The Young Colonists: A Story of the Zulu and Boer Wars Page 5

a comfort in winter. Thenthe boys would take out their lesson-books and work steadily for threehours. Under the changed conditions of their life, Mr Humphreys feltthat Dick might, if he chose, well discontinue his study of theclassics, and his work therefore consisted in the reading of history,travels, and books of scientific knowledge.

  "Next to being a learned man," his father said to him, "the best andmost useful thing is to be a thoroughly well-informed man on all generalsubjects."

  John, however, continued his studies as before; his life of outdoorexercise strengthened and improved him, and he no longer wished to bealways sitting with a book in his hand--still, he had a natural love ofstudy, which his father encouraged, deeming it possible that as he grewup he might be unwilling to embrace the life of a colonist, in whichcase he determined to send him home to finish his education in England,and afterwards to start him in any profession he might select.

  Finding that the cost of carriage up the country was very high, and ashe would yearly require many waggon-loads of young trees and fencing MrHumphreys determined to do his own teaming; he therefore bought two ofthe large country-waggons and set a Kaffir to work to break in someyoung steers to the yoke.

  Six months after their arrival in the colony they had for the first timevisitors to stay at the farm--Mr Jackson, his wife, his son Tom, andtwo daughters coming out to settle near them. This was a great delightto the boys, and fortunately Mr Jackson was able to buy a farm of 500acres adjoining that of his friend; the house, however, was but a cabin,and while a fresh one was being erected the family remained guests ofthe Humphreys. Mr Jackson had, at his friend's advice, brought withhim from England a labourer with his wife and family, who at once tookup their residence in the hut on the farm.

  To Dick the coming of the Jacksons was a source of special pleasure.Tom was just his own age, and the two boys had become inseparablefriends at home after their adventure in the snow, upon which occasionTom, as he freely owned, had owed his life to Dick's energy andpromptness of suggestion. Dick was fond of his brother, but three yearsmake a great difference at this period of life, and, as their tasteswere wholly dissimilar, John had never been a companion for him. Sincetheir arrival in South Africa they had got on very well together; still,they had not the same ideas or subjects of thought, and it was animmense delight to Dick to have his old friend and companion with him.

  It must not be supposed that Dick's time was occupied solely inamusement; from early morning until dinner-time he worked steadily.Sometimes he assisted to erect the hurdles and strain the wires of thefencing; at others he aided in the planting of the fruit-trees; then hewould be with the Kaffirs who were breaking in the oxen for the waggons.At all times he took off his coat and worked with the rest, for, as hisfather said--

  "If a farmer is to be able properly to look after men at work, he mustbe able to do the work himself."

  While Dick was at work with the men, John, who was too young to be ofany use, remained indoors at his books, and, although of an afternoon hewould stroll out, he seldom went far from the house. The other boysgenerally went for long rides when work was done. One day they sighteda herd of steinbock. Leaving their horses with the Kaffir lad in ahollow, they crept round so as to get the deer between them and thewind, and managed to reach unobserved a brow within a hundred yards ofthe herd. Dick had by this time become a good shot, and the buck atwhich he aimed fell dead in its tracks. Tom was not much of a shot, buthe had fired into the thick of the deer and gave a shout of delight atseeing one of them fall. The rest of the herd dashed off at full speed.Tom ran, shouting, forward, but to his mortification the stag that hehad hit rose again to its feet and went off at a trot in the directiontaken by the others; a minute later the Kaffir boy was seen runningtowards them at his full speed, leading the horses.

  The two boys on his arrival leapt into their saddles and started inpursuit of the wounded stag, which was still in sight, thinking at firstthey could easily ride it down. But the animal seemed rather to gainthan to lose strength, and, although they had considerably lessened thestart he had obtained of them, he still kept steadily on. Active andwiry as their horses were, they could not overtake it, and the boys hadat last the mortification of seeing that the stag was now gaining uponthem, and they presently drew rein, and their panting horses came to astandstill.

  "What a horrid sell!" Tom Jackson exclaimed angrily. "I can'tunderstand his going like that after I fairly brought him down."

