Hair-Breadth Escapes: The Adventures of Three Boys in South Africa

by H. C. Adams

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

  THE LONG-EXPECTED ARRIVAL--CAPTAIN WILMORE'S NARRATIVE--THE TUTELARYSPIRIT--LION TO THE RESCUE--PLANS FOR THE FUTURE--THE FUTURE CHURCH.

  It was not until quite late on the morning after the departure of theboys, that the fact became known to De Walden and Ernest. It chanced tobe the day appointed by the missionary for the baptism of two of hisadult converts, for whom Ernest and Ella were to act as sponsors. Inthe interest of the occasion, the absence of the two boys was notnoticed; and it was not until after the conclusion of the rite, thatErnest, happening to enter Frank's sleeping room, to ask some casualquestion of him, saw the note left on the table. As soon as he had readit, he repaired to his friend's apartment, and the two held an anxiousconsultation as to the course which, under the circumstances, it wouldbe most expedient for them to pursue. De Walden knew--what none of thethree lads could surmise--how great was the danger incurred by thetruants, and how slender the hope of their succeeding in carrying outtheir projected scheme. They must be pursued, and overtaken, and warnedof their peril, whatever might be the risk or fatigue incurred by sodoing. If, after such warning, they persisted in their rash enterprise,they could not, of course, be prevented from pursuing it; but the blamewould then rest wholly with themselves.

  They were still engaged in arranging their plans for immediate pursuit,when Ella entered the room where they were seated, with tidings whichwere even more unexpected than those they had that morning received.

  "My father," she said--so she always addressed De Walden--"the visitorsyou and Ernest have been so long expecting, have arrived, and are nowwith my mother. Will you come and see them?"

  "The visitors, Ella!" exclaimed Warley, starting up. "Whom can youmean?--not Lavie surely--"

  "Yes, he is one," returned Ella, "and there is a captain, an Englishcaptain. He is Frank's father or uncle--"

  "Captain Wilmore!" cried Warley. "Has he fallen in with Frank?"

  "No, we have told him that he and Gilbert have gone off by themselves,and that they cannot be very far off, and he means to go in search ofthem, I believe. But he wants to see you first."

  De Walden and Ernest hastened to the Queen's apartment, and were soonexchanging a cordial grasp of the hand with the new-comers.

  "God be praised for this!" said the missionary. "You cannot think howanxious I have been about you, Charles, though I did not tell the ladsso. Unwilling as I was to leave this place, I had fully resolved thatif the present month should pass without tidings of you, I would set offwith them for Cape Town. I wish now I had told them of my intention; itwould no doubt have prevented this foolish escapade of theirs. I knew Icould trust Ernest to remain quiet, and I thought I could trust theothers."

  "You must not blame them, sir," said Warley. "I have no doubt they hadthe same idea which I have entertained myself, though I thought it bestto say nothing about it, that treacherous orders had been given to yourguide to prevent your ever reaching Cape Town."

  "I cannot wonder that either you or they thought that," said De Walden,"after Chuma's treatment of us."

  "But," resumed Warley, "if I was doubtful about Charles's safety, I wasmuch more despondent about Captain Wilmore. I had little hope, Iconfess, of ever seeing him again."

  "And you would have had less hope still, my lad," said Captain Wilmore,"if you had known what befell us when we left the _Hooghly_."

  "You must hear the whole history from his own lips," said Lavie; "butnot just now. We have a good deal to do this morning that must beattended to."

  "I dare say the captain will relate it after supper," said De Walden."Now come and hear the report of the scouts."

  That evening, accordingly, when the repast in the Queen's apartments wasconcluded, Captain Wilmore was called upon for the particulars of hisadventures, which he was no way unwilling to relate.

  "You two will remember," he began, "the gale soon after we left the Capede Verdes. The foreigners I had taken on board showed themselves muchsmarter hands than I had expected, and worked double tides all theafternoon. I didn't suspect their motive for showing so much zeal,which was no doubt to remove any suspicions I might have entertained,and make me relax my watch over them. It quite succeeded. I turned inabout sundown thoroughly knocked up, but well satisfied with thebehaviour of the ship's company, and intending to have a long sleep. Avery long sleep it was nearly being--"

  "Did they intend to murder you, sir, do you think?" asked Warley.

