Part 78 (1/2)
The native glanced upwards. ”There is, Inkos,” he replied; ”but we may just ride through it and escape.”
Great inky clouds were gathering with alarming rapidity, and hastening to unite themselves to the dense black pall which drew on, silent, spectral, and gigantic, over the mountain-tops, and a dull, m.u.f.fled roar boomed nearer and nearer between the fitful puffs of hot wind which fanned the travellers' faces. And now the scene was a weird one indeed.
They were just entering a long defile--for they had reached the mountains--and along the rugged crags of the lonely heights towering above on either side, the red flashes were playing. Higher and higher piled the solid cloud-ma.s.ses, and a few large drops of rain began to patter upon the stones. The gloom deepened, and all Nature was hushed as if in preparation for the coming battle of the elements.
Hark! Was that the ring of a horse's hoof far down the pa.s.s? No. Not a human creature is abroad in this awesome place to-night, with the black, brooding storm overhead, and the clans of the savage enemy besetting every step of the road with peril. A huge bird of prey soars away from one of the desolate crags, uttering a hoa.r.s.e, long-drawn cry like the wailing of a lost soul. It is pitch dark. Then a flash lights up the road, and Claverton, profiting by it, peers anxiously ahead.
”Come along, Sam. There's a smooth bit here, anyhow, and we can get over a good stride of ground,” and, spurring up his horse, away he goes at a long, even canter, with the Natal boy close behind him striving to keep up; and the sparks fly from beneath the horses' hoofs as they dash on through the night. A roll of thunder--long, heavy, and appalling-- peals through the pa.s.s, a vivid flash of plum-coloured flame, and Claverton suddenly reins in his steed--who, with a snort of terror, rears and s.h.i.+es--just in time to avoid charging headlong into another horseman advancing at an equally rapid pace from the contrary direction, and who also reins in with a jerk. A powerfully-built, dark-featured man who stifles a half-spoken e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n; but beyond that neither speak.
What is the spell thrown over these two as they sit their horses gazing at each other in the lightning's horrible, scathing gleam in that gloomy pa.s.s? Is it an instinct? It is more. In that one vivid flash occupying not a second of time, Claverton has recognised in this sudden apparition the man whom he had seen and heard in the deserted hut, deliberately instigating his a.s.sa.s.sination. He recognises something more. As, with a muttered ”good-night,” the other pa.s.ses on into the gloom, the lightning flashes again, revealing upon his bridle-hand a curious ring. It is an exact facsimile of the lost ring which glittered in the moonbeams beneath the old pear-tree on that last night at Seringa Vale.
VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
”GIVE US LONG REST... DARE DEATH OR DREAMFUL EASE.”
We left Lilian crushed beneath the weight of this fresh blow dealt her by the man who had been the curse of her life.
To a night of anguish--anguish so poignant that she sometimes feared for her very reason--succeeded days of dull and hopeless apathy. Her whole being, body and soul alike, seemed to be numb and dead. She could not talk, she dared not think, nor could she pray. Even that last resource was denied her; for there came upon her a miserable feeling of fatality, that her G.o.d had forsaken her, leaving her to be the sport of some cruel demon. And, amid her apathy, her thoughts would, in spite of herself, float dreamily back in a mechanical kind of way to all that had gone before. She had been sad-hearted then in the temporary separation from her lover; but now! that time was ecstasy itself in comparison with this. Somehow, it never occurred to her to doubt one word of Truscott's statement. He had been so positive, so resolute, that it must be true.
And then she remembered the hundred and one little incidents--hints that her lover had let fall--uneasiness manifested on an occasion--the veiled compunction with which he had touched upon his former life--all stood out now in startling conspicuousness. Even that day had opened so propitiously, and lo, within one single hour, life was ended for her.
Sorely anxious were the Paynes over this fell change which had come upon her on that sunny afternoon. They could elicit nothing from her. She was not well, she admitted, but would be all right in a day or two, no doubt. And this, with such a ghost of a smile upon her white face, that Payne, suddenly struck with an idea, s.n.a.t.c.hed up his hat and rushed down into the town to inquire if any fresh news had been received from the seat of war. Had she, unknown to them, heard that harm had befallen her lover? If so, that would amply account for the depression. So he went diligently to work to hunt up news; but no telegrams of a dispiriting nature had been received, quite the contrary--the enemy had had another thras.h.i.+ng, and there was no mention of loss on the colonial side. All this was a relief to Payne. But sorely puzzled; indeed, completely baffled; he returned to his wife and reported accordingly.
”I tell you what, George,” she began, and her face wore a troubled and concerned expression. ”I've heard something--something that makes me think this Captain Truscott's at the bottom of it.”
”Eh?”
”Well, he was here yesterday afternoon for more than two hours, and Lilian hasn't been herself since. She didn't tell me, but I heard it while you were out.”
Payne stared at her blankly, but made no reply.
”You know I never did like that man,” continued she. ”I told you so at first. And I'm perfectly certain that he and Lilian are something more than merely old acquaintances.” And then she told him of the latter's dismayed look on first recognising Truscott in the crowd, and one or two other things that had not escaped her observation. ”He has been persecuting her in some way, I'm sure, and I won't have her persecuted,”
concluded the warm-hearted little woman.
Payne was whistling meditatively. He had a high opinion of his wife's intelligence in all matters relating to the idiosyncrasies of her s.e.x, so he would just let her go on.
”Well, what's to be done?” he said. ”We can't ask the fellow what the devil he's been up to, and Lilian won't tell us.”
”Can't we? I think we can, and ought.”
Payne shook his head, and looked gloomy. The affair was beginning to a.s.sume a serious phase. It was a delicate business, and the honest frontiersman felt thoroughly perplexed. He did not want to make a fool of himself, or of any one else, through officiousness or meddling.
”I know a trick worth two of that, Annie,” he said at last.
”What is it?”
”Wire to Claverton. Eh?”
She paused. ”Well, perhaps that would be the best plan.”
”Good. I'll cut down and do it now.” And, sliding from the table whereon he had been seated swinging his legs, he reached down a jar of tobacco from a shelf, and hastily cramming his pipe, started off. ”What shall I tell him, though?” he asked, suddenly stopping in the doorway.