Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-02-15
A TALE OF LIFE IN THE
BOER REPUBLIC.
CHAPTER XIV.
GRBGoRY's woAfANnoop.

Slowly over the fat came cart. On
the back seat sat Gregory, lis arms
folded, his hat drawn over his eyes. A
Kaffir boy sat on the front seat driving,
and at his feet sat Doss, who now and
again lifted his nose and eyes above
the level Of the splash board to look
at the surrounding country and then,
with an exceedingly knowing wink of
his left eye, turned to his companions,
thereby intimating that he clearly per-
II seived his whereabouts. No one no
ced the cart coming Waldo, who
rs at work at his carpenters table
in the wagon house, saw nothing till,
CHANGING to look down, he perceived
Doss standing before him, the legs
trembling, the little nose wrinkled and
a series of short, suffocating barks CIV
ing utterance to his joy at reunion.
EN-, whose eyes had ached with look
ing out across the plain, was now ut
work in back room and knew nothing
till. looking up, she saw Gregory, with
his straw hat and blue eyes, standing
In the doorway. He greeted her quiet
~, hung his hat up in its old place be-
hind the door, and for any change in
his manner or appearance he might
have been gone only the day before to
fetch letters from the town. Only his
beard was gone, and his face was
grown thinner. He took. off his leather
CATERS, said the afternoon was hot
and the roads dusty and asked for
some tea. They talked of wool and
| the cattle and the sheep, and EN- gave
him the pile of letters that had come
for him during the months Of absence,
but Of the thing that lay at their
hearts neither said anything. Then he
went out to look at the kraals, and at
supper EN- gave him hot cakes and
coffee. They talked about the serv-
ants and then ate their meal in quiet.
She came and sat on a footstool near
him. ~
do you wish to hear anything7" he
asked.
She whispered, 4Yes. if it does not
hurt you.,'
Yet he lay quiet for a long time. The
light through the open door showed
him to her, where he lay. with his arm
thrown across his eyes. At last he
spoke. Perhaps it was relief to him
to speak.
To Bloemfontein. in the Free State,
/ to which through an agent he had trac-
\ ed them, Gregory had gone. At the ho-
{ tel where Lyndall and her stranger
had staid he put up. He was shown
the very room in which they had slept.
The colored boy who had driven them
Il to the next town told him in which
house they had boarded, and Gregory
went on. In that town he found they
had, left the cart and bought spider
and four grays. and Gregory's heart
!. rejoiced. Now, indeed, it would be
easy to trace their course, and he turn
Cd his steps northward.
At one desolate farm the Boer had q
good deal to tell The lady had said
\ she liked q wagon that stood before
Il the door. Without asking the price the
= Englishman had offered ESQ for the
old thing and bought oxen worth t1O
for f16. The Dutchman chuckled, for
he had the "Salt-reim's'' money in tho
box under his bed. Gregory laughed,
too, in silence. He could not lose sight
Of them SOW, SO slowly they would
have to move with that cumbrous OK
ABwagon. Yet when that evening came
and he reached little wayside inn no
Bone could tell him anything of the tray
n elers. $751; q
n The master, surly creature, half
8 stupid with Boer brandy, sat on the
81 bench before the door smoking. Greg
q DRY sat beside him, questioning, but
4 he smoked on. He remembered moth
II ing Of such strangers. How should he
know who had been there months and
kemonths before? he smoked on Greg
ory, very weary, tried to awake his
II memory; said that the lady he was
= seeking for was very beautiful, had a
little mouth and tiny, very tiny feet.
The man only smoked on as sullenly as
at first. What were little, very little,
mouths and feet to him? But his
Sldaughter leaned out in the window
above. She was dirty and lazy and
Hliked to loll there when travellers came
&to hear the men talk, but she had a soft
flheart. Presently hand came out OF
the window, and pair of velvet slip
Npers touched his shoulder, tiny slip.
Npers with black flowers. he, pulled
jVthem out of her hand. Only One wo,
: man's feet had worn them; he knew
q THAT.
z Il Left here last summer by lady,
&said the girl; might be the one you are
Hooking for; never saw any feet sc
Hsmall'
6N They might have come in a wager
Eland spider; she could not tell. But the
sHygentleman was very handsome, tall
Xflovely figure. blue eyes, wore gloves
Railways when he went out; an English
Bpficer, perhaps; no ,Afrikander,a Ger
Mainly.
~ Gregory stopped her.
IN The lady? Well, she was pretty
gether. the girl said; very cold, dul