The morning broke cold and chill, and the vapours hung about the hills,
as the little force of Cape cavalry and its infantry supports were
mustered, ere they started on the _spoor_ of the convict, with orders
also to reconnoitre the ground haunted by the enemy. It was May who had
discovered the _spoor_.
Devoted to the Daveneys, and especially attached to Eleanor, he had
built for himself a little pent-house, a _lean-to_, beneath the eastern
window of her room. In this he, and Fitje, and Ellen, and Ormsby's
gallant hound--May's friend and playmate--all slept at night. May was
always ready to accompany the Commissioner in his rounds; he was at hand
any moment during the twenty-four hours; he was as watchful as the
hound. Although he had never enlightened Fitje on the subject of
Eleanor's miserable connection with Lyle, he had followed her through
her whole history, and a vague sense of dread for her sake hung about
him as soon as he learned that her tormentor had re-appeared in the
shape of Lee the convict.
On the night in question, May, like a true bushman, was too much
disconcerted by the commotion in the elements to sleep. He never could
banish the idea, entertained by his race, that evil spirits were working
mischief in the stormy air; and he had just turned round upon his mat,
comforted by the streaks of daylight penetrating the shed, when his
quick ear detected a foot-fall to which he was unaccustomed--
"By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes," thought
May, in words not unlike the text; and, creeping from the shed, he saw a
tall, dark form between him and the white wall of the cottage.
Lyle's ear, almost as keen as May's, was disturbed by the bushman's
movement, stealthy as it was; the next instant the hound sprung out.
The convict swung himself down the bank by the bough of one of the
willows, and, lifting a stone, cast it with such sure aim at poor
Marmion, that he fell lame on the spot. Still the beast managed to
follow him up the ravine, and May tracked the steps from bush to bush
till Marmion sank down whining piteously, and holding his bleeding limb
up with an imploring look that May could not resist.
He returned to the house, informed his master of the route taken by the
convict, and honour left no alternative to Mr Daveney but to report it
to the commanding officer of the party of soldiery about to start in
search of him.
It was the fate of Frankfort and Ormsby to be of this party; but
whatever they felt on the occasion was not expressed between them.
Doubtless each had the same wish--never again to behold the miserable
being, who spread sorrow and dismay wherever he went.
But the advanced guard of gallant Fingoes has entered the defile; the
troops proceed with cautious steps and muskets loaded, for,
peradventure, many a dusky head is peering out from behind the green
tufts and rocky masses that make the way so steep and toilsome.
The sun poured a flood of golden light upon a scene so fair, that it
should have been peopled by beings as guileless as our first parents
when tenants of Eden. It was an open tongue of land stretching from the
kloof through which the troops had passed, and planted by the graceful
hand of nature with those clumps of bush which give to African scenery
the air of a noble park. On the one side a mountain, wooded from the
base to the summit, rose majestically to the clouds, all golden-tinted
with the radiance of the east; on the other rose a krantz, abrupt and
rugged, the white rocks standing out in strong relief from the dark
foliage of the yellow-wood trees, among which the monkeys were
chattering, and swinging by their long tails from bough to bough. The
foot of this grand barrier was watered by a stream clear and still,
being gathered into pools between the rocks; and over the shining waters
hung groups of willows, weighed down by the oblong nests of those pretty
birds which most dread the snake, sure denizen of the loveliest nooks in
Southern Africa.
There were cattle drinking at the stream, and these were unattended by
their guards, as usual. It was this circumstance which made the
Hottentot soldiers in advance halt, and keenly examine the locality.
A slight elevation concealed part of this little prairie from the
soldiers, who, with May and three or four Fingoes, plunged into some
intervening bush to reconnoitre. Those in rear dropped behind the
embowered rocks, and kept strict silence till ordered by the commanding
officer, Frankfort, to advance upon the enemy, who was soon discovered.
Half way down the slope stood a noble grove of trees; interspersed among
these were several Kafir women and boys, all carrying assegais and
knob-kierries, and all in a state of excitement; for, although silent,
they were dancing in their strange way upon the flowery turf, and waving
their weapons aloft with wild gesticulations. A few aged Kafirs
contemplated the scene with manifest satisfaction, but grinned a
noiseless applause; and far down were gathered some sixty or seventy
Kafirs, ranged in a semicircle round a stately oak. They had been
sitting in council, and rose at the very instant Frankfort's eye fell
upon them.
They were, however, unconscious of being overlooked; they stood up, cast
aside their karosses, and began to dance a solemn measure, which soon
changed to the wildest gestures. They leaped high in the air, swung
themselves round and round, brandished their spears, and presently a low
hum of voices ascended the bank, and swelled into a chorus.
A great pile of sticks was gathered round this tree, and Frankfort began
to believe that they were performing some heathenish rite, when a sharp,
clear whistle issued from a clump of euphorbias and mimosas on the
right, and a yell from the women proclaimed that the soldiers were
discovered.
It was not ground on which Kafirs would make a stand under any
circumstances, and it was not their policy to fire the first shot. They
began to retire slowly, as if peaceably disposed, and retreated to the
krantz; but, as they went, the boys cast their knob-kierries at the
oak-tree, and raised a shout of defiance to the troops, who showed
themselves on the green ridge. Finally, the savages collected in a body
near the pools, and, casting back a shower of assegais, disappeared with
their cattle among the yellow-wood trees.
The echoes of that savage yell rang far and wide, but a dead silence
ensued; the Cape cavalry galloped down the slope, and poured a volley of
musketry amid the trees and cliffs; they were answered by the shrill
war-cry of Kafirland, and in a few minutes they beheld the savages and
their cattle on a ledge of rocks far beyond the white man's reach. The
savages uttered one derisive shout, and vanished.
It was useless to attempt to follow them. The first signal of defiance
was given, there was no further doubt of hostility; but the troops were
left upon the lovely prairie without an enemy.
Many a gallant fellow lay bleeding on the flowery turf; Ormsby was
stretched beside one of the pools, the blood poured from an
assegai-wound in his side; his soft shining hair was matted with gore
from another in the temple.
A horrible object presented itself to the troops as they faced about,
carrying their wounded up the slope; it was the figure of a white man
bound with thongs to the oak, round which the faggots had been piled,
but happily not ignited. The arms were stretched out, and fastened to
two wide-spreading branches of the noble tree; the feet rested on the
sticks, which it had been intended should blaze beneath them, and there
were the marks of heavy blows upon the fine athletic limbs; the face was
distorted, the eyes glared in their sockets, and the body was
transpierced by assegais.
The Kafirs, athirst for blood, afraid to attack the camps, had gone
roaming about for days seeking whom they might devour. Here, in this
lovely and sequestered spot, a group of Gaikas had halted with their
cattle; a solitary white man suddenly appeared among them--he was alone,
unarmed--miserable wretch that he was!--he was in search of freedom in
the beautiful desert. They rushed upon him, seized him, and, pinioning
his arms, fastened him to the tree, and sat down before him to
deliberate how he should die by their ruthless hands.
Reader, he understood their language!
He heard them, and was powerless.