A Veldt Official Part 18

"In that event, still less can it be any business of mine," was the perfectly good-humoured rejoinder. As a matter of fact, Roden disliked this form of chaff; but he liked the utterers of it more than a little, and knew that they meant it as nothing but sheer fun; moreover, he was far too thorough a student of human nature to afford prominence to a distasteful topic by appearing to shrink from it. Nor was his unconcern in any degree forced. It was not in him to be jealous of Lambert, or indeed, of anybody. Jealousy was a word which, done into a definition, meant going begging to a given person for a consideration beyond what that person felt--a despicable lowering of himself, towards which Roden Musgrave felt no temptation. He rated himself at far too high a value for that.

If Mona's apparently unaccountable conduct were of set design, if her distant reserve were intended to draw him the more ardently to her feet, to bind him more closely in her chains, if she were really making use of the rather stale and transparent trick of playing off one against the other, why then she was indulging in a very risky game. With nine men out of ten that sort of thing might answer; with this one, never. He was beginning to think of her with something of aversion, bordering on contempt.

So the weeks went by and Christmas had come, but there was a sullen, boding, uneasy feeling; for the restlessness of the border tribes had been growing apace. Doppersdorp, however, managed to make merry, after its kind, and got up rifle matches, and athletics, and b.a.l.l.s, of a mixed and republican sort, and the band made a nocturnal round from house to house, discoursing from its limited repertory much bad music, which grew worse in proportion to the c.u.mulative hospitality of those serenaded.

Then vast numbers of natives swarmed in from the locations, drawn by a big tab of the worst kind of grog, broached by Jones of the Barkly Hotel, and on tap for all comers; and by midday the township was overran by such racing, whooping blackfellows as were not too drank for that form of seasonable exuberance; yet in view of the novel reflection that Christmas occurred but once in a year, these and other little irregularities were winked at.

Then, with the closing days of the year, the thunderclap burst, the pent-up electricity so long in the air blazed forth. The tribes within the border had risen, and that with a spontaneity and fixity of purpose which should have been gratifying to all overs of the thorough-going, and the hot, Southern midsummer nights of the closing year echoed the fierce thunder of the war-song, where crowds of excited savages danced fiend-like in the lurid glow of flaming homesteads.

The news of the outbreak, grim as it might be, was received by Doppersdorp as by no means an unmixed evil; for did it not mean more excitement, and was not excitement a most blessed boon to that slow-going community? First, there was the delight of discussing the news, and, on the part of each citizen, the inestimable joy of carrying on the whole campaign exactly as it should be carried on--from Jones'

bar-room. Then, there was the exhilaration of many Volunteer parades, and the sounding of wholly strange and uncalled-for alarms at all hours of the day and night, not to mention midnight swoops into the town location in quest of potential spies, and the rude disturbance of the slumbers of its population, resulting in two or even three decrepit and otherwise inoffensive natives, unable in the scurry and alarm to produce their pa.s.ses, being marched off to gaol, triumphantly and securely escorted by some three-score fixed bayonets. All these, and many more doughty deeds of valour, were achieved by the armed manhood of Doppersdorp daring those trying times.

Perhaps, however, the acme of jubilation was attained when the Burgher law was put in force in the district. Then a monster meeting was convened, and to it swarmed a vast number of armed Boers of all sorts and sizes, and the atmosphere of the Court-house was terrific, even with all the windows wide open, in its combined reek of humanity and general unwashenness, and honest sweat, and gun-oil, and seldom-changed corduroy, and hoa.r.s.e, uncouth, clamouring voices. For the enthusiasm was intense, so that, with all the excuses and prayers for exemption, Mr Van Stolz had no difficulty in enrolling a good solid command some three hundred strong, and when this was mustered on the following day in front of the Court-house, and marched out, duly armed and mounted, to the usual accompaniments of the Volunteer band and "G.o.d save the Queen,"

and the whole population of Doppersdorp, reputable or ragged, yelling itself hoa.r.s.e with patriotism and enthusiasm, all felt that very great things had been done, and that even a Kaffir war had its bright side-- for those who stayed at home.

After this, things quieted down a little, and just then, on Mr Van Stolz' recommendation, Roden found himself placed on the Commission of the Peace, and nominated a.s.sistant Magistrate; for the district was a large one, and there was a periodical Court held at an outlying township.

