as he told himself, and watched it sink, and now +the sooner the whole ship went after it the better. And then, like +lightning, there flashed upon his recollection the words: "_The future +is uncertain, and we never know what turn events may take, and that if +ever at any time he or Tambusa can render you a service they will do so, +even should it be at the risk of their lives--a life for a life_." How +well he remembered Hicks translating the old cattle-herd's speech--that +day long ago in the sunny garden at Seringa Vale--and how little +importance he had attached to the Kafir's professions of gratitude! He +had not believed in them then, nor did he now in the gloomy night of his +abandonment and downfall. Gratitude! No. The word was not in the +Kafir vocabulary, he thought, in bitter scorn, as again the brutal, +mocking tones of the old savage fell upon his ear. + +But along with them--covered by them, as it were--came that whisper +again. + +"It may be that Lenzimbi will watch the sun arise from among the tents +of his people." + +"Who speaks?" whispered Claverton, quickly. + +"A friend. Tambusa." + +"Ah!" + +For a moment he could not speak--could scarcely think. His nerves had +been terribly strained within the last forty-eight hours; and now the +rush of blood to his head, the sudden overpowering revulsion of hope, +succeeding the black, outer gloom of despair, would have been dangerous +to the very reason of one less philosophically endowed. Life--liberty-- +revenge, and after that--love! He dared not think of it. Yet it was +within his grasp once more. These two were about to redeem their +promise. They would save him yet. + +He had not seen them before, for the simple reason that they had only +arrived at the kraal after he had been thrown into the hut; and then by +the merest chance. And now, like the bright warming sunshine let into a +cold dungeon which had never known daylight, came that friendly whisper +through the darkness. + +"I am ready," he replied. "Just slip off these bits of _reimpje_, +Tambusa; and give me an assegai and a stick or something, and start me +outside, and then if ever these devils get hold of me again, why, +they're welcome to." + +"Not yet, 'Nkos, not yet," whispered the young Kafir. "Too soon, too +soon; there are still some of them awake. Leave it to us." + +What a lifetime now was every moment to the prisoner! Each rain-drop +seemed to fall with a crash like thunder; every sound was to his fevered +impatience as the beat of footsteps coming to rend from him for ever +this one last chance. The old man still sat by the door, occasionally +growling out curses upon the dog of a white wizard, and wishing it was +morning that they might begin their horrid work; but this the captive +knew now to be only a blind. Hours--weeks--years--seemed to roll by in +that terrible suspense; in reality it was scarcely more than half an +hour. + +At length some one touched him in the darkness, and this time it was +Xuvani who spoke. + +"Don't rise, Lenzimbi. Make the blood circulate, but do it quietly. +Don't move from your place until I tell you," and, dexterously feeling +his way, the old man, in a couple of slashes, cut through the prisoner's +bonds. + +"Ah, that's better," whispered Claverton, stretching his limbs, which +had been terribly cramped, so securely had they bound him. "But I say, +Xuvani, there's a poor devil of a preacher shut up here somewhere. +Couldn't we bring him out, too?" + +"Do I owe the _Umfundisi_ anything?" was the cold reply. "Lenzimbi +shall go free, but I would not stir an arm to save a townfull of these +black-coated preachers. If this white man is a real prophet, his God +will save him; if not, the Gaikas may do what they please with him--I +care not." + +Now, I am aware that by all the laws of romance Claverton should have +absolutely refused to accept his own deliverance rather than desert a +countryman, whoever he might be. But, even at the risk of his +irretrievably losing the reader's good opinion, the fact must be +recorded that not only did no such wild idea enter his head for a +moment, but that he there and then dismissed all thought of his +companion in adversity from his mind. What was this cowardly, +egotistical, "shoppy" preacher to him? He had never seen him before +they had picked him up in the bush, and certainly had no great wish ever +to see him again. If it had been Hicks or Armitage, or any of his old +comrades, even Allen, the case would have been vastly different; but to +sacrifice himself, Lilian, everything, for such as this--no, not he. + +"Xuvani," he suddenly exclaimed. "Where is the `charm' that was taken +from me to-day? I cannot leave that behind." + +"Whaow! It is lost," replied the old Kafir, a little impatiently. +"Stand up, now, and roll yourself in that blanket, for it is time to +start." + +But Claverton did not move. A queer freak had taken possession of him. +He might never see Lilian again; he was not going to leave her image +here among the savages--that image which he had worn upon his heart +throughout so many perils and trials. It was of no use accepting life. +No wonder his would-be deliverer stood and muttered impatiently that he +must be mad. Here was a man with a frightful death by torture awaiting +him in a few hours, and who, instead of availing himself of the +proffered deliverance without loss of time, refused to move because he +had lost a trinket. The experience of the savage had never held +anything so curious as this. + +"We are losing time, we are losing time," he muttered. "Are you so very +tired of life, Lenzimbi?" + +"Yes--almost," and he made no sign of moving. "Ah!--" + +Something had suddenly been thrust into his hand. He grasped it. It +was the steel locket. + +"Now I am ready," he exclaimed, springing up. "Luck is ours again; my +star has risen," and, pressing the trinket to his lips, he put it away +in its usual place next his heart. + +"Ha! Lenzimbi is sane again," remarked the old Kafir. "Now roll that +blanket well round your neck and head, and keep your chin sunk into it +or the hair will betray you. Don't speak--not one word--but keep close +behind me, without so much as looking up. We shall pass for two of the +Gaikas going on a scouting expedition." + +With what a feeling of relief did Claverton draw in deep breaths of the +cool night air, so grateful after the stuffy, ill-smelling atmosphere of +the hut! What a thrill ran through him as he grasped the pair of heavy +ironwood sticks which were put into his hand, and felt himself once more +a free man and to a certain extent armed! It was past midnight, and +still raining steadily, but the night was not a dark one, owing to the +moon, which was completely veiled by the thick, unbroken curtain of +cloud--indeed, not dark enough, as both of them thought, with a quick +glance upward. The huts stood around, half seen through the dim light, +and Claverton could make out a black patch on the ground where had been +the fire, and the place where the chiefs and councillors had sat in +judgment upon him. A cur, half aroused, began to bark as they made +their way through the silent kraal, bringing Claverton's heart into his +mouth as he strode along, close behind his guide. He had rolled the +blanket well round his shoulders, and his head was adorned with an old +battered felt hat, the brim being drawn down over his ears; and now +imitating the long, elastic stride of the natives, and also their way of +carrying their kerries, he would very well pass in the darkness for one +of them, all muffled up as he was after the manner of a Kafir obliged to +travel on a cold or wet night. + +Soon the huts were left behind and they had gained the lonely bush. So +dark was it beneath the overshadowing trees that Claverton could hardly +keep up with his guide as they threaded the wet, slippery path, plunging +deeper and deeper into the gloom; but not for worlds would he diminish +the pace, every swift step bringing him nearer to liberty and all that +it involved. Branches flying back swept his face, drenching him in an +icy shower, _wacht-am-bietje_ thorns seized his garments and tore his +flesh, but not for a moment would he delay. On, on--ever on--on, +through that wet, dank, jungly wilderness, whose lonely terrors were to +this escaped captive as the fairest of surroundings. Once a great owl +dropped down in their faces, gliding along on noiseless wing uttering +its unearthly hoot. Strange, mysterious rustlings in the brake on +either side, and the patter of feet, betrayed that the beasts of the +forest were abroad; the weird, cat-like cry of a panther echoed from a +gloomy pile of towering rocks overhanging their path, and, afar, the +ravening howl of the great striped hyaena blended in dismal cadence with +the chorus of nocturnal voices, which from time to time startled the +deathly stillness of those wilds, meet abode of savage creatures, and +men even yet more savage. And the rain fell with its ceaseless drip, +drip, drip. + +"Why, where is Tambusa?" suddenly exclaimed Claverton, looking behind. +"I thought he was with us." + +"Silence!" + +He obeyed, and subsided once more into his own thoughts. At length it +began to lighten perceptibly. They had travelled for nearly four hours +now, and travelled with marvellous directness, almost every inch of the +ground being known to the experienced Kafir. Wooded heights, deep +defiles, frowning krantzes, were all passed with a rapidity which +astonished even Claverton, who would hardly have believed it possible to +make such way on foot. Suddenly, and without turning his head, his +guide breathed one single word, drowning it immediately in a slight +cough. + +"Caution." + +Not by word or look did Claverton betray that he had heard; but his +grasp tightened round the handles of his kerries, and lo, starting out +of the gloom so suddenly and so noiselessly that they might have started +out of air, five Kafirs, fully armed, stood in the path before them. + +A hurried conversation took place, Claverton every now and then putting +in a grunt of assent with the rest, in true native fashion. Xuvani did +all the talking. + +"We are carrying the `word' of the Great Chief," he said, making a step +forward. "We must not delay." + +"What is the matter with your relation?" asked one of the five, Xuvani +having thus categorised his charge for the time being. + +"He has been shot through the cheeks, and the cold must be kept from the +wound," was the reply. By nature an intensely suspicious animal, the +Kafir was peering distrustfully at Claverton, whose bronzed complexion, +however, aided by the shade of the ragged hat, looked as dark as their +own in the incipient dawn. But the very presence of Xuvani, whose +valour and fidelity had been abundantly proved, disarmed further +suspicion, and, without another word, the strangers disappeared as +quickly as they had come, and the pair resumed their way. + +"Do you think they will have discovered the joke, Xuvani?" asked +Claverton at length, referring to his escape. + +"The rain is good; it will have washed out our tracks," replied the +other. "It is unfortunate that we should have met with those men just +now." + +"Did they suspect?" + +Xuvani shrugged his shoulders. "In war-time every one suspects." + +"They'll be roasting that poor devil of a preacher instead of me, I'm +afraid, up yonder." + +But Xuvani was not of this opinion. The councillors always liked to +stand well with the missionaries, he said, and this one would probably +be released. Besides, there were plenty of mission-station men among +the Gaikas--Dukwana, for instance, who was a real preacher himself, and +several others--who would be sure to find an opportunity of letting the +missionary go; which piece of information would have set at rest any +misgivings Claverton might have had upon the subject, though, in truth, +he had none, simply not having given it a thought until that moment. As +for Xuvani, that unregenerate old heathen, though he understood and +practised the virtue of gratitude so well, yet it was patent that the +sacrifice of a hecatomb of missionaries would have inspired him with no +compunction whatever. + +"Do you remember giving water to a wounded man after the burning of the +Great Place in Gcaleka-land, and watching over him while the Fingo dogs +went by?" suddenly inquired Xuvani. + +"Yes." + +"That was Tambusa." + +Claverton whistled. + +"What on earth was he doing up there?" + +The other shrugged his shoulders. + +"Yes, it was," he said. "Whaow! Lenzimbi. You must be a wizard, +indeed," went on the old man, when he had listened to the recital of +Claverton's miraculous escape over the cliff, and his subsequent +capture. "That storm must have been brought up on purpose for you, for +nothing in the world else could have saved your life when the chief gave +the word for them to burn you. And, even as it is, I could not have +saved you--I and Tambusa--if you had not blinded the eyes of that dog +Mopela. If he had known I was about he would have smelt the game and +rendered it impossible. Now he is half-dead himself." + +It was indeed miraculous, thought Claverton. He had been brought +through this with a purpose. The web of Fate was nearly woven. + +"Xuvani?" he said. "You have saved my life, and a great deal more this +day. Now, be advised by me. Leave this business, you and Tambusa, and +go away quietly into the colony until it is all over. You are bound to +come to grief if you remain in it. Then, when things are ship-shape +again, you shall see what my gratitude is." + +"_We_ have paid our debt," replied the old Kafir. "Lenzimbi was always +open-handed. Some day we will come and ask him for a few cows to give +us milk, when all our cattle have been taken. If we come into the +colony now, Government will hang us for having fought." + +"Not a bit of it. At most you would get a few months' imprisonment, +and, perhaps, I