LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 DAVIS 
 

 d- 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
Schloss, K. Y. 
 
 MRS. FLETCHER WEBSTER JEWELL 
 
Muriel Sterling 
 
 A TALE OF THE 
 AFRICAN VELDT 
 
 By 
 
 MRS. FLETCHER WEBSTER JEWELL 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 International Book and Publishing Company 
 1900 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 DAVIS 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1900 
 By A. IRENE JEWELL 
 
 A II rights reserved 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 BY THE HON. PATRICK A. COLLINS, LATE UNITED STATES 
 CONSUL AT LONDON. 
 
 RECENT events, tragic and deplorable, have cen 
 tred the world's gaze upon South Africa. What 
 ever be the outcome of the present unhappy con 
 test, the country, its people, institutions, and 
 characteristics, will now be as well known as 
 Central Europe. But a very short time ago it 
 was practically less familiar to most readers than 
 was Central Africa, the heart of the dark conti 
 nent, for upon the latter the lights of Du Chaillu, 
 Livingstone, and Stanley had been flashed. I 
 shared the common knowledge and general ignor 
 ance about the South, until one long pleasant 
 afternoon in London I got my first true glimpse of 
 the land, its people or rather peoples and the 
 cloud that was forming over them, and which has 
 since burst in fury. It was in May, 1896, and in 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the old city palace of Richard III., now no longer 
 dedicated to plots and conspiracies, but given over 
 to eating and drinking apparently the chief oc 
 cupation of the denizens of the world's great 
 metropolis. Our little party consisted of the 
 author of this book, her husband, a distinguished 
 member of the Transvaal Volksraad, and myself. 
 Mrs. Jewell had accompanied her husband to South 
 Africa, where he engaged in business, and lived 
 in Johannesburg, the magic city, that so suddenly 
 rose on the wonderful ridge of gold. Needless to 
 say, as true Americans, they lived, and acted, and 
 thought in the best currents that ran through the 
 republic and its neighbors, through the little capi 
 tal an hour's ride away by rail as well as in the 
 alien golden city. The wounded men of Jame 
 son's band and of the Boer commandos that checked 
 the famous raid were brought to Krugersdorp, 
 where a field hospital was established, and where 
 Mrs. Jewell, first in the field, acted as nurse. 
 Shortly after, Mr. and Mrs. Jewell came to the 
 United States, returning to South Africa by way 
 of London, and were just on the eve of departure 
 on the May day mentioned, bearing the great 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 petition from America to President Kruger to 
 spare the forfeited life of John Hays Hammond. 
 The story opens just before the raid, and ends in 
 good time happily, as all good stories do. Many 
 of the facts through which the love story runs 
 were mentioned in my presence in old Crosby 
 Hall, and may be taken to be not only true, but 
 accurately reported, as some true facts are not. It 
 may be added also that the love story itself has 
 fact for a foundation. As a compatriot of the fair 
 author I most heartily bid Godspeed to her con 
 tribution to the literature of South Africa. 
 
 PATRICK A. COLLINS. 
 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IT was the last day of the Johannesburg races ; 
 the time, December 28, 1895. The vast throng 
 at the race track was on a very tiptoe of enjoy 
 ment. Despite an accident to the starting ma 
 chine, the different events were being run off with 
 comparative smoothness, and now the horses were 
 at it. 
 
 A blare of music and a burst of applause an 
 nounced another contest for superiority. 
 
 " Lammas ! Lammas ! " shouted fair women, 
 rising in their seats to wave their handkerchiefs 
 at the doughty animal of that name, who was mak 
 ing a gallant struggle to retain the slight lead he 
 had gained. 
 
 " Lammas ! Lammas ! " the echo went, a wave 
 3 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 of sound, gathering strength as it proceeded from 
 the select hundreds on the grand stand of the Turf 
 Club, down through the thousands, who, less for 
 tunate, were obliged to content themselves with 
 seats on the general stands, until it faded away 
 into nothingness after passing through the throng, 
 in carriages and on foot, who hugged the fenced 
 enclosure of the track itself. 
 
 " No ! no ! " came a contradictory return echo. 
 " See that little fellow in the green and yellow ! 
 Watch him forge ahead. Yah ! Yah ! Go in and 
 win ! " 
 
 "Lammas! Lammas!" burst forth the sup 
 porters of the favorite as he regained the ground 
 he had lost and pushed his nose again to the 
 front. 
 
 And Lammas it was. Then the crowd resumed 
 their seats to rest from the fatigue brought on by 
 each burst of excitement, and to buzz with query, 
 criticism or comment. 
 
 The Christmas races are the greatest episodes 
 in Johannesburg, and the Johannesburg races, it 
 may be parenthetically remarked, are the greatest 
 in all South Africa. The races at Cape Town, 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 Durban and Pretoria are magnificent events in 
 their way, but those at Johannesburg are fairly 
 magnetic. The scene is the English Derby or 
 the American Futurity on a somewhat smaller 
 scale, perhaps but supplying in animation and 
 interest what it lacks in point of numbers. 
 While they are on, business becomes a side 
 issue, and receives only such attention as is abso 
 lutely demanded. The race track, situated on a 
 broad plain on the outskirts of the city, becomes a 
 marvellous panorama of life and color. The mag 
 nificent costumes of the ladies, the white umbrellas 
 of the bookmakers, and the gay colors of the jock 
 eys form a kaleidoscopic combination accentuated 
 by the brilliancy of the sunshine and the clearness 
 of the atmosphere in that part of the world. 
 
 A buzz of unusual interest went about the Turf 
 Club balcony as a bright-colored brake, drawn 
 by four beautiful bay horses, was driven on the 
 grounds, and a jolly party of ladies and gentlemen 
 alighted. 
 
 " Who are the strangers with Mrs. Brunelle ? " 
 asked one of the ladies on the stand, leaning over 
 and nudging a neighbor. 
 
 5 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 "Why, don't you know? " asked the other, de 
 lighted at the opportunity and the ability to sup 
 ply the desired information. "Well, there is 
 Lord and Lady Stanmore, Lord Popham, Miss 
 Dare and Miss St. John and Miss Sterling, a 
 Mr. Weiss, and " 
 
 "Why, that's Mr. Kooste with them, is it 
 not?" 
 
 " Yes, Kooste is quite interested in one of the 
 young ladies. Stopped a runaway for her re 
 cently." 
 
 "Indeed! I have quite lost track of events 
 while at Cape Town." 
 
 " Oh, yes ; Kooste is a sort of a fidus Achates 
 since then ! The fact that he is a Boer and that 
 there are rumors of trouble in the air makes no 
 difference. Lady Stanmore brought her friends 
 down here for the purpose of seeing the country, 
 enjoying the holidays, and getting away from 
 England during the cold weather." 
 
 Meanwhile the newcomers had taken luncheon 
 at the club, and had come out on the grand stand, 
 where they became the objects on which hundreds 
 
 of inquiring eyes were focussed. 
 
 6 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 "What a beautiful scene!" ejaculated Lady 
 Stanmore, as she viewed the picture spread out 
 before her gaze the magnificently dressed throng 
 about her, the track lying almost at her feet, the 
 excited thousands in the immediate perspective, and 
 the brilliant background, miles and miles away, 
 where the bright sunshine and the clear atmos 
 phere seemed to combine into a vibrating glitter. 
 
 " Enchanting ! " echoed Miss St. John in 
 ecstatic appreciation. 
 
 " Ya-as, never would have imagined such a sight 
 in this out-of-the-way corner of the world, y' 
 know," chimed in Lord Popham, for the moment 
 roused out of his habitual air of ennui, and ad 
 justing his monocle so as to take a fresh squint at 
 the scene. 
 
 " It is indeed charming," continued Miss St. 
 John. "See the sun! It looks like a great 
 golden ball slowly sinking into a cave behind the 
 hills yonder. " 
 
 " Let's go look for dat ball. Ve ought to make 
 our fortunes mit him melted up as olt golt, eh?" 
 chuckled Mr. Weiss, elated at his practical roman 
 ticism. Mr. Weiss was realistic even in romance. 
 
 7 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 He had made some millions out of a capital of 
 racial shrewdness and energy. Some said this 
 capital consisted in part, at least, of more shady 
 material but that's another story. The fact of 
 his millions overshadowed any possible fictions 
 regarding the methods by which they were ac 
 quired, and he found them desirable stepping- 
 stones to various social eminences. Lord Stan- 
 more had invited him because of obligations in 
 a business sense, which would not permit the 
 casual brushing aside of the broad hint which 
 induced the invitation. It must be added, how 
 ever, that Mr. Weiss, with all his faults, was an 
 entertaining travelling companion, although not 
 always aware of the fact. 
 
 Muriel Sterling, the remaining member of Lady 
 Stanmore's party, had expressed no opinion re 
 garding the beauties of the scene spread out be 
 fore her gaze, although she was not blind to their 
 charms. 
 
 " Yes, this is typical of the place," Kooste was 
 saying. " The money comes quickly and goes as 
 quickly. The spirit of adventure and speculation 
 pervades this, as it does everything else. Now 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT, 
 watch this heat," he added. "It is a decisive 
 
 one." 
 
 The buzz in conversation ceased as the horses 
 pranced about the starting-point, their riders jock 
 eying for position, and rose to another burst of 
 applause as the rival horses finally darted off. 
 
 " See the bookmakers ! " he said, pointing to 
 the bobbing white umbrellas under which busy 
 men were taking notes of bets offered. "They 
 do business out there in the open, notwithstanding 
 other forms of gambling are reproved. The pro 
 ceeding is countenanced by the government yes, 
 it is even invited, because it is a source of profit. 
 That is one of the accompaniments of the race 
 track. 
 
 " And there is another," he added, pointing to a 
 low, long building of corrugated iron which occu 
 pied a prominent position within the grounds. 
 " See the stream going into that place ? Well, 
 that is a totalizator, of which you may have heard 
 a sort of a gigantic pool. That is another form 
 of betting a monopoly legalized by the govern 
 ment for a consideration. The women are as 
 eager to gamble as the men; in fact, I am not 
 
 9 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 sure but they are the most enthusiastic plungers. 
 There, the race is over. Now come the patrons 
 of the totalizator to gather in the results of their 
 luck. The bookmakers will not settle here. 
 They will meet later at Tattersall's, a sort of a 
 clearing-house for bets, where the unlucky ones 
 will cash in and the lucky ones will receive the 
 results of their ventures." 
 
 Kooste was the special mentor of Miss Sterling. 
 This fact, in addition to his presence with the 
 party, had caused comment, although the one ex 
 plained the other. There was some association of 
 Outlanders and Boers in the city, but during the 
 strained period of the few months preceding the 
 opening of this story the lines had been drawn so 
 sharply as to indicate with terrible distinctness 
 the racial limitations. Kooste was a man of 
 standing and education, however, and commanded 
 the respect of the Outlanders. He had a large 
 farm at Potchefstroom, but he spent a great deal 
 of his time at Johannesburg, where he had estab 
 lished large commercial interests. Like most of 
 his countrymen he was a notable horseman, and 
 one morning, a few days before, he had rescued 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 Lady Stanmore and Muriel from a dangerous pre 
 dicament. Out of this accidental acquaintance 
 had grown a warm friendship. 
 
 The two ladies had started out for a short drive, 
 and, with all the enthusiasm and self-reliance of 
 adventurous Englishwomen, declined an escort, 
 notwithstanding the fact that their light cart was 
 drawn by a spirited pony. For the first few miles 
 they revelled in unalloyed enjoyment. Lady 
 Stanmore was an excellent whip, and all went well 
 until 
 
 She never was able to tell exactly how it hap 
 pened, but in a moment her pony, startled at a 
 piece of paper which the breeze whisked in front 
 of its feet, shied, dashed from the road, and raced 
 across the country with a speed born of a terror 
 which Lady Stanmore found herself powerless to 
 subdue. The two women became panic-stricken 
 as the affrighted animal dashed on, and it required 
 their best efforts to retain their seats in the plung 
 ing, jolting cart. Suddenly something whisked 
 past them. A moment later the speed of the 
 pony was checked, and he was brought up on 
 
 his haunches on the brink of one of the dan- 
 
 ii 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 gerous spruits, or ground crevices, with which 
 the country abounds, and into which they 
 would in all probability have been pitched head 
 long but for the assistance so providentially 
 rendered. 
 
 " I trust that you are not injured, ladies," said 
 a deep voice at the pony's head. Their rescuer 
 had dismounted from his own animal, and stood 
 with one hand on the pony's bridle, while with 
 the other he patted its glistening neck in order to 
 reassure the frightened beast. Meanwhile the 
 two women were trying to recover from their fright, 
 and found the reaction almost as overpowering as 
 the danger itself. Muriel was the first to recover 
 her voice. 
 
 " No ; thanks to you, we have sustained no 
 more injury than a severe fright. Oh, dear! I 
 have hardly strength to alight." 
 
 "Nor have I," gasped Lady Stanmore. "Oh, 
 how can we ever thank you for your assistance? " 
 she continued, gradually getting control of her 
 feeling from a point where she had been on the 
 verge of hysterics. " But for you we should have 
 been killed," she added, covering her face with 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 her hands, as if to shut out from her gaze the pic 
 ture of that dreadful possibility. 
 
 " I beg that you will think no more of it," re 
 turned the stranger. " If I have been of service 
 to you I am grateful for the privilege." 
 
 Then he softly lectured the pony while the two 
 women gradually regained their composure. 
 
 " There ! " he said, after a few moments had 
 passed. "The pony seems quite tractable now. 
 Would you dare drive him again, or can I assist 
 you back to the town ? " 
 
 "Yes, I'll drive him again," said Lady Stan- 
 more, seizing the reins with grim determination, 
 and mounting to the seat she had so recently 
 vacated. " Nasty little beast ! He caught me off 
 my guard, or he never would have got away with 
 us." 
 
 " Then I'll surrender him to you and bid you 
 ' good-morning ' unless I can be of further ser 
 vice to you." 
 
 " But you will at least let us know to whom we 
 are indebted for this great service," insisted Mu 
 riel, running forward as if the stranger were about 
 to depart as suddenly as he had come. " We are 
 
 '3 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 so frightened that really we are acting like sav 
 ages. We feel under an extreme obligation to 
 you. A minute more and it meant broken bones, 
 and perhaps our lives. I hope that you do not 
 regard us as unmindful of that fact, but we are so 
 agitated that the recollection of our danger crowds 
 every other idea out of our heads." 
 
 " Oh, you exaggerate the importance of my 
 slight assistance ! " the stranger modestly replied. 
 " I would not have you feel that you are under 
 any obligation on that account. I assure you that 
 the privilege of having been of assistance to you 
 is sufficient compensation. I may introduce my 
 self as Jan Kooste, however. I was enjoying a 
 ride before going to business when I saw your 
 pony bolt. I noticed that he had the bit in his 
 teeth, and I knew that there was danger if he per 
 sisted in his crosscountry run. Now, if you have 
 decided to return to the city, it would give me 
 great pleasure to escort you, if I may be per 
 mitted." 
 
 " We should be delighted to have you," replied 
 both women in a breath. 
 
 " We may need your assistance again," added 
 14 
 
A TALE OP THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 Lady Stanmore, with a nervous laugh. " But if he 
 gets away from me again, it will be for some other 
 reason than careless driving." And she gripped 
 the reins and braced herself in the cart to empha 
 size her new determination. Kooste led the pony 
 by the bridle while retracing the course to the 
 main road, and then, surrendering him to the 
 guidance of Lady Stanmore, rode alongside the 
 carriage. As they progressed, Muriel found her 
 self scrutinizing the appearance of their rescuer. 
 He had the dress and manners of a gentlemen, and 
 he was a Boer, judging from this introduction. 
 His name furnished a basis for that assumption, 
 and found additional confirmation in the tall, mus 
 cular figure, crowned by a firmly set head and a 
 somewhat heavy Dutch face. 
 
 A pair of expressive gray eyes lighted up the 
 otherwise immobile countenance. There was a 
 sturdy strength and self-reliant manliness in his 
 every movement, and although it was clear that he 
 inherited many of the characteristics of his Dutch 
 forefathers, it was also clear that education and 
 opportunities for travel, building on a solid basis 
 of honest living, had dissipated many of the nar- 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 row prejudices of his race and produced a type of 
 which any nation might be proud. 
 
 At the gate of Mrs. Brunelle's residence he 
 left them, and proceeded on his way to "The 
 Chains," but not until he had received an intima 
 tion that his presence as a caller would be more 
 than agreeable, and had promised to accept the 
 invitation so cordially extended. Little did Mu 
 riel dream that this chance acquaintance would 
 lead them both, as actors, into one of the most 
 dramatic episodes of the century; but the ways 
 of an inscrutable Providence sometimes evolve 
 heroes and heroines out of very modest and retir 
 ing material, and transform apparently insignifi 
 cant events into epochs which change the whole 
 course of empire. 
 
 And here on the grand-stand, although neither 
 realized it, the prologue was about to be played. 
 
 16 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 "!F you find this gold, Mr. Weiss, I hope it 
 will be beyond the borders of the Transvaal," re 
 marked Kooste, replying in an aside to the for 
 mer's expressed wish. 
 
 " Vy so ? " queried Mr. Weiss. 
 
 " Because gold has been to the Transvaal more 
 of a curse than a blessing." 
 
 "A curse! " Weiss echoed. " Vy, vhere vould 
 ve pe to-day but for id? Not at dis race, cert'nly. 
 An' vhere vouldt your city of Yohannesburg pe ? 
 Vy, novhere. Is it not so ? " 
 
 " Well, if you think this race track and Johan 
 nesburg the sublimest things in creation, I grant 
 that my remark loses force," replied Kooste, with 
 a dry smile. " But I still think the discovery of 
 gold in this country to have been a curse to it. 
 Our predecessors were wise beyond their genera 
 tion when they paid the original discoverer a 
 liberal bonus to leave the country and never men- 
 
 17 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 tion his discovery. It was not that they wanted 
 the gold, but they knew the troubles it would 
 bring, and they preferred to have it remain in the 
 ground, rather than to run the risks that would 
 be entailed by an influx of fortune hunters. " 
 
 "But how has it been a curse?" asked Muriel. 
 " From all that I have heard it has done a great 
 deal to develop the place. I know it is said that 
 money is the root of all evil, but still, we all 
 realize that it is productive of a great deal of 
 good. " 
 
 "Granted," replied Kooste. "I did not say 
 that it was altogether a curse. You will remem 
 ber that I applied my remarks to the Transvaal, 
 and limited them to the statement that so far as 
 this country is concerned I regard the discovery 
 of gold more of a curse than a blessing." 
 
 "But how?" persisted Muriel. 
 
 " Well, in many ways," he answered. " I did 
 not mean to open up a discussion on this point 
 when I made the remark, but since you press me 
 for a reason, I don't mind answering you. It has 
 made the Boers dissatisfied with their own condi 
 tion. It has attracted a horde of foreigners, many 
 
 18 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 of them honorable men and women, to be sure, but 
 many more of whom as much cannot be said. 
 You say they have developed Johannesburg. 
 True. But has that been simply a philanthropic 
 idea ? Don't these very men send out of the coun 
 try a hundred times as much as they leave in it ? 
 Few come here for the purpose of settling. Per 
 manent residents who were willing to make this 
 country their country, and to bring up their chil 
 dren as its citizens, we would welcome. But few 
 come here to settle. They want to make their 
 fortunes in a hurry and then depart. If the gold 
 should fail they would abandon the place with as 
 little concern as one throws away a cigar stump. 
 In the mean time, their pursuit of pounds, shil 
 lings and pence causes them to overlook many of 
 the considerations of right and justice." 
 
 " Supposing the Outlanders had never come to 
 Johannesburg, how much would it have amounted 
 to ?" asked Mr. Brunelle, attracted by the general 
 discussion of this topic. 
 
 "Very little; there is no doubt of that," an 
 swered Kooste. " And yet, Mr. Brunelle, you and 
 I know that there is a side to Johannesburg that 
 
 T 9 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 would have been better had some of these people 
 never come." 
 
 " Oh, that is undoubtedly true if one is to con 
 sider details and overlook the broad general ques 
 tion. You cite only one side, and that the 
 disagreeable side. The same objections might be 
 brought against any city. In fact, I think there 
 are few cities of such proportionately rapid growth 
 as Johannesburg which are so well conducted. 
 Why don't you mention the bright side of the pic 
 ture ? the splendid public buildings, which are the 
 results of the genius of the Outlanders and of the 
 taxes which they pay, without being permitted a 
 word as to how these taxes shall be expended. 
 Yet the Boers control every public office, and in 
 sist that the government shall be conducted on a 
 basis that was passe a hundred years ago. You 
 also put restrictions on religion and education 
 which no man can submit to without irritation and 
 which makes your so-called republic a mockery. " 
 
 " There is force in some of the points you have 
 raised, Mr. Brunelle," replied Kooste, "but let 
 me ask you this : Suppose the existence of gold in 
 England should attract a lot of Boers, Frenchmen, 
 
 20 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 Germans, and Americans, and they should express 
 dissatisfaction with the existing methods of gov 
 ernment, after building a city in which they con 
 stituted a large majority, what would your coun 
 trymen do ? Invite them to leave, if they didn't 
 like it, wouldn't they? " 
 
 " Quite likely. But you have been in England 
 and you know that the conditions are not parallel, 
 and that the situation you have pictured is not a 
 probable one. You would not find such harsh 
 governmental conditions there, nor such wholesale 
 corruption." 
 
 " There can be no corruption without a corrup- 
 tor. It takes two to make such a bargain." 
 
 " That may all be. But you know that some 
 of your politicians, without any advances from 
 outsiders, are constantly scheming to divert fran 
 chises for their own personal benefit ? " 
 
 " Ah, but the advances generally do come from 
 outsiders, Mr. Brunelle! That is where the 
 difficulty lies. And you should not be too hard 
 on a poor farmer elected to the Volksraad, who 
 yields his little vote when offered a sum of money 
 so large that his previous comprehension could 
 
 21 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 never realize that so much existed in one place. 
 Now if the Outlanders are really sincere in their 
 desire to take a part in the government of the 
 country, for the good of the country, why don't 
 they take advantage of the laws which permit 
 them to become citizens ? " 
 
 " But that law is purposely framed to obstruct 
 that possibility." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, but I think you miscon 
 strue it." 
 
 " Why, hasn't the residential requirement been 
 extended from two to fourteen years within my 
 memory? " 
 
 " Yes, but surely a man should become accli 
 mated before he is allowed to become a citizen. 
 The United States, with its immense native 
 population, and which is constantly receiving an 
 immigration population which intends to remain 
 permanently in the country, requires a five years' 
 residence, and is talking of increasing even that. " 
 
 " But does the United States require the con 
 sent of its native population to the granting of 
 citizenship to a newcomer, and does it dictate to 
 him any special form of church belief or practice 
 
 22 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 before it will permit that citizen to become a part 
 of the government ? " 
 
 "No; but it does require that a citizen shall 
 forswear allegiance to any other government, and 
 that is just what the Outlanders here, particularly 
 the English, decline to do. They want to occupy 
 the dual position of citizens of the South African 
 Republic and subjects of the Queen. The result 
 would be that one of these days they would, by 
 mere force of voting numbers, move to transform 
 this country to a dominion of Great Britain. 
 That is what we fear, Mr. Brunelle, and even as 
 an Englishman you cannot deny that there is some 
 ground for that fear. No government is absolute 
 ly perfect, and I am free to admit that ours is a 
 long way from perfection. I realize the justice of 
 some of your objections, but you know that some 
 of us are working, even now, to soften some of 
 these conditions. In the end I think we shall 
 succeed ; but it will take time, because it is diffi 
 cult to bring about radical changes in the minds 
 of people who think slowly, whose environment 
 has had a tendency to narrow rather than to 
 broaden, and whose memory is filled with certain 
 
 23 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 fears, which are not entirely baseless. I do not 
 mean to have my remarks taken in a personal 
 sense. If you, on the one hand, and I on the 
 other, had the power to effect a reconstruction, I 
 believe we could do so on a basis that would be 
 absolutely satisfactory." 
 
 " I believe you, Kooste, I believe you," was 
 Brunelle's hearty rejoinder. " Of course you 
 understand that I wasn't addressing you in any 
 personal sense, and I agree with you that if the 
 hotheads on both sides could be subdued, a rea 
 sonable reconstruction could be effected and 
 much of the present friction avoided. I still 
 think, however, that we have substantial ground 
 for complaint, and the difficulty is that these com 
 plaints, however well founded, seem to fall upon 
 deaf ears, so far as the government is con 
 cerned." 
 
 " Gentlemen, here is the best race of the day," 
 broke in Miss Dare, who had no interest in 
 a political discussion and feared its growing 
 warmth. " I propose a pool on it. Do you all 
 agree?" 
 
 They did, with a vengeance. 
 24 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 "Then what say you to a pound apiece? I'll 
 take Languid." 
 
 " Oh, you're selecting the favorite ! " objected 
 Mrs. Brunelle. 
 
 " But they tell me that Forest King has been 
 pushing him close on the circuit. I'd just as soon 
 take Forest King. " 
 
 "No, no. You had first choice. You take 
 Languid. Some of the others may select Forest 
 King." 
 
 " I'll hold the stakes and call a bookie," sug 
 gested Mr. Brunelle. 
 
 " No, no. Let us put it in the totalizator. It 
 will be more exciting, and we won't have to wait 
 for a settlement. You take the money down to 
 the totalizator, Mr. Brunelle," suggested Miss 
 Dare. 
 
 Mr. Brunelle complied with the request and 
 then resumed his seat to watch the great race. 
 The riders cantered around the starting-point for 
 a few moments. Finally the word was given, 
 and off they went a whirlwind of shouting, 
 whipping Centaurs. As they tore over the course 
 they were encouraged by the shouts of their favor- 
 
 2 5 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 ites and pandemonium reigned. A final shout, a 
 lashing of whips, a cheer, and the race was over. 
 
 " I've won," shrieked Miss Dare in her delight. 
 Then the spoils were divided. 
 
 During the progress of the race Kooste had 
 been called away from the group on the grand 
 stand, but he soon returned and beckoned Mr. Bru- 
 nelle aside. 
 
 " I've got bad news," he whispered. " I fear that 
 there is to be a sudden sequel to our remarks of 
 this afternoon. I wish the matter to be considered 
 confidential, so far as possible, but I feel that I 
 owe it to you and my other friends here to warn 
 you of danger. The fact is, I've just been com 
 mandeered." 
 
 "Good God! is that so?" asked Brunelle, 
 turning pale. 
 
 " Yes ; the field cornet has just sent a messen 
 ger for me with orders to report at once. I have 
 seen several other Boers summoned also. " 
 
 "What is the difficulty?" 
 
 "There is a suspicion of an uprising of the 
 Outlanders. The Boers are excited because of 
 
 their attitude regarding the demand they have 
 
 26 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 sent to the President, and the government has in 
 formation that a plot is ready to develop in Johan 
 nesburg. For God's sake, leave the place at once. 
 I would not be surprised to hear at any moment 
 an order for its bombardment, for information has 
 come that the residents are secretly arming and 
 mean to try and overturn the government. Go 
 now, while it is possible, and urge your friends 
 to start without delay. There is no time to lose. 
 See," he added, pointing to the groups rising here 
 and there about the race track, "the secret is 
 already known. The presence of the messenger 
 has attracted their attention, and hundreds who 
 have surmised the reason for his presence are 
 leaving the track. " 
 
 His remarks received substantial confirmation. 
 Men were hastily notifying women, and little 
 groups were departing for their carriages. The 
 excitement increased until it extended to the en 
 tire assemblage. The interest in the races was 
 lost. The impulse of everybody seemed to be to 
 leave with the least possible delay. 
 
 "I'll excuse myself to my friends without tell 
 ing them the whole truth," Kooste continued. " I 
 
 27 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 do not want needlessly to frighten them. But I 
 will depend on you to see that they lose no time 
 in getting away from here and leaving the coun 
 try, for a while, at least. No one can tell the ex 
 tent of the danger. I will go down and arrange 
 transportation for them by Monday's train, if you 
 so desire. There will be a tremendous crush, 
 but I think my influence will suffice to secure you 
 accommodations. I'll try and see them again be 
 fore they start. In the mean time, use your best 
 endeavors to hasten their going. This is one of 
 the blessings of gold," he bitterly added. " God 
 only knows where this trouble is going to end ; I 
 hope the crisis may in some way be averted, but I 
 fear the future." 
 
 The return from the race track was a panic 
 rather than a procession. To reach the city with 
 all possible haste was the thought uppermost in 
 the minds of all, and the brushes on the road be 
 tween the different outfits were entirely apart from 
 the wish of individual drivers to exhibit the speed 
 of their animals. A terrible dust storm had 
 arisen, to add to the anxieties of the occasion, but 
 
 in spite of it all plunged at a headlong speed. 
 
 28 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 Past the mines Mr. Brunelle's brake whirled; 
 thence up Commissioner Street and past " The 
 Chains," where now, instead of gesticulating 
 brokers, excited men were discussing the one 
 question which filled the popular mind; across 
 Pritchard Street ; past the Grand National Hotel, 
 whose porticoed front was lined with angry- 
 browed Outlanders ; past the railroad station and 
 into Dornfontein, and thence up Saratoga Avenue 
 to his residence Mr. Brunelle urged his panting 
 horses. The threat of impending conflict was 
 visible on every hand. When would it become a 
 reality ? 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 " NOT going, Muriel ? " echoed Lady Stanmore, 
 the following morning, when she had visited Mu 
 riel's room, in response to the latter 's invitation. 
 "Not going? Why, you're crazy." 
 
 " At any rate, I'm determined to stay, dear Lady 
 Stanmore. My mind is fully made up." 
 
 " But, my dear child, you don't realize what you 
 are doing. You must go." 
 
 "No, I cannot," replied Muriel, enfolding Lady 
 Stanmore in her arms as if coaxing her permis 
 sion to remain. " I have carefully considered the 
 matter. Until last evening I was undecided, but 
 now my determination is fixed. So I sent for you 
 to notify you. Now, listen, dear friend, and let 
 me tell you the whole story. You alone, of all 
 my friends, know the purpose I had in mind in 
 coming out here. You have been my confidant 
 my other self. All my hopes and plans I have 
 
 3 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 confided in you. Don't think me ungrateful. 
 Your kindnesses never came home to me so 
 clearly as they do this moment. They pile up, a 
 mountain so high that my gratitude can never 
 hope to scale it. I know that when you urge me 
 to return with you, you are advising what seems 
 to be the only thing to do, but listen : I came out 
 here for a purpose, and I feel that I ought to try 
 and carry it out. Last night, after we had re 
 turned from the races, I slipped out to the little 
 chapel to pray for guidance. For more than an 
 hour I was there in the gloom, asking for light. 
 Never in my life did I so pour out my soul, and 
 never did I hear so clear a response. When I left 
 the chapel it was with the determination to stay 
 here." 
 
 " But where will you stay ? " excitedly de 
 manded Lady Stanmore, as if that clinched her 
 argument. " The Brunelles are going." 
 
 " I have provided for all that," was Muriel's 
 calm counter response. " Leaving the chapel, I 
 met the rector and told him of my plans. He 
 at first tried to dissuade me, but after hearing my 
 
 entire statement he approved of my course, and 
 
 3' 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 told me he would welcome me at his house until 
 such time as I could begin work as a nurse." 
 
 "Asa nurse? You?" 
 
 "Yes; even I." 
 
 " Why, child, what do you know about nursing? " 
 
 "Not much, perhaps; and yet I am not alto 
 gether ignorant. In my little philanthropic jaunts 
 I have devoted considerable attention to charitable 
 work and have observed the nurses at the hos 
 pitals. I may lack a technical education, but I 
 know something of such duties as do not require a 
 technical knowledge of the science. I can at least 
 smooth some poor fellow's pillow, and assist in 
 preparing dressings." 
 
 " But where is this hospital, and when are you 
 going to begin ? " 
 
 " I can't answer either question; but this seems 
 to be clear : that this place will be the centre of 
 trouble, and that the time is not far distant. 
 There is talk of war on everybody's lips. Be 
 sides, if Jack is anywhere in the country I may 
 hear news of him. I have learned that he has 
 gone up into Rhodesia. It would be just like 
 
 him to take part in a contest, if there should be 
 
 32 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 one. By staying here I may get news of him, or 
 even see him. " 
 
 " But what shall I say to your father? He will 
 hold me responsible for you." 
 
 " Tell him the whole story, if you choose. Say 
 to him that you did all you could to persuade me 
 to return, and that I was determined to remain, 
 for my country's sake. Say to him that I believe 
 it to be my duty, and he will understand." 
 
 " Dear child, how you argue ! I am almost per 
 suaded to stay with you. You make me feel like 
 a coward to think of going." 
 
 " No, no, no ! " remonstrated Muriel. " Your 
 duty is to go, and without delay. " 
 
 " Yes, I fear I must. But, Muriel," she added, 
 holding the girl at arm's length, and gazing at her 
 with glistening eyes, " I can hardly make myself 
 believe that you are in earnest. Where did you 
 get this courage ? " 
 
 "Ah, I hardly know!" Muriel wearily re 
 sponded. " It seems as if I had grown from a girl 
 to a woman during the night. The only thing 
 that seems quite clear is that I am doing what is 
 
 right yes, what is my duty." 
 
 33 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 "Well, dear, so be it. Under such circum 
 stances I cannot say another word to dissuade you. 
 I am proud of you proud of you. " 
 
 And the good-hearted little woman folded the 
 girl to her breast and kissed her. 
 
 " I knew you would agree with me. Now, say 
 nothing to the others until to-morrow. I know 
 they would also try and persuade me to go. My 
 determination must be final and absolute." 
 
 "Very well, dear. Now, good-night. I'll see 
 you in the morning. " 
 
 Naturally there was a great commotion among 
 the members of Lady Stanmore's party, when the 
 announcement of Muriel's determination was 
 made. Lord Stanmore said nothing, except to 
 privately inform his wife that he deemed the 
 move an unwise one. But as he agreed with his 
 wife in all things, he accepted her view of the 
 situation and finally applauded Muriel's courage. 
 
 "Weally, it's most extwaordinawy, don't y' 
 know," drawled Lord Popham, as the boldness 
 of the plan gradually worked its way through his 
 dull perception. " Extwaordinawy ! Stay here ? 
 
 Deah me ! " Then he tugged at his mustache, 
 
 34 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 first with his right hand and then with his left, as 
 if this process assisted his mental digestion. 
 
 " But, Muriel, you may be killed ! " apprehen 
 sively whispered Miss St. John; and she shuddered 
 at the bare thought. 
 
 "You are hardly comforting," smiled Muriel. 
 " But even so. I have thought of that, and, if 
 necessary, I am ready to die in a cause that seems 
 to me so glorious. " 
 
 " I suppose you'll wear a gray dress, with a 
 white apron, a little white cap, and a red cross on 
 your sleeve, won't you? Won't that be just love 
 ly? " murmured the romantic Miss St. John. 
 
 " Really, I hadn't thought of all those details," 
 replied Muriel, laughing aloud at the queer turn 
 of her companion's thoughts. "And yet, it's a 
 matter worth considering. I'm glad you sug 
 gested the idea. I have no dresses really suitable 
 to wear on such occasions and I'll have to go out 
 immediately and get some, or the materials for 
 some." 
 
 " Perhaps you'd like a costume like dat," put in 
 Mr. Weiss mischievously, addressing Miss St. 
 John. 
 
 35 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 " Oh, dear, no ! " that romantic young lady an 
 swered, shrinking behind Lady Stanmore as if she 
 feared some one would by main force compel her 
 to enlist her services. "I never could do it. 
 I'd faint at the very sight of blood. " 
 
 " Miss Sterling, much as I admire your courage, 
 I wish you would reconsider," gravely urged Mr. 
 Brunelle. " You have no conception of the possi 
 bilities which may ensue. There are not only the 
 privations of a hospital, and the possibility of 
 being wounded or killed during a bombardment to 
 be considered, but there is also the likelihood of 
 an uprising of the blacks, with all the horrible 
 possibilities of such a catastrophe. I beseech 
 you, do not expose yourself to a danger of which 
 I dare not more than hint." 
 
 Muriel closed her eyes and drew herself to her 
 full height. Her hands were clinched by her 
 side, the color receded from her lips, and for a 
 moment she seemed to cease breathing. But 
 there was no sign of faltering in her clear gray 
 orbs when she again opened them. 
 
 " That was something which I had not consid 
 ered," she replied, in her soft, even tones. " But 
 
 36 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 even if it actually threatened, instead of being a 
 mere possibility, I would still persist in the course 
 I have marked out for myself. As I have already 
 told you, there are many things concerning this 
 venture which are not entirely clear to me, but I 
 have placed my trust in the Lord, and I know He 
 will illumine my path." 
 
 " Then I have nothing more to say. I admire 
 your devotion, and I would myself stay but for my 
 wife and children. I feel that my first duty is to 
 them. But I felt that I ought to present to you 
 the possibility which was worrying me, and now 
 that you have considered it, I congratulate you 
 upon your determination. I am proud to own 
 you as a countrywoman, and I trust the fears 
 which now disturb us all shall be shown to have 
 no better foundation than our own imaginations." 
 
