VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
IN A SINGLE DAY.
"Mopela, what on earth have you been doing all this time? I sent youfor that water half an hour ago."
There is menace as well as wrath in the tones of the speaker as heconfronts the individual addressed, who is calmly squatting on theground between two pails containing water just drawn out of the dam. Itis midday, and a blazing sun pours down upon them, to the delectation ofcertain mud turtles basking on the hard, cracked surface of the bakedooze, and who, alarmed by the sound of angry voices, scuttle away intothe water as fast as their legs can carry them; while, in the noontidestillness, the smooth surface of the reservoir glows like copper beneaththe burnished rays. Again Claverton--for it is he--repeats his questionin a more irate tone than before.
Mopela rises and eyes his interlocutor in a manner that betokensmischief. He is a huge Kafir, tall and broad-shouldered, and hisbronze, sinewy frame, whose nudity shows the development of greatmuscular power, looks formidable enough. He hates Claverton, who hasmore than once had occasion to be "down on" him for careless herding, orother derelictions, and never loses an opportunity, whether by covertinsolence or neglect of orders, of showing it. And for some time pastthe relations between the two have been--in the language of diplomacy--atrifle "strained."
"I _haven't_ been half an hour," he replies, defiantly, "I only stoppeda minute to light my pipe."
"You infernal blackguard, do you mean to give me the lie direct?" saysClaverton; and his voice shakes with pent-up fury as he advances a pacenearer the last speaker. "Take up those buckets and get away at once!"
The savage gives an exclamation of disgust, and his eyes glare. Thenthrowing back his head contemptuously, he says with an insolent sneer:"You are not _Baas_ here."
"The devil I'm not!" Crack!--woof!--a right and left-hander straightfrom the shoulder, and the huge barbarian goes down like a ninepin."You dog! you've played the fool with me long enough, and now you'vecome to the end of your tether. Get up," he continues, spurning withhis foot the prostrate man, from whose mouth and nostrils a red torrentis gushing. "Get up, and I'll floor you again!" His fierce temper isnow completely beyond his control, and for the moment he is asthoroughly a savage as the dusky giant lying at his feet.
How it will end Heaven only knows, but at this juncture a low cry ofhorror behind him causes him to turn, and what he sees brings a hotflush to his face, up till now livid with rage. For there stands LilianStrange, and her white face and dilated eyes betray that she has been aterrified witness of the whole scene.
Claverton started as if he had been shot.
"I fear you have been dreadfully frightened," he said. "Needless toexplain I had no idea of your presence."
He felt very concerned, and his face flushed hotly again as he thoughtwhat an awful ruffian he must seem in her eyes. This was the secondtime within twenty-four hours that she had seen him lose his temper,though yesterday, anxiety for her own safety had been the justification.His clothes were plentifully splashed with sulphur and lime, in whichsalutary decoction he had been dipping sheep when the _fracas_ occurred.At his feet lay the hulking form of the Kafir, breathing stertorouslyand bleeding like a pig. Yes, what a cut-throat he must seem to her!
But Lilian could not have been of this opinion, for the startledexpression faded from her eyes and a delicate tinge showed in the warmpaleness of her cheek.
"I had been for a walk in the garden, and came suddenly upon you. Icouldn't help seeing it all. He seems badly hurt; can't we do anythingfor him?" she pursued, going up to look at the prostrate barbarian, andagain growing pale at the sight of the blood. For Mopela lying there,with all the results on his countenance of the punishment he hadreceived, was not an exhilarating object to gaze upon.
"Do anything for him? Oh, no; he's all right. Look."
The Kafir opened his eyes stupidly and staggered to his feet. Then,with a glance of deadly hatred at his chastiser, he took up the bucketsand walked away, his gait rolling and uneven.
"You don't know what I've had to put up with from that bru--that rascalfor some time past. Well, he's got it now, at all events. I knew itwas only a question of time. The only thing I regret is that it shouldhave been at so inopportune a time," he added, in tones of deep concern.He was exceedingly vexed and disgusted with himself. Mopela might haveinflicted upon him a whole vocabulary of impudence before he would haveafforded Lilian such an exhibition had he but foreseen.
"I suppose you find these natives very trying?" she said.
"Not as a rule. On the contrary, I always pull well enough with them.But that chap's defiance had reached such a point that one of us had toknuckle under. It would never have done for that one to have beenmyself."
"I suppose not," answered Lilian, with a little smile at the idea of herescort of yesterday "knuckling under" to anybody. "And now I must notdelay you. I see you are busy--but--would you mind walking back to thehouse with me? I am easily frightened, and these savages do look sodreadful when they are angry."
"Would I mind? But don't _you_ mind being seen in such ragged company?"he added, drily, with a glance at his rough and besplashed attire.
"In Bond Street it is just possible that I should. On an African sheepfarm the escort is appropriate," she answered, with a flash of merrimentin her lovely, changing eyes.
The distance to the house was not great, but Claverton contrived torender it as great as possible.
"How is it you are out all alone?" he asked, as they walked along.
"Oh, the fact is, Mrs Brathwaite and the girls were busy, very busy. Iwouldn't for the world abuse my guest's privilege, so I slipped off on asolitary voyage of discovery."
"And a pretty sort of discovery you made! By-the-bye, I have had noopportunity of asking if you had quite recovered from yesterday'sfatigue, and it has been lying heavily on my conscience. You did notappear at breakfast, and we have been desperately busy all the morning."
