HANS STERK BECOMES A PRISONER WITH HIS COMPANIONS--FINDS AN UNEXPECTED
ALLY--PLOTS AN ESCAPE.
There are few conditions more unpleasant to any man than that of being a
prisoner. When, moreover, it happens to a man of active and
enterprising habits, and when the captors are men who are bound by none
of those laws which possess an influence in civilisation, and where,
consequently, the prisoner may be put to death at any moment merely to
gratify the whim of a despot, a captive's condition is one not to be
envied.
As soon as Hans Sterk found that he had been fairly entrapped and made
prisoner by the Matabili, he blamed himself for his want of watchfulness
and caution: had he been one of the unskilled residents of the towns, he
could not have been more easily outwitted. He saw that his captors
looked at him with contempt and seemed to consider him quite a novice in
the art of bush warfare; and as they talked unreservedly of their
proceedings, he was enabled to find out how artful had been their plans.
The Matabili, he discovered, had crossed the spoor of his horses, and
saw at once that it led to the ravine in which he was concealed; they
believed that he must be with his companions concealed in that ravine,
but if they followed him at once he would, being provided with horses,
either escape by riding, or would fight and probably kill many of his
enemies before he was himself slain. They decided therefore to
ascertain first whether he was still in the ravine; and a young
keen-eyed boy was despatched to the far side, to see if there were any
spoor leading _out_; for if there were not, then the white men must be
concealed in the ravine.
As soon as this boy's report had been received, the Matabili chiefs
concluded that the men had come either to act as spies, which was
unlikely, or else for the purpose of rescuing the two girls. This
latter supposition was considered the more probable by the experienced
chiefs; and the ravine having been carefully surrounded by a large party
of the Matabili, who, to avoid suspicion, left the kraals in parties of
three or four only, a careful espionage was kept upon the two female
prisoners, and Hans' plot immediately discovered and guarded against,
and preparations made for his capture and for that of his companions.
The prisoners were conducted to the kraal from which Katrine and her
sister had escaped in the morning. The three men were placed in the
hut, the door of which was closed, their hands tied behind them, and
some half-dozen boys appointed to watch the hut from the exterior.
There are times when men of the greatest energy and enterprise fail in
the attempts they are making to obtain certain results; these failures
do not invariably occur in consequence of want of skill or care on the
part of the men themselves, but seem to be the effect of some
inscrutable power, which is often termed luck. When again and again
such failures happen, we are accustomed to be thoroughly cast down, and
to feel that no endeavours of our own can aid us: do what we may, think
what we may, yet an evil luck will attend us, and failure must follow.
These seasons of ill-luck or want of success may be the means used to
teach us that man's efforts alone can be but fruitless, and that it
needs the assistance of higher powers to ensure success.
It was with a feeling of utter despair that Hans Sterk contemplated his
late failure and his present pitiable condition. Like as a beaten
chess-player reflects on the move which, if executed, might have saved
him his game, so did Hans turn over every act and thought of the past,
in order to find how he might have avoided his late failure; but the
fact remained, that the enemy had been too crafty for him, and he too
sanguine of success.
The hut in which he was a bound prisoner was like all the huts of the
Kaffirs. It was constructed of strong wicker-work, and thatched with
reeds and long grass; the door was merely a small wattled hurdle, and
did not so entirely block the doorway as to prevent those outside from
looking in; the walls were so thin that voices and conversation, even
though carried on in a moderately low voice, could be heard from hut to
hut. After the three prisoners had remained silent a short period, Hans
said--
"Friends, I am very sorry that I have brought you into this state. We
have tried our best, but we have failed: men can do no more than try."
"We have been unlucky," said Bernhard; "and most likely shall not see
another sun rise, for the old chief must be furious at his losses
lately, and may gratify his vengeance by seeing us assagied."
"Don't let us look at the worst," said Victor; "we must think of escape;
it is no use lying here like sheep to be taken, to the slaughter. I too
believe we shall die to-morrow, but let us at least try to escape."
"Rather difficult to escape, with our hands tied, and surrounded by
enemies," remarked Bernhard.
"Nothing is impossible to men with wits and nerve," replied Hans; "and
now I feel once more a man. Thank you, Victor, for giving me fresh
strength by your remark, we will try to escape, and here is my plan: as
soon as it is quite dark, we will free each other's arms; this can be
done by biting the withes and hide rope of one of us, then he who is
free can liberate the others. See, in the roof there is an assagy, with
this we can cut the fastenings as soon as one pair of hands are free.
Next, one of us can go to the door and by some means attract the
attention of the boys on watch, and bring them round to the front of the
door; the other two can then work a way through this thin thatch and
escape to the horses. The alarm need not be given at once; but if it
should be, a run for life is better than nothing."
