Beyond the Bustle. A tale of South Africa

Chapter I

In the reading-room at Poole's Hotel, Cape Town, a curious compact was being entered into between two new arrivals from England. One was a man of about forty-five, well-preserved, healthy, and trim. He was of middle height, square build, neither too fat nor too lean, but favoured with just that comfortable rotundity which barely hints at obesity, and is the happy medium after which we all sigh — the shapely, rounded figure which is important without being gross, and is a comfort and a credit to its pro prietor, and a source of glory to his tailor. He wore a close-cut iron-grey beard, and used an eye-glass. Altogether it may be said he looked a distingue, well-cared-for man, who could afford to take life B ■1 BEYOND THE BUSTLE. easily, and to indulge his somewhat impressive stand-offish manner, which was attractive with out being pleasing.

He was Mr. Horace Poltimore. The other was a man of seven and twenty, tall, and slight by comparison with Mr. Poltimore. He was a handsome, athletic-looking fellow, clean shaven but for a moustache of somewhat sluggish growth. He, too, wore an eye-glass, which it was very difficult to believe he stood in need of. His was a pleasant face to look upon, affable but determined, easy-going but earnest. He looked anti humbug for all he wore an eye-glass. His face was a contradiction, but it pleased. He looked as if he might have had a pretty sister ; but be hadn't. This was Mr. Paul More. These two men had sat vis-a-vis at all their meals for a whole fortnight now. For the first week they had eyed one another silently, and with an apparently rude scrutiny peculiar to each of them. Each had regarded the other with an affectation of supreme indifference, as much as to say, " You may be all right, but I know I am."

But at the end of the first week this triumph of dignity began to wane ; for tbe ice had been pierced by some trifling accident, and a general thawing on both sides brought about an exchange of greetings, and just those few facts concerning themselves which could no longer be avoided with decency. So in good time it happened that these two pompously deferential individuals came down from their stilts in so far as to look with pride upon their newly formed friendship rather than upon themselves. There was a great deal of dignity that never would wash out ; but, in spite of all the formality and back-straightening against the threatening weakness of making a new friend, that friendship had already assumed a reality surprising to them both, and by tbe time we take up their history trust and good-fellowhip must have existed in no uncertain quantities under their icy surfaces to have brought about the compact we find them busy ratifying.

Mr. Poltimore, when reiterating in extenso the provisions of their tacit understanding, was, in his efforts to be legal and right, at all points tedious — very tedious. He would hunt round for the word, as he called it, regardless of the waste of time it entailed. He meant to be impressive, and he was — disagreeably so. He was an aggravated instance of the one disadvantage of a rich language ; he had too many words of the same value to choose from. Hesitancy of speech is surely an English weakness; and Mr. Poltimore was just the man to illustrate a national failing and excel therein ; neither did his looks belie him. He hummed and hawed like any country squire, insomuch that his companion would fain have laughed, but for tbe penetrating power behind the eye-glass facing him. " Then it is understood," Mr. Poltimore was saying, "that chance having, with its proverbially strange methods, made it known that each of us has recently arrived from England with the object of isolating himself beyond the trammels of this working world, we are agreed to cast our lots in common ?

" "Exactly." "And that, in doing so, the object of each is, by profound devotion to his task, to minister to the cause of art and literature, and," he added in a dropped voice, " of course indirectly to his oivn cause?" " Quite so ; but I think the words might be added, 'and of science,'" Mr. More interrupted affably. "Certainly. Make it 'art, science, and litera ture.' ' We, Horace Poltimore and— and ' " " Paul More." " ' And Paul More, do hereby agree to build, on economic lines, such a tenement as shall be to us a bumble but sufficient home ; and we agree that the site of the said home shall be on the coast-line of False Bay, facing the sea, at a spot to be decided upon on that part of Crown lands known as the Downs, and as already de scribed by me. . Further, it is agreed that each party to this agreement shall contribute, pro rata, to "I think ' a moiety ' sounds better."