 "I thank you all. Believe me, I appreciate 
 your friendly anxiety, but, as I have told you, I 
 have committed the details of my plan to a Higher 
 Power, and beyond the mere fact that I ought to 
 stay, I have decided nothing. I will ride with you 
 to the station and there say farewell." 
 
 As they drove through the streets they found 
 37 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 themselves in the midst of a mass of hurrying 
 fugitives. All kinds of bundles were being car 
 ried. Trunks were conspicuous by their absence. 
 Travelling bags or cases predominated, and in some 
 instances effects were packed in sheets or table 
 cloths. A drunken miner waved his hat at them 
 as they passed. Farther along a squad of armed 
 volunteers caused a brief halt while they marched 
 across the square. At the little railroad station 
 it was confusion worse confounded. The ap 
 proaches were blocked by a struggling mob, and 
 it was with difficulty that the members of the 
 party squeezed their way to the coaches. Here 
 the seriousness of the situation was again accent 
 uated. At the window of one of the coaches a 
 man was standing, handing a woman in the coach 
 some bread, meat and coffee. 
 
 " I dare not leave here to go out," she was say 
 ing. "I might lose my seat. But, oh, I'm so 
 tired ! Here I've been cramped up since morning. 
 I wonder if they'll never leave." 
 
 A little farther along, the foremost members of 
 the party were almost upset by a commotion im 
 mediately in front of them. 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " Hammer him ! Hammer him hard, the cur ! " 
 a crowd of miners were urging, as they strove to 
 strike a hapless mortal who was rolling in the 
 dust. "Ah, ye coward! Ye'd sneak off like a 
 whipped cur, would ye, as soon as ye scent danger. 
 How about all your brave words, now ? " they asked, 
 as they gave him a final series of kicks and the 
 half-dead individual, by a wild dash, managed to 
 escape from them and disappear in the crowd. 
 
 " What has he done? " asked some one. 
 
 " Wot's he done? Wot 'asn't he done? " they 
 asked. " W'y, 'e was all for war, an' blood, an' 
 gore. This mornin' we missed 'im, an' some one 
 saw 'im comin' this way. So we follored, an' 'ere 
 we fin' 'im, curled up under a seat like the dog 
 'e is." 
 
 An angry roar from the opposite side of the 
 railroad yard attracted the attention of the crowd. 
 It was followed by a volley of stones and other 
 missiles. 
 
 " What's the row there ? " asked some one in the 
 crowd, nearly sweeping the Stanmore party from 
 their feet as the rush to the other side of the sta 
 tion set the whole throng in motion. 
 
 39 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 " Not much," was the jocular reply of a spectator. 
 " Only a lot of white-livered chaps, who are trying 
 to get away from the place by packing themselves 
 in a cattle car. They're jammed in so close that 
 there isn't room for them to move around, and 
 they're obliged to stand up. How they'll endure it 
 during the long ride the Lord only knows, and he 
 won't tell. The miners are mad at them for leav 
 ing the city, now that danger threatens, and they 
 are showing their displeasure." 
 
 So the scene changed from one act of violence 
 to another. Accommodations on the trains were 
 at a tremendous premium. In some cases as high 
 as 20 was given a guard to hold a single seat. 
 Despite the fact that the cars were packed to a 
 dangerous limit, it seemed as if each succeeding 
 train-load made a scarcely perceptible diminution 
 of the mass of humanity that thronged the station, 
 imploring, threatening, cursing; all battling for 
 the privilege of a chance to get away anywhere, 
 so long as it was beyond the limits of Johannes 
 burg, and into territory where the British flag 
 floated. 
 
 " Where in the world is our coach ? " Mr. Bru- 
 40 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 nelle asked, somewhat testily, after he had walked 
 almost the entire length of the station. 
 
 " Right here," remarked a voice at his elbow, 
 and turning he beheld Kooste. He led them to a 
 vacant compartment, and assisted them to deposit 
 their luggage. 
 
 "I had this place reserved for you," he said; 
 " and as I felt I could not permit my good friends 
 to depart without a word of farewell, I secured 
 permission to come down here. I am glad you 
 have been so expeditious. The danger is immi 
 nent, although it is not more apparent than it was 
 on Saturday. The cloud may break at any mo 
 ment and it is best that you are taking an early 
 start. It is the part of wisdom not to unneces 
 sarily expose yourselves. There's the starting 
 signal. Farewell, and God bless you all. " 
 
 " Kooste, we are under an eternal obligation to 
 you," replied Mr. Brunelle, taking the other's hand. 
 " But for you I doubt if we could have found ac 
 commodations." 
 
 " Pshaw ! the service is not worth such praise," 
 he answered. " It is nothing at all. Should any 
 thing happen, think kindly of me." 
 
 41 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 "Indeed we cannot do otherwise," came the 
 hearty chorus. 
 
 " Don't delay, Miss Sterling. The starting sig 
 nal has sounded, and the train will depart at any 
 moment," cautioned Kooste, noticing that Muriel, 
 instead of entering the coach, was standing on the 
 platform, and conversing with her friends inside. 
 
 "I'm not going, Mr. Kooste," she quietly re 
 plied. 
 
 "Not going?" he echoed. "To-day, you 
 mean ? " 
 
 "Not at all," she answered, her eyes on the 
 ground, but a determined ring in her voice. 
 
 " Not at all ? " he repeated, as if convincing 
 himself that he had not heard aright. " But you 
 must," he added, almost pushing her into the coach 
 in his anxiety. " For God's sake, what does this 
 mean? " he asked, appealing to Mr. Brunelle, when 
 she resisted his efforts to induce her to depart. 
 
 " It means that Miss Sterling has made up her 
 mind to remain and serve as a nurse. We have 
 tried to persuade her to accompany us, but she is 
 steadfast in her determination to stay, and she has 
 
 made us believe that she is doing right." 
 
 42 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 "-A nurse?" repeated Kooste, gazing in won 
 derment at the girl. His brain reeled with the 
 rapidity of the thoughts that were whirling within 
 him. He gazed in mute wonder from Muriel to 
 the party in the coach, and before he could clearly 
 grasp the idea that she had decided to remain be 
 hind, the engine had given a parting shriek, the 
 long, heavy train had slowly rumbled out of the 
 station, and they were left alone on the platform. 
 Muriel waved her handkerchief in reply to the 
 farewells of her friends until a curve in the road 
 took them from sight. Then she turned to Kooste, 
 who still gazed stupidly at her. 
 
 "Yes, a nurse," she continued, as if in response 
 to his mute query. " If there is war there will be 
 need for women. I am ready to do my part, how 
 ever humble it may be." 
 
 She spoke a little defiantly, as if construing his 
 silence into a mute remonstrance. 
 
 " I have only profound admiration to express for 
 your courage," he apologetically found tongue to 
 say. " I was neither scolding you nor belittling 
 your devotion, but the idea you proposed was so 
 magnificent, that I could hardly grasp it, at first." 
 . 43 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 " Couldn't you concede so much to an English 
 woman?" she asked with a wan smile. 
 
 "Ah, don't jest!" he sadly replied. "There 
 is one Englishwoman for whom I have had only 
 the sincerest admiration since it was my privilege 
 to know her. If this were the time and the place 
 I would gladly lay at her feet myself and all that I 
 possess as a proof of my devotion. I may say that 
 I am delighted beyond all power of expression at 
 her decision to remain here. It will give me an 
 opportunity of assisting her. May I not ask that 
 privilege? Now that you are alone here, may I 
 not take you to the home of one of my friends, 
 where you will be safe from present danger, and 
 most heartily welcomed? " 
 
 " No, no ; I cannot accept your hospitality, nor 
 that of your friends ! " she answered, placing her 
 hand on his sleeve as he drew back, offended at 
 the quickness of her reply. "I appreciate the 
 kindness you intend, but I have already arranged 
 to remain at the rectory until such time as my ser 
 vices are needed." 
 
 "But where are you going to begin your la 
 bors?" he asked. 
 
 44 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " Wherever I can be of any service," she replied. 
 " I have no definite plans. I suppose this place 
 will be the scene of the conflict, if it comes, and 
 here I will stay until I am called for." 
 
 " Will you help the Boers as well as the Out- 
 landers ? " he asked. 
 
 " What a question ! " she replied, somewhat 
 indignantly. " The cause of humanity knows no 
 race distinctions." 
 
 "Pardon me, I did not mean it in that sense. 
 But it is just possible that the scene of conflict 
 may be miles away from here, and that the Boers 
 may need your services rather than the Outland- 
 ers. In such a case would you be willing to re 
 spond to a call for service ? " 
 
 " Wherever I can be of assistance, there I will 
 be found, if you will come after me." 
 
 "Agreed," he answered. "Consider me your 
 devoted servant." 
 
 " I consider you as a loyal and true friend," she 
 answered. "While we are talking, there is an 
 other matter to which I ought to refer, and per 
 haps there will be no better opportunity than the 
 present. While I feel flattered at the personal 
 
 45 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 that is, the admiration you have expressed for me 
 I feel that I ought to tell you that one great 
 reason for staying here is the hope of hearing 
 from or seeing the man whom I love, and who 
 I believe loves me. I feel honored at your dec 
 laration. I regard you as a very dear friend, whose 
 addresses would be an honor to any woman, but 
 in my case there is but one who occupies my 
 heart. Just where that one is I do not know. I 
 have heard that he was in Johannesburg and 
 had started for Rhodesia. We parted under a 
 misunderstanding, and I thought I might hear 
 of him at this point. That is why I came 
 to South Africa. If there is a war, I fear that 
 he will be concerned in it, and I am afraid that 
 he will be opposed to you. Such is fate. If by 
 any chance you should meet him, I hope you will 
 assist him, if he needs assistance, for my sake." 
 
 " That I will. What is his name ? " 
 
 "John Derrington." 
 
 " John Derrington. I will not forget the name. 
 I envy that man," added Kooste softly, "but I am 
 none the less your friend, and, so far as my ability 
 
 goes, I will assist you to find him." 
 
 46 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 '* How can I ever thank you for all you have 
 done for me? " she gratefully asked. 
 
 " By simply giving me the privilege of attesting 
 my friendship," he replied. "There, have cour 
 age ! " he added, as he left her at the rectory gate. 
 " All will yet be well ; to-night I must return to 
 my home, but when the time comes for you to be 
 of service, I will manage to send for you. Till 
 then, farewell. " 
 
 That night sleep refused to come to Muriel. 
 For hours she sat at the window of her little 
 room, gazing into a retrospect that stretched back 
 through months of memory, over thousands of miles 
 of sea and lands, and moistened each new vista 
 with a benediction of tears. 
 
 47 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 DAYLIGHT faded into dusk, and dusk, by a quick 
 transition, became darkness, but still Muriel sat at 
 the window of her room, her elbow resting on the 
 sill, her chin on her hand, and her eyes gazing 
 staringly into the quiet street. Events passing 
 within her immediate sight and hearing had but 
 little interest for her, however. Her thoughts 
 were far away, and her gaze was fixed on the re 
 cesses of memory. Occasionally a smile would 
 penetrate the mask of mournful thoughtfulness, as 
 some happy incident of the past photographed it 
 self upon her consciousness, but for the most part 
 her dreams were sombre, and a tear was either on 
 the surface or perilously near it. Once in a while 
 a pistol-shot would recall her from the past to the 
 present and cause her to remember that she was 
 in Johannesburg and not in London. During the 
 
 momentary start such explosions or the sound of 
 
 48 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 excited voices caused her, she would realize that 
 she was in the midst of alarms, and a nervous 
 shudder would pass over her. Anticipation is 
 generally more terrible than reality. The shots 
 were fired, she knew, by some exuberant miner 
 giving vent to his emotions at some bit of sensa 
 tional rumor from Jameson, whose name was on 
 everybody's lips, or punctuating, in the rough way 
 of some of the rough men of the country, a patri 
 otic exhortation of a roadside orator. It was in 
 deed fortunate for her that she had her dreams to 
 occupy her mind, or the tension upon her nerves 
 would have been almost unendurable. 
 
 In those few hours the scenes of a lifetime flit 
 ted again and again before her memory, as if in 
 a moving panorama that turned, now this way and 
 now that way, now advancing and now retreating, 
 as one incident followed after another, regardless 
 of sequence. This moment it was a scene from 
 childhood; the next, one from budding woman 
 hood ; but ever it was the same background to the 
 picture the hills and vales of old England and 
 ever the same people her countrymen and coun 
 trywomen. But there was one man who was con- 
 
 49 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 tinually in her thoughts, and one scene which 
 presented itself again and again, like some accus 
 ing spectre. The man was Jack Derrington ; the 
 scene, that last garden fete at Lady Stanmore's. 
 It seemed so long ago a thing out of the misty 
 past and yet, reckoned by the calendar, it was 
 only a little more than six short months. 
 
 " Why why did I persist in misunderstanding 
 him ? " she repeatedly asked herself, in unspoken 
 words of abject contrition. 
 
 But she was not so much to blame as she per 
 sisted in now believing she was. She was no 
 prophet to lift the veil of the future, and, peering 
 beyond, to read the hand of destiny. She was 
 simply a thoughtless girl, busily engaged in en 
 joying the pleasures of life, and content to accept 
 the attentions lavished upon her as contributions 
 to her own happiness. How could she have 
 known that their little tiff, at that otherwise joy 
 ous garden fete, would have driven him to the op 
 posite ends of the earth ? And why had he not 
 called to see her before she started on her summer 
 tour of pleasure haunts at gay watering places? 
 And why, also, had he maintained his sulky si- 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 lence during that summer? These were the ques 
 tions she asked herself at the time. Now she 
 understood, and was grieved; then it suited her 
 coquettish spirit to retaliate by entering more 
 than ever into the enjoyment of life, in order to 
 punish him for his boorishness. And when she 
 returned from the watering places, she promised 
 herself that she would persist in adding to his 
 misery by punishing him with endless flirtations, 
 but when she did return 
 
 The garden fete at Lady Stanmore's was the 
 climax of the gay season in town. Her beautiful 
 house and grounds were a picture from fairyland. 
 Hundreds of gallant men and beautiful women 
 whirled in the ballroom or strolled through the 
 gaily decorated gardens. The gayest of the gay 
 was Muriel. Jack was also there. This would 
 have been an unnecessary declaration in their own 
 set, provided it had been previously stated that 
 Muriel was present. The presence of Jack fol 
 lowed as a matter of course. But the music, and 
 the dancing, and the gay throngs seemed to 
 awaken no responsive emotion in his bosom. He 
 
 5 1 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 contented himself, if his feelings can be described 
 as those of contentment, by puffing away at a cigar 
 on the veranda or occasionally listlessly watching 
 the gay whirl in the ballroom from one of the 
 doors of that giddy theatre of activity. His ears 
 must have burned, too, at the frequency with which 
 he became a topic of conversation. 
 
 " I declare I don't see just what his purpose 
 in life is," declared one thin-lipped chaperon. 
 " Here he is, a man of education and social stand 
 ing, doing absolutely nothing to distinguish him 
 self. I wouldn't mind," she added, by way of 
 apologetic explanation, "if he were one day to 
 become the master of Derrington Hall, but that is 
 out of the question. His brother, who is only a 
 few years older than Jack, has just succeeded to 
 the title and estates, and as he promises to live to 
 a ripe old age, as well as to have children of his 
 own, Jack's chances of succession are not one in a 
 million. Under those circumstances I don't un 
 derstand why Jack doesn't do something for him 
 self. He has a home at the Hall with his mother, 
 but his income, while sufficient to maintain him 
 self, is not large enough to permit him to main- 
 
 5 2 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 tain an establishment of his own, unless he chooses 
 to throw himself upon his brother's charity. I 
 imagine that this would be an uncomfortable mat 
 ter, too, judging from what I hear about him," 
 she added, lowering her voice and speaking with 
 gossipy malice. 
 
 "Isn't it queer?" echoed one of her cronies, 
 like herself more busily engaged in dissecting the 
 reputations of their acquaintances than in any 
 other proceeding. " Of course he couldn't go into 
 trade, but he might at least enter the army or 
 the diplomatic service. Surely his family and 
 influence would guarantee him an opening in 
 either of these directions. " 
 
 " Oh, come, be a little more charitable, ladies ! " 
 put in old Captain Gray. "The boy is young 
 yet." 
 
 "Young! Why, he's twenty-seven," they re 
 monstrated. 
 
 " Well, what do you expect ? Would you have 
 us all Napoleons or Alexanders at twenty-seven ? " 
 
 " But he ought to be doing something worthy of 
 his family and education." 
 
 " How do you know he is not ? " 
 53 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 "What is it then, if he is doing anything? " 
 "Oh, I don't know!" laughed the captain. 
 " He hasn't made a confidant of me. Englishmen 
 as a rule are conservative and slow to develop. 
 But the growth is a gradual one and a good one. 
 One of these days he may surprise you by achiev 
 ing something worth while, and then you will 
 applaud him as a wonder and assume that some 
 master stroke was the impulse of a moment in 
 stead of the outcome of years of deliberation. 
 Then you who now criticise would be the first to 
 commend. Oh, deliver me from the judgments 
 of women ! " The captain laughed good-naturedly 
 at his offended companions, and moved into the 
 veranda to enjoy a smoke. 
 
 " Is that you, Jack? " he asked, peering into the 
 gloom, out of which a glowing cigar signalled that 
 a corner of the veranda held an occupant. 
 "Yes; won't you join me, captain? " 
 "Don't mind if I do," grunted the older man, 
 drawing up a chair and tilting himself back 
 against the wall. " You don't seem to care much 
 for all this gayety? " he continued. 
 
 " Well, I'm not exactly carried away with it, as 
 54 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 you see," was the half-joking, half-serious re 
 sponse. " There is comfort in occasional solitude 
 and a good cigar, and as a matter of choice I'd 
 rather read a book than make a whirling dervish 
 of myself." 
 
 "You're something of a philosopher, Jack." 
 
 Jack laughed outright, and nonchalantly blew a 
 puff of cigar smoke into the air. 
 
 " I'm not able to make out whether it's phil 
 osophy or laziness," he responded. " I suppose its 
 all a part of the great game of life. " 
 
 "Life? Yes." The captain spoke slowly and 
 reminiscently. Already he had begun to descend 
 the westerly side of the hill. " Speaking of life, 
 what is your purpose, Jack? " 
 
 " I wish I knew," Jack slowly responded. 
 
 " Haven't you any ideas any plans ? A young 
 fellow like you ought not to be content to be 
 simply a spectator of a great procession." 
 
 "Ideas? Yes; a plenty. Plans? No; that 
 is, no definite ones. The fact of the matter is 
 that until recently I never gave the subject a 
 serious thought." 
 
 " Why not go into the army ? " 
 55 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 Jack shrugged his shoulders. " I don't think 
 I'd care for it, " he replied, " that is, unless I could 
 choose my own stations. There is nothing in an 
 assignment to command a few niggers in Egypt or 
 India that tends to charm my imagination. Be 
 sides, that requires a special education which I 
 have too long neglected." 
 
 " How about a diplomatic position ? " 
 " Again that is a matter of education. " 
 " Oh, not altogether," remonstrated the captain. 
 " Your family and the influence you could com 
 mand would easily find a post for you. " 
 
 "No, I thank you," was the quick retort. 
 " I've seen too much of that. If I'm going to do 
 anything, I'm going to do it myself. If there is 
 to be anything done for me, it must be done be 
 cause of merits of my own and not because of my 
 family or friends. " 
 
 " Hm ! You're rather independent, I see ? " 
 " Decidedly so. No offence meant, captain. I 
 appreciate your friendly suggestions, but, really, I 
 couldn't go into the thing on that basis." 
 
 " Well, good for you, boy ! I've no doubt you 
 will work out your own salvation. I admire your 
 
 56 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 stiff back. Hello!" he continued, as the sound 
 of voices came to them, " here is somebody look 
 ing for you, I imagine somebody whom you'd 
 rather talk to than me. So, good-night." 
 
 " Oh, here you are ! " said Muriel, pausing in 
 front of him. " Dr. Wilson and I have been hunt 
 ing all over the place for you. Why in the world 
 do you hide yourself in this out-of-the-way corner, 
 and have you forgotten that you asked me for this 
 waltz?" 
 
 " Oh, I beg pardon ! I didn't realize how rapidly 
 time was flying; I was so interested in talking 
 with the captain," Jack added, taking Muriel's 
 arm, and relieving Dr. Wilson of his escort. 
 
 " You must have had an interesting subject," 
 Muriel archly retorted. 
 
 "I did." 
 
 " What was it?" 
 
 " Myself." 
 
 " Oh, you egotist ! " she laughed. " You would 
 be better employed enjoying the festivities of this 
 occasion. Oh, I've had a glorious time ! " she 
 added. 
 
 " I'm glad of that," he responded. 
 57 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 "No, you're not a bit glad," Muriel contra 
 dicted. "You speak like an automaton. If 
 you're glad, why don't you show it ? " 
 
 "Really, I am," he protested. "A fellow can't 
 grin like a hyena all the time, you know. I'm 
 sure my pleasure at your enjoyment is more than 
 it would be at my own." 
 
 " What a queer fellow you are," she continued, 
 looking curiously at him. " Sometimes I think I 
 don't understand you at all." 
 
 "That's not surprising. I don't always under 
 stand myself." 
 
 " There is such a number of delightful people 
 here to-night," she rattled on, pretending not to 
 notice his mood, and thinking to divert his 
 thoughts. "Lieutenant Wallace, for example. 
 By the way, he tells me he is an old schoolmate 
 of yours." 
 
 Jack nodded. 
 
 "He is just returned from Egypt," she con 
 tinued, " and he showed me the medal he received 
 for bravery." 
 
 " Yes ; I had a little chat with him at the club," 
 
 replied Jack. "He certainly has done well in the 
 
 58 ' 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 short time he has been in the service. Now, do 
 you know, at school he never gave promise of be 
 ing anything out of the ordinary run," he asked, 
 as if to justify his own lack of accomplishment. 
 
 "Well, he's quite a hero to-night," she con 
 tinued. "And I do so love heroic men," she 
 added, with a mischievous glance at Jack. " Then 
 there's Dr. Houston, too, just back from an 
 Antarctic exploring expedition. He's here to 
 night, the admired of all, and absolutely sharing 
 the honors of being the lion of the evening with 
 Lieutenant Wallace. Wasn't he at your school, 
 too?" 
 
 "No that is, he was graduated two or three 
 years ahead of me. I knew him, however." 
 
 " He seems to have improved his opportunities, 
 too," she continued apropos of nothing at all. 
 
 "That's as much as to say that I have not made 
 the most of mine, I suppose," he commented, 
 somewhat bitterly. 
 
 "I did not say that." 
 
 "No; but you inferred as much." 
 
 " Oh, you must let me be the interpreter of my 
 own thoughts ! " she replied, somewhat stiffly. 
 
 59 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 " Pardon me, Muriel," he pleaded. " I did not 
 mean to offend you. But your remark struck a 
 chord which has been reproaching me for some 
 time. I feel that I have somehow let my oppor 
 tunities slip by me, and that instead of riding 
 after foxes or shooting, I should have been doing 
 more substantial work. Some day I hope to be 
 able to give a better account of myself." 
 
 " Jack, you're really getting quite heroic, your 
 self." 
 
 " Don't laugh. I'm in earnest," he remon 
 strated. " But what I need most is the support 
 and sympathy of a good woman, and that woman 
 I know." 
 
 " Oh, nonsense ! " she replied, parrying the 
 allusion. " Win the battles yourself. Then the 
 glory will be all your own. Now there's Dr. 
 Houston 
 
 " Oh, hang Houston ! " he broke in, impatiently. 
 
 " Mr. Derrington ! " 
 
 "Again I ask your pardon, Muriel. But I'm 
 so tired of hearing you sing that fellow's praises, 
 and he follows you around like a shadow." 
 
 "Ha! ha!" she gayly laughed. "You can't 
 60 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 see shadows, Jack, you know, unless you stand be 
 tween yourself and the light." 
 
 " But what I wanted to say was this : To ask 
 you to tell you " 
 
 "Here comes Dr. Houston now. You must 
 excuse me. I've promised him the next dance." 
 
 "But, Muriel, this is so important to me. I 
 want to tell you that I " 
 
 "No, no; not now!" she protested, waving 
 away the detaining hand he laid upon her sleeve. 
 " Dr. Houston is almost at hand." 
 
 Then Jack heard an echo of her smiling acqui 
 escence to Dr. Houston's question, and the next 
 moment she had swept away from him, on Hous 
 ton's arm, waving a laughing " Ta ! Ta ! " at him 
 as she departed. His gaze followed them until 
 they were lost among the other dancers, and then 
 he retired to his old corner of the veranda. 
 
 " She didn't want to hear me," he muttered. 
 " That is the third time I have tried to tell her I 
 love her, and each time she has put me off with 
 some excuse. So a hero is her ideal. Well, it is 
 evident that I am not one. Damn all heroes," 
 
 he added, continuing his bitter soliloquy and 
 
 61 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 viciously kicking at a vine. " Most of them are 
 stuffed with sawdust. They go off, do some tri 
 fling thing, and then come back here and pose. 
 Ah, well! It is plain that my dreams were sim 
 ply fancies. Heroes ! Well, who can blame her ? 
 She's a woman, after all." For a few moments 
 he stood in the gloom, impatiently tugging at his 
 mustache, and then he broke out with : " By Gad, 
 I'll do it. I may lose her forever, but then bah ! 
 how can one lose what one never had? I'm a 
 fool. What's the use of my closing my eyes to 
 the facts. I'll do it." 
 
 62 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 "PAT." 
 
 " Yes, sur." 
 
 " Can you pack up my traps so that I can leave 
 here on Saturday? " 
 
 "Everything, sur?" 
 
 " Yes, everything. That is, my guns and shoot 
 ing togs, and my clothing. The rest of the kit 
 I'll buy. And, Pat " 
 
 "Yes, sur." 
 
 " I'm going to leave the country to South 
 Africa, in fact. I may not need your services 
 after Saturday." 
 
 " Have I have I done anything wrong, sur ? " 
 asked Pat, twirling a button of his jacket and 
 timorously edging toward the table at which his 
 master was seated. 
 
 " Oh, bless you, no not that ! " said Jack, look 
 ing up at his faithful servitor and involuntarily 
 
 smiling at the woe-begone appearance of the lat- 
 
 63 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 ter. " You've been a good servant, Pat. I'll be 
 glad to recommend you. But the fact is, I expect 
 to rough it for some months, at least, and I do not 
 care to induce you to share the hardships I ex 
 pect to encounter. " 
 
 ~" An' would y' have me otherwise? " Pat eager 
 ly asked. 
 
 " Gladly. But I have no right to even invite 
 you to undergo the difficulties and face the dan 
 gers which I expect to meet." 
 
 "Then supposin' I invite myself, sur? " 
 
 "Do you mean it?" 
 
 " Do I mean it, sur ? " Pat reproachfully repeated. 
 " Do I mean that when I think of all the kind 
 nesses you have done me durin' the past five years, 
 I could not say, ' Where you go, there I go ' ? " 
 
 " But, Pat," Jack gravely remonstrated. " Have 
 you fully considered the matter. It may mean to 
 death's door, ay " 
 
 "To death's dure, or through it, for that mat- 
 ther," Pat doggedly persisted. "If you whistle, 
 I'll come." 
 
 "God bless you, boy. That's the first encour 
 aging word I've heard in many a day, and I'll not 
 
 64 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 forget it," said his master, grasping his hand and 
 giving it a hearty shake. " But remember, you're 
 leaving pleasant corners for less cheerful ones. 
 Take time to reconsider. " 
 
 "I've reconsidhered and considhered again. 
 I'm glad o' the chanst to get away from here, 
 
 partly because you're goin', and partly because 
 
 Well, never mind. I'm wid you." 
 
 "Because what, Pat?" 
 
 "Well, sur, because of a woman, if y' must 
 know." 
 
 " Oh, ho ! A woman, eh ? Women seem to be 
 at the bottom of all mischief, don't they? " 
 
 "Well, I don't know about that, sur. Me 
 father Lord ha' mercy on his sowl used to say 
 when he was whippin' me, that he was doin' it for 
 me good, but I couldn't see it that way. This 
 may be all for the best," he added philosophically. 
 
 " Tell me about it, unless you consider it a pri 
 vate matter," continued the master. "I'm inter 
 ested." 
 
 " Well, sur, 'twas this way : I had me eye for 
 a long while on one o' Lady Sturling's girls, Mary 
 Doyle, an' faith I was makin' pickchers in me eye 
 
 6s 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 o' mesel' an' hersel' settled down on some little 
 place as snug as two frogs undher a toadsthool. 
 Finally, says I to mesel' : ' I'll sphake to her, an' 
 break the news,' never thinkin' but that she'd say 
 * Yes ' so quick as to take me breath away. But 
 there was two things ag'in' me at that time. One 
 was that Mary had just been promoted to Lady 
 Muriel's Frinch maid's place the wan that was 
 discharged which made her full o' the divil's 
 own notions, and the other thing was Sergeant 
 McGinnis. An' may the divil fly away wid the 
 same McGinnis, God forgive me. Well, since 
 Mary sthepped int' the shoes o' the Frinch maid 
 there was no sthandin' her at all, at all. In the 
 firsht place, Mary Doyle became Marie D'Oyle, an' 
 her pug nose fairly tilts backward, as well as up. 
 In the second place, McGinnis oh, damn McGin 
 nis ! savin' yer presence, sur 
 
 " Well, says I, afther beatin' about the bush for 
 a while, ' Will ye have me, Mary ? ' ' Have ye 
 for what ? ' says she. ' For betther or wurse,' says 
 I. ' Yerra, go 'long wid ye/ says she. ' D'y' 
 think I'd marry the like o' ye? ' says she. ' Faix 
 
 ye might,' says I, ' or wurse,' says I. ' Divil a 
 
 66 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 fear of it,' says she, ' so long as Sergeant Michael 
 McGinnis is above ground,' says she. It was then 
 I had me fursht rush o' brains to the head. ' So 
 McGinnis is yer ch'ice? ' says I. ' Well,' says I, 
 ' if a scaarlet coat is what yer marry in', yer wel 
 come to it,' says I. ' Faith ye'll find that in any 
 three-ball shop in Whitechapel.' Wid that she 
 came at me like a tiger-ess. ' Th' back o' me 
 han an' the sole o' me fut t'y',' says she. ' Take 
 yersel* out o' here/ says she; * an' the farther y' 
 go the more y'r company'll be enj'yed,' says she. 
 An' so, sur, if y' mus' know, there's the rest o' the 
 raison. I'd like to get far enough from this spot 
 t' make me company really enj'yable t' her. Th' 
 farther we go the betther it'll plaze us all." 
 
 Jack laughed, in spite of himself. "A scarlet 
 coat!" he bitterly soliloquized, forgetting Pat's 
 presence, and thinking only of the apt applica 
 tion of this remark to his own love affairs. Pat 
 scraped his foot to recall Jack from his medita 
 tions. 
 
 "Well, women are queer creatures, Pat," he 
 added, as if to signify that the conversation was 
 
 closed. 
 
 67 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 " Thrue for y', sur. But 'tis betther t' find it 
 out now than afther y'r hitched t' one for life. 
 When one offers me the back o' her hand an' the 
 sole o' her fut before marriage, the divil only 
 knows what she'll do aftherward. 'Tis likely 
 'twould be the sole o' her fut firsht, an' then the 
 back o' her hand. Oh, well ! there's as good fish 
 in the say as was ever caught." 
 
 "Well, well, Pat And do you decide to go 
 with me?" 
 " I do, sur." 
 
 " So be it, then. We start Saturday." 
 "Very good, sur; the quicker the sooner." 
 And so, inside of a week, the Tantallon Castle was 
 carrying them to Cape Town. Their preparations 
 had been quickly made and their farewells were 
 few. The fact of Jack's intended departure was 
 made known only to the members of his family 
 and some of his most intimate friends. Even 
 they did not think he would do anything more 
 serious than spend a few weeks roving about the 
 country. In fact, his own ideas on the subject of 
 the future were extremely hazy. He had no defi 
 nite plan. His purpose was to visit the country 
 
 68 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 and then seize upon any opportunities that might 
 present themselves. How far he would be suc 
 cessful he did not venture to think. But other 
 men had succeeded, he argued, and why not he? 
 Clearly there were opportunities there, which, as 
 others had developed them, had produced fame and 
 fortune. He had everything to gain and nothing 
 to lose. If he failed, he could return to England 
 and be no worse off than he was before starting. 
 The principal stake which he risked was his life, 
 and, as he felt at that moment, that was a minor 
 consideration. 
 
 The train bore them to Southampton, and then 
 from the ship's deck they watched the familiar 
 headlands of England fade from view. Around 
 him was laughter, and chatter, and bustle, but to 
 these things he paid no attention. In spite of the 
 feeling of recklessness that possessed him, he was 
 deeply impressed with the panorama that was 
 growing dimmer and dimmer. He was leaving 
 his native land, perhaps never to return. He was 
 leaving all that were near and dear to him, per 
 haps never more to behold them. In spite of 
 
 himself, tears filled his eyes. Lower and lower 
 
 69 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 sank the horizon. Twilight succeeded sunset. A 
 flashing beacon marked the shores of England. 
 Even that grew dim and still more dim. Hark, 
 the band was playing! Spirited and gay its 
 strains sounded, and then soft and tender. It was 
 the song of the soldier. Jack felt the impulse of 
 it. He, too, was a soldier. Slower and slower 
 the music went, and softer, and softer, and softer 
 it diminished, until there was barely an echo of 
 that strain known wherever Tommy Atkins has 
 set foot 
 
 "The Girl I Left Behind Me." 
 
 Jack bowed his head on the rail, as the melody 
 sobbed its way into his own heart, and his silent 
 farewell to her was dimmed with tears. 
 
 70 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 JACK deliberately exiled himself from the vari 
 ous pleasures on shipboard. His heart was not in 
 the numerous games and diversions which served to 
 break the monotony for nearly everybody, so he 
 pleaded one excuse or another for not mingling 
 more freely with the passengers. There was one 
 passenger aboard, however, whose acquaintance he 
 had an intense desire to make. He had never 
 seen this man before, but he had heard a great 
 deal about him. The stranger was likewise a re 
 served man. He busied himself principally with 
 his books ; indeed, reading seemed to be his princi 
 pal employment and his chief diversion. Jack felt 
 himself attracted toward the man even before he 
 had learned his identity. The stranger's appear 
 ance would have compelled attention anywhere. 
 He was a man of powerful physique, crowned with 
 a head which marked him as a leader of men. 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 "Know that man?" asked one of the ship's 
 stewards, almost as soon as Jack had gone aboard, 
 pointing out the stranger. Jack said he didn't. 
 He was inclined to add that he didn't care who he 
 was, but his heart gave a sudden thrill when the 
 officer, taking great satisfaction in the act, con 
 tinued: "That's Cecil Rhodes." 
 
 The uncrowned king of South Africa was on 
 his way to Cape Town, after a visit to England. 
 The very fact of his presence started innumer 
 able surmises as to his errand and the results of 
 his visit to the land of his birth. Jack felt great 
 ly encouraged at the mere sight of the man. 
 Here was one who had gone to South Africa so 
 broken in health as to be obliged to remain, a per 
 petual exile. Jack had heard the wonderful stories 
 of this man's meteoric career : how he had grown 
 into prominence as the promoter of the great 
 diamond trust ; how, even while hunting for dia 
 monds, he had continued his studies, and, after 
 thoroughly preparing himself, had taken his de 
 gree at Oxford ; and how, as a diplomat and pro 
 phetic pioneer, he had brought under the protection 
 
 of the British flag an expanse of country which 
 
 73 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 England had never before even dreamed of as a 
 part of her empire. 
 
 Jack involuntarily began to compare his own 
 condition with that of Rhodes, when the latter 
 started for Africa. In the matters of family, for 
 tune, health, and age, the advantage was all with 
 Jack. He smiled when he reached that point in 
 the comparison, and reflected that there were two 
 great factors which he had not considered brains 
 and determination. How to penetrate the reserve 
 of the South African leader was the question which 
 puzzled Jack's brain. He knew it could be sim 
 ply managed by asking the captain to introduce 
 him, but he desired that the meeting should be a 
 casual one; and it came about in the simplest 
 manner imaginable, when the ship had been out 
 about a week. "Colossus," as some had called 
 him, was walking up and down the deck, when 
 suddenly a gust of wind lifted his cap and floated 
 it in Jack's direction. 
 
 With a spring and a catch, reminiscent of old 
 cricket days, Jack had the truant garment in his 
 possession, and advanced to the owner. 
 
 "Well played," said Rhodes, thanking him as 
 73 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 he accepted the cap. And then they began to 
 talk on many subjects, finally leading up to the 
 subject nearest Jack's heart. Indeed, he put the 
 direct question : 
 
 " In what direction does Africa furnish the best 
 opportunities for a young man ? " 
 
 Rhodes glanced sharply at him, and then, in his 
 sententious manner, propounded this question : 
 
 "Are you married? " 
 
 "No," was Jack's puzzled response. 
 
 " Is there a woman in the case ? " 
 
 " No; the woman is out of the case." 
 
 "Ah, I see! Well, to answer your question, 
 there are opportunities in every direction. In 
 what direction were your ideas tending? " 
 
 " I have no fixed ideas." 
 
