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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/76281-0.txt b/76281-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b66e391 --- /dev/null +++ b/76281-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2198 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76281 *** + + +Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed. + + + +[Illustration: The next moment the full moon fell on a large black + poisonous snake, rapidly gilding away over the sand.] + + + + THE + + WANDERER IN AFRICA. + + + A TALE ILLUSTRATIVE OF + + THE THIRTY-SECOND PSALM + + + BY + + A. L. O. E. + + AUTHORESS OF "THE CLAREMONT TALES;" "NED FRANKS;" + "SHEER OFF;" ETC. + + + + [Illustration] + + + + London: + GALL AND INGLIS, 25 PATERNOSTER SQUARE; + AND EDINBURGH. + + + + CONTENTS. + + ———— + +CHAP. + + I. NIGHT ON THE WASTE + + II. WANDERINGS + + III. WANDERINGS—_continued_ + + IV. FORSAKEN + + V. NOT FORSAKEN + + VI PERIL AT HAND + + VII. RESOLUTIONS + + VIII. GUIDANCE + + IX. THE STUBBORN SINNER + + X. HOME + + + + THE + + WANDERER IN AFRICA, + + Illustrating the Thirty-second Psalm. + + [Illustration] + +CHAPTER I. + +NIGHT ON THE WASTE. + + _"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. +Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in +whose spirit there is no guile."_—Psalm xxxii. 1, 2. + +"No use, it won't do. Rhinoceros hide won't get another yard out of +them beasts! We must outspan * for the night!" exclaimed Hans Kuhe, +the Dutch Boer, † after Pollux, his Hottentot driver, had been for an +hour belabouring, with the huge whip, eight unfortunate oxen that were +vainly trying to drag his waggon through a sandy African waste. + + * Unyoke. † Dutch farmer at the Cape Colony. + +"If we could but have reached water—the poor beasts are dying of +thirst," observed David, an English lad who was servant to the Boer. +"Eight oxen are not enough to draw that heavy waggon." + +And he looked with pity at the panting creatures, whose sides were +seamed with weals, and bleeding from the whip which Pollux had plied +with such merciless force. + +Hans muttered a curse on the four oxen that had died on the road, and +a fiercer one upon the Bushmen who had carried off two others during +the night. He was a large, bulky man, with coarse features bloated by +intemperance, his brandy-bottle and his pipe being his two constant +companions. + +"Help Pollux to outspan. Don't stand there like a lazy cur, as you +are!" exclaimed the Boer to the English lad, who had done nine-tenths +of all the work since the expedition had started. "No sulky looks for +me,—and why do you go limping like that?" The question was asked in a +tone of anger, by no means that of pity. + +"That fore ox kicked me on the ankle," said David. + +"You're an awkward cub!" growled the Boer. "No time to be lame +now—you've a thirty miles' walk afore ye to-morrow, ere we got to the +Quagga Fountain. Now make haste, will ye, and take the yoke off that +beast." + +"Who will take the yoke off 'me?'" thought the poor lad, as, biting his +lip to repress either anger or pain, he proceeded to help to outspan +the oxen for the night. + +But a year before, David Aspinall had been a fine specimen of an +English youth, with strength in his well-knit limbs, and careless +mirth in his eyes, and a light heart in his bosom, which knew little +of sorrow or care. "Now," the sun-burnt cheek had grown hollow, and +the eye had lost all its brightness, and the clothes hung loosely on +the wasted limbs, and the expression of his face told of hardship and +grief, borne silently, but felt none the less. + +"It has been my own choice, this path of misery; it has been my own +putting on, this intolerable yoke of bondage!" so thought David, as he +went on with his occupation. "'The wages of sin'—the wages of sin—ay, I +know what they come to! I have none to blame but myself! I might have +been—" but as that "might have been" was too bitter a reflection to +dwell on, David tried to drive it away. + +The evening's work was done. Hans, after a heavy meal of beltong * +taken with a large amount of brandy, sat on the waggon shaft, smoking +his pipe in lazy enjoyment, and his weary, almost worn-out servant was +suffered to take his food. There was nothing that would have refreshed +David so much as to have plunged his aching head into cold water, and +so have quenched his feverish thirst, but the small supply left in the +water-jar was precious, and he scarcely received enough to relieve his +most pressing need. + + * Dried flesh. + +"Now I'm going to turn in," said Hans Kuhe, who, after the fashion of +African travellers, made a house of his waggon; "you must keep watch, +Davy, to-night, for Pollux is not to be trusted; there he lies snoring +already! We may have some of the Bushmen thieves down on us again, or +the hyenas may come slinking to see what they can carry off, or a lion +may scent the cattle. I fancy I heard a roar in the distance. You keep +the double-barrelled gun beside you, and mind, no sleeping on watch, or +I'll give you a taste of the rhinoceros hide!" + +The bulky form of the Boer soon disappeared under the tilt of the +waggon. David Aspinall was left to watch through the long weary +hours in the dreary African waste. Night was there, but without its +stillness. The painful lowing of the thirsty oxen, the occasional loud +barking of the dogs whom a sense of danger seemed to keep wakeful, the +howling of jackals, and the wild laugh of the hyenas in the distance, +made together a horrible concert, which combined with the pain in his +ankle to keep the weary lad from sleeping. + +Would you wish to know the thoughts that passed through his mind, as +resting on the sands, with his back against one of the huge wheels of +the heavy waggon, and the double-barrelled gun close to his hand, David +sat with his eyes fixed on the large round moon which seemed to hang so +near to earth, and which threw such black shadows of every object on +the waste? + +"A blessing and a curse were set before me; I left the blessing, and +chose the curse! I was taught the right way, I was told my duty, I had +parents who tried to lead me heavenwards, both by their words and their +example. I had a conscience, but I would not listen to it; a Bible, +but I cared not to read it. What would I not give for that Bible now! +I have not set eyes on one for months! I wonder if I could remember +anything of what I learnt by heart when I was a child at Greenside +Farm!" and David began half aloud: + + "'The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down +in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters.' + +"I can't go on with that," murmured the poor lad with a choking +sensation at his throat, as his memory recalled soft green meadows, +spangled with buttercups and daisies, in which he had sported when a +child, and the little gurgling stream sparkling in the sunshine, as it +flowed from under the shadow of the one-arched bridge. "That Psalm is +not for me, not for a wandering sheep; it is for God's own flock, who +hear His voice, and follow Him. I'm afraid I can remember no other: +yes, there's the thirty-second Psalm, my mother's favourite, perhaps I +could get through that. + + "'Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. +Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in +whose spirit there is no guile!'" + +David stopped short, and pressed his feverish brow. "'That' Psalm may +be for me, for it is for the wanderer; it speaks of transgression and +sin,—and oh! It speaks of forgiveness and blessing! Can it be that I, +wretched, desolate as I am, can be 'blessed?'" + +David looked earnestly up at the bright clear moon, as if to read an +answer to his question there. She could smile in the desert, even as +she had smiled on the meadows, and the trees, and the flowing stream by +his English home; nay, she looked larger and lovelier here, as the air +was clearer. + +"Blessed—blessed," repeated David to himself, as if he had difficulty +in taking in the meaning of the words. "But 'how' can transgression be +forgiven, and 'how' can sin be covered?" + +Then in that wild solitude there came back on the memory of the poor +lad lessons learned on the knee of his mother, lessons which had seemed +till that moment forgotten; sermons heard in the quiet little church +on the hill, whither he had often gone so unwillingly, where he had +listened so carelessly to the message of "good tidings" from the lips +of his pastor. David was not ignorant of the truths of the Gospel, but +it had seemed as if, with him, the good seed had fallen by the wayside, +and that pride, selfishness, and folly, like the birds of the air, had +carried it all away. But it was not really so; some had rested on his +memory, and now in the dreary African land were to spring up and bear +good fruit. + +Very familiar to the ear of David Aspinall had been the verse,— + + "'The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.'" + +But he had never cared in his days of selfish mirth to apply its +meaning to himself. David then had taken his sins too little to heart +to reflect whether his could ever be cleansed away. He had welcomed +Christmas year after year, but merely as a time of mirth and feasting; +it had seemed little to him that a Saviour had deigned to be born into +the world which He had made,—for David had felt no need of a Saviour. + +It was different now: all the lad's earthly hopes had been crushed, all +his earthly happiness had vanished away. David had offended against the +laws of his country; he had found no mercy from man, and he feared the +just anger of God. David had nothing left to cling to but the hope of +forgiveness, and he knew, he had been taught from his childhood, that +forgiveness, though freely offered to "all," could only be procured by +"any" through faith in a crucified Saviour, who "died, the Just for the +unjust"! + +It was long since David had prayed. Perhaps it might more truly be +said that he had never prayed in his life, for what are words without +thoughts, the service of the lips without the love of the heart? +David's first real prayer for forgiveness arose as he sat by the wheel +of that great waggon, with the yells of wild beasts sounding in his +ears. In his spirit there was at least "no guile." He did not deceive +himself as to his state before God; he made no excuses for his errors; +he felt from the bottom of his heart that he was a sinner, and deserved +all the misery that he endured. He knew that it would be a mockery of +God to ask pardon for the "past," without also asking for grace for +the "future," to lead a new and better life. David was honest in his +repentance, sincere in his sorrow for sin. Alas! There are too many +who mistake the mere cry of distress, under sharp affliction, for the +penitent grief of a broken and contrite heart! + +David had unconsciously clasped his hands in prayer; when he had +unclasped them, he accidentally put his left hand down towards the +ground, and he started as it touched something clammy, which moved +under his touch as if alive. The next moment the full moonlight fell +on a large black poisonous snake, rapidly gliding away over the sand! +It had been coiled up quite close to the lad, so close as to have +been concealed by his own shadow! There had David rested in perfect +unconsciousness of the deadly enemy so near, that an incautious +movement on his part, by hurting and irritating the reptile, might +have cost him his life! David made no attempt to pursue the serpent; +his foot had by this time swelled so much that he could hardly have +put it to the ground, and to have broken the heavy sleep of Hans for +so commonplace an event (in Africa) as the appearance of a poisonous +snake, would only have drawn upon himself the savage anger of the Boer. + +But the visit of the reptile had not been without its effect on the +mind of David, occurring as it had done at an hour of penitence and +prayer. He felt that a pitying Providence had been watching over him, +and a hope arose that he had been saved for future good, that his +painful life had not been lengthened but for some purpose of mercy and +love. As David silently returned thanks to God for having saved him +from the fangs of the serpent, he almost felt as if this deliverance +were a pledge that his prayer had been heard, and that his sins were +forgiven. Oh! If he could but be at peace with God, then indeed might +he face all his miseries with a firm and undaunted soul! + +Then followed other thoughts, suggested by the wild howls of the +jackals and hyenas, snuffing the scent of food, yet not daring to +attack the travelling party. "Those sounds used to frighten me when +I was new to them," thought David, "and even now they sent a thrill +through me which was something like fear. I listened to them, and +looked to my musket, and kept watchful and ready. But I was utterly +careless of the far greater danger close by, the venomous serpent +coiling so near! It is like what happens to us in life. We are watchful +against outer dangers, we try to guard against poverty, sickness and +pain, and we let the venomed serpent of sin lie in our bosom, though we +know that its bite is death!" + +David remained wakeful at his post, till the approach of the morn made +the wild creatures of the desert retire. Then indeed his thoughts +became very dim and confused; a sound as of church bells was in his +ears, like the invitation to come and worship which he had so often +heard in the country of his birth, and so often of late months refused +to accept. Then he was no longer in the dry and thirsty waste, the +heavy waggon with its great canvas tilt, the broad wheels—the tired +oxen resting around,—all had disappeared from his view. David dreamed +that he was in the little church on the hill, sitting by the side +of his mother in the well-remembered seat close to the pillar. He +had often sat there when he was a boy, impatient for the end of the +service, with thoughts intent on the thrush's nest that he had seen in +the thicket, or the jackdaw's brood that he hoped to bring down from +the old ruined tower. David had grudged the time spent in church, and +now that church in his dream appeared to him almost like heaven! + +There was the well-known hymn—"Rock of Ages, cleft for me!"—swelling +in the slumberer's ear, and David could distinguish the tones of his +mother's voice, but sweeter than they ever had sounded before! And +then he seemed to be listening to the aged white-headed pastor, whose +sermons he once had thought so long,—and the silver hair above his +brow looked to the dreaming youth like a glory! He was preaching about +the Prodigal Son, and the joy in the father's home—and the father's +heart—when the lost one again was found! David fancied that he caught +the sound of his mother's sob, and that the old clergyman's eyes were +fixed on him, and that he knew that he "himself" was the prodigal +welcomed back,—never to wander again! The last words that rang in +David's ear before his sweet dream was rudely broken, were the words +of the Psalm that his mother loved,—the words that had brought to him +comfort and hope,— + + "'Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is +covered.'" + + + +CHAPTER II. + +WANDERINGS. + + _"When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the +day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is +turned into the drought of summer."_—Psalm xxxii. 3, 4. + +WHILE the exhausted lad is sleeping on his hard couch of sand, I will +briefly relate the story of his past life, and tell the circumstances +which led to his being a Wanderer in Africa, and in the service of Hans +Kuhe, the Boer. + +David Aspinall was the son of a small farmer in Dorsetshire,—an honest, +God-fearing man, who had held a blameless course through life, looking +to the Life beyond the tomb. He had no other son than David, but he had +five little daughters, all of whom were younger than their brother. +With so many mouths to feed, the farmer had little to spare, though +many a poor neighbour had a slice of bacon, or a jug of skimmed milk +from his good wife's dairy. + +John Aspinall's strong wish was to bring up this only boy as his +helper, and then successor at Greenside Farm. He felt that his own +health was frail, and his life even more uncertain than that of most +other men. + +"It's a comfort to me," he would say to himself, when he was more +poorly than usual, "that there will be Davy to look after the place, +and take care of his mother and sisters, if so be as God should please +to take me." + +But David's plans for himself were very different from those of his +father for him. He wanted to see life, to go into the world, to have +something more exciting to do than foddering cattle, or shearing sheep, +or driving the plough a-field. David was a sharp, clever lad, sure to +make his way to fortune, at least so his vanity told him, and not the +boy to be buried in a small out of the way farm! + +The time came when a decision must be made. After a sharp attack of +rheumatic fever, which had made him feel more than ever that he needed +the help of his son, John Aspinall, one day late in April, explained +his wishes and those of his wife to David. The lad was somewhat taken +aback. He had that very morning been poring over the advertisements in +a newspaper, and calculating how much money it would take to carry him +up to London, and thinking what grand things he might do, and what a +great man he might become, if he could once "get a fair start in life." +David had always been a wild and wilful boy, ready for any sport or +fun, and the idea of being shut up all his life at Greenside Farm was +more than his spirit would bear. + +Here now were two paths open before David Aspinall; the way of +duty,—"God's way," and his own way,—the path of "Self-will." The lad +was not long in choosing between them. He said, indeed, how much he +should like to please his father, only he could not please him in +"this." He kissed his mother fondly, but he grieved her none the less. +He made little presents to all his sisters, and promised them fine +things from London, but he would not give up for their sakes that upon +which he had set his own heart. + +John Aspinall was not a man of words: his face sharpened by pain, and +the crutch which he used, said more than he could say; he let his son +know his wishes, and then suffered him to follow his own. + +"We can't make the lad bide here against his will," observed the farmer +to his wife: "it may please God to give me back health,—and if not, +He'll care for you and our poor little lasses." + +The mother turned aside to dry her tearful eyes, and hoped and prayed +that all might turn out for the best. It was a sore disappointment +not to be able to keep Davy at home—but she would send him to her own +worthy brother, the grocer in London; he could learn nothing but good +with him, and would be kept out of the way of temptation. + +So two of the pigs were sold to pay expenses, and David, in high glee, +prepared to bid farewell to the little farm in the valley, and the +sad and loving hearts that he would leave behind him. It touched him +a little, indeed, to see how pale his mother's cheek had grown, and +how red and tearful were the eyes of poor Jenny, the eldest but one of +his sisters, as she sat stitching at his new shirts. She had been his +especial playmate and pet, and loved him more than she loved anyone +else upon earth. + +"Well, Jenny, don't look so down-hearted!" cried the lad, as he came +and seated himself by her side. "I can't bear to see you so doleful." + +"And I can't bear to see you so merry just when you're going to leave +us all," answered the girl, with a broken voice. + +"I'm not so merry now, Jenny; I can't help having a bit of a twinge +when I think of saying Good-bye." + +"Then why should you say it?" exclaimed Jenny, dropping her work in +her eagerness to speak. "O Davy, Davy! Stay with us—we cannot get on +without you,—the farm will seem so lonely—so dreary! Even little Nelly +will miss you so,—there will be no brother to dance her on his knee, or +whistle her favourite songs! I shall never care to see the green leaves +budding again, nor to hear the cuckoo, for they will always remind me +of the time when Davy went to London! Oh! Don't go,—stay with us, Davy! +Why should we not all be happy together?" And the poor girl burst into +tears. + +Davy kissed away the tears, and patted his sister on the shoulder, and +said that he would be always thinking of her, that he would often write +home, and maybe would come to old Greenside Farm at Christmas,—and +would not they have rare fun then! David felt the appeal to his +affections: he loved his parents, and his little sisters, and the dear +old home, but he loved "himself" best of all. Therefore, he resolved to +go up to London. + +Another effort was made to keep the wilful lad at his home. Minnie, +the eldest of the girls, gentle, thoughtful, and good, her father's +comfort, her mother's right hand, felt that it would be right to try +one more appeal to her brother's sense of duty. As Davy was on his +knees, on the evening before the day fixed on for his departure, +beginning to pack his box, he heard her gentle tap at the door. + +"Come in," said Davy, looking up. "So, Minnie, you've come to help me, +like a dear good child as you are!" + +"Not exactly that," said his sister, "though I should be glad to help +you to pack if—if you indeed must go. But, O Davy! I wish to speak a +few words to you first. I want to tell you what I heard dear father say +to mother to-day." Minnie found it difficult to command her voice,—but +she was determined to say what she had to say, though her brother +looked a little impatient, as if afraid of a lecture. "Father said, 'I +sometimes think I won't last long, Mary, and if I go, you'll have to +give up the farm, as you'll have no son to help you.'" + +"I hope that father is better than he thinks himself," said David, +looking grave. + +"I hope and trust that he is," faltered Minnie, "but he has been so +much pulled down by pain!" + +"Yes, that makes him take care about this thing and that. I believe +what ails him is more worry than anything else." + +"And if a son could take off any of those cares, could prevent any of +the worry, would it not be right—" began Minnie, but David impatiently +cut her short. + +"Don't bother me about that,—I've made up my mind to go, and I'm going! +Father hasn't thriven well as a farmer; I mean to thrive in some other +line, and come back rich, and make you all comfortable and happy!" + +There was a verse of Scripture in Minnie's mind, and she felt that she +must repeat it, though it made her heart beat faster to do so, for she +knew her brother's dislike to "religious talk." + +"Davy," she said very softly, "'The blessing of the Lord, it maketh +rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it.' Can we look for that blessing +if we turn away from our duty?" + +"Minnie, it's a pity you're not a parson, but I don't want sermons out +of church!" cried David, half inclined to be angry, and yet aware in +his conscience that his sister was in the right. "Go and fetch me a bit +of rope, will you,—and ask Jenny if the last shirt is ready. Come what +may, nothing shall change me,—I'm off to London to-morrow!" + + +And so the lad set off on the following morning: and if a little +sadness came over his heart as he received his mother's kiss and his +father's blessing, and saw his sisters crying, it soon passed away. By +the time that David had lost sight of the clump of elm-trees on the +hill, and the church spire, which was a landmark for miles around, +rising amongst them, and had crossed the little one-arch which marked +the boundary of the parish, his thoughts flowed as merrily and freely +as the brook which sparkled below. + +David found amusing companions in the train, whose talk beguiled the +long journey to London. Great was his pleasure and excitement on +arriving at the great bustling city, where everything was to him so new +and so strange. David felt himself in a new world! He soon got into an +omnibus and went off to the house of his uncle, the grocer, who had +agreed to receive him, and put him into the way of earning an honest +living. + +The farmer's son did not much fancy the look of his new home, which +was in rather a narrow, smoky street in the east end of London; he +missed the clear air, the bright sunshine, the sweet scents to which +he had been accustomed at Greenside. Nor was the lad much pleased with +the manner and appearance of his uncle. Mr. White was a quiet, sober +man of business, who went on year after year in the same routine of +occupation, without himself requiring amusement or change, or ever +thinking that others might require them. + +His uncle, however, was kind to him; that is to say, he provided all +that was needful for him, did not overwork his nephew, nor treat him +with any harshness. But he naturally expected him to be punctual and +steady, and do his allotted work. David soon tired of this; he found +that standing behind a counter, weighing out pounds of sugar and half +pounds of tea, was no more exciting or amusing than threshing out +corn in a barn. Besides this, David disliked the ways of his uncle's +house; he could not bear the regular hours; he found the family prayer +irksome, and he was angry at being warned against companions and +amusements that were a great deal more to his taste. + +"I can't stand this sort of thing!" said David to himself, after he had +been but five days in London. + +Short as his visit had been, he had already managed to pick up +acquaintance with three or four wild lads whom he fancied, as being +"fellows up to a lark!" + +One of them put him in the way of getting another place—"Quite a +different thing, a place where he wouldn't be hunted after by a prosing +old Methodist uncle; where he would have the evenings and nights to +spend as he pleased, and where he might be as jolly and free as ever he +liked!" + +David knew perfectly well that his parents would wish him to stay +with his uncle White; that they would be uneasy if they knew him to +be exposed to the numberless temptations of a great city, and seeking +the society of such comrades as would only lead him into evil. Again, +two paths lay before David Aspinall,—God's path of duty,—his own of +self-will. + +Again the lad turned from the right, in his careless pursuit after +pleasure. He left his uncle, telling him that he thought he could +"better himself" in another place, and that after giving it a trial, he +was convinced that he never could settle down to the grocery business. + + +David soon found that he had indeed chosen a downward way; he would +hardly have believed it possible, but a month before, that he could +have made such quick progress in evil. The lad had always been careless +and thoughtless as regarded religion, but he had not hitherto been +"profane," he had never uttered an oath in his life. He had behaved +decently, both when at his father's home and when under the roof of his +uncle. Now all restraint was removed, and David became like one of his +Godless companions. He could laugh at what once would have made him +blush. He never prayed, he never opened his Bible, he never entered the +door of a church. He frequented the public-houses, the theatres, and +places of low amusement. Sunday excursions were his delight. His guilt +was all the greater that he knew what was his duty. + +David did not care to write to his parents; he scarcely liked to +remember them at all, for a pang of conscience would sometimes shoot +through his soul, when the thought would come, "What would father say +if he could see me now?" "Poor mother! If she knew what I am after, it +would well-nigh break her heart!" + +David even hated the sight of letters from home, they always made him +so dull. He often wished that his family did not know his address. + +This career of folly and sin lasted almost to the end of that year, +and then it was brought suddenly to a close. David and a party of his +companions were returning from Greenwich one Sunday night, heated with +drink, when they took to breaking windows, and insulting or knocking +down peaceable citizens whom they met. Young Aspinall, indeed, took +less part than the rest in the more serious mischief, but he was mixed +up in the whole affair, and accordingly found himself, with one of the +others, in the lock-up before morning. + +It was a dreadful trial to the lad, who had by no means lost his sense +of shame, to be brought to a police-court on the Monday morning, +charged with breaking the law. Some delay occurred, from the absence +of an important witness, and David was remanded till the next day, so +had to spend another miserable night in the company of pickpockets and +drunkards. But if he had been wretched on his first appearance before +a magistrate, David was far more wretched on his second, for as the +prisoner entered the crowded, heated court, and raised his eyes for a +moment (for he had hitherto kept them bent on the floor), they fell on +the form of his father leaning on his crutch, his honest face looking +old and haggard, and with such an expression of grief and shame upon it +as cut his son to the soul. