Swallow: A Tale of the Great Trek by H. Rider Haggard (good story books to read txt) ๐
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- Author: H. Rider Haggard
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Well, at last the Hollander left us to marry a rich old vrouw twenty years his senior, and that is all I have to say about him, except that if possible I disliked him more when he walked out of the house than when he walked in; though why I should have done so I do not know, for he was a harmless body. Perhaps it was because he played the flute, which I have always thought contemptible in a man.
THE SHADOW OF THE ENGLISHMEN
Now I will pass on to the time when Ralph was nineteen or thereabouts, and save for the lack of hair upon his face, a man grown, since in our climate young people ripen quickly in body if not in mind. I tell of that year with shame and sorrow, for it was then that Jan and I committed a great sin, for which afterwards we were punished heavily enough.
At the beginning of winter Jan trekked to the nearest dorp, some fifty miles away, with a waggon load of mealies and of buckskins which he and Ralph had shot, purposing to sell them and to attend the Nachtmahl, or Feast of the Lordโs Supper. I was somewhat ailing just then and did not accompany him, nor did Suzanne, who stayed to nurse me, or Ralph, who was left to look after us both.
Fourteen days later Jan returned, and from his face I saw at once that something had gone wrong.
โWhat is it, husband?โ I asked. โDid not the mealies sell well?โ
โYes, yes, they sold well,โ he answered, โfor that fool of an English storekeeper bought them and the hides together for more than their value.โ
โAre the Kaffirs going to rise again, then?โ
โNo, they are quiet for the present, though the accursed missionaries of the London Society are doing their best to stir them up,โ and he made a sign to me to cease from asking questions, nor did I say any more till we had gone to bed and everybody else in the house was asleep.
โNow,โ I said, โtell me your bad news, for bad news you have had.โ
โWife,โ he answered, โit is this. In the dorp yonder I met a man who had come from Port Elizabeth. He told me that there at the port were two Englishmen, who had recently arrived, a Scotch lord, and a lawyer with red hair. When the Englishmen heard that he was from this part of the country they fell into talk with him, saying that they came upon a strange errand. It seems that when the great ship was wrecked upon this coast ten years ago there was lost in her a certain little boy who, if he had lived, would to-day have been a very rich noble in Scotland. Wife, you may know who that little boy was without my telling you his name.โ
I nodded and turned cold all over my body, for I could guess what was coming.
โNow for a long while those who were interested in him supposed that this lad was certainly dead with all the others on board that ship, but a year or more ago, how I know not, a rumour reached them that one male child who answered to his description had been saved alive and adopted by some boers living in the Transkei. By this time the property and the title that should be his had descended to a cousin of the childโs, but this relation being a just man determined before he took them to come to Africa and find out the truth for himself, and there he is at Port Elizabeth, or rather by this time he is on his road to our place. Therefore it would seem that the day is at hand when we shall see the last of Ralph.โ
โNever!โ I said, โhe is a son to us and more than a son, and I will not give him up.โ
โThen they will take him, wife. Yes, even if he does not wish it, for he is a minor and they are armed with authority.โ
โOh!โ I cried, โit would break my heart, and, Jan, there is another heart that would break also,โ and I pointed towards the chamber where Suzanne slept.
He nodded, for none could live with them and not know that this youth and maiden loved each other dearly.
โIt would break your heart,โ he answered, โand her heart; yes, and my own would be none the better for the wrench; yet how can we turn this evil from our door?โ
โJan,โ I said, โthe winter is at hand; it is time that you and Ralph should take the cattle to the bush-veldt yonder, where they will lie warm and grow fat, for so large a herd cannot be trusted to the Kaffirs. Had you not better start to-morrow? If these English meddlers should come here I will talk with them. Did Suzanne save the boy for them? Did we rear him for them, although he was English? Think how you will feel when he has crossed the ridge yonder for the last time, you who are sonless, and you must go about your tasks alone, must ride alone and hunt alone, and, if need be, fight alone, except for his memory. Think, Jan, think.โ
โDo not tempt me, woman,โ he whispered back in a hoarse voice, for Ralph and he were more to each other than any father and son that I have known, since they were also the dearest of friends. โDo not tempt me,โ he went on; โthe lad must himself be told of this, and he must judge; he is young, but among us at nineteen a youth is a burgher grown, with a right to take up land and marry. He must be told, I say, and at once.โ
โIt is good,โ I said, โlet him judge;โ but in the wickedness of my heart I made up my mind that I would find means to help his judgment, for the thought of losing him filled me with blind terror, and all that night I lay awake thinking out the matter.