" Then, ' shall contribute a moiety towards the construction and maintenance of this home. And it is further agreed that our expenditure shall be regulated by such frugality and simplicity of life as shall be in keeping with our, we will hope, temporarily reduced circumstances.' " " Quite so." " ' The parties to this agreement pledge them selves each to assist the other, as far as in their power lies, to the fruition of his hopes ; and, further, it is agreed that the use of alcoholic drinks and tobacco, being professedly, each to the other, distasteful and distracting from the objects we have in view ' " " Quite so." " ' The use of both shall be abolished from the time we make our home.' " "Oh!" " Did you say ' no,' Mr. More ? " No. I said, ' oh ! ' Mr. Poltimore." " Thank you. ' It shall be tbe object of both to maintain that high standard of morality which I, from my observance, am satisfied is the natural inheritance of us both ' " — (Mr. More smiles plea santly, and bows his acknowledgments) — " ' and without which all the soul-stirring influences of Nature which will surround us will be rendered of on account.

And each of us'pledges himself to, in sickness and in health, at all times befriend the other and minister to his comfort, advance his interests whenever possible, and generally show that regard for his feelings, wants, and aspirations as shall be becoming in a member of this brother hood of two.' " " Certainly." "'This agreement shall remain in force for a period of twelve calendar months, or, by mutual consent, for a longer or a shorter term ; and when by lapse of time, or by mutual consent, we shall cease to require the residence it is our intention to build, the same, together with any other property we may at that time own in common, shall either be sold to the best advantage, and the proceeds be equally divided between us, or it shall be disposed of in any other manner we may agree upon.' " " Beautiful and business-like."

"No record of this agreement shall exist other than in the memories of the interested parties ; so that, by this omission — this departure from the usages of an unscrupulous world — we may, indeed, seal our faith in one another." "Excellently conceived, Mr. Poltimore. The idea suggests the age of chivalry, when a gentle man's word was more esteemed than bis enforced pledge in writing." Mr. Poltimore, who had risen and rung the bell, smiles in turn, and resumes, in his sauve manner, while the waiter stands in the doorway — " Now, I think as this is an occasion that will never occur again, we ought to commemorate the understanding we have come to by " " Yes, I think so too — by breaking the spirit of it for the last time." " Then what do you say to a bottle of- " But isn't champagne rather extravagant ?

" "Champagne! Dear me, Mr. More, I was thinking of ginger-ale ; " and for a moment the two eyed one another from behind their eye-glasses with the half-shocked, half-pleading, but wholly terrified look of men who had sworn to simultaneously drain their poisoned goblets. " Just to usher in the new life," Mr. Poltimore remarked, to break the awkward silence. " Two bottles of ginger-ale, waiter." If Mr. More felt that bis friend was taking too much for granted, he must have thought it wisest to let the matter pass, for fear of wounding his susceptibilities. But so far from having any moral qualms about the use of intoxicants, he either helped himself or didn't, as his inclination swayed him. Mr. Poltimore had evidently put a wrong construction upon the fact of his never drinking with his meals, or upon certain remarks he may have let fall anent drunkenness ; but since he was so staunch a champion of sobriety, Mr. More was fully prepared to allow his surmise to prove its correctness ; and, at the cost of a very trifling inconvenience to himself, to let that form of abstinence pass into a bard and fast rule of the brotherhood.

As to tobacco, he certainly had never passed any strictures on its use; and if his elder had never seen him smoking, the oversight was acci dental. Howbeit, he was so far from being a slave to the habit, that he waived this right also, being not unreasonably proud of his self-command in all such matters. But before Mr. Poltimore bad proposed an amalgamation of interests, be had led Mr. More into a dark corner of the verandah one evening, and told him all that he felt necessary con cerning himself and his apparently remarkable resolve. As the proposer of the agreement he was bound to do so ; but he did it with evident reluctance. Only when his hobby was touched upon did he show a disposition to throw off his reserve. He began by surprising Mr. More with a frank admis sion that he was the Horace Poltimore who wrote " Righted Wrongs " — the story which three years before had created such a sensation.