 "Where did you intend to establish yourself? " 
 
 " Even that I hadn't determined. I thought I 
 would take a look about the country and then set 
 tle upon something. " 
 
 " Rather a poor idea, if you are really sincere 
 in your purpose of trying to win either fame or 
 fortune. You ought to have some fixed purpose. 
 This is a large country. It will take considerable 
 
 74 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 time to travel over it ; and by the time you have 
 done this you will feel that you ought to have ac 
 complished something, and so, discouraged, you 
 will start back for England. Before you leave 
 Cape Town you ought to make up your mind 
 whether you are going into sheep farming, or pros 
 pecting, or whatever you may decide upon. Then 
 doggedly follow that course. If you do this, you 
 will succeed; whereas if you try to spread your 
 energies over the whole country, you will accom 
 plish nothing unless it is by the merest chance. 
 Do you know anything about cattle or sheep farm 
 ing, or gold prospecting? " 
 
 Jack shook his head. 
 
 "That's bad," remarked Rhodes. "Let me 
 ask you another question : Are you afraid of hard 
 work?" 
 
 "No," replied Jack, with an almost explosive 
 vehemence. 
 
 " Good ! " remarked the other with a laugh. " I 
 fancy you have the right sort of material in you. 
 The principal difficulty is that you lack technical 
 training. Your university course didn't include 
 mineralogy or geology, so that if you go prospect- 
 
 75 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 ing you will need the assistance of men with 
 practical experience in that line of work. It may 
 be possible for you to combine sheep-farming or 
 cattle-farming with that proceeding, although you 
 want to be careful and not spread out your en 
 ergies too thin. And remember this: all the 
 diamonds in this country are not to be found at 
 Kimberley; all the gold is not in the Witwaters- 
 rand. Make a bold strike for yourself." 
 
 " Yes ; but where ? As you have just said, this 
 is a very large country," laughed Jack. 
 
 " That is something you will have to determine 
 for yourself. Of course you do not expect me to 
 lead you by the hand and find a gold mine for you. 
 I have this same question put to me hundreds of 
 times in the course of a year. You will have to 
 determine your own destination. I would suggest 
 that you keep out of the Boer countries, however. 
 What there is has been pretty well gobbled up, 
 and the political conditions would probably soon 
 begin to irritate you. The English flag waves 
 over vast stretches of country which have never 
 been prospected. I can aid you in obtaining a 
 
 grant of land there. For the rest, you must de- 
 
 76 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 pend upon yourself. Get yourself an outfit, find 
 some men who have had experience as prospectors, 
 lay in a good stock of ammunition and food, and 
 make a start. Hundreds of young Englishmen 
 come out here every year for the purpose of mak 
 ing their fortunes, but the trouble with most of 
 them is, that they expect to pick up gold on the 
 wharves at Cape Town or diamonds in the streets of 
 Kimberley. They soon lose their courage and go 
 back home to damn this country and all that it 
 contains. Others are piqued in love affairs, and 
 stay here just long enough to get over the first 
 effects of that. You say there is no woman in 
 your case ? " he asked, breaking off suddenly, and 
 looking Jack full in the face. 
 
 Jack blushed. "No; there is none that is 
 there was one but I fancy that is all over with." 
 
 " Hm ! I suspected something of the sort. 
 Well, that is the way of the world, but it some 
 times interferes with business. If you are pre 
 pared to go into this venture and give it all your 
 energy and all your thought, I have reason to be 
 lieve that you will succeed. It may take you 
 months, or even years, but if you spend all your 
 
 77 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 time thinking about a woman six thousand miles 
 away, you will simply have your trouble for your 
 pains, so far as developing anything in this coun 
 try is concerned. I am sometimes accused of 
 being a woman-hater. That is not true. I find 
 it works better to select single men who are heart- 
 whole, however, when I have any project to ad 
 vance. Such men are apt to take chances, 
 without being obliged to consider wives or 
 sweethearts, and they are apt to succeed where 
 others fail, because life down here is only a des 
 perate game of chance, anyway. As to your 
 case, of course I do not presume to make any sug 
 gestions, much less criticisms. But this I do say : 
 if the woman on whom you have set your heart 
 is worthy of you, she will wait until you return. 
 If she is not willing to wait, she is not worth your 
 thoughts. I find that, as a general proposition, to 
 apply in nine cases out of ten. By the way, did 
 you have any ultimate idea of settling here ? " 
 
 " I hadn't thought of that," replied Jack. " My 
 first idea was to make some fortunate strike, if I 
 could, and then to return to England." 
 
 "That is the old story," responded the other, 
 78 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 with a laugh that was tinged with cynicism. " I 
 have heard that so many times that I cannot help 
 laughing. I believe that you will not fail without 
 having at least made a strong effort, so that I am 
 not laughing at you. But let me suggest this to 
 you: This is destined to be one of the greatest 
 countries in the world. The railroads and tele 
 graph lines are opening up new territory every 
 day and developing possibilities long unsuspected. 
 It might be worth while for you to consider the 
 project of making your home here. It is an at 
 tractive country in many respects. The climate is 
 good. A man can live here without a great deal 
 of exertion, and, even as a landholder, is bound 
 to grow rich. Within the next half century 
 yes, within a quarter of a century land which 
 is being given away by the mile will be worth 
 considerable when measured by the inch. Look 
 at Johannesburg, with its fifty thousand white 
 population. I can remember when it was a pas 
 ture, and a barren one at that, and when you 
 wouldn't find a white man for miles around. 
 There are tremendous possibilities here, if a man 
 is willing to work and wait for them to develop, 
 
 79 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 What we need most of all is a class of educated 
 and intelligent citizens, men who will stay in the 
 country, bring up their children here, and per 
 manently adopt it as a home. There are already 
 too many whose sole idea is to make a hurried 
 grab and then depart. Have I furnished you any 
 suggestions ? " 
 
 " Yes. You have put several good ideas into 
 my head, thank you. I find myself leaning to 
 ward your suggestion of cattle or sheep farming. 
 That will also give opportunities of making tours 
 for gold or other ore. I would like some further 
 suggestions on that line." 
 
 " Well, it is difficult to go closely into details. 
 As you lack experience, you will need assistance 
 from those who are familiar with this work, but 
 you ought to have no trouble in finding two or 
 three fellows who would be willing to join you, 
 and at the same time pay a portion of the expense. 
 This expense will be considerable at the start. 
 You will need a string of oxen, a cart, several 
 horses, and a stock of supplies. You can buy or 
 trade with the natives, so far as sheep and cattle 
 
 are concerned, and you can find a ready market for 
 
 80 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 all you can raise in that line. It is slow work at 
 the start, but it is sure, unless the rinderpest 
 wipes you out. That is a disease among cattle 
 which sometimes works havoc, but you must take 
 your chances. Now if you are ready to go into 
 the undeveloped country of the Chartered Com 
 pany, I will undertake to see that you obtain a 
 grant of land, and then you must work out your 
 own salvation. You say you have a letter to a 
 gentleman in Johannesburg? Very well. Go 
 there. It is a good point from which to make a 
 start. The country will interest you, and before 
 you have gathered your supplies you will hear from 
 me as to the land." 
 
 "Thank you," said Jack. "I feel much en 
 couraged by what you have said, and I will not 
 fail without having at least made a fair effort." 
 
 " That's the right kind of talk. In the bright 
 lexicon of youth, and so forth, you know, there's 
 no such word as fail." 
 
 He had given Jack his own motto, and the lat 
 ter felt a sort of inspiration from his acquaintance. 
 Here was a man with fantastic dreams, but out of 
 
 these dreams he plucked the delicate threads 
 
 81 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 which he slowly wove together until they bound 
 an empire. " I shall not fail," Jack muttered, after 
 the other had resumed his book. 
 
 Meanwhile the " Colossus " was taking an occa 
 sional peep at him from over the pages of his book. 
 
 "I'll keep an eye on that lad," he was saying 
 to himself. 
 
 " Land's sighted, sur," said Pat, knocking at his 
 stateroom door, one morning a fortnight later. 
 Jack dressed and came on deck to take his first 
 look at the country of his choice. Table Moun 
 tain loomed up, a misty shadow in the distance. 
 Clearer and more distinct it stood forth, as each 
 turn of the screws brought the ship closer, and 
 then the city of Cape Town, located at its base, 
 came into view. Jack gazed on the scene with a 
 curious emotion. Was it to be success or failure ? 
 he asked himself. If the latter, he had deter 
 mined to perpetually exile himself. If the former 
 well, Muriel, and England, and several other 
 thoughts were mixed up so rapidly that he broke 
 off his day dream and ordered Pat to make ready 
 
 to land the luggage. 
 
 8a 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THERE were many things that surprised Jack 
 during his first week's stay in Africa, but the most 
 surprising thing of all was Johannesburg. Pic 
 turing in his mind's eye a rough mining town, he 
 was astonished to find instead of this caricature a 
 vision of loveliness which he was at first inclined 
 to view as a mirage. Splendid public buildings, 
 magnificent shops, private dwellings palatial in 
 their grandeur, beautifully laid out streets and 
 squares, and modern improvements of the most 
 advanced character this was the reality. The 
 rough mining camp had disappeared, and in its 
 place had sprung up a magic city. It had a popu 
 lation of upward of fifty thousand, with several 
 thousand more residents on its outskirts. 
 
 " Yes, a magic city/' replied his friend to whom 
 he had delivered a letter, as they slipped a brandy- 
 and-soda at the Rand Club. He spoke with a 
 
 83 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 feeling of pride, tinctured with bitterness. " A 
 magic city, certainly, and yet the magicians have 
 no more voice in it than if they were Patagonians, 
 instead of genii. Its creators were mainly English 
 men, but they have no more to say as to how it 
 shall be conducted than if they were Russian 
 serfs." 
 
 Jack was surprised at the bitterness with which 
 he spoke. " Why, I thought this was a Republic," 
 he said, "and that each man had equal rights." 
 
 "Equal rights?" the other bitterly echoed. 
 " Equal wrongs, rather. The principal right we 
 enjoy is the right to be taxed taxed taxed 
 eternally taxed." 
 
 "Why don't you protest? " 
 
 " Protest ? Why, we have protested, again and 
 again. But that does no good. By and by there 
 will come a protest one that they'll heed and 
 it will be backed up by a man with a gun. That's 
 the only protest to make an impression on the 
 thick skulls of these Boers." 
 
 " You astonish me," said Jack. " Why, I did 
 not imagine that that was the character of the 
 
 Boers. I made the acquaintance of one on the 
 
 84 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 train from Cape Town, and he seemed to be one 
 of the most agreeable of men." 
 
 " Oh, there are exceptions, of course. I know 
 some who are the best fellows imaginable, but the 
 great majority are narrow, ignorant, and conceited. 
 They hate us English with a hatred that is heredi 
 tary. It is an effort on the part of the very best 
 of them to hide that feeling, while the lower ele 
 ment openly avow it, even to taunting you to your 
 face with Majuba Hill." 
 
 Jack whistled softly. " So this is the kind of 
 crowd I will have to meet, " he commented. 
 
 " You ? Oh, no ! that is, if you stick to your 
 resolution to settle in Rhodesia. There are none 
 of them up there. They tried to trek up there 
 once, but Dr. Jim had a word to say about it, and 
 he said : ' No, you don't.' I wish we had a man 
 like him here," the other continued with a savage 
 growl. 
 
 " Are the taxes, then, so heavy ? " asked Jack. 
 
 " Oh, it's not the taxes alone, but everything 
 else piled up on top of that ! That's but a single 
 item. Here, sum up the situation for yourself. 
 You admire this beautiful city. Ten years ago it 
 
 85 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 was a desert. Look at it to-day. You have read 
 of the boom towns of America. They have noth 
 ing there which begins to compare with it in its 
 marvellous growth. Ten years ago, as I have told 
 you, it was actually a desert. Gold had just been 
 discovered. The Boers didn't know how to get 
 out the gold, and they induced the Uitlanders, as 
 they call them, to come here and get it out for 
 them. At that time their rule was comparatively 
 easy. If a man wanted to become a citizen he 
 could do so after two years of residence. Taxes 
 were also light. As for the other comforts of 
 civilization, they were difficult to get, and no one 
 grumbled. In those days we were invited to 
 come, and everything was made as easy as possi 
 ble. Now everything is as hard and irritating as 
 their crafty ingenuity can make it. The newcom 
 ers were mainly Englishmen, with a sprinkling of 
 Germans and Americans, and as our numbers in 
 creased, the Boers, from being apparently friendly, 
 became distinctly jealous." 
 
 " But why not accept citizenship and change all 
 this with your ballots? Your votes would out 
 number theirs and compel a change." 
 
 86 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " When a change is brought about, it will be by 
 a more powerful argument than the ballot," the 
 other replied significantly. " Citizenship ? Why, 
 their very first move was to block all that," he 
 continued with increasing warmth. " As I have 
 told you, when we first came two years' residence 
 was required. Now it is fourteen. And do you 
 think that any man, who knows what the Union 
 Jack signifies throughout the world, would change 
 its protection for their miserable rag? No, no; 
 that's not English talk ! " 
 
 "Oh, I did not mean to suggest that a man 
 should deliberately forswear allegiance to his 
 country for good," Jack hastened to explain, "but 
 that while he remains here he might go through 
 the form of citizenship in order to demand that 
 equity which otherwise seems impossible." 
 
 "It's as impossible in one* way as it is in an 
 other. After you have completed your term of 
 residence, you have to be practically passed upon 
 by them to determine your fitness. And then 
 you've got to belong to their psalm-singing, Scrip 
 ture-quoting, hypocritical Dutch church. There 
 is no liberty of speech, or conscience, or religion. 
 
 87 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 Equity ? Why, they don't know the meaning of 
 the word. You'd find that out in short order if 
 you had anything to do with their courts. There 
 is neither liberty of speech nor liberty of con 
 science. A man must transform himself into a 
 Dutchman of their own type before he is eligible. 
 An Englishman might as well try and transform 
 himself into a camel. " 
 
 " Then citizenship is a practical impossibility ? " 
 " Now you've said it. It's just that and noth 
 ing else. As a consequence everything here is 
 Dutch Dutch officials, Dutch courts, Dutch 
 schools, and until very recently Dutch churches. 
 The only thing here that isn't Dutch is money. 
 That's English, and they're mighty willing to 
 accept all of that they can get their hands on. 
 That's the only English thing they like. Just 
 think of bringing your children here and sending 
 them to Dutch schools, with Dutch text-books 
 and Dutch teachers, and compelling them to ig 
 nore their own language, so far as these schools go, 
 because it is not permitted there." 
 
 "I should say so!" commented Jack, almost 
 
 under his breath. His companion puffed viciously 
 
 88 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 at a cigar for a moment. " And is there no hope 
 of a change ? " Jack asked. " Is it possible that the 
 Boers can lag so far behind in the march of civili 
 zation ? It seems as if the advancement of the 
 times would almost involuntarily induce them to 
 take a broader view of the situation. " 
 
 " Yes, it does seem so," was the glowering re 
 sponse, " but you don't know the Dutch character. 
 To them the world means the limits of the Trans 
 vaal. They look at everything through their 
 heavy Dutch eyes, and hear everything through 
 ears that are stuffed with prejudice. As for 
 themselves, they look upon the Boers as invincible 
 since Majuba Hill. They forget what we did for 
 them when the Kaffirs threatened to wipe them 
 from the face of the earth. Hope of a change ? 
 Yes, there is a hope. In the course of a hundred 
 years or so they may become sufficiently broad to 
 realize the meaning of the term ' equal rights/ but 
 it is not probable even then, although those who 
 were educated abroad are inclined to take a more 
 liberal view of things as they exist now. Still, 
 these few count for little. There is another hope. 
 
 It's slowly crystallizing, but it's likely to take form 
 
 89 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 one of these days, and that before long. We've 
 sent one protest to Pretoria, and we're sending 
 another which will have a sting in its tail. It 
 may mean trouble, but I doubt it. When it 
 comes down to the fine point they're a cowardly 
 lot, and there are enough of us here to support 
 our side of the argument, if need be. Why, there 
 are more people here than in all the rest of their 
 country. 
 
 " No, you've no concern here," he continued, in 
 response to a further question from Jack. " Go 
 where the British flag will float above you. There 
 is no chance for you here. Everything that is 
 worth having is gobbled up. Your means would 
 be as nothing. All that is likely to develop will 
 be given away to Germans or European Dutch. 
 They are the pets of the Government, and they 
 control everything that it is possible for the Govern 
 ment to give in the way of new concessions, 
 whether it be mines, railroads, or rights for im 
 porting whiskey, or dynamite, or what not. No, 
 you go your way. There's no place for you 
 here. Farther north there are opportunities." 
 
 In whatever way he turned Jack found this same 
 90 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 story of deliberate oppression. Even the Ameri 
 cans were treated with some degree of considera 
 tion. American brains and British capital seemed 
 to form the partnership on which the mines were 
 worked. These were not the only representives 
 for foreign countries who had strayed to that little 
 section of the world. In fact, Cosmopolis would 
 be a more fitting name for the place than Johannes 
 burg. Every nation under the skies seemed to be 
 present by proxy, but the dominating composite of 
 American and English ideas marked every feature 
 of the place. It was their money and their brains 
 that had built up the city, and in its architecture, 
 at least, they had left their indelible impress. 
 
 As was natural, perhaps, in a place of such 
 rapid growth, which appealed to the adventurous 
 natures of all countries, there was a class of para 
 sites whose presence could well have been dis 
 pensed with. With all its magnificence there was 
 with it a depravity which would have honored 
 Whitechapel or the Bowery. This was apparently 
 winked at by the authorities. If the Outlanders 
 felt any disposition to abolish it they manifested 
 it only in occasional spasms, and, as a whole, not 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 having the right to legislate it out of existence, 
 regarded it as a subject for which they were not 
 responsible. 
 
 Gambling was an evil which had not assumed 
 general proportions. In the clubs a friendly game 
 was allowed, and no objection was raised to it, and 
 on the race tracks the bookmakers operated with 
 impunity. They were not only tolerated, but a 
 certain space was reserved for them in which to 
 ply their vocation. 
 
 Although invited to participate in some of the 
 social festivities of the town, Jack declined these 
 invitations as a rule. He felt himself a woman 
 hater. To the one woman whom he considered 
 responsible for this condition of affairs he had 
 sent a letter, and, after sending it, had declared to 
 himself that his faith in womanhood was eternally 
 shaken. Between the clubs and the hotel he 
 spent the time that he did not employ riding about 
 the country. This was pleasant enough to him 
 until an incident occurred which hastened his de 
 parture from the town to the country which he had 
 decided, while on the steamer, was to be his ulti 
 mate destination. 
 
 92 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 At one of the clubs he fell in with a party of 
 jovial spirits, and one evening he joined them 
 over the brandy and the cards. Poker was the 
 game an American introduction which many 
 found very fascinating. The stakes usually began 
 at a low figure, but frequently climbed to alarming 
 heights during the excitement of the game. One 
 evening Jack was induced to take a hand, by dint 
 of much persuasion, and to join with an English 
 man, an American, and a new arrival from Aus 
 tralia. Under the influence of the game, the 
 fascination of the company, and an occasional 
 drink, the evening was passing very pleasantly for 
 Jack. For a time he won steadily, and then his 
 luck seemed to change. His fortunes went as 
 rapidly in the opposite direction, and finally the 
 game began to become more exciting under the 
 goading of an occasional high stake. Jack was the 
 loser, but that fact seemed only to aggravate his 
 obstinate determination to persist. He realized 
 that over a hundred pounds of his money had gone 
 into the pockets of some of the others, but still, 
 incited by the fatuous hope of regaining it, he 
 persisted in playing until he saw a movement on 
 
 93 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 the part of one of the others which made its way 
 to his brain with the speed of a bullet. Should 
 he protest? He decided to wait and watch. 
 When it was repeated he threw down his hand 
 with an oath. 
 
 " You're cheating," he yelled, rising from his 
 chair and pointing his finger at the dealer, the 
 Australian. 
 
 " Cheating, sir? Be careful how you make that 
 charge," warned the other, also rising to his feet, 
 with a menacing gesture toward his hip pocket. 
 
 " Careful ? " and he laughed savagely, his anger 
 and the liquor uniting to work his brain to a phase 
 of recklessness. "I repeat the charge. You're 
 cheating. I saw you dealing from the bottom of 
 the pack." 
 
 " You lie ! " was the hot reply, emphasized by 
 the presence of a revolver. 
 
 How all the rest of it came about Jack never 
 knew, but in a moment the revolver had been 
 dashed against the wall by an angry sweep of his 
 arm, and exploded harmlessly on the floor. Beside 
 it the Australian found himself in the twinkling of 
 
 an eye, knocked by an angry blow from the now 
 
 94 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 enraged Englishman, who had learned one thing 
 of advantage to him during his college career. 
 The other two players now interfered to prevent 
 further trouble and the members of the club, 
 gathering about the disputants, decided that all 
 money should be returned, and that the Australian 
 and his friends should be ejected from the place. 
 Not only that, but they were told that their pres 
 ence in the town was unwelcome, and that they 
 should lose no time in placing themselves as far 
 beyond the border as possible. 
 
 " Curse you ! " said the enraged Australian, 
 nursing a swollen spot on his temple with his left 
 hand, while with his right he shook his fist at 
 Jack. " I'll have my revenge." 
 
 " Bah ! " was the contemptuous response. " I 
 fear your threats as much as I fear you. Why, 
 the flag that floats above you ought to be perpet 
 ually draped at half mast." 
 
 Threatening revenge the Australian slunk from 
 the place, followed by his American associate. 
 Jack, now thoroughly sobered, and likewise thor 
 oughly disgusted, shortly followed him, escorted to 
 his hotel by some of the club members, who feared 
 
 95 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 that the gambler might put into execution his late 
 threat. He did not do so, however, nor had he 
 any immediate intention of so doing. He retired 
 from public light for a few days to develop his 
 plans, for he meant what he said, as Jack was soon 
 to learn. 
 
 " I'll leave here at once," Jack resolved, when 
 he had reached his apartments. " I'm sick of the 
 place. There seems to be nothing straightfor 
 ward about the town, and the sooner I get away 
 from it the more contented I'll feel. Pat! " 
 
 "Yes, sur." 
 
 "Begin to pack. We leave here without 
 delay." 
 
 " Very good, sur. Is the outfit ready ? " 
 
 " It will be when you are. I ' 11 arrange for that." 
 
 " Very good, sur." 
 
 A bright morning in late August found them 
 on the road, with their faces toward the north. 
 First came a tall Zulu boy, magnificently attired in 
 a pair of earrings and a breech clout. He carried 
 in his hands a long, slender pole, with which he 
 directed the movements of the leading yoke of 
 
 oxen. Six more yoke of oxen followed the lead- 
 
 96 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 ers, all hauling a great, heavy Dutch wagon. 
 This wagon was covered with an immense sheet 
 of canvas, spread over semi-circular hoops, and 
 could be rolled back at their pleasure. On the 
 wagon seat was perched another Zulu boy, who 
 aided his countryman at the head of the proces 
 sion, by urging on the oxen with his whip. He 
 was an expert in the use of this implement. It 
 consisted of a bamboo pole, as long as a fishing 
 rod, on the end of which was fastened a long 
 cowhide thong. The driver would circle this 
 about his head, and then snap it with the accuracy 
 of a marksman on any designated spot of any one 
 of the fourteen oxen. Inside the wagon were 
 stacked their stores of biscuit, coffee, tea, sugar, 
 canned meats, and vegetables, as well as a few 
 cases of liquor. Two other Zulu boys trotted on 
 beside the wagon, while as an escort rode Jack, 
 Pat, and the two prospectors who had joined their 
 fortunes with Jack. 
 
 97 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE two new additions to the party were char 
 acteristic examples of that cosmopolitan army of 
 gold-seekers to be found in whatever section of 
 the world the alluring metal is discovered. One 
 was a tall, raw-boned American, an ungainly but 
 powerful chap, whose long arms and legs gave him 
 an appearance of awkwardness, but who was, never 
 theless, as quick as a panther when occasion de 
 manded. He presented an almost comical appear 
 ance as he bestrode his wiry pony, for his long legs 
 almost touched the ground. His name was Har 
 rington, he said. His companion was called 
 McDonald, "Mac" for short, and he was the 
 antithesis of the other. He was short and thick 
 set, and inclined to be ruminative rather than 
 talkative. They were alike in one respect, in 
 being bronzed by exposure to the sun of many 
 
 lands. Jack had heard of them at one of the 
 
 98 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 clubs, and after he had broached his scheme to 
 them, he found them only too willing to join him. 
 They appeared to be honest fellows, and, what was 
 more important, they had had experience in pros 
 pecting in Australia. 
 
 " Ah-h-h ! " said Harrington, taking in a huge 
 gulp of the fresh air as they left the city behind 
 them and struck into the open country. " This 
 reminds me of Coleraydo." 
 
 " Yes ? " said Jack inquiringly. He knew his 
 companion was an American, but more minute 
 information regarding him he had not asked, 
 being content to accept the man on his appearance. 
 He was willing to learn more about him, however, 
 and his answer encouraged the other to proceed. 
 
 " Yes," continued the other, " there's the same 
 bracin' air an' the same dancin' atmosphere. 
 Even the hills remind me o' the old place." 
 
 " So Colorado is your home then ? " Jack queried. 
 
 "Well, my home is putty nearly anywhere I 
 hang my hat up. I was born there, howsomever. 
 My parents trekked it from New England, as you'd 
 say here, when the gold fever broke out on the 
 Pacific Coast." 
 
 99 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 "I understood you to say that you had pros 
 pected for gold in California and Australia, too ? " 
 continued Jack. 
 
 " Yes, an' found it, too. Mighta had some o' 
 it now if I hadn't been a durn fool. Eh, Mac ? " 
 addressing his comrade. 
 
 " Yes. An' same here," replied Mac. 
 
 "Things were goin' slow in Cal'forny, an' we 
 were all excited by the news from the gold fields 
 of Australia, so I shipped out there. Had hard 
 luck for a while, but I learned a good many tricks 
 about prospectin' and herdin', an' finally I met 
 Mac, an' we made a good strike. We couldn't 
 stand prosperity, however, an' after we sold out 
 our claim, we started out to celebrate. When we 
 got through we had a pocketful of experience, an' 
 that's all. This time I intend to app'int someone 
 my guardian, an' see if I can't put by enough 
 t' last me the rest o' my days. This country 
 makes some almost homesick, it minds me so 
 much of Coleraydo. I'd like t' make my little 
 pile an' go back there t' end my days." 
 
 "Let's hope for all our sakes that you'll find 
 your wish granted," said Jack, sprightly. 
 
 100 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " Well, let's drink to our swift prosperity," said 
 Harrington, producing a flask which he offered to 
 Jack. 
 
 " I'll join you in that," responded Jack with 
 heartiness, "and it's the last drink I'll take for 
 some time that is, unless in case of sickness. 
 My friends in Johannesburg tell me that that stuff 
 has done more to injure the prospects of white 
 men in this country than all other things com 
 bined and black men's chances, too. " 
 
 "Dunno but you're right, pardner," returned 
 Harrington. " It's served me more bad turns than 
 good ones, in the long run. Well, here's to 
 health an' prosperity," he continued, following the 
 toast by raising the bottle to his lips and then 
 throwing it away. " I guess you 're right. A little 
 of it is good when a man is cold, and wet, and 
 tired, but the trouble is that when a fellow be 
 comes his own doctor he is apt to prescribe an 
 overdose before he knows it. Still, I'm glad we 
 thought to include some of it in the outfit. A 
 peck or so of quinine, a case of brandy, and an 
 other of gin, are worth a regiment of doctors, 
 when taken at the proper time, and under the 
 
 101 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 proper conditions. An' where we're goin' it isn't 
 easy to telephone for a doctor in the middle o' the 
 night." 
 
 " I'm afraid he'd be a long time comin'," put in 
 Mac. 
 
 "By the way, what was the trouble you had 
 with Fleetwood?" asked Harrington. "I heard 
 you had a little fracas at the club, an' they tell 
 me you had a pretty close call." 
 
 " Oh, nothing of any account ! " Jack replied. 
 " We were playing your great American game of 
 poker, and he was instructing me in its mysteries, 
 when I saw him dealing from the bottom of the 
 pack and called him." 
 
 " Pulled a gun on yer, didn't he? " 
 
 "Yes, but he didn't fire it." 
 
 "Didn't have time, did he? " 
 
 Jack laughed carelessly at the recollection. 
 
 "That was what I heered," was the jocular 
 comment. "Well, he is a bad lot, an' one o' 
 these days he'll run agin the muzzle o' somebody's 
 gun somebody who kin shoot quicker'n he kin 
 an' then there'll be a post-mortem which the coro 
 ner '11 diagnose as a case of suicide after the fact." 
 
 102 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 "You know him, then? " 
 
 "No, thank yer. That is, I don't know him, 
 but I know of him, an' I can't say that I know 
 any good o' him. I heered o' him in Melbourne, 
 five years ago. I guess he was driven out o' the 
 place. Now he seems to have settled down here, 
 with his slick talk, an' his dude dress, all of 
 which will cost the boys a pretty penny before he 
 gets through with them." 
 
 " Well, thank Heaven, we're out of his way ! " 
 
 "We won't be too sure o' that for a while," re 
 sponded Harrington. "We'll take turns on watch 
 nights, for from what I've heard o' that feller 
 there's nothin' too mean nor too desprit for him 
 to do." 
 
 "Do you think he'd dare to follow us? " 
 
 " Don't know as he would. On the other hand, 
 don't know as he wouldn't. Not knowin' nothin' 
 about it, we're takin' no chances. If he does 
 come loafin' around here I'll inject a pill inter 
 him, an' it will be made o' medicine he won't like." 
 
 But a week passed and there was no sign of 
 Fleetwood. In accustoming themselves to the 
 
 daily routine they had almost forgotten all about 
 103 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 that incident. There was a novelty about the 
 situation of which Jack had not yet tired. He 
 laughed as he took a survey of his costume, and 
 compared it with his London toggery, as he re 
 called his former appearance. Instead of shapely 
 shoes, he wore a pair of heavy boots (into which 
 he had tucked the extremities of his trousers), a 
 blue flannel shirt, and a broad brimmed hat. 
 There were the essential components of his new 
 uniform. 
 
 The only drawback on his spirits was the slow 
 progress of the oxen. If they averaged a half- 
 score miles a day they were doing well, notwith 
 standing the shouts and pricks of the Zulus. 
 Across the broad veldt they dragged their slow 
 steps, then up hill and down hill, and across the 
 bed of an occasional stream. The roads, if one 
 could call them such, were of the poorest quality ; 
 and as for bridges, such things were unknown. 
 
 At midday they halted to rest the oxen and 
 cook a hasty meal. This was an operation, pas 
 toral in its simplicity. A shallow hole was 
 scooped in the ground, in which a fire of manure 
 
 chips was built, and over this they fried their 
 104 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 chicken or warmed their beef or tongue, as the 
 case may have been. Chicken had the call as an 
 article of diet because it afforded fresh food and 
 was obtainable from an occasional farmer whose 
 house they passed on their journey. The canned 
 goods supplied a variation on the bill of fare, but, 
 while entirely acceptable, they lacked the attrac 
 tion of a fresh, fried chicken. Coffee they had in 
 plenty, and sugar too, and with these and some 
 biscuit they "lived like kings," to quote the 
 veracious Pat. 
 
 At night they outspanned the cattle, pitched 
 their little tent, and repeated their cooking opera 
 tion. The meals of the Kaffirs were even less 
 pretentious. A huge black pot was their sole 
 utensil, and their single article of provender was a 
 combination they called "mealie," a species of 
 cornmeal mixed with water, which they boiled in 
 their black pot over a small fire, and, when the 
 substance had reached the proper degree of heat 
 and consistency, they ate with large spoons, direct 
 ly from the pot. Knives and forks and napkins 
 troubled them not. They were happy so long as 
 the mealie held out, and it may be added that 
 105 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 was not very long after this vigorous half dozen 
 got at it, unless the precaution was taken to pre 
 pare a generous measure for them. 
 
 As a relief to the monotony of the expedition, 
 and also for the purpose of providing an occa 
 sional supply of fresh meat for the larder, some 
 members of the party were in the habit of taking 
 occasional rides over the veldt or among the kopjes 
 in the hope of finding an occasional springbok. 
 Jack had been having poor luck in his ventures, 
 and he volunteered to stay in charge of the wagon, 
 one day, while Harrington and McDonald started 
 out. Pat was also to remain behind. The others 
 had agreed to catch up with the wagon before 
 nightfall. The air was filled with the pleas 
 ant warmth of spring and at noon Jack halted and 
 ordered the Kaffirs to outspan and let the oxen 
 graze in a bit of green visible from the wagon, 
 while he lay within the shade jointly offered by 
 the cart and by a low-hanging eucalyptus tree. 
 Pat had ridden off to a small stream for the pur 
 pose of bathing his horse's hoofs, the animal hav 
 ing shown signs of soreness. The soothing quiet 
 
 had lulled Jack into a state of semi-consciousness, 
 106 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 when there was a sudden rush of feet, and he felt 
 himself pinioned to the ground. 
 
 " So we meet again, don't we? " asked a voice, 
 which, even before Jack could see the face of the 
 owner, he knew came from the sneering lips of 
 Fleetwood. Beneath the grasp of the latter and 
 a companion, Jack's struggles were unavailing. It 
 was the work of a moment for them to bind him, 
 hand and foot. 
 
 " Now we'll trouble you to pay your just debts," 
 continued Fleetwood. 
 
 "There's one debt that I'll pay with interest," 
 was Jack's angry retort. 
 
 " I hope you won't be in any hurry to discount 
 it," was Fleetwood's ironical reply. "Come, 
 now," changing his tone and assuming one of 
 menace, "we've come out here for your money 
 box. Produce it. The quicker the better for 
 you, if you value your life. " 
 
 " Never ! " 
 
 " Come, come ! " was the warning suggestion. 
 "You'd better be reasonable. We're desperate 
 men, and we're not going to talk all day." 
 
 "I'd see you hanged first." 
 107 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 "Look in the wagon there," said Fleetwood, 
 addressing his companion. " You'll probably find 
 it there. If you don't find it, and he won't tell us 
 where it is, we'll leave him dumb forever. Quick, 
 the Irishman and the Zulus may return at any 
 moment. In the mean time I'll examine his 
 belt." 
 
 Jack made a vigorous but ineffectual protest. 
 Fleetwood made a thorough search of his effects, 
 and just as he had finished his companion an 
 nounced that he had been successful in his 
 search. 
 
 " Sorry to disturb you ! " was Fleetwood's smil 
 ing remark, as he shook a little bag of gold in 
 Jack's face, " but when a gentleman refuses to pay 
 his just debts, he ought not to complain when 
 they are collected for him. I've half a mind to 
 put into him the bullet that missed him at Johannes 
 burg," he added, drawing his revolver. 
 
 " No, no ! " protested the other. " The report 
 would call the attention of the Irishman and the 
 Zulus. Let us get out of here as soon as pos 
 sible, and get our horses. " 
 
 " Not until I leave him something to remember 
 1 08 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 me by," replied Fleetwood savagely, aiming a 
 blow with the butt of the revolver as he passed 
 the prostrate Jack. Then they glided away, as 
 silently as they had come, and Jack saw more 
 stars at midday than were visible to him on any 
 ordinary night. For a moment he lost conscious 
 ness, but when he awoke to a full realization of 
 the outrage which had been perpetrated he cried 
 in his impotent rage. He struggled to his feet, 
 and was rasping at his cords on one of the wheels 
 of the cart, when Pat put in an appearance in the 
 distance. 
 
 " What th' divil is the matther with the mas- 
 ther?" he asked himself, quickening the pace of 
 the ponies, as he watched Jack's apparently crazy 
 motions. "What ails ye, sur?" he asked, as 
 soon as he had come within hailing distance. 
 
 " Quick ! Cut these ropes," frothed Jack. 
 
 Pat complied. In a trice Jack was free. 
 
 "An' who done this? " asked Pat. 
 
 " Those hounds I met at Johannesburg," replied 
 Jack. "Come, follow me," he added, vaulting 
 into his saddle. " They've got only a few minutes' 
 
 start, and they've taken our money." 
 109 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 He was a quarter of a mile away before Pat 
 sufficiently recovered from his open-mouthed as 
 tonishment to understand the situation. Then he 
 tore along after his excited master. In some re 
 spects it was a foolish chase. Not a soul was in 
 sight. The broad veldt on the one side was de 
 serted. A sea of coarse grass, with an occasional 
 bowlder, made a monotonous level for miles. Nor 
 was there any sign of life among the low-lying 
 hills to the left. 
 
 Crack ! went a rifle. Crack ! Crack ! Crack ! 
 a fusillade. 
 
 " There they are ! " cried Jack, turning his horse 
 toward the hills, from which direction came the 
 sound. 
 
 " More power t' ye, whoever y' are," muttered 
 Pat, following suit. Warily they rounded a kopje. 
 In the distance they saw a figure dashing across a 
 level spot. Crack! went a rifle. The figure 
 continued on its course without faltering. Crack ! 
 another shot. There was a sudden lurch, the 
 figure of the rider threw up its hands, and then 
 fell from the horse. 
 
