Part 20 (2/2)
Their demonstration on your farm seems to point that way, doesn't it?
Well now, if they know he is here in prison--I a to have him put in an ordinary cell, by the way--they will be to that extent satisfied, and it will give any strong feelings time to die down a bit
The case is out of my hands now The records will be forwarded immediately to the Solicitor-General, and of course it rests with hioes any further”
There was sound sense in this, and indeed the istrate had shown a consideration we had not expected fro at the conclusion that Shattuck was not such a bad sort of fellow after all
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
KULISO'S ”GREAT PLACE”
Gonya's kloof see upon George's coloo our spirits Of er there She and Iris had remained in Fort La with friends, and we threethe months I had already spent on the place, Beryl had never been absent for a single day, and now that presence which had rendered the hardest of toil sweet, and irradiated the norlow that seemed hardly of earth--to myself, that is--was now reenerous riches of Nature expanded around with the same fairness to eye and sense; but--to myself--all lay as beneath the shadow of a cloud
Many ti when she had told us of her intention to remain in the town for the present The announcement was made in the presence of several persons, or there was no telling how I ht have taken it As it was, I have a confused recollection of turning on a vacuous grin, and hoping she would enjoy her stay; which was about as idiotic a rejoinder as even I could have been guilty of, considering that a state of anxious suspense would be the family portion for perhaps weeks to co us, and to one out of life And if this was so during a hout life?
This consideration had rather aeffect Why had I not boldly triedaround until the opportunity had passed? Our acquaintance was no longer a thing of a day, and as for circumstances, others had started in life--or in a new line, which aes, material, physical or prospective, than I enjoyed, and hadof it That hideous and constitutional reticence of mine had stood in the way, I no; yet even then I had been on the point of putting ical event which seeed the whole course of our daily life, when that infernal Trask had blundered his obtrusive presence in upon us, according to his wont Noas too late Obviously under present circuree unfavourable
I have a recollection, too, at that period, of going through sundry phases of insanity For instance, I would sit for quite a long ti; the fact being that I was siht, of course only in the one direction Of this phase I was cured, ency of the abominable Trask, whose horse banter and innuendo at such times rendered it difficult to keep my hands off him However, it had a tonic effect, in that it caused ether But I wasin the direction of various spots where Beryl and I had been alone together, and, letting iht presence, so alluringly fras, illuo over our conversations together, utterly trivial and unht have been To half a hundred other and uilty; but as I have reason to believe that ular, and that e of iht with some comfort
Further, the parlous state into which I had mentally fallen affected my ordinary duties, and what had hitherto been performed with a wholehearted zest now became tedious and wearisome That is the worst of physical labour, in that you can _think_ throughout it all Here my natural reticence, or caution perhaps, caan to wonder whether Brian or his father saw through n But I ether; and did so
I have not unfrequently had occasion to notice how rarely anybody is allowed in this life to suffer fro Here was this household, includinga life which, in ato wish for: a life of healthful, congenial usefulness, yet, thanks to the characteristics of its individuals, not one of stagnation by any enerally do Even if matters ended at the best we could hope for, the occurrence would leave itstiood deal of this There was a gloo our usual free flow of conversation, as though ere each and all trying to avoid the topic uppermost in our minds, or at any rate in the minds of two of us
One day we rode over to Kuliso's ”Great Place,” to arrange about the compensation to be delivered to the chief for the death of the children, according to native custoe expedition, and one by no er; for apart froain unrest on the border--unrest which was deepening day by day, so, although ostensibly unarht hand pocket A strange expedition indeed, its object a barter over the price of human life; and if such failed, what about we three in the es, in ugly and vindictive mood? But Septimus Matterson declared he had never been afraid of Kafirs, and did not intend to make a start in that line now Yet I, for h the Ndhla the veldt far and wide, whose dusky denizens turned out at sight of us, following on our steps near and far to see ent on over at the Great Place--why, I found ht be suffered to return as we had come