"But," be added, " I have never been able to write anything since. I have done my best, too ; but my creative powers seemed dulled, and I am constantly finding myself harping on ideas that prove to be nothing better than indistinct memories of another's creations. Three completed stories — fairly good I thought them — I have had in the market one after another during the last two years and a half ; but, in spite of the reputation my ' Righted Wrongs ' earned for me, I failed to find a publisher for any of them. ' It lacks novelty, life, go,' they said one after another of my successive manuscripts. ' You are hammering too much at the same string,' I was told ; and, discouraged at last, I decided, after many half-hearted intentions to do so, to abandon my literary efforts once and for all. Then an old friend, whose judgment I hold in high esteem, and in whose advice I feel unbounded confidence, counselled me to go right away — out of the country, to shake off old surroundings, and do anything, see anything, that was strange, fresh, novel — anything that would contrast strongly with the past, with which I had become too familiar, and give myself one more trial.

Thus, when you found me, I had resolved to isolate myself, and, living face to face with so much nature, with an ocean before me and mountains at my back, all unsullied with the narrowing conventionalities that have gone before, see with wider vision, think with clearer brain, and write my life's great crowning effort amidst tbe scenery of Nature's grandest sights. But I am " Yes, Mr. Poltimore was. He preferred rather to think or write in that strain than to be found speaking such things. He had very nearly become grandiloquent ; had very nearly revealed one of the great secrets he and bis dear public enjoyed together. His hobby bad threatened to bear him away. He bad finished loud and strong. He was an enthusiast and thought big, but he was conscious of his weakness, and had himself in hand again in a moment.

The outburst of fervour was extraordinary in one so automatically dignified and reserved ; and if it did not disappoint the younger man, it at least puzzled him. " Yes, I'm glad you've stopped," he said. "You were getting rather beyond my sphere of thought ; but you have interested me greatly, and it is with a feeling of diffidence that I shall do my best to respond to your example of frankness. I fear my story will sound very commonplace after yours." " Go on, Mr. More." "Well, then, 'tis simply this," began Mr. More, clearing his throat. "I too have a hobby, and it is owing to my excessive indulgence of that hobby that I'm out here on a similar errand to your own. I play the bass clarionet." This information caused Mr. Poltimore to squirm uneasily in his seat, and a look of ineffable dis appointment clouded his features.

Fortunately, Mr. More was too preoccupied with thoughts of his treasured hobby to notice the squirm, and the insufficient light fostered his ignorance of his companion's crushed condition. So he went on with increasing serenity, blissfully ignorant of the pain his truths were leaving in their wake. " Yes, the doctors told me I was blowing the very life out of me — killing myself, and not by inches either." " Then you've left it behind, of course ? " inquired Mr. Poltimore, eagerly. "Oh no, I haven't. Wherever I go, my clarionet goes. Besides, my doctor's chief objec tion was that my indoor London life gave me no chance of recuperating by day the pulmonary forces I was in the habit of blowing to bits by night." " Want more ozone, I suppose ? " "That's exactly it. 'Lungs are all right,' he says ; ' but if you want to go on playing, you must go where they'll keep all right.

Go where there is plenty of ozone. After all, it's only a question of fresh air ; and, if you can arrange that part of it, you may be spared to blow back an answer to the last trump,' he in his playful profanity suggested." " He exaggerates. Do you think of trying ? " " No. I mean to confine myself to my instrument; but for a while, at all events, I shall not practise more than two hours a day." And Mr. Poltimore's thoughts wandered off to the little two-roomed cabin be bad improvised in his mind, and be was on the point of deciding not to ask Mr. More to share his solitude, when he smiled at the sudden recollection of what a little timely strategy had been known to do, and might do again, in the circumvention of obtrusive fads, and musical fads in particular. " Moreover, apart from the efficiency I hope to attain by regular and frequent practice," Mr. More went on, " I have a theory concerning the instru ment's construction which, by a series of experiments, I hope to turn to a considerable practical value ; and, should I do so, the discovery can be applied to all reed instruments."

