The excitement consequent upon the battle of Blauwberg and the conquest
of the Cape by England had just died down, and the inhabitants of Cape
Town were involuntarily coming to the conclusion that the English were
not such stern tyrants as they had been led to expect.
Juffrouw du Plessis and her two daughters were sitting in their garden
behind the oleander hedge, through an opening in which they could look
out over the lovely expanse of Table Bay. The cottage, embowered in oak
trees and with the north front covered by the soft green foliage of an
immense vine, was built upon one of the terraces which lead up to the
foot of Table Mountain, and which have, long since, been absorbed by the
expanding city.
Behind the cottage the frowning crags of the massive mountain had hidden
their rigour beneath the "Table Cloth" of snowy cloud, whose tossing,
ever-changing folds and fringes were flung like foam into the blue vault
of the sky by the boisterous "South-Easter" which had given it birth.
But in spite of the turmoil overhead, no breath of rude air disturbed
the halcyon quiet which seemed to have spread a wing of wardship over
the dwelling.
An old slave who, notwithstanding his wrinkled skin and frosted hair,
was still of powerful frame, was working with great deliberation among
the flowers,--where large cabbage-roses lifted their heads high over
violet-bordered beds that were sweet with mignonette and gay with pinks.
The Juffrouw was of Huguenot descent and showed her French origin in
the alertness of her movements and the sensibility of her features. She
was the wife of a merchant who carried on a flourishing business in the
city.
"Mother," suddenly said Helena, the younger girl, "while you were out
this morning I met a blind girl with the longest and yellowest hair I
have ever seen."
"A blind girl.--Where was she?"
"On the footpath behind the house."
"And where did she come from?"
"I do not know; she would not tell me. I think she must be mad, for she
said she was going to talk to the Governor and she asked me where he
lived."
"What an extraordinary thing."
"Yes. She was walking with a little Hottentot man, who was leading her
by means of a stick. She said they were both very hungry, so I gave
them some bread and milk. I left them sitting at the side of the path,
eating, and when I went back to look for them they were gone."
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Elsie and Kanu sat at the side of a stream in a deep ravine in the
western face of the Drakenstein Mountain range. Around them was a mass
of dense scrub which was gay with lovely flowers. The child drooped
wearily as she sat with her swollen feet in the cool, limpid water. Her
cheeks were faintly flushed, her lips parted, and her eyes shone with
strange brilliancy. It was the morning of the sixth day after they had
stolen away from Elandsfontein. Kanu looked gaunt with hunger. Famine
seemed to glare out of his hollow eyes. In spite of the proverbial
toughness of the Bushman, he was almost in the last stage of exhaustion.
A belt made of twisted bark was tightly bound around his waist, and a
bundle of grass and moss, rolled into a ball, was forced between it and
his body, over the abdomen.
"Kanu,--how much farther do you think Cape Town is?" asked Elsie in a
tired voice.
"I have heard the people say that the town lies under a big mountain
with a flat top," replied the Bushman,--"I can see such a mountain far
away across the sand-flats. We will reach it to-morrow night if your
feet do not get too sore."
The child drew up her feet from out of the water and passed her fingers
gently over them. Even this slight touch made her wince. She threw
back her head with a movement of impatience. Her eyes were swimming in
tears. Beside her, on the grass, lay a pair of tattered _veldschoens_.
"Kanu,--do you think we will reach there in time to see the Governor
to-morrow night?"
"I do not know; we might not be able to find his house in the dark,--and
perhaps he goes to bed early."
"But, Kanu,--everyone must know the Governor's house, so you can knock
at the first door we pass and ask where it is."
"Yes,--we can try."
"But, Kanu,--I _must_ get my father out of prison at once when we
arrive. I am sure the Governor will come from his house and open the
door as soon as I tell him,--even if he is in bed and asleep when we get
there."
"I do not think you will see Baas Stephanus to-morrow night," replied
the Bushman, after a pause.--"I heard from a man who had been there that
the prison is not in Cape Town but in a place they call an island, in
the sea."
Elsie hid her face in her hands and burst into a passion of tears. She
had held out against hunger and fatigue, against exposure to chilling
rain and scorching sun, her thoughts strained to the conception of "Cape
Town" as an objective. Often, when she was swaying with exhaustion, the
words "father"--"Cape Town"--murmured half under her breath, would brace
her flagging sinews. And now it was bitter to hear that her father was
not in Cape Town after all, but farther off still. She had set her
heart on meeting him immediately after her arrival. The Governor was
sure to be a good, pitiful man;--otherwise the great king across the
sea, who now owned the whole country, would not have sent him to rule
the land. As soon as ever she had told her tale, he would tell one of
his soldiers to take her down at once to the prison, which he would open
with a big key. Then her father would look round and, seeing his little
blind daughter, would know that she had saved him,--which was more than
people with good eyesight had been able to do.
