The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-12-11
BROTHER TO THE KAFFIR.
v,I1 or lFRIOAiS CURSE UPON a
GRADUATE OF OXFORD.

ats an old story that Africa Is accurssd,'
aid tho man from South Africa. "There'f
nth in II. A good mans worst nature will
..s.yt itself very quickly In South Africa OF
,rv mart OF AfricR, and . bad man becomes
worse. have known men, decent at home. do
,hinos ON the outposts OF civilization they
,.ould have died sooner than do In Europe.
Man detariorates ~there-that's the curse. When
/, man has got rloh and Rone home you will
,ometimes notice. in a humdrum. sleepy smok-
me room, that his lip trembles without mp
rarent cause and his eyes look full Of horror
tor A second and his face Pushes. That's be-
,ause he has not shaken OF the curse that fol-
lored him with his riches. and his memory
has flashed back to the weary. endless. mad
d.ninR trek across the burned-np veldt, the
npddy rivers with their monster dwellers, the
deep. silent, sweating forests, and beyond and
,round these the dark. inscrutable. sullen moun
,ains, rocky, inaccessible. which guard eter-
pally the secret OF the country's curse. He re-
members what he saw there and did there.
and his lip trembles about his cigar. and he Is
afraid. Some men never come back from II. or.
coming back. return again to the unholiness
which fascinates them there are historical in
stances OF great men ~relapsing into almost
sayagery. / have seen white men live by prefer
spce with Kafirs. The animal must have been
strong within them.
But Kesw!ck's was Q queer case. Keswick
was the son OF an old sugar planter in Jamaica.
and there is no doubt that Keswlck's mamma
had a marriage certificate. At the same time
his social standing could never have been as
rood In the States as It was In London. where
such little things don't matter 30 much. In
fact, Keswick. though OF only an olive COM
-i.-inn Rad noetrila md Inns and anna otha
pecutarities which mark the negro race. Old
Keswick had been very wealthy. and Keswick
spent money freely when quite a ~youngster
after school and college In England. Their
plantations went the way OF most other ia
maica sugar fields, and Keswick. after
his fathers death. complicated his flnan-
clal disorders more by debts at the
university. so that his property went
into the hands OF trustees. and Keswlck.
as matters in Jamaica got worse and worse.
drew nothing from 1t ut all. When l know him
h ehad secured a berth In a Government office,
and was still living gayly In London. He
couldn't live as he wanted to on his salary.
however, and at last he gathered together q
few hundred pounds and left England to make
a%iortune in Africa. sailing for Cape Town. and
having only that vague idea Of the land he was
going to and its possibilities which is still
typical OF the sangulne emigrant. He had been
very popular, had n host OF old friends he had
made at Marlborough and ut Oxford and In the
India Once. and these chaps gave him
4 farewell dinner and q royal send-off.
Somebody speaking late that night in honor of
the guest made an attempt to Joke on the fact
that Keswick. after all, was only going back to
resume social intercourse with his mothers
relations. but that WINS at q very noisy moment
Of the evening and few heard the speaker who
ignorantly was prophesying. He went, and we
never heard directly from him. Charlie Fruin.
a cousin OF Keswick tby the fathers side, OF
coursel. told me the rest.
Charlie was a good deal younger than his
cousin, and had always looked up to Keswick
as to a hero. The elder was an athlete. Jolly.
reckless; had been the chief figure in a hun
dred school and university pranks, which all
appealed TO a boys fancy. And Keswick had
been fond of the boy. and given him presents
and visited him at school, So. when Master
Charlie. who was the youngest son OF a big
family. got into trouble at 10. a trouble
which, being sensitive, he magnifed O hum
dedfold. he would not face his family. but
scraped together his steamer fare and ran
away to follow the fortunes Of his cousin. who
had now been in Africa for three years. and
had scarcely been heard OF. Indeed, Charlie
did not know his address. but had no doubt,
with that migrants faith before referred to.
that he would trace his relation, who doubt
less would be borne of his feet with delight at
seeing him.
Charlie met old-timers on the STEAMER. and
inquired Of them about Keswick. and he in
ouired in Cape Town, and he found one or two
men who knew something Of his cousin. They
we're not talkatiye on the subject OF Keswick.
and looked at Charlie curiously when the boy
tried to question them with boyish f~rankness.
Even Charlie detected In their manner a some
thing which made him anxious. Ksswick had
been on the diamond fields and on the new
gold fields on the Witwatersrand, then Just
opened. and up-oountry in unknown places
where Cecil Rhodes was Just pushing his
pioneers, but Charlie could not find the slight
est suggestion in the " he received to
all his questions that his big. Jolly cousin had
made that fortune which the boy had expected
him to achieve in a few months. Charlie got
worried and forbore to ask more questions.
ne found his cousin in Kimberley. Charlie
was penniless when he got to him.
The man was not. as his cousin had ex-
pected, In any OF the first class hotels. He had
not mace a fortune. He was not a great, pop
uar character. He was not the centre of a
e'h'iIhB' eHefketlc, mOH6y-muklnB
crowd. All Master Charities dreams vanished
ian instant when he saw Keswick and held
out his hand. with a sinking heart. instead of
rushing TO Keswick's arms as he had intended
700 heswick was playing billiards In a fourth
iate canteen in a suburb. The place was low
enough In appearance to make Charlie shpd-
uer' a Portuguese kept the bar. The men
hesWiek played with were not E%nglishmen
sIher' not real white men. They were Afri-
TrSSaaers, burghers. halfbreeds-a monRrel lot.
snatHe stood. looking for a moment at his
11ousin; heswick had turned almost black
noin Lhe sun, lie was stability dressed. He
nIeStieu o. Cape smoke Somehow the fathers
yo5Iiiioi IN his blood was h~idden-the bright.
hSJIn,eancated varsity athlete was down deep
sS III we surface. and on the surface Charlie
AMI SIe 70 see nothing left but the fiat nostrlls
~HH Rs LiPs and animal face OF a Kafir.
.RDiSk! cried the. boy, sick and faint.
sa,d ntnat- wlat-What are you doing here2'
'H%.I pplck. and turned gray.
his slo man was more than half drunk and
R M ee9Lnpanions guffawed at the greeting he
ssSSde she wSll-dressed youngster, FIRE sh-coiored
WaIt eaa,elully Rroomed. Charlie had a mind to
n IT, Out put memories OF Keswick's goodness
SIsu a0ns a. home prevented that. He Rrlpped
O,., \ {ou stop here he said. we'd better talk
"KnkSi ~ your ROOM
And heSElsk hesitated. then Strengthened up.
affithPaa liea himself together and led the way to
on fSe huiity bedroom, where he threw himself
'1atpS osd. and they talked.
lou llllv lIffla' Gal D III l.. "A. nl--lI-