登陆注册
5228000000037

第37章 CHAPTER VIII THE CAMP OF DEATH(2)

Well, she had served my turn, for I heard afterwards that no other ship put into the Bay for a whole year from the date she left it. So if I had not caught her at Port Elizabeth I could not have come at all, except, of course, overland. This at best must have taken many months, and was moreover a journey that no man could enter on alone.

Now I get back to my story again.

There was no inn at Lorenzo Marquez. Through the kindness of one of his native or half-breed wives, who could talk a little Dutch, I managed, however, to get a lodging in a tumble-down house belonging to a dissolute person who called himself Don Jose Ximenes, but who was really himself a half-breed. Here good fortune befriended me. Don Jose, when sober, was a trader with the natives, and a year before had acquired from them two good buck wagons. Probably they were stolen from some wandering Boers or found derelict after their murder or death by fever.

These wagons he was only too glad to sell for a song. I think I gave him twenty pounds English for the two, and thirty more for twelve oxen that he had bought at the same time as the wagons. They were fine beasts of the Afrikander breed, that after a long rest had grown quite fat and strong.

Of course twelve oxen were not enough to draw two wagons, or even one.

Therefore, hearing that there were natives on the mainland who possessed plenty of cattle, I at once gave out that I was ready to buy, and pay well in blankets, cloth, beads and so forth. The result was that within two days I had forty or fifty to choose from, small animals of the Zulu character and, I should add, unbroken. Still they were sturdy and used to that veld and its diseases. Here it was that my twelve trained beasts came in. By putting six of them to each wagon, two as fore- and two as after-oxen, and two in the middle, Hans and I were able to get the other ten necessary to make up a team of sixteen under some sort of control.

Heavens! how we worked during the week or so which went by before it was possible for me to leave Lorenzo Marquez. What with mending up and loading the wagons, buying and breaking in the wild oxen, purchasing provisions, hiring native servants--of whom I was lucky enough to secure eight who belonged to one of the Zulu tribes and desired to get back to their own country, whence they had wandered with some Boers, I do not think that we slept more than two or three hours out of the twenty-four.

But, it may be asked, what was my aim, whither went I, what inquiries had I made? To answer the last question first, I had made every possible inquiry, but with little or no result. Marie's letter had said that they were encamped on the bank of the Crocodile River, about fifty miles from Delagoa Bay. I asked everyone I met among the Portuguese--who, after all, were not many--if they had heard of such an encampment of emigrant Boers. But these Portuguese appeared to have heard nothing, except my host, Don Jose, who had a vague recollection of something--he could not remember what.

The fact was at this time the few people who lived at Lorenzo Marquez were too sodden with liquor and other vices to take any interest in outside news that did not immediately concern them. Moreover, the natives whom they flogged and oppressed if they were their servants, or fought with if they were not, told them little, and almost nothing that was true, for between the two races there was an hereditary hate stretching back for generations. So from the Portuguese I gained no information.

Then I turned to the Kaffirs, especially to those from whom I had bought the cattle. _They_ had heard that some Boers reached the banks of the Crocodile moons ago--how many they could not tell. But that country, they said, was under the rule of a chief who was hostile to them, and killed any of their people who ventured thither. Therefore they knew nothing for certain. Still, one of them stated that a woman whom he had bought as a slave, and who had passed through the district in question a few weeks before, told him that someone had told her that these Boers were all dead of sickness. She added that she had seen their wagon caps from a distance, so, if they were dead, "their wagons were still alive."

I asked to see this woman, but the native refused to produce her. After a great deal of talk, however, he offered to sell her to me, saying that he was tired of her. So I bargained with the man and finally agreed for her purchase for three pounds of copper wire and eight yards of blue cloth. Next morning she was produced, an extremely ugly person with a large, flat nose, who came from somewhere in the interior of Africa, having, I gathered, been taken captive by Arabs and sold from hand to hand. Her name, as near as I can pronounce it, was Jeel.

I had great difficulty in establishing communication with her, but ultimately found that one of my newly hired Kaffirs could understand something of her language. Even then it was hard to make her talk, for she had never seen a white man, and thought I had bought her for some dreadful purpose or other. However, when she found that she was kindly treated, she opened her lips and told me the same story that her late master had repeated, neither more nor less. Finally I asked her whether she could guide me to the place where she had seen the "live wagons."

