"Wildebeest," I said, addressing the senior, "what do you think of the man we saw to-day?"
Wildebeest glanced uneasily over his shoulder into the darkness and replied in a low tone--
"I saw no man to-day, Ba.s.s; neither did Ghola, nor even the Ba.s.s himself."
Both boys covered their heads with the fragments of skin which did duty for clothing and lay down. When I addressed them a few minutes afterwards both pretended to be fast asleep, but I could tell by their breathing that they were wide awake.
The sun was high when I reached the bitter wells next morning. My two companions had gone away exploring to the southward; they had left a note explaining that they would probably not return till the following day. This suited me exactly. I had never been able to lie skilfully; I hated having to deceive my chums. It may, therefore, be well imagined that I was somewhat uneasy on the subject of my secret.
After a short rest, I again set off westward, taking with me the spare knife. The sun was just setting when I reached the grove. The strange man was still in his "scherm." A new piece of meat hung upon the forked stick; nothing else appeared to have been changed since the previous day. We sat up the whole night--he talking and I listening to what surely must have been one of the saddest and strangest tales ever poured into a human ear.
I pa.s.sed my word to the effect that for twenty years, not alone would I never mention a word of what he told me, but that I would not even write it down. It will, accordingly, be understood that a good deal of the language in which the tale is set forth is rather mine than his. I have, however, a very vivid recollection of the circ.u.mstances related-- in fact many of the phrases used have never faded from my memory.
After various experiments as to the best mode of relation I find that telling as though in the first person seems the most effective.
_Two_.
"I went to sea as a boy and, in the late forties, was mate of a ship which ran ash.o.r.e on the coast of the Cape Colony, somewhere to the eastward of Cape l"Agulhas. I disliked the sea; and when I managed to obtain a clerkship in a store in Cape Town, determined to spend the rest of my life ash.o.r.e. But I soon sickened of town life. I had always longed to visit the great unknown interior and to shoot big game, but without means this was, of course, impossible.
"At length, I found myself with a few pounds in my pocket, so I bought a small wagon and a team of oxen, and commenced business on my own account as a travelling trader. I used to obtain goods in Cape Town on credit, take them up-country to barter with, and afterwards return with cattle and sheep, which I sold to the butchers at a good profit.
"My business prospered, so that within a few years I found myself in a position to realise my dream of taking a trip up-country. I possessed a strong, comfortable wagon, sixteen good oxen, and three smart ponies-- all of which I had obtained by trading. I bought several good guns, a lot of gunpowder and lead, and, in fact, a complete hunting and trading outfit.
"I had no fixed plan. Time was no object, so I meant to travel northward in a leisurely manner, resting whenever I felt inclined to, or when my cattle required to pick up in point of condition. Being a handy man with tools I knew I could repair my wagon or guns should they require it. I spoke Dutch well, and I took a lot of stuff for the purpose of trading with the Boers for food.
"Always a solitary man, I did not feel the need of a companion, but I took two servants with me--an old Hottentot named Danster and his grandson, a lad of sixteen. These had been in my service for several years, and were willing to follow me anywhere.
"It was October when I started, and it was well on in September of the following year before I reached the Orange River. The course I had taken was somewhere to the westward of the usual trade route. I wanted to see as much unknown country as possible, and I had an idea that gold might be found in the great, high, central plain. The rains had fallen more plentifully than for years previously--almost as heavily as they have fallen here this season--so I had an easy time of it. I just went slowly along, shooting game when I wanted meat and pausing when the desire to rest came over me. The farther northward I went, the scarcer became the farms, until at length the only people I met were the few wandering Boers who lived in wagons and mat-houses and moved about on the track of the rains.
"Fate or chance led me to a bend in the Orange River where a certain Boer and his family dwelt. Although the family spoke nothing but Dutch, this Boer was a Scotsman by birth. He had come to Africa when a child, and had spent his life on the fringe of the desert. He was now old, blind, and feeble, and had evidently not long to live. The family consisted of three sons--the eldest being twenty-five and the youngest nineteen years of age--and a niece, a girl of eighteen. These young men were the three greatest scoundrels it has ever been my lot to meet, but the girl was beautiful and good, and I loved her from the first moment my eyes rested on her face.
"I will try and describe the homestead and its dwellers. The house was small and low, built of round stones with mud plaster and thatched with reeds. The furniture was rough-hewn from logs carried down by the great river when in flood. The old Boer was rich in cattle, sheep and horses.
Grain was grown on a patch of sandy ground which was sometimes fertilised by the river when at its highest flood. Brayed skins served princ.i.p.ally for clothing and wholly for bedding.
"Piet, the eldest of the brothers, was a tall, melancholy man with a narrow face, thick lips, and hair the colour of a fox. Gerrit, the second, was short and powerfully built. He had black eyes, beard and hair, and his complexion was swarthy. He was pa.s.sionate and cruel, and the poor old man used to shake at the sound of his voice. Sandy, the youngest, was a powerfully built fellow, and also had red hair. His face was like that of a weasel. He was lame from an injury received in childhood, but so strong that he could hold fast the leg of an ox no matter how hard the animal kicked. He seldom spoke, and he had the strongest aversion to meeting with his pale eyes even the glance of anyone else.
