[Illustration: YORKE MEETS AN OLD FRIEND.]
WITH ROBERTS TO PRETORIA
A TALE OF
THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR
BY
G.A. HENTY
Author of "With Buller in Natal" "In the Irish Brigade" "For Name
and Fame" "With Cochrane the Dauntless" &c.
_WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS BY WILLIAM RAINEY, R.I.
AND A MAP_
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1901
Copyright, 1901,
BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
_Published September, 1901_
THE CAXTON PRESS
NEW YORK
PREFACE
The war in South Africa may be roughly divided into three parts. First,
The desperate fighting in Natal, which culminated in the relief of
Ladysmith. Second, The advance towards Kimberley begun by Lord Methuen
but arrested at Magersfontein, and renewed with a vastly greater force
by Lord Roberts and pushed forward to Pretoria, involving the relief
of Kimberley and the capture of Cronje at Paardeberg, but unmarked by
any resistance comparable with that experienced by Buller. Third, The
advance to Komati Poort, the breaking down of all organized opposition,
and the degeneration of the war into isolated efforts by guerilla bands
capable of annoyance but powerless to affect the issue. The first of
these chapters was told last year in _With Buller in Natal_.
The second phase of the struggle did not afford such examples
of warfare on a large scale as might have been anticipated. The
operations of Lord Methuen for the relief of Kimberley were brought
to a stand-still by the inadequacy of the comparatively small force
under his command for the task of breaking down the opposition of the
Boer army, holding, like that before Ladysmith, a position of immense
natural strength. With the advance, however, of the army under General
Roberts, resistance on a large scale virtually collapsed.
It might have been supposed that the Boers would resist the advance
upon their capital as sturdily as they had opposed the relief of
Ladysmith, and that at least they would fight one great battle,
supported by the forts with which they had surrounded Pretoria. It
turned out otherwise. Although brave and tenacious when fighting under
the cover of rocks, the Boers had not the heart to venture even once
to face the British in the open, and were turned out of one after
another of their carefully-prepared positions without making any
determined stand. After Cronje's force had been captured at Paardeberg,
and the force that had advanced to his assistance driven off the road
to Bloemfontein, no serious opposition was offered to the advance to
Pretoria.
The third phase was marked at first by many exciting incidents, but
by no great battle. The Boers defended some of the positions taken
up by them with bravery and determination, but when once the railway
to Komati Poort had fallen into our hands the war degenerated into a
guerilla struggle. It was a war of raids, sometimes by a comparatively
strong force and at others by handfuls of plunderers; a war trying and
fatiguing in the extreme, and demanding extraordinary endurance on
the part of our troops, but of which the end was always in sight. The
obstinacy of the Boers had only the effect of bringing ruin upon their
own countrymen and women; it could by no possibility alter the final
result.
I have now endeavoured to recount the leading incidents in the second
phase of the war, and although events have moved so rapidly that the
capture of Pretoria is already an old story, I may hope that it has
not yet lost its interest with British boys, and that _With Roberts to
Pretoria_ will meet with as favourable a reception as that given last
year to its companion volume.
G.A. HENTY.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. A Change of Fortune 1
II. On a Dutch Farm 19
III. A Quarrel 36
IV. The Ultimatum 58
V. Scouting 77
VI. The Advance 95
VII. Belmont, Graspan, and the Modder 111
VIII. A Dangerous Mission 132
IX. Kimberley 151
X. An Escape 170
XI. Magersfontein 190
XII. A Prisoner 211
XIII. Friends 227
XIV. A Band of Scoundrels 244
XV. Down Country 263
XVI. An Old Enemy 281
XVII. The Relief of Kimberley 300
XVIII. Paardeberg 318
XIX. Mafeking 337
XX. Johannesburg 354
XXI. Settled 371
WITH ROBERTS TO PRETORIA
CHAPTER I
A CHANGE OF FORTUNE
IT was a sad morning at the Rectory of Waverfield, in Somersetshire.
