Perils in the Transvaal and Zululand Part 15

"True, sir," said George; "so I was thinking myself. But I should learn there what had become of them, and I am most anxious to join my mother as quickly as possible."

"Spielman's Vley?" interposed Hardy. "What, Ludwig Mansen's old station, do you mean, near Landman's Drift, where I live?"

"Yes," answered George. "Mrs Mansen is my mother."

"Really! ah, and Mrs Mansen's daughter is named Rivers, and you are like her. I have been puzzling my head for a long time who of my acquaintances it was whom you were so like. I know Mrs Mansen and her second husband very well. But I thought that her only son had been lost at sea."

"So she believes," said George. "I was wrecked, and nearly all hands were lost."

"She will be very happy when she learns the truth. But it will be no use for you to go to Spielman's Vley to find her. Six months ago, almost immediately after Mr Rogers' departure, there came news that Mrs Mansen's uncle, who lived near Zeerust, had died, and bequeathed all his property to her. It is a valuable and productive farm, I am told, and I fancy Mansen did not like the look of things in these parts, and resolved to move to Zeerust. He sold Spielman's Vley, and moved off as soon as he could to his new place. He has been gone a good many weeks. He has probably before this settled down at Umtongo, as Christopher Wylie's farm was called."

"And where is Zeerust?" asked George, a good deal disturbed at these tidings. "Zeerust! wasn't that the place you were saying something about last night, Mr Baylen?"

"Yes," answered the person addressed. "I believe I mentioned Zeerust, in the story I told you about Matamo. It is a long way there--three or four hundred miles, I should think. And it was, in the days when I was speaking about, a very dangerous journey. But I have no doubt it is much easier now. You mustn't be cast down, my lad," he continued kindly, observing how much George appeared to be distressed. "You are a stout young fellow, with a head on your shoulders, and a brave heart to boot. You will get there, I have no doubt, quite safe. Don't you think so, Hardy?"

"I have no doubt of it," answered the person addressed. "The only thing is that I don't think Mr Rivers can attempt the journey just now."

"Why not?" asked George. "I heard what you said about Mrs and Miss Baylen, and I quite agreed in it, but there will be no ladies in our party, and I can make my hand guard my head. At least, I have never failed to do so yet."

"I don't doubt it, Mr Rivers," said Hardy. "But the danger to you would not be only from ruffians and robbers; there would be risk from wild animals to any one not acquainted with the country. There are not many lions or rhinoceroses or elephants in those parts, no doubt; you seldom or never meet with them about there in these days. But there are plenty of leopards and buffaloes, and, what is more dangerous, deadly serpents--puff-adders, ondaras, cobras, and the like. And you may catch marsh fever any day, if you sleep in the swamp neighbourhood. You would require one skilful guide at least, and it would be better if you had two or three. Now these are not to be had at present. You must wait till this war is over, which we may hope will not be a long one. Then perhaps Mr Baylen here will lend you Matamo and Utango. They would take you across safely enough."

"I think that might be managed," a.s.sented Farmer Baylen. "Hardy's advice is good. You will do wisely to wait till this war is ended."

"I have no doubt of his kindness, or of yours either, sir," said George; "but I own that this delay, coming after so many months of expectation, does vex me. How long do you think it will be before the war is over, Mr Hardy?"

"That is hard to say," answered Hardy. "It depends on how our troops are handled, and how quickly they may be able to force on a battle."

"You have no doubt as to what will be the issue of the battle, when it does take place?" suggested Redgy.

"Well, no. Against disciplined English troops, unless there were great incapacity or great cowardice, the blind courage of these Zulus would avail little. But there can hardly be incapacity, for Colonels Wood and Pearson are undoubtedly able officers, and Lord Chelmsford has the name of being a good general--though that has not been so clearly proved.

And such a thing as cowardice in English soldiers is unheard of. I am not so sure, however, about the Natal contingent. There is such a terror of Cetewayo among the natives, that, but for the presence and example of English troops, I do not feel certain that they could be got to face the Zulus. However, the chances are that a few weeks will see the Zulu king defeated and put down."

"Well, I don't think I can do better than take your advice," said George. "I suppose Redgy and I had better go with your party to Rorke's Drift, if you will allow us. Perhaps I may be of some use there."

"Perhaps you may indeed," suggested Hardy. "Why, you and Mr Margetts had better join the mounted volunteers, as I mean to do. They would be delighted to have you, and in a few weeks' time--before the fighting begins at all events--you will have had nearly all the drilling that would be required."

"That is not a bad idea," returned George. "I wonder I did not think of it before. What do you say to it, Redgy?"

"Why, that it has been running in my head all the morning," said Margetts. "You see you and I have been taught to ride pretty well.

They won't require of you to have a seat like a life-guardsman in Piccadilly, with the tips of your toes in the stirrup, out here. And we know how to shoot too, and are pretty good hands at single-stick, and will soon learn the use of our swords. We should soon be qualified for the rough and ready work out here. I should like to see these Zulu fellows bowled over, I must say."

"Very good! then that's settled," said George. "We'll ride over with the waggon to Rorke's Drift this morning, and offer ourselves as volunteers; and I think we had better go and saddle our horses at once, as I see they are inspanning the oxen already. We have only to take our leave of Mr and Mrs Bilderjik, and thank them for their hospitality."

