Sir James turned back with the doctor, and soon after the boys were
intently examining the drove of nearly fifty beautiful, sleek, well-bred
oxen in their kraal, where they were in charge of their drivers, one a
big, bluff, manly-looking fellow, well bronzed by the sun, and with
Englishman stamped upon every feature, forming a striking contrast to
his companion, a flat-nosed, half-bred Hottentot, who grinned at them
stupidly.
"We just want another look round, my lad," said the doctor.
"All right, sir," said the big driver, endorsing his appearance by his
speech; and taking the lead, he showed the little party and expatiated
upon the qualities of the leading and pole oxen, upon how sleek and well
they looked, and gave to each its name, while the Hottentot driver, who
confined himself to Dutch, helped to call up bullock after bullock, all
of which answered sluggishly to their names.
Then the boys were made acquainted with the novelties, to them, of
dissel-boom, trek-tow, and yokes.
"But I say," cried Mark, "you don't call that a whip, do you?" And he
pointed to one that might have been used in Brobdingnag.
"Yes, sir; that's the whip," said the Englishman, laughing. "You see,
one wants a long one to touch up an ox who may be the leader twelve
bullocks' lengths away from where you are sitting on the box."
"Let's try," said Mark.
The man smiled as he took down and handed the gigantic thong.
"Mind what you are doing, sir," he said. "A waggon whip is rather an
awkward thing, until you are used to it; but when you are you know it is
a nice, neat, handy little tool. You see, it's a two-handed weapon."
"That's plain enough," said Dean, laughing. "Let's have a try after
you, Mark."
"Yes," said his cousin, giving the whip a wave round, its heavy lash
whistling through the air.
"Here, stop!" cried Sir James angrily. "What do you think you are
doing? Salmon fishing? It's a good thing, doctor, that there's no hook
at the end."
"Oh, I'm very sorry, father," said the boy, colouring.
"Very sorry, indeed! Why, you nearly cut my ear off. Here, doctor, we
had better go."
"No, no, don't go, father. I won't try any more;" and Mark hastily
handed the great whip back to the driver.
"Here, but I want to try," said Dean.
"Well, you are not going to try now," said his uncle, half irritably.
"You will have plenty of chances, both of you, when you have got a field
to yourselves. You will be scaring the bullocks."
"All right, sir," said the big fellow, replacing the whip by the great
tilted waggon. "I'll teach you how to handle it when we get out on the
veldt. Like me to show you, perhaps, now?"
"No, no," said Sir James; "not while we are here."
"It's quite safe, sir," said the man good-humouredly. "I could give a
flip to any one of the bullocks you like to point out without the thong
coming near anybody."
"Oh, let him, please, father."
"Very well," said Sir James, rather grumpily. "Shall we stand farther
off?"
"Oh, no, sir," replied the man.
"Let's pick out that one with the white nose," whispered Dean. "I don't
believe he can hit it;" and he pointed to one fat beast that was
standing almost alone blinking its eyes and ruminating over its cud.
"Yes; hit that one," said Mark.
The man seemed to give the long whip an easy wave in the air, and the
point of the lash alighted on the bullock's smooth neck, making the
animal start and toss its head; and then in response to a command which
sounded like _Barrk_, it slowly sidled close up to the nearest of its
fellows, and then went on chewing the cud again.
"Ay, ay, Jacob!" shouted the driver, and he uttered a few words in a
patois that was probably a composition of Dutch and Hottentot, which
made the little yellow flat-nosed driver come shambling up, grinning, to
take the big whip pitched to him and go off to a distance of some
five-and-twenty yards, where, after uttering a few incomprehensible
cries which had the effect of making such of the bullocks as were
crouching in the sand rise slowly to their feet and sidle up together,
the strange looking driver gave the whip a wave or two where he stood,
and began to crack it, at every _whish_ producing what sounded like a
series of rifle shots, watching the English driver the while until he
was told to desist.
"Bravo!" cried Mark, and Dean clapped his hands.
"I say, can you crack a whip like that?" cried Dean.
"Oh, yes, sir. Teach you too, if you like."
"Well, I do like," said the boy; "but when uncle isn't here."
When the interiors of the two great tilted waggons that were close at
hand had been examined with some curiosity, as they were to be
storehouses and dwelling-places combined, the little party went off in
another direction, Mark eagerly enquiring what was to be their
destination now.
"Oh, I was going to show you the little cobs the doctor has bought--
ponies, I suppose I ought to call them."
"What, has he got them already?" cried Mark.
