Jack and his ostrich — Context and Discussion

duck's bill, who lived in a hut at the other side of the farm-yard. She cooked the dinner and washed the shirts for Jack and his father. She was always ready to do anything she could to make them comfortable, if she only knew how. Jack called her "Old Tottie," or "Granny Golden-face," when he was in a roguish mood; for she had been very good and kind to him when he was left a little motherless boy.

Then there were the Kafir men, as black as ebony, with naked legs and arms, and just a dirty scarlet blanket twisted round their waists—handsome fellows, who came and worked for Jack's father every now and then; working diligently and well until they had earned money enough to buy a rifle or a new blanket, when they would throw down the spade and flail and go back to their own people.

Jack's father was not a rich man. He had not much money when he came out to Africa, so he bought his farm where farms were the cheapest—right out in the wilds. It was life in the rough. No wonder he kept his little boy always at his side. It made a man of Jack, for he learned many things in his long talks with his father which a boy of ten in England would know nothing about. Jack learned more in this way than he did from books; for his school-hour was the last hour at night, when his father's work was done, and when both of them were very often sleepy.

On one delightful summer evening, when the brilliant African moon poured down its floods of silvery light, Jack sat nodding on the door-step with a coloured map of England spread upon his knees. He was trying to rub the sleep out of his winking eyes with one hand, whilst with the forefinger of the other he tried to trace the boundaries of the English counties.

"York; chief town, York," he cried triumphantly. "But, father, what word is this?"

Jack ran off with his map to where his father sat smoking on a rough bench, in what should have been their garden, only there was so much work to be done on the farm and so few to do it that the garden was left to Jack and nature. A hedge of prickly pear kept the oxen from trampling over it. Jack's watering-pot encouraged one tall cactus to show its scarlet flowers, under the shadow of the broad eaves of the low thatched roof of the farm-house.

Jack's father nodded, and then roused himself with a smile to answer his son's inquiry. "That, Jack? Why, that's Nottingham—the very town where your grandfather still lives."

"I'll make a mark against it," said Jack. Dashing back into their one sitting-room for the pen and ink, he made a good round blotch right over the name.

"Well done," laughed his father. "So you think erasing it in your map will stamp it in your mind, my boy. Come, we are dead-beat to-night, and must give it up. Tomorrow we will have a good spell at the figures. So now to bed; the faster the better."

Jack gathered up his books and went indoors.

His little bedstead was an officer's camp-chair, which his father had picked up second-hand at the Cape. It stood just opposite the bedroom window, in the same room with his father's. Between them were the well-battered black travelling-chests his father had brought with him from England; and on the pegs over the head of his father's bed lay his rifle. Every night it was loaded and ready for use. Jack was often in the room alone with it; but then Jack could be trusted anywhere.

He said his prayers and tumbled into bed; but not to sleep, for his thoughts were busy with Nottingham and grandfather.

The house was only one story high, and the room had no ceiling. Jack could look between the rough wooden rafters right up into the thatch, and watch the bright eyes of the tarantula spiders as they crawled along the beams. He heard his father speaking to Tottie's husband, a white-haired Hottentot, who knew the ways of the country, and was by turns ploughman, shepherd, and house-servant.

"Sheep all right," he heard them say, and lifted up his curly head to look at the white walls of the sheepfold; for an African sheepfold has a stone wall all round it, and a good strong gate, which is safely locked at night-fall. Jack knew very well that this flock was his father's chief wealth. There was not much ploughing and sowing with so few hands to depend upon. The sheep were everything.

By-and-by his father came in, gave his little son his customary good-night kiss, and stretched himself on the truckle-bed in the other corner, to enjoy the sweet sleep of the labouring man. Jack was careful not to wake him.

The glorious splendour of the South African moon made the room as light as day, while all without was flooded with a silvery radiance, so beautiful that our little Jack felt more wide awake than ever. He was watching for the stars as they shone out one by one, so much larger and brighter than we in England have ever seen them.

