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25 - Jock of the Bushveld by Sir James Percy Fitzpatrick · Jock of the Bushveld

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Speaker 1: Twenty four the last track. It was Pettygrew's Road that
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Speaker 1: brought home to me and to others the wisdom of
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Speaker 1: the old transport rider's maxim take no risks. We all
0:13
Speaker 1: knew that there were fly belts on the old main road,
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Speaker 1: but we rushed these at night, for we knew enough
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Speaker 1: of the SETSI fly to avoid it. However, the discovery
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Speaker 1: of the new road to Barberton, a short cut with
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Speaker 1: plenty of water and grass, which offered the chance of
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Speaker 1: working an extra trip into the short delgo season, tempted me,
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Speaker 1: amongst others, to take a risk. We had seen no
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Speaker 1: fly when riding through to spy out the land, and
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Speaker 1: again on the trip down with empty wagons. All had
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Speaker 1: seemed to be well, But I had good reason afterwards
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Speaker 1: to recall that hurried trip down and the night spent
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Speaker 1: at Low's Creek. It was a lovely moonlight night, cool
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Speaker 1: and still, and the grass was splendid. After many weeks
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Speaker 1: of poor feeding and drought, the cattle reveled in the
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Speaker 1: land of plenty. We had timed our track so as
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Speaker 1: to get through the suspected parts of the road at night,
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Speaker 1: believing that the fly did not trouble after dark, and
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Speaker 1: thus we were at night outspanned in the worst spot
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Speaker 1: of all, a tropical garden of clear streams, tree ferns,
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Speaker 1: foliage plants, mosses, maidenhair and sweet grass. I moved among
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Speaker 1: the cattle myself, watching them feed greedily and waiting to
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Speaker 1: see them satisfied, before inspanning again to track through the
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Speaker 1: night to some higher and more open ground. I noticed
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Speaker 1: then that their tails were rather busy. At first, it
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Speaker 1: seemed the usual accompliment of a good feed, an expression
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Speaker 1: of satisfaction. After a while, however, the swishing became too
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Speaker 1: vigorous for this, and when heads began to swing round
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Speaker 1: and legs also were made use of, it seemed clear
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Speaker 1: that something was worrying them. The older hands were so
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Speaker 1: positive that at night cattle were safe from fly that
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Speaker 1: it did not even occur to me to suspect anything
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Speaker 1: seriously wrong. Weeks passed by, and although the cattle became poorer,
2:00
Speaker 1: it was reasonable enough to put it down to the
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Speaker 1: exceptional draft. It was late in the season when we
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Speaker 1: loaded up for the last time in Delagoare and plowed
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Speaker 1: our way through the Metollah Swamp and the heavy sands
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Speaker 1: of Pichene but later, as it was, there was no
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Speaker 1: sign of rain, and the rain we usually wanted to
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Speaker 1: avoid would have been very welcome. Then the roads were
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Speaker 1: all blistering stones or powdery dust, and it was cruel
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Speaker 1: work for man and beast. The heat was intense and
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Speaker 1: there was no breeze. The dust moved along slowly apace
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Speaker 1: with us in a dense cloud. Men, wagons and animals
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Speaker 1: all toned to the same hue, and the poor oxen,
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Speaker 1: toiling slowly along, drew in the finely powdered stuff at
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Speaker 1: every breath. At the outspan they stood about, exhausted and panting,
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Speaker 1: with rings and lines of brown marking where the moisture
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Speaker 1: from the nostrils, eyes and mouths had caught the dust
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Speaker 1: and turned it into mud. At Matollahpourt, where the La
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Speaker 1: Bomba rain runs low, where the polished black rocks shone
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Speaker 1: like anvils, where the stones and baked earth scorched the
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Speaker 1: feet of man and beast to aching, the world was
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Speaker 1: like an oven. The heat came from above below, and
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Speaker 1: around a thousand glistening surfaces flashing back with intensity the
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Speaker 1: sun's fierce rays. And there at Matolapurt, the big pool
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Speaker 1: had given out our standby was gone. There in the
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Speaker 1: deep cleft in the rocks, where the feeding spring, cool
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Speaker 1: and constant had trickled down a smooth black rock beneath
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Speaker 1: another overhanging slab, and where ferns and mosses had clustered
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Speaker 1: in one little spot. In all the miles of blistering rocks,
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Speaker 1: there was nothing left but mud and slime. The water
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Speaker 1: was as green and thick as pea soup. Filth of
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Speaker 1: all kinds lay in it, and on it. Half a
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Speaker 1: dozen rotting carcasses stuck in the mud round the one
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Speaker 1: small wet spot where the pool had been, just where
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Speaker 1: they fell and died. The coat had dropped away from some,
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Speaker 1: and mats of hair black, brown and white helped to
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Speaker 1: thicken the green water. But we drank it, sinking a
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Speaker 1: handkerchief where the water looked thinnest, and making a little
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Speaker 1: well into which the moisture slowly filtered. We drank it greedily.
