CHAPTER XXXI
JESS FINDS A FRIEND
The Boers swooped down on them with a shout, like hawks on a sparrow.John pulled up his horse and drew his revolver.
"Don't, don't!" cried Jess; "our only chance is to be civil;" whereon,thinking better of the matter, he replaced it, and wished the leadingBoer good-day.
"What are you doing here?" asked the Dutchman; whereon Jess explainedthat they had a pass--which John promptly produced--and were proceedingto Mooifontein.
"Ah, _Oom_ Croft's!" said the Boer as he took the pass, "you are likelyto meet a burying party there," but at the time Jess did not understandwhat he meant. He eyed the pass suspiciously all over, and then askedhow it came to be stained with water.
Jess, not daring to tell the truth, said that it had been dropped into apuddle. The Boer was about to return it when suddenly his eye fell uponJess's saddle.
"How is it that the girl is riding on a man's saddle?" he asked. "Why,I know that saddle; let me look at the other side. Yes, there is abullet-hole through the flap. That is Swart Dirk's saddle. How did youget it?"
"I bought it from him," answered Jess without a moment's hesitation. "Icould get nothing to ride on."
The Boer shook his head. "There are plenty of saddles in Pretoria,"he said, "and these are not the days when a man sells his saddle to anEnglish girl. Ah! and that other is a Boer saddle too. No Englishman hasa saddle-cloth like that. This pass is not sufficient," he went on in acold tone; "it should have been countersigned by the local commandant. Imust arrest you."
Jess began to make further excuses, but he merely repeated, "I mustarrest you," and gave some orders to the men with him.
"We are caught again," she said to John; "and there is nothing for itbut to go."
"I sha'n't mind so much if only they will give us some food," repliedJohn philosophically. "I am half starved."
"And I am half dead," said Jess with a little laugh. "I wish they wouldshoot us and have done with it."
"Come, cheer up, Jess," he answered; "perhaps the luck is going tochange."
She shook her head with the air of one who expects the worst, and thensome gay young spirits among the Boers came up and made things pleasantby an exhibition of their polished wit, which they chiefly exercised atthe expense of poor Jess, whose appearance, as may well be imagined, wasexceedingly wretched and forlorn; so much so that it would have movedthe pity of most people. But these specimens of the golden youth ofa simple pastoral folk found in it a rich mine of opportunities. Theyasked her if she would not like to ride straddle-legged, and if she hadbought her dress from an old Hottentot who had done with it, and if shehad been rolling about tipsy in the veldt to get all the mud on it; andgenerally availed themselves of this unparalleled occasion to be wittyat the expense of an English lady in sore distress. Indeed, one gayyoung dog called Jacobus was proceeding from jokes linguistic to jokespractical. Perceiving that Jess only kept her seat on the man's saddleby the exercise of a faculty of balance, it occurred to him that itwould be a fine thing to upset it and make her fall upon her face.Accordingly, with a sudden twist of the rein he brought his horsesharply against her wearied animal, nearly throwing it down; but she wastoo quick for him, and saved herself by catching at the mane. Jess saidnothing; indeed, she made no answer to her tormentors, and fortunatelyJohn understood little of what they were saying. Presently, however,the young Boer made another attempt, putting out his hand to give hera slight push. As it happened John saw this, and the sight of theindignity caused the blood to boil in his veins. Before he could reflecton what he was doing he was alongside of the man, and, catching him bythe throat, had hurled him backwards over his crupper with all the forcehe could command. Jacobus fell heavily upon his shoulders, and instantlythere was a great hubbub. John drew his revolver, and the other Boersraised their rifles, so that Jess thought there was an end of it, andput her hand before her face, having first thanked John for avenging theinsult with a swift flash of her beautiful eyes. And indeed in anothersecond it would have been all over had not the elder man who inspectedthe pass interposed. In fact he had witnessed the proceedings which ledto his follower's discomfiture, and, being a decent person at bottom,strongly disapproved of them.
"Leave them alone and put down those guns," he shouted. "It servedJacobus right; he was trying to push the girl from her horse! Almighty!it is not wonderful those English call us brute beasts when you boys dosuch things. Put down your guns, I say, and one of you help Jacobus up.He looks as sick as a buck with a bullet through it."
Accordingly the row passed over, and the playful Jacobus--whom Jessnoted with satisfaction seemed exceedingly ill and trembled in everylimb--was with difficulty hoisted on to his horse, to continue hisjourney with not a single bit of fun left in him.
A little while after this Jess pointed out a long low hill that lay uponthe flat veldt, a dozen miles or so away, like a stone upon a stretch ofsand.
"Look," she said, "there is Mooifontein at last!"
