CHAPTER SIX.
SPREADING OVER THE LAND.
With the dawn next morning the emigrants were up and away. The interestof the journey increased with every novel experience and each newdiscovery, while preconceived notions and depressions were dissipated bythe improved appearance of the country.
About the same time that the Scotch "party" left the Bay, several of theother parties set out, some large and some small, each under itsappointed leader, to colonise the undulating plains of the Zuurveld.
Soon the pilgrims became accustomed to the nightly serenade of hyena andjackal--also to breakneck steeps, and crashing jolts, and ugly tumbles.But they were all hopeful, and most of them were young, and all, ornearly all, were disposed to make light of difficulties.
The country they were about to colonise had been recently overrun byKafir hordes. These had been cleared out, and driven across the GreatFish River by British and Colonial troops, leaving the land awilderness, with none to dispute possession save the wild beasts. Itextended fifty miles along the coast from the Bushman's River to theGreat Fish River, and was backed by an irregular line of mountains at anaverage distance of sixty miles from the sea.
Leaving the Zwartkops River, not only the Scottish party, but all theother parties, filed successively away in long trains across the SundaysRiver, over the Addo Hill and the Quagga Flats and the Bushman's Riverheights, until the various points of divergence were reached, when thecolumn broke into divisions, which turned off to their several locationsand overspread the land.
There was "Baillie's party," which crossed Lower Albany to the mouth ofthe Great Fish River, and on the way were charmed with the aspect of thecountry, which was at that time enriched and rendered verdant by recentrains, and enlivened by the presence of hartebeests, quaggas,springboks, and an occasional ostrich. There was, however, a "wash" ofshadow laid on part of the pleasant picture, to counteract the idea thatthe Elysian plains had been reached, in the shape of two or threeblackened and ruined farms of the old Dutch colonists--sad remains ofthe recent Kafir war--solemn reminders of the uncertainties andpossibilities of the future.
Then there was the "Nottingham party." They took possession of a lovelyvale, which they named Clumber, in honour of the Duke of Newcastle,their patron. "Sefton's party" settled on the Assegai Bush River andfounded the village of Salem, afterwards noted as the headquarters ofthe Reverend William Shaw, a Wesleyan, and one of the most able anduseful of South Africa's missionary pioneers. Wilson's party settledbetween the Waay-plaats and the Kowie Bush, across the path of theelephants, which creatures some of the party, it is said, attempted toshoot with fowling-pieces. Of the smaller parties, those of Cock,Thornhill, Smith (what series of adventurous parties ever went forthwithout a "Smith's party"?), Osler, and Richardson, located themselvesbehind the thicket-clad sand hills of the Kowie and Green Fountain. Butspace forbids us referring, even in brief detail, to the parties ofJames and Hyman and Dyson, and Holder, Mouncey, Hayhurst, Bradshaw,Southey; and of Scott, with the Irish party, and that of Mahony, whichat the "Clay Pits," had afterwards to meet the first shock of everyKafir invasion of Lower Albany. Among these and other parties therewere men of power, who left a lasting mark on the colony, and many ofthem left numerous descendants to perpetuate their names--such asDobson, Bowker, Campbell, Ayliffe, Phillips, Piggott, Greathead,Roberts, Stanley, and others too numerous to mention.
But with all these we have nothing to do just now. Our present duty isto follow those sections of the great immigrant band with the fortunesof which our tale has more particularly to do.
At the points of separation, where the long column broke up, a halt wasmade, while many farewells and good wishes were said.
"So you're gaun to settle thereawa'?" said Sandy Black to John Skyd andhis brothers as they stood on an eminence commanding a magnificent viewof the rich plains and woodlands of the Zuurveld.
"Even so, friend Black," replied John, "and sorry am I that our lot isnot to be cast together. However, let's hope that we may meet again erelong somewhere or other in our new land."
"It is quite romantic," observed James Skyd, "to look over this vastregion and call it our own,--at least, with the right to pick and choosewhere we feel inclined. Isn't it, Bob?"
To this Bob replied that it was, and that he felt quite like thechildren of Israel when they first came in sight of the promised land.
"I hope we won't have to fight as hard for it as they did," remarkedFrank Dobson.