Early in the morning I rose and went to the stoep, where I found Suzanne drinking coffee and singing a little song that Ralph had taught her. I can see her now as she stood in her pretty tight-fitting dress, a flower wet with dew in her girdle, swinging her kapje by its strings while the first rays of the sun glistened on the waves of her brown and silk-like hair. She was near eighteen then, and so beautiful that my heart beat with pride at her loveliness, for never in my long life have I seen a girl of any nation who could compare with my daughter Suzanne in looks. Many women are sweet to behold in this way or in that; but Suzanne was beautiful every way, yes, and at all ages of her life; as a child, as a maiden, as a matron and as a woman drawing near to eld, she was always beautiful if, like that of the different seasons, her beauty varied. In shape she was straight and tall and rounded, light-footed as a buck, delicate in limb, wide-breasted and slender-necked. Her face was rich in hue as a kloof lily, and her eyesโah! no antelope ever had eyes darker, tenderer, or more appealing than were the eyes of Suzanne. Moreover, she was sweet of nature, ready of wit and good-heartedโyes, even for the Kaffirs she had a smile.
โYou are up betimes, Suzanne,โ I said when I had looked at her a little.
โYes, mother; I rose to make Ralph his coffee, he does not like that the Kaffir women should boil it for him.โ
โYou mean that you do not like it,โ I answered, for I knew that Ralph thought little of who made the coffee that he drank, or if he did it was mine that he held to be the best, and not Suzanneโs, who in those days was a careless girl, thinking less of household matters than she should have done.
โDid Swart Piet come here yesterday?โ I asked. โI thought that I saw his horse as I walked back from the sea.โ
โYes, he came.โ
โWhat for?โ
She shrugged her shoulders. โOh! mother, why do you ask me? You know well that he is always troubling me, bringing me presents of flowers, and asking me to opsit with him and what not.โ
โThen you donโt want to opsit with him?โ
โThe candle would be short that I should burn with Swart Piet,โ answered Suzanne, stamping her foot; โhe is an evil man, full of dark words and ways, and I fear him, for I think that since his fatherโs death he has become worse, and the most of the company he keeps is with those Kaffir witch-doctors.โ
โAh! like father, like son. The mantle of Elijah has fallen upon Elisha, but inside out. Well, it is what I expected, for sin and wizardry were born in his blood. Had you any words with him?โ
โYes, some. I would not listen to his sweet talk, so he grew angry and began to threaten; but just then Ralph came back and he went away, for he is afraid of Ralph.โ
โWhere has Ralph gone so early?โ I asked, changing the subject.
โTo the far cattle-kraal to look after the oxen which the Kaffir bargained to break into the yoke. They are choosing them this morning.โ
โSo. He makes a good Boer for one of English blood, does he not? And yet I suppose that when he becomes English again he will soon forget that he was ever a Boer.โ
โWhen he becomes English again, mother! What do you mean by that saying?โ she asked quickly.
โI mean that like will to like, and blood to blood; also that there may be a nest far away which this bird that we have caged should fill.โ
โA nest far away, mother? Then there is one here which would be left empty; in your heart and fatherโs, I mean;โ and dropping her sun-bonnet she turned pale and pressed her hands upon her own, adding, โOh! speak straight words to me. What do you mean by these hints?โ
โI mean, Suzanne, that it is not well for any of us to let our love wrap itself too closely about a stranger. Ralph is an Englishman, not a Boer. He names me mother and your father, father; and you he names sister, but to us he is neither son nor brother. Well, a day may come when he learns to understand this, when he learns to understand also that he has other kindred, true kindred far away across the sea; and if those birds call, who will keep him in the strange nest?โ
โAh!โ she echoed, all dismayed, โwho will keep him then?โ
โI do not know,โ I answered; โnot a foster father or mother. But I forgot. Say, did he take his rifle with him to the kraal?โ
โSurely, I saw it in his hand.โ
โThen, daughter, if you will, get on a horse, and if you can find Ralph, tell him that I shall be very glad if he can shoot a small buck and bring it back with him, as I need fresh meat.โ
โMay I stay with him while he shoots the buck, mother?โ
โYes, if you are not in his way and do not stop too long.โ
Then, without more words, Suzanne left me, and presently I saw her cantering across the veldt upon her grey mare that Ralph had broken for her, and wondered if she would find him and what luck he would have with the hunt that day.
Now it seems that Suzanne found Ralph and gave him my message, and that they started together to look for buck on the strip of land which lies between the seashore and the foot of the hills, where sometimes the blesbok and springbok used to feed in thousands. But on this day there were none to be seen, for the dry grass had already been burnt off, so that there was nothing for them to eat.
โIf mother is to get her meat to-day,โ said Ralph at length, โI think that we must try the hill side for a duiker or a bush-buck.โ
So they turned inland and rode towards that very kloof where years before Suzanne had discovered the shipwrecked boy. At the mouth of this kloof was a patch of marshy ground, where the reeds still stood thick, since being full of sap they had resisted the fire.
โThat is a good place for a riet-buck,โ said Ralph, โif only one could beat him out of it, for the reeds
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