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+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75898 ***
+
+Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.
+
+
+[Illustration: JACK AND THE OSTRICH.]
+
+
+
+                               JACK
+
+                         AND HIS OSTRICH
+
+                       _An African Story_
+
+
+                                BY
+
+                         Eleanor Stredder.
+
+
+
+                            ——————————
+
+                             "I've a friend at my side,
+                To lift me and aid me, whatever betide;
+                To trust to the world is to build on the sand:—
+                I'll trust but in Heaven and my good Right Hand."
+                                                           MACKAY.
+
+                            ——————————
+
+
+
+                       T. NELSON AND SONS
+                _London, Edinburgh, and New York_
+                            ——————————
+                               1900
+
+
+
+                            Contents.
+
+                         [Illustration]
+
+Chapter.
+
+     I. A HOME ON THE VELDT
+
+    II. UP IN THE MORNING
+
+   III. AFRICAN NEIGHBOURS
+
+    IV. JAARSVELDT BY DAYLIGHT
+
+     V. MAKING FRIENDS
+
+    VI. THREE DAYS WITH THE BOOKS
+
+   VII. THE BLACK ANTELOPE
+
+  VIII. JACK'S FEVER
+
+    IX. HOW TANTE MILLIGEN MANAGED
+
+     X. THE BANK-NOTE
+
+    XI. OTTO THE SHEPHERD
+
+   XII. WRITING TO GRANDFATHER
+
+  XIII. HOW THE LETTER WAS POSTED
+
+   XIV. LOST ON THE VELDT
+
+    XV. MR. TREBY'S DINNER-PARTY
+
+   XVI. THE SCHOOLMASTER'S GRATITUDE
+
+
+
+                      JACK AND HIS OSTRICH.
+
+                         [Illustration]
+
+I.
+
+_A HOME ON THE VELDT._
+
+JACK TREBY loved to say that he was an English boy, although he had
+never seen the dear old mother country of which his father so often
+talked; for he was born among the wide South African plains, where
+through the parching summer the sun-rays burn like fire, where the
+dry leaves shrivel with the heat, and the flowers can only bloom in
+sheltered places. Yet he was the proudest and happiest of boys when his
+father stroked his curly head and called him a "true-born Briton."
+
+For Jack was his father's all—his joy and treasure. In that wide,
+lonely plain they had but each other. Their nearest neighbour was a
+good twenty miles distant across country, and he was a Dutch Boer.
+
+There was a Hottentot woman, with arms and face as yellow as a duck's
+bill, who lived in a hut at the other side of the farm-yard. She cooked
+the dinner and washed the shirts for Jack and his father. She was
+always ready to do anything she could to make them comfortable, if she
+only knew how. Jack called her "Old Tottie," or "Granny Golden-face,"
+when he was in a roguish mood; for she had been very good and kind to
+him when he was left a little motherless boy.
+
+Then there were the Kafir men, as black as ebony, with naked legs
+and arms, and just a dirty scarlet blanket twisted round their
+waists—handsome fellows, who came and worked for Jack's father every
+now and then; working diligently and well until they had earned money
+enough to buy a rifle or a new blanket, when they would throw down the
+spade and flail and go back to their own people.
+
+Jack's father was not a rich man. He had not much money when he
+came out to Africa, so he bought his farm where farms were the
+cheapest—right out in the wilds. It was life in the rough. No wonder he
+kept his little boy always at his side. It made a man of Jack, for he
+learned many things in his long talks with his father which a boy of
+ten in England would know nothing about. Jack learned more in this way
+than he did from books; for his school-hour was the last hour at night,
+when his father's work was done, and when both of them were very often
+sleepy.
+
+On one delightful summer evening, when the brilliant African moon
+poured down its floods of silvery light, Jack sat nodding on the
+door-step with a coloured map of England spread upon his knees. He was
+trying to rub the sleep out of his winking eyes with one hand, whilst
+with the forefinger of the other he tried to trace the boundaries of
+the English counties.
+
+"York; chief town, York," he cried triumphantly. "But, father, what
+word is this?"
+
+Jack ran off with his map to where his father sat smoking on a rough
+bench, in what should have been their garden, only there was so much
+work to be done on the farm and so few to do it that the garden was
+left to Jack and nature. A hedge of prickly pear kept the oxen from
+trampling over it. Jack's watering-pot encouraged one tall cactus to
+show its scarlet flowers, under the shadow of the broad eaves of the
+low thatched roof of the farm-house.
+
+Jack's father nodded, and then roused himself with a smile to answer
+his son's inquiry. "That, Jack? Why, that's Nottingham—the very town
+where your grandfather still lives."
+
+"I'll make a mark against it," said Jack. Dashing back into their one
+sitting-room for the pen and ink, he made a good round blotch right
+over the name.
+
+"Well done," laughed his father. "So you think erasing it in your map
+will stamp it in your mind, my boy. Come, we are dead-beat to-night,
+and must give it up. Tomorrow we will have a good spell at the figures.
+So now to bed; the faster the better."
+
+Jack gathered up his books and went indoors.
+
+His little bedstead was an officer's camp-chair, which his father had
+picked up second-hand at the Cape. It stood just opposite the bedroom
+window, in the same room with his father's. Between them were the
+well-battered black travelling-chests his father had brought with him
+from England; and on the pegs over the head of his father's bed lay his
+rifle. Every night it was loaded and ready for use. Jack was often in
+the room alone with it; but then Jack could be trusted anywhere.
+
+He said his prayers and tumbled into bed; but not to sleep, for his
+thoughts were busy with Nottingham and grandfather.
+
+The house was only one story high, and the room had no ceiling. Jack
+could look between the rough wooden rafters right up into the thatch,
+and watch the bright eyes of the tarantula spiders as they crawled
+along the beams. He heard his father speaking to Tottie's husband, a
+white-haired Hottentot, who knew the ways of the country, and was by
+turns ploughman, shepherd, and house-servant.
+
+"Sheep all right," he heard them say, and lifted up his curly head to
+look at the white walls of the sheepfold; for an African sheepfold has
+a stone wall all round it, and a good strong gate, which is safely
+locked at night-fall. Jack knew very well that this flock was his
+father's chief wealth. There was not much ploughing and sowing with so
+few hands to depend upon. The sheep were everything.
+
+By-and-by his father came in, gave his little son his customary
+good-night kiss, and stretched himself on the truckle-bed in the other
+corner, to enjoy the sweet sleep of the labouring man. Jack was careful
+not to wake him.
+
+The glorious splendour of the South African moon made the room as light
+as day, while all without was flooded with a silvery radiance, so
+beautiful that our little Jack felt more wide awake than ever. He was
+watching for the stars as they shone out one by one, so much larger and
+brighter than we in England have ever seen them.
+
+Presently he saw something black on the wall of the sheepfold. He sat
+upright. It moved. He saw it fling out its long dark arms; and then
+another and another patch of black seemed crawling up behind it.
+
+Suddenly it flashed into Jack's head,—
+
+   "'Whosoever climbeth up by the wall into the sheepfold, the same is a
+thief and a robber.'"
+
+Out of bed he jumped, shouting, "Father! Father!" At the same moment,
+Jack's grand pet, the tame ostrich Vickel, set up a loud noisy scream.
+
+Vickel, as Jack's father had often said, was as good a guard as a
+mastiff. She had been given to Jack when she was a three days' chicken,
+looking like a round ball of dirty yellow fluff, and he had fed her
+with his own hands every day; and now as she stretched out her long
+neck she seemed as tall as the porch. She was crying "Thief! thief!"
+in her bird fashion, as plainly as any English watch-dog would growl
+"Thief!" to his master.
+
+Jack's father was out of bed in an instant, with his rifle in his hand,
+just as the last black figure dropped over the wall into the sheepfold.
+He fired his rifle into the air, hoping the sound of the report might
+scare away the thieves, and began to dress in all haste.
+
+"Keep where you are, my boy," he said, "and on no account leave the
+house. Put the bar in the bedroom door as soon as I am gone. I'll shut
+Vickel in the outer room, and she'll keep everybody else from coming
+in. Be a brave boy, and just lie still until I return."
+
+"I'll be as still as a mouse, father; but hadn't I better get into my
+jacket?" answered Jack.
+
+"Yes, dress," returned his father; "only be still."
+
+Mr. Treby reloaded his rifle and crept out.
+
+Presently, Jack heard the brush of Vickel's wings as she made the tour
+of their sitting-room.
+
+"Don't do mischief, Vickel," gasped Jack with a catch in his breath
+very suggestive of tears; but he choked them back with all his might.
+
+He stood with his little hands clasped tightly together, watching
+through the window, yet not near enough to it to be seen from without.
+
+He saw his father creep cautiously along, in the shadow of the
+farm-yard wall, towards the great open shed where the oxen were
+tethered, and saw him climb into the heavy broad-wheeled waggon, which
+was drawn under one end, to shelter it from the sun. Now that Mr. Treby
+was mounted in the waggon, where he could see and not be seen, Jack
+felt easier. He thought of his dying mother's words, "In every trouble,
+pray;" and kneeling down at the bedside, he whispered,—
+
+   "Save, Lord, or we perish—"
+
+When the flash and report of his father's rifle seemed to shake the
+house. The oxen bellowed and tore the ground in their infuriated
+terror. Jack started to his feet and ran to the window.
+
+"Maw wah!" groaned the old Hottentot, who was crouching under the
+eaves, and caught sight of Jack's pale face. "He'll take 'em as they
+come out," he whispered, making emphatic signs to the boy to go back.
+
+Jack knew that he must not let himself be seen. He remembered his
+father's charge, and moved away! What happened next he could not
+tell. There was a shout of savage glee, a wild, unintelligible yell.
+Vickel screamed like mad. A sudden light without—a strange, oppressive
+heat—and then a dense smoke began to fill the room.
+
+Jack dipped the towel in the water-jug and put it over his head, for
+bright red sparks began to fall between the rafters.
+
+"Father! Father!" he shrieked, forgetting his promise to be still in
+this unthought-of danger.
+
+The ostrich heard his piteous cry, and split the door between them
+with her powerful beak. Then Jack drew out the bar and let her in. She
+flew past him, and in her frantic efforts to escape dashed against the
+window, smashing glass and frame to atoms. Jack drove her with all
+speed through the flying splinters. She was almost out of the window,
+when the glare from the blaring roof so frightened her that she drew
+back with a scream. After wheeling round and round the room, Vickel
+tucked her head under her wing like a true ostrich, as if shutting her
+eyes to the danger she could no longer escape would save her.
+
+Jack was so well used to Vickel's ways that he knew he could catch her
+now easily enough. He had seen his father throw a fishing-net over her
+and haul her off when she was doing mischief in the garden. He managed
+to pull the blanket off his bed and throw it over her; but his limbs
+were heavy, and he felt like one moving in a dream.
+
+At last he heard his father calling, in an agony of desperation, "My
+boy! My boy! Heaven help me! Where's my boy?"
+
+"Here, father, here," Jack tried to answer, but his voice sounded
+feeble and strange even in his own ears. Things were falling all around
+him. Lights were flashing, and confused noises rang in his head. He
+was going, going somewhere. Then the dreadful feeling of oppression
+lightened, and he knew that the strong arms which clasped him so
+tightly were his father's.
+
+Something he murmured about getting a hood for Vickel, as his father
+lifted him through the broken window and gave him to the Hottentot.
+
+Once in the open air, Jack began to revive. The Hottentot laid him
+under the garden hedge, and charging him not to cry, ran back to help
+his master.
+
+Poor little Jack gazed at the blazing roof with a bewildered face, as
+his senses slowly returned to him. Suddenly it flashed upon his mind
+that his father was still in the burning house, and staggering to his
+feet, he tottered round the garden. He was just in time to see Vickel,
+who was still enveloped in the blanket, hauled out of the bedroom
+window, as if she had been a sack of wheat. Like himself, she was
+stupefied by the smoke, or it would not have been so easy to save her.
+
+"Drag her away!" shouted his father, as one of the great black chests
+was hoisted into the opening.
+
+The Hottentot tugged at the ends of the blanket. Down came the heavy
+chest with a thud, and Jack's father sprang on to the window-sill, with
+his face as black as a Kafir's and his shirt sleeves in a blaze. He
+threw himself on the ground and rolled over and over.
+
+The Hottentot snatched the blanket from Vickel's head and wrapped it
+round his master. Between them the flames were soon extinguished; for
+Mr. Treby seized some heavy sods, that were lying in a heap where he
+had been digging the day before, and crushed the burning shirt beneath
+them, plunging his arms into the midst of the heap.
+
+What could poor Jack be thinking of when he saw his father burrowing in
+the ground, and the Hottentot twisting the blanket round and round his
+shoulders, as if he were about to choke him? For he ran away!
+
+
+
+II.
+
+_UP IN THE MORNING._
+
+YES, Jack left his father writhing on the ground and ran away. But it
+was to find Tottie. Ah, where was Tottie? Jack reached the hut, and it
+was empty.
+
+Suddenly the two men looked up and missed him, and the shouts for the
+"The child! the child!" roused poor Tottie from her hiding-place.
+
+At the first alarm she had crept into the "sloot," that is, the deep
+ditch which ran round the back of the farm. But the thought that Jack
+was missing conquered her terror, and she crawled out, plastered with
+mud from head to foot.
+
+No one could have taken her for a woman; for she crept on her hands and
+knees, listening with her ear to the ground, as she heard the patter of
+the sheep, and felt sure that the thieves were driving them away. She
+was the first to catch sight of Jack coming out of her hut, and made
+signs to him to hide himself. He darted back into the corner of the
+hut, crouching in the dark, and waited while the sheep went by.
+
+He heard his father's voice shouting "Jack!" round the burning house,
+but he dared not answer.
+
+After a while, Tottie, still crawling on her hands and knees, peeped
+in at the door to see if he were safe. How she hugged him in her joy
+at their great deliverance, for she assured him that the thieves were
+gone; yet they dared not venture forth too soon. Tottie lay with her
+ear to the ground, almost afraid to breathe, listening to the roar of
+the flames and the falling of the rafters. A stealthy step was drawing
+near the hut; a gasping sigh was heard in the very doorway. Jack clung
+to Tottie now and shivered. A head was put in at the door. It was his
+father.
+
+"Safe! All safe!" was echoed from lip to lip, as the four seated
+themselves on the ground, for the white-haired Hottentot was behind his
+master.
+
+Then Tottie got up and found some food and water that were in the hut,
+and pressed them all to eat.
+
+"The utmost we can do now," said Jack's father, "is to protect
+ourselves. The thieves must take what they will."
+
+"They are gone," cried Tottie.
+
+But the cautious old Hottentot dared not believe her; so they sat still
+and listened until the day began to break. Jack's head was resting on
+his father's shoulder but no one slept.
+
+The flames were over but a dull, red glow still lit up the gray of the
+western sky when Mr. Treby ventured forth to reconnoitre.
+
+The sheepfold and the shed were still standing, but not one lamb was
+left. His house lay in ruins. Every leaf in his garden which the sun
+had spared was burned and blackened with the fire.
+
+But the agony of the night, when for one brief hour his
+scarcely-rescued Jack was missing, made him think far less of the
+actual loss than he would otherwise have done.
+
+He fed the oxen, which were still lowing in the stalls, and dressed
+his blistered arms with a handful of their meal, thankful to find the
+little hut he used as a store still standing.
+
+He had gone the round of the farm, and was slowly returning, when
+something moving on the other side of the sloot attracted his
+attention. Keeping a keen lookout, he crossed the ditch with his rifle
+on his shoulder, when he saw Vickel stretching out her long legs and
+gaping. His own shirt was dropping into tinder, and her beautiful gray
+wings were singed and shrivelled.
+
+At the sound of her master's voice, the frightened bird ran after him,
+and tucking her head under his arm, expressed her consternation by
+sundry hoarse screams as he took her back with him to the Hottentot's
+hut.
+
+Up sprang Jack, almost as overjoyed to find Vickel safe as his father
+had been to find him uninjured on Tottie's lap.
+
+"Never so bad but it might be worse," said Jack's father, stroking the
+curly head more fondly than ever. "Jump on Vickel's back and ride after
+me, for I cannot bear you out of my sight. You could not know what you
+were doing to run away from me as you did in the night. You might have
+been killed."
+
+"I was looking for Tottie," said Jack repentantly. He was afraid that
+he had made his father angry; for Mr. Treby turned his head away, but
+it was to brush the tears from his eyes, as he murmured,—
+
+"God bless you, my brave, true-hearted boy!" Then he added with a
+laugh, "We must all to work. The first thing is to ask our neighbours
+to help us to get back the sheep. I shall send the Hottentot to
+Scarsdorp. Tottie must watch the ruins. She is better able to take care
+of herself than you think, for you can't beat her at hide-and-seek.
+Then you and I, Jack, must take the ox-waggon, and try the temper of
+our neighbour the Boer. We English do not reckon them the best of
+friends, for they do not want us here. But I found a stray cow of his
+last year, so he owes me a good turn."
+
+Jack felt like a man as he followed his father from place to place,
+sometimes riding on Vickel's back, sometimes jumping down when he
+thought he could help in his father's preparations. He filled a sack
+with mealies, as they call the Indian corn, ready to feed the oxen by
+the way.
+
+
+Soon after the sun had risen, whilst the morning air blew cool and
+fresh, Jack was seated by his father's side in the front of the big,
+lumbering ox-waggon. Everything which Mr. Treby had been able to save
+from the fire was packed inside, for he was afraid to leave them in an
+open shed, with no better guard than Tottie.
+
+The fowls had all been scared away by the sight of the flames, and were
+wandering at will amongst the low bushes which dotted the plain they
+were crossing.
+
+The sky above their heads was one unclouded blue, and in the red sand
+which covered the plain the dusty ants were fighting.
+
+It was no easy matter to find the right path in such a wilderness
+of sand and bush, where there were no hills or trees to serve as
+land-marks. Jack's father had to look carefully on the ground for the
+ruts which had been made by the wheels of the post-cart.
+
+Jack knew that post-cart well with its six gray horses. It was their
+one link with the outward world. How often he had stood beside his
+father listening for the loud blast of the bugle which heralded its
+coming! For the arrival of the English mail is a day of joy to the
+colonist.
+
+Presently Jack's father looked up and pointed with his whip to a heavy
+cloud of dust.
+
+"It is the mail!" he exclaimed. "For once I am fortunate."
+
+"No, father," persisted Jack, who was looking the other way; "I am
+positive it is Vickel."
+
+Nearer and nearer came the storm of dust thrown up by the galloping
+horses, but Jack's eye was fastened on a light-gray figure skimming
+above that billowy sea of reddening sand.
+
+Mr. Treby drew his waggon out of the path and halted. As the Pretoria
+mail-cart came in sight, with its usual freight of passengers filling
+the seats and even clinging to the sides, Mr. Treby waved his
+handkerchief, and the six powerful grays drew up, stamping and snorting.
+
+"Any letters for me?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"Any mischief doing in this neighbourhood?" was the answering inquiry,
+as Mr. Wilton, the postman, opened his bag and sorted over its contents
+for an English newspaper.
+
+"We noticed an uncommon glow in the sky at our last halting-place," put
+in one of the passengers.
+
+"A little past midnight," added another.
+
+"We have kept a sharp lookout as we came along," continued the postman.
+"We were all of one opinion—there was a fire somewhere out on the
+veldt," for so the great African plains are usually called.
+
+"A fire!" repeated Mr. Treby bitterly. "Look yonder, where the
+smoke-wreath rises above a smouldering ash-heap, where last night,
+gentlemen, you would have seen a happy home—my home," he repeated in
+tones that wakened the sympathy of his auditors.
+
+For in those far-off wilds, Englishmen meet as brothers. Each is ready
+to help the other; for who can tell that, in the next turn of fortune's
+wheel, their own need may not be as pressing.
+
+Grave and anxious faces were turned to Mr. Treby, and many a
+deep-voiced exclamation of anger and pity interrupted his account of
+the night-attack upon his farm.
+
+"It is the beginning of a general rising among the Kafirs," said one.
+
+"A very ominous occurrence," observed another, shaking his head.
+
+"I'll do as you desire," promised Wilton. "I'll gallop on to Pretoria
+as hard as my horses can go and lodge the information with the captain
+of the mounted police. Had not you better come too?"
+
+"No," returned Jack's father; "the journey would be too long for me.
+I was a poor man yesterday; to-day I'm but ten steps from beggarhood.
+I am on my way to warn my neighbour, Van Immerseel. He counts his
+sheep by the thousand, and the next attack may be upon them. It was
+the sheep the villains wanted; and I had no help on the farm but one
+old Hottentot and his wife, so that I was single-handed against five.
+They thought to stop my rifle by flinging the firebrand on the thatch;
+and indeed they gave me enough to do to rescue my little boy from the
+flames."
+
+"Cheer up, old fellow," said one, "and tell us what we can do for you."
+
+"A round of shot and a coat, if it is not asking too much," ventured
+Jack's father. "I shall be able to dig out something from the ruins as
+the ashes cool; but my bullets will be melted into one lump by this
+time and my money into another."
+
+There was despair in the laugh with which this was said, but it was
+the despair of a brave man who, when he feels the wreck of hope, still
+works on.
+
+More than one shot-case was opened and the contents divided, before Mr.
+Treby had finished speaking.
+
+"What will you take for the fore ox with the crumpled horn?" asked a
+dark-haired man, who was holding on by the side of the post-cart.
+
+"Market price," answered Jack's father eagerly.
+
+Of course there was a show of disputing over the worth of the stalwart
+beast, after the usual fashion of buyers and sellers; but it did not
+last long. Mr. Treby unyoked the leader from his team and tied him by a
+long rope to the back of the post-cart.
+
+While the stranger was counting out the ten pounds in English money,
+which he finally agreed to give for the ox, Vickel overtook the waggon.
+She flew wheeling round and round for a while, drawing nearer with
+every circle, until Jack, who had been listening most eagerly to the
+conversation, perceived her manœuvres. So, whilst his father was busy
+with the ox, he crept to the back of the waggon, and parting the heavy
+tilt, took her in.
+
+Vickel sprang up eagerly enough at the sight of her Jack's face; but
+when she felt the waggon move she was frightened.
+
+Jack's arm was round her neck in a moment, as if he thought he could
+hold her against her will.
+
+"I'll keep you somehow, Vic," he whispered. "You have grown such a big
+chick I can't hold you. Come, you must go; bye-bye."
+
+Pushing his fingers through a little hole in the sack of mealies, he
+got a few in his hand, and whilst she was picking them up, he slipped
+off one of his stockings. He poured another handful of the mealies into
+it and held it before Vic. Down went the long beak, snapping at the
+corn, which slipped lower and lower in the stocking. This was just what
+Jack wanted.
+
+"You good old darling!" he exclaimed, pulling it right over her head
+and half-way down her long neck, until it fitted. The big bird became
+as passive as a dove. She folded her long legs under her and sat down
+on the sack of mealies. Much elated with his success, Jack climbed on
+to her back and held the stocking fast with both hands.
+
+"Well done, my little man," said a diamond-digger who had been watching
+him from the back of the post-cart. "You've learned the trick of the
+ostrich-catchers, I can see."
+
+"She is mine," answered Jack proudly. "She has followed me right across
+the veldt like a dog."
+
+"And what shall I give you for her?" asked stranger, shaking some gold
+in his hand.
+
+"I sell Vickel!" exclaimed Jack in anger and disgust. "No, never."
+
+Mr. Treby hesitated for a moment. "In such a strait as ours, Jack—" he
+began.
+
+Jack looked up into his father's face, and burst into a flood of tears.
+
+"No, I can't do it, gentlemen; it would break his heart. I can't part
+them. She has been his only playfellow, you see. Thanks, many, all the
+same," added Mr. Treby, turning to the kindly passengers.
+
+There was a broad grin on the diamond-digger's face; but the postman
+laughed good-naturedly. "How about the coat?" he asked.
+
+"I can pay for it now," put in Jack's father, "if any one of you could
+accommodate me."
+
+But not for love or money could a coat be obtained, simply because not
+one of those travel-stained, way-worn travellers had a second with him.
+
+"Passengers by the Government mail from Natal to Pretoria have for the
+most part to leave their luggage behind them for the transport-rider's
+waggon," explained the postman. "Is there anything I can bring you from
+Pretoria as I return?"
+
+Jack's father considered a moment or two, counted the money in his
+hand, and dictated a short list of necessaries, which the postman wrote
+down in his pocket-book.
+
+As he gathered up his reins, he tossed a broken biscuit to the sobbing
+child, and with a chorus of farewell wishes from the passengers, set
+off his horses at a rattling pace. The lumbering waggon was soon
+distanced.
+
+Mr. Treby saw the passengers lean forward in anxious discussion;
+and many a backward glance was cast upon the burnt rags, which were
+dropping from him at every step. But he knew that his wants would not
+be forgotten; and more than that, his warning would be faithfully given
+to every farm-house on their route.
+
+He was lost in his own thoughts, whilst Jack munched his biscuit in
+silence, watching his father's troubled countenance.
+
+A groan burst from Mr. Treby's lips as the post-cart was lost to sight,
+and not a sight or sound of human being disturbed the stillness of that
+vast treeless plain.
+
+Then two small fearless arms were clasped about his neck, and little
+loving kisses covered his bearded face as Jack whispered, "Did you
+really mind me keeping Vickel?"
+
+
+
+III.
+
+_AFRICAN NEIGHBOURS._
+
+FOR an hour or two during the burning heat in the middle of the day
+Mr. Treby was obliged to rest. Here and there the veldt was crossed
+by little streams. By the edge of one of these the waggon halted. In
+places it was nearly dry, yet the milk-bushes, with their long waxen
+leaves, grew taller by its margin.
+
+Jack and his ostrich were glad to alight and stretch themselves, for
+Vickel could not stand upright beneath the tilt without knocking her
+head. A good play amidst the waving tufts of tambouki grass refreshed
+them both.
+
+When Mr. Treby had fed his oxen, he sat down under the shadow of the
+nearest bush, and called Jack to share the dinner which Tottie had
+provided for them. The ostrich found her own amongst the loose stones
+and sprouting leaves by the brook.
+
+When they were ready to start again on their journey, Jack's father
+gathered a nice bundle of the long, dry grass to make a bed for his
+little boy in a corner of the waggon. Jack coiled himself up in it like
+a bird in its nest, and found it very comfortable, whilst his father
+calculated how far the ten pounds could go. He had neither pencil nor
+paper, so he made his figures with the point of his penknife on the
+side of the waggon.
+
+It was fortunate, he thought, that the knife was in the pocket of his
+trousers. As he felt for it, he pulled out the newspaper the postman
+had given to him. It was the last number of the "Illustrated London
+News." What a burlesque, it seemed to him, to receive it in such
+circumstances!
+
+"Here, Jack," he said, "here is something for you to look at. Take care
+of it, my boy, for I was just thinking you might forget how to read
+before we had another book to call our own. We shall want so much to
+build the house again."
+
+"I shall never forget how to read, father," answered Jack decidedly;
+"and I can write with a burned stick on the wall of Tottie's hut, or
+make figures, as you are doing now, for I have got my knife as well as
+you." He dived into the pocket of his jacket as he spoke, and produced
+a stout clasp-knife, which had seen a deal of service in the garden.
+
+"All right," returned his father. "We must gather up the fragments.
+Every trifle may be of use."
+
+Then Mr. Treby went on with his calculations, and Jack lay back in his
+nook, with the big rush-hat Tottie had found for him tilting over his
+eyes. How he enjoyed his lovely pictures; whilst Vickel, who had become
+more reconciled to the jolting waggon, diverted herself by enlarging
+the hole in the sack of mealies.
+
+When Mr. Treby looked round again Jack was fast asleep, with the
+precious paper still in his hand. The poor child was worn out with the
+alarm and excitement of the previous night, so his father was careful
+not to disturb him; for he said to himself with a sigh, "No one can
+tell what may lie before us."
+
+
+Jack did not rouse until the glorious African sunset had tinged the
+lonely veldt with molten gold. Hard-winged, spotted insects buzzed in
+and out of the waggon. One blood-thirsty mosquito refused all notice to
+quit until Vickel snapped at it most ferociously.
+
+But they were near their journey's end. The zinc roofs of the Boer's
+farm-buildings glowed like fires in the distance. Behind them was
+the wide flat plain, one dull, monotonous red; before them rose the
+rocky hills, the boundary of Jack's horizon. He had seen them looming
+cloud-like in the distance as long as he could remember anything; but
+now, as the waggon rumbled on, and they came nearer and nearer, as
+the daylight faded, they seemed to alter into some big blur of brown,
+blotting out the ruddy sunset gold. The clumps of bush grew larger,
+and now and then a shy antelope darted across their path. Jack sat up,
+resting one hand on his father's knee. The weary oxen dragged heavily
+along.
+
+"Jack," said his father, "just one more mile. We are close on
+Jaarsveldt. Cheer up, my boy."
+
+Then Jack began to sing, but his father stopped him. "Hush, there is
+somebody coming."
+
+A wild cat scampered over a ridge of stones and made the oxen bellow.
+She had been startled from her lair by the approaching horseman.
+
+"There they come," continued Mr. Treby, as a powerful black horse
+with an equally ponderous rider emerged from the shadows; two Kafir
+attendants followed, dragging between them a buck antelope. Some
+smaller game was hanging to their master's saddle. "I ought to know
+that young giant," soliloquized Mr. Treby. "He must be a son of Van
+Immerseel." It was evident that the hunting party was returning to the
+farm.
+
+As they drew near to each other, the young Boor stared hard at the
+ox-waggon and its ragged driver. But despite his forlorn appearance,
+Mr. Treby raised his hat with the air of an English gentleman, and
+pointing to the homestead before them, asked him if it were the
+residence of Van Immerseel.
+
+The gigantic youngster stared and scratched his head, answering with a
+sullen "Jah" (Yes).
+
+Mr. Treby's knowledge of Dutch was small, and young Immerseel knew
+nothing of English, but he comprehended that it was his father Mr.
+Treby wanted, and invited him by gestures to join company. He walked
+his horse by the side of the waggon, and laughed most heartily
+when Vickel poked her long neck through the tilt, which she had
+been strenuously endeavouring to slit for the last hour. But his
+exclamations were in Dutch, and Mr. Treby failed to catch their import.
+
+When they passed the outlying ostrich camp belonging to his father's
+farm, he pointed it out, and Mr. Treby expressed his admiration for the
+large flock of majestic birds it contained, by nods and smiles. But
+the proximity of so many of her feathered kin disturbed poor Vickel
+sorely, and taxed Jack's ingenuity to the utmost to keep her in bounds.
+Young Immerseel soon sent his black followers to the right about, the
+antelope was left under the wall of the camp, and one of the Kafirs
+ran forward to apprise the family at Jaarsveldt of the approach of the
+waggon.
+
+The house was large, low, and square, of substantial red brick. On one
+side was the orchard, on the other extensive sheep-kraals; for where
+Mr. Treby had counted his sheep by the score, Van Immerseel counted his
+by the thousand. The water in the dam shone like silver beside the dark
+row of Kafir huts where his servants lived. The house was surrounded
+by a low wall, which enclosed the garden and farm-yard. At the open
+gate stood the strong-built, broad-shouldered owner. His habitual
+hospitality was tempered by his surly dislike of the English.
+
+"Walt," he shouted to his eldest son, in a voice so gruff and deep that
+Jack thought it might have belonged to the strongest of their oxen.
+
+"We must not be dismayed at that, Jack. These 'Ooms and 'Tantes' are
+a worthy race, if you can but get on their right side," observed Mr.
+Treby.
+
+"Ooms and tantes?" repeated Jack inquiringly.
+
+"Yes; uncles and aunts, as we should say," laughed his father. "The
+Boers and their wives are uncles and aunts to all the rest of the
+world. Pray, don't forget that. Now take the reins."
+
+Mr. Treby sprang lightly to the ground, and walked up to his burly
+neighbour with outstretched hand, offering the customary salutation of
+the Dutch, "Dagh, oom" (Good-day, uncle).
+
+Slowly and sullenly the hand was taken, but the unwilling pressure
+tightened to a hearty grip as the Englishman hastened to explain his
+object. This was not an easy matter, but he pointed to his burned
+clothes, about which the smell of smoke still lingered, and then
+across the silent veldt to where a dull black column of smoke rose up
+ominously in the far distance.
+
+"Burned out!" The Boer comprehended thus far in a moment.
+
+The shepherds at Jaarsveldt had also seen the ruddy glow in the
+midnight sky.
+
+The sullen frown began to change its character. The wrinkled brow was
+puckered still, but with most genuine concern. He slapped Mr. Treby on
+the back, and forced him to enter; whilst his son gave his horse to one
+of the Kafirs, and lifted Jack out of the waggon as if he had been a
+baby, mounted him on his shoulder, and marched off, laughing, to the
+house.
+
+From such an unwonted elevation, Jack had an excellent view of the
+house they were approaching over his father's head. But this hardly
+consoled him for the loss of dignity.
+
+A wooden staircase outside the house led to the upper story, which was
+little better than a loft, and was used as the general store for every
+variety of household goods and discarded lumber. The door of the house
+was cut in two, like an English stable door, and over the lower half,
+which was closed, Tante Milligen was hanging, anxious to see what sort
+of people her husband was bringing. Around her stood her black and
+yellow maids, excited and eager, for the arrival of the strangers was
+a pleasant break in the dull monotony of their daily life. At a word
+from the "oom," a woolly-haired black (with nothing but a dirty scarlet
+blanket twisted round her waist) was sent running with a message, but
+to whom or where Mr. Treby had no idea.
+
+Tante Milligen threw open the door, and dispersing the little knot of
+servants and children, invited the travellers to enter.
+
+Jack looked round the large white-washed room with some surprise. The
+heavy chairs and lumbering settee were covered with home-tanned skins;
+but the curiously-spotted floor attracted the most of his attention. It
+was made of clay, thickly dotted over with plum-stones, well polished
+by the friction of many feet.
+
+An ample supper was awaiting the return of the young hunter—huge joints
+of beef, from which the rations for the numerous dependants had been
+already cut; piles of roaster-cake; and above all, a well-filled basket
+of grapes, oranges, and peaches.
+
+At first poor Jack was almost dazed by the sudden change from the
+shadowy night to the bright lamp-light within the Boer's "sit-kamé"
+(sit-chamber, or sitting-room, as we should say in English). More
+bewildering still was the buzz of strange voices around him, every one
+speaking in a language he could not understand. Walt placed him on the
+wondrous floor, in the middle of the room, and called to his younger
+brother, a boy about Jack's age, but twice his size, "Zyl, Zyl."
+
+Jack caught the name, and smiled, as a lumpy, sheepish-looking boy
+answered the brotherly appeal, by seizing him by both hands and
+dragging him to the table, around which the family were gathering.
+Their sister, a fat, freckled girl of thirteen, sat staring at him,
+with her thumb in her mouth, until poor Jack grew very hot and
+uncomfortable, for he was as black as a sweep and as shy as a wild
+rabbit. He wanted to keep close to his father, who was doing his best
+to cover up the awkwardness of his introduction, and make the most of
+the few Dutch phrases he could command.
+
+In vain Jack tried to edge a little nearer to him. Between Walt and Zyl
+there was no escape. Tante Milligen loaded his plate with the tough
+beef, which at that hour of night he knew not how to eat. His eyes were
+fixed upon the corners of the room, in one of which lay a little bundle
+of blue and white check, and in the other the head and horns of the
+bullock whose ribs they were eating. Presently the bundle rolled over,
+and Jack discovered by its snoring that it really was a sleeping child.
+
+Just then the black maid returned, followed by a young man in a
+pepper-and-salt suit, with an English hat. Jack's father brightened,
+for he saw by the cast of the stranger's countenance he was a German,
+and guessed that the Boer, who was probably his master, had summoned
+him to act as interpreter.
+
+This new-comer was quickly seated at the family supper-table, between
+Van Immerseel and Mr. Treby. Yes, it was fortunate this young Otto,
+the German shepherd, knew about as much of English as Mr. Treby did
+of Dutch. With his assistance a sort of patch-work conversation was
+carried on.
+
+"Vat ou zay?" the Boer inquired continually, for he was slow of
+understanding.
+
+The one fact "burned out" had been made plain to him. To this he now
+added, "set on fire." When at last he was made to comprehend, "sheep
+gone," he laid down his knife and fork in sympathetic consternation.
+After a while they began to understand each other better. Walt, who
+seemed far more intelligent than his father, became an interested
+listener, and quickly grasped the position in which the unfortunate
+English farmer now stood. He scratched his head, as if recalling
+some occurrence to his memory; and then rubbing his hands gleefully,
+thundered in Mr. Treby's ear, as if he thought the loudness of his
+voice would make his meaning plainer.
+
+He had been hunting "velderbeeste" all day. Jah, he was sure he had
+crossed fresh sheep-tracks, leading to the rocks among which the free
+Kafirs had their homes.
+
+"Follow them," counselled his father, and Walt's eyes brightened at the
+prospect of a fight.
+
+Then it was Mr. Treby's turn to explain. He managed to make them
+understand that he was alone, having sent his only man to Scarsdorp to
+warn his neighbour there.
+
+Whilst this conversational medley was taking place, Tante Milligen
+perceived poor Jack's vain endeavour to get through his supper, and
+kindly exchanged the gigantic slice of beef for roaster-cakes and
+honey. Zyl and his sister Genderen watched these disappear, and before
+the last mouthful was finished, piled his plate with grapes and
+peaches. After his long and dusty drive, the fruit seemed delicious;
+but in spite of his utmost endeavours, Jack was nodding over his supper.
+
+With a good-humoured smile, Tante Milligen made a sign. Walt took him
+up once more, and laid him on the sheep-skin by the snoring bundle.
+
+It was intolerable to be treated like a baby, just because they were
+all so big and he so little. Jack started up belligerently, but his
+father's eye checked him. So he contented himself with shrugging
+his shoulders against the white-washed wall, and staring at his
+"vis-à-vis,"—the bull's head—for he was far too indignant to bestow a
+single glance upon his sleeping companion.
+
+"I should just like to show them the sort of stuff an English boy is
+made of," he thought.
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+_JAARSVELDT BY DAYLIGHT._
+
+"OUT-SPAN by our gate," said Van Immersed to Mr. Treby. "In the morning
+we may find out which way the sheep were driven. What could you do
+single-handed in the open, suppose those fellows should return? I am
+off with Otto and the lads to my own sheep-kraals. When once such work
+begins, who knows where it may stop? Those black neighbours of ours
+won't catch me napping; but you are beaten out of time already. Turn in
+till daylight."
+
+Otto duly translated, adding to his master's advice the comforting
+remark that the black beggars could not drive away the veldt.
+
+So Jack's father decided to live in his waggon a day or two until he
+knew what course to take. The Boar's view of last night's proceedings
+was similar to the postman's, that he felt it would be unwise to risk
+returning to his burning farm at present. Until the ashes cooled,
+nothing could be done. He only wished Tottie was with them; but Tottie,
+who had seen the marauders pass while she lay hidden in the sloot, did
+not believe they were Kafirs at all, but a pack of half-caste thieves,
+who would make away with their booty as fast as they could, and never
+think of returning. When they were gone, she saw no reason why she
+should leave her hut.
+
+Meanwhile some of the Boer's men had unyoked Mr. Treby's oxen and
+secured them for the night. His pleasant way of speaking was so
+different from the rough manners of the Boers, they helped him gladly.
+Whilst they were thus engaged "out-spanning," as they say in Africa,
+Walt Immerseel cut off the horns from the bull's head, and putting one
+in his own pocket, offered the other to Mr. Treby.
+
+"With these we can make each other hear if anything occurs in the
+night," he said, and Otto repeated.
+
+When the danger-signal was agreed upon, Walt marched off to play patrol
+on the other side of the sheep-kraals.
+
+Jack was already in his grassy nest, and now his father lay down beside
+him.
+
+"There is no word of comfort for us to-night, Jack," he said
+despondently. "Our Bible was on the shelf, wasn't it?"
+
+"Yes," answered his boy; "so it is burnt. Everything must be burnt by
+this time—everything that was in the house, I mean, father."
+
+"Yes, I am afraid so," was the gloomy answer. "We must fall back on
+memory. Tell me some verse or other, my dear, before we go to sleep."
+
+Jack thought for a little while, and then he began repeat softly,—
+
+   "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
+
+"That's right," murmured his father. "Troubled and afraid! It is just
+what I am to-night; but it won't do. I can't see our way out of this;
+but the Lord will provide. Draw a little closer, Jack; let me have
+tight hold of you whilst we go to sleep."
+
+The sleep they so sorely needed came at last; but it was broken before
+daybreak by the heavy tramp of the Boer and his son returning to the
+house, for with approaching daylight the fear of an attack from the
+thieves diminished.
+
+"All right," shouted Walt Immerseel, very proud of the new English
+phrase he had beguiled the tedious night-watch by learning from Otto.
+
+Mr. Treby waved his hat in reply; then the Boer stopped, and beckoning
+to Otto, who was following, came up to the waggon. He seated himself on
+the shaft, and entered into a long conversation; but as Jack was only
+half-awake, he could not understand what they were saying.
+
+Walt had gone into the house, but he soon came back with a huge cup of
+steaming coffee and a plate of cold beef left from the last night's
+supper. Evidently the hospitable Boers did not mean to let the poor
+Englishman starve.
+
+"Now, Jack," said his father as soon as they were alone, "I am going
+away with young Walt and his men to follow the sheep-tracks they saw
+yesterday, so I must leave you here. You will be quite safe, as all the
+farm people are astir, and they seem very kindly disposed. You must be
+a man, and take care of the few things we have saved. Tante Milligen
+has offered to look after you. Don't take offence at their queer ways.
+You were so tired last night you were almost cross. I have told them
+you would rather stay in the waggon, and we may not be gone long."
+
+Jack felt a strange rising in his throat at the thought of being left
+behind, but he set his teeth hard. One thing he was quite sure about—he
+was not going to add to his father's trouble in any way; so he gulped
+back the rising tears, and answered bravely, "Never mind me, father; I
+shall get on somehow."
+
+He drank a little coffee from his father's cup, and then lay down again
+in the dry grass. Mr. Treby covered him with the tattered remains of
+the blanket which had hooded Vickel, and then went to fetch a pail of
+water from the farm-pond. When he returned, Jack was fast asleep again.
+
+His father took good care not to waken him. "The longer he sleeps the
+better," he said to himself. "It will do him good, and he will not miss
+me so much."
+
+
+But Jack was sorely vexed when he roused at last to find his father
+fairly gone. With a stretch and a shake Jack got up, and gave Vickel
+her breakfast from the mealie sack; then he made himself a seat on the
+corner of the chest, much wondering what he should do for his own.
+
+It was a glorious morning. He could hear the bleating of the calves
+in the farm-yard and the far-off tinkle from the sheepfold; but the
+big brown hills, with their rocky steeps, attracted the most of his
+attention, until he heard the shrill voices of the Kafir servants as
+they went about their daily work. Then Jack shrank back shyly, and
+contented himself with stroking Vickel's wings. It was grievous to see
+how her beautiful feathers were burnt and singed.
+
+Jack tried to make her look a little better by brushing off the browned
+tips, when the tilt was suddenly parted at the back of the waggon and a
+smiling baby face peeped in; for when the Boer's children met at their
+early breakfast, they could talk of nothing but the little English boy.
+Zyl had already ascertained that he was still asleep in the waggon,
+and Genderen was looking forward to carrying him some breakfast.
+The presence of the little stranger seemed to them a very pleasant
+adventure. Jack's companion on the sheep-skin, baby Sannie, felt really
+aggrieved to think she was the only one in the household who had not
+seen him. But their mother charged them on no account to waken the poor
+child.
+
+Still Zyl thought there could be no harm in letting his little sister
+have just one peep at their sleepy visitor. So when they ran out to
+play, he mounted her on his shoulder. Away they went through the gate,
+and climbing up the back of the waggon, startled Jack, who had never
+seen so young a child before. He paused in his grooming, lost in
+admiring surprise. It was a dear little face, in spite of its broad
+Dutch features, so sunburned and freckled; and the big blue eyes that
+stared at Jack looked so innocent under the mass of flaxen curls, which
+completely covered the low forehead, that he involuntarily exclaimed,
+"You little dear."
+
+But Vickel was far from sharing her master's feelings. Her head was
+still full of thieves; and making a dart forward, she struck angrily at
+the infantine intruder. Zyl dragged his sister backwards, but Vickel
+had caught the blue-checked pinafore in her beak.
+
+Jack was frightened. He sprang upon Vickel's back, and seizing her
+head with both his hands, tried to make her let it go. Zyl tugged
+with all his might; but Vickel was stronger than either of them. Zyl
+growled out something Jack could not understand. Little Sannie screamed
+vociferously. Before the boys could extricate the pinafore, it was torn
+to ribbons. Jack dared not release his bird, for fear she should fly on
+to Zyl, who had struck at her more than once with his clenched fists.
+
+Sannie was more frightened than hurt. Zyl had tumbled her down on the
+ground whilst he tried to fasten the back of the tilt, for fear Vickel
+should swoop down upon them, in spite of Jack's endeavours to restrain
+her.
+
+"Is your sister hurt?" asked Jack repeatedly, but Zyl only answered
+with angry snorts. He grasped Sannie's hand and ran off with her,
+banging the gate after them, whilst Jack alternately scolded and
+soothed his refractory pet.
+
+"O Vickel," he groaned, "what have you done? That boy will tell his
+mother what a dreadful bird you've been; and then I don't know what
+will happen to us, and father is not here."
+
+Jack laid his head on the ostrich's neck, and fairly sobbed in his
+dread of the consequences. The sound of a scolding voice in the
+farm-yard made him look up. As he was still perched on Vickel's back,
+he had a good view of the farm-house and its surroundings, through the
+slit which Vickel had made in the tilt on the previous day.
+
+Sannie's screams had brought one of the Kafir maids to see what was
+the matter. She snatched the torn pinafore off the unfortunate little
+toddler, and held it up before Tante Milligen, whose head appeared
+above the half-door of the house at the same moment. The Dutch mother
+left her kneading trough, and tucking up the corner of her wide white
+apron, rushed out upon her youngest born, scolding and threatening at
+the top of her voice. Behind her crept Genderen, in her long blue and
+white checked pinafore reaching to the toes of her home-made sheep-skin
+shoes. The brown sun-kappje she was tying on very much resembled the
+head-gear of a Sister of Mercy.
+
+Jack would have laughed at the grotesque figures before him if he had
+not been so full of consternation, a feeling which Genderen's pale face
+seemed to reciprocate.
+
+"Footsack, Zyl," she cried.
+
+And now Jack laughed in spite of his anxieties as the meaning of the
+queer Dutch word was made plain to him; for in accordance with his
+sister's advice, Zyl made a dart at the side gate into the farm-yard,
+but the Kafir maid frustrated his intention by setting her back against
+it.
+
+The vocabulary of the scold in Dutch is by no means a limited one, and
+Tante Milligen seemed as if she would exhaust it all in her indignation
+at the state of Sannie's pinafore.
+
+Poor Sannie's words were rendered unintelligible by her sobs; and Zyl
+was caught beyond all hope of escape. He stood before his angry mother,
+stolid and sullen as a young buffalo, and never opened his lips,
+whilst she knocked their heads together until Genderen began to cry in
+sympathy. But not one word of excuse or complaint would the Dutch boy
+utter.
+
+How Jack's heart warmed to him, for he could so easily have told of
+Vickel and screened himself; but to see the baby struck was more than
+Jack could endure. He sprang off Vickel's back, and scooping great
+handfuls of mealies out of the hole in the sack, he left her eating
+them, and rushed to the gate. But Zyl, in his fear that the ostrich
+might follow him, had fastened it inside.
+
+Jack knocked and shouted, "Mrs. Immerseel, Mrs. Immerseel, don't beat
+that poor little baby. Oh, pray don't. She could not help it. Let me
+in, and I'll tell you how it happened."
+
+The Kafir maid opened the gate in answer to his summons; but, oh, it
+was dreadful to find no one could understand a single word he said. He
+marched up to Tante Milligen, and lifted his pent-house of a hat, as
+he had seen his father lift his, and held out his hand. But, alas, it
+looked so dirty, he drew it back again in disgust.
+
+Although Jack's attempted explanations were all in vain, his sudden
+appearance created a diversion. Tante Milligen, supposing he had come
+to beg for a breakfast, smiled at him good-naturedly, and pointed to
+the kitchen-door. Jack shook his head, and tried to get between her and
+little Sannie.
+
+"What can the child want?" thought the Dutch woman. "Something wrong
+with his father's beasts perhaps." So she sent her Kafir maid to see.
+
+Off bounded Jack as soon as he perceived her destination, for he knew
+if he did not get to the waggon before her, Vickel would be sure to fly
+at her. He was white as ashes with fear as he scrambled on to the low,
+broad wheel, and stood with one eye on the ostrich and the other on the
+Kafir.
+
+Jack half hoped, as they were both African born, they might take to
+each other. He was right so far; the Kafir was too wise to interfere
+with his bird, and Vickel, who was still quietly feeding, took no
+notice of her. The maid looked all round, saw that the oxen were
+quietly grazing, and feeling convinced there was nothing amiss, turned
+to Jack. He did not like the queer black creature, with her bare arms
+and legs, to stare at him so. She was not like his yellow-faced Tottie,
+who always wore a woman's gown, and on Sundays a clean white cap as
+well; and from this semi-savage, in her scarlet blanket, he shrank. Why
+wouldn't she go away?
+
+It was very horrid to be stared at, so Jack got into the waggon to
+escape from those glittering, bead-like eyes, and away went the Kafir
+singing.
+
+Her song called forth a burst of laughter from a Hottentot herdsman,
+who was coming to lead the oxen to water. Happily for Jack, he could
+speak a little English.
+
+"No like de Black Antelope," he said with a grin; "much she likee you.
+Listen how she go, making songs of 'Dis pretty Ingleese lamb, left
+alone on de wide, wide veldt.'"
+
+Then Jack laughed in his turn, and was rather glad to hear that she had
+gone to fetch him some breakfast.
+
+But he could not forget little Sannie. Standing up tip-toe on the top
+of the chest, he once more reconnoitred the entrance to Jaarsveldt
+through the slit in the tilt.
+
+Zyl had disappeared, but Genderen was trying to comfort to comfort
+her little sister. She took her in her arms and carried her round
+the farm-yard, holding her up to watch the little pigs tumbling one
+over another in their play. But it was of no use; the pitiful sobs
+continued. Then Genderen brought her outside the gate to try the
+diversion of a little walk, pointing out the Englishman's waggon, and
+trying to teach her to call "Jock! Jock Trairbee!"
+
+Of course, poor Sannie only screamed the louder, and struggling from
+her sister's arms, ran away. Genderen's freckled face was pink with
+fatigue.
+
+Jack ran to her help with his "Illustrated News." But Sannie would not
+look at him; so he took out the loose picture that was folded in it and
+spread it before them on the grass, with a nod to Genderen, and ran off.
+
+It was happiness to Jack to watch the delight of the sisters from his
+peep-hole, as they cuddled together with the picture on their knees.
+There they sat, sucking the thumb of one hand, and tracing with the
+other the different figures in the picture.
+
+When the Black Antelope returned with a bowl of milk and a hot
+roaster-cake, Jack felt unable to enjoy his breakfast and do full
+justice to Tante Milligen's hospitality. His head was aching and
+his hands were hot, so he sank down in his grassy nest to read his
+"Illustrated News," and was nearly falling asleep when a great stone
+was aimed at Vickel's head.
+
+Jack was up in a moment, ready to defend his pet, for he caught sight
+of Zyl picking up a second stone under the garden wall.
+
+With a great shout of defiance the two boys rushed at each other, and
+in spite of all Jack's father had said, a fight between English and
+Dutch was imminent. But Genderen's brown sun-kappje suddenly appeared
+on the scene, with the Hottentot cow-keeper behind it. The sister
+was evidently warning and her follower threatening the unmanageable
+youngster with "ein lecker slaat" when the "oom" came back, if he
+persisted in annoying the English boy. Zyl bent his head as if he were
+a young goat about to butt, but never uttered a word even to his sister.
+
+He might throw stones at Vickel by way of revenge for her attack; but,
+for all that, he was not going to tell tales. Jack grew hot and cold by
+turns, for he thought there would be no mercy for his bird if it were
+known that she was the true culprit who had torn the pinafore, and his
+gratitude to Zyl for so doggedly holding his tongue got the better of
+his anger. The arm he had raised to strike the stone front the Dutch
+boy's hand went lovingly round his neck instead. Jack drew himself
+up beside him with a look at Genderen which said, "We two understand
+other; just let us alone, please."
+
+Zyl gave him the queerest of glances from the corner of his eye. It was
+becoming evident to his slow intellect that Jack, having shared in the
+scrape, was ready to take his share in the punishment also. He rather
+liked that, and the grip which he gave Jack's other hand was as hearty
+as it was crushing.
+
+
+
+V.
+
+_MAKING FRIENDS._
+
+GENDEREN alone, of all the Boer's household, had found out the truth
+from little Sannie's sobbing complaints. Dull and heavy as she
+appeared, there was more in her than Jack imagined. She suspected her
+brother of teasing the ostrich, but was so frightened at the thought of
+Sannie's danger that she could not rest. Her first care was to get the
+boys into the garden. The Black Antelope followed with Jack's untested
+breakfast—the bowl of milk and the once hot roaster-cake. There was
+twice as much as he could eat, but Zyl was quite ready to assist him
+with the overplus. They sat down together on one of the garden seats in
+the midst of a grove of orange-trees.
+
+Genderen shook down some of their golden fruit to fill the English
+boy's pockets. Jack took out his precious "Illustrated News" to make
+room for them, and whilst the important business of the breakfast
+proceeded, Zyl stretched himself on the grass, absorbed in the delight
+its many pictures afforded.
+
+When Genderen saw the two boys she had caught fighting had struck up
+such a sudden friendship, she felt somewhat amazed. Fearing it was
+too warm to last, she slipped away to execute the second part of her
+plan as quickly as she could. To feed the young ostrich chicks was
+Genderen's daily task, therefore she was not at all afraid of Vickel
+herself. Filling her lap with food, she went into the farm-yard, and
+calling her own majestic hen with her fluffy brood, began to feed them.
+
+The cries of the young birds soon brought Vickel out of the waggon.
+Genderen saw her bright eyes peeping over the wall at her feathered
+kin. Then the Dutch girl showered the corn from her lap, inviting
+Vickel to come over the wall and share the feast; but the ostrich was
+shy, and retreated.
+
+"No, she cannot get over the wall," thought the Dutch girl; "and if I
+can but coax her into the yard, she will be safe out of the children's
+way, or there will be more mischief between them, for somehow or other
+this bird is at the bottom of it."
+
+Acting upon this conviction, she did her utmost to tempt the clever
+bird to follow her, but in vain. At last she set the gate wide open,
+and leading out the biggest of her chickens, she let them walk before
+the waggon, trusting that Vickel would join them of her accord.
+Ostriches have a decided partiality for women and girls, and when
+Genderen began to call her chicks together, Vic put her head on one
+side and listened.
+
+The impression was deepened when a few grains of corn were flung at
+Vickel's feet. She eyed them askance for a while, but as the chicks
+moved on, she condescended to taste. Having once tasted, and found
+the breakfast Genderen provided for her chicks was much better than
+her own, she continued to follow them slowly and at a considerable
+distance, picking up the grains of corn Genderen was careful to scatter
+in their rear.
+
+As the girl drew near the gate, the Hottentot came to her assistance. A
+heap of corn was placed in Vickel's sight to invite her to enter; and
+when she hovered hesitatingly round the gate of plenty, the cowherd
+cracked his whip behind her. In she flew with a bound. The gate was
+gently closed, and Jack's pet was a prisoner. Genderen, very happy in
+the success of her manœuvre, returned to the house.
+
+Beautiful as the Boer's garden seemed to Jack on that lovely summer
+morning, he did not care to stay there long. His father had told him
+he must take care of all the things in the waggon, and he wanted to go
+back to it. But Zyl, who valued the pictures in the "Illustrated News"
+almost more than Jack himself, was loath to let them go. His sullen
+face lit up at the sight of men on horseback with their dogs at their
+side, and soldiers drawn up in battle array. Tents, too, and Japanese
+pagodas, all of which he must scrutinize until each picture was made
+out to his own satisfaction.