  "I do not think about it," returned the captain. "I am sure of it.Half a dozen of them, with their knives drawn, and accompanied by thosevillains Duncan and O'Hara, were stealing down the companion to my cabinwhen they were challenged by old Jennings, who gave the alarm, and thepirates were obliged to make the attack openly. They cut the poor oldman down, but he saved all our lives nevertheless. I have heard whatbecame of him from Lavie, and it grieves me much to think that I shallnever have an opportunity in this world of thanking the good old man forhis bravery and self-devotion; but he will not miss his reward."

  The captain's voice was husky, and no one spoke for a minute or two;then Warley broke the silence.

  "Well, I should quite have believed that they intended to do it from allI heard from Jennings and others about Duncan and O'Hara, as well asfrom the well-known character of these pirates. But then, if that wastheir intention, why did they allow you to leave the ship unhurt?"

  "Ah, why indeed," repeated the captain. "I can't blame you forentertaining that notion, my lad; for I, old hand as I am, did notsuspect their infernal treachery and cunning. You see, when the pirateship came up, we were just preparing to blow up the hatches and rush ondeck. No doubt they would have got the better of us, and killed us to aman; but before they had managed that they would have sufferedconsiderably themselves. That wily villain, Andy Duncan--I have beentold since it was he, and I have no doubt it was--devised a scheme bywhich they would be enabled to get rid of us quite as easily as if theyhad blown out all our brains, but without incurring any risksthemselves. We discovered, when we had been an hour or two on board theboats, that some trick had been played with them, and they were veryslowly but surely filling."

  "The merciless wretches!" exclaimed Ernest; "and you were some hundredsof miles from shore?"

  "Yes, quite five hundred from Ascension, which was the nearest land."

  "How did you escape, sir?" exclaimed De Walden.

  "Only by God's mercy. The discovery was first made in the launch whichGrey commanded. The night, you will remember, was very dark, or itprobably would have been made before; but they did not find it out tillit was too late to keep it afloat even for a time. They shouted to usfor help, but she had sunk before we could reach them, and there was astrong current just where she went down, which swept them all away--except one of the mates, who managed to keep afloat until we picked himup. On hearing his story, we contrived to strike a light, and examinedour own boat. There was a leak in her too, but providentially only justbelow the waterline. I suppose whoever did the job, thought the boatfloated deeper than she did; but by lightening her as much as possible,and throwing all the weight that remained on the other side, we raisedthe damaged part out of water, and then baled her out. When day brokewe were enabled to examine her more carefully. The injury was beyondour power to repair effectually. All we could do was just to keep herafloat, and if the sea had not been exceptionally calm we could not havedone even that. Moreover, we had been obliged to throw overboard nearlyall our provisions and water. In short, we should not only have neverreached Ascension, but must have perished of hunger and thirst veryspeedily, if on the morning of the third day, shortly after dawn, avessel had not appeared on our lee beam, apparently running before thelight breeze which rippled the sea.

  "We tried to attract her attention, but without effect. She was so nearto us that we thought she must have seen us; but she did not alter hercourse, or in any way acknowledge our signals. Finding that she took noheed, we resolved, as a last
chance, to reach her by rowing, though thisobliged us to right our boat, and the water poured in so fast thatincessant baling would not keep it down. At last, when we had got quiteclose to the ship, the boat was so water-logged that she could not havebeen kept afloat ten minutes more. We hailed again and again, but therewas no answer, nor was any one to be seen on deck. We came to theconclusion that she had been deserted by her crew for some reason, orthat they had all died on board, and that she was drifting aimlesslyover the deep. Fortunately there was a rope hanging over her bows, upwhich one of the sailors climbed, and was followed by the others insuccession. The last of us was hardly out of the cutter when she wentdown."

