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diff --git a/38168-0.txt b/38168-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..203f1e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/38168-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8406 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of From Veldt Camp Fires, by H.A. Bryden + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: From Veldt Camp Fires + Stories of Southern Africa + +Author: H.A. Bryden + +Release Date: November 29, 2011 [eBook #38168] +[Most recently updated: January 19, 2022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: Nick Hodson + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM VELDT CAMP FIRES *** + + + + +From Veldt Camp Fires +By H.A. Bryden +Published by Hurst and Blackett, London. +This edition dated 1900. + +From Veldt Camp Fires, by H.A. Bryden. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +________________________________________________________________________ +FROM VELDT CAMP FIRES, + +BY H.A. BRYDEN. + +CHAPTER ONE. + +A SECRET OF THE ORANGE RIVER. + +Many are the stories told at the outspan fires of the South African +transport riders--some weird, some romantic, some of native wars, some +of fierce encounters with the wild beasts of the land. Often have we +stopped for a chat with the rugged transport riders, and some strange +and interesting information is obtained in this way. + +The transport rider--the carrier of Africa--with his stout waggon and +span of oxen, travels, year after year, over the rough roads of Cape +Colony and beyond, in all directions, and is constantly encountering all +sorts and conditions of men--white, black and off-coloured; and in his +wanderings, or over his evening camp fire, he picks up great store of +legend and adventure from the passing hunters, explorers and traders. + +One night, after a day's journey through the bush-veldt, we lay at a +farmhouse, near which was a public outspan. At this outspan two +transport riders were sitting snugly over their evening meal; they +seemed a couple of cheery, good fellows--one an English Afrikander, the +other an Englishman, an old University man, and well-read, as we +afterwards discovered--and nothing would suit them but that we should +join them and take pot-luck. Attracted by their hospitable ways and the +enticing smell of their game stow, for we were none of us anthobians, we +sat us down and ate and drank with vigorous appetites. Their camp-pot +contained the best part of a tender steinbok, and a brace or two of +pheasants (francolins); and we heartily enjoyed the meal, washed down +with the inevitable coffee. + +Supper finished, some good old Cango (the best home-manufactured brandy +of the Cape, made in the Oudtshoorn district) was produced, pipes were +lighted, and then we began to "yarn." For an hour or more we talked +upon a variety of topics--old days in England, the voyage to the Cape, +the Colony, its prospects and its sport. + +From these, our conversation wandered up-country, and we soon found that +our acquaintances were old interior traders, who in the days when ivory +and feathers were more plentiful and more accessible than now, had over +and over again made the journey to 'Mangwato and back. 'Mangwato, it +may be explained, is the trader's abbreviation for Bamangwato, Khama's +country, the most northerly of the Bechuana States; and of Bamangwato, +Shoshong was formerly the capital and seat of trade. Then we wandered +in our talk to the Kalahari, that mysterious and little known desert +land, and from the Kalahari back to the Orange River again. + +"'Tis strange," said one of our number, "how little is known of the +Orange River--at all events west of the falls; I don't think I ever met +a man who had been down it. One would think the colonists would know +something of their northern boundary; as a matter of fact they don't." + +"Ah! talking of the Orange River, reminds me," said the younger of the +transport riders, the ex-Oxonian, and the more loquacious of the two, +"of a most extraordinary yarn I heard from a man I fell in with some +years back, stranded in the `thirstland,' north-west of Shoshong. Poor +chap! he was in a sorry plight; he was an English gentleman, who for +years had, from sheer love of sport and a wild life, been hunting big +game in the interior. That season he had stayed too late on the Chobi +River, near where it runs into the Zambesi, and with most of his people +had got fever badly. They had had a disastrous trek out, losing most of +their oxen and all their horses, and when I came across them they were +stuck fast in the doorst-land (thirstland) unable to move forward or +back. For two and a half days they had been without water, and from +being in bad health to begin with, hadn't half a chance; and, if I had +not stumbled upon them, they must all have been dead within fifteen +hours. I had luckily some water in my vatjes, and managed to pull them +round, and that night, leaving their waggon in the desert in hopes of +being saved subsequently, and taking as much of the ivory and valuables +as we could manage and Mowbray's (the Englishman's) guns and ammunition, +we made a good trek, and reached water on the afternoon of the next day. +I never saw a man so grateful as Mowbray; I believe he would have done +anything in the world for me after he had pulled round a bit. Poor +chap! during the short time I knew him I found him one of the best +fellows and most delightful companions I ever met. Unlike most hunters, +he had read much and could talk well upon almost any subject, and his +stories of life and adventure in the far interior interested and +impressed me wonderfully. But the Zambesi fever had got too strong a +hold upon him. I dosed him with quinine and pulled him together till we +got to Shoshong, where I wanted him to rest, but he seemed restless and +anxious to get out into the open veldt again, and after a few days we +started away. Before we had got half-way down to Griqualand, Mowbray +grew suddenly worse and died one evening in my waggon just at sunset. +We buried him under a kameel doom tree, covering the grave with heavy +stones, and fencing it strongly with thorns to keep away the jackals and +hyenas. + +"Many and many a talk I had with poor Mowbray before he died; sometimes +he would brighten up wonderfully and insist on talking to me for hours, +as he lay well wrapped up, in the evening, underneath my waggon sail. +One evening, in particular, he had seemed so much stronger and better, +and, later on, as we sat before the camp fire on the dewless ground, +where I had propped him up and made him comfortable, he told me a most +strange story, a story so wonderful that most people would scout and +laugh at it as wildly improbable; yet, remembering well the narrator and +the circumstances under which he told it to me, with the shadow of death +creeping over the short remaining vista of his life, I believe most +firmly his story to be true as gospel. + +"Poor chap! He began in this way: `Felton, you have been a thundering +kind friend to me, kind and tender as any woman (which, by the way, was +all nonsense), and I feel I owe you more than I am ever likely to repay; +yet, if you want wealth, I believe I can put it in your way. Do you +know the northern bank of the Orange River, between the great falls and +the sea? No! I don't suppose you do, for very few people have ever +trekked down it; still fewer have ever got down to the water from the +great walls of desolate and precipitous mountain that environ its +course, and, except myself and two others, neither of whom can ever +reveal its whereabouts, I believe no mortal soul upon this earth has +ever set eyes upon the place I am going to tell you about. Listen! + +"In 1871, about the time the diamond fields were discovered, and people +began to flock to Griqualand West, I was rather bitten with the mania, +and for some months worked like a nigger on the fields; during that time +I got to know a good deal about stones. I soon tired of the life, +however, and finally sold my claim and what diamonds I had acquired, +fitted up a waggon, gathered together some native servants, and trekked +again for those glorious hunting grounds of the interior, glad enough to +resume my old and ever-charming life. Amongst my servants was a little +Bushman, Klaas by name, whom I afterwards found a perfect treasure at +spooring and hunting. Like all true Bushmen, he was dauntless as a +wounded lion, and determined as a rhinoceros, which is saying a good +deal. I suppose Klaas had had more varied experience of South African +life than any native I ever met. Originally, he had come as a child +from the borders of the Orange River, where he had been taken prisoner +in a Boer foray, in which nearly all his relations were shot down. He +had then been `apprenticed' in the family of one of his captors, where +he had acquired a certain knowledge of semi-civilised life. From the +Boer family of the back-country, he had subsequently drifted farther +down into the colony, and thence into an elephant hunter's retinue. He +had accompanied expeditions with Griquas, Dutch and Englishmen all over +the far interior. The Kalahari desert, Ovampo-land, Lake Ngami, the +Mababi veldt, and the Zambesi country, were all well known to him, for +in all of them he had traded, hunted and, on occasion, fought. As for +the Western Orange River and its mysteries--for it is a mysterious +region--he knew it, as I afterwards discovered, better than any man in +the world. Well, we trekked up to Matabeleland and, after some trouble, +got permission to hunt there; and a fine time we had, getting a quantity +of ivory, and magnificent sport among lions, elephants, buffaloes, +rhinoceros, sable and roan antelopes, koodoo, eland, Burchell's zebras, +pallah and all manner of smaller game. + +"One day, Klaas, who was sometimes a bit too venturesome, got caught in +the open by a black rhinoceros, a savage old bull. The old brute +charged and slightly tossed him, making a nasty gash in his right thigh, +but not fairly getting his horn under him, and was just turning to +finish the poor little, beggar, when I luckily nicked in. I had seen +the business and had had time to rush out on to the plain, and, just as +Borele charged at poor Klaas to finish him off as he lay, I got up +within forty yards, let drive, and, as luck would have it, dropped him +with a 500 Express bullet behind the shoulder. Even then the fierce +brute recovered himself and tried to charge me in turn, but he was now +disabled and I soon settled his game. After that episode Klaas proved +himself about the only grateful native I ever heard of, and seemed as if +he couldn't do enough for me. + +"One day, after he had got over his wound, he came to me, and said, +`Sieur! you said one day that you would like to know whether there are +diamonds anywhere else than at New Rush (as Kimberley was then called). +Well, sieur, I have been working at New Rush and I know what diamonds +are like; and I can tell you where you can find as many of them in a +week's search as you may like to pick up. Allemaghte! Ja, it is as +true, sieur, as a wilde honde on a hartebeest's spoor.' + +"`What the devil do you mean, Klaas!' said I, turning sharply round--for +I was mending the disselboom (waggon-pole)--to see if the Bushman was +joking. But on the contrary, Klaas's little weazened monkey face wore +an expression perfectly serious and apparently truthful. The statement +seemed strange, for I knew the little beggar was not given to `blowing,' +as so many of the Kaffirs and Totties are. + +"`Ja, sieur, it is truth; if ye will so trek with me to the Groote +(Orange) River, three or four days beyond the falls, I will show you a +place where there are hundreds and hundreds of diamonds, big ones, too, +many of them to be found lying about in the gravel. I have played with +them and with other "mooi steins" too, often and often as a boy, when I +used to poke about here and there, up and down the Groote River. My +father and grandfather lived near the place I speak of, and I know the +way to the "vallei" where these diamonds are well, though no one but +myself knows of them; for I found them by a chance, and, selfish like, +never told of my child's secret. I will take you to the place if you +like.' + +"`Are you really speaking truth, Klaas?' said I severely. + +"`Ja! Ja! sieur, I am, I am,' he earnestly and vehemently reiterated, +`you saved my life from the "rhenoster" the other day, and I don't +forget it.' + +"Again and again I questioned and cross-questioned the little Bushman, +and finally convinced myself of his truth; and I had too much respect +for his keen intelligence to think he was himself misled or mistaken. + +"`Well, Klaas,' said I at last, `I believe you, and we'll trek down to +the Orange River and see this wonderful diamond valley of yours.' + +"Shortly after this conversation we came back to Shoshong, where I sold +my ivory, and then, with empty waggon and the oxen refreshed by a good +rest, set our faces for the river. From Shoshong, in Bamangwato, we +trekked straight away across the south-eastern corner of the Kalahari, +in an oblique direction, pointing south-west; it was a frightfully +waterless and tedious journey, especially after passing the Langeberg, +which we kept on our left hand. Towards the end of the journey we found +no water at a fountain where we had expected to obtain it, and thereby +lost four out of twenty-two oxen (for I had six spare ones), and at +last, after trekking over a burning and most broken country, we were +beyond measure thankful to strike the river some way below the great +falls. Klaas had led us to a most beautiful spot, where the terrain +slopes gradually to the river (the only place for perhaps thirty or +forty miles where the water, shut in by mighty mountain walls, can be +approached), and where we could rest and refresh ourselves and our oxen. +Here we stopped four days. It was a lovely spot; down the banks of the +river, and following its course, grew charming avenues of willows, +kameel dooms (acacias) and bastard ebony; two or three islands, densely +clothed with bush and greenery, dotted the broad and shining bosom of +the mighty stream; hippopotami wallowed quietly in the flood, and fish +were plentiful. The thorny acacia was now in full bloom, and the sweet +fragrance of its yellow flowers everywhere perfumed the air as one +strolled by the river's brim. Rare cranes, flamingoes, gorgeous +kingfishers and many handsome geese, ducks and other water-fowl, lent +life and charm to this sweet and favoured oasis. + +"I had some old scraps of fishing tackle with me, and having cut myself +a rod from a willow tree, I employed some of my spare time in catching +fish, and had, for South Africa--which, as you know, is not a great +angling country--capital sport. The fish I captured were a kind of +flat-headed barbel, fellows with dark greenish-olive backs and white +bellies, and I caught them with scraps of meat, bees, grasshoppers, +anything I could get hold of, as fast as I could pull them out, for an +hour or two at a time. Once I ran clean out of bait, and was +nonplussed; however, I turned over a stone or two, killed a couple of +scorpions, carefully cut off their stings, and used them as bait, and +the fish came at them absolutely like tigers. I soon caught some thirty +pounds weight of fish whenever I went out. The mountains rose here and +there around in magnificently serrated peaks, and the whole place, +whichever way you looked, was superbly beautiful. There was a fair +quantity of game about; Klaas shot some klipspringer antelopes-- +hereabouts comparatively tame--up in the mountains, and there were +koodoos, steinbok and duykers in the bushes and kopjes. + +"After the parching and most harassing trek across the desert; our +encampment seemed a terrestrial paradise. The guinea-fowls called +constantly with pleasant metallic voices from among the trees that +margined the river, and furnished capital banquets when required. Many +fine francolins abounded, and at evening, Namaqua partridges came to the +water to drink in literally astounding numbers. We had to form a strong +fence of thorns around us, for leopards were numerous and very daring, +and there were still lions about in that country. At night, as I lay in +my waggon, contentedly looking into the starry blue, studded with a +million points of fire, and mildly admiring the glorious effulgence of +the greater constellations, I began to conjure up all sorts of dreams of +the future, of which the bases and foundations were piles of diamonds, +culled from Klaas's wondrous valley. + +"Having recruited from the desert journey, and all, men and beasts, +being in good heart and fettle, we presently started away down the river +for the valley of diamonds. I had, besides Klaas, four other men as +drivers, voerlopers and after-riders, and they naturally enough were +extremely curious to know what on earth the `Baas' could want to trek +down the Orange River for--a country where no one came, and of which no +one had ever even heard. I had to tell them that I was prospecting for +a copper mine, for, as you probably know, there are many places in this +region where that metal occurs. After our four days' rest by the noble +river we were all greatly refreshed, and quite prepared for the severe +travel that lay before us. As we were doubtful whether we should find +water at the next fountain that Klaas knew of, owing to the prevalence +of drought--and as it was an utter impossibility (so Klaas informed me) +to get down to the river on this side for several days, owing to the +steep mountain wall that everywhere encompassed it--I filled the water +vatjes and every other utensil I could think of, and then, all being +ready and the oxen inspanned, we moved briskly forward. + +"We had now to make a detour to the right, away from the river, and for +great part of a day picked our painful footsteps over a rough and +semi-mountainous country. Towards evening, we emerged upon a dreary and +interminable waste that lay outstretched before us, its far horizon +barred in the dim distance by towering mountains, through which we +should presently have to force our passage. That evening we outspanned +in a howling wilderness of loose and scorching sand, upon which scarcely +a bush or shrub found subsistence. After a night not too comfortable +and broken by some hyenas that prowled restlessly about, we were up +betimes next morning. As soon as the oxen were inspanned and ready to +move forward for the mountains to which Klaas had directed our course, I +rode off for a low kopje that rose from the plain away in the distance +hoping to see game beyond. I was not disappointed; a small troop of +hartebeest was grazing about half a mile off, and by dint of a little +manoeuvring with my Hottentot after-rider, whom I despatched on a +detour, I managed to cut across the herd and knocked over a fat cow at +forty yards. We soon had her skinned, and taking the best of the meat, +rode on for the waggon. Again we had an exhausting trek over a burning +sandy plain; the heat of this day was something terrible. I have had +some baddish journeys in the doorst-land on the way to the great lake, +but this was, if possible, worse. Towards four o'clock the oxen were +ready to sink in their yokes, their lowing was most distressing, and as +the water was now nearly at an end, and we might not reach a permanent +supply for another day, nothing could be done to alleviate their +sufferings. At nightfall, more dead than alive, we outspanned beneath +the loom of a gigantic mountain range, whose recesses we were to pierce +on the following morning. Half a day beyond this barrier lay the valley +of diamonds, as Klaas whispered to me after supper that night, with +gleaming excited eyes; for, noticing my growing keenness, he, too, was +becoming imbued with something of my expectancy. + +"That night, as we lay under the mountain, was one of the most stifling +I ever endured in South Africa, where, on the high table-lands of the +interior, nights are usually cool and refreshing. Even the moist heat +of the Zambesi valley was not more trying than this torrid, empty +desert. The ovenlike heat, cast up all day from the sandy plain, seemed +to be returned at night by these sun-scorched rocks with redoubled +intensity. Waterless, we lay sweltering in our misery, with blackened +tongues and parched and cracking lips. The oxen seemed almost like dead +things. Often have I inwardly thanked Pringle, the poet, of South +Africa, for his sweet and touching verse, written with the love of this +strange wild land deep in him, for his striking descriptions of its +beauties and its fauna. As I lay panting that night, cursing my luck +and the folly that brought me thither, I lit a lantern and opened his +glowing pages. What were almost the first lines to greet my gaze? +These! + + "A region of emptiness, howling and drear, + Which man hath abandoned, from famine and fear, + Which the snake and the lizard inhabit alone, + With the twilight bat from the yawning stone; + Where grass nor herb nor shrub takes root, + Save poisonous thorns that pierce the foot; + And here, while the night-winds around me sigh, + And the stars burn bright in the midnight sky, + As I sit apart by the desert stone, + Like Elijah at Horeb's cave alone, + `A still small voice' comes through the wild + (Like a father consoling his fretful child), + Which banishes bitterness, wrath and fear, + Saying, `Man is distant, but God is near.' + +"We hailed, the passage of the mountains next morning with something +akin to delight; anything to banish the monotony of these last two days +of burning toil. We were up as the morning star flashed above the +earth-line. We drank the remaining water, which afforded barely half a +pint each to the men, none for the oxen and horses. With difficulty the +poor oxen, already, in this short space, gaunt and enfeebled from the +heat and for lack of food and drink, were forced up into their yokes. +Klaas, as the only one of us who knew the country, directed our +movements, and with hoarse shouts, and re-echoing cracks from the mighty +waggon-whip, slowly our caravan was set in motion. Our entrance to the +mountains was effected through a narrow and extremely difficult poort +(pass), strewn with huge boulders and overgrown with brush and underwood +that often barred the way and rendered Stoppages frequent. After about +a mile, the kloof into which this poort debouched suddenly narrowed and +turned left-handed at right angles to our course. Accompanied by Klaas, +I walked down it, and was soon convinced by the little Bushman that our +passage that way was ended. As Klaas had warned me, our only way +through and out of the mountains now lay in taking, with our waggons, to +the steep and broken hill sides, a proceeding not only perilous, but +apparently all but impossible. Yet the thing had to be done, and we at +once set the spent oxen in motion and faced the ascent obliquely. After +consultation with Klaas, I got out some ropes, which I had fastened to +the uppermost side of the waggon, while some stout long poles, which I +had had previously cut for such an emergency while outspanned at the +Orange River, served to prop up our lumbering vehicle from the lower +side. Slowly and wearily, and yet, withal, with a sort of dogged +stubbornness, the poor oxen toiled on, half-hour after half-hour, urged +by our shouts, by the cruel waggon-whip, mercilessly plied, and the +terrible after-ox sjambok. Many times it seemed, as our cumbrous desert +ship crashed across a boulder or down a stair-like terrace of rock, that +it must inevitably topple over and roll crashing to the bottom; but our +guy-ropes and the supporting poles saved us again and again. + +"I had fastened one of the ropes with a stout band of leather round the +chest of my hunting horse; the other two ropes were held by the +strongest of my servants and myself, while two other men held the poles +against the lower side of the waggon as they stood down hill below it. +My old horse, guided by a Bechuana boy, as usual, proved himself as +sensible as any Christian, knew exactly what he had to do, and, when we +came to crucial points and the waggon shivered as it were upon empty +space, he and my Kaffir and I tugged away, while the fellows below +shoved with might and main. And so time after time we averted a +catastrophe, so dire that I shuddered to think of it; for in some +places, if the waggon had gone, the wreck must have been irreparable and +the yoked oxen hurled with it in a broken and mangled heap to the bottom +far below us. Well, occasionally halting for a blow, long hours of the +most distressing labour I ever experienced were at last got through; we +had surmounted and left behind the first huge mountain-side, had plunged +into a valley, had passed obliquely over the shoulder of another great +mountain, and now halted in a deep and hollow kloof lying below a +singular flat-topped mountain, conical in shape, that stretched across +our onward path. This mountain was flanked on either hand, as we +fronted it, by yawning cliffs, and was only approachable from this one +aspect. Here we outspanned for a final rest before completing our work, +if to complete it were possible. Shading my eyes from the fierce +sunlight, I looked upward at the long slope of mountain, broken here and +there, and occasionally shaggy with bush; over all the fierce atmosphere +quivered, seething and dancing in the sun-blaze. I looked again with +doubt and dismay at the gasping oxen, many of them lying foundered and +almost dead from thirst and fatigue, and my spirits, usually brisk and +unflagging, sank below zero. Klaas had told me previously of a most +wonderful pool of water that lay on the crown of a mountain where we +should outspan finally before entering upon the portals of the diamond +valley. Now he came to me and said, pointing upwards, `Sieur, de sweet +water lies yonder op de berg. It is a beautiful pool, such as ye never +saw the like of; if we reach it we are saved and the oxen will soon get +round again; ye must get them up somehow, even without the waggon.' + +"The tiny yellow blear-eyed Bushman, standing over me as I sat on a +rock, pointing with his lean arm skywards, his anxious dirt-grimed face +streaming with perspiration, was hardly the figure of an angel of hope; +and yet at that moment he was an angel, of the earth, earthy, 'tis true, +yet an angel that held before us sure hope of rescue from our valley of +despair; for despair, black and grim, now lay upon the faces of my +followers and in the eyes of my oxen. Remember, we had tasted no water +to speak of for close on three days, and had had besides a frightfully +trying trek. + +"We lay panting and grilling for an hour or more, and then I told my men +that water in any quantity lay at the mountain top and that we must, at +all hazards, get the oxen up to it. By dint of severe thrashing with +the after-ox sjambok, we at last got the oxen on to their legs--all but +two, which could not be made to rise, and then, leaving the waggon, but +taking three or four buckets, we moved upwards. Only a mile of ascent, +or a little more, lay before us; but so feeble were the oxen that we had +the greatest difficulty to drive them to the top, even without the +encumbering waggon. At last we reached the krantz, and after a hundred +yards' walk upon its flat top, we came almost suddenly upon a most +wonderful and, to us, most soul-thrilling sight. + +"Dense bushes of acacia thorn, spekboom, euphorbia, Hottentot cherry and +other shrubs grew around, here and there relieved by wide patches of +open space. The oxen, getting the breeze and scenting water, suddenly +began to display a most extraordinary freshness; up went their heads, +their dull eyes brightened and they trotted forward to where the brush +apparently grew thickest. + +"For a time they found no opening, but after following the circling wall +of bush, at length a broad avenue was disclosed--an avenue doubtless +worn smooth by the passage of elephants, rhinoceroses and other mighty +game, in past ages--and then there fell upon our sight the most +refreshing prospect that man ever gazed upon. Thirty yards down the +opening there lay a great pool of water, about 200 feet across at its +narrowest point, and apparently of immense depth; the pool was circular, +its sides were of rock and quartz, and completely inaccessible from +every approach save that by which we had reached it. It was indeed +completely encompassed by precipitous walls about thirty feet in height, +which defied the advent of any other living thing than a lizard or a +rock-rabbit. Upon these rocky walls grew lichens of various colours-- +blood-red, yellow and purple, imparting a most wonderful beauty to the +place. The avenue to the brink of this delicious water was of smooth +rock somewhat sloping, and in the rush to drink we had the greatest +difficulty in preventing the half-mad oxen from plunging or being pushed +in, in which case we should have had much trouble to rescue them. + +"How the poor beasts drank of that cool, pellucid flood, and how we +human beings drank, too! I thought we should never have finished. The +oxen drank and drank till the water literally ran out of their mouths as +they at last turned away. Then I cast off my clothes and plunged into +the water; it was icy cold and most invigorating, and I swam and +splashed to my heart's content. After my swim and a rest I directed my +men to fill the four buckets we had brought, and then, leaving the +horses in charge of one of their number, we drove the cattle, loth +though they were to leave the pool, back to the waggon, going very +carefully so as not to spill the water. + +"At length we reached the valley, only to find our two poor foundered +bullocks lying nearly dead. The distant lowing of their refreshed +comrades had, I think, warned them of good news, and the very smell of +the water revived them, and after two buckets apiece of the cold draught +had been gulped down their kiln-dried throats, they got up, shook +themselves, and rejoined their fellows. + +"We rested for a short time and then inspanned and started for the +upland pool. The oxen, worn and enfeebled though they were, had such a +heart put into them by their drink, and seemed so well to know that +their watery salvation lay up there, only a short mile distant, that +they one and all bent gallantly to the yokes and dragged their heavy +burden to the margin of the bush-girt water. We now outspanned for the +night, made strong fires, for the spoor of leopards was abundant, stewed +some bustards, ate a good supper, and turned in; when I say turned in, I +should be more correct in saying I turned into my waggon, while the men +wrapped themselves in their blankets or karosses, lay with their toes +almost into the fire and snored in the most varied and inharmonious +chorus that ears ever listened to. + +"I suppose we had not been asleep two hours when I was awakened by the +sharp barks and yelpings of my dogs, the kicks and scrambles of the +oxen, and the shouts of the men. Snatching up my rifle and rushing out, +I was just in time to see a firebrand hurled at some dark object that +sped between the fires. + +"`What is it, Klaas?' I shouted. + +"`Allemaghte! it is a tiger (leopard), sieur,' cried the Bushman, `and +he has clawed one of the dogs.' + +"True enough, on inspecting the yelping sufferer, Rooi-kat, a brindled +red dog, and one of the best of my pack, I found the poor wretch at its +last gasp, with its throat and neck almost torn to ribbons. Nothing +could save the unfortunate animal, the blood streamed from its open +throat, and, after a convulsive kick or two, it stretched itself out and +lay there dead. Cursing the sneaking, cowardly leopard, I saw that the +replenished fires blazed up, and again turned in. + +"It must have been about two o'clock in the morning, the coldest, the +most silent, and the dreariest of the dark hours--that fatal hour +betwixt night and day, when many a flickering life, unloosed by death, +slips from its moorings--when I was again startled from slumber by a +most blood-curdling yell. Hunters, as you know, sleep light and seem +instinctively to be aware of what passes around them, even although +apparently wrapped in profoundest sleep. I knew in a moment that that +agonised cry came from a human throat, and headlong from my kartel I +dashed. God! what a din was there again from dogs, men, and oxen, and +above all, those horrid human screams. I had my loaded rifle, and +rushing up to a confused crowd struggling near the firelight, I saw in a +moment what had happened. + +"The youngest of my servants, a mere Bechuana boy, was hard and fast in +the grip of an immense leopard, which was tearing with its cruel teeth +at his throat, and at the same time kicking murderously with its heavily +clawed hind legs at the poor fellow's stomach and thighs. One of the +men, Klaas of course, bolder than his fellows, was lunging an assegai +into the brute's ribs, seemingly without the smallest effect, others +were thrashing it with firebrands, and the dogs were vainly worrying at +its head and flanks. All this I saw instantaneously. Thrusting my +followers aside, I ran up to the leopard, and, putting my rifle to its +ear, fired. The Express bullet did its work at once; the fiercest and +most tenacious of the feline race could not refuse to yield its life +with its head almost blown to atoms, and loosening its murderous hold, +the brute lay dead. But too late! the poor Bechuana boy lay upon the +sand wounded to the death. His right shoulder and throat were terribly +ripped and mangled by the fore claws and teeth of the deadly cat; but +the cruellest wounds lay lower down. The hinder claws of the leopard +had absolutely torn the abdomen away; it was a shocking sight. Recovery +was hopeless, and indeed, although we did what we could for the poor +sufferer, he only lingered an hour insensible, then died. After his +death my men told me how the thing had happened. In this solitary +region the leopards and other ferae, as I have often heard, never being +disturbed by gunners, are extraordinarily fierce and audacious. The +leopard, a male, was evidently very hungry, as its empty stomach +testified, and after once tasting blood--that of the dog--it soon got +over its temporary scare. The young Bechuana lay farthest from the +fire, for his elders took up the warmest positions, and the leopard had +crept cat-like in upon him and got him by the throat before he knew +where he was. Then came the awful shrieks I had heard, and then began +the tussle for life; alas! an altogether one-sided one. My men, in the +scramble, and scared, too, no doubt, forgot the guns which were in the +waggon, and only Klaas had thought of his assegai. So bloodthirsty was +the brute, that nothing, except my rifle, could make it relax its hold, +even although it was manifestly unable to get away with its victim. +After these horrors sleep was banished, and as the grey light came up we +prepared for day. + +"The morning broke at length in ruddiest splendour, and as the terrain +was slowly unfolded before my gaze, I realised the desolate magnificence +of the country. Mountains, mountains, mountains of grim sublimity +rolled everywhere around. Far away below, as I looked westward, a thin +silvery line, only visible for a little space, told of the great river +flowing to the sea, inexorably shut in by precipitous mountain walls +that guaranteed for ever its awful solitude. + +"Klaas stood near, and as I gazed, he whispered, for my men were not far +away: `Sieur, yonder, straight in front of you, five miles away, lie the +diamonds. If we start directly after breakfast we shall have four +hours' hard climbing and walking to reach the valley.' + +"All right, Klaas," said I, "breakfast is nearly ready and we'll start +as soon as we have fed." A good fire was going, the pot was already +steaming, the oxen had been watered, and I myself, stripping off my +clothes on the brink of that delicious pool, dived deeply into its +unknown depths. After a magnificent swim in the cold and bracing water +I felt transformed and ready for breakfast; but although the bathe had +to some extent revived my spirits, I could not forget the sad beginning +of our search--the death of poor Amazi, now, poor fellow, lying buried +beneath a cairn of stones just away beyond the camp. + +"Well, breakfast was soon over, and then I spoke to my men. I told them +that I intended to stay at this pool for a few days, and that in the +meantime I was going prospecting in the mountains bordering the river. +I despatched two of them to go and hunt for mountain buck in the +direction we had come from, where we had noticed plenty of rhebok, +duyker and klipspringer, the others were to see that the oxen fed round +about the water, where pasture was good and plentiful, and generally to +look after the camp. For Klaas and myself, we should be away till dusk, +perhaps even all night; but we did not wish to be followed or disturbed, +and unless those at the camp heard my signal of four consecutive rifle +shots they were on no account to attempt to follow up our spoor. My men +by this time knew me and my ways well, and I was convinced that we +should not be followed by prying eyes; indeed, the lazy Africans were +only too glad of an easy day in camp after their hard journey. + +"Taking some biltong (dried flesh), biscuits and a bottle of water each, +and each shouldering a rifle, Klaas and I started away at seven o'clock. +The little beggar, who, I suppose, in his Bushman youth had wandered +baboon-like all over this wild country, till he knew it by heart, showed +no sign of hesitation, but walked rapidly down hill into a deep gorge at +the foot, which led half a mile or so into a huge mass of mountain that +formed the north wall of the Orange River. This kloof must at some time +or another have served as a conduit for mighty floods of water, for its +bottom was everywhere strewn with boulders of titanic size and shape, +torn from the cliff walls above. It took us a long hour of the most +laborious effort to surmount these impediments, and then with torn hands +and aching legs we went straight up a mountain, whose roof-like sides +consisted of masses of loose shale and shingle, over which we slipped +and floundered slowly and with difficulty. I say we, but I am bound to +admit that the Bushman made much lighter of his task than I, his +ape-like form seeming indeed much more fitted for such a slippery +breakneck pastime. + +"At length we reached the crest, and then, after passing through a +fringe of bush and scrub, we scrambled down the thither descent, a +descent of no little danger. The slipping shales that gave way at every +step, often threatened, indeed, to hurl us headlong to the bottom, which +we should most certainly have reached mere pulpy masses of humanity. At +last this stage was ended, and we found ourselves in a very valley of +desolation. Now we were almost completely entombed by narrowing +mountain walls, whose dark red sides frowned upon us everywhere in +horrid and overpowering silence. The sun was up, and the heat, shut in +as we were, overpowering. Moreover, to make things more lively, I +noticed that snakes were hereabouts more than ordinarily plentiful; the +bloated puff-adder, the yellow cobra, and the dangerous little night +adder several times only just getting out of our path. + +"The awful silence of this sepulchral place was presently, as we rested +for ten minutes, broken by a posse of baboons, who, having espied us +from their krantzes above, came shoggling down to see what we were. + +"They were huge brutes and savage, and quah-quahed at us threateningly +till Klaas sent a bullet into them, when they retreated pell-mell. We +soon started again, and pressed rapidly along a narrow gorge some fifty +feet wide with perfectly level precipitous walls, apparently worn smooth +at their bases by the action of terrific torrents, probably an early +development of the Orange River when anciently it made its way through +these grim defiles. The ground we walked upon was, I noticed, composed +of sand and rounded pebbles, evidently water-worn and of various kinds. +Some of them were round masses of the most beautiful transparent +crystal-spar, often as large as a man's head. + +"Presently the causeway narrowed still more, and then, turning a sharp +corner, we suddenly came upon a pair of leopards sauntering coolly +towards us. I didn't like the look of things at all, for a leopard at +the best of times is an ugly customer, even when he knows and dreads +firearms, and here, probably, the animals had never even heard the +report of a gun. + +"The brutes showed no intention of bolting, but stood with their backs +up, their tails waving ominously and their gleaming teeth bared in +fierce defiance. There was nothing for it, either we or they must +retreat, and having come all this frightful trek for the diamonds I felt +in no mood to back down, even to _Felis pardus_ in his very nastiest +mood. Looking to our rifles, we moved very quietly forward, until +within thirty-five yards of the grim cats. They were male and female, +and two as magnificent specimens of their kind as sun ever shone upon. +The male had now crouched flat for his charge and not an instant was to +be lost; the female stood apparently irresolute. Noticing this, and not +having time to speak, we both let drive at the charging male; both shots +struck, but neither stopped him. The lady, hearing the report, and +apparently not liking the look of affairs, incontinently fled. With a +hoarse, throaty grunt the male leopard flew across the sand, coming +straight at me, and then launched himself into the air. I fired too +hurriedly my second barrel, and, for a wonder, clean missed, for in +those days I seldom failed in stopping dangerous game; but these beggars +are like lightning once they are charging. In a moment the yellow form +was flying through space, straight at my head; I sprang to one side, and +Klaas, firing again, sent the leopard struggling to earth, battling +frantically for life, amid sand and shingle, with a broken back. Lucky +was the shot, and bravely fired, or I had probably been as good as a +dead man ere this. Another cartridge soon finished off the fierce +brute. We noticed on inspection that one of our first two bullets had +ploughed up the leopard's nose and glanced off the forehead; the other +had entered the chest and passed almost from end to end of the body, +while the third had broken the spine. Klaas soon whipped the skin off +the dead leopard and hid it under some stones, and we then proceeded, +the whole affair having occupied but twenty minutes. + +"Another mile of this canal-like kloof brought us to an opening, and +here a most singular sight lay before my vision. Hitherto we had been +so shut in that the sun failed to penetrate between the narrowing +cliffs, except, probably, for a short while as it passed immediately +above them. + +"Suddenly, as the gorge widened on either hand, a blaze of sunlight +glowed and glistened on the upright walls to the left hand of us. As I +looked thither, one of the most marvellous sights in nature was, in an +instant, laid bare; a sight that few mortals, even in aeons upon aeons +of the past, have ever gazed upon in these remote and most inaccessible +regions of the Orange River. The wall of mountain on our left stood up +straight before the hot sunlight a dark reddish-brown mass of rock, I +suppose some five hundred feet in height, and then sloped away more +smoothly to its summit, which overlooked the river, as I should judge, +about a mile distant. As we came out into the sunshine, Klaas, pointing +to the cliff, ejaculated, in quite an excited way, `De paarl! de paarl! +kek, sieur, kek!' (The pearl! the pearl! look, sir, look!) Looking +upwards at the pile of rock, my eye was suddenly arrested by a gleaming +mass that protruded from the dead wall of mountain. Half-dazzled, I +shaded my eyes with my hand and looked again. It was a most strange and +beautiful thing that I beheld, a freak of nature the most curious that I +had ever set eyes on. The glittering mass was a huge egg-shaped ball of +quartz, of a semi-transparent, milky hue, flashing and gleaming in the +radiant sunshine, with the glorious prismatic colours that flash from +the unlucky opal. But yet more strange, above the `paarl,' as Klaas +quaintly called it, and overhanging it, was a kind of canopy of +stalactite of the same brilliant opalescent colours. It was wonderful! +Klaas here began to caper and dance in the most fantastic fashion, and +then, suddenly ceasing, he said, `Now, sieur, I will soon show you the +diamonds; they are there,' pointing to a dark corner of the glen, `right +through the rock.' + +"`What made you call that shining stone up there "de paarl"?' said I, as +I gazed in admiration at the beautiful ball of crystal. + +"`Well, sieur, I was once with a wine Boer at the Paarl, down in the Old +Colony, and a man told me why they called the mountain there "De Paarl," +and he told me, too, what the pretty gems were that I saw in the young +vrouw's best ring when she wore it; and I then knew what a paarl was and +that it came from a fish that grows in the sea. And I remembered then +the great shining stone that I found up here, when I was a boy, on the +Groote River, and I thought to myself, "Ah! Klaas, that was the finest +paarl ye ever saw, that near where the pretty white stones lay." I mean +the diamonds yonder, sieur.' + +"At last, then, we were within grasp of the famous stones, concerning +whose reality I had even to the last had secret misgivings. It was a +startling thought. Just beyond there, somewhere through the rock-walls, +whose secret approach at present Klaas only knew, lay `Sindbad's +Valley.' Could it be true? Could I actually be within touch of riches +unspeakable; riches, in comparison with which the wealth of Croesus +seemed but a beggar's hoard? + +"I sat down on a rock and lit a pipe, just to think it over and settle +my rather highly-strung nerves. The Paarl, as I could now see, was an +unique formation of crystal-spar, singularly rounded upon its face. It +and the glorious canopy of hanging stalactite above it must have been +reft bare by some mighty convulsion that had anciently torn asunder +these mountains, leaving the ravine in which we stood. + +"As we drank from our water-bottles and ate some of the dried flesh and +biscuits we had brought with us, I noticed Klaas's keen little eyes +wandering inquiringly round the base of the precipice in our front. He +seemed puzzled, and as we finished our repast and lit our pipes again, +he said, `The hole in the rock that leads from this kloof to the +diamonds should be over there,' pointing before him. `But I can't quite +make out the spot, the bushes have altered and grown so since I was here +as a boy, years and years ago.' + +"We got up and walked straight for the point he had indicated and +reached the foot of the precipice. All along here, where the sand and +soil had been swept in bygone floods, or had formed from the slow +disintegration of fallen rock from above, cactus, euphorbia, aloe and +brush grew thickly, and in particular the curious Euphorbia Candelabrum, +with its many-branching arms, stood prominent. The Bushman hunted +hither and thither in the prickly jungle with the fierce rapidity of a +tiger-cat after a running guinea-fowl; but, inasmuch as he was sometimes +prevented from immediately approaching the rock-wall, he appeared unable +to hit off the tunnel that led, as he had formerly told me, to the +valley beyond. Suddenly, after he had again disappeared, he gave a low +whistle, a signal to approach to which I quickly responded. Quietly +pushing my way towards him, I was astonished to see within a small +clearing a thick and high thorn fence, outside of which Klaas stood. +Inside this circular kraal was a low round hut, formed of boughs and +branches strongly and closely interlaced Klaas was standing watching +intently the interior of the hut, which seemed to be barred at its tiny +entrance by a pile of thorns lying close against it. + +"What could it mean, this strange dwelling, inaccessible as it seemed to +human life? Klaas soon found a weak spot in the kraal-fence, and, +pulling down some thorns, we stepped inside and approached the hut. +Here, too, Klaas pulled away the dry acacia thorns from the entrance and +was at once confronted by a tiny bow and arrow and behind that by a +fierce little weazened face. Instantly, my Bushman poured forth a +torrent of his own language, redundant beyond expression with those +extraordinary clicks of which the Bushman tongue seems mainly to +consist. + +"Even as he spoke, the bow and arrow were lowered, the little head +appeared through the entrance, and the tiniest, quaintest, most ancient +figure of a man I had ever beheld stood before us. Ancient, did I say? +Ancient is hardly a meet description of his aspect. As he stood there, +blinking like an owl in the fierce sunlight, his only covering a little +skin kaross of the red-rhebok, fastened over his shoulders, standing not +more than three feet eight or ten inches in height, he looked indeed +coeval with the rocks around him. I never saw anything like it. Poor +little oddity! Dim though his eyes were waxing, feeble though his +shrivelled arms, dulled though his formerly acute senses, he had, with +all the desperate pluck of his race, been prepared to do battle for his +hearth and home. + +"In his own tongue, Klaas interrogated this antediluvian Bushman, and +then, suddenly, as he was answered by the word `Ariseep' a light flashed +across his countenance. Seizing his aged countryman by the shoulders, +he turned him round and carefully examined his back. Lifting the skin +kaross and rubbing away the coating of grease and dirt that covered the +right shoulder, Klaas pointed to two round white scars just below the +blade-bone, several inches apart; then he gave a leap into the air, +seized the old fossil by the neck and shrieked into his ears the most +wonderful torrent of Bushman language I have ever heard. In his turn +the old man started back, scanned Klaas intently from head to foot, and +in a thin pipe, jabbered at him almost as volubly. + +"Finally, Klaas enlightened me as to this comical interlude. It seemed +incredible; this old man, Ariseep by name, was his grandfather, whom he +had not set eyes on since, long years before, the Boer commando had +broken into his tribal fastness, slain his father, mother and other +relatives and carried himself off captive. The old man before us had +somehow escaped in the fight, had crept away, and, after years of +solitary hiding in the mountains around, had finally penetrated to this +grim and desolate valley, where he had subsisted on Bushman fare. +Snakes, lizards, roots, gum, bulbs, fruit and an occasional snared buck +or rock-rabbit; these, and a little rill of water that gushed from the +mountain-side hard by, supplied him with existence. Here he had +lingered for many years, alone and isolated. His only fear had been, as +he grew older and feebler, the leopards infesting the neighbouring +mountain. Against their attacks had he built the strong thorned fence, +carefully closed at night, and the door of thorns which he wedged +tightly into the entrance way. + +"A strange meeting indeed it was, but after all not stranger than many +things that happen in the busy world. So far as I could learn from +Klaas, who himself was between forty and fifty, the ancient figure +before us was laden with the burden of more than ninety years. Think of +it! ninety summers of parched Bushmanland, of burning Orange River +mountains; ninety seasons of hunger and thirst and dire privations; +great part of the earlier period varied by raids on the flocks of the +Boers and battles for existence with the wild beasts of the land! + +"After nearly an hour's incessant chatter, during which I believe Klaas +had laid before his monkeylike ancestor an epitomised history of his +life, he told the old man we wished to get through the mountain and that +he had lost the tunnel of which he had known as a boy. + +"Ariseep, who it seems, in the years he had been there, had explored +every nook and cranny of the valley, knew at once what he meant, and +quickly pointed out to us, not a hundred paces away, a dense and prickly +mass of cactus and euphorbia bush; here, after half an hour's hewing and +slashing with our hunting knives, we managed to open a pathway, and at +last a cave-like opening in the mountain, about seven feet in diameter, +lay before us. Grandfather Ariseep, questioned as to the tunnel, said +that, upon first discovering it, which he had done quite by accident +while hunting rock-rabbits, he had once been through, years before, but, +as he had found the passage long and dangerous, and the valley beyond +appeared to him less interesting than his present abiding place, he had +never repeated the journey. However, he gave us warning that snakes +abounded and might not impossibly be encountered in the twenty minutes' +crawl, which, as Klaas had told me, it would take to get through. + +"This opinion, translated by Klaas, was not of a nature to fortify me in +the undertaking, yet, rather than leave the diamonds unexplored, I felt +prepared to brave the terrors of this uncanny passage. + +"It was now three o'clock; the sun was marching steadily across the +brassy firmament on his westward trek and we had no time to lose. + +"`In you go, Klaas,' said I, and, nothing loth, Klaas dived into the +bowels of the mountain, I at his heels. For five minutes, by dint of +stooping and an occasional hands-and-knees creep upon the flooring of +the tunnel, sometimes on smooth sand, sometimes over protruding rock and +rough gravel, we got along very comfortably. Then the roof of the dark +avenue--for it was pitch dark now--suddenly lowered, and we had to crawl +along, especially I, as being taller and bulkier than Klaas, like +serpents, upon our bellies. It was unpleasant, deuced unpleasant, I can +tell you, boxed up like this beneath the heart of the mountain. The +very thought seemed to make the oppression a million times more +oppressive. It seemed that the frightful pile of rock, towering far +above us, was bodily descending to crush us into a horrible and hidden +tomb. The thought of lying here, squeezed down till Judgment Day, was +appalling; or, perhaps, more mercifully one's bones might, ages +hereafter, be discovered as these regions became settled up, in much the +same state in which mummified cats are occasionally found in old +chimneys and hidden closets when ancient dwellings are pulled down in +England. Even Klaas, plucky Bushman though he was, didn't seem to +relish the adventure and spoke in a subdued and awe-stricken whisper. +Sometimes since, as I have thought of that most gruesome passage, I have +burst into a sweat nearly as profuse, though not so painful, as I +endured that day. At last, after what seemed to me hours upon hours of +this painful crawling and Egyptian gloom, we met a breath of fresher +air; the tunnel widened and heightened, and in another five minutes we +emerged into the blessed sunlight. Little Klaas looked pretty well +`baked,' even in his old leather `crackers' and flannel shirt; as for +myself, I was literally streaming, every thread on me was as wet as if I +had plunged into a river. We lay panting for awhile upon the scorching +rocks, and then sat up and looked about us. + +"If the Paarl Kloof, as Klaas called it, from whence we had just come, +had been sufficiently striking, the mighty amphitheatre in which we lay +was infinitely more amazing. Imagine a vast arena, almost completely +circular in shape, flat and smooth, and composed as to its flooring of +intermingled sand and gravel, reddish-yellow in colour. This arena was +surrounded by stupendous walls of the same ruddy brown rock we had +noticed in Paarl Kloof, which here towered to a height of close on a +thousand feet. An inspection of these cliffs, which sheered inwards +from top to bottom, revealed the fact previously imparted to me by +Klaas, that no living being could ever penetrate hither save by the +tunnel passage through which we had come. The amphitheatre, which here +and there bore upon its surface a thin and scattered covering of bush +and undergrowth, seemed everywhere about half-a-mile across from wall to +wall. In the centre of the red cliffs, blazing forth in splendour, ran +a broad band of the most glorious opalescent rock-crystal, which flashed +out its glorious rays of coloured light as if to meet the fiery kisses +of the sun. This flaming girdle of crystal, more beautiful a thousand +times than the most gorgeous opal, the sheen of a fresh-caught mackerel, +or the most radiant mother-of-pearl, I can only compare in splendour to +the flashing rainbows formed over the foaming falls of the Zambesi, +which I have seen more than once. It ran horizontally and very evenly +round at least two-thirds of the cliff-belt that encircled us. It was a +wonderful and amazing spectacle, and I think quite the most singular of +the many strange things (and they are not few) I have seen in the +African interior. + +"Well, we sat gazing at this crystal rainbow for many minutes, till I +had somewhat feasted my enraptured gaze; then we got up and at once +began the search for diamonds. Directly I saw the gravel, especially +where it had been cleansed in the shallow spruits and dongas by the +action of rain and flood, I knew at once we should find `stones'; it +resembled almost exactly the gravel found in the Vaal River diggings, +and was here and there strongly ferruginous, mingled with red sand and +occasionally lime. + +"I noticed quickly that agates, jaspers and chalcedony were distributed +pretty thickly, and that occasionally the curious banddoom stone, so +often found in the Vaal River with diamonds, and, indeed, often +considered by diggers as a sure indicator of `stones' was to be met +with. In many places the pebbles were washed perfectly clean and lay +thickly piled in hollow water-ways; here we speedily found a rich +harvest of the precious gems. In a feverish search of an hour and a +half, Klaas and I picked up twenty-three fine stones, ranging in size +from a small pigeon's egg to a third of the size of my little finger +nail. They were all fine diamonds, some few, it is true, yellow or +straw-coloured, others of purest water, as I afterwards learned, and we +had no difficulty in finding them, although we wandered over not a +twentieth part of the valley. I could see at once from this off-hand +search that enormous wealth lay spread here upon the surface of the +earth; beneath probably was contained fabulous wealth. I was puzzled at +the time, and I have never had inclination or opportunity to solve the +mystery since, to account for the presence of diamonds in such +profusion. Whether they were swept into the valley by early floodings +of the Orange River through some aperture that existed formerly, but had +been closed by volcanic action, or whether, as I am inclined to think, +the whole amphitheatre is a vast upheaval from subterraneous fires of a +bygone period, is to this hour an unfathomed secret. I rather incline +to the latter theory, and believe that, like the Kimberley `pipe,' as +diggers call it, the diamondiferous earth had been shot upwards +funnel-wise from below, and that ages of floods and rain-washing had +cleansed and left bare the gravel and stones upon the surface. + +"From the search we had had, I made no doubt that a fortnight's careful +hunting in this valley would make me a millionaire, or something very +like it. At length I was satisfied, and as the westering sun was fast +stooping to his couch, with a light heart and elastic step I turned with +Klaas to depart. The excitement of the `find' had quite banished the +remembrance of that awful tunnel passage so recently