+
+Jack's impatience nearly upset the good understanding so recently
+established between them; but nothing could turn the young Boer from
+his purpose. He had made up his mind to see all there was to be seen in
+the beautiful English paper, and he would. To add to Jack's uneasiness,
+he was sure he heard his ostrich calling; but after his father's charge
+to take care of the paper, he was afraid to go away without it. He
+tried to take it out of Zyl's hand, promising to bring it again.
+
+But Zyl, who could not understand Jack's English, only retorted, "Jah!
+Jah!" and held it fast.
+
+Then Jack ran to the gate, but Zyl was before him. The upper bolt,
+which was high above Jack's head, was drawn, and the Dutch boy stood
+laughing. Then he gave Jack a brotherly hug, and led him round the
+garden.
+
+"Don't go," said Zyl by every action. He put back the little linen
+tents which were dotted about the beds, and showed him the lovely
+flowers blooming beneath their grateful shadows.
+
+Oh, what a contrast to Jack's garden at home! The roses here seemed to
+spring up as easily as thistles, and the tulips from the Dutchman's
+"father-land" seemed to Jack, with his exceeding love of flowers, like
+fairy bells. And then the grapes and peaches, shining in their glossy
+leaves, filled him wonder and admiration. How was it all done? Why
+could not their garden at home be made like it?
+
+[Illustration: FEEDING THE OSTRICH CHICKS.]
+
+He began to think these rough Boers knew more than he did after all.
+Perhaps he could find out how they managed it.
+
+There was one particular corner at which Zyl paused with evident pride.
+It was a perfect square, marked off from the rest of the garden by
+a row of flowering cactus. In the angle of the wall stood a clumsy,
+three-cornered stool, which Zyl endeavoured to make Jack understand was
+his own handiwork. The frame of an old umbrella had been nailed to the
+wall, and as its silk covering had altogether disappeared, it had been
+skilfully thatched with grass. Two young creeping-plants were making
+haste to climb the wall to reach it.
+
+A small orange-tree, which could have seen little more than a single
+summer, was planted in the very centre of the little square, with a
+ring of rice-plants round it, brought from an unfrequented dell among
+the neighbouring rocks. A circular path divided this from the side
+borders, where Jack observed an abundant crop of seed springing up in
+the shape of a Dutch "Z."
+
+This was enough for Jack. He guessed once it was Zyl's own garden. How
+he envied him the possession. But this was a bad feeling, and Jack
+crushed it in its birth, smothering it with a burning desire to emulate
+the Dutch boy's skill, and, if possible, surpass it.
+
+"I must have the seat big enough for two," thought Jack, "and father
+and I could have our supper there."
+
+So the time slid by until Genderen returned, leading Sannie in a clean
+pinafore, with both her chubby hands filled with sweets, the Dutch
+child's delight. She held out one to Jack, who had given her the
+"beauty picture."
+
+As he stooped to take it, he softly parted the curly mop of flaxen
+hair, and looked ruefully at the darkening bruise it shaded. This
+reminded him of Vickel.
+
+"I must, I ought to go and look after her," he thought.
+
+Now, Jack could climb like a cat; and as he despaired of making his
+new friends understand how much he wanted to go back to his father's
+waggon, he suddenly leaped upon Zyl's seat, and was over the wall in a
+moment. His astonished companions stared after him with their fingers
+in their mouths, utterly amazed. They would have said only a Kafir
+could have done it.
+
+Once outside the wall of Jaarsveldt, Jack ran eagerly to the waggon.
+The oxen were leisurely ruminating. Everything was right but Vickel.
+Where was Vickel? A cry of bitter self-reproach burst from his lips.
+He tried to call her name, but his voice failed him. All the terrible
+excitement he had undergone seemed to culminate in that moment. A cold
+shiver ran through him, for this new trouble was of his own making. If
+he had not left Vickel so long, he would not have lost her.
+
+He was blaming himself too keenly to know what he was doing. He tried
+to call her, but his voice sounded hoarse, and unlike his own. The
+echo from the neighbouring rocks repeated his heart-breaking call. He
+did not know what an echo was, and believed that some one else was
+calling his bird in the distance. Off he set, as fast as he could go,
+hoping to overtake the unknown somebody who was tempting his pet away.
+Once he thought he heard his ostrich screaming behind him. He paused,
+completely bewildered.
+
+No; it was only Zyl shouting to him to stop. But Jack had had enough
+of Zyl's company for the present, and would not comply. So the two
+chased each other over the red sand, nearer and nearer to those sombre
+mosses of frowning brown which had exercised such a power over Jack's
+imagination.
+
+The heat was now intense, but there was neither sight nor sound of
+Vickel. He ran till he could run no further, and had hardly breath
+enough left to call her name. Then he remembered Genderen's oranges,
+and sitting down under one of the low karroo bushes, which reminded him
+of home, he began to eat them. This helped him to recover his voice,
+and putting both hands to his mouth, he once more shouted, "Vickel,"
+and again the rocks gave back his cry.
+
+At this moment an ox-cart drove slowly out of one of the rocky defiles,
+in the direction of Jaarsveldt. Zyl, who was gaining on his flying
+friend, saw it also, and apparently recognizing the two men who were in
+it, waved his hat and shouted in his turn.
+
+The Hottentot driver turned the head of his ox towards the boys,
+whilst his companion answered Zyl with the "view halloo" of an English
+sportsman.
+
+Jack sprang to his feet at the sound of an English voice, realizing
+for the first time in his life all that word "countryman" means in a
+foreign land.
+
+The ox-cart rumbled on. Zyl was running to meet it with eager joy. Jack
+had no eyes for the Hottentot driver; all his attention was centred on
+the big sun-umbrella which almost covered his companion.
+
+As the boys came up to the cart, it was swung backwards. The owner of
+the umbrella, an aristocratic-looking young Englishman of twenty-two or
+twenty-three, held out his hand to Zyl with a smile. It was a pleasant
+smile as far as it went, for it only played around his lips; it never
+reached his eyes. About them there was a reckless, "don't care"
+expression which rather repelled Jack; but Zyl was obviously delighted
+to meet him.
+
+"Please, sir, have you seen an ostrich?" asked Jack.
+
+"Yes, dozens, my little man. But what is that to you?" was the somewhat
+curt reply.
+
+"Please, sir, I have lost my Vickel, my own tame ostrich, and I have
+heard somebody calling her over there, the way you came," added Jack,
+pointing to the rocks.
+
+"Somebody!" repeated the stranger, shaking with laughter. "I rather
+think it was Mr. Nobody. You little fool, to go chasing an echo! Come,
+jump in, both of you; for we are all risking a sunstroke crossing the
+veldt at noon. I did not bargain to be so late, I assure you."
+
+Then he turned to Zyl and asked some questions in Dutch, to which the
+young Boer responded with more alacrity than usual. He scrambled up
+into the cart at once, trying to pull Jack after him.
+
+"No, thanks," persisted Jack; "I don't want to ride; I must find my
+bird."
+
+"Nonsense!" retorted the stranger. "Jump in this minute, or you will
+lose yourself. And where on earth will you be so likely to find your
+bird as in the ostrich camp at the next farm?"
+
+"Perhaps you are right, sir," said Jack brightening.
+
+"Boys do not say 'perhaps' to me," he continued, seating the two
+between himself and the Hottentot driver, who was by no means pleasant
+as a near neighbour on so hot a day.
+
+Zyl got close to the Englishman, as if he had a special right to
+appropriate him, so Jack turned to the Hottentot, who did not laugh at
+his trouble, and promised readily, if he saw an ostrich with scorched
+wings, to catch her. Jack ventured to ask him in a whisper who the
+Englishman was that he was driving.
+
+"He no father of mine," answered the driver; for to him father and
+master meant the same. "He be a Ingleese, who come and go from farm to
+farm, and he do cram little boys' heads with big words for three long
+days, till they sleepy, sleepy."
+
+At this description of himself and his present occupation as itinerant
+schoolmaster, the Englishman laughed until he shook again. Then he laid
+one arm on Zyl's broad shoulders, and leaned across to question Jack.
+
+"What makes you so curious about me?" he asked.
+
+"Because you are an Englishman, and so is my father," replied the
+little fellow.
+
+"Then I have a great mind to come and see him and cram your empty head;
+but mind you, if I find you going sleepy, sleepy, this will pretty
+quickly wake you up again," retorted the boyish schoolmaster, shaking
+the cane he carried.
+
+Jack grew very red, being painfully conscious of his own short-comings;
+but he answered manfully, "I shouldn't be sleepy in the morning."
+
+"All right," laughed the schoolmaster. "Zyl has been telling me all
+about you, John Treby, junior. Just give that to your father," he
+continued, tearing a leaf out of his pocket-book on which was written,
+"Sandford Algarkirke."
+
+"Father will come back to Jaarsveldt to fetch me and the waggon, and
+then I will give it to him," answered Jack promptly.
+
+"Will he come to-night?"
+
+"Oh yes," answered Jack.
+
+"Better and better!" cried young Algarkirke. "Then I shall see him
+to-night. I have not spoken to an Englishman for seven months. What
+part of the old country did your father come from?"
+
+"Nottingham," returned Jack. "He told me only last night—no, I mean the
+last night at home, just before the thieves came—never to forget I have
+a grandfather living at Nottingham."
+
+"Nottingham!" exclaimed Algarkirke in a tone that bordered on alarm,
+while for a moment the reckless "don't care" expression was banished
+from his brow.
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+_THREE DAYS WITH THE BOOKS._
+
+THE arrival of the schoolmaster quickened the slow paces of the Boer's
+family. The thrifty "tante" was anxious to make the most of his three
+days' sojourn.
+
+The Black Antelope had dragged off Zyl and Sannie to the wash-tub.
+Being in disgrace already, they submitted, but not without a pout and
+a grimace at the inordinate scrubbing the zealous creature thought it
+her duty to inflict. Genderen, she insisted, ought to show her respect
+for "the man of books" by taking off the long checked pinafore and
+exhibiting the brightly-flowered cotton dress beneath it.
+
+The Black Antelope's veneration for a man who make a white sheet talk,
+by just sprinkling it with something black, knew no bounds. She would
+have remained all day watching her charges whilst the lessons were
+going forward if her mistress would have allowed it, on the "qui vive"
+for other magical performances perhaps as wonderful. This was certainly
+a sign that pen and ink were not often required in the Boer's household
+when the schoolmaster was not present.
+
+Tante Milligen was seated on the lumbering settee, smoothing down the
+sides of her voluminous apron, whilst the schoolmaster did justice to
+the ample lunch she had provided for him. Whilst he ate, she enlarged
+upon her own and her husband's satisfaction with their present
+arrangements. She hoped they were doing their duty by their children.
+They had always taken them to church twice a year, although it was
+such a long way to Pretoria; but now they had a schoolmaster in the
+neighbourhood again, they must all make up for lost time.
+
+Young Algarkirke was not slow at taking a hint, so he professed himself
+quite ready to begin lessons at once.
+
+The Black Antelope bustled in her charges, with their freckled faces
+polished to a deep rose-pink, and arranged the chairs. Books were
+brought out and selected from the heterogeneous contents of the
+capacious cupboard, and slates were dusted.
+
+Sandford Algarkirke looked at Sannie with some dismay, for she was an
+addition to the party quite outside his hopes or expectations.
+
+"She is young," remarked Tante Milligen; "but she will have to make a
+beginning some day, and there is no time like the present. We don't
+keep any schoolmaster amongst us over-long, and then there is often a
+year or two before we get another to settle, so I hope you will let her
+take her turn with her brother and sister."
+
+Forthwith the assiduous Kafir produced an additional cushion, which
+raised the would-be learner to the level of the big table, and darting
+upon a Latin grammar Mr. Algarkirke had just taken out of his own
+pocket, she laid it open before her with great solemnity.
+
+"That will do," said Tante Milligen, pointing her domestic to the door.
+"Now bring me that pinafore, and I'll see how I can patch it."
+
+"Inkosi! (Kafir for mistress) Inkosi!" exclaimed the excited black.
+"One word, and I will trouble your ears no more this day. The little
+Ingleese lamb without a mother lies weeping in the dust by his father's
+oxen. Why? Because he is shut out while the books speak. Open to him,
+inkosi, that he too may learn wisdom."
+
+"Listen to our black spider," muttered Zyl. "Has not she got eyes all
+round her head, and feet that can run every way at once? Oh, we are
+just dummies and blocks beside her."
+
+"Be still," whispered Genderen; "she'll get him in."
+
+"Let him come, then," said Tante Milligen.
+
+"By all means," added the schoolmaster warmly.
+
+A swifter messenger than the Black Antelope never lived. She ran at her
+fastest now. The fleetness of foot had won for her her name. But her
+volubility was lost on Jack, who could not understand any one of the
+endearing epithets she showered upon him. It was true he was crying
+bitterly, but her conjecture as to the cause of his grief was quite a
+mistake, for he was mourning over his folly in losing sight of Vickel.
+
+She caught him by both his hands and whirled him away to the door of
+the sit-kamé, where Zyl was stumbling through a page of Dutch history,
+about which his teacher knew nothing, whilst Genderen, with her fingers
+in her mouth and her low forehead drawn into most painful puckers, was
+trying hard to cast up an addition sum.
+
+Mr. Algarkirke's knowledge of Dutch had been picked up during a short
+stay in Amsterdam before he emigrated, and when he found himself at a
+loss for a word, he recalled attention by a rap with his cane.
+
+Genderen sighed heavily, and Zyl tugged at his fore-lock. Lessons with
+the Dutch children were a very laborious matter. If they had not been
+so fully alive to their importance, the new schoolmaster would have
+been a failure. With stolid gravity Zyl pulled through blunders his
+master was quite unable to rectify, and closed his book at last with an
+air of satisfaction that would have convulsed an English school with
+merriment.
+
+Mr. Algarkirke seated Jack beside him, for an English child was a
+welcome addition to his pupils. But alas! the school-books were all in
+Dutch, except the Latin grammar, at which Sannie was profoundly staring.
+
+"May I do a sum?" asked Jack, who knew "the good spell at the figures"
+did not come off so frequently as his father desired.
+
+Jack found it much easier to grapple with the difficulties of long
+division in the day-time, when he was wide awake, than in his brief but
+pleasant lessons between winks, when his father was often more weary
+than himself. He said he should like a good spell at arithmetic, using
+his father's words a little proudly. But when Mr. Algarkirke rewarded
+his painstaking by setting him another and a longer example in money
+division, he felt himself becoming something worse than sleepy, for he
+was downright stupid at the conclusion.
+
+"Please, Mr. Algarkirke, may I have a book?" he asked.
+
+"Touch a book with such dirty paws!" retorted the schoolmaster, who had
+considerably widened the distance between them. "No, sir; no, I say."
+
+Jack crimsoned to the roots of his hair, and hid his hands under the
+table. The schoolmaster grumbled something in Dutch. All eyes turned on
+Jack.
+
+"A travelling schoolmaster expects his pupils to be ready for him. It
+is not treating me with proper respect to come here covered with soot
+and dust," he continued sharply.
+
+Jack got up slowly and went to the door.
+
+The Black Antelope was told off to recall him; but her ready wit
+had already divined the cause of Mr. Algarkirke's offence. Poor,
+disconcerted Jack was whirled away into one of the side rooms, where
+tub and towel awaited him.
+
+The touch of his hot head and burning hands distressed her, and ere
+the bathing was finished, she felt quite sure the poor child would
+be prostrate with African fever before many hours were over. Should
+she tell her mistress? The Boers were so hard and unfeeling to their
+slaves, the Kafir could not depend upon their sympathy. But her woman's
+heart went forth to the poor white lamb without a mother, and she made
+up her mind to steal out at night and watch over him, if he were sent
+back into the waggon to sleep alone.
+
+She took away his burnt and blackened clothes, and dressed him in a
+cast-off suit of Zyl's; but the shirt and trousers were immensely too
+big, so she rolled up the sleeves of the former to his elbows and the
+legs of the trousers to his knees. In place of a belt, she found a
+large scarlet and orange handkerchief of the "oom's," and wound it
+round Jack's waist, dancing round him with delight, and shouting to a
+sister Kafir, who was pounding home-grown pepper in the entrance court,
+to come and admire his little shell-like ears, his shapely knees, etc.
+
+Jack, who could not understand her lavish praise, felt supremely
+ridiculous when she led him back to the sit-kamé, where the business
+of school was proceeding rapidly. A hearty laugh greeted Jack's
+transformation.
+
+"You need not have leaped from a chimney-sweep to a merry-andrew,"
+observed Mr. Algarkirke, as the mirth subsided, "and you an English
+boy."
+
+Slow of speech as Zyl and Genderen habitually were, they resented the
+tones of reproach in which these words were spoken. Dropping an unwary
+ink-spot on her copybook as she gathered up her courage, Genderen
+began the story of the fire, which Zyl confirmed with sundry snorts of
+vengeance against the thievish Kafirs.
+
+"And so they brought you here just as they pulled you out of the
+flames!" exclaimed the young Englishman. "Why did not you tell me this
+before, Jack?"
+
+Tante Milligen began to think the interruption had been too prolonged,
+so she got up and reminded the new teacher that Sannie had not yet had
+her turn.
+
+The young Englishman, who would have been at his ease in the
+lecture-room of an Oxford professor, inwardly groaned. His disgust at
+the sight of the little blue-checked bundle that was dog's-earing his
+Latin grammar exceeded Jack's on the preceding evening.
+
+But happily for him, no alphabet could be found in any one of the
+time-worn school-books that Tante Milligen had produced. They had
+already served the educational needs of three generations, and many a
+loose page had disappeared in the process. What was to be done? Tante
+Milligen was rummaging her cupboard, but in vain.
+
+Jack, who was sitting on a corner of Zyl's chair, helping him through
+the mazes of his multiplication, looked up brightly, and offered to cut
+out an alphabet with his knife if he might have a loose book lid which
+was lying on the table.
+
+But the process of alphabet cutting proved so interesting to Zyl and
+Genderen they could do nothing but watch it, until Mr. Algarkirke
+banished Jack and his knife to the back of the settee. Sannie crept
+after him unperceived, and learnt her first lesson unawares, for Jack
+had chosen a nice sized capital "A" on the title-page of the Latin
+grammar, which he got her to hold before him as a pattern; but the
+little fat fingers let the leaves fly over a dozen times. The bruise
+on her forehead made Jack wince every time he caught sight of the
+blue-green shadow.
+
+He was patience itself, and turning back to his copy pointed to it
+with a smile, sometimes finding another A and sometimes turning back
+to the title-page with which he started, until at last Sannie's finger
+followed his as she drawled out, "Das is ein" (that is one); and she
+was right. Whilst Jack was at work on the B, Sannie fitted her card A
+to the corresponding capital in the pages of the grammar.
+
+By the time Jack reached the eighth letter, his material was exhausted.
+He passed them quietly to Mr. Algarkirke, and sat down again, resting
+his aching head against the back of the settee, unnoticed by anyone,
+whilst Sannie was called up for her first lesson.
+
+With a disdainful curl of the lip, as if he were condescending to the
+very dust, Mr. Algarkirke laid the letters in order, and mounting the
+too juvenile pupil on the chair beside him, informed her with much
+preceptorial display that A was the first letter of the alphabet and
+the first of the vowels.
+
+Sannie made answer with a long-drawn "Jah!" and held up the Latin
+grammar.
+
+"That," said he, taking the volume from her to conceal the laughter
+that was choking him—"that is a little beyond you. One step at a time."
+
+Sannie stared at him with one hand in her mouth, duly impressed with
+the solemnity of the occasion. Whilst he consulted the four corners of
+the room as to what he should say next, Jack guessed his dilemma, and
+renewed his petition for a book. The Latin grammar was handed to him.
+As Jack took it, he swept the letters into a heap, and smiling at the
+round baby face, almost ready to dissolve in tears, he pointed to the A
+on the title-page.
+
+"Well done, my little Dutchwoman!" exclaimed Algarkirke as Sannie
+picked out the cardboard duplicate from the little heap of letters and
+held it up to Jack.
+
+Tante Milligen let her hands fall upon her lap. It was wonderful. Mr.
+Algarkirke's reputation as a schoolmaster was established for ever.
+
+"Allamachter!" she exclaimed. "Why I was full three months before they
+got me to see the difference between one letter and another. No more
+German teachers for me. You can't beat the English at work. They take
+it all square. We must make much of him."
+
+The Black Antelope was quite ready to echo her mistress's opinion.
+Feeling she had now seen both tutor and pupils fairly started on the
+road to learning, Tante Milligen withdrew to her kitchen, having been
+assured for the last half-hour that the roast was burning.
+
+Mr. Algarkirke coughed ominously.
+
+"Jack," he whispered in an English aside, "you are a brick. You have
+helped me over the worst bit of drudgery in my day's work. Now, if
+there is anything I can do for you or your father, you must tell me."
+
+"Please, sir," cried Jack, brightening, "will you sell father a coat?"
+
+"If I were not so wretchedly down in my luck, I would give one, but
+anyhow, he shall have it for a trifle," answered Algarkirke, "if he
+wishes."
+
+Jack scarcely longed for evening more earnestly than his young
+countryman, who knew not how to keep the attention of his stolid pupils
+through the sleepy heat of an African afternoon. The room was like an
+oven. Algarkirke was painfully conscious the slow intellects of the
+Boer's children were gaining from him nothing but a jumble of confused
+ideas. School in the wilderness is a difficult matter, manage as you
+will. Genderen's sleepy yawn, which she was unable longer to repress,
+reminded the young tutor of the Hottentot.
+
+A bright thought occurred to him—an object lesson out of doors. Weights
+and measures taught amid the heaps of corn in Van Immerseel's granary
+would be made clear to the most sluggish understanding. The "fatted
+calf," as he chose to designate poor Sannie, was snoring at his feet.
+He left her undisturbed to the enjoyment of her siesta, and marched
+out the other two, slate in hand, to their own favourite resort, the
+farm-yard. Jack followed wearily. At that moment he would have been
+content to share the sheep-skin in the corner.
+
+The Hottentot herdsman stood grinning at the novel proceeding. With
+bushel and strike, steelyard and sack, Zyl was at home; and Genderen,
+with her pencil between her lips, noting down the figures at Mr.
+Algarkirke's dictation, seemed a different being. Jack stood nearest to
+the door. A tug at his sleeve made look round. There was his Vickel,
+with her queenly breast and outspread wings, obviously intent upon
+dragging out her little master into the free, fresh air to share with
+her the pleasures of a straw-stack, in which she had been revelling
+with her new-found kin. Jack forgot everything in his joy at seeing her
+again.
+
+But Zyl, whose remembrance of her attack in the morning was as vivid as
+ever, banged up the door and shut them both out.
+
+Jack was now feeling too ill to wish to return. He went with Vickel
+to the rustling straw, and was soon fast asleep, with his aching head
+pillowed on Vickel's downy breast.
+
+He awoke with a shiver, for the evening dews were falling. The ostrich
+was roosting beside him, with her head under her wing. The farm-yard
+gate was shut; but it was easy to get on to the wall from the top of
+the stack. Jack did not disturb his bird; for he thought if she began
+to clamour, the noise would be heard indoors, and some one would be
+sure to come and fetch him. He longed to be left alone. He wanted
+nobody but his father, and he would look for him where he had left him
+in the early morning. So Jack let himself drop down the other side of
+the wall and crept into the waggon.
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+_THE BLACK ANTELOPE._
+
+THE evening darkened into night, but Jack's father did not return.
+Tante Milligen had sent her Kafir maid to look for Jack, and when she
+heard he was asleep in his father's waggon, she thought it best to
+leave him there. But the kind-hearted Black Antelope was troubled, for
+his restless sleep convinced her the fever was upon him. She had washed
+his sooty clothes for pure love of his fair English face, and laid them
+by him in the waggon.
+
+Among the few trifles which had been saved from the fire was Mr.
+Treby's drinking-flask, which was in the pocket of his coat, but had
+not been destroyed with it. Before he departed, he had filled it with
+water for Jack's benefit, and left it, with the remains of the dinner
+Tottie had provided, by the sleeping child. Jack could not touch the
+bone of cold mutton or the crust of bread, but he drank the water. He
+fell asleep with the flask in his hands. It had been a keepsake from
+an English friend, and Mr. Treby's name was engraved upon the silver
+stopper.
+
+The night was intensely hot, and the moon was near the full. The light
+of the lamp still streamed through the half-open door of the sit-kamé,
+where Tante Milligen was awaiting the return of her husband and son.
+Most of the Kafir servants had been dismissed to their huts for the
+night.
+
+Sandford Algarkirke, preferring the company of the fireflies to the
+conversation of the Boeress, had retreated to the orange grove, where
+he too was listening for the first sound of the horses' feet. But they
+were scarcely audible, for the weary travellers rode slowly over the
+sandy veldt, and were within sight of the farm before any one at home
+was aware of their presence.
+
+The Black Antelope had just paid her last visit to the fever-stricken
+child. She found him trying to drain another drop from the now empty
+flask. She took it from him, intending to refill it, and was stepping
+out of the waggon with it in her hand when the "oom" rode up.
+
+In that brilliant moonlight he saw the silver-mounted flask in the
+black girl's hand as clearly as if it had been noonday, and so did
+Mr. Treby, who rode beside him. Believing she had stolen it from the
+waggon, the Boer leaped from his horse and struck her such a blow with
+his clenched fist that she lay moaning on the ground.
+
+"Bread of mine was never yet broken by a thief, and never shall be!" he
+exclaimed indignantly, snatching the flask from her unresisting hand
+and returning it to Mr. Treby.
+
+The gate of Jaarsveldt was flung open as Tante Milligen and the
+schoolmaster ran out to ascertain the cause of the commotion. The rest
+of the party spurred forward; but amidst the stamping of hoofs and the
+neighing of horses, the Boer's stentorian voice was heard denouncing
+the guilty hand that dared to touch the Englishman's goods in his
+absence.
+
+"What is he saying?" asked Jack's father in an anxious aside to the
+German Otto.
+
+The shepherd translated his master's words, adding, "Your things are
+safe enough under Van Immerseel's protection."
+
+"Jah! Jah!" cried Walt, who was standing behind them. "We'll show you
+in the morning how we punish a thief at Jaarsveldt. Such gentry, be
+their colour what it may, had better not come here."
+
+The noise had effectually roused poor Jack from his feverish sleep. He
+saw the Black Antelope, who had been so kind to him all day, staggering
+to her feet but he saw his father in the group, and scrambling out of
+the waggon, he rushed to him, gasping, "Don't let them hurt her, father
+dear! Oh, don't! Don't!" For the Boer had doubled up his gigantic fist
+to deal a second blow.
+
+Mr. Treby stepped forward and caught Van Immerseel's arm, expressing
+his heartfelt thanks for his timely intervention, yet adding a plea for
+mercy to the delinquent.
+
+The Kafir girl cast one loving look of gratitude on Jack, and slunk
+away into the shadows.
+
+Tante Milligen, with her arms akimbo, was warmly applauding her
+husband's conduct.
+
+Sandford Algarkirke had drawn back into the garden. He held the gate in
+his hand, and was listening attentively to every word.
+
+"Please, sir," cried Jack excitedly, "you can make these people
+understand. Do come and tell them the poor Kafir girl only went to
+fetch me some more water. I am sure she did not mean to steal the
+flask."
+
+"Then say so," was the brief reply; "but do not drag me into the
+matter."
+
+"Of course I would, if I could speak their Dutch. I ought, I must;
+but they do not know what I am saying, so it is of no use. But you
+can explain it; and if you do not, they will beat her dreadfully,"
+urged Jack. "We must not let the innocent suffer. It is not right, Mr.
+Algarkirke."
+
+"Come along, then," returned the young schoolmaster, and taking Jack's
+hand he led him into the house, where the travellers were already
+seated round the supper-table.
+
+"This little fellow has asked me to be his interpreter," said
+Algarkirke as he repeated Jack's assertion.
+
+But the burly Dutchman only laughed.
+
+"Say no more now, Jack," interposed his father, making room for his boy
+beside him. "Circumstances are very much against her."
+
+"And circumstances weigh so heavily when you have only innocence
+without proof to balance them in the other scale; but she is happy
+to have even a child like you to believe in her," added the young
+schoolmaster, with a bitterness that made Jack's father think,—
+
+"Some personal experience, something in your own life, gave its sting
+to that remark."
+
+"She will never pilfer again," remarked Walt; "she is too true a Kafir
+for that. There is the dog-nature in them all—just the same sort of
+fidelity, and all that." So the talk ran on, and in the discussions
+over more important matters the Black Antelope was forgotten by all but
+Jack and the schoolmaster.
+
+The sheep-tracks had been carefully traced, but they did not lead
+to the district of the free Kafirs in the valleys among the rocks.
+Mr. Treby began to think his Tottie was right in her estimate of the
+thieves. But the scare had spread through the whole district. The
+police would be here in the morning and until they had investigated the
+matter, watch must be kept, for fear the aggressors should return and
+attack another of the lonely farms which dotted the sandy waste.
+
+Mr. Treby had encountered his white-haired Hottentot Seco returning. He
+brought him word that the new settler at Scarsdorp found the wild life
+in that vast karroo too rough for his taste, and had previously decided
+to change his sheep-farm and try tobacco-growing in Natal. The news
+which Seco carried made him hasten his departure all he could. He would
+"trek" at once (as the African settlers say when they move, using the
+old Dutch word their neighbours the Boers have made familiar throughout
+the district), if he could buy or hire another waggon to carry the rest
+of his goods.
+
+Mr. Treby caught at the opportunity this offered him to retrieve his
+fortunes. He decided to place his waggon and oxen at his neighbour's
+service. For this he would receive a good round sum. He would drive
+it himself; and when he had delivered the goods, he must start for
+Kimberley and dig for diamonds, until he had gained money enough to
+rebuild his house and stock his farm. Van Immerseel was ready to hire
+his pasture for the rest of the season, and pay him on his return—not
+with money, but with sheep.
+
+Jack, of course, would go with him, for he could work with him at the
+diamond diggings. Jack could manage a sieve; his young eyes would be as
+sharp as his own to pick out the sparkling diamonds as he sifted the
+loosened earth in which they were embedded. The journey would give his
+burned arm time to recover its natural strength, before he shouldered
+mattock and spade among the crowds of busy workers at the Kimberley
+diggings.
+
+Such were the plans that Mr. Treby was revolving, as he did justice to
+the cold mutton and steaming coffee Tante Milligen had provided for the
+travellers.
+
+"It is chancey work at the diamond mines," remarked the "oom." "A
+fellow may dig for weeks and get nothing but dirt for his pains; or he
+may make his fortune in a day."
+
+"I can only try," answered Jack's father; "and with God's blessing I
+may pull round before another year."
+
+How the young schoolmaster listened, as if he longed to follow his
+example.
+
+Otto had been to Kimberley, and he described the giant circle, where
+the diamonds were to be found. So much earth had been already scooped
+away that he could liken it to nothing but an enormous basin, filled
+with men of all colours, grubbing in the earth like human ants. He
+spoke of its ceaseless toil and its uncertain gains.
+
+But Mr. Treby still repeated, "I can only try. Hard work won't frighten
+me."
+
+It was the look on Jack's face that was frightening him. He saw the
+feverish flush and the glittering eyes, and felt him shiver as the
+child crept closer and closer to his side.
+
+"What is the matter, my boy?" he whispered.
+
+But Jack did not reply. The group of rough, bearded men hastily
+snatching a supper seemed to him no better than the unreal phantoms
+of a troubled dream. Tante Milligen's broad, quaint figure, with her
+bare arms and borderless cap, seemed everywhere. The talk of dangers
+and daring thrilled through his over-excited brain; and then, worse
+than all, the great trap-door in the ceiling over his head appeared to
+open and shut of itself. The plum-stones which studded the floor seemed
+to dance before his eyes, until he hardly knew where he was. But his
+father's arm was around him, and to that he clung desperately.
+
+When he came to himself, his father was pouring something down his
+throat from a cow's horn; Tante held a candle in her hand, and
+was saying something in Dutch. Jack caught the oft-repeated word
+"slaap-kamé" (sleep-chamber). At last she opened the door into one of
+the side rooms, which Jack could distinguish the curtains of a huge
+four-post bed. The room felt hot and stifling as his father carried him
+in and laid him down upon the softest pillow Jack had ever known. Tante
+Milligen stuck the candle she carried somewhere in the wall.
+
+"There is no sleep for me to-night," said Jack's father. "I do not
+expect any disturbance; but come what may, I can keep watch within
+doors."
+
+"And I shall share your vigil," interposed the schoolmaster; "so
+your little boy can occupy this room (where I was to have slept)
+undisturbed. Don't say no, for a dash of adventure has all imaginable
+charms for me."
+
+According to Dutch fashion, every breath of air was carefully excluded
+from the room, so Mr. Treby set the door ajar, and the light from the
+lamp on the supper-table streamed across the floor.
+
+An old Hottentot woman, with her shrivelled, yellow hand, brought a
+cool leaf to lay on Jack's forehead, and muttered something over him
+like a charm.
+
+Tante Milligen herself fetched a pitcher of herbal tea, and then, with
+many maternal shakings of her head and sundry commiserative sounds,
+departed to her own slaap-kamé on the other side of the great room,
+into which all the doors of the house seemed to open, for the Boer's
+house was but one story high. There were lofts in the roof, where
+stores were kept, but these were reached by a wooden ladder outside
+the house, or through the trap-door which had had so large a share in
+Jack's delirious fancies.
+
+He could have slept now, poor boy, but for the snoring duet that was
+kept up by the little sisters on the other side of the wall.
+
+The Kafir servants, who had been playing scout all day by turns, came
+in to report that all was quiet. Walt decided to go with Otto to his
+hut by the sheep-kraals, as on the preceding night. Van Immerseel was
+persuaded to lie down on his bed; but he would not undress so that he
+could be roused at a moment's notice.
+
+Walt looked in at Mr. Treby before he departed. They showed each other
+their loaded rifles, and nodded significantly, as if to say, "We are
+ready." Otto, who had followed, stooped down and picked up something
+from the floor.
+
+"My knife!" cried Jack, starting upright.
+
+"All right," said his father, laying him gently upon the pillows again.
+
+The German backed into the outer room.
+
+Thinking the entrance of the young men disturbed his Jack, Mr. Treby
+followed his example, and taking Walt by the arm, went out also.
+
+Swarms of those hard-winged, spotted flies danced round and round
+the candle, until they stuck fast in the burning tallow. A menacing
+mosquito buzzed in the curtains of the bed, and banished Jack's last
+chance of sleep.
+
+At last the house grew still. Mr. Treby set the door of Jack's room
+wide open, so that he might feel the refreshing night-breeze from the
+open windows of the sit-kamé.
+
+Believing that his child was dozing, he sat down by the door, with his
+face buried in his hands.
+
+Algarkirke waited impatiently for his reverie to end. At last he said,
+"We are countrymen, and in a distant land like this that means friends,
+and almost brothers, does it not?"
+
+"Of course, of course," returned Mr. Treby absently.
+
+"Then whatever you may have heard about me from your Nottingham
+friends, you will not repeat it here."
+
+"I!" returned Jack's father, rousing. "I know nothing about you, an
+utter stranger. I can have nothing to tell. It is years since I left
+Nottingham."
+
+"It may be useless to ask you to believe me, when I say it was
+nothing but my own abominable carelessness made me the victim of
+circumstances," he went on bitterly. "And those who called themselves
+my friends chose rather to expatriate me than investigate."
+
+"Young man," interrupted Jack's father, "I ask you for no confession;
+but if you wish to confide in me, every word you utter will be safe.
+But I must remind you beforehand that a man driven to asking help of
+his neighbours is not one to look to, to give it."
+
+"You think me a flat," muttered Algarkirke.
+
+"I think you a little too verdant," returned the other. "Whatever your
+bygones may have been, you have a chance of beginning a new life out
+here. Do not let your own self-consciousness spoil it. Bury the past,
+or retrieve it. Remember:
+
+   "'Men may rise on stepping-stones
+     Of their dead selves to higher things.'"
+
+"Could I dig diamonds with you at Kimberley?" was the eager answer to
+these words of fatherly advice.
+
+"Did you ever use spade or pick?" asked Mr. Treby in his turn.
+
+But Algarkirke shook his head.
+
+"That answers your own question," returned his companion. "Stick to
+what you can do. You've no father, my lad, or you would not have been
+pitchforked into these wilds and left to sink or swim. All you brought
+with you is lost and gone? So I expected. I only wish I could help you."
+
+"Your little boy told me you wanted to buy a coat. I've one to spare,"
+said Algarkirke in a jerky tone, as if the words were forced out one by
+one. "I left England for Amsterdam—I had a merchant friend who traded
+with that city—but I was soon shipped off to Africa with a letter of
+recommendation to a Dutch clergyman at Pretoria. I lived on my money
+as long as it lasted. I was in the throes of despair when the grand
+church-going week came round. I shall never forget my first sight of
+the Boers bringing up their families from long distances in the country
+to join in the nachtmaal * service at their church.
+
+"A bright idea occurred to my clerical friend. He found out that a
+schoolmaster was wanting in this district, and recommended me to the
+post. It was a civil way of freeing himself from a burden. I journeyed
+back in one of the Boer's wagons, and began the hopeless task of
+teaching the young idea how to shoot in broken Dutch. It is irksome
+drudgery; for those Dutch boys are worse than the Irishman's pig; they
+will neither be led nor driven. But the worst of it is, I have a few
+days now and then between the turns, and how to keep myself I do not
+know, until the quarter-day comes to take my promised fees, small as
+they are."
+
+   * Nachtmaal ("night-meal"), the Lord's Supper.
+
+   "'In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch
+     Is in giving too little and asking too much,'"
+
+laughed Mr. Treby. "Show me this coat, and I'll give you what I can for
+it."
+
+Algarkirke went into the room for his portmanteau, which he unstrapped
+softly, for fear of disturbing Jack. But the little fellow was wide
+awake again, and very anxious to see the coat his father was going
+to buy. It was of gray traveller's tweed, a little stained with
+salt-water, but not much the worse for wear. But, alas no endeavours
+could squeeze Mr. Treby's well-developed shoulders into a garment
+made to fit young Algarkirke's slim figure. His disappointment was
+excessive. He looked at the half-sovereign in Mr. Treby's hand and bit
+his lip.
+
+"Like my wretched luck!" he exclaimed. "But stop! I have another that I
+left behind me at Inderwick—a light dust-coat, too big for me. Neither
+is it properly my own; a friend lent it to me one wet day just before I
+left England. It was packed up with my luggage by mistake. 'Keep it,'
+he wrote, 'it is not worth returning.' You could wear that, I am sure."
+
+"Can you let me have it before I start?" asked Mr. Treby.
+
+"The people here have promised to send me on to the next farm; it is a
+part of our bargain. I will ask the man who drives me to bring it back,
+if that will do. I leave here the day after tomorrow," said Algarkirke,
+closing his fingers over the gold Mr. Treby dropped into his hand.
+
+His exuberant gratitude was checked by the quiet remark, "We must all
+do as we would be done by. The strangers in the post-cart helped me
+yesterday, and I'm glad to be able to help you to-night."
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+_JACK'S FEVER._
+
+THE herbal tea Tante Milligen had provided for the little invalid
+cooled the fever in his veins. When the morning came Jack was sleeping
+heavily.
+
+But his father could no longer watch beside him. He was obliged to
+return to his own farm to meet the police, who were expected to arrive
+that day. He was quite sure that a sufficient party of mounted police
+would be told off for the defence of the district directly Wilton's
+report reached head-quarters.
+
+The affair would be investigated; a repetition guarded against; but
+should he see his sheep again? Mr. Treby's heart failed him there. He
+knew it was wiser to leave the burning ashes of his house untouched
+until the police had been. He wanted to bring back Tottie to nurse his
+Jack now her husband had returned. But Tante Milligen said "No;" she
+had Hottentots enough in the house already. She did not want one that
+had been spoiled by these English to come there to upset her girls. The
+poor child should not want for proper care; she would see to that.
+
+The Boeress was in anything but a happy frame of mind; for the Kafir
+girl had run away in the night, and Tante Milligen declared she had
+lost her right hand.
+
+In circumstances like his, Mr. Treby could say no more. He knew he
+ought to feel very grateful to his Dutch neighbours for their rough and
+ready hospitality, and he could not endure the thought of encroaching
+on their kindness.
+
+But he could not leave his boy without a word. Everything was ready for
+his departure, when at last Jack opened his eyes, half-frightened at
+his strange surroundings. But the delirious fancies of the night were
+over, although he felt weak and faint.
+
+Mr. Treby began to hope it was but a slight attack of fever, and that
+with quiet and care he would soon be better. He was afraid to let Jack
+talk even about Zyl's garden, or what a naughty bird Vickel had been;
+and would not let him fret over the poor Black Antelope, assuring him
+the Boer's anger was soon over, and he had asked her master not to
+punish her any more.
+
+So with a parting kiss, and a promise to come back as soon as he could,
+he left his boy once more.
+
+He had not seen Algarkirke that morning, for the schoolmaster had
+fallen asleep in the garden, under the shadow of Zyl's pent-house,
+which had been constructed out of the remains of his own broken
+umbrella—a gift he had bestowed upon the ungovernable urchin to bribe
+him to sit still during his first attempt at teaching, which he was so
+terribly afraid would be construed into failure.
+
+With a few forcible words about redeeming the time, Tante Milligen
+hunted him out of his retreat, ignoring the fact that he had omitted to
+put in an appearance at their early Dutch breakfast.
+
+"That was his own lookout," she said; so Genderen was ordered to place
+the books on the table.
+
+Every now and then Tante Milligen put her head in at the door of the
+sit-kamé, churn-stick in hand, "just to keep 'em at it; for they
+couldn't afford to pay their money for nothing."
+
+The poor tutor, who was all the worse for his night-watch, yawned
+in sympathy with his scholars. Mr. Treby had set the door of Jack's
+room wide open, to give him all the air he could. When Sannie caught
+sight of his curly head among the pillows, she slid off her chair, and
+gathering the letters he had cut out for her in her lap, she trotted
+to his bed. She waddled round the slaap-kamé like a little duck, until
+she came to the head of the bed where Jack was lying. There was a pout
+on the rosy lips, and recent ominous catch in her breath, suggestive
+of distress; for Sannie, like her mother, was sorely distressed at
+the disappearance of the Black Antelope, who had fondled her from her
+birth. One little fat hand unclosed and displayed a bit of a dirty
+card; then the precious letters in her lap were spread out before him,
+intimating the young lady's desire to repeat the pleasure of yesterday.
+
+Jack thought of his knife, and sprang out of bed to search for it.
+He shook his pockets inside out, but oh! His knife was nowhere to be
+found. He put his hand to his head to try to think. Yes, he remembered
+distinctly. He was sure now that German shepherd had picked it up.
+
+Sannie was frightened when she saw him crawling under the bed, for
+he thought he would look everywhere about the floor; so she set up a
+cry, which brought the old Hottentot woman to see what was the matter.
+Without more ado, she drove out Sannie, seized Jack by the arms and put
+him back into bed, charging him with imperative gestures to keep there.
+
+Tante Milligen followed with some more of that odious herbal tea, which
+she compelled him to drink. Then mistress and maid stood over him in
+earnest consultation. A huge pair of scissors was produced from Tante
+Milligen's capacious pocket. He hoped she was not going to cut off his
+head, and felt enormously relieved when he found it was only his hair
+she wanted. He wondered what she could want it for. Oh, it was wretched
+to be with people who could not understand a single word. Yet he almost
+laughed when he saw the shrivelled yellow fingers of the Hottentot
+sweeping away his curls with evident satisfaction.
+
+"They would stuff a good pin-cushion," he thought.
+
+But they left the heap on the floor, and covered his head with a
+cabbage-leaf. It seemed so ridiculous, but he was obliged to submit.
+Then the room was darkened, and the heavy curtains of the bed were
+closely drawn, and he heard the door shut as they went away. He thought
+he was suffocating, but at length the darkness and the quiet melted
+into dreamy sleep. By-and-by they brought him some brandy-posset, which
+he could not drink. In that darkened room the day seemed like night. No
+one came near him but Tante Milligen, with the cow's horn in her hand;
+and in spite of his wry faces, she always contrived to get the thin end
+of the horn between his teeth, and then there was nothing for it but to
+gulp down the bitter draught it contained as quickly as he could.
+
+Jack believed he had had seven nights already, and yet his father did
+not come. Algarkirke strolled in at last, with his pipe in his mouth,
+and roundly asserted there had been no night at all yet, although he
+hoped one was coming.
+
+Then Jack unfolded his idea about the pin-cushions, and confided to
+the schoolmaster how much he would like do the stuffing. "It is my own
+hair, so they might let me," he added, a little annoyed by the laugh
+with which this suggestion was received. Then he remembered his knife,
+and entreated Mr. Algarkirke to look for it in the sit-kamé. "I know,"
+he persisted, "that German picked it up; but where could he put it?"
+
+Algarkirke promised to tell Zyl, and persuade him to undertake the
+search. But his promise was of the pie-crust order, made to be broken.
+He wished to pacify the sick child, but, pitying the poor Black
+Antelope, he did not wish to cast a suspicion on any one else. He
+seemed sensitive on the subject, and shrank from it, even with Jack; so
+he did not mention the knife to any one.
+
+Mr. Algarkirke was soon superseded by the Hottentot, who sat down on
+the foot of the bed and stared at Jack, who shut his eyes so that he
+should not see her. Then he seemed to feel all round him the flames of
+his burning home; and yet it was not his Tottie crawling out of the
+sloot, but the ugly face of this stranger Hottentot that was staring at
+him between the curtains of the bed.
+
+To all his feverish mutterings she responded with a "Jah! Jah!" which
+sounded more like the cluck of a hen than a woman's voice. But she gave
+him mutton-broth and grapes, and forced him to lie still; for Jack had
+an unconquerable longing to get up and walk about. He told her again
+and again he must go and meet his father, but he might as well have
+spoken to a post.
+
+One thing he was truly grateful for. The Hottentot armed herself with a
+long bough, and every now and then set vigorously to work to drive away
+the flies, which had teased him so the night before. Yet the sleep he
+longed for refused to come, until he heard the lowing of the cows as
+they were driven in for milking, and then the wakefulness of the night
+was exchanged for a drowsy stupor, which lasted through the glaring
+noonday heat.
+
+"They have made me a bed in the oven," moaned Jack, when the
+schoolmaster looked in on the third day to bid him "good-bye."
+
+"I shall send the coat," he said; "I hope it will fit your father. I
+shall miss your little English face when I come to Jaarsveldt next
+time, for I suppose then you will be sifting diamonds at Kimberley. You
+must learn a little of their wonderful Dutch patience from your new
+friends. I hope your father will come back before I start."
+
+But the young Englishman's wish was not gratified. Mr. Treby did not
+return until the next morning.
+
+At the sight of his father, Jack revived. The fever had turned at the
+third day, and Jack began to rally. Mr. Treby's gratitude to the worthy
+"tante" for her motherly care knew no bounds. She had saved his child.
+But when he talked of taking him away, Van Immerseel laid his great
+hand on his arm and shook the other in his face, with a good-natured
+laugh, which tempered a flat refusal.
+
+Tante Milligen summoned her ancient Hottentot, and five black faces
+appeared above the half-door of the sit-kamé to back her protestation
+and convince the anxious father he must leave his child where he was or
+a relapse was certain.
+
+"What do they all mean?" asked Mr. Treby, turning for enlightenment to
+the German, who had been summoned by Zyl to speak the decisive word.
+
+But Walt pressed before him. He had brought the Englishman home. He had
+taken to Jack. Algarkirke had repeated to him many more details about
+the fire, which he had gathered from Mr. Treby's conversation in the
+night. He knew now that poor little Jack had been barely rescued from
+the flames.
+
+During the schoolmaster's three days' sojourn at Jaarsveldt, Walt
+had been picking up English as diligently as the players on old Tom
+Tiddler's ground are reported to pick up gold and silver.
+
+He pointed to the door of the slaap-kaamé where Jack was lying, and
+asserted most energetically: "Your boy there very bad boy. We make a
+full stop of him. All right. You put him in there," he added, pointing
+to Mr. Treby's waggon, which was drawn up outside the gate. "Wohl—"
+Alas! His English was exhausted; he rubbed his head, imitated the
+jog-trot of the oxen, and the jolting and shaking of the lumbering
+waggon.
+
+Dead set at last for want of a word, which Otto could not or would
+not supply, he snatched the stick from his brother's hand, and drew
+the outline of a coffin-lid upon the clayey floor. It was but a lame
+attempt at speaking English, yet for all that he had made his meaning
+forcible and plain "Take him away?" he asked, making an impressive
+pause, then by way of answer to his own inquiry, he pointed to his
+mother and her coloured maids, as if he were counting them on his
+fingers. Mr. Treby was almost deafened by the babel of tongues around
+him, whilst Otto fairly laughed when Walt interpreted this clamour of
+female tongues as "One big no."
+
+Mr. Treby brushed a tear-drop from his eye and shook hands all round.
+So it was settled that Jack must be left behind. His father's heart was
+touched by the rough kindliness of his Dutch neighbours.
+
+The loft over the end of the house to the farm-yard happened just now
+to be empty. Van Immerseel kept his wool there. He had sold it all out,
+so that the loft would not be wanted until the next sheep-shearing; and
+Walt suggested that Mr. Treby's things would be quite safe in there
+until his return. For of course he must unload his waggon before he
+could let it to his neighbour at Scarsdorp.
+
+He had raked out a few things from the ashes the day before—pieces of
+iron, hooks, and hinges; the lump of lead into which his bullets had
+melted; and more than all, the blackened and misshapen contents of
+his purse. Would his money pass? He could hardly tell. There were two
+sovereigns sticking together, and the smaller silver pieces had run
+into a shapeless lump; but the half-crowns, being more solid, were less
+injured.
+
+Zyl came to help him to unload, whilst Sannie sat at the foot of the
+wooden ladder watching their proceedings. There was no time to be
+lost, for Mr. Treby knew that his thirteen oxen would be longer on the
+road than when he had fourteen, and he wanted to leave everything as
+straight as he could for Seco and Tottie. But the thought of parting
+from his little Jack weighed heavily on his heart, for he could not
+tell how long he should be gone. Vickel, in her joy at having her
+master back again, insisted on perching on his shoulder, and pecking
+from his hand, much to Zyl's amusement.
+
+Whilst they were still busy packing in the loft, a messenger arrived
+from Scarsdorp with the final order for Mr. Treby. He must be ready
+with his waggon in the morning, when the bearer of the message would
+return with him.
+
+"That is a fine bird of yours, master," laughed the man, as Vickel
+saluted him with her loudest scream, "and a valuable one. Nothing so
+quick as an ostrich to detect a stranger's presence. Why, she will be
+worth twenty pounds of anybody's money when she begins to lay. A brood
+of chicks like herself will prove a little fortune. They would be worth
+ten pounds each as soon as they are out of the shell."
+
+"You think so?" cried Mr. Treby, brightening. "I do not know much about
+ostrich management. I brought this one up to be a guard about the
+place. She has cost me nothing, for she lives on the wild rosemary and
+scrubby grass that the sheep won't eat. If it had not been for my boy,
+I believe I should sold her for a very small sum in my strait."
+
+"Sell her," exclaimed the messenger, "with ostrich feathers selling at
+£23 the pound, and she just coming into profit! No, no."
+
+Mr. Treby stroked the fond bird's satin breast as he made her dismount.
+Could it indeed be true? He thought of the summer morning when one
+of the wild-looking Kafirs, who were helping him to reap his little
+wheat-field, had found the ostrich's nest, and had given one of the
+chicks to Jack for a pet and plaything. Well, he intent upon his sheep
+had not thought much about her value certainly. He thanked the man for
+his advice, feeling as if all unawares, he had put his foot on the
+first step of the ascending ladder of fortune.
+
+"That is news for Jack," he thought, casting a critical glance over his
+tall favourite, who was now enjoying herself picking a bone like a dog.
+The bird had wonderfully improved. It was Genderen's bowl of barley
+night and morning which had wrought the change, but Mr. Treby knew
+nothing about that. He concluded Vickel got her own living here as she
+did at home, browsing on the sandy veldt, or he would not have left her
+at Jaarsveldt.
+
+"Come, Jack," he said, when he told his boy of his intended departure.
+"Your feathered queen is to make our fortune, according to this man's
+talk. So it may be a providential thing this illness of yours. It is
+forcing me to leave you behind, and I should not wonder if you learn
+a good deal about ostrich management from the Immerseels by the time
+I come back. They say we might have cut Vickel's feathers this very
+summer, if they had not been scorched."
+
+It was worth something to bring the sparkle of happiness back into the
+boy's sunken eyes, as he listened to the comforting assurance that to
+part with Vickel would be like selling the goose which laid the golden
+eggs.
+
+"I tell you what, Jack," continued his father; "when we come back from
+Kimberley, we must buy her a mate of Van Immerseel. They might pay
+better than the sheep."
+
+Whilst Mr. Treby was thus endeavouring to soothe and cheer the feverish
+child, he heard an unusual bustle, and looking out of the window, saw
+three horsemen fully armed, and covered with the summer dust, ride in
+at the gate. Their strong young horses were flecked with foam, as if
+they had been travelling fast and far. Van Immerseel's hand was on the
+bridle of the foremost of the three, an aged Boer, with hair like snow
+and a frame of iron. They were talking eagerly.
+
+Out ran Mr. Treby, expecting to hear of some fresh outrage that would
+cap his own, but the few words which caught his ear convinced him
+that the firing of his lonely homestead was the sole subject of their
+earnest discussion.
+
+"Ah! Here he comes," exclaimed the old man, who could speak English
+fairly well. "Ik Van Niepert," he continued, stretching out a hand to
+Mr. Treby that was the masculine counterpart of Tante Milligen's own.
+
+The Englishman felt as if his fingers would be crushed in the hearty
+hand-grip which ensued.
+
+"The scare has spread, as these Kafir scares always do, like wildfire.
+It reached us last night. Farm-house in flames—Jaarsveldt for a
+certainty, as we all thought. So, as I have been telling my son-in-law
+here," (and the big hand came down with a slap on Van Immerseel's
+shoulder which would have made Mr. Treby reel), "with that fear in our
+heads, it was not long before the rifles were loaded and the horses
+saddled, and on we've pushed; and I could have sworn we heard the thud
+of the bullets as we drew near. Thought you were having to fight off
+the black beggars, as I've done many a time when Milligen was a lass at
+home."
+
+Van Niepert's sons, two powerful-looking men, with slow tongues and
+stolid countenances, confirmed their father's words with an assenting
+grunt, as they dismounted, leaned their saddles against the wall of the
+house, and turned their horses loose in the yard.
+
+Out ran the children to welcome their grandfather and uncles, with
+noisy joy, whilst Mr. Treby was explaining the real facts of the
+case as briefly and clearly as he could. He had heard of Van Niepert
+as a leading man among the Boers, whose word had had great weight
+in the conferences between these old Dutch settlers and the British
+Government, and that he had tried to maintain the friendly relations
+between them.
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+_HOW TANTE MILLIGEN MANAGED._
+
+HOW to house so many guests in Jaarsveldt was the question that was
+troubling Tante Milligen's hospitable mind. Walt and his brother were
+at once relegated to the threshing-floor in the great barn, where a bed
+of clean straw was prepared in haste. Walt rolled up his coat without
+more ado, and lay down, as he had done many a night after a late dance
+when the house was full. But the spare slaap-kamé must be prepared
+for Van Niepert, who was treated with great respect by his daughter's
+family.
+
+One uncle would keep watch with the shepherd until daybreak, when his
+brother would exchange with him; therefore Walt's vacant bed would
+serve for both. But what to do with the little English boy—that was
+Tante Milligen's difficulty. She thought of sending him in Walt's arms
+to the shepherd's hut, whose bed would, of course, be unoccupied.
+
+"And give me the fever," said Otto with a glooming brow, for he
+had just overheard Van Niepert recommending his son-in-law to get
+rid of that German fellow. He might be bully uppermost, but he was
+certain he was coward underneath. "Get this Englishman to mind your
+sheep," he added. "He would have been a match for those black rascals
+single-handed if he had not been frightened off by his boy's danger.