could obtain a free pardon for you. Then we will talk +about this day, and you will be none the worse off for it. You know +me--that is enough." + +The rain had ceased and the clouds were parting, and now, through the +widening patch of blue firmament, the rising sun began to dart his +warming beams upon the saturated earth, and all the joyous freshness of +early morning was around. A few days earlier, and what exultation would +have thrilled around this man's heart, snatched as he had been from a +horrible death, and restored to a world of light, and joy, and gladness; +but now he had a task on hand which precluded any such thought--the +accomplishment of his fell purpose of vengeance. After that--well, the +future must take care of itself. + +"Look!" exclaimed Xuvani, pointing to a column of smoke arising from a +hollow about three miles off. "There are your people. Now go. You are +safe." + +"Come with me, Xuvani," urged Claverton, earnestly. "Not a soul shall +harm you, I pledge you my life. I shall be better able to repay you, +then--and--" + +His words were cut short by an interruption as sudden as it was +alarming. A volley of six or eight shots in rapid succession was poured +into them, and several yellow faces simultaneously came into view, +peering from behind the bushes to mark the effect. Fortunately the +bullets whizzed harmlessly overhead and around, though perilously near. + +"Cease firing, men," thundered Claverton, throwing off his native +disguise and standing erect and commanding. The well-known voice had a +magic effect. With a shout of delight the astonished Hottentots, +disregarding all dangers--past, present, and to come--leaped from their +cover and crowded round their former leader; for it was into the midst +of his old levy that Claverton had walked. + +"Allamagtig, Kaptyn!" cried old Spielmann--his erewhile favourite +sergeant. "Why, how did you manage to get away? We thought those +devils of Kafirs must have roasted you," and the old fellow's wrinkled +parchment face was puckered up like that of a monkey, as he grinned from +ear to ear in his delight, and the others were none the less loud in +their expressions of gratulation. Meanwhile, Claverton looked around +for Xuvani, but he looked in vain. The Kafir had disappeared. + +"Where's the other nigger?" cried a loud, harsh voice behind them. +"What the devil were you fellows about to let him escape? After him-- +directly. Bruintjes--Spielmann! Damn it--don't stand staring at me! +Do as I tell you--d'you hear?" + +Claverton turned--and stood face to face with Ralph Truscott. + +"At last!" he said, with a cool, sneering smile. "At last. Twice we +have met before. The third time's lucky." + +The other started and changed colour visibly. + +"Who the hell are you, sir?" he exclaimed, in a loud, arrogant tone. +"Better be a little more civil, I can tell you!" + +"Oh, you know me well enough," was the answer. "Well enough to estimate +me at the value of about one hundred pounds. Not very much, is it?" +Truscott turned ashy white. + +"Bah?" he cried, insultingly. "I think I do, and I think I know where +the shoe pinches. Now be advised, my good fellow, and cry off that +bargain. It isn't for you, I tell you. I was in the field long before +you were; I'm in it now, and in it I intend to remain--by God!" + +There was a quick, panther-like movement, a spring, and a half-smothered +imprecation, and Truscott staggered back half-a-dozen paces, reeling +beneath two straight-out hits from Claverton's clenched fists. With an +awful execration, something between a yell and the roar of a wild +animal, he recovered himself, and, with his livid features working +violently, dashed at his assailant. He was the taller and heavier man +of the two, as well as the stronger, but he had lived hard, whereas the +other was in splendid order--quick, supple, keen of eye, and dangerously +cool, notwithstanding his deadly wrath. Half blinded by his own rage, +like an infuriated bull, Truscott rushed upon his adversary, drawing, as +he did so, his revolver from the holster hung upon his side. But before +he could bring it to bear it was struck violently from his grasp, with a +blow of the heavy Kafir stick, and, quick as lightning, that terrible +"one--two," straight from the shoulder, met him in his onward rush, and +this time stretched him, half stunned, upon the ground. + +"Coward, as well as liar, thief, and murderer!" exclaimed Claverton, his +voice shaking with suppressed fury, as he thought of all the ruin +wrought by his foe's unscrupulous malice. "I suppose even you would +like to settle this as soon as possible. You know where to find me. +I'll be ready at any time." + +"Shoot him. Do you hear? Shoot him down! Fifty pounds to the man who +shoots him dead!" foamed Truscott, raising himself, half-dazed, upon his +elbow. "Do you hear, men, God damn you, or are you all in a state of +mutiny?" + +Claverton laughed coldly. + +"I don't imagine any of them will lay themselves out to earn the money," +he said. "They are not quite such fools as their leader. But I repeat, +Captain Truscott, that you will know where to find me, unless you prefer +to let well alone, that is, and console yourself with thinking over the +thrashing you've just had." + +"Wait, my fine fellow," replied the other, between his set teeth. "I'll +riddle that carcase of yours for this morning's business. I used to be +able to shoot pretty straight, I can tell you." + +"Yes? Glad to hear it. We'll have some tall practice presently. Till +then--so long!" and, with a mocking nod, Claverton turned and walked +away in the direction of the camp, while the Hottentots, who had stood +aloof, awe-stricken witnesses of this unexpected and stirring incident, +hastened to raise their discomfited chief. Their sympathies, however, +were all with the enemy; for Truscott, since he had had the command of +Claverton's old corps, had rendered himself exceedingly unpopular--as +much so, in fact, as its former leader had been the reverse; and now-- +though by reason of their ignorance of the English tongue they failed to +understand what the row had been about--they mightily but secretly +rejoiced over its issue. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Great and terrible was the hubbub which prevailed in the temporary kraal +of the Gaika chief as soon as it became known that the white prisoner +had disappeared. And the circumstances which led to this discovery were +as follows. + +Obedient to the instructions of his uncle, Tambusa had not stirred from +the hut which had constituted Claverton's prison-house, so as to allow +the two to get clear off without running the risk of exciting alarm. At +length, towards morning, the young Kafir began to think he might fairly +take steps to ensure his own safety. Accordingly he stole forth from +the hut--not quickly, and of set purpose, but with apparent reluctance +and rubbing his eyes as if he had just woke up--this in case any prying +glance should be watching his movements. All was still, though there +was just a sign of the coming dawn discernible in the east, and with his +blanket over his shoulder and his assegais in his hand, Tambusa walked +swiftly through the group of huts in the direction of the bush, when, as +ill-luck would have it, he was hailed, and by one of the men who had +been mounting guard over the prisoner the night before. + +"Where are you going to?" asked this man. + +"Oh, I shall come back in a moment." + +"I'll just go and look at the prisoner till you do, then," was the +reply. "He oughtn't to be left in the charge of only one man." + +"No, don't do that," promptly rejoined Tambusa, whose heart sank within +him. "Xuvani is there, and he'll be very angry with me. He doesn't +know I've gone out." + +"Never mind. He won't hurt you," said the other. "I'll tell him I met +you," and he walked straight towards the hut. Could it be that his +suspicions were aroused? Was there something in Tambusa's mien that +betrayed him? Anyhow, the latter's safety now would depend on the use +he could make of the very brief start allowed him by the time his +interlocutor would take to reach the hut--that, and no more. + +Opening the door, the man bent down and looked in. + +"Xuvani!" he called. + +No answer. Perfect stillness. Not even the regular breathing of a +sleeping man broke the silence. For a moment the savage shrunk from +entering, his superstitious soul fearing the spells of this redoubted +white sorcerer. Then his loud cry of alarm roused the sleeping kraal. +Dark forms came hurrying out of their huts, half expecting to find +themselves attacked by the enemy; but quickly grasping the cause of +alarm they gathered round their countryman. + +"The white man--the prisoner! Where is he?" was heard on all sides. + +Quickly one of the Kafirs made his way through the crowd, a box of +matches in his hand. Striking one, he peered into the gloomy interior +of the hut. It was empty. + +"Treachery, treachery!" he shouted. "The prisoner has disappeared!" and +the cry was taken up by the crowd, which glared inquiringly around, as +if in search of some trace by which to follow the fugitive. + +"Where is Tambusa?" cried the man who had first raised the alarm. "He +is the traitor--he has released the white man--he was here a moment +ago--where is he now?" + +He might well ask. Tambusa, it may be readily supposed, had lost no +time in following the prisoner's example. He, too, had disappeared. + +Then again the wild, thrilling cry of alarm rang out through the forest. +It fell upon the ear of the devoted young Kafir, straining every nerve +to make the most of that brief start, and it seemed to peal forth his +doom. There was no lack of spoor to guide them in their pursuit of him, +his fresh footmarks in the muddy soil were only too apparent to all; and +away started two score of fierce warriors upon his track. The fugitive, +husbanding his strength, dashes along at a swift, easy run, intending to +gain the white man's camp. There at any rate he will be safe; but he +knows full well the fate in store for him should he fall into the hands +of his fierce countrymen, for has he not just been guilty of what in +their eyes is an act of treason of the blackest dye? On, on; the young +warrior is lithe and agile, and in splendid training, and it may be that +he will distance his pursuers yet. But those horrid whoops are +resounding from many a hill-top, and with fatal effect, for the +attention of the five Kafirs whom Xuvani and his charge met not long +since, is attracted thereby, and, with the quick suspicion of their +race, they put two and two together. So, as poor Tambusa comes flying +down the narrow bush-path, five dark forms spring up panther-like in +front of him, effectually barring his progress. On either side is the +thick tangled bush, almost impenetrable. He is lost; the pursuers are +advancing rapidly upon his rear, and his road is barred. Disregarding +the warning voices of those in front of him, the hapless youth bounds +off the track and plunges into the tangled thorny brake. He is on a +rock; below and in front of him lies a deep, stony ravine all overhung +with trailers, a tiny stream trickling down its funnel-like depths. Ha! +It is his last and only chance. But at that moment two reports ring +out through the forest. With a groan poor Tambusa sways, and then +topples heavily forward into the bed of the rivulet ten feet beneath; +and his fierce pursuers rushing up, find only a corpse. He has escaped +the most terrible side of their ruthless vengeance, to wit, hours of +frightful torture; but he has lost his life--rather has he given it +devotedly in exchange for that of the man who has twice already saved +it. + +So there he lies, this young hero--a naked savage, but a hero for all +that--dead among the ferns and rocks beneath the mass of foliage and +trailing creepers, which the sun's rays can scarcely penetrate, slain by +his own countrymen. He has given his life in satisfaction of the debt +incurred and the promise made long ago--given it in exchange for that of +his benefactor--"a life for a life." + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +VAE VICTIS! + +Great was the astonishment in camp when the man who had been given up as +hopelessly missing, and whom everybody by this time had come to think of +as dead, turned up safe and sound. Jaded and worn out, however, he +sought his tent at once, excusing himself from receiving the hearty +congratulations of his friends until after the sleep of which he stood +so sorely in need. + +Waking at last he opened his eyes, with a start, upon the genial +countenance of the Irish doctor. + +"Hallo, McShane!" + +"An' what the divil have ye been up to now, Claverton?" began that +worthy, without any further ceremony. "Here ye've managed to get off +bein' made mincemeat of by the niggurs, and, not content with that, ye +must get to punching a fellow's head, and now he wants to have a shot at +ye, av course." + +"Does he?" said Claverton, drily. + +"He does." + +"H'm! Well, sit down and have a pipe, McShane, and we'll talk it +quietly over." + +"Ah! that sounds better," said the good-natured Irishman, in a tone of +relief, for he was hoping that the affair might admit of a settlement. +"See here, now--what's it all about? Truscott wants to parade you, and +sent me to arrange matters, and that's about the size of it. Now who +acts for you?" + +"No one." + +"No one? Well, then, I suppose you'll shake hands together, and say +you're both made fools of yourselves," said McShane, brightening up. + +"You're quite wrong, McShane. I'm going to give your friend the fullest +satisfaction--when, where, and as soon as he pleases," and the look in +the speaker's eyes caused the Irishman's hopes to fall to the ground. +"When I said no one acted for me, I meant it. I'm going to act for +myself, or better still, you can act for both." + +"Och! an' it's