" In which case the gain to the musical world will mean a huge financial coup to you? " "Well, such a result may be incidental to my success." "And you really feel that seclusion is necessary in your case ? Will it not place you at many disadvantages ? " "Possibly; but ozone I must have. Secrecy, too, is essential, and I am provided with every possible mechanical appliance in order to avoid any intercourse that might give the trade a hint as to my methods. Besides, the economy that my seclusion will effect is as important to me as the whole idea is pleasantly romantic." For two days the bass clarionet was an insur mountable difficulty to Mr. Poltimore ; but, for tunately for the purposes of this story, he bethought him to take a run down to Tinkle's, a purveyor of music, where he learnt, to his intense relief, that the instrument he stood in dread of would pro bably succumb to the climate unless extraordinary care were taken to prevent it.

This decided him to risk all, and give effect to his predilection for his new friend. The more he saw of him tbe better he liked him. He saw in him a capital model from which to draw an im portant character in the chef-d'oeuvre upon which he was about to embark. He liked Mr. More, and thought to like him better; and despite the taciturnity which was clearly natural to them both, unmistakable little evidences told of a reciprocity of the kindly inclination, and the almost distant bearing with which each might have been accredited towards the other was only a form of proclaiming a jealous regard for the other's esteem. Each was pleased with his friend ; each felt himself the richer by the acquaintance. To each the other presented an air of ultra-refinement — and consequent admiration gave rise in both to a spirit of emulation which would in itself be a safeguard against any possible illusion.

So the whole matter was settled in the hotel reading-room as aforesaid, and if either had the shadow of a misgiving about the bargain, neither by word or look betrayed it. If Mr. More had any fears as to his companion's ability to accomplish his exalted ends midst all the discomforts inseparable from an out-of-the-way shanty between the sandhills and the sun, he was discreetly silent. And if Mr. Poltimore heard weird noises in the dead of night, and saw his friend in the likeness of a vampire about to fall upon him, and, with one blow from the bell-end of his clarionet, send him bleeding and senseless into the hereafter, he let not his fears overcome him, but soothed himself and slept again, remem bering how positively Tinkle had prognosticated that within a month Mr. More's instrument would fall a victim to the summer's sun, and split from end to end.

Chapter II

Aglow with enthusiasm and the warmth of that innocent and felicitous beverage, ginger-ale, Messrs. Poltimore and More began at once to handle their plans in detail. Each exhibited a wholesome longing for action, and sprang into the collar with all the zest of a horse long used to eating his head off and doing nought else. But whereas Mr. More laid himself down to his work and pulled straight, the other stood on his hind legs and fussed omi nously, insomuch that the future relations of the two men were soon foreshadowed by the masterly dictations of the one and the willingness of the other uncomplainingly to transact the less agreeable of their many joint obligations. It was at once evident that Mr. Poltimore de clined to be spanned in as one of a pair ; rather did he prefer to run " wheeler "in a tandem, that -C he might goad on the "leader," and shirk and shout to his heart's content.

Thus, after half an hour's chatter, he, having by this time lapsed into two chairs— an easy one and another for his legs — brought about the first sign of activity by proposing— "Er — then it seems there is nothing left but to put our plans into action. Now, suppose you take a run round all the wholesale houses and get estimates for our building materials, etc. Tell them cash and ten per cent, off, and all that kind ot thing." So Mr. More was packed off on a series of errands which kept him in and out and all over Cape Town and the suburbs for the next five days ; while Mr. Poltimore arrogated to himself the somewhat mystic duties of going into figures in the aforesaid reading-room, wherein he found no small comfort. But his days of ease were numbered, and when the time came to face the more serious fact of migration, their astonishment was great at the circuitous methods by which alone they could advance.

