The verdant carpet that stretched away around them--the green leaves
upon the trees--the flowers by the fountain--the crystal water in its
bed--the black bold rocks towering up at a distance--all combined to
make a lovely picture. The eyes of the wayfarers were glad as they
beheld it; and while the wagon was outspanning, every one gave utterance
to their delightful emotions.
The place seemed to please every one. Hans loved its quiet and sylvan
beauty. It was just such a place as he would choose to ramble in, book
in hand, and dream away many a pleasant hour. Hendrik liked it much,
because he had already observed what he termed "extensive spoor" about
the spot: in other words, he had noticed the tracks of many of Africa's
largest wild animals.
Little Truey was delighted to see so many beautiful flowers. There were
bright scarlet geraniums, and starlike sweet-scented jessamines, and the
gorgeous belladonna lily, with its large blossoms of rose-colour and
white; and there were not only plants in flower, but bushes, and even
trees, covered with gaudy and sweetly-perfumed blossoms. There was the
"sugar-bush" (_Protea mellifera_), the most beautiful of its family,
with its large cup-shaped corollas of pink, white, and green; and there,
too, was the "silver-tree" (_Leucodendron argenteum_), whose soft
silvery leaves playing in the breeze, looked like a huge mass of silken
flowers; and there were the mimosas covered with blossoms of golden
yellow that filled the air with their strong and agreeable perfume.
Rare forms of vegetation were around or near at hand: the arborescent
aloes, with their tall flower-spikes of coral red, and euphorbias of
many shapes; and _zamia_, with its palm-like fronds; and the soft-leaved
_Strelitzia reginae_. All these were observed in the neighbourhood of
this new-discovered fountain.
But what received little Truey's admiration more than any other was the
beautiful blue waterlily (_Nympha caerulea_), which is certainly one of
the loveliest of Africa's flowers. Close by the spring, but a little
farther in the direction of the plain, was a vley, or pool--in fact, it
might have been termed a small lake--and upon the quiet bosom of its
water the sky-blue corollas lay sleeping in all their gorgeous beauty.
Truey, leading her little pet in a string, had gone down on the bank to
look at them. She thought she could never cease gazing at such pretty
things.
"I hope papa will stay here a long time," she said to her companion,
little Jan.
"And I hope so too. Oh! Truey, what a fine tree yon is! Look! nuts as
big as my head, I declare. Bless me, sis! how are we to knock some, of
them down?"
And so the children conversed, both delighted with the new scenes around
them.
Although all the young people were inclined to be happy, yet they were
checked in their expression of it, by observing that there was a cloud
on the brow of their father. He had seated himself under the great
tree, but his eyes were upon the ground, as though he were busy with
painful reflections. All of them noticed this.
His reflections were, indeed, painful--they could not well have been
otherwise. There was but one course left for him--to return to the
settlements, and begin life anew. But how to begin it? What could he
do? His property all gone, he could only serve some of his richer
neighbours; and for one accustomed all his life to independence, this
would be hard indeed.
He looked towards his five horses, now eagerly cropping the luxuriant
grass that grew under the shadow of the cliffs. When would they be
ready to trek back again? In three or four days he might start. Fine
animals, most of them were--they would carry the wagon lightly enough.
So ran the reflections of the field-cornet. He little thought at the
moment that those horses would never draw wagon more, nor any other
vehicle. He little thought that those five noble brutes were doomed!
Yet so it was. In less than a week from that time, the jackals and
hyenas were quarrelling over their bones. Even at that very moment,
whilst he watched them browsing, the poison was entering their veins,
and their death-wounds were being inflicted. Alas! alas! another blow
awaited Von Bloom.
The field-cornet had noticed, now and again, that the horses seemed
uneasy as they fed. At times they started suddenly, whisked their long
tails, and rubbed their heads against the bushes.
"Some fly is troubling them," thought he, and had no more uneasiness
about the matter.
It was just that--just a fly that was troubling them. Had Von Bloom
known what that fly was, he would have felt a very different concern
about his horses. Had he known the nature of that little fly, he would
have rushed up with all his boys, caught the horses in the greatest
hurry, and led them far away from those dark cliffs. But he knew not
the "tsetse" fly.
It still wanted some minutes of sunset, and the horses were permitted to
browse freely, but Von Bloom observed that they were every moment
getting more excited--now striking their hoofs upon the turf,--now
running a length or two--and at intervals snorting angrily. At the
distance they were off--a quarter of a mile or so--Von Bloom could see
nothing of what was disturbing them; but their odd behaviour at length
induced him to walk up to where they were. Hans and Hendrik went along
with him. When they arrived near the spot, they were astonished at what
they then beheld. Each horse seemed to be encompassed by a swarm of
bees!
They saw, however, they were not bees, but insects somewhat smaller, of
a brown colour, resembling gad-flies, and exceedingly active in their
flight. Thousands of them hovered above each horse, and hundreds could
be seen lighting upon the heads, necks, bodies, and legs of the
animals,--in fact, all over them. They were evidently either biting or
stinging them. No wonder the poor brutes were annoyed.
Von Bloom suggested that they should drive the horses farther out into
the plain, where these flies did not seem to haunt. He was only
concerned about the _annoyance_ which the horses received from them.
Hendrik also pitied their sufferings; but Hans, alone of all the three,
guessed at the truth. He had read of a fatal insect that frequented
some districts in the interior of South Africa, and the first sight of
these flies aroused his suspicions that it might be they.
He communicated his thoughts to the others, who at once shared his
alarm.
"Call Swartboy hither!" said Von Bloom.
The Bushman was called, and soon made his appearance, coming up from the
spring. He had for the last hour been engaged in unpacking the wagon,
and had taken no notice of the horses or the interest they were
exciting.
As soon, however, as he got near, and saw the winged swarm whirring
around the horses, his small eyes opened to their widest extent, his
thick lips fell, and his whole face yielded itself to an expression of
amazement and alarm.
"What is it, Swart?" inquired his master.
"Mein baas! mein baas! der duyvel um da--dar skellum is da `tsetse!'"
"And what if it be the tsetse?"
"Mein baas!--all dead--dead--ebery horse!"
Swartboy then proceeded to explain, with a loud and continuous
"clicking," that the fly which they saw was fatal in its bite, that the
horses would surely die--sooner or later, according to the number of
stings they had already received; but, from the swarm of insects around
them, the Bushman had no doubt they had been badly stung and a single
week would see all five of the horses dead.
"Wait, mein baas--morrow show." And to-morrow _did_ show; for before
twelve o'clock on the next day, the horses were swollen all over their
bodies and about their heads. Their eyes were quite closed up; they
refused any longer to eat, but staggered blindly among the luxuriant
grass, every now and then expressing the pain they felt by a low
melancholy whimpering. It was plain to every one they were going to
die.
Von Bloom tried bleeding, and various other remedies; but to no purpose.
There is no cure for the bite of the tsetse fly!