balderdash ye're talkin'," rejoined the other, angrily. +"How the divil can I be second to both? Bedad, an' who ever heard of +such a thing! I'D have nothing to say to it, I tell ye." + +"Well, then, you see, McShane, it'll amount to this--that we shall go +out without any seconds at all; which will probably mean that the first +of us who catches sight of the other will blaze away; for I don't trust +our friend any more than I do Sandili himself. _I'm_ quite ready, +however; but I don't intend to run any other fellow's head into this +business. Who is there, for instance? Brathwaite--family man; Hicks, +ditto; and so on. Poor Jack might have done, but he's passed on his +cheque. No; as you have agreed to act for the other fellow, well and +good; I'm quite satisfied. But, I tell you, there's no one I can rely +upon." And lighting his pipe he passed the match to his companion, with +a hand as steady as a rock. + +For a long time McShane was firm. He would have nothing to do with so +preposterous an arrangement--it wasn't fair to him--and so on. But, +eventually, seeing that they were determined to fight, and would +probably do more mischief if left to themselves, he reluctantly agreed +to act. They were a couple of fools, he thought; and would wing each +other, perhaps; but on any graver contingency the light-hearted Irishman +never reckoned. + +"That's all right, McShane," said Claverton. "I shall leave everything +to you, as far as your man is concerned, and if there's any advantage to +be had it shall be yours." + +Then they arranged that the affair should come off that same night +towards ten o'clock, in a lonely glen at a safe distance from the camp, +and known to both of them. But, to avoid suspicion, they agreed to +leave the camp at different times, and to ride in different directions. + +"I tell you what it is, Claverton, this fellow's a damned good shot," +said McShane, as he got up to leave. + +"Is he? All the better--for him. But how d'you know?" + +"He says so." + +"Oh! I see. H'm! Brag's a good dog. He shall have every advantage, +as I said before. Well--till this evening." + +McShane went out, sorely puzzled, and heartily wishing he was out of it. +In a moment of impulsive good-nature he had consented to act for +Truscott when mad with rage. That worthy had given his own version of +what had occurred, and besought his good offices; and then, being a +thorough Irishman, there was a subtle spell hanging about a row in any +shape that was altogether too potent for him, and Truscott happened to +be an old schoolfellow of his, though he, McShane, had never liked him +much, nor did he now. And if he had cherished any hopes of talking +Claverton over, they were scattered now. There was a deadly purpose in +the latter's speech and manner, all the more so because so quiet. No; +things must take their chance. + +Left to himself, Claverton sat for a few minutes in silent rumination. +Then he got up, and, opening a chest, took out a polished wooden case +and unlocked it, disclosing a revolver. It was a beautifully-finished +weapon, small, but carrying a bullet of the regulation calibre, and on a +silver plate let into the ebony handle were graven the initials "H.S." + +"Poor Spalding!" he murmured. "You were going to cut the knot of your +difficulties with this little article once, and so am I, but in a +different way." + +He scrutinised the weapon narrowly, clicking the lock two or three +times, and taking imaginary aim. + +The poise was perfect. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +How calm and peaceful rides the silver-wheeled chariot of night! How +tranquil, in their mysterious distance, shine the golden stars, darting +a twinkling glance down into this still, out-of-the-world hollow, where +not even the chirp of an insect or the rustle of a disturbed leaf breaks +the absolute hush of the night! On the one hand a wall of jagged rock +rises to a serrated ridge, standing out sharp and clear; on the other, +the sprays of the clustering foliage are photographed in shining +distinctness. Above, in a towering background, a great mountain peak +rears itself, dim and misty, enflooded in the slumbrous moonlight. A +scene of eternal beauty--a holy calm as of another world! + +But, lo! Standing within the shade of the thick foliage is the figure +of a man--erect, motionless, as though petrified. For nearly an hour +has he maintained his immovable attitude; and now a suspicion of a start +runs through his frame. He is listening intently, for the ring of a bit +and the tramp of hoofs becomes audible. It is one of those nights when +the most distant of sounds would seem to be even at one's elbow; and now +this sound draws nearer and nearer, and, in addition, a word or two in +smothered tones. The listener's face wears a ruthless look as two +horsemen enter the glade and, reining in, peer cautiously around. + +"Perhaps our valiant friend is going to cry off," sneered one of them. + +"Cry off? The divil a bit!" was the reply. "Claverton's all there, I +can tell ye. He'll turn up in a minute." + +"Thank you, McShane," struck in a voice, in the same low, cautious tone, +as the watcher glided from his concealment. + +"Och! there ye are! Now, we'd better get to business at once. First of +all, we'd better lave the horses here close at hand in case we should +want them." + +This was done, the three steeds being fastened securely to a small +mimosa tree. + +"I say, you fellows," said the kindly Irish doctor, "is it determined to +go through with it you are? Bedad, and hadn't you better shake hands, +and go straight home and have a brew o' punch together? Faith, an' it's +better than riddlin' each other with lead." + +"My dear McShane, what on earth will you propose next?" said Claverton, +while Truscott's face, glowering with rage in the moonlight, was answer +enough on his part. + +"Ah, well I see it's blood-lettin' ye mane. Now ye'll just both o' ye +sign this bit o' paper. It's meself that would rather be out of it. A +duel with only one second! Why, it's like an election with only one +candidate--he gets kicked by both sides and thanked by neither, bedad." + +The "bit of paper" in question set forth that Dennis McShane acted in +the matter at the joint request of both parties, and it was a precaution +which he had deemed advisable to take in case the transaction should +terminate disastrously, or at any future time be brought to light--or +both. Without a word each affixed his signature, and then Dennis +proceeded to pace out the ground. The duel was to be fought with +six-shooters, the first three shots at twenty-five, and the rest at +twenty paces. + +"Now ye'd better look at each other's pistols, as there's no one to do +it for ye," he said. + +What was it that made Truscott start and turn a shade whiter, and nearly +let his adversary's weapon fall as he took it into his hand to examine +it? We have said that it was a beautifully-finished weapon, with a +silver plate let into the handle, and on this, standing out distinctly +in the moonlight, were the initials "H.S." And Claverton, narrowly +watching his enemy's countenance, noted this effect and wondered not a +little. These formalities over, the doctor proceeded to reload the +weapons, which were both of the same calibre. Then he placed the +combatants, twenty-five paces apart, taking scrupulous care that each +should enjoy an equal proportion of advantage from the moonlight. + +Truscott, to do him justice, was no coward. He had come there fully +determined to slay his adversary if he could; and as for his own share +of the risk, why, that must be left to the fortune of war. But, when +his eye fell upon those initials, something very like a shiver ran +through him. There was something portentous in the sight of this relic +of the past rising up as it were in judgment upon him, here in this +lonely nook, away at the other side of the world. There was no +mistaking the weapon, he knew it only too well, for he had handled it +often. It was the identical one. He would have gone so far as to +object to it; but what valid reason could he give, seeing that in size +and calibre it was an exact facsimile of his own? No; things must take +their chance. But he felt greatly unhinged, for all that. + +Claverton, on the other hand, was untroubled by any misgiving whatever. + +Stay. What is that black object crouching high up on the cliff? It is +alive, for it might have been seen to move had the trio beneath been +less intent upon their errand of blood. Only a stray baboon wandering +among the ledges of the rocks. + +"Now," said McShane, withdrawing to a safe distance. "Be careful not to +fire till I count three. Every shot must be signalled. Now, are you +ready?" + +No cloud veiled the unbroken calm of the starry heavens. The silver +moon looked silently down, flooding hill and dale in her pale, clear +light, shining like chastened noontide upon that sequestered hollow and +the strip of open glade in the centre, where stood two men pointing +their weapons at each other's hearts. It will soon shine upon a ghastly +stream of ebbing life-blood, crimsoning out upon the dewy turf. One of +those two men must die here. Which will it be? + +"One--Two--Three!" + +A double report, but sounding like a single one, so simultaneous is the +effect. A dull, thundrous echo rolls sullenly along the face of the +overhanging cliff. The smoke lifts slowly, and there is a sickly, +sulphurous smell mingling with the cool, fresh air. Both men are +standing motionless, waiting for the second signal. As yet both are +unhurt; Truscott heard his adversary's ball whiz very close past his +right ear, but his own shot was wider. + +Again the signal is given. This time it is Truscott's left ear which +feels the close proximity of the lead; and but for the fact of his own +bullet ploughing up the ground some forty yards off, he might as well +have fired with blank cartridge for all the apparent effect. His wrath +is terrible, and blazes forth in his livid, distorted countenance and +staring eyes. He can see that the other is a dead shot, and is, as yet, +merely playing with him. And mingling with his wrath is a chilling +misgiving; and as he stands fronting his opponent's pitiless eyes, he is +almost unnerved. Fury, hate, and even despair, are stamped upon his +features; the perspiration lies in beads upon his forehead, for he feels +that opposite to him stands his executioner. Claverton, on the other +hand, is dangerously cool, and his eyes gleam with a deadly purpose. It +is a scene of horror, this drama being enacted in the moonlit glade. + +The dark object overhead has disappeared from the cliff. + +"Be jabers, but ye'd better knock off now," exclaims the Irishman, in +grave, serious tones. "The shots make the very divil of a row, echoing +among the rocks. We shall have a patrol down on us directly, or a host +of niggurs, an' I don't know which'd be the worst." + +"Has he had enough?" asks Claverton, in a cold, contemptuous tone, +turning his head slightly towards the speaker. + +An imprecation is the only reply the other vouchsafes, and again they +exchange shots. Truscott, who is quite off his head, blinded by his +helpless rage, blazes away wildly. But he feels his adversary's ball +graze his right ear, exactly as the first had done, and his adversary's +face wears a cold, sinister smile. + +Three shots have been fired. The next three will be at a shorter range. + +"Haven't you two fellows peppered each other enough?" asks McShane. +"Well, if ye will go on ye must," he adds, receiving no reply. "It's at +twenty yards now." + +The distance is measured, and again the two men stand facing each other. +Claverton, watching his enemy's features, can see them working +strangely in the moonlight, and knows that he would give all he has in +the world to be safe out of it. In other words, he detects unmistakable +signs of fear; but it does not move him, his determination is fixed. He +will shoot his adversary dead. He has, as Truscott rightly conjectured, +been playing with him hitherto, and also with the desire to allow him +every chance, but the next shot shall tell. He will have no mercy on +this double-dyed traitor, who has sneaked in treacherously in his +absence, and placed a barrier between him and his love. + +No, he will not spare him. This time he will shoot him dead; and +Truscott reads his doom in the other's eyes, as once more, with the +distance diminished between them, they stand awaiting the signal. + +"One--T--!" + +A terrific crash bursts from the brow of the overhanging height, and +Truscott, with a spasmodic leap, falls backward, as the red jets of +flame issue forth, to the number of a score, from the rifles of the +concealed savages. Claverton feels a hard, numbing knock on the left +shoulder, as he and the doctor rush to the side of the fallen man. + +"Truscott, man, where are you hit?" is the letter's hurried inquiry; but +as he lifts the other's head he is answered, for it lies a dead weight +in his hand. A dark stain is oozing forth upon the moonlit sward, +welling from a great jagged wound. The "pot-leg" has gone clean through +Truscott's heart; and now, as McShane lays down his head, the glazed +eyes are turned upwards to the sky, and the swarthy face is livid with +the dews of death. + +"He's dead as a door-nail, bedad," said the doctor. "And it's ourselves +that'd better be lavin', and that mighty quick, or we'll get plugged, +too." Even while he spoke the leaden messengers were whizzing about +them with a vicious "pit--pit!" + +Truscott, as he had said, was dead as a door-nail, and it was clearly +useless to remain. And now came in their foresight in keeping their +horses close at hand. Loosening the terrified animals, which were +snorting and tagging wildly at their bridles, they mounted and dashed +off at a gallop just as a number of dark forms issued swiftly and +stealthily