“He’s a good fellow, this blacky,” remarked Nick one day, as they halted under the shade of a large oomahaama, to rest an hour or two before returning home from one of their shooting excursions. “He’s a good fellow, not suspicious of every word one says, or of the meaning of every act one does. He really has some notion of honesty. More’s the wonder!”
“Yes,” answered Frank; “I should like to ask him where he got it from, only I suppose he wouldn’t understand one.”
“Oh yes, Kobo would—understand very well,” said Kobo, joining in the lads’ conversation, in broken, but very intelligible English.
“Hallo, hey, what!” exclaimed both the boys, half starting up with surprise. “What! you understand English, Kobo?” added Frank. “How in the world did you learn it?”
“And why in the world didn’t you tell us long ago that you understood it?” subjoined Gilbert.
“Kobo keep it secret—chief not know—prophet not know,” answered Kobo. “Kobo tell white boys, not black man.”
“Do tell us, then, Kobo,” said Nick, whose interest had been keenly awakened. “You may trust us to keep whatever we may hear to ourselves, if you desire it.”
Kobo assented readily enough. It was plain that he was anxious, for some reason of his own, that they should learn his history, and had been awaiting his opportunity of telling it. We shall not follow the broken English of his narrative, but relate it in our own words.
Kobo had been born and reared in the Bechuana village where he was still living; but when a lad of twelve or thirteen years old, had incurred the chief’s displeasure for some boyish offence, and to escape the punishment incurred by it, fled from the kraal and took refuge in a village lying at a considerable distance from his own people. He had not been there many months, when the village in which he was living was attacked by a commando, and with the usual consequences. All the males who had reached puberty and the elder women, were shot or cut down; the girls and children carried off into bondage.
Kobo’s fate had at first been very doubtful. He was just on the very verge of what was considered manhood, and the sword of more than one Dutchman was raised to cut him down. But he was, luckily for himself, rather short of stature, and it was ultimately resolved that he should be spared. He was taken to the southern part of the colony, and became the slave of a Dutch farmer residing near Oudtshoorn. Here he remained for several years, until he had quite grown to manhood. According to his own statement, which it would be reasonable to receive with some degree of caution, he was treated with the utmost injustice and cruelty by his masters—ill-fed, overworked, and kicked and cuffed without any reason, whenever his employers chanced to be out of temper.