CHAPTER II
HOW THE SISTERS CAME TO MOOIFONTEIN
"Captain Niel," said Bessie Croft--for she was named Bessie--when theyhad painfully limped one hundred yards or so, "will you think me rude ifI ask you a question?"
"Not at all."
"What has induced you to come and bury yourself in this place?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because I don't think that you will like it. I don't think," she addedslowly, "that it is a fit place for an English gentleman and an armyofficer like you. You will find the Boer ways horrid, and then therewill only be my old uncle and us two for you to associate with."
John Niel laughed. "English gentlemen are not so particular nowadays, Ican assure you, Miss Croft, especially when they have to earn a living.Take my case, for instance, for I may as well tell you exactly how Istand. I have been in the army fourteen years, and I am now thirty-four.Well, I have been able to live there because I had an old aunt whoallowed me 120 pounds a year. Six months ago she died, leaving me thelittle property she possessed, for most of her income came from anannuity. After paying expenses, duty, &c., it amounts to 1,115 pounds.Now, the interest on this is about fifty pounds a year, and I can't livein the army on that. Just after my aunt's death I came to Durban withmy regiment from Mauritius, and now they are ordered home. Well, I likedthe country, and I knew that I could not afford to live in England, so Igot a year's leave of absence, and made up my mind to have a look roundto see if I could not take to farming. Then a gentleman in Durban toldme of your uncle, and said that he wanted to dispose of a third interestin his place for a thousand pounds, as he was getting too old to manageit himself. So I entered into correspondence with him, and agreed tocome up for a few months to see how I liked it; and accordingly here Iam, just in time to save you from being knocked to bits by an ostrich."
"Yes, indeed," she answered, laughing; "you've had a warm welcome at anyrate. Well, I hope you _will_ like it."
Just as he finished his story they reached the top of the rise overwhich the ostrich had pursued Bessie Croft, and saw a Kafir comingtowards them, leading the pony with one hand and Captain Niel's horsewith the other. About twenty yards behind the horses a lady was walking.
"Ah," said Bessie, "they've caught the horses, and here is Jess come tosee what is the matter."
By this time the lady in question was quite close, so that John was ableto gather a first impression of her. She was small and rather thin, withquantities of curling brown hair; not by any means a lovely woman,as her sister undoubtedly was, but possessing two very remarkablecharacteristics--a complexion of extraordinary and uniform pallor, and apair of the most beautiful dark eyes he had ever looked on. Altogether,though her size was almost insignificant, she was a striking-lookingperson, with a face few men would easily forget. Before he had time toobserve any more the two parties had met.
"What on earth is the matter, Bessie?" Jess said, with a quick glanceat her sister's companion, and speaking in a low full voice, with justa slight South African accent, that is taking enough in a pretty woman.Thereon Bessie broke out with a history of their adventure, appealing toCaptain Niel for confirmation at intervals.
Meanwhile Jess Croft stood quite still and silent, and it struck Johnthat her face was the most singularly impassive one he had ever seen. Itnever changed, even when her sister told her how the ostrich rolled onher and nearly killed her, or how they finally subdued the foe. "Dearme," he thought to herself, "what a very strange woman! She can't havemuch heart." But just as he thought it the girl looked up, and then hesaw where the expression lay. It was in those remarkable eyes. Immovableas was her face, the dark eyes were alight with life and a suppressedexcitement that made them shine gloriously. The contrast between theshining eyes and the impassive face beneath them struck him as soextraordinary as to be almost uncanny. As a matter of fact, it wasdoubtless both unusual and remarkable.
"You have had a wonderful escape, but I am sorry for the bird," she saidat last.
"Why?" asked John.
"Because we were great friends. I was the only person who could managehim."
"Yes," put in Bessie, "the savage brute would follow her about like adog. It was just the oddest thing I ever saw. But come on; we must begetting home, it's growing dark. Mouti"--which, being interpreted, meansMedicine--she added, addressing the Kafir in Zulu--"help Captain Nielon to his horse. Be careful that the saddle does not twist round; thegirths may be loose."