+You can make it better worth his while than going to dig for diamonds.
+You say this is just another Kafir scare; but what safeguard have you
+that it won't be repeated? Answer me that."
+
+Mr. Treby was quick to notice the change in Otto's manner towards him;
+and getting a hint about the sleeping difficulty, cut it through by
+proposing to make a bed for Jack in the wool-loft, where he intended to
+pass the night himself.
+
+To Jack the exchange was delightful, for the loft was cool and still.
+Mr. Treby left the upper half of the door wide open. The silvery
+radiance of the African moon fell full upon the slanting roof, and the
+refreshing night-breeze seemed like new life to the weary child after
+the choking heat of "that horrid oven."
+
+All the heterogeneous remains of Mr. Treby's belongings were piled in
+order on the sloping side. Jack's little truckle-bed was placed where
+the wall was highest, and by it stood the great black traveling-chest
+Mr. Treby had rescued from the fire. He was kneeling down examining its
+contents in the moonlight.
+
+"This was your mother's chest, my boy," he said, "and when I lost her,
+I locked up everything in it that had been her own—sacred treasures to
+me, that nothing in the world could ever replace. I hurled this out
+of the burning house first of all; but I little thought this would
+be really all I should save. She would never have forgiven me if I
+had let my feelings stand in the way of your good. You are a part of
+her, my boy; and I am looking them over now to find presents for this
+hospitable Dutchwoman and her maids. Just an acknowledgment of their
+kindness to you, my dear, before I leave you altogether to their care."
+
+With a feeling of yearning sadness that winged his thoughts beyond
+this visible world, Jack leaned his head upon his hand and watched
+his father unfold the faded dresses. He saw him lay aside some
+treasured keepsake with a bitter sigh, or press it to his lips in fond
+remembrance. At last the selection was made.
+
+Some yards of Buckinghamshire lace and an ivory fan were laid aside
+for Tante Milligen; a leathern reticule, some English photographs of
+churches, one or two little boxes of Tunbridge ware, for her children.
+For the coloured maids more useful articles were desirable—a flowered
+handkerchief, a pompadour dress, a bow of scarlet satin, an apron
+embroidered with crewels.
+
+"You will not forget the poor Black Antelope, father," whispered Jack
+softly. "I have not seen her for days; but she was always kind."
+
+"They think she is skulking about, afraid to show herself because of
+her master's anger; but I will leave this handkerchief for her if she
+comes back," said Mr. Treby shaking out a Scotch plaid-scarf, which
+Jack laid carefully under his pillow, reiterating his belief in the
+black girl's innocence.
+
+"I wish," returned his father, "I was as sure about that young
+Englishman. I am afraid he has cheated me out of ten shillings I could
+ill spare; for the man who drove him over to the next farm must have
+returned by this time, and I can hear nothing of the promised coat.
+Whether it was misfortune or misconduct shipped him off here in such a
+hurry, we cannot say. It is the worst of a colonist's life: your heart
+warms at the sight of a fellow-countryman, and then you find him out to
+be a worthless scamp. Well, it teaches me to appreciate this worthy old
+Boer. He struck so hard, Jack, because the flask was not his own. What
+would become of us now if there was no one we could trust? But there is
+that straight-forward honesty about him that he will take all the more
+care of my things because I am a stranger; and that is saying a great
+deal."
+
+Then Mr. Treby took a great hammer and some nails which he had
+borrowed, and after he had locked the chest, he nailed down the lid to
+make it additionally safe.
+
+Everything at last was ready for his departure. Whilst Jack slept the
+first real sleep since the fever had seized him, his father took the
+proffered pipe from Genderen's hand, and sat down on the bench in the
+garden where the Boers were smoking. He turned to Van Niepert, for he
+had something yet to say. He was thinking what would become of Jack
+if he were overtaken by any of the perils which menace a traveller in
+these wild regions. His thoughts were all for his boy.
+
+The Dutchman puffed a great cloud of smoke into the air as he talked of
+what might be. Then Van Niepert's big hand descended with a thud. "Look
+yonder, man, across the veldt. Can't either of us see the kopjee (hill)
+that divides your land from Walt's. But that is there; and the boy's
+here. Walt must keep them both till the boy is of age to manage his
+own. Let your mind be easy. There will be the rent laid by year after
+year—a good round sum to start him with by that time."
+
+"Ik is Walt Immerseel," said his neighbour, sealing the promise the old
+man's words conveyed with a hearty hand-grip Mr. Treby never forgot.
+
+"I am Walt Immerseel," translated the grandfather. "There, man, is not
+that enough?"
+
+"Jah, Jah!" muttered the stolid brothers.
+
+"Strike hands on that. Did an Immerseel ever run back?"
+
+Jack's father indeed appreciated to the full that steady persistency
+that lies at the root of the Dutch character, the source of their
+wonderful patience and unwearying industry, and also of their dogged
+obstinacy, making it harder to turn a Dutch Boer aside than the
+proverbial donkey.
+
+"Never despair," continued old Niepert, puffing away huge volumes of
+smoke between every sentence, "while you've your hands and your acres.
+'Amsterdam was built upon a herring-bone.' You've more than that to
+work upon."
+
+Never did the good old Dutch proverb teach its lesson to more attentive
+ears. Yes, in the dreary swamp where the Dutchman first drew breath,
+the visit of the herring-shoal was the only source of gain.
+
+Mr. Treby felt how good it is to look back at these great works, which
+patient perseverance has already accomplished in this world of ours,
+when our own small corner is devastated. It helped him to brace his own
+energies to the task before him.
+
+But he did not repeat to Jack a single word of all this conversation,
+for he wanted to cheer him. So he turned away from the clouds which
+threatened him, and looked only at the brighter side. He spoke of
+Vickel.
+
+"If she should lay before I come back, you must take the greatest care
+of her eggs. If they are worth five pounds apiece, Jack, you will be a
+rich man some of these days."
+
+With his father's arm around him and his father's voice still murmuring
+in his ears, Jack fell once more into that peaceful, health-restoring
+sleep which gladdened his father's heart more than anything else.
+
+
+But when he awakened from it, that father had departed. The waggon had
+started at daybreak; Mr. Treby was gone.
+
+Little Sannie was singing on the "steop," as the front of the house was
+called. Bright and busy life was around him everywhere, but he had no
+share in it. He lay on his face, so that no one should see the tears
+that would gather in his eyes, he felt so unutterably lonely.
+
+Zyl was the first to come to him. Oh, if they could only talk; but as
+this pleasure was out of their power, the Dutch boy sat swinging on the
+lower half of the door, whistling compassionately. The English-made
+rakes and hoes and all the other odd pieces of iron-work which Mr.
+Treby had left behind him, attracted his attention.
+
+Whilst he examined them, Jack's red eyes were roving the world without.
+Where was his father? Which way did he go? Between those huge distorted
+masses of rock which had hitherto like a brown blot on Jack's horizon?
+He saw them now with other eyes—giant forms of rainbow-tinted crystal,
+with smooth bands of gray and red overlying each other; and at their
+feet the huge red plain that to Jack was home.
+
+But here at Jaarsveldt the more abundant water had partly covered the
+karroo with a coat of green. In the very crevices of the loosely-built
+stone walls, dark green leaves peeped forth to the rising sunshine; and
+on the tumble-down sod walls by the Kafir huts, luxurious chickweed was
+tangled with the glistening leaves of the ice-plant. A Kafir maid at
+her early dairy-work was singing a low-voiced chant in sleepy tones,
+which more nearly resembled the hum of the honey-laden bee than any
+other sound; whilst the growing sunlight tinted all around with the
+golden hue of the ripened corn.
+
+When Zyl perceived that Jack was awake, he came into the loft, and
+taking out of his pocket a kind of pop-gun he had been making, he
+showed it to him. A sort of pantomime sufficed to explain its working.
+It made Jack laugh to see how easily Zyl shot off a volley of peas at
+the opposite wall. It was all the better for Jack, now the three days
+with the books were exchanged for three weeks of wild liberty, in which
+the young Boers delighted. They were checkered with spells of real
+work in the garden and with the men. But these only increased Zyl's
+happiness, who was longing for the time when Jack could share it with
+him. He stowed the pop-gun away under Jack's pillow with a smile, and
+gathering up his spent ammunition, poured it into the thin white hand
+that was softly pressing his own.
+
+"All right," cried Zyl, imitating his brother. And the brief sentence
+Otto had taught them became a sort of watchword between the two boys.
+
+Zyl slid down the ladder with a tremendous boohoo, and took himself off
+to the sheep-kraals.
+
+But Jack was not forgotten by the rest of the family. Tante Milligen
+herself ascended the ladder, puffing and perspiring, for her exceeding
+stoutness rendered the ascent a matter of difficulty. She dropped
+down on the foot of Jack's bed, and regarded him anxiously. After
+feeling his head and his hands, and even pushing a finger into his
+mouth (Jack manfully resisted the temptation to bite it), she gave a
+satisfied smile, and departed in her turn, for she heard the rumble of
+cart-wheels entering the gate.
+
+The ugly old Hottentot brought him his breakfast, and with it the
+light-gray overcoat Mr. Algarkirke had promised to send. It was tied
+round with a bit of string, and a card was dangling to it, on which was
+printed, "Sandford Algarkirke," in tiny letters. "For Mr. Treby" was
+written in pencil, just above the printed name.
+
+Oh, how pleased Jack felt to see it; but what a pity his father was
+gone. As soon as he was left alone, he sat up and untied the string. He
+took off the card and examined the minute copperplate. He had no idea
+it was an English gentleman's visiting card, for he had never seen or
+heard of such a thing in his life. He thought he would put it in the
+breast-pocket of the coat, to take care of it, to show his father; but
+he found there was a slit in the bottom of the pocket, so he tied it up
+in the clean pocket-handkerchief his father had found for him in his
+mother's chest. Then Jack thought he would hang up the coat on a nail
+which he saw at the other end of the loft. He tried to put his feet
+to the ground; but he was so weakened by the fever that his head swam
+round, and for a few minutes he could hardly tell where he was.
+
+"Oh dear, oh dear! What shall I do?" he moaned. "I do want Tottie."
+
+If his Dutch friends heard him, they did not understand the piteous
+cry; but Vickel, lying on her breast in the sand, with her head
+touching the ground, recognized the dear familiar voice she had been
+missing. With a bound and a scream she struck upon the door Tante
+Milligen had so carefully closed, and burst it open. The wooden latch
+flew off, and stretching her long neck into the loft, she discovered
+her beloved Jack half-buried in the coat. Vickel snatched at the heap
+of gray with beak and claw, and pulling it off Jack's face, she looked
+at him with her large, luminous, human-like eyes welling over with love
+behind their long dark lashes. Up came the Hottentot herdsman and drove
+her away.
+
+But she had found out her master's retreat, and she watched over him
+night and day. There was no fear of Vickel straying from Jaarsveldt
+whilst Jack was in the loft. Ostriches are often called stupid, because
+they hide their heads under their wings at the approach of danger; but
+this is really a sign of their great intelligence. Their strong and
+powerful limbs can resist the attack of a buffalo, whilst a slight blow
+on their graceful, tender heads kills them in a moment. They know this,
+and so they use their short wing, with its splendid curling feathers,
+as a shield.
+
+Of course Vickel's last escapade was duly reported at head-quarters,
+and an ill-looking Kafir, who had been wounded in the fight in which
+she had been taken prisoner by the Boers, was told off to watch the
+sick child.
+
+Jack dreamed of her scarred face, and wakened in a fright, believing
+she was about to cut off his ears. But in spite of these drawbacks,
+his strength was slowly returning. Genderen was permitted to bring him
+grapes, and feed him with huge spoonfuls of a coarse but strengthening
+jelly, not many removes from liquid glue.
+
+Before Van Niepert departed, he too mounted the wooden ladder about
+half-way, until his head was level with the door in the gable.
+Rejoicing in a veritable tribe of children and grandchildren, he had
+had much experience, and his dictum was usually received as final. He
+pronounced Jack out of all danger, and bade him cheer up, for he would
+soon be on his feet again.
+
+Jack started up in horror for fear he should be once more consigned
+to the oven-like slaap-kamé when the old grandfather had departed.
+Van Niepert had spoken to him in English, and this emboldened Jack
+to prefer a very earnest petition that he might be permitted to keep
+his little bed in the loft. It was curing him, he urged; he had been
+getting better ever since he had been there.
+
+With a hearty laugh at English tastes, Van Niepert persuaded his
+daughter to let the little fellow have his way. Tante Milligen was the
+more willing to indulge him because, like a thrifty housewife, she had
+been secretly chagrined at being obliged to put a strange boy in her
+best bed.
+
+Walt was saddling his grandfather's horse; Van Immerseel was dutifully
+receiving a little parting advice; the whole family were gathered
+on the steop to watch the departure, when the eldest of the stolid
+uncles slowly mounted Jack's ladder, and taking out a leathern bag,
+deliberately looked over its contents, selecting an English sixpence.
+
+Jack wondered what was coming, when he saw it spinning round and round
+between the thumb and finger of the younger Niepert's big hand.
+
+This was done to attract Jack's attention. When the Boer was satisfied
+the English boy was looking at him, he tossed the sixpence towards him
+with so good an aim, it alighted in Jack's palm.
+
+
+
+X.
+
+_THE BANK-NOTE._
+
+"SLOW and steady" was assuredly the Boer's motto. The formal
+leave-takings, the blessings and the charges delivered by Van Niepert
+to every member of his daughter's family before he set a foot in the
+stirrup, took up so much time that Jack grew tired of being alone. His
+pop-gun was his first resource, but his ammunition was soon exhausted,
+and Zyl did not appear to gather up the scattered peas; so he waited
+until the scarred Kafir put in an appearance with his bowl of milk. Not
+understanding what it was he wanted, she brought him his father's coat.
+As she held it out to him, Jack saw for the first time that Vickel had
+torn the lining.
+
+He took it from her hand in much dismay, wondering whether he were man
+enough to mend it. As he turned it over, a letter fell out from between
+the cloth and the lining. It had never been opened; but it must have
+been shaking about in the inside of the coat a long while, for the
+edges of the envelope were worn through and let the contents fall out.
+The letter was addressed to the "Rev. Astley Bourke," and that was all.
+Jack unfolded the note, and found a flimsy piece of paper folded in it,
+on which was printed, "Bank of England."
+
+"Can this be a bank-note?" thought Jack, for he had seen one when his
+father sold his wool. He felt now he was making a grand discovery, and
+read the note very carefully.
+
+   "The Honourable Mrs. Featherstone presents her compliments to the
+Rev. Astley Bourke, and in answer to his application encloses a bank-note
+for £50.
+
+   "HAWKSWOOD HALL, NOTTINGHAM."
+
+Of course it was the word Nottingham caught Jack's eye, for it made him
+think of his grandfather. But he did not consider it wise to let the
+Kafir see the bank-note, so he slipped it under his pillow until he was
+left alone. But unfortunately Jack's precaution failed, for the Kafir
+would not have known what it was if she had seen it, but Otto did; and
+just as Jack had taken out the note and spread it before him on the
+sheet to examine it more thoroughly, Tante Milligen, happening to meet
+Otto, sent him to set Jack's mind at ease.
+
+Walt had gone with his grandfather part of the way, so the German was
+once again the only English-speaking individual on the farm.
+
+As he poked his way into the loft to deliver Tante Milligen's message,
+he caught sight of the note, and watched Jack slip it out of sight. He
+said nothing, but "Bank of England," "fifty pounds," rang in his head
+for days.
+
+[Illustration: VICKEL AND HER MASTER.]
+
+The German did not stay long. When Jack found himself alone once
+more, he packed up his treasure very carefully, knotting it in the
+handkerchief with Mr. Algarkirke's card and the sixpence the younger
+Niepert had given to him.
+
+"I must keep it very carefully till father comes back," he thought.
+"I wonder whom it belongs to? Fifty pounds is such a lot of money;
+wouldn't father be glad if it were his?" Then he turned over and tried
+to sleep; but the responsibility of so large a sum of money under his
+pillow would not let him rest.
+
+The very wind seemed singing "the Rev. Astley Bourke." At last he sat
+upright, and once more taking out his treasure, looked for the date.
+He could read it clearly in the brilliant moonlight, and counting the
+intervening months on his fingers, satisfied himself that the letter
+was written nearly two years ago.
+
+"How odd that Mr. Algarkirke never found it," reflected Jack, "for it
+must have been in the lining of the coat all the while he had it. I
+wonder where he is now. Father did not altogether like him; but he said
+he could trust Van Immerseel, for he took such care of everything in
+the waggon, all the more because father was a stranger to him, and I
+must do the same."
+
+After Jack had cleared up his mind and decided what he ought to do in
+the matter, sleep became possible once more. He dreamed of running over
+the sea with the bank-note in his hand, to ask his grandfather if the
+Rev. Astley Bourke lived at Nottingham.
+
+
+The next day Jack was dressed by the Kafir in the grotesque garments
+the Black Antelope had found for him. Then she got him on her back and
+carried him down the ladder into the sit-kamé, and laid him down on
+Sannie's sheep-skin. He had found a bit of string in the loft, and tied
+his treasures round his neck under the blouse.
+
+Everybody came and looked at him, and spoke encouragingly in Dutch. But
+he had nothing to do but to count the plum-stones in the floor and the
+beams in the ceiling, for the other children were sent out of the way
+to keep him quiet; but this did not last long.
+
+Little Sannie was the first to make her way to him. She came waddling
+in like a fat little duck, with both hands full of sweeties, which she
+wanted him to share.
+
+The next morning Zyl stood at the foot of the ladder with a look of
+business about him, waiting for Jack's appearance. Jack was looking
+much better and feeling stronger. He found he could dispense with the
+old Kafir's services, and walked down the ladder himself.
+
+Having at last got hold of Jack's hand, Zyl led him off in triumph to
+the three-cornered seat in his own little garden. The grassy thatch
+on the old umbrella had been well watered, thus adding a refreshing
+coolness to the quiet nook. A pile of newly-cut sods were prepared for
+a footstool, and a heap of juicy oranges for their mutual enjoyment.
+
+A few such days brought back the colour to Jack's cheek, and the
+sparkle of returning health to his hollow eyes. Then Zyl and Genderen
+laid their heads together and evolved a grand scheme.
+
+A little hand-carriage was constructed with Walt's help, very much
+resembling a wash-trough on wheels. A pillow and an old cloak of Tante
+Milligen's were placed in it, before Jack was asked if he would like a
+drive.
+
+Zyl was horse and Sannie driver, whilst Genderen walked sedately by its
+side with a branch of a milk-bush in her hand, flicking away the flies
+with its long waxen leaves.
+
+"Ah! Neu yah trek!" shouted Zyl, and away they went towards the
+sheep-kraals.
+
+Now and then they stopped to rest, when Sannie played in the waving
+tambouki grass, and gathered bunches of the yellow bitto flower and
+bright bluebell; and Genderen pointed to the tiny black insects with
+red stripes which made that bunch of yellow flowers their mimic city.
+Then Zyl discovered a veritable ant-palace, out of which the valiant
+inhabitants were marching to make war on their encroaching neighbours.
+So eager was he to watch the pitched battle which ensued, that he
+approached too near the insect squadron, and got a sting for his
+temerity.
+
+How odd it seemed not to be able to talk in the same language to each
+other. Genderen, in her slow, quiet fashion, was trying to teach Jack
+the Dutch names of the different things they passed, and to repeat
+his English ones. Their mutual mistakes called forth such bursts of
+laughter that there was no lack of fun amongst them. That was obviously
+intelligible all round. Jack had recourse to pantomime, in which he
+was growing very expert, imitating what he wanted to describe just as
+children do in the game of "dumb actions."
+
+Then Zyl once more began his shout of "Ah! Neu yah trek!" And the
+little cavalcade again set forward, until they came in sight of Otto's
+hut and the vast multitude of sheep dotting the red karroo.
+
+As they drew nearer, the shepherd's dogs came leaping and bounding
+towards them with short, joyous barks of welcome.
+
+Zyl was for harnessing them to Jack's car, and rushed off to borrow
+a rope of Otto. But Genderen shook her head, and reminded him they
+were to rest in the shepherd's hut, where a basket of fruit and
+roaster-cakes would be waiting for them.
+
+Otto himself came trotting up on his shaggy pony. He had locked the
+door of his hut when he left it in the morning; but the basket Genderen
+expected to find had been duly left on the step by one of the Kafir
+boys. The German pressed them to enter, and lifted Jack out of his
+carriage.
+
+The hut was built of wattle and clay, with a fireplace and one window.
+Jack was eager to go in, for he thought perhaps his father could build
+them such another; it could not cost anything so much as their house
+which was burned down.
+
+Genderen began to unpack the basket, and spread its contents on Otto's
+little table. As a matter of course, he was invited to take his share.
+But to find seats for so large a party was more than he knew how to
+manage, seeing he could boast of but one chair, and that he offered to
+Genderen. He had no bedstead, but a sort of hammock swung across the
+end of the hut. He began to clear the top of his box, which usually
+served him as a side-table.
+
+Jack suddenly stepped forward, for there lay his lost knife.
+
+"Please, Mr. Otto," he began.
+
+But the German turned to him with a frown. "I'll have no meddling with
+my things," he answered in a threatening tone.
+
+Jack was silent; he saw it was useless to remonstrate, for the German
+would give his own version to Van Immerseel.
+
+"And, I am sure," thought Jack, "a man who would take my knife would
+not be above telling a lie; and I could not explain to anybody it was
+mine any more than I could about the poor Black Antelope."
+
+Still Jack had one more question he wanted to ask the shepherd, so he
+said quickly, "We are not going to meddle with any of your things, Mr.
+Otto," with an emphasis on the "your" that made the German bristle all
+over like a porcupine setting up its quills.
+
+But he was a little disarmed when Jack continued undismayed, "But
+please, Mr. Otto, can you tell me when the schoolmaster will come
+again?"
+
+This was a vital question for Jack, and he waited breathlessly for the
+answer. But Otto either could not or would not tell him.
+
+After a while Zyl set up his unearthly shout of, "Ah! Neu yah trek!"
+and although Otto flatly refused to let his dogs be transferred into
+post-horses, the return journey was as blithe as the outgoing.
+
+Of course, the dogs obeyed their master's whistle, and accompanied
+him until they had a good view of the sheep. Perceiving that their
+customary charges were all right, and that nothing particular was
+required of them, they rushed back to the children with one accord,
+feeling themselves in duty bound to see their young friends well on
+their homeward way. Up they came, with their curly ears well back and
+their bushy tails wagging with delight. Their eyes were bright with the
+pleasure of stolen liberty, as they bounded round the children, saying
+as plainly as dogs always can to those who try to understand them, "We
+know we shall catch it if we are caught, but we'll risk it just this
+once for you, you dears."
+
+Then hands were licked and shaggy heads were fondled, and hairy
+and rosy lips exchanged their mutual kisses, Jack at last becoming
+emboldened to take his share in this overflow of caressing love.
+
+Suddenly the oldest of these curly guards laid his keen head to the
+ground, and catching the echo of a far-off whistle, gave a look to his
+companions. Away they flew, raising a cloud of sand behind them, and
+leaving the children breathless with laughter.
+
+
+The next day they made an excursion in an opposite direction, towards
+the rocks. All thought of danger from the free Kafirs was now set at
+rest.
+
+"It was proved the thieves had come from civilized, not from savage
+life. More shame to them!" thought Jack. "If I had only been big enough
+to shoulder a rifle behind father, we should have been a match for
+them. Next time we'll see."
+
+Away he walked, resolved to try his strength and make Sannie ride. By
+dint of persistency he carried his point, but was glad to compromise
+the matter and make frequent exchanges, which Genderen approved,
+observing, "Des is wohl" (that is well), as she felt proud of the
+success of their experiment, for Jack was getting well now as fast as
+he could.
+
+They ate their fruit and cakes in what the Dutch children called a
+"kloof,"—that is, a narrow cleft in the nearest mass of rock, down
+which in time of rain a dashing cataract thundered, fed by a mountain
+stream. But the burning sunshine of that African summer had dried-up
+the fall to a few trickling drops.
+
+A deep indented line of whitening sand divided the bottom of the
+valley. High overhead the precipitous rocks arose like the walls of a
+giant stronghold; and the tiny water-drops which oozed so slowly from
+their fractured sides fell with a musical sound on the smooth, flat
+stones at their feet—stones which had been polished to their present
+smoothness by the drip of ages. In this cool retreat, beneath the
+grateful shadow of the rocks, there grew a quivering tree. There was
+no one to tell Jack its nature or its name, but he gazed upon it in
+an ecstasy of delight and wonder. Lower down the bank of the dried-up
+stream a clump of young mimosas gave shelter to a covey of wild
+guinea-fowl.
+
+As the children advanced, running and shouting to each other in their
+glee, the shy and timid guinea-chicks were frightened, and rising from
+the flat-crowned bushes, took their flight to the safer shelter of the
+rocks.
+
+Off went Genderen and Zyl on the quest for eggs, creeping on their
+hands and knees where the tangle of underwood would have barred their
+progress. To such bird-nesting Jack had been a stranger; but after
+Genderen had shown him the first nest she had discovered, with its
+circle of dark pointed eggs, he comprehended their object and joined
+in the eager pursuit. Sannie was left to enjoy a nap in the little
+carriage, which they had drawn up beneath the shadow of the quivering
+tree.
+
+Again and again Jack put his hand to his breast to be sure that weighty
+responsibility, the Bank of England note, was safe in his handkerchief.
+He was growing tired with the scrambling and the scratches, so he went
+back to the sleeping Sannie, and gathering a handful of rushes which
+grew upon the margin of the dried-up stream, plaited them into a small
+flat basket, just big enough to hold his treasure. He sewed the top
+together with a long and flexible rush, so that no one could catch a
+glimpse of even the white handkerchief, in which the letter and its
+important contents were wrapped up. Then he tied it round his neck once
+more, and satisfied at last that he had made it really safe, lay down
+by Sannie to rest. He had no idea that the little snoring bundle had
+slept with one eye open, and was very curious as to his proceedings,
+until she stretched out both her fat baby hands and pulled his shirt,
+inquiring with an infantine lisp that was almost irresistible to Jack,
+"Was is das?"
+
+He took her on his knee, and with the remains of the rushes wove her a
+basket for her very own.
+
+In that cool retreat the summer hours flew swiftly by, and the children
+never thought of returning; for Genderen had found a nest of tiny
+guinea-chicks, and Zyl had lined the empty luncheon-basket with soft
+dry grass to receive them. Genderen placed them in it with a careful
+hand, delighted with the prospect of carrying home so excellent a find.
+
+As she extricated herself from the thicket, she saw a little bit of a
+scarlet blanket clinging to a mimosa leaf. A sudden thought struck her.
+She turned back, parted the branches, and looked eagerly between them.
+She saw a heap of gathered grass, crushed and pressed, as if it had
+been the sleeping-place of some wild animal. Genderen brushed her hand
+across her eyes, and stooping down, picked up a brass-headed pin she
+herself had given to the poor Black Antelope.
+
+Here, then, was her retreat. Could she be hiding here still?
+
+"No; she was on her way to her own country," persisted Zyl; "but they
+could not leave the kloof without a search."
+
+Up and down the dried-up bed of the watercourse, on to every accessible
+ledge to be discovered on its rocky sides, went Zyl, prodding with a
+broken branch from the quivering tree into every hole and crevice,
+where it was possible and even where it was not possible for their
+hare-like friend to hide; but all in vain. The cold, hard rocks only
+echoed back the much loved name Zyl persisted in shouting at the very
+top of his voice.
+
+"It is of no use," said Genderen sorrowfully. "When we get home, father
+will send the men with the dogs, and perhaps they will hurt her."
+
+"They must bring me back with them," interposed Zyl, "to show them
+where she slept. Mind you don't describe it so that they can find it
+without me, Gen; and if they flog her, they will have to flog me first,
+that's all."
+
+Having reached this decision, they ran across to Jack, who recognized
+the bit of scarlet blanket and the brass pin in a minute. He had felt
+too weak to take part in the search, but shared their grief at its
+failure. Zyl pointed out one source of comfort: poor Blackie would
+not starve with guinea-fowls' eggs to suck and the pure rock-water to
+drink. This was their consolation.
+
+Zyl insisted upon Jack riding home, although Jack was sure Sannie could
+not walk so far; but there were the eggs to be conveyed, and Sannie
+might break them. Zyl was dogged, so Jack gave in and let Zyl tuck him
+up in his carriage. Then the Dutch boy brought an armful of grass,
+which he kneaded into a sort of nest on Jack's lap, and in this the
+eggs were piled. Genderen placed her precious basket of living chicks
+in his right hand, for she had a heavier task to perform in carrying
+Sannie.
+
+Under such circumstances, their progress was of the slowest; and before
+they had progressed half a mile, they encountered Otto, who had come in
+search of them.
+
+He had gone up to the house by chance, and finding Tante Milligen in
+a state of great anxiety because the children had not returned, he
+volunteered to ride round and look for them. He took up Genderen behind
+him and Sannie before him; but he left the boys to their own devices,
+knowing well that no power on earth could make Zyl quicken his pace and
+risk his eggs.
+
+Sannie was delighted to find herself on the neck of Otto's horse, with
+his arm round her waist, holding her safe and fast. So she chattered on
+in her innocent way, half to herself and half to him. He was thinking
+more of Genderen's heavy sighs (for he knew she was dreading her
+mother's anger) than of Sannie's prattle, until she asked him to give
+her letters and paper to put in her basket like those Jack Treby kept
+in his. Then he lent a very earnest ear, asking her many questions.
+
+
+
+XI.
+
+_OTTO THE SHEPHERD._
+
+ZYL drove home his load in safety, but he thought it prudent to stop
+at one of the Kafirs' huts. Here he left Genderen's chicks in charge,
+and sent up his glorious find of eggs to the farm-house. Then he
+took fast hold of Jack's hand, and led him round by the back of the
+farm-buildings until they reached the foot of the ladder leading to
+the wool-loft. Jack did not often now resist his good-natured but
+self-willed friend. He had taken a leaf from Genderen's tactics, so
+they got on together admirably. Zyl insisted upon undressing him and
+putting him to bed. Jack could guess the reason why. Zyl meant to take
+the whole of the blame and its consequences upon his own shoulders.
+
+Jack looked round the sloping roof and white-washed wall of his
+loft, with a sort of home-feeling he had never experienced before at
+Jaarsveldt, when it suddenly struck him it was looking more untidy than
+usual. Yes, he was certain all the things his father had packed up so
+neatly under the slope of the roof had been pulled about. Who could
+have done it? The loft had not been cleaned, for the floor was littered
+all over. He was too hungry to sleep and too anxious to know what sort
+of reception Zyl had met with, to rest anywhere.
+
+Then he heard a noise as of horses' feet, and jumping up in bed saw the
+"oom" himself, on his great black horse, with Zyl behind him, and Walt
+on his fastest hunter at his side, with all the dogs and four or five
+of the Hottentots, starting for the rocks—in search of the poor Black
+Antelope, he could not doubt. Jack's heart ached for her; and he lay
+down and covered his face, thinking what it must be to wander forlorn
+and homeless in these wilds.
+
+In a little while the ugly Kafir brought him a calabash of ox-tail
+soup, and after that he sank into the sound sleep of healthy childhood.
+Nothing less than two awkward hands pulling at the collar of his shirt
+would have wakened him that night. But there they were. He felt the
+knuckles pressing on his throat, and almost thought it was a dream.
+He put up his own to push them away, and took hold of real hands—the
+rough, strong hands of a man clutching at his treasure. He was wide
+awake in an instant, fighting them off. Something was over his eyes.
+He struggled hard, and freed himself for a moment. He felt a man's
+hot breath upon his cheek, and screamed out with all his might as he
+recognized the face of the German shepherd.
+
+Would anybody come to his help? Could he even make himself heard in the
+dead of night? He remembered Van Immerseel and his sons were away. Yes,
+their absence had given Otto his opportunity. Jack saw it all, and grew
+cold with fear as he felt himself powerless in Otto's grasp. Then came
+the thought,—
+
+   "God sees, and he is ever more ready to help than we to ask."
+
+But thought itself soon became impossible, for Otto was cramming the
+corner of the pillow into his mouth to stifle his cries. Jack tried
+hard to throw himself on his face. Somehow he managed to get the
+precious letter under him, and not all Otto's blows or low-voiced
+menaces could make him stir from this position.
+
+Vickel, who was roosting, as usual, at the foot of Jack's ladder, had
+lifted a sleepy head when Otto passed her; but as she was now familiar
+with every one about the farm, she let him go up the ladder un-molested.
+
+Jack's scream aroused her vigilance, and two bright eyes were watching
+every movement; for Vickel was quite tall enough, when she drew herself
+to her full height, to peep in at the door of the loft, which Otto had
+left wide open to gain light enough for his search. She could not see
+Jack, who had rolled himself in the bed-clothes, until Otto lifted him
+by main force from the pillow to which he still clung. Then Vickel
+sprang upon the ladder with a cry of mingled love and rage, and struck
+the intruder so fierce a blow with her closed beak that it sent him
+headlong on the floor. Before he had time to recover his feet she
+seized him by the leg with beak and claw, and dragged him out of the
+loft.
+
+"Call her off! Call her off! Or she'll kill me," roared Otto as she
+once more lifted her formidable talon, ready to gore his flesh from the
+bones.
+
+When Jack, as white as ashes, and with scarcely voice enough to make
+himself heard, called, "Vic, Vic, Vic!" just as he had called her at
+feeding-time all her life. He snatched up some of the peas which were
+lying by his pop-gun and flung them towards her. With the beautiful
+docility of an ostrich, she turned and dropped her foe. The angry eyes
+grew eloquent with love, and the beak that was dealing death to Otto
+was stooped obediently to peck the peas in Jack's trembling hand. He
+leaned against her faithful breast, for the loft swam round, and he
+thought he must have fallen. But with the comprehension love alone can
+lend, Vickel spread her feathery shield above his head, and drawing him
+to her, brooded over him as a hen broods over her chicks.
+
+Jack peeped between the soft gray plumes of her sheltering wings, for
+he heard Otto groan, and now he saw him, a dark heap at the foot of the
+ladder. He had been stunned by his fall; but he soon began to move and
+mutter threats of vengeance on Jack and his ostrich.
+
+"It was your own fault, Mr. Otto," said Jack firmly. "What did you come
+here for to pull me out of bed in the middle of the night? Vickel would
+have killed you if I had not stopped her. You know that as well as I
+do."
+
+The German got up stiffly. "You made me cross," he grumbled. "You
+snored like a pig, and you would not answer me. I came to fetch that
+bank-note. It is not safe for a child like you to carry so much money
+about with you. Come, hand it down, or you'll be robbed and murdered
+some of these days with all those coloured fellows about. If I have
+given you a fright, it was to show you your danger."
+
+"Oh indeed, Mr. Otto," retorted Jack with a laugh. "I have no need to
+be afraid of anybody. You see what good care my ostrich takes of me.
+You had better talk about this to my father. I daresay he will be home
+in the morning."
+
+Jack's words were brave and bold, for he looked upon Otto as a beaten
+enemy. The German said no more, for Vickel made an angry dart at his
+uncovered head, and in his terror at the thought of a second attack, he
+turned and fled away as fast as his hurt leg would permit.
+
+Jack lay cuddled by his darling Vic until the strange coldness had
+passed over, and his manful little heart had ceased to beat so wildly.
+The glorious brightness of the moonlight had given place to a chill
+creeping mist. It was the dreariest hour of all the night, but it
+was bringing back the day. After a while the mist began to lift, and
+the morning sun arose in all its splendour. Then Jack knelt down
+by Vickel's side, and clasping his hands together, poured out the
+fulness of his heart in prayer. The joy of his thanksgiving for his
+hair's-breadth escape, and the earnest cry for help and guidance,
+scarcely found utterance in words, for blinding, choking tears came at
+last to his relief.
+
+The broken words, the gasping sobs, touched the heart of the Kafir
+groom, who had risen at daybreak expecting his master's return. As
+soon as the humming, droning song of the black dairymaid announced her
+presence among the milk-pails, he went across and told her "that poor
+lamb without a mother" was very sore at heart—wailing over the fate of
+the Black Antelope, he doubted not, for the white lamb from the fold
+was much loved by the dark hind from the upper veldt, as they both knew.
+
+Then the dairymaid came and listened, and picked up a man's hat at the
+foot of the ladder. Gorya the groom took it and hid it in the back of
+his stable with a grin. He knew the owner of the hat at a glance, and
+muttered to himself, "What's he been up to here?"
+
+Much pleased with Jack's sympathy for their fellow-countrywoman (for
+they both knew well how earnestly he had pleaded for her on the night
+of her offence), the two Kafirs would have gone to him at once but for
+Vickel's menacing glances, for she had settled herself in the doorway,
+and refused to stir for any one.
+
+When Jack found the farm-servants were about, his spirits returned, and
+he began to think over his night's adventure. How was he to explain
+what had happened to the Immerseels? In truth, he dare not say a single
+word to any one of them, for he could not make them understand, and
+then they would send for Otto to tell them what he was saying.
+
+"Yes," thought Jack, "Mr. Otto sees this just as clearly as I do, and
+so he thinks he can do as he likes, as much wrong as he likes, and
+carry all before him with a high hand; but he cannot deceive me. He is
+a bad man. He came to steal this bank-note; I'm sure he did."
+
+Jack's reflections were cut short by the sound of horses' feet, and
+looking out of the door of his loft, he saw the "oom" ride in, with Zyl
+behind him. He watched the party dismount, but the Black Antelope was
+not with them. To make quite sure that he was not mistaken, Jack ran
+down his ladder and seized his friend by both hands, looking earnestly
+in his face. Zyl knew well enough what he wanted to ask, and replied
+to him and to Genderen, who was signalling the same inquiry from the
+window of her slaap-kamé, with a shake of his head, repeating the
+pathetic Dutch word "verloren" (lost).
+
+Genderen burst into tears. She did not appear at the early breakfast
+prepared for the search-party.
+
+Jack went indoors with his friend, and breakfasted on mutton-chops,
+listening attentively to the conversation, and gathering its sense more
+from tone and gesture than from actual words.
+
+Yes, the search had been fruitless. Zyl was sent off to bed, grumbling
+and weary. Feeling himself safe indoors, with the "oom" nodding in
+his huge arm-chair just opposite, Jack coiled himself up on Sannie's
+sheep-skin, and was soon asleep. He was wakened by the sound of Tante
+Milligen's voice, and a very solemn voice it was. He looked up and
+saw her standing in the doorway leading to the kitchen, with all her
+maids gathered round her, listening open-mouthed whilst she narrated
+something which had happened to herself in the night.
+
+Jack caught the words "Das ein nacht" (this very night), and was up in
+a moment. Had Tante Milligen sent Mr. Otto after all? Jack had become
+very skilful at pantomime by this time, so he ran up to her and asked,
+by looking very earnestly in her face and taking hold of her hand, if
+she wanted him? Tante Milligen shook her head.
+
+"Das ein nacht," repeated Jack.
+
+She held up her hands and turned to her eager, interested auditors,
+who echoed back their mistress's exclamation, each in her own peculiar
+fashion.
+
+The truth was Tante Milligen had heard a noise in the night—a noise
+like thunder, she averred. It was just as if a heavy weight had been
+thrown down suddenly over her head. Like most of the females among the
+Dutch Boers, Tante Milligen, although a brave woman, was fearfully
+superstitious. A noise outside the house would not have frightened her
+half so much, even if it had proved to be another Kafir scare. But this
+mysterious noise inside the house, what could it mean?
+
+When Jack came up to her with the traces of the night's excitement
+still visible in his pale cheeks and circled eyes, she only thought
+he had heard it too, and of course any child must be frightened. She
+was pleased that it confirmed her own experience, for one of those
+shameless Hottentots had positively suggested that she must have been
+dreaming.
+
+"Slaap wohl?" she asked Jack, who shook his head most decidedly. Having
+had that question put to him every morning during his illness, he knew
+what it meant, and did his best to make her understand he had not slept
+at all.
+
+Overcome with compassion, Tante Milligen sat down on the nearest chair,
+and took the little English boy on her lap, giving him a motherly hug
+and calling her maids one by one to notice the blackness of the circles
+under his eyes. This was indeed treating him like a baby; but Jack
+was not so aggravated by it as he had been when Walt laid him down on
+Sannie's sheep-skin, because it convinced him Tante Milligen would have
+interfered if she had had the least idea that Otto had been trying to
+frighten him.
+
+Then Genderen came to fetch him. Tante Milligen said he would be better
+out of doors; besides she wished to keep the house quiet until her sons
+should awaken. Jack took Sannie's hand and wandered about with her,
+keeping very near the farm-gate, for fear of meeting Otto. Genderen
+was seated on the steop, shelling pepper, ready for one of the maids
+to pound. Jack would willingly have helped her, but he was looking for
+Vickel.
+
+His giant fairy was far too stately a creature to be overlooked,
+yet she seemed to have vanished. He thought of the day when he lost
+her before; but Genderen's fluffy charges were all safe with their
+respective mothers. Everything was as usual, only his own ostrich was
+nowhere to be seen. Could anybody have hurt his Vickel? Jack's blood
+was boiling at the thought. He rushed back to Genderen, and showing her
+a dirty feather his bird had dropped, repeated her own mournful word,
+"verloren" (lost).
+
+But Genderen smiled reassuringly, and pointed in the direction of their
+own ostrich camp.
+
+At that moment the shepherd came out of the granary, and apparently
+thinking the farm-yard was deserted, began to pull about the loose
+straw at the bottom of the stack where Jack had taken his siesta on
+that unlucky day when he fell ill with the fever. The children saw
+him through the open gate, and the Kafir groom watched him behind the
+stable door. His movements were awkward, for he was stiff and sore, and
+his hat was pulled over his eyes—his Sunday hat!
+
+The girls began to laugh at the incongruity of his appearance. At
+the sound of their merriment, Otto left his search, and limping up
+to them, turned to Jack with a scowl, saying,—"The 'oom' has ordered
+that vicious bird of yours to be shut up as long as it is here. The
+cow-keeper has been telling him how it flew at Sannie."
+
+"Zyl can tell him more about that than the cow-keeper, and perhaps I
+could tell him more about last night than you did, Mr. Otto," retorted
+Jack.
+
+"See if I don't take your English impudence out of you some of these
+days," growled Otto.
+
+Jack's blood was up, and his prudence was nowhere, so he answered
+hotly, "Then you will just rouse the British bull-dog. Don't you know
+he would die rather than let you or any man touch a rag that was in his
+care."
+
+"Oh, oh!" sneered the German. "And where is the brute to be found?"
+
+"Here," returned Jack proudly, laying his hand on his own heart. "I
+don't imagine English boys were made of poorer stuff than a dog in his
+kennel; do you?"
+
+
+
+XII.
+
+_WRITING TO GRANDFATHER._
+
+IN another minute Jack's arm was round Genderen's neck, coaxing and
+entreating for something, she could not tell what. He took up one of
+the peppersticks and pretended to write on her pinafore.
+
+"When would the schoolmaster come again?" was that it? Genderen counted
+the number of days upon her fingers. Ten more, and he would be due. But
+Jack persistently shook his head and wrote on. Thinking he wanted to
+borrow a slate and pencil, she led him into the sit-kamé and touched
+the door of the cupboard where their books were kept. This was right.
+
+Jack murmured a grateful "Jah."
+
+Genderen unlocked the door, and waited for him to point to what he
+wanted.
+
+Jack's eye roved over the motley contents for a moment, and then his
+finger touched the inkstand.
+
+Genderen gave a smile of intelligence, and putting her own pen in his
+other hand let him carry them off in triumph.
+
+He knew that Otto was gone by this time, and that Zyl was still asleep,
+so he slipped unperceived into the garden and made a writing-desk of
+his friend's three-cornered seat. The hedge round Zyl's garden had
+grown luxuriantly, thanks to the diligent use of his watering-pot, so
+that no one could see what Jack was doing behind it.
+
+He sat down on the grass and took out his treasure. It was all right,
+but the edges were wearing away. He read the lady's note again. It only
+covered one page of the sheet of paper. Jack's eyes grew bright: with
+three pages of blank paper he could write a letter to his grandfather,
+and send the note and its contents to him.
+
+"He can find the lady. They are both living at Nottingham. Tomorrow is
+the day for the post-cart to pass," thought Jack, feeling his spirits
+rise like a bird at having found such a good way out of his difficulty.
+
+Jack had never written a letter by himself before. He had often put
+a little note to his grandfather into his father's letters. But then
+there was always his father to tell him if it were all right. Now he
+must do it all; for if he wore the bank-note round his neck another
+week, it would drop to pieces, and if he tried to hide it anywhere else
+Otto would get it. So Jack wrote on as well as he could:—
+
+   "DEAR GRANDFATHER,—Some thieves burned down our house, and father
+burned his coat getting me out of the fire, so he had to buy one of
+a stranger—a young Englishman, who said he had got a coat he did not
+want. It was too big for him. It had belonged to a friend of his, and
+it was put with his luggage by mistake, for he left England in a great
+hurry. His friend said it was not worth while to send it back. Father
+and I went to the nearest farm, and he was to send the coat there.
+Father was going away with the waggon, but as I was ill, he left me
+behind.
+
+   "The coat came too late for him to wear it on the journey, so I was
+taking care of it for him. And one day when I was ill in bed my ostrich
+tore it, only because it was in the way, and she wanted to come to me.
+Then I found there was a letter between the lining and the cloth, with
+a bank-note in it. I thought at first I had better keep it until father
+came back; but I can't. The people here are very kind to me; but they
+speak Dutch, so I cannot tell them anything.
+
+   "There is only one man who can speak English, and he is a bad man, and
+tried last night to steal the bank-note. I do not know what he would
+have done to me if my ostrich had not come to my help and knocked him
+down. She is the dearest, loveliest bird in all the world. I can't tell
+you how I love her. I have just found out this horrid man has got my
+ostrich shut up. I know what that means. He thinks he shall get the
+bank-note away from me when I have no big bird to fight for me. But he
+is making a mistake, for I am going to send it to you by the post.
+
+   "And please, grandfather dear, will you give back to the lady it
+belongs to, if she is still at Nottingham; and if she is not there now,
+you will be more likely to find her than father; and anyhow it will be
+safe. I will put all in this letter; the card that was tied to the coat
+too, for I am afraid I should not write the names plain. I have no more
+paper, so good-bye, dear grandfather.
+
+                     "Your affectionate grandson,
+
+                                          "JOHN TREBY."
+
+Jack dried his letter in the sun, and then folded the bank-note in it
+once again, and slipped it into the ragged envelope. He looked well
+at the card, thinking that if he were the schoolmaster, he should
+not like to have such a difficult name to spell every time he had to
+write a letter. Then he packed both card and letter in a sheet of his
+"Illustrated London News," and tied it up with the precious piece of
+string he had found in his pocket after the fire.
+
+Oh, was not it a wonderful thing that he should actually have money
+enough to pay the postage. It was good of Zyl's uncle to give him that
+sixpence. Oh, how true it is that with the trial God sends the way of
+escape, that we may be able to bear it. Jack thought of the night when
+his father had explained that to him—a Sunday night years ago. He had
+listened and remembered then; he was living by it now.
+
+Next the thought of what Otto might do to him in his exasperation, when
+he found himself baffled, came over Jack like a cold shadow; but he
+threw it off, exclaiming, "I comforted father when I reminded him of
+Christ's own words,—
+
+   "'Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.'
+
+"And ought not they to comfort me? I won't be made afraid." He put back
+his precious letter into its case of rushes, and marched into the house
+with Genderen's pen and ink.
+
+Zyl was just out of bed, and laughing heartily at the idea of beginning
+his day with dinner; but for all that there was a cloud on his brow,
+for like Genderen and Sannie, he was secretly fretting for his Kafir
+nurse, and sullenly resenting his father's harshness to her. So Jack's
+excitement passed unnoticed.
+
+Van Immerseel himself was sorry for them all; and hoping to divert his
+children's thoughts from the lost Intombi (as a Kafir girl is usually
+called), he told them he was going down to the ostrich camp to collect
+the eggs, and that they should go too. Zyl should drive them in the
+cart.
+
+The girls ran off for their sun-kappjes, whilst the boys packed the
+egg-baskets in the back of the cart. Jack was delighted, for he
+expected to find his Vickel there. He had often seen the Boer's men
+loading this cart with barley quite early in the morning, and he
+guessed very shrewdly that it was to feed the ostriches.
+
+Jack's great question now was how to get his letter to the post-cart.
+And in this discovery, he found a key to unlock his difficulty. Van
+Immerseel was mounted on his favourite cob. Like most African farmers,
+he preferred riding to walking when he visited his ostriches, because
+the presence of a horse has a very quieting effect upon these feathered
+giants. He rode slowly, whistling a favourite tune, whilst the cart
+rumbled over the stones at a little distance.
+
+When they reached the camp, Van Immerseel left the girls outside, but
+he took Jack upon his horse and showed him Vickel, very happy and
+content in the midst of her feathered kin. Zyl marched boldly after
+them with a basket on his head, until they came to the nests. Here the
+Van dismounted, and was soon in high good humour with the number of
+beautiful eggs he was able to collect. Jack was very quiet and very
+attentive, watching eagerly everything that went on around, not a
+little pleased that Van Immerseel trusted him to hold the bridle of his
+horse whilst he was busy after the eggs.
+
+When they returned, Van Immerseel let both the boys ride at once,
+whilst he led the cart himself very carefully. Jack was happy, for he
+had worked out his plan, and not one of his Dutch friends imagined for
+a moment that his joyous laugh, as he rode behind his friend, was the
+effervescence of such a desperate resolution.
+
+When they reached home, Jack employed the rest of the evening in
+making a hood for Vickel out of his pocket-handkerchief—something
+after the fashion of a carriage-hood, so that it might let up and
+down. He had saved a handful of the strongest rushes they had found in
+the ravine. Genderen supplied him with a needle and thread. He folded
+his handkerchief cornerwise, and made runners for the rushes across
+it at even distances. It was easy to draw it into shape and sew the
+rushes firmly together at the ends. He had torn off the hems of the
+handkerchief to serve for strings, and when these were sewn on his work
+was completed.
+
+When one of the Hottentot maids fetched him indoors to supper, he took
+the opportunity to entreat Tante Milligen to let him sleep indoors. She
+was quite prepared for this, and understood him easily. So she put him
+in bed with Zyl. And when Walt joined them, an hour or two later, a
+nice time they had of it. With fever and fretting Jack was as thin as
+a little skeleton—a perfect shrimp in Walt's eyes, who insisted upon
+putting Jack between them, for fear he should kick him out of bed in
+his sleep without knowing it. When sleep visited his two Dutch friends
+it was banished from Jack's eyelids; for snoring followed in its train,
+and every time the two young giants stretched themselves or rolled
+over, he thought he should be crushed. So he passed the greater part of
+the night sitting cross-legged on his pillow.
+
+With daybreak Walt arose, and Jack followed his example, for he was
+gasping like a little fish for air; but Zyl, who had not yet recovered
+his lost rest, was sleeping heavily. Walt perceived poor Jack's
+condition, and did not wonder at his determination to escape to the
+fresh, cool morning air outside; so he let the English boy accompany
+him to the garden, where Walt was soon too hard at work to take much
+heed of his restless companion.
+
+As soon as the farm-yard gate was open Jack went in, and seating
+himself at the door of the granary, waited for the arrival of the
+ostrich-cart. When he heard the droning hum of the dairymaid's song,
+he ventured to her door and begged a cup of milk. The balmy air of the
+African dawn was breathing new life into every vein. It seemed an easy
+thing to him then to scamper over the veldt on Vickel and meet the
+post-cart; yes, and be back again almost before anybody could miss him.
+
+The cart was coming for the barley. Jack was at his post in a moment.
+The "oom" himself had taken him to see his bird the night before, so
+the men about the yard, who had found Vickel guarding the door of the
+loft morning after morning, thought it quite natural Jack should want
+to go and feed her.
+
+The drive through the morning air raised Jack's spirits, and he joined
+merrily in the Kafir's song, catching the lilt and humming the tune
+when the queer-sounding words escaped him.
+
+A deafening scream from the ostrich camp greeted their arrival. The
+hungry birds were crowding round the gate, crying their loudest for
+breakfast. A hundred open beaks and as many impatient claws scratching
+up the sand looked somewhat formidable. Jack filled the crown of his
+hat with barley, and as soon as the gate was unlocked, he waved it high
+in the air, flinging the grains of corn far and wide. The feathered
+phalanx was dispersed in a moment. The tall, towering necks were bent
+to the ground with a meek gobble, gobble.
+
+"They are nothing but big poultry after all," laughed Jack.
+
+The Kafir laughed too, and invited Jack to enter; but he preferred
+remaining by the gate, whilst the Kafir went in with his sack of barley
+on his shoulders.
+
+While the man was thus engaged, Jack called, "Vic! Vic!" but at first
+there was no answer. Jack raised his voice, and looked around. He soon
+found her, for the other birds would not suffer the stranger to eat
+with them at present; so Vickel was hovering round and round the busy
+group, fain to content herself with a solitary grain or two snatched
+desperately between her companions' feet. At the sound of Jack's call
+she ran towards him with a crow of delight.
+
+He had kept some barley for her in the crown of his hat. A few grains
+flung towards her again and again soon separated her from the other
+ostriches. Jack softly opened the gate, and by showing her the barley
+still left in his hat, he tempted her to follow him out. He shut the
+gate behind them, emptied the remainder of the barley on the ground,
+and whilst Vickel devoured it eagerly, he sprang upon her back.
+
+Away on his winged steed, away like the wind, across that sea of
+glowing sand they flitted like a light-gray cloud, circling round and
+round in their rapid flight. Never before had Vickel tasted the full
+delight of perfect liberty on her native veldt. She arched her graceful
+neck and shook out her curling plumes to the morning breeze in a whirl
+of mad delight, as if she were a willing participant in her master's
+daring scheme.
+
+Pursuit was impossible; nothing could overtake them now. Vickel
+scarcely touched the ground as she skimmed across the mighty plain,
+balancing herself with her outspread wings, with an easy, graceful
+movement that was neither running nor flying, but swifter than the
+swiftest racer that ever won the Derby. The speed at which they
+travelled almost took away Jack's breath.
+
+He was delighted with the success of his manœuvre. The ease with which
+he had been able to manage the starting encouraged him mightily.
+Through the clear African atmosphere Jack could see for miles. He had
+so often watched for the post-cart by his father's side, and had been
+the first to perceive the little cloud of dust darkening the horizon
+line, he could not miss it now.
+
+
+
+XIII.
+
+_HOW THE LETTER WAS POSTED._
+
+JACK did not miss it. After an hour or more of anxious watching, the
+rolling cloud of dust appeared, but it was going from him. In an
+agony of desperation, he put his hand to his head to try to think.
+Yes, there was the post-cart almost out of sight, and altogether out
+of hearing,—nothing but a moving speck of cloud. No one but himself,
+thought Jack, would have been sure that it was the post-cart. No power
+on earth could make Vickel run in a straight line. He saw it now, as
+she circled round and round, he had lost his way.
+
+His heart beat wildly, his breath was almost gone with the terrific
+speed, when a crystal gleam in the glowing sand attracted Vickel. Easy
+as it is for an ostrich to go without water in her native deserts,
+she loves it all the same; and now of her own accord, Vickel stopped
+to drink. Jack got down and drank also: the water was warm with the
+growing sunshine. Then he sprang upon her shoulder once again, and she
+waded through the little stream with infinite satisfaction.
+
+When she stepped out again on the opposite bank, she shook the water
+from her wings, and covered Jack with a light and glistening shower,
+which both steed and rider felt infinitely refreshing.
+
+Jack took the hood he had made out of his pocket and tied it on his
+ostrich. It answered well; he could let it down over her eyes and stop
+her when he liked. He gave up all thought of trying to make her run
+after the post-cart. But he had watched the way it was going, and now
+he started his ostrich in another direction, hoping as she circled
+round, he should fall in with it further on.
+
+Away went Vickel with renewed speed, taking a wider sweep as she felt
+her capabilities expand with this unwonted exercise. The pace at which
+they were going was frightful. Mr. Wilton and his powerful grays crept
+like snails in comparison.
