An I.D.B. in South Africa Part 11

Two hours or more flew by, before she gave a thought to the scenes through which she was pa.s.sing. A weary waste of sandy, desert road; a treeless veldt covered spa.r.s.ely with a coa.r.s.e gra.s.s; a dreary farmhouse in the distance surrounded by a few trees, was a joyless picture to look upon.

Bela sat silent, watching the horses and the flying cart, but immovable as a statue. When the native becomes attached to his mistress, he accepts everything from the "Inkosa" whom he regards as a queen.

Dainty's strength was ebbing fast, but with superhuman effort she rallied all her energies, and, when she saw a horseman in the distance, called to her aid her most languorous and indifferent manner, reined in her rapid steeds and handed the reins to Bela. As the man drew near, to her dismay she recognised Dr Fox, who was returning from his patient.

As he rode up to the cart, an expression of amazement spread over his face. When he stopped his horse to speak to her, she ordered Bela to stop, also.

"Good afternoon, Mrs Laure. You have greatly improved since I saw you this morning. I scarcely thought you well enough to venture so long a drive. Is it health or pleasure you seek?"

Dainty was as white as the dead are. She trembled before this man's honest way of asking questions. Her strength, until now fed by excitement, left her, and her tongue refused to move, though her lips parted in the effort.

The agony that convulsed her frame was depicted on her face, and she shook like one with ague. What should she say? The doctor perceived that here was some awful crisis. He rose to the occasion.

"Do not speak. Try to calm yourself," said he. Dismounting, he took Bela's place in the cart, and putting his horse in the Bushman's keeping, told him to follow them to town. He then gathered up the reins and wheeled the horses homeward. They were no sooner turned, than Dainty, unable to support herself, dropped her head on the doctor's shoulder.

"Mrs Laure, I see that you are in distress. I ask you nothing, every woman in trouble is my sister. That's right, let those wells in your eyes run dry. It would have done you good if they had run over many days earlier." To himself the doctor continued:

"We men have a great deal to answer for. Will we never learn to spare the beautiful b.u.t.terflies whose lives we so wantonly break? If women only knew men, as men know each other, there would be more missionary work done before marriage. In fact home missionaries do not appreciate their opportunities, for most of us are heathens!"

The doctor slackened the reins, and the horses their pace, as they were ascending a hill, at the summit of which he saw a cart driven by Schwatka rapidly approaching. The doctor's grey eyes shot fire, his mouth set firmly under his brown moustache, and giving the horse a sharp cut with the whip, he pa.s.sed Schwatka with a jovial, "How are you?" that had a ring in it that sounded like "Check!"

Dainty half rose, gave one little heartbroken moan, and sunk back into the corner of the seat. The doctor drove home as quickly as possible, and they were soon at the house, which Dainty had but lately left, expecting never to return. He gently lifted her out of the cart and carried her into the house. His presence was soothing to her spirit, and before he left the house she was wrapped in a sound sleep. She needed rest, for her day was not ended.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

DETECTIVES.

At dinner that evening, Donald's mind was fortunately too preoccupied to note the haggard face of the little woman sitting opposite. They were scarcely seated, when from the window she saw two men come into the yard and enter the kitchen. Turning she whispered one word:

"Detectives!"

Dainty had no suspicion of his having diamonds on his person, until he dropped his knife, and sat pale and nerveless. Leaping from her seat, she flew to his side, thrust her hand into one pocket and another, until she drew forth a large diamond. In another second she was standing in the middle of the room. What should she do with it? Where should she hide it, from those sharp-eyed hunters? There was no spot in the room that would not be searched.

There was a rent in the wall paper through which she felt tempted to slip it! The seconds were flying. In another moment those men would open that door and all would be lost! She could almost have annihilated time and s.p.a.ce, so greatly was her mentality strained and quickened. In turning to look once more, with a sickening despair striking her vitals, her glance fell on Bela, standing perfectly rigid with terror.

Quick as thought she flew to the Bushman, and placing her finger on his eye, lifted the lid, took out that gla.s.s eye, slipped the diamond in, and returned the eye to its place. Then turning to her husband, panting, she whispered:

"Where did you get that diamond?" He collected his scattered senses and feebly answered:

"The Fingo boy." She sank on her chair a seemingly indifferent, indolent houri, as the door flew open and the detectives entered.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," said Dainty in a steady voice, but with a questioning look, as if she wondered at the strange hour and abrupt entrance of visitors.

"Sorry to disturb your dinner, madam," said one of the men, "but we have traced a marked diamond here; and must search for it."