Thus adjured, John, with the help of the Zulu, clambered into hissaddle, an example that the lady quickly followed, and they set off oncemore through the gathering darkness. Presently he became aware that theywere passing up a drive bordered by tall blue gums, and next minute thebarking of a large dog, which he afterwards knew by the name of Stomp,and the sudden appearance of lighted windows told him that they hadreached the house. At the door--or rather, opposite to it, for therewas a verandah in front--they halted and got off their horses. As theydismounted there came a shout of welcome from the house, and presentlyin the doorway, showing out clearly against the light, appeared astriking and, in its way, a most pleasant figure. He--for it was aman--was very tall, or, rather, he had been very tall. Now he was muchbent with age and rheumatism. His long white hair hung low upon hisneck, and fell back from a prominent brow. The top of the head wasquite bald, like the tonsure of a priest, and shone and glistened in thelamplight, and round this oasis the thin white locks fell down. Theface was shrivelled like the surface of a well-kept apple, and, likean apple, rosy red. The features were aquiline and strongly marked; theeyebrows still black and very bushy, and beneath them shone a pairof grey eyes, keen and bright as those of a hawk. But for all itssharpness, there was nothing unpleasant or fierce about the face; onthe contrary, it was pervaded by a remarkable air of good-nature andpleasant shrewdness. For the rest, the man was dressed in rough tweedclothes, tall riding-boots, and held a broad-brimmed Boer hunting hat inhis hand. Such, as John Niel first saw him, was the outer person of oldSilas Croft, one of the most remarkable men in the Transvaal.
"Is that you, Captain Niel?" roared out the stentorian voice. "Thenatives said you were coming. A welcome to you! I am glad to seeyou--very glad. Why, what is the matter with you?" he went on as theZulu Mouti ran to help him off his horse.
"Matter, Mr. Croft?" answered John; "why, the matter is that yourfavourite ostrich has nearly killed me and your niece here, and that Ihave killed your favourite ostrich."
Then followed explanations from Bessie, during which he was helped offhis horse and into the house.
"It serves me right," said the old man. "To think of it now, just tothink of it! Well, Bessie, my love, thank God that you escaped--ay, andyou too, Captain Niel. Here, you boys, take the Scotch cart and acouple of oxen and go and fetch the brute home. We may as well have thefeathers off him, at any rate, before the _aasvogels_ (vultures) tearhim to bits."
After he had washed himself and tended his injuries with arnica andwater, John managed to limp into the principal sitting-room, wheresupper was waiting. It was a very pleasant room, furnished in Europeanstyle, and carpeted with mats made of springbuck skins. In the cornerstood a piano, and by it a bookcase, filled with the works of standardauthors, the property, as John rightly guessed, of Bessie's sister Jess.
Supper went off pleasantly enough, and after it was over the two girlssang and played whilst the men smoked. And here a fresh surprise awaitedhim, for after Bessie, who apparently had now almost recovered from hermauling, had played a piece or two creditably enough, Jess, who sofar had been nearly silent, sat down at the piano. She did not dothis willingly, indeed, for it was not until her patriarchal uncle hadinsisted in his ringing, cheery voice that she should let Captain Nielhear how she could sing that she consented. But at last she did consent,and then, after letting her fingers stray somewhat aimlessly along thechords, she suddenly broke out into such song as John Niel had neverheard before. Her voice, beautiful as it was, was not what is known asa cultivated voice, and it was a
German song, therefore he did notunderstand it, but there was no need of words to translate its burden.Passion, despairing yet hoping through despair, echoed in its everyline, and love, unending love, hovered over the glorious notes--nay,possessed them like a spirit, and made them his. Up! up! rang her wildsweet voice, thrilling his nerves till they answered to the music as anAeolian harp answers to the winds. On went the song with a divine sweep,like the sweep of rushing pinions; higher, yet higher it soared, liftingup the listener's heart far above the world on the trembling wingsof sound--ay, even higher, till the music hung at heaven's gate, andfalling thence, swiftly as an eagle falls, quivered, and was dead.
John sighed, and so strongly was he moved, sank back in his chair,feeling almost faint with the revulsion of feeling that ensued when thenotes had died away. He looked up, and saw Bessie watching him withan air of curiosity and amusement. Jess was still leaning against thepiano, and gently touching the notes, over which her head was bent low,showing the coils of curling hair that were twisted round it like acoronet.
"Well, Captain Niel," said the old man, waving his pipe in herdirection, "and what do you say to my singing-bird's music, eh? Isn't itenough to draw the heart out of a man, eh, and turn his marrow to water,eh?"
"I never heard anything quite like it," he answered simply, "and I haveheard most singers. It is beautiful. Certainly, I never expected to hearsuch singing in the Transvaal."
Jess turned quickly, and he observed that, though her eyes were alightwith excitement, her face was as impassive as ever.
"There is no need for you to laugh at me, Captain Niel," she saidquickly, and then, with an abrupt "Good-night," she left the room.
The old man smiled, jerked the stem of his pipe over his shoulder afterher, and winked in a way that, no doubt, meant unutterable things, butwhich did not convey much to his astonished guest, who sat still andsaid nothing. Then Bessie rose and bade him good-night in her pleasantvoice, and with housewifely care inquired as to whether his room was tohis taste, and how many blankets he liked upon his bed, telling him thatif he found the odour of the moonflowers which grew near the verandahtoo strong, he had better shut the right-hand window and open that onthe other side of the room. Then at length, with a piquant little nod ofher golden head, she went off, looking, John thought as he watchedher retreating figure, about as healthy, graceful, and generallysatisfactory a young woman as a man could wish to see.