She answered: "Oh, yes," as she had travelled many roads and never forgot any of them.

This, of course, was all I wanted from the woman, who, I may add, ultimately gave me a good deal of trouble. The poor creature seemed never to have experienced kindness, and her gratitude for the little I showed her was so intense that it became a nuisance. She followed me about everywhere, trying to do me service in her savage way, and even attempted to seize my food and chew it before I put it into my own mouth--to save me the trouble, I suppose. Ultimately I married her, somewhat against her will, I fear, to one of the hired Kaffirs, who made her a very good husband, although when he was dismissed from my service she wanted to leave him and follow me.

同类推荐
  • 证治汇补

    证治汇补

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 婴儿论

    婴儿论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Story of a Pioneer

    The Story of a Pioneer

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 准斋杂说

    准斋杂说

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • King Henry VIII

    King Henry VIII

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 绿茶养成之路

    绿茶养成之路

    别人的快穿系统都是攻略男神,金手指,美貌设定值。她的却是绿茶,妥妥的绿茶体质。每到一个任务世界必备男主“盯上”,然后彻底秒掉结束任务。好家伙嘛,什么任务世界她没去过?穿成妖孽美男,勾搭绝世美人,这都不在话下。至于穿成一株植物,和别的药草争宠,这是什么设定?系统你给我出来,回应周雨晴的只有卡卡卡卡卡的声音。好吧,尽管这样她还得做任务,她的绿茶养成之路就这样开始了。
  • 乱入魔王

    乱入魔王

    他和父母美好的生活,在一个凄惨的夜晚被打破。那一晚他失去了所有的亲人,便一夜求魔。一生成魔。从此背负诸多坏名走上了一条不一样的修仙路。
  • 我的女友是女妖

    我的女友是女妖

    妖帝陨落、群妖乱舞。一场意外,才发现被校花倒追也是一种痛苦……更让人意想不到的是,这世界远非我们表面所知的那么简单,我的女友竟然是女妖………
  • 帝君专宠:腹黑小娘子

    帝君专宠:腹黑小娘子

    她是21世纪华夏大陆,医武世家的继承人又是令人闻风丧胆的金牌第一杀手……一朝穿越成为七岁小孩!虐白莲、打天下、交知心朋友,成为一代女强人。可偏偏遇见他……因他笑,因他哭,因他而付出了生命。却遭到了噬心的痛。如剜心剔骨!当她再次重生时,她誓言:“我要让对不起我的人,付出代价”
  • 柳树湾的天空(中国好小说)

    柳树湾的天空(中国好小说)

    大学生唐风为了建设家乡柳树湾,辞去高薪的工作,回到家乡竞选村主任。当上村主任后,唐风采取一系列的措施,柳树湾发生了很大的改变。唐风也与心仪的女孩互生情愫,可是父亲的突然倒下,让他不得已回到了南方……
  • TOPICS

    TOPICS

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 天剑图腾

    天剑图腾

    十年受辱修剑心,一朝觉醒惊风雨。少年用十年时间磨出一口绝世之剑,他只想告诉这个世界:心中有剑,就有无限可能,手中有剑,可与日月争辉。
  • 无限江山,一晌贪欢:词帝李煜的悲情人生

    无限江山,一晌贪欢:词帝李煜的悲情人生

    本书为散文体传记,以丰富的历史知识为背景,以李煜的词为脉络,运用散文化笔法点评、赏析,进行个性化、情感化解读, 展开李煜悲情的传奇人生。
  • 无品太子妃

    无品太子妃

    一生一世一双人,本是虚幻,是为悲剧。当他历经繁华,而她,早已不再。
  • 人是一根会思考的芦苇

    人是一根会思考的芦苇

    人既高贵又渺小,人因思想而高贵,高贵到知道自己渺小和高贵。人是自然界中最脆弱的东西,所以他是一根芦苇,但他因为会思考,可以囊括宇宙,可以通向无穷,这就是人在宇宙中的全部尊严。人是一根会思考的芦苇。神造天地,而天地不知,唯有人有知。人因会思考而高于万物,统率万物,高贵得如同世间的王。