+
+Jack was dizzy and sick, when suddenly he found himself, not behind the
+post-cart, but before it. Vickel was turning from the storm of dust it
+raised, when Jack let the hood drop over her eyes. She stopped at once,
+and Jack hung round her neck, more dead than alive. But he knew the
+critical moment had come; yet it was a mercy he had a breathing-space,
+or he might have fainted quite away. Vic was frightened at finding
+herself in the dark, so she lay down and ran her head in the sand,
+trying to rub her hood off. Jack stretched himself on the ground beside
+her and slowly rallied.
+
+Great was the postman's astonishment when he perceived the little
+fellow, covered with dust and white with fatigue, sitting by the
+wayside waiting.
+
+Jack got up as the tramp of the horses drew nearer and nearer. He waved
+his hat in the air and held aloft his precious letter. The postman drew
+up. Jack put the letter and the sixpence into his hand; but his voice
+was weak and faint, as he asked nervously, "Please, sir, is that enough
+for the postage?"
+
+[Illustration: HER MAJESTY'S MAIL.]
+
+The postman took the letter from him and read the familiar address.
+Every time he had crossed that sandy waste for years, he had been
+stopped to take a letter for Mr. Treby, Nottingham, England. He looked
+Jack all over, as he said kindly, "You have had a long and dusty walk
+to overtake me here. It has been too much for you, my little man. Your
+letter shall go all right. Where is your father?"
+
+"He is gone on a long journey, sir," answered Jack dolefully.
+
+"Then keep your sixpence; I will give you the stamp. But do not try to
+walk back in the heat, or you will drop by the way. Lie down under one
+of the bushes and rest. Have you anything with you to eat?"
+
+Jack shook his head. "I'm not hungry, sir."
+
+"Hungry! No," repeated the postman; "you are past that. Why did not you
+send that letter by your father's man—the old fellow was waiting by the
+kopjee for the parcel I promised to bring your father—eh?"
+
+"Please, sir, I came from Jaarsveldt," put in Jack.
+
+"Jaarsveldt!" exclaimed Wilton in astonishment. "That is miles and
+miles away. You must not think of trying to go back there alone; you
+are a great deal nearer your old home. Keep to my tracks until you come
+to the kopjee, and then I think you will be able to find your way,
+for I have often seen you there by your father's side watching for my
+coming. Now mind what I say, and eat this," the postman continued,
+taking out his pocket-flask and pouring some of its contents over a
+piece of captain's biscuit.
+
+Jack found it wonderfully reviving. One of the passengers who had been
+listening to the conversation threw him a bit of bultong—that is, meat
+cut in strips and dried in the wind; and a hand was stretched out from
+the inside of the cart with a nice slice of watermelon. Jack lifted his
+big hat and bowed all round.
+
+Wilton reiterated his charges.
+
+"Please, sir," said Jack earnestly, "I am not alone; I have got my
+ostrich," pointing to the hole where Vic still lay, with her head well
+buried in the sand, in a paroxysm of fear on account of the horses.
+
+Jack wondered why the men all laughed. He promised faithfully to do as
+he was told; and away drove the post-cart, leaving him in that vast
+solitude once more. He watched "Her Majesty's mail" crossing the wild
+desert plain until it vanished to a dusky speck.
+
+The rolling sand on every side surrounded him like an earthy sea, for
+it was driven in wave-like heaps by a sudden gust. An ice-cold wind was
+driving before it a cloud so dense and black Jack trembled, for he knew
+that thunder was lurking in its inky folds. He ran to Vickel, who was
+rallying her spirits, after the apparition of those prancing horses,
+by browsing among the rosemary bushes. She too had felt the change.
+A little black and white bird flew fast from ant-hill to ant-hill,
+seeking shelter from the coming storm.
+
+Vickel began scratching a hole in the billowy sand with unusual
+vehemence, as a troop of eland deer rushed past within a dozen yards
+of the rosemary bush she had been munching. Jack crept in terror to
+her side, as the "velderbeeste" dashed madly on, and the first fierce
+lightning flash parted the blackening gloom.
+
+Jack gave one cry—he could hardly help it—as the thunder crashed and
+rolled above his head. But his faithful Vic's broad wing was spread
+above two heads instead of one, as the bird and the boy huddled
+together in the hole she had been scooping.
+
+It was an awful moment. Down came the heavy drops of thunder-rain. The
+tall grass waved and shivered. Aroused by Jack's wild cry, a quaint
+black figure crept cautiously out of a deserted ant-bear's hole, with
+which the ground was honey-combed, and looked around. Another and
+another jagged flash compelled her to fling herself on the ground to
+escape its fury.
+
+Swiftly as the storm had arisen, so swiftly did it pass. Beyond the
+angry clouds a bright-hued rainbow spanned the wide reach of sky and
+kissed the crimsoned sand, that seemed to glow with a deeper red when
+the brightness of the golden sunshine was withdrawn.
+
+To Jack's surprise Vickel began to hiss. He parted her feathers with
+his fingers and looked cautiously around.
+
+The storm was dying, but every leaf was glittering with its sparkling
+diamond drop. The thirsty earth was already rejoicing; the very flowers
+seemed whispering, "Rain, more rain," as they lifted their drooping
+heads in grateful gladness.
+
+The black had raised herself on one elbow, and was gazing earnestly
+at Vickel's damaged plumage. Those singed wings could not easily be
+mistaken. Like the hum of the wandering bee her song arose:—
+
+   "Lamb without a mother, where, oh, where?
+    Bird without a heart,
+    To leave the fair 'umfana' and depart;
+    Or was the hard, hard casa hard to thee?
+    And did he force a faithful bird to flee?"
+
+Jack sprang to his feet and rushed towards the singer. The voice was
+the voice of the poor Black Antelope. He could have recognized that
+song had they met at the ends of the earth.
+
+"Umfana," repeated Jack, catching the sound of the one Kafir word with
+which she had made him familiar. "Why, that was what she always called
+me, and Zyl was her 'umdanda,' now I recollect."
+
+To make assurance doubly sure, Jack shouted, "Here's your old umfana."
+
+"Ou ka! (Oh no)," cried the Black Antelope, springing to her feet,
+for she began to think the bird was talking; she could see no umfana
+(child) or umdanda (boy) anywhere.
+
+Her frantic gesticulations, her wild cries, set Jack off laughing. She
+began to tear her hair, declaring it was a spook (a bogle) that was
+mocking her.
+
+Up rose Vickel with a screaming hiss, leaving Jack tumbling in the
+sand. The next minute he found himself half hugged to death in the
+fervid embraces of the Kafir nurse.
+
+"You did not expect to meet a six-foot hen with a two-handed chick, now
+did you?" asked Jack, kissing her fondly, as he felt her bony arm.
+
+How sorry Jack was he had eaten all the food Mr. Wilton and his
+passengers had given him, for he was certain the poor girl was really
+starving. Like Vickel, she had been eating rosemary leaves. But her
+delight at finding Jack made her forget her own sufferings.
+
+Yet, yet, she asked, why was her pet-lamb straying on the veldt? It was
+well they had met, for the homeless dog, as she called herself, could
+guard the lost lamb and save him from destruction. She drew him to a
+safer spot, and sitting down beside him, watched the parting clouds,
+for the lightning had not altogether ceased, and the thunder still
+rumbled behind the low sand-hills. Overhead the sky was clearing, and
+the arching rainbow shone with brightened hues.
+
+Jack leaned against his Kafir friend, while Vickel strutted about,
+drying her feathers in the transient gleams of the returning sun. The
+air grew fresh and reviving. The sleep the postman had so earnestly
+recommended to Jack fell upon him unawares.
+
+The Black Antelope had noticed at the first glance that her lamb
+had been shorn of his wavy curls, and now she perceived the traces
+of recent illness in his pale lips and hollow eyes. So she waited
+patiently beside him, flapping away the stinging flies with a long tuft
+of grass, that his sleep might be unbroken; and so the weary hours
+passed by.
+
+When Jack at length awakened, the darkness of night had gathered around
+them. Vickel was roosting in the sand at their feet; but the glorious
+stars of the southern hemisphere were shining forth in all their
+splendour.
+
+"There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard,"
+thought Jack as he looked into the Kafir's eyes and then pointed
+upwards to their glittering light, and began to sing,—
+
+   "Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
+          Lead Thou me on!
+    The night is dark, and I am far from home,
+          Lead Thou me on!"
+
+Oh, how she listened. The solemn stillness of the night oppressed them
+both. Jack was almost afraid to think, and altogether too proud to cry;
+yet in spite of himself a something rising in his throat choked his
+voice.
+
+"Have I done wrong to venture here alone?" he asked. "I almost wish—but
+no—" He checked himself. "I won't mind, for I've done it. The letter is
+safe on its way to grandfather. Oh, if I could only have asked father
+what I had better do."
+
+Then the sweet words of his hymn came back to him; and kneeling down
+amid the eerie, lonesome waste, he took the Black Antelope's hand in
+his, and coaxed her to kneel beside him as he repeated aloud,—
+
+   "Our Father."
+
+Yes, her Father as well as his, if she but knew it. Yet his prayer was
+for them both, as she dimly felt.
+
+Jack had poured forth all his troubles, and his heart was lightened.
+They could do nothing but keep just where they were until daylight.
+"And then," thought Jack, "I shall see the tracks of the post-cart, and
+I'll take the poor Black Antelope home to Tottie; for all her trouble
+came through her kindness to me. It is hard when trouble comes through
+trying to do right."
+
+Then sleep came slowly back again, and Jack was dreaming of the home he
+could not find.
+
+At the peep of dawn he rose and began searching diligently for the
+track of the post-cart. Alas, alas! He could not find it. How was
+it? Had they wandered unconsciously from the spot? Or had the storm
+obliterated the deep wheel-ruts? He could not tell.
+
+Jack tried to explain to his companion what it was that he was
+searching for, by drawing lines with his finger in the sand.
+
+Both were faint for want of breakfast, and soon grew tired. The
+eagerness with which Jack had started on his fruitless search had
+dwindled to a lagging walk; but not one vestige of a cart-track could
+be discovered.
+
+Then he sprang upon Vickel, who had made her breakfast on the scrubby
+grass as she loitered after them. Jack arranged her hood and bridle,
+and then invited the Black Antelope to mount beside him. Vickel was now
+so strong she could have carried a man on each shoulder with ease. She
+thought nothing of her added burden, and ran off as gaily as on the
+preceding day. She, at least, was in her native element, and every now
+and then turned a loving look to her master's face as she took a wider
+sweep, scouring the mighty plain in every direction.
+
+At last the Kafir girl's quick eye detected the welcome lines ridging
+the wavy sand. She pointed them out to Jack with a cry of joy. The
+track of the post-cart at last, thought Jack, as he dropped the hood
+over Vickel's eyes and jumped off. But the Kafir was before him,
+running swiftly between the two deep ruts, which nothing smaller than
+the broad wheels of a heavily-laden waggon could have made.
+
+Jack was thinking only of the way home; but the Black Antelope, with
+her larger experience of all the ups and downs a life on the veldt
+embraces, knew that the tracks could only be a few hours old, for the
+hoof-marks of the oxen were not yet effaced. She noticed them carefully
+to find out which way the waggon had gone; not that she wished to
+follow it, but she shrewdly conjectured that a few miles the other way
+they should find the spot where the waggon-driver had out-spanned for
+the night. Perhaps a waste crust or a half-picked bone might be dropped
+beside the ashes of his fire. She beckoned Jack to follow her; for he
+had paused, waiting for Vickel, who seemed wonderfully busy scratching
+about in the sand. At last she sat down in it.
+
+So unlike her, Jack thought, as he went back to call her. The fear of
+losing his ostrich over-mastered every other feeling.
+
+But for once in her life she refused to answer to his call. Would
+his Vickel grow wild and forsake him if they kept on wandering about
+the veldt? At last she got up with an air of importance, and began
+scratching up the sand vehemently.
+
+He went close up to her before he could rouse her. Then he saw she was
+covering something up. Oh, joy, joy! His Vickel had laid her first egg!
+
+He ran and picked it up. What a jolly egg it was! Almost as big as
+Jack's head, now he had lost his hair. He was certain it must weigh
+nearly two pounds and a half. He thought she might have chosen a better
+colour, for it was a dirty white marbled over with yellow. Jack took it
+up very carefully and held it up on high to show it to his companion.
+Jack never forgot the cry with which she bounded towards him and
+pounced upon the egg.
+
+Snatching up a sharp stone, she made a small hole in the shell, and
+began to suck the rich nutritious yolk. Then remembering herself, she
+held it to Jack's lips, with a look so deprecating that it stopped his
+reproachful "Don't, don't!" For he saw that she was famishing. He took
+a sip. The welcome nourishment revived his spirits.
+
+It was life to them both. They shared it between them, each trying to
+make the other take the lion's share. Hungry as they were, there was
+more than enough to satisfy them.
+
+"My best and sweetest! My ownie and good!" cried Jack, as he kissed the
+breast of his snow-feathered queen, who walked beside him with added
+dignity.
+
+The Black Antelope was right. An hour's walk brought them to the
+smoking ashes of a dying fire. She raked these carefully together with
+a bit of charred stick; and after signing to Jack to lie down and rest
+under the nearest bush, she began to search about for fuel—a difficult
+matter on an African plain; an almost hopeless quest now, for the
+waggoner who lit the fire had been before her. A few dead leaves under
+a bush that had been struck by the lightning, and a twig or two, were
+all that she could find.
+
+She returned to Jack, who was dozing in the sunshine, and made up the
+fire, little dreaming that it was his own father who had lighted it
+on his return journey. She wandered forth a second time in search of
+water, confident that she should find it somewhere in the neighbourhood
+of the traveller's fire. Vickel's egg-shell served her for a cup when
+she found a tiny runlet, glistening like a silver braid amidst the
+scorching sand. A dead bird lay on the ground, another victim of last
+night's tempest. Her cry of joy brought Jack to her side to taste the
+delights of a cup of sun-warmed water in the burning heat of an African
+noon.
+
+Then she roasted the bird in the ashes for their dinner, content to
+let the morrow take care for itself; whilst poor Jack grew every hour
+more uneasy. He knew now they had lost their way. The track they had
+found was not the track of the post-cart; for he too had noticed the
+foot-prints of the oxen, so different from the mark of the horse-shoes.
+His only hope was in Vickel's sagacity. She might yet find her way back
+to Tottie's hut.
+
+
+
+XIV.
+
+_LOST ON THE VELDT._
+
+THE glories of an African sunset were adding a more than usual radiance
+to sand and sky. Mr. Treby urged on his weary oxen as he came within
+sight of Jaarsveldt, with its long range of low farm-buildings and
+smiling orchard.
+
+The Kafir guide he had engaged to accompany him on his homeward route
+was calling to the oxen.
+
+Jack's father had had a most successful journey. He was returning with
+money in his pocket and a loaded waggon. Wilton, the postman, who had
+been the first to speak a word of sympathy on the morning after the
+fire, had not let his sympathy end in words. He had crossed Mr. Treby
+on the road as the mail went back to Natal, and had lent him money
+enough to rebuild the house; for the postman, receiving his regular
+pay from Government, had more actual money in reserve than Mr. Treby's
+other neighbours.
+
+Mr. Treby had accepted the loan at once, for he knew his aged father in
+England would help him to repay it. So all his plans were changed. The
+diamond-digging was given up; his waggon was bringing back beams and
+roofing, doors and windows—in fact, a skeleton house. The helping hand
+so unexpectedly stretched out had cheered his heart. As he drove up to
+Jaarsveldt, the "oom" was standing by the open gate. He turned away his
+head at the sight of his English neighbour.
+
+"Where is Jack?" was the father's first inquiry as his eyes looked
+eagerly round, hoping to catch sight of his boy.
+
+The Kafir groom was hurrying to assist in the out-spanning of the
+oxen. All were running to welcome him; and yet, and yet, every face
+was averted. Van Immerseel wrung his hand with a heartiness which
+threatened dislocation of every joint, and groaned.
+
+"Where is my boy?" repeated Mr. Treby, growing cold with fear.
+
+The sturdy Dutchman paused blankly, then slowly pointed across the
+shadowy veldt. Somewhat re-assured, Mr. Treby entered the house.
+Tante Milligen's ruddy face grew white at the sight of their English
+neighbour. Genderen crept behind the door. The evening meal was
+preparing. With an added warmth of hospitality, the "tante" forced him
+into the "oom's" big chair, and began to drive about her maids as if
+nothing their plentiful household afforded could be good enough to set
+before their guest.
+
+During his brief absence, Mr. Treby had made a point of adding to his
+Dutch vocabulary at every chance. He thought he had learned a good
+deal, but, strange to say, no one at Jaarsveldt seemed to understand a
+single word. In his despair, he asked for Otto.
+
+"Jah, jah," repeated Van Immerseel, and a messenger was despatched for
+the shepherd.
+
+Mr. Treby concluded his Jack was away with the young Immerseels, for
+neither Walt nor Zyl was visible. A little comforted by this idea, he
+began his supper with the appetite of a hunter; but it suddenly failed
+him when Otto entered. The German's face was livid with conflicting
+feelings, as he assured the anxious father that Van Immerseel and all
+his family had been kindness itself to the boy, but the ungrateful
+young dog had run away and never been heard of since.
+
+"My Jack!" exclaimed Mr. Treby, in tones of bitter anguish, as he
+pictured his boy dying of hunger in that vast sandy wilderness. "O God
+what men are these, to have kept my sordid pelf and lost my child!"
+
+The silent Dutchman met the agonized reproach in his tear-blinded eyes
+with a look of stolid compassion, as he directed the shepherd to tell
+him they had just returned from a fruitless search, and that Walt was
+still scouring the veldt in another direction with his dogs and the
+Kafir groom. They had done everything they could to find the child, but
+in vain.
+
+Mr. Treby turned away his head, but he could not hide the quiver of
+anguish he was struggling to control. Tante Milligen rocked herself
+backwards and forwards; her husband rose from his seat and stood beside
+the unhappy father.
+
+They knew they had acted generously and hospitably to the Englishman
+and his child, and they saw his heart was bursting with reproach and
+blame. Poor fellow! He was wild with grief! The "oom" would rather have
+faced an angry elephant in his lair than own to that doting father that
+they had lost his child.
+
+"No more dread of you supplanting me," thought Otto as he looked from
+one to the other, and tried, by his covert insinuations on either hand,
+to turn grief into anger. He thought he should find it easy work to set
+the Dutch and English by the ears; and he might have succeeded, had it
+not been for little Sannie.
+
+She had been laid to sleep in her usual corner, but the entrance of Mr.
+Treby had roused her. For a while she sat up and listened unnoticed by
+any one. Then she got up slowly, and walking deliberately to Mr. Treby
+she struck him on the knee, exclaiming in tones of severe reproach that
+at any other time would have made them all laugh,—
+
+"'Ou big baby! 'Ou cry! 'Ou go look for poor Jock Trairbee. Sannie 'll
+be your voorlooper."
+
+Away she trotted to the open door. Otto thought to fetch her back, but
+she fought him off, asserting,—
+
+"Me won't have 'ou. 'Ou hate Jock Trairbee. 'Ou do that at him,"
+she persisted, imitating the scowl and the menacing gesture of the
+shepherd. "'Ou don't want to find him; 'ou stay there."
+
+Tante Milligen repeated the imperious command of her youngest born.
+
+And Otto resumed his seat, refusing to notice the idle prattle of a
+child. But no one echoed his laugh.
+
+"God bless the baby! She speaks more sense than any of us," muttered
+her father.
+
+As drowning men catch at straws, Mr. Treby exclaimed, "That child knows
+something; let us follow her."
+
+"Ridiculous!" cried Otto.
+
+"But it is true," retorted Genderen.
+
+The two fathers went out.
+
+Otto would have followed; but Tante Milligen, who was a formidable
+woman when she was roused, being six feet high, and broad and strong in
+proportion, took the German by the shoulders and turned him round. But
+all her cross-questioning failed to elicit more than that the English
+boy had been impertinent and Otto cross. Yet no one was satisfied.
+
+Sannie met her brothers at the gate. Their jaded horses told of the
+many miles of sand which had been traversed. Weary as they were, no
+one thought of rest. "Search" was the word with them all. Walt, who
+had taken Jack under his protection from the first, refused to give up
+hope. Van Immerseel took Sannie in his arms, and leading Zyl aside,
+questioned him about Otto's behaviour to Jack.
+
+Zyl remembered the morning when they visited the shepherd's hut.
+
+"But," persisted Sannie, "it was Jock Trairbee's own knife. Me know it
+was. He cut my beauty letters."
+
+"Run into the house, Zyl, and tell your mother not to let the shepherd
+stir from the sit-kamé until I come back," said Van Immerseel, as he
+strode off in his high-handed fashion to search the shepherd's hut.
+
+The knife lay upon the shelf, as the children had said. Mr. Treby knew
+it in a moment. After that night, Otto's dismissal was sure; but they
+were no nearer finding Jack.
+
+All this did not take place unnoticed by the Kafirs about the farm.
+With their acute power of observation on the alert, they were soon
+aware that the German shepherd was suspected of having a hand in Jack's
+disappearance. The little gifts which Mr. Treby had scattered among
+them the night before his departure were not forgotten, and many a dark
+brow scowled upon Otto. But in spite of Van Immerseel's threats and Mr.
+Treby's entreaties, Otto refused to give any account of his quarrel
+with Jack; and still the fruitless search went on.
+
+Jack had not gone home—that alone was certain. Van Immerseel had sent
+over to the ruined farm directly the boy was missed. Seco and Tottie
+had been on the lookout ever since. Mr. Treby never doubted Jack had
+lost himself trying to find his way to his old home, and therefore,
+like Van Immerseel, began his search in that direction.
+
+One night, when they returned utterly disheartened, the Kafir groom
+walked up to the heart-broken father with a hat under one arm and a
+pair of boots under the other.
+
+"Inkoos! Casa! (master and chief)," said his countryman the guide,
+turning to Mr. Treby, "this man tells you to look for your child here."
+Then he went on to explain how the big bird bellowed one night like
+a bull, and the shepherd's hat was found at the foot of the ladder
+leading to the loft where Jack had slept, and the shepherd's boots
+hidden in the straw.
+
+Mr. Treby was distracted when Tante Milligen herself added her
+experiences to the mystery of that night, and how Jack tried to make
+her understand he dare not sleep alone again.
+
+How was Mr. Treby ever to find out the truth about his lost darling
+amidst a confusion of tongues he could not understand? Ah, but if
+he could not comprehend the jargon around him, Seco would; so he
+determined to start at once and fetch the trusty old Hottentot to his
+aid. What would he have given for one sympathizing countryman? He
+thought perhaps the reckless young schoolmaster would be coming again.
+But no; Tante Milligen had sent a message to delay him. She was not
+going to pay for nothing; and what could the children learn while their
+hearts were aching for their lost companion?
+
+Mr. Treby bought a horse of Van Immerseel, and started on his homeward
+road. He felt as if he had grown to be all ear and eye as he trotted
+across the lonely veldt. When he drew near the blackened ash-heap
+that had been his home, he said that the joy of his life was quenched
+beneath it, and his tears, when there was no eye but God's to watch
+him, rained freely down. But hark! There was a sound—a deep, hoarse
+boom. Surely he knew it.
+
+"Vic! Vic! Vic!" he shouted, spurring his horse forward in the
+direction from whence it came. Out ran Tottie from her tumble-down hut;
+up sprang Seco from the mat where he was dozing. They had all heard it.
+
+"'Tis as I said," he exclaimed; "the ostrich is drawing home."
+
+He caught up a calabash of mealies, out of which Vickel had so often
+been fed, and scanning the vast distance, where sand and sky melted
+into one, he shouted joyfully. There was something moving on the veldt,
+like a small gray cloud at first, but gradually shaping itself into
+outstretched wings.
+
+Mr. Treby got off his horse, and tied it to a shrub of prickly pear,
+for fear it should scare away the returning bird.
+
+Nearer and nearer still it came, louder and louder grew the master's
+call. The three stood breathless, afraid of driving back the vagrant
+bird if they continued running towards it. But what was Mr. Treby's
+dismay to perceive a grinning Kafir face peering over Vickel's shoulder.
+
+When a wild cry of "Father! Father!" echoed through the evening
+stillness.
+
+"Jack! Jack!" responded Mr. Treby, darting forward like an arrow from
+a bow; but Seco, exerting all the speed of a wild hunter, outran
+him, and placing the calabash full in Vickel's sight, brought her to
+a standstill. Mr. Treby saw nothing but a little sun-burnt skeleton
+stretching its arms towards him. Could that be his Jack—his handsome
+Jack?
+
+Another moment, and bird and child and Kafir were caught in a grasp so
+tight, Jack could only gasp out, "Father, she has saved me."
+
+For Seco had seized upon a large stone to hurl at the poor blackie's
+head, believing she had stolen their darling to make "mouti" (medicine)
+from his heart and brain, according to their wild Kafir ways.
+
+But at Mr. Treby's word the stone rolled back upon the ground. Between
+them the two men guided Vickel home, while Jack poured out his story to
+their delighted ears.
+
+"I only wanted to post my letter, father; but somehow I could not get
+back," he pleaded piteously.
+
+"Jack," retorted Mr. Treby, "how could you, how dare you, run so
+great a risk? Hadn't I charged you to take care of yourself, my boy?
+Don't you know you are my very life, my precious boy? You've had a
+hair's-breadth escape." And at the thought of all the perils his child
+had undergone, a sort of sob choked his words. A huge hug finished all
+he meant to say, and drowned Jack's promises.
+
+"Father dear, I will take care, only you see—"
+
+And Mr. Treby did see, thinking in his fatherly pride and joy his boy
+was just the bravest and the best in all the world. "Only, Jack, you
+must learn to consider the consequences. Think of all we have gone
+through just think."
+
+Jack did think; and truly his best way was to tell his father all
+straight and clearly as it happened. Mr. Treby's eyes flashed fire as
+he heard how Otto had treated his boy; but he never uttered a word to
+interrupt him, until Vickel tucked her long head under her master's
+arm, and looked up in his face with her beautiful eyes, as if she said,
+"I've brought him safely home."
+
+Mr. Treby's head went lower and lower. Jack really thought he kissed
+his snowy queen. He was sure his father muttered, "Yes, yes, you've
+been his guardian angel—saved and fed him."
+
+"Yes, father; but I'm so sorry we've eaten all Vic's eggs, but the poor
+Black Antelope was so hungry."
+
+Then Mr. Treby turned and grasped the skinny black fingers, trying
+to make the poor runaway understand she should always find in him a
+protector and a friend.
+
+By this time they had reached the hut, and he left her to Tottie's
+care, telling the old Hottentot to find out, if she could, how he
+should best reward and serve the luckless girl.
+
+"Buy her," said Tottie coolly.
+
+Mr. Treby threw up his hands in despair. "God help us!" he exclaimed.
+"See what it is to live among savages. Just hear her, 'asking' an
+Englishman to buy human flesh and blood."
+
+"But you won't send her back to Van Immerseel, father?" entreated Jack.
+
+"There is not anything that I possess that I would not freely give her
+at this moment, and think it all too small, for I am very sure I owe
+your life to her and Vickel. But Englishmen make no slaves, my boy.
+Well, well, I shall have to do it though—buy her, and give her her
+freedom; that must be it. And then we can't turn her adrift on the
+veldt; we must hire her for a while, and then we'll see what more we
+can do."
+
+"That we will, father," cried Jack, with brightening eyes, as they all
+sat down under the garden hedge.
+
+Seco had gone to his hut for milk and fruit for the famished travellers.
+
+"'For this my son was dead, and is alive again; was lost, and is
+found,'" said Mr. Treby reverently. "Trouble springs up thick and
+fast," he went on, with Jack's head resting on his shoulder; "but trace
+it home, it is all of man's making, and we should be crushed beneath
+its weight if there were not One above over-ruling all, and more ready
+to help us in our hour of need than we to ask."
+
+"But I did ask, father," whispered Jack; "and I think the Lord heard
+me."
+
+"Never doubt it, my boy. Prayer is the ladder which reaches up to
+heaven, and it is always ours.
+
+   "'It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his
+compassions fail not. They are new every morning.'
+
+"It was just that thought kept me up when my heart was breaking for
+you; and now—and now—Well, I have only to pour it out in thanksgiving."
+
+"Both of us together, father," murmured the happy boy, as his eyes
+feasted on every dear familiar object the fire had spared.
+
+
+
+XV.
+
+_MR. TREBY'S DINNER-PARTY._
+
+SIX weeks of hard work had passed away, and Jack's father had a roof
+over his head once more. He said it was the flood of happiness that
+overflowed his bounding heart when Jack was found, that enabled him
+to do twice as much work as he could at any other time in his life.
+Seco had been sent with the good news to Jaarsveldt, and brought back
+a pressing invitation for Jack to return there until the house was
+finished. But Mr. Treby shook his head.
+
+"No, no," he said; "we'll part no more. Come what may, we'll rough it
+together, Jack."
+
+Yet Jack did often wonder what Zyl and Genderen and Sannie were doing,
+and wished the farms were just a little nearer, so that they might see
+one another now and then. Neither did Mr. Treby forget their kindness
+to his boy.
+
+"I tell you what, Jack," he said at last; "as soon as the house is
+finished, we'll have a grand day, and ask Van Immerseel to bring all
+his family to eat the first dinner in it with us."
+
+Jack was full of glee. How he worked and slaved at the preparations—now
+raking out the rubbish from the garden, now helping his father with the
+carpentering, and busiest of all when his father trusted him with the
+paint-brush. An arbour was built in the shadiest nook he could find.
+The Black Antelope, with an apron of Tottie's tied over her scarlet
+blanket, was with Jack's assistance making herself a gown. There was
+not much to be said for its shape and work. Jack insisted upon it that
+it must have sleeves and a skirt; and the Black Antelope protested that
+the bags for the arms must be loose, or she should feel as if her arms
+were tied. She was learning fast a mixture of Hottentot and English,
+which Jack understood better than any one.
+
+Life was running in the old grooves once again, except the watching for
+the English post. That had been altogether forgotten by Jack, and his
+father never spoke about the letter to grandfather which had almost
+cost Jack his life; for the thought of the poor child wandering in the
+veldt was more than he could bear. He could not talk about it yet; the
+very mention of it overcame him. But for all that the answer arrived by
+the return mail.
+
+There was a thick letter for Mr. Treby, full of sympathy and
+consolation, assuring him his old father had sent him all he could
+spare to help him up the hill, and promising more by-and-by. Inside
+it there was another for Jack himself; and, odder still, a third for
+Sandford Algarkirke. Mr. Treby was entreated in a postscript to forward
+this to the young man at once, if he knew anything of his whereabouts.
+
+There was something also in Mr. Treby's letter about Jack, which made
+him look up with proud, astonished eyes and murmur a fond, "God bless
+him!"
+
+But Jack neither saw nor heard, for he was absorbed in his own, quite
+overwhelmed, in fact, by the dignity of receiving a letter of his own.
+It read as follows:—
+
+   "MY DEAR LITTLE GRANDSON,—That was a wonderful find of yours. That a
+bank-note should be lost in Nottingham and found in South Africa seems
+to me little short of a miracle. As soon as I had read your letter, I
+took my hat and stick and off I went to Hawkswood Hall. It was a good
+step for me, but I managed it by resting a bit here and there. For my
+little grandson's sake, I determined to give the note into the lady's
+own hands.
+
+   "The servants told me she was just going out and could not see me
+then. So I took out the note you had found, and told them to ask her
+if it was not her own handwriting; and if it were, they might say
+something else had been found with it which I wished to restore to her.
+I knew very well it was, for I had had many a note from her about the
+coal-club I started in the winter.
+
+   "Back came the footman with, 'Step this way, sir;' and he took me
+into a large room full of pictures and pretty things. There sat Mrs.
+Featherstone, with the tattered note spread out on a little table
+beside her. There was an eager look in her face that spoke of pain
+rather than pleasure.
+
+   "'I can hardly believe my eyes, Mr. Treby,' she began before I was
+well in at the door. 'But where, where in the whole world was this
+discovered?'
+
+   "'Where you would little think, ma'am—in the wilds of South Africa,'
+I said.
+
+   "'Was there anything in it?' she gasped.
+
+   "'Yes, ma'am—this.' And I spread the bank-note before her. First she
+turned crimson, then white as death itself. I thought she was fainting,
+so I looked round the room for the bell and rang it sharply. Whilst the
+servants were coming, I hobbled to the window and got it open.
+
+   "'Don't!' she gasped. 'Only tell me all quickly.'
+
+   "'As soon as you feel better, I'll read you my grandson's letter, and
+then you will know as much as I do.' I took out my glasses and began to
+clear them; but she couldn't wait that minute. She almost snatched the
+letter out of my hand, so I let her read it for herself. Presently she
+looked up.
+
+   "'You must leave me this.'
+
+   "I shook my head over that. 'Part with my grandson's first letter!
+No, no.'
+
+   "'Then wait,' she implored, 'while I send for Mr. Bourke. The loss
+of this note has made us bitter enemies. I sent it to him to head a
+subscription list, but it never reached him. I charged his landlady
+with stealing it; he charged my messenger. Two innocent people have
+been injured—perhaps irreparably injured. And now here it is. Imagine
+what my feelings are. I can never express my gratitude to your
+grandson. You must tell me how I can best I reward his honesty, his
+sterling honesty.'
+
+   "'He will find a rich reward when I tell him what you say,' I put in.
+'Two innocent people cleared through him.'
+
+   "'Yes, through his courageous honesty. A man could not have acted more
+prudently. You ought to be proud of him,' she went on.
+
+   "'No need to tell me that,' I said. 'He is the very joy of his father's
+life. He'll make an upright, honourable man to take his father's place;
+for as the twig is bent, so is the tree inclined.'
+
+   "Whilst we were talking, in came the clergyman and his son. I liked the
+lad's face. He was a big, broad-shouldered young fellow, fresh from a
+military college.
+
+   "'Is it found?' asked the young cadet eagerly. 'Broad as my back may
+be, it has felt the weight of the blame I have had to bear for giving
+the note to Sandford Algarkirke, when I ought to have taken it myself.'
+
+   "'We have both of us been wrong, Mrs. Featherstone,' said the clergyman
+gravely. 'You and I refused to believe this money had been lost; we
+both agreed it must have been stolen. You fixed upon my housekeeper
+as the thief; and I, in my indignation at such injustice, determined
+to clear her by hunting out the real offender, and threatened to
+prosecute him, whoever he might prove to be. You persisted in believing
+Algarkirke's assertion, that he could not recollect what he did with
+the note, but as it was not in his pocket, he must have left it at my
+door.'
+
+   "'I warned him,' interrupted the soldier, 'he was likely to get into
+an unpleasant business, and begged him to try to remember. Like a coward,
+he took himself off to avoid the nuisance of the investigation. "The
+most foolish thing he could do," we all exclaimed. Of course suspicion
+fastened on him at once, and if he had set foot in England, he would
+have been taken by the police.'
+
+   "'Now read this letter,' interrupted Mrs. Featherstone.—'I wish you
+would leave it with us, Mr. Treby.'
+
+   "I was obliged to consent. They all promised to take the greatest care
+of it, and return it safely, saying such handsome things of you, my
+Jack, that it brought the tears into your old grandfather's eyes.
+
+   "In the evening young Bourke called, and asked me if I would enclose
+a note for Sandford Algarkirke to my son; for since it appeared he
+had bought a coat of him, he might know where to find him, which none
+of them did. So I promised him you and your father would do your best
+to find the foolish young fellow. Then he began to tell me how he was
+longing to reward my noble grandson.
+
+   "'Gently, gently,' I interrupted. 'Gentlemen don't take rewards for
+doing right.'
+
+   "'Well, anyhow, he shall hear from us all, and that before long,'
+he cried.
+
+   "So we shook hands most heartily; and I sat down to write this letter,
+and charge you never to part with that ostrich. What would I give to
+see you and your bird before I die!—Your delighted grandfather,
+
+             "JOHN TREBY.
+
+   "P.S.—I have written to your dear father about all his troubles. Be a
+good boy to him, and keep his courage up."
+
+
+It was a happy moment for Jack when he laid down his grandfather's
+letter; and a happier still for Mr. Treby as he ran his eye over the
+closely-written page.
+
+"Well, well," he said; "we'll give the letter for that young
+scatter-brain to Van Immerseel. He is sure to be at Jaarsveldt before
+long. But we've some weighty matters to consider before our Dutch
+neighbours arrive. There is a haunch of elk venison to be roasted and a
+game pie to be manufactured between us; and it strikes me I shall make
+a better out of it than Tottie, although I am not a Frenchman. Anyhow,
+we must try."
+
+So to work they went, sunning themselves in grandfather's letter. The
+great effort, the risk, the peril, had not been all in vain.
+
+"But they little think of all that effort cost," added Mr. Treby, with
+a deep-drawn sigh.
+
+"Never mind, father," whispered Jack. "Now it's all over, let's be
+happy. Here they are!"
+
+Jack pointed as he spoke to a lumbering vehicle, half gig, half cart,
+in which Van Immerseel was seated with his wife beside him, and Sannie,
+radiant in her Sunday attire, jolting on her mother's knee. Then came
+Walt upon his favourite hunter, with Genderen riding pillion behind
+him. Not a dozen yards behind them, Zyl was to be seen jogging along in
+the Hottentot's cart with the English schoolmaster.
+
+"This is good luck, indeed!" exclaimed Mr. Treby, as he ran out to
+welcome his guests. "Where's my voorlooper?" asked Mr. Treby, as he
+took Sannie in his arms and kissed her fondly; for his heart had gone
+out to the Dutch baby, when she struck him on the knee and bade him
+look again for his Jack when everybody else was giving him up for dead.
+
+But he was obliged to give her up to Jack, who rather shrank from
+meeting Van Immerseel, who roared out in his stentorian tones that he
+was coming to pay him for all his tricks.
+
+
+
+XVI.
+
+_THE SCHOOLMASTER'S GRATITUDE._
+
+"I HAVE a note for you, Algarkirke," said Mr. Treby, when he had
+seen all his guests comfortably established—biped and quadruped
+alike enjoying the "good feed" he had provided in his hearty English
+hospitality.
+
+The schoolmaster was in such constant request as interpreter that it
+was some minutes before he had a chance to open his letter. As it bore
+no post-mark, he concluded it must have come from some one in the
+neighbourhood. Possibly it held the promise of a future scholar; so he
+put it in his pocket to await some more convenient opportunity.
+
+"It is from England," added Mr. Treby, in a low aside.
+
+Algarkirke grew strangely pale, and crushed it out of sight. "Not a
+word before these Boers; remember your promise," he whispered, turning
+away from Mr. Treby to join in Walt Immerseel's boisterous mirth.
+
+Mr. Treby carved his venison in thoughtful silence, whilst the whole
+family of the Immerseels did ample justice to his English fare.
+
+When knives and forks were at last allowed to rest, and the great
+basket of fruit which Tante Milligen had brought with her was placed
+upon the table, Mr. Treby looked round for Jack.
+
+He was expostulating with Zyl, who had taken the very best of the
+peaches on to his own plate, and then refused to taste them.
+
+Jack was calling upon Mr. Algarkirke to find the reason why.
+
+"Why?" repeated the schoolmaster laughing. "Because he means to plant
+them himself in your garden after dinner."
+
+"Jack," said Mr. Treby, "come here, my boy, and tell your kind Dutch
+friends how sorry you are to have given them so much anxiety and
+trouble; and thank them as you ought for all they did to find you."
+
+"Father, won't you speak for me? You'll make them understand ever so
+much better than I can," answered Jack coaxingly.
+
+"No, no," returned Mr. Treby. "Just tell them how you lost yourself,
+and why you went away, that they may feel you are not the ungrateful
+boy you seemed."
+
+"Please, Mr. Algarkirke," asked Jack, "will you tell it in Dutch after
+me?"
+
+Glad of any diversion from the painful surprise Mr. Treby's words
+had awakened, and afraid of betraying his real feelings, Algarkirke
+assented readily.
+
+Zyl, with his elbows on the table, greedily devoured every word with
+open mouth, as Jack recounted his adventures with Vickel in the sandy
+waste.
+
+Jack did not like to tell tales of Otto to the Boer. He only said he
+wanted to post a letter to his grandfather.
+
+Here Mr. Treby interposed with, "You need not mind speaking about Otto,
+for he has left Jaarsveldt for good."
+
+The "oom" gave a low assenting grunt of satisfaction; and Jack went
+back in his story to describe the finding of the bank-note.
+
+Up sprang Algarkirke, and seizing Jack by the collar, he thundered out,
+"That coat was mine, and anything found in it should have been given to
+me. How dare you send it away, you wretched little rascal! I'll never
+forgive you, never!"
+
+Jack was startled by the fury of Algarkirke's tones.
+
+Walt sprang to his feet, and Zyl doubled his fists, ready to punch the
+schoolmaster's head.
+
+But Jack answered toughly,—
+
+"Mr. Algarkirke, you quite forget I did not know where you were, and
+the bank-note was not yours; so I sent it to grandfather to give it
+back to the lady it really belonged to, and he has done it. You can
+read his letter if you like."
+
+"I rather think you had better before you thrash my Jack," observed Mr.
+Treby dryly.
+
+Jack pulled the letter out of his pocket and offered it to Algarkirke.
+Zyl and his big brother eyed him whilst he read, like two young
+bull-dogs preparing for a spring; but their indignation was somewhat
+appeased when Algarkirke flung down the paper and grasped Jack's hand.
+
+"Am I dreaming?" he demanded. "By what magic have you done all this?
+Can it be true?"
+
+"Why don't you read your own letter, Mr. Algarkirke?" retorted Jack.
+"It came in grandfather's, as he says."
+
+The bewildered schoolmaster obeyed.
+
+His note was brief:—
+
+   "DEAR SANDFORD,—Come back. The mystery is explained. Letters from
+Nottingham and remittances will await you at Pretoria. Return to us,
+and the past will be made up to you. I dare not write more plainly, not
+knowing whether this will ever reach you. But I snatch at the chance,
+for the man who bought my old coat of you may be able to find you
+out.—Your miserable friend, HORACE BOURKE."
+
+"Farewell to Africa, and hurrah for merry England!" shouted Algarkirke,
+tossing the letter to the ceiling and catching it again, whilst the
+stolid Dutch faces around him stared in blank amazement. "Jack, Jack!
+You've been my good genius in very truth. Come along with me and I'll
+take you to England and make a man of you, my boy," he ran on.
+
+"I rather think he bids fair to develop into that already, without
+wanting help of yours," observed Mr. Treby. "But how about this coat
+I bought of you? It's yours, and it's not yours, and I am earnestly
+requested in my letter of this morning to send it back to England."
+
+"Horace Bourke and I were school-fellows," began Algarkirke. "We met
+one day at a village cricket match near Hawkswood Hall. One of the boys
+got hurt. Horace took his bat. As he pulled off his coat, he threw it
+to me, saying, 'Take care of it for me, Sandford, for there is a note
+in the pocket for father.'
+
+"While they were playing, a bull broke loose from a neighbouring farm,
+and rushed into the field, scattering the cricketers, who ran for their
+lives, I among the rest. Horace snatched up one of the stumps and tried
+to drive the beast away. He shouted to me to fetch his gun. 'And give
+the note for father to one of our people, so that he gets it in time,'
+he added.
+
+"Off I ran towards the parsonage. Before I reached it a thunder-storm
+came on. I threw his coat over my shoulders to keep myself dry. I got
+the gun, but forgot all about the note. Alarmed for his young master's
+safety, the gardener went back with me.
+
+"When we gained the field we found the bull had been shot by its owner.
+I could not see anything of Horace, so I gave the man the gun and told
+him I must borrow the coat to go home in, as it still continued to
+pour. Before I had a chance to return the coat, Horace wrote to ask
+which of his father's people had taken the note from me, as it had
+never reached him.
+
+"I started up in a fright and felt in the pockets of the coat, but as
+there was nothing in them I thought I must have left the note with the
+woman who gave me the gun, but the scare with the bull had put it all
+out of my head. That was how I answered him. Then I went on a tour
+with an old chum to get rid of the bother. When it came out there was
+money in the note, and I was charged with stealing it, my mother was
+frightened out of her senses. She packed up my belongings, and Horace's
+coat with them; for he privately entreated her not to send it back, not
+to let any one know I had taken it home, as it would go against me.
+She charged me to prolong my tour, but not to send her any address. We
+only communicated under cover to my Dutch friends at Amsterdam, and
+that but rarely, so that I had begun to think I was expatriated for
+life. No one but my mother believed in my innocence, and she reproached
+me with having brought all this trouble on myself by my confounded
+carelessness."
+
+The "oom" blew a great whiff of smoke from his long clay pipe, and gave
+a nod to his sons that said plainly, "Are you listening to that, boys?
+Take the lesson home."
+
+Zyl flung a snort of contempt at his schoolmaster, and kicked his heels
+remorselessly against the legs of Mr. Treby's new chairs.
+
+Algarkirke went on, impetuously. "But you, Jack, you are the best
+friend I ever had in all my life, for you have cleared me. When my
+mother knows what you have done, there will be nothing that is in her
+power that she would not do for you in return."
+
+"Oh, nonsense, Mr. Algarkirke," interrupted Jack, mindful of his
+grandfather's words. "It was Vic found it, not I. I am only so glad to
+have been some good in the world already."
+
+Genderen, who had been whispering with her mother, touched Algarkirke's
+arm. "Talk with us about that." She smiled significantly.
+
+Mr. Treby glanced approvingly at his boy. "And even now," he thought,
+"Algarkirke does not realize what this has cost you. But he is a more
+wretched cad than I take him to be if I can't make him feel before we
+part the moral difference between a boy who asks himself, What ought I
+to do? What would be right? And then does the best he can, without a
+thought of the consequences, and a selfish fellow, who only wants to
+shirk all responsibility and back out of everything disagreeable. It
+may open his eyes and make a change in his own character, for after all
+it is character shapes our destiny, both here and hereafter."
+
+Aloud he said: "Keep on with your story, Jack, while you have so good
+an interpreter as Mr. Algarkirke. The Van is growing impatient."
+
+As Mr. Treby spoke, the worthy Boer was thundering on the table with
+his clenched fist to recall Jack's attention.
+
+Jack did not want to say any more about himself. It seemed to him so
+like being his own trumpeter. He grew hot at the thought, but his
+father urged him on with—"Remember the poor Black Antelope. We may
+never have such another chance to reinstate her in her old master's
+good graces. You must plead for her, my boy. No one but you can do it
+half so well."
+
+"Yes, father, I must, I ought, and I will," answered Jack, as Walt
+hoisted him on a chair, exclaiming, "Jah, Jah!" for he had guessed the
+purport of Mr. Treby's last aside.
+
+Zyl muttered an emphatic "Go it," a new English phrase he had picked up
+in the last three days, when Sannie appeared in the doorway, tugging
+with all her might at the scanty skirt of the unlucky Kafir.
+
+It must be admitted that Jack's first essay at "tailoring" had not
+produced a West End fit. The grotesqueness of her appearance threw
+Tante Milligen into a fit of laughter. It was a happy moment. The
+pardon was granted before the pleading was well begun. Mr. Treby's
+Kafir guide, who, under pretence of driving Vickel away from Sannie,
+continued to linger round the door, began to gesticulate violently.
+
+"Inkoos, casa," he began, in the picturesque language of his tribe,
+"lift up the bruised rosebud these men have trampled in the dust, and
+give her to me. I've room in my kraal for just such a wife, and I've
+sheep and oxen to buy her with; and no man shall wrong her any more,
+for the spear that stands in the corner of my hut would be swift as the
+lightning to strike him, and the heart which beats in my bosom beats
+only for her."
+
+There was a softer glow in the downcast eyes of the Kafir girl than
+Jack had ever seen there before as his father answered,—
+
+"She is free to go or stay as she chooses; but if she goes with you,
+Madzook, it shall not be empty-handed. The brindled heifer, and the
+pail and the English churn which she so admires, are all her own. She
+will tell you how she watched over my boy, and she takes a father's
+blessing with her wherever she goes."
+
+"She deserves all her happiness," said Algarkirke humbly; "but it is
+not so with me. I see by Jack's face, he is thinking of the night when
+he wanted me to speak up for her, and I would not, because I despised
+the low, black cattle, and hated myself to think a similar misfortune
+could overwhelm us both. I had no feeling for anybody but myself. I
+thought if I had tried to help her, I should only let loose my own
+shame. It was better to stand aloof. And now I could wish my whole life
+undone."
+
+"Cheer up," said Mr. Treby kindly. "Remember what I said to you when
+first we met. If the old self is dead, you may climb to a higher and a
+happier life. You've had hard lines, my poor boy, and you never heard
+the still small voice that was whispering through it all, 'Come unto
+Me, and I will give you rest.' But we must not speak of a day until
+we see its close; for Christ is ever with us, sowing light in the
+darkness, drawing good from evil, changing the curse into a blessing in
+his own good time."
+
+And so they parted.
+
+
+Three days afterwards the Hottentot cart from Jaarsveldt appeared once
+more at Mr. Treby's gate. Mr. Treby recognized the mining yellow face
+of the Jaarsveldt cow-keeper.
+
+"What's up?" he asked as Zyl and Genderen tumbled out of the lumbering
+vehicle with more than their usual awkwardness.
+
+They did not perceive Mr. Treby, as they were intently looking after
+something behind the cart. Zyl held a rope in his hand, and as Mr.
+Treby drew nearer, he saw that he was leading a splendid male ostrich,
+with brilliant eyes and plumage of the purest white.
+
+"Where is Jack?" they asked, as Seco hurried up to greet his countryman.
+
+"They shall have it their own way," thought Mr. Treby. "I won't spoil
+the children's pleasure by interfering before I know what they are
+after." He stepped into the garden and sent Jack to meet his friends.
+
+Seco stood by his countryman with his hands to his sides, laughing with
+all his might, whilst Genderen called up Vickel. She came slowly, with
+her head on one side, eying the new arrival, which Zyl still contrived
+to keep well in leash.
+
+Mr. Treby paused with his hand on the garden gate, for Genderen's slow
+Dutch, filtered through Hottentot into Jack's English, was amusing in
+the extreme. "Enough to make a cat laugh," he said.
+
+"What have you brought your Speriwig here for?" shouted Jack in great
+glee.
+
+"Never you mind," retorted Zyl. "Algarkirke's gone for good, and we
+shall all be dunces, I suppose."
+
+"He thought a great deal about Vickel," put in Genderen, with her
+fingers in her mouth, of course. "You know you told him all his good
+luck was owing to her. He said he should send her a silver collar from
+England. Nonsense, we told him, what would a bird care about that? Get
+her a nice mate, and she will be as happy as the day is long. So he
+made a deal with father when they squared all up. He said if he had
+money enough to take him to Pretoria that was all he wanted. He was
+in such a hurry to be gone, he left father to get in the money that
+was owing him for schooling at the off farms. And Vickel's to have
+Speriwig."
+
+"Speriwig, will get his own living browsing on the veldt, as Vickel
+does," added Zyl; "and if you have a brood of chicks, Jack, you need
+not mind."
+
+There was a sly twinkle in the Dutch boy's eyes as he rubbed his hands
+together, and even Mr. Treby had to own it was cleverly done.
+
+Sandford Algarkirke was beyond the reach of either thanks or refusals,
+as Zyl averred. Jack must pocket his English pride and let his Vickel
+keep her mate.
+
+"It was all my plan," observed Genderen, her round face radiating with
+pleasure. "I was sure it would please Jack better than anything else;
+and now, if he takes care of his chicks, by the time he is a man, he
+will have as fine a flock of ostriches as any farmer in Africa."
+
+"Do you hear that, Jack?" said Mr. Treby, coming forward. "Like
+Whittington's cat, your snow-feathered queen will make you a wealthy
+man."
+
+Jack drew a deep breath of gratitude and delight as he looked up in
+his father's face, exclaiming, "Oh, isn't it kind of Mr. Algarkirke? I
+always did like him very much, except when he called Sannie 'a fatted
+calf,' Why didn't she come with you?"
+
+"Oh, Sannie!" grumbled Zyl. "You are never easy without Sannie."
+
+As usual Zyl was right. Jack never was quite happy without her any
+more, and when the wealthy manhood his father had predicted drew near,
+he went one day to Jaarsveldt and brought her home a bride.
+
+
+
+                             THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75898 ***
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+<head>
+    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <title>
+      Jack and His Ostrich, by Eleanor Stredder│ Project Gutenberg
+    </title>
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+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75898 ***</div>
+
+
+<p>Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image001" style="max-width: 33.8125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image001.jpg" alt="image001">
+</figure>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image002" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image002.jpg" alt="image002">
+</figure>
+<p class="t4">
+<b>JACK AND THE OSTRICH.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h1>JACK<br>
+<br>
+AND HIS OSTRICH</h1>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="t1">
+<em>An African Story</em><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+BY<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t1">
+Eleanor Stredder.<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+<br>
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">——————————</span><br>
+<br>
+<span style="margin-left: 14.5em;">"I've a friend at my side,</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">To lift me and aid me, whatever betide;</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">To trust to the world is to build on the sand:—</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">I'll trust but in Heaven and my good Right Hand."</span><br>
+<span style="margin-left: 29em;">MACKAY.</span><br>
+<br>
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">——————————</span><br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+T. NELSON AND SONS<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t4">
+<em>London, Edinburgh, and New York</em><br>
+<br>
+——————————<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+1900<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="t3b">
+Contents.<br>
+</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image003" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image003.jpg" alt="image003"></figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>Chapter.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_1">I. A HOME ON THE VELDT</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_2">II. UP IN THE MORNING</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_3">III. AFRICAN NEIGHBOURS</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_4">IV. JAARSVELDT BY DAYLIGHT</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_5">V. MAKING FRIENDS</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_6">VI. THREE DAYS WITH THE BOOKS</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_7">VII. THE BLACK ANTELOPE</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_8">VIII. JACK'S FEVER</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_9">IX. HOW TANTE MILLIGEN MANAGED</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_10">X. THE BANK-NOTE</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_11">XI. OTTO THE SHEPHERD</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_12">XII. WRITING TO GRANDFATHER</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_13">XIII. HOW THE LETTER WAS POSTED</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_14">XIV. LOST ON THE VELDT</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_15">XV. MR. TREBY'S DINNER-PARTY</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#Chapter_16">XVI. THE SCHOOLMASTER'S GRATITUDE</a></p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="t2">
+<b>JACK AND HIS OSTRICH.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image004" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image004.jpg" alt="image004">
+</figure>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_1">I.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b><em>A HOME ON THE VELDT.</em></b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>JACK TREBY loved to say that he was an English boy, although he had
+never seen the dear old mother country of which his father so often
+talked; for he was born among the wide South African plains, where
+through the parching summer the sun-rays burn like fire, where the
+dry leaves shrivel with the heat, and the flowers can only bloom in
+sheltered places. Yet he was the proudest and happiest of boys when his
+father stroked his curly head and called him a "true-born Briton."</p>
+
+<p>For Jack was his father's all—his joy and treasure. In that wide,
+lonely plain they had but each other. Their nearest neighbour was a
+good twenty miles distant across country, and he was a Dutch Boer.</p>
+
+<p>There was a Hottentot woman, with arms and face as yellow as a duck's
+bill, who lived in a hut at the other side of the farm-yard. She cooked
+the dinner and washed the shirts for Jack and his father. She was
+always ready to do anything she could to make them comfortable, if she
+only knew how. Jack called her "Old Tottie," or "Granny Golden-face,"
+when he was in a roguish mood; for she had been very good and kind to
+him when he was left a little motherless boy.</p>
+
+<p>Then there were the Kafir men, as black as ebony, with naked legs
+and arms, and just a dirty scarlet blanket twisted round their
+waists—handsome fellows, who came and worked for Jack's father every
+now and then; working diligently and well until they had earned money
+enough to buy a rifle or a new blanket, when they would throw down the
+spade and flail and go back to their own people.</p>
+
+<p>Jack's father was not a rich man. He had not much money when he
+came out to Africa, so he bought his farm where farms were the
+cheapest—right out in the wilds. It was life in the rough. No wonder he
+kept his little boy always at his side. It made a man of Jack, for he
+learned many things in his long talks with his father which a boy of
+ten in England would know nothing about. Jack learned more in this way
+than he did from books; for his school-hour was the last hour at night,
+when his father's work was done, and when both of them were very often
+sleepy.</p>
+
+<p>On one delightful summer evening, when the brilliant African moon
+poured down its floods of silvery light, Jack sat nodding on the
+door-step with a coloured map of England spread upon his knees. He was
+trying to rub the sleep out of his winking eyes with one hand, whilst
+with the forefinger of the other he tried to trace the boundaries of
+the English counties.</p>
+
+<p>"York; chief town, York," he cried triumphantly. "But, father, what
+word is this?"</p>
+
+<p>Jack ran off with his map to where his father sat smoking on a rough
+bench, in what should have been their garden, only there was so much
+work to be done on the farm and so few to do it that the garden was
+left to Jack and nature. A hedge of prickly pear kept the oxen from
+trampling over it. Jack's watering-pot encouraged one tall cactus to
+show its scarlet flowers, under the shadow of the broad eaves of the
+low thatched roof of the farm-house.</p>
+
+<p>Jack's father nodded, and then roused himself with a smile to answer
+his son's inquiry. "That, Jack? Why, that's Nottingham—the very town
+where your grandfather still lives."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll make a mark against it," said Jack. Dashing back into their one
+sitting-room for the pen and ink, he made a good round blotch right
+over the name.</p>
+
+<p>"Well done," laughed his father. "So you think erasing it in your map
+will stamp it in your mind, my boy. Come, we are dead-beat to-night,
+and must give it up. Tomorrow we will have a good spell at the figures.
