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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Jess, by H. Rider Haggard
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Jess
+
+Author: H. Rider Haggard
+
+Release Date: April 22, 2006 [EBook #5898]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JESS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Bickers; Dagny
+
+
+
+
+
+JESS
+
+By H. Rider Haggard
+
+First Published 1887.
+
+
+
+
+TO MY WIFE
+
+
+
+
+
+JESS
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+JOHN HAS AN ADVENTURE
+
+The day had been very hot even for the Transvaal, where the days still
+know how to be hot in the autumn, although the neck of the summer is
+broken--especially when the thunderstorms hold off for a week or two, as
+they do occasionally. Even the succulent blue lilies--a variety of the
+agapanthus which is so familiar to us in English greenhouses--hung their
+long trumpet-shaped flowers and looked oppressed and miserable, beneath
+the burning breath of the hot wind which had been blowing for hours like
+the draught from a volcano. The grass, too, near the wide roadway
+that stretched in a feeble and indeterminate fashion across the veldt,
+forking, branching, and reuniting like the veins on a lady's arm, was
+completely coated over with a thick layer of red dust. But the hot wind
+was going down now, as it always does towards sunset. Indeed, all that
+remained of it were a few strictly local and miniature whirlwinds,
+which would suddenly spring up on the road itself, and twist and twirl
+fiercely round, raising a mighty column of dust fifty feet or more into
+the air, where it hung long after the wind had passed, and then slowly
+dissolved as its particles floated to the earth.
+
+Advancing along the road, in the immediate track of one of these
+desultory and inexplicable whirlwinds, was a man on horseback. The man
+looked limp and dirty, and the horse limper and dirtier. The hot wind
+had "taken all the bones out of them," as the Kafirs say, which was
+not very much to be wondered at, seeing that they had been journeying
+through it for the last four hours without off-saddling. Suddenly the
+whirlwind, which had been travelling along smartly, halted, and the
+dust, after revolving a few times in the air like a dying top, slowly
+began to disperse in the accustomed fashion. The man on the horse halted
+also, and contemplated it in an absent kind of way.
+
+"It's just like a man's life," he said aloud to his horse, "coming from
+nobody knows where, nobody knows why, and making a little column of dust
+on the world's highway, then passing away, leaving the dust to fall to
+the ground again, to be trodden under foot and forgotten."
+
+The speaker, a stout, well set-up, rather ugly man, apparently on the
+wrong side of thirty, with pleasant blue eyes and a reddish peaked
+beard, laughed a little at his own sententious reflection, and then gave
+his jaded horse a tap with the _sjambock_ in his hand.
+
+"Come on, Blesbok," he said, "or we shall never get to old Croft's place
+to-night. By Jove! I believe that must be the turn," and he pointed with
+his whip to a little rutty track that branched from the Wakkerstroom
+main road and stretched away towards a curious isolated hill with a
+large flat top, which rose out of the rolling plain some four miles to
+the right. "The old Boer said the second turn," he went on still talking
+to himself, "but perhaps he lied. I am told that some of them think it
+is a good joke to send an Englishman a few miles wrong. Let's see, they
+told me the place was under the lee of a table-topped hill, about half
+an hour's ride from the main road, and that is a table-topped hill, so I
+think I will try it. Come on, Blesbok," and he put the tired nag into
+a sort of "tripple," or ambling canter much affected by South African
+horses.
+
+"Life is a queer thing," reflected Captain John Niel to himself as he
+cantered along slowly. "Now here am I, at the age of thirty-four, about
+to begin the world again as assistant to an old Transvaal farmer. It is
+a pretty end to all one's ambitions, and to fourteen years' work in the
+army; but it is what it has come to, my boy, so you had better make the
+best of it."
+
+Just then his cogitations were interrupted, for on the farther side of
+a gentle slope suddenly there appeared an extraordinary sight. Over the
+crest of the rise of land, now some four or five hundred yards away, a
+pony with a lady on its back galloped wildly, and after it, with wings
+spread and outstretched neck, a huge cock ostrich was speeding in
+pursuit, covering twelve or fifteen feet at every stride of its long
+legs. The pony was still twenty yards ahead of the bird, and travelling
+towards John rapidly, but strive as it would it could not distance the
+swiftest thing on all the earth. Five seconds passed--the great bird was
+close alongside now--Ah! and John Niel turned sick and shut his eyes as
+he rode, for he saw the ostrich's thick leg fly high into the air and
+then sweep down like a leaded bludgeon!
+
+_Thud!_ It had missed the lady and struck her horse upon the spine, just
+behind the saddle, for the moment completely paralysing it so that it
+fell all of a heap on to the veldt. In a moment the girl on its back was
+up and running towards him, and after her came the ostrich. Up went the
+great leg again, but before it could come crashing across her shoulders
+she had flung herself face downwards on the grass. In an instant the
+huge bird was on the top of her, kicking at her, rolling over her, and
+crushing the very life out of her. It was at this juncture that John
+Niel arrived upon the scene. The moment the ostrich saw him it gave up
+its attacks upon the lady on the ground and began to waltz towards him
+with the pompous sort of step that these birds sometimes assume before
+they give battle. Now Captain Niel was unaccustomed to the pleasant ways
+of ostriches, and so was his horse, which showed a strong inclination to
+bolt; as, indeed, under other circumstances, his rider would have been
+glad to do himself. But he could not abandon beauty in distress, so,
+finding it impossible to control his horse, he slipped off it, and with
+the _sjambock_ or hide-whip in his hand valiantly faced the enemy. For
+a moment or two the great bird stood still, blinking its lustrous round
+eyes at him and gently swaying its graceful neck to and fro.
+
+Then all of a sudden it spread out its wings and came for him like
+a thunderbolt. John sprang to one side, and was aware of a rustle of
+rushing feathers, and of a vision of a thick leg striking downwards
+past his head. Fortunately it missed him, and the ostrich sped on like
+a flash. Before he could turn, however, it was back and had landed
+the full weight of one of its awful forward kicks on the broad of his
+shoulders, and away he went head-over-heels like a shot rabbit. In a
+second he was on his legs again, shaken indeed, but not much the worse,
+and perfectly mad with fury and pain. At him came the ostrich, and at
+the ostrich went he, catching it a blow across the slim neck with his
+_sjambock_ that staggered it for a moment. Profiting by the check, he
+seized the bird by the wing and held on like grim death with both hands.
+Now they began to gyrate, slowly at first, then quicker, and yet more
+quick, till at last it seemed to Captain John Niel that time and space
+and the solid earth were nothing but a revolving vision fixed somewhere
+in the watches of the night. Above him, like a stationary pivot, towered
+the tall graceful neck, beneath him spun the top-like legs, and in front
+of him was a soft black and white mass of feathers.
+
+Thud, and a cloud of stars! He was on his back, and the ostrich, which
+did not seem to be affected by giddiness, was on _him_, punishing him
+dreadfully. Luckily an ostrich cannot kick a man very hard when he is
+flat on the ground. If he could, there would have been an end of John
+Niel, and his story need never have been written.
+
+Half a minute or so passed, during which the bird worked his sweet will
+upon his prostrate enemy, and at the end of it the man began to feel
+very much as though his earthly career was closed. Just as things were
+growing faint and dim to him, however, he suddenly saw a pair of white
+arms clasp themselves round the ostrich's legs from behind, and heard a
+voice cry:
+
+"Break his neck while I hold his legs, or he will kill you."
+
+This roused him from his torpor, and he staggered to his feet. Meanwhile
+the ostrich and the young lady had come to the ground, and were rolling
+about together in a confused heap, over which the elegant neck and open
+hissing mouth wavered to and fro like a cobra about to strike. With a
+rush John seized the neck in both his hands, and, putting out all his
+strength (for he was a strong man), he twisted it till it broke with a
+snap, and after a few wild and convulsive bounds and struggles the great
+bird lay dead.
+
+Then he sank down dazed and exhausted, and surveyed the scene. The
+ostrich was perfectly quiet, and would never kick again, and the lady
+too was quiet. He wondered vaguely if the brute had killed her--he was
+as yet too weak to go and see--and then fell to gazing at her face. Her
+head was pillowed on the body of the dead bird, and its feathery plumes
+made it a fitting resting-place. Slowly it dawned on him that the face
+was very beautiful, although it looked so pale just now. Low broad brow,
+crowned with soft yellow hair, the chin very round and white, the mouth
+sweet though rather large. The eyes he could not see, because they
+were closed, for the lady had fainted. For the rest, she was quite
+young--about twenty, tall and finely formed. Presently he felt a little
+better, and, creeping towards her (for he was sadly knocked about), took
+her hand and began to chafe it between his own. It was a well-formed
+hand, but brown, and showed signs of doing plenty of hard work. Soon she
+opened her eyes, and he noted with satisfaction that they were very good
+eyes, blue in colour. Then she sat up and laughed a little.
+
+"Well, I am silly," she said; "I believe I fainted."
+
+"It is not much to be wondered at," said John Niel politely, and lifting
+his hand to take off his hat, only to find that it had gone in the fray.
+"I hope you are not very much hurt by the bird."
+
+"I don't know," she said doubtfully. "But I am glad that you killed the
+_skellum_ (vicious beast). He got out of the ostrich camp three days
+ago, and has been lost ever since. He killed a boy last year, and I told
+uncle he ought to shoot him then, but he would not, because he was such
+a beauty."
+
+"Might I ask," said John Niel, "are you Miss Croft?"
+
+"Yes, I am--one of them. There are two of us, you know; and I can guess
+who you are--you are Captain Niel, whom uncle is expecting to help him
+with the farm and the ostriches."
+
+"If all of them are like that," he said, pointing to the dead bird, "I
+don't think that I shall take kindly to ostrich farming."
+
+She laughed, showing a charming line of teeth. "Oh no," she said,
+"he was the only bad one--but, Captain Niel, I think you will find it
+fearfully dull. There are nothing but Boers about here, you know. No
+English people live nearer than Wakkerstroom."
+
+"You overlook yourself," he said, bowing; for really this daughter of
+the wilderness had a very charming air about her.
+
+"Oh," she answered, "I am only a girl, you know, and besides, I am
+not clever. Jess, now--that's my sister--Jess has been at school at
+Capetown, and she _is_ clever. I was at Cape Town, too, though I didn't
+learn much there. But, Captain Niel, both the horses have bolted; mine
+has gone home, and I expect yours has followed, and I should like to
+know how we are going to get up to Mooifontein--beautiful fountain,
+that's what we call our place, you know. Can you walk?"
+
+"I don't know," he answered doubtfully; "I'll try. That bird has knocked
+me about a good deal," and accordingly he staggered on to his legs, only
+to collapse with an exclamation of pain. His ankle was sprained, and
+he was so stiff and bruised that he could hardly stir. "How far is the
+house?" he asked.
+
+"Only about a mile--just there; we shall see it from the crest of the
+rise. Look, I'm all right. It was silly to faint, but he kicked all the
+breath out of me," and she got up and danced a little on the grass to
+show him. "My word, though, I am sore! You must take my arm, that's all;
+that is if you don't mind?"
+
+"Oh dear no, indeed, I don't mind," he said laughing; and so they
+started, arm affectionately linked in arm.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+HOW THE SISTERS CAME TO MOOIFONTEIN
+
+"Captain Niel," said Bessie Croft--for she was named Bessie--when they
+had painfully limped one hundred yards or so, "will you think me rude if
+I ask you a question?"
+
+"Not at all."
+
+"What has induced you to come and bury yourself in this place?"
+
+"Why do you ask?"
+
+"Because I don't think that you will like it. I don't think," she added
+slowly, "that it is a fit place for an English gentleman and an army
+officer like you. You will find the Boer ways horrid, and then there
+will only be my old uncle and us two for you to associate with."
+
+John Niel laughed. "English gentlemen are not so particular nowadays, I
+can assure you, Miss Croft, especially when they have to earn a living.
+Take my case, for instance, for I may as well tell you exactly how I
+stand. I have been in the army fourteen years, and I am now thirty-four.
+Well, I have been able to live there because I had an old aunt who
+allowed me 120 pounds a year. Six months ago she died, leaving me the
+little property she possessed, for most of her income came from an
+annuity. After paying expenses, duty, &c., it amounts to 1,115 pounds.
+Now, the interest on this is about fifty pounds a year, and I can't live
+in the army on that. Just after my aunt's death I came to Durban with
+my regiment from Mauritius, and now they are ordered home. Well, I liked
+the country, and I knew that I could not afford to live in England, so I
+got a year's leave of absence, and made up my mind to have a look round
+to see if I could not take to farming. Then a gentleman in Durban told
+me of your uncle, and said that he wanted to dispose of a third interest
+in his place for a thousand pounds, as he was getting too old to manage
+it himself. So I entered into correspondence with him, and agreed to
+come up for a few months to see how I liked it; and accordingly here I
+am, just in time to save you from being knocked to bits by an ostrich."
+
+"Yes, indeed," she answered, laughing; "you've had a warm welcome at any
+rate. Well, I hope you _will_ like it."
+
+Just as he finished his story they reached the top of the rise over
+which the ostrich had pursued Bessie Croft, and saw a Kafir coming
+towards them, leading the pony with one hand and Captain Niel's horse
+with the other. About twenty yards behind the horses a lady was walking.
+
+"Ah," said Bessie, "they've caught the horses, and here is Jess come to
+see what is the matter."
+
+By this time the lady in question was quite close, so that John was able
+to gather a first impression of her. She was small and rather thin, with
+quantities of curling brown hair; not by any means a lovely woman,
+as her sister undoubtedly was, but possessing two very remarkable
+characteristics--a complexion of extraordinary and uniform pallor, and a
+pair of the most beautiful dark eyes he had ever looked on. Altogether,
+though her size was almost insignificant, she was a striking-looking
+person, with a face few men would easily forget. Before he had time to
+observe any more the two parties had met.
+
+"What on earth is the matter, Bessie?" Jess said, with a quick glance
+at her sister's companion, and speaking in a low full voice, with just
+a slight South African accent, that is taking enough in a pretty woman.
+Thereon Bessie broke out with a history of their adventure, appealing to
+Captain Niel for confirmation at intervals.
+
+Meanwhile Jess Croft stood quite still and silent, and it struck John
+that her face was the most singularly impassive one he had ever seen. It
+never changed, even when her sister told her how the ostrich rolled on
+her and nearly killed her, or how they finally subdued the foe. "Dear
+me," he thought to herself, "what a very strange woman! She can't have
+much heart." But just as he thought it the girl looked up, and then he
+saw where the expression lay. It was in those remarkable eyes. Immovable
+as was her face, the dark eyes were alight with life and a suppressed
+excitement that made them shine gloriously. The contrast between the
+shining eyes and the impassive face beneath them struck him as so
+extraordinary as to be almost uncanny. As a matter of fact, it was
+doubtless both unusual and remarkable.
+
+"You have had a wonderful escape, but I am sorry for the bird," she said
+at last.
+
+"Why?" asked John.
+
+"Because we were great friends. I was the only person who could manage
+him."
+
+"Yes," put in Bessie, "the savage brute would follow her about like a
+dog. It was just the oddest thing I ever saw. But come on; we must be
+getting home, it's growing dark. Mouti"--which, being interpreted, means
+Medicine--she added, addressing the Kafir in Zulu--"help Captain Niel
+on to his horse. Be careful that the saddle does not twist round; the
+girths may be loose."
+
+Thus adjured, John, with the help of the Zulu, clambered into his
+saddle, an example that the lady quickly followed, and they set off once
+more through the gathering darkness. Presently he became aware that they
+were passing up a drive bordered by tall blue gums, and next minute the
+barking of a large dog, which he afterwards knew by the name of Stomp,
+and the sudden appearance of lighted windows told him that they had
+reached the house. At the door--or rather, opposite to it, for there
+was a verandah in front--they halted and got off their horses. As they
+dismounted there came a shout of welcome from the house, and presently
+in the doorway, showing out clearly against the light, appeared a
+striking and, in its way, a most pleasant figure. He--for it was a
+man--was very tall, or, rather, he had been very tall. Now he was much
+bent with age and rheumatism. His long white hair hung low upon his
+neck, and fell back from a prominent brow. The top of the head was
+quite bald, like the tonsure of a priest, and shone and glistened in the
+lamplight, and round this oasis the thin white locks fell down. The
+face was shrivelled like the surface of a well-kept apple, and, like
+an apple, rosy red. The features were aquiline and strongly marked; the
+eyebrows still black and very bushy, and beneath them shone a pair
+of grey eyes, keen and bright as those of a hawk. But for all its
+sharpness, there was nothing unpleasant or fierce about the face; on
+the contrary, it was pervaded by a remarkable air of good-nature and
+pleasant shrewdness. For the rest, the man was dressed in rough tweed
+clothes, tall riding-boots, and held a broad-brimmed Boer hunting hat in
+his hand. Such, as John Niel first saw him, was the outer person of old
+Silas Croft, one of the most remarkable men in the Transvaal.
+
+"Is that you, Captain Niel?" roared out the stentorian voice. "The
+natives said you were coming. A welcome to you! I am glad to see
+you--very glad. Why, what is the matter with you?" he went on as the
+Zulu Mouti ran to help him off his horse.
+
+"Matter, Mr. Croft?" answered John; "why, the matter is that your
+favourite ostrich has nearly killed me and your niece here, and that I
+have killed your favourite ostrich."
+
+Then followed explanations from Bessie, during which he was helped off
+his horse and into the house.
+
+"It serves me right," said the old man. "To think of it now, just to
+think of it! Well, Bessie, my love, thank God that you escaped--ay, and
+you too, Captain Niel. Here, you boys, take the Scotch cart and a
+couple of oxen and go and fetch the brute home. We may as well have the
+feathers off him, at any rate, before the _aasvogels_ (vultures) tear
+him to bits."
+
+After he had washed himself and tended his injuries with arnica and
+water, John managed to limp into the principal sitting-room, where
+supper was waiting. It was a very pleasant room, furnished in European
+style, and carpeted with mats made of springbuck skins. In the corner
+stood a piano, and by it a bookcase, filled with the works of standard
+authors, the property, as John rightly guessed, of Bessie's sister Jess.
+
+Supper went off pleasantly enough, and after it was over the two girls
+sang and played whilst the men smoked. And here a fresh surprise awaited
+him, for after Bessie, who apparently had now almost recovered from her
+mauling, had played a piece or two creditably enough, Jess, who so
+far had been nearly silent, sat down at the piano. She did not do
+this willingly, indeed, for it was not until her patriarchal uncle had
+insisted in his ringing, cheery voice that she should let Captain Niel
+hear how she could sing that she consented. But at last she did consent,
+and then, after letting her fingers stray somewhat aimlessly along the
+chords, she suddenly broke out into such song as John Niel had never
+heard before. Her voice, beautiful as it was, was not what is known as
+a cultivated voice, and it was a German song, therefore he did not
+understand it, but there was no need of words to translate its burden.
+Passion, despairing yet hoping through despair, echoed in its every
+line, and love, unending love, hovered over the glorious notes--nay,
+possessed them like a spirit, and made them his. Up! up! rang her wild
+sweet voice, thrilling his nerves till they answered to the music as an
+Aeolian harp answers to the winds. On went the song with a divine sweep,
+like the sweep of rushing pinions; higher, yet higher it soared, lifting
+up the listener's heart far above the world on the trembling wings
+of sound--ay, even higher, till the music hung at heaven's gate, and
+falling thence, swiftly as an eagle falls, quivered, and was dead.
+
+John sighed, and so strongly was he moved, sank back in his chair,
+feeling almost faint with the revulsion of feeling that ensued when the
+notes had died away. He looked up, and saw Bessie watching him with
+an air of curiosity and amusement. Jess was still leaning against the
+piano, and gently touching the notes, over which her head was bent low,
+showing the coils of curling hair that were twisted round it like a
+coronet.
+
+"Well, Captain Niel," said the old man, waving his pipe in her
+direction, "and what do you say to my singing-bird's music, eh? Isn't it
+enough to draw the heart out of a man, eh, and turn his marrow to water,
+eh?"
+
+"I never heard anything quite like it," he answered simply, "and I have
+heard most singers. It is beautiful. Certainly, I never expected to hear
+such singing in the Transvaal."
+
+Jess turned quickly, and he observed that, though her eyes were alight
+with excitement, her face was as impassive as ever.
+
+"There is no need for you to laugh at me, Captain Niel," she said
+quickly, and then, with an abrupt "Good-night," she left the room.
+
+The old man smiled, jerked the stem of his pipe over his shoulder after
+her, and winked in a way that, no doubt, meant unutterable things, but
+which did not convey much to his astonished guest, who sat still and
+said nothing. Then Bessie rose and bade him good-night in her pleasant
+voice, and with housewifely care inquired as to whether his room was to
+his taste, and how many blankets he liked upon his bed, telling him that
+if he found the odour of the moonflowers which grew near the verandah
+too strong, he had better shut the right-hand window and open that on
+the other side of the room. Then at length, with a piquant little nod of
+her golden head, she went off, looking, John thought as he watched
+her retreating figure, about as healthy, graceful, and generally
+satisfactory a young woman as a man could wish to see.
+
+"Take a glass of grog, Captain Niel," said the old man, pushing the
+square bottle towards him, "you'll need it after the mauling that brute
+gave you. By the way, I haven't thanked you for saving my Bessie! But
+I do thank you, yes, that I do. I must tell you that Bessie is my
+favourite niece. Never was there such a girl--never. Moves like a
+springbuck, and what an eye and form! Work too--she'll do as much work
+as three. There's no nonsense about Bessie, none at all. She's not a
+fine lady, for all her fine looks."
+
+"The two sisters seem very different," said John.
+
+"Ay, you're right there," answered the old man. "You'd never think
+that the same blood ran in their veins, would you? There's three years
+between them, that's one thing. Bessie's the youngest, you see--she's
+just twenty, and Jess is twenty-three. Lord, to think that it is
+twenty-three years since that girl was born! And theirs is a queer story
+too."
+
+"Indeed?" said his listener interrogatively.
+
+"Ay," Silas went on absently, knocking out his pipe, and refilling it
+from a big brown jar of coarse-cut Boer tobacco, "I'll tell it to you if
+you like: you are going to live in the house, and you may as well know
+it. I am sure, Captain Niel, that it will go no further. You see I
+was born in England, yes, and well-born too. I come from
+Cambridgeshire--from the fat fen-land down round Ely. My father was a
+clergyman. Well, he wasn't rich, and when I was twenty he gave me his
+blessing, thirty sovereigns in my pocket, and my passage to the Cape;
+and I shook his hand, God bless him, and off I came, and here in the old
+colony and this country I have been for fifty years, for I was seventy
+yesterday. Well, I'll tell you more about that another time, it's of the
+girls I'm speaking now. After I left home--some years after--my dear
+old father married again, a youngish woman with some money, but rather
+beneath him in life, and by her he had one son, and then died. Well, it
+was but little I heard of my half-brother, except that he had turned
+out very badly, married, and taken to drink, till one night some twelve
+years ago, when a strange thing happened. I was sitting here in this
+very room, ay, in this very chair--for this part of the house was up
+then, though the wings weren't built--smoking my pipe, and listening to
+the lashing of the rain, for it was a very foul night, when suddenly an
+old pointer dog I had, named Ben, began to bark.
+
+"'Lie down, Ben, it's only the Kafirs,' said I.
+
+"Just then I thought I heard a faint sort of rapping at the door, and
+Ben barked again, so I got up and opened it, and in came two little
+girls wrapped in old shawls or some such gear. Well, I shut the door,
+looking first to see if there were any more outside, and then I turned
+and stared at the two little things with my mouth open. There they
+stood, hand in hand, the water dripping from both of them; the elder
+might have been eleven, and the second about eight years old. They
+didn't say anything, but the elder turned and took the shawl and hat off
+the younger--that was Bessie--and there was her sweet little face and
+her golden hair, and damp enough both of them were, and she put her
+thumb in her mouth, and stood and looked at me till I began to think
+that I was dreaming.
+
+"'Please, sir,' said the taller at last, 'is this Mr. Croft's house--Mr.
+Croft--South African Republic?'
+
+"'Yes, little Miss, this is his house, and this is the South African
+Republic, and I am he. And now who might you be, my dears?' I answered.
+
+"'If you please, sir, we are your nieces, and we have come to you from
+England.'
+
+"'What!' I holloaed, startled out of my wits, as well I might be.
+
+"'Oh, sir,' says the poor little thing, clasping her thin wet hands,
+'please don't send us away. Bessie is so wet, and cold and hungry too,
+she isn't fit to go any farther.'
+
+"And she set to work to cry, whereon the little one cried also, from
+fright and cold and sympathy.
+
+"Well, of course, I took them both to the fire, and set them on my
+knees, and called for Hebe, the old Hottentot woman who did my cooking,
+and between us we undressed them, and wrapped them up in some old
+clothes, and fed them with soup and wine, so that in half an hour they
+were quite happy and not a bit frightened.
+
+"'And now, young ladies,' I said, 'come and give me a kiss, both of you,
+and tell me how you came here.'
+
+"This is the tale they told me--completed, of course, from what I learnt
+afterwards--and an odd one it is. It seems that my half-brother married
+a Norfolk lady--a sweet young thing--and treated her like a dog. He was
+a drunken rascal, was my half-brother, and he beat his poor wife and
+shamefully neglected her, and even ill-used the two little girls, till
+at last the poor woman, weak as she was from suffering and ill health,
+could bear it no longer, and formed the wild idea of escaping to this
+country and of throwing herself upon my protection. That shows how
+desperate she must have been. She scraped together and borrowed some
+money, enough to pay for three second-class passages to Natal and a few
+pounds over, and one day, when her brute of a husband was away on the
+drink and gamble, she slipped on board a sailing ship in the London
+Docks, and before he knew anything about it they were well out to sea.
+But it was her last effort, poor dear soul, and the excitement of it
+finished her. Before they had been ten days at sea, she sank and
+died, and the two little children were left alone. What they must have
+suffered, or rather what poor Jess must have suffered, for she was old
+enough to feel, God only knows, but I can tell you this, she has never
+got over the shock to this hour. It has left its mark on her, sir.
+Still, let people say what they will, there is a Power who looks after
+the helpless, and that Power took those poor, homeless, wandering
+children under its wing. The captain of the vessel befriended them,
+and when at last they reached Durban some of the passengers made a
+subscription, and paid an old Boer, who was coming up this way with his
+wife to the Transvaal, to take them under his charge. The Boer and his
+_vrouw_ treated the children fairly well, but they did not do one thing
+more than they bargained for. At the turn from the Wakkerstroom road,
+that you came along to-day, they put the girls down, for they had no
+luggage with them, and told them that if they went along there they
+would come to _Meinheer_ Croft's house. That was in the middle of the
+afternoon, and they were till eight o'clock getting here, poor little
+dears, for the track was fainter then than it is now, and they wandered
+off into the veldt, and would have perished there in the wet and cold
+had they not chanced to see the lights of the house. That was how my
+nieces came here, Captain Niel, and here they have been ever since,
+except for a couple of years when I sent them to the Cape for schooling,
+and a lonely man I was when they were away."
+
+"And how about the father?" asked John Niel, deeply interested. "Did you
+ever hear any more of him?"
+
+"Hear of him, the villain!" almost shouted the old man, jumping up in
+wrath. "Ay, d--n him, I heard of him. What do you think? The two chicks
+had been with me some eighteen months, long enough for me to learn to
+love them with all my heart, when one fine morning, as I was seeing
+about the new kraal wall, I saw a fellow come riding up on an old
+raw-boned grey horse. Up he comes to me, and as he came I looked at
+him, and said to myself, 'You are a drunkard you are, and a rogue, it's
+written on your face, and, what's more, I know your face.' You see I did
+not guess that it was a son of my own father that I was looking at. How
+should I?
+
+"'Is your name Croft?' he said.
+
+"'Ay,' I answered.
+
+"'So is mine,' he went on with a sort of drunken leer. 'I'm your
+brother.'
+
+"'Are you?' I said, beginning to get my back up, for I guessed what his
+game was, 'and what may you be after? I tell you at once, and to your
+face, that if you are my brother you are a blackguard, and I don't want
+to know you or have anything to do with you; and if you are not, I beg
+your pardon for coupling you with such a scoundrel.'
+
+"'Oh, that's your tune, is it?' he said with a sneer. 'Well, now,
+my dear brother Silas, I want my children. They have got a little
+half-brother at home--for I have married again, Silas--who is anxious to
+have them to play with, so if you will be so good as to hand them over,
+I'll take them away at once.'
+
+"'You'll take them away, will you?' said I, all of a tremble with rage
+and fear.
+
+"'Yes, Silas, I will. They are mine by law, and I am not going to
+breed children for you to have the comfort of their society. I've taken
+advice, Silas, and that's sound law,' and he leered at me again.
+
+"I stood and looked at that man, and thought of how he had treated those
+poor children and their young mother, and my blood boiled, and I grew
+mad. Without another word I jumped over the half-finished wall, and
+caught him by the leg (for I was a strong man ten years ago) and jerked
+him off the horse. As he came down he dropped the _sjambock_ from his
+hand, and I laid hold of it and then and there gave him the soundest
+hiding a man ever had. Lord, how he did holloa! When I was tired I let
+him get up.
+
+"'Now,' I said, 'be off with you, and if you come back here I'll bid the
+Kafirs hunt you to Natal with their sticks. This is the South African
+Republic, and we don't care overmuch about law here.' Which we didn't in
+those days.
+
+"'All right, Silas,' he said, 'all right, you shall pay for this.
+I'll have those children, and, for your sake, I'll make their lives
+a hell--you mark my words--South African Republic or no South African
+Republic. I've got the law on my side.'
+
+"Off he rode, cursing and swearing, and I flung his _sjambock_ after
+him. This was the first and last time that I saw my brother."
+
+"What became of him?" asked John Niel.
+
+"I'll tell you, just to show you again that there is a Power which keeps
+such men in its eye. He rode back to Newcastle that night, and went
+about the canteen there abusing me, and getting drunker and drunker,
+till at last the canteen keeper sent for his boys to turn him out. Well,
+the boys were rough, as Kafirs are apt to be with a drunken white man,
+and he struggled and fought, and in the middle of it the blood began to
+run from his mouth, and he dropped down dead of a broken blood-vessel,
+and there was an end of him. That is the story of the two girls, Captain
+Niel, and now I am off to bed. To-morrow I'll show you round the farm,
+and we will have a talk about business. Good-night to you, Captain Niel.
+Good-night!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+MR. FRANK MULLER
+
+John Niel woke early the next morning, feeling as sore and stiff
+as though he had been well beaten and then wrapped up tight in
+horse-girths. He made shift, however, to dress himself, and then, with
+the help of a stick, limped through the French windows that opened from
+his room on to the verandah, and surveyed the scene before him. It was
+a delightful spot. At the back of the stead was the steep boulder-strewn
+face of the flat-topped hill that curved round on each side, embosoming
+a great slope of green, in the lap of which the house was placed. It
+was very solidly built of brown stone, and, with the exception of the
+waggon-shed and other outbuildings which were roofed with galvanised
+iron, that shone and glistened in the rays of the morning sun in a way
+that would have made an eagle blink, was covered with rich brown thatch.
+All along its front ran a wide verandah, up the trellis-work of which
+green vines and blooming creepers trailed pleasantly, and beyond was the
+broad carriage-drive of red soil, bordered with bushy orange-trees laden
+with odorous flowers and green and golden fruit. On the farther side
+of the orange-trees were the gardens, fenced in with low walls of rough
+stone, and the orchard planted with standard fruit-trees, and beyond
+these again the oxen and ostrich kraals, the latter full of long-necked
+birds. To the right of the house grew thriving plantations of blue-gum
+and black wattle, and to the left was a broad stretch of cultivated
+lands, lying so that they could be irrigated for winter crops by means
+of water led from the great spring that gushed out of the mountain-side
+high above the house, and gave its name of Mooifontein to the place.
+
+All these and many more things John Niel saw as he looked out from the
+verandah at Mooifontein, but for the moment at any rate they were lost
+in the wild and wonderful beauty of the panorama that rolled away for
+miles and miles at his feet, till it was bounded by the mighty range of
+the Drakensberg to the left, tipped here and there with snow, and by the
+dim and vast horizon of the swelling Transvaal plains to the right and
+far in front of him. It was a beautiful sight, and one to make the blood
+run in a man's veins, and his heart beat happily because he was alive
+to see it. Mile upon mile of grass-clothed veldt beneath, bending and
+rippling like a corn-field in the quick breath of the morning, space
+upon space of deep-blue sky overhead with ne'er a cloud to dim it, and
+the swift rush of the wind between. Then to the left there, impressive
+to look on and conducive to solemn thoughts, the mountains rear their
+crests against the sky, and, crowned with the gathered snows of the
+centuries whose monuments they are, from aeon to aeon gaze majestically
+out over the wide plains and the ephemeral ant-like races who tread
+them, and while they endure think themselves the masters of their little
+world. And over all--mountain, plain, and flashing stream--the glorious
+light of the African sun and the Spirit of Life moving now as it once
+moved upon the darkling waters.
+
+John stood and gazed at the untamed beauty of the scene, in his mind
+comparing it to many cultivated prospects which he had known, and coming
+to the conclusion that, however desirable the presence of civilised man
+might be in the world, it could not be said that his operations really
+add to its beauty. For the old line, "Nature unadorned adorned the
+most," still remains true in more senses than one.
+
+Presently his reflections were interrupted by the step of Silas
+Croft, which, notwithstanding his age and bent frame, still rang firm
+enough--and he turned to greet him.
+
+"Well, Captain Niel," said the old man, "up already! It looks well if
+you mean to take to farming. Yes, it's a pretty view, and a pretty place
+too. Well, I made it. Twenty-five years ago I rode up here and saw this
+spot. Look, you see that rock there behind the house? I slept under it
+and woke at sunrise and looked out at this beautiful scene and at the
+great veldt (it was all alive with game then), and I said to myself,
+'Silas, for five-and-twenty years have you wandered about this great
+country, and now you are getting tired of it; you've never seen a fairer
+spot than this or a healthier; be a wise man and stop here.' And so I
+did. I bought the 3,000 _morgen_ (6,000 acres), more or less, for 10
+pounds down and a case of gin, and I set to work to make this place, and
+you see I have made it. Ay, it has grown under my hand, every stone and
+tree of it, and you know what that means in a new country. But one way
+or another I have done it, and now I have grown too old to manage it,
+and that's how I came to give out that I wanted a partner, as Mr. Snow
+told you down in Durban. You see, I told Snow it must be a gentleman; I
+don't care much about the money, I'll take a thousand for a third share
+if I can get a gentleman--none of your Boers or mean whites for me. I
+tell you I have had enough of Boers and their ways; the best day of my
+life was when old Shepstone ran up the Union Jack there in Pretoria and
+I could call myself an Englishman once more. Lord! and to think that
+there are men who are subjects of the Queen and want to be subjects of
+a Republic again--Mad! Captain Niel, I tell you, quite mad! However,
+there's an end of it all now. You know what Sir Garnet Wolseley told
+them in the name of the Queen up at the Vaal River, that this country
+would remain English until the sun stood still in the heavens and the
+waters of the Vaal ran backwards.[*] That's good enough for me, for, as
+I tell these grumbling fellows who want the land back now that we have
+paid their debts and defeated their enemies, no English government is
+false to its word, or breaks engagements solemnly entered into by its
+representatives. We leave that sort of thing to foreigners. No, no,
+Captain Niel, I would not ask you to take a share in this place if I
+wasn't sure that it would remain under the British flag. But we will
+talk of all this another time, and now come in to breakfast."
+
+[*] A fact.--Author.
+
+After breakfast, as John was far too lame to walk about the farm, the
+fair Bessie suggested that he should come and help her to wash a batch
+of ostrich feathers, and, accordingly, off he went. The _locus operandi_
+was in a space of lawn at the rear of a little clump of _naatche_
+orange-trees, of which the fruit is like that of the Maltese orange,
+only larger. Here were placed an ordinary washing-tub half-filled with
+warm water, and a tin bath full of cold. The ostrich feathers, many of
+which were completely coated with red dirt, were plunged first into the
+tub of warm water, where John Niel scrubbed them with soap, and then
+transferred to the tin bath, where Bessie rinsed them and laid them on
+a sheet in the sun to dry. The morning was very pleasant, and John soon
+came to the conclusion that there are many more disagreeable occupations
+in the world than the washing of ostrich feathers with a lovely girl to
+help you. For there was no doubt but that Bessie was lovely, looking a
+very type of happy, healthy womanhood as she sat opposite to him on the
+little stool, her sleeves rolled up almost to the shoulder, showing
+a pair of arms that would not have disgraced a statue of Venus, and
+laughed and chatted away as she washed the feathers. Now, John Niel was
+not a susceptible man: he had gone through the fire years before and
+burnt his fingers like many another confiding youngster but, all the
+same, he did wonder as he knelt there and watched this fair girl, who
+somehow reminded him of a rich rosebud bursting into bloom, how long
+it would be possible to live in the same house with her without falling
+under the spell of her charm and beauty. Then he began to think of Jess,
+and of what a strange contrast the two were.
+
+"Where is your sister?" he asked presently.
+
+"Jess? Oh, I think that she has gone to the Lion Kloof, reading or
+sketching, I don't know which. You see in this establishment I represent
+labour and Jess represents intellect," and she nodded her head prettily
+at him, and added, "There is a mistake somewhere, she got all the
+brains."
+
+"Ah," said John quietly, and looking up at her, "I don't think that you
+are entitled to complain of the way in which Nature has treated you."
+
+She blushed a little, more at the tone of his voice than the words, and
+went on hastily, "Jess is the dearest, best, and cleverest woman in the
+whole world--there. I believe that she has only one fault, and it is
+that she thinks too much about me. Uncle said that he had told you how
+we came here first when I was eight years old. Well, I remember that
+when we lost our way on the veldt that night, and it rained so and was
+so cold, Jess took off her own shawl and wrapped it round me over my
+own. Well, it has been just like that with her always. I am always to
+have the shawl--everything is to give way to me. But there, that is Jess
+all over; she is very cold, cold as a stone I sometimes think, but when
+she does care for anybody it is enough to frighten one. I don't know a
+great number of women, but somehow I do not think that there can be many
+in the world like Jess. She is too good for this place; she ought to go
+away to England and write books and become a famous woman, only----"
+she added reflectively, "I am afraid that Jess's books would all be sad
+ones."
+
+Just then Bessie stopped talking and suddenly changed colour, the bunch
+of lank wet feathers she held in her hand dropping from it with a little
+splash back into the bath. Following her glance, John looked down the
+avenue of blue-gum trees and perceived a big man with a broad hat and
+mounted on a splendid black horse, cantering leisurely towards the
+house.
+
+"Who is that, Miss Croft?" he asked.
+
+"It is a man I don't like," she said with a little stamp of her foot.
+"His name is Frank Muller, and he is half a Boer and half an Englishman.
+He is very rich, and very clever, and owns all the land round this
+place, so uncle has to be civil to him, though he does not like him
+either. I wonder what he wants now."
+
+On came the horse, and John thought that its rider was going to pass
+without seeing them, when suddenly the movement of Bessie's dress
+between the _naatche_ trees caught his eye, and he pulled up and looked
+round. He was a large and exceedingly handsome man, apparently about
+forty years old, with clear-cut features, cold, light-blue eyes, and a
+remarkable golden beard that hung down over his chest. For a Boer he
+was rather smartly dressed in English-made tweed clothes, and tall
+riding-boots.
+
+"Ah, Miss Bessie," he called out in English, "there you are, with your
+pretty arms all bare. I'm in luck to be just in time to see them. Shall
+I come and help you to wash the feathers? Only say the word, now----"
+
+Just then he caught sight of John Niel, checked himself, and added:
+
+"I have come to look for a black ox, branded with a heart and a 'W'
+inside of the heart. Do you know if your uncle has seen it on the place
+anywhere?"
+
+"No, _Meinheer_ Muller," replied Bessie, coldly, "but he is down there,"
+pointing at a kraal on the plain some half-mile away, "if you want to go
+and ask about it."
+
+"_Mr._ Muller," said he, by way of correction, and with a curious
+contraction of the brow. "'_Meinheer_' is very well for the Boers, but
+we are all Englishmen now. Well, the ox can wait. With your permission,
+I'll stop here till _Oom_ Croft (Uncle Croft) comes back," and, without
+further ado, he jumped off his horse and, slipping the reins over its
+head as an indication to it to stand still, advanced towards Bessie with
+an outstretched hand. As he came the young lady plunged both her arms
+up to the elbow in the bath, and it struck John, who was observing the
+scene closely, that she did this in order to avoid the necessity of
+shaking hands with her stalwart visitor.
+
+"Sorry my hands are wet," she said, giving him a cold little nod. "Let
+me introduce you, Mr. (with emphasis) Frank Muller--Captain Niel--who
+has come to help my uncle with the place."
+
+John stretched out his hand and Muller shook it.
+
+"Captain," he said interrogatively--"a ship captain, I suppose?"
+
+"No," said John, "a Captain of the English Army."
+
+"Oh, a _rooibaatje_ (red jacket). Well, I don't wonder at your taking to
+farming after the Zulu war."
+
+"I don't quite understand you," said John, rather coldly.
+
+"Oh, no offence, Captain, no offence. I only meant that you
+_rooibaatjes_ did not come very well out of that war. I was there with
+Piet Uys, and it was a sight, I can tell you. A Zulu had only to show
+himself at night and one would see your regiments _skreck_ (stampede)
+like a span of oxen when they wind a lion. And then they'd fire--ah,
+they did fire--anyhow, anywhere, but mostly at the clouds, there was no
+stopping them; and so, you see, I thought that you would like to turn
+your sword into a ploughshare, as the Bible says--but no offence, I'm
+sure--no offence."
+
+All this while John Niel, being English to his backbone, and cherishing
+the reputation of his profession almost as dearly as his own honour,
+was boiling with inward wrath, which was all the fiercer because he knew
+there was some truth in the Boer's insults. He had the sense, however,
+to keep his temper--outwardly, at any rate.
+
+"I was not in the Zulu war, Mr. Muller," he said, and just then old
+Silas Croft rode up, and the conversation dropped.
+
+Mr. Frank Muller stopped to dinner and far on into the afternoon, for
+his lost ox seemed to have entirely slipped his memory. There he sat
+close to the fair Bessie, smoking and drinking gin-water, and talking
+with great volubility in English sprinkled with Boer-Dutch terms that
+John Niel did not understand, and gazing at the young lady in a manner
+which John somehow found unpleasant. Of course it was no affair of his,
+and he had no interest in the matter, but for all that he thought this
+remarkable-looking Dutchman exceedingly disagreeable. At last, indeed,
+he could bear it no longer, and hobbled out for a little walk with Jess,
+who, in her abrupt way, offered to show him the garden.
+
+"You don't like that man?" she said to him, as they went slowly down the
+slope in front of the house.
+
+"No; do you?"
+
+"I think," replied Jess quietly, but with much emphasis, "that he is
+the most odious man I ever saw--and the most curious." Then she relapsed
+into silence, only broken now and again by an occasional remark about
+the flowers and trees.
+
+Half an hour afterwards, when they arrived again at the top of the
+slope, Mr. Muller was just riding off down the avenue of blue gums. By
+the verandah stood a Hottentot named Jantje, who had been holding the
+Dutchman's horse. He was a curious, wizened-up little fellow, dressed
+in rags, and with hair like the worn tags of a black woollen carpet.
+His age might have been anything between twenty-five and sixty; it was
+impossible to form any opinion on the point. Just now, however,
+his yellow monkey face was convulsed with an expression of intense
+malignity, and he was standing there in the sunshine cursing rapidly
+beneath his breath in Dutch, and shaking his fist after the form of the
+retreating Boer--a very epitome of impotent but overmastering passion.
+
+"What is he doing?" asked John.
+
+Jess laughed, and answered, "Jantje does not like Frank Muller any more
+than I do, but I don't know why. He will never tell me."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+BESSIE IS ASKED IN MARRIAGE
+
+In due course John Niel recovered from his sprained ankle and the other
+injuries inflicted on him by the infuriated cock ostrich (it is, by the
+way, a humiliating thing to be knocked out of time by a feathered fowl),
+and set to work to learn the routine of farm life. He did not find this
+a disagreeable task, especially when he had so fair an instructress as
+Bessie, who knew all about it, to show him the way in which he should
+go. Naturally of an energetic and hard-working temperament, he very soon
+fell more or less into the swing of the thing, and at the end of six
+weeks began to talk quite learnedly of cattle and ostriches and sweet
+and sour veldt. About once a week or so Bessie used to put him through
+a regular examination as to his progress; also she gave him lessons in
+Dutch and Zulu, both of which tongues she spoke to perfection; so
+it will be seen that John did not lack for pleasant and profitable
+employment. Also, as time went on he grew much attached to Silas Croft.
+The old gentleman, with his handsome, honest face, his large and varied
+stock of experience and his sturdy English character, made a great
+impression on his mind. He had never met a man quite like him before.
+Nor was this friendship unreciprocated, for his host took a wonderful
+fancy to John Niel.
+
+"You see, my dear," he explained to his niece Bessie, "he is quiet, and
+he doesn't know much about farming, but he's willing to learn, and such
+a gentleman. Now, where one has Kafirs to deal with, as on a place
+like this, you must have a _gentleman_. Your mean white will never get
+anything out of a Kafir; that's why the Boers kill them and flog them,
+because they can't get anything out of them without. But you see Captain
+Niel gets on well enough with the 'boys.' I think he'll do, my dear,
+I think he'll do," and Bessie quite agreed with him. And so it came to
+pass that after this six weeks' trial the bargain was struck finally,
+and John paid over his thousand pounds, becoming the owner of a third
+interest in Mooifontein.
+
+Now it is not possible, in a general way, for a man of John Niel's age
+to live in the same house with a young and lovely woman like Bessie
+Croft without running more or less risk of entanglement. Especially
+is this so when the two people have little or no outside society or
+distraction to divert their attention from each other. Not that there
+was, at any rate as yet, the slightest hint of affection between them.
+Only they liked one another very much, and found it pleasant to be a
+good deal together. In short, they were walking along that easy, winding
+road which leads to the mountain paths of love. It is a very broad road,
+like another road that runs elsewhere, and, also like this last, it has
+a wide gate. Sometimes, too, it leads to destruction. But for all that
+it is a most agreeable one to follow hand-in-hand, winding as it does
+through the pleasant meadows of companionship. The view is rather
+limited, it is true, and homelike--full of familiar things. There stand
+the kine, knee-deep in grass; there runs the water; and there grows
+the corn. Also you can stop if you like. By-and-by it is different.
+By-and-by, when the travellers tread the heights of passion, precipices
+will yawn and torrents rush, lightnings will fall and storms will blind;
+and who can know that they shall attain at last to that far-off peak,
+crowned with the glory of a perfect peace which men call Happiness?
+There are those who say it never can be reached, and that the halo which
+rests upon its slopes is no earthly light, but rather, as it were, a
+promise and a beacon--a glow reflected whence we know not, and lying on
+this alien earth as the sun's light lies on the dead bosom of the moon.
+Some declare, again, that they have climbed its topmost pinnacle
+and tasted of the fresh breath of heaven which sweeps around its
+heights--ay, and heard the quiring of immortal harps and the swan-like
+sigh of angels' wings; and then behold! a mist has fallen upon them, and
+they have wandered in it, and when it cleared they were on the mountain
+paths once more, and the peak was far away. And a few there are who tell
+us that they live there always, listening to the voice of God; but
+these are old and worn with journeying--men and women who have outlived
+passions and ambitions and the fire heats of love, and who now, girt
+about with memories, stand face to face with the sphinx Eternity.
+
+But John Niel was no chicken, nor very likely to fall in love with the
+first pretty face he met. He had once, years ago, gone through that
+melancholy stage, and there, he thought, was an end of it. Moreover, if
+Bessie attracted him, so did Jess in a different way. Before he had
+been a week in the house he came to the conclusion that Jess was the
+strangest woman he had ever met, and in her own fashion one of the most
+attractive. Her very impassiveness added to her charm; for who is there
+in this world who is not eager to learn a secret? To him Jess was
+a riddle of which he did not know the key. That she was clever and
+well-informed he soon discovered from her rare remarks; that she could
+sing like an angel he also knew; but what was the mainspring of her
+mind--round what axis did it revolve--this was the puzzle. Clearly
+enough it was not like most women's, least of all like that of happy,
+healthy, plain-sailing Bessie. So curious did he become to fathom these
+mysteries that he took every opportunity to associate with her, and,
+when he had time, would even go out with her on her sketching, or rather
+flower-painting, expeditions. On these occasions she would sometimes
+begin to talk, but it was always about books, or England or some
+intellectual question. She never spoke of herself.
+
+Yet it soon became evident to John that she liked his society, and
+missed him when he did not come. It never occurred to him what a boon
+it was to a girl of considerable intellectual attainments, and still
+greater intellectual capacities and aspirations, to be thrown for the
+first time into the society of a cultivated and intelligent gentleman.
+John Niel was no empty-headed, one-sided individual. He had both read
+and thought, and even written a little, and in him Jess found a mind
+which, though of an inferior stamp, was more or less kindred to her own.
+Although he did not understand her she understood him, and at last, had
+he but known it, there rose a far-off dawning light upon the twilight
+of her heart that thrilled and changed it as the first faint rays of
+morning thrill and change the darkness of the night. What if she should
+learn to love this man, and teach him to love her? To most women such a
+thought more or less involves the idea of marriage, and that change of
+status which for the most part they consider desirable. But Jess did not
+think much of that: what she did think of was the blessed possibility of
+being able to lay down her life, as it were, in the life of another--of
+at last finding somebody who understood her and whom she could
+understand, who would cut the shackles that bound down the wings of
+her genius, so that she could rise and bear him with her as, in Bulwer
+Lytton's beautiful story, Zoe would have borne her lover. Here at length
+was a man who _understood_, who was something more than an animal, and
+who possessed the god-like gift of brains, the gift that had been a
+curse rather than a blessing to her, lifting her above the level of
+her sex and shutting her off as by iron doors from the comprehension of
+those around her. Ah! if only this perfect love of which she had read
+so much would come to him and her, life might perhaps grow worth the
+living.
+
+It is a curious thing, but in such matters most men never learn wisdom
+from experience. A man of John Niel's age might have guessed that it
+is dangerous work playing with explosives, and that the quietest, most
+harmless-looking substances are sometimes the most explosive. He might
+have known that to set to work to cultivate the society of a woman with
+such tell-tale eyes as Jess's was to run the risk of catching the fire
+from them himself, to say nothing of setting her alight: he might have
+known that to bring all the weight of his cultivated mind to bear on her
+mind, to take the deepest interest in her studies, to implore her to let
+him see the poetry Bessie told him she wrote, but which she would
+show to no living soul, and to evince the most evident delight in her
+singing, were one and all hazardous things to do. Yet he did them and
+thought no harm.
+
+As for Bessie, she was delighted that her sister should have found
+anybody to whom she cared to talk or who could understand her. It never
+occurred to her that Jess might fall in love. Jess was the last person
+to fall in love. Nor did she calculate what the results might be to
+John. As yet, at any rate, she had no interest in Captain Niel--of
+course not.
+
+And so things went on pleasantly enough to all concerned in this drama
+till one fine day when the storm-clouds began to gather. John had been
+about the farm as usual till dinner time, after which he took his gun
+and told Jantje to saddle up his shooting pony. He was standing on the
+verandah, waiting for the pony to appear, and by him was Bessie, looking
+particularly attractive in a white dress, when suddenly he caught sight
+of Frank Muller's great black horse, and upon it that gentleman himself,
+cantering up the avenue of blue gums.
+
+"Hullo, Miss Bessie," he said, "here comes your friend."
+
+"Bother!" said Bessie, stamping her foot; and then, with a quick look,
+"Why do you call him my friend?"
+
+"I imagine that he considers himself so, to judge from the number of
+times a week he comes to see you," John answered with a shrug. "At any
+rate, he isn't mine, so I am off shooting. Good-bye. I hope that you
+will enjoy yourself."
+
+"You are not kind," she said in a low voice, turning her back upon him.
+
+In another moment he was gone, and Frank Muller had arrived.
+
+"How do you do, Miss Bessie?" he said, jumping from his horse with the
+rapidity of a man who had been accustomed to rough riding all his life.
+"Where is the _rooibaatje_ off to?"
+
+"Captain Niel is going out shooting," she said coldly.
+
+"So much the better for you and me, Miss Bessie. We can have a pleasant
+talk. Where is that black monkey Jantje? Here, Jantje, take my horse,
+you ugly devil, and mind you look after him, or I'll cut the liver out
+of you!"
+
+Jantje took the horse, with a forced grin of appreciation at the joke,
+and led him off to the stable.
+
+"I don't think that Jantje likes you, _Meinheer_ Muller," said Bessie,
+spitefully, "and I do not wonder at it if you talk to him like that. He
+told me the other day that he had known you for twenty years," and she
+looked at him inquiringly.
+
+This casual remark produced a strange effect on her visitor, who turned
+colour beneath his tanned skin.
+
+"He lies, the black hound," he said, "and I'll put a bullet through him
+if he says it again! What should I know about him, or he about me? Can
+I keep count of every miserable man-monkey I meet?" and he muttered a
+string of Dutch oaths into his long beard.
+
+"Really, _Meinheer!_" said Bessie.
+
+"Why do you always call me '_Meinheer_'?" he asked, turning so fiercely
+on her that she started back a step. "I tell you I am not a Boer. I
+am an Englishman. My mother was English; and besides, thanks to Lord
+Carnarvon, we are all English now."
+
+"I don't see why you should mind being thought a Boer," she said coolly:
+"there are some very good people among the Boers, and besides, you used
+to be a great 'patriot.'"
+
+"Used to be--yes; and so the trees used to bend to the north when the
+wind blew that way, but now they bend to the south, for the wind
+has turned. By-and-by it may set to the north again--that is another
+matter--then we shall see."
+
+Bessie made no answer beyond pursing up her pretty mouth and slowly
+picking a leaf from the vine that trailed overhead.
+
+The big Dutchman took off his hat and stroked his beard perplexedly.
+Evidently he was meditating something that he was afraid to say. Twice
+he fixed his cold eyes on Bessie's fair face, and twice looked down
+again. The second time she took alarm.
+
+"Excuse me one minute," she said, and made as though to enter the house.
+
+"_Wacht een beeche_" (wait a bit), he ejaculated, breaking into Dutch
+in his agitation, and even catching hold of her white dress with his big
+hand.
+
+Drawing the dress from him with a quick twist of her lithe form, she
+turned and faced him.
+
+"I beg your pardon," she said, in a tone that could not be called
+encouraging: "you were going to say something."
+
+"Yes--ah, that is--I was going to say----" and he paused.
+
+Bessie stood with a polite look of expectation on her face, and waited.
+
+"I was going to say--that, in short, that I want to marry you!"
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Bessie with a start.
+
+"Listen," he went on hoarsely, his words gathering force as he spoke, as
+is the way even with uncultured people when they speak from the heart.
+"Listen! I love you, Bessie; I have loved you for three years. Every
+time I have seen you I have loved you more. Don't say me nay--you don't
+know how I do love you. I dream of you every night; sometimes I dream
+that I hear your dress rustling, then you come and kiss me, and it is
+like being in heaven."
+
+Here Bessie made a gesture of disgust.
+
+"There, I have offended you, but don't be angry with me. I am very rich,
+Bessie; there is the place here, and then I have four farms in Lydenburg
+and ten thousand _morgen_ up in Waterberg, and a thousand head of
+cattle, besides sheep and horses and money in the bank. You shall have
+everything your own way," he went on, seeing that the inventory of his
+goods did not appear to impress her--"everything--the house shall be
+English fashion; I will build a new _sit-kammer_ (sitting-room) and it
+shall be furnished from Natal. There, I love you, I say. You won't say
+no, will you?" and he caught her by the hand.
+
+"I am very much obliged to you, Mr. Muller," answered Bessie, snatching
+away her hand, "but--in short, I cannot marry you. No, it is no use, I
+cannot indeed. There, please say no more--here comes my uncle. Forget
+all about it, Mr. Muller."
+
+Her suitor looked up; there was old Silas Croft sure enough, but he was
+some way off, and walking slowly.
+
+"Do you mean it?" he said beneath his breath.
+
+"Yes, yes, of course I mean it. Why do you force me to repeat it?"
+
+"It is that damned _rooibaatje_," he broke out. "You used not to be like
+this before. Curse him, the white-livered Englishman! I will be even
+with him yet; and I tell you what it is, Bessie: you shall marry me,
+whether you like or no. Look here, do you think I am the sort of man
+to play with? You go to Wakkerstroom and ask what sort of a man Frank
+Muller is. See! I want you--I must have you. I could not live if I
+thought that I should never get you for myself. And I tell you I will
+do it. I don't care of it costs me my life, and your _rooibaatje's_ too.
+I'll do it if I have to stir up a revolt against the Government. There,
+I swear it by God or by the Devil, it's all one to me!" And growing
+inarticulate with passion, he stood before her clinching and unclinching
+his great hand, and his lips trembling.
+
+Bessie was very frightened; but she was a brave woman, and rose to the
+emergency.
+
+"If you go on talking like that," she said, "I shall call my uncle. I
+tell you that I will not marry you, Frank Muller, and that nothing
+shall ever make me marry you. I am very sorry for you, but I have not
+encouraged you, and I will never marry you--never!"
+
+He stood for half a minute or so looking at her, and then burst into a
+savage laugh.
+
+"I think that some day or other I shall find a way to make you," Muller
+said, and turning, he went without another word.
+
+A couple of minutes later Bessie heard the sound of a horse galloping,
+and looking up she saw her wooer's powerful form vanishing down the
+vista of blue gums. Also she heard somebody crying out as though in pain
+at the back of the house, and, more to relieve her mind than for any
+other reason, she went to see what it was. By the stable door she found
+the Hottentot Jantje, shrieking, cursing and twisting round and round,
+his hand pressed to his side, from which the blood was running.
+
+"What is it?" she asked.
+
+"Baas Frank!" he answered--"Baas Frank hit me with his whip!"
+
+"The brute!" said Bessie, the tears starting to her eyes with anger.
+
+"Never mind, missie, never mind," gasped the Hottentot, his ugly face
+growing livid with fury, "it is only one more to me. I cut it on this
+stick"--and he held up a long thick stick he carried, on which were
+several notches, including three deep ones at the top just below the
+knob. "Let him look out sharp--let him search the grass--let him creep
+round the bush--let him watch as he will, one day he will find Jantje,
+and Jantje will find him!"
+
+"Why did Frank Muller gallop away like that?" asked her uncle of Bessie
+when she got back to the verandah.
+
+"We had some words," she answered shortly, not seeing the use of
+explaining matters to the old man.
+
+"Ah, indeed, indeed. Well, be careful, my love. It's ill to quarrel with
+a man like Frank Muller. I've known him for many years, and he has a
+black heart when he is crossed. You see, my love, you can deal with a
+Boer and you can deal with an Englishman, but cross-bred dogs are hard
+to handle. Take my advice, and make it up with Frank Muller."
+
+All of which sage advice did not tend to raise Bessie's spirits, that
+were already sufficiently depressed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+DREAMS ARE FOOLISHNESS
+
+When, at the approach of Frank Muller, John Niel left Bessie on the
+verandah, he had taken his gun, and, having whistled to the pointer dog
+Pontac, he mounted his shooting pony and started in quest of partridges.
+On the warm slopes of the hills round Wakkerstroom a large species of
+partridge is very abundant, particularly in the patches of red grass
+with which the slopes are sometimes clothed. It is a merry sound to hear
+these birds calling from all directions just after daybreak, and one to
+make the heart of every true sportsman rejoice exceedingly. On leaving
+the house John proceeded up the side of the hill behind it--his pony
+picking its way carefully between the stones, and the dog Pontac ranging
+about two or three hundred yards off, for in this sort of country it
+is necessary to have a dog with a wide range. Presently seeing him
+stop under a mimosa thorn and suddenly stiffen out as if he had been
+petrified, John made the best of his way towards him. Pontac stood still
+for a few seconds, and then slowly and deliberately veered his head
+round as though it worked on a hinge to see if his master was coming.
+John knew his ways. Three times would that remarkable old dog look round
+thus, and if the gun had not then arrived he would to a certainty run
+in and flush the birds. This was a rule that he never broke, for his
+patience had a fixed limit. On this occasion, however, John arrived
+before it was reached, and, jumping off his pony, cocked his gun and
+marched slowly up, full of happy expectation. On drew the dog, his eye
+cold and fixed, saliva dropping from his mouth, and his head, on
+which was frozen an extraordinary expression of instinctive ferocity,
+outstretched to its utmost limit.
+
+Pontac was under the mimosa thorn now and up to his belly in the warm
+red grass. Where could the birds be? _Whirr!_ and a great feathered
+shell seemed to have burst at his very feet. What a covey! twelve brace
+if there was a bird, and they had all been lying beak to beak in a space
+no bigger than a cart wheel. Up went John's gun and off too, a little
+sooner than it should have done.
+
+"Missed him clean! Now then for the left barrel." Same result. We will
+draw a veil over the profanity that ensued. A minute later and it was
+all over, and John and Pontac were regarding each other with mutual
+contempt and disgust.
+
+"It was all you, you brute," said John to Pontac. "I thought you were
+going to run in, and you hurried me."
+
+"Ugh!" said Pontac to John, or at least he looked it. "Ugh! you
+disgusting bad shot. What is the good of pointing for you? It's enough
+to make a dog sick."
+
+The covey--or rather the collection of old birds, for this kind of
+partridge sometimes "packs" just before the breeding season--had
+scattered all about the place. It was not long before Pontac found some
+of them, and this time John got one bird--a beautiful great partridge he
+was too, with yellow legs--and missed another. Again Pontac pointed, and
+a brace rose. Bang! down goes one; bang with the other barrel. Caught
+him, by Jove, just as he topped the stone. Hullo! Pontac is still on the
+point. Slip in two more cartridges. Oh, a leash this time! bang! bang!
+and down come a brace of them--two brace of partridges without moving a
+yard.
+
+Life has joys for all men, but, I verily believe, it has no joy to
+compare to that of the moderate shot and earnest sportsman when he
+has just killed half a dozen driven partridges without a miss, or ten
+rocketing pheasants with eleven cartridges, or, better still, a couple
+of woodcock right and left. Sweet to the politician are the cheers
+that announce the triumph of his cause and of himself; sweet to the
+desponding writer is the unexpected public recognition by reviewers of
+talents with which previously nobody had been much impressed; sweet to
+all men are the light of women's eyes and the touch of women's lips. But
+though he have experienced all these things, to the true sportsman and
+the _moderate shot_, sweeter far is it to see the arched wings of the
+driven bird bent like Cupid's bow come flashing fast towards him, to
+feel the touch of the stock as it fits itself against his shoulder,
+and the kindly give of the trigger, and then, oh thrilling sight! to
+perceive the wonderful and yet awful change from life to death, the puff
+of feathers, and the hurtling passage of the dull mass borne onward by
+its own force to fall twenty yards from where the pellets struck it.
+Next session the politician will be hooted down, next year perhaps
+the reviewers will cut the happy writer to ribbons and decorate their
+journals with his fragments, next week you will have wearied of those
+dear smiles, or, more likely still, they will be bestowed elsewhere.
+Vanity of vanities, my son, each and all of them! But if you are a true
+sportsman (yes, even though you be but a moderate shot), it will always
+be a glorious thing to go out shooting, and when you chance to shoot
+well earth holds no such joy as that which will glow in your honest
+breast (for all sportsmen are honest), and it remains to be proved if
+heaven does either. It is a grand sport, though the pity of it is that
+it should be a cruel one.
+
+Such was the paean that John sang in his heart as he contemplated those
+fine partridges before lovingly transferring them to his bag. But his
+luck to-day was not destined to stop at partridges, for hardly had he
+ridden over the edge of the boulder-strewn side, and on to the flat
+table-top of the great hill which covered some five hundred acres of
+land, before he perceived, emerging from the shelter of a tuft of grass
+about a hundred and seventy yards away, nothing less than the tall neck
+and whiskered head of a large _pauw_ or bustard.
+
+Now it is quite useless to try and ride straight up to a bustard, and
+this he knew. The only thing to do is to excite his curiosity and fix
+his attention by moving round and round him in an ever-narrowing circle.
+Putting his pony to a canter, John proceeded to do this with a heart
+beating with excitement. Round and round he went; the _pauw_ had
+vanished now, he was squatting in the tuft of grass. The last circle
+brought him to within seventy yards, and he did not dare to ride any
+nearer, so jumping off his pony he ran in towards the bird as hard as he
+could go. When he had covered ten paces the _pauw_ was rising, but they
+are heavy birds, and he was within forty yards before it was fairly on
+the wing. Then he pulled up and fired both barrels of No. 4 into it.
+Down it came, and, incautious man, he rushed forward in triumph without
+reloading his gun. Already was his hand outstretched to seize the prize,
+when, behold! the great wings spread themselves out and the bird was
+flying away. John stood dancing upon the veldt, but observing that it
+settled within a couple of hundred yards, he ran back, mounted his pony,
+and pursued it. As he drew near it rose again, and flew this time
+a hundred yards only, and so it went on till at last he got within
+gun-shot of the king of birds and killed it.