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +WANDERINGS—_continued._ + +JOHN ASPINALL had come up by the night train to London—a place which +he had never visited before—on account of a telegram received from +Mr. White on the preceding day at Greenside Farm. Never before had a +telegram been seen, or scarcely heard of, in that quiet secluded spot, +and its contents had filled the hitherto peaceful home with mourning +and woe. Had the tidings been those of David's death, they would not +have caused more anguish. His sisters cried bitterly, little Nelly the +loudest of all, though she could not, of course, understand the cause +of the trouble; she only knew that something dreadful had happened to +Davy. + +Jenny was indignant at the thought of her brother—her darling +brother—being brought before a magistrate. + +"He is as innocent as a lamb, I'm certain that he is," she exclaimed +through her sobs. "This is the doing of some wicked, cruel enemy, who +wants to ruin our Davy. Are you not sure that he is innocent, Minnie?" + +Poor Minnie could only hope so. Her love was as tender as Jenny's, but +not so blind. She was too well-aware that poor Davy had not made duty +the rule of his conduct at home, and she knew that when a stone is set +rolling down a steep hill, no one can tell where it will stop. The +tone of the very few short notes which David had written home during +the last six months had made his sister very uneasy; of late he had +written none at all. Minnie was less surprised than distressed when +the sad news came. She tried, though with a very sore heart, to cheer +her mother, and speak hope to her father, but her great resource was +pouring out her heart in prayer to God. + +Mrs. Aspinall could not weep, and would not complain, but she trembled, +and a feeling of faint sickness came over her frame. Her boy, her +darling, her pride, he to whom she had once looked as her future +comfort and the support of the family, was he to bring down the grey +hairs of his parents with sorrow to the grave? + +"Wife," said the farmer abruptly, "I must be up to London; there's a +train starts at ten to-night." + +Mrs. Aspinall cast a sad look out at the chill wintry landscape, but +she knew it would be vain to attempt to prevent her husband from taking +the journey. She pulled out of her large pocket a purse, for she +usually had charge of the money of the family. She emptied the purse on +the deal table with her cold trembling fingers; there were a few small +pieces of silver, and several of copper, but "not" one of gold. + +The farmer looked at the little store for a moment or two with a +knitted brow, then muttered as if to himself, "Cobbs said last week as +how he'd be glad to buy Crummie; I'll just step over and see if he's in +the same mind." + +"We'd spare anything for our boy," said Mary Aspinall. These were the +first words which she had trusted herself to utter since the arrival of +that dreadful telegram paper. + +So Crummie was sold, the favourite cow that the farmer had reared from +a calf; that had been the pride and pet of his children, and whose +milk had been the chief means, as his wife often said, of bringing +him through his long illness. With a full purse but a fuller heart, +the unhappy father started on his journey to London, on a dark, cold, +drizzly night. He would not have started alone, for Mary yearned to go +with him, had the mother not feared that all the spare cash would be +wanted for David, and had she not felt that it was needful for her to +stop and take care of the girls and the farm. + + +After once catching a glimpse of his father in the police-court, +David could hardly give his mind to attend to what was passing around +him. The voices sounded like a confused babble in his ears; he seemed +conscious only of one thing, that he was a guilty wretch, deserving +any amount of punishment that might be inflicted upon him. How had he +repaid all the love that had been lavished on him since his birth; how +had he fulfilled the fond hopes of which he had long been the object? + +David Aspinall was convicted of misdemeanour; the sentence was fine or +imprisonment. John paid the fine at once; his son, who was well-aware +how scanty were the means of his parents, could not bear to think, +though he could easily guess, how the money had been procured. His +uncle White, who was present, led the unhappy father, and yet more +unhappy son, out of the court, called a cab, and took them at once to +his home. Not a word was uttered during the long rattling drive. The +farmer sat opposite to David, leaning both hands on his crutch, with +his head bowed down; a heavier weight than that of years was crushing +the honest man to the dust! + +And then could David realise to some extent the misery described in the +words of the Psalmist, the anguish of remorse "without" confession, +remorse uncheered by the hope of God's forgiveness. The Lord's hand was +heavy upon him; his moisture was indeed "changed into the drought of +summer!" + +David made a not uncommon mistake at this time of shame and anguish. He +thought that "remorse" was "repentance;" he hated himself for his sin; +but he had yet to learn that to "hate self" is not always to "give up +self," and that the heart may be wrung with misery, yet the stubborn +will remain unbroken. + +"You'll come back with me, lad? Your mother won't be easy till she sees +you; you're wanted more than over at the farm." + +These were the first words which John Aspinall addressed on that day to +his son, and they were uttered in a hoarse, husky voice. + +"I'll never go back!" exclaimed David, with passionate excitement. +"This will be known all over the village—I could not look any one in +the face! No, no; I'd sooner die than go back!" + +"But what if it be your duty to go," said Mr. White, in a tone of grave +reproof. "We must sometimes put our likes and dislikes out of the +question, and try—to make up for the past." + +"I'll go out to one of the colonies, and work my way in a place where I +am not known," exclaimed David, who had hardly listened to his uncle, +and who dared not look at his father. + +Yet again the two ways, the right and the wrong, were before the young +lad. Had "his" been true godly repentance, he would "at any cost" have +tried to make the only amends that he could make to his family for +all the grief that he had caused them. He would have sacrificed his +self-will to what he knew to be the clear duty before him. He would +have obeyed the wishes of his earthly father, and so have followed the +guidance of his heavenly Father. But David was not prepared to do this. +Once again, after all the bitter lessons of the past, he chose the +way of his own inclination, and decided on working his way out to the +African coast. + +David did not even go back with his afflicted father to spend Christmas +at Greenside Farm. He would not have done so, even could he have +afforded the expense of the journey. As it was, all his wages had gone +in selfish pleasures, and he had to borrow from his uncle what was +required for bare necessaries to fit him out for the voyage. + +Before a fortnight had passed, David was tossing in the British +Channel, encountering the hardships of life at sea, and in vain +straining his eyes, as he passed the Dorsetshire coast, to catch a +glimpse of the distant church spire rising from the clump of old elms. + + "The way of transgressors is hard." + +This is declared in the Bible, and millions, by sad experience, can +testify to its truth. Every one who habitually chooses to follow his +own will, disregarding duty and conscience, will find in the end—if he +find not at once—that sorrow follows as the shadow of sin. + +David was no longer a thoughtless, light-hearted lad, he was a burdened +sinner, ashamed to think of his home, afraid to think of his God! After +a "miserable" voyage, which had seemed to him as if it never would end, +David arrived at the Cape of Good Hope. He was almost unprovided with +money, and did not find it as easy as he had expected to obtain good +employment. He got a few odd jobs, but no permanent engagement. + +After a while he was tempted by the offer of high wages, and also by +the hope of adventure and sport, to go a considerable way inland, to +enter the service of Hans Kuhe, the Dutch Boer, to whom I have already +introduced the reader. The lad spent all his little means in making the +long journey, and then found himself at Heinbok Kloof in the position +almost of a prisoner, or rather of a slave, to the coarse-minded +hard-hearted man whom he had chosen as master. David had no power to +get away, for it was impossible for him, without money or oxen, to +return to Cape Town through a dry barren tract, the haunt of wild +beasts, and of tribes of men almost as wild. + +Young Aspinall was chained to the service of one who so disliked +England and the English that he gave the name of "Britain" to his most +obstinate ox, for the express purpose of having something to thrash +which bore that hated name. Oh how bitterly did David contrast the +rude dwelling of Hans, seen under the furnace-like glare of an African +sun, to his own peaceful home in the valley; the yellow thick-lipped +Hottentots, who, whenever they dared, left their work to be done by the +English lad, to the dear ones whose faces and forms were so familiar to +memory; his father, with his broad sun-burnt brow; his gentle mother, +his rosy-checked sisters. David even contrasted the lean long-legged +oxen with sides seamed by the traces of the cruel rhinoceros hide, to +the sleek cattle that grazed in English pastures, or stood, as he so +often had seen them, in the pool enjoying the fresh cool waters in the +stillness of a summer eve. Sorely did David repent that he had ever +wandered from Greenside Farm. + +But still David's was not that repentance which leads the sinner to +God, it was not laying down the burden of his sins and his sorrows +at the feet of his Saviour, and trusting to that Saviour's mercy and +merits for pardon and peace. It was not until the night on which +my story opens, when David was returning from an expedition still +further inland, undertaken by his master for purposes of barter with +the natives, that the poor Wanderer had had a glimpse of the blessed +truth that he might yet return to his heavenly Father, that his +transgressions might be forgiven and all his sins blotted out. + +Great as were his sufferings and dangers, that was a night of blessing +to the penitent lad. It was then that he found his God and looked up to +Him in faith, not as the stern Judge who would execute judgment upon +a criminal, not as the awful King who would crush the rebel who had +broken His laws, but as the compassionate Saviour, deeply wronged, yet +loving still, stretching forth those sacred hands once pierced for the +sake of sinners, and calling to His wandering sheep, "Turn ye, turn ye, +why will ye die?" + + ——————— + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FORSAKEN. + + _"I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. +I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and Thou forgavest +the iniquity of my sin."_—Psalm xxxii. 5. + +"Up with you, English cur!" were the words, uttered in a harsh guttural +tone of command, which awoke David Aspinall from his short sweet dream, +and roused him in a moment to a sense of the pain fill realities around +him. "Up with you, English cur!" repeated the Boer, laying a stress on +the word English so as to convey an insult in the sound. "Kick that +fellow Pollux; these Totties * are always eating or sleeping! We must +in-span and be off before the sun grows hot." + + * Abbreviation for Hottentot. + +David sprang to his feet, but could hardly keep down an exclamation of +pain as he did so, for so sharp was the pang which shot through his +injured ankle. He, however, awoke Pollux, and with the help of the +lazy Hottentot, at once set about the labour of yoking the unwilling +oxen. Hans, seated on the fore-part of the waggon, eating his breakfast +meanwhile, and then smoking his pipe at ease, as he watched the efforts +of his servants, which he tried to quicken now and then with an oath or +a threat. + +"How I hate and despise that man! How I should like to serve him out!" +Such had often been the thought of the English youth, and had sometimes +been conveyed to its object in looks, if not in words. But on this +morning there was something in the heart of David which softened the +bitterness of his feelings even towards his tyrant. + +The labour of in-spanning was rendered very severe by the pain which +David suffered, and the toil-drops stood on his brow. He felt how +impossible it would be for him to follow the waggon on foot, and when +all was ready for a start, he limped up to his master,— + +"Sir, you see how my ankle is swelled; I doubt whether I could walk a +mile to save my life." + +"Swelled,—I should think it was!" exclaimed the Boer. "Why, you'll be +no more use for the next month than a lame dog in hunting, or a lame ox +in the yoke! What am I to make of you all that time, for you'll eat if +you won't work?" + +"I hope, sir, you'll let me sit on the waggon,—you see that I cannot +walk." + +"Sit on my waggon, when those wretched beasts can hardly drag the +load over the sand!" exclaimed the large heavy Boer, who had himself +little intention of walking. "No, no, if you can't follow on foot, +you may stay behind!" And the Dutchman put again into his mouth the +pipe which he had taken out in order to speak, and puffed away in calm +content, after uttering what was to his poor young servant almost like +a sentence of death. + +Commanding his voice and temper as well as he could, David made reply +to his master, "You can hardly mean to leave me here, sir, in the midst +of a desert, thirty miles from water, to perish by thirst, if not by +wild beasts!" + +"Pollux, lash the oxen, and let us be off!" shouted the Boer. + +"To leave me thus would be murder!" exclaimed David with indignation. + +"You'll find your legs, I warrant you, and follow the spoor (track) of +the waggon," observed Hans, as he resumed his pipe. + +"At least—at least you will give me water—and a musket to defend myself +from attacks of beasts, and to procure food—" + +"Can't spare a musket—have but three; you may have that!" said the +Boer, throwing down from the waggon a short spear of native make, on +which he set little value, and which was likely to be of little use. +"As for water," added the Boer, "I've just emptied the last drop from +the cask." + +So frightful was the fate to which the unfortunate youth was likely to +be left, that limping painfully by the waggon, which was now in motion, +he attempted by entreaty to move the heart of his cruel master. David +knew well that Hans had but to sacrifice a little of his property, to +cast out of the waggon some of the heavy goods within it, or go on foot +himself, to enable him easily to give that help on which a life might +depend. But Hans seemed as insensible to feelings either of honour or +pity as the oxen which dragged him. And David, unable to keep up with +the waggon, and in severe pain from the attempt to do so, was soon +forced to fall behind. + +He threw himself on the ground, and for some moments a feeling of +sullen despair stole over the deserted youth, as he listened to the +creaking sound of the wheels, and the crack of the whip, and the +shouting of Pollux growing fainter in the distance. + +"My God—O my God!" he murmured. "Am I to perish thus?" + +David had never felt death so near, and he now tried to prepare his +soul to look it calmly in the face. He might soon have to stand before +his offended Maker—how should he appear? What plea could he offer for +mercy? What hope had he that heaven would be his portion when he should +lay down the weary burden of the flesh? David felt that his life was +probably now to be counted by days, if not by hours; for on that most +lonesome track, it was highly improbable that any human being would +come to his succour. Time was precious indeed. Had David yet made his +peace with God? + +The first clear duty before the youth was to make humble confession +of sin before God. As David lay on the sand, leaning his brow on his +clasped hands, he went over in thought the events of his past life, +trying his own conduct by the standard of God's commands. Had he loved +the Lord his God with all his heart, his soul, and his strength? Nay, +he had forgotten his Maker in the days of his youth—had broken His +laws—had profaned His day—mocked at His people—slighted His word—even +taken His name in vain! Had David done his duty towards his neighbour? +Nay, he had treated with ingratitude and disobedience even the parents +whom he loved; he had spoken many a word of anger; he had harboured +thoughts of revenge; he had not indeed defrauded others of their +due, for he had scorned dishonesty, but by his evil example, he had +encouraged others in sin. He had "not" kept his heart pure; he had +"not" kept his lips clean; he had done what he ought not to have done, +and left undone what he ought to have done, and from the depths of his +soul the poor sinner confessed that there was no health in him. + +The act of confession was in itself painful, and yet it brought a +feeling of sweet relief. David had told God all—even as a child who has +done wrong comes and confesses to a parent, feeling that any punishment +is more tolerable than concealment would be. David had the blessed +hope that his punishment, as regarded suffering for sin "after" death, +had "already" been borne, that it had all been endured by the blessed +Saviour when He hung on the awful cross. + + "There is no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus." + +Sin might indeed bring—had already brought—affliction in this present +life. The psalmist was forgiven, yet tasted to the end of his days the +bitter consequences of his sin. But very different is the correcting +rod of a loving Father, who will make "all things to work for good" to +His penitent child, from the crushing wrath of the Almighty descending +upon a rebel who will not repent! + +After pouring out his heart in confession and prayer, David felt more +calm, more resigned. He now raised himself a little and looked around. +The prospect was indeed most desolate and dreary, and very painful was +the reflected heat of the sun from the barren sands. There was scarcely +a breath of air stirring, and what came seemed to have passed through +a furnace. David's mouth was parched and dry from thirst. He could see +some wild creatures, probably zebras, galloping in the distance. But +there was not the slightest chance of his being able to reach them, +even had he possessed a musket, they would have been beyond its range. + +The only other object that in the least varied the dreary sameness +of the prospect, was a patch of what seemed to be scarcely worthy of +the name of vegetation, a few hundred yards to the left of the youth, +and almost hidden from view by a little rising. This patch looked so +parched up and dry, that under other circumstances, David would not +have cared to go near enough to see what plants had found root in such +a desolate place. Now, however, the shelter of even the smallest bush +was not to be despised, and David, using the spear as a staff, slowly +made his way over the rising ground towards the low clump. + +He was rewarded for the effort by a joyful surprise. With a delight +which only those who have suffered from severe thirst can understand, +David beheld a water-melon, large and juicy, lying on the ground—that +plant which grows in African wastes, as if expressly designed by a +gracious Providence to supply the want of water in a dry and parched +up land. David seized the fruit with feverish haste, cut it open with +a large clasp-knife which he carried about him, and partook with keen +enjoyment of its melting contents, which are said to relieve thirst +even better than water. + +Nor was this all. David had not been for months in the Damara land +without learning the value of what, to a stranger's eye, might have +looked nothing but a few bare twigs. There was a treasure lying below, +and David soon dug up with his spear a large juicy root, wholesome and +most refreshing, which is often eaten by the natives. These plants, +growing in the wilderness, not only supplied the poor Wanderer's +present need, but spoke a lesson of hope to his heart, like that which +a little moss once taught the traveller Bruce. Here they grew in the +lonely waste, living proofs of the care of Providence, that in some way +unseen, supplied their roots with nourishment, and made them live and +spread where scarcely a blade of grass would grow. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +NOT FORSAKEN. + + _"For this shall every one that is godly pray unto Thee in a time when +Thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall +not come nigh unto him."_—Psalm xxxii. 6. + +DAVID was still thankfully partaking of the root called Markrohae, when +his attention was arrested by the appearance, on the sandy horizon, +of a four-footed creature approaching towards him at full speed. He +soon distinguished that it was a Springbok, a kind of antelope of the +desert, moving rapidly forward in bounds such as perhaps no other +quadruped can make. It was coming straight in his direction, and David +crouched down low, grasping his spear, and hiding himself as well as +he could behind the scraggy bushes. He was surprised to see a solitary +individual of a species that generally travels in herds, and still more +so that a creature so timid and shy should not have perceived him, so +imperfectly concealed as he was, and have started off in some other +direction. + +The cause for this was soon evident, as David perceived that three wild +dogs were in hot pursuit of the Springbok, which they had probably +singled out from a herd. The chase must have been a long and severe +one, for the antelope was now slackening its speed, and the terrified +creature was too much alarmed by the close pursuit behind to take +notice of danger in front. Before it could reach the bushes, the +foremost dog had pulled it down, and in a few seconds the other two +were on their already lifeless prey. + +[Illustration: The chase must have been a long and severe one, + for the antelope was now slackening its speed.] + +Now was the moment for David! With steady aim, he sent his light spear +whirling through the air and right amongst the ravenous wolf-like +creatures that had just run down their quarry. It glanced from the +shoulder of one of the dogs, which uttered a yell of pain. David sprang +to his foot, threw up his arms, and shouted! + +Whether it was his sudden appearance, or the sound of a human voice, +which is said to have such strange power over the beasts of which man +was made the lord, it is not needful to decide. The savage creatures +did not await the approach of the unarmed youth, but a second shout +sent them galloping off with such speed as their already half-exhausted +strength would allow, flying from the face of man, and leaving their +prey behind them. + +"This is indeed wonderful!" murmured David, as he painfully made his +way to the spot where the dead antelope lay. "God has made the very +beasts of prey provide me food in the desert! 'Thou preparest a table +before me.' That is from the twenty-third Psalm. I can no longer say +that it is not a Psalm for me. 'Yea, though I walk through the valley +of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.' I +will no longer think myself alone. Even after all my guilty wanderings, +God has not forsaken me. I will trust Him in life and in death, 'for +His mercy endureth for ever.'" + +Taking the spear again as his staff, David, with considerable +difficulty, dragged the body of the dead Springbok to the small thicket +which he had just quitted. He had learned from the Bushmen their way of +procuring fire without match, flint, or steel, and now his knowledge +stood him in good stead. He first gathered together some leaves, which +the fierce sun had made almost as dry as tinder; next he cut two sticks +with his knife, making a small notch in the first, and sharpening the +point of the second; he then put this point into the notch, and twirled +the second stick round between the palms of his hands so rapidly, as to +produce sufficient heat to set fire to the little dry heap. He threw on +this some withered twigs, and soon a thin cloud of blue smoke curled up +in the clear desert air. + +David's cooking of a portion of his antelope was of a very rough +description, but he sat down to his hastily prepared meal with a very +thankful heart. He had always been accustomed at Greenside Farm to hear +his father say a grace before dinner, but since leaving England, David +had never himself thought of returning thanks to God for his food, +until he partook of this meal which Providence had spread for him in +the desert. It was no mere cold form now when David Aspinall uttered +the words,— + + "For these, and 'all' His mercies, the Lord's name be praised!" + +David was not only refreshed and strengthened by the food, but he was +cheered by the thought that for one night at least he might be able to +keep off attacks from wild beasts by lighting a fire. His supply of +fuel was indeed very scanty, but then he would use it sparingly. He +had not sufficient wood for the morrow, but "why take thought for the +morrow?" The God who has amply supplied the need of to-day, would not +desert him then. + +David found occupation in gathering together materials for his +night-fire, and then made up for his short broken rest by a refreshing +afternoon sleep. + +When the youth awoke, he again partook of food, and relieved his thirst +by finishing what he had left of the melon in the morning. Then, +reclining on the sand by the heap of dried sticks and leaves which +he would light after sunset, David gave himself up to holy thoughts, +repeating to himself the thirty-second Psalm, and dwelling upon its +meaning verse by verse. + + "'For this shall every one that is godly pray unto Thee.'" + +David paused that he might try better to understand this passage of +Scripture. + +"As this Psalm tells of mercy to him 'whose transgression is forgiven, +whose sin is covered,' I should have thought that the word would rather +have been, 'For this shall every one that is "ungodly" pray unto Thee.' +It is only they who want the mercy. But who are the godly, who are the +righteous mentioned so often in the Bible? Do we not read in another +part,— + + "'There is none that doeth good, no, not one'? + +"Did not our Saviour Himself say,— + + "'There is none good but one, that is God'? + +"What is meant, then, by godly, and why should the godly pray because +God has mercy on sinners?" + +This was a difficult question, and David could not for a long time +think of a satisfactory reply. Would not St. Peter be counted "godly?" +And yet St. Peter three times denied his Lord. Surely St. Paul was +"righteous," yet he had been a persecutor and blasphemer. At length the +truth seemed to dawn upon David as the words recurred to his mind,— + + "'In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.'" + +Surely the "godly" in the sixth verse of the Psalm must be the very +same as the "blessed one" mentioned in the first, whose "transgression +is forgiven, whose sin is covered," who is counted righteous before +God, because through faith, he is made a partaker of the spotless +righteousness of Christ. It is to such that it is said in the Psalm, +"The Lord imputed not iniquity." Yes, the "godly" is not, cannot be the +man who has committed "no" sin, for in that case there would be none +godly upon earth; but rather he that loveth much, because he hath been +much forgiven! + +"Now I remember," thought David, "the large picture of the Deluge, +which used to hang between the two lattice windows in my dear old room +at Greenside, and what my mother said to us about it on one wintry +Sunday, when we were almost blocked up by snow." + +David sighed heavily as he recalled the bright blaze of the wood-fire, +rendered so welcome by the sharp keen air, and how those lattice +windows had been all feathery with frost, and the trees without, +silvered with frozen dew. To the poor Wanderer, half burnt up by +African heat, ice and snow and sharp crisp air seemed the greatest of +luxuries. + +David went on with his train of thought in reference to the picture of +the Deluge. "My dear mother pointed out to us the Ark floating on the +surface of the waters, while the rain poured in torrents from the sky, +and poor wretches were drowning even on the tops of the highest hills. + +"'Mind you, my children,' she said, 'the family of Noah were safe, +"not" because they were good swimmers or good sailors, "but" just +because they had faith and obedience to make them go into the Ark. That +was the place of safety which God had provided, and "no other" was +safe. And so Christ is our Ark and our Refuge now. If we are in Him, we +are safe; even at the last awful day, the great waters of destruction +shall not come nigh us!'" + +And what is it to be "in Christ"? Is it not to come to Him as a poor, +helpless, perishing sinner, whose only hope is in His mercy? Has He not +said of such,— + + "'He that cometh unto me I will in nowise cast out'"? + +Reader, I ask you not whether you have ever been a wanderer like David, +or whether you have led what men may call a blameless life. I ask, have +you ever come to Christ; have you given your heart to Him? If so, He is +willing, ready to clothe you with His own righteousness, to give you +His Spirit to make you holy, and render you, by that Spirit's power, +one of the "godly" that pray unto Him! + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +PERIL AT HAND. + + _"Thou art my hiding-place; Thou shalt preserve me from trouble; Thou +shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance."