Isban-Israel. A South African story

Book I Chapter

I NURSE FIRMIN'S STORY You would not care to hear the history of my early life, it was like the lives of many other women which have been told by abler pens than mine ; suffice it to say, that after a short period of not too happy married life I went out into the world to earn my own living ; after years of drudgery as governess and companion, fate put in my way the chance of going to Australia as companion to an invalid lady. When she died I became a probationer in the Adelaide Hospital in South Australia. I first saw the light in the little village of Ordchester in Somersetshire. I call it Ordchester, though that is not its real name, because, if I mentioned my birthplace, who knows but what, sooner or later, a swarm of relations might spring up to claim a share in the wonderful legacy to which I became entitled in such an extraordinary manner ?

A ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 2 I have been a lonely woman so long that perhaps it may seem curious that I have no wish to find some one of my own kith and kin upon whom to lavish the affection with which all women are supposed to be endowed ; but I have no such feeling, and if I had, it seems to me that there may, even yet, be some other persons whose claim to the wealth which I hold would be greater than that of my own kindred. But enough of myself. I have promised to write down, as plainly as possible, the chain of events which transformed me from an hospital nurse into a woman of property. It was only a very few weeks ago that my career as a nurse terminated in a manner so strange that, even now, at times it seems as though it were all a dream, and that presently I shall wake up and find myself in my hospital uniform, attending to my patients in the West Ward, and wondering when the next nurse will appear to relieve me.

Only one thing more I wish to say before I begin my task. If in the future these pages should be read, and the reader recognise Adam Varney, I wish to place on record that, in spite of the things he told me — and which I will try to faithfully re-tell — in spite of his roughness, his horrible ravings, his dreadful impre cations, and the intemperate habits which had doubtless led up to his being brought to the hospital, I believe him to have been a brave and gallant man, and, if any who loved him when he was young should ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 3 recognise him and grieve for the sad ending of his wild and eventful life, I tell them now that, pitiful as his death was, marred and wasted as he was physically and mentally, yet, I believe from my heart that, ere he died, he had repented of his sins, and that he breathed his last in the sure and certain hope that in another and better world, he would rise again, cleansed from his sins by the mercy of God and the sacrifice at Calvary. . . .

My friend Dr. James Ascott has read this introduc tion, and has said in his kind way, ' that it would be as well not to be too diffuse.' I know he thinks I have written too much about myself, but I cannot alter it now, for I am unaccustomed to writing and find it tedious — it must stand as I have written it. I was sitting in the West Ward by one of the patients, a big, bronzed, bearded man, who had from the first attracted my attention, partly owing to his enormous stature, and the dreadful scars upon his head and breast, partly because, now and then, in his delirium, he spoke the homely dialect with which I was familiar in my girlhood, but more than all, because he wore around his neck a collar of pure gold, which, even in his sleep, he incessantly fingered. It was welded together by some ingenious means, so that it was impossible to tell without close scrutiny where the junction had been effected.

It was about a quarter of an inch in breadth and very heavy ; all round ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 4 the lower part of his throat were terrible festering sores, with scars here and there telling of other sores since healed up. When the man was first brought to the Hospital he was insensible. I was present when the Doctor ex amined him ; from the appearance of his neck the Doctor considered that the collar had been on for several years, and owing to its tightness there might be some difficulty in removing it. It was while the Doctor was speaking of this to one of the students that the man recovered conscious ness, and broke into a torrent of strange oaths and exclamations — chiefly in a language which none of us understood, but of which it was easy to imagine the import from his looks and gesticulations.

Later on, as he gained more complete comprehension, he swore at the Doctor in English words of such terrible and blasphemous character, that I would have moved away had I been free to do so. The Doctor soothed him at last, and assured him that there was no intention of removing the collar — indeed, in any case, as I learned afterwards, it would have been of little avail, for he was sinking fast and could not live many weeks. He was dying from alcoholic poisoning. As I sat reading by my patient on the second day after his admittance, he suddenly awoke, and I gave him a drink. As he handed me back the glass he thanked me in a far milder tone than any he had yet ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 5 used, and I noticed that when I resumed my reading he looked at me in a strangely wistful way. I had been reading the Psalms — (for since my trouble — since my husband died — I have been what they call a religious woman), and thinking my patient might be soothed by my reading them aloud, I went on without altering my position, or shewing that I had noticed his looks. ' Send Thine hand from above ; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children. . . .' The man made a sudden gesture as of despair, and tried to rise in his bed, but he was too weak.

