“Well, I am silly,” she said; “I
believe I fainted.”
“It is not much to be wondered at,” said
John Niel politely, and lifting his hand to take off
his hat, only to find that it had gone in the fray.
“I hope you are not very much hurt by the bird.”
“I don’t know,” she said doubtfully.
“But I am glad that you killed the skellum
(vicious beast). He got out of the ostrich camp
three days ago, and has been lost ever since.
He killed a boy last year, and I told uncle he ought
to shoot him then, but he would not, because he was
such a beauty.”
“Might I ask,” said John Niel, “are
you Miss Croft?”
“Yes, I am—one of them. There
are two of us, you know; and I can guess who you are—you
are Captain Niel, whom uncle is expecting to help him
with the farm and the ostriches.”
“If all of them are like that,” he said,
pointing to the dead bird, “I don’t think
that I shall take kindly to ostrich farming.”
She laughed, showing a charming line of teeth.
“Oh no,” she said, “he was the only
bad one—but, Captain Niel, I think you will
find it fearfully dull. There are nothing but
Boers about here, you know. No English people
live nearer than Wakkerstroom.”
“You overlook yourself,” he said, bowing;
for really this daughter of the wilderness had a very
charming air about her.
“Oh,” she answered, “I am only a
girl, you know, and besides, I am not clever.
Jess, now—that’s my sister—Jess
has been at school at Capetown, and she is
clever. I was at Cape Town, too, though I didn’t
learn much there. But, Captain Niel, both the
horses have bolted; mine has gone home, and I expect
yours has followed, and I should like to know how
we are going to get up to Mooifontein—beautiful
fountain, that’s what we call our place, you
know. Can you walk?”
“I don’t know,” he answered doubtfully;
“I’ll try. That bird has knocked
me about a good deal,” and accordingly he staggered
on to his legs, only to collapse with an exclamation
of pain. His ankle was sprained, and he was so
stiff and bruised that he could hardly stir. “How
far is the house?” he asked.
“Only about a mile—just there; we
shall see it from the crest of the rise. Look,
I’m all right. It was silly to faint, but
he kicked all the breath out of me,” and she
got up and danced a little on the grass to show him.
“My word, though, I am sore! You must take
my arm, that’s all; that is if you don’t
mind?”
“Oh dear no, indeed, I don’t mind,”
he said laughing; and so they started, arm affectionately
linked in arm.
HOW THE SISTERS CAME TO MOOIFONTEIN
“Captain Niel,” said Bessie Croft—for
she was named Bessie—when they had painfully
limped one hundred yards or so, “will you think
me rude if I ask you a question?”
“Not at all.”
“What has induced you to come and bury yourself
in this place?”