"Why do you search here?" said Donald, haughtily.

"Hush, Donald! I suppose nothing we could say would hinder them," said Dainty, calmly.

Her coolness and her smile won the evident admiration of the men for a moment; but yet brusquely spoke one of them:

"Nothing, madam," and immediately the search began. Again Donald spoke:

"Gentlemen, I have no diamonds about me."

"Perhaps not, sir! But it is our business to make sure of it," said one detective as he deftly began a personal search.

Nothing coming to light, they seemed puzzled, for they had bribed the Fingo boy that day to sell the diamond to Donald, and knowing he had bought it within the hour, thought to find it on him. Then they ransacked the house. Carpets were torn up and furniture ripped open.

They even thrust their hands through the rent in the wall paper and felt on the ground below; but their search was fruitless.

They next closely inspected Dainty, her hair was combed, and her clothing handled unceremoniously by one man, while the other took Donald into custody. So sure were they that he had the diamond, that when the gem could not be found on the man or the premises, they had no hesitation in arresting him, and stationing the police to watch the house. But it was not so well watched, as to prevent that keen bright woman from eluding their vigilance.

Bela stood like a stone image with his one eye fastened on his mistress, and the other eye holding the honour or disgrace of her husband.

Nothing could have made him disclose the secret.

As the officers left the house with Donald, her every sense was alert, and ready to spring to action.

What to do next? The diamond was safe. She must find that Fingo boy who had sold Donald the diamond, and put him out of the way. With the keener sense which she possessed as a birth right, with that black blood in her veins, her woman's wit came to her a.s.sistance, and she resolved to foil the bloodhounds of the law.

She remembered a suit she had prepared as a gift to a favourite Malay boy. It hung in her closet, not yet bestowed upon its future owner.

With feverish haste she secured it, and dressed herself in it. The soft gay handkerchief she tied around her head, and over this placed the hat.

She had smiled at the odd costume when she had first made it ready, but she did not smile now, nor at her appearance in it. She only felt joy in the disguise.

Now--how to pa.s.s the guards!

It was desperate business. She called Bela--trusty fellow! He must help. The Bushman started at sight of her, and only the voice a.s.sured him it was really she.

"Bela," said she, "I must get away for a while and you must help me. Do you go out to the gate, and when the guards stop you, keep them as long as you can. I will run another way and try to get out of sight. They will send you back, of course."

The Bushman started on his mission. Dainty watched him concealed in the shadow of the house. The guards stopped him as she had thought. It was growing rapidly dark. She heard the authoritative voices of the guards, and the stupid answers of Bela. Dashing at right angles from the scene, she scaled the fence un.o.bserved, and rapidly left the unsuspecting guards trying to convince Bela that it would not do. When he finally submitted, the outwitted officers congratulated themselves on their vigilance. So was the first step accomplished!

Now to find her stalwart driver and order her cart and horses. She had gone scarce one hundred yards when, to her unspeakable joy and surprise, she found the servant going toward home. It was with difficulty she made him know his mistress; ordering him to meet her at a particular spot, she hurried on.

Rapidly pa.s.sing to the Kafir location, where she felt she should find the Fingo, she walked fearlessly into the first hut. Hut after hut was visited, and inquiries, made of one and another inmate in her awakened savage mood, and in the native language, as to where the boy lay.

As she shook each sleeping body, the very manner of her action, and the tone of frenzy in which she addressed them, so impressed them, that they answered whether they would or not. She walked on and on, until the last hut, the farthest from probable detection was reached, and there, lying between two other Kafirs, she found him.

With superhuman strength she dragged him out. By this time her fury had reached such a pitch that, to be rid of her clutch was like shaking off the claws of a wild cat.

Hurrying him forward in breathless haste, she reached the place where the cart stood waiting. Hustling him into it, she held him with her woman's hands while the driver tied him securely down. Then, seizing the reins, she ordered her servant to wait her return, and drove swiftly away.

She pierced the dark with savage instinct for there was no road to guide her. The dangerous holes with which the veldt is studded did not lie in her path.

Her anger rose as the horses sped along. To her excited nerves their rapid pace was too slow, and she whipped them into a wild galop all the way, for she must be home before sun up.

Her fury was intense, and she would turn to the Fingo cowering in the corner of the seat, in a sort of mad way, that made him shrink with terror. Every time she looked at him she would urge her horses to additional speed by lashings of the whip, until they were nearly as mad as their mistress.

CHAPTER TWENTY.