CHAPTER VIII
RODD'S LAST CARD
The man led me to Marnham's room, which I had never entered
before. All I could see at first, for the shutters were closed,
was that the place seemed large, as bedchambers go in South
Africa. When my eyes grew accustomed to the light, I made out
the figure of a man seated in a chair with his head bent forward
over a table that was placed at the foot of the bed almost in the
centre of the room. I threw open the shutters and the morning
light poured in. The man was Marnham. On the table were writing
materials, also a brandy bottle with only a dreg of spirit in it.
I looked for the glass and found it by his side on the floor,
shattered, not merely broken.
"Drunk," I said aloud, whereon the servant, who understood me,
spoke for the first time, saying in a frightened voice in Dutch--
"No, Baas, dead, half cold. I found him so just now."
I bent down and examined Marnham, also felt his face. Sure
enough, he was dead, for his jaw had fallen; also his flesh was
chill, and from him came a horrible smell of brandy. I thought
for a moment, then bade the boy fetch Dr. Rodd and say nothing
to any one else, He went, and now for the first time I noticed a
large envelope addressed "Allan Quatermain, Esq." in a somewhat
shaky hand. This I picked up and slipped into my pocket.
Rodd arrived half dressed.
"What's the matter now?" he growled.
I pointed to Marnham, saying--
"That is a question for you to answer.
"Oh! drunk again, I suppose," he said. Then he did as I had
done, bent down and examined him. A few seconds later he stepped
or reeled back, looking as frightened as a man could be, and
exclaiming--
"Dead as a stone, by God! Dead these three hours or more."
"Quite so," I answered, "but what killed him?"
"How should I know?" he asked savagely. "Do you suspect me of
poisoning him?"
"My mind is open," I replied; "but as you quarrelled so bitterly
last night, others might."
The bolt went home; he saw his danger.
"Probably the old sot died in a fit, or of too much brandy. How
can one know without a post-mortem? But that mustn't be made by
me. I'm off to inform the magistrate and get hold of another
doctor. Let the body remain as it is until I return.
I reflected quickly. Ought I to let him go or not? If he had
any hand in this business, doubtless he intended to escape.
Well, supposing this were so and he did escapee, that would be a
good thing for Heda, and really it was no affair of mine to bring
the fellow to justice. Moreover there was nothing to show that
he was guilty; his whole manner seemed to point another way,
though of course he might be acting.
"Very well," I replied, "but return as quickly as possible."
He stood for a few seconds like a man who is dazed. It occurred
to me that it might have come into his mind with Marnham's death
that he had lost his hold over Heda. But if so he said nothing
of it, but only asked--
"Will you go instead of me?"
"On the whole I think not," I replied, "and if I did, the story I
should have to tell might not tend to your advantage.
"That's true, damn you!" he exclaimed and left the room.
Ten minutes later he was galloping towards Pilgrim's Rest.
Before I departed from the death chamber I examined the place
carefully to see if I could find any poison or other deadly
thing, but without success. One thing I did discover, however.
Turning the leaf of a blotting-book that was by Marnham's elbow,
I came upon a sheet of paper on which were written these words in
his hand, "Greater love hath no man than this--" that was all.
Either he had forgotten the end of the quotation or changed his
mind, or was unable through weakness to finish the sentence.
This paper also I put in my pocket. Bolting the shutters and
locking the door I returned to the stoep, where I was alone, for
as yet no one else was stirring. Then I remembered the letter in
my pocket and opened it. It ran--
"Dear Mr. Quatermain,--
"I have remembered that those who quarrel with Dr. Rodd are apt
to die soon and suddenly; at any rate life at my age is always
uncertain. Therefore, as I know you to be an honest man, I am
enclosing my will that it may be in safe keeping and purpose to
send it to your room to-morrow morning. Perhaps when you return
to Pretoria you will deposit it in the Standard Bank there, and
if I am still alive, forward me the receipt. You will see that I
leave everything to my daughter whom I dearly love, and that
there is enough to keep the wolf from her door, besides my share
in this property, if it is ever realized.
"After all that has passed to-night I do not feel up to writing a
long letter, so
"Remain sincerely yours,
"H. A. Marnham."
"PS.--I should like to state clearly upon paper that my earnest
hope and wish are that Heda may get clear of that black-hearted,
murderous, scoundrel Rodd and marry Mr. Anscombe, whom I like and
who, I am sure, would make her a good husband."
