biscuit. "Eat it at once, orI'll pitch it away." Then, as Tom devoured the biscuit, Frank said:
"I think our lives are safe, though we may be detained prisoners forsome time. The truth is I have a friend at court, who will do all hecan for us."
"But you're not a prisoner, Frank?" inquired Tom (upon whom the sup ofbrandy and mouthful of wholesome food had already had a most beneficialeffect), as he regarded his comrade with a puzzled look.
"You cannot for a moment suppose that I came here willingly!" laughedJamieson. "What makes you ask such an extraordinary question? I hopeyou don't think that I am a _deserter_!"
"Why, you don't _look_ like a prisoner," Tom rejoined. "In the firstplace, the Caffres have left you your clothes; and secondly, they don'tappear to have made free with the contents of your pockets; whereas,they've stripped pretty nearly every rag off my back, and knocked meabout into the bargain. How is it they let you off so easily?"
"Well, as I told you before, I have a friend at court," Jamiesonanswered. "It fortunately happened that Untsikana, the chief into whoseclutches I fell, is an old acquaintance--in fact, about two years ago Isaved his life; and moreover, he was under great obligations to my poorfather--"
"_Poor_ father!" echoed Tom. "I hope the captain is--"
"The dear old governor is dead, Tom," interrupted Frank with a deepsigh. "I thought you knew it. When last seen he was fighting by yourside."
"So he was, but he was all right when I got knocked over. Are you surehe is killed?"
"There can be no doubt of it, I grieve to say. Untsikana saw his body,and also that of poor Patrick Keown. The corps was almost annihilated--counting the fellows that were with me, there are not more than thirtyleft."
Their conversation was now interrupted by the entrance of two Caffrewarriors, one of whom was Untsikana himself Frank, who could speak theCaffre language fairly well, at once appealed to him on Tom's behalf,and with such success that the chief not only provided him with food anddrink, and water to bathe his wounds and bruised limbs, but alsoprocured him an old tiger-skin kaross and a pair of "veldt schoon," totake the place of the garments of which his captors had stripped him,and which had been distributed amongst the dusky inhabitants of thekraal, so that there was no recovering them.
"Who shall say there is not _some_ good in a Caffre?" observed FrankJamieson as he dressed the wound on his friend's head; "come, Tom, youmust acknowledge that."
"Your acquaintance Umpty-dumpty, or whatever his name is, is certainlynot half a bad chap," replied Tom, whose customary good spirits werereturning. "But he is a wonderful exception to the rule. I wonder whatthey'll do with us?" he added. "Turn us into white slaves, I expect!"
"Impossible to say," his friend answered. "I must sound Untsikana onthe subject when he next pays us a visit. I might induce him to aid usin making our escape!"
"Not you," Tom rejoined with a shake of the head. "That would betesting his gratitude rather too much. By the way, when and how did hetake you prisoner?"
"That is soon told," said Frank. "You must know," he went on, "that thebrigadier broke up his camp at Chumie Hoek on the morning of the 19th,and marched, bag and baggage, for Block Drift.
"I was with the rear-guard in command of the remnants of our poor oldcorps. The enemy came down in thousands from the mountains and attackedthe whole line of waggons, from front to rear, at one time, so that wehad some precious hard fighting all along the route.
"Whilst the head of the column was crossing the Chumie River the rearwaggons were forced to halt for a bit; and then it was that the Caffresmade their hottest attack. The artillery received them with four orfive rounds of canister and grape, which staggered them above a bit andchecked their advance. A troop of the 7th Dragoon Guards then chargedthem, and I was ordered to support this charge; because, as no doubtyou've noticed, the Caffres generally break when charged, and thenre-form when the cavalry have passed through them.
"Well, during the charge my old horse `Trumpeter' was killed, and I gota nasty fall, striking my head against a big stone. When I regained myfeet our fellows were a hundred yards away, and before I well knew whereI was, I was surrounded by a dozen Caffres, who would have quickly putan end to me had I not recognised Untsikana and called out to him tosave my life. He at once interfered and would not let his men lay afinger upon me; but, in spite of my entreaties, he carried me off intothe mountains. To make a long story short, I was kept, closely guarded,in a cave until yesterday morning, when Untsikana brought me on here."