from the bush to cut off their retreat, while the enemy on +the cliff kept up a continuous fire. Two or three assegais were thrown +at them; and then the Kafirs, who could now be descried pouring down the +rocks in swarms, seeing that they were well mounted, and the ground +ahead was fairly clear, relinquished the pursuit. + +"An' didn't I tell ye that we should have the niggurs down upon us?" +cried McShane, turning in his saddle to look back at the peril they had +so narrowly escaped. "That poor divil's lost his number anyhow, and +it's glory be to the blessed saints that we're not lyin' alongside of +him." + +"I rather think I'm hit, too. My arm feels as if it was going to drop +off," said Claverton, quietly. But he was deadly pale. + +"Hit! are ye?" rejoined McShane, with an anxious glance at him. "Well, +hold up till we get back to camp. It may not be very bad after all. Is +it in the shoulder?" + +"Yes, I think it's only a spent ball. The bone isn't touched." + +"Faith, and ye'd better have knocked off and come away when I first +spoke. That poor divil would be alive and well now." + +Claverton turned to him in amazement. + +"My dear McShane, what _do_ you suppose I came out here for to-night?" +he said, with a sinister laugh. "Not to play, did you?" + +"Well, it's lucky Jack Kafir took the throuble off your hands, me boy, +or it's on your way to the Orange River ye'd have to be now, and meself, +too, likely enough. As it is it'll be murdherin' awkward." + +"Why?" + +"Well, what possesses three fellows to go riding off into the _veldt_ at +night--eh? An' then when the row ye had this morning comes to lake out, +sure won't they be puttin' two and two together, anyway?" + +"Nothing can be proved, and if it could, I don't care. Who's to prove +that there was any exchange of shots, at all; and there's no mistake +about that pot-leg that rid the earth of the greatest blackguard it ever +held being _not_ a revolver ballet," replied Claverton, in a hard, +pitiless tone. + +"There's a good deal in that," assented the other. + +It was nearly midnight when they reached the camp, and the news spread +like wildfire that Truscott had been shot by the Kafirs, the other two +barely escaping; and before long some one appended the rider that +Claverton was mortally wounded in trying to rescue him, which report +reaching that worthy's ears, he received it with a sardonic grin, and +said nothing. And by a curious piece of luck, the row between the two +had not got wind, the spectators of it, terrible gossips by nature, +fearing consequences to themselves should it become known that they had +stood calmly looking on while their officer got a thrashing, deemed it +wise to hold their peace. + +"Half an inch more, me boy, and ye'd likely as not have lost an arm," +said McShane, as he bound up a jagged and furrowed wound just below +Claverton's shoulder. "It's nothing to spake of now, as long as ye keep +quiet; but if ye don't thur'll be the divil to pay." + +The operation finished the patient turned in, and slept a heavy, +dreamless sleep for thirteen hours. + +In the morning a party was despatched to bring in Truscott's body. It +told its own tale; for in addition to being horribly cut about, after +the time-honoured custom of the noble savage, the wound which had caused +his death gaped wide and ghastly, bearing witness, as his late enemy had +said, that it had been inflicted by no revolver bullet, even if the bit +of pot-leg, which resembled the slug from an elephant gnu, had not been +found. Everything belonging to the unfortunate man had been carried +off--his horse, arms, and ammunition, even most of his clothing--indeed, +when the expedition saw the spoors of the Kafirs all about the spot, the +only wonder existing in their minds was that the other two had managed +to escape. So far good; and it was not until long after that the +faintest rumour of a duel having taken place began to leak out. + +Meanwhile, we will return to another personage whom we have lost sight +of for a space, our friend Sharkey, to wit, who, almost immediately upon +Claverton's return to camp, had been reported missing, the general +impression being that he had deserted, and, as men could not be spared +just then, no search was made for him. But for once that interesting +individual had been maligned. It happened that morning that the +attention of a patrol returning to camp was attracted by the sight of a +cloud of _aasvogels_ hovering above the bush. More of the great carrion +birds rose, flapping their huge white pinions and soaring leisurely +away, and then the reason of the gathering was made plain. There, in +the long grass, half devoured by these hideous scavengers, lay the +remains of the missing man, Vargas Smith, _alias_ Sharkey, _soi-disant_ +Cuban gentleman, late corporal in Truscott's Levy. Though the body was +horribly torn, yet it was evident that the man had met his death from a +couple of assegai wounds, one of which must have pierced his heart. + +And this is how it came about. When Xuvani, having safely conducted his +charge within the lines of the latter's own people--a service which the +people aforesaid repaid by opening fire upon both of them, as we have +seen--he disappeared; that is to say, he dodged down behind the bushes, +and half running, half crawling, rapidly made good his retreat. And he +would have made it good, but for the fact that one man had caught sight +of his manoeuvres and was determined he should not. This was our friend +Sharkey, who was on the extreme outskirts of the column, and who, +anxious to have the fun all to himself, started off at a run to take up +a position in a certain narrow place through which he judged--and judged +rightly--that the Kafir would be almost certain to pass; when he could +shoot him at his leisure. + +But alas for the uncertainty of human calculations. The ex-cattle-herd +of Seringa Vale was far too old a bird to be caught in any such trap as +this--moreover, he had obtained just one glimpse of his enemy running +through the bush to waylay him, and his eyes glared as he broke into a +short, silent laugh of contempt. Meanwhile, Sharkey, having ensconced +himself in a snug corner, waited and listened, gun in hand, ready to +give his quarry the contents of a heavy charge of buckshot in the back +as he ran past. But somehow the said quarry didn't appear, and the +watcher began to grow uneasy. Slowly and cautiously he put out his +head. Then, immediately above him, sounded a fiendish chuckle which +curdled his blood, and before he had time to turn, much less bring his +gun to bear, the Kafir sprang upon him like a tiger-cat and, quick as +lightning, with two strokes of his powerful arm stabbed him twice +through the heart. The mulatto fell, stone dead, with scarce a groan, +and Xuvani, wrenching off his ammunition-belt and picking up his gun, +which lay in the grass, trotted away with a sardonic grin upon his +rugged features. He had done a first-rate stroke of business; slain a +foe, and possessed himself of a fairly good fire-arm and some +ammunition--the acme of a Kafir's desire. + +Thus by an unaccountable turn in the wheel of Fate, the two conspirators +met their deaths on the same day; and both, moreover, through the +indirect agency of the very man against whose life they had conspired. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +When Claverton opened his eyes on awaking from his heavy sleep, they met +those of George Payne, who was sitting opposite him, watching him +intently. + +"Hallo, George! What brings you up here? Oh-h!" + +For he had forgotten his wounded shoulder, and, starting up suddenly on +that elbow, an agonised groan was the result. + +"To look after you--and you seem rather to want it," replied the other, +gravely. + +Claverton lay back for a minute with closed eyes, and in racking pain; +for he was more seriously hurt than the good-natured doctor would have +had him believe. No compunction entered his mind as his thoughts +recurred to the affair of last night. Why should it? he reasoned. They +had met in fair fight, and he had certainly given the other every +chance. If any one tried to rob him of his life, all the world would +hold him justified in defending it to the uttermost. This man had tried +to rob him of what he valued ten times more than his life, so he had +been more than justified in defending that to the uttermost. And the +agglomeration of frightful perils through which he had just passed, were +indirectly owing to this man's agency. Moreover, when all was said and +done, _he_ had not shot him. He had intended to, certainly, but the +Kafirs had saved him the trouble and the risk by shooting him instead, +by shooting them both, in fact; for all the world like in the case of +two small boys indulging in fisticuffs, and a fond parent or stern +preceptor staying hostilities by impartially cuffing the pair of them. +And, when viewed in this light, the affair struck him as so comical, +that he burst into a laugh. + +There was a queer look in Payne's eyes as he rose, and, going outside, +intently studied the weather for a moment, apparently, that is, for, in +reality, he wanted to make sure of not being heard--and then returned. + +"How did the affair go off?" he asked, shortly. + +"Haven't you heard?" + +"Yes. That Irish fellow told me a yarn about your being attacked; but +it won't wash, you know," and he winked. + +"Fact--upon my oath!" + +"And you didn't do for friend R.T.?" + +"Devil a bit! I meant to; but the niggers were too sharp for us. They +winged me into the bargain, as you see." + +"Then _he_ didn't pink you?" + +"Confound it, no. The niggers did. It's about the queerest thing, I +suppose, that ever happened." + +"It is," assented Payne, lighting his pipe. + +Claverton could see that the other only half believed him, but he didn't +care. + +Payne smoked on in silence for a few moments. He appeared to be +intently contemplating a chip of wood which lay on the floor, and which +he was poking at with a riding-crop. At length he said: + +"Have you any idea what brought me here?" + +"H'm. A horse, most probably." + +"You're a sharp fellow, Arthur Claverton," said Payne, deliberately. +"Now don't you go and act like a fool. Mark my words. Unless you want +to be the death of a certain young lady--I mean it, mind," and his voice +sank to a great seriousness, "for that cursed telegram was nearly the +death of her--the sooner you get on a horse and go and exhibit your +ornamental visage in my town establishment, the better. Now don't be a +fool--d'you hear?" + +The advice seemed needed, for at that moment Claverton gained at a bound +the door of the tent, where he stood bellowing for Sam. + +"Blazes! I'm forgetting. He isn't here. What can we do?" he said, +helplessly. + +"But he is here," was the imperturbable reply, and simultaneously that +faithful servitor entered, grinning with delight at seeing his master +again, and firing off a tremendous congratulation in the Zulu tongue. +His master cut him ruthlessly short, however. + +"Sam, take that bit of paper," tossing him a fragment, on which he had +hastily pencilled a few words, "and ride as if the devil were chevvying +you, till you pull up at the telegraph office in `King.' Now off you +go. The road's quite safe, isn't it? Can't help it if it isn't. Take +my horse and start at once, and wait there till I join you." + +"Yeh bo, 'Nkos!" said the obedient Sam. His heart was in his errand, +for he well knew the destination of the message he was to send. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. + +A VOICE OUT OF THE PAST. + +"Safe." + +Only one little word of four letters, and yet to Lilian Strange it seems +just all the difference between death and life; and the great spidery +characters in which that one little word is scribbled across the slip of +red-brown paper which she holds in her trembling hand, are fairer in her +eyes than the most tasteful of gold-engrossed illumination. At times, +during the last few days, she has marvelled at the bare possibility of +existence under the circumstances; and now, this morning, as she gazes +upon the contents of the telegram which has just been handed to her, and +which she has hardly had strength enough to open, so awful the +apprehension of what it might disclose--the relief is almost too great. + +"_Safe_." + +Only one word, but it is from himself; his own hand penned that message, +which in its brevity is worth to her a column of detail at second hand. +The colour comes and goes in her ashy face, and she sinks into a chair, +faint and giddy beneath the shock. He is safe, and she will see him +again. But then flashes in the thought of that other barrier--Truscott +and his fatal knowledge. Was it not in this man's power to part them +again? Ah, surely not. Whatever dreadful mystery there is, she feels +sure somehow that it will be cleared up. She will see him again--her +one heart's love--whom she sent forth to a cruel death. She will +explain all, and he will forgive her--though it is the second time she +has driven him from her--yes, she knows that, even if that last hurried +note, which he had sent back to her on the eve of his awful peril, and +which is now all blurred from the tears which have rained upon it--that +last precious relic--had not been what it was. + +And Annie Payne, entering at this moment--having the while been at the +back of the house, where she could neither see nor hear the telegraph +boy--started and stared in amazement, for Lilian broke into a radiant +smile as she held out the despatch, and then burst into a flood of +happy, grateful tears. + +"There, Lilian darling. Didn't I tell you while there was life there +was hope? And now you'll see that everything will come right," said her +warm-hearted friend, going over to kiss her. And then out of sheer +sympathy, she began to cry, too. + +"Please, missis," said the Hottentot