During the day all the Boers went away and left them alone. Now thatFrank Muller lay dead there was no thought among them of carrying outthe sentence upon their old neighbour. Besides, there was no warrant forthe execution, even had they desired so to do, for their commandantdied leaving it unsigned. So they held an informal inquest upon theirleader's body, and buried him in the little graveyard that was walled inon the hill-side at the back of where the house had stood, and plantedwith the four red gums, one at each corner. Rather than be at the painsof hollowing another grave, they buried him in the very place that hehad caused to be dug to receive the body of Silas Croft.
Who had murdered Frank Muller was and remains a mystery among themto this day. The knife was identified by natives about the farm asbelonging to the Hottentot Jantje, and a Hottentot had been seen runningaway from the place of the deed and hunted for some way, but he couldnot be caught or heard of again. Therefore many of them are of theopinion that he is the guilty man. Others, again, believe that the crimerests upon the shoulders of the villainous one-eyed Kafir, Hendrik,Muller's own servant, who had also vanished. But as they have neverfound either of them, and are not likely to do so, the point remains amoot one. Nor, indeed, did they take any great pains to hunt for them.Frank Muller was not a popular character, and the fact of a man comingto a mysterious end does not produce any great sensation among a roughpeople and in rough times.
On the following day, old Silas Croft, Bessie, and John Niel also buriedtheir dead in the little graveyard on the hill-side, and there Jesslies, with some ten feet of earth only between her and the man upon whomshe was the instrument of vengeance. But they never knew this, or evenguessed it. They never knew indeed that she had been near Mooifontein onthat awful night. Nobody knew it except Jantje; and Jantje, haunted bythe footfall of the pursuing Boers, was gone from the ken of the whiteman far into the heart of Central Africa.
"John," said the old man when they had filled in the grave, "this is nocountry for Englishmen. Let us go home to England." John bowed his headin assent, for he could not speak. Fortunately means were not wanting,although practically they were both ruined. The thousand pounds thatJohn had paid to Silas as the price of a third interest in the farmstill lay to the credit of the latter in the Standard Bank at Newcastle,in Natal, together with another two hundred and fifty pounds in cash.
And so in due course they went.
Now what more is there to tell? Jess, to those who read what has beenwritten as it is meant to be read, was the soul of it all, and Jess--isdead. It is useless to set a lifeless thing upon its feet, rather let usstrive to follow the soarings of the spirit. Jess is dead and her storyat an end.
* * * * *
So but one word more.
After some difficulty, John Niel, within three months of his arrivalin England, obtained employment as a land agent to a large estatein Rutlandshire, which position he fills to this day, with credit tohimself and such advantage to the property as can be expected in thesetimes. Also, in due course he became the beloved husband of sweet BessieCroft, and on the whole he may be considered a happy man. At times,however, a sorrow overcomes him of which his wife knows nothing, and fora while he is not himself.
He is not a man much addicted to sentiment or speculation, but sometimeswhen his day's work is done, and he strays to his garden gate and looksout at the dim and peaceful English landscape beyond, and thence to thewide star-strewn heavens above, he wonders if the hour will ever comewhen once more he will see those dark and passionate eyes, and hear thatsweet remembered voice.
For John feels as near to his lost love now that she is dead as hefelt while she was yet alive. From time to time indeed he seems to knowwithout possibility of doubt that if, when death is done with, thereshould prove to be an individual future for us suffering mortals, as hefor one believes, certainly he will find Jess waiting to greet him atits gates.
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