Perils in the Transvaal and Zululand

got aboard, and rowed straight off for land. I daresay theyhad reached it, before their absence was discovered."

  "Very likely. What do you think they will do, then?"

  "Most likely land on some solitary spot, scuttle their boat, and maketheir way into the interior. They have their carbines, and will have nodifficulty in providing themselves with food. Perhaps they will maketheir way to the diamond fields, and there change their names, and makea pot of money; or perhaps they'll take to hunting or farming, andyou'll meet them some years hence, driving bullock waggons, or takingflocks of sheep to the market--thriving men and respectable--at leastaccording to their ideas of respectability; or perhaps, once more,they'll come across a band of criminals, who have escaped from prison,and go about robbing and murdering travellers."

  "Nothing more likely, I should say. And what will become of theothers?"

  "Well, as you suggested, half a dozen or so are safe to be hanged--Shirley and Andersen, for example, who were among the leaders, thoughnot the main movers, of the outbreak. As for the others, the captain ismercifully disposed. You see, the whole thing (as has been proved now)was got up by those three villains, Bostock, Van Ryk, and Sherwin, afterthe ship had left Cape Town. They persuaded the new men--Shirley andSullivan among them--to enlist. Only three or four in the firstinstance were told about Whittaker's money. They expected to find thatin his cabin, and they would then have launched one of the boats andgone off, leaving us on the reef. When they learned, as they did fromAndersen, that it had been locked up in the captain's cabin, they toldhalf a dozen more about the money, and persuaded them to join in theattack on the officers and passengers. Then they induced the rest ofthe crew to believe that their only hope of escaping hanging lay insilencing the captain and his men, and getting away from the reef. Themen have been the victims of several clever scoundrels, and I hope thelaw won't be put in force too severely against them."

  An hour or two afterwards, the bar having become practicable, thesteam-tug arrived which was to convey such of the party as desired it tothe shore. But the surf dashing over the bar was still so formidable,that it was judged necessary to secure the passengers against damage,after the very curious fashion resorted to on such occasions. They weresent down below, in what would have been total darkness, if it had notbeen for the glimmering light of a lantern. Then the hatches werecovered over, and the passage accomplished, with an amount of shakingand rolling which was considerably worse than a stiff gale at sea. AsRedgy afterwards described it, it was like as though they had been a lotof marbles thrown into a bag, and then shaken up. Happily, however, itdid not last very long; and they were presently safely landed on thequay, and free to examine the prospect before them. Land is said alwaysto look attractive in the eyes of those who have just accomplished along sea voyage, but the scene which George and his companions beheld,when they emerged from the cabin of the steam-tug, did not need thisconsideration to enhance its beauties.

  It was indeed a lovely sight which met their eyes. The streets of thetown were spacious, and built at right angles to one another,--most ofthem of a dark stone, which is said to harden by exposure to the air,--but some of them of brick, or wattle covered with plaster; many of themhaving deep verandahs, with rows of trees in front. Along the quays,which exhibited a busy scene of cargoes in the course of landing orshipping, a mass of vessels bearing the flags of all nations were lying;and on either side of the town rich forests bordered the whole coast. Alittle inland were seen pastures, and plantations of sugar-cane. Themonotonous appearance which this kind of landscape usually presents wasvaried by high hills, and valleys here and there intervening. Thewonderful blue of both sky and sea, which only those who have beheld itcan realise to themselves, formed a glorious background to the picture.George and Margetts, accompanied by the other passengers, made their wayto a hotel in one corner of the principal street, and partook of aluxurious repast, which to be duly appreciated ought to be eaten bypersons who had just landed after many weeks at sea.

  This over, they had next to obtain a conveyance to Umvalosa; and forhelp in providing this they applied to Mynheer Moritz, who had alwaysbeen friendly, and more especially since the memorable day of the battleon the reef.

  "I will help you as well as I can," he said. "I wish I could ask you tojoin our party, which will pass Umvalosa on our way to Vander Heyden'splace, `Bushman's Drift.' Henryk, his sister, and myself mean to ride,and the luggage will be conveyed in his bullock waggon, which is one ofthe best in Natal. But it would be no use for me to propose that."

