The house at Triannon, built in a sort of elbow formed by one of the
spurs of the Great Winter Berg, was not visible from the direction in
which I approached until one had rounded the kopje concealing it, when
one found oneself close upon it. But as I drew near to my destination I
became aware of a deep, ominous silence pervading the scene, which
caused me to entertain the most gloomy forebodings. True, the hour was
rather late, according to our notions of lateness in the country
districts, and the sheep and cattle would have long ago been kraaled for
the night; yet, even so, it was seldom that the stock settled down to
rest so early, seldom that, among so many animals, there were not a few
restless ones proclaiming their restlessness by bleat or bellow--and on
this particular night there was not a sound of any description to
apprise the wayfarer that he was within a quarter of a mile of an
opulent farm. As I rounded the extremity of the spur, however, and the
house swung into view, a great sigh of relief escaped me, for there,
within shouting distance, stood the building to all appearances intact.
True, it was in complete darkness; but that of course might very easily
arise from the fact that Mr Lestrange, after a busy day in the open,
had retired to rest early.
Yet somehow the darkness seemed to me to be as ominous as the silence,
and, urging Prince to a canter, I dashed forward, leaped the fence
without pausing to take down the slip rails, and reined up at the steps
which gave access to the stoep. Then I perceived that the front door
and all the windows were wide-open, which struck me as being peculiar in
the extreme, taken in conjunction with the total darkness in which the
house was wrapped; for though of course we habitually slept with our
bedroom windows wide-open, we usually closed the front doors and the
windows giving access to unoccupied rooms the last thing before retiring
at night: therefore, moved by the sudden return in full flood of my
anxiety, I gave vent to a loud whoop as I swung out of the saddle, and
without waiting for a reply rushed up the steps, across the stoep, and
into the house, shouting as I went: "Mr Lestrange! Mr Lestrange!
where are you? It is I, Ned Laurence. Where are you?"
The echo of my voice was, however, the only reply I received; but I had
no sooner entered the hall than I perceived that something was very
seriously wrong, for the furniture was all disarranged, one of the
chairs was overturned, and, so far as I could see in the semi-obscurity,
it appeared that Lestrange's guns were not in their usual places in the
rack.
Of course I never went anywhere without carrying in my pocket the means
to obtain a light; therefore without waiting for further developments I
drew forth my flint and steel, and presently lighted the lamp which hung
from the hall ceiling, and which fortunately still contained a fair
quantity of oil. Then, removing the lamp from the frame in which it
hung, I proceeded forthwith to explore.
Now that I had a light, and could plainly distinguish my surroundings,
my worst forebodings were confirmed, for everything in the place was
disarranged, the weapons were all gone, as well as the skin rugs which
usually covered the floor and several valuable karosses with which the
chairs and sofa were wont to be draped, while the various hunting
trophies had been torn from the walls, and some were gone. Fearing now,
and indeed quite expecting, the worst, after casting a hurried glance
about the hall I made my way straight to Mr Lestrange's bedroom; and
there, just inside the wide-open door, lay the poor fellow, clad only in
his sleeping garb, with three ghastly assagai wounds in his body, and
one through his throat which had severed the jugular vein. This room,
too, was in a terrible state of disorder, having evidently been
subjected to a thorough search for anything that might appeal to the
fancy of a savage. But there had been no fight, that was perfectly
clear; the surprise had been complete, and the savages had contrived to
gain entrance to the house in time to massacre the inmates before they
had a chance to defend themselves.
The inmates! There were none but Mr Lestrange--who was a widower--and
Nell; and where was she? I was sufficiently intimate with the
arrangements of the house to know which was Nell's room, and my next
dash was thither. The door of the room was wide-open, but I paused in
the opening when I reached it, with the feeling strong upon me that I
should commit something very like sacrilege by entering. A single
glance, however, sufficed to reveal that the shrine of innocent girlhood
had already been violated, for it, too, like Mr Lestrange's, had been
turned topsy-turvy by the savages. But Nell--where was she?
