Perils in the Transvaal and Zululand Part 9

While they were still waiting in anxious suspense, a stone with a paper wrapped round it was thrown through the open window. The captain picked it up and read it. It had no name attached to it, but professed to come from the whole of the crew, except those with Captain Ranken. It stated that the hut was completely surrounded, and that the a.s.sailants had the lives of all those within at their mercy. But they wished to avoid further bloodshed. If the five thousand pounds which had been removed from Mr Whittaker's cabin should be given up, together with all the arms in the possession of the besieged party, they would go quietly away without hurting any one. But if this was refused, an attack would be made as soon as the moon rose, and no man's life would be spared. It was added, that if no answer was sent before moonrise, that would be regarded as a refusal.

When the captain had finished reading, no one spoke for a while. At last McCarthy broke the silence,--

"Have you any idea, sir, of complying with their demand? You see they do not ask--what we could not have agreed to--the surrender of Miss Vander Heyden."

"No," said Mr Whittaker; "and I do not think my employers would blame you, if you did comply. I daresay we should all agree to bear some portion of the ransom."

Several of the others broke in together, declaring their willingness to pay any portion in their power.

"What do you say, Mr Rivers?" asked the captain, observing that he had not spoken.

"I would pay my share, sir," answered George; "anything that is in my power. But I fear it would be useless. The best hope these men have in escaping the penalty of their mutiny lies in our death. If we were to surrender ourselves to them, as this letter proposes, I think they would murder us in cold blood--all except--"

"You need not mention her name, sir," interposed Vander Heyden. "But you say well. I know the villain who leads these men; he is quite capable of that, or any other atrocity. We had better die sword in hand, like men, than be stabbed like sheep."

"You speak only too truly, sir," said the captain. "Our choice lies between one kind of death or another; and I, for one, choose that of a brave man, who will have no trafficking with villains."

He looked round him, and read approval in every eye. "You are right, sir," said McCarthy briefly, and the others echoed the sentiment.

No one spoke for the next ten minutes. Each was busy with his own thoughts; such as are likely to fill men's minds when on the verge of eternity. The time seemed painfully protracted, and all wished that the trial was over. Suspense was worse than death itself. At last a sudden burst of yellow light streaming through the window warned them that their time had come. The next moment the door was burst in, and a crowd of men, armed with cutla.s.ses and pistols, endeavoured to force an entrance. They were met by a general volley, which killed or wounded nearly all the foremost a.s.sailants. But the rush from behind was kept up. Several forced themselves into the hut, and a hand-to-hand struggle ensued. Miss Vander Heyden had been placed behind the screen which Rivers had strengthened for her; and he shouted to her, when the attack began, to throw herself on the ground, as the best chance there was of her escaping injury. The screen caught the eye of Bostock as he entered in the rush, and he and Van Ryk instantly made for it. Vander Heyden threw himself in Bostock's way, and a fierce encounter began between them; while, George in like manner interposing between Van Ryk and the screen, they were soon engaged in deadly combat.

By this time the hut was nearly filled with the mutineers. The captain, with McCarthy on one side of him and Redgy on the other, was desperately defending himself against two or three a.s.sailants. The third mate, Whittaker, and Walters, had been all struck down, and several of the men were mortally wounded, when suddenly there came from the sea a strange and unexpected sound--the boom of a cannon!

The strife was instantly suspended. Each man looked in doubt and wonder upon his opponent's face. Then the captain's voice was once more heard,--

"Throw down your arms, you mutinous dogs, and yield yourselves prisoners, or every man among you shall swing at the yard-arm before another hour has pa.s.sed!"

CHAPTER SIX.

About a week had elapsed. George and Redgy were standing on the deck of the Government steamer Wasp, leaning over the bulwarks and contemplating the appearance of the harbour of Port Natal; which lay immediately in front of them, with the town of Durban in the middle distance, and the Natal country in the background. The ship could proceed no farther.

The bar across the harbour mouth, on which seething ma.s.ses of foam were breaking, presented an insuperable obstacle.