+
+By this time he was across the mountain-top, and on the brink of the
+most remarkable chasm he had ever seen. The place was known as Lion's
+Kloof, or Leeuwen Kloof in Dutch, because three lions had once been
+penned up by a party of Boers and shot there. This chasm or gorge was
+between a quarter and half a mile long, about six hundred feet in width,
+and a hundred and fifty to a hundred and eighty feet deep. Evidently it
+owed its origin to the action of running water, for at its head, just to
+the right of where John Niel stood, a little stream welling from hidden
+springs in the flat mountain-top trickled from stratum to stratum,
+forming a series of crystal pools and tiny waterfalls, till at last it
+reached the bottom of the mighty gorge, and pursued its way through
+it to the plains beyond, half-hidden by the umbrella-topped mimosa and
+other thorns that were scattered about. Without doubt this little stream
+was the parent of the ravine it trickled down and through, but, wondered
+John Niel, how many centuries of patient, never-ceasing flow must
+have been necessary to the vast result before him? First centuries
+of saturation of the soil piled on and between the bed rocks that lay
+beneath it and jutted up through it, then centuries of floods caused
+by rain and perhaps by melting snows, to carry away the loosened mould;
+then centuries upon centuries more of flowing and of rainfall to wash
+the debris clean and complete the colossal work.
+
+I say the rocks that jutted up through the soil, for the kloof was not
+clean cut. All along its sides, and here and there in its arena, stood
+mighty columns or fingers of rock, not solid indeed, but formed by huge
+boulders piled mason fashion one upon another, as though the Titans of
+some dead age had employed themselves in building them up, overcoming
+their tendency to fall by the mere crushing weight above, that kept them
+steady even when the wild breath of the storms came howling down the
+gorge and tried its strength against them. About a hundred paces from
+the near end of the chasm, some ninety or more feet in height, rose
+the most remarkable of these giant pillars, to which the remains at
+Stonehenge are but as toys. It was formed of seven huge boulders, the
+largest, that at the bottom, about the size of a moderate cottage,
+and the smallest, that at the top, perhaps some eight or ten feet in
+diameter. These boulders were rounded like a cricket-ball--evidently
+through the action of water--and yet the hand of Nature had contrived
+to balance them, each one smaller than that beneath, the one upon
+the other, and to keep them so. But this was not always the case. For
+instance, a very similar mass which once stood on the near side of the
+perfect pillar had fallen, all except its two foundation stones, and
+the rocks that formed it lay scattered about like monstrous petrified
+cannon-balls. One of these had split in two, and seated on it, looking
+very small and far off at the bottom of that vast gulf, John discovered
+Jess Croft, apparently engaged in sketching.
+
+He dismounted from his shooting pony, and looking about him perceived
+that it was possible to descend by following the course of the stream
+and clambering down the natural steps it had cut in its rocky bed.
+Throwing the reins over the pony's head, and leaving him with the dog
+Pontac to stand and stare about him as South African shooting ponies
+are accustomed to do, he laid down his gun and game and proceeded to
+descend, pausing every now and again to admire the wild beauty of the
+scene and examine the hundred varieties of moss and ferns, the last
+mostly of the maiden-hair (_Capillus Veneris_) genus, that clothed every
+cranny and every rock where they could find foothold and win refreshment
+from the water or the spray of the cascades. As he drew near the bottom
+of the gorge he saw that on the borders of the stream, wherever the soil
+was moist, grew thousands upon thousands of white arums, "pig lilies" as
+they call them in Africa, which were now in full bloom. He had noticed
+these lilies from above, but thence, owing to the distance, they seemed
+so small that he took them for everlastings or anemones. John could not
+see Jess now, for she was hidden by a bush that grows on the banks of
+the streams in South Africa in low-lying land, and which at certain
+seasons of the year is completely covered with masses of the most
+gorgeous scarlet bloom. His footsteps fell very softly on the moss
+and flowers, and when he passed round the glorious-looking bush it was
+evident that she had not heard him, for she was asleep. Her hat was
+off, but the bush shaded her, and her head had fallen forward over
+her sketching block and rested upon her hand. A ray of light that came
+through the bush played over her curling brown hair, and threw warm
+shadows on her white face and the whiter wrist and hand by which it was
+supported.
+
+John stood there and looked at her, and the old curiosity took
+possession of him to understand this feminine enigma. Many a man before
+him has been the victim of a like desire, and lived to regret that he
+did not leave it ungratified. It is not well to try to lift the curtain
+of the unseen, it is not well to call to heaven to show its glory, or
+to hell to give us touch and knowledge of its yawning fires. Knowledge
+comes soon enough; many of us will say that knowledge has come too soon
+and left us desolate. There is no bitterness like the bitterness of
+wisdom: so cried the great Koheleth, and so hath cried many a son of man
+following blindly on his path. Let us be thankful for the dark places
+of the earth--places where we may find rest and shadow, and the heavy
+sweetness of the night. Seek not after mysteries, O son of man, be
+content with the practical and the proved and the broad light of day;
+peep not, mutter not the words of awakening. Understand her who would be
+understood and is comprehensible to those that run, and for the others
+let them be, lest your fate should be as the fate of Eve, and as the
+fate of Lucifer, Star of the morning. For here and there beats a human
+heart from which it is not wise to draw the veil--a heart in which many
+things are dim as half-remembered dreams in the brain of the sleeper.
+Draw not the veil, whisper not the word of life in the silence where all
+things sleep, lest in that kindling breath of love and pain pale shapes
+arise, take form, and fright you!
+
+A minute or so might have passed when suddenly, and with a little start,
+Jess opened her great eyes, wherein the shadow of darkness lay, and
+gazed at him.
+
+"Oh!" she said with a little tremor, "is it you or is it my dream?"
+
+"Don't be afraid," he answered cheerfully, "it is I--in the flesh."
+
+She covered her face with her hand for a moment, then withdrew it, and
+he noticed that her eyes had changed curiously in that moment. They were
+still large and beautiful as they always were, but there was a change.
+Just now they had seemed as though her soul were looking through them.
+Doubtless it was because the pupils had been enlarged by sleep.
+
+"Your dream! What dream?" he asked, laughing.
+
+"Never mind," she answered in a quiet way that excited his curiosity
+more than ever. "It was about this Kloof--and you--but 'dreams are
+foolishness.'"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE STORM BREAKS
+
+"Do you know, you are a very odd person, Miss Jess," John said
+presently, with a little laugh. "I don't think you can have a happy
+mind."
+
+She looked up. "A happy mind?" she said. "Who _can_ have a happy mind?
+Nobody who feels. Supposing," she went on after a pause--"supposing one
+puts oneself and one's own little interests and joys and sorrows quite
+away, how is it possible to be happy, when one feels the breath of human
+misery beating on one's face, and sees the tide of sorrow and suffering
+creeping up to one's feet? You may be on a rock yourself and out of the
+path of it, till the spring floods or the hurricane wave come to sweep
+you away, or you may be afloat upon it: whichever it is, it is quite
+impossible, if you have any heart, to be indifferent."
+
+"Then only the indifferent are happy?"
+
+"Yes, the indifferent and the selfish; but, after all, it is the same
+thing: indifference is the perfection of selfishness."
+
+"I am afraid that there must be lots of selfishness in the world, for
+certainly there is plenty of happiness, all evil things notwithstanding.
+I should have said that happiness springs from goodness and a sound
+digestion."
+
+Jess shook her head as she answered, "I may be wrong, but I don't
+see how anybody who feels can be quite happy in a world of sickness,
+suffering, slaughter, and death. I saw a Kafir woman die yesterday, and
+her children crying over her. She was a poor creature and had a rough
+lot, but she loved her life, and her children loved her. Who can be
+happy and thank God for His creation when he has just seen such a thing?
+But there, Captain Niel, my ideas are very crude, and I dare say very
+wrong, and everybody has thought them before: at any rate, I am not
+going to inflict them on you. What is the use of it?" and she went
+on with a laugh: "what is the use of anything? The same old thoughts
+passing through the same human minds from year to year and century to
+century, just as the same clouds float across the same blue sky. The
+clouds are born in the sky, and the thoughts are born in the brain, and
+they both end in tears and re-arise in blind, bewildering mist, and this
+is the beginning and end of thoughts and clouds. They arise out of the
+blue; they overshadow and break into storms and tears, then they are
+drawn up into the blue again, and the story begins afresh."
+
+"So you don't think that one can be happy in this world?" he asked.
+
+"I did not say that--I never said that. I do think that happiness is
+possible. It is possible if one can love somebody so hard that one can
+quite forget oneself and everything else except that person, and it
+is possible if one can sacrifice oneself for others. There is no true
+happiness outside of love and self-sacrifice, or rather outside of love,
+for it includes the other. This is gold, and all the rest is gilt."
+
+"How do you know that?" he asked quickly. "You have never been in love."
+
+"No," she answered, "I have never been in love like that, but all the
+happiness I have had in my life has come to me from loving. I believe
+that love is the secret of the world: it is like the philosopher's stone
+they used to look for, and almost as hard to find, but if you find it
+it turns everything to gold. Perhaps," she went on with a little laugh,
+"when the angels departed from the earth they left us love behind, that
+by it and through it we may climb up to them again. It is the one thing
+that lifts us above the brutes. Without love man is a brute, and nothing
+but a brute; with love he draws near to God. When everything else falls
+away the love will endure because it cannot die while there is any life,
+if it is true love, for it is immortal. Only it must be true--you see it
+must be true."
+
+He had penetrated her reserve now; the ice of her manner broke up
+beneath the warmth of her words, and her face, usually impassive, had
+caught life and light from the eyes above, and acquired a certain beauty
+of its own. John looked at it, and understood something of the untaught
+and ill-regulated intensity and depth of the nature of this curious
+girl. He met her eyes and they moved him strangely, though he was not
+an emotional man, and was too old to experience spasmodic thrills at the
+chance glances of a pretty woman. He moved towards her, looking at her
+curiously.
+
+"It would be worth living to be loved like that," he said, more to
+himself than to her.
+
+Jess did not answer, but she let her eyes rest on his. Indeed, she did
+more, for she put her soul into them and gazed and gazed till John Niel
+felt as though he were mesmerised. And as she gazed there rose up in her
+breast a knowledge that if she willed it she could gain this man's heart
+and hold it against all the world, for her nature was stronger than his
+nature, and her mind, untrained though it be, encompassed his mind and
+could pass over it and beat it down as the wind beats down the tossing
+seas. All this she learnt in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye: she
+could not tell how she knew it, but she did know it as surely as she
+knew that the blue sky stretched overhead, and, what is more--for the
+moment, at any rate--he knew it too. This strange strong certainty came
+on her as a shock and a revelation, like the tidings of some great joy
+or grief, and for a moment left her heart empty of all things else.
+
+Jess dropped her eyes suddenly.
+
+"I think," she said quietly, "that we have been talking a great deal of
+nonsense, and that I want to finish my sketch."
+
+He rose and left her, for he was wanted at home, saying as he went that
+he thought there was a storm coming up; the air was so quiet, and the
+wind had fallen as it does before an African tempest. Presently on
+looking round she saw him slowly climbing the precipitous ascent to the
+table-land above the gulf.
+
+It was one of those glorious afternoons that sometimes come in the
+African spring, although it was so intensely still. Everywhere appeared
+the proofs of evidences of life. The winter was over, and now, from
+the sadness and sterility of its withered age, sprang youth and lovely
+summer clad in sunshine, bediamonded with dew, and fragrant with the
+breath of flowers. Jess lay back and looked up into the infinite depths
+above. How blue they were, and how measureless! She could not see the
+angry clouds that lay like visible omens on the horizon. Look, there,
+miles above her, was one tiny circling speck. It was a vulture, watching
+her from his airy heights and descending a little to see if she were
+dead, or only sleeping.
+
+Involuntarily she shuddered. The bird of death reminded her of Death
+himself also hanging high up yonder in the blue and waiting his
+opportunity to fall upon the sleeper. Then her eyes fell upon a bough of
+the glorious flowering bush under which she rested. It was not more than
+four feet above her head, but she lay so still and motionless that a
+jewelled honeysucker came and hovered over the flowers, darting from one
+to another like a many-coloured flash. Thence her glance travelled to
+the great column of boulders that towered above her, and that seemed to
+say, "I am very old. I have seen many springs and many winters, and
+have looked down on many sleeping maids, and where are they now?
+All dead--all dead," and an old baboon in the rocks with startling
+suddenness barked out "_all dead_" in answer.
+
+Around her were the blooming lilies and the lustiness of springing life;
+the heavy air was sweet with the odour of ferns and the mimosa flowers.
+The running water splashed and musically fell; the sunlight shot in
+golden bars athwart the shade, like the memory of happy days in the
+grey vista of a life; away in the cliffs yonder, the rock-doves were
+preparing to nest by hundreds, and waking the silence with their cooing
+and the flutter of their wings. Even the grim old eagle perched on
+the pinnacle of the peak was pruning himself, contentedly happy in
+the knowledge that his mate had laid an egg in that dark corner of the
+cliff. All things rejoiced and cried aloud that summer was at hand and
+that it was time to bloom and love and nest. Soon it would be winter
+again, when things died, and next summer other things would live under
+the sun, and these perchance would be forgotten. That was what they
+seemed to say.
+
+And as Jess lay and heard, her youthful blood, drawn by Nature's
+magnetic force, as the moon draws the tides, rose in her veins like the
+sap in the budding trees, and stirred her virginal serenity. All the
+bodily natural part of her caught the tones of Nature's happy voice that
+bade her break her bonds, live and love, and be a woman. And lo! the
+spirit within her answered to it, flinging wide her bosom's doors, and
+of a sudden, as it were, something quickened and lived in her heart that
+was of her and yet had its own life--a life apart; something that sprang
+from her and another, which would always be with her now and could
+never die. She rose pale and trembling, as a woman trembles at the first
+stirring of the child that she shall bear, and clung to the flowery
+bough of the beautiful bush above, then sank down again, feeling that
+the spirit of her girlhood had departed from her, and another angel had
+entered there; knowing that she loved with heart and soul and body, and
+was a very woman.
+
+She had called to Love as the wretched call to Death, and Love had come
+in his strength and possessed her utterly; and now for a little while
+she was afraid to pass into the shadow of his wings, as the wretched
+who call to Death fear him when they feel his icy fingers. But the fear
+passed, and the great joy and the new consciousness of power and of
+identity that the inspiration of a true passion gives to some strong
+deep natures remained, and after a while Jess prepared to make her way
+home across the mountain-top, feeling as though she were another being.
+Still she did not go, but lay there with closed eyes and drank of this
+new intoxicating wine. So absorbed was she that she did not notice
+that the doves had ceased to call, and that the eagle had fled away for
+shelter. She was not aware of the great and solemn hush which had taken
+the place of the merry voice of beast and bird and preceded the breaking
+of the gathered storm.
+
+At last as she rose to go Jess opened her dark eyes, which, for the most
+part, had been shut while this great change was passing over her, and
+with a natural impulse turned to look once more on the place where her
+happiness had found her, then sank down again with a little exclamation.
+Where was the light and the glory and all the happiness of the life that
+moved and grew around her? Gone, and in its place darkness and rising
+mist and deep and ominous shadows. While she lay and thought, the sun
+had sunk behind the hill and left the great gulf nearly dark, and, as is
+common in South Africa, the heavy storm-cloud had crept across the blue
+sky and sealed the light from above. A drear wind came moaning up the
+gorge from the plains beyond; the heavy rain-drops began to fall one
+by one; the lightning flickered fitfully in the belly of the advancing
+cloud. The storm that John had feared was upon her.
+
+Then came a dreadful hush. Jess had recovered herself by now, and,
+knowing what to expect, she snatched up her sketching-block and hurried
+into the shelter of a little cave hollowed by water in the side of the
+cliff. And now with a rush of ice-cold air the tempest burst. Down came
+the rain in a sheet; then flash upon flash gleaming fiercely through the
+vapour-laden air; and roar upon roar echoing along the rocky cavities in
+volumes of fearful sound. Then another pause and space of utter silence,
+followed by a blaze of light that dazed and blinded her, and suddenly
+one of the piled-up columns to her left swayed to and fro like a poplar
+in a breeze, to fall headlong with a crash which almost mastered the
+awful crackling of the thunder overhead and the shrieking of the baboons
+scared from their crannies in the cliff. Down it rushed beneath the
+stroke of that fiery sword, the brave old pillar that had lasted out so
+many centuries, sending clouds of dust and fragments high up into the
+blinding rain, and carrying awe and wonder to the heart of the girl who
+watched its fall. Away rolled the storm as quickly as it had come, with
+a sound like the passing of the artillery of an embattled host; then a
+grey rain set in, blotting the outlines of everything, like an endless
+absorbing grief, dulling the edge and temper of a life. Through it Jess,
+scared and wet to the skin, managed to climb up the natural steps, now
+made almost impassable by the prevailing gloom and the rush of water
+from the table-top of the mountain, and on across the sodden plain, down
+the rocky path on the farther side, past the little walled-in cemetery
+with the four red gums planted at its corners, in which a stranger who
+had died at Mooifontein lay buried, and so, just as the darkness of the
+wet night came down like a cloud, home at last. At the back-door stood
+her old uncle with a lantern.
+
+"Is that you, Jess?" he called out in his stentorian tones. "Lord! what
+a sight!" as she emerged, her sodden dress clinging to her slight form,
+her hands torn with clambering over the rocks, her curling hair which
+had broken loose hanging down her back and half covering her face.
+
+"Lord! what a sight!" he ejaculated again. "Why, Jess, where have you
+been? Captain Niel has gone out to look for you with the Kafirs."
+
+"I have been sketching in Leeuwen Kloof, and got caught in the storm.
+There, uncle, let me pass, I want to take these wet things off. It is
+a bitter night," and she ran to her room, leaving a long trail of water
+behind her as she passed. The old man entered the house, shut the door,
+and blew out the lantern.
+
+"Now, what is it she reminds me of?" he said aloud as he groped his way
+down the passage to the sitting-room. "Ah, I know, that night when she
+first came here out of the rain leading Bessie by the hand. What can the
+girl have been thinking of, not to see the thunder coming up? She ought
+to know the signs of the weather here by now. Dreaming, I suppose,
+dreaming. She's an odd woman, Jess, very." Perhaps he did not quite know
+how accurate his guess was, and how true the conclusion he drew from it.
+Certainly she had been dreaming, and she was an odd woman.
+
+Meanwhile Jess was rapidly changing her clothes and removing the traces
+of her struggle with the elements. But of that other struggle she had
+gone through she could not remove the traces. They and the love that
+arose out of it would endure as long as she endured. It was her former
+self that had been cast off in it and which now lay behind her, an empty
+and unmeaning thing like the shapeless heap of garments. It was all very
+strange. So John had gone to look for her and had not found her. She was
+glad that he had gone. It made her happy to think of him searching
+and calling in the wet and the night. She was only a woman, and it was
+natural that she should feel thus. By-and-by he would come back and find
+her clothed and in her right mind and ready to greet him. She was glad
+that he had not seen her wet and dishevelled. A girl looks so unpleasant
+like that. It might have set him against her. Men like women to look
+nice and clean and pretty. That gave her an idea. She turned to her
+glass and, holding the light above her head, studied her own face
+attentively. She was a woman with as little vanity in her composition as
+it is possible for a woman to have, and till now she had not given her
+personal looks much consideration. They had not been of great importance
+to her in the Wakkerstroom district of the Transvaal. But to-night all
+of a sudden they became very important; and so she stood and looked at
+her own wonderful eyes, at the masses of curling brown hair still damp
+and shining from the rain, at the curious pallid face and clear-cut
+determined mouth.
+
+"If it were not for my eyes and hair, I should be very ugly," she said
+to herself aloud. "If only I were beautiful like Bessie, now." The
+thought of her sister gave her another idea. What if John were to prefer
+Bessie? Now she remembered that he had been very attentive to Bessie.
+A feeling of dreadful doubt and jealousy passed through her, for women
+like Jess know what jealousy is in its bitterness. Supposing that it was
+in vain, supposing that what she had given to-day--given utterly once
+and for all, so that she could not take it back--had been given to a man
+who loved another woman, and that woman her own dear sister! Supposing
+that the fate of her love was to be like water falling unalteringly
+on the hard rock that heeds it not and retains it not! True, the water
+wears the rock away; but could she be satisfied with that? She could
+master him, she knew; even if things were so, she could win him to
+herself, she had read it in his eyes that afternoon; but could she, who
+had promised to her dead mother to cherish and protect her sister, whom
+till this day she had loved better than anything in the world, and
+whom she still loved more dearly than her life--could she, if it should
+happen to be thus, rob that sister of her lover? And if it should be so,
+what would her life be like? It would be like the great pillar after the
+lightning had smitten it, a pile of shattered smoking fragments, a very
+heaped-up debris of a life. She could feel it even now. No wonder, then,
+that Jess sat there upon the little white bed holding her hand against
+her heart and feeling terribly afraid.
+
+Just then she heard John's footsteps in the hall.
+
+"I can't find her," he said in an anxious tone to some one as she rose,
+taking her candle with her, and left the room. The light of it fell full
+upon his face and dripping clothes. It was white and anxious, and she
+was glad to see the anxiety.
+
+"Oh, thank God! here you are!" he said, catching her hand. "I began to
+think you were quite lost. I have been right down the Kloof after you,
+and got a nasty fall over it."
+
+"It is very good of you," she said in a low voice, and again their eyes
+met, and again her glance thrilled him. There was such a wonderful light
+in Jess's eyes that night.
+
+Half an hour afterwards they sat down as usual to supper. Bessie did
+not put in an appearance till it was a quarter over, and then sat
+very silent through it. Jess narrated her adventure in the Kloof, and
+everybody listened, but nobody said much. There seemed to be a shadow
+over the house that evening, or perhaps it was that each party was
+thinking of his own affairs. After supper old Silas Croft began talking
+about the political state of the country, which gave him uneasiness.
+He said that he believed the Boers really meant to rebel against the
+Government this time. Frank Muller had told him so, and he always knew
+what was going on. This announcement did not tend to raise anybody's
+spirits, and the evening passed as silently as the meal had done. At
+last Bessie got up, stretched her rounded arms, and said that she was
+tired and going to bed.
+
+"Come into my room," she whispered to her sister as she passed. "I want
+to speak to you."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+LOVE'S YOUNG DREAM
+
+After waiting a few minutes, Jess said "Good-night," and went straight
+to Bessie's room. Her sister had undressed, and was sitting on her
+bed, wrapped in a blue dressing-gown that suited her fair complexion
+admirably, and with a very desponding expression on her beautiful face.
+Bessie was one of those people who are easily elated and easily cast
+down.
+
+Jess came up to her and kissed her.
+
+"What is it, love?" she said. And Bessie could never have divined the
+gnawing anxiety that was eating at her heart as she said it.
+
+"Oh, Jess, I'm so glad that you have come. I do so want you to advise
+me--that is, to tell me what you think," and she paused.
+
+"You must tell _me_ what it is all about first, Bessie dear," she said,
+sitting down opposite to her in such a position that her face was shaded
+from the light. Bessie tapped her naked foot against the matting with
+which the little room was carpeted. It was an exceedingly pretty foot.
+
+"Well, dear old girl, it is just this--Frank Muller has been here to ask
+me to marry him."
+
+"Oh," said Jess, with a sigh of relief. So that was all? She felt as
+though a ton-weight had been lifted from her heart. She had expected
+this bit of news for some time.
+
+"He wanted me to marry him, and when I said I would not, he behaved
+like--like----"
+
+"Like a Boer," suggested Jess.
+
+"Like a _brute_," went on Bessie with emphasis.
+
+"So you don't care for Frank Muller?"
+
+"Care for him! I loathe the man. You don't know how I loathe him, with
+his handsome bad face and his cruel eyes. I always loathed him, and now
+I hate him too. But I will tell you all about it;" and she did, with
+many feminine comments and interpolations.
+
+Jess sat quite still, and waited till she had finished.
+
+"Well, dear," she said at last, "you are not going to marry him, and so
+there is an end of it. You can't detest the man more than I do. I have
+watched him for years," she went on, with rising anger, "and I tell you
+that Frank Muller is a liar and a traitor. That man would betray his own
+father if he thought it to his interest to do so. He hates uncle--I am
+sure he does, although he pretends to be so fond of him. I am certain
+that he has tried often and often to stir up the Boers against him.
+Old Hans Coetzee told me that he denounced him to the Veld-Cornet as
+an _uitlander_ and a _verdomde Engelsmann_ about two years before the
+annexation, and tried to get him to persuade the Landrost to report him
+as a law-breaker to the Raad; while all the time he was pretending to
+be so friendly. Then in the Sikukuni war it was Frank Muller who caused
+them to commandeer uncle's two best waggons and spans. He gave none
+himself, nothing but a couple of bags of meal. He is a wicked fellow,
+Bessie, and a dangerous fellow; but he has more brains and more power
+about him than any man in the Transvaal, and you will have to be very
+careful, or he will do us all a bad turn."
+
+"Ah!" said Bessie; "well, he can't do much now that the country is
+English."
+
+"I am not so sure of that. I am not so sure that the country is going
+to stop English. You laugh at me for reading the home papers, but I see
+things there that make me doubtful. The other party is in power now in
+England, and one does not know what they may do; you heard what uncle
+said to-night. They might give us up to the Boers. You must remember
+that we far-away people are only the counters with which they play their
+game."
+
+"Nonsense, Jess," said Bessie indignantly. "Englishmen are not like
+that. When they say a thing, they stick to it."
+
+"They used to, you mean," answered Jess with a shrug, and got up from
+her chair to go to bed.
+
+Bessie began to fidget her white feet over one another.
+
+"Stop a bit, Jess dear," she said. "I want to speak to you about
+something else."
+
+Jess sat or rather dropped back into her chair, and her pale face turned
+paler than ever; but Bessie blushed very red and hesitated.
+
+"It's about Captain Niel," she said at length.
+
+"Oh," answered Jess with a little laugh, and her voice sounded cold and
+strange in her own ears. "Has he been following Frank Muller's example,
+and proposing to you too?"
+
+"No-o," said Bessie, "but"--and here she rose, and, sitting on a stool
+by her elder sister's chair, rested her forehead against her knee--"but
+I love him, and I _believe_ that he loves me. This morning he told me
+that I was the prettiest woman he had seen at home or abroad, and the
+sweetest too; and do you know," she said, looking up and giving a happy
+little laugh, "I think he meant it."
+
+"Are you joking, Bessie, or are you really in earnest?"
+
+"In earnest! ah, but that I am, and I am not ashamed to say it. I fell
+in love with John Niel when he killed that cock ostrich. He looked so
+strong and savage as he fought with it. It is a fine thing to see a man
+put out all his strength. And then he is such a gentleman!--so different
+from the men we meet round here. Oh yes, I fell in love with him at
+once, and I have got deeper and deeper in love with him ever since,
+and if he does not marry me I think that it will break my heart. There,
+that's the truth, Jess dear," and she dropped her golden head on to her
+sister's knees and began to cry softly at the thought.
+
+But the sister sat there on the chair, her hand hanging idly by her
+side, her white face set and impassive as that of an Egyptian Sphinx,
+and the large eyes gazing far away through the window, against which the
+rain was beating--far away out into the night and the storm. She heard
+the surging of the storm, she heard her sister's weeping, her eyes
+perceived the dark square of the window through which they appeared to
+look, she could feel Bessie's head upon her knee--yes, she could see
+and hear and feel, and yet it seemed to her that she was _dead_. The
+lightning had fallen on her soul as it fell on the pillar of rock, and
+it was as the pillar is. And it had fallen so soon! there had been
+such a little span of happiness and hope! And so she sat, like a stony
+Sphinx, and Bessie wept softly before her, like a beautiful, breathing,
+loving human suppliant, and the two formed a picture and a contrast
+such as the student of human nature does not often get the chance of
+studying.
+
+It was the eldest sister who spoke first after all.
+
+"Well, dear," she said, "what are you crying about? You love Captain
+Niel, and you believe that he loves you. Surely there is nothing to cry
+about."
+
+"Well, I don't know that there is," said Bessie, more cheerfully; "but I
+was thinking how dreadful it would be if I lost him."
+
+"I do not think that you need be afraid," said Jess; "and now, dear,
+I really must go to bed, I am so tired. Good-night, my dear; God bless
+you! I think that you have made a very wise choice. Captain Niel is a
+man whom any woman might love, and be proud of loving."
+
+In another minute she was in her room, and there her composure left her,
+for she was but a loving woman after all. She flung herself upon her
+bed, and, hiding her face in the pillow, burst into a paroxysm of
+weeping--a very different thing from Bessie's gentle tears. Her grief
+absolutely convulsed her, and she pushed the bedclothes against her
+mouth to prevent the sound of it penetrating the partition wall and
+reaching John Niel's ears, for his room was next to hers. Even in the
+midst of her suffering the thought of the irony of the thing forced
+itself into her mind. There, separated from her only by a few inches of
+lath and plaster and some four or five feet of space, was the man for
+whom she mourned thus, and yet he was as ignorant of it as though he
+were thousands of miles away. Sometimes at such acute crises in our
+lives the limitations of our physical nature do strike us after this
+fashion. It is strange to be so near and yet so far, and it brings the
+absolute and utter loneliness of every created being home to the mind
+in a manner that is forcible and at times almost terrible. John Niel
+sinking composedly to sleep, his mind happy with the recollection of
+those two right and left shots, and Jess, lying on her bed, six feet
+away, and sobbing out her stormy heart over him, are indeed but types of
+what is continually happening in this remarkable world. How often do we
+understand one another's grief? And, when we do, by what standard can
+we measure it? More especially is comprehension rare, if we chance to
+be the original cause of the trouble. Do we think of the feelings of the
+beetles it is our painful duty to crush into nothingness? Not at all. If
+we have any compunctions, they are quickly absorbed in the pride of our
+capture. And more often still, as in the present case, we set our foot
+upon the poor victim by pure accident or venial carelessness.
+
+Presently John was fast asleep, and Jess, her paroxysm past, was
+walking up and down, down and up, her little room, her bare feet
+falling noiselessly on the carpeting as she strove to wear out the first
+bitterness of her woe. Oh that it lay in her power to recall the past
+few days! Oh that she had never seen his face, which must now be ever
+before her eyes! But for her there was no such possibility, and she felt
+it. She knew her own nature well. Her heart had spoken, and the word it
+said must roll on continually through the spaces of her mind. Who can
+recall the spoken word, and who can set a limit on its echoes? It is not
+so with most women, but here and there may be found a nature where it is
+so. Spirits like this poor girl's are too deep, and partake too much
+of a divine immutability, to shift and suit themselves to the changing
+circumstances of a fickle world. They have no middle course; they cannot
+halt half-way; they set all their fortune on a throw. And when the throw
+is lost their hearts are broken, and their happiness passes away like a
+swallow.
+
+For in such a nature love rises like the wind on the quiet breast of
+some far sea. None can say whence it comes or whither it blows; but
+there it is, lashing the waters to a storm, so that they roll in thunder
+all the long day through, throwing their white arms on high, as they
+clasp at the evasive air, till the darkness that is death comes down and
+covers them.
+
+What is the interpretation of it? Why does the great wind stir the
+deep waters? It does but ripple the shallow pool as it passes, for
+shallowness can but ripple and throw up shadows. We cannot tell, but
+this we know--that deep things only can be deeply moved. It is the
+penalty of depth and greatness; it is the price they pay for the
+divine privilege of suffering and sympathy. The shallow pools, the
+looking-glasses of our little life, know nought, feel nought. Poor
+things! they can but ripple and reflect. But the deep sea, in its
+torture, may perchance catch some echo of God's voice sounding down the
+driven gale; and, as it lifts itself and tosses its waves in agony, may
+perceive a glow, flowing from a celestial sky that is set beyond the
+horizon that bounds its being.
+
+Suffering, or rather mental suffering, is a prerogative of greatness,
+and even here there lies an exquisite joy at its core. For everything
+has its compensations. Nerves such as these can thrill with a high
+happiness, that will sweep unfelt over the mass of men. Thus he who is
+stricken with grief at the sight of the world's misery--as all great and
+good men must be--is at times lifted up with joy by catching some faint
+gleam of the almighty purpose that underlies it. So it was with the Son
+of Man in His darkest hours; the Spirit that enabled Him to compass out
+the measure of the world's suffering and sin enabled Him also, knowing
+their purposes, to gaze beyond them; and thus it is, too, with those
+deep-hearted children of His race, who partake, however dimly, of His
+divinity.
+
+Thus, even in this hour of her darkest bitterness and grief, a gleam
+of comfort struggled to Jess's breast just as the first ray of dawn was
+struggling through the stormy night. She would sacrifice herself to her
+sister--that she had determined on; and hence came that cold gleam
+of happiness, for there is happiness in self-sacrifice, whatever the
+cynical may say. At first her woman's nature had risen in rebellion
+against the thought. Why should she throw her life away? She had as good
+a right to this man as Bessie, and she knew that by the strength of her
+own hand she could hold him against Bessie in all her beauty, however
+far things had gone between them; and she believed, as a jealous woman
+is prone to do, that they had gone much farther than was the case.
+
+But by-and-by, as she pursued that weary march, her better self rose up,
+and mastered the promptings of her heart. Bessie loved him, and Bessie
+was weaker than she, and less suited to bear pain, and she had sworn to
+her dying mother--for Bessie had been her mother's darling--to promote
+her happiness, and, come what would, to comfort and protect her by every
+means in her power. It was a wide oath, and she was only a child when
+she took it, but it bound her conscience none the less, and surely it
+covered this. Besides, she dearly loved her--far, far more than she
+loved herself. No, Bessie should have her lover, and she should never
+know what it had cost her to give him up; and as for herself, well, she
+must go away like a wounded buck, and hide till she got well--or died.
+
+She laughed a drear little laugh, and stayed to brush her hair just as
+the broad lights of the dawn came streaming across the misty veldt. But
+she did not look at her face again in the glass; she cared no more
+about it now. Then she threw herself down to sleep the sleep of utter
+exhaustion before it was time to go out again and face the world and her
+new sorrow.
+
+Poor Jess! Love's young dream had not overshadowed her for long. It had
+tarried just three hours. But it had left other dreams behind.
+
+
+
+"Uncle," said Jess that morning to old Silas Croft as he stood by the
+kraal-gate, where he had been counting out the sheep--an operation
+requiring much quickness of eye, and on the accurate performance of
+which he greatly prided himself.
+
+"Yes, yes, my dear, I know what you are going to say. It was very neatly
+done; it isn't everybody who can count out six hundred running hungry
+sheep without a mistake. But then, I oughtn't to say too much, for you
+see I have been at it for fifty years, in the old colony and here. Now,
+many a man would get fifty sheep wrong. There's Niel for instance----"
+
+"Uncle," said she, wincing a little at the name, as a horse with a sore
+back winces at the touch of the saddle, "it wasn't about the sheep that
+I was going to speak to you. I want you to do me a favour."
+
+"A favour? Why, God bless the girl, how pale you look!--not but what you
+are always pale. Well, what is it now?"
+
+"I want to go up to Pretoria by the post-cart that leaves Wakkerstroom
+to-morrow afternoon, and to stop for a couple of months with my
+schoolfellow, Jane Neville. I have often promised to go, and I have
+never gone."
+
+"Well, I never!" said the old man. "My stay-at-home Jess wanting to go
+away, and without Bessie too! What is the matter with you?"
+
+"I want a change, uncle--I do indeed. I hope you won't thwart me in
+this."
+
+Silas looked at her steadily with his keen grey eyes.
+
+"Humph!" he said; "you want to go away, and there's an end of it. Best
+not ask too many questions where a maid is concerned. Very well, my
+dear, go if you like, though I shall miss you."
+
+"Thank you, uncle," she said, and kissed him; then turned and went.
+
+Old Croft took off his broad hat and polished his bald head with a red
+pocket-handkerchief.
+
+"There's something up with that girl," he said aloud to a lizard that
+had crept out of the crevices of the stone wall to bask in the sun. "I
+am not such a fool as I look, and I say that there is something wrong
+with her. She is odder than ever," and he hit viciously at the lizard
+with his stick, whereon it promptly bolted into its crack, returning
+presently to see if the irate "human" had departed.
+
+"However," he soliloquised, as he made his way to the house, "I am glad
+that it was not Bessie. I couldn't bear, at my time of life, to part
+with Bessie, even for a couple of months."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+JESS GOES TO PRETORIA
+
+That day, at dinner, Jess suddenly announced that she was going on the
+morrow to Pretoria to see Jane Neville.
+
+"To see Jane Neville!" said Bessie, opening her blue eyes wide. "Why,
+it was only last month you said that you did not care about Jane Neville
+now, because she had grown so vulgar. Don't you remember when she
+stopped here on her way down to Natal last year, and held up her fat
+hands, and said, 'Ah, Jess--Jess is a _genius!_ It is a privilege to
+know her'? And then she asked you to quote Shakespeare to that lump of
+a brother of hers, and you told her that if she did not hold her tongue
+she would not enjoy the privilege much longer. And now you want to go
+and stop with her for two months! Well, Jess, you are odd. And, what's
+more, I think it is very unkind of you to run away for so long."
+
+To all of which prattle Jess said nothing, but merely reiterated her
+determination to go.
+
+John, too, was astonished, and, to tell the truth, not a little
+disgusted. Since the previous day, when he had that talk with her in
+Lion Kloof, Jess had assumed a clearer and more definite interest in his
+eyes. Before that she was an enigma; now he had guessed enough about her
+to make him anxious to know more. Indeed, he had not perhaps realised
+how strong and definite his interest was till he heard that she was
+going away for a long period. Suddenly it struck him that the farm would
+be very dull without this very fascinating woman moving about the
+place in her silent, resolute way. Bessie was, no doubt, delightful
+and charming to look on, but she had not her sister's brains and
+originality; and John Niel was sufficiently above the ordinary run to
+thoroughly appreciate intellect and originality in a woman, instead of
+standing aghast at it. She interested him intensely, to say the least of
+it, and, man-like, he felt exceedingly annoyed, and even sulky, at
+the idea of her departure. He looked at her in protest, and, with an
+awkwardness begotten of his irritation, knocked down the vinegar cruet
+and made a mess upon the table; but she evaded his eyes and took no
+notice of the vinegar. Then, feeling that he had done all that in him
+lay, he went to see about the ostriches; first of all hanging about a
+little in case Jess should come out, which she did not do. Indeed, he
+saw nothing more of her till supper time. Bessie told him that she said
+she was busy packing; but, as one can only take twenty pounds weight of
+luggage in a post-cart, this did not quite convince him that it was so
+in fact.
+
+At supper Jess was, if possible, even more quiet than she had been
+at dinner. After it was over, he asked her to sing, but she declined,
+saying that she had given up singing for the present, and persisting
+in her statement in spite of the chorus of remonstrance it aroused. The
+birds only sing whilst they are mating; and it is, by the way, a curious
+thing, and suggestive of the theory that the same great principles
+pervade all nature, that now when her trouble had overtaken her,
+and that she had lost the love which had suddenly sprung from her
+heart--full-grown and clad in power as Athena sprang from the head of
+Jove--Jess had no further inclination to use her divine gift of song.
+Probably it was nothing more than a coincidence, although a strange one.
+
+The arrangement was, that on the morrow Jess was to be driven in the
+Cape cart to Martinus-Wesselstroom, more commonly called Wakkerstroom,
+there to catch the post-cart, which was timed to leave the town at
+mid-day, though when it would leave was quite another matter. Post-carts
+are not particular to a day or so in the Transvaal.
+
+Old Silas Croft was to drive her with Bessie, who wished to do some
+shopping in Wakkerstroom, as ladies sometimes will; but at the last
+moment the old man felt a premonitory twinge of the rheumatism to which
+he was a martyr, and could not go. So, of course, John volunteered, and,
+though Jess raised some difficulties, Bessie furthered the idea, and in
+the end his offer was accepted.
+
+Accordingly, at half-past eight on a beautiful morning up came the
+tented cart, with its two massive wheels, stout stinkwood disselboom,
+and four spirited young horses; to the heads of which the Hottentot
+Jantje, assisted by the Zulu Mouti, clad in the sweet simplicity of a
+moocha, a few feathers in his wool, and a horn snuffbox stuck through
+the fleshy part of the ear, hung on grimly. In they got--John first,
+then Bessie next to him, then Jess. Next Jantje scrambled up behind; and
+after some preliminary backing and plunging, and showing a disposition
+to twine themselves affectionately round the orange-trees, off went
+the horses at a hand gallop, and away swung the cart after them, in a
+fashion that would have frightened anybody, not accustomed to that mode
+of progression, pretty well out of his wits. As it was, John had as much
+as he could do to keep the four horses together, and to prevent them
+from bolting, and this alone, to say nothing of the rattling and jolting
+of the vehicle over the uneven track, was sufficient to put a stop to
+any attempt at conversation.
+
+Wakkerstroom is about eighteen miles from Mooifontein, a distance that
+they covered well within the two hours. Here the horses were outspanned
+at the hotel, and John went into the house whence the post-cart was
+to start and booked Jess's seat, and then joined the ladies at the
+_Kantoor_ or store where they were shopping. When their purchases were
+made, they went back to the inn together and ate some dinner; by which
+time the Hottentot driver of the cart began to tune up lustily, but
+unmelodiously, on a bugle to inform intending passengers that it was
+time to start. Bessie was out of the room at the moment, and, with the
+exception of a peculiarly dirty-looking coolie waiter, there was nobody
+about.
+
+"How long are you going to be away, Miss Jess?" asked John.
+
+"Two months, more or less, Captain Niel."
+
+"I am very sorry that you are going," he said earnestly. "It will be
+dull at the farm without you."
+
+"You will have Bessie to talk to," she answered, turning her face to the
+window, and affecting to watch the inspanning of the post-cart in the
+yard on to which it looked.
+
+"Captain Niel!" she said suddenly.
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"Mind you look after Bessie while I am away. Listen! I am going to tell
+you something. You know Frank Muller?"
+
+"Yes, I know him, and a very disagreeable fellow he is."
+
+"Well, he threatened Bessie the other day, and he is a man who is quite
+capable of carrying out a threat. I can't tell you anything more about
+it, but I want you to promise me to protect Bessie if any occasion for
+it should arise. I do not know that it will, but it might. Will you
+promise?"
+
+"Of course I will; I would do a great deal more than that if you asked
+me to, Jess," he answered tenderly, for now that she was going away he
+felt curiously drawn towards her, and was anxious to show it.
+
+"Never mind me," she said, with an impatient little movement. "Bessie
+is sweet enough and lovely enough to be looked after for her own sake, I
+should think."
+
+Before he could say any more, in came Bessie herself, saying that the
+driver was waiting, and they went out to see her sister off.
+
+"Don't forget your promise," Jess whispered to him, bending down as he
+helped her into the cart, so low that her lips almost touched him, and
+her breath rested for a second on his cheek like the ghost of a kiss.
+
+In another moment the sisters had embraced each other, tenderly enough;
+the driver had sounded once more on his awful bugle, and away went the
+cart at full gallop, bearing with it Jess, two other passengers, and
+her Majesty's mails. John and Bessie stood for a moment watching its
+mad career, as it fled splashing and banging down the straggling street
+towards the wide plains beyond; then they turned to enter the inn again
+and prepare for their homeward drive. At that moment, an old Boer, named
+Hans Coetzee, with whom John was already slightly acquainted, came
+up, and, extending an enormously big and thick hand, bid them "_Gooden
+daag._" Hans Coetzee was a very favourable specimen of the better sort
+of Boer, and really came more or less up to the ideal picture that is so
+often drawn of that "simple pastoral people." He was a very large, stout
+man, with a fine open face and a pair of kindly eyes. John, looking at
+him, guessed that he could not weigh less than seventeen stone, and that
+estimate was well within the mark.
+
+"How are you, Captain?" he said in English, for he could talk English
+well, "and how do you like the Transvaal?--must not call it South
+African Republic now, you know, for that's treason," and his eye
+twinkled merrily.
+
+"I like it very much, _Meinheer_," said John.
+
+"Ah, yes, it's a beautiful veldt, especially about here--no horse
+sickness, no 'blue tongue,'[*] and a good strong grass for the cattle.
+And you must find yourself very snug at _Oom_ Croft's there; it's the
+nicest place in the district, with the ostriches and all. Not that
+I hold with ostriches in this veldt; they are well enough in the old
+colony, but they won't breed here--at least, not as they should do. I
+tried them once and I know; oh, yes, I know."
+
+[*] A disease that is very fatal to sheep.
+
+"Yes, it's a very fine country, _Meinheer_. I have been all over the
+world almost, and I never saw a finer."
+
+"You don't say so, now! Almighty, what a thing it is to have travelled!
+Not that I should like to travel myself. I think that the Lord meant us
+to stop in the place He has made for us. But it is a fine country, and"
+(dropping his voice) "I think it is a finer country than it used to be."
+
+"You mean that the veldt has got 'tame', _Meinheer_?"
+
+"Nay, nay. I mean that the land is English now," he answered
+mysteriously, "and though I dare not say so among my _volk_, I hope that
+it will keep English. When I was Republican, I was Republican, and
+it was good in some ways, the Republic. There was so little to pay in
+taxes, and we knew how to manage the black folk; but now I am English,
+I am English. I know the English Government means good money and safety,
+and if there isn't a _Raad_ (assembly) now, well, what does it matter?
+Almighty, how they used to talk there!--clack, clack, clack! just like
+an old black _koran_ (species of bustard) at sunset. And where did they
+run the waggon of the Republic to--Burghers and those damned Hollanders
+of his, and the rest of them? Why, into the _sluit_--into a _sluit_ with
+peaty banks; and there it would have stopped till now, or till the flood
+came down and swept it away, if old Shepstone--ah! what a tongue that
+man has, and how fond he is of the _kinderchies!_ (little children)--had
+not come and pulled it out again. But look here, Captain, the _volk_
+round here don't think like that. It's the '_verdomde Britische
+Gouvernment_' here and the '_verdomde Britische Gouvernment_' there, and
+_bymakaars_ (meetings) here and _bymakaars_ there. Silly folk, they all
+run one after the other like sheep. But there it is, Captain, and I tell
+you there will be fighting before long, and then our people will shoot
+those poor _rooibaatjes_ of yours like buck, and take the land back.
+Poor things! I could weep when I think of it."
+
+John smiled at this melancholy prognostication, and was about to explain
+what a poor show all the Boers in the Transvaal would make in front of a
+few British regiments, when he was astonished by a sudden change in his
+friend's manner. Dropping his enormous paw on to his shoulder, Coetzee
+broke into a burst of somewhat forced merriment, the cause of which,
+though John did not guess it at the moment, was that he had just
+perceived Frank Muller, who was in Wakkerstroom with a waggon-load of
+corn to grind at the mill, standing within five yards, and apparently
+intensely interested in flipping at the flies with a cowrie made of the
+tail of a vilderbeeste, but in reality listening to Coetzee's talk with
+all his ears.
+
+"Ha, ha! _nef_ (nephew)," said old Coetzee to the astonished John, "no
+wonder you like Mooifontein--there are other _mooi_ (pretty) things
+there beside the water. How often do you _opsit_ (sit up at night) with
+Uncle Croft's pretty girl, eh? I'm not quite as blind as an ant-bear
+yet. I saw her blush when you spoke to her just now. I saw her. Well,
+well, it is a pretty game for a young man, isn't it, _nef_ Frank?" (this
+was addressed to Muller). "I'll be bound the Captain here 'burns a long
+candle' with pretty Bessie every night, eh, Frank? I hope you ain't
+jealous, _nef_? My _vrouw_ told me some time ago that you were sweet in
+that direction yourself;" and he stopped at last, out of breath,
+looking anxiously towards Muller for an answer, while John, who had
+been somewhat overwhelmed at this flood of bucolic chaff, gave a sigh
+of relief. As for Muller, he behaved in a curious manner. Instead of
+laughing, as the jolly old Boer had intended that he should, although
+Coetzee could not see it, his face had been growing blacker and blacker;
+and now that the flow of language ceased, with a savage ejaculation
+which John could not catch, but which he appeared to throw at his
+(John's) head, he turned on his heel and went off towards the courtyard
+of the inn.
+
+"Almighty!" said old Hans, wiping his face with a red cotton
+pocket-handkerchief; "I have put my foot into a big hole. That stink-cat
+Muller heard all that I was saying to you, and I tell you he will
+save it up and save it up, and one day he will bring it all out to the
+_volk_, and call me a traitor to the 'land' and ruin me. I know him. He
+knows how to balance a long stick on his little finger so that the ends
+keep even. Oh, yes, he can ride two horses at once, and blow hot and
+blow cold. He is a devil of a man, a devil of a man! And what did he
+mean by swearing at you like that? Is it about the _missie_ (girl), I
+wonder? Almighty! who can say? Ah! that reminds me--though I'm sure I
+don't know why it should--the Kafirs tell me that there is a big herd of
+buck--vilderbeeste and blesbok--on my outlying place about an hour and
+a half (ten miles) from Mooifontein. Can you hold a rifle, Captain? You
+look like a bit of a hunter."
+
+"Oh, yes, Meinheer!" said John, delighted at the prospect of some
+shooting.
+
+"Ah, I thought so. All you English are sportsmen, though you don't know
+how to kill buck. Well now, you take _Oom_ Croft's light Scotch cart and
+two good horses, and come over to my place--not to-morrow, for my wife's
+cousin is coming to see us, and an old cat she is, but rich; she has a
+thousand pounds in gold in the waggon-box under her bed--nor the next
+day, for it is the Lord's day, and one can't shoot creatures on the
+Lord's day--but Monday, yes, Monday. You will be there by eight o'clock,
+and you shall see how to kill vilderbeeste. Almighty! now what can that
+jackal Frank Muller have meant? Ah! he is the devil of a man," and,
+shaking his head ponderously, the jolly old Boer departed, and presently
+John saw him riding away upon a fat little shooting-pony which cannot
+have weighed much more than himself, but that cantered off with him on
+his fifteen-mile journey as though he were a feather-weight.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+JANTJE'S STORY
+
+Shortly after the old Boer had gone, John went into the yard of the
+hotel to see to the inspanning of the Cape cart, where his attention
+was at once arrested by the sight of a row in active progress--at least,
+from the crowd of Kafirs and idlers and the angry sounds and curses
+which proceeded from them, he judged that it was a row. Nor was he wrong
+in his conclusion. In the corner of the yard, close by the stable-door,
+surrounded by the aforesaid crowd, stood Frank Muller; a heavy
+_sjambock_ in his raised hand, as though in the act to strike. Before
+him, a very picture of drunken fury, his lips drawn up like a snarling
+dog's, so that the two lines of white teeth gleamed like polished ivory
+in the sunlight, his small eyes all shot with blood and his face working
+convulsively, was the Hottentot Jantje. Nor was this all. Across his
+face was a blue wheal where the whip had fallen, and in his hand a heavy
+white-handled knife which he always carried.
+
+"Hullo! what is all this?" said John, shouldering his way through the
+crowd.
+
+"The _swartsel_ (black creature) has stolen my horse's forage, and given
+it to yours!" shouted Muller, who was evidently almost off his head with
+rage, making an attempt to hit Jantje with the whip as he spoke. The
+latter avoided the blow by jumping behind John, with the result that the
+tip of the _sjambock_ caught the Englishman on the leg.
+
+"Be careful, sir, with that whip," said John to Muller, restraining his
+temper with difficulty. "Now, how do you know that the man stole your
+horse's forage; and what business have you to touch him? If there was
+anything wrong, you should have reported it to me."
+
+"He lies, Baas, he lies!" yelled out the Hottentot in tremulous,
+high-pitched tones. "He lies; he has always been a liar, and worse than
+a liar. Yah! yah! I can tell things about him. The land is English now,
+and Boers can't kill the black people as they like. That man--that
+Boer, Muller, he shot my father and my mother--my father first, then my
+mother; he gave her two bullets--she did not die the first time."
+
+"You yellow devil!--You black-skinned, black-hearted, lying son of
+Satan!" roared the great Boer, his very beard curling with fury.
+"Is that the way you talk to your masters? Out of the light,
+_rooibaatje_"--this was to John--"and I will cut his tongue out of him.
+I'll show him how we deal with a yellow liar;" and without further ado
+he made a rush for the Hottentot.
+
+As he came, John, whose blood was now thoroughly up, put out his open
+hand, and, bending forward, pushed with all his strength on Muller's
+advancing chest. John was a very powerfully made man, though not a large
+one, and the push sent Muller staggering back.
+
+"What do you mean by that, _rooibaatje?_" shouted Muller, his face livid
+with fury. "Get out of my road or I will mark that pretty face of yours.
+I owe you for some goods as it is, Englishman, and I always pay
+my debts. Out of the path, curse you!" and he again rushed for the
+Hottentot.
+
+This time John, who was now almost as angry as his assailant, did not
+wait for the man to reach him, but, springing forward, hooked his arm
+around Muller's throat and, before he could close with him, with one
+tremendous jerk managed not only to stop his wild career, but to
+reverse the motion, and then, by interposing his foot with considerable
+neatness, to land him--powerful as he was--on his back in a pool of
+drainage that had collected from the stable in a hollow of the inn-yard.
+Down he went with a splash, amid a shout of delight from the crowd,
+who always like to see an aggressor laid low, his head bumping with
+considerable force against the lintel of the door. For a moment he lay
+still, and John was afraid that the man was really hurt. Presently,
+however, he rose, and, without attempting any further hostile
+demonstration or saying a single word, tramped off towards the house,
+leaving his enemy to compose his ruffled nerves as best he could. Now
+John, like most gentlemen, hated a row with all his heart, though he had
+the Anglo-Saxon tendency to go through with it unflinchingly when once
+it began. Indeed, the incident irritated him almost beyond bearing,
+for he knew that the story with additions would go the round of
+the countryside, and what is more, that he had made a powerful and
+implacable enemy.
+
+"This is all your fault, you drunken little blackguard!" he said,
+turning savagely on the Tottie, who, now that his excitement had left
+him, was snivelling and drivelling in an intoxicated fashion, and
+calling him his preserver and his Baas in maudlin accents.
+
+"He hit me, Baas; he hit me, and I did not take the forage. He is a bad
+man, Baas Muller."
+
+"Be off with you and get the horses inspanned; you are half-drunk," John
+growled, and, having seen that operation advancing to a conclusion, he
+went to the sitting-room of the hotel, where Bessie was waiting in happy
+ignorance of the disturbance. It was not till they were well on their
+homeward way that he told her what had passed, whereat, remembering the
+scene she had herself gone through with Frank Muller, and the threats
+that he had then made use of, she looked very grave. Her old uncle, too,
+was very much put out when he heard the story on their arrival home that
+evening.
+
+"You have made an enemy, Niel," he said, as they sat upon the verandah
+after breakfast on the following morning, "and a bad one. Not but what
+you were right to stand up for the Hottentot. I would have done as much
+myself had I been there and ten years younger, but Frank Muller is not
+the man to forget being put upon his back before a lot of Kafirs and
+white folk too. Perhaps that Jantje is sober by now. I will go and
+call him, and we will hear what this story is about his father and his
+mother."
+
+Presently he returned followed by the ragged, dirty-faced little
+Hottentot, who, looking very miserable and ashamed of himself, took off
+his hat and squatted down on the drive, in the full glare of the African
+sun, to the effects of which he appeared to be totally impervious.
+
+"Now, Jantje, listen to me," said the old man. "Yesterday you got drunk
+again. Well, I'm not going to talk about that now, except to say that if
+I hear of your being drunk once more--you leave this place."
+
+"Yes, Baas," said the Hottentot meekly. "I was drunk, though not very; I
+only had half a bottle of Cape smoke."
+
+"By getting drunk you made a quarrel with Baas Muller, so that blows
+passed between Baas Muller and the Baas here on your account, which was
+more than you are worth. Now when Baas Muller had struck you, you said
+that he had shot your father and your mother. Was that a lie, or what
+did you mean by saying it?"
+
+"It was no lie, Baas," answered the Hottentot excitedly. "I have said
+it once, and I will say it again. Listen, Baas, and I will tell you the
+story. When I was young--so tall"--and he held his hand high enough
+to indicate a Tottie of about fourteen years of age--"we, that is,
+my father, my mother, my uncle--a very old man, older than the Baas"
+(pointing to Silas Croft)--"were _bijwoners_ (authorised squatters) on
+a place belonging to old Jacob Muller, Baas Frank's father, down in
+Lydenburg yonder. It was a bush-veldt farm, and old Jacob used to come
+down there with his cattle from the High veldt in the winter when there
+was no grass in the High veldt, and with him came the Englishwoman, his
+wife, and the young Baas Frank--the Baas we saw yesterday."
+
+"How long was all this ago?" asked Mr. Croft.
+
+Jantje counted on his fingers for some seconds, and then held up his
+hand and opened it four times in succession. "So," he said, "twenty
+years last winter. Baas Frank was young then, he had only a little down
+upon his chin. One year when _Oom_ Jacob went away, after the first
+rains, he left six oxen that were too _poor_ (thin) to go, with
+my father, and told him to look after them as though they were his
+children. But the oxen were bewitched. Three of them took the lung-sick
+and died, a lion got one, a snake got one, and one ate 'tulip' and died
+too. So when _Oom_ Jacob came back the next year all the oxen were gone.
+He was very angry with my father, and beat him with a yoke-strap till he
+was all blood, and though we showed him the bones of the oxen, he said
+that we had stolen them and sold them.
+
+"Now _Oom_ Jacob had a beautiful span of black oxen that he loved like
+children. Sixteen of them there were, and they would come up to the yoke
+when he called them and put down their heads of themselves. They were
+tame as dogs. These oxen were thin when they came down, but in two
+months they grew fat and began to want to trek about as oxen do. At this
+time there was a Basutu, one of Sequati's people, resting in our hut,
+for he had hurt his foot with a thorn. When _Oom_ Jacob found that the
+Basutu was there he was very angry, for he said that all Basutus were
+thieves. So my father told the Basutu that the Baas said that he must go
+away, and he went that night. Next morning the span of black oxen were
+gone too. The kraal-gate was down, and they had gone. We hunted all day,
+but we could not find them. Then _Oom_ Jacob went mad with rage, and
+the young Baas Frank told him that one of the Kafir boys had said to him
+that he had heard my father sell them to the Basutu for sheep which he
+was to pay to us in the summer. It was a lie, but Baas Frank hated my
+father because of something about a woman--a Zulu girl.
+
+"Next morning when we were asleep, just at daybreak, _Oom_ Jacob Muller
+and Baas Frank and two Kafirs came into the hut and pulled us out, the
+old man my uncle, my father, my mother, and myself, and tied us up to
+four mimosa-trees with buffalo-hide reims. Then the Kafirs went away,
+and _Oom_ Jacob asked my father where the cattle were, and my father
+told him that he did not know. Then _Oom_ Jacob took off his hat and
+said a prayer to the Big Man in the sky, and when he had done Baas Frank
+came up with a gun and stood quite close and shot my father dead, and he
+fell forward and hung quiet over the reim, his head touching his feet.
+Then he loaded the gun again and shot the old man my uncle, and he
+slipped down dead, and his hands stuck up in the air against the reim.
+Next he shot my mother, but the bullet did not kill her, and cut the
+reim, and she ran away, and he ran after her and killed her. When that
+was done he came back to shoot me; but I was young then, and did not
+know that it is better to be dead than to live like a dog, and I cried
+and prayed for mercy while he was loading the gun.
+
+"But the Baas only laughed, and said he would teach Hottentots how to
+steal cattle, and old _Oom_ Jacob prayed out loud to the Big Man and
+said he was very sorry for me, but it was the dear Lord's will. And
+then, just as Baas Frank lifted the gun, he dropped it again, for there,
+coming softly, softly over the brow of the hill, in and out between the
+bushes, were all the sixteen oxen! They had got out in the night and
+strayed away into some kloof for a change of pasture, and came back when
+they were full and tired of being alone. _Oom_ Jacob turned quite white
+and scratched his head, and then fell upon his knees and thanked the
+dear Lord for saving my life; and just then the Englishwoman, Baas
+Frank's mother, came down from the waggon to see what the firing was at,
+and when she saw all the people dead and me weeping, tied to the tree,
+and learnt what it was about, she went quite mad, for sometimes she had
+a kind heart when she was not drunk, and said that a curse would fall on
+them, and that they would all die in blood. And she took a knife and cut
+me loose, though Baas Frank wanted to kill me, so that I might tell no
+tales; and I ran away, travelling by night and hiding by day, for I was
+very much frightened, till I reached Natal, and there I stopped, working
+in Natal till this land became English, when Baas Croft hired me to
+drive his cart up from Maritzburg; and living by here I found Baas
+Frank, looking bigger but just the same except for his beard.
+
+"There, Baas, that is the truth, and all the truth, and that is why
+I hate Baas Frank, because he shot my father and mother, and why Baas
+Frank hates me, because he cannot forget that he did it and because I
+saw him do it, for, as our people say, 'one always hates a man one has
+wounded with a spear.'"
+
+Having finished his narrative, the miserable-looking little man picked
+up his greasy old felt hat that had a leather strap fixed round the
+crown, in which were stuck a couple of frayed ostrich feathers, and
+jammed it down over his ears. Then he fell to drawing circles on the
+soil with his long toes. His auditors only looked at one another. Such a
+ghastly tale seemed to be beyond comment. They never doubted its truth;
+the man's way of telling it carried conviction with it; indeed, two of
+them at any rate had heard such stories before. Most people have who
+live in the wilder parts of South Africa, though they are not all to be
+taken for gospel.
+
+"You say," remarked old Silas at last, "that the Englishwoman said that
+a curse would fall on them, and that they would die in blood? She was
+right. Twelve years ago _Oom_ Jacob and his wife were murdered by a
+party of Mapoch's Kafirs down on the edge of that very Lydenburg veldt.
+There was a great noise about it at the time, I remember, but nothing
+came of it. Baas Frank was not there. He was away shooting buck, so he
+escaped, and inherited all his father's farms and cattle, and came to
+live here."
+
+"So!" said the Hottentot, without showing the slightest interest or
+surprise. "I knew it would be so, but I wish I had been there to see it.
+I saw that there was a devil in the woman, and that they would die as
+she said. When there is a devil in people they always speak the truth,
+because they can't help it. Look, Baas, I draw a circle in the sand with
+my foot, and I say some words so, and at last the ends touch. There,
+that is the circle of _Oom_ Jacob and his wife the Englishwoman. The
+ends have touched and they are dead. An old witch-doctor taught me how
+to draw the circle of a man's life and what words to say. And now I draw
+another of Baas Frank. Ah! there is a stone sticking up in the way. The
+ends will not touch. But now I work and work and work with my foot, and
+say the words and say the words, and so--the stone comes up and the ends
+touch now. Thus it is with Baas Frank. One day the stone will come up
+and the ends will touch, and he too will die in blood. The devil in
+the Englishwoman said so, and devils cannot lie or speak half the truth
+only. And now, look, I rub my foot over the circles and they are gone,
+and there is only the path again. That means that when they have died
+in blood they will be quite forgotten and stamped out. Even their graves
+will be flat," and Jantje wrinkled up his yellow face into a smile, or
+rather a grin, and then added in a matter-of-fact way:
+
+"Does the Baas wish the grey mare to have one bundle of green forage or
+two?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+JOHN HAS AN ESCAPE
+
+On the following Monday, John, taking Jantje to drive him, departed in
+a rough Scotch cart, to which were harnessed two of the best horses at
+Mooifontein, to shoot buck at Hans Coetzee's.
+
+He reached the place at about half-past eight, and concluded, from the
+fact of the presence of several carts and horses, that he was not the
+only guest. Indeed, the first person whom he saw as the cart pulled up
+was his late enemy, Frank Muller.
+
+"_Kek_ (look), Baas," said Jantje, "there is Baas Frank talking to his
+servant Hendrik, that ugly Basutu with one eye."
+
+John, as may be imagined, was not best pleased at this meeting. He had
+always disliked the man, and since Muller's conduct on the previous
+Friday, and Jantje's story of the dark deed of blood in which he had
+been the principal actor, positively he loathed the sight of him. He
+jumped out of the cart, and was going to walk round to the back of the
+house in order to avoid him, when Muller, suddenly seeming to become
+aware of his presence, advanced to meet him with the utmost cordiality.
+
+"How do you do, Captain?" he said, holding out his hand, which John just
+touched. "So you have come to shoot buck with _Oom_ Coetzee; going to
+show us Transvaalers how do to it, eh? There, Captain, don't look as
+stiff as a rifle barrel. I know what you are thinking of; that little
+business at Wakkerstroom on Friday, is it not? Well, now, I tell you
+what it is, I was in the wrong, and I am not afraid to say so as between
+man and man. I had had a glass, that was the fact, and did not quite
+know what I was about. We have got to live as neighbours here, so let us
+forget all about it and be brothers again. I never bear malice, not I.
+It is not the Lord's will that we should bear malice. Hit out from the
+shoulder, I say, and then forget all about it. If it hadn't been for
+that little monkey," he added, jerking his thumb in the direction
+of Jantje, who was holding the horses' heads, "it would never have
+happened, and it is not nice that two Christians should quarrel about
+such as he."