encountered. + +"`We'll go back now, Klaas,' said I, `sleep in your grandfather's kraal, +and get to the waggon first thing in the morning; then I shall arrange +to return and camp a fortnight in Paarl Kloof, leaving the waggon at the +pool. In that time we shall be able to pick up diamonds enough to +enrich ourselves and all belonging to us for generations. I don't mind +then who discovers the valley; they can make another Kimberley of it if +they choose, for aught I care.' + +"At half-past five we again entered the tunnel. It was a nasty business +when one thought of it again, but it would soon be over. As it flashed +across my brain, I thought at the moment that two such journeys a day +for six or seven days would be quite as much as even the greediest +diamond lover could stomach. As before, Klaas went first, and for half +the distance all went well. Suddenly, as we came to a sandy part of the +tunnel, there was a scuffle in front, a fierce exclamation in Bushman +language, and then Klaas called out in a hoarse voice, `Allemaghte, +sieur, een slang het mij gebissen!'" (Almighty, sir, a snake has bitten +me!) + +"Heavens, what a situation! Cooped up in this frightful burrow, face to +face with probably a deadly snake, which had already bitten my +companion! Almost immediately Klaas's voice came back to me in a hoarse +guttural whisper, `I have him by the neck, sieur; it is a puff-adder and +his teeth are sticking into my shoulder. If you will creep up and lay +hold of his tail, which is your side of me, we can settle him, but I +can't get his teeth out without your help.' As you will remember, the +puff-adder's striking fangs are very curved and are often difficult to +disengage once it has made its strike. Poor Klaas! I felt certain his +days must be numbered, but there was nothing for it; I must help him. + +"Crawling forwards and feeling my way with fright-benumbed fingers, I +touched Klaas's leg. Then softly moving my left hand I was suddenly +smitten by a horrible writhing tail. I seized it with both hands, and +finally gripped the horrid reptile (which I felt to be swollen with +rage, as is the brute's habit) in an iron grasp with both hands. Then I +felt, in the black darkness, Klaas take a fresh grip of the loathsome +creature's neck, and with an effort, disengage the deadly fangs from his +shoulder. Immediately I felt him draw his knife, and after a struggle, +sever the serpent's head from its body. The head he pushed away to the +right, as far out of our course as possible, and then I dragged the +writhing body from him, and, shuddering, cast it behind me as far as +possible. + +"At that moment I thought that, for the first time in my life, I must +have swooned. But, luckily, I bethought me of poor faithful Klaas, sore +stricken, and I called to him in as cheerful a voice as I could muster, +`Get forward, Klaas, for your life, as hard as you can, and, please God, +we'll pull you through.' + +"Never had I admired the Bushman's fierce courage more than now. Most +men would have sunk upon the sand and given up life and hope. Not so +this aboriginal. `Ja, sieur, I will loup,' was all he said. + +"Then we scrambled onward, occasionally halting as the deadly sickness +overtook Klaas; but all the while I pushed him forwards and urged him +with my voice. At last the light came, and as my poor Bushman grew +feebler and more slow, I found room to pass him and so dragged him +behind me to the opening into Paarl Kloof. Here I propped him for a +moment on the sand outside, with his back to the mountain, and loudly +called `Ariseep,' while I got breath for a moment. + +"The sun was sinking in blood-red splendour behind the mountains, and +the kloof and rock-walls were literally aglow with the parting blush of +day. Nature looked calm and serenely beautiful and hushed in a +splendour that ill-accorded with the agitating scene there at the mouth +of the tunnel. All this flashed across me as I called for the old man. +I looked anxiously at Klaas and examined his wound; there were two deep +punctures in the left shoulder, and from his having had to use some +degree of force to drag off the reptile, the orifices were more torn +than is usual in cases of snake-bite. Klaas was now breathing heavily +and getting dull and stupefied I took him in my arms and carried him to +Ariseep's kraal, whence the old man was just emerging. At sight of his +grandfather, Klaas rallied and rapidly told him what had happened, and +the old man at once plunged into his hut for something. + +"Then Klaas's eyelids drooped and he became drowsy, almost senseless. +In vain I roused him and tried to make him walk and so stay the baleful +effects of the poison now running riot in his blood; he was too far +gone. Ariseep now re-appeared with a small skin bag, out of which he +took some dirty-looking powder. With an old knife he scored the skin +and flesh around Klaas's wound and then rubbed in the powder. I had no +brandy or ammonia to administer, and therefore let the old Bushman +pursue his remedy, though I felt, somehow, it would be useless. So it +proved; either the antidote, with which I believe Bushmen often do +effect wonderful cures, was stale and inefficacious, or the poison had +obtained too strong a hold. My poor Klaas never became conscious again, +though I fancied eagerly that he recognised me before he died, for his +lips moved as he turned to me once. His pulse sank and sank, his face +became dull and ashen, his eyelids quivered a little, his breath came +hard and laboured, and at last, within an hour and a half from the time +he was bitten, he lay dead. + +"So perished my faithful and devoted henchman; the stoutest, truest, +bravest soul that ever African sun shone upon. I cannot express to you +the true and unutterable grief I felt, as, with old Ariseep, I buried +poor Klaas when the moon rose that night. We placed him gently in a +deep sandy spruit, and over the sand piled heavy stones to keep the +vermin from him. + +"Then, laying myself within Ariseep's kraal, I waited for the slothful +dawn. As it came, I rose, called Ariseep from his hut, and bade +farewell to him as best I could, for we neither of us understood one +another. I noticed, by-the-bye, that no sign of grief seemed to trouble +the old man. Probably he was too aged, and had seen too much death to +think much about the matter. + +"The rest of my story is soon finished. I made my way back to camp, +told my men what had happened, and indeed took some of them back with me +to Klaas's grave and made them exhume the body to satisfy themselves of +the cause of death--for these men are sometimes very suspicious--then we +covered him again securely against wandering beasts and birds. + +"I trekked back to the Old Colony, sold off my things and came home. +The diamonds I had brought away realised in England 22,000 pounds. I +have never dreamt of going to the fatal valley again; nothing on earth +would tempt me after that ill-starred journey, heavy with the fate of +Klaas and the Bechuana boy, Amazi. As for the tunnel, I would not +venture once more into its recesses for all the diamonds in Africa, even +if they lay piled in heaps at the other end of it. Except old Ariseep, +Klaas had no relation that I knew of, and it was useless to think of +spending the diamond-money in that quarter. The old fellow had, so far +as I could make him understand me, utterly refused to accompany me from +the kloof, where he evidently meant to end his days; even if he had +come, what could I have done for him? At his time of life, and with his +peculiar habits, he could hardly have begun the world again, even if I +had brought him home, bought him a country house, taken rooms in +Piccadilly, dressed him in the height of fashion and launched him upon +society. + +"Therefore I left him as I found him. Klaas I have never ceased to +mourn from that day to this. Part of the 22,000 pounds I invested for +some relatives, the balance that I kept suffices, with what I already +possessed, for all possible wants of my own. Then I came back to my +dearly-loved South Africa for the last time, and a few weeks later made +the journey to the Chobi River, from which you rescued me in the +thirstland." + +Such was the story related to us by the transport rider, in a clear and +singularly graphic manner, to which these pages do scant justice. Our +narrator wound up by telling us that Mowbray had further imparted to him +the exact locality of the diamond valley, but, he added, "I have never +yet been there, nor do I think that, for the present, it is likely I +shall go. Some day before I leave the Cape I may have a try and trek +down the Orange River; but I don't feel very keen about that secret +passage, after poor Mowbray's experiences." + +We had sat wrapt listeners for some hours of that soft, calm, African +night. The glorious stars looked out from above us in their deep blue +dome; the Southern Cross shone in serene effulgence, as if, too, its +sparkling gems claimed an interest in the legend of the lost diamonds. +It was now two o'clock, and the camp fire of the transport riders burned +low; just one more soupje we had with our friendly entertainers, and +then, with hearty expressions of thanks and good-will, rose to seek our +beds. That night, before falling asleep, I pondered long upon the +strange narrative we had heard. Often since have I done so. Often, +too, have I thought of the lone grave of the English hunter, Mowbray, +far out upon the verge of that dim and mysterious desert, the Kalahari. + +CHAPTER TWO. + +THE STORY OF A TUSK. + +It was a fine spring morning in the City: even in the great dingy +warehouse, where Cecil Kensley was engaged in cataloguing a vast store +of ivory in preparation for the periodical sales, the sun beamed +pleasantly. It lit up the dark corners of the building, and played +everywhere upon hundreds of smooth, rounded elephants' teeth, varying in +colour from a rich creamy yellow to darkest brown--from the gleaming +tusk, fresh chopped within the last year from the head of a young bull, +to the huge, dark, discoloured, almost black-skinned tooth, that for a +hundred years had lain unnoticed in some mud swamp, or for generations +had decorated the grave or kraal-fence of some native chief. There they +lay, those precious pillars of ivory--solid scrivelloes, Egyptian soft +teeth, Ambriz hard irregulars, billiard and bagatelle scrivelloes, +bangle teeth, Siam, Niger, Abyssinian, Bombay, West Coast, Cape, and all +the rest of them--upon which the world sets so great a store, and for +which mankind is so rapidly exterminating a species. + +Those wonderful teeth, dumb memorials, so many of them, of dark tales of +blood and suffering, of slave raids, plundered villages, murders, +floggings, terrible journeys to the coast, unutterable scenes of horror +and woe--what histories could they not unfold? But the tusks lay there, +hugging their grim secrets, silent and mute enough. + +Cecil Kensley, the person cataloguing these treasures of ivory in a +purely matter-of-fact way, was a good-looking, fair-bearded man of +thirty, partner in a wealthy firm, a bachelor, somewhat of a man of +pleasure out of office hours, but in business smart, shrewd and +hard-working. The cataloguing of such an accumulation of ivory as that +great warehouse held was a lengthy business; and all day, until four +o'clock, Kensley was engaged, with the help of the warehousemen, +sorting, turning over and writing down. Before taking a short rest for +luncheon, his eye fell upon one magnificent tusk--long, perfectly shaped +and balanced, massive, highly polished, and, in colour, of the richest +chrome yellow. It lay somewhat apart, and appeared to have no fellow; a +careful inspection of the rest of the warehouse, and a single glance at +that peerless tooth, showed that, even out of all that vast collection, +no possible match for it could be found. + +Kensley had been working all the morning at the far end of the +warehouse; he now stood by the tusk which had so taken his eye. + +"Hallo, Thomas!" he said, interrogating the man who stood by him, "what +have you got here? What a grand tooth! Where's the fellow to it? Is +it an odd one?" + +"Yes, sir," replied the man, "it's an odd tooth, and a rare beauty. +It's years since I saw the like of it. It's a grand tusk, as you say: I +ran the measure over it, and it went 9 feet 2 inches, and it weighs just +on 170 lb. It's as nigh perfect as can be, but there's just one little +bit of a flaw down there by the base--an old wound, or something of the +kind. There's a sight of good ivory in that tooth, and it must be as +old as the hills a'most." + +Kensley had seen, in the fourteen years of his experience, thousands of +fine teeth; yet, connoisseur though he was, he thought, as his eye ran +lovingly over that magnificent nine feet of ivory, splendid in colour, +curve and solidity, that he had never seen such another. He stooped to +look at the flaw the man spoke of. Within a foot of the darker portion +at the base, just beyond where the ivory had manifestly emerged from the +flesh of the gum, there appeared a curious fault in the graining of the +tooth, elsewhere perfect. The growth had been disturbed by some foreign +substance, and the graining, instead of being as regular and even as a +pattern woven by machinery, swept in irregular curves round the centre +of the flaw. + +Kensley rose to his feet again. "It's not much of a fault," he said, +"and the tooth's a real beauty. I've been meaning this long time past +to have such a tusk at my rooms, to decorate a corner or hang upon the +wall. I think I'll take that fellow, Thomas, and pay for it; it will be +a long time before I come across a better. See that it goes up to my +flat to-morrow, will you, and take care how it's carried. I don't want +it spoiled." + +"All right, sir," replied the man, "I'll see to it myself. I'll give it +a bit of a clean up and take it up for you to-morrow morning." + +Two evenings after this conversation, Cecil Kensley left the office and +walked, as was often his custom, steadily westward. He made his way by +the Embankment and Pall Mall, then up Saint James's Street, and so to +Mount Street, where his dwelling was situated. Arrived at Mount Street, +he let himself into his flat. It was a pleasant set of rooms on the +first floor, furnished in very excellent taste with most luxuries that +the cultivated male mind can suggest. In one corner, leaning against +the wall, stood the ivory tusk, which, now cleaned and polished, formed, +if an unwonted, a very noble ornament to the chamber. Kensley's eye +rested on it with pleasure; he went to the corner and carefully examined +his new possession. It was now six o'clock; the cold spring evening was +closing in and the light fading. At eight o'clock three friends were +dining with Kensley, preliminary to a night of cards. Having drunk some +tea, which his man brought in for him, and lighted a cigarette, Kensley +drew his comfortable armchair towards the pleasant firelight and smoked +contentedly. He had been late for several nights past--he was never a +very early man--and now, having cast away the end of his cigarette, he +lay back in his chair and blinked drowsily at the red glow of the +firelight. In ten minutes he was fast asleep and dreaming. Now, +although Cecil Kensley sometimes dozed for half an hour or an hour +before dinner in this way, it was seldom that he dreamed. His dreams +this evening were fantastic and most strange--so strange that they are +worth recording. Here is what he saw:-- + +In an open clearing among pleasant African hills, covered for the most +part with bush and low forest, lies a collection of huts, circular and +thatched, as are all native huts. Just above them, on rising ground, +and surrounded by a strong stockade, stands a larger and more important +dwelling, oblong in shape, its interior screened from the fierce sun by +a low veranda, and thatched, as to its roof, with grass in the native +fashion. It is a hot morning in the glowing tropical summer--the season +of rains--vegetation and flowers are everywhere in their freshest +verdure and beauty. Fleecy clouds lie at this early hour of morning +upon the face of the eastern sky, and hang in a long line midway upon +the sides of a high mountain some miles distant. Seated just outside +the stockaded inclosure is a European, clad in the broad-brimmed hat, +doublet, loose breeches, and buff riding boots of a bygone time. +Somehow the face of this European, with its sallow cast, peaked beard, +and fierce moustaches, is strangely familiar to the eye and brain of the +dreamer, though he cannot in his sleep exactly recall how. Round about +the Portuguese, for he is of that race, are half a dozen soldiers of his +country, in buff coats and steel caps, bearing in their hands antique +pieces--snaphaunces. Squatting in front are thirteen or fourteen naked +Africans, waiting the white man's will. + +"Well," speaks the commander, for such he is, "is the gold all here? +Stand forward, Kanyata." + +A native steps out from his fellows, and hands the commander a quill of +gold--gold dust and tiny nuggets--the fruit of a week's hard toil and +labour of himself and his family. Each native in turn stands forward +with his precious store, and tremblingly hands it to the fierce, +sour-looking white man. In his turn a young man sullenly comes out of +the rank, and hands in his quill. There is a very dangerous look in the +commander's eye as he takes the quill, holds it out and surveys it. +"So," he interrogates, "that is your week's work, Zingesi?" + +The young man answers in a hopeless, yet half defiant way: "My lord, I +have toiled for seven days in the river sands, and all that I have +gained I bring to you. You took from me my wife; if it had been +otherwise, the quill might have been full. I have no one to help me. I +can do no more." + +"Thou dog!" snaps out the commander, with a look of black passion, "I +told thee seven days agone that thou mightest take the wall-eyed maid to +wife, to help thee. Why hast thou neglected my warning?" + +"Oh! my lord," replies the native, "I like not Mokela, the wall-eyed +maid, and I will not take her to wife,"--then, passionately, "Where is +my own wife? There, in thy vile hut, thou thief and robber! Do thy +worst: I will find no more gold for thee." + +"Away with him!" roars the commander, now in a fury of passion, to his +soldiers; "tie him up and give him two hundred lashes." + +The soldiers seize the unfortunate, take him to a tree hard by, and tie +him up. But now, before a stroke is given, an old native, somewhat +fantastically adorned, who has been standing among the villagers at a +little distance, comes forward and salutes the officer. + +"Great chief of the Bazunga (Portuguese)," he says, "spare, I pray thee, +Zingesi. He is my only son, and the punishment is great. Let him work +for thee for another week. Perchance he has been bewitched. I will +brew him strong medicine, and he shall bring thee more gold." + +"Out with thee, Mosusa, thou evil-minded witch-doctor!" cries the +commander. "'Tis too late. Thou shouldst have used thine arts with +Zingesi before. Begone, or they shall serve thee as they serve +Zingesi!" + +With a hopeless yet terrible gesture, Mosusa quits the crowd, and +retires to his hut on the village outskirts. Meanwhile, Zingesi being +tied up, two Portuguese soldiers, casting off their buff coats, and +tucking up their sleeves, take each in hand a cruel whip of hippopotamus +hide, and begin their task. They flog by strokes of fifty; each, in +presence of that grim taskmaster, laying on the blows with all his +strength. With the first ten cuts the blood spouts freely from the +unfortunate native, whose cries and groans might surely touch the +hardest heart. But there is no mercy. Zingesi's back at the hundredth +stroke is a mass of raw and bleeding flesh; his face has assumed an ashy +pallor. At a hundred and fifty his head falls over upon his shoulder, +he swoons, and can feel no more. The man wielding the whip halts for an +instant, looks at the commander, and says, "Shall I go on, Captain?" + +"Go on, of course, and be damned to you, till he has had the full two +hundred," answers the captain venomously, as he rises from his chair and +goes into his hut again. + +The horrible task proceeds, and the soldiers, not daring to slacken +their blows, complete the two hundred strokes. By that time Zingesi, +his frame already weakened by recent fever, is beyond the reach of +further ills. His body, unloosed from the tree, falls limply upon the +hands of the soldiers, and is laid upon the shamed earth. Life has +clean fled from that poor mangled piece of flesh and blood. + +It is night. The short African twilight has vanished; the moon has not +yet arisen. Far away in the depths of the forest there crouches over a +fire of wood Mosusa, the old witch-doctor, father of the dead Zingesi. +His face, lit up by the red flames, has lost the sullen misery of the +morning. His eyes glare with the intensity of a fierce passion, the +sweat drips from his brow, every muscle of his body quivers. He rises, +paces slowly round the fire, keeping always within the limit of a circle +which he has traced in the sand, uttering as he passes a low monotonous +chant. Now and again he casts into the fire the skins of snakes and +lizards, bones, the dried livers and hearts of certain animals, +poisonous bulbs and herbs, and other paraphernalia of the native wizard. +Anon he pauses in his chant, listens, and gazes intently into the gloom +of the forest. On one side of the fire lies coiled up a huge serpent, a +python, whose cold glittering eye watches intently Mosusa's every +movement. Mosusa approaches the great snake, and says, "Will he come, +think you, O my friend? The forest is wide, and the great one wandered +far this morning." The serpent lifts its flat head, darts out its long +forked tongue, and rubs its nose caressingly against Mosusa's leg; then, +swiftly uncoiling, it glides to the other side of the fire and lies with +its head pointing to the forest. Mosusa goes and stands by its side. +Presently a rumbling noise is heard; nearer and louder it comes, and +then from the pall of the forest there looms within reach of the +firelight a huge dark form--the form of an immense bull elephant. The +great creature, bulking there dark and mysterious within the ring of +firelight, bears but one tusk, long, thick and even; its head moves very +slowly up and down; its outstretched trunk gently quivers as it tests +every air of the night; and its small sunken eye, fixed keenly upon +Mosusa, indicates expectation. + +"O great one," says Mosusa, saluting with upstretched right hand, "lord +of the forest, wisest of the creatures, thou hast come at my summons. +Hear me! Thou and I were born long ago upon the same night, in the same +country. Long have we known one another, long have been friends--since +the day when thy mother was slain by the spears of Monomotapa, and thou +and I grew up together as children within the kraal of the king. But +now I wax old, and near my end, while thou art in thy prime, still young +and lusty, and like to live an old man's lifetime and more. And before +I leave this earth for the land of shadows one thing I have to ask of +thee. Thou rememberest, long, long years ago, how I whispered to thee, +when thy tusk was budding and thy captivity grew dangerous to thyself, +that now was the time to seek the forest and escape. And thou wilt +remember how in thy first youth, when Monomotapa, king of the tribes, +had his first hunt for ivory, and slew fifty of thy kindred within the +ring of fire, I warned thee the night before by the great serpent, +grandfather of Tari here, and thou fleddest away and saved thyself! +To-morrow, O great one, I want thine aid. The captain of the Bazunga +goes forth to hunt in the forest. This day he has slain my son. +To-morrow be thou within the forest, and when he comes slay me this evil +man, the cruel persecutor of thy race and mine. No harm shall come to +thee. So shall we be quits, and in the land of shadows I shall remember +thee and joyfully await thy coming!" + +The elephant moves silently a pace or two forward, just touches Mosusa +delicately upon the shoulder with its trunk-tip, then turns and +disappears again into the darkness. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Again the scene shifts before the mind's eye of the dreamer; the +witch-doctor and his firelight fade out, and broad daylight once more +streams upon the African forest. The Portuguese captain is marching +through the wilderness in search of elephants. In front of him are two +trackers, who walk swiftly upon the spoor of a troop of the great tusk +bearers. Not far in the rear, mingling with other hunters, is Mosusa, +whose dark countenance wears this morning a very singular expression. + +Presently, after passing some low hills, the white man posts himself in +some thick cover in a shallow gorge commanding a broad, worn path. The +bulk of the native hunters are sent far in front in a wide semicircle, +to drive in elephants towards the ambush. There is a long interval, and +then, crashing through the bush, appear at a slow trot the forms of five +cow elephants. At the nearest of these the commander discharges his +piece. The great creature, sore stricken, charges this way and that; at +length, bristling with fifty spears, spouting the red blood from her +trunk, and struck by other bullets from the white man's snaphaunce, she +falls heavily to earth. But while the party are gathered round the +fallen beast, and the natives busy themselves in extricating their +spears from the carcase, a sudden noise is heard behind. There, +trumpeting hideously, comes a mighty single-tusked elephant--Mosusa's +elephant of the last night. The black men, naked and disencumbered, +fly, all of them save one, far down the gorge, and scatter into the +forest beyond. The white man, truth to tell, is bold and brave enough. +Trusting to his heavy piece and his own pluck, he stands his ground. It +is late indeed to fly, encumbered as he is with weapon and European +clothing. As the grim monster charges down upon him, he steadily raises +his snaphaunce and fires. But, just as he pulls trigger, Mosusa, +standing behind his shoulder, jerks his right arm, the bullet flies wide +of its intended mark, and strikes the elephant at the base of the great +solitary tusk, just where the ivory is sheathed in the flesh. Mosusa +leaps aside, there is a wild curse in Portuguese; in the same instant +the savage scream of the enraged elephant thrills upon the hot morning +air, the white man is flung to earth, and the great gleaming tusk drives +deep through his body. Zingesi is avenged. The elephant withdraws his +tusk, kneels upon the yet living man, and crushes the last remnants of +humanity into a hideous, shapeless mass. + +All this Mosusa has witnessed with bright eyes and the fiercest +satisfaction. And now, raising his right hand, again he salutes the +monstrous beast and speaks. "O thou great one, mighty chief, lord of +the forest, I thank thee for what thou hast done. My time grows short: +I die quickly. But thou, O my friend, live thou, live to slay the +accursed white men, who pursue thy kindred and bring death and worse +than death into this land of thine and mine." As he runs on, Mosusa's +voice seems as the voice of one possessed; his eyes are fixed and open, +as though gazing far into futurity. "And when thine appointed time +comes," he goes on, still addressing the mighty beast before him, "let +thy tusk carry with it yet more of death and evil to the white man. +There is blood now upon it: let blood be with it in its passage through +the years to come, until it shall once more mingle with the earth again. +And now, great one, one thing more has to be done. Let my blood mingle +here with the white man's: slay me, O my friend, and all shall be +finished." + +But the elephant stands there in front of the frenzied African, its +little eyes fixed upon his eyes, its body swaying ever so slightly from +side to side, its trunk held out as if inquiring. + +"I see what thou requirest, O great one," cries Mosusa. "Thy blood too +must flow, and at my hands!" + +Suddenly he raises his spear, plunges it into the creature's trunk, and +as suddenly withdraws it. The beast screams with pain, the blood gushes +forth from the spear-thrust, and in a moment, with a blow of the wounded +member, the elephant has beaten the old native to the ground. In the +next moment the re-infuriated beast kneels quickly upon Mosusa and +crushes the life from his frame, as it had crushed the white man's. The +two bodies lie there together, misshapen, mangled, yet still warm. And +now the elephant, having completed his work, turns slowly away and +plunges into the jungle. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The scene had again faded from the dreamer's eyes; yet its memory +lingered clear, as Cecil Kensley awoke cold and shivering from his +sleep. The fire burned low, the room was in darkness. + +"Gad! what a curious dream!" he said to himself, as he rose stiffly from +his lounge chair. "I never felt so cold in my life." By the dim low +firelight he made his way to a corner of the room, touched a button and +switched on the electric light. The room in an instant assumed its +normally bright and cheerful aspect. First putting some coals upon the +fire, Kensley went to the sideboard, poured himself out a liqueur glass +of brandy, and drank it down. "That's better," he said to himself. "I +must have slept a deuce of a time. Can't think why I got so cold." He +turned and looked at the clock. "Half-past seven, by Jove! I must +dress sharp: these fellows will be here directly." + +First opening a door into an adjoining room, where he saw the +dinner-table already prepared, he went to his bedroom and quickly +dressed. He returned just in time to welcome his friends, who arrived +almost simultaneously. + +Of the three guests, two were Englishmen--average types of their race; +the other a dark, good-looking foreigner, of engaging manners. Barreto, +as they called him, spoke excellent English, and seemed to have a +perfect knowledge of all topics--mainly pertaining to racing, matters +theatrical, and cards--which came uppermost in the course of the +evening. During the five minutes before dinner was announced one of the +visitors caught sight of the tusk standing in the corner of the room. + +"Hallo, Kensley!" he said, "what's this? Something new, isn't it?" + +"Yes," returned his host; "it's a big tooth I came across in the +warehouse lately. On the whole, it's about the finest bit of ivory I +ever saw; and so, as such specimens grow scarcer every year, I collared +it. Makes a nice ornament, doesn't it?" + +"Magnificent!" rejoined Barreto, who had meanwhile approached, and was +intently examining the tusk. "I've seen a good many tusks in my time, +but I have never seen the fellow of this." + +"Why, where did you pick up your knowledge of ivory, Barreto?" asked +Kensley. "I knew you were up to most things, but I didn't know that you +were a judge of elephants' teeth." + +"Well, you see," returned Barreto, "my family have had to do with Africa +for between two and three hundred years. Several of them have left +their bones there. I served as a lieutenant with the Portuguese troops +in Mozambique when I was a youngster. After that I came home what you +call invalidish--no, invalided--with fever; and, as I didn't intend +Africa to have my bones, I left the army and went into diplomacy." + +"I see!" replied Kensley. "Well, that tusk," patting the great tooth +affectionately, "must have been once something of a neighbour of yours. +It came from behind Mozambique or Sofala. The elephant that carried it +has, I take it, been dead many a long year. From the look of the ivory, +and the way it's been preserved, I should imagine that tooth has lain in +some chief's hut for best part of a century. Possibly it has been some +cherished fetish. It could tell some tall stories, I'll bet, if it +could speak. But come along, you fellows: here's dinner at last." + +The four men strolled into the pleasant ruby-lighted dining-room, sat +themselves at the sparkling table, and for an hour devoted themselves +heartily to excellent viands and wine, and to the exchange of much merry +conversation. + +At a quarter to ten, after some lingering over cigars and coffee, the +party returned to the drawing-room, where card tables were laid. Two +other men came in, and "poker" was started. The fortunes of the game +waxed and waned, as they will do; but somehow, half-hour after +half-hour, the luck ran dead against Barreto. It was easy to see that +the Portuguese was a skilful and a smart player, yet, do what he would, +bluff boldly or lie low, he steadily lost. + +"Hullo, Barreto!" said one of the men to him, in a short pause for +whiskies-and-soda, "what's up with you? You couldn't go wrong last +week. To-night your luck's dead out." + +"Yes," replied the Portuguese, who throughout the play had retained his +equanimity, and lost with a good grace, "there's something mysterious in +the air to-night. I have felt a great depression ever since I came into +this room. I can't tell you why. I felt better at dinner, but back +here again I'm wrapped in a wet blanket. A change of weather coming, I +suppose. A man who's had African fever can generally foretell it." + +The play went on for another half-hour, by which time, as the clock +chimed the quarter-past one, Barreto had lost between 30 and 40 pounds. +Kensley's English guests now rose to go, laughingly promising Barreto +and their host, who also had lost some 20 pounds, their revenge on a +future occasion. After a parting libation, the two men lighted cigar +and cigarette, and left the flat, Kensley turned to Barreto. "Feel like +an hour's ecarte?" he interrogated. + +"By all means," answered the Portuguese, with a pleasant smile. + +Kensley brought out fresh cards, and the two sat down facing one +another, the table between. It seemed at ecarte that Barreto could not +lose. The stakes were heavy, and Kensley's deficit began to mount up +ominously. He was a practised player, and well used to the ups and +downs of card luck; yet, easy as was his manner, a looker-on might have +noticed a grimmer and graver look deepening about the lines of his +mouth. + +Suddenly Kensley sprang to his feet, his eyes flashing, his face flushed +with anger. + +"You damned cheat!" he gasped, throwing down his cards. "For a long +time I couldn't believe my eyes, but there's no other word for it-- +you're a common swindler. I saw you pass that card,"--pointing to a +king--"I've seen you doing the same thing before. Not one cent will you +get out of me. Leave my rooms, and take care neither I nor my friends +ever see the face of you again. If we do there'll be trouble." + +At first, as the Englishman blurted out his indignation--which, it may +be said at once, was perfectly honest and deserved--Barreto attempted, +with a gesture of courteous deprecation, to offer explanations. At last +he obtained speech. "You are mistaken, utterly mistaken," he said +calmly. "I think you must be mad. Anyhow I have won this money fairly, +and I demand it. If you don't pay, I shall make the fact public." + +"You damned villain!" gasped Kensley; "get out of my rooms at once, +before I put you out." + +The expression upon Barreto's face changed now instantly from a +plausible calm to one of wild and deadly hate. He saw that Kensley was +firm, and not to be played upon. He glanced round the room. As ill +luck would have it, there hung, among other trophies upon the wall near +him, an Indian knife in its sheath. In an instant Barreto grasped the +handle, drew the knife flashing from its cover, and turned upon Kensley. +"Now, Mr Kensley," he said, with a very unpleasant look upon his face, +"you will pay me that 55 pounds, and withdraw what you just now said, or +take the alternative." + +Few Englishmen care for knife play; unlike the men of Southern Europe, +they seem to have an instinctive horror of the weapon. Kensley little +liked the job; the adversary before him looked very evil--far more evil +than he could ever have imagined him; yet, being a man of courage and of +action, he took the only course that seemed at the moment open to him. +He flung himself in a flash upon Barreto, trying to seize the man's arm +before he should strike. He was not quick enough to avoid the blow; the +keen knife ripped through his smooth shirt-front, and penetrated the +upper part of his chest, just under the collar-bone. Kensley's fighting +blood was now up; the wound, though a nasty one, was not disabling; he +grappled with Barreto, forced his right arm and dagger behind his back, +and then, twining his right leg round his opponent's, put forth all his +strength and threw him, falling upon him as he did so. The room was +thickly carpeted, and the fall, though a heavy one, made no great noise. +The Portuguese gave a choking cry, and shuddered, as Kensley thought, +very strangely. Barreto had ceased struggling from the instant he fell, +and, in a strangely altered voice, gasped once in Portuguese, "I am a +dead man." Kensley cautiously released his grip; he feared treachery-- +some trick. But Barreto moved no more. One glance he gave as Kensley +rose; his eyes rolled, then he lay quite still. A horrible fear dawned +upon the Englishman. He gently lifted the man, and looked at his back. +The right arm lay listless now, and had released its grip of the knife. +Alas! that long knife, fashioned by some cunning artificer for wild hill +men, so keen and deadly for the taking of life, had done its work. By +some ghastly misfortune, it had penetrated the ribs and pierced +Barreto's heart. The man lay there, flabby and inert--as Kensley soon +convinced himself, dead beyond all hope of recovery. + +As Kensley rose, and with a sickening feeling at his heart surveyed the +dead man's face, something in its appearance touched a chord of memory. +"Great God!" he said to himself, "is it reality, or am I still dreaming? +This is the face of the Portuguese soldier I saw as I sat asleep before +the fire this evening!" His eye wandered from the dead man's face to +the great yellow tusk gleaming there still and silent in the corner of +the chamber. As he looked, a new light seemed to leap into his mind. +Again he saw, as in a flash, before the eye of memory, those strange +scenes in the African forest. + +Now, whether it was coincidence, fate, black magic--call it what you +will--the ivory tusk, standing there in the corner of that silent room, +now a chamber of death and horror, was the tusk of the elephant seen by +Kensley in his singular dream--vision it might rather be called--of that +fateful evening. The name of the dead man upon the carpet there was +Manoel Barreto. The name of the Portuguese captain whom Kensley had in +his dream seen slain by the single-tusked elephant, more than two +hundred years agone, was Manoel Barreto too. The one was a lineal +descendant of the other. Zingesi's death was again avenged. All this, +however, Cecil Kensley, as he stood there, haggard and white-faced, knew +not--he only surmised dimly some part of it. + +The clock chimed out two in soft, resonant tones. Kensley went to the +spirit-stand, poured out some brandy in a tumbler and drank it down. +Then he touched the electric bell. His man came to the door, heavy-eyed +and sleepy. At sight of Barreto's body, the scattered cards upon the +floor, his master's shirt-front soaked in blood, he turned ghastly pale +and opened his mouth to make exclamation. + +"Thompson," said his master, "there has been terrible work. Go into the +street and fetch a policeman and a doctor." + +Pressing a handkerchief to his wound, he sank into a chair as his man +went forth upon the errand. + +The great tusk, the key to that grim tragedy, still gleamed there behind +him, cold, inscrutable, majestic, its history of blood not yet ended. + +CHAPTER THREE. + +JAN PRINSLOO'S KLOOF. + +Far away in the gloomiest recesses of a range lying between Zwart +Ruggens and the Zwartberg, Cape Colony, not far from where the mountains +of that wild and secluded district give place to the eastern limits of +the plateau of the Great Karroo, there lies hidden, and almost unknown, +a kloof or gorge, whose dark and forbidding aspect, united to the wild +and horrid legend with which it is invested, prevents any but the chance +hunter or wandering traveller from ever invading its fastnesses. This +kloof is about seven miles from the rough track that in these regions is +dignified by the name of road; it is approached by a poort or pass +through the mountains, and the way is, even for South Africa, a rough +and dangerous one, although there are indications that a rude +waggon-track did formerly exist there. Standing upon the steep side of +this kloof are the remains of what must have once been a roomy and +substantial Boer farmhouse; but the four walls are roofless, the windows +and doorways naked and destitute of sashes, the euphorbia, the prickly +pear, and clambering weeds grow within and without, the lizard and snake +abide there, and the whole appearance of the place denotes that many +years have elapsed since Prinsloo's Kloof was tenanted by human life. + +In many respects the wild kloof gives evidence that the Boer who first +tarried there had an eye for good pasturage for his flocks and herds. +The spekboom and many another succulent bush, dear to the goal breeder, +flourish amid the broken and chaotic rocks with which the hill sides are +strewn. A strong fountain of water runs with limpid current from the +mountain at the back of the house; the flat tops of the hills around are +clothed with long waving grasses, and the valley is, manifestly, well +fitted to be the nursery of a horse-breeding establishment. A tributary +of the Gamtoos River flows deeply, if fitfully, below the sheer and +overhanging cliffs in a chain of pools, called zee-koe gats (sea-cow or +hippopotamus deeps)--the hippopotamus, though his name lingers behind, +no longer revels in the flood--and the bottom of the valley is in many +parts fertile and suited for the growth of grain and fodder crops. + +Broken and uncouth as are many portions of the Witteberg and Zwartberg, +the neighbourhood of Prinsloo's Kloof far surpasses them. There the +volcanic action of a bygone age has perpetrated the most extraordinary +freaks. The mountains are torn into shapes so wild and fantastic, that, +viewed in profile against the red glow of the setting sun, all manner of +weird objects may be conjured before the imagination. In some places, +as the kloof runs into the heart of the hills, the cliff sides are so +deep, so precipitous, and so narrow, that but little sunlight can +penetrate beneath, and even on a hot day of African summer a chill +strikes upon the spectator passing through. + +It is not difficult to understand, from a Boer point of view, that this +stern valley was a well chosen spot in which to build a farmhouse. The +distance from a roadway, is, in Boer eyes, of no great account, and, as +a rule, the farther from human habitation the Dutch farmer can get the +better he is pleased. As for the forbidding aspect of the kloof, the +stolid, unimaginative Boer would be little troubled on that score; he +has no eye whatever for picturesque or scenic effect, and will plant +himself as readily upon the treeless wastes of the Orange Free State, or +the most stony, barren mountain-side of the Old Colony, as in the most +beautiful and wooded country that South Africa can give him. + +When Jan Prinsloo trekked into the kloof, towards the end of the last +century, the place must have been a very paradise and nursery of game. +In the river the hippopotamus played, elephants roamed through the +valleys and poorts everywhere around, the zebras ran in large troops +upon the mountain tops, and many of the larger game, such as koodoo, the +buffalo, and the hartebeest, wandered fearlessly and free; while of the +smaller game, such as rhebok, duykerbok, and klipspringer, judging from +the abundance of the present day, there must have been literally +multitudes. To Jan Prinsloo, then, wild and sombre as the place was, it +must have appeared, as he trekked down the pass, a veritable Boer +elysium. But Jan, having played his part in the world--a part more +fierce and turbulent even than was usual to the marauding frontier Boers +of a hundred years ago--made his exit from the scene in a manner cruel +and horrible enough to match fitly with the rest of his wicked and +violent existence. + +Since Jan Prinsloo's fearful ending, which will be hereafter alluded to, +the kloof has borne an evil reputation. Now and again a Boer has taken +the farm, tempted by its pastoral advantages and its low purchase-money, +but somehow, none have ever stayed upon it for long. The last tenant, +an Englishman, quitted it hastily nearly forty years ago, and ever since +then the house has become year by year more sombre and more desolate, +the footsteps of human beings now rarely penetrate thither, and even the +very Kaffirs avoid the place. + +In September of the year 1860, a young English Afrikander, Stephen +Goodrick by name, who had, from the time he could handle a rifle, been +engaged in the far interior in the then lucrative, if dangerous, +occupation of elephant-hunting, having amassed, at the age of thirty, +some four or five thousand pounds, after fourteen years of hunting and +trading in Northern Bechuanaland and the Lake Ngami region, threw up the +game, and trekked down to Grahamstown with his last loads of ivory. +These disposed of and his affairs settled, he took unto himself for a +wife, a handsome, dark-eyed girl, the daughter of Scotch parents, living +near his own family in the Western Province, and then set about looking +for a farm, having determined to settle down to the more peaceful +pursuits of pastoral farming. After a month of riding hither and +thither, inspecting farms in the districts of Swellendam, Oudtshoorn, +and George, none of which pleased his fancy, he turned his attention to +the Eastern Province. + +Goodrick had been long and continuously away from the Cape, and in the +brief intervals when he had rested from his hunting and trading +expeditions he had usually stayed with his father, an old colonist, in +Swellendam, a district to the south-west of the Colony. His knowledge, +therefore, of the Eastern Province was necessarily somewhat restricted. +Stephen, by chance, heard one day from a Boer trekking by with fruit and +tobacco, that another Boer named Van der Meulen was leaving his farm +near the end of Zwartberg. Losing no time, Stephen saddled up, paid +temporary farewell to his wife, whom he left at his father's house, and, +traversing Lange Kloof and crossing the Kougaberg, he entered, on the +afternoon of the third day, Prinsloo's Kloof, whither he had been +directed. + +It was a glorious hot afternoon in early summer, the sun shone as only +it can in Africa, and under its brilliant rays and with the wealth of +vegetation and flower life springing up everywhere around, the kloof, +savage though it appeared, put on its mellowest aspect; and as Goodrick +rode up to the farmhouse and noticed the flocks and herds, all sleek and +in good condition, he thought that there might be worse places in which +to outspan for life than this beautiful, if solemn valley. + +At the farmhouse he was welcomed by the owner. Van der Meulen, and +after a stroll round the kraals and supper over a business conversation +took place before the family retired to rest, which, as it seemed to the +young Englishman, they did hurriedly and with some odd glances at one +another. Next morning all were up early, and Goodrick rode round the +farm--all good mountain pasture, embracing some 19,000 morgen (rather +more than 40,000 acres) in its area. The Boer, in his uncouth, rough +way, warmly praised the farm; the price he asked was extremely small, +and the annual Government quit rent very trifling. Van der Meulen +explained as his reason for selling the place, apparently so much below +its value, that he had been offered, at an absurdly small price, a very +fine farm in the Transvaal by a relation who had lately annexed the best +of the land of a native chief; and, as many of his blood relations, +Voertrekkers of 1836, were settled there, he wished to quit the Colony +quickly and join them. Finally, Goodrick agreed to buy the farm, +together with part of the stock, and, early on the following morning, +left the kloof. The purchase was shortly completed at Cape Town, where +the vendor and purchaser met a week afterwards, and, the Van der Meulens +having trekked out with all their household goods and belongings, the +Englishman and his wife prepared to enter upon their property. + +Stephen Goodrick, then, with two waggons, carrying his wife, her white +female servant, and a quantity of furniture and household and farming +necessaries, and taking with him four Hottentots and half-a-dozen +horses, trekked again through Lange Kloof, over the Kougaberg, and +thence through a country partly mountain, partly karroo, until one +afternoon early in October, the waggons crossed the deep and dangerous +drift of the river, and went up through the poort that led into +Prinsloo's Kloof. After a most difficult and tedious piece of +travelling for some seven miles--for the half-forgotten waggon-track lay +up and down precipitous ascents and declivities, littered here and there +with huge boulders, or hollowed out into dangerous spruits and holes--at +length the stout but wearied oxen faced the last steep hill to the +farmhouse, and with many a pistol crack of the great whip, many a +Hottentot curse directed at Zwartland, Kleinboy, Engelschman, Akerman, +and the rest, dragged their heavy burdens up to the open space that had +been cleared in front of the homestead. It had been arranged that Van +der Meulen's eldest son should remain upon the farm until Goodrick and +his wife had arrived, and further, that an old Hottentot, Cupido by +name, who knew the farm and its ways well, and two young Kaffirs, who +had lately arrived from the Transkei in search of work, should transfer +their services to the new-comer. + +These four being therefore ready, having already brought in and kraaled +the goats for the night, they assisted the Englishman to outspan his +oxen and unload the waggons. After two or three hours' hard work, a +good portion of the waggons was unloaded, and part of the furniture +arranged in the house; three of the horses were placed for the night in +the rough building adjoining the dwelling-house that served for a +stable, while the remainder had been turned into a large stone kraal +which lay on the other flank of the house. Meanwhile the white servant +had prepared the supper, which partaken of, the wearied travellers +retired to rest. About the middle of the night Goodrick and his wife +were suddenly aroused by a great commotion in the stable; the horses +were trampling, plunging and squealing as if suddenly disturbed or +scared. Then there rose upon the night, as it seemed just outside the +house, a wild scream, hideous in its intensity and full of horror. + +Hastily thrusting on some clothes and taking a lantern, Goodrick ran +round to the stable. The night, though there was no moon, was not dark, +and the stars shone clear in the firmament above. Nothing was to be +seen, no sound could be heard save the snorting of the horses, and the +weird cry of a leopard (strangely different, as the hearer well knew, +from the scream heard just previously) that sounded from the rocks a +mile or so away on the right. Quickly entering the stable, Stephen was +astonished to find the horses in a profuse sweat, trembling, their +halters broken, their eyes startled and excited, and their whole +demeanour indicating intense fear. What could be the cause? There was, +apparently, no wild animal about, nothing in the stable calculated to +excite alarm; the animals were old comrades, and not likely to have been +fighting. Goodrick was altogether puzzled, and, leaving the stable, +went to a shed in rear of the house, where the natives slept, and roused +the old Hottentot. The man could give no reason for the disturbance. +Wolves (hyaenas) were not likely to approach the house, and the tigers +(leopards) had not been very troublesome lately, and he could think of +nothing else to explain the matter. There was a scared look in the old +man's face, which Goodrick thought nothing of at the time, but which he +afterwards remembered. After some little trouble, fresh halters were +procured, the horses tied up and soothed, and the two again retired, +Cupido being cautioned to keep his ears open against further +disturbance. Nothing further occurred during the night. + +Next morning, after seeing the goats unkraaled, watered and despatched +to their day's pasturage in charge of the two Kaffir herds, Goodrick +asked the young Boer at breakfast if he had heard the noise among the +horses, and the wild scream, and what could be the cause, and if there +was any cattle-stealing about this wild neighbourhood. Young Van der +Meulen's heavy, immovable countenance changed slightly, but he replied +that he could give no explanation except that perhaps a leopard might +have been prowling about; they were pretty numerous in the kloof. +Stephen explained that he and the Hottentots had spoored everywhere +around the stable for leopards, but could find no trace. + +Here the subject dropped, and Van der Meulen relapsed into silence, +except when the Englishman asked him what game there was about the +hills. "You will find," he said, "plenty of small buck--klipspringers, +rhebok, and duykerbok, and there are still a fair number of koodoo +which, however, take some stalking. Then on the berg tops there are +several troops of zebras, as well as hyaenas and leopards; but the +zebras we have seldom shot, they take so much climbing after, and you +know we Dutchmen prefer riding to walking. You will find also lots of +springbok and steinbok and some black wildebeest (gnu) on the plains +beyond the mountains. Yes, I have had many a _mooi schiet op de plaats_ +(pretty shoot on the farm)." Suddenly the young man's heavy features +changed again as he said, "Allemaghte! (Almighty) but I shall be glad +to get out of this place; I hate it! I want again to get on to the +Transvaal high veldt, where I trekked through two years ago, and where +you can shoot as many blauuw wildebeest (brindled gnu), blessbok, +quagga, springbok, and hartebeest as you want in a day's ride. Ja! that +is the land for me; these gloomy poorts and kloofs are only fit for +leopards and spooks (ghosts). Then, you know, Mynheer, the Transvaal is +free; we never loved your Government, which is always wanting from us +this, that and the other, and I shall be glad to trek out. Up in +Zoutpansberg we shall be able to hunt the kameel (giraffe), and the +zwart-wit-pens (sable antelope), and elephant, as much as we like, and +for our winter pasture we shall not have to pay a single rix-dollar. +Ja! I have had enough of Prinsloo's Kloof, and never wish to see it +again." This long speech delivered, the Boer relapsed into silence. +There was a curious look on the young man's face as he had spoken, which +Goodrick and his wife could not quite define or understand. + +An hour afterwards Van der Meulen had slung his rifle on his back, +packed some biltong (sun-dried meat) in his pockets, saddled up his +horse, and bidden farewell to the tenants of the kloof. The Englishman +and his young wife watched his retreating form as it slowly proceeded +down the valley, and presently disappeared amidst a grove of acacia +trees that margined the river; then they turned to the house. "I don't +quite understand that fellow," said Stephen, "do you, Mary? I can't +help thinking there was something behind what he said. Why were his +people so eager to leave this farm? However, dearest, the farm is a +good one and a cheap one; we are young and strong and ought to be as +happy as any two people in the Colony." + +"Yes, Stephen," said his wife, "I thought there was something queer in +what the young man said, but it could have been only fancy. I am sure +we ought to be happy and contented, and with you by my side, I shall +always be so." + +In a few weeks' time Goodrick had increased his stock of goats, and had +bought a sufficient number of horses to start a stud farm upon the +mountains around. Things seemed to be going well with him. The pasture +was in splendid condition, the valleys and kloofs that led into the +mountains literally blazed with flowers of every conceivable hue, from +the great pink or crimson blossomed aloes, that gave warmth to the +towering brown rocks above, to the lovely heaths, irises, and +pelargoniums that clothed as with a brilliant carpet the bottom grounds. +The house had been thoroughly cleansed, put into order, and the new +furniture settled into it, and young Mrs Goodrick busily employed her +days in household duties. Her husband had had several good days' +shooting about the hills, and had brought in two koodoos (one of the +largest and most magnificent of South African antelopes), whose noble +spiral horns now adorned the dining-room, besides many a head of smaller +antelopes and innumerable francolins, pheasants, ducks, and other +feathered game. + +Yet, somehow, though things had so far gone well, the young couple were +not quite comfortable. The disturbances among the horses, although not +repeated for several nights, had occasionally happened; the same horrid +scream had been heard, and their causes had so far completely baffled +Stephen Goodrick. He had tried all sorts of plans, changed the horses, +and even had them all turned loose together in the great stone kraal, +but with the same results. They were found over and over again at +night, mad with fear and drenched with sweat, trampling and plunging in +the stable, or tearing about the inclosure. + +Cupido and the Kaffirs, and his own Swellendam Hottentots, had been +questioned and cross-examined, but to no purpose. Twice had Goodrick +remained on the watch all night. On one occasion he believed he had +seen a figure move quickly past him in the darkness, and the horses had +been disturbed at the same time; but nothing further could be traced and +no spoor of man or quadruped was ever discovered. The thing was a +mystery. At length, one moonlight night, Goodrick ran out, hearing the +now familiar noises, and, taking with him his great brindled dog, which +had often hunted elephants, rhinoceros, buffalo and lion, he quickly +went round to the stable. + +At this moment the two Kaffir herds also came running out on hearing the +noise. Just as they approached the stable together they beheld a figure +pass through the open doorway, as they supposed, and swiftly glide away +to the hillside. The dark figure was clad in a broad-brimmed Boer hat +and quaintly cut old-fashioned dress, as Goodrick could plainly notice. +Stephen shouted, and with the Kaffirs gave chase, but after a few +minutes' running the man suddenly vanished into the bushy scrub that +grew on the mountain-side, and no further trace could be found, although +the Kaffirs hunted everywhere around. + +Meanwhile Stephen turned for his dog, surprised that the animal, usually +so fierce and impetuous, had not led the chase. To his utter +astonishment, "Tao" was close at his heels, his tail between his legs, +his hackles up, and with every symptom of terror upon him. The thing +was incomprehensible; the dog had never feared man or beast in his life +before, and many a time and oft had faced, as they turned at bay, the +fierce and snarling lion, the dangerous sable antelope with his +scimitar-like horns, and the wounded and screaming elephant. At length, +turning back, they entered the stable; to their surprise the door was +locked, and on being opened the horses as usual were loose and in the +last extremity of fright. Nothing more could be done