+So now to bed; the faster the better."</p>
+
+<p>Jack gathered up his books and went indoors.</p>
+
+<p>His little bedstead was an officer's camp-chair, which his father had
+picked up second-hand at the Cape. It stood just opposite the bedroom
+window, in the same room with his father's. Between them were the
+well-battered black travelling-chests his father had brought with him
+from England; and on the pegs over the head of his father's bed lay his
+rifle. Every night it was loaded and ready for use. Jack was often in
+the room alone with it; but then Jack could be trusted anywhere.</p>
+
+<p>He said his prayers and tumbled into bed; but not to sleep, for his
+thoughts were busy with Nottingham and grandfather.</p>
+
+<p>The house was only one story high, and the room had no ceiling. Jack
+could look between the rough wooden rafters right up into the thatch,
+and watch the bright eyes of the tarantula spiders as they crawled
+along the beams. He heard his father speaking to Tottie's husband, a
+white-haired Hottentot, who knew the ways of the country, and was by
+turns ploughman, shepherd, and house-servant.</p>
+
+<p>"Sheep all right," he heard them say, and lifted up his curly head to
+look at the white walls of the sheepfold; for an African sheepfold has
+a stone wall all round it, and a good strong gate, which is safely
+locked at night-fall. Jack knew very well that this flock was his
+father's chief wealth. There was not much ploughing and sowing with so
+few hands to depend upon. The sheep were everything.</p>
+
+<p>By-and-by his father came in, gave his little son his customary
+good-night kiss, and stretched himself on the truckle-bed in the other
+corner, to enjoy the sweet sleep of the labouring man. Jack was careful
+not to wake him.</p>
+
+<p>The glorious splendour of the South African moon made the room as light
+as day, while all without was flooded with a silvery radiance, so
+beautiful that our little Jack felt more wide awake than ever. He was
+watching for the stars as they shone out one by one, so much larger and
+brighter than we in England have ever seen them.</p>
+
+<p>Presently he saw something black on the wall of the sheepfold. He sat
+upright. It moved. He saw it fling out its long dark arms; and then
+another and another patch of black seemed crawling up behind it.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly it flashed into Jack's head,—</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'Whosoever climbeth up by the wall into the sheepfold, the same is a
+thief and a robber.'"<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>Out of bed he jumped, shouting, "Father! Father!" At the same moment,
+Jack's grand pet, the tame ostrich Vickel, set up a loud noisy scream.</p>
+
+<p>Vickel, as Jack's father had often said, was as good a guard as a
+mastiff. She had been given to Jack when she was a three days' chicken,
+looking like a round ball of dirty yellow fluff, and he had fed her
+with his own hands every day; and now as she stretched out her long
+neck she seemed as tall as the porch. She was crying "Thief! thief!"
+in her bird fashion, as plainly as any English watch-dog would growl
+"Thief!" to his master.</p>
+
+<p>Jack's father was out of bed in an instant, with his rifle in his hand,
+just as the last black figure dropped over the wall into the sheepfold.
+He fired his rifle into the air, hoping the sound of the report might
+scare away the thieves, and began to dress in all haste.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep where you are, my boy," he said, "and on no account leave the
+house. Put the bar in the bedroom door as soon as I am gone. I'll shut
+Vickel in the outer room, and she'll keep everybody else from coming
+in. Be a brave boy, and just lie still until I return."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be as still as a mouse, father; but hadn't I better get into my
+jacket?" answered Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dress," returned his father; "only be still."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby reloaded his rifle and crept out.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, Jack heard the brush of Vickel's wings as she made the tour
+of their sitting-room.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't do mischief, Vickel," gasped Jack with a catch in his breath
+very suggestive of tears; but he choked them back with all his might.</p>
+
+<p>He stood with his little hands clasped tightly together, watching
+through the window, yet not near enough to it to be seen from without.</p>
+
+<p>He saw his father creep cautiously along, in the shadow of the
+farm-yard wall, towards the great open shed where the oxen were
+tethered, and saw him climb into the heavy broad-wheeled waggon, which
+was drawn under one end, to shelter it from the sun. Now that Mr. Treby
+was mounted in the waggon, where he could see and not be seen, Jack
+felt easier. He thought of his dying mother's words, "In every trouble,
+pray;" and kneeling down at the bedside, he whispered,—</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Save, Lord, or we perish—"<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>When the flash and report of his father's rifle seemed to shake the
+house. The oxen bellowed and tore the ground in their infuriated
+terror. Jack started to his feet and ran to the window.</p>
+
+<p>"Maw wah!" groaned the old Hottentot, who was crouching under the
+eaves, and caught sight of Jack's pale face. "He'll take 'em as they
+come out," he whispered, making emphatic signs to the boy to go back.</p>
+
+<p>Jack knew that he must not let himself be seen. He remembered his
+father's charge, and moved away! What happened next he could not
+tell. There was a shout of savage glee, a wild, unintelligible yell.
+Vickel screamed like mad. A sudden light without—a strange, oppressive
+heat—and then a dense smoke began to fill the room.</p>
+
+<p>Jack dipped the towel in the water-jug and put it over his head, for
+bright red sparks began to fall between the rafters.</p>
+
+<p>"Father! Father!" he shrieked, forgetting his promise to be still in
+this unthought-of danger.</p>
+
+<p>The ostrich heard his piteous cry, and split the door between them
+with her powerful beak. Then Jack drew out the bar and let her in. She
+flew past him, and in her frantic efforts to escape dashed against the
+window, smashing glass and frame to atoms. Jack drove her with all
+speed through the flying splinters. She was almost out of the window,
+when the glare from the blaring roof so frightened her that she drew
+back with a scream. After wheeling round and round the room, Vickel
+tucked her head under her wing like a true ostrich, as if shutting her
+eyes to the danger she could no longer escape would save her.</p>
+
+<p>Jack was so well used to Vickel's ways that he knew he could catch her
+now easily enough. He had seen his father throw a fishing-net over her
+and haul her off when she was doing mischief in the garden. He managed
+to pull the blanket off his bed and throw it over her; but his limbs
+were heavy, and he felt like one moving in a dream.</p>
+
+<p>At last he heard his father calling, in an agony of desperation, "My
+boy! My boy! Heaven help me! Where's my boy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Here, father, here," Jack tried to answer, but his voice sounded
+feeble and strange even in his own ears. Things were falling all around
+him. Lights were flashing, and confused noises rang in his head. He
+was going, going somewhere. Then the dreadful feeling of oppression
+lightened, and he knew that the strong arms which clasped him so
+tightly were his father's.</p>
+
+<p>Something he murmured about getting a hood for Vickel, as his father
+lifted him through the broken window and gave him to the Hottentot.</p>
+
+<p>Once in the open air, Jack began to revive. The Hottentot laid him
+under the garden hedge, and charging him not to cry, ran back to help
+his master.</p>
+
+<p>Poor little Jack gazed at the blazing roof with a bewildered face, as
+his senses slowly returned to him. Suddenly it flashed upon his mind
+that his father was still in the burning house, and staggering to his
+feet, he tottered round the garden. He was just in time to see Vickel,
+who was still enveloped in the blanket, hauled out of the bedroom
+window, as if she had been a sack of wheat. Like himself, she was
+stupefied by the smoke, or it would not have been so easy to save her.</p>
+
+<p>"Drag her away!" shouted his father, as one of the great black chests
+was hoisted into the opening.</p>
+
+<p>The Hottentot tugged at the ends of the blanket. Down came the heavy
+chest with a thud, and Jack's father sprang on to the window-sill, with
+his face as black as a Kafir's and his shirt sleeves in a blaze. He
+threw himself on the ground and rolled over and over.</p>
+
+<p>The Hottentot snatched the blanket from Vickel's head and wrapped it
+round his master. Between them the flames were soon extinguished; for
+Mr. Treby seized some heavy sods, that were lying in a heap where he
+had been digging the day before, and crushed the burning shirt beneath
+them, plunging his arms into the midst of the heap.</p>
+
+<p>What could poor Jack be thinking of when he saw his father burrowing in
+the ground, and the Hottentot twisting the blanket round and round his
+shoulders, as if he were about to choke him? For he ran away!</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_2">II.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b><em>UP IN THE MORNING.</em></b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>YES, Jack left his father writhing on the ground and ran away. But it
+was to find Tottie. Ah, where was Tottie? Jack reached the hut, and it
+was empty.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the two men looked up and missed him, and the shouts for the
+"The child! the child!" roused poor Tottie from her hiding-place.</p>
+
+<p>At the first alarm she had crept into the "sloot," that is, the deep
+ditch which ran round the back of the farm. But the thought that Jack
+was missing conquered her terror, and she crawled out, plastered with
+mud from head to foot.</p>
+
+<p>No one could have taken her for a woman; for she crept on her hands and
+knees, listening with her ear to the ground, as she heard the patter of
+the sheep, and felt sure that the thieves were driving them away. She
+was the first to catch sight of Jack coming out of her hut, and made
+signs to him to hide himself. He darted back into the corner of the
+hut, crouching in the dark, and waited while the sheep went by.</p>
+
+<p>He heard his father's voice shouting "Jack!" round the burning house,
+but he dared not answer.</p>
+
+<p>After a while, Tottie, still crawling on her hands and knees, peeped
+in at the door to see if he were safe. How she hugged him in her joy
+at their great deliverance, for she assured him that the thieves were
+gone; yet they dared not venture forth too soon. Tottie lay with her
+ear to the ground, almost afraid to breathe, listening to the roar of
+the flames and the falling of the rafters. A stealthy step was drawing
+near the hut; a gasping sigh was heard in the very doorway. Jack clung
+to Tottie now and shivered. A head was put in at the door. It was his
+father.</p>
+
+<p>"Safe! All safe!" was echoed from lip to lip, as the four seated
+themselves on the ground, for the white-haired Hottentot was behind his
+master.</p>
+
+<p>Then Tottie got up and found some food and water that were in the hut,
+and pressed them all to eat.</p>
+
+<p>"The utmost we can do now," said Jack's father, "is to protect
+ourselves. The thieves must take what they will."</p>
+
+<p>"They are gone," cried Tottie.</p>
+
+<p>But the cautious old Hottentot dared not believe her; so they sat still
+and listened until the day began to break. Jack's head was resting on
+his father's shoulder but no one slept.</p>
+
+<p>The flames were over but a dull, red glow still lit up the gray of the
+western sky when Mr. Treby ventured forth to reconnoitre.</p>
+
+<p>The sheepfold and the shed were still standing, but not one lamb was
+left. His house lay in ruins. Every leaf in his garden which the sun
+had spared was burned and blackened with the fire.</p>
+
+<p>But the agony of the night, when for one brief hour his
+scarcely-rescued Jack was missing, made him think far less of the
+actual loss than he would otherwise have done.</p>
+
+<p>He fed the oxen, which were still lowing in the stalls, and dressed
+his blistered arms with a handful of their meal, thankful to find the
+little hut he used as a store still standing.</p>
+
+<p>He had gone the round of the farm, and was slowly returning, when
+something moving on the other side of the sloot attracted his
+attention. Keeping a keen lookout, he crossed the ditch with his rifle
+on his shoulder, when he saw Vickel stretching out her long legs and
+gaping. His own shirt was dropping into tinder, and her beautiful gray
+wings were singed and shrivelled.</p>
+
+<p>At the sound of her master's voice, the frightened bird ran after him,
+and tucking her head under his arm, expressed her consternation by
+sundry hoarse screams as he took her back with him to the Hottentot's
+hut.</p>
+
+<p>Up sprang Jack, almost as overjoyed to find Vickel safe as his father
+had been to find him uninjured on Tottie's lap.</p>
+
+<p>"Never so bad but it might be worse," said Jack's father, stroking the
+curly head more fondly than ever. "Jump on Vickel's back and ride after
+me, for I cannot bear you out of my sight. You could not know what you
+were doing to run away from me as you did in the night. You might have
+been killed."</p>
+
+<p>"I was looking for Tottie," said Jack repentantly. He was afraid that
+he had made his father angry; for Mr. Treby turned his head away, but
+it was to brush the tears from his eyes, as he murmured,—</p>
+
+<p>"God bless you, my brave, true-hearted boy!" Then he added with a
+laugh, "We must all to work. The first thing is to ask our neighbours
+to help us to get back the sheep. I shall send the Hottentot to
+Scarsdorp. Tottie must watch the ruins. She is better able to take care
+of herself than you think, for you can't beat her at hide-and-seek.
+Then you and I, Jack, must take the ox-waggon, and try the temper of
+our neighbour the Boer. We English do not reckon them the best of
+friends, for they do not want us here. But I found a stray cow of his
+last year, so he owes me a good turn."</p>
+
+<p>Jack felt like a man as he followed his father from place to place,
+sometimes riding on Vickel's back, sometimes jumping down when he
+thought he could help in his father's preparations. He filled a sack
+with mealies, as they call the Indian corn, ready to feed the oxen by
+the way.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>Soon after the sun had risen, whilst the morning air blew cool and
+fresh, Jack was seated by his father's side in the front of the big,
+lumbering ox-waggon. Everything which Mr. Treby had been able to save
+from the fire was packed inside, for he was afraid to leave them in an
+open shed, with no better guard than Tottie.</p>
+
+<p>The fowls had all been scared away by the sight of the flames, and were
+wandering at will amongst the low bushes which dotted the plain they
+were crossing.</p>
+
+<p>The sky above their heads was one unclouded blue, and in the red sand
+which covered the plain the dusty ants were fighting.</p>
+
+<p>It was no easy matter to find the right path in such a wilderness
+of sand and bush, where there were no hills or trees to serve as
+land-marks. Jack's father had to look carefully on the ground for the
+ruts which had been made by the wheels of the post-cart.</p>
+
+<p>Jack knew that post-cart well with its six gray horses. It was their
+one link with the outward world. How often he had stood beside his
+father listening for the loud blast of the bugle which heralded its
+coming! For the arrival of the English mail is a day of joy to the
+colonist.</p>
+
+<p>Presently Jack's father looked up and pointed with his whip to a heavy
+cloud of dust.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the mail!" he exclaimed. "For once I am fortunate."</p>
+
+<p>"No, father," persisted Jack, who was looking the other way; "I am
+positive it is Vickel."</p>
+
+<p>Nearer and nearer came the storm of dust thrown up by the galloping
+horses, but Jack's eye was fastened on a light-gray figure skimming
+above that billowy sea of reddening sand.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby drew his waggon out of the path and halted. As the Pretoria
+mail-cart came in sight, with its usual freight of passengers filling
+the seats and even clinging to the sides, Mr. Treby waved his
+handkerchief, and the six powerful grays drew up, stamping and snorting.</p>
+
+<p>"Any letters for me?" he asked anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Any mischief doing in this neighbourhood?" was the answering inquiry,
+as Mr. Wilton, the postman, opened his bag and sorted over its contents
+for an English newspaper.</p>
+
+<p>"We noticed an uncommon glow in the sky at our last halting-place," put
+in one of the passengers.</p>
+
+<p>"A little past midnight," added another.</p>
+
+<p>"We have kept a sharp lookout as we came along," continued the postman.
+"We were all of one opinion—there was a fire somewhere out on the
+veldt," for so the great African plains are usually called.</p>
+
+<p>"A fire!" repeated Mr. Treby bitterly. "Look yonder, where the
+smoke-wreath rises above a smouldering ash-heap, where last night,
+gentlemen, you would have seen a happy home—my home," he repeated in
+tones that wakened the sympathy of his auditors.</p>
+
+<p>For in those far-off wilds, Englishmen meet as brothers. Each is ready
+to help the other; for who can tell that, in the next turn of fortune's
+wheel, their own need may not be as pressing.</p>
+
+<p>Grave and anxious faces were turned to Mr. Treby, and many a
+deep-voiced exclamation of anger and pity interrupted his account of
+the night-attack upon his farm.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the beginning of a general rising among the Kafirs," said one.</p>
+
+<p>"A very ominous occurrence," observed another, shaking his head.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do as you desire," promised Wilton. "I'll gallop on to Pretoria
+as hard as my horses can go and lodge the information with the captain
+of the mounted police. Had not you better come too?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," returned Jack's father; "the journey would be too long for me.
+I was a poor man yesterday; to-day I'm but ten steps from beggarhood.
+I am on my way to warn my neighbour, Van Immerseel. He counts his
+sheep by the thousand, and the next attack may be upon them. It was
+the sheep the villains wanted; and I had no help on the farm but one
+old Hottentot and his wife, so that I was single-handed against five.
+They thought to stop my rifle by flinging the firebrand on the thatch;
+and indeed they gave me enough to do to rescue my little boy from the
+flames."</p>
+
+<p>"Cheer up, old fellow," said one, "and tell us what we can do for you."</p>
+
+<p>"A round of shot and a coat, if it is not asking too much," ventured
+Jack's father. "I shall be able to dig out something from the ruins as
+the ashes cool; but my bullets will be melted into one lump by this
+time and my money into another."</p>
+
+<p>There was despair in the laugh with which this was said, but it was
+the despair of a brave man who, when he feels the wreck of hope, still
+works on.</p>
+
+<p>More than one shot-case was opened and the contents divided, before Mr.
+Treby had finished speaking.</p>
+
+<p>"What will you take for the fore ox with the crumpled horn?" asked a
+dark-haired man, who was holding on by the side of the post-cart.</p>
+
+<p>"Market price," answered Jack's father eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>Of course there was a show of disputing over the worth of the stalwart
+beast, after the usual fashion of buyers and sellers; but it did not
+last long. Mr. Treby unyoked the leader from his team and tied him by a
+long rope to the back of the post-cart.</p>
+
+<p>While the stranger was counting out the ten pounds in English money,
+which he finally agreed to give for the ox, Vickel overtook the waggon.
+She flew wheeling round and round for a while, drawing nearer with
+every circle, until Jack, who had been listening most eagerly to the
+conversation, perceived her manœuvres. So, whilst his father was busy
+with the ox, he crept to the back of the waggon, and parting the heavy
+tilt, took her in.</p>
+
+<p>Vickel sprang up eagerly enough at the sight of her Jack's face; but
+when she felt the waggon move she was frightened.</p>
+
+<p>Jack's arm was round her neck in a moment, as if he thought he could
+hold her against her will.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll keep you somehow, Vic," he whispered. "You have grown such a big
+chick I can't hold you. Come, you must go; bye-bye."</p>
+
+<p>Pushing his fingers through a little hole in the sack of mealies, he
+got a few in his hand, and whilst she was picking them up, he slipped
+off one of his stockings. He poured another handful of the mealies into
+it and held it before Vic. Down went the long beak, snapping at the
+corn, which slipped lower and lower in the stocking. This was just what
+Jack wanted.</p>
+
+<p>"You good old darling!" he exclaimed, pulling it right over her head
+and half-way down her long neck, until it fitted. The big bird became
+as passive as a dove. She folded her long legs under her and sat down
+on the sack of mealies. Much elated with his success, Jack climbed on
+to her back and held the stocking fast with both hands.</p>
+
+<p>"Well done, my little man," said a diamond-digger who had been watching
+him from the back of the post-cart. "You've learned the trick of the
+ostrich-catchers, I can see."</p>
+
+<p>"She is mine," answered Jack proudly. "She has followed me right across
+the veldt like a dog."</p>
+
+<p>"And what shall I give you for her?" asked stranger, shaking some gold
+in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I sell Vickel!" exclaimed Jack in anger and disgust. "No, never."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby hesitated for a moment. "In such a strait as ours, Jack—" he
+began.</p>
+
+<p>Jack looked up into his father's face, and burst into a flood of tears.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I can't do it, gentlemen; it would break his heart. I can't part
+them. She has been his only playfellow, you see. Thanks, many, all the
+same," added Mr. Treby, turning to the kindly passengers.</p>
+
+<p>There was a broad grin on the diamond-digger's face; but the postman
+laughed good-naturedly. "How about the coat?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I can pay for it now," put in Jack's father, "if any one of you could
+accommodate me."</p>
+
+<p>But not for love or money could a coat be obtained, simply because not
+one of those travel-stained, way-worn travellers had a second with him.</p>
+
+<p>"Passengers by the Government mail from Natal to Pretoria have for the
+most part to leave their luggage behind them for the transport-rider's
+waggon," explained the postman. "Is there anything I can bring you from
+Pretoria as I return?"</p>
+
+<p>Jack's father considered a moment or two, counted the money in his
+hand, and dictated a short list of necessaries, which the postman wrote
+down in his pocket-book.</p>
+
+<p>As he gathered up his reins, he tossed a broken biscuit to the sobbing
+child, and with a chorus of farewell wishes from the passengers, set
+off his horses at a rattling pace. The lumbering waggon was soon
+distanced.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby saw the passengers lean forward in anxious discussion;
+and many a backward glance was cast upon the burnt rags, which were
+dropping from him at every step. But he knew that his wants would not
+be forgotten; and more than that, his warning would be faithfully given
+to every farm-house on their route.</p>
+
+<p>He was lost in his own thoughts, whilst Jack munched his biscuit in
+silence, watching his father's troubled countenance.</p>
+
+<p>A groan burst from Mr. Treby's lips as the post-cart was lost to sight,
+and not a sight or sound of human being disturbed the stillness of that
+vast treeless plain.</p>
+
+<p>Then two small fearless arms were clasped about his neck, and little
+loving kisses covered his bearded face as Jack whispered, "Did you
+really mind me keeping Vickel?"</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_3">III.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b><em>AFRICAN NEIGHBOURS.</em></b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>FOR an hour or two during the burning heat in the middle of the day
+Mr. Treby was obliged to rest. Here and there the veldt was crossed
+by little streams. By the edge of one of these the waggon halted. In
+places it was nearly dry, yet the milk-bushes, with their long waxen
+leaves, grew taller by its margin.</p>
+
+<p>Jack and his ostrich were glad to alight and stretch themselves, for
+Vickel could not stand upright beneath the tilt without knocking her
+head. A good play amidst the waving tufts of tambouki grass refreshed
+them both.</p>
+
+<p>When Mr. Treby had fed his oxen, he sat down under the shadow of the
+nearest bush, and called Jack to share the dinner which Tottie had
+provided for them. The ostrich found her own amongst the loose stones
+and sprouting leaves by the brook.</p>
+
+<p>When they were ready to start again on their journey, Jack's father
+gathered a nice bundle of the long, dry grass to make a bed for his
+little boy in a corner of the waggon. Jack coiled himself up in it like
+a bird in its nest, and found it very comfortable, whilst his father
+calculated how far the ten pounds could go. He had neither pencil nor
+paper, so he made his figures with the point of his penknife on the
+side of the waggon.</p>
+
+<p>It was fortunate, he thought, that the knife was in the pocket of his
+trousers. As he felt for it, he pulled out the newspaper the postman
+had given to him. It was the last number of the "Illustrated London
+News." What a burlesque, it seemed to him, to receive it in such
+circumstances!</p>
+
+<p>"Here, Jack," he said, "here is something for you to look at. Take care
+of it, my boy, for I was just thinking you might forget how to read
+before we had another book to call our own. We shall want so much to
+build the house again."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall never forget how to read, father," answered Jack decidedly;
+"and I can write with a burned stick on the wall of Tottie's hut, or
+make figures, as you are doing now, for I have got my knife as well as
+you." He dived into the pocket of his jacket as he spoke, and produced
+a stout clasp-knife, which had seen a deal of service in the garden.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," returned his father. "We must gather up the fragments.
+Every trifle may be of use."</p>
+
+<p>Then Mr. Treby went on with his calculations, and Jack lay back in his
+nook, with the big rush-hat Tottie had found for him tilting over his
+eyes. How he enjoyed his lovely pictures; whilst Vickel, who had become
+more reconciled to the jolting waggon, diverted herself by enlarging
+the hole in the sack of mealies.</p>
+
+<p>When Mr. Treby looked round again Jack was fast asleep, with the
+precious paper still in his hand. The poor child was worn out with the
+alarm and excitement of the previous night, so his father was careful
+not to disturb him; for he said to himself with a sigh, "No one can
+tell what may lie before us."</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>Jack did not rouse until the glorious African sunset had tinged the
+lonely veldt with molten gold. Hard-winged, spotted insects buzzed in
+and out of the waggon. One blood-thirsty mosquito refused all notice to
+quit until Vickel snapped at it most ferociously.</p>
+
+<p>But they were near their journey's end. The zinc roofs of the Boer's
+farm-buildings glowed like fires in the distance. Behind them was
+the wide flat plain, one dull, monotonous red; before them rose the
+rocky hills, the boundary of Jack's horizon. He had seen them looming
+cloud-like in the distance as long as he could remember anything; but
+now, as the waggon rumbled on, and they came nearer and nearer, as
+the daylight faded, they seemed to alter into some big blur of brown,
+blotting out the ruddy sunset gold. The clumps of bush grew larger,
+and now and then a shy antelope darted across their path. Jack sat up,
+resting one hand on his father's knee. The weary oxen dragged heavily
+along.</p>
+
+<p>"Jack," said his father, "just one more mile. We are close on
+Jaarsveldt. Cheer up, my boy."</p>
+
+<p>Then Jack began to sing, but his father stopped him. "Hush, there is
+somebody coming."</p>
+
+<p>A wild cat scampered over a ridge of stones and made the oxen bellow.
+She had been startled from her lair by the approaching horseman.</p>
+
+<p>"There they come," continued Mr. Treby, as a powerful black horse
+with an equally ponderous rider emerged from the shadows; two Kafir
+attendants followed, dragging between them a buck antelope. Some
+smaller game was hanging to their master's saddle. "I ought to know
+that young giant," soliloquized Mr. Treby. "He must be a son of Van
+Immerseel." It was evident that the hunting party was returning to the
+farm.</p>
+
+<p>As they drew near to each other, the young Boor stared hard at the
+ox-waggon and its ragged driver. But despite his forlorn appearance,
+Mr. Treby raised his hat with the air of an English gentleman, and
+pointing to the homestead before them, asked him if it were the
+residence of Van Immerseel.</p>
+
+<p>The gigantic youngster stared and scratched his head, answering with a
+sullen "Jah" (Yes).</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby's knowledge of Dutch was small, and young Immerseel knew
+nothing of English, but he comprehended that it was his father Mr.
+Treby wanted, and invited him by gestures to join company. He walked
+his horse by the side of the waggon, and laughed most heartily
+when Vickel poked her long neck through the tilt, which she had
+been strenuously endeavouring to slit for the last hour. But his
+exclamations were in Dutch, and Mr. Treby failed to catch their import.</p>
+
+<p>When they passed the outlying ostrich camp belonging to his father's
+farm, he pointed it out, and Mr. Treby expressed his admiration for the
+large flock of majestic birds it contained, by nods and smiles. But
+the proximity of so many of her feathered kin disturbed poor Vickel
+sorely, and taxed Jack's ingenuity to the utmost to keep her in bounds.
+Young Immerseel soon sent his black followers to the right about, the
+antelope was left under the wall of the camp, and one of the Kafirs
+ran forward to apprise the family at Jaarsveldt of the approach of the
+waggon.</p>
+
+<p>The house was large, low, and square, of substantial red brick. On one
+side was the orchard, on the other extensive sheep-kraals; for where
+Mr. Treby had counted his sheep by the score, Van Immerseel counted his
+by the thousand. The water in the dam shone like silver beside the dark
+row of Kafir huts where his servants lived. The house was surrounded
+by a low wall, which enclosed the garden and farm-yard. At the open
+gate stood the strong-built, broad-shouldered owner. His habitual
+hospitality was tempered by his surly dislike of the English.</p>
+
+<p>"Walt," he shouted to his eldest son, in a voice so gruff and deep that
+Jack thought it might have belonged to the strongest of their oxen.</p>
+
+<p>"We must not be dismayed at that, Jack. These 'Ooms and 'Tantes' are
+a worthy race, if you can but get on their right side," observed Mr.
+Treby.</p>
+
+<p>"Ooms and tantes?" repeated Jack inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; uncles and aunts, as we should say," laughed his father. "The
+Boers and their wives are uncles and aunts to all the rest of the
+world. Pray, don't forget that. Now take the reins."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby sprang lightly to the ground, and walked up to his burly
+neighbour with outstretched hand, offering the customary salutation of
+the Dutch, "Dagh, oom" (Good-day, uncle).</p>
+
+<p>Slowly and sullenly the hand was taken, but the unwilling pressure
+tightened to a hearty grip as the Englishman hastened to explain his
+object. This was not an easy matter, but he pointed to his burned
+clothes, about which the smell of smoke still lingered, and then
+across the silent veldt to where a dull black column of smoke rose up
+ominously in the far distance.</p>
+
+<p>"Burned out!" The Boer comprehended thus far in a moment.</p>
+
+<p>The shepherds at Jaarsveldt had also seen the ruddy glow in the
+midnight sky.</p>
+
+<p>The sullen frown began to change its character. The wrinkled brow was
+puckered still, but with most genuine concern. He slapped Mr. Treby on
+the back, and forced him to enter; whilst his son gave his horse to one
+of the Kafirs, and lifted Jack out of the waggon as if he had been a
+baby, mounted him on his shoulder, and marched off, laughing, to the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>From such an unwonted elevation, Jack had an excellent view of the
+house they were approaching over his father's head. But this hardly
+consoled him for the loss of dignity.</p>
+
+<p>A wooden staircase outside the house led to the upper story, which was
+little better than a loft, and was used as the general store for every
+variety of household goods and discarded lumber. The door of the house
+was cut in two, like an English stable door, and over the lower half,
+which was closed, Tante Milligen was hanging, anxious to see what sort
+of people her husband was bringing. Around her stood her black and
+yellow maids, excited and eager, for the arrival of the strangers was
+a pleasant break in the dull monotony of their daily life. At a word
+from the "oom," a woolly-haired black (with nothing but a dirty scarlet
+blanket twisted round her waist) was sent running with a message, but
+to whom or where Mr. Treby had no idea.</p>
+
+<p>Tante Milligen threw open the door, and dispersing the little knot of
+servants and children, invited the travellers to enter.</p>
+
+<p>Jack looked round the large white-washed room with some surprise. The
+heavy chairs and lumbering settee were covered with home-tanned skins;
+but the curiously-spotted floor attracted the most of his attention. It
+was made of clay, thickly dotted over with plum-stones, well polished
+by the friction of many feet.</p>
+
+<p>An ample supper was awaiting the return of the young hunter—huge joints
+of beef, from which the rations for the numerous dependants had been
+already cut; piles of roaster-cake; and above all, a well-filled basket
+of grapes, oranges, and peaches.</p>
+
+<p>At first poor Jack was almost dazed by the sudden change from the
+shadowy night to the bright lamp-light within the Boer's "sit-kamé"
+(sit-chamber, or sitting-room, as we should say in English). More
+bewildering still was the buzz of strange voices around him, every one
+speaking in a language he could not understand. Walt placed him on the
+wondrous floor, in the middle of the room, and called to his younger
+brother, a boy about Jack's age, but twice his size, "Zyl, Zyl."</p>
+
+<p>Jack caught the name, and smiled, as a lumpy, sheepish-looking boy
+answered the brotherly appeal, by seizing him by both hands and
+dragging him to the table, around which the family were gathering.
+Their sister, a fat, freckled girl of thirteen, sat staring at him,
+with her thumb in her mouth, until poor Jack grew very hot and
+uncomfortable, for he was as black as a sweep and as shy as a wild
+rabbit. He wanted to keep close to his father, who was doing his best
+to cover up the awkwardness of his introduction, and make the most of
+the few Dutch phrases he could command.</p>
+
+<p>In vain Jack tried to edge a little nearer to him. Between Walt and Zyl
+there was no escape. Tante Milligen loaded his plate with the tough
+beef, which at that hour of night he knew not how to eat. His eyes were
+fixed upon the corners of the room, in one of which lay a little bundle
+of blue and white check, and in the other the head and horns of the
+bullock whose ribs they were eating. Presently the bundle rolled over,
+and Jack discovered by its snoring that it really was a sleeping child.</p>
+
+<p>Just then the black maid returned, followed by a young man in a
+pepper-and-salt suit, with an English hat. Jack's father brightened,
+for he saw by the cast of the stranger's countenance he was a German,
+and guessed that the Boer, who was probably his master, had summoned
+him to act as interpreter.</p>
+
+<p>This new-comer was quickly seated at the family supper-table, between
+Van Immerseel and Mr. Treby. Yes, it was fortunate this young Otto,
+the German shepherd, knew about as much of English as Mr. Treby did
+of Dutch. With his assistance a sort of patch-work conversation was
+carried on.</p>
+
+<p>"Vat ou zay?" the Boer inquired continually, for he was slow of
+understanding.</p>
+
+<p>The one fact "burned out" had been made plain to him. To this he now
+added, "set on fire." When at last he was made to comprehend, "sheep
+gone," he laid down his knife and fork in sympathetic consternation.
+After a while they began to understand each other better. Walt, who
+seemed far more intelligent than his father, became an interested
+listener, and quickly grasped the position in which the unfortunate
+English farmer now stood. He scratched his head, as if recalling
+some occurrence to his memory; and then rubbing his hands gleefully,
+thundered in Mr. Treby's ear, as if he thought the loudness of his
+voice would make his meaning plainer.</p>
+
+<p>He had been hunting "velderbeeste" all day. Jah, he was sure he had
+crossed fresh sheep-tracks, leading to the rocks among which the free
+Kafirs had their homes.</p>
+
+<p>"Follow them," counselled his father, and Walt's eyes brightened at the
+prospect of a fight.</p>
+
+<p>Then it was Mr. Treby's turn to explain. He managed to make them
+understand that he was alone, having sent his only man to Scarsdorp to
+warn his neighbour there.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst this conversational medley was taking place, Tante Milligen
+perceived poor Jack's vain endeavour to get through his supper, and
+kindly exchanged the gigantic slice of beef for roaster-cakes and
+honey. Zyl and his sister Genderen watched these disappear, and before
+the last mouthful was finished, piled his plate with grapes and
+peaches. After his long and dusty drive, the fruit seemed delicious;
+but in spite of his utmost endeavours, Jack was nodding over his supper.</p>
+
+<p>With a good-humoured smile, Tante Milligen made a sign. Walt took him
+up once more, and laid him on the sheep-skin by the snoring bundle.</p>
+
+<p>It was intolerable to be treated like a baby, just because they were
+all so big and he so little. Jack started up belligerently, but his
+father's eye checked him. So he contented himself with shrugging
+his shoulders against the white-washed wall, and staring at his
+"vis-à-vis,"—the bull's head—for he was far too indignant to bestow a
+single glance upon his sleeping companion.</p>
+
+<p>"I should just like to show them the sort of stuff an English boy is
+made of," he thought.</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_4">IV.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b><em>JAARSVELDT BY DAYLIGHT.</em></b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"OUT-SPAN by our gate," said Van Immersed to Mr. Treby. "In the morning
+we may find out which way the sheep were driven. What could you do
+single-handed in the open, suppose those fellows should return? I am
+off with Otto and the lads to my own sheep-kraals. When once such work
+begins, who knows where it may stop? Those black neighbours of ours
+won't catch me napping; but you are beaten out of time already. Turn in
+till daylight."</p>
+
+<p>Otto duly translated, adding to his master's advice the comforting
+remark that the black beggars could not drive away the veldt.</p>
+
+<p>So Jack's father decided to live in his waggon a day or two until he
+knew what course to take. The Boar's view of last night's proceedings
+was similar to the postman's, that he felt it would be unwise to risk
+returning to his burning farm at present. Until the ashes cooled,
+nothing could be done. He only wished Tottie was with them; but Tottie,
+who had seen the marauders pass while she lay hidden in the sloot, did
+not believe they were Kafirs at all, but a pack of half-caste thieves,
+who would make away with their booty as fast as they could, and never
+think of returning. When they were gone, she saw no reason why she
+should leave her hut.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile some of the Boer's men had unyoked Mr. Treby's oxen and
+secured them for the night. His pleasant way of speaking was so
+different from the rough manners of the Boers, they helped him gladly.
+Whilst they were thus engaged "out-spanning," as they say in Africa,
+Walt Immerseel cut off the horns from the bull's head, and putting one
+in his own pocket, offered the other to Mr. Treby.</p>
+
+<p>"With these we can make each other hear if anything occurs in the
+night," he said, and Otto repeated.</p>
+
+<p>When the danger-signal was agreed upon, Walt marched off to play patrol
+on the other side of the sheep-kraals.</p>
+
+<p>Jack was already in his grassy nest, and now his father lay down beside
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no word of comfort for us to-night, Jack," he said
+despondently. "Our Bible was on the shelf, wasn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered his boy; "so it is burnt. Everything must be burnt by
+this time—everything that was in the house, I mean, father."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I am afraid so," was the gloomy answer. "We must fall back on
+memory. Tell me some verse or other, my dear, before we go to sleep."</p>
+
+<p>Jack thought for a little while, and then he began repeat softly,—</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>"That's right," murmured his father. "Troubled and afraid! It is just
+what I am to-night; but it won't do. I can't see our way out of this;
+but the Lord will provide. Draw a little closer, Jack; let me have
+tight hold of you whilst we go to sleep."</p>
+
+<p>The sleep they so sorely needed came at last; but it was broken before
+daybreak by the heavy tramp of the Boer and his son returning to the
+house, for with approaching daylight the fear of an attack from the
+thieves diminished.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," shouted Walt Immerseel, very proud of the new English
+phrase he had beguiled the tedious night-watch by learning from Otto.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby waved his hat in reply; then the Boer stopped, and beckoning
+to Otto, who was following, came up to the waggon. He seated himself on
+the shaft, and entered into a long conversation; but as Jack was only
+half-awake, he could not understand what they were saying.</p>
+
+<p>Walt had gone into the house, but he soon came back with a huge cup of
+steaming coffee and a plate of cold beef left from the last night's
+supper. Evidently the hospitable Boers did not mean to let the poor
+Englishman starve.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Jack," said his father as soon as they were alone, "I am going
+away with young Walt and his men to follow the sheep-tracks they saw
+yesterday, so I must leave you here. You will be quite safe, as all the
+farm people are astir, and they seem very kindly disposed. You must be
+a man, and take care of the few things we have saved. Tante Milligen
+has offered to look after you. Don't take offence at their queer ways.
+You were so tired last night you were almost cross. I have told them
+you would rather stay in the waggon, and we may not be gone long."</p>
+
+<p>Jack felt a strange rising in his throat at the thought of being left
+behind, but he set his teeth hard. One thing he was quite sure about—he
+was not going to add to his father's trouble in any way; so he gulped
+back the rising tears, and answered bravely, "Never mind me, father; I
+shall get on somehow."</p>
+
+<p>He drank a little coffee from his father's cup, and then lay down again
+in the dry grass. Mr. Treby covered him with the tattered remains of
+the blanket which had hooded Vickel, and then went to fetch a pail of
+water from the farm-pond. When he returned, Jack was fast asleep again.</p>
+
+<p>His father took good care not to waken him. "The longer he sleeps the
+better," he said to himself. "It will do him good, and he will not miss
+me so much."</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>But Jack was sorely vexed when he roused at last to find his father
+fairly gone. With a stretch and a shake Jack got up, and gave Vickel
+her breakfast from the mealie sack; then he made himself a seat on the
+corner of the chest, much wondering what he should do for his own.</p>
+
+<p>It was a glorious morning. He could hear the bleating of the calves
+in the farm-yard and the far-off tinkle from the sheepfold; but the
+big brown hills, with their rocky steeps, attracted the most of his
+attention, until he heard the shrill voices of the Kafir servants as
+they went about their daily work. Then Jack shrank back shyly, and
+contented himself with stroking Vickel's wings. It was grievous to see
+how her beautiful feathers were burnt and singed.</p>
+
+<p>Jack tried to make her look a little better by brushing off the browned
+tips, when the tilt was suddenly parted at the back of the waggon and a
+smiling baby face peeped in; for when the Boer's children met at their
+early breakfast, they could talk of nothing but the little English boy.
+Zyl had already ascertained that he was still asleep in the waggon,
+and Genderen was looking forward to carrying him some breakfast.
+The presence of the little stranger seemed to them a very pleasant
+adventure. Jack's companion on the sheep-skin, baby Sannie, felt really
+aggrieved to think she was the only one in the household who had not
+seen him. But their mother charged them on no account to waken the poor
+child.</p>
+
+<p>Still Zyl thought there could be no harm in letting his little sister
+have just one peep at their sleepy visitor. So when they ran out to
+play, he mounted her on his shoulder. Away they went through the gate,
+and climbing up the back of the waggon, startled Jack, who had never
+seen so young a child before. He paused in his grooming, lost in
+admiring surprise. It was a dear little face, in spite of its broad
+Dutch features, so sunburned and freckled; and the big blue eyes that
+stared at Jack looked so innocent under the mass of flaxen curls, which
+completely covered the low forehead, that he involuntarily exclaimed,
+"You little dear."</p>
+
+<p>But Vickel was far from sharing her master's feelings. Her head was
+still full of thieves; and making a dart forward, she struck angrily at
+the infantine intruder. Zyl dragged his sister backwards, but Vickel
+had caught the blue-checked pinafore in her beak.</p>
+
+<p>Jack was frightened. He sprang upon Vickel's back, and seizing her
+head with both his hands, tried to make her let it go. Zyl tugged
+with all his might; but Vickel was stronger than either of them. Zyl
+growled out something Jack could not understand. Little Sannie screamed
+vociferously. Before the boys could extricate the pinafore, it was torn
+to ribbons. Jack dared not release his bird, for fear she should fly on
+to Zyl, who had struck at her more than once with his clenched fists.</p>
+
+<p>Sannie was more frightened than hurt. Zyl had tumbled her down on the
+ground whilst he tried to fasten the back of the tilt, for fear Vickel
+should swoop down upon them, in spite of Jack's endeavours to restrain
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"Is your sister hurt?" asked Jack repeatedly, but Zyl only answered
+with angry snorts. He grasped Sannie's hand and ran off with her,
+banging the gate after them, whilst Jack alternately scolded and
+soothed his refractory pet.</p>
+
+<p>"O Vickel," he groaned, "what have you done? That boy will tell his
+mother what a dreadful bird you've been; and then I don't know what
+will happen to us, and father is not here."</p>
+
+<p>Jack laid his head on the ostrich's neck, and fairly sobbed in his
+dread of the consequences. The sound of a scolding voice in the
+farm-yard made him look up. As he was still perched on Vickel's back,
+he had a good view of the farm-house and its surroundings, through the
+slit which Vickel had made in the tilt on the previous day.</p>
+
+<p>Sannie's screams had brought one of the Kafir maids to see what was
+the matter. She snatched the torn pinafore off the unfortunate little
+toddler, and held it up before Tante Milligen, whose head appeared
+above the half-door of the house at the same moment. The Dutch mother
+left her kneading trough, and tucking up the corner of her wide white
+apron, rushed out upon her youngest born, scolding and threatening at
+the top of her voice. Behind her crept Genderen, in her long blue and
+white checked pinafore reaching to the toes of her home-made sheep-skin
+shoes. The brown sun-kappje she was tying on very much resembled the
+head-gear of a Sister of Mercy.</p>
+
+<p>Jack would have laughed at the grotesque figures before him if he had
+not been so full of consternation, a feeling which Genderen's pale face
+seemed to reciprocate.</p>
+
+<p>"Footsack, Zyl," she cried.</p>
+
+<p>And now Jack laughed in spite of his anxieties as the meaning of the
+queer Dutch word was made plain to him; for in accordance with his
+sister's advice, Zyl made a dart at the side gate into the farm-yard,
+but the Kafir maid frustrated his intention by setting her back against
+it.</p>
+
+<p>The vocabulary of the scold in Dutch is by no means a limited one, and
+Tante Milligen seemed as if she would exhaust it all in her indignation
+at the state of Sannie's pinafore.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Sannie's words were rendered unintelligible by her sobs; and Zyl
+was caught beyond all hope of escape. He stood before his angry mother,
+stolid and sullen as a young buffalo, and never opened his lips,
+whilst she knocked their heads together until Genderen began to cry in
+sympathy. But not one word of excuse or complaint would the Dutch boy
+utter.</p>
+
+<p>How Jack's heart warmed to him, for he could so easily have told of
+Vickel and screened himself; but to see the baby struck was more than
+Jack could endure. He sprang off Vickel's back, and scooping great
+handfuls of mealies out of the hole in the sack, he left her eating
+them, and rushed to the gate. But Zyl, in his fear that the ostrich
+might follow him, had fastened it inside.</p>
+
+<p>Jack knocked and shouted, "Mrs. Immerseel, Mrs. Immerseel, don't beat
+that poor little baby. Oh, pray don't. She could not help it. Let me
+in, and I'll tell you how it happened."</p>
+
+<p>The Kafir maid opened the gate in answer to his summons; but, oh, it
+was dreadful to find no one could understand a single word he said. He
+marched up to Tante Milligen, and lifted his pent-house of a hat, as
+he had seen his father lift his, and held out his hand. But, alas, it
+looked so dirty, he drew it back again in disgust.</p>
+
+<p>Although Jack's attempted explanations were all in vain, his sudden
+appearance created a diversion. Tante Milligen, supposing he had come
+to beg for a breakfast, smiled at him good-naturedly, and pointed to
+the kitchen-door. Jack shook his head, and tried to get between her and
+little Sannie.</p>
+
+<p>"What can the child want?" thought the Dutch woman. "Something wrong
+with his father's beasts perhaps." So she sent her Kafir maid to see.</p>
+
+<p>Off bounded Jack as soon as he perceived her destination, for he knew
+if he did not get to the waggon before her, Vickel would be sure to fly
+at her. He was white as ashes with fear as he scrambled on to the low,
+broad wheel, and stood with one eye on the ostrich and the other on the
+Kafir.</p>
+
+<p>Jack half hoped, as they were both African born, they might take to
+each other. He was right so far; the Kafir was too wise to interfere
+with his bird, and Vickel, who was still quietly feeding, took no
+notice of her. The maid looked all round, saw that the oxen were
+quietly grazing, and feeling convinced there was nothing amiss, turned
+to Jack. He did not like the queer black creature, with her bare arms
+and legs, to stare at him so. She was not like his yellow-faced Tottie,
+who always wore a woman's gown, and on Sundays a clean white cap as
+well; and from this semi-savage, in her scarlet blanket, he shrank. Why
+wouldn't she go away?</p>
+
+<p>It was very horrid to be stared at, so Jack got into the waggon to
+escape from those glittering, bead-like eyes, and away went the Kafir
+singing.</p>
+
+<p>Her song called forth a burst of laughter from a Hottentot herdsman,
+who was coming to lead the oxen to water. Happily for Jack, he could
+speak a little English.</p>
+
+<p>"No like de Black Antelope," he said with a grin; "much she likee you.
+Listen how she go, making songs of 'Dis pretty Ingleese lamb, left
+alone on de wide, wide veldt.'"</p>
+
+<p>Then Jack laughed in his turn, and was rather glad to hear that she had
+gone to fetch him some breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>But he could not forget little Sannie. Standing up tip-toe on the top
+of the chest, he once more reconnoitred the entrance to Jaarsveldt
+through the slit in the tilt.</p>
+
+<p>Zyl had disappeared, but Genderen was trying to comfort to comfort
+her little sister. She took her in her arms and carried her round
+the farm-yard, holding her up to watch the little pigs tumbling one
+over another in their play. But it was of no use; the pitiful sobs
+continued. Then Genderen brought her outside the gate to try the
+diversion of a little walk, pointing out the Englishman's waggon, and
+trying to teach her to call "Jock! Jock Trairbee!"</p>
+
+<p>Of course, poor Sannie only screamed the louder, and struggling from
+her sister's arms, ran away. Genderen's freckled face was pink with
+fatigue.</p>
+
+<p>Jack ran to her help with his "Illustrated News." But Sannie would not
+look at him; so he took out the loose picture that was folded in it and
+spread it before them on the grass, with a nod to Genderen, and ran off.</p>
+
+<p>It was happiness to Jack to watch the delight of the sisters from his
+peep-hole, as they cuddled together with the picture on their knees.
+There they sat, sucking the thumb of one hand, and tracing with the
+other the different figures in the picture.</p>
+
+<p>When the Black Antelope returned with a bowl of milk and a hot
+roaster-cake, Jack felt unable to enjoy his breakfast and do full
+justice to Tante Milligen's hospitality. His head was aching and
+his hands were hot, so he sank down in his grassy nest to read his
+"Illustrated News," and was nearly falling asleep when a great stone
+was aimed at Vickel's head.</p>
+
+<p>Jack was up in a moment, ready to defend his pet, for he caught sight
+of Zyl picking up a second stone under the garden wall.</p>
+
+<p>With a great shout of defiance the two boys rushed at each other, and
+in spite of all Jack's father had said, a fight between English and
+Dutch was imminent. But Genderen's brown sun-kappje suddenly appeared
+on the scene, with the Hottentot cow-keeper behind it. The sister
+was evidently warning and her follower threatening the unmanageable
+youngster with "ein lecker slaat" when the "oom" came back, if he
+persisted in annoying the English boy. Zyl bent his head as if he were
+a young goat about to butt, but never uttered a word even to his sister.</p>
+
+<p>He might throw stones at Vickel by way of revenge for her attack; but,
+for all that, he was not going to tell tales. Jack grew hot and cold by
+turns, for he thought there would be no mercy for his bird if it were
+known that she was the true culprit who had torn the pinafore, and his
+gratitude to Zyl for so doggedly holding his tongue got the better of
+his anger. The arm he had raised to strike the stone front the Dutch
+boy's hand went lovingly round his neck instead. Jack drew himself
+up beside him with a look at Genderen which said, "We two understand
+other; just let us alone, please."</p>
+
+<p>Zyl gave him the queerest of glances from the corner of his eye. It was
+becoming evident to his slow intellect that Jack, having shared in the
+scrape, was ready to take his share in the punishment also. He rather
+liked that, and the grip which he gave Jack's other hand was as hearty
+as it was crushing.</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_5">V.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b><em>MAKING FRIENDS.</em></b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>GENDEREN alone, of all the Boer's household, had found out the truth
+from little Sannie's sobbing complaints. Dull and heavy as she
+appeared, there was more in her than Jack imagined. She suspected her
+brother of teasing the ostrich, but was so frightened at the thought of
+Sannie's danger that she could not rest. Her first care was to get the
+boys into the garden. The Black Antelope followed with Jack's untested
+breakfast—the bowl of milk and the once hot roaster-cake. There was
+twice as much as he could eat, but Zyl was quite ready to assist him
+with the overplus. They sat down together on one of the garden seats in
+the midst of a grove of orange-trees.</p>
+
+<p>Genderen shook down some of their golden fruit to fill the English
+boy's pockets. Jack took out his precious "Illustrated News" to make
+room for them, and whilst the important business of the breakfast
+proceeded, Zyl stretched himself on the grass, absorbed in the delight
+its many pictures afforded.</p>
+
+<p>When Genderen saw the two boys she had caught fighting had struck up
+such a sudden friendship, she felt somewhat amazed. Fearing it was
+too warm to last, she slipped away to execute the second part of her
+plan as quickly as she could. To feed the young ostrich chicks was
+Genderen's daily task, therefore she was not at all afraid of Vickel
+herself. Filling her lap with food, she went into the farm-yard, and
+calling her own majestic hen with her fluffy brood, began to feed them.</p>
+
+<p>The cries of the young birds soon brought Vickel out of the waggon.
+Genderen saw her bright eyes peeping over the wall at her feathered
+kin. Then the Dutch girl showered the corn from her lap, inviting
+Vickel to come over the wall and share the feast; but the ostrich was
+shy, and retreated.</p>
+
+<p>"No, she cannot get over the wall," thought the Dutch girl; "and if I
+can but coax her into the yard, she will be safe out of the children's
+way, or there will be more mischief between them, for somehow or other
+this bird is at the bottom of it."</p>
+
+<p>Acting upon this conviction, she did her utmost to tempt the clever
+bird to follow her, but in vain. At last she set the gate wide open,
+and leading out the biggest of her chickens, she let them walk before
+the waggon, trusting that Vickel would join them of her accord.
+Ostriches have a decided partiality for women and girls, and when
+Genderen began to call her chicks together, Vic put her head on one
+side and listened.</p>
+
+<p>The impression was deepened when a few grains of corn were flung at
+Vickel's feet. She eyed them askance for a while, but as the chicks
+moved on, she condescended to taste. Having once tasted, and found
+the breakfast Genderen provided for her chicks was much better than
+her own, she continued to follow them slowly and at a considerable
+distance, picking up the grains of corn Genderen was careful to scatter
+in their rear.</p>
+
+<p>As the girl drew near the gate, the Hottentot came to her assistance. A
+heap of corn was placed in Vickel's sight to invite her to enter; and
+when she hovered hesitatingly round the gate of plenty, the cowherd
+cracked his whip behind her. In she flew with a bound. The gate was
+gently closed, and Jack's pet was a prisoner. Genderen, very happy in
+the success of her manœuvre, returned to the house.</p>
+
+<p>Beautiful as the Boer's garden seemed to Jack on that lovely summer
+morning, he did not care to stay there long. His father had told him
+he must take care of all the things in the waggon, and he wanted to go
+back to it. But Zyl, who valued the pictures in the "Illustrated News"
+almost more than Jack himself, was loath to let them go. His sullen
+face lit up at the sight of men on horseback with their dogs at their
+side, and soldiers drawn up in battle array. Tents, too, and Japanese
+pagodas, all of which he must scrutinize until each picture was made
+out to his own satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>Jack's impatience nearly upset the good understanding so recently
+established between them; but nothing could turn the young Boer from
+his purpose. He had made up his mind to see all there was to be seen in
+the beautiful English paper, and he would. To add to Jack's uneasiness,
+he was sure he heard his ostrich calling; but after his father's charge
+to take care of the paper, he was afraid to go away without it. He
+tried to take it out of Zyl's hand, promising to bring it again.</p>
+
+<p>But Zyl, who could not understand Jack's English, only retorted, "Jah!
+Jah!" and held it fast.</p>
+
+<p>Then Jack ran to the gate, but Zyl was before him. The upper bolt,
+which was high above Jack's head, was drawn, and the Dutch boy stood
+laughing. Then he gave Jack a brotherly hug, and led him round the
+garden.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't go," said Zyl by every action. He put back the little linen
+tents which were dotted about the beds, and showed him the lovely
+flowers blooming beneath their grateful shadows.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, what a contrast to Jack's garden at home! The roses here seemed to
+spring up as easily as thistles, and the tulips from the Dutchman's
+"father-land" seemed to Jack, with his exceeding love of flowers, like
+fairy bells. And then the grapes and peaches, shining in their glossy
+leaves, filled him wonder and admiration. How was it all done? Why
+could not their garden at home be made like it?</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image005" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image005.jpg" alt="image005"></figure>
+<p class="t4">
+<b>FEEDING THE OSTRICH CHICKS.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>He began to think these rough Boers knew more than he did after all.