+
+Muller jerked out this long speech in a succession of sentences,
+something as a schoolboy repeats a hardly learnt lesson, fidgeting his
+feet and letting his restless eyes travel about the ground as he spoke.
+It was evident to John, who stood quite still and listened to it in icy
+silence, that his address was by no means extemporary; clearly it had
+been composed for the occasion.
+
+"I do not wish to quarrel with anybody, _Meinheer_ Muller," he answered
+at length. "I never do quarrel unless it is forced on me, and then,"
+he added grimly, "I do my best to make it unpleasant for my enemy. The
+other day you attacked first my servant and then myself. I am glad that
+you now see that this was an improper thing to do, and, so far as I am
+concerned, there is an end of the matter," and he turned to enter the
+house.
+
+Muller accompanied him as far as where Jantje was standing at the
+horses' heads. Here he stopped, and, putting his hand in his pocket,
+took out a two-shilling piece and threw it to the Hottentot, calling to
+him to catch it.
+
+Jantje was holding the horses with one hand. In the other he held his
+stick--a long walking kerrie that he always carried, the same on which
+he had shown Bessie the notches. In order to secure the piece of money
+he dropped the stick, and Muller's quick eye catching sight of the
+notches beneath the knob, he stooped down, picked it up, and examined
+it.
+
+"What do these mean, boy?" he asked, pointing to the line of big and
+little notches, some of which had evidently been cut years ago.
+
+Jantje touched his hat, spat upon the "Scotchman," as the natives of
+that part of Africa call a two-shilling piece,[*] and pocketed it before
+he answered. The fact that the giver had murdered all his near relations
+did not make the gift less desirable in his eyes. Hottentot moral sense
+is not very elevated.
+
+     [*] Because once upon a time a Scotchman made a great
+     impression on the simple native mind in Natal by palming off
+     some thousands of florins among them at the nominal value of
+     half a crown.
+
+"No, Baas," he said with a curious grin, "that is how I reckon. If
+anybody beats Jantje, Jantje cuts a notch upon the stick, and every
+night before he goes to sleep he looks at it and says, 'One day you will
+strike that man twice who struck you once,' and so on, Baas. Look, what
+a line of them there are, Baas. One day I shall pay them all back again,
+Baas Frank."
+
+Muller abruptly dropped the stick, and followed John towards the house.
+It was a much better building than the Boers generally indulge in, and
+the sitting-room, though innocent of flooring--unless clay and cowdung
+mixed can be called a floor--was more or less covered with mats made of
+springbuck skins. In the centre of the room stood a table made of
+the pretty _buckenhout_ wood, which has the appearance of having been
+industriously pricked all over with a darning-needle, and round it were
+chairs and couches of stinkwood, and seated with rimpis or strips of
+hide.
+
+In one big chair at the end of the room, busily employed in doing
+nothing, sat _Tanta_ (Aunt) Coetzee, the wife of Old Hans, a large and
+weighty woman, who evidently had once been rather handsome; and on
+the couches were some half-dozen Boers, their rifles in their hands or
+between their knees.
+
+It struck John as he entered that some of these did not seem best
+pleased to see him, and he thought he heard one young fellow, with
+a hang-dog expression of face, mutter something about the "damned
+Englishman" to his neighbour rather more loudly than was necessary to
+convey his sentiments. However, old Coetzee came forward to greet him
+heartily enough, and called to his daughters--two fine girls, very
+smartly dressed for Dutch women--to give the Captain a cup of coffee.
+Then John made the rounds after the Boer fashion, and beginning with the
+old lady in the chair, received a lymphatic shake of the hand from every
+single soul in the room. They did not rise--it is not customary to do
+so--they merely extended their paws, all of them more or less damp, and
+muttered the mystic monosyllable "_Daag_," short for good-day. It is
+a very trying ceremony till one gets used to it, and John pulled up
+panting, to be presented with a cup of hot coffee that he did not want,
+but which it would be rude not to drink.
+
+"The Captain is the _rooibaatje?_" said the old lady "Aunt" Coetzee
+interrogatively, and yet with the certainty of one who states a fact.
+
+John signified that he was.
+
+"What does the Captain come to the 'land' for? Is it to spy?"
+
+The whole audience listened attentively to their hostess's question,
+then turned their heads to listen for the answer.
+
+"No. I have come to farm with Silas Croft."
+
+There was a general smile of incredulity. Could a _rooibaatje_ farm?
+Certainly not.
+
+"There are three thousand men in the British army," announced the old
+_vrouw_ oracularly, and casting a severe glance at the wolf in sheep's
+clothing, the man of blood who pretended to farm.
+
+Everybody looked at John again, and awaited his answer in dead silence.
+
+"There are more than a hundred thousand men in the regular British army,
+and as many more in the Indian army, and twice as many more volunteers,"
+he said, in a rather irritated voice.
+
+This statement also was received with the most discouraging incredulity.
+
+"There are three thousand men in the British army," repeated the old
+lady, in a tone of certainty that was positively crushing.
+
+"Yah, yah!" chimed in some of the younger men in chorus.
+
+"There are three thousand men in the British army," she repeated for the
+third time in triumph. "If the Captain says that there are more he lies.
+It is natural that he should lie about his own army. My grandfather's
+brother was at Cape Town in the time of Governor Smith, and he saw the
+whole British army. He counted them; there were exactly three thousand.
+I say that there are three thousand men in the British army."
+
+"Yah, yah!" said the chorus; and John gazed at this terrible person in
+bland exasperation.
+
+"How many men do you command in the British army?" she interrogated
+after a solemn pause.
+
+"A hundred," said John sharply.
+
+"Girl," said the old woman, addressing one of her daughters, "you have
+been to school and can reckon. How many times does one hundred go into
+three thousand?"
+
+The young lady addressed giggled confusedly, and looked for assistance
+to a sardonic Boer whom she was going to marry, who shook his head
+sadly, indicating thereby that these were mysteries into which it was
+not well to pry. Thrown on her own resources, she plunged into the
+recesses of an intricate calculation, in which her fingers played a
+considerable part, and finally, with an air of triumph, announced that
+it went twenty-six times exactly.
+
+"Yah, yah!" said the chorus, "it goes twenty-six times exactly."
+
+"The Captain," said the oracular old lady, who was rapidly driving John
+mad, "commands a twenty-sixth part of the British army, and he says that
+he comes here to farm with Uncle Silas Croft. He says," she went on,
+with withering contempt, "that he comes here to farm when he commands a
+twenty-sixth part of the British army. It is evident that he lies."
+
+"Yah, yah!" said the chorus.
+
+"It is natural that he should lie!" she continued; "all Englishmen lie,
+especially the _rooibaatje_ Englishmen, but he should not lie so badly.
+It must vex the dear Lord to hear a man lie so badly, even though he be
+an Englishman and a _rooibaatje_."
+
+At this point John burst from the house, and swore frantically to
+himself as soon as he was outside. It is to be hoped that he was
+forgiven, for the provocation was not small. It is not pleasant to be
+universally set down not only as a _leugenaar_ (liar), but as one of the
+very feeblest order.
+
+In another minute old Hans Coetzee came out and patted him warmly on the
+shoulder, in a way that seemed to say that, whatever others might think
+of the insufficiency of his powers of falsehood, he, for one, quite
+appreciated them, and announced that it was time to be moving.
+
+Accordingly the party climbed into their carts or on to their
+shooting-horses, as the case might be, and started. Frank Muller, John
+noticed, was mounted as usual on his fine black horse. After driving
+for more than half an hour along an indefinite kind of waggon track, the
+leading cart, in which were old Hans Coetzee himself, a Malay driver,
+and a coloured Cape boy, turned to the left across the open veldt, and
+the others followed in turn. This went on for some time, till at last
+they reached the crest of a rise that commanded a large sweep of open
+country, and here Hans halted and held up his hand, whereon the
+others halted too. On looking out over the vast plain before him John
+discovered the reason. About half a mile beneath them was a great herd
+of blesbuck feeding, three hundred or more of them, and beyond them
+another herd of some sixty or seventy much larger and wilder-looking
+animals with white tails, which John at once recognised as vilderbeeste.
+Nearer to them again, dotted about here and there on the plain, were a
+couple of dozen or so of graceful yellow springbuck.
+
+Now a council of war was held, which resulted in the men on
+horseback--among whom was Frank Muller--being despatched to circumvent
+the herds and drive them towards the carts, that took up their stations
+at various points, towards which the buck were likely to run.
+
+Then came a pause of a quarter of an hour or so, till suddenly, from
+the far ridge of the opposite slope, John saw a couple of puffs of white
+smoke float up into the air, and one of the vilderbeeste below rolled
+over on his back, kicking and plunging furiously. Thereon the whole herd
+of buck turned and came thundering towards them, stretched in a long
+line across the wide veldt; the springbuck first, then the blesbuck,
+looking for all the world like a herd of great bearded goats, owing to
+their peculiar habit of holding their long heads down as they galloped.
+Behind and mixed up with them were the vilderbeeste, who twisted and
+turned, and jumped into the air as though they had gone clean off their
+heads and were next second going clean on to them. It is very difficult,
+owing to his extraordinary method of progression, to distinguish one
+part of a galloping vilderbeeste from another; now it is his horns, now
+his tail, and now his hoofs that present themselves to the watcher's
+bewildered vision, and now again they all seem to be mixed up together.
+On came the great herd, making the ground shake beneath their footfall:
+and after them galloped the mounted Boers, from time to time jumping
+off their horses to fire a shot into the line of game, which generally
+resulted in some poor animal being left sprawling on the ground, whereon
+the sportsmen would remount and continue the chase.
+
+Presently the buck were within range of some of the guns in the carts,
+and a regular fusillade began. About twenty blesbuck turned and came
+straight past John, at a distance of forty yards. Springing to the
+ground he fired both barrels of his "Express" at them as they tore
+along--alas and alas! without touching them. The first bullet struck
+under their bellies, the second must have shaved their backs. Reloading
+rapidly, he fired again at about two hundred yards' range, and this time
+one fell to his second barrel. But he knew that it was a chance shot: he
+had fired at the last buck, and he had killed one ten paces in front
+of it. In fact this sort of shooting is extremely difficult till the
+sportsman understands it. The inexperienced hand firing across a line of
+buck will not kill once in twenty shots, as an infinitesimal difference
+in elevation, or the slightest error in judging distance--in itself
+no easy art on those great plains--will spoil his aim. A Boer almost
+invariably gets immediately behind a herd of running buck, and fires
+at one about half-way down the line. Consequently if his elevation is a
+little wrong, or if he has misjudged his sighting, the odds are that he
+will hit one either in front of or behind the particular animal fired
+at. All that is necessary is that the line of fire should be good. This
+John soon learnt, and when he had mastered the fact he became as good a
+game shot as the majority of Boers, but it being his first attempt, much
+to his vexation, he did not particularly distinguish himself that day,
+with the result that his friends the Dutchmen went home firmly convinced
+that the English _rooibaatje_ shot as indifferently as he lied.
+
+Jumping into the cart again, and leaving the dead blesbuck to look after
+itself for the present--not a very safe thing to do in a country where
+there are so many vultures--John, or rather Jantje, put the horses into
+a gallop, and away they went at full tear. It was a most exciting mode
+of progression, bumping along furiously with a loaded rifle in his hands
+over a plain on which antheaps as large as an armchair were scattered
+like burnt almonds on a cake. Then there were the antbear holes to
+reckon with, and the little swamps in the hollows, and other agreeable
+surprises. But the rush and exhilaration of the thing were too great to
+allow him much time to think of his neck, so away they flew, hanging on
+to the cart as best they could, and trusting to Providence to save them
+from complete disaster. Now they were bounding over an antheap, now one
+of the horses was on his nose, but somehow they always escaped the
+last dire catastrophe, thanks chiefly to the little Hottentot's skilful
+driving.
+
+Whenever the game was within range they pulled up, and John would spring
+from the cart and let drive, then jump in and follow on again. This
+went on for nearly an hour, in which time he had fired twenty-seven
+cartridges and killed three blesbuck and wounded a vilderbeeste, which
+they proceeded to chase. But the vilderbeeste was struck in the rump,
+and an antelope so wounded will travel far, and go very fast also, so
+that some miles of ground had been covered before it began to rest, only
+to start on again as they drew near. At last, on crossing the crest of
+a little rise, John saw what at first he took to be his vilderbeeste,
+dead. A second look, however, showed him that, although it was a dead
+vilderbeeste, most undoubtedly it was not the one which he had wounded,
+for that animal was standing, its head hanging, about one hundred and
+twenty yards beyond the other buck, which, no doubt, had fallen to
+somebody else's rifle, or else had been hit farther back and come here
+to die. Now this vilderbeeste lay within a hundred yards of them, and
+Jantje pointed out to John that his best plan would be to get out of the
+cart and creep on his hands and knees up to the dead animal, from the
+cover of which he would get a good shot at his own wounded bull.
+
+Accordingly Jantje having withdrawn with the cart and horses out of
+sight under the shelter of the rise, John crouched upon his hands and
+knees and proceeded to carry out his stalk. All went well till he was
+quite close to the dead cow, and was congratulating himself on the
+prospect of an excellent shot at the wounded bull, when suddenly
+something struck the ground violently just beneath his body, throwing up
+a cloud of earth and dust. He stopped amazed, and at that instant heard
+the report of a rifle somewhat to his right and knew that a bullet
+had passed beneath him. Scarcely had he realised this when there was a
+sudden commotion in his hair, and the soft black felt hat that he was
+wearing started from his head, apparently of its own accord, and, after
+twirling round twice or thrice in the air, fell gently to the earth,
+just as the sound of a second report reached his ears. It was now
+evident that somebody was firing at him; so, jumping up from his
+crouching position, John tossed his arms into the air and sprang and
+shouted in a way that left no mistake as to his whereabouts. In another
+minute he saw a man on horseback, cantering easily towards him, in whom
+he had little difficulty in recognising Frank Muller. He picked up his
+hat; there was a bullet-hole right through it. Then, full of wrath, he
+advanced to meet Frank Muller.
+
+"What the devil do you mean by firing at me?" he asked.
+
+"_Allemachter, carle!_" (Almighty, my dear fellow) was the cool answer,
+"I thought that you were a vilderbeeste calf. I galloped the cow and
+killed her, and she had a calf with her, and when I got the cartridges
+out of my rifle--for one stuck and took me some time--and the new ones
+in, I looked up, and there, as I thought, was the calf. So I got my
+rifle on and let drive, first with one barrel and then with the other,
+and when I saw you jump up like that and shout, and that I had been
+firing at a man, I nearly fainted. Thank the Almighty I did not hit
+you."
+
+John listened coldly. "I suppose that I am bound to believe you,
+_Meinheer_ Muller," he said. "But I have been told that you have the
+most wonderful sight of any man in these parts, which makes it odd that
+at three hundred yards you should mistake a man upon his hands and knees
+for a vilderbeeste calf."
+
+"Does the Captain think, then, that I wished to murder him; especially,"
+he added, "after I shook his hand this morning?"
+
+"I don't know what I think," answered John, looking straight into
+Muller's eyes, which fell before his own. "All I know is that your
+curious mistake very nearly cost me my life. Look here!" and he took a
+lock of his brown hair out of the crown of his perforated hat and showed
+it to the other.
+
+"Ay, it was very close. Let us thank God that you escaped."
+
+"It could not well have been closer, _Meinheer_. I hope that, for your
+own sake and for the sake of the people who go out shooting with you,
+you will not make such a mistake again. Good-morning!"
+
+The handsome Boer, or Anglo-Boer, sat on his horse stroking his
+beautiful beard and gazing curiously after John Niel's sturdy
+English-looking figure as he marched towards the cart, for, of course,
+the wounded vilderbeeste had long ago vanished.
+
+"I wonder," he said to himself aloud, as he turned his horse's head
+and rode leisurely away, "if the old _volk_ are right after all, and if
+there is a God." Frank Muller was sufficiently impregnated with modern
+ideas to be a free-thinker. "It almost seems like it," he went on, "else
+how did it come that the one bullet passed under his belly and the other
+just touched his head without harming him? I aimed carefully enough too,
+and I could make the shot nineteen times out of twenty and not miss.
+Bah, a God! I snap my fingers at Him. Chance is the only god. Chance
+blows men about like the dead grass, till death comes down like the
+veldt fire and devours them. But there are men who ride chance as one
+rides a young colt--ay, who turn its headlong rushing and rearing to
+their own ends--who let it fly hither and thither till it is weary, and
+then canter it along the road that leads to triumph. I, Frank Muller, am
+one of those men. I never fail in the end. I will kill that Englishman.
+Perhaps I will kill old Silas Croft and the Hottentot too. Bah! they
+do not know what is coming. I know; I have helped to lay the mine; and
+unless they bend to my will I shall be the one to fire it. I will kill
+them all, and I will take Mooifontein, and then I will marry Bessie. She
+will fight against it, but that will make it all the sweeter. She loves
+that _rooibaatje_; I know it; and I will kiss her over his dead body.
+Ah! there are the carts. I don't see the Captain. Driven home, I
+suppose, on account of the shock to his nerves. Well, I must talk to
+those fools. Lord, what fools they are with their chatter about the
+'land,' and the '_verdomde Britische Gouvernment_.' They don't know what
+is good for them. Silly sheep, with Frank Muller for a shepherd! Ay, and
+they shall have Frank Muller for a president one day, and I will rule
+them too. Bah! I hate the English; but I am glad that I am half
+English for all that, for that is where I get the brains! But these
+people--fools, fools! Well, I shall pipe and they shall dance!"
+
+
+
+"Baas," said Jantje to John, as they were driving homewards, "Baas Frank
+shot at you."
+
+"How do you know that?" asked John.
+
+"I saw him. He was stalking the wounded bull, and not looking for a calf
+at all. There was no calf. He was just going to fire at the wounded bull
+when he turned and saw you, and he knelt down on one knee and covered
+you, and before I could do anything he fired, and then when he saw that
+he had missed you he fired again, and I don't know how it was that he
+did not kill you, for he is a wonderful shot with a rifle--he never
+misses."
+
+"I will have the man tried for attempted murder," said John, bringing
+the butt-end of his rifle down with a bang on to the bottom of the cart.
+"A villain like that shall not go scot-free."
+
+Jantje grinned. "It is no use, Baas. He would get off, for I am the
+only witness. A jury won't believe a black man in this country, and they
+would never punish a Boer for shooting at an Englishman. No, Baas! you
+should lie up one day in the veldt where he is going to pass and shoot
+_him_. That is what I would do if I dared."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+ON THE BRINK
+
+For a few weeks after John Niel's adventure at the shooting-party no
+event of any importance occurred at Mooifontein. Day followed day in
+charming monotony, for, whatever "gay worldlings" may think, monotony
+is as full of charm as a dreamy summer afternoon. "Happy is the country
+that has no history," says the voice of wisdom, and the same remark
+maybe made with even more truth of the individual. To get up in the
+morning conscious of health and strength, to pursue the common round and
+daily task till evening comes, and finally to go to bed pleasantly tired
+and sleep the sleep of the just, is the true secret of happiness. Fierce
+excitements, excursions, and alarms do not conduce either to mental or
+physical well-being, and it is for this reason that we find that those
+whose lives have been chiefly concerned with them crave the most after
+the quiet round of domestic life. When they get it, often, it is true,
+they pant for the ardours of the fray whereof the dim and distant sounds
+are echoing through the spaces of their heart, in the same way that the
+countries without a history are sometimes anxious to write one in their
+own blood. But that is a principle of Nature, who will allow of no
+standing still among her subjects, and who has ordained that strife of
+one sort or another shall be the absolute condition of existence.
+
+On the whole, John found that the life of a South African farmer came
+well up to his expectations. He had ample occupation; indeed, what
+between ostriches, horses, cattle, sheep, and crops, he was rather over
+than under occupied. Nor was he much troubled by the lack of civilised
+society, for he was a man who read a great deal, and books could be
+ordered from Durban and Cape Town, while the weekly mail brought with it
+a sufficient supply of papers. On Sundays he always read the political
+articles in the "Saturday Review" aloud to Silas Croft, who, as he grew
+older, found that the print tried his eyes, an attention which the
+old man greatly appreciated. Silas was a well-informed man, and
+notwithstanding his long life spent in a half-civilised country, had
+never lost his hold of affairs or his interest in the wide and rushing
+life of the world in one of whose side eddies he lived apart. This
+task of reading the "Saturday Review" aloud had formerly been a part
+of Bessie's Sunday service, but her uncle was very glad to effect an
+exchange. Bessie's mind was not quite in tune with the profundities of
+that learned journal, and her attention was apt to wonder at the most
+pointed passages.
+
+Thus it came about, what between the "Saturday Review" and other things,
+that a very warm and deep attachment sprang up twixt the old man and his
+younger partner. John was a taking man, especially to the aged, for whom
+he was never tired of performing little services. One of his favourite
+sayings was that old people should be "let down easy," and he acted up
+to it. Moreover, there was a quiet jollity and a bluff honesty about him
+which was undoubtedly attractive both to men and women. Above all, he
+was a well-informed, experienced man, and a gentleman, in a country in
+which both were rare. Each week Silas Croft came to rely more and more
+on him, and allowed things to pass more and more into his hands.
+
+"I'm getting old, Niel," he said to him one night; "I'm getting very
+old; the grasshopper is becoming a burden to me: and I'll tell you what
+it is, my boy," laying his hand affectionately upon John's shoulder, "I
+have no son of my own, and you must be a son to me, as my dear Bessie
+has been a daughter."
+
+John looked up into the kindly, handsome face, crowned with its
+fringe of snowy hair, and at the keen eyes set deep in it beneath the
+overhanging brows, and thought of his old father who was long since
+dead; and somehow he was moved, and his own eyes filled with tears.
+
+"Ay, Mr. Croft," he said, taking the old man's hand, "that I will to the
+best of my ability."
+
+"Thank you, my boy, thank you. I don't like talking much about these
+things, but, as I said, I am getting old, and the Almighty may require
+my account any hour, and if He does I rely on you to look after these
+two girls. It is a wild country this, and one never knows what will
+happen in it from day to day, and they may want help. Sometimes I wish
+I were clear of the place. And now I'm going to bed. I am beginning to
+feel as though I had done my day's work in the world. I'm getting feeble
+John, this is the fact of it."
+
+After that he always called him John.
+
+Of Jess they heard but little. She wrote every week, it is true, and
+gave an accurate account of all that was going on at Pretoria and of
+her daily doings, but she was one of those people whose letters tell one
+absolutely nothing of themselves and of what is passing in their minds.
+They ought to have been headed "Our Pretoria Letter," as Bessie said
+disgustedly after reading through three sheets in Jess's curious,
+upright handwriting. "Once you lose sight of Jess," she went on, "she
+might as well be dead for all you learn about her. Not that one learns
+very much when she is here," she added reflectively.
+
+"She is a peculiar woman," said John thoughtfully. At first he had
+missed her very much, for, strange as she undoubtedly was, she had
+touched a new string in him, of the existence of which he had not till
+then been himself aware. And what is more, it had answered strongly
+enough for some time; but now it was slowly vibrating itself into
+silence again, much as a harp does when the striker takes his fingers
+from the strings. Had she stayed on another week or so the effect might
+have been more enduring.
+
+But although Jess had gone away Bessie had not. On the contrary, she was
+always about him, surrounding him with that tender care a woman, however
+involuntarily, cannot prevent herself from lavishing on the man she
+loves. Her beauty moved about the place like a beam of light about a
+garden, for she was indeed a lovely woman, and as pure and good as she
+was lovely. Nor could John long remain in ignorance of her liking for
+himself. He was not a vain man--very much the reverse, indeed--but
+neither was he a fool. And it must be said that, though Bessie never
+overstepped the bounds of maidenly reserve, neither did she take
+particular pains to hide her preference. Indeed, it was too strong
+to permit her so to do. Not that she was animated by the half-divine,
+soul-searing breath of passion, such as animated her sister, which is a
+very rare thing, and, take it altogether, as undesirable and unsuitable
+to the ordinary conditions of this prosaic and work-a-day life as it
+is rare. But she was tenderly and truly in love after the usual
+young-womanly fashion; indeed, her passion, measured by the everyday
+standard, would have proved to be a deep one. However this might be, she
+was undoubtedly prepared to make John Niel a faithful and loving wife if
+he chose to ask her to marry him.
+
+And as the weeks went on--though, of course, he knew nothing of all
+this--it became a very serious question to John whether he should not
+ask her. It is not good for a man to live alone, especially in the
+Transvaal, and it was not possible for him to pass day by day at the
+side of so much beauty and so much grace without thinking that it
+would be well to draw the bond of union closer. Indeed, had John been
+a younger man of less experience, he would have succumbed to the
+temptation much sooner than he did. But he was neither very young nor
+very inexperienced. Ten years or more ago, in his green and gushing
+youth, as has been said, he had burnt his fingers to the bone, and a
+lively recollection of this incident in his career heretofore had proved
+a very efficient warning. Also, he had reached that period of life when
+men think a great many times before they commit themselves wildly to the
+deep matrimonial waters. At three-and-twenty, for the sake of a pretty
+face, most of us are willing to undertake the serious and in many
+cases overwhelming burdens, risks, and cares of family life, and the
+responsibility of the parentage of a large and healthy brood, but at
+three-and-thirty we take a different view of the matter. The temptation
+may be great, but the per contra list is so very alarming, and we
+never know even then if we see all the liabilities. Such are the
+black thoughts that move in the breasts of selfish men, to the great
+disadvantage of the marriage market; and however it may lower John Niel
+in the eyes of those who take the trouble to follow this portion of his
+life's history, in the interests of truth it must be confessed that he
+was not free from them.
+
+In short, sweet and pretty as Bessie might be, he was not violently in
+love with her; and at thirty-four a man must be violently in love to
+rush into the near risk of matrimony. But, however commendably
+cautious that man may be, he is always liable to fall into temptation
+sufficiently strong to sweep away his caution and make a mockery of his
+plans. However strong the rope, it has its breaking strain; and in the
+same way our power of resistance to any given course depends entirely
+upon the power of the temptation to draw us into it. Thus it was
+destined to be with our friend John Niel.
+
+It was about a week after his conversation with old Silas Croft that it
+occurred to John that Bessie's manner had grown rather strange of late.
+It seemed to him that she had avoided his society instead of showing a
+certain partiality for it, if not of courting it. Also, she had looked
+pale and worried, and evinced a tendency to irritation that was quite
+foreign to her natural sweetness of character. Now, when a person on
+whom one is accustomed to depend for most of that social intercourse
+and those pleasant little amenities which members of one sex value from
+another, suddenly cuts off the supply without any apparent rhyme or
+reason, it is enough to induce a feeling of wonder, not to say of
+vexation, in the breast. It never occurred to John that the reason
+might be that Bessie was truly fond of him, and perhaps unconsciously
+disappointed that he did not show a warmer interest in her. If, however,
+we were to examine into the facts of the case we should probably
+discover that here was the real explanation of this change. Bessie was
+a straightforward young person, whose mind and purposes were as clear
+as running water. She was vexed with John--though she would probably not
+have owned it even to herself in so many words--and her manner reflected
+the condition of her mind.
+
+"Bessie," said John one lovely day, just as the afternoon was merging
+into evening, "Bessie"--he always called her Bessie now--"I am going
+down to the black wattle plantation by the big mealie patch. I want to
+see how those young trees are doing. If you have done your cooking"--for
+she had been engaged in making a cake, as young ladies, to their souls'
+health, often have to do in the Colonies--"I wish you would put on your
+hat and come with me. I don't believe that you have been out to-day."
+
+"Thank you, Captain Niel, I don't think that I want to come out."
+
+"Why not?" he said.
+
+"Oh, I don't know--because there is too much to do. If I go out that
+stupid girl will burn the cake," and she pointed to a Kafir _intombi_
+(young girl), who, arrayed in a blue smock, a sweet smile, and a feather
+stuck in her wool, was vigorously employed in staring at the flies on
+the ceiling and sucking her black fingers. "Really," she added with a
+little stamp, "one needs the patience of an angel to put up with that
+idiot's stupidity. Yesterday she smashed the biggest dinner-dish and
+then brought me the pieces with a broad grin on her face and asked me
+to 'make them one' again. The white people were so clever, she said, it
+would be no trouble to me. If they could make the china plate once, and
+could cause flowers to grow on it, it would surely be easy to make it
+whole again. I did not know whether to laugh or cry or throw the pieces
+at her."
+
+"Look here, young woman," said John, taking the sinning girl by the arm
+and leading her solemnly to the oven, which was opened to receive the
+cake; "look here, if you let that cake burn while the _inkosikaas_ (lady
+chieftain) is away, when I come back I will cram you into the oven to
+burn with it. I cooked a girl like that in Natal last year, and when she
+came out she was quite white!"
+
+Bessie translated this fiendish threat, whereat the girl grinned from
+ear to ear and murmured "_Koos_" (chief) in cheerful acquiescence. A
+Kafir maid on a pleasant afternoon is not troubled by the prospect of
+being baked at nightfall, which is a long way off, especially when it is
+John Niel who threatened the baking. The natives about Mooifontein had
+taken the measure of John's foot by this time with accuracy. His threats
+were awful, but his performances were not great. Once, indeed, he was
+forced to engage in a stand-up fight with a great fellow who thought
+that he could be taken advantage of on this account, but after he had
+succeeded in administering a sound hiding to that champion he was never
+again troubled in this respect.
+
+"Now," he said, "I think we have provided for the safety of your cake,
+so come on."
+
+"Thank you, Captain Niel," answered Bessie, looking at him in a
+bewitching little way she well knew how to assume, "thank you, but I
+think I had rather not go out walking." This was what she said, but her
+eyes added, "I am offended with you; I want to have nothing to do with
+you."
+
+"Very well," said John; "then I suppose I must go alone," and he took up
+his hat with the air of a martyr.
+
+Bessie looked through the open kitchen door at the lights and shadows
+that chased each other across the swelling bosom of the hill behind the
+house.
+
+"It certainly is very fine," she said; "are you going far?"
+
+"No, only round the plantation."
+
+"There are so many puff-adders down there, and I hate snakes," suggested
+Bessie, by way of finding another excuse for not coming.
+
+"Oh, I'll look after the puff-adders--come along."
+
+"Well," she said at last, as she slowly unrolled her sleeves, which had
+been tucked up during the cake-making, and hid her beautiful white
+arms, "I will come, not because I want to come, but because you have
+over-persuaded me. I don't know what is happening to me," she added,
+with a little stamp and a sudden filling of her eyes with tears, "I do
+not seem to have any will of my own left. When I want to do one thing
+and you want me to do another it is I who have to do what you want; and
+I tell you I don't like it, Captain Niel, and I shall be very cross out
+walking;" and sweeping past him, on her way to fetch her hat, in that
+peculiarly graceful fashion which angry women can sometimes assume, she
+left John to reflect that he never saw a more charming or taking lady in
+Europe or out of it.
+
+He had half a mind to risk it and ask her to marry him. But then,
+perhaps, she might refuse him, and that was a contingency which he did
+not quite appreciate. After their first youth few men altogether relish
+the idea of putting themselves in a position that gives a capricious
+woman an opportunity of first figuratively "jumping" on them, and
+then perhaps holding them up to the scorn and obloquy of her friends,
+relations, and other admirers. For, unfortunately, until the opposite is
+clearly demonstrated, many men are apt to believe that not a few women
+are by nature capricious, shallow, and unreliable; and John Niel,
+owing, possibly, to that unhappy little experience of his youth, must be
+reckoned among their misguided ranks.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+OVER IT
+
+On leaving the house Bessie and John took their way down the long avenue
+of blue gums. This avenue was old Silas Croft's particular pride, since
+although it had only been planted for about twenty years, the trees,
+which in the divine climate and virgin soil of the Transvaal grow at the
+most extraordinary rate, were for the most part very lofty, and as thick
+in the stem as English oaks of a hundred and fifty years' standing. The
+avenue was not over wide, and the trees were planted quite close one to
+another, with the result that their brown, pillar-like stems shot up for
+many feet without a branch, whilst high overhead the boughs crossed and
+intermingled in such a way as to form a leafy tunnel, through which the
+landscape beyond appeared as though through a telescope.
+
+Down this charming avenue John and Bessie walked, and on reaching its
+limit they turned to the right and followed a little footpath winding in
+and out of the rocks that built up the plateau on the hillside whereon
+the house stood. Presently this led them through the orchard; then came
+a bare strip of veldt, a very dangerous spot in a thunderstorm, but
+a great safeguard to the stead and trees round it, for the ironstone
+cropped up here, and from the house one might often see flash after
+flash striking down on to it, and even running and zigzagging about its
+surface. To the left of this ironstone were some cultivated lands, and
+in front of them the plantation, in which John was anxious to inspect
+the recently planted wattles.
+
+They walked up to the copse without saying a word. It was surrounded
+by a ditch and a low sod wall, whereon Bessie seated herself, remarking
+that she would wait there till he had looked at the trees, as she was
+afraid of the puff-adders, whereof a large and thriving family were
+known to live in this plantation.
+
+John assented, observing that the puff-adders were brutes, and that he
+must have some pigs turned in to destroy them, which the pigs effect
+by munching them up, apparently without unpleasant consequences to
+themselves. Then he departed on his errand, wending his way gingerly
+through the feathery black wattles. It did not take long, and he saw
+no puff-adders. When he had finished looking at the young trees, he
+returned, still walking delicately like Agag. On reaching the border of
+the plantation, he paused to look at Bessie, who was some twenty paces
+from him, perched sideways on the low sod wall, and framed, as it were,
+in the full rich light of the setting sun. Her hat was off, for the sun
+had lost its burning force, and the hand that held it hung idly by her,
+while her eyes were fixed on the horizon flaming with all the varied
+glories of an African sunset. He gazed at her sweet face and lissom
+form, and some lines that he had read years before floated into his
+mind--
+
+     The little curls about her head
+     Were all her crown of gold,
+     Her delicate arms drooped downwards
+     In slender mould,
+     As white-veined leaves of lilies
+     Curve and fold.
+     She moved to measures of music,
+     As a swan sails the stream--
+
+He had got thus far when she turned and saw him, and he abandoned poetry
+in the presence of one who might well have inspired it.
+
+"What are you looking at?" she said with a smile; "the sunset?"
+
+"No; I was looking at you."
+
+"Then you might have been better employed with the sky," she answered,
+turning her head quickly. "Look at it! Did you ever see such a
+sunset? We sometimes get them like that at this time of year when the
+thunderstorms are about."
+
+She was right; it was glorious. The heavy clouds which a couple of hours
+before had been rolling like celestial hearses across the azure deeps
+were now aflame with glory. Some of them glowed like huge castles
+wrapped in fire, others with the dull red heat of burning coal. The
+eastern heaven was one sheet of burnished gold that slowly grew to red,
+and higher yet to orange and the faintest rose. To the left departing
+sunbeams rested lovingly on grey Quathlamba's crests, even firing the
+eternal snows that lay upon his highest peak, and writing once more upon
+their whiteness the record of another day fulfilled. Lower down the sky
+floated little clouds, flame-flakes fallen from the burning mass above,
+and on the earth beneath lay great depths of shadow barred with the
+brightness of the dying light.
+
+John stood and gazed at it, and its living, glowing beauty seemed to
+fire his imagination, as it fired earth and heaven, in such sort that
+the torch of love lit upon his heart like the sunbeams on the mountain
+tops. Then from the celestial beauty of the skies he turned to look at
+the earthly beauty of the woman who sat there before him, and found
+that also fair. Whether it was the contemplation of the glories of
+Nature--for there is always a suspicion of melancholy in beautiful
+things--or whatever it was, her face had a touch of sadness on it that
+he had never seen before, and which certainly added to its charm as a
+shadow adds to the charm of the light.
+
+"What are you thinking of, Bessie?" he asked.
+
+She looked up, and he saw that her lips were quivering a little. "Well,
+do you know," she said, "oddly enough, I was thinking of my mother. I
+can only just recall her, a woman with a thin, sweet face. I remember
+one evening she was sitting in front of a house while the sun was
+setting as it is now, and I was playing by her, when suddenly she
+called me to her and kissed me, then pointed to the red clouds that were
+gathered in the sky, and said, 'I wonder if you will ever think of
+me, dear, when I have passed through those golden gates?' I did not
+understand what she meant, but somehow I have remembered the words, and
+though she died so long ago, I do often think of her;" and two large
+tears rolled down her face as she spoke.
+
+Few men can bear to see a sweet and pretty woman in tears, and this
+little incident was too much for John, whose caution and doubts all went
+to the winds together.
+
+"Bessie," he said, "don't cry, dear; please, don't! I can't bear to see
+you cry."
+
+She looked up as though to remonstrate at his words, then she looked
+down again.
+
+"Listen, Bessie," he went on awkwardly enough, "I have something to say
+to you. I want to ask you if--if, in short, you will marry me. Wait a
+bit, don't say anything yet; you know me pretty well by now. I am no
+chicken, dear, and I have knocked about the world a good deal, and had
+one or two love affairs like other people. But, Bessie, I never met such
+a sweet woman, or, if you will let me say it, such a lovely woman as you
+are, and if you will have me, dear, I think that I shall be the luckiest
+man in South Africa;" and he stopped, not knowing exactly what else to
+say, and feeling that the time had not come for action, if indeed it was
+to come at all.
+
+When first she understood the drift of his talk Bessie had flushed up to
+the eyes, then the blood sank back to her breast, and left her as pale
+as a lily. She loved the man, and they were happy words to her, and she
+was satisfied with them, though perhaps some women might have thought
+that they left a good deal to be desired. But Bessie was not of an
+exacting nature.
+
+At last she spoke.
+
+"Are you sure," she asked, "that you mean all this? You know sometimes
+people say things of a sudden, upon an impulse, and afterwards they wish
+they never had been said. Then it would be rather awkward supposing I
+were to say 'yes,' would it not?"
+
+"Of course I am sure," he said indignantly.
+
+"You see," went on Bessie, poking at the sod wall with the stick
+she held in her hand, "perhaps in this place you might be putting an
+exaggerated value on me. You think I am pretty because you see nobody
+but Kafir and Boer women, and it would be the same with everything. I'm
+not fit to marry such a man as you," she went on, with a sudden burst
+of distress; "I have never seen anything or anybody. I am nothing but an
+ignorant, half-educated farmer girl, with nothing to recommend me, and
+no fortune except my looks. You are different to me; you are a man of
+the world, and if ever you went back to England I should be a drag on
+you, and you would be ashamed of me and my colonial ways. If it had been
+Jess now, it would have been different, for she has more brains in her
+little finger than I have in my whole body."
+
+Somehow this mention of Jess jarred upon John's nerves, and chilled him
+like a breath of cold wind on a hot day. He wanted to put Jess out of
+his mind just now.
+
+"My dear Bessie," he broke in, "why do you suppose such things? I can
+assure you that, if you appeared in a London drawing-room, you would put
+most of the women into the shade. Not that there is much chance of my
+frequenting London drawing-rooms again," he added.
+
+"Oh, yes! I may be good-looking; I don't say that I am not; but can't
+you understand, I do not want you to marry me just because I am a pretty
+woman, as the Kafirs marry their wives? If you marry me at all I want
+you to marry me because you care for _me_, the real _me_, not my eyes
+and my hair. Oh, I don't know what to answer you! I don't indeed!" and
+she began to cry softly.
+
+"Bessie, dear Bessie!" said John, who was pretty well beside himself by
+this time, "just tell me honestly--do you care about me? I am not worth
+much, I know, but if you do all this goes for nothing," and he took her
+hand and drew her towards him, so that she half slipped, half rose from
+the sod wall and stood face to face with him, for she was a tall woman,
+and they were very nearly of a height.
+
+Twice she raised her beautiful eyes to his to answer and twice her
+courage failed her; then at last the truth broke from her almost with a
+cry:
+
+"Oh, John, I love you with all my heart!"
+
+And now it will be well to drop a veil over the rest of these
+proceedings, for there are some things that should be sacred, even from
+the pen of the historian, and the first transport of the love of a good
+woman is one of them.
+
+Suffice it to say that they sat there side by side on the sod wall,
+and were happy as people ought to be under such circumstances, till the
+glory departed from the western sky and the world grew cold and pale,
+till the night came down and hid the mountains, and only the stars and
+they were left to look out across the dusky distances of the wilderness
+of plain.
+
+
+
+Meanwhile a very different scene was being enacted up at the house half
+a mile away.
+
+Not more than ten minutes after John and his lady-love had departed on
+that fateful walk to look at the young trees, Frank Muller's stalwart
+form, mounted on his great black horse, was to be seen leisurely
+advancing towards the blue-gum avenue. Jantje was lurking about between
+the stems of the trees in the peculiar fashion that is characteristic
+of the Hottentot, and which doubtless is bred into him after tens of
+centuries of tracking animals and hiding from enemies. There he was,
+slipping from trunk to trunk, and gazing round him as though he expected
+each instant to discover the assegai of an ambushed foe or to hear the
+footfall of some savage beast of prey. Absolutely there was no reason
+why he should behave in this fashion; he was simply indulging his
+natural instincts where he thought nobody would observe him. Life at
+Mooifontein was altogether too tame and civilised for Jantje's taste,
+and he needed periodical recreations of this sort. Like a civilised
+child he longed for wild beasts and enemies, and if there were none at
+hand he found a reflected satisfaction in making a pretence of their
+presence.
+
+Presently, however, whilst they were yet a long way off, his quick ear
+caught the sound of the horse's footfalls, and he straightened himself
+and listened. Not satisfied with the results, he laid himself down, put
+his ear to the earth, and gave a guttural sound of satisfaction.
+
+"Baas Frank's black horse," Jantje muttered to himself. "The black horse
+has a cracked heel, and one foot hits the ground more softly than the
+others. What is Baas Frank coming here for? After Missie I think. He
+would be mad if he knew that Missie went down to the plantation with
+Baas Niel just now. People go into plantations to kiss each other"
+(Jantje was not far out there), "and it would make Baas Frank mad if he
+knew that. He would strike me if I told him, or I would tell him."
+
+The horse's hoofs were drawing near by now, so Jantje slipped as easily
+and naturally as a snake into a thick tuft of rank grass which grew
+between the blue gums, and waited. Nobody would have guessed that this
+tuft of grass hid a human being; not even a Boer would have guessed it,
+unless he had happened to walk right on to the spy, and then it would
+have been a chance but that the Hottentot managed to avoid being trodden
+on and escaped detection. Again there was no reason why he should hide
+himself in this fashion, except that it pleased him to do so.
+
+Presently the big horse approached, and the snakelike Hottentot raised
+his head ever so little and peered out with his beady black eyes through
+the straw-like grass stems. They fell on Muller's cold face. It was
+evident that he was in a reflective mood--in an angrily reflective mood.
+So absorbed was he that he nearly let his horse, which was also absorbed
+by the near prospect of a comfortable stall, put his foot in a big hole
+that a wandering antbear had amused himself on the previous night by
+digging exactly in the centre of the road.
+
+"What is Baas Frank thinking of, I wonder?" said Jantje to himself as
+horse and man passed within four feet of him. Then rising, he crossed
+the road, and slipping round by a back way like a fox from a covert,
+was standing at the stable-door with a vacant and utterly unobservant
+expression of face some seconds before the black horse and its rider had
+reached the house.
+
+"I will give them one more chance, just one more," thought the handsome
+Boer, or rather half-breed--for it will be remembered that his mother
+was English--"and if they won't take it, then let their fate be upon
+their own heads. To-morrow I go to the _bymakaar_ at Paarde Kraal to
+take counsel with Paul Kruger and Pretorius, and the other 'fathers
+of the land,' as they call themselves. If I throw in my weight against
+rebellion there will be no rebellion; if I urge it there will be, and
+if _Oom_ Silas will not give me Bessie, and Bessie will not marry me, I
+will urge it even if it plunge the whole country in war from the Cape to
+Waterberg. Patriotism! Independence! Taxes!--that is what they will cry
+till they begin to believe it themselves. Bah! those are not the things
+that I would go to war for; but ambition and revenge, ah! that is
+another matter. I would kill them all if they stood in my way, all
+except Bessie. If war breaks out, who will hold up a hand to help the
+'_verdomde Englesmann_'? They would all be afraid. And it is not my
+fault. Can I help if it I love that woman? Can I help it if my blood
+dries up with longing for her, and if I lie awake hour by hour of
+nights, ay, and weep--I, Frank Muller, who saw the murdered bodies of my
+father and my mother and shed no tear--because she hates me and will not
+look favourably upon me?
+
+"Oh, woman! woman! They talk of ambition and of avarice and of
+self-preservation as the keys of character and action, but what force is
+there to move us like a woman? A little thing, a weak fragile thing--a
+toy from which the rain will wash the paint and of which the rust will
+stop the working, and yet a thing that can shake the world and pour out
+blood like water, and bring down sorrow like the rain. So! I stand by
+the boulder. A touch and it will go crashing down the mountain-side
+so that the world hears it. Shall I send it? It is all one to me. Let
+Bessie and _Oom_ Silas judge. I would slaughter every Englishman in
+the Transvaal to gain Bessie--ay! and every Boer too, and throw all the
+natives in;" and he laughed aloud, and struck the great black horse,
+making it plunge and caper gallantly.
+
+"And then," he went on, giving his ambition wing, "when I have won
+Bessie, and we have kicked all these Englishmen out of the land, in a
+very few years I shall rule this country, and what next? Why, then I
+will stir up the Dutch feeling in Natal and in the old Colony, and we
+will push the Englishmen back into the sea, make a clean sweep of the
+natives, only keeping enough for servants, and have a united South
+Africa, like that poor silly man Burgers used to prate of, but did not
+know how to bring about. A united Dutch South Africa, and Frank Muller
+to rule it! Well, such things have been, and may be again. Give me forty
+years of life and strength, and we shall see----"
+
+Just then he reached the verandah of the house, and, dismissing his
+secret ambitions from his mind, Frank Muller dismounted and entered. In
+the sitting-room he found Silas Croft reading a newspaper.
+
+"Good-day, _Oom_ Silas," he said, extending his hand.
+
+"Good-day, _Meinheer_ Frank Muller," replied the old man very coldly,
+for John had told him of the incident at the shooting-party which so
+nearly ended fatally, and though he made no remark he had formed his own
+conclusions.
+
+"What are you reading about in the _Volkstem_, _Oom_ Silas--about the
+Bezuidenhout affair?"
+
+"No; what was that?"
+
+"It was that the _volk_ are rising against you English, that is all. The
+sheriff seized Bezuidenhout's waggon in execution of taxes, and put it
+up to sale at Potchefstroom. But the _volk_ kicked the auctioneer off
+the waggon and hunted him round the town; and now Governor Lanyon is
+sending Raaf down with power to swear in special constables and enforce
+the law at Potchefstroom. He might as well try to stop a river by
+throwing stones. Let me see, the big meeting at Paarde Kraal was to have
+been on the fifteenth of December, now it is to be on the eighth, and
+then we shall know if it will be peace or war."
+
+"Peace or war?" answered the old man testily. "That has been the cry for
+years. How many big meetings have there been since Shepstone annexed
+the country? Six, I think. And what has come of it all? Just nothing but
+talk. And what can come of it? Suppose the Boers did fight, what would
+the end of it be? They would be beaten, and a lot of people would be
+killed, and that would be the end of it. You don't suppose that England
+would give in to a handful of Boers, do you? What did General Wolseley
+say the other day at the dinner in Potchefstroom? Why, that the country
+would never be given up, because no Government, Conservative, Liberal,
+or Radical, would dare to do it. And now this new Gladstone Government
+has telegraphed the same thing, so what is the use of all the talk and
+childishness? Tell me that, Frank Muller."
+
+Muller laughed as he answered, "You are all very simple people, you
+English. Don't you know that a government is like a woman who cries
+'No, no, no,' and kisses you all the time? If there is noise enough your
+British Government will eat its words and give Wolseley, and Shepstone,
+and Bartle Frere, and Lanyon, and all of them the lie. This is a bigger
+business than you think for, _Oom_ Silas. Of course all these meetings
+and talk are got up. The people are angry because of the English way of
+dealing with the natives, and because they have to pay taxes; and
+they think, now that you British have paid their debts and smashed up
+Sikukuni and Cetewayo, that they would like to have the land back. They
+were glad enough for you to take it at first; now it is another matter.
+But still that is not much. If they were left to themselves nothing
+would come of it except talk, for many of them are very glad that the
+land should be English. But the men who pull the strings are down in
+the Cape. They want to drive every Englishman out of South Africa. When
+Shepstone annexed the Transvaal he turned the scale against the Dutch
+element and broke up the plans they have been laying for years to make a
+big anti-English republic of the whole country. If the Transvaal remains
+British there is an end of their hopes, for only the Free State is left,
+and it is hemmed in. That is why they are so angry, and that is why
+their tools are stirring up the people. They mean to make them fight
+now, and I think that they will succeed. If the Boers win the day, they
+will declare themselves; if not, you will hear nothing of them, and the
+Boers will bear the brunt of it. They are very cunning people the Cape
+'patriots,' but they look well after themselves."
+
+Silas Croft looked troubled, but made no answer, and Frank Muller rose
+and stared out of the window.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+FRANK MULLER SHOWS HIS HAND
+
+Presently Muller turned round. "Do you know why I have told you all
+this, _Oom_ Silas?" he asked.
+
+"No."
+
+"Because I want you to understand that you and all the Englishmen in
+this country are in a very dangerous position. The war is coming, and
+whether it goes for you or against you, you must suffer. You Englishmen
+have many enemies. You have got all the trade and own nearly half the
+land, and you are always standing up for the black people, whom the
+Boers hate. It will go hard with you if there is a war. You will be shot
+and your houses will be burnt, and if you lose the day those who escape
+will be driven out of the country. It will be the Transvaal for the
+Transvaalers, then, and Africa for the Africanders."
+
+"Well, Frank Muller, and if all this should come to pass, what of it?
+What are you driving at, Frank Muller? You don't show me your hand like
+this for nothing."
+
+The Boer laughed. "Of course I don't, _Oom_ Silas. Well, if you want to
+know, I will tell you what I mean. I mean that I alone can protect you
+and your place and people in the bad times which are coming. I have more
+influence in the land than you know of. Perhaps even, I could stave
+off the war, and if it suited me to do so I would do it. At the least
+I could keep you from being harmed, that I know. But I have my price,
+_Oom_ Silas, as we all have, and it must be money down and no credit."
+
+"I don't understand you and your dark sayings," said the old man coldly.
+"I am a straightforward man, and if you will tell me what you mean I
+will give you my answer; if not, I don't see the good of our going on
+talking."
+
+"Very well; I will tell you what I mean. I mean _Bessie_. I mean that I
+love your niece and want to marry her--ay, I mean to marry her by fair
+means or foul--and that she will have nothing to say to me."
+
+"And what have I to do with that, Frank Muller? The girl is her own
+mistress. I cannot dispose of her in marriage, even if I wished it, as
+though she were a colt or an ox. You must plead your own suit and take
+your own answer."
+
+"I have pleaded my suit and I have got my answer," replied the Boer with
+passion. "Don't you understand, she will have nothing to say to me? She
+is in love with that damned _rooibaatje_ Niel whom you have brought up
+here. She is in love with him, I say, and will not look at me."
+
+"Ah," replied Silas Croft calmly, "is it so? Then she shows very good
+taste, for John Niel is an honest man, Frank Muller, and you are not.
+Listen to me," he went on, with a sudden outburst of passion; "I tell
+you that you are a dishonourable man and a villain. I tell you that you
+murdered the Hottentot Jantje's father, mother, and uncle in cold blood
+when you were yet a lad. I tell you that the other day you tried to
+murder John Niel, pretending to mistake him for a buck! And now you, who
+petitioned for this country to be taken over by the Queen, and have gone
+round singing out your loyalty at the top of your voice, come and tell
+me that you are plotting to bring about an insurrection, and to
+plunge the land into war, and ask me for Bessie as the price of your
+protection! But I will tell you something in answer, Frank Muller," and
+the old man rose up, his keen eyes flashing in wrath, and, straightening
+his bent frame, he pointed towards the door. "Go out of that door and
+never come through it again. I rely upon God and the English nation
+to protect me, and not on such as you, and I would rather see my dear
+Bessie dead in her coffin than married to a knave and traitor and a
+murderer like Frank Muller. Go!"
+
+The Boer turned white with fury as he listened. Twice he tried to speak
+and failed, and when the words did come they were so choked and laden
+with passion as to be scarcely audible. When thwarted he was liable
+to these accesses to rage, and, speaking figuratively, they spoilt his
+character. Could he have kept his head, he would have been a perfect and
+triumphant villain, but as it was, the carefully planned and audacious
+rascality of years was always apt to be swept away by the sudden gale
+of his furious passion. It was in such an outburst of rage that he had
+assaulted John in the inn yard at Wakkerstroom, and thereby put him on
+his guard against him, and now it mastered him once more.
+
+"Very well, Silas Croft," he said at last, "I will go; but mark this, I
+will come back, and when I come it shall be with men armed with rifles.
+I will burn this pretty place of yours, that you are so proud of, over
+your head, and I will kill you and your friend the Englishman, and
+take Bessie away, and very soon she shall be glad enough to marry Frank
+Muller; but then I will not marry her--no, not if she goes on her knees
+to me--and she shall go on her knees often enough. We will see then what
+God and the English nation will do to protect you. God and the English
+nation! Call on the sheep and the horses; call on the rocks and the
+trees, and you will get a better answer."
+
+"Go!" thundered the old man, "or by the God you blaspheme I will put a
+bullet through you," and he reached towards a rifle that hung over the
+mantelpiece, "or my Kafirs shall whip you off the place."
+
+Frank Muller waited no more. He turned and went. It was dark now, but
+there was still some light in the sky at the end of the blue-gum
+avenue, and against it, as he rode away, he discovered Bessie's tall and
+graceful form softly outlined upon the darkening night. John had left
+her to see about some pressing matter connected with the farm, and there
+she stood, filled with the great joy of a woman who has found her love,
+and loth as yet to break its spell by entering again into the daily
+round of common life.
+
+There she stood, a type and symbol of all that is beautiful and gracious
+in this rough world, the lovelights shining in her blue eyes and
+thoughts of happy gratitude to the Giver of all good rising from her
+heart to Heaven, drawn up thither, as it were, by the warmth of her pure
+passion, as the dew mists of the morning are drawn upward by the sun.
+There she was, so good, so happy, and so sweet; an answer to the world's
+evil, a symbol of the world's joy, and an incarnation of the world's
+beauty! Who but a merciful and almighty Father can create children such
+as she, so lovely, so lovable, and set them on the world as He sets the
+stars upon the sky to light it and make beholders think of holy things,
+and who but man could have the heart to turn such as she to the base
+uses whereto they are daily turned?
+
+Presently she heard the horse's hoofs, and looked up, so that the
+faint light fell full upon her face, idealising it, and making its
+passion-breathing beauty seem more of Heaven than of earth. There was
+some look upon it, some indefinable light that day--such is the power
+that Love has to infuse all human things with the tint of his own
+splendour--that it went even to the heart of the wild and evil man who
+adored her with the deep and savage force of his dark nature. Was it
+well to meddle with her, and to build up plans for her overthrow and
+that of all to whom she clung? Would it not be better to let her be,
+to go his way and leave her to go hers in peace? She did not look
+quite like a woman standing there, but more like something belonging
+to another world, some subject of a higher rule. Men of powerful but
+undisciplined intellect like Frank Muller are never entirely free
+from superstition, however free they may be from religion, and he grew
+superstitious as he was apt to do. Might there not be an unknown penalty
+for treading such a flower as that into the mire--into mire mixed
+perchance with the blood of those she loved?
+
+For a few seconds he hesitated. Should he throw up the whole affair,
+leave the rebellion to look after itself, marry one of Hans Coetzee's
+daughters, and trek to the old colony, or Bechuanaland, or anywhere? His
+hand began to tighten on his bridle-rein and the horse to answer to the
+pressure. As a first step towards it he would turn away to the left and
+avoid her, when suddenly the thought of his successful rival flashed
+into his mind. What, leave her with that man? Never! He had rather kill
+her with his own hand. In another second he had sprung from his horse,
+and, before she guessed who it was, he was standing face to face with
+her. The strength of his jealous desire overpowered him.
+
+"Ah, I thought he had come after missie," said Jantje, who, pursuing his
+former tactics, was once more indulging his passion for slinking about
+behind trees and in tufts of grass. "Now what will missie say?"
+
+"How are you, Bessie?" said Muller in a quiet voice, but she, looking
+into his face, saw that it belied the voice. It was alive with evil
+passions that seemed to make it positively lurid, an effect that its
+undoubted beauty only intensified.
+
+"I am quite well, thank you, Mr. Muller," she answered as she began to
+move homewards, commanding her voice as well as she could, but feeling
+dreadfully frightened and lonely. She knew something of her admirer's
+character, and feared to be left alone with him so far from any help,
+for nobody was about now, and they were more than three hundred yards
+from the house.
+
+He stood before her so that she could not pass without actually pushing
+by him. "Why are you in such a hurry?" he said. "You were standing still
+enough just now."
+
+"It is time for me to be going in. I want to see about the supper."
+
+"The supper can wait awhile, Bessie, and I cannot wait. I am starting
+for Paarde Kraal to-morrow at day-break, and I want to say good-bye to
+you first."
+
+"Good-bye," she said, more frightened than ever at his curious
+constrained manner, and she held out her hand.
+
+He took it and retained it.
+
+"Please let me go," she said.
+
+"Not till you have heard what I have to say. Look here, Bessie, I love
+you with all my heart. I know you think I am only a Boer, but I am more
+than that. I have been to the Cape and seen the world. I have brains,
+and can see and understand things, and if you will marry me I will lift
+you up. You shall be one of the first ladies in Africa, though I am only
+plain Frank Muller now. Great things are going to happen in the country,
+and I shall be at the head of them, or near it. No, don't try to get
+away. I tell you I love you, you don't know how. I am dying for you. Oh!
+can't you believe me? my darling! my darling! Yes, I _will_ kiss you,"
+and in an agony of passion, that her resistance only fired the more, he
+flung his strong arms round her and drew her to his breast, fight as she
+would.
+
+But at this opportune moment an unexpected diversion occurred, of which
+the hidden Jantje was the cause. Seeing that matters were becoming
+serious, and being afraid to show himself lest Frank Muller should kill
+him then and there, as indeed he would have been quite capable of doing,
+he hit upon another expedient, to the service of which he brought a
+ventriloquistic power that is not uncommon among natives. Suddenly the
+silence was broken by a frightful and prolonged wail that seemed to
+shape itself into the word "Frank," and to proceed from the air just
+above the struggling Bessie's head. The effect produced upon Muller was
+something wonderful.
+
+"_Allemachter!_" he cried, looking up, "it is my mother's voice!"
+
+"_Frank!_" wailed the voice again, and he let go of Bessie in his
+perplexity and fear, and turned round to try and discover whence the
+sound proceeded--a circumstance of which that young lady took advantage
+to beat a rapid if not very dignified retreat.
+
+"_Frank! Frank! Frank!_" wailed and howled the voice, now overhead, now
+on this side, now on that, till at last Muller, thoroughly mystified
+and feeling his superstitious fears rising apace as the moaning sound
+flitted about beneath the dark arch of the gum-trees, made a rush for
+his horse, which was snorting and trembling in every limb. It is almost
+as easy to work upon the superstitious fears of a dog or a horse as upon
+those of a man, but Muller, not being aware of this, took the animal's
+alarm as a clear indication of the uncanny nature of the voice. With
+a single bound he sprang into his saddle, and as he did so the woman's
+voice wailed out once more--
+
+"_Frank_, thou shalt die in blood as I did, Frank!"
+
+Muller turned livid with fear, and the cold perspiration streamed from
+his face. He was a bold man enough physically, but this was too much for
+his nerves.
+
+"It is my mother's voice, they are her very words!" he called out aloud,
+then, dashing his spurs into his horse's flanks, he went like a flash
+far from the accursed spot; nor did he draw rein till he came to his own
+place ten miles away. Twice the horse fell in the darkness, for there
+was no moon, the second time throwing him heavily, but he only dragged
+it up with an oath, and springing into the saddle again fled on as
+before.
+
+Thus the man who did not hesitate to plot and to execute the cruel
+slaughter of unoffending men cowered beneath the fancied echo of a dead
+woman's voice! Truly human nature is full of contradictions.
+
+When the thunder of the horse's hoofs grew faint Jantje emerged from one
+of his hiding-places, and, throwing himself down in the centre of the
+dusty road, kicked and rolled with delight, shaking all the while with
+an inward joy to which his habits of caution would not permit him to
+give audible vent. "His mother's voice, his mother's words," he quoted
+to himself. "How should he know that Jantje remembers the old woman's
+voice--ay, and the words that the devil in her spoke too? Hee! hee!
+hee!"
+
+Finally he departed to eat his supper of beef, which he had cut off
+an unfortunate ox which that morning had expired of a mysterious
+complication of diseases, filled with a happy sense that he had not
+lived that day in vain.
+
+Bessie fled without stopping till she reached the orange-trees in front
+of the verandah, where, reassured by the lights from the windows, she
+paused to consider. Not that she was troubled by Jantje's mysterious
+howling; indeed, she was too preoccupied to give it a second thought.
+What she debated was whether she should say anything about her encounter
+with Frank Muller. Young ladies are not, as a rule, too fond of
+informing their husbands or lovers that somebody has kissed them; first,
+because they know it will force them to make a disturbance and possibly
+to place themselves in a ridiculous position; and, secondly, because
+they fear lest suspicious man might take the story with a grain of salt,
+and suggest even that they, the kissed, were themselves to blame. Both
+these reasons presented themselves to Bessie's practical mind, also a
+further one, namely, that he had not kissed her after all. So on a rapid
+review of the whole case she came to the decision to say nothing to John
+about it, and only enough to her uncle to make him forbid Frank Muller
+the house--an unnecessary precaution, as the reader will remember. Then,
+after pausing for a few seconds to pick a branch of orange blossom and
+to recover herself generally, which, not being hysterically inclined,
+she very soon did, she entered the house quietly as though nothing had
+happened. The very first person she met was John himself, who had come
+in by the back way. He laughed at her orange-blossom bouquet, and said
+that it was most appropriate, then proceeded to embrace her tenderly in
+the passage; and indeed he would have been a poor sort of lover if he
+had not. It was exactly at this juncture that old Silas Croft happened
+to open the sitting-room door and became the spectator of this
+surprising and attractive tableau.
+
+"Well, I never!" said the old gentleman. "What is the meaning of all
+this, Bessie?"
+
+Of course there was nothing for it but to advance and explain the facts
+of the case, which John did with much humming and ha-ing and a general
+awkwardness of manner that baffles description, while Bessie stood by,
+her hand upon her lover's shoulder, blushing as red as any rose.
+
+Mr. Croft listened in silence till John had finished, a smile upon his
+face and a kindly twinkle in his keen eyes.
+
+"So," he said, "that is what you young people have been after, is it? I
+suppose that you want to enlarge your interests in the farm, eh, John?
+Well, upon my word, I don't blame you; you might have gone farther and
+fared worse. These sort of things never come singly, it seems. I had
+another request for your hand, my dear, only this afternoon, from that
+scoundrel Frank Muller, of all men in the world," and his face darkened
+as he said the name. "I sent him off with a flea in his ear, I can tell
+you. Had I known then what I know now, I should have referred him to
+John. There, there! He is a bad man, and a dangerous man, but let him
+be. He is taking plenty of rope, and he will hang himself one of these
+days. Well, my dears, this is the best bit of news that I have heard for
+many a long year. It's time you got married, both of you, for it is
+not right for man to live alone, or woman either. I have done it all
+my life, and that is the conclusion I have come to after thinking the
+matter over for somewhere about fifty years. Yes, you have my consent
+and my blessing too, and you will have something more one day before so
+very long. Take her, John, take her. I have led a rough life, but I have
+seen somewhat of women for all that, and I tell you that there is not
+a sweeter or a prettier girl in South Africa than Bessie Croft, and in
+wanting to marry her you have shown your sense. God bless you both, my
+dears; and now, Bessie, come and give your old uncle a kiss. I hope that
+you won't let John quite drive me out of your head, that's all, for you
+see, my dear, having no children of my own, I have managed to grow very
+fond of you in the last twelve years or so."
+
+Bessie kissed the old man tenderly.
+
+"No, uncle," she answered, "neither John nor anybody nor anything in the
+world can do that," and it was evident from her manner that she meant
+what she said. Bessie had a large heart, and was not at all the person
+to let her lover drive her uncle and benefactor out of his share
+thereof.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+JOHN TO THE RESCUE
+
+The important domestic events described in the last chapter took place
+on December 7, 1880, and for the next twelve days or so everything went
+as happily at Mooifontein as things should go under the circumstances.