"You see, Musgrave," said the former, "it will get you on quicker, even if it means precious little more pay. You can go and hold the periodical Court at Luipaard's Vlei, and that'll get you into practice; and then, if I go on leave, as I want to do soon, I'll make them appoint you to act here. It all helps you on, betters your chances. I like to help a fellow on all I can, when he's the sort of fellow to help; and I've often been able to. The only one I'm d.a.m.ned if I've been able to help is myself," he broke off, with a jolly laugh, careering away down the Court-house to stop somebody pa.s.sing in the street, whom he more or less particularly wanted to see.

Just before these matters took place, Mona's demeanour underwent a further change. She showed a disposition to revert to the old state of things. Yet the bird was too scared to return at once to the lure. As we have said, Roden Musgrave set too high a value upon himself to give vent to so commonplace and vulgar an emotion as jealousy, and as a matter of fact he had felt none. But he had undergone a mental shaking up, so to say, had had time to pull himself together and think. Yet, we know not now it happened, so imperceptibly, so gradually, but the sweet, subtle spell was beginning to weave itself around him again, and the worst of it was he knew it.

He began to find reason in her former reserve. She had said too much at first. She wanted an opportunity of drawing back. She had mistaken her own feeling, her own heart--had been too impulsive. Well, such an opportunity she should have, and accordingly he had left her undisturbed. And now once more she had broken down the barriers, and how it came about he knew not any more than we do. Her image began to hover around him during his official work, to accompany his long solitary rides, taken for purposes of business or pleasure. Yes, the chains were weaving themselves about him again, and somehow or other he seemed not unwilling that they should.

In due time glowing reports arrived as to the doings of the Doppersdorp Burghers, who had met the enemy more than once with dire results to that barbarous ent.i.ty, both in slaughter and the capture of numerous head of cattle. Presently, too, arrived, on a few days' leave, our old acquaintance, Darrell, the attorney, whose practice being of a precarious, not to say hand-to-mouth nature, might profitably be neglected for a while in favour of the more certain pay of a Field-captain in the Doppersdorp Burghers, to which office he had been duly elected. He, his leave expired, returning to the field of glory, pressed Roden to accompany him to the Main Camp for a few days, and go on a patrol or two, and see something of the war; which invitation Roden, with the sanction of his official superior--for there was a lull in the extra work just then--decided to accept.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

"WITHIN THE VEINS OF TIME."

"Then you won't give up going to this wretched war?"

"Well, no. You see I've got it all arranged now. I can't throw up the plan. Besides, I want to see how they work a war of this kind. My mind is made up."

No one knew better than Mona that when the speaker said his mind was made up, why, then it _was_ made up. Still she continued to plead.

"Ah, don't go! Besides, it is a paltry affair, and hardly worth a man's while to touch. It is quite sickening to hear these Doppersdorp 'heroes' brag. They go away nearly three hundred strong, and come back again with three men slightly scratched, and talk big about 'terrible hand-to-hand conflicts lasting all day,' 'a.s.segais flying as thick as hail,' and so forth. Dear, don't go; I have a presentiment something will happen."

Roden laughed.

"How does that pan out for a lovely bit of feminine consistency?" he said. "After labouring to show that the whole thing is child's play, and the merest walk over, you adjure me not to go, on the ground that I shall come to grief if I do."

"And that day on the cliff; was my warning right or wrong then?"

His face softened at the recollection. For a moment they stood gazing into each other's eyes.

"You saved a strange sort of life, Mona."

Instead of replying, she moved to the window and declared, in a commonplace way, that there was a big dust-cloud whirling up the road; for the place they were in was a certain staring and fly-blown apartment, which did duty for "drawing-room," at the Barkly Hotel, and now steps were approaching the door. The latter opened, admitting the head and half the person of Sonnenberg.

"Beg pardon. Thought Suffield was here." Then meaningly and with an impudent grin, "Sorry to interrupt. 'Two's company,'" and the door closed behind him.

"See now," went on Roden, "it isn't a case of going to the front. I'm only going to ride over to the Camp for three or four days. It's a good opportunity. Darrell wants to go too, so we are going together."

"Only two of you?"

"Oh, we may pick up others on the way."

"And what about getting back?"

"Must chance that."

