Chapter Five.
Amongst the Cape Boers.
The first week at Cape Town shook them up more than years of living in England could have done. They had been only boys when they first sighted Table Mountain, but in a week’s time they felt and acted like men.
“It is a queer place, this Cape Town,” observed Ned, as they walked through the streets, and looked about them.
It was queer because it was all so strange and new to these English-bred lads. The sandstorm that greeted them on their landing did not surprise the two colonial boys as it did Ned Romer. They endured the infliction philosophically, while Ned groaned, and wished for a few moments that he had stopped in dear old England.
But this gust passed, and, being the first of his experience, it seemed the worst. In a short time he became accustomed to sand, shortness of water, and the lack of a host of conveniences which had appeared as necessities to him at one time.
Stephanus Groblaar continued his protection and friendship to them all the time they were at Cape Town and its surrounding districts. He took them to his uncle’s house, and so saved them the expense of living at any of the hotels, which was a great saving to them.
The South Africans are a hospitable people, and the town-educated Dutch very different from their country cousins, the Transvaal Boers.
The lads were delighted with their reception and generous treatment. They explored Table Mountain, and passed several happy days before they had exhausted the sights of this ancient African capital.
The uncle of Stephanus was the owner of a large and prosperous vineyard in Stellenbosch, and he had half a dozen fair, plump, and lively female cousins, ranging from seven years of age to twenty-three. Stephanus was engaged to the second oldest, a girl of nineteen. They had also eight brothers, all living at home and assisting in the different departments of the wine business.