"How are we ever to get in, George?" asked Redgy. "I suppose ships _do_ get in somehow. Indeed it is plain they do, for there is a lot of them lying off the quays yonder. But how they surmounted that bar, it is beyond me to imagine. I should think even the Yankee captain, who declared he could run his ship anywhere where there had been a heavy dew, would be puzzled here."

"I don't suppose Captain Deedes will take his ship in," answered George.

"He has only to deliver and take back despatches to Cape Town, and these can be brought to him out here."

"What, in a boat, I suppose?" suggested Margetts; "and that is the way we shall go in, then? Well, every man knows his own business best; but I should have thought there was a very comfortable chance of any boat being swamped!"

"Wait, and you'll see, Redgy. Captain Deedes told me we should be safe ash.o.r.e before twelve o'clock."

"Did he tell you anything about what is going on at Mossel Bay?" asked Margetts. "I know he has had letters from thence. I saw them brought aboard half an hour ago."

"Yes, a good deal. I am sorry to say Rolfe is dead; that is the fifth of our party that was killed. Walters and three of the sailors were dead before we sailed, you know."

"I am sorry for Rolfe. How are McCarthy and the captain and Whittaker?"

"They are all doing well. The captain's was only a slight cut across the hand. He was much more hurt by Bostock's and Van Ryk's escape than by that wound."

"I don't wonder. It is certainly a pity that they were not run up to the yard-arm, as half a dozen others may be, who were less guilty than they were. I can't think how they managed to get off."

"Well, I can understand it. Van Ryk and I were having a desperate tussle, and we had been driven close to the door of the shed. When I heard the gun from the _Wasp_, our encounter was broken off, and I thought nothing more of my antagonist for the next ten minutes. As for Bostock, who was, I noticed, a first-rate swordsman, he had disarmed Vander Heyden, and would, I daresay, have run him through, if the cannon hadn't been fired at that moment. I judge both he and Van Ryk, who had their wits well about them, made off as fast as they could to the place where the gig had been left, when Moritz and I landed from her."

"Ay, just at the farthest point behind the ridge, I remember," said Margetts. "She was almost out of sight."

"Exactly. Well, they fell in with Sullivan and one or two other fellows, got aboard, and rowed straight off for land. I daresay they had reached it, before their absence was discovered."

"Very likely. What do you think they will do, then?"

"Most likely land on some solitary spot, scuttle their boat, and make their way into the interior. They have their carbines, and will have no difficulty in providing themselves with food. Perhaps they will make their way to the diamond fields, and there change their names, and make a pot of money; or perhaps they'll take to hunting or farming, and you'll meet them some years hence, driving bullock waggons, or taking flocks of sheep to the market--thriving men and respectable--at least according to their ideas of respectability; or perhaps, once more, they'll come across a band of criminals, who have escaped from prison, and go about robbing and murdering travellers."

"Nothing more likely, I should say. And what will become of the others?"

"Well, as you suggested, half a dozen or so are safe to be hanged-- Shirley and Andersen, for example, who were among the leaders, though not the main movers, of the outbreak. As for the others, the captain is mercifully disposed. You see, the whole thing (as has been proved now) was got up by those three villains, Bostock, Van Ryk, and Sherwin, after the ship had left Cape Town. They persuaded the new men--Shirley and Sullivan among them--to enlist. Only three or four in the first instance were told about Whittaker's money. They expected to find that in his cabin, and they would then have launched one of the boats and gone off, leaving us on the reef. When they learned, as they did from Andersen, that it had been locked up in the captain's cabin, they told half a dozen more about the money, and persuaded them to join in the attack on the officers and pa.s.sengers. Then they induced the rest of the crew to believe that their only hope of escaping hanging lay in silencing the captain and his men, and getting away from the reef. The men have been the victims of several clever scoundrels, and I hope the law won't be put in force too severely against them."