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Speaker 1: The next water on the road was Comati River, but
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Speaker 1: the cattle were too weak to reach it in one track,
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Speaker 1: and remembering another pool off the road, a small lagoon
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Speaker 1: found by accident when out hunting the year before, we
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Speaker 1: moved on That night out on to the flats and
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Speaker 1: made through the bush for several miles to look for
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Speaker 1: water and grass. We found the place just after dawn.
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Speaker 1: There was a string of half a dozen pools ringed
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Speaker 1: with yellow plumed reeds, like a bracelet of sapphires, set
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Speaker 1: in gold deep deep pools of beautiful water in the
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Speaker 1: midst of acres and acres of rich buffalo grass. It
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Speaker 1: was too incredibly good. I was trekking alone that trip,
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Speaker 1: the only white man there, and tired out by the
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Speaker 1: all night's work, the long ride, and the searching in
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Speaker 1: the bush for the lagoon. I had gone to sleep
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Speaker 1: after seeing the cattle to the water and grass. Before
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Speaker 1: midday I was back among them again. Some odd movement
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Speaker 1: struck a chord of memory, and the night at Low's
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Speaker 1: Creek flashed back. Tails were swishing freely, and the bullock
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Speaker 1: near me kicked up sharply at its side and swung
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Speaker 1: its head round to brush something away. I moved closer
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Speaker 1: up to see what was causing the trouble. In a
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Speaker 1: few minutes I heard a thin sing of wings different
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Speaker 1: from a mosquito's, and there settled on my shirt a
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Speaker 1: gray fly, very like and not much larger than a
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Speaker 1: common house fly, whose wings folded over like a pair
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Speaker 1: of scissors. That was the mark of the beast. I
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Speaker 1: knew then why this oasis had been left by transport
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Speaker 1: rider and tracker, as nature made it untrodden and untouched.
6:00
Speaker 1: Not a moment was lost in getting away from the fly.
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Speaker 1: But the mischief was already done. The cattle must have
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Speaker 1: been bitten at Low's Creek weeks before, and again that
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Speaker 1: morning during the time I slept, and it was clear
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Speaker 1: that not drought and poverty, but fly was the cause
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Speaker 1: of their weakness. After the first rains, they would begin
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Speaker 1: to die. And the right thing to do now was
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Speaker 1: to press on as fast as possible and deliver the loads.
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Speaker 1: Barbarton was booming and short of supplies, and the rates
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Speaker 1: were the highest ever paid. But I had done better still,
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Speaker 1: having bought my own goods, and the certain prophet looked
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Speaker 1: a fortune to me. Even if all the cattle became
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Speaker 1: unfit for use or died, the loads would pay for everything.
6:45
Speaker 1: And the right course therefore was to press on, for
6:48
Speaker 1: delay would mean losing both cattle and loads all I
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Speaker 1: had in the world, and starting again penniless. With the
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Speaker 1: years of hard work thrown away. So the last hard
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Speaker 1: struggle began, and it was work and puzzle day and night,
7:04
Speaker 1: without peace or rest, trying to nurse the cattle in
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Speaker 1: their daily failing strength, and yet to push them for
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Speaker 1: all they could do, watching the sky cloud over every afternoon,
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Speaker 1: promising rain that never came, and not knowing whether to
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Speaker 1: call it promise or threat, for although rain would bring
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Speaker 1: grass and water to save the cattle, it also meant
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Speaker 1: death to the fly Bitton. We crossed the Komati with
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Speaker 1: three spans, forty four oxen to a wagon, for the
7:31
Speaker 1: drift was deep in two places, and the weakened cattle
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Speaker 1: could not keep their feet. It was a hard day,
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Speaker 1: and by nightfall it was easy to pick out the
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Speaker 1: oxen who would not last out a week. That night,
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Speaker 1: Zole laid down and did not get up again. Zole,
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Speaker 1: the little fat schoolboy, always out of breath, always good tempered,
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Speaker 1: and quiet as tame as a pet dog. He was
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Speaker 1: only the first to go. Day by day, others followed.
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Speaker 1: Some were only cattle, others were old friends and comrades.