that night. In +the morning the Kaffirs and Hottentots searched everywhere for spoor, +but could find no trace of the midnight marauder. Cupido, indeed, shook +his head, rolled his bloodshot-looking eyes, and appeared to take the +occurrence as a matter of course. + +Three mornings afterwards the two Kaffirs came to Stephen, declared that +they had seen on the previous night the same dark figure just outside +their sleeping shed; that the terrible expression on the face of this +apparition, which they saw distinctly in the moonlight, had made them +utterly sick and terror-stricken; that the thing was a thing of +witchcraft, and that nothing would induce them to stay another night on +the farm. + +"We like the N'kose (chief or master) well," they said, "but we dare not +stay in this country or we shall be slain by the witchcraft we see +around us; why do you not get a `smeller out' to cleanse this place from +the evil?" The two men, who, in daylight, were, as most Kaffirs are, +bold, hardy fellows, were evidently in earnest in what they said, and +though Goodrick, who could ill afford to part with them at a moment's +notice, offered them increased wages, they steadfastly declined. At +length finding he could not shake their resolution, he reluctantly paid +them their money and let them go. Goodrick learned some months +afterwards from a friend, that these men had marched straight for the +boundary of the Colony, crossed the Kei, and rejoined their own tribe, +the Gaikas, in Kaffraria. + +Goodrick now began to think somewhat seriously of the matter, and to ask +himself with inward misgivings what it all meant. Brave man though he +was, like most mortals he was not quite proof against superstition, and +he began to find himself half fearing that there was something not quite +canny about the place. How else could he account for the locked door, +the suddenly vanishing figure, the sickening yell, and the lack of +footmarks? However, he kept his thoughts from his wife, and made some +excuse about a quarrel with the Kaffirs as to wages, to explain their +sudden departure. She, although accepting the explanation, seemed +uneasy, and at last burst out, "Oh, Stephen, I think there is something +wrong about this kloof--some dreadful mystery we know nothing of. Have +you ever noticed that even the Kaffirs in the kraal a few miles beyond +the poort never enter here? Not a soul amongst the farmers comes near +us, and as for `Tao' he never seems happy now and is always restless, +suspicious and alarmed." + +That same night the wild, unearthly scream rose again; the same tumult +was heard in the stable; Stephen rushed out, and once again, under the +clear moonlight, he saw the figure passing in front of him. This time +he had his rifle loaded, and after calling once, fired. Still the +figure retreated; another shot was fired, but to no purpose; the figure +apparently glided imperceptibly onwards, and then suddenly disappeared, +as it seemed, sheer into the earth. Goodrick knew so well his powers +with the rifle, with which he was famous as a deadly shot, that he could +not bring himself to believe he had missed twice within fifty yards. +From this incident he could form no other conclusion, and he shivered as +he thought so, than that the night disturber was not of human mould. + +Meanwhile the horses were becoming worn to shadows, their coats stared, +they lost flesh and looked altogether miserable. Fresh horses had been +brought in, but the effect was ever the same. Shortly after, two of the +Swellendam Hottentots left, and the other two, with Cupido and Mrs +Goodrick's servant, alone remained. Goodrick was now in great straits; +he could not immediately procure other native servants, and only managed +to get through his farm work with the greatest trouble and exertion. + +Things drifted on uncomfortably for another week or two, and each day as +it came and went, seemed to Goodrick and his wife to increase the gloom +and uncertainty of their life in the kloof. At length a climax arrived. +Christmas, but a sombre one, had sped, and South African summer, with +its heat, its flies, and other manifold troubles, was now at its height. + +On the 15th of January, 1861, a day of intense heat was experienced. +All day the landscape had sweltered under a still oppression that was +almost unbearable, and the very animals about the farm seemed touched +and depressed by some mysterious influence. + +Towards nightfall dark clouds gathered together suddenly in dense +masses; in the distance, long, rolling thunder-peals were heard +approaching in strangely slow, yet none the less certain movement. +Cupido, the old Hottentot, had fidgetted about the house a good deal all +the evening, and finally, just before ten o'clock, he asked his master +if he might for that night sleep on the floor of the kitchen, in order, +as he put it, to attend more quickly to the horses if anything scared +them. Goodrick noticed that the old man looked agitated, and +good-naturedly said "Yes." + +Still slowly onward marched the stormy batteries of the sky, until at +eleven o'clock they burst overhead with a terrific crash (preceded by +such lightning as only Africa can show) that literally seemed to tear +and rend each nook and corner of the gorge, reverberating with deafening +repetition from every krantz and hollow and rocky inequality in the rude +landscape. Rain fell in torrents for a time, then ceased. Again and +again the thunder broke overhead, while the lightning played with fiery +tongue upon mountain and valley, showing momentarily, with photographic +clearness, every object around. Sleep on such a night was out of the +question, and Goodrick and his wife sat together listening with solemn +faces to the hideous tumult. At length, at about twelve o'clock, the +storm for a brief space rolled away, only to return in half an hour with +increased severity. + +Goodrick had gone for a few moments to the back door, which faced partly +towards the entrance to the kloof, and found Cupido standing there, +seemingly listening intently. As the tempest approached again with +renewed ferocity, some strange confused noises, shrieks and shouts as it +seemed, were borne upon the strong breeze that now preceded and hurried +along the thunder clouds. + +"Hallo!" said Goodrick, "what the deuce is that? There surely can't be +a soul about on such a night as this?" Again a hideous scream was borne +up the valley. "Good God! that's the very yell we've heard so often +round here at night," repeated the Englishman. "It's not leopard, it's +not hyaena; what on earth is it, Cupido?" The Hottentot was now +trembling in every limb; his yellow, monkeylike face had turned ashy +grey, and his bleared eyes seemed full of some intense terror. "Baas," +he stammered out, "it's Jan Prinsloo's night, and if you're wise you'll +shut the doors fast, pull down the blinds, and not stir or look out for +an hour." + +"What do you mean, man?" + +"I mean that the ghosts of Jan Prinsloo, who was slain here years ago, +and his murderers, are coming up the kloof." At that moment the cries +and shoutings sounded closer and closer up the valley, and it seemed as +if the rattling of horses galloping along the rock-strewn path could be +distinguished through the storm. Just then the other two Hottentots, +who at length had also heard the din, rushed across from their shed and +huddled into the kitchen. Mrs Goodrick at the same instant ran into +the room. "What's the matter, Stephen?" she cried; "I am certain there +is some dreadful work going on." + +"Yes, wife, there is some devilish thing happening, and I mean to get to +the bottom of it. I haven't hunted fifteen years in the interior to be +frightened by a few strange noises." So speaking, the young farmer went +to the sitting-room, took down and rapidly loaded two rifles and his +revolver, and returned to the kitchen. Handing one rifle to the +Hottentot, he said, "Here, Cupido, take this; I know you can shoot +straight, and, if needful, you'll have to do so. Wife, give the Totties +a soupje each of brandy." + +This was quickly done; the result seemed, on the whole, satisfactory, +and the Hottentots somewhat reassured. In a few more seconds the storm +burst again in one appalling roar; after it could now be heard the +clattering of hoofs up the hillside, mingled with shrieks and shouts. +This time the tempest passed rapidly overhead, the dense black clouds +rushed on, and suddenly the moon shone out with wonderful brightness. + +Onward came the strange noises, sweeping past the side of the house as +if up to the great stone cattle kraal, that lay sixty yards away. Then +was heard the loud report of a gun. Stephen could stand it no longer. +"Come on, you fellows, with me," he exclaimed, as he ran out towards the +kraal. Cupido and Mrs Goodrick, who would not be left behind, alone +followed him; the white servant woman and the remaining two Hottentots +stayed in the kitchen, halfddead with fright, the one on a chair, her +apron clasped to her head and ears, the others huddled up in a corner. +The three adventurers were not long in reaching the kraal, whence they +heard proceeding the same dreadful cries and shrieks, mingled with the +trampling of feet Goodrick first approached the entrance, which he found +wide open. The sight that met his eyes, and those of his wife and +Cupido close behind, was enough to have shaken the stoutest heart. + +Under the clear illumination of the moon, which now shone forth calm and +serene, the inclosure seemed as light as day. In the far corner, to the +right hand, seventy paces distant, the half-dozen horses that had been +turned in stood huddled with their heads together like a flock of sheep. +On the opposite side from the entrance, a frightful looking group was +tearing madly round. First ran a tall, stout figure, clad in the +broad-brimmed hat and quaint old-fashioned leathern costume, which +Goodrick in a moment recognised. In its hands it grasped a huge, long, +old flint "roer," a smooth-bore elephant gun, such as the Boers used in +earlier days. The figure, as it fled, had its face half-turned to its +pursuers, who consisted of six half-naked Hottentots armed with assegais +and knives. As the chase, for such it was, swept round the kraal and +the figures approached the entrance, every face could be plainly +discerned; and this was the horrible part of it. These faces were all +the faces of the dead, gaunt, ghastly, and grim, and yet possessed of +such fiendish and dreadful expressions of anger, cruelty, and lust for +blood, as to strike a chilling terror to the hearts of the three +spectators. Brave man and ready though he was, Goodrick felt +instinctively that he was in the presence of the dead, and his rifle +hung listlessly in his hand. + +Closer the fearful things approached the spellbound trio, till, when +within thirty yards, the leading figure stumbled and fell. In an +instant, with diabolical screams, the ghostly Hottentots fell upon their +quarry, plying assegai and knife. Again the awful scream that the kloof +knew so well rang out upon the night; then followed a torrent of Dutch +oaths and imprecations; and then the dying figure, casting off for a +moment its slayers, stood up and laid about it with the heavy "roer" +grasped at the end of the barrel. + +The three living beings who looked upon that face will never to their +last days forget it. If the expression of every crime and evil passion +could be depicted upon the face of the dead, they shone clear under the +pale moonlight upon the face of the dying Dutchman--dying again though +dead. Once again with wild yells the Hottentots closed on their victim, +and once more rang the fiendish dying yell. Then, still more awful, the +Hottentots, as it seemed in an instant, stripped the half-dead body, +hacked off the head and limbs, and tore open the vitals, with which they +bedabbled and smeared themselves as they again tore shrieking round the +kraal. Flesh and blood could stand the sight no longer; Mrs Goodrick, +who had clung to her husband spellbound during the scene, which had +taken in its enactment but a few seconds, fainted away. Goodrick turned +to take his wife in his arms with the intention of making hurriedly for +the house. At that instant the horrid din ceased suddenly, and was +succeeded by a deathly silence. Turning once more to the kraal gate, +Goodrick at once perceived that the whole of the enactors of this awful +drama had vanished. He rubbed his eyes in vain to see if they deceived +him, but a nod from the half-dead Cupido convinced him that this was not +so. No, there was no doubt about it, the waning moon cast her pure and +silvery beams calmly and peacefully upon a silent scene. Not a trace of +the bloody drama remained; not a whisper, save of the soft night breeze, +told of the dreadful story. + +"Baas," whispered the Hottentot, "they'll come no more to-night." +Quickly Goodrick raised his fainting wife and carried her into the +house, where, after long and anxious tending, she was restored to +consciousness. Placing her in the sitting-room upon a couch which he +had himself made from the soft skins, "brayed" by the Kaffirs, of the +antelopes he had shot, he at length induced her to sleep, promising not +for a moment to leave her, and with his hands clasped in hers. + +At length the night wore away, the sun of Africa shot his glorious rays +upward from behind the rugged mountain walls of the kloof, and broad +daylight again spread over the landscape. Goodrick was glad indeed to +find that with the bright sunshine his wife, brave-hearted woman that +she was, had shaken off much of the night's terrors; but her nerves were +much shaken. For the last time the goats were unkraaled and sent out, +with the two somewhat unwilling Hottentots, to pasture. Breakfast and +some strong coffee that followed this operation made things look +brighter; and then, taking the couch and setting it upon the stoep +(veranda), just outside the windows of their room, and placing a chair +for himself, Goodrick went out to the back and called Cupido in with him +to the "stoep," where he made the little ancient yellow man squat down. +"Cupido," said he, "I am going to inspan this morning, load up one of +the waggons, and send my wife and servant under your charge out of this +cursed place to Hemming's farm--the next one, twenty-five miles out on +the karroo. To-morrow, with the help of some Kaffirs I shall borrow +from Mr Hemming, I shall get down the horses from the mountain, load up +both the waggons with the rest of the furniture and farm tackle (as soon +as you return, which you will do very early), and trek out of the kloof, +never again to set foot in it. But first of all, you will tell me at +once, without lying, why you have never said a word to me of this +horrible secret, and what it all means. Now speak and be careful." + +"Well, baas," said Cupido, speaking in Boer Dutch, the habitual language +of the Hottentots, "you have been a kind baas to me, and the jevrouw," +(nodding to his mistress) "has been good to me too; and I will tell you +all I know about this story. I would have warned you long ago, but Baas +Van der Meulen, when he left, made me promise, under pain of being shot, +not to say anything. I believe he would have kept his word, for he +often gave me the sjambok, and I dare not speak. I was born here in the +kloof many years ago, many years even before slavery was abolished and +the emigrant Boers trekked out into the Free State and Transvaal, and +you will know that is long since. + +"My father lived as a servant under that very Jan Prinsloo, whom you saw +murdered last night in yonder kraal, and many a time has he told me of +Prinsloo and his evil doings and his dreadful end. Well, Jan Prinsloo +was a grown man years before the English came across the shining waters +and took the country from the Dutch. He was one of the wild and lawless +gang settled about Bruintjes Hoogte, on the other side of Sunday River, +who bade defiance to all laws and Governments, and who, under Marthinus +Prinsloo (a kinsman of Jan's) and Adriaan Van Jaarsveld, got up an +insurrection two years after the English came, and captured Graaff +Reinet. + +"General Vandeleur soon put this rising down, and Marthinus Prinsloo and +Van Jaarsveld were hanged, but Jan Prinsloo, who was implicated, somehow +retired early in the insurrection, and was pardoned. Some years before +this, Jan was fast friends, as a younger man, with Jan Bloem, who, as +you may have heard, was a noted freebooter who fled from the Colony +across the Orange River, raised a marauding band of Griquas and +Korannas, and plundered, murdered, and devastated amongst many of the +Bechuana tribes, besides trading and shooting ivory as well. The bloody +deeds of these men yet live in Bechuana story. Jan Bloem at last, +however, drank from a poisoned fountain in the Bechuana country and died +like a hyaena as he deserved. Then Jan Prinsloo took all his herds, +waggons, ivory and flocks, came back over the Orange River, sold off the +stock at Graaff Reinet, and came and settled in this kloof. He had +brought with him some poor Makatese, and these people, who are in their +way, as you know, great builders in stone, he made to build this house +and the great stone kraal out there, where we saw him last night. He +had, too, a number of Hottentots, besides Mozambique slaves, and those +he ill-treated in the most dreadful manner, far worse even than any Boer +was known to, and that is saying much. At last one day, not long after +the Bruintjes Hoogte affair, he came home in a great passion, and found +that two of the Hottentots' wives and one child had gone off without +leave to see some of their relatives, Hottentots, who were squatted some +miles away. + +"When these women came back in the evening, Prinsloo made their husbands +tie them and the child to two trees, and then and there, after flogging +them frightfully, he shot the poor creatures dead, child and all. As +for the husbands, he sjambokked them nearly to death for letting their +wives go, and then turned in to his `brandwein' and bed. That night all +his Hottentots, including seven men who had witnessed the cruel deed-- +God knows such deeds were common enough in those wild days--fled through +the darkness out of the kloof, and never stopped till they reached the +thick bush-veldt country, between Sunday River and the Great Fish River. +Just at that time, other Hottentots, roused by the evil deeds of the +Boers, rose in arms, and joined hands with the Kaffirs, who were then +advancing from beyond the Fish River. + +"Well, the Kaffirs and Hottentots, to the number of 700, for some time +had all their own way, and ravaged, plundered, burned, and murdered, +among the Boers and their farms, even up to Zwartberg and Lange Kloof, +between here and the sea. While they were in that neighbourhood, a band +of them, inspired by the seven Hottentots of Prinsloo's Kloof, came up +the Gamtoos River, in this direction, and met with Jan Prinsloo and a +few other Boers, who were trekking out of the disturbed district with +their waggons, and who had come to reconnoitre in a poort, fifteen miles +away from here. All the Boers were surprised and slain, excepting +Prinsloo; and while the Kaffirs and other Hottentots stayed to plunder +the waggons, Prinsloo's seven servants, who were all mounted on stolen +horses, chased him, like `wilde honde' hunting a hartebeest, for many +hours; for Jan rode like a madman, and gave them the slip for three +hours, while he lay hid up in a kloof, until, at last, as night came on, +they pressed him into his own den here. + +"It was yesterday, but years and years ago, just when the summer is +hottest and the thunder comes on, and just in such a storm as last +night's, that the maddened Hottentots, thirsting for the murderer's +blood, hunted Prinsloo up through the poort. They were all light men +and well mounted, and towards the end gained fast upon him, although +Jan, who rode a great `rooi schimmel' (red roan) horse, the best of his +stud, rode as he had never ridden before. Up the kloof they clattered, +the Hottentots close at his heels now; Prinsloo galloped to the great +kraal there, jumped off his horse, and ran inside, like a leopard among +his rocks, fastening the gate behind him, and there determined to make a +last desperate stand for it. + +"The Hottentots soon forced the gate and swarmed over the walls, not, +however, before one was killed by Prinsloo's great elephant `roer.' +Round the kraal they chased him, giving him no time to load again; at +last, as you know, he fell and was slain, and the Hottentots cut off his +head, and arms, and legs, and tore out his black heart, and in their +mad, murderous joy and fury, smeared themselves with his blood. Then +the men looted the house, set fire to what they could, and afterwards +rejoined their comrades next morning. They told my father, who had +known Prinsloo, the whole story when they got back. These six men were +all killed in a fight soon afterwards when the insurrection was put +down, and the Kaffirs and Hottentots were severely punished. + +"Well, ever since that night the thing happens once a year upon the same +night. Many Boers have tried to live in this place since that time, but +have always left in a hurry after a few weeks' trial. I believe one man +did stay for nearly two years; but he was deaf, and knew nothing of what +was going on around, until one Prinsloo's night when he saw something +that quickly made him trek I once saw the scene we witnessed last night; +it was many years ago, when I was a young man in the service of a Boer, +who had just come here--before then I had been with my father in the +service of another Boer, forty miles away towards Sunday River. Next +morning after seeing Prinsloo and his murderers, my master trekked out +horror-stricken. I never thought to have seen the horrible thing again, +but eight months ago, when the Van der Meulens came here, I was hard up +and out of work, and though I didn't half like coming into the kloof +again, I thought, perhaps, after so many years, the ghosts might have +vanished. I hadn't been many nights here, though, before I knew too +well I was mistaken. Even then I would have left, but Van der Meulen +swore I should not. He and his family came here soon after Prinsloo's +night, and left before it came round again; but after the old man and +his sons had twice been face to face with Jan's spook prowling about the +stable and kraals, and even looking in at the windows, they were not +long before they wanted to clear out, and now you know their reason, +baas." + +"Yes, Cupido, to my cost, I do," said Goodrick, "I don't suppose I shall +ever come across that delightful family again, for it is a far cry to +Zoutpansberg, in the north of the Transvaal, and a wild enough country +when you get there. But tell me, why is it that this dreadful thing is +always in and out of the stables and kraals frightening the horses?" + +"Well, baas, I am not certain, but I believe, for my father always told +me so, that Prinsloo was very fond of horseflesh, extraordinarily so for +a Boer; for you know as a rule they don't waste much time on their +horses, and use them but ill. He had the finest stud in the Colony, and +took great pains and trouble with it; and they say that Jan's ghost is +still just as fond as ever of his favourites, and is always in and out +of the stable in consequence. Anyhow, the horses don't care about it, +as you know, they seem just as scared at him as any human being." + +Cupido, like all Hottentots, could tell a story with the dramatic force +and interest peculiar to his race, and the bald translation here given +renders very scant justice to the grim legend that came from his lips. +After the quaint little yellow man had finished, Mrs Goodrick gave him +some coffee, and immediately afterwards the party set about loading up +one waggon with a part of the furniture. This done, and Mrs Goodrick +and her servant safely installed, Cupido, the oxen being inspanned, took +the leading riems of the two first oxen and acted as foreloper, while +Goodrick sat on the box and wielded the whip. + +Twelve miles away beyond the poort that opened into the kloof there was +a Kaffir kraal, and having arrived there, Goodrick was able to hire a +leader, and Cupido having relieved his master of the whip and received +instructions to hasten to Hemming's farm as quickly as possible with his +mistress, Goodrick saddled and bridled his horse, which had been tied to +the back of the waggon, and rode back to his farm. The night passed +quietly away; the two remaining Hottentots begged to be allowed to sleep +in the kitchen, and this favour their master not unwillingly accorded +them. Next morning, at ten o'clock, Cupido, who had trekked through a +good part of the night, arrived, and with him came Mr Hemming, the +farmer, and four of his Kaffirs. Hearing of his neighbour's trouble, +and having seen Mrs Goodrick comfortably settled with his own wife, he +had good-naturedly come to his assistance. "So Jan Prinsloo has driven +you out at last," said he, upon meeting Goodrick. "I heard from your +wife last evening what you had seen the night before. I was afraid it +would happen and would have warned you in time if I had known. But I +never even heard that the Van der Meulens had sold the farm till they +had cleared out and I met you about a month after you had been here; and +as you were a determined looking Englishman, and the half-dozen people +who have tried the farm in the last twenty years have been superstitious +Dutch, I thought perhaps you might succeed in beating the ghost where +they failed. I haven't been in the kloof for many years, and after this +experience, which bears out what my father and others who knew the story +well have always told me, I shan't be in a hurry to come in here again. +It's a strange thing, and I don't think, somehow, the curse that seems +on the place will ever disappear." + +"Nor I," said Goodrick, "I'm not in a hurry to try it. I never believed +in spooks till the night before last, for I never thought they were +partial to South Africa; but after what I saw I can never again doubt +upon that subject. The shock to me was terrible enough, and what my +wife suffered must have been far worse." + +With the willing aid of his neighbour and his Kaffirs, as well as his +own Hottentots, Goodrick got clear of the kloof that day, and, after a +few days spent at Mr Hemming's, trekked away again for Swellendam, to +his father's house. Six months later he finally settled in a fertile +district not far from Swellendam, where he and his wife and family still +remain. Cupido died in his service some fourteen years since. After +much trouble Goodrick sold his interest in Prinsloo's Kloof and the farm +around for a sum much less even than what he gave Van der Meulen for it; +it is only fair to say he warned the purchaser of the evil reputation of +the place before this was done. It is a singular fact that on his way +to take possession of the kloof the new purchaser fell ill and died, and +the place has never since been occupied. + +Although it is nearly forty years since these events took place, and +Mrs Goodrick is now an old lady, with children long since grown to man +and womanhood, she has never quite thrown off the terror of that awful +night. Even now she will wake with a start if she hears any sudden cry +in her sleep, thinking for the moment it is the death scream of +Prinsloo's Kloof. As for the haunted kloof, it lies to this day in +desolation black and utter. No footfall wakes its rugged echoes; the +grim baboons keep watch and ward; the carrion aasvogels wheel and circle +high above its cliffs, gazing down from their aerial dominion with +ever-searching eyes; the black and white ravens seek in its fastnesses +for their food, looking, as they swoop hither and thither, as if still +in half mourning for the deed of blood of bygone years; and the +antelopes and leopards wander free and undisturbed. But no sign of +human life is there, or seems ever likely to be; and if, by cruel fate, +the straying traveller should haplessly outspan for his night's repose +by the haunted farmhouse on the night of the 15th of January, he will +yet see enacted, so the neighbouring farmers say, the horrible drama of +Jan Prinsloo's death. + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +THE BUSHMAN'S FORTUNE. + +Kwaneet, the Bushman, had lost his wife Nakeesa, and was just now a +little puzzled what to do with himself. Nakeesa, poor thing, had been +slain by a lion on the Tamalakan River in an attempt to rescue her man. +[See "Tales of South Africa," by the same Author.] The attempt was +successful so far as Kwaneet was concerned, but Nakeesa and the babe she +carried had fallen victims. Kwaneet had quickly got rid of Nakeesa's +child by her first husband, Sinikwe. It was a useless encumbrance to +him, and he had sold it for a new assegai to some Batauana people near +Lake Ngami. + +The Masarwa was how at a loose end. The companionship of Nakeesa during +their year and a half of union--married life it could scarcely be called +among these nomads--had been very pleasant. Nakeesa was always +industrious, and had saved him an infinity of trouble in providing +water, digging up roots and ground-nuts and picking the wild fruit when +game was scarce, and a score of other occupations pertaining to the +Bushman's life. Now she was gone, and he must shift for himself again, +which was a nuisance. But, chiefly, his mind was just now exercised, as +he squatted by himself at a small desert fountain, as to what he should +do with himself in the immediate future. Suddenly an old and +long-cherished plan flashed across his mind. Years before, as a young +lad, his father had taken him on a long hunting expedition to a distant +corner of that vast desert of the Kalahari, in which the Masarwa Bushmen +make their home. He remembered the stalking of many ostriches, and the +acquisition of great store of feathers; he remembered a long, long piece +of thirst country through which they had toiled; and he remembered most +of all coming presently to the solitary abode of a white man, planted in +that distant and inaccessible spot, an abode almost unknown even to the +wild Masarwa of the desert. From this white man his father had obtained +for his feathers, amongst other things, a good hunting-knife--a +treasured possession which he himself now carried. That white man, his +waggon--there were no oxen, he remembered, nor horses--the house he had +built for himself, and its fascinating contents; the strong fountain of +sweet water which welled from the limestone hard by; all these things he +remembered well. But most of all he recalled an air of mystery which +enveloped everything. When he and his father had approached the white +man's dwelling, they had seen him, before he set eyes on them, digging +in a depression of the open plain a mile from the house. Much of the +grass had been removed, and piles of sand and stones were heaped here +and there, and there were heaps, too, he remembered, near the house. +Kwaneet's father had, when they left that secret and unknown place, +strongly impressed upon his son the absolute necessity of silence +concerning the white man and his abode. The white man gave value for +feathers--good value in a Bushman's eyes--which the harsh and bullying +Batauana people of Chief Moremi at Nghabe (Lake Ngami) never did. On +the contrary, the Batauana robbed the poor Bushman of all his spoils of +the desert whenever they got a chance, which happily was not often. + +Now Kwaneet had plenty of time upon his hands and no settled plan. The +mystery of the lone white man had always fascinated him. He would go +now and see if he still lived. It was some winters ago, but he might +still be there. So Kwaneet filled three ostrich eggs and a calabash +with water, made fresh snuff against the journey, and next morning, long +before the clear star of dawn had leaped above the horizon, started upon +his quest. He was well equipped for a Masarwa. His giraffe hide +sandals, not needed till the thorns were traversed, and his little skin +cloak, neatly folded, were fastened to one end of his assegai. At the +other end hung the full calabash of water. His tiny bow, quiver of reed +arrows, bone-tipped and strongly poisoned, and a rude net of fibre +containing three ostrich eggs of water were slung over his back. Some +meat and a supply of ground-nuts, the latter skewered up in the dried +crops of guinea-fowls, completed his outfit. + +It was a long, long journey, but Kwaneet, travelling leisurely at the +rate of twenty or thirty miles a day--he was in no violent hurry-- +steadily progressed. He had not been through that part of the Kalahari +since, as a lad, he had accompanied his father; yet, thanks to the +wonderful Bushman instinct, the way through the flat and pathless +wilderness seemed as plain to him as the white man's waggon road from +Khama's to Lake Ngami. Despite the thirst, it was not an unpleasant +journey. The various acacias, hack-thorn, wait-a-bit, hook-and-stick +thorn, and the common thorny acacia, with its long, smooth ivory +needles, were all putting forth their round, sweet-scented blooms, some +greenish, some yellow, against the coming of the rains. Leagues upon +leagues of forest of spreading giraffe-acacia (mokaala) were in flower, +and their big, round, plush-like pompons of rich orange-yellow blossom +scented the veldt for miles with a delicious perfume. Even to the +dulled senses of the Bushman these symptoms of renewed life at the end +of a long drought were very pleasant. As the Masarwa plunged further +and further into the heart of the wilderness, game was very plentiful. +Great troops of giraffe wandered and fed among the mokaala forests; +steinbuck and duiker were everywhere amid grass and bush. Upon the +great grass plains, or in the more open forest glades, herds of +magnificent gemsbok and of brilliant bay hartebeests grazed peacefully +in an undisturbed freedom; not seldom fifty or sixty noble elands were +encountered in a single troop. All these animals are almost entirely +independent of water, and found here a welcome sanctuary. The country +was absolutely devoid of mankind. Many years before a number of +Masarwas had been massacred at a water-pit by a band of Sebituane's +Makololo, then crossing the desert. The tradition of fear had been +perpetuated and the region was seldom visited by Bushmen. + +One morning, after sleeping within the welcome shelter of some thick +bush, Kwaneet steps forth upon a great open plain of grass. Kwaneet +remembers the plain at once. Upon it his father and he had slain +ostriches years before, on their way to the white man's; and across the +broad, thirty-mile flat lay a water-pit, the last before the white man's +dwelling was reached. The Bushman looks with a keen interest out upon +the plain. He expects to see ostriches, and he is not disappointed. He +at once begins preparation for a hunt. First he takes from his neck +three curious-looking flat pieces of bone, triangular in shape, scored +with a rude pattern. One of these is more pointed than the others. He +pulls them from the hide strip on which they are threaded, shakes them +rapidly between his two palms, and casts them upon the earth, after +which he stares with intense concentration for a long half minute. +These are his dice, his oracles, which disclose to him whether the hunt +is to be a good or an unsuccessful one. Apparently the result of the +first throw is doubtful. The Bushman picks up the dice, shakes them, +and throws them again. This time the more acute-angled piece points +away from the rest. The Bushman's eyes gleam, he mutters to himself in +that odd, high, complaining voice which these people have, giving a +cluck or two with his tongue as he does so, and throws once more. Again +the oracle is propitious. Well pleased, the Masarwa re-strings his +dice, fastens them about his neck, and hastens his preparations. + +He now divests himself of all his encumbrances; water vessels, food, +cloak, assegai, and sandals are all left behind. Stark naked, except +for the hide patch about his middle, and armed only with his bow, +arrows, and knife, he sets forth. The nearest ostrich is feeding more +than a mile away, and there is no covert but the long, sun-dried, yellow +grass, but that is enough for the Bushman. Worming himself over the +ground with the greatest caution, he crawls flat on his belly towards +the bird. No serpent could traverse the grass with less disturbance. +In the space of an hour and a half he has approached within a hundred +yards of the tall bird. Nearer he dare not creep on this bare plain, +and at more than twenty-five paces he cannot trust his light reed +arrows. He lies patiently hidden in the grass, his bow and arrows ready +in front of him, trusting that the ostrich may draw nearer. It is a +long wait under the blazing sun, close on two hours, but his instinct +serves him, and at last, as the sun shifts a little, the great ostrich +feeds that way. It is a splendid male bird, jet black as to its body +plumage, and adorned with magnificent white feathers upon the wings and +tail. Kwaneet's eyes glisten, but he moves not a muscle. Closer and +closer the ostrich approaches. Thirty paces, twenty-five, twenty. +There is a light musical twang upon the hot air, and a tiny yellowish +arrow sticks well into the breast of the gigantic bird. The ostrich +feels a sharp pang and turns at once. In that same instant a second +arrow is lodged in its side, just under the wing feathers. Now the +stricken bird raises its wings from its body and speeds forth into the +plain. But Kwaneet is quite content. The poison of those two arrows +will do his work effectually. He gets up, follows the ostrich, tracking +it, after it has disappeared from sight, by its spoor, and in two hours +the game lies there before him amid the grass, dead as a stone. The +Bushman carefully skins the whole of the upper plumage of the bird, cuts +off the long neck at its base, takes what meat he requires, and walks +back to his camping-place. There he skins the neck of the bird, +extracting the muscles and vertebra; and, leaving the head, sews up the +neck again, inserting into it a long stick and some dry grass, and lays +it on one side. The hunt and these preparations have consumed most of +the day. Kwaneet now feeds heartily, drinks a little water, indulges +himself in a pinch or two of snuff, and then, nestling in his skin cloak +close to his fire, his back sheltered by a thick bush, sleeps soundly +till early morning. + +So soon as it is light an ostrich stalks from the Bushman's "scherm" and +moves quietly on to the plain. All its motions are as natural as +possible. It holds its head erect, looking abroad for any possible +danger, as these wary creatures will, puts its head down to feed at +times, scratches itself, all in the most natural fashion. The ostrich +is no other than Kwaneet, disguised with the greatest care and deftness +in the skin of the slain bird. He manoeuvres the neck and head on the +long stick inserted yesterday. All this is part of a Bushman's +education, and Kwaneet is merely profiting by desert lessons acquired +from his father years before. The Bushman-ostrich moves quietly out on +to the flat, and presently joins a knot of birds feeding amid the grass. +His approach is so skilful that he is able, without suspicion, to lodge +an arrow in the finest male bird of the troop. From this troop, moving +as they move when alarmed and keeping always with them, he kills four +birds during the morning, all of which he rifles of their best feathers. +During three days' hunting upon the plain Kwaneet thus kills eight fine +cock ostriches, and gains a noble booty of prime feathers. These +feathers having carefully fastened together, he proceeds on his journey. +It takes him a long day to cross the plain. He rests at the limestone +water-pit on the other side, recruits his water calabash and eggshells, +and then sets himself for the wearisome two days of waterless journey to +the white man's settlement. He travels faster now, and late in the +second afternoon reaches the well-remembered spot. The digging upon the +grass plain seems to him as he passes it much larger than of old. Many +heaps are now grass-covered and even overgrown with low bushes. But +chiefly Kwaneet notices that the dry bed of an ancient stream, which +ages since ran here, has been greatly excavated. The banks are piled up +with soil, and the channel is much deeper than when he last saw it. +Kwaneet smiles to himself and marvels at the white man's profitless +labour. The man is alive, that is certain, his spoor plainly tells that +tale. In another mile, following the path worn long since, the Masarwa +walks into the pleasant open glade just upon the outskirts of the +camelthorn forest, where the dwelling stands. It is exactly as Kwaneet +remembers it, a low cottage of wattle and daub, neatly thatched. The +old waggon still stands there under the spreading acacia fifty yards to +the left. It is now rotten and dilapidated, almost falling to pieces; +the white ants have been busy with it. There are signs of cultivation. +Away to the right, near the fountain, a patch of mealie and tobacco +ground is almost ready for the rains that soon must fall. + +In front of the red mud walls of the hut, now glowing warmly beneath the +rays of the dying sun, sits the white man in an old waggon chair. As +Kwaneet walks up, he starts, rises, and, looking hard at the Bushman, +says: "Who is it?" Then, looking still harder, "Surely Dwar, the +Masarwa?" + +"Nay," answers Kwaneet, "it is not Dwar, but Kwaneet, the son of Dwar. +Dwar died in the drought, in the season that three lions pulled down the +giraffe by the pool of Maqua." + +The white man laughs grimly. "That is the answer of a true Masarwa," he +says. "How can I tell when Dwar died? But now I remember you, Kwaneet. +You were here as a lad with your father, and you are as like Dwar as +one kiewitje's egg is like another. What do you do here? The Masarwa +seldom comes this way." + +"Oh, my lord," returned Kwaneet, "I lost my wife on the Tamalakan River +and I wished to wander again. I thought I would hunt this way and see +if the white man still abode here. Here are feathers which he may wish +to buy." + +The white man was long silent and gazed hard at Kwaneet, and as he gazed +his eyes seemed to wander dreamingly into the past. Meanwhile Kwaneet, +squatting there in the red sand in front of him, had time to observe him +well. The white man had changed a good deal. His glance, which the +Masarwa remembered as shifting and uneasy, was the same, but otherwise +he was different from the strong man he had last seen. He stooped and +was very thin, his face was deeply lined, the flesh followed tightly the +contour of the bones. The beard and hair, which the Bushman remembered +as an intense black, were now thickly streaked with white. + +While the two men sit thus silent, let us look into the white man's +past--that past which at this moment he himself retraces within the +mazes of his brain. James Fealton, fifteen years before, was a +Namaqualand trader, who knew the interior and its natives well, and had +prospered moderately. He had not a very good reputation. When diamonds +were discovered and the rush took place to the Vaal River, he happened +to be down-country. He joined the rush, and, chumming with an +Englishman fresh from the old country, spent many months in digging. +The two men lived hard, and had no luck for six months, by which time +most of their capital had come to an end. Then came a big stroke of +fortune. They found a huge stone of many carats, worth some thousands +of pounds. Not a soul in the camp knew of the find. But one day +Fealton had disappeared, his partner was found in their tent stabbed to +the heart, and a hue and cry arose. The hue and cry did not last long; +the camp was far too busy in those days with its own affairs to trouble +greatly about bringing felons to justice. Fealton had carefully covered +up his traces and the search presently died away. Fealton had, as a +matter of fact, ridden off on a fleet horse by night and had secured +three good days' start. Avoiding all dwellings, he rode across the +veldt, and presently reached a kraal on the north bank of the Orange +River, where he had left a waggon, oxen, and some stores some six months +earlier, just before he had been bitten with the diamond fever. + +Within six hours of his arrival at the kraal he had inspanned his oxen +and trekked away north into the heart of the Kalahari. At first he had +luck; there were plenty of wild melons (tsama) about the desert, and, +failing water, his oxen subsisted on these for some weeks. At Lehuditu, +a Kalahari kraal, where the only native he had with him lived, he paid +off the man and thence trekked on alone. But as he pressed yet north +the tsama failed, and one after another the oxen fell in their yokes and +died of thirst and exhaustion. It was a ghastly struggle for life. +Fealton managed to reach the pleasant fountain where Kwaneet found him +and there halted. He had reached a remote place, surrounded by +"thirsts"--a place unknown to white men--here he would rest for a year +or two. The remnant of his oxen, save two, soon after died from eating +a poisonous plant--"Tulp," as the Boers call it--and he was stranded +whether he liked it or no. But the place suited him very well. He was +haunted by the gnawing fear of detection. The crime itself--the foul +murder of his friend--troubled him little at present in the haste and +toil of flight, but the consequences of it, the terror of retribution +and of justice, dwelt with him incessantly. He would stay here till +things were forgotten, and then escape north far into Portuguese +territory and so to Europe. Meanwhile there was plenty of game around +him. He had a plentiful store of ammunition--enough for many years, +with care--and was fond of sport. He would hunt ostrich feathers, and +thus collect wealth to add to the value of that wonderful diamond, which +he carried ever about him. And so he had built himself a hut, and made +himself a home in the wilderness. + +Rambling with his gun about the country near the place of his +settlement, he had found one day a dry river-bed, where water had +evidently run in ages past. Some of the gravel here and there, left +uncovered by the light sand of the desert, struck him. He brought a +spade and searched carefully, and presently from a washing picked out a +small diamond. The discovery electrified him. That here in this secret +place, happened upon by the merest accident in that desperate flight +from the great diamond stretches of the Vaal River, he should have lit +upon another field, seemed the wildest improbability of a dream. Yet so +it was. He found a week or two later another stone. They were not +large diamonds, but they were wonderfully pure gems, white and flawless. +He now set to work with feverish energy. He would amass a huge fortune +in a year or two and then get away to some civilised country and enjoy +that life of luxury and indulgence for which inwardly his soul had +always pined. He had a few trading tools on his waggon, among them +picks and spades. These easily sufficed him. He worked steadily for +three years in the dry river-bed, until the time when Kwaneet and his +father had made their way to his hut. His success had not been very +great, thus far the stones were scarce and far apart and not very large. +Moreover, the toil of carrying the stuff to his fountain for washing +purposes was great, and took up much time. But, four years after the +Bushman's visit, a turn came. Moving farther along the dry channel he +had at length hit upon much richer soil. Fine diamonds of considerable +size were occasionally to be found after the washings, and slowly the +man's store of gems increased. Yet, always hoping for some yet greater +streak of luck, he toiled on. Now at last, in the leather bag, locked +in a corner of his waggon-chest, he had a great fortune. But for the +last two years his health had begun to fail. Some internal trouble +sapped at his strong frame. He lost flesh and grew old and wrinkled. +The fitful beating of his heart, palpitations, and even sudden pangs, +alarmed him. He gave up digging, he had barely enough energy at times +to shoot or snare game and keep himself in meat. He must escape from +the desert, which he now loathed, and get to Europe and obtain medical +advice. No doubt he could be put right again. + +For months he had been casting about for some means of escape from what +was now in his weakened state a prison. He doubted whether he could +struggle on foot to the next water--sixty long miles of heat and +thirst--and there were other long thirsts to be traversed before he +could even strike a native settlement and buy a horse or oxen. And +here, in the midst of his perplexities, the Bushman had turned up! +Nothing could have been more fortunate, it was absolutely providential. +Fealton felt that evening more cheerful than he had done for years past. +His troubles would vanish now. That night he treated Kwaneet to a +magnificent feed--for a Bushman--opened his last bottle of brandy--the +long-treasured remnant from a case of two dozen--and, under the +mellowing influence of the liquor and companionship, his spirits rose +immensely. The old bright dreams, which had been fading in the last +year or two, rose clear before him. He understood the Koranna dialect, +which much resembles Masarwa, and he had no difficulty in conversing +with the Bushman. From him he gleaned a little--a very little--of what +was passing in the native states around him. Moremi reigned at Lake +Ngami. Khama had succeeded Macheng and ruled the Bamangwato. Secheli +still lived. The white men came oftener into the country, the game grew +scarcer. He could glean little else than these bare facts from the +desert man. Yet it was wonderfully pleasant to use his tongue, to break +the long silence of the lonely wilderness, to exchange ideas even with a +Masarwa. The two men talked for a couple of hours, then Fealton +motioned Kwaneet into a corner of the hut, and himself lay down upon his +rough bed. + +Kwaneet curled himself up under his hartebeest skin cloak and was soon +fast asleep. He woke as usual very early, but Fealton was awake before +him. Peering from under his cloak, Kwaneet saw in the dim light of +early morning that the white man was sitting on his bed. He had in his +hands a skin bag. He opened this and poured out its contents on the +couch. The Bushman could not see all, but he saw a little heap of +pebbles, which the hand of the white man levelled and spread over the +blanket. Several of the larger stones he picked up and examined closely +and weighed in his hand. It was clear to Kwaneet from the white man's +movement that he set great store by these pebbles. The Bushman stirred. +Fealton swept the stones into the skin bag again, put them into his +waggon-chest, which stood close to the bed, and locked it. + +That morning, after breakfast, Fealton unfolded his plans to the +Masarwa. He was to go with some ostrich feathers to a trader at Lake +Ngami and barter two good pack oxen on which the white man could make +his escape. He could ride one and pack his belongings on the other. +The Masarwa had more than once tended cattle for the Bechuanas, and +understood them. Oxen would traverse the "thirst" better than horses-- +even if horses could be obtained, which was doubtful--and Kwaneet did +not understand horses. For the Bushman's protection in this business-- +lest he should be robbed or cheated of the feathers by the way--Fealton +wrote a note in an assumed name and hand, authorising the cattle to be +delivered in exchange for feathers. He represented himself briefly as a +traveller who had broken down in the desert. He enjoined upon Kwaneet +complete secrecy as to his long settlement in the Kalahari. The reward +to Kwaneet for the due despatch of this piece of business was in the +Bushman's eyes a very great one. The white man promised him a +breech-loading rifle and ammunition and some goats. Kwaneet had +ambitions, for a Masarwa, and began to look forward to setting up as an +aristocrat, such, for instance, as the Batauana or Bamangwato people, +who lorded it so greatly over the poor children of the desert. + +Kwaneet performed his mission secretly and well, he procured the two +pack oxen, got them safely across the desert--luckily it was the +beginning of the rains--and arrived one day at the white man's hut. He +approached the place with a swelling sense of satisfaction. He had +accomplished a difficult mission for a desert-bred man. The white man +would be vastly pleased. The reward, that magnificent Snider rifle, +which always he had carried in his mind's eye, the cartridges, the +goats--all, all were soon to be his. Within fifty yards of the hut +something caught the eye of the Masarwa--something that sent a thrill +down his back. Here was now, since the rain had fallen, fair green +grass starred with flowers. Big pink and white lilies stood in their +short-lived bravery near the fountain, and amid these wild lilies lay +bleached bones and pieces of torn cloth. The white man was dead, and +here was the last of him. Kwaneet turned over the bones. Many of them +were broken by hyenas and jackals, but there was no mistaking the +fragments of clothing amid which they lay. The Bushman's aid had come +too late. Fealton's fate had at last overtaken him. He had died +suddenly of the ailment that had been so long sapping at his life, and +the birds and beasts of the desert had been his undertakers. + +Here at first was a bitter disappointment for Kwaneet. Presently, +however, on thinking it all over, the affair looked not quite so blank +for him. Here in this secret place was wealth--a good rifle, some +ammunition still remaining, as he knew, the two oxen he had brought. +Why should not he himself live here and enjoy this pleasant spot and +these good things? So Kwaneet took possession of the hut and its +contents, clothed himself in an old pair of trousers and a flannel +shirt, and entered upon the life of a great man. He built a little +kraal for his two oxen, and for a time was as happy as an English squire +with a heavy rent roll in the good days. He tried the rifle, and after +a time even overcame the alarming difficulty of letting it off. But it +was a serious undertaking, and upon the whole he preferred his bow and +arrows. + +Presently Kwaneet, Masarwa though he was, yearned once more for +companionship. He would try to get a wife again. He had found the +white man's bag of pebbles. He felt convinced somehow, from the care +the man had bestowed upon them, that they were valuable. He would take +these and the best of the ostrich feathers to the trader and obtain more +cattle for them, and on his way thither he would pick up a wife at the +water of Ghansi. This last was not a difficult task. At Ghansi he +bought the girl he needed, paying for her his father's old +hunting-knife, which he had replaced by a better one found in the white +man's hut. Kwaneet's appearance with a couple of pack oxen and a big +load of feathers, and other indications of immense wealth, created some +sensation among the Masarwas squatting at Ghansi. One of them in +particular, Sakwan, made it his business to inquire further into the +matter. He had an old grudge against Kwaneet--it had happened over a +stray tusk of ivory found in the desert; it irked him yet more to see +his rival thus prospering. After Kwaneet with his new wife had left +Ghansi for the Lake, therefore, Sakwan followed secretly upon their +spoor. Kwaneet found no difficulty in marketing his wares at the end of +his journey. He interviewed the trader by night. The man was staggered +at sight of the magnificent lot of ostrich feathers which Kwaneet turned +out of the skin coverings that enveloped them; yet more staggered was he +when the Bushman produced his bag of pebbles, and poured them upon the +deal table. The trader knew diamonds in the rough perfectly well. +Here, he assured himself, was the price of a king's ransom. Where did +they come from? Were there more of them? To these questions Kwaneet +returned evasive answers. He knew nothing more than that he had found +them in the desert. There were no more of them. What then, asked the +trader, did Kwaneet want for the lot--feathers and pebbles? They were +not worth much to him, but he would buy them. Kwaneet had thought all +this out His fortune was worth to him, he conceived, ten head of cows, a +bull, twenty goats, some Snider ammunition, a hat, a suit of trade +clothes, and a shawl for his wife. He shook a little with excitement as +he proposed these enormous terms. The trader laughed to himself at the +Masarwa's idea of wealth; he knew well that that wonderful bag of +diamonds alone was worth some tens of thousands of pounds. And the +feathers--magnificent "prime bloods," long and snow-white, represented +three or four hundred pounds at least. He haggled a little to save +appearances, and finally closed the bargain. + +Two days later, Kwaneet and his wife started away from a quiet cattle +post belonging to the trader, which lay at some distance from the native +town. It was part of the bargain that the trader should see the coast +clear, so that the Bushman might get away unknown to the Batauana. This +was safely accomplished. The two bush people, driving their fortune +before them, plunged straightway into the desert. It was an anxious yet +a delightful journey for Kwaneet. He had made his pile; henceforth he +would rear flocks and herds in that dim corner of the desert and grow +ever richer--as rich as a Bechuana. What Masarwa before him had ever +accomplished, had ever even dreamt so much? + +Thanks to the rains, which held late that season, Kwaneet got all his +stock safely over the journey and reached his goal. It was a fine clear +morning as they drove the cattle and goats up to the pleasant fountain, +now brimming over with the rains, which Kwaneet knew so well. There +stood the hut and the waggon just as he had left them. Partridge-like +francolins were calling sharply near the water. Brilliant rollers and +wood-peckers, and bizarre hornbills, with monstrous yellow bills, were +flitting to and fro among the trees of the mokaala grove. Beautiful +wild doves cooed softly from the spreading branches of the great +giraffe-acacia, beneath which the old waggon stood. Bands of +sand-grouse were drinking, splashing, and stooping at the water. The +grass was still green; flowers still flourished; the place looked very +fair. All that day Kwaneet and his young wife toiled hard, cutting +thorns and making a temporary kraal for the cattle. Then they ate some +food and, turning into the hut, slept. + +Two hours later--before the moon rose--a dark form crept up to the +doorway. The cry of a hyaena was heard. Kwaneet came forth and was met +not by any prowling beast but by the sharp blade of an assegai which +pierced his heart. That deadly thrust was made by Sakwan, who had +shadowed for weeks past the career of his hated rival. Thus miserably +ended the fortunes and hopes of Kwaneet the Bushman. Perchance if he +had lived he might have founded here in this remote place, as he had +sometimes in these last weeks dreamed to himself, a tribe--perhaps even +a dynasty--of the desert! Why not! Lehuditu, that strange village of +the central Kalahari, sprang from no greater a beginning! But all these +aspirations had been ruthlessly ended by Sakwan's spear-head. They sank +there into the thirsty sand with Kwaneet's life-blood. As for Sakwan, +he took possession of the Masarwa girl, squatted at the fountain till +they had killed and devoured Kwaneet's cattle and goats, and then, with +his wife, betook himself once more to the roaming life of his kind. + +Kwaneet's bones rest there amid the Kalahari grass, mingling with those +of the white man, mute records of ruined