"Oh, yes; it has been very short work," said the doctor. "The officer
who has charge of the little garrison here introduced me to a dealer,
and I think we have been very fortunate to meet a gentleman who was well
acquainted with the ways of the settlers here, for he has given me some
very good hints, and in addition promised to have a guide found who was
hanging about the camp and is now waiting here after being up the
country with a hunting party who left for Beira about a fortnight ago.
He is one of the Illakas, Sir James," continued the doctor, "and it
seems that he has been expelled from his tribe for being friendly to the
English."
"Quite a savage, then," said Sir James.
"Oh, yes; I suppose he is a pure-blooded black, and knows the country
well. Let me see, we must turn down in this direction, I think. Yes--
pass that corrugated iron shed-like house--to be sure, that's it--and
there's the man the ponies belong to."
He nodded in the direction of a little keen-looking man who appeared
rather mushroom-like, thanks to the well-worn, broad-leafed felt hat he
wore. He was leaning over a rough enclosure in which four ponies were
browsing, and keenly watching the approaching party as he smoked.
As soon as he realised that they were coming in his direction he took
his pipe from his mouth, tapped the ashes out upon a post, took off his
hat and stuck the short pipe in the band.
"Come to have a look at the ponies, gentlemen?" he said.
"Yes," said Sir James; "I want my son and nephew to have a look at them
and try them."
"I see," said the man, scanning the boys attentively. "My man isn't
here. Like them saddled and bridled?"
Sir James looked at the two boys, as the man continued, "Can the young
gentlemen ride?"
He glanced at the doctor as he spoke.
"Yes," said the latter quietly; "after our fashion in England. Well
broken horses. But they can't ride wild beasts."
"Well, no, captain; nobody expects that; but I shall have to keep you
waiting a bit while I have my man found, and send him to borrow a saddle
and bridle. I have only got two, and one of the officers from up at the
barracks and his friend have got them for the day. I have plenty of
halters, and I can clap a rug on one of the ponies. What do you say to
that, young gentlemen?"
"I'd rather have one without the rug," said Mark, "if they are quiet."
"Quiet as lambs, sir, as long as you don't play any larks with them."
"Oh, we shan't play any tricks," said Mark.
"That's right, sir. Out here we like to treat a pony well. They are
scarce, and worth their money. I am afraid, sir," continued the man,
turning to the doctor, "that I did not charge enough for them."
"But you don't want to draw back from your bargain?" said the doctor
sternly. "I paid you the price you asked."
"Yes, sir. The captain up yonder brought you to me as English friends,
and him and his officers are good customers to me. No, I am not going
to ask more. Only I will go as far as this: if you bring them back to
me sound and in a fair condition I will take them again at the price.
Here, one of you," he shouted to a group of idlers who had sauntered up
to the fence of the enclosure, "go to the house and ask the missis to
give you a couple of halters and a horse rug. My chap, Browne, has gone
to meet the officers."
One of the men sauntered off quietly, leaving the party of strangers to
walk across the kraal, the boys keenly examining the little browsing
animals.
"Well, doctor," said Sir James, "I must say I admire your choice. They
are beautiful little creatures, and I hope that they have no vice."
"Vice! Not they, sir," said their late owner, as the ponies upon being
approached lifted their heads to stare at the visitors for a few moments
and then go on browsing at the low-growing bushes that formed their
feed. "This don't look like vice, does it, sir?" said the man,
thrusting his hand into his pocket and drawing it out full of maize.
One of the ponies raised its head, stretched out its neck in the
direction of the extended hand, and trotted up.
"These mealies are rather a hard bite for them, sir, but this lot are
very fond of a taste, and I let them have one now and then; but of
course you will always have a few sacks handy.--Now, young gentlemen,
try this one," and he poured some of the golden grain into Mark's hand.
"You too, sir," he continued, and he brought out some more to trickle
into Dean's.
There was no doubt so far in the tameness of the two ponies, which fed
quietly enough from the boys' hands and submitted to being handled,
patted and held by their thick forelocks or manes.
By this time the dealer's messenger had returned with a couple of
halters.
"Missis can't find a horse rug," said the man surlily.
"Never mind; we can do without, I daresay. But just be on the lookout,
and if you see my Browne send him to me. Now then, gentlemen, like to
try barebacked?"
"Yes," said Mark; and as soon as a halter had been thrown over one of
the ponies' heads the dealer handed the end to him.