8:01
Speaker 1: On many tracks, the two big after Oxen, Achmut and
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Speaker 1: Bakir went down early. The Kmati drive had overtired them,
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Speaker 1: and the weight and jolting of the heavy distle worm
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Speaker 1: on the bad roads finished them off. These were two
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Speaker 1: inseparables who worked and grazed, walked and slept side by side,
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Speaker 1: never more than a few yards apart day or nights
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Speaker 1: since the day they became yokefellows. They died on consecutive days.
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Speaker 1: But the living wonder of that last track was still
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Speaker 1: Old Swatlunt, the front ox, with his steady, sober air,
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Speaker 1: perfect understanding of his work, and firm, clean buck like tread,
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Speaker 1: he still led the front span. Before we reached the crocodile.
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Speaker 1: His mate gave in, Worn to death by the ebbing
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Speaker 1: of his own strength and by the steady, indominitable courage
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Speaker 1: of his comrade, Old Swatlunt pulled on. But my heart
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Speaker 1: sank as I looked at him and noted the slightly
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Speaker 1: staring coat, the falling flanks, the tread less sure and brisk,
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Speaker 1: and a look in his eyes that made me think
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Speaker 1: he knew what was coming, but would do his best.
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Speaker 1: The gallant hearted old fellow held on. One after another.
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Speaker 1: We tried with him in the lead, half a dozen
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Speaker 1: or more, but he wore them all down in the
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Speaker 1: dongas and straits, where the crossings were often very bad
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Speaker 1: and steep. The wagons would stick for hours, and the
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Speaker 1: wear and strain on the exhausted cattle was killing. It
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Speaker 1: was bad enough for the man who drove them to
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Speaker 1: see old swat lund then, holding his ground, never for
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Speaker 1: one moment, turning or wavering, while the others backed, gibed,
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Speaker 1: and swayed and dragged him. Staggering backwards made one's heart ache.
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Speaker 1: The end was sure. Flesh and blood will not last forever.
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Speaker 1: The stoutest heart can be broken. The worst of it
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Speaker 1: was that, with all the work and strain, we accomplished
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Speaker 1: less than we used to before. In quarter of the time,
10:02
Speaker 1: distances formerly covered in one track took three, four or
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Speaker 1: even five. Now, water, never too plentiful in certain parts,
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Speaker 1: was sadly diminished by the draft, and it sometimes took
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Speaker 1: us three or even four tracks to get from water
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Speaker 1: to water. Thus we had at times to drive the
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Speaker 1: oxen back to the last place or on to the
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Speaker 1: next one for their drinks. And by the time the
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Speaker 1: poor beasts got back to the wagons to begin their track,
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Speaker 1: they had done nearly as much as they were able
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Speaker 1: to do, and trouble begot trouble. As usual. Sam the respectable,
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Speaker 1: who had drawn all his pair de Lagoa, gave up
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Speaker 1: after one hard day and deserted me. He said that
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Speaker 1: the hand of the Lord had smitten me and mine,
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Speaker 1: and great misfortune would come to all. So he left
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Speaker 1: in the dark at Crocodile Drift, taking one of the
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Speaker 1: leaders with him, and joined some wagons making for Leedenberg.
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Speaker 1: The work was too hard for him. It was left
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Speaker 1: in the season. He feared the reins and fever, and
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Speaker 1: he had no pluck or loyalty, and cared for no
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Speaker 1: one but himself. I was left with three leaders and
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Speaker 1: two drivers to manage four wagons. It was Jim who
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Speaker 1: told me of Sam's desertion. He had the cross defiant,
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Speaker 1: preoccupied look of old, but there was also something of
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Speaker 1: satisfaction in his air as he walked up to me
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Speaker 1: and stood to deliver the great vindication of his own
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Speaker 1: unerring judgment. Sam has deserted you and taken as fourloper.
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Speaker 1: He jerked the words out at me, speaking in Zulu.
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Speaker 1: I said nothing, It was just about Sam's form. It
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Speaker 1: annoyed but did not surprise me. Jim favored me with
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Speaker 1: hard searching look, a subdued grunt, and a clique expressive
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Speaker 1: of things he could not put into words. And without
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Speaker 1: another word, he turned and walked back towards his wagon,
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Speaker 1: But half way to it he broke silence. Facing me
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Speaker 1: once more, he thumped his chest and hurled at me
11:59
Speaker 1: in mixed Zulu and English. I said, so, Sam, lead
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Speaker 1: a bible, Sam, no good u m Changhan. I said so.