Thinking to myself this did not look very like the letter of a
suicide, I glanced through the will, as the testator seemed to
have wished that I should do so. It was short, but properly
drawn, signed, and witnessed, and bequeathed a sum of #9,000,
which was on deposit at the Standard Bank, together with all his
other property, real and personal, to Heda for her own sole use,
free from the debts and engagements of her husband, should she
marry. Also she was forbidden to spend more than #1,000 of the
capital. In short the money was strictly tied up. With the will
were some other papers that apparently referred to certain
property in Hungary to which Heda might become entitled, but
about these I did not trouble.
Replacing these documents in a safe inner pocket in the lining of
my waistcoat, I went into our room and woke up Anscombe who was
sleeping soundly, a fact that caused an unreasonable irritation
in my mind. When at length he was thoroughly aroused I said to
him--
"You are in luck's way, my friend. Marnham is dead."
"Oh! poor Heda," he exclaimed, "she loved him. It will half
break her heart."
"If it breaks half of her heart," I replied, "it will mend the
other half, for now her filial affection can't force her to marry
Rodd, and that is where you are in luck's way."
Then I told him all the story.
"Was he murdered or did he commit suicide?" he asked when I had
finished.
"I don't know, and to tell you the truth I don't want to know;
nor will you if you are wise, unless knowledge is forced upon
you. It is enough that he is dead, and for his daughter's sake
the less the circumstances of his end are examined into the
better."
"Poor Heda!" he said again, "who will tell her? I can't. _You_
found him, Allan."
"I expected that job would be my share of the business, Anscombe.
Well, the sooner it is over the better. Now dress yourself and
come on to the stoep."
Then I left him and next minute met Heda's fat, half-breed maid,
a stupid but good sort of a woman who was called Kaatje, emerging
from her mistress's room with a jug, to fetch hot water, I
suppose.
"Kaatje," I said, "go back and tell the Missie Heda that I want
to speak to her as soon as I can. Never mind the hot water, but
stop and help her to dress."
She began to grumble a little in a good-natured way, but
something in my eye stopped her and she went back into the room.
Ten minutes later Heda was by my side.
"What is it, Mr. Quatermain?" she asked. "I feel sure that
something dreadful has happened."
"It has, my dear," I answered, "that is, if death is dreadful.
Your father died last night."
"Oh!" she said, "oh!" and sank back on to the seat.
"Bear up," I went on, "we must all die one day, and he had
reached the full age of man."
"But I loved him," she moaned. "He had many faults I know, still
I loved him."
"It is the lot of life, Heda, that we should lose what we love.
Be thankful, therefore, that you have some one left to love."
"Yes, thank God! that's true. If it had been him--no, it's
wicked to say that."
Then I told her the story, and while I was doing so, Anscombe
joined us, walking by aid of his stick. Also I showed them both
Marnham's letter to me and the will, but the other bit of paper I
did not speak of or show.
She sat very pale and quiet and listened till I had done. Then
she said--
"I should like to see him."
"Perhaps it is as well," I answered. "If you can bear it, come
at once, and do you come also, Anscombe."
We went to the room, Anscombe and Heda holding each other by the
hand. I unlocked the door and, entering, threw open a shutter.
There sat the dead man as I had left him, only his head had
fallen over a little. She gazed at him, trembling, then advanced
and kissed his cold forehead, muttering,
"Good-bye, father. Oh! good-bye, father."
A thought struck me, and I asked--
"Is there any place here where your father locked up things? As I
have shown you, you are his heiress, and if so it might be as
well in this house that you should possess yourself of his
property."
"There is a safe in the corner," she answered, "of which he
always kept the key in his trouser pocket."
"Then with your leave I will open it in your presence."
Going to the dead man I searched his pocket and found in it a
bunch of keys. These I withdrew and went to the safe over which
a skin rug was thrown. I unlocked it easily enough. Within were
two bags of gold, each marked #100; also another larger bag
marked "My wife's jewelry. For Heda"; also some papers and a
miniature of the lady whose portrait hung in the sitting-room;
also some loose gold.
"Now who will take charge of these?" I asked. "I do not think it
safe to leave them here."
"You, of course," said Anscombe, while Heda nodded.
So with a groan I consigned all these valuables to my capacious
pockets. Then I locked up the empty safe, replaced the keys
where I had found them on Marnham, fastened the shutter and left
the room with Anscombe, waiting for a while outside till Heda
joined us, sobbing a little. After this we got something to eat,
insisting on Heda doing the same.
