Part 12 (2/2)
”I shall soon be strong again, Ready”
”I have no doubt of it, Williaood reason to thank God, for we could ill spare you”
”It's a long while since you have gone on with your story, Ready,” said William, after they had taken their supper; ”I wish you would do so now, as I am sure I shall not be tired”
”With pleasure, William,” replied Ready; ”but can you remember where I left off, for my memory is none of the best?”
”Oh, yes; if you recollect, you had just arrived at a Dutch fares, at a place called Graaff Reinet, I think”
”Well then, the Dutch far, and asked us ere We told hiive ourselves up to the authorities He took away our arms and ammunition, and said that he was the authority in that part, which was true enough; and then he said, `You'll not run aithout ar you to the Cape, that I may not be able to do for months; so if you wish to be fed well, you must hile you're here' We replied, that we should be very glad to make ourselves useful, and then he sent us soirl But we soon found out that we had to deal with an ill-teave us plenty of hard work, but by no uns, so the Hottentots went out with the cattle, but he gave us plenty of work to do about the house; and at last he treated us very cruelly When he was short of provisions for the Hottentots and other slaves, of whoo out with the other faras for them to eat nobody but a Hottentot could live upon such flesh”
”What is quagga?”
”A wild ass, partly covered with stripes, but not so much as the zebra; a pretty aniive us nothing to eat but quaggas, the same as the Hottentots, while he and his family - for he had a wife and five children - lived upon mutton and the flesh of the antelope, which is very excellent eating We asked hiun to procure better food, and he kicked Romer so unmercifully, that he could not work for two days afterwards Our lives became quite a burden to us; ere employed all day on the farreed that ould stand it no longer, and one evening Hastings told hie, and he called two of the slaves, and ordered the that he would cut every bit of skin off his body, and he went into his house to get his whip The slaves had hold of Hastings, and were tying him up, for they dared not disobey their ed this way, it will be all over with us Now's your time; run back behind the house, and when he coo in and seize the muskets, which are always ready loaded Hold hiet away so me till I am dead, and he will shoot you, as runaway prisoners, as he did his two Hottentots the other day' As Ros told us; and when the Dutchone towards him where he was tied up, about fifty yards fro just had an addition to her family, and the children we cared not for We seized two e knife, and came out just as the Dutchman had struck the first bloith the rhinoceros whip, which was so severe, that it took away poor Hastings' breath We went up; he turned round and saw us: we levelled our muskets at him, and he stopped `Another blow, and we'll shoot you,' cried Rolishmen to deal with' When we came up, Romer kept his piece levelled at the Dutchs which bound Hastings The Dutchhtened, and the slaves ran away As soon as Hastings was free, he seized a large woodenin stakes, and struck the Dutchlishman, you rascal!'
”While the man lay senseless or dead - I didn't knohich at the ti to the house, seized soht be useful We then went to the stables, and took the three best horses which the Dutchman had, put some corn in a sack for each of them, took some cord for halters, mounted, and rode away as fast as we could As we knew that we should be pursued, we first galloped away as if ere going eastward to the Cape; and then, as soon as ere on ground which would not show the tracks of our horses' hoofs, we turned round to the northward, in the direction of the Bushman country It was dark soon after we had altered our course; but we travelled all night, and although we heard the roaring of the lions at a distance, we ave them some corn, and then sat down to eat so were you with the farhtthat time we could not only speak Dutch, but we could make ourselves understood by the Hottentots and other natives While ere eating we held a consultation hoe should proceed We were aware that the Dutchmen would shoot us if they caainst us; and ere afraid that we had killed the ot to the Cape; so ere at a great loss to kno to act At last we decided that ould cross the country of the Bushet to the sea-side, to the northward of the Cape We deterht, as there would be less fear of the wild beasts, or of being seen; so ent fast asleep for , we found water for the horses, and then we fed theain, and proceeded on our journey I won't tell what passed every day for a fortnight, by which time we had pretty well killed our horses, and ere couas, a very mild, inoffensive people, who supplied us with milk, and treated us very kindly We had so by a tuft of sed uponshort round and getting behind hi with us any more Every day we used to shoot sonu, so between an antelope and a bull; at other times it was one of the antelope kind
”Well, we stayed for three weeks with these people, and gave our horses ti uas told us that there was a fierce native tribe, called Kaffers, to the northward, ould certainly kill us if ent there The fact is, we did not knohat to do We had left the Cape without any exact idea where we should go to, like foolish boys as ere, and we becaled with difficulties every day At last we decided that it would be better to find our way back to the Cape, and deliver ourselves up as prisoners, for ere tired out with fatigue and constant danger All that ere afraid of was that we had killed the Dutch farmer at Graaff Reinet, who had treated us so brutally; but Hastings said he did not care; that was his business, and he would take his chance: so e bade adieu to the Gorraguas, we turned our horses' heads to the south-east, so as to o to the southward at the same time