"Take a glass of grog, Captain Niel," said the old man, pushing thesquare bottle towards him, "you'll need it after the mauling that brutegave you. By the way, I haven't thanked you for saving my Bessie! ButI do thank you, yes, that I do. I must tell you that Bessie is myfavourite niece. Never was there such a girl--never. Moves like aspringbuck, and what an eye and form! Work too--she'll do as much workas three. There's no nonsense about Bessie, none at all. She's not afine lady, for all her fine looks."
"The two sisters seem very different," said John.
"Ay, you're right there," answered the old man. "You'd never thinkthat the same blood ran in their veins, would you? There's three yearsbetween them, that's one thing. Bessie's the youngest, you see--she'sjust twenty, and Jess is twenty-three. Lord, to think that it istwenty-three years since that girl was born! And theirs is a queer storytoo."
"Indeed?" said his listener interrogatively.
"Ay," Silas went on absently, knocking out his pipe, and refilling itfrom a big brown jar of coarse-cut Boer tobacco, "I'll tell it to you ifyou like: you are going to live in the house, and you may as well knowit. I am sure, Captain Niel, that it will go no further. You see Iwas born in England, yes, and well-born too. I come fromCambridgeshire--from the fat fen-land down round Ely. My father was aclergyman. Well, he wasn't rich, and when I was twenty he gave me hisblessing, thirty sovereigns in my pocket, and my passage to the Cape;and I shook his hand, God bless him, and off I came, and here in the oldcolony and this country I have been for fifty years, for I was seventyyesterday. Well, I'll tell you more about that another time, it's of thegirls I'm speaking now. After I left home--some years after--my dearold father married again, a youngish woman with some money, but ratherbeneath him in life, and by her he had one son, and then died. Well, itwas but little I heard of my half-brother, except that he had turnedout very badly, married, and taken to drink, till one night some twelveyears ago, when a strange thing happened. I was sitting here in thisvery room, ay, in this very chair--for this part of the house was upthen, though the wings weren't built--smoking my pipe, and listening tothe lashing of the rain, for it was a very foul night, when suddenly anold pointer dog I had, named Ben, began to bark.
"'Lie down, Ben, it's only the Kafirs,' said I.
"Just then I thought I heard a faint sort of rapping at the door, andBen barked again, so I got up and opened it, and in came two littlegirls wrapped in old shawls or some such gear. Well, I shut the door,looking first to see if there were any more outside, and then I turnedand stared at the two little things with my mouth open. There theystood, hand in hand, the water dripping from both of them; the eldermight have been eleven, and the second about eight years old. Theydidn't say anything, but the elder turned and took the shawl and hat offthe younger--that was Bessie--and there was her sweet little face andher golden hair, and damp enough both of them were, and she put herthumb in her mouth, and stood and looked at me till I began to thinkthat I was dreaming.
"'Please, sir,' said the taller at last, 'is this Mr. Croft's house--Mr.Croft--South African Republic?'
"'Yes, little Miss, this is his house, and this is the South AfricanRepublic, and I am he. And now who might you be, my dears?' I answered.
"'If you please, sir, we are your nieces, and we have come to you fromEngland.'
"'What!' I holloaed, startled out of my wits, as well I might be.
"'Oh, sir,' says the poor little thing, clasping her thin wet hands,'please don't send us away. Bessie is so wet, and cold and hungry too,she isn't fit to go any farther.'
"And she set to work to cry, whereon the little one cried also, fromfright and cold and sympathy.
"Well, of course, I took them both to the fire, and set them on myknees, and called for Hebe, the old Hottentot woman who did my cooking,and between us we undressed them, and wrapped them up in some oldclothes, and fed them with soup and wine, so that in half an hour theywere quite happy and not a bit frightened.
"'And now, young ladies,' I said, 'come and give me a kiss, both of you,and tell me how you came here.'