Englishmen-like, they had, in making their plans, underrated or ignored altogether the hundred and one obstacles, great and small, which lay between them and their first object. To " dump " down a couple of loads of building materials somewhere in a wilderness of undu lating loose sand was found to have its difficulties ; but these were greatly enhanced by Mr. Poltimore's inability to locate the Canaan after which his soul sighed, and which he alone had the advantage of having spied out. Oh, he knew the way ! He was, in fact, very positive on all points, and strutted about with that offensive sort of self-assertion which regards advice in any form as interference. He had lashed the poor man in charge of the waggons into an ill-humour before they had been two hours together, by his determination to have things done bis own way — which, it may be taken for granted, was the wrong way, for he was strange to the necessities of the country.

So they went on, and in due course left the hard road and struck out on their heavy virgin trail, till they got, goodness knows where ! The cattle began to tire, and the stoppages became more and more frequent. Whips were plied with cruel force, and the drivers swore in English, Dutch, and the gibberish the mules understand best of all. BEYOND IHE BUSTLE. 20 The poor over-driven cattle struggled on gamely, to escape the violence which was to-day and every day their portion, and now the only alternative to a prolonged halt. Everybody was angry, hot, and thirsty, for they were in a barren and dry land, where no water was, and the sun was striking down with blistering force. " Much better have gone round by Lawrence River," remarked the kurveyor, justly aggrieved, when for the fifth time the waggons seemed hopelessly stuck in the sand.

" But, my good man, we're not nincompoops"; indeed, we're not,1' answered Mr. Poltimore, sharply, as yet by no means convinced of his mistake. "Do you think we are going all round there, when our destination lies over here ? " he continued, sweeping the horizon with bis out stretched hand. " Ridiculous ! " Ridiculous or not, the man's advice had to be followed after a stickfast which lasted all night ; and when, after being forty hours on the road, they reached their longed-for goal, they were as weary, ill-assorted, and disappointed a party as ever coiled down for a night in the open. We will spare ourselves a record of the very trying period that followed, when a rough two roomed edifice, facing seawards, at an elevation of some twenty feet above high-water mark, was being improvised of galvanized iron, quartering, and such other materials as were either absolutely necessary to the completion of the structure, or within the reach of their narrow means.

A handy man was with them who could do a little of everything. This was fortunate, for the genteel emigrants had rendered themselves hors de combat within an hour of their arrival — the one from a scald received in his maiden effort to boil a kettle, tbe other in his too ambitious belief in bis ability to drive a nail. So for many days they had sat in the sand nursing their knees, and through their eye-glasses watched the slow progress of their only workman, whom they nearly drove distracted with their ludicrous fault-findings. They bad decided not to indulge themselves with the services of a Kafir, for they rejoiced alike in the prospect of their Spartanlike simplicity and absolute independence, until, be it added, tbe handy man withdrew, and with him the Hottentot help, and they were left in their longed-for seclusion.

This realization of bliss bad its disadvantages too, for during the dry season, which had now set in, the water supply was a serious obstacle to comfort. It necessitated a daily journey with buckets to the nearest point of the Eerste river; and when it is said that the way was long and heavy, it will not be a matter of surprise that the recluses, but more especially Mr. Poltimore, grew to regard the journey with little favour. Then there was firewood to collect and chop, food to prepare and cook, damper to bake, washing up and sweeping out, and an occasional scrub to be gone through. All this, together with one day a week set apart exclusively for a tramp inland for stores, formed, as may be expected, a serious contra to their much-cherished independence. As already hinted, Mr. Poltimore was the greater sufferer, and his many inabilities were a source of endless amusement to the younger man, who showed, however, a generous disposition to lighten his elder's burden whenever possible, though the doing so always robbed him of a sure source of fun.

