Part 24 (2/2)
Those who prate about the ence of the equine race, are still under the ic of the story-books of their youth This representative of it no sooner found himself free than he started off-- whither? Not, be it observed, for his master's stable, where excellent quarters and plenteousness of e awaited, and which in point of distance was the nearer, they having covered more than half of the journey Oh no; but back to the camp, back to the scene of his recent hard work, patrols, and scantiness of feed beyond that ith Nature had covered the veldt An intelligent beast, in truth! Nor was he a pheno his steed vanishi+ng in the distance, folloe fear, the example of the British arh to estiive to be seated across that now departed quadruped for tennew sja-rowelled spurs; and indeed, the provocation was great
Well, he was in a pretty plight; alone, dis on, and only a hazy idea of his route
His boast to Darrell that he could easily evade parties of the eneh when he made it, for the Kaffirs possessed but few horses, and those few, thanks to having been ridden almost from foalhood, of weedy and undersized proportions Noas different
He could no es than they could have overtaken him when mounted On foot, he was at theirto be done under the circumstances Since he could not ride, hethe saddle and bridle a what remained of his store of provision, he started Nearly an hour had been lost in his atte his miserable traitor of a steed, and now the sun was already down Well, so ht than by day
To one accusto than to find hierous country It is even de or helplessness A s, is such an insignificant object amid the wild stretch of nature; his capacity for advance and retreat so limited under such circurave realised it that night as he tra the as quite a different matter when afoot to what it had been when mounted Instead of a few ht be alling consciousness that all that toil carried hi in the heavens, and for this he felt duly grateful, for without its light, faint though that was, he would have ress arass and meerkat holes
For hours thus he kept on Once he saw the red glow of a fire not far from his line of route, and his heart leaped A patrol? No A ht served to show that no patrol would have its ca less for force, judging from the fearlessness manifested in the small amount of care taken to conceal the blaze And a Kaffir encae one So he avoided the vicinity of the light, and held on his ith increased watchfulness
What weary work it was, round, every rise sur the possibility of stu upon a concealed ene way froetation was so dense as to be practically i noeariness, he was about to sink down to sleep away the reaze lit upon that which banished sleep froround was open there; s in the middle of the flat, was a house
Was this a delusion? He rubbed his eyes There, in the faint light of the now settingfar bed, and an inexpressibly welcome sleep, beset the weary wayfarer; of a remount, and a speedy arrival at Doppersdorp--_via_ Suffield's farained its elasticity, as he advanced to knock up the sleeping inlish or Dutch, would certainly receive him with the custoain his heart sank like lead No barking of dogs greeted his footsteps The kraals were eates open, the shatters of the ere up The house was deserted
”Of course!” he mattered despondently ”The cursed place is eh”
But even as he approached the door he realised that there was that indescribable so was there, a kind of lifelessness that ht be felt He knocked, but only a hollow echo frohostly response
”Oh, curse the luck of it all!” he growled ”Hang me if I don't break in They'll have left a shakedown of a sort anyhow, and I'll do a snug snooze; besides, onestoay”
He looked around Close by, a black squaremoon, lay the deserted sheep-kraals But now he noticed what had escaped him before Behind the house, perhaps fifty yards distant frohed doith their luscious loads Ah! the very thing In his parched and exhausted condition, ould go down better than a dozen or so of peaches or apricots? So, postponing his exploration of the interior, he directed his steps to the garden, and getting over the low sod hich encircled it, began with the ”know” of a connoisseur to look for the tree which bore the best fruit
This was soon found Halting under a peach-tree he gathered the fruit as he wanted it, breaking it open and scrutinising it carefully by what little light the moon afforded; for the South African peach is not to be eaten in the dark, its interior being as often as not a ood the sas--the reater the settled corruption within However, the light was moderately sufficient for such requisite discrimination, and soon he had made a most luscious and acceptable feed
This done, he returned to the house and carefully tested all the shutters They wereslabs, and held firm But there was one smallat the back which was not shuttered, only protected by a board, fitting to the -fra that there was no other way of doing it, proceeded cautiously to break a pane of glass
Heavens! what a clatter and jingle it lass falling upon the stone -sill, and into the roo his hand, Roden was able to pull back the bolt, and in another lary, anyhow,” he said grian to survey the surroundings
Frontier farmhouses are all built pretty much on the salance he was in the kitchen, but it and the living rooms were equally dismantled The owners of the place, whoever they were, had evidently not trekked in a panic, but in leisurely fashi+on enough to have taken aith them pretty nearly all that could be taken
There is always sohostly about the interior of an eht ti by the feeble light of a flickering wax vesta, it seemed that in the dark corners lurked the shadows of the for stare, this burglarious intruder The planks, creaking beneath his footfall, raised loud and unearthly sounds in the hollow silence, and once in the se overhead on a line, gave hi were his nerves with exciteue But the object of his search was a prosaic one enough He explored every roo There were a few old tins of preserved salmon, and a box or two of sardines, half a sack ofof onions There were utensils of various kinds, all old and worthless, heaped alass bottles of all sorts and sizes But of what he sought, there was none
”I'lass of grog!” he told himself ”However, it isn't to be had, and I was in lack to drop in here in the fruit season Those peaches were A1 I think I'll go and talk to theain”
But, sian to co the heavier furniture which had been left, was a coach, large and massive, and withal comfortable; just the very coach to invite a wearied and exhaustedthe shatters so as to ad himself upon the coach, and was sound asleep as soon as he touched it