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Speaker 1: I always said so. When Jim helped me to inspan
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Speaker 1: Sam's wagon, he did it to an accompliment of Zulu
12:16
Speaker 1: imprecations which only a Zulu could properly appreciate. They were
12:21
Speaker 1: quite above my head. But every now and then I
12:23
Speaker 1: caught one sentence repeated like a response in a litany,
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Speaker 1: I kill la changan when I see him again. At
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Speaker 1: lion's breath there was more bad luck. Lions had been
12:36
Speaker 1: troublesome there in former years, but for a couple of
12:39
Speaker 1: seasons nothing had been seen of them. Their return was
12:42
Speaker 1: probably due to the fact that, because of the drought
12:45
Speaker 1: and consequent failure of other waters, the game on which
12:48
Speaker 1: they preyed had moved down towards the river. At any rate,
12:52
Speaker 1: they returned unexpectedly, and we had one bad night where
12:55
Speaker 1: the cattle were unmanageable and their nerves all on edge.
13:00
Speaker 1: The herd boys had seen spour in the afternoon. At
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Speaker 1: dusk we heard the distant roaring, and later on the
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Speaker 1: nearer and more ominous grunting. I fastened Jock up in
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Speaker 1: a tent wagon, lest the sight of him should prove
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Speaker 1: too tempting. He was bristling like a hedgehog and constantly
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Speaker 1: working out beyond the cattle, glaring and growling incessantly towards
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Speaker 1: the bush. We had four big fires at the four
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Speaker 1: corners of the outspan, and no doubt this saved a
13:29
Speaker 1: bad stampede, for in the morning we found a circle
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Speaker 1: of spur where the lions had walked round and round
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Speaker 1: the outspan. There were scores of footprints, the tracks of
13:39
Speaker 1: at least four or five animals in the bushvelt. The
13:42
Speaker 1: oxen were invariably tied up at night, picketed to the
13:46
Speaker 1: trek chain, each pair at its yoke, ready to be
13:49
Speaker 1: inspanned for the early morning trek. Ordinarily, the weight of
13:53
Speaker 1: the chain and yokes was sufficient to keep them in place,
13:56
Speaker 1: but when there were lions about and the cattle liable
13:59
Speaker 1: to be scared and all sway off together in the
14:01
Speaker 1: same direction. We took the extra precaution of pegging down
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Speaker 1: the chain and anchoring the front yoke to a tree
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Speaker 1: or stake. We had a lot of trouble that night,
14:11
Speaker 1: as one of the lions persistently took his stand to
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Speaker 1: windward of the cattle to scare them with his scent.
14:18
Speaker 1: We knew well enough when he was there, although unable
14:21
Speaker 1: to see anything, as all the oxen would face upwards,
14:24
Speaker 1: staring with bulging eyeballs in that direction, and braced up
14:28
Speaker 1: tense with excitement. If one of them made a sudden move,
14:32
Speaker 1: the whole lot jumped in response and swayed off downward
14:36
Speaker 1: away from the danger, dragging the gear with them and
14:39
Speaker 1: straining until their heavy wagons yielded to the tug. We
14:43
Speaker 1: had to run out then and drive them up again
14:45
Speaker 1: to stay the stampede. It is a favorite device of
14:48
Speaker 1: lions when tackling camps and outspans for one of them
14:52
Speaker 1: to go to windward, so that the terrified animals on
14:55
Speaker 1: winding him may stampede in the opposite direction where the
14:59
Speaker 1: other lions are lying in wait. Two oxen broke away
15:03
Speaker 1: that night and were never seen again. Once I saw
15:06
Speaker 1: a low light colored form steal across the road and
15:10
Speaker 1: took a shot at it, but rifle shooting at night
15:12
Speaker 1: as a gambol, and there was no sign of a hit.
15:16
Speaker 1: I was too shorthanded and too pressed for time to
15:19
Speaker 1: make a real try for the lions the next day,
15:22
Speaker 1: and after a morning spent in fruitless search for the
15:25
Speaker 1: lost bullocks, we went on again. Instead of fifteen to
15:29
Speaker 1: eighteen miles a day, as should have been done, we
15:32
Speaker 1: were then making between four and eight, and sometimes not one.
15:36
Speaker 1: The heat and the draft were awful, but at last
15:39
Speaker 1: we reached the crocodile and struck up the right bank
15:42
Speaker 1: for the short cut Pettigrew's road to Barberton, And there
15:45
Speaker 1: we had good water and some pickings of grass and
15:48
Speaker 1: young reeds along the river bank. The clouds piled up
15:52
Speaker 1: every afternoon, the air grew still and sultry. The thunder
15:56
Speaker 1: growled and rumbled a few drops of rain the dusty
16:00
Speaker 1: road and patted on the dry leaves, and that was all.
16:04
Speaker 1: Anything seemed preparable to the intolerable heat and dust and drought.
