A Vendetta of the Desert Part 18

At the top of the saddle the oxen were outspanned and driven to the spring to take their last drink before entering the region of thirst.

Stepha.n.u.s, like Gideon--but with what different feelings--looked back and let his eye luxuriate upon the fertile valley. How sweet and peaceful it all looked.--How the frowning krantzes shut it in on each side, their stark forms accentuating the soft slopes that billowed away from their bases. He could see the patch of scrub that hid the spring,--and the silvern water issuing from it,--like a jewelled pendant. The forenoon sun took the foliage at an angle which turned its usual hue to a rich, full tint. That spot was the pivot upon which his life and that of his brother had turned, and from which they had been whirled off into such strange regions.

He turned his gaze until it swept the blackened desert across which his course lay, but the prospect had for him no dismay. He knew by experience the dangers that lay before him, but his faith was to him as a strong shield and a buckler of might against all evil. Elsie stood at his side and held his h.o.r.n.y, toil-worn hand between hers that were so soft and white. Few words pa.s.sed between the father and daughter; they were content just to be together. She, happy in the fulfilment of her long-deferred hope,--he, exultant with the feeling that he was fighting Satan for his brother's soul and confident of victory.

The thoughts of Stepha.n.u.s moved upon a stage higher than Elsie's could attain to. To Stepha.n.u.s the presence of his beloved child was enough to fill his heart with joy. She seemed to be the embodiment of peace,--the dove that had come back across the troubled waters of his life. But over and above this towered high the realisation of the task laid upon him,--the lifting of his brother's life from the slough in which it had been so long sunk. To Elsie happiness and duty were one; to her father his great happiness and his burning responsibility were different and, as it were, filled separate chambers of his mind.

It was noon by the time the oxen again stood in the yoke. The trail of Gideon's wagon lay plainly marked across the sand, far below. Stepha.n.u.s could see between the stones--close to where he stood, the clear print of his brother's large _veldschoen_; Gideon had here paced restlessly to and fro. Yonder was the spot where he had stood gazing back into the valley which he deemed he had left for ever; there he had paused to cast his haggard eyes across the desert which he meant should be his dwelling-place henceforth. It seemed to Stepha.n.u.s as though he could enter into all the phases of his brother's mind at this spot where the physical conditions seemed to suggest apprais.e.m.e.nt of the probabilities of the future as well as of the results of the past. He felt as though standing on the boundary-line between two worlds.

Then, with brake-shoe fixed to the wheel the wagon jolted heavily down the mountain side until it reached the red and burning sand-waste which seemed to stretch northward to infinity.

At every outspan place could be seen the remains of the fires lit by the fugitive. These places were far apart; it was clear that Gideon had made desperate efforts to put as many miles as possible between himself and his injured brother.

The wilderness was in a frightful state of aridity, so the unhappy cattle suffered much from thirst. Stepha.n.u.s always let them rest in the heat of the day; in the evening he would inspan and then push on through the cool hours of the night. The leader had no difficulty, by the diffused light of the stars, in following the wheel-tracks.

Elsie would lie sleeping in the wagon, undisturbed by the least jolt, for the surface of the plain was as soft as down. Her father would walk ahead under the liquid stars, which seemed to look down upon him with more than human sympathy and understanding. During his captivity Stepha.n.u.s had never seen the sky at night; thus, the memory of what had always strongly influenced him became idealised in his awakened and alert soul. Now, the vastness and the thrilling mystery of the night skies seemed to have fused with his purpose, and his spirit inhabited the infinite.

The travellers had brought enough water in kegs for their own personal needs, but day by day the agonies of the wretched cattle increased. The Hottentot driver and leader became more and more uneasy, feeling themselves in danger of that worst of all deaths,--a long-drawn death of thirst in the desert. But Stepha.n.u.s was sustained by his lofty trust, and never doubted that they would issue safely from their difficulties.

Each forenoon as the mocking mirage was painted athwart the northern sky, the clear, wide stream of the far-fountained Gariep, with its fringe of vivid green boskage, seemed as though lifted out of the depths of the awful gorge and hung across the heavens for their torment.

One morning they saw the red-mounded dunes quivering far ahead in the ratified air, slightly to their right. Stepha.n.u.s and the Hottentots knew this region by repute, and accordingly recognised the fact that their last and most terrible effort was now at hand,--that now they would have to plough their way through some ten miles of sand so light and loose that the wheels of the wagon would sink in it to the axles.