"Did the enemy capture any of the waggons?" asked Tom.
"From what I heard them say, I think they must have got hold of thehospital stores waggon," answered Jamieson. "I saw three or fourCaffres yesterday in a very miserable state, and Untsikana told me theyhad been drinking the white man's medicines. One fellow was terriblybad, and, from the condition of his mouth and lips, I should imaginethat he must have been eating some sort of _blister_ [a fact]--and aprecious strong sort, too!"
"Hope it agreed with his complaint, whatever that may have been!" saidTom, grinning at the thought of the wretched Caffre's discomfiture whenthe blister began to draw. "But what could have induced the stupidbeggar to taste such a thing?"
"Don't you know that the Caffres have an idea that the white man'smedicines possess extraordinary strength-giving properties?" his friendreplied. "You're not half up in the manners and customs of yourcoloured compatriots. They will at any time steal physic in any shapeor form, and swallow all they steal."
"And did your friend Umpty go in for this course of promiscuousphysicking? Though I don't suppose we should have found him so amiableif he had."
"Well," laughed Frank Jamieson, producing a glass-stoppered bottle fromhis pocket, "while I was in the cave I saw Untsikana handling this,which no doubt he `looted' from the hospital waggon; and he was on thepoint of swallowing the contents, when, fortunately for him, I caughtsight of the label and snatched the bottle from his hand."
"Why, what is it?--castor-oil?"
"Castor-oil!--no. He might have drenched himself with that for aught Ishould have cared," Frank answered. "This is _chloroform_--the stuffthe surgeons use during operations to produce insensibility. It hasonly been in general use a few months, I believe."
"Ah! I heard Dr Fraser talking to old McAlpine about it the otherevening," said Tom. "This is the first time it has been supplied to thefield-hospital. But what did you want to keep such dangerous stufffor?" he added. "There's enough of it to poison a troop, I shouldthink."
"To tell the truth, I popped the bottle in my pocket, and forgot that itwas there until this moment. I must throw it away when I have achance."
"The sooner the better," said Tom. "A pretty job it would be if yousmashed the bottle in this dog-hole of a place! We should probably dropoff to sleep, and never wake again!"
"I will give the bottle to Untsikana when I see him again," Frankrejoined, "and advise him to pitch it into the nearest river, or emptyit away in the bush. It _is_ nasty stuff to carry about."
But Frank Jamieson did not see Untsikana again, for the friendly chiefquitted the kraal that very evening to rejoin his brother-warriors, themajority of whom had by this time crossed the frontier into Britishterritory, and were committing great ravages and depredations amongstthe Albany farms and settlements--so much so that Colonel Somerset hadto march with the greater number of his troops to Graham's Town, andfrom thence follow up the enemy into Lower Albany.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
IN DURANCE VILE--THE PRISONERS LEARN THEIR FATE--A FATAL DOSE.
For three days after Untsikana left the kraal, Tom Flinders and FrankJamieson were kept in the closest confinement, not being allowed to takeany exercise, nor even so much as show their noses outside their narrowprison. During this weary time our unfortunate friends--though they hadsufficient both to eat and drink, and were not made to suffer actualpersonal violence--were forced to put up with the insolent taunts oftheir captors, and with the virulent abuse
of the women and children,who evidently took a delight in congregating round the hut, andassailing its occupants with every insulting epithet they could thinkof; and, what was far worse, they lost no opportunity of flinging mud,mealie-husks, and other filth through the low doorway, "as though," asTom truly remarked, "the hut was not dirty enough already!"
This was, of course, exceedingly annoying, and Tom Flinders waxed veryindignant; but his friend took things in a more philosophical spirit,remarking that, as they could not possibly put a stop to
The War of the Axe; Or, Adventures in South Africa Page 23