16:09
Speaker 1: And each day I hoped the rain would come cost
16:11
Speaker 1: what it made to the fly bitten cattle. But the
16:14
Speaker 1: days dragged on, and still the rain held off. Then
16:19
Speaker 1: came one black day. As we crawled slowly along the
16:22
Speaker 1: river bank, which is not to be forgotten, in one
16:25
Speaker 1: of the cross sprights, cutting sharply down to the river,
16:28
Speaker 1: the second wagon stuck. The poor, tired out cattle were
16:32
Speaker 1: too weak and dispirited to pull it out. Being short
16:36
Speaker 1: of drivers and leaders, it was necessary to do the
16:38
Speaker 1: work in turns. That is, after getting one wagon through
16:42
Speaker 1: a bad place to go back for another, we had
16:46
Speaker 1: to double span this wagon, taking the span from the
16:49
Speaker 1: front wagon back to hook on in front of the other.
16:52
Speaker 1: And on this occasion I led the span while Jim drove.
16:56
Speaker 1: We were all tired out by the work and heat,
16:59
Speaker 1: and I lay down in the dusty road in front
17:01
Speaker 1: of the Oxen to rest. While the chains were being
17:04
Speaker 1: coupled up. I looked up into Old Swotland's eyes, deep placid, constant,
17:11
Speaker 1: dark gray eyes, the oxen eyes of which so many
17:14
Speaker 1: speak and write, and so few really know. There was
17:18
Speaker 1: trouble in them. He looked anxious and hunted, and it
17:22
Speaker 1: made me heartsick to see it. When the pool came,
17:26
Speaker 1: the backs van already disheartened and out of hand, swayed
17:30
Speaker 1: and turned every way, straining the front oxen to the utmost.
17:34
Speaker 1: Yet Swatlung took the strain and pulled. For a few moments,
17:38
Speaker 1: both front oxen stood firm. Then his mate cut in
17:42
Speaker 1: and turned. The team swung away with a rush, and
17:46
Speaker 1: the old fellow was jerked backwards and rolled over on
17:49
Speaker 1: his side. He struggled gamely, but it was some minutes
17:53
Speaker 1: before he could rise, and then his eye looked wilder
17:56
Speaker 1: and more despairing. His legs were planted apart to balance him,
18:00
Speaker 1: and his flanks were quivering. Jim straightened up the double
18:05
Speaker 1: span again. Swatlunt leaned forward once more, and the others
18:09
Speaker 1: followed his lead. The wagon moved a little and they
18:13
Speaker 1: managed to pull it out. But I, walking in front,
18:17
Speaker 1: felt the brave old Fellow's stagger and saw him, with
18:21
Speaker 1: head lowered, plod blindly like one stricken to death. We
18:27
Speaker 1: outspanned on the rise, and I told Jim to leave
18:30
Speaker 1: the ream on Swatland's head. Many a good turn from
18:33
Speaker 1: him deserved one more from me the last. I sent
18:37
Speaker 1: Jim for the rifle and led the old front ox
18:40
Speaker 1: to the edge of the donga, where a bleached tree
18:42
Speaker 1: lay across it. He dropped into the donga under the
18:46
Speaker 1: dead tree, and I packed the dry branches over him
18:50
Speaker 1: and set fire to the pile. It looks absurd now,
18:54
Speaker 1: but to leave him to the wolf and jackal seemed
18:56
Speaker 1: like going back on a friend, and the queer look
18:59
Speaker 1: of the boys and what they would think of me
19:01
Speaker 1: were easier to bear. Jim watched but said nothing. With
19:05
Speaker 1: a single grunt and a shrug of his shoulders, he
19:08
Speaker 1: stalked back to the wagons. The talk that night at
19:11
Speaker 1: the boy's fire went on in low pitched tones, not
19:15
Speaker 1: a single word audible to me, but I knew what
19:18
Speaker 1: it was about. As Jim stood up to get his
19:21
Speaker 1: blanket off the wagon, he stretched himself and closed off
19:24
Speaker 1: the evening's talk with a Zulu click and remark that
19:29
Speaker 1: all white men are mad in some way. So we
19:34
Speaker 1: crawled on until we reached the turn where the road
19:37
Speaker 1: turned between the mountain range and the river, and where
19:40
Speaker 1: the railway runs to day there where afterwards Cassidy did
19:44
Speaker 1: his work. We outspanned one day when the heat became
19:48
Speaker 1: so great that it was no longer possible to go on.
19:51
Speaker 1: For weeks, the storm clouds had gathered, threatened, and dispersed.