+Perhaps he could find out how they managed it.</p>
+
+<p>There was one particular corner at which Zyl paused with evident pride.
+It was a perfect square, marked off from the rest of the garden by
+a row of flowering cactus. In the angle of the wall stood a clumsy,
+three-cornered stool, which Zyl endeavoured to make Jack understand was
+his own handiwork. The frame of an old umbrella had been nailed to the
+wall, and as its silk covering had altogether disappeared, it had been
+skilfully thatched with grass. Two young creeping-plants were making
+haste to climb the wall to reach it.</p>
+
+<p>A small orange-tree, which could have seen little more than a single
+summer, was planted in the very centre of the little square, with a
+ring of rice-plants round it, brought from an unfrequented dell among
+the neighbouring rocks. A circular path divided this from the side
+borders, where Jack observed an abundant crop of seed springing up in
+the shape of a Dutch "Z."</p>
+
+<p>This was enough for Jack. He guessed once it was Zyl's own garden. How
+he envied him the possession. But this was a bad feeling, and Jack
+crushed it in its birth, smothering it with a burning desire to emulate
+the Dutch boy's skill, and, if possible, surpass it.</p>
+
+<p>"I must have the seat big enough for two," thought Jack, "and father
+and I could have our supper there."</p>
+
+<p>So the time slid by until Genderen returned, leading Sannie in a clean
+pinafore, with both her chubby hands filled with sweets, the Dutch
+child's delight. She held out one to Jack, who had given her the
+"beauty picture."</p>
+
+<p>As he stooped to take it, he softly parted the curly mop of flaxen
+hair, and looked ruefully at the darkening bruise it shaded. This
+reminded him of Vickel.</p>
+
+<p>"I must, I ought to go and look after her," he thought.</p>
+
+<p>Now, Jack could climb like a cat; and as he despaired of making his
+new friends understand how much he wanted to go back to his father's
+waggon, he suddenly leaped upon Zyl's seat, and was over the wall in a
+moment. His astonished companions stared after him with their fingers
+in their mouths, utterly amazed. They would have said only a Kafir
+could have done it.</p>
+
+<p>Once outside the wall of Jaarsveldt, Jack ran eagerly to the waggon.
+The oxen were leisurely ruminating. Everything was right but Vickel.
+Where was Vickel? A cry of bitter self-reproach burst from his lips.
+He tried to call her name, but his voice failed him. All the terrible
+excitement he had undergone seemed to culminate in that moment. A cold
+shiver ran through him, for this new trouble was of his own making. If
+he had not left Vickel so long, he would not have lost her.</p>
+
+<p>He was blaming himself too keenly to know what he was doing. He tried
+to call her, but his voice sounded hoarse, and unlike his own. The
+echo from the neighbouring rocks repeated his heart-breaking call. He
+did not know what an echo was, and believed that some one else was
+calling his bird in the distance. Off he set, as fast as he could go,
+hoping to overtake the unknown somebody who was tempting his pet away.
+Once he thought he heard his ostrich screaming behind him. He paused,
+completely bewildered.</p>
+
+<p>No; it was only Zyl shouting to him to stop. But Jack had had enough
+of Zyl's company for the present, and would not comply. So the two
+chased each other over the red sand, nearer and nearer to those sombre
+mosses of frowning brown which had exercised such a power over Jack's
+imagination.</p>
+
+<p>The heat was now intense, but there was neither sight nor sound of
+Vickel. He ran till he could run no further, and had hardly breath
+enough left to call her name. Then he remembered Genderen's oranges,
+and sitting down under one of the low karroo bushes, which reminded him
+of home, he began to eat them. This helped him to recover his voice,
+and putting both hands to his mouth, he once more shouted, "Vickel,"
+and again the rocks gave back his cry.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment an ox-cart drove slowly out of one of the rocky defiles,
+in the direction of Jaarsveldt. Zyl, who was gaining on his flying
+friend, saw it also, and apparently recognizing the two men who were in
+it, waved his hat and shouted in his turn.</p>
+
+<p>The Hottentot driver turned the head of his ox towards the boys,
+whilst his companion answered Zyl with the "view halloo" of an English
+sportsman.</p>
+
+<p>Jack sprang to his feet at the sound of an English voice, realizing
+for the first time in his life all that word "countryman" means in a
+foreign land.</p>
+
+<p>The ox-cart rumbled on. Zyl was running to meet it with eager joy. Jack
+had no eyes for the Hottentot driver; all his attention was centred on
+the big sun-umbrella which almost covered his companion.</p>
+
+<p>As the boys came up to the cart, it was swung backwards. The owner of
+the umbrella, an aristocratic-looking young Englishman of twenty-two or
+twenty-three, held out his hand to Zyl with a smile. It was a pleasant
+smile as far as it went, for it only played around his lips; it never
+reached his eyes. About them there was a reckless, "don't care"
+expression which rather repelled Jack; but Zyl was obviously delighted
+to meet him.</p>
+
+<p>"Please, sir, have you seen an ostrich?" asked Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dozens, my little man. But what is that to you?" was the somewhat
+curt reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Please, sir, I have lost my Vickel, my own tame ostrich, and I have
+heard somebody calling her over there, the way you came," added Jack,
+pointing to the rocks.</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody!" repeated the stranger, shaking with laughter. "I rather
+think it was Mr. Nobody. You little fool, to go chasing an echo! Come,
+jump in, both of you; for we are all risking a sunstroke crossing the
+veldt at noon. I did not bargain to be so late, I assure you."</p>
+
+<p>Then he turned to Zyl and asked some questions in Dutch, to which the
+young Boer responded with more alacrity than usual. He scrambled up
+into the cart at once, trying to pull Jack after him.</p>
+
+<p>"No, thanks," persisted Jack; "I don't want to ride; I must find my
+bird."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" retorted the stranger. "Jump in this minute, or you will
+lose yourself. And where on earth will you be so likely to find your
+bird as in the ostrich camp at the next farm?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you are right, sir," said Jack brightening.</p>
+
+<p>"Boys do not say 'perhaps' to me," he continued, seating the two
+between himself and the Hottentot driver, who was by no means pleasant
+as a near neighbour on so hot a day.</p>
+
+<p>Zyl got close to the Englishman, as if he had a special right to
+appropriate him, so Jack turned to the Hottentot, who did not laugh at
+his trouble, and promised readily, if he saw an ostrich with scorched
+wings, to catch her. Jack ventured to ask him in a whisper who the
+Englishman was that he was driving.</p>
+
+<p>"He no father of mine," answered the driver; for to him father and
+master meant the same. "He be a Ingleese, who come and go from farm to
+farm, and he do cram little boys' heads with big words for three long
+days, till they sleepy, sleepy."</p>
+
+<p>At this description of himself and his present occupation as itinerant
+schoolmaster, the Englishman laughed until he shook again. Then he laid
+one arm on Zyl's broad shoulders, and leaned across to question Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"What makes you so curious about me?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Because you are an Englishman, and so is my father," replied the
+little fellow.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I have a great mind to come and see him and cram your empty head;
+but mind you, if I find you going sleepy, sleepy, this will pretty
+quickly wake you up again," retorted the boyish schoolmaster, shaking
+the cane he carried.</p>
+
+<p>Jack grew very red, being painfully conscious of his own short-comings;
+but he answered manfully, "I shouldn't be sleepy in the morning."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," laughed the schoolmaster. "Zyl has been telling me all
+about you, John Treby, junior. Just give that to your father," he
+continued, tearing a leaf out of his pocket-book on which was written,
+"Sandford Algarkirke."</p>
+
+<p>"Father will come back to Jaarsveldt to fetch me and the waggon, and
+then I will give it to him," answered Jack promptly.</p>
+
+<p>"Will he come to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes," answered Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"Better and better!" cried young Algarkirke. "Then I shall see him
+to-night. I have not spoken to an Englishman for seven months. What
+part of the old country did your father come from?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nottingham," returned Jack. "He told me only last night—no, I mean the
+last night at home, just before the thieves came—never to forget I have
+a grandfather living at Nottingham."</p>
+
+<p>"Nottingham!" exclaimed Algarkirke in a tone that bordered on alarm,
+while for a moment the reckless "don't care" expression was banished
+from his brow.</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_6">VI.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b><em>THREE DAYS WITH THE BOOKS.</em></b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>THE arrival of the schoolmaster quickened the slow paces of the Boer's
+family. The thrifty "tante" was anxious to make the most of his three
+days' sojourn.</p>
+
+<p>The Black Antelope had dragged off Zyl and Sannie to the wash-tub.
+Being in disgrace already, they submitted, but not without a pout and
+a grimace at the inordinate scrubbing the zealous creature thought it
+her duty to inflict. Genderen, she insisted, ought to show her respect
+for "the man of books" by taking off the long checked pinafore and
+exhibiting the brightly-flowered cotton dress beneath it.</p>
+
+<p>The Black Antelope's veneration for a man who make a white sheet talk,
+by just sprinkling it with something black, knew no bounds. She would
+have remained all day watching her charges whilst the lessons were
+going forward if her mistress would have allowed it, on the "qui vive"
+for other magical performances perhaps as wonderful. This was certainly
+a sign that pen and ink were not often required in the Boer's household
+when the schoolmaster was not present.</p>
+
+<p>Tante Milligen was seated on the lumbering settee, smoothing down the
+sides of her voluminous apron, whilst the schoolmaster did justice to
+the ample lunch she had provided for him. Whilst he ate, she enlarged
+upon her own and her husband's satisfaction with their present
+arrangements. She hoped they were doing their duty by their children.
+They had always taken them to church twice a year, although it was
+such a long way to Pretoria; but now they had a schoolmaster in the
+neighbourhood again, they must all make up for lost time.</p>
+
+<p>Young Algarkirke was not slow at taking a hint, so he professed himself
+quite ready to begin lessons at once.</p>
+
+<p>The Black Antelope bustled in her charges, with their freckled faces
+polished to a deep rose-pink, and arranged the chairs. Books were
+brought out and selected from the heterogeneous contents of the
+capacious cupboard, and slates were dusted.</p>
+
+<p>Sandford Algarkirke looked at Sannie with some dismay, for she was an
+addition to the party quite outside his hopes or expectations.</p>
+
+<p>"She is young," remarked Tante Milligen; "but she will have to make a
+beginning some day, and there is no time like the present. We don't
+keep any schoolmaster amongst us over-long, and then there is often a
+year or two before we get another to settle, so I hope you will let her
+take her turn with her brother and sister."</p>
+
+<p>Forthwith the assiduous Kafir produced an additional cushion, which
+raised the would-be learner to the level of the big table, and darting
+upon a Latin grammar Mr. Algarkirke had just taken out of his own
+pocket, she laid it open before her with great solemnity.</p>
+
+<p>"That will do," said Tante Milligen, pointing her domestic to the door.
+"Now bring me that pinafore, and I'll see how I can patch it."</p>
+
+<p>"Inkosi! (Kafir for mistress) Inkosi!" exclaimed the excited black.
+"One word, and I will trouble your ears no more this day. The little
+Ingleese lamb without a mother lies weeping in the dust by his father's
+oxen. Why? Because he is shut out while the books speak. Open to him,
+inkosi, that he too may learn wisdom."</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to our black spider," muttered Zyl. "Has not she got eyes all
+round her head, and feet that can run every way at once? Oh, we are
+just dummies and blocks beside her."</p>
+
+<p>"Be still," whispered Genderen; "she'll get him in."</p>
+
+<p>"Let him come, then," said Tante Milligen.</p>
+
+<p>"By all means," added the schoolmaster warmly.</p>
+
+<p>A swifter messenger than the Black Antelope never lived. She ran at her
+fastest now. The fleetness of foot had won for her her name. But her
+volubility was lost on Jack, who could not understand any one of the
+endearing epithets she showered upon him. It was true he was crying
+bitterly, but her conjecture as to the cause of his grief was quite a
+mistake, for he was mourning over his folly in losing sight of Vickel.</p>
+
+<p>She caught him by both his hands and whirled him away to the door of
+the sit-kamé, where Zyl was stumbling through a page of Dutch history,
+about which his teacher knew nothing, whilst Genderen, with her fingers
+in her mouth and her low forehead drawn into most painful puckers, was
+trying hard to cast up an addition sum.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Algarkirke's knowledge of Dutch had been picked up during a short
+stay in Amsterdam before he emigrated, and when he found himself at a
+loss for a word, he recalled attention by a rap with his cane.</p>
+
+<p>Genderen sighed heavily, and Zyl tugged at his fore-lock. Lessons with
+the Dutch children were a very laborious matter. If they had not been
+so fully alive to their importance, the new schoolmaster would have
+been a failure. With stolid gravity Zyl pulled through blunders his
+master was quite unable to rectify, and closed his book at last with an
+air of satisfaction that would have convulsed an English school with
+merriment.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Algarkirke seated Jack beside him, for an English child was a
+welcome addition to his pupils. But alas! the school-books were all in
+Dutch, except the Latin grammar, at which Sannie was profoundly staring.</p>
+
+<p>"May I do a sum?" asked Jack, who knew "the good spell at the figures"
+did not come off so frequently as his father desired.</p>
+
+<p>Jack found it much easier to grapple with the difficulties of long
+division in the day-time, when he was wide awake, than in his brief but
+pleasant lessons between winks, when his father was often more weary
+than himself. He said he should like a good spell at arithmetic, using
+his father's words a little proudly. But when Mr. Algarkirke rewarded
+his painstaking by setting him another and a longer example in money
+division, he felt himself becoming something worse than sleepy, for he
+was downright stupid at the conclusion.</p>
+
+<p>"Please, Mr. Algarkirke, may I have a book?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Touch a book with such dirty paws!" retorted the schoolmaster, who had
+considerably widened the distance between them. "No, sir; no, I say."</p>
+
+<p>Jack crimsoned to the roots of his hair, and hid his hands under the
+table. The schoolmaster grumbled something in Dutch. All eyes turned on
+Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"A travelling schoolmaster expects his pupils to be ready for him. It
+is not treating me with proper respect to come here covered with soot
+and dust," he continued sharply.</p>
+
+<p>Jack got up slowly and went to the door.</p>
+
+<p>The Black Antelope was told off to recall him; but her ready wit
+had already divined the cause of Mr. Algarkirke's offence. Poor,
+disconcerted Jack was whirled away into one of the side rooms, where
+tub and towel awaited him.</p>
+
+<p>The touch of his hot head and burning hands distressed her, and ere
+the bathing was finished, she felt quite sure the poor child would
+be prostrate with African fever before many hours were over. Should
+she tell her mistress? The Boers were so hard and unfeeling to their
+slaves, the Kafir could not depend upon their sympathy. But her woman's
+heart went forth to the poor white lamb without a mother, and she made
+up her mind to steal out at night and watch over him, if he were sent
+back into the waggon to sleep alone.</p>
+
+<p>She took away his burnt and blackened clothes, and dressed him in a
+cast-off suit of Zyl's; but the shirt and trousers were immensely too
+big, so she rolled up the sleeves of the former to his elbows and the
+legs of the trousers to his knees. In place of a belt, she found a
+large scarlet and orange handkerchief of the "oom's," and wound it
+round Jack's waist, dancing round him with delight, and shouting to a
+sister Kafir, who was pounding home-grown pepper in the entrance court,
+to come and admire his little shell-like ears, his shapely knees, etc.</p>
+
+<p>Jack, who could not understand her lavish praise, felt supremely
+ridiculous when she led him back to the sit-kamé, where the business
+of school was proceeding rapidly. A hearty laugh greeted Jack's
+transformation.</p>
+
+<p>"You need not have leaped from a chimney-sweep to a merry-andrew,"
+observed Mr. Algarkirke, as the mirth subsided, "and you an English
+boy."</p>
+
+<p>Slow of speech as Zyl and Genderen habitually were, they resented the
+tones of reproach in which these words were spoken. Dropping an unwary
+ink-spot on her copybook as she gathered up her courage, Genderen
+began the story of the fire, which Zyl confirmed with sundry snorts of
+vengeance against the thievish Kafirs.</p>
+
+<p>"And so they brought you here just as they pulled you out of the
+flames!" exclaimed the young Englishman. "Why did not you tell me this
+before, Jack?"</p>
+
+<p>Tante Milligen began to think the interruption had been too prolonged,
+so she got up and reminded the new teacher that Sannie had not yet had
+her turn.</p>
+
+<p>The young Englishman, who would have been at his ease in the
+lecture-room of an Oxford professor, inwardly groaned. His disgust at
+the sight of the little blue-checked bundle that was dog's-earing his
+Latin grammar exceeded Jack's on the preceding evening.</p>
+
+<p>But happily for him, no alphabet could be found in any one of the
+time-worn school-books that Tante Milligen had produced. They had
+already served the educational needs of three generations, and many a
+loose page had disappeared in the process. What was to be done? Tante
+Milligen was rummaging her cupboard, but in vain.</p>
+
+<p>Jack, who was sitting on a corner of Zyl's chair, helping him through
+the mazes of his multiplication, looked up brightly, and offered to cut
+out an alphabet with his knife if he might have a loose book lid which
+was lying on the table.</p>
+
+<p>But the process of alphabet cutting proved so interesting to Zyl and
+Genderen they could do nothing but watch it, until Mr. Algarkirke
+banished Jack and his knife to the back of the settee. Sannie crept
+after him unperceived, and learnt her first lesson unawares, for Jack
+had chosen a nice sized capital "A" on the title-page of the Latin
+grammar, which he got her to hold before him as a pattern; but the
+little fat fingers let the leaves fly over a dozen times. The bruise
+on her forehead made Jack wince every time he caught sight of the
+blue-green shadow.</p>
+
+<p>He was patience itself, and turning back to his copy pointed to it
+with a smile, sometimes finding another A and sometimes turning back
+to the title-page with which he started, until at last Sannie's finger
+followed his as she drawled out, "Das is ein" (that is one); and she
+was right. Whilst Jack was at work on the B, Sannie fitted her card A
+to the corresponding capital in the pages of the grammar.</p>
+
+<p>By the time Jack reached the eighth letter, his material was exhausted.
+He passed them quietly to Mr. Algarkirke, and sat down again, resting
+his aching head against the back of the settee, unnoticed by anyone,
+whilst Sannie was called up for her first lesson.</p>
+
+<p>With a disdainful curl of the lip, as if he were condescending to the
+very dust, Mr. Algarkirke laid the letters in order, and mounting the
+too juvenile pupil on the chair beside him, informed her with much
+preceptorial display that A was the first letter of the alphabet and
+the first of the vowels.</p>
+
+<p>Sannie made answer with a long-drawn "Jah!" and held up the Latin
+grammar.</p>
+
+<p>"That," said he, taking the volume from her to conceal the laughter
+that was choking him—"that is a little beyond you. One step at a time."</p>
+
+<p>Sannie stared at him with one hand in her mouth, duly impressed with
+the solemnity of the occasion. Whilst he consulted the four corners of
+the room as to what he should say next, Jack guessed his dilemma, and
+renewed his petition for a book. The Latin grammar was handed to him.
+As Jack took it, he swept the letters into a heap, and smiling at the
+round baby face, almost ready to dissolve in tears, he pointed to the A
+on the title-page.</p>
+
+<p>"Well done, my little Dutchwoman!" exclaimed Algarkirke as Sannie
+picked out the cardboard duplicate from the little heap of letters and
+held it up to Jack.</p>
+
+<p>Tante Milligen let her hands fall upon her lap. It was wonderful. Mr.
+Algarkirke's reputation as a schoolmaster was established for ever.</p>
+
+<p>"Allamachter!" she exclaimed. "Why I was full three months before they
+got me to see the difference between one letter and another. No more
+German teachers for me. You can't beat the English at work. They take
+it all square. We must make much of him."</p>
+
+<p>The Black Antelope was quite ready to echo her mistress's opinion.
+Feeling she had now seen both tutor and pupils fairly started on the
+road to learning, Tante Milligen withdrew to her kitchen, having been
+assured for the last half-hour that the roast was burning.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Algarkirke coughed ominously.</p>
+
+<p>"Jack," he whispered in an English aside, "you are a brick. You have
+helped me over the worst bit of drudgery in my day's work. Now, if
+there is anything I can do for you or your father, you must tell me."</p>
+
+<p>"Please, sir," cried Jack, brightening, "will you sell father a coat?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I were not so wretchedly down in my luck, I would give one, but
+anyhow, he shall have it for a trifle," answered Algarkirke, "if he
+wishes."</p>
+
+<p>Jack scarcely longed for evening more earnestly than his young
+countryman, who knew not how to keep the attention of his stolid pupils
+through the sleepy heat of an African afternoon. The room was like an
+oven. Algarkirke was painfully conscious the slow intellects of the
+Boer's children were gaining from him nothing but a jumble of confused
+ideas. School in the wilderness is a difficult matter, manage as you
+will. Genderen's sleepy yawn, which she was unable longer to repress,
+reminded the young tutor of the Hottentot.</p>
+
+<p>A bright thought occurred to him—an object lesson out of doors. Weights
+and measures taught amid the heaps of corn in Van Immerseel's granary
+would be made clear to the most sluggish understanding. The "fatted
+calf," as he chose to designate poor Sannie, was snoring at his feet.
+He left her undisturbed to the enjoyment of her siesta, and marched
+out the other two, slate in hand, to their own favourite resort, the
+farm-yard. Jack followed wearily. At that moment he would have been
+content to share the sheep-skin in the corner.</p>
+
+<p>The Hottentot herdsman stood grinning at the novel proceeding. With
+bushel and strike, steelyard and sack, Zyl was at home; and Genderen,
+with her pencil between her lips, noting down the figures at Mr.
+Algarkirke's dictation, seemed a different being. Jack stood nearest to
+the door. A tug at his sleeve made look round. There was his Vickel,
+with her queenly breast and outspread wings, obviously intent upon
+dragging out her little master into the free, fresh air to share with
+her the pleasures of a straw-stack, in which she had been revelling
+with her new-found kin. Jack forgot everything in his joy at seeing her
+again.</p>
+
+<p>But Zyl, whose remembrance of her attack in the morning was as vivid as
+ever, banged up the door and shut them both out.</p>
+
+<p>Jack was now feeling too ill to wish to return. He went with Vickel
+to the rustling straw, and was soon fast asleep, with his aching head
+pillowed on Vickel's downy breast.</p>
+
+<p>He awoke with a shiver, for the evening dews were falling. The ostrich
+was roosting beside him, with her head under her wing. The farm-yard
+gate was shut; but it was easy to get on to the wall from the top of
+the stack. Jack did not disturb his bird; for he thought if she began
+to clamour, the noise would be heard indoors, and some one would be
+sure to come and fetch him. He longed to be left alone. He wanted
+nobody but his father, and he would look for him where he had left him
+in the early morning. So Jack let himself drop down the other side of
+the wall and crept into the waggon.</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_7">VII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b><em>THE BLACK ANTELOPE.</em></b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>THE evening darkened into night, but Jack's father did not return.
+Tante Milligen had sent her Kafir maid to look for Jack, and when she
+heard he was asleep in his father's waggon, she thought it best to
+leave him there. But the kind-hearted Black Antelope was troubled, for
+his restless sleep convinced her the fever was upon him. She had washed
+his sooty clothes for pure love of his fair English face, and laid them
+by him in the waggon.</p>
+
+<p>Among the few trifles which had been saved from the fire was Mr.
+Treby's drinking-flask, which was in the pocket of his coat, but had
+not been destroyed with it. Before he departed, he had filled it with
+water for Jack's benefit, and left it, with the remains of the dinner
+Tottie had provided, by the sleeping child. Jack could not touch the
+bone of cold mutton or the crust of bread, but he drank the water. He
+fell asleep with the flask in his hands. It had been a keepsake from
+an English friend, and Mr. Treby's name was engraved upon the silver
+stopper.</p>
+
+<p>The night was intensely hot, and the moon was near the full. The light
+of the lamp still streamed through the half-open door of the sit-kamé,
+where Tante Milligen was awaiting the return of her husband and son.
+Most of the Kafir servants had been dismissed to their huts for the
+night.</p>
+
+<p>Sandford Algarkirke, preferring the company of the fireflies to the
+conversation of the Boeress, had retreated to the orange grove, where
+he too was listening for the first sound of the horses' feet. But they
+were scarcely audible, for the weary travellers rode slowly over the
+sandy veldt, and were within sight of the farm before any one at home
+was aware of their presence.</p>
+
+<p>The Black Antelope had just paid her last visit to the fever-stricken
+child. She found him trying to drain another drop from the now empty
+flask. She took it from him, intending to refill it, and was stepping
+out of the waggon with it in her hand when the "oom" rode up.</p>
+
+<p>In that brilliant moonlight he saw the silver-mounted flask in the
+black girl's hand as clearly as if it had been noonday, and so did
+Mr. Treby, who rode beside him. Believing she had stolen it from the
+waggon, the Boer leaped from his horse and struck her such a blow with
+his clenched fist that she lay moaning on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Bread of mine was never yet broken by a thief, and never shall be!" he
+exclaimed indignantly, snatching the flask from her unresisting hand
+and returning it to Mr. Treby.</p>
+
+<p>The gate of Jaarsveldt was flung open as Tante Milligen and the
+schoolmaster ran out to ascertain the cause of the commotion. The rest
+of the party spurred forward; but amidst the stamping of hoofs and the
+neighing of horses, the Boer's stentorian voice was heard denouncing
+the guilty hand that dared to touch the Englishman's goods in his
+absence.</p>
+
+<p>"What is he saying?" asked Jack's father in an anxious aside to the
+German Otto.</p>
+
+<p>The shepherd translated his master's words, adding, "Your things are
+safe enough under Van Immerseel's protection."</p>
+
+<p>"Jah! Jah!" cried Walt, who was standing behind them. "We'll show you
+in the morning how we punish a thief at Jaarsveldt. Such gentry, be
+their colour what it may, had better not come here."</p>
+
+<p>The noise had effectually roused poor Jack from his feverish sleep. He
+saw the Black Antelope, who had been so kind to him all day, staggering
+to her feet but he saw his father in the group, and scrambling out of
+the waggon, he rushed to him, gasping, "Don't let them hurt her, father
+dear! Oh, don't! Don't!" For the Boer had doubled up his gigantic fist
+to deal a second blow.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby stepped forward and caught Van Immerseel's arm, expressing
+his heartfelt thanks for his timely intervention, yet adding a plea for
+mercy to the delinquent.</p>
+
+<p>The Kafir girl cast one loving look of gratitude on Jack, and slunk
+away into the shadows.</p>
+
+<p>Tante Milligen, with her arms akimbo, was warmly applauding her
+husband's conduct.</p>
+
+<p>Sandford Algarkirke had drawn back into the garden. He held the gate in
+his hand, and was listening attentively to every word.</p>
+
+<p>"Please, sir," cried Jack excitedly, "you can make these people
+understand. Do come and tell them the poor Kafir girl only went to
+fetch me some more water. I am sure she did not mean to steal the
+flask."</p>
+
+<p>"Then say so," was the brief reply; "but do not drag me into the
+matter."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I would, if I could speak their Dutch. I ought, I must;
+but they do not know what I am saying, so it is of no use. But you
+can explain it; and if you do not, they will beat her dreadfully,"
+urged Jack. "We must not let the innocent suffer. It is not right, Mr.
+Algarkirke."</p>
+
+<p>"Come along, then," returned the young schoolmaster, and taking Jack's
+hand he led him into the house, where the travellers were already
+seated round the supper-table.</p>
+
+<p>"This little fellow has asked me to be his interpreter," said
+Algarkirke as he repeated Jack's assertion.</p>
+
+<p>But the burly Dutchman only laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Say no more now, Jack," interposed his father, making room for his boy
+beside him. "Circumstances are very much against her."</p>
+
+<p>"And circumstances weigh so heavily when you have only innocence
+without proof to balance them in the other scale; but she is happy
+to have even a child like you to believe in her," added the young
+schoolmaster, with a bitterness that made Jack's father think,—</p>
+
+<p>"Some personal experience, something in your own life, gave its sting
+to that remark."</p>
+
+<p>"She will never pilfer again," remarked Walt; "she is too true a Kafir
+for that. There is the dog-nature in them all—just the same sort of
+fidelity, and all that." So the talk ran on, and in the discussions
+over more important matters the Black Antelope was forgotten by all but
+Jack and the schoolmaster.</p>
+
+<p>The sheep-tracks had been carefully traced, but they did not lead
+to the district of the free Kafirs in the valleys among the rocks.
+Mr. Treby began to think his Tottie was right in her estimate of the
+thieves. But the scare had spread through the whole district. The
+police would be here in the morning and until they had investigated the
+matter, watch must be kept, for fear the aggressors should return and
+attack another of the lonely farms which dotted the sandy waste.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby had encountered his white-haired Hottentot Seco returning. He
+brought him word that the new settler at Scarsdorp found the wild life
+in that vast karroo too rough for his taste, and had previously decided
+to change his sheep-farm and try tobacco-growing in Natal. The news
+which Seco carried made him hasten his departure all he could. He would
+"trek" at once (as the African settlers say when they move, using the
+old Dutch word their neighbours the Boers have made familiar throughout
+the district), if he could buy or hire another waggon to carry the rest
+of his goods.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby caught at the opportunity this offered him to retrieve his
+fortunes. He decided to place his waggon and oxen at his neighbour's
+service. For this he would receive a good round sum. He would drive
+it himself; and when he had delivered the goods, he must start for
+Kimberley and dig for diamonds, until he had gained money enough to
+rebuild his house and stock his farm. Van Immerseel was ready to hire
+his pasture for the rest of the season, and pay him on his return—not
+with money, but with sheep.</p>
+
+<p>Jack, of course, would go with him, for he could work with him at the
+diamond diggings. Jack could manage a sieve; his young eyes would be as
+sharp as his own to pick out the sparkling diamonds as he sifted the
+loosened earth in which they were embedded. The journey would give his
+burned arm time to recover its natural strength, before he shouldered
+mattock and spade among the crowds of busy workers at the Kimberley
+diggings.</p>
+
+<p>Such were the plans that Mr. Treby was revolving, as he did justice to
+the cold mutton and steaming coffee Tante Milligen had provided for the
+travellers.</p>
+
+<p>"It is chancey work at the diamond mines," remarked the "oom." "A
+fellow may dig for weeks and get nothing but dirt for his pains; or he
+may make his fortune in a day."</p>
+
+<p>"I can only try," answered Jack's father; "and with God's blessing I
+may pull round before another year."</p>
+
+<p>How the young schoolmaster listened, as if he longed to follow his
+example.</p>
+
+<p>Otto had been to Kimberley, and he described the giant circle, where
+the diamonds were to be found. So much earth had been already scooped
+away that he could liken it to nothing but an enormous basin, filled
+with men of all colours, grubbing in the earth like human ants. He
+spoke of its ceaseless toil and its uncertain gains.</p>
+
+<p>But Mr. Treby still repeated, "I can only try. Hard work won't frighten
+me."</p>
+
+<p>It was the look on Jack's face that was frightening him. He saw the
+feverish flush and the glittering eyes, and felt him shiver as the
+child crept closer and closer to his side.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, my boy?" he whispered.</p>
+
+<p>But Jack did not reply. The group of rough, bearded men hastily
+snatching a supper seemed to him no better than the unreal phantoms
+of a troubled dream. Tante Milligen's broad, quaint figure, with her
+bare arms and borderless cap, seemed everywhere. The talk of dangers
+and daring thrilled through his over-excited brain; and then, worse
+than all, the great trap-door in the ceiling over his head appeared to
+open and shut of itself. The plum-stones which studded the floor seemed
+to dance before his eyes, until he hardly knew where he was. But his
+father's arm was around him, and to that he clung desperately.</p>
+
+<p>When he came to himself, his father was pouring something down his
+throat from a cow's horn; Tante held a candle in her hand, and
+was saying something in Dutch. Jack caught the oft-repeated word
+"slaap-kamé" (sleep-chamber). At last she opened the door into one of
+the side rooms, which Jack could distinguish the curtains of a huge
+four-post bed. The room felt hot and stifling as his father carried him
+in and laid him down upon the softest pillow Jack had ever known. Tante
+Milligen stuck the candle she carried somewhere in the wall.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no sleep for me to-night," said Jack's father. "I do not
+expect any disturbance; but come what may, I can keep watch within
+doors."</p>
+
+<p>"And I shall share your vigil," interposed the schoolmaster; "so
+your little boy can occupy this room (where I was to have slept)
+undisturbed. Don't say no, for a dash of adventure has all imaginable
+charms for me."</p>
+
+<p>According to Dutch fashion, every breath of air was carefully excluded
+from the room, so Mr. Treby set the door ajar, and the light from the
+lamp on the supper-table streamed across the floor.</p>
+
+<p>An old Hottentot woman, with her shrivelled, yellow hand, brought a
+cool leaf to lay on Jack's forehead, and muttered something over him
+like a charm.</p>
+
+<p>Tante Milligen herself fetched a pitcher of herbal tea, and then, with
+many maternal shakings of her head and sundry commiserative sounds,
+departed to her own slaap-kamé on the other side of the great room,
+into which all the doors of the house seemed to open, for the Boer's
+house was but one story high. There were lofts in the roof, where
+stores were kept, but these were reached by a wooden ladder outside
+the house, or through the trap-door which had had so large a share in
+Jack's delirious fancies.</p>
+
+<p>He could have slept now, poor boy, but for the snoring duet that was
+kept up by the little sisters on the other side of the wall.</p>
+
+<p>The Kafir servants, who had been playing scout all day by turns, came
+in to report that all was quiet. Walt decided to go with Otto to his
+hut by the sheep-kraals, as on the preceding night. Van Immerseel was
+persuaded to lie down on his bed; but he would not undress so that he
+could be roused at a moment's notice.</p>
+
+<p>Walt looked in at Mr. Treby before he departed. They showed each other
+their loaded rifles, and nodded significantly, as if to say, "We are
+ready." Otto, who had followed, stooped down and picked up something
+from the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"My knife!" cried Jack, starting upright.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said his father, laying him gently upon the pillows again.</p>
+
+<p>The German backed into the outer room.</p>
+
+<p>Thinking the entrance of the young men disturbed his Jack, Mr. Treby
+followed his example, and taking Walt by the arm, went out also.</p>
+
+<p>Swarms of those hard-winged, spotted flies danced round and round
+the candle, until they stuck fast in the burning tallow. A menacing
+mosquito buzzed in the curtains of the bed, and banished Jack's last
+chance of sleep.</p>
+
+<p>At last the house grew still. Mr. Treby set the door of Jack's room
+wide open, so that he might feel the refreshing night-breeze from the
+open windows of the sit-kamé.</p>
+
+<p>Believing that his child was dozing, he sat down by the door, with his
+face buried in his hands.</p>
+
+<p>Algarkirke waited impatiently for his reverie to end. At last he said,
+"We are countrymen, and in a distant land like this that means friends,
+and almost brothers, does it not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, of course," returned Mr. Treby absently.</p>
+
+<p>"Then whatever you may have heard about me from your Nottingham
+friends, you will not repeat it here."</p>
+
+<p>"I!" returned Jack's father, rousing. "I know nothing about you, an
+utter stranger. I can have nothing to tell. It is years since I left
+Nottingham."</p>
+
+<p>"It may be useless to ask you to believe me, when I say it was
+nothing but my own abominable carelessness made me the victim of
+circumstances," he went on bitterly. "And those who called themselves
+my friends chose rather to expatriate me than investigate."</p>
+
+<p>"Young man," interrupted Jack's father, "I ask you for no confession;
+but if you wish to confide in me, every word you utter will be safe.
+But I must remind you beforehand that a man driven to asking help of
+his neighbours is not one to look to, to give it."</p>
+
+<p>"You think me a flat," muttered Algarkirke.</p>
+
+<p>"I think you a little too verdant," returned the other. "Whatever your
+bygones may have been, you have a chance of beginning a new life out
+here. Do not let your own self-consciousness spoil it. Bury the past,
+or retrieve it. Remember:</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+<br>
+"'Men may rise on stepping-stones<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Of their dead selves to higher things.'"<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>"Could I dig diamonds with you at Kimberley?" was the eager answer to
+these words of fatherly advice.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever use spade or pick?" asked Mr. Treby in his turn.</p>
+
+<p>But Algarkirke shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"That answers your own question," returned his companion. "Stick to
+what you can do. You've no father, my lad, or you would not have been
+pitchforked into these wilds and left to sink or swim. All you brought
+with you is lost and gone? So I expected. I only wish I could help you."</p>
+
+<p>"Your little boy told me you wanted to buy a coat. I've one to spare,"
+said Algarkirke in a jerky tone, as if the words were forced out one by
+one. "I left England for Amsterdam—I had a merchant friend who traded
+with that city—but I was soon shipped off to Africa with a letter of
+recommendation to a Dutch clergyman at Pretoria. I lived on my money
+as long as it lasted. I was in the throes of despair when the grand
+church-going week came round. I shall never forget my first sight of
+the Boers bringing up their families from long distances in the country
+to join in the nachtmaal * service at their church.</p>
+
+<p>"A bright idea occurred to my clerical friend. He found out that a
+schoolmaster was wanting in this district, and recommended me to the
+post. It was a civil way of freeing himself from a burden. I journeyed
+back in one of the Boer's wagons, and began the hopeless task of
+teaching the young idea how to shoot in broken Dutch. It is irksome
+drudgery; for those Dutch boys are worse than the Irishman's pig; they
+will neither be led nor driven. But the worst of it is, I have a few
+days now and then between the turns, and how to keep myself I do not
+know, until the quarter-day comes to take my promised fees, small as
+they are."</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<br>
+* Nachtmaal ("night-meal"), the Lord's Supper.<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+<br>
+"'In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Is in giving too little and asking too much,'"<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>laughed Mr. Treby. "Show me this coat, and I'll give you what I can for
+it."</p>
+
+<p>Algarkirke went into the room for his portmanteau, which he unstrapped
+softly, for fear of disturbing Jack. But the little fellow was wide
+awake again, and very anxious to see the coat his father was going
+to buy. It was of gray traveller's tweed, a little stained with
+salt-water, but not much the worse for wear. But, alas no endeavours
+could squeeze Mr. Treby's well-developed shoulders into a garment
+made to fit young Algarkirke's slim figure. His disappointment was
+excessive. He looked at the half-sovereign in Mr. Treby's hand and bit
+his lip.</p>
+
+<p>"Like my wretched luck!" he exclaimed. "But stop! I have another that I
+left behind me at Inderwick—a light dust-coat, too big for me. Neither
+is it properly my own; a friend lent it to me one wet day just before I
+left England. It was packed up with my luggage by mistake. 'Keep it,'
+he wrote, 'it is not worth returning.' You could wear that, I am sure."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you let me have it before I start?" asked Mr. Treby.</p>
+
+<p>"The people here have promised to send me on to the next farm; it is a
+part of our bargain. I will ask the man who drives me to bring it back,
+if that will do. I leave here the day after tomorrow," said Algarkirke,
+closing his fingers over the gold Mr. Treby dropped into his hand.</p>
+
+<p>His exuberant gratitude was checked by the quiet remark, "We must all
+do as we would be done by. The strangers in the post-cart helped me
+yesterday, and I'm glad to be able to help you to-night."</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_8">VIII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b><em>JACK'S FEVER.</em></b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>THE herbal tea Tante Milligen had provided for the little invalid
+cooled the fever in his veins. When the morning came Jack was sleeping
+heavily.</p>
+
+<p>But his father could no longer watch beside him. He was obliged to
+return to his own farm to meet the police, who were expected to arrive
+that day. He was quite sure that a sufficient party of mounted police
+would be told off for the defence of the district directly Wilton's
+report reached head-quarters.</p>
+
+<p>The affair would be investigated; a repetition guarded against; but
+should he see his sheep again? Mr. Treby's heart failed him there. He
+knew it was wiser to leave the burning ashes of his house untouched
+until the police had been. He wanted to bring back Tottie to nurse his
+Jack now her husband had returned. But Tante Milligen said "No;" she
+had Hottentots enough in the house already. She did not want one that
+had been spoiled by these English to come there to upset her girls. The
+poor child should not want for proper care; she would see to that.</p>
+
+<p>The Boeress was in anything but a happy frame of mind; for the Kafir
+girl had run away in the night, and Tante Milligen declared she had
+lost her right hand.</p>
+
+<p>In circumstances like his, Mr. Treby could say no more. He knew he
+ought to feel very grateful to his Dutch neighbours for their rough and
+ready hospitality, and he could not endure the thought of encroaching
+on their kindness.</p>
+
+<p>But he could not leave his boy without a word. Everything was ready for
+his departure, when at last Jack opened his eyes, half-frightened at
+his strange surroundings. But the delirious fancies of the night were
+over, although he felt weak and faint.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby began to hope it was but a slight attack of fever, and that
+with quiet and care he would soon be better. He was afraid to let Jack
+talk even about Zyl's garden, or what a naughty bird Vickel had been;
+and would not let him fret over the poor Black Antelope, assuring him
+the Boer's anger was soon over, and he had asked her master not to
+punish her any more.</p>
+
+<p>So with a parting kiss, and a promise to come back as soon as he could,
+he left his boy once more.</p>
+
+<p>He had not seen Algarkirke that morning, for the schoolmaster had
+fallen asleep in the garden, under the shadow of Zyl's pent-house,
+which had been constructed out of the remains of his own broken
+umbrella—a gift he had bestowed upon the ungovernable urchin to bribe
+him to sit still during his first attempt at teaching, which he was so
+terribly afraid would be construed into failure.</p>
+
+<p>With a few forcible words about redeeming the time, Tante Milligen
+hunted him out of his retreat, ignoring the fact that he had omitted to
+put in an appearance at their early Dutch breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>"That was his own lookout," she said; so Genderen was ordered to place
+the books on the table.</p>
+
+<p>Every now and then Tante Milligen put her head in at the door of the
+sit-kamé, churn-stick in hand, "just to keep 'em at it; for they
+couldn't afford to pay their money for nothing."</p>
+
+<p>The poor tutor, who was all the worse for his night-watch, yawned
+in sympathy with his scholars. Mr. Treby had set the door of Jack's
+room wide open, to give him all the air he could. When Sannie caught
+sight of his curly head among the pillows, she slid off her chair, and
+gathering the letters he had cut out for her in her lap, she trotted
+to his bed. She waddled round the slaap-kamé like a little duck, until
+she came to the head of the bed where Jack was lying. There was a pout
+on the rosy lips, and recent ominous catch in her breath, suggestive
+of distress; for Sannie, like her mother, was sorely distressed at
+the disappearance of the Black Antelope, who had fondled her from her
+birth. One little fat hand unclosed and displayed a bit of a dirty
+card; then the precious letters in her lap were spread out before him,
+intimating the young lady's desire to repeat the pleasure of yesterday.</p>
+
+<p>Jack thought of his knife, and sprang out of bed to search for it.
+He shook his pockets inside out, but oh! His knife was nowhere to be
+found. He put his hand to his head to try to think. Yes, he remembered
+distinctly. He was sure now that German shepherd had picked it up.</p>
+
+<p>Sannie was frightened when she saw him crawling under the bed, for
+he thought he would look everywhere about the floor; so she set up a
+cry, which brought the old Hottentot woman to see what was the matter.
+Without more ado, she drove out Sannie, seized Jack by the arms and put
+him back into bed, charging him with imperative gestures to keep there.</p>
+
+<p>Tante Milligen followed with some more of that odious herbal tea, which
+she compelled him to drink. Then mistress and maid stood over him in
+earnest consultation. A huge pair of scissors was produced from Tante
+Milligen's capacious pocket. He hoped she was not going to cut off his
+head, and felt enormously relieved when he found it was only his hair
+she wanted. He wondered what she could want it for. Oh, it was wretched
+to be with people who could not understand a single word. Yet he almost
+laughed when he saw the shrivelled yellow fingers of the Hottentot
+sweeping away his curls with evident satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"They would stuff a good pin-cushion," he thought.</p>
+
+<p>But they left the heap on the floor, and covered his head with a
+cabbage-leaf. It seemed so ridiculous, but he was obliged to submit.
+Then the room was darkened, and the heavy curtains of the bed were
+closely drawn, and he heard the door shut as they went away. He thought
+he was suffocating, but at length the darkness and the quiet melted
+into dreamy sleep. By-and-by they brought him some brandy-posset, which
+he could not drink. In that darkened room the day seemed like night. No
+one came near him but Tante Milligen, with the cow's horn in her hand;
+and in spite of his wry faces, she always contrived to get the thin end
+of the horn between his teeth, and then there was nothing for it but to
+gulp down the bitter draught it contained as quickly as he could.</p>
+
+<p>Jack believed he had had seven nights already, and yet his father did
+not come. Algarkirke strolled in at last, with his pipe in his mouth,
+and roundly asserted there had been no night at all yet, although he
+hoped one was coming.</p>
+
+<p>Then Jack unfolded his idea about the pin-cushions, and confided to
+the schoolmaster how much he would like do the stuffing. "It is my own
+hair, so they might let me," he added, a little annoyed by the laugh
+with which this suggestion was received. Then he remembered his knife,
+and entreated Mr. Algarkirke to look for it in the sit-kamé. "I know,"
+he persisted, "that German picked it up; but where could he put it?"</p>
+
+<p>Algarkirke promised to tell Zyl, and persuade him to undertake the
+search. But his promise was of the pie-crust order, made to be broken.
+He wished to pacify the sick child, but, pitying the poor Black
+Antelope, he did not wish to cast a suspicion on any one else. He
+seemed sensitive on the subject, and shrank from it, even with Jack; so
+he did not mention the knife to any one.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Algarkirke was soon superseded by the Hottentot, who sat down on
+the foot of the bed and stared at Jack, who shut his eyes so that he
+should not see her. Then he seemed to feel all round him the flames of
+his burning home; and yet it was not his Tottie crawling out of the
+sloot, but the ugly face of this stranger Hottentot that was staring at
+him between the curtains of the bed.</p>
+
+<p>To all his feverish mutterings she responded with a "Jah! Jah!" which
+sounded more like the cluck of a hen than a woman's voice. But she gave
+him mutton-broth and grapes, and forced him to lie still; for Jack had
+an unconquerable longing to get up and walk about. He told her again
+and again he must go and meet his father, but he might as well have
+spoken to a post.</p>
+
+<p>One thing he was truly grateful for. The Hottentot armed herself with a
+long bough, and every now and then set vigorously to work to drive away
+the flies, which had teased him so the night before. Yet the sleep he
+longed for refused to come, until he heard the lowing of the cows as
+they were driven in for milking, and then the wakefulness of the night
+was exchanged for a drowsy stupor, which lasted through the glaring
+noonday heat.</p>
+
+<p>"They have made me a bed in the oven," moaned Jack, when the
+schoolmaster looked in on the third day to bid him "good-bye."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall send the coat," he said; "I hope it will fit your father. I
+shall miss your little English face when I come to Jaarsveldt next
+time, for I suppose then you will be sifting diamonds at Kimberley. You
+must learn a little of their wonderful Dutch patience from your new
+friends. I hope your father will come back before I start."</p>
+
+<p>But the young Englishman's wish was not gratified. Mr. Treby did not
+return until the next morning.</p>
+
+<p>At the sight of his father, Jack revived. The fever had turned at the
+third day, and Jack began to rally. Mr. Treby's gratitude to the worthy
+"tante" for her motherly care knew no bounds. She had saved his child.
+But when he talked of taking him away, Van Immerseel laid his great
+hand on his arm and shook the other in his face, with a good-natured
+laugh, which tempered a flat refusal.</p>
+
+<p>Tante Milligen summoned her ancient Hottentot, and five black faces
+appeared above the half-door of the sit-kamé to back her protestation
+and convince the anxious father he must leave his child where he was or
+a relapse was certain.</p>
+
+<p>"What do they all mean?" asked Mr. Treby, turning for enlightenment to
+the German, who had been summoned by Zyl to speak the decisive word.</p>
+
+<p>But Walt pressed before him. He had brought the Englishman home. He had
+taken to Jack. Algarkirke had repeated to him many more details about
+the fire, which he had gathered from Mr. Treby's conversation in the
+night. He knew now that poor little Jack had been barely rescued from
+the flames.</p>
+
+<p>During the schoolmaster's three days' sojourn at Jaarsveldt, Walt
+had been picking up English as diligently as the players on old Tom
+Tiddler's ground are reported to pick up gold and silver.</p>
+
+<p>He pointed to the door of the slaap-kaamé where Jack was lying, and
+asserted most energetically: "Your boy there very bad boy. We make a
+full stop of him. All right. You put him in there," he added, pointing
+to Mr. Treby's waggon, which was drawn up outside the gate. "Wohl—"
+Alas! His English was exhausted; he rubbed his head, imitated the
+jog-trot of the oxen, and the jolting and shaking of the lumbering
+waggon.</p>
+
+<p>Dead set at last for want of a word, which Otto could not or would
+not supply, he snatched the stick from his brother's hand, and drew
+the outline of a coffin-lid upon the clayey floor. It was but a lame
+attempt at speaking English, yet for all that he had made his meaning
+forcible and plain "Take him away?" he asked, making an impressive
+pause, then by way of answer to his own inquiry, he pointed to his
+mother and her coloured maids, as if he were counting them on his
+fingers. Mr. Treby was almost deafened by the babel of tongues around
+him, whilst Otto fairly laughed when Walt interpreted this clamour of
+female tongues as "One big no."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby brushed a tear-drop from his eye and shook hands all round.
+So it was settled that Jack must be left behind. His father's heart was
+touched by the rough kindliness of his Dutch neighbours.</p>
+
+<p>The loft over the end of the house to the farm-yard happened just now
+to be empty. Van Immerseel kept his wool there. He had sold it all out,
+so that the loft would not be wanted until the next sheep-shearing; and
+Walt suggested that Mr. Treby's things would be quite safe in there
+until his return. For of course he must unload his waggon before he
+could let it to his neighbour at Scarsdorp.</p>
+
+<p>He had raked out a few things from the ashes the day before—pieces of
+iron, hooks, and hinges; the lump of lead into which his bullets had
+melted; and more than all, the blackened and misshapen contents of
+his purse. Would his money pass? He could hardly tell. There were two
+sovereigns sticking together, and the smaller silver pieces had run
+into a shapeless lump; but the half-crowns, being more solid, were less
+injured.</p>
+
+<p>Zyl came to help him to unload, whilst Sannie sat at the foot of the
+wooden ladder watching their proceedings. There was no time to be
+lost, for Mr. Treby knew that his thirteen oxen would be longer on the
+road than when he had fourteen, and he wanted to leave everything as
+straight as he could for Seco and Tottie. But the thought of parting
+from his little Jack weighed heavily on his heart, for he could not
+tell how long he should be gone. Vickel, in her joy at having her
+master back again, insisted on perching on his shoulder, and pecking
+from his hand, much to Zyl's amusement.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst they were still busy packing in the loft, a messenger arrived
+from Scarsdorp with the final order for Mr. Treby. He must be ready
+with his waggon in the morning, when the bearer of the message would
+return with him.</p>
+
+<p>"That is a fine bird of yours, master," laughed the man, as Vickel
+saluted him with her loudest scream, "and a valuable one. Nothing so
+quick as an ostrich to detect a stranger's presence. Why, she will be
+worth twenty pounds of anybody's money when she begins to lay. A brood
+of chicks like herself will prove a little fortune. They would be worth
+ten pounds each as soon as they are out of the shell."</p>
+
+<p>"You think so?" cried Mr. Treby, brightening. "I do not know much about
+ostrich management. I brought this one up to be a guard about the
+place. She has cost me nothing, for she lives on the wild rosemary and
+scrubby grass that the sheep won't eat. If it had not been for my boy,
+I believe I should sold her for a very small sum in my strait."</p>
+
+<p>"Sell her," exclaimed the messenger, "with ostrich feathers selling at
+£23 the pound, and she just coming into profit! No, no."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby stroked the fond bird's satin breast as he made her dismount.
+Could it indeed be true? He thought of the summer morning when one
+of the wild-looking Kafirs, who were helping him to reap his little
+wheat-field, had found the ostrich's nest, and had given one of the
+chicks to Jack for a pet and plaything. Well, he intent upon his sheep
+had not thought much about her value certainly. He thanked the man for
+his advice, feeling as if all unawares, he had put his foot on the
+first step of the ascending ladder of fortune.</p>
+
+<p>"That is news for Jack," he thought, casting a critical glance over his
+tall favourite, who was now enjoying herself picking a bone like a dog.
+The bird had wonderfully improved. It was Genderen's bowl of barley
+night and morning which had wrought the change, but Mr. Treby knew
+nothing about that. He concluded Vickel got her own living here as she
+did at home, browsing on the sandy veldt, or he would not have left her
+at Jaarsveldt.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Jack," he said, when he told his boy of his intended departure.
+"Your feathered queen is to make our fortune, according to this man's
+talk. So it may be a providential thing this illness of yours. It is
+forcing me to leave you behind, and I should not wonder if you learn
+a good deal about ostrich management from the Immerseels by the time
+I come back. They say we might have cut Vickel's feathers this very
+summer, if they had not been scorched."</p>
+
+<p>It was worth something to bring the sparkle of happiness back into the
+boy's sunken eyes, as he listened to the comforting assurance that to
+part with Vickel would be like selling the goose which laid the golden
+eggs.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you what, Jack," continued his father; "when we come back from
+Kimberley, we must buy her a mate of Van Immerseel. They might pay
+better than the sheep."</p>
+
+<p>Whilst Mr. Treby was thus endeavouring to soothe and cheer the feverish
+child, he heard an unusual bustle, and looking out of the window, saw
+three horsemen fully armed, and covered with the summer dust, ride in
+at the gate. Their strong young horses were flecked with foam, as if
+they had been travelling fast and far. Van Immerseel's hand was on the
+bridle of the foremost of the three, an aged Boer, with hair like snow
+and a frame of iron. They were talking eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>Out ran Mr. Treby, expecting to hear of some fresh outrage that would
+cap his own, but the few words which caught his ear convinced him
+that the firing of his lonely homestead was the sole subject of their
+earnest discussion.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! Here he comes," exclaimed the old man, who could speak English
+fairly well. "Ik Van Niepert," he continued, stretching out a hand to
+Mr. Treby that was the masculine counterpart of Tante Milligen's own.</p>
+
+<p>The Englishman felt as if his fingers would be crushed in the hearty
+hand-grip which ensued.</p>
+
+<p>"The scare has spread, as these Kafir scares always do, like wildfire.
+It reached us last night. Farm-house in flames—Jaarsveldt for a
+certainty, as we all thought. So, as I have been telling my son-in-law
+here," (and the big hand came down with a slap on Van Immerseel's
+shoulder which would have made Mr. Treby reel), "with that fear in our
+heads, it was not long before the rifles were loaded and the horses
+saddled, and on we've pushed; and I could have sworn we heard the thud
+of the bullets as we drew near. Thought you were having to fight off
+the black beggars, as I've done many a time when Milligen was a lass at
+home."</p>
+
+<p>Van Niepert's sons, two powerful-looking men, with slow tongues and
+stolid countenances, confirmed their father's words with an assenting
+grunt, as they dismounted, leaned their saddles against the wall of the
+house, and turned their horses loose in the yard.</p>
+
+<p>Out ran the children to welcome their grandfather and uncles, with
+noisy joy, whilst Mr. Treby was explaining the real facts of the
+case as briefly and clearly as he could. He had heard of Van Niepert
+as a leading man among the Boers, whose word had had great weight
+in the conferences between these old Dutch settlers and the British
+Government, and that he had tried to maintain the friendly relations
+between them.</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_9">IX.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b><em>HOW TANTE MILLIGEN MANAGED.</em></b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>HOW to house so many guests in Jaarsveldt was the question that was
+troubling Tante Milligen's hospitable mind. Walt and his brother were
+at once relegated to the threshing-floor in the great barn, where a bed
+of clean straw was prepared in haste. Walt rolled up his coat without
+more ado, and lay down, as he had done many a night after a late dance
+when the house was full. But the spare slaap-kamé must be prepared
+for Van Niepert, who was treated with great respect by his daughter's
+family.</p>
+
+<p>One uncle would keep watch with the shepherd until daybreak, when his
+brother would exchange with him; therefore Walt's vacant bed would
+serve for both. But what to do with the little English boy—that was
+Tante Milligen's difficulty. She thought of sending him in Walt's arms
+to the shepherd's hut, whose bed would, of course, be unoccupied.</p>
+
+<p>"And give me the fever," said Otto with a glooming brow, for he
+had just overheard Van Niepert recommending his son-in-law to get
+rid of that German fellow. He might be bully uppermost, but he was
+certain he was coward underneath. "Get this Englishman to mind your
+sheep," he added. "He would have been a match for those black rascals
+single-handed if he had not been frightened off by his boy's danger.