  "I expect," Dick said, "that your bullet can only have grazed his skull;it stunned him for the moment, but after he had once come to himself hewent on as briskly as usual. If he had been hard hit we shouldcertainly have ridden him down."

  "Well, I suppose," Tom said more good-humouredly, "there is nothing forit but to ride back."

  "But which is our road?" Dick said in some dismay. "I am sure I haveno idea, and now that the sun is gone in there is nothing to steer by."

  While they had been riding, the day had changed; the sky, which had forweeks been bright and fine, was now overcast with heavy clouds.

  "We are in for a storm, I think," Dick went on, "and it is coming onfast. I have not an idea which way to go, and I think our best planwill be to halt. Joel will track us, and the farther we go the longerhe will be in overtaking us. There is the first drop! The best thingto do, Tom, will be to take off our saddles and tether our horses, andthen to wait. This storm is a nuisance; in the first place we shall bedrenched, in the second it will wash out our tracks, and the darknesswill come so quickly that I am afraid Joel will not be able to trace us.You see we do not know whether we have been riding straight or not; thestag may have been running in a circle for anything we know, and as wehave been riding for something like two hours, we may be within fivemiles of home or we may be five and twenty."

  Scarcely had the boys got the saddles off and tethered their horses whenthe rain came down in a sheet, accompanied by the most tremendousthunder and the most vivid lightning Tom had ever seen.

  "This is awful, Dick," he said.

  "Yes," Dick agreed; "thunderstorms here are frightful. Houses are oftenstruck; but, lying down here in the open, there is not much fear."

  For hours the storm continued unabated; the rain came down in a perfectdeluge. The boys had put their saddles together and had covered thesewith the horse-cloths so as to form a sort of tent, but they werenevertheless soaked to the skin, and, to add to their discomfiture, thehorses had been so frightened by the blinding glare of the lightningthat they tugged at the ropes until, as the wet penetrated the ground,the pegs became loosened, and they scoured away into the darkness.

  After continuing for five hours the rain suddenly ceased.

  "What are we to do in the morning, Dick?"

  "If it is fine it will be easy enough; we shall put our saddles on ourheads and walk eastward. I have got a little pocket-compass whichfather gave me in case I should at any time get lost, so we shall haveno difficulty in keeping our way, and sooner or later we must strike theroad running north to Newcastle."

  They did not, however, wait till morning; so wet and chilled were they,that they agreed they would rather walk than lie still. Accordinglythey put the saddles on their heads as soon as the rain ceased and thestars shone out, struck a light and looked at their compass, fixed on astar to steer by, and then set out on their journey.

  Fortunately, after two hours' walking, they struck the road at a pointsome ten miles from the farm, and were home soon after daybreak, just astheir fathers were about to set out with a body of Kaffirs in search ofthem. Joel had returned late at night, having turned his face homewardwhen it became too dark to follow the track; the horses had both come induring the night.

  CHAPTER FOUR.

  THE OUTBREAK OF WAR.

  As soon as the Jacksons' house was finished, they went into residencethere; but two or three times a week Dick and Tom managed to meet, oneor other being sure to find some excuse for riding over.

  The Humphreys had arrived in Natal
at the end of April, 1877, and byNovember in the following year their farm presented a very differentappearance to that which it had worn on their arrival--sixteen months ofenergetic labour, carried on by a considerable number of hands, willeffect wonders. Possessing ample capital Mr Humphreys was able to keepa strong gang of Kaffirs at work, and for some time had thirty men uponthe farm. Thus the house which, when he took it, stood solitary andlone in a bare plain, was now surrounded by 200 acres of young trees.Of these, twenty acres were fruit-trees; the remainder, trees grown fortheir wood. These were planted thickly, as they would every year bethinned out, and the young poles would fetch a good sum for fencing.Although they had only been planted a few months, they were alreadygreen and bright; they were protected from the cattle by a wire fenceencircling the whole.

  The cattle had thriven and were doing well, and a large