"Oh, come," he said, "not the first time you have been on a pony;" for
Mark held up one leg, which the man took in his hand and gave him a
hoist; and the boy making a spring at the same time dropped on the
pony's glossy back, but like vaulting ambition overleaped himself and
rolled over on the other side, startling the pony into making off. But
the dealer made a snatch at the halter, just in time, and it stopped
short, snorting.
"Hurt, my boy?" cried Sir James, anxiously.
"No, father; only vexed," said the boy, dusting the sand from his
flannels. "Now then," he continued, to the dealer, "you hoisted me too
hard."
"Going to have another try?"
"Why, of course," cried the boy angrily. "Think I was frightened by a
thing like that?"
"You'll do; you'll do," said the dealer, with a little chuckle. "Now
then; it was half my fault, and half yours."
The next moment Mark was in his seat, holding his mount with a tight
hand as it began to paw up the sand, eager to start.
"Wait for me," cried Dean, for the dealer was clapping the halter on
another of the ponies, whose back Dean reached without mishap; and then
as if thoroughly accustomed to run together, the attractive looking
little pair moved off at an easy canter, closely followed by the other
two, and going soon after at a quiet hand gallop twice round the large
kraal, and stopping short close up to the dealer at the end of their
career.
The boys jumped down, and the two unmounted ponies waited patiently
while the halters were shifted and the performance repeated.
"Well, gentlemen, are you satisfied?" said the man, patting the ponies'
necks as he spoke.
"Yes, quite," said Sir James. "What do you say, doctor?"
"I should say more than satisfied, only I am afraid that they won't be
up to our weight."
"Don't you make any mistake, sir. These little fellows can do more than
you expect--that is, if you treat them well. You won't ride them till
they founder, I'll be bound. Just you take care that they have enough,
and you will find that they will do all you want. You would like me to
keep them till you start, I suppose?"
"Certainly," said the doctor; and soon after the little party returned
to their inn, the boys talking eagerly about their new acquaintance.
"But I say, father," said Mark, "why, what a party we are going to be--
five men, our four selves, four ponies, and all those oxen. Let's see;
that's all, isn't it?"
"No," said Sir. James; "you forget the guide."
"Black, isn't he, uncle?"
"Yes; I suppose he's a regular Kaffir, a sort of Zulu. What did the
captain say he was, doctor?"
"An Illaka, he called him, I believe, something of the same sort of
black, as the Matabeles. But you have forgotten two more."
"Two more, sir?" said Dean. "No, we have counted them all."
"What about the two black forelopers?"
"Why, what are they?" cried Mark.
"The two blacks who go in front of the foremost bullocks."
"Oh," said Mark. "I say, we are beginning to grow."
"Yes," said Sir James; "we are getting to be a pretty good hunting
party. What with ourselves, men and cattle, we shall have a good many
mouths to feed."
"But you don't want to go back, father?"
"I did, thoroughly," replied Sir James, "when we were down at that
dreadful port."
"But not now, uncle," cried Dean.
"Certainly not, my boy. I am as eager to go forward as you boys, and I
believe the doctor too. I think we are going to have a most delightful
trip. But I say, this doesn't look to me a very good specimen of the
health of the country;" and he nodded his head in the direction of a
very tall, extremely thin, bilious-looking individual who passed them,
and whom they saw make his way right up to the dealer's house.
"Talk about moustachios," cried Mark. "Why, they look like those of a
china figure in a tea-shop. I wonder what he calls himself."
"And this one too," said Dean, for they met a fine-looking, well built
black with well-cut features, nose almost aquiline, and a haughty look
of disdain in his frowning eyes, as, spear over shoulder, he stalked by
the English party, not even deigning to turn to glance back.
"I should think he's a chief," said Mark; "a sort of king in his way."
"Doesn't cost him much a year for his clothes," said Dean, laughing, for
the big fellow's costume was the simplest of the simple.
"Ah, not much," said Sir James, looking after the man; "one of Nature's
noblemen, who looks as if he had never done a stroke of work in his
life. I wonder whether he would ever dare to make use of that spear."
"I don't think there's any doubt about it, sir," said the doctor, "if he
were offended; and if we meet men like that we shall have to be friends,
for that's an ugly looking weapon that he carries over his shoulder with
such a jaunty air."
"What are you thinking about, doctor?"
"I was thinking about the full-blooded black that the captain yonder
promised to get us for our guide, and I was wondering whether that was
likely to be he."
The doctor's words made the rest turn to gaze after the fine-looking,
lithe and active black, who stalked on, haughty of mien, without even
seeming to give a thought to the English intruders upon his soil.