Neither liked to complain. Each was made to think he was doing bis share of the work, more or less, and everything was done with assumed cheer fulness. Both wanted to be Spartans; but the elder man showed unmistakable signs of having lingered too long midst the spoiling ease of palatial Rome, and, in spite of his dignified silence on the subject ofhis multifarious and irksome little duties, his face told the tale of his flagging spirit. Mr. Poltimore promised to develop into but an indifferent housemaid, while as a cook and char woman he was a gross failure. Still, be it said to his credit, he set his teeth and lived through the first week without a murmur against bis self created littlenesses. But at the end of a week he could withstand his feelings no longer. " I don't know what effect it's likely to have on your music, Mr. More ; but this washing up after every meal is a serious distraction from the ideas upon which my future bangs," he remarked, while he laboriously set about drying the cups and saucers his friend had washed. ' ' But surely it is a new experience to you, and as such it should be useful, Mr. Poltimore."

"I dare say," replied Mr. Poltimore, sadly, as one but partly convinced ; " but the novelty has to be imagined after the first five minutes, while the tedium which comes next can be felt — unpleasantly felt — on every subsequent occasion." " Never mind, my dear sir," said Mr. More, taking the liberty of gently resting the hand of encouragement on his senior's shoulder. "I'll cheer you up presently. I am going to have a thorough good strum for an hour or two." " On the ' what-you-may-call-it ' ? It was one of Mr. Poltimore's whims never to call his companion's instrument by its proper name. It is impossible to believe either that he did not know it, or that he contrived on every occasion to forget it. He must have assumed ignorance to slight it, to lessen its importance, to accentuate his own selfish indifference.

It was one of his many ways of announcing his hatred for the thing. "Yes, on the clarionet." " Umph ! Where do you propose to give way to this indulgence ? " " That depends. If you prefer to write in this room, I'll play in that, or vice versa." And while Mr. Poltimore stood hopeless and amazed as one upon whom the threatening rod had at last descended with cruel suddenness, his com panion flung the dish-water out of the open door, and in another minute entered the room with such a stack of music on bis arm as would have papered a town hall. "There," he said, banging down one volume after another upon the table, " all that has to be played; and that, and that ; " then after a momen tary pause, " and that, and that, and that ; " and after breaking the regularity of the bangs with another pause, " and every bit of this.

I mean to have every bar of it at my finger's ends, and be prepared when we part company to play any movement you can find on this table before the Queen." And bringing his fist down sharply upon the table at the word " Queen," he seemed in his enthusiasm to look a challenge into his senior's unresponsive face. That gentleman didn't wish to be unsympa thetic ; but for the moment, he could have gone outside and cried in his disgust at his self-sought bargain. "Is the man going to have no mercy?" he asked himself; "because, if not, he has me at a cruel disadvantage. My business keeps me quiet, while his is to be a kind of noise without end, in the face of which I shall have to abandon my work at his pleasure." " Er — you didn't say in which room you mean to work ? " remarked Mr. More, who was now busy running his washleather over the network of keys which covered his idol.

" Work in ! Oh yes ; but I'm not quite sure that I shall start work to-night. Pity, rather, we didn't carry up the partition wall in brick." " So far as I'm concerned it makes no difference. I'll defy you to interrupt me when once I'm started." " No, but— " And when I begin to bore you, please tell me. But I hardly need say I'm no novice at my instrument; and its tones, if you don't already know them, are not harsh and rasping, but rich and mellow — in fact, the music of the upper octave is popularly regarded as the perfection of melody, and soothing to a degree." "Indeed! Oh, no doubt, no doubt. Yes, yes — can quite believe it — looking forward — much pleasure " Mr. Poltimore spluttered out with a poor affectation of sincerity. Then the partition door was shut, and Mr. Poltimore sat a while, clutching his chair as if needing support in some form, while he awaited the inaugural sounds which should either verify or dispel his worst fears.