SHORT STORY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2409, 3 May 1900, Page 59

SHORT STORY.

LEFT BEHIND.

A TALE OF DESERTED JOHANNES-

BURG. By Bbhtram Mitford

(Author of "John Ames — Native, Commis-

sioner," etc.-).

Two persons occupied one of the seats in Joubert Park at Johannesburg, not for the first time. But now the place was deserted, and of the crowd of children and nurses who had obtruded upon them somewhat inconveniently before, remained there not one.'-' For the ultimat-um.^to Great Britain had gone forth, and the subjects-of- ■ the Empire had iled the Republic. v . These two persons were a "man and a girl, and they termed a conspicuous couple. ii J lace '-aux- dames. . The girl was exceedingly pretty — golden-haired, blue-eyed, and .endowed with a beautiful figure and a sense of style which enabled her to array the same to the best advantage. The man was tall, dark, and well set up, and, although not exactly handsome, had a resolute, thoroughbred face, whose deep, healthy sunbrowning seemed to point to the fact thai its owner hailed from Rhodesia. I wish I could persuade you to hear reason, Evelyn," ohe latter was saying. "It it not too late yet to send yeni safely out 'of the country. 1 •would stay and look after your father, happy in knowing you ,were in safety." " It is too late, for we have just seen the last train off," she answered. " Even were it otherwise, I could not leave father, and he is in too weak a state of health to undergo the awful crowding and" discomfort of a refugee train. For the matter of that, speaking selfishly, I would rather risk staying here than face, it myself. So we are left behind." Seton Borrodaile said nothing. He thought he knew what "left behind" might mean a little better than did his companion — the horrors' and risks of siege and potential bombardment, they the while at the mercy of a worsted and exasperated enemy what time racial feeling ran very high indeed.

They were engaged, these two young people, and very liappy in their mutual love. But the engagement so far lacked one important detail — paternal consent, to wit. Evelyn Walsh's father, not unnaturally, objected to his intended son-in-law, on the ground that the present assets of the latter were slender, and his prospects nil. On this subject they ivere now discussing, not for jhe-Srsf. time, either.

" Evrlyn, my darling," the man was saying, "your father 'will have to give me a shake-down to-night, much as he hates the sight of me. We have not yet got our permits to remain in the country, and you and he might be roughly interfered with at any moment. So lam not going to lose sight of you." •

The girl dropped her golden head against his shoulder, and nestled closer to him — we have said the park was" completely deserted. '; "If only this horrible, brooding tension were at an end, one way or another," jshe said. "But, Seton,' dear, I hive a sort of presentiment that things will come right Between you and him." " It's^rather unreasonable for him to be so dea|l set against me for doing no good for myself in Mashunaland," went on Seton Borrodaile, somewhat moodily. " But I've never had a show. He might have given me one — I mean through his influence, of course," he. hastened to add, "either upcountry or down here. Why, he even makes it a grievance that I campaigned in the Matabele rebellion. What else could I have done? '

" Nothing, dearest," murmured the girl. "Nothing else. Still I have a feeling that all will come right." But here they were interrupted by a park-keeper — a German and very civil — who reminded them that it was time to lock up the gates. It was almost dark when they reached Evelyn's home in Doorfontein ; and Johannesburg, at that critical moment, was not the sort of place the unarmed Uitlander would choose to be benighted in. But this Uitlander was not unarmed. He had a very serviceable six-shooter in his hip pocket, which had neither passed the Transvaal Customs nor been obtained under the Lancklrost's permit.

They found old Mr Walsh in a very grumpy frame of mind, which turned -to downright gruff ness as he gave his wouldbe son-in-law unwilling greeting. The latter's explanation of his presence he simply pooh-poohed, but he was an old man, and suffered from very bad health. Seton Borrodaile simply refused to take offence, and carried his point by sheer assumption that there could be no gainsaying its expediency.

