Part 17 (1/2)

CONCERNING A TRAGEDY

A shot rang out, faint and distant, upon the slue at work,” re hihed

”That's it He's a jolly sight too fond of cutting school in favour of a buck-hunt The governor spoils hie's education at that tiency of a farm-school about seven miles off, whither he rode over five days per week; in theory at least, for few indeed were the weeks out of which he did not contrive to filch one extra day--not to help us in any work, oh dear no, for he looked upon it as a distinct grievance to be required to do any such thing--but to amuse himself To-day he had started for the Zwaart Kloof alone to try and sneak a bush-buck But if the young rascal was at play, Brian and I were tolerably hard at work; had been rather, for we had spent thethe bush fence of one of our enclosures; and choppingthem into place is a fairly muscular phase offor a rest

But if it was a hot day it was a lovely one--lovely and cloudless A shi+mmer of heat lay upon the wide valley, and all the life of the veldt was astir--bird voices calling far and near, the melodious hoot of the hoepoe fro dialogue of a pair of yellow thrushes hard by, or the bold cheery pipe of sheeny-winged spreuws flashi+ng a the bush sprays Insect sounds, too; the bass boo hum of bees, and the screech of innumerable crickets In sooth, if our as hard, it was set ah no eleht to discern froht dress about the ho myself, at any rate, that after labour came recreation, which tothe subject so ruthlessly interrupted yesterday during our ride ho as to whether Beryl was not purposely avoiding any such opportunity

We got up fro, and, hatchet in hand, started in on another spell, and for nearly an hour were chopping and hauling, and banging the great hs into place so that the thorns should interlace with those already laid down

Then Brian suggested we should go back to dinner, and return and finish up when it was cooler, but before we could put this plan into execution the tra rapidly near, at a pace that was out of the way reckless and unnecessary

”That's George,” said Brian, ”but if he's shot anything he hasn't loaded it up Hey! Hullo! What luck, George?”

The latter would have passed without seeing us Now as he reined in and approached usthat the boy's face was as white as death, and his eyes staring with the ?” said Brian sharply, his own bronzed countenance turning a kind of whitey-brown ”Not shot yourself, have you?”

”No, not ed to jerk out And then he broke into a wild fit of sobbing

Brian's face grew still whiter

”Is it somebody else, then? But you went out alone”

”Yes--I--I--I ent out alone”

”George, pull yourself together,time Don't be an ass now Tell us all about it”

This hetale it was that he spasmodically unfolded Reft of its incoherencies--natural under the circumstances--this was the su left his horse was stealthily advancing to peer over the brink of a s This time, instead of a bush-buck there were a lot of Kafir boys larking about the kloof He told theet at thehed at hi out that he'd shoot the whole lot if they didn't clear-- intending, of course, only to frighten them--and then--how it happened he could not for the life of hie of treble A siht, for they neverThe rest ran away, and he hiet help as soon as possible, had started for home as fast as his horse could carry him

Such was the ed to unfold, andrapidly towards the house

”Oh, I neverbut scare them, Brian--I swear before God I didn't!” sobbed the poor little chap, in an agony of ree We all know that Here, give un”

”Take it--take it I never want to touch a gun again in my life Oh, what is to be done? What will the dad say?”

Septimus Matterson did not ”say” much, but the expression of his face was as that of aacute physical pain Meanwhile Brian had been thinking out a plan, which was to proceed at once to the spot with two of the farm Kafirs, and see what could be done for the wounded boys Beryl volunteered to accompany him, but this he vetoed with his wonted decisiveness

”On no account, Beryl You stay here--you'll be far es, and a flask of brandy”

This was done in a moment, and he was ready to start

”No, no, Kenrick,” he said, as I announcedhim ”You must stay here too Don't move from the house either Do you hear? It's hard to say whatwhat trouble this affair may stir up You understand?”