I leaned over him and smoothed his pillow, regretting that I had disturbed him. He seemed to have caught the verse up and to have remembered it, for he muttered to himself brokenly, ' Out of the great waters — . he great waters / . . . and the strange children ! ' Then in a frenzy of rage he called down the most awful curses upon the great waters and the strange children, and upon one whom he called Ira — as he mentioned her his face grew distorted, the veins of his neck filled out like great cords above the curious collar, and his eyes assumed a greenish blue tint such as is seen in some cases of madness. I was vexed with myself for disturbing him, and was deliberating as to whether I would call the charge nurse, but as I moved away the paroxysm left him, ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 6 and he fell back on his pillow exhausted and almost breathless.

I hoped he had forgotten the verse, but presently he began again his deep-voiced mutterings, and I heard him say in a solemn tone, 'Send Thine hand from above ! Let Thy light shine upon the altar — upon the great white stone.' He frightened me — in spite of his weakness I was afraid of him as he lay there gaunt, scarred, and terrible in his wrath ; but his mood changed, and lifting his eyes to mine as I hung, undecided, over him, he smiled as though divining my fear, and in a gentle manner asked my name. ' Isabel ! ' he said quickly. ' I knew an Isabel once — ay — in amongst the great waters, in the hand of strange children.' I thought he was wandering, but he must have known that I did so, for he laughed softly. ' I will tell you about her,' he said ; ' shall I ? ' I assented readily, for the other patients were all quiet, and there was no likelihood of interruption for a while — besides, I was interested in the man.

And this is what he told me — then, and in the days which followed. ADAM VARNEY'S STOKY ' My name is Adam Varney : all through my life I have been fond of travel and adventure, and when I ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 7 was quite a lad I determined that somehow or another I would gratify my inclinations, and see the strange peoples and lands of which I had heard and read. 'My father was head-keeper to Squire Haydon of Haydon Hall in Somersetshire. Mother died when I was four years old. ' When I grew tall and strong enough the old Squire let father take me on as under-keeper. The old man was glad enough to get me under him, where he could watch me, for I was a wild and reckless youngster, and a regular born poacher. However, I liked what little I saw of a keeper's life ; there was plenty of fun one way and another, but I did not stick at it long, for the young Squire came up from London one day in some awful trouble, and it got about amongst us that he was going to foreign parts till the trouble blew over.

It was some thing about a girl ; I never heard the rights of it, and neither the old Squire nor the young one was given to talking of their affairs. ' One day, up in the gun-room, father let out that young Haydon was going to South Africa on a hunting trip. ' One of the gentleman guests had given me an old book that was written by a fellow named Gordon Cumming, it was all about South Africa — about hunting lions and buffaloes, blesbok and wildebeest, and scores of other animals, I had read it through time after time, and dreamt of the grand sport he must have had, and wished I could go to Africa. Cumming must have been ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 8 a rare good shot and a cool fellow, but I was pretty good at shooting, and my head was set on fairly level, I guessed I could hold my own if I got a chance, and I was always picturing to myself the wild country and the Kafirs, the veldt with the lions moving about, the great forests where the elephants were, and the glorious excitement of a hunter's life. ' When father let out that the young Squire was off to the country I had dreamed about so often, I just shut my mouth tight and went on cleaning the gun barrel, and thinking hard all the time how I could manage to get away with Mr. Haydon. ' While I was thinking, he came into the room quietly and spoke to father and nodded to me ; he was looking very ill and unhappy, and seemed listless-like and absent ; presently he went out, and I dropped the gun barrel and followed him. ' " Hullo, Adam !

" he said, when he heard me coming ; " do you want me ? " ' I told him straight out that I 'd heard he was going to the great game country in South Africa that I 'd been dreaming of for years, and then I asked him plain if he would take me with him, as his servant. ' He was only a slim, delicate young fellow, with white hands and pretty blue eyes like a girl's, and his head wasn't higher than my shoulder, but he was a regular little gentleman, and plucky as a gentleman should be ; he laughed just a bit, and looked at me as if he was wondering whether I would do for a servant, ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 9 so I began to explain how much I wanted to go, and pro mised I would serve him faithfully if he would take me. ' Every one said I was too independent to keep my billet as an under-keeper long, and I was afraid that was what he hesitated about, so I swore I 'd be very obedient and alter my rough ways if he 'd consider it. ' He laughed again in his quiet way and stood there looking at me, at last he said — '"You seem very much in earnest, Adam, and I should like to have a home face about me — yours more than any, my lad.

