The exigencies1 of our somewhat acrobatic tale require, at this point, that we should make a considerable bound. We shall beg the obliging reader to leap with us into the year 1834.
Hans Marais, moustached, bearded, bronzed, and in the prime of life, sits at the door of a cottage recently built close to that of his father. Beside him sits his wife—formerly Miss Gertrude Brook2, and now as sweet and pretty a young woman as you would find in a month’s ride through a country where sweet pretty women were, and still are, very numerous in proportion to the population.
Whether it was that Hans was timid, or Gertie shy, we cannot tell, but somehow it is only three months since they began their united career, and Hans considers himself to have married rather “late in life.” Gertie, being now twenty-six, begins to think herself quite an old woman. It is evident, however, that this ancient couple wear well, and are sufficiently3 happy—if we may presume to judge from appearances.
“Gertie,” said Hans, patting the fingers which handed him his big Dutch pipe, “I fear that my father is determined4 to go.”
“Do you think so?” said Gertie, while a sad expression chased the sunshine from her face.
“Yes, he says he cannot stand the treatment we Cape5-Dutchmen receive from the British Government, and that he means to give up his farm, take his waggons6 and goods, and treck away to the north, with the friends who are already preparing to go, in search of free lands in the wilderness7 where the union Jack8 does not fly.”
“I must be very stupid, Hans,” returned his wife, with a deprecating smile, “for although I’ve heard your father discussing these matters a good deal of late, I cannot quite understand them. Of course I see well enough that those men who approve of slavery must feel very much aggrieved9 by the abolition10, but your father, like yourself and many others, is not one of these—what then does he complain of?”
“Of a great deal, Gertie,” replied Hans, with an amused glance at her perplexed11 face, “and not only in connection with slavery, but other things. It would take hours of talk to tell you all.”
“But can’t you give me some sort of idea of these things in a few words?”
“Yes; at least I’ll try,” said Hans. “I need scarcely tell you that there has been a sort of ill-will in the Cape-Dutch mind against the British Government—more’s the pity—ever since the colony passed into the possession of England, owing partly to their not understanding each other, partly to incompetent12 and tyrannical Governors pursuing unwise policy, partly to unprincipled or stupid men misrepresenting the truth in England, and partly to the people of England being too ready to swallow whatever they are told.”
“What! is all the fault on the side of the English?” interrupted Gertie, with a laugh.
“Hear me out, wife,” returned Hans—“partly owing to foolish Dutchmen rebelling against authority, and taking the law into their own hands, and partly to rascally13 Dutchmen doing deeds worthy14 of execration15. Evil deeds are saddled on wrong shoulders, motives16 are misunderstood, actions are exaggerated, judges both here and in England are sometimes incompetent, prejudice and ignorance prevent veils from being removed, and six thousand miles of ocean, to say nothing of six hundred miles of land, intervene to complicate17 the confusion surrounding right or wrong.”
“Dear me! what an incomprehensible state of things!” said Gertie, opening her blue eyes very wide.
“Rather,” returned Hans, with a smile; “and yet there are sensible Englishmen and sensible Cape-Dutchmen who are pretty well agreed as to the true merits of the questions that trouble us. There is the abolition of slavery, for instance: many on both sides are convinced as to the propriety18 of that, but nearly all are agreed in condemning19 the way in which it is being gone about, believing that the consequences to many of the slaveholders will be ruinous. But it is useless to go into such matters now, Gertie. Right or wrong, many of the Dutch farmers are talking seriously of going out of the colony, and my father, I grieve to say, is among the number.”
“And you, Hans?”
“I will remain on the old homestead—at least for a time. If things improve we may induce father to return; if not, I will follow him into the wilderness.”
“And what of Considine?” asked Gertie.
“He remains20 to help me to manage the farm. There is no chance for him in the present exasperated21 state of my father’s mind. He unhappily extends his indignation against England to Englishmen, and vows22 that my sister Bertha shall never wed23 Charlie Considine.”
“Is he likely to continue in that mind?”
“I think so.”
“Then there is indeed no chance for poor Charlie,” was the rejoinder, “for Bertha Marais will never marry in direct opposition24 to her father’s wishes. Heigho! ’Tis the old story about the course of true love.”
“He may change—he will change his mind, I think,” said Hans, “but in the meantime he will go off into the wilderness, carrying Bertha along with him. I would have gone with him myself without hesitation25, had it not been that I cannot bear to think of tearing you away just yet from the old people, and I may perhaps do some good here in the way of saving the old home.”
Hans looked round with a somewhat mournful gaze at the home of his childhood, which bore evidences of the preparations that were being made by Conrad Marais to leave it.
That evening a large party of disaffected26 boers arrived at the homestead of Conrad Marais, with waggons, wives, children, goods, and arms, on their way to the far north. Some of these men were sterling27 fellows, good husbands and fathers and masters, but with fiery28 independent spirits, which could not brook the restraints laid on them by a Government that had too frequently aroused their contempt or indignation. Others were cruel, selfish savages29 who scorned the idea that a man might not “wallop his own nigger,” and were more than half pleased that the abolition of slavery and its consequences gave them a sort of reason for throwing off allegiance to the British Crown, and forsaking30 their homes in disgust; and some there were who would have been willing to remain and suffer, but could not bear the idea of being left behind by their kindred.