Presently he saw something black on the wall of the sheepfold. He sat upright. It moved. He saw it fling out its long dark arms; and then another and another patch of black seemed crawling up behind it.

Suddenly it flashed into Jack's head,—

"'Whosoever climbeth up by the wall into the sheepfold, the same is a thief and a robber.'"

Out of bed he jumped, shouting, "Father! Father!" At the same moment, Jack's grand pet, the tame ostrich Vickel, set up a loud noisy scream.

Vickel, as Jack's father had often said, was as good a guard as a mastiff. She had been given to Jack when she was a three days' chicken, looking like a round ball of dirty yellow fluff, and he had fed her with his own hands every day; and now as she stretched out her long neck she seemed as tall as the porch. She was crying "Thief! thief!" in her bird fashion, as plainly as any English watch-dog would growl "Thief!" to his master.

Jack's father was out of bed in an instant, with his rifle in his hand, just as the last black figure dropped over the wall into the sheepfold. He fired his rifle into the air, hoping the sound of the report might scare away the thieves, and began to dress in all haste.

"Keep where you are, my boy," he said, "and on no account leave the house. Put the bar in the bedroom door as soon as I am gone. I'll shut Vickel in the outer room, and she'll keep everybody else from coming in. Be a brave boy, and just lie still until I return."

"I'll be as still as a mouse, father; but hadn't I better get into my jacket?" answered Jack.

"Yes, dress," returned his father; "only be still."

Mr. Treby reloaded his rifle and crept out.

Presently, Jack heard the brush of Vickel's wings as she made the tour of their sitting-room.

"Don't do mischief, Vickel," gasped Jack with a catch in his breath very suggestive of tears; but he choked them back with all his might.

He stood with his little hands clasped tightly together, watching through the window, yet not near enough to it to be seen from without.

He saw his father creep cautiously along, in the shadow of the farm-yard wall, towards the great open shed where the oxen were tethered, and saw him climb into the heavy broad-wheeled waggon, which was drawn under one end, to shelter it from the sun. Now that Mr. Treby was mounted in the waggon, where he could see and not be seen, Jack felt easier. He thought of his dying mother's words, "In every trouble, pray;" and kneeling down at the bedside, he whispered,—

"Save, Lord, or we perish—"

When the flash and report of his father's rifle seemed to shake the house. The oxen bellowed and tore the ground in their infuriated terror. Jack started to his feet and ran to the window.

"Maw wah!" groaned the old Hottentot, who was crouching under the eaves, and caught sight of Jack's pale face. "He'll take 'em as they come out," he whispered, making emphatic signs to the boy to go back.

Jack knew that he must not let himself be seen. He remembered his father's charge, and moved away! What happened next he could not tell. There was a shout of savage glee, a wild, unintelligible yell. Vickel screamed like mad. A sudden light without—a strange, oppressive heat—and then a dense smoke began to fill the room.

Jack dipped the towel in the water-jug and put it over his head, for bright red sparks began to fall between the rafters.

"Father! Father!" he shrieked, forgetting his promise to be still in this unthought-of danger.

The ostrich heard his piteous cry, and split the door between them with her powerful beak. Then Jack drew out the bar and let her in. She flew past him, and in her frantic efforts to escape dashed against the window, smashing glass and frame to atoms. Jack drove her with all speed through the flying splinters. She was almost out of the window, when the glare from the blaring roof so frightened her that she drew back with a scream. After wheeling round and round the room, Vickel tucked her head under her wing like a true ostrich, as if shutting her eyes to the danger she could no longer escape would save her.

Jack was so well used to Vickel's ways that he knew he could catch her now easily enough. He had seen his father throw a fishing-net over her and haul her off when she was doing mischief in the garden. He managed to pull the blanket off his bed and throw it over her; but his limbs were heavy, and he felt like one moving in a dream.

At last he heard his father calling, in an agony of desperation, "My boy! My boy! Heaven help me! Where's my boy?"