 " Be the powers o' war, it's the Yankee man ! " 
 
 no 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 cried Pat exultingly, a savage joy filling his breast 
 as he caught sight of a figure on a higher peak. 
 " I'll bet the money's safe after all." 
 
 It was Harrington. When they reached him, he 
 was bending over the prostrate form of Fleetwood's 
 companion, whose horse stood grazing nearby. 
 
 " Lucky for us my horse sprained his foot, " re 
 marked Harrington. " He's been visitin' yer, I 
 take it ? " he asked, pointing to the prostrate figure 
 at his feet. 
 
 Jack nodded. 
 
 "Faith he has, an* small manners t' him," 
 quoted Pat. "We were lookin' for him, when 
 we heard yer shot." 
 
 "Well, y' kin spare y'rself the trouble now," 
 drily replied Harrington, placing his hand over 
 the heart of the prostrate man. " He's dead, fast 
 enough." 
 
 " Well, 'tis a short shrift he got, but he de- 
 sarved no betther," continued Pat. "An' is the 
 money with him ? " 
 
 " No. Guess the other fellow's got that. Any 
 how, it's safe enough. He looks as if my pill had 
 
 put him to sleep, too." 
 
 in 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 It was even so. When they reached the other 
 prostrate form the sands of life had about run out. 
 He made a movement of his lips, as if cursing 
 the newcomers, and then gazed at them with fast 
 glazing eyes as Harrington felt inside the bosom 
 of his shirt, and after a moment announced : 
 
 "I've got it." 
 
 " I was resthY my horse on the top o' the hill," 
 he explained, " when I saw these two chaps ridin' 
 like mad toward me. I saw them headin' for the 
 pass, and I suspected them long before I could 
 make out who they were. As soon as they came 
 within range I fired and got this fellow. The 
 other fired at me, and then started off across 
 country, but I fetched him, after a couple of tries. 
 It was luck for us that my horse stumbled and 
 went lame, just as he did." 
 
 Jack felt himself overcome by a queer emotion 
 as he gazed on the prostrate gambler, and realized 
 that a few dollars was the cause of it all. 
 
 " Never you mind, I'll take all the responsi 
 bility," said Harrington, noticing his look of hor 
 ror. "These fellers are better out o' the world 
 
 than in it. They've got their just dues that's 
 112 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 all. In this country it's kill or be killed in cases 
 of this kind. If I've got t' choose, I'll take the 
 fust. We can't wait for judges an' courts. 
 You've got y'r money back, an' seein' that their 
 hosses an' guns are no use t' them now, we'll take 
 them in payment of undertaker's bills. Come, turn 
 to, and let's give them a decent burial, anyway." 
 
 "We'd oughter be getting our bearin's pretty 
 soon," said Harrington, one morning, nearly a 
 month after they had left Johannesburg, while the 
 weary oxen were slowly tugging up a steep incline. 
 " We've crossed the Limpopo, an' from the top o' 
 this hill we ought to be able to see somethin'. 
 We can't be far away from our grant. Hello! 
 What's that?" he cried, as they reached the 
 summit. Harrington was shading his eyes and 
 pointing in a northwesterly direction. " Is that 
 a signal of some sort ? " 
 
 Jack elevated his glass and gazed long and 
 steadily. Then his ordinary calmness gave way 
 to the excitement of a madman. 
 
 "The Union Jack, by all that's holy!" he 
 
 ejaculated. 
 
 "3 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MURIEL had driven to Lady Stanmore's house, 
 and, without formality, assuming the privilege of 
 an intimate friend, had stalked directly to her 
 boudoir. Yes, stalked! Her manner suggested 
 a feeling of deep indignation, and yet, Lady Stan- 
 more, sweeping a swift glance at her, saw that she 
 was a picture of indecision, and that her assumed 
 determination was all that saved her from dissolv 
 ing into a modern Niobe. 
 
 " Ah, good-morning, my dear ! I trust you are 
 well, this morning," was Lady Stanmore's hearty 
 greeting. 
 
 Muriel replied seriatim : " Good-morning. Yes, 
 I'm perfectly well," and then, as if to rule out all 
 further preliminaries, she added : 
 
 "Just read that." 
 
 Lady Stanmore grasped the sheet of paper which 
 Muriel almost thrust into her face and rocked 
 
 slowly as she perused it. Muriel sat bolt upright 
 114 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 in the straightest- backed chair in the room, tap 
 ping the floor with her right foot as she watched 
 Lady Stanmore's lifted eyebrows, and beating a 
 regular tattoo as the latter occasionally punctuated 
 her reading with an aloud: "Well! Well!" or 
 "Dear me!" 
 
 "Well, I never!" ejaculated Lady Stan- 
 more, slowly folding the letter, and gazing at 
 Muriel. 
 
 " Did you ever? " interrogated Muriel, tighten 
 ing her lips and giving herself a twitch of addi 
 tional uprightness. 
 
 " When did you get this ? " 
 
 "This morning." 
 
 "And so he's really gone to Africa? " 
 
 "That's what he says." 
 
 "Well, well! I'm astonished. I heard that 
 story, but I thought it was only a joke, and that 
 he would eventually return from some shooting 
 expedition. You know he's a great fellow to 
 stray off that way, without saying a word to any 
 body, when he takes a notion. " 
 
 "Yes, I know it; but there seems to be no 
 doubt about it." 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 "No; it's dated Johannesburg. Yes, and the 
 letter bears that postmark. Well, well, well ! I 
 can hardly convince myself, but here's his own 
 word for it." Lady Stanmore settled herself 
 anew in her chair and opened the letter again. 
 
 " * Dear Muriel,'" she read, this time aloud and 
 slowly, as if to see if there was not some hidden 
 meaning to each word, " ' I feel that I may so ad 
 dress you, because it is possible it may be for the 
 last time.' [Dear me !] ' Since our last conversation 
 I have thought a great deal of what you said re 
 garding the duty of men doing something in the 
 world, and I have finally decided on a course for 
 myself. It is not a very heroic one, and yet it 
 seemed to be the only thing open to me. To 
 remain in England was out of the question. I 
 had fitted myself for no special vocation, and so 
 I have joined the great army seeking a Mecca of 
 fortune on this continent. I am about to leave 
 here for Rhodesia. I have obtained a grant of 
 land there, and if luck favors me, may win some 
 measure of success. If it does not, then I'll stay 
 here. There is as much for me here as in Eng 
 land, and I can at least comfort myself with the 
 116 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 will-o'-the-wisp of a hope that I may eventually 
 find luck.' [Well, well, well ! ] 
 
 " * I left you with somewhat bitter feelings, and 
 a partial reason for writing you was the desire to 
 say that after thinking over your remarks on the 
 steamer and since I arrived here, I have come to 
 the conclusion that you were right. A man really 
 ought to do something in the world. But what ? 
 That was the conundrum for me. I saw no way 
 to answer it in England, and so I joined the army 
 of young fellows propounding similar questions to 
 themselves, and came out here. Even now the 
 conundrum is as puzzling as ever, but I have at 
 least the feeling that I am honestly trying to solve 
 it which is something. 
 
 " ' It is possible that I may never see England 
 again. I have so determined in case I do not 
 succeed, but the feeling of bitterness with which 
 I left has given way to one that your suggestion 
 was a kindly one, after all, and I thank you for it. 
 What might have been is past. What may be, 
 I cannot say. I may confess to you on paper 
 what my lips could not frame, that I had hoped to 
 
 find some measure of favor in your eyes, and the 
 117 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 memories of pleasant hours in your company will 
 be ever cherished in my heart. Doubtless, should 
 I ever return, I shall find Wallace or some other 
 lucky fellow occupying the place in your affec 
 tions which I have coveted for myself ; but even 
 so, I shall hope to be able ever to subscribe my 
 self, as I do now, Your friend, 
 
 " ' JOHN DERRINGTON. ' 
 
 " Well, well, well ! " said Lady Stanmore, look 
 ing up with moist eyes. 
 
 " Is that all you can say, Lady Stanmore ? " 
 asked Muriel petulantly. " I came to you hoping 
 to get some suggestion or some sympathy " 
 
 " My dear, you know you have my sympathy, " 
 interrupted Lady Stanmore, with a slight shadow 
 of reproof in her voice, " but as for suggestions, 
 you can hardly expect to pounce down on me so 
 suddenly, and find me to be stocked on tap with 
 them. I am so surprised to find that he is really 
 gone that I can hardly think of anything else." 
 
 "Yes; he's gone, and I am the one that sent 
 him. Oh, I am so miserable ! " cried Muriel, 
 
 throwing herself at her friend's feet and burying 
 118 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 her face in her lap. "I'm so miserable," she 
 sobbed. " I know he'll never return from that hor 
 rid place. The savages will kill him or he'll die 
 of fever, and it will be all my fault." 
 
 " Oh, come now ; don't look at the dark side of 
 the picture!" said Lady Stanmore soothingly. 
 " It may not be so bad as that. You know there 
 are hundreds of young fellows who go there every 
 year, and who do not die by savages or fever. 
 Let us look at the bright side." 
 
 "Oh, there is no bright side!" cried Muriel, 
 from the depths of Lady Stanmore's lap, persist 
 ing in finding a solace in her misery and a relief 
 in her tears. 
 
 " It is possible that he may make a rich strike 
 there, and then he'll come back." 
 
 " But if he doesn't he says he won't come back." 
 
 " Muriel, you surprise me. I had no idea that 
 you cared so much for him. I thought you had as 
 much regard for several other young fellows, or 
 even more. Now there's Lieutenant Wallace, for 
 example " 
 
 "Oh, bother Lieutenant Wallace!" broke in 
 
 Muriel, springing to her feet. "That insignifi- 
 119 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 cant little poser. Why, I I wouldn't marry him 
 if he was the only man on the face of the earth, 
 and I had to remain an old maid to the end of my 
 days, otherwise." 
 
 Lady Stanmore pursed her lips and drew in a 
 long breath which produced a soft whistle. 
 
 "What a mass of contradictions you are, Mu 
 riel," she said. "I'm not a mind reader. How 
 can I judge except by exterior signs? " 
 
 " Lieutenant Wallace, indeed ! " continued Mu 
 riel, scornfully. " One would think, to see him 
 strut about, that the fate of all England rested on 
 his shoulders, and that if he stooped we would 
 all roll off into space. Lieutenant Wallace, in 
 deed ! " 
 
 " But you must admit that you seemed to regard 
 him highly. And there's that South Polar 
 man " 
 
 " Yes, yes ! I know what you are about to say. 
 That's what Jack thought, too. But there isn't 
 one of them to compare with Jack in his simple 
 manliness. Oh, I am so miserable ! " And the 
 pent-up tears flowed afresh. 
 
 "Well, well; let us see what can be done!" 
 
 I2O 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 said Lady Stanmore comfortingly. "Is it too 
 late to write or to telegraph ? " 
 
 " I had thought of that, but you see he says he 
 is about to start, and the letter is dated more than 
 a month ago. I suppose by this time he is away in 
 the wilderness. And what should I say if I did 
 telegraph ? " 
 
 That was a poser for Lady Stanmore. 
 
 " Possibly we could write to some one in Johan 
 nesburg, and get word to Jack through him. 
 Johannesburg is a sort of a centre for Englishmen, 
 I believe, and we might hear something in that 
 way. " 
 
 "But what could we say in a letter to any 
 body?" 
 
 "Well, I really cannot say," continued Lady 
 Stanmore, realizing the force of the question, 
 "unless " 
 
 " Unless what ? " asked Muriel quickly, looking 
 up with a light of hope shining through her tears. 
 
 " Unless we should find out where he is and see 
 him," she continued. 
 
 "See him?" 
 
 "Yes; go down there. " 
 
 121 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 "Oh, but that's out of the question!" replied 
 Muriel, the hopeful light fading from her eyes, 
 and one of utter dejection taking its place. 
 " What pretext could I offer for going away down 
 there ? I shouldn't want all the world to know. 
 And perhaps Jack thinks differently now. He 
 might stay there, anyway. " 
 
 Lady Stanmore remained in deep thought for a 
 moment. 
 
 " I have an idea, Muriel. How would this do : 
 Supposing I should organize a little party to leave 
 London for the winter season say that we want 
 to escape the fogs and the cold, and are in search 
 of a little excitement by travel and go to South 
 Africa for the winter. We could go to Johannes 
 burg it's quite a civilized place, I believe. We 
 might make some casual inquiries there, without 
 betraying our real purpose, and possibly we might 
 see him. A very dear old school friend lives 
 there and she has several times invited me to do 
 just that. What do you think of that plan ? " 
 
 " Oh, Lady Stanmore ! " cried Muriel, hugging 
 her in her excitement. " And would you could 
 you do that ? " 
 
 122 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " I can and I will, " was the determined reply. 
 
 " But your husband, Lord Stanmore " 
 
 " Oh, I'll arrange all the plans ! Never mind 
 about them. So far as my husband is concerned, 
 he'll do anything I ask him. Now you run home 
 and leave me to think out the details." 
 
 " Oh, Lady Stanmore, I knew that I would find 
 comfort from you ! " 
 
 And with a hug and a kiss Muriel was off. She 
 stalked out of the house with as much energy as 
 she had manifested upon her arrival, but it was in 
 spired by an altogether different emotion. The 
 earth seemed to be some distance beneath her feet. 
 The load off her heart had permitted her to rise 
 until she felt as if she were walking on clouds. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 " BUT, dearest ' protested Lord Stanmore, 
 
 when he had regained his breath, after the 
 proposition had been presented to him by his 
 wife. 
 
 " Now, dear, don't put any * buts ' into the mat 
 ter. I feel that a change would be pleasant. It's 
 so cold here during the winter season. When it 
 isn't foggy it's raining, and if it isn't raining it's 
 blowing." 
 
 "You seem to have suddenly changed your 
 opinion of a winter season in London." 
 
 "Oh, well! it's a woman's privilege to change 
 her mind once in a while. One grows tired of the 
 same things over and over again. I would like a 
 change. Margery Wilson Mrs. Brunelle, I 
 mean has several times invited me to visit her, 
 and assured me that I would enjoy it. She may 
 think that I do not appreciate her courtesy. 
 
 Moreover, it would be a delightful experience, and 
 124 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 a great pleasure to Muriel and a few other 
 friends." 
 
 " I don't quite see how I can arrange my affairs," 
 said Lord Stanmore, rather dubiously. 
 
 " Why, you'd have to arrange your affairs if we 
 were to spend the season on the Continent, as we 
 had planned, and the distance isn't worth men 
 tioning, by way of comparison, when you consider 
 that there are cable facilities which will put you in 
 communication with London at very short notice." 
 
 "How soon do you want to start ? " 
 
 " In the course of a month or six weeks. Just 
 as soon as we conveniently can. Say about the 
 first of December." 
 
 "Whew!" he whistled. "You are bustling 
 and no mistake. Well, just as you say," he re 
 signedly added. "Make your plans and I'll see 
 that they are carried out. 
 
 " ' When a woman wills, she will, 
 
 You may depend on't ; 
 And when she won't she won't, 
 So there's an end on't,' " 
 
 he quoted with a laugh. " For how many shall I 
 
 arrange passage? " 
 
 125 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 " I don't really know, yet. There's Muriel, for 
 one, and your niece, Georgia Dare and I suppose 
 she would like to ask her friend, Miss St. John, 
 who is visiting her. Then I think we ought to 
 have an additional man or two. Leave that matter 
 to me," she continued. " I'll know inside of a 
 week just whom I will invite." 
 
 But it was one thing to invite, and quite another 
 to induce the desired people to accept. If it had 
 been a dinner, or a dance, or a short trip into the 
 country, Lady Stanmore's popularity would have 
 made the task of selection a difficult one simply 
 from the superabundance of willing material from 
 which to choose. But a trip to South Africa, 
 for three or four months they shuddered at 
 the proposition and pleaded one excuse or an 
 other until the good little woman was thoroughly 
 angry. 
 
 " One would think they were being asked to go 
 into a wilderness where they would be obliged to 
 risk their precious lives," she complained to her 
 husband, a day or two later. 
 
 " Has anybody accepted? " 
 
 "Oh, yes! Lord Popham expressed a pleasure 
 126 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 at accepting. I had to ask him as a sort of a last 
 resort. He's not a bad fellow, however, and is 
 quite a gallant in his way." 
 
 " I have some one in mind, if you would like to 
 make a little addition to the party," continued 
 Lord Stanmore. 
 
 " Who is it ? " his wife eagerly asked. 
 
 "Mr. Weiss." 
 
 " Weiss ? That little usurer ? Never," replied 
 his wife. 
 
 "But he's really not such a bad chap, after all," 
 humbly remonstrated Lord Stanmore. " He's im 
 mensely wealthy, you know, and influential, and 
 he has been of great assistance to me in some 
 business matters, too." 
 
 "But I detest him, with his chuckle and his 
 oily ways." 
 
 "Really, you're rather hard on him, I think. 
 We can overlook some shortcomings because none 
 of us are perfect, and he's quite genial and enter 
 taining. Besides, I'm under obligations to him, 
 and when I hinted that I was going down there 
 for the winter he as much as said that he would 
 
 like to make one of the party." 
 127 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 " Oh, well ! invite him if you like. I dare say 
 we can make him amuse us. Ask him.'* 
 
 And so it was settled. Lady Stanmore's prep 
 arations were forwarded with despatch, and in 
 what seemed to be an inconceivably brief space of 
 time, considering the amount of work accom 
 plished, they were on the train for Southampton. 
 A few hours more and the Dunottar Castle was 
 bearing them out to sea. 
 
 " Good -by, old England, " cried Lady Stan- 
 more, waving her handkerchief at the receding 
 cliffs. 
 
 " I hope we shan't be shipwrecked," was Miss 
 St. John's apprehensive and somewhat irrelevant 
 reply. " Dear me, I feel queerly already. I know 
 that I am going to be seasick. " 
 
 " Seasick ? Nefer mind dat," consoled Mr. 
 Weiss. " But shipwrecked don' say dat. Ugh ! 
 don' say dat!" 
 
 It was really an unnecessary fear. Miss St. 
 John's secondary dread was more substantial 
 yes, it was an actuality but as the steamer ap 
 proached the equator and the members of the 
 
 party became accustomed to its roll, their experi- 
 128 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 ences on shipboard became a constant delight. 
 A South African steamer trip, under normal con 
 ditions, is an event to be remembered. It is 
 peculiar to itself in its pleasures. Three weeks on 
 the water gives sufficient time for all who care to 
 do so to become thoroughly acquainted, and more 
 over it is a space of time which actually demands 
 companionship. The passengers aboard were 
 largely English, with a few scattering representa 
 tives of other nationalities. The gentlemen 
 aboard clubbed together and made up a pool for 
 prizes, and then resolved themselves into commit 
 tees for various kinds of sports. Think of a ten 
 nis game aboard ship ! One side of the steamer 
 was encompassed by netting, to prevent the balls 
 from being knocked overboard, and within this 
 enclosure a large number of the saloon passengers 
 found daily diversion. Then there were quoits, 
 running races participated in by both sexes, 
 hurdle races, obstacle races with comical attendant 
 features, egg races, and so on. Miss Dare won 
 the egg race, which consisted of holding an egg 
 on a spoon and running a certain distance on the 
 
 deck. This is a feat which requires skill rather 
 129 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 than speed, as some of those who participated as 
 certained to their sorrow, when, in their anxiety to 
 outstrip competitors, their spoons permitted the 
 eggs to drop to the deck and disqualify the unfor 
 tunate contestants. Then there was a tug-of-war 
 between teams selected from members of the crew 
 in different departments of the ship, and so it went 
 for days, until nearly everybody aboard had won 
 a trophy. The games lasted for a week, when all 
 interested ceased from sheer exhaustion. Then 
 the prizes were again pooled, and, at Muriel's sug 
 gestion, distributed among the stokers, the waiters, 
 and the seamen. 
 
 By way of intermission the steamer crossed the 
 equator, and this incident opened up new possibil 
 ities ; in fact, it brought forth the principal event 
 of the voyage. Instead of hauling Father Nep 
 tune aboard, as was the custom on old English 
 ships, the occasion was celebrated by a fancy dress 
 ball in which everybody participated. Each per 
 son had a grotesque costume of some kind. Those 
 who had made previous voyages on the line had 
 provided themselves with the necessary outfits, 
 
 but even those who had made no particular prep- 
 130 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 aration for such an affair found themselves lack 
 ing but few of the essential details of such 
 costumes, thanks to the shrewd foresight of the 
 stewards, who rejoiced in the opportunity to make 
 an honest penny. Lady Stanmore found a big 
 ruff, and with a little more material she converted 
 herself into a supposed resemblance to good 
 Queen Bess. Lord Stanmore was transformed 
 into a modern London bobby, a combination which 
 was in comical contrast to that of his wife. Lord 
 Popham became Charles I. What to do with Mr. 
 Weiss was a conundrum, but Lady Stanmore 
 solved it by smearing him with some grease paint, 
 and telling him to act naturally. Muriel was 
 induced to join the fun as the mournful Mary 
 Queen of Scots, a character she found quite suited 
 to her disposition, and Miss St. John and Miss 
 Dare were quite sentimental as Little Bo- Peep 
 and Red Riding Hood, respectively. 
 
 The evening was spent dancing on deck to the 
 music of the ship's band, and taken altogether it 
 was quite a memorable occasion. The prepara 
 tions for the affair and the subsequent discussion 
 of it consumed another week, and it seemed as if 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 but a few days had passed when the captain an 
 nounced at dinner : 
 
 "We'll sight Table Mountain by to-morrow 
 noon." 
 
 At which there was a disappointed murmur. 
 The large family on board had become so interest 
 ing to its individual members that most of them 
 regretted the separation. But it had to be. Two 
 days later the train from Cape Town had borne 
 them to Johannesburg. Mr. Brunelle met them 
 at the station, and they expressed to him their de 
 light at the trip. 
 
 " Yes, it is a matter of pleasure, now," he re 
 plied, " but when I first made it, ten years ago, I 
 travelled the greater part of the distance on horse 
 back, and most of the material for my house was 
 hauled from the coast by oxen." 
 
 132 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " ISN'T this delightful ? " asked Miss St. John, 
 for the hundredth time, as the party sat on 
 the broad veranda of Mrs. Brunelle's residence, 
 one pleasant morning a few days after their ar 
 rival. 
 
 "Indeed it is," Lady Stanmore complacently 
 responded, looking around as if to demand a com 
 plimentary remark on her foresight and judgment 
 in selecting the trip. 
 
 "Just think!" continued Miss St. John, with 
 an excited little laugh, "to-morrow's Christmas. 
 Would you ever believe it ? Here we are, sitting 
 in the open air, dressed in summer frocks, while 
 our friends at home are doubtless shivering with 
 the cold." 
 
 "Yes; or groping their way through a fog so 
 thick that one might cut it with an ax." 
 
 " If the old saying, * a green Christmas makes 
 a fat graveyard,' is literally borne out here, there 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 ought to be a number of funerals hereabouts. 
 How funny it does seem, after all, to be sitting 
 here at this time of year. I can't really seem to 
 comprehend it. Sometimes I pinch myself to see 
 if I am actually awake. The whole country is so 
 different from what I expected." 
 
 " Yes ; just think of it ! We started out, pre 
 pared to ' rough it,' as the men say, and we find 
 ourselves in a centre of civilization so lively from 
 a business and social point of view that, really, I 
 feel like a country dame several years behind the 
 times. Instead of rough houses, we are invited 
 to the most magnificent establishments, filled with 
 every imaginable luxury. " 
 
 " Why, what did you expect to find ? " asked 
 Mrs. Brunelle, who had just joined the group. 
 
 "Well, I hardly know," stammered Clara, who 
 had not noticed Mrs. Brunelle's arrival. " Cer 
 tainly nothing on the scale of magnificence which 
 we see on every side. I don't mind confessing to 
 you that I felt actually dowdy at the ball, last 
 night, in the presence of all those magnificently 
 dressed women. And yet, I wore my newest 
 gown, and thought I was looking my best." 
 
A TALE OP THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 Mrs. Brunelle laughed heartily at the implied 
 compliment. 
 
 " Dear me ! You didn't expect to find us going 
 about like savages, did you ? " 
 
 "Oh, no, no; not that! But I didn't have the 
 slightest idea that I would step into a ballroom 
 filled with Paris gowns not two months out of the 
 designer's hands, and even now just appearing in 
 the fashion publications." 
 
 Again Mrs. Brunelle laughed. " Why, my dear, 
 we keep more closely in touch with such things 
 here than you do in London. As soon as a new 
 thing makes its appearance it is ordered, and in 
 side of a month it is being worn here." 
 
 " It is not only that, but the entire place that 
 has impressed me," broke in Lady Stanmore. 
 " Really, Margery, I know you'll pardon me, but 
 when I heard that you were living in a place that 
 ten years ago was a desert, I really pitied you. 
 But now now that I've had a chance to see it 
 with my own eyes I envy you. Here are thea 
 tres, and balls, and parties enough to turn one's 
 head. And the very nicest of society, too." 
 
 "Yes," replied Mrs. Brunelle, with a little 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 doubtful falter. " The society as a whole is very 
 good. Some of it, of course, is a little bit par- 
 venuish, but you must make some allowances for a 
 place so young. It would be a somewhat difficult 
 matter to trace an ancestry in this country," she 
 added with a laugh. 
 
 " I shouldn't think you'd want to," was Lady 
 Stanmore's smiling retort. " That is, unless you 
 wanted to bow down to a black Kaffir or a rough - 
 looking old Boer. I should think you wouldn't 
 care to claim kinship with either, to judge from 
 the looks of them. " 
 
 "We don't," was the prompt retort. "More 
 especially the Boers. They hate us, and we hate 
 them. They'd poison all the English if they 
 could. We have nothing in common, whatever. 
 The only cloud on our pleasure comes from them. 
 They've ground us so with taxes and other stupid 
 things that the men are now talking of revolting, 
 even if they bring on a war. Oh, it's really hor 
 rid! You've no idea how nervous it makes me 
 feel. My husband is down at the club nearly 
 every night, talking over these matters, and when 
 
 he comes home he's so gloomy that there is hardly 
 136 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 any pleasure in having him around. Between his 
 business and these meetings I hardly get a mo 
 ment with him. They've sent a protest to old 
 Kruger, and told him they would revolt if he did 
 not modify some of the grievances of which they 
 complained, and now they're waiting to see what 
 will come of it. There is a terrible feeling in the 
 place," she continued, lowering her voice as if she 
 feared being overheard, " you can form no idea of 
 how mad the men are. And they're getting ready 
 for a desperate turn, for they have been importing 
 guns and ammunition for weeks past, and some of 
 the miners are even now being drilled so as to be 
 ready to fight. We're putting a brave face on it, 
 but I'm ready to leave town at an hour's notice. " 
 
 " Dear me ! I hope we are not going to be 
 killed. I had no idea that there was any such 
 trouble threatening," cried Miss St. John. 
 
 " Oh, I didn't mean to frighten you ! " con 
 tinued Mrs. Brunelle soothingly. "It may not 
 amount to anything. The men are simply get 
 ting ready, and if they can show old Kruger that 
 they mean business, they think he will come down 
 from his high and mighty perch. Still, as I say, 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 there is a possibility of danger, and there's no 
 knowing when it will appear." 
 
 " Oh, dear, I wish we had not come ! " whim 
 pered Miss St. John. "Hark! Don't you hear 
 that terrible noise? I'm sure that is the signal, 
 now. Don't you hear it? " 
 
 As they listened a wild murmur was borne 
 faintly on the breeze. Now the tempo was slow 
 and the music soft and dreamy; again the tempo 
 quickened and the character of the songs became 
 shrill and fierce. To the timid uninitiated it cer 
 tainly was appalling in it's savage weirdness and 
 restrained vehemence, and the visitors felt a 
 strange fear as the murmur came to their ears. 
 Mrs. Brunelle laughed until the tears came to her 
 eyes as she observed the alarm of her callers. 
 
 "No, no!" she ejaculated, between spasms of 
 laughter, as she tried to reassure her guests. 
 " There's no danger absolutely none. This will 
 be a spectacle worth seeing." 
 
 While she was speaking the murmur grew more 
 and more distinct as the origin of it approached 
 nearer and nearer. Eventually, from around a 
 
 corner of a street, the cause of it emerged. A 
 138 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 party of about a hundred black men were march 
 ing, chanting in their own dialect, and showing in 
 their manner the effect of the song upon them 
 selves. One moment they would be sad and de 
 jected; the next moment excited and warlike. 
 All the while they marched in time with the 
 music, clumsily dressed in imitation European 
 fashion, with the exception of huge white turbans 
 wound about their heads, which presented a pictur 
 esque contrast to their black skins and kinky hair. 
 
 " Our washboys," explained Mrs. Brunelle. 
 " They come into the city once a month for their 
 licenses and march about in this way. Pardon me 
 for laughing. It scared me blue the first time I 
 heard it, but it has become such an old story to me 
 now that it convulsed me when I noticed the effect 
 it had on you, after my bugaboo tales. No, it's 
 no uprising, although I have shuddered when I 
 have tried to picture the thousands of these fel 
 lows, then wholly savage, opposed to the few 
 whites of a few years ago." 
 
 In a few minutes the Kaffirs had passed, and 
 their song had become a reminiscent echo. 
 
 " I should think you'd leave here if such immi- 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 nent danger threatens," continued Miss St. John. 
 
 " Leave it for whom ? " she asked indignantly. 
 "The Boers? Why, we built up this place. 
 Why should we leave it when we are stronger 
 than they are?" 
 
 " But if they should attack you ? " 
 
 "Well, that's only a possibility. If they 
 should, I should leave the place for a time, but 
 I'd return, because their attack would mean noth 
 ing. In the end, we'd conquer, and not only keep 
 what we've got, but take all they possess. No, 
 no! they have more at stake than we." 
 
 " Oh, I hope there will be no fighting! " ejacu 
 lated Miss St. John. " I fear I shall have that 
 thought on my mind night and day until I am on 
 my way to England again." 
 
 " Oh, don't worry about that ! I've heard that 
 kind of talk during the five years I have been 
 here, and nothing serious has yet happened. 
 We'll be safe enough. Have no fears on that 
 score. 
 
 " Ah, Lord Popham, I trust you have been enjoy 
 ing yourself ! " she continued, addressing the 
 
 newcomers, his lordship and Mr. Weiss. 
 
 140 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " In the most chawming manner," his lordship 
 replied, appearing almost enthusiastic, in spite of 
 himself. " We've been down to the Rand Club. 
 Delightful place," he commented. 
 
 " You bedt ! " chimed in Mr. Weiss, reminis- 
 cently smacking his lips. 
 
 "Delightful fellows, y' know," continued his 
 lordship. " Bah Jove, I was delighted with them. 
 So smart and clever, y' know." 
 
 " Yes ; our titles here are very limited. Some of 
 the family trees couldn't be climbed very far, but as 
 you say, there are some very delightful people here. 
 It's really an aristocracy of brains. It almost 
 makes my own head whirl when I look back at the 
 five short years that I have been here. And yet, 
 when measured by accomplishments, they seem 
 long. Do you know, I'm really one of the oldest 
 inhabitants, quite an oracle, so to speak, and yet, 
 every time I go out for a drive, I seem to feel the 
 need of a map, so rapidly are new buildings chang 
 ing the surrounding appearances. Yes, it's one 
 of the pleasantest spots in the world, and I'll ven 
 ture the prediction that within the memories of all 
 
 of us there will come a time when Johannesburg 
 141 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 will be one of the great centres of the world. 
 But, come! I've bragged and preached long 
 enough. Before you return to England there's 
 one event I wish you to enjoy the most captivat 
 ing thing you have yet seen. It's the races of 
 Christmas week. That is a sight worth seeing. 
 I want you to tell your friends about that when 
 you return. I'll wager it will astonish you. And 
 I give you fair warning that you will need your 
 finest dresses if you intend to try and rival us 
 natives," she added with a laugh, as the party 
 withdrew into the house. 
 
 " Muriel, I have news of him," said Lady Stan- 
 more, calling the girl aside after they had returned 
 to the house. 
 
 "Of whom? Jack?" 
 
 " Yes ; Lord Stanmore had been commissioned 
 by me to make some casual inquiries, and has 
 learned that he left here three or four months ago 
 to go up to a ranch in Rhodesia. He had an ex 
 cellent outfit and some experienced prospectors for 
 companions. He left orders to have his mail de 
 livered at the club and sent to him by any parties 
 
 going in his direction." 
 
 142 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 "And could we go up there? " 
 
 "I'm afraid not, dearest. It's an overland 
 journey of some hundreds of miles, through a wild 
 country, and, in the present unsettled state of 
 affairs, is out of the question." 
 
 " Then we are as far from him as ever." 
 
 " By no means. This place will be his head 
 quarters. Someone may be going his way any 
 day, and we can then send him word of our pres 
 ence. That will bring him here at once. Don't 
 worry. We'll succeed yet." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 IT was a queer scene that met the gaze of Jack 
 and his friends as they proceeded in the direction 
 of the flag so suddenly unfolded to their view. 
 The bunting waved defiantly from the top of a 
 tall tree, the branches of which had been lopped 
 off so as to convert it into a permanent flagstaff. 
 Beneath the shadow of the flag were clustered two 
 odd- looking structures, one of corrugated iron, the 
 other a native hut. To the newcomers, this lit 
 tle settlement in the heart of a wilderness seemed 
 at first like a figment of their imagination. The 
 only sign of life about the place was the presence 
 of a couple of Kaffirs at the door of the little iron 
 house. They gazed stupidly at Jack and Harring 
 ton, who had ridden ahead to make inquiries re 
 garding the presence of the British flag in this 
 obscure corner of the world, and, in response to 
 the gestures of the visitors, disappeared into the 
 
 house to summon the occupants. Presently one 
 144 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 of the latter made his appearance. He had evi 
 dently been awakened from a sound sleep, for he 
 came to the door in a semi-negligee costume, rub 
 bing his eyes and apparently not understanding 
 for what purpose his black servant had disturbed 
 him. 
 
 " Hallo ! " he cried, staring in surprise at the 
 sight of the two visitors. "Strangers? And 
 white men, too ! Welcome, friends," he continued* 
 recovering from his surprise and delightedly 
 grasping their hands. "Welcome to Castle Vic 
 toria. Won't you dismount and accept our 
 hospitality? Do! By the way, I haven't intro 
 duced myself. Henry Alexander, at your service, 
 Englishman by birth, and adventurer by choice. 
 Out here in search of the golden fleece and not 
 particular whether we find it on the backs of our 
 sheep or in a paying streak of quartz. Come in 
 and meet my fellow fortune-hunters. They're not 
 awake yet, but I'll rout them out. We sat up 
 rather late last night, playing cards and drinking 
 whiskey, which is our chief diversion, with the re 
 sult that we're not as chipper as usual, this morn 
 ing. Jenkins, oh, Jenkins ! " he bawled, as he led 
 US 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 the way into the little house, following it up with, 
 " Sandy, oh, Sandy ! " 
 
 A duet of grunts betrayed the fact that a tier of 
 bunks on one side of the large room, which formed 
 the only apartment in the place, had two occupants, 
 and after considerable grumbling a pair of paja- 
 mahed figures gazed with sleepy astonishment at 
 the visitors, and finally managed to reach a stand 
 ing position. Alexander roared with laughter at 
 the absurd appearance of his friends. "Mr. 
 Arthur Jenkins and Mr. David Sanderson, gentle 
 men," he managed to articulate, between gasps of 
 laughter. The two sleepy figures bowed, and then 
 advanced to emphasize the introduction with a 
 hearty hand clasp. 
 
 " I'll say for them that we're glad to see you," 
 continued Alexander. "They'd say so if they 
 could think of the words and their tongues were 
 not so thick. The fact is, that we've all got what 
 is generally known as a dark brown taste in our 
 mouths, this morning. But, come, make your 
 selves at home." 
 
 " It might be well for us to introduce ourselves," 
 
 remarked Jack. " My friend here is Frank Har- 
 146 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 rington, an American. My name is John Der- 
 rington, an Englishman, like yourselves. I may 
 add that our purpose in coming to this country is 
 exactly the same as your own. " 
 
 " Well, I hope you'll have better luck than we 
 have had," replied Alexander. " We haven't paid 
 expenses since we've been here. I don't know as 
 that is the fault of the country, however. I fancy 
 we're largely to blame ourselves. We've mixed 
 up too much card-playing and whiskey with our 
 proposed, or supposed, work. We're down to our 
 last case of square-faced gin now, and I believe it 
 will be a good thing for us, from a business point 
 of view, when even the last bottle is gone. Then 
 we'll feel the necessity of doing some real work, 
 for diversion, if for no other reason." 
 
 " How long have you been here ? " asked Jack. 
 
 " Nearly a year now," replied Alexander. 
 
 " You seem to be very comfortably situated," 
 Jack continued, glancing around the room. 
 
 " Yes ; we do pride ourselves that we are pretty 
 well fixed, all things considered. See our piano ? 
 Take a good look at it. It will be the last one 
 you'll see for many a day, unless you have in- 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 eluded one in your outfit. We were bound to 
 have all the comforts of hcme, or as many as it 
 would be possible to transport here, so we hauled 
 the piano up here, and it has been our salvation 
 during many a dull period." 
 
