Adventure stories; Africa -- Fiction; Hunting guides -- Fiction; Quatermain, Allan (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
I returned to the huts at mid-day to get some dinner. Stella said that
she was going to pack during the afternoon, so I did not think it
necessary to caution her about going out alone, as I did not wish to
allude to the subject of Hendrika and the baboons unless I was obliged
to. I told her, however, that I would come back to help her as soon as
I could get away. Then I went down to the native kraals to sort out
such cattle as had belonged to Mr. Carson from those which belonged to
the Kaffirs, for I proposed to take them with us. It was a large herd,
and the business took an incalculable time. At length, a little before
sundown, I gave it up, and leaving Indaba-zimbi to finish the job, got
on my horse and rode homewards.
Arriving, I gave the horse to one of the stable boys, and went into the
central hut. There was no sign of Stella, though the things she had
been packing lay about the floor. I passed first into our sleeping hut,
thence one by one into all the others, but still saw no sign of her.
Then I went out, and calling to a Kaffir in the garden asked him if he
had seen his mistress.
He answered “yes.” He had seen her carrying flowers and walking towards
the graveyard, holding the little white girl—my daughter—as he called
her, by the hand, when the sun stood “there,” and he pointed to a spot
on the horizon where it would have been about an hour and a half
before. “The two dogs were with them,” he added. I turned and ran
towards the graveyard, which was about a quarter of a mile from the
huts. Of course there was no reason to be anxious—evidently she had
gone to lay the flowers on her father’s grave. And yet I was anxious.
When I got near the graveyard I met one of the natives, who, by my
orders, had been set round the kraals to watch the place, and noticed
that he was rubbing his eyes and yawning. Clearly he had been asleep. I
asked him if he had seen his mistress, and he answered that he had not,
which under the circumstances was not wonderful. Without stopping to
reproach him, I ordered the man to follow me, and went on to the
graveyard. There, on Mr. Carson’s grave, lay the drooping flowers which
Stella had been carrying, and there in the fresh mould was the spoor of
Tota’s veldschoon, or hide slipper. But where were they?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account