19:55
Speaker 1: Thunder had come half heartedly, little spots of rain enough
19:59
Speaker 1: to pock mark the dust, but there had been no
20:02
Speaker 1: break in the drought. It was past noon that day
20:05
Speaker 1: when everything grew still. The birds and insects hushed their sound,
20:11
Speaker 1: the dry leaves did not give a whisper. There was
20:15
Speaker 1: the warning in the air that one knows but cannot explain,
20:19
Speaker 1: and it struck me and the boys together that it
20:21
Speaker 1: was time to spread and tie down the buck cells,
20:24
Speaker 1: which we had not unfolded for months. While we were
20:28
Speaker 1: busy at this, there came an unheralded flash and crash,
20:32
Speaker 1: then a few drops as big as florins, And then
20:35
Speaker 1: the flood gates were opened, and the reservoir of the
20:37
Speaker 1: long months of drought were turned loose on us. Crouching
20:41
Speaker 1: under the wagon where I had crept to lash down
20:44
Speaker 1: the sail, I looked out of the deluge, hesitating whether
20:47
Speaker 1: to make a dash for my tent wagon or remain
20:50
Speaker 1: there all Along the surface of the earth there lay,
20:54
Speaker 1: for a minute or so a two feet screen of
20:57
Speaker 1: mingled dust and splash. Long spikes of rain drove down
21:02
Speaker 1: and dashed into spray, each bursting its little column of
21:06
Speaker 1: dust from the powdery earth. There was an indescribable and
21:10
Speaker 1: unforgettable progression in sound and smells and sight, a growth
21:14
Speaker 1: and change rapid yet steady, inevitable, breathless, overwhelming. Little enough
21:21
Speaker 1: could one realize in those first few minutes and in
21:25
Speaker 1: the few square yards around. Yet there are details unnoticed
21:29
Speaker 1: at the time, which come back quite vividly when the
21:32
Speaker 1: bewildering rush is over, And there are impressions which it
21:36
Speaker 1: is not possible to forget. There were the sounds and
21:39
Speaker 1: the smells and the sights, the sounds that began with
21:43
Speaker 1: the sudden crash of thunder, the dead silence that followed it,
21:48
Speaker 1: the first great drops which fell with such pats on
21:51
Speaker 1: the dust, then more and faster, yet still so big
21:55
Speaker 1: and separate as to make one look around to see
21:58
Speaker 1: where they fell. The sound on the wagon sail, at
22:01
Speaker 1: first as of bouncing marbles, then the devil's tattoo, and
22:05
Speaker 1: then the roar. And outside there was a muffled puff
22:10
Speaker 1: and patter in the dust, the rustle as the drop
22:13
Speaker 1: struck dead leaves and grass and sticks, the blend of
22:17
Speaker 1: many notes that made one great sound, always growing, changing
22:21
Speaker 1: and moving on full of weird significance, until there came
22:26
Speaker 1: a steady swish and hiss of water upon water, when
22:30
Speaker 1: the earth had ceased to stand up against the rain
22:33
Speaker 1: and was swamped. But even that did not last, for
22:37
Speaker 1: then the fallen rain raised its voice against the rest,
22:40
Speaker 1: and little sounds of trickling, scurrying waters came to tone
22:44
Speaker 1: the ceaseless hiss, and grew and grew, until from every
22:48
Speaker 1: side the chorus of rushing, tumbling waters filled the air
22:52
Speaker 1: with the steady roar of the flood, and the smells,
22:56
Speaker 1: the smell of the bake drout bound earth, the faint, clear,
23:00
Speaker 1: wearing and purifying by the first few drops, the mingled
23:03
Speaker 1: dust and damp, the rinsed air, the clean sense of
23:07
Speaker 1: water water everywhere, and in the end, the bracing sensation
23:12
Speaker 1: in nostrils and head of not wind exactly, but of
23:15
Speaker 1: swirling air thrust out to make room for the falling rain.