Over and over again the poor little child had rehearsed the scene of the
meeting in her mind. The groove was well worn, and she followed the
details accurately, step by step. She knew the feel of the big key; she
had asked the kind Governor to let her hold it, and then that she might
carry it down to the prison, instead of the soldier,--but the Governor
said that he could not do this because it was against the law to let
anyone have the key unless he were a soldier carrying a big gun. Then
the long walk down the street,--and how the soldier walked too slow, and
how she knew without being told the direction of the prison. Everything
was quite clear until the key grated in the lock, as the key did in the
lock of the barn at home,--and the heavy door swung back on its hinges.
At this point imagination died in a swoon of bliss.
However, Kanu comforted her with the assurance that the island was close
to Cape Town; he was quite sure his informant had told him it could be
seen from the city. But she had to surrender the hope of seeing her
father immediately after her arrival, and she felt that her former
conception of the meeting and its prelude would have to be somewhat
modified. She had rehearsed the scene so often that it had become
utterly real to her; to alter it now gave her the keenest pain.
Kanu's woodcraft had stood Elsie in good stead on the journey, but it
was all he could do to procure food sufficient to enable the child to
bear up against the terrible hardships incidental to such an
undertaking. The Heavens had been propitious, in so far that but little
rain had fallen, but the cold had been severe in the rugged mountain
tracts they were obliged to travel through. Water had been scarce at
times and cooking had always been difficult.
For these poor wanderers had to avoid frequented ways, and, even thus,
to travel only by night, Kanu knew well enough that if they were seen by
any European they would be stopped and sent home. So every morning at
daybreak they camped in the most suitable spot to be found in their
vicinity. Here, on a bed of soft moss or grass, carefully prepared for
her by the tender hands of her savage guide, Elsie would slumber through
the day, while Kanu foraged for food, and, after ascending some
eminence, surveyed the country with reference to the night's course of
travel.
Kanu's adventures were sometimes alarming. Once he came face to face
with a Boer who was evidently in a bad temper, for he unslung his gun
and, without a word of challenge, fired. Kanu only saved himself by
dropping behind a rock. Then he fled, incontinently, before his natural
enemy had time to reload. More than the Boers he dreaded his own kind.
The wild men had been so often treacherously deceived by tamed specimens
of their own race who, after gaining their confidence, betrayed them to
the Boers, that any stranger with the taint of civilisation upon him was
liable to be put to death with horrible tortures.
In his own native desert Kanu would have had no difficulty in finding
enough of bulbs, roots, lizards and other local products wherewith to
satisfy the needs of his own appetite, but the farther south his steps
trended the more unfamiliar the flora and minor fauna became. Even the
little of this description of produce he found was of no use to Elsie;
for her he had to steal, and it was in doing this that he ran into
greatest danger.
His habitual method of plundering was to locate a flock of sheep or
goats, crawl around the bases of hills and up and down gullies until he
got close to it, and then hang on its skirts until an opportunity
offered for seizing and stifling a lamb or a kid.
On the day before reaching the kloof where Elsie had the bitter
disappointment of hearing that her father was not at Cape Town after
all, but at some island beyond it, Kanu had, after waiting nearly all
day for his opportunity, captured a lamb from a flock which was crossing
the gully in which he lay waiting. This lamb had loitered behind with
its mother,--the shepherd being, at the time, engaged in beating up
stragglers in another locality. Kanu carried the prey into a deep,
forest-filled hollow. Here he lit a fire of dry wood, which gave off no
smoke, and roasted the toothsome carcase whole. Reserving the entrails
for his own share, he stripped the roasted flesh from the bones and
carried it back to Elsie, who was almost fainting with hunger.
Being now so near their goal and in a country of well-defined roads and
many travellers, who did not appear to take much notice of one another,
Kanu consented to make a start whilst it was yet daylight, so the
strange pair emerged from their concealment and moved slowly down the
rugged side of the mountain. When they reached the sandy flat at its
foot they set boldly out towards the great mountain whose snowy cowl
shone white as a snowdrift under the clear October sky.
They walked on until deep into the night. Elsie, buoyed up by her
purpose and almost unconscious of her swollen feet, would still have
pressed forward. She declared that she felt no fatigue, but Kanu
insisted on her lying down and then she fell into a deep sleep which
lasted until dawn.
