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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Our various ways. When the trip was squared off and
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the boys paid, there was nothing left. Jim went home
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: with wagons, returning to Spitzkorp once more for the last time,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: grievously hurt in dignity because his money was handed to
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: my friend, the owner of the wagon, to be paid
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: out to him when he reached his kraal. But his
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: gloomy resentment melted as I handed over to him things
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: for which there was no further need. The wagons moved
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: off and Jim with them, but twice he broke back
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: again to dance and shout his gratitude, for it was
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: wealth to him to have the rems and furslach, the
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: odd yokes and straps and wagon tools, the baking pot
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: and pan and billies, and they were little to me.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: When all else was gone, and Jim, with all his faults,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: had earned some title to remembrance for his loyalty. My
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: way had been his way, and the hardest day had
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: never been too hard for him. He had seen it
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: all through to the finish, without a grumble, without a shirk.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: His last shout, like the bellow of a bull, was
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: an uproarious good bye to Jock and Jock seemed to
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: know it was something of an occasion, for as he
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: stood before me, looking down the road at the receding
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: wagons and at the dancing figure of Jim, his ears
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: were cocked, his head was tilted a little sideways, and
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: his tails stirred gently. It was at least a friendly
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: nod in return. A couple of weeks later I heard
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: from my friend. You will be interested to hear that
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: that lunatic of yours reached his crawl all right, but
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: that's not his fault. He is a holy terror. I
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: have never known such a restless animal. He is like
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: a change in the weather. You seemed to feel him everywhere,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: upsetting everything and every one the whole time. I suppose
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: you hammered him into his place and kept him there,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: But I wouldn't have him at a gift. It is
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: not that there was anything really wrong, only there was
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: no rest, no peace. But he's a gay fighter that
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: I never laughed so much in my life. Below the
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Devil's Contour we met a lot of wagons from Liedenburg,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: and he had a row with one of the drivers,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: a lanky nigger with dandy patched clothes. The boy wouldn't fight,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: just yelled blue murder while Jim walloped him. I heard
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: the yells and the wax like the beating of carpets,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: and that was Jim laying it on all over him, legs,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: hands back, and arms with a sort of ferocious satisfaction,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: every whack being accompanied by a husky suppressed shout, fight, shank, gone, fight.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: But the other fellow was not on for fighting. He
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: floundered about, yelled for mercy and help, and tried to
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: run away, but Jim simply played round him one spring,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: put him alongside each time. I felt sorry for the
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: long nigger and was going to interfere and save him,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: But just then one of his piles called out to
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: their gang to come along and help, and ran for
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: his sticks. It was rare fun. Then Jim dropped the
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: patched fellow and went like a charging line straight for
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: the wagons, where the gang was swarming for their sticks,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: letting out right and left whenever he saw a nigger,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: whether they wanted fight or not, And in about five
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: seconds the whole lot were headed for the bush, with
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Jim in full chase. Goodness knows what the row was about,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: as far as I can make out from your heathen.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: It is because the other boy is a Shanghan and
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: reads the Bible. Jim says, this boy, Sam is his name,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: worked for you and ran away. Sam says it is
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: not true, and that he never heard of you, and
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: that Jim is a stranger to him. There's something wrong
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: in this, though, because when the row began, Sam first
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: tried to pacify your lunatic, and I heard him sing
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: out in answer to the first few lecks, gosh l
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: unga name, gosh le macho kel gently, friend, gently mach
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: o kel wow, macho kella oua boula la mena wow,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: macho kella. You will kill me. He knew Jim right enough,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: that was evident, but it didn't help him. He had
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: to skip for it. All the same, I was glad
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: to pay the noble Jim off and drop him at
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: his kraal. Sam was laid up when we left. It
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: is better to skip the change from the old life
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: to the new. When the luck, as we called it,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: was all out, when each straw seemed the last for
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: the camels breaking back, and there was always still another
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: to come, But the turn came at last, and the
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: long arm of coincidence reached out to make the impossible.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: A matter of fact, it is better to skip all that,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: for it is not the story of Jock, and it
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: concerns him only so far that in the end it
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: made our parting unavoidable. When the turn did come, it
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: was strange and at times almost bewildering, to realize that
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: the things one had struggled hardest against and regards as
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: the worst of luck were blessings in disguise, and were
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: all for the best. So the new life began and
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: the old one put away. But the new life, for
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: all its brighter and wider outlook and work of another class,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: for all the charm that makes Barbaton now a cherished memory,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: to all those who knew the early days, was not
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: all happy. The new life has its hours of darkness, too,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: of almost unbearable check fever, of restless, sleepless longing for
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: the old life, of homesickness for the felt the freedom,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: the roaming, the nights by the fire, and the days
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: in the bush. Now and again would come a sleepless night,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: with its endless procession of scenes in which some remembered
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: from the past were interlinked with others imagined for the future.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: And here and there in these long, waking dreams came
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: stabs of memory, flashes of lightning vividness. The head and
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: staring eyes of the koodoo bull as we had stood
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: for a portion of a second, face to face, the