"It would never succeed, Hans," replied Victor: "the noise of breaking
through the thatch would be too great; perhaps a better plan may occur
to us if we think for awhile."
The three men sat silently turning over every possible means of escape
for nearly a quarter of an hour; but no idea seemed to be likely to be
practically useful. As they were thus meditating, they heard a young
Kaffir woman speaking to the boys who were on watch. She was laughing
with them, and, from what the three prisoners could hear, she seemed to
be rejoicing at their capture. At length she said, "I should like to
throw some dirt at them, to let them know how little a Matabili maiden
thinks of them." And suiting the action to the words, she pushed aside
the door, and, with a taunting laugh, threw a handful of earth at the
prisoners. After a few words with the boys, she then withdrew, and all
were again silent. A single term of abuse burst from the lips of
Bernhard as a lump of clay struck him; and then, with a look of contempt
at the door near which the Kaffir maiden had stood, he again racked his
brain for some ideas which should aid him to escape.
Hans, who had been working his arms quietly but forcibly backwards and
forwards for some time, suddenly withdrew one of his hands from the
fastenings, exclaiming,--"So much for the tying of a Matabili! You can
free yourselves in five minutes, if you strain your knots. Try what you
can do."
The two men thus addressed commenced straining their knots; which
proceeding, however, was not as successful as had been that of Hans.
The latter, however, by one or two cuts of the assagy soon liberated the
arms of his companions, and, to their surprise, addressed them in a
whisper as follows:--
"Soon after sunset we shall be free, so stretch your limbs, and be ready
for a battle for life and freedom."
"What is your plan, Hans?" said Victor; "let us hear."
"It is not my plan; it is Katrine's information. That ball of clay that
the girl threw contained a roll of paper from Katrine. This is what she
says:--
"`An hour after sundown, there will not be a man in the kraal, only six
boys to watch you and two old women to watch us. Free your arms and
make your escape; then your guns are in the chief's hut, the one with
the large ox-horns over the doorway, the horses are in the kraal next
the cow's kraal: we will be ready. The girl who takes this I have won
by presents. I leave to you, Hans, the plan: you may depend I tell you
truth; I have learned all this from the girl.'"
"And that was in the clay ball," exclaimed Victor. "Ah, Bernhard, we
are but stupid hands on the spoor. Hans, after all, is the born leader.
What made you think there was any thing in the ball, Hans?"
"I did not think the girl looked cruel," replied Hans, "and she seemed
acting a part as I looked at her."
"Let us make our plans now. What do you propose, Hans?" inquired
Victor.
"We will try my plan first, if that fail we will just rush out and drive
off the boys, and so escape. I must find out where the men are all
going to, for it depends on that where we ride to. Our horses may not
be very fit for a journey, however, and as we shall certainly be
followed, and our spoor will be as plain as a waggon-track, we must take
care; for once again captured, we shall never have another chance. Ah,
here comes the girl again."
The Matabili girl again came to the door, and with a loud laugh threw in
a handful of dirt which she had appeared to pick up from the
cattle-kraal near. Amidst this heap was another lump of clay, from
which Hans drew a piece of paper, and read, "I can give you no other
weapons than three assagies, these will be pushed through your hut soon
after sunset; look out for them and draw them in rapidly, so as not to
be seen. We must first ride _north_. God help us!"
"Katrine is better than gold," exclaimed Victor, "and I for one am glad
to be, running this risk for her, and will readily die without
complaint, if need be. She will be a fit wife for you, Hans."
A gratified smile passed over Hans' face as he heard Katrine thus spoken
of; but being more disposed to discuss with his companions any other
subject than the merits of his beloved Katrine, he said, "To get our
guns will be the great thing, then we can fight well. Why they give us
this chance of escape, I don't know."
"They trapped us so easily before, they fancy they can venture to leave
us with boys, I suppose," was Victor's explanation.
"Ah," replied Hans, "they don't know that a real man often does not
thoroughly act till his case seems desperate and he completely defeated,
then he rises to victory."
The sun appeared to move very slowly to the prisoners in the hut, who
anxiously watched the lengthening shadows, and waited impatiently till
it began to get dusk. The accuracy of Katrine's information was soon
evident, for between the slight openings of the door Hans saw several
Matabili warriors, completely armed, silently move away across the plain
outside the kraal. It appeared as if there were to be some general
meeting, or gathering of the forces of the Matabili chief, which
required all the men to be present; and the prisoners being supposed
securely bound, might well be entrusted to the boys, who, on the
slightest alarm, might summon the men to their assistance. As nearly as
the prisoners could guess, an hour had scarcely elapsed when the girl
who had previously brought the notes of Katrine and her sister, passed
by the hut in which Hans and his companions were confined, and singing a
wild song, seemed intent on some occupation. The three Dutchmen,
watching eagerly for some signal, heard the word `loop' uttered several
times, as though in the chorus of a song.