  "Had she been deserted?" inquired Ernest. "Well, yes, by the survivorsof her crew, that is. She was evidently a Portuguese trader running, Iapprehend, between the West India Islands and Lisbon, and had probablytwenty or twenty-five men on board. She must have been attacked by oneof the terrible fevers prevalent in the hot climates, the action ofwhich is sometimes so rapid that all attempts to stay it are useless.Several, I suppose, must have died, and the rest were so terrified bythe fear of infection, that they had left her. Any way, there were nohuman remains on board, and all the ship's boats were gone."

  "I should think the danger into which you ran was worse than the onefrom which you had escaped," observed Queen Laura.

  "We were of the same opinion, madam," observed Captain Wilmore. "If wecould have repaired our own boat, or if a single one of the ship's boatshad been left, we should have preferred continuing our own voyage in it.But as that was impossible, we were obliged to remain in the vessel.But after consulting with Captain Renton, I resolved to run, not forAscension, but for the Cape de Verdes, though they were considerablyfurther off. I don't know whether any of you have ever been atAscension?"

  "We sighted it once, sir," said Lavie; "but I never went ashore there."

  "There is not much to see if you do land," said the sailor. "It islittle better than a great heap of cinders, except just in the interior,where there is some land capable of cultivation. It was for a long timebelieved that there wasn't a drop of fresh water to be found on it.That is a mistake. There are a few springs--enough to support life, andthere are some goats, and plenty of turtle. But there are noinhabitants, and I reckoned that if the fever should break out on boardwe should find no doctors there, or any means of nursing the sick. Weshaped our course for the Cape de Verdes, therefore. We took allpossible precautions, sleeping on deck throughout the voyage, and nevergoing below unless it was absolutely necessary to bring up food andwater. Whether it was that these precautions were successful, orwhether it was that I was mistaken in my conjecture as to the reason whythe barque had been deserted, I cannot say. But we certainly escapedwithout any sickness, and reached the Cape de Verdes without the loss ofa man.

  "I need not tell you how welcome was the sight of Porto Prayo to us all.But I had an especial reason for rejoicing at it. You will remember,Ernest, the circumstances under which we left Porto Prayo?"

  "Yes, sir," said Warley, colouring, "I remember we had behaved very ill.I have often wished to ask your pardon for it."

  "Well, my lad, it was six of one and half a dozen of the other, Iexpect," said the captain. "We may share the blame between us. I hadoften reproached myself for the haste with which I acted; though, at thesame time, I could not help being glad that you were safe, as Iimagined, at Porto Prayo, instead of being exposed to the sufferings anddangers which had befallen us. I had no sooner landed than I madeinquiries concerning you; but to my surprise and disappointment I couldlearn nothing. I instituted a most careful search, and offered a largereward. But it was all in vain. Nobody knew anything about you, exceptthat three foreign-looking lads had been seen about the streets of thetown one day several weeks before. But no one had fallen in with them,or had heard anything about them since that date. I was stillprosecuting my inquiries, when the British fleet, under Sir Home Popham,on its way, as I learned, to make an attack on the Dutch at the Cape ofGood Hope, sailed into the harbour.

  "Fortunately for me, I was an old messmate of the Admiral's, and he wasinterested in my story. Moreover, I knew the Cape well, as was thecase, I found, with very few of the officers of the squadron. Sir Homeoffered me the command of the _Celaeno_, a fine frigate, the captain ofwhich had died suddenly. I, of course, gladly accepted it, and wasenabled to render some service."

  "Ah, you were present at the taking of the Cape," said Mr De Walden."Did the Dutch offer a determined resistance?"

  "No," said Captain Wilmore. "I suppose the experience of the lastcampaign disheartened them. But certainly it was a very hollow affair.Governor Jansens seemed to me to have given it up as a bad job from thefirst. There was hardly enough resistance to make it any fight at all.But something did happen to me, nevertheless, in Simon's Bay which wasexciting enough."

  "What was that, sir?" asked Ernest. "You did not encounter the_Hooghly_, I suppose?"