+Every day Silas Croft beamed with an enlarged geniality in his
+satisfaction at the turn that matters had taken, and every day John
+found cause to congratulate himself more and more on the issue of his
+bold venture towards matrimony. Now that he came to be on such intimate
+terms with his betrothed, he perceived a hundred charms and graces
+in her nature which before he had never suspected. Bessie was like a
+flower: the more she basked in the light and warmth of her love the more
+her character opened and unfolded, shedding perfumed sweetness around
+her and revealing unguessed charms. It is so with all women, and more
+especially with a woman of her stamp, whom Nature has made to love and
+be loved as maid and wife and mother. Her undoubted personal beauty
+shared also in this development, her fair face taking a richer hue and
+her eyes an added depth and meaning. She was in every respect, save one,
+all that a man could desire in his wife, and even the exception would
+have stood to her credit with many men. It was this: she was not an
+intellectual person, although certainly she possessed more than the
+ordinary share of intelligence and work-a-day common sense. Now John was
+a decidedly intellectual man, and, what is more, he highly appreciated
+that rare quality in the other sex. But, after all, when one is just
+engaged to a sweet and lovely woman, one does not think much about her
+intellect. Those reflections come afterwards.
+
+And so they sauntered hand in hand through the sunny days and were happy
+exceedingly. Least of all did they allow the rumours which reached them
+from the great Boer gathering at Paarde Kraal to disturb their serenity.
+There had been so many of these reports of rebellion that folk were
+beginning to regard them as a chronic state of affairs.
+
+"Oh, the Boers!" said Bessie, with a pretty toss of her golden head, as
+they were sitting one morning on the verandah. "I am sick to death of
+hearing about the Boers and all their got-up talk. I know what it is;
+it is just an excuse for them to go away from their farms and wives and
+children and idle about at these great meetings, and drink 'square-face'
+with their mouths full of big words. You see what Jess says in her
+last letter. People in Pretoria believe that it is all nonsense from
+beginning to end, and I think they are perfectly right."
+
+"By the way, Bessie," asked John, "have you written to Jess telling her
+of our engagement?"
+
+"Oh yes, I wrote some days ago, but the letter only went yesterday. She
+will be pleased to hear about it. Dear old Jess, I wonder when she means
+to come home again. She has been away long enough."
+
+John made no answer, but went on smoking his pipe in silence, wondering
+if Jess would be pleased. He did not understand her yet. She had gone
+away just as he was beginning to understand her.
+
+Presently he observed Jantje sneaking about between the orange-trees as
+though he wished to call attention to himself. Had he not wanted to do
+so he would have moved from one to the other in such a way that nobody
+could have seen him. His partial and desultory appearances indicated
+that he was on view.
+
+"Come out of those trees, you little rascal, and stop slipping
+about like a snake in a stone wall!" shouted John. "What is it you
+want--wages?"
+
+Thus adjured, Jantje advanced and sat down on the path, as usual in the
+full glare of the sun.
+
+"No, Baas," he said, "it is not wages. They are not due yet."
+
+"What is it, then?"
+
+"No, Baas, it is this. The Boers have declared war on the English
+Government, and they have eaten up the _rooibaatjes_ at Bronker's
+Spruit, near Middleburg. Joubert shot them all there the day before
+yesterday."
+
+"What!" shouted John, letting his pipe fall in his astonishment. "Stop,
+though, that must be a lie. You say near Middleburg, the day before
+yesterday: that would be December 20. When did you hear this?"
+
+"At daybreak, Baas. A Basutu told me."
+
+"Then there is an end of it. The news could not have reached here in
+thirty-eight hours. What do you mean by coming to me with such a tale?"
+
+The Hottentot smiled. "It is quite true, Baas. Bad news flies like a
+bird," and he picked himself up and slipped off to his work.
+
+Notwithstanding the apparent impossibility of the thing, John was
+considerably disturbed, knowing the extraordinary speed with which
+tidings do travel among Kafirs, more swiftly, indeed, than the fleetest
+mounted messenger can bear them. Leaving Bessie, who was also somewhat
+alarmed, he went in search of Silas Croft, and, finding him in the
+garden, told him what Jantje had said. The old man did not know what to
+make of the tale, but, remembering Frank Muller's threats, he shook his
+head.
+
+"If there is any truth in it, that villain Muller has a hand in it," he
+said. "I'll go to the house and see Jantje. Give me your arm, John."
+
+He obeyed, and, on arriving at the top of the steep path, they perceived
+the stout figure of old Hans Coetzee, who had been John's host at the
+shooting-party, ambling along on his fat little pony.
+
+"Ah," said Silas, "here is the man who will tell us if there is anything
+in it all."
+
+"Good-day, _Oom_ Coetzee, good-day!" he shouted out in his stentorian
+tones. "What news do you bring with you?"
+
+The jolly-looking Boer rolled awkwardly off his pony before answering,
+and, throwing the reins over its head, came to meet them.
+
+"_Allemachter_, _Oom_ Silas, it is bad news. You have heard of the
+_bymakaar_ at Paarde Kraal. Frank Muller wanted me to go, but I would
+not, and now they have declared war on the British Government and sent
+a proclamation to Lanyon. There will be fighting, _Oom_ Silas, the land
+will run with blood, and the poor _rooibaatjes_ will be shot down like
+buck."
+
+"The poor Boers, you mean," growled John, who did not like to hear her
+Majesty's army talked of in terms of regretful pity.
+
+_Oom_ Coetzee shook his head with the air of one who knew all about it,
+and then turned an attentive ear to Silas Croft's version of Jantje's
+story.
+
+"_Allemachter!_" groaned Coetzee, "what did I tell you? The poor
+_rooibaatjes_ shot down like buck, and the land running with blood! And
+now that Frank Muller will draw me into it, and I shall have to go and
+shoot the poor _rooibaatjes_; and I can't miss, try as hard as I will, I
+_can't_ miss. And when we have shot them all I suppose that Burgers
+will come back, and he is _kransick_ (mad). Yes, yes; Lanyon is bad, but
+Burgers is worse," and the comfortable old gentleman groaned aloud at
+the troubles in which he foresaw he would be involved, and finally took
+his departure by a bridle-path over the mountain, saying that, as
+things had turned out, he would not like it to be known that he had been
+calling on an Englishman. "They might think that I was not loyal to the
+'land,'" he added in explanation; "the land which we Boers bought with
+our blood, and which we shall win back with our blood, whatever the
+poor 'pack oxen' of _rooibaatjes_ try to do. Ah, those poor, poor
+_rooibaatjes_, one Boer will drive away twenty of them and make them run
+across the veldt, if they can run in those great knapsacks of theirs,
+with the tin things hanging round them like the pots and kettles to the
+bed-plank of a waggon. What says the Holy Book? 'One thousand shall flee
+at the rebuke of one, and at the rebuke of five shall ye flee,' at least
+I think that is it. The dear Lord knew what was coming when He wrote it.
+He was thinking of the Boers and the poor _rooibaatjes_," and Coetzee
+departed, shaking his head sadly.
+
+"I am glad that the old gentleman has made tracks," said John, "for if
+he had gone on much longer about the poor English soldiers he would have
+fled 'at the rebuke of one,' I can tell him."
+
+"John," said Silas Croft suddenly, "you must go up to Pretoria and fetch
+Jess. Mark my words, the Boers will besiege Pretoria, and if we don't
+get her down at once she will be shut up there."
+
+"Oh no," cried Bessie, in sudden alarm, "I cannot let John go."
+
+"I am sorry to hear you talk like that, Bessie, when your sister is in
+danger," answered her uncle rather sternly; "but there, I dare say that
+it is natural. I will go myself. Where is Jantje? I shall want the Cape
+cart and the four grey horses."
+
+"No, uncle dear, John shall go. I was not thinking what I was saying. It
+seemed--a little hard at first."
+
+"Of course I must go," said John. "Don't fret, dear, I shall be back in
+five days. Those four horses can go sixty miles a day for that time, and
+more. They are fat as butter, and there is lots of grass along the road
+if I can't get forage for them. Besides, the cart will be nearly empty,
+so I can carry a muid of mealies and fifty bundles of forage. I will
+take that Zulu boy, Mouti, with me. He does not know very much about
+horses, but he is a plucky fellow, and would stick by one at a pinch.
+One can't rely on Jantje; he is always sneaking off somewhere, and would
+be sure to get drunk just as one wanted him."
+
+"Yes, yes, John, that's right, that's right," said the old man. "I will
+go and see about having the horses got up and the wheels greased. Where
+is the castor-oil, Bessie? There is nothing like castor-oil for these
+patent axles. You ought to be off in an hour. You had better sleep at
+Luck's to-night; you might get farther, but Luck's is a good place to
+stop, and they will look after you well there, and you an be off by
+three in the morning, reaching Heidelberg by ten o'clock to-morrow
+night, and Pretoria by the next afternoon," and he bustled away to make
+the necessary preparations.
+
+"Oh, John," said Bessie, beginning to cry, "I don't like your going at
+all among all those wild Boers. You are an English officer, and if they
+find you out they will shoot you. You don't know what brutes some of
+them are when they think it safe to be so. Oh, John, John, I can't
+endure your going."
+
+"Cheer up, my dear," said John, "and for Heaven's sake stop crying, for
+I cannot bear it. I must go. Your uncle would never forgive me if I did
+not, and, what is more, I should never forgive myself. There is
+nobody else to send, and we can't leave Jess to be shut up there in
+Pretoria--for months perhaps. As for the risk, of course there is a
+little risk, but I must take it. I am not afraid of risks--at least I
+used not to be, but you have made a bit of a coward of me, Bessie dear.
+There, give me a kiss, old girl, and come and help me to pack my things.
+Please God I shall get back all right, and Jess with me, in a week from
+now."
+
+Whereon Bessie, being a sensible and eminently practical young woman,
+dried her tears, and with a cheerful face, albeit her heart was heavy
+enough, set to work with a will to make every possible preparation.
+
+The few clothes John was to take with him were packed in a Gladstone
+bag, the box fitted underneath the movable seat in the Cape cart was
+filled with the tinned provisions which are so much used in South
+Africa, and all the other little arrangements, small in themselves, but
+of such infinite importance to the traveller in a wild country, were
+duly attended to by her careful hands. Then came a hurried meal, and
+before it was swallowed the cart was at the door, with Jantje hanging as
+usual on to the heads of the two front horses, and the stalwart Zulu,
+or rather Swazi boy, Mouti, whose sole luggage appeared to consist of a
+bundle of assegais and sticks wrapped up in a grass mat, and who, hot as
+it was, was enveloped in a vast military great-coat, lounging placidly
+alongside.
+
+"Good-bye, John, dear John," said Bessie, kissing him again and again,
+and striving to keep back the tears that, do what she could, would
+gather in her blue eyes. "Good-bye, my love."
+
+"God bless you, dearest," he said simply, kissing her in answer;
+"good-bye, Mr. Croft. I hope to see you again in a week," and he was
+in the cart and had gathered up the long and intricate-looking reins.
+Jantje let go the horses' heads and uttered a whoop. Mouti, giving up
+star-gazing, suddenly became an animated being and scrambled into the
+cart with surprising alacrity; the horses sprang forward at a hand
+gallop, and were soon hidden from Bessie's dim sight in a cloud of dust.
+Poor Bessie, it was a hard trial, and now that John had gone and her
+tears could not distress him, she went into her room and gave way to
+them freely enough.
+
+John reached Luck's, a curious establishment on the Pretoria road, such
+as are to be met with in sparsely populated countries, combining the
+characteristics of an inn, a shop, and a farm-house. It was not an inn
+and not a farm-house, strictly speaking, nor was it altogether a shop,
+although there was a "store" attached. If the traveller is anxious to
+obtain accommodation for man and beast at a place of this stamp he has
+to proceed warily, so to say, lest he should be requested to move on. He
+must advance, hat in hand, and ask to be taken in as a favour, as many a
+stiff-necked wanderer, accustomed to the obsequious attentions of "mine
+host," has learnt to his cost. There is no such dreadful autocrat
+as your half-and-half innkeeper in South Africa, and then he is so
+completely master of the situation. "If you don't like it, go and
+be d--d to you," is his simple answer to the remonstrances of the
+infuriated voyager. Then you must either knock under and look as though
+you liked it, or trek on into the "unhostelled" wilderness. But on this
+occasion John fared well enough. To begin with, he knew the owners of
+the place, who were very civil people if approached in a humble spirit,
+and, furthermore, he found everybody in such a state of unpleasurable
+excitement that they were only too glad to get another Englishman with
+whom to talk over matters. Not that their information amounted to much,
+however. There was a rumour of the Bronker's Spruit disaster and other
+rumours of the investment of Pretoria, and of the advance of large
+bodies of Boers to take possession of the pass over the Drakensberg,
+known as Laing's Nek, but there was no definite intelligence.
+
+"You won't get into Pretoria," said one melancholy man, "so it's no use
+trying. The Boers will just catch you and kill you, and there will be
+an end of it. You had better leave the girl to look after herself and go
+back to Mooifontein."
+
+But this was not John's view of the matter. "Well," he answered, "at any
+rate I'll have a try." Indeed, he had a sort of bull-dog nature about
+him which led him to believe that if he made up his mind to do a thing,
+he would do it somehow, unless he should be physically incapacitated by
+circumstances beyond his own control. It is wonderful how far a mood
+of the kind will take a man. Indeed, it is the widespread possession of
+this sentiment that has made England what she is. Now it is beginning
+to die down and to be legislated out of our national character, and the
+results are already commencing to appear in the incipient decay of our
+power. We cannot govern Ireland. It is beyond us; let Ireland have Home
+Rule! We cannot cope with our Imperial responsibilities; let them be
+cast off: and so on. The Englishmen of fifty years ago did not talk in
+this "weary Titan" strain.
+
+Well, every nation becomes emasculated sooner or later, that seems to be
+the universal fate; and it appears that it is our lot to be emasculated,
+not by the want of law but by a plethora thereof. This country was made,
+not by Governments, but for the most part in despite of them by the
+independent efforts of generations of individuals. The tendency nowadays
+is to merge the individual in the Government, and to limit or even
+forcibly to destroy personal enterprise and responsibility. Everything
+is to be legislated for or legislated against. As yet the system is only
+in its bud. When it blooms, if it is ever allowed to bloom, the Empire
+will lose touch of its constituent atoms and become a vast soulless
+machine, which will first get out of order, then break down, and, last
+of all, break up. We owe more to sturdy, determined, unconvinceable
+Englishmen like John Niel than we know, or, perhaps, should be willing
+to acknowledge in these enlightened days. "Long live the Caucus!" that
+is the cry of the nineteenth century. But what will Englishmen cry in
+the twentieth?[*]
+
+     [*] These words were written some ten years ago; but since
+     then, with all gratitude be it said, a change has come over
+     the spirit of the nation, or rather, the spirit of the
+     nation has re-asserted itself. Though the "Little England"
+     party still lingers, it exists upon the edge of its own
+     grave. The dominance and responsibilities of our Empire are
+     no longer a question of party politics, and among the
+     Radicals of to-day we find some of the most ardent
+     Imperialists. So may it ever be!--H. R. H. 1896.
+
+John resumed his perilous journey more than an hour before dawn on
+the following morning. Nobody was stirring, and as it was practically
+impossible to arouse the slumbering Kafirs from the various holes and
+corners where they were taking their rest--for a native hates the cold
+of the dawning--Mouti and he were obliged to harness the horses and
+inspan them without assistance--an awkward job in the dark. At last,
+however, everything was ready, and, as the bill had been paid overnight,
+there was nothing to wait for, so they clambered into the cart and made
+a start. But before they had proceeded forty yards, however, John heard
+a voice calling to him to stop. He did so, and presently, holding a
+lighted candle which burnt without a flicker in the still damp air, and
+draped from head to foot in a dingy-looking blanket, appeared the male
+Cassandra of the previous evening.
+
+He advanced slowly and with dignity, as became a prophet, and at length
+reached the side of the cart, where the sight of his illuminated figure
+and of the dirty blanket over his head nearly made the horses run away.
+
+"What is it?" said John testily, for he was in no mood for delay.
+
+"I thought I'd just get up to tell you," replied the draped form, "that
+I am quite sure that I was right, and that the Boers will shoot you. I
+should not like you to say afterwards that I have not warned you," and
+he held up the candle so that the light fell on John's face, and gazed
+at it in fond farewell.
+
+"Curse it all," said John in a fury, "if that was all you had to say you
+might have kept in bed," and he brought down his lash on the wheelers
+and away they went with a bound, putting out the prophet's candle and
+nearly knocking the prophet himself backwards into the _sluit_.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+A ROUGH JOURNEY
+
+The four greys were fresh horses, in good condition and with a light
+load behind them, so, notwithstanding the bad state of the tracks which
+they call roads in South Africa, John made good progress.
+
+By eleven o'clock that day he had reached Standerton, a little town upon
+the Vaal, not far from which, had he but known it, he was destined
+to meet with a sufficiently striking experience. Here he obtained
+confirmation of the Bronker's Spruit disaster, and listened with set
+face and blazing eyes to the tale of treachery and death which was, as
+he said, with a parallel in the annals of civilised war. But, after all,
+what does it matter?--a little square of graves at Bronker's Spruit,
+a few more widows and a hundred or so of orphans. England, by her
+Government, answered the question plainly--it matters very little.
+
+At Standerton John was again warned that it would be impossible for
+him to make his way through the Boers at Heidelberg, a town about sixty
+miles from Pretoria, where the Triumvirate, Kruger, Pretorious, and
+Joubert, had proclaimed the Republic. But he answered as before, that
+he must go on till he was stopped, and inspanning his horses set forward
+again, a little comforted by the news that the Bishop of Pretoria, who
+was hurrying up to rejoin his family, had passed through a few hours
+before, also intent upon running the blockade, and that if he drove fast
+he might overtake him.
+
+On he went, hour after hour, over the great deserted plain, but he did
+not succeed in catching up the Bishop. About forty miles from Standerton
+he saw a waggon standing by the roadside, and halted to try if he could
+obtain any information from its driver. But on investigation it became
+clear that the waggon had been looted of the provisions and goods with
+which it was loaded and the oxen driven off. Nor was this the only
+evidence of violence. Across the disselboom of the waggon, its hands
+still clasping a long bamboo whip, as though he had been trying to
+defend himself with it, lay the dead body of the native driver. His
+face, John noticed, was so composed and peaceful, that had it not been
+for the attitude and a neat little blue hole in the forehead, one might
+have thought he was asleep, not dead.
+
+At sunset John outspanned his now flagging horses by the roadside, and
+gave them each a couple of bundles of forage from the store that he had
+brought with him. Whilst they were eating it, leaving Mouti to keep an
+eye to them, he strolled away and sat down on a bit ant-heap to think.
+It was a wild and melancholy scene that stretched before and behind him.
+Miles upon miles of plain, rolling east and west and north and south
+like the billows of a frozen sea, only broken, far along the Heidelberg
+road, by some hills, known as Rooi Koppies. Nor was this all. Overhead
+was blazing and burning one of those remarkable sunsets which are
+sometimes seen in the South African summer time. The sky was full of
+lowering clouds, and the sullen orb of the setting sun had stained them
+perfectly blood-red. Blood-red they floated through the ominous sky, and
+blood-red their shadows lay upon the grass. Even the air seemed red. It
+looked as though earth and heaven had been steeped in blood; and, fresh
+as John was from the sight of the dead driver, his ears yet tingling
+with the tale of Bronker's Spruit, it is not to be wondered at that the
+suggestive sight oppressed him, seated in that lonely waste, with no
+company except the melancholy "_kakara-kakara_" of an old black _koran_
+hidden away somewhere in the grass. He was not much given to such
+reflections, but he did begin to wonder whether this was the last
+journey of all the many he had made during the past twenty years, and if
+for him a Boer bullet was about to solve the mystery of life and death.
+
+Then he sank to the stage of depression that most people have made
+acquaintance with at some time or another, when a man begins to ask,
+"What is the use of it? Why were we born? What good do we do here? Why
+should we--as the majority of mankind doubtless are--mere animals be
+laden up with sorrows till at last our poor backs break? Is God powerful
+or powerless? If powerful, why did He not let us sleep in peace, without
+setting us here to taste of every pain and mortification, to become
+acquainted with every grief, and then to perish miserably?" Old
+questions these, which the sprightly critic justly condemns as morbid
+and futile, and not to be dangled before a merry world of make-believe.
+Perhaps he is right. It is better to play at marbles on a sepulchre than
+to lift the lid and peep inside. But, for all that, they _will_ arise
+when we sit alone at even in our individual wildernesses, surrounded,
+perhaps, by mementoes of our broken hopes and tokens of our beloved
+dead, strewn about us like the bleaching bones of the wild game on the
+veldt, and in spirit watch the red sun of our existence sinking towards
+its vapoury horizon. They _will_ come even to the sanguine, successful
+man. One cannot always play at marbles; the lid of the sepulchre will
+sometimes slip aside of itself, and we _must_ see. True, it depends
+upon individual disposition. Some people can, metaphorically, smoke
+cigarettes and make puns by the death-beds of their dearest friends, or
+even on their own. We should pray for a disposition like that--it makes
+life more pleasant.
+
+By the time that the horses had eaten their forage and Mouti had forced
+the bits into their reluctant mouths, the angry splendour of the sunset
+faded, and the quiet night was falling over the glowing veldt like the
+pall on one scarce dead. Fortunately for the travellers, there was a
+bright half moon, and by its light John managed to direct the cart over
+many a weary mile. On he went for hour after hour, keeping his tired
+horses to the collar as best he could, till at last, about eleven
+o'clock, he saw the lights of Heidelberg before him, and knew that the
+question of whether or no his journey was at an end would speedily be
+decided for him. However, there was nothing for it but to go on and take
+his chance of slipping through. Presently he crossed a little stream,
+and distinguished the shape of a cart just ahead, around which men and
+a couple of lanterns were moving. No doubt, John thought to himself, it
+was the Bishop, who had been stopped by the Boers. He was quite close to
+the cart when it moved on, and in another second he was greeted by the
+rough challenge of a sentry, and caught sight of the cold gleam of a
+rifle barrel.
+
+"_Wie da?_" (Who's there?)
+
+"Friend!" he answered cheerfully, though feeling far from cheerful.
+
+There was a pause, during which the sentry called to another man, who
+came up yawning, and saying something in Dutch. Straining his ears he
+caught the words, "Bishop's man," and this gave him an idea.
+
+"Who are you, Englishman?" asked the second man gruffly, holding up a
+lantern to look at John, and speaking in English.
+
+"I am the Bishop's chaplain, sir," he answered mildly, trying
+desperately to look like an unoffending clergyman, "and I want to get on
+to Pretoria with him."
+
+The man with the lantern inspected him closely. Fortunately John wore
+a dark coat and a clerical-looking black felt hat; the same that Frank
+Muller had put a bullet through.
+
+"He is a preacher fast enough," said the one man to the other. "Look, he
+is dressed like an old crow! What did _Oom_ Kruger's pass say, Jan? Was
+it two carts or one that we were to let through? I think it was one."
+
+The other man scratched his head.
+
+"I think it was two," he said. He did not like to confess to his comrade
+that he could not read. "No, I am sure that it was two."
+
+"Perhaps we had better send up to _Oom_ Kruger and ask?" suggested the
+first man.
+
+"_Oom_ Kruger will be in bed, and he puts up his quills like a porcupine
+if one wakes him," was the answer.
+
+"Then let us keep the damned preaching Englishman till to-morrow."
+
+"Pray let me go on, gentlemen," said John, still in his mildest voice.
+"I am wanted to preach the Word at Pretoria, and to watch by the wounded
+and dying."
+
+"Yes, yes," said the first man, "there will soon be plenty of wounded
+and dying there. They will all be like the _rooibaatjes_ at Bronker's
+Spruit. Lord, what a sight that was! But they will get the Bishop, so
+they won't want you. You can stop and look after our wounded if the
+_rooibaatjes_ manage to hit any of us." And he beckoned to him to come
+out of the cart.
+
+"Hullo!" said the other man, "here is a bag of mealies. We will
+commandeer that, anyhow." And he took his knife and cut the line with
+which the sack was fastened to the back of the cart, so that it fell
+to the ground. "That will feed our horses for a week," he said with a
+chuckle, in which the other man joined. It was pleasant to become so
+easily possessed of an unearned increment in the shape of a bag of
+mealies.
+
+"Well, are we to get the old crow go?" said the first man.
+
+"If we don't let him go we shall have to take him up to headquarters,
+and I want to sleep." And he yawned.
+
+"Well, let him go," said the other. "I think you are right. The pass
+said two carts. Be off, you damned preaching Englishman!"
+
+John did not wait for any more, but laid the whip across the horses'
+backs with a will.
+
+"I hope we did right," said the man with the lantern to the other as the
+cart bumped off. "I am not sure he was a preacher after all. I have
+half a mind to send a bullet after him." But his companion, who was very
+sleepy, gave no encouragement to the idea, so it dropped.
+
+On the following morning when Commandant Frank Muller--having heard that
+his enemy John Niel was on his way up with the Cape cart and four grey
+horses--ascertained that a vehicle answering to that description had
+been allowed to pass through Heidelberg in the dead of night, his state
+of mind may better be imagined than described.
+
+As for the two sentries, he tried them by court-martial and sent them to
+make fortifications for the rest of the rebellion. Now they can neither
+of them hear the name of a clergyman mentioned without breaking out into
+a perfect flood of blasphemy.
+
+Luckily for John, although he had been delayed for five minutes or more,
+he managed to overtake the cart in which he presumed the Bishop was
+ensconced. His lordship had been providentially delayed by the breaking
+of a trace; otherwise, it is clear that his self-nominated chaplain
+would never have got through the steep streets of Heidelberg that night.
+The town was choked up with Boer waggons, full of sleeping Boers. Over
+one batch of waggons and tents John saw the Transvaal flag fluttering
+idly in the night breeze, marking, no doubt, the headquarters of the
+Triumvirate, and emblazoned with the appropriate emblem of an ox-waggon
+and an armed Boer. Once the cart ahead of him was stopped by a sentry
+and some conversation ensued. Then it went on again; and so did John,
+unmolested. It was weary work, that journey through Heidelberg, and full
+of terrors for John, who every moment expected to be stopped and dragged
+off ignominiously to gaol. The horses, too, were dead beat, and made
+frantic attempts to turn and stop at every house. But, somehow, they
+won through the little place, and then were halted once more. Again the
+first cart passed on, but this time John was not so lucky.
+
+"The pass said one cart," said a voice.
+
+"Yah, yah, one cart," answered another.
+
+John again put on his clerical air and told his artless tale; but
+neither of the men could understand English, so they went to a waggon
+that was standing about fifty yards away, to fetch somebody who could.
+
+"Now, _Inkoos_," whispered the Zulu Mouti, "drive on! drive on!"
+
+John took the hint and lashed the horses with his long whip; while
+Mouti, bending forward over the splashboard, thrashed the wheelers
+with a _sjambock_. Off went the team in a spasmodic gallop, and it had
+covered a hundred yards of ground before the two sentries realised what
+had happened. Then they began to run after the cart shouting, but were
+soon lost in the darkness.
+
+John and Mouti did not spare the whip, but pressed on up the stony hills
+on the Pretoria side of Heidelberg without a halt. They were, however,
+unable to keep up with the cart ahead of them, which was evidently more
+freshly horsed. About midnight, too, the moon vanished altogether, and
+they must creep on as best they could through the darkness. Indeed, so
+dark was it, that Mouti was obliged to get out and lead the exhausted
+horses, one of which would now and again fall down, to be cruelly
+flogged before it rose. Once, too, the cart very nearly upset; and on
+another occasion it was within an inch of rolling down a precipice.
+
+This went on till two in the morning, when John found that it was
+impossible to force the wearied beasts a yard farther. So, having
+luckily come to some water about fifteen miles out of Heidelberg, he
+halted, and after the horses had drunk, gave them as much forage as they
+could eat. One lay down at once, and refused to touch anything--a sure
+sign of great exhaustion; a second ate lying down; but the other two
+filled themselves in a satisfactory way. Then came a weary wait for the
+dawn. Mouti slept a little, but John did not dare to do so. All he could
+do was to swallow a little _biltong_ (dried game flesh) and bread, drink
+some square-face and water, and then sit down in the cart, his rifle
+between his knees, and wait for the light. At last it came, lying on the
+eastern sky like a promise, and he once more fed the horses. And now a
+new difficulty arose. The animal that would not eat was clearly too weak
+to pull, so the harness had to be altered, and the three sound animals
+arranged unicorn fashion, while the sick one was fastened to the rear of
+the cart. Then they started again.
+
+By eleven o'clock they reached an hotel, or wayside house, known as
+Ferguson's, situate about twenty miles from Pretoria. It was empty,
+except for a couple of cats and a stray dog. The inhabitants had
+evidently fled from the Boers. Here John stabled and fed his horses,
+giving them all that remained of the forage; and then, once more,
+inspanned for the last stage. The road was dreadful; and he knew that
+the country must be full of hostile Boers, but fortunately he met none.
+It took him four hours to cover the twenty miles of ground; but it was
+not until he reached the _Poort_, or neck running into Pretoria, that he
+saw a vestige of a Boer. Then he perceived two mounted men riding along
+the top of a precipitous stone-strewn ridge, six hundred yards or so
+from him. At first he thought that they were going to descend it, but
+presently they changed their minds and got off their horses.
+
+While he was still wondering what this might portend, he saw a puff of
+white smoke float up from where the men were, and then another. Next
+came the sharp unmistakable "ping" of a bullet passing, as far as he
+could judge, within some three feet of his head, followed by a second
+"ping," and a cloud of dust beneath the belly of the first horse. The
+two Boers were firing at him.
+
+John did not wait for any more target practice, but, thrashing the
+horses to a canter, drove the cart round a projecting bank before they
+could load and fire again. After that, they troubled him no more.
+
+At last he reached the mouth of the _Poort_, and saw the prettiest of
+the South African towns, with its red and white houses, its tall clumps
+of trees, and pink lines of blooming rose hedges lying on the plain
+before him, all set in the green veldt, made beautiful by the golden
+light of the afternoon, and he thanked God for the sight. John knew that
+he was safe now, and let his tired horses walk slowly down the hillside
+and across the space of plain beyond. To his left were the gaol and the
+barrack-sheds, and gathered about them stood hundreds of waggons and
+tents, towards which he drove. Evidently the town was deserted and its
+inhabitants were in laager. When he was within half a mile or so, a
+picket of mounted men rode out to meet him, followed by a miscellaneous
+crowd on horseback and on foot.
+
+"Who goes there?" shouted a voice in honest English.
+
+"A friend who is uncommonly glad to see you," John answered, with that
+feeble jocosity in which we are all apt to indulge when at length a
+great weight is lifted from our nerves.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+PRETORIA
+
+Jess was not very happy at Pretoria previous to the unexpected outbreak
+of hostilities. Most people who have made a great moral effort, and
+after some severe mental struggle have entered on the drear path from
+self-sacrifice, experience the reaction that will follow as certainly
+as the night follows the day. It is one thing to renounce the light,
+to stand in the full glow of the setting beams of our imperial joy and
+chant out our farewell, and quite another to live alone in the darkness.
+For a little while memory may support us, but memory grows faint. On
+every side is the thick, cheerless pall and that stillness through which
+no sound comes. We are alone, quite alone, cut off from the fellowship
+of the day, unseeing and unseen. More especially is this so when the
+dungeon is of our own making, and we ourselves have shot its bolts.
+There is a natural night that comes to all, and in its unwavering course
+swallows every mortal hope and fear, for ever and for ever. To this we
+can more easily resign ourselves, for we recognise the universal lot
+and bow ourselves beneath the all-effacing hand. The earth does not pine
+when the daylight passes from its peaks; it only sleeps.
+
+But Jess had buried herself and she knew it. There was no absolute need
+for her to have sacrificed her affection to her sister's: she had done
+so of her own will, and at times not unnaturally she was regretful.
+Self-denial is a stern-faced angel. If only we hold him fast and wrestle
+with him long enough he will speak us soft words of happy sound, just
+as, if we wait long enough in the darkness of the night, stars will come
+to share our loneliness. Still this is one of those things that Time
+hides from us and only reveals at his own pleasure; and, so far as Jess
+was concerned, his pleasure was not yet. Outwardly, however, she showed
+no sign of her distress and of the passion which was eating at her
+heart. She was pale and silent, it is true, but then she had always been
+remarkable for her pallor and silence. Only she gave up her singing.
+
+So the weeks passed very drearily for the poor girl, who was doing what
+other people did--eating and drinking, riding, and going to parties like
+the rest of the Pretoria world, till at last she began to think that
+she had better be returning home again, lest she should wear out her
+welcome. And yet she dreaded to do so, mindful of her daily prayer to be
+delivered from temptation. As to what was happening at Mooifontein she
+was in almost complete ignorance. Bessie wrote to her, of course, and so
+did her uncle once or twice, but they did not tell her much of what she
+wanted to know. Bessie's letters were, it is true, full of allusions
+to what Captain Niel was doing, but she did not go beyond that. Her
+reticence, however, told her observant sister more than her words. Why
+was she so reticent? No doubt because things still hung in the balance.
+Then Jess would think of what it all meant for her, and now and again
+give way to an outburst of passionate jealousy which would have been
+painful enough to witness if anybody had been there to see it.
+
+Thus the time went on towards Christmas, for Jess, having been warmly
+pressed to do so, had settled to stay over Christmas and return to the
+farm with the new year. There had been a great deal of talk in the town
+about the Boers, but she was too much preoccupied with her own affairs
+to pay much attention to it. Nor, indeed, was the public mind greatly
+moved; they were so much accustomed to Boer scares at Pretoria, and
+hitherto these had invariably ended in smoke. But all of a sudden,
+on the morning of the eighteenth of December, came the news of the
+proclamation of the Republic. The town was thrown into a ferment, and
+there arose a talk of going into laager, so that, anxious as she was
+to get away, Jess could see no hope of returning to the farm till the
+excitement was over. Then, a day or two later, Conductor Egerton came
+limping into Pretoria from the scene of the disaster at Bronker's
+Spruit, with the colours of the 94th Regiment tied round his middle,
+and such a tale to tell that the blood went to her heart and seemed to
+stagnate there as she listened.
+
+After that there was confusion worse confounded. Martial law having
+been proclaimed, the town, which was large, straggling, and incapable of
+defence, was abandoned, the inhabitants being ordered into laager on the
+high ground overlooking the city. There they were, young and old, sick
+and well, delicate women and little children, all crowded together in
+the open under the cover of the fort, with nothing but canvas tents,
+waggons, and sheds to shelter them from the fierce summer suns and
+rains. Jess shared a waggon with her friend and her friend's sister and
+mother, and found it rather a tight fit even to lie down. Sleep with all
+the noises of the camp going on round her was almost impossible.
+
+It was about three o'clock on the day following that first miserable
+night in the laager when, by the last mail that passed into Pretoria,
+she received Bessie's letter, announcing her engagement to John. She
+took her letter and went some way from the camp to the side of Signal
+Hill, where she was not likely to be disturbed, and, finding a nook
+shaded by mimosa-trees, sat down and broke the envelope. Before she had
+reached the foot of the first page she saw what was coming and set her
+teeth. Then she read the long epistle through from beginning to end
+without flinching, though the words of affection seemed to burn her. So
+it had come at last. Well, she expected it, and had plotted to bring it
+about, so really there was no reason in the world why she should feel
+disappointed. On the contrary, she ought to rejoice, and for a little
+while she really did rejoice in her sister's happiness. It made her glad
+to think that Bessie, whom she so dearly loved, was happy.
+
+And yet she felt angry with John with that sort of anger which we feel
+against those who have blindly injured us. Why should it be in his power
+to hurt her so cruelly? Still she hoped that he would be happy with
+Bessie, and then she hoped that these wretched Boers would take
+Pretoria, and that she would be shot or otherwise put out of the way.
+She had no heart for life; all the colour had faded from her sky. What
+was she to do with her future? Marry somebody and busy herself with
+rearing a pack of children? It would be a physical impossibility to her.
+No, she would go away to Europe and mix in the great stream of life and
+struggle with it, and see if she could win a place for herself among the
+people of her day. She had it in her, she knew that; and now that she
+had put herself out of the reach of passion she would be more likely to
+succeed, for success is to the impassive, who are also the strong. She
+would not stop on the farm after John and Bessie were married; she
+was quite determined as to that; nor, if she could avoid it, would she
+return there before they were married. She would see him no more, no
+more! Alas, that she had ever seen him.
+
+Feeling somewhat happier, or at any rate calmer, in this decision, she
+rose to return to the noisy camp, extending her walk, however, by a
+detour towards the Heidelberg road, for she was anxious to be alone as
+long as she could. She had been walking some ten minutes when she caught
+sight of a cart that seemed familiar to her, with three horses harnessed
+in front of it and one tied behind, which were also familiar. There were
+many men walking alongside the cart all talking eagerly.
+
+Jess halted to let the little procession go by, when suddenly she
+perceived John Niel among these men and recognised the Zulu Mouti on the
+box. _There_ was the man whom she had just vowed never to see again, and
+the sight of him seemed to take all her strength out of her, so that
+she felt inclined to sink down upon the veldt. His sudden appearance was
+almost uncanny in the sharpness of its illustration of her impotence in
+the hands of Fate. She felt it then; all in an instant it seemed to be
+borne in upon her mind that she could not help herself, but was only
+the instrument in the hands of a superior power whose will she was
+fulfilling through the workings of her passion, and to whom her
+individual fate was a matter of little moment. It was inconclusive
+reasoning and perilous doctrine, but it must be allowed that the
+circumstances gave it a colour of truth. And, after all, the border-line
+between fatalism and free-will has never been quite authoritatively
+settled, even by St. Paul, so perhaps she was right. Mankind does not
+like to admit it, but it is, at the least, a question whether we can
+oppose our little wills against the forces of a universal law, or
+derange the details of an unvarying plan to suit the petty wants and
+hopes of individual mortality. Jess was a clever woman, but it would
+take a wiser head than hers to know where or when to draw that red line
+across the writings of our lives.
+
+On came the cart and the knot of men, then suddenly John looked up and
+saw her gazing at him with those dark eyes that at times did indeed
+seem as though they were the windows of her soul. He turned and said
+something to his companions and to the Zulu Mouti, who went on with the
+cart, then he came towards her smiling and with outstretched hand.
+
+"How do you do, Jess?" he said. "So I have found you all right?"
+
+She took his hand and answered, almost angrily, "Why have you come? Why
+did you leave Bessie and my uncle?"
+
+"I came because I was sent, also because I wished it. I wanted to bring
+you back home before Pretoria was besieged."
+
+"You must have been mad! How could you expect to get back? We shall both
+be shut up here together now."
+
+"So it appears. Well, things might be worse," he added cheerfully.
+
+"I do not think that anything could be worse," she answered with a stamp
+of her foot, then, quite thrown off her balance, she burst incontinently
+into a flood of tears.
+
+John Niel was a very simple-minded man, and it never struck him to
+attribute her grief to any other cause than anxiety at the state of
+affairs and at her incarceration for an indefinite period in a besieged
+town that ran the daily risk of being taken _vi et armis_. Still he was
+a little hurt at the manner of his reception after his long and most
+perilous journey, which is not, perhaps, to be wondered at.
+
+"Well, Jess," he said, "I think that you might speak a little more
+kindly to me, considering--considering all things. There, don't cry,
+they are all right at Mooifontein, and I dare say that we shall win back
+there somehow some time or other. I had a nice business to get here at
+all, I can tell you."
+
+Suddenly she stopped weeping and smiled, her tears passing away like a
+summer storm. "How did you get through?" she asked. "Tell me all about
+it, Captain Niel," and accordingly he did.
+
+She listened in silence while he sketched the chief events of his
+journey, and when he had done she spoke in quite a changed tone.
+
+"It is very good and kind of you to have risked your life like this for
+me. Only I wonder that you did not all of you see that it would be of no
+use. We shall both be shut up here together now, that is all, and that
+will be very sad for you and Bessie."
+
+"Oh! So you have heard of our engagement?" he said.
+
+"Yes, I read Bessie's letter about a couple of hours ago, and I
+congratulate you both very much. I think that you will have the sweetest
+and loveliest wife in South Africa, Captain Niel; and I think that
+Bessie will have a husband any woman might be proud of;" and she half
+bowed and half curtseyed to him as she said it, with a graceful little
+air of dignity that was very taking.
+
+"Thank you," he answered simply; "yes, I think I am a very lucky
+fellow."
+
+"And now," she said, "we had better go and see about the cart. You will
+have to find a stand for it in that wretched laager. You must be very
+tired and hungry."
+
+A few minutes' walk brought them to the cart, which Mouti had outspanned
+close to Mrs. Neville's waggon, where Jess and her friends were living,
+and the first person they saw was Mrs. Neville herself. She was a good,
+motherly colonial woman, accustomed to a rough life, and one not easily
+disturbed by emergencies.
+
+"My goodness, Captain Niel!" she cried, as soon as Jess had introduced
+him. "Well, you are plucky to have forced your way through all those
+horrid Boers! I am sure I wonder that they did not shoot you or beat
+you to death with _sjambocks_, the brutes. Not that there is much use
+in your coming, for you will never be able to take Jess back till Sir
+George Colley relieves us, and that can't be for two months, they say.
+Well, there is one thing; Jess will be able to sleep in the cart now,
+and you can have one of the patrol-tents and camp alongside. It won't
+be quite proper, perhaps, but in these times we can't stop to consider
+propriety. There, there, you go off to the Governor. He will be glad
+enough to see you, I'll be bound; I saw him at the other end of the camp
+five minutes ago. We will have the cart unpacked and arrange about the
+horses."
+
+Thus adjured, John departed, and when he returned half an hour
+afterwards, having told his eventful tale, which did not, however,
+convey any information of general value, he was rejoiced to find that
+the process of "getting things straight" was almost complete. What was
+better still, Jess had fried him a beefsteak over the camp fire, and was
+now employed in serving it on a little table by the waggon. He sat down
+on a stool and ate his meal heartily enough, while Jess waited on him
+and Mrs. Neville chattered incessantly.
+
+"By the way," she said, "Jess tells me that you are going to marry her
+sister. Well, I wish you joy. A man wants a wife in this country. It
+isn't like England, where in five cases out of six he might as well go
+and cut his throat as get married. It saves him money here, and children
+are a blessing, as Nature meant them to be, and not a burden, as
+civilisation has made them. Lord, how my tongue does run on! It isn't
+delicate to talk about children when you have only been engaged a couple
+of weeks; but, you see, that's what it comes to after all. She's a
+pretty girl, Bessie, and a good one too--I don't know her much--though
+she hasn't got the brains of Jess here. That reminds me; as you are
+engaged to Bessie, of course you can look after Jess, and nobody will
+think anything of it. Ah! if you only knew what a place this is for
+talk, though their talk is pretty well scared out of them now, I'm
+thinking. My husband is coming round presently to the cart to help to
+get Jess's bed into it. Lucky it's big. We are such a tight fit in that
+waggon that I shall be downright glad to see the last of the dear girl;
+though, of course, you'll both come and take your meals with us."
+
+Jess heard all this in silence. She could not well insist upon stopping
+in the crowded waggon; it would be asking too much; and, besides, she
+had passed one night there, and that was quite enough for her. Once she
+suggested that she should try to persuade the nuns to take her in at the
+convent, but Mrs. Neville suppressed the notion instantly.
+
+"Nuns!" she said; "nonsense. When your own brother-in-law--at least he
+will be your brother-in-law if the Boers don't make an end of us all--is
+here to take care of you, don't talk about going to a parcel of nuns. It
+will be as much as they can do to look after themselves, I'll be bound."
+
+As for John, he ate his steak and said nothing. The arrangement seemed a
+very proper one to him.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE TWELFTH OF FEBRUARY
+
+John soon settled down into the routine of camp life in Pretoria, which,
+after one became accustomed to it, was not so disagreeable as might
+have been expected, and possessed, at any rate, the merit of novelty.
+Although he was an officer of the army, having several horses to ride
+and his services not being otherwise required, John preferred, on the
+whole, to enrol himself in the corps of mounted volunteers, known as
+the Pretoria Carbineers. This, in the humble capacity of a sergeant, he
+obtained leave to do from the officer commanding the troops. He was an
+active man, and his duties in connection with the corps kept him fully
+employed during most of the day, and sometimes, when there was outpost
+duty to be done, during a good part of the night too. For the rest,
+whenever he returned to the cart--by which he had stipulated he should
+be allowed to sleep in order to protect Jess in case of any danger--he
+always found her ready to greet him, and every little preparation made
+for his comfort that was possible under the circumstances. Indeed, as
+time went on, they thought it more convenient to set up their own little
+mess instead of sharing that of their friends. So every day they used to
+sit down to breakfast and dine together at a little table contrived out
+of a packing-case, and placed under an extemporised tent, for all the
+world like a young couple picnicking on their honeymoon. Of course, the
+situation was very irksome in a way, but it is not to be denied that it
+had a charm of its own.
+
+To begin with, once thoroughly known, Jess was one of the most
+delightful companions possible to a man like John Niel. Never, till this
+long _tete-a-tete_ at Pretoria, had he guessed how powerful and original
+was her mind, or how witty she could be when she liked. There was a fund
+of dry and suggestive humour about her, which, although it would no more
+bear being written down than champagne will bear standing in a tumbler,
+was very pleasant to listen to, more especially as John soon discovered
+that he was the only person so privileged. Her friends and relations had
+never suspected that Jess was humorous. Another thing which struck him
+as time went on, was that she was growing quite handsome. She had been
+very pale and thin when he reached Pretoria, but before a month was over
+she had become, comparatively speaking, stout, which was an enormous
+gain to her appearance. Her pale face, too, gathered a faint tinge of
+colour that came and went capriciously, like star-light on the water,
+and her beautiful eyes grew deeper and more beautiful than ever.
+
+"Who would ever have thought that it was the same girl!" said Mrs.
+Neville to him, holding up her hands as she watched Jess solemnly
+surveying a half-cooked mutton chop. "Why, she used to be such a poor
+creature, and now she's quite a fine woman. And that with this life,
+too, which is wearing me to a shadow and has half-killed my dear
+daughter."
+
+"I suppose it is being in the open air," said John, it having never
+occurred to him that the medicine that was doing Jess so much good might
+be happiness. But so it was. After her first struggles came a lull, and
+then an idea. Why should she not enjoy his society while she could? He
+had been thrown into her way through no wish of hers. She had no desire
+to wean him from Bessie; or, if she had the desire, it was one which she
+was far too honourable a woman to entertain. He was perfectly innocent
+of the whole story; to him she was the young lady who happened to be the
+sister of the woman he was going to marry, that was all. Why should she
+not pluck her innocent roses whilst she might? Jess forgot that the rose
+is a flower with a dangerous perfume, and one that is apt to confuse the
+senses and turn the head. So she gave herself full swing, and for some
+weeks went nearer to knowing what happiness really meant than she
+ever had before. What a wonderful thing is the love of a woman in its
+simplicity and strength, and how it gilds all the poor and common things
+of life and even finds a joy in service! The prouder the woman the more
+delight does she extract from her self-abasement before her idol. Only
+not many women can love like Jess, and when they do almost invariably
+they make some fatal mistake, whereby the wealth of their affection
+is wasted, or, worse still, becomes a source of misery or shame to
+themselves and others.
+
+It was after they had been incarcerated in Pretoria for a month that
+a bright idea occurred to John. About a quarter of a mile from the
+outskirts of the camp stood a little house known, probably on account of
+its diminutive size, as "The Palatial." This cottage, like almost every
+other house in Pretoria, had been abandoned to its fate, its owner, as
+it happened, being away from the town. One day, in the course of a walk,
+John and Jess crossed the little bridge that spanned the _sluit_ and
+went in to inspect the place. Passing down a path lined on either side
+with young blue gums, they reached the little tin-roofed cottage. It
+consisted of two rooms--a bedroom and a good-sized sitting-room, in
+which still stood a table and a few chairs, with a stable and a kitchen
+at the back. They went in, sat down by the open door and looked out. The
+garden of the cottage sloped down towards a valley, on the farther side
+of which rose a wooded hill. To the right, too, was a hill clothed in
+deep green bush. The grounds themselves were planted with vines,
+just now loaded with bunches of ripening grapes, and surrounded by a
+beautiful hedge of monthly roses that formed a blaze of bloom. Near the
+house, too, was a bed of double roses, some of them exceedingly lovely,
+and all flowering with a profusion unknown in this country. Altogether
+it was a delightful spot, and, after the noise and glare of the camp,
+seemed a perfect heaven. So they sat there and talked a great deal about
+the farm and old Silas Croft and a little about Bessie.
+
+"This _is_ nice," said Jess presently, putting her hands behind her head
+and looking out at the bush beyond.
+
+"Yes," said John. "I say, I've got a notion. I vote we take up our
+quarters here--during the day, I mean. Of course we shall have to sleep
+in camp, but we might eat here, you know, and you could sit here all
+day; it would be as safe as a church, for those Boers will never try to
+storm the town, I am sure of that."
+
+Jess reflected, and soon came to the conclusion that it would be a
+charming plan. Accordingly, next day she set to work and made the place
+as clean and tidy as circumstances would allow, and they commenced
+house-keeping.
+
+The upshot of this arrangement was that they were thrown more together
+even than before. Meanwhile the siege dragged its slow length along. No
+news whatever reached the town from outside, but this did not trouble
+the inhabitants very much, as they were sure that Colley was advancing
+to their relief, and even got up sweep-stakes as to the date of his
+arrival. Now and then a sortie took place, but, as the results attained
+were very small, and were not, on the whole, creditable to our arms,
+perhaps the less said about them the better. John, of course, went out
+on these occasions, and then Jess would endure agonies that were all
+the worse because she was forced to conceal them. She lived in constant
+terror lest he should be among the killed. However, nothing happened to
+him, and things went on as usual till the twelfth of February, when
+an attack was made on a place called the Red House Kraal, which was
+occupied by Boers near a spot known as the Six-mile Spruit.
+
+The force, which was a mixed one, left Pretoria before daybreak, and
+John went with it. He was rather surprised when, on going to the cart in
+which Jess slept, to get some little thing before saddling up, he found
+her sitting on the box in the night dews, a cup of hot coffee which she
+had prepared for him in her hand.
+
+"What do you mean by this, Jess?" he asked sharply. "I will not have you
+getting up in the middle of the night to make coffee for me."
+
+"I have not got up," she answered quietly; "I have not been to bed."
+
+"That makes matters worse," he exclaimed; but, nevertheless, he drank
+the coffee and was glad of it, while she sat on the box and watched him.
+
+"Put on your shawl and wrap something over your head," he said, "the dew
+will soak you through. Look, your hair is all wet."
+
+Presently she spoke. "I wish you would do something for me, John," for
+she called him John now. "Will you promise?"
+
+"How like a woman," he said, "to ask one to promise a thing without
+saying what it is."
+
+"I want you to promise for Bessie's sake, John."
+
+"Well, what is it, Jess?"
+
+"Not to go on this sortie. You know you can easily get out of it if you
+like."
+
+He laughed. "You little silly, why not?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know. Don't laugh at me because I am nervous. I am afraid
+that--that something might happen to you."
+
+"Well," he remarked consolingly, "every bullet has its billet, and if it
+does I don't see that it can be helped."
+
+"Think of Bessie," she said again.
+
+"Look here, Jess," he answered testily, "what is the good of trying to
+take the heart out of a fellow like this? If I am going to be shot I
+can't help it, and I am not going to show the white feather, even for
+Bessie's sake; so there you are, and now I must be off."
+
+"You are quite right, John," she said quietly. "I should not have liked
+to hear you say anything different, but I could not help speaking.
+Good-bye, John; God bless you!" and she stretched out her hand, which he
+took, and went.
+
+"Upon my word, she has given me quite a turn," reflected John to
+himself, as the troop crept on through the white mists of dawn. "I
+suppose she thinks that I am going to be plugged. Perhaps I am! I wonder
+how Bessie would take it. She would be awfully cut up, but I expect that
+she would get over it pretty soon. Now I don't think that Jess would
+shake off a thing of that sort in a hurry. That is just the difference
+between the two; the one is all flower and the other is all root."
+
+Then he fell to wondering how Bessie was, and what she was doing, and if
+she missed him as much as he missed her, and so on, till his mind came
+back to Jess, and he reflected what a charming companion she was, and
+how thoughtful and kind, and breathed a secret hope that she would
+continue to live with them after they were married. Unconsciously they
+had arrived at that point of intimacy, innocent in itself, when two
+people become absolutely necessary to each other's daily life. Indeed,
+Jess had travelled a long way farther, but of this John was of course
+ignorant. He was still at the former stage, and was not himself aware
+how large a proportion of his daily thoughts were occupied by this
+dark-eyed girl or how completely her personality overshadowed him. He
+only knew that she had the knack of making him feel thoroughly happy
+in her company. When he was talking to her, or even sitting silently by
+her, he became aware of a sensation of restfulness and reliance that he
+had never before experienced in the society of a woman. Of course to
+a large extent this was the natural homage of the weaker nature to the
+stronger, but it was also something more. It was a shadow of the utter
+sympathy and complete accord that is the surest sign of the presence of
+the highest forms of affection, which, when it accompanies the passion
+of men and women, as it sometimes though rarely does, being more often
+to be found in perfection in those relations from which the element of
+sexuality is excluded, raises it almost above the level of the earth.
+For the love where that sympathy exists, whether it is between mother
+and son, husband and wife, or those who, whilst desiring it, have no
+hope of that relationship, is an undying love, and will endure till the
+night of Time has swallowed all things.
+
+Meanwhile, as John reflected, the force to which he was attached was
+moving into action, and soon he found it necessary to come down to the
+unpleasantly practical details of Boer warfare. More particularly did
+this come home to his mind when, shortly afterwards, the man next to him
+was shot dead, and a little later he himself was slightly wounded by a
+bullet which passed between the saddle and his thigh. Into the details
+of the fight that ensued it is not necessary to enter here. They were,
+if anything, more discreditable than most of the episodes of that
+unhappy war in which the holding of Potchefstroom, Lydenburg,
+Rustenburg, and Wakkerstroom are the only bright spots. Suffice it to
+say that they ended in something very like an utter rout of the English
+at the hands of a much inferior force, and that, a few hours after he
+had started, the ambulance being left in the hands of the Boers, John
+found himself on the return road to Pretoria, with a severely wounded
+man behind his saddle, who, as they went painfully along, mingled curses
+of shame and fury with his own. Meanwhile exaggerated accounts of the
+English defeat had reached the town, and, amongst other things, it was
+said that Captain Niel had been shot dead. One man who came in stated
+that he saw him fall, and that he was shot through the head. This
+Mrs. Neville heard with her own ears, and, greatly shocked, started to
+communicate the intelligence to Jess.
+
+As soon as it was daylight, as was customary with her, Jess had gone
+over to the little house which she and John occupied, "The Palatial," as
+it was called ironically, and settled herself there for the day. First
+she tried to work and could not, so she took a book that she had brought
+with her and began to read, but it was a failure also. Her eyes would
+wander from the page and her ears strain to catch the distant booming of
+the big guns that came from time to time floating across the hills.
+The fact of the matter was that the poor girl was the victim of a
+presentiment that something was going to happen to John. Most people of
+imaginative mind have suffered from this kind of thing at one time or
+other in their lives, and have lived to see the folly of it; and there
+was more in the circumstances of the present case to excuse indulgence
+in the luxury of presentiments than as usual. Indeed, as it happened,
+she was not far out--only a sixteenth of an inch or so--for John was
+very _nearly_ killed.
+
+Not finding Jess in camp, Mrs. Neville made her way across to "The
+Palatial," where she knew the girl sat, crying as she went, at the
+thought of the news that she had to communicate, for the good soul had
+grown very fond of John Niel. Jess, with that acute sense of hearing
+which often accompanies nervous excitement, caught the sound of the
+little gate at the bottom of the garden almost before her visitor had
+passed through it, and ran round the corner of the house to see who was
+there.
+
+One glance at Mrs. Neville's tear-stained face was enough for her. She
+knew what was coming, and clasped at one of the young blue gum trees
+that grew along the path to prevent herself from falling.
+
+"What is it?" she said faintly. "Is he dead?"
+
+"Yes, my dear, yes; shot through the head, they say."
+
+Jess made no answer, but clung to the sapling, feeling as though she
+were going to die herself, and faintly hoping that she might do so. Her
+eyes wandered vaguely from the face of the messenger of evil, first up
+to the sky, then down to the cropped and trodden veldt. Past the gate of
+"The Palatial" garden ran a road, which, as it happened, was a short
+cut from the scene of the fight, and down this road came four Kafirs and
+half-castes, bearing something on a stretcher, behind which rode three
+or four carbineers. A coat was thrown over the face of the form on the
+stretcher, but its legs were visible. They were booted and spurred, and
+the feet fell apart in that peculiarly lax and helpless way of which
+there is no possibility of mistaking the meaning.
+
+"_Look!_" she said, pointing.
+
+"Ah, poor man, poor man!" said Mrs. Neville, "they are bringing him here
+to lay him out."
+
+Then Jess's beautiful eyes closed, and down she went with the bending
+tree. Presently the sapling snapped, and she fell senseless with a
+little cry, and as she fell the men with the corpse passed on.
+
+Two minutes afterwards, John Niel, having heard the rumour of his own
+death on arrival at the camp, and greatly fearing lest it should have
+reached Jess's ears, cantered up hurriedly, and, dismounting as well as
+his wound would allow, limped up the garden path.
+
+"Great heavens, Captain Niel!" exclaimed Mrs. Neville, looking up;
+"why--we thought that you were dead!"
+
+"And that is what you have been telling her, I suppose," he said
+sternly, glancing at the pale and deathlike face; "you might have waited
+till you were sure. Poor girl! it must have given her a turn!" and,
+stooping down, he placed his arms under Jess, and, lifting her with
+some difficulty, staggered to the house, where he laid her down upon
+the table and, assisted by Mrs. Neville, began to do all in his power to
+revive her. So obstinate was her faint, however, that their efforts were
+unavailing, and at last Mrs. Neville started for the camp to get some
+brandy, leaving him to go on rubbing her hands and sprinkling water on
+her face.
+
+The good lady had not been gone more than two or three minutes when Jess
+suddenly opened her eyes and sat up, slipping her feet to the ground.
+Her eyes fell upon John and dilated with wonder; he thought that she was
+about to faint again, for even her lips blanched, and she began to shake
+and tremble all over in the extremity of her agitation.
+
+"Jess, Jess," he said, "for God's sake don't look like that, you
+frighten me!"
+
+"I thought you were--I thought you were----" she said slowly, then
+suddenly burst into a passion of tears and fell forward upon his breast
+and lay there sobbing her heart out, her brown curls resting against his
+face.
+
+It was an awkward and a most moving position. John was only a man, and
+the spectacle of this strange woman, to whom he had lately grown so much
+attached, plunged into intense emotion, awakened, apparently, by anxiety
+about his fate, stirred him very deeply--as it would have stirred
+anybody. Indeed, it struck some chord in him for which he could not
+quite account, and its echoes charmed and yet frightened him. What did
+it mean?
+
+"Jess, dear Jess, pray stop; I can't bear to see you cry so," he said at
+last.
+
+She lifted her head from his shoulder and stood looking at him, her hand
+resting on the edge of the table behind her. Her face was wet with tears
+and looked like a dew-washed lily, and her beautiful eyes were alight
+with a flame that he had never seen in the eyes of woman before. She
+said nothing, but her whole face was more eloquent than any words, for
+there are times when the features can convey a message in that language
+of their own which is more suitable than any tongue we talk. There
+she stood, her breast heaving with emotion as the sea heaves when the
+fierceness of the storm has passed--a very incarnation of the intensest
+love of woman. And as she stood something seemed to pass before her eyes
+and blind her; a spirit took possession of her that absorbed all her
+doubts and fears, and she gave way to a force that was of her and yet
+compelled her, as, when the wind blows, the sails compel a ship. Then,
+for the first time, where her love was concerned, she put out all her
+strength. She knew, and had always known, that she could master him, and
+force him to regard her as she regarded him, did she but choose. How
+she knew it she could not say, but it was so. Now she yielded to an
+unconquerable impulse and chose. She said nothing, she did not even
+move, she only looked at him.
+
+"Why were you in such a fright about me?" he stammered.
+
+She did not answer, but kept her eyes upon his face, and it seemed to
+John as though power flowed from them; for, while she looked, he felt
+the change come. Everything melted away before the almost spiritual
+intensity of her gaze. Bessie, honour, his engagement--all were
+forgotten; the smouldering embers broke into flame, and he knew that he
+loved this woman as he had never loved any living creature before--that
+he loved her even as she loved him. Strong man as he was, he shook like
+a leaf before her.
+
+"Jess," he said hoarsely, "God forgive me! I love you!" and he bent
+forward to kiss her.
+
+She lifted her face towards him, then suddenly changed her mind, and
+laid her hand upon his breast.
+
+"You forget," she said almost solemnly, "you are going to marry Bessie."
+
+Crushed by a deep sense of shame, and by a knowledge of the calamity
+that had overtaken him, John turned and limped from the house.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+AND AFTER
+
+In front of the door of "The Palatial" was a garden-bed filled with
+weeds and flowers mixed up together like the good and evil in the
+heart of a man, and to the right-hand side of this bed stood an old and
+backless wooden chair. No sooner had John limped outside the door of
+the cottage than he became sensible that, what between one thing and
+another--weariness, loss of blood from his wound, and intense mental
+emotion--if he did not sit down somewhere quickly, he should follow the
+example set by Jess and faint away. Accordingly he steered for the old
+chair and sank into it with gratitude. Presently he saw Mrs. Neville
+running up the path with a bottle of brandy in her hand.
+
+"Ah!" he thought to himself, "that will just come in handy for me. If
+I don't have a glass of brandy soon I shall roll off this infernal
+chair--I am sure of it."
+
+"Where is Jess?" panted Mrs. Neville.
+
+"In there," he said; "she has recovered. It would have been better for
+us both if she hadn't," he added to himself.
+
+"Why, bless me, Captain Niel, how queer you look!" said Mrs. Neville,
+fanning herself with her hat; "and there is such a row going on at the
+camp there; the volunteers swear that they will attack the military
+for deserting them, and I don't know what all; and they simply wouldn't
+believe me when I said you were not shot. Why, I never! Look! your boot
+is full of blood! So you were hit after all."
+
+"Might I trouble you to give me some brandy, Mrs. Neville?" said John
+faintly.
+
+She filled a glass she had brought with her half full of water from
+a little irrigation furrow that ran down from the main _sluit_ by the
+road, and then topped it up with brandy. He drank it, and felt decidedly
+better.
+
+"Dear me!" said Mrs. Neville, "there are a pair of you now. You should
+just have seen that girl go down when she saw the body coming along the
+road! I made sure that it was you; but it wasn't. They say that it was
+poor Jim Smith, son of old Smith of Rustenburg. I tell you what it is,
+Captain Niel, you had better be careful; if that girl isn't in love with
+you she is something very like it. A girl does not pop over like that
+for Dick, Tom, or Harry. You must forgive an old woman like me for
+speaking out plain, but she is an odd girl is Jess, just like ten women
+rolled into one so far as her mind goes, and if you don't take care you
+will get into trouble, which will be rather awkward, as you are going
+to marry her sister. Jess isn't the one to have a bit of a flirt to pass
+away the time and have done with it, I can tell you;" and she shook her
+head solemnly, as though she suspected him of trifling with his future
+sister-in-law's young affections, then, without waiting for an answer,
+she turned and went into the cottage.
+
+As for John, he only groaned. What could he do but groan? The thing was
+self-evident, and if ever a man felt ashamed of himself that man was
+John Niel. He was a strictly honourable individual, and it cut him to
+the heart to think that he had entered on a course which, considering
+his engagement to Bessie, was not honourable. When a few minutes before
+he had told Jess he loved her he had said a disgraceful thing, however
+true it might be. And that was the worst of it; it was true; he did love
+her. He felt the change come sweeping over him like a wave as she
+stood looking at him in the room, utterly drowning and overpowering his
+affection for Bessie, to whom he was bound by every tie of honour. It
+was a new and a wonderful experience this passion that had arisen within
+him, as a strong man armed, driving every other affection away into the
+waste places of his mind; and, unfortunately, as he already guessed, it
+was overmastering and enduring. He cursed himself in his shame and anger
+as he sat recovering his equilibrium on the broken chair and tying a
+handkerchief tightly round his wounded leg. What a fool he had been! Why
+had he not waited to see which of the two he really loved? Why had
+Jess gone away like that and thrown him into temptation with her pretty
+sister? He was sure now that she had cared for him all along. Well,
+there it was, and a bad business too! One thing he was clear about; it
+should go no farther. He would not break his engagement to Bessie; it
+was not to be thought of. But, all the same, he felt sorry for himself,
+and sorry for Jess too.
+
+Just then, however, the bandage on his leg slipped, and the wound
+began to bleed so fast that he was fain to hobble into the house for
+assistance.
+
+Jess, who had apparently quite recovered from her agitation, was
+standing by the table talking to Mrs. Neville, who was persuading her
+to swallow some of the brandy she had been at such pains to fetch. The
+moment she caught sight of John's face, which had now turned ghastly
+white, and saw the red line trickling down his boot, she took up her hat
+that was lying on the table.
+
+"You had better lie down on the old bedstead in the little room," she
+said; "I am going for the doctor."