23:19
Speaker 1: And when all was over, the sense of glorious clarified
23:24
Speaker 1: air and scoured earth, the smell of a new washed world,
23:29
Speaker 1: and the things that one saw went with the rest,
23:32
Speaker 1: marking the stages of the storm's short, vivid life. The
23:36
Speaker 1: first puffs of dust were drops struck like bullets, the
23:41
Speaker 1: cloud that rose to meet them, the drops themselves that streaked,
23:44
Speaker 1: slanting down like a flight of steel ramrods. The dust
23:48
Speaker 1: dissolved in a dado of splash. I had seen the
23:52
Speaker 1: yellow brown ground change color. In a few seconds. It
23:55
Speaker 1: was damp, then mud, then all machene. A minute and
24:00
Speaker 1: busy little trickles started everywhere, tiny things a few inches long,
24:06
Speaker 1: And while one watched them, they joined and merged, hurrying
24:09
Speaker 1: on with twist and turned, but ever onwards to a
24:12
Speaker 1: given point to meet. Like the veins in a leaf,
24:16
Speaker 1: each tuft of grass became a fountain head, each space
24:20
Speaker 1: between a little rivulet, swelling rapidly, racing away with its
24:25
Speaker 1: burden of leaf and twig and dust and foam, until
24:28
Speaker 1: in a few minutes all were lost in one sheet
24:31
Speaker 1: of moving water. Crouching under the wagon, I watched it
24:35
Speaker 1: and saw the little streamlets, dirty and debris laden, steal
24:39
Speaker 1: slowly on like sluggard snakes, down to my feet and
24:43
Speaker 1: winding round me, meet beyond and hasten on. Soon the
24:47
Speaker 1: grass tufts and the highest spots were wet, and as
24:51
Speaker 1: the water rose on my boots, and the splash beats
24:54
Speaker 1: up to my knees. It seemed worth while making for
24:57
Speaker 1: the tent of the wagon. But in the the roar
25:00
Speaker 1: was deafening. The rain beat down with such force that
25:04
Speaker 1: it drove through the canvas covered wagon tent and greased
25:08
Speaker 1: buck seil in fine mist. In there it was black
25:12
Speaker 1: dark that are pallen covering all. And I slipped out
25:15
Speaker 1: again back to my place under the wagon to watch
25:17
Speaker 1: the storm. We were on high ground which fell gently
25:21
Speaker 1: away on three sides, a long spur running down to
25:25
Speaker 1: the river, between two of the numberless small watercourses, scoring
25:29
Speaker 1: the flanks of the hills Mere gutters. There were easy
25:34
Speaker 1: corrugations in the slope from the range to the river,
25:37
Speaker 1: in significant drains in which no water ever ran except
25:41
Speaker 1: during the heavy rains. One would walk through scores of
25:44
Speaker 1: them with easy swinging stride and never notice their existence. Yet,
25:49
Speaker 1: when the half hour's storm was over and it was
25:52
Speaker 1: possible to get out and look round, they were rushing,
25:55
Speaker 1: boiling torrents twenty to thirty feet across and six to
25:59
Speaker 1: ten feet deep, foaming and plunging towards the river, red
26:03
Speaker 1: with the soil of the stripped earth, and laden with leaves, grass,
26:07
Speaker 1: sticks and branches. Water furies wild and ungovernable, against which
26:13
Speaker 1: neither man nor beast could stand. For a moment. When
26:16
Speaker 1: the rain ceased, the air was full of the roar
26:19
Speaker 1: of water, growing louder and nearer all the time. I
26:23
Speaker 1: walked down the long low spur to look at the river,
26:27
Speaker 1: expecting much, and was grievously disappointed. It was no fuller,
26:31
Speaker 1: and not much changed. On either side of me, the
26:34
Speaker 1: once dried dongas emptied their soil stained and debris laden
26:38
Speaker 1: content in foaming cataracts, each deepening the yellowy red of
26:43
Speaker 1: the river at its banks. But out in midstream the
26:47
Speaker 1: river was undisturbed, and its normal color, the clear yellow
26:51
Speaker 1: of some ambers, was unchanged. How small the great storm seemed, then,
26:56
Speaker 1: How puny the flooded creeks and dongas, each master of
27:01
Speaker 1: man and his work. How many of them are needed
27:04
Speaker 1: to make a real flood. There are a few things
27:07
Speaker 1: more deceptive than the tropical storm. To one cought in it,
27:11
Speaker 1: all the world seems deluged and overwhelmed. Yet a mile
27:15
Speaker 1: away it may be all peace and sunshine. I looked
27:19
Speaker 1: at the river and laughed at myself. The revelation seemed complete.
27:24
Speaker 1: It was humiliating one felt so small still the dart
27:28
Speaker 1: was broken, the rains had come, and in spite of disappointment,
27:32
Speaker 1: I stayed to watch, drawn by the scores of little things,
27:35
Speaker 1: caught up and carried by the first harvest garnered by
27:39
Speaker 1: the rains. A quarter of an hour or more may
27:43
Speaker 1: have been spent thus, when amid all the chorus of
27:46
Speaker 1: the rushing waters, there stole in a duller, murmur, murmur.
27:50
Speaker 1: It was at first, but it grew steadily into a
27:54
Speaker 1: low toned, distant roar, and at court and held one
27:58
Speaker 1: like the roar of coming hail or hurrican. It was
28:01
Speaker 1: the river coming down. The sun was out again, and
28:05
Speaker 1: in the straight reach above the bend, there was every
28:07
Speaker 1: chance to watch the flood from the bank where I stood.