As the light grew Kanu was astonished to find that the mountain looked
nearly as far off as ever. The unfamiliar atmosphere--close to the
level of the sea had deceived him. This day turned out to be the most
fatiguing of all. The sun smote fiercely upon the red sand and water
was scarce and brackish when obtained. However, when the sun sank they
were nearly at the foot of the mountain. The soft, steady breeze
brought up the thunder of the surf from the Muizenberg beach, and filled
the soul of the Bushman with dismay at the unaccustomed sound. He had
never been near the sea, so the thrilling diapason of the moving waters
was full of terrors.
"Kanu, are you sure that this is the mountain that Cape Town is under?
Tell me, what it is like."
Elsie had dropped in the road from sheer fatigue, and Kanu had borne her
to a small copse, only a few yards away.
"The side of the mountain is black with trees but its top is white with
a cloud that never moves."
"Yes,--that is the mountain," said the child in a tone of relief; "my
father told me that it always had a white cloud upon its top."
Then her head drooped and she fell asleep.
Kanu tightened his belt and mounted guard. In the desert, among the
haunts of the fiercest beasts, he would have lain down after a few
simple precautions, and felt perfectly safe. Here, near the dwellings
of Christians, he felt--and with reason--uneasy. There was a small
quantity of meat left, and the smell of it assailed his nostrils, made
keen as those of a pointer by famine. How he longed for that meat,--for
only one bite. The savage in his breast seized him as it were by the
throat every now and then and tried to hurl him at the morsel. But it
was Elsie's, he told himself,--all she had to sustain herself with on
the morrow, when there would be still a long walk before her. At length
he fell into a troubled sleep, and dreamt of sumptuous banquets for some
delightful seconds.
Another tug at the belt. Well, it would soon be morning, and then this
great, powerful, beneficent Governor whom Elsie knew of and talked such
a lot about, would surely give them something for breakfast.
When day broke the mist had drawn away from the mountain, the huge bulk
of which stood out, robed in purple and edged with the gold of the
unarisen sun. Elsie slept long and deeply, and woke to a passionate
flood of accusing tears when she found that the sun was already high.
As they walked along the well-beaten road they met other sojourners.
The savage instinct in Kanu prompted him to hide in the bushes whenever
he saw anyone approaching; but, when he found that of the many
passers-by none attempted to interfere with them, he merely bent his
head and hurried furtively past. No houses were yet in sight, except
two square structures high up on the shoulders of the mountain. These
were the watch-houses from which, in yet older times, the approach of
the Indian Fleet was wont to be signalled to the Castle. The Bushman
devoutly hoped that the Governor did not live in either of these, for he
knew that Elsie, weak as she was, would never be able to make the
ascent.
Anon they reached the shores of Table Bay, and the wide expanse of water
filled the Bushman's soul with deep awe. The scent of the sea stung the
flagging blood of the spent child to new vigour; the "whish-whish" of
the wavelets and the wild, strange cries of the sea-birds--perhaps they
had flown across from the island where her father was waiting for her--
spoke to her strained ear in tones of sweetness and mystery, which
thrilled through her to the very depths of her being. Her fatigue and
her lacerated feet were forgotten; she seemed to tread on air.
At length Kanu gave a sudden exclamation;--the goal of their terrible
endeavours was at last in sight. There, shimmering in the soft, opaline
haze, lay the lovely city, its white flat-topped houses embowered in
trees, whilst the bright green slopes surrounding softened the contrast
between its peaceful beauty and the mighty embodied desolation which
seemed to prop the sky above it.
Elsie did not speak, but her face lit up and her eyes flashed with
almost unearthly gleams. She felt that she was now at length, after all
her sore travail, about to meet her father--her father who, innocent,
had been torn from her and cast into prison among the vilest of men.
Sweetest of all was the thought that she, in her own weak hands, was
bearing to him the precious gift of freedom. In imagination she was
already passing her hands over his face, as she had been wont to do when
she wanted to read his mood, and smoothing out the lines of suffering.
The bliss was almost painful in its intensity.
"Kanu,--Oh, Kanu--we are nearly there; are we not?"
"Yes,--but I never thought there were so many houses in the whole world.
It would take half an hour on a fresh horse to get to the farthest I
can see."
"Kanu,--I suppose the Governor lives in the biggest house; don't you
think so?"
"Yes,--but there are so many big houses that I do not know where to look
for the biggest."
The Bushman had been on the point of asking more than one of the people
whom they had passed, in the street to direct them to the Governor's
house, but he had invariably lost courage at the last moment. In those
days there was little traffic in the Cape Town streets except in the
late afternoon, when many carriages were to be seen. During the heat of
the day all, gentle and simple, retired for the siesta. Thus the
wanderers reached the centre of the city without attracting any
attention, and without meeting anyone but a few slaves, who were out
executing errands.