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: yawning mouth of the maddened crocodile, the mumber and its beady,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: hateful eyes as it swept before for the bush fire.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: And there were others too that struck another cord, the cattle,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: the poor dumb beast that had worked and died, stepping
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: stones in a man's career, the books and chalk and
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: blackboard of the school used, discarded and forgotten. No, they
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: were not forgotten, and the memory of the last track
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: was one long, mute reproach on their behalf. They had
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: paved the roadway for the juggernaut man. All that was
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: left of the old life was Jock, and soon there
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: was no place for him. He could not always be
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: with me, and when left behind, he was miserable, leading
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: a life that was utterly strange to him, without interest,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: and among strangers. While I was in Barbiton, he accompanied
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: me everywhere, but absurd it scenes. There was a constant
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: danger for him there, greater, though less glorious than those
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: that he faced so lightly in the felt. His deafness,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: which passed almost unnoticed and did not seem to handicap
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: him at all in the felt, became a serious danger
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: in camp. For a long time, he had been unable
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: to hear a sound, but he could feel sounds. That
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: is to say, he was quick to notice anything that
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: caused a vibration. In the early days of his deafness,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: I had been worried by the thought that he would
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: be run over while lying asleep near or under the wagons,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: and the boys were always on the lookout to stir
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: him up. But we soon found that this was not necessary.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: At the first movement, he would feel the vibration and
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: jump up. Jim realized this well enough, for when wishing
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: to direct his attention to the strange dogs or shuguans,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: the villain could always dodge me by stamping or hammering
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: on the ground, and Jock always looked up. He seemed
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: to know the difference between the sounds he could ignore,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: such as chopping wood, and those he ought to notice.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: In camp. Barberton in those days was reckoned a mining
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: camp and was always referred to as camp. The danger
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: was due to the number of sounds. He would stand
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: behind me as I stopped in the street, and some
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: times lie down and snooze if the weight was a
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: long one, and the poor old fellow must have thought
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: it a sad falling off, a weary, monotonous change from
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: the real life of the felt. At first, he was
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: very watchful, and every rumbling wheel or horses footfall drew
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: his alert little eyes round to the danger point. But
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: the traffic and noise were almost continuous, and one sound
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: ran into another, and thus he became careless or puzzled,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: and on several occasions had narrowly escaped being run over
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: or trodden on. Once, in desperation after a bad scare,
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: I tried chaining him up, and although his injured, reproachful
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: look hurt, it did not weaken me. I had hardened
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  Speaker 1: my heart to do it, and it was for his
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: own sake. At lunch time he was still squatting at
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: the full length of the chain, off the matin straw,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: and with his head hanging in the most hopeless, dejected
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  Speaker 1: attitude one could imagine. It was too much for me.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: The dog rarely felt it, and when when I released him,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: there was no rejoicing in his freedom. As the hated
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: collar and chain dropped off, he turned from me without
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: a sign or sound of any sort, and walked off slowly,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: lay down some ten yards away with his head resting
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: on his paw. He went to think, not to sleep.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: I felt abominably guilty, and was conscious of wanting to
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: make up for it all the afternoon. Once I took
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: him out to fig Tree Creek, fifteen miles away and
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: left him with a prospective friend at whose camp in
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: the hills, it seemed he would be much better off
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: and much happier. When I got back to barbiton that night,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: he was waiting for me with a tag of chewed
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: rope hanging round his neck, not the least ashamed of himself,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: but openly rejoicing in the meeting, and evidently never doubting
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: that I was equally pleased. And he was quite right there.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: But it could not go on. One day, as he
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: lay asleep behind me, a loaded wagon coming sharply round
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: a corner as nearly as possible, passed us over him.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: The wheel was within inches of his back. As he
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: lay asleep in the sand, there was no chance to
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: grab it was a rush and a kick that saved him,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: and he rolled over under the wagon and found his
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: own way out between the wheels. A few days after this,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Ted passed through Barberton, and I handed Jock over to
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: him to keep and care for until I had a
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: better and safer home for him. One day, some two
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: years later, they turned up at my quarters an old
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: friend of the transport days, Harry Williams. He had been
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: away on a long track up north to look for
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: some supposed mine of fabulous richness, of which there had
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: been vague and secret reports from natives. He stayed with
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: me for some days, and one evening, after the bout
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: of fever and egg had passed off, and rest and
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: good feeding had begun to pull him round, he told
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: us a story of their search. It was a trip
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: of much adventure, but it was the end of his
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: story that interested me most, and that is all that
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: needs to be told here. They had failed to find
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: the mine. The native who was supposed to know all
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: about it, had deserted with all he could carry off.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: They were short of food and money, and out of medicines.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: The delays had been great. They were two hundred miles
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: from any white man, there was no road but their
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: own erratic track through the bush. The rains had begun
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: and the fever season set in the cattle. They had
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: one wagon and span were worn out. The fever had
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: gripped them, and of the six white men, three were dead,
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: one dying, and two only able to crawl. Most of
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: their boys had deserted, one umfan fit for work, and