hopes, the pitiful relics of +the first and last Masarwa Bushman that dared to have ambition. +Sometimes the jackal turns them over with his sharp snout, but they are +very white and very clean now, and not even a jackal can find +consolation in them. The diamonds collected so painfully by the +murderer Fealton, and so lightly parted with by the simple Kwaneet, are +scattered too; but at least they have built the fortunes of the white +trader, who now lives in England upon their proceeds the life of a man +of wealth. He can little guess, nor, I suppose, would he be greatly +interested to know, the sorry ending of the desert nomad to whom he owes +his luck. + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +THE CONQUEST OF CHRISTINA DE KLERK. + +The few hunters, traders, and Trek Boers who cross the dreaded +Thirstland of the Northern Kalahari, and, upon their long and trying +journey towards Lake Ngami, strike the Lake River (marked upon the maps +Zouga or Botletli River), well know the pleasant outspan at Masinya's +Kraal. Masinya's is a small village of Bakurutse natives, planted a +mile or so from the southern bank of the Lake River. Between the kraal +and the river, amid a thin grove of spreading giraffe-acacia trees, set +upon a little islet of rising ground, lies the outspan where travellers +bound to and from Ngami usually halt. On the right, a hundred and fifty +yards from the tall, oak-like motjeerie tree, which every hunter knows, +lies a deep depression, which, fed by the overflow of the Lake River, +assumes the aspect of a handsome lagoon, at some seasons full and deep, +at others a mere shallow vlei. Beyond the lagoon lie the hard, +sun-baked alluvial flats which border the sluggish river. Upon the +southern and western sides of the charming oasis of Masinya's Kraal +stretch the great open grass plains, flecked with springboks, and dotted +here and there with a troop of larger game, which fifteen or twenty +miles away are checked by the endless and waterless forest and bush of +the Kalahari--that vast desert which, thanks to its lack of surface +water, lies to this day dim, unknown, and mysterious to all races of +mankind, save the wandering Bushmen and Vaalpens who inhabit it. + +Upon the 28th of December, 1878, towards four o'clock in the afternoon, +a great Cape waggon, conspicuous by its new white tilt and +spick-and-span paint, toiled heavily across the flat towards Masinya's +Kraal. Presently, urged by the excited yells of the driver and the +pistol-like cracks of his great whip, the eighteen stout oxen rose the +slight sandy ascent, and a little further drew up their burden under the +shade of a spreading acacia. A white woman, young, dark, and +good-looking, her face shaded by a broad-brimmed straw hat, sat upon the +box; and as the great waggon halted she descended with light foot to the +dry, grassy soil, shook herself a little, adjusted her hat, and looked +about her. The first thing her brown eyes lit upon was another waggon +and encampment some hundred and fifty yards to her right. + +Kate Marston was a colonial-born girl, and understood the ways and signs +of the veldt well enough. Something about the look of the encampment, +the old buck-sail stretched from the waggon to a couple of friendly tree +stems (thus forming an apartment in itself), the travel-worn waggon, its +tilt patched with raw hides, and a general air of untidiness, convinced +her that it belonged to a Boer owner. The sight of a female figure +sitting under the lee of the waggon in a squat chair, and her immense +Dutch kapje, or sun-bonnet, at once settled that conviction. + +But Kate Marston had plenty to do at present before troubling herself +about a visit to her neighbour. Her husband, Fred Marston, was away in +the veldt, hunting, and she wished to have her camp settled, her +tent-sail fixed, some of her belongings got out of the waggon, the fires +lighted, and the evening meal prepared against his return, which she +expected towards sundown. In half an hour's time, thanks to her brisk +and energetic ways, things were settling themselves as she wished. The +tent-sail was fastened down, the little folding camp-table--flanked by a +couple of waggon chairs--in its place and covered with a clean +table-cloth (even in the wilderness, Kate, with her English ways, loved +to be neat), a fire of wood blazed cheerfully, the game stew was +simmering in the big Kaffir pot. These things being attended to, Kate +had washed her hands and face after the day of trekking, brushed her +thick, dark hair; and now, in her thin light brown stuff dress, clean +collar and cuffs, and broad sun-hat, looked as fresh, bright, and +cheerful as if she had just issued from her bedroom in some well-found +house, instead of from a mere rude travelling home in the wilderness. +Kate Marston, the daughter of a well-to-do British settler in Griqualand +West, had recently married, and was now, two months after her wedding, +travelling in the hunting veldt with her husband--a trip she had looked +forward to with the keenest anticipation for more than a year past. It +was the dream of her life. Although very well-educated at the Cape, +Kate, brought up on a colonial farm, loved the free, unfettered life of +the veldt. She rode well, was a good shot with the fowling-piece, and, +before settling down on a Transvaal farm in Marico, had persuaded her +husband to take her with him on an expedition into the far interior. +Rough though the journey had been through Bechuanaland, Khama's country, +and across the parched wastes of the Kalahari, Kate had loved it all. +To her each day brought with it new delights--scenes and memories, of +which, to the latest day of her existence, she could never be deprived. +Fred Marston, her husband, a man of two-and-thirty, had done very well +for years past as a trader and elephant hunter. He was about settling +down for life in the Transvaal--now for a year past proclaimed a British +possession; and before retiring from the wild life of the wilderness he +was thus trekking with his wife, on a journey of pure pleasure and +hunting, towards Lake Ngami. + +A native boy had strolled across from the Boer camp, and from him Kate +Marston had learned the name of the Dutch woman sitting over yonder. It +was de Klerk. Her husband was an elephant hunter from the Northern +Transvaal. They had a good load of ivory, gleaned during a year or two +of adventure, and the wife, husband, and two children were now on their +way down-country. Kate was not very sure of her reception if she went +across. The Transvaal Dutch were, since the annexation of their +country, not only disaffected towards the British Government, but rude +and uncivil towards individual English folk. However, Kate understood +the Dutch and their language exceedingly well, and her cheerful nature +inclined her to be friendly. She had often before now thawed the +stubborn reserve of a Boer huis-vrouw. She would go across and pay the +Dutch camp a visit. A walk of less than two hundred yards, and she +stood by the de Klerks' waggon. + +Now Vrouw de Klerk had heard from her native servant, sent casually +across to pick up news, who and what the new arrivals were. She was not +much comforted. She had hoped to see the faces of Dutch folk. Here +were only English, whom she hated. However, she was not to be caught +napping. She had washed her children's faces and hands and her own, +pinned a big bow of blue ribbon at her throat, and put on a clean kapje, +and had even donned a nearly new black alpaca apron. She sat under the +waggon sail, cutting up dried onions into a tin dish; but as Kate +Marston approached she made no attempt to meet her. She was not a +bad-looking woman, Christina de Klerk, as Boers--who are not noted for +female beauty--go. She had plenty of light brown hair, drawn tightly +back from her face and knotted under her great sun-bonnet; but the face +was--as is so often the case with Afrikander Dutch women--broad, high +boned, and absolutely lacking in colour; the blue eyes were somewhat +pale and colourless; and although she was a young woman--little more +than three-and-twenty--a dull, stolid, even hard expression was already +settling itself for life upon her lineaments. Christina was a tall, big +woman, but her figure was thick, heavy, and altogether devoid of grace; +stiff and unyielding it was as her own nature. + +Bred up in a remote back-country in Waterberg--scarcely educated at +all--if reading with no great ease from the great family Bible can be +called education, Christina had, like most of her fellows, a mind almost +untouched by civilisation; a mind narrow, bigoted, and prejudiced to a +degree almost inconceivable to denizens of modern Europe. But when all +was said and done, allowances were to be made for Christina de Klerk. +The grandchild of one of those Dutch families which had quitted the Cape +and thrown off English rule in the Great Trek of 1836; the daughter of a +frontiersman, who, after making himself a home in the wilds of the +Northern Transvaal, had seen his beloved republic entered and possessed +by the very British from whom he and his parents had trekked; she had +from infancy been nurtured in a blind and unreasoning hatred against all +English people. Just now, as Kate Marston advanced and stood before her +tent, her naturally grave and impassive face had assumed a very sour and +unpleasant look. Christina had surveyed with rapid sidelong glances the +Englishwoman's approach; she now took a full, steady, but by no means +friendly look at her as Kate halted and spoke. In these glances and in +that look she had time to observe that the Englishwoman was young, very +good-looking, and--in a Boer woman's eyes--well-dressed. All this +tended little to lull her wrath. The woman, she felt, was her superior. +She hated her for it. And as Kate spoke in a soft, clear English +voice, with that lip speech which, to users of the rough, thick, +guttural Dutch, seems mincing and super-refined, Christina detested her +yet more. Her husband hated the English, her father and grandfather had +hated them; now at this moment her spirit rose in a burning flame of +resentment against the woman who had come to speak to her. + +"Good evening, Vrouw de Klerk," said Kate pleasantly. + +"Good evening," repeated Christina in a low, subacid voice, looking away +into her bowl of sliced onions. + +"We have just come up-country and I hear you are on your journey out I +thought I should like just to step across and ask if there is anything +we can do for you. We have plenty of stores on our waggon. You may be +short of coffee, sugar, or other things? And I thought, too, perhaps, +as you have been away in the veldt so long, you might like to have news +from down-country." + +Christina no longer looked away, but now stared straight into the +Englishwoman's face. A faint flush had risen upon her dull cheeks; her +anger, the pent-up hatred of years, was now at boiling point. + +"I want to know and hear nothing," she replied in a hard, set voice, +with much energy. "The English have stolen our Transvaal country; we +have nothing to say to them until we have got that country back. You +took the Old Colony from us. You took Natal, which we won with our +blood. Now you have taken the Transvaal. Ach! and yet you are +surprised that we hate you. If I were dying I would not take one drop +of cold water from an Englishwoman. We are enemies. You know it. And +yet you must pursue us even here in the veldt. I want to have nothing +to do with your people at all or at any time!" + +Kate was a good deal staggered at this outburst, but she knew the Dutch +and their uncouth ways; she knew that their bark is often far worse than +their bite. In a perfectly calm tone, but with some spirit, she +replied: + +"Your welcome is surely a churlish one, Mevrouw de Klerk, and your +accusations are very absurd. I am an Afrikander, like yourself, and I +know of these things. I will grant that perhaps the Dutch in the Old +Colony had some reason for their Great Trek. But that is a tale more +than eighty years old, which should surely be forgotten. As for Natal, +there were, as I happen to know--for my mother was a Natal colonist-- +English traders at Port Durban years before the Boers trekked into the +country. And for the Transvaal, surely you must admit that your +weakness and misgovernment was so great that the English Government had +to step in to save your country and the rest of South Africa from Zulu +and other native dangers." + +Vrouw de Klerk was preparing to answer vigorously. Kate Marston raised +her hand. "Stop," she said, "I won't argue the matter further. I'll +just say Good evening and go back to my waggon. Perhaps when you come +to think it over you will see that you have been rude and unreasonable +to a stranger in the veldt--even an English Afrikander has feelings. If +I can help you in any way, if you want anything, send over to our waggon +and you can have it with pleasure. Your children there,"--looking at +the two fat Dutch kinder, staring with blue eyes and moon faces at the +dreadful Englishwoman--"may want something, perhaps." So speaking, Kate +turned on her heel and walked back to the camp. + +Christina de Klerk sat glaring for a full minute at Kate's back as she +walked away. She was turning over in her dull, slow-moving mind some +scathing retort upon her adversary's statements. But Kate was now too +far away. She rose with a snort of defiance, and, muttering angrily to +herself, went off to the fire with her sliced onions. These she threw +into a three-legged pot, adding to the meat already there a pinch or two +of salt and pepper, and then bestirred herself towards the cookies of +Boer meal baking among the embers. + +Kate Marston, not a little vexed and put out at her unexpected +reception, strolled back to her waggon, and then, moving fifty yards +beyond, sat down with her back to a tree to enjoy the sunset and watch +for the approach of her husband. She was upon the edge of the grove, +and the great grass plains stretched away at her feet in illimitable +monotones of green and yellow--green where the natives had fired the +veldt, and the recent rain had induced fresh vegetation; yellow where +belts and patches of last year's grass, which had escaped the fire, yet +remained. It was nearing sundown; the western sky was ablaze with +colour; far up towards the zenith the gorgeous hues of crimson and +orange faded off to amber, and yet higher the heavens were of a wondrous +clear, pale sea-green. The plains were just now bathed in a rich warm +glow. As Kate looked she could see droves of springbok dotted here and +there, their white backs and under parts showing up curiously in the +mellow light of evening. It was a wonderful hour, and amid that vast +calm and the soothing glamour of the scene Kate's ruffled feelings soon +assumed their wonted peacefulness. + +Her eyes, ranging over the vast expanse, presently lit upon something +that arrested her attention. There were two figures far away in the sea +of grass; surely one of them would be her husband? She watched, and +presently made out that one of the objects was much taller than the +other. What could it mean? A little while and the two figures rose +clearer before her gaze. Now, at last, she understood what they meant +Fred Marston had found a number of giraffe, and turned one out of the +troop, and, aided by a masterly use of the wind, had succeeded in +driving the tall creature in front of him right up to his own waggon. +Skilled South African hunters can achieve this feat with the eland and +giraffe, but the giraffe is usually far more difficult to ride into camp +than the eland. + +Closer came the strange group. The giraffe was tiring, and now, instead +of galloping in its clumsy yet swift fashion, paced with giant, +shuffling strides across the veldt, with something of the gait of a +camel. A hundred yards from where Kate sat, quietly watching this +singular spectacle, the great dappled giant stood. It had caught sight +of the waggon and of figures moving among the trees, and would go no +further. The tall quadruped, full seventeen feet in height, its rich, +dark, chestnut-pied coat gleaming warmly beneath the flush of sunset, +stood for a full minute absolutely motionless, as these animals will do. +It looked like some strange figure of bronze, the creature of a +vanished age. Thirty paces to the right Fred Marston had reined in his +horse and stood expectant. + +"There you are, Kate!" he shouted, cheerily, as his wife rose. "A real +good giraffe cow, fat as butter, and in splendid coat. I've had the +dickens' own trouble with her, though. She was as obstinate as a mule." + +Kate clapped her hands together. "Oh, how wonderful!" she exclaimed. +It was the first giraffe she had ever set eyes on. + +The cow still stood, and Fred Marston rode nearer to his wife. He was a +strong, good-looking, fair-bearded man, and, sitting there easily in his +saddle, his shirt sleeves rolled up, his rifle butt resting on his right +thigh, the dying light full on his sunburnt face and arms, he looked, as +Kate thought, a true man of the veldt. + +"How wonderful!" she repeated; "and what a height, and what a lovely +colour. It seems a sin to shoot her!" + +"My dear Kate," answered her husband, "we want meat for the camp badly, +and the Masarwa spoorers expect it. I can't let her go." + +"Well," responded Kate, "I won't see her shot, poor thing," and with one +last look at the tall creature still standing there, an almost pathetic +sight, with a half sigh she turned and went back to the waggon. As she +moved, the giraffe swung round and shuffled off. But her time had come. +Marston cantered a little wide and ahead of her. As she came past, his +rifle went up, the report rang out, and a Martini-Henry bullet drove +into the great cow's heart. She staggered, tottered twenty paces, and +then with a mighty crash fell to the earth dead. + +Kate and her husband, after a cosy supper, sat long, chatting by the +camp fire that evening. She told him of her reception at the Boer +waggon. He related his adventures in the veldt that day. A little +before ten, they turned into their waggon, in the forepart of which a +comfortable kartel-bed was slung, closed the fore-clap (curtain), and +their camp presently rested in a profound peace. + +But at Christina de Klerk's camp there was no peace that night. At ten +o'clock her husband's native after-rider, "September," a Hottentot, who +had before dawn on the previous morning ridden out with his master +across the plains, walked up to the camp fire, leading his lame and +foundered pony behind him. The man was himself far gone with fatigue. +His mistress had long since retired to her waggon, but he had ill news, +and he called her up. His news was this: + +They had found a good troop of giraffe soon after they entered the +forest; but in a long run up to the game Adriaan de Klerk had sustained +a bad fall, pitching upon his head. He recovered in a couple of hours' +time, thanks to the Hottentot's care; but after that, September said, he +had behaved like a madman. The fall had turned his brain somehow. He +insisted, against September's entreaties, in pursuing the giraffes, +which had now got far too great an advantage. But de Klerk said, +angrily, he wanted "kameel" skins [Kameel, literally Camel, the Boer +name for giraffes], he could get 2 pounds 10 shillings apiece for them +in Marico, and he would ride till he came up with them. All through the +hot afternoon they rode without off-saddling; the Baas had a terrible +thirst, and drank up most of the water they carried. At nightfall, with +jaded horses, they off-saddled in the bush and lay down to sleep. It +was a bad night, said September. The Baas was very restless, and +constantly moaned and talked in his sleep. Before dawn he was up again, +and insisted upon going on. September begged and pleaded. He warned +his master that with failing horses and no water they might easily be +cast away and die of thirst. All Adriaan de Klerk could say was that he +was going on till he came up with the giraffes. He told September to +ride back to camp for water. The Hottentot said he would not go without +his master. De Klerk was plainly beside himself. He raised his rifle +and told the man if he did not turn his horse's head and go he would +shoot him. And so September had ridden home. His horse was lame and +knocked up; there was not another in camp. What was he to do? If the +Baas was not rescued within forty-eight hours he would die of thirst. + +Christina had a stout heart, as have most of the Afrikander Dutch +women-folk, but September's story, and above all his manner, convinced +her that her husband, alone, without water, his mind wandering, was in +supreme danger. She rose from the kartel--like most up-country Boers +she slept in her clothes--buttoned her bodice, and came to the fire. An +inspection of September's pony at once convinced her that the animal was +unable to travel further. As it was, September had been compelled to +walk by its side during most of that day's journey home. It was dead +lame and suffering from the effects of fatigue and two days' thirst. + +What was she to do? Christina stood there with the Hottentot by the +fire-blaze, discussing every possible plan. They might carry water by +the aid of natives. But that would involve waiting till the morning, +and even then a journey of probably more than forty miles would have to +be taken on foot. And then, as September pointed out, it was more than +likely that Masinya's people, who were not over fond of the Boers, would +point-blank refuse to go. And all this time Adriaan de Klerk, his mind +unhinged by his fall and set upon one impossible object, might be +plunging yet further into that waterless and inhospitable wilderness. +His image rose clear before her mind's eye: the thirsting, haggard man, +the sinking horse, and then the terrible end, and the vultures streaming +down from the sky! She knew but too well the danger. What, oh God! +what should she do? Leaving the tired Hottentot to squat over the fire, +she paced frantically up and down near the waggon, turning over +impossible projects in her agonised mind. + +It was a glorious night. The moon, shining in unspeakable majesty, cast +its silvery spell over the distant plain and upon bush and grass near at +hand; its amazing light pierced the foliage of the acacias and wrought +wondrous patterns beneath her feet. The clear army of the stars, the +deep blue mysterious vault above, the ineffable calm of night; all these +things availed nothing to the woman's troubled soul. Her agony of mind +increased. Suddenly her eyes fell upon the white waggon tilt of the +Englishman's camp. There, of course, was a way out of the difficulty. +There were fresh horses, four or five of them. With these, help and +water could be carried to her husband! + +But then, upon the instant, her thoughts ran back to the afternoon, to +her rough, unkindly reception of the Englishwoman. She knew in her +inmost soul that she had not done the right thing, thus to meet a +stranger in the veldt--even if that stranger were an Englishwoman. Was +her trouble a judgment upon her? But here her stubborn Dutch pride came +to her aid. Could she go across to that camp and ask help? + +Never! Never! + +The night slowly passed, and still Christina de Klerk paced up and down +the grove, sometimes resting for a brief spell upon the disselboom of +her waggon. In her agony of mind it seemed that the day would never +dawn, the light in the east never pale the sky. + +At seven o'clock next morning, as Kate Marston, fresh and beaming, was +putting the finishing touches to her toilet under the waggon sail, +which, flanked by canvas screens, served as her dressing-room, her +husband called to her. She came forth, and there, wan and dishevelled, +her eyes red with weeping, stood Christina de Klerk. She told her +piteous tale. She acknowledged that she had been unpardonably rude the +afternoon before. It was a judgment upon her. A judgment sent by the +Heer God to humble her pride. And now would the Englishwoman and her +husband forgive and help her? She could not live without her husband. +She had children. They would take pity on her in her trouble. In all +her life, never had Christina de Klerk known a bitterer moment, thus to +humble herself before the detested English. + +The tears sprang into Kate's eyes at the poor woman's story, her too +evident distress. "Why, Me'Vrouw de Klerk," she said cheerfully, "of +course my husband will help you. Will you not, Fred? We should be a +poor kind of English folk, indeed, if we could listen to a trouble like +yours without doing all we could for you." + +"Wait ten minutes, Me'Vrouw de Klerk," said Marston, taking her by the +hand, "while I swallow some breakfast and get the nags saddled, and +we'll go at once with water on your husband's spoor." In fifteen +minutes, taking a spare horse loaded up with two vatjes of water, and +September, the Hottentot, on another fresh nag, to act as guide, he set +forth. + +"Never fear, Me'Vrouw de Klerk," he said, cheerily, as, putting aside +her heartfelt, sobbing thanks, he rode off. "We shall bring your +husband back all right." + +As a matter of fact Fred Marston knew that he had a difficult and +dangerous task before him, to rescue a man half out of his mind, +wandering in that terrible Thirstland. He accomplished his task, but, +as he had expected, with the greatest difficulty. He and September, +taking up the spoor of the wanderer, had followed it hour after hour +into the parched forest country. Not until half-way through the second +day did they find de Klerk, lying insensible, a mile or two beyond his +dead horse, himself nearing his end. Resting all that afternoon and +evening, they revived the Boer with the aid of water, brandy, and a +little food, and, riding all that night and part of the next day, +brought Christina de Klerk her man, safe and sound, though terribly worn +and jaded, into camp. All were fagged and knocked up; without water the +horses could have held out but a few hours longer. + +How Christina passed those miserable two days of suspense she never +afterwards quite knew. But for the kindly help and sympathy of Kate +Marston, she declares she never could have got through. The next day +was New Year. De Klerk, after a long rest, was nearly his own man +again, and nothing would content the Marstons but that all should dine +together in the English camp. Sitting under the great acacia tree, +where the Marstons had outspanned, they enjoyed together a right merry +New Year's dinner. + +Christina de Klerk never forgot that time of trial. They trekked down +to the Transvaal, and Adriaan de Klerk, it is true, rode out with his +fellow-countrymen and fought in the successful Boer War of 1881. But in +their estimate of the English, individually, their feelings have never +wavered since that New Year's-tide of 1879. + +"There may be bad English as there are bad Dutch," says Christina, as +she sometimes tells the tale of her man's rescue to some of her +countrywomen. "And Rhodes and Chamberlain! Ach! they are too good for +shooting even. But I believe most of the English folk have good hearts. +For my part, so long as I live, and I hope so long as my children shall +live after me, there shall be always a welcome for the English in this +house. Adriaan and I owe them far too much to forget the kindness we +received at their hands. Is it not so, Adriaan?" + +And Adriaan, ponderously yet heartily, answers, "Yes." + +CHAPTER SIX. + +A CHRISTMAS IN THE VELDT. + +At six o'clock upon a hot morning of African December, Lieutenant +Parton, of the Bechuanaland Border Police, came out of his bedroom at +the Vryburg Hotel, equipped for a long two days' ride. He was a smart +officer, and the cord uniform, big slouch hat, looped up rakishly at one +side, riding boots, and spurs, became his tall figure well enough. + +In itself the blazing two days' ride and the prospect of some trouble at +the end of it were hardly sufficient to warrant the air of deep +thoughtfulness now gathered upon his dark and serious face; yet, as he +strode across the little courtyard beneath the mean shade of the two or +three straggling blue gum-trees, the grim knitting of his brows +indicated that somehow he was not altogether pleased with the journey +that lay before him. + +But the lieutenant had some reason for his burden of care. The object +of the expedition upon which he was setting forth was the arrest of some +native cattle-stealers at a Bakalahari kraal, far out to the westward, +in the more desert portion of British Bechuanaland. There had been a +sudden call for troopers of the Bechuanaland Border Police up in the +northern protectorate, and it happened that the only man Parton could +take with him as orderly upon this particular morning was the very last +person in the world with whom he would have chosen to spend several +days--probably a week or more--in the closest intercourse. Trooper +Gressex, now waiting outside in front of the hotel, was that man. + +Although the one was a lieutenant close upon his captaincy, the other +plain trooper in the frontier force, the two men had once been social +equals at home, and, at school and elsewhere, upon terms of considerable +intimacy. Gressex (formerly known as Tom Mainwaring) had migrated from +London society and a career of sport and pleasure, after coming somewhat +suddenly to the end of his financial tether. He had made his plunge +into obscurity and had re-appeared as an unknown trooper in the +Bechuanaland Border Police. + +Parton had quitted service in a line regiment in India, where he saw +little prospect of promotion, and had accepted a commission in the same +Border Police force. The two men had first encountered one another, in +their now altered circumstances, some three months back. Upon the South +African frontier such striking changes of condition are being constantly +met with, and are borne by the less fortunate, almost invariably, with a +good-humoured, if somewhat reckless, philosophy. + +In this instance Partons discovery of his old schoolfellow's altered lot +had not been altogether a welcome one; and on this particular December +morning he had, as has been hinted, a special reason for desiring any +other trooper as his orderly upon the expedition in front of him. + +The lieutenant entered the coffee-room of the squat, corrugated-iron +hotel, and ate his breakfast. In ten minutes he appeared upon the +street, ready for his horse. Trooper Gressex, who was leaning against +the stoep, holding his own horse and Parton's, saluted as his officer +came forth, and answered the formal "Good morning, Gressex," with an +equally formal "Good morning, sir." + +The two men mounted and rode away, no slightest sign having fallen to +denote that they had ever occupied any other relations than those of +officer and man. + +Having ridden quietly half-a-mile out of the town, Parton lighted his +pipe and set his horse into a canter. Gressex rode upon his flank, and +the two steadily reeled off mile after mile of the vast sweep of grassy, +undulating plains over which their route lay. Hour after hour they rode +through the blazing day, off-saddling every three hours and giving their +nags a brief rest according to invariable South African custom. At +night, having compassed more than fifty miles, they finally halted, and +prepared to camp just within the shelter of a patch of woodland, which +here broke the monotony of the grass veldt. The horses, after a longish +graze, were tied up to a handy bush; the two men, having eaten a supper +of tinned "bully beef" and brewed a kettle of coffee, lay upon their +blankets and smoked by the pleasant firelight. The few scraps of +conversation which they exchanged related solely to the expedition +before them, Gressex having more than once made the journey to Masura's +kraal. + +Aloft the infinite calm of the far-off, dark-blue heaven, now spangled +with a million stars, seemed to invite deep and peaceful sleep after a +hard day's riding. A refreshing coolness now moved upon the veldt, the +tender airs whispered softly through the long grasses, a cicada droned +drowsily in the thorn-bush; all nature promised rest. At nine o'clock +both men, lightly wrapped in their blankets, with their feet to the fire +and their heads pillowed in their saddles, were fast asleep. + +At one o'clock in the still, early morning Gressex was awakened by the +sound of a voice. He rose softly upon his elbow and looked about him. +The stars shone more gloriously than ever, but the Southern Cross had +fallen from its erect position and now lay over upon its side. The +veldt was perfectly quiet, save for the plaintive wailing of a far-off +jackal, which had got their wind and was crying out the news to his +fellows. Even the cicada had ceased its weary drumming. As Gressex lay +upon his elbow listening, he perceived that the sounds he had heard came +from Parton, who was talking fitfully in his sleep. It is hard to +follow a man whose tongue labours with the difficulties of a slumbering +brain, and Gressex was not much interested in puzzling out the +intricacies of his officer's drowsy speech, but one word fell upon his +ear which instantly fixed his attention. The word was "Ella." + +"Ella," muttered the sleeping man, in a curiously sententious way, "I +tell you I can't do it. It's not the least use thinking further about +him. You'll never see him again; why harp upon a broken string? Some +day I hope you'll be kind and give..." + +Gressex had, after that one word, small difficulty in following the +halting speech of the sleeping man. He waited impatiently for other +sentences, but the voice was hushed again. That name, "Ella" told him a +good deal. It told him that, although in their long ride of the +previous day Parton had not reverted in the slightest degree to their +former friendship and its environments, his mind now, during the hours +of sleep, was running busily in old channels. The word "Ella" and its +associations roused many a pang and many a memory in the soul of +Gressex, as he lay there under the silent stars. A hundred questions +and doubts shaped themselves in the trooper's mind for the next hour or +more. At last sleep again overtook him and he remembered no more till +pale dawn came round and he awoke. Already the little coqui +francolins--the prettiest of all the African partridges--were calling +with sharp voices to one another near the pan of water fifty yards away, +and an early sand-grouse or two were coming in for their morning drink. +It was time to be breakfasting and away. The embers were blown up, +fresh wood was put on, and the kettle boiled for coffee. The two men, +after an exchange of "Good morning," breakfasted almost in silence, the +horses were got in from their feed of grass, saddled up, and the journey +was resumed. + +The blazing morning passed, as in all these long veldt rides, in +monotonous fashion. At three o'clock, in the hottest period of the +afternoon, the two men emerged from a long two hours' stretch of bastard +yellow-wood forest. Suddenly Parton, who was a little in front, reined +up with a "Sh!" upon his lips. Gressex followed the lieutenant's glance +and saw what had arrested his progress. Half a mile to the right, just +outside the forest, a troop of noble gemsbok were resting beneath a +patch of acacia thorn trees: some were lying down, some standing, but +all, even the usually tireless sentinel nearest the waggon-track, were +overcome by the heat, and--for such suspicious game--a little relaxed in +their watchfulness. Such an opportunity was too tempting to be passed +by. A plan of operations was quickly evolved as the two men withdrew +their horses within the shelter of the wood. It was curious to observe +how instantly the prospect of sport had broken down the thick hedge of +reserve between them. They now whispered together rapidly and with +intense animation. + +Gressex turned his horse's head and rode back through the forest in a +semicircle towards the game. Presently he dismounted, fastened his +horse to a bush, and then with the greatest caution stole towards the +troop. At last, from behind a screen of bush, he has the game well +before his gaze. They are a hundred and fifty yards away; between them +and the watcher's clump of bush is open grass veldt, and there is no +possibility of getting a foot nearer. Gressex sits down, sidles +imperceptibly to the left hand, and now has in front of him a fair shot. +Even now there is not a breath of suspicion among the dozen great +antelopes out there in the open. Gressex can note easily their +striking, black and white faces and spear-like horns. The shade of the +acacias is somewhat scanty, and he can see plainly the splashes of the +sunlight gleaming through the foliage bright upon their warm grey coals. +Now he takes aim at the bull nearest, draws a long breath, and pulls +trigger. The Martini-Henry bullet flies true, and claps loudly, as upon +a barn door, on the broadside of the gallant beast. The gemsbok leaps +convulsively forward and scours away up wind. In the same instant there +is dire commotion among the troop; the recumbent antelopes spring up +wildly, and with their fellows stretch themselves at speed--and few +animals can rival this antelope in speed and staying powers--in rear of +the stricken bull. Gressex hurriedly fires another shot and misses +clean. + +And now, as Parton had foreseen, his opportunity has come. The troop +will cross his front within less than half a mile. He gallops full tilt +from the sheltering woodland and rides his hardest to cut them off. He +is perfectly successful--so successful that he cuts off the main troop +from the two leading antelopes, and, while the animals stand for a +moment in utter bewilderment, he jumps off and gets his shot. The +bullet flies high, yet luckily. The vertebra of the big cow he aimed at +is severed on the instant, and she falls in her tracks, "moors dood," as +a Boer would say--as dead as mutton. + +At the report of Parton's rifle, the troop scatters and flees again. +Parton jumps into the saddle and tears after Gressex's wounded bull, +which, three hundred yards in front, is manifestly failing fast. The +stout pony, now thoroughly excited with the chase, gains rapidly; the +gemsbok is pumping its life-blood from mouth and nostrils, and cannot +stand up much longer. But, suddenly, without warning, Parton's nag puts +its foot into a deep hole hidden by the long grass and goes down. +Parton is shot violently over its head and comes heavily to the veldt. +In the next three seconds Gressex's gemsbok fails suddenly, and, sinking +quietly to earth, breathes out its last. + +Gressex himself is quickly on the spot and first applies himself to +Parton, who now sits ruefully with his hat off, gathering his scattered +senses and nursing a broken left arm. Gressex has once helped to set a +man's arm in the hunting field, and he now goes to work. First he cuts +quickly from a piece of fallen wood two flattish splints, then he +unwraps one of the "putties" from his legs. This winding gear makes an +admirable bandage. Next he proceeds to set the damaged limb. Luckily +it is the fore arm, and after a painful ordeal of pulling, endured with +set teeth by Parton, Gressex adjusts the broken bone and binds on the +splints. With the other "putty" a sling is then extemporised. Parton +has some brandy in a flask in his saddle-bag. He takes a pull at this, +and while Gressex cuts off the heads, tails, and some of the meat from +the slain gemsbok and fastens them upon the saddles, he sits with +somewhat more ease and contentment smoking a welcome pipe which the +trooper has filled and lighted for him after the operation. Half an +hour later the journey is resumed again. It was a long twenty miles to +the Bakalahari village to which they were travelling. The pace was +slow, out of consideration for the wounded arm, and it was not until +well on into the night that they rode into the beehive-like collection +of round native huts, and called up the two Border policemen stationed +there. + +For two days the swollen and painful state of Parton's arm prevented him +from taking further action in the affair of the cattle-stealers, which +had necessitated his sudden patrol. Meanwhile he rested, gleaned +quietly all the intelligence that was to be gleaned, and prepared for +action. + +He interviewed, of course, Masura, the native chief settled here, and +made a casual inquiry as to the stolen cattle, but he was careful not to +let it appear that he had made a special journey on that account. The +chief, it was well known, was not well affected to Government; but he +protested that no stolen cattle or cattle-stealers had come into his +country, and appeared to be anxious to aid in any inquiries that might +discover the marauders. To lull his suspicions, Parton, on the second +day of his arrival, requested him to send out runners to his various +cattle posts so as to ascertain whether fresh stock had lately come in. +This the chief promised to do on the following day. + +But Parton had meanwhile, thanks to the alacrity of the two troopers +quartered in the town and to a native spy of theirs, gained exact +information of the whereabouts of the stolen cattle and their thieves. + +They stood at a remote and little known cattle post of this very chief, +some twenty-five miles from the town, and Parton had now laid his plans +to ride out during the night and make their recapture early next +morning. There might be some resistance, and he settled therefore to +take with him the two troopers stationed here, as well as Gressex and a +couple of natives upon whom he could depend. Meanwhile, although busied +in his official work, Parton had had time in these two days to be much +exercised by the private anxieties that galled incessantly his mind. +For several days he had borne their harassing companionship. Two +letters, one read and re-read many times within the last five days, the +other unopened and unread, which lay within the breastpocket of his +tunic, contained the secret of all this mental harassment; these letters +burnt upon his conscience much as a blister burns the flesh against +which it is laid. + +Since their arrival at the village Parton's demeanour towards Gressex, +which had suddenly altered after the episode of the hunt and the broken +arm, had changed again. During the excitement of the chase and under +the quick and kindly attentions of Gressex when his arm was broken, his +old friendliness had reasserted itself. Twice the name Mainwaring had +escaped his lips as he thanked his trooper gratefully for his ready and +tender help. And upon that long evening's ride his manner had softened +greatly; almost in the dim starlight he had gone back to the old days +again. + +Yet something within him had just stayed his tongue and had hindered a +recognition which in itself would have been a mere act of grace, +lessening no whit the discipline and respect ordained by their present +difference in rank. + +As for Gressex he had ceased to wonder at his old friend's curious +demeanour. The mental exclamation that rose within him--"He's a proud +devil, after all. I should hardly have thought it of Parton!"--very +well expressed his feelings, and he now made the best he could of the +companionship of the two troopers--very good fellows they were--with +whom he was quartered. + +At twelve o'clock upon the third night of his arrival in the Kalahari +village, Parton, who had now made every preparation, rode very silently +and with every circumstance of caution, out into the night. With him +were his three troopers and the two native allies--one a Bushman, the +other a Griqua--who had acted as his spies and were now to show him the +road. His broken arm was by no means yet at ease; but Parton, whatever +else his demerits, had plenty of pluck, and just now, in his state of +mental tension, inactivity was a very curse to him. + +The huts where they were quartered lay upon the outskirts, and the party +quitted the village so silently that not even a native dog raised its +alarm. Sometimes walking their horses rapidly, sometimes cantering-- +though the action caused Parton to grind his teeth with pain--they +passed in less than five hours over the wilderness of grass and bush +that lay between them and the cattle post they sought. The Griqua, who +had a horse of his own, rode, the Bushman trotted always in front of the +party, finding his way in the starlight with an unerring and marvellous +precision. There were four huts at the cattle post. These were +speedily rushed in the dim early morning, just as the faintest hint of +dawn began to pale the night sky. The inmates were all asleep, but the +final rattle of horse hoofs and the furious barking of the kraal dogs +roused them. It was too late. Gressex and his fellow troopers each +carried and secured without a blow their respective huts, which +contained a few Bakalahari men, women and children. + +Parton, by a stroke of ill luck, happened to walk into a hut in which +four Bechuanas--three of them the very cattle thieves he was in search +of--lay together. These men were all disaffected and turbulent border +ruffians, and they had arms ready at hand. In a few words of Sechuana +the lieutenant, as he stood within the hut, called upon them to +surrender. It was pretty dark, and the first reply Parton got to his +summons was an assegai through his shoulder, which brought him down. +His revolver went off uselessly, and in an instant he had three out of +the four men on top of him Gressex, in the next hut a few yards off, +heard the shot and Parton's stifled cry, and, leaving the Griqua to take +charge of his capture, dashed round to his lieutenant's relief. In five +seconds he was in the fray. The three men struggling with the wounded +officer were impeding one another, and beyond a gash or two with their +assegais had done little injury. Gressex ran in among them, loosed off +his carbine at the nearest man and settled him, struck another with his +empty weapon a blow on the arm which broke it and disabled its owner, +and threw himself upon the remaining native, who had Parton still by the +throat. But in that instant the fourth occupant of the hut who had been +standing back in the dark shade watching the struggle, came in. He +lunged with the assegai he had snatched up at Gressex's broad back. The +sharp blade shore through the trooper's tough cord tunic and flannel +shirt and drove deep into his right lung. At this moment another +trooper appeared with a blazing wisp of grass. By the light of it, as +he flung it upon the floor, he could take in the whole scene. His +carbine was undischarged; he levelled it instantly at the man attacking +Gressex and dropped him with a bullet through the heart. + +Here then was the situation. The cattle post was captured, two of the +thieves were slain, another disabled; the rest of the dozen inhabitants +of the kraal were safe under guard, the Bushman--delighted to pay off +some old scores--standing sentinel over one hut with a long Martini in +his hand and a diabolical grin of exultation on his face. The stolen +cattle, as was presently ascertained, were safe in the ox-kraal, with +the rest of the stock running at this post. But against this, Gressex +was badly wounded and the lieutenant somewhat cut and battered. + +Gressex stood stooping in the hut, the assegai sticking half a foot into +his back. Despite that horrible thrust he had still all his wits about +him. + +"Warton," he said grimly through his teeth to the trooper, who still +stood with smoking carbine, "thanks for settling that chap. Now pull +this damned thing out of me. Pull before I fall down. I feel a bit +sick." + +Warton laid hold of the spear and, exerting his strength, managed to +extract the spear-head. A little torrent of blood poured forth. While +Parton, who had now got to his feet, pressed his right hand upon the +wound, Warton managed to strip off Gressex's tunic Gressex was now very +faint. They laid him upon his side, pulled away his flannel shirt, and +then bound up the hurt as tightly as possible. Then from the +lieutenant's flask they managed to pour some brandy between the wounded +man's lips, from which blood was already oozing. There was only one +thing to be done with the sufferer. The bleeding must be stopped +somehow, and he must lie where he now lay. Only the extremest quiet +could save him. + +In an hour Parton had recovered from his own hurts. He had luckily +received nothing worse than a nasty gash in his left shoulder and sundry +cuts and bruises. His broken left arm was unhurt, thanks to Gressex's +careful setting. The struggle seemed to have cleared the lieutenant's +head. His eye was bright, his mind made up. Gressex had for the second +time in a few days done him a great service. He had risked his very +life this time for a man to whom he owed little enough, if he but knew +all, and he now lay apparently at the point of death. + +Parton's doubts and struggles had all vanished into thin air. The fight +and Gressex's ready bravery had braced him--as a fight braces always a +good Englishman--and brought to the surface all his better nature, and +he now sat down to write certain letters with a calm mind. He had his +pocket-book and an indelible pencil, and having seen that all his +captives were secure, and the cattle safe in the adjacent veldt, where +they were feeding under charge of the Bushman, he sat down in the red +sand, with his back against a hut, and began to write. Before his +writing is completed, it will be well to glance at those two letters in +his breast pocket, of which mention has been previously made. Here is +the opened letter, addressed to Lieutenant B.F. Parton, Bechuanaland +Border Police:-- + + "International Hotel, Cape Town, 12th December, 189-- + + "Dear Mr Parton,-- + + "The address of this letter will probably surprise you. I received + your letter in London on the morning I left for South Africa, whither + I have come with my uncle, Colonel Mellersh, and my cousin, Kate + Mellersh, on a trip we have long planned. We are staying at Cape Town + for a few days, and are then going on to Kimberley to see the diamond + mines, and perhaps make an expedition into the Transvaal or + Bechuanaland. + + "I must first reply to your letter. I am sorry, more sorry than I can + express, that you should have reopened that old topic, which I quite + thought and hoped, for the sake of your own peace of mind, had been + finally dismissed, if not forgotten, nearly three years ago. My mind + is as fully made up as it was when I last saw you, nor is it ever + likely to change in the way you seem to suggest and hope for. I + grieve very much to have to again say this to one whom I respect and + like, but it is better to make clear at once that there is not the + slightest prospect of any change in my sentiments. + + "I must tell you frankly that I have the very strongest of all reasons + for this--the reason that my affections have long since drifted in + another direction--the direction (I may as well at once say here) of + our mutual friend, Mr Mainwaring. + + "You say in your letter that if ever you can be of service to me I may + command you at any time. I take that expression to be a sincere one, + and I am going to put it to a very severe test. Mr Mainwaring, + before he left England, purposely avoided seeing me--quite from a + mistaken motive--but wrote me a letter telling me of his affection for + me, and saying good-bye, as he supposed, for ever. If he had seen me + instead of sending that letter, a great deal of misery might have been + avoided. I have been unable to glean the slightest hint of his + whereabouts until a week before I left England. Mr Mainwaring has + within the last few weeks come into some considerable property from an + old uncle (from whom he expected absolutely nothing) who has quite + lately died, and has now no reason to remain in exile longer. For + more than two years I have been moving heaven and earth to get at his + whereabouts, and I only received a letter, three days before I sailed, + from his cousin and family lawyer, Mr Bladen, who had always refused + absolutely before this to disclose his whereabouts, telling me that + Mr Mainwaring (under the name of Gressex) is a private in the + Bechuanaland Border Police, stationed either at Mafeking or Vryburg. + Mr Bladen at the same time informed me of his cousin's piece of good + luck, and assured me that he was only waiting for certain legal + documents to write out to Mr Mainwaring informing him of his fortune. + As there seems a doubt about his actual address, I am now going to + ask you to deliver the inclosed letter, if possible, into Mr + Mainwaring's hands, or, if you cannot see him personally, to send it + by special messenger or post it. I am asking, I know, a great deal + from your friendship, but I trust to you to help me in this matter, + which is to me of very vital importance. You know me sufficiently, I + think, to be aware that I am not trying to find Mr Mainwaring because + `his ship has come in.' I have--I am almost ashamed to say it--ample + means of my own, and Tom's good luck has nothing to do with the + question. But I do want to find him at once, and I can only think of + you, as an officer of his regiment, as the likeliest person to help + me. Pray, pray, forgive me the double burden that I fear I may be + putting upon you by this letter. + + "We shall be at Kimberley on the 15th inst. Please address any + letters or telegrams to me at the Central Hotel there. + + "Believe me, yours always sincerely,-- + + "Ella Harling." + +Ella's letter, addressed to "Mr John Gressex, Bechuanaland Border +Police. (To be forwarded)," still lay unopened in Parton's pocket. It +had remained there these five days past, although the man to whom it had +been addressed had ridden and rested for some days within six feet of +it. Fifty times a day had Parton cursed himself for a villain in +detaining it, and yet--and yet--he could not give Ella up and help Tom +Mainwaring, and so--even after the affair of the broken arm--it had +stayed there within his tunic. + +Parton's first note was to Ella Harling, telling her of Gressex's +(Mainwaring we may now call him) serious condition, and begging her, if +possible, to come up by rail at once from Kimberley to Vryburg and +thence drive as rapidly as possible the hundred miles across the veldt +to Masura's-town, where she would find a trooper who would bring her out +to the cattle post where Mainwaring lay. That, as Parton said to +himself, was something off his mind. It was some little expiation for +the wrong he had done Ella and his old friend, and he felt pounds better +already. + +His next letter was to the officer in command at Vryburg during his +absence, reporting affairs, and requesting that two more troopers should +be at once sent to Masura's-town, to aid in bringing in the prisoners +and cattle, and to keep in check any attempt by the disaffected Masura +to create trouble. He requested also that a light waggon might be +dispatched for the wounded man, with certain nursing comforts and drugs +that might be useful. He begged that, if possible, a doctor should also +be sent, as the case was an urgent and serious one. One of the +troopers, mounted on the best horse--the lieutenant's--was despatched +with these letters, with directions to put Miss Harling's note into an +envelope, carefully addressed, before posting it at Vryburg. The +trooper was partially told Mainwaring's story, and put upon his honour +not to read the contents of the letter, at present envelopeless. He was +a good fellow, and made a big ride, covering the 120 odd miles to +Vryburg in two days on the single horse. + +For the next seven days Parton had his hands pretty full at the desert +cattle post. He had to guard carefully his prisoners, to see that the +cattle were not re-stolen or re-captured, and to overawe Masura, who +came out to know why his men were being killed and his cattle seized; +and above all he had the heavy charge of nursing Tom Mainwaring, who for +some days was spitting blood and in a state of high fever. + +For three days and nights Parton nursed him most tenderly and carefully, +feeding him with milk and thin mealie-meal gruel and beef-tea made from +a slaughtered ox. + +Thanks to a sound constitution, Mainwaring turned the corner, and on the +fifth day from the affray began slowly to mend. He was still so weak +that Parton, burning though he now was to complete his expiation and +ease himself of his remaining load of trouble, feared to risk the +telling of strange and exciting news. On the morning of the seventh +day, however, Mainwaring seemed so much stronger, and the arrival of +Ella Harling, if she came at all, must be so near at hand, that Parton +delayed no longer. He made a full confession of his delinquencies, told +Mainwaring all that had happened, of his recent stroke of good fortune, +and finally handed him Ella's letter. + +"Tom," he said at the end, "I have behaved to you all through the piece +like a perfect beast. You, on the other hand, have played the game like +a man. You helped me over the broken arm and finally saved my life in +that scrimmage--very nearly at the expense of your own. I think I must +have been mad. I can only humbly beg your pardon and ask you to try to +forgive and forget, and to remember that if I fell I was sorely tried +and tempted." + +Tom Mainwaring put up his hand--it had become a very thin hand in these +few days, though the tan had not gone from it--and said in a husky +voice, for he was very feeble: + +"Don't say another word, old chap. You have made a mistake--ran out of +the course a bit--but you're all right at the finish. And you've nursed +me like a brick. I should have been a dead man by now if it hadn't been +for all your kindness and thought. Don't let's ever have another word +about the past. You've done the right thing, and few men would have +cared to be tried as high as you have been. I've had the luck this +journey; yours will come." + +The two men shook hands silently, and the past, with its tortures, its +miseries and mistakes was almost wiped away. + +It was now the 24th December. Parton anxiously expected and hoped that +Ella Harling and her friends would arrive during the day. He wanted +some comforts too for Mainwaring, now that he was within hail of +convalescence. All he had in the kraal was some mealie-meal, milk, +coffee, and sundry cattle--Tom's beef-tea as he called them. + +All that day he watched and waited impatiently, sitting much with Tom +Mainwaring, and keeping him as quiet as possible. At last, towards +sunset, the little Bushman, who had been perched upon the hut roof as a +lookout, cried excitedly that he could see a cloud of dust from the +direction of Masura's-town. In less than an hour quite a considerable +cavalcade came in. Ella Harling, looking very handsome, and, +considering her journey, wonderfully spick and span, drove in with her +uncle and pretty cousin in a Cape cart. The doctor and two fresh +troopers rode alongside, and a light spring waggon, drawn by half a +dozen mules, laden with many luxuries and comforts, followed no great +way behind. + +Parton led Miss Harling silently to Mainwaring's hut, and, with a +wistful look on his face, turned round and quitted her side as she +entered the open doorway. The meeting between Ella and Tom Mainwaring +was a very tender and yet a very serious one--few more touching have +ever taken place in the African wilderness. Presently the doctor came +in; Tom was put under his care, and the little party proceeded to make +themselves comfortable for Christmas. A tent was pitched for the +ladies, another for the colonel and the doctor, the stores were got out, +and the place made as cheery and as habitable as possible. The troopers +had shot a buck and some partridges and guinea-fowl, and an ox had been +slaughtered, so that there was no lack of fresh meat. + +Few stranger and