They soon arrived at Van Rooyen’s, and the Dutchman, having enjoyed a hearty laugh over poor Allen’s mishap, sent for the steadiest old roadster in his paddock and mounted the dethroned hero thereon; and after resting an hour, which somehow had nearly dragged itself out to two, the party were in the saddle again, bound for their respective homes. But it is the Seringa Vale quartette—for the obnoxious Jeffreys had, after all, left them at Van Rooyen’s—whom we shall now follow. It was late when they left Buffel’s Kloof, and now, as they rode over the rising ground which shut the Dutchman’s farmstead from sight behind, the very short gloaming of a South African day was already drawing in.
“I don’t know how it is; as a rule I enjoy a ride at night,” said Ethel, “but this evening I can’t help wishing we were safe at home, I feel quite low and nervous;” and she shivered.
“I know how it is. You’ve caught cold,” replied her companion. “It’s a particularly warm evening, and you’re shivering as if it were mid-winter. Here—wait a bit—and put this on.”
In a trice he had unstrapped an ample waterproof cloak from his saddle, and, dismounting, wrapped it twice round her, tightly and securely, yet so as not to impede the management of the reins.
“Thanks. No, I wasn’t cold—it’s very absurd—but I feel as if something dreadful was going to happen. A kind of presentiment.”
“Nonsense, child. You have been catching cold; but we shall both be catching it hot soon for being so outrageously late. Come along, here’s a nice level bit, and those two are a good mile ahead.”
“Yes, it’s too absurd of me,” she said, as they cantered on; “but—I felt a drop of rain.”
They looked up. Sure enough the sky had suddenly clouded over, and several large raindrops splashed down upon the road.
“We are in for a shower, I’m afraid,” said Claverton. “Nothing for it but leg-bail. However, that ancient garment will keep you as dry as a chip, unless it has suddenly performed the feat in physiology which Holy Writ associates with the Ethiopian.”
They rode on with heads bent forward, for a fierce gust drove the rain, which had now increased to a deluging shower, right into their faces.