"And the girl--how shall a man describe the first and only woman he has loved--and that after she has been dead for twenty years? Alida was dark, dark as a gipsy, and of middle height. I had not seen much of women--I had never pleased them, nor had they been attracted by me--so, although thirty-five years of age, I had not thought of marrying. But here, in this G.o.d-forgotten corner of the wilderness, I suddenly came face to face with my mate, clad in rough skins that could not hide her beauty, and as ready to go with me to the end of the world as I was to take her.
"Alida was the orphan daughter of the blind old man"s only brother. He and his wife had both been killed by lightning in a mat-house when Alida was a baby, and the child had been dragged out from under the flaming roof by an old Bushwoman. Then her uncle adopted her, and she grew up in the rough, uncouth household like a gazelle among swine.
"It was a strange household: the old man lived in terror of his sons, and it was Alida who took his part and protected him from their violence. His wife had been dead three years, and he longed for the day of his own release. Every night he would pray aloud before going to bed, and the sons would mock him to his face. These three young men hated each other, and they all tormented the girl with proffers of love, she meeting their advances with the utmost scorn.
"A few days after my arrival at the homestead Piet recommended me to send my oxen to graze on a certain ridge within sight of the house, where the gra.s.s looked green and luxuriant. I did so, and within three days all my team except four were dead. The ridge was covered with the dreaded "tulp," which is deadly poison to all cattle. I am satisfied that the three brothers put their villainous heads together and devised this infamy with the view of getting possession of the contents of my wagon, which they coveted. I was in despair, for I could see no plan of replacing the cattle except by parting with most of my trading stock, and without this I could not proceed upon my trip. There appeared no way out of the difficulty, so I thought to remain where I was for a short time and then endeavour to make my way back to Cape Town.
"Such is the effect of a guilty conscience that the three ruffians could not bear to be in my presence; they appeared to dread my face, so they spent most of their time away from the homestead. In fact they made a practice of taking their guns early in the morning and making for the veldt, whence they returned late at night, and at once went sulkily to bed. Thus, they never suspected that there was anything of the nature of love between Alida and myself, whereas we had come to an understanding within a week of the disaster to my cattle. It came about thus. One night after Piet had come in, I heard Alida reproach him for his dastardly deed, which he did not attempt to deny. Next day, when the coast was clear, I mentioned the subject to her, and she burst into a flood of tears. Then I tried to comfort her, and we soon found out that we were more important to each other than all else that the world contained.
"I asked her to come away with me, but she refused to leave the old man, so I made up my mind to stay near her, at all risks, until his death, and then to take her and make her my wife. I knew that the old man could not live much longer; he became feebler day by day. The murder of my oxen, which he had heard discussed, preyed upon his mind to such an extent that he became rapidly weaker, and at length was unable to leave his bed.
"I heard of a Hottentot camp situated some three days" journey away, up the river, so I sent old Danster, my servant, to see if he could purchase any cattle there. My idea was to dispose of some of my stock-in-trade and acquire a sufficient number of oxen to enable me to get away with my wagon as soon as ever Alida should be free. The brothers had refused to sell me any cattle except at an impossibly exorbitant rate. I knew there would be extraordinary difficulty in getting Alida out of the clutches of her cousins, but the thing had to be accomplished somehow or another.
"In six days" time Danster returned with a favourable report, so I made secret preparations for my departure. By this time the brothers had begun to feel suspicious of my relations with their cousin, so one of their number always hung about the homestead.
"My intention was to load three of my four remaining oxen, which had been trained to the pack, with tobacco, coloured handkerchiefs and other stuff which I knew the Hottentots valued, and then steal away, un.o.bserved if possible. I reckoned on being able to obtain six animals.
These, with my other four, would suffice to pull the wagon with its diminished load. Danster had done his best to induce the Hottentots to bring their cattle down for me to see, but the reputation of the brothers was such an evil one that no one from the encampment would venture near the farm.
"At the same time preparations for a journey, the object of which I never learned, were being carried on by the brothers. Guns, saddles and other gear were furbished up, and horses carefully selected out of the half wild herd. Alida managed to let me know that Piet and Gerrit were going away, and were not expected to return for five or six days. I looked upon this as a piece of good luck, and determined to take my departure immediately after they had started.
"Next morning at daybreak the two mounted their horses and rode forth, and no sooner were they out of sight than I sent Danster to drive up my oxen. The packs were ready, so I hurriedly adjusted them and, after bidding farewell to Alida and the old man, made haste in the direction of the Hottentot camp. The last thing I saw as I left the homestead was the evil face of Sandy peering like a weasel round the corner of the building.
"I travelled all day and camped at sundown. So tired was I that I fell asleep at once, leaving old Danster to collect fuel and tie up the oxen.
The distance I had travelled was not great, but the slowness of the gait of the oxen had tired me. The last thing I remember is seeing old Danster nodding drowsily over the newly-kindled fire. His grandson had been left at the farm to look after my remaining ox.