On leaving the table I saw a curious sight, namely, the patients
whom Rodd was attending in the little hospital of which I have
spoken, departing towards the bush-veld, those of them who could
walk well and the attendants assisting the others. They were
already some distance away, too far indeed for me to follow, as I
did not wish to leave the house. The incident filled me with
suspicion, and I went round to the back to make inquiries, but
could find no one. As I passed the hospital door, however, I
heard a voice calling in Sisutu--
"Do not leave me behind, my brothers."
I entered and saw the man on whom Rodd had operated the day of
our arrival, lying in bed and quite alone. I asked him where the
others had gone. At first he would not answer, but when I
pretended to leave him, called out that it was back to their own
country. Finally, to cut the story short, I extracted from him
that they had left because they had news that the Temple was
going to be attacked by Sekukuni and did not wish to be here when
I and Anscombe were killed. How the news reached him he refused,
or could not, say; nor did he seem to know anything of the death
of Marnham. When I pressed him on the former point, he only
groaned and cried for water, for he was in pain and thirsty. I
asked him who had told Sekukuni's people to kill us, but he
refused to speak.
"Very well," I said, "then you shall lie here alone and die of
thirst," and again I turned towards the door.
At this he cried out--
"I will tell you. It was the white medicine-man who lives here;
he who cut me open. He arranged it all a few days ago because he
hates you. Last night he rode to tell the impi when to come."
"When is it to come?" I asked, holding the jug of water towards
him.
"To-night at the rising of the moon, so that it may get far away
before the dawn. My people are thirsty for your blood and for
that of the other white chief, because you killed so many of them
by the river. The others they will not harm."
"How did you learn all this?" I asked him again, but without
result, for he became incoherent and only muttered something
about being left alone because the others could not carry him.
So I gave him some water, after which he fell asleep, or
pretended to do so, and I left him, wondering whether he was
delirious, or spoke truth. As I passed the stables I saw that my
own horse was there, for in this district horses are always shut
up at night to keep them from catching sickness, but that the
four beasts that had brought Heda from Natal in the Cape cart
were gone, though it was evident that they had been kraaled here
till within an hour or two. I threw my horse a bundle of forage
and returned to the house by the back entrance. The kitchen was
empty, but crouched by the door of Marnham's room sat the boy who
had found him dead. He had been attached to his master and
seemed half dazed. I asked him where the other servants were, to
which he replied that they had all run away. Then I asked him
where the horses were. He answered that the Baas Rodd had
ordered them to be turned out before he rode off that morning. I
bade him accompany me to the stoep, as I dared not let him out of
my sight, which he did unwillingly enough.
There I found Anscombe and Heda. They were seated side by side
upon the couch. Tears were running down her face and he, looking
very troubled, held her by the hand. Somehow that picture of
Heda has always remained fixed in my mind. Sorrow becomes some
women and she was one of them. Her beautiful dark grey eyes did
not grow red with weeping; the tears just welled up in them and
fell like dewdrops from the heart of a flower.
She sat very upright and very still, as he did, looking straight
in front of her, while a ray of sunshine, falling on her head,
showed the chestnut-hued lights in her waving hair, of which she
had a great abundance.
Indeed the pair of them, thus seated side by side, reminded me of
an engraving I had seen somewhere of the statues of a husband and
wife in an old Egyptian tomb. With just such a look did the
woman of thousands of years ago sit gazing in patient hope into
the darkness of the future. Death had made her sad, but it was
gone by, and the little wistful smile about her lips seemed to
suggest that in this darkness her sorrowful eyes already saw the
stirring of the new life to be. Moreover, was not the man she
loved the companion of her hopes as he had been of her woes.
Such was the fanciful thought that sprang up in my mind, even in
the midst of those great anxieties, like a single flower in a
stony wilderness of thorns or one star on the blackness of the
night.
In a moment it had gone and I was telling them of what I had
learned. They listened till I had finished. Then Anscombe said
slowly--
"Two of us can't hold this house against an impi. We must get
out of it."
"Both your conclusions seem quite sound," I remarked, "that is if
yonder old Kaffir is telling the truth. But the question
is--how? We can't all three of us ride on one nag, as you are
still a cripple."
"There is the Cape cart," suggested Heda.
"Yes, but the horses have been turned out, and I don't know where
to look for them. Nor dare I send that boy alone, for probably
he would bolt like the others. I think that you had better get
on my horse and ride for it, leaving us to take our chance. I
daresay the whole thing is a lie and that we shall be in no
danger," I added by way of softening the suggestion.