+
+Assisted by Mrs. Neville he was only too glad to take this advice, but
+long before the doctor arrived John had followed Jess's example, and
+gone off into a dead faint, to the intense alarm of Mrs. Neville, who
+was vainly endeavouring to check the flow of blood, which had now become
+copious. On the arrival of the doctor it appeared that the bullet had
+grazed the walls of one of the arteries on the inside of his thigh
+without actually cutting them, which had now given way, rendering it
+necessary to tie the artery. This operation, with the assistance
+of chloroform, he proceeded to carry out successfully, announcing
+afterwards that a great deal of blood had already been lost.
+
+When at last it was over Mrs. Neville asked about John being moved up to
+the hospital, but the doctor declared that he must lie where he was,
+and that Jess must stop and help to nurse him, with the assistance of a
+soldier's wife whom he would send to her.
+
+"Dear me," said Mrs. Neville, "that is very awkward."
+
+"It will be more awkward if you try to move him at present," was the
+grim reply, "for the silk may slip, in which case the artery will
+probably break out again, and he will bleed to death."
+
+As for Jess, she said nothing, but set to work to make preparations
+for her task of nursing. As Fate had once more thrown them together she
+accepted the position gladly, though it is fair to say that she would
+not have sought it.
+
+In about an hour's time, just as John was beginning to recover from the
+painful effects of the chloroform, the soldier's wife who was to assist
+her in nursing arrived. As Jess soon discovered, she was not only a low
+stamp of woman, but both careless and ignorant into the bargain, and all
+that she could be relied on to do was to carry out some of the rougher
+work of the sick-room. When John woke up and learned whose was the
+presence that was bending over him, and whose the cool hand that lay
+upon his forehead, he groaned again and went to sleep. But Jess did not
+go to sleep. She sat by him there throughout the night, till at last the
+cold lights of the dawn came gleaming through the window and fell upon
+the white face of the man she loved. He was still sleeping soundly, and,
+as the night was exceedingly hot and oppressive, she had left nothing
+but a sheet over him. Before she went to rest a little herself she
+turned to look at him once more, and as she looked she saw the sheet
+grow suddenly red with blood. The artery had broken out fresh.
+
+Calling to the soldier's wife to run across to the doctor, Jess shook
+her patient till he awoke, for he was sleeping quite soundly, and would,
+no doubt, have continued to do so till he glided away into a still
+deeper sleep; and then between them they did what they could to quench
+that dreadful pumping flow, Jess knotting her handkerchief round his
+leg and twisting it with a stick, while he pressed his thumb upon the
+severed artery. But, strive as they would, they were only partially
+successful, and Jess began to think that he would die in her arms from
+loss of blood. It was agonising to wait there minute after minute and
+see his life ebbing away.
+
+"I don't think I shall last much longer, Jess. God bless you, dear!" he
+said. "The place is beginning to go round and round."
+
+Poor soul! she could only set her teeth and wait for the end.
+
+Presently John's pressure on the wounded artery relaxed, and he
+fainted off, and, oddly enough, just then the flow of blood diminished
+considerably. Another five minutes, and she heard the quick step of the
+doctor coming up the path.
+
+"Thank God you have come! He has bled dreadfully."
+
+"I was out attending a poor fellow who was shot through the lung, and
+that fool of a woman waited for me to come back instead of following me.
+I have brought you an orderly in place of her. By Jove, he has bled!
+I suppose the silk has slipped. Well, there is only one thing for it.
+Orderly, the chloroform."
+
+Then followed another long half-hour of slashing and tying and horror,
+and when at last the unfortunate John opened his eyes again he was too
+weak to speak, and could only smile feebly. For three days after this he
+lay in a dangerous state, for if the artery had broken out for the third
+time the chances were that, having so little blood left in his veins,
+he would die before anything could be done for him. At times he was very
+delirious from weakness, and these were the critical hours, for it was
+almost impossible to keep him still, and every moment threw Jess into
+an agony of terror lest the silk fastenings of the artery should break
+away. Indeed there was only one fashion in which she could quiet him,
+and that was by placing her slim white hand upon his forehead or giving
+it to him to hold. Oddly enough, this had more effect upon his fevered
+mind than anything else. For hour after hour she would sit thus, though
+her arm ached, and her back felt as if it were about to break in two,
+till at last she was rewarded by seeing his wild eyes cease their
+wanderings and close in peaceful sleep.
+
+Yet with it all that week was perhaps the happiest time in her life.
+There he lay: the man she loved with all the intensity of her deep
+nature, and she ministered to him, and felt that he loved her, and
+depended on her as a babe upon its mother. Even in his delirium her
+name was continually on his lips, and generally with some endearing term
+before it. She felt in those dark hours of doubt and sickness as though
+they two were growing life to life, knit up in a divine identity she
+could not analyse or understand. She felt that it was so, and she
+believed that, once being so, whatever her future might be, that
+communion could never be dissolved, and therefore was she happy, though
+she knew that his recovery meant their lifelong separation. For though
+Jess, when thrown utterly off her balance, had once given her passion
+way, it was not a thing she meant to repeat. She had, she knew, injured
+Bessie enough already in taking her future husband's heart. That she
+could not help now, but she would take no more. John should go back to
+her sister.
+
+And so she sat and gazed at that sleeping man through the long watches
+of the night, and was happy. There lay her joy. Soon they must part and
+she would be left desolate; but whilst he lay there he was hers. It was
+passing sweet to her woman's nature to place her hand upon him and see
+him sleep, for this desire to watch the sleep of a beloved object is one
+of the highest and strangest manifestations of passion. Truly, and with
+a keen insight into the human heart, has the poet said that there is no
+joy like the joy of a woman watching what she loves asleep. As Jess sat
+and gazed those beautiful and tender lines came floating to her mind,
+and she thought how true they were:
+
+     For there it lies, so tranquil, so beloved,
+     All that it hath of life with us is living;
+     So gentle, stirless, helpless, and unmoved,
+     And all unconscious of the joy 'tis giving;
+     All it hath felt, inflicted, passed and proved,
+     Hushed into depths beyond the watcher's diving;
+     There lies the thing we love with all its errors
+     And all its charms, like death without its terrors.
+
+Ay! there lay the thing she loved.
+
+The time went on, and the artery broke out no more. Then at last came
+a morning when John opened his eyes and watched the pale earnest
+face bending over him as though he were trying to remember something.
+Presently he shut them again. He had remembered.
+
+"I have been very ill, Jess," he said after a pause.
+
+"Yes, John."
+
+"And you have nursed me?"
+
+"Yes, John."
+
+"Am I going to recover?"
+
+"Of course you are."
+
+He closed his eyes again.
+
+"I suppose there is no news from outside?"
+
+"No more; things are just the same."
+
+"Nor from Bessie?"
+
+"None: we are quite cut off."
+
+Then came a pause.
+
+"John," said Jess, "I want to say something to you. When people are
+delirious, or when delirium is coming on, they sometimes say things that
+they are not responsible for, and which had better be forgotten."
+
+"Yes," he said, "I understand."
+
+"So," she went on, in the same measured tone, "we will forget everything
+you may fancy that you said, or that I did, since the time when you came
+in wounded and found that I had fainted."
+
+"Quite so," said John. "I renounce them all."
+
+"_We_ renounce them all," she corrected, and gave a solemn little nod
+of her head and sighed, and thus they ratified that audacious compact of
+oblivion.
+
+But it was a lie, and they both knew that it was a lie. If love had
+existed before, was there anything in his helplessness and her long and
+tender care to make it less? Alas! no; rather was their companionship
+the more perfect and their sympathy the more complete. "Propinquity,
+sir, propinquity," as the wise man said;--we all know the evils of it.
+
+It was a lie, and a very common and everyday sort of lie. Who, being
+behind the scenes, has not laughed in his sleeve to see it acted?--Who
+has not admired and wondered at the cold and formal bow and shake of the
+hand, the tender inquiries after the health of the maiden aunt and the
+baby, the carelessly expressed wish that we may meet somewhere--all so
+palpably overdone? _That_ the heroine of the impassioned scene at which
+we had unfortunately to assist an hour ago! Where are the tears, the
+convulsive sobs, the heartbroken grief? And _that_ the young gentleman
+who saw nothing for it but flight or a pistol bullet! There, all the
+world's a stage, and fortunately most of us can act at a pinch.
+
+Yes, we can act; we can paint the face and powder the hair, and summon
+up the set smile and the regulation joke and make pretense that things
+are as things were, when they are as different as the North Pole from
+the Torrid Zone. But unfortunately, or fortunately--I do not know
+which--we cannot bedeck our inner selves and make them mime as the
+occasion pleases, and sing the old song when their lips are set to a
+strange new chant. Of a surety there is within us a spark of the Eternal
+Truth, for in our own hearts we cannot lie. And so it was with these
+two. From that day forward they forgot that scene in the sitting-room of
+"The Palatial," when Jess put out her strength and John bent and broke
+before it like a reed before the wind. Surely it was a part of the
+delirium! They forgot that now, alas! they loved each other with a love
+which did but gather force from its despair. They talked of Bessie, and
+of John's marriage, and discussed Jess's plans to go to Europe, just
+as though these were not matters of spiritual life and death to each
+of them. In short, however for one brief moment they might have gone
+astray, now, to their honour be it said, they followed the path of duty
+with unflinching feet, nor did they complain when the stones cut them.
+
+But it was a living lie, and they knew it. For behind them stood the
+irrevocable Past, who for good or evil had bound them together in his
+unchanging bonds, and with cords that never can be broken.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+HANS COETZEE COMES TO PRETORIA
+
+Once he had turned the corner, John's recovery was rapid. Naturally of a
+vigorous constitution, when the artery had reunited, he soon made up
+for the great loss of blood which he had undergone, and in a little more
+than a month from the date of his wound physically, was almost as good a
+man as ever.
+
+One morning--it was the 20th of March--Jess and he were sitting in "The
+Palatial" garden. John was lying in a lone cane deck chair that Jess
+had borrowed or stolen out of one of the deserted houses, and smoking
+a pipe. By his side, in a hole in the flat arm of the chair, fashioned
+originally to receive a soda-water tumbler, was a great bunch of purple
+grapes which she had gathered for him; and on his knees lay a copy of
+that journalistic curiosity, the "News of the Camp," which was chiefly
+remarkable for its utter dearth of news. It was not easy to run a
+journal in a beleaguered town.
+
+They sat in silence: John puffing away at his pipe, and Jess, her
+work--one of his socks--lying idly upon her knees, her hands clasped
+over it, and her eyes fixed upon the lights and shadows that played with
+broad fingers upon the wooded slopes beyond.
+
+So silently did they sit that a great green lizard came and basked
+himself in the sun within a yard of them, and a beautiful striped
+butterfly perched deliberately upon the purple grapes! It was a
+delightful day and a delightful spot. They were too far from the camp to
+be disturbed by its rude noise, and the only sounds that reached their
+ears were the rippling of running water and the whispers of the wind,
+odorous with the breath of mimosa blooms, as it stirred the stiff grey
+leaves on the blue gums.
+
+They were seated in the shade of the little house that Jess had learned
+to love as she had never loved a spot before, but around them lay the
+flood of sunshine shimmering like golden water; and beyond the red line
+of the fence at the end of the garden, where the rich pomegranate bloom
+tried to blush the roses down, the hot air danced merrily above the
+rough stone wall like a million microscopic elves at play. Peace!
+everywhere was peace! and in it the full heart of Nature beat out in
+radiant life. Peace in the voice of the turtle-doves among the willows!
+peace in the play of the sunshine and the murmur of the wind! peace
+in the growing flowers and hovering butterfly! Jess looked out at the
+wealth and glory which were spread before her, and thought that it was
+like heaven; then, giving way to the melancholy strain in her nature,
+she began to wonder idly how many human beings had sat and thought the
+same things, and had been gathered up into the azure of the past and
+forgotten; and how many would sit and think there when she in her turn
+had been utterly swept away into that gulf whence no echo ever comes!
+But what did it matter? The sunshine would still flood the earth with
+gold, the water would ripple, and the butterflies hover; and there would
+be other women to sit and fold their hands and consider them, thinking
+the same identical thoughts, beyond which our human intelligence cannot
+travel. And so on for thousands upon thousands of centuries, till at
+last the old world reaches its journey's appointed end, and, passing
+from the starry spaces, is swallowed up with those it bore.
+
+And she--where would she be? Would she still live on, and love and
+suffer elsewhere, or was it all a cruel myth? Was she merely a creature
+bred of the teeming earth, or had she an individuality beyond the earth?
+What awaited her after sunset?--Sleep. She had often hoped that it was
+sleep, and nothing but sleep. But now she did not hope that. Her life
+had centred itself around a new interest, and one that she felt could
+never die while that life lasted. She hoped for a future now; for if
+there was a future for her, there would be one for _him_, and then her
+day would come, and where he was there she would be also. Oh, sweet
+mockery, old and unsubstantial thought, bright dream set halowise about
+the dull head of life! Who has not dream it, but who can believe in
+it? And yet, who shall say that it is not true? Though philosophers and
+scientists smile and point in derision to the gross facts and freaks
+that mark our passions, is it not possible that there may be a place
+where the love shall live when the lust has died; and where Jess will
+find that she has not sat in vain in the sunshine, throwing out her pure
+heart towards the light of a happiness and a visioned glory whereof, for
+some few minutes, the shadow seemed to lie within her?
+
+John had finished his pipe, and, although she did not know it, was
+watching her face, which, now when she was off her guard, was no longer
+impassive, but seemed to mirror the tender and glorious hope that was
+floating through her mind. Her lips were slightly parted, and her wide
+eyes were full of a soft strange light, while on the whole countenance
+was stamped a look of eager thought and spiritualised desire such as he
+had known portrayed in ancient masterpieces upon the face of the
+Virgin Mother. Except as regards her eyes and hair, Jess was not even a
+good-looking person. But, at that moment, John thought that her face was
+touched with a diviner beauty than he had yet seen on the face of
+woman. It thrilled him and appealed to him, not as Bessie's beauty had
+appealed, but to that other side of his nature, of which Jess alone
+could turn the key. It was more like the face of a spirit than that of a
+human being, and it almost frightened him to see it.
+
+"Jess," he said at last, "what are you thinking of?"
+
+She started, and her face resumed its normal expression. It was as
+though a mask had been suddenly set upon it.
+
+"Why do you ask?" she said.
+
+"Because I want to know. I never saw you look like that before."
+
+She laughed a little.
+
+"You would call me foolish if I told you what I was thinking about.
+Never mind, it has gone wherever thoughts go. I will tell you what I am
+thinking about now, which is--that it is about time we got out of this
+place. My uncle and Bessie must be half distracted."
+
+"We've had more than two months of it now. The relieving column can't be
+far off," suggested John; for these foolish people in Pretoria laboured
+under a firm belief that one fine morning they would be gratified with a
+vision of the light dancing down a long line of British bayonets, and of
+Boers evaporating in every direction like storm clouds before the sun.
+
+Jess shook her head. She was beginning to lose faith in relieving
+columns that never came.
+
+"If we don't help ourselves, my opinion is that we may stop here till
+we are starved out, which in fact we are. However, it's no use
+talking about it, so I'm off to fetch our rations. Let's see, have you
+everything you want?"
+
+"Everything, thanks."
+
+"Well, then, mind you stop quiet till I come back."
+
+"Why," laughed John, "I am as strong as a horse."
+
+"Possibly; but that is what the doctor said, you know. Good-bye!" and
+Jess took her big basket and started on what John used feebly to call
+her "rational undertaking."
+
+She had not gone fifty paces from the door before she suddenly caught
+sight of a familiar form seated on a familiar pony. The form was fat
+and jovial-looking, and the pony was small but also fat. It was Hans
+Coetzee--none other!
+
+Jess could hardly believe her eyes. Old Hans in Pretoria! What could it
+mean?
+
+"_Oom_ Coetzee! _Oom_ Coetzee!" she called, as he came ambling past her,
+evidently heading for the Heidelberg road.
+
+The old Boer pulled up his pony, and gazed around him in a mystified
+fashion.
+
+"Here, _Oom_ Coetzee! Here!"
+
+"_Allemachter!_" he said, jerking his pony round. "It's you, Missie
+Jess, is it? Now who would have thought of seeing you here?"
+
+"Who would have thought of seeing _you_ here?" she answered.
+
+"Yes, yes; it seems strange; I dare say that it seems strange. But I am
+a messenger of peace, like Uncle Noah's dove in the ark, you know. The
+fact is," and he glanced round to see if anybody was listening, "I have
+been sent by the Government to arrange about an exchange of prisoners."
+
+"The Government! What Government?"
+
+"What Government? Why, the Triumvirate, of course--whom may the Lord
+bless and prosper, as He did Jonah when he walked on the wall of the
+city."
+
+"Joshua, when he walked round the wall of the city," suggested Jess.
+"Jonah walked down the whale's throat."
+
+"Ah! to be sure, so he did, and blew a trumpet inside. I remember
+now; though I am sure I don't know how he did it. The fact is that our
+glorious victories have quite confused me. Ah! what a thing it is to be
+a patriot! The dear Lord makes strong the arm of the patriot, and takes
+care that he hits his man well in the middle."
+
+"You have turned wonderfully patriotic all of a sudden, _Oom_ Coetzee,"
+said Jess tartly.
+
+"Yes, missie, yes; I am a patriot to the bone of my back! I hate the
+English Government; damn the English Government! Let us have our land
+back and our _Volksraad_. Almighty! I saw who was in the right at
+Laing's Nek there. Ah, those poor _rooibaatjes!_ I killed four of them
+myself; two as they came up, and two as they ran away, and the last one
+went head-over-heels like a buck. Poor man! I cried for him afterwards.
+I did not like going to fight at all, but Frank Muller sent to me and
+said that if I did not go he would have me shot. Ah, he is a devil of a
+man, that Frank Muller! So I went, and when I saw how the dear Lord had
+put it into the heart of the English general to be a bigger fool even
+that day than he is every day, and to try and drive us out of Laing's
+Nek with a thousand of his poor _rooibaatjes_, then, I tell you, I saw
+where the right lay, and I said, 'Damn the English Government! What is
+the English Government doing here?' and after Ingogo I said it again."
+
+"Never mind all that, _Oom_ Coetzee," broke in Jess. "I have heard you
+tell a different tale before, and perhaps you will again. How are my
+uncle and my sister? Are they at the farm?"
+
+"Almighty! you don't suppose that I have been there to see, do you? But,
+yes, I have heard they are there. It is a nice place, that Mooifontein,
+and I think that I shall buy it when we have turned all you English
+people out of the land. Frank Muller told me that they were there. And
+now I must be getting on, or that devil of a man, Frank Muller, will
+want to know what I have been about."
+
+"_Oom_ Coetzee," said Jess, "will you do something for me? We are
+old friends, you know, and once I persuaded my uncle to lend you five
+hundred pounds when all your oxen died of the lungsick."
+
+"Yes, yes, it shall be paid back one day--when we have hunted the damned
+Englishmen out of the country." And he began to gather up his reins
+preparatory to riding off.
+
+"Will you do me a favour?" said Jess, catching the pony by the bridle.
+
+"What is it? What is it, missie? I must be getting on. That devil of a
+man, Frank Muller, is waiting for me with the prisoners at the Rooihuis
+Kraal."
+
+"I want a pass for myself and Captain Niel, and an escort. We wish to go
+home."
+
+The old Boer held up his fat hands in amazement.
+
+"Almighty!" he said, "it is impossible. A pass!--who ever heard of such
+a thing? Come, I must be going."
+
+"It is not impossible, Uncle Coetzee, as you know," said Jess. "Listen!
+If I get that pass I will speak to my uncle about the five hundred
+pounds. Perhaps he would not want it all back again."
+
+"Ah!" said the Boer. "Well, we are old friends, missie, and 'never
+desert a friend,' that is my saying. Almighty! I must ride a hundred
+miles--I will swim through blood for a friend. Well, well, I must see.
+It depends upon that devil of a man, Frank Muller. Where are you to be
+found--in the white house yonder? Good. To-morrow the escort will come
+in with the prisoners, and if I can get it they will bring the pass.
+But, missie, remember the five hundred pounds. If you do not speak to
+your uncle about that I shall be even with him. Almighty! what a thing
+it is to have a good heart, and to love to help your friends! Well,
+good-day, good-day," and off he cantered on his fat pony, his broad face
+shining with a look of unutterable benevolence.
+
+Jess cast a look of contempt after him, and then went on towards the
+camp to fetch the rations.
+
+When she returned to "The Palatial," she told John what had taken
+place, and suggested that it would be as well, in case there should be
+a favourable reply to her request, to have everything prepared for a
+start. Accordingly, the cart was brought down and stood outside "The
+Palatial," where John unscrewed the patent caps and filled them with
+castor-oil, and ordered Mouti to keep the horses, which were all in
+health, though "poor" from want of proper food, well within hail.
+
+Meanwhile, old Hans pursued the jerky tenour of his way for an hour or
+so, till he came in sight of a small red house.
+
+Presently, from the shadow in front of the red house emerged a rider,
+mounted on a powerful black horse. The horseman--a stern, handsome,
+bearded man--put his hand above his eyes to shade them from the sun, and
+gazed up the road. Then he seemed suddenly to strike his spurs into the
+horse, for the animal bounded forward swiftly, and came sweeping towards
+Hans at a hand gallop.
+
+"Ah! it is that devil of a man, Frank Muller!" ejaculated Coetzee. "Now
+I wonder what he wants? I always feel cold down the back when he comes
+near me."
+
+By this time the plunging black horse was being reined up alongside of
+his pony so sharply that it reared till its great hoofs were pawing the
+air within a few inches of Hans' head.
+
+"Almighty!" said the old man, tugging his pony round. "Be careful,
+nephew, be careful; I do not wish to be crushed like a beetle."
+
+Frank Muller--for it was he--smiled. He had made his horse rear
+purposely, in order to frighten the old man, whom he knew to be an
+arrant coward.
+
+"Why have you been so long? and what have you done with the Englishmen?
+You should have been back half an hour ago."
+
+"And so I should, nephew, and so I should, if I had not been detained.
+Surely you do not suppose that I would linger in the accursed place?
+Bah," and he spat upon the ground, "it stinks of Englishmen. I cannot
+get the taste of them out of my mouth."
+
+"You are a liar, Uncle Coetzee," was the cool answer. "English with the
+English, Boer with the Boer. You blow neither hot nor cold. Be careful
+lest I show you up. I know you and your talk. Do you remember what you
+were saying to the Englishman Niel in the inn-yard at Wakkerstroom
+when you turned and saw me? I heard, and I do not forget. You know what
+happens to a 'land betrayer'?"
+
+Hans' teeth positively chattered, and his florid face blanched with
+fear.
+
+"What do you mean, nephew?" he asked.
+
+"I--ah!--I mean nothing. I was only speaking a word of warning to you as
+a friend. I have heard things said about you by----" and he dropped
+his voice and whispered a name, at the sound of which poor Hans turned
+whiter than ever.
+
+"Well," went on his tormentor, when he had sufficiently enjoyed his
+terror, "what sort of terms did you make in Pretoria?"
+
+"Oh, good, nephew, good," he gabbled, delighted to find a fresh subject.
+"I found the Englishmen supple as a tanned skin. They will give up their
+twelve prisoners for our four. The men are to be in by ten to-morrow.
+I told their commandant about Laing's Nek and Ingogo, and he would not
+believe me. He thought I lied like himself. They are getting hungry
+there now. I saw a Hottentot I knew, and he told me that their bones
+were beginning to show."
+
+"They will be through the skin before long," muttered Frank. "Well,
+here we are at the house. The General is there. He has just come up from
+Heidelberg, and you can make your report to him. Did you find out about
+the Englishman--Captain Niel? Is it true that he is dead?"
+
+"No, he is not dead. By the way, I met _Oom_ Croft's niece--the dark
+one. She is shut up there with the Captain, and she begged me to try and
+get them a pass to go home. Of course I told her that it was nonsense,
+and that they must stop and starve with the others."
+
+Muller, who had been listening to this last piece of information with
+intense interest, suddenly checked his horse and answered:
+
+"Did you? Then you are a bigger fool than I thought you. Who gave you
+authority to decide whether they should have a pass or not?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE GREAT MAN
+
+Completely overcome by this last remark, Hans collapsed like a
+jelly-fish out of water, and reflected in his worthless old heart
+that Frank Muller was indeed "a devil of a man." By this time they
+had reached the door of the little house, and were dismounting, and in
+another minute Hans found himself in the presence of one of the leaders
+of the rebellion.
+
+He was a short, ugly person of about fifty-five, with a big nose, small
+eyes, straight hair, and a stoop. The forehead, however, was good, and
+the whole face betrayed a keenness and ability far beyond the average.
+The great man was seated at a plain deal table, writing something with
+evident difficulty upon a dirty sheet of paper, and smoking a very large
+pipe.
+
+"Sit, _Heeren_, sit," he said, when they entered, waving the stem of
+his pipe towards a deal bench. Accordingly they sat down without even
+removing their hats, and, pulling out their pipes, proceeded to light
+them.
+
+"How, in the name of God, do you spell 'Excellency'?" asked the General
+presently. "I have spelt it in four different ways, and each one looks
+worse than the last."
+
+Frank Muller gave the required information. Hans in his heart thought he
+spelt it wrong, but he did not dare to say so. Then came another pause,
+only interrupted by the slow scratching of a quill across the dirty
+paper, during which Hans nearly went to sleep; for the weather was very
+hot, and he was tired with his ride.
+
+"There!" said the writer presently, gazing at his handwriting with an
+almost childish air of satisfaction, "that is done. A curse on the man
+who invented writing! Our fathers did very well without it; why should
+not we? Though, to be sure, it is useful for treaties with the Kafirs.
+I don't believe you have told me right now about that 'Excellency,'
+nephew. Well, it will have to serve. When a man writes such a letter
+as that to the representative of the English Queen he needn't mind his
+spelling; it will be swallowed with the rest," and he leaned back in his
+chair and laughed softly.
+
+"Now, _Meinheer_ Coetzee, what is it? Ah, I know; the prisoners. Well,
+what did you do?"
+
+Hans told his story, and was rambling on when the General cut him short.
+
+"So, cousin, so! You talk like an ox-waggon--rumble and creak and jolt,
+a devil of a noise and turning of wheels, but very little progress. They
+will give up their twelve prisoners for our four, will they? That is
+about a fair proportion. No, it is not, though: four Boers are better
+than twelve Englishmen any day--ay, better than forty!" and he laughed
+again. "Well, the men shall be sent in as you arranged; they will help
+to eat up their last biscuits. Good-day, cousin. Stop, though; one word
+before you go. I have heard about you at times, cousin. I have heard
+it said that you cannot be trusted. Now, I don't know if that is so.
+I don't believe it myself. Only, listen; if it should be true, and
+I should find you out, by God! I will have you cut into rimpis with
+afterox _sjambocks_, and then shoot you and send in your carcase as a
+present to the English." As he spoke thus he leaned forward, brought
+down his fist upon the deal table with a bang that produced a most
+unpleasant effect upon poor Hans's nerves, and a cold gleam of sudden
+ferocity flickered in the small eyes, very discomforting for a timid man
+to behold, however innocent he knew himself to be.
+
+"I swear----" he began to babble.
+
+"Swear not at all, cousin; you are an elder of the church. There is no
+need for it, besides. I told you I did not believe it of you; only I
+have had one or two cases of this sort of thing lately. No, never mind
+who they were. You will not meet them about again. Good-day, cousin,
+good-day. Forget not to thank the Almighty God for our glorious
+victories. He will expect it from an elder of the church."
+
+Poor Hans departed crestfallen, feeling that the days of him who tries,
+however skilfully and impartially, to sit upon two stools at once are
+not happy days, and sometimes threaten to be short ones. And supposing
+that the Englishmen should win after all--as in his heart he hoped
+they might--how should he then prove that he had hoped it? The General
+watched him waddle through the door from under his pent brows, a
+half-humourous, half-menacing expression on his face.
+
+"A windbag; a coward; a man without a heart for good or for evil. Bah!
+nephew, that is Hans Coetzee. I have known him for years. Well, let him
+go. He would sell us if he could, but I have frightened him now, and,
+what is more, if I see reason, he shall find I never bark unless I mean
+to bite. Well, enough of him. Let me see, have I thanked you yet for
+your share in Majuba? Ah! that was a glorious victory! How many were
+there of you when you started up the mountain?"
+
+"Eighty men."
+
+"And how many at the end?"
+
+"One hundred and seventy--perhaps a few more."
+
+"And how many of you were hit?"
+
+"Three--one killed, two wounded, and a few scratches."
+
+"Wonderful, wonderful! It was a brave deed, and because it was so brave
+it was successful. He must have been mad, that English general. Who shot
+him?"
+
+"Breytenbach. Colley held up a white handkerchief in his hand, and
+Breytenbach fired, and down went the general of a heap, and then they
+all ran helter-skelter down the hill. Yes, it was a wonderful thing!
+They could have beat us back with their left hand. That is what comes of
+having a righteous cause, uncle."
+
+The general smiled grimly. "That is what comes of having men who can
+shoot, and who understand the country, and are not afraid. Well, it
+is done, and well done. The stars in their courses have fought for us,
+Frank Muller, and so far we have conquered. But how is it to end? You
+are no fool; tell me, how will it end?"
+
+Frank Muller rose and walked twice up and down the room before he
+answered. "Shall I tell you?" he asked, and then, without waiting for
+a reply, went on: "It will end in our getting the country back. That is
+what this armistice means. There are thousands of _rooibaatjes_ there at
+the Nek; they cannot therefore be waiting for soldiers. They are waiting
+for an opportunity to yield, uncle. We shall get the country back, and
+you will be President of the Republic."
+
+The old man took a pull at his pipe. "You have a long head, Frank, and
+it has not run away with you. The English Government is going to give
+in. The stars in their courses continue to fight for us. The English
+Government is as mad as its officers. They will give in. But it means
+more than that, Frank; I will tell you what it means. It means"--and
+again he let his heavy hand fall upon the deal table--"the triumph of
+the Boer throughout South Africa. Bah! Burgers was not such a fool after
+all when he talked of his great Dutch Republic. I have been twice to
+England now and I know the Englishman. I could measure him for his
+_veldtschoens_ (shoes). He knows nothing--nothing. He understands his
+shop; he is buried in his shop, and can think of nothing else. Sometimes
+he goes away and starts a shop in other places, and buries himself in
+it, and makes it a big shop, because he understands shops. But it is all
+a question of shops, and if the shops abroad interfere with the shops at
+home, or if it is thought that they do, which comes to the same thing,
+then the shops at home put an end to the shops abroad. Bah! they talk a
+great deal there in England, but, at the bottom of it, it is shop, shop,
+shop. They talk of honour, and patriotism too, but they both give way
+to the shop. And I tell you this, Frank Muller: it is the shop that has
+made the English, and it is the shop that will destroy them. Well, so be
+it. We shall have our slice: Africa for the Africanders. The Transvaal
+for the Transvaalers first, then the rest. Shepstone was a clever man;
+he would have made it all into an English shop, with the black men for
+shop-boys. We have changed all that, but we ought to be grateful to
+Shepstone. The English have paid our debts, they have eaten up the
+Zulus, who would otherwise have destroyed us, and they have let us beat
+them, and now we are going to have our turn again, and, as you say, I
+shall be the first President."
+
+"Yes, uncle," replied the younger man calmly, "and I shall be the
+second."
+
+The General looked at him. "You are a bold man," he said; "but boldness
+makes the man and the country. I dare say you will. You have the head;
+and one clear head can turn many fools, as the rudder does the ship, and
+guide them when they are turned. I dare say that you will be President
+one day."
+
+"Yes, I shall be President, and when I am I will drive the Englishmen
+out of South Africa. This I will do with the help of the Natal Zulus.
+Then I will destroy the natives, as T'Chaka destroyed, keeping only
+enough for slaves. That is my plan, uncle; it is a good one."
+
+"It is a big one; I am not certain that it is a good one. But good or
+bad, who shall say? You may carry it out, nephew, if you live. A man
+with brains and wealth may carry out anything if he lives. But there is
+a God. I believe, Frank Muller, that there is a God, and I believe that
+God sets a limit to a man's doings. If he is going too far, God kills
+him. _If you live_, Frank Muller, you will do these things, but perhaps
+God will kill you. Who can say? You will do what God wills, not what
+_you_ will."
+
+The elder man was speaking seriously now. Muller felt that this was
+none of the whining cant people in authority among the Boers find it
+desirable to adopt. It was what he thought, and it chilled Muller
+in spite of his pretended scepticism, as the sincere belief of an
+intellectual man, however opposite to our own, is apt to chill us
+into doubt of ourselves and our opinions. For a moment his slumbering
+superstition awoke, and he felt half afraid. Between him and that bright
+future of blood and power lay a dark gulf. Suppose that gulf should be
+death, and the future nothing but a dream--or worse! His face fell as
+the idea occurred to him, and the General noticed it.
+
+"Well," he went on, "he who lives will see. Meanwhile you have done good
+service to the State, and you shall have your reward, cousin. If I am
+President"--he laid emphasis on this, the meaning of which his listener
+did not miss--"if by the support of my followers I become President, I
+will not forget you. And now I must up-saddle and ride back. I want to
+be at Laing's Nek in sixty hours, to wait for General Wood's answer. You
+will see about the sending in of those prisoners;" and he knocked out
+his pipe and rose.
+
+"By the way, _Meinheer_," said Muller, suddenly adopting a tone of
+respect, "I have a favour to ask."
+
+"What is it, nephew?"
+
+"I want a pass for two friends of mine--English people--in Pretoria to
+go down to their relations in Wakkerstroom district. They sent a message
+to me by Hans Coetzee."
+
+"I don't like giving passes," answered the General with some irritation.
+"You know what it means, letting out messengers. I wonder you ask me."
+
+"It is a small favour, _Meinheer_, and I do not think that it will
+matter. Pretoria will not be besieged much longer; I am under an
+obligation to the people."
+
+"Well, well, as you like; but if any harm comes of it, you will be held
+responsible. Write the pass; I will sign it."
+
+Frank Muller sat down and wrote and dated the paper. Its contents were
+simple: "Pass the bearers unharmed."
+
+"That is big enough to drive a waggon along," said the General, when it
+was handed to him to sign. "It might mean all Pretoria."
+
+"I am not certain if there are two or three of them," answered Muller
+carelessly.
+
+"Well, well, you are responsible. Give me the pen," and he scrawled his
+big coarse signature on the paper.
+
+"I propose, with your permission, to escort the cart down with two other
+men. As you are aware, I go to take over the command of the Wakkerstroom
+district to-morrow."
+
+"Very good. It is your affair; you are responsible. I shall ask no
+questions, provided your friends do no harm to the cause;" and he left
+the room without another word.
+
+When the great man had gone, Frank Muller sat down again on the bench
+and looked at the pass, and communed with himself, for he was far too
+wise to commune with anybody else. "The Lord hath delivered mine enemy
+into mine hand," he said with a smile, and stroked his golden beard.
+"Well, well, I will not waste His merciful opportunities as I did that
+day out buck-shooting. And then for Bessie. I suppose I shall have
+to kill old Croft too. I am sorry for that, but it can't be helped;
+besides, if anything should happen to Jess, Bessie will take
+Mooifontein, and that is worth having. Not that I want more land; I have
+enough. Yes, I will marry her. It would serve her right if I didn't;
+but, after all, marriage is more respectable; also one has more hold of
+a wife. Nobody will interfere for her. Then, she will be of use to
+me by-and-by, for a beautiful woman is a power even among these
+fellow-countrymen of mine, if only a man knows how to bait his lines
+with her. Yes, I shall marry her. Bah! that is the way to win a
+woman--by capture; and, what is more, they like it. It makes her worth
+winning too. It will be a courtship of blood. Well, the kisses will be
+the sweeter, and in the end she will love me the more for what I have
+dared for her.
+
+"So, Frank Muller, so! Ten years ago you said to yourself: 'There are
+three things worth having in the world--first, wealth; secondly, women,
+if they take your fancy, or, better still, one woman, if you desire her
+above all others; thirdly, power.' Now, you have got the wealth, for one
+way or another you are the richest man in the Transvaal. In a week you
+will have the woman you love, and who is sweeter to you than all the
+world besides. In five years' time you will have the power--absolute
+power. That old man is clever; he will be President. But I am cleverer.
+I shall soon take his seat, thus"--and he rose and seated himself in the
+General's chair--"and he will go down a step and take mine. Ay, and then
+I will reign. My tongue shall be honey and my hand iron. I will pass
+over the land like a storm. I will drive these English out with the help
+of the Kafirs, and then I will kill the Kafirs and take their country.
+Ah!"--and his eyes flashed and his nostrils dilated as he said it to
+himself--"then life will be worth living! What a thing is power! What
+a thing it is to be able to destroy! Take that Englishman, my rival:
+to-day he is well and strong; in three days he will be gone utterly, and
+I--I shall have sent him away. That is power. But when the time
+comes that I have only to stretch out my hand to send thousands after
+him!--that will be absolute power; and then with Bessie I shall be
+happy."
+
+And so he dreamed on for an hour or more, till at last the fumes of
+his untutored imagination actually drowned his reason in a spiritual
+drunkenness. Picture after picture rose and unrolled itself before his
+mind's eye. He saw himself as President addressing the _Volksraad_,
+and compelling it to his will. He saw himself, the supreme general of
+a great host, defeating the forces of England with awful carnage, and
+driving them before him; ay, he even selected the battle-ground on the
+slopes of the Biggarsberg in Natal. Then he saw himself again, sweeping
+the natives out of South Africa with the relentless besom of his might,
+and ruling unquestioned over a submissive people. And, last of all, he
+saw something glittering at his feet--it was a crown!
+
+This was the climax of his dream. Then there came an anticlimax. The
+rich imagination which had been leading him on as a gaudy butterfly does
+a child, suddenly changed colour and dropped to earth; and there rose
+up in his mind the memory of the General's words: "God sets a limit to a
+man's doings. If he is going too far, _God kills him_."
+
+The butterfly had settled on a coffin!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+JESS GETS A PASS
+
+About half-past ten on the morning following her interview with
+Hans Coetzee, Jess was at "The Palatial" as usual, and John was just
+finishing packing the cart with such few goods as they possessed. There
+was little chance of his labour proving of material use, for he did not
+in the slightest degree expect that they would get the pass; but, as he
+said cheerfully, it was as good an amusement as any other.
+
+"I say, Jess," he called out presently, "come here."
+
+"What for?" asked Jess, who was seated on the doorstep mending
+something, and looking at her favourite view.
+
+"Because I want to speak to you."
+
+She rose and went, feeling rather angry with herself for going.
+
+"Well," she said tartly, "here I am. What is it?"
+
+"I have finished packing the cart, that's all."
+
+"And you mean to tell me that you have brought me round here to say
+that?"
+
+"Yes, of course I have; exercise is good for the young." Then he
+laughed, and she laughed too.
+
+It was all nothing--nothing at all--but somehow it was very delightful.
+Certainly mutual affection, even when unexpressed, has a way of making
+things go happily, and can find entertainment anywhere.
+
+Just then, who should arrive but Mrs. Neville, in a great state of
+excitement, and, as usual, fanning herself with her hat.
+
+"What do you think, Captain Niel? The prisoners have come in, and I
+heard one of the Boers in charge say that he had a pass signed by the
+Boer general for some English people, and that he was coming over to see
+about them presently. Who can it be?"
+
+"It is for us," said Jess quickly. "We are going home. I saw Hans
+Coetzee yesterday, and begged him to try and get us a pass, and I
+suppose he has."
+
+"My word! going to get out: well, you are lucky! Let me sit down and
+write a letter to my great-uncle at the Cape. You must post it when you
+can. He is ninety-four, and rather soft, but I dare say he will like
+to hear from me," and she hurried into the house to give her aged
+relative--who, by the way, laboured under the impression that she was
+still a little girl of four years of age--as minute an account of the
+siege of Pretoria as time would allow.
+
+"Well, John, you had better tell Mouti to put the horses in. We shall
+have to start presently," said Jess.
+
+"Ay," he said, pulling his beard thoughtfully, "I suppose that we
+shall;" adding, by way of an afterthought, "Are you glad to go?"
+
+"No," she said, with a sudden flash of passion and a stamp of the foot.
+Then she turned and entered the house again.
+
+"Mouti," said John to the Zulu, who was lounging about in a way
+characteristic of that intelligent but unindustrious race, "inspan the
+horses. We are going back to Mooifontein."
+
+"_Koos!_" said the Zulu unconcernedly, and started on the errand as
+though it were the most everyday occurrence to drive off home out of a
+closely beleaguered town. That is another beauty of the Zulu race: you
+cannot astonish them. No doubt they consider that extraordinary mixture
+of wisdom and insanity, the white man, to be _capable du tout_, as the
+agnostic French critic said in despair of the prophet Zerubbabel.
+
+John stood and watched the inspanning absently. In truth, he, too, was
+conscious of a sensation of regret. He felt ashamed of himself for it,
+but there it was; he was sorry to leave the place. For the last week or
+so he had been living in a dream, and everything outside that dream was
+blurred, indistinct as a landscape in a fog. He knew the objects
+were there, but he could not quite appreciate their relative size and
+position. The only real thing was his dream; all else was as vague as
+those far-off people and events that we lose in infancy and find again
+in old age.
+
+Now there would be an end of dreaming; the fog would lift, and he must
+face the facts. Jess, with whom he had dreamed, would go away to Europe
+and he would marry Bessie, and all this Pretoria business would glide
+away into the past like a watch in the night. Well, it must be so; it
+was right and proper that it should be so, and he for one would not
+flinch from his duty; but he must have been more than human had he not
+felt the pang of awakening. It was all so very unfortunate.
+
+By this time Mouti had got up the horses, and asked if he was to inspan.
+
+"No; wait a bit," said John. "Very likely it is all nonsense," he added
+to himself.
+
+Scarcely were the words out of his mouth when he caught sight of two
+armed Boers of a peculiarly unpleasant type and rough appearance, riding
+across the veldt towards "The Palatial" gate. With them was an escort
+of four carbineers. At the gate they all stopped, and one of the Boers
+dismounted and walked to where John was standing by the stable-door.
+
+"Captain Niel?" he said interrogatively, in English.
+
+"That is my name."
+
+"Then here is a letter for you;" and he handed him a folded paper.
+
+John opened it--it had no envelope--and read as follows:
+
+
+"Sir,--The bearer of this has with him a pass which it is understood
+that you desire, giving you and Miss Jess Croft a safe-conduct to
+Mooifontein, in the Wakkerstroom district of the Republic. The only
+condition attached to the pass, which is signed by one of the honourable
+Triumvirate, is that you must carry no despatches out of Pretoria. Upon
+your giving your word of honour to the bearer that you will not do this
+he will hand you the pass."
+
+
+This letter, which was fairly written and in good English, had no
+signature.
+
+"Who wrote this?" asked John of the Boer.
+
+"That is no affair of yours," was the curt reply. "Will you pass your
+word about the despatches?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Good. Here is the pass;" and he handed over that document to John.
+It was in the same handwriting as the letter, but signed by the Boer
+general.
+
+John examined it, and then called to Jess to come to translate it, who,
+having heard the voice of the Boer, was on her way round the corner of
+the house.
+
+"It means, 'Pass the bearers unharmed,'" she said, "and the signature is
+genuine. I have seen Paul Kruger's signature before."
+
+"When must we start?" asked John of the Boer.
+
+"At once, or not at all."
+
+"I must drive round by the headquarter camp to explain my departure.
+They will think that I have run away."
+
+To this the Boer demurred, but finally, after going to the gate to
+consult his companion, he consented and the two rode back to the
+headquarter camp, saying that they would wait for the cart there,
+whereupon the horses were inspanned.
+
+In five minutes everything was ready, and the cart was standing on the
+roadway in front of the little gate. After he had looked to all the
+straps and buckles, and seen that the baggage was properly packed, John
+went to call Jess. He found her by the doorstep, looking out at her
+favourite view. Her hand was placed sideways against her forehead, as
+though to shade her eyes from the sun. But where she was standing there
+was no sun, and John could not help guessing why she was shading her
+eyes. She was crying at leaving the place in that quiet and harrowing
+way which some women indulge in; that is to say, a few big tears were
+rolling down her face. John felt a lump rise in his own throat at the
+sight, and not unnaturally relieved his feelings by rough language.
+
+"What the deuce are you after?" he asked. "Are you going to keep the
+horses standing all day?"
+
+Jess did not resent this. The probability is that she guessed its
+reason. Besides, it is a melancholy fact that women rather like being
+sworn at than otherwise, provided that the swearer is the man whom they
+are attached to. But he must only swear on state occasions. At this
+moment, too, Mrs. Neville plunged out of the house, licking an envelope
+as she ran.
+
+"There," she said, "I hope you weren't waiting for me. I haven't told
+the old gentleman half the news; in fact, I've only taken him down to
+the time when the communications were cut, and I dare say he has seen
+all that in the papers. But he won't understand anything about it, and
+if he does he will guess the rest; besides, for all I know, he may be
+dead and buried by now. I shall have to owe you for the stamp. I think
+it's threepence. I'll pay you when we meet again--that is, if we ever
+do meet again. I'm beginning to think that this siege will go on for all
+eternity. There, good-bye, my dear! God bless you! When you get out of
+it, mind you write to the _Times_, in London, you know. There, don't
+cry. I am sure I should not cry if I were going to get out of this
+place;" for at this point Jess took the opportunity of Mrs. Neville's
+fervent embrace to burst out into a sob or two.
+
+In another minute they were in the cart, and Mouti was scrambling up
+behind.
+
+"Don't cry, old girl," said John, laying his hand upon her shoulder.
+"What can't be cured must be endured."
+
+"Yes, John," she answered, and dried her tears.
+
+At the headquarter camp John went in and explained the circumstances of
+his departure. At first the officer who was temporarily in command--the
+Commandant having been wounded at the same time that John was
+hit--rather demurred to his going, especially when he learned that he
+had passed his word not to carry despatches. Presently, however, he
+thought better of it, and said he supposed that it was all right, as
+he could not see that their departure could do the garrison any harm:
+"rather the reverse, in fact, because you can tell people how we are
+getting on in this God-forsaken hole. I only wish that somebody would
+give me a pass, that's all." So John shook hands with him and left, to
+find an eager crowd gathered outside.
+
+The news of their good luck had gone abroad, and everybody was running
+down to hear the truth of it. Such an event as a departure out of
+Pretoria had not happened for a couple of months and more, and the
+excitement was proportionate to its novelty.
+
+"I say, Niel, is it true you are going?" halloed a burly farmer.
+
+"How the deuce did you get a pass?" put in another man with a face like
+a weasel. He was what is known as a _Boer vernuker_ (literally a "Boer
+cheater"), that is, a travelling trader whose business it is to beguile
+the simple-minded Dutchman by selling him worthless goods at five times
+their value. "I have loads of friends among the Boers. There is hardly
+a Boer in the Transvaal who does not know me"--("To his cost," put in
+a bystander with a grunt)--"and yet I have tried all I know"--("And you
+know a good deal," said the same rude man)--"and _I_ can't get a pass."
+
+"You don't suppose those poor Boers are going to let you out once they
+have got you in?" went on the tormentor. "Why, man, it's against human
+nature. You've got all their wool: now do you think they want you to
+have their skin too?"
+
+Whereupon the weasel-faced individual uttered a howl of wrath, and
+pretended to make a rush at the author of these random gibes, waiting
+halfway for somebody to stop him and prevent a breach of the peace.
+
+"Oh, Miss Croft!" cried out a woman in the crowd, who, like Jess, had
+been trapped in Pretoria while on a flying visit, "if you can, do send a
+line to my husband at Maritzburg, to tell him that I am well, except for
+the rheumatism from sleeping on the wet ground; and tell him to kiss the
+twins for me."
+
+"I say, Niel, tell those Boers that we will give them a d--d good hiding
+yet, when Colley relieves us," sang out a jolly young Englishman in
+the uniform of the Pretoria Carbineers. He little knew that poor
+Colley--kind-hearted English gentleman that he was--lay sleeping
+peacefully under six feet of ground with a Boer bullet in his brain.
+
+"Now, Captain Niel, if you are ready, we must trek," said one of the
+Boers in Dutch, suiting the action to the word by giving the near
+wheeler a sharp cut with his riding _sjambock_ that made him jump nearly
+out of the traces.
+
+Away started the horses with a plunge, scattering the crowd to the right
+and left, and, amid a volley of farewells, they were off upon their
+homeward journey.
+
+For more than an hour nothing particular happened. John drove at a fair
+pace, and the two Boers cantered along behind. At the end of this time,
+however, just as they were approaching the Red House, where Frank Muller
+had obtained the pass from the General on the previous day, one of the
+Boers rode up and told them, roughly enough, that they were to outspan
+at the house, where they would find some food. As it was past one
+o'clock, they were by no means sorry to hear this, and John drew up the
+cart about fifty yards from the place, where they outspanned the horses,
+and, having watched them roll and drink, they went up to the house.
+
+The two Boers, who had also off-saddled, were already sitting on the
+verandah, and when Jess looked inquiringly towards them one of them
+pointed with his pipe towards the little room. Taking the hint, they
+entered, and found a Hottentot woman just setting some food upon the
+table.
+
+"Here is dinner; let us eat it," said John; "goodness knows when we will
+get any more;" and accordingly he sat down.
+
+As he did so the two Boers came in, and one of them made some sneering
+remark that caused the other to look at them and laugh insultingly.
+
+John flushed, but took no notice. Indeed he thought it safest not, for,
+to tell the truth, he did not much like the appearance of these two
+worthies. One of them was a big, smooth, pasty-faced man, with a
+peculiarly villainous expression of countenance and a prominent tooth
+that projected in ghastly isolation over his lower lip. The other was
+a small man, with a sardonic smile, a profusion of black beard and
+whiskers on his face, and long hair hanging on to his shoulders. Indeed,
+when he smiled more vigorously than usual, his eyebrows came down and
+his whiskers advanced, and his moustache went up till there was scarcely
+any face left, and he looked more like a great bearded monkey than
+a human being. This man was a Boer of the wildest type from the far
+borders of Zoutpansberg, and did not understand a word of English.
+Jess nicknamed him the Vilderbeeste, from his likeness to that
+ferocious-looking and hairy animal. His companion, on the other hand,
+understood English perfectly, for he had passed many years of his life
+in Natal, having left that colony on account of some little indiscretion
+about thrashing Kafirs which had brought him into collision with the
+penal laws. Jess named him the Unicorn, on account of his one gleaming
+tusk.
+
+The Unicorn was an unusually pious person, and on arriving at the table,
+to John's astonishment, gently but firmly he grasped the knife with
+which he was about to cut the meat.
+
+"What's the matter?" said John.
+
+The Boer shook his head sadly. "No wonder, you English are an accursed
+race, and have been given over into our hands as the great king Agag
+was given into the hands of the Israelites, so that we have hewed you to
+pieces. You sit down to meat and give no thanks to the dear Lord," and
+he threw back his head and sang out a portentously long Dutch grace
+through his nose. Not content with this, he set to work to translate
+it to English, which took a good time; nor was the rendering a very
+finished one in the result.
+
+The Vilderbeeste grinned sardonically and put in a pious "Amen," and
+then at last they were allowed to proceed with their dinner, which,
+on the whole, was not a pleasant meal. But they could not expect much
+pleasure under the circumstances, so they ate their food and made the
+best of a bad business. After all, it might have been worse: they might
+have had no dinner to eat.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+ON THE ROAD
+
+John and Jess had finished their meal, and were about to leave the
+table, when suddenly the door opened, and who should appear at it but
+Frank Muller himself! Mistake was impossible; there he stood, stroking
+his long golden beard, as big, as handsome, and, to Jess's mind, as
+evil-looking as ever. The cold eyes fell upon John with a glance of
+recognition, and something like a smile began to play around the corners
+of the finely cut cruel mouth. Suddenly, however, his gaze lit upon the
+two Boers, one of whom was picking his teeth with a steel fork and
+the other lighting his pipe within a few inches of Jess's head, and
+instantly his face grew stern and angry.
+
+"Did I not tell you two men," he said, "that you were not to eat with
+the prisoners?"--this word struck awkwardly on Jess's ear. "I told
+you that they were to be treated with all respect, and here I find you
+sprawling over the table and smoking in their faces. Be off with you!"
+
+The smooth-faced man with the tusk rose at once with a sigh, put
+down the steel fork with which he had been operating, and departed,
+recognising that _Meinheer_ Muller was not a commanding officer to be
+trifled with, but his companion, the Vilderbeeste, demurred. "What,"
+he said, tossing his head so as to throw the long black hair out of his
+eyes, "am I not fit to sit at meat with a couple of accursed English--a
+_rooibaatje_ and a woman? If I had my way he should clean my boots
+and she should cut up my tobacco;" and he grinned at the notion till
+eyebrows, whiskers, and moustache nearly met round his nose, causing him
+to look for all the world like a hairy-faced baboon.
+
+Frank Muller made no answer in words. He simply took one step forward,
+pounced upon his insubordinate follower, and with a single swing of his
+athletic frame sent him flying headlong through the door, so that this
+free and independent burgher lit upon his head in the passage, smashing
+his pipe and considerably damaging his best feature--his nose. "There,"
+said Muller, shutting the door after him, "that is the only way to deal
+with such a fellow. And now let me bid you good-day, Miss Jess," and he
+extended his hand, which Jess took, rather coldly it must be owned.
+
+"It has given me great pleasure to be able to do you this little
+service," he added politely. "I had considerable difficulty in obtaining
+the pass from the General--indeed I was obliged to urge my personal
+services before he would give it to me. But never mind that, I got
+it, as you know, and it will be my care to escort you safely to
+Mooifontein."
+
+Jess bowed, and Muller turned to John, who had risen from his chair and
+was standing some two paces away, and addressed him. "Captain Niel," he
+said, "you and I have had some differences in the past. I hope that the
+service I am doing you will prove that I, for one, bear no malice. I
+will go farther. As I told you before, I was to blame in that affair in
+the inn-yard at Wakkerstroom. Let us shake hands and end what we cannot
+mend," and he stepped forward and extended his hand.
+
+Jess turned to see what would happen. She knew the whole story, and
+hoped he would take the man's hand; next, remembering their position,
+she hoped that he would.
+
+John turned colour a little, then he drew himself up deliberately and
+put his hand behind his back.
+
+"I am very sorry, Mr. Muller," he said, "but even in our present
+position I cannot shake hands with you; you will know why."
+
+Jess saw a flush, bred of the furious passion which was his weak point,
+spread itself over the Boer's face.
+
+"I do _not_ know, Captain Niel. Be so good as to explain."
+
+"Very well, I will," said John calmly. "You tried to assassinate me."
+
+"What do you mean?" thundered Muller.
+
+"What I say. You shot at me twice under pretence of firing at a
+buck. Look here!"--and he took up his soft black hat, which he still
+wore--"here is the mark of one of your bullets! I did not know about it
+then; I do now, and I decline to shake hands with you."
+
+By this time Muller's fury had got the better of him. "You shall answer
+for that, you English liar!" he said, at the same time clapping his
+hand to his belt, in which his hunting-knife was placed. Thus for a few
+seconds they stood face to face. John never flinched or moved. There he
+stood, quiet and strong as some old stubby tree, his plain honest face
+and watchful eye affording a strange contrast to the beautiful but
+demoniacal countenance of the great Dutchman. Presently he spoke in
+measured tones.
+
+"I have proved myself a better man that yourself once, Frank Muller, and
+if necessary I will again, notwithstanding that knife of yours. But, in
+the meantime, I wish to remind you that I have a pass signed by your own
+General guaranteeing our safety. And now, Mr. Muller," with a flash of
+the blue eyes, "I am ready." The Dutchman drew the knife, but replaced
+it in its sheath. For a moment he was minded to end the matter then and
+there, but suddenly, even in his rage, he remembered that there was a
+witness.
+
+"A pass from the General!" he said, forgetting his caution in his fury.
+"Much good a pass from the General is likely to be to you. You are in
+my power, man! If I choose to close my hand I can crush you. But
+there--there," he added, checking himself, "perhaps I ought to make
+allowances. You are one of a defeated people, and no doubt are sore, and
+say what you do not mean. Anyhow, there is an end of it, especially in
+the presence of a lady. Some day we may be able to settle our trouble
+like men, Captain Niel; till then, with your permission, we will let it
+drop."
+
+"Quite so, Mr. Muller," said John, "only you must not ask me to shake
+hands with you."
+
+"Very good, Captain Niel; and now, if you will allow me, I will tell
+the boy to get your horses in; we must be getting on if we are to reach
+Heidelberg to-night." And he bowed himself out, feeling that once more
+his temper had endangered the success of his plans. "Curse the fellow!"
+he said to himself: "he is what those English call a gentleman. It was
+brave of him to refuse to take my hand when he is in my power."
+
+"John," said Jess, as soon as the door had closed, "I am afraid of that
+man. If I had understood that he had anything to do with the pass I
+would not have taken it. I thought that the writing was familiar to me.
+Oh dear! I wish we had stopped at Pretoria."
+
+"What can't be cured must be endured," said John again. "The only thing
+to do is to make the best of it, and get on as we can. You will be
+all right anyhow, but he hates me like poison. I suppose that it is on
+account of Bessie."
+
+"Yes, that's it," said Jess: "he is, or was, madly in love with Bessie."
+
+"It is curious to think that a man like that can be in love," remarked
+John as he lit his pipe, "but it only shows what queer mixtures people
+are. I say, Jess, if this fellow hates me so much, what made him give me
+the pass, eh? What's his game?"
+
+Jess shook her head as she answered, "I don't know, John; I don't like
+it."
+
+"I suppose he can't mean to murder me; he did try it on once, you know."
+
+"Oh no, John," she answered with a sort of cry, "not that."
+
+"Well, I don't know that it would matter much," he said, with an
+approach to cheerfulness which was rather a failure. "It would save
+one a deal of worry, and only anticipate things a bit. But there, I
+frightened you, and I dare say that, for the present at any rate, he is
+an honest man, and has no intentions on my person. Look! there is Mouti
+calling us. I wonder if those brutes have given him anything to eat!
+We'll secure the rest of this leg of mutton on chance. At any rate, Mr.
+Frank Muller sha'n't starve me to death," and with a cheerful laugh he
+left the room.
+
+In a few minutes they were on their road again. As they started Frank
+Muller came up, took off his hat, and informed them that probably he
+would join them on the morrow below Heidelberg, in which town they would
+find every preparation to enable them to spend the night comfortably.
+If he did not join them it would be because he was detained on duty.
+In that case the two men had his orders to escort them safely to
+Mooifontein, and, he added significantly, "I do not think that you will
+be troubled with any further impoliteness."
+
+In another moment he had galloped off on his great black horse, leaving
+the pair considerably mystified and not a little relieved.
+
+"Well," said John, "at any rate that does not look like foul play,
+unless, indeed, he has gone on to prepare a warm reception for us."
+
+Jess shrugged her shoulders, she could not understand it; and then they
+settled themselves down to their long lonely drive. They had forty odd
+miles to cover, but the guides, or rather the guard, would only consent
+to their outspanning once, which they did on the open veldt a little
+before sunset. At sundown they inspanned again, and started across the
+darkening veldt. The road was in a shocking state, and until the moon
+rose, which it did about nine o'clock, the journey was both difficult
+and dangerous. After that things were a little better; and at last,
+about eleven o'clock, they reached Heidelberg. The town seemed almost
+deserted. Evidently the great body of the Boers were at the front, and
+had only left a guard at their seat of government.
+
+"Where are we to outspan?" asked John of the Unicorn, who was jogging on
+alongside, apparently half asleep.
+
+"At the hotel," was the short reply, and thither they went. Thankful
+enough they were to reach it, and to find, from the lights in the
+windows, that people were still about.
+
+Notwithstanding the awful jolting of the cart, Jess had been asleep for
+the last two hours. Her arm was hooked round the back of the seat, and
+her head rested against John's great-coat, which he had fixed up in such
+a way as to make a pillow. "Where are we?" she asked, waking up with a
+start as the cart stopped. "I have had such a bad dream! I dreamt that I
+was travelling through life, and that suddenly everything stopped, and I
+was dead."
+
+"I don't wonder at it," laughed John; "the road for the last ten miles
+has been as rough as anybody's life. We are at the hotel. Here are the
+boys to take the horses," and he clambered stiffly out of the cart and
+helped or rather lifted her down, for she was almost too cramped to
+move.
+
+Standing at the inn-door, holding a light above her head, they found a
+pleasant-looking Englishwoman, who welcomed them heartily.
+
+"Frank Muller was here three hours ago, and told me to expect you," she
+said; "and very glad I am to see an English face again, I can tell you.
+My name is Gooch. Tell me, is my husband all right in Pretoria? He went
+up there with his waggon just before the siege began, and I have not
+heard a word from him since."
+
+"Yes," said John, "he is all right. He was slightly wounded in the
+shoulder a month ago, but he has quite recovered."
+
+"Oh, thank God!" said the poor woman, beginning to cry; "those devils
+told me that he was dead--to torment me, I suppose. Come in, miss: there
+is some hot supper ready when you have washed your hands. The boys will
+see to the horses."
+
+Accordingly they entered, and were made as happy as a good supper,
+a hearty welcome, and comfortable beds could make people in their
+condition.
+
+In the early morning one of their estimable escort sent in a message
+to say that they were not to start before half-past ten, as the horses
+required more rest, so they enjoyed some hours longer in bed than they
+had expected, and anybody who has ever made a journey in a post-cart
+in South Africa can understand the blessing thereof. At nine they
+breakfasted, and as the clock struck half-past ten Mouti brought the
+cart round, and with it came the two Boers.
+
+"Well, Mrs. Gooch," said John, "what do we owe you?"
+
+"Nothing, Captain Niel, nothing. If you only knew what a weight you have
+taken off my mind! Besides, we are quite ruined; the Boers have looted
+all my husband's cattle and horses, and until last week six of them were
+quartered on me without paying a farthing, so it makes no odds to me."
+
+"Never mind, Mrs. Gooch," said John cheerfully, "the Government will
+compensate you when this business is over, no doubt."
+
+Mrs. Gooch shook her head prophetically. "Never a halfpenny do I expect
+to see," she said. "If only I can get my husband back, and we can escape
+out of this wicked place with our lives, I shall be thankful. And look
+here, Captain Niel, I have put up a basketful of food--bread, meat, and
+hard-boiled eggs, with a bottle of three-star brandy. It may be useful
+to you and the young lady before you reach home. I don't know where you
+will sleep to-night, for the English are still holding Standerton, so
+you won't be able to stop there, and you can't drive right through. No,
+don't thank me, I could not do less. Good-bye--good-bye, miss; I hope
+you will get through all right. You had better look out, though. Those
+two men you have with you are very bad lots. I heard say, rightly
+or wrongly, that that fat-faced man with the tooth shot two wounded
+soldiers through the head after the fight at Bronker's Spruit, and I
+know no good of the other. They were laughing and talking together about
+you in the kitchen this morning; one of my boys overheard them, and
+the Boer with the long hair said that, at any rate, they would not be
+troubled with you after to-night. I don't know what he meant; perhaps
+they are going to change the escort; but I thought that I had better
+tell you."
+
+John looked grave, and his suspicions re-arose, but at that moment one
+of the men in question rode up and told him that he must start at once,
+and so off they went.
+
+This second day's journey was in many respects a counterpart of the
+first. The road was utterly deserted, and they saw neither Boer,
+Englishman, nor Kafir upon it; nothing, indeed, except a few herds of
+game grazing on the ridges. About two o'clock, however, just as they had
+started after a short outspan, a little incident occurred. Suddenly
+the Vilderbeeste's horse put his foot into an ant-bear hole and fell
+heavily, throwing his rider on to his head. He was up in a minute, but
+his forehead had struck against the jawbone of a dead buck, and the
+blood was pouring from it down his hairy face. His companion laughed
+brutally at the accident, for there are some natures in the world to
+which the sight of pain is irresistibly comical, but the injured man
+cursed aloud, trying to staunch the flow with the lappet of his coat.
+
+"_Waacht een beeche_," said Jess, "there is some water in that pool,"
+and telling John to pull up she sprang from the trap and led the man,
+who was half-blinded with blood, to the spring. Here she made him
+kneel down and bathed the wound, which was not a very deep one, till it
+stopped bleeding, and then, having first placed a pad of cotton-wool,
+some of which she happened to have in the cart, upon it, she bound her
+handkerchief tightly round his head. The man, brute as he was, appeared
+to be much touched at her kindness.
+
+"Almighty," he said, "but you have a kind heart and soft fingers; my own
+wife could not have done it better; it is a pity that you are a damned
+Englishwoman."
+
+Jess climbed back into the cart, making no reply, and they started on,
+the Vilderbeeste looking more savage and unhuman than ever with the
+discoloured handkerchief round his head, and his dense black beard and
+hair mattered with gore which he would not take the trouble to wash out
+of them.