Instinctively I scanned the floor of the room in search of her dead
body, but it was not there; furthermore, I could not find the slightest
trace of a bloodstain to indicate that the tragedy had been a double
one; only the bed was stripped of its coverings, and when I came to
investigate more closely I found her night robe flung carelessly upon
the floor, but none of her day garments lying about. And the conclusion
to which I was finally driven was that the poor child, instead of having
been slain in cold blood, like her father, had been surprised in her
sleep, compelled to dress, and been carried off alive and perhaps unhurt
by the savages. Poor child! Poor darling little Nell! Oh, if I were
right in my reading of the signs, what an unspeakably awful fate was
hers! And yet--and yet--perhaps it might not be so very terrible after
all. She was but a child--and a sweetly pretty child, too; and I had
heard of cases where white girl children had been kidnapped by the
blacks and carried off by them to their fastnesses in the wilds, there
to become, first the pet, and ultimately the 'nkosikaas or chieftainess
of the tribe. True, it was not often that that was done, but there was
a kind of legend among the natives that somewhere far up in the interior
there was a great and very powerful tribe ruled over by a white
'nkosikaas; while within my own recollection a young girl, the daughter
of a Boer farmer, had been carried off by the Bechuanas, and was in like
manner said to be still living as the 'nkosikaas of the tribe. If this
were true--and there seemed to be no good reason to doubt it--one could
only hope that poor little Nell Lestrange might meet with no worse a
fate.
But it was a horrible thing to think of that sweet, lovable little
creature being suddenly awakened out of a sound sleep in the middle of
the night by a horde of ferocious, bloodthirsty savages, and carried off
by them, perhaps in ignorance of her father's fate, and in deadly terror
of what was to befall her. I was very fond of Nell--I had grown to
regard her almost as a sister; and my first impulse was to set out there
and then, seek her until I found her, and never rest until I had
effected her rescue from her savage jailers. But a few moments'
reflection sufficed to convince me of the utter futility of such a mad
project. These two outrages--the attacks upon Lestrange's and our own
farms--clearly indicated that the long-expected rising of the natives
had at last taken place, so suddenly that Lestrange at least had been
caught unawares, and no doubt the whole country was at that moment
ablaze and being overrun by the blacks in overwhelming numbers. The
mystery to me was that I had not heard so much as a hint of the actual
rising from any of the folk whom I had met on my return journey from
Port Elizabeth; and the fact that I had not done so seemed to indicate
that the outbreak, although in a general way expected, had been so
skilfully managed that, after all, the settlers had been caught more or
less off their guard. And, so far from it being possible for me to
undertake singlehanded an expedition for the rescue of Nell, I was
liable at any moment to blunder upon a war party of savages and either
be slain by them forthwith, or, still worse, be carried off a captive,
to suffer death by torture; indeed, the wonder was that something of
this kind had not already happened to me, as doubtless it had to many
another unsuspecting traveller. No, to attempt alone to rescue Nell
would be worse than useless, it would simply be the wanton throwing away
of a life that, later on, might be of service to her; and I could only
hope that, meanwhile, no worse thing than simple captivity might befall
her.
I was aroused from my sombre reflections by the appearance of Piet, my
Hottentot after-rider, who, more prudent than myself, had approached the
house with a certain measure of circumspection, and now came to report
that, as in our own case, all the sheep and cattle had been driven off,
and that no trace of any of the native domestics or shepherds had been
found, the presumption being that they had all taken the alarm and fled,
or, more likely still, had been captured and carried off as prisoners.
I went the rounds of the place with him, frequently shouting the name of
one or another of the servants without avail, and I finally came to the
conclusion that his surmise was probably correct.