28:11
Speaker 1: It seemed strangely long in coming, but come it did
28:14
Speaker 1: at last, in waves like the half spent breakers on
28:17
Speaker 1: a sandy beach, a slope of foam and broken waters
28:21
Speaker 1: in the van, an ugly wall with spray tipped feathered
28:25
Speaker 1: crest behind, and tier on tier to follow. Heavens, what
28:30
Speaker 1: a scene, the force of waters and the utter hopeless
28:33
Speaker 1: puniness of man. The racing waves, each dashing for the
28:38
Speaker 1: foremost place, only to force the further on. The tall
28:42
Speaker 1: reeds caught waist high and then laid low, their silvery
28:46
Speaker 1: tops dipped, hidden and drowned in the flood, the trees
28:50
Speaker 1: yielding and the branches snapping like matches and twirling like
28:54
Speaker 1: feathers down the stream. The rumbling thunder of big boulders
28:58
Speaker 1: loosed and tumbled, rolled like marbles on the rocks below.
29:02
Speaker 1: Whole trees brought down and turning helplessly in the flood,
29:06
Speaker 1: drowned giants with their branches swinging slowly over like nerveless arms.
29:12
Speaker 1: It was tremendous, and one had to stay and watch.
29:16
Speaker 1: Then the waves ceased, and behind the opposite bank, another
29:20
Speaker 1: stream began to make its way, winding like a huge snake,
29:24
Speaker 1: spreading wider as it went across the flats beyond, until
29:27
Speaker 1: the two rejoined and the river became one again. The
29:31
Speaker 1: roar of waters gradually lessened. The two cataracts beside me
29:35
Speaker 1: were silent, and looking down, I saw that the fall
29:38
Speaker 1: was gone, and that water ran to water, swift as
29:42
Speaker 1: ever but voiceless now, and was lost in the river itself.
29:46
Speaker 1: Inch by inch, the water rose towards my feet, tufts
29:50
Speaker 1: of grass trembled, wavered, and went down. Little wavelets flipped
29:55
Speaker 1: and lecked like tongues against the remaining bank of soft
29:59
Speaker 1: earth below me. Piece after piece of it leant gently
30:03
Speaker 1: forwards and toppled headlong in the eager, creeping tide. Delteras
30:08
Speaker 1: of yellow scum flecked water worked silently up the dongas,
30:13
Speaker 1: reaching out with stealthy feelers to inclose the place where
30:16
Speaker 1: I was standing. And then it was time to go.
30:21
Speaker 1: The cattle had turned their tails to the storm and
30:23
Speaker 1: stood out. They too were washed clean and looked fresher
30:27
Speaker 1: and brighter, but there was nothing in that. Two of
30:30
Speaker 1: them had been seen by the boys, moving slowly foot
30:33
Speaker 1: by foot before the driving rain down the slope from
30:36
Speaker 1: the outspan, stung by the heavy drops and yielding in
30:40
Speaker 1: their weakness to the easy gradient only fifty yards away.
30:45
Speaker 1: They should have stopped in the hollow the shallow, dry
30:48
Speaker 1: donga of the morning, but they were gone, unwilling to
30:52
Speaker 1: turn back and face the rain. They had no doubt
30:55
Speaker 1: been caught in the rush of the storm water and
30:57
Speaker 1: swirled away, and their bodies were bobbing in the crocodile
31:00
Speaker 1: many miles below. By the time we missed them. In
31:04
Speaker 1: a couple of hours the water had run off, the
31:06
Speaker 1: flooded dongas were almost dry again, and we moved on.
31:11
Speaker 1: It was then that the real rot set in. Next
31:14
Speaker 1: morning there were half a dozen oxen unable to stand up,
31:18
Speaker 1: and so again the following day. It was no longer
31:22
Speaker 1: possible to take the four wagons. All the spare cattle
31:25
Speaker 1: had been used up, and it was better to face
31:27
Speaker 1: the worse at once. So I distributed the best of
31:31
Speaker 1: the load on the other three wagons and abandoned the
31:34
Speaker 1: rest of it with the fourth wagon in the bush.
31:36
Speaker 1: But day by day the oxen dropped out, and when
31:39
Speaker 1: we reached the junction and branched up the carp, there
31:43
Speaker 1: was not enough left for three wagons. This time it
31:47
Speaker 1: meant abandoning both wagons and load, and I gave the
31:51
Speaker 1: cattle a day's rest then, hoping that they would pick
31:53
Speaker 1: up strength on good grass to face the eight drips
31:56
Speaker 1: that lay between us and Barbiton. End of chapter twenty
32:02
Speaker 1: four