+
+After this nothing further occurred till, by the orders of their escort,
+they outspanned, an hour or so before sunset, at a spot in the veldt
+where a faint track forked from the Standerton road.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+IN THE DRIFT OF THE VAAL
+
+The day had been intensely hot, and our travellers sat in the shade of
+the cart overpowered and gasping. During the afternoon a faint breeze
+blew, but this had now died away, and the stifling air felt as thick as
+though they were breathing cream. Even the two Boers seemed to feel the
+heat, for they lay outstretched on the grass a few paces to the left, to
+all appearance fast asleep. As for the horses, they were thoroughly done
+up--too much so to eat--and hobbled along as well as their knee-halters
+would allow, daintily picking a mouthful here and a mouthful there. The
+only person who did not seem to mind was the Zulu Mouti, who sat on
+an ant-heap near the horses, in full glare of the setting sun, and
+comfortably droned out a little song of his own invention, for Zulus
+seem as clever at improvising as are the Italians.
+
+"Have another egg, Jess?" said John. "It will do you good."
+
+"No, thank you; the last one stuck in my throat. It is impossible to eat
+in this heat."
+
+"You had better. Goodness knows when and where we shall stop again. I
+can get nothing out of our delightful escort; either they don't know or
+they won't say."
+
+"I can't, John. There is a thunderstorm coming up. I feel it in my head,
+and I can never eat before a thunderstorm--and when I am tired," she
+added by an afterthought.
+
+After that the conversation flagged for a while.
+
+"John," said Jess at last, "where do you suppose we are going to camp
+to-night? If we follow the main road we shall reach Standerton in an
+hour."
+
+"I don't think that they will go near Standerton," he answered, "I
+suppose that we shall cross the Vaal by another drift and have to
+'veldt' it."
+
+Just then the two Boers woke up and began to talk earnestly together, as
+though they were debating something hotly.
+
+Slowly the huge red ball of the sun sank towards the horizon, steeping
+the earth and sky in blood. About a hundred yards from where they sat
+the little bridle path that branched from the main road crossed the
+crest of one of the great landwaves which rolled away in every direction
+towards the far horizon. John watched the sun sinking behind it till
+something called off his attention for a minute. When he looked up again
+there was a figure on horseback, standing quite still upon the crest of
+the ridge, and in full glow of the now disappearing sun. It was Frank
+Muller. John recognised him in a moment. His horse was halted sideways,
+so that even at that distance every line of his features, and even the
+trigger-guard of the rifle which rested on his knee, showed distinctly
+against the background of smoky red. Nor was that all. Both he and
+his horse had the appearance of being absolutely on fire. The effect
+produced was so wild and extraordinary that John called his companion's
+attention to it. Jess looked and shuddered involuntarily.
+
+"He looks like a devil in hell," she said; "the fire seems to be running
+all up and down him."
+
+"Well," said John, "he is certainly a devil, but I am sorry to say
+that he has not yet reached his destination. Here he comes, like a
+whirlwind."
+
+In another twenty seconds Muller had reined the great black horse on to
+his haunches alongside of them, and was smiling sweetly and taking off
+his hat.
+
+"You see I have managed to keep my word," he said. "I can tell you that
+I had great difficulty in doing so; indeed I was nearly obliged to give
+the thing up at the last moment. However, here I am."
+
+"Where are we to outspan to-night?" asked Jess. "At Standerton?"
+
+"No," he said; "I am afraid that is more than I could manage for you,
+unless you can persuade the English officers there to surrender. What
+I have arranged is, that we should cross the Vaal at a drift I know of
+about two hours (twelve miles) from here, and outspan at a farm on
+the other side. Do not trouble, I assure you you shall both sleep well
+to-night," and he smiled, a somewhat terrifying smile, as Jess thought.
+
+"But how about this drift, Mr. Muller?" said John. "Is it safe? I should
+have thought the Vaal would have been in flood after all the rain that
+we have had."
+
+"The drift is perfectly safe, Captain Niel. I crossed it myself about
+two hours ago. I know you have a bad opinion of me, but I suppose you do
+not think that I would guide you to an unsafe drift?" Then with another
+bow he rode on to speak to the two Boers, saying, as he went, "Will you
+tell the Kafir to put the horses in?"
+
+With a shrug of the shoulders John rose and went to Mouti, to help him
+to drive up the four greys, which were now standing limply together,
+biting at the flies, that, before a storm, sting more sharply than at
+any other time. The two horses belonging to the escort were some fifty
+paces to the left. It was as though they appreciated the position
+of affairs, and declined to mix with the animals of the discredited
+Englishman.
+
+The Boers rose as Muller came and walked towards their horses, Muller
+slowly following them. As they drew near, the horses hobbled away for
+twenty or thirty yards. Then they lifted up their heads, and, as a
+consequence, their forelegs, to which the heads were tied, and stood
+looking defiantly at their captors, just as though they were trying to
+make up their minds whether or not to shake hands with them.
+
+Frank Muller was alongside the two men now, and they were alongside the
+horses.
+
+"Listen!" he said sternly.
+
+The men looked up.
+
+"Go on loosening the reims, and listen."
+
+They obeyed, and slowly began to fumble at the knee-halters.
+
+"You understand what our orders are. Repeat them--you!"
+
+The man with the tooth, who was addressed, still handling the reim,
+began as follows: "To take the two prisoners to the Vaal, to force them
+into the water where there is no drift, at night, so that they drown: if
+they do not drown, to shoot them."
+
+"Those are the orders," said the Vilderbeeste, grinning.
+
+"You understand them?"
+
+"We understand, _Meinheer_; but, forgive us, the matter is a big one.
+You have the orders--we wish to see the authority."
+
+"Yah, yah," said the other, "show us the authority. These are two
+harmless people enough. Show us the authority for killing them. People
+must not be killed so, even if they are English folk, without proper
+authority, especially when one is a pretty girl who would do for a man's
+wife."
+
+Frank Muller set his teeth. "Nice fellows you are to have under one!"
+he said. "I am your officer; what other authority do you want? But I
+thought of this. See here!" and he drew a paper from his pocket. "Here,
+you--read it! Careful now--do not let them see from the waggon."
+
+The big flabby-faced man took the paper and, still bending down over the
+horse's knee, read aloud:
+
+"The two prisoners and their servant (an Englishman, an English girl,
+and a Zulu Kafir) to be executed in pursuance of our decree, as your
+commanding officer shall order, as enemies to the Republic. For so doing
+this shall be your warrant."
+
+"You see the signature," said Muller, "and you do not dispute it?"
+
+"Yah, we see it, and we do not dispute it."
+
+"Good. Give me back the warrant."
+
+The man with the tooth was about to obey when his companion interposed.
+
+"No," he said, "the warrant must remain with us. I do not like the job.
+If it were only the man and the Kafir now--but the girl, the girl! If
+we give you back the warrant, what shall we have to show for the deed of
+blood? The warrant must remain with us."
+
+"Yah, yah, he is right," said the Unicorn; "the warrant must remain with
+us. Put it in your pocket, Jan."
+
+"Curse you, give it me!" said Muller between his teeth.
+
+"No, Frank Muller, no!" answered the Vilderbeeste, patting his pocket,
+while the two or three square inches of skin round his nose wrinkled
+up in a hairy grin that, owing to the cut on his head, was even more
+curious than usual. "If you wish to have the warrant you shall have
+it, but then we shall up-saddle and go, and you can do your murdering
+yourself. There, there! take your choice; we shall be glad enough to
+get home, for we do not care for the job. If I go out shooting I like to
+shoot buck or Kafirs, not white people."
+
+Frank Muller reflected a moment, then he laughed a little.
+
+"You are funny folk, you home-bred Boers," he said; "but perhaps you are
+right. After all, what does it matter who keeps the warrant, provided
+that the thing is well done? Mind that there is no bungling, that is
+all."
+
+"Yah, yah," said the fat-faced man, "you can trust us for that. It
+won't be the first that we have toppled over. If I have my warrant I ask
+nothing better than to go on shooting Englishmen all night, one down
+the other come on. I know no prettier sight than an Englishman toppling
+over."
+
+"Stop that talk and saddle up, the cart is waiting. You fools can never
+understand the difference between killing when it is necessary to kill
+and killing for killing's sake. These people must die because they have
+betrayed the land."
+
+"Yah, yah," said the Vilderbeeste, "betrayed the land; we have heard
+that before. Those who betray the land must manure it; that is a good
+rule!" and he laughed and passed on.
+
+Frank Muller watched his retreating form with a smile of peculiar
+malignity on his handsome face. "Ah, my friend," he said to himself in
+Dutch, "you and that warrant will part company before you are many hours
+older. Why, it would be enough to hang me, even in this happy land of
+patriots. Old ---- would never forgive even me for taking that little
+liberty with his name. Dear me, what a lot of trouble it is to be rid
+of a single enemy! Well, it must be done, and Bessie is well worth the
+pains; but if it had not been for this war I could never have managed
+it. Yes! I did well to give my voice for war. I am sorry for the girl
+Jess, but it is necessary; there must be no living witnesses left. Ah!
+we are going to have a storm. So much the better. Such deeds are best
+done in a storm."
+
+Muller was right; the storm was coming up fast, throwing a veil of inky
+cloud across the star-spangled sky. In South Africa there is but little
+twilight, and the darkness follows hard upon the heels of the day. No
+sooner had the angry ball of the setting sun disappeared than the night
+swept with all her stars across the sky. And now after her came the
+great storm, covering up her beauty with his blackness. The air was
+stiflingly hot. Above was a starry space, to the east the black bosom
+of the storm, in which the lightnings were already playing with
+an incessant flickering movement, and to the west a deep red glow,
+reflected from the sunken sun, yet lingered on the horizon.
+
+On toiled the horses through the gathering gloom. Fortunately, the road
+was almost level and free from mud-holes, and Frank Muller rode just
+ahead to show the way, his strong athletic form standing out clearly
+against the departing western glow. Silent was the earth, silent as
+death. No bird or beast, no blade of grass or breath of air stirred upon
+its surface. The only sign of life was the continual flickering of those
+awful tongues of light as they licked the lips of the storm. On for mile
+after mile, on through the desolation! They were not far from the river
+now, and could hear the distant growling of the thunder, echoing down it
+solemnly.
+
+It was an awful night. Great pillars of mud-coloured cloud came creeping
+across the surface of the veldt towards them, seemingly blown along
+without a wind. Now, too, a ghastly-looking ringed moon arose throwing
+an unholy and distorted light upon the blackness that seemed to shudder
+in her rays as though with a prescience of the advancing terror. On
+crept the mud-coloured columns, and on above them, and resting on them,
+came the muttering storm. The cart was quite close to the river now, and
+they could distinguish the murmur of its waters. To their left stood
+a koppie, covered with white, slab-like stones, on which the sickly
+moonbeams danced.
+
+"Look, John, look!" cried Jess with an hysterical laugh; "it is like
+a huge graveyard, and the dark shadows between are the ghosts of the
+buried."
+
+"Nonsense," said John sternly; "why do you talk such rubbish?"
+
+He felt that her mind had lost its balance, and, what is more, his own
+nerves were shaken. Therefore he was naturally the angrier with her, and
+the more determined to be perfectly matter-of-fact.
+
+Jess made no answer, but she was frightened, she could not tell why. The
+scene resembled that of some awful dream, or of one of Dore's pictures
+come to life. No doubt, also, the near presence of the tempest exercised
+a physical effect upon her. Even the wearied horses snorted and shook
+themselves uneasily.
+
+They crept over the ridge of a wave of land, and the wheels rolled
+softly on the grass.
+
+"Why, we are off the road!" shouted John to Muller, who was still
+guiding them, fifteen or twenty paces ahead.
+
+"All right! all right! it is a short cut to the ford!" he called in
+answer, and his voice rang strange and hollow through the great depths
+of the silence.
+
+Below them, a hundred yards away, the light, such as it was, gleamed
+faintly upon the wide surface of the river. Another five minutes and
+they were on the bank, but in the gathering doom they could not see the
+opposite shore.
+
+"Turn to the left!" shouted Muller; "the ford is a few yards up. It is
+too deep here for the horses."
+
+John turned accordingly, and followed Muller's horse some three hundred
+yards up the bank till they came to a spot where the water ran with an
+angry music, and there was a great swirl of eddies.
+
+"Here is the place," said Muller; "you must make haste through. The
+house is just the other side, and it will be better to get there before
+the tempest breaks."
+
+"It is all very well," said John, "but I cannot see an inch before me; I
+don't know where to drive."
+
+"Drive straight ahead; the water is not more than three feet deep, and
+there are no rocks."
+
+"I am not going, and that is all about it."
+
+"You must go, Captain Niel. You cannot stop here, and if you can we will
+not. Look there, man!" and he pointed to the east, which now presented a
+truly awful and magnificent sight.
+
+Down, right on to them, its centre bowed out like the belly of a sail by
+the weight of the wind behind, swept the great storm-cloud, while
+over all its surface the lightning played unceasingly, appearing and
+disappearing in needles of fire, and twisting and writhing serpentwise
+round and about its outer edges. So brilliant was the intermittent light
+that it appeared to fire the revolving pillars of mud-coloured cloud
+beneath, and gave ghastly peeps of river and bank and plain, miles
+upon miles away. But perhaps its most awful circumstance was the
+preternatural silence. The distant boom and muttering of thunder had
+died away, and now the great storm swept on in voiceless majesty, like
+the passage of a ghostly host, from which there arose no sound of feet
+or of rolling wheels. Only before it sped the swift angels of the wind,
+and behind it swung the curtain of the rain.
+
+Even as Muller spoke a gust of icy air caught the cart and tilted it,
+and the lightning needles began to ply more dreadfully than ever. The
+tempest was breaking upon them.
+
+"Come, drive on, drive on!" he shouted, "you will be killed here; the
+lightning always strikes along the water;" and as he said it he struck
+one of the wheelers sharply with his whip.
+
+"Climb over the back of the seat, Mouti, and stand by to help me with
+the reins!" called out John to the Zulu, who obeyed, scrambling between
+him and Jess.
+
+"Now, Jess, hold on and say your prayers, for it strikes me that we
+shall have need of them. So, horses, so!"
+
+The horses backed and plunged, but Muller on the one side and the
+smooth-faced Boer on the other lashed them without mercy, and at last
+they went into the river with a rush. The gust had passed now, and for
+a few moments the heavy quiet was renewed, except for the whirl of the
+water and the snake-like hiss of the coming rain.
+
+For some yards, ten or fifteen perhaps, all went well, and then John
+discovered suddenly that they were driving into deep water; the two
+leaders were evidently almost off their legs, and could scarcely stand
+against the current of the flooded river.
+
+"Damn you!" he shouted back, "there is no drift here."
+
+"Go on, go on, it is quite safe!" came Muller's voice in answer.
+
+John said no more, but, putting out all his strength, he tried to drag
+the horses round. Jess turned herself on the seat to look, and just then
+a blaze of lightning flamed which revealed Muller and his two companions
+standing dismounted on the bank, the muzzles of their rifles pointing
+straight at the cart.
+
+"O God!" she screamed, "they are going to shoot us."
+
+Even as the words passed her lips three tongues of fire flared from the
+rifles' mouths, and the Zulu Mouti, sitting by her side, pitched heavily
+forward on to his head into the bottom of the cart, while one of the
+wheelers reared straight up into the air with a shriek of agony, and
+fell with a splash into the river.
+
+Then followed a scene of horror indescribable. Overhead the storm burst
+in fury, and flash after flash of fork, or rather chain lightning, leapt
+into the river. The thunder, too, began to crack like the trump of doom;
+the wind rushed down, tearing the surface of the water into foam, and,
+catching under the tent of the cart, lifted it quite off the wheels, so
+that it began to float. Then the two leaders, made mad with fear by the
+fury of the storm and the dying struggles of the off-wheeler, plunged
+and tore at the traces till at last they rent themselves loose and
+vanished between the darkness overhead and the boiling water beneath.
+Away floated the cart, now touching the bottom and now riding on the
+river like a boat, oscillating this way and that, and slowly turning
+round and round. With it floated the dead horse, dragging down the other
+wheeler beneath the water. It was awful to see his struggles in the
+glare of the lightning, but at last he sank and choked.
+
+Meanwhile, sounding sharply and clearly through the din and hubbub of
+the storm, came the cracking of the three rifles whenever the flashes
+showed the position of the cart to the murderers on the bank. Mouti was
+lying still in the bottom of it on the bed-plank, a bullet between his
+broad shoulders and another in his skull: but John felt that his life
+was yet whole in him, though something had hissed past his face and
+stung it. Instinctively he reached across the cart and drew Jess on to
+his knee, and cowered over her, thinking dimly that perhaps his body
+would protect her from the bullets.
+
+_Rip! rip!_ through the wood and canvas; _phut! phut!_ through the air;
+but some merciful power protected them, and though one cut John's coat
+and two passed through the skirt of Jess's dress, not a bullet struck
+them. Very soon the shooting began to grow wild, then that dense veil of
+rain came down and wrapped them so closely that even the lightning could
+not reveal their whereabouts to the assassins on the bank.
+
+"Stop shooting," said Frank Muller; "the cart has sunk, and there is
+an end of them. No human being can have lived through that fire and the
+Vaal in flood."
+
+The two Boers ceased firing, and the Unicorn shook his head softly and
+remarked to his companion that the damned English people in the water
+could not be much wetter than they were on the bank. It was a curious
+thing to say at such a moment, but probably the spirit which caused the
+remark was not so much callousness as that which animated Cromwell, who
+flipped the ink in his neighbour's face when he signed the death-warrant
+of his king.
+
+The Vilderbeeste made no reply. His conscience was oppressed; he had a
+touch of imagination. He thought of the soft fingers which had bound up
+his head that morning: the handkerchief--her handkerchief!--was still
+around it. Now those fingers would be gripping at the slippery stones of
+the Vaal in a struggle for life, or more probably they were already limp
+in death, with little grains of gravel sticking beneath the nails.
+It was a painful thought, but he consoled himself by remembering the
+warrant, also by the reflection that whoever had shot the people he had
+not, for he had been careful to fire wide of the cart every time.
+
+Muller was also thinking of the warrant which he had forged. He must get
+it back somehow, even if----
+
+"Let us take shelter under the shore. There is a flat place, about fifty
+yards up, where the bank hangs down. This rain is drowning us. We can't
+up-saddle till it clears. I must have a nip of brandy, too. Almighty!
+I can see that girl's face still! the lightning shone on it just as I
+shot. Well, she will be in heaven now, poor thing, if English people
+ever go to heaven."
+
+It was the Unicorn who spoke, and the Vilderbeeste made no reply, but
+advanced with him to where the horses stood. They caught the patient
+brutes that were waiting for their masters, their heads well down and
+the water streaming from their flanks, and led them along with them.
+Frank Muller stood by his own horse still thinking, and watched them
+vanish into the gloom. How was he to win that warrant back without dying
+his hands even redder than they were?
+
+As he thought an answer came. For at that moment, accompanied by a
+fearful thunderclap, there shot from the storm overhead, which had now
+nearly passed away, one of those awful flashes that sometimes end an
+African tempest. It lit up the scene with a light vivid as that of day,
+and in the white heart of it Muller saw his two companions in crime and
+their horses as the great king saw the men in the furnace. They were
+about forty paces from him on the crest of the bank. He saw them, one
+moment erect; the next--men and horses falling this way and that prone
+to the earth. Then it was dark again.
+
+Muller staggered with the shock, and when it had passed he rushed to the
+spot, calling the men by name; but no answer came except the echo of
+his voice. He was there alone now, and the moonlight began to struggle
+faintly through the rain. Its pale beams lit upon two outstretched
+forms--one lying on its back, its distorted features gazing up to
+heaven, the other on its face. By them, the legs of the nearer sticking
+straight into the air, lay the horses. They had all gone to their
+account. The lightning had killed them, as it kills many a man in
+Africa.
+
+Frank Muller looked; then, forgetting about the warrant and everything
+else in the horror of what he took to be a visible judgment, he rushed
+to his horse and galloped wildly away, pursued by all the terrors of
+hell.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE SHADOW OF DEATH
+
+The firing from the bank had ceased, and John, who still kept his head,
+being a rather phlegmatic specimen of the Anglo-Saxon race, knew that,
+for the moment at any rate, all danger from this source was ended. Jess
+lay perfectly still in his arms, her head upon his breast. A horrible
+idea struck him that she might be shot, perhaps already dead!
+
+"Jess, Jess," he shouted, through the turmoil of the storm, "are you
+hit?"
+
+She lifted her head an inch or two--"I think not," she said. "What is
+going on?"
+
+"God only knows, I don't. Sit still, it will be all right."
+
+But in his heart he knew it was not "all right," and that they stood in
+imminent danger of death by drowning. They were whirling down a raging
+river in a cart. In a few moments it was probable that the cart would
+upset, and then----
+
+Presently the wheel bumped against something, the cart gave a great
+lurch, and scraped along a little.
+
+"Now for it," thought John, for the water was pouring over the flooring.
+Then came a check, and the cart leant still farther to one side.
+
+_Crack!_ The pole had gone, and the cart swung round bows, or rather
+box, on to the stream. What had happened was this: they had drifted
+across a rock that projected from the bed of the river, the force of the
+current having washed the dead horses to the one side of it and the cart
+to the other. Consequently they were anchored to the rock, as it were,
+the anchor being the dead horses, and the cable the stout traces of
+untanned leather. So long as these traces and the rest of the harness
+held, they were safe from drowning; but of course they did not know
+this.
+
+Indeed, they knew nothing. Above them rolled the storm; about them the
+river seethed and the rain hissed. They knew nothing except that they
+were helpless living atoms tossing between the wild waters and the
+wilder night, with imminent death staring them in the face, around,
+above, and below. To and fro they rocked, locked fast in each other's
+arms, and as they swung came that awful flash that, though they guessed
+it not, sent two of the murderers to their account, and for an instant,
+even through the sheet of rain, illumined the space of boiling water and
+the long lines of the banks on either side. It showed the point of rock
+to which they were fixed, it glared upon the head of one of the poor
+horses tossed up by the driving current as though it were still trying
+to escape its watery doom, and revealed the form of the dead Zulu,
+Mouti, lying on his face, one arm hanging over the edge of the cart and
+dabbling in the water that ran level with it, in ghastly similarity to
+some idle passenger in a pleasure boat, who lets his fingers slip softly
+through the stream.
+
+In a second it was gone, and once more they were in darkness. Then by
+degrees the storm passed off and the moon began to shine, feebly indeed,
+for the sky was not clear washed of clouds, which still trailed along in
+the tracks of the tempest, sucked after it by its mighty draught. Still
+it was lighter and the rain thinned gradually till at last it stopped.
+The storm had rolled in majesty down the ways of night, and there was no
+sound round them save the sound of rushing water.
+
+"John," said Jess presently, "can we do anything?"
+
+"Nothing, dear."
+
+"Shall we escape, John?"
+
+He hesitated. "It is in God's hands, dear. We are in great danger. If
+the cart upsets we shall be drowned. Can you swim?"
+
+"No, John."
+
+"If we can hang on here till daylight we may get ashore, if those devils
+are not there to shoot us. I do not think that our chance is a good
+one."
+
+"John, are you afraid to die?"
+
+He hesitated. "I don't know, dear. I hope to meet it like a man."
+
+"Tell me what you truly think. Is there any hope for us at all?"
+
+Once more he paused, reflecting whether or no he should speak the truth.
+Finally he decided to do so.
+
+"I can see none, Jess. If we are not drowned we are sure to be shot.
+They will wait about the bank till morning, and for their own sakes they
+will not dare to let us live."
+
+He did not know that all which was left of two of them would indeed wait
+for many a long year, while the third had fled aghast.
+
+"Jess, dear," he went on, "it is of no good to tell lies. Our lives may
+end any minute. Humanly speaking, they must end before the sun is up."
+
+The words were awful enough--if the reader can by an effort of
+imagination throw himself for a moment into the position of these two,
+he will understand how awful.
+
+It is a dreadful thing, when in the flow of health and youth, suddenly
+to be placed face to face with the certainty of violent death, and to
+know that in a few more minutes your course will have been run, and that
+you will have commenced to explore a future, which may prove to be even
+worse, because more enduring, than the life you are now quitting in
+agony. It is a dreadful thing, as any who have ever stood in such
+a peril can testify, and John felt his heart sink within him at
+the thought of it--for Death is very strong. But there is one thing
+stronger, a woman's perfect love, against which Death himself cannot
+prevail. And so it came to pass that now as he fixed his cold gaze upon
+Jess's eyes they answered him with a strange unearthly light. She feared
+not Death, so that she might meet him with her beloved. Death was her
+hope and opportunity. Here she had nothing; there she might have all.
+The fetters had fallen from her, struck off by an overmastering hand.
+Her duty was satisfied, her trust fulfilled, and she was free--free to
+die with her beloved. Ay! her love was indeed a love deeper than the
+grave; and now it rose in eager strength, standing expectant upon the
+earth, ready, when dissolution had lent it wings, to soar to its own
+predestined star.
+
+"You are sure, John?" she asked again.
+
+"Yes, dear, yes. Why do you force me to repeat it? I can see no hope."
+
+Her arms were round his neck, her soft curls rested on his cheek, and
+the breath from her lips played upon his brow. Indeed it was only by
+speaking into each other's ears that conversation was possible, owing to
+the rushing sound of the waters.
+
+"Because I have something to tell you which I cannot tell unless we are
+going to die. You know it, but I want to say it with my own lips before
+I die. I love you, John, _I love you, I love you_; and I am glad to die
+because I can die with you, and go away with you."
+
+He heard, and such was the power of her love, that his, which had been
+put out of mind in the terror of that hour, reawoke and took the colour
+of her own. He too forgot the imminence of death in the warm presence of
+his down-trodden passion. She was in his arms as he had taken her during
+the firing, and he bent his head to look at her. The moonlight played
+upon her pallid, quivering face, and showed that in her eyes which no
+man could look upon and turn away. Once more--yes, even then--there came
+over him that feeling of utter surrender to the sweet mastery of her
+will which had possessed him in the sitting-room of "The Palatial."
+Only all earthly considerations having faded into nothingness now, he no
+longer hesitated, but pressed his lips to hers and kissed her again and
+yet again. It was perhaps as wild and pathetic a love scene as ever the
+old moon above has witnessed. There they clung, those two, in the actual
+shadow of death experiencing the fullest and acutest joy that our life
+has to offer. Nay, death was present with them, for, beneath their very
+feet, half-hidden by the water, lay the stiffening corpse of the Zulu.
+
+To and fro swung the cart in the rush of the swollen river, up and down
+beside them the carcases of the horses rose and fell with the surge of
+the water, on whose surface the broken moonbeams played and quivered.
+Overhead was the blue star-sown depth through which they were waiting
+presently to pass, and to the right and left the long broken outlines of
+the banks stretched away till at last they appeared to grow together in
+the gloom.
+
+But they heeded none of these things; they remembered nothing except
+that they had found each other's hearts, and were happy with a wild joy
+it is not often given to us to feel. The past was forgotten, the future
+loomed at hand, and between the one and the other was spanned a bridge
+of passion made perfect and sanctified by its approaching earthly end.
+Bessie was forgotten, all things were forgotten, for they were alone
+with Love and Death.
+
+Let those who would blame them pause awhile. Why not? They had kept the
+faith. They had denied themselves and run straightly down the path of
+duty. But the compacts of life end with life. No man may bargain for the
+beyond; even the marriage service shrinks from it. And now that hope had
+gone and life was at its extremest ebb, why should they not take their
+joy before they passed to the land where, perchance, such things will be
+forgotten? So it seemed to them; if indeed they were any longer capable
+of reason.
+
+He looked into her eyes and she laid her head upon his heart in that
+mute abandonment of worship which is sometimes to be met with in the
+world, and is redeemed from vulgar passion by an indefinable quality of
+its own. He looked into her eyes and was glad to have lived, ay, even to
+have reached this hour of death. And she, lost in the abyss of her deep
+nature, sobbed out her love-laden heart upon his breast, and called him
+her own, her own, her very own!
+
+
+
+Thus the long hours passed unheeded, till at last a new-born freshness
+in the air told them that they were not far from dawn. The death they
+were awaiting had not found them. It must now be very near at hand.
+
+"John," she whispered in his ear, "do you think that they will shoot
+us?"
+
+"Yes," he answered hoarsely; "they must for their own sakes."
+
+"I wish it were over," she said.
+
+Suddenly she started back from his arms with a little cry, causing the
+cart to rock violently.
+
+"I forgot," she said; "you can swim, though I cannot. Why should you
+not swim to the bank, and escape under cover of the darkness? It is only
+fifty yards, and the current is not so very swift."
+
+The idea of flight without Jess had never occurred to John, and now
+that she suggested it, it struck him as so absurd that he broke into the
+ghost of a laugh.
+
+"Don't be foolish, Jess," he said.
+
+"Yes, yes, I will. Go! You _must_ go! It does not matter about me now.
+I know that you love me, and I can die happy. I will wait for you. Oh,
+John! wherever I am, if I have any individual life and any remembrance
+I will wait for you. Never forget that all your days. However far I may
+seem away, if I live at all, I shall be waiting for you. And now go;
+you _shall_ go, I say. No, I will not be disobeyed. If you will not go I
+will throw myself into the water. Oh, the cart is turning over!"
+
+"Hold on, for God's sake!" shouted John. "The traces have broken."
+
+He was right; the tough leather was at length worn through by constant
+rubbing against the rock, and the strain and sway of the dead horses on
+the one side, and of the cart upon the other. Round it spun, broadside
+on to the current, and immediately began to heave over, till at last
+the angle was so sharp that the dead body of poor Mouti slid out with
+a splash and vanished into the darkness. This relieved the cart, and it
+righted for a moment, but now being no longer held up by the bodies of
+the horses or by the sustaining power of the wind it began to fill and
+sink, and at the same time to revolve swiftly. John understood that
+all was finished, and that to stop in the cart would only mean certain
+death, because they would be held under water by the canvas tent. So
+with a devout aspiration for assistance he seized Jess round the waist
+with one arm and sprang off into the river. As he leapt the cart filled
+and sank.
+
+"Lie still, for Heaven's sake!" he shouted, when they rose to the
+surface.
+
+In the dim light of the dawn which was now creeping over the earth he
+could discover the line of the left bank of the Vaal, the same from
+which they had been driven into the river on the previous night. It
+appeared to be about forty yards away, but the current was running
+quite six knots, and he saw that, burdened as he was, it would be quite
+impracticable for him to reach it. The only thing to do was to keep
+afloat. Luckily the water was warm and he was a strong swimmer. In a
+minute or so he saw that about fifty paces ahead some rocks jutted out
+twenty yards into the bed of the stream. Then catching Jess by the hair
+with his left hand he made his effort, and a desperate one it was. The
+broken water boiled furiously round the rocks. Presently he was in it,
+and, better still, his feet touched the ground. Next second he was swept
+off them and rolled over and over at the bottom of the river, to be
+sadly knocked about against the boulders. Somehow he struggled to his
+legs, still retaining his hold of Jess. Twice he fell, and twice he
+struggled up again. One more effort--so. The water was only up to his
+thighs now, and he was obliged to half carry his companion.
+
+As he lifted her he felt a deadly sickness come over him, but still
+he staggered on, till at last they both fell of a heap upon a big flat
+rock, and for a while he remembered no more.
+
+When he came to himself again it was to see Jess, who had recovered
+sooner than he had, standing over him and chafing his hands. Indeed,
+as the sun was up he guessed that he must have lost his senses for some
+time. He rose with difficulty and shook himself. Except for some bruises
+he was sound enough.
+
+"Are you hurt?" he asked of Jess, who, pale, faint and bruised, her hat
+gone, her dress torn by bullets and the rocks, and dripping water at
+every step, looked an exceedingly forlorn object.
+
+"No," she said feebly, "not very much."
+
+He sat down on the rock in the sun, for they were both shivering with
+cold. "What is to be done?" he asked.
+
+"Die," she said fiercely; "I meant to die--why did you not let me die?
+Ours is a position that only death can set straight."
+
+"Don't be alarmed," he said, "your desire will soon be gratified: those
+murderous villains will hunt us up presently."
+
+The bed and banks of the river were clothed with thin layers of mist,
+but as the sun gathered power these lifted. The spot at which they had
+climbed ashore was about three hundred yards below that where the
+two Boers and their horses had been destroyed by the lightning on the
+previous night. Seeing the mist thin, John insisted upon Jess crouching
+with him behind a rock so that they could look up and down the river
+without being seen themselves. Presently he made out the forms of two
+horses grazing about a hundred yards away.
+
+"Ah," he said, "I thought so; the devils have off-saddled there. Thank
+Heaven I have still got my revolver, and the cartridges are watertight.
+I mean to sell our lives as dearly as I can."
+
+"Why, John," cried Jess, following the line of his out-stretched hand,
+"those are not the Boers' horses, they are our two leaders that broke
+loose in the water. Look, their collars are still on."
+
+"By Jove! so they are. Now if only we can catch them without being
+caught ourselves we have a chance of getting out of this."
+
+"Well, there is no cover about, and I can't see any signs of Boers. They
+must have been sure of having killed us, and gone away," Jess answered.
+
+John looked round, and for the first time a sense of hope began to creep
+into his heart. Perhaps they would survive after all.
+
+"Let's go up and look. It is no good stopping here; we must get food
+somewhere, or we shall faint."
+
+She rose without a word, and taking his hand they advanced together
+along the bank. They had not gone twenty yards before John uttered an
+exclamation of joy and rushed at something white that had lodged in
+the reeds. It was the basket of food which was given to them by the
+innkeeper's wife at Heidelberg that had been washed out of the cart, and
+as the lid was fastened nothing was lost out of it. He undid it. There
+was the bottle of three-star brandy untouched, also most of the eggs,
+meat, and bread, the last, of course, sodden and worthless. It did not
+take long to draw the cork, and then John filled a broken wineglass
+there was in the basket half full of water and half of brandy, and made
+Jess drink it, with the result that she began to look a little less like
+a corpse. Next, he repeated the process twice on his own account, and
+instantly felt as though new life were flowing into him. Then they went
+on cautiously.
+
+The horses allowed themselves to be caught without trouble, and did not
+appear to be any the worse for the adventure, although the flank of one
+was grazed by a bullet.
+
+"There is a tree yonder where the bank shelves over; we had better
+tie the horses up, dress, and eat some breakfast," said John, almost
+cheerfully; and accordingly they proceeded towards it. Suddenly John,
+who was ahead, started back with an exclamation of fear, and the horses
+began to snort, for there, stark and stiff in death, already swollen
+and discoloured by decomposition--as is sometimes the case with people
+killed by lightning--the rifles in their hands twisted and fused, their
+clothes cut and blown from their bandoliers--lay the two Boer murderers.
+It was a terrifying sight, and, taken in conjunction with their own
+remarkable escape, one to make the most careless and sceptical reflect.
+
+"And yet there are people who say that there is no God, and no
+punishment for wickedness," said John aloud.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+MEANWHILE
+
+John, it will be remembered, left Mooifontein for Pretoria towards the
+end of December, and with him went all the life and light of the place.
+
+"Dear me, Bessie," said old Silas Croft on the evening after he had
+started, "the house seems very dull without John"--a remark in which
+Bessie, who was weeping secretly in the corner, heartily concurred.
+
+Then, a few days afterwards, came the news of the investment of
+Pretoria, but no news of John. They ascertained that he had passed
+Standerton in safety, but beyond that nothing could be heard of him. Day
+after day passed, but without tidings, and at last, one evening, Bessie
+broke into a passion of hysterical tears.
+
+"What did you send him for?" she asked of her uncle. "It was
+ridiculous--I knew that it was ridiculous. He could not help Jess or
+bring her back; the most that could happen was that they would be both
+shut up together. Now he is dead--I know that those Boers have shot
+him--and it is all your fault! And if he is dead I will never speak to
+you again."
+
+The old man retreated, somewhat dismayed at this outburst, which was not
+at all in Bessie's style.
+
+"Ah, well," he said to himself, "that is the way of women; they turn
+into tigers about a man!"
+
+There may have been truth in this reflection, but a tiger is not a
+pleasant domestic pet, as poor old Silas discovered during the next two
+months. The more Bessie thought about the matter the more incensed she
+grew because he had sent her lover away. Indeed, in a little while she
+quite forgot that she had herself acquiesced in his going. In short, her
+temper gave way completely under the strain, so that at last her uncle
+scarcely dared to mention John's name.
+
+Meanwhile, things had been going as ill without as within. First of
+all--that was the day after John's departure--two or three loyal
+Boers and an English store-keeper from Lake Chrissie, in New Scotland,
+outspanned on the place and implored Silas Croft to fly for his life
+into Natal while there was yet time. They said that the Boers would
+certainly shoot any Englishman who might be sufficiently defenceless.
+But the old man would not listen.
+
+"I am an Englishman--_civis Romanus sum_," he said in his sturdy
+fashion, "and I do not believe that they will touch me, who have lived
+among them for twenty years. At any rate, I am not going to run away and
+leave my place at the mercy of a pack of thieves. If they shoot me they
+will have to reckon with England for the deed, so I expect that they
+will leave me alone. Bessie can go if she likes, but I shall stop here
+and see the row through, and there's an end of it."
+
+Whereon, Bessie having flatly declined to budge an inch, the loyalists
+departed in a hurry, metaphorically wringing their hands at such an
+exhibition of ill-placed confidence and insular pride. This little scene
+occurred at dinner-time, and after dinner old Silas proceeded to hurl
+defiance at his foes in another fashion. Going to a cupboard in his
+bedroom, he extracted an exceedingly large Union Jack, and promptly
+advanced with it to an open spot between two of the orange-trees in
+front of the house, where in such a position that it could be seen for
+miles around a flagstaff was planted, formed of a very tall young blue
+gum. Upon this flagstaff it was Silas's habit to hoist the large Union
+Jack on the Queen's birthday, Christmas Day, and other State occasions.
+
+"Now, Jantje," he said, when he had bent on the bunting, "run her up,
+and I'll cheer!" and accordingly, as the broad flag floated out on the
+breeze, he took off his hat and waved it, and gave such a "hip, hip,
+hoorah!" in his stentorian tones that Bessie ran out from the house to
+see what was the matter. Nor was he satisfied with this, but, having
+obtained a ladder, he placed it against the post and sent Jantje up
+it, instructing him to fasten the rope on which the flag was bent at a
+height of about fifteen feet from the ground, so that nobody should get
+at it to haul it down.
+
+"There," he said, "I've nailed my colours to the mast. That will show
+these gentry that an Englishman lives here.
+
+     "Confound their politics,
+     Frustrate their knavish tricks,
+     God save the Queen."
+
+"Amen," said Bessie, but she had her doubts about the wisdom of that
+Union Jack, which, whenever the wind blew, streamed out, a visible
+defiance not calculated to soothe the breasts of excited patriots.
+
+Indeed, two days after that, a patrol of three Boers, spying the ensign
+whilst yet a long way off, galloped up in hot haste to see what it
+meant. Silas saw them coming, and, taking his rifle in his hand, went
+and stood beneath the flag, for which he had an almost superstitious
+veneration, feeling sure that they would not dare to meddle either with
+him or it.
+
+"What is the meaning of this, _Oom_ Silas?" asked the leader of the
+three men, with all of whom he was perfectly acquainted.
+
+"It means that an Englishman lives here, Jan," was the answer.
+
+"Haul the dirty rag down!" said the man.
+
+"I will see you damned first!" replied old Silas.
+
+Thereon the Boer dismounted and made for the flagstaff, only to find
+"Uncle Croft's" rifle in a direct line with his chest.
+
+"You will have to shoot me first, Jan," he said, and thereon, after some
+consultation, they left him and went away.
+
+In truth, his British nationality notwithstanding, Silas Croft was
+very popular with the Boers, most of whom had known him since they were
+children, and to whose _Volksraad_ he had twice been elected. It was to
+this personal popularity he owed the fact that he was not turned out of
+his house, and forced to choose between serving against his countrymen
+or being imprisoned and otherwise maltreated at the very commencement of
+the rebellion.
+
+For a fortnight or more after this flag episode nothing of any
+importance happened, and then came the tidings of the crushing defeat
+at Laing's Nek. At first, Silas Croft would not believe it. "No
+general could have been so mad," he said; but soon the report was amply
+confirmed from native sources.
+
+Another week passed, and with it came the news of the British defeat
+at Ingogo. The first they heard of it was on the morning of February 8,
+when Jantje brought a Kafir up to the verandah at breakfast-time. This
+Kafir said that he had been watching the fight from a mountain; that
+the English were completely hemmed in and fighting well, but that "their
+arms were tired," and they would all be killed at night-time. The
+Boers, he said, were not suffering at all--the English could not "shoot
+straight." After hearing this they passed a sufficiently miserable day
+and evening. About twelve o'clock that night, however, a native spy
+despatched by Mr. Croft returned with the report that the English
+general had won safely back to camp, having suffered heavily and
+abandoned his wounded, many of whom had died in the rain, for the night
+after the battle was wet.
+
+Then came another long pause, during which no reliable news reached
+them, though the air was thick with rumours, and old Silas was made
+happy by hearing that large reinforcements were on their way from
+England.
+
+"Ah, Bessie, my dear, they will soon sing another song now," he said
+in great glee; "and what's more, it's about time they did. I can't
+understand what the soldiers have been about--I can't indeed."
+
+And so the time wore heavily along till at last there came a dreadful
+day, which Bessie will never forget so long as she lives. It was the
+20th of February--just a week before the final disaster at Majuba Hill.
+Bessie was standing idly on the verandah, looking down the long avenue
+of blue gums, where the shadows formed a dark network to catch the
+wandering rays of light. The place looked very peaceful, and certainly
+no one could have known from its appearance that a bloody war was being
+waged within a few miles. The Kafirs came and went about their work as
+usual, or made pretence to; but now and then a close observer might see
+them stop, look towards the Drakensberg, and then say a few words to
+their neighbour about the wonderful thing which had come to pass, that
+the Boers were beating the great white people, who came out of the sea
+and shook the earth with their tread. Whereon the neighbour would take
+the opportunity to relax from toil, squat down, have a pinch of snuff,
+and relate in what particular collection of rocks on the hillside he and
+his wives slept the last night--for when the Boers are out on commando
+the Kafirs will not sleep in their huts for fear of being surprised and
+shot down. Then the pair would spend half an hour or so in speculating
+on what would be their fate when the Boer had eaten up the Englishman
+and taken back the country, and finally come to the conclusion that they
+had better emigrate to Natal.
+
+Bessie, on the verandah, noted all this going on, every now and again
+catching snatches of the lazy rascals' talk, which chimed in but too
+sadly with her own thoughts. Turning from them impatiently, she began
+to watch the hens marching solemnly about the drive, followed by their
+broods. This picture, also, had a sanguinary background, for under an
+orange-tree two rival cocks were fighting furiously. They always did
+this about once a week, nor did they cease from troubling till each
+retired, temporarily blinded, to the shade of a separate orange-tree,
+where they spent the rest of the week in recovering, only to emerge when
+the cure was effected and fight their battle over again. Meanwhile, a
+third cock, young in years but old in wisdom, who steadily refused to
+retaliate when attacked, looked after the hens in dispute. To-day the
+fray was particularly ferocious, and, fearing that the combatants would
+have no eyes left at all if she did not interfere, Bessie called to the
+old Boer hound who was lying in the sun on the verandah.
+
+"Hi, Stomp, Stomp--hunt them, Stomp!"
+
+Up jumped Stomp and made a prodigious show of furiously attacking the
+embattled cocks; it was an operation to which he was used, and which
+afforded him constant amusement. Suddenly, however, as he dashed towards
+the trees, the dog stopped midway, his simulated wrath ceased, and
+instead of it, an expression of real disgust grew upon his honest face.
+Then the hair along his backbone stood up like the quills upon the
+fretful porcupine, and he growled.
+
+"A strange Kafir, I expect," said Bessie to herself.
+
+Stomp hated strange Kafirs. She had scarcely uttered the words
+before they were justified by the appearance of a native. He was a
+villainous-looking fellow, with one eye, and nothing on but a ragged
+pair of trousers fastened round the middle with a greasy leather strap.
+In his wool, however, were stuck several small distended bladders such
+as are generally worn by medicine-men and witch-doctors. With his left
+hand he held a long stick, cleft at one end, and in the cleft was a
+letter.
+
+"Come here, Stomp," said Bessie, and as she spoke a wild hope shot
+across her heart like a meteor across the night: perhaps the letter was
+from John.
+
+The dog obeyed her unwillingly enough, for evidently he did not like
+that Kafir; and when he saw that Stomp was well out of the way the
+Kafir himself followed. He was an insolent fellow, and took no notice of
+Bessie before squatting himself down upon the drive in front of her.
+
+"What is it?" said Bessie in Dutch, her lips trembling as she spoke.
+
+"A letter," answered the man.
+
+"Give it to me."
+
+"No, missie, not till I have looked at you to see if it is right. Light
+yellow hair that curls--_one_," checking it on his fingers, "yes, that
+is right; large blue eyes--_two_, that is right; big and tall, and fair
+as a star--yes, the letter is for you, take it," and he poked the long
+stick almost into her face.
+
+"Where is it from?" asked Bessie, with sudden suspicion and recoiling a
+step.
+
+"Wakkerstroom last."
+
+"Who is it from?"
+
+"Read it, and you will see."
+
+Bessie took the letter, which was wrapped in a piece of old newspaper,
+from the cleft of the stick and turned it over and over doubtfully. Most
+of us have a mistrust of strange-looking letters, and this letter was
+unusually strange. To begin it, with had no address whatever on the
+dirty envelope, which seemed curious. In the second place, that envelope
+was sealed, apparently with a threepenny bit.
+
+"Are you sure it is for me?" asked Bessie.
+
+"Yah, yah--sure, sure," answered the native, with a rude laugh. "There
+are not many such white girls in the Transvaal. I have made no
+mistake. I have 'smelt you out.'" And he began to go through his
+catalogue--"Yellow hair that curls," &c.--again.
+
+Then Bessie opened the letter. Inside was an ordinary sheet of paper
+written over in a bold, firm, yet slightly unpractised writing that she
+knew well enough, and the sight of which filled her with a presentiment
+of evil. It was Frank Muller's.
+
+She turned sick and cold, but could not choose but read as follows:
+
+
+"Camp, near Pretoria. 15 February.
+
+"Dear Miss Bessie,--I am sorry to have to write to you, but though we
+have quarrelled lately, and also your good uncle, I think it my duty to
+do so, and send this to your hand by a special runner. Yesterday was
+a sortie made by the poor folk in Pretoria, who are now as thin with
+hunger as the high veldt oxen just before spring. Our arms were again
+victorious; the redcoats ran away and left their ambulance in our hands,
+carrying with them many dead and wounded. Among the dead was the Captain
+Niel----"
+
+
+Here Bessie uttered a sort of choking cry, and let the letter fall
+over the verandah, to one of the posts of which she clung with both her
+hands.
+
+The ill-favoured native below grinned, and, picking the paper up, handed
+it to her.
+
+She took it, feeling that she must know all, and read on like one reads
+in some ghastly dream:
+
+"who has been staying on your uncle's farm. I did not see him killed
+myself, but Jan Vanzyl shot him, and Roi Dirk Oosthuizen, and Carolus, a
+Hottentot, saw them pick him up and carry him away. They say that he was
+quite dead. For this I fear you will be sorry, as I am, but it is
+the chance of war, and he died fighting bravely. Make my obedient
+compliments to your uncle. We parted in anger, but I hope in the new
+circumstances that have arisen in the land to show him that I, for one,
+bear no anger.--Believe me, dear Miss Bessie, your humble and devoted
+servant,
+
+"Frank Muller."
+
+
+Bessie thrust the letter into the pocket of her dress, then again she
+caught hold of the verandah post, and supported herself by it, while the
+light of the sun appeared to fade visibly out of the day before her eyes
+and to replace itself by a cold blackness in which there was no break.
+He was dead!--her lover was dead! The glow had gone from her life as it
+seemed to be going from the day, and she was left desolate. She had
+no knowledge of how long she stood thus, staring with wide eyes at the
+sunshine she could not see. She had lost her count of time; things were
+phantasmagorical and unreal; all that she could realise was this one
+overpowering, crushing fact--John was dead!
+
+"Missie," said the ill-favoured messenger below, fixing his one eye upon
+her poor sorrow-stricken face, and yawning.
+
+There was no answer.
+
+"Missie," he said again, "is there any answer? I must be going. I want
+to get back in time to see the Boers take Pretoria."
+
+Bessie looked at him vaguely. "Yours is a message that needs no answer,"
+she said. "What is, is."
+
+The brute laughed. "No, I can't take a letter to the Captain," he said;
+"I saw Jan Vanzyl shoot him. He fell _so_," and suddenly he collapsed
+all in a heap on the path, in imitation of a man struck dead by a
+bullet. "I can't take _him_ a message, missie," he went on, rising, "but
+one day you will be able to go and look for him yourself. I did not mean
+that; what I meant was that I could take a letter to Frank Muller. A
+live Boer is better than a dead Englishman; and Frank Muller will make
+a fine husband for any girl. If you shut your eyes you won't know the
+difference."
+
+"Go!" said Bessie, in a choked voice, and pointing her hands towards the
+avenue.
+
+Such was the suppressed energy in her tone that the man sprang to his
+feet, and while he rose, interpreting her gesture as an encouragement to
+action, the old dog, Stomp, who had been watching him all the time, and
+occasionally giving utterance to a low growl of animosity, flew straight
+at his throat from the verandah. The dog, which was a heavy one, struck
+the man full in the chest and knocked him backwards. Down came dog and
+man on the drive together, and then ensued a terrible scene, the man
+cursing and shrieking and striking out at the dog, and the dog worrying
+the man in a fashion that he was not liable to forget for the remainder
+of his life.
+
+Bessie, whose energy seemed again to be exhausted, took absolutely
+no notice of the fray, and it was at this juncture that her old uncle
+arrived upon the scene, together with two Kafirs--the same whom Bessie
+had seen idling.
+
+"Hullo! hullo!" he halloed in his stentorian tones, "what is all this
+about? Get off, you brute!" and what between his voice and the blows
+of the Kafirs the dog was persuaded to let go his hold of the man, who
+staggered to his feet, severely mauled, and bleeding from half a dozen
+bites.
+
+For a moment he did not say anything, but picked up his sticks. Then,
+however, having first made sure that the dog was being held by the
+Kafirs, he turned, his face streaming with blood, his one eye blazing
+with fury, and, shaking both his clenched fists at poor Bessie, broke
+into a scream of cursing.
+
+"You shall pay for this--Frank Muller shall make you pay for it. I am
+his servant. I----"
+
+"Get out of this, however you are," thundered old Silas, "or by Heaven
+I will let the dog on you again!" and he pointed to Stomp, who was
+struggling wildly with the two Kafirs.
+
+The man paused and looked at the dog, then, with a final shake of the
+fist, he departed at a run down the avenue, turning once only to look if
+the dog were coming.
+
+With empty eyes Bessie watched him go, taking no more notice of him
+than she had of the noise of the fighting. Then, as though struck by a
+thought, she turned and went into the sitting-room.
+
+"What is all this, Bessie?" said her uncle, following her. "What does
+the man mean about Frank Muller?"
+
+"It means, uncle dear," she said at last, in a voice that was something
+between a sob and a laugh, "that I am a widow before I am married. John
+is dead!"
+
+"Dead! dead!" said the old man, putting his hand to his forehead and
+turning round in a dazed sort of fashion, "John dead!"
+
+"Read the letter," said Bessie, handing him Frank Muller's missive.
+
+The old man took and read it. His hand shook so much that he was a long
+while in mastering its contents.
+
+"Good God!" he said at last, "what a blow! My poor Bessie," and he
+drew her into his arms and kissed her. Suddenly a thought struck him.
+"Perhaps it is all one of Frank Muller's lies," he said, "or perhaps he
+made a mistake."
+
+But Bessie did not answer. For the time, at any rate, hope had left her.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+FRANK MULLER'S FAMILIAR
+
+The study of the conflicting elements which go to make up a character
+like that of Frank Muller, however fascinating it might prove, is not
+one which can be attempted in detail here. Such a character in its
+developed form is fortunately well-nigh impossible in a highly civilised
+country, for the dead weight of the law would crush it back to the level
+of the human mass around it. But those who have lived in the wild places
+of the earth will be acquainted with its prototypes, more especially
+in the countries where a handful of a superior race rule over the dense
+thousands of an inferior. Solitudes are favourable to the production of
+strongly marked individualities. The companionship of highly developed
+men, on the contrary, whittles individualities away; the difference
+between their growth being the difference between the grown of a tree on
+a plain and a tree in the forest. On the plain the tree takes the innate
+bend of its nature. It springs in majesty towards the skies; it spreads
+itself around, or it slants along the earth, just as Nature intended
+that it should, and in accordance with the power of the providential
+breath which bends it. In the forest it is different. There the tree
+grows towards the light wherever the light may be. Forced to modify its
+natural habit in obedience to the pressure of circumstances over which
+it has no command, it takes such form and height as its neighbours will
+allow it to, all its energies being directed to the preservation of its
+life in any shape and at any sacrifice.
+
+Thus is it with us all. Left to ourselves, or surrounded only by the
+scrub of humanity, we become outwardly that which the spirit within
+would fashion us to, but, placed among our fellows, shackled by custom,
+restrained by law, pruned and bent by the force of public opinion, we
+grow as like one to another as the fruit bushes on a garden wall. The
+sharp angles of our characters are fretted away by the friction of the
+crowd, and we become round, polished, and, superficially, at any rate,
+identical. We no longer resemble a solitary boulder on a plain, but are
+as a worked stone built into the great edifice of civilised society.
+
+The place of a man like Frank Muller is at the junction of the waters
+of civilisation and barbarism. Too civilised to possess those savage
+virtues which, such as they are, represent the quantum of innate good
+Nature has thought fit to allow in the mixture, Man; and too barbarous
+to be subject to the tenderer constraints of cultivated society, he is
+at once strong in the strength of both and weak in their weaknesses.
+Animated by the spirit of barbarism, Superstition; and almost entirely
+destitute of the spirit of civilisation, Mercy, he stands on the edge of
+both and an affront to both, as terrific a moral spectacle as the world
+can afford.
+
+Had he been a little more civilised, with his power of evil trained by
+education and cynical reflection to defy the attacks of those spasms of
+unreasoning spiritual terror and unrestrainable passion that have their
+natural dwelling-place in the raw strong mind of uncultivated man, Frank
+Muller might have broken upon the world as a Napoleon. Had he been a
+little more savage, a little farther removed from the unconscious
+but present influence of a progressive race, he might have ground his
+fellows down and ruthlessly destroyed them in the madness of his rage
+and lust, like an Attila or a T'Chaka. As it was he was buffeted between
+two forces he did not realise, even when they swayed him, and thus at
+every step in his path towards a supremacy of evil an unseen power made
+stumbling-blocks of weaknesses which, if that path had been laid along
+a little higher or a little lower level in the scale of circumstances,
+would themselves have been deadly weapons of overmastering force.
+
+See him as, with his dark heart filled up with fears, he thunders along
+from that scene of midnight death and murder which his brain had not
+feared to plan and his hand to execute. Onward his black horse strides,
+companioned by the storm, like a dark thought travelling on the wings of
+Night. He does not believe in any God, and yet the terrible fears that
+spring up in his soul, born fungus-like from a few drops of blood, take
+shape and form, and seem to cry aloud, "_We are the messengers of the
+avenging God_." He glances up. High on the black bosom of the storm the
+finger of the lightning is writing that awful name, and again and again
+the voice of the thunder reads it aloud in spirit-shaking accents. He
+shuts his dazed eyes, and even the falling rhythm of his horse's hoofs
+beats out, "_There is a God! there is a God!_" from the silent earth on
+which they strike.
+
+And so, on through the tempest and the night, flying from that which no
+man can leave behind.
+
+
+
+It was near midnight when Frank Muller drew rein at a wretched and
+lonely mud hut built on the banks of the Vaal, and flanked by an equally
+miserable shed. The place was silent as the grave; not even a dog
+barked.
+
+"That beast of a Kafir is not here," he said aloud, "I will have him
+flogged to death. Hendrik! Hendrik!"
+
+As he called, a form rose up at his very feet, causing the weary horse
+to start back so violently that he almost threw his rider to the ground.
+
+"What in the name of the devil are you?" almost shrieked Frank Muller,
+whose nerves, indeed, were in no condition to bear fresh shocks.
+
+"It is I, Baas," said the form, at the same time throwing off a
+grey blanket in which it was enveloped, and revealing the villainous
+countenance of the one-eyed witch-doctor, who had taken the letter to
+Bessie. For years this man had been Muller's body-servant, who followed
+him about like a shadow.
+
+"Curse you, you dog! What do you mean by hiding up like that? It is one
+of your infernal tricks; be careful"--tapping his pistol case--"or I
+shall one day put an end to you and your witchcraft together."
+
+"I am very sorry, Baas," said the man in a whine, "but half an hour
+ago I heard you coming. I don't know what is the matter with the air
+to-night, but it sounded as though twenty people were galloping after
+you. I could hear them all quite clearly; first the big black horse, and
+then all those that followed, just as though they were hunting you. So
+I came out and lay down to listen, and it was not till you were quite
+close that one by one the others stopped. Perhaps it was the devils who
+galloped."
+
+"Damn you, stop that wizard's talk," said Muller, his teeth chattering
+with fear and agitation. "Take the horse, groom and feed him well; he
+has galloped far, and we start at dawn. Stop, tell me, where are the
+lights and the brandy? If you have drunk the brandy I will flog you."
+
+"They are on the shelf to the left as you go in, Baas, and there is
+flesh too, and bread."
+
+Muller swung himself from the saddle and entered the hut, pushing
+open the cranky, broken-hinged door with a kick. He found the box of
+Tandstickor matches, and, after one or two attempts--due chiefly to his
+shaking hand--succeeded in striking fire and lighting a coarse dip such
+as the Boers make out of mutton fat. Near the candle were a bottle of
+peach brandy two thirds full, a tin pannikin and a jug of river water.
+Seizing the pannikin, he half filled it with spirit, added a little
+water, and drank off the mixture. Then he took the meat and bread from
+the same shelf, and, cutting some of each with his clasp-knife, tried
+to eat. But he could not swallow much, and soon gave up the attempt,
+consoling himself instead with the brandy.
+
+"Bah!" he said, "the stuff tastes like hell fire;" and he filled his
+pipe and sat smoking.
+
+Presently Hendrik came in to say that the horse was eating well, and
+turned to go out again, when his master beckoned him to stop. The man
+was surprised, for generally his master was not fond of his society,
+except when he wanted to consult him or persuade him to exercise his
+pretended art of divination. The truth was, however, that at the moment
+Frank Muller would have been glad to consort with a dog. The events of
+the night had brought this terrible man, steeped in iniquity from his
+youth up, down to the level of a child frightened at the dark. For a
+while he sat in silence, the Kafir squatting on the ground at his feet.
+Presently, however, the doses of powerful spirit took effect on him,
+and he began to talk more unguardedly than was his custom, even with his
+black "familiar" Hendrik.
+
+"How long have you been here?" he asked of his retainer.
+
+"About four days, Baas."
+
+"Did you take my letter to _Oom_ Croft's?"
+
+"Yah, Baas. I gave it to the missie."
+
+"What did she do?"
+
+"She read it, and then stood like this, holding on to the verandah
+pole;" and he opened his mouth and one eye, twisting up his hideous
+countenance into a ghastly imitation of Bessie's sorrow-stricken face,
+and gripping the post that supported the hut to give verisimilitude to
+his performance.
+
+"So she believed it?"
+
+"Surely."
+
+"What did she do, then?"
+
+"She set the dog on me. Look here! and here! and here!" and he pointed
+to the half-healed scars left by Stomp's sharp fangs.
+
+Muller laughed a little. "I should like to have seen him worry you, you
+black cheat; it shows her spirit, too. I suppose you are angry, and want
+to have a revenge?"
+
+"Surely."
+
+"Well, who knows? Perhaps you shall; we are going there to-morrow."
+
+"So, Baas! I knew that before you told me."
+
+"We are going there, and we are going to take the place; and we are
+going to try Uncle Silas by court-martial for flying an English flag,
+and if he is found guilty we are going to shoot him, Hendrik."
+
+"So, Baas," said the Kafir, rubbing his hands in glee, "but will he be
+found guilty?"
+
+"I don't know," murmured the white man, stroking his golden beard; "that
+will depend upon what missie has to say; and upon the verdict of the
+court," he added, by way of an afterthought.
+
+"On the verdict of the court, ha! ha!" chuckled his wicked satellite;
+"on the verdict of the court, yes! yes! and the Baas will be president,
+ha! ha! One needs no witchcraft to guess that verdict. And if the court
+finds Uncle Silas guilty, who will do the shooting, Baas?"
+
+"I have not thought of that; the time has not come to think of it. It
+does not matter; anybody can carry out the sentence of the law."
+
+"Baas," said the Kafir, "I have done much for you, and had little pay.
+I have done ugly things. I had read omens and made medicines and 'smelt
+out' your enemies. Will you grant me a favour? Will you let me shoot
+_Oom_ Croft if the court finds him guilty? It is not much to ask, Baas.
+I am a clever wizard and deserve my pay."
+
+"Why do you want to shoot him?"
+
+"Because he flogged me once, years ago, for being a witch-doctor, and
+the other day he hunted me off the place. Beside, it is nice to shoot
+a white man. I should like it better," he went on, with a smack of the
+lips, "if it were missie, who set the dog on me. I would----"
+
+In a moment Muller had seized the astonished ruffian by the throat, and
+was kicking and shaking him as though he were a toy. His brutal talk of
+Bessie appealed to such manliness as he had in him, and, whatever his
+own wickedness may have been, he was too madly in love with the woman to
+let her name be taken in vain by a man whom, though he held his "magic"
+in superstitious reverence, he yet ranked lower than a dog. With his
+nerves strung to the highest possible state of tension, and half drunk
+as he was, Frank Muller was no more to be played with or irritated than
+is a mad bull.
+
+"You black beast!" he yelled, "if ever you dare to mention her name
+again like that I will kill you, for all your witchcraft;" and he hurled
+him with such force against the wall of the hut that the whole place
+shook. The man fell and lay for a moment groaning; then he crept from
+the hut on his hands and knees.
+
+Muller sat scowling from under his bent brows, and watched him go. When
+he was gone, he rose and fastened the door behind him, then suddenly he
+burst into tears, the result, no doubt, of the mingled effects of drink,
+mental and physical exhaustion, and the never-resting passion--one can
+scarcely call it love--which ate at his heart, like the worm that dieth
+not.
+
+"Oh, Bessie, Bessie!" he groaned, "I have done it all for you. Surely
+you cannot be angry when I have killed them all for you? Oh, my
+darling, my darling! If you only knew how I love you! Oh, my darling,
+my darling!" and in an agony of passion he flung himself on to the rough
+pallet in the corner of the hut and sobbed himself to sleep.
+
+It would seem that Frank Muller's evil-doing did not make him happy,
+the truth being that to enjoy wickedness a man must be not only without
+conscience, but also without passion. Now Frank Muller was tormented
+with a very effective substitute for the first--superstition, and by the
+latter his life was overshadowed, since the beauty of a girl possessed
+the power to dominate his wildest moods and to inflict upon him torments
+that she herself was incapable even of imagining.
+
+
+
+At the first light of dawn Hendrik crept humbly into the hut to wake
+his master, and within half an hour they were across the Vaal and on the
+road to Wakkerstroom.
+
+As the light increased so did Muller's spirits rise, till at last, when
+the red sun came up in glory and swept away the shadows, he felt as
+though all the load of guilt and fear that lay upon his heart had
+departed with them. He could see now that the death of the two Boers by
+lightning was a mere accident--a happy accident, indeed; for, had it not
+so chanced, he would have been forced to kill them himself, if he could
+not have obtained possession of the warrant by other means. As it was,
+he had forgotten about this document; but it did not matter much, he
+reflected. Nobody would be likely to find the bodies of the two men and
+horses under that lonely bank. Certainly they would not be found before
+the _aasvogels_ had picked them clean, and these would be at work upon
+them now. And if they were found, the paper would have rotted or
+been blown away, or, at the worst, rendered so discoloured as to be
+unreadable. For the rest, there was nothing to connect him with the
+murder, now that his confederates were dead. Hendrik would prove an
+alibi for him. He was a useful man, Hendrik. Besides, who would believe
+that it was a murder? Two men were escorting an Englishman to the river;
+they became involved in a quarrel; the Englishman shot them, and they
+shot the Englishman and his companion. Then the horses plunged into the
+Vaal upsetting the cart, and there was an end of it. He could see
+now how well things had gone for him. Events had placed him beyond
+suspicion.
+
+Then he fell to thinking of the fruits of his honest labours, and
+Muller's cheek grew warm with the mounting blood, and his eyes flashed
+with the fire of youth. In two days--forty-eight hours--at the outside,
+Bessie would be in his arms. He could not miscarry now, for was he not
+in absolute command? Besides, Hendrik had read it in his omens long
+ago.[*] Mooifontein should be stormed on the morrow, if that were
+necessary, and _Oom_ Silas Croft and Bessie should be taken prisoners;
+and then he knew how to deal with them. His talk about shooting on the
+previous night had been no idle threat. She should yield herself to him,
+or the old man must die, and then he would take her. There could be no
+legal consequences now that the British Government was in the act of
+surrender. It would be a meritorious deed to execute a rebel Englishman.
