The first week at Cape Town shook them up more than years of living in
England could have done. They had been only boys when they first
sighted Table Mountain, but in a week's time they felt and acted like
men.
"It is a queer place, this Cape Town," observed Ned, as they walked
through the streets, and looked about them.
It was queer because it was all so strange and new to these English-bred
lads. The sandstorm that greeted them on their landing did not surprise
the two colonial boys as it did Ned Romer. They endured the infliction
philosophically, while Ned groaned, and wished for a few moments that he
had stopped in dear old England.
But this gust passed, and, being the first of his experience, it seemed
the worst. In a short time he became accustomed to sand, shortness of
water, and the lack of a host of conveniences which had appeared as
necessities to him at one time.
Stephanus Groblaar continued his protection and friendship to them all
the time they were at Cape Town and its surrounding districts. He took
them to his uncle's house, and so saved them the expense of living at
any of the hotels, which was a great saving to them.
The South Africans are a hospitable people, and the town-educated Dutch
very different from their country cousins, the Transvaal Boers.
The lads were delighted with their reception and generous treatment.
They explored Table Mountain, and passed several happy days before they
had exhausted the sights of this ancient African capital.
The uncle of Stephanus was the owner of a large and prosperous vineyard
in Stellenbosch, and he had half a dozen fair, plump, and lively female
cousins, ranging from seven years of age to twenty-three. Stephanus was
engaged to the second oldest, a girl of nineteen. They had also eight
brothers, all living at home and assisting in the different departments
of the wine business.
It was, therefore, a large household, and when the day's work was over,
a merry, home-like party in the evenings.
It seemed to the lads as if they were transported back a couple of
centuries while they rested in this vine farm. The buildings were
nearly the same age as the great oak trees that surrounded them and
shaded the roadways. The tiles and bricks with which they were built
had been made in and brought from Holland. Everything was quaint,
old-fashioned, and picturesque. The master of the house was patriarchal
with his family and servants, and the mother was a real mistress after
the good old style.
Morning and evening the old Bible was brought out, and every one was
forced to join in the religious exercise. The master did not greatly
believe in his coloured servants having souls, yet as this had come to
be a disputed question amongst some of the advanced Boers, Van Groblaar
gave them the benefit of the doubt, and made them also attend family
worship. He was a strict and severe master with these dark-skinned
bondmen and bondwomen, yet his patriarchal system appeared to be the
right one as far as they were concerned. On this farm they did their
work much better than they would have done under the English system.
The girls had been educated at the best Cape schools. They could play
on the piano, and had all the other accomplishments of young ladies.
Yet this did not make them disdain household and farm work. They were
all able to milk the cows, make butter and cheese, and do all the other
duties expected from a Dutch housewife. They reserved their fancy
accomplishments for the evenings, and were up to their daily work long
before the sun rose.
Although it was a remarkably enjoyable life which the boys led at
Stellenbosch, they quickly wearied of it, and began to long for
something more exciting. The riding lessons which they took with the
sons, and the gun practice were all very useful, yet humiliating also,
since they could never hope to compete with those born marksmen and
centaurs. It is almost impossible for a true Africander to miss his
mark or be unseated from his horse.
As soon, therefore, as they had learnt something about the managing of
cattle and Kaffirs, and had found their way about the country, they
began to find the society of their puritanical burgher friends slightly
irksome. The charming scenery became monotonous, and the tinkle of a
piano almost as hard to endure as a barrel-organ is to some ears.
The desire to trek had come upon them, and whenever men or boys get that
desire, no fertile oasis, no earthly paradise, can hold them back from
the desert.
Stephanus, who was in their confidence, had a private conversation with
his uncle Groblaar, and communicated the result one morning to them as
they were moping amongst the ripening grapes.
It was not easy for the young ladies or the stolid sons of Van Groblaar
to understand how any human being could be melancholy as long as there
was plenty to eat and drink. In their own placid minds three of the
daughters had decided that Ned, Fred, and Clarence had the makings of
very good farmers and husbands in them, and for this felt gratified to
Cousin Stephanus for bringing them.
They were considerably startled, therefore, and not a little distressed,
when they saw how our heroes brightened up after they heard the result
of that family confab.
The old Dutchman, who took a long time to decide upon anything, had been
persuaded to send up his yearly consignment of wines and brandy to
Johannesburg without any further delay. It would go by road as usual,
and the new comrades were to go with the waggons.
By doing this they would see the country, while the journey would not
cost them anything.
This offer was gladly accepted by the young men--for they were now, in
their own and the estimation of the young ladies, such. They no longer
wondered how time was to be killed, but eagerly began to prepare for the
long and slow overland journey.
The Groblaar wines and brandy were greatly prized, and fetched big
prices everywhere in the market. In the Transvaal particularly they
were vastly appreciated. The age was to be depended upon, and the
quality; while the grower considered that the contents of these matured
hogsheads would be ruined if transported by any other mode than oxen.
Another reason they had for going by road instead of rail. There were
numerous customers to be served en route, at places outside the line of
the railway.