"You need not take leave of me yet, Mr Rivers," said the Swedish pastor. "I am going, with Mr Baylen's leave, to make one of the party to the Drift, and Mrs Bilderjik will accompany me."

"I hope you don't imagine there is any danger here from the Zulus,"

remarked Hardy. "As I have told my friend Baylen, the Zulu Impi has been already withdrawn, nor is there the least chance of its return."

"I do not imagine there is," said Mr Bilderjik. "Nor has Umbelini anything to do with my movements. But I think my brother pastor at Rorke's Drift and his wife will have more on their hands for some time to come than they can manage, and that they will be glad of our help. I can be better spared here, where my schoolmaster will do all that is required in ordinary, and I shall ride over occasionally myself. I am going to fetch my horse, and will ride with you. You may be glad of my presence as a guide, and also, it is possible, to answer questions that may be asked. There are a great many suspicious characters about, and the officers in command require explanations before they allow any one to pa.s.s."

"I forgot that," said George, "and so, I suppose, did Mr Baylen."

"No, I imagine he reckoned on your riding by the side of the waggons, in which case you would of course have pa.s.sed as belonging to his party.

But you would find it very dull work, keeping by the side of the waggon the whole way."

In another half-hour they had all set out--Baylen and his sons to the Mooi, and Hardy to Umvalosa. The large waggon jolted off with the ladies seated in it. The missionary and the two young Englishmen cantered off in advance, Haxo, the Hottentot groom and stableman, following on a Kaffir pony.

"Have you been long settled in this country, Mr Bilderjik?" asked George, as they drew rein after a sharp ride of half an hour.

"Do you mean in South Africa, or in Natal?"

"I mean in Africa generally. How long is it since you left Europe?"

"A great many years--five-and-thirty or so. It is certainly nearly that time since I landed at Cape Town, and was sent up to Namaqualand."

"Ah, you have been there, among the Hottentots?"

"I was about five years there."

"Were you settled in one place, or did you travel about?"

"My residence was always in the same place, but I and my wife made continual excursions into different parts of the country."

"Did you find the people willing to receive you?"

"That is a question which it is not easy to answer," said the Swedish minister. "They showed no dislike to us; indeed, they were willing enough to listen, but, I fear, to very little purpose. For the first two or three years, I continually fancied that I was making some progress, getting some hold upon them. But I am afraid it was nearly all fancy."

"What stood in your way?"

"In the first place, the profound ignorance of the people, and their low intellectual capacity. They could understand all that was necessary for supplying their wants, averting dangers, relieving pain, and the like.

If Christianity consisted in the proper discharge of duties like these, one might have made good Christians of them without any great difficulty. They might have been taught to be diligent, and kind, and truthful, and forgiving--though those last two qualities were not so easy to teach. But when any one tried to impress upon them the notion of an Unseen Power watching over them, to whom they owed obedience, one entered upon an almost impossible task. They couldn't understand that any being could exist whom they could not see, much less that he could have power or authority over them. Where was any evidence of so extraordinary a thing, beyond my bare word? It was useless, again, to tell them that their relatives, who had been taken away from earth, were not dead, but living elsewhere. They had seen them die, they said, and knew that they turned to dust, and there was no more left of them than there was of the wood they had burned for their fire yesterday. They were on the whole a kindly race, and had received such hard usage from the Dutch that they appreciated in proportion the kindness shown to them. But it was impossible to lift their minds--so at least it seemed--from the degradation to which they had sunk."

"Had you not a better chance with the children, sir?" asked Margetts.

"That is every missionary's hope," answered Bilderjik. "Yes, we succeeded in teaching some of the children to read and write, though, to be sure, not very efficiently; and they could take in some very simple teaching on plain subjects, as, for instance, natural history, or geography. I suppose this might have been further developed, until, in process of time, the intellect was fully awakened. But it would be a long and difficult task, extending probably over more than one man's entire life."

"But to have accomplished any part of such a work would be worth the labour of a life," said George.

The missionary looked pleased. "You are right, Mr Rivers," he said.

"That is the true way in which to view it. A man's work is often to be estimated--not by what he himself does, but by what he enables others after him to do. 'One soweth and another reapeth,' is truer, I think, of the work of the gospel than of anything else. Have you any idea of giving yourself to it?"

"I have come out to South Africa mainly with that intention," said George. "It has struck me, since we left Colenso, that entering the Volunteers, as I declared my intention of doing, may not be quite consistent with it. What do you think?"

The clergyman smiled. "A minister of the gospel is a man of peace," he said. "But war is sometimes absolutely necessary to the preservation of peace. And that, I am inclined to believe, is the case in the present instance. If you were actually an ordained minister, I think you ought not to take part in any violent proceedings, unless for the purpose of preventing some actual deed of violence. But you are at present a layman, and the cause is one which every right-minded man ought to uphold. Situated as you are, I don't see why you should not enlist.

Did I not hear you say that you were going to Umvalosa?"

"Yes, to d.y.k.eman's Hollow--Mr Rogers' place."