Swallow: A Tale of the Great Trek

  The marriage was to take place at noon, and though I had much to seeto, never have I known a longer morning. Why it was I cannot say, but itseemed to me as though twelve o'clock would never come. Then, whereverI went there was Ralph in my way, wandering about in a senseless fashionwith his best clothes on, while after him wandered Jan holding his newhat in his hand.

  "In the name of Heaven," I cried at length as I blundered into both ofthem in the kitchen, "be off out of this. Why are you here?"

  "Allemachter!" said Jan, "because we have nowhere else to go. They aremaking the sitting-room ready for the service and the dinner after it;the _predicant_ is in Ralph's room writing; Suzanne is in yours tryingon her clothes, and the _stoep_ and even the stables are full ofKaffirs. Where, then, shall we go?"

  "Cannot you see to the waggon?" I asked.

  "We have seen to it, mother," said Ralph; "it is packed, and the oxenare already tied to the yokes for fear lest they should stray."

  "Then be off and sit in it and smoke till I come to call you," Ireplied, and away they walked shamefacedly enough, Ralph first, and Janfollowing him.

  At twelve o'clock I went for them, and found them both seated on thewaggon-chest smoking like chimneys, and saying nothing.

  "Come, Ralph," I said, "it is quite time for you to be married," and hecame, looking very pale, and walking unsteadily as though he had beendrinking, while after him, as usual, marched Jan, still pulling at thepipe which he had forgotten to take out of his mouth.

  Somehow I do not recollect much of the details of that wedding; theyseem to have slipped my mind, or perhaps they are buried beneath thememories of all that followed hard upon it. I remember Suzanne standingbefore the little table, behind which was the _predicant_ with his book.She wore a white dress that fitted her very well, but had no veilupon her head after the English fashion, which even Boer girls follownowadays, only in her hand she carried a bunch of rare white flowersthat Sihamba had gathered for her in a hidden kloof where they grew.Her face was somewhat pale, or looked so in the dim room, but her lipsshowed red like coral, and her dark eyes glowed and shone as she turnedthem upon the lover at her side, the fair-haired, grey-eyed, handsomeEnglish lad, whose noble blood told its tale in every feature andmovement, yes, and even in his voice, the man whom she had saved fromdeath to be her life-mate.

  A few whispered words, the changing of a ring, and one long kiss, andthese two, Ralph Kenzie and Suzanne Botmar, were husband and wife in theeyes of God and man. Ah! me, I am glad to think of it, for in the end,of all the many marriages that I have known, this proved the very bestand happiest.

  Now I thought that it was done with, for they had knelt down and the_predicant_ had blessed them; but not so, for the good man must have hisword, and a long word it was. On and on he preached about the duties ofhusbands and wives, and many other matters, till at last, as I expected,he came to the children. Now I could bear it no longer.

  "That is enough, reverend Sir," I said, "for surely it is scarcelyneedful to talk of children to people who have not been married fiveminutes."

  That pricked the bladder of his discourse, which soon came to an end,whereon I called to the Kaffirs to bring in dinner.

  The food was good and plentiful, and so was the Hollands, or Squarefaceas they call it now, to say nothing of the Constantia and peach-brandywhich had been sent to me many years before by a cousin who lived atStellenbosch; and yet that meal was not as cheerful as it might havebeen. To begin with, the _predicant_ was sulky because I had cut himshort in his address, and a holy man in the sulks is a bad kind ofanimal to deal with. Then Jan tried to propose the health of the newmarried pair and could not do it. The words seemed to stick in histhroat, for at the best Jan was never a speaker. In short, he made afool of himself as usual, and I had to fill up the gaps in his head.

  Well, I talked nicely enough till in an evil moment I overdid it alittle by speaking of Ralph as one whom Heaven had sent to us, and ofwhose birth and parents we knew nothing. Then Jan found his tongueand said: "Wife, that's a lie, and you know it," for, doubtless, theHollands and the peach-brandy had got the better of his reason andhis manners. I did not answer him at the time, for I hate wrangling inpublic, but afterwards I spoke to him on the subject once and for all.Luckily, the _predicant_ took no notice of this incident, for he wasthinking about himself as he was too prone to do.

  Then, to make matters worse, Suzanne must needs throw her arms round herfather's neck and begin to cry--thanks be to my bringing up of her, sheknew better than to throw them round mine. "Good Lord!" I said, losingmy temper, "what is the girl at now? She has got the husband for whomshe has been craving, and the first thing she does is to snivel. Well,if I had done that to my husband I should have expected him to box myears, though Heaven knows that I should have had excuse for it."

  Here the _predicant_ woke up, seeing his chance.

  "Vrouw Botmar," he said, blinking at me like an owl, "it is my duty toreprove your irreverent language even at this festive board, for aword must be spoken both in and out of season, and without respectof persons. Vrouw Botmar, I fear that you do not remember the ThirdCommandment, therefore I will repeat it to you," and he did so, speakingvery slowly.

  What I answered I cannot recollect, but even now I seem to see that_predicant_ flying out of the door of the room holding his hands abovehis head. Well, for once he met his match, and I know that afterwards healways spoke of me with great respect.

  After this again I remember little more till the pair started upon theirjourney. Suzanne asked for Sihamba to say good-bye to her, and when shewas told that she was not to be found she seemed vexed, which shows thatthe little doctoress did her injustice in supposing that just becauseshe was married she thought no more of her. Then she kissed us all infarewell--ah! we little knew for how long that farewell was to be--andwent down to the waggon to which the sixteen black oxen, a beautifulteam, were inspanned, and standing there ready to start. But Ralph andSuzanne were not going to ride in the waggon, for they had horsesto carry them. At the last moment, indeed, Jan, whose head was stillbuzzing with the peach-brandy, insisted upon giving Ralph the great_schimmel_, that same stallion which Sihamba had ridden when she warnedus of the ambush in the pass, galloping twenty miles in the hour. Thisshows me that Providence can turn even a man's vices to account, forafterwards the _schimmel_ was very useful.

  So there was much kissing and many good-byes; Ralph and Suzanne sayingthat they would soon be back, which indeed was the case with one ofthem, till at last they were off, Jan riding with them a little waytowards their first outspan by the sea, fourteen miles distant, wherethey were to sleep that night.

  When they had gone I went into my bedroom, and sitting down, I cried,for I was sorry to lose Suzanne, even for a little and for her own good,and my heart was heavy. Also my quarrel with the _predicant_ had putme out of temper. When I had got over this fit I set to work to tidySuzanne's little sleeping place, and that I found a sad task. Then Janreturned from the waggon, having bid farewell to the young couple, anhour's trek away, and his head being clear by now, we talked over theplans of the new house which was to be built for them to live in, and,going down to the site of it, set it out with sticks and a rule, whichgave us occupation till towards sunset, when it was time for him to goto see to the cattle.

  That night we went to bed early, for we were tired, and slept a heavysleep, till at length, about one in the morning, we were awakened by theshoutings of the messengers who came bearing the terrible news.