I '11 see my father about it." ' I heard afterwards the old Squire was dead against my going, for he said I was too wild and reckless to be depended upon, and too self-willed for a body-servant, but the young Squire only smiled — I don't think he ever laughed loudly or merrily again after his trouble — and said he had taken a fancy to me ; and so, after a bit, it was all settled, and we left Haydon Hall for good early in April. ' We had some fine times, and I got to care for the young Squire very much, he was so plucky and deter mined ; he never owned up to being tired, and the cool head he had in times of danger was something wonderful. Many a time I've seen him within an inch of being killed, and when it was all over, he 'd turn round with his quiet smile and say, " A near thing, Adam, eh ?" ' Poor young fellow ! he had six months' splendid hunting, and then he got laid low with fever.

The Kafirs and I got him down as far as Delagoa Bay, and ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 10 hoped to be able to get a steamer from there to Natal, but he was too bad, and all the nursing in the world wouldn't have saved him. I don't think he cared much whether he died or not, for he never got over the trouble that drove him from England. ' Well, the young Squire died in that damned Portu guese village, and we buried him by the Sandhills just nor'-west of the town, on the left of the track leading to the Komati. There was an Irishman at Lorenzo Marquez — the only other white man there — for I never counted those beggarly Portuguese as white fellows. He had got into trouble with the authorities and was under a sort of arrest, but it was not very strict; they let him wander about the town all day and locked him up at night.

I forget his name now, but they called him " Pat," and he was a good fellow, he helped me bury the young Squire, and afterwards he and I made a rough gravestone and put it up. I wrote the words and Pat cut them roughly with a stone chisel and a hatchet. We had an old newspaper which gave us a hint about the wording, and we put — IN MEMORY OF LIEUTENANT LINDSAY CARROLL HAYDON OF HAYDON HALL, SOMERSET, ENGLAND AGED 26 DIED OF FEVER CAUGHT AT MASIBI AT REST ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 11 'After the young Squire's death I walked across country to the Pilgrims' Rest goldfields and tried digging for a spell, then I went to Kruger's Post and on to Leydenberg. At this place I got a billet as bullock driver, and for a couple of years I stuck to that, driving all over the Transvaal and from Newcastle as far north as Marabastadt. 'I was on my way to Marabastadt for the second time when I fell in with an Englishman, Captain Clayton ; he had come out from England very many years before on a hunting trip and had his head quarters at Eerstelling, a little settlement where gold was said to have been discovered, but it did not seem to pay, for the mines were not being worked when I was there. 'Captain Clayton was a man after my own heart, he could speak the Kafir dialects as well as the Kafirs themselves, knew the names of every bug and beetle and tree and shrub in the colony, and could tell all sorts of anecdotes about the different properties of the leaves and roots ; he was a great hunter too, and had some magnificent trophies in his comfortable stone house at Eerstelling.

I was never tired of hearing his yarns of the habits and customs of the Kafir tribes ; he knew the meanings of all their symbols, and often made me stare by comparing their ways with those of the Bible people. 'I had not been brought up religiously. Father was a rough, stern man, and mother had died when I ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 12 was young, so I had little Bible teaching, still I had heard about those things in Church, and at meetings sometimes, and it used to make me feel quite strange to hear Captain Clayton say in his authoritative way — ' " See that woman grinding corn, Adam ? that 's just the way they were grinding it thousands of years ago when Pharaoh ruled over Egypt, and Israel was held in bondage!" I remembered about the two women grinding corn, and the one was to be taken and the other left, and said hesitatingly — ' " But those Bible-women, Captain ! they wouldn't be squatting half naked grinding corn like that ?"

I would say — '"Ay, just like that, on just such a scorching day as this, with just such bare silent plains lying before them, and just such a herd of goats and sheep standing listlessly about beneath the mimosas. Picture them, Adam!" ' But I could not ! it seemed almost wicked of him to compare those women whose names are in the Bible with the black chattering women from the neighbouring kraal. I did not know till long after wards that Captain Clayton had devoted a great portion of his life to discovering the ways and speech of the different Kafir tribes, or that he had a theory that they retained the manners and customs of the earliest of the earth's inhabitants. ' Only about a year or so before I met him his two young daughters had come out to live with him. ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 13 They had been with some grand relation in England — their grandfather, I think ; but one of them — the eldest girl — began to lose her health, and the doctors recommended that she should go to a warmer climate for a while.