_—Psalm xxxii. 7. + +THE glowing red sun went down, just as David, after much difficulty, +had succeeded in kindling his small dry heap of firewood. There was +little or no twilight; in a short space all was dark (for the moon +had not yet risen), save when the English youth, on his lonely watch, +carefully placed one crackling branch after another upon his little +fire. + +"I must not go to sleep," thought David, "or my fire will go out, +especially as I dare not waste my precious fuel to make it large enough +to last without constant care. The desert seems to me to be more than +usually still: even the jackals are silent, and I cannot hear the +hyena's horrible laugh!" + +David put his ear close to the ground to listen, and then,—even on that +sultry night and close to a fire,—there came over him a feeling like +a chill, and he hastily threw on more fuel, and made the flumes leap +high, while he looked anxiously in one particular direction, and then +bent down again and listened. + +"Yes, I could not mistake that sound, though uttered, perhaps, miles +from hence! That was the roar of the lion himself! I must not suffer +the fire to die down, for that is my only protection now, except the +mercy—the watchful care of my God!" + +It was no small comfort to David to feel the night-breeze blowing from +the direction in which he had heard the roar,—for as he was to windward +of the lion, the terrible king of the desert was not so likely to scent +either him or the remains of the Springbok which he was heating at the +fire. Still it was an awful position for him; alone in the waste, with +the knowledge that a fierce wild beast was roaming abroad, and that +there was not so much as the barrier of a wall or a hedge between it +and him! It was somewhat natural that David, in this strange peril, +should recall to mind a verse from St. Peter's epistle. + + "'Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary, the Devil, as a +roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.'" + +"How much more carefully, how much more anxiously I guard against the +lion which can only destroy my body, than I did against him who so +nearly destroyed my soul!" thought David. "Here am I now, giving up +sleep, treasuring every dry stick as if it were worth its weight in +gold, stirring my fire to a blaze, listening, watching, waiting, ready +to start up any moment with my spear in my hand! How was it with me in +my careless days of sin? Why, I have profanely laughed at the notion +of danger; I have been angry at warnings, however wisely given; I have +scarcely believed that there was a Devil at all, and I have actually +jested with the soul-destroyer's name on my lips! I was no more afraid +of the Lion that goeth about to devour, than yon 'dead' antelope is of +the fierce wild beast that may swallow it up in a moment. And why was I +so easy and careless? It was because I was 'dead in sin;' my conscience +was dead! Thank God, the God of mercy, that I did not then perish +for ever,—called to the bar of judgment unrepenting, and therefore +unforgiven!" + +For hours the Wanderer sat feeding his fire, while the full moonlight +fell around him, and thousands of twinkling stars glimmered in the deep +blue sky above. The fire, kept up to scare away lions and other beasts +of prey, was like the grace of God in the heart, which every Christian +must carefully tend by watchfulness and prayer. Oh! Dear reader, when +we find our hearts growing cold towards God, when our light does "not" +shine before men, when we become sleepy and careless in religion, let +us tremble and rouse ourselves to greater vigilance. For "our enemy is +not asleep," temptation and danger are near, far greater peril than any +that can threaten the body alone! + +Sometimes David fancied that he saw dim forms, like shadows, moving in +the distance. And once again, but still afar off, he heard the sound +of the deep low roar which strikes such terror to the heart. He tried +to keep his soul calm and composed, trusting in God;—to realise the +precious assurance contained in the words of the Saviour: + + "'Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them +is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are +all numbered. Fear not, therefore: ye are of more value than many +sparrows.'" + +Who should be so fearless as the Christian who rests under the shadow +of the Almighty's wings? Of what need he be afraid to whom death +itself, whenever or howsoever it comes, is but a messenger of love to +bear him to the presence of a Father! + +Though David found comfort in such thoughts, he was thankful when the +long, long night wore away, though, oh, how slowly! At length a glow +appeared in the eastern sky, the morning broke at last, and there was +the Wanderer, alive and unharmed. + +How much during the night had David thought of his home and every +individual in it; memory calling up each dear familiar face, till he +could almost fancy himself again seated with his family round the +cheerful board, with little Nelly on his knee. And how fondly he had +prayed for every one at Greenside—his good father, his tender mother, +the sisters who had been his playmates and friends! What earnest +resolutions David had made, that if God should please to spare his +life, and let him return to England, he would be the comfort and +help of his parents, a true brother and guardian to the girls. How +cheerfully would he labour, not for a cruel master, but for a loving +father; not as a bondsman, but as a son! And even in such a spirit +would he try to work for his God. His service should not be that of +slavish fear, but of grateful adoring love! He would think no duty +too hard, no duty too painful, if called to do it for the sake of his +merciful Saviour! + +It was now broad daylight, the sun had risen, and David beheld with +surprise the change in the scene before him. Not half a mile distant +appeared a large and beautiful lake, reflecting like a polished mirror +the glittering sunshine! Here and there a soft isle appeared to dot the +blue expanse of the waters. The scene was lovely, and all the more so +as contrasted with the barren wildness of that upon which the sun had +set on the preceding evening. David gazed with admiration indeed, but +not with pleasure. He knew that he looked upon a mirage, that all was +as false as it was fair; that with that shining lake before him, he +might yet perish with thirst! Wide as the waters appeared, the Wanderer +knew that there was not a drop of real moisture with which he could +cool his burning lips, and he would have thankfully exchanged all the +goodly show for a single cup of cold water! + +"Ah!" said David to himself, with a sigh. "Had I but reached this spot +at night, and so not have known but too well the nature of the country +around, with what eager hope and delight the sight of that lake would +have filled me! How, at the cost of any pain, I would have rushed +towards it, from the longing to plunge myself into its cool refreshing +waters! In the days of my ignorance, it was thus that I looked upon +sinful pleasure; it was a mirage to my soul; I must and would reach +it, and no one should keep me back! I had what I resolved to obtain, +and what did I find? Not cooling waters, but barren sand! Oh! How much +of sorrow was needed to teach me the lesson that the soul's thirst for +happiness cannot be quenched by the world's mirage! It can only be +satisfied by the love of Him who said,— + + "'He that believeth on Me shall never thirst.'" + +David had imagined that with the night his greatest danger from wild +beasts would pass away, that whatever his sufferings might be from its +heat, at least some degree of safety would come from the sun. But when, +after watching the mirage for some time, he chanced to turn his eyes in +a different direction, he started in sudden alarm! What is that coming +towards him?—A single creature, and a large one; it is neither giraffe +nor zebra! + +David, alone and unprotected, felt his heart throb fast at the +suspicion which flashed across his mind as to the nature of the +creature that came on so rapidly over the sand! It was not long that he +could cling to a doubt, it was a large lion that was galloping towards +him, and it saw him; for straight as an arrow it came in the Wanderer's +direction. The wild beast slackened its pace as it drew nearer; the +bounding gallop was changed to a crouching walk. David would willingly +at that moment have given his left hand to have had a double-barrelled +gun in his right. For well he knew that his small spear would be of +little use in a struggle with an enemy so powerful as the desert +king. He would not attempt to fling the weapon—it would only serve to +irritate, not to inflict a mortal wound. + +It was a fearful thing to stand watching the gradual approach of +the lion, and yet David was calmer and more resolute than under +circumstances far less trying to flesh and blood. Even at that awful +time there was a sense of the presence of God, which strengthened his +soul to meet danger, and, if needs be, death itself as a man and a +Christian should meet them! + +David kept his eyes fixed on the lion; and the glaring eyes of the lion +were fixed upon him. The youth had often heard tales amongst Hottentots +of adventures with wild beasts in which the power of the human eye had +been mentioned, and when it had been said that even the lion fears to +attack a man who looks him full in the face. David had not put much +faith in such stories, but had often said that he believed the best use +of the eye in such cases was to direct a heavy bullet aright. But the +young Englishman had now no other resource, and he dared scarcely so +much as let an eyelid quiver, as he surveyed the lion with so fixed a +stare that a dimness seemed to come over his sight from the intensity +of his gaze. As if half spell-bound, more and more slowly advanced +the lion, crouching catlike on the sand, lashing his tawny tail, and +uttering ever and anon a low fierce growl. + +Five, ten minutes thus passed—every minute seemed an hour: suspense +became almost intolerable; but the end appeared now to be at hand. The +lion was not many yards from the English youth, and suddenly, with an +angry shake of his mane, drew himself together in the act to spring! At +this instant, a sharp report rang through the air, then another, and +another,—and almost before the dizzied brain of David could realise the +fact that deliverers must be near, the lion, with a wild roar of agony +and rage, rolled over on the sand, and lay quivering in death but a few +paces from the feet of its destined victim. + + ——————— + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +RESOLUTIONS. + + _"I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: +I will guide thee with mine eye."_—Psalm xxxii. 8. + +"A RIGHT good shot, and a splendid prize!" exclaimed a loud cheerful +voice in English, as, musket in hand, a young mounted hunter galloped +up to the spot, followed by another, a few years older than himself, +whose face, bearded and bronzed, was unmistakeably English. + +"You've had a narrow escape!" cried the second rider to David, who +still stood as if rooted to the ground. + +"A merciful deliverance!" gasped the youth. + +"Aye, a merciful deliverance indeed!" repeated the first rider, whose +name was Carlton. "We had to make a circuit to get a fair broadside +shot, and feared, every moment, that the beast would spring on you +before we got near enough to take a sure aim. I had to fire at last at +so long a range, that I scarcely expected the bullet would strike. What +a splendid creature this lion is, Manners! Of all our hunting spoils, +this is the noblest by far!" + +And dismounting, the young Englishman surveyed with admiration the +immense carcass of the once formidable lion. + +"You are a lad of mettle!" observed Manners to David. "You stood your +ground like a hero!" + +"I could neither fight nor fly," answered David simply, "or I'd have +been glad enough to do either." + +"How came you,—and without a gun,—to be here all alone in such a wild +place as this?" asked Carlton with some curiosity and interest. + +"I served Hans Kuhe, the Boer, the track of whose waggon you may +see yonder. I fell lame; he would not let me ride, and I could not +walk,—and so he left me behind." + +"The brute!" exclaimed the young hunter. + +"But notwithstanding your lameness, you seem to have had some luck in +hunting," observed Manners, glancing at what remained of the Springbok. + +"I could not follow the game,—the game was sent to me," answered David, +his heart glowing with gratitude as he spoke; "wild dogs pulled it down +near to this spot, and with my spear I was able to frighten them away, +and take what God had provided. It was He, too, who brought you here, +gentlemen—you to whom I owe my life, for which I thank you from my +soul!" + +"We were but just in time," observed Manners. + +Carlton had already begun a rough measurement of the lion, which was +one of the largest size,—and he conversed eagerly as he went on with +his occupation. + +"This king of beasts—he deserves the name—has led us a good chase this +morning over his desert domain. He was prowling last night round the +spot where we had outspanned, and made our oxen half mad with terror. +But I suppose he thought discretion the better part of valour, for he +did not venture on an attack, and made off before we could get a fair +shot. We mounted, and have been following on his spoor ever since there +was light enough to see it. But I doubt whether we should ever have +come up with our game, had you not headed him, and kept him at bay. You +are certainly the hero of this lion adventure, and deserve the tail as +a trophy." + +"You will, of course, join our party," said Mr. Manners kindly to +David; "our waggons will be up in an hour or so, for we intend to +outspan to-night at Quagga Fountain." + +"And Manners will play surgeon to your hurt," said Carlton gaily; "he +is doctor-in-chief to our party, and can set a bone or cut off a leg in +a twinkling!" + +David joyfully accepted the offers of his fellow-countrymen. The sound +of his native tongue, in its purity, was as music to his ears, and the +frank, cordial kindness which he met with was all the more delightful, +from the contrast which it presented to the harsh conduct of the Boer. +How marvellously had the Wanderer been watched over and cared for—to +the hungry, food had been sent; to the friendless, friends; and to the +helpless, great deliverance! It sweetened every blessing to David, to +regard it as coming directly from God. Thankfulness is the parent of +cheerfulness. We may safely affirm, that he who has a heart to praise +will never lack something to praise for. + +The hunters now proposed galloping back to their waggons, and sending +some of the "Totties" to help to skin the lion. + +"And probably feast on the carcass," laughed Carlton. "So that they can +have plenty of flesh, these fellows are not particular as to what it +comes from." + +"Shall I take you up behind me on my horse?" said Manners to David. + +David declined the kindly offer, the state of his ankle being such +as would have rendered the ride extremely painful. Besides, he was +unwilling to cause inconvenience to one of his preservers. He would +rather remain where he was, he said, and watch by the dead lion until +the waggons came up. + +"I'll just load my gun and leave it with you, then," said Manners; "you +might have other unpleasant visitors while left alone here." + +"And we'll not forget to send you, by the Totties, something to help +your breakfast," added Carlton; "you have plenty to eat, as I see, but +the liquor must not be wanting." + +In few but fervent words David again thanked his new friends, who did +not care to wait to be thanked. Off they rode, blithe and merry, joyful +at having slain their lion, and still more delighted at having been the +means of saving a gallant lad from a terrible fate. + + +Once more was David left to himself, and solitude was not unwelcome, +for with it he could more freely pour out his heart's deep thanksgiving +to God. He could also more quietly form resolutions for the future. He +would now plead for the fulfilment of that gracious promise contained +in his mother's favourite Psalm,— + + "'I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.'" + +David resolved that from that day forth, he would never take any +important step in life without praying for heavenly guidance. Nor would +he—God's Spirit helping his resolve—ever suffer his own wayward will to +draw him from the straight path. + +"What is meant by 'I will guide thee with mine eye?'" David reflected +on the expression. + +It is always well to ponder over such passages until their full meaning +becomes clear to our minds. + +"I remember," thought young Aspinall, "that when Minnie and I were +children together, mother gave an account of our behaviour during his +absence to father, who had been on business away from home three days. + +"'I've had a little trouble with Davy,' she said ('I' daresay that it +was not a 'little'), 'for he does not always mind what is said to him; +but as for my little Minnie, a "look" is enough for her. Minnie was so +obedient to her mother that she could be guided by "the eye."' + +"That must be the meaning of those words in the Psalm, and what a +beautiful meaning it is! I have been through life like a wilful, +disobedient child, and God has had to draw me back to Himself by +means that were rough and painful. I have had shame and loss, pain +and danger, and all these trials were needed, not one could have been +spared me. It would not have been thus with me if I had obeyed from +the first the voice of conscience within. Yes, 'Conscience' applying +Scripture must be the 'directing look' of the Lord; and the man who +follows it fully and faithfully, he it is whom God 'guides by His eye.'" + +The greatest earthly desire David now had was to return to his home +and fulfil those wishes of his parents, which had now become his own. +Even the recollection of the painful passage in his life in London +which had once made him so shrink from going back to Greenside was now +insufficient to damp that desire. The thought of treading again the +well-known fields, and hearing the dear familiar voices,—climbing the +orchard-trees in autumn, and flinging down sweet apples to Eliza, whose +good-humoured face would look almost as round and rosy as they,—or +sitting by the fire, on winter evenings, telling tales of African +life,—how delightful would this be! Then the walk with his father and +mother along the green lanes to the church on the hill with Jenny close +at his side, or listening to the soft music of Minnie's voice teaching +Nelly the evening hymn—all was like a dream of happiness to the poor +Wanderer in Africa, too bright to be ever realised! + +But how could David get back to England? Doubtless the generous hunters +who had already shown so much kindness would take him in safety to +some part of the colony where he would at least be in no danger of +starvation, or of perishing by attacks of beasts, or Bushmen. But David +felt that he had no right to expect anything more from them. The injury +to his ankle was so severe that he feared lest it would be long indeed +before he could have a chance of working his way home: and though, at +the Cape, he might earn something by the labour of his hands, he knew +from experience that a tedious time must elapse before he could save +enough to pay for a passage to England. In the meantime what might not +happen! + +David was in a feverish state from heat, thirst, and the pain in his +ankle. It is likely, too, that the adventure with the lion had, for the +time, shaken his nerves; indeed, to face such a fearful creature alone, +and for so long a time, was enough to try the firmest—all these causes +together produced a depressing effect upon his spirits. A horrible fear +came over him that he should never see his father again, never be able +to ask his forgiveness, that he should arrive in England "just too +late," and find the farm in the hands of strangers, his family gone, +nothing of theirs left but a new tombstone in the churchyard! + +David groaned aloud as his feverish fancy presented all this to his +mind with the vividness of reality. Oh, that he had wings to fly home! +How could he endure to wait for months, perhaps for years, before he +could embark for Old England! Could it be wrong to wish, to pray for +money, when money could take him to his home? David did pray, and very +earnestly, that the way might be opened before him, and that his father +might be spared to rejoice in his prodigal's return. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +GUIDANCE. + + _"I will guide thee by mine eye."_—Psalm xxxii. 8. + +THE movements of the two waggons belonging to the English hunters, +though certainly quicker than those of the Boer who had lost so many of +his span, * were tedious to the impatient David. He did not, however, +have to remain suffering from thirst until they came up, for a party +of Hottentots, sent by the hunters, who were themselves engaged in +shooting, came up to carry off the skin and claws of the lion, and +Manners had not forgotten to forward by them water, and other things +needful. + + * A "span" usually consists of fourteen oxen. + +David, though to a certain degree refreshed, longed for the shelter of +the waggon-tilt to shield him from the blazing sun. He was not exactly +in the track along which the waggons would pass, having left it, as the +reader is aware, for the little low clump of bushes. David, to whom the +sight and scent of the Hottentots engaged in their task were anything +but agreeable, took the musket and spear to support his painful steps, +and made his way back to the road, if road it could be called, where he +saw on the sand the broad marks of the wheels of Hans' waggon, and the +hoof-prints of his weary oxen. + +The youth was now not many yards from the spot where he had pleaded, +though in vain, to be taken up on that waggon,—perhaps some fifty paces +farther on the road than where he had stood at that time. Emotions of +fiery indignation rose in the Wanderer's breast, when he thought of the +cruel wrong that had been done him, and how nearly the conduct of his +heartless master had given him over as a prey to the lion. + +David was turning over these reflections in his mind, when his eye +chanced to fall on an object lying not far from his feet, on the track +of the Boer's waggon. He knew in an instant what it was, and hastening +to the spot, as fast as pain would let him, he raised from the sand a +large leathern purse heavy with gold, that gold which Hans Kuhe prized +more than anything else upon earth, except perhaps, his brandy-flask +and his pipe. + +A crowd of conflicting feelings pressed upon the mind of David as he +grasped the heavy purse, dropped on the road by the man who had almost +been his murderer. The very first thought which arose was, "This is +sent in answer to prayer; this money will take me home!" Then there +followed a strange conflict within, a kind of dialogue which David held +with his own soul; or rather, there was the Tempter of man speaking +on the one hand, and Conscience answering on the other. If the reader +knows nothing of such an inward struggle, it is to be feared that it is +because Conscience is silent, not because sin is dead. + + TEMPTER.—Why should you doubt for a moment whether it is lawful for you +to take this money which Providence has placed in your very path? + + CONSCIENCE.—It is written, "Thou shalt not covet."—"Thou shalt not +steal." + + TEMPTER.—The hateful Boer owes you wages; it is lawful to take your +own. + + CONSCIENCE.—He owes you but "one" piece of gold, which alone can be +rightfully yours; that purse, by its weight, contains at least forty. + + TEMPTER.—But think of the good you might do with that money. In the +hands of the Boer it will be spent on drunken revels, or still worse. +With you it will make your parents happy; it will take you back to the +home which it was sin in you ever to leave. + + CONSCIENCE.—How that money will be spent by another is not the point +to decide. It is not the Boer's conduct, but your own, that "you" must +answer for before God. Ill-gotten wealth brings no blessing, but a +curse. Let none "do evil, that good may come." + + TEMPTER.—But think on your cruel wrongs. Remember the insulting +words,—nay, even the blows which you have had to endure. Think on the +barbarity of him who could leave a faithful follower to die a lingering +death, and that, too, from a hurt received in his service. If you +cannot keep the purse for yourself, throw it away. Let it be found by +some one else who will use the money without a scruple. Take out the +one piece which is your own, and then scatter the gold to the right and +the left. You may scorn to keep another man's money, but you may enjoy +the "sweetness of revenge." Your tyrant will have to bear a heavy loss, +and it is to be hoped that he will look upon it as a just punishment +for his conduct to you. + + CONSCIENCE.