+
+     [*] It is not a very rare thing to meet white men in South
+     Africa who believe more or less in the efficacy of native
+     witchcraft, and, although such a proceeding is forbidden by
+     law, who at a pinch will not hesitate to consult the
+     witch-doctors.--Author.
+
+Yes, it was all plain sailing now. How long had it needed to win
+her--three years? He had loved her for three years. Well, he would have
+his reward; and then, his passion satisfied, he would turn his mind to
+those far-reaching, ambitious schemes, whereof the end was something
+like a throne.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+SILAS IS CONVINCED
+
+At first Bessie was utterly prostrated by the blow that had fallen on
+her, but as time went on she revived a little, for hers was an elastic
+and a sanguine nature. Troubles sink into the souls of some like water
+into a sponge, and weight them down almost to the grave. From others
+they run off as the water does if poured upon marble, merely wetting the
+surface.
+
+Bessie belonged to neither of these classes, but was of a substance
+between the two--a healthy, happy-hearted woman, full of beauty and
+vigour, made to bloom in the sunshine, not to languish in the shadow
+of some old grief. Women of her stamp do not die of broken hearts or
+condemn themselves to life-long celibacy as a sacrifice to the shade of
+the departed. If unfortunately No. 1 is removed, as a general rule they
+shed many a tear and suffer many a pang, and after a decent interval
+very sensibly turn their attention to No. 2.
+
+Still it was but a pale-faced, quiet Bessie who went to and fro about
+the place after the visit of the one-eyed Kafir. All her irritability
+had left her now; she no longer reproached her uncle because he had
+despatched John to Pretoria. Indeed, on that very evening after the evil
+tidings came, he began to blame himself bitterly in her presence for
+having sent her lover away, when she stopped him.
+
+"It is God's will, uncle," she said quietly. "You only did what it was
+ordained that you should do." Then she came and laid her sunny head upon
+the old man's shoulder and cried a little, and said that they two were
+all alone in the world now; and he comforted her in the best fashion
+that he could. It was a curious thing that they neither of them thought
+much of Jess when they talked thus of being alone. Jess was an enigma, a
+thing apart even from them. When she was there she was loved and allowed
+to go her own way, when she was not there she seemed to fade into outer
+darkness. A veil came down between her and her belongings. Of course
+they were both very fond of her, but simple-natured people are apt to
+shrink from what they cannot understand, and these two were no exception
+to the rule. For instance, Bessie's affection for her sister was a poor
+thing compared to the deep and self-sacrificing, though often secret
+love that her sister showered upon her. She loved her old uncle far more
+dearly than she loved Jess, and it must be owned that he returned her
+attachment with interest, and in those days of heavy trouble they drew
+nearer to each other than ever they were before.
+
+But as time went on they began to hope again. No confirmation of John's
+death reached them. Was it not possible then, after all, that the story
+was an invention? They knew that Frank Muller was not a man to hesitate
+at a lie if he had a purpose to gain, and they could guess in this case
+what that purpose was. His furious passion for Bessie was no secret from
+either of them, and it occurred to them as possible that the tale of
+John's death might have been invented to forward it. This was scarcely
+probable, it is true, but it might be so, and however cruel suspense
+may be, it is at least less absolutely crushing than the dead weight of
+certainty.
+
+One Sunday--it was just a week since the letter came--Bessie was sitting
+after dinner on the verandah, when her quick ears caught what she took
+to be the booming of heavy guns far away on the Drakensberg. She rose,
+and leaving the house, climbed the hill behind it. On reaching its top
+she stood and looked at the great solemn stretch of mountains. Away, a
+little to her right, was a square precipitous peak called Majuba, which
+was generally clothed in clouds. To-day, however, there was no mist, and
+it seemed to her that it was from the direction of this peak that the
+faint rolling sounds came floating on the breeze. But she could see
+nothing; the mountain seemed as tenantless and devoid of life as on the
+day when it first towered up upon the face of things created. Presently
+the sounds died away, and she returned, thinking that she must have been
+deceived by the echoes of some distant thunderstorm.
+
+Next day they learnt from the natives that what she had heard was the
+roar of the big guns covering the flight of the British troops down
+the precipitous sides of Majuba Mountain. After these tidings old
+Silas Croft began to lose heart a little. The run of disaster was
+so unrelieved that even his robust faith in the invincibility of the
+English arms was shaken.
+
+"It is very strange, Bessie," he said, "very strange; but, never mind,
+it is bound to come right at last. Our Government is not going to knock
+under because it has suffered a few reverses."
+
+Then followed a long four weeks of uncertainty. The air was thick with
+rumours, most of them brought by natives, and one or two by passing
+Boers, to which Silas Croft declined to pay any attention. Soon,
+however, it became abundantly clear that an armistice was concluded
+between the English and the Boers, but what were its terms or its object
+they were quite unable to decide. Silas Croft thought that the Boers,
+overawed by the advance of an overwhelming force, meant to give in
+without further fighting;[*] but Bessie shook her head.
+
+     [*] This is said on good authority to have been their
+     intention had not Mr. Gladstone surprised them by his sudden
+     surrender.--Author.
+
+One day--it was the same on which John and Jess left Pretoria--a Kafir
+brought the news that the armistice was at an end, that the English were
+advancing up to the Nek in thousands, and were going to force it on the
+morrow and relieve the garrisons--a piece of intelligence that brought
+some of the old light back to Bessie's eyes. As for her uncle, he was
+jubilant.
+
+"The tide is going to turn, at last, my love," he said, "and we shall
+have our innings. Well, it is time we should, after all the disgrace,
+loss and agony of mind we have gone through. Upon my word, for the last
+two months I have been ashamed to call myself an Englishman. However,
+there is an end of it now. I knew that they would never give in and
+desert us," and the old man straightened his crooked back and
+slapped his chest, looking as proud and gallant as though he were
+five-and-twenty instead of seventy years of age.
+
+The rest of that day passed without any further news, and so did the
+following two days, but on the third, which was March 23, the storm
+broke.
+
+About eleven o'clock in the forenoon Bessie was employed upon her
+household duties as usual, or rather she had just finished them. Her
+uncle had returned from his usual after-breakfast round upon the farm,
+and was standing in the sitting-room, his broad felt hat in one hand and
+a red pocket-handkerchief in the other, with which he was polishing his
+bald head, while he chattered to Bessie through the open door.
+
+"No news of the advance, Bessie dear?"
+
+"No, uncle," she replied with a sigh, her blue eyes filling with tears,
+for she was thinking of one of whom there was also no news.
+
+"Well, never mind. These things take a little time, especially with
+our soldiers, who move so slowly. I dare say that there was some delay
+waiting for guns or ammunition or something. I expect that we shall hear
+by to-night----"
+
+"De Booren, Baas, de Booren!" (the Boers, master, the Boers) he shouted.
+"The Boers are coming with a waggon, twenty of them or more, with Frank
+Muller at their head on his black horse, and Hans Coetzee, and the
+one-eyed Basutu wizard with him. I was hiding behind a tree at the end
+of the avenue, and I saw them riding over the rise. They are going to
+take the place;" and, without waiting to give any further explanations,
+he slipped through the house and hid himself up somewhere out of the way
+at the back, for Jantje, like most Hottentots, was a sad coward.
+
+The old man stopped rubbing his head and stared at Bessie, who stood
+pale and trembling in the doorway. Just then he heard the patter of
+running feet on the drive outside, and looked out of the window. It was
+caused by the passing of some half-dozen Kafirs who were working on the
+place, and who, on catching sight of the Boers, had promptly thrown down
+their tools and were flying to the hills. Even as they passed a shot was
+fired somewhere from the direction of the avenue, and the last of the
+Kafirs, a lad of about twelve, suddenly threw up his hands and pitched
+forward on to his face, with a bullet between his shoulder-blades.
+
+Bessie heard the shout of "Good shot, good shot!" the brutal laughter
+that greeted his fall, and the tramping of the horses as they came up
+the drive.
+
+"Oh, uncle!" she said, "what shall we do?"
+
+The old man made no answer at the moment, but going to a rack upon the
+wall, he reached down a Wesley-Richards falling-block rifle that hung
+there. Then he sat down in a wooden armchair that faced the French
+window opening on to the verandah, and beckoned to her to come to him.
+
+"We will meet them so," he said. "They shall see that we are not afraid
+of them. Don't be frightened, dear, they will not dare to harm us; they
+will be afraid of the consequences of harming English people."
+
+The words were scarcely out of his mouth when the cavalcade began to
+appear in front of the window, led, as Jantje had said, by Frank Muller
+on his black horse, accompanied by Hans Coetzee on the fat pony, and the
+villainous-looking Hendrik, mounted on a nondescript sort of animal, and
+carrying a gun and an assegai in his hand. Behind these were a body of
+about fifteen or sixteen armed men, among whom Silas Croft recognised
+most of his neighbours, by whose side he had lived for years in peace
+and amity.
+
+Opposite the house they stopped and began looking about. They could not
+see into the room at once, on account of the bright light outside and
+the shadow within.
+
+"I fancy you will find the birds flown, nephew," said the fat voice of
+Hans Coetzee. "They have got warning of your little visit."
+
+"They cannot be far off," answered Muller. "I have had them watched, and
+know that they have not left the place. Get down, uncle, and look in the
+house, and you too, Hendrik."
+
+The Kafir obeyed with alacrity, tumbling out of his saddle with all the
+grace of a sack of coals, but the Boer hesitated.
+
+"Uncle Silas is an angry man," he ventured; "he might shoot if he found
+me poking about his house."
+
+"Don't answer me!" thundered Muller; "get down and do as I bid you!"
+
+"Ah, what a devil of a man!" murmured the unfortunate Hans as he hurried
+to obey.
+
+Meanwhile, Hendrik the one-eyed had jumped upon the verandah and was
+peering through the windows.
+
+"Here they are, Baas; here they are!" he sung out; "the old cock and the
+pullet too!" and he gave a kick to the window, which, being unlatched,
+swung wide, revealing the old man sitting in his wooden armchair, his
+rifle on his knees, and holding by the hand his fair-haired niece, who
+was standing at his side. Frank Muller dismounted and came on to the
+verandah, and behind him crowded a dozen or more of his followers.
+
+"What is it that you want, Frank Muller, that you come to my house with
+all these armed men?" asked Silas Croft from his chair.
+
+"I call upon you, Silas Croft, to surrender to take your trial as a
+land betrayer and a rebel against the Republic," was the answer. "I am
+sorry," he added, with a bow towards Bessie, on whom his eyes had been
+fixed all the time, "to be obliged to take you prisoner in the presence
+of a lady, but my duty gives me no choice."
+
+"I do not know what you mean," said the old man. "I am a subject of
+Queen Victoria and an Englishman. How, then, can I be a rebel against
+any republic? I am an Englishman, I say," he went on with rising anger,
+speaking so high that his powerful voice rang till every Boer there
+could hear it, "and I acknowledge the authority of no republics. This
+is my house, and I order you to leave it. I claim my rights as an
+Englishman----"
+
+"Here," interrupted Muller coldly, "Englishmen have no rights, except
+such as we choose to allow to them."
+
+"Shoot him!" cried a voice.
+
+"Treat him as Buskes treated Van der Linden at Potchefstroom!" cried
+another.
+
+"Yes, make him swallow the same pill that we gave to Dr. Barber," put in
+a third.
+
+"Silas Croft, are you going to surrender?" asked Muller in the same cold
+voice.
+
+"_No!_" thundered the old man in his English pride. "I surrender to no
+rebels in arms against the Queen. I will shoot the first man who tries
+to lay a finger on me!" and he rose to his feet and lifted his rifle.
+
+"Shall I shoot him, Baas?--shall I shoot him?" asked the one-eyed
+Hendrik, smacking his lips at the thought, and fiddling with the rusty
+lock of the old fowling-piece he carried.
+
+Muller, by way of answer, struck him across the face with the back of
+his hand. "Hans Coetzee," he said, "go and arrest that man."
+
+Poor Hans hesitated, as well he might. Nature had not endowed him
+with any great amount of natural courage, and the sight of his old
+neighbour's rifle-barrel made him feel positively sick. He hesitated and
+began to stammer excuses.
+
+"Are you going, uncle, or must I denounce you to the General as a
+sympathiser with Englishmen?" asked Muller in malice, for he knew the
+old fellow's weakness and cowardice, and was playing on them.
+
+"I am going. Of course I am going, nephew. Excuse me, a little faintness
+took me--the heat of the sun," he babbled. "Oh, yes, I am going to seize
+the rebel. Perhaps one of these young men would not mind engaging his
+attention on the other side. He is an angry man--I know him of old--and
+an angry man with a gun, you know, dear cousin----"
+
+"Are you going?" said his terrible master once more.
+
+"Oh, yes! yes, certainly, yes. Dear Uncle Silas, pray put down that gun,
+it is so dangerous. Don't stand there looking like a wild ox, but come
+up to the yoke. You are old, Uncle Silas, and I don't want to have to
+hurt you. Come now, come, come," and he held out his hand towards him as
+though he were a shy horse that he was endeavouring to beguile.
+
+"Hans Coetzee, traitor and liar that you are," said the old man, "if you
+draw a single step nearer, by God! I will put a bullet through you."
+
+"Go on, Hans, chuck a reim over his head; get him by the tail; knock him
+down with a yokeskei; turn the old bull on his back!" shouted the crowd
+of scoffers from the window, taking very good care, however, to clear
+off to the right and left in order to leave room for the expected
+bullet.
+
+Hans positively burst into tears, and Muller, who was the only one
+who held his ground, caught him by the arm, and putting out all his
+strength, swung him towards Silas Croft.
+
+For reasons of his own, he was anxious that the latter should shoot one
+of them, and he chose Hans Coetzee, whom he disliked and despised, for
+the sacrifice.
+
+Up went the rifle, and at that moment Bessie, who had been standing
+bewildered, made a dash at it, knowing that bloodshed could only make
+matters worse. As she did so it exploded, but not before she had shaken
+her uncle's arm, for, instead of killing Hans, as it undoubtedly would
+have done, the bullet only cut his ear and then passed out through the
+open window-place. In an instant the room was filled with smoke. Hans
+Coetzee clapped his hand to his head, uttering yells of pain and terror,
+and in the confusion that ensued three or four men, headed by the Kafir
+Hendrik, rushed into the room and sprang upon Silas Croft, who had
+retreated to the wall and was standing with his back against it, his
+rifle, which he had clubbed in both his hands, raised above his head.
+
+When his assailants were close to him they hesitated, for, aged and bent
+as he was, the old man looked dangerous. He stood there like a wounded
+lion, and swung the rifle-stock about. Presently one of the men struck
+at him and missed him, but before he could retreat Silas brought down
+the stock of the rifle on his head, and down he went like an ox beneath
+a poleaxe. Then they closed on him, but for a while he kept them
+off, knocking down another man in his efforts. At that moment the
+witch-doctor Hendrik, who had been watching his opportunity, brought
+down the barrel of his old fowling-piece upon Silas's bald head and
+felled him. Fortunately the blow was not a very heavy one, or it would
+have broken his skull. As it was, it only cut his scalp open and knocked
+him down. Thereon, the whole mass of Boers, with the exception of
+Muller, who stood watching, seeing that he was now defenceless,
+fell upon Silas, and would have kicked him to death had not Bessie
+precipitated herself upon him with a cry, and thrown her arms about his
+body to protect him.
+
+Then Frank Muller interfered, fearing lest she should be hurt. Plunging
+into the fray with a curse, he exercised his great strength, throwing
+the men this way and that like ninepins, and finally dragging Silas to
+his feet again.
+
+"Come!" he shouted, "take him out of this;" and accordingly, with
+taunts, curses and obloquy, the poor old man, whose fringe of white
+locks was red with blood, was kicked and pushed on to the verandah, then
+off it on to the drive. Here he fell over the body of the murdered Kafir
+boy, but finally he was dragged to the open space by the flagstaff, on
+which the Union Jack that he had hoisted there some two months before
+still waved bravely in the breeze. There he sank down upon the grass,
+his back against the flagstaff, and asked faintly for some water.
+Bessie, who was weeping bitterly, and whose heart felt as though it were
+bursting with anguish and indignation, pushed her way through the men,
+and, running to the house, filled a glass and brought it to him. One of
+the brutes tried to knock it out of her hand, but she avoided him and
+gave it to her uncle, who drank it greedily.
+
+"Thank you, love, thank you," he said; "don't be frightened, I ain't
+much hurt. Ah! if only John had been here, and we had had an hour's
+notice, we would have held the place against them all."
+
+Meanwhile one of the Boers, climbing on to the shoulders of another,
+had succeeded in untying the cord on which the Union Jack was bent, and
+hauled it down. Then they reversed it and hoisted it half-mast high, and
+began to cheer for the Republic.
+
+"Perhaps Uncle Silas does not know that we are a Republic again now,"
+said one of the men, a near neighbour of his own, in mockery.
+
+"What do you mean by a Republic?" asked the old man. "The Transvaal is a
+British colony."
+
+There was a hoot of derision at this. "The English Government has
+surrendered," said the same man. "The country is given up, and the
+British are to evacuate it in six months."
+
+"It is a lie!" said Silas, springing to his feet, "a cowardly lie!
+Whoever says that the English have given up the country to a few
+thousand blackguards like you, and deserted its subjects and the loyals
+and the natives, is a liar--a liar from hell!"
+
+There was another howl of mockery at this outburst, and when it had
+subsided Frank Muller stepped forward.
+
+"It is no lie, Silas Croft," he said, "and the cowards are not we Boers,
+who have beaten you again and again, but your soldiers, who have done
+nothing but run away, and your Mr. Gladstone, who follows the example of
+your soldiers. Look here"--and he took a paper out of his pocket--"you
+know that signature, I suppose? It is that of one of the Triumvirate.
+Listen to what he says," and he read aloud:--
+
+"'Well-beloved _Heer_ Muller,--this is to inform you that, by the
+strength of our arms fighting for the right and freedom, and also by the
+cowardice of the British Government, generals, and soldiers, we have by
+the will of the Almighty concluded this day a glorious peace with the
+enemy. The _Heer_ Gladstone surrenders nearly everything except in the
+name. The Republic is to be re-established, and the soldiers who are
+left will leave the land within six months. Make this known to everyone,
+and forget not to thank God for our glorious victories.'"
+
+The Boers shouted aloud, as well they might, and Bessie wrung her hands.
+As for the old man, he leant against the flagstaff, and his gory
+head sank back upon his breast as though he were about to faint. Then
+suddenly he lifted it, and with clenched and quivering fists, held high
+in the air, he broke out into such a torrent of blasphemy and cursing
+that even the Boers fell back for a moment, dismayed into silence by the
+force of the fury wrung from his utter humiliation.
+
+It was an appalling sight to see this good and God-fearing old man, his
+face bruised, his grey hairs dabbled with blood, and his clothes nearly
+rent from his body, stamp and reel to and fro, blaspheming his Maker and
+the day that he was born; hurling execrations at his beloved country and
+the name of Englishman, and the Government of Britain that had deserted
+him, till at last nature gave out, and he fell in a fit, there, in the
+very shadow of his dishonoured flag.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+BESSIE IS PUT TO THE QUESTION
+
+Meanwhile another little tragedy was being enacted at the back of the
+house. After the one-eyed witch-doctor Hendrik had knocked Silas Croft
+down and assisted in the pleasing operation of dragging him to the
+flagstaff, it occurred to his villainous heart that the present would be
+a good opportunity to profit personally by the confusion, and possibly
+add to the Englishman's misfortunes by doing him some injury on his
+own account. Accordingly, just before Frank Muller began to read the
+despatch announcing the British surrender, he slipped away into the
+house, which was now totally deserted, to see what he could steal.
+Passing into the sitting-room, he annexed Bessie's gold watch and chain,
+which was lying on the mantelpiece, a present that her uncle had made
+her on the Christmas Day before the last. Having pocketed this he
+proceeded to the kitchen, where, lying on the dresser ready to put away,
+there was a goodly store of silver forks and spoons which Bessie had
+been busily engaged in cleaning that morning. These he also transferred,
+to the extent of several dozens, to the capacious pockets of the
+tattered military great-coat that he wore. Whilst thus employed he was
+much disturbed by the barking of the dog Stomp, the same animal that had
+mauled him so severely a few weeks before, and was now, as it happened,
+tied up in his kennel--an old wine barrel--just outside the kitchen
+door. Hendrik peeped out of the window, and having ascertained that the
+dog was secured, he proceeded, with a diabolical chuckle, to settle his
+account with the poor animal. He had left his gun behind on the grass,
+but he still held his assegai in his hand, and going out of the kitchen
+door with it, he showed himself within a few feet of the kennel. The dog
+recognised him instantly, and went nearly mad with fury, making the most
+desperate efforts to break its chain and get at him. For some moments
+he stood exciting the animal by derisive gestures and pelting it with
+stones, till at last, fearing that the clamour would attract attention,
+he suddenly transfixed it with his spear, and then, thinking he was
+quite unobserved, sat down, snuffed and enjoyed the luxury of watching
+the poor beast's last agonies.
+
+But, as it happened, he was not quite alone, for, creeping along in the
+grass and rubbish that grew on the farther side of the wall, his brown
+body squeezed tightly against the brown stones--so tightly that an
+unpractised eye would certainly have failed to notice it at a distance
+of a dozen paces--was the Hottentot Jantje. Occasionally, too, he would
+lift his head above the level of the wall and observe the proceedings
+of the one-eyed man. Apparently he was undecided what to do, for he
+hesitated a little, and whilst he did so Hendrik killed the dog.
+
+Now Jantje had all a Hottentot's natural love for animals, which is,
+generally speaking, as marked as is the Kafir's callousness towards
+them, and he was particularly fond of the dog Stomp, which always went
+out with him those rare occasions when he thought it safe or desirable
+to walk like an ordinary man instead of wriggling from bush to bush like
+a panther, or wriggling through the grass like a snake. The sight of
+the animal's death, therefore, raised in his yellow breast a very keen
+desire for vengeance on the murderer, if vengeance could be safely
+accomplished; and he paused to reflect how this might be done. As he
+thought Hendrik rose, gave the dead dog a kick, withdrew his assegai
+from the carcase, and then, as though struck by a sudden desire to
+conceal the murder, he undid the collar and, lifting the dog in his
+arms, carried him with difficulty into the house and laid him under the
+kitchen-table. This done, he came out again to the wall, which was built
+of unmortared stones, pulled one out without trouble, deposited the
+watch and the silver he had stolen in the cavity, and replaced the
+stone. Next, before Jantje could guess what he meant to do, he proceeded
+to make it practically impossible for his robbery to be discovered,
+or at any rate very improbable, by lighting a match, and, having first
+glanced round to see that nobody was looking, reaching up and applying
+it to the thick thatch wherewith the house itself was roofed, the fringe
+of which just at this spot was not more than nine feet from the ground.
+No rain had fallen at Mooifontein for several days, and there had been
+a hot sun with wind. As a result the thatch was dry as tinder. The light
+caught in a second, and in two more a thin line of fire was running up
+the roof.
+
+Hendrik paused, stepped a few paces back, resting his shoulders against
+the wall, immediately the other side of which was Jantje, and began
+to chuckle aloud and rub his hands as he admired the results of
+his labours. This proved too much for the Hottentot behind him. The
+provocation was overmastering, and so was the opportunity. Jantje
+carried with him the thick stick on which he was so fond of cutting
+notches. Raising it in both hands be brought the heavy knob down with
+all his strength upon the one-eyed villain's unprotected skull. It was
+a thick skull, but the knob prevailed against it, and fractured it, and
+down went the estimable witch-doctor as though he were dead.
+
+Next, taking a leaf out of his fallen enemy's book, Jantje slipped over
+the wall, and, seizing the senseless man, he dragged him by one arm into
+the kitchen and rolled him under the table to keep company with the
+dead dog. Then, filled with a fearful joy, he crawled out, to a point of
+vantage in a little plantation seventy or eighty yards to the right of
+the house, whence he could see what the Boers were doing and watch the
+conflagration that he knew must ensue, for the fire had taken instant
+and irremediable hold.
+
+Ten minutes or so afterwards that amiable character Hendrik partially
+regained his senses, to find himself surrounded by a sea of fire, in
+which he perished miserably, not having power to move, and his feeble
+cries being totally swallowed up and lost in the fierce roaring of the
+flames. Such was the very appropriate end of Hendrik and of the magic of
+Hendrik.
+
+Down by the flagstaff the old man lay in his fit, while Bessie tended
+him and a posse of Boers stood round, smoking and laughing or lounging
+about with an air of lordly superiority, well worthy of victors in
+possession.
+
+"Will none of you help me to take him to the house?" she cried. "Surely
+you have ill treated an old man enough."
+
+Nobody stirred, not even Frank Muller, who was gazing at her
+tear-stained face with a fierce smile playing round the corners of his
+clean-cut mouth, which his beard was trimmed to show.
+
+"It will pass, Miss Bessie," he said; "it will pass. I have often seen
+such fits. They come from too much excitement, or too much drink----"
+
+Suddenly he broke off with an exclamation, and pointed to the house,
+from the roof of which pale curls of blue smoke were rising.
+
+"Who has fired the house?" he shouted. "By Heaven! I will shoot the
+man."
+
+The Boers wheeled round staring in astonishment, and as they gazed the
+tinderlike roof burst into a red sheet of flame that grew and gathered
+breadth and height with an almost marvellous rapidity. Just then, too,
+a light breeze sprang up from over the hill at the rear of the house,
+as it sometimes did at this time of the day, and bent the flames over
+towards them in an immense arch of fire, so that the fumes and heat and
+smoke began to beat upon their faces.
+
+"Oh, the house is burning down!" cried Bessie, utterly bewildered by
+this new misfortune.
+
+"Here, you!" shouted Muller to the gaping Boers, "go and see if anything
+can be saved. Phew! we must get out of this," and, stooping down, he
+lifted Silas Croft in his arms and walked away with him, followed by
+Bessie, towards the plantation on their left, the same spot where Jantje
+had taken refuge. In the centre of this plantation was a little glade
+surrounded by young orange and blue-gum trees. Here he laid the old
+man down upon a bed of dead leaves and soft springing grass, and then
+hurried away without a word to the fire, only to find that the house
+was already utterly unapproachable. Such was the rapidity with which the
+flames did their work upon the mass of dry straw and the wooden roof and
+floorings beneath, that in fifteen minutes the whole of the interior of
+the house was a glowing incandescent pile, and in half an hour it was
+completely gutted, nothing being left standing but the massive outer
+walls of stone, over which a dense column of smoke hung like a pall.
+Mooifontein was a blackened ruin; only the stables and outhouses, which
+were roofed with galvanised iron, remained uninjured.
+
+Frank Muller had not been gone five minutes when, to Bessie's joy, her
+uncle opened his eyes and sat up.
+
+"What is it? what is it?" he said. "Ah! I recollect. What is all this
+smell of fire? Surely they have not burnt the place?"
+
+"Yes, uncle," sobbed Bessie, "they have."
+
+Silas groaned aloud. "It took me ten years to build, bit by bit, almost
+stone by stone, and now they have destroyed it. Well, why not? God's
+will be done. Give me your arm, love; I want to get to the water. I feel
+faint and sick."
+
+She did as he bade her, sobbing bitterly. Within fifteen yards, on the
+edge of the plantation, was a little _spruit_ or runnel of water, and of
+this he drank copiously, and bathed his wounded head and face.
+
+"There, love," he said, "don't fret; I feel quite myself again. I fear I
+made a fool of myself. I haven't learnt to bear misfortune and dishonour
+as I should yet, and, like Job, I felt as though God had forsaken us.
+But, as I said, His will be done. What is the next move, I wonder? Ah!
+we shall soon know, for here comes our friend Frank Muller."
+
+"I am glad to see that you have recovered, uncle," said Muller politely,
+"and I am sorry to have to tell you that the house is beyond help.
+Believe me, if I knew who fired it I would shoot him. It was not my wish
+or intention that the property should be destroyed."
+
+The old man merely bowed his head and made no answer. His fiery spirit
+seemed to be crushed out of him.
+
+"What is it your pleasure that we should do, sir?" said Bessie at last.
+"Perhaps, now that we are ruined, you will allow us to go to Natal,
+which, I suppose, is still an English country?"
+
+"Yes, Miss Bessie, Natal is still English--for the present; soon it will
+be Dutch; but I am sorry that I cannot let you go there now. My orders
+are to keep you both prisoners and to try your uncle by court-martial.
+The waggon-house," he went on quickly, "with the two little rooms on
+each side of it, have not been touched by the fire. They shall be made
+ready for you, and as soon as the heat is less you can go there;" and,
+turning to his men who had followed him, he gave some rapid orders,
+which two of them departed to carry out.
+
+Still the old man made no comment; he did not even seem indignant or
+surprised; but poor Bessie was utterly prostrated, and stood helpless,
+not knowing what to say to this terrible, remorseless man, who stood so
+calm and unmoved before them.
+
+Frank Muller paused awhile to think, stroking his golden beard, then he
+turned again and addressed the two other men who stood behind him.
+
+"You will keep guard over the prisoner," indicating Silas Croft, "and
+suffer none to communicate with him by word or sign. As soon as it is
+is ready you will place him in the little room to the left of the
+waggon-house, and see that he is supplied with all he wants. If he
+escapes or converses, or is ill treated, I will hold you responsible. Do
+you understand?"
+
+"Yah, _Meinheer_," was the answer.
+
+"Very good; be careful you do not forget. And now, Miss Bessie, I shall
+be glad if you can give me a word alone----"
+
+"No," said Bessie; "no, I will not leave my uncle."
+
+"I fear you will have to do that," he said, with his cold smile. "I beg
+you to think again. It will be very much to your advantage to speak to
+me, and to your uncle's advantage also. I should advise you to come."
+
+Bessie hesitated. She hated and mistrusted the man, as she had good
+reason to do, and feared to trust herself alone with him.
+
+While she still hesitated, the two Boers, under whose watch and ward
+Muller had placed her uncle, advanced and stood between him and her,
+cutting her off from him. Muller turned and walked a few paces--ten or
+so--to the right, and in desperation she followed him. He halted behind
+a bushy orange-tree of some eight years' growth. Overtaking him, she
+stood silent, waiting for him to begin. They were quite close to the
+others, but the roaring of the flames of the burning house was still
+sufficiently loud to have drowned a much more audible conversation.
+
+"What is it you have to say to me?" she said at length, pressing her
+hand against her heart to still its beating. Her woman's instinct told
+her what was coming, and she was trying to nerve herself to meet it.
+
+"Miss Bessie," he said slowly, "it is this. For years I have loved you
+and wanted to marry you. I again ask you to be my wife."
+
+"Mr. Frank Muller," she answered, her spirit rising to the occasion,
+"I thank you for your offer, and the only answer that I can give you is
+that I once and for all decline it."
+
+"Think," he said; "I love you as women are not often loved. You are
+always in my mind, by day and by night too. Everything I do, every step
+I go up the ladder, I have said and say to myself, 'I am doing it
+for Bessie Croft, whom I mean to marry.' Things have changed in this
+country. The rebellion has been successful. It was I who gave the
+casting vote for it that I might win you. I am now a great man, and
+shall one day be a greater. You will be great with me. Think what you
+say."
+
+"I have thought, and I will not marry you. You dare to come and ask me
+to marry you over the ashes of my home, out of which you have dragged me
+and my poor old uncle. I hate you, I tell you, and I will not marry you!
+I had rather marry a Kafir than marry you, Frank Muller, however great
+you may be."
+
+He smiled. "Is it because of the Englishman Niel that you will not marry
+me? He is dead. It is useless to cling to a dead man."
+
+"Dead or alive, I love him with all my heart, and if he is dead it is at
+the hands of your people, and his blood rises up between us."
+
+"His blood has sunk down into the sand. He is dead, and I am glad that
+he is dead. Once more, is that your last word?"
+
+"It is."
+
+"Very good. Then I tell you that you shall marry me or----"
+
+"Or what?"
+
+"Or your uncle, the old man you love so much, shall _die!_"
+
+"What do you mean?" she said in a choked voice.
+
+"What I say; no more and no less. Do you think that I will let one old
+man's life stand between me and my desire? Never. If you will not marry
+me, Silas Croft shall be put upon his trial for attempted murder and for
+treason within an hour from this. Within an hour and a half he shall
+be condemned to die, and to-morrow at dawn he shall be shot, by warrant
+under my hand. I am commandant here, with power of life and death, and
+I tell you that he shall certainly die--and his blood will be on your
+head."
+
+Bessie grasped at the tree for support. "You dare not," she said; "you
+dare not murder an innocent old man."
+
+"Dare not!" he answered; "you must understand me very ill, Bessie Croft,
+when you talk of what I dare not do for you. There is nothing," he
+added, with a thrill of his rich voice, "that I dare not do to gain you.
+Listen: promise to marry me to-morrow morning. I will bring a clergyman
+here from Wakkerstroom, and your uncle shall go free as air, though he
+is a traitor to the land, and though he has tried to shoot a burgher
+after the declaration of peace. Refuse, and he dies. Choose now."
+
+"I have chosen," she answered with passion. "Frank Muller, perjured
+traitor--yes, murderer that you are, I will _not_ marry you."
+
+"Very good, very good, Bessie; as you will. But now one more thing. You
+shall not say that I have not warned you. If you persist in this your
+uncle shall die, but you shall not escape me. You will not marry me?
+Well, even in this country, where I can do most things, I cannot force
+you to do that. But I can force you to be my wife in all but the name,
+without marriage; and this, when your uncle is stiff in his bloody
+grave, I will do. You shall have one more chance after the trial, and
+one only. If you refuse he shall die, and then, after his death, I shall
+take you away by force, and in a week's time you will be glad enough to
+marry me to cover up your shame, my pretty!"
+
+"You are a devil, Frank Muller, a wicked devil, but I will not be
+frightened into dishonour by you. I had rather kill myself. I trust to
+God to help me. I will have nothing to do with you;" and she put her
+hands before her face and burst into tears.
+
+"You look lovely when you weep," he said with a laugh; "to-morrow I
+shall be able to kiss away your tears. As you will. Here, you!" he
+shouted to some men, who could be seen watching the progress of the
+dying fire, "come here."
+
+Some of the men obeyed, and to them he gave instructions in the same
+terms that he had given to the other two men who were watching old
+Silas, ordering Bessie to be instantly incarcerated in the corresponding
+little room on the other side of the waggon-house, and kept strictly
+from all communication with the outside world, adding, however, these
+words:
+
+"Bid the burghers assemble in the waggon-house for the trial of the
+Englishman, Silas Croft, for treason against the State, and attempted
+murder of one of the burghers of the State in the execution of the
+commands of the Triumvirate."
+
+The two men advanced and seized Bessie by both arms. Then, faint and
+overpowered, she was led through the little plantation, over a gap in
+the garden wall, down past the scorched syringa-trees which lined the
+roadway that ran along the hillside at the back of the still burning
+house, till they reached the waggon-house with the two little rooms
+which served respectively as a store and a harness room. There she was
+thrust into the store-room, which was half full of loose potatoes and
+mealies in sacks, and the door locked upon her.
+
+There was no window to this room, and the only light in it was such
+as found its way through the chinks of the door and an air-hole in the
+masonry of the back wall. Bessie sank on a half-emptied sack of mealies
+and tried to reflect. Her first thought was of escape, but soon she came
+to the conclusion that this was a practical impossibility. The stout
+yellow wood door was locked upon her, and a sentry stood before it. She
+rose and looked through the air-hole in the rear wall, but there another
+sentry was posted. Then she turned her attention to the side wall that
+divided the room from the waggon-house. It was built of fourteen-inch
+green brickwork, and had cracked from the shrinkage of the bricks, so
+that she could hear everything that went on in the waggon-house, and
+even see anybody who might be moving about in it. But it was far too
+strong for her to hope to be able to break through, and even if she did,
+it would be useless, for armed men were there also. Besides, how could
+she run away and leave her old uncle to his fate?
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+CONDEMNED TO DEATH
+
+Half an hour passed in silence, which was broken only by the footsteps
+of the sentries as they tramped, or rather loitered, up and down, or
+by the occasional fall of some calcined masonry from the walls of the
+burnt-out house. What between the smell of smoke and dust, the heat of
+the sun on the tin roof above, and the red-hot embers of the house in
+front, the little room where Bessie was shut up grew almost unbearable,
+and she felt as though she should faint upon the sacks. Through one of
+the cracks in the waggon-house wall there blew a slight draught, and by
+this crack Bessie placed herself, leaning her head against the wall
+so as to get the full benefit of the air and to command a view of the
+place. Presently several of the Boers came into the waggon-house and
+pulled some of the carts and timber out of it, leaving one buck-waggon,
+however, placed along the wall on the side opposite to the crack through
+which Bessie was looking. Then they pulled the Scotch cart over to her
+side, laughing about something among themselves as they did so, and
+arranged it with its back turned towards the waggon, supporting the
+shafts upon a waggon-jack. Next, out of the farther corner of the place,
+they extracted an old saw-bench, and set it at the top of the open
+space. Then Bessie understood what they were doing: they were arranging
+a court, and the saw-bench was the judge's chair. So Frank Muller meant
+to carry out his threat!
+
+Shortly after this all the Boers, except those who were keeping guard,
+filed into the place and began to clamber on to the buck-waggon, seating
+themselves with much rough joking in a double row upon the broad
+side rails. Next appeared Hans Coetzee, his head bound up in a bloody
+handkerchief. He was pale and shaky, but Bessie could see that he was
+but little the worse for his wound. Then came Frank Muller himself,
+looking white and very terrible, and as he came the men stopped their
+jokes and talking. Indeed it was curious to observe how strong was his
+ascendancy over them. As a rule, the weak part of Boer organisation is
+that it is practically impossible to persuade one Boer to pay deference
+to or obey another; but this was certainly not the case where Frank
+Muller was concerned.
+
+Muller advanced without hesitation to the saw-bench at the top of the
+open space, and sat down on it, placing his rifle between his knees.
+After this there was a pause, and then Bessie saw her old uncle led
+forward by two armed Boers, who halted in the middle of the space, about
+three paces from the saw-bench, and stood one on either side of their
+prisoner. At the same time Hans Coetzee climbed into the Scotch cart,
+and Muller drew a note-book and a pencil from his pocket.
+
+"Silence!" he said. "We are assembled here to try the Englishman, Silas
+Croft, by court-martial. The charges against him are that by word and
+deed, notably by continuing to fly the British flag after the country
+had been surrendered to the Republic, he has traitorously rebelled
+against the Government of this country. Further, that he has attempted
+to murder a burgher of the Republic by shooting at him with a loaded
+rifle. If these charges are proved against him he will be liable to
+death, by martial law. Prisoner Croft, what do you answer to the charges
+against you?"
+
+The old man, who seemed very quiet and composed, looked up at his judge,
+and then replied:
+
+"I am an English subject. I only defended my house after you had
+murdered one of my servants. I deny your jurisdiction over me, and I
+refuse to plead."
+
+Frank Muller made some notes in his pocket-book, and then said, "I
+overrule the prisoner's objection as to the jurisdiction of the court.
+As to the charges, we will now take evidence. Of the first charge no
+evidence is needed, for we all saw the flag flying. As to the second,
+Hans Coetzee, the assaulted burgher, will now give evidence. Hans
+Coetzee, do you swear, in the name of God and the Republic, to speak the
+truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"
+
+"Almighty, yes," answered Hans from the cart on which he had enthroned
+himself, "so help me the dear Lord."
+
+"Proceed, then."
+
+"I was entering the house of the prisoner to arrest him, in obedience
+to your worshipful commands, when the prisoner lifted a gun and fired
+at me. The bullet from the gun struck me upon the ear, cutting it and
+putting me to much pain and loss of blood. That is the evidence I have
+to give."
+
+"That's right; that is not a lie," said some of the men on the waggon.
+
+"Prisoner, have you any question to ask the witness?" said Muller.
+
+"I have no question to ask; I deny your jurisdiction," said the old man
+with spirit.
+
+"The prisoner declines to question the witness, and again pleads to the
+jurisdiction, a plea which I have overruled. Gentlemen, do you desire to
+hear any further evidence?"
+
+"No, no."
+
+"Do you find the prisoner guilty of the charges laid against him?"
+
+"Yes, yes," from the waggon.
+
+Muller made a further note in his book, and went on:
+
+"Then, the prisoner having been found guilty of high treason and
+attempted murder, the only matter that remains is the question of
+the punishment required to be meted out by the law to such wicked
+and horrible offences. Every man will give his verdict, having duly
+considered if there is any way by which, in accordance with the holy
+dictates of his conscience, and with the natural promptings to pity
+in his heart, he can extend mercy to the prisoner. As commandant and
+president of the court, the first vote lies with me; and I must tell
+you, gentlemen, that I feel the responsibility a very heavy one in
+the sight of God and my country; and I must also warn you not to be
+influenced or overruled by my decision, who am, like you, only a man,
+liable to err and be led away."
+
+"Hear, hear," said the voices on the waggon as he paused to note the
+effect of his address.
+
+"Gentlemen and burghers of the State, my natural promptings in this case
+are towards pity. The prisoner is an old man, who has lived many years
+amongst us like a brother. Indeed, he is a _voortrekker_, and, though an
+Englishman, one of the fathers of the land. Can we condemn such a one to
+a bloody grave, more especially as he has a niece dependent on him?"
+
+"No, no!" they cried, in answer to this skilful touch upon the better
+strings in their nature.
+
+"Gentlemen, those sentiments do you honour. My own heart cried but now,
+'No, no. Whatever his sins have been, let the old man go free.' But
+then came reflection. True, the prisoner is old; but should not age have
+taught him wisdom? Is that which is not to be forgiven to youth to be
+forgiven to the ripe experience of many years? May a man murder and be a
+traitor because he is old?"
+
+"No, certainly not!" answered the chorus on the waggon.
+
+"Then there is the second point. He was a _voortrekker_ and a father to
+the land. Should he not therefore have known better than to betray it
+into the hands of the cruel, godless English? For, gentlemen, though
+that charge is not laid against him, we must remember, as throwing light
+upon his general character, that the prisoner was one of those vile men
+who betrayed the land to Shepstone. Is it not a most cruel and unnatural
+thing that a father should sell his own children into slavery?--that
+a father of the land should barter away its freedom? Therefore on this
+point too does justice temper mercy."
+
+"That is so," echoed the chorus with particular enthusiasm, most of them
+having themselves been instrumental in bringing the annexation about.
+
+"Then one more thing: this man has a niece, and it is the care of
+all good men to see that the young shall not be left destitute and
+friendless, lest they should grow up bad and become enemies to the
+well-being of the State. But in this case that will not be so, for the
+farm will go to the girl by law; and, indeed, she will be well rid of so
+desperate and godless an old man.
+
+"And now, having set my reasons towards one side and the other before
+you, and having warned you fully to act each man according to his
+conscience, I give my vote. It is"--and in the midst of the most intense
+silence he paused and looked at old Silas, who never even quailed--"it
+is _death_."
+
+There was a little hum of conversation, and poor Bessie, surveying the
+scene through the crack in the store-room wall, groaned in bitterness
+and despair of heart.
+
+Then Hans Coetzee spoke. "It cut his bosom in two," he said, "to have to
+say a word against one to whom he had for many years been as a brother.
+But, then, what was he to do? The man had plotted evil against their
+land, the dear land that the dear Lord had given them, and which they
+and their fathers had on various occasions watered, and were still
+continuing to water, with their blood. What could be a fitting
+punishment for so black-hearted a traitor, and how would it be possible
+to insure the better behaviour of other damned Englishmen, unless they
+inflicted that punishment? There could, alas! be but one answer--though,
+personally speaking, he uttered it with many tears--and that answer was
+_death_."
+
+After this there were no more speeches, but each man voted, according to
+his age, upon his name being called by the president. At first there
+was a little hesitation, for some among them were fond of old Silas,
+and loth to destroy him. But Frank Muller had played his game very well,
+and, notwithstanding his appeals to their independence of judgment, they
+knew full surely what would happen to him who gave his vote against the
+president. So they swallowed their better feelings with all the ease for
+which such swallowing is noted, and one by one uttered the fatal word.
+
+When they had all done Frank Muller addressed Silas:
+
+"Prisoner, you have heard the judgment against you. I need not now
+recapitulate your crimes. You have had a fair and open trial by
+court-martial, such as our law directs. Have you anything to say why
+sentence of death should not be passed upon you in accordance with the
+judgment?"
+
+Old Silas looked up with flashing eyes, and shook back his fringe of
+white hair like a lion at bay.
+
+"I have nothing to say. If you will do murder, do it, black-hearted
+villain that you are! I might point to my grey hairs, to my murdered
+servant, to my home that took me ten years to build--destroyed by you!
+I might tell you how I have been a good citizen and lived peaceably
+and neighbourly in the land for more than twenty years--ay, and done
+kindness after kindness to many of you who are going to butcher me in
+cold blood! But I will not. Shoot me if you will, and may my death lie
+heavy on your heads. This morning I would have said that my country
+would avenge me; I cannot say that now, for England has deserted us, and
+I have no country. Therefore I leave the vengeance in the hands of God,
+who never fails to avenge, though sometimes He waits for long to do
+it. I am not afraid of you. Shoot me--now if you like. I have lost my
+honour, my home, and my country; why should I not lose my life also?"
+
+Frank Muller fixed his cold eyes upon the old man's quivering face and
+smiled a dreadful smile of triumph.
+
+"Prisoner, it is now my duty in the name of God and the Republic, to
+sentence you to be shot to-morrow at dawn, and may the Almighty forgive
+you your wickedness and have mercy upon your soul.
+
+"Let the prisoner be removed, and let a man ride full speed to the empty
+house on the hillside, where the Englishman with the red beard used to
+live, one hour this side of Wakkerstroom, and bring back with him the
+clergyman he will find waiting there, that the prisoner may be offered
+his ministrations. Also let two men be set to dig the prisoner's grave
+in the burial-place at the back of the house."
+
+The guards laid their hands upon the old man's shoulders, and he turned
+and went with them without a word. Through her crack in the wall Bessie
+watched him go till the dear old head with its fringe of white hairs
+and the bent frame were no more visible. Then at last, benumbed and
+exhausted by the horrors she was passing through, her faculties failed
+her, and she fell forward in a faint there upon the sacks.
+
+Meanwhile Muller was writing the death-warrant on a sheet of his
+pocket-book. At the foot he left a space for his own signature, but for
+reasons of his own he did not sign. What he did do was to pass the book
+round to be countersigned by all who had formed the court in this mock
+trial, his object being to implicate every one there present in the
+judicial murder by the direct and incontrovertible evidence of his
+sign-manual. Now, Boers are simple pastoral folk, but they are not quite
+so simple as to be deceived by a move like this, and hereon followed a
+very instructive little scene. To a man they had been willing enough to
+give their verdict for the execution of Silas, but they were by no means
+prepared to record it in black and white. As soon as they understood
+the object of their feared and respected commandant, a general desire
+manifested itself to make themselves individually and collectively
+scarce. Suddenly they found that they had business outside, to which
+each and all of them must attend. Already they had escaped from their
+extemporised jury-box, and, headed by the redoubtable Hans, were
+approaching the entrance to the waggon-house, when Frank Muller
+perceived their design, and roared in a voice of thunder:
+
+"Stop! Not a man leaves this place till the warrant is signed."
+
+Instantly they halted, and began to look innocent and converse.
+
+"Hans Coetzee, come here and sign," said Muller again, whereon that
+unfortunate advanced with as good a grace as he could muster, murmuring
+to himself curses, not loud but deep, upon the head of "that devil of a
+man, Frank Muller."
+
+However, there was no help for it, so, with a sickly smile, he put his
+name to the fatal document in big and shaky letters. Then Muller
+called another man, who instantly tried to shirk on the ground that his
+education had been neglected, and that he could not write, an excuse
+which availed him little, for Frank Muller quietly wrote his name for
+him, leaving a space for his mark. After this there was no more trouble,
+and in five minutes the back of the warrant was covered with the
+sprawling signatures of the various members of the court.
+
+
+
+One by one the men went, till at last Muller was left alone, seated on
+the saw-bench, his head sunk upon his breast, in one hand holding the
+warrant, while with the other he stroked his golden beard. Presently he
+ceased stroking his beard and sat for some minutes perfectly still--so
+still that he might have been carved in stone. By this time the
+afternoon sun had sunk behind the hill and the deep waggon-house was
+full of shadow that seemed to gather round him and invest him with a
+sombre, mysterious grandeur. He looked like a King of Evil, for Evil has
+her princes as well as Good, whom she stamps with an imperial seal of
+power, and crowns with a diadem of her own, and among these Frank Muller
+was surely great. A little smile of triumph played upon his beautiful
+cruel face, a little light danced within his cold eyes and ran down the
+yellow beard. At that moment he might have sat for a portrait of his
+master, the devil.
+
+Presently he awoke from his reverie. "I have her!" he said to himself;
+"I have her in a vice! She cannot escape me; she cannot let the old man
+die! Those curs have served my purpose well; they are as easy to play on
+as a fiddle, and I am a good player. Yes, and now we are getting to the
+end of the tune."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+"WE MUST PART, JOHN"
+
+Jess and her companion stood in awed silence and gazed at the blackening
+and distorted corpses of the thunder-blasted Boers. Then they passed by
+them to the tree which grew some ten paces or more on the other side of
+the place of death. There was some difficulty in leading the horses by
+the bodies, but at last they came with a wheel and a snort of suspicion,
+and were tied up to the tree by John. Meanwhile Jess took some of the
+hard-boiled eggs out of the basket and vanished, remarking that she
+should take her clothes off and dry them in the sun while she at her
+breakfast, and that she advised him to do likewise. Accordingly, so soon
+as she was well out of sight behind the shelter of the rocks she set
+to work to free herself from her sodden garments, a task of no little
+difficulty. Then she wrung them out and spread them one by one on the
+flat water-washed stones around, which were by now thoroughly warmed
+with the sun. Next she climbed to a pool under the shadow of the steep
+bank, in the rock-bed of the river, where she bathed her bruises and
+washed the sand and mud from her hair and feet. Her bath finished, she
+returned and sat herself on a slab of flat stone out of the glare of the
+sun, and ate her breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, reflecting meanwhile
+on the position in which she found herself. Her heart was very sore and
+heavy, and almost could she wish that she were lying deep beneath those
+rushing waters. She had counted upon death, and now she was not dead;
+indeed, she with her shame and trouble might yet live for many a year.
+She was as one who in her sleep had seemed to soar on angels' wings far
+into the airy depths, and then awakened with a start to find that
+she had tumbled from her bed. All the heroic scale, all the more than
+earthly depth of passion, all the spiritualised desires that sprang into
+being beneath the shadow of the approaching end, had come down to the
+common level of an undesirable attachment, along which she must drag
+her weary feet for many a year. Nor was this all. She had been false to
+Bessie; more, she had broken Bessie's lover's troth. She had tempted
+him and he had fallen, and now he was as bad as she. Death would have
+justified all this; never would she have done it had she thought that
+she was doomed to live; but now Death had cheated her, as is his fashion
+with people to whom his presence is more or less desirable, leaving her
+to cope with the spirit she had invoked when his sword was quivering
+over her.
+
+What would be the end of it in the event of their escape? What could be
+the end except misery? It should go no farther, far as it had gone--that
+she swore; no, not if it broke her heart and his too. The conditions
+were altered again, and the memory of those dreadful and wondrous hours
+when they two swung upon the raging river and exchanged their undying
+troth, with the grave for an altar, must remain a memory and nothing
+more. It had risen in their lives like some beautiful yet terrible
+dream-image of celestial joy, and now like a dream it must vanish. And
+yet it was no dream, except in so far as all her life was a dream and
+a vision, a riddle of which glimpses of the answer came as rarely as
+gleams of sunshine on a rainy day. Alas! it was no dream; it was a
+portion of the living, breathing past, that, having once been, is
+immortal in its every part and moment, incarnating as it does the very
+spirit of immortality, an utter incapacity to change. As the act was,
+as the word had been spoken, so would act and word be for ever and for
+ever. And now this undying thing must be caged and cast about with
+the semblance of death and clouded over with the shadow of an unreal
+forgetfulness. Oh, it was bitter, very bitter! What would it be now to
+go away, quite away from him, and know him married to her own sister,
+the other woman with a prior right? What would it be to think of
+Bessie's sweetness slowly creeping into her empty place and filling it,
+of Bessie's gentle constant love covering up the recollection of their
+wilder passion; pervading it and covering it up as the twilight slowly
+pervades and covers up the day, till at last perhaps it was blotted out
+and forgotten in the night of forgetfulness?
+
+And yet it must be so: she was determined that it should be so. Ah, that
+she had died then with his kiss upon her lips! Why had he not let her
+die? And grieving thus the poor girl shook her damp hair over her face
+and sobbed in the bitterness of her heart, as Eve might have sobbed when
+Adam reproached her.
+
+But, naked or dressed, sobbing will not mend matters in this sad world
+of ours, a fact which Jess had the sense to recognise; so presently she
+wiped her eyes with her hair, having nothing else at hand to wipe them
+with, and set to work to struggle into her partially dried garments
+again, a process calculated to irritate the most fortunate and
+happy-minded woman in the whole wide world. Certainly in her present
+frame of mind those damp, bullet-torn clothes drove Jess frantic,
+so much so that had she been a man she would probably have sworn--a
+consolation that her sex denied her. Fortunately she carried a
+travelling comb in her pocket, with which she made shift to do her
+curling hair, if hair can be said to be done when one has not a hairpin
+or even a bit of string wherewith to fasten it.
+
+Then, after a last and frightful encounter with her sodden boots, that
+seemed to take almost as much out of her as her roll at the bottom of
+the Vaal, Jess rose and walked back to the spot where she had left John
+an hour before. When she reached him he was employed in saddling up
+the two greys with the saddles and bridles that he had removed from the
+carcases of the horses which the lightning had destroyed.
+
+"Why, Jess, you look quite smart. Have you dried your clothes?" he said.
+"I have after a fashion."
+
+"Yes," she answered.
+
+He looked at her. "Dearest, you have been crying. Come, things are black
+enough, but it is useless to cry. At any rate, we have escaped with our
+lives so far."
+
+"John," said Jess sharply, "there must be no more of that. Things
+have changed. We were dead last night. Now we have come to life again.
+Besides," she added, with a ghost of a laugh, "perhaps you will see
+Bessie to-morrow. I should think that we ought to have come to the end
+of our misfortunes."
+
+John's face fell as a sense of the impossible and most tragic position
+in which they were placed, physically and morally, swept into his mind.
+
+"Jess, my own Jess," he said, "what _can_ we do?"
+
+She stamped her foot in the bitter anguish of her heart. "I told you,"
+she said, "that there must be no more of that. What are you thinking
+about? From to-day we are dead to each other. I have done with you
+and you with me. It is your own fault; you should have let me die. Oh,
+John," she wailed out, "why did you not let me die? Why did we not both
+die? We should have been happy now, or--asleep. We must part, John, we
+must part; and what shall I do without you, how _shall_ I live without
+you?"
+
+Her distress was very poignant, and it affected him so much that for a
+moment he could not trust himself to answer her.
+
+"Would it not be best to make a clean breast of it to Bessie?" he said
+at last. "I should feel a villain for the rest of my life, but upon my
+word I have a mind to do it."
+
+"No, no," she cried passionately, "I will not allow it! You shall swear
+to me that you will never breathe a word to Bessie. I will not have her
+happiness destroyed. We have sinned, we must suffer; not Bessie, who is
+innocent, and only takes her right. I promised my dear mother to look
+after Bessie and protect her, and I will not be the one to betray
+her--never, never! You must marry her and I must go away. There is no
+other way out of it."
+
+John looked at her, not knowing what to say or do. A sharp pang of
+despair went through him as he watched the passionate pale face and the
+great eyes dim with tears. How was he to part from her? He put out his
+arms to take her in them, but she pushed him away almost fiercely.
+
+"Have you no honour?" she cried. "Is it not all hard enough to bear
+without your tempting me? I tell you it is done with. Finish saddling
+that horse and let us start. The sooner we get off the sooner it will
+be over, unless the Boers catch us again and shoot us, which for my own
+part I devoutly hope they may. You must make up your mind to remember
+that I am nothing but your sister-in-law. If you will not remember
+it, then I shall ride away and leave you to go your road and I will go
+mine."
+
+John said no more. Her determination was as crushing as the cruel
+necessity that dictated it. What was more, his own reason and sense of
+honour approved it, whatever his passion might prompt to the contrary.
+As he turned wearily to finish saddling the horses, with Jess he almost
+regretted that they had not both been drowned.
+
+Of course the only saddles that they had were those belonging to the
+dead Boers, which was very awkward for a lady. Luckily for herself,
+however, from constant practice, Jess could ride almost as well as
+though she had been trained to the ring, and was even capable of
+balancing herself without a pommel on a man's saddle, having often and
+often ridden round the farm in that fashion. So soon as the horses were
+ready she astonished John by clambering into the saddle of the older and
+steadier animal, placing her foot in the stirrup-strap and announcing
+that she was ready to start.
+
+"You had better ride some other way," said John. "It isn't usual, I
+know, but you will tumble off so."
+
+"You shall see," she said with a cold little laugh, putting the horse
+into a canter as she spoke. John followed her on the other horse,
+and noticed with amazement that she sat as straight and steady on her
+slippery seat as though she were on a hunting saddle, keeping herself
+from falling by an instinctive balancing of the body which was very
+curious to notice. When they were well on to the plain they halted to
+consider their route, and, turning, Jess pointed to the long lines of
+vultures descending to feast on their would-be murderers. If they went
+down the river it would lead them to Standerton, and there they would be
+safe if they could slip into the town, which was garrisoned by English.
+But then, as they had gathered from the conversation of their escort,
+Standerton was closely invested by the Boers, and to try and pass
+through their lines was more than they dared to do. It was true that
+they still had the pass signed by the Boer general, but after what had
+occurred not unnaturally they were somewhat sceptical about the value of
+a pass, and certainly most unwilling to put its efficacy to the proof.
+So after due consideration they determined to avoid Standerton and ride
+in the opposite direction till they found a practicable ford of the
+Vaal. Fortunately, they both of them had a very good idea of the lay
+of the land; and, in addition to this, John possessed a small compass,
+fastened to his watch-chain, which would enable him to steer a fairly
+correct course across a veldt--a fact that rendered them independent of
+the waggon tracks. On the roads they were exposed to the risk, if not
+the certainty, of detection. But on the wide veldt the chances were
+they would meet no living creature except the wild game. Should they see
+houses they could avoid them, and probably their male inhabitants would
+be far away from home on business connected with the war.
+
+Accordingly they rode ten miles or more along the bank without seeing a
+soul, till they reached a space of bubbling, shallow water that looked
+fordable. Indeed, an investigation of the banks revealed the fact that a
+loaded waggon had passed the river here and at no distant date, perhaps
+a week before.
+
+"This is good enough," said John; "we will try it." And without further
+ado they plunged into the rapid.
+
+In the centre of the stream the water was strong and deep, and for a few
+yards swept the horses off their legs, but they struck out boldly
+till they found their footing again; and after that there was no more
+trouble. On the farther side of the river John took counsel with his
+compass, and they steered a course straight for Mooifontein. At midday
+they off-saddled the horses for an hour by some water, and ate a small
+portion of their remaining food. Then they up-saddled and went on across
+the lonely, desolate veldt. No human being did they see all that long
+day. The wide country was tenanted only by great herds of game that went
+thundering past like squadrons of cavalry, or here and there by coteries
+of vultures, hissing and fighting furiously over some dead buck. And so
+at last the twilight gathered and found them alone in the wilderness.
+
+"Well, what is to be done now?" said John, pulling up his tired horse.
+"It will be dark in half an hour."
+
+Jess slid from her saddle as she answered, "Get off and go to sleep, I
+suppose."
+
+She was quite right; there was absolutely nothing else that they could
+do; so John set to work and hobbled the horses, tying them together
+for further security, for it would be a dreadful thing if they were to
+stray. By the time that this was done the twilight was deepening into
+night, and the two sat down to contemplate their surroundings with
+feelings akin to despair. So far as the eye could reach there was
+nothing to be seen but a vast stretch of lonely plain, across which the
+night wind blew in dreary gusts, causing the green grass to ripple like
+the sea. There was absolutely no shelter to be had, nor any object to
+break the monotony of the veldt, except two ant-heaps set about five
+paces apart. John sat down on one of the ant-heaps, and Jess took up
+her position on the other, and there they remained, like pelicans in the
+wilderness, watching the daylight fade out of the day.
+
+"Don't you think that we had better sit together?" suggested John
+feebly. "It would be warmer, you see."
+
+"No, I don't," answered Jess snappishly. "I am very comfortable as I
+am."
+
+Unfortunately, however, this was not the exact truth, for already poor
+Jess's teeth were chattering with cold. Soon, indeed, weary as they
+were, they found that the only way to keep their blood moving was
+to tramp continually up and down. After an hour and a half of this
+exercise, the breeze dropped and the temperature became more suitable to
+their lightly clad, half-starved, and almost exhausted bodies. Then the
+moon came up, and the hyenas, or wolves, or some such animals, came up
+also and howled round them--though they could not see them. These hyenas
+proved more than Jess's nerves would bear, and at last she condescended
+to ask John to share her ant-heap: where they sat, shivering in each
+other's arms, throughout the livelong night. Indeed, had it not been for
+the warmth they gathered from each other, it is probable that they might
+have fared even worse than they did; for, though the days were hot, the
+nights were now beginning to be cold on the high veldt, especially when,
+as at present, the air had recently been chilled by the passage of a
+heavy tempest. Another drawback to their romantic situation was that
+they were positively soaked with the falling dew. There they sat, or
+rather cowered, for hour after hour without sleeping, for sleep was
+impossible, and almost without speaking; and yet, notwithstanding the
+wretchedness of their circumstances, not altogether unhappy, since they
+were united in their misery. At last the eastern sky began to turn grey,
+and John rose, shook the dew from his hat and clothes, and limped off
+as well as his half-frozen limbs would allow to catch the horses, which
+were standing together some yards away, looking huge and ghost-like in
+the mist. By sunrise he had managed to saddle them up, and they started
+once more. This time, however, he was obliged to lift Jess on to the
+saddle.
+
+About eight o'clock they halted and ate their little remaining food, and
+then went on, slowly enough, for the horses were almost as tired as
+they were, and it was necessary to husband them if they were to reach
+Mooifontein by dark. At midday they rested for an hour and a half, and
+then, feeling almost worn out, continued their journey, reckoning that
+they could not be more than sixteen or seventeen miles from Mooifontein.
+It was about two hours after this that the catastrophe happened. The
+course they were following ran down the side of one land wave, then
+across a little swampy _sluit_, and up the opposite slope. They crossed
+the marshy ground, walked their horses up to the crest of the opposite
+rise, and found themselves face to face with a party of armed and
+mounted Boers.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+JESS FINDS A FRIEND
+
+The Boers swooped down on them with a shout, like hawks on a sparrow.
+John pulled up his horse and drew his revolver.
+
+"Don't, don't!" cried Jess; "our only chance is to be civil;" whereon,
+thinking better of the matter, he replaced it, and wished the leading
+Boer good-day.
+
+"What are you doing here?" asked the Dutchman; whereon Jess explained
+that they had a pass--which John promptly produced--and were proceeding
+to Mooifontein.
+
+"Ah, _Oom_ Croft's!" said the Boer as he took the pass, "you are likely
+to meet a burying party there," but at the time Jess did not understand
+what he meant. He eyed the pass suspiciously all over, and then asked
+how it came to be stained with water.
+
+Jess, not daring to tell the truth, said that it had been dropped into a
+puddle. The Boer was about to return it when suddenly his eye fell upon
+Jess's saddle.
+
+"How is it that the girl is riding on a man's saddle?" he asked. "Why,
+I know that saddle; let me look at the other side. Yes, there is a
+bullet-hole through the flap. That is Swart Dirk's saddle. How did you
+get it?"
+
+"I bought it from him," answered Jess without a moment's hesitation. "I
+could get nothing to ride on."
+
+The Boer shook his head. "There are plenty of saddles in Pretoria,"
+he said, "and these are not the days when a man sells his saddle to an
+English girl. Ah! and that other is a Boer saddle too. No Englishman has
+a saddle-cloth like that. This pass is not sufficient," he went on in a
+cold tone; "it should have been countersigned by the local commandant. I
+must arrest you."
+
+Jess began to make further excuses, but he merely repeated, "I must
+arrest you," and gave some orders to the men with him.
+
+"We are caught again," she said to John; "and there is nothing for it
+but to go."
+
+"I sha'n't mind so much if only they will give us some food," replied
+John philosophically. "I am half starved."
+
+"And I am half dead," said Jess with a little laugh. "I wish they would
+shoot us and have done with it."
+
+"Come, cheer up, Jess," he answered; "perhaps the luck is going to
+change."
