The town of Doppersdorp was in the wildest state of excitement and
delight. We say delight, because anything which tended to stir the
soporific surface of life in that centre of light and leading was
productive of unqualified satisfaction, and the tidings which had now
arrived to effect this result were of no less importance than the
announcement that hostilities had actually broken out in the Transkei.
At the street corners men stood in knots discussing the news; in the
stores, swinging their legs against counters, and blowing out clouds of
Boer tobacco, this was the topic of conversation, while semi-nude and
perspiring natives rolled the great wool bales in and out, and those at
the receipt of custom dispensed wares or took payment in listless,
half-absent fashion; of such enthralling interest was the turn events
had taken. But it was in the bars, where glasses filled and emptied
to-day with abnormal briskness, that the Doppersdorp tongue wagged fast
and free.
True, the Transkei was a long way off, but the ruction would never stop
there. It was bound to spread. The Gaikas and Hlambis in British
Kaffraria were bound to respond to the call of the Paramount Chief. The
contagion would spread to the Tembus, or Tambookies, within the Colonial
territory, and were there not extensive Tembu locations along the
eastern border of the district of Doppersdorp itself? This was bringing
the matter very near home indeed. The enterprise of Doppersdorp was
aroused, its martial spirit glowing at white heat. This indeed has its
disadvantages; for at such a rate, with every citizen burning to sally
forth and distinguish himself in the tented field, Doppersdorp would be
deserted; and it was clear that with all its male inhabitants occupied
at a distance, subduing Kreli and his recalcitrant Gcalekas, that
illustrious Centre of the Earth would be left at the mercy of all
comers.
At Jones' hospitable board, as the shades of evening fell, the tidings
were discussed far more eagerly than the painted yellow bones and rice
to which allusion has been made. From Jones himself in the pride of
office at the head of the table, through the manager of the local bank
and a storekeeper's clerk or two, down to the journeymen stonemasons and
waggon-maker's apprentices at the lower end, the same topic was on every
tongue. The Gcalekas had attacked and routed a strong body of Police in
the Transkei, and had killed several men and an officer. Indeed, the
Inspector in command had undergone a narrow escape, having turned up at
a distant post the following day without his hat. Such was the report
which had come in; every word of which, especially the latter
circumstance, being implicitly believed by the good burgesses of
Doppersdorp--probably because Inspectors in that useful force, the
Frontier Armed and Mounted Police, did not at any time, when on duty,
wear "hats." But it was all the same to Doppersdorp.
"Any more news, Mr Musgrave?" said Jones eagerly, as Roden entered.
"If there is, for the Lord's sake wait until we've all done," struck in
Emerson, the bank-manager, who was of a grim and sardonic habit of mind.
"As it is, we can scarcely any of us get through our oats, we are all
in such a cast-iron hurry to start for the Transkei."
"There isn't any."
"Good. Then we needn't prepare for the siege of Doppersdorp just yet--
we poor devils who can't rush forth, to death or glory."
"We could hold out for ever, for we should always have Emerson's Chamber
of Horrors to fall back upon," laughed a storekeeper opposite; "that is,
if it is not already dead of fright from the _schrek_ it got last week."
While others guffawed the bank-manager grinned sourly at this allusion.
It happened that the premises provided by his Corporation for the
housing of its employe's contained a spacious backyard, with an open
shed and some stabling. This yard Emerson had seen fit to populate with
the most miscellaneous of zoological collections, comprising a young
_aasvogel_, two or three blue cranes, an owl and a peacock, besides a
few moulting and demoralised-looking fowls, a tame meerkat, a shocking
reprobate of a baboon--whose liberty and influences for evil were only
restricted by a post and chain--several monkeys; item, Kaffir curs of
slinking and sinister aspect; and, in fact, innumerable specimens which
it was impossible to include within the inventory with any degree of
assurance, for the inhabitants of the menagerie were continually being
added to, or disappearing, the latter according to the degree of
watchfulness maintained on their own part, or that of aggression on the
part of their neighbours. This collection was known in Doppersdorp as
Emerson's Chamber of Horrors.
"You weren't here that night, Musgrave. Away at Suffield's place, I
think," went on the last speaker, with a wink at the others. "Well,
some fellow got hold of a cur dog in the middle of the night, and
thinking it had escaped from Emerson's Zoo, reckoned it a Christian duty
to restore the wanderer. So he took it to the street leading to the
bank-yard, tied one of those detonating squibs to its tail, and headed
it for the gate. Heavens! you never heard such an awful row in your
life. Phiz! bang! went the cracker, and there was the mongrel scooting
round and round the yard, dragging a shower of fiery sparks, and every
now and then bang would go the cracker like pistol-shots. You can just
imagine the result. Everything kicked up the most fearful clamour--the
dogs, and the cats, and the peacock, and the _aasvogel_, and the
monkeys, all yelling at once; and the more they yelled, the more the
thing seemed to bang off. It didn't hurt the cur though, for it was a
long way behind him. But the best of the joke is that the banging of
the crackers started the notion that the town was being attacked, and
Lambert and some other fellows--myself among them--came slinking up
gingerly with rifles. The squib had long burnt out by the time we got
there; but the sight that met our astonished gaze was magnificent.
Emerson was standing on the top step, clad in a short nightshirt,
emptying all the furniture into the backyard, and, oh, his language!
Well, I can only give you some idea of it by saying that it was so
thick, that the chairs and tables he was hurling out stuck in it. They
could not even reach the ground."
"It looks as if you had a finger in the pie yourself, Smith. You seem
to know all the details," said Roden. But Emerson merely grinned
sardonically. He did not think the recital worthy of comment. Besides,
he had heard it so often.
"I? Not I. It only came in at the end, as I tell you," protested
Smith.
At this juncture a note was handed to Roden. It was from Mr Van Stolz.
"Here's a little more excitement for Doppersdorp to-night," he said when
he had read it. This was its burden. "One hundred and thirty-three
mounted men from Barabastadt, _en route_ for the front, are passing
through. They will camp here to-night. Volunteers and band going out
to meet them. Tell everybody."
This was news indeed. In a trice the table was deserted. All who heard
it were in first-rate spirits--those who belonged to the newly formed
Volunteer Corps, because it would afford an opportunity for a lively
game of soldiers; those who did not, because it meant more excitement;
while Jones, perhaps, was in the greatest feather of all, for would
there not be a prodigious consumption of drinks in the bar of the Barkly
Hotel that night? Roden and Emerson were left alone at the table.
"Come along, Musgrave; let's go and have a look at these Barabastadt
heroes," said the latter. "The Light Brigade is nothing to them. We
are sure to see some first-class fun."
"Not a doubt of it," was the reply. And these two cynics rose to follow
the crowd, but with a different motive.
Outside, in the starlight, the whole town was astir. The two men who
had ridden in to notify the arrival of the main body were beset with
questions--and drinks. What was the latest news? Had Government called
out the burgher forces all round; and if not, would it do so? and so on,
and so on. Meanwhile the local Volunteer Corps, numbering about sixty
of all ages and sizes, had formed in marching order, and, preluded by a
few sounding whacks on the big drum, the band struck up, and that
doughty force marched off to quick-step time, accompanied by a moving
mass of humanity; even the inhabitants of Doppersdorp and its
`location'--some mounted, the larger proportion on foot, amid much
talking and laughing and horseplay and lighting of pipes; a squad of
ragged Hottentots of both sexes, chattering shrilly, hanging on the
rear.
"Here come the heroes," said Emerson satirically, as, having proceeded
about a couple of miles out, a cloud of dust and a dark, moving mass
came indistinctly into sight. So the Volunteers were halted, eke the
civilians; and Mr Van Stolz rode forward to welcome the leaders of the
Barabastadt burgher force. Then forming into double file, and preceded
by the band, the new arrivals resumed their route for Doppersdorp.
Now it happened, unfortunately, that the band of that doughty corps, the
Doppersdorp Rifles, was very much in a state of embryo. Its available
repertory consisted of but two tunes, for the simple reason that it knew
no others. These were "Silver Threads among the Gold," and "Home, Sweet
Home." The first of these had enlivened the march out; and although it
was started to effect the same object on the return, it would hardly
last over a space of two miles. The second, though admirably adapted
for welcoming the returning warriors, as a God-speed was clearly
inappropriate. The bandmaster--our old acquaintance Darrell, the
attorney, whose persuasive eloquence had not availed to save the mutton
thief, Gonjana, from the just reward of his crime--was in a quandary.
Music they must have. Music, however, repeated to endless iteration
point, was worse than none. In this dilemma he bethought him of "John
Brown." Surely they could play that. The inspiration was a happy one.
No sooner did the well-known air bray forth--with somewhat discordant
and quavering note it is true--than those nearest seized upon the
chorus. It was caught up, and went rolling along the whole line. Then
it occurred to somebody to alter the chorus to, "We'll hang old Kreli to
a sour apple-tree," an idea received with the wildest enthusiasm, having
the effect of redoubling the volume of song.
But over and above, and throughout all this rollicking jollity, there
was a something about those dark, mounted figures filing here in the
starlight, the gleam of the rifles, the sombre simplicity of the
accoutrements, which told of the sterner side, which seemed to bring
home the idea that this was no toy contingent; that the task of quelling
a barbarian rising was not all child's play; and that some of these
might return with strange experiences, while some might not return at
all.
The weeks that followed this passing through of the first band of
defenders of their "'arths, 'omes, and haltars," as their spokesman
graphically put it, while returning thanks for attentions received
during their sojourn, constituted to Doppersdorp a period of the most
delicious excitement. Some startling and sensational report was of
daily occurrence, borne mainly on the wings of rumour and impracticable
of verification; for that centre of light and leading, notwithstanding
its huge importance in the eyes of its citizens, was yet without such an
appliance of modern civilisation as telegraphic communication. What
mattered it, as long as things were kept alive, and everybody was happy!
And things were kept alive, with felicitous results.
To begin with, there arose a large demand for firearms of all sorts.
This was good for the store-keepers, who booked orders briskly; for the
farmers in the district, Dutch or English, were particular as to the
quality of their weapons, but at such a juncture were less so as to
price, as long as they were quickly supplied. So great consignments of
rifles, and revolvers, and ammunition, were slowly and painfully hauled
up to Doppersdorp from the coast ports, and the store-keepers were
delighted. So too were the Government contractors; for the Barabastadt
contingent, if the first, was not the only mounted corps to pass through
the township; and did not each and all require forage and rations?
Again, the martial ardour gave a great impetus to volunteering,
distinctly to the advantage of the community at large, in that this
afforded an outlet to the energy of the local youth in the shape of
nightly drill. Such energy was thus better utilised than in taking to
pieces the vehicle of some unoffending and unsuspecting Boer, which
might be standing unguarded in an accessible spot, or in balancing a
beam of wood with murderous intent against the door of some unpopular
citizen. Further, it had the effect of drafting off a selection of
volunteers upon active service to the front; and, whereas these
consisted, for the most part, of rowdy and undisciplined spirits, their
absence could not fail to be advantageous to Doppersdorp. What their
respective commanders at the seat of hostilities might be found to say
on the matter was another thing. Even the Resident Magistrate was
bitten with the prevailing death-or-glory fever; but alas! his proposal
to turn out the whole district under arms at a day's notice, and to lead
it in the field at the service of the Government, provided the requisite
leave and Field-commandant's commission were granted him, was met on the
part of that unappreciative entity with signal ingratitude--curt
refusal, to wit, bordering on snub. So having sworn for about five
minutes upon the perusal of this reply, cheery little Peter Van Stolz
lounged into the clerk's office, and having once more delivered himself
of his views on the subject of Governments in general, and that of the
Cape Colony in particular, lighted his pipe, declared that he didn't
care a damn, and that, after all, he'd be the same sort of fool to fling
away his accumulation of leave, roughing it in the veldt and feeding on
unvaried trek-ox, instead of running down to Cape Town to put in the
same period among his relatives and old friends, and having a
particularly good time. So he stayed at home perforce, to direct the
labours of the Civil establishment of Doppersdorp, which, in common with
most of those in the border districts, were very much swelled by the
outbreak of hostilities.