The boys often told one another that if any people in the world ought to be supremely happy it was these same Boers. They owned or controlled immense farms on which horses and cattle, which constituted their sole wealth, were raised with scarcely any trouble at all; their tables were abundantly supplied; they seemed to possess everything in the way of household comforts that any people with their simple habits could ask for; and they lived in the midst of a hunting country which far surpassed anything the boys had ever dreamed of. One of these Boers could get up any morning in the week, take his old “roer” down from the pegs at the head of his bed, and knock over an eland or a springbok for breakfast, and that too without going any farther than the threshold of his own door. There were antelopes, large and small, zebras, quaggas, and buffaloes without number. Time and again had the boys been awakened from their morning nap by the clatter of countless hoofs, and hurried out of their tents to find the plain covered with these animals as far as their eyes could reach. Such sights drove the trappers almost wild with excitement. They reminded them of the glorious sport they had enjoyed among the noble game of their own country, the buffaloes, which, like the class of men to which Dick and Bob belonged, are fast becoming extinct. Of course the boys had ample opportunity to try the speed of their horses and the accuracy of their new weapons. The wagon did not halt a single day to give them a chance to hunt, for theirs was a trading, not a hunting expedition; but they scoured the country for miles on each side of the route, and already large quantities of something which Mack called “bell-tongue,” but which the boys called “jerked meat,” was packed away in the wagon for use in the days when game was not quite so plenty.
The place where this good hunting was found was in the uninhabited region lying between the borders of the colony and the remote Dutch settlement toward which Mack was directing his course. As they approached the opposite side of it, the game decreased in numbers, until finally an exceedingly wild springbok would be the only animal the boys could find in a day’s hard riding. This was a sign that the settlement was near at hand. Their trading begun now, and trouble followed close on the heels of it.
CHAPTER XIII.
A SURLY BOER.
The “settlement” that Mack was so anxious to reach proved to be no settlement at all, as the boys understood the meaning of the word. It was simply a collection of a dozen or more families who were scattered over an immense country, the nearest neighbors living three days’ journey from each other. They arrived at the first farmhouse one bright afternoon, and the sight of the cattle feeding about it delighted Mack, who declared that he would not inspan again until he had traded for a dozen or fifteen of the best of them; but the reception they met from the farmer himself, made the boys a little doubtful on that point. They had seen enough of the Boers by this time to learn something of their customs. One of these customs was, that every traveller must be cordially greeted at the door, presented to each member of the family in turn, and invited to dinner; and this farmer was the first one who neglected this ceremony. When the wagon drew up in front of the house he stood in the door with his long pipe in his hand, but he made no move to welcome them, although Mack greeted him as an old acquaintance.
“Well, Mynheer Schrader,” exclaimed the driver, as he jumped off his wagon, “I am glad to see you again. Where shall I outspan, and where shall the oxen be driven to graze?”
“There is a fountain five miles further on,” replied the Boer in broken English.
“But I intend to stop here,” replied Mack. “You have some fine cattle, and I have the best stock of goods ever brought out by a trader—ribbons, and tea and coffee for the women, cloth to make clothes for the children, and perhaps something for Mynheer himself. Where shall I offload?”
“I want nothing,” growled the Boer.
“Oh, it’s no trouble at all,” insisted Mack. “It’s my business to show goods. That’s what I am hired for.”
Mack looked around to select a place for the camp, and discovering a little grove at a short distance from the house, he drove the wagon there and proceeded to outspan, just as he would have done if the Boer had given him the most cordial welcome. As soon as the oxen were freed from their yokes one of the Kaffirs drove them away to graze, and Mack proceeded to make a display of his goods.