And now arose the question, what was I to do? My plight was almost as
desperate as it could well be; for not only was I utterly bereft of
every one of those who were nearest and dearest to me, but I was
likewise homeless, and literally penniless. The house which I called
home was destroyed; every horn and hoof of my father's stock had been
stolen, and would probably never be recovered; and as to money, there
was none, for my father, instead of banking the profits of the farm and
allowing them to accumulate, had, as I have already explained,
habitually spent them in improving the live stock, or adding to the
adornments of the house, and the contents of the wagon which I had
brought up from Port Elizabeth represented every penny of spare cash
remaining in the house when I left it on my journey. True, I had the
wagon and its contents, as well as the team of oxen, upon which I could
doubtless realise; also there was the farm--that is to say, the land--
itself, which was worth quite a handsome sum of money: but I was most
unwilling to part with this for several reasons; and, had I been ever so
anxious to sell, it would most probably have proved impossible to find a
purchaser at that moment, with the natives in armed revolt against the
whites.
But there were other matters of an even more pressing character than
those just enumerated demanding my attention, and the first of these was
the interment of the body of my unfortunate friend, Nell's father.
Therefore, summoning Piet, I bade him seek a shovel; and when he had
found one I set him to work to dig a grave at a certain spot about a
quarter of a mile from the house, which I knew to be greatly favoured by
Nell on account of the beautiful view obtainable from it: and there Piet
and I reverently laid the dead man to rest, afterward piling a number of
large stones round the grave, and placing a rough wooden cross at its
head to mark the spot. Then, recovering our horses, we returned to
Bella Vista, and, thoroughly worn out by the fatigue and horror of the
past day, I sought rest in the outspanned wagon.
Next morning, with a grief so bitter that even now I cannot look back
upon it unmoved, I chose another site for a grave and laid my beloved
dead to rest side by side, marking the spot as I had marked the grave of
Nell's father; leaving the remains of the savages to be dealt with by
the vultures, hyenas, and jackals. And when I had done all that was
possible the wagon was inspanned, and with a heavy heart I wended my
way, accompanied by my little following, to Somerset East, where I
arrived late in the afternoon of the following day without having
encountered anything of an untoward character on my way. There was but
one farm between Bella Vista and Somerset East, situate about halfway
between the latter and the Great Fish River, and when in the course of
my journey the house came in sight, I jumped on Prince's back and
galloped forward, with the view of ascertaining what, if anything, had
happened there. But upon my arrival I found the farm silent and
deserted, with not so much as a dog about the place. The house,
however, was undamaged, all the doors and windows were fastened, and
upon looking through the latter I perceived that the rooms were empty of
furniture; I therefore concluded--which afterwards proved to be the
case--that the owner had obtained timely warning of the rising, had
hurriedly packed all his belongings into wagons, and, driving his stock
before him, had hastily retired to Somerset East.
The town of Somerset East was in a terrible commotion when I reached it,
some fifty fugitive families from the outlying districts, with their
stock and belongings, having already taken shelter there, while others
were hourly arriving; and every man had a story to tell of some farm
that had been attacked, its inhabitants murdered, and its stock driven
off. Something very nearly approaching to a state of panic prevailed,
for the town at that time contained only some three hundred inhabitants,
of whom three-quarters were women and children; moreover, it lay quite
open and unprotected on every side, and might easily be rushed by a
sufficiently strong body of the enemy. But there were a few cool heads
among those congregated in the town, one notable being a certain Major
Henderson, who, like my father, had held a post in the British army, and
who at once naturally came to the front and took the lead in preparing
the place to meet successfully a possible attack.