The living was not a valuable one, but the rector, John Harberton,
possessed a private income derived from shares in a bank in the
Midlands, that had hitherto been considered a stable and flourishing
institution. That morning one of the first items in the paper that met
his eye was: "Failure of the Birmingham and Coventry Banking Company.
Reported heavy liabilities. Wide-spread dismay."
"It is a great misfortune, my dear," the rector said, after the first
exclamations of surprise and lamentation had ceased. "Still, thank
God, we have our church income remaining; that cannot be touched,
and we are more fortunate than many others. Naturally it will make a
great difference to us, but we can do without many of the things to
which we have been hitherto accustomed. Of course we must sell our
horses, the brougham, and dog-cart, and content ourselves with the
pony and carriage. Fortunately the girls have nearly finished their
education, and it has been already arranged that our good friend here,
Miss Millar, should leave at midsummer. It is a comfort to think, Miss
Millar, that our misfortune will not affect you."
"Not at all, sir," the governess said. "I have already arranged with
the lady, to whom you recommended me, to enter her service at the end
of the summer holidays; but I most deeply regret that such a misfortune
has happened to you, and had the girls been younger I would gladly have
remained to finish their education, without there being any question of
salary between us."
"You are very good, Miss Millar, but happily the matter has already
been arranged. The greatest difficulty will be about you, Yorke. I am
afraid that there will be no possibility whatever of sending you back
to Rugby."
"Don't worry about me, father," the lad said, with an effort at
cheerfulness, though the thought of leaving the school he loved was a
painful one indeed. "I shall get on all right somehow; and you know
there was never any chance of my doing anything brilliant. Though I
don't say that I shall not be sorry to leave Rugby, that is nothing
beside your having to give up the horses and carriage and all sorts of
other things."
"It will, of course, make a wide difference to us, Yorke," his father
said gravely; "but this must be faced in the right spirit. Our lot has
been an exceptionally pleasant one up to the present time, and I hope
that none of us will repine. I shall henceforth be as other clergymen
having nothing but my stipend to depend upon."
"But will nothing be saved out of the wreck, John?" Mrs. Harberton
asked.
"It would be as well to assume at once, Annie that it will be all lost;
and I can only trust that, when matters are gone into, all depositors
who have trusted in the bank will be paid in full. Fortunately it is
a limited concern, and the money I have invested elsewhere will be
sufficient to pay the amount uncalled-up on our shares. Had it been
otherwise, our home might have been sold up; as it is, we shall be able
to keep all the surroundings to which we are accustomed. I shall at
once give notice to the coachman and gardener. The boy must be kept on.
He can look after the pony, and do the rough work in the garden with
the aid of a man hired for a day occasionally. One of the maids must,
of course, go. We shall see how well we can manage, and I hope we shall
be able to keep on the other two. We shall have to practise many little
economies. Owing to the fall in the tithes and the value of the glebe
land, we shall not be able to reckon upon more than £250 a year at the
outside from the living, and the interest upon a few hundred pounds
that may remain after the shares are paid up."
The calm tone in which the rector spoke had its effect. His wife dried
her eyes; the girls, who had looked stunned at the blow which had at
once swept away three-fourths of their father's income, pressed each
other's hands silently, and the elder said cheerfully: "Yes, father,
Bella and I will take charge of the garden, and I am sure that we shall
be able to make our own dresses after a little practice, and we can
make ourselves useful in all sorts of ways."
"That is the right spirit, Lucy," her father said approvingly. "We
shall all be called upon to make some sacrifices, you girls not least.
Although doubtless, you will have less gaiety than you before looked
forward to, you will still be able to have a good deal of society in a
quiet way--more, probably, than falls to the lot of the daughters of
most incumbents with slender incomes; and as we are intimate with all
the gentry round, I am sure that none of those we care about knowing
will turn a cold shoulder on us because we have, without any fault of
our own, what is called 'come down in the world.' Those who like us for
ourselves will continue to do so; those who only cared for us because
of our garden parties and dinners can be very well dispensed with.
We have always been a very happy family, and, if we choose, can be
the same in the future. As to Yorke, I must myself take charge of his
education in future."
"Thank you, father!" Yorke said quietly. He was about to say something
more, but he checked himself.