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: the driver, then delirious with fever, completed the party. The
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: long journey was almost over, and there were only a
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: few treks from the store and camp for which they
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: were making. But they were so stricken and helpless it
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: seemed as though that little was too much, and they
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: must die within reach of help. The driver, a big Zulu,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: was then raving mad. He had twice run off into
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: the bush and been lost for hours. Precious time and
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: waning strength were spent in the search, and with infinite
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: effort and much good luck, they had found him and
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: induced him to return. On the second occasion, they had
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: enticed him on to the wagon, and as he lay
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: half unconscious between bursts of delirium, had tied him down
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: flat on his back, with wrists and ankles fastened to
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: the buck rails. It was all they could do to
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: save him. They had barely strength to climb up and
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: pour water into his mouth from time to time. It
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: was midday then, and their dying comrade was so far
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: gone that they decided to abandon one track and wait
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: for evening to allow him to die in peace. Later on,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: when they thought it was all over, they tried to
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: scrape out a grave for him, and began to pull
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: out one old blanket to wrap round him in place
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: of the shroud and coffin. It was then that the
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: man opened his eyes and faintly shook his head, so
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: they instanced as best they can could and made another track.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: I met the man some years afterwards, and he told
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: me he had heard all they said, but could only
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: remember one thing, and that was Harry's remark that two
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: gin cases were not enough for a coffin, so they
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: would have to take one of the blankets instead. In
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: the morning they went on again. It was then at
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: most two treks more to their destination, but they were
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: too weak to work or warp, and the cattle were
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: left to crawl along undriven. But after half an hour's tracking,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: they reached a bad drift where the wagon stuck the
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: cattle would not face the poll. The two toitering, trembling
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: white men did their best, but neither had strength to
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: use the whip. The Umfhan led the oxen this way
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: and that, but there was no more effort in them.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: The water had given out, and the despairing, helpless men
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: saw death from thirst awaiting them within a few hours
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: track of help. And to add to the horror of
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: it all, the Zulu driver, with thirst aggravating his delirium,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: was a raving lunatic, struggling and wrenching at his bonds
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: until the wagon rattled and uttering maniac yells and gabbling incessantly.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: Ours had gone by in hopeless effort, but the oxen
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: stood out at all angles, and no two would pull
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: together in answer to the feeble efforts of the fainting men.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Then there came a lull in the shouts from the wagon,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: and in answer to the little four Luipur's warning shout
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: pass or bass look out master, the white men looked
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: round and saw the Zulu driver upon his knees, freeing
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: himself from the rems. In another moment he was standing
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: up full height, a magnificent but most unwelcome sight. There
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: was a thin line of froth along the half open mouth.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: The deep set eyes glared out under the eyebrows and
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: forehead bunched into frowning wrinkles, as for a few seconds
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: he leaned forwards like a lion about to spring, and
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: scanned the men and oxen before him. And then as
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: they watched him in breathless silence, he sprang lightly off
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: the wagon, picked up a small dry stick as he landed,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: and ran up along the span. He spoke to the
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: after ox by name as he passed, called to another,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: and touched it into place, thrust his way between the
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: next one and the dazed white man standing near it,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: tossing him aside with the brush of his arm as
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: a plowshare spurns a sod. And then they saw how
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: the boy's madness had taken him. His work and his
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: span had called to him in his delirium, and he
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: had answered with low mutterings, short words hissed out, and
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: all the sounds and terms the cattle knew shot at them,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: low pitched and with intense repression. He ran along the span,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: crouching low all the time, like his savage stealing up
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: for a murderous attack. The two white men stood back
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: and watched. Reaching the front oxen, he grasped the leading
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: gream and pulled them round until they stood level for
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: the strait pull out. Then down the other side of
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: the span he ran with cat like tread and activity,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: talking to each and straightening them up as he had
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: done with the others. And when he reached the wagon again,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: he turned sharply and overlooked the span. One ox had
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: swung round and stood out of line. There was a
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: pause of seconds, and then the big Zulu called the
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: ox by name, not loudly, but in a deep, low tone,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: husky with intensity, and the animals swung back into line again.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Then out of the silence that followed came an electrifying
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: yell to the span. Every bullock leaned into its yoke,
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: and the wagon went out with a rush, and he
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: drove them at a half trot all the way to
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: the store, without water, without help, without consciousness, the little
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: dry twig still in his hands, and only his masterful
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: intensity and knowledge of his work and span to see
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: him through. A mad, troublesome savage, said Harry Williams. But
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: one of the very best, anyhow, we thought so he
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: saved us. There was something very familiar in this, and
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: it was with a queer feeling of pride and excitement
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: that I asked, did he ever say to you me,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: catchum lion live, buy? Come you know him? Jim? Jim
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: a coquel. Indeed, I do, good old Jim. Years afterwards,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Jim was still a driver, working when necessary, fighting when possible,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: and enjoying intervals of lordly ease at his kraal, where
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: his wives and cattle stayed and prospered. End of Chapter
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: twenty six