yet happier Christmas days have been spent in the +veldt. Even Tom Mainwaring, weak though he still was, with Ella beside +him and the prospect of long years of life before them both, was as +happy as a man with a big spear-wound in his back possibly could be. As +for the rest of the company, they had a great and glorious time. There +was rifle-shooting at targets in the morning, a big dinner under a shady +giraffe-acacia tree at two o'clock, and yarns and much smoking all the +afternoon and evening. Colonel Mellersh had thoughtfully loaded a case +of champagne, some tinned plum puddings, several boxes of cigars, and +some whisky on the spring waggon, and nothing was wanting to complete +the proper festivity of the season. Even Parton, having thrown aside +his cares, resigned himself, almost with cheerfulness, to the +inevitable, and did his best to contribute to the general happiness. + +Tom Mainwaring and Ella Harling were married at Cape Town within the +next three months--so soon, in fact, as Mainwaring could get his +discharge from the Border Police. He and his wife often recall that +strange Christmas in the veldt, which, indeed, is not likely to be +forgotten by any member of the gathering. + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +THEIR LAST TREK. + +The sun was setting as usual in a glow of marvellous splendour as Alida +Van Zyl came out from her hartebeest house--a rough wattle and daub +structure, thatched with reeds--and, shading her eyes, looked across the +country. The little house stood on the lower slope of the Queebe Hills, +no great way from Lake Ngami. It was a wonderful sunset. In the +north-west a thousand flakes of cloud flushed with crimson lake, just as +they had flushed above the vast plains of that wild Ngami country a +million times before. Near the sky-line, in a blaze of red and gold, +the sun sank rapidly, a mass of fire so dazzling that Alida's eyes could +not bear to dwell upon it. Far upwards the cool and wondrous calm of +the clear and translucent pale green sky contrasted strangely with the +battle of colour beneath. + +Alida shaded her eyes again, looked keenly down the rude waggon-track +that led up to the dwelling, and listened. As she had expected--for she +had news of her husband's coming from the Lake--she presently heard the +faint cries of a native; that would be Hans Hottentot, the waggon +driver, and then through the still air the full, thick, pistol-like +crack of the waggon-whip. At these sounds her somewhat impassive face +lightened and she turned into the hut again. + +In twenty minutes' time the waggon had drawn up in front of the +dwelling, and Karel Van Zyl, a big, strong Dutchman of seven and twenty, +had dismounted from his good grey nag and embraced his wife, who now +stood with a face beaming with joy, clasping her two year old child in +her arms ready to receive him. + +"Zo, Alie," said Karel, holding his young wife by the shoulders and +looking first tenderly at her broad kindly face and then at the +yellow-haired child lying in her arms, "here we are at last. It has +been a long hunt, but a pretty good one. I left a waggon-load of ivory, +rhenoster horns, and hides at Jan Stromboom's at the Lake and got a good +price for them I traded fifty good oxen as well and sold them at 3 +pounds 10 shillings a head to Stromboom also, after no end of a haggle. +It was worth a day's bargaining though; the beasts cost me no more than +thirty shillings apiece all told." + +Then laying the back of his huge sunburnt hand against the cheek of the +sleeping babe, which he had just kissed, he added, "And how is little +Jan? Surely the child has grown a foot since I left him?" + +Alida smiled contentedly, patted her man's arm and answered, "Yes, the +child has done well since the cool weather came, and he grows every day. +He gets as _slim_ (cunning) as a monkey and crawls so that I have to +keep a boy to watch him, the little rascal. But _kom binnen_ and have +supper. You must be starving." + +Van Zyl gave some orders to his Hottentot man, as to his horse, the trek +oxen and some loose cows and calves, and went indoors. + +Half an hour later husband and wife came forth again, and, sitting +beneath the pleasant starlight, talked of the future. Their coffee +stood on a little table in front of them, and Van Zyl, stretching out +his long legs and displaying two or three inches of bare ankle above his +velschoons--the up-country Boer is seldom guilty of socks--puffed with +huge contentment at a big-bowled pipe. + +"Karel," said his wife, after hearing of his last expedition, "I am +getting tired of this flat Ngami country, with never a soul to speak to +while you are away. When shall we give it up and go back to the +Transvaal? I long to see the blue hills again and to hear the voices of +friends. Surely you have done well enough these last few years. You +can buy and stock a good farm--6,000 morgen at least. [A morgen is +rather more than two acres.] And you told me when we married--now three +years agone, Karel,"--she laid her hand upon his as she spoke, "that you +did not mean to spend all your life, like your father, in the hunting +veldt." + +"No, Alie, I don't," rejoined Van Zyl, taking his wife's hand into his +two and pressing it tenderly. "You shall go back to the Transvaal, my +lass, and we will buy a farm in Rustenburg and live comfortably and go +to Nachtmaal (Communion) once a quarter. And if I do want a hunt now +and again, why I'll cross the Crocodile River and try the Nuanetsi and +Sabi River veldt, where Roelof Van Staden and his friends travel to. +But we must have one more trek together, Alie, and this time you and the +child shall go with me. Coming to the Lake, on my way home from this +last hunt, I met messengers from Ndala, captain of a tribe far up the +Okavango, who asks me to take my waggon up to his kraal and hunt +elephants in his country. He promises me the half of all ivory shot, +and will find spoorers and show me his best veldt and give me every +help. Twice before has Ndala sent to me thus, and once to my father in +years gone by. I believe it is a splendid hunting veldt. Elephants as +thick as pallah in river bush, thousands of buffalo, plenty of rhenoster +and lots of other game. We ought, with luck, to pick up four hundred +pounds worth of ivory. And so, wife, we'll pack the waggon, get more +powder and cartridges at the Lake and trek up to Ndala's." + +"And this shall be your last trek in this country, Karel?" asked his +wife. + +"Myn maghtet, the very last," said Van Zyl. "How soon can we start?" + +"I shall be ready in three days," returned Alie. + +"In three days be it," said Van Zyl in his deep voice. And then, with a +mighty yawn, he stretched himself, knocked the ashes from his pipe, and, +putting his arm round his wife's waist, went indoors for the night. + +Two months later the Van Zyls were nearing Ndala's kraal on the +Okavango, sometimes called the Cubangwe River--that great and little +known stream flowing from the north-west towards Lake Ngami. They had +had a hard trek of it past the Lake; across a score or two of streams +and small rivers, skirting many a swamp and lagoon, and now at last, one +hot afternoon, as they looked up the broad, shining river, they set eyes +on a green island lying in midstream, dotted about with huts, and knew +that they were in sight of Ndala's kraal. Hans, the Hottentot, had once +been up to this place and knew Ndala, and Hans pointed out the captain's +hut and showed them where their waggon should stand by the river bank, +and so they outspanned and prepared to make themselves comfortable. +Across the river, beyond the island, the country undulated gently in +well-wooded, bush-clad, sandy ridges, with here and there a palm or a +baobab to catch the eye. Reddish boulders of sandstone projected from +the river's brim, between the southern shore and the island, forming a +little cataract over which the swift waters poured with a pleasant and +not too angry or unseemly swirl. And as they unyoked the tired oxen and +Alida Van Zyl, tired with sitting, descended from the waggon to look +about her, all seemed fair and pleasant and peaceful to the +travel-stained trekkers. For they had had a hard passage up the river, +and the cattle were in need of rest and good feeding, if they were to +drag the great waggon back to the Lake and thence--Alida's soul rejoiced +as she thought of it--to the dearly-loved Transvaal once more. + +And now long, narrow, dug-out canoes shot out from the island and came +paddling across the stream with envoys from the chief, to know whose was +the waggon and what was the business of the newcomers, and to bring a +message of greeting and peace from Ndala, the lord and ruler of all this +wild and little known country. + +Whilst his wife unpacked some of her waggon gear, and Zwaartbooi, the +foreloper, got out the pots and kettle and lit a fire to prepare the +evening meal, Van Zyl, taking with him Hans as interpreter, ferried +across in one of the native canoes to interview Ndala. + +The chief, a tall youngish Cubangwe, with a rather shifty eye, received +them in his kotla, an open inclosure adjoining his hut, surrounded by a +tall reed fence. He expressed himself pleased to see Van Zyl and hoped +that he might have much fortune with the elephants in his country. Then +Van Zyl, having thanked the chief for his courtesy, ordered his +Hottentot, Hans, to lay before Ndala the presents which had been brought +for him. These were a fine blanket of gaudy colours, a quantity of +beads, a cheap smooth-bore musket, and some powder, bullets and caps. +As these articles were temptingly laid before Ndala, the chief's eyes +gleamed approvingly and, in spite of his efforts, a broad grin +overspread his features. Then more conversation followed between Ndala +and Hans--conversation which Van Zyl was unable to follow--and +presently, after half an hour's interview, the reception was at an end. +Van Zyl was paddled back to his waggon, and during supper related to his +wife the friendly reception he had met with from the Cubangwe captain. + +Next morning at about eight o'clock Ndala in person came over to the +Boer's camp. Never before had he seen a white man's waggon, and he was +naturally burning with curiosity to set eyes upon the treasures gathered +within the recesses of that mysterious house on wheels. He brought with +him as presents a goat, some Kaffir corn, and a tusk of ivory weighing +about 30 lbs. Nothing would content him but that he should mount the +fore-kist (box) of the waggon and pry into that strangely fascinating +interior. He saw many things that stirred his cupidity. Two fine +rifles, cartridges, bags of sugar and coffee, cases of trading gear-- +store-clothing, cheap knives, blankets, beads, looking-glasses, powder, +lead, and other rich and rare things which were being got out for +purposes of trading and with a view to re-settling the contents of the +waggon after the confusion of a long trek. And, with the greedy delight +of a miser with his gold, he plunged his arms up to the elbows in a case +of blue and white bird's eye beads, which lay too temptingly exposed to +his gaze, and asked that the whole of this fabulous treasure should be +despatched to his kraal. To this Van Zyl demurred. He would give the +chief a portion of the beads, a complete suit of cord clothes, a shirt +and a pair of velschoons. After a long and heated argument, conducted +through the interpretation of Hans, Ndala somewhat sulkily gave way and +expressed himself content to take what the Boer offered him. As for Van +Zyl, his eyes flashed angrily, as, turning to his wife, sitting in the +shade near the back of the waggon, he said, "They are all alike these +kaal (naked) Kaffir captains. Thieves and schelms, only desiring to rob +of his all the white man who ventures into their country. I thought, +from what Hans had said, that this Ndala was a better fellow; but, +Allemaghte! he's no better than the rest of the dirty cattle. However, +there's ivory to be got here, without doubt, and we must have patience." + +"For my part," Alida replied, "I like the appearance of this man not at +all. Watch him, Karel. I believe he will try to do you an ill turn +before you have finished with him." + +Meanwhile Ndala had been holding conversation with Hans, as he peered +about the camp and inspected the cattle, and especially that, to him, +wonderful curiosity the Dutchman's hunting horse. Van Zyl had started +from the Queebe Hills with three nags. Of these one had died of +horse-sickness, while another had been killed by lions, so that only his +grey, a tried old favourite, "salted" against the sickness and a +splendid beast in the hunting veldt, remained to him. Ndala gazed long +and curiously at the shapely grey, as Hans indicated its good points and +expatiated on its manifold virtues. + +Once more the chief wandered back to the waggon, where Van Zyl was +measuring out some of the blue and white beads into a skin bag. His +greed was too much for him, and again through Hans he demanded that the +Dutchman should hand him over the whole case full, pointing out that, +considering his importance as monarch over all these regions, so +trifling a present ought not to be denied to him. + +But Van Zyl was, like many of the Dutch Afrikanders, a man of quick +temper, little accustomed to be dictated to by natives who in his own +country were mere hewers of wood and drawers of water to the white man. +The blood sprang to his face, his eyes flashed angrily, and, flinging +down the leather bag of beads, which he had just tied up, he turned +angrily upon the chief. + +"Tell him," he said, with an impatient gesture to Hans, "that he may +take it or leave it. I have offered gifts enough until I see elephants +and gather ivory. If Ndala is not content, tell him I'll inspan the +waggon again and trek out of his country and go into some other veldt, +where elephants are at least as plentiful and chiefs more +accommodating." + +Ndala had taken one quick glance at the angry Boer, as he burst forth, +and now stood, till he had finished speaking, motionless, impassive, +with eyes downcast. He uttered not another word to Van Zyl, but with a +swift motion of his hand from Hans to the bag of beads, said to the +Hottentot: + +"Carry it to the boat. I will go across again." + +Accompanied by three of his headmen who had come across with him, Ndala +stalked down to the shore, talking meanwhile quietly to Hans. Arrived +at his boat, he saw his presents carefully bestowed, and then taking his +seat was poled over to his kraal. + +Late that night, while the Van Zyls slept peacefully in their waggon, +Hans, the Hottentot, crept stealthily down to the river, without waking +a single member of the camp, and was ferried across to Ndala's by a +couple of strong-armed natives waiting for him with their canoe. +Arrived at the island, he was conducted to the chief's hut, and there +alone with Ndala he sat in deep and secret colloquy for a full hour or +more. Presently he was ferried back very quietly to the south shore +again, where, creeping into his own camp, he regained the shelter of his +blanket without having awakened a soul. + +Next morning a canoe came across early from Ndala, laden with a number +of sweet water melons, some more grain and another goat as a present to +the Van Zyls. At the same time the chief sent a message to Van Zyl to +say that, if he were ready for a hunt on the following day, some of his +tribesmen would be ready to act as spoorers and show him a troop of +elephants which was known to be frequenting some bush about half a day's +journey from the kraal. This was excellent news, and Van Zyl brightened +up instantly. + +"Myn maghtet, Alie!" he said to his wife, after taking a huge pull at +his kommetje of coffee, "the carle is not so bad as I thought him. Tell +his headman, Hans," he said to his Hottentot, "that I'll swim the horse +across as soon as day breaks to-morrow and go after the elephants." + +For the remainder of that day the whole camp was busily employed; Van +Zyl and his two men in completing a big and strong thorn kraal for the +cattle, against the attack of lions; Alida Van Zyl in finishing off some +bultong (dried meat), cooking bread, tidying up the stores and putting +together various articles required by her husband while away hunting. +Towards afternoon Van Zyl, having finished his work at the ox-kraal, +opened a keg of powder, heated some lead and zinc, and sat himself down +to the work of reloading some cartridges for his elephant rifle. + +Near him, in the shade of the spreading acacia tree by which the waggon +was outspanned, crawled on a couple of blankets little Jan, his two year +old child. Now and then the big Boer would pause from his work to +admire the strong, chubby limbs of his little son, or would stretch +forth a big hand to tickle the restless little rascal, eliciting from +him crows, gurgles and screams of childish laughter. Once Alida came +from her cooking to look at the pair. + +"Maghte!" said her husband, as he looked up at her from playing with the +boy. "How the child grows. If he goes on like this, he will be strong +enough to carry a rifle by the time he is ten years old." + +They retired early that night--before eight o'clock--and at the earliest +streak of dawn Karel Van Zyl had drunk his coffee, eaten some meat and a +rusk and said farewell to his wife and child. He kissed Alida's broad, +smooth cheek and, yet more tenderly, his sleeping child, lying there up +in the waggon, on the kartel-bed, in the big hole which his sire had +lately quitted. And then, taking with him Hans and his horse, he went +down to the stream. The good grey had swum rivers before and understood +the business; yet he paused for a moment on the brink, looking forth +over the broad, swift stream, and snuffed the air once or twice. + +"Crocodiles, _oude kerel_ (old fellow)?" said his master, patting him on +the neck. "They shall not harm you." + +The grey tossed his head, shook his bit, and Hans, looking at him, said +to his master: + +"He is all right, Baas. He trusts you. Witfoot will swim." + +So, unfastening the long raw-hide reim from the head stall, they lead +Witfoot down, got into a couple of canoes and pushed off. Witfoot swam +quietly and cleverly between the two canoes, and presently, passing +below Ndala's island, they reached the northern bank. Here Ndala was +waiting for them with a number of his tribesmen. They exchanged +greetings, and then the Cubangwe captain picked out a dozen of his best +hunters to accompany Van Zyl and his Hottentot and show them where the +elephants were. And so, bidding friendly farewells, they parted. + +Hans marched just ahead of Van Zyl, carrying, as he always did, till +game was known to be near, his master's rifle and a bandolier full of +spare cartridges. One of Ndala's men carried the second rifle, with +which Hans himself was usually intrusted. For three hours they marched +north-west under the blazing sun, over heavy sand-belts, through bush +and thin forest, until high noon, when Van Zyl reined up his horse, +pulled off his broad-brimmed hat and wiped the sweat from his brow with +his big cotton print handkerchief. + +"Hans," he said, looking round for Ndala's hunters, "those schepsels are +surely spreading out very wide for the spoor. I haven't seen one of +them for half an hour past." As he spoke he climbed leisurely from the +saddle and loosened the girths. Hans, who alone knew why the men had +vanished, answered him: + +"I don't think you will set eyes on them again, Baas. You may say your +prayers, for your last hour is nigh and I am going to shoot you." + +Van Zyl heard the clicks of two hammers being cocked and turned swiftly +round. + +"That is a verdomned impudent joke of yours, Hans," he said, "for which +I shall welt you handsomely when we get back to camp. Give me the gun." + +But Hans, standing within ten feet of his master, had the rifle at the +ready, and there was a fiendish look in his eyes which Van Zyl had never +before remarked. + +"Don't move a step nearer," said the Hottentot, "but say your prayers, +for before God I am going to shoot you dead." + +Van Zyl saw that there was something more in the man's demeanour than he +had bargained for. He turned a thought paler beneath his tan. + +"What do you mean, Hans?" he said. + +"I mean this," returned the Hottentot, still keeping his rifle ready. +"I haven't forgotten the cruel floggings I have had from you and your +father in years gone by, and I am dog-tired of your service. Ndala has +made me a good offer. We shall go halves in your goods and I am to take +your wife for my own vrouw. And," added the man, with a brutal leer, "I +shall make her a very good husband, if she behaves herself." + +At that last foul insult Van Zyl clenched his fists, swore a great oath +and rushed at the Hottentot. But the man was too quick for him. He +levelled his rifle, pulled trigger, and a heavy bullet crashed through +the brain of the unfortunate Dutchman and passed out at the back of his +skull, leaving a huge gaping wound at the point of exit. Van Zyl +dropped heavily upon the hot sand and never stirred again. + +Regardless of the pool of blood, welling swiftly from the warm body, the +Hottentot proceeded leisurely to strip his late master of his clothes, +into most of which he introduced his own squat and meagre figure. Then, +mounting the grey horse, which had meanwhile been patiently grazing hard +by, he rode off. A quarter of a mile away, before entering a patch of +bush, he drew rein and looked back. As he expected, the vultures were +already descending from the sky, prepared for their foul banquet. Some +of them were even now collected in a thorn tree near the body. In a few +hours their task would be finished and only Karel Van Zyl's bones would +remain for the jackals and hyaenas. + +An hour before sunset that same afternoon Alida Van Zyl sat in her +waggon sewing. On the kartel by her side lay her little son Jan, +playing with a wooden doll carved for him by April, their Basuto herd +boy and foreloper. April himself was just now squatting by the camp +fire, looking after the stew-pot and solacing his ease with an +occasional pinch of Kaffir snuff. It was a lovely late afternoon, the +heat of the day was passing, a pleasant breeze from the southeast moved +upon the veldt, and as Alida expanded her lungs and inhaled the pure, +invigorating air, and rested peacefully, after a day of work and +washing, life, even in this remote wilderness, seemed very pleasant. +Once or twice she looked up from her work and let her eyes rest upon +that fair scene in front of her. The ever-moving river, running its +perpetual course south-eastward, looked wondrously beautiful; its +murmurs, as it swept over the low cataracts and swirled onward, sounded +very sweet to the ear and suggested a perennial coolness. Bands of +sand-grouse were coming in from their long day in the veldt to drink at +the river's edge. Their sharp but not unpleasing cries sounded +constantly overhead as they sped swiftly to the stream and then, after +wheeling hither and thither once or twice, stooped suddenly to the +margin, alighted and drank thirstily. Skeins of wild duck passed up and +down the stream. Now and again splendid Egyptian geese took flight and +with noisy "honks" flew on strong pinions to some other part of the +water or to the trees fringing the river-course. Dainty avocets, +sandpipers and other wading birds were to be seen here and there in the +shallows, while ashore the francolins were calling sharply to one +another. + +As she sat in the kartel, with her feet resting on the waggon-box, Alida +Van Zyl's thoughts ran in a pleasant current back to her Transvaal home. +She pictured to herself the long, trying trek over, Lake Ngami and the +weary Thirstland passed, Khama's and Secheli's countries traversed, and +beautiful Marico in the Western Transvaal entered. And from there +Rustenburg, with its fair hills and valleys and smiling farmsteads, was, +as it were, but a step. Three or four months of elephant-hunting here +at Ndala's, and her man would have finished his wanderings in these +regions and they would be inspanning and turning their faces for home +again. And then peace from wanderings and a comfortable homestead and +the faces of kinsfolk and friends. A pleasant, pleasant thought. + +While she thus dreamed her day dream of the future, a canoe had, +unnoticed by her, shot across the stream and made its landing on the +shore a hundred yards or so behind the waggon. In a few minutes the +sound of approaching footsteps made her look up from her sewing. + +She saw--for the moment she believed her eyes must have deceived her-- +not five yards from the waggon, Hans, the Hottentot--Hans carrying her +husband's rifle and tricked out in clothing, notwithstanding that +sleeves and trousers were liberally turned up, at least three sizes too +big for him. There was a strange look in the man's eyes, half guilty, +half triumphant, as he glanced up at his mistress. What in the name of +the Heer God could it all mean? And then a pang gripped her heart. +Surely something had happened, else why was Hans here at the waggon and +alone? But Alida was a stout-hearted woman; her husband had never yet +met with a severe mishap. Surely, surely all was well? + +"Hans," she cried in the sharp commanding voice she always used to her +native servants, "what in the name of Fortune are you back here for and +dressed like a figure of fun? Whose are the clothes, and where is your +master?" + +Hans looked with an evil leer at his mistress and replied: + +"The clothes were the Baas's, je'vrouw, and they are now mine. Surely +you can recognise them? As for the Baas, he is dead. Ndala and I have +settled all that, and we have divided his belongings, and you, Vrouw Van +Zyl, are now to be my wife." + +The man advanced close up to the waggon-box and again leered hatefully +at his mistress. Alida turned pale as death, but she mastered herself +and replied with angry scorn: + +"What is this cock-and-bull story about the Baas being dead? You are +drunk, man. I shall have you well thrashed for your lying when your +master comes home. Be off and get under the waggon and go to sleep. +Loup, yo schelm!" + +"The Baas will never come back again," returned the Hottentot, "he is +dead. I shot him in the veldt." He put his finger to a dark crimson +stain upon the collar of his coat. "See, that is Karel Van Zyl's blood. +Dead he is, I say. And now get down from the waggon and let me kiss +you. You are to be my wife in future and, mind you, you'll have to +behave yourself." + +Something, as she looked at the Hottentot and his absurd clothing and +the dark stain of blood, told Alida Van Zyl that all this was God's or +the Devil's truth she was listening to. But, like most of her race, she +was a strong-minded woman, bred through long generations of ancestors to +a life of rough toils and many dangers. She was horror-stricken, but +not in the least likely to faint. Suddenly she half rose, stretched up +her hand to the side of the waggon and took down from the hooks on which +it rested a loaded carbine which Karel Van Zyl always left for her +protection. Cocking the weapon, she pointed it at Hans and threatened +to pull the trigger. Hans ducked as the carbine was levelled and sprang +out of harm's way. Darting round to the side of the waggon, he yelled +in a shrill, angry voice: + +"I shall come for you later on, my fine Vrouw, and when it is dark I +shall know how to manage you. Put away that gun or you may come to the +same end as your husband." + +He passed away down to where the canoes lay and held converse with some +of the tribesmen there, and there was silence in the camp. But, as +Alida felt, the silence was in itself very ominous. + +In a little while, as the swift African twilight fell, April, the +Basuto, crept up to the waggon and whispered to his mistress. Alida, +who for the last half-hour had been very busy with certain preparations +in the interior of the waggon, came to the fore-kist, carbine in hand, +and listened to him. April with a scared face told her rapidly that +things were so wrong that he was going to make a bolt for it and take to +the veldt and so try and make Moremi's town at Lake Ngami. Hans had +threatened to shoot him, and he could expect no protection from Ndala. +What to advise his mistress he knew not. She asked him if her husband +was really dead, and whether she could herself expect aid from Ndala and +his people. Alas! April assured her that the Baas had, indeed, been +slain, so much he had gleaned from Ndala's people. As for the chief +himself, he had the worst opinion of him, and upon the whole he, April, +thought his mistress had better submit herself to the Hottentot. Later +on help might come, if he himself could get safely to the Lake. + +But April would stay no longer, not even at his mistress's earnest +entreaty, and crept away. A minute later Alida heard the stamp of feet, +sounds of a scuffle, and then a blood-curdling scream rang through the +growing darkness. More struggling, the sound of thuds, a muttered +groan, and then all was silence. Alida, listening with awed white face +and nerves at their fullest tension, shuddered and drew back to her +child. That was poor April's death scream beyond a doubt. + +She lighted a lantern and then, sitting far back in the waggon, close to +her sleeping child, waited for the next scene of this dark tragedy. Who +can picture the distress of this poor creature, strong, able-bodied, yet +helpless against a cruel destiny. To quit the waggon would be madness. +If she attempted to escape with her child into the veldt, a few hours of +spooring by the morning light would bring her enemies upon her. Dark +and bitter as have been the hours of many a Dutch Afrikander woman in +her times of trial, few can have endured the tortures that now racked +the soul of Alida Van Zyl. With pale, set face she sat there in mute, +yet stubborn, despair, waiting, watching, praying to the God who, it +seemed, had now clean forsaken her. + +An hour after dark Hans came up to the waggon again. + +"Well, Vrouw," he said, before showing himself, "is it peace?" + +"Ay," returned Alida in a dry voice and with a strange hard look in her +face, "it is peace. I am in your hands. You may climb up." + +Hans appeared at the front of the waggon and looked at his mistress. +She had no gun in her hand. Apparently all was well. He climbed to the +waggon-box and turned to face her. At that moment Alida Van Zyl seized +the candle from her open lantern and dropped it into an open cask of +gunpowder which stood ready just behind the kartel. The darkness was +for one awful moment broken by a blaze of hellish fire; a frightful +explosion rocked the earth and rent the air for miles; and in that dire +catastrophe Alida Van Zyl, her child, Hans the Hottentot, and half a +dozen natives, prying round the waggon to watch the progress of affairs, +were, with the waggon itself, blown to a thousand pieces. + +Thus miserably ended the last trek of Karel and Alida Van Zyl. + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +THE LUCK OF TOBIAS DE LA REY. + +Tobias De la Rey was one of those pastoral, hunting Boers who are still +to be found in some numbers in the remoter parts of the North and East +Transvaal. His farm was a poor one, he had no great head of stock, +sheep did very ill upon that veldt, and Tobias, like others of his +class, finding it hard to make ends meet, was in the habit annually, as +his father had been before him, of making a hunting trip beyond the +Transvaal during the season of winter and bringing back as much ivory +and as many skins of giraffe, hippopotamus and the larger antelopes as +he could get together during six months' hunting. This cargo he took +down to Zeerust, in the Marico district, and sold there. Once or twice +he had been led so far afield in search of elephants that he and the +other Boers hunting with him had remained away two seasons. But still +Tobias was a poor man. He had no luck with his stock, his land was not +good enough to grow tobacco, and now at the age of twenty-four, when +most good Boers are married and have children about them, he remained in +single wretchedness; for in the judgment of the uxorious Boer, by the +age of twenty-two, every Dutch Afrikander, if he is worth his salt, +ought to be married and settled. It was not De la Rey's fault by any +means. He had more than once offered himself for the hand of some +well-to-do neighbour's stout daughter, but his advances had, hitherto, +purely by reason of his poverty, been civilly declined. + +The South African winter season was just now setting in--it was the +month of April--and Tobias, who meant having another hunt this year, had +already made all his preparations. His waggon was refitted and +overhauled, his trek oxen were ready and his servants at hand. His +hunting horses, three of them--two unsalted--including his old, salted, +ewe-necked garron "Blaauwbok," a gaunt, knowing old "blaauw-schimmel" +(blue roan), which had carried him already four seasons in the hunting +veldt, were pastured near the house and fed occasionally with mealies, +to give them heart and condition for the hard life that lay before them. + +And Tobias himself had this year obtained permission from Khama, chief +of Bamangwato, to pass through his country--following the route of the +Trek Boers, who had gone through two seasons before--and had determined +to hunt in the wild and little known country far to the north-west of +Lake Ngami. + +But before setting forth, Tobias had a visit to pay. He had viewed with +increasing favour this last year or two Gertruey Terblans, niece of +Mevrouw Joanna Terblans, with whom she lived. Truey was an orphan and +had some land and stock of her own. She was a dark, brown-eyed, sturdy +girl of sixteen, and Tobias De la Rey regarded her and her farm and +stock as highly desirable acquisitions. This morning, therefore, he +saddled up his best looking nag and trippled briskly off, with that +curious ambling gait--something between a trot and a canter--so greatly +affected by the Dutch Afrikanders. Tobias had dressed himself with some +care. He wore a new broad-brimmed hat, decked with a couple of short +white ostrich feathers. He had struggled with immense difficulty into a +collar, and was resplendent in a blue satin necktie. And he wore a suit +of new corduroy store clothes, purchased for his hunting outfit. His +spurs, too, were new and shining. Tobias meant to make a bit of a +splash to-day, and although he was not prepared for the solemnity of an +"opsitting" (that all-night form of courtship, dear to the heart of the +Boer), and had therefore no candle in his saddle-bag, he wished to leave +upon the minds of Truey and her aunt, on this leave-taking, the most +favourable impression possible. Tobias himself was a huge, loose-limbed +Boer, standing six feet two in his velschoons. He was a rough, +unkempt-looking fellow, even at his best to-day. His straggling beard +and moustache and long shaggy hair were of a fiery red. His broad, +freckled face and smallish grey eyes were vacant and expressionless in +all ordinary affairs of life--even in presence of the fair Truey +herself. Only the excitement of hunting could rouse the man. Then he +was, like most of his fellows, a different being, transformed from a +dull, listless, stupid-looking giant to a man of action, alert, active +and energetic even as an Englishman. The horse he bestrode was the +youngest and best looking of his stud, a not bad-looking bay +five-year-old, which to-day was resplendent in a new cheap curb bridle +of that frightfully severe pattern always affected by the South African +Dutch. His saddle was not new, but a gorgeous red and yellow +saddle-cloth, in De la Rey's eyes, fully atoned for that defect. + +Tobias rode steadily north up the Nylstroom River, and in three hours' +time came in sight of the Terblans homestead, "Vogelstruisfontein" +(ostrich fountain), an ordinary Dutch farmhouse, built of Kaffir bricks +and whitewashed, and backed by goat and cattle kraals, a grove of fruit +trees--peach, apricot and quince--and a weeping willow or two. Sitting +in the shade of the stoep was old Jan Terblans, now turned seventy, and, +from fevers and privations of early days, long past work. The old man +still had the use of his eyes, however, and, catching sight of De la +Rey, he called to him to off-saddle and come in. Tobias obeyed, and, +after shaking hands with Terblans and chatting a few minutes, went at +his host's request indoors. In the living room, at the top of the +table, by the coffee urn, sat Tant' Joanna Terblans, second wife of the +old man outside, an enormous matron of five-and-forty, whose eighteen +solid stones of flesh filled to overflowing the capacious armchair that +supported her. Tant' Terblans had been a little taken by surprise, it +is true, but she had had time to send for her best apron, and had +smoothed her dull brown hair, and her great, full-moon face was now +turned inquiringly towards Tobias as he entered. + +Tobias held out his hand, took the Vrouw's fat paw in his own, and +returned her greeting with a "Dag, Tant'." + +"Why, bless the man," remarked the matron, "how smart you are to-day. +And what may you have come over about? No `opsitting' mind, Tobias! +Remember what I told you six months ago. Truey with her fortune is to +make a good match, and a wandering elephant hunter like yourself need +never think of her. We are glad to see you over, of course, in a +neighbourly way, but not with any ideas of Truey." + +Tobias meekly replied that he had but come to say farewell before +starting on a long hunting trip. "And perhaps," he added, "if I have +luck this time and bring back a waggon-load of ivory you may see things +differently, Tant'? Remember I have more stock than I used to have. +Another trip or two, with luck, should set me up fairly." + +"Nay, nay," rejoined the Vrouw, as she handed him his second cup of +coffee and pushed the tobacco towards him, "'tis not to be thought of-- +unless indeed you can come back from your hunt a thousand pound better +man than you are now, which is not likely." Tobias shook his head +sadly, as if that tremendous sum were utterly beyond hope, and at that +moment the door opened and Truey herself came in. + +Truey had seen with sharp eyes Tobias De la Rey spurring across the flat +in the final sharp canter up to the house. She had changed her dirty +print frock for a stuff one, had brushed her dark hair, tied a pink +ribbon to the thick single plait that fell down her back, and had even +washed her face and hands. In truth Gertruey had a soft corner in her +heart for Tobias. After all he was her devoted admirer--she knew that. +And then he was a first-rate hunter, a good veldt man, who had killed +many an elephant, and had met death fairly and squarely time after time +these eight years past. And indeed, he was not so ill looking; there +were few good-looking bachelors within a radius of fifty miles of +Vogelstruisfontein, and Tobias was no worse than his neighbours. He was +poor, certainly, but he was less poor than he used to be, and she had +land and stock of her own--or would have when she came of age. + +Truey came in, then, passably well-dressed and on good terms with +herself, and there was quite a pleased look in her honest brown eyes as +they caught Tobias's first glance. Tant' Joanna viewed her niece's +little personal preparations for the visitor with something very like +disapproval, and Truey, whose countenance had, under her aunt's +dragon-like gaze, assumed a fitting humility, was soon dismissed to the +kitchen to hasten on preparation for "middagmaal." During the long +afternoon, before Tobias saddled up and rode for home, he had the +opportunity of exchanging but two or three sentences with Truey alone. +Still those sentences carried consolation. Tobias was a terrible coward +with women, but he had in sheer desperation ventured to remark that +Tant' Joanna meant her niece to marry a rich man, and that no doubt he +should find her settled with her own husband on his return. Tracy had +answered stoutly, with reddening cheeks, that she should have a good +deal to say to that, and that for her part Tobias might be very sure she +should not be married before he returned again. There was something in +the girl's voice and look that gave the faint-hearted Tobias fresh hope, +and he said hastily--for he heard Tant' Joanna coming in from the +stoep,--"Then you will wait, Truey?" And Truey answered under her +breath, yet very steadfastly, "Yes. I will wait, Tobias." And there +was a very warm pressure of the hand between these two--far different +from the usual lifeless handshake of the Boers--as they said farewell. + +Tobias climbed briskly to his saddle at four o'clock, touched his nag +with the off spur to make him show himself a little, and from his safe +eminence fired his parting shot at Vrouw Terblans: "Farewell, Tant', I +shall be back in twelve months a thousand pound better man, with the +waggon loaded up with ivory." + +"Ach! Tobias, man, you will be too late," rejoined the huge dame from +the stoep, in her sharp voice. "Too late, I tell you. Never mind, good +luck to you, and farewell." + +But behind her, as she spoke these words, stood Truey, shaking her head, +and her head-shake and the look in her kind eyes, just now dim with +tears, were consolations good enough and reassuring enough for Tobias De +la Rey as he rode off. + +It was a glorious mellow evening, that, as Tobias galloped home in a +frame of mind not often usual to one of his sluggish breed. If he had +killed a brace of elephants, with teeth averaging fifty pounds apiece, +he could not have felt more lively. Long, long afterwards did Tobias +recall that shining evening as he rode home from Vogelstruisfontein. +Never had the grass veldt looked more fair, the bush more green, the +distant mountains more ruddy with the flush of sunset; never had life +itself seemed more worth the living. + +Leaving a kinsman to look after his farm and stock, De la Rey trekked +next morning for the far distant hunting grounds that were his goal. A +year later he and his shooting-fellow, Klaas Erasmus, a first-rate +hunter like himself, were outspanned with their waggons in a wild +region, unknown even to the Trek Boers in their wanderings, towards the +Cubangwe River. It was plainly apparent, from the look of their +outfits, that the hunters had had a very rough time of it during these +twelve months. Their waggons were worn and battered; the tents had long +since been torn to shreds by the thorns and were now replaced by the +hides of game. Their combined stud--they had started with seven--had +now dwindled to a pair of jaded-looking nags, one of which was De la +Rey's old salted schimmel "Blaauwbok," now looking, if possible, more +gaunt and antique than ever. The two men had had no great luck +hitherto. It had taken them four good months to reach the elephant +country, and after eight months' hunting they had shot and traded +between them little more than fifteen hundred pounds weight of ivory. +They had determined, therefore, to hunt for a second season. Twice or +thrice in the unhealthy season just ended had they been each very near +to death from fever and dysentery, and both looked yellow and pulled +down. Yet in the last few days, luck had turned; they had stumbled by +chance upon a veldt thick with elephants; they had slain three yesterday +and were now hot upon the spoor of an immense troop, which on the coming +morning they hoped to attack. + +At seven o'clock, having supped and smoked their pipes, they turned into +their waggons and slept. Hunters, and especially Dutch hunters, rise +early, and seek their kartels betimes, after a hard day in the veldt. +An hour before dawn they were stirring, coffee was drunk, some food +swallowed, the horses were saddled up, the rifles got out, cartridge +belts buckled on; the hunters mounted, and with their native spoorers, +set out upon the trail just as the light was breaking through the white +mist of early morning. + +Three Bushmen spoored for them, and besides these, two native servants, +fair shots and reliable hunters, carried rifles and accompanied the +Boers on foot. + +Hour after hour the keen Bushmen held upon the broad trail of the +retreating herd, upon whose skirts they had now been hanging these three +days past. It was a mighty troop--as near as could be judged by the +trail left, at least 150 strong. The sun rose and rose and beat hotly +down upon the thick bush in which the party were now involved. Hour +after hour they pressed steadily on, and still the big troop kept its +lead. At two o'clock, in the hottest, weariest hour of afternoon, they +began the ascent of a steepish hill, up which the elephants had climbed +in their retreat. Their horses were showing signs of collapse. It was +a matter of absolute necessity that they should off-saddle for half an +hour and give them a much needed rest. The spoorers, too, wanted rest +and a drink from their calabashes and a welcome pinch of snuff--that +ineffable blessing to the worn and jaded black man. While they +off-saddled and the horses rested and fed a little, the native hunters +were in deep consultation; the Bushmen, especially, were jabbering in +their queer inarticulate language--in whispers, of course--and their +gestures indicated that something very exciting was stirring in their +minds. Presently Lukas, the Griqua, who carried a gun, came to the two +Boers and translated. What the Bushmen wanted to point out was this. +Below the hill, on the farther side, lay an immense marsh, which was +just now in its most treacherous condition. A week before it was under +water and no elephants would have faced it. A week later, under the +influence of the fierce sun, it would have dried sufficiently to bear +the weight even of an elephant. If, said the Bushmen, the elephants, +which were now assuredly nearing the summit of the hill, browsing slowly +as they climbed, could be driven down the steep into the marsh they +would be hopelessly embogged. The big troop, the Bushmen said (they +knew every herd of game in that vast veldt, just as the average Kaffir +knows his own cattle), had been driven far out of their own feeding +grounds and this part of the country was strange to them. The two Boers +listened with a fierce intensity to this absorbing scheme. They pulled +at their beards, knit their brows, and leaped hungrily at each word as +it came from the mouth of Lukas, the Griqua. Here was the chance of a +lifetime, and they knew it. + +In half an hour the plan of campaign was settled, the horses were +saddled up and the seven hunters, spreading out in a widish line, +advanced upon their game. They reached the summit of the hill. There, +three hundred yards below, in a broad opening of the bush, moved very +slowly at least sixty huge elephants, most of them carrying long white +teeth. In other parts of the thick bush the dusky forms and pale +gleaming tusks of other mammoths could be counted. + +The Boers dismounted, left their horses behind them, and, one upon +either flank, crept in; the two natives carrying guns were in the +centre; the three Bushmen, armed only with assegais, served to maintain +the thin line of the advance. Half-way down the hill, the Boers fired +their rifles into the herd, now close in front of them, the native +gunners followed suit, and then, with loud yells, the whole party dashed +in upon the elephants. It was a risk, but the plan succeeded to +admiration. Half the herd tore terror-stricken down the remaining three +hundred yards of hill and entered headlong upon the flat marsh in front +of them. Half scattered, and, turning short round, broke back through +the thin cordon of hunters. Of these, two big bulls and a cow, all +bearing magnificent teeth, fell victims. Leaving these to die, as they +quickly did, of their wounds, the hunters ran on and reached the edge of +the marsh. Quite a respectable troop was already stuck fast in its +treacherous depths. The hunters fired, and fired, and fired again, shot +after shot, and as the victims fell, the remainder of the troop, in +their desperate exertions to free themselves and escape, only buried +themselves yet deeper in the black mud of the smooth, green-looking +swamp. It was a scene never to be forgotten. The gunners, black and +white, in the fiercest stage of excitement, shouting, screaming, +swearing, firing; the Bushmen, mad with the lust of blood, venturing +with light feet upon the swamp and spearing the hopelessly embogged +elephants; the screaming and trumpeting of the great pachyderms +themselves, frantic with helpless rage and terror, created in this erst +silent wilderness an infernal pandemonium. By sundown the last elephant +but one of all that troop was slain, and seventy-three of the great tusk +bearers lay dead upon the marsh. One young bull, lighter than its +fellows, had marvellously crossed the swamp in safety and escaped. Some +of the finest tusks in Africa lay here under the red rays of the dying +sun. Few were under thirty pounds in weight. Many were well over fifty +pounds apiece. The two biggest bulls carried teeth that, when dried +out, pulled the beam at over ninety pounds apiece. It took the hunters +and their natives more than a week to chop out the tusks and get them +stowed in their waggons. In the last few days, although the marsh had +become firmer and work more easy, the two Dutchmen were unable to +withstand the dreadful effluvia of the rotting carcases, and the natives +completed the loathsome task alone save for the throngs of vultures that +kept them company. + +Six months later Tobias De la Rey had reached the far Transvaal border +on his return home, had crossed a drift of the Limpopo, and was now +approaching Vogelstruisfontein. Despite the toils and dangers of his +last eighteen months in the wilderness, his heart was light and there +was a look upon his broad and stolid face that told of much happiness. +The house was reached at last, and Tobias's travel-worn waggon, loaded +to the tilt with ivory, halted fifty yards away from the door. Vrouw +Terblans, aroused by the cracking of whips, the cries of the drivers, +and the heavy creaking of the waggon, stood outside upon the stoep. + +"Well, Tant' Joanna," cried Tobias, as he rode up, "there is the finest +load of ivory that has come into the Transvaal for many a long year. +More than a thousand pounds' worth. I have kept my word Ja! I have +made my last hunt and brought home three thousand pounds weight of +ivory. Allemaghte! It was the greatest hunt ever known in South +Africa. Seventy-six elephants we killed in a single day. But where are +Truey and Terblans?" De la Rey, in the joy of this unspeakably +triumphant moment--looked forward to so eagerly during every waking hour +of the last six months--had not noticed the stout huis-vrouw's black +stuff gown and her lugubrious expression. + +"Alas!" she replied. "Have not you heard, Tobias? Truey caught a fever +four months since and died, poor child, in my arms. My man died too--he +had been long ailing--six months after you had trekked. I have had sore +trouble, but the Heer God who chastens can bring the healing. It is a +blessed thing to see the face of an old friend again. Will ye not +off-saddle and come in, Tobias? I want your help and advice." + +Tobias had stared at Tant' Joanna as she spoke these words, his slow +mind not fully comprehending their terrible import. He leaned down +towards her from his horse and said in a low, fierce, guttural voice: + +"What was that you said, woman?