"Of course we must give up the idea of going to the skating party in
Sir William Morton's park to-morrow," Mrs. Harberton said.
"I see no reason for our doing so," the rector said gently. "We can't
sell our horses and carriage in twenty-four hours, and I should
certainly prefer to go. It would be but a bad example to our neighbours
if it were seen that we are broken in spirit by a worldly misfortune.
Many of them know that my income was chiefly drawn from the bank. I am
always preaching patience and contentment to our congregation, very
many of whom have suffered heavily from agricultural distress, and
what I preach we can practise, and without undervaluing the advantages
of money, we can show them that we have no idea of grieving over its
loss. One of my greatest regrets is that in future we shall be somewhat
stinted in our means of helping our neighbours."
The next day, accordingly, the rector, his wife, and daughters drove
over to the skating party, and although a few knew how great was the
change effected in their circumstances by the crash at the bank,
the majority believed that the report that the greater part, if not
the whole, of the rector's private property had been swept away,
had been grossly exaggerated, for there was nothing in their manner
or appearance to afford any indication of their changed position.
Yorke said that he would rather stay at home, and, when the others,
started, went to the stables, and patted and talked to the horses. He
had ridden all of them; for, three years before, he had been promoted
from his pony, and in his holidays took long rides with his father. He
had learned also to take the horses over hurdles erected in the field
behind the house, and, under the instruction of his father's coachman,
who had once been a stud groom, had acquired an excellent seat.
"And what are you going to do, Master Yorke?" the man asked, for he had
already heard from Mr. Harberton that circumstances had occurred that
would oblige him to give up his carriage and horses, but that he would
try to find him another situation.
"I am not going back to school, that is quite settled. Of course it
is a beastly nuisance, but it can't be helped. My father says that he
intends to teach me himself; but, what with parish work, and one thing
and another, I know it would be a very tiresome job for him. But even
if he did, I don't see that it would be of any great use to me. Of
course I cannot go up to the University now; I am not altogether sorry
for that, for, you know, my father always wished me to go into the
church, and although, so far, I have said nothing against it, I don't
feel that I am in any way cut out for the job. Anyhow, I don't like the
thought of being a drag on his hands, for after I had done with work
with him there would be a terrible difficulty about getting me a berth
of some kind.
"I would rather do anything in the world than be a clerk and be stuck
in an office all day. That is the worst of going to a public school,
you get to hate the idea of an indoor life. I would rather a hundred
times go to sea or enlist in the army, when I am old enough; at any
rate in the army I should see something of the world and keep myself,
and at the end of my five years' service might find some opening. Then
there is my father's cousin out at the Cape. When he was here last
year, I know he offered to take me out with him. Of course father would
not hear of it then, there was no reason why he should; but things have
changed, and I don't see why I should not go now. I am getting on for
sixteen, you know, and can ride and all that sort of thing, and I shot
regularly last winter, and brought down some partridges too."
"Not many, master," the man said with a grin.
"No, not many," the boy admitted; "still, it was my first year, and I
had only a single barrel; father himself said I did very fairly, and
that he had no doubt that I should make a good shot in time."
"I have no doubt that you would, Master Yorke," the man said heartily.
"You have learned to ride well, and a man with a good seat on a horse
is generally good behind a gun."
Yorke Harberton was, as he said, nearly sixteen, and was a typical
public-school boy--straight and clean-limbed, free from all
awkwardness, bright in expression, and possessed of a large amount of
self-possession, or, as he himself would have called it, "cheek;" was
a little particular about the set of his Eton jacket and trousers and
the appearance of his boots; as hard as nails and almost tireless; a
good specimen of the class by which Britain has been built up, her
colonies formed, and her battle-fields won--a class in point of energy,
fearlessness, the spirit of adventure, and a readiness to face and
overcome all difficulties, unmatched in the world. His thoughts were
turned into a fresh channel by his conversation with William, and he
strolled away with his hands deep in his pockets and his mind busy.
"Well, Yorke, what have you been doing with yourself?" was his father's
first question when he returned.
"I don't know that I have been doing anything, father."