Three of the eldest sons were deputed to go on this trek along with our
heroes and Cousin Stephanus, and as they looked upon this journey as
their annual holiday, they provided themselves with everything needful
to enjoy themselves.
Twenty teams were required to carry the stores, provisions, and
merchandise. The oxen were all specially selected, and the waggons and
drays reliable as well as strong; so that when they mounted their horses
and inspanned, they were a very smart and prosperous-looking caravan.
Our heroes made their farewells joyously, for they were heart-whole.
They did not notice the sad looks that followed after them. Yet three
of Van Groblaar's young daughters did not display their customary
appetite at dinner that day, nor did they seem much inclined for supper
either that night. Next day, however, they all made up for their
unusual fast.
Ned was a little surprised when he came to say good-bye to the young
lady who had given him most of her company during his stay, by her
saying to him, in a slightly tremulous voice--
"You are going out to a strange land, where there are many dangers.
Take care!"
"Oh, I'll look out for number one, you bet, Miss Santa."
"Take care of the wild-beast traps."
"Oh yes, I know; open gaps, and that sort of thing."
"Yes; and"--she flushed scarlet while she whispered softly--"and look
out also for Cousin Stephanus; he does not like you."
She turned from him swiftly as she gave this warning, and ran indoors,
while he mounted his horse, wondering what she could mean.
Then, as he rode slowly on, he recalled the accidents on the outward
voyage, with other signs which might have escaped his notice but for
this last whisper from the young Dutch maiden. He was not quite so
guileless as he had been a few months before. Whatever the reasons
were, he felt himself forced to the conclusion that Stephanus Groblaar
did not care greatly for him, although he seemed attached to his two
chums. Stephanus avoided him as much as possible while they had been on
the farm, and he had caught sundry sullen and furtive glances which
looked almost like hatred at times.
Well, forewarned is forearmed to some extent. Ned shook the momentary
uneasiness and depression from his heart, and soon was riding along
merrily with the others.
Not being a fool, however, he resolved to keep a wary eye on this
supposed evil-wisher, and look out for any more awkward fits.
It is nasty for any one to feel that he is disliked, much more so if he
has done nothing to incur that disagreeable sentiment. Ned Romer was
guiltless of anything as far as he knew. He was the most generous and
happy of the party. As yet he had never entertained a single animosity
towards a human being. Everything that he saw entertained him and
provided him with amusement. He had no fear, and tried to make friends
with every one.
Besides, he felt specially obliged, in many ways, to Stephanus Groblaar,
and therefore would have sacrificed a good deal to be his friend.
But a new instinct had been roused in his nature by those parting words
of Santa. The first seeds of suspicion were sown in that generous soil.
This seed would grow until it destroyed the unwise trust of boyhood,
and make of him a vigilant and discriminating man in the future. Truly
he had left adolescence behind him when his horse walked under the shady
oak avenues of Stellenbosch.
Nothing occurred, however, to mar their harmony as they moved slowly
upward through the populated portions of Cape Colony.
Day after day went along with varying incidents and amusements. When
they were able they spent the night at some friendly settler's
homestead, and were most hospitably welcomed and entertained. These
were, without exception, Dutch farmers, and old friends of the
Groblaars, so that they saw little enough of the British members of the
community.
They had mastered enough of the Cape Dutch and "Kitchen Kaffir" idioms
to understand what was said, as well as express themselves to be
understood by those they were so constantly thrown amongst by this time.
As every one was alike free and kind, if a bit rough and homely, they
took the most favourable impression possible of this industrious if
slow-going and bigoted race.
It was not nice to hear Englishmen so constantly spoken about with such
contempt as a nation of cowards and oppressors; yet as the Boers gave
their opinions good-naturedly, and exhibited such an utter want of
knowledge in their statements, the lads could not help laughing also as
they listened.
The farther up they travelled the more crassly ignorant and prejudiced
they found their hosts to be; yet, although they universally insulted
and tried to bespatter the Union Jack, they universally made their
English guests as heartily welcome as were their Dutch friends. The
rites of hospitality were most generously observed. It was not that
these Dutch Africanders were all uncouth and ignorant men and women.
The majority of them were as well and even more highly educated than are
these classes in England. A large proportion of them had likewise
travelled and seen England and the Continent. It seemed the fashion to
be prejudiced against England. They had taken their preconceived
notions along with them wherever they went, accepting only such
evidences and historical facts as suited their own side of the disputed
question. "The English are a nation of liars, and don't know much about
anything useful. They are no use anywhere, and they are almost done
for."
This was the universal opinion of the Dutch natives of Africa, and no
argument could move them one iota. They all spoke banteringly and with
good-tempered irony, as one might speak of something settled and past
curing or dispute. They despised the English as a nation, abhorred
Cecil Rhodes, and laughed at Gladstone as a friendly old imbecile. But
they did not object to individuals.
The boys listened and laughed with their bigoted but generous friends,
and took all this talk in the same good part.