—It is written, "Do good to them that hate you; pray for +them that despitefully use you and persecute you." It is written, "If +ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in Heaven forgive +your trespasses." There is a safe and simple rule which every servant +of Christ is bound to follow, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome +evil with good." + +Conscience had won the victory, and David enjoyed the blessed +experience of what it is for God's child to be guided by His eye. + +The youth resolved to restore the purse, at the first opportunity, +to its rightful owner; but human nature is weak, and he knew that if +such opportunity were long delayed, the temptation which he had just +conquered might come back again with irresistible force. Reason told +him that it would be better to put it out of his power to take from +that store of gold in case his need should be very great or a length of +time should elapse before he should meet Hans Kuhe again. The Boer was, +as David believed, more than a day's march before him, and his road +would turn off at Quagga Fountain in quite a different direction from +that which the English party were likely to take. The gentlemen would +know better than David could how to send money across a wild country; +the lad therefore made up his mind to place the purse in their hands, +after taking from it the small amount of wages actually due to himself. + +Before the hunters came riding up towards him, a little in advance of +their waggons, David had decided on the right course to be pursued. As +soon as they had dismounted and had come up to the place where he was +awaiting their arrival, young Aspinall gave the parse into the hands of +Manners, and told him that he had picked it up on the road, but that he +knew it belonged to Hans Kuhe, a Dutch Boer, who lived at Heinbok Moot +and that he hoped the gentlemen would kindly take charge of it, and +have it restored to its owner. + +"How came you to identify a common-looking purse so readily?" inquired +Mr. Carlton. + +"I have seen it dozens of times in the hands of its owner; I know well +that tobacco-stain left by his fingers." + +"He is some friend of yours then, I suppose?" + +"Hardly to be called so," answered David with a smile; "only yesterday +he was my master." + +"Your master!" exclaimed Carlton. "What—the fellow who left you to die +in the desert!" + +Carlton whistled, and turned on his heel. + +Manners smiled, placed the heavy purse in one of his pockets, and told +David that he would take care not only that it should reach its owner, +but that the Boer should be informed who had been its finder. + +"And now, my boy," said the Englishman, "let me play the surgeon, and +look at your ankle." + +Very skilfully and very kindly did Manners, like the good Samaritan, +bind up the hurt of the young traveller whom he had met by the way, +Carlton looking on with interest as he did so. The three then mounted +the waggon, whose tilt, lined with many a trophy of the chase, offered +a refreshing shelter from the blazing heat of noon. Manners made +David rest on his own bed in the waggon, where the lad enjoyed a long +deep sleep, from which he awoke quite free from fever, and much more +disposed to look upon everything in a cheerful light. + +It was very pleasant indeed to David, who had been treated as a dog +by Hans Kuhe, to find himself not only in the society of countrymen +and gentlemen, but to be aware that they were both very favourably +disposed towards him, and that they admired his courage and honesty. +It was not merely the hope that Manners and Carlton might in some way +help his return to England that made this knowledge so delightful to +David; he had a heart that warmed to kindness, especially in a foreign +land, and after having experienced so much of the reverse, the youth +was naturally desirous to keep the good opinion of the hunters, and was +anxious not to say or do anything which might lower him in their eyes. + +As the three sat in the waggon together, the gentlemen asked David a +few questions as to his parentage and birthplace, and seemed pleased +when they heard that he was the son of an English farmer. + +"One might have guessed that you came of the race of our bold yeomen," +observed Carlton, "when you would face a lion for half an hour without +winking!" + +David's cheek glowed with pleasure at the praise, and he could not +refrain from telling of a brave deed performed by his father in early +youth, when John Aspinall had been the means of saving a girl from an +infuriated bull. + +Both the gentlemen listened with much interest, and Manners quoted +something from Goldsmith about a "bold peasantry, their country's +pride," which raised David's spirits still higher. The conversation +then took another turn. The subject was that of shooting, and the +hunters were glad to find that their young comrade knew very well how +to handle a musket or rifle. + +"Almost the best shot that ever I met with was our gamekeeper's son," +observed Manners. "I've seen him bring down a small bird on the wing +when it looked a mere speck in the sky! He was such a clever lad too; +he could turn his hand to anything. He'd have been invaluable on an +expedition like ours—he'd have dressed a dinner or mended a shaft, or +have made a pair of velt-shoen, or have driven a span of oxen, as if +he'd been brought up to the business of cook, carpenter, cobbler, and +driver! The poor fellow was wild to come with me to Africa!" + +"And why did you not bring him?" asked Carlton. + +"Well," began Manners slowly, as if he scarcely dared to give his +reasons; "you see—he had got into a scrape—had been before the +magistrate, and had seen the inside of a prison. I don't choose to have +anyone about me whose character bears a stain." + +"Quite right,—don't you think so?" said Carlton, tuning towards David. + +The poor youth's face flushed again, but not this time with pleasure. +He felt uneasy, mortified, ashamed, and knew not what to reply. + +"Why," continued Carlton, seeing that he hesitated, "you would not keep +company with a gaolbird, would you?" + +Again there was a struggle within, a dialogue between the Tempter and +Conscience, only carried on far more rapidly than I can write, or the +reader peruse it. + + TEMPTER.—Put a bold face on the matter; say "no" at once. + + CONSCIENCE.—That would be a lie. + + TEMPTER.—Only a white lie; it will do no one harm. + + CONSCIENCE.—It will do you grievous harm, for it is sin. "Lying lips +are an abomination to the Lord." + +Once more David felt Conscience to represent his God's guiding eye. + +"You would not keep company with a gaolbird?" repeated Carlton, +resolved to have a reply. + +"I—I have been in a scrape myself," said David with a desperate effort. + +"Then I'll be bound, it was on some false charge!" exclaimed Manners. + +"I wish I could say so," murmured poor David, heartily wishing himself +fifty miles off. + +There was silence for two or three seconds, and then Manners observed +to Carlton, "whatever he was 'then,' he is a noble fellow 'now;' we'll +never come on this subject again." + +The effort was over—the truth had been told, and David had the comfort +of finding that his candour had raised him as much in the favour of his +friends, as he had feared that his confession would have lowered him. +Manners and Carlton treated him with even more kindness than before, +while he had the comfort of feeling that he had followed the dictates +of Conscience, and spoken the truth, as a Christian should ever do. +Never yet had any being cause to regret having followed, whether in +small things or in great, the gentle leading of Him who guideth His +saints by His eye! + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE STUBBORN SINNER. + + _"Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: +whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near +unto thee."_—Psalm xxxii. 9. + +DAVID was reminded of the verse which heads this chapter while watching +the struggles of one of the draught-oxen, which was young, obstinate, +and not yet well broken-in to the yoke. Restive and stubborn, it seemed +disposed to pull in any way but the right one, though its very life, as +David knew, depended on its obeying the driver, who was directing it to +the nearest point where a large fountain of water was to be found. The +ox kicked, tried to gore with its horns,—to break from the waggon, to +do anything rather than "obey," and drew down upon itself heavy blow +after heavy blow—punishment carried to an extent that would have been +cruel, had it not been actually needful. + +"My conduct was once very much like that of yon wretched ox," +thought David, "though I could not plead its excuse of having 'no +understanding.' I have had terrible blows that have made my very heart +bleed; but it was long before I would give way and bow my proud spirit +to the yoke. But I will call it a yoke no longer; those who obey +Conscience are released from the 'bit and the bridle;' they follow the +steps of their Master; they are not driven, but led." + +The sun was sloping towards the west, and the Hottentot drivers said +that the waggons would reach Quagga Fountain before he set. It was +there that they would outspan for the night. + +"We shall not be alone," observed Carlton, "for I see a waggon not half +a mile ahead." + +This was rather a subject of surprise, as David was certain that none +had passed on the tract since Hans Kuhe had gone that way. + +"It must be that of the Boer," he observed, "but still it is strange +to see it there. He counted upon leaving Quagga Fountain early this +morning, and if that be his waggon yonder, he can never have reached +the water at all." + +"Perhaps," suggested Manners, "his oxen were too feeble to draw the +waggon, and so he has outspanned, and taken on the weary beasts to the +fountain, leaving the waggon until they were able to pull it again." + +"We shall soon know the truth," said Carlton. "I hope the Boer may be +there, that he has stuck fast in the sand, and that David may have the +pleasure of giving back the purse himself, and seeing if it be possible +to make such a fellow blush." + +After the waggons had advanced some way, David spoke again, anxiously. +"Certainly there are none of the oxen with the waggon, and, strange to +say, there does not seem to be anyone left in charge. Hans Kuhe is not +the man to desert his goods like that." + +"Though he could desert his faithful servant," observed Carlton. + +"There is a man,—and it must be the Boer himself, for he is certainly +not a Tottie, laying flat upon the ground, about five yards to the left +of the waggon, and he looks as if he had been stripped of half his +clothes!" said Manners. + +"Something must have happened to him!" exclaimed David, starting up. +"Hans Kuhe must have been attacked by the Bushmen. Let us hasten on and +see." + +The oxen were urged to their best speed. Every yard that they advanced +served to confirm the fears of David. He saw before him the waggon +of Kuhe, but it was utterly empty, stripped of all the innumerable +articles of furniture, dress, trade, the karosses, cooking-utensils, +ivory tusks, skins, ostrich-eggs and feathers, that had made it appear +something between a house on wheels, and a travelling museum. One +wounded dog which came barking up to David, as if delighted to see his +familiar face, was the only thing that showed life and motion. One or +two arrows such as are used by Bushmen, a biscuit-cask robbed of its +stores, and some broken pipes and empty bottles lay on the sand, which +had evidently been trampled by many feet that had never worn shoes. + +The first care of the three Englishmen was to hasten up to what had +appeared to be the lifeless body of the Boer. David, in his eagerness, +sprang down from the waggon, almost forgetful of his lameness. + +"He is not dead!" exclaimed the youth. "He is not dead! See—he moves—he +opens his eyes. If we had water—" + +"Brandy—brandy!" groaned the Boer. + +Both water and brandy were brought. The wretched man, who had lain +there for twenty-four hours, drank as if he never would cease from +drinking. + +"He's not much hurt, I hope!" cried David. "That wound from the dart in +his shoulder may not be deep; it has scarcely bled at all, and it is +near no vital part." + +"But the flesh is dreadfully swollen around it," said Manners, gravely +shaking his head. He then quickly returned to his own waggon, to bring +from it other things that might be needed by the wounded man. + +"How came 'you' here!" exclaimed Hans Kuhe suddenly, fixing his eyes +with a wild startled expression upon David, who had been supporting the +Boer's head on his knee, while holding a flask to his lips. + +"You may well ask that question," muttered Carlton, "for it is no +thanks to you that he is here, or anywhere on this earth!" + +He probably did not intend that his words should reach the Dutchman's +ear, but they had been both heard and understood, for Hans exclaimed +with vehemence, raising himself with an effort to a sitting posture as +he spoke, "Ay, ay, it was that, that has brought the ruin upon me! He +would have watched, have kept awake; the savages would not have stolen +upon us, and struck before I could snatch up a musket! Ay, ay, I've had +nothing but ill-luck since I left him alone! First I dropped my purse—" + +"Which David found—and which David restores to you!" said Manners, who +came up at the moment, as he drew forth the purse, and gave it to the +youth, who was still on his knees beside his former master. + +"Take it—all your money is there, save the one piece which you owed +me," said David, putting the heavy purse close to the coarse brown +fingers that were wont to clutch gold so eagerly, and to hold it so +fast. But, to his surprise, Hans Kuhe made no attempt to take up the +purse. + +"What's money to me!" groaned the miserable man, sinking back on the +sand. "Can it keep back death for one hour—one moment?" + +"Not death!" exclaimed David, cheeringly. "You have but a flesh-wound +from an arrow." + +"But the arrow was 'poisoned!'" muttered Hans. "There's nothing on +earth that can save me!" + +"He speaks too truly," said Manners, who had been examining the wound. +"Spend what time is left you, unhappy man, in making your peace with +God, for no human skill can help you now." + +"Peace with God!" repeated the sufferer gloomily. "It is too late. I +never cared for religion in health, and now—" + +"Pray, oh! Pray!" exclaimed David. "God is so merciful—I have found Him +so merciful,—if we but repent." + +"I cannot repent," groaned the dying sinner, whose life had been one +long course of rebellion, who had closed his ears and his heart to +offers of mercy, till he had become stubborn and hardened in guilt. + +"Let me but repeat to you what has been my own comfort—my own hope," +said David with emotion, for Conscience bade him make yet one effort +more for the soul of the miserable man,—though the presence of the +hunters, and his own consciousness of unworthiness, made it very +difficult for him to speak. "'Blessed is he whose—'" + +"There's no blessing for me—none!" interrupted the Boer. "Go, boy, +go,—you mean kindly, but it is too late! Take that purse—keep it—I have +wronged you,—I've met my deserts,—money—oxen—goods—life—all gone! I +shall want nothing more—but a grave!" + +These were the last words which Hans ever spoke. He was gently placed +in a waggon, and there David, with such care and kindness as a son +might have shown, tended his enemy while life ebbed away. How awful +is the deathbed of the wicked! David had prayed to his God "in a time +when He might be found." Hans was like those unhappy ones who neglected +Noah's warnings till God's people had entered the Ark, and the door was +shut, and they who had been offered mercy in vain were swept away by +the flood of great waters! + +It is scarcely necessary to relate how the misfortune of Hans had come +upon him. After eating and drinking to excess, the Boer had fallen +into a heavy sleep in his waggon. Pollux, who never worked if he could +possibly be idle, followed his master's example and slept, while the +tired oxen halted on the way. A crouching Bushman who had come as a +spy saw the state of affairs, which was such as to invite an attack. +And gathering some of his tribe, they made an onslaught on the waggon, +first sending a shower of poisoned arrows, for the Boer was known to +be heavily armed, was a dead shot, and a very powerful man. The reader +knows the result: Pollux fled,—the oxen and everything that could be +carried off were taken, and the Boer was left to die! There he lay, +thirsting, and in misery, dreading attacks from wild beasts, in far +more woeful state than that to which his selfish cruelty had doomed his +poor young servant. + +That night the remains of Hans Kuhe were buried near the Quagga +Fountain. There was no tear shed over his grave. His life had been +without faith or repentance; his death was without hope or peace. + + "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." + + + +CHAPTER X. + +HOME. + + _"Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in +the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the Lord, and +rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in +heart."_—Psalm xxxii. 10, 11. + +I will now pass over some months, and change the scene of my story from +the wild glowing wastes of Africa, to a quiet little English farm,—and +ask my reader to unfasten in thought the latch of its little gate, +which is whitened with silvery frost, cross the small garden where the +snow lies so thick that every footstep leaves its print, and through +the low porch, icicle-hung, enter the old picturesque dwelling, which +feels so warm and comfortable after the sharp evening air without. + +Warm it is,—for large logs are blazing in the old-fashioned fireplace, +which is so wide that it holds a seat on either side. And on one of +these seats is Farmer Aspinall, warming his hands by the kindly blaze, +after a good day's work. His wife is stirring something in a large +iron pot which is simmering on the fire, and giving out a very savoury +smell. Five girls of different heights, from Minnie, a gentle-looking +young maiden now almost as tall as her mother,—to Nelly who is hardly +higher than the table, are busy with a quantity of bright holly and +mistletoe, which Eliza had just brought in. For this is Christmas eve, +and the farmer's family keep up the old English custom of decking their +home with evergreens, and making it gay with berries. + +"Why do you look so sad, Jenny?" asked Nelly, glancing up inquiringly +into the face of her sister. "Is not this Christmas time, and should we +not all be glad?" + +"Christmas has never seemed the same to me," said Jenny with a deep +sigh, "since Davy went away." + +"Ah! Yes," cried chubby-cheeked Eliza, "how merry he used to make us +all!" + +"His going has been a trial,—a very great trial to us," said Minnie, to +whom the events related in the second chapter had been like a blight in +the spring-time of life. "But our 'trials' must not make us forget our +'blessings,'—and we have had so many of these lately." + +"Yes, there's the cow that uncle White gave us," interrupted Nelly. + +"I shall never care for it as I cared for poor Crummie," said Bessy, +the second youngest of the girls. + +"And there's the famous harvest!" cried Eliza. "Our barn was never so +full before!" + +"And father is better—dear father! He don't want his crutch," said +Nelly. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Minnie, her eyes filling with tears. "When I look at +that crutch hung up there, and think of all father once suffered, I +feel that we can never be thankful enough to see him so well again!" + +"He has a sore heart though, I know he has, and so has mother," said +Jenny, lowering her voice that her parents might not overhear her; "I +daresay they are both thinking of poor Davy now. I'm sure since we +got that last dull letter from Heinbok Kloof (what a horrid place it +must be!) I've scarce thought of anything else. I wish Christmas time +were over—just think what a Christmas our Davy will have!" And a tear +dropped on the spray of holly which Jenny held in her hand. + +"Dear Jenny, is it not a comfort that, though parted, we can pray for +him still?" said Minnie. + +"I always pray for Davy," cried little Nelly; "I say,— + + "'Please, God, take care of brother, and bring him safe back.' + +"And so," added the child with simple faith, "I think he'll come home +at last." + +"Hark!" cried Jenny suddenly. "Isn't there a footstep outside?" + +"Some one is tapping at the pane!" exclaimed Nelly. + +"There's a face at the window!" cried Minnie. + +But it was the mother's eye which first caught sight of that face, and +knew it in the reflected glow from the fire-light within. There was a +wild rash of all the sisters to the door, but it was the mother's hand +that drew back the bolt, and let in the Wanderer—the beloved. And the +first kiss of welcome to David was the kiss of the mother who, sobbing, +pressed him to her heart! + +Yes, it was David himself, though a good deal changed, as his family +saw when they were calm enough to think of anything but the one delight +of meeting. He was taller, thinner, and much more sun-burnt than +when they had parted. But the change "within" was far greater than +the change "without." The proud, wilful, wayward lad had come back +the brave, unselfish, earnest Christian, who was resolved, by God's +help, to lead a new life, ever setting duty before pleasure, or rather +finding his pleasure in duty: + + "Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." + +The farmer had started to his feet at the first joyful cry from +his girls, and went forward to meet his son with such deep, quiet +thankfulness as no words, no outward sign could express. The sisters +were full of eager questionings, the father hardly uttered a word: the +mother wept for joy, but the father shed no tear. Yet no one could +have looked at his honest manly face on that evening, as John Aspinall +sat listening to the account of the wonderful deliverances of his son, +without seeing that in none of the breathless listeners was feeling +more true and deep. The Christian man had gone through a life of toil, +hardship, and trial; he had known sickness and suffering, poverty +and disappointment. But he had put his trust in God, and God had now +brought him safely through all. To Him who had been his Rock and +Fortress in the time of sorrow, John Aspinall now looked up in his hour +of exceeding joy. + +"Many sorrows shall be to the wicked." Yes, the reader may observe, but +is it not also written, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous"? +True, but it is added, "The Lord delivereth him out of them all." The +troubles of those who love God do not last for ever, and they leave a +blessing behind—like: + + "Summer showers that make the world the greener, + The air still fresher, and the sky serener;" + +or like the overflowings of the river Nile, which cover the fields for +a while, only that they may, at a future time of the year, be covered +with a more abundant harvest. + +Reader, my tale is ended. Ere you lay it down, suffer me to ask you a +few brief questions. Do you know anything of the blessedness of him +whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered; or are you +putting off repentance to a more convenient season, which may never +arrive? + +Are you one of those whom the Lord, through the voice of conscience, +guides with His eye; or are you the stubborn self-seeking sinner, for +whom is needed the bit, the bridle, and the blow? + +Do you pray to the Lord in your troubles, or only seek help from man? + +If you be willing "now" to seek the Lord "while He may be found," to +come to your Saviour for pardon and peace, and the grace of His Holy +Spirit, to make you love and obey Him, you will find that He is the +best of masters, the truest of friends, the most tender of fathers. +Walking in His ways, and doing His will, you will experience in the end +the truth of the closing verses of this beautiful Psalm,— + + "'He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad +in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that +are upright in heart.'" + + + + PSALM XXXII. + + "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. + Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in + whose spirit there is no guile. + When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the + day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is + turned into the drought of summer. Selah. + I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. + I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and Thou forgavest + the iniquity of my sin. Selah. + For this shall every one that is godly pray unto Thee in a time when + Thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not + come nigh unto him. + Thou art my hiding-place; Thou shalt preserve me from trouble; Thou + shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. + I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: + I will guide thee with mine eye. + Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: + whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto + thee. + Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, + mercy shall compass him about. + Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, + all ye that are upright in heart." + + + + THE END. + + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76281 *** diff --git a/76281-h/76281-h.htm b/76281-h/76281-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9ba4724 --- /dev/null +++ b/76281-h/76281-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2530 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + TThe Wanderer in Africa. A Tale Illustrative of the Thirty-Second Psalm, by A. L. O. E. │ Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/image001.jpg" type="image/cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size:12.0pt; + font-family:Verdana, sans-serif; +} + +p {text-indent: 2em;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} + +.w100 { + width: auto + } + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +p.t1 {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 125%; + text-align: center + } + +p.t2 { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: center + } + +p.t3 { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: center + } + +p.t3b { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 100%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center + } + +p.t4 { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: center + } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +p.poem { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + padding: 20px 0; + text-align: left; + width: 555px; + } + +p.footnote {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 90%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76281 ***</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>The next moment the full moon fell on a large black</b><br> +<b>poisonous snake, rapidly gilding away over the sand.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>THE</b><br> +</p> + +<h1>WANDERER IN AFRICA.</h1> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +A TALE ILLUSTRATIVE OF<br> +</p> + +<p class="t1"> +THE THIRTY-SECOND PSALM<br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +BY<br> +</p> + +<p class="t1"> +A. L. O. E.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p class="t4"> +AUTHORESS OF "THE CLAREMONT TALES;" "NED FRANKS;"<br> +"SHEER OFF;" ETC.<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image003" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image003.jpg" alt="image003"></figure> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +London:<br> +<br> +GALL AND INGLIS, 25 PATERNOSTER SQUARE;<br> +</p> + +<p class="t4"> +AND EDINBURGH.<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +CONTENTS.<br> +<br> +————<br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>CHAP.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_1">I. NIGHT ON THE WASTE</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_2">II. WANDERINGS</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_3">III. WANDERINGS—_continued_</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_4">IV. FORSAKEN</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_5">V. NOT FORSAKEN</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_6">VI PERIL AT HAND</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_7">VII. RESOLUTIONS</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_8">VIII. GUIDANCE</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_9">IX. THE STUBBORN SINNER</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_10">X. HOME</a></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>THE</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="t2"> +<b>WANDERER IN AFRICA,</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="t3"> +Illustrating the Thirty-second Psalm.<br> +</p> + +<p><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">CHAPTER I.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>NIGHT ON THE WASTE.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + <em>"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. +Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in +whose spirit there is no guile."</em>—Psalm xxxii. 1, 2.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"No use, it won't do. Rhinoceros hide won't get another yard out of +them beasts! We must outspan * for the night!" exclaimed Hans Kuhe, +the Dutch Boer, † after Pollux, his Hottentot driver, had been for an +hour belabouring, with the huge whip, eight unfortunate oxen that were +vainly trying to drag his waggon through a sandy African waste.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<br> +* Unyoke.        † Dutch farmer at the Cape Colony.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"If we could but have reached water—the poor beasts are dying of +thirst," observed David, an English lad who was servant to the Boer. +"Eight oxen are not enough to draw that heavy waggon."</p> + +<p>And he looked with pity at the panting creatures, whose sides were +seamed with weals, and bleeding from the whip which Pollux had plied +with such merciless force.