At length they paused before what Kanu felt sure must be the Governor's
house. It was a large building, several storeys high, and had a lofty,
spacious "stoep" surrounded by heavy iron railings, which overlooked the
street. The big windows were flanked by bright green shutters which had
been thrown back against the wall.
A sound of music issued through the wide, open door,--interspersed,
every now and then, with loud bursts of laughter. Yes,--the Governor
must certainly live here; he and his friends were, doubtless, holding
revel inside. A steep flight of steps led up to one end of the stoep;
these Kanu mounted, leading Elsie by the hand.
The Bushman paused before the open doorway and looked in. The splendour
appalled him. Rich mats of varied colour covered the floor; wonderful
coloured objects hung upon the walls; a large glass case stood upon a
table just before him. It was full of clear water, in which numbers of
golden fishes darted to and fro,--red light flashing from their scales.
Yes, this was surely the house he had been seeking.
As he paused, shrinking back against Elsie who was trying to push him
forward, a door suddenly opened on the other side of the room and a man
as burly as any Boer Kanu had ever seen emerged, walking unsteadily. He
was dressed in blue cloth with bright buttons, and had a funny-looking
glazed hat placed sideways on his head. At first he seemed to be
unaware that there was anyone but himself in the room. When, however,
he became conscious of the presence of Elsie and her companion he
started, and paused unsteadily, hiccoughing.
"Sam," he shouted to someone in the next room, "come and look at this."
Sam came. He also walked unsteadily. He was nearly as big as his
companion and was similarly dressed.
"Well, Sam,--what do you make of it?"
"It gets over me, Cap'n," said Sam, after a pause of anxious scrutiny.
"Well,--I've been round the world and I've never seen hair like that--
Say, my lass, where do you hail from?"
Kanu replied in Dutch, asking if the Governor lived there, and if he
were at home.
"Dry up with that monkey-chatter, or I'll wring your neck," rasped the
irate Captain. Kanu shrank back in dread, pressing Elsie behind him.
The Captain lurched over to the child and laid his hand on her shoulder.
"My lass,--I've a little girl at Southampton who looks like you, but you
can show her your heels as far as hair goes.--Why--Sam--the child's
blind."
The Captain had sat down on a chair, drawn Elsie towards him by the
shoulders, and looked into her face at close quarters. When his eyes
met hers something penetrated to his perceptions through the fumes of
the liquor he had drunk and told him she was blind. Sam came forward
and had a look. He did not believe the child was blind, and said so.
She was just a beggar, shamming. He had often seen the same kind of
thing on London Bridge.
The Captain roughly, but kindly, drew the child again towards him.
Elsie kept passive and silent in his hands. Perhaps this was one of the
Governor's friends,--or even the Governor himself. She read his
character by his touch, and trusted him, but she had shrunk away from
Sam.
"Come, my lass,--you look tired and hungry; is it some dinner you want?"
Elsie, feeling that this remark was directly addressed to her, replied
in Dutch, using almost the same words as Kanu had used.
"I cannot understand this blooming lingo," growled the Captain--"Sam,--
call the waiter."
The waiter, a black boy, who spoke both Dutch and English well, came in
and interpreted. The Captain was mystified; Sam was sure that the whole
thing was a "plant," and growled an advice to the Captain to keep a
careful guard upon his silver watch.
Then the landlady was called. She, good woman, was too busy to be much
interested. However, the Captain sent for some food, which he gave to
Elsie. She ate a little and passed the rest on to Kanu, who ate it
wolfishly. The Captain sent for another plateful, which Kanu disposed
of with great rapidity. The Captain--and even Sam--became interested.
The Bushman was asked, through the waiter, if he could eat any more. He
replied in the affirmative, so another, and after that yet another--
plateful was brought. This kind of thing might have gone on
indefinitely, had not a young man, who looked like a merchant's clerk,
come and taken possession of the Captain for business purposes.
As he was going away, Elsie arrested him with a cry, and when he turned
for a moment she begged pathetically to be told if the house she was in
was the Governor's, and, if not, where his house was. The Captain
tossed sixpence to the black waiter and told him to take the
"monkey-chap,"--for thus he designated Kanu,--down the street and show
him where the Governor berthed.
The waiter, fully persuaded that he had to do with two lunatics, hurried
them up one street and down another at the further end of which stood a
large white building.
"There," said he to Kanu, "is where the Governor lives."
Then he turned round and bolted.