 Alexander also called attention to the pictures 
 which hung on the walls and to some beautiful 
 rugs on the floor. 
 
 "Sandy doesn't live with us," he continued. 
 " His aesthetic tastes run in a different groove from 
 ours, so he fixed up for himself that native hut 
 next door. Last night he was unable to find his 
 way home, so we put him up for the night." 
 
 While they were chatting in this friendly fashion 
 the outfit and the other members of Jack's party 
 arrived. McDonald and Pat were greeted as effu 
 sively as Jack and Harrington had been. The 
 oxen were " outspanned," and the host insisted 
 that the visitors should be their guests for three 
 or four days, at the least. It was a memorable 
 visit. The hosts were genial fellows, and what 
 with drinking and smoking, an occasional game 
 of cards, and several hunting expeditions the days 
 
 were altogether too short. 
 148 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " These Boer neighbors of yours are not a very 
 friendly lot," Jack happened to remark, recalling 
 some of the experience of his trip, and thereby 
 opening a sore spot in every Englishman's heart. 
 "They seem to have a special dislike for all 
 Englishmen. " 
 
 "Yes, the beggars; they hate us worse than 
 they hate the devil. Did you have an encounter 
 with any of them ? " 
 
 " Well, one of our oxen became footsore, so we 
 took him out of the yoke and got along without 
 him for a while. One day we encountered a steep 
 hill, and as the poor beasts were not quite equal to 
 the task of hauling up the wagon, I rode back to 
 a Boer farm which we had passed an hour before, 
 to ask for the assistance of a yoke of oxen. I was 
 willing to pay for the service, but the old chap re 
 fused me, and when I told him I was English, in 
 response to his direct question, he refused me 
 even more emphatically than before wouldn't 
 have anything to say to me in fact. When I re 
 turned to the wagon and told my partners of the 
 failure of my mission, Harrington laughed and 
 
 volunteered to get the oxen without any trouble. 
 149 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 And he did. He went back to the same old 
 farmer, told him he was an American, gave him a 
 bit of flattery, and returned with two fine yoke of 
 oxen, in charge of a couple of Kaffirs who were 
 instructed to take us a day farther on our trip, and 
 then bring the extra oxen back home. Not only 
 that, but Harrington brought back some fresh 
 eggs and a couple of fat chickens, which the 
 farmer had given him. He refused payment of 
 any kind for the courtesy, too." 
 
 Alexander and the others laughed heartily as 
 Jack described his discomforture. "He was a 
 good sample of the whole tribe," he commented. 
 " If they take a fancy to you, there's nothing in 
 the world they won't do for you, but if they dislike 
 you Ugh ! they can be absolutely dirty in their 
 treatment. No Englishman is welcomed. He is 
 regarded as an intruder whose one idea is to dis 
 possess them and take away from them the centre of 
 their tuppenny government. No matter how decent 
 a fellow may be, or how honorable his motives, if 
 he's an Englishman, that settles his character in 
 their eyes. Well, we don't have any of them 
 across the river here that's one consolation. " 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 It seemed to the visitors as if they never could 
 leave Castle Victoria, so much was there in the 
 way of entertainment and instruction for them. 
 
 " Our live stock is practically no trouble to us," 
 explained Alexander, as he and Jack drove over a 
 section of the grant of the Englishman. "Our 
 niggers look out for them. The country is fertile 
 in spots and supplies them with plenty of food 
 and water. You will have no trouble in getting 
 enough to stock your place from the natives 
 farther up, but you will need to be canny in bar 
 gaining with them, because they're a shrewd lot. 
 However, I fancy you'll be able to make a dicker 
 with them. If the rinderpest doesn't strike you, 
 you will find your herds increasing rapidly, and 
 you can devote much of your own spare time to 
 seeing if there is any gold under your feet. " 
 
 " Rinderpest ? What's that ? " 
 
 "Oh, that's a disease of the cattle! It's tough 
 when it comes, but it may not reach you at all. 
 Anyhow, there's no sense in worrying about it. 
 There's nothing you can do to ward it off." 
 
 "And the market?" 
 
 "Oh, there will be a demand for all you can 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 raise, and at prices which will make the venture 
 worth while, even if you do not succeed in find 
 ing gold. You see, everybody here is crazy to 
 find gold or diamonds, and those Dutchmen fur 
 nish practically everything in the line of food that 
 is not imported. You can drive your stuff to Pre 
 toria, or Johannesburg, or Mafeking, and be sure 
 of finding a market." 
 
 " But don't you keep in touch with the outside 
 world at all?" 
 
 " Oh, to be sure ! Of course we don't have tram 
 cars, and electric lights, and telephones, and all 
 that sort of thing, but we have our mail sent to 
 Fort Tuli, and when one of us goes down for sup 
 plies, which we do every couple of months, we get 
 our mail and a stock of newspapers and general 
 reading matter. I tell you, this life gives me an 
 appreciation of the value of something to read. 
 We fairly devour the newspapers, even to the ad 
 vertisements." 
 
 "Now about the natives? Are they trouble 
 some?" 
 
 " Not at all. They have been taught to mind 
 their own business. Those who have come in 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 contact with us have been very friendly. Keep a 
 sharp eye on your own niggers. They're only 
 one degree removed from savagery, but with a 
 careful combination of kindness and firmness, 
 you'll have no trouble with them." 
 
 The last night of the visitors' stay was devoted 
 to what Alexander described as a howling jam 
 boree. He took his place at the piano, and the 
 others joined hands around the room and roared 
 out choruses until the very air seemed startled at 
 the unusual commotion. In the morning Jack 
 and his companions took their departure. 
 
 " Well, 'twill not be for long," said Alexander, as 
 he and the other two hosts bade them farewell, 
 after having ridden several miles with them as an 
 escort. "We're neighbors. Your camp will be 
 only about forty miles away, and we'll drop over 
 and pay you a visit as soon as you are settled." 
 
 '53 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 "WELL, here we are," said Harrington, one 
 morning five weeks after their departure from 
 Johannesburg. " Accordin' to the plans given 
 you I should say that we had now reached the 
 location of your grant. " 
 
 "I think you are right," replied Jack. "The 
 country corresponds to all descriptions yes, there 
 is the little stream of water mentioned in it," he 
 added, pointing to a small river, a mile or so away. 
 
 "Good!" responded Harrington. "We will 
 make our camp there, near that clump of eucalyp 
 tus trees. There is a good grazin' ground for 
 the cattle, down there by the river, and also 
 plenty of water, much needed in this country. 
 There are times when some of us didn't think so, 
 but we kin do without 'most any thin' else, except- 
 in' water." 
 
 " Yes ; it's good for bathin' purposes, I'm tould, " 
 chimed in Pat, quizzically. 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " What are you speakin' from, hearsay or expe 
 rience ? " asked Harrington. 
 
 "Faith, a little o' both," was the quick reply. 
 
 "Here's our camp site," announced Harring 
 ton, a half hour later, after having made a recon- 
 naisance on horseback. "This little knoll is the 
 best spot within five miles. There's a nice, dry 
 elevation here, we'll get a little shade from the 
 trees, and we're handy to the stream for water. 
 Outspan," he yelled to the Kaffirs, after Jack had 
 assented to the proposition. " Now for business," 
 he added, after that operation had been quickly 
 completed, and the oxen had been turned loose in 
 the luxuriant meadow bounding both sides of the 
 stream. "The fust thing to do is to build some 
 kind of a shack for ourselves, an' I move we dele 
 gate that job to the Kaffirs. They kin build us 
 one o' their native huts in short order, an' then 
 they can build another for themselves, if they 
 want to. In the mean time they can sleep under 
 the wagon. That'll make a good camp for them. 
 We'll want somethin' better, for I, for one, am 
 tired of sleepin' in a tent. My constitooshun is a 
 bit delicate for these cool, misty nights. " 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 " Mine too," added Pat. " If ye've got a feather 
 bed in yer valise, I wish ye'd turn it over to me. 
 The novelty of the situation of sleepin' like a 
 civilized bein' would be appreciated by yours 
 truly." And he made a grandiloquent bow. 
 
 "You'll be lucky if you get the soft side of a 
 board, Irish," retorted Harrington drily. 
 
 The Kaffirs made short work of the task as 
 signed them. Inside of two days they had com 
 pleted one of their conical huts built of reeds 
 bound with withes, and thatched with some of the 
 coarse, heavy grass which grew in wild confusion 
 on the veldt. The white men supervised the 
 operation, and suggested a couple of apertures for 
 windows, a luxury which was entirely overlooked 
 in the plans of their dusky architects. They 
 knew nothing, and cared less, about such subjects 
 as ventilation, and the door, considered by them 
 simply as a necessity for egress and ingress, was 
 the only aperture they had allowed for. While 
 building some rough bunks the white men of the 
 party slept on skins spread on the floor. The 
 Kaffirs stretched themselves, as heretofore, under 
 
 the wagon. 
 
 156 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " Tisn't a feather bed," commented Pat, as he 
 arose the next morning, "but 'tis a danged sight 
 betther than sleepin' in a tent. 'Tis rain proof, 
 for one thing. Ye' re not apt to wake up in the 
 mornin' and find yerself swimmin' about in four 
 foot of wather, anyway." 
 
 "So you don't like to go in swimmin' with yer 
 clothes on? " queried Harrington, recalling an in 
 cident of the trip from Johannesburg, when, a 
 rain storm threatening, Pat had been set to work 
 to dig a trench around the tent to carry off the 
 water. Instead of throwing the earth against the 
 tent and making a protecting embankment, he had 
 thrown it away from the tent, and when the storm 
 broke, during the night, Pat, who slept on the side 
 next the trench, awoke to find himself lying in a 
 miniature lake. 
 
 "Faith, I don't," answered Pat. "'Tis bad 
 enough to have to take a bath, even when you've 
 got time to take yer clothes off, but 'tis the divil 
 an' all when ye get a duckin' in the middle o' the 
 night, an' there's no way to stop the flow o' wather 
 in yer tub. Never fear, 'tis a long time till I take 
 such another. " 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 There was no lack of food in the camp. Game 
 they found in abundance, springbok and plover be 
 ing particularly plentiful, and with this meat and 
 the canned goods they had provided in Johannes 
 burg they were able to live "like kings," as Pat 
 expressed it. He had been delegated as cook for 
 the white men of the expedition, and with the as 
 sistance of one of the blacks, he filled the position 
 admirably. 
 
 "Now the next thing is to get some livestock," 
 said Harrington, after the preliminaries of the 
 camp had been arranged. " An' I move that you 
 an' me take a couple of our blacks, an' strike off 
 in search of some of the native tribes, an' buy 
 some of their cattle and sheep. The English 
 men said that we'd have no trouble in makin' 
 a dicker, an' we might as well begin opera 
 tions at once. Mac and Pat, with the assist 
 ance o' the other blacks, kin take care o' the 
 camp while we are gone, an' also finish up the 
 work to be done. " 
 
 That suggestion was adopted without delay. 
 Inside of a week they returned, driving a hundred 
 
 head of cattle and twice as many sheep, which 
 
 '58 
 
A TALE OP THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 they had purchased from one of the native tribes, 
 after a little parleying, coupled with some sharp 
 bargaining, for the natives knew a trick or two of 
 the game, too. 
 
 The cattle and sheep were set to graze along the 
 valley, with the black boys as herders, and then 
 for another week the routine of the .iew life was 
 unbroken. In the mean time the camp was beau 
 tified and a little touch here and there had made 
 the hut more and more homelike. 
 
 The only extraordinary incident of the first 
 month occurred one afternoon, about a month after 
 their arrival. 
 
 " What th' divil is this at all, at all ? " queried 
 Pat, who was the first to notice it. " Is it a thun 
 derstorm comin', I don't know." 
 
 He pointed in a westerly direction, and, sure 
 enough, the phenomenon bore a strange resem 
 blance to such an atmospheric possibility. The 
 sky was being obscured by a black cloud which 
 advanced steadily and with great rapidity until it 
 finally darkened the sun. The Kaffirs retreated 
 within the wagon, with the exception of the two 
 herding the cattle, who rapidly drove their flocks 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 and herds on to the high land and among the 
 rocks. 
 
 "Locusts, by gosh!" ejaculated Harrington, 
 after taking a steady look at the approaching cloud. 
 " Let's get inside the hut. Those fellows '11 eat 
 us out o' house an' home, if we don't see that 
 everything is securely covered. " 
 
 In the mean time the swarm had reached them 
 and had settled down on everything within sight. 
 They obscured the sun and covered the ground as 
 far as the eye could reach. Nothing could be 
 done to check them until they chose to depart, 
 which they did within an hour, as suddenly as 
 they had come. The transformation they had 
 worked in that brief space of time was remarkable. 
 
 "Well, may the divil fly away with them," was 
 Pat's blessing, as he peeped out of the hut and 
 looked first at the surrounding country and then 
 at the disappearing swarm. "Faith, they've 
 licked the platther clean. I wonder why they 
 didn't ate us up, too. " 
 
 " Guess they would have," retorted Harrington, 
 " if you had been outside so they could have seen 
 
 what a beautiful green morsel you are. " 
 160 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 "Faith, they'd have found me mighty tough 
 pickin', I'm thinkin', but I wouldn't wondher at 
 all, at all, so I wouldn't, when I look at the sight 
 o' that grass beyant." 
 
 He pointed to the valley which a few hours be 
 fore had been a field of waving grass, but which 
 was now as brown as the hills beyond. It seemed 
 as if they had carried away every spear of grass 
 on the place, while the trees were like skeletons, 
 bereft of every leaf. 
 
 "They're one of the plagues of the country," 
 explained Harrington. "They don't come very 
 often, but when they come, they come, as the fel 
 ler said. I've seen 'em get inter a field an' take 
 every bloomin' thing above ground. Well, never 
 mind," he added, philosophically, "we may have 
 rain in a day or two, an' then that grass' 11 sprout 
 up so quick that we'll never miss it. In the 
 mean time we'll have to send the niggers farther 
 down the country with the animals." 
 
 In spite of the novelty of the situation, Jack 
 found himself sinking into frequent fits of home 
 sickness. Away down deep in his heart, overcom 
 ing his efforts to dispossess it, there lived a con- 
 161 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 stant remembrance which refused to be ejected. 
 It was the devotion he felt for a woman, who, he 
 argued, could never be more to him than she was 
 then. During the long trip from Johannesburg 
 the excitement, the novelty of the ever-changing 
 panorama, and the necessity for constant activity, 
 tended to relieve his memory from the thoughts of 
 her. This was also true during the first few days 
 following his arrival at the camp, but now now 
 as he gazed across the broad expanse of rolling 
 country, watched the cattle in the valley, or 
 dreamed of the possibilities of the future, her 
 image blurred every view and refused to depart. 
 He tried to argue with himself the hopelessness 
 of the situation, the impossibility of realizing his 
 dreams concerning her, and the folly of permitting 
 her to enter his thoughts, and then he would yield 
 to the impulse to take a look at the smiling photo 
 graph he carried in a little case suspended by a 
 cord from his neck. 
 
 He thought these dreams were secrets from his 
 companions, but Harrington had wormed out of 
 Pat the confirmation of a private theory the Yankee 
 
 held, and he was constantly suggesting little trips 
 162 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 with the idea of cheering up "the boss," as he 
 called him. These were partially successful, 
 but not wholly so. During the excitement of 
 a hunting trip Jack so far forgot himself as to 
 become enthusiastic with a singleness of pur 
 pose, but again he would relapse into a quiet 
 melancholy. 
 
 " There ought to be some gold in this country," 
 said Harrington, one day. " I've watched care 
 fully along the bank of the stream, but I haven't 
 been able to find a speck yet. I move we make a 
 strike for the hills, one o' these days. We ought 
 to explore this territory thoroughly, an' the sooner 
 the better. I don't want to stay here if we've got 
 to depend on the cattle an' sheep for a fortune. 
 That's sure enough, but life's altogether too 
 short." 
 
 One day Jack saw Harrington approach a bluff 
 which showed an outcropping of rock, and make 
 several passes with his hammer. Jack waited, a 
 little way off, resting on his horse and gazing with 
 entire indifference at his companion, who carefully 
 examined something in his hand and then struck 
 
 several more blows. Then he struck more rapidly 
 163 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 and more forcibly, and when he turned to call Jack 
 there was an excited glitter in his eyes. 
 
 " There's some gold here ! " he cried, his whole 
 manner changed by the discovery. " See ! Look 
 at that dull streak in the rock. That's the gen 
 uine article. How much there is there I don't 
 know, but it's gold all right, an' I wouldn't be sur 
 prised if we had struck a payin' streak. See this, 
 an' this," he added, again striking with his ham 
 mer and holding up chips of quartz which he had 
 knocked from the ledge. " It'll be slow work 
 gettin' it out without the proper machinery, but 
 there's enough there to make us all rich, an' we 
 can get at some of it now. At last ! At last ! " 
 he cried, whacking away in his excitement, which 
 almost became a mad delirium. 
 
 Jack carefully examined some of the specimens 
 handed him, but he saw nothing in them to excite 
 him to a corresponding pitch of enthusiasm. He 
 was inclined to regard Harrington as too san 
 guine. 
 
 " Are you sure that's gold ? " he asked. 
 
 " Sure ? Holy smoke ! I'd like to be as sure 
 
 of gettin' into Heaven," was the excitedly earnest 
 164 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 reply. " Sure ? Well, I've seen millionaires 
 made out o' stuff that didn't look half as good as 
 that." 
 
 And he whacked, until the approach of nightfall 
 suggested to Jack that it would be well for them 
 to retrace their steps to the camp, which they did, 
 although the fever burned so strongly within Har 
 rington that he was loath to leave his new find, 
 and only agreed to depart on a promise from Jack 
 that they would return there in the morning. 
 
 When they reached the camp they found visi 
 tors awaiting them in the persons of their three 
 friends from Castle Victoria. 
 
 "We're on our way to join Dr. Jim," they ex 
 plained. " We enlisted in his police to break the 
 monotony occasionally, as well as to contribute to 
 the safety of the place, and we have received word 
 that there's fun afoot, so we thought we'd go down 
 and see what the nature of it was. You'd better 
 join us," Alexander continued. " It will be great 
 sport for you, and besides, you need something to 
 cheer you up. They've been telling us that you've 
 been dumpish for the past few days. I'll bet a 
 
 girl is at the bottom of it all. Come, now, don't 
 165 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 try to bluff us. You blush so loudly that we can 
 almost hear you. Come, join us," he continued, 
 placing his hand on Jack's shoulder. " It will be 
 great sport." 
 
 Jack explained the nature of their find during 
 the day's exploration, and showed the specimens 
 he had brought back to the camp. 
 
 " Harrington says it's gold," he said, " and if 
 that's the case we ought to try and get all we can 
 without delay." 
 
 " It's gold, without question," replied Alexander, 
 after a careful scrutiny, " but if it's in that form it 
 will be a slow job getting it out. You'll need 
 machinery to work to advantage. Come, join us 
 on this trip, and we'll find some one who will be 
 interested in the discovery, and who will assist 
 you to get the necessary capital and equipment. 
 In the mean time Harrington and McDonald and 
 Pat can investigate the find and ascertain if there's 
 really a vein worth working." 
 
 Harrington joined his persuasions to those of 
 the three Englishmen and assured Jack that he 
 would stay and make a careful examination of the 
 
 find, and be ready to make a definite report on 
 166 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 "the boss's" return, which Alexander said would 
 be within a month, at any rate. 
 
 Jack found himself wavering between two minds, 
 but he finally yielded to the arguments and impor 
 tunities of the visitors, and agreed to go with 
 them. Early the next morning they saddled their 
 horses. Pat did likewise. 
 
 " Where are you going, Pat ? " Jack asked, in 
 surprise. 
 
 " Wherever you go, sur," was the calm response. 
 
 " But you're to stay here." 
 
 "Faith, I'm not, sur av ye plaze, sur. I'm 
 no good here, an' I may be of some sarvice to 
 yersel'. Av ye plaze, sur, I'd like to go with 
 you." 
 
 Jack laughed at the poor fellow's solicitation 
 and earnestness, and, touched by the genuineness 
 of it, and persuaded by the desires of his compan 
 ions, he finally acquiesced. 
 
 "Well, come on, then. We won't be gone 
 long," he said. 
 
 Then they galloped off, with their faces set to 
 ward the south. Where they were going they did 
 not know, except that it was with Dr. Jim. The 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 rumor had it that some of the blacks had risen 
 along the line of the railroad and were threaten 
 ing trouble. It was the desire of the protectorate 
 interest to subdue this annoyance ; hence the call 
 on the police, regulars and volunteers. The little 
 cavalcade looked upon it as a light adventure, 
 promising possible temporary excitement, but they 
 little dreamed that they were to become actors in a 
 drama which would interest the whole civilized 
 world and make their names household words. 
 
 168 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 IT was fast approaching night, when, a week 
 later, Jack and his companions rode into the Pit- 
 sani camp of Dr. Jameson. The fires were lighted 
 and preparations for the evening meal in progress. 
 A motley aggregation gave them a hearty wel 
 come, after they had introduced themselves and 
 explained the object of their visit. Titled young 
 sters from England, matured army officers with 
 records of hard service in India and Africa, and 
 young Afrikanders rubbed shoulders on terms of 
 comparative equality. A democratic feeling pre 
 vailed, such as in the old country would have been 
 absolutely impossible. The squadron was well 
 disciplined, but it was the discipline of privates 
 who had the utmost confidence in their leaders, 
 and of leaders who felt the need of personal reli 
 ance upon the good-will and courage of their 
 followers, rather than the stiff discipline of the 
 
 regular service. To many of those in the camp 
 169 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 the discipline of the regular service would have 
 been absolutely distasteful. 
 
 "You're Justin the nick of time," confidentially 
 murmured one young fellow who was known to 
 Alexander, as he led them to a place for supper. 
 " If you had waited another day you'd have been 
 too late." 
 
 "How's that?" 
 
 "Haven't you heard?" 
 
 "Not a word." 
 
 "We start to-morrow morning for Johannes 
 burg." 
 
 "For Johannesburg? " all three echoed in sur 
 prise. 
 
 Their conductor nodded his head with the air of 
 one who could a tale unfold. 
 
 " Haven't you heard anything at all ? " he asked, 
 eyeing them curiously. 
 
 " Not a whisper. Come, let us in. What is it 
 you're driving at? " 
 
 "Well, we're supposed to be starting out to 
 watch the niggers who are suspected of planning 
 a raid against the railroad, you know." His audi 
 tors nodded. " But we're not doing anything of 
 170 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 the sort," he continued. "The cat was let out of 
 the bag, this afternoon. We're going to Johannes 
 burg to help the Outlanders, who are going to 
 rise up against the Boers. They've been getting 
 ready for weeks and weeks and they have sent 
 word that they would like us to go over and take 
 a hand in behalf of the women and children. 
 The letter was read to us to-day, and most of us 
 volunteered to go. Some of the boys had cold 
 feet when the matter was broached, because we 
 did not have official authorization, but most of us 
 said we'd go." 
 
 " And after you get there, what ? " 
 
 "Oh, that's a matter that will settle itself. 
 We've got to help out our own countrymen. 
 They're fighting for their rights. After we reach 
 there we'll determine what is next to be done. 
 The main thing is to get there." 
 
 " But how do you purpose doing that ? Riding 
 across country ? " asked Alexander. 
 
 The other nodded. 
 
 "But, my dear fellow, what are the Boers 
 going to be doing in the mean time? Do you 
 
 think for a moment that they are going to let 
 171 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 you into Johannesburg without attempting to 
 stop you? " 
 
 " Oh, that's all been arranged ! " was the confi 
 dent reply. " In the first place, we do not intend 
 that they shall be informed, in advance, of our in 
 tentions. We ought to be into Johannesburg, or 
 very near it, before the Boers awake to the fact of 
 our visit, and then if they attempt to stop us we'll 
 have to fight our way through." 
 
 " And suppose you have more of a fight than 
 you bargain for? " 
 
 " Never fear. There's an army corps of armed 
 and determined men in Johannesburg who will be 
 ready to come out and help us that is, if we need 
 any help." 
 
 " And when do you expect to reach there ? " 
 
 " Let's see. To-morrow is the 29th. Why, we 
 ought to be in Johannesburg on New Year's Day, 
 if all goes well. It isn't more than a hundred 
 and fifty or sixty miles, and we ought to make it 
 in three days, with any kind of speed. We're 
 going in light marching order, too. Those were 
 the directions. Instead of a lot of extra clothing 
 
 we're going to carry a lot of extra ammunition, 
 
 172 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 taking only such wearing apparel as we absolutely 
 need. We'll get all we want in the way of cloth 
 ing after we have reached Johannesburg. Come, 
 you're with us, of course. Think of an English 
 man refusing a request to aid women and 
 children simply because a little red tape stands 
 in the way ! If you could have heard that letter 
 read, this afternoon, your blood would have boiled. 
 I know you fellows are to be counted on," he 
 added, leading them to a seat, as if to say that no 
 further argument was needed to insure the enlist 
 ment of four additional recruits. 
 
 The visitors accepted this settlement of the 
 matter without offering any argument. It was 
 not the course they had in mind when they started 
 from their ranches, but they were not at all indis 
 posed to join in the movement. The company in 
 which they found themselves was very pleasant, 
 doubly so from the fact that they had spent several 
 weeks in comparative solitude, and the attraction 
 of song and story in the camp probably assisted 
 them in coming to a conclusion. After supper 
 the troopers gathered into little groups and there 
 was a general spinning of yarns. The one pre- 
 173 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 dominant chord in their conversation was the 
 universal confidence they felt in Dr. Jameson. 
 They did not discount the difficulties which 
 they knew were possible, but they felt sure that 
 wherever he led success would eventually meet 
 them. 
 
 " I remember him when he was a sawbones at 
 Kimberley," said one strapping fellow, who had 
 seen service in several climates, and at the sound 
 of whose voice an appreciative group gathered 
 about him. "That was several years ago, long 
 before he had entered the colonial service or had 
 any such idea. He and Rhodes kept a joint 
 bachelors' hall, and both were making money, 
 hand over fist. Rhodes knew the stuff the little 
 Scotchman was made of, and after old Lobengula 
 had refused to let Rhodes into Matabeleland, 
 Jameson asked Rhodes to let him try it." 
 
 The narrator stopped to puff a red glow into 
 the bowl of his pipe and then continued: "The 
 old king was a crafty chap. He had a big 
 army at his back, and he was as independent 
 as a hog on ice. One or two of those who tried 
 
 to get concessions from him were glad enough 
 174 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 when he conceded them the privilege of getting 
 away with whole skins. But that didn't scare 
 Jameson. He got three or four comrades and 
 started for old Lo's headquarters. Just what he 
 would do when he got there, he didn't know. He 
 would make his plans when he got on the ground. 
 Get there he did, but it was a devil of a task. 
 They were all taken sick with fever, and at one 
 time it looked as if they would die in the wilder 
 ness, but they finally pulled through. Jameson's 
 luck was with him all the way, and it stayed with 
 him when he reached Lo's palace. The old king 
 was very sick. He was suffering from a fever, 
 and the medicine men couldn't help him any, al 
 though they pow- wowed for days and days. Now, 
 Dr. Jim had made a specialty of fevers, and when 
 he heard of the king's illness, he sent in word that 
 he was a doctor and could help him. I tell you, 
 it was a mighty ticklish proposition for him. If 
 he failed to cure him, the medicine men would 
 have taken his head off quicker than that," snap 
 ping his fingers to emphasize the act. " But he 
 didn't fail. The old king got well, and he was so 
 grateful that he would have given Jameson any- 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 thing he asked. Jameson asked permission to 
 explore the country, and he got it, as well as sev 
 eral fine presents, and out of that incident came 
 the occupation of the whole country." 
 
 " Were you with him ? asked a listener. 
 
 "No, I wasn't with him," responded the other, 
 " but I was at Kimberley when he returned, and I 
 heard the whole story at that time. I know it to 
 be true. Rhodes was so tickled that he made 
 Jameson his right-hand man, and ever since that 
 time Jameson has been with Rhodes. He gave 
 up his practice and took charge of the country as 
 administrator under the Chartered Company. " 
 
 " Oh, he's got nerve ! " chimed in another 
 trooper. " I was with him, after that, when he 
 licked about seven hundred Portuguese and niggers 
 with a little troop of less than fifty men. The 
 Portuguese, you know, have been very jealous of 
 our achievements in this part of the world, and 
 have been trying to enlarge the strip of territory 
 they hold on the west coast. There has always 
 been a dispute as to the exact border lines of the 
 two territories, and a few years ago they under 
 took to claim possession of a bit of Rhodesia. It 
 176 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 looked as if they were going to succeed, too, be 
 cause they had a force of nearly two hundred Por 
 tuguese soldiers, backed up by five hundred friend 
 ly natives. Jameson heard of their move and 
 gathered together a few of us and started to head 
 them off. We made a forced march and occupied 
 a hill covering the route of the Portuguese column. 
 We had a couple of Maxim guns which we placed 
 in position, and then we sat down and waited for 
 the Portuguese to come up. You ought to have 
 seen them stare when they sighted that kopje! 
 They suspected what the difficulty was, and their 
 commander came forward to palaver. The com 
 mander wanted to know if Dr. Jim was aware that 
 he was on Portuguese territory. Dr. Jim very 
 politely replied that he did not so understand it, 
 but on the contrary was quite sure that that was 
 English territory. The Portuguese commander, 
 with equal politeness, insisted that Dr. Jim was 
 mistaken, and added that he would be compelled 
 to ask him to retreat into his own country. Dr. 
 Jim said that retreat was out of the question, 
 whereat the Portuguese man got mad and told him 
 
 that if he didn't retreat he would be obliged to 
 
 177 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 compel him to do so, that is, if there was anything 
 left of him after his Portuguese and niggers had 
 finished with him. The Portuguese officer looked 
 back into the valley where his force had halted, 
 as if to call Dr. Jim's attention to the fact that 
 they outnumbered us more than ten to one, and 
 added that resistance against such odds would be 
 unavailing and that if there was a fight we would 
 probably be wiped off the earth. They talked 
 and talked, and finally the discussion became 
 pretty hot. Dr. Jim and his backers insisted 
 that we were going to stay right there, and the 
 Portuguese officer went off swearing that he would 
 drive us out even if he had to kill every one of 
 us. He started in to do so, but in about ten 
 minutes he had changed his mind. As soon as 
 his party made a rush at the hill, firing as fast as 
 they could, we opened up on them with our 
 rapid-fire guns, and mowed them down so fast that 
 they were glad to scoot away and leave us in 
 possession of the place. We killed and wounded 
 about fifty of their number, and after it was all 
 over Dr. Jim went down and helped to dress the 
 
 wounds of some of those who a few minutes be- 
 178 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 fore he had fired upon as enemies. We didn't 
 lose a man." 
 
 The recital of these reminiscences seemed to 
 invite others. 
 
 " That wasn't as big a bluff as the one he worked 
 on the Boers about five years ago," said a stocky 
 little fellow who was puffing away at a short 
 black pipe, as he lay at full length on the ground, 
 resting his head on his elbow. " We had received 
 word of a great Boer trek to the north. They had 
 laid claim to an immense tract of country in Mata- 
 beleland, under some old treaty with the natives, 
 and were on their way to take possession when Dr. 
 Jim heard of it and went out to meet them. He 
 learned where they intended to cross the Limpopo 
 and laid in wait for them at the other side. He 
 had only a handful of men, and a few guns, but 
 he was determined to stop them, somehow. Along 
 they came, six or seven thousand of them, and 
 stopped on the near side of the river. They didn't 
 like the looks of things on the opposite side, for 
 Dr. Jim had placed his men in a strong position 
 and his guns were mounted so as to say 'How d'e 
 
 do ' with emphasis. Some of them came across the 
 179 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 river to have a talk, and explained that their mis 
 sion was a peaceful one. Dr. Jim wouldn't have 
 it, however. He said if they came at all it would 
 be by permission of the Chartered Company, and 
 that for the present such permission would not be 
 granted. The Boers kicked, of course, and threat 
 ened to cross, with or without permission, but they 
 finally turned tail and went back without attempt 
 ing to call his bluff." 
 
 "Queer that both he and Rhodes should be 
 bachelors, isn't it?" mused one who had so far 
 contributed nothing. 
 
 " Why so ? " asked another, bristling as if re 
 senting the remark. " If they had wives and chil 
 dren tagging after them they wouldn't be where 
 they are to-day." 
 
 "That may be; but even to-day they might 
 choose the best in the land and be sure of getting 
 ' yes ' for an answer." 
 
 "They know when they're well off," grunted 
 the other. 
 
 " Rhodes came precious near it once," continued 
 the first speaker. " Didn't you ever hear about 
 
 it? " he asked, as the others pricked up their ears. 
 180 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " Well, it was years ago, when he was a youngster 
 just beginning to make some money, and likewise 
 a name for himself. He was paying attentions to 
 a girl who also had another admirer. She liked 
 the other fellow better than she did Rhodes, but 
 her parents saw that Rhodes was going to make a 
 name for himself and they wanted her to marry 
 him. She finally decided to do as they wanted 
 her to do, although she did not let Rhodes know 
 the whole story. One night the other fellow 
 called, and she told him just how the land lay. 
 The girl cried and the fellow felt pretty badly 
 about it, but he was game and told the girl that 
 he would not stand in her way. Then he took 
 her in his arms and kissed her. 
 
 "Just then who should come along but Rhodes. 
 As he was going up the steps he saw the tableau 
 through the window. He sized up the situation 
 at a glance. No one ever found out just how he 
 took it. Some said he realized the situation as it 
 actually existed and made up his mind that he 
 would not hinder the girl from getting the fellow 
 she wanted. Others said he felt that the other 
 
 fellow had the inside track and that there was no 
 181 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 use for him to try. At any rate, with his hand 
 almost on the doorknob he turned and walked 
 away. That's the reason he never married. Kind 
 of a sad romance, wasn't it? " 
 
 " Come, you fellows," bawled a lusty trooper 
 walking through the camp, " are you going to talk 
 all night. Lights out! D'ye hear? There's 
 work to be done to-morrow, and talking to-night 
 won't do it. See that your horses are all right 
 and get to bed. You'll need all the sleep you can 
 get before you reach Johannesburg. Come, now, 
 scat ! " 
 
 In a few minutes the camp was silent, save for 
 an occasional snore. To most of them sleep came 
 as readily as if the morrow promised nothing more 
 exciting than a short ride across country, but to 
 Jack the story of the last sleeper brought a fresh 
 twinge of the heart. Could it be that Muriel was 
 really in love with some other fellow ? he asked 
 himself. The doubt played havoc with him for a 
 few minutes, but in spite of it he pulled a little 
 locket from around his neck and pressed his lips 
 to it. 
 
 182 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 IT had been an anxious day for Dr. Jameson 
 and the other leaders of the proposed expedition. 
 The letter from the people of Johannesburg had 
 stirred their blood, and their hearts beat in lively 
 sympathy with the appeal. Was the time ripe, 
 however? That was the question. This was a 
 delicate matter. To communicate directly by tele 
 graph was impossible that is, to communicate 
 without running the risk of having their messages 
 intercepted by the Boers. They were compelled 
 to rely, therefore, for information as to events in 
 Johannesburg, on the messages which came from 
 Cecil Rhodes at Cape Town. 
 
 "Hang it all," exclaimed one impatient subor 
 dinate. "What's the use of waiting here from 
 day to day. We have already delayed longer 
 than is safe. We can't hope to keep up the idea 
 that we are simply watching the railroad line. 
 
 The Boers are not fools, and the first thing we 
 183 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 know they will have stepped into Johannesburg 
 and all our plans will go up in smoke." 
 
 The little Scotch leader smiled at the other's 
 irritation. 
 
 " What would you do ? " he asked. 
 
 " Do ? Ride over there and get into the place 
 before it is too late." 
 
 "And then?" 
 
 "And then? Why, then take the bull by the 
 horns." 
 
 " Yes, but the bull may toss you. First make 
 sure that you are right," was the canny rejoinder. 
 
 "But aren't we in the right? Could there be 
 anything more convincing than the letter you have 
 received ? " 
 
 " Very true, but how do we know that the Jo 
 hannesburg people are ready to receive us. There 
 is a prospect of hot work, and their assistance is 
 absolutely essential. We had better wait until we 
 hear from Rhodes. He will wire us the moment 
 the proper time has arrived. " 
 
 " Huh ! " grunted another. " How do we know 
 that he is able to hear from Johannesburg any 
 
 more than we are. It is as dangerous to wire in 
 184 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 one direction as in another, and now that the ob 
 ject of the expedition has been declared to the 
 men it is dangerous for us to remain here. Some 
 of them have refused to go, and delay simply 
 means that the news will soon reach Pretoria. 
 Then the jig is up for the people in Johannesburg, 
 as well as for our own plans." 
 
 " But you haven't considered the entire situation. 
 There are well-founded rumors of disagreements 
 among the people of Johannesburg as to the proper 
 method to pursue. It would be the height of folly 
 to enter a divided house." 
 