The Captain was just starting on a hunting trip when he got the news ; he went straight back to England, and after a time brought both girls to Natal, for they were too fond of each other to be separated. The Captain had a nice lady to look after them, and the invalid — Miss Isabel — soon grew well and hearty. The girls enjoyed themselves in the new country, but the Captain pined for the wild life, and by degrees they found that out and persuaded him to take them to Pietermaritzburg, and then farther and farther north, enjoying the camping out and the gipsy life. By degrees, seeing no harm came of it, he pushed on as far as Eerstelling, and made that his headquarters. ' The eldest girl was about eighteen, the other about three or four years younger, a merry, frolicsome child, full of fun and nonsense.

Her name was Kate, and I often saw her; but the elder girl kept her room while I was there, being unwell. ' The Captain was going on a big hunting expedition beyond the Victoria Falls, and he and I often talked of the grand hunting he would enjoy. He would have taken me with him, but I had a team of oxen and a wagon of my own by that time, and had signed for the delivery of a load of hides in Pietermaritzburg, ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 14 and had to stick to my bargain. It was a great temptation; for the old longing for hunting never left me, and I was always dreaming of making a big trek on my own account, but in the meantime I had to work hard and save more money. ' When my wagon was loaded up and fairly started, I left my Kafir, Methlembomvu (red-eyes), in charge, and rode across from Marabastadt to Eerstelling to bid Captain Clayton and Miss Katie good-bye.

They were very kind to me, and Miss Katie was full of jokes about my journey south with my " old skins," as she called the hides. Both she and Captain Clayton rode out a couple of miles from the village with me to see that I did not take the wrong road and go back to Marabastadt — so Miss Katie said, in fun. ' There was one thing she told me that rather as tonished me; she said that she and her sister Isabel had nearly made the Captain promise to take them on his hunting expedition ; the Captain looked rather put out when I questioned him ; but I could see that the girls had him at their apron-strings, for he was so fond of them both, that he had not the heart to refuse them anything. '"What fun it will be!" Miss Katie said, jumping up and down in her saddle. " Think of the nights when the camp fire is burning and the lions are roaring ! and then one fine night Isabel and I will be peeping out of the curtains of the wagon watching father and the boys (Kafirs) smoking round the fires, and father will be ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 15 dreaming about some beautiful beetle with purple wings and creepy-crawly eyes, when suddenly a lion will spring out of the bushes and stand wagging his tail, and glaring at father — then before the men can move, Bang ! and over he goes ! shot by me !

" ' " You impudent hussy," the Captain cried, " as if you could shoot a lion ! " ' " Of course I could ! couldn't I, Adam ? " ' She was only a slip of a girl and always called me Adam or Goliath, — Goliath because I was so big. Ah, she was a merry, winsome little lass ! and I could not wonder at the Captain's wanting to have her with him, but I could not help thinking it was dreadfully im prudent of him to think of taking two young girls so far from any civilisation ; but I did not say much, for the Captain had a way of putting people down, when he chose, which was not agreeable, so I hoped for the best, and wished them good-bye and a pleasant ex pedition.'

Chapter II

adam varney's story — continued ' I had a pretty fair journey down to Maritzburg, and from there went on to Durban, and loaded up with a fresh lot of things for Eerstelling a few weeks later, but the up-trip was a hard one and the bullocks were poor, so we were a long time doing the trek. The first thing I heard from the canteen-keeper was that Captain Clayton had returned without his daughters, and was nearly out of his mind. ' I met him the same afternoon down at the blacksmith's shop. He was dreadfully altered : his hair was thickly streaked with grey, and his eyes were sunken and bloodshot as though from want of sleep : directly he saw me he came up and shook hands, and asked me to accompany him on his search for his lost children. ' I had not heard that he was going back for them and told him so. ' " Great God !

" he cried, " do you think I am going to leave my darlings to drag out lives of unspeakable misery, or die unavenged at the hands of the treach erous devils who stole them ! " ' He could not understand at first that I knew ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 17 nothing of what had happened, except the bare fact that he had returned without his daughters ; I begged him to be calm and tell me all that had happened ; but he would not speak before the blacksmith, so I went with him to his house, which looked so lonely and deserted now without saucy little Miss Katie darting about. ' Sitting there in the darkened room — for the windows had been boarded up when he went away, and had not since been altered — he told me his story. ' Sixteen days after passing the Victoria Falls, he had been travelling over a wide and apparently boundless plain, for in no direction except that from which they had come was there any break in the dull monotony of flat, treeless desert — nothing but the interminable sand. 'Towards night he had suddenly become aware of something unusual in the landscape, and scanning the horizon saw the outlines of an immense mountain range faintly outlined against the darkening sky.