  "Ah, but I did though," said Captain Wilmore, "the _Hooghly_ herself, aslarge as life. The scoundrels had knocked away her figure-head, andpainted her, name and all, anew; but I knew her in a moment, as well asI know my own face. We hailed her, and the moment they saw me on thequarter-deck, they cut their cable, and tried to run for it. But wewere just entering the harbour, prepared for action, and sent such abroadside into her as knocked all the mischief out of her in a jiffey.O'Hara was killed, and White mortally wounded, and as for Andy Duncan,he was run up to the yardarm and hanged the next morning. The otherswere put into irons, and received various sentences. Some had sevendozen. Others were simply dismissed and sent home."

  "Did you learn on board the _Hooghly_ what had befallen us?" askedWarley.

  "Yes, my lad, to my great satisfaction I did. One of the sailors cameto me on the morning of Duncan's execution, and told me all that hadhappened, so far that is, as he knew it. But he could tell me nothing,of course, as to what had become of you after your escape from the ship.All he knew was that you had appeared suddenly on deck two days afterwe had left, and it was conjectured by the crew that you had beenconcealed somewhere by old Jennings. Mr Lavie, it also appeared, hadgone off with you, and none of the party appeared to have been hurt.That comforted me a little, but still I was very anxious and uneasy--themore so because all inquiries at the Cape for a long time were whollyfruitless."

  "Ah, I was afraid you would be at fault there," said Warley. "I supposeyou simply heard nothing at all?"

  "Very nearly that," said the captain. "Some of the messengers whom Isent out did come back with a story that some white men with guns hadbeen seen in the neighbourhood of Elephant's kloof; but the Hottentotsliving near about there denied, one and all, the truth of the rumour."

  "The rascals!" exclaimed Ernest. "When you heard the truth of thematter, sir, you must have been amused at their denial."

  "Yes, afterwards," said Captain Wilmore; "but not at the time. I was,in fact, almost in despair when Lavie here arrived all of a moment oneday, looking like a ghost returned from the grave."

  "Ay, I am afraid you must have had a trying time of it, Charles," saidDe Walden. "I have sometimes reproached myself for allowing you to go,considering what the danger and exhaustion must needs be."

  "You have no need to do so," said Lavie. "Whatever I may have undergonehas been more than compensated by our meeting to-day, not to speak ofthe appointment which my kind friend has obtained for me. In fact, if Ihad not undertaken the journey, we must have remained in hopelesscaptivity."

  "Did your Bechuana guide play false?" asked the missionary.

  "No, I have no right to say so. Whether he would have been as faithfulas he was, had matters fallen out differently, may be a matter of doubt.I half fancy he had received some private instructions from Chuma,which he did not carry out, for what may seem a very strange reason. Hewas frightened out of his senses by our dog, Lion!"

  "Lion!" exclaimed Warley. "Why, he has been dead for weeks and months,hasn't
he?"

  "Not he! He is as much alive as you or I. He is at one of the hutsalong with Kama and Kobo at this moment."

  "I thought I saw him swept away by the flood during that night on theGariep."

  "So you did, I dare say; but he must have contrived to swim ashore.Anyhow, we met him two days' journey from the Bechuana village, trackingus, I fancy, by his instinct, and he would have joined us there beforelong, if I had not fallen in with him; but he would not leave me, whenwe had once met, and I thought the best thing under the circumstanceswould be to take him with me to Cape Town. But Kama, who had never seenan animal like him, and who had heard of his having been swept away bythe torrent, believed, I am convinced, that he was a sort of tutelaryspirit, who would be sure to detect any knavery and avenge any falsedealing on his part. It amused me, I must say, a good deal; but anyway, from the day Lion joined our company to that on which we reachedCape Town, he never attempted any tricks."

  "And then you and Captain Wilmore resolved to go in quest of us," saidDe Walden. "I understand that But how did you find out where we were?Did you go to the Bechuanas, and hear it from Chuma?"

  "No; we were making our way to the village, when we fell in with a manwho was known to Kama, and who, it seemed, knew me too, though I hadquite forgotten him."