"We are not there yet," remarked John sadly.
Another weary half-hour passed, and then on passing over a crestsuddenly they saw Hans Coetzee's homestead lying down by the water inthe hollow. So that was whither they were being taken.
Within a hundred yards of the house the Boers halted and consulted,except Jacobus, who went on, still looking very green. Finally the elderman came to them and addressed Jess, at the same time handing her backthe pass.
"You can go on home," he said. "The Englishman must stay with us till wefind out more about him."
"He says that I can go. What shall I do?" asked Jess. "I don't likeleaving you with these men."
"Do? why, go, of course. I can look after myself; and if I can't,certainly you won't be able to help me. Perhaps you will be able to getsome help from the farm. At any rate, you must go."
"Now, Englishman," said the Boer.
"Good-bye, Jess," said John. "God bless you."
"Good-bye, John," she answered, looking him steadily in the eyes for amoment, and then turning away to hide the tears which would gather inher own.
And thus they parted.
She knew her way now even across the open veldt, for she dared not goby the road. There was, however, a bridle path that ran over the hill atthe back of Mooifontein, and for this she shaped her course. It was fiveo'clock by now, and both she and her horse were in a condition of greatexhaustion, enhanced in her own case by want of food and trouble ofmind. But she was a strong woman, with a will like iron, and she heldon when most girls would have died. Jess meant to get to Mooifonteinsomehow, and she knew that she would get there. If only she could reachthe place and find help to send to her lover, she did not greatly carewhat happened to her afterwards. The pace of the horse she was ridinggrew slower and slower. From the ambling canter into which at first shemanaged occasionally to force it, and which is the best pace to travelat in South Africa, it relapsed continually into a rough short trot,which was agony to her, riding as she was, and from the trot into awalk. Indeed, just before sunset, or a little after six o'clock, thewalk became final. At last they reached the rising ground that stretchedup the slope of the Mooifontein hill, and here the poor beast fell downutterly worn out. Jess slipped off and tried to drag it up, but failed.It had no strength left in it. So she did what she could, pulling offthe bridle and undoing the girth, so that the saddle would fall offif the horse ever managed to rise. The animal watched her go withmelancholy eyes, knowing that it was being deserted. First it neighed,then with a desperate effort it struggled to its feet and trotted afterher for a hundred yards or so, only to fall down again at last. Jessturned and saw it, and, exhausted as she was, she positively ran to getaway from the look in those big eyes. That night there was a cold rain,in which the horse perished, as "poor" horses are apt to do.
It was nearly dark when at length Jess reached the top of the hill andlooked down. She knew the spot well, and from it she could always seethe light in the kitchen window of the house. To-night there was noli
ght. Wondering what it could mean, and feeling a fresh chill of doubtcreep round her heart, she scrambled on down the hill. When she wasabout half-way a shower of sparks suddenly shot into the air from thespot where the house should be, caused by the fall of a piece of wallinto the smouldering embers beneath. Again Jess paused, wondering andaghast. What could have happened? Determined at all hazards to discover,she crept on very cautiously. Before she had gone another twenty yards,however, a hand was laid suddenly upon her arm. She turned quickly, tooparalysed with fear to cry out, and a voice that was familiar to herwhispered into her ear, "Missie Jess, Missie Jess, is it you? I amJantje."
She gave a sigh of relief, and her heart, which had stood still, beganto move again. Here was a friend at last.
"I heard you coming down the hill, though you came so softly," he said;"but I could not tell who it was, because you jumped from rock to rockand did not walk as usual. But I thought it was a woman with boots; Icould not see, because the light all falls dead against the hill, andthe stars are not up. So I got to the left of your path--for the wind isblowing from the right--and waited till you had passed and _winded_ you.Then I knew who you were for certain--either you or Missie Bessie; butMissie Bessie is shut up, so it could not be her."
"Bessie shut up!" ejaculated Jess, not even pausing to marvel at thedog-like instinct that had enabled the Hottentot to identify her. "Whatdo you mean?"
"This way, missie, come this way, and I will tell you;" and he led herto a fantastic pile of rocks in which it was his wild habit to sleep.Jess knew the place well, and had often peeped into, but never entered,the Hottentot's kennel.
