Part 5 (1/2)
Brian reascended to his seat, and relieved hted word, showed no sign of ever having seen the child before, see indeed to see a certain re pretty little face as she half-shyly affected to make my acquaintance Brian kissed her tenderly, and we drove on But before we had had gone far he turned on me suddenly
”Holt, I don't kno to thank you, or what to say I've just heard from Iris what you did yesterday Man, you saved her life--her _life_, do you hear?--and what that means to me--to us--why, blazes take it, you've seen her!--I don't kno I can convey the idea better”
He was all afire with agitation--indeed, to such an extent as to astonish me, for I had set him down as rather a cool customer, and not easily perturbed Now he continued to wax eloquent, and it made me uncoht, old chap It isn't worth jawing about Only too glad I was on hand at the ti at all to a felloho can swiirl was at home in the water; still, she's small, and those beastly breakers have a devil of an undertow, you know She oughtn't to be allowed out like that with nobody to look after her”
”That's just it But she boundallowed in again I h, as a condition of keeping dark”
And then he went on to expatiate on Miss Iris' swi perfections, and indeed every other perfection, to an extent that rather prejudiced , as likely to prove a spoilt handful However, it got hiroove, which was all I wanted just then
That couple of days' journey was quite one of the htful experiences ofcountry dotted with flowering mimosa, and here and there intersected with a dark forest-filled kloof; and bright-winged birds flashed sheeny from our path, and on every hand the hum of busy insects made music on the warm air Yes, it ar was si fragrance of innulorious ain ould pass a large Kafir kraal, whose clustering beehive-shaped huts stood white in the , acco, showed that its wild denizens were holding high festivity at any rate; and the sound of the barbarous revel rising loud and clear upon the still night air, ca
”Seeether,” I remarked as we passed one of these kraals, whose inhabitants paused in their revelry to send after us a long loud halloo, partly good-huave my companion the benefit of reatly
”It's funny how these notions get about, Holt,” he said ”Now you have seen a glienerally red--since you landed, and you can the more easily realise it when I tell you he'd cut all our throats with the greatest pleasure in life if he dared There are enough of theht in the year; but, providentially, there's never any cohesion aes, and these chaps won't trust each other, which is our salvation, for they simply swarm as to nuht of it on the veldt? There's an accommodation house a mile or so further on, but it's a beastly hole, and the people none too civil”
Of course I voted for caht had provided a supply of cold , we fared (relatively) su I kneasout of hted it
We inspanned early the next ressed our way became more hilly Thick bush came down to the road in many places, and te forded a drift of a river, whose h broken country, copiously bush-clad, was delightful to the eye, but oh, the heat of the sun in those scorching valley botto over uneven h inches and inches of thick red dust Now and then ould pass a string of transport waggons, or a traveller on horseback, and in the her kind Towards evening we entered a long, wild, beautiful valley resonant with the cooing of doves and other sounds of evening peace, the bleating of ho of cattle; and as we rounded a bush-clad spur and a homestead came into view I felt no surprise that Brian Matterson should turn to me with the remark--
”Here we are at last, Holt; and there's Beryl, on the look-out for us”
CHAPTER SEVEN
BERYL
He reined up the Cape cart at the gate of a picturesque verandah-fronted house which stood against a background of wild and romantic bush scenery Not for this, however, had I any eyes at that moment; only for the personality which was framed as it ithin a profusion of white cactus blossoate
”Well, Beryl!” he sang out, as we got out of the trap ”Here's an old school chuht him out here to see a little African life, so for the present I'll hand him over to you Give hio and see to the outspanning, and to things in general Dad still away, I suppose?”
”Yes He'll be back this evening, though I', then”
Now I have already explained that I am by nature a reticent ani taken for a susceptible one Wherefore I had refrained fro Brian on the way hither, as to the outward appearance or inner characteristics of his elder sister, and he, whilethe fact that he had another sister, who kept house for theer brother, had not entered into details
But it would be idle to pretend I had not been indulging, and that htily, in all sorts of speculation upon the subject, and that within my own mind Would she reserown-up replica of her? If so, she would be so to look at, I concluded Yet, now that I beheld her,of interest and disappointe, she stood there, with outstretched hand of welcome The tint of the smooth skin was that of a dark woe, deep, thoughtful--and her abundant brown hair was drawn back in a wavy ripple froht and scrutinising as itand tender as it rested upon her brother, I should have set her down as of a cold disposition, and withal a trifle too resolute for a woe As it was, I hardly knehat to think She did not greatly reseh also tall and handsoentler disposition of the two
”You are very welcoe that Brian should have e but providential, for I was literally a shi+pwrecked mariner thrown up on your shore without a dry stitch on ht I had found myself in, when Brian had coreat interest