"Which does not mean that you have been in mischief, I hope?"
"No," the boy laughed, "I haven't. I went to the stables first, and
since then I have been walking about the garden."
"That is quite a new amusement, Yorke, especially in winter," one of
his sisters said in a tone of astonishment. "Fancy you walking round
and round the garden! Wonders will never cease!"
"Well, it is quite as sensible, anyhow, Lucy, as tearing about the
grass playing lawn tennis on a hot summer's day."
Like most boys of that age, Yorke, though very fond of his sisters,
regarded them as mere girls, and especially objected to being in any
way, as he considered, patronized by them.
"But you know, my dear," his mother said gently, "it is not often you
do walk about the garden by yourself, so it was natural that Lucy
should be surprised."
"Quite natural, mother," Yorke admitted frankly. "Well, I have been
thinking over something."
"And what conclusion have you arrived at, Yorke?" his father asked.
The boy hesitated. "I will tell you after breakfast to-morrow," he
said, "it is too long to talk about now." Then he asked questions
about the afternoon they had spent, and the subject was not alluded to
before him until the next morning, although he was the chief topic of
conversation between his father and mother that night.
"The boy has something in his head," Mr. Harberton said. "There can be
no doubt that this very unfortunate business affects him more seriously
than the rest of us. To us it means a quieter life, less gaiety, and
a little pinching; to him it means a great deal more--it is a change
in his whole prospects, a change in his career. I think that would
have come anyhow; Yorke has never said that he disliked the thought of
going into the church, but the mere fact that it was a topic he always
avoided is quite sufficient to show that his heart was not in it. I
should in no case have exercised any strong influence in the matter,
for unless a man feels he has a call to the vocation it is better that
he should not enter it. Now, I should be still more unwilling to put
any pressure whatever upon him. Certainly I shall not be able to afford
to send him to college, unless he could gain an open scholarship that
would go far towards paying his expenses. But of that I see no prospect
whatever.
"Yorke is no fool, but he has no great application, and his school
reports show that, although not at the bottom of his form, he is never
more than half-way up. If viewed merely as a worldly profession, the
church is now the worst that a young man can enter. The value of the
livings has long been falling off, owing to the drop in value of
tithes and land. The number of curates is immensely larger than that
of livings, and the chance of preferment, unless through powerful
patronage, is but slight. In other professions a man's value is in
proportion to his age. In the church it is otherwise. No incumbent
likes having a curate older than himself, and a man of fifty will
obtain less pay than one of five-and-twenty; and I see no prospect
whatever of any improvement. While some classes have become more
wealthy, the landed gentry, who may be considered the best supporters
of the church, have become poorer, owing in part to the fall in the
value of land, and to the very heavy death and succession duties. It
would need much national effort to make any real improvement in our
condition, and I see no hope of such a national effort being made. I
should not be greatly surprised if, as a result of his cogitations
to-day, Yorke tells me to-morrow that he has made up his mind to give
up all idea of entering the church."
"I should be sorry," Mrs. Harberton said almost tearfully; "I have so
looked forward to it."
"I doubt whether he would have gone in any circumstances," her husband
said, "and I certainly should not have urged him to do so had he
expressed any reluctance. It is in my opinion the highest and noblest
career that man can adopt, but it must be only taken up with the
highest motives. Yorke is a good lad, but neither studious nor serious
in his disposition. Possibly, had I kept him at home and had a tutor
for him, he would willingly have fallen in with our hopes and wishes;
but it was on that very account that I sent him to a public school.
There is nothing more unfortunate than that a man should too late
discover that he has mistaken his avocation. As it is, his decision, if
it is his decision, has been quickened by this crash. The path to the
church is no longer easy for him, and I fancy that while we were away
to-day he has been laying his own plans for the future."
"He is so young to have any plans at all, John."
"He is nearly sixteen," the rector said decidedly, "and a public-school
boy of that age has learned to think more for himself, and to be more
independent, than one two years older who has always been kept at home,
or perhaps educated with two or three others by a clergyman. I have
always taught him to be self-reliant, have let him ride my horses, and
generally act on his own devices. As long as I was in a position to
maintain and advance him in any career he might choose, I had a right
to a very considerable influence over him. I still retain the right to
advise and to warn; but I should no longer oppose his wishes, providing
that these were not altogether impracticable."