"I cannot upon natural grounds account for the next thing I became cognisant of. I found myself standing up, looking at the figure of the old Boer, which stood on the other side of the fire. It was splashed by the flickering flame against the black night, and as clear to my startled gaze as you are at this moment. The sightless eyes were wide open and full of unwonted expression, and one arm was extended imperatively in the direction of the homestead. There was an expression of sternness on the worn face which I had never previously seen, and the wasted form seemed instinct with dignity.
"I never doubted that it was indeed the old Boer in the flesh that stood before me, but my mind was in a whirl of wonder as to how he had managed to follow me, and I never doubted that Alida was at hand, but an eddying gust of smoke filled my eyes, and I closed them for an instant. When I opened them again the figure had vanished, and then I knew it for a vision.
"In an instant the truth, clear and inevitable, pierced my brain--Alida was in danger and the old man was dead; his spirit had come to warn me.
I seized my gun and bandolier from where they lay, close to the head of my couch, took a hurried glance at old Danster, who was huddled, snoring, close to the fire, and plunged into the darkness.
_Three_.
"I had a long distance to cover, so I husbanded my strength. The night was calm, still and starlit when I started. I judged the time to be about midnight. My mind was in a curiously exalted condition; clear, tense and braced to its purpose like a tempered steel spring. I felt that I could have swept an army of men or devils from my path. My course lay across a succession of low, wide ridges with gently sloping sides, each culminating in an abrupt backbone of bare boulders, the whole inclining slightly towards the river.
"Whenever my way led up hill I walked. On reaching the top I drew breath for a few seconds, and then went down the next slope at a swinging trot. I found both strength and wind improve as I proceeded.
Dawn just began to flicker as I reached the comb of the last ridge, from which I knew that the homestead was visible by daylight about three miles away. Then something which I had taken for a stone in my path arose before me, and in a few seconds Alida stood revealed. She stretched out her hand towards me with a gesture of appeal; I dropped my gun and folded her in my arms. Neither of us spoke a word.
"After a few seconds she disengaged herself from my embrace, took my hand and led me forward towards the homestead. The glimmer of dawn began to merge into the gold of morning, and by the time we reached the dwelling the level shafts of sunlight were searching the crests of every tree and kopje. Although Alida had not once broken her silence I knew that something terrible had occurred, but I felt no curiosity; I did not wish the ear to antic.i.p.ate the eye in the revelation which was about to be made. The front door of the homestead stood wide open; no sign of life was visible, and the only sound which smote on my tense ear was the howling of a door down near the river.
"Pausing before the doorway, Alida and I looked into each other"s eyes for an instant, during which earth and sky seemed to pause in dreadful expectancy, and the pulse of time to cease. The girl"s face was drawn and pallid, and wore an expression of the bitterest agony. She took my hand and drew me into the house.
"The front room was in the same condition as when I had last seen it, except that the table bore the remains of last evening"s meal, and that a chair lay overturned against the wall, as though it had been hurriedly flung out of someone"s way. The old man"s bedroom opened to the left, and into it Alida led me.
"The wooden shutters were closed, so the only light was the faint glimmer which filtered through the front room. Alida strode to the window and, avoiding something which lay on the floor, threw back one shutter. In an instant the room was flooded with sunshine. On the bed lay the old man, dead, with the same expression on the worn face which I had noticed in my vision of the previous night. Under the window lay the corpse of Sandy, with a deep gash on the right temple, from which a trickle of black blood had oozed and congealed upon the clay floor.
"The whole room was in a state of disorder, and showed signs of a violent struggle. I pa.s.sed my arm round Alida"s body and drew her, half-fainting, from the room. We walked some distance from the house and seated ourselves in the pure, bright sunshine. Then she told me her tale.
"The old man had been taken with what must have been a fit immediately after supper on the previous evening, and died within a few minutes.
Sandy went outside, and Alida remained with the body to carry out the necessary arrangements. About midnight Sandy returned, and tried to induce her to go to her room. She refused, and he began to use force.
Then his brutish intention became clear to her. In the very room where the dead man lay this fiend laid his hot hands upon the girl who had grown up in the house with him like his sister. Fortunately she was strong, and able to make an effective resistance. In the struggle his foot slipped, and he fell with his head against the sharp wooden corner of his father"s cartel bedstead; this pierced to his brain through the thin bone, and the foul brute fell, dead, to the floor.
"She showed me the black bruises upon her beautiful arms and shoulders, and I kissed them, one by one. Then I left her sitting upon the stone and went to drive up the cattle, which, fortunately, were close at hand in the big river bend. I could not find old Danster"s grandson; in fact, not a soul was to be seen about the place. The Hottentots had evidently got scent of the tragedy, and bolted.
"After driving the cattle into the kraal, I called Alida to my a.s.sistance, and together we selected sixteen of the best. She knew all the animals individually. We caught them by pa.s.sing reims over their horns. Then we filled the wagon--which stood close by--with provisions, ammunition, and other necessary things. My goods had been stored in a little outhouse; I selected some of these and added them to the load.
Before noon the team stood ready in the yoke. I entered the house and took a last look at the scene of the tragedy. Upon coming from the room Alida met me in the doorway--