A GAME OF CARDS
I slept in Anscombe’s room that night and looked after him. He was very
feverish and the pain in his leg kept him awake a good deal. He told me
that he could not bear Dr. Rodd and wished to get away at once. I had
to explain to him that this was impossible until his spare oxen arrived
which I was going to send for to Pretoria, but of other matters,
including that of the dangerous state of his foot, I said nothing. I
was thankful when towards two in the morning, he fell into a sound
sleep and allowed me to do the same.
Before breakfast time, just as I had finished dressing myself in some
of the clean things which had been brought from the wagon, Rodd came
and made a thorough and business-like examination of his patient, while
I awaited the result with anxiety on the stoep. At length he appeared
and said—
“Well, I think that we shall be able to save the foot, though I can’t
be quite sure for another twenty-four hours. The worst symptoms have
abated and his temperature is down by two degrees. Anyway he will have
to stay in bed and live on light food till it is normal, after which he
might lie in a long chair on the stoep. On no account must he attempt
to stand.”
I thanked him for his information heartily enough and asked him if he
knew where Marnham was, as I wanted to speak to him with reference to
the despatch of Footsack to fetch the oxen from Pretoria.
“Not up yet, I think,” he answered. “I fancy that yesterday was one of
his ‘wet’ nights, excitement of meeting strangers and so on.”
“Wet nights?” I queried, wishing for a clearer explanation.
“Yes, he is a grand old fellow, one of the best, but like most other
people he has his little weaknesses, and when the fit is on him he can
put away a surprising amount of liquor. I tell you so that you should
not be astonished if you notice anything, or try to argue with him when
he is in that state, as then his temper is apt to be—well, lively. Now
I must go and give him a pint of warm milk; that is his favourite
antidote, and in fact the best there is.”
I thought to myself that we had struck a nice establishment in which to
be tied, literally by the leg, for an indefinite period. I was not
particularly flush at the time, but I know I would have paid a £100 to
be out of it; before the end I should have been glad to throw in
everything that I had. But mercifully that was hidden from me.
Rodd and I breakfasted together and discoursed of Kaffir customs, as to
which he was singularly well informed. Then I accompanied him to see
his native patients in the little hospital of which I have spoken.
Believing the man to be a thorough scamp as I did, it was astonishing
to me to note how gentle and forbearing he was to these people. Of his
skill I need say nothing, as that was evident. He was going to perform
an internal operation upon a burly old savage, rather a serious one I
believe; at any rate it necessitated chloroform. He asked me if I would
like to assist, but I declined respectfully, having no taste for such
things. So I left him boiling his instruments and putting on what
looked like a clean nightgown over his clothes, and returned to the
stoep.
Here I found Marnham, whose eyes were rather bloodshot, though
otherwise, except for a shaky hand, he seemed right enough. He murmured
something about having overslept himself and inquired very politely,
for his manners were beautiful, after Anscombe and as to whether we
were quite comfortable and so forth. After this I consulted him as to
the best road for our servants to travel by to Pretoria, and later on
despatched them, giving Footsack various notes to ensure the delivery
of the oxen to him. Also I gave him some money to pay for their keep
and told him with many threats to get back with the beasts as quick as
he could travel. Then I sent him and the two other boys off, not
without misgivings, although he was an experienced man in his way and
promised faithfully to fulfil every injunction to the letter. To me he
seemed so curiously glad to go that I inquired the reason, since after
a journey like ours, it would have been more natural if he had wished
to rest.
“Oh! Baas,” he said, “I don’t think this Tampel very healthy for
coloured people. I am told of some who have died here. That man Karl
who gave me the diamond, I think he must have died also, at least I saw
his spook last night standing over me and shaking his head, and the
boys saw it too.”
“Oh! be off with your talk of spooks,” I said, “and come back quickly
with those oxen, or I promise you that you will die and be a spook
yourself.”
“I will, Baas, I will!” he ejaculated and departed almost at a run,
leaving me rather uncomfortable.
I believed nothing of the tale of the spook of Karl, but I saw that
Footsack believed in it, and was afraid lest he might be thereby
prevented from returning. I would much rather have gone myself, but it
was impossible for me to leave Anscombe so ill in the hands of our
strange hosts. And there was no one else whom I could send. I might
perhaps have ridden to Pilgrim’s Rest and tried to find a white
messenger there; indeed afterwards I regretted not having done so,
although it would have involved at least a day’s absence at a very
critical time. But the truth is I never thought of it until too late,
and probably if I had, I should not have been able to discover anyone
whom I could trust.