--Truey dead?" + +Vrouw Terblans was whimpering now and had a kerchief to her eyes. + +"Yes, Tobias," she answered feebly, "dead indeed." + +With a deep groan, but without another word, De la Rey jerked fiercely +at his horse's bit and turned to his waggon. "Trek on for home," he +said huskily, and himself rode forward. + +For six months, De la Rey, his dream shattered, his brightest hopes +dispelled, shut himself up, away upon his lonely farm, and nursed the +bitter sorrow that had overtaken him. But, after all, the Dutch +Afrikanders are an eminently practical race, and Tobias began presently +to look abroad again. Tant' Joanna and he in due time met each other +once more. She was now very ready to play the consoler; a wealthy widow +is always a source of deep attraction, even to a Boer twenty or thirty +years her junior; their farms adjoined; and so within a year De la Rey +and she made up their minds, trekked to Pietersburg and were married at +the Dutch Reformed Church. + +Tobias De la Rey is now a comfortable man, respected for his wealth and +well known throughout the Northern Transvaal as one of the two hunters +who slew in a single day six-and-seventy elephants. But there come to +him at times, undoubtedly, bitter moments, and, looking with the mind's +eye past the immense figure of his grim and elderly vrouw, he sees again +the kind brown eyes and the pleasant face of his lost Truey. These +thoughts, for very good and sufficient reasons, he keeps severely to +himself. For Tant' Joanna is, it must be owned, a jealous and an +exacting spouse. + +CHAPTER NINE. + +THE MAHALAPSI DIAMOND. + +It was a fine warm evening at Kimberley, and Frank Farnborough, just +before the dinner hour at the "Central," was fortifying his digestion +with a glass of sherry and bitters, and feeling on very good terms with +himself. He had put in an excellent day's work at De Beers, that +colossal diamond company's office, where he had the good fortune to be +employed, and had that morning received from his chief an intimation +that his salary had been raised to four hundred pounds per annum. Four +hundred per annum is not an immense sum in Kimberley, where living is +dear all round; but for a young man of five-and-twenty, of fairly +careful habits, it seemed not so bad a stipend. And so Frank sat down +to the excellent menu, always to be found at the "Central," at peace +with the world and with a sound appetite for his dinner. Next to him +was a fellow-member of the principal Kimberley cricket team, and, as +they were both old friends and enthusiasts, they chatted freely. +Everywhere around them sat that curious commingling of mankind usually +to be seen at a Kimberley _table d'hote_--diamond dealers, Government +officials, stock-brokers, detectives, Jews, Germans, Englishmen and +Scots, and a few Irish, hunters and traders from the far interior, +miners, prospectors, concessionaires, and others. A few women leavened +by their presence the mass of mankind, their numbers just now being +increased by some members of a theatrical company playing in the town. + +As for Frank and his companion, they drank their cool lager from tall +tankards, ate their dinners, listened with some amusement to the +impossible yarns of an American miner from the Transvaal, and, presently +rising, sought the veranda chairs and took their coffee. In a little +while Frank's comrade left him for some engagement in the town. + +Frank finished his coffee and sat smoking in some meditation. He was on +the whole, as we have seen, on good terms with himself, but there was +one little cloud upon his horizon, which gave pause to his thoughts. +Like many other young fellows, he lodged in the bungalow house of +another man; that is, he had a good bedroom and the run of the +sitting-rooms in the house of Otto Staarbrucker, an Afrikander of mixed +German and Semitic origin, a decent fellow enough, in his way, who ran a +store in Kimberley. This arrangement suited Frank Farnborough well +enough; he paid a moderate rental, took his meals at the "Central," and +preserved his personal liberty intact. But Otto Staarbrucker had a +sister, Nina, who played housekeeper, and played her part very +charmingly. Nina was a colonial girl of really excellent manners and +education. Like many Afrikanders, nowadays, she had been sent to Europe +for her schooling, and having made the most of her opportunities, had +returned to the Cape a very charming and well-educated young woman. +Moreover, she was undeniably attractive, very beautiful most Kimberley +folks thought her. On the mother's side there was blood of the Spanish +Jews in her veins--and Nina, a sparkling yet refined brunette, showed in +her blue-black hair, magnificent eyes, warm complexion, and shapely +figure, some of the best points of that Spanish type. + +These two young people had been a good deal together of late--mostly in +the warm evenings, when Kimberley people sit in their verandas--stoeps, +they call them in South Africa--cooling down after the fiery heat of the +corrugated-iron town. It was pleasant to watch the stars, to smoke the +placid pipe, and to talk about Europe and European things to a handsome +girl--a girl who took small pains to conceal her friendliness for the +well set-up, manly Englishman, who treated her with the deference of a +gentleman (a thing not always understood in South Africa), and withal +could converse pleasantly and well on other topics than diamonds, +gambling, and sport Frank Farnborough, as he ruminated over his pipe +this evening out there in the "Central" fore-court--garden, I suppose +one should call it--asked himself a plain question. + +"Things are becoming `steep,'" he thought to himself. "I am getting too +fond of Nina, and I half believe she's inclined to like me. She's a +nice and a really good girl, I believe. One could go far for a girl +like her. And yet--that Jewish blood is a fatal objection. It won't +do, I'm afraid, and the people at home would be horrified. I shall have +to chill off a bit, and get rooms elsewhere. I shall be sorry, very +sorry, but I don't like the girl well enough to swallow her relations, +even supposing I were well enough off to marry, which I am not." + +As if bent upon forthwith proving his new-found resolve, the young man +soon after rose and betook himself along the Du Toit's Pan road, in the +direction of his domicile. Presently he entered the house and passed +through to the little garden behind. As his form appeared between the +darkness of the garden and the light of the passage, a soft voice, +coming from the direction of a low table on which stood a lamp, said, +"That you, Mr Farnborough?" + +"Yes," he returned, as he sat down by the speaker. "I'm here. What are +you doing, I wonder?" + +"Oh, I'm just now deep in your `Malay Archipelago.' What a good book it +is, and what a wonderful time Wallace had among his birds and insects; +and what an interesting country to explore! This burnt-up Kimberley +makes one sigh for green islands, and palm-trees and blue seas. Otto +and I will certainly have to go to Kalk Bay for Christmas. There are no +palm-trees, certainly, but there's a delicious blue sea. A year at +Kimberley is enough to try even a bushman." + +"Well," returned Frank, "one does want a change from tin shanties and +red dust occasionally. I shall enjoy the trip to Cape Town too. We +shall have a pretty busy time of it with cricket in the tournament week; +but I shall manage to get a dip in the sea now and then, I hope. I +positively long for it." + +As Nina leaned back in her big easy-chair, in her creamy Surah silk, and +in the half-light of the lamp, she looked very bewitching, and not a +little pleased, as they chatted together. Her white teeth flashed in a +quick smile to the compliment which Frank paid her, as the conversation +drifted from a butterfly caught in the garden, to the discovery he had +made that she was one of the few girls in Kimberley who understood the +art of arraying herself in an artistic manner. She rewarded Frank's +pretty speech by ringing for tea. + +"What a blessing it is," she went on, leaning back luxuriously, "to have +a quiet evening. Somehow, Otto's friends pall upon one. I wish he had +more English friends. I'm afraid my four years in England have rather +spoilt me for Otto's set here. If it were not for you, indeed, and one +or two others now and again, things would be rather dismal. Stocks, +shares, companies, and diamonds, reiterated day after day, are apt to +weary female ears. I sometimes long to shake myself free from it all. +Yet, as you know, here am I, a sort of prisoner at will." + +Frank, who had been pouring out more tea, now placed his chair a little +nearer to his companion's as he handed her her cup. + +"Come," he said, "a princess should hardly talk of prisons. Why, you +have all Kimberley at your beck and call, if you like. Why don't you +come down from your pedestal and make one of your subjects happy?" + +"Ah!" she returned, with a little sigh, "my prince hasn't come along yet +I must wait." + +Frank, I am afraid, was getting a little out of his depth. He had +intended, this evening, to be diplomatic and had manifestly failed. He +looked up into the glorious star-lit sky, into the blue darkness; he +felt the pleasant, cool night air about him; he looked upon the face of +the girl by his side--its wonderful Spanish beauty, perfectly enframed +by the clear light of the lamp. There was a shade of melancholy upon +Nina's face. A little pity, tinged with an immense deal of admiration, +combined with almost overpowering force to beat down Frank's resolutions +of an hour or two back. He bent his head, took the girl's hand into his +own, and lightly kissed it. It was the first time he had ventured so +much, and the contact with the warm, soft, shapely flesh thrilled him. + +"Don't be down on your luck, Nina," he said. "Things are not so bad. +You have at all events some one who would give a good deal to be able to +help you--some one who--" + +At that moment, just when the depression upon Nina's face had passed, as +passes the light cloud wrack from before the moon, a man's loud, rather +guttural voice was heard from within the house, and a figure passed into +the darkness of the garden. At the sound, the girl's hand was snatched +from its temporary occupancy. + +"Hallo! Nina," said the voice of Otto, her brother, "any tea out there? +I'm as thirsty as a salamander." + +The tea was poured out, the conversation turned upon indifferent topics, +and for two people the interest of the evening had vanished. + +Next morning, early, Frank Farnborough found a note and package awaiting +him. He opened the letter, which ran thus: + +"Kimberley--In a dickens of a hurry. + +"My dear Frank,-- + +"Have just got down by post-cart [it was before the railway had been +pushed beyond Kimberley], and am off to catch the train for Cape Town, +so can't possibly see you. I had a good, if rather rough, time in +'Mangwato. Knowing your love of natural history specimens, I send you +with this a small crocodile, which I picked up in a dried, mummified +condition in some bush on the banks of the Mahalapsi River--a dry +watercourse running into the Limpopo. How the crocodile got there, I +don't know. Probably it found its way up the river-course during the +rains, and was left stranded when the drought came. Perhaps it may +interest you; if not, chuck it away. Good-bye, old chap. I shall be at +Kimberley again in two months' time, and will look you up. + +"Yours ever,-- + +"Horace Kentburn." + +Frank smiled as he read his friend's characteristic letter, and turned +at once to the parcel--a package of sacking, some three and a half feet +long. This was quickly ripped open, and the contents, a miniature +crocodile, as parched and hard as a sun-dried ox-hide, but otherwise in +good condition, was exposed. + +"I know what I'll do with this," said Frank to himself; "I'll soak the +beast in my bath till evening, and then see if I can cut him open and +stuff him a bit; he seems to have been perfectly sun-baked." + +The crocodile was bestowed in a long plunge bath, and covered with +water. Frank found it not sufficiently softened that evening, and had +to skirmish elsewhere for a bath next morning in consequence. But the +following evening, on taking the reptile out of soak, it was found to be +much more amenable to the knife; and after dinner, Frank returned to his +quarters prepared thoroughly to enjoy himself. First he got into some +loose old flannels; then tucked up his sleeves, took his treasure +finally out of the bath, carefully dried it, placed it stomach upwards +upon his table, which he had previously covered with brown paper for the +purpose, and then, taking up his sharpest knife, began his operations. +The skin of the crocodile's stomach was now pretty soft and flexible; it +had apparently never been touched with the knife, and Frank made a long +incision from the chest to near the tail. Then, taking back the skin on +either side, he prepared to remove what remained of the long-mummified +interior. As he cut and scraped hither and thither, his knife came +twice or thrice in contact with pieces of gravel. Two pebbles were +found and put aside, and again the knife-edge struck something hard. + +"Hang these pebbles!" exclaimed the operator; "they'll ruin my knife. +What the dickens do these creatures want to turn their intestines into +gravel-pits for, I wonder?" + +His hand sought the offending stone, which was extracted and brought to +the lamp-light. Now this pebble differed from its predecessors-- +differed so materially in shape and touch, that Frank held it closer yet +to the light. He stared hard at the stone, which, as it lay between his +thumb and forefinger, looked not unlike a symmetrical piece of clear +gum-arabic, and then, giving vent to a prolonged whistle, he exclaimed, +in a tone of suppressed excitement, "By all that's holy! A fifty carat +stone! Worth hundreds, or I'm a Dutchman." + +He sat down, pushed the crocodile farther from him, brought the lamp +nearer, turned up the wick a little, and then, placing the diamond--for +diamond it was--on the table between him and the lamp, proceeded to take +a careful survey of it, turning it over now and again. The stone +resembled in its shape almost exactly the bull's-eye sweetmeat of the +British schoolboy. It was of a clear, white colour, and when cut would, +as Frank Farnborough very well knew, turn out a perfect brilliant of +fine water. There was no trace of "off-colour" about it, and it was +apparently flawless and perfect. South African diamond experts can tell +almost with certainty from what mine a particular stone has been +produced, and it seemed to Frank that the matchless octahedron in front +of him resembled in character the finest stones of the Vaal River +diggings--from which the choicest gems of Africa have come. + +Many thoughts ran through the young man's brain. Here in front of him, +in the compass of a small walnut, lay wealth to the extent of some +hundreds of pounds. Where did that stone come from? Did the crocodile +swallow it with the other pebbles on the Mahalapsi river, or the banks +of the adjacent Limpopo? Why, there might be--nay, probably was-- +another mine lying dormant up there--a mine of fabulous wealth. Why +should he not be its discoverer, and become a millionaire? As these +thoughts flashed through his brain, a hand was laid on his shoulder, and +a merry feminine voice exclaimed, "Why, Mr Farnborough, what have you +got there?" + +Frank seized the diamond, sprang up with flushed face and excited eyes, +and was confronted with Nina and her brother, both regarding him very +curiously. + +Otto Staarbrucker spoke first. "Hullo, Frank! You seem to be mightily +engrossed. What's your wonderful discovery?" + +The Englishman looked keenly from one to another of his interrogators, +hesitated momentarily, then made up his mind and answered frankly, but +in a low, intense voice: + +"My wonderful discovery is this. Inside that dried-up crocodile I've +found a big diamond. It's worth hundreds anyhow, and there must be more +where it came from. Look at it, but for God's sake keep quiet about +it." + +Staarbrucker took the stone from Frank, held it upon his big fat white +palm, and bent down to the lamp-light. Nina's pretty, dark head bent +down too, so that her straying hair touched her brother's as they gazed +earnestly at the mysterious gem. Presently Otto took the stone in his +fingers, held it to the light, weighed it carefully, and then said +solemnly and sententiously, "Worth eight hundred pounds, if it's worth a +red cent!" + +Nina broke in, "My goodness, Frank--Mr Farnborough--where did you get +the stone from, and what are you going to do with it?" + +"Well, Miss Nina," returned Frank, looking pleasantly at the girl's +handsome, excited face, "I hardly know how to answer you at present. +That crocodile came from up-country, and I suppose the diamond came from +the same locality. It's all tumbled so suddenly upon me, that I hardly +know what to say or what to think. The best plan, I take it, is to have +a good night's sleep on it; then I'll make up my mind in the morning, +and have a long talk with your brother and you. Meanwhile, I know I can +trust to you and Otto to keep the strictest silence about the matter. +If it got known in Kimberley, I should be pestered to death, and perhaps +have the detectives down upon me into the bargain." + +"That's all right, Frank, my boy," broke in Staarbrucker, in his big +Teutonic voice; "we'll take care of that. Nina's the safest girl in +Kimberley, and this is much too important a business to be ruined in +that way. Why, there may be a fortune for us all, where that stone came +from, who knows?" + +Already Otto Staarbrucker spoke as if he claimed an interest in the +find; and although there was not much in the speech, yet Frank only +resented the patronising tone in which it was delivered. + +"Well, I've pretty carefully prospected the interior of this animal," +said Frank, showing the now perfectly clean mummy. "He's been a good +friend to me, and I'll put him away, and we'll have a smoke." + +For another two hours, the three sat together on the stoep at the back +of the house, discussing the situation. Staarbrucker fished his hardest +to discover the exact whereabouts of the place from whence the crocodile +had come. Frank fenced with his palpably leading questions, and put him +off laughingly with, "You shall know all about it in good time. For the +present you may take it the beast came from his natural home somewhere +up the Crocodile River." [The Limpopo River is in South Africa +universally known as the Crocodile.] Presently the sitting broke up, +and they retired to their respective rooms. Nina's handshake, as she +said good-night to Frank, was particularly friendly, and Frank himself +thought he had never seen the girl look more bewitching. + +"Pleasant dreams," she said, as she turned away; "I'm so glad of your +luck. I suppose to-night you'll be filling your pockets with glorious +gems in some fresh Tom Tiddler's ground. Mind you put your diamond +under your pillow and lock your door. Good-night." + +Otto Staarbrucker went to his bedroom too, but not for some hours to +sleep. He had too much upon his mind. Business had been very bad of +late. The Du Toit's Pan mine had been shut down, and had still further +depressed trade at his end of the town, and, to crown all, he had been +gambling in Randt mines, and had lost heavily. + +Otto's once flourishing business was vanishing into thin air, and it was +a question whether he should not immediately cut his losses and get out +of Kimberley with what few hundreds he could scrape together, before all +had gone to ruin. + +This diamond discovery of Frank Farnborough's somehow strongly appealed +to his imagination. Where that magnificent stone came from, there must +be others--probably quantities of them. It would surely be worth +risking two or three hundred in exploration. Frank was a free, +open-hearted fellow enough, and although not easily to be driven, would +no doubt welcome his offer to find the money for prospecting thoroughly +upon half profits, or some such bargain. It must be done; there seemed +no other reasonable way out of the tangle of difficulties that beset +him. He would speak to Frank about it early in the morning. Comforted +with this reflection, he fell asleep. + +They breakfasted betimes at the Staarbruckers, and after the meal, Nina +having gone into the garden, Otto proceeded to open his proposal to the +young Englishman, who had stayed this morning to breakfast. He hinted +first that there might be serious difficulty in disposing of so valuable +a diamond, and, indeed, as Frank already recognised, that was true +enough. The proper course would be to "declare" the stone to the +authorities; but would they accept his story--wildly improbable as it +appeared on the face of it? + +No one in England can realise the thick and poisonous atmosphere of +suspicion and distrust in which the immense diamond industry of +Kimberley is enwrapped. Its miasma penetrates everywhere, and protected +as is the industry by the most severe and brutal--nay, even degrading-- +laws and restrictions, which an all-powerful "ring" has been able to +force through the Cape Parliament, no man is absolutely safe from it. +And, even Frank, an employe of the great De Beers Company itself, a +servant of proved integrity and some service, might well hesitate before +exposing himself to the tremendous difficulty of proving a strong and +valid title to the stone in his possession. + +"Well, Frank," said Staarbrucker, "have you made up your mind about your +diamond? What are you going to do with it?" + +"I don't quite know yet," answered Frank, taking his pipe out of his +mouth. "It's an infernally difficult puzzle, and I haven't hit on a +solution. What do you advise?" Here was Otto's opening. + +"Well, my boy," he answered, "I've thought a good deal over the matter, +and in my opinion, you'd better keep your discovery to ourselves at +present. Now I'm prepared to make you an offer. I'll find the expenses +of a prospecting trip to the place where your crocodile came from, and +take a competent miner up with us--I know several good men to choose +from--on the condition that, in the event of our finding more stones, or +a mine, I am to stand in halves with you. I suppose such a trip would +cost three hundred pounds or thereabouts. It's a sporting offer; what +do you say to it?" + +"No, I don't think I'll close at present," returned Frank; "I'll take +another few hours to think it over. Perhaps I'll mention the matter to +an old friend of mine, and take his advice." + +Staarbrucker broke in with some heat: "If you're going to tell all your +friends, you may as well give the show away at once. The thing will be +all over `camp,' and I wash my hands of it. Let me tell you, you're +doing a most imprudent thing." + +[Kimberley is still called by its early name of "camp" among old +inhabitants.] + +"Really," said Frank, coolly enough, "the stone is mine at present, and +I take the risk of holding it. I haven't asked you to run yourself into +any trouble on my account." + +"No," returned the other, "but you are under my roof, and if it became +known that I and my sister knew of this find, and of its concealment, we +should be practically in the same hole as yourself. Now, my dear boy, +take my advice, keep your discovery to yourself till we meet this +evening, and let us settle to run this show together. You won't get a +better offer, I'm sure of it." + +"Understand, I promise nothing," said Frank, who scarcely relished +Staarbrucker's persistency. "I'll see you again to-night." + +After dinner that evening, the two men met again. Frank reopened the +topic, which had meantime been engrossing Staarbrucker's thoughts to the +exclusion of all else. + +Frank at once declared his intention of going to see the manager next +day, to tell him of the find and take his advice. + +Otto Staarbrucker made a gesture of intense annoyance. "You are never +going to play such an infernal fool's game as that, surely?" he burst +out. "I've made you a liberal offer to prospect thoroughly at my own +expense the place where that stone came from, on half shares. If you +accept my offer, well and good. If you don't, I shall simply tell your +little story to the detective department, and see what they think of it. +Think it well over. I'll come and see you to-morrow morning, early." + +He turned on his heel, and went out of the house. + +Frank had felt a little uncomfortable during Otto's speech, but now he +was angry--so indignant at the turn affairs had taken, and at the +threat, idle though it was, held out to him, that he determined next day +to quit the house and have done with the man altogether. He had never +liked him. True, there was Nina. Nina--so utterly different from her +brother. He should be sorry indeed to leave her. She had a very warm +corner in his heart. He would miss the pleasant evenings spent in her +company. What should he do without her merry _camaraderie_, her kindly, +unselfish ways, the near presence of her bewitching face, and her +evident preference for his company? At that moment Nina entered the +room. Frank looked, as he felt, embarrassed, and the girl saw it at +once. + +"What's the matter, Frank? You ought to look happy with that eight +hundred pound diamond of yours; yet you don't. Aren't things going as +you like, or what is it?" + +"No," answered Frank, reddening, "things are not going quite right. +Your brother has made me a proposition, which I don't quite see in his +light, and we've rather fallen out about it. However, my tiff with Otto +need make no difference between you and me. We haven't quarrelled, and +I hope you won't let our old friendship be broken on that account." + +"Indeed, no," returned Nina, "why should it? But I shall see Otto and +talk to him; I can't have you two falling out about a wretched diamond, +even although it is a big one. Since you came here, things have been so +much pleasanter, and,"--the girl paused, and a flush came to her face, +"well, we can't afford to quarrel, can we? Friends--real friends, I +mean--are none too plentiful in Kimberley." + +Nina spoke with a good deal of embarrassment for her, and a good deal of +feeling, and she looked so sweet, such an air of tenderness and of +sympathy shone in her eyes, that Frank was visibly touched. + +"Nina," he said, "I'm really sorry about this affair. Perhaps in the +morning it may blow over. I hope so. I have had something on my mind +lately, which perhaps you can guess at, but which I won't enter upon +just now. Meanwhile, don't say anything to your brother about this row. +Let us see what happens to-morrow. Heaven knows I don't want to +quarrel with any one belonging to you." + +Early next morning, while Frank sat up in bed sipping his coffee and +smoking a cigarette, the door opened, and Otto Staarbrucker entered the +room. He had been thinking over matters a good deal during the night, +and had made up his mind that somehow he and Frank must pull together +over this diamond deal. His big, florid face was a trifle solemn, and +he spoke quietly for him. But he found Frank as firm as ever against +his utmost entreaties. + +"I've thought it all out," Frank said; "I don't like your plan, and I +mean to show our manager the stone to-day, and tell him all about it. I +think it will be best in the long-run." He spoke quietly, but with a +mind obviously quite made up. + +The blood ran to Otto's head again; all his evil passions were getting +the upper hand. "Frank, take care," he said. "You are in a dangerous +position about this diamond. I don't think you quite realise it. Once +more I warn you; don't play the fool. Make up your mind to come in with +me and we'll make our fortunes over it." + +Frank began to get angry too. "It's no use harping on that string +further," he said, "I'm not coming in with you under any circumstances, +and you may as well clearly understand it, and take no for an answer." +Then, half throwing off the light bed-clothing, "I must get up and have +breakfast." + +Otto glared at him for a second or two before he spoke. "For the last +time I ask you, are you coming in with me?" + +There was clear threat in the deliberation of his tones, and Frank grew +mad under it. + +"Oh, go to the dickens," he burst out, "I've had enough of this. Clear +out of it; I want to get up." + +Otto stepped to the door. "I'm going now to the detective office; +you'll find you've made a big mistake over this. By Heaven! I'll ruin +you, you infernal, stuck-up English pup!" + +His face was red with passion; he flung open the door, slammed it after +him, and went out into the street. + +Frank heard him go. "All idle bluff," he said to himself. "The +scoundrel! He must have taken me for an idiot, I think. I've had +enough of this, and shall clear out, bag and baggage, to-day. Things +are getting too unpleasant." + +He jumped up, poured the water into his bath, and began his ablutions. + +Meanwhile, Otto Staarbrucker, raging with anger and malice, was striding +along the shady side of the street, straight for the chief detective's +house. Despite his tinge of Jewish blood, there was in his system a +strong touch of the wild ungovernable temper, not seldom found in the +Teutonic race. It was not long before he had reached the detective's +house, and announced himself. Carefully subduing, as far as possible, +the outward manifestation of his malicious wrath, he informed the acute +official, to whom he was, at his own request, shown, that his lodger, +Mr Farnborough, was in possession of a valuable unregistered diamond, +which he stated he had found in a stuffed crocodile's interior, or some +equally improbable place. That to his own knowledge the stone had been +unregistered for some days, although he had repeatedly urged Farnborough +to declare it; that the whole surroundings of the case were, to his +mind, very suspicious; and, finally, that, as he could not take the +responsibility of such a position of affairs under his roof, he had come +down to report the matter. + +The detective pricked up his ears at the story, reflected for a few +moments, and then said: "I suppose there is no mistake about this +business, Mr Staarbrucker. It is, as you know, a very serious matter, +and may mean the `Breakwater.' Mr Farnborough has a good position in +De Beers, and some strong friends, and it seems rather incredible +(although we're never surprised at anything, where diamonds are in +question) that he should have got himself into such a mess as you tell +me." + +"I am quite certain of what I tell you," replied Staarbrucker. "If you +go up to my house now, you'll find Farnborough in his bedroom, and the +stone's somewhere on him, or in his room. Don't lose time." + +"Well," responded the detective, "I'll see to the matter at once. So +long, Mr Staarbrucker!" + +Mr Flecknoe, the shrewdest and most active diamond official in +Kimberley, as was his wont, lost not an instant. He nosed the tainted +gale of a quarry. In this case he was a little uncertain, it is true; +but yet there was the tell-tale taint, the true diamond taint, and it +must at once be followed. Mr Flecknoe ran very mute upon a trail, and +in a few minutes he was at Staarbrucker's bungalow. Staarbrucker +himself had, wisely perhaps, gone down to his store, there to await +events. Vitriolic anger still ran hotly within him. He cared for +nothing in the world, and was perfectly reckless, provided only that +Frank Farnborough were involved in ruin, absolute and utter. + +Mr Flecknoe knocked, as a matter of form, in a pleasant, friendly way +at the open door of the cottage, and then walked straight in. He seemed +to know his way very completely--there were few things in Kimberley that +he did not know--and he went straight to Frank's bedroom, knocked again +and entered. Frank was by this time out of his bath, and in the act of +shaving. It cannot be denied that the detective's appearance, so soon +after Staarbrucker's threat, rather staggered him, and he paled +perceptibly. The meshes of the I.D.B. nets are terribly entangling, as +Frank knew only too well, and I.D.B. laws are no matters for light +jesting. Mr Flecknoe noted the change of colour. + +[I.D.B., Illicit Diamond Buying, a highly criminal offence in South +Africa.] + +"Well, Mr Flecknoe," said the younger man, as cheerily as he could +muster, for he knew the detective very well, "what can I do for you?" + +"I've come about the diamond, Mr Farnborough; I suppose you can show +title to it?" + +"No, I can't show a title," replied Frank. "It came into my possession +in a very astounding way, a day or two since, and I was going to tell +the manager all about it to-day and `declare' the stone." + +Frank then proceeded to tell the detective shortly the whole story, and +finally, the scene with Staarbrucker that morning. + +Flecknoe listened patiently enough, and at the end said quietly: "I am +afraid, Mr Farnborough, you have been a little rash. I shall have to +ask you to come down to the office with me and explain further. Have +you the stone?" + +"Yes, here's the stone," replied Frank, producing the diamond from a +little bag from under his pillow, and exhibiting it on his palm. "I +won't hand it over to you at this moment, but I'll willingly do so at +the office in presence of third parties. Just let me finish shaving, +and I'll come along." + +"Very well," said Mr Flecknoe, rather grimly, taking a chair. "I'll +wait." + +That evening, some astounding rumours concerning a De Beers official +were afloat in Kimberley. Farnborough's absence from his usual place at +the "Central" _table d'hote_ was noticed significantly, and next morning +the whole town was made aware, by the daily paper, of some startling +occurrences. Two days later it became known that Frank Farnborough had +been sent for trial on a charge of I.D.B.; that his friend Staarbrucker +had, with manifest reluctance, given important and telling evidence +against him; that bail had been, for the present, refused, and that the +unfortunate young man, but twenty-four hours since a universal Kimberley +favourite, well known at cricket, football, and other diversions, now +lay in prison in imminent peril of some years' penal servitude at +Capetown Breakwater. The town shook its head, said to itself, "Another +good man gone wrong," instanced, conversationally over the bars of the +"Transvaal," "Central," and other resorts, cases of the many promising +young men who had gone under, victims of the poisonous fascination of +the diamond, and went about its business. + +But there was a certain small leaven of real friends, who refused +utterly to believe in Frank's guilt. These busied themselves +unweariedly in organising his defence, cabling to friends in England, +collecting evidence, and doing all in their power to bring their +favourite through one of the heaviest ordeals that a man may be +confronted with. + +The morning of the trial came at last. The season was now South African +mid-winter; there was a clear blue sky over Kimberley, and the air was +crisp, keen, and sparkling under the brilliant sunlight. The two judges +and resident magistrate came into court, alert and sharp-set, and +proceedings began. Frank was brought in for trial, looking white and +harassed, yet determined. + +As he came into court, and faced the crowded gathering of advocates, +solicitors, witnesses, and spectators--for this was a _cause celebre_ in +Kimberley--he was encouraged to see, here and there, the cheering nod +and smile, and even the subdued wave of the hand, of many sympathising +friends, black though the case looked against him. And he was fired, +too, by the flame of indignation as he saw before him the big, florid +face--now a trifle more florid even than usual from suppressed +excitement--and the shining, upturned eyeglasses of his arch-enemy and +lying betrayer, Otto Staarbrucker. Thank God! Nina was not in the +assembly; she, at least, had no part or lot in this shameful scene. And +yet, after what had passed, could Nina be trusted? Nina, with all her +friendliness, her even tenderer feelings, was but the sister of Otto +Staarbrucker. Her conduct ever since Frank's committal had been +enigmatical; her brother, it was to be supposed, had guarded her safely, +and, although she had been subpoenaed upon Frank's behalf, she had +vouchsafed no evidence, nor given a sign of interest in her former +friend's fate. + +Counsel for the prosecution, a well-known official of Griqualand West, +opened the case in his gravest and most impressive manner. The offence +for which the prisoner was to be tried was, he said, although unhappily +but too familiar to Kimberley people, one of the gravest in the Colony. +One feature of this unhappy case was the position of the prisoner, who, +up to the time of the alleged offence, had borne an unimpeachable +character, and had been well known as one of the most popular young men +in Kimberley. Possibly, this very popularity had furnished the reason +for the crime, the cause of the downfall. Popularity, as most men knew, +was, in Kimberley, an expensive luxury, and it would be shown that for +some time past, Farnborough had moved and lived in a somewhat +extravagant set. The learned counsel then proceeded to unfold with +great skill the case for the prosecution. Mr Staarbrucker, an old +friend of the prisoner, and a gentleman of absolutely unimpeachable +testimony, would, with the greatest reluctance, prove that he had by +chance found Farnborough in possession of a large and valuable stone, +which the prisoner--apparently surprised in the act of admiring it--had +alleged, in a confused way, to have been found--in what?--in the +interior of a dried crocodile! One of the most painful features of this +case would be the evidence of Miss Staarbrucker, who, though with even +more reluctance than her brother, would corroborate in every detail the +surprising of the prisoner in possession of the stolen diamond. He +approached this part of the evidence with extreme delicacy; but, in the +interests of justice, it would be necessary to show that a friendship of +the closest possible nature, to put it in no tenderer light, had +latterly sprung into existence between the prisoner and the young lady +in question. Clearly then, no evidence could well be stronger than the +testimony, wrung from Miss Staarbrucker with the greatest reluctance and +the deepest pain, as to the finding of Farnborough in possession of the +diamond, and of the lame and utterly incredible tale invented by him on +the spur of the moment, when thus surprised by the brother and sister. +The evidence of Mr and Miss Staarbrucker would be closely supported by +that of Mr Flecknoe, the well-known Kimberley detective, who had made +the arrest Mr Staarbrucker, it would be shown, had urged upon the +prisoner for two entire days the absolute necessity of giving up and +"declaring" the stone. Finally, certain grave suspicions had, chiefly +from the demeanour of Farnborough, forced themselves into his mind. One +more interview he had with the prisoner, and then, upon his again +declining absolutely to take the only safe and proper course open to +him, Mr Staarbrucker had, for his own protection, proceeded to the +detective department and himself informed the authorities of the +presence of the stone. No man could have done more for his friend. He +had risked his own and his sister's safety for two days--he could do no +more. The prisoner's statement to the Staarbruckers and to Mr Flecknoe +was that the crocodile skin came from the Mahalapsi River in North +Bechuanaland, and that the stone must have been picked up and swallowed +by the living reptile somewhere in those regions. He, counsel, need +hardly dwell upon the wildness, the ludicrous impossibility, of such a +theory. Three witnesses of the highest credibility and reputation, well +known in Kimberley, and in the markets of London and Amsterdam, as +experts in diamonds, would declare upon oath that the so-called +"Mahalapsi Diamond"--the learned counsel rolled out the phrase with a +fine flavour of humorous disdain--came, not from the far-off borders of +the Bechuanaland river, but from the recesses of the De Beers mine--from +Kimberley itself! + +[It is perfectly well known in South Africa that diamond experts can at +once pick out a particular stone and indicate its mine of origin. +Practice has created perfection in this respect, and stones, whether +from De Beers, Du Toit's Pan, Bultfontein, the Kimberley mine, or the +Vaal River, can be at once identified.] + +Here there was a visible "sensation" (that mysterious compound of +shifting, whispering, and restless movement) in court. "Yes," continued +the advocate, "the stone is beyond all shadow of a doubt a De Beers +stone. It is not registered. The prisoner has no title to it; the +diamond is a stolen diamond; and if, as I have little doubt, I shall +succeed in proving my facts to you clearly and incontestably, the +prisoner must take the consequences of his guilt. If indeed he be +guilty, then let justice, strict but not vindictive justice, be done. +Kimberley, in spite of the severest penalties, the most deterrent +legislation, is still eaten up and honeycombed by the vile and illicit +traffic in diamonds." + +The advocate warmed to his peroration, and, as he was a holder of De +Beers shares, he naturally felt what he said. The court was already +becoming warm. He took out his handkerchief and wiped his brow. It is +hot work delivering an important speech in South Africa. "In the name +of Heaven, I say," he continued, striking the desk with his clenched +fist, "let us have done with this vile and monstrous traffic, that +renders our city--one of the foremost cities in South Africa--a byword +and a laughing-stock among the nations." + +Otto Staarbrucker was the first witness called. He gave his evidence +with great clearness, and conveyed, with consummate skill, the +impression of his extreme reluctance and pain at having thus brought his +former friend into trouble. Only the natural instinct of +self-protection, on behalf of himself and his sister, and the absolute +refusal of the prisoner to "declare" the diamond, had induced him to +take the extreme step of informing the authorities. One item, and that +an important one, was added to the evidence tendered by him upon the +occasion of the prisoner's committal. He had omitted then to state that +on two evenings, shortly before his discovery of the diamond in +Farnborough's possession, he had seen the prisoner, not far from the +house, in earnest conversation with a native. The time was evening, and +it was dark, and he was unable to positively identify the "boy." This +evidence, as was suggested by counsel for the prosecution, tended +manifestly to couple the prisoner with a native diamond thief, and +thereby to tighten the damning chain of evidence now being wound about +him. Staarbrucker suffered it to be extracted from him with an art +altogether admirable. He had not mentioned the fact at the former +hearing, thinking it of trifling importance. The prosecuting advocate, +on the contrary, exhibited it with manifest care and parade, as a most +important link in the case. + +This piece of evidence, it may be at once stated, was a bit of pure and +infamous invention on Otto's part, an afterthought suggested by seeing +Frank once give an order to a native groom. In the hands of himself and +a clever advocate it did its work. + +In cross-examination, Otto Staarbrucker suffered very little at the +hands of the defending advocate, skilful though the latter proved +himself. The prisoner's theory (and indeed, perfectly true story) of +his, Staarbrucker's, repeated offers of a prospecting partnership, and +of his ultimate rage and vexation upon Frank's refusal, he treated with +an amused, slightly contemptuous surprise. The man was a finished +actor, and resisted all the assaults of counsel upon this and other +points of the story with supreme skill and coolness. The touch of +sympathy for the prisoner, too, was never lost sight of. Frank +Farnborough, as he glared fiercely at this facile villain, reeling off +lie after lie with damning effrontery, felt powerless. What could he do +or say against such a man? To express the burning indignation he felt, +would be but to injure his case the more fatally. With difficulty +indeed, while he felt his fingers tingling to be at the slanderer's +throat, he restrained himself, as Otto's calm eye occasionally wandered +to his, expressing, as plainly as might be for the benefit of all +present, its sympathy and sorrow at the unfortunate situation of his +former friend. + +The next witness called was "Miss Nina Staarbrucker." Again there was a +manifest sensation. Miss Staarbrucker was well known in Kimberley, and +every eye turned in the direction of the door. There was some delay; at +length a passage was made through the crowded court, and Nina appeared. + +Before she steps into the witness-box it may be well to explain Nina's +attitude and feelings from the morning of the day upon which Frank's +arrest had been made. + +After cooling down somewhat from the paroxysm of rage and revenge, which +had impelled him to turn traitor upon his friend, and deliver him into +the none too tender hands of the detective authorities, Otto +Staarbrucker had suffered a strong revulsion of feeling. He regretted, +chiefly for his own ease and comfort, the rash step he had taken, and +would have given a good deal to retrace it. But the die was irrevocably +cast; having chosen his path, he must perforce follow it. + +He was well aware of Nina's friendship--fondness he might call it--for +Frank; her sympathy would most certainly be enlisted actively on the +young man's behalf immediately upon hearing of his position. At all +hazards she must be kept quiet. Shortly before tiffin, he returned to +the house. Calling Nina into the sitting-room, he shut the door and sat +down. + +"Nina," he said, "I have some bad news for you. Don't excite yourself, +or make a fuss, but listen carefully and quietly to what I tell you, and +then we'll put our heads together and see what is best to be done." + +Nina turned pale. She feared some news of disaster to Otto's business, +which latterly, as she knew, had been none too flourishing. Otto went +on: + +"I heard, late last night, from an unexpected quarter, that the +detective people had an inkling of an unregistered diamond in this +house. You know very well what that means. I went to Frank Farnborough +both late last night and early this morning. I begged and entreated +him, for his own sake, for all our sakes, to go at once first thing this +morning and hand over and declare the stone. This he refused to do, and +in a very insulting way. I had no other course open, for my own safety +and yours, but to give the information myself. I am afraid matters have +been complicated by the discovery that the diamond is a De Beers stone, +undoubtedly stolen. Frank is in a temporary mess, but we shall be able +to get him out of the difficulty somehow." + +Nina had uttered a low cry of pain at the beginning of this speech. She +knew too well the danger, and, as Otto went on, her heart seemed almost +to stand still within her. + +"Oh," she gasped, "what is to be done? What shall we do? I must see +Frank at once. Surely an explanation from us both should be sufficient +to clear him?" She rose as she spoke. + +"My dear Nina; first of all we must do nothing rash. We shall no doubt +be easily able to get Frank out of his trouble. The thing is, of +course, absurd. He has been a little foolish--as indeed we all have-- +that is all. For the present you must leave every thing to me. I don't +want to have your name dragged into the matter even for a day. If there +is any serious trouble, you shall be consulted. Trust to me, and we +shall make matters all right." + +By one pretext or another, Otto managed to keep his sister quiet, and to +allay her worst fears, until two days after, by which time Frank had +been sent for trial and was safely in prison. Nina had meanwhile +fruitlessly endeavoured to possess her soul in patience. When Otto had +come in that evening and told her of the news, "Why was I not called in +evidence?" she asked fiercely. "Surely I could have done something for +Frank. You seem to me to take this matter--a matter of life and death-- +with very extraordinary coolness. I cannot imagine why you have not +done more. You know Frank is as innocent as we are ourselves. We ought +to have moved heaven and earth to save him this dreadful degradation. +What--what can he think of me? I shall go to-morrow and see his +solicitors and tell them the whole of the facts!" + +Next morning, Nina read an account of the proceedings in the newspaper. +It was plainly apparent, from the report of Otto's evidence, that there +was something very wrong going on. She taxed her brother with it. + +"My dear Nina, be reasonable," he said. "Of course Frank has got into a +desperate mess. I was not going to give myself away, because I happened +to know, innocently, that he had an unregistered diamond for two or +three days in his possession. I have since found out that Frank knew a +good deal more of the origin of that diamond than I gave him credit for, +and it was my plain duty to protect myself." + +This was an absolute fabrication, and Nina more than half suspected it. + +"But you were trying to make arrangements with Frank to prospect the +very place the stone came from," said the girl. + +"I admit that, fully," replied Otto calmly. "But I never then suspected +that the diamond was stolen. I imagined it was innocently come by. It +was foolish, I admit, and I am not quite such an idiot, after giving the +information I did, to own now that I was prepared to go in for a +speculation with Frank upon the idea of the diamond being an up-country +one. Now, clearly understand me, not a word must be said upon this +point, or you may involve me in just such a mess as Frank is in." + +Nina was fairly bewildered, and held her peace. Matters had taken such +astounding turns. The diamond, it seemed after all, was a stolen one, +and a De Beers stone to boot; she knew not what to think, or where to +turn for guidance and information. And yet, something must be done to +help Frank. + +For the next few days, the girl moved about the house like a ghost, +seldom speaking to her brother, except to give the barest replies to his +scant remarks. + +Several times she was in a mind to go straight to Frank's solicitor and +tell her version of the whole affair. But then, again, there were many +objections to such a course. She would be received with great +suspicion, as an informer from an enemy's camp. After almost +insufferable doubts and heartaches, Nina judged it best to wait until +the day of trial, and then and there to give her version of the affair +as she knew it. Surely the judge would give ear to a truthful and +unprejudiced witness, anxious only to save an honest and cruelly misused +man! Surely, surely Frank could and should be saved! + +About a week before the trial, she was subpoenaed as a witness on behalf +of both prosecution and defence, and finally, the day before the +terrible event, Otto had a long interview with her upon the subject of +her evidence. Her proof he himself had carefully prepared and corrected +with the prosecuting solicitor; excusing his sister upon the ground of +ill-health and nervousness, but guaranteeing her evidence at the trial. +He now impressed upon her, with great solemnity and anxiety, the +absolute necessity of her story coinciding precisely with his own. Nina +listened in a stony silence and said almost nothing. Otto was not +satisfied, and expressed himself so. + +"Nina," he said sharply, "let us clearly understand one another. My +tale is simple enough, and after what has occurred--the finding of a +stolen diamond and not an innocent stone from up-country--I cannot +conceal from myself that Frank must be guilty. You must see this +yourself. Don't get me into a mess, by any dangerous sympathies, or +affections, or feelings of that sort. Be the sensible, good sister you +always have been, and, whatever you do, be careful; guard your tongue +and brain in court, with the greatest watchfulness. Remember, my +reputation--your brother's reputation--is at stake, as well as Frank's!" + +Nina dared not trust herself to say much. Her soul sickened within her; +but, for Frank's sake, she must be careful. Her course on the morrow +was fully made up. She replied to Otto: "I shall tell my story as +simply and shortly as possible. In spite of what you say, I know, and +you must know, that Frank is perfectly innocent. I know little about +the matter, except seeing Frank with the diamond in his hand that night. +You may be quite content. I shall not injure you in any way." + +Otto Staarbrucker was by no means satisfied with his sister's answer, +but it was the best he could get out of her. He could not prevent--it +was too late now--her being called as a witness. Come what might, she +was his sister and never would, never could, put him into danger. + +At last the time had come. Nina made her way, with much difficulty, to +the witness-box; steadily took her stand and was sworn. All Kimberley, +as she knew, was looking intently and watching her every gesture. She +had changed greatly in the last few weeks, and now looked, for her, thin +and worn--almost ill. The usual warmth of her dark beauty was lacking. +An ivory pallor overspread her face; but her glorious eyes were firm, +open and determined, and honesty and truth, men well might see, were in +her glance. She looked once quickly at the two judges and the +magistrate sitting with them, and then her eyes met Frank's, and for him +a world of sympathy was in them. It did Frank good and he breathed more +freely. Nina, at all events, was the Nina of old. + +The prosecuting advocate opened the girl's evidence quietly, with the +usual preliminaries. Then very gently he asked Nina if she was well +acquainted with the prisoner. Her reply was, "Yes, very well +acquainted." + +"I suppose," continued counsel, "I may even call him a friend of yours?" + +"Yes," replied Nina, "a very great friend." + +"Without penetrating unduly into your private affairs and sympathies, +Miss Staarbrucker," went on the advocate, "I will ask you to tell the +court shortly what you actually saw on the night in question--the night, +I mean, when the diamond was first seen by yourself and your brother." + +Here was Nina's opportunity, and she took advantage of it. She told +plainly, yet graphically, the story of that evening; she portrayed the +amazed delight of Frank on the discovery of the stone, his free avowal +of his find, the knife in his hand, the open crocodile on the table, the +pebbles previously taken from the reptile's stomach. She went on with +her story with only such pauses as the taking of the judge's notes +required. Counsel, once or twice, attempted to pull her up; she was +going much too fast and too far to please him; but the court allowed her +to complete her narrative. She dealt with the next two days. Mr +Farnborough had kept the diamond, it was true. He was puzzled to know +what to do with it. He had, finally, announced his intention of giving +it up and declaring it, and he would undoubtedly have done so, but for +his arrest. The stone might have been stolen, or it might not, but Mr +Farnborough, as all his friends knew, was absolutely incapable of +stealing diamonds, or of buying diamonds, knowing them to be stolen. +The stone came into his possession in a perfectly innocent manner, as +she could and did testify on oath. As for her brother's suspicions, she +could not answer for or understand them. For two days, he at all events +had had none; she could not account for his sudden change. Spite of the +judge's cautions, she concluded a breathless little harangue--for she +had let herself go completely now--by expressing her emphatic belief in +Frank's absolute innocence. + +She had finished, and in her now deathly pale beauty was leaving the +box. There were no further questions asked by counsel upon either side. +Nina had said far too much for the one, and the advocate for the +defence judged it wiser to leave such a runaway severely alone. Who +knew in what direction she might turn next? He whispered regretfully to +his solicitor: "If we had got hold of that girl, by George! we might +have done some good with her--with a martingale and double bit on." + +The senior judge, as Nina concluded, remarked blandly--for he had an eye +for beauty--"I am afraid we have allowed you a good deal too much +latitude. Miss Staarbrucker, and a great deal of what you have told the +court is quite inadmissible as evidence." + +As for Otto, he had stared with open mouth and fixed glare at his sister +during her brief episode. He now heaved a deep breath of relief, as he +watched the judges. + +"Thank God!" he said to himself savagely under his breath, "she has +overdone it, and spoilt her own game--the little fool!" + +Nina moved to her seat and sat, now faint and dejected, watching with +feverish eyes for the end. + +The case for the prosecution was soon finished. Three witnesses, +experts of well-known reputation and unimpeachable character, testified +to the fact that the stone was a De Beers stone, and by no possibility +any other. Evidence was then put in, proving conclusively that the +diamond was unregistered. + +Counsel for the defence had but a poor case, but he made the best of it. +He dwelt upon the unimpeachable reputation of the prisoner, upon the +utter improbability of his having stolen the diamond, or bought it, +knowing it to be stolen. There was not a particle of direct evidence +upon these points. The testimony of experts was never satisfactory. +Their evidence in this case was mere matter of opinion. It was well +known that the history of gold and gem finding exceeded in romance the +wildest inspirations of novelists. The finding of the first diamond in +South Africa was a case very much in point. Why should not the diamond +have come from the Mahalapsi River with the other gravel in the belly of +the dead crocodile? Mr Farnborough's friend, Mr Kentburn, would prove +beyond doubt that he had brought the mummified crocodile from the +Mahalapsi River, where he had picked it up. The greatest offence that +could by any possibility be brought home to his client was that he had +this stone in his possession for two days without declaring it! That +was an act of sheer inadvertence. The stone was not a Griqualand West +stone, and it was a puzzling matter, with a young and inexperienced man, +to know quite what to do with it. If the stone were, as he, counsel, +contended, not a stone from the Cape districts at all, it was an +arguable question whether the court had any rights or jurisdiction in +this case whatever. Would it be contended that a person coming to South +Africa, innocently, with a Brazilian or an Indian diamond in his +possession, could be hauled off to prison, and thereafter sentenced for +unlawful possession? Such a contention would be monstrous! The great +diamond industry had in South Africa far too much power already--many +men thought. Let them be careful in further stretching or adding to +those powers--powers that reminded unbiassed people more of the worst +days of the Star Chamber or the Inquisition, than of a modern community. +Had the prisoner attempted to conceal the diamond? On the contrary, he +had shown it eagerly to Mr Staarbrucker and his sister immediately he +had found it. That was not the act of a guilty man! + +These, and many other arguments, were employed by the defending advocate +in a powerful and almost convincing speech. There were weak points, +undoubtedly--fatally weak, many of the spectators thought them. These +were avoided, or lightly skated over with consummate art. The advocate +closed his speech with a touching appeal that a young, upright, and +promising career might not be wrecked upon the vaguest of circumstantial +evidence. + +The speech was over; all the witnesses had been called, the addresses +concluded. The afternoon was wearing on apace, and the court was +accordingly adjourned; the prisoner was put back into jail again, and +the crowded assemblage flocked into the outer air, to discuss hotly +throughout the rest of the evening the many points of this singular and +absorbing case. + +Again, as usual in Kimberley at this season, the next morning broke +clear and invigorating. All the world of the corrugated-iron city +seemed, after breakfast, brisk, keen, and full of life as they went +about their business. The Cape swallows flitted, and hawked, and played +hither and thither in the bright atmosphere, or sat, looking sharply +about them, upon the telegraph wires or housetops, preening their +feathers and displaying their handsome, chestnut body colouring. The +great market square was still full of waggons and long spans of oxen, +and of native people, drawn from well-nigh every quarter of Southern +Africa. + +Out there in the sunlit market-place stood a man, whose strong brain was +just now busily engaged in piecing together and puzzling out the +patchwork of this extraordinary case. David Ayling, with his mighty +voice, Scotch accent, oak-like frame, keen grey eyes, and vast iron-grey +beard, was a periodical and excellently well-known Kimberley visitant. +For years he had traded and hunted in the far interior. His reputation +for courage, resource, and fair dealing was familiar to all men, and +David's name had for years been a household word from the Cape to the +Zambesi. Periodically, the trader came down to Kimberley with his +waggons and outfit, after a year or two spent in the distant interior. +Yesterday morning he had come in, and in the afternoon and evening he +seemed to hear upon men's tongues nothing else than Frank Farnborough's +case, and the story of the Mahalapsi diamond. Now David had known Frank +for some few years, and had taken a liking to him. Several times he had +brought down-country small collections of skins, and trophies of the +chase, got together at the young man's suggestion. He had in his +waggon, even now, some new and rare birds from the far-off Zambesi +lands, and the two had had many a deal together. Frank's unhappy plight +at once took hold of the trader's sympathies, and the Mahalapsi and +crocodile episodes tended yet further to excite his interest. Certain +suspicions had been growing in his mind. This morning, before +breakfast, he had carefully read and re-read the newspaper report of the +trial, and now, just before the court opened, he was waiting +impatiently, with further developments busily evolving in his brain. +There was a bigger crowd even than yesterday; the prisoner and counsel +had come in; all waited anxiously for the end of the drama. In a few +minutes the court entered, grave and self-possessed, and the leading +judge began to arrange his notes. + +At that moment, David Ayling, who had shouldered his way to the fore, +stood up and addressed the court in his tremendous deep-chested tones, +which penetrated easily to every corner of the chamber. + +"Your Honours," he said, "before you proceed further, I should like to +lay one or two facts before you--not yet known in this case. They are +very important, and I think you should hear them in order that justice +may be done, and perhaps an innocent man saved. I have only just come +down from the Zambesi and never heard of this trial till late yesterday +afternoon." + +Two persons, as they listened to these words and looked at the strong, +determined man uttering them, felt, they knew not why, instantly braced +and strengthened, as if by a mighty tonic. They were Frank, the +prisoner, hitherto despairing and out of heart, and Nina Staarbrucker, +sitting at the back of the court, pale and trembling with miserable +anticipations. + +"You know me, your Honour, I think," went on David, in his deep Scotch +voice. + +"Yes, Mr Ayling, we know you, of course," answered the senior judge +(every one in Kimberley knew David Ayling), "and I am, with my +colleagues, anxious to get at all the evidence available, before +delivering judgment. This is somewhat irregular, but, upon the whole, I +think you had better be sworn and state what you have to say." + +David went to the witness-box and was sworn. "This crocodile skin +here," he went on, pointing to the skin, which was handed up to him, "I +happen to know very well. I have examined it carefully before your +lordship came in; it is small, and of rather peculiar shape, especially +about the head. I remember that skin well, and can swear to it; there +are not many like it knocking about. That skin was put on to my waggon +in Kimberley seventeen months ago, and was carried by me to the +Mahalapsi River." + +The court had become intensely interested as the trader spoke, the +judges and magistrate pricked up their ears and looked intently, first +at the skin, then at David. + +"Go on," said the judge. + +"Well, your Honour," resumed David, "the skin was put on to my waggon in +February of last year, by Sam Vesthreim, a Jew storekeeper, in a small +way in Beaconsfield. There were some other odds and ends put on the +waggon, little lots of goods, which I delivered in Barkly West. But the +crocodile skin, Sam Vesthreim said, was a bit of a curio, and he +particularly wanted it left at some friend's place farther up-country. +I was in a hurry at the time, and forgot to take the name, but Sam said +there was a label on the skin. The thing was pitched in with a lot of +other stuff, and lay there for a long time! Lost sight of it till we +had got to the Mahalapsi River, where the waggon was overturned in +crossing. I offloaded, and the crocodile skin then turned up with the +label off. We were heavily laden; the skin was, I thought, useless; we +were going on to the Zambesi, and I had clean forgotten where the skin +ought to have been left. It seemed a useless bit of gear, so I just +pitched it away in the bushes, in the very spot, as near as I can make +it, where Mr Farnborough's friend, Mr Kentburn, found it, nearly a +year later, as he came down-country. That is one remarkable thing. I +would like to add, my lord, that the Mahalapsi is a dry river, never +running except in rains; and in all my experience, and I have passed it +some scores of times, I never knew a crocodile up in that neighbourhood. +The chances of there being any other crocodile skin in that sandy place +and among those bushes, where Mr Kentburn found this one, would, I +reckon, be something like a million (David pronounced it mullion) to +one. + +"There is one other point, your Honours. Long after Sam Vesthreim +delivered that skin on my waggon, I read in the newspapers that he had +been arrested for I.D.B.