"You would not let him go to sea, surely?" his wife said. "All boys
seem to want to go to sea."
"I should certainly be sorry if he set his mind on that. He is too
old for the Royal Navy, but I could afford to pay the usual premium
required for his entry as an apprentice, as it is called, in a good
firm of ship-owners. I should be sorry, because we should see him so
seldom; otherwise, personally, I have no objection to the life. I had a
younger brother in the merchant service. He died a few months before I
married you. But his death had nothing to do with the sea service; he
liked it very much, and never regretted having entered it. However, we
can wait till we know what Yorke says in the morning."
When breakfast was over, the rector said: "Now, Yorke, come into my
study and we will have a grand council. Now, sit down comfortably," he
went on, "and tell me exactly what you have been thinking of. It is
only natural that you should have considered seriously the changes that
this unfortunate affair has necessitated, and as you have plenty of
common sense, we will gladly hear your views about it."
"It is evident that I cannot go back to Rugby, father."
"I fear that is the case, Yorke. I don't see how it could be done. I
shall have but a very small balance left after paying the calls that
will be made upon me, and I must set apart a portion of my income to
insure my life for the benefit of your mother and sisters, in case I
should be called away. At the same time that need not necessarily deter
you from carrying out your plan of entering the church. I took a second
class at Oxford, and could work with you at home and push you forward,
and I have no doubt that our bishop would ordain you when the time
arrived."
"Thank you, father," Yorke said quietly, "but the more I think of it
the less willing I am to enter the church. I don't think that I am fit
for it, and I am sure that I should never make a good clergyman. I
cannot fancy myself working for years, perhaps, among the poor in some
manufactory town. I meant to tell you so before long in any case. I am
sorry, because I know that you and the mater have always wished it."
"That is so, but I should not press you, Yorke," his father said. "In
the church, above all other careers, a worker must be a willing worker,
and his heart must be in it. If it is not, he is far better out of it.
You have not surprised me at all. And now let us consider that settled.
I suppose you have been thinking of something else?"
"I have been thinking of all sorts of things, father. I thought about
going to sea, but I am not sure that I should like it. Besides, I want
to get on; I want to be a help instead of a burden--not, of course, at
first, but in something where there is a chance of making one's way,
and in case--in case--You know what I mean, father?--I might be able to
provide a home for the mater and the girls."
"Quite right, Yorke," his father said encouragingly. "Of course you
are very young yet, and I am, so far as I know, a strong and healthy
man. Still, life is always uncertain, and even if I am spared for many
years, it is hardly likely that I shall be able to make any great
provision for them. Certainly, I shall not be able to afford to insure
my life for any adequate sum for their comfortable maintenance. I shall
do my best. Still, I am in hopes that in the meanwhile your sisters
will be married and provided for. Well, what were you thinking of,
Yorke?"
"I was thinking that as my cousin, Herbert Allnutt, offered last year
to take me back to the Cape with him for a year or two, it would be a
good thing to go out there. If I were to stay with him for a couple
of years, I should have got to know the country. You see, as he has
been out there for so long, he must have lots of friends, and he would
be able to give me plenty of introductions. He is near the railway
from Cape Town, and he must know people up in the mining district, so
I might get a good berth through him. What sort of post, of course, I
cannot guess; but from what one hears, a young fellow who is steady,
and so on, is sure to make his way. Of course I should never think of
settling down to farming, as he has done, but there must be plenty of
other openings. Out there, at any rate, I shall be able to earn my own
living to start with, which is more than I could do here, and I would
a thousand times rather lead that sort of life than take a place as a
clerk."
Mr. Harberton was silent for a minute or two.