</p> + +<p>Hans muttered a curse on the four oxen that had died on the road, and +a fiercer one upon the Bushmen who had carried off two others during +the night. He was a large, bulky man, with coarse features bloated by +intemperance, his brandy-bottle and his pipe being his two constant +companions.</p> + +<p>"Help Pollux to outspan. Don't stand there like a lazy cur, as you +are!" exclaimed the Boer to the English lad, who had done nine-tenths +of all the work since the expedition had started. "No sulky looks for +me,—and why do you go limping like that?" The question was asked in a +tone of anger, by no means that of pity.</p> + +<p>"That fore ox kicked me on the ankle," said David.</p> + +<p>"You're an awkward cub!" growled the Boer. "No time to be lame +now—you've a thirty miles' walk afore ye to-morrow, ere we got to the +Quagga Fountain. Now make haste, will ye, and take the yoke off that +beast."</p> + +<p>"Who will take the yoke off 'me?'" thought the poor lad, as, biting his +lip to repress either anger or pain, he proceeded to help to outspan +the oxen for the night.</p> + +<p>But a year before, David Aspinall had been a fine specimen of an +English youth, with strength in his well-knit limbs, and careless +mirth in his eyes, and a light heart in his bosom, which knew little +of sorrow or care. "Now," the sun-burnt cheek had grown hollow, and +the eye had lost all its brightness, and the clothes hung loosely on +the wasted limbs, and the expression of his face told of hardship and +grief, borne silently, but felt none the less.</p> + +<p>"It has been my own choice, this path of misery; it has been my own +putting on, this intolerable yoke of bondage!" so thought David, as he +went on with his occupation. "'The wages of sin'—the wages of sin—ay, I +know what they come to! I have none to blame but myself! I might have +been—" but as that "might have been" was too bitter a reflection to +dwell on, David tried to drive it away.</p> + +<p>The evening's work was done. Hans, after a heavy meal of beltong * +taken with a large amount of brandy, sat on the waggon shaft, smoking +his pipe in lazy enjoyment, and his weary, almost worn-out servant was +suffered to take his food. There was nothing that would have refreshed +David so much as to have plunged his aching head into cold water, and +so have quenched his feverish thirst, but the small supply left in the +water-jar was precious, and he scarcely received enough to relieve his +most pressing need.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<br> +* Dried flesh.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"Now I'm going to turn in," said Hans Kuhe, who, after the fashion of +African travellers, made a house of his waggon; "you must keep watch, +Davy, to-night, for Pollux is not to be trusted; there he lies snoring +already! We may have some of the Bushmen thieves down on us again, or +the hyenas may come slinking to see what they can carry off, or a lion +may scent the cattle. I fancy I heard a roar in the distance. You keep +the double-barrelled gun beside you, and mind, no sleeping on watch, or +I'll give you a taste of the rhinoceros hide!"</p> + +<p>The bulky form of the Boer soon disappeared under the tilt of the +waggon. David Aspinall was left to watch through the long weary +hours in the dreary African waste. Night was there, but without its +stillness. The painful lowing of the thirsty oxen, the occasional loud +barking of the dogs whom a sense of danger seemed to keep wakeful, the +howling of jackals, and the wild laugh of the hyenas in the distance, +made together a horrible concert, which combined with the pain in his +ankle to keep the weary lad from sleeping.</p> + +<p>Would you wish to know the thoughts that passed through his mind, as +resting on the sands, with his back against one of the huge wheels of +the heavy waggon, and the double-barrelled gun close to his hand, David +sat with his eyes fixed on the large round moon which seemed to hang so +near to earth, and which threw such black shadows of every object on +the waste?</p> + +<p>"A blessing and a curse were set before me; I left the blessing, and +chose the curse! I was taught the right way, I was told my duty, I had +parents who tried to lead me heavenwards, both by their words and their +example. I had a conscience, but I would not listen to it; a Bible, +but I cared not to read it. What would I not give for that Bible now! +I have not set eyes on one for months! I wonder if I could remember +anything of what I learnt by heart when I was a child at Greenside +Farm!" and David began half aloud:</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down +in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters.'<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"I can't go on with that," murmured the poor lad with a choking +sensation at his throat, as his memory recalled soft green meadows, +spangled with buttercups and daisies, in which he had sported when a +child, and the little gurgling stream sparkling in the sunshine, as it +flowed from under the shadow of the one-arched bridge. "That Psalm is +not for me, not for a wandering sheep; it is for God's own flock, who +hear His voice, and follow Him. I'm afraid I can remember no other: +yes, there's the thirty-second Psalm, my mother's favourite, perhaps I +could get through that.</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. +Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in +whose spirit there is no guile!'"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>David stopped short, and pressed his feverish brow. "'That' Psalm may +be for me, for it is for the wanderer; it speaks of transgression and +sin,—and oh! It speaks of forgiveness and blessing! Can it be that I, +wretched, desolate as I am, can be 'blessed?'"</p> + +<p>David looked earnestly up at the bright clear moon, as if to read an +answer to his question there. She could smile in the desert, even as +she had smiled on the meadows, and the trees, and the flowing stream by +his English home; nay, she looked larger and lovelier here, as the air +was clearer.</p> + +<p>"Blessed—blessed," repeated David to himself, as if he had difficulty +in taking in the meaning of the words. "But 'how' can transgression be +forgiven, and 'how' can sin be covered?"</p> + +<p>Then in that wild solitude there came back on the memory of the poor +lad lessons learned on the knee of his mother, lessons which had seemed +till that moment forgotten; sermons heard in the quiet little church +on the hill, whither he had often gone so unwillingly, where he had +listened so carelessly to the message of "good tidings" from the lips +of his pastor. David was not ignorant of the truths of the Gospel, but +it had seemed as if, with him, the good seed had fallen by the wayside, +and that pride, selfishness, and folly, like the birds of the air, had +carried it all away. But it was not really so; some had rested on his +memory, and now in the dreary African land were to spring up and bear +good fruit.</p> + +<p>Very familiar to the ear of David Aspinall had been the verse,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.'"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>But he had never cared in his days of selfish mirth to apply its +meaning to himself. David then had taken his sins too little to heart +to reflect whether his could ever be cleansed away. He had welcomed +Christmas year after year, but merely as a time of mirth and feasting; +it had seemed little to him that a Saviour had deigned to be born into +the world which He had made,—for David had felt no need of a Saviour.</p> + +<p>It was different now: all the lad's earthly hopes had been crushed, all +his earthly happiness had vanished away. David had offended against the +laws of his country; he had found no mercy from man, and he feared the +just anger of God. David had nothing left to cling to but the hope of +forgiveness, and he knew, he had been taught from his childhood, that +forgiveness, though freely offered to "all," could only be procured by +"any" through faith in a crucified Saviour, who "died, the Just for the +unjust"!</p> + +<p>It was long since David had prayed. Perhaps it might more truly be +said that he had never prayed in his life, for what are words without +thoughts, the service of the lips without the love of the heart? +David's first real prayer for forgiveness arose as he sat by the wheel +of that great waggon, with the yells of wild beasts sounding in his +ears. In his spirit there was at least "no guile." He did not deceive +himself as to his state before God; he made no excuses for his errors; +he felt from the bottom of his heart that he was a sinner, and deserved +all the misery that he endured. He knew that it would be a mockery of +God to ask pardon for the "past," without also asking for grace for +the "future," to lead a new and better life. David was honest in his +repentance, sincere in his sorrow for sin. Alas! There are too many +who mistake the mere cry of distress, under sharp affliction, for the +penitent grief of a broken and contrite heart!</p> + +<p>David had unconsciously clasped his hands in prayer; when he had +unclasped them, he accidentally put his left hand down towards the +ground, and he started as it touched something clammy, which moved +under his touch as if alive. The next moment the full moonlight fell +on a large black poisonous snake, rapidly gliding away over the sand! +It had been coiled up quite close to the lad, so close as to have +been concealed by his own shadow! There had David rested in perfect +unconsciousness of the deadly enemy so near, that an incautious +movement on his part, by hurting and irritating the reptile, might +have cost him his life! David made no attempt to pursue the serpent; +his foot had by this time swelled so much that he could hardly have +put it to the ground, and to have broken the heavy sleep of Hans for +so commonplace an event (in Africa) as the appearance of a poisonous +snake, would only have drawn upon himself the savage anger of the Boer.</p> + +<p>But the visit of the reptile had not been without its effect on the +mind of David, occurring as it had done at an hour of penitence and +prayer. He felt that a pitying Providence had been watching over him, +and a hope arose that he had been saved for future good, that his +painful life had not been lengthened but for some purpose of mercy and +love. As David silently returned thanks to God for having saved him +from the fangs of the serpent, he almost felt as if this deliverance +were a pledge that his prayer had been heard, and that his sins were +forgiven. Oh! If he could but be at peace with God, then indeed might +he face all his miseries with a firm and undaunted soul!</p> + +<p>Then followed other thoughts, suggested by the wild howls of the +jackals and hyenas, snuffing the scent of food, yet not daring to +attack the travelling party. "Those sounds used to frighten me when +I was new to them," thought David, "and even now they sent a thrill +through me which was something like fear. I listened to them, and +looked to my musket, and kept watchful and ready. But I was utterly +careless of the far greater danger close by, the venomous serpent +coiling so near! It is like what happens to us in life. We are watchful +against outer dangers, we try to guard against poverty, sickness and +pain, and we let the venomed serpent of sin lie in our bosom, though we +know that its bite is death!"</p> + +<p>David remained wakeful at his post, till the approach of the morn made +the wild creatures of the desert retire. Then indeed his thoughts +became very dim and confused; a sound as of church bells was in his +ears, like the invitation to come and worship which he had so often +heard in the country of his birth, and so often of late months refused +to accept. Then he was no longer in the dry and thirsty waste, the +heavy waggon with its great canvas tilt, the broad wheels—the tired +oxen resting around,—all had disappeared from his view. David dreamed +that he was in the little church on the hill, sitting by the side +of his mother in the well-remembered seat close to the pillar. He +had often sat there when he was a boy, impatient for the end of the +service, with thoughts intent on the thrush's nest that he had seen in +the thicket, or the jackdaw's brood that he hoped to bring down from +the old ruined tower. David had grudged the time spent in church, and +now that church in his dream appeared to him almost like heaven!</p> + +<p>There was the well-known hymn—"Rock of Ages, cleft for me!"—swelling +in the slumberer's ear, and David could distinguish the tones of his +mother's voice, but sweeter than they ever had sounded before! And +then he seemed to be listening to the aged white-headed pastor, whose +sermons he once had thought so long,—and the silver hair above his +brow looked to the dreaming youth like a glory! He was preaching about +the Prodigal Son, and the joy in the father's home—and the father's +heart—when the lost one again was found! David fancied that he caught +the sound of his mother's sob, and that the old clergyman's eyes were +fixed on him, and that he knew that he "himself" was the prodigal +welcomed back,—never to wander again! The last words that rang in +David's ear before his sweet dream was rudely broken, were the words +of the Psalm that his mother loved,—the words that had brought to him +comfort and hope,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is +covered.'"<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_2">CHAPTER II.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>WANDERINGS.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + <em>"When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the +day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is +turned into the drought of summer."</em>—Psalm xxxii. 3, 4.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>WHILE the exhausted lad is sleeping on his hard couch of sand, I will +briefly relate the story of his past life, and tell the circumstances +which led to his being a Wanderer in Africa, and in the service of Hans +Kuhe, the Boer.</p> + +<p>David Aspinall was the son of a small farmer in Dorsetshire,—an honest, +God-fearing man, who had held a blameless course through life, looking +to the Life beyond the tomb. He had no other son than David, but he had +five little daughters, all of whom were younger than their brother. +With so many mouths to feed, the farmer had little to spare, though +many a poor neighbour had a slice of bacon, or a jug of skimmed milk +from his good wife's dairy.</p> + +<p>John Aspinall's strong wish was to bring up this only boy as his +helper, and then successor at Greenside Farm. He felt that his own +health was frail, and his life even more uncertain than that of most +other men.</p> + +<p>"It's a comfort to me," he would say to himself, when he was more +poorly than usual, "that there will be Davy to look after the place, +and take care of his mother and sisters, if so be as God should please +to take me."</p> + +<p>But David's plans for himself were very different from those of his +father for him. He wanted to see life, to go into the world, to have +something more exciting to do than foddering cattle, or shearing sheep, +or driving the plough a-field. David was a sharp, clever lad, sure to +make his way to fortune, at least so his vanity told him, and not the +boy to be buried in a small out of the way farm!</p> + +<p>The time came when a decision must be made. After a sharp attack of +rheumatic fever, which had made him feel more than ever that he needed +the help of his son, John Aspinall, one day late in April, explained +his wishes and those of his wife to David. The lad was somewhat taken +aback. He had that very morning been poring over the advertisements in +a newspaper, and calculating how much money it would take to carry him +up to London, and thinking what grand things he might do, and what a +great man he might become, if he could once "get a fair start in life." +David had always been a wild and wilful boy, ready for any sport or +fun, and the idea of being shut up all his life at Greenside Farm was +more than his spirit would bear.</p> + +<p>Here now were two paths open before David Aspinall; the way of +duty,—"God's way," and his own way,—the path of "Self-will." The lad +was not long in choosing between them. He said, indeed, how much he +should like to please his father, only he could not please him in +"this." He kissed his mother fondly, but he grieved her none the less. +He made little presents to all his sisters, and promised them fine +things from London, but he would not give up for their sakes that upon +which he had set his own heart.</p> + +<p>John Aspinall was not a man of words: his face sharpened by pain, and +the crutch which he used, said more than he could say; he let his son +know his wishes, and then suffered him to follow his own.</p> + +<p>"We can't make the lad bide here against his will," observed the farmer +to his wife: "it may please God to give me back health,—and if not, +He'll care for you and our poor little lasses."</p> + +<p>The mother turned aside to dry her tearful eyes, and hoped and prayed +that all might turn out for the best. It was a sore disappointment +not to be able to keep Davy at home—but she would send him to her own +worthy brother, the grocer in London; he could learn nothing but good +with him, and would be kept out of the way of temptation.</p> + +<p>So two of the pigs were sold to pay expenses, and David, in high glee, +prepared to bid farewell to the little farm in the valley, and the +sad and loving hearts that he would leave behind him. It touched him +a little, indeed, to see how pale his mother's cheek had grown, and +how red and tearful were the eyes of poor Jenny, the eldest but one of +his sisters, as she sat stitching at his new shirts. She had been his +especial playmate and pet, and loved him more than she loved anyone +else upon earth.</p> + +<p>"Well, Jenny, don't look so down-hearted!" cried the lad, as he came +and seated himself by her side. "I can't bear to see you so doleful."</p> + +<p>"And I can't bear to see you so merry just when you're going to leave +us all," answered the girl, with a broken voice.</p> + +<p>"I'm not so merry now, Jenny; I can't help having a bit of a twinge +when I think of saying Good-bye."</p> + +<p>"Then why should you say it?" exclaimed Jenny, dropping her work in +her eagerness to speak. "O Davy, Davy! Stay with us—we cannot get on +without you,—the farm will seem so lonely—so dreary! Even little Nelly +will miss you so,—there will be no brother to dance her on his knee, or +whistle her favourite songs! I shall never care to see the green leaves +budding again, nor to hear the cuckoo, for they will always remind me +of the time when Davy went to London! Oh! Don't go,—stay with us, Davy! +Why should we not all be happy together?" And the poor girl burst into +tears.</p> + +<p>Davy kissed away the tears, and patted his sister on the shoulder, and +said that he would be always thinking of her, that he would often write +home, and maybe would come to old Greenside Farm at Christmas,—and +would not they have rare fun then! David felt the appeal to his +affections: he loved his parents, and his little sisters, and the dear +old home, but he loved "himself" best of all. Therefore, he resolved to +go up to London.</p> + +<p>Another effort was made to keep the wilful lad at his home. Minnie, +the eldest of the girls, gentle, thoughtful, and good, her father's +comfort, her mother's right hand, felt that it would be right to try +one more appeal to her brother's sense of duty. As Davy was on his +knees, on the evening before the day fixed on for his departure, +beginning to pack his box, he heard her gentle tap at the door.</p> + +<p>"Come in," said Davy, looking up. "So, Minnie, you've come to help me, +like a dear good child as you are!"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly that," said his sister, "though I should be glad to help +you to pack if—if you indeed must go. But, O Davy! I wish to speak a +few words to you first. I want to tell you what I heard dear father say +to mother to-day." Minnie found it difficult to command her voice,—but +she was determined to say what she had to say, though her brother +looked a little impatient, as if afraid of a lecture. "Father said, 'I +sometimes think I won't last long, Mary, and if I go, you'll have to +give up the farm, as you'll have no son to help you.'"</p> + +<p>"I hope that father is better than he thinks himself," said David, +looking grave.</p> + +<p>"I hope and trust that he is," faltered Minnie, "but he has been so +much pulled down by pain!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that makes him take care about this thing and that. I believe +what ails him is more worry than anything else."</p> + +<p>"And if a son could take off any of those cares, could prevent any of +the worry, would it not be right—" began Minnie, but David impatiently +cut her short.</p> + +<p>"Don't bother me about that,—I've made up my mind to go, and I'm going! +Father hasn't thriven well as a farmer; I mean to thrive in some other +line, and come back rich, and make you all comfortable and happy!"</p> + +<p>There was a verse of Scripture in Minnie's mind, and she felt that she +must repeat it, though it made her heart beat faster to do so, for she +knew her brother's dislike to "religious talk."</p> + +<p>"Davy," she said very softly, "'The blessing of the Lord, it maketh +rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it.' Can we look for that blessing +if we turn away from our duty?"</p> + +<p>"Minnie, it's a pity you're not a parson, but I don't want sermons out +of church!" cried David, half inclined to be angry, and yet aware in +his conscience that his sister was in the right. "Go and fetch me a bit +of rope, will you,—and ask Jenny if the last shirt is ready. Come what +may, nothing shall change me,—I'm off to London to-morrow!"</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>And so the lad set off on the following morning: and if a little +sadness came over his heart as he received his mother's kiss and his +father's blessing, and saw his sisters crying, it soon passed away. By +the time that David had lost sight of the clump of elm-trees on the +hill, and the church spire, which was a landmark for miles around, +rising amongst them, and had crossed the little one-arch which marked +the boundary of the parish, his thoughts flowed as merrily and freely +as the brook which sparkled below.</p> + +<p>David found amusing companions in the train, whose talk beguiled the +long journey to London. Great was his pleasure and excitement on +arriving at the great bustling city, where everything was to him so new +and so strange. David felt himself in a new world! He soon got into an +omnibus and went off to the house of his uncle, the grocer, who had +agreed to receive him, and put him into the way of earning an honest +living.</p> + +<p>The farmer's son did not much fancy the look of his new home, which +was in rather a narrow, smoky street in the east end of London; he +missed the clear air, the bright sunshine, the sweet scents to which +he had been accustomed at Greenside. Nor was the lad much pleased with +the manner and appearance of his uncle. Mr. White was a quiet, sober +man of business, who went on year after year in the same routine of +occupation, without himself requiring amusement or change, or ever +thinking that others might require them.</p> + +<p>His uncle, however, was kind to him; that is to say, he provided all +that was needful for him, did not overwork his nephew, nor treat him +with any harshness. But he naturally expected him to be punctual and +steady, and do his allotted work. David soon tired of this; he found +that standing behind a counter, weighing out pounds of sugar and half +pounds of tea, was no more exciting or amusing than threshing out +corn in a barn. Besides this, David disliked the ways of his uncle's +house; he could not bear the regular hours; he found the family prayer +irksome, and he was angry at being warned against companions and +amusements that were a great deal more to his taste.</p> + +<p>"I can't stand this sort of thing!" said David to himself, after he had +been but five days in London.</p> + +<p>Short as his visit had been, he had already managed to pick up +acquaintance with three or four wild lads whom he fancied, as being +"fellows up to a lark!"</p> + +<p>One of them put him in the way of getting another place—"Quite a +different thing, a place where he wouldn't be hunted after by a prosing +old Methodist uncle; where he would have the evenings and nights to +spend as he pleased, and where he might be as jolly and free as ever he +liked!"</p> + +<p>David knew perfectly well that his parents would wish him to stay +with his uncle White; that they would be uneasy if they knew him to +be exposed to the numberless temptations of a great city, and seeking +the society of such comrades as would only lead him into evil. Again, +two paths lay before David Aspinall,—God's path of duty,—his own of +self-will.</p> + +<p>Again the lad turned from the right, in his careless pursuit after +pleasure. He left his uncle, telling him that he thought he could +"better himself" in another place, and that after giving it a trial, he +was convinced that he never could settle down to the grocery business.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>David soon found that he had indeed chosen a downward way; he would +hardly have believed it possible, but a month before, that he could +have made such quick progress in evil. The lad had always been careless +and thoughtless as regarded religion, but he had not hitherto been +"profane," he had never uttered an oath in his life. He had behaved +decently, both when at his father's home and when under the roof of his +uncle. Now all restraint was removed, and David became like one of his +Godless companions. He could laugh at what once would have made him +blush. He never prayed, he never opened his Bible, he never entered the +door of a church. He frequented the public-houses, the theatres, and +places of low amusement. Sunday excursions were his delight. His guilt +was all the greater that he knew what was his duty.</p> + +<p>David did not care to write to his parents; he scarcely liked to +remember them at all, for a pang of conscience would sometimes shoot +through his soul, when the thought would come, "What would father say +if he could see me now?" "Poor mother! If she knew what I am after, it +would well-nigh break her heart!"</p> + +<p>David even hated the sight of letters from home, they always made him +so dull. He often wished that his family did not know his address.</p> + +<p>This career of folly and sin lasted almost to the end of that year, +and then it was brought suddenly to a close. David and a party of his +companions were returning from Greenwich one Sunday night, heated with +drink, when they took to breaking windows, and insulting or knocking +down peaceable citizens whom they met. Young Aspinall, indeed, took +less part than the rest in the more serious mischief, but he was mixed +up in the whole affair, and accordingly found himself, with one of the +others, in the lock-up before morning.</p> + +<p>It was a dreadful trial to the lad, who had by no means lost his sense +of shame, to be brought to a police-court on the Monday morning, +charged with breaking the law. Some delay occurred, from the absence +of an important witness, and David was remanded till the next day, so +had to spend another miserable night in the company of pickpockets and +drunkards. But if he had been wretched on his first appearance before +a magistrate, David was far more wretched on his second, for as the +prisoner entered the crowded, heated court, and raised his eyes for a +moment (for he had hitherto kept them bent on the floor), they fell on +the form of his father leaning on his crutch, his honest face looking +old and haggard, and with such an expression of grief and shame upon it +as cut his son to the soul.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_3">CHAPTER III.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>WANDERINGS—<em>continued.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>JOHN ASPINALL had come up by the night train to London—a place which +he had never visited before—on account of a telegram received from +Mr. White on the preceding day at Greenside Farm. Never before had a +telegram been seen, or scarcely heard of, in that quiet secluded spot, +and its contents had filled the hitherto peaceful home with mourning +and woe. Had the tidings been those of David's death, they would not +have caused more anguish. His sisters cried bitterly, little Nelly the +loudest of all, though she could not, of course, understand the cause +of the trouble; she only knew that something dreadful had happened to +Davy.