"That I will never do," she replied with so much quiet conviction
that I saw it was useless to pursue the argument.
I thought for a moment, as the position was very difficult. The
boy was not to be trusted, and if I went with him I should be
leaving these two alone and, in Anscombe's state, almost
defenceless. Still it seemed as though I must. Just then I
looked up, and there at the garden gate saw Anscombe's driver,
Footsack, the man whom I had despatched to Pretoria to fetch his
oxen. I noted that he looked frightened and was breathless, for
his eyes started out of his head. Also his hat was gone and he
bled a little from his face.
Seeing us he ran up the path and sat down as though he were
tired.
"Where are the oxen?" I asked.
"Oh! Baas," he answered, "the Basutos have got them. We heard
from an old black woman that Sekukuni had an impi out, so we
waited on the top of that hill about an hour's ride away to see
if it was true. Then suddenly the doctor Baas appeared riding,
and I ran out and asked him if it were safe to go on. He knew me
again and answered--
"'Yes, quite safe, for have I not just ridden this road without
meeting so much as a black child. Go on, man; your masters will
be glad to have their oxen, as they wish to trek, or will by
nightfall.' Then he laughed and rode away.
"So we went on, driving the oxen. But when we came to the belt
of thorns at the bottom of the hill, we found that the doctor
Baas had either lied to us or he had not seen. For there
suddenly the tall grass on either side of the path grew spears;
yes, everywhere were spears. In a minute the two voorloopers
were assegaied. As for me, I ran forward, not back, since the
Kaffirs were behind me, across the path, Baas, driving off the
oxen. They sprang at me, but I jumped this way and that way and
avoided them. Then they threw assegais--see, one of them cut my
cheek, but the rest missed. They had guns in their hands also,
but none shot. I think they did not wish to make a noise. Only
one of them shouted after me--
"'Tell Macumazahn that we are going to call on him tonight when
he cannot see to shoot. We have a message for him from our
brothers whom he killed at the drift of the Oliphant's River.'
"Then I ran on here without stopping, but I saw no more Kaffirs.
That is all, Baas."
Now I did not delay to cross-examine the man or to sift the true
from the false in his story, since it was clear to me that he had
run into a company of Basutos, or rather been beguiled thereto by
Rodd, and lost our cattle, also his companions, who were either
killed as he said, or had escaped some other way.
"Listen, man," I said. "I am going to fetch some horses. Do you
stay here and help the Missie to pack the cart and make the
harness ready. If you disobey me or run away, then I will find
you and you will never run again. Do you understand?"
He vowed that he did and went to get some water, while I
explained everything to Anscombe and Heda, pointing out that all
the information we could gather seemed to show that no attack was
to be made upon the house before nightfall, and that therefore we
had the day before us. As this was so I proposed to go to look
for the horses myself, since otherwise I was sure we should never
find them. Meanwhile Heda must pack and make ready the cart with
the help of Footsack, Anscombe superintending everything, as he
could very well do since he was now able to walk leaning on a
stick.
Of course neither of them liked my leaving them, but in view of
our necessities they raised no objection. So off I went, taking
the boy with me. He did not want to go, being, as I have said,
half dazed with grief or fear, or both, but when I had pointed
out to him clearly that I was quite prepared to shoot him if he
played tricks, he changed his mind. Having saddled my mare that
was now fresh and fat, we started, the boy guiding me to a
certain kloof at the foot of which there was a small plain of
good grass where he said the horses were accustomed to graze.
Here sure enough we found two of them, and as they had been
turned out with their headstalls on, were able to tie them to
trees with the riems which were attached to the headstalls. But
the others were not there, and as two horses could not drag a
heavy Cape cart, I was obliged to continue the search. Oh! what
a hunt those beasts gave me. Finding themselves free, for as
Rodd's object was that they should stray, he had ordered the
stable-boy not to kneel-halter them, after filling themselves
with grass they had started off for the farm where they were
bred, which, it seemed, was about fifty miles away, grazing as
they went. Of course I did not know this at the time, so for
several hours I rode up and down the neighbouring kloofs, as the
ground was too hard for me to hope to follow them by their spoor.