A laager, consisting of wagons interlocked, was constructed at each end
of the single street that then ran through the town; the inner ends of
the narrow lanes giving off the main street were securely barricaded,
thus forming a number of culs-de-sac in which, if the attacking savages
dared to venture there, they would be swept out of existence by the
defenders behind the barricades; and every back door and window of every
house accessible from the veld was strongly protected by heavy timber
and loopholed for rifle fire: thus when Henderson's scheme of defence
was complete the town presented a very tough nut to crack for an enemy
without artillery or firearms. The greatest difficulty, it appeared,
was the shortness of ammunition, consequently my arrival with a
wagon-load of the commodity was regarded as scarcely less than a special
interposition of Providence. Then the male inhabitants voluntarily
placed themselves under martial law, under Henderson's command, taking
it in turns to perform sentry-go day and night; while the best mounted
among us undertook to act as scouts, riding forth from the town daily in
various directions in quest of news of the enemy, and returning in the
evening with such intelligence as we had been able to gain. This daily
scouting service proved to be of the utmost value, for in the first
place it prevented the possibility of a surprise attack, and so enabled
the stock congregated in the town to be daily driven forth to graze and
water; and it also was the means whereby in the course of a few days we
were able to gather something like a clear general idea of what had
happened and was still happening in the colony.
Thus it soon transpired that, in the eastern provinces, an imaginary
line drawn from the mouth of the Great Kei River through Triannon and
Bella Vista, and thence northward along the meridian of 26 degrees east
longitude to the Zour Bergen, represented the southern limit of the
savages' depredations; while beyond the Zour Bergen, to the north and
west, we were unable to learn anything definite. On the fifth day after
my arrival in Somerset East a detachment consisting of two companies of
infantry, accompanied by baggage and ammunition wagons, under the
command of a Captain Fletcher, arrived from Port Elizabeth, and encamped
within half a mile of the town in an excellent strategic position, which
they at once proceeded to entrench strongly; and there they remained
nearly a week, awaiting instructions from their general, who was
preparing a plan of campaign while moving toward the centre of
disturbance the few troops at his disposal, and collecting information.
During the week that followed the arrival of the troops we received
intelligence of several attacks upon isolated farms, and even small
villages, in the outlying and more sparsely populated districts; from
which it speedily became apparent that the regular troops, consisting,
as they did, entirely of infantry, and hampered, as they were, by their
baggage wagons, were altogether too slow-moving to be effective in
overtaking and bringing to action the nimble bodies of savages, who were
encumbered with no impedimenta of any description whatsoever excepting
their weapons--a shield, knobkerrie, and sheaf of assagais; who slept
under the stars, quenched their thirst at every stream or runlet that
crossed their path, and eat whatever came to hand, whether it chanced to
be buck, bullock, or green mealies.
Therefore it seemed, upon careful consideration of the situation, that
if the ravages of the blacks were to be stopped there was only one
course to be pursued, and that was to dispatch against them a force of
irregular cavalry composed of farmers, hunters, transport riders, and
others, men who had lived long enough in the country to become inured to
the climate and accustomed to the methods of travel in it, who could
move as independently of impedimenta as the savages themselves, and,
being mounted, as swiftly, and who, being provided with firearms, might
hope to cope successfully with a foe considerably stronger in point of
numbers than themselves. And there were plenty of such men to be had--
farmers who had fled from their farms to the towns and villages upon the
first news of the outbreak, transport riders whose occupation had ceased
upon the outbreak of hostilities, hunters who were in like case with the
transport riders, and a few who, like myself, had lost everything but
life itself at the hands of the savages; and we speedily banded
ourselves into troops, in some cases numbering not more than twenty or
thirty, in others amounting to a hundred or more, each band under its
own elected leader and subordinate officers. The corps to which I
attached myself--and which dubbed itself the Somerset East Mounted
Rifles--consisted of one hundred and seven men under the command of
Major Henderson, divided into two troops of fifty men each--the right
troop under the command of "Captain" Henry Jackson, and the left troop
under the command of "Captain" Pieter Van Rhyn, with a sergeant in
command of each of the two squadrons which composed a troop.