+You can make it better worth his while than going to dig for diamonds.
+You say this is just another Kafir scare; but what safeguard have you
+that it won't be repeated? Answer me that."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby was quick to notice the change in Otto's manner towards him;
+and getting a hint about the sleeping difficulty, cut it through by
+proposing to make a bed for Jack in the wool-loft, where he intended to
+pass the night himself.</p>
+
+<p>To Jack the exchange was delightful, for the loft was cool and still.
+Mr. Treby left the upper half of the door wide open. The silvery
+radiance of the African moon fell full upon the slanting roof, and the
+refreshing night-breeze seemed like new life to the weary child after
+the choking heat of "that horrid oven."</p>
+
+<p>All the heterogeneous remains of Mr. Treby's belongings were piled in
+order on the sloping side. Jack's little truckle-bed was placed where
+the wall was highest, and by it stood the great black traveling-chest
+Mr. Treby had rescued from the fire. He was kneeling down examining its
+contents in the moonlight.</p>
+
+<p>"This was your mother's chest, my boy," he said, "and when I lost her,
+I locked up everything in it that had been her own—sacred treasures to
+me, that nothing in the world could ever replace. I hurled this out
+of the burning house first of all; but I little thought this would
+be really all I should save. She would never have forgiven me if I
+had let my feelings stand in the way of your good. You are a part of
+her, my boy; and I am looking them over now to find presents for this
+hospitable Dutchwoman and her maids. Just an acknowledgment of their
+kindness to you, my dear, before I leave you altogether to their care."</p>
+
+<p>With a feeling of yearning sadness that winged his thoughts beyond
+this visible world, Jack leaned his head upon his hand and watched
+his father unfold the faded dresses. He saw him lay aside some
+treasured keepsake with a bitter sigh, or press it to his lips in fond
+remembrance. At last the selection was made.</p>
+
+<p>Some yards of Buckinghamshire lace and an ivory fan were laid aside
+for Tante Milligen; a leathern reticule, some English photographs of
+churches, one or two little boxes of Tunbridge ware, for her children.
+For the coloured maids more useful articles were desirable—a flowered
+handkerchief, a pompadour dress, a bow of scarlet satin, an apron
+embroidered with crewels.</p>
+
+<p>"You will not forget the poor Black Antelope, father," whispered Jack
+softly. "I have not seen her for days; but she was always kind."</p>
+
+<p>"They think she is skulking about, afraid to show herself because of
+her master's anger; but I will leave this handkerchief for her if she
+comes back," said Mr. Treby shaking out a Scotch plaid-scarf, which
+Jack laid carefully under his pillow, reiterating his belief in the
+black girl's innocence.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish," returned his father, "I was as sure about that young
+Englishman. I am afraid he has cheated me out of ten shillings I could
+ill spare; for the man who drove him over to the next farm must have
+returned by this time, and I can hear nothing of the promised coat.
+Whether it was misfortune or misconduct shipped him off here in such a
+hurry, we cannot say. It is the worst of a colonist's life: your heart
+warms at the sight of a fellow-countryman, and then you find him out to
+be a worthless scamp. Well, it teaches me to appreciate this worthy old
+Boer. He struck so hard, Jack, because the flask was not his own. What
+would become of us now if there was no one we could trust? But there is
+that straight-forward honesty about him that he will take all the more
+care of my things because I am a stranger; and that is saying a great
+deal."</p>
+
+<p>Then Mr. Treby took a great hammer and some nails which he had
+borrowed, and after he had locked the chest, he nailed down the lid to
+make it additionally safe.</p>
+
+<p>Everything at last was ready for his departure. Whilst Jack slept the
+first real sleep since the fever had seized him, his father took the
+proffered pipe from Genderen's hand, and sat down on the bench in the
+garden where the Boers were smoking. He turned to Van Niepert, for he
+had something yet to say. He was thinking what would become of Jack
+if he were overtaken by any of the perils which menace a traveller in
+these wild regions. His thoughts were all for his boy.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutchman puffed a great cloud of smoke into the air as he talked of
+what might be. Then Van Niepert's big hand descended with a thud. "Look
+yonder, man, across the veldt. Can't either of us see the kopjee (hill)
+that divides your land from Walt's. But that is there; and the boy's
+here. Walt must keep them both till the boy is of age to manage his
+own. Let your mind be easy. There will be the rent laid by year after
+year—a good round sum to start him with by that time."</p>
+
+<p>"Ik is Walt Immerseel," said his neighbour, sealing the promise the old
+man's words conveyed with a hearty hand-grip Mr. Treby never forgot.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Walt Immerseel," translated the grandfather. "There, man, is not
+that enough?"</p>
+
+<p>"Jah, Jah!" muttered the stolid brothers.</p>
+
+<p>"Strike hands on that. Did an Immerseel ever run back?"</p>
+
+<p>Jack's father indeed appreciated to the full that steady persistency
+that lies at the root of the Dutch character, the source of their
+wonderful patience and unwearying industry, and also of their dogged
+obstinacy, making it harder to turn a Dutch Boer aside than the
+proverbial donkey.</p>
+
+<p>"Never despair," continued old Niepert, puffing away huge volumes of
+smoke between every sentence, "while you've your hands and your acres.
+'Amsterdam was built upon a herring-bone.' You've more than that to
+work upon."</p>
+
+<p>Never did the good old Dutch proverb teach its lesson to more attentive
+ears. Yes, in the dreary swamp where the Dutchman first drew breath,
+the visit of the herring-shoal was the only source of gain.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby felt how good it is to look back at these great works, which
+patient perseverance has already accomplished in this world of ours,
+when our own small corner is devastated. It helped him to brace his own
+energies to the task before him.</p>
+
+<p>But he did not repeat to Jack a single word of all this conversation,
+for he wanted to cheer him. So he turned away from the clouds which
+threatened him, and looked only at the brighter side. He spoke of
+Vickel.</p>
+
+<p>"If she should lay before I come back, you must take the greatest care
+of her eggs. If they are worth five pounds apiece, Jack, you will be a
+rich man some of these days."</p>
+
+<p>With his father's arm around him and his father's voice still murmuring
+in his ears, Jack fell once more into that peaceful, health-restoring
+sleep which gladdened his father's heart more than anything else.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>But when he awakened from it, that father had departed. The waggon had
+started at daybreak; Mr. Treby was gone.</p>
+
+<p>Little Sannie was singing on the "steop," as the front of the house was
+called. Bright and busy life was around him everywhere, but he had no
+share in it. He lay on his face, so that no one should see the tears
+that would gather in his eyes, he felt so unutterably lonely.</p>
+
+<p>Zyl was the first to come to him. Oh, if they could only talk; but as
+this pleasure was out of their power, the Dutch boy sat swinging on the
+lower half of the door, whistling compassionately. The English-made
+rakes and hoes and all the other odd pieces of iron-work which Mr.
+Treby had left behind him, attracted his attention.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst he examined them, Jack's red eyes were roving the world without.
+Where was his father? Which way did he go? Between those huge distorted
+masses of rock which had hitherto like a brown blot on Jack's horizon?
+He saw them now with other eyes—giant forms of rainbow-tinted crystal,
+with smooth bands of gray and red overlying each other; and at their
+feet the huge red plain that to Jack was home.</p>
+
+<p>But here at Jaarsveldt the more abundant water had partly covered the
+karroo with a coat of green. In the very crevices of the loosely-built
+stone walls, dark green leaves peeped forth to the rising sunshine; and
+on the tumble-down sod walls by the Kafir huts, luxurious chickweed was
+tangled with the glistening leaves of the ice-plant. A Kafir maid at
+her early dairy-work was singing a low-voiced chant in sleepy tones,
+which more nearly resembled the hum of the honey-laden bee than any
+other sound; whilst the growing sunlight tinted all around with the
+golden hue of the ripened corn.</p>
+
+<p>When Zyl perceived that Jack was awake, he came into the loft, and
+taking out of his pocket a kind of pop-gun he had been making, he
+showed it to him. A sort of pantomime sufficed to explain its working.
+It made Jack laugh to see how easily Zyl shot off a volley of peas at
+the opposite wall. It was all the better for Jack, now the three days
+with the books were exchanged for three weeks of wild liberty, in which
+the young Boers delighted. They were checkered with spells of real
+work in the garden and with the men. But these only increased Zyl's
+happiness, who was longing for the time when Jack could share it with
+him. He stowed the pop-gun away under Jack's pillow with a smile, and
+gathering up his spent ammunition, poured it into the thin white hand
+that was softly pressing his own.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," cried Zyl, imitating his brother. And the brief sentence
+Otto had taught them became a sort of watchword between the two boys.</p>
+
+<p>Zyl slid down the ladder with a tremendous boohoo, and took himself off
+to the sheep-kraals.</p>
+
+<p>But Jack was not forgotten by the rest of the family. Tante Milligen
+herself ascended the ladder, puffing and perspiring, for her exceeding
+stoutness rendered the ascent a matter of difficulty. She dropped
+down on the foot of Jack's bed, and regarded him anxiously. After
+feeling his head and his hands, and even pushing a finger into his
+mouth (Jack manfully resisted the temptation to bite it), she gave a
+satisfied smile, and departed in her turn, for she heard the rumble of
+cart-wheels entering the gate.</p>
+
+<p>The ugly old Hottentot brought him his breakfast, and with it the
+light-gray overcoat Mr. Algarkirke had promised to send. It was tied
+round with a bit of string, and a card was dangling to it, on which was
+printed, "Sandford Algarkirke," in tiny letters. "For Mr. Treby" was
+written in pencil, just above the printed name.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, how pleased Jack felt to see it; but what a pity his father was
+gone. As soon as he was left alone, he sat up and untied the string. He
+took off the card and examined the minute copperplate. He had no idea
+it was an English gentleman's visiting card, for he had never seen or
+heard of such a thing in his life. He thought he would put it in the
+breast-pocket of the coat, to take care of it, to show his father; but
+he found there was a slit in the bottom of the pocket, so he tied it up
+in the clean pocket-handkerchief his father had found for him in his
+mother's chest. Then Jack thought he would hang up the coat on a nail
+which he saw at the other end of the loft. He tried to put his feet
+to the ground; but he was so weakened by the fever that his head swam
+round, and for a few minutes he could hardly tell where he was.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear, oh dear! What shall I do?" he moaned. "I do want Tottie."</p>
+
+<p>If his Dutch friends heard him, they did not understand the piteous
+cry; but Vickel, lying on her breast in the sand, with her head
+touching the ground, recognized the dear familiar voice she had been
+missing. With a bound and a scream she struck upon the door Tante
+Milligen had so carefully closed, and burst it open. The wooden latch
+flew off, and stretching her long neck into the loft, she discovered
+her beloved Jack half-buried in the coat. Vickel snatched at the heap
+of gray with beak and claw, and pulling it off Jack's face, she looked
+at him with her large, luminous, human-like eyes welling over with love
+behind their long dark lashes. Up came the Hottentot herdsman and drove
+her away.</p>
+
+<p>But she had found out her master's retreat, and she watched over him
+night and day. There was no fear of Vickel straying from Jaarsveldt
+whilst Jack was in the loft. Ostriches are often called stupid, because
+they hide their heads under their wings at the approach of danger; but
+this is really a sign of their great intelligence. Their strong and
+powerful limbs can resist the attack of a buffalo, whilst a slight blow
+on their graceful, tender heads kills them in a moment. They know this,
+and so they use their short wing, with its splendid curling feathers,
+as a shield.</p>
+
+<p>Of course Vickel's last escapade was duly reported at head-quarters,
+and an ill-looking Kafir, who had been wounded in the fight in which
+she had been taken prisoner by the Boers, was told off to watch the
+sick child.</p>
+
+<p>Jack dreamed of her scarred face, and wakened in a fright, believing
+she was about to cut off his ears. But in spite of these drawbacks,
+his strength was slowly returning. Genderen was permitted to bring him
+grapes, and feed him with huge spoonfuls of a coarse but strengthening
+jelly, not many removes from liquid glue.</p>
+
+<p>Before Van Niepert departed, he too mounted the wooden ladder about
+half-way, until his head was level with the door in the gable.
+Rejoicing in a veritable tribe of children and grandchildren, he had
+had much experience, and his dictum was usually received as final. He
+pronounced Jack out of all danger, and bade him cheer up, for he would
+soon be on his feet again.</p>
+
+<p>Jack started up in horror for fear he should be once more consigned
+to the oven-like slaap-kamé when the old grandfather had departed.
+Van Niepert had spoken to him in English, and this emboldened Jack
+to prefer a very earnest petition that he might be permitted to keep
+his little bed in the loft. It was curing him, he urged; he had been
+getting better ever since he had been there.</p>
+
+<p>With a hearty laugh at English tastes, Van Niepert persuaded his
+daughter to let the little fellow have his way. Tante Milligen was the
+more willing to indulge him because, like a thrifty housewife, she had
+been secretly chagrined at being obliged to put a strange boy in her
+best bed.</p>
+
+<p>Walt was saddling his grandfather's horse; Van Immerseel was dutifully
+receiving a little parting advice; the whole family were gathered
+on the steop to watch the departure, when the eldest of the stolid
+uncles slowly mounted Jack's ladder, and taking out a leathern bag,
+deliberately looked over its contents, selecting an English sixpence.</p>
+
+<p>Jack wondered what was coming, when he saw it spinning round and round
+between the thumb and finger of the younger Niepert's big hand.</p>
+
+<p>This was done to attract Jack's attention. When the Boer was satisfied
+the English boy was looking at him, he tossed the sixpence towards him
+with so good an aim, it alighted in Jack's palm.</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_10">X.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b><em>THE BANK-NOTE.</em></b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"SLOW and steady" was assuredly the Boer's motto. The formal
+leave-takings, the blessings and the charges delivered by Van Niepert
+to every member of his daughter's family before he set a foot in the
+stirrup, took up so much time that Jack grew tired of being alone. His
+pop-gun was his first resource, but his ammunition was soon exhausted,
+and Zyl did not appear to gather up the scattered peas; so he waited
+until the scarred Kafir put in an appearance with his bowl of milk. Not
+understanding what it was he wanted, she brought him his father's coat.
+As she held it out to him, Jack saw for the first time that Vickel had
+torn the lining.</p>
+
+<p>He took it from her hand in much dismay, wondering whether he were man
+enough to mend it. As he turned it over, a letter fell out from between
+the cloth and the lining. It had never been opened; but it must have
+been shaking about in the inside of the coat a long while, for the
+edges of the envelope were worn through and let the contents fall out.
+The letter was addressed to the "Rev. Astley Bourke," and that was all.
+Jack unfolded the note, and found a flimsy piece of paper folded in it,
+on which was printed, "Bank of England."</p>
+
+<p>"Can this be a bank-note?" thought Jack, for he had seen one when his
+father sold his wool. He felt now he was making a grand discovery, and
+read the note very carefully.</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"The Honourable Mrs. Featherstone presents her compliments to the
+Rev. Astley Bourke, and in answer to his application encloses a bank-note
+for £50.<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"HAWKSWOOD HALL, NOTTINGHAM."<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>Of course it was the word Nottingham caught Jack's eye, for it made him
+think of his grandfather. But he did not consider it wise to let the
+Kafir see the bank-note, so he slipped it under his pillow until he was
+left alone. But unfortunately Jack's precaution failed, for the Kafir
+would not have known what it was if she had seen it, but Otto did; and
+just as Jack had taken out the note and spread it before him on the
+sheet to examine it more thoroughly, Tante Milligen, happening to meet
+Otto, sent him to set Jack's mind at ease.</p>
+
+<p>Walt had gone with his grandfather part of the way, so the German was
+once again the only English-speaking individual on the farm.</p>
+
+<p>As he poked his way into the loft to deliver Tante Milligen's message,
+he caught sight of the note, and watched Jack slip it out of sight. He
+said nothing, but "Bank of England," "fifty pounds," rang in his head
+for days.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image006" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image006.jpg" alt="image006"></figure>
+<p class="t4">
+<b>VICKEL AND HER MASTER.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>The German did not stay long. When Jack found himself alone once
+more, he packed up his treasure very carefully, knotting it in the
+handkerchief with Mr. Algarkirke's card and the sixpence the younger
+Niepert had given to him.</p>
+
+<p>"I must keep it very carefully till father comes back," he thought.
+"I wonder whom it belongs to? Fifty pounds is such a lot of money;
+wouldn't father be glad if it were his?" Then he turned over and tried
+to sleep; but the responsibility of so large a sum of money under his
+pillow would not let him rest.</p>
+
+<p>The very wind seemed singing "the Rev. Astley Bourke." At last he sat
+upright, and once more taking out his treasure, looked for the date.
+He could read it clearly in the brilliant moonlight, and counting the
+intervening months on his fingers, satisfied himself that the letter
+was written nearly two years ago.</p>
+
+<p>"How odd that Mr. Algarkirke never found it," reflected Jack, "for it
+must have been in the lining of the coat all the while he had it. I
+wonder where he is now. Father did not altogether like him; but he said
+he could trust Van Immerseel, for he took such care of everything in
+the waggon, all the more because father was a stranger to him, and I
+must do the same."</p>
+
+<p>After Jack had cleared up his mind and decided what he ought to do in
+the matter, sleep became possible once more. He dreamed of running over
+the sea with the bank-note in his hand, to ask his grandfather if the
+Rev. Astley Bourke lived at Nottingham.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>The next day Jack was dressed by the Kafir in the grotesque garments
+the Black Antelope had found for him. Then she got him on her back and
+carried him down the ladder into the sit-kamé, and laid him down on
+Sannie's sheep-skin. He had found a bit of string in the loft, and tied
+his treasures round his neck under the blouse.</p>
+
+<p>Everybody came and looked at him, and spoke encouragingly in Dutch. But
+he had nothing to do but to count the plum-stones in the floor and the
+beams in the ceiling, for the other children were sent out of the way
+to keep him quiet; but this did not last long.</p>
+
+<p>Little Sannie was the first to make her way to him. She came waddling
+in like a fat little duck, with both hands full of sweeties, which she
+wanted him to share.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning Zyl stood at the foot of the ladder with a look of
+business about him, waiting for Jack's appearance. Jack was looking
+much better and feeling stronger. He found he could dispense with the
+old Kafir's services, and walked down the ladder himself.</p>
+
+<p>Having at last got hold of Jack's hand, Zyl led him off in triumph to
+the three-cornered seat in his own little garden. The grassy thatch
+on the old umbrella had been well watered, thus adding a refreshing
+coolness to the quiet nook. A pile of newly-cut sods were prepared for
+a footstool, and a heap of juicy oranges for their mutual enjoyment.</p>
+
+<p>A few such days brought back the colour to Jack's cheek, and the
+sparkle of returning health to his hollow eyes. Then Zyl and Genderen
+laid their heads together and evolved a grand scheme.</p>
+
+<p>A little hand-carriage was constructed with Walt's help, very much
+resembling a wash-trough on wheels. A pillow and an old cloak of Tante
+Milligen's were placed in it, before Jack was asked if he would like a
+drive.</p>
+
+<p>Zyl was horse and Sannie driver, whilst Genderen walked sedately by its
+side with a branch of a milk-bush in her hand, flicking away the flies
+with its long waxen leaves.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! Neu yah trek!" shouted Zyl, and away they went towards the
+sheep-kraals.</p>
+
+<p>Now and then they stopped to rest, when Sannie played in the waving
+tambouki grass, and gathered bunches of the yellow bitto flower and
+bright bluebell; and Genderen pointed to the tiny black insects with
+red stripes which made that bunch of yellow flowers their mimic city.
+Then Zyl discovered a veritable ant-palace, out of which the valiant
+inhabitants were marching to make war on their encroaching neighbours.
+So eager was he to watch the pitched battle which ensued, that he
+approached too near the insect squadron, and got a sting for his
+temerity.</p>
+
+<p>How odd it seemed not to be able to talk in the same language to each
+other. Genderen, in her slow, quiet fashion, was trying to teach Jack
+the Dutch names of the different things they passed, and to repeat
+his English ones. Their mutual mistakes called forth such bursts of
+laughter that there was no lack of fun amongst them. That was obviously
+intelligible all round. Jack had recourse to pantomime, in which he
+was growing very expert, imitating what he wanted to describe just as
+children do in the game of "dumb actions."</p>
+
+<p>Then Zyl once more began his shout of "Ah! Neu yah trek!" And the
+little cavalcade again set forward, until they came in sight of Otto's
+hut and the vast multitude of sheep dotting the red karroo.</p>
+
+<p>As they drew nearer, the shepherd's dogs came leaping and bounding
+towards them with short, joyous barks of welcome.</p>
+
+<p>Zyl was for harnessing them to Jack's car, and rushed off to borrow
+a rope of Otto. But Genderen shook her head, and reminded him they
+were to rest in the shepherd's hut, where a basket of fruit and
+roaster-cakes would be waiting for them.</p>
+
+<p>Otto himself came trotting up on his shaggy pony. He had locked the
+door of his hut when he left it in the morning; but the basket Genderen
+expected to find had been duly left on the step by one of the Kafir
+boys. The German pressed them to enter, and lifted Jack out of his
+carriage.</p>
+
+<p>The hut was built of wattle and clay, with a fireplace and one window.
+Jack was eager to go in, for he thought perhaps his father could build
+them such another; it could not cost anything so much as their house
+which was burned down.</p>
+
+<p>Genderen began to unpack the basket, and spread its contents on Otto's
+little table. As a matter of course, he was invited to take his share.
+But to find seats for so large a party was more than he knew how to
+manage, seeing he could boast of but one chair, and that he offered to
+Genderen. He had no bedstead, but a sort of hammock swung across the
+end of the hut. He began to clear the top of his box, which usually
+served him as a side-table.</p>
+
+<p>Jack suddenly stepped forward, for there lay his lost knife.</p>
+
+<p>"Please, Mr. Otto," he began.</p>
+
+<p>But the German turned to him with a frown. "I'll have no meddling with
+my things," he answered in a threatening tone.</p>
+
+<p>Jack was silent; he saw it was useless to remonstrate, for the German
+would give his own version to Van Immerseel.</p>
+
+<p>"And, I am sure," thought Jack, "a man who would take my knife would
+not be above telling a lie; and I could not explain to anybody it was
+mine any more than I could about the poor Black Antelope."</p>
+
+<p>Still Jack had one more question he wanted to ask the shepherd, so he
+said quickly, "We are not going to meddle with any of your things, Mr.
+Otto," with an emphasis on the "your" that made the German bristle all
+over like a porcupine setting up its quills.</p>
+
+<p>But he was a little disarmed when Jack continued undismayed, "But
+please, Mr. Otto, can you tell me when the schoolmaster will come
+again?"</p>
+
+<p>This was a vital question for Jack, and he waited breathlessly for the
+answer. But Otto either could not or would not tell him.</p>
+
+<p>After a while Zyl set up his unearthly shout of, "Ah! Neu yah trek!"
+and although Otto flatly refused to let his dogs be transferred into
+post-horses, the return journey was as blithe as the outgoing.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, the dogs obeyed their master's whistle, and accompanied
+him until they had a good view of the sheep. Perceiving that their
+customary charges were all right, and that nothing particular was
+required of them, they rushed back to the children with one accord,
+feeling themselves in duty bound to see their young friends well on
+their homeward way. Up they came, with their curly ears well back and
+their bushy tails wagging with delight. Their eyes were bright with the
+pleasure of stolen liberty, as they bounded round the children, saying
+as plainly as dogs always can to those who try to understand them, "We
+know we shall catch it if we are caught, but we'll risk it just this
+once for you, you dears."</p>
+
+<p>Then hands were licked and shaggy heads were fondled, and hairy
+and rosy lips exchanged their mutual kisses, Jack at last becoming
+emboldened to take his share in this overflow of caressing love.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the oldest of these curly guards laid his keen head to the
+ground, and catching the echo of a far-off whistle, gave a look to his
+companions. Away they flew, raising a cloud of sand behind them, and
+leaving the children breathless with laughter.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>The next day they made an excursion in an opposite direction, towards
+the rocks. All thought of danger from the free Kafirs was now set at
+rest.</p>
+
+<p>"It was proved the thieves had come from civilized, not from savage
+life. More shame to them!" thought Jack. "If I had only been big enough
+to shoulder a rifle behind father, we should have been a match for
+them. Next time we'll see."</p>
+
+<p>Away he walked, resolved to try his strength and make Sannie ride. By
+dint of persistency he carried his point, but was glad to compromise
+the matter and make frequent exchanges, which Genderen approved,
+observing, "Des is wohl" (that is well), as she felt proud of the
+success of their experiment, for Jack was getting well now as fast as
+he could.</p>
+
+<p>They ate their fruit and cakes in what the Dutch children called a
+"kloof,"—that is, a narrow cleft in the nearest mass of rock, down
+which in time of rain a dashing cataract thundered, fed by a mountain
+stream. But the burning sunshine of that African summer had dried-up
+the fall to a few trickling drops.</p>
+
+<p>A deep indented line of whitening sand divided the bottom of the
+valley. High overhead the precipitous rocks arose like the walls of a
+giant stronghold; and the tiny water-drops which oozed so slowly from
+their fractured sides fell with a musical sound on the smooth, flat
+stones at their feet—stones which had been polished to their present
+smoothness by the drip of ages. In this cool retreat, beneath the
+grateful shadow of the rocks, there grew a quivering tree. There was
+no one to tell Jack its nature or its name, but he gazed upon it in
+an ecstasy of delight and wonder. Lower down the bank of the dried-up
+stream a clump of young mimosas gave shelter to a covey of wild
+guinea-fowl.</p>
+
+<p>As the children advanced, running and shouting to each other in their
+glee, the shy and timid guinea-chicks were frightened, and rising from
+the flat-crowned bushes, took their flight to the safer shelter of the
+rocks.</p>
+
+<p>Off went Genderen and Zyl on the quest for eggs, creeping on their
+hands and knees where the tangle of underwood would have barred their
+progress. To such bird-nesting Jack had been a stranger; but after
+Genderen had shown him the first nest she had discovered, with its
+circle of dark pointed eggs, he comprehended their object and joined
+in the eager pursuit. Sannie was left to enjoy a nap in the little
+carriage, which they had drawn up beneath the shadow of the quivering
+tree.</p>
+
+<p>Again and again Jack put his hand to his breast to be sure that weighty
+responsibility, the Bank of England note, was safe in his handkerchief.
+He was growing tired with the scrambling and the scratches, so he went
+back to the sleeping Sannie, and gathering a handful of rushes which
+grew upon the margin of the dried-up stream, plaited them into a small
+flat basket, just big enough to hold his treasure. He sewed the top
+together with a long and flexible rush, so that no one could catch a
+glimpse of even the white handkerchief, in which the letter and its
+important contents were wrapped up. Then he tied it round his neck once
+more, and satisfied at last that he had made it really safe, lay down
+by Sannie to rest. He had no idea that the little snoring bundle had
+slept with one eye open, and was very curious as to his proceedings,
+until she stretched out both her fat baby hands and pulled his shirt,
+inquiring with an infantine lisp that was almost irresistible to Jack,
+"Was is das?"</p>
+
+<p>He took her on his knee, and with the remains of the rushes wove her a
+basket for her very own.</p>
+
+<p>In that cool retreat the summer hours flew swiftly by, and the children
+never thought of returning; for Genderen had found a nest of tiny
+guinea-chicks, and Zyl had lined the empty luncheon-basket with soft
+dry grass to receive them. Genderen placed them in it with a careful
+hand, delighted with the prospect of carrying home so excellent a find.</p>
+
+<p>As she extricated herself from the thicket, she saw a little bit of a
+scarlet blanket clinging to a mimosa leaf. A sudden thought struck her.
+She turned back, parted the branches, and looked eagerly between them.
+She saw a heap of gathered grass, crushed and pressed, as if it had
+been the sleeping-place of some wild animal. Genderen brushed her hand
+across her eyes, and stooping down, picked up a brass-headed pin she
+herself had given to the poor Black Antelope.</p>
+
+<p>Here, then, was her retreat. Could she be hiding here still?</p>
+
+<p>"No; she was on her way to her own country," persisted Zyl; "but they
+could not leave the kloof without a search."</p>
+
+<p>Up and down the dried-up bed of the watercourse, on to every accessible
+ledge to be discovered on its rocky sides, went Zyl, prodding with a
+broken branch from the quivering tree into every hole and crevice,
+where it was possible and even where it was not possible for their
+hare-like friend to hide; but all in vain. The cold, hard rocks only
+echoed back the much loved name Zyl persisted in shouting at the very
+top of his voice.</p>
+
+<p>"It is of no use," said Genderen sorrowfully. "When we get home, father
+will send the men with the dogs, and perhaps they will hurt her."</p>
+
+<p>"They must bring me back with them," interposed Zyl, "to show them
+where she slept. Mind you don't describe it so that they can find it
+without me, Gen; and if they flog her, they will have to flog me first,
+that's all."</p>
+
+<p>Having reached this decision, they ran across to Jack, who recognized
+the bit of scarlet blanket and the brass pin in a minute. He had felt
+too weak to take part in the search, but shared their grief at its
+failure. Zyl pointed out one source of comfort: poor Blackie would
+not starve with guinea-fowls' eggs to suck and the pure rock-water to
+drink. This was their consolation.</p>
+
+<p>Zyl insisted upon Jack riding home, although Jack was sure Sannie could
+not walk so far; but there were the eggs to be conveyed, and Sannie
+might break them. Zyl was dogged, so Jack gave in and let Zyl tuck him
+up in his carriage. Then the Dutch boy brought an armful of grass,
+which he kneaded into a sort of nest on Jack's lap, and in this the
+eggs were piled. Genderen placed her precious basket of living chicks
+in his right hand, for she had a heavier task to perform in carrying
+Sannie.</p>
+
+<p>Under such circumstances, their progress was of the slowest; and before
+they had progressed half a mile, they encountered Otto, who had come in
+search of them.</p>
+
+<p>He had gone up to the house by chance, and finding Tante Milligen in
+a state of great anxiety because the children had not returned, he
+volunteered to ride round and look for them. He took up Genderen behind
+him and Sannie before him; but he left the boys to their own devices,
+knowing well that no power on earth could make Zyl quicken his pace and
+risk his eggs.</p>
+
+<p>Sannie was delighted to find herself on the neck of Otto's horse, with
+his arm round her waist, holding her safe and fast. So she chattered on
+in her innocent way, half to herself and half to him. He was thinking
+more of Genderen's heavy sighs (for he knew she was dreading her
+mother's anger) than of Sannie's prattle, until she asked him to give
+her letters and paper to put in her basket like those Jack Treby kept
+in his. Then he lent a very earnest ear, asking her many questions.</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_11">XI.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b><em>OTTO THE SHEPHERD.</em></b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>ZYL drove home his load in safety, but he thought it prudent to stop
+at one of the Kafirs' huts. Here he left Genderen's chicks in charge,
+and sent up his glorious find of eggs to the farm-house. Then he
+took fast hold of Jack's hand, and led him round by the back of the
+farm-buildings until they reached the foot of the ladder leading to
+the wool-loft. Jack did not often now resist his good-natured but
+self-willed friend. He had taken a leaf from Genderen's tactics, so
+they got on together admirably. Zyl insisted upon undressing him and
+putting him to bed. Jack could guess the reason why. Zyl meant to take
+the whole of the blame and its consequences upon his own shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>Jack looked round the sloping roof and white-washed wall of his
+loft, with a sort of home-feeling he had never experienced before at
+Jaarsveldt, when it suddenly struck him it was looking more untidy than
+usual. Yes, he was certain all the things his father had packed up so
+neatly under the slope of the roof had been pulled about. Who could
+have done it? The loft had not been cleaned, for the floor was littered
+all over. He was too hungry to sleep and too anxious to know what sort
+of reception Zyl had met with, to rest anywhere.</p>
+
+<p>Then he heard a noise as of horses' feet, and jumping up in bed saw the
+"oom" himself, on his great black horse, with Zyl behind him, and Walt
+on his fastest hunter at his side, with all the dogs and four or five
+of the Hottentots, starting for the rocks—in search of the poor Black
+Antelope, he could not doubt. Jack's heart ached for her; and he lay
+down and covered his face, thinking what it must be to wander forlorn
+and homeless in these wilds.</p>
+
+<p>In a little while the ugly Kafir brought him a calabash of ox-tail
+soup, and after that he sank into the sound sleep of healthy childhood.
+Nothing less than two awkward hands pulling at the collar of his shirt
+would have wakened him that night. But there they were. He felt the
+knuckles pressing on his throat, and almost thought it was a dream.
+He put up his own to push them away, and took hold of real hands—the
+rough, strong hands of a man clutching at his treasure. He was wide
+awake in an instant, fighting them off. Something was over his eyes.
+He struggled hard, and freed himself for a moment. He felt a man's
+hot breath upon his cheek, and screamed out with all his might as he
+recognized the face of the German shepherd.</p>
+
+<p>Would anybody come to his help? Could he even make himself heard in the
+dead of night? He remembered Van Immerseel and his sons were away. Yes,
+their absence had given Otto his opportunity. Jack saw it all, and grew
+cold with fear as he felt himself powerless in Otto's grasp. Then came
+the thought,—</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"God sees, and he is ever more ready to help than we to ask."<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>But thought itself soon became impossible, for Otto was cramming the
+corner of the pillow into his mouth to stifle his cries. Jack tried
+hard to throw himself on his face. Somehow he managed to get the
+precious letter under him, and not all Otto's blows or low-voiced
+menaces could make him stir from this position.</p>
+
+<p>Vickel, who was roosting, as usual, at the foot of Jack's ladder, had
+lifted a sleepy head when Otto passed her; but as she was now familiar
+with every one about the farm, she let him go up the ladder un-molested.</p>
+
+<p>Jack's scream aroused her vigilance, and two bright eyes were watching
+every movement; for Vickel was quite tall enough, when she drew herself
+to her full height, to peep in at the door of the loft, which Otto had
+left wide open to gain light enough for his search. She could not see
+Jack, who had rolled himself in the bed-clothes, until Otto lifted him
+by main force from the pillow to which he still clung. Then Vickel
+sprang upon the ladder with a cry of mingled love and rage, and struck
+the intruder so fierce a blow with her closed beak that it sent him
+headlong on the floor. Before he had time to recover his feet she
+seized him by the leg with beak and claw, and dragged him out of the
+loft.</p>
+
+<p>"Call her off! Call her off! Or she'll kill me," roared Otto as she
+once more lifted her formidable talon, ready to gore his flesh from the
+bones.</p>
+
+<p>When Jack, as white as ashes, and with scarcely voice enough to make
+himself heard, called, "Vic, Vic, Vic!" just as he had called her at
+feeding-time all her life. He snatched up some of the peas which were
+lying by his pop-gun and flung them towards her. With the beautiful
+docility of an ostrich, she turned and dropped her foe. The angry eyes
+grew eloquent with love, and the beak that was dealing death to Otto
+was stooped obediently to peck the peas in Jack's trembling hand. He
+leaned against her faithful breast, for the loft swam round, and he
+thought he must have fallen. But with the comprehension love alone can
+lend, Vickel spread her feathery shield above his head, and drawing him
+to her, brooded over him as a hen broods over her chicks.</p>
+
+<p>Jack peeped between the soft gray plumes of her sheltering wings, for
+he heard Otto groan, and now he saw him, a dark heap at the foot of the
+ladder. He had been stunned by his fall; but he soon began to move and
+mutter threats of vengeance on Jack and his ostrich.</p>
+
+<p>"It was your own fault, Mr. Otto," said Jack firmly. "What did you come
+here for to pull me out of bed in the middle of the night? Vickel would
+have killed you if I had not stopped her. You know that as well as I
+do."</p>
+
+<p>The German got up stiffly. "You made me cross," he grumbled. "You
+snored like a pig, and you would not answer me. I came to fetch that
+bank-note. It is not safe for a child like you to carry so much money
+about with you. Come, hand it down, or you'll be robbed and murdered
+some of these days with all those coloured fellows about. If I have
+given you a fright, it was to show you your danger."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh indeed, Mr. Otto," retorted Jack with a laugh. "I have no need to
+be afraid of anybody. You see what good care my ostrich takes of me.
+You had better talk about this to my father. I daresay he will be home
+in the morning."</p>
+
+<p>Jack's words were brave and bold, for he looked upon Otto as a beaten
+enemy. The German said no more, for Vickel made an angry dart at his
+uncovered head, and in his terror at the thought of a second attack, he
+turned and fled away as fast as his hurt leg would permit.</p>
+
+<p>Jack lay cuddled by his darling Vic until the strange coldness had
+passed over, and his manful little heart had ceased to beat so wildly.
+The glorious brightness of the moonlight had given place to a chill
+creeping mist. It was the dreariest hour of all the night, but it
+was bringing back the day. After a while the mist began to lift, and
+the morning sun arose in all its splendour. Then Jack knelt down
+by Vickel's side, and clasping his hands together, poured out the
+fulness of his heart in prayer. The joy of his thanksgiving for his
+hair's-breadth escape, and the earnest cry for help and guidance,
+scarcely found utterance in words, for blinding, choking tears came at
+last to his relief.</p>
+
+<p>The broken words, the gasping sobs, touched the heart of the Kafir
+groom, who had risen at daybreak expecting his master's return. As
+soon as the humming, droning song of the black dairymaid announced her
+presence among the milk-pails, he went across and told her "that poor
+lamb without a mother" was very sore at heart—wailing over the fate of
+the Black Antelope, he doubted not, for the white lamb from the fold
+was much loved by the dark hind from the upper veldt, as they both knew.</p>
+
+<p>Then the dairymaid came and listened, and picked up a man's hat at the
+foot of the ladder. Gorya the groom took it and hid it in the back of
+his stable with a grin. He knew the owner of the hat at a glance, and
+muttered to himself, "What's he been up to here?"</p>
+
+<p>Much pleased with Jack's sympathy for their fellow-countrywoman (for
+they both knew well how earnestly he had pleaded for her on the night
+of her offence), the two Kafirs would have gone to him at once but for
+Vickel's menacing glances, for she had settled herself in the doorway,
+and refused to stir for any one.</p>
+
+<p>When Jack found the farm-servants were about, his spirits returned, and
+he began to think over his night's adventure. How was he to explain
+what had happened to the Immerseels? In truth, he dare not say a single
+word to any one of them, for he could not make them understand, and
+then they would send for Otto to tell them what he was saying.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," thought Jack, "Mr. Otto sees this just as clearly as I do, and
+so he thinks he can do as he likes, as much wrong as he likes, and
+carry all before him with a high hand; but he cannot deceive me. He is
+a bad man. He came to steal this bank-note; I'm sure he did."</p>
+
+<p>Jack's reflections were cut short by the sound of horses' feet, and
+looking out of the door of his loft, he saw the "oom" ride in, with Zyl
+behind him. He watched the party dismount, but the Black Antelope was
+not with them. To make quite sure that he was not mistaken, Jack ran
+down his ladder and seized his friend by both hands, looking earnestly
+in his face. Zyl knew well enough what he wanted to ask, and replied
+to him and to Genderen, who was signalling the same inquiry from the
+window of her slaap-kamé, with a shake of his head, repeating the
+pathetic Dutch word "verloren" (lost).</p>
+
+<p>Genderen burst into tears. She did not appear at the early breakfast
+prepared for the search-party.</p>
+
+<p>Jack went indoors with his friend, and breakfasted on mutton-chops,
+listening attentively to the conversation, and gathering its sense more
+from tone and gesture than from actual words.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, the search had been fruitless. Zyl was sent off to bed, grumbling
+and weary. Feeling himself safe indoors, with the "oom" nodding in
+his huge arm-chair just opposite, Jack coiled himself up on Sannie's
+sheep-skin, and was soon asleep. He was wakened by the sound of Tante
+Milligen's voice, and a very solemn voice it was. He looked up and
+saw her standing in the doorway leading to the kitchen, with all her
+maids gathered round her, listening open-mouthed whilst she narrated
+something which had happened to herself in the night.</p>
+
+<p>Jack caught the words "Das ein nacht" (this very night), and was up in
+a moment. Had Tante Milligen sent Mr. Otto after all? Jack had become
+very skilful at pantomime by this time, so he ran up to her and asked,
+by looking very earnestly in her face and taking hold of her hand, if
+she wanted him? Tante Milligen shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"Das ein nacht," repeated Jack.</p>
+
+<p>She held up her hands and turned to her eager, interested auditors,
+who echoed back their mistress's exclamation, each in her own peculiar
+fashion.</p>
+
+<p>The truth was Tante Milligen had heard a noise in the night—a noise
+like thunder, she averred. It was just as if a heavy weight had been
+thrown down suddenly over her head. Like most of the females among the
+Dutch Boers, Tante Milligen, although a brave woman, was fearfully
+superstitious. A noise outside the house would not have frightened her
+half so much, even if it had proved to be another Kafir scare. But this
+mysterious noise inside the house, what could it mean?</p>
+
+<p>When Jack came up to her with the traces of the night's excitement
+still visible in his pale cheeks and circled eyes, she only thought
+he had heard it too, and of course any child must be frightened. She
+was pleased that it confirmed her own experience, for one of those
+shameless Hottentots had positively suggested that she must have been
+dreaming.</p>
+
+<p>"Slaap wohl?" she asked Jack, who shook his head most decidedly. Having
+had that question put to him every morning during his illness, he knew
+what it meant, and did his best to make her understand he had not slept
+at all.</p>
+
+<p>Overcome with compassion, Tante Milligen sat down on the nearest chair,
+and took the little English boy on her lap, giving him a motherly hug
+and calling her maids one by one to notice the blackness of the circles
+under his eyes. This was indeed treating him like a baby; but Jack
+was not so aggravated by it as he had been when Walt laid him down on
+Sannie's sheep-skin, because it convinced him Tante Milligen would have
+interfered if she had had the least idea that Otto had been trying to
+frighten him.</p>
+
+<p>Then Genderen came to fetch him. Tante Milligen said he would be better
+out of doors; besides she wished to keep the house quiet until her sons
+should awaken. Jack took Sannie's hand and wandered about with her,
+keeping very near the farm-gate, for fear of meeting Otto. Genderen
+was seated on the steop, shelling pepper, ready for one of the maids
+to pound. Jack would willingly have helped her, but he was looking for
+Vickel.</p>
+
+<p>His giant fairy was far too stately a creature to be overlooked,
+yet she seemed to have vanished. He thought of the day when he lost
+her before; but Genderen's fluffy charges were all safe with their
+respective mothers. Everything was as usual, only his own ostrich was
+nowhere to be seen. Could anybody have hurt his Vickel? Jack's blood
+was boiling at the thought. He rushed back to Genderen, and showing her
+a dirty feather his bird had dropped, repeated her own mournful word,
+"verloren" (lost).</p>
+
+<p>But Genderen smiled reassuringly, and pointed in the direction of their
+own ostrich camp.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment the shepherd came out of the granary, and apparently
+thinking the farm-yard was deserted, began to pull about the loose
+straw at the bottom of the stack where Jack had taken his siesta on
+that unlucky day when he fell ill with the fever. The children saw
+him through the open gate, and the Kafir groom watched him behind the
+stable door. His movements were awkward, for he was stiff and sore, and
+his hat was pulled over his eyes—his Sunday hat!</p>
+
+<p>The girls began to laugh at the incongruity of his appearance. At
+the sound of their merriment, Otto left his search, and limping up
+to them, turned to Jack with a scowl, saying,—"The 'oom' has ordered
+that vicious bird of yours to be shut up as long as it is here. The
+cow-keeper has been telling him how it flew at Sannie."</p>
+
+<p>"Zyl can tell him more about that than the cow-keeper, and perhaps I
+could tell him more about last night than you did, Mr. Otto," retorted
+Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"See if I don't take your English impudence out of you some of these
+days," growled Otto.</p>
+
+<p>Jack's blood was up, and his prudence was nowhere, so he answered
+hotly, "Then you will just rouse the British bull-dog. Don't you know
+he would die rather than let you or any man touch a rag that was in his
+care."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, oh!" sneered the German. "And where is the brute to be found?"</p>
+
+<p>"Here," returned Jack proudly, laying his hand on his own heart. "I
+don't imagine English boys were made of poorer stuff than a dog in his
+kennel; do you?"</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_12">XII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b><em>WRITING TO GRANDFATHER.</em></b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>IN another minute Jack's arm was round Genderen's neck, coaxing and
+entreating for something, she could not tell what. He took up one of
+the peppersticks and pretended to write on her pinafore.</p>
+
+<p>"When would the schoolmaster come again?" was that it? Genderen counted
+the number of days upon her fingers. Ten more, and he would be due. But
+Jack persistently shook his head and wrote on. Thinking he wanted to
+borrow a slate and pencil, she led him into the sit-kamé and touched
+the door of the cupboard where their books were kept. This was right.</p>
+
+<p>Jack murmured a grateful "Jah."</p>
+
+<p>Genderen unlocked the door, and waited for him to point to what he
+wanted.</p>
+
+<p>Jack's eye roved over the motley contents for a moment, and then his
+finger touched the inkstand.</p>
+
+<p>Genderen gave a smile of intelligence, and putting her own pen in his
+other hand let him carry them off in triumph.</p>
+
+<p>He knew that Otto was gone by this time, and that Zyl was still asleep,
+so he slipped unperceived into the garden and made a writing-desk of
+his friend's three-cornered seat. The hedge round Zyl's garden had
+grown luxuriantly, thanks to the diligent use of his watering-pot, so
+that no one could see what Jack was doing behind it.</p>
+
+<p>He sat down on the grass and took out his treasure. It was all right,
+but the edges were wearing away. He read the lady's note again. It only
+covered one page of the sheet of paper. Jack's eyes grew bright: with
+three pages of blank paper he could write a letter to his grandfather,
+and send the note and its contents to him.</p>
+
+<p>"He can find the lady. They are both living at Nottingham. Tomorrow is
+the day for the post-cart to pass," thought Jack, feeling his spirits
+rise like a bird at having found such a good way out of his difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>Jack had never written a letter by himself before. He had often put
+a little note to his grandfather into his father's letters. But then
+there was always his father to tell him if it were all right. Now he
+must do it all; for if he wore the bank-note round his neck another
+week, it would drop to pieces, and if he tried to hide it anywhere else
+Otto would get it. So Jack wrote on as well as he could:—</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"DEAR GRANDFATHER,—Some thieves burned down our house, and father
+burned his coat getting me out of the fire, so he had to buy one of
+a stranger—a young Englishman, who said he had got a coat he did not
+want. It was too big for him. It had belonged to a friend of his, and
+it was put with his luggage by mistake, for he left England in a great
+hurry. His friend said it was not worth while to send it back. Father
+and I went to the nearest farm, and he was to send the coat there.
+Father was going away with the waggon, but as I was ill, he left me
+behind.<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"The coat came too late for him to wear it on the journey, so I was
+taking care of it for him. And one day when I was ill in bed my ostrich
+tore it, only because it was in the way, and she wanted to come to me.
+Then I found there was a letter between the lining and the cloth, with
+a bank-note in it. I thought at first I had better keep it until father
+came back; but I can't. The people here are very kind to me; but they
+speak Dutch, so I cannot tell them anything.<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"There is only one man who can speak English, and he is a bad man, and
+tried last night to steal the bank-note. I do not know what he would
+have done to me if my ostrich had not come to my help and knocked him
+down. She is the dearest, loveliest bird in all the world. I can't tell
+you how I love her. I have just found out this horrid man has got my
+ostrich shut up. I know what that means. He thinks he shall get the
+bank-note away from me when I have no big bird to fight for me. But he
+is making a mistake, for I am going to send it to you by the post.<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"And please, grandfather dear, will you give back to the lady it
+belongs to, if she is still at Nottingham; and if she is not there now,
+you will be more likely to find her than father; and anyhow it will be
+safe. I will put all in this letter; the card that was tied to the coat
+too, for I am afraid I should not write the names plain. I have no more
+paper, so good-bye, dear grandfather.<br>
+<br>
+<span style="margin-left: 10.5em;">"Your affectionate grandson,</span><br>
+<br>
+<span style="margin-left: 21em;">"JOHN TREBY."</span><br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>Jack dried his letter in the sun, and then folded the bank-note in it
+once again, and slipped it into the ragged envelope. He looked well
+at the card, thinking that if he were the schoolmaster, he should
+not like to have such a difficult name to spell every time he had to
+write a letter. Then he packed both card and letter in a sheet of his
+"Illustrated London News," and tied it up with the precious piece of
+string he had found in his pocket after the fire.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, was not it a wonderful thing that he should actually have money
+enough to pay the postage. It was good of Zyl's uncle to give him that
+sixpence. Oh, how true it is that with the trial God sends the way of
+escape, that we may be able to bear it. Jack thought of the night when
+his father had explained that to him—a Sunday night years ago. He had
+listened and remembered then; he was living by it now.</p>
+
+<p>Next the thought of what Otto might do to him in his exasperation, when
+he found himself baffled, came over Jack like a cold shadow; but he
+threw it off, exclaiming, "I comforted father when I reminded him of
+Christ's own words,—</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.'<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>"And ought not they to comfort me? I won't be made afraid." He put back
+his precious letter into its case of rushes, and marched into the house
+with Genderen's pen and ink.</p>
+
+<p>Zyl was just out of bed, and laughing heartily at the idea of beginning
+his day with dinner; but for all that there was a cloud on his brow,
+for like Genderen and Sannie, he was secretly fretting for his Kafir
+nurse, and sullenly resenting his father's harshness to her. So Jack's
+excitement passed unnoticed.</p>
+
+<p>Van Immerseel himself was sorry for them all; and hoping to divert his
+children's thoughts from the lost Intombi (as a Kafir girl is usually
+called), he told them he was going down to the ostrich camp to collect
+the eggs, and that they should go too. Zyl should drive them in the
+cart.</p>
+
+<p>The girls ran off for their sun-kappjes, whilst the boys packed the
+egg-baskets in the back of the cart. Jack was delighted, for he
+expected to find his Vickel there. He had often seen the Boer's men
+loading this cart with barley quite early in the morning, and he
+guessed very shrewdly that it was to feed the ostriches.</p>
+
+<p>Jack's great question now was how to get his letter to the post-cart.
+And in this discovery, he found a key to unlock his difficulty. Van
+Immerseel was mounted on his favourite cob. Like most African farmers,
+he preferred riding to walking when he visited his ostriches, because
+the presence of a horse has a very quieting effect upon these feathered
+giants. He rode slowly, whistling a favourite tune, whilst the cart
+rumbled over the stones at a little distance.</p>
+
+<p>When they reached the camp, Van Immerseel left the girls outside, but
+he took Jack upon his horse and showed him Vickel, very happy and
+content in the midst of her feathered kin. Zyl marched boldly after
+them with a basket on his head, until they came to the nests. Here the
+Van dismounted, and was soon in high good humour with the number of
+beautiful eggs he was able to collect. Jack was very quiet and very
+attentive, watching eagerly everything that went on around, not a
+little pleased that Van Immerseel trusted him to hold the bridle of his
+horse whilst he was busy after the eggs.</p>
+
+<p>When they returned, Van Immerseel let both the boys ride at once,
+whilst he led the cart himself very carefully. Jack was happy, for he
+had worked out his plan, and not one of his Dutch friends imagined for
+a moment that his joyous laugh, as he rode behind his friend, was the
+effervescence of such a desperate resolution.</p>
+
+<p>When they reached home, Jack employed the rest of the evening in
+making a hood for Vickel out of his pocket-handkerchief—something
+after the fashion of a carriage-hood, so that it might let up and
+down. He had saved a handful of the strongest rushes they had found in
+the ravine. Genderen supplied him with a needle and thread. He folded
+his handkerchief cornerwise, and made runners for the rushes across
+it at even distances. It was easy to draw it into shape and sew the
+rushes firmly together at the ends. He had torn off the hems of the
+handkerchief to serve for strings, and when these were sewn on his work
+was completed.</p>
+
+<p>When one of the Hottentot maids fetched him indoors to supper, he took
+the opportunity to entreat Tante Milligen to let him sleep indoors. She
+was quite prepared for this, and understood him easily. So she put him
+in bed with Zyl. And when Walt joined them, an hour or two later, a
+nice time they had of it. With fever and fretting Jack was as thin as
+a little skeleton—a perfect shrimp in Walt's eyes, who insisted upon
+putting Jack between them, for fear he should kick him out of bed in
+his sleep without knowing it. When sleep visited his two Dutch friends
+it was banished from Jack's eyelids; for snoring followed in its train,
+and every time the two young giants stretched themselves or rolled
+over, he thought he should be crushed. So he passed the greater part of
+the night sitting cross-legged on his pillow.</p>
+
+<p>With daybreak Walt arose, and Jack followed his example, for he was
+gasping like a little fish for air; but Zyl, who had not yet recovered
+his lost rest, was sleeping heavily. Walt perceived poor Jack's
+condition, and did not wonder at his determination to escape to the
+fresh, cool morning air outside; so he let the English boy accompany
+him to the garden, where Walt was soon too hard at work to take much
+heed of his restless companion.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the farm-yard gate was open Jack went in, and seating
+himself at the door of the granary, waited for the arrival of the
+ostrich-cart. When he heard the droning hum of the dairymaid's song,
+he ventured to her door and begged a cup of milk. The balmy air of the
+African dawn was breathing new life into every vein. It seemed an easy
+thing to him then to scamper over the veldt on Vickel and meet the
+post-cart; yes, and be back again almost before anybody could miss him.</p>
+
+<p>The cart was coming for the barley. Jack was at his post in a moment.
+The "oom" himself had taken him to see his bird the night before, so
+the men about the yard, who had found Vickel guarding the door of the
+loft morning after morning, thought it quite natural Jack should want
+to go and feed her.</p>
+
+<p>The drive through the morning air raised Jack's spirits, and he joined
+merrily in the Kafir's song, catching the lilt and humming the tune
+when the queer-sounding words escaped him.</p>
+
+<p>A deafening scream from the ostrich camp greeted their arrival. The
+hungry birds were crowding round the gate, crying their loudest for
+breakfast. A hundred open beaks and as many impatient claws scratching
+up the sand looked somewhat formidable. Jack filled the crown of his
+hat with barley, and as soon as the gate was unlocked, he waved it high
+in the air, flinging the grains of corn far and wide. The feathered
+phalanx was dispersed in a moment. The tall, towering necks were bent
+to the ground with a meek gobble, gobble.</p>
+
+<p>"They are nothing but big poultry after all," laughed Jack.</p>
+
+<p>The Kafir laughed too, and invited Jack to enter; but he preferred
+remaining by the gate, whilst the Kafir went in with his sack of barley
+on his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>While the man was thus engaged, Jack called, "Vic! Vic!" but at first
+there was no answer. Jack raised his voice, and looked around. He soon
+found her, for the other birds would not suffer the stranger to eat
+with them at present; so Vickel was hovering round and round the busy
+group, fain to content herself with a solitary grain or two snatched
+desperately between her companions' feet. At the sound of Jack's call
+she ran towards him with a crow of delight.</p>
+
+<p>He had kept some barley for her in the crown of his hat. A few grains
+flung towards her again and again soon separated her from the other
+ostriches. Jack softly opened the gate, and by showing her the barley
+still left in his hat, he tempted her to follow him out. He shut the
+gate behind them, emptied the remainder of the barley on the ground,
+and whilst Vickel devoured it eagerly, he sprang upon her back.</p>
+
+<p>Away on his winged steed, away like the wind, across that sea of
+glowing sand they flitted like a light-gray cloud, circling round and
+round in their rapid flight. Never before had Vickel tasted the full
+delight of perfect liberty on her native veldt. She arched her graceful
+neck and shook out her curling plumes to the morning breeze in a whirl
+of mad delight, as if she were a willing participant in her master's
+daring scheme.</p>
+
+<p>Pursuit was impossible; nothing could overtake them now. Vickel
+scarcely touched the ground as she skimmed across the mighty plain,
+balancing herself with her outspread wings, with an easy, graceful
+movement that was neither running nor flying, but swifter than the
+swiftest racer that ever won the Derby. The speed at which they
+travelled almost took away Jack's breath.</p>
+
+<p>He was delighted with the success of his manœuvre. The ease with which
+he had been able to manage the starting encouraged him mightily.