"It's my opeenion," said Sandy Black, "that if we haena to fight _forit_, we'll hae to fight a bit to _keep_ it."
"Perhaps we may," returned John Skyd, "and if so, fighting will be moreto my taste than farming--not that I'm constitutionally pugnacious, butI fear that my brothers and I shall turn out to be rather ignorantcultivators of the soil."
Honest Sandy Black admitted that he held the same opinion.
"Well, we shall try our best," said the elder Skyd, with a laugh; "I'vea great belief in that word `_try_'.--Goodbye, Sandy." He held out hishand.
The Scot shook it warmly, and the free-and-easy brothers, after biddingadieu to the rest of the Scotch party, who overtook them there, divergedto the right with their friend Frank Dobson, and walked smartly aftertheir waggons, which had gone on in advance.
"Stoot chields they are, an' pleesant," muttered Sandy, leaning bothhands on a thick cudgel which he had cut for himself out of the bush,"but wofu' ignorant o' farmin'."
"They'll make their mark on the colony for all that," said a quiet voiceat Sandy's elbow.
Turning and looking up, as well as round, he encountered the hazel eyesand open countenance of Hans Marais.
"Nae doot, nae doot, they'll mak' their mark, but it'll no' be wi' thepleugh, or I'm sair mista'en. Wull mair o' the settlers be pairtin'frae us here?"
Hans, although ignorant of the dialect in which he was addressed,understood enough to make out its drift.
"Yes," he replied, "several parties leave us at this point, and herecomes one of them."
As he spoke, the cracking of whips announced the approach of a team. Amoment later, and a small Hottentot came, round a bend in the road,followed by the leading pair of oxen. It was the train of Edwin Brook,who soon appeared, riding a small horse. George Dally walked besidehim. Scholtz, the German, followed, conversing with the owner of thewaggon. In the waggon itself Mrs Brook, Mrs Scholtz, and Junkie founda somewhat uneasy resting-place, for, being new to the style of travel,they had not learned to accommodate themselves to jolts and crashes.Gertie preferred to walk, the pace not being more than three miles anhour.
"Oh, father!" said Gertie, running up to the side of her sire, withgirlish vivacity, "there is the tall Dutchman who was so polite to mewhen I was pricked by the thorn bush."
"True, Gertie, and there also is the Scot who was so free and easy ingiving his opinion as to the farming powers of the brothers Skyd."
"Your road diverges here, sir," said Hans, as Brook rode up; "I fellbehind my party to bid you God-speed, and to express a hope that we maymeet again."
"Thanks, friend, thanks," said Brook, extending his hand. "I am obligedfor the aid you have rendered me, and the advice given, which latter Ishall no doubt find valuable.--You are bound for the highlands, ofcourse," he added, turning to Sandy Black. "We of the Albany lowlandsmust have a friendly rivalry with you of the highlands, and see whoshall subdue the wilderness most quickly."
This remark sent the Scot into a rather learned disquisition as to themerits and probable prospects of a hill as compared with a low-lyingregion, during which Hans Marais turned to Gertie. Being so very tall,he had to stoop as well as to look down at her pretty face, thoughGertie was by no means short for her age. Indeed, she was as tall asaverage women, but, being only twelve, was slender and girlish.
"How _very_ tall you are, Mr Marais!" she exclaimed, with a laugh, asshe looked up.
"True, Gertie," said Hans, using the only name which he had yet heardapplied to the girl; "true,
we Cape-Dutchmen are big fellows as a race,and I happen to be somewhat longer than my fellows. I hope you don'tobject to me on that account?"
"Object? oh no! But it _is_ so funny to have to look up so high. It'slike speaking to father when he's on horseback."
"Well, Gertie, extra height has its advantages and its inconveniences.Doubtless it was given to me for some good end, just as a pretty littleface and figure were given to you."
"You are very impudent, Mr Hans."
"Am I? Then I must ask your pardon. But tell me, Gertie, what do youthink of the new life that is before you?"
"How stupid you are, Hans! If the new life were behind me I might beable to answer, but how can I tell how I shall like what I don't knowanything about?"
