Part 34 (1/2)
John pulled up his horse and drew his revolver.
”Don't, don't!” cried Jess; ”our only chance is to be civil;” whereon, thinking better of the matter, he replaced it, and wished the leading Boer good-day.
”What are you doing here?” asked the Dutchman; whereon Jess explained that they had a pa.s.s--which John promptly produced--and were proceeding to Mooifontein.
”Ah, _Oom_ Croft's!” said the Boer as he took the pa.s.s, ”you are likely to meet a burying party there,” but at the time Jess did not understand what he meant. He eyed the pa.s.s suspiciously all over, and then asked how it came to be stained with water.
Jess, not daring to tell the truth, said that it had been dropped into a puddle. The Boer was about to return it when suddenly his eye fell upon Jess's saddle.
”How is it that the girl is riding on a man's saddle?” he asked. ”Why, I know that saddle; let me look at the other side. Yes, there is a bullet-hole through the flap. That is Swart Dirk's saddle. How did you get it?”
”I bought it from him,” answered Jess without a moment's hesitation. ”I could get nothing to ride on.”
The Boer shook his head. ”There are plenty of saddles in Pretoria,”
he said, ”and these are not the days when a man sells his saddle to an English girl. Ah! and that other is a Boer saddle too. No Englishman has a saddle-cloth like that. This pa.s.s is not sufficient,” he went on in a cold tone; ”it should have been countersigned by the local commandant. I must arrest you.”
Jess began to make further excuses, but he merely repeated, ”I must arrest you,” and gave some orders to the men with him.
”We are caught again,” she said to John; ”and there is nothing for it but to go.”
”I sha'n't mind so much if only they will give us some food,” replied John philosophically. ”I am half starved.”
”And I am half dead,” said Jess with a little laugh. ”I wish they would shoot us and have done with it.”
”Come, cheer up, Jess,” he answered; ”perhaps the luck is going to change.”
She shook her head with the air of one who expects the worst, and then some gay young spirits among the Boers came up and made things pleasant by an exhibition of their polished wit, which they chiefly exercised at the expense of poor Jess, whose appearance, as may well be imagined, was exceedingly wretched and forlorn; so much so that it would have moved the pity of most people. But these specimens of the golden youth of a simple pastoral folk found in it a rich mine of opportunities. They asked her if she would not like to ride straddle-legged, and if she had bought her dress from an old Hottentot who had done with it, and if she had been rolling about tipsy in the veldt to get all the mud on it; and generally availed themselves of this unparalleled occasion to be witty at the expense of an English lady in sore distress. Indeed, one gay young dog called Jacobus was proceeding from jokes linguistic to jokes practical. Perceiving that Jess only kept her seat on the man's saddle by the exercise of a faculty of balance, it occurred to him that it would be a fine thing to upset it and make her fall upon her face.
Accordingly, with a sudden twist of the rein he brought his horse sharply against her wearied animal, nearly throwing it down; but she was too quick for him, and saved herself by catching at the mane. Jess said nothing; indeed, she made no answer to her tormentors, and fortunately John understood little of what they were saying. Presently, however, the young Boer made another attempt, putting out his hand to give her a slight push. As it happened John saw this, and the sight of the indignity caused the blood to boil in his veins. Before he could reflect on what he was doing he was alongside of the man, and, catching him by the throat, had hurled him backwards over his crupper with all the force he could command. Jacobus fell heavily upon his shoulders, and instantly there was a great hubbub. John drew his revolver, and the other Boers raised their rifles, so that Jess thought there was an end of it, and put her hand before her face, having first thanked John for avenging the insult with a swift flash of her beautiful eyes. And indeed in another second it would have been all over had not the elder man who inspected the pa.s.s interposed. In fact he had witnessed the proceedings which led to his follower's discomfiture, and, being a decent person at bottom, strongly disapproved of them.
”Leave them alone and put down those guns,” he shouted. ”It served Jacobus right; he was trying to push the girl from her horse! Almighty!
it is not wonderful those English call us brute beasts when you boys do such things. Put down your guns, I say, and one of you help Jacobus up.
He looks as sick as a buck with a bullet through it.”
Accordingly the row pa.s.sed over, and the playful Jacobus--whom Jess noted with satisfaction seemed exceedingly ill and trembled in every limb--was with difficulty hoisted on to his horse, to continue his journey with not a single bit of fun left in him.
A little while after this Jess pointed out a long low hill that lay upon the flat veldt, a dozen miles or so away, like a stone upon a stretch of sand.
”Look,” she said, ”there is Mooifontein at last!”
”We are not there yet,” remarked John sadly.
Another weary half-hour pa.s.sed, and then on pa.s.sing over a crest suddenly they saw Hans Coetzee's homestead lying down by the water in the hollow. So that was whither they were being taken.
Within a hundred yards of the house the Boers halted and consulted, except Jacobus, who went on, still looking very green. Finally the elder man came to them and addressed Jess, at the same time handing her back the pa.s.s.
”You can go on home,” he said. ”The Englishman must stay with us till we find out more about him.”
”He says that I can go. What shall I do?” asked Jess. ”I don't like leaving you with these men.”
”Do? why, go, of course. I can look after myself; and if I can't, certainly you won't be able to help me. Perhaps you will be able to get some help from the farm. At any rate, you must go.”