r from it being possible for me to
undertake singlehanded an expedition for the rescue of Nell, I was
liable at any moment to blunder upon a war party of savages and either
be slain by them forthwith, or, still worse, be carried off a captive,
to suffer death by torture; indeed, the wonder was that something of
this kind had not already happened to me, as doubtless it had to many
another unsuspecting traveller. No, to attempt alone to rescue Nell
would be worse than useless, it would simply be the wanton throwing away
of a life that, later on, might be of service to her; and I could only
hope that, meanwhile, no worse thing than simple captivity might befall
her.

I was aroused from my sombre reflections by the appearance of Piet, my
Hottentot after-rider, who, more prudent than myself, had approached the
house with a certain measure of circumspection, and now came to report
that, as in our own case, all the sheep and cattle had been driven off,
and that no trace of any of the native domestics or shepherds had been
found, the presumption being that they had all taken the alarm and fled,
or, more likely still, had been captured and carried off as prisoners.
I went the rounds of the place with him, frequently shouting the name of
one or another of the servants without avail, and I finally came to the
conclusion that his surmise was probably correct.

And now arose the question, what was I to do? My plight was almost as
desperate as it could well be; for not only was I utterly bereft of
every one of those who were nearest and dearest to me, but I was
likewise homeless, and literally penniless. The house which I called
home was destroyed; every horn and hoof of my father's stock had been
stolen, and would probably never be recovered; and as to money, there
was none, for my father, instead of banking the profits of the farm and
allowing them to accumulate, had, as I have already explained,
habitually spent them in improving the live stock, or adding to the
adornments of the house, and the contents of the wagon which I had
brought up from Port Elizabeth represented every penny of spare cash
remaining in the house when I left it on my journey. True, I had the
wagon and its contents, as well as the team of oxen, upon which I could
doubtless realise; also there was the farm--that is to say, the land--
itself, which was worth quite a handsome sum of money: but I was most
unwilling to part with this for several reasons; and,