Each man provided his own horse, weapons, and ammunition; we were not in
uniform, and were volunteers in the strictest sense of the word, for we
drew no pay, and acknowledged allegiance to no man save our own
officers, although it was of course fully understood by everybody that
we were always to be ready to co-operate with and support the regular
troops in the event of our encountering any. This, however, was
exceedingly unlikely, at least in the earlier stages of the campaign,
for so lightly equipped were we that we could perform forty-mile marches
day after day with ease, and were confident that we could not only get
into touch with, but could also reduce the enemy to subjection, long
before the regulars could arrive at the scene of hostilities. And
although we did not substantiate our boast or achieve our ambition in
its entirety, I think I am justified in claiming that the honours of the
campaign fell chiefly to the various bodies of irregulars who so
self-sacrificingly took the field on that occasion; for it was we, and
not the regulars, who followed up and hunted down so relentlessly the
marauding bands of savages who swept the colony like a storm wave,
causing such a loss of life and property as it took the colonists the
best part of a generation to recover from.
It is not my purpose to write a history of the Kafir War of the year
1835, for that has already been done by far abler hands than mine, and
with a fullness of detail which leaves nothing to be desired; moreover,
I have another and entirely different, although, as I think, equally
stirring story to tell. I will therefore dismiss the events connected
with my service in the ranks of the Somerset East Mounted Rifles with
the bare statement that during the nine months so covered I participated
in many deeply stirring episodes, and on several occasions found myself
involved in situations so desperate that nothing save the steadfastness
and invincible courage of every man present saved us from absolute
annihilation. It is not to be supposed that a mere handful of men
composed of burghers and farmers, with practically no knowledge of
military science, and quite unaccustomed to anything in the nature of
military discipline, could pass through so trying an ordeal as that
which we cheerfully faced without suffering heavy loss; and, as a matter
of fact, by the time that the campaign was so far over that the regular
troops were able to cope with the situation, and the Government had
therefore no further need of our services, the Somerset East Mounted
Rifles had become reduced to less than half their original strength: yet
fortune so far favoured me that when at length the corps was disbanded I
was one of the very few who escaped without so much as a scratch to show
for my nine months' service.
The corps was disbanded where it had originated, in the town of Somerset
East; and on the following day I found myself face to face with the
exceedingly perplexing problem of the future. I was, it must be
remembered, not yet quite eighteen years of age. I was therefore still
young enough to be able to start life afresh; but I was without a single
relative in the world, and my worldly goods consisted solely of two
thousand five hundred and sixty acres of pasture land which, although it
was undeniably an exceedingly valuable possession, and likely to
increase very greatly in value with the passage of the years, was just
then incapable of returning me a single penny of income. True, there
was a sum of a little over three hundred pounds sterling standing to my
credit in the bank, such being the proceeds of the sale of my wagon,
oxen, and the ammunition with which I had trekked into Somerset East
upon the outbreak of hostilities, though this was far too insignificant
a sum to be of any use in restocking the farm, rebuilding the house, and
beginning life afresh as a sheep farmer, on ever so modest a scale: and
I also possessed my horse Prince, who had carried me through many a wild
and stirring adventure, and, like myself, had emerged unscathed,
together with a saddle and bridle, my trusty rifle, and the
double-barrelled sporting gun which I had purchased in Port Elizabeth
for my father, little dreaming, at the time of the purchase, that he
would not live to use it.
I have said that I was without a relative in the world, which was the
literal truth; but it was impossible that I should participate in such a
campaign as the one I had just passed through without making many stanch
friends, both Boers and English: and some of these, middle-aged men who
knew perfectly well what they were talking about, strongly advised me to
raise money, either by selling a portion of my farm, or by means of a
mortgage upon it. But my father had instilled into me a perfect horror
of anything that savoured of getting into debt, while the mere idea of
selling any portion of the property which he had accumulated, almost
acre by acre, was absolutely abhorrent to me; therefore, although I had
the greatest respect for the judgment of my friends, and fully believed
in the financial soundness of their advice, I determined that only in
the last resort would I avail myself of it.