Next morning Conrad completed the loading of his waggons, placed his wife and children—there was still a baby!—in them, mounted his horse with the sons who yet remained with him, and bade farewell to the old home on the karroo. He was followed by a long train of his compatriots’ waggons. They all crossed the frontier into Kafirland and thenceforth deemed themselves free!
This was the first droppings of a shower—the first leak of a torrent—the first outbreak of that great exodus32 of the Dutch-African boers which was destined33 in the future to work a mighty34 change in the South African colony.
Hans and Gertie accompanied the party for several hours on their journey, and then, bidding them God-speed, returned to their deserted35 home.
But now a cloud was lowering over the land which had been imperceptibly, though surely, gathering36 on the horizon for years past.
We have said that hitherto the colony, despite many provocations37, thefts, and occasional murders, had lived in a state of peace with the Kafirs—the only time that they took up arms for a brief space being in their defence, at Hintza’s request, against the Fetcani.
Latterly, we have also observed, the British settlers had toiled39 hard and prospered40. The comforts of life they had in abundance. Trade began to be developed, and missions were established in Kafirland. Among other things, the freedom of the press had been granted them after a hard struggle! The first Cape newspaper, the South African Commercial Advertiser, edited by Pringle the poet and Fairbairn, was published in 1824, and the Grahamstown Journal, the first Eastern Province newspaper, was issued by Mr Godlonton in 1831. Schools were also established. Wool-growing began to assume an importance which was a premonition of the future staple41 of the Eastern Provinces. Savings-banks were established, and, in short, everything gave promise of the colony—both east and west—becoming a vigorous, as it was obviously a healthy, chip of the old block.
But amongst all this wheat there had been springing up tares42. With the growing prosperity there were growing evils. A generous and well-meant effort on the part of Christians43 and philanthropists to give full freedom and rights to the Hottentots resulted to a large extent in vagabondism, with its concomitant robbery. The Kafirs, emboldened44 by the weak, and exasperated by the incomprehensible, policy of the Colonial Government at that time, not only crossed the border to aid the Hottentot thieves in their work, and carry off sheep and cattle by the hundred, but secretly prepared for war. Behind the scenes were the paramount45 chief Hintza, the chief Macomo, and others. The first, forgetting the deliverance wrought46 for him by the settlers and British troops in 1828, secretly stirred up the Kafirs, whilst the second, brooding over supposed wrongs, fanned the flame of discontent raised among the Hottentots by the proposal of a Vagrancy47 Act.
When all is ready for war it takes but a spark to kindle48 the torch. The Kafirs were ready; the British, however, were not. The settlers had been peacefully following their vocations38, many of the troops, which ought to have been there to guard them, had been unwisely withdrawn49, and only a few hundred men remained in scattered50 groups along the frontier. The armed Hottentots of the Kat River—sent there as a defence—became a point of weakness, and required the presence of a small force to overawe them and prevent their joining the Kafirs. At last the electric spark went forth31. A farmer (Nell) was robbed of seven horses, which were traced to the kraal of a chief on the neutral territory. Restoration was refused. A military patrol was sent to enforce restitution51. Opposition was offered, and the officer in command wounded with an assagai. Hintza began to retreat and plunder52 British traders who were residing in his territory under his pledged protection, and at length a trader named Purcell was murdered near the chief’s kraal and his store robbed. Then Macomo began hostilities53 by robbing and murdering some farmers on the lower part of the Kat River, and two days afterwards the Kafir hordes54, variously estimated at from eight to fifteen thousand men, burst across the whole frontier, wrapped the eastern colony in the smoke and flames of burning homesteads, scattered the unprepared settlers, demolished55 the works of fourteen years’ labour, penetrated56 to within twenty miles of Algoa Bay, and drove thousands of sheep and cattle back in triumph to Kafirland.
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1
exigencies
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| n.急切需要 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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waggons
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| 四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 )； 铁路货车； 小手推车 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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9
aggrieved
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| adj.愤愤不平的，受委屈的；悲痛的；（在合法权利方面）受侵害的v.令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式)；令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式和过去分词) | |
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abolition
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| n.废除，取消 | |
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perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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incompetent
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| adj.无能力的，不能胜任的 | |
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rascally
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| adj. 无赖的，恶棍的 adv. 无赖地，卑鄙地 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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execration
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| n.诅咒，念咒，憎恶 | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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complicate
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| vt.使复杂化，使混乱，使难懂 | |
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propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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condemning
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| v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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vows
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| 誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿 | |
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wed
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| v.娶，嫁，与…结婚 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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disaffected
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| adj.（政治上）不满的，叛离的 | |
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sterling
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| adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑) | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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forsaking
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| 放弃( forsake的现在分词 )； 弃绝； 抛弃； 摒弃 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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exodus
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| v.大批离去，成群外出 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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provocations
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| n.挑衅( provocation的名词复数 )；激怒；刺激；愤怒的原因 | |
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vocations
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| n.（认为特别适合自己的）职业( vocation的名词复数 )；使命；神召；（认为某种工作或生活方式特别适合自己的）信心 | |
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39
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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40
prospered
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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staple
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| n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类 | |
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tares
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| 荑；稂莠；稗 | |
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Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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44
emboldened
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| v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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47
vagrancy
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| （说话的，思想的）游移不定； 漂泊； 流浪； 离题 | |
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48
kindle
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| v.点燃，着火 | |
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49
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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50
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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51
restitution
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| n.赔偿；恢复原状 | |
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52
plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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53
hostilities
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| n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事 | |
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54
hordes
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| n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落 | |
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demolished
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| v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光 | |
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56
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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