  "What! Kobo, I suppose?" exclaimed Warley.

  "Yes, that, I believe, is his name. He told us that you all had escapedin his company from Chuma, who had quarrelled with you, or with Mr DeWalden. He said he had left you on an island on the Yellow Riverawaiting his return, and we had better accompany him to the place. Sowe did, but there was no trace of you to be found."

  "No," said Warley. "We didn't stay twenty-four hours on the islandafter Kobo's departure. We have been playing at cross purposes withhim. How did you find out at last where we were?"

  "We met your messenger returning from his errand to the Bechuanas, andlearned that the quarrel had been made up. Nevertheless, all thingsconsidered, it is quite as well that we didn't go there."

  "All's well that ends well," said the Queen, who had sat listening tothe discourse of her English guests with the deepest interest,recalling, as it did, so many varied associations.

  "I trust it will end well, madam," observed Captain Wilmore. "But untilI find my nephew, and young Gilbert, and bring them back safely, Icannot consider that there is an end to my anxieties."

  "We will set off in quest of them to-morrow morning, as soon as you havehad a good rest," said De Walden. "I have already set some of the besthunters to follow their track, so as to save us time to-morrow. I feelsure that in two or three days, at furthest, we shall come up withthem."

  So they probably would have done, had it not been for the length of thejourneys made by the lads on the first two days, and the rains which hadfallen on the third and fourth, which had almost entirely obliteratedall traces of them. If De Walden had not remembered the questions putto him by Nick, as to the direction in which the Gariep lay, they wouldhave been more than once completely at fault. But this served as aclue, when everything else failed, and every now and then they came uponthe white embers of a fire, or heaps of dry grass, which had evidentlyserved for beds, showing that, however slowly they might be progressing,it was in the right direction.

  It was on the afternoon of the ninth day, when Kobo, who, it should bementioned, had formed a warm friendship with Lion since leaving theBasuto village--it was just in the late afternoon, when Kobo, who hadbeen a little in advance of the rest of the party, came hurrying backwith the news, that there were both hoof marks and large stains of bloodto be seen in the grass and bushes about a hundred yards ahead, asthough some large animal--a gnu, or an eland, or perhaps a buffalo--hadbeen severely wounded. If such was the case, most probably they were inthe neighbourhood of the English lads, as there were neither Bechuanasor Basutos to be found thereabouts. He added, that it was with thegreatest difficulty that he could restrain Lion, who wanted to rush off,at the top of his speed, in the direction of the footmarks.

  "You had better let him go, Kobo," said De Walden, "and follow him up asclosely as you can. He'll find Frank, if he is to be found, I'll answerfor it."

  "And we'll all come after you," added Lavie. "Meanwhile, I'll fire mygun. They'll hear it if they are anywhere hereabouts."

  Lion was accordingly let loose, and immediately galloped off, arriving,as the reader has heard, just in time to rescue Frank and Nick fromtheir imminent peril.

  It was a joyful meeting, when the whole party assembled on the spotwhere the carcasses of the two leopards, and an ugly rent in Lion'sside, bore evidence to how narrow had been the escape of the two boysfrom death. The tears stood in Captain Wilmore's eyes, as he graspedhis nephew warmly by the hand, noticing, even at that moment, how hisfigure had improved in strength and manly bearing, and the thoughtfulexpression which had taken the place of mere boyish recklessness, onGilbert's face.

  "My lads," he said, "I was hasty with you. But for me, you would nothave had to undergo this wandering and danger. But I have paid thepenalty--"

  "Oh, uncle," broke in Frank, "you mustn't say that. It was all ourfault, mine particularly. And it hasn't been such bad fun, after all.I am sure we have most need to ask your forgiveness."

  "You mustn't regret what has happened, captain," said De Walden. "UnderGod's good providence, it has been the making of them both. But now, Isuppose, we must be setting out on our return to the Basuto village."

  "I am afraid I cannot go there," said Captain Wilmore. "I have beenaway a good deal longer than I had expected, as it is: and I know mypresence is urgently needed at Cape Town. I and my guides must set outhomewards without loss of time--as soon, that is, as the lads areprepared to accompany me."