Once through the sand-hills, they would be within a day's journey of that cleft in the black mountains through which the cattle might be driven to the river.

The day smote them with fury. The sand became so hot that it blistered the soles of their feet through the _veldschoens_. The wind, heavily charged with fine, red sand, was moaning and shrieking across the waste.

Their only chance lay in keeping moving, for the drifting sand would have buried the wagon, if stationary, in a few hours. But the moment came when the unhappy cattle were unable to advance with the wagon another step, so had to be outspanned.

The oxen staggered away for a few paces and sank exhausted to the ground. It was clear that without water, not one of them would ever rise again. It was now the eighth day since they had last drunk their fill. The Hottentots surrendered themselves to despair. Stepha.n.u.s knelt in the sand and lifted heart and voice in supplication to his G.o.d.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

THE END OF THE FEUD.

One morning Kanu and his men, who had shortly before left their place of abode on a hunting expedition, were astonished at seeing the white tent of a wagon slowing moving through the sand dunes at a short distance from them. They at once dropped in their tracks and then crept into concealment for the purpose of discussing the situation. The Bushmen, although the different clans often quarrelled among themselves, had one sentiment in common,--hatred of the European. After they returned to the cave there was a general furbishing-up of the best arrows, a testing and a tightening of the bow-strings and a performance of the war sacrifice. This last consisted in drawing a small quant.i.ty of blood from the right knee of each warrior, mixing it in an earthen bowl with a small quant.i.ty of arrow-poison and pouring the mixture out upon the ashes of the previous night's fire. Then, with arrows erect around their heads, they looked impatiently towards their leader for the signal to attack.

The wagon was only about a couple of miles away; the white tent intermittently gleaming between the driving clouds of sand. Among the broken hillocks the strangers were quite at the mercy of an attacking force, no matter how small. Thus, the pygmies might have crept right up to the wagon without being noticed, and discharged their deadly shafts from within point-blank range, settling the business with one noiseless volley. But Kanu did not give the signal; he sat with his head bowed in thought, and his braves looked at him and at each other in astonishment.

Kanu reflected. He was aware of many things beyond the cognisance of his followers. One thing had specially impressed him during his captivity,--the implacable vengeance with which the Boers pursued the marauders who murdered their friends and stole their cattle. This wagon had certainly come much farther than any wagon had ever come before, and it was not likely to be followed by others. Better not interfere with it. The cave had not been discovered; it was impossible that any white men would come and settle in the waterless neighbourhood. Tempting as was the opportunity of wreaking vengeance for many wrongs, policy demanded that they should forego it, so Kanu threw down his bow, plucked the arrows from his head and said that he had been told by the spirits not to attack these people.

It was a critical moment and, had Kanu's authority not been far more strong than that which the Bushman leader usually held over his followers, his orders would have been disregarded. However, no attack was made and the wagon was permitted to proceed upon its laboured course unmolested,--the people with it little deeming of their narrow escape.

Two days afterwards another wagon was reported to be proceeding along the same course, and Kanu saw by the demeanour of his followers that he would probably be unable to restrain them from attacking, so he led them forth, and the little band took up its position in a patch of scrub which crowned a small sand-hill overlooking the two-days-old track.

The travellers were evidently in terrible straits, and before they reached the ambush the oxen collapsed. Leaving his braves with strict injunctions not to move before his return, Kanu went towards the wagon for the purpose of reconnoitring. Creeping sinuously among the hollows between the hillocks over which the streaming sand was being swept like spray from the crests of waves, he crept up to within a few yards of the wagon and lay, concealed by a bush, watching it intently.

Just then Elsie came out of the tent and stood, protecting her face from the stinging sand with her hands, and with her hair streaming in the wind.

Kanu started. The figure and the hair suggested Elsie, but he could not see the face, and the girl had grown almost beyond recognition. Then Stepha.n.u.s arose from where he had been kneeling at the other side of the wagon and stood at his daughter's side. Kanu recognised his former master in an instant, and now had no doubt as to Elsie's ident.i.ty.

Throwing down his bow and arrows, he strode forward and called out:--

"Baas Stepha.n.u.s--Miss Elsie--here is Kanu."

Stepha.n.u.s turned and gazed at the Bushman with astonishment. Elsie stepped forward with hands outstretched to greet her old guide and preserver.

"Kanu," she cried, "can you get us water?"