servant-girl, bursting into the +room in great trepidation, "there's a lady at the gate who's very ill. +She seems hardly able to stand." + +"Goodness gracious!" cried kind-hearted Annie Payne. "Who can she be? +We must get her in--Come, Lilian!" + +The sun beat fiercely down into the wide dusty street, which was silent +and deserted in the broiling forenoon. Not a soul was visible, save +one. Leaning unsteadily against the garden railings, as if for support, +stood a figure clothed in black conventual garb. + +"Why, Lilian, it's a nun," whispered Annie Payne. Then aloud, as they +reached the stranger's side: "Now, do please come in at once and have a +good long rest, and a glass of wine. The heat has been too much for +you. Here, take my arm. No, don't try and talk yet." + +The nun looked up with a faint smile, at the kindly, impulsive tones. + +"You are very good," she began, speaking with a foreign accent. "The +sun is so hot, but I shall soon be better." + +"Of course you will," was the cheery reply; and in a moment the sufferer +found herself on a comfortable sofa in a cool, half-darkened room, so +refreshing after the glare of the street, while her hostess and Lilian +set to work to administer restoratives. + +Their charge was a striking-looking woman, still quite young. Of +foreign aspect, her face, though deathly pale, was very handsome, and +lighted by a pair of large dark eyes. An uncommon face withal, and one +which interested her entertainers keenly. + +"Who is she, Lilian?" whispered Annie Payne, hurriedly beckoning the +other from the room. "Roman Catholic, or one of your High Church +Sisters? You know all about that sort of thing." + +"She must be from the convent. There are no Anglican Sisters here. +Besides, she's foreign, evidently." + +They returned to the nun, who, professing herself quite restored by her +short rest, declared she must return home. + +"Not to be thought of, for some hours at least," replied her hostess, +decisively. "You have narrowly escaped a sunstroke as it is. I'll send +round to the convent immediately, and let them know you're here, and +that I'm not going to allow you to move before the evening. At least, +I'll go myself, that'll be better than sending. Lilian, take her to +your room, it's quieter there, and away from the children's noise, and +make her lie down for at least three hours. By the way, I was nearly +forgetting. Who shall I say?" + +"I am known as Sister Cecilia. God will bless you for your kindness to +me, and--" + +"There, there, you are not well enough to talk," interrupted Annie, with +good-humoured brusqueness, as she hurried away to prepare for her +errand. + +Of a certainty the sufferer could have been left in no better hands, and +just then such a work of mercy was doubly grateful to Lilian, whose own +hopes had been so miraculously fulfilled. Her charge having sunk into a +deep, refreshing sleep, Lilian moved noiselessly to a seat in the +window, and there, with her eyes fixed upon the outside world, she let +her busy thoughts have free scope. Something in the stillness of the +day took her memory back to that fatal afternoon when Truscott had come +in and dashed the cup of happiness from her lips. She remembered the +terrible shock the discovery of his reappearance had been, and then the +ruthless manner in which he had seared her heartstrings as with a +red-hot iron, and a reaction overtook her. If there was anything in his +knowledge, why, his terrible threats were all-powerful for evil still. +Yet her lover's life was safe for the present. He had been snatched +almost miraculously from the cruel hands of his savage enemies. Let her +be thankful for that, at any rate. Perhaps Heaven might be even yet +more merciful to her--to them both--and the other dark mystery might be +cleared up. Ah, that only it would! + +For a couple of hours her reverie had run on, when a sudden ejaculation +and a few words, muttered hurriedly in a foreign language sounding like +Spanish or Italian, recalled her. + +"Are you feeling better, Sister?" she began, softly, rising at once, and +going over to her charge. + +The latter hardly seemed to hear. With gaze set and rigid, her +attention was fixed on something opposite the bed, and Lilian noticed +that her lips were livid and trembling. + +"Who is that?" she gasped. "Am I dreaming? What is he--to you?" + +Lilian's face flushed softly, as she followed the other's glance. It +was riveted on two lifelike cabinet portraits of her lover, which stood +framed upon the table. + +"What is Lidwell to you?" went on the sufferer, half raising herself, +while her burning eyes sought Lilian's with a feverish glow. "Ah, I +see--I need not ask. But where is he? Here? _No_--not here!" + +It was now Lilian's turn to grow deathly pale. She pressed her hand to +her heart to still its beatings, and felt as if she must faint. +Lidwell! Only once before had she heard that name--only from one other. +Who was this woman, and what did she know? There must be truth in +Truscott's sinister allegations, then. Better to know the whole truth, +whatever it might he, than walk blindfold any longer. Her impulse found +vent in a despairing cry. + +"Oh, Sister, I am in sore trouble. For the love of the good God, whom +you are vowed to serve, tell me all you know about him you call +Lidwell." + +The nun lay back for a moment as if to recover her self-command. Then +she said in a firmer tone, but hurriedly, and with a foreign accent: + +"If I tell you all I know about him, I need only tell you that you are +the happiest woman in the whole world." + +"But he is in great danger. He has an enemy; a ruthless, unscrupulous +enemy who is determined on his ruin--to take his life even." + +"Who is this enemy? What is his name?" asked the nun, with awakening +interest. + +"Truscott--Ralph Truscott." + +"I never heard of him. He is an Englishman. I do not know any +Englishman that knew Lidwell. But now tell me--how does this Truscott +threaten him? Tell me all--then I can possibly help you. Do not fear, +I shall keep your secret as closely as the grave. I am dead to the +world, remember." + +Lilian needed no further persuasion. She poured forth the whole of her +woeful and heart-breaking story into this stranger's ear; the first, in +fact, to hear it. At one point in her narrative the listener's pale +face flushed, and her eyes burned, but mastering herself, she preserved +her impassibility to the end. + +"You did well indeed to tell me all," she said, when Lilian ceased. "It +was indeed the finger of Heaven that directed me here to-day. The man, +Truscott, has told you infamous lies, and his threats are powerless. He +cannot harm your lover, about whom at that time no one knows more than +I. But--guess. Who do you think I am--or was?" + +A light seemed to dawn upon Lilian, but the other anticipated her. + +"Before I entered religion my name was Anita de Castro." + +Lilian was too overcome to make any reply. The nun continued: + +"As I said, I am dead to the world, and such matters can hurt me little +now; but the man need not have slandered my poor name. It is perfectly +above slander, thanks to Lidwell. I tell you he was the saving of me. +I dare not think of what and where I should be now but for his influence +and the remembrance of him. My father was taken prisoner, with three +others, by a British vessel, and hanged, and I was adrift in Zanzibar +without a friend. I need not have been an hour destitute of mere +creature necessaries; but that influence saved me. For _you_ will +understand me when I tell you how I loved him; yet he never cared for +me. He liked me as a something to amuse him--a plaything--a child--but +no more." + +She paused, and Lilian sat holding her hand, but did not interrupt. + +"Your lover is safe," went on Sister Cecilia. "All that was told you is +untrue. He never fought against the English flag, or against any one +but the tribes in the far interior. The affair with the _Sea Foam_ took +place a year before he came among us; I remember it well. And now tell +me about this spy of Truscott's. What was he like?" + +Lilian remembered the man only too well, and described him minutely. + +"I know him. He was shot by Lidwell in self-defence, and left as dead. +He reappeared again, though, but after Lidwell had fled--to save his own +life, for there was a plot to murder him. The man Truscott must have +got the whole story from this other man, for neither of them have the +slightest idea of my whereabouts. I only arrived here the day before +yesterday, and to-morrow I am to leave with three others to join a +mission in the Transvaal." + +Her quick Southern nature enabled her to master the whole plot at a +glance. Truscott was a bold player at the game of intrigue, she +thought; for to throw in her own name in the way he had done was a +skilful stroke indeed. + +"To think that I should be held as a sword over Lidwell," she went on; +"I, who would not harm a hair of his head, even if I had, as that +slanderer said, anything to revenge, which I have not--quite the +reverse. But show me the portrait. I shall never see _him_ again; nor +do I wish to--I have done with such desires. Yes, it is a splendid +likeness; I can look at it calmly now. And, listen! He was as a +demigod in that horrible slave settlement. I do not know why he came +there, but many and many a time has he mitigated the sufferings of those +poor tortured creatures, often at the risk of his life. At last, when +he was obliged to fly, I helped him to get away. I, all unaided, +delayed his murderers many hours, and enabled him to get safely beyond +their reach. I do not boast; it is only that the recollection is sweet +to dwell on. And now listen," interrupting Lilian's fervent utterance +of admiration and gratitude. "His last words to me were these: `You are +made for something better than this kind of life; leave it as soon as +you are able.' Then I hurried him away, for I heard them coming. He +left that horrible place for ever, and I--well, I only prayed that I +might die. But I lived--lived that I might remember those last words, +and obey them to the letter." + +Lilian was crying. There was something inexpressibly touching in the +narrative to which she listened; to her something grandly heroic in the +way in which this girl--for the ageing effects of her Southern +nationality and conventual dress notwithstanding, she was little more +than a girl--had shunned the ease and luxury of evil to devote her whole +life to the fulfilment of the last injunction of one whom she would +never see again. This, too, was the daughter of a slave-dealer--reared +among ruffians--whose father had met a felon's death. And this +protecting influence which had hallowed another's pathway, was that of +her own lover. + +"You have, indeed, obeyed them," she said at length. "And you are happy +now, Sister?" + +"Perfectly. The Church has been a true mother to me. But--you are of +the Faith, are you not?" + +"I hope so, although there are slight differences between our Churches; +slight, but rendered greater than they need be," answered Lilian, +gently. + +"Ah, I thought you belonged to us. Some day, perhaps, you may be +vouchsafed more light--you and he. And now, you say he has another +name--not Lidwell. What is it?" + +"His real name is Arthur Claverton. I never heard of the other name +until--the time I told you of." + +"Whatever his real name is, its owner has always been in my prayers. +Now I shall add yours. What is it?" + +Lilian told her. + +"It is a pretty name, and suits you well. And you--you are worthy of +him, and will make him happy. God keep you both!" + +"Ah, Sister, you have, indeed, come among us as an angel unawares!" +exclaimed Lilian. "But a few days sooner, and so many days of frightful +anguish might have been spared us." + +"I rejoice that I have been the poor means of restoring your +happiness--_his_ happiness. Still it may be that even those few days of +suffering to which you refer, are for some wise purpose--for the good of +you both. And now tell me something more about him; I can think of him +with a clear conscience, for I have found my vocation. I could even +meet him again, but it is better not; and by to-morrow at this time, I +shall be far away. And you--you will tell him that I obeyed his last +injunction, will you not? He will, perhaps, like to know that." + +Lilian fervently promised to do this. She would even have suggested a +meeting between them; but, apart from the other's vocation, she was in +ignorance as to how the rule of her order bore upon a matter of the +kind, and was shy to urge it. And the two women sat and talked long and +earnestly of him whose presence should make the life of one, and whose +memory had protected and hallowed that of the other, until the sound of +Annie Payne's voice in the next room, in converse with a stranger, +reminded them that time was flying rather rapidly, for it was nearly +evening. + +The stranger was a nun from the convent, who had come to look after the +invalid and to see her safe home--a cheery, bright-mannered Irishwoman, +who was profuse in her appreciation of the care they had taken of her +colleague. Then they took their leave. + +"You have brought perfect peace to one in this house, at any rate, +Sister," said Lilian, as she bade her charge farewell. + +"Peace be upon all within it--and especially upon you," murmured the +other, tenderly returning her embrace. And Lilian, too happy for words, +stood watching them depart homewards. All was clear and bright before +her now, and how unexpectedly it had all come about! + +But surprises were not at an end for that day. While the two ladies +were still talking over their late guest, the tri-weekly newspaper was +left at the door, and in it a telegraphic slip containing the tidings of +Truscott's death. Just a bare statement of the fact that he had been +shot by the Kafirs, and would be buried that