 " Disagreements ! Faugh ! The trouble is that 
 they have no one competent to act as a leader. 
 Take us in there, then assume command of the 
 city yourself, and the fight is won. We must go 
 either one way or the other. We can't stay here. 
 The Boers are not so dense as to believe that we 
 are here for the purpose of controlling niggers 
 who are not in any danger of rising. And if we 
 don't go pretty soon I'm afraid that some of the 
 boys will go without us. They are hot at the re 
 ports of the treatment of our friends in Johannes 
 burg." 
 
 185 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 Jameson explained the necessity for delay, but 
 some of the younger men still insisted that an im 
 mediate start ought to be made, and finally, after 
 waiting until evening without receiving any fur 
 ther message from Rhodes, he decided that the 
 start should be made the next day. 
 
 " Well, the die is cast," he said grimly, as the 
 column was accordingly set in motion. "Word 
 has been sent to the boys at Maf eking to meet us 
 at Malmani to-morrow morning. It will be a hard 
 ride, but we may get through in safety. At any 
 rate, we'll make the effort." 
 
 Jack experienced a sense of tumultuous exhila 
 ration, as he gazed on the galloping contingent of 
 which he found himself so unexpectedly a part. 
 They traversed the flat open country with rapidity, 
 although their progress was somewhat impeded by 
 the presence of a half score of Maxim guns and 
 seven-pounders, not to speak of several wagons. 
 All day long they proceeded, and nightfall offered 
 no respite. 
 
 " We ought to be just about entering the Trans 
 vaal," remarked one of the officers, late in the 
 
 evening. 
 
 186 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " Yes, we have crossed the Rubicon," answered 
 Jameson with a confident smile. "Come what 
 may, we must now go ahead. It is too late to 
 turn back. We might as well be hung for an old 
 sheep as for a lamb," he added philosophically, 
 " and so long as we have put one foot over the line 
 we might as well drag the other one after, and 
 make our steps as rapid as possible." 
 
 " Whew ! Egad ! this is work," Alexander ex 
 ploded, as he slipped off his tired horse at day 
 break, when the troop had reached the little village 
 of Malmani, for the purpose of preparing breakfast 
 and waiting for the force due to arrive from Mafe- 
 king. 
 
 Jack, walking about to limber up his stiff legs, 
 acquiesced with a smile. " Yes, and to think that 
 we've got two days more of it," he good-naturedly 
 grumbled. 
 
 "Where are those fellows from Mafeking?" 
 asked another. "Are they going to delay the 
 game?" 
 
 " Oh, don't be in such a confounded hurry, " 
 grunted another, stealing a few winks of sleep 
 
 as he threw himself on the ground. "Enjoy 
 187 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 yourself while you can. You'll be a long time 
 dead." 
 
 "Ho ! here they come now, "announced a third, 
 pointing to a black mass just discernible across the 
 veldt. At first it looked like a big black ship 
 bobbing up and down in a choppy sea, but after a 
 time the irregular motion of the whole body began 
 to distribute itself into individual gallopers, and 
 soon the recruits were bearing down on the Pitsani 
 delegation. The new arrivals were greeted with 
 cheers, and they responded to the salute in kind. 
 
 Everybody was in high feather while prepara 
 tions for breakfast were in progress. 
 
 " Well, now we're off in earnest," said Jameson 
 to some of those who had urged him to start the 
 day before. " The wires have been cut before us 
 and behind. The Boers will have some difficulty 
 in telegraphing news of our visit, and we don't 
 want to hear from Cape Town for several days to 
 come. Let us not waste time now. The quicker 
 we go the less danger there will be of them head 
 ing us off. By making reasonable haste we ought 
 to reach Johannesburg on New Year's Day." 
 
 " Let us hope it will be a happy New Year for 
 188 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 us all," remarked one of the officers, as he mounted 
 his horse for another advance. 
 
 " Och ! I feel as if me legs were sphlit up to 
 the back o' me neck," groaned Pat, as he dis 
 mounted from his horse at sunset. "An* no 
 shleep to-night, they tell me. Faith, I'll fall 
 ashleep in me saddle. I'm so af eared I'll shnore 
 that I dare not wink for fear I'll not be able to 
 lift me blinkers agin." 
 
 They made occasional halts for rest and food, 
 but there was practically no sleep for any of them. 
 They had now been two nights on the road, and it 
 was clear that some sleep was necessary, no mat 
 ter how urgent their arrival at Johannesburg. The 
 announcement was therefore made that that night 
 six hours' sleep would be allowed. 
 
 " Six hours ? " was Pat's good-natured grumble. 
 " Faith, that'll be only an aggervation. I feel as 
 if I could sleep until doomsday." 
 
 " By Gad, but you may do that, too," retorted 
 his neighbor, as a rifle shot rang out on the night 
 air, followed by several others. The location of 
 the shooters could be determined only by the 
 
 flashes here and there behind bowlders on an ad- 
 189 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 jacent kopje. " This is a nightmare that promises 
 to disturb your dreams anyway," he continued, as 
 they advanced in the direction of the flashes and 
 chased out the little contingent of Boers. 
 
 " Well, the first gun of the campaign has been 
 fired," remarked Jameson, at daybreak. " I am 
 glad we are safely through that pass, but I don't 
 understand how they discovered our presence so 
 quickly. Something has gone wrong. Well, 
 there's no help for it now. We must fight our 
 way through, sleep or no sleep." 
 
 But the explanation was simple enough. It 
 was another illustration of the fact that 
 
 " The best-laid plans o' mice and man 
 Gang aft agley." 
 
 Jameson supposed that the telegraph wire run- 
 ing to Pretoria had been cut, but it wasn't. It 
 ought to have been, and the trooper detailed to 
 attend to this important matter believed that he 
 had successfully impeded communication in that 
 direction. He had been instructed to go to a 
 point a few miles beyond the town, chop out sev 
 eral feet of wire, and bury it in an adjacent field. 
 190 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 The plan was a shrewd one. It would take the 
 Boers some time to discover the break, and more 
 time to repair it if the missing section of wire 
 could not be found. All this had been carefully 
 drilled into the trooper's mind and had left an in 
 delible impression there, but instead of disturbing 
 the telegraph wire he carefully hacked out a sec 
 tion of a farmer's wire fence, buried it according 
 to directions, and then reported that he had com 
 pleted the service assigned him. 
 
 Jameson had hardly crossed the border before 
 that interesting fact was flashed to Pretoria. It 
 brought consternation for the moment, but instant 
 preparations were made to head him off. This 
 explains how a party of skirmishers interrupted 
 the expected night's sleep of his men before he 
 was hardly more than half way on his journey. 
 His calculations had missed by at least twenty- 
 four hours. The possibility of an intercepting 
 force had been considered but it was expected that 
 before such a force could be gathered the raiders 
 would be close to Johannesburg, if not actually 
 within the limits of that city. And yet, here they 
 
 were, fifty miles from that place, facing bullets. 
 191 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 On they pushed during the night, and on through 
 the darkness pushed the various columns of Boers, 
 hastily commandeered for the occasion and ordered 
 to make Krugersdorp their rendezvous. It was 
 calculated that by making that little place the 
 point of the angle they would have time to gather 
 and intercept Jameson. 
 
 " I wonder if we'll see the old year out ?" asked 
 Alexander, as they munched their breakfast at 
 daybreak on the last day of the year. " There are 
 indications of a storm ahead. I hear that Dr. 
 Jim is looking rather savage this morning. The 
 Boers have gained a lap or two, and it looks as if 
 there would be a fight." 
 
 " Oh, never mind," confidently assured another. 
 " A scout has just come in from Johannesburg and 
 he says that the men there are under arms and are 
 coming to meet us. Oh, we'll make it warm 
 for these Dutchmen if they attempt to interfere 
 any more. What's that? Mount? All right," 
 he cheerily responded, as he vaulted into the sad 
 dle, the others following his example. 
 
 "There's more trouble ahead," reported Pat, 
 192 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 who had ridden down the line to ascertain the 
 meaning of another halt, late in the forenoon. 
 " There's a lot o' Dutchmen in the hills beyant 
 the town there, an' they're sayin' they won't let 
 us pass. " 
 
 "Then it means fight," responded Jack, "for 
 there'll be no turn about for this crowd. Hark! 
 By heavens ! they are at it already. See, our gun 
 ners are shelling the hills." 
 
 He pointed to a flash in the valley ahead of 
 them and watched the shell explode above a small 
 hill which flanked the town. For several minutes 
 a lively fire was kept up, but there was no sign of 
 a reply. 
 
 "Mount!" yelled Jack. "There's the order. 
 Now there's work for us." 
 
 They rode toward the hill in question, but no 
 sign of life manifested itself in opposition to their 
 progress. 
 
 " This is a regular picnic," laughed Jenkins. 
 
 "Don't be too sure of that," counselled the 
 cautious Sanderson. "You don't know where 
 those chaps may be hiding." 
 
 Hardly had the words left his lips before a sheet 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 of flame burst from behind the rocks on the crown 
 of the hill. For a moment the shock halted the 
 troopers, but the next moment the order to charge 
 rallied them, and up the hill they went, yelling 
 like mad men and firing as fast as they could at 
 the point from which the assault seemed to come. 
 But another fusillade and still another greeted 
 them. Around them their comrades were falling, 
 and the frightened riderless horses added to the 
 panic of the occasion. Ahead of them was a hill, 
 and on the crown of the hill was a natural outcrop 
 of rocks. From behind these rocks came the 
 flashes, and it was apparent that there the Boers 
 held a strong position. How many of them there 
 were no one could tell, and when the question of 
 the value of the position, even if taken, presented 
 itself, the answer was so apparent that a retreat 
 was ordered. 
 
 " Ye gods, this is terrible," cried Alexander, as 
 he lifted a wounded comrade from the ground and 
 threw him across his saddle. " Several of our 
 fellows are dead and several more dying, and not 
 one of their crowd is hurt. Those shells appear 
 
 to have gone clean over them." 
 194 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " Dinner call has sounded," was the informa 
 tion a trooper conveyed, as he rode up to the little 
 group. 
 
 " Dinner? " repeated Jack. " Ugh ! I want no 
 dinner with dead and dying around me." 
 
 " Pshaw ! don't be foolish," urged the other, the 
 old trooper who had entertained him with stories 
 of Jameson the night before. "You can't fight 
 unless you eat, and you'll need all the fight that 
 is in you before you get through. Come, eat 
 while you can, for we're shortly going to try and 
 flank that hill and get by the town if possible. " 
 
 " This getting by seems to be easier said than 
 done," remarked Jack, a couple of hours later, as 
 another hail of bullets met them and sounded a 
 sharp " No Thoroughfare ! " 
 
 "Back again we go to the other side of the 
 place," rejoined Alexander, turning his horse to 
 suit the action of the words, and obeying the 
 general movement of the column. Here, again, 
 they saw another sobering picture as they met the 
 wagons containing the wounded. 
 
 "Ha! things seem to be going better now," 
 announced Jack, riding back to his companoins 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 later in the afternoon. " See ! the whole column 
 is in motion, and a messenger has just come in 
 announcing that the Johannesburg forces are on 
 the way to our assistance." 
 
 "Buck up, boys," was the cheering command 
 of one of the officers, riding down the line and 
 confirming this rumor. " Help will reach us be 
 fore sundown." 
 
 " Here they are now," cried Alexander, point 
 ing to a force discernible ahead in the fast ap 
 proaching dusk. 
 
 " Good God ! " he added, a few minutes later, 
 " they 're firing on us. There's some mistake. 
 Why don't they send word ahead, and not have us 
 shooting one another. Eh ? " he asked, as a 
 trooper rode down the lines. " Not the Johannes 
 burg people? More Boers? Well, where the 
 devil are those who were going to come out and 
 help us?" 
 
 This was a conundrum which no one could an 
 swer. Before, behind, and on all sides it seemed 
 as if the Boers were rising out of the very ground. 
 Darkness set in, supplemented by rain, and the 
 
 guides were doubtful about the road, so the order 
 196 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 came down to camp for the night. In imitation 
 of the Boers, a laager was formed, with the wagons 
 on the outside of a great circle, but even this did 
 not protect them from their enemies. All night 
 long they poured desultory shots into the camp, 
 finding an occasional human target. 
 
 "This is hell itself," remarked Pat. "Twould 
 be even betther to take chances and thry and break 
 through than to stay here as marks for their pop 
 guns." He echoed the sentiments of all those 
 within hearing, but no move was made until morn 
 ing, when the gray light of dawn outlined the sur 
 rounding country. The Maxim guns had kept the 
 Boers at a respectful distance during the night, 
 but when daylight came the enemy was not to 
 be seen, except an occasional detachment moving 
 in the distance. 
 
 Doggedly the troopers again advanced, although 
 their tired animals were barely able to stumble 
 along and the riders were completely exhausted. 
 Three nights with scarcely a wink of sleep had 
 left them drawn and haggard, wearied in mind as 
 well as in body, but still animated with a gritty 
 
 determination to advance at any cost. 
 '97 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 " Buck up, boys ! " cried Jameson, riding among 
 them and cheering them up with his magnificent 
 optimism. " There's an old farm yonder. Once 
 there, we can hold out until assistance comes, and 
 that is promised us without fail. " 
 
 On they pushed, replying to an occasional vol 
 ley from an adjacent kopje, until they dragged 
 their weary bodies within the precincts of the farm 
 and defended themselves from further assault from 
 behind the stone walls of the farmhouse buildings. 
 But still they were not free from danger. From 
 all sides the Boers were gathering, and in spite of 
 the defences supplied by the farm buildings they 
 were pouring in a shower of bullets which found 
 victims here, there, and everywhere. 
 
 " Holy smoke ! " cried Jack, as a new sound 
 came to his ears. " They've got artillery to help 
 them. Now we are in for it. " 
 
 " Yes, and our own guns are almost useless," 
 announced Alexander, joining him. "I've just 
 been over there, and they're so warm that they're 
 out of the fight. They've been obliged to cool 
 them with water, and I doubt if they're much 
 
 good." 
 
 198 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 But still Jameson cried : " Buck up, boys !" He 
 pointed to a narrow pass in the hills. " There's 
 one road to safety," he added. " We'll try it. To 
 remain here is to be killed like rats in a trap." 
 
 Gallantly his little band followed him out of 
 the farm and in the indicated direction. The pos 
 sibilities of a spirited dash cheered them, and they 
 went forward with a yell of exultation. It changed 
 to one of anger and dismay, a few moments later, 
 when they were met with another hail of bullets 
 from behind the rocks of the rising ground on 
 either side of the defile. 
 
 "Charge!" yelled Jameson. With a yell his 
 men complied. Suddenly Jack felt a sharp twinge 
 in his thigh, rolled in his saddle for a moment, 
 and then fell from his horse. 
 
 He heard the thud of the hoofs of the horses of 
 his companions ; he felt the shock of the recoil 
 which sent them back again ; he heard the second 
 order to charge ; dreamed that he saw Pat hovering 
 near him ; and then sank into unconsciousness. 
 
 He realized that the day was lost. Back to the 
 farm rode the repulsed troopers, and he was spared 
 the sight of the white flag rising over its walls to in- 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 dicate that his friends had surrendered. Uncon 
 sciousness was bliss compared to that scene. 
 Doubtless there would have been tears in his eyes, 
 as there were in the eyes of others, had he been a 
 witness to it, but even though wounded almost to 
 death, his condition was blissful compared to that 
 of the high-spirited fellows who had ridden by his 
 side from Pitsani and Mafeking. This was the 
 most intense suffering of all. By comparison, the 
 long, hard ride and the sleepless nights were as 
 trifles. Oh, what a terrible nightmare their dream 
 ha<J become ! Not even the fact that their con 
 querors, instead of jeering at their victory, knelt 
 down and offered prayers of thanksgiving for it, 
 could assuage the wounds in the hearts of the 
 troopers. These were as bitter as death itself. 
 
 " Damn those cowards ! " cried one young fel 
 low, shaking his fist in the direction he conceived 
 Johannesburg to be. " They deserve to be the 
 slaves they are ! " 
 
 200 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 " HAPPY New Year ! " remarked Muriel sadly, 
 as she lifted the shades of her windows. " Ah, 
 the phrase is a mockery. How hollow the words 
 sound!" 
 
 It was indeed hard for her to find any possible 
 pretext for happiness. She was thousands of miles 
 from home and kindred ; her friends had departed, 
 and she was practically alone, a stranger in a 
 strange land, and a resident of a city which, in ad 
 dition to being silenced by a frowning battery on 
 the heights above it, trembled under the foreboding 
 of a threat more distant but momentarily ap 
 proaching nearer and nearer. 
 
 And Jack ! Where was he in this crisis ? Per 
 petually dwelt his name on her lips and his mem 
 ory in her heart. Would she ever see him again, 
 or would the sufferings she had voluntarily under 
 gone be unrewarded by the meeting for which she 
 had hoped and prayed ? Hourly the tension in the 
 
 201 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 city seemed to increase. To all intents and pur 
 poses the place was undergoing a siege. Business 
 was completely forgotten. The shops were barri 
 caded, and a kind of martial law prevailed. In 
 stead of the familiar Boer policemen marched 
 armed militiamen. The streets were filled with 
 citizen soldiery, some uniformed, but most of them 
 attired in their usual business costumes. 
 
 Would Kruger relent ? Would the justice of the 
 demands sent him penetrate his obstinate heart 
 and relieve the strain which threatened to end in 
 blood? 
 
 " Wait ! " counselled the more cautious. " Wait 
 until the Americans return ! " 
 
 The Americans had been sent to Pretoria as 
 special envoys to bring about, if possible, a com 
 promise of the conflict which now seemed inevit 
 able. It was out of the question for peaceful rela 
 tions to be maintained unless some compromise 
 were effected. Armed neutrality was a mockery. 
 On one hill covering the town was a Boer battery. 
 On another hill, a half mile away, was an impro 
 vised fortress of Outlanders, whose guns pointed 
 
 at the battery of the Dutchmen. It needed only 
 a 02 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 a spark to ignite the combustible wrath of both 
 sides. 
 
 " Ha ! The Americans ! " went up the excited 
 cry, as a train rumbled in from Pretoria. A chat 
 tering throng followed the envoys to the doors of 
 the Rand Club, and then a demand went up that 
 the report of the Americans should be publicly an 
 nounced. A speaker came out on the balcony, 
 and was greeted with cheers. He raised his hand 
 to command silence, and then said that, while the 
 mission had not been entirely satisfactory, there 
 was some ground for hope; the president had 
 promised to consider the matter immediately. 
 
 " Bah ! " was the excited reply of the throng. 
 " Consider ! That's what they have always said. 
 Consider ! Let us make them consider. The only 
 way to get any concessions from them is to point 
 a gun at their heads." 
 
 The anger of the throng was so terrible that 
 Muriel, who was taking a walk in company with 
 the rector and his wife, turned down a side street 
 to get out of hearing. But to be entirely deaf to 
 such remarks was out of the question. Every 
 where they turned they came upon excited groups, 
 203 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 all intent upon a discussion of the same topic, al 
 though perhaps of different details. 
 
 " Give us liberty or give us death ! " shrieked an 
 enthusiastic American to a crowd of applauding 
 listeners who surrounded the soap box which he 
 had converted into a rostrum. " They say they 
 will consider. When ? Will it be the next week 
 or the next year ? Will it be when some of us are 
 dead and the rest of us in prison ? No, I say. 
 Now is the time now or never. " 
 
 A fusillade of shots, fired into the air, greeted 
 this remark. During his peroration the excited 
 speaker was swept from his perch by his more ex 
 cited auditors, and down the street they marched, 
 yelling threats, waving their hats and outlining 
 their intentions by firing repeated volleys. 
 
 "Let us make haste slowly," argued a con 
 servative, addressing a gathering of conservatives, 
 mainly shopkeepers, in front of the hotel. " There 
 is nothing to be gained by haste, and everything 
 may be lost. Kruger says he will consider. Give 
 him time. He cannot do everything in a minute. 
 These Dutchmen are slow to move in such matters, 
 
 and, though he may be willing to do so, it will 
 204 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 take him some time to bring his cabinet to his way 
 of thinking. Besides," the speaker lowered his 
 voice, "the condition of things in the city has 
 reached a dangerous pass, and the danger threat 
 ens from within more seriously than it does from 
 without. Some of the miners have taken too much 
 liquor, and they go marching about, shooting in 
 the most reckless fashion. If our shops were not 
 locked, I'm afraid that they would have been looted 
 before now. How much longer it will be before 
 they are broken open, who can tell ? " 
 
 He looked around the little circle of listeners as 
 if demanding a reply, but none was forthcoming. 
 His hearers seemed filled with the same doubting 
 emotions as himself. 
 
 "That's true," rejoined another. "There are 
 hundreds of men here who care nothing for civil 
 rights, or rights of any other kind. They'd as 
 soon steal from us as from the Boers." 
 
 Farther along Muriel passed the building which 
 was being used as a place of refuge for the wives 
 and children of the miners, who had come in from 
 the suburbs of the city in order to claim its protec 
 tion. The faces of the women were wan and anx- 
 205 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 ious. They showed the terrible anxiety they felt 
 for the husbands, brothers and sons marching in 
 the street below, but waiting to be summoned at 
 any moment to meet the Boers in battle. Many 
 of the men were being paid for their services, to 
 be sure, and their dependants were being provided 
 for out of the fund which had been raised by popu 
 lar subscription ; but this fact could not assuage 
 the fears which tugged at the heartstrings of their 
 dear ones. 
 
 A messenger mounted on a bicycle whizzed by 
 to announce that Jameson was coming. This an 
 nouncement evoked another storm of applause, 
 punctuated, as usual, by a volley of shots. 
 
 "Hurrah for Jameson!" yelled the crowd. 
 " Now we are all right. When Jameson gets here, 
 he'll give these chaps something to think about." 
 
 The enthusiasm went up to fever heat, only to 
 be crushed by a telegram from the south, announc 
 ing that the train to Durban had been wrecked, 
 and that hundreds had been killed. No particulars 
 were given, beyond the mere fact. How it hap 
 pened no one could tell, but all knew that it was 
 
 due to the terrible overcrowding of the cars. This 
 206 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 news brought out a conflict of comment. Those 
 who had relatives or friends aboard stormed the 
 telegraph office for more detailed information. 
 The names of the killed give them the names, 
 they demanded. 
 
 "Served 'em right," was the surly growl of 
 others. "They were willing to run away from 
 the place and leave us to fight it out here. They 
 have none to blame but their own selfishness. " 
 
 " But their wives and children ; surely you do not 
 blame them for sending their wives and children 
 away," remonstrated a bystander, who overheard 
 this cruel remark. 
 
 " Hang their wives and children ! " retorted the 
 rough miner who had spoken. " My wife and chil 
 dren are here, and they are just as good as those 
 of any other man. Wives and children ! Didn't 
 I see dozens of men on that train when it went out ? 
 I say wives and children to you! There were 
 white-livered men there, too, and, I say again, it 
 serves 'em right. " 
 
 But the brave hearts, even among the women, 
 had not all deserted the place, to seek safety in 
 
 flight. There were many women whose means 
 
 207 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 would have permitted them to depart, and whose 
 husbands, fathers and brothers urged and begged 
 them to do so, who refused to stir one inch from 
 the place. They established themselves into a hos 
 pital corps and began the preparations for the 
 emergency which stared them in the face. 
 
 To Muriel it seemed as if that day, instead of 
 being one of happiness, was the forerunner of per 
 petual misery. She found some comfort in the 
 fact that the wrecked train was the one that fol 
 lowed that containing Lady Stanmore and the rest 
 of her friends ; but she felt herself shaking with 
 pity for those who had lost their lives while trying 
 to reach safety. It seemed as if this awful catas 
 trophe only prefaced more portentous events, which 
 would discount even the worst anticipations of those 
 who supposed they had schooled themselves to face 
 the terrible reality. 
 
 That night pandemonium reigned. Messengers 
 who had been sent out as scouts, returned to bring 
 back reports of one kind and another, until the air 
 was so thick with rumors that it was impossible to 
 tell what the facts in the case were. Now Jame 
 son was almost within hail of the city ; now he had 
 208 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 had a skirmish with the Boers and had won ; and 
 now he was quite a distance off, but had outflanked 
 those who would intercept him. The next morn 
 ing it was even worse. The excitement was so in 
 tense that Muriel decided that she would not ven 
 ture out of the house ; but the rector volunteered 
 to go down to the Goldfields Company's office and 
 bring back what news was obtainable. He found 
 the street, for a block from The Chains to the Gold- 
 fields office packed with people, prominent among 
 whom were several members of the Reform Com 
 mittee, and occasionally these gentlemen would 
 announce from the windows of the Goldfields 
 Company's office, to the throng in the street be 
 low, such bulletins as were received from mes 
 sengers. 
 
 The same contradictory reports prevailed during 
 the entire forenoon, and finally the bulletins be 
 came so awful that the speakers shrunk from the 
 task of making any announcement. Even when 
 an announcement was delivered, it was colored so 
 as not to excite a riot. The gentlemen in the 
 offices paled before the apparent reliability of the 
 
 latest message. Jameson had been defeated ! The 
 209 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 Boers had intercepted him just outside of Kru- 
 gersdorp, had killed some of his men and captured 
 all the others. And his dispatches had been 
 found, among them the very letter from the com 
 mittee inviting him and his men to assist them 
 at Johannesburg ! In the face of all this, what was 
 to be done ? The members of the committee were 
 confronted, not merely with the news of Jameson's 
 defeat and the collapse of their own hopes, but 
 with the terrible suspicion that they would have to 
 pay with their own lives for the complicity in the 
 affair which their letter indicated. But the impa 
 tient throng below did not know this. 
 
 "What about Jameson?" they cried. "Lead 
 us out and we'll help him, if he needs any help. 
 Speak up ! Don't be afraid ! We're ready ! " 
 
 "You tell them," suggested one man, pushing 
 another toward the window. 
 
 " No, no ; you tell them," the other urged, edg 
 ing back from the window. 
 
 It was clear that the duty must devolve on some 
 one. The rumor had reached the crowd that Jame 
 son had met the Boers, but that he needed assist 
 ance. To permit the acceptance of this rumor 
 
 210 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 would be to immediately organize a command to 
 go out to his assistance. On the other hand, to 
 tell them the whole truth, after the encouraging 
 reports which had been promulgated earlier in the 
 day, would be to bring on a riot. Finally the an 
 nouncement was made that Jameson had had a 
 skirmish with the Boers, and that, being overpow 
 ered, he had conditionally surrendered. 
 
 For a moment there was intense silence. Then 
 a yell of rage went up and the walls of the build 
 ing were threatened. 
 
 "Surrendered? Then why didn't you lead us 
 out to help him ? Surrendered ? O God, and we 
 here waiting for him to come to us ! Oh, ye cow 
 ards ! " threatening the men in the building. " Ye 
 are to blame for all this. Now we're caught like 
 rats in a trap, and, damn us, it serves us right; it 
 serves us right ! " 
 
 211 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 MURIEL received the news of the disaster to 
 Jameson and his men without waiting for the rec 
 tor to return. She was sitting in her room, watch 
 ing the ebb and flow of the excited tide of human 
 ity below her, when the maid knocked at her door 
 and announced that a visitor desired to see her. 
 She descended to the hall, to find Kooste awaiting 
 her. He was dusty and travel-stained. Across 
 his shoulder was suspended a cartridge belt, which 
 even then Muriel noticed was partly empty, and on 
 his arm was slung a rifle. He bowed in acknowl 
 edgment of her presence, and greeted her with the 
 laconic statement : 
 
 "You're wanted." 
 
 " Has war been declared ? " she asked, starting 
 back. 
 
 "The war is over," he grimly replied, "and 
 some of your countrymen need your aid. I told 
 
 212 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 you I would call for you when you were wanted. 
 The time has come. Are you ready? " 
 
 "Yes," she replied without a moment's de 
 lay. 
 
 "Then prepare to go with me at once." 
 
 "Where?" 
 
 " To Krugersdorp. We are establishing a hos 
 pital there and need all the nurses we can get. 
 Can you start immediately? " 
 
 "Yes; I'll be ready in ten minutes." 
 
 " Very good ; time is precious. The news prob 
 ably has not yet reached here, and we must be out 
 of the city before it does, if I am going to accom 
 pany you, for my life would not then be worth a 
 penny." 
 
 " I will not delay," she answered, hurrying away, 
 to return within the specified period. In the mean 
 time she gathered together the few effects she had 
 arranged in anticipation of the possibility of this 
 call. Into a satchel she had thrown some few nec 
 essary articles of clothing, and on her arm she car 
 ried a wrap to protect her from the night air. It 
 caused a pang to leave behind many little articles 
 
 dear to her, and made the process of selection a 
 213 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 difficult one ; but she realized that it was folly to 
 encumber herself and her friend with articles that 
 were not absolutely necessary ; so she confined her 
 baggage to the fewest possible essentials. 
 
 " I'm ready," she announced. 
 
 Kooste gazed at her in admiration. Her cheeks 
 were flushed with excitement, her lips compressed, 
 and her eyes sparkling. Never, he thought, had 
 he seen her so beautiful. 
 
 " Good ! " was his single comment, as he led the 
 way to the street, carrying the satchel. " I have a 
 carriage in waiting just outside the city. It was 
 dangerous to drive in here, so I left it beyond, but 
 it will not take us long to reach it." 
 
 Through the excited thoroughfare he escorted 
 her, but no one molested them, and no one even 
 spoke to him, although he was well known to many 
 who glanced curiously at him as he passed. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Kooste, do you realize the danger to 
 which you are exposing yourself in this city ? " 
 whispered Muriel, as they moved swiftly along. 
 
 " I realize everything ; but I am doing this for 
 your sake. I have not hesitated to face death be 
 fore, this day; I am ready to face it again." 
 214 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 "Then you were in the fight?" she eagerly 
 asked. 
 
 " Sh-h ! " he warningly replied. " Don't speak 
 of that here; I'll tell you about it later." 
 
 In a few minutes the limits of the city had been 
 passed, and he pointed to two carriages waiting in 
 the distance. One of them contained two of his 
 fellow-countrymen, whom he had evidently taken 
 with him as a sort of a bodyguard in case of 
 trouble, and the other he had reserved for 
 Muriel and himself. Few words were spoken. 
 Kooste tossed the satchel into the second car 
 riage, assisted Muriel to the seat, and then 
 ordered the men in the other carriage to drive 
 on. Holding the lines over the beautiful pair of 
 stallions in the second carriage, Kooste closely 
 followed, and the eighteen-mile ride to Krugers- 
 dorp was begun. Up hill and down they dashed, 
 the road stretching out before them like a great 
 white ribbon. 
 
 "I'm glad that you are here," he said, after the 
 town had been left a few miles behind and the 
 danger of a clash was eliminated. 
 
 "I can't say that I'm glad, but I'm ready to 
 215 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 do my duty, as I told you I would be," Muriel 
 answered. 
 
 " Yes, I know I know/' he replied. " I did 
 not mean that I was at all surprised that you had 
 persisted in your determination to come. I felt 
 all along that you would do that ; I was referring 
 to your personal safety. It is better for you to be 
 out of Johannesburg. Our men command the 
 heights, and if the Outlanders do not surrender, the 
 city will be levelled to the ground. The order 
 for its bombardment, if the people do not lay down 
 their arms, has already been given. Here, at least, 
 your life is safe. There, I would not be able to 
 guarantee as much in the course of a day or two." 
 
 She shivered at the thought. 
 
 "And what of the battle? " she asked. "Tell 
 me of that." 
 
 "The battle is over," he answered. "Jameson 
 and five hundred of his men, riding from Maf eking, 
 were met by our troops just outside of Krugers- 
 dorp. There was a battle, and Jameson is de 
 feated. Those who are living are now prisoners in 
 Krugersdorp. The dead are being buried where 
 
 they fell. The wounded have been taken to a hos- 
 216 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 pital we are preparing at Krugersdorp, where we 
 will give them the best attention possible. The 
 surgeons are already at work. Some of my coun 
 trywomen are doing what they can ; but I came 
 for you because I thought an English woman would 
 be more desirable for treating the English, who 
 constitute the greater part of the wounded. Your 
 woman's ingenuity and your woman's heart can do 
 a great deal to alleviate their suffering." 
 
 "Then I thank God that I have remained," she 
 said ; " I may not be able to do much, but whatso 
 ever is in my power is at their service ; and oh, 
 Mr. Kooste, I thank you for the opportunity, and 
 for the kindness which led you to venture into 
 Johannesburg to notify me. You have made me 
 eternally your debtor." 
 
 " It is nothing," he replied. 
 
 " And you were in the fight ? " she asked. 
 
 " Yes ; when I left you on Monday, after com 
 ing from the train, I went to my home at Potchef- 
 stroom, as I was ordered. Shortly after Jameson 
 had crossed the border, we received the news, and 
 Commandant Cronje ordered us to follow him to 
 
 Krugersdorp. We knew that Jameson would pass 
 217 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 through or near that place, and we had full infor 
 mation as to his numbers and purpose. We rode 
 all night, and got there ahead of him. He tried 
 to fight his way through ; but we stopped him, and 
 compelled him to surrender. I don't know how 
 many of his men are killed and wounded, but there 
 are many. Only a few on our side were wounded, 
 Cronje's son among them. He's down there at 
 the hospital, too. As soon as the battle was over, 
 this afternoon, I thought of you and started for 
 Johannesburg, in order to reach the city before the 
 news of the battle should arrive. The rest of the 
 story you already know. 
 
 "There is a storm coming," he said, by way of 
 apology for the jolting caused by whipping up the 
 horses. He pointed to the west, in which heavy 
 clouds could be seen gathering. Onward they 
 dashed, the mettlesome stallions gripping the bits 
 in their teeth and plunging wildly forward, closely 
 on the heels of the carriage preceding. It was a 
 race as if for life. The storm clouds had so over 
 cast the sky as to cause an unusual darkness, and 
 at times it was necessary to slightly check the 
 
 speed of the horses in order to avoid the possibili- 
 218 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 ties of danger lurking in some yawning spruit. 
 The vehicles carried no lights, and in a few min 
 utes Kooste was able to maintain his course only 
 by watching the swaying top of the carriage in front 
 of him, whose white duck covering formed an ex 
 cellent beacon in the darkness. Several times 
 they escaped disaster by a hair's breadth. The 
 darkness was so intense that it was almost impos 
 sible to follow the road, and before they realized it 
 they were thrice brought to a standstill on the verge 
 of a chasm by the shying of the horses, whose in 
 stinct was keener than the sight of the drivers. 
 .Speed was necessary, however. The storm was 
 rapidly approaching, and a rainstorm in South 
 Africa is a thing to strike terror to the heart. It 
 is a deluge. The very heavens seem to open. 
 
 "Halt!" 
 
 The horses were pulled up on their haunches 
 and an armed figure could be dimly discerned in 
 the gloom. Muriel gripped Kooste's arm in her 
 excitement. 
 
 "Fear nothing; it is one of our outposts," he 
 explained. 
 
 The challenge of the sentry was responded to by 
 219 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 the occupants of the first carriage, and a momen 
 tary parley resulted. 
 
 "What's the matter?" impatiently asked 
 Kooste, who had not alighted. 
 
 11 He refuses to let us pass," called back one of 
 the men in the first carriage. 
 
 " Refuses ? Have you shown him the order ? " 
 
 "Yes; but he says his instructions forbid it 
 after sunset." 
 
 " Forbid it ? Nonsense ! What are we to do ? " 
 asked Kooste, alighting and walking toward the 
 sentry. 
 
 " You can go back the way you came or outspan 
 here for the night," was the stolid reply. 
 
 "What do you mean? " excitedly asked Kooste. 
 
 " These are my instructions," answered the sen- 
 try. 
 
 " But have you read the order ? And do you 
 know who I am ? " demanded Kooste. 
 
 " It makes no difference," was the obdurate re 
 sponse. " We have made our laager for the night, 
 and President Kruger himself could not go 
 through." 
 
 " But you have the President's order. Don't 
 
 220 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 you see what he says : ' Pass Jan Kooste and 
 friends to the hospital.' Do you mean to say that 
 you will not honor that, and that I, who fought all 
 the day, while you, a stripling, were in the back 
 ground, cannot pass through my own outposts ? It 
 is preposterous." 
 
 "Then you must be blindfolded," replied the 
 sentry, feeling that in view of the facts he was too 
 literally obeying instructions. 
 
 " Blindfolded? Absurd," retorted Kooste. 
 " Am I an enemy or a suspicious character that I 
 should be blindfolded while passing through a 
 laager of my countrymen? " 
 
 " You cannot go through otherwise," said the lad 
 firmly. " We are waiting for an attack from the 
 Outlanders of Johannesburg. They are expected 
 to come out here at any moment, and we are wait 
 ing to meet them. My instructions were to let no 
 one pass after sunset ; but, in view of your rank, I 
 am going to make an exception. I do not know 
 your companions and the lady, however, and I in 
 sist that if they pass through the laager they shall 
 be blindfolded so that they cannot obtain any in 
 formation which will be of service to them." 
 
 221 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 "My comrades are as loyal as myself," warmly 
 protested Kooste. " And as for this lady, she has 
 volunteered to come out here to nurse your wounded 
 countrymen. Do you dare tell me that you will 
 submit her to such an indignity? Besides, think 
 of it ! The night is so dark that she cannot see 
 her hand in front of her face. What information 
 could she gain by passing around or through the 
 laager? " 
 
 But the sentry was obstinate. He admitted that 
 the arguments of Kooste were strong, and finally 
 he announced a decision which was accepted by 
 Kooste because time was valuable. The storm was 
 coming closer and closer, and much time that could 
 be ill spared had already been consumed in a profit 
 less dispute. 
 