</p> + +<p>Jenny was indignant at the thought of her brother—her darling +brother—being brought before a magistrate.</p> + +<p>"He is as innocent as a lamb, I'm certain that he is," she exclaimed +through her sobs. "This is the doing of some wicked, cruel enemy, who +wants to ruin our Davy. Are you not sure that he is innocent, Minnie?"</p> + +<p>Poor Minnie could only hope so. Her love was as tender as Jenny's, but +not so blind. She was too well-aware that poor Davy had not made duty +the rule of his conduct at home, and she knew that when a stone is set +rolling down a steep hill, no one can tell where it will stop. The +tone of the very few short notes which David had written home during +the last six months had made his sister very uneasy; of late he had +written none at all. Minnie was less surprised than distressed when +the sad news came. She tried, though with a very sore heart, to cheer +her mother, and speak hope to her father, but her great resource was +pouring out her heart in prayer to God.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Aspinall could not weep, and would not complain, but she trembled, +and a feeling of faint sickness came over her frame. Her boy, her +darling, her pride, he to whom she had once looked as her future +comfort and the support of the family, was he to bring down the grey +hairs of his parents with sorrow to the grave?</p> + +<p>"Wife," said the farmer abruptly, "I must be up to London; there's a +train starts at ten to-night."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Aspinall cast a sad look out at the chill wintry landscape, but +she knew it would be vain to attempt to prevent her husband from taking +the journey. She pulled out of her large pocket a purse, for she +usually had charge of the money of the family. She emptied the purse on +the deal table with her cold trembling fingers; there were a few small +pieces of silver, and several of copper, but "not" one of gold.</p> + +<p>The farmer looked at the little store for a moment or two with a +knitted brow, then muttered as if to himself, "Cobbs said last week as +how he'd be glad to buy Crummie; I'll just step over and see if he's in +the same mind."</p> + +<p>"We'd spare anything for our boy," said Mary Aspinall. These were the +first words which she had trusted herself to utter since the arrival of +that dreadful telegram paper.</p> + +<p>So Crummie was sold, the favourite cow that the farmer had reared from +a calf; that had been the pride and pet of his children, and whose +milk had been the chief means, as his wife often said, of bringing +him through his long illness. With a full purse but a fuller heart, +the unhappy father started on his journey to London, on a dark, cold, +drizzly night. He would not have started alone, for Mary yearned to go +with him, had the mother not feared that all the spare cash would be +wanted for David, and had she not felt that it was needful for her to +stop and take care of the girls and the farm.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>After once catching a glimpse of his father in the police-court, +David could hardly give his mind to attend to what was passing around +him. The voices sounded like a confused babble in his ears; he seemed +conscious only of one thing, that he was a guilty wretch, deserving +any amount of punishment that might be inflicted upon him. How had he +repaid all the love that had been lavished on him since his birth; how +had he fulfilled the fond hopes of which he had long been the object?</p> + +<p>David Aspinall was convicted of misdemeanour; the sentence was fine or +imprisonment. John paid the fine at once; his son, who was well-aware +how scanty were the means of his parents, could not bear to think, +though he could easily guess, how the money had been procured. His +uncle White, who was present, led the unhappy father, and yet more +unhappy son, out of the court, called a cab, and took them at once to +his home. Not a word was uttered during the long rattling drive. The +farmer sat opposite to David, leaning both hands on his crutch, with +his head bowed down; a heavier weight than that of years was crushing +the honest man to the dust!</p> + +<p>And then could David realise to some extent the misery described in the +words of the Psalmist, the anguish of remorse "without" confession, +remorse uncheered by the hope of God's forgiveness. The Lord's hand was +heavy upon him; his moisture was indeed "changed into the drought of +summer!"</p> + +<p>David made a not uncommon mistake at this time of shame and anguish. He +thought that "remorse" was "repentance;" he hated himself for his sin; +but he had yet to learn that to "hate self" is not always to "give up +self," and that the heart may be wrung with misery, yet the stubborn +will remain unbroken.</p> + +<p>"You'll come back with me, lad? Your mother won't be easy till she sees +you; you're wanted more than over at the farm."</p> + +<p>These were the first words which John Aspinall addressed on that day to +his son, and they were uttered in a hoarse, husky voice.</p> + +<p>"I'll never go back!" exclaimed David, with passionate excitement. +"This will be known all over the village—I could not look any one in +the face! No, no; I'd sooner die than go back!"</p> + +<p>"But what if it be your duty to go," said Mr. White, in a tone of grave +reproof. "We must sometimes put our likes and dislikes out of the +question, and try—to make up for the past."</p> + +<p>"I'll go out to one of the colonies, and work my way in a place where I +am not known," exclaimed David, who had hardly listened to his uncle, +and who dared not look at his father.</p> + +<p>Yet again the two ways, the right and the wrong, were before the young +lad. Had "his" been true godly repentance, he would "at any cost" have +tried to make the only amends that he could make to his family for +all the grief that he had caused them. He would have sacrificed his +self-will to what he knew to be the clear duty before him. He would +have obeyed the wishes of his earthly father, and so have followed the +guidance of his heavenly Father. But David was not prepared to do this. +Once again, after all the bitter lessons of the past, he chose the +way of his own inclination, and decided on working his way out to the +African coast.</p> + +<p>David did not even go back with his afflicted father to spend Christmas +at Greenside Farm. He would not have done so, even could he have +afforded the expense of the journey. As it was, all his wages had gone +in selfish pleasures, and he had to borrow from his uncle what was +required for bare necessaries to fit him out for the voyage.</p> + +<p>Before a fortnight had passed, David was tossing in the British +Channel, encountering the hardships of life at sea, and in vain +straining his eyes, as he passed the Dorsetshire coast, to catch a +glimpse of the distant church spire rising from the clump of old elms.</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "The way of transgressors is hard."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>This is declared in the Bible, and millions, by sad experience, can +testify to its truth. Every one who habitually chooses to follow his +own will, disregarding duty and conscience, will find in the end—if he +find not at once—that sorrow follows as the shadow of sin.</p> + +<p>David was no longer a thoughtless, light-hearted lad, he was a burdened +sinner, ashamed to think of his home, afraid to think of his God! After +a "miserable" voyage, which had seemed to him as if it never would end, +David arrived at the Cape of Good Hope. He was almost unprovided with +money, and did not find it as easy as he had expected to obtain good +employment. He got a few odd jobs, but no permanent engagement.</p> + +<p>After a while he was tempted by the offer of high wages, and also by +the hope of adventure and sport, to go a considerable way inland, to +enter the service of Hans Kuhe, the Dutch Boer, to whom I have already +introduced the reader. The lad spent all his little means in making the +long journey, and then found himself at Heinbok Kloof in the position +almost of a prisoner, or rather of a slave, to the coarse-minded +hard-hearted man whom he had chosen as master. David had no power to +get away, for it was impossible for him, without money or oxen, to +return to Cape Town through a dry barren tract, the haunt of wild +beasts, and of tribes of men almost as wild.</p> + +<p>Young Aspinall was chained to the service of one who so disliked +England and the English that he gave the name of "Britain" to his most +obstinate ox, for the express purpose of having something to thrash +which bore that hated name. Oh how bitterly did David contrast the +rude dwelling of Hans, seen under the furnace-like glare of an African +sun, to his own peaceful home in the valley; the yellow thick-lipped +Hottentots, who, whenever they dared, left their work to be done by the +English lad, to the dear ones whose faces and forms were so familiar to +memory; his father, with his broad sun-burnt brow; his gentle mother, +his rosy-checked sisters. David even contrasted the lean long-legged +oxen with sides seamed by the traces of the cruel rhinoceros hide, to +the sleek cattle that grazed in English pastures, or stood, as he so +often had seen them, in the pool enjoying the fresh cool waters in the +stillness of a summer eve. Sorely did David repent that he had ever +wandered from Greenside Farm.</p> + +<p>But still David's was not that repentance which leads the sinner to +God, it was not laying down the burden of his sins and his sorrows +at the feet of his Saviour, and trusting to that Saviour's mercy and +merits for pardon and peace. It was not until the night on which +my story opens, when David was returning from an expedition still +further inland, undertaken by his master for purposes of barter with +the natives, that the poor Wanderer had had a glimpse of the blessed +truth that he might yet return to his heavenly Father, that his +transgressions might be forgiven and all his sins blotted out.</p> + +<p>Great as were his sufferings and dangers, that was a night of blessing +to the penitent lad. It was then that he found his God and looked up to +Him in faith, not as the stern Judge who would execute judgment upon +a criminal, not as the awful King who would crush the rebel who had +broken His laws, but as the compassionate Saviour, deeply wronged, yet +loving still, stretching forth those sacred hands once pierced for the +sake of sinners, and calling to His wandering sheep, "Turn ye, turn ye, +why will ye die?"</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +———————<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_4">CHAPTER IV.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>FORSAKEN.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + <em>"I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. +I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and Thou forgavest +the iniquity of my sin."</em>—Psalm xxxii. 5.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"Up with you, English cur!" were the words, uttered in a harsh guttural +tone of command, which awoke David Aspinall from his short sweet dream, +and roused him in a moment to a sense of the pain fill realities around +him. "Up with you, English cur!" repeated the Boer, laying a stress on +the word English so as to convey an insult in the sound. "Kick that +fellow Pollux; these Totties * are always eating or sleeping! We must +in-span and be off before the sun grows hot."</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<br> +* Abbreviation for Hottentot.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>David sprang to his feet, but could hardly keep down an exclamation of +pain as he did so, for so sharp was the pang which shot through his +injured ankle. He, however, awoke Pollux, and with the help of the +lazy Hottentot, at once set about the labour of yoking the unwilling +oxen. Hans, seated on the fore-part of the waggon, eating his breakfast +meanwhile, and then smoking his pipe at ease, as he watched the efforts +of his servants, which he tried to quicken now and then with an oath or +a threat.</p> + +<p>"How I hate and despise that man! How I should like to serve him out!" +Such had often been the thought of the English youth, and had sometimes +been conveyed to its object in looks, if not in words. But on this +morning there was something in the heart of David which softened the +bitterness of his feelings even towards his tyrant.</p> + +<p>The labour of in-spanning was rendered very severe by the pain which +David suffered, and the toil-drops stood on his brow. He felt how +impossible it would be for him to follow the waggon on foot, and when +all was ready for a start, he limped up to his master,—</p> + +<p>"Sir, you see how my ankle is swelled; I doubt whether I could walk a +mile to save my life."</p> + +<p>"Swelled,—I should think it was!" exclaimed the Boer. "Why, you'll be +no more use for the next month than a lame dog in hunting, or a lame ox +in the yoke! What am I to make of you all that time, for you'll eat if +you won't work?"</p> + +<p>"I hope, sir, you'll let me sit on the waggon,—you see that I cannot +walk."</p> + +<p>"Sit on my waggon, when those wretched beasts can hardly drag the +load over the sand!" exclaimed the large heavy Boer, who had himself +little intention of walking. "No, no, if you can't follow on foot, +you may stay behind!" And the Dutchman put again into his mouth the +pipe which he had taken out in order to speak, and puffed away in calm +content, after uttering what was to his poor young servant almost like +a sentence of death.</p> + +<p>Commanding his voice and temper as well as he could, David made reply +to his master, "You can hardly mean to leave me here, sir, in the midst +of a desert, thirty miles from water, to perish by thirst, if not by +wild beasts!"</p> + +<p>"Pollux, lash the oxen, and let us be off!" shouted the Boer.</p> + +<p>"To leave me thus would be murder!" exclaimed David with indignation.</p> + +<p>"You'll find your legs, I warrant you, and follow the spoor (track) of +the waggon," observed Hans, as he resumed his pipe.</p> + +<p>"At least—at least you will give me water—and a musket to defend myself +from attacks of beasts, and to procure food—"</p> + +<p>"Can't spare a musket—have but three; you may have that!" said the +Boer, throwing down from the waggon a short spear of native make, on +which he set little value, and which was likely to be of little use. +"As for water," added the Boer, "I've just emptied the last drop from +the cask."</p> + +<p>So frightful was the fate to which the unfortunate youth was likely to +be left, that limping painfully by the waggon, which was now in motion, +he attempted by entreaty to move the heart of his cruel master. David +knew well that Hans had but to sacrifice a little of his property, to +cast out of the waggon some of the heavy goods within it, or go on foot +himself, to enable him easily to give that help on which a life might +depend. But Hans seemed as insensible to feelings either of honour or +pity as the oxen which dragged him. And David, unable to keep up with +the waggon, and in severe pain from the attempt to do so, was soon +forced to fall behind.</p> + +<p>He threw himself on the ground, and for some moments a feeling of +sullen despair stole over the deserted youth, as he listened to the +creaking sound of the wheels, and the crack of the whip, and the +shouting of Pollux growing fainter in the distance.</p> + +<p>"My God—O my God!" he murmured. "Am I to perish thus?"</p> + +<p>David had never felt death so near, and he now tried to prepare his +soul to look it calmly in the face. He might soon have to stand before +his offended Maker—how should he appear? What plea could he offer for +mercy? What hope had he that heaven would be his portion when he should +lay down the weary burden of the flesh? David felt that his life was +probably now to be counted by days, if not by hours; for on that most +lonesome track, it was highly improbable that any human being would +come to his succour. Time was precious indeed. Had David yet made his +peace with God?</p> + +<p>The first clear duty before the youth was to make humble confession +of sin before God. As David lay on the sand, leaning his brow on his +clasped hands, he went over in thought the events of his past life, +trying his own conduct by the standard of God's commands. Had he loved +the Lord his God with all his heart, his soul, and his strength? Nay, +he had forgotten his Maker in the days of his youth—had broken His +laws—had profaned His day—mocked at His people—slighted His word—even +taken His name in vain! Had David done his duty towards his neighbour? +Nay, he had treated with ingratitude and disobedience even the parents +whom he loved; he had spoken many a word of anger; he had harboured +thoughts of revenge; he had not indeed defrauded others of their +due, for he had scorned dishonesty, but by his evil example, he had +encouraged others in sin. He had "not" kept his heart pure; he had +"not" kept his lips clean; he had done what he ought not to have done, +and left undone what he ought to have done, and from the depths of his +soul the poor sinner confessed that there was no health in him.</p> + +<p>The act of confession was in itself painful, and yet it brought a +feeling of sweet relief. David had told God all—even as a child who has +done wrong comes and confesses to a parent, feeling that any punishment +is more tolerable than concealment would be. David had the blessed +hope that his punishment, as regarded suffering for sin "after" death, +had "already" been borne, that it had all been endured by the blessed +Saviour when He hung on the awful cross.</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "There is no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>Sin might indeed bring—had already brought—affliction in this present +life. The psalmist was forgiven, yet tasted to the end of his days the +bitter consequences of his sin. But very different is the correcting +rod of a loving Father, who will make "all things to work for good" to +His penitent child, from the crushing wrath of the Almighty descending +upon a rebel who will not repent!</p> + +<p>After pouring out his heart in confession and prayer, David felt more +calm, more resigned. He now raised himself a little and looked around. +The prospect was indeed most desolate and dreary, and very painful was +the reflected heat of the sun from the barren sands. There was scarcely +a breath of air stirring, and what came seemed to have passed through +a furnace. David's mouth was parched and dry from thirst. He could see +some wild creatures, probably zebras, galloping in the distance. But +there was not the slightest chance of his being able to reach them, +even had he possessed a musket, they would have been beyond its range.</p> + +<p>The only other object that in the least varied the dreary sameness +of the prospect, was a patch of what seemed to be scarcely worthy of +the name of vegetation, a few hundred yards to the left of the youth, +and almost hidden from view by a little rising. This patch looked so +parched up and dry, that under other circumstances, David would not +have cared to go near enough to see what plants had found root in such +a desolate place. Now, however, the shelter of even the smallest bush +was not to be despised, and David, using the spear as a staff, slowly +made his way over the rising ground towards the low clump.</p> + +<p>He was rewarded for the effort by a joyful surprise. With a delight +which only those who have suffered from severe thirst can understand, +David beheld a water-melon, large and juicy, lying on the ground—that +plant which grows in African wastes, as if expressly designed by a +gracious Providence to supply the want of water in a dry and parched +up land. David seized the fruit with feverish haste, cut it open with +a large clasp-knife which he carried about him, and partook with keen +enjoyment of its melting contents, which are said to relieve thirst +even better than water.</p> + +<p>Nor was this all. David had not been for months in the Damara land +without learning the value of what, to a stranger's eye, might have +looked nothing but a few bare twigs. There was a treasure lying below, +and David soon dug up with his spear a large juicy root, wholesome and +most refreshing, which is often eaten by the natives. These plants, +growing in the wilderness, not only supplied the poor Wanderer's +present need, but spoke a lesson of hope to his heart, like that which +a little moss once taught the traveller Bruce. Here they grew in the +lonely waste, living proofs of the care of Providence, that in some way +unseen, supplied their roots with nourishment, and made them live and +spread where scarcely a blade of grass would grow.</p> + + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_5">CHAPTER V.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>NOT FORSAKEN.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + <em>"For this shall every one that is godly pray unto Thee in a time when +Thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall +not come nigh unto him."</em>—Psalm xxxii. 6.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>DAVID was still thankfully partaking of the root called Markrohae, when +his attention was arrested by the appearance, on the sandy horizon, +of a four-footed creature approaching towards him at full speed. He +soon distinguished that it was a Springbok, a kind of antelope of the +desert, moving rapidly forward in bounds such as perhaps no other +quadruped can make. It was coming straight in his direction, and David +crouched down low, grasping his spear, and hiding himself as well as +he could behind the scraggy bushes. He was surprised to see a solitary +individual of a species that generally travels in herds, and still more +so that a creature so timid and shy should not have perceived him, so +imperfectly concealed as he was, and have started off in some other +direction.</p> + +<p>The cause for this was soon evident, as David perceived that three wild +dogs were in hot pursuit of the Springbok, which they had probably +singled out from a herd. The chase must have been a long and severe +one, for the antelope was now slackening its speed, and the terrified +creature was too much alarmed by the close pursuit behind to take +notice of danger in front. Before it could reach the bushes, the +foremost dog had pulled it down, and in a few seconds the other two +were on their already lifeless prey.</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>The chase must have been a long and severe one,</b><br> +<b>for the antelope was now slackening its speed.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>Now was the moment for David! With steady aim, he sent his light spear +whirling through the air and right amongst the ravenous wolf-like +creatures that had just run down their quarry. It glanced from the +shoulder of one of the dogs, which uttered a yell of pain. David sprang +to his foot, threw up his arms, and shouted!</p> + +<p>Whether it was his sudden appearance, or the sound of a human voice, +which is said to have such strange power over the beasts of which man +was made the lord, it is not needful to decide. The savage creatures +did not await the approach of the unarmed youth, but a second shout +sent them galloping off with such speed as their already half-exhausted +strength would allow, flying from the face of man, and leaving their +prey behind them.</p> + +<p>"This is indeed wonderful!" murmured David, as he painfully made his +way to the spot where the dead antelope lay. "God has made the very +beasts of prey provide me food in the desert! 'Thou preparest a table +before me.' That is from the twenty-third Psalm. I can no longer say +that it is not a Psalm for me. 'Yea, though I walk through the valley +of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.' I +will no longer think myself alone. Even after all my guilty wanderings, +God has not forsaken me. I will trust Him in life and in death, 'for +His mercy endureth for ever.'"</p> + +<p>Taking the spear again as his staff, David, with considerable +difficulty, dragged the body of the dead Springbok to the small thicket +which he had just quitted. He had learned from the Bushmen their way of +procuring fire without match, flint, or steel, and now his knowledge +stood him in good stead. He first gathered together some leaves, which +the fierce sun had made almost as dry as tinder; next he cut two sticks +with his knife, making a small notch in the first, and sharpening the +point of the second; he then put this point into the notch, and twirled +the second stick round between the palms of his hands so rapidly, as to +produce sufficient heat to set fire to the little dry heap. He threw on +this some withered twigs, and soon a thin cloud of blue smoke curled up +in the clear desert air.</p> + +<p>David's cooking of a portion of his antelope was of a very rough +description, but he sat down to his hastily prepared meal with a very +thankful heart. He had always been accustomed at Greenside Farm to hear +his father say a grace before dinner, but since leaving England, David +had never himself thought of returning thanks to God for his food, +until he partook of this meal which Providence had spread for him in +the desert. It was no mere cold form now when David Aspinall uttered +the words,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "For these, and 'all' His mercies, the Lord's name be praised!"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>David was not only refreshed and strengthened by the food, but he was +cheered by the thought that for one night at least he might be able to +keep off attacks from wild beasts by lighting a fire. His supply of +fuel was indeed very scanty, but then he would use it sparingly. He +had not sufficient wood for the morrow, but "why take thought for the +morrow?" The God who has amply supplied the need of to-day, would not +desert him then.</p> + +<p>David found occupation in gathering together materials for his +night-fire, and then made up for his short broken rest by a refreshing +afternoon sleep.</p> + +<p>When the youth awoke, he again partook of food, and relieved his thirst +by finishing what he had left of the melon in the morning. Then, +reclining on the sand by the heap of dried sticks and leaves which +he would light after sunset, David gave himself up to holy thoughts, +repeating to himself the thirty-second Psalm, and dwelling upon its +meaning verse by verse.</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'For this shall every one that is godly pray unto Thee.'"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>David paused that he might try better to understand this passage of +Scripture.</p> + +<p>"As this Psalm tells of mercy to him 'whose transgression is forgiven, +whose sin is covered,' I should have thought that the word would rather +have been, 'For this shall every one that is "ungodly" pray unto Thee.' +It is only they who want the mercy. But who are the godly, who are the +righteous mentioned so often in the Bible? Do we not read in another +part,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'There is none that doeth good, no, not one'?<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"Did not our Saviour Himself say,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'There is none good but one, that is God'?<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"What is meant, then, by godly, and why should the godly pray because +God has mercy on sinners?"</p> + +<p>This was a difficult question, and David could not for a long time +think of a satisfactory reply. Would not St. Peter be counted "godly?" +And yet St. Peter three times denied his Lord. Surely St. Paul was +"righteous," yet he had been a persecutor and blasphemer. At length the +truth seemed to dawn upon David as the words recurred to his mind,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.'"