"That," said Hans, "must mean we are to go" (loop being the Dutch for go
or _be off_). "Katrine has taught her this. Bernhard, open the door
quietly and look out, all the boys, I fancy, are behind the hut talking
to this girl."
The door was slowly pushed on one side by Bernhard; and there appearing
no watchers near, he whispered to his companions the result of his
examination.
"Now for our lives," said Hans, "and for those of the girls. We will go
very quickly, but silently, to the hut for our guns, then for our
horses, and then for Katrine. Let us go."
Bernhard led the way out of the hut, the door of which was so low that
it was necessary to crawl out on all fours, Victor followed, and lastly,
Hans, who stayed to fasten the wicker door in its former position. The
three men then walked away towards the hut in which they believed their
guns to be, and opening the door, Hans first entered. The inside of the
hut was so dark that scarcely any thing was visible; but no sooner had
Hans stood up and stretched out his arm, to feel the side of the hut,
than his hand came in contact with the arm of a human being. In an
instant his hand closed on this arm with a grip which indicated his
knowledge that life or death depended now on every trivial circumstance;
but before he could grasp the throat of whoever it was, a whispered
voice exclaimed, "Hans, it is I, here are your guns," and Katrine's
voice was immediately recognised by her lover. Bernhard and Victor had
by this time entered the doorway, and were first alarmed, then
delighted, to find Hans talking to some one in the hut. As soon as
Katrine had disengaged herself from her lover, who held her almost as
firmly as he would have held an enemy, she explained to him what she
believed to be their best chance of escape.
"We must leave this hut, and get out of the enclosure behind it," she
said; "we can creep through an opening in the palisades, and then go
round to the kraal where the horses are. It will be difficult to secure
them, for two Kaffirs are left in charge of them; but my sister is about
there, looking out, and will tell us what is best to be done. All of
you must put a blanket each over you, then, if you hide your hats, you
will not be known in the dark from Kaffirs, at least till you are seen
very close. Then we must lead the horses some distance before we ride
away, and we must ride northwards, away from the kloof near which we
were taken this morning. All the men have gone south, so we may miss
them. Do you see what to do, Hans?"
"Yes," whispered Hans, "we will go out now. Let me feel, are my
powder-horn and bullets here? Yes, they are untouched. Bernhard, you
take these and take my gun; I will help Katrine along: then I have a
plan."
The three men wrapped in blankets crept from the hut without being
observed; the occupants of the various huts being engaged inside,
cooking their evening meal. An opening large enough to allow of the
four passing through, was found behind the hut; and in a few minutes
Hans had conducted Katrine to a spot some fifty yards outside the
enclosure, where he stopped near a clump of bushes that offered
concealment. "Now for the most difficult part of the affair," said
Hans, "to procure the horses. Are the men old or young, Katrine, who
are watching them?"
"Young," said Katrine, "and inexperienced."
"Then I will try a bold plan. If I call Help! you, Victor, come to me,
whilst you, Bernhard, take care of Katrine; but if I don't call, then go
down to the stream when I come out whistling from the cattle-kraal.
Where is your sister, Kate?"
"She is close here, Hans, and will come when she hears one whistled
note; she is hid I don't know where."
"Bring her to you, then, and now for the attempt," said Hans.
To men used, as were these hunters, to make rapid plans, and execute
them as quickly, no further explanations were needed; and the two who
remained with Katrine waited patiently to see the result of Hans'
scheme, trusting to his skill and knowledge to bring about a favourable
result. The method which Hans intended to attempt was a bold one. He
knew that, dark as it was, he could not be recognised unless he were
examined closely. He also knew that the young Kaffir or Matabili men
were ordered about in a very summary way by their elders, and no
discussion was ever allowed when an order was given. He had
ascertained, by the conversation of the boys outside of the hut, the
name of the chief of the kraal; and thus provided he walked boldly
towards the kraal, with no effort at concealment. As he approached he
called in the Matabili language, "Where are you?"
"Here," answered the two men.
"The chief wants to show the horses," said Hans, in his best Kaffir;
"bring them out, I am to take them."
A murmur of surprise escaped the two men as they heard this order; but
fearing to dispute or question, they entered the kraal, and, unfastening
the horses, led them out of the narrow gateway. Hans covered himself
almost completely with his blanket, and as the men came out he said,
"Follow me, lead the horses this way."
As among the followers of Moselekatse there were many renegades from the
Zulus, and some from various tribes in all directions, the difference in
Hans' pronunciation of several words was not noticed, or at least not
paid particular attention to. And as he spoke in a tone of authority
his orders were not questioned, though he was personally unknown to the
two men in charge of the horses, who believed him to be some chief sent
direct from Moselekatse.