An hour or two afterwards, the bar having become practicable, the steam-tug arrived which was to convey such of the party as desired it to the sh.o.r.e. But the surf dashing over the bar was still so formidable, that it was judged necessary to secure the pa.s.sengers against damage, after the very curious fashion resorted to on such occasions. They were sent down below, in what would have been total darkness, if it had not been for the glimmering light of a lantern. Then the hatches were covered over, and the pa.s.sage accomplished, with an amount of shaking and rolling which was considerably worse than a stiff gale at sea. As Redgy afterwards described it, it was like as though they had been a lot of marbles thrown into a bag, and then shaken up. Happily, however, it did not last very long; and they were presently safely landed on the quay, and free to examine the prospect before them. Land is said always to look attractive in the eyes of those who have just accomplished a long sea voyage, but the scene which George and his companions beheld, when they emerged from the cabin of the steam-tug, did not need this consideration to enhance its beauties.

It was indeed a lovely sight which met their eyes. The streets of the town were s.p.a.cious, and built at right angles to one another,--most of them of a dark stone, which is said to harden by exposure to the air,-- but some of them of brick, or wattle covered with plaster; many of them having deep verandahs, with rows of trees in front. Along the quays, which exhibited a busy scene of cargoes in the course of landing or shipping, a ma.s.s of vessels bearing the flags of all nations were lying; and on either side of the town rich forests bordered the whole coast. A little inland were seen pastures, and plantations of sugar-cane. The monotonous appearance which this kind of landscape usually presents was varied by high hills, and valleys here and there intervening. The wonderful blue of both sky and sea, which only those who have beheld it can realise to themselves, formed a glorious background to the picture.

George and Margetts, accompanied by the other pa.s.sengers, made their way to a hotel in one corner of the princ.i.p.al street, and partook of a luxurious repast, which to be duly appreciated ought to be eaten by persons who had just landed after many weeks at sea.

This over, they had next to obtain a conveyance to Umvalosa; and for help in providing this they applied to Mynheer Moritz, who had always been friendly, and more especially since the memorable day of the battle on the reef.

"I will help you as well as I can," he said. "I wish I could ask you to join our party, which will pa.s.s Umvalosa on our way to Vander Heyden's place, 'Bushman's Drift.' Henryk, his sister, and myself mean to ride, and the luggage will be conveyed in his bullock waggon, which is one of the best in Natal. But it would be no use for me to propose that."

"None at all," a.s.sented George drily.

"Well, I don't defend him. He might, and ought to be, more courteous to you. But you mustn't be too hard on him. He has his good qualities.

He is brave, and honourable, and high-minded, and capable of very warm and strong affection. He is very fond of his sister, and there is a lady, Lisa Van Courtland, his cousin, to whom he is almost romantically attached, and whom he is soon to marry. As for you, it is not _you_ he dislikes, but your country, and that feeling, I am afraid, is not peculiar to him. A great many of our people believe that they have been hardly used by the English. You see, the whole country once belonged to us--was our undisputed possession for more than a century. We had done nothing to forfeit it--so we feel, because we had nothing to do with the quarrels of the governments in Europe; which were the only grounds on which it was taken from us. Then, when we couldn't live under English rule, and left the Cape to settle elsewhere, giving up the homes to which we were so long used, in order that we might live undisturbed, the English followed us to Natal, and we were again obliged to move elsewhere. And now, since this annexation, many of us fear that we shall not be left alone even in the Transvaal, and may be obliged to break up our homes for the third time, to go to some new country; where, even then, we may not be secure from interference. Henryk is one of those who feel this keenly, and he's apt to show his feelings rather too plainly."

"No doubt of that," said George, smiling. "However, I am disposed to make all possible allowance for him under the circ.u.mstances you have mentioned; which are, I ought to add, but very imperfectly known to me.

I suppose, as is generally the case, there are two versions of the story."

"Probably there are," said Mr Moritz, returning his smile, "and perhaps it is too much to expect that you should credit my version. However, whatever may come of it, I hope you and I will remain friends. I could never forget the service you have rendered me, and, indeed, Annchen also: for she tells me that she believes she is indebted to you for saving her life on the night of the attack."