day. No details of any +kind. + +Lilian was thunderstruck. All the agony which he had inflicted on her +there in that very room; the cruel voice gloating over her fears while +vowing vengeance on him she loved; the brutal words decreeing their +separation, as fiend-like he mocked at her despair; all rose up before +her now. Then she shuddered, for was she not perilously near rejoicing +over a fellow-creature's death? + +"It's very shocking, isn't it?" she said, in awestruck tones. + +"Yes, dear, it is. But in war-time, you know, we must expect these +dreadful things to happen. Oh dear--oh dear--but I wish it was all over +and we were at peace again. Shall we ever be? And now there's George +must needs go racketing off to the front, and--" She stopped in dire +confusion, remembering the cause of her spouse's speedy departure. But +Lilian's arms were around her neck. + +"Dear Annie. It was very good and noble of him to go, and I for one owe +him a debt which I can never repay." + +"Not a bit of it, Lilian," was the cheery reply, though the speaker did +half turn away her head to conceal a tear. "Don't you think anything of +the sort. The rascal would have gone anyhow, for he was tired of +staying quietly at home. You remember what he said the other day when +he didn't know I was by. He only made a pretext of poor Arthur's +predicament, for you'll see that now he's got him out of it he won't +come back--no, not for the next two months." + +"Indeed!" said a third voice, making them both start as if they had been +shot. + +A man stood in the doorway, contemplating them with a satirical grin. + +"Goodness gracious!" cried Annie, with a little shriek. "Why, it's +George himself." + +"Well, and what if it is?" retorted that worthy, quizzically, as he +knocked the ashes out of his pipe against the door-post. "Mayn't a +fellow walk into his own house, or rather into old Sievers'--infernal +old skinflint that he is--hasn't had that chimney put right yet!" And +thus, characteristically, George Payne effected his return to the bosom +of his family as if he had never left that desirable ark. + +"Oh, George, how I maligned you!" cried his wife, penitently. "I made +sure you wouldn't be back for a couple of months at least. Once up +there I thought you'd stay, and go getting yourself assegaied most +likely." + +"Sorry to disappoint you, my dear. But, the fact is, Johnny Kafir's +beginning to have about enough, and is skulking away in the Perie; when +he hasn't surrendered already, as is the case up Queenstown way. +Brathwaite's men are all talking of coming back soon, and--" + +"Pa, where's my Kafir assegai?" cried Harry, bursting into the room. + +"Eh, what--where's your--? In the bush, sonny. Never mind, though. +You shall have a stack of them soon, but not those that have been shied +at me," replied Payne, passing his hand over the curly head of his +first-born. "That's how the rising generation welcomes its paternal +ancestor returning from the wars--asks for scalps the first thing. +Well, Miss Lilian," he continued, in his bantering way, "I told you to +keep your spirits up, and that all would come right, didn't I; and it +about has. Come along, Annie; we'll leave her to make it lively for +that chap who sends me on to prepare the way before him, and then +doesn't give me half time to do it." Lilian followed his glance. A man +was dismounting at the gate, in hot haste. She needed no second glance +to assure her of his identity. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. + +IN PEACE. + +Surely we have stood upon this spot before. + +But the drooping boughs of the old pear-tree afford no shade now to +those two persons seated on the rustic bench beneath--being leafless. +For it is mid-winter; yet the sky is a glory of unclouded blue above the +rolling landscape and dark forests, and the white and dazzling shroud +upon the distant mountains. + +Not only have we stood upon this spot before; but we have stood here-- +though unseen--in company with these two identical persons. One of them +now wears one arm in a sling, and looks like a man lately recovered from +a desperate illness. We will draw near--still unseen--and hear what +they are talking about. + +"Now, Arthur, I declare I saw you shiver," exclaimed a bright, playful +voice, which sounded very like that of Lilian Strange. "That won't do, +sir--Didn't the doctor say you were to take enormous care of yourself +for a long time to come--the English of which is that I am to do it for +you--and I'm going to begin by buttoning up your overcoat, for it's +anything but warm to-day, although the sun is so bright. That's done," +continued she, with a joyous laugh. "Now for the letters." + +"Bother the letters. They can slide." + +"Can they? Business can slide, eh? And I'm sure one of them looked +like a regular `dun,' or a lawyer's letter at least, in its big, blue +envelope. That won't do, my dear. You've got a termagant to deal with, +I can tell you. Besides, when all's said and done, sir, they're _my_ +letters, so out with them." + +She dived her hand into the pocket of his overcoat, and produced two +missives. The post had just arrived as they were starting for their +stroll; but Lilian, reluctant to let in thoughts of the outside world +upon this their first visit to all the dear old places, had deferred +investigating the contents. + +"Yours, are they?" said Claverton, when he had recovered from the shout +of laughter which her idea of a "termagant" had evoked. "Let me set you +right on that head. They're mine, now, at all events. What's yours is +mine--what's mine's my own. Eh?" + +"But, look--they're addressed to me. Look! `Miss Strange,' `Miss +Lilian Strange,'" cried she, triumphantly, with her bright, witching +laugh. "What do you say to that?" + +"That young party has ceased to exist, I tell you; so, in the logical +sequence of events, we ought to return those to the Dead Letter Office. +What do you say to that, Mrs Arthur Claverton?" + +"This is from that dear Annie Payne," she went on, not heeding him, as +she extracted a closely-written and crossed sheet from its cover. + +"Wants a microscope to read. We haven't got one here--_ergo_, it can +stand over," he rejoined. "Why, Lilian; what on earth's the matter?" + +For she had opened the blue envelope last of all, and her face wore a +very curious expression indeed, as she mastered its contents--a little +surprise and a great deal of amusement. It was a lawyer's letter, even +as she had conjectured, and it informed her, in dry, concise +phraseology, that she was entitled to the sum of nine thousand pounds +under the will of her distant cousin, "my late esteemed client, Mr +Herbert Spalding," which bequest reverted to her, being forfeited by the +present legatee, Mr Arthur Claverton, that gentleman having failed to +observe the conditions under which he enjoyed the legacy, etcetera, +etcetera. The writer begged to know her wishes in respect of this +bequest, and remained her obedient servant, Robert Smythe. + +Blank astonishment was the only feeling Claverton was sensible of as he +sat staring at the bit of paper which she had put into his hand. He had +written to the lawyer on the day of his marriage, as a matter of course, +renouncing all further claim to the bequest, and sending in all the +necessary papers; as nearly three years were wanting to the time when it +should be his irrevocably; and had expected to hear nothing more about +the matter, beyond a brief acknowledgment. It was a nuisance, of +course, being docked of about half his means, but he had quite enough +left to go on with; and weighed in the balance of recent events this one +was a mere trifle. And, now, the legacy had simply reverted to his +wife. But how the deuce had it come about--that was the question? + +"Good God!" was all he could ejaculate. + +"Don't be profane, sir," retorted Lilian, with such a merry peal of +laughter. "Why don't you congratulate me on my good fortune?" + +"Eh--what? Hang it, this beats me. I don't understand it at all!" + +"Don't you? Well, then, poor Herbert Spalding was my cousin--a very +distant one--and I hardly knew much about him. He was very pleasant and +kind, though, the little I did see of him at Dynevard Chase; but at the +last he seems to have had the bad taste to prefer you to me. Undue +influence, sir, undue influence--isn't that what the lawyers call it?" +concluded she, in a playfully reproachful tone. + +"For Heaven's sake don't joke about it, Lilian," he interrupted, in a +pained voice. "For it amounts to this, that I have simply been robbing +you all these years--robbing you--you, whom I would have given the last +drop of my heart's blood to shield from a single want. All this time, +while you have been fighting a hard battle alone and unaided, I have +been literally robbing you of your own. Good Heavens! the very idea is +enough to make a fellow cut his throat." + +"You were not robbing me of anything of the sort. Don't be absurd, you +dear old goose! But, darling, you don't know how pleased I am that you +should take this from me now, even though it is like giving you back +what belongs to you," she added, lovingly. + +"But, upon my soul, I don't understand it yet," he repeated, amazedly. +"Who on earth was that old parson who came badgering me one morning? I +thought _he_ was the next in reversion." + +"`That old parson,' as you so disrespectfully term my dear old uncle, +George Wainwright, went to you on _my_ behalf, Arthur," she answered, +with a smile. "I tried to prevent him, but he would go. He failed, for +you stuck to it like a leech," she concluded, with a merry laugh. + +"Heavens! Of course I thought he was speaking for himself. He never +mentioned you." + +"Didn't he? That's so like Uncle George! And when I asked him who you +were, he had forgotten your name. Said it was Clinton, or something +like that." + +"But, Lilian, is this the first you've heard of the rights of the +affair? Didn't you ever suspect anything?" + +A soft smile stole over her face. "I did once," she replied, "long +ago--here. Something Mrs Brathwaite was telling us about you gave me a +sort of an inkling." + +"Oh, but this is simply dreadful! How could I have any idea how things +stood? I never saw the will, and never heard the name of the next in +reversion. `A distant relative' was all that old Smythe said. But I'll +write to the parson, Mr--what's his name?--Wainwright, and get him to +tell you all that passed between us. I'll--" + +"I'm afraid not. Poor Uncle George died four years ago," she answered. +"But, darling, don't take things to heart like this. I only see it in +an amusing light. Isn't it a queer chapter of coincidences?" + +"Good God!" + +"Don't be profane," she repeated. "And if you don't want to make me +quite unhappy, you will think no more of this odd little coincidence, +Arthur dearest. I declare I mean it. And then, isn't it best, after +all? Why, nothing now can rid me of the knowledge that it was entirely +for myself, and myself alone, just as I stood, that you threw away that +dear, foolish heart of yours." And she gave him such a look of +tenderness, and love, and trust, that he caught her to him with all the +passionate love of the old yearning, hopeless days. + +"My Lilian, nothing can rid _me_ of the knowledge that I have robbed you +all this time; and how am I to pass it off so lightly?" he whispered, in +a broken voice. "My darling, you see it was impossible that I could +have known--do you not?" + +"Why, of course. How should you have? But isn't it the most amusing of +coincidences! Come now, you are to own that it is. We women are +supposed to be deficient in a sense of humour; but, I declare, in this +instance I am proving the rule by making an exception to it, while you +are not keeping up the credit of your lordly sex. Do you hear that, +sir?" she went on, in a tone of soft banter that was very bewitching. +Her great happiness had completely changed Lilian. The longing sadness +in the sweet, lustrous eyes had given way to a calm peace that was +infinitely beautiful, and a sunny, gladsome smile had taken the place of +that former tinge of melancholy which had always been upon her, even at +the brightest of times. No cloud was in her sky now. The lurid curtain +of war had lifted, and though still upon the horizon, daily receded-- +rolling back farther and farther. The Past might be put away, as the +golden Future disclosed in bright, fair vista. + +Yes. The war was at an end, now--or nearly so--for the wretched +insurgents, broken-spirited, half-starving, and thoroughly sick of +fighting, were flocking in daily to surrender themselves at the +different frontier posts. The gaols were crowded with red-blanketed, +forlorn-looking beings, squatting about in sullen apathy, their chief +speculation--next to the interest of their daily rations--being whether +_Ihuvumente_ [the Government] would be very hard on them, when they +should be placed in the dock in batches, at the approaching special +Circuit, and called upon to answer to the charge of having "wrongfully, +unlawfully, and maliciously taken up arms and waged war against our +Sovereign Lady, the Queen, etcetera, etcetera," of which exalted +personage most of them had but a very hazy idea. The insurgent leaders +had either been captured or slain, and in the latter category was the +fate of Sandili, the Great Chief of the house of Gaika, who was shot by +a party of Fingoes during his flight; and when his body was found some +days afterwards in the Perie Forest, behold, it was partially eaten by +wild animals. So the fate which his captive had predicted, when +condemned to the torture and to death, to the old chief, was fulfilled +to the very letter. His two sons, Gonya and Matanzima, together with +Gungubele, Umfanta, Tini Macomo, and other rebel leaders, were also in +gaol, awaiting their trial for high treason [Note 1], and altogether the +war had