When Hans had led the men some few yards from the bushes where his
companions were concealed, he stopped and said, "Now leave the horses
here; I can take them alone. Go back and watch the cattle; the chief
wants you to see that all is safe in the kraal."
With that same tacit obedience which had before been shown by the men,
and which would appear unaccountable in those who did not know the
Matabili character, the men who were directed to watch the horses
actually gave them up to a stranger, the magic name of _the Chief_ being
sufficient to awe them. They, however, never dreamed of an enemy being
near them; and the thought of the Dutchmen who had been so easily
trapped in the morning putting so bold a scheme into practice, would
have seemed little short of impossible; and thus the horses were given
up without any suspicion.
One very low whistle had scarcely been given by Hans before Bernhard and
Victor, with Katrine and her sister, were by his side.
"Get on this horse, Katie," said Hans, "and your sister on that next me,
and we can now escape."
"No," said Katrine, "it will not do for us to ride. If any Matabili saw
us on a horse, they would know we were prisoners escaping, but if they
only saw the horses they might not suspect; but now, Hans, do you know
which way to go in the dark?"
"It is difficult to find the way," replied Hans, "for I can see but a
short distance; still I can tell by those three stars close together
that we are going north."
"Yes, we are; and I think I can find the path here. We shall have to
pass a kraal about half a mile farther on. What shall we do if any men
come out?"
"We must tell them we are going to take the horses to the chief,"
replied Hans, "that may satisfy them."
"It may; but this is not the way to the chief's kraal," replied Katrine.
"We shall be in danger there."
The party moved on over the soft ground rapidly and quietly; the horses,
seeming to recognise their masters, followed them without hesitation,
and scarcely required to be touched by the rear follower. As they
neared the kraal past which they had to walk, they heard sounds of loud
talking and occasional singing, so that the slight noise of the horses'
feet they trusted would not be heard. A Matabili at all times, however,
is watchful, and more particularly in time of war. Just as the three
men with their charge were opposite the kraal the singing and talking
suddenly ceased, and some half-dozen men came out of their huts, and
called out, "Who is there?"
"Taking the horses by the chief's orders," replied Hans, in Matabili.
Resting his hand on Katrine's arm, he whispered, "Not a move, Katrine,
we must escape by boldness; any hurry now, and we may fail."
Katrine was a girl who had lived amidst events which the denizen of
civilisation is unacquainted with: she had witnessed many rough scenes,
was accustomed to hear tales of dangers and risks, and was thus
seasoned, as it were, to a life of adventures. Just as the most
delicately nurtured English girl will travel by an express train without
any very great fear the very day after some fearful accident may have
happened on the railway by which she is a passenger, so did Katrine
trust that all might turn out well in spite of the apparent dangers
around. Still when she found that the approach of her party had been
heard by the men of this kraal, and heard them speaking to Hans, she
feared another scene of bloodshed would soon be enacted, such as that to
which she had been a witness when she was first captured by the Matabili
and her father slaughtered. Her trembling arm indicated to Hans her
fears, but his whispered encouragement gave her strength and hope.
The moment, however, was critical, and had not Hans' answer been
confident and distinct, he might have had to fight for his life under
circumstances where he could not well escape; for it would have been
almost certain death to have attempted to ride at speed on a night as
dark as that on which they were escaping. Fortunately the men were not
curious; and most Kaffirs having a dislike to move about much at night,
in consequence of snakes, centipedes, and scorpions, on which their
naked feet might tread, they waited inside their kraal until the party
had passed, and the sound of their footsteps was heard no more.
"We are safe so far," whispered Hans, "thank God! Can you tell me,
Katrine, where this path leads to?"
"It leads down to the stream about a mile on, and then is lost in the
plain beyond. It has been used for driving the cattle to and from
water, and also for hunting, there being many `_wilde_' on the plain
beyond."
"If, then, we can cross the river, we may consider ourselves safe,"
remarked Hans; "for we can then put you on the horses, and can ride all
night. Our spoor cannot be followed by night, and twelve hours' start
ought to enable us to reach our people before we are overtaken."
"But there are hundreds of the Matabili out on war," said Katrine, "and
we may fall in with some of them."
"Ah! and I have lost my far-seer," said Hans. "That is a loss. But we
had better not talk; let us listen and think; we may then be less liable
to a surprise."
The party reached the stream of which Katrine had spoken, and crossed it
in safety, and found before them an apparently smooth, undulating plain.
After journeying over this about half an hour, the moon rose, she being
some days past the full. By her light, and by the aid of the stars as
guides, Hans pursued a course which led nearly in the direction of his
countrymen's settlements; but as these were distant fully three days'
journey, even riding at the best speed, and as the parry had no
provisions, there seemed much to be overcome before a place of safety
could be reached.