Part 43 (1/2)
Hansie is bending over her diary, trying to make her entries between the crashes with which the house is shaken.
Her mother is lying on a couch near by; her tired eyes are closed, but she is not asleep. Who could sleep in such a storm?
Perhaps we may be allowed to look over the writer's shoulder.
”Nov. 8th, Friday, 10 o'clock p.m.
”And this terrific storm has been raging for hours! It seems incredible.
”It was the same last night and the night before. As I write, the roar of thunder never once breaks off, peal after peal, crash after crash, vivid, dazzling flashes of lightning, torrents of rain mixed with hail, and a howling wind.
”Such a night is never to be forgotten.
”One is thrilled and impressed by its magnificence, by its awful grandeur and its majesty, and yet I think one would go mad if it continued for any length of time.
”I feel as if _I_ am going mad with the thought of our thousands and thousands of women and tender little children exposed to all this fury....
”Where is the G.o.d of pity to-night?
”Surely not in our desolate land, not in our ruined homes--_not in South Africa_!
”The fourth storm within a few hours, each more violent than the last, is just approaching, and this one threatens to surpa.s.s the others in unabated fury.
”The Lord hath turned His face from us.
”The hand of the Lord is laid heavily upon us. His ear is deaf to our cries and supplications. I cannot write, my soul is crushed by the sorrow, suffering, and sin around me....
”I feel better now, but the struggle has been great....
”At the front, fierce blows have been struck lately. Our men are fighting as they never fought before....
”How the storm rages on! In my sheltered home, safe from the fury of the elements, I think I suffer more than the women under canvas, for _their_ sakes....
”The letter I have before me must be answered now. He asks me to bind myself to him definitely....
”I have decided to do so. It is a weighty step, and G.o.d knows....
”But I have long prayed for guidance, and it seems to me clear enough that we are destined for one another.
”So to-night, in this raging storm, with a heart filled with the desolation of land and people, the blackness of the present, the hopeless misery of the future, I am going to write the words which will bind me for ever to L.E.B.
”Strange betrothal! Strange sequel to a stormy life!
”But perhaps--perhaps, the future holds something for me of calm and peace....”
With throbbing brow she went out into the night to watch the storm, from a sheltered corner under the verandah.
Nothing fascinated her so much.
Suddenly a blinding flash, accompanied by a sound like the sharp cracking of a whip and instantly followed by a deafening roar of thunder, drove her to her mother's side.