"Stop a bit, missie. I will go and light a candle; I have some in there,and they can't see the light from outside;" and accordingly he vanished.In a few seconds he returned, and, taking her by the sleeve, led heralong a winding passage between great boulders till they came to abeehole in the rocks, through which she could see the light shining.Going down on his hands and knees, Jantje crept through, and Jessfollowed him. She found herself in a small apartment, about six feetsquare by eight high, formed for the most part by the accidental fallingtogether of big boulders, and roofed in with one great natural slab. Theplace, which was lighted by an end of candle stuck upon the floor, wasvery dirty, as might be expected of a Hottentot's den, and in itwere collected an enormous variety of odds and ends. As, discarding athree-legged stool that Jantje offered her, Jess sank down on a pile ofskins in the corner, her eye fell upon a collection worthy of an oldrag and bone shop. The sides of the chamber were festooned with everyimaginable garment, from the white full-dress coat of an Austrianofficer down to a shocking pair of corduroys "lifted' by Jantje fromthe body of a bushman, which he had discovered in his rambles. All theseclothes were in various stages of decay, and obviously the result ofyears of patient collecting. In the corners again were sticks, kerries,and two assegais, a number of queer-shaped stones and bones, handles ofbroken table-knives, bits of the locks of guns, portions of an Americanclock, and various other articles which this human jackdaw had pickedup and hidden away. Altogether it was a strange place: and vaguely itoccurred to Jess, as she sank back upon the dirty skins, that, had itnot been for the old clothes and the wreck of the American clock, shewould have made acquaintance with a very fair example of the dwellingsof primeval man.
"Stop before you begin," she said. "Have you anything to eat here? I amnearly starving."
Jantje grinned knowingly, and, grubbing in a heap of rubbish in thecorner, drew out a gourd with a piece of flat sheet iron, which once hadformed the back plate of a stove, placed on the top of it. It contained"maas," or curdled buttermilk, which a woman had brought him that verymorning from a neighbouring kraal, and it was destined for Jantje's ownsupper. Hungry as he was himself, for he had tasted no food all day, hegave it to Jess without a moment's hesitation, together with a woodenspoon, and, squatting on the rock before her, watched her eat it withguttural exclamations of satisfaction. Not knowing that she was robbinga hungry man, Jess ate the maas to the last spoonful, and was gratefulto feel the sensation of gnawing sickness leave her.
"Now," she said, "tell me what you mean."
Thereon Jantje began at the beginning and related the events of the dayso far as he was acquainted with them. When he came to where the oldman was dragged, with kicks and blows and ignominy, from his ownhouse, Jess's eyes flashed, and she positively ground her teeth withindignation; and as for her feelings when she learnt that he wascondemned to death and to be shot at dawn on the morrow, they are simplyindescribable. Of the Bessie complication Jantje was quite ignorant, andcould only tell her that Frank Muller had an interview with her sisterin the little plantation, after which she was shut up in the store-room,where she still remained. But this was quite enough for Jess, who knewMuller's character better, perhaps, than anybody else, and was not byany means ignorant of his designs upon Bessie. A few moments' thoughtput the key of the matter into her hand. She saw now what was thereason of the granting of the pass, and of the determined and partiallysuccessful attempt at wholesale murder of which they had been thevictims. She saw, too, why her old uncle had been condemned to death--itwas to be used as a lever with Bessie; the man was capable even of that.
Yes, she saw it all as clear as daylight; and in her heart she swore,helpless as she seemed to be, that she would find a way to prevent it.But what way? what way? Ah, if only John were here! but he was not, soshe must act without him if only she could see the road to action. Shethought first of all of going down boldly to face Muller and denouncehim as a murderer before his men; but a moment's reflection showed thatthis was impracticable. For his own safety he would be obliged tostop her mouth somehow, and the best she could expect would be to beincarcerated and rendered quite powerless. If only she could manage tocommunicate with Bessie! At any rate it was absolutely necessary thatshe should know what was happening. She might as well be a hundred milesaway as a hundred yards.
"Jantje," she said, "tell me where the Boers are."
"Some are in the waggon-house, missie, some are on sentry, and the restare down by the waggon they brought with them and outspanned behind thegums there. The cart is there, too, that came just before you did, withthe clergyman in it."
"And where is Frank Muller?"
"I don't know, missie; but he brought a round tent with him in thewaggon, and it is pitched between the two big gums."
"Jantje, I must go down there and find out what is going on, and youmust come with me."
"You will be caught, missie. There is a sentry at the back of thewaggon-house, and two in front. But," he added, "perhaps we might getnear. I will go out and look at the night."
Presently he returned and said that a "small rain" had come on, and theclouds covered up the stars so that it was very dark.
"Well, let us go at once," said Jess.
"Missie, you had better not go," answered the Hottentot. "You will getwet, and the Boers will catch you. Better let me go. I can creep aboutlike a snake, and if the Boers catch me it won't matter."
"You must come too, but I am going. I must find out."
Then the Hottentot shrugged his shoulders and yielded, and, havingextinguished the candle, silently as ghosts they crept out into thenight.