  "I am ready to go this moment," said Frank.

  "And so am I," added Gilbert. "That's well," said the captain. "Frank,I haven't told you that I have got a commission for you in a lineregiment now at the Cape. Sir David Baird signed it the day I cameaway. That's good news, isn't it?"

  "The best there could be, thank you, uncle," returned Frank, joyously.

  "And you, Nick, what do you say? Will you be put on the quarter-deck ofthe _Atlantic_--that's my new ship;--and rated as a midshipman?"

  "I should like nothing better, sir," answered Gilbert, almost as muchpleased as Frank. "Thank you very much for your kindness!"

  "That's well," again said the captain. "And you too," he continued,turning to Lavie and Warley. "Do you mean to return with me to CapeTown, or with Mr De Walden to the Basutos? You will not be wanted, youknow, Lavie, for two months yet; so you can stay behind awhile, if youchoose."

  "Thank you, captain, I should like to have a good talk with Warley abouthis prospects; he does not, as yet, know the change that has taken placein them. And besides, I haven't stood the journey as well as you have.I think I shall remain a week or two with Mr De Walden before followingyou."

  They shook hands accordingly, and went their several ways. De Walden,accompanied by Lavie and Warley, returned to the village; where, after afew days of rest, they were enabled to arrange their plans for thefuture.

  "Ernest," said Lavie one morning, after they had just returned incompany with De Walden from an inspection of the native school, "I amglad I delayed telling you what has happened at Cape Town. I think theeffect it will have on you may be different from what I had expected."

  "What has happened?" asked Warley with interest. "You have lost yourbrother," answered Lavie. "I know he was never really a brother to you,but you will be sorry for his sudden death, nevertheless. When therumour of the approach of the British fleet was circulated in Cape Town,some of the English tried to organise a British force to help theircountrymen. The Dutch governor heard of it, and sent soldiers to arrestthe ringleaders. Your brother offered an armed resistance, and waskilled on the spot. The Dutch authorities declared all your brother'sproperty to be forfeited by his rebellion; but the new governor, SirDavid Baird, at once rescinded th
at. As your brother had made no will,all his money has become yours."

  Warley turned very white, and leaned forward on the table, covering hisface with his hands.

  "I have told you, perhaps, too abruptly," said Lavie, "but you mustremember that you have nothing to reproach yourself with, so far as yourbrother is concerned. Is it not so, Mr De Walden?"

  "So far as I know," said the missionary affectionately, "nothing atall."

  "I hope not," said Ernest, in a low tone; "but this is very awful."

  "Sudden deaths are always awful. But you have now to consider what youwill do. I thought, when I first heard it, that you would return toEngland and go to one of the Universities. But I perceive that there isan attraction that may keep you here."

  "Yes, Charles, I cannot but view this strange and unexpected event as asolution of the difficulty that has been burdening my mind for manyweeks past. But I should like to have Mr De Walden's advice. He musthave seen, I think, the attachment between myself and Ella--"

  "Yes, Ernest, and I have seen in it the working of God's mercifulprovidence for the enlightenment of the heathen in this land of darknessand superstition."

  "You think, then, that I ought to stay here and take up your work whenyou leave for Namaqua-land, as I know you mean to do some day?"

  "Even so. I mean that you should remain here, and become the husband ofthis dear girl, who is worthy to be the bride of a king. The wildernesshas indeed blossomed as the rose for you. But I do not advise that yourmarriage should take place at once. Return to England, and prepareyourself for your office by two or three years of study, such as you canpursue only there. Meanwhile, I will remain here till your return, andcomplete the education of your future wife. Then, seek ordination,which also, unhappily, you cannot obtain in Southern Africa. Some day,God will set up His Church in this land, and it will grow like themustard seed, and the people will rest under its shadow. But that timeis still far off. Let it be your work, as it has been mine, to preparethe furrows for the seed that will then be cast in. Will you do this?"

  "God being my helper," answered Ernest, "I will."