"Yes,--the water is close at hand."

"G.o.d, who has sent this creature to succour us, I thank thee," said Stepha.n.u.s, solemnly.

"Baas must give me a small present of tobacco, so that I may soothe the hearth of my people," said Kanu.

With his hands full of the much-coveted treasure Kanu sped back to his impatient band. No one knows how, when or where the Bushmen learnt the use of tobacco. When first the Europeans came in contact with them they were evidently accustomed to its use. In an instant the rancour of the warriors was turned into extravagant delight. With these children of the wilderness the transition from ferocity to amiability was instantaneous, and the one sentiment arose as unreasonably and inspired them as completely as the other.

Immediately they crowded around the wagon, ready to a.s.sist with all their power those who a few minutes previously they would have delighted to put to a cruel death.

Soon every keg and other utensil in the wagon capable of holding water was carried over to the spring and then the water was dealt out by willing hands as fast as circ.u.mstances would permit. Vessels were afterwards borne from one to the other of the famishing oxen and each animal was allowed to take a sup at a time. All through the afternoon this went on, until the cattle were once more able to arise.

Kanu told Stepha.n.u.s of another spring which he had discovered among the mountains to the north-west, about half a day's journey away, and thither the oxen were taken during the night, and allowed to drink their fill. Then, after a day's rest they were driven back to the wagon.

The Bushmen and their womenkind were, in the meantime, made happy with liberal presents of tobacco, coffee and sugar. The tobacco had a most curious effect upon them. They smoked it through a rough kind of a hookah made out of a hartebeeste's horn, a stone bowl and a piece of reed a few inches in length. There was no mouth-piece, so the smoker pressed his mouth into the natural aperture at the base of the horn, and inhaled the smoke. It was thus that they were accustomed to smoke the "dagga" or wild hemp. After each smoker had filled his lungs and again emptied them about a dozen times, he pa.s.sed on the pipe to a companion, and then laid himself upon the ground where, after becoming slightly epileptic, he stiffened from head to feet and lay unconscious and scarcely breathing for some minutes.

The women enjoyed the coffee and sugar, which were delicacies they knew of only by report, with great zest. They were not satisfied with merely drinking the beverage, but insisted on eating the grounds also.

These artless, cruel, innocent and murderous savages made their guests royally welcome, when the latter visited the camp. They entertained the strangers with songs, dances and dramatic performances, and presented them with a supply of edible roots some of which proved exceedingly good eating.

Stepha.n.u.s soon ascertained from Kanu that Gideon's wagon had pa.s.sed but a few days previously. It was evident that Gideon meant to cross the dune-tract at its junction with the mountain range that skirts the river gorge, and then make for the eastward.

Kanu accompanied them when they returned to the wagon, and then he and Elsie had a long talk, relating to each other their respective adventures since they had last met. Elsie was struck by an idea.

"Kanu,--will you do something for me?"

"Anything that young mistress asks of me."

"Well,--I want you to go after the other wagon, steal all the oxen and horses and bring them to me."

"Yes,--that can easily be done."

"Mind,--you are not to kill or harm anyone, but just to bring the cattle and horses to me."

"Yes, I understand."

In the cool of the evening a start was made. The oxen, refreshed by their drink, stepped out briskly. Thus, long before daylight came again they had succeeded in pa.s.sing through the heavy sand. The ground now immediately before them was easy to travel over.

When outspanned for breakfast they saw a lot of cattle and some horses being driven towards them. These were Gideon's,--stolen by the Bushmen at Elsie's instigation. Stepha.n.u.s, who had not been told of the plot, laughed loud and long at Elsie's stratagem for stopping Gideon's flight.

Gideon's journey across the desert had not been so difficult as was that of his pursuer. His team was composed of picked oxen that were well accustomed to such work, and the day on which fell the crisis of the journey,--the crossing of the dune-belt,--was comparatively cool.

Nevertheless, the cattle were almost exhausted when he outspanned on the salt-impregnated ridge on which the Mission Station of Pella now stands--just opposite the head of the deep kloof which breaks through the otherwise impa.s.sable mountains, thus affording a way to the Orange River. This kloof is about eight miles long, and the cattle were hardly able to stagger down it to the drinking place. When the animals smelt the water from afar they uttered pitiful lowings, and those that were less exhausted broke into a stumbling run. It was found impossible to bring the span back to the wagon until they had rested for a couple of days.