And he met his reward. The old man, at heart secretly rejoicing in the acquisition of a valuable protector and ally, thawed in his manner, and became almost genial. He was very weak and ailing, however, and retired early. This meant a long, sweet evening for the other two alone together. The atmosphere might be electric with war clouds, the mind heavy with anticipation of the horrors of war, still love is love, and when the heart is young, and the full free current of life pulsates in warm glow through the veins, at such times as these the present is everything, and impending peril is still in the future. .So they sat on° and talked far into the night. " ' Suddenly the face of the" girl Avent white —that of the man flushed,, and a light" of determination came into- his eyes. F,or a very rain of Mows was showered- upon the door of the .house, while several harsh voices peremptorily shouted : ".Maak oop ! Maak oop ! " (Open! Open!) - . Seton sprang to the window and peeped cautiously forth. A bright moon was shining, and by its light he could make out- a crowd of Boers, most mounted, but some afoot. -He could also make out the shine of rifle barrels levelled at the windows ; while the knocking redoubled, together with the chorus of vociferations to open the door at once. » '" Go to your room, Evelyn — now, immediately," he said. "Leave me to in-" terview these brutes." "No— l will remain here. But what of father? He will be terrified." But Mr Walsh answered the question himself. He was not terrificd — only savagely incensed. He put his head out of his- door, and fiercely demanded'-to know what all the row was* about. " Go back to your bed, sir," cried Seton, imperatively: "You, Evelyn,- go too. Leave them to me." And realising the advisability of exasperating the excited burghers no more than was necessary, he quickly slipped into the entrance hall and opened the door. The crowd almost tumbled over each other as it poured headlong inward— but Seton Borrodaile was, as we have said, Ls_|ahvart. By sheer presence he restrained theTnTu^r-aniMed the way to the sitting room. Then, with— all—the calmness he could' command, he inquired in" Dutch what the commotion was about. ~ - -_ _ I The answer was difficult to obtain. Some" shouted one thing, jome another. He and the other inmates were British spies. They had anns concealed on the premises. They were traitors to the land. They had no ! right to be there. Who had authorised their remaining? To this he replied as best he " could, through the clamour, that they had no arms, that they were peaceful noncombatants, and would have^left the country before, but that the old gentleman in the ■ other room was too, sick to travel. All of no avail. ' Their frenzy seemed "but to' redouble. -Hands \vere clenched in his face. Unkempt, shaggy- countenances were thrust close to his. Rifle muzzles were poked forward. rpbni) was .hot aftd ..unsavoury with unwashed humanity, and .the while the clamour rose to a terrific pitch. Through it all, a sound came to Seton Borrodaile's ears — a cry of terror, in a wo'man's voice, a scream for help, and it came from another room. That was enough". In a second he was through tlie shouting mob — rifle ban-els, shaggy faces, sturdy forms were all thrust aside, and he gained the door whence the sound proceeded. This is what he saw,

The room was half full of Boers. It was Mr Walsh s room, and they had dragged the old man out of bed with a degree of violence that would not have been dangerous to a strong man in good health, but in this case might be so. This, too, under the eyes of his daughter, who was barred by the bystanders from even attempting to render assistance.

The Avay in which Seton Borrodaile went through that crowd was good to see. In a fraction of a second he had ot hold of

two of the principal rvfnans, ana cras"£> ing their heads together, hurled them frcui him, stunned and" senseless. Two more ieceived the weight of his straight-out left-i hander full between the eyes, and then the whole mass was. upon him. Perfectly re-, gardless now of anything but sheer savagery; of battle, he drew his revolver, but it was struck up and the bullet lodged harmlessly; in the ceiling ; then, overwhelmed by weight of numbers, he was borne to the ground, and eventually, though with amazing diffi» culty, tied fast with reims. Then the es« cited crowd parted, though unwillingly,but the hubbub of voices was little hushed. Seton Borrodaile, half stunned by his fell and rough usage, looked up. A man was standing over him — a tall man with an iron grey beard and an air of command. The expression of this man's face was fell and sinister.

" So, Englishman ! "he said. " So ! You have assaulted and beaten certain brave burghers of the Republic "

"Very brave burghers, to drag an old man out of his bed and shamefully ill-use him," interrupted the prisoner with a sort of snarl.

"You have fired upon burghers of the Republic with concealed firearms," went on the other, without answering the interruption. "With concealed firearms," he repeated. " You are in the Republic without authority after the expiration of the time by which all Englishmen should have left it. What have you to say?" " Nothing — except that one day I shall see.you and these cut-throats hanged as ycu deserve,'' was the reply, given with more vehemence than prudence. There are arms concealed in this house," went ou the Boer leader. " Where are they?"'

There are none."

" Look at that clock,*' said the Boer, pointing to one on the mantelpiece. "It is exactly 10 minutes to the hour. If you do not produce the concealed arms in five minutes you will be taken into the back yard. If you do not say where they are by the eifd of ten minutes you will be shot."