+Through the clear African atmosphere Jack could see for miles. He had
+so often watched for the post-cart by his father's side, and had been
+the first to perceive the little cloud of dust darkening the horizon
+line, he could not miss it now.</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_13">XIII.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b><em>HOW THE LETTER WAS POSTED.</em></b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>JACK did not miss it. After an hour or more of anxious watching, the
+rolling cloud of dust appeared, but it was going from him. In an
+agony of desperation, he put his hand to his head to try to think.
+Yes, there was the post-cart almost out of sight, and altogether out
+of hearing,—nothing but a moving speck of cloud. No one but himself,
+thought Jack, would have been sure that it was the post-cart. No power
+on earth could make Vickel run in a straight line. He saw it now, as
+she circled round and round, he had lost his way.</p>
+
+<p>His heart beat wildly, his breath was almost gone with the terrific
+speed, when a crystal gleam in the glowing sand attracted Vickel. Easy
+as it is for an ostrich to go without water in her native deserts,
+she loves it all the same; and now of her own accord, Vickel stopped
+to drink. Jack got down and drank also: the water was warm with the
+growing sunshine. Then he sprang upon her shoulder once again, and she
+waded through the little stream with infinite satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>When she stepped out again on the opposite bank, she shook the water
+from her wings, and covered Jack with a light and glistening shower,
+which both steed and rider felt infinitely refreshing.</p>
+
+<p>Jack took the hood he had made out of his pocket and tied it on his
+ostrich. It answered well; he could let it down over her eyes and stop
+her when he liked. He gave up all thought of trying to make her run
+after the post-cart. But he had watched the way it was going, and now
+he started his ostrich in another direction, hoping as she circled
+round, he should fall in with it further on.</p>
+
+<p>Away went Vickel with renewed speed, taking a wider sweep as she felt
+her capabilities expand with this unwonted exercise. The pace at which
+they were going was frightful. Mr. Wilton and his powerful grays crept
+like snails in comparison.</p>
+
+<p>Jack was dizzy and sick, when suddenly he found himself, not behind the
+post-cart, but before it. Vickel was turning from the storm of dust it
+raised, when Jack let the hood drop over her eyes. She stopped at once,
+and Jack hung round her neck, more dead than alive. But he knew the
+critical moment had come; yet it was a mercy he had a breathing-space,
+or he might have fainted quite away. Vic was frightened at finding
+herself in the dark, so she lay down and ran her head in the sand,
+trying to rub her hood off. Jack stretched himself on the ground beside
+her and slowly rallied.</p>
+
+<p>Great was the postman's astonishment when he perceived the little
+fellow, covered with dust and white with fatigue, sitting by the
+wayside waiting.</p>
+
+<p>Jack got up as the tramp of the horses drew nearer and nearer. He waved
+his hat in the air and held aloft his precious letter. The postman drew
+up. Jack put the letter and the sixpence into his hand; but his voice
+was weak and faint, as he asked nervously, "Please, sir, is that enough
+for the postage?"</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter" id="image007" style="max-width: 25.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/image007.jpg" alt="image007"></figure>
+<p class="t4">
+<b>HER MAJESTY'S MAIL.</b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>The postman took the letter from him and read the familiar address.
+Every time he had crossed that sandy waste for years, he had been
+stopped to take a letter for Mr. Treby, Nottingham, England. He looked
+Jack all over, as he said kindly, "You have had a long and dusty walk
+to overtake me here. It has been too much for you, my little man. Your
+letter shall go all right. Where is your father?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is gone on a long journey, sir," answered Jack dolefully.</p>
+
+<p>"Then keep your sixpence; I will give you the stamp. But do not try to
+walk back in the heat, or you will drop by the way. Lie down under one
+of the bushes and rest. Have you anything with you to eat?"</p>
+
+<p>Jack shook his head. "I'm not hungry, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Hungry! No," repeated the postman; "you are past that. Why did not you
+send that letter by your father's man—the old fellow was waiting by the
+kopjee for the parcel I promised to bring your father—eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Please, sir, I came from Jaarsveldt," put in Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"Jaarsveldt!" exclaimed Wilton in astonishment. "That is miles and
+miles away. You must not think of trying to go back there alone; you
+are a great deal nearer your old home. Keep to my tracks until you come
+to the kopjee, and then I think you will be able to find your way,
+for I have often seen you there by your father's side watching for my
+coming. Now mind what I say, and eat this," the postman continued,
+taking out his pocket-flask and pouring some of its contents over a
+piece of captain's biscuit.</p>
+
+<p>Jack found it wonderfully reviving. One of the passengers who had been
+listening to the conversation threw him a bit of bultong—that is, meat
+cut in strips and dried in the wind; and a hand was stretched out from
+the inside of the cart with a nice slice of watermelon. Jack lifted his
+big hat and bowed all round.</p>
+
+<p>Wilton reiterated his charges.</p>
+
+<p>"Please, sir," said Jack earnestly, "I am not alone; I have got my
+ostrich," pointing to the hole where Vic still lay, with her head well
+buried in the sand, in a paroxysm of fear on account of the horses.</p>
+
+<p>Jack wondered why the men all laughed. He promised faithfully to do as
+he was told; and away drove the post-cart, leaving him in that vast
+solitude once more. He watched "Her Majesty's mail" crossing the wild
+desert plain until it vanished to a dusky speck.</p>
+
+<p>The rolling sand on every side surrounded him like an earthy sea, for
+it was driven in wave-like heaps by a sudden gust. An ice-cold wind was
+driving before it a cloud so dense and black Jack trembled, for he knew
+that thunder was lurking in its inky folds. He ran to Vickel, who was
+rallying her spirits, after the apparition of those prancing horses,
+by browsing among the rosemary bushes. She too had felt the change.
+A little black and white bird flew fast from ant-hill to ant-hill,
+seeking shelter from the coming storm.</p>
+
+<p>Vickel began scratching a hole in the billowy sand with unusual
+vehemence, as a troop of eland deer rushed past within a dozen yards
+of the rosemary bush she had been munching. Jack crept in terror to
+her side, as the "velderbeeste" dashed madly on, and the first fierce
+lightning flash parted the blackening gloom.</p>
+
+<p>Jack gave one cry—he could hardly help it—as the thunder crashed and
+rolled above his head. But his faithful Vic's broad wing was spread
+above two heads instead of one, as the bird and the boy huddled
+together in the hole she had been scooping.</p>
+
+<p>It was an awful moment. Down came the heavy drops of thunder-rain. The
+tall grass waved and shivered. Aroused by Jack's wild cry, a quaint
+black figure crept cautiously out of a deserted ant-bear's hole, with
+which the ground was honey-combed, and looked around. Another and
+another jagged flash compelled her to fling herself on the ground to
+escape its fury.</p>
+
+<p>Swiftly as the storm had arisen, so swiftly did it pass. Beyond the
+angry clouds a bright-hued rainbow spanned the wide reach of sky and
+kissed the crimsoned sand, that seemed to glow with a deeper red when
+the brightness of the golden sunshine was withdrawn.</p>
+
+<p>To Jack's surprise Vickel began to hiss. He parted her feathers with
+his fingers and looked cautiously around.</p>
+
+<p>The storm was dying, but every leaf was glittering with its sparkling
+diamond drop. The thirsty earth was already rejoicing; the very flowers
+seemed whispering, "Rain, more rain," as they lifted their drooping
+heads in grateful gladness.</p>
+
+<p>The black had raised herself on one elbow, and was gazing earnestly
+at Vickel's damaged plumage. Those singed wings could not easily be
+mistaken. Like the hum of the wandering bee her song arose:—</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+<br>
+"Lamb without a mother, where, oh, where?<br>
+&nbsp;Bird without a heart,<br>
+&nbsp;To leave the fair 'umfana' and depart;<br>
+&nbsp;Or was the hard, hard casa hard to thee?<br>
+&nbsp;And did he force a faithful bird to flee?"<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>Jack sprang to his feet and rushed towards the singer. The voice was
+the voice of the poor Black Antelope. He could have recognized that
+song had they met at the ends of the earth.</p>
+
+<p>"Umfana," repeated Jack, catching the sound of the one Kafir word with
+which she had made him familiar. "Why, that was what she always called
+me, and Zyl was her 'umdanda,' now I recollect."</p>
+
+<p>To make assurance doubly sure, Jack shouted, "Here's your old umfana."</p>
+
+<p>"Ou ka! (Oh no)," cried the Black Antelope, springing to her feet,
+for she began to think the bird was talking; she could see no umfana
+(child) or umdanda (boy) anywhere.</p>
+
+<p>Her frantic gesticulations, her wild cries, set Jack off laughing. She
+began to tear her hair, declaring it was a spook (a bogle) that was
+mocking her.</p>
+
+<p>Up rose Vickel with a screaming hiss, leaving Jack tumbling in the
+sand. The next minute he found himself half hugged to death in the
+fervid embraces of the Kafir nurse.</p>
+
+<p>"You did not expect to meet a six-foot hen with a two-handed chick, now
+did you?" asked Jack, kissing her fondly, as he felt her bony arm.</p>
+
+<p>How sorry Jack was he had eaten all the food Mr. Wilton and his
+passengers had given him, for he was certain the poor girl was really
+starving. Like Vickel, she had been eating rosemary leaves. But her
+delight at finding Jack made her forget her own sufferings.</p>
+
+<p>Yet, yet, she asked, why was her pet-lamb straying on the veldt? It was
+well they had met, for the homeless dog, as she called herself, could
+guard the lost lamb and save him from destruction. She drew him to a
+safer spot, and sitting down beside him, watched the parting clouds,
+for the lightning had not altogether ceased, and the thunder still
+rumbled behind the low sand-hills. Overhead the sky was clearing, and
+the arching rainbow shone with brightened hues.</p>
+
+<p>Jack leaned against his Kafir friend, while Vickel strutted about,
+drying her feathers in the transient gleams of the returning sun. The
+air grew fresh and reviving. The sleep the postman had so earnestly
+recommended to Jack fell upon him unawares.</p>
+
+<p>The Black Antelope had noticed at the first glance that her lamb
+had been shorn of his wavy curls, and now she perceived the traces
+of recent illness in his pale lips and hollow eyes. So she waited
+patiently beside him, flapping away the stinging flies with a long tuft
+of grass, that his sleep might be unbroken; and so the weary hours
+passed by.</p>
+
+<p>When Jack at length awakened, the darkness of night had gathered around
+them. Vickel was roosting in the sand at their feet; but the glorious
+stars of the southern hemisphere were shining forth in all their
+splendour.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard,"
+thought Jack as he looked into the Kafir's eyes and then pointed
+upwards to their glittering light, and began to sing,—</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+<br>
+"Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Lead Thou me on!<br>
+&nbsp;The night is dark, and I am far from home,<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Lead Thou me on!"<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>Oh, how she listened. The solemn stillness of the night oppressed them
+both. Jack was almost afraid to think, and altogether too proud to cry;
+yet in spite of himself a something rising in his throat choked his
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Have I done wrong to venture here alone?" he asked. "I almost wish—but
+no—" He checked himself. "I won't mind, for I've done it. The letter is
+safe on its way to grandfather. Oh, if I could only have asked father
+what I had better do."</p>
+
+<p>Then the sweet words of his hymn came back to him; and kneeling down
+amid the eerie, lonesome waste, he took the Black Antelope's hand in
+his, and coaxed her to kneel beside him as he repeated aloud,—</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Our Father."<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>Yes, her Father as well as his, if she but knew it. Yet his prayer was
+for them both, as she dimly felt.</p>
+
+<p>Jack had poured forth all his troubles, and his heart was lightened.
+They could do nothing but keep just where they were until daylight.
+"And then," thought Jack, "I shall see the tracks of the post-cart, and
+I'll take the poor Black Antelope home to Tottie; for all her trouble
+came through her kindness to me. It is hard when trouble comes through
+trying to do right."</p>
+
+<p>Then sleep came slowly back again, and Jack was dreaming of the home he
+could not find.</p>
+
+<p>At the peep of dawn he rose and began searching diligently for the
+track of the post-cart. Alas, alas! He could not find it. How was
+it? Had they wandered unconsciously from the spot? Or had the storm
+obliterated the deep wheel-ruts? He could not tell.</p>
+
+<p>Jack tried to explain to his companion what it was that he was
+searching for, by drawing lines with his finger in the sand.</p>
+
+<p>Both were faint for want of breakfast, and soon grew tired. The
+eagerness with which Jack had started on his fruitless search had
+dwindled to a lagging walk; but not one vestige of a cart-track could
+be discovered.</p>
+
+<p>Then he sprang upon Vickel, who had made her breakfast on the scrubby
+grass as she loitered after them. Jack arranged her hood and bridle,
+and then invited the Black Antelope to mount beside him. Vickel was now
+so strong she could have carried a man on each shoulder with ease. She
+thought nothing of her added burden, and ran off as gaily as on the
+preceding day. She, at least, was in her native element, and every now
+and then turned a loving look to her master's face as she took a wider
+sweep, scouring the mighty plain in every direction.</p>
+
+<p>At last the Kafir girl's quick eye detected the welcome lines ridging
+the wavy sand. She pointed them out to Jack with a cry of joy. The
+track of the post-cart at last, thought Jack, as he dropped the hood
+over Vickel's eyes and jumped off. But the Kafir was before him,
+running swiftly between the two deep ruts, which nothing smaller than
+the broad wheels of a heavily-laden waggon could have made.</p>
+
+<p>Jack was thinking only of the way home; but the Black Antelope, with
+her larger experience of all the ups and downs a life on the veldt
+embraces, knew that the tracks could only be a few hours old, for the
+hoof-marks of the oxen were not yet effaced. She noticed them carefully
+to find out which way the waggon had gone; not that she wished to
+follow it, but she shrewdly conjectured that a few miles the other way
+they should find the spot where the waggon-driver had out-spanned for
+the night. Perhaps a waste crust or a half-picked bone might be dropped
+beside the ashes of his fire. She beckoned Jack to follow her; for he
+had paused, waiting for Vickel, who seemed wonderfully busy scratching
+about in the sand. At last she sat down in it.</p>
+
+<p>So unlike her, Jack thought, as he went back to call her. The fear of
+losing his ostrich over-mastered every other feeling.</p>
+
+<p>But for once in her life she refused to answer to his call. Would
+his Vickel grow wild and forsake him if they kept on wandering about
+the veldt? At last she got up with an air of importance, and began
+scratching up the sand vehemently.</p>
+
+<p>He went close up to her before he could rouse her. Then he saw she was
+covering something up. Oh, joy, joy! His Vickel had laid her first egg!</p>
+
+<p>He ran and picked it up. What a jolly egg it was! Almost as big as
+Jack's head, now he had lost his hair. He was certain it must weigh
+nearly two pounds and a half. He thought she might have chosen a better
+colour, for it was a dirty white marbled over with yellow. Jack took it
+up very carefully and held it up on high to show it to his companion.
+Jack never forgot the cry with which she bounded towards him and
+pounced upon the egg.</p>
+
+<p>Snatching up a sharp stone, she made a small hole in the shell, and
+began to suck the rich nutritious yolk. Then remembering herself, she
+held it to Jack's lips, with a look so deprecating that it stopped his
+reproachful "Don't, don't!" For he saw that she was famishing. He took
+a sip. The welcome nourishment revived his spirits.</p>
+
+<p>It was life to them both. They shared it between them, each trying to
+make the other take the lion's share. Hungry as they were, there was
+more than enough to satisfy them.</p>
+
+<p>"My best and sweetest! My ownie and good!" cried Jack, as he kissed the
+breast of his snow-feathered queen, who walked beside him with added
+dignity.</p>
+
+<p>The Black Antelope was right. An hour's walk brought them to the
+smoking ashes of a dying fire. She raked these carefully together with
+a bit of charred stick; and after signing to Jack to lie down and rest
+under the nearest bush, she began to search about for fuel—a difficult
+matter on an African plain; an almost hopeless quest now, for the
+waggoner who lit the fire had been before her. A few dead leaves under
+a bush that had been struck by the lightning, and a twig or two, were
+all that she could find.</p>
+
+<p>She returned to Jack, who was dozing in the sunshine, and made up the
+fire, little dreaming that it was his own father who had lighted it
+on his return journey. She wandered forth a second time in search of
+water, confident that she should find it somewhere in the neighbourhood
+of the traveller's fire. Vickel's egg-shell served her for a cup when
+she found a tiny runlet, glistening like a silver braid amidst the
+scorching sand. A dead bird lay on the ground, another victim of last
+night's tempest. Her cry of joy brought Jack to her side to taste the
+delights of a cup of sun-warmed water in the burning heat of an African
+noon.</p>
+
+<p>Then she roasted the bird in the ashes for their dinner, content to
+let the morrow take care for itself; whilst poor Jack grew every hour
+more uneasy. He knew now they had lost their way. The track they had
+found was not the track of the post-cart; for he too had noticed the
+foot-prints of the oxen, so different from the mark of the horse-shoes.
+His only hope was in Vickel's sagacity. She might yet find her way back
+to Tottie's hut.</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_14">XIV.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b><em>LOST ON THE VELDT.</em></b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>THE glories of an African sunset were adding a more than usual radiance
+to sand and sky. Mr. Treby urged on his weary oxen as he came within
+sight of Jaarsveldt, with its long range of low farm-buildings and
+smiling orchard.</p>
+
+<p>The Kafir guide he had engaged to accompany him on his homeward route
+was calling to the oxen.</p>
+
+<p>Jack's father had had a most successful journey. He was returning with
+money in his pocket and a loaded waggon. Wilton, the postman, who had
+been the first to speak a word of sympathy on the morning after the
+fire, had not let his sympathy end in words. He had crossed Mr. Treby
+on the road as the mail went back to Natal, and had lent him money
+enough to rebuild the house; for the postman, receiving his regular
+pay from Government, had more actual money in reserve than Mr. Treby's
+other neighbours.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby had accepted the loan at once, for he knew his aged father in
+England would help him to repay it. So all his plans were changed. The
+diamond-digging was given up; his waggon was bringing back beams and
+roofing, doors and windows—in fact, a skeleton house. The helping hand
+so unexpectedly stretched out had cheered his heart. As he drove up to
+Jaarsveldt, the "oom" was standing by the open gate. He turned away his
+head at the sight of his English neighbour.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Jack?" was the father's first inquiry as his eyes looked
+eagerly round, hoping to catch sight of his boy.</p>
+
+<p>The Kafir groom was hurrying to assist in the out-spanning of the
+oxen. All were running to welcome him; and yet, and yet, every face
+was averted. Van Immerseel wrung his hand with a heartiness which
+threatened dislocation of every joint, and groaned.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is my boy?" repeated Mr. Treby, growing cold with fear.</p>
+
+<p>The sturdy Dutchman paused blankly, then slowly pointed across the
+shadowy veldt. Somewhat re-assured, Mr. Treby entered the house.
+Tante Milligen's ruddy face grew white at the sight of their English
+neighbour. Genderen crept behind the door. The evening meal was
+preparing. With an added warmth of hospitality, the "tante" forced him
+into the "oom's" big chair, and began to drive about her maids as if
+nothing their plentiful household afforded could be good enough to set
+before their guest.</p>
+
+<p>During his brief absence, Mr. Treby had made a point of adding to his
+Dutch vocabulary at every chance. He thought he had learned a good
+deal, but, strange to say, no one at Jaarsveldt seemed to understand a
+single word. In his despair, he asked for Otto.</p>
+
+<p>"Jah, jah," repeated Van Immerseel, and a messenger was despatched for
+the shepherd.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby concluded his Jack was away with the young Immerseels, for
+neither Walt nor Zyl was visible. A little comforted by this idea, he
+began his supper with the appetite of a hunter; but it suddenly failed
+him when Otto entered. The German's face was livid with conflicting
+feelings, as he assured the anxious father that Van Immerseel and all
+his family had been kindness itself to the boy, but the ungrateful
+young dog had run away and never been heard of since.</p>
+
+<p>"My Jack!" exclaimed Mr. Treby, in tones of bitter anguish, as he
+pictured his boy dying of hunger in that vast sandy wilderness. "O God
+what men are these, to have kept my sordid pelf and lost my child!"</p>
+
+<p>The silent Dutchman met the agonized reproach in his tear-blinded eyes
+with a look of stolid compassion, as he directed the shepherd to tell
+him they had just returned from a fruitless search, and that Walt was
+still scouring the veldt in another direction with his dogs and the
+Kafir groom. They had done everything they could to find the child, but
+in vain.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby turned away his head, but he could not hide the quiver of
+anguish he was struggling to control. Tante Milligen rocked herself
+backwards and forwards; her husband rose from his seat and stood beside
+the unhappy father.</p>
+
+<p>They knew they had acted generously and hospitably to the Englishman
+and his child, and they saw his heart was bursting with reproach and
+blame. Poor fellow! He was wild with grief! The "oom" would rather have
+faced an angry elephant in his lair than own to that doting father that
+they had lost his child.</p>
+
+<p>"No more dread of you supplanting me," thought Otto as he looked from
+one to the other, and tried, by his covert insinuations on either hand,
+to turn grief into anger. He thought he should find it easy work to set
+the Dutch and English by the ears; and he might have succeeded, had it
+not been for little Sannie.</p>
+
+<p>She had been laid to sleep in her usual corner, but the entrance of Mr.
+Treby had roused her. For a while she sat up and listened unnoticed by
+any one. Then she got up slowly, and walking deliberately to Mr. Treby
+she struck him on the knee, exclaiming in tones of severe reproach that
+at any other time would have made them all laugh,—</p>
+
+<p>"'Ou big baby! 'Ou cry! 'Ou go look for poor Jock Trairbee. Sannie 'll
+be your voorlooper."</p>
+
+<p>Away she trotted to the open door. Otto thought to fetch her back, but
+she fought him off, asserting,—</p>
+
+<p>"Me won't have 'ou. 'Ou hate Jock Trairbee. 'Ou do that at him,"
+she persisted, imitating the scowl and the menacing gesture of the
+shepherd. "'Ou don't want to find him; 'ou stay there."</p>
+
+<p>Tante Milligen repeated the imperious command of her youngest born.</p>
+
+<p>And Otto resumed his seat, refusing to notice the idle prattle of a
+child. But no one echoed his laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"God bless the baby! She speaks more sense than any of us," muttered
+her father.</p>
+
+<p>As drowning men catch at straws, Mr. Treby exclaimed, "That child knows
+something; let us follow her."</p>
+
+<p>"Ridiculous!" cried Otto.</p>
+
+<p>"But it is true," retorted Genderen.</p>
+
+<p>The two fathers went out.</p>
+
+<p>Otto would have followed; but Tante Milligen, who was a formidable
+woman when she was roused, being six feet high, and broad and strong in
+proportion, took the German by the shoulders and turned him round. But
+all her cross-questioning failed to elicit more than that the English
+boy had been impertinent and Otto cross. Yet no one was satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>Sannie met her brothers at the gate. Their jaded horses told of the
+many miles of sand which had been traversed. Weary as they were, no
+one thought of rest. "Search" was the word with them all. Walt, who
+had taken Jack under his protection from the first, refused to give up
+hope. Van Immerseel took Sannie in his arms, and leading Zyl aside,
+questioned him about Otto's behaviour to Jack.</p>
+
+<p>Zyl remembered the morning when they visited the shepherd's hut.</p>
+
+<p>"But," persisted Sannie, "it was Jock Trairbee's own knife. Me know it
+was. He cut my beauty letters."</p>
+
+<p>"Run into the house, Zyl, and tell your mother not to let the shepherd
+stir from the sit-kamé until I come back," said Van Immerseel, as he
+strode off in his high-handed fashion to search the shepherd's hut.</p>
+
+<p>The knife lay upon the shelf, as the children had said. Mr. Treby knew
+it in a moment. After that night, Otto's dismissal was sure; but they
+were no nearer finding Jack.</p>
+
+<p>All this did not take place unnoticed by the Kafirs about the farm.
+With their acute power of observation on the alert, they were soon
+aware that the German shepherd was suspected of having a hand in Jack's
+disappearance. The little gifts which Mr. Treby had scattered among
+them the night before his departure were not forgotten, and many a dark
+brow scowled upon Otto. But in spite of Van Immerseel's threats and Mr.
+Treby's entreaties, Otto refused to give any account of his quarrel
+with Jack; and still the fruitless search went on.</p>
+
+<p>Jack had not gone home—that alone was certain. Van Immerseel had sent
+over to the ruined farm directly the boy was missed. Seco and Tottie
+had been on the lookout ever since. Mr. Treby never doubted Jack had
+lost himself trying to find his way to his old home, and therefore,
+like Van Immerseel, began his search in that direction.</p>
+
+<p>One night, when they returned utterly disheartened, the Kafir groom
+walked up to the heart-broken father with a hat under one arm and a
+pair of boots under the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Inkoos! Casa! (master and chief)," said his countryman the guide,
+turning to Mr. Treby, "this man tells you to look for your child here."
+Then he went on to explain how the big bird bellowed one night like
+a bull, and the shepherd's hat was found at the foot of the ladder
+leading to the loft where Jack had slept, and the shepherd's boots
+hidden in the straw.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby was distracted when Tante Milligen herself added her
+experiences to the mystery of that night, and how Jack tried to make
+her understand he dare not sleep alone again.</p>
+
+<p>How was Mr. Treby ever to find out the truth about his lost darling
+amidst a confusion of tongues he could not understand? Ah, but if
+he could not comprehend the jargon around him, Seco would; so he
+determined to start at once and fetch the trusty old Hottentot to his
+aid. What would he have given for one sympathizing countryman? He
+thought perhaps the reckless young schoolmaster would be coming again.
+But no; Tante Milligen had sent a message to delay him. She was not
+going to pay for nothing; and what could the children learn while their
+hearts were aching for their lost companion?</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby bought a horse of Van Immerseel, and started on his homeward
+road. He felt as if he had grown to be all ear and eye as he trotted
+across the lonely veldt. When he drew near the blackened ash-heap
+that had been his home, he said that the joy of his life was quenched
+beneath it, and his tears, when there was no eye but God's to watch
+him, rained freely down. But hark! There was a sound—a deep, hoarse
+boom. Surely he knew it.</p>
+
+<p>"Vic! Vic! Vic!" he shouted, spurring his horse forward in the
+direction from whence it came. Out ran Tottie from her tumble-down hut;
+up sprang Seco from the mat where he was dozing. They had all heard it.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis as I said," he exclaimed; "the ostrich is drawing home."</p>
+
+<p>He caught up a calabash of mealies, out of which Vickel had so often
+been fed, and scanning the vast distance, where sand and sky melted
+into one, he shouted joyfully. There was something moving on the veldt,
+like a small gray cloud at first, but gradually shaping itself into
+outstretched wings.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby got off his horse, and tied it to a shrub of prickly pear,
+for fear it should scare away the returning bird.</p>
+
+<p>Nearer and nearer still it came, louder and louder grew the master's
+call. The three stood breathless, afraid of driving back the vagrant
+bird if they continued running towards it. But what was Mr. Treby's
+dismay to perceive a grinning Kafir face peering over Vickel's shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>When a wild cry of "Father! Father!" echoed through the evening
+stillness.</p>
+
+<p>"Jack! Jack!" responded Mr. Treby, darting forward like an arrow from
+a bow; but Seco, exerting all the speed of a wild hunter, outran
+him, and placing the calabash full in Vickel's sight, brought her to
+a standstill. Mr. Treby saw nothing but a little sun-burnt skeleton
+stretching its arms towards him. Could that be his Jack—his handsome
+Jack?</p>
+
+<p>Another moment, and bird and child and Kafir were caught in a grasp so
+tight, Jack could only gasp out, "Father, she has saved me."</p>
+
+<p>For Seco had seized upon a large stone to hurl at the poor blackie's
+head, believing she had stolen their darling to make "mouti" (medicine)
+from his heart and brain, according to their wild Kafir ways.</p>
+
+<p>But at Mr. Treby's word the stone rolled back upon the ground. Between
+them the two men guided Vickel home, while Jack poured out his story to
+their delighted ears.</p>
+
+<p>"I only wanted to post my letter, father; but somehow I could not get
+back," he pleaded piteously.</p>
+
+<p>"Jack," retorted Mr. Treby, "how could you, how dare you, run so
+great a risk? Hadn't I charged you to take care of yourself, my boy?
+Don't you know you are my very life, my precious boy? You've had a
+hair's-breadth escape." And at the thought of all the perils his child
+had undergone, a sort of sob choked his words. A huge hug finished all
+he meant to say, and drowned Jack's promises.</p>
+
+<p>"Father dear, I will take care, only you see—"</p>
+
+<p>And Mr. Treby did see, thinking in his fatherly pride and joy his boy
+was just the bravest and the best in all the world. "Only, Jack, you
+must learn to consider the consequences. Think of all we have gone
+through just think."</p>
+
+<p>Jack did think; and truly his best way was to tell his father all
+straight and clearly as it happened. Mr. Treby's eyes flashed fire as
+he heard how Otto had treated his boy; but he never uttered a word to
+interrupt him, until Vickel tucked her long head under her master's
+arm, and looked up in his face with her beautiful eyes, as if she said,
+"I've brought him safely home."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby's head went lower and lower. Jack really thought he kissed
+his snowy queen. He was sure his father muttered, "Yes, yes, you've
+been his guardian angel—saved and fed him."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, father; but I'm so sorry we've eaten all Vic's eggs, but the poor
+Black Antelope was so hungry."</p>
+
+<p>Then Mr. Treby turned and grasped the skinny black fingers, trying
+to make the poor runaway understand she should always find in him a
+protector and a friend.</p>
+
+<p>By this time they had reached the hut, and he left her to Tottie's
+care, telling the old Hottentot to find out, if she could, how he
+should best reward and serve the luckless girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Buy her," said Tottie coolly.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby threw up his hands in despair. "God help us!" he exclaimed.
+"See what it is to live among savages. Just hear her, 'asking' an
+Englishman to buy human flesh and blood."</p>
+
+<p>"But you won't send her back to Van Immerseel, father?" entreated Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"There is not anything that I possess that I would not freely give her
+at this moment, and think it all too small, for I am very sure I owe
+your life to her and Vickel. But Englishmen make no slaves, my boy.
+Well, well, I shall have to do it though—buy her, and give her her
+freedom; that must be it. And then we can't turn her adrift on the
+veldt; we must hire her for a while, and then we'll see what more we
+can do."</p>
+
+<p>"That we will, father," cried Jack, with brightening eyes, as they all
+sat down under the garden hedge.</p>
+
+<p>Seco had gone to his hut for milk and fruit for the famished travellers.</p>
+
+<p>"'For this my son was dead, and is alive again; was lost, and is
+found,'" said Mr. Treby reverently. "Trouble springs up thick and
+fast," he went on, with Jack's head resting on his shoulder; "but trace
+it home, it is all of man's making, and we should be crushed beneath
+its weight if there were not One above over-ruling all, and more ready
+to help us in our hour of need than we to ask."</p>
+
+<p>"But I did ask, father," whispered Jack; "and I think the Lord heard
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"Never doubt it, my boy. Prayer is the ladder which reaches up to
+heaven, and it is always ours.</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his
+compassions fail not. They are new every morning.'<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>"It was just that thought kept me up when my heart was breaking for
+you; and now—and now—Well, I have only to pour it out in thanksgiving."</p>
+
+<p>"Both of us together, father," murmured the happy boy, as his eyes
+feasted on every dear familiar object the fire had spared.</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_15">XV.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b><em>MR. TREBY'S DINNER-PARTY.</em></b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>SIX weeks of hard work had passed away, and Jack's father had a roof
+over his head once more. He said it was the flood of happiness that
+overflowed his bounding heart when Jack was found, that enabled him
+to do twice as much work as he could at any other time in his life.
+Seco had been sent with the good news to Jaarsveldt, and brought back
+a pressing invitation for Jack to return there until the house was
+finished. But Mr. Treby shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," he said; "we'll part no more. Come what may, we'll rough it
+together, Jack."</p>
+
+<p>Yet Jack did often wonder what Zyl and Genderen and Sannie were doing,
+and wished the farms were just a little nearer, so that they might see
+one another now and then. Neither did Mr. Treby forget their kindness
+to his boy.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you what, Jack," he said at last; "as soon as the house is
+finished, we'll have a grand day, and ask Van Immerseel to bring all
+his family to eat the first dinner in it with us."</p>
+
+<p>Jack was full of glee. How he worked and slaved at the preparations—now
+raking out the rubbish from the garden, now helping his father with the
+carpentering, and busiest of all when his father trusted him with the
+paint-brush. An arbour was built in the shadiest nook he could find.
+The Black Antelope, with an apron of Tottie's tied over her scarlet
+blanket, was with Jack's assistance making herself a gown. There was
+not much to be said for its shape and work. Jack insisted upon it that
+it must have sleeves and a skirt; and the Black Antelope protested that
+the bags for the arms must be loose, or she should feel as if her arms
+were tied. She was learning fast a mixture of Hottentot and English,
+which Jack understood better than any one.</p>
+
+<p>Life was running in the old grooves once again, except the watching for
+the English post. That had been altogether forgotten by Jack, and his
+father never spoke about the letter to grandfather which had almost
+cost Jack his life; for the thought of the poor child wandering in the
+veldt was more than he could bear. He could not talk about it yet; the
+very mention of it overcame him. But for all that the answer arrived by
+the return mail.</p>
+
+<p>There was a thick letter for Mr. Treby, full of sympathy and
+consolation, assuring him his old father had sent him all he could
+spare to help him up the hill, and promising more by-and-by. Inside
+it there was another for Jack himself; and, odder still, a third for
+Sandford Algarkirke. Mr. Treby was entreated in a postscript to forward
+this to the young man at once, if he knew anything of his whereabouts.</p>
+
+<p>There was something also in Mr. Treby's letter about Jack, which made
+him look up with proud, astonished eyes and murmur a fond, "God bless
+him!"</p>
+
+<p>But Jack neither saw nor heard, for he was absorbed in his own, quite
+overwhelmed, in fact, by the dignity of receiving a letter of his own.
+It read as follows:—</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"MY DEAR LITTLE GRANDSON,—That was a wonderful find of yours. That a
+bank-note should be lost in Nottingham and found in South Africa seems
+to me little short of a miracle. As soon as I had read your letter, I
+took my hat and stick and off I went to Hawkswood Hall. It was a good
+step for me, but I managed it by resting a bit here and there. For my
+little grandson's sake, I determined to give the note into the lady's
+own hands.<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"The servants told me she was just going out and could not see me
+then. So I took out the note you had found, and told them to ask her
+if it was not her own handwriting; and if it were, they might say
+something else had been found with it which I wished to restore to her.
+I knew very well it was, for I had had many a note from her about the
+coal-club I started in the winter.<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Back came the footman with, 'Step this way, sir;' and he took me
+into a large room full of pictures and pretty things. There sat Mrs.
+Featherstone, with the tattered note spread out on a little table
+beside her. There was an eager look in her face that spoke of pain
+rather than pleasure.<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'I can hardly believe my eyes, Mr. Treby,' she began before I was
+well in at the door. 'But where, where in the whole world was this
+discovered?'<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'Where you would little think, ma'am—in the wilds of South Africa,'
+I said.<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'Was there anything in it?' she gasped.<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'Yes, ma'am—this.' And I spread the bank-note before her. First she
+turned crimson, then white as death itself. I thought she was fainting,
+so I looked round the room for the bell and rang it sharply. Whilst the
+servants were coming, I hobbled to the window and got it open.<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'Don't!' she gasped. 'Only tell me all quickly.'<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'As soon as you feel better, I'll read you my grandson's letter, and
+then you will know as much as I do.' I took out my glasses and began to
+clear them; but she couldn't wait that minute. She almost snatched the
+letter out of my hand, so I let her read it for herself. Presently she
+looked up.<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'You must leave me this.'<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"I shook my head over that. 'Part with my grandson's first letter!
+No, no.'<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'Then wait,' she implored, 'while I send for Mr. Bourke. The loss
+of this note has made us bitter enemies. I sent it to him to head a
+subscription list, but it never reached him. I charged his landlady
+with stealing it; he charged my messenger. Two innocent people have
+been injured—perhaps irreparably injured. And now here it is. Imagine
+what my feelings are. I can never express my gratitude to your
+grandson. You must tell me how I can best I reward his honesty, his
+sterling honesty.'<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'He will find a rich reward when I tell him what you say,' I put in.
+'Two innocent people cleared through him.'<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'Yes, through his courageous honesty. A man could not have acted more
+prudently. You ought to be proud of him,' she went on.<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'No need to tell me that,' I said. 'He is the very joy of his father's
+life. He'll make an upright, honourable man to take his father's place;
+for as the twig is bent, so is the tree inclined.'<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Whilst we were talking, in came the clergyman and his son. I liked the
+lad's face. He was a big, broad-shouldered young fellow, fresh from a
+military college.<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'Is it found?' asked the young cadet eagerly. 'Broad as my back may
+be, it has felt the weight of the blame I have had to bear for giving
+the note to Sandford Algarkirke, when I ought to have taken it myself.'<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'We have both of us been wrong, Mrs. Featherstone,' said the clergyman
+gravely. 'You and I refused to believe this money had been lost; we
+both agreed it must have been stolen. You fixed upon my housekeeper
+as the thief; and I, in my indignation at such injustice, determined
+to clear her by hunting out the real offender, and threatened to
+prosecute him, whoever he might prove to be. You persisted in believing
+Algarkirke's assertion, that he could not recollect what he did with
+the note, but as it was not in his pocket, he must have left it at my
+door.'<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'I warned him,' interrupted the soldier, 'he was likely to get into
+an unpleasant business, and begged him to try to remember. Like a coward,
+he took himself off to avoid the nuisance of the investigation. "The
+most foolish thing he could do," we all exclaimed. Of course suspicion
+fastened on him at once, and if he had set foot in England, he would
+have been taken by the police.'<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'Now read this letter,' interrupted Mrs. Featherstone.—'I wish you
+would leave it with us, Mr. Treby.'<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"I was obliged to consent. They all promised to take the greatest care
+of it, and return it safely, saying such handsome things of you, my
+Jack, that it brought the tears into your old grandfather's eyes.<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"In the evening young Bourke called, and asked me if I would enclose
+a note for Sandford Algarkirke to my son; for since it appeared he
+had bought a coat of him, he might know where to find him, which none
+of them did. So I promised him you and your father would do your best
+to find the foolish young fellow. Then he began to tell me how he was
+longing to reward my noble grandson.<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'Gently, gently,' I interrupted. 'Gentlemen don't take rewards for
+doing right.'<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'Well, anyhow, he shall hear from us all, and that before long,'
+he cried.<br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"So we shook hands most heartily; and I sat down to write this letter,
+and charge you never to part with that ostrich. What would I give to
+see you and your bird before I die!—Your delighted grandfather,<br>
+<br>
+<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;">"JOHN TREBY.</span><br>
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"P.S.—I have written to your dear father about all his troubles. Be a
+good boy to him, and keep his courage up."<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>It was a happy moment for Jack when he laid down his grandfather's
+letter; and a happier still for Mr. Treby as he ran his eye over the
+closely-written page.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well," he said; "we'll give the letter for that young
+scatter-brain to Van Immerseel. He is sure to be at Jaarsveldt before
+long. But we've some weighty matters to consider before our Dutch
+neighbours arrive. There is a haunch of elk venison to be roasted and a
+game pie to be manufactured between us; and it strikes me I shall make
+a better out of it than Tottie, although I am not a Frenchman. Anyhow,
+we must try."</p>
+
+<p>So to work they went, sunning themselves in grandfather's letter. The
+great effort, the risk, the peril, had not been all in vain.</p>
+
+<p>"But they little think of all that effort cost," added Mr. Treby, with
+a deep-drawn sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, father," whispered Jack. "Now it's all over, let's be
+happy. Here they are!"</p>
+
+<p>Jack pointed as he spoke to a lumbering vehicle, half gig, half cart,
+in which Van Immerseel was seated with his wife beside him, and Sannie,
+radiant in her Sunday attire, jolting on her mother's knee. Then came
+Walt upon his favourite hunter, with Genderen riding pillion behind
+him. Not a dozen yards behind them, Zyl was to be seen jogging along in
+the Hottentot's cart with the English schoolmaster.</p>
+
+<p>"This is good luck, indeed!" exclaimed Mr. Treby, as he ran out to
+welcome his guests. "Where's my voorlooper?" asked Mr. Treby, as he
+took Sannie in his arms and kissed her fondly; for his heart had gone
+out to the Dutch baby, when she struck him on the knee and bade him
+look again for his Jack when everybody else was giving him up for dead.</p>
+
+<p>But he was obliged to give her up to Jack, who rather shrank from
+meeting Van Immerseel, who roared out in his stentorian tones that he
+was coming to pay him for all his tricks.</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<h3><a id="Chapter_16">XVI.</a></h3>
+
+<p class="t3">
+<b><em>THE SCHOOLMASTER'S GRATITUDE.</em></b><br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>"I HAVE a note for you, Algarkirke," said Mr. Treby, when he had
+seen all his guests comfortably established—biped and quadruped
+alike enjoying the "good feed" he had provided in his hearty English
+hospitality.</p>
+
+<p>The schoolmaster was in such constant request as interpreter that it
+was some minutes before he had a chance to open his letter. As it bore
+no post-mark, he concluded it must have come from some one in the
+neighbourhood. Possibly it held the promise of a future scholar; so he
+put it in his pocket to await some more convenient opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>"It is from England," added Mr. Treby, in a low aside.</p>
+
+<p>Algarkirke grew strangely pale, and crushed it out of sight. "Not a
+word before these Boers; remember your promise," he whispered, turning
+away from Mr. Treby to join in Walt Immerseel's boisterous mirth.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby carved his venison in thoughtful silence, whilst the whole
+family of the Immerseels did ample justice to his English fare.</p>
+
+<p>When knives and forks were at last allowed to rest, and the great
+basket of fruit which Tante Milligen had brought with her was placed
+upon the table, Mr. Treby looked round for Jack.</p>
+
+<p>He was expostulating with Zyl, who had taken the very best of the
+peaches on to his own plate, and then refused to taste them.</p>
+
+<p>Jack was calling upon Mr. Algarkirke to find the reason why.</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" repeated the schoolmaster laughing. "Because he means to plant
+them himself in your garden after dinner."</p>
+
+<p>"Jack," said Mr. Treby, "come here, my boy, and tell your kind Dutch
+friends how sorry you are to have given them so much anxiety and
+trouble; and thank them as you ought for all they did to find you."</p>
+
+<p>"Father, won't you speak for me? You'll make them understand ever so
+much better than I can," answered Jack coaxingly.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," returned Mr. Treby. "Just tell them how you lost yourself,
+and why you went away, that they may feel you are not the ungrateful
+boy you seemed."</p>
+
+<p>"Please, Mr. Algarkirke," asked Jack, "will you tell it in Dutch after
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>Glad of any diversion from the painful surprise Mr. Treby's words
+had awakened, and afraid of betraying his real feelings, Algarkirke
+assented readily.</p>
+
+<p>Zyl, with his elbows on the table, greedily devoured every word with
+open mouth, as Jack recounted his adventures with Vickel in the sandy
+waste.</p>
+
+<p>Jack did not like to tell tales of Otto to the Boer. He only said he
+wanted to post a letter to his grandfather.</p>
+
+<p>Here Mr. Treby interposed with, "You need not mind speaking about Otto,
+for he has left Jaarsveldt for good."</p>
+
+<p>The "oom" gave a low assenting grunt of satisfaction; and Jack went
+back in his story to describe the finding of the bank-note.</p>
+
+<p>Up sprang Algarkirke, and seizing Jack by the collar, he thundered out,
+"That coat was mine, and anything found in it should have been given to
+me. How dare you send it away, you wretched little rascal! I'll never
+forgive you, never!"</p>
+
+<p>Jack was startled by the fury of Algarkirke's tones.</p>
+
+<p>Walt sprang to his feet, and Zyl doubled his fists, ready to punch the
+schoolmaster's head.</p>
+
+<p>But Jack answered toughly,—</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Algarkirke, you quite forget I did not know where you were, and
+the bank-note was not yours; so I sent it to grandfather to give it
+back to the lady it really belonged to, and he has done it. You can
+read his letter if you like."</p>
+
+<p>"I rather think you had better before you thrash my Jack," observed Mr.
+Treby dryly.</p>
+
+<p>Jack pulled the letter out of his pocket and offered it to Algarkirke.
+Zyl and his big brother eyed him whilst he read, like two young
+bull-dogs preparing for a spring; but their indignation was somewhat
+appeased when Algarkirke flung down the paper and grasped Jack's hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Am I dreaming?" he demanded. "By what magic have you done all this?
+Can it be true?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you read your own letter, Mr. Algarkirke?" retorted Jack.
+"It came in grandfather's, as he says."</p>
+
+<p>The bewildered schoolmaster obeyed.</p>
+
+<p>His note was brief:—</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+<br>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"DEAR SANDFORD,—Come back. The mystery is explained. Letters from
+Nottingham and remittances will await you at Pretoria. Return to us,
+and the past will be made up to you. I dare not write more plainly, not
+knowing whether this will ever reach you. But I snatch at the chance,
+for the man who bought my old coat of you may be able to find you
+out.—Your miserable friend, HORACE BOURKE."<br>
+<br>
+</p>
+
+<p>"Farewell to Africa, and hurrah for merry England!" shouted Algarkirke,
+tossing the letter to the ceiling and catching it again, whilst the
+stolid Dutch faces around him stared in blank amazement. "Jack, Jack!
+You've been my good genius in very truth. Come along with me and I'll
+take you to England and make a man of you, my boy," he ran on.</p>
+
+<p>"I rather think he bids fair to develop into that already, without
+wanting help of yours," observed Mr. Treby. "But how about this coat
+I bought of you? It's yours, and it's not yours, and I am earnestly
+requested in my letter of this morning to send it back to England."</p>
+
+<p>"Horace Bourke and I were school-fellows," began Algarkirke. "We met
+one day at a village cricket match near Hawkswood Hall. One of the boys
+got hurt. Horace took his bat. As he pulled off his coat, he threw it
+to me, saying, 'Take care of it for me, Sandford, for there is a note
+in the pocket for father.'</p>
+
+<p>"While they were playing, a bull broke loose from a neighbouring farm,
+and rushed into the field, scattering the cricketers, who ran for their
+lives, I among the rest. Horace snatched up one of the stumps and tried
+to drive the beast away. He shouted to me to fetch his gun. 'And give
+the note for father to one of our people, so that he gets it in time,'
+he added.</p>
+
+<p>"Off I ran towards the parsonage. Before I reached it a thunder-storm
+came on. I threw his coat over my shoulders to keep myself dry. I got
+the gun, but forgot all about the note. Alarmed for his young master's
+safety, the gardener went back with me.</p>
+
+<p>"When we gained the field we found the bull had been shot by its owner.
+I could not see anything of Horace, so I gave the man the gun and told
+him I must borrow the coat to go home in, as it still continued to
+pour. Before I had a chance to return the coat, Horace wrote to ask
+which of his father's people had taken the note from me, as it had
+never reached him.</p>
+
+<p>"I started up in a fright and felt in the pockets of the coat, but as
+there was nothing in them I thought I must have left the note with the
+woman who gave me the gun, but the scare with the bull had put it all
+out of my head. That was how I answered him. Then I went on a tour
+with an old chum to get rid of the bother. When it came out there was
+money in the note, and I was charged with stealing it, my mother was
+frightened out of her senses. She packed up my belongings, and Horace's
+coat with them; for he privately entreated her not to send it back, not
+to let any one know I had taken it home, as it would go against me.
+She charged me to prolong my tour, but not to send her any address. We
+only communicated under cover to my Dutch friends at Amsterdam, and
+that but rarely, so that I had begun to think I was expatriated for
+life. No one but my mother believed in my innocence, and she reproached
+me with having brought all this trouble on myself by my confounded
+carelessness."</p>
+
+<p>The "oom" blew a great whiff of smoke from his long clay pipe, and gave
+a nod to his sons that said plainly, "Are you listening to that, boys?
+Take the lesson home."</p>
+
+<p>Zyl flung a snort of contempt at his schoolmaster, and kicked his heels
+remorselessly against the legs of Mr. Treby's new chairs.</p>
+
+<p>Algarkirke went on, impetuously. "But you, Jack, you are the best
+friend I ever had in all my life, for you have cleared me. When my
+mother knows what you have done, there will be nothing that is in her
+power that she would not do for you in return."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nonsense, Mr. Algarkirke," interrupted Jack, mindful of his
+grandfather's words. "It was Vic found it, not I. I am only so glad to
+have been some good in the world already."</p>
+
+<p>Genderen, who had been whispering with her mother, touched Algarkirke's
+arm. "Talk with us about that." She smiled significantly.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby glanced approvingly at his boy. "And even now," he thought,
+"Algarkirke does not realize what this has cost you. But he is a more
+wretched cad than I take him to be if I can't make him feel before we
+part the moral difference between a boy who asks himself, What ought I
+to do? What would be right? And then does the best he can, without a
+thought of the consequences, and a selfish fellow, who only wants to
+shirk all responsibility and back out of everything disagreeable. It
+may open his eyes and make a change in his own character, for after all
+it is character shapes our destiny, both here and hereafter."</p>
+
+<p>Aloud he said: "Keep on with your story, Jack, while you have so good
+an interpreter as Mr. Algarkirke. The Van is growing impatient."</p>
+
+<p>As Mr. Treby spoke, the worthy Boer was thundering on the table with
+his clenched fist to recall Jack's attention.</p>
+
+<p>Jack did not want to say any more about himself. It seemed to him so
+like being his own trumpeter. He grew hot at the thought, but his
+father urged him on with—"Remember the poor Black Antelope. We may
+never have such another chance to reinstate her in her old master's
+good graces. You must plead for her, my boy. No one but you can do it
+half so well."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, father, I must, I ought, and I will," answered Jack, as Walt
+hoisted him on a chair, exclaiming, "Jah, Jah!" for he had guessed the
+purport of Mr. Treby's last aside.</p>
+
+<p>Zyl muttered an emphatic "Go it," a new English phrase he had picked up
+in the last three days, when Sannie appeared in the doorway, tugging
+with all her might at the scanty skirt of the unlucky Kafir.</p>
+
+<p>It must be admitted that Jack's first essay at "tailoring" had not
+produced a West End fit. The grotesqueness of her appearance threw
+Tante Milligen into a fit of laughter. It was a happy moment. The
+pardon was granted before the pleading was well begun. Mr. Treby's
+Kafir guide, who, under pretence of driving Vickel away from Sannie,
+continued to linger round the door, began to gesticulate violently.</p>
+
+<p>"Inkoos, casa," he began, in the picturesque language of his tribe,
+"lift up the bruised rosebud these men have trampled in the dust, and
+give her to me. I've room in my kraal for just such a wife, and I've
+sheep and oxen to buy her with; and no man shall wrong her any more,
+for the spear that stands in the corner of my hut would be swift as the
+lightning to strike him, and the heart which beats in my bosom beats
+only for her."</p>
+
+<p>There was a softer glow in the downcast eyes of the Kafir girl than
+Jack had ever seen there before as his father answered,—</p>
+
+<p>"She is free to go or stay as she chooses; but if she goes with you,
+Madzook, it shall not be empty-handed. The brindled heifer, and the
+pail and the English churn which she so admires, are all her own. She
+will tell you how she watched over my boy, and she takes a father's
+blessing with her wherever she goes."</p>
+
+<p>"She deserves all her happiness," said Algarkirke humbly; "but it is
+not so with me. I see by Jack's face, he is thinking of the night when
+he wanted me to speak up for her, and I would not, because I despised
+the low, black cattle, and hated myself to think a similar misfortune
+could overwhelm us both. I had no feeling for anybody but myself. I
+thought if I had tried to help her, I should only let loose my own
+shame. It was better to stand aloof. And now I could wish my whole life
+undone."</p>
+
+<p>"Cheer up," said Mr. Treby kindly. "Remember what I said to you when
+first we met. If the old self is dead, you may climb to a higher and a
+happier life. You've had hard lines, my poor boy, and you never heard
+the still small voice that was whispering through it all, 'Come unto
+Me, and I will give you rest.' But we must not speak of a day until
+we see its close; for Christ is ever with us, sowing light in the
+darkness, drawing good from evil, changing the curse into a blessing in
+his own good time."</p>
+
+<p>And so they parted.</p>
+
+<p><br></p>
+
+<p>Three days afterwards the Hottentot cart from Jaarsveldt appeared once
+more at Mr. Treby's gate. Mr. Treby recognized the mining yellow face
+of the Jaarsveldt cow-keeper.</p>
+
+<p>"What's up?" he asked as Zyl and Genderen tumbled out of the lumbering
+vehicle with more than their usual awkwardness.</p>
+
+<p>They did not perceive Mr. Treby, as they were intently looking after
+something behind the cart. Zyl held a rope in his hand, and as Mr.
+Treby drew nearer, he saw that he was leading a splendid male ostrich,
+with brilliant eyes and plumage of the purest white.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Jack?" they asked, as Seco hurried up to greet his countryman.</p>
+
+<p>"They shall have it their own way," thought Mr. Treby. "I won't spoil
+the children's pleasure by interfering before I know what they are
+after." He stepped into the garden and sent Jack to meet his friends.</p>
+
+<p>Seco stood by his countryman with his hands to his sides, laughing with
+all his might, whilst Genderen called up Vickel. She came slowly, with
+her head on one side, eying the new arrival, which Zyl still contrived
+to keep well in leash.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Treby paused with his hand on the garden gate, for Genderen's slow
+Dutch, filtered through Hottentot into Jack's English, was amusing in
+the extreme. "Enough to make a cat laugh," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"What have you brought your Speriwig here for?" shouted Jack in great
+glee.</p>
+
+<p>"Never you mind," retorted Zyl. "Algarkirke's gone for good, and we
+shall all be dunces, I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>"He thought a great deal about Vickel," put in Genderen, with her
+fingers in her mouth, of course. "You know you told him all his good
+luck was owing to her. He said he should send her a silver collar from
+England. Nonsense, we told him, what would a bird care about that? Get
+her a nice mate, and she will be as happy as the day is long. So he
+made a deal with father when they squared all up. He said if he had
+money enough to take him to Pretoria that was all he wanted. He was
+in such a hurry to be gone, he left father to get in the money that
+was owing him for schooling at the off farms. And Vickel's to have
+Speriwig."</p>
+
+<p>"Speriwig, will get his own living browsing on the veldt, as Vickel
+does," added Zyl; "and if you have a brood of chicks, Jack, you need
+not mind."</p>
+
+<p>There was a sly twinkle in the Dutch boy's eyes as he rubbed his hands
+together, and even Mr. Treby had to own it was cleverly done.</p>
+
+<p>Sandford Algarkirke was beyond the reach of either thanks or refusals,
+as Zyl averred. Jack must pocket his English pride and let his Vickel
+keep her mate.</p>
+
+<p>"It was all my plan," observed Genderen, her round face radiating with
+pleasure. "I was sure it would please Jack better than anything else;
+and now, if he takes care of his chicks, by the time he is a man, he
+will have as fine a flock of ostriches as any farmer in Africa."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you hear that, Jack?" said Mr. Treby, coming forward. "Like
+Whittington's cat, your snow-feathered queen will make you a wealthy
+man."</p>
+
+<p>Jack drew a deep breath of gratitude and delight as he looked up in
+his father's face, exclaiming, "Oh, isn't it kind of Mr. Algarkirke? I
+always did like him very much, except when he called Sannie 'a fatted
+calf,' Why didn't she come with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Sannie!" grumbled Zyl. "You are never easy without Sannie."</p>
+
+<p>As usual Zyl was right. Jack never was quite happy without her any
+more, and when the wealthy manhood his father had predicted drew near,
+he went one day to Jaarsveldt and brought her home a bride.</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<p class="t3">
+THE END.<br>
+</p>
+
+<p><br><br><br></p>
+
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75898 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
+
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+
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+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+book #75898 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75898)