  "None at all," assented George drily.

  "Well, I don't defend him. He might, and ought to be, more courteous toyou. But you mustn't be too hard on him. He has his good qualities.He is brave, and honourable, and high-minded, and capable of very warmand strong affection. He is very fond of his sister, and there is alady, Lisa Van Courtland, his cousin, to whom he is almost romanticallyattached, and whom he is soon to marry. As for you, it is not _you_ hedislikes, but your country, and that feeling, I am afraid, is notpeculiar to him. A great many of our people believe that they have beenhardly used by the English. You see, the whole country once belonged tous--was our undisputed possession for more than a century. We had donenothing to forfeit it--so we feel, because we had nothing to do with thequarrels of the governments in Europe; which were the only grounds onwhich it was taken from us. Then, when we couldn't live under Englishrule, and left the Cape to settle elsewhere, giving up the homes towhich we were so long used, in order that we might live undisturbed, theEnglish followed us to Natal, and we were again obliged to moveelsewhere. And now, since this annexation, many of us fear that weshall not be left alone even in the Transvaal, and may be obliged tobreak up our homes for the third time, to go to some new country; where,even then, we may not be secure from interference. Henryk is one ofthose who feel this keenly, and he's apt to show his feelings rather tooplainly."

  "No doubt of that," said George, smiling. "However, I am disposed tomake all possible allowance for him under the circumstances you havementioned; which are, I ought to add, but very imperfectly known to me.I suppose, as is generally the case, there are two versions of thestory."

  "Probably there are," said Mr Moritz, returning his smile, "and perhapsit is too much to expect that you should credit my version. However,whatever may come of it, I hope you and I will remain friends. I couldnever forget the service you have rendered me, and, indeed, Annchenalso: for she tells me that she believes she is indebted to you forsaving her life on the night of the attack."

  "I don't know how that may be," said George. "I did my best to protecther, certainly. But as you and her brother were not so close at hand asI was, to defend her, I do not know how I could possibly have done less.I hope we shall be allowed to take leave of her."

  "She will wish that too," said Moritz, "but I am afraid her brother willnot permit it. She has, indeed, charged me to give you her adieux,together with her regrets that she cannot speak them in person. But nowyou want my assistance in getting to your destination. Your bestcourse, I think, will be to make the acquaintance of a Natal farmer,named Baylen; who, I have learned, means to set out in a few days forHorner's Kraal, and will therefore pass very near, if he does not stopat, Umvalosa. He is a thriving man, and knows the country well. He isneither wholly English nor Dutch, his father having been an Englishmanand his grandfather a Hollander, but his sympathies are mainly English.I will give you a letter to him. I would go with you to his son'shouse, `Hakkluyt's Kloof,' where he now is, but time will not allow it,as Vander Heyden sets out in a few hours."

  George thanked him, and they cordially shook hands and parted. The twofriends then walked out to Hakkluyt's Kloof, and delivered Moritz'sletter; which at once secured a hearty welcome from the old man. He wasa fine specimen of a colonial farmer, standing more than six feet high,and strongly, if somewhat heavily built. He introduced the young menfirst to his wife, a still comely matron of fifty, and his daughterClara, a han
dsome girl of twenty, then to his sons, Stephen, the eldest,and owner of the Kloof, Walter, Wilhelm, and Ernest. They were allstout and sturdily-built young men, though hardly equalling theirfather's height or breadth of shoulder. He readily agreed to convey theEnglishmen and their baggage to Umvalosa, naming a very reasonable sumas their passage-money. He also invited them to take up their quartersat his farmhouse until the day of his departure came, an offer which thetwo lads were thankful to accept. George then went out to look at thewaggons in which the journey was to be made--each of which, he found,would be drawn by no less than sixteen oxen. They were in constructionnot unlike an English waggon, only a good deal stronger and more solid.They were arranged not only for the conveyance of goods, but