It occurred to me to ask the boy where the horses came from, a
question that he happened to be able to answer, as he had brought
them home when they were bought the year before. Having learned
in what direction the place lay I rode for it at an angle, or
rather for the path that led to it, making the boy run alongside,
holding to my stirrup leather. About three o'clock in the
afternoon I struck this path, or rather track, at a point ten or
twelve miles away from the Temple, and there, just mounting a
rise, met the two horses quietly walking towards me. Had I been
a quarter of an hour later they would have passed and vanished
into a sea of thorn-veld. We caught them without trouble and
once more headed homewards, leading them by their riems.
Reaching the glade where the other two were tied up, we collected
them also and returned to the house, where we arrived at five
o'clock. As everything seemed quiet I put my mare into the
stable, slipped its bit and gave it some forage. Then I went
round the house, and to my great joy found Anscombe and Heda
waiting anxiously, but with nothing to report, and with them
Footsack. Very hastily I swallowed some food, while Footsack
inspanned the horses. In a quarter of an hour all was ready.
Then suddenly, in an inconsequent female fashion, Heda developed
a dislike to leaving her father unburied.
"My dear young lady," I said, "it seems that you must choose
between that and our all stopping to be buried with him."
She saw the point and compromised upon paying him a visit of
farewell, which I left her to do in Anscombe's company, while I
fetched my mare. To tell the truth I felt as though I had seen
enough of the unhappy Marnham, and not for #50 would I have
entered that room again. As l passed the door of the hospital,
leading my horse, I heard the old Kaffir screaming within and
sent the boy who was with me to find out what was the matter with
him. That was the last I saw of either of them, or ever shall
see this side of kingdom come. I wonder what became of them?
When I got back to the front of the house I found the cart
standing ready at the gate, Footsack at the head of the horses
and Heda with Anscombe at her side. It had been neatly packed
during the day by Heda with such of her and our belongings as it
would hold, including our arms and ammunition. The rest, of
course, we were obliged to abandon. Also there were two baskets
full of food, some bottles of brandy and a good supply of
overcoats and wraps. I told Footsack to take the reins, as I
knew him to be a good driver, and helped Anscombe to a seat at
his side, while Heda and the maid Kaatje got in behind in order
to balance the vehicle. I determined to ride, at any rate for
the present.
"Which way, Baas?" asked Footsack.
"Down to the Granite Stream where the wagon stands," I answered.
"That will be through the Yellow-wood Swamp. Can't we take the
other road to Pilgrim's Rest and Lydenburg, or to Barberton?"
asked Anscombe in a vague way, and as I thought, rather
nervously.
"No," I answered, "that is unless you wish to meet those Basutos
who stole the oxen and Dr. Rodd returning, if he means to
return."
"Oh! let us go through the Yellow-wood," exclaimed Heda, who, I
think, would rather have met the devil than Dr. Rodd.
"Ah! if I had but known that we were heading straight for that
person, sooner would I have faced the Basutos twice over. But I
did what seemed wisest, thinking that he would be sure to return
with another doctor or a magistrate by the shorter and easier
path which he had followed in the morning. It just shows once
more how useless are all our care and foresight, or how strong is
Fate, have it which way you will.
So we started down the slope, and I, riding behind, noted poor
Heda staring at the marble house, which grew ever more beautiful
as it receded and the roughness of its building disappeared,
especially at that part of it which hid the body of her old scamp
of a father whom still she loved. We came down to the glen and
once more saw the bones of the blue wildebeeste that we had
shot--oh! years and years ago, or so it seemed. Then we struck
out for the Granite Stream.
Before we reached the patch of Yellow-wood forest where I knew
that the cart must travel very slowly because of the trees and
the swampy nature of the ground, I pushed on ahead to
reconnoitre, fearing lest there might be Basutos hidden in this
cover. Riding straight through it I went as far as the deserted
wagon at a sharp canter, seeing nothing one. Once indeed,
towards the end of the wood where it was more dense, I thought
that I heard a man cough and peered about me through the gloom,
for here the rays of the sun, which was getting low in the
heavens, scarcely penetrated. As I could perceive no one I came
to the conclusion that I must have been deceived by my fancy. Or
perhaps it was some baboon that coughed, though it was strange
that a baboon should have come to such a low-lying spot where
there was nothing for it to eat.
The place was eerie, so much so that I bethought me of tales of
the ghosts whereby it was supposed to be haunted. Also, oddly
enough, of Anscombe's presentiment which he had fulfilled by
killing a Basuto. Look! There lay his grinning skull with some
patches of hair still on it, dragged away from the rest of the
bones by a hyena. I cantered on down the slope beyond the wood
and through the scattered thorns to the stream on the banks of
which the wagon should be. It had gone, and by the freshness of
the trail, within an hour or two. A moment's reflection told me
what had happened. Having stolen our oxen the Basutos drove them
to the wagon, inspanned them and departed with their loot. On
the whole I was glad to see this, since it suggested that they
had retired towards their own country, leaving our road open.