come to about as ignominious an end as was possible. + +Jim Brathwaite was at home again; his corps, which had done such good +service, having been disbanded. Indeed, nothing remained to be done. A +few forlorn bands of insurgents were still under arms; but these clung +so pertinaciously to the wildest and most inaccessible tracts of +country--a region of holes, and caves, and dense tangled bush--that the +work of hunting them out was left to the Police and native levies, aided +by that powerful ally, starvation. So troop after troop of burghers and +volunteers left the field, and soon there were signs of re-occupying the +long-deserted farms in Kaffraria and upon the immediate line of +hostilities; for the savage enemy had lain down his arms, and the +prospect was that of a speedy return to the ways of peace. + +Jim Brathwaite is at home again, and there is quite a gathering of our +old friends at Seringa Vale on this first occasion of their meeting +together since the war. And how they fight their battles all over +again, for, needless to say, the conversation turns wholly upon the +doings of the colonial forces in general, and upon the exploits of that +doughty corps, Brathwaite's Horse, in particular. Some growling, too, +is heard. Time has to be made up for. Things have gone more or less to +the deuce during the period our friends have all been away at the front, +which period, with the exception of a brief interval, covers the best +part of a year. In fact, campaigning has been an undertaking of neither +pleasure nor profit. Stay--as to the pleasure. The jolly, sunburnt +visage of our friend Hicks, yonder, has lost none of its brimming +contentment. Indeed, its owner has been heard to say, that he, for one, +would be quite ready for another bout of Kafir-shooting as soon as +convenient--a remark which obtains for him an angry scowl from his +right-hand neighbour, Thorman, who growls resentfully that "the sooner +fellows shut up talking that sort of damned bosh, the sooner the country +will settle down to its legitimate business again." A sentiment which, +though ungraciously expressed, contains a strong element of truth; for, +undoubtedly, the irregular, happy-go-lucky, jolly good fellowship of +camp-life, and the glorious uncertainty of war, is not without a +somewhat demoralising influence on the energies of the colonial youth in +the more prosaic run of workaday life--to which it must now return. But +Hicks is young yet, and brimful of animal spirits. His losses during +the outbreak have been but slight; and now he is back among his old +friends, after having seen some real good service. And opposite him +sits his wife--quiet, gentle-looking as ever--for whom he has abated not +one jot of his old adoration; for Laura, in spite of her reserve and +apparent self-obliteration, has a shrewd, sensible little head of her +own, and manages her lord completely, he being just the fellow who +requires management--and Hicks is as happy as a king. So, with a laugh, +he tells Thorman to shut up, for a jolly old growler, as he is, "and +always was, by Jove!" and to let a fellow have his say now that they are +all festive together again, and to knock up a sort of grin himself, for +once in his life, if he can. + +Naylor, too, is there, quieter and staider, but full of dry "chaff," +which he every now and then turns on one or other of the party. His +hair and large beard are beginning to show streaks of grey; but, then, +as he says, a fellow ceases to be a chicken at some time in his life, +and he, for instance, is growing a fine crop of "prime whites." Which +ostrich-feather witticism so tickles his son and heir, Tom--a +well-grown, sturdy boy of fifteen--that he bursts into a fit of +immoderate mirth, necessitating his sudden retreat from the room. + +As for Allen, he has not changed in any single particular, but, having +shown that there was good stuff in him, underlying his external +eccentricity, he has gone up several pegs in the estimation of his +friends; and now that poor Jack Armitage is no longer at his side, he +enjoys a kind of immunity from chaff, for even Naylor leaves him in +peace, failing the more merciless wag to arouse the spirit of emulation, +and to keep the ball rolling. + +There sits Will Jeffreys, not much more happy-looking than of yore. He +is doing by no means badly in the world, for he has five waggons on the +road--transport-riding is paying well just now--and owns two flourishing +and well-stocked farms left him by his father, who has gone the way of +all flesh. But his saturnine temperament remains pretty much as it was, +and Claverton has a bet on, of considerable magnitude, with Mrs Jim +Brathwaite that, in a year hence, Jeffreys will have attained greater +proficiency in the art of scowling than even Thorman. + +But serious thoughts will intrude upon the mirth and great cordiality +present in the gathering. The hand of Death has been laid upon the +familiar circle since last we saw it here assembled, and well-loved +faces have dropped out of it, never to be beheld again on earth. Jim +Brathwaite--jovial, light-hearted, and popular in the best sense of the +word--reigns at Seringa Vale now; but in two hearts especially to-day +lingers a very warm and loving remembrance of the dear old couple whose +kindly, genial presence ere while made sunshine in that room. + +And the grisly war-god, too, had exacted his tribute even from that +small circle, and poor Jack Armitage, that best of good comrades, would +no more enliven them with his quizzical countenance and reckless, boyish +love of fun. Even Allen sadly missed his erewhile tormentor, and +thought his immunity from chaff and practical jokes dearly purchased. +But the dead man lies in his lonely grave away in savage Kafirland, and +his young widow weeps for him, and his old comrades think of him with an +affectionate, but shadowed regret. Poor Jack! + +When the good fellowship and general cordiality is at its height, Hicks +is suddenly inspired with an idea that some speech-making would very +appropriately mark the occasion, which idea he communicates to Jim; but +he is overruled, on the ground that "the women would be safe to turn on +the hose" if anything of that kind were started, which would inevitably +put a damper on the prevailing good spirits; while Thorman, who has +overheard him on the other side, remarks, with a contemptuous growl, +"that Hicks, of all people, on his legs, speechifying, would remind him +of nothing so much as a damned bear jumping up at an apple tied to a +string, because he'd be trying to catch at something that wouldn't +come--he would, by so and so, and so and so." A statement, however, +which in no wise disturbed the exuberant good-humour of the subject +thereof. + +Meanwhile, behind the cattle-kraal are seated, in close confab, two +other personages who have played no unimportant part in this history. +These are Sam and Xuvani. And how comes the latter here? + +After he had so deftly turned the tables on the Cuban mulatto, Xuvani +retraced his steps in the direction of Sandili's kraal, keeping the +while a careful lookout for Tambusa, whom he expected to join him. But, +after a while, his nephew not appearing, the old man began to suspect +that something had gone wrong. He redoubled his caution, but the lone, +silent bush betrayed nothing of the tragedy of blood just enacted in its +cruel depths. He was perplexed. If the plot had been discovered, and +the lad was captured before he could make good his escape, he would be +dead by this, and it was clearly useless for himself to rush on to the +very points of his countrymen's avenging assegais. While pondering over +his plan of action a shadow passed between him and the sun. He looked +up. It was a vulture; and another and another swept between the +tree-tops and the blue sky. The mystery was explained now. A few steps +more and the old man knelt beside the stiffening corpse, not long cold, +of the luckless Tambusa. The murderers had gone down to him to ensure +that he was dead, and had left him there in the rocky glen just where he +had fallen, and the traces and footmarks supplied all the missing links +in the bloody tale to the eye of the shrewd savage. Hastily piling a +heap of stones on the dead body of his nephew, Xuvani left the spot, +decided as to his future course of action. To return to Sandili would +be to commit suicide. He regretted poor Tambusa's fate, but accepted +the event with true native philosophy--it was done, and it couldn't be +helped now. They had both been guilty of an act of treason towards +their countrymen, albeit of one of chivalrous gratitude towards the +white man; and the lad had fallen a victim. It was unfortunate, but +could not be helped. So, acting upon Claverton's advice, Xuvani then +and there made his way quietly into the colony, where he engaged himself +as a labourer on some railway works in the Western Province, and where a +powerful, able-bodied, well-conducted Kafir like himself was too good a +workman for any questions to be asked. There he remained some months, +till at length, the war over, and as soon as he could safely do so, he +returned to the frontier, and obtained employment under Jim Brathwaite, +in his former capacity. + +So here he is at Seringa Vale again, looking a trifle chapfallen, +perhaps, but on the whole, deeming himself marvellously lucky, when he +thinks of the frightful grief to which have come so many of his old +companions in arms. And he is, moreover, enjoying substantial advantage +by reason of having saved Claverton's life; for he already owns more +good cattle than ever he pictured to himself in his dreams, and will own +even more when things are settled, and he knows where to bestow his +possessions. And he professes great veneration for Lilian, and is +enormously proud of a large, handsome and curiously-wrought armlet which +she has given him, and, although to expect him to declare that he +prefers this to the more material benefits would be to demand an effort +of gallantry too great for Kafir human nature, yet there is no doubt +that he looks upon the ornament as a very great distinction indeed, with +which nothing would induce him to part. + +Sam and the old Gaika have struck up a great alliance, and the only +subject on which they fall out is that of the respective prowess of the +Kafirs and the colonists in the field--for the war is an inexhaustible +topic between them--on which occasion Sam would inevitably be tempted to +fire off the Kafir equivalent of his pet ejaculation, "Amaxosa nigga no +good," were it not that such a course would either draw down upon him +the old man's anger, or contempt for him as a "boy," and the sly dog has +a reason for standing well within the other's good books just now. + +And this is the reason. It happens that Xuvani owns a couple of +nieces--half-sisters of poor Tambusa--whom he has brought to keep house +for him, their father having been slain in the war. Both are fine, +well-made, bright-eyed wenches, with a merry laugh and a wealth of +cheerful spirits, and Master Sam has developed very decided intentions +in that direction. Even now, as he sits there, he is warily trying to +ascertain the smallest number of cattle old Xuvani is likely to accept +for one of them, and turning over in his mind whether his savings will +be sufficient to enable him to lay in the stock needed for the requisite +_lobola_ [the price in cattle paid to the father or lawful guardian, for +a wife], and if not, whether his master will help him. And yet another +difficulty besets Sam's path. He cannot quite make up his mind which of +the brown Venuses he shall propose for. Mnavnma is decidedly the +best-looking, and he has a sneaking partiality for her; but, then, she +is flighty, whereas Ngcesile is a good worker, steadier and rather +better-tempered. So poor Sam is in a cleft stick. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +On the afternoon of the day which witnesses this gathering of so many of +our old friends at Seringa Vale, a girl is sitting at the window of a +pretty house in one of the leafy suburbs of Cape Town. A beautiful girl +of four-and-twenty, with exquisitely-chiselled features, and a great +mass of golden hair in a shining halo above her face; but there is a +hard look in the deep blue eyes, and the full, laughing lips are set and +grave as she sits absently gazing out upon the broad surface of the bay, +upon whose waters, curled into ripples by the afternoon breeze, the +white sails of a few sailing-boats are skimming to and fro. She rouses +herself from her reverie, and her glance falls upon something she holds +in her hand. It is a newspaper, two months old; and it needs not the +pencil mark against one of the notices in the marriage column to attract +her eye, for she has gazed upon it many times already. Then she rises, +and unlocking a desk takes out something. Only a few faded blossoms, +originally distributed over half-a-dozen rank and sorry-looking stalks, +but long since fallen off. Yet how tenderly, almost reverently, she +handles them! There is something else--a sketch in a few bold pencil +strokes, roughly executed on the inside of an envelope. It represents a +large full-grown ostrich standing in menacing contemplation of the +draughtsman, who, sitting under a bush, has included himself in the +sketch as a foreground. Beyond the truculent biped, are the indistinct +faces of several persons looking over a wall, and underneath the whole +is pencilled the legend: "Cornered--or Brute Force _versus_ Intellect." +For a few moments the girl stands gazing upon these relics, and the hard +look in her eyes gives place to a softened and wistful expression that +is unutterably sad as she murmurs something to herself, and a tear falls +upon the faded and withered blossoms; then, as with an effort, she walks +to the fireplace, and, crumpling up the newspaper, places the flowers +and the pencil drawing upon it, strikes a match, and watches the whole +consume to ashes. That done, she returns to the window and gazes out +for a few minutes upon the blue bay and the distant mountains. +Footsteps on the gravel beneath, and a ring at the front door, recall +her to herself with a start. She tarns from the window, looks in the +glass for a moment, and then Ethel Brathwaite goes downstairs to say the +word which shall render Gerald Hanbury, Major in H.M.'s 999th Foot, +quartered at Blazerabad, India--but now on leave at the Cape--the +"happiest dog on earth"--as he thinks. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Note 1. These and other chiefs of the insurgent Gaikas and Tembus, were +subsequently sentenced, some to death, others to long terms of penal +servitude. The capital sentences, however, were commuted, and it should +be mentioned that the Governor was largely memorialised in favour of +this merciful course, by the very colonists whom these men had so +wantonly and unprovokedly attacked. + + + +VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. + +CURTAIN. + +Six years! + +Who are these two men seated together in the verandah, as the afterglow +fades on the distant head of the Great Winterberg, at the close of this +radiant spring day? One has evidently just arrived, the other, equally +evidently is at home here, and it is six years since we saw either of +them. The house, a newly-built one, is situated with an eye to scenic +and climatic advantages, for it stands high up on the hillside, so as to +command a magnificent and sweeping panorama. Below, in the valley, a +silver thread winds in and out among the green bush, and on still +evenings the murmur of the plashing stream is audible up here. Opposite +the house, but its brow a little below the level of the same, rises a +majestic cliff, whose aspect somehow seems familiar; and well it may, +for it is no other than the classic and redoubted Spoek Krantz. + +He who is now speaking looks remarkably like our old friend Arthur +Claverton. And he it is. Outwardly his hard and stirring experiences +have aged him beyond his years, leaving more than one grey intruder +among the gold-brown hair, although he is not quite forty; but his face +wears a look of great contentment, though the cool resolute firmness +stamped upon the clear-cut features is unchanged. + +"I dare say it does strike you as rather queer, George," he was saying, +"that we should elect to cast our lot here in this land of niggers, and +drought, and bush-ticks, instead of taking it easy in old England. Old +England? Old Humbug! Well, the rural and squirearchic life didn't suit +me--didn't suit either of us, in fact. We tried it for five years, +which is time enough to test the advantages of anything of the kind. +Dynevard Chase is an uncommonly snug place; but, somehow, when one has +got accustomed to this country and its life, one doesn't take kindly to +England. Then, the climate is vile--gruesome winter eight months in the +year--sleet, and fog, and east wind only varied by rain. As for the +summer, it's a farce; about three weeks of fine weather throughout, and +even then the air is thin. Our neighbourhood could furnish no kindred +spirits; heavy parsons and their domineering and heavier spouses, and +upholsterers who have made their pile. The British rustic, too, is a +quite detestable animal and vastly inferior to Johnny Kafir, than whom +he lies harder and thieves more persistently, but does both with +infinitely greater clumsiness. So taking every drawback into +consideration, we decided to let the Chase for a term of years, and +pitch our tent out here again among all our old friends--and by Jove, +here we are." + +"And a thundering good decision it wan, too, old chap," says Payne, +puffing out a great cloud of smoke. + +"I think so. And now we are going to make ourselves thoroughly snug +here. We have got the house in a first-rate situation--plenty of air, +and a grand view. Poor old Jack Armitage! His shanty does duty as an +out-station now. You can almost see it from where we sit. And the +queer part of it is that, whereas formerly you couldn't get a Kafir to +stop on the place, now they don't seem to mind a hang. Whether it is +that we are farther away from the haunted cliff, or that I've set up a +reputation as an opposition wizard, I don't know; but, anyhow, they +don't funk it now, and I can get as many as ever I want." + +"Well, you seem to have impressed them a bit, anyhow. Possibly the way +in which you predicted old Sandili's end and that of the rest of them +may have had something to with it. By Jove, though, that was a narrow +share for you." + +The other looks grave. + +"It was. Look, from where we are sitting you can almost see the place, +right away over there, where that wily dog Nxabahlana ran me to earth." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +And now in case the above conversation does not sufficiently explain +matters, it may briefly be stated that soon after we last saw her, +Lilian had inherited Dynevard Chase, and the whole of her stepfather's +personal property besides. Her stepsister, to whom passing reference +has been made, had died suddenly, having for long been delicate and +ailing, and Lilian under the provisions of Mr Dynevard's will found +herself sole heiress. But her delight on re-entering her old home was +not destined to last. In the first place the circumstances were +altered, and all the remembrances which had endeared it to her before, +were things of the past; and, more practical consideration still, her +health suffered from the rigours of the English winter so severely that +her removal to more genial climes became an absolute necessity. So they +had returned to South Africa to make their home among their old friends; +and being now in extremely good circumstances, not to say wealthy, that +home is surrounded with all the resources that taste and comfort can +devise. It is a lovely spot, and the bold and romantic scenery is +thoroughly congenial to Lilian's love of the beautiful, and she takes +great pride in being the possessor of a site famous in savage legend. +For they have bought Spoek Krantz, poor Jack Armitage's old farm, and in +the building of the handsome and commodious dwelling in which we see +them, and in the laying out of grounds, and otherwise improving the +place, both of them take an unwearied delight. + +And if further explanation of the renewal of Ralph Truscott's suit be +needed, the above paragraph may afford it; for those who have mastered +that worthy's character will have learned, ere this, that it was not for +love alone that he had sought out Lilian. A word or two before we leave +Truscott. About a year after the war was over a Kafir brought to a +certain trading-post two curious rings, exactly alike, though of +different sizes. The design was two ropes of plain gold intertwined. +The native told a strange story, to the effect that these were taken +from the white man who had been shot at night. One of the rings the man +was wearing, the other was found lying beside him. The trinkets +disposed of--to the advantage of the trader--somehow or other the facts +of the duel began to be darkly hinted at. But that the dead man had met +his fate by the hand of the Queen's enemies and not by that of a +compatriot there was abundant proof. And, by a curious coincidence, +just at the same time it came to the knowledge of the other principal in +that midnight meeting that the man to whom poor Herbert Spalding owed +his blighted life and premature death was no other than Ralph Truscott, +whom thus, by a startling combination of events Nemesis overtook in a +twofold capacity and brought to signal grief, as we have seen. + +The two old friends are not destined, however, to pursue their +conversation in peace, for now draws near a sound of childish voices, +then the patter of small feet scurrying round the corner of the +verandah, and, with a rush and a spring, a fine little fellow of five +years old flings himself into Claverton's arms. + +"Hallo! Hallo, sir! What's this?" cries the latter, catching hold of +the youngster and perching him on his knee. "Well, now, what have you +got to say for yourself?" + +"Father, I want to go with Sam and hunt a porcupine to-night. He says +we are sure to find two or three, and--" + +"Does he? Well, we'll think about it. Isn't this chap a true Briton, +George? Bent on killing something, even from his very cradle." Payne +laughed. + +But the boy is not to enjoy a monopoly of his father's attentions, for, +lo! a small toddler comes pattering up to put in her claim to the same, +and, finding that her brother has forestalled her, stands with one tiny +fist crammed into her eye, looking inclined to cry, while with the other +she makes a feeble attempt to dislodge the more fortunate one from his +vantage-ground. + +"Hallo, Dots! And have you given the authorities the slip, too? Come +along, then. There, there, don't turn on the hose! Arcturus secundus, +get down, sir! Always give way to the ladies, because, if you don't, +they'll move heaven and earth till they find a way of making you. +That's right. Come along, Dottums." And he picks up the child, who +clings about his neck, and laughs and prattles away in her delight. She +is a lovely little thing, with Lilian's eyes and hair, and promises to +be an exact reproduction of Lilian herself. + +"You chatterbox! Now you must be off to by-by. Cut along!" + +But the little one is not at all inclined to fall in with this +suggestion, for she clings to his neck harder than ever. + +"N-no. Fader, take Dots for ride--far as de `big points,'" she pleads. + +"Off we go then," and mounting the little thing on his shoulder, where +she sits half timorously, half exulting in the unwonted altitude, +Claverton makes his way to the entrance hall. The said hall is a +perfect museum, being hung all over with trophies of war and of the +chase collected by its master during his wanderings. Here, the huge +frontlet of a buffalo scowls down upon the grinning jaws of a leopard, +whose crafty eyes in their turn glare thirstily towards the heads of +various antelopes, tastefully arranged opposite. Then there is a brave +show of armoury. Great savage-looking ox-hide shields, flanked by +circles of grim assegais, formidable knobkerries, and grotesque war +costumes of flowing hair and swinging cow-tails, combine to render this +trophy barbarous and picturesque in aspect. To the children, the +adornments of this hall are an unfailing subject of interest, not +unmixed with awe. + +And now Claverton halts in front of the war-trophy for Dots to look at +"the big points," as she calls the assegais, and even gingerly to touch +them, for it is one of her little pleasures in life to be hoisted up on +her father's shoulder, as in the present instance, to inspect them +closely, when they look even more awful than from the far distance of +the floor. So, with a thrill of awe, little Dots' hand is put +tentatively forth, and the baby fingers play upon the cruel blades of +the grisly weapons and pass wonderingly down their dark, spidery hafts. +But nothing on earth will induce her to touch the ox-hide shields, which +she is convinced must be alive. + +"There. Now then, Dots. By-by's the next thing." + +So, reluctantly, and with a final hug, the little one resigns herself to +be carried off, _en route_ for the land of Nod, and Claverton, +relighting his pipe, rejoins his friend on the verandah, just as his +wife approaches from the garden at the same moment. + +Time has dealt very kindly with Lilian. The soft, serene beauty of that +sweet face has not one whit abated its charm; and the attractiveness and +winning grace of her manner is just the same as it was in the Lilian +Strange of former days. Payne, as he responds to her greeting of +cordial surprise, thinks that, lucky dog as his friend always was, the +day he went to Seringa Vale was the very beginning of his real luck. + +"Unexpected pleasure?" he answers. "Oh, yes, I like astonishing people. +But this, as a surprise, don't come near the day I picked up our +friend, there, wandering about the _veldt_, and ran him in to Fountains +Gap, just before the war. Eh?" + +"Picked _me_ up! Well, I like that," is Claverton's reply, cutting +short the other's satirical chuckle. "It strikes me, friend George, +that if there was any `picking up' in the case, you were the party who +underwent the operation, and that considerably damaged by a Kafir +knobkerrie, too." + +Payne, of course, was ready with a bantering rejoinder, and much chaff +followed. A soft blush had come over Lilian's face at the recollection. +She stood for a moment, gazing at the purple peaks of the distant +mountains, standing steely against the sky from which all the afterglow +had now faded. Then, with a bright laugh, she turned to enter the +house, saying: + +"Well, I shall leave you to fight out the question between you." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Reader, we will follow her example, even as we have followed her through +her joys and sorrows. We must now part company with all our friends +whose fortunes and reverses have entertained us throughout this +narrative, but with none more reluctantly than with these two. Yet what +better moment can we choose than this, when we leave them surrounded by +every happiness the world can afford, here in their beautiful home, in +that bright and sunny land which to them has been the scene of so many +marvellous and stirring experiences? + +The End. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fire Trumpet, by Bertram Mitford + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIRE TRUMPET *** + +***** This file should be named 36592.txt or 36592.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/5/9/36592/ + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |