Payne had removed his household to Grahamstown, as being further from
the seat of hostilities, and a very agreeable change to our party was
the city of the old settlers, nestling in its basin-like hollow, and
with its tree-shaded streets and leafy gardens, after the dust and glare
and over-crowding of the Kaffrarian capital. Here, too, the talk was
all of the war, but its dire evidences were less obtrusive, and, on the
whole, the Paynes made themselves tolerably comfortable. To Lilian
Strange, the time was fraught with a wondrous joy, and she often took
herself to task for feeling so supremely happy while so much suffering
and anxiety was pending over those around her. But she need not have,
for the days of her rejoicing were already numbered.
She was out riding with her lover one afternoon, when a turn in the road
brought them suddenly upon a man--only a native, apparently on the
tramp--a half-caste Hottentot, and a dark-browed, ruffianly-looking
specimen of the breed. Directly this fellow caught sight of them he
stopped, and, stooping down, pretended to be tying his shoestring, at
the same time keeping his face turned away from them as they passed.
Lilian grew very pale.
"Arthur," she whispered. "That's the same man who was following us the
other day in King Williamstown. I knew him at once; and he knew me.
Didn't you see how quickly he stopped and pretended not to take any
notice of us?" And glancing at her lover, she saw that his face wore a
slightly puzzled expression and a frown which, however, disappeared as
she spoke.
"Only some loafer. One often runs against the same specimens of that
class," he said, carelessly.
"But see how quickly he has come here. Arthur--I can't help looking
upon the circumstance as an ill omen. I never saw such a
murderous-looking ruffian; and I'm certain he knows you. You may laugh
at my silly superstition, dear, but I can't get rid of the feeling."
He did laugh; but so pleasantly, so tenderly, as he tried to reassure
her.
"But you must get rid of the feeling. Look now, my darling. We are not
even on the road from King Williamstown, but on one leading almost in
the opposite direction. If that nigger had been following me, and I
don't care a brass doit if he is, he would have come straight and not
all round the country. So let the affair slide. I want you to enjoy
this afternoon; we may not have many more together, for some time, you
know."
He threw in this to counteract the effect of the unexpected encounter.
Shaking off her depression, she looked up at him with a bright smile.
"You dreadful prophet of ill. I won't have you predict such things.
Let's have another of those glorious canters. I'm not nearly such a
coward as I was, am I?"
"No. You're as fearless as a circus-rider," answered he, with a laugh;
and then they started off into a long, level, swinging canter. And the
golden hours of the afternoon fled as they kept on their way, over
breezy grassland and shady bush road; and not till after sundown did
they draw rein at their door, just as the labours of the day were at an
end in the pleasant old frontier city, whose inhabitants were strolling
up the wide streets, or turning into the ever open bars in quest of
their evening "peg," or standing in knots at the corners discussing the
news from the front.
"Oh, there you are," said Payne, meeting them in the doorway, and
handing Claverton a couple of letters. "Heard the news?"
"No."
"Well, here's the deuce to pay all round. A telegram came in to-day
saying that a chap named Kiva, with five or six hundred Gcalekas, has
crossed into the Gaika location, that the Gaikas have risen as one man,
and the whole country is up in arms. The hotel and store at Draaibosch
is burnt to the ground and a lot of farmhouses besides, mine among them,
I expect. The road from `King' to the Transkei is blocked, and Komgha
in a state of siege. A pretty kettle of fish, isn't it?"
"H'm. Rather. What's going to be done?"
"They're calling out men. Our old corps is in the thick of it now, I
expect. Brathwaite's will soon be there, too, I should think."
"I should rather like to take service in that. But, look here," went on
Claverton, who had been opening his letters the while, extending one of
them to Payne. It was an official one, offering him on the
recommendation of Jim Brathwaite the command of a corps of Hottentot
levies which was being raised; the other was from Jim himself strongly
advising him to accept it.
It was hard--very hard, to leave Lilian again so soon, and for an
indefinite time--but, after all, it had been more than half expected.
He supposed he must go. All would most likely be called out for service
at a later stage of hostilities, perhaps almost at once, and even if it
were not so, how could he hold back? Besides, now, at any rate, here
was a definite command which might lead to something much better.
"Take it, Arthur. You can't refuse it," Lilian said, bravely, when he
showed her the letter. "You must go; but you need not to-morrow. We
will have one more whole day together, my darling--will we not?"
"This is Saturday. They will want me to start to-morrow, but they may
want. I can't put it off later than Monday, I'm afraid, or they'll
pitch-fork some other fellow into the concern instead. So we will make
the most of to-morrow. But cheer up, dearest. It won't be for so long
as last time."
She only answered with a smile, a little forced. She kept her tears for
when she was alone, then they flowed freely enough. Such are the
results of war--glorious war! Men's blood, mingled with women's tears,
fills the cup of the destructive demon.
That evening Claverton went round to the official to whom the letter
referred him, and notified his acceptance of the post.
"Ah! Yes. The levies--I remember," and he unearthed one or two papers
from a pile. "You will go round by Fort Beaufort, and Victoria East,
and pick up contingents that have been recruited there, and then report
yourself at King Williamstown, where you will receive further
instructions. Of course you will be ready to start at once--to-morrow
at the latest."
"No."
The official looked up quickly, with a stare of astonishment.
"Pardon me," he said, with some acerbity. "Did I understand you to say
that you could not start upon this service to-morrow?"
"Not so fast, my dear sir; I didn't say I couldn't, I said I wouldn't.
A vastly different thing," said the other, with a pleasant laugh.
"But, Mr--Mr Claverton, I would really advise you not to throw up this
appointment. I assure you that I could name at least a dozen men who
would jump at the chance."
"In that case it might be as well to give them the opportunity of
practising their leaping powers," was the cool, smiling reply, and he
made a movement as if to rise.
The official was sorely perplexed. To let Claverton go would entail no
end of correspondence and bother before he could fix upon another man
altogether fit for the post; and, what with all the disturbance and
worry of the past few days, he had more than enough on his hands
already, as the heap of letters and telegrams lying before him all
demanding "immediate" attention, and the lateness of the hour for him to
be in his office, abundantly testified.
"How soon will you be ready, then?" he said at last, wearily pushing
back his chair.
"On Monday morning--an hour before daylight."
"Very well, then, that's settled. I suppose a day won't make any great
difference after all. And you might turn the time to account by picking
up three or four likely-looking fellows here. If you want any further
information you'll find me here all to-morrow. No rest for us public
servants, not even on Sunday, since these confounded wars; I feel quite
ashamed to look a parson in the face now--ha, ha, ha! Good-night!" and
chuckling in a dispirited manner over his feeble jest, the official
shook hands with Claverton and returned to grind away at his vouchers,
and requisitions, and reports until midnight. And our new commandant of
levies sallied forth, a flash of satirical mirth lurking in his eyes
over his interlocutor's parting suggestion. So likely that, on the last
day he would spend with Lilian, he was going to bother himself
recruiting a lot of dirty niggers among the grog-shops of Bog-na-fin
[the popular name for a low quarter of Grahamstown].
But his fame must have spread very rapidly, for early the next morning
before he was half-dressed, his faithful henchman came to tell him that
a man was asking for him in the back-yard. "What does he look like,
Sam?"
"An ugly Hottentot, Inkos. Big and strong, though."
"All right, tell him to wait. And, Sam!"
"Inkos?"
"I shall take you with me to the front. So you'll be able to try your
hand at shooting Amaxosa."
Sam jumped with delight at this. He could hardly believe his ears. The
last time, he had begged and prayed to be allowed to go; but then his
master had gone in the capacity of a private trooper, and couldn't be
encumbered with a servant. Now it was different, and subsequently Sam
might be heard imparting his good news over the wall to the Hottentot
groom belonging to the neighbouring house, winding up with his cherished
formula--"Amaxosa nigga no good."
In a few minutes Claverton went out to interview his intending recruit,
as he supposed the visitor to be, and an almost imperceptible shade of
annoyance came over his face as he saw before him the man whose sudden
appearance yesterday had so sorely troubled Lilian during their ride.
"Ghosts don't talk!" said he to himself, sardonically and with meaning,
"or this might be one."
"Good mornin', Baas?" said the new arrival, with his eyes keenly fixed
on the other's face.
"Morning," replied Claverton, shortly. "What d'you want with me?"
"I want to join your levies, Baas."
"Oh, do you? What's your name?"
"Vargas Smith, Baas," replied the fellow, who spoke English fluently,
narrowly watching the effect of his words. But the said effect was
simply nil.
"Queer name that. Where d'you come from?"
"I've bin up Zanzibar way--three, four, five years ago--up the river,"
answered the fellow, in a tone full of significance, jerking his thumb
over his shoulder in the supposed direction of that locality. Then
sinking his voice to a whisper: "Don't you know me, Baas?"
"Never saw you before in my life," replied Claverton, looking him up and
down with a cold stare of astonishment.
The coolness of this rejoinder fairly staggered Smith, who, for a
minute, stood dumbfoundered. Then he said, still in a would-be
significant whisper:
"They used to call me `Sharkey,' Baas, up yonder."
"Did they? A devilish good name, too. But what's `up yonder,' and
where do you hail from, when all's said and done? Are you from these
parts?"
"No, sah, I'm Cuban gentleman."
"Cuban gentleman, are you?" said Claverton, with a sneer. "Then let me
tell you this, Mr Vargas Smith, alias Sharkey, that I don't want
_gentlemen_ in my corps; so you won't do for me. Now we understand each
other."
"Yes, sar. I was only jokin'. Of course I un'stand. But I want to
serve under you, Baas Lidwell--ah--I mean, Baas Claverton--and you'll
let me join."
Claverton thought for a moment. If the fellow intended mischief, it
would be as well to keep him under his own eye. It might only be, after
all, that Smith wae really desirous of joining his corps, for he,
Claverton, had something of a reputation for coolness and daring, and
this fellow, too, was in no wise wanting in pluck. And he had shown the
man that he was determined not to recognise him, and that any attempt to
trade upon a knowledge, real or imaginary, of former days, would be
worse than useless. So he replied:
"Well, Smith, you're a likely-looking fellow enough, and, on second
thoughts, I'll take you. But it's only fair to warn you that, as to
promotion or recommendation or anything of that kind, you'll stand just
the same chances as any one else: no more and no less, d'you hear? Now,
you show up at the Public Offices at one o'clock, and I'll let you know
when you will be sworn in, and the rest of it."
"Very well, Baas," said the other, respectfully. "I'll be there. Good
morning."
Just then Lilian, throwing open her window, caught sight of the
retreating figure of Smith. Her heart sank. What had this evil-looking
ruffian to do with her lover? Had not his appearance heralded
misfortune already?--for, with true feminine logic, she could not help
connecting him in some way with the turn affairs had taken. And
Claverton, knowing the idea she had taken upon the subject of the man,
purposely forbore to mention the circumstance, and she, fearing to
trouble him, would not ask him.
All along the frontier the tide of war was rising. The spark had fallen
in dry grass, and now the flame flashed forth with lightning rapidity as
one after another the insurgent tribes rose in open revolt. And amid
the wild glens and bushy wastes of their secluded fastnesses lurked
armed hordes of fierce savages, hungering for prey and plunder; and the
smoke of burning homesteads hung in a pall over the land, telling of the
toil and industry of years laid in ruins. On many a hill-top hovered
dark clouds of the enemy, ever watchful, and ready to swoop down upon
the lonely traveller, or patrol scanty in numbers; and the war-cry, grim
and defiant, mingling with the crackling of musketry, told that each red
wave was rolling on its course. And night after night, beneath the
blackness of the heavens, the terrible Fire Trumpet rang out its lurid
message of destruction, and pillage, and death.
Thus the year closed.