"The greatest objection I see to it," he said at last, "is that the
state of things there is very unsettled. Ever since the Jameson
raid, matters seem to have been getting worse. That expedition was a
very unfortunate one. It was ill-advised and premature, but it was
the outcome of great wrong. There is no doubt that the Europeans in
the Transvaal are abominably treated by the Boers. Still, now that
Chamberlain has taken up the matter, something must be done, and no
doubt when the white colonists are placed on the same footing as the
Boers, matters in the Transvaal will be greatly improved. Your cousin
was saying that there are gold-fields yet untouched, because the amount
of extortion on the part of the Boer people, the necessity for large
bribes, the tremendous taxation, and the cost of powder and other
matters, which are the subject of monopolies, are so great, that all
fresh industries are stopped, and the existing ones crippled. When
these are abolished, as they must be sooner or later, there will be an
immense impetus to business.
"It may be two or three years before matters are placed upon a proper
footing, and by the time you are old enough to avail yourself of such
chances, things may have settled down, and there will be a rush of
immigration. I do not know much about these matters, but I believe
that steady and energetic young men, acquainted with the country, will
have great opportunities. From what your cousin said, the Boers have
for years been quietly building fortifications and collecting arms;
but I can hardly think they will be mad enough to defy the demands
of England for the fair treatment of the class they call Uitlanders,
especially as the latter were guaranteed all rights of equality by the
last treaty. Well, I will think it over, Yorke. It is quite a new idea
to me, but at the first blush I am not inclined to reject it. There
can be no doubt that a young fellow, fairly well educated, energetic,
and above all, steady and well-conducted, has a far greater chance
of making his way in South Africa than he would have in older, or at
least more established, colonies. It would be a great advantage to you
to have two or three years' experience there before you set out for
yourself, and the benefit of Allnutt's introductions would, no doubt,
be considerable."
A week passed before the subject was resumed. Yorke felt almost like
a culprit. His mother and sisters had evidently been told about his
project, and went about the house with faces far more gloomy than those
they had shown when they first heard of the bank failure. Yorke felt
that the girls, at any rate, highly disapproved of his plan, and kept
out of their way as much as possible. At last he was called again into
the study, and on this occasion his mother was also present.
"We have talked this matter over very seriously, Yorke," his father
began, "and although at first your mother was very much against the
idea, she has come to see that it is probably the best that could be
done under the circumstances. She acknowledges that she would be less
anxious about you than if you were at sea. She sees, also, that with
your somewhat restless disposition, and the ideas with which you have
been brought up, you would really never be happy in a London office,
even if we could obtain a berth there for you. In that way I have no
influence whatever; besides, you are two or three years too young for
it. We have therefore agreed, that, at any rate for that time, you
could not do better than be acquiring experience in South Africa. By
the time you are eighteen you will be better able to estimate your
chance of getting on there.
"You will then have acquired a knowledge of the world, so that, should
you decide to come home, no harm will have been done, for you will not
be too old to make a fresh start in some other direction. I am sure
your cousin will be glad to see you, his invitation was a very hearty
one. I hope you may remain with him for some time; but should you not
do so, I have no doubt he will make comfortable arrangements for you
elsewhere. I say this because I am sure, that though personally he
would in all ways do his best to make you happy, I do not think he is
a very strong man, and I fancy, from words that he let drop, that his
wife is the head of the partnership. She is a Dutch woman, and her
family are, as he told me, among the leaders of what is called the
Africander party. What their wishes and intentions may be I really
don't know, for I have scarcely given a thought to the matter, and
seldom read the Cape news. However, I know that they hold that the
Dutch party ought to be predominant at the Cape. However, this need
not affect you, and certainly you could have no occasion to take any
interest in the politics of the Cape for some years to come.
"Well, my boy, it is a very grave step to take; but I own that it does
appear to me the best that is open to you, and should it turn out
otherwise, you will have plenty of time to remedy it. I shall pay fifty
pounds into a bank at the Cape in your name, so that if at any time you
decide that you have made a mistake, you can take your passage home
again, and you will certainly be none the worse for having spent a year
or two out there."
"Thank you both heartily, father. I hope I sha'n't come back like a
bad penny. I feel sure that the life will just suit me; and when I have
once learned to make myself useful on a farm I shall have no difficulty
in getting employment elsewhere, if, as I hope will not be the case, I
do not get on well with Mr. Allnutt's wife."