Turning my horse I rode back again to meet the cart. As I
reached the edge of the wood at the top of the slope I heard a
whistle blown, a very shrill whistle, of which the sound would
travel for a mile or two on that still air. Also I heard the
sound of men's voices in altercation and caught words, such
as--"Let go, or by Heaven--!" then a furious laugh and other
words which seemed to be--"In five minutes the Kaffirs will be
here. In ten you will be dead. Can I help it if they kill you
after I have warned you to turn back?" Then a woman's scream.
Rodd's voice, Anscombe's voice and Kaatje's scream--not Heda's
but Kaatje's!
Then as I rode furiously round the last patch of intervening
trees the sound of a pistol shot. I was out of them now and saw
everything. There was the cart on the further side of a swamp.
The horses were standing still and snorting. Holding the rein of
one of the leaders was Rodd, whose horse also stood close by. He
was rocking on his feet and as I leapt from my mare and ran up, I
saw his face. it was horrible, full of pain and devilish rage.
With his disengaged hand he pointed to Anscombe sitting in the
cart and grasping a pistol that still smoked.
"You've killed me," he said in a hoarse, choking voice, for he
was shot through the lung, "to get her," and he waved his hand
towards Heda who was peering at him between the heads of the two
men. "You are a murderer, as her father was, and as David was
before you. Well, I hope you won't keep her long. I hope you'll
die as I do and break her false heart, you damned thief."
All of this he said in a slow voice, pausing between the words
and speaking ever more thickly as the blood from his wound choked
him. Then of a sudden it burst in a stream from his lips, and
still pointing with an accusing finger at Anscombe, he fell
backwards into the slimy pool behind him and there vanished
without a struggle.
So horrible was the sight that the driver, Footsack, leapt from
the cart, uttering a kind of low howl, ran to Rodd's horse,
scrambled into the saddle and galloped off, striking it with his
fist, where to I do not know. Anscombe put his hand before his
eyes, Heda sank down on the seat in a heap, and the coloured
woman, Kaatje, beat her breast and said something in Dutch about
being accursed or bewitched. Luckily I kept my wits and went to
the horses' heads, fearing lest they should start and drag the
trap into the pool. "Wake up," I said. "That fellow has only
got what he deserved, and you were quite right to shoot him."
"I am glad you think so," answered Anscombe absently. "It was so
like murder. Don't you remember I told you I should kill a man
in this place and about a woman?"
"I remember nothing," I answered boldly, "except that if we stop
here much longer we shall have those Basutos on us. That brute
was whistling to them and holding the horses till they came to
kill us. Pull yourself together, take the reins and follow me."
He obeyed, being a skilful whip enough who, as he informed me
afterwards, had been accustomed to drive a four-in-hand at home.
Mounting my horse, which stood by, I guided the cart out of the
wood and down the slope beyond, till at length we came to our old
outspan where I proposed to turn on to the wagon track which ran
to Pilgrim's Rest. I say proposed, for when I looked up it I
perceived about five hundred yards away a number of armed Basutos
running towards us, the red light of the sunset shining on their
spears. Evidently the scout or spy to whom Rodd whistled, had
called them out of their ambush which they had set for us on the
Pilgrim's Rest road in order that they might catch us if we tried
to escape that way.
Now there was only one thing to be done. At this spot a native
track ran across the little stream and up a steepish slope
beyond. On the first occasion of our outspanning here I had the
curiosity to mount this slope, reflecting as I did so that
although rough it would be quite practicable for a wagon. At the
top of it I found a wide flat plain, almost high-veld, for the
bushes were very few, across which the track ran on. On
subsequent inquiry I discovered that it was one used by the
Swazis and other natives when they made their raids upon the
Basutos, or when bodies of them went to work in the mines.
"Follow me," I shouted and crossed the stream which was shallow
between the little pools, then led the way up the stony slope.
The four horses negotiated it very well and the Cape cart, being
splendidly built, took no harm. At the top I looked back and saw
that the Basutos were following us.
"Flog the horses!" I cried to Anscombe, and off we went at a hand
gallop along the native track, the cart swaying and bumping upon
the rough veld. The sun was setting now, in half an hour it
would be quite dark.
Could we keep ahead of them for that half hour?
