Part 41 (2/2)
”That is very likely,” said the Boer ”There is a ruela again to hunt us, which, if you want to know the truth, is e visited this place Well, the commandant has taken his ht ht Pity he could not take you, too, since you would have known so here to find them, if they are there at all Now please talk no more nonsense to us, which it makes us sick to hear, and don't think that you can slip away because we are only two, for you know our roers are loaded with slugs, and we have orders to use them”
”There,” I said when I had shut the door, ”now you have heard for yourselves As I thought, there is nothing in this fine story, so I hope you are convinced”
Neither the vrouw nor Marie ue Yet, as I relance pass between the toh I never drea, had now determined to carry out their own desperate plan But of this I repeat the vrouw and Hans only knew one half; the rest was locked in Marie's loving heart
”Perhaps you are right, Allan,” said the vrouw in the tone of one who gives way to an unreasonable child ”I hope so, and, at any rate, you can refuse to co until you are quite sure And now let us eat sory Hans, bring the food”
So we ate, orthirsty, drank two cups of the black coffee dashed with spirit to serve asI re at me with her beautiful eyes, that were full--ah! so full of tender love, and kissing ain upon the lips
I dreamed all sorts of dreams, rather pleasant drearees to findthe remains of polished sides to it It made me think of Joseph as let down by his brethren into a well in the desert
Noho on earth could have let me down into a well, especially as I had no brethren? Perhaps I was not really in a well Perhaps this was a nightan to reood reasons why I should be dead Only, only--why should they have buried me in woman's clothes as I seemed to wear?
And as that noise that had wakened me?
It could not be the tru of dooan to try to climb out of my hole, but as it was nine feet deep and bottle-shaped, which the light flowing in froiving up the attempt, a yellow face appeared in that neck, which looked to me like the face of Hans, and an arm was projected doards
”Jump, if you are awake, baas,” said a voice--surely it was the voice of Hans--”and I will pull you out”
So I juht the arm above the wrist Then the owner of the arm pulled desperately, and the end of it was that I succeeded in gripping the edge of the bottle-like hole, and, with the help of the ar myself out
”Now, baas,” said Hans, for it _was_ Hans, ”run, run before the Boers catch you”
”What Boers?” I asked, sleepily; ”and how can I run with these things flapping about h the daas only just breaking, began to recognise s Surely this was the Prinsloos' house to h the mist about a hundred paces aas Marie's andon yonder which excitedin an unusual an to walk towards the ibberish as to the necessity of ed; indeed, I struck at hio of me and vanished
So I went on alone I caht reseround soht of the doorway, and noted abstractedly that it was dressed in arure, and a little way off stood Hernan Pereira, apparently in the act of reloading a double-barrelled gun Beyond, staring at hi beard with one hand and holding a rifle in the other Behind were two saddled horses in the charge of a raw Kaffir, who looked on stupidly
The Vrouw Prinsloo reached the body that lay upon the ground dressed in what rese down her stout shape with an effort, turned it over She glared into its face and then began to shriek
”Come here, Henri Marais,” she shrieked, ”cohter as all your life to you, Henri Marais Well, come, look at her after your beloved nephew has finished his ith her!”
Henri Marais advanced slowly like one who does not understand He stood over the body on the ground, and looked down upon it through themists
Then suddenly he wenthair see and bristled like the feathers of a bird in frosty weather He turned on Hernan Pereira
”You devil!” he shouted, and his voice sounded like the roar of a wild beast; ”you devil, you have et Marie for yourself, you have murdered her Well, I will pay you back!”
Without ht at Hernan Pereira, who sank slowly to the ground and lay there groaning
Just then I greare that horsereat nuh whence they canised even in my half-drunken state, for he had impressed himself very vividly upon my mind He was the dark-browed commandant who had tried and condeures that lay upon the ground, said in a loud and terrible voice:
”What is this? Who are these men, and why are they shot? Explain, Henri Marais”