 " You may pass," said the sentry, relentingly, 
 " but you must be blindfolded, excepting the lady. 
 You men will have to go on foot. She may stay 
 in the carriage, and I will drive for her." 
 
 The sentry called several of his companions, 
 and, after binding handkerchiefs over the eyes of 
 the three men, Kooste and his two companions 
 were led in single file through the laager. Muriel 
 
 222 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 followed in the carriage, with the young Boer sen 
 try as her driver. She almost smiled at the cau 
 tion which he had observed. As they advanced 
 through the camp, she could distinguish to the right 
 and left the outlines of wagons, of picketed horses, 
 and of recumbent figures, but nothing more. A 
 quarter of a mile of this slow advance and then the 
 laager had been passed. The handkerchiefs were 
 removed from the eyes of Kooste and his associ 
 ates, and after apologizing for the inconvenience, 
 the sentries bade them a pleasant good-night. 
 
 Onward the carriages again dashed. The goal 
 was now within sight. Below the murky clouds 
 an occasional flicker of light marked Krugersdorp. 
 It was a welcome beacon. The wind was whist 
 ling with a fierce threat on its lips, the distant 
 rumble of thunder was growling in a menacing 
 undertone, and the lightning was flashing as if the 
 sheet of flame which marked each flash was a wild 
 animal springing in its leash. The next halt of 
 the little party was made before the little corru 
 gated iron structure in Krugersdorp which was 
 dignified by the name of Varley's Hotel. It was a 
 
 terribly shabby place and the accommodations 
 223 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 were of the roughest kind. But Muriel was so 
 worn out by the physical fatigue of the journey 
 and the terror inspired by the approaching storm 
 that she welcomed it as a haven of refuge. Hardly 
 had she lifted the latch of the door when the 
 storm broke in all its fury. It seemed to her as if 
 the Deluge was to be repeated, and it was with a 
 thankful heart that she threw herself on her knees 
 by the side of the cot in the barren little room on 
 the ground floor, which had been assigned to her. 
 "Thank God! His mercy seems to envelop 
 and protect me. I am here, safe, at last." 
 
 224 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 AT daylight the next morning Muriel awoke 
 from a troubled sleep. She had laid down on her 
 cot without undressing, worn in mind and body by 
 the incidents of the day, but the few hours of rest 
 had refreshed her somewhat. It was a glorious 
 morning. As she threw open the shutters of her 
 room, the fresh air greeted her with a rush that 
 tingled every nerve in her body, and the brilliant 
 sunrise furnished an inspiration as it reflected on 
 the beautiful hills in the distance. Early as it 
 was, when she opened the door of her room she 
 found the faithful Kooste awaiting her. " I am 
 ready," she said, responding to his formal greeting 
 by extending her hand to emphasize her confidence. 
 
 " Have you had breakfast? " he asked. 
 
 " Breakfast ? " she repeated. " That is the far 
 thest thing from my thoughts." 
 
 " Ah, but you must think of it," he said. " You 
 
 cannot work unless you eat ; and the duty to which 
 
 225 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 you have called yourself will be a severe strain on 
 your nerves without unnecessarily adding to it. 
 You must have a cup of coffee at least," he con 
 tinued, and he immediately set about seeing that 
 this nourishment, together with an egg and a little 
 toast, was supplied her. She felt that his advice 
 was good, and she adopted his suggestion by par 
 taking with a relish which surprised her. 
 
 Immediately after breakfast he led the way to 
 the improvised hospital. She found that there was 
 no regular institution of that character in the town, 
 and the best that could be done was to fit up, as 
 well as they could with their limited means, a drap 
 er's shop in a large brick building. Here some of 
 the wounded were already lying on mattresses on 
 the floor, while others were being brought in as 
 rapidly as possible from the battlefield. The scene 
 was a terrible one ; but she had in a measure for 
 tified her nerves by previously picturing the con 
 dition of affairs she expected to meet, and in this 
 way lessening the shock of the actual contact. Two 
 surgeons were busily at work, and a few of the 
 townswomen were endeavoring to assist so far as 
 
 it was possible for them to be of assistance. 
 226 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " Have you no cots here ? " asked Muriel as soon 
 as she had divested herself of her hat and outer 
 clothing and had arrayed herself in a garment of 
 light seersucker cloth. 
 
 " I think there are some in the town," replied 
 Kooste. " Do you want some ? " 
 
 "Yes; it will be more comfortable for these 
 poor fellows, and more easy for us to attend to 
 them." 
 
 The cots were promptly brought, the mattresses 
 transferred to them, and then the wounded men were 
 laid on the mattresses. Those who were conscious 
 of the change which was being made expressed 
 their gratitude by their eyes. Some of them were 
 so badly wounded as to be apparently dead. 
 Others were in a delirium, calling for this one or 
 that one, or shrieking again oaths, orders, or com 
 mands, as in their imagination they once more 
 fought the battle of the previous days. Those who 
 were only slightly wounded maintained a stoical 
 silence. There were thirty-four Englishmen in 
 the hospital and about half a dozen Boers. But 
 no distinction was made between the late com 
 batants, and they were arranged side by side in 
 227 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 the order in which they came to the hospital. 
 One or two of the English officers, because of 
 their rank, were placed in little enclosures near 
 the window. 
 
 There were many things needed to make the bar 
 ren storehouse at all comfortable as a hospital. 
 The details of this transformation the two sur 
 geons in attendance were glad to leave entirely in 
 Muriel's hands. Dr. Decker and Dr. Viljoen were 
 employed to the extent of their ability in treating 
 the wounded, and had no time to give to the per 
 fection of minor shortcomings. The business-like 
 way in which Muriel obtained and arranged the 
 cots made a strong impression on them, and when 
 she called for slates to tie at the head of each pa 
 tient's cot, for the purpose of recording thereon 
 their names, residences, and the fluctuations of 
 pulse and temperature, they saw that she was en 
 tirely capable of assuming the responsibility they 
 were glad to resign to her. Kooste was an invalu 
 able lieutenant. He was constantly at her elbow, 
 ready to comply with her slightest request. If the 
 resources of the little town could not provide linen 
 
 and delicacies for the patients, he was only too glad 
 228 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 to make expeditions to Johannesburg in order to 
 obtain them. The " commandeering " process was 
 executed with a rapidity which would have startled 
 an army commissary. Whatever she required, she 
 had only to make the suggestion to Kooste, and 
 it was immediately supplied. There were many 
 things needed curtains for some of the windows, 
 draperies, cots, mattresses, linen, and rubber 
 sheeting, and various little delicacies to tempt 
 the appetite of the wounded during convalesence. 
 It was a great pleasure for her to supply these. 
 Two or three trained nurses had been obtained to 
 assist her in the work, and their first task was 
 that of recording on the slates the names and resi 
 dences of the patients. It was a matter of consid 
 erable difficulty to obtain some data, and several 
 of the slates had to be left blank because of the 
 feverish or unconscious condition of the sufferers. 
 So far as it was possible, the names of these un 
 conscious ones were obtained from some of the 
 other patients who knew them. But it happened 
 that in several cases it was impossible to obtain 
 this information from the others, for the reason 
 
 that the men had been recruited from different 
 229 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 sections of the country and were not all intimately 
 acquainted with each other. 
 
 There were some who never again in this world 
 were able to respond to their names. The wounds 
 they had received produced a blissful unconscious 
 ness which rendered them oblivious to their suf 
 ferings, and which finally ended in that long sleep 
 that knows no awakening. Muriel tenderly closed 
 the eyes of these, her countrymen, and paid to 
 their memory the tribute of a woman's tears. 
 She knew that far across the seas fond hearts were 
 aching for them, and her own throbbed in ready 
 sympathy. She assisted in preparing their names 
 so far as she could ascertain them, and then saw 
 that they were duly transmitted to the cable office. 
 
 And Jack ! From the moment she reached the 
 hospital he had been uppermost in her thoughts, 
 and as each wounded trooper was brought in she 
 scanned him closely to see if by any possibility he 
 could be the original of the picture which was al 
 ways in her mind ; but her quest was a disappoint 
 ing one. None of the men looked like him ; none 
 of them answered to his name, and, so far as she 
 
 could learn from inquiries directed to the conscious 
 230 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 patients, he was not known to have been with the 
 the troopers. He might have been taken prisoner 
 or have escaped, she was informed, and that fur 
 nished her a little consolation, until she told her 
 self that it was possible he was not connected with 
 the raid at all. The fact that she could learn noth 
 ing concerning him did not lessen her ardor in be 
 half of the others at the hospital. If he was dear 
 to her heart, the others also claimed a share of her 
 affection by all the ties of blood and kindred, and 
 she worked in their behalf just as she hoped some 
 body else might have worked in her place had Jack 
 been one of the sufferers. There was one incident 
 in which her woman's heart assisted in re-uniting 
 two lovers who had parted because of a misunder 
 standing somewhat similar to her own case. One 
 of her patients was a Boer a tall, strapping young 
 fellow, evidently fresh from a farm. He had been 
 shot through the body, and she supposed that his 
 mutterings were the consequences of the resultant 
 fever. As she placed her hand on his forehead, 
 however, she noticed that his brow was cool, and 
 also that pulse and temperature were but little 
 
 above the normal. 
 
 231 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 "Nurse," said he, calling her as she went by his 
 cot, " would you do me a great favor ? " He spoke 
 clearly, but with a slight Dutch accent. 
 
 " Most certainly. What is it ? " 
 
 "I want to write to Peggy." 
 
 " To whom ? " she asked in surprise. 
 
 "To Peggy. Peggy is my sweetheart, you 
 know," he continued, as if that fact must have 
 been patent to her. "We quarrelled, and I left 
 her. Now I know she is breaking her heart, and 
 perhaps thinking me dead, and I want to let her 
 know that I am here and wounded, but alive, and 
 that I would like to see her." 
 
 So to Peggy she wrote the rough love letter 
 which he dictated, and posted it without delay. 
 What was her gratification to receive in a few 
 days a reply to this letter, followed shortly after 
 ward by the appearance of Peggy herself. Her 
 full name was Peggy O'Reilly, and she was evi 
 dently the descendant of some Irishman who had 
 emigrated to the country and intermarried with 
 the Dutch. The gratitude of this young couple at 
 the reconciliation which Muriel was instrumental 
 
 in effecting was not greater than her own happi- 
 
 232 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 ness in being a party to it. This was but one of 
 many little incidents which came under her obser 
 vation in the hospital. 
 
 " I met an old school friend down there on the 
 battlefield," said one young Englishman, address 
 ing his comrade on the next bed. " I hadn't seen 
 him for five years before. He went to college 
 with me in old England, and we were great friends. 
 Since he came back home I lost track of him. Out 
 there at Vlakfontein I had my gun levelled at a 
 fellow who was pointing his rifle at me. It was a 
 case of seeing who could shoot first, and I was just 
 about to pull the trigger of my rifle when I recog 
 nized my little Dutch school friend. He rec 
 ognized me at the same moment, and, running over 
 to where I was, embraced me instead of boring me 
 through with a rifle shot. As he came toward me 
 a shot from some other fellow's rifle gave me this 
 jab here in my shoulder, and I fell. He picked 
 me up, turned me over to some of my own com 
 rades, and then ran back to his own lines. Wasn't 
 that a strange meeting? " 
 
 "Yes; some of these Boers are not half bad," 
 responded the other. "They're a damned sight 
 2 33 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 better than some of those cowardly Outlanders who 
 asked us to come and help them and then let us be 
 cut to pieces in a hole without attempting to give 
 us any assistance." 
 
 Then he went off into a string of objurgations, 
 in which he was liberally joined by some of his 
 comrades. 
 
 " Wonder what they'll do with us ? " asked an 
 other from the opposite side of the room. 
 
 " Give it up," was the careless response. " I'm 
 not going to worry myself on that score ; I think 
 it'll be just about as well for us if the doctors 
 would let us go under. If the boot were on the 
 other leg, and they tried to go through our country 
 in this fashion, I fancy we'd give them about 
 enough time to say their prayers and then stand 
 them up in a line with their eyes blindfolded 
 and " 
 
 The speaker finished his sentence by making a 
 suggestive clucking noise with his tongue and a 
 motion with his finger as if pulling a trigger of a 
 rifle. 
 
 234 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 IT was midnight in the little hospital. Muriel 
 had finished her duties of applying fresh dressings, 
 administering medicine and arranging the beds of 
 the patients with one of the doctors, and had 
 seated herself at the table in the centre of the 
 large room, which served as a general hospital 
 ward, to complete her period of watch duty. She 
 felt highly gratified at the result of her efforts in 
 behalf of the wounded, particularly so in view of 
 the compliment which Dr. Decker had just paid 
 her. He had left his surgical instruments, a glit 
 tering array of forbidding steel knives and saws, 
 lying on a little table in the ward, and she had sug 
 gested that she place them somewhere out of the 
 sight of the patients. 
 
 " Now, how did you happen to think of that ? " 
 he asked, stopping in his work and looking at her 
 with a smile. 
 
 " Why, I simply thought it might not be pleas- 
 235 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 ant for some poor fellow to awake and see those 
 horrible things, which perhaps had just taken off 
 an arm or a leg, staring at him." 
 
 "You say you've never been a nurse?" he 
 queried. 
 
 " Never," she replied. 
 
 " Then will you tell me where you learned so 
 well the duties of a nurse? " he asked. "I have 
 been admiring your work ever since you came here. 
 I really don't see how we could have got along 
 without you. You seem to know exactly what 
 ought to be done and exactly how to do it. It 
 is almost impossible to believe that you have not 
 trained yourself for that profession. You have 
 been at our side even on some of the most severe 
 operations. The ordinary woman would not have 
 been able to stand it, and I must say that, without 
 flattering you at all, you are a most extraordinary 
 woman. I am sure you deserve the thanks, not 
 alone of the patients, but of the doctors, as well. " 
 
 " Oh, I have done very little," she modestly an 
 swered; "very little, indeed, in comparison with 
 what I would like to have been able to do. It is 
 
 true that I have never trained myself for the pro 
 236 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 fession of nursing, but I have been greatly inter 
 ested in philanthropic hospital work, and many 
 times, while visiting such institutions with my 
 mother, I have been interested to note the manner 
 in which the nurses work. Perhaps in that way I 
 have learned something by unconscious observa 
 tion." 
 
 " Conscious or unconscious, you must have used 
 your eyes to very good advantage. Well," he 
 added, " I think I may safely leave the place in 
 your care now and try and get a little sleep. If 
 you need me during the night, don't hesitate to 
 call me. Good night ! " 
 
 "Good night! " she replied, and then, left alone 
 in charge of the room, she resumed her book. The 
 title of it was a peculiar one for her. Instead of 
 a French novel, which had hitherto formed the 
 piece de resistance of her literary diet, it was a 
 plain, black volume, on whose flexible cover was 
 printed in gold letters the words, " Holy Bible. " 
 A few months before that book would have had lit 
 tle interest for her, but the curious transformation 
 of events connected with her life had worked a 
 
 curious transformation in herself. It seemed as if 
 237 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 years had passed since she left England, so rapidly 
 had one exciting incident followed on the heels of 
 another. From a frivolous girl, devoted entirely 
 to her own selfish enjoyment, she had suddenly 
 evolved into a woman, who, by serious contact with 
 life, had become impressed with its grave responsi 
 bilities. Because of this transformation she was 
 able to find a fascination and a comfort in the little 
 Bible which had been presented to her by her 
 mother, but which, until her arrival in Johannes 
 burg, had been sadly neglected in an obscure cor 
 ner of her trunk. 
 
 A heavily shaded lamp protected the sleeping 
 patients from the annoying glare of the light, and 
 still furnished her with opportunities for enjoying 
 her book. Outside there was no noise except the 
 occasional murmur of the winds. The town was 
 wrapped in sleep and darkness. Within the hos 
 pital the silence was so intense that the ticking of 
 the little alarm clock in front of her sounded to 
 her almost as loud as the tones of St. Paul's bells. 
 Occasionally a patient would groan as a fresh dart of 
 pain racked his body or as he disturbed a bandaged 
 wound by turning into a fresh position on his cot. 
 
 338 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 Once in awhile there would be a gentle call of 
 " Nurse ! " followed by a request for a drink of 
 water, or that the pillow might be softened, or 
 some other little favor ; but for the greater part of 
 the time she was permitted to bury herself in the 
 book. 
 
 " Muriel ! Muriel ! " 
 
 She sat bolt upright at the sound and clinched 
 her hands in the intensity of her emotion. " What 
 was that ? " she asked herself. It was low, and 
 long drawn out, and seemed to be more like a gasp 
 than an articulate tone. A murmur of the wind 
 reassured her. 
 
 " What a child I am ! " she said, half aloud, re 
 suming her seat. " It was nothing but the wind 
 whistling round the corner. I am letting my fan 
 cies run away with me." 
 
 "Muriel!" 
 
 Again it seemed to come, less distinct even than 
 before. She felt that she could hardly believe her 
 ears, but the impression on her mind was so strong 
 that she walked through the ward to see if some 
 poor fellow was not calling in his sleep ; but no 
 one seemed to be stirring. One or two were lying 
 239 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 wide awake, staring at the wall, but they said they 
 had not called, and that they had heard no call. 
 A movement on the part of a patient in the farther 
 end of the room attracted her attention, and she 
 proceeded in this direction. 
 
 " It must be this poor fellow," she said sympa 
 thetically. " I'll see if there is anything I can do 
 for him. The doctors say he is very badly wounded 
 and that there are grave fears for his recovery. " 
 
 The patient in question was one of the English 
 men. A shot had gone clear through his body. 
 " A couple of inches to one side, and it would have 
 gone through his heart," the doctor said. The 
 wound had become inflamed as a consequence of 
 long inattention on the field, and by the time the 
 victim reached the hospital a high fever had set in. 
 He raved over and over again about the exciting 
 scenes of the fight, but nothing could be learned 
 from him or from the other patients regarding his 
 identity. When Muriel reached his side, she found 
 him muttering to himself ; but only a word here 
 and there was distinguishable, and these words 
 formed nothing that could give her a coherent idea 
 
 of their purport. 
 
 240 
 
A TALE OP THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " Poor fellow ! " she said softly, as she arranged 
 his pillow and tenderly brushed back his hair 
 from his moist forehead. The wounded man 
 stirred uneasily, and again there came to her 
 ears that long, low, drawn-out, gasping ejacula 
 tion, " Muriel ! " 
 
 She started back in astonishment. Could it be 
 Jack ? she asked herself. But no, that was not Jack. 
 In the first place, he looked taller than Jack. His 
 face was thinner than Jack's. He had a full growth 
 of tawny whiskers, while Jack was beardless ; and 
 his voice no, that voice was not Jack's. Long 
 and earnestly she looked at him, and then slowly 
 shook her head, as if to confirm the denial of his 
 identity. But the name? Had she heard cor 
 rectly, or was it simply a coincidence that the 
 name he had called was her own ? As she stood 
 there smoothing his hair, he again moved rest 
 lessly on his pillow, and, as he did so, something 
 fell to the floor. She picked it up, and was about 
 to replace it when a peculiarity of the article at 
 tracted her attention. It was apparently a small 
 photograph, set in a little case. She glanced at it 
 
 as she was about to return it to its place under the 
 241 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 wounded man's pillow, and the next instant she 
 was on her knees by his bedside. 
 
 " Jack ! Oh, Jack ! Thank God, I have found 
 you at last ! " 
 
 Gone was the self-control of the nurse. The 
 heart of the woman was in the ascendant, and, re 
 gardless of the surroundings and of the quiet de 
 sired by the other patients, she poured out the 
 thanksgiving of a joyful soul in a tone which pene 
 trated every corner of the room. It seemed as if 
 the intensity of her voice penetrated even to the 
 deepest consciousness of the feverish patient, for, as 
 she cried out, he moved as if animated by some sud 
 den shock and rested on his elbow while he stared 
 at her with his large and feverishly brilliant eyes. 
 
 " Muriel," he said, and his voice was tremulous 
 with great joy. Then he gazed from her to the 
 wall of the semi-darkened hospital and asked : 
 " Where am I ? " 
 
 " Hush, dear," said Muriel, throwing her arms 
 around his neck and endeavoring to restore him to 
 his previous reclining position. " Hush ! You must 
 not excite yourself. You have been wounded, and 
 
 you are now in the hospital at Krugersdorp." 
 242 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " Krugersdorp ? " he asked stupidly. " Ah, yes, 
 now I remember ! " he added, a smile coming out 
 on his face. " There was a fight with the Boers, 
 and I was wounded ; but why are you here ? " 
 
 "Because you are here, dear." 
 
 "But I left you in England," he said, his brow 
 wrinkling, as if unable to make that fact agree 
 with the fact of her presence by his bedside. 
 
 " Yes, I know," she said, " but when I received 
 your letter I determined that I would try and find 
 you here and in some way let you know that the 
 surmises you entertain were entirely incorrect; 
 and, oh, God has been so good to me, Jack ! " 
 
 "And to me, too," he said softly. "When I 
 reached this country I was the most miserable fel 
 low on earth. Now I am the happiest. It was 
 worth going through it all to have you here the 
 ride and the fight. Oh, Muriel, that ride and that 
 fight ! They came on us from all sides. Some of 
 the boys are dead, and more of them are dying. 
 Oh, it was terrible ! " 
 
 " Hush, dear ! You must neither think nor talk 
 of it now. You must go to sleep and not excite 
 yourself any more. If you keep on talking, you 
 243 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 will bring on the fever again, and that might be 
 fatal." 
 
 * But talk he would. His lucid period was but 
 a temporary one, and, as the excitement of the 
 fight again recurred to him, he lapsed into another 
 period of aberration. 
 
 "Muriel!" he whispered, "I'm slipping away 
 from you again. Here, take my hand. Oh, you're 
 so far off. Muriel !" and with one last effort he ex 
 tended his hand, which she grasped in her own 
 and covered with kisses. Then he raved for hours 
 over the incidents of the past few months of his 
 career. Now he was directing Pat, or asking advice 
 from Harrington, or repeating the reminiscences 
 of the troopers, or he was riding with them in the 
 midst of the fray. 
 
 The night had passed and dawn appeared, but 
 still the kneeling figure by his bedside held his 
 hand, and in her thanksgiving for his recovery min 
 gled many a heartfelt prayer that he might be 
 spared from the immediate dangers that threat 
 ened him. The other patients stared at her with 
 curious eyes, and when the doctor arrived for his 
 
 morning visit, called his attention to her, and re- 
 244 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 lated the circumstances so far as they understood 
 them. He touched her on the shoulder and called 
 her from the devotion into which she had com 
 pletely buried herself. 
 
 "This will not do, Miss Sterling," he said. 
 " You must not stay here. " 
 
 " But, oh, doctor, I have found " 
 
 "Yes, yes, I know," he interrupted; "but you 
 may have found him only to lose him, unless you 
 realize that this is the beginning of his danger, 
 rather than the end of it. He will need your best 
 care for weeks. With that it may be possible to 
 pull him through. But if you are to give him that 
 care you must compose yourself and maintain your 
 steadiest nerve, and that is impossible unless you 
 eat and sleep. Now, go to your room and rest. I 
 will need your assistance, and I want to be able to 
 command it at its best when I call on you. " 
 
 With a gentle hand he pushed her from the room, 
 after she had given the raving patient a parting 
 kiss, and then, as a counterbalance to the excite 
 ment of the night, she fell into a deep sleep, in 
 which her future and that of Jack was intertwined 
 in the most roseate colors. 
 245 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 MURIEL'S first duty, when she awoke that after 
 noon, was to dispatch Kooste to Johannesburg with 
 two cablegrams. The first was to Lady Stan- 
 more. She could not contain herself to wait to 
 write to her good friend, and this is what the 
 latter read, a few hours later : " Have found Jack. 
 Letter." 
 
 The second cablegram was to Jack's mother. 
 She pictured to herself the anxiety of the members 
 of his family, knowing, possibly, that he was with 
 the troopers, and probably fearing the worst. It 
 was a simple statement to the effect that he had 
 been wounded, but was all right, and was signed 
 with his own name. 
 
 These two messages brought unexpected joy in 
 both quarters. Lady Stanmore danced with de 
 light, and hurried to tell the other members of 
 the party the news. Then she plunged herself 
 
 into dismay in speculating as to how Muriel found 
 246 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 him, where she found him, and various other ques 
 tions which the cablegram did not answer. 
 
 " She must have found him there in that hos 
 pital, wherever it was," she announced with deci 
 sion, after propounding these questions to herself 
 for the fortieth time. " It was her determination 
 to work as a nurse, and I'll wager that is just how 
 it all came about." 
 
 " How romantic ! " shrieked Miss St. John in a 
 perfect ecstacy of delight. " Oh, I'd give the world 
 to be in her place !" 
 
 " You would ? I thought you said you'd faint at 
 the very sight of blood." 
 
 " Oh, so I would ! I wouldn't like the blood ; 
 but isn't the rest of it perfectly lovely?" 
 
 " It certainly is," replied Lady Stanmore, smil 
 ing at the dispatch which she held in her hand. 
 " ' Letter,' " she read. "That means that she is 
 going to write m 3 full particulars. Oh, how I wish 
 that letter would come ! I am so glad for that 
 poor girl that I feel like standing on my head. 
 Well, I suppose we will have to be patient and 
 wait until the mail comes, but when the letter 
 
 arrives I will let you girls know at once. " 
 247 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 " Oh, do ! " they entreated, as they took their 
 departure. 
 
 Meanwhile a highly different scene was being 
 enacted at Jack's home. A message had been re 
 ceived that he was dead, and this news, coupled 
 with the recent death of his brother, was a terri 
 ble shock to his mother and sister, who were the 
 only survivors of the family. 
 
 His mother accused herself of all manner 
 of heartlessness in permitting him to go to 
 that far-away country, and his sister felt that 
 she, too, had been to blame for not urging him 
 to remain at home. Now they were left alone, 
 and, according to the law, the entail of the 
 estates must descend to another branch of the 
 family. 
 
 They had cabled to have his body sent home, if 
 possible ; but they had been informed that such a 
 proceeding was hardly to be expected. A soldier 
 falling in battle and buried by the Boers was not 
 to be easily recovered, and they never expected to 
 be able to gaze upon his face again, or even to 
 have the mournful privilege of placing him beside 
 
 his ancestors. In lieu of this, they had arranged 
 248 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 a memorial service in the little chapel, and this 
 was in progress. 
 
 The clergyman was giving them what comfort 
 he could with the consoling words : " I am the 
 resurrection and the life," and with the immortal 
 paradox, "He that believeth in me, though dead, 
 shall never die." Their tears were falling fast 
 when the old butler was summoned to the door to 
 meet a boy from the telegraph office. He appeared 
 to be unduly excited over his errand as he handed 
 the envelope to the butler. It was addressed to 
 Jack's mother, and the butler put it in his pocket, 
 to await a more favorable opportunity of presenting 
 it. 
 
 " The manager said it was very important," the 
 boy added, " and he told me to say that it was from 
 South Africa." 
 
 "From South Africa ?" echoed the astonished 
 factotum. 
 
 " Yes, and it's about Master John," was the lad's 
 breathless response. He had evidently been in 
 formed of the contents. It was now the old butler's 
 turn to become excited. He did not know what to 
 do. His first thought was to hold the message 
 249 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 until the service had been concluded, but the in 
 tuition he felt as to its contents would not permit 
 him to delay. 
 
 Instead of so doing, he summoned one of 
 the nearest relatives of the family to the door 
 and explained to him what the messenger had 
 said. 
 
 "Open it and see," commanded the latter. 
 " I'll explain to Lady Derrington." 
 
 With trembling hands the old man broke the 
 seal and read. Then, with eyes filled with tears, 
 he passed the paper to the other, who glanced at 
 the inscription : " Am wounded, but safe in hos 
 pital Krugersdorp. Don't worry." 
 
 " It's signed by Jack, too," he added, and, with 
 out further delay, he proceeded down the aisle 
 to where Lady Derrington was seated and placed 
 the paper in her hands. She uttered a slight 
 scream as she read the message, and then fell for 
 ward in a faint. This attracted the attention of 
 all present, and several ran to her assistance. It 
 took but a moment to revive her, when she ex 
 plained the cause of her excitement. 
 
 " Jack is alive. My dear boy is wounded, but 
 250 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 safe. He has sent this message himself. O 
 God, I thank Thee ! " she cried, throwing herself 
 on her knees. 
 
 This incident completely disturbed the funeral 
 service. The clergyman paused in dismay at the 
 sudden interruption, and the hitherto mourning 
 relatives gave way to a jubilation entirely out of 
 harmony with the surroundings. 
 
 "Jack alive!" they cried in astonishment. 
 "Then we will not go on with the service." 
 
 " Yes, yes, let us go on," protested Lady Der- 
 rington, " but instead of a funeral memorial serv 
 ice, let us change it to one of praise and thanks 
 giving for the safety of the dear one who we hope 
 will soon return to us." 
 
 And that is exactly what they did. He who a 
 few moments before had been mourned for as 
 dead, was rejoiced over as if he had been mirac 
 ulously resurrected. The clergyman was in 
 formed of the contents of the message, and 
 gave out several hymns, which were sung with 
 an emotion which crowded all gloomy thoughts 
 away and left his little congregation in a fervor of 
 
 delight. 
 
 251 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 This delight was shared, not only by them 
 selves, but by the entire country as well. 
 Even the Queen sent her congratulations, and 
 the story was told the length and breadth of the 
 land. 
 
 252 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 MEANWHILE Jack was fighting a hard battle with 
 death. His wound was a very severe one and the 
 fever made tremendous encroaches upon his vital 
 ity. Luckily for him this had not been impaired 
 during his residence in Africa, and the steady life 
 of his younger days formed a barricade which 
 Death vainly tried to storm. It was a fortnight 
 later before he fully recovered consciousness and 
 was declared out of danger. The image of Muriel 
 had been constantly with him during his delirium, 
 but it was with surprise that he again awoke and 
 found her kneeling by his side and holding his 
 hand, just as she had held it when he last greeted 
 her. 
 
 " Muriel ! " he feebly cried. 
 
 " Yes, Jack." 
 
 " Oh, I am so glad that you are here ! I've had 
 such a frightful dream." 
 
 " There, dear, don't let dreams worry you any 
 2 53 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 more. I am here, and you are safe. Now quiet 
 yourself and in a few days more you will be able 
 to leave the hospital. The doctor has told me so." 
 
 " I'm not complaining. On the contrary, I am 
 supremely happy. But I have been living again 
 those dreadful months, and my dreams have wor 
 ried me; I thought we were separated forever." 
 
 " Never again, let us hope, dear." 
 
 "I've forgotten my prayers, but I'll say 'Amen ! ' 
 to that," he replied, with a feeble smile. " Oh, 
 Muriel, I am so happy, except when I think of the 
 past ! And now, when I have you with me, I feel 
 that I am doubly compensated for all my troubles. 
 I wonder where Pat is? " 
 
 "Pat?" 
 
 " Yes, my servant. Dear old Pat ! I wonder if 
 he was killed ? He's not here, is he ? Pat O'Hara 
 is his name. He stuck to me like a brother. Did 
 you notice his name here? " he asked, raising him 
 self on his elbow and anxiously scrutinizing the 
 other cots in the place. 
 
 "No, there is no such name here," answered 
 Muriel. 
 
 " Poor Pat ! " he whispered. " He was with me 
 254 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 always. He wouldn't let me leave him in Eng 
 land, and when I started off to join the troopers 
 he insisted on accompanying me. The last thing 
 I remember was falling from my horse and finding 
 myself in his faithful arms. He laid me under a 
 tree and went to get some water for me, and he 
 never came back that is, I never saw him again. 
 I think I must have lost consciousness about that 
 time. And Alexander, and Jenkins, and Sander 
 son, what became of them ? Are they here? " 
 
 Muriel sadly shook her head. 
 
 " Poor fellows ! " he whispered, while he wiped 
 away a tear which welled from his eye and trickled 
 down his cheek. 
 
 " Ah, they were a brave lot, Dr. Jim and all the 
 rest ! When we heard that the Boers might attack 
 the women and children of Johannesburg, we 
 started for that place at top speed. Oh, what a 
 ride that was ! We hardly left our saddles the en 
 tire time, and we were so tired and sleepy that we 
 could hardly keep our places on our horses when 
 the Boers met us. We fired away during the first 
 afternoon, but they had the advantage of us be 
 cause we were in the open and they were hidden 
 2 55 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 behind boulders. Then came the fight the next 
 morning. How that came out I don't know. " 
 
 "The men were all taken prisoners, and they 
 are now in Pretoria," Muriel informed him. 
 
 "Then perhaps Pat and Alexander and the 
 others are there." 
 
 " It's more than likely. Now, dear, you must 
 quiet yourself and not think about these matters 
 until you are stronger. We must not run the risk 
 of a relapse." 
 
 Thus admonished, he lay back on his pillow 
 and closed his eyes. A peaceful smile played 
 about his mouth, but before long he was question 
 ing her again. 
 
 " But, Muriel, I can't make out how you came to 
 be away down here, and, more especially, how you 
 came to find me here in this little place," he per 
 sisted. 
 
 " Well, I'll tell you, if you'll promise not to ask 
 any more questions to-day and not to excite your 
 self while I am talking. When I received your 
 letter, I realized what a dear, good fellow you 
 were, how much I really thought of you, and how 
 
 much you must have sacrificed for my sake. I 
 256 
 
A TALE OP THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 went and told Lady Stanmore about it, and she 
 suggested a trip to South Africa for our health, 
 by the way and invited several friends, including 
 myself. When we were in Johannesburg, and the 
 news of a possible outbreak was received, they re 
 turned to England, but I decided to stay. Some 
 thing told me, Jack, that I would find you. I can't 
 tell you how I knew this, but I felt that in some 
 way we were certain to meet. I volunteered to act 
 as a nurse, and a very good Boer friend of mine 
 conducted me out here to you. " 
 
 "A Boer? " Jack interrupted, with surprise. 
 
 " Yes, a Mr. Kooste ; a most excellent fellow, 
 too. What I would have done but for him I'm 
 sure I do not know. I am certain that but for his 
 kindness I would now be in Johannesburg instead 
 of by your side." 
 
 " And where would I have been if you had not 
 come ? " he asked. 
 
 "Oh, don't speak of that! It is enough that I 
 came and did what I deemed to be my duty under 
 the circumstances. I was here nearly a week be 
 fore I discovered you, so changed had you become, 
 and I only did for you what I tried to do for all 
 257 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 the others. I was sitting here one night when I 
 heard you call my name, or thought I did, and 
 when I came to you, you were muttering a lot of 
 incoherent talk. I did not recognize you at first, 
 until my picture fell from under your pillow. 
 Then I knew it was really Jack. " 
 
 " Your picture?" 
 
 " Yes, it was under your pillow." 
 
 Jack made a grasp at his throat, and then smiled 
 as she handed him the little picture. " I missed 
 it, even in delirium," he said. " I used to wear 
 it around my neck." 
 
 " The probabilities are that one of the nurses 
 took it off when you were brought in and placed it 
 under your pillow for safe keeping." 
 
 " Well, what a fortunate circumstance or, 
 rather, what a chain of fortunate circumstances ! 
 It seems almost like a dream. I'll have to pinch 
 myself in order to be convinced that I'm awake. 
 
 " Ah, that letter you speak of was written with 
 a sad heart ! " he continued. " I left the old coun 
 try because I thought there was no hope for me in 
 your affections, and I could see no possibility of 
 making the name for myself which you seemed to 
 
 358 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 desire. I intended to go back if I struck it rich 
 out here ; but, as I told you, if fortune failed me, 
 I would have perpetually exiled myself. The one 
 fear in my heart was that before I could possibly 
 make the name and the fortune I hoped to win, some 
 other fellow Wallace, for example " 
 
 "Please don't mention Wallace again," she 
 blushed, placing her hand over his mouth. "I 
 have already said that I wouldn't marry such a lit 
 tle coxcomb if he was the only man on the face of 
 the earth, and I would be otherwise condemned to 
 an endless existence as an old maid." 
 
 "But what could I do, Muriel? I had made 
 neither name nor fortune. I could not place any 
 definite hope on succeeding to the family estates 
 and I could not invite you to share a life where you 
 would be denied the luxuries to which you were 
 accustomed. " 
 
 " But, Jack, you knew that my fortune was 
 ample to supply any deficiency." 
 
 " I know, dearest ; but I could nqt accept you 
 
 on that basis, could I? So I came out here to 
 
 make my fortune, and, whisper, I think I've done 
 
 it. Up there on our farm just before I came away 
 
 259 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 we struck a vein of gold-bearing quartz. Just 
 what it will amount to I do not know, but my two 
 partners are there working it, and as soon as I get 
 well I intend to see them. Something tells me 
 that the only thing left to complete my happiness 
 will be granted, and that the strike will prove a 
 satisfactory one. I hope so, dear, for the sake of 
 both of us." 
 
 " Well, so do I, for your sake," she replied, and 
 then she insisted that the conversation should cease 
 and that he should try and sleep some more. The 
 nurse was again dominating the situation, and he 
 obeyed her admonition with a smile. 
 