”I have now to mention a most melancholy event which occurred Two days after we had recorass, we stunu Romer, who happened to be some ten yards foremost of the three, was so alarreed never to do, as it was folly to enrage so powerful a beast, when our party was so sht have been heard for aupon Romer, and with one blow of his paw knocked hihtened, wheeled round and fled, for the animal was evidently about to attack us As it was, he did make one bound in our direction; we could not pull up until we had gone half a mile; and e did,the lion had torn down the horse which Roht at a sort of a canter, without any apparent effort on his part We waited till he ell off, and then rode back to the spot where Romer had fallen: we soon found him, but he was quite dead; the bloith the lion's paw had fractured his skull
”I ought to have said that the Gorraguas told us not to travel by night, but by day; and we had done so in consequence of their advice I believe it was very good advice, notwithstanding this unfortunate accident, for we found that e had travelled all night the lions had more than once followed us the whole tiether indebted to his s, both in heaven and earth, that we escaped so well as we did Three days after poor Roain We kept near the coast, but we soon found that we could not obtain the supply of gaht, so well as we could in the interior, and we agreed to get away froain We had a dreary plain to pass over, and ere quite faint for want of food - for we had been without any for nearly two days - e cas put his horse to his speed, but it was of no use - the ostrich ran much faster than the horse could I rereat joy, discovered his nest, with thirteen large eggs in it Hastings soon ca and out of wind We sat down, lighted a fire, and roasted two of the eggs: weput four more on our saddle-boe continued our journey At last, one forenoon,the Table Mountain, and were as glad to see it as if we had seen the white cliffs of Old England We pushed on our horses with the hopes of being once ht; when, as we neared the bay, we noticed that English colours were flying on board of the vessels in the road This surprised us very lish soldier, who told us that the Cape had been taken by our forces o This was a joyful surprise, as you may suppose We rode into the town, and reported ourselves to the overnor sent for us, heard our story, and sent us to the admiral, who took us on board of his own shi+p”
Chapter xxxIX
The next , as there was no particular work on hand, Ready and Mr Seagrave took the lines to add to the stock of the fish-pond As the weather was fine and cool, Williaht have the benefit of the fresh air As they passed the garden, they observed that the seeds sown had already sprung up an inch or two above the ground, and that, apparently none of the, and Willia near them, William said to his father-- ”Many of the islands near us are inhabited; are they not, papa?”
”Yes, but not those very near us, I believe At all events, I never heard any voyagersseen inhabitants on the isles near which we suppose the one we are on to be”
”What sort of people are the islanders in these seas?”
”They are various The New Zealanders are the most advanced in civilization The natives of Van Diemen's Land and Australia are soraded class - indeed, little better than the beasts of the field”
”I have seen them,” said Ready; ”and I think I can mention a people, not very numerous indeed, who are still more like the beasts of the field I saw theht they were anis”
”Indeed, Ready; where may that be?”
”In the Great Andaal I once anchored in distress in Port Cornwallis, and theupon all fours under the trees that caot the telescope, and perceived then that they were ht”
”Did you ever come into contact with them?”
”No, sir, I did not; but I met, at Calcutta, a soldier who had; for at one ti a settlement on the island, and sent soht two of theh, excessively stupid and shy; they had no houses or huts to live in, and all that they did was to pile up some bushes to keep the wind off”
”Had they any arms?”
”Yes, sir, they had bows and arrows; but so miserablybut very small birds”
”Where did the people come from who inhabited these islands, papa?”
”That is difficult to say, William; but it is supposed that they have become inhabited in much the same way as this our island has been - that is, by people in canoes or boats driven out to sea, and saving their lives by effecting a landing, as we have done”
”I believe that's the truth,” replied Ready; ”I heard say that the Andaman Isles were supposed to have been first inhabited by a slaver full of negroes, recked on the coast in a typhoon”
”What is a typhoon, Ready?”
”It is much the sae of the monsoons”
”But what are ular froe round and blow fro”
”And what are the trade-winds, which I heard poor Captain Osborn talking about after we left Madeira?”
”The trade-winds blow on the equator, and several degrees north and south of it, fro the course of the sun”
”Is it the sun which produces these winds?”
”Yes, the extreme heat of the sun between the tropics rarefies the air as the earth turns round, and the trade-winds are produced by the rushi+ng in of the less heated air”
”Yes, William; and the trade-winds produce what they call the Gulf Stream,” observed Ready
”How is that? I have heard it spoken of, papa”
”The winds, constantly following the sun across the Atlantic Ocean, and blowing froreat effect upon the sea, which is forced up into the Gulf of Mexico (where it is stopped by the shores of Aher in the Gulf than in the eastern part of the Atlantic This accumulation of water must of course find a vent somewhere, and it does in what is called the Gulf Strea to the northward, along the shores of A not far froth is spent somewhere to the northward of the Azores”
”The Gulf Strearees war to its waters re, where the heat of the sun is so great”
”What do you mean by the land and sea breezes in the West Indies, and other hot climates, papa?”