The chief, Kuliso, was a tall, broad, finely built man in the prime of life, with, for a Kafir, quite a heavily bearded face It was a strong face, too, with its lofty forehead and air of command, but it was a crafty and unreliable one Around hirey-bearded and wizened--being, in fact, his _a than an ample blanket, stained red with ochre, carelessly draped around the body, and for adorn the chief, had a splendid armlet of solid white ivory just above the left elbow With an eye to artistic effect it occurred to roup, with their shrewd dark faces and unconscious grace of attitude, against the background of do up froreen of the veldt and the yellow thatch of the huts, would have made no mean subject for the artist's paint-brush
But little scope was there for the indulgence of artistic i Septith, yes, even pathetically--for I had learned enough of the Xosa tongue by that tiunise that much-- recapitulated all the sad circuht sorrow to the House of Kuliso, he said, they had hardly brought less to his own house; and Brian and I, listening, were inclined to believe they had brought more However, after soetic nature--for savages never appreciate a direct co to the point--he made them an offer, and one, even under the circumstances, and from their point of custom, of exceptional liberality
But it was not appreciated, let alone ju”--to use a civilised and newspaper phrase--was nasty The chief, who in actual fact cared no more for the lives that had been taken than had they been those of so many jackals, save that they represented a substantial addition to his oealth under the current negotiations, held forth in unctuous strain upon the value of life, and the grief of the dead ones' relatives, and so forth, his words being emphasised by deep-toned exclamations from the _amapakati_, which were echoed aled, he concluded by de a payment which would have crippled the Mattersons--well-to-do as they were--seriously for many years
”This is too much,” came the reply, clear and decided, and in the tone of a rossly imposed upon ”I have other children besides this one who is now in the hands of the law I cannot rob them, and I will not Now take this or leave it, for it is all I will give” And he doubled his original offer
The jeering hoot that arose a the bystanders died away to silence, for the chief and the _ae scene, this question of barter over hue scene, and a weird one Sootiations, and now the sky had becoreat curtain of opaque inky cloud had arisen, against whose blackness jets of lightning were luridly playing, and ever and anon a heavy boo sound was heard All eyes were turned upward, as overhead flapped several large birds, and in the ungainly black shapes and long sabre-like beaks we recognised the _broe hornbill of South Africa, which, by the way, plays its part in native superstitions On flapped the birds, sloinging their way right over the kraal, their deep, heavy notethunder roll Yes It was a strange picture--the unearthly, boding stillness, the livid cloud lit up by lightning glea barbarians, the upturned eyeballs, the awed hush as some rouped in earnest debate, and the background of yellow dory sky There was a tension about it that got upon my nerves, and I said as ot out his pipe, slowly filled and lighted it, then sent a deliberate look upwards and around, as though the state of the weather occupied his sole consideration At thatthe bystanders, and I could only just repress a start, for it was that of the English-speaking rascal whose kind intentions towards myself in the cattle-stealers' den I had so violently and effectually frustrated He, of course, had recognised lare of hate and menace upon his repulsive countenance deepened, and without taking his gaze fro to those who stood next hiard me too with an expression the very reverse of benevolent There was so up--the other day in Fort Laain here I felt sure that he would lay hih treath in the first instance he had brought it upon himself, and in the second--well, it was to save otiations had come to an end; to our intense relief satisfactorily so Kuliso had accepted the ter that a few unconsidered trifles, such as rolls of tobacco, blankets, etc, should be thrown in as _basela_, which was readily agreed to Then there was great shaking of hands as the chief and soot up and acco held for us
”_Au_! This is a nehiterip He was taller than me, and I am not short, and as he thus confrontedyet sinister countenance of this great s of repulsion and distrust, for all _the_ geniality he was striving to exhibit For I had an instinctive idea we should siain, and that under inauspicious circue and terrible those circumstances were destined to be, I had then little if any idea