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
When Suzanne awoke at length, having heard from a Kaffir girl that the
strangers had ordered their horses, but not that the young lord had
ridden forward, she slipped from the house silently, fearing lest I
should stay her, and hid herself in a little patch of bush at the
corner of the big mealie field by which she knew the Englishmen must
pass on their return journey. Presently she heard them coming, and when
she saw that the young lord was not with them, she went to the lawyer,
who pulled up his horse and waited for her, the rest of the party
riding on, and asked where his master was, saying that she wished to
talk with him. And here I must say, if I have not said it before, that
Suzanne could speak English, though not well. The Hollander tutor had
instructed her in that tongue, in which Ralph also would converse with
her at times when he did not wish others to understand what they were
saying, for he never forgot his mother language, though he mixed many
Dutch words with it.
“He has ridden forward an hour or more ago. Can I take any message to
him for you?” said the lawyer. “Or if you wish to talk of business, to
speak to me is to speak to him.”
“That may be so,” answered Suzanne, “still I like to draw my water at
the fountain itself. Yet, as he has gone, I beg you to listen to me,
for when you have heard what I have to say I think that you will bring
him back. You came here about Ralph Kenzie, did you not, and my mother
told you that he is not the man whom you seek, did she not?”
The lawyer nodded.
“Well, I tell you that all this tale is false, for he is the very man,”
and she poured out the true story of Ralph and of the plot that had
been made to deceive them about him.
Now, as I have said, Suzanne’s English was none of the best and it is
possible that the lawyer did not understand. For my part, however, I
think that he understood well enough, for she told me afterwards that
is face grew grey and anxious as he listened, and that at length he
said:
“All this you tell me is very strange and weighty, so much so that I
must bring my friend back to look more closely into the matter. Return
now to the farm and say nothing of having met me, for by this evening,
or to-morrow at the latest, we will come there again and sift out the
truth of this question.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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