Chapter Six.
The Secret Message.
There were many incidents on this overland journey, both humorous and adventurous, which might have formed subjects for future talk.
But the after events dwarfed these minor adventures so completely that they were hardly ever mentioned.
Small game was plentiful on some of the open parts, and afforded them good enough sport after a tame fashion. Here the Dutchmen displayed their wonderful skill as marksmen, and won unqualified admiration and respect. When they saw the unfailing and deadly precision of that shooting, and how little lead was wasted, the lads no longer felt any surprise at the surrender of Dr Jameson at Krugersdorp. Surrounded as he had been by such sharpshooters, he had not a chance of holding out, almost shelterless as he was. The Dutchmen were all mightily proud of the achievements of their friends in the Transvaal, and not at all delicate in their boasting. They were never tired of hearing and speaking about “Bronkhurst Spruit,” “Laing’s Nek,” and “Majuba Hill,” as well as this latest defeat at Krugersdorp. As for Johannesburg and its craven citizens, long before the lads saw this golden city of the veldt, its degradation had been forced deep into their hearts by this contemptuous banter.
Stephanus Groblaar altered his manner in a most marked degree as they progressed up the country. On the voyage out and at Cape Town he had seemed one of the most advanced and liberal-minded of young Boers. He even appeared to take the part of the Uitlanders then, and thus had won their respect and confidence.
But now he became the loudest and most insulting of the despisers and denouncers of everything British. He lost the small amount of humour that he seemed to have possessed, and which his franker cousins still retained, and grew savage instead of bantering in his expressions.
He was returning home to Pretoria, after two years of social intercourse with Englishmen, as full of race hatred as any of his untravelled countrymen.
Clarence Raybold saw this new phase with silent surprise, and listened to his exasperating observations with tightly closed mouth and lowering eyes.