He called the attention of the rest of the party to the sight, and they were struck with amazement, for during the daytime there had been no sign of the mountains. 'Perplexed, but not in any way alarmed at this sudden apparition, the Captain halted soon after with the intention of exploring some parts of the range on the morrow. But when the sun rose next day, the range was invisible, nor could they detect anything E ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 18 in the direction from which it had appeared, except the long yellow sweeps of the sandy desert. 'Of course the Captain put the affair down to the mirage, and gave the matter little heed, but towards the afternoon when they were slowly making their way northward, the sky became overcast and rain appeared threatening.

A shout from one of the vore loupers attracted the Captain's attention while he was giving instructions to outspan, and turning in the direction to which the boy pointed, he saw again the great range looming full in sight, its ridges cragged and battlemented in fantastic shapes. ' At this second appearance one of the Kafir drivers appeared to be possessed with fear, for with distended eyes and trembling limbs he sought the Captain and begged him to trek homeward with all speed, for that they were without doubt in the land of the Um ganowie, or Magic Mountains, which no man ever saw thrice without paying for his curiosity, and the penalty was death, — sudden, awful, and inevitable. ' Partly from this man and partly from his com panions, Captain Clayton learned that they had heard from traders and hunters of a mysterious desert, far inland, where every now and then there uprose from the bowels of the earth a great range of mountains, called by the inhabitants of the adjacent regions the Umganowie or Magic Mountains, and they were not really mountains at all — only the great Ama-Sequ or Devil raising himself from Hell to devour those who had ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 19 the temerity to trespass on his garden ; and the sandy desert was the garden of Ama-Sequ, and the yellow sands which drifted for all time hither and thither were the dried-up souls of his victims. ' To a man of Captain Clayton's temperament this was enough to set him off straight away to discover the cause of this strange optical delusion, for such he judged it to be ; and on the third day after entering the desert the caravan headed due east, greatly to the consternation of the Kafirs, who indeed were only prevented from desertion by their fear of the Captain, who threatened to shoot any man who attempted to leave the camp. ' Two days' more travelling, during which they had at long intervals, — and only when the sky was over cast — three or four opportunities of seeing the Magic Mountains, brought them at last, at about sundown, to the foot of the Umganowie, which as the Captain now began to suspect were, after all, no phantoms, but bona fide mountains which, possibly owing to some peculiarity in the rocks, were invisible when the sun shone upon them, but which lost their peculiar attributes when the sky was clouded. ' The morning after reaching the foot of the range, Captain Clayton and his daughters stood admiring the solemn grandeur of its towering sides when Miss Katie's quick eyes detected a small white animal moving about the top of the mountain just above them.

At first the arduous nature of the climb sub- ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 20 dued even the Captain's sporting instincts, but after watching the animal for some time he determined to have a shot, if possible, and set out to climb the steep and rocky sides of the range. It had appeared a difficult task at the beginning, but ere he was half way up he began to think it an impossible one, for in places the rocks rose up perpendicularly thirty or forty feet, with neither shrub nor grass growing in the crevices to aid the climber. ' It took him fully four hours to reach the summit, and then the object of his pursuit was not in sight, but he scarcely gave a second thought to that, for at his feet, hemmed in by two great spurs which sprang from the parent range, there lay a beautiful little valley, triangular, with the base almost exactly below him. ' Over the spur to the right came thundering from the main range a mass of foaming, churning water, which shot over the face of the right spur and formed a waterfall, the roar of which he could plainly hear. ' Without wasting time in searching for the quarry which had been the means of his ascending the range, Captain Clayton rapidly descended, inspanned the wagons and trekked north, skirting the mountains in hope of finding a pass leading to the unknown falls. ' After travelling along the sandy plains the rest of that day and part of the next, they suddenly came to the end of the range, which terminated in a large bluff : ' ISBAN-ISRAEL ' 21 rounding it they travelled over somewhat better country, and after passing a belt of mimosa, struck a grassy but waterless plain traversing this and two low spurs, they crossed a small river and pitched their camp on the south bank about half a mile from the falls.