Mona looked as if about to renew her pleading, but just then Suffield's voice, and the voices of others were heard coming up the stairs; for it was just before the one o'clock dinner at the Barkly. So she whispered hurriedly:

"Dear, you will ride out with us this afternoon?"

"H'm! there are a lot of things to be put straight, and I start the first thing in the morning. I don't like to shirk. What'll the Chief say?"

"Mr Van Stolz? I'll ask him myself."

"No, no," he said, laughing at her eagerness, and locking his fingers in hers, for her hands had crept into his after the interruption on the part of the objectionable Jew. "I'll work it somehow. But, dear, you must make Suffield wait, for I can't in conscience shut up shop this side of four, at the earliest."

This side of four! Why, she thought about seven was going to be the h.o.a.r named. Make Suffield wait! Why, Charlie should wait till midnight if she chose. And the voice, the tone! When Roden spoke thus he could make her do whatever he liked. Was he beginning really to care a little for her at last? Her heart beat tumultuously as she went down the stairs, laughing and talking commonplace with her companion. Could he ever love her as she loved him? Was it not all a one-sided affair and therefore despicable? Ah! but--she told herself--there was a possibility; and this it was which underlaid the strange wellspring of new-born happiness which had sprung up in Mona's heart, completely transforming her. Now and then a corner of the curtain which hid his inner nature was lifted--lifted just enough to convince her that the capabilities which lay behind were those which it was in her power to call into play, and that the day might come when her love should be returned tenfold.

After all, thought is swift, and can cover a great deal while the thinker is descending one flight of rather rickety and not very well-swept stairs.

Nothing was said during dinner about Roden's impending trip, for an absence from duty of upwards of two days was irregular, to say the least of it, on any other terms than a formal application to headquarters, which, at that distance from the Colonial Office, would necessitate a couple of weeks' correspondence and a due expenditure of red tape. When Roden returned to the office he found Mr Van Stolz already there, letting off steam in a few harmless "cuss words," for the post had just arrived, bringing with it from headquarters an unusually large batch of circulars, desiring information of no conceivable utility; also some returns.

"Musgrave, old chap, look at all this d.a.m.n nonsense," said the jolly little R.M., with a mischievous laugh, shoving away the obnoxious papers and lighting his pipe. "What, the devil! do they think we've got nothing better to do--and with all these troops of burghers pushing through to the front, and knocking us up in the middle of the night to find rations for them? These stoopid returns 'll take at least a week of turning out dead-and-buried records to make up."

"Then I won't go down to the Camp to-morrow, sir," said Roden, thinking how he would quietly chaff Mona as being in league with the people at headquarters to knock his trip on the head.

"No, no, Musgrave. It isn't so important as all that. I'll get them together, somehow, and Somers can give a hand. Besides, we needn't hurry. It doesn't do, either, to break one's neck being over zealous.

You don't get any the more appreciation for it, or promotion either; at least, that's what I've learnt after my twenty odd years in the Service, though of course it wouldn't do to say that to every sort of a youngster who happened to be one's clerk. And, I say, Musgrave, old fellow, that pony of yours has had quite his share of work of late, after Stoffel Van Wyk's rhyboks. Why not take my horse to go down there on? He's a young horse, but a good one, and he'll stand fire like an armchair, as you know, though he does shy like a fool now and again at a _schuilpaat_ [Dutch. The small land tortoise common all over South Africa.] the size of a snail."

"It's awfully good of you, Mr Van Stolz, but--"

"Tut, tut! What's a horse for, if not to be ridden? Any fellow knows he can always have mine when I'm not using him, and I'm not often."

"Rather--why, you keep the whole township going in riding material."

"Ha! ha! I believe I do!" was the jolly reply. "Why, no less than three fellows wanted to borrow Bles to-day, but I thought it might be as well if you took him to go and have a shot at the Kaffirs, instead of your own, Musgrave, so I let him have a rest to-day."

"Well, as a matter of fact, I shall be very glad to accept the offer,"

said Roden. "My pony is perhaps a little in want of a rest. Upon my word, though, Mr Van Stolz, there may be more good-natured people in the world than yourself, but with some experience of that orb I don't believe there are."

"Pooh, pooh!" laughed the genial little man, not ill-pleased with such a spontaneous outburst on the part of his self-contained, cynical, and generally somewhat unpopular a.s.sistant. "Why, man, you'd do such a trifle as that for me, wouldn't you?"