--only a few weeks after I saw him--and +sentenced to a term of imprisonment. I have been puzzling mightily over +this case, and I must say, the more I think of it, the more +unaccountable seems to me the fact of Sam Vesthreim sending that dried +crocodile skin up-country. If it had been down-country, or to England, +I could understand it; but in this case it seems very much like sending +coals to Newcastle. I never knew that Sam was in the I.D.B. trade till +I saw his imprisonment in the paper. I think he had some peculiar +object in getting that skin out of his house. And I cannot help +thinking, your Honours, that Sam Vesthreim, if he could be found, could +throw a good deal of light on this crocodile and diamond business. In +fact, I'm sure of it. It's quite on the cards, to my thinking, that he +put the diamond in that crocodile himself." + +Some questions were put to the witness by counsel for both sides, +without adding to or detracting from the narrative in any way. The +court seemed a good deal impressed by David's story, as indeed did the +whole of the crowded audience, who had breathlessly listened to its +recital. Mr Flecknoe, the detective, was called forward. He informed +the court that Sam Vesthreim was now at Cape Town undergoing a long term +of imprisonment. He was no doubt at work on the Breakwater. + +The senior judge was a man of decision, and he had quickly made up his +mind. After a short whispered consultation with his colleagues, he +spoke. "The turn this case has taken is so singular, and the evidence +given by Mr Ayling has imported so new an aspect, that in the +prisoner's interest we are determined to have the matter sifted to the +bottom. I will adjourn the court for a week, in order to secure the +convict Vesthreim's attendance here upon oath. Will this day week suit +the convenience of all counsel in this case?" + +Counsel intimated that the day of adjournment met their views, and once +more the crowded court emptied. As David Ayling turned to leave, he +caught Frank Farnborough's eye. He gave him a bright reassuring nod, +and a wink which did him a world of good. Altogether, Frank went back +to another weary week's confinement in far better spirits than he had +been for many days. There was, at all events, some slight element of +hope and explanation now. And it was refreshing to him as a draught of +wine, to find such a friend as David Ayling fighting his battle so +stoutly, so unexpectedly. + +Nina Staarbrucker stole silently out of the court, only anxious to get +home, and escape observation. There were many eyes upon her, but she +heeded them not at all. Thank God! there seemed some ray of light for +Frank; for herself, whether Frank came out triumphantly or no, there was +no outlook, all seemed blackness and gloom. Otto's part in this +wretched business had made ruin of all her hopes. Her brother's +treachery had determined her upon seeking a career of her own; work of +some sort--anywhere away from Kimberley--she must get, and get at once, +so soon as the trial was over, and whatever its result. + +Once more, in a week's time, the court wore its former aspect, the +characters were all marshalled for the final act. The new addition to +the caste, Mr Samuel Vesthreim, a lively, little, dark-visaged Jew of +low type, seemed on the best of terms with himself. For more than +fifteen months he had been hard at it on Cape Town Breakwater, or +road-scarping upon the breezy heights round the Cape peninsula--always, +of course, under the escort of guards and the unpleasing supervision of +loaded rifles--and really he needed a little rest and change. This trip +to Kimberley was the very thing for him. What slight sense of shame he +had ever possessed, had long since vanished under his recent hardening +experiences; and as the little man looked round the crowded court, and +saw the well-remembered faces of many a Kimberley acquaintance, it did +his heart good. He positively beamed again--in a properly subdued +manner, of course. + +The senior judge remarked to the advocates, "Perhaps it will save the +time of all if I put some questions to this witness myself." The +suggestion was gracefully received, and the judge turned to the little +Jew, now attentive in the witness-box. + +"Samuel, or Sam Vesthreim, you are a convict now undergoing a term of +penal servitude at Cape Town, I think?" + +"Yeth, my lord." + +"It may perhaps tend slightly to lessen or mitigate the extreme term of +your imprisonment if I receive perfectly truthful and straightforward +answers to the questions I am going to ask. Be very careful, therefore. +Any future recommendation on my part to the authorities will depend +upon yourself." + +"Yeth, my lord," answered Sam, in his most serious manner--and he meant +it. + +"About seventeen months ago you were in business in Beaconsfield, were +you not?" + +"Yeth, my lord." + +"Do you know Mr Ayling here?" pointing to the trader. + +"I do, my lord." + +"Do you remember intrusting Mr Ayling with some goods about that time +to take up-country?" + +"I do, my lord." + +"What were they?" + +"There were three cases of groceries to be delivered in Barkly West, and +a crocodile skin to be left at the place of a friend of mine near +Zeerust, in Marico, Transvaal." + +"Take that skin in your hands." The crocodile was handed up like a +baby. "Do you recognise it?" + +"Yeth, my lord, that is the identical skin, I believe, that I handed to +Mr Ayling." + +"Now, be careful. Was there anything inside that crocodile skin?" + +The little Jew saw now exactly which way the cat jumped, and he saw, +too, that only the truth could be of use to him in the weary days and +years yet to come on Cape Town Breakwater. The court was hushed by this +time to an absolute silence. You could have heard a feather fall, +almost. + +"Well, my lord," the little Jew replied, "there _wath_ something inside +that crocodile. I had had a little bit of a speculation, and there was +a big diamond inside the crocodile skin. I put it there myself. You +see, my lord," he went on rapidly, "I had been doing one or two little +transactions in stones, and I fancied there was something in the air, +and so I put away that diamond and packed it off in the crocodile skin, +safe, as I thought, to a friend in the Transvaal. It was a risk, but +just at that time it was the only way out of the difficulty. I meant to +have had an eye on the skin again, myself, a few days after, but I had a +little difficulty with the police and I was prevented." + +As Sam Vesthreim finished, Frank could have almost hugged him for the +news he brought. An irrepressible murmur of relief ran round the +crowded court, a murmur that the usher was for a minute or two powerless +to prevent. The judge whispered to an attendant. The diamond was +produced and handed to the Jew. "Do you recognise that stone?" said the +judge. + +"I do, my lord," answered Vesthreim emphatically. "That is the stone I +put inside the crocodile. I could swear to it among a thousand." The +little man's eyes gleamed pleasurably yet regretfully upon the gem as he +spoke. + +Here, then, was the mystery of the fatal, puzzling diamond cleared up. +There were few more questions to ask. The little Jew frankly admitted +that the stone was a De Beers stone, stolen by a native worker; there +was little else to learn. Frank was a free man, practically, as he +stood there, jaded and worn, yet at least triumphant. It was a dear +triumph though, only snatched from disaster by the merest chance in the +world--the coming of David Ayling. And the tortures, the agonies he had +suffered in these last few weeks of suspense! He knew that nothing--the +kindly congratulations of friends, the tenderer affection of relations, +the hearty welcome of a well-nigh lost world--none of these good things +could ever quite repay him, ever restore to him what he had lost. + +In a very few minutes Frank had been discharged from custody. The +judges in brief, sympathetic speeches, congratulated him on his +triumphant issue from a very terrible ordeal, and trusted that the +applause and increased respect of his fellow-citizens would in some +slight degree make up to him for his undoubted sufferings. + +Frank left the court, arm in arm with David Ayling, whom he could not +sufficiently thank for his timely and strenuous assistance. A troop of +friends escorted him to the Transvaal Hotel, where his health was drunk +in the hearty Kimberley way, with innumerable congratulations. All this +was very gratifying, as was the magnificent dinner which a number of +friends gave to him a day or two later, at which half Kimberley +assisted. But, for the present, Frank desired only to be left severely +alone, with the quieter companionship of his few most intimate friends. +He was still half stunned and very unwell; some weeks or months must +elapse before he should be himself again. + +One of his first inquiries was after Nina Staarbrucker, whom he wished +sincerely to thank for her brave and honest defence of him at the trial. +He learned, with a good deal of surprise, that she had left Kimberley +on the morning after the trial, alone. He learned too, with less +surprise, that Otto had quitted the town on urgent business in the +Transvaal, and was not likely to return for some time. Beyond these +bare facts, he could gather little or nothing of Nina and her +whereabouts. He rather suspected she had gone to some relations near +Cape Town, but for the present her address was undiscoverable. + +Very shortly after the result of the trial, Frank Farnborough was +granted by his company six months' leave of absence, with full pay in +the meantime. It was felt that the young man had been injured cruelly +by his imprisonment, and that some atonement was due to him; and the +great Diamond Company he served, not to be behind in the generous shake +of the hand, which all Kimberley was now anxious to extend to a hardly +used man, was not slow in giving practical manifestation of a public +sympathy. The stolen stone had been proved a De Beers diamond, and +Frank, its unfortunate temporary owner, had not only been deprived of a +valuable find, but for his innocent ownership had suffered terribly in a +way which no honest man could ever possibly forget. In addition, +therefore, to his grant of leave of absence and full salary, Frank was +handed a cheque for five hundred pounds, being, roughly, a half share of +the value of the recovered gem. + +Frank at once set out upon an expedition on which he had long fixed his +mind--a hunting trip to the far interior. His preparations were soon +made, and, a few weeks later, he was enjoying his fill of sport and +adventure in the wild country north-east of the Transvaal, at that time +a veldt swarming with great game. + +After three months came the rains, and with the rains, fever--fever, +too, of a very dangerous type. Frank directed his waggon for the +Limpopo River, and, still battling with the pestilence, kept up his +shooting so long as he had strength. At last came a time when his drugs +were conquered, the fever held him in a death-like grip, and he lay in +his kartel gaunt, emaciated, weak, almost in the last stage of the +disease. The fever had beaten him, and he turned his face southward and +trekked for civilisation. + +The waggons--he had a friendly trader with him by this time--had crossed +the Limpopo and outspanned one hot evening in a tiny Boer village, the +most remote of the rude frontier settlements of the Transvaal Republic. +Frank, now in a state of collapse, was lifted from his kartel and +carried into the back room of the only store in the place--a rude wattle +and daub shanty thatched with grass. He was delirious, and lay in high +fever all that night. In the morning he seemed a trifle better, but not +sensible of those about him. At twelve o'clock he was once more fast in +the clutches of raging fever; his temperature ran up alarmingly; he +rambled wildly in his talk; at this rate it seemed that life could not +long support itself in so enfeebled a frame. + +Towards sundown, the fever had left him again; he lay in a state of +absolute exhaustion, and presently fell into a gentle sleep. The +trader, who had tended him day and night for a week, now absolutely +wearied out, sought his own waggon and went to sleep. The storekeeper +had retired, only a young woman, passing through the place, a governess +on her way to some Dutchman's farm, watched by the sick man's bed. + +It was about an hour after midnight, the African dawn had not yet come, +but the solitary candle shed a fainter light; a cock crew, the air +seemed to become suddenly more chill. The woman rose from her chair, +fetched a light kaross [a fur cloak or rug] from the store, and spread +it gently over the sick man's bed. Then she lifted his head--it was a +heavy task--and administered some brandy and beef-tea. Again the young +man slept, or lay in torpor. Presently the girl took his hand in her +right, then, sitting close to his bedside, she, with her left, gently +stroked his brow and hair. A sob escaped her. She kissed the listless, +wasted hand; then with a little cry she half rose, bent herself softly +and kissed tenderly, several times, the brow and the hollow, wasted +cheek of the fever-stricken man. As she did so, tears escaped from her +eyes and fell gently, all unheeded, upon Frank's face and pillow. + +"Oh, my love, my love!" cried the girl, in a sobbing whisper, "to think +that never again can I speak to you, take your hand in mine! To think +that I, who would have died for you, am now ashamed as I touch you-- +ashamed for the vile wrong that was done to you in those miserable days. +My love, my darling, I must now kiss you like a thief. Our ways are +apart, and the journey--my God--is so long." + +Once more, leaning over the still figure, she kissed Frank's brow, and +then, relapsing into her chair, cried silently for a while--a spasmodic +sob now and again evincing the bitter struggle within her. The cold +grey of morning came, and still she sat by the bedside, watching +intently, unweariedly, each change of the sick man's position, every +flicker of the tired eyes. + +During the long hours of the two next days, Frank lay for the most part +in a torpor of weakness. The fever had left him; it was now a struggle +between death and the balance of strength left to a vigorous +constitution after such a bout. Save for an hour or so at a time, Nina +had never left his side. Hers was the gentle hand that turned the +pillows, shifted the cotton Kaffir blankets that formed the bedding, +gave the required nourishment, and administered the medicine. On the +evening of the fourth day, there were faint symptoms of recovery; the +weakened man seemed visibly stronger. Once or twice he had feebly +opened his eyes and looked about him--apparently without recognition of +those at hand. + +It was in the middle of this night that Frank really became conscious. +He had taken some nourishment, and after long lying in a state betwixt +sleep and stupor, he awoke to feel a tender stroking of his hand. +Presently his brow was touched lightly by soft lips. It reminded him of +his mother in years gone by. Frank was much too weak to be surprised at +anything, but he opened his eyes and looked about him. It was not his +mother's face that he saw, as he had dreamily half expected, but the +face of one he had come to know almost as well. + +Close by him stood Nina Staarbrucker, much more worn, much graver, much +changed from the sweet, merry, piquant girl he had known so well at +Kimberley. But the dark friendly eyes--very loving, yet sad and +beseeching, it seemed to him dimly--of the lost days, were still there +for him. + +Frank opened his parched lips and in a husky voice whispered, "Nina?" + +"Yes," said the sweet, clear voice he remembered so well, "I am here, +nursing you. You must not talk. No, not a word," as he essayed to +speak again, "or you will undo all the good that has been done. Rest, +my darling (I can't help saying it," she said to herself; "it will do no +harm, and he will never hear it again from my lips); sleep again, and +you will soon be stronger." + +Frank was still supremely weak, and the very presence of the girl seemed +to bring peace and repose to his senses. He smiled--closed his eyes +again, and slept soundly far into the next day. + +That was the last he ever saw of Nina Staarbrucker. She had vanished, +and although Frank, as he grew from convalescence to strength, made many +inquiries as the months went by, he could never succeed in gaining +satisfactory tidings of her. He once heard that she had been seen in +Delagoa Bay, that was all. Whether in the years to come they will ever +meet again, time and the fates alone can say. It seems scarcely +probable. Africa is so vast, and nurses safely within her bosom the +secret of many a lost career. + +CHAPTER TEN. + +A TRAGEDY OF THE VELDT. + +The circumstances attending the fate of Leonard Strangeways were very +extraordinary, and the three years of silence and doubt that followed +the discovery of his body in the veldt seemed but to enhance among white +men in the Bechuanaland Protectorate the mystery of that most singular +affair. The whole tragedy, from the very remoteness of the place in +which it was enacted, was little known south of the Orange River. I +have, therefore, thought it worth while to rescue from complete oblivion +the grim, strange, and unwonted circumstances of that dark business. + +Leonard Strangeways was, in the year 1890, when I first met him, one of +the pioneers who entered Mashonaland. He was one of those +devil-may-care, reckless, wandering fellows, so many of whom are to be +found upon the frontiers of civilisation in Southern Africa. I first +saw him, outspanned at breakfast, near Palla Camp on the Crocodile +River, with a number of other men, going into Mashonaland upon the same +errand as himself. He was the life and soul of the party, and was +superintending the "bossing-up" of the meal. For the next week our +waggons moved on together and I saw a good deal of Strangeways. He was +a tall, handsome fellow of thirty or thirty-one. He seemed to be a +general favourite with his party--mainly, I imagine, because he was one +of those capable men who excel in everything they undertake. He shot +most of the francolins and other feathered game for the half-dozen chums +he was travelling with; he had not been long in South Africa, and yet he +seemed to comprehend the ways of the native servants and the methods of +travel exceedingly well; he evidently understood horses thoroughly, and +personally superintended the score of nags that were travelling up with +the waggons. He could inspan and outspan oxen, and was already master +of other useful veldt wrinkles, which usually take some time to acquire. +He could paint remarkably well, I have seen him, in a short hour's work +with water-colours, turn out a very charming sketch of African scenery. +And at night, by the camp fire, Strangeways' banjo and his deep, rich +voice were in inevitable request. It is not judged well to inquire too +closely into the antecedents of men in the South African interior. I +gathered, during the week of travel alongside of Strangeways, that he +had led a wandering life for some years, and had recently come across to +the Cape from Australia, where he had done little good for himself. + +I parted from Strangeways and his fellow pioneers at Palachwe, and saw +no more of him for rather more than a twelve-month, when I met him +coming down-country, at Boatlanama, a water on the desert road, between +Khama's old town of Shoshong and Molepolole. In latter days this was +not the usual route to and from Palachwe and Matabeleland, but having +been several times by the Crocodile road, I happened to have taken the +more westerly route for a change. On waking up next morning, after a +hard and distressing trek from the nearest water in this thirsty +country--Lopepe--I was surprised to see another waggon outspanned almost +alongside. Still more surprised was I to find one of its two occupants +Leonard Strangeways, also with a fellow pioneer travelling down-country. +Our greeting was a hearty one, and indeed, I, for my part, was +exceedingly well pleased to have encountered once more so genial and +pleasant an acquaintance. + +Strangeways had passed a year in Mashonaland, and, like most of the +other Mashonalanders of that distressful season, '90-'91, had had some +pretty tough experiences. However, he had weathered the storm, had sold +his pioneer farm, and the options over a number of mining properties, +for cash at a good price, and was now going down to Cape Town to enjoy +himself, and, as he expressed it, to "blow some of the pieces." He was +in the highest spirits. He had trekked down by this more westerly route +for the purpose of getting some shooting. He was a keen sportsman, and +was anxious as he came down-country to secure the heads of the gemsbok +and hartebeest, two large desert-loving antelopes, not found in +Mashonaland. He had succeeded in bagging two gemsbok to the westward of +Lopepe, and, after breakfast, was riding out in search of hartebeest. + +I had had a hard ride in the sun on the day preceding, and my horse was +knocked up. I was not inclined to accompany Strangeways on his quest, +therefore I did not see him again till late in the evening, when he +returned with a native hunter. It was an hour or two after dark when +they came up to the camp fire, where we were drinking our coffee and +enjoying a quiet smoke. He rode into the cheerful blaze and dismounted. +He had upon his saddle-bow the head and horns of a fine hartebeest +bull, the trophy he had coveted, and behind were the skin and a good +quantity of meat from the same antelope. "There!" said he, flinging +down the head triumphantly, "that's been a devilish tough customer to +bring to bag, but we did the trick after all. If it hadn't been for +Marati, here," jerking his head at a grinning Bechuana boy, "we should +have lost the buck. We followed the blood spoor for five mortal hours, +and but for Marati I should have given it up as a bad job. By Jove! +I'm fairly beat." + +"Your supper's in the pot," I replied, "and there's enough coffee to +float you. Sit down and the boy will bring you a plate and cup. Put +your coat on first though, it's getting chilly." + +As I lay on my rug, Strangeways stood above me in his flannel shirt +sleeves, a fine figure of a man, in the flickering blaze. Suddenly his +eye caught the white tent of another waggon, which had come in during +the afternoon, and was on its way up-country. "Hallo!" he said, "what's +this?" + +"Oh, don't bother about it," I replied, "they are a mining party going +up to Mashonaland. They won't interest you. Sit down and have your +supper." + +But Strangeways was curious; I often think that if he had been less +curious he would have been alive at this moment. The third waggon stood +about sixty yards away. + +"Get my supper ready," he said, "I'll be back in a moment," and walked +across to the other camp fire. + +I directed his native cook-boy to bring plates and a cup, and have all +in readiness for his master's supper. In less than three minutes +Strangeways strode up to the fire again. As he approached, he looked +furtively behind him I never saw a man so utterly changed within the +space of three short minutes. His face was ghastly pale, he trembled +visibly. He said not a single word, but went straight to his horse, +which was being off-saddled. He picked up the saddle again, clapped it +on the poor tired brute's back, and to my intense astonishment put his +foot in the stirrup and mounted. + +"Strangeways," I said, "what in Heaven's name are you going to do. Come +and sit down and let the nag alone." + +He turned on me a white, terror-stricken face. + +"Sh! for God's sake," was all he said, under his breath. One glance he +threw towards that other camp fire, and then, kicking his horse with the +spur, he passed behind our two waggons and rode straight out into the +gross darkness of the veldt. + +I was so astounded at this extraordinary proceeding, that I confess I +let Strangeways ride away without any further protest than the few words +I had uttered. I now jumped to my feet and followed in the direction he +had taken. I saw and heard nothing. I was about to shout his name, but +I had been so impressed with the terror depicted on his face, that I +forebore to cry out after him. Somehow, it struck me that he wanted +silence. I had always found him a most sensible, level-headed fellow. +He had some reason undoubtedly for this sudden fear and strange +departure. I waited by the fireside for half an hour, all sorts of +doubts and hypotheses thronging my brain. What could it mean? Here was +a man, tired, worn-out and hungry, and, above all, desperately thirsty, +after a hard day's hunting and eleven hours spent in the saddle under a +burning sun, suddenly flying off from his supper, his rest, and the +pleasant camp fire, mounting his tired horse and riding straight out +into the veldt with some strong terror gripping at his heart. And such +a veldt as it was here. Sheer desert, except for a scanty pit of foul +water now and again at long intervals. He could not be mad. He was +sane as a judge before he visited the other camp fire; what in God's +name could it mean? I worried my brain for half an hour, and then gave +it up. I now roused Strangeways' pioneer comrade, who had retired early +and had been asleep all this time, and talked the thing over with him. +We could find no solution. + +The other camp fire seemed to contain the only possible explanation of +this strange event. We walked across to it. I had previously spoken to +these wayfarers, who consisted of a mining engineer and three +prospectors. The engineer received us civilly. He inquired in a +bantering way after our friend, who, he averred, had come across, stared +like a stuck pig for a moment, and then suddenly turned on his heel and +vanished. Two of his prospectors, one a Cornishman, the other a Yankee, +sat by the fire, smoking. They were decent, quiet, civil-spoken men. +The third, an Italian, had, they informed me, turned into his waggon and +gone to sleep. We had a quarter of an hour's chat, and then, finding +that we could make nothing of the mystery over here, we went back to our +own fire again. We had not thought it necessary to enlighten the mining +party as to Strangeways' sudden departure; nor, indeed, did they +manifest any further interest in him. They had caught but a fleeting +glimpse of his face, and then, as they said, he had turned and bolted. + +Halton, Strangeways' comrade, and I returned to our camp fire, waited up +till eleven o'clock--a late hour for the veldt--and then, seeing that +nothing further was to be done that night, we turned in, tired enough, +and slept soundly. + +I was awake at six next morning. My native boy brought me, as usual, my +coffee. + +"Baas," he said, "did Baas know that a man from the other waggon came +over here in the night with a lantern and looked in Baas's waggon and +into the other waggon too." No, I knew nothing of this, and I told the +boy so. I looked into Strangeways' waggon. Halton was just getting up. +He, too, had slept heavily, and had neither seen nor heard of any one's +approach during the night. + +We swallowed our coffee and ate some breakfast, debating with serious +faces what step we were to take next. While we sat by the embers of the +overnight fire thus employed, the engineer from the other camp came +across. He had fresh food for bewilderment. His Italian prospector was +missing. His native driver averred that Rinaldi had risen before dawn, +taken some food and a water bottle, saddled a horse, and just as +daylight came left the camp. He came, the man said, in our direction, +and then disappeared behind the waggons and into the veldt. + +The mystery was clearly thickening. Halton and I now took the engineer +into our confidence, and told him of the strange occurrence of the +evening before. We finished breakfast, and then decided to proceed at +once with the adventure. First we called up a first-rate Bakalahari +hunter, who had been for some time attached to my camp, and was an +extraordinarily skilful spoorer. After a cup of coffee and a pinch or +two of snuff, both inestimable luxuries to a poor, despised desert man, +he quickly got to work. His narrative lay there in the sand before him, +as clear to his bleared, half-shut eyes as God's daylight itself. + +First he traced the progress of Strangeways. After some little trouble +about the camp, where the trail was much mingled with others, he +presently got the spoor away into the bush, to the west of the outspan. +Shortly, with a cluck of the tongue, the native drew our attention to +other marks. Here, he said, Strangeways' trail had been joined by that +of another, a man walking with his horse. The man, said the Bakalahari, +was following the spoor of Strangeways, and had got off his horse for +the purpose. As the ground became clearer and the country more open, +this man had mounted and followed more quickly upon the trail. At +times, the tale was plain enough even to the eyes of us Europeans. + +Well, to make a long story short, we followed the two spoors all through +that long hot day. We had water and food with us, and we meant to see +the thing out. At first, in the darkness, Strangeways had evidently +wandered a good deal from the straight line, but as light had come, he +had travelled due west, and then after mid-day struck in a southerly +direction. I guessed his purpose, to seek the road and water south of +Boatlanama. Towards sundown, when we had ridden between thirty and +forty miles, we saw by the trail that Strangeways' horse was failing. +The wonder was that after two days of such work it had stood up so long. +Night fell before we could arrive at any solution of the mystery. We +made a good fire, drank some water, ate some supper, and then lay down +upon the dry earth and slept. At earliest daylight we were moving +again. We followed the two spoors for something more than an hour, and +then, rather suddenly, in some thickish bush, came upon a sight that +smote us all with horror. A cloud of vultures fluttered heavily from +the dead body of Strangeways' horse, which lay stretched upon the sand, +now nearly devoid of what flesh it had once carried upon its bones. +Under a pile of thorns, close by, was the body of Strangeways himself. + +The body, for some extraordinary reason, which I was then not able to +fathom, had been carefully protected by these thorn branches, and the +vultures had not been able to accomplish their foul work upon it. We +pulled away the thorns, and examined the poor dead body; it was marked +by two bullet wounds, one in the right shoulder, the other, fired at +close quarters, through the head. The flannel shirt, in which +Strangeways had ridden, had been torn roughly off the upper part of the +body, and upon the broad chest had been slashed, with the point of a +sharp knife, these letters, MARIA. The blood, now dark and coagulate, +had run a little, but there was not the least difficulty in making out +the name. There were traces of the Italian and his horse about the +spot, and then the murderer's spoor led away northward. + +Even with this sad and infernal discovery before us we were no nearer +the elucidation of this strange mystery. Revenge seemed to be at the +bottom of it, but the reason of that revenge was absolutely hidden from +us. We held a long council on the body, took what few trifles there +were upon it, Strangeways' watch, his hunting belt and knife, spurs, and +a silver bangle upon the wrist. Then we buried him in that desolate +spot. Our horses were already suffering from lack of water. It was +madness to think of following the Italian, who would probably himself +perish of thirst. We turned for our waggons, therefore, and with great +difficulty reached them late that night. The next thing to do was to +report the murder and set the Border Police upon the affair. This was +done as speedily as possible. I remained with Halton for the space of a +month in the Bechuanaland Protectorate, hoping to hear of the Italian's +capture. Nothing whatever was heard of him, however, and I resumed my +journey south, and returned to Europe. + +For three years I heard--although I made repeated inquiries, and read +each week the few newspapers of Bechuanaland and Rhodesia--not a whisper +that would elucidate this incomprehensible tragedy. Then, as I +travelled once more through Bechuanaland, the cloud suddenly lifted and +the mystery stood revealed. + +Upon reaching Vryburg, the capital of British Bechuanaland, I found the +little town in a state of intense excitement. The Italian, Rinaldi, had +been captured, after three years of a wandering life, far up-country; in +a trader's store, near the Zambesi. He had been arrested and brought +down for trial. Halton and other witnesses had been procured from +Matabeleland to give evidence against him. But Rinaldi had not +attempted to escape the consequences of his crime; on the contrary, he +gloried in it, and had given in his broken English, in open court, his +version of the whole miserable business and its origin. Briefly +condensed, this was his tale. + +His name, he said, was Guiseppe Rinaldi, and he was a native of +Sardinia. Nine years before, he had met Strangeways, who was then an +artist wandering through Sardinia. Rinaldi himself was deeply attached +to Maria Poroni, a beautiful girl of his village, whom he hoped to +marry. But he had to be away at his work at the lead mines, thirty +miles off, and only saw her occasionally. Strangeways came on the +scene, became acquainted with Maria, had grown quickly infatuated with +her, and had persuaded her to leave the island with him. After living +some months with her in various parts of Italy, he left her with a +certain sum of money in Rome, and finally abandoned her. The poor girl +crept back home with a child, and died, a broken woman, two years later. +Rinaldi had known Strangeways and swore to take a terrible revenge if +occasion ever offered. But he had no money. Tired of poverty in +Sardinia, he went out to Argentina and from there drifted to South +Africa. It was by the merest accident in the world that he had obtained +employment as a miner with the outfit going up from Cape Town to +Mashonaland. And it was still more of an accident that he had seen +Strangeways' face at the camp fire that night at Boatlanama. The rest +is briefly told. He had crept across in the darkness and found that +Strangeways was not in his waggon. At earliest dawn he had taken a +horse, provisions, water, and a rifle, and followed his spoor into the +desert. Thanks to his life in the mountains of Sardinia, and his +experience of cattle ranching in the Argentine, he was an expert +tracker, and had no difficulty in following the trail. He had come up +with Strangeways, whose horse had foundered, just at sundown. +Strangeways fired a shot, which grazed Rinaldi's ear. Rinaldi's first +bullet brought his victim down and he had then finished him. He had +scored the name MARIA upon the dead man's chest, covered him with thorns +that the mark of his vengeance might not be obliterated by the wild +beasts, and left him. He had then escaped north and wandered to the +Zambesi. + +Rinaldi's own end was a bloody one. He broke prison the night before +his execution was to take place, was followed by mounted police into the +Kalahari, and, as he refused to surrender, was shot dead in the scuffle +that ensued. + +To me, the strangest part of this tragedy lies in the fact that +Strangeways' death came to him, apparently, by the merest accident in +the world. It is absolutely certain that Rinaldi had no knowledge +whatever--until he set eyes on him at the camp fire that night--of +Strangeways' presence in Africa. Was it, indeed, pure chance--or was +it, in truth, the subtle machinery of a remorseless fate--that induced +him to take the desert road south, by Boatlanama? It was a still +stranger accident--apparently--by which the mining party took the wrong +route north, and trekked by the same westerly road upon which the two +men had met. Accident--or inexorable retribution? That is a question I +often ask myself. + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +QUEEN'S SERVICE. + +It was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon of a desperately hot October +day, 1899, in British Bechuanaland. The rains, although close at hand, +had not yet fallen. For the last twenty-four hours the weather had been +of that peculiarly oppressive kind, familiar in South Africa towards the +end of the dry season. The wind came from the heated north-west, laden +with the parched breath of a thousand miles of sun-scorched plains. +Yet, strangely enough, around the little English farmstead on the +Setlagoli River, the low forests of camelthorn acacia were, although +untouched by moisture, already putting forth greenery and fresh +leafage--even at this dire time of drought--against the coming of the +rains. + +May Felton, a pleasant looking, brown-eyed girl of nineteen, came out on +the shadier side of the square, low, grass-thatched house, and stood +beneath the shelter of the veranda, her face held up a little towards +the air. She had come out for the third time within the hour to see if +some faint breath of fresher atmosphere might not be detected towards +sundown from out of that withering north-west breeze. Alas, there was +none! It meant, then, another night of stifling discomfort within +doors. The climate of this part of Bechuanaland is normally so clear, +so brilliant, and so exhilarating, save for the few weeks before the +summer rains, that this period of heat seems doubly trying to the +settlers. May Felton sighed, and looked around. She had a kettle on +the fire within doors, preparing against afternoon tea--a pleasant +thought in this depressing hour--and, meanwhile, looked about her for a +few minutes. The place seemed very dull. Her father and two brothers +had ridden off three days since, driving before them all their cattle +and goats, with the intention of placing the stock as far as possible +out of the reach of the Transvaal and Free State Boers, just then +raiding and free-booting across the border. Vryburg, some fifty miles +south, was practically defenceless, and lay, too, in the midst of a +Dutch farming population, already more than disaffected towards the +British Government. Mafeking, forty or fifty miles to the north, thanks +to Baden-Powell's energy and military talent, was in a good state of +defence, but was already practically invested by a strong Boer Commando. + +May's father, John Felton, was well known and liked by many of the Dutch +farmers on either side of the border. But in the time of war and +stress, which he saw close upon him, he knew well enough that friendly +feelings would speedily give place to racial hatred, plunder, and +marauding. He had, therefore, carried off all his stock, with the +intention of putting them as far as possible beyond the grasp of raiding +Dutchmen, at a remote run on the edge of the Kalahari, nearly a hundred +miles away to the westward. This ranch belonged to an English +Afrikander friend of his, and he had every hope that there his cattle--a +goodly herd--and some hundreds of goats might be safe. + +May looked round rather disconsolately upon the hot quiet landscape. +The acacia groves which girdled in the little homestead, behind the dry +river-bed, showed small signs of life. A grotesque hornbill sat in a +tree near, gasping under the heat, as these birds do, occasionally +opening its huge bill, crying "toc-toc," in a curious yelping tone, +opening its wings restlessly as if for air, and lowering its head. In a +bush, on the left hand, a beautiful crimson-breasted shrike occasionally +uttered a clear ringing note. Two hundred yards away, a scattered troop +of wild guinea-fowl, returning to the last remaining pool in the now +parched and sandy river-bed, after a day of digging for bulbs in the +woodlands, were calling to one another, with harsh metallic notes, "Come +back! Come back! Come back!" + +May looked at the absurd hornbill, with its long yellow beak, and smiled +faintly. Just at that moment it seemed almost as much exertion as she +felt capable of in the withering heat. She leaned against one of the +posts supporting the veranda, her slim, shapely form expressing in its +listless attitude the relaxation of that melancholy hour. For two or +three minutes she stood thus listlessly, then, remembering the kettle +boiling within doors, bestirred herself and turned away. Just at that +moment there came a faint cry from among the camelthorn trees on the +right of the homestead. It sounded strangely like a man's voice. She +stood listening intently. In ten seconds the cry came again; this time +it seemed more faint. + +The girl threw off her langour upon the instant. "Seleti!" she cried, +in a clear ringing voice, "Seleti, _Tlokwaan_!" (come here). + +In two minutes Seleti, a Bechuana youth, clad in a ragged flannel shirt +and a pair of his master's discarded riding breeches, came shuffling +round. She spoke to him in Sechuana. + +"Seleti," she said, "I heard some one calling in the trees there not +very far away. Go and look. Straight beyond that biggest tree there!" + +The lad went off, walked two hundred yards into the woodland, becoming +lost amid the timber, and then his voice sounded back towards the house. + +"Missie May! Missie May! Here is Engelsman. Come quick." Snatching +up a broad-brimmed straw hat from within doors, the girl went quickly in +Seleti's direction. In less than three minutes she was by his side, +among the trees and tall grass, leaning over the body of a young +sunburnt Englishman, which the Bechuana supported in his arms. The man +had no coat on, and May Felton saw at once, from the blood-stained +flannel shirt, that he was badly wounded, he looked just now so lifeless +that he might well be dead; yet the girl remembered that only a few +minutes before she had heard him call. She had plenty of courage, and, +young as she was, in that rough farming life amid the wilderness she was +accustomed, as a matter of course, to many things that a girl at home +would shrink from. + +As she looked intently at the inert figure before her, she noted that +the man still breathed; once he groaned very softly. There was nothing +for it but to pick him up and carry him to the house. It was a heavy +task, but with May carrying him by the legs and Seleti supporting him +under the arms, they managed, with great exertion, to get him to the +stoep. + +There they laid him down for a moment, while May ran indoors and fetched +out her mother. + +As they came out to the stoep, bearing brandy and water, it was apparent +that the young man's wound had broken out afresh. Blood was slowly +soaking through the already blood-soddened shirt, and silently forming a +pool on the stone flooring. There was no time to be lost. They got him +to bed and washed and bound up his wound. A bullet had gone right +through the shoulder, making clear ingress and egress, but cutting some +vein in its passage, and he had lost evidently quite as much blood as he +could afford. Then they gave him brandy and water, and presently he +came round from his long faint. When he had had some soup and a little +bread later on, he was able to tell them something of his tale. + +His name was James Harlow. He was a Volunteer under Lieutenant Nesbitt, +in an expedition in an armoured train, which had been turned over and +shelled at Kraaipan, on the border, some twenty miles away. After +keeping the attacking Boers at bay for several hours, things began to +look queer for the small British party. Nesbitt and a number of his men +were wounded, the Dutch were creeping up. + +Nesbitt had a letter which he wanted delivered somehow at Vryburg. It +was urgent, and he gave it to Harlow to get away with and carry somehow +to its destination. Harlow crept away through the grass, but, just as +he thought he was getting out of range, and raised himself for a moment +to reconnoitre, a bullet pierced his left shoulder and laid him in the +dust. He rose presently and crawled on. Out of sight of the Boer +fighting men, he had got to his feet, and, notwithstanding his wound, +walked westward. A friendly native had given him a lift for twelve or +fourteen miles on a led horse, but, towards sundown, having sighted +three or four mounted men, had become alarmed and abandoned him. After +a miserable night, he had crept about--sometimes walking feebly, +sometimes moving on hands and knees--all that blazing day, trying to +find some house or farmstead. No water or food had touched his lips. +Towards evening, just as he had given up all hope, and sunk down +despairingly, he had set eyes on the Feltons' homestead through the +trees. His last remaining strength was ebbing from him--his +consciousness failing; but he raised two feeble shouts and then fell +senseless. The rest May and her mother knew. + +"And now," said the poor fellow, with a painful grin at his own +weakness, "how am I to get my dispatch down to Vryburg? Somehow Mr +Tillard, the resident magistrate there, must have that letter by +to-morrow evening. I know it's important I doubt if I can ride +to-morrow. What's to be done?" + +"Certainly you can't ride to-morrow; you couldn't sit a horse if you +tried; so don't think about it," said May, decidedly. "I scarcely know +what's to be done. Our two native boys are poor, trembling creatures, +scared at the mention of a Boer. I'll go myself. It's barely fifty +miles from here, and I know the road well." + +"My dear May," put in her mother. "You couldn't think of such a thing. +Why you might be stopped by Boers. It's quite possible they will be +holding the old road by this time. I can't have you go, really!" + +"My dear mother," returned the girl, with a bright look in her dancing +brown eyes. "I _must_ go. This letter has to be delivered. It is +probably of the greatest importance, and may even mean the safety of +Vryburg. You and father pride yourselves on being loyal subjects of the +Queen. You wouldn't have me hold back from so small a piece of service. +Why I can ride the distance easily on `Rocket' in eight hours, allowing +for off-saddles." + +May was a girl accustomed to having her own way in the Feltons' +household, and so, with a sigh and a protest, her mother gave in and the +thing was settled. + +At sunrise next morning, after looking in on the wounded trooper, who +had had a feverish night, May, kissing her mother tenderly, mounted her +chestnut pony and rode off. The precious dispatch, stained with +Harlow's blood, she had neatly sewn up in the inner part of her stays. +She carried with her in her saddle-bag some sandwiches, another letter, +requesting the Vryburg doctor to come up and see the wounded trooper, +and a water bottle full of limejuice and water hung from her saddle. +Pulling her broad-brimmed felt hat over her eyes, the girl cantered off +and was soon lost to view amid the woodlands. + +She struck, in the first instance, by a rough track across country, for +the old post-road, running south from Setlagoli to Vryburg. Her good +pony sped along with free elastic strides, and at a steady pace they +reeled off mile after mile. It was hot, but not so oppressive as the +day before. Presently, cutting the old road, they pushed steadily on +beneath that aching void of sky above them--a sky of brass with just a +suspicion of palest blue far up in the zenith. Fifteen miles were +traversed and they stood at Jackal's Pan, a lonely little oasis on the +road, where they could off-saddle, and the horse could be watered. + +Half an hour's rest, and then on again. The blazing ride now became +infinitely monotonous. From Jackal's Pan to the next stopping place, +Monjana Mabeli, the flat veldt road runs alongside the telegraph wires. +How sick May became of that gaunt, unending line of posts stretching +before her. She counted them--seventeen to the mile they went--oh! how +often! and then hated herself for having counted them. + +No sign of life cheered her ride, save now and again a desert lark, +which rose suddenly from the grass, clapping its wings loudly, for +twenty or thirty feet, uttered an odd, sustained, single note, and sank +to earth again. May felt grateful even to the dull, speckled brown lark +for its presence; anything to break that wearisome monotony. Even her +good pony, "Rocket," seemed to feel the isolation, the endless void of +that mighty grass plain. He seemed depressed and dull. Still when his +mistress spoke to him and patted his neck, he pricked his ears gaily, +shook his bit, and reached out with never tiring stride. + +At last! at last! May sighted in the distance the twin, rounded hills +of Monjana Mabeli, and in another three quarters of an hour had ridden +up to the farmhouse. Three waggons were outspanned there, and, before +she could realise her danger, the girl found herself in the centre of a +little knot of the Boers of the district, on their way to welcome their +brethren of the Transvaal, now raiding across the border. A quarter of +a mile away she had some thought of turning from the road to avoid the +outspan and its risks, but it was too late. She saw that she was +watched, that mounted men were ready for a pursuit, and so she judged it +better to go boldly on. The leader of the band interrogated her as to +her business. She produced her letter to the Vryburg doctor and stated +her mission. Her story was evidently only half believed, and she was +requested to step into the farmhouse and submit to be searched by the +Commandant's wife, a grim-looking Boer woman, who seemed quite in +earnest over her task. The door of the inner room being shut and +locked, May made the best of a hateful business, and, taking off some of +her things, let the woman search her. She could have struck with her +clenched fist that dull, emotionless face so close to hers, had she +dared, but it would not do. Neither would it do to appear backward. +Boldness might save her. She slipped off her stays and carelessly +offered them for the woman's inspection. The woman looked at them, +turned them over, and handed them back. The girl's heart, which had +stood still for a thrilling second or two, beat easily again. She had +triumphed. The missive, so cunningly hidden within her stays, still +reposed snugly in its hiding-place. Her wonderfully neat sewing had +passed muster. She was safe--safe, that is, if she could get away. The +search was at length over, and the Vrouw Erasmus, in a grumbling way, +expressed herself satisfied. As she buttoned the last button of her +holland riding bodice, May turned, with flashing eyes, upon her +tormentor. She spoke Cape Dutch fluently and her words told. + +"I shall not forget your insulting search, Mevrouw Erasmus," she said, +"as long as I live. I know quite well who you are and where you come +from. You have made a big mistake. You think your people are going to +get the best of this war. You know nothing about the strength of +England. You don't know, and I suppose you won't believe until it is +too late, that the Queen of England will send out ten thousand men after +ten thousand, until your insolent attack is beaten down and put an end +to. When it is all over," she went on, in more cutting tones, "you will +look very foolish. You and your husband will lose your good farm here +in Bechuanaland, and what will you do then? Instead of being prosperous +on your own farm, under a good Government, you will become mere wretched +Trek Boers, without a morgen of land you can call your own. You really +ought to be ashamed of yourselves, coming out to fight against a +Government, which, here in British Bechuanaland, has done nothing but +good for you!" + +The girl had better have held her tongue. Vrouw Erasmus was mad, her +huge, pallid face was flushed to a deep crimson. + +"You schepsel!" she cried, "to speak to me, the wife of a good burgher, +like that! I have a mind to take a sjambok to you. You shall stay in +this house no longer. This is my man's farm now. You English never had +a right in the country, and the Burghers will in future enjoy the land. +Go you out, and sit there under the waggon shade, and keep a civil +tongue in your head!" + +May was more than pleased; she had no wish at all to remain indoors. +She walked out to the nearest waggon, found her saddle, took her +sandwiches from the saddle-bag, and, with the help of her limejuice and +water, made a good lunch. + +Meanwhile Vrouw Erasmus went up to her husband, who with the rest of the +Dutch farmers was saddling up for some expedition, and spoke earnestly +to him. She was evidently impressing commands, for in a minute or two +he came up to May and told her she was not to go for the present. She +would stay at the waggons till evening, when he and some of his men +would be back. Then he would see what should be done with her. May +protested, but unavailingly, and the big Dutchman moved away, mounted +his horse, and rode off with the rest of the Boers waiting for him. + +In spite of her practical duress, there were two little gleams of +satisfaction radiating in the mind of the English girl. One of these +arose from the fact that there was not a single Dutchman left at the +camp; the other for the reason that she saw an instrument of release +lying almost ready to her hand. When Commandant Erasmus had taken down +his Mauser rifle from the inside of the waggon just in front of her, she +noted that he had left another weapon hanging on its hooks. From the +same hooks depended a bandolier, well filled with cartridges. There was +only one doubt in her mind. Did those cartridges fit the Martini-Henry +carbine hanging there? She was a courageous girl, quick-witted, and +knowing her own mind. If the cartridges were right, she meant to make a +bold stroke for freedom. + +For half an hour she sat there, demurely enough, in the shade of the +waggon, now keeping an eye on the retreating forms of the Boer horsemen +disappearing westward, now looking at the grim, massive Boer woman +sitting under the shelter of a waggon sail on the far side of her +husband's waggon. At length the last Dutchman's head had vanished in +the warm distance. + +It was very hot, and Vrouw Erasmus, sitting guard there over the English +girl, palpably dozed at her post. She had lately dined, and she was in +the habit of sleeping after the mid-day meal. Her eyes closed. May +rose, crept to the waggon, climbed softly to the box; in another second +she had taken down the carbine from its hooks, slung the bandolier over +her shoulder, opened the breech of the weapon and pushed in a cartridge. +Thank Heaven it fitted! She was safe! The click of the breech action +roused the sleeping woman. She opened her eyes, looked across to the +other waggons, her prisoner was gone! She rose hastily, came forward, +and there, on the voor-kist of her own waggon was this terrible English +girl, pointing her husband's carbine at her. She retreated a few paces +at the apparition. + +"Now, Mevrouw Erasmus," said May, smilingly, in Dutch, "it is my turn. +See, this carbine is loaded,"--she opened the breech, took out the +cartridge and replaced it, and snapped the action to again. "I know how +to use a rifle, and I mean to shoot if you try to hinder me. Your +`boys' are all away in the veldt with the trek oxen. I heard your man +say so. I know there is only that one Griqua lad about, and I am not +afraid of him. Remember, I shoot if I am interfered with." + +The woman was paralysed at the audacity of her prisoner. She could do +nothing. She looked across the empty plain and then at the ragged +Griqua herd lad, sitting there on his heels at the ashes of the fire, +scraping out a cooking pot with a piece of wood, and grinning at the mad +English girl, and she found no help. There was not another gun handy; +nor, if there were, did she know whether, with this formidable, +accursed, well-armed girl, she or the boy would dare to lay hold of it. +She muttered something very unpleasant between her teeth, and then spoke +aloud, in her sourest tones, to May Felton. + +"Have your own way," she said, "I cannot prevent you. What do you +want?" + +"I mean to saddle up and be off," returned May, in her most angelic +voice, "I know, dear Mevrouw Erasmus, that you hate English company, and +as I don't approve of your husband having so many weapons about him in +these troublous times, I am going to take this rifle and these +cartridges with me. They belong fairly--considering that your man is +playing a traitor's game--to the British Government." + +Vrouw Erasmus took a step forward, as if she would have made for the +girl, but, as May raised her weapon, thought better of it. Once in her +huge arms, she could have easily mastered the girl, but the risk was too +great. + +"If you take the gun," she said, threateningly, "it is stealing, and if +we catch you again we shall try you under Transvaal law. We are all +Transvaalers now, or shall be directly," she added, triumphantly. + +"There you are quite wrong, dear mevrouw," returned May, in her sweetest +tones. "Now if you had behaved nicely and politely, as I know you can +do, I might, yes, really, I think I might have returned the gun. But +you know perfectly well that it is fairly forfeited, and I shall hand it +over to the resident magistrate at Vryburg." + +Vrouw Erasmus ground her teeth again, shook her head, and growled +dissent. How she hated this bantering English girl. + +"Now, mevrouw," pursued May, "if you will seat yourself nicely under the +tent-sail there, and if your boy remains quietly where he is, I shall do +you no injury." + +The vrouw sat down heavily on her waggon chair, with an air of gloomy +resignation. There was nothing to be done. May went to her pony, which +stood tied up to the waggon wheel, and still holding her carbine and +keeping a watchful eye on her two guardians, picked up her saddle, +adjusted it, girthed up, and put on the bridle. Then she mounted and +rode off at a smart canter. + +"Farewell, dear Mevrouw Erasmus," she cried as she went. "We'll take +great care of the carbine; don't forget to give my compliments to your +husband." + +The Boer woman waited till she had gone a hundred yards or more, and +then roused the Griqua lad. "Get a rifle and cartridges," she cried, +pointing to the house. "Indoors, yonder. Quick, you schelm!" + +The lad rose and went indoors, none too willingly, and brought out a +sporting rifle and a cartridge belt. + +"Put in a cartridge and shoot, you fool," shrieked the enraged vrouw, +pointing to the retreating figure. "Hit the horse! Hit the girl; stop +them somehow!" The Griqua lad put in a cartridge and raised the rifle. +The girl was now two hundred and fifty yards away, galloping fast. + +"No, mevrouw," he said, lowering the gun again, "you can sjambok me, but +I can't fire. If I hit her, it's murder, and I daren't do it." + +Speechless almost with rage, the woman struck him in the face with her +hand. + +"You dog," she shouted. "By the Almighty, you shall suffer for this." + +Meanwhile May Felton was speeding along over the eighteen miles of veldt +road that led her to Vryburg and comparative safety. (It was before +Vryburg had been surrendered.) She galloped it in one piece, and, +thanks to her good pony, compassed the distance in rather more than two +hours, having ridden close on fifty miles since dawn. + +Arrived at Vryburg, she delivered her dispatch, together with the +captured rifle and cartridges, to the resident magistrate, receiving his +hearty congratulations in return. Next day, accompanied by the doctor, +and a couple of policemen, she started for home again. Making a long +detour, and avoiding Monjana Mabeli, they reached her father's homestead +just at sunset. + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +A TRANSVAAL MORNING. + +They were sitting by a big camp fire, close to the junction of the +Marico and Crocodile Rivers--on the Bechuanaland side, where the old +trade road to the interior runs--a motley and yet very interesting +gathering of hunters, transport riders, and traders, and as usual they +had been yarning. It was nearing Christmas, 1891; the weather was +waxing very hot, and the night was so warm that even the oldest man of +the party, "old John Blakeman," easily to be recognised by his white +head and grizzled beard, sat in his flannel shirt, without a coat, his +sleeves rolled up, his brawny, sunburnt arms folded across his chest. +The night was very still; scarcely an air of wind stirred; occasionally +a kiewitje plover uttered its mournful, chiding cry; the not unmusical +croak of frogs was heard, bubbling softly from a swamp a little way off; +these, with an occasional cough from the trek oxen, as they lay +peacefully at their yokes, were the only sounds that here broke the +outer silence of the veldt. Tales of adventure are a never failing +source of interest at these fireside gatherings, and a number of hunting +stories, more or less well-founded, had been trotted out. A somewhat +assertive up-country trader, lately returned from the Ngami region, had +just finished a highly-coloured narrative, in which a couple of lions +had been easily vanquished. According to his theory these great +carnivora are as readily bagged as wild duck at a vlei. + +"That's all very well," rejoined old John Blakeman, taking his pipe from +his mouth and a pull at his beaker of whiskey and water. "You may have +had a stroke of luck, Heyford, and killed a brace of 'em without