"Here, father, here," Jack tried to answer, but his voice sounded feeble and strange even in his own ears. Things were falling all around him. Lights were flashing, and confused noises rang in his head. He was going, going somewhere. Then the dreadful feeling of oppression lightened, and he knew that the strong arms which clasped him so tightly were his father's.

Something he murmured about getting a hood for Vickel, as his father lifted him through the broken window and gave him to the Hottentot.

Once in the open air, Jack began to revive. The Hottentot laid him under the garden hedge, and charging him not to cry, ran back to help his master.

Poor little Jack gazed at the blazing roof with a bewildered face, as his senses slowly returned to him. Suddenly it flashed upon his mind that his father was still in the burning house, and staggering to his feet, he tottered round the garden. He was just in time to see Vickel, who was still enveloped in the blanket, hauled out of the bedroom window, as if she had been a sack of wheat. Like himself, she was stupefied by the smoke, or it would not have been so easy to save her.

"Drag her away!" shouted his father, as one of the great black chests was hoisted into the opening.

The Hottentot tugged at the ends of the blanket. Down came the heavy chest with a thud, and Jack's father sprang on to the window-sill, with his face as black as a Kafir's and his shirt sleeves in a blaze. He threw himself on the ground and rolled over and over.

The Hottentot snatched the blanket from Vickel's head and wrapped it round his master. Between them the flames were soon extinguished; for Mr. Treby seized some heavy sods, that were lying in a heap where he had been digging the day before, and crushed the burning shirt beneath them, plunging his arms into the midst of the heap.

What could poor Jack be thinking of when he saw his father burrowing in the ground, and the Hottentot twisting the blanket round and round his shoulders, as if he were about to choke him? For he ran away!

YES, Jack left his father writhing on the ground and ran away. But it was to find Tottie. Ah, where was Tottie? Jack reached the hut, and it was empty.

Suddenly the two men looked up and missed him, and the shouts for the "The child! the child!" roused poor Tottie from her hiding-place.

At the first alarm she had crept into the "sloot," that is, the deep ditch which ran round the back of the farm. But the thought that Jack was missing conquered her terror, and she crawled out, plastered with mud from head to foot.

No one could have taken her for a woman; for she crept on her hands and knees, listening with her ear to the ground, as she heard the patter of the sheep, and felt sure that the thieves were driving them away. She was the first to catch sight of Jack coming out of her hut, and made signs to him to hide himself. He darted back into the corner of the hut, crouching in the dark, and waited while the sheep went by.

He heard his father's voice shouting "Jack!" round the burning house, but he dared not answer.

After a while, Tottie, still crawling on her hands and knees, peeped in at the door to see if he were safe. How she hugged him in her joy at their great deliverance, for she assured him that the thieves were gone; yet they dared not venture forth too soon. Tottie lay with her ear to the ground, almost afraid to breathe, listening to the roar of the flames and the falling of the rafters. A stealthy step was drawing near the hut; a gasping sigh was heard in the very doorway. Jack clung to Tottie now and shivered. A head was put in at the door. It was his father.

"Safe! All safe!" was echoed from lip to lip, as the four seated themselves on the ground, for the white-haired Hottentot was behind his master.

Then Tottie got up and found some food and water that were in the hut, and pressed them all to eat.

"The utmost we can do now," said Jack's father, "is to protect ourselves. The thieves must take what they will."

"They are gone," cried Tottie.

But the cautious old Hottentot dared not believe her; so they sat still and listened until the day began to break. Jack's head was resting on his father's shoulder but no one slept.

The flames were over but a dull, red glow still lit up the gray of the western sky when Mr. Treby ventured forth to reconnoitre.

The sheepfold and the shed were still standing, but not one lamb was left. His house lay in ruins. Every leaf in his garden which the sun had spared was burned and blackened with the fire.

But the agony of the night, when for one brief hour his scarcely-rescued Jack was missing, made him think far less of the actual loss than he would otherwise have done.