" By whose authority? " "By that of the Republic. Burgher law is the law now. And we are the burghers." All Boers are not ruffians, any more than are all Englishmen. But given race feeling at its "highest tension, and you shall find them among both. Field-cornet Andries de Lange was normally not a bad sort of Bo^er. But race feeling was 'at its highest tension, and this Englishman had grievously, if deservedly, assaulted one of his sons, and had attempted and narrowly, escaped taking the life ot another. He met Seton Borrodaile's now angry, now earnest, protests with grim impassibility, and the terse advice : " Say -your prayers, Englishman. The first five .minutes are nearly gone." It was so. - The hand of the clock had moved on. Five brief minutes, and ■■ this fine, strong frame, aglow with vigour and .vitality, would be mere, inert, .dead humanity: -And now violent,~hands were laid upon the prisoner, and he was roughly* jerked to his feet, which were not bound. - "'Let me bid her farewell," he said,~ap-~ pealing to the Boer leader. " Evelyn," he cried, '' I am going to my — prison," he supplemented, wishing to spare her the shock, for in her ignorance of the "taal" she -had not understood the position he was in. " Say goad-bye to me now, love, and keep up a brave heart ; for they cannot harm you." " No, she shall not be harmed," piit in the Boer leader, who had understood. " Thanks fo. that, anyhow. Come, , Evelyn." ' They made way for her, and before that rough and vindictive crowd she tenderly * kissed him. She knew his position to be one of peril, but little did she know that he stood on the brink of the grave. " Good-bye, sweetheart," she said. Then 'she went back to her father, who was now lying insensible. The moon shone clear and bright from a. elotidless sky, and "every object in the backyard was almost as plainly visible as bydaylight. They led him to the farther end of-it. "_ Do you wish'to be blindfolded, Englishman?" they asked. " No. ~ I am ashamed of nothing." A hush now had fallen upon the hitherto clamorous and rowdy-crew. At a sign from, their leaders, a dozen men levelled jtheir rifles.. Through the^ppen window 'the clock/, on the mantelpiece was visible to tliose ou£. side. It wanted but a fraction- over oneminute krthe expiration of the dread. 10. - -Setpn Borrodaile gazed uj)on the levelled, tubss, and' at -that moment -knew .the full meaning of the expression '' the bitterness of death."' Yet' he flinched not. He, too, could see the clock, and the barest thread of time left of his life. The hand came round. What was this? A sudden quick trampling of horses in the road without. Armed burghers came crowding through a gate that opened into the yard from the said road. And Field-Cornet de Lange had not yet given the "word to fire.""Ho ! Geft Bezuidenhout — Gert Bezuidenhout! Don't you know 1 me?'' The apostrophe, uttered, in loud and stentorian tones, had come fronr the prisoner ; the- doomed- man,- standing there momentarily expecting, death. At it one of the new arrivals turned with a hasty ejaculation, and advanced straight towards the speaker.

" Nij Araat ! it is ! Borrodaile, old friend, they shall not harm you. God be thanked I came in time." Then, turning to the intending executioners, '-lSe<e, now, brother burghers. Englishman or not, this is a ' good' r man, and he . is -my friend. , We fougEf together" against the "Matabele three years ago, when I was in Van Niekerk's Corps. , In the fight on" the Tuli road this Englishman saved my life. He took me up on his horse whe,n mine had been killed, and the Matabele were pressing us hard. No, by the great God', he shall not be shot. You will have to shoot me first ! " And the speaker interposed his own stalwart frame in front of the intended victim.

Boers are very clannish, and the fact that the doonyd man had saved thz life of sa important a burghei as Commandant Geri

feezuidenhcut put an entirely new aspect on- the state of affairs. Field-Cornet de •Lange, who- in official rank and influence fwats the inferior of the new- arrival, coldly yielded; and the bui'ghers, a moment before blinded to humanity by rancorous race feeling, now regarded their intended victim [with something like friendly eyes. » " I thank God I came 'in time, Borronaile," said Gert Bezuidenhout, genuinely 'devout. " And it was the merest chance II did. '1^ was only passing by. Buf now, /the sooner you and those belonging to you 'get out of this country the better ; and I 'shall take care you have every facility for doing so in. safety." A. fortnight later Seton Borrodaile and 'Evelyn were married in Durban. They had' all three travelled down in the Com-mandant-General's own train until well ,)within British jurisdiction, under a safe iconduct signed by the president himself, and they bore a letter froni the' State Secretary expressing frank regret on account of '/the" rough treatment they had received. Old Mr Walsh, strange to say, was" little if any /the worse by reason of the latter, but he Baas followed "the newspaper reports of _ Boer flosses during the campaign with a vindictive satisfaction, which, if somewhat unchristian, is, undei the circumstances, ex.tremely natural. But his former antipathy to> his newly-acquired son-in-law has veered round- to the opposite pole, and it is cciv tain that that .fortunate individual will, ;when things are settled, again, be given all the "show" he heard him complaining of ■having hitherto lacked. — TKere are 12 men in Chichester WorkIhouse whose united' ages make 104-2 years — an average of nearly 87 years each.

— There is a pond at Golconda which is fed by the waters from the hot springs. This pond has an area of two or three acres, and The temperature of the water is ahoutJ7sdeg, and in some places where the hot water bubbles up from the bottom the temperature is almost up to boiling point/ Recently a discovery has been made that this waijmlake is literally alive with carp, x some of which are more than Ift long. All efforts to catch them ,-with a hook and line have failed, and they will not touch the-most tempting bait. A few of them have been shot, and, contrary to the general siipposition, the flesh was hard and palatable. . .