Tales from the Veld Part 24

"Did he die?" I said, looking at the old man.

"He went away, sonny, but he said he'd wait for me, and he'll keep his word." There was a wistful look in the old man's face as he looked towards the sea for some time in silence. "Yes; we slipped inter the wood, the honey-bird calling--the only sound outer the great stillness of the woods, 'cept for the crushing of the dried leaves under our tread, and the bird, flitting like a shadder from tree to tree, led us on deeper and deeper into the heart of the Borna Pa.s.s, till I pulled up to take bearings.

"'We must get away back, little chap,' I said.

"'Then it's not true what you tole me about the honey-bird?' and he looked at me askance.

"'Why not?' said I.

"''Cos there he is a calling like mad, same as ever. I don't believe he's a honey-bird, and I don't believe any of them stories you've been tellin' me. You're no pal of mine,' he said, looking at me with a wrinkle 'tween his eyes.

"'I'm thinkin' we're gettin' too far from the lines,' I sed, 'and you ain't used to the bush if Kaffirs were to come.'

"'You're afraid,' he sed; 'that's what.'

"'Come on,' I sed, like a fool; and I went on, stooping through the bush, going mighty quick, and him panting after me. 'I can smell honey,' I sed, stopping short, and noticin' that the bird had done his flight.

"'Garn!' he sed, wrinkling up his little nose. There was a holler tree standin' up in a little clearin' no bigger'n a room, and the hum of the bees came to us as we stood.

"'I see 'em,' he says; 'look at 'em streaming in! What a lark! Cut a hole with your knife,' he says, ''an I'll carry some honey back in this bugle,' and he laughed.

"'Well,' says I, 'who's been tellin' lies?'

"He laughed again.

"'I takes it back, Abe,' he says. 'Oh my eye! Jes' look!'

"I seed then we'd clomb high up on the left side of the pa.s.s, and from the clearin' there was a sight of the hanging woods over against us, of the narrow path below, and the soldiers away down to the left.

"'Now you've seed the bee-tree,' I says, 'we mus' go back.'

"'Jes' a little honey, Abe,' he says; 'jes' a little to take back, else that Jimmy'll never b'lieve I been up here.'

"I were looking across at the dark wood, and I said to him quietly, 'Get behind the tree,' for I'd seed a Kaffir stretched out on a grey rock that stood outer the bush.

"'What's the row?' he says, looking a little scared. Maybe 'cos I looked the same.

"'Take off that coat,' I sed; for the red showed up plain.

"'Take off the Queen's coat?' he sed, going red and white; 'not me!'

"'My lad,' I sed to him quiet; 'there are Kaffirs in the bush.'

"'What larx,' he sed in a whisper, and his eyes opening wide as he stared at me.

"'And if you keep your coat on they'll see you.'

"'Let 'em,' he said, swallering his throat.

"'Take it off,' I said.

"'Not me.'

"'Then I leave you.' And with that I slipped away, but turned on my tracks and come back softly to peer at him. He were still standing behin' the tree, looking away off at the soldiers, but his coat were b.u.t.toned up tight to his throat I went up to him tip-toe and touched him on the soldier, and he gave a low cry and jumped aside with his fists up. When he seed who it were, the tears came into his eyes.

"'Abe Pike,' he sed, tremblin', 'that's a mean trick to play on a boy--a mean dirty trick.'

"I allow it were mean, but I thought I'd skeer him into taking off that red rag. Then I give it up. 'Come on,' I sed, 'foller me; stop when I stop, run when I run, and keep quiet.'

"So we sot off tenderly through the bush, and we hadn't gone mor'n fifty paces when I smelt the Kaffirs. I sank down; he did, too, and I peered through the shadders. A sound came to us--the sound of naked feet, of moving branches--and I knew the pa.s.s were full of men.

"He touched me on the arm as the bugle call to 'fall in' rang along into the still pa.s.s, ekering as it went from side to side.

"I put my mouth to his ear to tell him the Kaffirs were swarming, and that we could not go on, but must go up the ridge and work round to the troops.

"'What are the Kaffirs doing?' he sed.

"'They are making an ambush.'

"'And the General doesn't know?'

"'No, sonny, he doesn't.'

"'And they'll march in and be stabbed,' he whispered, with his eyes round and staring.

"'Oh, they'll fight their way out,' I sed. 'Come on after me.'

"'Good-bye,' he said, sitting down. 'You go on--I'm tired.'

"'I'll carry you, little chap,' says I, and I picked him up, but he was heavy for his size, and the bush was thick, and more than that, he kicked.

"So I sot him down, and I yeard a Kaffir calling out to his friends to know what the noise was. I motioned to him to come, but he sot there, with his face white, and shook his head; then he altered his mind. 'Go on,' he said, 'I'll foller--go quick!' So I sot off up the ridge through the wood, slipping from tree to tree, thinking he were coming, when all of a sudden outer the wood, ringing out clear and loud, a bugle sounded the alarm. I looked round and the boy were not there. I ran back, and saw him with the bugle to his lips, and his cheeks swelling as he blew another blast. I can hear it now--the call of that little chap, with the muttered cries of the Kaffirs, and the sound of their naked feet running, as they came up.

"'You little devil,' I yelled; 'they'll kill you. Run!'

"He gave me one look over his shoulder, and he put his life into that last blow. As the last note went swinging away, there came an answering note from the regiment--to form square.

"'That'll be Jimmy,' he said. And the next minnit an a.s.segai struck him on the neck, and he fell into my arms."

Abe stopped, and looked away.

"What, then?" I said, touching him on the shoulder.

"I don't know, sonny, what happened, till I laid him down afore the General."

"You carried him out?"

"I s'pose so--I s'pose so--seeing as we were both there; and my clothes were in rags from the thorns, and my head cut open with a kerrie. Yes, I laid him afore the General.