As I walked back to the house, having parted from Footsack on the top
of a neighbouring ridge whence I could point out his path to him, I met
Marnham riding away. He pulled up and said that he was going down to
the Granite stream to arrange about setting some one up to watch the
wagon. I expressed sorrow that he should have the trouble, which should
have been mine if I could have got away, whereon he answered that he
was glad of the opportunity for a ride, as it was something to do.
“How do you fill in your time here,” I asked carelessly, “as you don’t
farm?”
“Oh! by trading,” he replied, and with a nod set his horse to a canter.
A queer sort of trading, thought I to myself, where there is no store.
Now what exactly does he trade in, I wonder?
As it happened I was destined to find out before I was an hour older.
Having given Anscombe a look and found that he was comfortable, I
thought that I would inspect the quarry whence the marble came of which
the house was built, as it had occurred to me that if there was plenty
of it, it might be worth exploiting some time in the future. It had
been pointed out to me in the midst of some thorns in a gully that ran
at right angles to the main kloof not more than a few hundred yards
from the house. Following a path over which the stones had been dragged
originally, I came to the spot and discovered that a little cavity had
been quarried in what seemed to me to be a positive mountain of pure
white marble. I examined the place as thoroughly as I could, climbing
among some bushes that grew in surface earth which had been washed down
from the top, in order to do so.
At the back of these bushes there was a hole large enough for a man to
creep through. I crept through with the object of ascertaining whether
the marble veins continued. To my surprise I found a stout yellow-wood
door within feet of the mouth of the hole. Reflecting that no doubt it
was here that the quarrymen kept, or had kept tools and explosives, I
gave it a push. I suppose it had been left unfastened accidentally, or
that something had gone wrong with the lock; at any rate it swung open.
Pursuing my researches as to the depth of the marble I advanced boldly
and, the place being dark, struck a match. Evidently the marble did
continue, as I could see by the glittering roof of a cavern, for such
it was. But the floor attracted my attention as well as the roof, for
on it were numerous cases not unlike coffins, bearing the stamp of a
well-known Birmingham firm, labelled “fencing iron” and addressed to
Messrs. Marnham & Rodd, Transvaal, _via_ Delagoa Bay.
I knew at once what they were, having seen the like before, but if any
doubt remained in my mind it was easy to solve, for as it chanced one
of the cases was open and half emptied. I slipped my hand into it. As I
thought it contained the ordinary Kaffir gun of commerce, cost
delivered in Africa, say 35s.; cost delivered to native chief in cash
or cattle, say £10, which, when the market is eager, allows for a
decent profit. Contemplating those cases, survivors probably of a much
larger stock, I understood how it came about that Sekukuni had dared to
show fight against the Government. Doubtless it was hence that the guns
had come which sent a bullet through Anscombe’s foot and nearly
polished off both of us.
Moreover, as further matches showed me, that cave contained other
stores—item, kegs of gunpowder; item, casks of cheap spirit; item, bars
of lead, also a box marked “bullet moulds” and another marked
“Percussion caps.” I think, too, there were some innocent bags full of
beads and a few packages of Birmingham-made assegai blades. There may
have been other things, but if so I did not wait to investigate them.
Gathering up the ends of my matches and, in case there should be any
dust in the place that would show footmarks, flapping the stone floor
behind me with my pocket handkerchief, I retired and continued my
investigations of that wonderful marble deposit from the bottom of the
quarry, to which, having re-arranged the bushes, I descended by another
route, leaping like a buck from stone to stone.
It was just as well that I did so, for a few minutes later Dr. Rodd
appeared.
“Made a good job of your operation?” I asked cheerfully.
“Pretty fair, thanks,” he answered, “although that Kaffir tried to
brain the nurse-man when he was coming out of the anæsthetic. But are
you interested in geology?”
“A little,” I replied, “that is if there is any chance of making money
out of it, which there ought to be here, as this marble looks almost as
good as that of Carrara. But flint instruments are more my line, that
is in an ignorant and amateur way, as I think they are in yours, for I
saw some in your room. Tell me, what do you think of this. Is it a
scraper?” and I produced a stone out of my pocket which I had found a
week before in the bush-veld.
At once he forgot his suspicions, of which I could see he arrived very
full indeed. This curious man, as it happened, was really fond of flint
instruments, of which he knew a great deal.
“Did you find this here?” he asked.