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>Surely the "godly" in the sixth verse of the Psalm must be the very +same as the "blessed one" mentioned in the first, whose "transgression +is forgiven, whose sin is covered," who is counted righteous before +God, because through faith, he is made a partaker of the spotless +righteousness of Christ. It is to such that it is said in the Psalm, +"The Lord imputed not iniquity." Yes, the "godly" is not, cannot be the +man who has committed "no" sin, for in that case there would be none +godly upon earth; but rather he that loveth much, because he hath been +much forgiven!</p> + +<p>"Now I remember," thought David, "the large picture of the Deluge, +which used to hang between the two lattice windows in my dear old room +at Greenside, and what my mother said to us about it on one wintry +Sunday, when we were almost blocked up by snow."</p> + +<p>David sighed heavily as he recalled the bright blaze of the wood-fire, +rendered so welcome by the sharp keen air, and how those lattice +windows had been all feathery with frost, and the trees without, +silvered with frozen dew. To the poor Wanderer, half burnt up by +African heat, ice and snow and sharp crisp air seemed the greatest of +luxuries.</p> + +<p>David went on with his train of thought in reference to the picture of +the Deluge. "My dear mother pointed out to us the Ark floating on the +surface of the waters, while the rain poured in torrents from the sky, +and poor wretches were drowning even on the tops of the highest hills.</p> + +<p>"'Mind you, my children,' she said, 'the family of Noah were safe, +"not" because they were good swimmers or good sailors, "but" just +because they had faith and obedience to make them go into the Ark. That +was the place of safety which God had provided, and "no other" was +safe. And so Christ is our Ark and our Refuge now. If we are in Him, we +are safe; even at the last awful day, the great waters of destruction +shall not come nigh us!'"</p> + +<p>And what is it to be "in Christ"? Is it not to come to Him as a poor, +helpless, perishing sinner, whose only hope is in His mercy? Has He not +said of such,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'He that cometh unto me I will in nowise cast out'"?<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>Reader, I ask you not whether you have ever been a wanderer like David, +or whether you have led what men may call a blameless life. I ask, have +you ever come to Christ; have you given your heart to Him? If so, He is +willing, ready to clothe you with His own righteousness, to give you +His Spirit to make you holy, and render you, by that Spirit's power, +one of the "godly" that pray unto Him!</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_6">CHAPTER VI.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>PERIL AT HAND.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + <em>"Thou art my hiding-place; Thou shalt preserve me from trouble; Thou +shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance."</em>—Psalm xxxii. 7.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>THE glowing red sun went down, just as David, after much difficulty, +had succeeded in kindling his small dry heap of firewood. There was +little or no twilight; in a short space all was dark (for the moon +had not yet risen), save when the English youth, on his lonely watch, +carefully placed one crackling branch after another upon his little +fire.</p> + +<p>"I must not go to sleep," thought David, "or my fire will go out, +especially as I dare not waste my precious fuel to make it large enough +to last without constant care. The desert seems to me to be more than +usually still: even the jackals are silent, and I cannot hear the +hyena's horrible laugh!"</p> + +<p>David put his ear close to the ground to listen, and then,—even on that +sultry night and close to a fire,—there came over him a feeling like +a chill, and he hastily threw on more fuel, and made the flumes leap +high, while he looked anxiously in one particular direction, and then +bent down again and listened.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I could not mistake that sound, though uttered, perhaps, miles +from hence! That was the roar of the lion himself! I must not suffer +the fire to die down, for that is my only protection now, except the +mercy—the watchful care of my God!"</p> + +<p>It was no small comfort to David to feel the night-breeze blowing from +the direction in which he had heard the roar,—for as he was to windward +of the lion, the terrible king of the desert was not so likely to scent +either him or the remains of the Springbok which he was heating at the +fire. Still it was an awful position for him; alone in the waste, with +the knowledge that a fierce wild beast was roaming abroad, and that +there was not so much as the barrier of a wall or a hedge between it +and him! It was somewhat natural that David, in this strange peril, +should recall to mind a verse from St. Peter's epistle.</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary, the Devil, as a +roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.'"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"How much more carefully, how much more anxiously I guard against the +lion which can only destroy my body, than I did against him who so +nearly destroyed my soul!" thought David. "Here am I now, giving up +sleep, treasuring every dry stick as if it were worth its weight in +gold, stirring my fire to a blaze, listening, watching, waiting, ready +to start up any moment with my spear in my hand! How was it with me in +my careless days of sin? Why, I have profanely laughed at the notion +of danger; I have been angry at warnings, however wisely given; I have +scarcely believed that there was a Devil at all, and I have actually +jested with the soul-destroyer's name on my lips! I was no more afraid +of the Lion that goeth about to devour, than yon 'dead' antelope is of +the fierce wild beast that may swallow it up in a moment. And why was I +so easy and careless? It was because I was 'dead in sin;' my conscience +was dead! Thank God, the God of mercy, that I did not then perish +for ever,—called to the bar of judgment unrepenting, and therefore +unforgiven!"</p> + +<p>For hours the Wanderer sat feeding his fire, while the full moonlight +fell around him, and thousands of twinkling stars glimmered in the deep +blue sky above. The fire, kept up to scare away lions and other beasts +of prey, was like the grace of God in the heart, which every Christian +must carefully tend by watchfulness and prayer. Oh! Dear reader, when +we find our hearts growing cold towards God, when our light does "not" +shine before men, when we become sleepy and careless in religion, let +us tremble and rouse ourselves to greater vigilance. For "our enemy is +not asleep," temptation and danger are near, far greater peril than any +that can threaten the body alone!</p> + +<p>Sometimes David fancied that he saw dim forms, like shadows, moving in +the distance. And once again, but still afar off, he heard the sound +of the deep low roar which strikes such terror to the heart. He tried +to keep his soul calm and composed, trusting in God;—to realise the +precious assurance contained in the words of the Saviour:</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them +is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are +all numbered. Fear not, therefore: ye are of more value than many +sparrows.'"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>Who should be so fearless as the Christian who rests under the shadow +of the Almighty's wings? Of what need he be afraid to whom death +itself, whenever or howsoever it comes, is but a messenger of love to +bear him to the presence of a Father!</p> + +<p>Though David found comfort in such thoughts, he was thankful when the +long, long night wore away, though, oh, how slowly! At length a glow +appeared in the eastern sky, the morning broke at last, and there was +the Wanderer, alive and unharmed.</p> + +<p>How much during the night had David thought of his home and every +individual in it; memory calling up each dear familiar face, till he +could almost fancy himself again seated with his family round the +cheerful board, with little Nelly on his knee. And how fondly he had +prayed for every one at Greenside—his good father, his tender mother, +the sisters who had been his playmates and friends! What earnest +resolutions David had made, that if God should please to spare his +life, and let him return to England, he would be the comfort and +help of his parents, a true brother and guardian to the girls. How +cheerfully would he labour, not for a cruel master, but for a loving +father; not as a bondsman, but as a son! And even in such a spirit +would he try to work for his God. His service should not be that of +slavish fear, but of grateful adoring love! He would think no duty +too hard, no duty too painful, if called to do it for the sake of his +merciful Saviour!</p> + +<p>It was now broad daylight, the sun had risen, and David beheld with +surprise the change in the scene before him. Not half a mile distant +appeared a large and beautiful lake, reflecting like a polished mirror +the glittering sunshine! Here and there a soft isle appeared to dot the +blue expanse of the waters. The scene was lovely, and all the more so +as contrasted with the barren wildness of that upon which the sun had +set on the preceding evening. David gazed with admiration indeed, but +not with pleasure. He knew that he looked upon a mirage, that all was +as false as it was fair; that with that shining lake before him, he +might yet perish with thirst! Wide as the waters appeared, the Wanderer +knew that there was not a drop of real moisture with which he could +cool his burning lips, and he would have thankfully exchanged all the +goodly show for a single cup of cold water!</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said David to himself, with a sigh. "Had I but reached this spot +at night, and so not have known but too well the nature of the country +around, with what eager hope and delight the sight of that lake would +have filled me! How, at the cost of any pain, I would have rushed +towards it, from the longing to plunge myself into its cool refreshing +waters! In the days of my ignorance, it was thus that I looked upon +sinful pleasure; it was a mirage to my soul; I must and would reach +it, and no one should keep me back! I had what I resolved to obtain, +and what did I find? Not cooling waters, but barren sand! Oh! How much +of sorrow was needed to teach me the lesson that the soul's thirst for +happiness cannot be quenched by the world's mirage! It can only be +satisfied by the love of Him who said,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'He that believeth on Me shall never thirst.'"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>David had imagined that with the night his greatest danger from wild +beasts would pass away, that whatever his sufferings might be from its +heat, at least some degree of safety would come from the sun. But when, +after watching the mirage for some time, he chanced to turn his eyes in +a different direction, he started in sudden alarm! What is that coming +towards him?—A single creature, and a large one; it is neither giraffe +nor zebra!</p> + +<p>David, alone and unprotected, felt his heart throb fast at the +suspicion which flashed across his mind as to the nature of the +creature that came on so rapidly over the sand! It was not long that he +could cling to a doubt, it was a large lion that was galloping towards +him, and it saw him; for straight as an arrow it came in the Wanderer's +direction. The wild beast slackened its pace as it drew nearer; the +bounding gallop was changed to a crouching walk. David would willingly +at that moment have given his left hand to have had a double-barrelled +gun in his right. For well he knew that his small spear would be of +little use in a struggle with an enemy so powerful as the desert +king. He would not attempt to fling the weapon—it would only serve to +irritate, not to inflict a mortal wound.</p> + +<p>It was a fearful thing to stand watching the gradual approach of +the lion, and yet David was calmer and more resolute than under +circumstances far less trying to flesh and blood. Even at that awful +time there was a sense of the presence of God, which strengthened his +soul to meet danger, and, if needs be, death itself as a man and a +Christian should meet them!</p> + +<p>David kept his eyes fixed on the lion; and the glaring eyes of the lion +were fixed upon him. The youth had often heard tales amongst Hottentots +of adventures with wild beasts in which the power of the human eye had +been mentioned, and when it had been said that even the lion fears to +attack a man who looks him full in the face. David had not put much +faith in such stories, but had often said that he believed the best use +of the eye in such cases was to direct a heavy bullet aright. But the +young Englishman had now no other resource, and he dared scarcely so +much as let an eyelid quiver, as he surveyed the lion with so fixed a +stare that a dimness seemed to come over his sight from the intensity +of his gaze. As if half spell-bound, more and more slowly advanced +the lion, crouching catlike on the sand, lashing his tawny tail, and +uttering ever and anon a low fierce growl.</p> + +<p>Five, ten minutes thus passed—every minute seemed an hour: suspense +became almost intolerable; but the end appeared now to be at hand. The +lion was not many yards from the English youth, and suddenly, with an +angry shake of his mane, drew himself together in the act to spring! At +this instant, a sharp report rang through the air, then another, and +another,—and almost before the dizzied brain of David could realise the +fact that deliverers must be near, the lion, with a wild roar of agony +and rage, rolled over on the sand, and lay quivering in death but a few +paces from the feet of its destined victim.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +———————<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_7">CHAPTER VII.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>RESOLUTIONS.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + <em>"I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: +I will guide thee with mine eye."</em>—Psalm xxxii. 8.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"A RIGHT good shot, and a splendid prize!" exclaimed a loud cheerful +voice in English, as, musket in hand, a young mounted hunter galloped +up to the spot, followed by another, a few years older than himself, +whose face, bearded and bronzed, was unmistakeably English.</p> + +<p>"You've had a narrow escape!" cried the second rider to David, who +still stood as if rooted to the ground.</p> + +<p>"A merciful deliverance!" gasped the youth.</p> + +<p>"Aye, a merciful deliverance indeed!" repeated the first rider, whose +name was Carlton. "We had to make a circuit to get a fair broadside +shot, and feared, every moment, that the beast would spring on you +before we got near enough to take a sure aim. I had to fire at last at +so long a range, that I scarcely expected the bullet would strike. What +a splendid creature this lion is, Manners! Of all our hunting spoils, +this is the noblest by far!"</p> + +<p>And dismounting, the young Englishman surveyed with admiration the +immense carcass of the once formidable lion.</p> + +<p>"You are a lad of mettle!" observed Manners to David. "You stood your +ground like a hero!"</p> + +<p>"I could neither fight nor fly," answered David simply, "or I'd have +been glad enough to do either."</p> + +<p>"How came you,—and without a gun,—to be here all alone in such a wild +place as this?" asked Carlton with some curiosity and interest.</p> + +<p>"I served Hans Kuhe, the Boer, the track of whose waggon you may +see yonder. I fell lame; he would not let me ride, and I could not +walk,—and so he left me behind."</p> + +<p>"The brute!" exclaimed the young hunter.</p> + +<p>"But notwithstanding your lameness, you seem to have had some luck in +hunting," observed Manners, glancing at what remained of the Springbok.</p> + +<p>"I could not follow the game,—the game was sent to me," answered David, +his heart glowing with gratitude as he spoke; "wild dogs pulled it down +near to this spot, and with my spear I was able to frighten them away, +and take what God had provided. It was He, too, who brought you here, +gentlemen—you to whom I owe my life, for which I thank you from my +soul!"</p> + +<p>"We were but just in time," observed Manners.</p> + +<p>Carlton had already begun a rough measurement of the lion, which was +one of the largest size,—and he conversed eagerly as he went on with +his occupation.</p> + +<p>"This king of beasts—he deserves the name—has led us a good chase this +morning over his desert domain. He was prowling last night round the +spot where we had outspanned, and made our oxen half mad with terror. +But I suppose he thought discretion the better part of valour, for he +did not venture on an attack, and made off before we could get a fair +shot. We mounted, and have been following on his spoor ever since there +was light enough to see it. But I doubt whether we should ever have +come up with our game, had you not headed him, and kept him at bay. You +are certainly the hero of this lion adventure, and deserve the tail as +a trophy."</p> + +<p>"You will, of course, join our party," said Mr. Manners kindly to +David; "our waggons will be up in an hour or so, for we intend to +outspan to-night at Quagga Fountain."</p> + +<p>"And Manners will play surgeon to your hurt," said Carlton gaily; "he +is doctor-in-chief to our party, and can set a bone or cut off a leg in +a twinkling!"</p> + +<p>David joyfully accepted the offers of his fellow-countrymen. The sound +of his native tongue, in its purity, was as music to his ears, and the +frank, cordial kindness which he met with was all the more delightful, +from the contrast which it presented to the harsh conduct of the Boer. +How marvellously had the Wanderer been watched over and cared for—to +the hungry, food had been sent; to the friendless, friends; and to the +helpless, great deliverance! It sweetened every blessing to David, to +regard it as coming directly from God. Thankfulness is the parent of +cheerfulness. We may safely affirm, that he who has a heart to praise +will never lack something to praise for.</p> + +<p>The hunters now proposed galloping back to their waggons, and sending +some of the "Totties" to help to skin the lion.</p> + +<p>"And probably feast on the carcass," laughed Carlton. "So that they can +have plenty of flesh, these fellows are not particular as to what it +comes from."</p> + +<p>"Shall I take you up behind me on my horse?" said Manners to David.</p> + +<p>David declined the kindly offer, the state of his ankle being such +as would have rendered the ride extremely painful. Besides, he was +unwilling to cause inconvenience to one of his preservers. He would +rather remain where he was, he said, and watch by the dead lion until +the waggons came up.</p> + +<p>"I'll just load my gun and leave it with you, then," said Manners; "you +might have other unpleasant visitors while left alone here."</p> + +<p>"And we'll not forget to send you, by the Totties, something to help +your breakfast," added Carlton; "you have plenty to eat, as I see, but +the liquor must not be wanting."</p> + +<p>In few but fervent words David again thanked his new friends, who did +not care to wait to be thanked. Off they rode, blithe and merry, joyful +at having slain their lion, and still more delighted at having been the +means of saving a gallant lad from a terrible fate.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>Once more was David left to himself, and solitude was not unwelcome, +for with it he could more freely pour out his heart's deep thanksgiving +to God. He could also more quietly form resolutions for the future. He +would now plead for the fulfilment of that gracious promise contained +in his mother's favourite Psalm,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.'"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>David resolved that from that day forth, he would never take any +important step in life without praying for heavenly guidance. Nor would +he—God's Spirit helping his resolve—ever suffer his own wayward will to +draw him from the straight path.</p> + +<p>"What is meant by 'I will guide thee with mine eye?'" David reflected +on the expression.</p> + +<p>It is always well to ponder over such passages until their full meaning +becomes clear to our minds.</p> + +<p>"I remember," thought young Aspinall, "that when Minnie and I were +children together, mother gave an account of our behaviour during his +absence to father, who had been on business away from home three days.</p> + +<p>"'I've had a little trouble with Davy,' she said ('I' daresay that it +was not a 'little'), 'for he does not always mind what is said to him; +but as for my little Minnie, a "look" is enough for her. Minnie was so +obedient to her mother that she could be guided by "the eye."'</p> + +<p>"That must be the meaning of those words in the Psalm, and what a +beautiful meaning it is! I have been through life like a wilful, +disobedient child, and God has had to draw me back to Himself by +means that were rough and painful. I have had shame and loss, pain +and danger, and all these trials were needed, not one could have been +spared me. It would not have been thus with me if I had obeyed from +the first the voice of conscience within. Yes, 'Conscience' applying +Scripture must be the 'directing look' of the Lord; and the man who +follows it fully and faithfully, he it is whom God 'guides by His eye.'"</p> + +<p>The greatest earthly desire David now had was to return to his home +and fulfil those wishes of his parents, which had now become his own. +Even the recollection of the painful passage in his life in London +which had once made him so shrink from going back to Greenside was now +insufficient to damp that desire. The thought of treading again the +well-known fields, and hearing the dear familiar voices,—climbing the +orchard-trees in autumn, and flinging down sweet apples to Eliza, whose +good-humoured face would look almost as round and rosy as they,—or +sitting by the fire, on winter evenings, telling tales of African +life,—how delightful would this be! Then the walk with his father and +mother along the green lanes to the church on the hill with Jenny close +at his side, or listening to the soft music of Minnie's voice teaching +Nelly the evening hymn—all was like a dream of happiness to the poor +Wanderer in Africa, too bright to be ever realised!</p> + +<p>But how could David get back to England? Doubtless the generous hunters +who had already shown so much kindness would take him in safety to +some part of the colony where he would at least be in no danger of +starvation, or of perishing by attacks of beasts, or Bushmen. But David +felt that he had no right to expect anything more from them. The injury +to his ankle was so severe that he feared lest it would be long indeed +before he could have a chance of working his way home: and though, at +the Cape, he might earn something by the labour of his hands, he knew +from experience that a tedious time must elapse before he could save +enough to pay for a passage to England. In the meantime what might not +happen!</p> + +<p>David was in a feverish state from heat, thirst, and the pain in his +ankle. It is likely, too, that the adventure with the lion had, for the +time, shaken his nerves; indeed, to face such a fearful creature alone, +and for so long a time, was enough to try the firmest—all these causes +together produced a depressing effect upon his spirits. A horrible fear +came over him that he should never see his father again, never be able +to ask his forgiveness, that he should arrive in England "just too +late," and find the farm in the hands of strangers, his family gone, +nothing of theirs left but a new tombstone in the churchyard!</p> + +<p>David groaned aloud as his feverish fancy presented all this to his +mind with the vividness of reality. Oh, that he had wings to fly home! +How could he endure to wait for months, perhaps for years, before he +could embark for Old England! Could it be wrong to wish, to pray for +money, when money could take him to his home? David did pray, and very +earnestly, that the way might be opened before him, and that his father +might be spared to rejoice in his prodigal's return.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_8">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>GUIDANCE.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + <em>"I will guide thee by mine eye."</em>—Psalm xxxii. 8.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>THE movements of the two waggons belonging to the English hunters, +though certainly quicker than those of the Boer who had lost so many of +his span, * were tedious to the impatient David. He did not, however, +have to remain suffering from thirst until they came up, for a party +of Hottentots, sent by the hunters, who were themselves engaged in +shooting, came up to carry off the skin and claws of the lion, and +Manners had not forgotten to forward by them water, and other things +needful.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<br> +* A "span" usually consists of fourteen oxen.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>David, though to a certain degree refreshed, longed for the shelter of +the waggon-tilt to shield him from the blazing sun. He was not exactly +in the track along which the waggons would pass, having left it, as the +reader is aware, for the little low clump of bushes. David, to whom the +sight and scent of the Hottentots engaged in their task were anything +but agreeable, took the musket and spear to support his painful steps, +and made his way back to the road, if road it could be called, where he +saw on the sand the broad marks of the wheels of Hans' waggon, and the +hoof-prints of his weary oxen.</p> + +<p>The youth was now not many yards from the spot where he had pleaded, +though in vain, to be taken up on that waggon,—perhaps some fifty paces +farther on the road than where he had stood at that time. Emotions of +fiery indignation rose in the Wanderer's breast, when he thought of the +cruel wrong that had been done him, and how nearly the conduct of his +heartless master had given him over as a prey to the lion.</p> + +<p>David was turning over these reflections in his mind, when his eye +chanced to fall on an object lying not far from his feet, on the track +of the Boer's waggon. He knew in an instant what it was, and hastening +to the spot, as fast as pain would let him, he raised from the sand a +large leathern purse heavy with gold, that gold which Hans Kuhe prized +more than anything else upon earth, except perhaps, his brandy-flask +and his pipe.</p> + +<p>A crowd of conflicting feelings pressed upon the mind of David as he +grasped the heavy purse, dropped on the road by the man who had almost +been his murderer. The very first thought which arose was, "This is +sent in answer to prayer; this money will take me home!" Then there +followed a strange conflict within, a kind of dialogue which David held +with his own soul; or rather, there was the Tempter of man speaking +on the one hand, and Conscience answering on the other. If the reader +knows nothing of such an inward struggle, it is to be feared that it is +because Conscience is silent, not because sin is dead.</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + TEMPTER.—Why should you doubt for a moment whether it is lawful for you +to take this money which Providence has placed in your very path?<br> +<br> + CONSCIENCE.—It is written, "Thou shalt not covet."—"Thou shalt not +steal."<br> +<br> + TEMPTER.—The hateful Boer owes you wages; it is lawful to take your +own.<br> +<br> + CONSCIENCE.—He owes you but "one" piece of gold, which alone can be +rightfully yours; that purse, by its weight, contains at least forty.<br> +<br> + TEMPTER.—But think of the good you might do with that money. In the +hands of the Boer it will be spent on drunken revels, or still worse. +With you it will make your parents happy; it will take you back to the +home which it was sin in you ever to leave.<br> +<br> + CONSCIENCE.—How that money will be spent by another is not the point +to decide. It is not the Boer's conduct, but your own, that "you" must +answer for before God. Ill-gotten wealth brings no blessing, but a +curse. Let none "do evil, that good may come."<br> +<br> + TEMPTER.