Swallow: A Tale of the Great TrekHaggard, H. Rider (Henry Rider)
History
Swallow: A Tale of the Great Trek
Haggard, H. Rider (Henry Rider)
Historical fiction; South Africa -- History -- Great Trek, 1836-1840 -- Fiction; Transvaal (South Africa) -- Fiction
So, so, that is the end of my story of the forgotten bygone years. As
I, old Suzanne Botmar, tell it the shadow of that white-topped koppie
falls upon this house and beneath my feet is the very spot where the
brave _schimmel_ died. Ralph and Jan would not leave it—no, not even
when the British hoisted their flag in Natal, making us English again
after all that we had undergone to escape their usurping rule. We
suffered much at that event, Jan and I, but though he said nothing, for
indeed he did not dare to in my presence, I believe that Ralph did not
suffer at all. Well, he was of English blood and it was natural that he
should like his own flag best, though to this day I am very angry with
my daughter Suzanne, who, for some reason or other, would never say a
hard word of the accursed British Government—or listen to one if she
could help it.
Yet, to be just, that same Government has ruled us well and fairly,
though I never could agree with their manner of dealing with the
natives, and our family has grown rich under its shadow. Yes, we were
rich from the beginning, for Ralph and some Boers fetched back the
cattle of Suzanne and Sihamba which Swart Piet’s thieves had stolen,
and they were a very great herd.
For many long and happy years after all these events that I have told
of did Ralph and Suzanne live together, till at last God took my child
Suzanne as she began to grow old. From that day life had no joys for
Ralph, or indeed for any of us, and he fought with the English against
Cetywayo at Isandlhwana, and fell there bravely, he and his son
together, for his son’s wife, an English-woman of good blood was dead
also in childbirth.
Then all the world grew dark for Jan and me, but now in my extreme age
once more it lightens like the dawn.
O God, who am I that I should complain? Nay, nay, to Thee, Almighty
God, be praise and thanks and glory. Quite soon I must fall asleep, and
how rich and plentiful is that store which awaits me beyond my sleep;
that store of friends and kindred who have passed me in the race and
won the immortal crown of peace, which even now their dear hands
prepare for me. Therefore to Thee, Maker of the world, be praise and
thanks and glory. Yes, let all things praise Thee as do my aged lips.
NOTE BY THE BARONESS GLENTHIRSK, FORMERLY KNOWN AS SUZANNE KENZIE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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