much +trouble or danger, but in my judgment lions are not to be played with. +A hungry lion, and more especially a starved, worn-out old `mannikie,' +who can't kill his natural food properly, is, on a dark, stormy night, +the most dangerous, cruel, and persistent beast in Africa--the very +devil incarnate. Guns and gunners have a good deal tamed the +extraordinary boldness of lions in the last thirty years. I can +remember the time when they killed cattle, ay, and even Kaffirs, in this +very country where you now sit, in open daylight. Why! Katrina Visser, +wife of a Marico Boer, lost her child, a lad of six years old, by a +lion, in broad daylight, killed at four o'clock in the afternoon, within +fifty yards of her door. That happened four and thirty years ago, in +1857, in the Marico country, within less than sixty miles of this very +outspan. I remember it but too well. The following morning, which +happened to be Easter Day, was one of the saddest and at the same time +the most exciting I ever experienced." + +"Tell us the yarn, John," clamoured a number of voices together. "Yours +are always worth listening to." + +"Well, lads," went on the stout old fellow, filling his pipe and +relighting it with much care and deliberation from a smouldering ember, +"it's a long story, but I'll cut it as short as possible. It happened +in this way. I began trading up here in the early fifties. In those +days, as you know, and a good deal later, it was a long and serious +business, and each trip always spoilt a year. We used to trek up +through Natal, climb the Drakensberg, then cross the Free State plains-- +there was plenty of game there in those days--and, looking in at Mooi +River Dorp--Potchefstrom, as we call it now--pass on through Marico. I +hunted as well as traded in those days and knew very well all the Marico +Boers, with some of whom I sometimes joined forces. They were a rough +but very hospitable lot of fellows, and some of them--Jan Viljoen, +Marthinus Swartz, Frans Joubert, and others--some of the finest shots +and pluckiest hunters in the world. I hunted elephants towards the Lake +for two seasons with Gerrit Visser, husband of Katrina, the woman I'm +going to tell you about. They lived in a rough `hartebeest house' of +wattle and reeds in a magnificent kloof on a tributary of the Marico. +Well, in '57, Gerrit and I met, as we had arranged, at one of the +farmhouses near the Barolong border, prepared for a big trip towards the +Tamalakan River. + +"I got on, as I say, very well with the Dutch frontier fanners; my +trading goods were very acceptable to the `vrouws' and `meisjes,' and +the owner of the farm where I was outspanned kept open house during the +week I was there. What with shooting gear and clothing for the men, and +sugar, coffee, groceries, and trinkets, stuffs, and prints for the +women, I offloaded a good part of my trading outfit while outspanned at +this place, and did, as usual, a rattling good business. We had no end +of junketing. Dances, dust, and liquor at night, and horse-racing and +target-shooting in the day time. The bottles seemed always on the +table, but these Dutchmen are pretty hard headed, and there was some +tall shooting in spite of the festivities. Jan Viljoen, who had trekked +with his wife from the Knysna, in Cape Colony, towards the end of the +thirties, and had fought against Sir Harry Smith at Boomplaats in 1848, +was, with Marthinus Swartz, about the best of a rare good lot of rifle +shots. We shot usually at a yokeskey or a bottle at one hundred and one +hundred and fifty yards, and then Viljoen would call for an Eau de +Cologne flask, standing little higher than a wine-glass, and we blazed +at that I was pretty good with the gun in those days, but two or three +of the Marico Boers usually got the best of me. + +"Well, after a week of this kind of thing, the trading was finished and +I had had enough of Dutch festivities, and so Genit Visser and I trekked +for the Bamangwato stadt, where Machen, Khama's uncle, was then chief. +Here I traded for another week, and then Gerrit and I set our faces for +the north-west, crossed the Thirstland, and trekked along the north bank +of the Lake River. We got plenty of giraffe, gemsbuck, eland, +hartebeest, blue wildebeest, springbok, zebra, and so on, for the first +month; and along the Botletli we killed some sea-cows and buffaloes, +which swarmed in those days. But we had no luck with elephants till we +struck the Tamalakan River. Here and along the Mababi, and from there +towards the Chobi River, we did very well, bagging in four months' +hunting between sixty and seventy elephants, many of them carrying +immense teeth. Towards the Chobi, where very few guns had at that time +been heard, we had remarkable sport. We shot also a number of +rhinoceros, some of them, the `wit rhenosters' [white rhinoceros], with +magnificent forehorns. Altogether we had a fine season, one of the very +best I ever remember. But it was desperately hard work; the bush was +awful; water was often very scarce; and every tusk we got was, I can +tell you, hardly earned. Lions were sometimes very troublesome. We +lost a horse and two oxen by them and had some nasty adventures +ourselves. + +"When we reached the Chobi River, I never saw anything like the herds of +buffalo. There were thousands of them. Sometimes you might see a troop +as thick as goats in a kraal. We shot eighty buffaloes on this trip, +and might have got any quantity more. I had my best hunting nag killed +under me by an old wounded bull, and should have been done for myself +but for Visser, who came up in the very nick of time, and shot the brute +as I lay on the ground almost under his horns. I was so bitten with the +life of the veldt and the wandering fever in those days that I should +have liked to have stayed out another year and pushed far up the Chobi, +which was then as now little explored. After the parched Thirstlands we +had come through, the river with its broad blue waters, its refreshing +breezes, its palm islands, and the astounding wealth, not only of heavy +game, but of bird life, that crowded its banks and islets, seemed a very +paradise on earth. Even Gerrit Visser, as stolid, matter-of-fact a +Dutchman as you should meet in South Africa, was struck by the +marvellous beauty of the river scenery. + +"But Gerrit hated punting about in the wobbly, crank, dug-out canoes, in +which the natives took us from one island to another; and, for him, half +the fun of the hunting was spoiled by the navigation necessary to obtain +it. And so, very reluctantly on my part, we made our way back to the +waggons, which had been standing for weeks outspanned on the southern +bank of the river, in charge of our men. It was now December, the +weather had become very hot, and Gerrit was fretting and fuming all the +time to get back home--`huis-to' (to the house), as a Boer would say. +The worst of hunting with these married Dutchmen is that, after about +six months in the veldt, away from their wives and `kinder,' they are +always fidgetting to be off home again. There never were such uxorious +chaps in this world, I do believe. Get a Britisher, married though he +be, once away in the veldt, and the passion for travel and adventure +fairly lays hold of him--it's in the blood--and he'll stay out with you, +knocking about, for a couple of years if you like. Look at Livingstone! +Fond though he was of his wife and children, the wandering fever, the +`trek-geist,' as a Boer would call it, was too much for him, and he was +latterly away from wife and children and home for years at a time. And +so Gerrit Visser and I set our faces `huis-to,' and trekked for Marico +again. + +"We had a long and hard spell of travel across the `thirst,' and reached +the Transvaal as lean as crows ourselves, and with our oxen, horses, and +dogs mere bags of bones. Nothing would content Gerrit but I should go +with him to his place, Water Kloof, and spend Easter there. Pushing our +jaded spans along as fast as possible, and travelling from Easter Eve +all through the night, Gerrit and I mounted our horses at daybreak and +cantered on ahead of the waggons to rouse the vrouw and have breakfast. +It was a most glorious sunrise as we entered the shallow valley, known +as Water Kloof. There had been recent rains; the valley was carpeted +with fresh grass and littered with wild flowers; the bush was green and +fragrant; and the little clear stream that ran to join the Marico River, +rippled merrily along at our feet. The mealie gardens were thriving +magnificently, and the whole place looked as fair and prosperous as a +man could wish to see. Gerrit was in the highest spirits. `Man,' he +said to me, as we rode up to the rough wattle and daub house, thatched +with reeds, `it is a good farm this, and I shall give up +elephant-hunting, build a good stone house here, and settle down. Look +at the fruit trees,'--pointing to a charming green grove below the +house--`in two years' time the oranges will be in full bearing. +Allemaghte! It is too good a "plaats" (farm) to leave so long, this.' + +"We rode up to the house very quietly. Gerrit wanted to surprise his +wife. Not a soul stirred. It was now `sun-up.' I was astonished that +no one was moving. We dismounted, threw our bridles over the nags' +heads, and approached the house. `Katrina!' shouted Gerrit in a cheery +voice, `Katrina! Beter laat dan nooit. Hier is ekke en Jan Blakeman.' +(Katrina! Better late than never. Here am I and John Blakeman.) As we +approached the door we heard at last some one stirring inside. The +latch clicked, the door opened back, and Katrina Visser appeared, not +cheerful and full of joy, and with little Hendrik, the child, by her +side, as we had expected, but with hair dishevelled, cheeks soddened +with tears, black shadows beneath her eyes, and the eyes themselves red +and bloodshot with long weeping. She threw herself with a sob on +Gerrit's breast, and burst afresh into an agony of tears. `You are too +late, Gerrit, too late,' she sobbed forth at last. `The lion killed +little Hendrik yesterday afternoon, and he lies there dead in the +house.' I could not help looking at Visser's face at this moment. He +had turned deadly white. He swayed. I thought for the moment he must +have fallen. `Oh, God!' he cried, `it cannot be true, wife.' The woman +felt instinctively that the blow was almost too grievous and too sudden +for her husband. Her own grief was put aside for the moment. She +released herself, kissed her man tenderly, and took his hand. `Come +inside, Gerrit,' she said softly, through her tears, `and see all that +remains of our poor little Hendrik.' She turned to me. `Come you, too, +Jan Blakeman,'--as she always called me--`You were always a favourite of +the child.' It was true. I was very fond of the merry, little +yellow-headed chap; and had always some sweetstuff and other treasure at +my waggon for him. He and I were the best of friends. + +"I followed them softly into the rude dwelling, now a chamber of death. +Katrina led her husband to the wooden couch in the corner. There lay +the poor little chap, his once warm face, so fresh and ruddy, now cold, +and marble white, his prattling mouth for ever hushed. A blanket +covered the body, but the little hands had been laid outside. One of +them, I noticed, had been terribly clawed by the lion. The poor mother +had washed it, and the deep crimson gashes and scorings of the cruel +claws showed very plainly. I suppose the poor little six-year-old child +had made some effort for his life, and the fierce brute had resented it. +The mother began to draw aside the blanket and show her husband the +deadly wounds. Gerrit's great frame was now racked with irrepressible +sobs. I could witness their mutual agony no longer, and crept out. At +the back of the house I came upon a Hottentot servant, who told me the +story of the tragedy. The Marico country had by this time (1857) been +fairly well cleared of lions, but stragglers occasionally wandered in +from the wilder parts of the Transvaal, and a pair--lion and lioness-- +had been spoored up the Marico River quite lately. + +"No danger, except to the cattle and goats, was, however, anticipated; +the kraals had been duly strengthened, and two or three neighbouring +Boers were shortly coming down to shoot the marauders. On the afternoon +of the previous day little Hendrik had been playing by the stream not +fifty yards from the house. Suddenly screams were heard; the Hottentot, +his mistress, and a Kaffir rushed forth, and a big yellow-maned lion was +seen dragging the poor little fellow by the middle into some jungle +which grew alongside the water. The shouts and cries of the three as +they rushed down towards the brute, and probably the report of the gun +which Cobus, the Hottentot, had picked up from the house and loosed off +as he ran, had driven off the brute, but too late. The child had been +terribly bitten, right through the loins, and died in his mother's arms +almost before they reached the house again. + +"Well, the long and short of the story was this. Nothing would satisfy +Katrina but that her husband and I should follow up the lion and lake +revenge for the murder of the poor child. Gerrit and I were nothing +loth, and after a mouthful of bread and some coffee we went down to the +stream and took up the spoor. Gerrit and I each carried our rides, +Cobus, the Hottentot, had a smooth-bore `roer,' and Katrina, who +insisted on coming with us, brought an old flint and steel horse pistol, +which she had loaded up. We spoored the lion for half a mile down the +river to a piece of dense jungle, where it had lain up over the remains +of a small buck, which it had killed, probably on the previous evening. +It was a nasty place, but we had dogs, and presently the brute was +roused. He showed himself once and Gerrit got a snapshot, which, as we +subsequently discovered, wounded him only slightly--just sufficiently to +render him really savage. Again the dogs went in and bayed the brute. +This time the bush was more open. As a rule the Boers, good shots as +they are, are extremely cautious about tackling a lion in covert. But +Gerrit's blood was up. He meant to avenge his child, and he went at +once towards the sound. I was running round to assist, when I heard a +report, a dull thud, and then renewed barking and fierce deep growls. I +ran through the open jungle. Katrina Visser, her pistol at full cock, +was close behind. We turned an angle of the bush, and there in an open +glade lay Gerrit, motionless beneath the paws of the lion, which half +squatted, half stood over him. At a respectable distance beyond, half a +dozen big dogs dashed hither and thither, yelping furiously. The lion's +teeth were bared, and, as he caught sight of us, his tail, which had +been waving from flank to flank, suddenly stiffened up behind him. I +knew that signal too well, and, as Katrina cried `schiet! schiet!' +(shoot! shoot!), I fired. The bullet entered the fierce brute's chest, +raked his heart and lungs, and he sank quietly upon the instant, dead +upon the body of Visser. Calling up the Hottentot, we dragged the +lion's body from off the Boer. The instant I saw Gerrit's face I knew +all was over. It was very clear what had happened. The lion had sprung +upon him unawares. He had missed his shot, and with one blow of its +fore-paw the brute had slain the big strong Dutchman. The right part of +the skull was literally smashed in. Well, strangely enough, Katrina +Visser was not so overcome by this horrible event as I had expected. I +think the doubling of the horror of the previous evening had been too +much for her, and had numbed something of her feelings. She was +extraordinarily calm, and throughout the next four and twenty dreadful +hours bore herself wonderfully. We buried poor Gerrit and his little +lad next day under a thorn tree a trifle to the west of the farmstead +and fenced the place in strongly. Few Dutchmen, as you know, are ever +buried in consecrated ground in South Africa. It is seldom possible +up-country. + +"That's practically the whole of the melancholy yarn. Katrina married +again a few years later. Dutch women seldom remain widows very long. +But she was never quite the same woman again, after that terrible Easter +time. She still lives at Water Kloof. I saw her only last year. Her +hair, like mine, is very grey, and she has a second family growing +around her. She likes me to look round for a chat if I am ever in +Marico, and so, for old acquaintance sake, I usually outspan for a day +if I am anywhere near Water Kloof. + +"Well, you fellows," concluded the old trader, "that's the true story of +the saddest Easter morning I ever remember to have experienced or even +heard of. Englishmen who come into this country scarcely, I think, make +sufficient allowance for what the Transvaal Dutch have gone through in +the conquest and settlement of their territory. Few families there are +among the Boers but can tell you of some such experience as I have given +you to-night. To my mind, it is scarcely wonderful that these people +cling so tightly to the soil on which so much of their best blood has +been spilt. Good-night, all. It's late and I must turn in." And the +old fellow rose from the fire, knocked the ashes out of his pipe, +stretched himself, and climbed into his waggon. + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +THE MYSTERY OF HARTEBEEST FONTEIN. + +Upon a morning of early December in the year 1880, Arend Van Driel, the +Trek Boer, stood upon his waggon-box anxiously scanning the plains for +any sight of game. Leaning upon the tilt and shading his eyes from the +already powerful sun, his feverish glance swept the great grass plains +for the faintest token of animal life. Alas, it appeared that here the +veldt was deserted. The big Dutchman's eyes ran fruitlessly over the +waste again and again, until they rested upon a little chain of brown +hills, just now rose-tinted by the flush of the early morning sun, but +nothing in the shape of a herd of game was to be seen. With a deep sigh +the Boer climbed slowly down from the waggon and joined his family at +their miserable breakfast, by the remains of the overnight camp fire. +And, indeed, Arend Van Driel had good cause for dejection. + +Two years before, he and his family had quitted the Transvaal with a +great body of Trek Boers, who had made up their minds to leave a country +upon which misrule and misfortune had long rested, and which now lay +beneath the hands of the hated British Government. The misfortunes of +that ill-fated Trek have long since become historical in the annals of +the Transvaal Dutch. Thirst, famine, fever and dysentery were soon busy +among the members of one of the most disastrous and ill-managed +expeditions ever known in South Africa. The trek cattle perished by +hundreds in the Thirstlands of the Northern Kalahari, the flocks and +herds, left masterless, wandered and strayed, and disappeared by +thousands. Along the rivers and swamps of Ngamiland and the Okavango, +sickness and suffering destroyed whole families. The trek had set forth +with the highest and most exaggerated hopes, chiefly based upon the +gross ignorance of these misguided and fanatical farmers. They moved +north-westward towards some unknown Land of Canaan, where, as they +fondly imagined, great snow mountains stood, where the veldt was always +rich and flourishing, where clear waters ran abundantly, and where the +wild game wandered as thick as sheep in a fold. Some even believed, as +their fathers had believed, when they moved into the Transvaal country, +that somewhere in this new and unknown land, the great Nile river itself +would be found. After more than two years of disastrous trekking, most +of these vain imaginings had been rudely dispelled, but still, their +faces set ever doggedly westward, these stubborn people toiled on. + +During the expedition, the trekkers had necessarily become much +scattered; thus Arend Van Driel and his family stood alone this December +day of 1880 by a small pan of muddy water, where they had halted to +recruit their exhausted trek oxen and the two horses that remained to +them. They had quitted the Transvaal with two hundred head of cattle +and six hundred sheep and goats. These once thriving flocks and herds +were now represented by some two score of miserable sheep and goats, +mere bags of bones, which could scarcely drag one limb after another. +It was absolutely necessary to husband even these slender resources, and +Van Driel had therefore been anxiously surveying the surrounding veldt +for some herd of game from which he could secure a meal or two for his +starving family. He now moved up to the camp fire with disappointment +written plainly upon his gaunt, sun-tanned and bearded face. His wife +knelt in a ragged old stuff dress stirring some thin porridge of Kaffir +corn--their only present sustenance--in an iron pot. She looked up from +underneath her sun-bonnet, and, catching the gloom upon her husband's +face, ejaculated, "Nie wilde, Arend?" ("No game, Arend?") "Nie wilde, +nie," returned Arend disconsolately. "I think the Lord means us to die +after all in this desert. Cursed was the day we ever left the +Transvaal." He sat himself down in the red sand by his children, after +they had been helped to a small plateful of porridge each, and took and +ate his own portion. There were four children left to the Van Driels. +There had been seven when they quitted the Transvaal. Three had died of +fever at Vogel Pan, a little to the south of the Okavango. Of those +remaining, Hermannus, a big lad of fifteen, seemed fairly strong; the +other three, a boy and two girls, ranging from five to twelve, looked, +poor things, pale, weak and dispirited from fever, misery and +semi-starvation. The clothes of all were tattered and ragged and hung +loosely about them. + +The interior of the big waggon hard by looked very bare for a +Dutchman's. But, as a matter of fact, almost all the little stock of +furniture and house gear had been perforce abandoned. Ploughs, farming +implements, tables and chairs, and other impedimenta, all now lay in the +middle of that dire Thirstland between Khama's and the Botletli River, +where they had long since been cast away to lighten the load. Even the +very waggon chairs--dear to every Boer--had been thrown away. +Hermannus, the eldest lad, was the first to finish that meagre breakfast +of ground millet, boiled in water. He now rose and in his turn climbed +to the waggon and took a survey over the country. Suddenly an +exclamation broke from his lips. "Father, there's game half a mile +away, just moving from behind that patch of bush. I think they are +hartebeest." + +The stolid, melancholy-looking Boer was roused in an instant from his +apathy. He climbed quickly to the waggon, and in his turn gazed +intently at the game. "Yes, that's right enough, Hermannus," he said; +"they're hartebeest--they must have slept behind those bushes last +night--and they're coming straight this way. Ah! see, they have got our +wind." Even as he spoke the troop of game, some thirty in number, +suddenly halted, turned in their tracks, and cantered in that heavy, +loping fashion, which these fleet antelopes adopt in their slower paces, +towards the heart of the plain. + +Calling to the two Kaffir servants still remaining to him to bring in +the horses, just now feeding, knee-haltered, upon the veldt a hundred +yards away, Van Driel and his son looked to their saddles and bridles, +filled a water bottle, reached down their Westley-Richards rifles and +bandoliers from the waggon hooks, and buckled on a rusty spur apiece. + +"We shall be back before sunset, wife," said Van Driel. "I think, after +all, the Heer God means us to have a right good dinner." And so, +mounting, he rode off with Hermannus. + +"The Heer God be with you both," echoed Vrouw Van Driel, "and may you +bring meat--we want it badly enough." The three younger children cried +luck after their father and brother, and waved their hands, and so, +watching the horsemen cantering away, gazed and gazed until the two +forms presently faded from mere specks into absolute oblivion, and were +swallowed up in the immensity of the great plain. + +Meanwhile the two hunters rode steadily upon the spoor of the +hartebeest. It was a good troop, and although the chase might be a long +one the Boers were so accustomed to bagging the game they followed that +they looked confidently to a dead buck or two before afternoon. Surely, +they thought, as half-hour after half-hour they followed steadily upon +the footprints, now clear in the firm sand, now amid the long grass, +hardly to be distinguished, even by the wonderful instinct of these sons +of the veldt, the hartebeest will presently stand and rest, or feed +again. But no. The antelopes had secured a good start and had long +since cantered at that deceptive pace of theirs clean out of sight; and +the tell-tale spoor indicated, as mile after mile was reeled off, that +they were still moving briskly and that their point was some far distant +one. + +The two ponies, rough and unkempt, and angular as they were, were +perhaps in better condition than the rest of the camp--whether human +beings or stock--put together. Their well-being was absolutely +necessary to the safety of the party; without them game would be +desperately hard to come at; they had, therefore, been fed pretty +regularly on Kaffir corn, and still retained condition. Moreover, they +came of that hardy Cape breed which produces some of the toughest, most +courageous, and most serviceable horseflesh in the world. The nags were +all right, and hour after hour they cantered steadily on. + +It was now twelve o'clock, the sun was desperately hot, they had ridden +nearly five hours, with but one short off-saddle, and it was absolutely +necessary to give the horses another rest. Father and son, therefore, +off-saddled at a patch of thin bush, knee-haltered the nags, which at +once rolled and began to feed, and themselves rested under the scant +shadow of the brush. For nearly an hour Arend smoked in silence. +Meanwhile the lad lay prone upon his stomach, gazing straight in front +of him in the direction in which the game still headed. Out there now +rose before the two hunters, swelling solidly from the plain of +yellowish-green grass, the low chain of hill, which, as they viewed it +from the waggon-box that morning, had seemed so far away. But they had +ridden eighteen good miles since breakfast; the hill stood now but four +miles away, and each cleft, krantz, and precipice of its scarred and +weather-worn sides, each dark patch of bush and undergrowth, now showed +plain and naked before their eyes. + +"That's where the hartebeest have made for, father," said the lad, at +last; "shall we catch them there, think you?" + +"Yes," answered the big Boer, cocking his tattered, broad-brimmed hat +yet more over his eyes, and looking very hard at the line of hill. +"They've gone in there, right enough, Hermannus; in by that dark kloof +yonder. But whether the kloof leads right through the hill to the +country beyond I can't tell. If it does, we shall have a long hunt and +be out all night on the spoor; if it doesn't we shall catch them in a +trap, I hope. Maghte! But my stomach aches for a bit of good flesh, +and your mother and the children want soup and meat badly, poor souls. +Fetch in the horses, lad. They've had rest, and we must push on again." + +Hermannus rose, walked out on to the veldt, drove up the nags, and once +more they saddled up and mounted. They went very warily now, looking +keenly along the base of the little range of kopjes, to see that the +hartebeests were not feeding quietly among the scattered bush that grew +about the lower slopes. But no; the spoor still held straight ahead, +and in half an hour they were at the entrance of the kloof. It was a +narrow ravine, which appeared to have been violently rent by nature +right into the heart of the hills, but which, doubtless, the action of +water, erosion, and ages of time had worn slowly and with infinite +quiet, century after century, deep into the hard rocks. After two +hundred yards of this narrow ravine, the kloof suddenly turned at a +right angle and then broadened out into an open valley about half a mile +long. The spoor had told the hunters very plainly that the antelopes +had entered the kloof. But it was not yet evident why they had +travelled all that way thither. Father and son now settled upon a plan +of action. It was clear, upon looking up the valley, that no exit was +to be found at the far end. If, however, they rode straight up the +kloof they would probably drive the game right over the hills, where to +follow would be difficult and shooting not easy. + +"I cannot make out why the buck have come in here," whispered Van Driel, +meditatively, as they stood beside their horses, and, well screened by +bushes, gazed up the valley. "It's not like hartebeest ground at all. +There must be water or new grass, or some such attraction at the head of +the kloof. We will leave the nags here fastened to the bush." He took +up a handful of sand and let it fall lightly through his fingers. "The +wind is right enough, it blows fair down the kloof. There is plenty of +cover along the bottom here. If we leave the nags and creep very +quietly among the bush we shall probably get a fair shot or two each. +The game here is seldom hunted, and as far as we can judge the place is +never visited by man. Come along!" + +The two crept slowly up the valley, moving, from bush to bush, with +infinite care and caution, their soft, home-made velschoons of +water-buck hide making little or no noise as they pressed forward. Now +and again they crossed the neat spoor of the antelopes, imprinted deep +in the smooth, red, sandy soil. Then they looked at one another and +their eyes gleamed responsively. It was clear that the game had fed +slowly and carelessly towards the head of the kloof; their rifles were +loaded and cocked; the time of action was very near. + +In a quarter of an hour, or a little more, they were drawing very close +to the end of the valley; the bush grew thicker, which was all the +better for their purpose. With extraordinary pains they picked their +way, the spoor still guiding them. Suddenly Arend Van Driel, stretching +back his hand in warning, dropped from his stooping walk down upon one +knee. Hermannus instantly followed his example. Van Driel motioned his +son very softly forward, and, creeping up, the lad saw through a small +opening in the bush what had arrested his father's progress. + +It was a glorious sight, truly. The end of the valley, bounded on three +sides by the steep and rough hill, lay before them. The ground was +nearly open, and in the centre of the rich, dark red soil flowed, over a +rocky bed, a sparkling stream of the clearest water, which issued from +the hillside to the right, and disappeared, apparently, beneath a litter +of rocks on the left. Close to the stream, within sixty to eighty yards +of where the hunters were concealed, were the hartebeests, most of them +lying down; some few standing with heads down in sleepy fashion; others, +again, plucking lazily at some green young grass, which here and there +masked the good red soil. Only one of them, a knowing-looking old cow, +was really on the alert. The long, black faces, corrugated horns, and +bright bay coats of the big antelopes united, with the fair surrounding +scenery, to form a striking picture of feral life. + +Attracted by the pleasantness of this green, charming, and well-watered +spot, numbers of birds, many of them of brilliant plumage, were flitting +hither and thither, crying, some sweetly, some vociferously, one to +another. Here were gorgeous emerald cuckoos on their way south, honey +birds, kingfishers, and bee-eaters of the most resplendent plumage, and +various finches and small birds. Seldom had the two Dutchmen set eyes +on a more lovely scene. + +But the aesthetic charm of the place was not for the Boers, gaunt with +hunger and privations. A look and a nod from father to son; the rifles +were levelled; the targets selected, and the loud reports rang out, +terrifying the wild life of this gem-like oasis, and rattling from +krantz to krantz along the rough hill sides. Two hartebeests instantly +went down and lay struggling in their death agonies. One of these +staggered to its feet again; but Hermannus had shoved another cartridge +into his breech, and a second shot finally stretched the animal upon the +earth again, this time for good. Meanwhile, as the terrified troop +sprang to their feet and tore frantically past his right front, Arend +Van Driel rose quickly, slewed half round, and fired another shot. The +bullet sped home, raking obliquely the lungs of another antelope, which +was later on found dead two or three hundred yards down the kloof. + +The two Boers walked forward to the stream, surveyed for a minute or two +their dead game, a fat cow and a young bull, both in high condition, and +then kneeling at the water, drank long and deep, and laved their faces, +arms, and hands. The lad was now despatched at once to the bend of the +kloof for the horses, which could not only drink and feed here, but were +to be freighted with as much meat as they could carry for the camp. +Before setting to work to skin the game. Van Driel walked along the +margin of the stream to the spot whence it issued--a natural fountain +among the rocks. Here, casting about, he came upon a discovery that +electrified him--first the whitened bones of a man and a pair of spurs, +afterwards an old weather-worn percussion gun, rotten and rusty, a +powder-horn, and a good-sized and very heavy metal box. Opening this +metal box with great difficulty, the Boer found it full of what he +recognised instantly as gold nuggets, many of them of considerable size. +Searching yet further among the rocks, the Boer discovered, just as +Hermannus rode up with the led horse, a carefully laid pile of much +bigger nuggets, worth manifestly a large sum of money. Who was the man +whose poor remains lay bleaching in the sand there? When had he entered +the kloof? How had he died? These were questions impossible to answer. + +Van Driel could only surmise, from the make and shape of the old +percussion smooth-bore and powder-horn, that the owner must have died +there thirty or forty years before. Looking again closely at the +powder-horn, Hermannus discovered the initials "H.D.," carved neatly +upon the side. But H.D.'s life and death and history lay hidden among +these pathetic relics, mysteries impenetrable, insoluble. That sweet +and secret valley alone knew the truth of them. + +They turned out the box of nuggets, counting up their treasure. At the +very bottom, half hidden among sand and rubble, lay a scrap of paper, +yellow, faded, and discoloured. Hermannus, who could read, eagerly +opened it. Inside, in a tottering hand, were a few lines scrawled in +pencil. But the writing was not in Dutch, and, spell at the sentences +as he might, Hermannus could make nothing of them. + +Setting to work with a will, father and son rapidly skinned and cut up +as much of the hartebeest meat as their nags could carry; the rest of +the carcases they carefully covered up from the vultures and wild +beasts. It was now dusk, darkness would be swiftly upon them. They +determined to camp for the night and ride back to their waggon with the +first streak of dawn. They made a roaring fire, tied up their horses to +a tree close at hand, cooked some meat, enjoyed a hearty meal, and then +smoked their pipes with stolid contentment. Then, making pillows of the +inner parts of their saddles, and with their feet to the fire, they sank +into profound sleep. + +It must have been towards midnight that Arend Van Driel was awakened +suddenly by the movement of his horse, which was tugging nervously at +the branch to which its head-reim was fastened, as if startled by some +prowling beast of prey. "Lions!" muttered the Boer to himself. He +stirred the fire, threw on more wood, and, rising, patted and reassured +his horse, which, with dilated nostrils, snuffed at the night air and +stared with wild eyes out into the darkness. + +Van Driel picked up his rifle, lit his pipe, and sat by the fire, +watching and waiting. It was very eerie in this far and remote valley, +but the Trek Boer is a man used to solitude and a wild life, and his +nervous system is, happily for himself, not very highly developed. All +the man troubled himself about was his horseflesh. Horses are scarce in +the far recesses of the interior, and Arend had no intention of losing +either of his nags by the attack of lion or leopard. Suddenly his horse +snorted at the breeze again and pulled fiercely at his reim. Something +approached--something that scared intensely the nervous animal. With +ears and eyes strained, the Boer looked out into the darkness, beyond +the ring of firelight. Hark! what was that? And then something--Van +Driel could not make out what--moved past some twenty paces away on the +other side of the fire. It looked about the height and size of a lion. +The Boer's rifle went to his shoulder, he took rapid aim, and fired. +The report of the Westley-Richards rattled out from the rocks behind +them, and, mingled with the sound, rose a strange, wild, shuddering cry, +half human, half bestial. It was no lion's or leopard's cry, as Van +Driel knew instantly. What in God's name could it be? A baboon +perhaps? + +Hermannus, at the rattle of the fire arm, had sprung up from his deep +slumber, and, rifle in hand, was now glaring about him. They listened. +Strange moaning wails came to them on the soft night air from the +blackness beyond the fire there. They were terribly human. The men +looked at one another with scared faces, but uttered no word. + +The sounds grew fainter and fainter and presently ceased. + +"What was it, father?" asked the lad at last. + +"Naam van de drommel! I cannot say," returned the Boer. "I thought it +was a lion. It is no lion, surely; it may be a baboon." + +They sat waiting, listening intently, for another ten minutes. Then +Hermannus sprang to his feet. "Whatever it was," he exclaimed, "the +thing is dead. I shall see what it is." + +He plucked a big brand from the fire, and, grasping his rifle, stepped +forward. His father followed his example, and with great caution they +moved out beyond the flickering circle of the firelight. Thirty paces +away their torches showed them something. It rested on the veldt there, +silent, completely motionless. Again they advanced and stood over the +thing. + +It lay there at their feet, naked, hairy, something on the figure of a +man, yet surely not a man. Blood was oozing softly from a big wound in +the back, where Van Driel's bullet had entered. + +"An ape of some kind, father," queried Hermannus, "but not a baboon. +What do you make of it?" + +"Alas, no ape, I fear," returned Van Driel, with a shudder. "This is a +bad night's work. 'Tis a wild man. I have heard of such things, but +never yet have I set eyes upon one. Pick it up by the legs there, we +will carry it to the fire." + +At the firelight they examined with repugnance and even fear the thing +that had met its death. It was a man! Nay. It had once been a man; it +was now but a travesty of mankind. Deeply tanned all over; with its +shock of dark hair and beard, now going grey, and a shaggy growth almost +covering the loathsome body, it looked a mere beast of the field. The +thing had gone mostly upon hands and knees--or upon hands and feet--and +the parts that touched the soil were thickened and callous. How many +years this poor terrible relic of humanity had lived here alone; how it +had gained its living; how escaped the fierce carnivora of the desert, +were mysteries that no man could answer. The silent rocks, the grass, +the trees, the air--these were the only witnesses, and they were for +ever unite. + +There was no more sleep for the Van Driels that night. They sat talking +in low, subdued tones until dawn, and then, taking up the spoor of the +wild man, ran the trail down to a cavern among the rocks, where the poor +creature had made its lair. Here were bones; the remains of animals, of +lizards, birds, locusts, even fish, upon which, with berries, bulbs, and +wild roots, the thing had existed for all these years! + +Returning to the fire, they picked up the now stiff form, more hideous +and loathsome than ever by broad daylight, and carried it to its den. +This they sealed from the wild beasts with heavy rocks and stones. + +Then they saddled up and rode off for the waggon, which was reached by +mid-day. They and their bountiful supply of meat were received with a +chorus of welcome from the starved and ailing family, and in that lone +and distressful wilderness they presently enjoyed together a right +hearty meal. + +Next morning Arend Van Driel had settled upon a plan of action. He +despatched his native "boys" on a month's journey, far back to one of +the standing camps of the Trek Boers, upon the Okavango. So soon as +they were out of the way, he trekked with his family for Hartebeest +Fontein, as they now called the place of mystery. Arend had seen +something of gold mining at Lydenburg, in the Eastern Transvaal, and, +from the discoveries he had already made, he guessed that the valley was +rich in alluvial gold. He was not mistaken. In less than a month's +search in the rich alluvial soil at the head of the kloof and along the +bed of the stream, he and his family picked up many a good nugget; so +that, with the store already gathered by their dead predecessors, they +trekked away, carrying with them enough gold to set themselves up in a +fair way for the rest of their lives. They were not sorry to quit the +valley, with its grim secrets, and presently, after much hard and +toilsome travel, reached Transvaal soil again. + +The Dutch Afrikanders are a secretive race and keep their own counsel. +Moreover, they are the last people in the world to trumpet forth gold +discoveries for the benefit of the detested Britisher, who threatens in +time to over-run the whole of South Africa. Arend Van Driel is now one +of the wealthiest farmers in the Transvaal. His son, Hermannus, who is +married and lives on an excellent farm near, is just as comfortably off. +Their Rustenburg neighbours have puzzled for years--and still puzzle-- +over the return of this family from the Mossamedes trek and their great +and inexplicable accession of wealth. But Van Driel and his good vrouw, +who started on that terrible expedition strong and hearty people on the +right side of six-and-thirty, without a grey hair between them, and came +back lined and grey, and apparently far on into middle age, are never +likely to yield up their secret. Nor is Hermannus, nor are the rest of +the family. The quiet valley of Hartebeest Fontein, with its strange +discoveries and uncanny inhabitant, remain mysteries locked safely +within the breasts of each one of them. + +Hermannus, by the way, soon after their arrival in the Transvaal, got, +from an Englishman at a Klerks-dorp store, a translation of the writing +upon that pathetic bit of paper found in the box of nuggets. The +translation ran thus: + +"I am camped here, with my little son, on my way prospecting from +Namaqualand. My comrade, John Finch, died at Fish River. Waggon looted +by Namaqua Hottentots. Found my way here, but horse dead of sickness +and can go neither forward nor back. Plenty of gold, but no present +chance of escape. What will become of my boy James, nine years old? +God help us, I am very ill and doubt how things may end. Henry Dursley. +August, 1847." + +That poor stained letter, which contains the secret of Hartebeest +Fontein, old Arend Van Driel, strangely enough, still cherishes in its +battered metal box, locked up securely in the dark recesses of his +ancient waggon-chest, which itself rests beside the big family bed. + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +CHARLIE THIRLMERE'S LION. + +On a March morning Charlie Thirlmere and his wife were at breakfast in +their pretty flat near Park Lane. A cloud sat on Charlie's fresh, +good-looking face. He looked at his wife curiously, and then launched +into the business that worried him. + +"Sybil," he said, "we must pull up. I want to have a serious talk with +you." + +"Oh, for heaven's sake, don't begin business at this unearthly period," +replied Sybil. "I am going out riding in less than an hour, and I +haven't time." + +"You can spare ten minutes, old girl," he said; "and things are getting +into such a hobble that we must pull up and make an alteration. If we +don't, another year or two will see us stony, so far as I am concerned." + +"Well, go on," returned Sybil, putting her red lips to a cup of tea, +"and do compress your lecture. At eleven Cecil Cloudesley will be here +with a new pony we want to look at." + +Charlie's brows knitted into a little frown. "Oh! hang Cecil Cloudesley +and his ponies!" he exclaimed. "Three years ago when we married," he +went on, "we had sixteen hundred a year between us. You had seven +hundred, I had nine hundred. Well, I've often told you we've been going +the pace far too much--it's been my fault, I admit, quite as much as +yours--and now this is how we stand. I've had to break into my +capital--four times in three years, as Jesson and Fosbery remind me--and +now my income is reduced to something over four hundred. Your money, +thank goodness, is tied up. Eleven hundred would do us passably well, +living quietly in the country; and to that we shall have to make up our +minds. I've given up my nags, as you know. After July we must sell +off, give up the flat, and retrench seriously. I've had enough of this +sort of thing, and I'm getting heartily sick of it. I'm getting soft +and hipped, and I loathe this incessant keeping up appearances, and +living beyond one's means. And there's the baby. Poor little chap, he +sees precious little of us, living as we do. We must give him a chance. +I'm sure he needs fresh air and a country life far more even than we +do!" + +This reference to her two-year-old child was rather a sore subject for +Sybil. She knew that in the whirling life she led, she had really +neglected the youngster. But her spirit rose instantly to combat the +suggestion. + +"Oh, Arthur's all right," she returned with some sharpness. "He was at +the mater's for a month at Christmas, and he'll be there again in May or +June. But we can't live on a thousand a year, that's certain. I +suppose you can get something to do. I can't--I really can't--be buried +alive in the country." + +"Well," returned her husband, a little hot at the cool way in which she +had met his advance. "I've been thinking over things. I shall sell out +another thousand or so and go off to Rhodesia, and try and pick up some +mining claims or town lots. You must live on 900 pounds a year somehow, +and I'll do the best I can to pick up some oof. Anyhow I'm tired of +this sort of life. I see very little of you, and you can put up with my +absence for a year, I suppose." + +"I might perhaps even exist for two years without the light of your +countenance, Charlie, if I tried _very_ hard!" retorted Sybil. + +A little flush had risen to her cheeks, and a rebellious sparkle flashed +in her dark eyes. She had not reckoned upon this proposition. Charlie +was useful, nay, necessary to her in a hundred little ways, and she +hated the idea of parting from him. She was angry with herself and with +him. + +"Well, that settles it," rejoined her husband coolly. "I'll try and +make some coin in Mashonaland, and you stay at home and pull in a bit. +We shall be better friends when I come back. Somehow this town life +doesn't suit either of us. We hit it off a thousand times better when +we lived at the Grange." + +He rose and lit a cigarette. + +"I'll settle up all outstanding things," he went on; "and if you stay in +town you'll have to do with one pony for riding, and hire a Victoria +when you want it I should advise your staying with your mother for six +months. She'll be delighted to have you and the youngster." + +"I can't part with either Dandy or The Barber," returned Sybil hotly, +"and you really needn't bother me as to my movements. I can take care +of myself very well during your absence." + +Thirlmere glanced at his wife. She was not looking his way, her +thoughts ran elsewhere. He was extremely fond of her, and, at this +moment, just as he was about leaving her, she looked, he thought, more +charming than ever. He went to her side, stooped, and kissed her soft +cheek. The caress was accepted with something very like indifference. + +"Very well, old girl," he said. "Don't worry yourself. I know you are +right enough. You have plenty of wits and abounding common sense. Give +up some of the crowd you are swimming with. I dare say when I'm gone +you'll make a change and pull in. I don't demand it. I hope it, and +expect it, from your good sense, and I know you as well as you know +yourself." + +"There, don't preach, Charlie," replied his wife. "I'm awfully busy +this morning. Do go and look after your own work. If you're off to +Rhodesia, you must have heaps to do." + +Thirlmere quitted the room, and Sybil breathed a sigh of relief. + +Two months after this morning in March, Charlie Thirlmere was in +Mashonaland, wandering about the country in the company of a mining +prospector, shooting and exploring. They had for months very little +success. Most of the likely spots for gold had been already pegged out +by their forerunners. They returned to Salisbury and fitted out an +expedition for the Zambesi Valley. They were away seven months, +discovered indications of a coalfield, and then, on their way into +Salisbury again, stumbled, within fifty miles of the town, upon a strong +gold reef. It was in a broad, rich-looking valley, of romantic beauty, +well-wooded in parts with acacia, Kaffir orange, and other trees, and +hemmed in by massive granite kopjes--huge masses of rock, strewn as if +by the hands of giants--with a pleasant little river, fringed with +palmetto, meandering beneath the rock-walls. So rich, apparently, was +the reef, that they pegged out at once, procured some native labour, +built a couple of huts, and, sending into Salisbury for dynamite, roping +and windlass, and fresh implements, determined to camp for some months, +and go in for a systematic opening up of the reef. + +The weeks ran by. The hot season, the second since Thirlmere had left +England, was approaching. Already the rains were upon them, and they +had begun to experience some of the miseries of living under constant +tropical downpours in leaky native huts, thatched carelessly with grass +by lazy Mashonas. Yet the mine prospects were so good that they hung +on. + +It was now December. They had sent in a native servant with their last +remaining donkey to bring out supplies and some few luxuries, and +awaited his return impatiently. They had reached the valley with four +donkeys, the poor remnants of their long Zambesi string; but lions, +which were troublesome and daring, had killed three, as well as their +sole remaining horse. The camp was very quiet, only two or three native +workers were with them, and from these they extracted precious little +labour at their shafts and other operations. John Brightling, a Cornish +miner, a capital fellow, Thirlmere's constant companion in his +prospecting operations for a full year past, was down with fever. +Thirlmere himself was feeling none too fit, but was still well enough to +tend his sick comrade. + +Night fell. It was a dark night, with no moon, and a threatening of +heavy rain. Charlie Thirlmere had had a fire kindled between the two +huts--their own and the natives'--but at nine o'clock, a drenching +thunderstorm, which came roaring and reverberating with fierce +lightnings and deafening re-echoes among the kopjes, effectually put an +end to it, Brightling had felt better towards night. After a day of +racking pain, the sweating stage had reached him; his head was clear, +the fever had left him, and he had been able to sup some of the +game-broth that Thirlmere had prepared for him. He was now sleeping +quietly. + +At ten, Charlie heard the moaning roar of lions not far away. Shortly +after followed the sharp, dissonant yells of the Mashonas from their +hut, fifty yards distant. Lions were abroad, plainly. Thirlmere opened +the hut door and fired a couple of cartridges, by way of scaring off the +night prowlers. Then he lay down on his skin couch, pulled his blanket +over him, and dozed off. + +How soon afterwards it was he could never tell, but he was awakened in +the black darkness by hearing some noise at the door of the hut. He +picked up his loaded carbine, and went softly that way. Gently lifting +the latch, he opened the door and peered out. Almost in the same +instant, his left hand, which was thrust a little forward, was seized in +the jaws of some savage creature, armed with frightful teeth. With a +yell that leapt from rock to rock of the quiet valley, and seemed to +split the very darkness, the unfortunate man lifted his carbine and +belaboured the brute that held him fast, fiercely about the head. But +the lion--for such it was--held on grimly, chewing, and crunching, and +tugging hard at the hand now gripped so ruthlessly in those ferocious +jaws. During this frightful struggle Thirlmere felt, curiously enough, +little of actual physical pain. He was conscious of some sudden shock, +just such as he remembered from a heavy fall in hunting; but, chiefly, +his mind was concentrated in a determination to free himself at all +hazards from his captor. He ceased hitting the brute with his carbine, +and instinctively poked at the lion's head with the muzzle end. +Suddenly he encountered something soft. It was the brute's eye. His +forefinger slipped from the trigger-guard to the trigger itself and +pulled. The bullet crashed deep into the lion's brain, and upon the +instant the fierce creature fell dead at his feet, dragging him to earth +in its fall. Then his mind reeled into unconsciousness and he +remembered no more. + +Three minutes later, John Brightling, who had started from his bed of +fever at the sound of Charlie's yell and the report of the rifle, had +lit a lantern, and was outside. He could scarcely believe his senses +when he found, just beyond the doorway, the body of the dead lion, with +his comrade's senseless form lying across the grim beast's forelegs, his +left hand still imprisoned in that terrible grip. + +Rousing the trembling natives from the adjacent hut, John, after some +trouble, succeeded in prising open the huge teeth, forcing the jaws +apart, and releasing the mangled hand--or rather, what remained of it. +For the lion had bitten three parts of that member from the rest of the +limb. They got Thirlmere into the hut; and then, while he lay still +insensible, Brightling tied a ligature tightly round the wrist, trimmed +off the ghastly wound, washed the poor maimed stump, and wrapped it in +linen. Then he administered a stiff dose of brandy and water, and +Thirlmere presently began to come round. In a little while he had +pulled himself together wonderfully, and they discussed the situation. +It would take two days at least to get the doctor from Salisbury; and +they had no carbolic, meanwhile, to keep the wound sweet. What was to +be done? A pot of liquid pitch stood in one corner of the hut. Into +that they inserted the still bleeding stump, and bound up the wound +again. It seemed the only thing to be done, rude and barbarous as was +the precaution. At the first streak of dawn they despatched the +fleetest among their native boys, with an urgent letter to Salisbury for +help. Fired by the promise of two sovereigns on his return, the man set +off at a steady jog-trot, vowing he would be in at the township that +evening. By eleven o'clock next day Brightling was down again in a hot +fit of malaria, while Charlie Thirlmere lay in his corner, feeling the +fever of his wound coursing through his veins and mounting to his brain. +Presently he wandered in a delirium; strange shapes and scenes passed +before his distempered mind; his tongue rambled. He called incessantly +for Sybil. So the two men lay: the hours passing on leaden wings. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +And Sybil herself was near. For a month or two after her husband's +departure for Africa, she had led pretty much her old whirling life of +pleasure and excitement. Then things began to pall a little, and she +took breath and thought. After all, without Charlie, life seemed +somehow different. She missed him in a thousand ways. Even Cecil +Cloudesley began to seem empty and inane, and, after all, horseflesh and +the society of smart people have their limitations. By the time +Goodwood was reached Sybil had made up her mind. She had been chiefly +to blame; she would try and do something for dear old Charlie, grinding +in the hot sun, in some horribly uninteresting place, out there in +Rhodesia. She sold off her ponies, gave up the flat, went down to her +mother's, and announced that she and her child had come to stay for six +months. The stay resolved itself into much more than that period. A +year and more went by; Sybil wrote often to Charlie, but, during his +long absence towards the Zambesi, very few letters of his reached her. +She became more and more uneasy, and presently, hearing at last that he +had settled for a time near Salisbury, she determined to go out to him. +Persuading her brother to accompany her, the pair sailed for Cape Town, +trained thence to Mafeking (the then limit of the railway), and made +their way by road to Salisbury. As fortune willed it, they reached that +place early in December, and made preparations to take Charlie Thirlmere +by storm. Their Cape cart and a buggy were loaded up with a supply of +good things, and they were to start at daybreak next morning. Late that +evening the Salisbury doctor came round to their hotel with a grave +face. He had had serious news of Thirlmere by a native runner; an +accident had happened; could he accompany them early next morning? + +The matter was urgent; they set off with four horses in each trap, two +hours before sun-up, and, travelling rapidly, reached Charlie +Thirlmere's hut soon after three o'clock. Right or wrong, Sybil could +not, would not, be gainsaid. She slipped down, ran to the hut, and, +standing at the open door, looked at her husband lying there, drawn, +pale, and dishevelled, in the corner. All her heart leaped out to him. +He was conscious, and knew her. + +"Sybil!" he cried feebly. "Where in God's name have you sprung from?" + +"My darling old boy," she returned, kneeling at his side, and kissing +him tenderly, "it is I, surely enough, come to nurse you and get you +well, and," (she whispered in his ear) "never to let you go again, my +husband." + +She kissed him again and again, and then the doctor came forward. It +was a very near thing. Another dozen hours or so, and mortification +would have set in. They amputated above the wrist, and, after a most +anxious and most miserable time, pulled Charlie Thirlmere through +towards Christmas. He lost his left hand, it is true; but, as he always +says, it was cheap at the price of his subsequent happiness. + +They sold the gold claims excellently well, and the Thirlmeres now live +the happiest of lives in a pleasant English country home. No two +married people can be more devoted, or faster friends and comrades. One +of the most treasured mementoes of their African days stands in their +big, cosy hall. It is the grim, white skull of the lion, whose grinning +teeth so nearly ended Charlie Thirlmere's existence. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The End. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM VELDT CAMP FIRES *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law 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. 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