"I don't know how that may be," said George. "I did my best to protect her, certainly. But as you and her brother were not so close at hand as I was, to defend her, I do not know how I could possibly have done less.

I hope we shall be allowed to take leave of her."

"She will wish that too," said Moritz, "but I am afraid her brother will not permit it. She has, indeed, charged me to give you her adieux, together with her regrets that she cannot speak them in person. But now you want my a.s.sistance in getting to your destination. Your best course, I think, will be to make the acquaintance of a Natal farmer, named Baylen; who, I have learned, means to set out in a few days for Horner's Kraal, and will therefore pa.s.s very near, if he does not stop at, Umvalosa. He is a thriving man, and knows the country well. He is neither wholly English nor Dutch, his father having been an Englishman and his grandfather a Hollander, but his sympathies are mainly English.

I will give you a letter to him. I would go with you to his son's house, 'Hakkluyt's Kloof,' where he now is, but time will not allow it, as Vander Heyden sets out in a few hours."

George thanked him, and they cordially shook hands and parted. The two friends then walked out to Hakkluyt's Kloof, and delivered Moritz's letter; which at once secured a hearty welcome from the old man. He was a fine specimen of a colonial farmer, standing more than six feet high, and strongly, if somewhat heavily built. He introduced the young men first to his wife, a still comely matron of fifty, and his daughter Clara, a handsome girl of twenty, then to his sons, Stephen, the eldest, and owner of the Kloof, Walter, Wilhelm, and Ernest. They were all stout and st.u.r.dily-built young men, though hardly equalling their father's height or breadth of shoulder. He readily agreed to convey the Englishmen and their baggage to Umvalosa, naming a very reasonable sum as their pa.s.sage-money. He also invited them to take up their quarters at his farmhouse until the day of his departure came, an offer which the two lads were thankful to accept. George then went out to look at the waggons in which the journey was to be made--each of which, he found, would be drawn by no less than sixteen oxen. They were in construction not unlike an English waggon, only a good deal stronger and more solid.

They were arranged not only for the conveyance of goods, but for the accommodation of travellers. At one end there were seats arranged on either side, and from the roof hammocks might be suspended, in which the females of the party might sleep; the men usually making their beds either under the waggons, or at the farther end. Two entire days were consumed in loading them. As George and Redgy were not to go the whole distance, their boxes were put in last, and then one day more was pa.s.sed in careful examination of the cattle, to make sure they were all in sound condition. On the morning of the fourth day, however, they set out; the party consisting of the farmer, his wife and daughter and his three sons, three native servants, a boy, and the two young Englishmen.

The first thing was to harness, or, as it is termed in that country, to inspan the cattle. This is a curious process for a stranger to witness.

The oxen, which in a well-trained team are fully as well experienced in the operation as their masters, are driven close up to the wheel of the waggon, with their heads towards it. Then the waggon driver calls each ox by its name, which it knows as well as any English dog knows his, and the animal bends forward to allow the yoke to be put upon its neck.

Then they are arranged in a double line--eight couple, one behind the other, a Kaffir lad, called the fore-louper, leading the way. He brandishes in his hand a huge whip of cameleopard's hide, which he delivers with terrific effect on the shoulders or back of the unhappy animals, generally towards the close of the journey, when the team are becoming weary, or, at all events, lazy.

The farmer and one of his sons accompanied the waggon on horseback, while the rest of the party walked by the side, or took a few hours'

siesta in the waggons. Farmer Baylen proposed to George to ride the first part of the journey in his and his son's company, and the latter gladly accepted the offer. He was greatly struck with the beauty of the scenery in the neighbourhood of Durban. The journey for the first two days lay over Cowie's Hill, which rises to a considerable height, affording a wide prospect of the sea-coast, with its rich line of woods; while inland, the country for a considerable distance presents a succession of elevated ridges, extending as far as the Umkomanzi river.