"Nay, but you know something of the beginning of it," returned the youngDutchman, with an amused smile, "and you have heard much of what is yetto come. What do you think of the _prospect_ before you?"
"Think of the prospect?" repeated Gertie, knitting her brows and lookingdown with a pretended air of profound thought; "let me see: the prospectas I've heard father say to mother,--which was just a repetition of whatI had heard him previously say to these queer brothers Skyd--is a lifein the bush--by which I suppose he means the bushes--in which we shallhave to cut down the trees, plough up the new soil, build our cottages,rear our sheep and cattle, milk our cows, make our butter, grow ourfood, and sometimes hunt it, fashion our clothing, and protect ourhomes. Is that right?"
"Well, that's just about it," was the answer; "how do you like thatprospect?"
"I delight in it," cried the girl, with a flash in her brilliant blackeyes, while she half laughed at her own sudden burst of enthusiasm."Only fancy! mother milking the cows, and me making butter, and Scholtzploughing, and Dally planting, and nurse tending Junkie and making allsorts of garments, while father goes out with his gun to shoot food andprotect us from the Kafirs."
"'Tis a pleasant picture," returned Hans, with a bland smile, "and Ihope may be soon realised--I must bid you goodbye now, Gertie, weseparate here."
"Do you go far away?" asked the girl, with a touch of sadness, as sheput her little hand into that of the young giant.
"A goodish bit. Some six or eight days' journey from here,--accordingto the weather."
"You'll come and see us some day, won't you, Hans?"
"Ja--I will," replied Hans, with emphasis.
The whips cracked again, the oxen strained, the lumbering waggonsgroaned as they moved away, and while the Scotch band passed over theZuurbergen range and headed in the direction of the Winterbergmountains, their English friends spread themselves over the fertileplains of Albany.
A few days of slow but pleasant journeying and romanticnight-bivouacking brought the latter to their locations on the Kowie andGreat Fish River.
On the way, the party to which Edwin Brook belonged passed the groundalready occupied by the large band of settlers known as "Chapman'sparty," which had left Algoa Bay a few weeks before them in an imposingprocession of ninety-six waggons. They had been accompanied to theirfuture home by a small detachment of the Cape Corps, the officer incommand of which gave them the suggestive advice, on bidding themgoodbye, never to leave their guns behind them when they went out toplough! Although so short a time located, this party had produced amarvellous change in the appearance of the wilderness, and gave thesettlers who passed farther eastward, an idea of what lay beforethemselves. Fields had already been marked out; the virgin soil brokenup; timber cut, and bush cleared; while fragile cottages and huts werespringing up here and there to supplant the tents which had given thefirst encampments a somewhat military aspect. Grotesque dwellingsthese, many of them, with mats and rugs for doors, and white calico orempty space for windows. It was interesting, in these first locations,to mark the development of character among the settlers. Those who werepractical examined the "lie" of the land and the nature of the soil,with a view to their future residence. Timid souls chose their siteswith reference to defence. Men of sentiment had regard to thepicturesque, and careless fellows "squatted" in the first convenientspot that presented itself. Of course errors of judgment had to becorrected afterwards on all hands, but the power to choose and changewas happily great at first, as well as easy.
As Brook's party advanced, portions of it dropped off or turned aside,until at last Edwin found himself reduced to one family besides his own.Even this he parted from on a ridge of land which overlooked his own"location," and about noon of the same day his waggons came to a halt ona grassy mound, which was just sufficiently elevated to command amagnificent view of the surrounding country.
"Your location," said his Dutch waggon-driver, with a curious smile, asthough he should say, "I wonder what you'll do with yourselves."
But the Dutchman made no further remark. He was one of the taciturnspecimens of his class, and began at once to unload the waggon. Withthe able assistance of Brook and his men, and the feeble aid of the"Tottie," or Hottentot leader of the "span" of oxen, the boxes, ploughs,barrels, bags, cases, etcetera, which constituted the worldly wealth ofthe settlers, were soon placed on the green sward. Then the Dutchmansaid "goeden-dag," or farewell, shook hands all round, cracked his longwhip, and went off into the unknown wilderness, leaving the Brook familyto its reflections.