In this resolution I was fully supported by Major Henderson, who was as
well qualified to advise in such a matter as anyone, having been in the
country for over thirty years, and knowing it a good deal better than
most. He had a farm up under the southern slopes of the Tandjes Berg,
and upon the dissolution of the corps he was good enough to invite me to
take up my quarters at his place while thinking over my affairs and
deciding what to do.
It was while we were sitting out on the stoep of his house, one night
after dinner, that the conversation occurred that decided my course of
action and ultimately launched me upon the great adventure which, while
leading me into many strange and terrible perils, was so profoundly to
influence the whole of my after life. I remember that I was in a very
pessimistic, downcast mood that night, and expressed the opinion that
there appeared to be nothing for it but for me to erect a sort of
glorified Kafir hut on my land, invest my money in a small flock of
sheep, shepherd them myself, and so gradually build up my fortunes
afresh from that modest foundation.
"No," said the ex-major, "I would not advise you to do that; certainly
not. The process is too slow; and unless you should happen to meet with
such a persistent run of good luck as no man has a right to expect you
would be a good way past middle age before you could restore Bella Vista
to what it was a year ago. What I would advise you to do, Laurence, is
this--and, mind you, if I had not watched your behaviour through our
recent short but exceedingly arduous campaign, and with my own eyes
witnessed your indomitable pluck and resource, I would not advise it;
for to undertake and succeed in what I am going to suggest a man must
possess courage that will quail at nothing, infinite resource, the
ability to decide and act with lightning promptitude in the face of any
emergency, a profound knowledge of the ways of the natives, and, lastly,
the thews and sinews of a Hercules, and perfect health."
"But, my dear Major," I protested, "I do not possess half of the
qualities which you deem essential to success in this enterprise,
whatever it may be. It is true that my health at the present moment is
all that I could possibly desire; I am fairly strong--well, perhaps
unusually strong for my age; and I believe that I understand the natives
pretty well: but, apart from that--"
"Yes, apart from that," interrupted my companion, "you possess all the
qualities that I have credited you with. Now, don't contradict me,
youngster, for I have watched you, and I know! To continue from the
point at which I interrupted myself, what I would advise you to do is
what I would unhesitatingly do myself were I in your predicament, what I
would even join you in doing were I younger by thirty years than I
happen to be, and had no wife or family to think about and make me
falter and lose courage on the brink of every extra hazardous adventure;
and it is this. I would recommend you to draw the whole of your money
out of the bank, buy a good wagon and a team of salted oxen, invest
about twenty pounds in beads, copper wire, and Kafir `truck' generally,
lay out the remainder of your money in an elephant gun and ammunition
for it, your rifle, and your sporting gun, and--trek right up-country
into the interior after ivory and ostrich feathers. By the time that
you have completed your preparations the war will be over and the
natives will be not only perfectly quiet and peaceful, but more than
eager to trade with you upon highly advantageous terms. By so doing,
you could, in the course of six months, load your wagon to its utmost
capacity with tusks and feathers, get back to the coast, and dispose of
your load at a price which would cover all your expenses and leave you a
very handsome profit upon your outlay of time and money. But,"
continued the major, unconsciously dropping his voice to a confidential
tone, "I do not advise you to limit your energies to that programme;
very far from it. Were I undertaking the expedition I should cache my
ivory in comparatively small parcels, at frequent intervals, so that I
might not have the trouble of dragging it about the country, but could
collect it on my return journey, if I wanted it, and should push on
right into the interior, up into Mashonaland, and, possibly, farther
still. The Mashonas are queer chaps, I'll allow; but they're all right
if you take them the right way, make their headmen a few presents, take
care to obtain permission before entering their country, and make it
perfectly clear to them that your only object in desiring to enter their
territory is sport, and trade with them. I've been up among them, and I
know. And, my dear chap, there is gold--plenty of it--up there; and
thus far they don't know the value of it! They'll swap you a nugget as
big as your fist for a yard of copper wire. Therefore, my advice to you
is: Go up there, trade your truck for gold, and bring back as much of
the stuff as your wagon will carry.
