The two hours which Hans had to wait before he believed Katrine would
come to the kloof passed very slowly. Each minute seemed longer than
would an hour pleasantly passed; and when only half the time had elapsed
he began to feel uneasy, and to fear that he might be mistaken as
regards the signals which Victor had seen. Long before the time had
elapsed, however, Hans saw Katrine and her sister stroll out from the
kraal and walk slowly along the paths which led in the direction of the
ravine in which were her friends. She did not hurry, or seem at all
eager, as though bent on an expedition of importance, but stopped
occasionally as though undecided in which way to journey, and as though
not engaged on any special purpose. Hans and his companions watched
with the greatest interest every movement of the two girls, and also
every group of Matabili that from time to time were seen moving from
kraal to kraal. Several armed men had left the various little villages
and had walked rapidly from one to the other, as though some business of
war were on hand. About a dozen of these armed men were assembled, and
seemed to be engaged in talking, near the kraal from which Katrine and
her sister had first appeared; they took, apparently, no notice of the
two girls, who seemed at full liberty to wander where they chose. These
men, after a short time, followed the same path as that which Katrine
had chosen, but they appeared merely idling, for occasionally they
stopped, sat down, and took snuff, whilst now and then one or two would
engage in a mimic fight, and, striking each others' shields, would
threaten with their spears as though engaged in a deadly combat. At
first these men scarcely attracted Hans' attention, so wholly was he
engaged in watching Katrine; but being accustomed to notice every thing,
however unimportant it might appear, he soon became interested in the
proceedings of these warriors. Katrine steadily advanced towards the
ravine, and was now distant scarcely half a mile; but behind her, and
within a quarter of a mile, were the armed Matabili, who Hans saw had
steadily followed her and her sister, although they seemed otherwise
engaged.
"Those men," at length said Hans to his companions, "are following
Katrine, and either do so as a means of watching that she does not
escape, or else they know we are near and mean to attack us; there are
but ten of them, and we can surely dispose of that number. Let us look
to our priming; but we should not fire a shot if we can escape without
doing so, for a gun discharged would alarm the whole country, and our
escape would be very difficult. See, the men are coming closer to
Katrine, and they are calling to her. Hear what they say, Victor,
`_Wena musa hamba kona_,' they speak to her in Kaffir, and say, `You
must not go there.'
"Cess! if they lay hand on her I'll try a bullet at them even from
here," said Hans, as he observed two of the Matabili run towards Katrine
and her sister.
The two Dutch girls were not, however, to be ordered like children.
They knew perfectly well what was said to them, but did not intend to
obey it. Taking advantage of the temporary concealment afforded by some
bushes behind which she walked, Katrine seized her sister's hand and ran
rapidly up the path into the ravine. Although unaware of this
proceeding, yet the Matabili had intended to prevent the two girls from
entering the ravine; and so the whole party ran forward in order to
bring the two maidens back.
The Matabili, as well as the other tribes of South Africa, used a
certain amount of courtesy towards young and handsome women, although
their wives are treated very much as are slaves. Thus these men
considered it rather a piece of coquetry that the girls should run away
from them, and were apparently more amused than angry at it. Thus,
although Katrine and her sister were fully 200 yards in advance of their
pursuers, yet the Matabili knew that the maidens could not escape them;
for even if compelled to spoor them, these experienced hunters would
soon re-capture their prisoners.
The point at which Katrine entered the ravine was distant about 300
yards from where Hans was concealed; and thus, had he remained where he
then was, the Matabili would undoubtedly have captured the girls before
they could have reached him. Seeing this, he at once decided upon
running down the ravine and intercepting the pursuers. The suddenness
of a discharge of fire-arms, which he was now convinced must be done,
would so alarm the Matabili, ignorant as they were of the number of
their foes, that their retreat would be immediate, and he would thus be
left in undisturbed possession of Katrine and her sister.
Without any explanation of his reasons to his companions, who were men
that needed not that a plain fact should be made more plain by argument,
Hans said "Follow me," and the three ran down the pathway to meet
Katrine, who, to the delight of Hans, was soon visible, and safely held
for a moment in his arms.
"The Matabili are coming," exclaimed Katrine, "ten of them: can you
fight them?"
"Yes, double the number would be nothing, now you are with me, Katie."
"But, Hans, more are about. I fear so much for you. How can we escape
from these brutal murderers? Oh, it was fearful! My poor father was
butchered before my eyes, and I lived to see it; but where can these men
be? they were close behind us just now."
Hans was equally surprised at the disappearance of the Matabili, whom he
had expected to see immediately behind Katrine and her sister, but who,
it was evident, were not following her. Seeing this, Hans turned to his
companions and said, "To the horses, men! not a moment must be lost
now."
Hans, half carrying Katrine, who, however, was well able to move on at
speed, was followed by Victor and Bernhard, between whom was Katrine's
sister. The party walked and ran up the path towards where the horses
had been left, and soon reached the open grassy glade where they had
been allowed to graze. Instead, however, of finding their five horses
there ready saddled for mounting, and merely knee-haltered to prevent
their straying, the place was deserted, and no horses visible.
"Bernhard," exclaimed Hans, "where are the horses?"
"I left them here, Hans," replied Bernhard, "they can't be far off. Let
us each take a path, and we shall soon bring them up: let the girls wait
here for us."
Hans reluctantly quitted the side of Katrine and selected the path to
his left, his two companions taking two other paths. Hans had proceeded
but a few yards along his selected path, and was looking at the spoor of
the horses, which was fresh on the ground before him, when a slight
noise behind caused him to turn: he had but just time to raise his arm
and partly ward off a blow aimed at his head by a Matabili who was armed
with a horn knobskerrie, when his arms were seized and he was thrown
violently to the ground, his gun dragged from him, and he was held by
the powerful arms of some five or six Matabili. Almost at the same
instant a shout from Victor and an oath from Bernhard, combined with the
sound of struggling in the bush, indicated to Hans that his companions
also had been captured; and therefore a regular ambush must have been
prepared for the whole party. That he was not slaughtered at once,
surprised him; for to make prisoners is usually considered by these
warriors to be bad policy. Still, to be thus suddenly made a prisoner,
and to know that Katrine also must be once more in the hands of his
enemies, was a severe blow to Hans, especially when success had just
seemed about to crown his efforts.
Hans was almost immediately bound with his hands behind him and led,
with shouts of triumph and laughter, to the open glade where he had
expected to find his horses; there he found Victor and Bernhard, bound
like himself, and near them more than fifty armed Matabili warriors;
whilst crouching on the ground, her arm round her sister, and crying
bitterly, sat Katrine, entirely overwhelmed by grief and disappointment.
The horses were held by some boys near the group; whilst a Matabili
chief, who seemed to command the party, stood watching his prisoners.
Suddenly addressing Hans, he said--
"Why have you come armed and without notice into the country of
Moselekatse, when it is war between us?"
To this inquiry Hans gave no other answer than a look of disgust at the
man, who, signalling to his followers, led the way down the ravine
towards the kraals.