—But think on your cruel wrongs. Remember the insulting +words,—nay, even the blows which you have had to endure. Think on the +barbarity of him who could leave a faithful follower to die a lingering +death, and that, too, from a hurt received in his service. If you +cannot keep the purse for yourself, throw it away. Let it be found by +some one else who will use the money without a scruple. Take out the +one piece which is your own, and then scatter the gold to the right and +the left. You may scorn to keep another man's money, but you may enjoy +the "sweetness of revenge." Your tyrant will have to bear a heavy loss, +and it is to be hoped that he will look upon it as a just punishment +for his conduct to you.<br> +<br> + CONSCIENCE.—It is written, "Do good to them that hate you; pray for +them that despitefully use you and persecute you." It is written, "If +ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in Heaven forgive +your trespasses." There is a safe and simple rule which every servant +of Christ is bound to follow, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome +evil with good."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>Conscience had won the victory, and David enjoyed the blessed +experience of what it is for God's child to be guided by His eye.</p> + +<p>The youth resolved to restore the purse, at the first opportunity, +to its rightful owner; but human nature is weak, and he knew that if +such opportunity were long delayed, the temptation which he had just +conquered might come back again with irresistible force. Reason told +him that it would be better to put it out of his power to take from +that store of gold in case his need should be very great or a length of +time should elapse before he should meet Hans Kuhe again. The Boer was, +as David believed, more than a day's march before him, and his road +would turn off at Quagga Fountain in quite a different direction from +that which the English party were likely to take. The gentlemen would +know better than David could how to send money across a wild country; +the lad therefore made up his mind to place the purse in their hands, +after taking from it the small amount of wages actually due to himself.</p> + +<p>Before the hunters came riding up towards him, a little in advance of +their waggons, David had decided on the right course to be pursued. As +soon as they had dismounted and had come up to the place where he was +awaiting their arrival, young Aspinall gave the parse into the hands of +Manners, and told him that he had picked it up on the road, but that he +knew it belonged to Hans Kuhe, a Dutch Boer, who lived at Heinbok Moot +and that he hoped the gentlemen would kindly take charge of it, and +have it restored to its owner.</p> + +<p>"How came you to identify a common-looking purse so readily?" inquired +Mr. Carlton.</p> + +<p>"I have seen it dozens of times in the hands of its owner; I know well +that tobacco-stain left by his fingers."</p> + +<p>"He is some friend of yours then, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Hardly to be called so," answered David with a smile; "only yesterday +he was my master."</p> + +<p>"Your master!" exclaimed Carlton. "What—the fellow who left you to die +in the desert!"</p> + +<p>Carlton whistled, and turned on his heel.</p> + +<p>Manners smiled, placed the heavy purse in one of his pockets, and told +David that he would take care not only that it should reach its owner, +but that the Boer should be informed who had been its finder.</p> + +<p>"And now, my boy," said the Englishman, "let me play the surgeon, and +look at your ankle."</p> + +<p>Very skilfully and very kindly did Manners, like the good Samaritan, +bind up the hurt of the young traveller whom he had met by the way, +Carlton looking on with interest as he did so. The three then mounted +the waggon, whose tilt, lined with many a trophy of the chase, offered +a refreshing shelter from the blazing heat of noon. Manners made +David rest on his own bed in the waggon, where the lad enjoyed a long +deep sleep, from which he awoke quite free from fever, and much more +disposed to look upon everything in a cheerful light.</p> + +<p>It was very pleasant indeed to David, who had been treated as a dog +by Hans Kuhe, to find himself not only in the society of countrymen +and gentlemen, but to be aware that they were both very favourably +disposed towards him, and that they admired his courage and honesty. +It was not merely the hope that Manners and Carlton might in some way +help his return to England that made this knowledge so delightful to +David; he had a heart that warmed to kindness, especially in a foreign +land, and after having experienced so much of the reverse, the youth +was naturally desirous to keep the good opinion of the hunters, and was +anxious not to say or do anything which might lower him in their eyes.</p> + +<p>As the three sat in the waggon together, the gentlemen asked David a +few questions as to his parentage and birthplace, and seemed pleased +when they heard that he was the son of an English farmer.</p> + +<p>"One might have guessed that you came of the race of our bold yeomen," +observed Carlton, "when you would face a lion for half an hour without +winking!"</p> + +<p>David's cheek glowed with pleasure at the praise, and he could not +refrain from telling of a brave deed performed by his father in early +youth, when John Aspinall had been the means of saving a girl from an +infuriated bull.</p> + +<p>Both the gentlemen listened with much interest, and Manners quoted +something from Goldsmith about a "bold peasantry, their country's +pride," which raised David's spirits still higher. The conversation +then took another turn. The subject was that of shooting, and the +hunters were glad to find that their young comrade knew very well how +to handle a musket or rifle.</p> + +<p>"Almost the best shot that ever I met with was our gamekeeper's son," +observed Manners. "I've seen him bring down a small bird on the wing +when it looked a mere speck in the sky! He was such a clever lad too; +he could turn his hand to anything. He'd have been invaluable on an +expedition like ours—he'd have dressed a dinner or mended a shaft, or +have made a pair of velt-shoen, or have driven a span of oxen, as if +he'd been brought up to the business of cook, carpenter, cobbler, and +driver! The poor fellow was wild to come with me to Africa!"</p> + +<p>"And why did you not bring him?" asked Carlton.</p> + +<p>"Well," began Manners slowly, as if he scarcely dared to give his +reasons; "you see—he had got into a scrape—had been before the +magistrate, and had seen the inside of a prison. I don't choose to have +anyone about me whose character bears a stain."</p> + +<p>"Quite right,—don't you think so?" said Carlton, tuning towards David.</p> + +<p>The poor youth's face flushed again, but not this time with pleasure. +He felt uneasy, mortified, ashamed, and knew not what to reply.</p> + +<p>"Why," continued Carlton, seeing that he hesitated, "you would not keep +company with a gaolbird, would you?"</p> + +<p>Again there was a struggle within, a dialogue between the Tempter and +Conscience, only carried on far more rapidly than I can write, or the +reader peruse it.</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + TEMPTER.—Put a bold face on the matter; say "no" at once.<br> +<br> + CONSCIENCE.—That would be a lie.<br> +<br> + TEMPTER.—Only a white lie; it will do no one harm.<br> +<br> + CONSCIENCE.—It will do you grievous harm, for it is sin. "Lying lips +are an abomination to the Lord."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>Once more David felt Conscience to represent his God's guiding eye.</p> + +<p>"You would not keep company with a gaolbird?" repeated Carlton, +resolved to have a reply.</p> + +<p>"I—I have been in a scrape myself," said David with a desperate effort.</p> + +<p>"Then I'll be bound, it was on some false charge!" exclaimed Manners.</p> + +<p>"I wish I could say so," murmured poor David, heartily wishing himself +fifty miles off.</p> + +<p>There was silence for two or three seconds, and then Manners observed +to Carlton, "whatever he was 'then,' he is a noble fellow 'now;' we'll +never come on this subject again."</p> + +<p>The effort was over—the truth had been told, and David had the comfort +of finding that his candour had raised him as much in the favour of his +friends, as he had feared that his confession would have lowered him. +Manners and Carlton treated him with even more kindness than before, +while he had the comfort of feeling that he had followed the dictates +of Conscience, and spoken the truth, as a Christian should ever do. +Never yet had any being cause to regret having followed, whether in +small things or in great, the gentle leading of Him who guideth His +saints by His eye!</p> + + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_9">CHAPTER IX.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>THE STUBBORN SINNER.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + <em>"Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: +whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near +unto thee."</em>—Psalm xxxii. 9.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>DAVID was reminded of the verse which heads this chapter while watching +the struggles of one of the draught-oxen, which was young, obstinate, +and not yet well broken-in to the yoke. Restive and stubborn, it seemed +disposed to pull in any way but the right one, though its very life, as +David knew, depended on its obeying the driver, who was directing it to +the nearest point where a large fountain of water was to be found. The +ox kicked, tried to gore with its horns,—to break from the waggon, to +do anything rather than "obey," and drew down upon itself heavy blow +after heavy blow—punishment carried to an extent that would have been +cruel, had it not been actually needful.</p> + +<p>"My conduct was once very much like that of yon wretched ox," +thought David, "though I could not plead its excuse of having 'no +understanding.' I have had terrible blows that have made my very heart +bleed; but it was long before I would give way and bow my proud spirit +to the yoke. But I will call it a yoke no longer; those who obey +Conscience are released from the 'bit and the bridle;' they follow the +steps of their Master; they are not driven, but led."</p> + +<p>The sun was sloping towards the west, and the Hottentot drivers said +that the waggons would reach Quagga Fountain before he set. It was +there that they would outspan for the night.</p> + +<p>"We shall not be alone," observed Carlton, "for I see a waggon not half +a mile ahead."</p> + +<p>This was rather a subject of surprise, as David was certain that none +had passed on the tract since Hans Kuhe had gone that way.</p> + +<p>"It must be that of the Boer," he observed, "but still it is strange +to see it there. He counted upon leaving Quagga Fountain early this +morning, and if that be his waggon yonder, he can never have reached +the water at all."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," suggested Manners, "his oxen were too feeble to draw the +waggon, and so he has outspanned, and taken on the weary beasts to the +fountain, leaving the waggon until they were able to pull it again."</p> + +<p>"We shall soon know the truth," said Carlton. "I hope the Boer may be +there, that he has stuck fast in the sand, and that David may have the +pleasure of giving back the purse himself, and seeing if it be possible +to make such a fellow blush."</p> + +<p>After the waggons had advanced some way, David spoke again, anxiously. +"Certainly there are none of the oxen with the waggon, and, strange to +say, there does not seem to be anyone left in charge. Hans Kuhe is not +the man to desert his goods like that."</p> + +<p>"Though he could desert his faithful servant," observed Carlton.</p> + +<p>"There is a man,—and it must be the Boer himself, for he is certainly +not a Tottie, laying flat upon the ground, about five yards to the left +of the waggon, and he looks as if he had been stripped of half his +clothes!" said Manners.</p> + +<p>"Something must have happened to him!" exclaimed David, starting up. +"Hans Kuhe must have been attacked by the Bushmen. Let us hasten on and +see."</p> + +<p>The oxen were urged to their best speed. Every yard that they advanced +served to confirm the fears of David. He saw before him the waggon +of Kuhe, but it was utterly empty, stripped of all the innumerable +articles of furniture, dress, trade, the karosses, cooking-utensils, +ivory tusks, skins, ostrich-eggs and feathers, that had made it appear +something between a house on wheels, and a travelling museum. One +wounded dog which came barking up to David, as if delighted to see his +familiar face, was the only thing that showed life and motion. One or +two arrows such as are used by Bushmen, a biscuit-cask robbed of its +stores, and some broken pipes and empty bottles lay on the sand, which +had evidently been trampled by many feet that had never worn shoes.</p> + +<p>The first care of the three Englishmen was to hasten up to what had +appeared to be the lifeless body of the Boer. David, in his eagerness, +sprang down from the waggon, almost forgetful of his lameness.</p> + +<p>"He is not dead!" exclaimed the youth. "He is not dead! See—he moves—he +opens his eyes. If we had water—"</p> + +<p>"Brandy—brandy!" groaned the Boer.</p> + +<p>Both water and brandy were brought. The wretched man, who had lain +there for twenty-four hours, drank as if he never would cease from +drinking.</p> + +<p>"He's not much hurt, I hope!" cried David. "That wound from the dart in +his shoulder may not be deep; it has scarcely bled at all, and it is +near no vital part."</p> + +<p>"But the flesh is dreadfully swollen around it," said Manners, gravely +shaking his head. He then quickly returned to his own waggon, to bring +from it other things that might be needed by the wounded man.</p> + +<p>"How came 'you' here!" exclaimed Hans Kuhe suddenly, fixing his eyes +with a wild startled expression upon David, who had been supporting the +Boer's head on his knee, while holding a flask to his lips.</p> + +<p>"You may well ask that question," muttered Carlton, "for it is no +thanks to you that he is here, or anywhere on this earth!"</p> + +<p>He probably did not intend that his words should reach the Dutchman's +ear, but they had been both heard and understood, for Hans exclaimed +with vehemence, raising himself with an effort to a sitting posture as +he spoke, "Ay, ay, it was that, that has brought the ruin upon me! He +would have watched, have kept awake; the savages would not have stolen +upon us, and struck before I could snatch up a musket! Ay, ay, I've had +nothing but ill-luck since I left him alone! First I dropped my purse—"</p> + +<p>"Which David found—and which David restores to you!" said Manners, who +came up at the moment, as he drew forth the purse, and gave it to the +youth, who was still on his knees beside his former master.</p> + +<p>"Take it—all your money is there, save the one piece which you owed +me," said David, putting the heavy purse close to the coarse brown +fingers that were wont to clutch gold so eagerly, and to hold it so +fast. But, to his surprise, Hans Kuhe made no attempt to take up the +purse.</p> + +<p>"What's money to me!" groaned the miserable man, sinking back on the +sand. "Can it keep back death for one hour—one moment?"</p> + +<p>"Not death!" exclaimed David, cheeringly. "You have but a flesh-wound +from an arrow."</p> + +<p>"But the arrow was 'poisoned!'" muttered Hans. "There's nothing on +earth that can save me!"</p> + +<p>"He speaks too truly," said Manners, who had been examining the wound. +"Spend what time is left you, unhappy man, in making your peace with +God, for no human skill can help you now."</p> + +<p>"Peace with God!" repeated the sufferer gloomily. "It is too late. I +never cared for religion in health, and now—"</p> + +<p>"Pray, oh! Pray!" exclaimed David. "God is so merciful—I have found Him +so merciful,—if we but repent."</p> + +<p>"I cannot repent," groaned the dying sinner, whose life had been one +long course of rebellion, who had closed his ears and his heart to +offers of mercy, till he had become stubborn and hardened in guilt.</p> + +<p>"Let me but repeat to you what has been my own comfort—my own hope," +said David with emotion, for Conscience bade him make yet one effort +more for the soul of the miserable man,—though the presence of the +hunters, and his own consciousness of unworthiness, made it very +difficult for him to speak. "'Blessed is he whose—'"</p> + +<p>"There's no blessing for me—none!" interrupted the Boer. "Go, boy, +go,—you mean kindly, but it is too late! Take that purse—keep it—I have +wronged you,—I've met my deserts,—money—oxen—goods—life—all gone! I +shall want nothing more—but a grave!"</p> + +<p>These were the last words which Hans ever spoke. He was gently placed +in a waggon, and there David, with such care and kindness as a son +might have shown, tended his enemy while life ebbed away. How awful +is the deathbed of the wicked! David had prayed to his God "in a time +when He might be found." Hans was like those unhappy ones who neglected +Noah's warnings till God's people had entered the Ark, and the door was +shut, and they who had been offered mercy in vain were swept away by +the flood of great waters!</p> + +<p>It is scarcely necessary to relate how the misfortune of Hans had come +upon him. After eating and drinking to excess, the Boer had fallen +into a heavy sleep in his waggon. Pollux, who never worked if he could +possibly be idle, followed his master's example and slept, while the +tired oxen halted on the way. A crouching Bushman who had come as a +spy saw the state of affairs, which was such as to invite an attack. +And gathering some of his tribe, they made an onslaught on the waggon, +first sending a shower of poisoned arrows, for the Boer was known to +be heavily armed, was a dead shot, and a very powerful man. The reader +knows the result: Pollux fled,—the oxen and everything that could be +carried off were taken, and the Boer was left to die! There he lay, +thirsting, and in misery, dreading attacks from wild beasts, in far +more woeful state than that to which his selfish cruelty had doomed his +poor young servant.</p> + +<p>That night the remains of Hans Kuhe were buried near the Quagga +Fountain. There was no tear shed over his grave. His life had been +without faith or repentance; his death was without hope or peace.</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_10">CHAPTER X.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>HOME.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + <em>"Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in +the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the Lord, and +rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in +heart."</em>—Psalm xxxii. 10, 11.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>I will now pass over some months, and change the scene of my story from +the wild glowing wastes of Africa, to a quiet little English farm,—and +ask my reader to unfasten in thought the latch of its little gate, +which is whitened with silvery frost, cross the small garden where the +snow lies so thick that every footstep leaves its print, and through +the low porch, icicle-hung, enter the old picturesque dwelling, which +feels so warm and comfortable after the sharp evening air without.</p> + +<p>Warm it is,—for large logs are blazing in the old-fashioned fireplace, +which is so wide that it holds a seat on either side. And on one of +these seats is Farmer Aspinall, warming his hands by the kindly blaze, +after a good day's work. His wife is stirring something in a large +iron pot which is simmering on the fire, and giving out a very savoury +smell. Five girls of different heights, from Minnie, a gentle-looking +young maiden now almost as tall as her mother,—to Nelly who is hardly +higher than the table, are busy with a quantity of bright holly and +mistletoe, which Eliza had just brought in. For this is Christmas eve, +and the farmer's family keep up the old English custom of decking their +home with evergreens, and making it gay with berries.</p> + +<p>"Why do you look so sad, Jenny?" asked Nelly, glancing up inquiringly +into the face of her sister. "Is not this Christmas time, and should we +not all be glad?"</p> + +<p>"Christmas has never seemed the same to me," said Jenny with a deep +sigh, "since Davy went away."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Yes," cried chubby-cheeked Eliza, "how merry he used to make us +all!"</p> + +<p>"His going has been a trial,—a very great trial to us," said Minnie, to +whom the events related in the second chapter had been like a blight in +the spring-time of life. "But our 'trials' must not make us forget our +'blessings,'—and we have had so many of these lately."</p> + +<p>"Yes, there's the cow that uncle White gave us," interrupted Nelly.</p> + +<p>"I shall never care for it as I cared for poor Crummie," said Bessy, +the second youngest of the girls.</p> + +<p>"And there's the famous harvest!" cried Eliza. "Our barn was never so +full before!"</p> + +<p>"And father is better—dear father! He don't want his crutch," said +Nelly.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Minnie, her eyes filling with tears. "When I look at +that crutch hung up there, and think of all father once suffered, I +feel that we can never be thankful enough to see him so well again!"</p> + +<p>"He has a sore heart though, I know he has, and so has mother," said +Jenny, lowering her voice that her parents might not overhear her; "I +daresay they are both thinking of poor Davy now. I'm sure since we +got that last dull letter from Heinbok Kloof (what a horrid place it +must be!) I've scarce thought of anything else. I wish Christmas time +were over—just think what a Christmas our Davy will have!" And a tear +dropped on the spray of holly which Jenny held in her hand.</p> + +<p>"Dear Jenny, is it not a comfort that, though parted, we can pray for +him still?" said Minnie.</p> + +<p>"I always pray for Davy," cried little Nelly; "I say,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'Please, God, take care of brother, and bring him safe back.'<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"And so," added the child with simple faith, "I think he'll come home +at last."</p> + +<p>"Hark!" cried Jenny suddenly. "Isn't there a footstep outside?"</p> + +<p>"Some one is tapping at the pane!" exclaimed Nelly.</p> + +<p>"There's a face at the window!" cried Minnie.</p> + +<p>But it was the mother's eye which first caught sight of that face, and +knew it in the reflected glow from the fire-light within. There was a +wild rash of all the sisters to the door, but it was the mother's hand +that drew back the bolt, and let in the Wanderer—the beloved. And the +first kiss of welcome to David was the kiss of the mother who, sobbing, +pressed him to her heart!</p> + +<p>Yes, it was David himself, though a good deal changed, as his family +saw when they were calm enough to think of anything but the one delight +of meeting. He was taller, thinner, and much more sun-burnt than +when they had parted. But the change "within" was far greater than +the change "without." The proud, wilful, wayward lad had come back +the brave, unselfish, earnest Christian, who was resolved, by God's +help, to lead a new life, ever setting duty before pleasure, or rather +finding his pleasure in duty:</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>The farmer had started to his feet at the first joyful cry from +his girls, and went forward to meet his son with such deep, quiet +thankfulness as no words, no outward sign could express. The sisters +were full of eager questionings, the father hardly uttered a word: the +mother wept for joy, but the father shed no tear. Yet no one could +have looked at his honest manly face on that evening, as John Aspinall +sat listening to the account of the wonderful deliverances of his son, +without seeing that in none of the breathless listeners was feeling +more true and deep. The Christian man had gone through a life of toil, +hardship, and trial; he had known sickness and suffering, poverty +and disappointment. But he had put his trust in God, and God had now +brought him safely through all. To Him who had been his Rock and +Fortress in the time of sorrow, John Aspinall now looked up in his hour +of exceeding joy.</p> + +<p>"Many sorrows shall be to the wicked." Yes, the reader may observe, but +is it not also written, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous"? +True, but it is added, "The Lord delivereth him out of them all." The +troubles of those who love God do not last for ever, and they leave a +blessing behind—like:</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +"Summer showers that make the world the greener,<br> + The air still fresher, and the sky serener;"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>or like the overflowings of the river Nile, which cover the fields for +a while, only that they may, at a future time of the year, be covered +with a more abundant harvest.</p> + +<p>Reader, my tale is ended. Ere you lay it down, suffer me to ask you a +few brief questions. Do you know anything of the blessedness of him +whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered; or are you +putting off repentance to a more convenient season, which may never +arrive?</p> + +<p>Are you one of those whom the Lord, through the voice of conscience, +guides with His eye; or are you the stubborn self-seeking sinner, for +whom is needed the bit, the bridle, and the blow?</p> + +<p>Do you pray to the Lord in your troubles, or only seek help from man?</p> + +<p>If you be willing "now" to seek the Lord "while He may be found," to +come to your Saviour for pardon and peace, and the grace of His Holy +Spirit, to make you love and obey Him, you will find that He is the +best of masters, the truest of friends, the most tender of fathers. +Walking in His ways, and doing His will, you will experience in the end +the truth of the closing verses of this beautiful Psalm,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad +in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that +are upright in heart.'"<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t2"> +<b>PSALM XXXII.</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> + "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.<br> + Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in +whose spirit there is no guile.<br> + When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the +day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is +turned into the drought of summer. Selah.<br> + I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. +I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and Thou forgavest +the iniquity of my sin. Selah.<br> + For this shall every one that is godly pray unto Thee in a time when +Thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not +come nigh unto him.<br> + Thou art my hiding-place; Thou shalt preserve me from trouble; Thou +shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.<br> + I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: +I will guide thee with mine eye.<br> + Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: +whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto +thee.<br> + Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, +mercy shall compass him about.<br> + Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, +all ye that are upright in heart."<br> +</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 76281 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/76281-h/images/image001.jpg b/76281-h/images/image001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4babc25 --- /dev/null +++ b/76281-h/images/image001.jpg diff --git a/76281-h/images/image002.jpg b/76281-h/images/image002.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..34ad02f --- /dev/null +++ b/76281-h/images/image002.jpg diff --git a/76281-h/images/image003.jpg b/76281-h/images/image003.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9fb9925 --- /dev/null +++ b/76281-h/images/image003.jpg diff --git a/76281-h/images/image004.jpg b/76281-h/images/image004.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bc3c1e3 --- /dev/null +++ b/76281-h/images/image004.jpg diff --git a/76281-h/images/image005.jpg b/76281-h/images/image005.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b1ce0b --- /dev/null +++ b/76281-h/images/image005.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5dba15 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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