+
+She shook her head with the air of one who expects the worst, and then
+some gay young spirits among the Boers came up and made things pleasant
+by an exhibition of their polished wit, which they chiefly exercised at
+the expense of poor Jess, whose appearance, as may well be imagined, was
+exceedingly wretched and forlorn; so much so that it would have moved
+the pity of most people. But these specimens of the golden youth of
+a simple pastoral folk found in it a rich mine of opportunities. They
+asked her if she would not like to ride straddle-legged, and if she had
+bought her dress from an old Hottentot who had done with it, and if she
+had been rolling about tipsy in the veldt to get all the mud on it; and
+generally availed themselves of this unparalleled occasion to be witty
+at the expense of an English lady in sore distress. Indeed, one gay
+young dog called Jacobus was proceeding from jokes linguistic to jokes
+practical. Perceiving that Jess only kept her seat on the man's saddle
+by the exercise of a faculty of balance, it occurred to him that it
+would be a fine thing to upset it and make her fall upon her face.
+Accordingly, with a sudden twist of the rein he brought his horse
+sharply against her wearied animal, nearly throwing it down; but she was
+too quick for him, and saved herself by catching at the mane. Jess said
+nothing; indeed, she made no answer to her tormentors, and fortunately
+John understood little of what they were saying. Presently, however,
+the young Boer made another attempt, putting out his hand to give her
+a slight push. As it happened John saw this, and the sight of the
+indignity caused the blood to boil in his veins. Before he could reflect
+on what he was doing he was alongside of the man, and, catching him by
+the throat, had hurled him backwards over his crupper with all the force
+he could command. Jacobus fell heavily upon his shoulders, and instantly
+there was a great hubbub. John drew his revolver, and the other Boers
+raised their rifles, so that Jess thought there was an end of it, and
+put her hand before her face, having first thanked John for avenging the
+insult with a swift flash of her beautiful eyes. And indeed in another
+second it would have been all over had not the elder man who inspected
+the pass interposed. In fact he had witnessed the proceedings which led
+to his follower's discomfiture, and, being a decent person at bottom,
+strongly disapproved of them.
+
+"Leave them alone and put down those guns," he shouted. "It served
+Jacobus right; he was trying to push the girl from her horse! Almighty!
+it is not wonderful those English call us brute beasts when you boys do
+such things. Put down your guns, I say, and one of you help Jacobus up.
+He looks as sick as a buck with a bullet through it."
+
+Accordingly the row passed over, and the playful Jacobus--whom Jess
+noted with satisfaction seemed exceedingly ill and trembled in every
+limb--was with difficulty hoisted on to his horse, to continue his
+journey with not a single bit of fun left in him.
+
+A little while after this Jess pointed out a long low hill that lay upon
+the flat veldt, a dozen miles or so away, like a stone upon a stretch of
+sand.
+
+"Look," she said, "there is Mooifontein at last!"
+
+"We are not there yet," remarked John sadly.
+
+Another weary half-hour passed, and then on passing over a crest
+suddenly they saw Hans Coetzee's homestead lying down by the water in
+the hollow. So that was whither they were being taken.
+
+Within a hundred yards of the house the Boers halted and consulted,
+except Jacobus, who went on, still looking very green. Finally the elder
+man came to them and addressed Jess, at the same time handing her back
+the pass.
+
+"You can go on home," he said. "The Englishman must stay with us till we
+find out more about him."
+
+"He says that I can go. What shall I do?" asked Jess. "I don't like
+leaving you with these men."
+
+"Do? why, go, of course. I can look after myself; and if I can't,
+certainly you won't be able to help me. Perhaps you will be able to get
+some help from the farm. At any rate, you must go."
+
+"Now, Englishman," said the Boer.
+
+"Good-bye, Jess," said John. "God bless you."
+
+"Good-bye, John," she answered, looking him steadily in the eyes for a
+moment, and then turning away to hide the tears which would gather in
+her own.
+
+And thus they parted.
+
+She knew her way now even across the open veldt, for she dared not go
+by the road. There was, however, a bridle path that ran over the hill at
+the back of Mooifontein, and for this she shaped her course. It was five
+o'clock by now, and both she and her horse were in a condition of great
+exhaustion, enhanced in her own case by want of food and trouble of
+mind. But she was a strong woman, with a will like iron, and she held
+on when most girls would have died. Jess meant to get to Mooifontein
+somehow, and she knew that she would get there. If only she could reach
+the place and find help to send to her lover, she did not greatly care
+what happened to her afterwards. The pace of the horse she was riding
+grew slower and slower. From the ambling canter into which at first she
+managed occasionally to force it, and which is the best pace to travel
+at in South Africa, it relapsed continually into a rough short trot,
+which was agony to her, riding as she was, and from the trot into a
+walk. Indeed, just before sunset, or a little after six o'clock, the
+walk became final. At last they reached the rising ground that stretched
+up the slope of the Mooifontein hill, and here the poor beast fell down
+utterly worn out. Jess slipped off and tried to drag it up, but failed.
+It had no strength left in it. So she did what she could, pulling off
+the bridle and undoing the girth, so that the saddle would fall off
+if the horse ever managed to rise. The animal watched her go with
+melancholy eyes, knowing that it was being deserted. First it neighed,
+then with a desperate effort it struggled to its feet and trotted after
+her for a hundred yards or so, only to fall down again at last. Jess
+turned and saw it, and, exhausted as she was, she positively ran to get
+away from the look in those big eyes. That night there was a cold rain,
+in which the horse perished, as "poor" horses are apt to do.
+
+It was nearly dark when at length Jess reached the top of the hill and
+looked down. She knew the spot well, and from it she could always see
+the light in the kitchen window of the house. To-night there was no
+light. Wondering what it could mean, and feeling a fresh chill of doubt
+creep round her heart, she scrambled on down the hill. When she was
+about half-way a shower of sparks suddenly shot into the air from the
+spot where the house should be, caused by the fall of a piece of wall
+into the smouldering embers beneath. Again Jess paused, wondering and
+aghast. What could have happened? Determined at all hazards to discover,
+she crept on very cautiously. Before she had gone another twenty yards,
+however, a hand was laid suddenly upon her arm. She turned quickly, too
+paralysed with fear to cry out, and a voice that was familiar to her
+whispered into her ear, "Missie Jess, Missie Jess, is it you? I am
+Jantje."
+
+She gave a sigh of relief, and her heart, which had stood still, began
+to move again. Here was a friend at last.
+
+"I heard you coming down the hill, though you came so softly," he said;
+"but I could not tell who it was, because you jumped from rock to rock
+and did not walk as usual. But I thought it was a woman with boots; I
+could not see, because the light all falls dead against the hill, and
+the stars are not up. So I got to the left of your path--for the wind is
+blowing from the right--and waited till you had passed and _winded_ you.
+Then I knew who you were for certain--either you or Missie Bessie; but
+Missie Bessie is shut up, so it could not be her."
+
+"Bessie shut up!" ejaculated Jess, not even pausing to marvel at the
+dog-like instinct that had enabled the Hottentot to identify her. "What
+do you mean?"
+
+"This way, missie, come this way, and I will tell you;" and he led her
+to a fantastic pile of rocks in which it was his wild habit to sleep.
+Jess knew the place well, and had often peeped into, but never entered,
+the Hottentot's kennel.
+
+"Stop a bit, missie. I will go and light a candle; I have some in there,
+and they can't see the light from outside;" and accordingly he vanished.
+In a few seconds he returned, and, taking her by the sleeve, led her
+along a winding passage between great boulders till they came to a
+beehole in the rocks, through which she could see the light shining.
+Going down on his hands and knees, Jantje crept through, and Jess
+followed him. She found herself in a small apartment, about six feet
+square by eight high, formed for the most part by the accidental falling
+together of big boulders, and roofed in with one great natural slab. The
+place, which was lighted by an end of candle stuck upon the floor, was
+very dirty, as might be expected of a Hottentot's den, and in it
+were collected an enormous variety of odds and ends. As, discarding a
+three-legged stool that Jantje offered her, Jess sank down on a pile of
+skins in the corner, her eye fell upon a collection worthy of an old
+rag and bone shop. The sides of the chamber were festooned with every
+imaginable garment, from the white full-dress coat of an Austrian
+officer down to a shocking pair of corduroys "lifted' by Jantje from
+the body of a bushman, which he had discovered in his rambles. All these
+clothes were in various stages of decay, and obviously the result of
+years of patient collecting. In the corners again were sticks, kerries,
+and two assegais, a number of queer-shaped stones and bones, handles of
+broken table-knives, bits of the locks of guns, portions of an American
+clock, and various other articles which this human jackdaw had picked
+up and hidden away. Altogether it was a strange place: and vaguely it
+occurred to Jess, as she sank back upon the dirty skins, that, had it
+not been for the old clothes and the wreck of the American clock, she
+would have made acquaintance with a very fair example of the dwellings
+of primeval man.
+
+"Stop before you begin," she said. "Have you anything to eat here? I am
+nearly starving."
+
+Jantje grinned knowingly, and, grubbing in a heap of rubbish in the
+corner, drew out a gourd with a piece of flat sheet iron, which once had
+formed the back plate of a stove, placed on the top of it. It contained
+"maas," or curdled buttermilk, which a woman had brought him that very
+morning from a neighbouring kraal, and it was destined for Jantje's own
+supper. Hungry as he was himself, for he had tasted no food all day, he
+gave it to Jess without a moment's hesitation, together with a wooden
+spoon, and, squatting on the rock before her, watched her eat it with
+guttural exclamations of satisfaction. Not knowing that she was robbing
+a hungry man, Jess ate the maas to the last spoonful, and was grateful
+to feel the sensation of gnawing sickness leave her.
+
+"Now," she said, "tell me what you mean."
+
+Thereon Jantje began at the beginning and related the events of the day
+so far as he was acquainted with them. When he came to where the old
+man was dragged, with kicks and blows and ignominy, from his own
+house, Jess's eyes flashed, and she positively ground her teeth with
+indignation; and as for her feelings when she learnt that he was
+condemned to death and to be shot at dawn on the morrow, they are simply
+indescribable. Of the Bessie complication Jantje was quite ignorant, and
+could only tell her that Frank Muller had an interview with her sister
+in the little plantation, after which she was shut up in the store-room,
+where she still remained. But this was quite enough for Jess, who knew
+Muller's character better, perhaps, than anybody else, and was not by
+any means ignorant of his designs upon Bessie. A few moments' thought
+put the key of the matter into her hand. She saw now what was the
+reason of the granting of the pass, and of the determined and partially
+successful attempt at wholesale murder of which they had been the
+victims. She saw, too, why her old uncle had been condemned to death--it
+was to be used as a lever with Bessie; the man was capable even of that.
+
+Yes, she saw it all as clear as daylight; and in her heart she swore,
+helpless as she seemed to be, that she would find a way to prevent it.
+But what way? what way? Ah, if only John were here! but he was not, so
+she must act without him if only she could see the road to action. She
+thought first of all of going down boldly to face Muller and denounce
+him as a murderer before his men; but a moment's reflection showed that
+this was impracticable. For his own safety he would be obliged to
+stop her mouth somehow, and the best she could expect would be to be
+incarcerated and rendered quite powerless. If only she could manage to
+communicate with Bessie! At any rate it was absolutely necessary that
+she should know what was happening. She might as well be a hundred miles
+away as a hundred yards.
+
+"Jantje," she said, "tell me where the Boers are."
+
+"Some are in the waggon-house, missie, some are on sentry, and the rest
+are down by the waggon they brought with them and outspanned behind the
+gums there. The cart is there, too, that came just before you did, with
+the clergyman in it."
+
+"And where is Frank Muller?"
+
+"I don't know, missie; but he brought a round tent with him in the
+waggon, and it is pitched between the two big gums."
+
+"Jantje, I must go down there and find out what is going on, and you
+must come with me."
+
+"You will be caught, missie. There is a sentry at the back of the
+waggon-house, and two in front. But," he added, "perhaps we might get
+near. I will go out and look at the night."
+
+Presently he returned and said that a "small rain" had come on, and the
+clouds covered up the stars so that it was very dark.
+
+"Well, let us go at once," said Jess.
+
+"Missie, you had better not go," answered the Hottentot. "You will get
+wet, and the Boers will catch you. Better let me go. I can creep about
+like a snake, and if the Boers catch me it won't matter."
+
+"You must come too, but I am going. I must find out."
+
+Then the Hottentot shrugged his shoulders and yielded, and, having
+extinguished the candle, silently as ghosts they crept out into the
+night.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+HE SHALL DIE
+
+The night was still and very dark. A soft cold rain, such as often falls
+in the Wakkerstroom and New Scotland districts of the Transvaal, and
+which more resembles a true north country mist than anything else, was
+drizzling gently but persistently. This condition of affairs was as
+favourable as possible to their enterprise, and under cover of it the
+Hottentot and the white girl crept far down the hill to within twelve
+or fourteen paces of the back of the waggon-house. Then Jantje, who was
+leading, suddenly put back his hand and checked her, and at that moment
+Jess caught the sound of a sentry's footsteps as he tramped leisurely up
+and down. For a couple of minutes or so they stopped thus, not knowing
+what to do, when suddenly a man came round the corner of the building
+holding a lantern in his hand. On seeing the lantern Jess's first
+impulse was to fly, but Jantje by a motion made her understand that she
+was to stop still. The man with the lantern advanced towards the other
+man, holding the light above his head, and looking dim and gigantic in
+the mist and rain. Presently he turned his face, and Jess saw that it
+was Frank Muller himself. He stood thus for a moment waiting till the
+sentry was near to him.
+
+"You can go to your supper," he said. "Come back in half an hour. I will
+be responsible for the prisoners till then."
+
+The man growled out an answer something about the rain, and then
+departed round the end of the building, followed by Muller.
+
+"Now then, come on," whispered Jantje; "there is a hole in the
+store-room wall, and you may be able to speak to Missie Bessie."
+
+Jess did not require a second invitation, but slipped up to the wall
+in five seconds. Passing her hand over the stone-work she found the
+air-hole, which she remembered well, for they used to play bo-peep there
+as children, and was about to whisper through it, when suddenly the door
+at the other end opened, and Frank Muller entered, bearing the lantern
+in his hand. For a moment he stood on the threshold, opening the slide
+of the lantern in order to increase the light. His hat was off, and he
+wore a cape of dark cloth thrown over his shoulders, which seemed to
+add to his great breadth. Indeed the thought flashed through the mind
+of Jess as she looked at him through the hole, and saw the light strike
+upon his face and form, glinting down his golden beard, that he was the
+most magnificent specimen of humanity whom she had ever seen. In another
+instant he had turned the lantern round and revealed her dear sister
+Bessie to her gaze. Bessie lay upon one of the half-empty sacks of
+mealies, apparently half asleep, for she opened her wide blue eyes and
+looked round apprehensively like one suddenly awakened. Her golden curls
+were in disorder and falling over her fair forehead, and her face was
+very pale and troubled, and marked beneath the eyes with deep blue
+lines. Catching sight of her visitor she rose hurriedly and retreated as
+far from him as the pile of sacks and potatoes would allow.
+
+"What is it?" she asked in a low voice. "I gave you my answer. Why do
+you come to torment me again?"
+
+He placed the lantern upon an upright sack of mealies, and carefully
+balanced it before he answered. Jess could see that he was taking time
+to consider.
+
+"Let us recapitulate," he said at length, in his full rich voice. "The
+position is this. I gave you this morning the choice between consenting
+to marry me to-morrow and seeing your old uncle and benefactor shot.
+Further, I assured you that if you would not consent to marry me your
+uncle should be shot, and that I would then make you mine, dispensing
+with the ceremony of marriage. Is that not so?"
+
+Bessie made no answer, and he continued, his eyes fixed upon her face,
+and thoughtfully stroking his beard.
+
+"Silence gives consent. I will go on. Before a man can be shot according
+to law he must be tried and condemned according to law. Your uncle has
+been tried and has been condemned."
+
+"I heard it all, cruel murderer that you are," said Bessie, lifting her
+head for the first time.
+
+"So! I thought you would, through the crack. That is why I had you put
+into this place; it would not have looked well to bring you before the
+court;" and he took the light and examined the crevice. "This wall is
+badly built," he went on in a careless tone; "look, there is another
+space there at the back;" and he actually came up to it and held the
+lantern close to the airhole in such fashion that its light shone
+through into Jess's eyes and nearly blinded her. She shut them quickly
+so that the gleam reflected from them should not betray her, then held
+her breath and remained still as the dead. In another second Muller took
+away the light and replaced it on the mealie bag.
+
+"So you say you saw it all. Well, it must have shown you that I was in
+earnest. The old man took it well, did he not? He is a brave man, and
+I respect him. I fancy that he will not move a muscle at the last. That
+comes of English blood, you see. It is the best in the world, and I am
+proud to have it in my veins."
+
+"Cannot you stop torturing me, and say what you have to say?" asked
+Bessie.
+
+"I had no wish to torture you, but if you like I will come to the
+point. It is this. Will you now consent to marry me to-morrow morning
+at sun-up, or am I to be forced to carry the sentence on your old uncle
+into effect?"
+
+"I will not. I will not. I hate you and defy you."
+
+Muller looked at her coldly, and then drew his pocket-book from his
+pocket and extracted from it the death-warrant and a pencil.
+
+"Look, Bessie," he said. "This is your uncle's death-warrant. At present
+it is valueless and informal, for I have not yet signed, though, as
+you will see, I have been careful that everybody else should. If once I
+place my signature there it cannot be revoked, and the sentence must
+be carried into effect. If you persist in your refusal I will sign it
+before your eyes;" and he placed the paper on the book and took the
+pencil in his right hand.
+
+"Oh, you cannot, you cannot be such a fiend," wailed the wretched woman,
+wringing her hands.
+
+"I assure you that you are mistaken. I both can and will. I have gone
+too far to turn back for the sake of one old Englishman. Listen, Bessie.
+Your lover Niel is dead--that you know."
+
+Here Jess behind the wall felt inclined to cry out, "it is a lie!" but,
+remembering the absolute necessity of silence, she checked herself.
+
+"And what is more," went on Muller, "your sister Jess is dead too! she
+died two days ago."
+
+"Jess dead! Jess dead! It is not true. How do you know that she is
+dead?"
+
+"Never mind; I will tell you when we are married. She is dead, and,
+except for your uncle, you are alone in the world. If you persist in
+this he will soon be dead too, and his blood will be upon your head, for
+you will have murdered him."
+
+"And if I were to say yes, how would that help him?" she cried wildly.
+"He is condemned by your court-martial--you would only deceive me and
+murder him after all."
+
+"On my honour, no. Before the marriage I will give this warrant to
+the pastor, and he shall burn it as soon as the service is said. But,
+Bessie, don't you see that these fools who tried your uncle are only
+like clay in my hands? I can bend them this way and that, and whatever
+song I sing they will echo it. They do not wish to shoot your uncle, and
+will be glad indeed to get out of it. Your uncle shall go in safety to
+Natal, or stay here if he wills. His property shall be secured to him,
+and compensation paid for the burning of his house. I swear it before
+God."
+
+She looked up at him, and he could see that she was inclined to believe
+him.
+
+"It is true, Bessie, it is true--I will rebuild the place myself, and
+if I can find the man who fired it he shall be shot. Come, listen to me,
+and be reasonable. The man you love is dead, and no amount of sighing
+can bring him to your arms. I alone am left--I who love you better than
+life, better than man ever loved woman before. Look at me: am I not a
+proper man for any maid to wed, though I be half a Boer? And I have the
+brains, too, Bessie, the brains that shall make us both great. We were
+made for each other--I have known it for years, and slowly, slowly,
+I have worked my way to you till at last you are in my reach;" and he
+stretched out both his arms towards her.
+
+"My darling," he went on, in a soft, half-dreamy voice, "my love and
+desire, yield, now--yield! Do not force this new crime upon me. I want
+to grow good for your sake, and have done with bloodshed. When you are
+am wife I believe that the evil will go out of me, and I shall grow
+good. Yield, and never shall woman have had such a husband as I will be
+to you. I will make your life soft and beautiful to you as women love
+life to be. You shall have everything that money can buy and power
+bring. Yield for your uncle's sake, and for the sake of the great love I
+bear you."
+
+As he spoke he was slowly drawing nearer Bessie, whose face wore a
+half-fascinated expression. As he came the wretched woman gathered
+herself together and put out her hand to repulse him. "No, no," she
+cried, "I hate you--I cannot be false to him, living or dead. I shall
+kill myself--I know I shall."
+
+He made no answer, but only came always nearer, till at last his strong
+arms closed round her shrinking form and drew her to him as easily as
+though she were a babe. And then all at once she seemed to yield. That
+embrace was the outward sign of his cruel mastery, and she struggled no
+more, mentally or physically.
+
+"Will you marry me, darling--will you marry me?" he whispered, with his
+lips so close to the golden curls that Jess, straining her ears outside,
+could only just catch the words--
+
+"Oh, I suppose so; but I shall die--it will kill me."
+
+He strained her to his heart and kissed her beautiful face again and
+again, until Jess heard the heavy footsteps of the returning sentry,
+and saw Muller leave go of her. Then Jantje caught Jess by the hand,
+dragging her away from the wall, and presently she was once more
+ascending the hill-side towards the Hottentot's kennel. She had desired
+to find out how matters stood, and she had found out indeed. To attempt
+to portray the fury, the indignation, and the thirst to be avenged upon
+this fiend who had attempted to murder her and her lover, and had bought
+her dear sister's honour at the price of their innocent old uncle's
+life, would be impossible. Her weariness had left her; she was mad with
+all she had seen and heard, with the knowledge of what had been done
+and of what was about to be done. She even forgot her passion in it, and
+swore that Muller should never marry Bessie while she lived to prevent
+it. Had she been a bad woman herein she might have seen an opportunity,
+for Bessie once tied to Muller, John would be free to marry her, but
+this idea never even entered her mind. Whatever Jess's errors may have
+been she was a self-sacrificing, honourable woman, and one who would
+have died rather than profit thus by circumstance. At length they
+reached the shelter again and crept into it.
+
+"Light a candle," said Jess.
+
+Jantje hunted for and struck a match. The piece of candle they had been
+using, however, was nearly burnt out, so from the rubbish in the corner
+he produced a box full of "ends," some of them three or four inches
+long. In the queer sort of way that trifles do strike us when the mind
+is undergoing a severe strain, Jess remembered instantly that for years
+she had been unable to discover what became of the odd bits of the
+candles used in the house. Now the mystery was explained.
+
+"Go outside and leave me. I want to think," she said.
+
+The Hottentot obeyed, and seated upon the heap of skins, her forehead
+resting on her hand and her fingers buried in her silky rain-soaked
+hair, Jess began to review the position. It was evident to her that
+Frank Muller would be as good as his word. She knew him too well to
+doubt this for a moment. If Bessie did not marry him he would murder
+the old man, as he had tried to murder herself and John, only this time
+judicially, and then abduct her sister afterwards. She was the only
+price that he was prepared to take in exchange for her uncle's life. But
+it was impossible to allow Bessie to be so sacrificed; the thought was
+horrible to her.
+
+How, then, was it to be prevented?
+
+She thought again of confronting Frank Muller and openly accusing him
+of her attempted murder, only, however, to dismiss the idea. Who would
+believe her? And if they did believe what good would it do? She would
+only be imprisoned and kept out of harm's way, or possibly murdered out
+of hand. Then she thought of attempting to communicate with her uncle
+and Bessie, to tell them that John was, so far as she knew, alive,
+only to recognise the impossibility of doing so now that the sentry had
+returned. Besides, what object could be served? The knowledge that John
+was alive might, it is true, encourage Bessie to resist Muller, but then
+the death of the old man must certainly ensue. Dismissing this
+project from her mind Jess began to consider whether they could obtain
+assistance. Alas! it was impossible. The only people from whom she could
+hope for aid would be the natives, and now that the Boers had triumphed
+over the English--for this much she had gathered from her captors and
+from Jantje--it was very doubtful if the Kafirs would dare to assist
+her. Besides, at the best it would take twenty-four hours to collect a
+force, and by then help would come too late. The situation was hopeless.
+Nowhere could she see a ray of light.
+
+"What," Jess said aloud to herself--"what is there in the world that
+will stop a man like Frank Muller?"
+
+And then of an instant the answer rose up in her brain as though by
+inspiration--
+
+"_Death!_"
+
+Death, and death alone, would stay him. For a minute she held the idea
+in her mind till she grew familiar with it, then it was driven out by
+another thought that followed swiftly on its track. Frank Muller must
+die, and die before the morning light. By no other possible means could
+the Gordian knot be cut, and both Bessie and her old uncle be saved. If
+he were dead he could not marry Bessie, and if he died with the warrant
+unsigned their uncle could not be executed. That was the terrible answer
+to her riddle.
+
+Yet it was most just that he should die, for had he not murdered and
+attempted murder? Surely if ever a man deserved a swift and awful doom
+that man was Frank Muller.
+
+And so this forsaken, helpless girl, crouching upon the ground a torn
+and bespattered fugitive in the miserable hiding-hole of a Hottentot,
+arraigned the powerful leader of men before the tribunal of her
+conscience, and without pity, if without wrath, passed upon him a
+sentence of extinction.
+
+But who was to be the executioner? A dreadful thought flashed into her
+mind and made her heart stand still, but she dismissed it. No, she had
+not come to that! Her eyes wandering round the kennel lit upon
+Jantje's assegais and sticks in the corner, and these gave her another
+inspiration. Jantje should do the deed.
+
+John had told her one day when they were sitting together in "The
+Palatial" at Pretoria the whole of Jantje's awful story about the
+massacre of his relatives by Frank Muller twenty years before, of which,
+indeed, she already knew something. It would be most fitting that this
+fiend should be removed from the face of the earth by the survivor of
+those unfortunates. That would be poetic justice, and justice is so rare
+in the world. But the question was, would he do it? The little man was
+a wonderful coward, that she knew, and had a great terror of Boers, and
+especially of Frank Muller.
+
+"Jantje," she whispered, stooping towards the bee-hole.
+
+"Yah, missie," answered a hoarse voice outside, and next second the
+Hottentot's monkey-like face came creeping into the ring of light,
+followed by his even more monkey-like form.
+
+"Sit down there, Jantje. I am lonely here and want to talk."
+
+He obeyed her, with a grin. "What shall we talk about, missie? Shall I
+tell you a story of the time when the beasts could speak, as I used to
+do years and years ago?"
+
+"No, Jantje. Tell me about that stick--that long stick with a knob at
+the top, and the nicks cut on it. Has it not something to do with Frank
+Muller?"
+
+The Hottentot's face instantly grew evil. "Yah, yah, missie!" he said,
+reaching out a skinny claw and seizing the stick. "Look, this big notch,
+that is my father, Baas Frank shot him; and this next notch, that is my
+mother, Baas Frank shot her; and this next notch, that is my uncle, an
+old, old man, Baas Frank shot him also. And these small notches, they
+are when he has beaten me--yes, and other things too. And now I will
+make more notches, one for the house that is burnt, and one for the old
+Baas Croft, my own Baas, whom he is going to shoot, and one for
+Missie Bessie." And Jantje drew from his side his large white-handled
+hunting-knife and began to cut them then and there upon the hard wood of
+the stick.
+
+Jess knew this knife of old. It was Jantje's peculiar treasure, the
+chief joy of his narrow little heart. He had brought it from a Zulu for
+a heifer which her uncle had given him in lieu of half a year's wage.
+The Zulu had it from a half-caste whose kraal was beyond Delagoa Bay.
+As a matter of fact it was a Somali knife, manufactured from the soft
+native steel which takes an edge like a razor, and with a handle cut out
+of the tusk of a hippopotamus. For the rest, it was about a foot long,
+with three grooves running the length of the blade, and very heavy.
+
+"Stop cutting notches, Jantje, and let me look at that knife."
+
+He obeyed, and put it into her hand.
+
+"That knife would kill a man, Jantje," she said.
+
+"Yes, yes," he answered: "no doubt it has killed many men."
+
+"It would kill Frank Muller, now, would it not?" she went on, suddenly
+bending forward and fixing her dark eyes upon the little man's jaundiced
+orbs.
+
+"Yah, yah," he said starting back, "it would kill him dead. Ah! what a
+thing it would be to kill him!" he added, making a fierce sound, half
+grunt, half laugh.
+
+"He killed your father, Jantje."
+
+"Yah, yah, he killed my father," said Jantje, his eyes beginning to roll
+with rage.
+
+"He killed your mother."
+
+"Yah, he killed my mother," he repeated after her with eager ferocity.
+
+"And your uncle. He killed your uncle."
+
+"And my uncle too," he went on, shaking his fist and twitching his long
+toes as his hoarse voice rose to a subdued scream. "But he will die in
+blood--the old Englishwoman, his mother, said it when the devil was in
+her, and the devils never lie. Look! I draw Baas Frank's circle in the
+dust with my foot; and listen, I say the words--I say the words," and he
+muttered something rapidly; "an old, old witch-doctor taught me how to
+do it, and what to say. Once before I did it, and there was a stone in
+the circle, now there is no stone: look, _the ends meet_. He will die in
+blood; he will die _soon_. I know how to read the omen;" and he gnashed
+his teeth and sawed the air with his clenched fists.
+
+"Yes, you are right, Jantje," she said, still holding him with her dark
+eyes. "He will die in blood, and he will die to-night, and _you_ will
+kill him, Jantje."
+
+The Hottentot started, and turned pale under his yellow skin.
+
+"How?" he said; "how?"
+
+"Bend forward, Jantje, and I will tell you how;" and Jess whispered for
+some minutes into his ear.
+
+"Yes! yes! yes!" he said when she had done. "Oh, what a fine thing it is
+to be clever like the white people! I will kill him to-night, and then
+I can cut out the notches, and the spooks of my father and my mother and
+my uncle will stop howling round me in the dark as they do now, when I
+am asleep."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+VENGEANCE
+
+For three or four minutes more Jess and Jantje whispered together, after
+which the Hottentot rose and crept away to find out what was passing
+among the Boers below, and watch when Frank Muller retired to his tent.
+So soon as he had marked him down it was agreed that he was to come back
+and report to Jess.
+
+When he was gone Jess gave a sigh of relief. This stirring up of Jantje
+to the boiling-point of vengeance had been a dreadful thing to nerve
+herself to do, but now at any rate it was done, and Muller's doom was
+sealed. But what the end of it would be none could say. Practically she
+would be a murderess, and she felt that sooner or later her guilt must
+find her out, and then she could hope for little mercy. Still she had no
+scruples, for after all Frank Muller's would be a well-merited fate.
+But when all was said and done, it was a dreadful thing to be forced to
+steep her hands in blood, even for Bessie's sake. If Muller were removed
+Bessie would marry John, provided that John escaped the Boers, and be
+happy, but what would become of herself? Robbed of her love and with
+this crime upon her mind, what could she do even if she escaped--except
+die? It would be better to die and never see him again, for her sorrow
+and her shame were more than she could bear. Then Jess began to think
+of John till all her poor bruised heart seemed to go out towards him.
+Bessie could never love him as she did, she felt sure of that, and yet
+Bessie was to have him by her all her life, and she--she must go away.
+Well, it was the only thing to do. She would see this deed done, and set
+her sister free, then if she happened to escape she would go at once--go
+quite away where she would never be heard of again. Thus at any rate
+she would have behaved like an honourable woman. She sat up and put her
+hands to her face. It was burning hot though she was wet through, and
+chilled to the bone with the raw damp of the night. A fierce fever of
+mind and body had taken hold of her, worn out as she was with emotion,
+hunger, and protracted exposure. But her brain was clear enough; she
+never remembered its being so clear before. Every thought that came into
+her mind seemed to present itself with startling strength, standing out
+alone against a black background of nothingness, not softened down and
+shaded one into another as thoughts generally are. She seemed to see
+herself wandering away--alone, utterly alone, alone for ever!--while in
+the far distance John stood holding Bessie by the hand, gazing after her
+regretfully. Well, she would write to him, since it must be so, and bid
+him one word of farewell. She could not go without that, though how her
+letter was to reach John she knew not, unless indeed Jantje could find
+him and deliver it. She had a pencil, and in the breast of her dress was
+the Boer pass, the back of which, stained as it was with water, would
+serve the purpose of paper. She found it, and, bending forward towards
+the light, placed it on her knees.
+
+"Good-bye," she wrote, "good-bye! We can never meet again, and it is
+better that we never should in this world. I believe that there is
+another. If there is I shall wait for you there if I have to wait ten
+thousand years. If not, then good-bye for ever. Think of me sometimes,
+for I have loved you very dearly, and as nobody will ever love you
+again; and while I live in this or any other existence and am myself,
+I shall always love you and you only. Don't forget me. I never shall be
+really dead to you until I am forgotten.--J."
+
+She lifted the paper from her knee, and without even re-reading what
+she had written thrust the pass back into her bosom and was soon lost in
+thought.
+
+Ten minutes later Jantje, like a great snake in human form, came
+creeping in to where she sat, his yellow face shining with the
+raindrops.
+
+"Well," whispered Jess, looking up with a start, "have you done it?"
+
+"No, missie, no. Baas Frank has but now gone to his tent. He has been
+talking to the clergyman, something about Missie Bessie, I don't know
+what. I was near, but he talked low, and I could only hear the name."
+
+"Are all the Boers asleep?"
+
+"All, missie, except the sentries."
+
+"Is there a sentry before Baas Frank's tent?"
+
+"No, missie, there is nobody near."
+
+"What is the time, Jantje?"
+
+"About three hours and a half after sundown" (half-past ten).
+
+"Let us wait half an hour, and then you must go."
+
+Accordingly they sat in silence. In silence they sat facing each other
+and their own thoughts. Presently Jantje broke it by drawing the big
+white-handled knife and commencing to sharpen it on a piece of leather.
+
+The sight made Jess feel sick. "Put the knife up," she said quickly, "it
+is sharp enough."
+
+Jantje obeyed with a feeble grin, and the minutes passed on heavily.
+
+"Now, Jantje," she said at last, speaking huskily in her struggle to
+overcome the spasmodic contractions of her throat, "it is time for you
+to go."
+
+The Hottentot fidgeted about, and at last spoke.
+
+"Missie must come with me!"
+
+"Come with you!" answered Jess starting, "why?"
+
+"Because the ghost of the old Englishwoman will be after me if I go
+alone."
+
+"You fool!" said Jess angrily; then recollecting herself she added,
+"Come, be a man, Jantje; think of your father and mother, and be a man."
+
+"I am a man," he answered sulkily, "and I will kill him like a man, but
+what good is a man against the ghost of a dead Englishwoman? If I put
+the knife into her she would only make faces, and fire would come out of
+the hole. I will not go without you, missie."
+
+"You must go," she said fiercely; "you shall go!"
+
+"No, missie, I will not go alone," he answered.
+
+Jess looked at him and saw that Jantje meant what he said. He was
+growing sulky, and the worst dispositioned donkey in the world is far,
+far easier to deal with than a sulky Hottentot. She must either give up
+the project or go with the man. Well, she was equally guilty one way or
+the other, and being almost callous about detection, she might as well
+go. She had no power left to make fresh plans. Her mind seemed to be
+exhausted. Only she must keep out of the way at the last. She could not
+bear to be near then.
+
+"Well," she said, "I will go with you, Jantje."
+
+"Good, missie, that is all right now. You can keep off the ghost of the
+dead Englishwoman while I kill Baas Frank. But first he must be fast
+asleep. Fast, fast asleep."
+
+Then slowly and with the uttermost caution once more they crept down the
+hill. This time there was no sound to be heard except the regular tramp
+of the sentries. But their present business did not take them to the
+waggon-house; they left that on their right, and went on towards the
+blue-gum avenue. When they were nearly opposite to the first tree they
+halted in a patch of stones, and Jantje slipped forward to reconnoitre.
+Presently he returned with the intelligence that all the Boers who were
+with the waggon had gone to sleep, but that Muller was still sitting in
+his tent thinking. Then they crept on, perfectly sure that if they were
+not heard they would not be seen, curtained as they were by the dense
+mist and darkness.
+
+At length they reached the bole of the first big gum tree. Five paces
+from this tree Frank Muller's tent was pitched. There was a light in
+it which caused the wet tent to glow in the mist, as though it had been
+rubbed with phosphorus, and on this lurid canvas the shadow of Frank
+Muller was gigantically limned. He was so placed that the lamp cast a
+magnified reflection of his every feature and even of his expression
+upon the screen before them. The attitude in which he sat was his
+favourite one when he was plunged in thought, his hands resting on his
+knees and his gaze fixed on vacancy. He was thinking of his triumph,
+and of all that he had gone through to win it, and of all that it would
+bring him. He held the trump cards now, and the game lay in his own
+hand. He had triumphed, and yet over him hung the shadow of that curse
+which dogs the presence of our accomplished desires. Too often, even
+with the innocent, does the seed of our destruction lurk in the rich
+blossom of our hopes, and much more is this so with the guilty. Somehow
+this thought was present with him to-night, and in a rough half-educated
+way he grasped its truth. Once more the saying of the old Boer general
+rose in his mind: "I believe that there is a God--I believe that God
+sets a limit to a man's doings. If he is going too far, God _kills
+him_."
+
+What a dreadful thing it would be if the old fool were right after all!
+Supposing that there were a God, and God were to kill him to-night, and
+hurry off his soul, if he had one, to some dim place of unending fear!
+All his superstitions awoke at the thought, and he shivered so violently
+that the shadow of the shiver caused the outlines of the gigantic form
+upon the canvas to tremble visibly.
+
+Then rising with an angry curse, Muller hastily threw off his outer
+clothing, and having turned down but not extinguished the rough
+parrafine lamp, he flung himself down upon the little camp bedstead,
+which creaked and groaned beneath his weight like a thing in pain.
+
+Now came silence, only broken by the drip, drip of the rain from the gum
+leaves overhead, and the rattling of the boughs whenever a breath of air
+stirred them. It was an eerie and depressing night, a night that might
+well have tried the nerves of any strong man who, wet through and worn
+out, was obliged to crouch upon the open veldt and endure it. How
+much more awful was it then to the unfortunate woman who, half
+broken-hearted, fever-stricken, and well-nigh crazed with the suffering
+of mind and body, waited in it to see murder done! Slowly the minutes
+passed, and at every raindrop or rustle of a bough her guilty conscience
+summoned up a host of fears. But by the mere power of her will she kept
+them down. She would go through with it. Yes, she would go through with
+it. Surely he must be asleep by now!
+
+They crept up to the tent and placed their ears within two inches of his
+head. Yes, he was asleep; the sound of his breathing rose and fell with
+the regularity of an infant's.
+
+Jess turned round and touched her companion upon the shoulder. He did
+not move, but she felt that his arm was shaking.
+
+"_Now_," she whispered.
+
+Still he hung back. It was evident to her that the long waiting had
+taken the courage out of him.
+
+"Be a man," she whispered again, so low that the sound scarcely reached
+his ears although her lips were almost touching them, "go, and mind you
+strike home!"
+
+Then at last she heard him softly draw the great knife from the sheath,
+and in another second he had glided from her side. Presently she saw the
+line of light that streamed upon the darkness through the opening of the
+tent broaden a little, and by this she knew that he was creeping in upon
+his dreadful errand. Then she turned her head and put her fingers in her
+ears. But even so she could see a long line of shadow travelling across
+the skirt of the tent. So she shut her eyes also, and waited sick at
+heart, for she did not dare to move.
+
+Presently--it might have been five minutes or only half a minute
+afterwards, for she had lost count of time--Jess felt somebody touch her
+on the arm. It was Jantje.
+
+"_Is it done?_" she whispered again.
+
+He shook his head and drew her away from the tent. In going her foot
+caught one of the guy-ropes and stirred it slightly.
+
+"I could not do it, missie," he said. "He is asleep and looks just like
+a child. When I lifted the knife he smiled in his sleep and all the
+strength went out of my arm, so that I could not strike. And then before
+I grew strong again the spook of the old Englishwoman came and hit me in
+the back, and I ran away."
+
+If a look could have blasted a human being Jantje would assuredly have
+been blasted then. The man's cowardice maddened Jess, but whilst she
+still choked with wrath a duiker buck, which had come down from its
+stony home to feed upon the rose-bushes, suddenly sprang with a crash
+almost from their feet, passing away like a grey gleam into the utter
+darkness.
+
+Jess started, then recovered herself, guessing what it was, but the
+miserable Hottentot, overcome with terror, fell upon the ground groaning
+out that it was the spook of the old Englishwoman. He had dropped the
+knife as he fell, and Jess, seeing the imminent peril in which they were
+placed, knelt down, found it, and hissed into his ear that if he were
+not quiet she would kill him.
+
+This pacified him a little, but no earthly power could persuade him to
+enter the tent again.
+
+What was to be done? What could she do? For two minutes or more she
+buried her face in her wet hands and thought wildly and despairingly.
+
+Then a dark and dreadful determination entered her mind. The man Muller
+should not escape. Bessie should not be sacrificed to him. Rather than
+that, she would do the deed herself.
+
+Without a word she rose, animated by the tragic agony of her purpose and
+the force of her despair, and glided towards the tent, the great knife
+in her hand. Now, ah! all too soon, she was inside of it, and stood for
+a second to allow her eyes to grow accustomed to the light. Presently
+she began to see, first the outline of the bed, then the outline of the
+manly form stretched upon it, then both bed and man distinctly. Jantje
+had said that he was sleeping like a child. He might have been; now he
+was _not_. On the contrary, his face was convulsed like the face of one
+in an extremity of fear, and great beads of sweat stood upon his brow.
+It was as though he knew his danger, and yet was utterly powerless to
+avoid it. He lay upon his back. One heavy arm, his left, hung over the
+side of the bed, the knuckles of the hand resting on the ground; the
+other was thrown back, and his head was pillowed upon it. The clothing
+had slipped away from his throat and massive chest, which were quite
+bare.
+
+Jess stood and gazed. "For Bessie's sake, for Bessie's sake!" she
+murmured; then impelled by a force that seemed to move of itself she
+crept slowly, slowly, to the right-hand side of the bed.
+
+At this moment Muller woke, and his opening eyes fell full upon
+her face. Whatever his dream had been, what he now saw was far more
+terrible, for bending over him was the _ghost of the woman he had
+murdered in the Vaal!_ There she was, risen from her river grave, torn,
+dishevelled, water yet dripping from her hands and hair. Those sunk
+and marble cheeks, those dreadful flaming eyes could belong to no human
+being, but only to a spirit. It was the spirit of Jess Croft, of the
+woman whom he had slain, come back to tell him that there _was_ a living
+vengeance and a hell!
+
+Their eyes met, and no creature will ever know the agony of terror that
+he tasted of before the end came. She saw his face sink in and turn
+ashen grey while the cold sweat ran from every pore. He was awake, but
+fear paralysed him, he could not speak or move.
+
+He was awake, and she could hesitate no more. . . .
+
+He must have seen the flash of the falling steel, and----
+
+
+
+Jess was outside the tent again, the red knife in her hand. She flung
+the accursed thing from her. That shriek must have awakened every soul
+within a mile. Already she could faintly hear the stir of men down by
+the waggon, and the patter of the feet of Jantje running for his life.
+
+Then she too turned, and fled straight up the hill. She knew not
+whither, she cared not where! None saw her or followed her, the hunt had
+broken away to the left after Jantje. Her heart was lead and her brain
+a rocking sea of fire, whilst before her, around her, and behind her
+yelled all the conscience-created furies that run Murder to his lair.
+
+On she flew, one sight only before her eyes, one sound only in her ears.
+On over the hill, far into the rain and the night!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+TANTA COETZEE TO THE RESCUE
+
+After Jess had been set free by the Boers outside Hans Coetzee's place,
+John was sharply ordered to dismount and off-saddle his horse. This
+he did with the best grace that he could muster, and the horse was
+knee-haltered and let loose to feed. It was then indicated to him that
+he was to enter the house, and this he also did, closely attended by two
+of the Boers. The room into which he was conducted was the same that he
+had first become acquainted with, on the occasion of the buck hunt that
+had so nearly ended in his murder. There was the Buckenhout table,
+and there were the stools and couches made of stinkwood. Also, in the
+biggest chair at the other end of the room, a moderate-sized slop-basin
+full of coffee by her side, sat Tanta Coetzee, still actively employed
+in doing absolutely nothing. There, too, were the showily dressed
+maidens, there was the sardonic lover of one of them, and all the posse
+of young men with rifles. The _sit-kammer_ and its characteristics were
+quite unchanged, and on entering it John felt inclined to rub his eyes
+and wonder whether the events of the last few months had been nothing
+but a dream.
+
+The only thing that had changed was his welcome. Evidently he was not
+expected to shake hands all round on the present occasion. Fallen indeed
+would that Boer have been considered who, within a few days of Majuba,
+offered to shake hands with a wretched English _rooibaatje_, picked
+up like a lame buck on the veldt. At the least he would have kept the
+ceremony for private celebration, if only out of respect to the feelings
+of others. On this occasion John's entry was received in icy silence.
+The old woman did not deign to look up, the young ones shrugged their
+shoulders and turned their backs, as though they had suddenly seen
+something that was not nice. Only the countenance of the sardonic lover
+softened to a grin.
+
+John walked to the end of the room where there was a vacant chair and
+stood by it.
+
+"Have I your permission to sit down, ma'am?" he said at last in a loud
+tone, addressing the old lady.
+
+"Dear Lord!" said the old lady to the man next to her, "what a voice the
+poor creature has! it is like a bull's. What does he say?"
+
+The man explained.
+
+"The floor is the right place for Englishmen and Kafirs," said the
+old lady, "but after all he is a man, and perhaps sore with riding.
+Englishmen always get sore when they try to ride." Then with startling
+energy she shouted out:
+
+"_Sit!_"
+
+"I will show the _rooibaatje_ that he is not the only one with a voice,"
+she added by way of explanation.
+
+A subdued sniggle followed this sally of wit, during which John took his
+seat with such native grace as he could command, which at the moment was
+not much.
+
+"Dear me!" she went on presently, for she was a bit of a humorist, "he
+looks very dirty and pale, doesn't he? I suppose the poor thing has been
+hiding in the ant-bear holes with nothing to eat. I am told that up in
+the Drakensberg yonder the ant-bear holes are full of Englishmen. They
+had rather starve in them than come out, for fear lest they should meet
+a Boer."
+
+This provoked another snigger, and then the young ladies took up the
+ball.
+
+"Are you hungry, _rooibaatje_?" asked one in English.
+
+John was boiling with fury, but he was also starving, so he answered
+that he was.
+
+"Tie his hands behind him, and let us see if he can catch in his mouth,
+like a dog," suggested a gentle youth.
+
+"No, no; make him eat pap with a wooden spoon, like a Kafir," said
+another. "I will feed him--if you have a very long spoon."
+
+Here again was legitimate cause for merriment, but in the end matters
+were compromised by a lump of biltong and a piece of bread being thrown
+to John from the other end of the room. He caught them and began to
+eat, trying to conceal his ravenous hunger as much as possible from the
+circle of onlookers who clustered round to watch the operation.
+
+"Carolus," said the old lady to the sardonic affianced of her daughter,
+"there are three thousand men in the British army."
+
+"Yes, my aunt."
+
+"There are three thousand men in the British army," she repeated,
+looking round angrily as though somebody had questioned the truth of her
+statement. "I tell you that my grandfather's brother was at Cape Town in
+the time of Governor Smith, and he counted the whole British army, and
+there were three thousand of them."
+
+"That is so, my aunt," answered Carolus.
+
+"Then why did you contradict me, Carolus?"
+
+"I did not intend to, my aunt."
+
+"I should hope not, Carolus; it would vex the dear Lord to see a boy
+with a squint" (Carolus was slightly afflicted in this way) "contradict
+his future mother-in-law. Tell me how many Englishmen were killed at
+Laing's Nek?"
+
+"Nine hundred," replied Carolus promptly.
+
+"And at Ingogo?"
+
+"Six hundred and twenty."
+
+"And at Majuba?"
+
+"One thousand."
+
+"Then that makes two thousand five hundred men; yes, and the rest
+were finished at Bronker's Spruit. Nephews, that _rooibaatje_ there,"
+pointing to John, "is one of the last men left in the British army."
+
+Most of her audience appeared to accept this argument as conclusive, but
+some mischievous spirit put it into the breast of the saturnine Carolus
+to contradict her, notwithstanding the lesson he had just received.
+
+"That is not so, my aunt; there are many damned Englishmen still
+sneaking about the Nek, and also at Pretoria and Wakkerstroom."
+
+"I tell you it is a lie," said the old lady, raising her voice, "they
+are only Kafirs and camp-followers. There were three thousand men in the
+British army, and now they are all killed except that _rooibaatje_. How
+dare you contradict your future mother-in-law, you dirty squint-eyed,
+yellow-faced monkey? There, take that!" and before the unfortunate
+Carolus knew where he was, he received the slop-basin with its contents
+full in the face. The bowl broke upon the bridge of his nose, and the
+coffee flew all about him, into his eyes and hair, down his throat and
+over his body, making such a spectacle of him as must have been seen to
+be appreciated.
+
+"Ah!" went on the old lady, much soothed and gratified by the eminent
+and startling success of her shot, "never you say again that I don't
+know how to throw a basin of coffee. I haven't practised at my man Hans
+for thirty years for nothing, I can tell you. Now you, Carolus, I have
+taught you not to contradict; go and wash your face and we will have
+supper."
+
+Carolus ventured no reply, and was led away by his betrothed half
+blinded and utterly subdued, while her sister set the table for the
+evening meal. When it was ready the men sat down to meat and the women
+waited on them. John was not asked to join them, but one of the girls
+threw him a boiled mealiecob, for which, being still very hungry, he
+was duly grateful, and afterwards he managed to secure a mutton bone and
+another bit of bread.
+
+When supper was over, some bottles of peach brandy were produced, and
+the Boers began to drink freely, and then it was that matters commenced
+to look dangerous for the Englishman. Suddenly one of the men remembered
+about the young fellow whom John had thrown backwards off the horse, and
+who was lying very sick in the next room, and suggested that measures of
+retaliation should be taken, which would undoubtedly have been done if
+the elderly Boer who had commanded the party had not interposed. This
+man was getting drunk like the others, but fortunately for John he grew
+amiably drunk.
+
+"Let him alone," he said, "let him alone. We will send him to the
+commandant to-morrow. Frank Muller will know how to deal with him."
+
+John thought to himself that he certainly would.
+
+"Now, for myself," the man went on with a hiccough, "I bear no malice.
+We have thrashed the British and they have given up the country, so let
+bygones be bygones, I say. Almighty, yes! I am not proud, not I. If an
+Englishman takes off his hat to me I shall acknowledge it."
+
+This staved the fellows off for a while, but presently John's protector
+went away, and then the others became playful. They took their rifles
+and amused themselves with levelling them at him, and making sham bets
+as to where they would hit him. John, seeing the emergency, backed his
+chair well into the corner of the wall and drew his revolver, which
+fortunately for himself he still had.
+
+"If any man interferes with me, by God, I'll shoot him!" he said in
+good English, which they did not fail to understand. Undoubtedly as
+the evening went on it was only the possession of this revolver and his
+evident determination to use it that saved his life.
+
+At last things grew very bad indeed, so bad that John found it
+absolutely necessary to keep his eyes continually fixed, now on one and
+now on another, to prevent their putting a bullet through him unawares.
+He had twice appealed to the old woman, but she sat in her big chair
+with a sweet smile upon her fat face and refused to interfere. It is
+not every day that a Boer _frau_ has the chance of seeing a real live
+English _rooibaatje_ baited like an ant-bear on the flat.
+
+Presently, just as John in desperation was making up his mind to begin
+shooting right and left, and take his chance of cutting his way out, the
+saturnine Carolus, whose temper had never recovered the bowl of coffee,
+and who was besides very drunk, rushed forward with an oath and dealt a
+tremendous blow at him with the butt-end of his rifle. John dodged the
+blow, which fell upon the back of the chair and smashed it to bits, and
+in another second Carolus's gentle soul would have departed to a better
+sphere, had not the old _frau_, seeing that the game had gone beyond a
+joke, waddled down the room with marvellous activity and thrown herself
+between them.
+
+"There, there," she said, cuffing right and left with her fat fists, "be
+off with you, every one. I can't have this noise going on here. Come,
+off you all go, and get the horses into the stable; they will be right
+away by morning if you trust them to the Kafirs."
+
+Carolus collapsed, and the other men also hesitated and drew back,
+whereupon, following up her advantage, the old woman, to John's
+astonishment and relief, bundled the whole tribe of them bodily out of
+the front door.
+
+"Now then, _rooibaatje_," said the old lady briskly when they had gone,
+"I like you because you are a brave man, and were not afraid when they
+mobbed you. Also, I don't want to have a mess made upon my floor here,
+or any noise or shooting. If those men come back and find you here they
+will first get rather drunker and then kill you, so you had better be
+off while you have the chance," and she pointed to the door.
+
+"I really am much obliged to you, my aunt," said John, utterly
+astonished to find that she possessed a heart at all, and more or less
+had been playing a part throughout the evening.
+
+"Oh, as to that," she said drily, "it would be a great pity to kill the
+last English _rooibaatje_ in the whole British army; they ought to keep
+you as a curiosity. Here, take a tot of brandy before you go; it is
+a wet night, and sometimes when you are clear of the Transvaal and
+remember this business, remember, too, that you owe your life to Tanta
+Coetzee. But I would not have saved you, not I, if you had not been so
+plucky. I like a man to be a man, and not like that miserable monkey
+Carolus. There, be off!"
+
+John poured out and swallowed half a tumblerful of the brandy, and in
+another moment he was outside the house and had slipped off into the
+night. It was very dark and wet, for the rain-clouds had covered up the
+moon, and he soon learned that any attempt to look for his horse would
+end in failure and probably in his recapture. The only thing to do was
+to get away on foot in the direction of Mooifontein as quickly as he
+could; so off he went down the track across the veldt as fast as his
+stiff legs would take him. He had a ten miles trudge before him, and
+with that cheerful acquiescence in circumstances over which he had no
+control which was one of his characteristics, he set to work to make the
+best of it. For the first hour or so all went well, then to his intense
+disgust he discovered that he was off the track, a fact at which anybody
+who has ever had the pleasure of wandering along a so-called road on the
+African veldt on a dark night will scarcely be surprised.
+
+After wasting a quarter of an hour or more in a vain attempt to find the
+path, John struck out boldly for a dim mass that loomed in the distance,
+and which he took to be Mooifontein Hill. And so it was, only instead of
+keeping to the left, where he would have arrived at the house, or rather
+where the house had stood, unwittingly he bore to the right, and thus
+went half round the hill before he found out his mistake. Nor would he
+have discovered it then had he not chanced in the mist and darkness to
+turn into the mouth of the great gorge known as Leeuwen Kloof, where
+once, months ago, he had had an interesting talk with Jess just before
+she went to Pretoria. It was whilst he was blundering and stumbling up
+this gorge that at length the rain ceased and the moon revealed herself,
+it being then nearly midnight. Her very first rays lit upon one of the
+extraordinary pillars of balanced boulders, and by it he recognised the
+locality. As may be imagined, strong man though he was, by this time
+John was quite exhausted. For nearly a week he had been travelling
+incessantly, and for the last two nights he had not only not slept, but
+also had endured much mental excitement and bodily peril. Were it not
+for the brandy that Tanta Coetzee gave him he could never have tramped
+the fifteen miles or so of ground which he had covered. Now he was quite
+broken down, and felt that the only thing which he could do, wet through
+as he was, would be to lie down somewhere, and sleep or die as the case
+might be. Then it was that he remembered the little cave near the top
+of the Kloof, the same from which Jess had watched the thunder-storm. He
+had visited it once with Bessie after their engagement, and she had told
+him that it was one of her sister's favourite haunts.
+
+If he could but reach the cave at any rate he would find shelter and a
+dry place to lie in. It could not be more than three hundred yards away.
+So he struggled on bravely through the wet grass and over the scattered
+boulders, till at last he came to the base of the huge column that had
+been shattered by the lightning before Jess's eyes.
+
+Thirty paces more and John was in the cave.
+
+With a sigh of utter exhaustion he flung himself down upon the rocky
+floor, and almost instantly was buried in a profound sleep.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV
+
+THE CONCLUSION OF THE MATTER
+
+When the rain ceased and the moon began to shine, Jess was still fleeing
+like a wild thing across the plain on the top of the mountain. She felt
+no sense of exhaustion now or even of weariness; her only idea was to
+get away, right away somewhere, where she could lose herself and nobody
+would ever see her again. Presently she reached to top of Leeuwen Kloof,
+and recognising the spot in a bewildered way she began to descend it.
+Here was a place where she might lie till she died, for no one ever came
+there, except now and again some wandering Kafir herd. On she sprang,
+from rock to rock, a wild and eerie figure, well in keeping with the
+solemn and titanic sadness of the place.
+
+Twice she fell, once right into the stream, but she took no heed,
+she did not even seem to feel it. At last she was at the bottom, now
+creeping like a black dot across the wide spaces of moonlight, and now
+swallowed up in the shadow. There before her gaped the mouth of the
+little cave; her strength was leaving her at last, and she was fain to
+crawl into it, broken-hearted, crazed, and--_dying_.
+
+"Oh, God forgive me! God forgive me!" she moaned as she sank upon the
+rocky floor. "Bessie, I sinned against you, but I have washed away my
+sin. I did it for you, Bessie love, not for myself. I had rather have
+died than kill him for myself. You will marry John now, and you will
+never, never know what I did for you. I am going to die. I know that.
+I am dying. Oh, if only I could see his face once more before I
+die--before I die!"
+
+Slowly the westering moonlight crept down the blackness of the rock. Now
+at last it peeped into the little cave and played upon John's sleeping
+face lying within six feet of her. Her prayer had been granted; there
+was her lover by her side.
+
+With a start and a great sigh of doubt she recognised him. Was it a
+vision? Was he dead? She dragged herself to him upon her hands and knees
+and listened for his breathing, if perchance he still breathed and was
+not a wraith. Then it came, strong and slow, the breath of a man in deep
+sleep.
+
+So he lived. Should she try to wake him? What for? To tell him she was
+a murderess and then to let him see her die? For instinct told her that
+nature was exhausted; and she knew that she was certainly going--going
+fast. No, a hundred times no!
+
+Only she put her hand into her breast, and drawing out the pass on the
+back of which she had written her last message to him, she thrust it
+between his listless fingers. It should speak for her. Then she leant
+over him, and watched his sleeping face, a very incarnation of infinite,
+despairing tenderness, and love that is deeper than the grave. And as
+she watched, gradually her feet and legs grew cold and numb, till at
+length she could feel nothing below her bosom. She was dead nearly to
+the heart. Well, it was better so!
+
+The rays of the moon faded slowly from the level of the little cave, and
+John's face grew dark to her darkening sight. She bent down and kissed
+him once--twice--thrice.
+
+At last the end came. There was a great flashing of light before her
+eyes, and within her ears the roaring as of a thousand seas, and her
+head sank gently on her lover's breast as on a pillow; and there Jess
+died and passed upward towards the wider life and larger liberty, or, at
+the least, downward into the depths of rest.
+
+Poor dark-eyed, deep-hearted Jess! This was the fruition of her love,
+and this her bridal bed.
+
+It was done. She had gone, taking with her the secret of her
+self-sacrifice and crime, and the night-winds moaning amidst the rocks
+sang their requiem over her. Here she first had learned her love, and
+here she closed its book on earth.
+
+She might have been a great and a good woman. She might even have been a
+happy woman. But fate had ordained it otherwise. Women such as Jess are
+rarely happy in the world. It is not worldly wise to stake all one's
+fortune on a throw, and lack the craft to load the dice. Well, her
+troubles are done with. Think gently of her and let her pass in peace!
+
+
+
+The hours grew on towards the evening, but John, the dead face of the
+woman he had loved still pillowed on his breast, neither dreamed nor
+woke. There was a strange and dreadful irony in the situation, an irony
+which sometimes finds its counterpart in our waking life, but still the
+man slept, and the dead girl lay till the night turned into the morning
+and the earth woke up as usual. The sunbeams slid into the cave, and
+played indifferently upon the ashen face and tangled curls, and on the
+broad chest of the living man whereon they rested. An old baboon peeped
+round the rocky edge and manifested no surprise, only indignation, at
+the intrusion of humanity, dead or alive, into his dominions. Yes, the
+world woke up as usual, and recked not and troubled not because Jess was
+dead.
+
+It is so accustomed to such sights.
+
+At last John woke up also. He stretched his arms yawning, and for the
+first time became aware of the weight upon his breast. He glanced down
+and saw dimly at first--then more clearly.
+
+
+
+There are some things into which it is wisest not to pry, and one of
+them is the first agony of a strong man's grief.
+
+Happy was it for John that his brain did not give way in that lonely
+hour of bottomless despair. But he lived through it, as we do live
+through such things, and was sane and sound after it, though it left its
+mark upon his life.
+
+
+
+Two hours later a gaunt, haggard figure stumbled down the hill-side
+towards the site of Mooifontein, bearing something in his arms. The
+whole place was in commotion. Here and there were knots of Boers talking
+excitedly, who, when they saw the man coming, hurried up to learn who
+it was and what he carried. But when they knew, they fell back awed and
+without a word, and John too passed through them without a word. For
+a moment he hesitated, seeing that the house was burnt down. Then he
+turned into the waggon-shed, and laid his burden down on the saw-bench
+where Frank Muller had sat as judge upon the previous day.
+
+Now at last John spoke in a hoarse voice: "Where is the old man?"
+
+One of them pointed to the door of the little room.
+
+"Open it!" he said, so fiercely that again they fell back and obeyed him
+without a word.
+
+"John! John!" cried Silas Croft, rising amazed from his seat upon a
+sack. "Thank God--you have come back to us from the dead!" and trembling
+with joy and surprise he would have fallen on his neck.
+
+"Hush!" he answered; "I have brought the dead with me."
+
+And he led him to where Jess lay.
+
+
+
+During the day all the Boers went away and left them alone. Now that
+Frank Muller lay dead there was no thought among them of carrying out
+the sentence upon their old neighbour. Besides, there was no warrant for
+the execution, even had they desired so to do, for their commandant
+died leaving it unsigned. So they held an informal inquest upon their
+leader's body, and buried him in the little graveyard that was walled in
+on the hill-side at the back of where the house had stood, and planted
+with the four red gums, one at each corner. Rather than be at the pains
+of hollowing another grave, they buried him in the very place that he
+had caused to be dug to receive the body of Silas Croft.
+
+Who had murdered Frank Muller was and remains a mystery among them
+to this day. The knife was identified by natives about the farm as
+belonging to the Hottentot Jantje, and a Hottentot had been seen running
+away from the place of the deed and hunted for some way, but he could
+not be caught or heard of again. Therefore many of them are of the
+opinion that he is the guilty man. Others, again, believe that the crime
+rests upon the shoulders of the villainous one-eyed Kafir, Hendrik,
+Muller's own servant, who had also vanished. But as they have never
+found either of them, and are not likely to do so, the point remains a
+moot one. Nor, indeed, did they take any great pains to hunt for them.
+Frank Muller was not a popular character, and the fact of a man coming
+to a mysterious end does not produce any great sensation among a rough
+people and in rough times.
+
+
+
+On the following day, old Silas Croft, Bessie, and John Niel also buried
+their dead in the little graveyard on the hill-side, and there Jess
+lies, with some ten feet of earth only between her and the man upon whom
+she was the instrument of vengeance. But they never knew this, or even
+guessed it. They never knew indeed that she had been near Mooifontein on
+that awful night. Nobody knew it except Jantje; and Jantje, haunted by
+the footfall of the pursuing Boers, was gone from the ken of the white
+man far into the heart of Central Africa.
+
+"John," said the old man when they had filled in the grave, "this is no
+country for Englishmen. Let us go home to England." John bowed his head
+in assent, for he could not speak. Fortunately means were not wanting,
+although practically they were both ruined. The thousand pounds that
+John had paid to Silas as the price of a third interest in the farm
+still lay to the credit of the latter in the Standard Bank at Newcastle,
+in Natal, together with another two hundred and fifty pounds in cash.
+
+And so in due course they went.
+
+Now what more is there to tell? Jess, to those who read what has been
+written as it is meant to be read, was the soul of it all, and Jess--is
+dead. It is useless to set a lifeless thing upon its feet, rather let us
+strive to follow the soarings of the spirit. Jess is dead and her story
+at an end.
+
+* * * * *
+
+So but one word more.
+
+After some difficulty, John Niel, within three months of his arrival
+in England, obtained employment as a land agent to a large estate
+in Rutlandshire, which position he fills to this day, with credit to
+himself and such advantage to the property as can be expected in these
+times. Also, in due course he became the beloved husband of sweet Bessie
+Croft, and on the whole he may be considered a happy man. At times,
+however, a sorrow overcomes him of which his wife knows nothing, and for
+a while he is not himself.
+
+He is not a man much addicted to sentiment or speculation, but sometimes
+when his day's work is done, and he strays to his garden gate and looks
+out at the dim and peaceful English landscape beyond, and thence to the
+wide star-strewn heavens above, he wonders if the hour will ever come
+when once more he will see those dark and passionate eyes, and hear that
+sweet remembered voice.
+
+For John feels as near to his lost love now that she is dead as he
+felt while she was yet alive. From time to time indeed he seems to know
+without possibility of doubt that if, when death is done with, there
+should prove to be an individual future for us suffering mortals, as he
+for one believes, certainly he will find Jess waiting to greet him at
+its gates.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Jess, by H. Rider Haggard
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