"Your father says the climate is very good, Yorke," Mrs. Harberton
said tearfully. "It seems to me a terrible thing for a boy like you to
go out there alone; but going to a relation is not like going among
strangers, and I know you liked Mr. Allnutt when he was here."
"Yes, I thought him very jolly, and I am sure I shall get on capitally
with him. Of course I had no fancy for going out when he spoke to me,
because things were different; but I thought of it at once when I began
to wonder what would be the best thing for me to do."
"I should have liked you to stay at home for a time, Yorke," his mother
said, with a quiver in her voice, "but your father is of opinion that
as you are to go, the sooner you go the better."
"I think so, mother. The horses will be sold next week, and I should
only be idling about the house and doing no good; and it would be just
as painful saying good-bye three months hence as it is now."
"Yes, and we should be looking forward to it all the time. Besides, we
want you to see if you like the business, and whether you think that
you will be able to get on; and if you don't, we want you back again
in time for anything that may turn up. Therefore, in all respects,
the sooner you go the better. I don't suppose there will be much
trouble about your outfit. You will want two or three suits of rough,
strong material, coats made like shooting-jackets, with big pockets,
also flannel shirts and a good supply of stout boots and strong
stockings coming up to the knees. You had better have your trousers
made knickerbocker fashion, and get a couple of pairs of soft leather
gaiters.
"I will get you a double-barrel small-bore gun, they are coming into
fashion now; and though I would rather have a twelve-bore, they say the
smaller ones make very good shooting, and they are a good deal lighter
to carry. It will be time enough for you to think of getting a rifle in
a couple of years, if you decide to stay there. Besides, as everyone
seems to use rifles out there, and no doubt you will practise at a
mark--Mr. Allnutt will lend you one. We will drive over to Yeovil this
afternoon and get you measured for the clothes. Mother will go with us
to see about the shirts, and so on. To-morrow I will write to Donald
Currie's people and secure a second-class berth for you. The more
occupied we are the less time there will be for fretting. I shall lose
no time in writing to your head-master stating why I am obliged to take
you away. I dare say you will have letters to write to your chums."
From that moment all was busy. In spite of the assurances that the Cape
was a warm climate, the girls applied themselves to knitting comforters
and mittens. There was a general overhauling of Yorke's clothes, as
white shirts and English clothes would probably be required on Sundays.
"We shall not get you any more things of this sort," his father said.
"It is of no use your carrying about more clothes than you want, and
it is likely that you will outgrow those you have before you wear them
out. I shall give you a letter to post to Mr. Allnutt as soon as you
land, and then you can stop two days at Cape Town before starting, and
won't come upon him altogether by surprise. I hope you will get on
well with his wife--there is no fear of your getting a hearty welcome
from him--but I shall tell him that if, after you have been with him a
short time, he finds that his wife is not pleased with the arrangement,
as his cordial invitation was given without consultation with her, he
should take you to some nice people--English, of course--where the work
you might do in the first place would be considered an equivalent for
your board--for, naturally, whether you stay with him or anyone else,
you will have to work."
"Certainly, father; that is what I am going out for. If I wasn't to
work, I might as well stop here and idle my time away as at the Cape.
I suppose one of the first things to do will be to learn Dutch and
something of the native language, for although in farming one might
be able to get on well without it, one would certainly want it if one
were going into any business in the mining regions. I will get a Dutch
grammar if I can before I start, and learn as many words as I can on
the voyage."
"It might be very well worth your while, Yorke. I believe that the
language spoken is a sort of dialect they call taal. Still, it is
founded upon Dutch, and anything that you can learn of it would help
you."
"Well, I shall make a point of working hard at it, father. My own idea
is to go up to Kimberley or Johannesburg, when I have been out a couple
of years, with an introduction from Mr. Allnutt to some store-keeper
or manager of mines there, and then work my way up. Of course I don't
expect to make much money for a time, but I shall certainly lay by
every penny I earn over and above keeping myself."