 260 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 IT was a weird congregation that in the square 
 at Krugersdorp on the afternoon of January 2, 
 1896, and a part of the next day. The troopers 
 had been rounded up like so many sheep that is, 
 those who had not been killed or wounded, and, as 
 the jail at Krugersdorp would accommodate only a 
 fractional part of them, the great majority were 
 confined behind a strong cordon of Boers in the 
 public square. 
 
 This was even better than being locked up in 
 one of the two close, dirty little rooms which con 
 stituted the jail, although it was attended with 
 even greater danger. Still, they were privileged 
 to breathe the fresh air, and were not obliged to 
 make constant war on vermin. In these two par 
 ticulars the advantage was on the side of those in 
 the square. 
 
 The danger which confronted them was not 
 
 quite so loathsome, although it was somewhat more 
 261 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 serious. Beyond the encircling cordon of Boers 
 could be seen a sea of angry, excited faces, and a 
 hundred arms wildly gesticulating, and across the 
 intervening space were hurled cries of " Kill them !" 
 or " Hang them ! " This request finally became a 
 threat, and it would doubtless have been carried 
 into execution but for the interference of the 
 guards, who, however much they may have sympa 
 thized with the desires of their countrymen, dared 
 not comply with the savage request or permit the 
 threats to be carried out. 
 
 Gone was the dull stolidity of the populace. It 
 was replaced by an excited fanaticism. They are 
 slow to anger, and equally slow to forgiveness. 
 There was in their manner a vindictiveness amount 
 ing to hate. They derided their captives in the 
 bitterest language they could employ, and the fact 
 that only a fraction of what they said was under 
 stood by their prisoners did not seem to detract 
 from the satisfaction they derived from giving 
 utterance to it. It was hardly to be expected that 
 they would view the situation through English 
 eyes, and of the particular reason which animated 
 
 the raiders in their wild course they were then in 
 262 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 ignorance. At that time Jameson's dispatch box, 
 containing the letter from the Johannesburg com 
 mittee, begging him to come to their assistance, 
 had not become public property. As the Boers 
 summed up the matter, this was simply another 
 assault by the English on their cherished liberties 
 and an attempt to subjugate them just as they had 
 subjugated their fathers in the south countries. 
 They believed the hand of God was in the failure, 
 and they taunted the captives, not only of the ill- 
 success of this attempt, but of that rankling thorn 
 in the British heart (which is also the great pride 
 of the Boer), Majuba Hill. 
 
 Around Jameson they danced like a parcel of 
 demons. Next to Cecil Rhodes, he was the man 
 they most hated, and now they had him in their 
 power. They jeered at him, shook their fists at 
 him, and even tried to spit on him. But calm, un- 
 noticing, imperturbable, greater in adversity than 
 he had been in prosperity, he pulled his hat over 
 his eyes and nonchalantly puffed away at a cigar 
 ette. His coolness was an inspiration to his men. 
 Seeing that he was not dismayed by the turn events 
 
 had taken, they, too, decided to put a brave face 
 263 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 on the matter. A few of them were fearful, how 
 ever. 
 
 "What do you suppose they'll do with us?" 
 asked one white- faced stripling. 
 
 "Hang us, maybe," retorted a bronzed veteran 
 of thirty- five, expectorating, as he withdrew his 
 pipe from his mouth. 
 
 " Oh, why did I ever leave home ? " continued 
 the boy. " If I had been shot, I wouldn't have 
 cared so much ; but to die at the hands of these 
 ruffians " 
 
 " Shut up ! " retorted the other, glaring savagely 
 at him. "Don't be a baby; you ain't dead yet. 
 Do you want to let them see that you are afraid of 
 them ? Hush up ! That's what would please them 
 most. What do you say, Irish ? " 
 
 "Divil a word," answered Pat. 
 
 " What ! Are you afraid, too ? " 
 
 "Well, there are places in the wurrld I'd rather 
 be nor here." 
 
 " 1 suppose you'd rather be on your estates in 
 Ireland than here, eh? " 
 
 " Well, a sight o' ould Ireland would be more t' 
 
 me mind than this place ; but so far as estates go, 
 264 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 all I ever expect to have is six foot o' earth, an' I 
 suppose I'll get that here as well as elsewhere, al 
 though the divil a bit of a hurry am I in to fore 
 close the mortgage." 
 
 " Good for you, Irish," was the hearty comment, 
 as a laugh went around the little group at his 
 quaint answer. 
 
 " I wouldn't mind," continued the youngster, de 
 sirous of vindicating himself, " if we hadn't been 
 caught in such a miserable way. Now, we'd have 
 fought our way through if some of those people in 
 Johannesburg, who were so anxious to have us help 
 them, had helped themselves by coming out and 
 showing us the way into the place." 
 
 " Don't mention them," retorted the veteran sav 
 agely. " They're brave enough in talk. Let the 
 
 dead past bury the past. D n them, they got 
 
 us into the hole, and now we'll get out, if we get 
 out at all, without asking their help." 
 
 " Yes ; but how are we to get out ? " asked the 
 boy. 
 
 " I'm no clairvoyant; ask me something easier," 
 retorted the other; " but I've been in worse places 
 
 than this with Dr. Jim, and he's never failed to 
 265 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 pull himself out before, and he wouldn't this time 
 but for pshaw! I'm wandering again. Well, 
 we're not shot yet, and before we are old Kruger 
 will have a word to say, and likewise Joe Cham 
 berlain, so " 
 
 His remarks were interrupted by the command 
 to march. The Boers had formed in lines on either 
 side of them, the raiders were arranged in columns 
 of fours in the centre, and the long ride to Pre 
 toria was begun. 
 
 " Have y' seen anything o' Masther John ? " 
 asked Pat of Jenkins as they proceeded. 
 
 "Not a sign," replied Jenkins. 
 
 " I'm afeard he's dead, " was the Irishman's re 
 joinder. " I left him on the field beyant while I 
 went to get some wather, an' they got me before I 
 could get back. He was desperate bad, I'm think- 
 in'." 
 
 "Perhaps he escaped," suggested Jenkins. 
 " Some of the boys did," he continued reassur 
 ingly. 
 
 "No; there was no escape for him," was Pat's 
 mournful reply. "He was badly hurt; I could 
 
 tell that." 
 
 266 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " Yes, I'm afraid he's done for," added Alexan* 
 der. " I came across him on the field, just before 
 the last rush was made, and it was certainly all 
 day with him. " 
 
 "P'raps 'tis betther so," continued Pat softly; 
 "but he was a brave man," he added, speaking 
 to himself. " I hope the Lord will be good to 
 him." 
 
 "Why couldn't we make a break?" asked the 
 youngster who had first spoken. " Here are nearly 
 five hundred of us; there are scarcely more of 
 them. If we were to make a dash in different 
 directions, there would be hope of some of us 
 reaching Johannesburg." 
 
 "Yes; we could make a break," retorted the 
 
 veteran; "but " He grunted significantly 
 
 and resumed his pipe without deigning to com 
 plete his objection in words. 
 
 " If it wor a steeplechase, we'd have a chance," 
 added Pat ; " but their bullets could overtake our 
 horses very quickly, an' if wan o' them said, 'Wait 
 a minute ! ' I'm thinkin' we'd mind." 
 
 " Right you are, Irish," grunted the other. " No, 
 
 no; we'll see how it ends in some other way. It's 
 267 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 time enough for such a hopeless attempt when 
 there is no other hope." 
 
 And so, amid a vicious enthusiasm, they entered 
 Pretoria. The capital was thronged with Boers. 
 The news of the intended arrival of the British had 
 brought in hundreds and thousands from the out 
 lying farms. They jeered the raiders, and even 
 pelted some of them with missiles. Finally the 
 doors of the jail closed on them all. 
 
 "No; they must not die," said President 
 Kruger, rising in the midst of his excited cab 
 inet. " We have been greater than they in war ; 
 we'll show them that we can also be great in 
 peace." 
 
 For forty-eight hours the old man had not 
 touched his bed. The sentiment of the populace 
 was that the English had forfeited all rights to be 
 considered as soldiers of the Queen. They de 
 manded the blood of the Englishmen, and proba 
 bly but for the determined stand taken by the old 
 President their demands would have been acceded 
 to. He placed a heavy guard about the jail, and 
 
 threatened to punish his soldiers by forfeiting their 
 268 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 lives if they permitted any harm to come to the 
 Englishmen. 
 
 "But this is not war," some remonstrated. 
 " They are no better than a band of robbers, who 
 come into our country for murder and pillage, and 
 they deserve no better treatment. " 
 
 " That is only partly true," Kruger answered. 
 " We now know that pillage was not the motive of 
 most of them. The motives of the leaders we do 
 know, thanks to the information we have been able 
 to obtain, and they shall be punished ; but these 
 men were only cats' paws to pull the chestnuts out 
 of the fire for others." 
 
 " What do you intend to do with them ? " 
 
 "Release them." 
 
 " Release them ? " they asked in astonishment. 
 " But that will be looked upon as a sign of weak 
 ness rather than as one of mercy. We ought to 
 inflict some punishment." 
 
 " Let their own government, whose laws they 
 broke before they broke ours, punish them. We 
 will put the burden on it and see how it acquits 
 itself." 
 
 "Their government will simply applaud them." 
 269 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 " That may be, although I do not think so. At 
 any rate, it will compel their government to justify 
 itself in the eyes of the world." 
 
 " But are we to submit to such an indignity 
 without resenting it ? " 
 
 " No, we will resent it, but in the proper man 
 ner and on the proper persons. These men are 
 not half so much to blame as the Johannesburg 
 leaders, who induced them to come by false prom 
 ises and lying stories. It is on them we will visit 
 our wrath. They have calumnied us in the eyes 
 of the world, and the world will justify us in pun 
 ishing them. Against them we have the positive 
 proof. We know who the leaders are, and the let 
 ter they sent is now in our possession and can be 
 used against them. Let the matter be settled in 
 our courts, and in the mean time let us turn these 
 prisoners over to the English government. " 
 
 But still some murmured. They wanted to kill 
 every man in the troop. They argued that such 
 an open act of filibustering, inasmuch as it had cost 
 the Boers money and lives, deserved nothing bet 
 ter than death. But Kruger was obdurate, and 
 
 crafty in his obduracy. 
 
 270 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " No," he said, " let us follow the plan we have 
 outlined. If we take their lives, it will stir up in 
 England a sentiment against us. At the present 
 time we have them in the wrong and no sentiment 
 can justify their actions. If we go to the extreme 
 lengths in which we would be justified, we may 
 stir up a war for which we are not fully prepared. 
 This is simply the preliminary skirmish. We now 
 know just what they want. Let us wait, and, 
 when the time for battle comes, as it surely will 
 come, we will be prepared to fight on more equal 
 terms. I say the prisoners shall be released." 
 
 271 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 " Now, Muriel, don't you think I am well enough 
 to leave here ? " asked Jack as he arose from his 
 cot and limped, with the assistance of a cane, to 
 where she was sitting. 
 
 She smiled at the request ; she had heard it a 
 dozen times before ; but each time she had shaken 
 her head and had bade him wait a -little longer. 
 
 " You are hardly strong enough, dear," she re 
 plied. " Dr. Decker said this morning that, while 
 you might get along all right, he would prefer to 
 have you wait another week. It is better not to 
 take chances." 
 
 " But I can't wait, " he replied, with some impa 
 tience. " That letter you handed me a few mo 
 ments ago contained bad news. It was from my 
 mother. My brother died recently, killed by a 
 fall from a horse, and she wants me to return as 
 soon as possible. The letter was sent to Johan 
 nesburg, and has been there a fortnight already. 
 272 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 I feel that I ought to return without a moment's 
 delay." 
 
 " In that event, perhaps, it may be managed to 
 have you start to-day. " 
 
 " Have the doctor arrange it if you can. I am 
 really quite strong, and the long sea voyage will 
 put me on my feet again. I am sick of this place. 
 I feel myself growing more and more petulant 
 every day. I fear that I have already sorely tried 
 your patience with my whims." 
 
 " No, no, dear ; don't say that. Since the mem 
 bers of the Ambulance Corps arrived, I have been 
 able to devote myself entirely to you. My labor 
 has been one of love, indeed, and it has been very 
 light. I will not let you say that you were petu 
 lant. On the contrary, you have been very pa 
 tient." 
 
 Jack glowed with pleasure. 
 
 " Well," he added, " my recovery is all owing to 
 you ; I fear that but for your care I never would 
 have recovered." 
 
 " Oh, yes, you would !" she protested. 
 
 " Well, not in such a short space of time," he 
 obstinately persisted. " I can't tell you how much 
 273 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 your presence has aided me, Muriel ; it has been a 
 tonic to simply look at you." 
 
 " Oh, you flatterer ! " she said, and then went to 
 find Dr. Deeker. The doctor at first shook his 
 head ; but finally, when the situation was fully ex 
 plained to him, consented, on condition that Muriel 
 should go with him. 
 
 "I will accompany him as far as Johannesburg," 
 she said, " or perhaps to Cape Town. Then I will 
 await some friends and return with them." 
 
 " Return with them ?" asked Jack in surprise. 
 "And what am I to do return alone? " 
 
 " The ship's doctor will see that you are well 
 cared for," said Dr. Deeker. " I think there will 
 be no danger once you are in his care." 
 
 " But are you going to desert me, Muriel? Am 
 I again to leave you behind ? " 
 
 " Hush, dear ; I would gladly go, but it would 
 hardly be proper, you know, and it is better that 
 you should not wait for me since your departure is 
 so urgent. " 
 
 " Bother the proprieties," he growled. " I hadn't 
 thought of that." He was silent for a moment, 
 
 and then he broke out with : " Muriel, why may 
 274 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 we not be married here, and then go back on our 
 honeymoon ? " 
 
 " Here in Krugersdorp ? " 
 
 "No; in Johannesburg. Why need we wait 
 until we go back to England ? The rector there 
 can marry us, and we need not delay until we reach 
 home. Besides, if we were to have a grand wed 
 ding, we could scarcely do so without another in 
 terval of time, because of my brother's recent 
 death." 
 
 " I want no grand wedding," said Muriel softly. 
 " I have lost all ambitions in that line. I would 
 not consent to one under any conditions. I have 
 so changed since I came here that a great display 
 would be simply odious now. Let us be married 
 as quietly as possible. " 
 
 " Then why not by the rector at Johannesburg ? " 
 
 " But the time is so short, and there is hardly 
 anybody there whom we know. " 
 
 " We know Kooste, for one. After all he has 
 done in your behalf and in mine, too there is 
 no one whom I would rather have as my best man. 
 And you can't you think of somebody who would 
 
 be acceptable to you ? " 
 
 275 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 " I suppose the rector's wife would be very glad 
 to assist me, for that matter; and I'm sure there is 
 no one in this country I would prefer." 
 
 " Then why not let us arrange it on that basis ? " 
 asked Jack eagerly. " This concerns us most of 
 all. Why need we consider others? With a 
 grand wedding we might overlook some, and 
 thereby give offence. Here we cannot be consid 
 ered as doing anything of the sort, under the cir 
 cumstances." 
 
 " But I have no trousseau," she laughingly ob 
 jected. 
 
 " I'll pass all that, if you will. For my part, 
 there is no trousseau of which I shall ever be so 
 proud as I am of this little uniform you wear as a 
 nurse." 
 
 "Very well, dear; as you will. I fancy that I 
 will be able to make a presentable appearance after 
 I have rummaged through my trunks, which are 
 still at the rector's, and you " 
 
 " And I," he broke in with a laugh. " Well, 
 you're not marrying a suit of clothes, and I am not 
 wedding a trousseau. We'll call all that settled, 
 
 and I fancy that by settling it so easily we will 
 276 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 have saved ourselves a lot of anxiety, which would 
 otherwise be our lot to bear." 
 
 And so it was arranged. The journey to Johan 
 nesburg was made without difficulty. Jack de 
 clared that he was not at all fatigued; but, on the 
 contrary, quite "fit," a little expression of his own, 
 which he had made use of time and again in the 
 hospital when Muriel, making her daily rounds, in 
 quired as to his condition. The rector was some 
 what appalled by the suddenness of the notice, but 
 added that the task assigned to him would be 
 neither a long nor a difficult one. Kooste felt 
 that he was complimented in being selected as as 
 sistant, and the rector's wife was likewise happy 
 when Muriel requested her presence. 
 
 The ceremony was performed early the next 
 morning, and there were only five persons con 
 cerned in it directly, but no grand wedding, with 
 all the attending pomp of Parisian creations, flow 
 ers, music, and admiring hundreds, could have pro 
 duced more than a fraction of the happiness that 
 was evident upon that simple occasion. They 
 lunched with the rector and his wife, and that 
 
 afternoon took the train for Cape Town, after ascer- 
 277 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 taining that by so doing they would be able 
 to make close connections with one of the fast 
 steamers. 
 
 "Who do you think I have just seen, Muriel? " 
 asked Jack as he entered the railroad carriage, after 
 having left her for a few moments in order to make 
 some slight purchases. Muriel couldn't think, and 
 said so. 
 
 " Harrington, my American partner," continued 
 Jack, answering his own question. "He arrived 
 in the city yesterday, having come down to see if 
 he could get some clew to my whereabouts. Some 
 one told him I had just started for the station, and 
 he came after me. He was almost out of breath 
 from running, and I had but a minute in which to 
 talk. He told me that the mine promised good 
 results, and I requested him to return at once, 
 after getting some supplies needed in the camp, 
 promising to organize a company when I reached 
 London and supply the machinery which will 
 be necessary to develop the mine. I have here 
 some samples which he brought along. Harring 
 ton says they are excellent, and that he has no 
 
 doubt the mine will be a success. I will have 
 278 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 them analyzed when I return, and if the analysis 
 is satisfactory, I fancy I shall have no difficulty in 
 finding the necessary money to enable the boys to 
 work the find. It seems the wheel of fortune has 
 been given another whirl, and that I am again on 
 top. " 
 
 "I am so glad for your sake," said Muriel 
 softly. 
 
 "And I for yours," answered Jack. 
 
 At Cape Town they found a steamer just ready 
 to start. They transferred their belongings with 
 out difficulty, and in a few hours the steady throb 
 of the machinery told them that they were head 
 ing for England. 
 
 " I wish I knew what had become of Alexander 
 and Pat and all the others," said Jack meditatively. 
 " I heard that a number of them were killed and 
 were buried in one of the spruits on the field. The 
 others were taken to Pretoria; but who is living 
 and who is dead I could not find out. No commu 
 nication was allowed. For a few days the whole 
 country was cut off from the outside world. Just 
 before I left I was informed that there was a rumor 
 that they were all to be released and sent as pris- 
 279 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 oners to Cape Town. I could not wait to verify 
 it, however. Poor fellows ! I would wait and as 
 sist them if I felt I could be of any service." 
 
 They were glad to get away from Johannesburg. 
 This overgrown mining city now represented to 
 them little that was pleasant, and much that was 
 painful. A cordon of Boer soldiers surrounded it, 
 and its internal affairs were in a state of panic. 
 Kruger had carried out his word, in ordering the 
 arrest of some of the leaders of the movement 
 which resulted in Jameson's raid, and had com 
 pletely terrified the populace. Even at that day 
 there were fears that he would order the bombard 
 ment of the city. The arms and ammunition which 
 had been so carefully smuggled into the city had 
 been deposited with the high commissioner; but 
 the Boers grumbled that some of these were being 
 held by the Outlanders, and were angry. The bat 
 tery which had been placed on the heights re 
 mained there still. No one could tell who would 
 be the next victim of arrest. One by one the mem 
 bers of the committee had been taken, and every 
 body stood in fear. Even in their own homes the 
 
 people spoke in subdued terms. Spies were every- 
 280 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 where. Some of the more venturesome of the 
 fugitives had come back; but the old order of 
 things had not returned. The uprising had been 
 simply a fiasco. There was no question but that 
 President Kruger had won the trick from them. 
 All their carefully planned schemes had failed. 
 That fact settled the whole question. Success 
 commends a cause, however weak in merit ; fail 
 ure simply condemns it. 
 
 Whatever others may have thought, there were 
 two persons on the steamer who felt that the trip 
 was a very short one when the chalky cliffs of 
 England loomed up before them one morning. 
 Nevertheless, they, too, were glad to welcome the 
 sight. 
 
 "The last time I saw them my heart was heavy," 
 said Jack as he drew Muriel to the rail. " I did 
 not dare to hope that in this short space of time I 
 would be able to look upon them and with you, 
 too you, whom I left in England." 
 
 " Yes, and, when I saw them last, there were 
 tears in my eyes. Now, if there are tears there, 
 they are tears of gladness." 
 
 "Well, well," continued Jack, ruminatively, 
 281 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 " what a strange world is this. The Lord seems 
 to order things to suit purposes which are alto 
 gether beyond our conception, and yet his plans 
 work out for the best, after all. When I left here, 
 I was a poor fellow, going out into the world sim 
 ply as an adventurer. Now I return a prospectively 
 wealthy man as a result of these efforts, and I am 
 also Lord Derrington; and you, Muriel, you are 
 Lady Derrington. Have you thought of that?" 
 
 " Yes ; I have thought of it, and I am glad of it 
 for your sake ; but it would mean nothing to me if 
 you were not my husband.** 
 
 Whereat he kissed her. 
 
 283 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 IT was March in old England, and the blush of 
 spring was visible on every hand. Nowhere was 
 the prospect more beautiful than at Derrington 
 Hall, where Jack was now master of the estates 
 and successor to the title, owing to the death of 
 his brother. At the Hall, whose windows twinkled 
 with the reflection of hundreds of lights, the mas 
 ter and mistress were entertaining at dinner a party 
 of their intimate friends. In addition to his 
 mother and sister and other relatives, there was 
 Muriel, now Lady Derrington, Lord and Lady 
 Stanmore, Lord Popham, Mr. Weiss, Georgia Dare 
 and Clara St. John yes, even Kooste, whose usual 
 gravity had been penetrated by the animation of 
 the scene, and who joined in the fun as heartily as 
 the best of them. Apparently the animosity of 
 the recent conflict had vanished ; but it was still a 
 popular topic of conversation indeed, it may be 
 
 said to have been the sole topic. 
 283 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 " Wonder what our old friends in Johannesburg 
 are doing now? " asked Miss St. John. 
 
 " Digging golt, proberly," answered Mr. Weiss. 
 
 " Yes ; I imagine they haven't wasted a great 
 deal of time in getting down to business again. 
 No doubt old Kruger has made it cost some of 
 them a pretty penny, and will see that others are 
 properly taxed. Well, those of us who dance must 
 be expected to be called upon to pay the piper. 
 When I think of what might have been " 
 
 " Oh, let us not worry about the might have 
 beens ! " coaxed Muriel. " Let us talk of what is." 
 
 "I am satisfied to contemplate what is," re 
 sponded Jack, with a beaming smile at the blush 
 ing figure by his side. " But what was, and what 
 might have been, are so intimately associated 
 with it that I occasionally find myself wandering 
 from that particular subject and speculating on the 
 others. Now, if we had reached Johannesburg that 
 day " 
 
 " That's the trouble with the might have beens," 
 interrupted Muriel. " There is always an 'if 
 somewhere about them." 
 
 " Yes ; but if there had been no ' if in the mat- 
 284 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 ter, it may be that we would not be here to-night. 
 ' If ' I had not been wounded, and ' if ' I had not 
 been taken to the hospital, I might not have met 
 you, and ' if ' you had not gone out to the hospital, 
 I might not be here to-night. " 
 
 " There you are again ! Haven't I told you not 
 to exaggerate my importance ! " 
 
 " To do that would be impossible, Lord Derring- 
 ton," remarked Kooste. " If that were the only 
 thing to commend your wife, that act alone would 
 mark her as one woman out of a thousand. When 
 I think of that wild ride that night, and of all the 
 incidents associated with it, I sometimes wonder if 
 it was a reality and if I did not dream it." 
 
 "What do you think of the ' ifs,' Kooste?" 
 asked Jack. 
 
 " So far as the raid was concerned, I think that 
 if the troopers had reached Johannesburg (and they 
 came dangerously near doing that),and if the control 
 of events could have been left in Jameson's hands, 
 there would be no South African Republic to-day. 
 It would have been a fight to the death, but the 
 Transvaal would probably by this time have be 
 come an English dominion. I need give no offence, 
 285 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 I think, in saying that personally I am very glad 
 you did not succeed ; but if, when you had reached 
 there, you had not stopped to analyze some of the 
 stories which induced Jameson to start, there 
 would have been well, I shudder to think of all 
 the other ' ifs,' " he concluded. " Let us talk of 
 something more pleasant." 
 
 " How about my stock in the Anglo-Saxon 
 Mine?" asked Lord Popham. "Shall I sell or 
 would you advise me to hold on to it ? " 
 
 " Hold on to it, by all means," replied Jack joy 
 ously. " By the way, I received a letter from Har 
 rington to-day, and the mine is ' booming/ to quote 
 his original phrase. As soon as our machinery is 
 set up, there will be millions in it. What's 
 that ? " he asked of the butler, who had whispered 
 something to him. " Oh, tell him I can't see him 
 to-night ! " he added, with a touch of impatience. 
 " Ask him if he can't come around in the morn 
 ing?" 
 
 " Yes, my lord," replied the old functionary, re 
 treating from the room, only to return in a mo 
 ment. "He says he must see you, my lord, and 
 
 will not leave until he does. " 
 286 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " Must see me ? He's devilish persistent." 
 
 " Yes ; he says it is as important that you should 
 see him as it is that he should see you. " 
 
 " Well, he's a cheeky chap to attempt to dictate 
 in my affairs. You say he's a rough- looking fel 
 low? Did he give you his name? " 
 
 "Yes, my lord. He told me to say that 
 ' Pathrick O'Hara, Esquire, late of the survice of 
 Masther John Derrington, later of Dr. Jim's throop- 
 ers, and later of Pretoria prison, was beyant,' ' 
 added the butler, with a funny imitation of an 
 Irish brogue. 
 
 "What?" they all cried in unison, each one 
 springing to his or her feet. 
 
 "Show him in, by all means!" yelled Jack. 
 "Show him in!" 
 
 A moment later and the butler had announced 
 "Pathrick O'Hara, Esquire," and Pat himself was 
 standing in the doorway. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, sur," he began, with a 
 bow to the floor. " Shure I thought, sur that is, 
 I didn't know, sur, that " 
 
 " Never mind what you thought and what you 
 
 didn't know!" cried Jack, almost embracing his 
 287 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 faithful follower. " Come in here and tell us what 
 you do know. That's what I want to hear; that's 
 what we all want to hear, isn't it? " he asked, ap 
 pealing to the gathering around the table. 
 
 " Yes, yes, " was the excited reply. 
 
 " First of all let me introduce you to your new 
 mistress," he added, at which the abashed Pat 
 made another of his low bows and mumbled some 
 thing about "Y'r sarvent, y'r ladyship." It was 
 followed by an introduction to all the other's in the 
 simple statement that " This is Pat," which was 
 sufficient to thoroughly identify him. 
 
 " Come now, you old rascal, tell us all about your 
 self and how you happened to desert me when I 
 needed you," continued Jack, banteringly. " How 
 was it that you happened to leave my service ? " 
 
 " Faith, sir, 'tis little I thought I'd ever come 
 back to it again," said Pat, softly, brushing his 
 sleeve across his eyes. " Oh, but 'tis me that is 
 glad t' see ye, agin, sur. Many's the day I wun- 
 dhered what had become of ye. 'Tis only since I 
 r'ached ould England that I heard that you was 
 back agin, forninst me. As soon as those divilish 
 
 Dutchmen let me go, y' couldn't see my heels for 
 
 288 
 
A TALE OP THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 dust until I struck a ship to take me home, an', 
 sure, the sthory I had to tell was that I had left ye 
 for dead out there." 
 
 " Oh, ho ! Well, you see I am worth a good 
 many dead men yet," said Jack, trying to hilari 
 ously conceal the emotion which he felt. 
 
 "Thanks be to God for that, sur." 
 
 "To that I'll say ' Amen,' Pat," replied Jack, 
 gravely. " It's not much of a subject for joking; 
 but come, tell us about yourself." 
 
 " Well, sur, shure an' there's not much t' tell. 
 Shure, afther those two days of ridin' I felt as if I 
 looked like a clothespin, so I did, an' whin those 
 Dutchmen began to fire at us, faith I fired away, 
 p'intin' this way an* that way, whenever I saw a 
 head, just like a man at a Donnybrook fair. 
 Finally I saw yerself fall from yer horse. ' The 
 Lord bechune us an' all har-r-m,' says I, ' there's 
 the masther's fell from his horse. ' With that I 
 jumped down and ran to where ye were. ' Are y' 
 much hurt, sur ? ' says I. ' Oh, it's nothin' nothin' 
 at all,' says you, ' but I wish ye'd bring me some 
 wather, Pat,' says y'. I c'd see that y' was badly 
 
 hit, sur, for y' closed y'r eyes while y' was talkin' 
 289 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 an' y'r voice was tired like, an' y'r face was as 
 white as white as that table-cloth, sur. It 
 pinched me heart t' lave ye, sur, but I thought the 
 wather would help y', an' so I made a piller from 
 me coat an' fixed it undher y'r head, an' off I ran 
 to a little brook nearby. Divil a thing had I t' 
 carry th' wather but me hat, but I filled that an' 
 was on me way back whin a loto' thimwild Dutch 
 men rode over me an' picked me up an' carried me 
 off with them. I tould them all about y', but the 
 blaggards pretended they didn't know what I was 
 sayin', an' in spite o' all I c'd do or say, they tuk 
 me off with them to Pretoria. Faith, sur, many's 
 the time I thought o' y' since, lyin' there with the 
 blood showin' through y'r shirt an' y'r face like 
 that o' a corpse, an' shure I thought y' must have 
 died on the field. Oh, God knows, sur, but 'tis 
 me that is glad to see y' agin," he concluded, and 
 the tears which stood in his eyes found sympa 
 thetic wells in the eyes of the others present. 
 "Yes, yes," said Jack, "and what, then?" 
 " What thin ? Divil a much, sur ! They dhrove 
 us to Pretoria like a lot o' sheep, an' kep' us there, 
 
 an' thin they said we was a lot o' omadhauns as 
 290 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 didn't know no betther, an' they let us go. Well, 
 sur, as soon as we could we left the blasthed coun- 
 thry behind us an' went t' the Cape, an' there we 
 shipped for ould England. I thought y'r mother 
 would like to know about y', an' that was me arrand 
 here, although I was much throubled in me mind 
 as to how I would tell her. Finally I made bould 
 an' came up to the dure. Who should open it but 
 Mary Doyle beggin' y'r pardin, ma'am, Marie 
 D'Oyle, I believe, is her right name. 
 
 " ' Fur the love o' God, Pat O'Hara, an' is that 
 yersel' ? ' says she. 
 
 " ' Tis no wan else,' says I, as sthiff as y' plaze. 
 
 " ' Wirra, Pat, but 'tis me that is glad t' see ye,' 
 says she, throwin' her arms about me neck an' hug- 
 gin' me till I was red in the face from the chokin'. 
 
 " ' Oh, the masther ' says I, breakin' down 
 
 intirely. I wanted t' tell her, but divil a wurrd 
 c'd I sphake. 
 
 " * He's up above,' said she, sphakin' softly like. 
 
 "'I hope so,' says I. * Faith he desarves a 
 place with the angels,' says I. 
 
 " With that she shrieked with laffin' as if her 
 
 sides w'd bursht. Faith, I thought she had gone 
 291 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 looney altogether, an' says I, 'May God bechune 
 us an' all har-rm, but the gir-rl is as crazy as a ban 
 shee.' With that she bursht out int' some more 
 laffin', an' finally I got mad at her. ' Shame on 
 y',' says I. ' How dar y' laugh at sich a thing? 
 Shame on y' ! Y'd dance on y'r mother's coffin.' 
 With that she sthuffed her aprin in her mouth, 
 an' finally, to make a long sthory short, she says, 
 says she, ' Yes, Pat, he's up above, an' he's with 
 an angel, too. Go up,' says she, ' 'tis he that will 
 wantt' see ye.' With that I sushpected that there 
 was a cat in the male somewhere, an' finally she 
 told me as how y' had come back alive, thank God ! 
 I was so overj'yed that whin the butler man came 
 back an' told me y' was busy, I couldn't go away 
 until I had seen y', an', faith, I tole him so, as 
 gran' as the lord lootinant o' Ireland, for which I 
 ax y'r pardin', sur, for Mary didn't tell me that 
 there was a dinner party, or I'd have waited. 
 That's all there is to it, sur." 
 
 For a moment no one spoke. The recital of the 
 faithful fellow, and his devotion to his master, had 
 brought tears in place of the laughter which greeted 
 
 his narration of his encounter with Mary Doyle. 
 292 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 " If you had gone away, Pat, I never would have 
 forgiven you," retorted Jack. "Old fellow, I'll 
 never forget all that you tried to do and all that 
 you did. Let me welcome you to Derrington Hall. 
 As long as a roof shelters my head, that roof shall 
 be shared with you ; and as for Mary Doyle," he 
 added, " I'll see that my wife fixes up that little 
 matter. " 
 
 " Thank y' kindly, sur, but 'tis meself as thinks 
 as it is already fixed," blushed Pat, twirling his 
 hat on his thumb and keeping his eyes on that 
 operation in juggling as if it was a matter of 
 life and death to see that the hat was kept spin 
 ning. " Shure, whin she hugged me, I hugged her 
 back. 'Will McGinnis mind?' says I. ' An' 
 what if he does ? ' says she. ' Faith, I don' know, ' 
 says I ; * but when I left y', y' was in a fair way to 
 swap y'r name for his,' says I. 'Divil a fear o' it/ 
 says she, tossin' her head in the air an' tiltin' back 
 that pug nose o* hers. ' I'd rather be called 
 O'Hara any way. Shure, the O'Haras were kings 
 o' Ireland,' says she; an' what c'd I say but ap 
 prove her ch'ice? So, sur," he concluded, "if 
 Mary can sthay as the maid o' the misthress, 
 2 93 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 'twould tickle me heart to sthay as the man o' the 
 masther. " 
 
 " Then tickle your heart at once, lad," said Jack, 
 heartily. " And, now, I call on you for a toast in 
 honor of old times." 
 
 " A toast, sur ! Shure I know nothin o' what t' 
 say." 
 
 " Never mind. Say anything. " 
 
 " 'Twouldn't do for me t' say : ' Here's t' ye as 
 good as ye are, an' here's t' me as bad as I am ; 
 for as good as ye are, an' as bad as I am, I'm as 
 good as ye are, as bad as I am.' No, that wouldn't 
 do at all, would it ? And yet that's the only one I 
 remember." 
 
 "No, that won't do," said Jack, shaking with 
 laughter. " Here, pledge us to whatever is upper 
 most in your mind." 
 
 " Well, sur, th' one person uppermost in my mind 
 is one that's now in sore disthress, from which I 
 hope he will come out wid flyin' colors. Faith, I 
 c'n see him now wid the bullets flyin' all around 
 him, ridin' here an' there to cheer up the boys, an' 
 I c'n see him agin whin we wuz all prisoners an' 
 
 in the dumps, thinkin' that we might be shot the 
 294 
 
A TALE OF THE AFRICAN VELDT. 
 
 nex' minute, goin' around whisperin' : ' Buck up, 
 boys ! ' God bless him ! I don' know much about 
 toasts, sur, but if I may ask ye to dhrink to any 
 body, this is my toast : ' To Dr. Jim ! " 
 
 " To Dr. Jim ! " they all replied, with a cheer. 
 
 " And now, let us say good night. The hour is 
 late and we are excited by the news Pat has brought 
 us. To-morrow we will listen to the rest of the 
 story," remonstrated Jack. 
 
 "One moment," interrupted Lady Stanmore. 
 "We have all pledged toasts this evening, but the 
 master of the house remains to be heard from. I 
 move that he be called upon for a final toast." 
 
 "Yes, yes; a toast," they urged. 
 
 Jack arose and glanced at the enthusiastic little 
 group, standing, with uplifted glasses, around the 
 table, awaiting his announcement. From one to 
 the other his gaze went, as if trying to find an idea 
 for appropriate expression. His eyes were moist 
 with the happiness of the occasion. 
 
 "Hark!" he said, raising a warning finger as 
 the strains of the orchestra in the conservatory 
 came softly to his ears. "There's my inspira 
 tion. Ah, my heart has changed since last I heard 
 295 
 
MURIEL STERLING. 
 
 that air ! Then I was taking a last view of old 
 England, not daring to hope that I would ever see 
 it again ; and the ship's band added to my sadness 
 by playing that tune. To-night it puts the climax 
 on my happiness. Listen! Do you hear it? 
 Friends all," he concluded, lifting his glass and 
 bowing to his wife, " I pledge you ' The Girl I 
 Left Behind Me!'" 
 
 THE END. 
 
 296 
 
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 RENEWED BOOKS ARE SUBJECT TO IMMEDIATE 
 RECALL 
 
 
 LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS 
 
 Book Slip-70m-9,'65(F7151s4)458 
 
N 443210 
 
 PS 3519 
 
 Jewell, A. E83 
 
 Muriel Sterling. M8 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 DAVIS