"And now of course I know exactly what you are going to say. You are
going to ask: If I am telling you the truth, why the dickens did I not
do as I am advising you to do, and bring back a wagon-load of gold with
me? My dear chap, I did! That is to say, I got the gold all right.
But, unfortunately for me, I had a partner in the expedition, a Boer
named Van Raalte, who was cursed with an outrageously quarrelsome
disposition and a vile temper, especially where natives were concerned;
and it was he who spoiled everything. Our expedition--which had
originally been a hunting trip, pure and simple, you must understand--
had been brilliantly successful; we had enjoyed magnificent sport--lion,
elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, giraffe, no end--and had filled our wagon
chock-full of ivory, skins, and horns, and had then found out about the
gold. Of course we at once threw everything overboard and loaded our
wagon afresh with gold, as much of it as the blessed thing would carry
or the oxen drag. And then what must that born idiot Van Raalte do but
quarrel with one of the indunas about some trumpery thing, and slash the
man across the face with his sjambok! Of course the fat was in the fire
at once; we were set upon, seized, bound hand and foot with reins, and
flung just anyhow into a hut.
"That occurred during the afternoon. About an hour before sunset they
came and dragged out Van Raalte, and carried him away, leaving me where
I was; and shortly afterward I heard a man start screaming as I wish
never again to hear a man scream, so long as I live. The screaming
lasted for hours, until past midnight I should think; and all the while
I was lying there in that hut, as helpless as a baby, and sweating with
horror at the awful, hair-raising sounds that pierced my ears. At
length, however, the shrieks grew weaker and more intermittent, and
finally they died away altogether. The night seemed endless, for what
with the horror that seized me as I lay there listening and trying to
imagine what was happening, and the excruciating pain of my tightly
bound limbs, sleep was an impossibility; but the morning dawned at last,
the village awoke, and an hour or two later I was unbound and led forth.
They took me to a place about a quarter of a mile away, and showed me--
something which they told me was all that remained of Van Raalte. I
will not attempt to describe to you what I saw, but--well, let it pass!
It was a full quarter of an hour before I recovered sufficiently from
the sickness that followed to permit of intelligible speech on my part,
and then they took me back to the village, where the induna was awaiting
my return.
"`White man,' he said, `have you seen?'
"`I have seen,' I replied, and with much difficulty conquered the
tendency toward sickness that again came upon me.
"`Good!' said he. `Now I give you your choice. Either leave this
village, now, just as you are, without wagon, oxen, weapons, or goods of
any kind, promising never to return; or--'
"`I will leave,' said I. And I did, there and then, more than thankful,
I can tell you, that the alternative had been given me.
"I couldn't tell you--there are no words strong enough to describe it--
what I endured while making my journey home from Mashonaland. I had no
weapons wherewith to procure food, and I was obliged to live upon just
what I could pick up, chiefly roots. But twice I was fortunate enough
to come upon the partially devoured `kill' of a lion--once it was a
zebra, and the other time it was a giraffe--still comparatively fresh;
and if it had not been for them I believe I should not have survived,
for I was literally at the end of my tether when I came upon them. And
I had no means of making a fire, you will understand. I struggled
along, however, as best I could, losing all count of dates, and crazy as
a loon more than half the time; and ultimately, a few miles on the other
side of the Orange River, I fell in with an elephant hunter named King,
who took care of me and finally handed me over to some friends of mine
who at that time lived in Cape Town. But although I told King--and a
good many other people, for that matter--what happened to me in
Mashonaland, and how I came to be in such a terrible plight, I always
omitted that part about the gold; and you, Ned, are the first and the
only one to whom I have ever mentioned it. And I would not have
mentioned it to you if I had not felt convinced that you possess all the
qualities necessary to enable you to go up there, get a load, and safely
bring it back with you."