There was a tender ring in his tones as he made this very commonplaceobservation which could hardly have escaped the other. She answeredvery sweetly:
"I am afraid I was dreadfully lazy. But I was a little tired thismorning. It shan't occur again; there!"
"You must rest to-day, then, because they are getting up a danceto-night in your honour. You are literally to make your _debut_ here.Didn't they tell you?"
"Now I think of it, they did. Here we are at the house, Mr Claverton.Thanks, so much, for accompanying me."
"And now I shall catch it. The dear old man hates any of us to thrash anigger. Stand by and support me under my castigation."
Claverton had seen Mr Brathwaite in the hall, and lost no time intelling him what had happened. The old settler shook his head as helistened.
"It won't do," he said. "You'll never get any good out of them if youtake to hammering them. They cut off to the district town and lay aninformation against you, and you're summoned before the magistrate, andput to no end of bother. And that's not all. It has a bad effect onthe others. They know they'll get the better of you in court, andinvariably do get it; and once a black fellow thinks he can get thebetter of you in any way, then good-bye to your authority. Besides, itearns you a bad name among the Kafirs, which means a constant difficultyin obtaining labour, and when you do obtain it you only get the refuse.There's Thorman, for instance. He used to lick his Kafirs for the leastthing, and he never kept a decent servant on his place two months at atime. I advised him to knock off that plan, and he did; but for yearsafterwards he suffered from its effects, in the shape of a constant lackof decent labour. No; it doesn't pay, take my word for it."
"Well, but you've no idea how cheeky that fellow was, and has been forsome time past," urged Claverton.
The other merely shrugged his shoulders with the air of a manunconvinced, and repeated as he turned away: "It doesn't do."
Claverton shot a glance at his late companion as much as to say; "There,I told you how it would be,
" and caught a bright, rapid smile in return.Then he went back to his work.
Hard by the scene of the recent row was the dipping tank, oblong inshape, fifteen feet by five and about eight in depth. It was two-thirdsfull of a decoction of lime and sulphur, and into this the sheep weredropped, and after swimming about for a couple of minutes or so weresuffered to emerge, by the raising of a sliding door at one end. Thisend, unlike the other, was not perpendicular, but the floor was on asufficient slope to enable the animals to walk out, which they did, andstood dripping in a stone-paved enclosure also with a shelving floor sothat the liquid that drained off them should run back into the tank. Atthe other end was a larger enclosure containing several hundred sheep,which four or five Kafirs, among them the recreant Mopela, were busycatching for the purpose of dipping them in the unsavoury butscab-eradicating mixture. Over which operation presided Hicks andClaverton, each with a forked pole in his hand, wherewith to administerthe necessary ducking to the immersed quadrupeds. At last Hicksproposed that they should knock off, and come back and finish afterdinner.
"Not worth while, is it?" was the reply. "Let's finish off now we're atit, then we can take things easy, clothed and in our right minds. Wecan hardly go inside the house, even, in this beastly mess."
Claverton carries his point, as he generally does. So they work on andon in the heat and the dust, and the air is full of splashes as thekicking animals are dropped into the tank, and redolent with the illsavour of sulphur and lime and perspiring natives; and the contents ofone of the great cauldrons simmering over the fire are thrown in toreplenish the medicinal bath, and the number of sheep left undippedwaxes smaller and beautifully less, till at length the last half-dozenare disposed of and the job is at an end.
Then Hicks suggested a swim in the dam, and the proposal was sooncarried into effect. After which, in renewed attire and presentableonce more, they appeared among the rest of the household.
To some at least in that household has come among them a change; anelement of upheaval certainly not even dreamed of by all whom it shallconcern. A change. The acquisition of a beautiful and agreeable younglady visitor by this circle? No, something more than that.
Mrs Brathwaite playfully upbraided Claverton for being the unconsciouscause of frightening her visitor on the first morning of her arrival.Then Lilian came to the rescue. If she had been startled it was her ownfault or ill fortune for going where she was not wanted. Here vehementprotest from him whose cause she was pleading. Then, she urged, he whohad been the means of startling her had made all the amends in his powerby seeing her safely home, coward as she was to need it. Here morevehement protest.
What does this vehemence mean on the part of a man to whose nature it iswholly foreign, who is calmness and equability itself?
This question--partly its own answer--flashed through Ethel's mind. Shewas to all appearances deep in discussion with Laura and Hicks as tocertain debatable arrangements for the coming festivity. In reality shewas performing that extremely difficult feat, keeping an ear for twodistinct conversations. In the course of which difficult feat Ethel waswondering how it was that these adventuresses (yes, that is the word sheused) with nothing on earth to recommend them, should have the power oftaking everybody by storm in the way their visitor seemed to be doing.
Lilian was wondering how it was that her visit seemed likely to be farmore pleasant and enjoyable than she had at first anticipated, which wassaying a great deal. Also what there was about this man, now talking sounconcernedly to herself and her hostess, that raised him on a pedestalconsiderably above the residue of the species.
Claverton was wondering how it was, that his life seemed to have beencut in two distinct halves since yesterday.
And Ethel again read both faces like an open book. And this time sheread in the one, greater possibility; in the other, absolute certainty.Such was the situation.
And it had all come about in a single day.