The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-04-02
KIPLING AT THE CAPE.
He Writes of the Disloyalty in Cape
Colony.


/ CAPE TOWN. March 13.-Ten years
ago a man lay sick of a fever under
Table Mountain, persuaded that OF all
vile lands south Africa was the worst;
bu. wiser than be said, between the
uufIlue doses. You'll come back again
when lis al. over; you'll long TO come
back again They were entirely right
. The man hdnkered TO see more of the
fascinating country, and, in due course
oI years. back he came, to fail in love
with heath. dysI, plunbagO, the sud
den flush OF bloom in the kIrrJO after
rain, thuuderstJrms among the iron
stone hills. and the big dry distances
/ Of the North. That was when one
went up 20 Kimberley in cars Of state;
I when Maj, king was remembered for
/ the yilIaiuy OF its refreshments; GaJe-
r0ues because there was a little fever
along the line and De Aar because it
/ Was a junction of the night. The wise
| oues-tlose who had given the invalid
| qu.uiHe-redppeared most of them. "a
/ uJJIe older and brOwner and leaner-
] all telling one tale, all awaiting the
/ fuifilment Of their prophecies of eight
years before.
Now there is trouble" they said;
| the trouble thaJ We forecast in 1891,
\ when we were laughed at That
trouble is growing, and will presently
\ come to a head And then they told
4 tales in the clubs, and on the railway
platforms. looking over their shout
ders, for the land was full of spies and
all mistrust. And said one of them,
when that trouble begins, remember
'rthat from Cape Town 10 the border we
hall be in an enemy's country. Remem-
y Der too that as it was in 1881, the gov
eminent will take care it does no. pay
any one to be loyal"
= They were bitter and angry men two
; years ago. They are scarcely less Bit
ter now, though the war has been GO
ing on four months. They still look
over their shoulders when they say
certain things in the club; they still
sink their voices when they record GER
tain facts, and are careful of their sur
rOundings when they would speak free
b ~: but 1t is to be remarked THAI the
Cape Town clubs are not quite so full
Of members who personally shot Col
o. ley at Majuba, and two years ago there
- were several. In many small ways
not to be too optimistic, il seems as
- though there is growing, If not tOlera
: tiOn. at least a certain respect for Eng
lishmen. The contempt, at all events
b is less open. | speak only of Cap,
S Town as she faces the crowded bay
where lie all the steamers that ever
man has used in his business: Z. 4
4 O. :, Cunarders, White Stars. Orients
y British midas, Wilson's, and long-for
gotten tramps masquerading as trooJ
Y and supply ships. These bring men
r. not enough OF them yet. but a fair a.
z lowance of mud-colored men. whom
n the town notices out of the corner o
her eye ere they disappear into camps
: and trains. These bring guns-clay
;. colored guns-nOt enough by an,
:, means, but indubitable guns; thos
= weapons which so many have assured
Z their doubling friends England did o
possess. Traction engines patrol Ad
d derley street, hauling a score of load
ed trucks at a time. Mule and cattl
q boats load the air. BY the South Acnl
and at the railway station, or rather u
d that railway town that runs from her
to Salt River Junction. are stacke,
Orders and rivets TO mend broker
bridges.
The first fine careless rapture of tn
war died out long ago. IL takes some
thing very special in the way of troop
10 stir Cape Town nowadays (the post
Office and the government building
are still as singularly economical o
J. bunting as ever they were), but thos
of her sons who are not at the from
; make their little profit out of the pass
ing traffic. Dimiy and diStantly Cap
Town realizes that that thing GALE
l. the British government is now in ear
> nest. She hopes not too much in ear
= nest. She prays very deeply that som
of that earnestness may be diverted
u or, if there be not too much danger .
}. life and property, actively thwaTted =
u some of her faithful children; but a
heart | do believe that Cape Town
II a little disposed TO reconsider her pu-i
ton. She sees no end to the troops an
the guns: the strange men from tn
ends of the earth. the cattle, the mule
e and the horses: the boxed machiners
and the walls of ammunition boxes. !.
her leisure she learns something acrOS
L. the club tables from men born az
bred in the Colony who have seen Fl
TO risk their hides in the colonial corp
r. The language is not of the book, an
V | think il shocks and Teyolts her. Sh
o had always wished to remain neutra
n and the talk is positive. Ii is deliye.
ed very clearly, but in a low voice, fu
l. fear Of creating scenes. IL Is meant {
: instruct. not to amuse; and 1t Is back
- ed with illustrations and instances tha
have not yet appeared in any journ1
r. Let us suppose that you who rea
V these lines had been out with Rimins
c tons jayhdwkers, or somebody else
hybynights. riding hard and sleepin
r light for weeks; had been chewin
Il leather around Colesberg, catchin
sand collie from muddy water to tn
=, eastward, or chasing into the he
"A lands sunnyside way. Suppose, nov
- " forethought and a little luck you ha
: caught a few dozen veritable rebels
. neither Free Staters nor Transvaaler'
- but registered voters who had been til
ing at you as you Numbered desperate
" ~ across barbed wire fences. Suppos
n that you had not shot your prizes, bu
~ had turned them over to the militar
L, authorities. Suppose now that throug
al some accident of marching these Tcgi:
j. tered voters across a section not III
s, der martial law the civil authorize
It. had received them with open arms; ha
IL prepared feather beds for them TO IA
III upop and nv some hauhyDanky of civ