"This is the tale they told me--completed, of course, from what I learntafterwards--and an odd one it is. It seems that my half-brother marrieda Norfolk lady--a sweet young thing--and treated her like a dog. He wasa drunken rascal, was my half-brother, and he beat his poor wife andshamefully neglected her, and even ill-used the two little girls, tillat last the poor woman, weak as she was from suffering and ill health,could bear it no longer, and formed the wild idea of escaping to thiscountry and of throwing herself upon my protection. That shows howdesperate she must have been. She scraped together and borrowed somemoney, enough to pay for three second-class passages to Natal and a fewpounds over, and one day, when her brute of a husband was away on thedrink and gamble, she slipped on board a sailing ship in the LondonDocks, and before he knew anything about it they were well out to sea.But it was her last effort, poor dear soul, and the excitement of itfinished her. Before they had been ten days at sea, she sank anddied, and the two little children were left alone. What they must havesuffered, or rather what poor Jess must have suffered, for she was oldenough to feel, God only knows, but I can tell you this, she has nevergot over the shock to this hour. It has left its mark on her, sir.Still, let people say what they will, there is a Power who looks afterthe helpless, and that Power took those poor, homeless, wanderingchildren under its wing. The captain of the vessel befriended them,and when at last they reached Durban some of the passengers made asubscription, and paid an old Boer, who was coming up this way with hiswife to the Transvaal, to take them under his charg
e. The Boer and his_vrouw_ treated the children fairly well, but they did not do one thingmore than they bargained for. At the turn from the Wakkerstroom road,that you came along to-day, they put the girls down, for they had noluggage with them, and told them that if they went along there theywould come to _Meinheer_ Croft's house. That was in the middle of theafternoon, and they were till eight o'clock getting here, poor littledears, for the track was fainter then than it is now, and they wanderedoff into the veldt, and would have perished there in the wet and coldhad they not chanced to see the lights of the house. That was how mynieces came here, Captain Niel, and here they have been ever since,except for a couple of years when I sent them to the Cape for schooling,and a lonely man I was when they were away."
"And how about the father?" asked John Niel, deeply interested. "Did youever hear any more of him?"
"Hear of him, the villain!" almost shouted the old man, jumping up inwrath. "Ay, d--n him, I heard of him. What do you think? The two chickshad been with me some eighteen months, long enough for me to learn tolove them with all my heart, when one fine morning, as I was seeingabout the new kraal wall, I saw a fellow come riding up on an oldraw-boned grey horse. Up he comes to me, and as he came I looked athim, and said to myself, 'You are a drunkard you are, and a rogue, it'swritten on your face, and, what's more, I know your face.' You see I didnot guess that it was a son of my own father that I was looking at. Howshould I?
"'Is your name Croft?' he said.
"'Ay,' I answered.
"'So is mine,' he went on with a sort of drunken leer. 'I'm yourbrother.'
"'Are you?' I said, beginning to get my back up, for I guessed what hisgame was, 'and what may you be after? I tell you at once, and to yourface, that if you are my brother you are a blackguard, and I don't wantto know you or have anything to do with you; and if you are not, I begyour pardon for coupling you with such a scoundrel.'
"'Oh, that's your tune, is it?' he said with a sneer. 'Well, now,my dear brother Silas, I want my children. They have got a littlehalf-brother at home--for I have married again, Silas--who is anxious tohave them to play with, so if you will be so good as to hand them over,I'll take them away at once.'
"'You'll take them away, will you?' said I, all of a tremble with rageand fear.
"'Yes, Silas, I will. They are mine by law, and I am not going tobreed children for you to have the comfort of their society. I've takenadvice, Silas, and that's sound law,' and he leered at me again.
"I stood and looked at that man, and thought of how he had treated thosepoor children and their young mother, and my blood boiled, and I grewmad. Without another word I jumped over the half-finished wall, andcaught him by the leg (for I was a strong man ten years ago) and jerkedhim off the horse. As he came down he dropped the _sjambock_ from hishand, and I laid hold of it and then and there gave him the soundesthiding a man ever had. Lord, how he did holloa! When I was tired I lethim get up.
"'Now,' I said, 'be off with you, and if you come back here I'll bid theKafirs hunt you to Natal with their sticks. This is the South AfricanRepublic, and we don't care overmuch about law here.' Which we didn't inthose days.
"'All right, Silas,' he said, 'all right, you shall pay for this.I'll have those children, and, for your sake, I'll make their livesa hell--you mark my words--South African Republic or no South AfricanRepublic. I've got the law on my side.'
"Off he rode, cursing and swearing, and I flung his _sjambock_ afterhim. This was the first and last time that I saw my brother."
"What became of him?" asked John Niel.
"I'll tell you, just to show you again that there is a Power which keepssuch men in its eye. He rode back to Newcastle that night, and wentabout the canteen there abusing me, and getting drunker and drunker,till at last the canteen keeper sent for his boys to turn him out. Well,the boys were rough, as Kafirs are apt to be with a drunken white man,and he struggled and fought, and in the middle of it the blood began torun from his mouth, and he dropped down dead of a broken blood-vessel,and there was an end of him. That is the story of the two girls, CaptainNiel, and now I am off to bed. To-morrow I'll show you round the farm,and we will have a talk about business. Good-night to you, Captain Niel.Good-night!"
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