I led him several yards further from the mouth of the cave and pointed
out the exact spot where I said I had picked it up amongst some quarry
debris. Then followed a most learned discussion, for it appeared that
this was a flint instrument of the rarest and most valuable type, one
that Noah might have used, or Job might have scraped himself with, and
the question was how the dickens had it come among that quarry debris.
In the end we left the problem undecided, and having presented the
article to Dr. Rodd, a gift for which he thanked me with real warmth, I
returned to the house filled with the glow that rewards one who has
made a valuable discovery.
Of the following three days I have nothing particular to say, except
that during them I was perhaps more acutely bored than ever I had been
in my life before. The house was beautiful in its own fashion; the food
was excellent; there was everything I could want to drink, and Rodd
announced that he no longer feared the necessity of operation upon
Anscombe’s leg. His recovery was now a mere matter of time, and
meanwhile he must not use his foot or let the blood run into it more
than could be helped, which meant that he must keep himself in a
recumbent position. The trouble was that I had nothing on earth to do
except study the characters of our hosts, which I found disagreeable
and depressing. I might have gone out shooting, but nothing of the sort
was allowed upon the property in obedience to the wish of Miss Heda, a
mysterious young person who was always expected and never appeared, and
beyond it I was afraid to travel for fear of Basutos. I might have gone
to Pilgrim’s Rest or Lydenburg to make report of the nefarious deeds of
the said Basutos, but at best it would have taken one or two days, and
possibly I should have been detained by officials who never consider
any one’s time except their own.
This meant that I should have been obliged to leave Anscombe alone,
which I did not wish to do, so I just sat still and, as I have said,
was intensely bored, hanging about the place and smoking more than was
good for me.
In due course Anscombe emerged on to the stoep, where he lay with his
leg up, and was also bored, especially after he had tried to pump old
Marnham about his past in the Guards and completely failed. It was in
this mood of utter dejection that we agreed to play a game of cards one
evening. Not that either of us cared for cards; indeed, personally, I
have always detested them because, with various-coloured counters to
represent money which never passed, they had formed one of the
afflictions of my youth.
It was so annoying if you won, to be handed a number of green counters
and be informed that they represented so many hundreds or thousands of
pounds, or vice-versa if you lost, for as it cost no one anything, my
dear father insisted upon playing for enormous stakes. Never in any
aspect of life have I cared for fooling. Anscombe also disliked cards,
I think because his ancestors too had played with counters, such as
some that I have seen belonging to the Cocoa-Tree Club and other
gambling places of a past generation, marked as high as a thousand
guineas, which counters must next morning be redeemed in hard cash,
whereby his family had been not a little impoverished.
“I fancy you will find they are high-fliers,” he said when the pair had
left to fetch a suitable table, for the night being very hot we were
going to play on the stoep by the light of the hanging paraffin lamp
and some candles. I replied to the effect that I could not afford to
lose large sums of money, especially to men who for aught I knew might
then be engaged in marking the cards.
“I understand,” he answered. “Don’t you bother about that, old fellow.
This is my affair, arranged for my special amusement. I shan’t grumble
if the fun costs something, for I am sure there will be fun.”
“All right,” I said, “only if we should happen to win money, it’s
yours, not mine.”
To myself I reflected, however, that with these two opponents we had
about as much chance of winning as a snowflake has of resisting the
atmosphere of the lower regions.
Presently they returned with the table, which had a green cloth over it
that hung down half-way to the ground. Also one of the native boys
brought a tray with spirits, from which I judged by various signs, old
Marnham, who had already drunk his share at dinner, had helped himself
freely on the way. Soon we were arranged, Anscombe, who was to be my
partner, opposite to me in his long chair, and the game began.
I forget what particular variant of cards it was we played, though I
know it admitted of high and progressive stakes. At first, however,
these were quite moderate and we won, as I suppose we were meant to do.
After half an hour or so Marnham rose to help himself to brandy and
water, a great deal of brandy and very little water, while I took a nip
of Hollands, and Anscombe and Rodd filled their pipes.
“I think this is getting rather slow,” said Rodd to Anscombe. “I vote
we put a bit more on.”
“As much as you like,” answered Anscombe with a little drawl and
twinkle of the eye, which always showed that he was amused. “Both
Quatermain and I are born gamblers. Don’t look angry, Quatermain, you
know you are. Only if we lose you will have to take a cheque, for I
have precious little cash.”
“I think that will be good enough,” replied the doctor quietly—“if you
lose.”
