Part 2 (2/2)

I do not propose to set out the history of the years which I spent in acquiring a knowledge of French and various other subjects, under the tuition of the learned but prejudiced Monsieur Leblanc Indeed, there is ”none to tell, sir” When Monsieur Leblanc was sober, he was a h one apt to digress into many side issues, which in therew excited and harangued us, generally upon politics and religion, or rather its reverse, for he was an advanced freethinker, although this was a side to his character which, however intoxicated he ed to conceal from the Heer Marais I may add that a certain childish code of honour prevented us fro his views on this and sundry other e, was not more than once a month, he simply slept, and we did e pleased--a fact which our childish code of honour also prevented us froether, for, after the incident of our first , Monsieur Leblanc was always polite to me Marie he adored, as did every one about the place, from her father down to the meanest slave Need I add that I adored her ether, first with the love that some children have for each other, and afterwards, as we became adult, with that wider love by which it is at once transcended and e would it have been if this were not so, seeing that we spent nearly half of every week practically alone together, and that, from the first, Marie, whose nature was as open as the clear noon, never concealed her affection for me True, it was a very discreet affection, almost sisterly, or even h she could never forget that extra half-inch of height or e

Moreover, froht say, for circumstances and character had shaped her thus Not much more than a year before we met, her mother, whose only child she was, and who and passionate heart, died after a lingering illness, leaving her in charge of her father and his house I think it was this heavy bereavee of sadness and made her seem so much older than her years

So the tiht, but saying nothing about it, and Marie talking of and acting towards er brother nobody, not even her father or htest notice of this queer relationshi+p, or seeht lead to ultimate complications which, in fact, would have been very distasteful to them all for reasons that I will explain

Needless to say, in due course, as they were bound to do, those coreat physical and moral excitement the truth came out It happened thus

Every reader of the history of the Cape Colony has heard of the great Kaffir War of 1835 That war took place for the most part in the districts of Albany and Somerset, so that we inhabitants of Cradock, on the whole, suffered little Therefore, with the natural optier of dwellers in wild places, we began to think ourselves fairly safe from attack Indeed, so we should have been, had it not been for a foolish action on the part of Monsieur Leblanc

It seems that on a certain Sunday, a day that I always spent at home with my father, Monsieur Leblanc rode out alone to some hills about five miles distant from Maraisfontein He had often been cautioned that this was an unsafe thing to do, but the truth is that the foolish ht he had found a rich copper mine in these hills, and was anxious that no one should share his secret Therefore, on Sundays, when there were no lessons, and the Heer Marais was in the habit of celebrating family prayers, which Leblanc disliked, it was custoical specimens and locate the strike of his copper vein On this particular Sabbath, which was very hot, after he had done whatever he intended to do, he dis it loose, he partook of the ht with him, which seems to have included a bottle of peach brandy that induced slu, he found that his horse had gone, and at once jumped to the conclusion that it had been stolen by Kaffirs, although in truth the anirass

Running hither and thither to seek it, he presently crossed this ridge andled away by two of the Red Kaffirs, who, as was usual, were arais As awell to who its owner, whom, earlier in the day, they had seen upon the hills, in order to restore it to him This, however, never occurred to the mind of Monsieur Leblanc, excited as it was by the fuun he carried, he fired at the first Kaffir, a young man who chanced to be the eldest son and heir of the chief of the tribe, and, as the range was very close, shot hio of the horse, ran for his life At hih, but no more, so that he escaped to tell the tale of what he and every other native for miles round considered a wanton and premeditatedand rode quietly home On the road, however, as the peach brandy evaporated from his brain, doubts entered it, with the result that he deter of his adventure to Henri Marais, who he kneas particularly anxious to avoid any cause of quarrel with the Kaffirs

So he kept his own counsel and went to bed Before he was up next er, had ridden off to a farm thirty miles or more away to pay its owner for so his hohter quite unprotected, except by Leblanc and the few native servants, ere really slaves, that lived about the place

Now on the Monday night I went to bed as usual, and slept, as I have always done through life, like a top, till about four in the lass offrom the bed, I felt for my pistol, as it was quite dark, crept to the , opened it, and keepinglest its appearance should be greeted with an assegai, asked as there

”Me, baas,” said the voice of Hans, our Hottentot servant, who, it will be remembered, had accompanied me as after-rider when first I went to Maraisfontein ”I have bad news Listen The baas knows that I have been out searching for the red cohich was lost Well, I found her, and was sleeping by her side under a tree on the veld when, about two hours ago, a woman whom I know came up toat that hour of the night, and she answered that she had co men of the tribe of the chief Quabie, who lives in the hills yonder, had been visiting at their kraal, and that a few hours before athat theyat dawn he and all histo attack Maraisfontein and kill everyone in it and take the cattle!”

”Good God!” I ejaculated ”Why?”

”Because, young baas,” drawled the Hottentot from the other side of the , ”because someone from Maraisfontein--I think it was the Vulture”

(the natives gave this name to Leblanc on account of his bald head and hooked nose)--”shot Quabie's son on Sunday when he was holding his horse”

”Good God!” I said again, ”the old fool must have been drunk When did you say the attack was to be--at dawn?” and I glanced at the stars, adding, ”Why, that will be within less than an hour, and the Baas Marais is away”

”Yes,” croaked Hans; ”and Missie Marie--think of what the Red Kaffirs will do with Missie Marie when their blood is up”

I thrust h theand struck the Hottentot's toad-like face on which the starlight glea!” I said, ”saddle un In two o,” he answered, and shot out into the night like a frightened snake

Then I began to dress, shouting as I dressed, till my father and the Kaffirs ran into the roos I told theers,” I said, ”to Marais--he is at Botha's farather up the friendly Kaffirs and ride like hell for Maraisfontein Don't talk to me, father; don't talk! Go and do what I tell you Stay! Give s with powder tins and loopers, and tie theth they understood, and flew this way and that with candles and lanterns Two minutes later--it could scarcely have been more--I was in front of the stables just as Hans led out the bay mare, a famous beast that for two years I had saved all s while I tested the girths; someone else appeared with the stout roan stallion that I kneould follow the mare to the death There was not time to saddle hi two guns under his arm, for I carried but one and ers,” I shouted to ain send them swiftly, and folloith every man you can raise”