"Whatever you do, don't be too sanguine, because if you do you will
assuredly meet with severe disappointment."
"I don't mean to, father; once I get into a thing that seems likely to
turn out well, I will stick to it patiently. There is one comfort--I
have read that out in the colonies men do not care what they turn their
hands to; no one thinks the worse of a young man for doing any honest
job, so that he keeps himself straight. I mean to keep myself straight.
I am determined that I will never touch liquor of any kind unless I am
ill, or under extraordinary circumstances."
"You could not make a better resolution, Yorke. I believe that in the
colonies, even more than here, drink is the bane of too many young
men, and it is certainly an obstacle to success with all. I know your
cousin, when he was here, said nineteen out of twenty of the young
fellows who go to the bad, after arriving full of hope and energy,
owe their downfall solely to drink. The life at the back stations is
lonely, there is an entire absence of amusement, and it is especially
dull of an evening. The temptation, therefore, to take drink to cheer
up the spirits is strong, and when he has once yielded to it a man
is almost sure to go from bad to worse. 'In my experience,' he said,
'I have known of no instance where a young man who resisted all
temptations to drink was a complete failure. He may suffer very heavily
from droughts, and have misfortunes over which he has no control,
but he can keep his head afloat and so do fairly well in the end.'
The native spirit, that is to say, the Boer spirit--Cape smoke it is
called--is vile, and is simply liquid poison. However, the Dutch are
not a drunken set, and do not very often drink to excess; perhaps the
very badness of the liquor keeps them from it. That being the case,
Yorke, it is evident that you cannot be too careful, and it would be a
comfort both to your mother and me to know that you have set out with a
stern resolution to avoid liquor--except, of course, in case of illness
or in exceptional circumstances, such as a long journey in a pouring
rain, when a small amount of spirits may prevent bad consequences. But
Mr. Allnutt said that even then it was more effective if you stripped,
poured some of it into your hand, and thoroughly rubbed yourself with
it."
"That is a good idea, father, and I will try it under such
circumstances."
A week later, after a tearful parting from his mother and sisters,
Yorke went up to town accompanied by his father, who took him on board
one of the Castle Line steamers, and remained with him until she went
out of dock. The voyage was altogether uneventful. There were several
young fellows, sons of gentlemen, going out in the second class. Yorke
was three or four years younger than any of them, but they all took
to him, and he had a pleasant time. For three or four hours a day he
worked steadily at Dutch, and received a good deal of assistance in the
pronunciation from a Dutch gentleman returning home from a visit, who
took an interest in the boy who so steadily sat apart from the rest
and studied his language. Yorke also made the acquaintance of several
of the third-class passengers, miners, carpenters, and other workers,
who had been back to the old country to see their friends, and from
them he learned a good deal more of the colony than he had hitherto
known.
"I don't say that it is not necessary to learn Dutch," one of them
said in answer to a question, "if you are going into a store or mean
to farm, but in the towns it is not much needed, for we and the Dutch
don't have much to do with each other. Very few of them are engaged
at the mines or even in the stores. They treat us as dirt under their
feet. But the general idea is that it won't be very long before there
is a change. England is a long while making up her mind to see us
righted, but she will do so some day. When she does, she will find it a
tougher job than she expects. For the past four or five years they have
been importing arms and ammunition of every sort. No one can understand
out there why England does not put a stop to it. She will certainly pay
heavily for it in the future. The Boers have an idea that we cannot
fight. That is a big mistake, you know, but with such a great country,
with hills--big hills, too--and passes, and that sort of thing, the
Boers, who are mostly good shots, will be able to make a desperate
resistance, even if it is only the Transvaal. But there is a general
idea that the Orange Free State will join them, and in that case it
will be a big job, especially as there are Dutch all over Cape Colony,
who likely enough will rise also. People in England do not seem to have
an idea what a big place South Africa is. Why, it is as big as England
and Scotland and Ireland and France all thrown together, and you can
count your miles by the thousand instead of the hundred. All these
fellows, too, have horses, any number of them, and men marching on foot
would not have a ghost of a chance of catching them. I tell you it will
be a big business if it ever begins."