So the stakes were increased to an amount that made my hair stand up
stiffer even than usual, and the game went on. Behold! a marvel came to
pass. How it happened I do not know, unless Marnham had brought the
wrong cards by mistake or had grown too fuddled to understand his
partner’s telegraphic signals, which I, being accustomed to observe,
saw him make, not once but often, still we won! What is more, with a
few set-backs, we went on winning, till presently the sums written down
to our credit, for no actual cash passed, were considerable. And all
the while, at the end of each bout Marnham helped himself to more
brandy, while the doctor grew more mad in a suppressed-thunder kind of
a way. For my part I became alarmed, especially as I perceived that
Anscombe was on the verge of breaking into open merriment, and his legs
being up I could not kick him under the table.
“My partner ought to go to bed. Don’t you think we should stop?” I
said.
“On the whole I do,” replied Rodd, glowering at Marnham, who, somewhat
unsteadily, was engaged in wiping drops of brandy from his long beard.
“D——d if I do,” exclaimed that worthy. “When I was young and played
with gentlemen they always gave losers an opportunity of revenge.”
“Then,” replied Anscombe with a flash of his eyes, “let us try to
follow in the footsteps of the gentlemen with whom you played in your
youth. I suggest that we double the stakes.”
“That’s right! That’s the old form!” said Marnham.
The doctor half rose from his chair, then sat down again. Watching him,
I concluded that he believed his partner, a seasoned vessel, was not so
drunk as he pretended to be, and either in an actual or a figurative
sense, had a card up his sleeve. If so, it remained there, for again we
won; all the luck was with us.
“I am getting tired,” drawled Anscombe. “Lemon and water are not
sustaining. Shall we stop?”
“By Heaven! no,” shouted Marnham, to which Anscombe replied that if it
was wished, he would play another hand, but no more.
“All right,” said Marnham, “but let it be for double or quits.”
He spoke quite quietly and seemed suddenly to have grown sober. Now I
think that Rodd made up his mind that he really was acting and that he
really had that card up his sleeve. At any rate he did not object. I,
however, was of a different opinion, having often seen drunken men
succumb to an access of sobriety under the stress of excitement and
remarked that it did not last long.
“Do you really mean that?” I said, speaking for the first time and
addressing myself to the doctor. “I don’t quite know what the sum
involved is, but it must be large.”
“Of course,” he answered.
Then remembering that at the worst Anscombe stood to lose nothing, I
shrugged my shoulders and held my tongue. It was Marnham’s deal, and
although he was somewhat in the shadow of the hanging lamp and the
candles had guttered out, I distinctly saw him play some hocus-pocus
with the cards, but in the circumstances made no protest. As it chanced
he must have hocus-pocused them wrong, for though _his_ hand was full
of trumps, Rodd held nothing at all. The battle that ensued was quite
exciting, but the end of it was that an ace in the hand of Anscombe,
who really was quite a good player, did the business, and we won again.
In the rather awful silence that followed Anscombe remarked in his
cheerful drawl—
“I’m not sure that my addition is quite right; we’ll check that in the
morning, but I make out that you two gentlemen owe Quatermain and
myself £749 10s.”
Then the doctor broke out.
“You accursed old fool,” he hissed—there is no other word for it—at
Marnham. “How are you going to pay all this money that you have gambled
away, drunken beast that you are!”
“Easily enough, you felon,” shouted Marnham. “So,” and thrusting his
hand into his pocket he pulled out a number of diamonds which he threw
upon the table, adding, “there’s what will cover it twice over, and
there are more where they came from, as you know well enough, my
medical jailbird.”
“You dare to call me that,” gasped the doctor in a voice laden with
fury, so intense that it had deprived him of his reason,
“you—you—murderer! Oh! why don’t I kill you as I shall some day?” and
lifting his glass, which was half full, he threw the contents into
Marnham’s face.
“That’s a nice man for a prospective son-in-law, isn’t he?” exclaimed
the old scamp, as, seizing the brandy decanter, he hurled it straight
at Rodd’s head, only missing him by an inch.
“Don’t you think you had both better go to bed, gentlemen?” I inquired.
“You are saying things you might regret in the morning.”
Apparently they did think it, for without another word they rose and
marched off in different directions to their respective rooms, which I
heard both of them lock. For my part I collected the I.O.U.‘s; also the
diamonds which still lay upon the table, while Anscombe examined the
cards.
“Marked, by Jove!” he said. “Oh! my dear Quatermain, never have I had
such an amusing evening in all my life.”
“Shut up, you silly idiot,” I answered. “There’ll be murder done over
this business, and I only hope it won’t be on us.”