He fed the oxen, which were still lowing in the stalls, and dressed his blistered arms with a handful of their meal, thankful to find the little hut he used as a store still standing.

He had gone the round of the farm, and was slowly returning, when something moving on the other side of the sloot attracted his attention. Keeping a keen lookout, he crossed the ditch with his rifle on his shoulder, when he saw Vickel stretching out her long legs and gaping. His own shirt was dropping into tinder, and her beautiful gray wings were singed and shrivelled.

At the sound of her master's voice, the frightened bird ran after him, and tucking her head under his arm, expressed her consternation by sundry hoarse screams as he took her back with him to the Hottentot's hut.

Up sprang Jack, almost as overjoyed to find Vickel safe as his father had been to find him uninjured on Tottie's lap.

"Never so bad but it might be worse," said Jack's father, stroking the curly head more fondly than ever. "Jump on Vickel's back and ride after me, for I cannot bear you out of my sight. You could not know what you were doing to run away from me as you did in the night. You might have been killed."

"I was looking for Tottie," said Jack repentantly. He was afraid that he had made his father angry; for Mr. Treby turned his head away, but it was to brush the tears from his eyes, as he murmured,—

"God bless you, my brave, true-hearted boy!" Then he added with a laugh, "We must all to work. The first thing is to ask our neighbours to help us to get back the sheep. I shall send the Hottentot to Scarsdorp. Tottie must watch the ruins. She is better able to take care of herself than you think, for you can't beat her at hide-and-seek. Then you and I, Jack, must take the ox-waggon, and try the temper of our neighbour the Boer. We English do not reckon them the best of friends, for they do not want us here. But I found a stray cow of his last year, so he owes me a good turn."

Jack felt like a man as he followed his father from place to place, sometimes riding on Vickel's back, sometimes jumping down when he thought he could help in his father's preparations. He filled a sack with mealies, as they call the Indian corn, ready to feed the oxen by the way.

Soon after the sun had risen, whilst the morning air blew cool and fresh, Jack was seated by his father's side in the front of the big, lumbering ox-waggon. Everything which Mr. Treby had been able to save from the fire was packed inside, for he was afraid to leave them in an open shed, with no better guard than Tottie.

The fowls had all been scared away by the sight of the flames, and were wandering at will amongst the low bushes which dotted the plain they were crossing.

The sky above their heads was one unclouded blue, and in the red sand which covered the plain the dusty ants were fighting.

It was no easy matter to find the right path in such a wilderness of sand and bush, where there were no hills or trees to serve as land-marks. Jack's father had to look carefully on the ground for the ruts which had been made by the wheels of the post-cart.

Jack knew that post-cart well with its six gray horses. It was their one link with the outward world. How often he had stood beside his father listening for the loud blast of the bugle which heralded its coming! For the arrival of the English mail is a day of joy to the colonist.

Presently Jack's father looked up and pointed with his whip to a heavy cloud of dust.

"It is the mail!" he exclaimed. "For once I am fortunate."

"No, father," persisted Jack, who was looking the other way; "I am positive it is Vickel."

Nearer and nearer came the storm of dust thrown up by the galloping horses, but Jack's eye was fastened on a light-gray figure skimming above that billowy sea of reddening sand.

Mr. Treby drew his waggon out of the path and halted. As the Pretoria mail-cart came in sight, with its usual freight of passengers filling the seats and even clinging to the sides, Mr. Treby waved his handkerchief, and the six powerful grays drew up, stamping and snorting.

"Any letters for me?" he asked anxiously.

"Any mischief doing in this neighbourhood?" was the answering inquiry, as Mr. Wilton, the postman, opened his bag and sorted over its contents for an English newspaper.

"We noticed an uncommon glow in the sky at our last halting-place," put in one of the passengers.

"A little past midnight," added another.

"We have kept a sharp lookout as we came along," continued the postman. "We were all of one opinion—there was a fire somewhere out on the veldt," for so the great African plains are usually called.